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

Three doors waited behind the projection, each carrying a different Sterling crest cut through solid silver.

The greatblade pointed toward the left route while old mana pressed Damien until both knees threatened to fold.

"Claimant, false blood receives no honorable burial from this sealed vault," the projection said, lowering its weapon until stone cracked beneath the tip.

"Oh, lovely, even the family basement handles funeral expenses selectively," Damien replied, forcing one boot beyond the threshold.

’No crowd to provoke and nobody here cares about Cassius, shit, this trial only wants proof written through my body.’

The left door opened onto a circular room containing four armored constructs around one empty weapon rack.

[Vault sentinel]

[Level: 304]

[Adaptation rule: Repeated solutions trigger escalation]

Damien entered before the projection struck his back, then Flickered beside the nearest sentinel while Eye of Reckoning opened.

White lines crossed its shoulder joints, though every chest plate remained blank beneath the Sterling crest.

’No foreign command means Sinner’s Brand cannot cheat this room, fine, Mother built it for sword work anyway.’

His saber met the first sentinel below its elbow, and Threadcut slipped through a silver binding wrapped around the joint.

The construct lost one arm before another spear entered Damien’s flank, catching Iron Veil instead of flesh.

He released Silverlight Draw from beneath the barrier and cut through its exposed weapon shaft.

[Sentinel disabled: 1/4]

Two remaining swords changed formation immediately, copying his low draw while the spear carrier retreated behind them.

’They stole the movement after seeing it once, damn, Sterling ancestors really hated comfortable learning curves.’

Damien Flickered above their crossed cuts, but both constructs followed his destination before he landed.

One pommel struck his ribs while the second blade opened his thigh beneath the torn academy trousers.

[Flesh Debt: 133]

He caught the next attack through Stay of Execution and deliberately stumbled toward the empty rack.

Both swords pursued the apparent opening, leaving their spear carrier without a shield between its core and Damien’s thrown saber.

The weapon pierced its chest before Silverlight Draw returned through Mina’s recall wire attached beneath his cuff.

[Sentinel disabled: 2/4]

’Mina called that wire vulgar engineering, Ugly apparently works beautifully when ancient murder statues get clever.’

The last pair stopped copying Flicker, then spread wide enough to punish every known landing point.

Damien touched the stored Debt instead, releasing forty points through his heel into the floor between them.

[Controlled Debt release: 40]

Broken stone lifted beneath both constructs while he ran through the dust without activating another skill.

His shoulder drove one machine off balance, then Threadcut severed the binding behind its knee during their fall.

He rolled beneath the fourth sentinel’s descending sword and pushed his saber through the first machine’s opened neck.

[Sentinel disabled: 3/4]

The survivor raised its speed profile after recognizing every previous solution across the chamber floor.

[Escalation active]

[Level: 342]

’So repeating my own victory makes you stronger, rude, though Cassius would probably call that family encouragement.’

It attacked with spear technique copied from the destroyed carrier, then changed into Silverlight Draw halfway through the thrust.

Damien abandoned technique entirely and threw the broken rack into its knees before tackling the machine against one wall.

Iron Pulse hardened his shoulder for four seconds while their impact bent silver armor inward around its core.

The leftover force struck both elbows with enough pain to loosen his grip, though one close thrust finished the sentinel.

[First chamber cleared]

[EXP gained: 8,410,000]

[Level increased]

The second door opened before he could heal, revealing a staircase descending around a pit filled with moving chains.

Black hooks climbed between each step while the proctor watched from behind a silver barrier above the entrance.

"Any guidance arrives before I lose another useful limb, old man?" Damien asked, binding his thigh through one-handed pressure.

"A claimant requiring external guidance has already surrendered every right to Verdict," the proctor answered, keeping both gauntlets around its greatblade.

"Right, your warm support explains why family reunions feel so inviting," he replied, stepping onto the first narrow stair.

’It will watch me die without blinking, stop wasting breath, you idiot, read the chains instead.’

Eye of Reckoning found mana feeding each hook from numbered grooves hidden along the pit wall.

The first chain attacked when his weight reached step three, forcing Flicker across two lower stones before another hook turned upward.

Threadcut severed its binding, but three replacements climbed from the pit where one broken link disappeared.

’Repeating the cut multiplies them, this room punishes the same answer too, so every skill gets one clean use.’

He blocked the second hook using Iron Veil, trapped a third beneath his supply case, then jumped across the widening gap.

A chain wrapped his ankle before landing and dragged him toward black movement below the staircase.

Damien triggered Stay of Execution when five hooks entered his back through the academy coat.

[Damage deferred: 60%]

[Time remaining: 01:00]

He stopped fighting the pull and dropped into the pit, letting every chain gather around the same falling target.

’This is either clever or deeply fucking stupid, probably both, which means commit before fear votes.’

Flicker carried him upward through the center after all five hooks crossed beneath his boots.

Their chains knotted together, exposing one thick mana line running from the pit toward groove seven.

Silverlight Draw cut that line once, and every hook fell before the copied technique could strengthen them.

[Second chamber cleared]

Damien landed on the lowest stair while deferred wounds returned across his back beneath controlled release.

The proctor descended without helping, its blank helm angled toward the blood reaching his waistband.

"Your mother cleared this room without receiving a single wound," it said, opening the final stairway through one armored palm.

"She probably trained longer than three hours after being dropped through sabotage," Damien replied, pouring restorative gel beneath his coat.

"Excuses add no meaningful weight to an inheritance claim inside here," the projection answered, walking through the next barrier before him.

’That hurt more than the hooks, damn, this body wants her approval from a weapon wearing dead steel.’

The third chamber resembled a training hall from Damien’s borrowed childhood, including wooden marks carved beside one low pillar.

Memory hit before the first construct appeared, placing smaller hands around a saber while his mother corrected both thumbs.

Her face refused to form clearly, though dark hair brushed his cheek when she lowered the blade.

’Hold gently until the cut begins, Mother said that here, and original Damien remembered even after everybody buried her name.’

Six wooden figures rose around the room wearing masks painted with Cassius’s childhood crest.

[Claim memory trial]

[Defeat the heir who remained]

The nearest figure took Cassius’s adult shape and raised a perfect Sterling guard beneath a polished smile.

"Yield the weapon, little brother, then this house may still forgive your confusion," it said, copying his voice through hollow wood.

"He sounds warmer when witnesses can reward the performance," Damien replied, refusing the bait as five copies surrounded him.

Every wooden Cassius carried level 360 pressure, yet Eye of Reckoning found no core inside any chest.

’The room wants me fighting him forever while proving I remain angry, where did Mother hide the actual claim?’

He looked toward the scratched pillar instead of attacking, finding one tiny saber mark beneath years of dust.

The memory returned through his fingers when they touched it, showing his mother kneeling beside a frightened black-haired child.

"Strength belongs wherever you can carry it without asking permission," her echo said, adjusting the child’s grip around wooden steel.

The Cassius figures attacked while Damien kept one hand against the mark and let their swords reach his back.

Iron Veil opened around the pillar rather than his body, protecting her carved lesson from six descending cuts.

’Beating his face inside Mother’s room proves nothing, I need to take what she meant me to carry.’

Damien pulled the wooden practice saber from the memory and turned it through Silverlight Draw.

Every Cassius copy split at once, revealing empty shells created from fear rather than blood.

[Third chamber cleared]

[Inheritance intent recognized]

[Level increased]

[Current level: 312]

The pressure around his shoulders eased as the proctor lowered its greatblade for the first time.

"Claimant intent has been accepted through three completed chambers today," it said, facing a final door where black light leaked beneath the silver frame.

Damien checked the communication plate despite its dead surface, ’Mina broke stronger locks before breakfast, come on, menace, insult my posture once.’

Static crossed the plate, then one narrow line of text appeared beneath her workshop signature.

[Your saber temperature is twelve degrees above safe tempering range, cool the spine before another Reckoning release. Rush fee applied.]

He laughed hard enough to hurt his back while the proctor turned its helm toward the impossible transmission.

"That external message constitutes forbidden assistance during an active inheritance trial," it said, raising one gauntlet as the plate began burning.

"She provided expensive temperature abuse rather than tactical guidance," Damien replied, plunging his saber into a cooling basin.

’She got through, good, now survive long enough to complain about that bill in person.’

The final door opened before the blade finished cooling, exposing a black core suspended above an empty weapon pedestal.

[Fate anomaly detected]

[Editorial pressure matches Unwritten origin]

Something faceless unfolded behind the core while the sealed vault rewrote its own final chamber.