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

Black lines spread from the suspended core and erased half the chamber before Damien finished reading its profile.

The pedestal vanished beneath fresh stone, then his cooling saber returned to the position it occupied three seconds earlier.

[Proofreader precursor]

[Level: 447]

[Function: Revert unauthorized outcomes]

’It edits the room whenever I gain something the trial never planned, fuck, even reality has miserable moderators now.’

The faceless construct stepped from behind the core wearing white armor covered in crossed-out Sterling names.

Its right hand held a narrow blade, while the left carried loose black letters around each metal finger.

Damien Flickered toward its blind side and cut beneath the shoulder where Eye of Reckoning found one weak line.

His saber entered armor, black letters flashed, then both fighters returned to their starting marks without damage.

[Outcome rejected]

[Position restored]

"Could you reject the part where my family locked this thing near Mother’s weapon?" Damien asked, shifting before its reply became another attack.

"Claim deviation exceeds every approved inheritance outcome inside this sealed chamber," the precursor answered, driving its blade through the place where his chest had been.

’It speaks like the system after somebody removed every useful answer, good, anger can wait until I understand the reset.’

He threw a broken cooling basin toward the core, forcing black letters to catch it before impact.

The basin reappeared beside the wall, though water remained across the floor where its contents had landed.

’Objects return while consequences stay if the construct notices them late, damn, that gives me something ugly to work with.’

Damien kicked water beneath its feet and released forty Debt through the wet stone after the precursor stepped forward.

Silver-black force cracked the floor, but one raised hand rewrote every broken tile beneath its armored boots.

The water remained inside those restored cracks, turning the polished surface dark around both legs.

Threadcut entered the wet reflection rather than its body and severed a binding Eye of Reckoning could barely display.

[Editorial tether damaged]

The precursor struck his jaw before the cut widened, launching Damien against the sealed final door.

[Flesh Debt: 184]

[Correction resistance detected]

’That hurt enough to confirm it is real, wonderful, you absolute idiot, maybe dodge before celebrating evidence.’

Its blade crossed his throat during the next advance, triggering Stay of Execution beneath a flash of cold pressure.

[Damage deferred: 60%]

Damien answered through Silverlight Draw and removed three fingers from its letter-covered hand.

Black script flashed around the wound, restoring each finger while returning his saber into the sheath.

The precursor expected him at the original starting mark and stabbed backward without checking.

Damien remained beside the final door, since Stay had delayed the throat wound before its accepted result settled.

’It restored my weapon but guessed this body followed, Arrogant bastard trusts its own edit more than the room.’

He Flickered behind the construct and drove Iron Pulse through one knee using his reinforced heel.

White armor folded, then black letters gathered before the damaged joint could touch stone.

Damien grabbed its shoulder and let the reversion carry both bodies toward their previous positions.

The precursor restored itself near the wet cracks, placing him beside it rather than safely across the chamber.

"You brought me exactly where I wanted to stand," Damien said, tightening both hands around its sword arm.

"Unauthorized physical proximity has been rejected through immediate corrective action," it replied, opening another correction while the core brightened above them.

"Yeah, reject this after your own restoration approves the position," he answered, releasing stored Debt through the wet tether.

[Reckoning]

[184 Debt × 2.0]

[Damage released: 368]

The editorial binding tore beneath both bodies before the precursor could classify its own movement as unauthorized.

Every crossed-out name ignited across its armor, revealing one Sterling seal pressed under the central chest plate.

’Mother’s claim, that thing buried her name beneath everyone else it erased from this vault.’

Memory struck through his saber hand, showing dark hair across a woman’s wounded face while elders closed the weapon chamber.

She had reached Verdict, placed blood upon its grip, then received rejection from black letters outside every family ward.

"Claimant Seraphine Veyne Sterling exceeded her assigned narrative function during succession," the precursor said, turning its restored blade toward Damien.

"You do not get to describe her life through whatever function your faceless master assigned," he replied, raising his saber.

The name moved through borrowed grief until his stomach tightened around anger that belonged to both lives.

’Seraphine, Mother had a name House Sterling stopped saying, and this bastard still remembers what it stole.’

The precursor attacked using Silverlight Draw copied perfectly from his last accepted movement.

Damien held still until its blade reached his collar, then triggered Iron Veil without attempting another counter.

The strike shattered his barrier and opened one shallow cut beneath the jaw.

It raised the lettered hand to revert his successful defense, exactly where he needed those fingers pointed.

’Come on, restore the wrong advantage again, you smug pile of editing scrap.’

Damien dropped his saber before the correction activated, letting it strike wet stone beside the severed tether.

The precursor reverted Iron Veil, returning mana toward his core while restoring its own position three steps backward.

His saber remained where gravity had placed it after the targeted outcome, directly beneath the anomaly core.

Mina’s recall wire tightened around his wrist when he pulled, sending the blade upward through black light.

[Anomaly core breached]

The precursor looked above itself for the first time while cracks opened across its blank face.

"A correction target cannot possess external authorship under approved revision law," it said, reaching for Verdict’s empty pedestal as the chamber shook.

"Complain to the woman who built that vulgar wire," Damien replied, yanking his saber through the core again.

Black letters poured down its armor and tried returning every fragment toward the collapsing center.

He used Threadcut against the exposed Sterling seal, freeing Seraphine’s name before another restoration could bury it.

[Hidden claim recovered]

[Correction bounty acquired]

[Fragment of impossible script acquired]

[Proofreader precursor destabilized]

The construct crawled toward him through broken white plates while one final sentence formed inside its open face.

"Seraphine’s claim remains under revision," it said, forcing the restored name through its broken face, "the Benefactor awaits compliant succession."

’Seraphine, so the Benefactor still treats Mother’s restored claim as an open correction.’

Damien drove his saber through the Sterling seal before the precursor could complete another correction.

[Proofreader precursor destroyed]

[Perfect counter-revision]

[EXP gained: 16,800,000]

The proctor entered while white armor dissolved around its feet, keeping the greatblade raised despite the finished battle.

"The final chamber contained no authorized guardian within its certified inventory," it said, examining the impossible fragment near Damien’s boot.

"That unauthorized guardian knew everything about my mother’s buried claim," Damien replied, holding the recovered seal against his bleeding palm.

"Vault records show no Seraphine Sterling ever reaching this final chamber," the proctor answered, though its helm turned toward the severed tether.

"Records also showed a safe gate before six constructs tried redecorating me," he said, pointing toward the trial crystal, "certify what happened."

’Do not accuse Cassius here, make this ancient bastard write facts the family cannot polish away.’

The projection stood before a silver certification plate while elders appeared through the restored viewing crystal beyond its shoulder.

Cassius occupied the front position beside Aldous, wearing concern carefully enough for every witness to appreciate.

Orren pressed both hands against the crystal when the destroyed precursor became visible across the chamber.

"That entity is absent from every trial inventory maintained by my office," he said, pushing his spectacles higher with one finger.

"An irregular chamber cannot possibly produce any lawful inheritance result," Cassius replied, directing the objection toward assembled elders rather than Damien.

The proctor placed one gauntlet against its plate before either man could continue.

"Claimant Damien Sterling cleared every authorized test and destroyed an unregistered hostile above calibration," it said, burning words into silver.

"You cannot certify a route after admitting its final chamber was compromised," one elder protested, clutching his ceremonial red sleeve.

"My standing order requires thorough judgment," the projection answered, signing beneath the record without turning, "this claimant passed every test cleanly."

’Cassius wanted thorough, now his own command is carving my victory into family metal.’

The heir’s smile stayed visible, though one corner tightened when Aldous accepted the certification plate.

"Open the weapon chamber before another elder wastes my remaining patience," the patriarch ordered, and every protesting relative became quiet beneath his Sovereign pressure.

The anomaly core split above Damien while gold light entered cracks left by the destroyed tether.

A curved saber descended from the opening with a dark grip wrapped around silver thread.

Its polished edge carried a tally of one thousand marks near the guard, each line waiting without light.

’Verdict, Mother touched that weapon before fate threw her claim away, and now it remembers the blood in my hand.’

The blade ignored the proctor, passed through every remaining ward, then stopped before Damien’s open palm.

[Claimant recognized]

[Seraphine Veyne Sterling bloodright restored]

[Weapon chamber unlocked]

Cassius struck the viewing crystal when the saber turned its hilt toward his younger brother.

Damien closed his bleeding fingers around Verdict before anybody in House Sterling found another reason to deny it.