This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Rita immediately activated her contingency plan—Ultimate Skill: One-Person Party.

"I declare that all players currently participating in the Ferris wheel game in March Theme Park are forbidden from altering their body size via any means other than Artifact Skills. Violators will have their size multiplied by three."

In that moment, a 12-minute countdown appeared above every player's head.

This rule applied to Rita too.

With her Ultimate Skill buff, the duration extended from 10 minutes to 12 minutes.

It wasn't a perfect solution. If someone had also used an artifact to alter their size, this wouldn't affect them. But at the very least, it would eliminate a good chunk of difficult opponents from her path.

And her current opponent? Definitely not a lucky exception.

The once chestnut-sized player instantly transformed into a towering figure nearly 1.7 meters tall—fully built out of blocks.

This rule had another benefit: suppressing the win rate of those who relied purely on body-size manipulation to dominate fights.

The only downside was the short duration—just 12 minutes. Even with Yes, I'm Fish Belly, what about it? to forcibly reuse the skill, once its effect wore off, the forcibly reused skill would fail. That meant she had just 22 minutes total with this size-lock mechanic.

Now, with peanut-sized Rita attacking someone a full meter taller, everything just looked wrong.

Especially since wherever she flew, her opponent could swat like a fly—and never missed.

It reminded her far too much of summer.

Still, Rita won. Her counter-damage did the job, and just before the end, she slammed down a Cheers! for good measure.

Verdict: enemy defeated. Penalty time began.

Only the two of them were left in the cabin—three seconds, more than enough for Rita to make her picks.

Thinking like a thief, she zipped straight to her opponent's waist, snatched three Blocks, and immediately saw the truth inside: an entire stash of powerful items, including multiple pieces from a nine-piece set.

But time was short. She fled with her prize—three pieces—leaving Verdant Whisper behind.

Or tried to.

Verdant Whisper had jammed the window, blocking her escape.

Her items had been discovered. With BS-Rita's counter-damage, the worst-case scenario had to be considered. She couldn't allow Rita to reset her duel progress and walk away with an entire artifact set. Her only option was to minimize the loss.

Winning was ideal—but if she lost again, she'd only lose three pieces max.

After several failed escape attempts, Rita gave up.

Verdant Whisper wouldn't let up—her attacks forced Rita's hand. Both of them were now down to five health points.

Time to strike back.

The second penalty round also belonged to Rita.

Verdant Whisper barely had time to patch up her broken defenses, hastily layering some Blocks over the breach. Too bad for her—easy to remove.

Rita tore them off, shot straight into her core, and locked onto the protected central component: the helm.

The moment she touched it, she froze.

Then her hands moved fast—she yanked off three key components.

And was immediately expelled from her opponent's body—launched right out of the "ship."

But her mind lingered.

Just before being ejected, she'd caught the name and details of that helm—Cat's Ideal (SSS-tier).

A full nine-piece set. SSS-rated artifact.

Even in the rush, her eyes locked onto its fifth skill:

Absolute Freedom.

Absolute Freedom: Even in still waters, the cat can sail. Turn the helm in your heart and go wherever you desire. No skill, no item, no artifact, no entity—short of gods themselves—can stop you from leaving…

She didn't even get to see the cost or cooldown.

But that line alone was enough.

Her soul screamed with desire—Get it. Get it. You MUST get it.

In her next cabin, Rita waited. Each time she won a duel and took three Blocks, she left immediately, resetting her duel count.

She was waiting for Verdant Whisper.

And when the other player finally entered the next cabin, trying to slow things down—there was Rita.

Already there. Ready.

Verdant Whisper instantly understood.

BS-Rita was coming for all the fragments of Cat's Ideal.

"You wouldn't dare!"

Rita would've hesitated months ago. She would've hesitated before the Mess Hall Incident.

But now?

She dared.

Realizing Rita's intention, Verdant Whisper dropped all restraint.

She triggered a skill—every Block on her body shimmered with a glazed, glasslike glow.

Rita's counter-damage was now nullified.

Rita responded with a barrage of skills:

Payback's a Must – stole Verdant Whisper's ultimate.

Ultimate: Bravery – x5 attack and movement speed.

Ultimate: Overdrive – x5 agility.

Ultimate: Unyielding – locks all active status effects.

She couldn't let Verdant Whisper take back those three Blocks.

She couldn't let her rekindle Absolute Freedom.

Sure, the game rule said players couldn't switch cabins at will, but she wasn't about to gamble on that.

She would give everything.

Using Payback's a Must, she saw the skill Verdant Whisper had activated—a top-tier defense technique.

Not only did it block counter-damage, it also temporarily reflected double damage and triggered a one-hit-point lock when reaching critical HP.

It lasted three full minutes.

The duel raged on.

Rita's combat skill was childish compared to Verdant Whisper. Even with five times the stats, she still couldn't outrun or outmaneuver her.

Faced with Verdant Whisper in full fury, she couldn't rely on raw stats to cover her lack of technique—unlike with the rabbit duel before.

With no counter-damage, she was little more than a training dummy.

Even if their size difference was a hundredfold.

In this moment, Rita saw the true horror of a Tier-15 fighter going all-out.

But she didn't care.

She had no feelings. No fear. No hesitation.

She took every hit—every stomp, every slam.

And in the milliseconds between strikes, she countered with surgical precision.

She would drop Verdant Whisper to one HP and wait. Wait for that lock effect to expire—and strike the killing blow.

Other players in the cabin could do nothing.

Unless they went all-in with ultimates, they couldn't participate.

Both combatants had locked health bars. Nothing moved.

The rest were hit by stray blasts just for being near.

Verdant Whisper was clearly stalling.

She was trying to hold out until the cabin filled—until it exploded—and she could escape with the rest of Cat's Ideal.

No way.

Rita ignored everyone.

To her, there was only Verdant Whisper.

And in her mind, only Cat's Ideal.

She counted down the defensive skill's timer silently.

When the cabin hit six players, her countdown hit:

3.

"2." She muttered it aloud.

"1." Her gaze met Verdant Whisper's—cold, hungry, and unrelenting.