But me? I wasn't like them. I didn't need kills to rank, not yet. My primary objective was far simpler, far more elegant.
I just needed to survive. To wait. To reach the central tower while the rest of these arrogant fools tore each other to pieces.
And then, when they're all bloodied, exhausted, and running on the dregs of their mana…
I make my move.
Because Ashen Crimson doesn't fight fair. Ashen Crimson fights smart.
[You have entered Zone: Sector M]
[Next Zone Collapse in: 9 minutes, 38 seconds]
Let the massacre begin. And may the plot twist be ever in my favor.
DING! DING!
A sudden, jarring notification slapped my thoughts mid-strategy, the System's interface flashing with an obnoxious, pulsating light.
[SIDE QUEST UNLOCKED: "Cockblock the Chosen One"]
▸ Objective: The protagonist, Rin, is on a collision course with his fated love interest, Cecilia Thorne. This is a critical narrative juncture. Prevent them from meeting. Prevent them from fighting. Take her away. Take *every* girl away.
▸ Reward: EVERYTHING. (Seriously. We'll owe you BIG.)
…What.
"Oye, system. What the hell just happened to you? Did you get drunk on patch notes? This is the most unprofessional quest I've ever seen."
And that harem nonsense?
"Keep it. I don't want a harem. I don't even want one girl, let alone five. I'm here to win, not start a dating sim. So shut up."
DING!
[Quest Reward Updated: [Lightning Barrage (S-Rank Spell)] has been added to the reward pool.]
[Quest Failure Penalty Updated: All Core Attributes will be permanently reduced to E-Rank. This includes Charm, Mana, Strength, Speed, and even your abysmal Luck.]
I blinked, my heart skipping a beat.
"System… are you insane?"
There was no reply. Just the cold, quiet digital air and the weight of the absurd, non-negotiable quest now hanging over my head. My plan to lay low and observe had just been thrown into a meat grinder.
I looked around Sector M, a landscape of urban decay. A ruined cafe caught my eye, its elegance a ghostly reminder of a forgotten time. Ivy climbed the cracked stone walls, a faded blue umbrella flapped mournfully in the wind, and wrought-iron chairs were scattered across the broken patio like forgotten memories.
The kind of place lovers would've met—if this weren't a war zone.
I sat down at one of the tables, the metal cool against my hand. I imagined a cup of coffee, rich and dark. I pretended to sip from it, a moment of quiet defiance against the chaos.
Because in exactly three minutes, according to the original timeline, this calm would turn into hell.
I closed my eyes, letting the memories of the novel flow through me. I mapped out the movement paths in my head. The moment the players were scattered across this twisted VR world, the future began writing itself. I knew every student's spawn point, every intended route.
Every death flag. Every betrayal.
So, to make this ridiculous, sentient System happy—and to keep my stats from tanking into oblivion—I had to play the villain. The third-party chaos unit. The butterfly that flaps its wings and ruins destiny.
"Alright," I whispered to the wind. "Let's get toxic."
I raised my hand, palm facing the cracked concrete.
"Arise."
The shadows beneath me squirmed, thickening from faint grey wisps into a pool of churning, liquid darkness. With a sound like grinding stone, a squad of my undead minions clawed their way out of the ground. Skeletons with cracked helmets and chipped bone-swords. Goblins with mismatched armor and eyes that glowed with a malevolent, borrowed light. Some even had backwards legs, a quirk of my still-imperfect summoning.
Didn't matter.
They wouldn't be alive long enough for medical attention.
"I have a suicide mission for you," I said, my voice flat.
Their heads tilted in unison. They were enthusiastic, loyal, and utterly, gloriously stupid.
Perfect.
"Go southeast. Cut across Sector K. You'll find a boy with glowing blue hair, glowing blue eyes, and a ridiculously heroic jawline. His name's Rin. He's like a protagonist from a discount bin, a budget version of me."
The skeletons rattled their bones in agreement. The goblins grunted.
"You don't need to kill him. In fact, don't even try. Just deviate him. Confuse him. Harass him. Run in circles if you have to. Lure him away from Sector I. That is Cecilia's location. Under no circumstances are they to meet."
One goblin saluted so hard its arm fell off. Another flexed its meager biceps. A skeleton dabbed, a gesture it had somehow picked up from the dregs of its former life's memories.
"Right," I continued. "And if by some miracle you do manage to corner him, if you get him to a dead end—then you may destroy him. Tear the script apart. Show the world that even disposable summons matter."
My undead army let out a collective roar. Okay, it was more of a wheeze, accompanied by the cracking of old joints and the clatter of loose bones, but emotionally? They roared.
"Your sacrifice will be remembered," I lied.
They sprinted off, all six of them, a motley crew of cannon fodder running like excited lemmings toward their gloriously dumb, glorious death.
I stood up and stretched, my joints popping.
"Happy now, system?"
Nothing. No ding. No flashy screen. Just the wind whistling through the ruined cafe.
But for some reason… I swear I heard it whisper back:
"...Good boy."
I shivered, a genuine chill running down my spine.
I patted the shadow at my feet, where Volkin now resided. He yawned, a silent ripple in the darkness, and curled into shadow again.
"Rest up, doggo. I'll need your teeth in sixty minutes. Target: literally everyone."
The cafe flickered, a momentary glitch in the VR world. The zone was already starting to collapse from the outermost edges. Purple sparks, like dying nerve endings, ran across the sky. The thunder cracked with an unnatural, digital loudness. Time was ticking.
I pulled my hood back on, my face once again a mask of shadow.
"Phase One: Chaos. Initiated."
Phase Two? Steal the spotlight.
Phase Three? Rewrite the ending.
Because in this story, Ashen Crimson was supposed to be a side character, a stepping stone for the hero.
But the author clearly hadn't met me yet.
[Zone Collapse in: 6 minutes, 17 seconds]
[Rin's Path: Altered – Slight Southward Drift Detected]
[Cecilia Thorne Interaction Probability: 17% → 3%]
Let the plot derailment begin.
And may the girls not be with Rin.
At least for now.