Okay next chapter and oh boy, do things happen here.

But first, let's answer some reviews from the previous chapter:

1) Epic Gusher: Keep reading. You might get a surprise.

2) Guest: Hate to burst your bubble, but Lincoln's totally an Outsider now.

3) Nobody245: Honestly, not a whole lot. For now, anyway.

4) Mr. Haziq: I might've written something wrong, it's supposed to say it's got a 97% chance to be a Protagonist.

And now, to the chapter!


Once lunch break was over, Lincoln and Stella walked side by side, holding Darcy's hands as the little girl strolled joyfully.

"I got to say, Lincoln, you sure haven't lost your touch in making weird friends," the Demon Lord chuckled. "A girl with elegant clothes who can haunt a house sounds like somebody you'd befriend."

"You say that like it was a bad thing."

The pair exchanged looks, then had a little laugh before they arrived at their classroom… where Mrs. Johnson stood at the door, visibly worried.

"Oh, Lincoln!" the woman remarked upon seeing the pair. "I'm afraid there's… something you need to know…"

Lincoln raised his eyebrow as the woman prepared to deliver the bad news...


Which Lincoln told his friends as he walked to the entrance of the school.

"You were turned into an Outsider?!"

Lincoln nodded. "Apparently, whatever happened at my Indexing was indeed a glitch, and once it got fixed, my proper designation turned out to be Outsider."

"But this doesn't make sense!" Cristina whined. "You were a Protagonist for a while, why the sudden change?!"

"I got to say, Cristina's got a point," Clyde folded his arms. "Even if you weren't a Protagonist for a month, the fact the supposed glitch lasted this long before it was fixed seems rather suspicious."

"But hey, on the bright side," Ronnie Anne put a hand on Lincoln's shoulder. "You had a good run as a Protagonist, right?"

"I didn't even last a month."

"I said good, not long."

"What happened?"

The group turned around, and both the Ynovation squad and the former Antagonists at the door, awaiting an answer.

"I told them about it, but they didn't believe me," Stella explained. "They wanna hear it from you."

Lincoln sighed. "Of course…"


"Lincoln was turned into an Outsider?!"

That was the sisters' collective reaction when Leni delivered the bad news to them, the Hacker taking a deep breath before explaining:

"As it turns out, Lincoln's designation was, like, glitched all along," she looked elsewhere. "And when the glitch was fixed, his original designation came to light."

"Dang it, he barely just started the school year and now he's getting kicked out?" Lana groaned. "Why did the glitch have to be found and fixed now?!"

"And more importantly, what's gonna happen now?" Lola asked. "Cliche High only accepts Protagonists and Neutrals, and the Antagonists have their own schools."

"He'll just have to, like, be homeschooled," Leni shrugged. "It's the most that can be done for him at this point."

The sisters kept talking as Luna's phone rang, and she answered it to find a peculiar message… from Lisa.

In case you're wondering, I'm the one who designated Lincoln as a Protagonist when his Indexing took place.

Luna's eyes widened, her rage beginning to surge.

I'm more than willing to discuss this further if you wish. Come to the outskirts of Royal Woods if you desire to talk.

Luna dropped her phone, getting everyone's attention as she began trembling and gritting her teeth.

"Luna?"

"LISA LOUD!"

Luna's scream echoed across the house, shattering the windows before she flew up, breaking the ceiling in hot pursuit of the outskirts of Royal Woods.

Once gone, Lori crouched down and checked Luna's phone… before delivering the message to the rest of her sisters.

All while Luna reached the outskirts in a split second, Lisa standing with her arms folded behind her back as she stared at the wilderness in the horizon.

"You!"

Lisa, however, calmly faced the Superhero with nary a hint of concern.

"Greetings, Luna."


"Dammit!" Haiku punched a tree in the school's front yard. "I knew something was up!"

"Well, let's try to think positive here," Giggles remarked. "Outsiders have the easiest time being prompted."

"Yeah, just getting involved should be enough!" Cookie added. "If he does many good deeds and shows himself to be a nice person, he might regain his Protagonist status!"

"Even if that's the case, we can't ignore the elephant in the room," Clyde spoke, adjusting his glasses. "The fact that Lincoln was meant to be an Outsider proves that someone is definitely tampering with the Index System."

"Now the question is why are they doing it," Ronnie Anne folded her arms. "And what do they want to accomplish?"

Just as everybody began thinking about that, Lincoln chimed in with a simple question to the former Antagonists:

"You're not going to quit Cliche High just because I got demoted, will you?"

Stella shook her head. "It took a lot for us to get this far, we're not going to let it be all for naught."

"I'm glad to hear that," Lincoln took a deep breath. "Now, I think I should go home."

"Say no more!" Girl Jordan said as she opened a portal to Cyberspace.

"Thanks, Girl Jordan, but I'm gonna take the long road here," Lincoln replied, waving his hand. "That'll give my family enough time to calm down from the news."

"Oh right, your family's probably already been informed of the change," Cristina frowned. "You think they'll take it badly?"

"At the start, yes, but they should calm down pretty quickly," Lincoln answered as he began walking away. "And who knows? Maybe when I get home they'll be calm enough to focus on cheering me up. Maybe they'll say something like-"


"DIE!"

Luna slammed her fist down at Lisa, who teleported moments before it connected, cracking the ground and shaking the ground.

Then, the Superhero waved her hand and took a few deep breaths.

"Still doing more strength than you can handle?"

Luna turned around, and gritted her teeth at the sight of Lisa standing nearby.

"You've been told about focusing your power before, dear sister. I'd hate to be the reason you forgot such a lesson and got hurt."

"You should've thought about that before screwing with your own family!"

Luna's eyes glowed before emitting a laser, which Lisa dodged with another teleportation, the laser causing the tree it hit to explode.

"Eye lasers, huh?" the Mad Scientist remarked dryly. "Your Cliche's evolved. I'm stunned."

"Sure you are!"

Luna shot several eye lasers at Lisa, who teleported several times to dodge the attack with little fuss.

"Come on, little sister, stop teleporting all over the place!" Luna said, feigning a friendly tone. "I just wanna have a little talk with you!"

Lisa lowered her eyelids. "Really now?"

"Of course, dude! Just sit down, have some tea..."

Luna stopped and clenched her fists.

"And give you the beating you deserve for what you did to Lincoln!"

Luna stomped the grounds hard enough to send several rock structures at the Mad Scientist, who teleported elsewhere before she was struck.

"I'm afraid I'll have to reject your proposal, big sister," Lisa replied dryly. "I believe you're too agitated to argue in a reasonable manner."

"Your face is agitated!"

Luna floated up and dashed to Lisa, who promptly reached for her pocket and took something out: a green glowing sword that shot an energy slash at Luna once it was swung.

The Superhero stumbled and rolled to the side, despite seemingly being undamaged by the slash, Lisa sheathing the sword as Luna stood back up, aimed at her…

And her eye lasers didn't work.

"What?"

Luna hopped, but instead of floating in place, she hit the ground.

"What the?!"

"I've nullified your Cliche with a weapon of my own design, which is meant to be utilized to keep those troublesome Cliche users in check," Lisa casually explained before facing her older sister. "Don't worry, the effect is temporary. It should last just long enough for you to listen, and hopefully, realize how futile it is to attack me."

Luna clenched her fists. "Why did you pull that stunt with Lincoln's status?!"

"I was taking a gamble."

"You what?!"

"See, when a new Cliche is discovered, it doesn't take long for multiple people to gain it. My theory was that when Lincoln got his Cliche, the rapid surge of Edgelords would leave him in a sea of identical Cliches, and skip the fact that as the first one to hold it, he's meant to be an Outsider. Alas, the surge didn't occur as fast as I would've liked, and the trick was discovered."

Luna narrowed her eyes. "So you put the safety of one of our own in jeopardy just for a stupid gamble!?"

"Please, as if that wasn't already a common occurrence with the way our family's setup," Lisa adjusted her glasses. "This gamble, however, was strictly for everybody's benefit. Had Lincoln been allowed to remain a Protagonist, he could've managed to do some good work helping the system. But alas, all that effort has been rendered for naught."

"You shouldn't have even tried it in the first place!" Luna chided. "Now give me one good reason why I shouldn't make you pay for your little stunt!"

"Because then I'll have no choice but to turn you into a Maverick."

That sentence alone sent shivers down Luna's spine, her anger replaced by undiluted shock and terror as she stood up.

"Y-You… you wouldn't!"

"The Council Heads, regardless of their competence, are some of the most powerful people in Royal Woods," Lisa sighed. "You already got on their bad side by trying to leave the role they forced upon you. I might be your sister, but if they were to know that you attacked me, even they would waste no time demoting you into a Maverick-"

"Okay, fine, I get it!" Luna groaned. "I… I'll go back home."

"Thank you, sister."

Luna took a few deep breaths, and eventually, she managed to float again, glaring at Lisa as she got ready to leave.

"Let Lincoln know I'm sorry for the trouble caused."

"Oh trust me, I'll let him know."

With nothing else to say, Luna flew back home, leaving Lisa behind to watch her leave.

"Well, that could've gone a lot better. I should better go back to the Index System, see if my little gift is ready."

And with nary a hint of hesitation, Lisa teleported.