The Broken System Chose the Antagonist

Upon impact, a loud, heavy CLANG erupted from the doors.

Everyone who was standing relatively close to the doors watched them fly off their hinges, dented deeply inwards. Then, they watched in horror as a six-metre boulder invaded their sanctuary.

The boulder was none other than the six-metre-tall, broad-shouldered Soldier. With its thick limbs, it trampled over the collapsed doors. And the moment it locked eyes with the people inside, it wasted no time in its attack.

With a fiendish look in its four eyes, it dug its fingers into the concrete flooring and propelled itself forward. Soon, the Predicament was upon everyone.

But right as it was about to strike down at the people—

"KEEP IT AT BAY!"

—It was quickly intercepted by Scoundrels.

Two armoured Scoundrels and a newly resurrected Scoundrel tackled it from the front and sides. The third armoured Scoundrel with a familiar cape remained by Ross’ side.

’They won’t hold it for long!’ Ross, who had managed to react to the sudden situation, hurriedly ordered everyone to retreat. "Everyone! Retreat further into the warehouse! We’ll escape through the back door!"

It didn’t take even a second for everyone to begin bolting deeper into the warehouse.

The armoured Scoundrels continued to keep the Soldier rooted in place. But that soon changed the moment the Predicament discovered everyone was getting away. It then became enraged.

With strong flicks of its arms, it sent the armoured Scoundrels clinging to its sides into two parallel metal pillars. Then it bent its head down and bit down on the head of the Scoundrel clinging to its chest.

Ross, who suddenly felt some extra clarity in his mind, instantly turned to look back. And when he did, he discovered one of his Scoundrels collapsed to the ground without a head.

At that, he instantly scowled. ’Damnit!’

He had expected the Predicaments to invade the warehouse soon, but he didn’t expect the Soldier to do it itself!

’Now that I think about it, where are the other Predicaments?!’ Ross decided to glance back one last time.

The armoured Scoundrels climbed onto the Soldier’s body; their clawing and biting were ineffective against the bigger Predicament’s tough, rock-like platings. Even its skin was impenetrable against their claws.

The Soldier eventually had enough of their attempts and slammed one of them to the ground. Then, while ignoring the other trying to hold it back, the Predicament began to tear apart the Scoundrel underneath it.

From the metal welded to its skin to its arms and legs. No matter how quickly it regenerated or resisted with all its might, the Scoundrel was powerless against the strength of a Soldier.

Soon enough, after being dismembered, the larger Predicament bit off its head.

It then tried to do the same to the other Scoundrel, but failed to capture it. For even with the metal attached to its body, the Scoundrel was able to outmanoeuvre the Soldier, whose hulking body was slower.

Eventually, the Scoundrel began to quickly adapt to the Soldier’s movements, even able to land a lucky strike on one of its eyes — drawing blood. But in doing so, it made the Soldier deeply enraged.

And when it eventually caught the Scoundrel, it began using the armoured fiend as a flail, slamming it through the metal pillars near them — the ones holding up the ceiling. Not long after that, this Scoundrel was also killed, turned into a bloody mush of flesh and metal.

Fortunately, due to its efforts, everyone was only 20 metres from the exit!

"We’re almost there!" Someone shouted.

But then.

As they were about to reach it...

"ROAHHHHHHHR!"

The Soldier had let out a booming roar in their direction, causing those with weak Hearts to grow weak in their legs. As a result, their progress toward the exit slowed down drastically.

"Come on, just a little more!" Nadia shouted, but was left in subtle dismay as she noticed shakiness in some of the individuals’ legs.

Ross was also troubled by this, but noticed a decent percentage of people weren’t nearly as affected. This gave him an idea.

"Those who aren’t corrupted by fear, carry the people slowing us down!"

Everyone hurriedly did as they were told.

One by one, the stronger-willed individuals began carrying up to two people in their arms. Nadia also did the same. She threw Seraphine and another person on her shoulders before running with the group.

They were close now! Oh-so close!

But...

"Why isn’t it chasing us?" Seraphine stated as she pointed back at the Soldier, who was ominously standing still, staring at them.

"It’s not?" Ross, who heard that, instantly froze. Could it be planning something?

’It’s not smart enough to know its roar frightens us, so there must’ve been a different reason why it roared...’

Was it out of instinct? Or rather...

Ross widened his eyes. ’It’s a signal!’

Without warning, he immediately spun around and began to run the opposite way. This confused people at first, but it soon made sense with what he said next.

"EVERYONE, GET AWAY FROM THE EXIT! IT’S A TRAP!"

Before everyone could fully process the order, the back door suddenly bursted open with Predicaments. At that, everyone immediately spun around and chased after Ross.

And the moment they did that, the walls of the warehouse also bursted open with Predicaments — their razor-sharp claws ripping through them!

They were now surrounded by Predicaments on all sides!

Everyone quickly huddled together, bunching up, as they brandished their weapons at the Predicaments that surrounded them; fear apparent in their eyes.

The Predicaments slowly crept towards them, unhurried.

"T-this is the end!"

"Shit, shit, shit! I don’t wanna die like this!"

"What do we do!?"

At that moment, everyone looked towards Ross for a solution, but all they saw was a somber and bitter look on his face.

Everyone’s faces darkened at that. They then turned to look at Nadia, in hopes she had an idea, but found a similar expression on her face too, albeit more defiant of their situation.

That’s when they all realised that...

The chances of all of them surviving this were bleak. Because of that, they had all begun to either cry, pray, or find ways to cope. There were even some who had already begun to accept that they were going to die.

Seraphine had a teary look in her eyes, unwilling to accept that this was how she was going to die. And because of that, she had begun to doubt it. ’There’s no way! Nadia’s here with me, Callum here too!’

There were several important characters around her. How could she possibly die?! Was Fate so cruel and indifferent to everyone that she would even let important figures like the main character die here!?

’I refuse to accept this! I refuse—’

Creak...!

Out of reflex, Seraphine immediately snapped her head towards the sudden sound and found it came from the rusty pillars holding up the roof.

Could it be that the pillars were struggling to support the roof? But how could that be?

She stared at the ceiling for a few moments, gazing at the skylight that stretched to both ends of the warehouse, then turned to look at the walls. That was when she widened her eyes.

’Of course!’

The holes the Predicaments used to get in here had weakened the warehouse’s frame’s integrity!

’Maybe we can use the roof to our advantage and have it collapse on top of the Predicaments!’

As long as they stood under the skylight and hoped for the best, they should get out, relatively unharmed!

Thinking of this, Seraphine’s confidence returned. ’The pillars look like they’re just barely hanging on... If only we could get something to just nudge them a little...’

Just as Seraphine came to this conclusion—

BANG!

—An ear-piercing sound suddenly rang out, causing everyone, including her, to freeze in place.

’What was that?’ She thought before flinching again.

BANG!

’It happened again!’

Seraphine glanced around, but discovered nothing out of the ordinary to be the cause. Neither she nor anyone knew what was going on.

But there was one question in everyone’s mind regarding these ear-piercing sounds.

Wasn’t this... the sound of gunshots?

Before anything could happen, the ceiling began to drop slightly, and the areas where the metal pillars were rusty began to snap!

Frightened by this turn of events, everyone huddled closer to one another. But froze when a voice rang out among them. A voice that came from a man who had appeared suddenly with a menacing rifle!

It was Callum!

"Everyone, get under the skylight and brace yourselves with Vitality, the roof is about to collapse!"

The people who were acquainted with Callum, particularly the ladies, were overjoyed at his return. But before anything else, they quickly did as they were told.

Ross commanded the armoured Scoundrel to shield them, while Roxy summoned her {Power Wall}.

The Predicaments surrounding them grew restless at the creaking and screeching noises in the warehouse, becoming distracted. But the moment they sensed everyone flare their Vitality, they immediately rushed towards them.

Luckily...

CREAK! Snap—!

... That was the moment the ceiling decided to fall.

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