The Last Legendary System

Benign stared. "What?"

The Blade of Ages answered with another low hum.

Another lunged from his blind side. Benign pivoted and severed its limbs with a horizontal slash before the creature reached him. Its body rolled across the sand, dissolving into black particles immediately.

The soldier hummed, staring at the sword. "True to its name. I thought this would take getting used to."

For a weapon that had called out to him, it seemed strangely determined to shoulder his burdens.

Another creature rushed Benign. His hands moved before the thought finished. He swerved the blade to his left hand. Steel met claws.

In one twist, its head separated cleanly. He tossed the blade back to his dominant hand. The movements felt familiar.

He had never wielded this sword before.

However, years ago, during Special Division exchange training, he spent weeks learning Katanas from instructors before mock operations against a visiting Samurans unit.

The footwork, grip, balance, and timing. Different weapons but the same principles. "So that’s why..."

The blade almost seemed to understand what he wanted before he finished moving.

Behind them, the cave rumbled violently. Dust cascaded from the ceiling, and large cracks raced across the stone.

"We have to move!" Vergil shouted. He was the only one standing beside the cave.

"There’s nowhere left to move!" Stun answered. "We have to kill these if we want space!"

A section of the outer cave walls collapsed. The walls inside began breaking apart around them.

SCREEEECH!

Benign spun to his back on hearing Kendrick’s cry. Too late. The cry was a warning cry.

TWANG!

An arrow flew past the soldier’s cheek. It buried itself into the throat of a creature barely an arm’s length behind him.

The creature gurgled, staggering before collapsing.

Benign froze, staring at the fallen body. "How did it...?" He had neither seen nor sensed it.

He rubbed his ears with the back of his palm. The soft humming of the sword filled his eardrums. "Why does it—"

"BENIGN!"

Vergil’s scream echoed through the hums. Something slammed into Benign’s shoulder, stumbling him sideways.

At the same moment, a bloodied arrow meant for his chest instead pierced Vergil’s side.

THUD.

Time froze.

"Vergil?"

The scholar looked down at the wound. He threw his head back. "Ah..." His knees buckled, and he crumbled to his knees.

Something inside Benign snapped. The creature tried pulling the arrow free, but it never got the chance.

The Blade of Ages flashed once.

Its neck disappeared.

The headless body stood for half a heartbeat before Benign kicked it away with enough force to send it crashing into other corpses.

He caught Vergil before his upper body hit the ground. "Hey, hey, stay with me."

"It isn’t deep." Vergil forced a smile that fooled nobody. "It still hurts quite a bit..."

Benign pressed a trembling hand against the wound. "I’m sorry." His voice cracked. "You got hurt because of me. I wasn’t concentrating because..." he stared at the blade.

The scholar frowned. "That wasn’t..."

Before he finished.

THWIP. THWIP. THWIP.

Three arrows crossed above them. Every shot found a target. Stun moved like a machine, marching through the sea of corpses and mangled creatures.

Behind him, Kendrick and the Firewings descended into the battlefield, tearing apart the remaining creatures with beaks and talons before they could reach the group.

Meanwhile, the cave continued its demolition with the unbothered certainty of a fulfilled final will.

Within moments, silence. Benign barely noticed.

His eyes remained fixed on the blood staining Vergil’s clothes. Whenever someone protected him. He never liked when it happened. Regret always followed.

THOOM...

THOOM...

THOOM...

The footsteps echoed through the quiet desert. Stun stood beside the two, dropping a balm of medicine where Benign worked to bandage Vergil’s wound. He barely heard the footsteps amid the fast beating of his own heart.

Then came a roar deep enough to shake loose stone on the ground. Benign slowly stood from Vergil’s side. His eyes were hollowed in. "More?"

His grip tightened around the Blade. "Of course. Wherever I go... everything goes wrong."

Another roar answered him. A massive boar-drawn war chariot burst through the falling dust, charging straight toward the ruins.

Its wheels crushed stone, and the armored beasts pulling it foamed at the mouth.

Stun knelt beside Vergil. He lifted the unconscious elf to his chest. "Let us take the Firewings and leave—"

Benign didn’t think. No plans or calculations when he raised the blade. He simply swung. "Enough!"

The blade cut empty air. Nothing happened in the first second.

Gradually, a black line appeared in front of the sword. The air split cleanly like paper.

Then the slash vanished.

Metres away, the charging chariot exploded apart. The two armoured boars were cleanly separated from the vehicle that split perfectly down the middle.

Benign lowered the blade like he had committed a crime. His expression loosened to confusion.

The rider leapt free before the wreckage crashed behind him. After a spin in the air, he landed lightly atop the shattered ruins of the cave.

Dust rose and fell around him. Long dark robes fluttered behind his back. A high top hat sat over his dark long hair.

His gaze ignored everyone else till it settled on Benign. The stranger slowly raised one finger.

The finger pointed directly at the soldier.

"Are you... a Protector of the Realms?"

Benign kept the sword ready. "Who’s asking?"

Without another word, the man reached inside his robes. A silver badge engraved with the emblem of crossed wings and a black sword rested in his palm.

The moment Stun saw it, he dropped to one knee. "Nouveu Protector," He greeted. "Thank you for gracing us with your presence."

Benign looked between the badge, the man, then back to the sword in his hand. He didn’t bow.

He lowered the blade. The stranger didn’t seem like an enemy, with his pointy elf ears twitching excitedly.

"Yes," Benign raised his voice. "I am a Protector."

The stranger looked at him for a long moment.

"No."

Benign frowned. He knew he wasn’t a Protector. That much was true.

Still, the man’s certainty irritated him.

"You are something else entirely."