The Protagonist System

94 Everyone Must Pay The Toll

Instead of showing up in Kings Cross Station or the place Limbo would become to represent whomever passed on as a safe place, I was floating back in the nothingness.

You really need to take a class about excessive spending and financial security.

I snorted and laughed. I really did go all out, didn't I?

More than you realize, especially at the end there with exchanging the Deathly Hallows.

Hold on, that cost me Karma points and didn't earn them? I asked, curious as to the reason why.

Definitely. You see, you removed Death's influence from the world. The wand will no longer claim extra souls early from all the deaths and destruction it caused, the stone can't inflict more misery in the future to claim more souls, and the cloak can't deliver the souls of your descendants to greet Death as a long lost friend.

Oh. I thought. My screw up was a fairly large one after hearing that. Can you give Death my regrets? I hadn't realized the consequences of giving them their possessions back. I thought I was helping them by returning their lost powers.

Fate's smaller blue box appeared. Don't worry about it, Sweetie. Death is only slightly pissed at you, since you did have good intentions about returning those Objects of Power.

I felt a shiver go down my spine. Wait, wait, wait. You, my Fate that screws me over regularly, has been talking to Death about how pissed they are?

The little blue box showed the word 'giggle'. We've become good friends.

Well, fuck. I thought and the small blue box showed a winking eye and disappeared.

Please choose a Protagonist to replace. Warning: Limited choices are available.
Night Of The Living Dead: Replace Ben

I can't believe the dearth of choices I have! Thank you. I thought sarcastically.

World Chosen: Night of the Living Dead. Kharmic Debt: -835. Timeline Insertion choice removed. Appropriate memories will be added when you wake up and you will be disoriented for several minutes. Good luck with your new life!

Before I could do more than open my mouth, everything went black.

*

I slowly opened my eyes and felt something inside my forehead. Not on it. Inside it. With dawning horror of where in the movie I had been inserted, I braced for the hit of memories. A heavy weight slammed into my forehead and I groaned loudly as 26 years of normal memories and two days of living in a zombie horror film filtered through my mind.

I didn't hear the shuffling of feet or the clicks of guns, because I was reeling from the fact that it was the end of the movie and I had been shot in the head. They hadn't even checked to see if I was a zombie first and had shot me through an open window.

“You must have missed, Fred! This one's still kicking!” A man's voice said.

I groaned again as I opened my eyes and saw several gun barrels close to my face, then they fired.

*

Thankfully, I didn't feel my head exploding and woke up back in the nothingness.

That was fast.

Yeah, waking up already dead with a dozen men around you with their guns already aimed and cocked to kill you again, doesn't take long. I thought, my mind still reeling from being inserted and then removed so quickly. I hadn't finished processing the memories yet and I was already back.

Let's get right back to it.
Please choose a Protagonist to replace. Warning: Limited choices are available.
Dawn Of The Living Dead: Replace Steven Andrews

I'm pretty sure I know where this is going. I thought with resignation.

World Chosen: Dawn of the Living Dead. Kharmic Debt: -535. Timeline Insertion choice removed. Appropriate memories will be added when you wake up and you will be disoriented for several minutes. Good luck with your new life!

I held in my sigh as everything went black, because I knew this was going to be bad.

*

I woke up on the floor of an elevator, covered in blood and bite marks, with pieces of me missing. I didn't try to move, because I was about to be hit with a massive amount of memories. I braced as best as I could while writing in pain and the familiar heavy weight slammed into my forehead.

I groaned as 36 years of normal memories flowed through my mind. After that was a month of dealing with a zombie outbreak crisis in Philadelphia and escaping the city with my girlfriend in a stolen helicopter. We had some near misses gathering fuel and eventually ended up landing on a shopping mall. I liked the months of luxury as we lived inside a fully stocked shopping mall.

Then it was ruined by a motorcycle gang breaking in and destroying all our hard work to secure and clean up the place. The zombies were everywhere and Steven had been stupid in trying to get revenge on the idiots by being an idiot himself. He ended up shot, mobbed by zombies, then died.

That's where I was now. It was also why I wasn't healing or able to move on my own. I was dead. How that worked, since if the protagonist dies, I was supposed to move on. Suddenly, my body stirred as if on autopilot. I slowly rose to my feet... well, one foot and one broken ankle that hurt like a son of a bitch every time I stepped on it and the foot hanging off of it flopped out of the way.

The elevator doors opened and several zombies were there. They struggled briefly to attack me, only pausing when they saw I was a zombie as well. I rolled my eyes at them for being stupid and they moved off. My body stumbled on its own out of the elevator and started walking a familiar path.

I tried to not groan and watched helplessly as I entered the hidden area that Steven and his friends had so meticulously hidden. I banged and clawed at the fake wall and other zombies joined me. We broke through after only a few minutes and my body led the others down the hidden hallway to the door and hidden stairwell.

My body stumbled up the stairs, implacably moving towards where his friends lived, and I tried to stop myself. I could do nothing but watch as my blood covered hand opened the door at the top of the stairs. I stumbled into the room beyond and tried to close the door, only it hit the foot of the zombie behind me.

I held in my sigh at seeing the tall black man pointing his high powered rifle at my forehead. I opened my mouth to groan at him, maybe to tell him I wasn't a danger to him, though I clearly was, and he didn't pause as he took aim and fired.

This time, I actually did feel the bullet pass through my brains and blow out the back of my skull. I stumbled backwards with my eyes wide, stunned at the feeling, then the door opened and pushed me aside. I fell to the floor and blackness consumed me.

*

You lasted a bit longer this time.

Not that I had a choice. I was just along for the ride. I thought and tried to work through why I was being systematically tortured. I had been in a much higher negative Karmic Debt before and I didn't suffer like this. Then I remembered that Death was a little pissed at me. If this was what happened when they were only pissed off, I was supremely glad that death wasn't angry at me.

You seemed to be doing well, so let's keep going.
Please choose a Protagonist to replace. Warning: Limited choices are available.
Day Of The Living Dead: Replace Miguel Salazar

I can't wait to find out how I die this time. I thought sarcastically.

World Chosen: Day of the Living Dead. Kharmic Debt: -235. Timeline Insertion choice removed. Appropriate memories will be added when you wake up and you will be disoriented for several minutes. Good luck with your new life!

I close my eyes and waited for the inevitable.

*

I opened my eyes just in time to feel thirty zombies chewing on my guts that were no longer on the inside. How Death could justify putting me in that position didn't make sense, until I tried to move and my thumb pressed a button. There was a loud bang as locking brakes released and the large platform I was on shuddered. It started to lower as another 36 years of memories slammed into my forehead.

I groaned under the weight of being eaten and also reliving Miguel's pathetic life as a grunt soldier. His only redeeming quality was that he was dating a beautiful woman far out of his league, Doctor Sarah Bowman. He had also broken down emotionally as the world went to hell around him and was overrun with zombies.

Since the idiot saw no point in trying to live in a hopeless world, despite being with the love of his life, he tried to end it all and condemned the underground army base to death by bringing in hundreds of walking dead. Right at the point that I realized I was now that idiot and had pushed the button to let them in, a heavy boot dropped down onto my face and ended my existence.

*

I'm not even going to comment.

I did not point out that in itself was a comment. I already had an aspect of reality pissed off at me and I didn't need another one.

Please choose a Protagonist to replace. Warning: Limited choices are available.
Land Of The Living Dead: Replace Cholo DeMora

I didn't bother trying to think of anything in response. I just hoped this would be the last one.

World Chosen: Land of the Living Dead. Kharma points: 135. Timeline Insertion choice removed. Appropriate memories will be added when you wake up and you will be disoriented for several minutes. Good luck with your new life!

Thank god I'm into positive numbers again! I thought happily as everything went black.

*

I woke up sitting against a stone pillar in a parking garage, with several bullet wounds in my body, and it had bled out. My body moved on its own and stood as almost 40 years of life tore through my mind. The poor guy worked his ass off for years, surviving in the hellhole the world had become, and worked as the lapdog of a scummy rich asshole on the side and doing the man's dirty work.

It was all for the promise to move into an apartment in a high rise building in the middle of Pittsburgh. Fucking Pittsburgh! Then the rich asshole denied him when he finished his contract. I was pissed, just as pissed as Cholo was, and I came to as my undead hands wrapped around the rich scum's neck and my mouth tried to bite him.

I was pressing him up against the front of a limousine when I heard a metallic rattle coming closer. Both I and the rich scum I was trying to eat turned our heads to see what it was, only to freeze at the sight of a lit propane tank rolling towards the large puddle of spilled gasoline on the ground at our feet.

“NOOO!” The rich moron yelled and then the gasoline fumes lit and the tank and car exploded.

I smiled in satisfaction as the rich scum was blown apart and everything went black.

*

You're actually happy about that, even though you didn't have a hand in the outcome.

Yeah, it's satisfying when the real bad guy gets it in the end. I thought with a chuckle.

You humans are weird.

I laughed. You're just getting to that conclusion?

You just died four times in a row without any powers. Just because your last death killed a weak man, your entire countenance has changed to show relief and happiness. It's weird.

I agree. As long as those in charge are getting a good show out of my performances, especially my best girl Fate, I think this thing is going to go on for a while. I thought and then remembered I really should get a move on. All right, handler. Now that Death got what they wanted, hook me up with the next set of choices. I've finally got positive Karma points and I want to see what it unlocks.

Like I said. You humans are weird. Here you go.
Please choose a Protagonist to replace. Warning: Only available choices are shown.
Terminator: Replace Kyle Reece
Terminator 2: Replace John Connor
Dragonball: Replace Goku
Dragonball Z: Replace Goku
Dragonball Super: Replace Goku
The Chronicles of Riddick: Replace Richard B. Riddick
Konosuba (God's Blessing on this Wonderful World): Replace Satou Kazuma
The Wick Chronicles: Replace John Wick
The Matrix Trilogy: Replace Neo (John Anderson)
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Replace Shinji Ikari
The Robocop Trilogy: Replace Alex Murphy
The Blade Trilogy: Replace Blade
The Power Rangers: Replace The Green Ranger
Transformers (The 80s Animated Series): Replace Spike Witwicki
Transformers (The Animated Movie): Replace Spike Witwicki
Transformers (The Live Action Movies) : Replace Spike Witwicki
Bleach: Replace Ichigo Kurosaki
Sword Art Online: Replace Kazuto 'Kirito' Kirigaya
Star Wars Episode I: Replace Obi-wan Kenobi
Star Wars Episode II: Replace Anakin Skywalker
Star Wars Episode III: Replace Darth Vader
Star Wars Episode IV: Replace Luke Skywalker
Star Wars Episode V: Replace Han Solo
Star Wars Episode VI: Replace Luke Skywalker
One Piece: Replace Monkey D. Luffy
The X-Men (90s Animated Series): Replace Cyclops
The X-Men Trilogy (Live Action Movies): Replace Wolverine
The X-Men (Comics): Replace Professor Xavier
Buffy The Vampire Slayer (The TV Series): Replace Xander Harris
Full Metal Alchemist: Replace Alphonse Elric
Star Trek (The Original Series): Replace Captain Kirk
Star Trek The Next Generation: Replace Commander William Riker
Star Trek Voyager: Replace Commander Chakotay
Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Replace Commander Benjamin Sisko
Star Trek Enterprise: Replace Chief Engineer Charles 'Trip' Tucker III
Star Trek Discovery: Replace Saru (pacifist alien)
Star Trek Picard: Replace Jean-Luc Picard

Holy shit! I thought, shocked. I knew I would be getting some options with positive Karma; but, this was a little ridiculous. I'm almost scared to ask why I have so many choices.

You had 700 choices the last time you had positive Karma. This is a severely truncated list.

Right, right. Okay. Let me just read these options again. I thought and spent a very long time just reading everything and then seeing if there was any additional info for them. Most were self-explanatory, so I didn't waste too much time on those. It was the ones I wasn't familiar with that I needed in-depth information on.

I would skip a lot of them, mostly because I didn't want to be hooked up to computers or have my body only be armor, a programmed metal endoskeleton, or experimented on. That really cut down on my choices. My skills and abilities wouldn't help me much in the Star Trek options, so those were out. The Star Wars ones would work really well, since Jedi and magic almost went hand-in-hand.

I read them over again and looked at the anime choices. Bleach was out, since a lot of it dealt with the soul and leaving my body behind. I did not want my soul corrupted, either. Full Metal Alchemist was out for a similar reason. I also wasn't fussy on being a pirate on the open seas with a severe weakness to water. That was just asking for trouble.

After reading them again, I was leaning towards one of the Dragonball options. Then again, nearly all of them had world-ending creatures and aliens attacking all the time. If I didn't power up fast, I would be killed before the story even got started.

With my thoughts about powering up quickly, my eyes drifted over the X-Men, the Power Rangers, and Transformers. I was severely debating becoming Professor X, then my eyes caught the only option that could shoot me to immense strength very quickly.

You have chosen 'Konosuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World'. Since there is only a single instance where the protagonist died and it affected the story, your insertion point will be after his initial death and when he appears in front of the minor goddess Aqua.
Good luck with your new life!

Wait a second! You didn't say anything about getting memories! I thought as everything went black.