Chapter 74 – Protagonist Syndrome

The Center of the Universe looked like someone deleted the world and forgot to reload it.

White. Endless white. No ground but we stood anyway. No sky but light came from everywhere. The kind of place that existed in math equations and fever dreams.

Solomon floated in the middle, twenty feet up, glowing like a broken streetlight.

Wings spread from his back. Not angel wings. Stolen wings. They looked stitched together from different creatures. Feathers and scales and light that didn’t match. His armor pulsed with runes. His eyes burned with power he’d clearly absorbed from something he shouldn’t have touched.

The Resonance Fork hummed in his hands. Reality warped around the prongs. Space folded. Unfolded. The air tasted like metal and regret.

Behind me, the army assembled. Thalia’s ice crackled. Ignis’s heat shimmered. The Valkyries formed ranks. Loki giggled somewhere to my left. Esdeath’s killing intent made the void feel colder.

Solomon’s voice boomed across the nothing.

“Finally.”

His chest heaved. His smile was manic. Desperate.

“Finally you face me, demon.”

I stuffed my hands in my pockets. My sneakers somehow found purchase on the non-ground.

“I’m here. You threatened to delete existence. That was rude.”

“Rude?”

He laughed. Wild. Unhinged. The sound echoed forever in the white void.

“I am about to reshape reality and you call me rude.”

“Yeah. I was beating a level. You interrupted.”

His expression cracked. Fury mixed with disbelief.

“This is not a game, Kai Evans. This is destiny. This is the confrontation that was always meant to be.”

I tilted my head.

“Was it though.”

“Yes.”

He spread his arms wide. The wings flared. Power radiated off him in waves that would’ve killed a normal person. Good thing I wasn’t normal.​

“You stole everything from me. My army. My generals. My sister’s loyalty. Even my father’s respect.”

“I didn’t steal anything. Your army left because you treated them like furniture.”

“BECAUSE YOU CORRUPTED THEM.”

His voice cracked on the last word. Raw. Wounded.

“You walk through the world with your immunity and your casual kindness and you make everyone love you. You don’t even try. You just exist and the universe bends.”

I blinked.

“That’s not how that works.”

“It is exactly how it works.”

He lowered closer. The fork hummed louder. The white void flickered.

“My father. Adam. Patient Zero. The most powerful being in existence. He chose your mother over mine. He gave you his power. He loves you more than he ever loved me.”

Oh.

Oh no.

This wasn’t about the army. This wasn’t about the generals. This was about Dad.

“Solomon—”

“Don’t.”

His finger pointed at me. Shaking.

“Don’t patronize me. Don’t tell me I’m wrong. I have spent my entire life in his shadow. Training. Studying. Becoming perfect. And he still looks at me like I’m a disappointing science project.”

The fork’s glow intensified. The void started cracking at the edges.

“But if I defeat you. If I prove I am stronger, faster, better, he will finally see me.”

I exhaled slowly. This was so much worse than I thought.

“Dude, that’s not going to work.”

“Yes it will.”

“No. It won’t. Because Dad doesn’t care about strength. He cares about not being boring.”

Solomon’s face went red.

“I am not boring.”

“You’re threatening to delete the universe because you want Dad’s attention. That’s the most boring villain motivation in history.”

His scream rattled the void. Power surged. The fork vibrated so hard it blurred.

“FIGHT ME.”

He descended fully. Boots hit the not-ground with a force that should’ve cratered reality.

“PROVE YOU ARE BETTER. PROVE YOU DESERVE EVERYTHING I DON’T HAVE.”

I stepped forward. The harem tensed behind me. Thalia’s cold spiked. Ignis growled.

I started rolling up my sleeves.

Solomon’s smile returned. Vicious. Triumphant.

“Yes. Finally. A worthy—”

Sarah’s hand caught my wrist.

I stopped. Looked at her. She stood in her human form, plain and forgettable. But her eyes carried something ancient. Disgusted.

“My Lord.”

Her voice was quiet. Calm. Lethal.

“Don’t.”

【Sarah PoV】

Kai looked at me with confusion. He didn’t understand. Of course he didn’t. He was too kind to see the trap.

“Sarah, it’s fine. I’ll just—”

“No.”

I tightened my grip. Not enough to hurt. Just enough to anchor him.

Solomon floated there, wings spread, power radiating, looking like the protagonist of his own twisted fantasy. That’s what he was. A man drowning in protagonist syndrome. The belief that the universe revolved around his narrative.

I had eaten thousands like him.

“If you fight him, you make him the Hero of his own story.”

Kai’s expression shifted. Understanding flickered behind his eyes.

“You validate him as a rival. As someone worthy of your time. As an equal.”

Solomon’s smile faltered. Just barely. He heard me. Good.

I turned my gaze to him fully. Let him see what I really was behind the human mask. Let him see the thing that had consumed gods and spit out their nightmares.

“He is trash, my Lord.”

Solomon recoiled like I’d slapped him.

“How dare—”

“Trash does not get to duel a God.”

The void went silent. Even Loki stopped giggling. Thalia’s ice stopped crackling. Everyone felt it. The shift. The moment the story changed.

Kai stared at me. Then at Solomon. Then back at me.

“You want to handle this.”

It wasn’t a question. It was permission. The only thing I needed.

“I am asking to take out the garbage.”

Solomon’s face went purple. His power flared. The fork screamed.

“YOU CALL ME GARBAGE?”

I didn’t answer him. I answered Kai. Only Kai mattered.

“He doesn’t deserve your attention. He doesn’t deserve your strength. He deserves to be removed like the waste he is.”

Kai looked at Solomon again. Measuring. Calculating. His expression settled into something I’d only seen once before. When he’d caught a guard abusing a lower-tier prisoner. Cold. Final.

“Yeah. Okay.”

He pulled his wrist free gently. Stepped back.

“Just don’t make a mess.”

Relief flooded through me. Not relief for myself. Relief that Kai understood. That he saw Solomon for what he really was. Not a villain. Not a rival. Just a child throwing a tantrum with a dangerous toy.

Solomon’s voice rose to a shriek.

“YOU SEND A PET TO FIGHT A GOD?”

I smiled. It wasn’t a human smile. Couldn’t be. The expression split too wide. Showed too many teeth that didn’t belong in a mouth this size.

“I am not a pet.”

【Kai PoV】

Elizabeth appeared beside me holding my recliner. The good one. The one with the lumbar support and the cupholder.

“My Lord requires comfort during the entertainment.”

I sat down. The chair floated. Because apparently physics was optional in the Center of the Universe.

“You brought snacks?”

She produced a bag of chips from nowhere. Salt and vinegar. My favorite.

“I am prepared for all scenarios.”

I opened the bag. The crunch echoed in the void. Solomon stared at me like I’d personally insulted his entire bloodline.

“You’re eating.”

“Yeah. This might take a while.”

His wings flared. Power exploded around him. The fork’s glow turned blinding.

“I AM A GOD. I HAVE CONSUMED THE POWER OF SEVEN REALMS. I HAVE TRANSCENDED MORTALITY.”

I ate another chip.

“Cool.”

“YOU DARE—”

Sarah stepped forward. Her human disguise didn’t melt. It evaporated. Like someone had poured acid on reality itself.

What stood in her place wasn’t a girl. Wasn’t a monster. Was something that made monsters check under their beds at night.

Her body stretched upward. Ten feet. Twenty. Thirty. Her skin turned black. Not dark. Black. The color of deep space where light went to die. Eyes opened across her form. Hundreds of them. Thousands. Each one a different color. Each one reflecting a different fear.

Her mouth opened vertically down the center of her torso. Teeth spiraled inward like a tunnel to nowhere. Her voice came from everywhere and nowhere.

“I am the Eater of Fears. I have consumed empires. I have devoured concepts. I have erased names from history itself.”

Solomon floated backward. The confidence drained from his face.

“What—”

“You threatened my Lord. You interrupted his game. You made him sigh.”

Her form rippled. Shadows peeled off her like smoke. Each shadow took shape. Became a nightmare. Became every fear Solomon had ever felt made manifest and hungry.​

“For this, you will be removed.”

Solomon raised the Resonance Fork. His hands shook.

“I will delete you. I will unmake you. I will—”

“You will nothing.”

Sarah moved. Not walked. Moved. Reality bent around her. One moment she was twenty feet away. The next she was in front of him. Her hand wrapped around his wrist. The one holding the fork.

“Trash belongs in the dark.”

She pulled him into her mouth. The sound was wet. Final. Solomon’s scream cut off mid-syllable.

The fork clattered to the not-ground. Its glow faded. Inert. Harmless. Just a fancy tuning fork without someone stupid enough to use it.

Sarah’s form collapsed back to human. She stood there, plain and forgettable, like nothing had happened. She walked over and picked up the fork. Examined it. Handed it to me.

“Disposed of.”

I took the fork. It was surprisingly light.

“Is he dead.”

“No. He’s in time-out. I’ll digest him for a few hours then spit him out somewhere embarrassing.”

Thalia appeared at my side, eyes wide.

“You just consumed a demigod.”

Sarah shrugged.

“He tasted like entitlement and daddy issues.”

Ignis laughed. Deep and rumbling. The sound rolled across the void.

“I like her.”

Nyx nodded slowly.

“Efficient.”

Unit 777’s eyes flickered.

“Threat neutralized. Status: Optimal.”

I looked at the fork in my hands. Then at Sarah. Then at my army of nightmares who’d just watched their newest member eat a guy whole.

“Can we go home now. I still have that level to beat.”

Elizabeth clapped her hands once. The void started dissolving. Reality snapped back. We stood in the parking lot of the Temple. The night air smelled normal. The stars looked right.

Sarah walked beside me as we headed inside.

“Thank you for letting me handle it.”

“You were right. He didn’t deserve the attention.”

She smiled. Small. Genuine. The most human expression I’d ever seen on her face.

“You’re a good Lord.”

“I’m a tired Lord who wants to beat level forty-seven.”

The temple doors opened. Warmth spilled out. Snacks waited. The TV was still paused on my save file.

Behind us, the universe kept existing. Solomon was probably screaming inside Sarah’s stomach dimension. Dad was probably laughing on a beach somewhere.

I sat back down in my chair. Grabbed the controller. Unpaused the game.

Thalia cooled my drink. Elizabeth resumed fanning. Freya offered more popcorn.

Normal. Peaceful. Exactly how it should be.

I made the jump on the first try.​