Clang!
Immediately the silver armored knight's blade jerked off course, knocked aside by someone I hadn't even noticed. The man stood between me and the soldiers like he'd been carved out of smoke. A long brown scarf draped down to his abdomen, the upper part wrapped around half his face. Short black hair. A mechanical arm gleaming in the firelight, and in that metal grip, a blade held steady.
The knight staggered back,
"You! You again! You still dare stand against the emperor of Valoria!"
Valoria.
The name crashed into me. I'd heard it before… in the Novel. The kingdom that bordered Luminaries. The same Valoria whose prince was engaged to Isolde.
My mind quickly reeled.
Why here?
Why now?
Was I now in Valoria?
When the Valoria became an empire? How long did I stay in that void?
The answer didn't matter, because the knights moved first. All four of them lunged at the lone rebel, blades flashing against each other.
Clang!
He didn't flinch.
He didn't quiver.
His mechanical arm snapped up, turning aside a strike like it was nothing. Steel clashed again and again as he shifted, blocking with metal, parrying with practiced precision, countering with sharp, fast movements that left sparks jumping across the ruined floor.
One man against four.
And he was holding his ground.
Clang!
He pushed the first knight back, and when another rushed in, he quickly lifted his mechanical arm and blocked the strike. Steel hit metal hard. He twisted his wrist and shoved the knight aside. A third knight swung at his ribs, and he swiftly—barely—stepped back, the blade just scraping his scarf.
He didn't react, just moved again. As the fourth knight came in from behind, he shifted his weight and brought his metal arm up like a shield. The hit bounced off with a loud crack. Striking back, his blade cut across the knight's armor, forcing him to stumble.
The knights quickly regrouped, taking in new formations: four against one, again. They attacked at the same time. He didn't retreat; he pushed forward. He blocked the first strike, dodged the second, and caught the third with his mechanical arm. He kicked the fourth in the chest, and armor clattered as the knight fell, but he didn't stop moving, keeping his body between me and them.
Everything happened so fast.
But I managed to catch some of it.
This had to be fate.
She was playing with me again.
I couldn't stay on the ground.
I wouldn't let her have her way.
I forced my body to move, inch by inch, while the knights clashed with that stranger.
I dug my fingers into the dirt and tried again.
Nothing.
My limbs felt like wet sand.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Move, damn it.
I clenched my teeth.
Move.
Take control of your fate.
Something twitched.
Barely.
But it was enough to push me forward.
I dragged a knee under me.
Then the other.
My arms shook.
My head spun.
My whole body felt like it weighed twice as much as it should.
But I was moving.
I pushed harder, let out a rough breath, and forced myself upright.
Not steady.
Not comfortable.
But standing.
It wasn't much.
My legs wobbled under me.
Still…
I'd won something.
A small victory.
But mine.
.
.
Still staggering, I heard a sharp ringing in my head.
At first I thought it was the fight.
Then I saw it.
A blue screen floated in front of me.
The text was clear. Readable.
I reached out on instinct, as my hand passed through it, and something clicked.
A system?
Like in those novels?
That made no sense.
Wasn't the protagonist supposed to be the one who gets a system?
And this world was a romance novel, for damn sake.
Why would a system show up here?
[Host has been transmigrated into a world he's familiar with, and was in the brink of death. Role Inversion has been activated. Your soul has been swapped with another character in this world.]
Role Inversion?
So I was switched from being Arthur to becoming someone else.
[You have been selected to initialize the Heart Protocol. This window will track your progress in the current world. To fully activate the Heart Protocol, the Host must achieve the 'Love Found' state.
Current Status: Single.]
Finding love?
Fuck you, I don't need fate to tell me what I have been looking for.
I will find love nonetheless.
Loading status screen....
Rewarding Host.....
Reward Granted to Host! The Host has fully comprehended the Law of Gravity, acquiring the [Gravity Domain].
[Heart Resonance Protocol]
────────────
Name: ??? (Tri-Soul)
Age: 15
Status: Single
Soul Core: 3
Soul Weapon: ???
Domain: Gravity(B)
Learned Arts: None
Innate Abilities: Inertial Precept
────────────
Inertial Precept ? I thought, and then a new screen hovered over the former.
Inertial Precept
────────────
Host's consciousness achieves total synchronization with the fundamental forces governing motion and mass. Inertial Precept grants an absolute, intuitive understanding of gravity, momentum, and inertia across all three spatial dimensions.
────────────
Wait! Everything is moving so fast.
I understand gravity?
And Mana domain?
Never heard that in the novel.
The thirty chapters hinted on magic in the world, but it was mostly focused on the love dynamic between Isolde and Rowan Vale,that it didn't delve deep.
Then, a hand clamped down on my shoulder, firm enough to stop every thought in my head.
I froze.
I didn't know who it was.
Couldn't guess.
So I turned slowly, bracing for whatever came next.
Foe or friend… time would tell.
The man from the fight stood behind me, his scarf still covered half his face, as his mechanical arm hummed with a low, steady sound, faint sparks fading along the metal.
Up close, he felt even sharper, like standing next to a drawn sword that hadn't decided whether to cut you or save you.
He gave me a quick look, sizing me up in a heartbeat.
"Tch. You're alive. Good," he said, voice rough and steady, carrying that blunt confidence that didn't care if you liked it or not.
The man tapped his chest with two fingers.
"Elijah Stormreed."
I blinked, still trying to process everything.
Elijah jerked his chin toward the hallway.
"Let's go, kid. Unless you wanna test how many lives you've got left."
---------------------------------------------
[A/N:] Hey everyone, me again, the humble author.
I heard some complaints about the MC and my writing style, so if you have any suggestion, comment it down below. And for anyone asking, No, he's still in the same romance novel as before, he's just 10 years in the future of the novel.