The new world felt… clean.
Too clean.
Kai stood in a sunlit forest, surrounded by birdsong and soft golden rays breaking through the green canopy. The air smelled like hope.
He hated it.
> [LOCATION: ORIGINVERSE_001]
[Primary Narrative Anchor Active: "Chronicles of the Last Hero"]
[Plot Integrity: 99.87%]
This was a core world—a flagship story. The kind the system protected like a crown jewel. Every blade of grass here had been written with love, destiny, and perfect plot symmetry.
> "Let's ruin it."
---
He could already feel it: the pull of the plotline.
Somewhere nearby, a prologue event was about to happen.
> A "Waking Hero" moment.
The chosen farm boy discovering his power.
Cue tragic village fire, dead mentor, secret bloodline…
Kai smirked.
He walked toward it like a man crashing a wedding.
---
Meanwhile, at the edge of that same forest…
A boy named Eren opened his eyes, panting from a nightmare.
Age: 17. Orphan. Average stats. Secret blood of the ancient line. Destined for greatness.
He stumbled to the well to wash his face—and paused.
Smoke. On the horizon.
Then… screaming.
It had begun.
> [QUEST: Flames of Destiny – Initiated]
Objective: Save your village.
Reward: Awakening of the Hero's Core.
He sprinted.
---
Back to Kai.
He didn't need to sprint. He already knew where this was going.
The flames would devour half the village. The bandits would be too well-equipped for coincidence. The "mentor" would die at just the right time to pass on his sword.
Kai arrived at the edge of the burning village just as Eren reached it, wide-eyed and shaking.
Kai stepped out of the forest—wearing a traveler's cloak stolen from a script NPC he had erased on the way in. Erasing NPCs was just another advantage he'd gained after rewriting the rules.
Eren spotted him. "You—who are you?! Are you here to help?!"
Kai glanced at the fire, the slaughter, the cue for a transformation that would trigger Eren's first stat jump.
Then he said:
> "I'm here to make sure you never become the hero."
---
Eren froze. "What?"
Kai smiled, then raised his hand.
[Skill: Narrative Override – Target: Hero Seed]
Command: EXTRACT DESTINY (v1.0)
> Rip the narrative protagonist flag from its vessel. Absorb or destroy it.
Eren collapsed to his knees, screaming as golden light poured out of his chest.
---
[ALERT: Unauthorized Tampering with Chosen Fate]
[System Lock Engaged… FAILURE]
[Protagonist Flag Transferred: → Trialbreaker_Kai]
The system's core marker for the chosen hero had been violently ripped from Eren—and forcibly rewritten onto Kai.
---
Kai's body surged.
Stats that weren't his became his. Plot armor snapped into place around him like a divine exoskeleton. The script tried to reject him—
And failed.
He had overridden too many rules.
---
Eren passed out, empty.
His story was over before it began.
Kai stared down at him, disgusted. "This was your protagonist?"
He looked up at the flames, and the stunned villagers witnessing what looked like a divine event.
> "Change of plans," Kai declared loudly.
> "The gods sent me."
---
[New Identity: Chosen of the Flame] – ASSIGNED (FORCIBLY)
[World Acceptance Level: 73%… 91%… 99%… COMPLETE]
The world's narrative began reshaping itself around him, bending to accept its new protagonist.
[World Narrative Integrity... STABILIZING AROUND NEW PROTAGONIST]
The system didn't purge him.
It bent around him.
---
From a hidden place beyond time, the gods watched.
One of them whispered:
> "We have a problem."