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

Cold rain struck Flood Line Twelve before dawn while Halcrest teams assembled beneath portable barrier lamps.

Damien stood beside the descent cage wearing Mina’s sealed combat coat, ’Lucas earns his medal down there, except Divergence now enjoys changing murder schedules for fun.’

Thirty first-years checked harnesses around him as black water moved far below the grated platform.

Lucas waited near the lead gate in a spotless white field coat, with Daybreak secured across his back beneath a gold rescue sash.

"Lord Sterling, forward support should remain behind my command marker once the descent begins," he said, checking Damien’s altered assignment badge.

"Tell the flood after it reads our academy roles carefully," Damien replied, tightening Mina’s sensor around one wrist.

"The route rewards discipline when every team follows a single rescue structure," Lucas answered, offering calm toward the nearby helmet cameras.

’He believes that completely, damn, maybe Fate never told its favorite child how many corpses support a perfect structure.’

Mina crouched beside Damien’s boots and locked two amber modules against his coat seams.

Her black hair sat inside a rough braid, while deep shadows remained visible beneath the goggles covering tired eyes.

"Hey, these seals cost more than Bram’s remaining dignity," she said, striking the left module until it flashed blue, "bring both back intact."

"That sounds difficult when water keeps treating equipment as a donation," Damien replied, opening the system purchase beside her work.

[Floodbreaker reinforcement kit]

[Pressure seals and tether anchor]

[Price: 4,240 System Points]

[System Points: 25,240 → 21,000]

’Four thousand points for reinforced stitching, ugh, this coat better survive something personally offensive.’

The purchased pattern entered Mina’s modules without claiming her design, then both seals changed toward a darker amber.

She noticed the improvement through her scanner and looked toward Damien with one suspicious brow.

"Your private supplier just modified my pressure lattice again," Mina said, pulling him closer by the front buckle, "we discuss that after finals."

"Yeah, put it behind the conversation where you explain sleeping twice this week," he replied, checking her cracked lower goggle lens.

"Win first, then become irritating somewhere dry enough for proper repairs," she answered, fastening his tether until their bodies pulled together.

’She keeps fastening that buckle harder than necessary, damn, something still waits behind her eyes once I reach the exit.’

Bram hurried across the platform carrying a crate of emergency flares against his broad chest.

"Sterling, marker nine received the double stock you requested, though Quartermaster Pell threatened my remaining academy privileges," he said, lowering the crate carefully.

"Good, place spare tethers near marker seven and move both cameras above the eastern brace," Damien replied, pointing toward the descent map.

"Those cameras belong at the medal platform under official placement rules," Bram answered, looking toward Lucas’s waiting command group.

"Then tell Pell the eastern brace showed corrosion during your inspection," Damien said, handing him one photograph from Tovin’s research.

"It did not show corrosion until Park edited that image," Bram whispered, holding the picture away from every recording crystal.

"Logistics finally discovered plausible maintenance concerns," Mina said, throwing him a second tether crate, "try not confessing beside microphones."

’The cameras see the eastern brace now, good, nobody can bury the rescue if Fate moves that breach again.’

The descent cage carried Damien, Lucas and two rescue squads beneath the flooded shelf while proctors watched from upper platforms.

Water thundered behind a retaining wall on their left, its black surface visible through cracks between old stone plates.

Damien remembered Lucas standing here after the original breach, lifting three students beneath the exact medal camera now positioned elsewhere.

’Twelve seconds after the third warning bell, unless twenty-five percent Divergence turned timing into another suggestion.’

He stopped at marker six and moved a medical sled beneath the eastern brace.

The proctor followed with her recovered staff strapped across one shoulder, irritation visible around a fresh temple scar.

"Forward support belongs near marker eight, Sterling, so explain why my supplies keep migrating," she said, checking his altered placement map.

"The western floor slopes toward the breach, which turns your sled into expensive debris after pressure rises," Damien replied, kicking one loose wheel.

"Your last prediction saved this class, but finals cannot become improvisation around private instincts," Valez answered, resetting the wheel lock.

"Then call this basic gravity and leave instincts out of the report," he said, pushing another barrier pack beside the sled.

Lucas reached marker eight while his rescue squad took polished positions around the official feed crystal.

"Sterling, moving resources away from assigned teams creates confusion during real emergencies," he called, keeping concern visible rather than anger.

"Confusion starts when water hits people before their rescue captain notices," Damien replied, fastening his tether near the eastern brace.

’That sounded too clean, forget arguing, watch the wall before my mouth starts performing for cameras.’

The first warning bell rang while every pressure gauge remained green.

Damien checked the retaining wall and found black residue leaking through a crack near marker seven.

[Correction pressure detected]

[Flood event remains active]

The second bell arrived four seconds early, sending several students toward their practiced evacuation line.

"Hold every position until the third warning confirms actual structural failure," Lucas ordered, raising Daybreak toward the western wall.

Damien saw Mina’s wrist sensor flash red before any gauge changed.

’There, pressure moved east, which means the new camera location sits directly above the real collapse.’

"Leave marker seven now and climb the eastern brace before that wall opens," Damien shouted, cutting one safety rope from its useless western anchor.

Valez looked toward the unchanged gauges, then trusted Northglass memory and redirected both nearest teams.

The third warning bell never rang before the eastern pressure gauge shattered.

Black water punched through marker seven beneath one silent pressure gauge, carrying stone plates across the official medal platform.

Lucas’s rescue position vanished under the first wave, though Daybreak opened a white barrier around his trapped squad.

Damien triggered his new tether and jumped into the current before three students washed beyond the eastern brace.

The line caught around his waist while Mina’s reinforced coat held under pressure that folded ordinary harness rings.

He grabbed the first student’s collar and kicked the second toward Valez’s waiting staff.

The third disappeared beneath black water until one glove closed around Damien’s repaired thigh.

’Got them, shit, somebody else is screaming near the lower grate, so the original three became at least five.’

His saber cut through a broken rail pinning the third student’s harness, then Iron Veil opened above both heads.

Flood debris struck silver mana while every blocked piece fed small entries into his brightening tally.

[Flesh Debt: 116]

"Pull this tether after I send two bodies toward your brace," Damien shouted, looking up at Valez through the storm.

"You count as one of those bodies, Sterling, unless drowning failed your mathematics course," she answered, wrapping her staff around the line.

"My arithmetic becomes extremely flexible during active structural collapse emergencies," he replied, shoving both students into the tether loop before another wave hit.

Valez hauled them upward while Damien released the line and dropped toward the lower scream.

The camera Bram moved above the eastern brace tilted down, recording his coat disappear beneath the official safe depth.

’Good, every proctor sees this route now, which means nobody can hand the decision to Lucas afterward.’

A trapped girl struck the lower grate from beneath one air pocket, her helmet light blinking through tangled cables.

Damien Flickered underwater and reached her before the pocket collapsed, cutting three wires around both ankles.

The skill stuttered against flood pressure while his mana fell below half inside one ugly pulse.

He caught the girl’s harness and triggered his reserve tether, feeling Mina’s second anchor lock around his chest.

"Breathe after we reach somewhere considerably less full of black water," Damien said through their helmet channel, pulling her against his shoulder.

"That instruction feels extremely late while my helmet keeps leaking," she gasped, pressing both hands over one cracked seal.

Damien pushed Iron Veil around her helmet instead of his body, sealing the leak while current drove his back across stone.

[Flesh Debt: 287]

The eastern team pulled both bodies upward as another section of Flood Line Twelve collapsed beneath them.

Lucas broke through his white barrier and carried two injured students toward the remaining platform after Damien’s fourth rescue reached safety.

Every camera followed the black coat hanging beneath the brace, while commentators replayed his early warning above the surface feed.

[Finals rescue objective complete]

[Students rescued: 4]

[EXP gained: 3,311,000]

[Level: 230 → 244]

[Ascension Board: #118 → #96]

Damien climbed onto the platform through shaking arms, ’fourteen levels, nice, now why does the water below still feel angry?’

Lucas landed across from him carrying one student beneath each arm, his gold sash torn where the first wave struck.

"That warning prevented deaths today, Sterling, though abandoning the command line nearly added yours," he said, lowering both students toward medics.

"Tell me after the command line stops floating behind you," Damien replied, sitting before his knees chose the floor.

The last visible student left Flood Line Twelve while Mina appeared above the extraction gate with one hand around Damien’s tether control.

Relief reached Mina first before anger tightened her mouth around the decision she still had not explained.

Then the black water beneath them opened around one enormous eye.

[Flood Line sovereign]

[Level: 612]

[Fated prize detected]

[Core claimant: Lucas Arden]

’Of course the medal scene has a second act, damn, Fate still wants its hero paid.’

The eye turned beneath the platform, and every surviving camera followed the body rising behind it.