MTL - Avoid the Protagonist! - Chapter 97

“What does it feel like to be a shadow?”People say it's bondage — the absence of light, of freedom. But what is freedom, really?The ability to choose whatever you want?Or... just a beautiful illusion masking the void?Strange question, I know.But you'll understand soon enough.Because my lives?They've always been a little... enlightening.— Kaiser

Ian Night’s life was a joke—until it wasn’t.Betrayed, discarded, and left with nothing, he welcomed death when it came. But fate had other plans.Reborn in chains, Ian awakens as a slave in a world where power is dictated by bloodlines and magic.While others wield fire and lightning, he is given dominion over something far more absolute: Death.With every slain foe, every stolen soul, and every corpse bound to his will, Ian will carve his way from servitude to supremacy.He will rise from the dirt. He will shatter his chains. And those who once cast him aside will learn what it means to fear the dead.[Ability Unlocked: Soulbind – Bind the fallen to your will.][Absorb strength of fallen soul?][New Trait Acquired: Gravewalker – The dead whisper, and you listen.]Kingdoms will tremble.The weak will kneel.And Ian Night will never be a failure again.Or, like most in this cursed world, he’ll die trying.

Skyfire Avenue is a street that is 2048 meters long. There are 168 stores here, and each of the store owners is an extremely powerful adept. The Avenue does not permit any vehicles or any robots to pass through it, much less mecha. Even the patrolling police must move about on foot. This is because this is a street for pedestrians, a lane for nobles, hidden away within this high technology world. Lan Jue, the greatest of the mercenaries, code-named ‘Zeus’, has secluded himself here in Skyfire Avenue after the death of his wife. The name of his shop is “Zeus’ Jewelry Store”, and here in Skyfire Avenue, he has been given the title, Jewel Master.

Known as the country’s top onmyoji, Yuuma Kisaragi, who lived to the age of 99, awoke to find himself in an unfamiliar forest. A voice echoed in his mind, revealing that he had been reincarnated into another world at the age of 20.“Good morning, Master. Skip the greetings and please defeat the goblin in front of you.”The voice belonged to a skill acquired during reincarnation called “AI,” designed to assist Yuuma in his new life. When the skill, AI, took over the form of a golden-haired fox yokai, the familiar shape of Yuuma’s shikigami, he decided to embark on a new life alongside AI-chan.The onmyoji and AI-chan’s second life began, tackling various challenges and formidable enemies with the strongest spells and shikigami.