Chapter 34: The Protagonist’s Ledger

​Part 1

​The palace garden was a theater of paralyzed disbelief. Crown Prince Derrick, Duke Antonio, and Saintess Oralia stood motionless, their minds reeling.

The reality of their existence—not as people, but as "data" in a cosmic report—was a weight heavier than the stone debris littering the ground.

​On the other side of the crater, a sickening snap echoed as the last of the heavenly chains shattered.

Miyeru rose slowly, her fingers tightening around the hilt of her jagged dagger.

​Near the temple steps, R98’s bravado flickered for a second as he leaned toward R56.

"Bro... I really hope we don’t get cooked after that grand reveal," he whispered, his eyes darting toward the purple-eyed predator.

​R56 didn't look back, a bead of sweat tracing a path through the dust on his temple.

"Well, we were never coming out of this safely. She’s a Multiverse-wanted criminal and we’re just R100-maintenance. At this point, I’m just hoping for a quick respawn."

​Miyeru ignored them, turning her attention back to the people of Genova. Her voice was like cold glass.

"Now that you know. Who do you choose? True freedom of will... or dancing in the script these Rangers enforce upon you?"

​Oralia’s voice rang out from the balcony, desperate and sharp.

"Can you tell me the reason for my suffering then? If you offer freedom, tell me why I had to burn!"

​Miyeru looked up, her expression impatient.

"What are you talking about? I don't know your story. I’m not even from this sector. I just know the system that broke me is the same one that built you."

​A low, sharp giggle bubbled up from R98. Miyeru’s head snapped toward him, her aura flaring.

"What is so funny, trash?"

​"It’s just... the irony," R98 said, his voice regaining its mocking edge.

"You give this grand speech about free will and 'truth,' but you don't even know the story of the very Protagonist you’re trying to recruit."

​Miyeru’s eyes narrowed as she leveled her dagger at him.

"And you think you do? I bet you don't know a thing about—"

​"Oralia the Saintess," R98 cut her off, his voice becoming clinical, "is the Primary Protagonist of the 98th Universe. She was an exceptional mage long before her current birth. But at that time, the 'Script' of this world was conservative. It feared strong mages—especially women."

​As he spoke, R98’s hand blurred. He drew his star-plasma gun in a single motion and fired. Miyeru braced for impact, but the blue bolt whizzed past her ear.

Behind her, a hidden cloaking spell—set by Kiel to watch the battle—shattered upon impact, causing a massive explosion that shook the garden.

​As the dust cleared, Miyeru stood unharmed but visibly irritated. R56 didn't give her a chance to breathe.

He raised his hand, his eyes glowing with a white light.

"Universe Beam of Pacification—Access: Paladin Level 10!"

​A pillar of pure white light descended, but Miyeru moved like a glitch in reality, slicing through the beam with a single purple arc.

She lunged toward the Rangers, her daggers aimed for their throats.

​"MARY!" R56 roared.

​Instantly, the garden folded. The space around them warped into a complex, shifting maze of divine stone. Miyeru’s voice was a snarl of pure hatred.

"You Gods of the 98th... you’re still helping them? Even after the truth?"

​She didn't try to solve the maze. She simply began punching through the walls, her violet energy turning the divine stone to dust.

​In the chaos, R98’s voice continued to echo, calm and relentless.

"The 'Witch' was branded not by fate, but by her own apprentice—a girl named Elara who was jealous of her master's power. She spread the rumors of the 'Black Witch' Olivia in the year 1578. Olivia... the woman who is now called Oralia."

​Oralia’s eyes widened, her hands clutching the balcony railing. She had never known. Her death, her burning—it wasn't a divine trial. It was a petty betrayal.

​Inside the maze, Miyeru shattered another wall, only to find R56 waiting. He held a sphere of fire as concentrated and hot as a miniature sun.

"Eat this," he muttered, launching it.

​The explosion consumed the center of the garden, turning the night sky into a roar of orange and purple.

---

Part 2

​The smoke from the miniature sun-strike cleared, revealing a landscape of scorched earth and jagged glass. Miyeru stood in the center, spitting a broken tooth into the dirt.

Her eyes, once merely predatory, were now burning with a lethal, uncontainable rage.

​She turned to the people of Genova, her voice a jagged scream.

"Are you all just going to stand there? These filthy monsters—" she pointed a shaking dagger at the Rangers—"are right here!

They admitted I was telling the truth! Why are you standing there like statues?!"

​Derrick opened his mouth to speak, his face a mask of conflict, but Miyeru cut him off with a snarl.

"Ah, I see. You won't choose until you see who wins. Fine! I'll end it here. These beings you think are humans? They are hollow. They have no empathy.
They are just machines in skin."

​She dropped into a low, predatory stance, her eyes locking onto R56.

"You're annoying," she hissed.

"I'll kill you first!"

​She blurred into motion, a purple streak of light that shattered the remains of the divine maze. She ignored the walls, charging straight for R56's heart.

​"R98!" R56 yelled in desperation, his hands glowing with a failing shield spell.

"IS IT TIME YET?!"

​A flash of violet light blinded the garden. The sound of tearing flesh and a heavy, wet spray of blood silenced the world.

​Oralia gasped from the balcony, her hands flying to her mouth.

Liora’s voice was a tiny, trembling whisper.

"Did she just...?"

​As the light faded, the scene revealed a gruesome stalemate. Miyeru’s daggers were buried deep, but not in R56.

R98 had manifested between them at the final millisecond, taking the full force of the strike into his left shoulder.

​Miyeru stared into the bloodied face of the man she had just impaled.

"So," she whispered, her breath hot against his ear.

"The main trash decided to do something human for the first time? You sacrificed yourself for a comrade?"

​R56 stared at R98’s back, his eyes wide with horror.

"Hey... 98?!"

​Slowly, R98 lifted his head. His hair parted, revealing a wide, jagged grin that showed every one of his teeth.

It wasn't the smile of a hero; it was the look of a gambler who had just played an ace.

​"Now is the time!" R98 roared.

​In that instant, R56 slammed his thumb down on a trigger-device in his palm.

Simultaneously, R98’s left hand—the one not impaled—clamped down on Miyeru’s arm with the strength of a hydraulic press.

​A blinding, white-hot discharge of raw energy erupted between them.

​When the light cleared, Miyeru was slumped on her knees, panting heavily, her suit scorched and her body battered by a point-blank blast.

Across from her, R98 stood like a rigid, broken doll. His smirk was still there, fixed and eerie, even as smoke rose from his body.

​"You... monsters," Miyeru wheezed, looking at the space between them.

"Only something like you would blow up their own limb as a sacrifice just to score a hit. I was wrong to call your act human. That was pure, cold calculation."

​R98 didn't answer.

He couldn't.

From the side, the horror was fully visible: R98’s left arm was gone, cauterized at the shoulder by the very blast he had triggered.

​Oralia watched from the balcony, her eyes filled with a new, terrifying realization.

"No," she whispered, her voice carrying over the silent garden.

"That is what a human does... when they are truly desperate."

 

​To be continued...

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