Chapter 37: Side Character x Mafia Boss (End)

Down in the subterranean dungeon, the faint sirens echoed off the damp stone walls.

Click!

The heavy iron cell door swung open with a harsh sound. Standing in the doorway holding a brass lantern was Lyra. Her dark hair was slightly tousled and her dress had a bit of dust on the hem, but her skin was warm, her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were bright with pure determination.

"Elena!" Lyra gasped, rushing into the cell and dropping to her knees. "Are you okay?! Hold on, I’m getting you out of here!"

When Elena first saw her best friend, a rush of pure happiness flooded her chest. Relief washed over her and tears welled up in her swollen, hollow eyes. "Lyra! You... you actually came for me!"

"Of course I came for you, you dummy!" Lyra urged, jamming the brass key into the lock. "Did you really think I’d leave my best friend rotting in a freezing basement while the whole mansion gets blown up?!"

Clank.

The metal cuffs fell away, rattling loudly against the hard ground.

Lyra reached out, wrapping her warm hands around Elena’s wrists to help her pull herself up. But as Lyra pulled her close, Elena’s gaze slowly drifted downward. She looked at Lyra’s clean, soft hands, her unbruised skin, and the fine, luxurious fabric of her dress. Then, Elena looked down at herself- her once pristine white gown torn and covered in black grime, her fingernails bloody from scraping against stone, her body shivering from days of starving in the freezing dark.

A terrible feeling twisted deep inside Elena’s chest.

The dark seeds of suspicion planted earlier by the sleeper agents bloomed into a bitter envy.

She was warm the whole time, Elena thought, her heart turning icy cold as her feelings warped into something toxic. She ate well. She slept in a soft bed while I rotted in the dark. Alastair treated her like a precious treasure... while he threw me into hell to starve.

Something dark and twisted moved inside Elena. Her hands trembled, not from cold, but from a sudden resentment.

"Come on! This way!" Lyra said, supporting half of Elena’s weight as she guided her toward the narrow service stairwell that led toward the eastern greenhouse exit.

As they stumbled up the cramped stairs, the mansion above them shook from distant explosions and the muffled roar of gunfire. Lyra was focused entirely on checking the corners, her head poking around every turn to make sure no guards were waiting in ambush.

Elena walked right behind her, her dark eyes staring silently at Lyra’s unprotected back.

When they reached the top landing near the exit doors, Elena’s breath hitched. Through the glass, she could see a black escape van waiting by the forest border.

If we both make it out, I’m just the weak, useless victim she rescued, Elena thought bitterly, her fists clenching tightly at her sides. I won’t let her act like my savior. I won’t play second fiddle to a background maid!

As Lyra pushed open the wooden door, stepping out into the cold night air, Elena suddenly shoved Lyra with all her strength toward a stack of wooden crates, trying to throw her off balance, leave her behind, and sprint for the escape van alone!

CRASH!

Lyra stumbled hard, her shoulder clipping the top crate, but by pure luck, she managed to catch her balance without falling into the wooden debris. She blinked in confusion, brushing a bit of splintered wood off her sleeve, completely unaware that Elena had just intentionally tried to ditch her.

"Whoa, watch your step, Elena! The floor is super slippery out here!" Lyra called out innocently, jogging right after her toward the garden path.

Elena’s face turned pale with utter frustration. How did she avoid that?! Why is she always so impossibly lucky?!

Out in the central courtyard, the night sky was torn apart by flash grenades and heavy rain.

Alastair stood near the breached stone fountain, his dark suit coat soaked through, his pistol dripping with rainwater and blood. He had just finished clearing Gabriel’s main vanguard when a guard ran up to him, shouting frantically over the noise of the storm.

"Boss! The master suite is empty! The girl... she’s gone!"

Alastair froze.

The chaotic world around him seemed to lose all sound. His icy grey eyes widened, then slowly darkened into a pitch-black, bottomless void. A terrifying madness settled over his broad frame. His breath came out in ragged gasps as his handsome face twisted into pure despair.

She ran away... his mind screamed, his soul shattering into a thousand jagged pieces. After everything... after I gave her freedom... she tricked me again. My little mouse left me...

"LYRA!" Alastair roared into the rain, a sound so terrifying and broken it echoed like a curse.

He charged toward the eastern garden, his pistol gripped tightly in his white-knuckled fist, his eyes burning with a deadly, gloomy rage that promised absolute destruction to anyone who stood between him and his target.

Near the forest border, the black escape van was waiting with its side doors wide open.

"Get in! Hurry!" Lyra yelled, grabbing Elena’s arm and trying to shove her up onto the van’s side step. "Once you’re inside, the driver will take you straight to the safehouse!"

Instead of getting in, Elena suddenly whipped around, grabbing Lyra’s collar with both hands and violently yanking her back onto the muddy grass!

"Why?!" Elena shrieked, her voice cracking with pure, crazy jealousy as hot tears mixed with the rain streaming down her dirty face. "Why did he choose YOU over me?! I am the daughter of the Hart family! I was supposed to be the important one! Why does Alastair look at you like you’re his entire world while he treats me like worthless garbage?!"

Lyra stumbled back into the mud, totally confused. "Huh?! Elena, what the heck are you talking about?! We don’t have time for a dramatic breakdown right now!"

"You stole my life!" Elena screamed, shoving Lyra hard against the metal side of the vehicle. "You acted like my innocent best friend, but you took everything from me! You took his attention! You took his soft side! You took my role!"

"I literally fought an assassin with a silver butter knife for you!" Lyra yelled back, thoroughly bewildered as she struggled to break Elena’s hysterical grip. "Are you out of your mind?!"

Suddenly, heavy, booming footsteps echoed down the stone pathway.

Alastair burst through the iron archway of the greenhouse. His soaked dark hair hung over his forehead, his grey eyes completely unhinged and glowing with a murderous light. He raised his gun, his arm shaking with violent rage as he locked his sight on Elena, who was pinning Lyra down in the mud.

"Get your filthy hands off her!" Alastair roared, his finger tightening on the trigger.

At that exact microsecond, from the high tree line across the border, a red laser sight flickered through the rain- a hidden sniper from Gabriel’s team was aiming directly at Alastair’s heart!

Ding!

A bright, blinding blue screen exploded in front of Lyra’s vision.

[ SYSTEM ALERT: FINAL SACRIFICE TRIGGERED! ]

[ SYSTEM DEATH-PROTECTION SHIELD: ACTIVATED! ]

In a fraction of a second, Lyra saw both deadly threats: Alastair’s gun aimed directly at Elena’s head, and the sniper’s high-caliber bullet speeding straight for Alastair’s heart!

This is it! My final mission!

With a surge of supernatural speed granted by the system, Lyra pushed Elena behind her body and threw herself straight into the middle of the crossfire!

BANG! BANG!

Two gunshots shattered the night air simultaneously.

The sniper’s bullet struck Lyra squarely in the back, while Alastair’s stray bullet grazed her side. Blood bloomed like dark roses across her clean clothes as she collapsed onto the wet mud.

Elena’s eyes widened into massive circles. The dark, ugly jealousy in her mind instantly shattered into a million pieces.

"L-Lyra...?" Elena choked out, dropping to her knees beside her. She looked at the red pool spreading across the grass, realizing in one terrifying moment that Lyra had just used her own body to block the shot meant for her, while also knocking her out of Alastair’s line of fire. "No... NO! WHAT DID I DO?! LYRA! I’M SORRY! I’M SO SORRY!"

Alastair dropped his gun into the mud. His entire world collapsed in an instant.

"LYRA!" he shrieked, a sound so raw and utterly destroyed it sounded like a dying beast.

He fell to his knees beside her, his large, trembling hands scooping her limp, bleeding body up against his broad chest. He pulled her close, pressing his forehead against hers, his tears mixing with the falling rain on her pale, cooling cheeks.

"Look at me! Keep your eyes open!" Alastair sobbed desperately, his raspy voice cracking as he pressed his bleeding hands over her wound, trying frantically to stop the red stream. "Don’t close your eyes! Please, my little mouse... don’t leave me! I won’t chain you ever again! I’ll give you everything you want! I’ll let you be free! Just stay with me! Please... open your eyes!"

Lyra lay peacefully in his arms, feeling absolutely zero pain thanks to the System’s death-protection shield. She looked up at Alastair’s crying, broken face, then at Elena sobbing hysterically nearby, and let out a soft, satisfied sigh.

Ding!

[ Main Plot Completed! ]

[ Extracting Host Soul from World... ]

A translucent loading bar appeared in her field of vision, ticking up rapidly in bright gold numbers.

[ Loading: 80%... ]

Goodbye, dark yandere mob boss, Lyra thought with a faint, invisible smile as her eyelids grew impossibly heavy. Enjoy your ultimate heartbreak grief arc. You earned it.

[ Loading: 90%... ]

Goodbye, crazy dramatic web novel world. I am never, ever going near a mafia story or a pancake breakfast ever again.

[ Loading: 100%! Extraction Complete! ]

Lyra’s eyes slowly drifted shut, her body going completely limp in Alastair’s frantic, screaming embrace as the chaotic rain, the flashing lights, and the entire world faded away into pure, quiet white light.