The Last Legendary System

"Where is the fucking Blade of Centuries?" Benign asked, balling his fists.

Frustration welled up inside of him. Struggle should always breed results. Give and take. That was a natural rule.

If all he had been through turned out to be nothing... if those elves nearly died to get a wet floor.

[Firstly. Correction.]

[It is Blade of AGES.]

There was a pause before the aggravating voice spoke again in Benign’s head.

[Secondly, the ancient artifact will be where ancient artifacts usually are. Buried.]

[It wouldn’t be lying around.]

[Since it’s been here for ’ages’, search keenly. Dig.]

Dig was the keyword. Benign exhaled. He loosened his fists and rubbed them against his thighs.

’That fucking loser of a system. He’s so lucky he isn’t real, or I’d have...’ He exhaled again to calm himself.

He reached for his bag with Vergil, and the scholar cautiously handed it over. Benign paced the soft wet floor for a while, as his fired-up nerves kept him restless.

He turned to the elves with a strained smile. "Could you help with a torch? This place might not light itself."

Vergil nodded quickly and set his backpack down.

Stun grabbed a torch. They lit it together, illuminating five feet around them.

The elves’ jaw dropped on seeing how massive the hall was; carpeted and covered with expensive, though wet drapes.

"It’s a hidden castle! Benign, you unlocked a hidden castle!" Vergil shook the soldier excitedly but stopped when there was no reaction from the soldier.

His eyes searched around the castle for anything useful. It might be a castle, but it was currently an empty one.

Apart from the desolate golden throne, the castle was covered with drapes and no other furniture.

"So where is it?"

[Under the throne.]

His head snapped back to the throne. So it had something to do with him. "Okay, Vergil, look around for anything written on the walls that could teach us about the glitches. Stun, let’s dig."

"Dig?" Stun asked, but he was already walking out of the castle to get the hoes in the outer cave.

"Do you think there’d be something like riches and gold jewelry buried here?" The elf’s eyes sparkled with interest.

Vergil hummed. "They’ve probably been taken by thieves with how desolate the castle looks." He shrugged and added. "But this place wasn’t here before. It came because of you."

That conclusion mattered to Benign. He strolled to the throne and tapped the seat. "I sense something buried here." He paused. The elf looked at me.

"Whatever’s buried beneath this throne might explain why this place changed. It might help me get a clue about what the glitches are about." Benign hoped they’d buy it since that’s the only way for him to claim ownership of the Blade of Ages.

Vergil represented his people, so anything found here, he might want to take it back to Noria for research.

But the elves nodded most understandably.

"Let’s dig then. It could be a weapon. You’d need it if you face something ferocious, instead of going ahead recklessly." Vergil mumbled the last part to himself.

Stun nodded before he left to get the hoes.

Their swift agreement surprised Benign, who stood by the throne blankly. "Thanks."

He bent beside the throne. "We’d have to find a way to get the throne out of the way, though. It’d be a shame to destroy it."

"I can handle that." Stun returned with two hoes in one hand and a large blade in the other.

Benign stepped away as he got close. He stared at the blade, wondering where it came from.

"I’d detach the throne from the ground," Stun said, observing the foundation closely. "Since it is bound to the earth, it’d likely heal if I cut it. Alright then, Vergil, you cut it, and I lift the throne at the same time."

Vergil came closer.

Benign stepped further back to watch the two.

Never had he imagined someone could cut through solid stone with a blade. Or that stone itself could heal. He kept his questions to himself and watched.

Vergil placed the blade by the foot of the throne. On Stun’s signal, the blade sliced through the foundation attached to the ground.

The next second, Stun raised the throne and moved it down the raised podium with a grunt. Dust rose to the air, blinding Benign’s view for a second.

"That actually worked." He muttered. A blade that could cut through stone. He had questions, but he let go of it and focused on the results.

"Vergil," he placed a hand on the elf. "You are truly stronger than you give yourself credit for. And Stun. Respect."

Stun brushed his nose. "It’s nothing, really."

The digging started. Vergil left to make meaning of the strange patterns he had noticed on the walls.

Within three minutes, Stun’s hoe vibrated against a hard surface. The vibration travelled to his body, displacing his balance.

Benign dropped his hoe immediately.

"It is tough alright. Perhaps made with better metal than our steel rods." Vergil said from the other end of the castle after seeing what happened.

Stun stared at his shaky hands, while on the ground. "You should take it out yourself, Protector. Since it’s yours."

"Sorry." Benign felt the need to say.

He brushed away another layer of sand. Then another, digging through rust and sand.

The outline slowly emerged. Black. Not rusted nor polished. A black hilt.

His hands stopped digging. A sword hilt.

Silence settled across the hall. Even Vergil paused his scribbling to watch the soldier.

Lego’s screen appeared.

[Take it.]

Benign swallowed. He brushed the last layer of sand. Holding the weapon felt like accepting a journey he wasn’t sure he wanted to embark on.

He wiped the sand from his palms onto his trousers.

"I know."

He still hesitated.

The screen popped up again.

[Take it, Benign Cross.]

The soldier reached out, but his fingertips stopped an inch from the hilt.

For reasons he couldn’t explain, Lego’s voice had emotion again, egging him to make a decision he wasn’t fully ready for.

He exhaled deeply, closing his eyes.

The sword had waited here for centuries. If it only revealed itself because of him, then it would be a shame to ignore it. He opened his eyes.

The moment his skin touched the hilt, a deep pulse surged beneath the castle ground.

THOOOM.

The floor trembled, and their torches flickered. Stun, still seated on the ground, pressed his hand against the loose sand under him. "What...?"

Vergil’s notebook snapped shut by itself, but his attention was still on Benign and the sword rising to the air.

Benign held the sword that gave itself to him. Something warm rushed through his hand. Recognition. The surge travelled through his fingertips, through his arm and into his chest.

Then his heartbeat synchronized with the pulse inside the blade.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

The sword remembered.

[Legacy Weapon Acknowledged.]

[Owner confirmed.]

-----

Miles away.

Across the endless desert.

Someone opened their eyes.

"It’s him."