[Main Scenario #2]

Proscenium arch: In theater, the proscenium arch is the physical frame that separates the stage from the audience.

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[Skill Mana Blade has been activated]

"Go" I declared.

On cue, a thin, curved metal barrier with carvings patterned all over it emerged from the ground, slowly elevating like a wonder of a civilization long lost, to form a shield in front of Fedilis. It almost completely covered Niven too, leaving only a hand and some clothing exposed to threats. I looked towards Ethel, who stood poised, waiting for my signal, her eyes filled with determination and resolve. We nodded our heads as she took off, running straight for Erinna's army. It was time for me to play my part in the plan.

[Error: Stigma Time Lapse cannot be activated]

[The link to your sponsor has been disconnected]

[Error: Stigma Time Lapse cannot be activated]

[The link to your sponsor has been disconnected]

[Error: Stigma Time Lapse cannot be activated]

[The link to your sponsor has been disconnected]

What? What do you mean the link to my sponsor has been disconnected? The now-dark sky was brimming with stars yet devoid of the one I was searching for. Where was Chronos? However, I didn't have the luxury of wondering where he was or what he was doing. The wheel was already spinning, and Time Lapse was like the circular shape of the wheel, absolutely necessary for the plan to work.

I caught a glimpse of Niven looking at me with contempt. I must be making a terrible face for him to look at me with so much of it. Even though it was clear that he didn't like our situation, I got a feeling he wanted us to fail. Ethel was now halfway between me and Erinna's army when the road beneath him started to deform, forming a large, shapeless boulder reaching his waist just before him. Embedded in it was a sword whose hilt glittered a golden light. Its half-visible blade reflected all light that fell upon it, giving it a silver glow that could put the best ornaments to shame.

[Profiler Log: Character Æthelred has activated the stigma Excalibur]

[Item: Excalibur -> Type: Sword -> Class: S] 

As if pulling it out of butter, he pulled out the glittering sword in one swift motion, its blade shining in the moonlight. He raised his hand, and with it, the blade, which now seemed like but an extension of his arm, its tip pointed towards a sky overwhelmed with stars as he gazed upon them. To anyone else, his stance would look one befitting of an ancient king pulling a legendary sword from a stone, but as someone who had found himself in a similar situation before, I knew he was looking at his sponsor's star, seeking not only help but courage from its light.

"TAKE AIM," Erinna shouted. A hint of panic escaped her otherwise composed and overconfident voice.

I had to do something about the fire, and I had to do it now. The army began drawing their bows, filling them with arrows. The sound of strings being pulled filled the air. On one command, those arrows would be upon us. I have to do something

[Error: Stigma Time Lapse cannot be activated]

[The link to your sponsor has been disconnected]

A glow surrounded Ethel as beams of light descended from the sky, leaving behind soldiers covered in armor from head to toe. Were they ... Knights? The only thing distinguishing them from living beings was their ocean-blue appearance, almost like holograms.

[Profiler Log: Character Æthelred has activated the stigma Round Table Knights]

[Stigma Description: Stigma Round Table Knights allow Æthelred to summon up to 1600 knights depending on his capability. Currently, character Æthelred is capable of summoning 4 knights.]

Four Knights were definitely good; our numbers needed a boost, any boost we could get. But compared to Erinna's army, we were lambs to the slaughter. Eight against hundreds. I have no idea about the durability of the summoned knights, but I doubt they would survive a volley of arrows from hundreds of archers. My gaze fell upon Erinna; our eyes locked, and a smirk crept across her face. I was worried; it was showing on my face. Whatever panic she had earlier now disappeared.

"Is that it?" she asked in her signature cocky voice.

[Profiler Log: Character Erinna has activated stigma Solar Radiance]

One by one, with a delay of about half a second, all the arrows of her army lit up with fire. Shining brightly in the moonlight, reminding me of my school days when we performed Mashal PT on the school anniversary day.

OK, I've done it before, create a skill, a defensive skill just like before, feel it.

"FIRE."

Hundreds of blazing arrows lit the sky as they rushed towards us, creating a hissing sound, cutting through the air. For a moment, the sky returned to the blue it was during the day. Then they began their descent. My plan had failed. I had planned to use Time Lapse to sneak up behind Erinna and demand a surrender before she could order her army to fire the blazing arrows. This was the problem with borrowed power; it could betray you at any point.

I needed a defensive skill, something powerful enough to stop the entire volley of arrows; the holograms aside, I couldn't lose Ethel, and I doubt Fedilis's shield would last. I could be wrong, of course, but I didn't want to wait and find out.

I needed something to create I was familiar with, something that would come as easy as breathing. I had only one try. My first thought was a wall, but walls could be broken. I needed something that couldn't be broken, not now, not ever.

Right then, a familiar feeling engulfed me, a feeling I despised with all my being, something that prevented me from experiencing stories to the fullest, be it a novel, a comic, a manga, a manhua, a game, even a movie or a TV show; it was always there. A wall so strong that nobody even attempted to break it, as the idea of breaking it was ridiculous in itself. Nobody was even trying to break it, nobody but me. To me, it was my life goal to break this damn wall.

The fourth wall, a wall that separates the audience from the movie, gamer from the game, reader from the novel; a wall that separates fiction from reality. I just had to imagine that the space we were in was reality and everything else fiction. This was something that came as naturally as breathing to me because it had haunted me all my life.

[Skill D■■■lo■m■■t has been activated]

[Error: Failed to acquire skill. Skill name matches an existing skill. Skill cannot be named Fourth Wall]

[Assigning a different name to the skill]

[Error: Failed to acquire skill. Skill name matches an existing skill. Skill cannot be named ■■l■ ■■■■ se■■■■te■ re■l■■■]

[Assigning a different name to the skill]

[Skill Proscenium arch has been activated]