This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

The colossal dungeon gate opened once more, spilling out a figure cloaked in shadow and frost. This time it was none other than the Undead Monarch—Lania Kaia's Bone Shade.

Emaciated, pallid, draped in silence. His silver plate armor gleamed coldly beneath the night, a black cloak trailing behind him like spilled ink. A massive scythe of bone rested in his skeletal grip. Long white hair whipped wildly in the evening wind as he strode forth.

The instant he stepped free of the gate, his gaze found her.

BS-Rita.

She stood waiting outside the portal. Her flame-touched wings burned behind her, cold brilliance clung to her frame, and dragon markings traced a glowing pattern across her right cheek. Her black hair had been dyed ice-blue by raw frost magic, and in her hand gleamed a dagger as long as her forearm, gripped in a reverse hold.

A platinum helm-wheel orbited her shoulder. A retro lantern spun slowly near her waist.

Cat's Ideal. And the Wrathful Moon—lost for a thousand years.

Two divine relics.

His voice was flat, drained of all inflection, as he spoke his purpose: "BS-Rita."

Like Shanrane before him, his words came in a clipped, archaic English.

Rita hadn't expected the second arriving leader to be undead.

Bone Shade, sixteenth rank Abyssal. Ranked just behind Wither Monarch, just ahead of Mistblade on the Heavenly Ladder. She dared not underestimate any undead monarch.

Lania Kaia had been born of the Undead. They were the oldest, the deepest, the most terrifying in their roots. The fall of the Moon Fox snowscape, the Candlebeasts' endless night, the Forest Sea of the Oak Owls—each vanished world bore the handprints of the Undead.

She sneered, her words laced with mockery. "So afraid of me already? I thought you'd keep sending fodder."

Bone Shade betrayed no reaction. His tone remained level, even courteous. "You are worth Lania Kaia's full strength."

An enemy of staggering weight. Or a prize worth winning.

He went on, calm as still water. "If Blue Star is willing to yield and merge into Lania Kaia, we will end the war at once. Humanity will become the thirteenth Sacred Clan. Three capital cities will be built in your name. And you… you shall stand as our equal."

Fifteenth-rank Abyssal, speaking to an eleventh-rank Nightmare, and offering equality.

A gift wrapped in irony. A respect laced with absurdity.

Equal footing. Such a beautiful staircase.

In that moment, Rita understood why the Undead had carried Lania Kaia so far. No arrogance, no open contempt. A perfect blend of iron and velvet.

Their plan had been clear: divide their leaders, some suppressing her within the Divine Game, others annihilating Blue Star. Yet when she returned, they shifted instantly. A monarch himself came down, not to crush her—but to persuade.

But Bone Shade's presence meant one thing. If she refused, the scythe would fall.

What choice was left? Could she kill him within two hours? If not, when the next monarch descended, she would face two at once. And when the fourth hour came, three.

If she fell, Blue Star would drown in blood.

Below, tens of millions of mortals and revenants stared upward. Not a sound. Only the keen of the wind across the night.

Once, she might have weighed surrender. Tallied costs, measured odds, sought Avery and the great legion commanders to debate the wisest course.

The fate of Blue Star—how could one person decide it? To carry such weight was unthinkable.

Yet here and now, who else had the right?

She would never yield her choice to another.

Every soul in Blue Star gazed at her. Every invader of Lania Kaia as well. All waiting for her answer.

And one other waited too.

[So then, BS-Rita. Are you ready to answer my question? Will you be leader of Blue Star—or master of Blue Star?]

"What difference?"

[The leader shares its honor and shame. The master shares its life and death.]

[The former I can name myself. The latter requires a vote of all Blue Star. I would prefer you as the former. Because if Blue Star is shattered, as long as you remain a Divine Game player, there is hope for it to be remade.]

"So Mistblade, Maple Syrup, Pine Bloom—they're only leaders?"

[Yes. Every breath they take now is to rebuild the Snowscape and the Forest Sea.]

"…Ask me again after I finish with Bone Shade."

[I will await your answer.]

Blue Star's question could wait. Bone Shade's could not.

She moved. A flash forward, dagger carving a deadly arc toward the invader.

No. She would not accept this. She would not erase the last four months as if nothing had happened. She would not shed her Blue Star name, abandon its memory.

The scars in the earth. The revived souls. The tears. The cheers.

Some choices could not be weighed against probabilities or reason.

There was no uglier name than Lania Kaia's Rita.

Bone Shade evaded, and for the first time, a chuckle escaped him. "Pity."

Pity. That he hadn't fooled her.

The moment he saw two divine relics in her hands, he had abandoned the old plan. No ally could outweigh such treasures. His offer had been theater, only to mock her when she bowed her head. To see her face at that betrayal… ah, that would have been sweet. But now, ruined.

As their blades clashed, Rita's stats surged, numbers exploding upward. Her health and mana quadrupled in a heartbeat.

Only now did she trigger School Rule No. 801, pulling every cooldown to a single second. She summoned Multiline Combat, birthing nine clones at once, each with eighty percent of Bone Shade's stats.

The copies split, three to each battlefield, to hold the lines in her stead.

And as they descended, her voice thundered from every throat. "Fight to the death!"

On the ground, Avery raised her staff high, slamming it into the earth. Circles of radiant buff-magic rippled outward. Her clear, solemn voice rang across the fields. "Fight to the death!"

Miles away, another commander thrust his sword to the sky and roared. "Fight to the death!"

A bowstring snapped taut. "Fight to the death!"

A shield slammed into soil. "Fight to the death!"

From the heavens, the resurrected Blue Spirits bellowed as one. "Fight to the death!"

Sector A.

B8017913, already redeployed at Bone Shade's appearance, lifted its glowing blade. "Fight to the death!"

Voices answered, a wave crashing forward.

"Fight to the death!"

"Fight to the death!"

"Fight to the death!"

Rain fell in torrents. Where there was rain, there was Sanchez. She darted between droplets, reappearing behind an enemy commander, her fist-blade plunging. "Fight to the death!"

Sector B.

At the moment Rita's order reached them, every commander lifted their weapon, their voices urgent, fierce, unrelenting.

"Fight to the death!"

"Fight to the death!"

"Fight to the death!"

Was it better to bow, to beg survival? Or to defend dignity and honor, no matter the cost?

BS-Rita had made her choice. And Blue Star would follow her into the fire.