Making a deal - the Protectors

AN: A new Patron Tier is now online at Patre0n, letting readers access up to ~52k words worth of Content ahead of Webnovel. And as my Word Count dwindle between 1.2k to 3k now and then, you can take it as the equivalent of having 37 Chapters approx with an avg. WC of 1.4k/chapter.

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Updates will resume normally from today ownwards. We will have our next break most probably on Tuesday, will let you guys know in case of any changes.

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The Contestant with Mark V Iron Man suit hovered a hundred feet over the dock, eying Kai from behind the slits into its helmet.

Kai felt as if a boulder was pressing onto his chest, the sheer quality and quantity of Mana suffocating him with every passing moment. He had expected the Protectors would be this powerful, but even then, he seemed to have underestimated them.

'State your purpose,' the Protector had demanded.

A bolt of white lightning answered in Kai's place. The moment One Half of the Power Sword appeared in his hands, Kai's lips opened and closed, activating the Skill Armor of Justice.

50 MP vanished from his Stats, and the silver-colored Coridite armor covered his right arm, shoulder, chest, and waist, raising his Defense by 12.

The Protector said nothing and continued to hover midair as if watching a mummer's farce.

The hat on Kai's head lifted with a gust of wind and flew away, letting his long, white hair fall. As the tips of his hair became wet, brushing the seawater, two swords appeared in his hands.

Afro's Tachi and Murasame!

"Are you sure you want to do this, Blood Demon?" the Protector asked, obviously recognizing Kai from the Wanted poster displayed all across the Port Royal. "A Bounty of 13,00,000 berries is indeed great. But… is it enough?"

Kai said nothing. With every next action, his eyes became more murderous and his heart became calmer, readying himself to erupt with the most powerful strike of his life at any moment.

Yet, the display of taking out swords and armor was truly nothing but a mummer's farce.

Kai wanted to hide his hidden actions behind the flamboyant display of power.

His feet were knee-deep into the shallow sheet of seawater near the docks, and his soles were kissing the wet earth underneath. From this contact, a burst of silver mist seeped out and entered the earth.

Against a Protector, Kai dared not act too presumptuous and rather use all his cards from the get-go. These actions had been etched into his bones by his constant running, fighting, and killing in his previous life. He couldn't control unexpected events, so he did the next best thing.

Become powerful enough to survive those events.

Still, this wasn't his previous world anymore, and even Item-M didn't know everything. It would be even better to say that Item-M knew more than exceptional 13th-floor Contestants, but in the grand scheme of things, that knowledge was only superficial at best.

What happened next confirmed these points for Kai.

The moment Selene's mist form escaped into the earth, an imperceptible glint flashed into the slits of the armored Protector. "Oh!" the mechanical voice exclaimed. "A Ghost-type Pokemon or similar creature, eh? No wonder. I can play this game, too, you know."

Suddenly, two ghostly butterfly wings appeared behind the armor covered in a rainbow glow. At first, they were small, but with time, they expanded, becoming twice the size of a person.

Kai gawked at this sight in a stunned stupor.

With the Iron Man suit and the ghostly wings, the Protector looked like an angel descended into the world of mortals from a comparatively advanced civilization.

Then there was the howl and snarls. As the butterfly wings fluttered, rainbow-colored powder puffed out in the open, bringing with it thousands of beastly growls as if the very wind was screaming.

The danger in Kai's heart jumped even higher now.

It was then Selene's hisses reached him. -Master,- she hissed, her voice shaking. -I… I feel bad.-

'This?!' Kai trembled inwardly. 'What's going on? Even Selene's fearing those wings? What are they?'

Kai was anything but indecisive. With things taking such a grave turn, it would be stupid to not adjust his plans.

"I want Murtogg," Kai declared, saying nothing else.

"Haha!" the Protector laughed. "Are you hearing yourself? Why do you…"

The question had just echoed within the Mirror Dimension when Kai clenched his teeth and hissed, breathing out blood-colored air.

A vast amount of power got squeezed out from his muscles, bones, and blood, engulfing his entire figure in blood flames.

Selfless Breathing Art!

A shocking presence rippled out of Kai, making the sea around him surge with waves. The wooden docks near him cracked, and with his one look, all howling and snarling disappeared.

The Protector went quiet, then. However, this silence only lasted for a moment.

"As I said," the mechanical voice began unhurriedly, "we both are from Chaos. There's no benefit in a life-death battle. How about this? This Mirror Dimension will last for 15 minutes. If you can survive these 15 minutes, then I will let you have Murtogg. No using the creatures, either. Just pure strength, Items, and Abilities. Do you agree, Blood Demon?"

Kai frowned.

Unlike before, he wasn't as oblivious to these Protectors.

Protectors were Contestants who could be said to be confiscated by the Systems for carrying out certain missions. Yet, this was one confiscation that no one minded, and instead, desired more than anything.

These missions to protect in-world characters weren't Main Missions, but either Side or Hidden Missions. Not to mention, the Systems could assign them whenever it wanted. They had no special rewards or requirements, and one could not even reject them.

However, these weren't the things that everyone wanted.

It was an Opportunity.

Not all Contestants had such a disastrous privilege as Kai, letting him reincarnate into a Random World and create Side Missions about the major characters whenever he wanted. For others, a Protection Mission was the only thing that allowed the Contestants to interact with major characters.

Take Robin, for example, who was the Protector of Pokeball expert Kurt during Kai's mission in the Pokemon World. If the Ash trio were to visit the Pokeball expert during Robin's mission time limit, then he could freely interact with them.

This was something everyone longed for, but could not get just because they desired it.

Then there was the matter of the Contestants themselves.

Only the best of the best got confiscated for these missions, to begin with. All Protectors stood out from hundreds of thousands of Contestants based on their Stats and experience. It was such a momentous event that many major organizations in the Primordial Tower only allowed the Protectors to join them.

Kai didn't know the extent of his enemy's power, but his instincts told him that this Protector was at least a low to mid-level 6th-floor Contestant. To give up on Murtogg already screamed how much weight the armored Contestant was giving to Kai's bloody figure and the swords in his hands.

Kai hadn't forgotten that this wasn't his Main Mission Random World, and he was only here for an Item.

Risks without reasons had always gone against his principles, especially when the very reasons were against him.

"What if I win?" Kai asked, the blood flames roaring around him with every breath.

The Protector killed the fire and landed on the docks with a metallic bang. The butterfly wings behind the armor vanished as well.

Selene had to return to his body.

A crackling iron noise reverberated and the metal helmet folded, letting the hidden face come out in open.

It was a woman with blue eyes, blue hair, and thin lips.

Her beauty wasn't as great as Item-M and Cersei, but there was an elegance about her appearance, snaring hearts and minds alike.

She shook her head, letting her hair sway behind her. "Do you see this Mirror Dimension?" she asked, her smile enchanting. "It's a dispensable Common-grade Item I got from a few Order's Contestants who wanted to fuck Mullroy and Murtogg. I still have three of them on me. If you win, I will gift one to you."

Kai's eyes narrowed. He feigned going under a deep struggle and then nodded. "Swear on Chaos, and we have a deal."

The blues in the woman's eyes flickered momentarily. "Very well."

After both Contestants had sworn upon the System, the Iron Man suit's helmet returned to the Contestant's head. "Call me Moraine," the Protector's mechanical voice echoed in Kai's ears.

No more words came out, then.

Kai had just lifted his hands when a powerful force erupted from the armor's shoes, bringing Moraine near Kai instantly. Her speed was so fast that not even Kai in his Selfless Breathing form could pinpoint her trajectory.

He didn't avoid the incoming block of metal, though.

The blood flames roared, and Kai hacked at the armor. Something bizarre happened at that moment. Afro's Tachi struck the incoming fist, letting out sparks, but Murasame stopped in between its route as if an invisible wall had come up there.

Even Moraine, who had readied herself to block the attack, got taken aback.

This wasn't some Skill of the Iron Man armor, but it was Kai himself who had oddly put a stop to Murasame's momentum.

The muscles on Kai's forearm screeched because of the sudden halt, and then he let go of the sword.

Murasame spun murderously in midair.

With the power of Telekinesis fueling its engines, the cursed sword fired itself into the eye slit on the helmet, its tip almost going in because of the proximity between the two Contestants.