Power-ups. Transformations. Those miraculous awakenings that appeared so often in novels—devices handed to protagonists so they could keep pace with the villains standing before them. In stories, they were necessary, even heroic. But reality was never so accommodating, never so clean. Strength did not always answer desperation, and justice was rarely rewarded with power.
Good and evil themselves were blurred concepts, shaped by perspective and circumstance rather than absolutes. If that was the case, then what truly defined a protagonist? Was it the one who fought for the world, or the one strong enough to impose their will upon it?
'Wait—who cares?!'
Sai's thoughts spiraled in that direction only for him to mentally slap himself back to the present. In moments like this, wandering into philosophical nonsense was nothing more than a distraction, and distractions were fatal.
