Side Character Who Became the Pseudo-Protagonist

Chapter 32: Replacement Protagonist

Something suddenly slammed into my side, knocking me onto the floor.

Turned out it was Grant, who was breathing heavily on the floor beside me while gunfire continued through the smoke.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I—I..."

But even before I could say anything—

PPAP—!

Grant suddenly slapped me across the face so hard that it brought me back to the present.

"Get a grip! If you want to blame yourself, do it later! It’s up to us to make sure no one else dies. Understood?!"

"R—right..."

For some reason, his words calmed me down.

I had always judged visual novels on their dialogues and script, calling them cheesy and whatnot. Yet what Grant told me somehow wasn’t...

"Save the next person," Grant called out towards me, pressing a sequence onto his Spell Driver.

"That’s all you need to do now."

[Spell Sequence Initializing: Innate Defensive Structure Type—]

[Bastion]

The translucent veil covered Grant once more as he stood up, taking the brunt of the fire with his arms raised.

"Get towards Claire...hurry!"

I nodded, getting to my feet and sprinting towards her direction. My legs trembled and I thought I was going to fall over, but something kept them up.

I wasn’t sure if it was my willpower or something else, but I arrived at Claire’s spot, finding her coughing up blood on the ground.

A smaller frontal barrier had been put up by the surviving cadets after moving to a less concentrated zone. Lohan and Cecilia were trying their best to move everyone else out of the zone of red smoke.

I quickly threw Claire’s arm over my shoulder, helping her stand using my bodyweight.

But as soon as I did, she looked at me with strained eyes. "Nolan...you have to get to Mimir. You’re the only one who can..."

"What? What are you saying?"

"You’re...part of the Strategic Division," she coughed halfway. But even before she finished her sentence, I knew what she wanted to say.

There was no one else.

Grant had to deal with the attack and Claire was too injured to get there. Riley wasn’t part of the Strategic Division and thus didn’t have access.

Which left only me.

...

Only me?

Just moments ago, I’d convinced myself that everything I touched only made things worse. That I had no right trying to replace Leon.

But...

In the original game, where had Leon been at this point?

He would’ve still been inside White Noise’s base, tearing it apart from the inside while their real objective had already succeeded.

However...I’m here now.

I can do something that he couldn’t

It’s not too late.

After stumbling around for another minute or two, we finally managed to break free of the red smoke.

A bunch of cadets dropped to their knees immediately, coughing up whatever Red Logicite particles had gotten into their lungs.

Grant emerged from the smoke a second later with one arm thrown over Lohan’s shoulder. But it was clear the danger wasn’t over yet.

Because stepping out of the smoke came a row of armed attackers. And in the middle of that formation was a man in a similar white coat.

He had long grey hair and round-tinted glasses, the kind that screamed "I’m the obvious big bad." And unfortunately, he really was.

The same man who had been talking to Colette back at that diner, but this time I could properly see who it was without his hat and sunglasses.

Another named villain from White Noise. Just like the Shepherd and later, the Seer, he was one of the main three villains of this arc.

The Commander.

And from what I remembered...

He was fucking strong.

"Grant Nidavel..." he spoke in an almost mocking tone. "What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in Muspel?"

"Who are you?" Grant spat. "I don’t answer to dogs."

"No one your nobleness really needs to know of," the man bowed theatrically. "I’m just here to keep you occupied for a while, that’s all."

"Though I’d prefer if you didn’t compare me to such loyal creatures," he smiled mischievously.

Grant clicked his tongue, already prepping a Spell Sequence. Behind him, the surviving cadets were still struggling to recover.

Some could barely stand while others were coughing so violently that the only red that came out wasn’t Logicite, but blood.

"Nolan," Grant suddenly urged.

"Go."

"...What?"

"Didn’t Clare tell you to get to Mimir?"

He rolled one of his shoulders, stepping up and casting [Bastion]. The veil wrapped over his entire body until his massive frame blocked the path between us and the attackers.

"I’ll handle this."

"You’re barely standing, how can you—?"

"Yeah, I know. Stop wasting time."

BANG—! BANG—! BANG—!

A barrage of gunfire erupted. Bullets flattened against the barrier surrounding him, dropping one after another onto the ground.

I turned toward the direction of the Administration Building, where Mimir was supposed to be housed. But just as I took a few steps out, my eyes caught the Commander’s.

"Leaving so soon?" he joked.

But the moment the man finished speaking, a blur flashed toward me. My eyes could just barely track it, but I couldn’t react in time.

’Fast—!’

I reached for Huginn, but just before the man could reach me...

CLANG—!

A silver flash intercepted him.

The Commander twisted back as something tore past his face, forcing him to skid several meters across the floor.

A thin line of blood appeared along his cheek, dripping freely.

"Tch..."

My eyes followed the direction of the attack, only to see a sniper, sitting in the third floor of the western parking lot, her chopped brown short hair fluttering with the wind.

’Riley!’

"Pest..." the man muttered, attempting to approach me once more.

But again, another blur of light flashed from the same direction right toward the Commander, forcing him to dodge the attack.

"So are you gonna move or are we standing here all day?" Riley’s voice suddenly came from my student terminal.

I looked at her in the distance, then back at Claire and Grant, who were both trying to protect the cadets and fight off the terrorists at the same time.

They all had a job to do. Even if no one asked them to, even if they could die from it. Which meant...I had mine too. An equally important one.

[Spell Sequence Initializing: Tier 1 Physical Enhancement Type—]

[Boost]

Logos flowed through my leg, causing them to feel energized. And before long...

WHOOOOSH—

I rushed past the injured cadets, directly across the man and toward the connecting pathway leading deeper into Asgard Academy.

Toward the Administration Building and the Mimir Database.

Behind me, another explosion shook the ground, and then another.

But I kept running. I didn’t turn back, because I had a role to fulfill too.

There was only one objective: drag the story somewhere canon had never reached.

Because of my actions.

Because now—

I was this game’s replacement protagonist.