"Now do you see?"
Seraphina Valerius looked at me with cold pity. "You can't outsmart the Heavens, Vesperian. They aren't just strong. They are the Script."
In this futuristic world of 2526, the 7 Heavens' Chosen were hard-coded to win. Arthurian swung his sword, and 'Causality' ensured he hit. Seraphina spoke, and 'Fate' made it real.
Against them, I was just a D-Rank disappointment from a family of 'Pragmatic Monsters.'
"You're right," I muttered, looking at my charred hands. "I was arrogant to think a human could fool the stars."
—BOOM!!
The golden barrier of the Aetheria Spire shattered. The Hero’s 'Certain Victory' sputtered into grey mist.
"...Wh-What was that?" she gasped.
I smiled. "Maybe you should go ask the stars. Oh wait! You can't. I erased them."
My name is Vesperian Thorne Malakor.
Ten minutes ago, I was supposed to be a corpse. On the last day of school, I got into a fight with the kid I used to bully—the Hero, Arthurian. I tripped, smacked my head, and the memories flooded in.
I realized two things:
I was inside a futuristic game I used to play.
I was a Villain.
Not the cool, tragic kind. I was the worst cliché—a spoiled, arrogant Young Master meant to be a stepping stone. My fate? To be humiliated by the Hero, manipulated by a Devil, and die a dog's death in a D-Rank Rift.
The hero? The same kid I’d been bullying. The 'Main Character' of a world teetering on destruction.
"Ah, fuck it."
I had no idea if I could survive, but I was going to try. Extorting extras, manipulating protagonists, stealing 'Cheat Items' before the Hero finds the map—nothing was beneath me.
But the universe noticed. As an Unregistered Soul, I am an 'Illegal Variable.' The 'Laws' tried to correct me with 'accidents' and random monster spawns.
The script was rigged. The house always wins.
If I played by their rules, I was dead. So, I stopped playing. If the universe uses Laws to protect its favorites... then I’ll use the Void to erase the laws.
[SYSTEM: UNREGISTERED SOUL DETECTED]
[ELEMENT: VOID-ENTROPY (RANK: D)]
[WARNING: YOU ARE AN ILLEGAL VARIABLE]
Excellent. If I'm illegal, I don't follow the rules.
I’m the only one who sees the 'Conditions' of the script. I know the flaws in Arthurian’s 'Victory.' I’ll live with no regrets, gather the 'Dregs' the hero discarded, and make the Heavens tremble.
We aren't here to save the world. We’re here to survive it.
The price of rewriting destiny is steep, and the Void is always hungry.
"Let them come," I muttered, watching the 7 Chosen glow like gods. I stood in the shadows, my D-Rank mastery flickering. I didn't need their light. I had an eraser.
"The script says you win today, Arthurian. I think it's time for a rewrite."