Help! I'm just an extra yet the Heroines and Villainesses want me!-Chapter 90: Overwhelming Force

The man moved faster than William expected for someone his size.

William barely got his sword up in time to block the first strike. The impact sent shocks through his arms and he stumbled back a step, his mind immediately keeping this as confirmation that he was outmatched.

The man pressed forward with a combination of strikes, his blade work was professional and brutal. There was no wasted movement and every strike was designed to kill or disable.

William blocked, parried, and retreated. His breathing quickened as he focused entirely on defense, convinced he couldn’t match this man’s power.

"You’re better than I thought," the man commented while driving William back. "Someone’s been teaching you properly."

William didn’t waste breath responding. He channeled wind essence into his footwork, creating distance. The man pursued relentlessly and William’s mind raced trying to find a way out of this predicament.

Behind him, Seraphine was frozen with fear. William could hear her ragged breathing and could sense her terror.

He needed to survive this. He needed to protect her even though he was clearly outmatched.

The man attacked with a heavy overhead strike and William blocked it desperately. The impact jarred his arms but—

Wait.

His arms weren’t that tired. The block had felt strong and solid. Not like blocking something overwhelming but like blocking something... manageable?

William pushed the thought aside. He was probably just running on adrenaline.

Another combination came and William defended, with his sword moving almost instinctively to intercept each strike. His essence sense tracked the man’s movements, reading his attack patterns with clarity that made everything feel slower than it should be.

"Nice try. But you’re outmatched, boy."

A heavy strike came down and William deflected it, the force barely registering despite his expectation that it would overwhelm him.

The man attacked again and William started to notice something strange. Every time he blocked, every time he parried, it felt... easy.

William channeled fire essence into his next parry and the flames met the man’s blade perfectly, with control that surprised even him. The man grunted and had to adjust his stance.

’That worked better than expected,’ William thought. ’Maybe I’m not as outmatched as I thought?’

He tested it with the next exchange, putting more force behind his block. The man’s blade stopped cold against his, and the man’s eyes widened slightly with surprise.

William pressed forward cautiously, launching a fire-enhanced strike. The man defended but had to give ground, which shouldn’t have happened if he was truly stronger.

"You’re full of surprises," the man said, though his tone had shifted from confident to wary. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

They exchanged several more blows and with each one, William became more aware that something was off about his self-assessment. The man’s attacks, which he had initially thought were overwhelming, were actually... not that strong? Or maybe William was stronger than he had realized?

The man launched a combination technique that was fast, powerful, and designed to overwhelm defenses through sheer pressure.

William blocked all of it. Easily.

The man was breathing harder now, his strikes coming with less precision as fatigue set in. William wasn’t even winded. His essence reserves were barely touched despite maintaining constant enhancement.

’Maybe he’s not as strong as I thought?’ William considered. ’Maybe C-rank was an overestimate?’

The man attacked with what was clearly meant to be a finishing combination, attacking from multiple angles, mixing essence-enhanced strikes with feints, the kind of technique that required years of training to execute properly.

William saw all of it coming through his essence sense. Every angle, every feint, every shift in the man’s stance. His Absolute Essence Mastery processed the incoming attack pattern and his body responded with precise defensive movements.

The combination broke against William’s defense like water against stone.

The man stumbled back, shocked. "What—"

William finally allowed himself to acknowledge what had been becoming obvious. He wasn’t struggling against a stronger opponent. He was dominating a weaker one while his mind insisted he should be losing.

It was a pattern William had developed over months of training. Always assuming he was the weakest person in any confrontation. Always convinced his improvements were minimal, that everyone else was still far ahead of him. Kai was stronger, so William assumed he was weak. Liam was stronger, so William assumed he was weak. Seraphina was stronger, so William assumed he was weak.

But this man wasn’t Kai or Liam or Seraphina. This man was a professional mercenary, probably B-rank, definitely experienced and skilled.

And William was beating him while not even trying hard.

William stopped retreating. He channeled fire and wind essence simultaneously, combining them in a technique that should have been beyond his skill level but felt natural with his current abilities.

His blade became wreathed in spinning flames as he attacked for real this time, not holding back based on incorrect assumptions about his own limitations.

The man’s eyes widened in genuine alarm as he tried to defend against strikes that were suddenly three times faster and significantly more powerful than what William had been using before.

William’s sword crashed through the man’s defense, cutting deep into his side. The man staggered, blood spreading rapidly across his shirt.

"You—" the man gasped, shocked. "You were holding back?"

"No," William said honestly. "I just thought I was weaker than I am."

The man tried to fight back but he was outmatched and clearly knew it. He retreated desperately, his professional composure completely shattered.

"Wait—" the man started.

William didn’t wait. He channeled wind essence into his movement and closed the distance instantly, he held his sword at the man’s throat before he could finish speaking.

"Drop your weapon," William commanded.

The man’s sword fell to the ground with his hands raised in surrender. Blood dripped from his wounded side and his breathing was labored.

"Smart choice," William said. "Now answer my questions. Who hired you?"

"I don’t know. The contracts came through intermediaries. They paid good money for kidnapping the girl and ensuring you didn’t compete."

"What happens if I do compete?"

"A secondary team handles that. I was just supposed to handle the leverage angle." The man grimaced in pain. "They told me you were a barely-competent academy student and said it would be easy."

"Who’s they?"

"I told you, I don’t know! The money came through too many hands to trace." The man’s eyes were desperate now. "Look, I’m just a contractor. I take jobs, I don’t ask questions. Let me go and I’ll disappear. You’ll never see me again."

William considered that for exactly two seconds before channeling fire essence and striking the man across the head with the flat of his blade, hard enough to knock him unconscious.

The man crumpled to the ground, he was alive but definitely not going anywhere.

William stood there for a moment, breathing hard despite not actually being too tired. His mind was still catching up to what had just happened.

He couldn’t believe he had won against someone who he thought was more stronger than him.

Maybe he needed to rethink his self-assessment.

"William?" Seraphine’s voice was small and scared.

He turned to face his sister, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

"Are you okay?" William asked, forcing his voice to stay steady.

She nodded, then rushed forward and hugged him tightly, sobbing into his chest.

"I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, this is all my fault—"

"It’s alright, we need to get moving," William interrupted gently, still uncomfortable with processing what had just happened. "There might be more of them. Can you walk?"

"I think so."

William sheathed his sword and looked at the unconscious mercenary. He should probably bring him back as evidence, but carrying an unconscious man while protecting Seraphine seemed unwise.

Instead, William pulled out the rope that had been used to bind Seraphine and tied the mercenary thoroughly to a tree. Then he took Seraphine’s hand.

"Let’s go home."

They started toward the estate at a quick pace, William keeping his essence sense active. About ten minutes into the walk, his mind finally started processing what had actually happened.

"How did you do that?" Seraphine asked as they walked.

"Do what?"

"Fight like that. You were... you moved so fast and your fire techniques were so strong and that man looked terrified at the end." She looked up at him with awe. "I’ve never seen anyone fight like that except in professional tournaments."

"I’ve been training."

"That was..." she struggled for words. "That was amazing."

William wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He had spent so long thinking of himself as the weakest link, the student who barely qualified for things through luck and the system.

Maybe he needed to adjust his self-image.

They continued walking and soon saw torches in the distance, it seemed the estate guards had been searching for them.

"Master William! Lady Seraphine!" The lead guard looked shocked. "We’ve been searching for hours—"

"We’re fine. There’s an unconscious mercenary tied to a tree about fifteen minutes back that way," William pointed. "He was part of the kidnapping. There were two others but I don’t know where they went."

"We’ll send a team immediately. Her Grace has been—"

"I know. Let’s go."

The guards formed a protective circle and they made their way back to the estate quickly. When they reached the gates, Duchess Arabella was waiting, looking more disheveled than William had ever seen her.

"Seraphine," she said, pulling his sister into a brief, tight hug. Then she looked at William. "You deliberately disobeyed my direct orders."

"Yes."

"You left the estate against my explicit command."

"Yes."

"You engaged unknown enemies without backup or proper support."

"Yes."

His mother stared at him for a long moment. "And you won."

"Yes."

"How badly was the mercenary injured?"

"He’ll live. I knocked him unconscious and tied him up. The guards can retrieve him for questioning."

Duchess Arabella’s expression shifted to something William couldn’t quite read. "Come inside. Both of you. We have much to discuss."

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