[Mission Progress: 80/100]
"…Do I really have to do this?" Eren muttered, eyes locked on the interface glowing faintly before him.
In his hand, a sword trembled. Ahead, his teammates were locked in desperate combat with Tier 3 mutated beasts, their shouts and clashing steel echoing across the shattered battlefield. It was chaos — mana-infused creatures roaring, fire and frost weaving through the air, the ground littered with broken stone and blood.
This wasn't some academy-sanctioned assignment. It was a freelance mission — a way to get some training done. The pay was good too.
But the real mission was his alone.
[KILL THE PROTAGONIST AND YOU WILL FINALLY BE FREE]
[YOU CAN GO BACK TO YOUR WORLD]
[DON'T YOU WANT THAT?]
He clenched his jaw, knuckles white against the hilt. His gaze drifted toward the center of the battlefield.
Jason.
The so-called protagonist. Surrounded by carnage, flames dancing around his blade, locked in a furious duel with a Grenox — a towering beast of armored scales and serrated tusks.
Four heroines flanked him, battling their own foes.
"Jason! Are you alright?!" one of the girls called, her spear cleaving through a beast's neck.
Jason grinned, bloodied but unbothered. "Don't worry about me, Jessica! It can't kill me!" His blade ignited in a burst of fire, and with a roar, he charged back in.
Eren watched him, torn. "I don't want to do it… I can't…"
His hands shook, sweat trailing down his temples. But this wasn't the first time. The system had made him do worse. Each step forward had been paved in blood, all with the promise of one thing.
Home.
[THIS IS YOUR LAST TASK, EREN. IF YOU FAIL TO DO THIS NOW, YOU WILL NEVER GO HOME. EVER AGAIN.]
His breath hitched.
For a moment, silence.
Then — a long, steady exhale.
His eyes opened, resolve hardening.
He moved.
The wind caught his silver hair as he sprinted forward, weaving between debris and burning carcasses. His blue eyes locked onto Jason's back — wide open, unguarded in that split-second of victory.
And he believed — he knew — this wouldn't kill Jason. It couldn't. He was the protagonist. Someone like Eren didn't get to change the story.
But even so…
If there was a chance — even one in a million — he would take it.
SHINK!
A spray of blood.
"Ah…" Jason gasped, just as he cleaved off the Grenox's head. His body lurched forward as Eren's blade drove through his abdomen.
He spun, face twisted not in shock — but fury.
"Eren? YOU FILTHY BASTARD!" he roared.
Then, before Eren could even blink—
SHINK! SHINK! SHINK!
Blades impaled him from every direction. Cold steel plunged into limbs, stomach, chest. The pain was immediate, searing.
"Urgh—!" He coughed, crimson spilling from his mouth.
BAM!
A brutal kick slammed into his side, sending him crashing to the ground.
The heroines rushed past without a second glance.
"Jason! Are you okay?!"
"Here! Take this!"
"Let's go — we need to get you treated!"
Their frantic voices blended into noise. Somewhere above, someone was crying. Not for him.
Never for him.
Eren stared up at the sky, blood pooling beneath him, his breath ragged.
"Heh…" A bitter smile crept across his lips.
To say he wasn't jealous of Jason would be a lie. All that love, all that attention — it had never been his.
But he'd come to terms with it long ago.
He was just background. A mob.
"…System," he rasped, eyelids drooping. "Send me home."
No response.
"…System?" he whispered again.
Still nothing.
His eyes shot open. "SYSTEM!"
Silence.
There was no interface. No mechanical voice. Nothing.
"…No. No… No!" he screamed, panic flooding him as realization dawned.
He had been used.
The goddess had never intended to send him back.
The system… it had used him.
All it did was make him play is part in a grand scheme of fate, and had played it.
A pawn.
A placeholder.
"…Haa…" A breathless sob tore from his throat as tears spilled down his cheeks, mingling with blood and dirt.
Then, something flickered in his blurred vision.
A figure.
Pink hair. Pink eyes.
No… not her.
His body froze, heart gripped by a primal fear.
She stepped forward, calm, expression unreadable.
"Oh, Eren…" Her voice was soft. Too soft. "Don't think you're going to die so easily."
Her smile didn't reach her eyes — eyes that promised only madness.
"Oh… how much you'll beg for death."
And in that moment, he knew.
This was just the beginning of his true punishment.