Extra's POV: My Obsessive Villainous Fiancee Is The Game's Final Boss Chapter 406: Anchor

Ren froze.

His mind flashed back to countless nights bathed in the glow of a screen, pushing through boss fights, morizing maps, learning every chanic.

"That’s... " He didn’t know what to think. He wanted to say it was impossible, but here he was, living in a ga he played, and standing before what was essentially a magical alien.

The Blurred Man’s blurred outline flickered faintly, like a heartbeat. "Eternal Souls was more than a ga. It was a simulation of this world’s future. Every battle, every scenario you played was an echo of what Yggdrasil knew was coming. What it needed to stop before it was ready to reveal itself."

"You completed the ga. You learned what was necessary to shape the disasters to co. And so you were chosen. Pulled from your world. In other words... stolen."

Ren’s voice was low, almost a growl. "Stolen."

"Yes." The Blurred Man’s tone softened in a way that made Ren hate it even more.

"Yggdrasil reached across the gap between worlds and tore you from your life. It shaped you for its purpose, but it also hid the truth from you."

"That is why so much information was absent in your ’ga.’ That is why parts of it seem incomplete now that you’re here. It did not want its Stolen to know the full story. It only needed you sharp enough to cut when the ti ca."

Ren didn’t know what to say in response.

"So I was just... a weapon."

"An unknowing one." The Blurred Man corrected. "But here is the irony, Ren Ross. What Yggdrasil did not know was that the Three had their own plans for you."

Ren’s head snapped up. "The Three... interfered?"

"Oh, interfered is too small a word." The Blurred Man’s voice gained a faint thread of satisfaction. "We manipulated your arrival. We shifted the path you were ant to take and dropped you into the Ross family. That was no accident. It was... placent. Because we wanted you to et Lilith."

Ren’s breath caught at the ntion of her na.

"Your Divine Gift, and hers," the Blurred Man continued, "are unique. Apart, they are dangerous. Together, they are sothing far more. They are the only force that could possibly kill Yggdrasil without destroying the world itself. And so... we ensured you would cross paths."

Ren’s mind swirled, replaying every mory he had with Lilith. Every smile, every conversation, every battle fought at her side.

"So," Ren said, his voice tight, "you’re telling my entire life here has been manipulated. Stolen by Yggdrasil, rerouted by you, all so I could be so... so piece in your war?"

The Blurred Man inclined his head. "A piece that could decide the outco of the entire ga."

Ren’s knuckles whitened around the hilt of the sword. He’d chosen of his own volition to begin this battle. But now, he was finding out that even if he didn’t want to, he had been placed in the perfect place that ant he would be d aged into it whether he wanted to or not.

Sohow, it felt like it took away his agency. He wanted to shout, to swing, to carve that blurred silhouette into sothing solid enough to bleed.

But instead, he breathed out slowly, forcing the storm back down.

"And what," he asked, his voice low, "if I refuse to join this fight anymore?"

The Blurred Man’s blurred edges shivered with what might have been amusent. "You won’t. You love your family too much."

Ren said nothing. Because the worst part was, he knew the bastard was right.

The Blurred Man’s outline rippled faintly, as he chuckled at the expression on Ren’s face.

"Tell , Ren," he said, his voice casual in that infuriating way of his, "did you not find it... strange... that the Chained Man turned out to be Lars? The loyal guard of the Penny Prince?"

Ren’s eyes narrowed. "I didn’t think it was strange. I thought it was a nightmare."

A faint hum of amusent emanated from the blurred silhouette. "Think about the power the Chained Man displayed before you killed him. Why would soone that strong serve as a loyal dog under a weak being as the Penny Prince?"

"Well, it was no accident. It was our design from the very beginning. A sacrifice my dear friend had to make. From the mont we saw that pairing you and Lilith was a success, we knew the next step. We needed to replace the Anchor of this world."

Ren’s jaw tightened. "Anchor?"

"Yes. Every world has one in every era. The focal point of every major change within that era or generation. Remove the Anchor, and the changes... collapse. The outco fluctuates."

"Being an anchor is a... delicate role, usually filled by soone unlikely to die, soone so intertwined with the world’s fabric that their existence maintains balance."

"And Anders was that soone?" Ren asked slowly.

The Blurred Man inclined his head. "The Penny Prince was the perfect Anchor. The person who was supposed to be at the centre of the conflict."

"But we the Three needed sothing more than that. We needed the world to change. To be pushed to its limits. To birth the person who would save it, not watch and let it burn."

Ren’s stomach twisted. "So you put and him on a collision course."

"Yes. We shaped events. Nudged Anders, your Penny Prince, into circumstances where you two would inevitably clash. We knew that if you killed him, the Anchor’s role would transfer to you. And that is exactly what happened."

"The mont you struck him down, you beca the new Anchor. The... main character, so to speak."

"Why?" Rem demanded, the word heavy with heat. "Why would you put sothing like that on ?"

The Blurred Man’s blurred head tilted, almost in pity. "Because the Anchor cannot run. Cannot hide. The Anchor must survive... or the world will be destroyed."

"And that ans, Ren, that we have shackled you to the world you now call ho. You cannot abandon it. You cannot sacrifice yourself for it. If you die, the entire thing dies with you."

Ren stared at him, disbelief warring with fury. "So all this ti, every fight, every ti I escape death, you’ve been stacking the deck. Forcing into this corner."

"Yes." The Blurred Man said simply. "Now you understand. It was never just about saving your family. We have put the weight of everything on your shoulders."

"You are the linchpin, the keystone, the axis upon which this world spins. You can hate for it. You can rage. But you cannot change it."

Ren’s chest rose and fell with slow, deep breaths, the truth sinking into him like a poisoned knife. "So, I never really had a choice."

"No." the Blurred Man said softly. "But you do get a purpose. The Three have given you the most important one of all."

"To destroy the evil that seeks to destroy the world."

Ren said nothing. His mind scread at the unfairness of it, but deep down, under the rage, under the exhaustion, there was a cold, unyielding truth.

He could not die.

And that ant he had no choice but to keep fighting.