Villain's Refund System: The Protagonist's Harem Is Mine

Metal screamed behind Halcrest’s exhibition vault while Damien cut through the final corridor seal beside Mina.

His repaired leg burned under every step, ’shit, Father nearly folded me an hour ago, yet her machine picked tonight for possession.’

Mina carried a compact tool case against one hip, with dried blood still marking the amber patch beneath her jaw.

"Hey, stop favoring that leg before your terrible posture becomes permanent," she said, pressing three override pins into the vault lock.

"I will schedule better posture after your prototype quits screaming," Damien replied, watching black residue leak through the door seam.

"That sound comes from the stolen copy, rich boy, mine had standards," she answered, twisting every pin until blue sparks joined between them.

’Stolen copy, Hallow moved faster after losing his rune, which means the script keeps dragging his showcase toward us.’

The doors opened several centimeters before a brass hand punched through their center and grabbed Mina’s tool case.

Damien cut its wrist, though severed fingers kept crawling along the handle toward her bare skin.

"That piece remains deeply committed after losing every useful joint," Mina said, smashing it beneath one reinforced boot.

The hand flattened, then black threads pulled its fingers together around her heel.

Damien raised his saber over the crawling pieces, ’cutting failed once, fine, pin every ugly finger until Mina traps their signal.’

Damien grabbed Mina’s coat and dragged her backward as the entire door buckled toward them.

A six-legged torso forced itself through the gap without any head, using detached arms to widen torn metal.

[Correction Construct Fragment]

[Level: 173]

[Core State: Distributed]

’Distributed core, wonderful, cutting it apart only creates more homicidal furniture.’

The construct lunged toward Mina while every loose hand followed behind it across the stone.

Damien triggered Flicker and appeared against its side, driving his saber through two brass legs before black current struck his chest.

His old recovery bandages heated instantly, forcing the Blood Ledger open through one painful pulse.

[Flesh Debt: 73]

Mina rolled beneath a swinging arm and threw four magnetic clamps across the vault entrance.

"Keep its torso between those blue lights for twelve seconds," she shouted, unfolding her wrench-hammer beside one shoulder.

"That machine ignores missing limbs, so your timing feels extremely optimistic again," Damien replied, blocking another crackling hand.

"Every scrap of optimism left when somebody scheduled this after midnight," she answered, slamming her hammer into the nearest clamp.

Blue lines caught the torso between opposing fields, stretching black residue away from every brass joint.

Damien saw one hidden knot beneath its chest plate, exactly where the original novel placed Mina’s ignition signature.

’That should be the stolen rune, unless Divergence moved it, which has become Fate’s favorite little joke.’

He cut toward the knot, but the exposed residue formed a second jaw around his saber and pulled him against the torso.

Several broken fingers climbed his sleeve while heat spread toward the veins beneath his wrist.

[Correction Possession Attempt]

[Shop Emergency Access Available]

A grimoire page opened across Damien’s sight while Mina fought through two reaching limbs.

[Iron Veil]

[Instant Mana Barrier]

[Price: 1,640 SP]

[Current Balance: 9,840 SP]

’Buy the barrier now or let murder crawl into my arm, yeah, saving points here would make you an absolute clown.’

He accepted, and the page dissolved through his chest before cold mana locked around both forearms.

[Iron Veil acquired]

[System Points: 9,840 → 8,200]

Damien triggered the skill, forcing a dark silver barrier outward beneath every climbing finger.

Possessed metal shattered away from his sleeve while the construct recoiled between Mina’s blue clamps.

"You learned a barrier during my twelve-second instruction," she called, tearing open its rear plate, "show-off later and cut here now."

"Your gratitude needs serious repair before our next shared emergency," Damien replied, Flickering toward the place beneath her raised hammer.

Their weapons struck together through the exposed knot, but black residue split around both edges instead of breaking.

Mina dropped her tool and shoved one hand inside the open plate before it could close.

"Hold the housing apart while I find Hallow’s actual ignition line," she ordered, wires cutting across her glove.

Damien caught both plate edges and pulled until the brass frame bent around his shoulders.

The machine kicked through his wounded thigh, nearly folding the brace before Iron Veil absorbed a second impact.

’Barrier takes mana fast, damn, maybe buying it five minutes earlier would have saved my leg considerable resentment.’

Mina traced three wires by touch, then ripped the first one free with her teeth clenched behind a furious grin.

"This silver circuit came from my design, while that black strand belongs inside Hallow’s throat," she said, exposing both lines.

"Please mark the throat strand clearly before tomorrow’s exhibition," Damien replied, forcing the housing wider, "I would hate another expensive mistake."

"Keep talking and I will label your forehead first," she answered, slicing around the black strand with a heated probe.

The torso went limp for one breath, yet every severed part began crawling toward its chest again.

Damien kicked two hands away while Mina pulled the ignition rune free inside a cage of blue wire.

’Come on, stay dead after she removes the ugly part, nobody wants another round with your fingers.’

Black residue screamed without sound, shaking dust from the corridor ceiling as detached limbs collapsed around their boots.

The captured rune struck its glass cage twice, ’still angry, good, Hallow’s seal remains alive enough to testify against him tomorrow.’

[Correction Construct Neutralized]

[EXP Gained: 966,000]

[Level: 155 → 161]

Mina sealed the rune inside three glass plates, then sat against the ruined vault door with her tool case across both knees.

"Somebody copied my entire control architecture and still wired the return loop backward," she said, wiping sweat from one temple.

"You sound more offended by poor workmanship than attempted murder," Damien replied, lowering himself beside a severed brass leg.

"Murder is common around you now, terrible soldering remains a personal choice," she answered, holding the captured rune toward his face.

’She nearly got possessed twice and still wants to insult Hallow’s wiring, okay, that might be genuinely attractive.’

The professor’s faculty seal appeared beneath the black coating, complete with a timestamp matching tomorrow’s public showcase.

Damien remembered the original Chapter where Lucas exposed Hallow nine hundred episodes later, after hundreds of stolen inventions.

’The story protects that bastard until Chapter nine hundred, except his own seal sits inside Mina’s hand right now.’

Footsteps reached the far corridor as academy security finally crossed the seals behind them.

Mina closed her fist around the glass cage and stood before any officer could claim custody.

’Good, she kept control of her evidence before Halcrest could bury everything beneath procedure.’

"This evidence stays inside my workshop until an independent plate copies it," she said, hooking the tool case against her hip.

"Good, Hallow controls the faculty chain that would accidentally lose it," Damien replied, raising Iron Veil around one reaching officer.

The man stopped before touching her evidence, while Mina looked at Damien’s new barrier with open approval.

"Useful trick, though your color choice looks painfully expensive," she said, stepping through the ruined doorway.

"It cost enough points to hurt me emotionally for several days," he replied, following her while the dead pieces remained still.

Inside the glass cage, Hallow’s seal pulsed once toward tomorrow’s exhibition hall.