This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

"My antenna. Where is it? What did you do with it?"

Since they were now partners, Rita decided it was only fair to show some sincerity.

She reached into her gacha machine and took out the item [Reclusive Antenna Baby], lifting it high to keep it out of Y128's reach.

"See? Your antenna is right here. Perfect condition. A flawless artifact. And to honor you, I even named it after you."

Before Y128 could grab it, she let the Mechanoid tap the item so it could scan it.

Y128 froze. The name repeated over and over in its data stream. Then it asked, in utter confusion, "Reclusive Antenna Baby. Where exactly is my name in that?"

"Baby," Rita answered confidently. "That's you."

Disgust. Pure disgust.

Y128 trembled with outrage. It turned its cube head toward B80 and then toward L175246, back and forth.

"You two actually like… this?"

B80 looked away.

L175246 hesitated two seconds, then covered its face and continued crying.

Rita blinked. "…What is that supposed to mean?"

She turned toward Nivalis. "Why are you quiet?"

Nivalis scratched the back of its head. "Sometimes it's embarrassing to admit… publicly."

Rita: ?

She sat beside L175246, arguing with Y128 while pulling a pile of materials from her gacha machine.

A glowing grass that looked like a dog's tail.

A twig-like alchemy reagent that changed color according to mood.

Gemstones, metals, and other parts—she laid everything out across the ground.

She looked at the two bald Mechanoids. "Pick something. I'll use Refurbish to stick it onto your heads. Or if you have your own materials, that works too."

L175246 and Y128 hesitated less than a second before squatting down to choose.

They tested almost every item—liking one item for a moment, then immediately abandoning it for another.

L175246 asked her for opinions every time it switched.

Y128 stayed silent at first, then, for some reason, began asking as well. Rita patiently answered every question—she hadn't been this patient even when choosing event dresses in the past.

Nivalis leaned against her leg nibbling on snacks from the gacha capsules, while B80 occasionally threw in obviously terrible suggestions just to stir things up.

Rita ended up spending the entire remaining duration of the mini-game helping the two robots compare antenna options. Luckily, Refurbish lasted thirty minutes per use and didn't consume extra resources.

When the game in this zone ended, there were still twelve minutes before the third stage: the Battle Royale. Worried the next zone might have a weird opening game, Rita simply gathered her trio and left Oasis Town to continue the antenna selection elsewhere.

They only finished picking with two minutes left.

Two little robots sat in the sand with flower-like gadgets blooming from their heads, grinning their metal faces off.

Rita rested her chin in her hand, watching the two idiots giggle. "So easy to please."

Y128's legs, which had been swinging happily, froze at the comment—but only briefly. A few seconds later, it resumed swinging even faster, bumping shoulders with L175246, not looking at BS-Rita as it whispered, "Let's work well together."

That made Rita laugh.

But just as she was about to respond, the world twisted.

Her pets vanished back into the pet space.

Her perspective shifted dramatically.

Everything around her grew enormous—because she had shrunk.

The reference point was obvious: the small sunflower-like bloom she had just installed onto Y128's head.

Tick-Tock Bloom.

Seven to eight centimeters tall.

Yet she now stood slightly shorter than it.

Y128, beside her, was the same size.

Both of them were riding on the head of the original, half-meter-tall Y128 unit.

They stood on a vast grassland.

Around them, distant Mechanoids stood spaced far apart, each with a tiny player and a tiny Mechanoid perched on its cube head.

The game announcement finally echoed.

[BATTLE ROYALE]

First round:

This match begins with 22 maps, each containing 4,726 players or Mechanoids. At the start, each map will spawn five Hunters. Hunters will chase the nearest target within their line of sight.

Second round:

One hour after the game starts, the 22 maps will merge randomly into 11. Players, Mechanoids, and Hunters from two maps combine, but map size stays the same. Each of the 11 maps will receive 10 additional Hunters.

Third round:

Two hours in, the map with the highest remaining population will be completely eliminated.

The remaining 10 maps merge into 3.

Remaining players, Mechanoids, and Hunters will be evenly redistributed.

Each map receives another 10 Hunters.

Fourth round:

Final stage, three hours in: all maps merge.

The game continues until only one player or Mechanoid remains.

[Special Rules]:

Only Player Relics and items from random supply crates may be used.

Any equipment brought from outside in any form will be nullified.

Every five minutes, supply crates will drop.

The number of crates equals current player count divided by 10.

Each map contains Mechanoid rapid-charge stations—free, indestructible, immovable, and cannot be hidden.

…

When the rules ended, the clouds overhead shifted and formed a massive 30-minute countdown.

At the same time, Rita felt herself float upward about thirty centimeters above the larger Y128's head.

Far away, a Mechanoid fell over dramatically and writhed like a dying fish.

Rita sensed something bad.

A moment later, her body tilted left—Y128 on the other side had moved.

Sensing the problem, Y128 immediately froze.

As Rita shifted her weight to her left foot, the giant Y128 beneath them also shifted, imitating their movements—her posture on the left, Y128's posture on the right.

Even the angle of its cube head matched Y128's.

Rita shut her eyes in pain.

She recognized this kind of gameplay.

Two players controlling the same character—one managing the left half, one managing the right half.

They were going to play Battle Royale like this?

She suspected the so-called "five minutes of personal descent into the Battle Royale" reward meant five minutes of full control.

And worst of all…

Hunters.

That name screamed "gods and demons wearing a new skin."

How many of them had she offended again?