The Last Legendary System

Benign hesitated. That was a clear order.

He looked away first. "That is sick..."

She had been impressive until her order rang out. "And since when do you give me orders?

"Since I realized how obedient you are," Rox’s voice remained calm. "It is only slime."

The little girl cried louder. "Please..."

Benign closed his eyes. He could barely count this as psychological warfare. It wasn’t real, and burying a bullet in it wouldn’t change anything.

He only questioned why she used this method. Nothing threatened or hurt the child. She simply existed.

"How I win this trial is by escaping this dome." He opened his eyes. "That’s all I have to do—"

SLASH!

The child’s head tilted before it dropped to the ground. Blood spilled from her neck.

Benign’s heartbeat quickened. "You killed—"

"If you hesitate, something happens," Rox’s voice deepened. "That is what this second trial is about."

As she spoke, three more ball-sized slimes skipped from her skin. The soldier stepped back. Not from Rox, but from the blood rushing toward his boots.

"Please, sir...."

"Please..."

"Help..."

He couldn’t tell what they begged for. ’Death?’

His blade swept cleanly through the closest two without hesitation. The slime collapsed to a puddle.

No blood. That relieved him.

Until the last child trembled to a fall. His hands reached for the puddle of slime. He buried his face into it.

The light blue puddles changed into blood sliding down the survivor’s face. "Why..."

"Isn’t this too far, Rox?"

Rox raised a brow. "Does this prick your protective instincts? Good. You should know that not everything deserves protection. Kill it."

The child held the blood-looking puddles close to his chest. He raised his head to Benign. Fear and hope were in his eyes. Not anger or hate.

"Please..."

Benign inhaled deeply. Again, he didn’t know what the child begged for. The soldier’s fingers uncurled from his blade and curled back tighter.

He slashed him in two, from the head to his groin. Blood clung to his skin.

Benign turned away before the body fell. He shook the blood off his weapon. "I will focus on getting out of here now. I no longer feel the need to beat you first."

If he tried his initial plan, he could go overboard and hurt a teammate. Despite her sick tactics, she was a member of the Protector of Realms.

A unit he was being recruited into.

"Yes, you should focus on escaping." Rox calmly wrapped the bandages over her arm. "But my slime dome is indestructible to weapons and brute force. There’s nothing in this world that could hurt them off if I don’t command it."

She stooped to the ground. Benign didn’t turn to her.

He breathed in and out till his heartbeat regulated. Never had he ever had to kill a civilian out of his own free will. Children were an even harder subject.

"This should be over soon."

"No."

He snapped his head backward. This time, his heartbeat stopped. A child stood in front of him.

Red hair scattered his face, and his small brown eyes narrowed curiously at Benign. He gripped his large toy horse in his small arm.

A four-year-old Benign.

"Sir?" The child smiled exactly as before. "You came back. Are you alright?"

Silence.

Benign stared for a heartbeat. Then two.

"Kill it." Her tone set ablaze a burner in his chest.

He dragged his eyes to her. "Vile woman."

"You wouldn’t pass this trial."

"Keep your badge."

The child blinked.

He turned to Rox, and a small frown grew on his face. "Sir, am I supposed to protect you from her?" The boy backtracked towards Benign.

Rox’s stance straightened. She watched the child step beside Benign. She tilted her head left. "What is happening... now... did you give it consciousness?"

Benign watched the boy. The child glared at Rox, and his eyes glanced at the gun in Benign’s belt, then returned to Rox, their mutual enemy.

’Is he... sentient?’

"Whatever..." Rox raised a hand.

SLASH.

A boomerang impaled the child where he stood.

"It isn’t uncommon for slimes to gain sentience. It is still weird when it happens." She said the last part to herself. "Free yourself from this dome first—"

BANG. BANG.

Two shots buried in the ground where her feet would’ve landed. When she turned, the Blade of Ages rested against her throat.

Benign loomed over her.

"What are you doing?" She stepped back, only to hit her back against the dome.

"This was never about the trial." Benign said.

Rox blinked.

"You just wanted to watch a human break."

A short, dry laugh left her. "Aren’t you humans heartless? Why do you act like you have a heart?"

That answered him.

CRACK. CRACK.

He didn’t even realize he’d activated it.

There was nothing to lose except his life.

The skies above them became darker. She looked up, and her hands fell by her side. Balls of heat the size of heads formed in the skies in numerous quantities.

Heat warped the air, leaving the sky screaming.

[Hell Rain... Commencing...]

[Level Two.]

Benign returned his gaze to the impaled boy still in form. The child never returned to slime, and the thought jarred his vision.

"W-What are you doing?" Rox’s voice shook. "Hell Rain is destructive and could dismantle the portal that sent us here—"

"Descend."

The balls of heat started their descent.

[40%]

[Alert!]

[Host, seek shelter.]

Benign had no expression on his face. His eyes remained on the child that stared back at him with lifeless, wide eyes.

Heavy whimpering came from the slimes, trembling at the heat sizzling their bodies. Some started to melt at the bottom of the dome.

"Benign Cross!" Rox barked his name.

He raised the sword to her throat. She flinched.

"Wasn’t it fun when you tormented me?"

His blade bit into her skin.

"Laugh."

[80%]

Rox raised her head. "Wait..." Her eyes glazed over the balls of heat above her. The boomerangs sank toward the ground.

She remained glued to the spot, enthralled by her impending doom.

[Commenced.]

BOOM! THUD!!

BOOM! BOOM!

The balls crashed down in explosive force. Scorching away the dome with ease and firing at the ground. The arena began to tremble. Reverberating.

Smoke swallowed everything before the fireballs even struck. Benign slipped past the dome when a part gave way.

His eyes shifted from Rox in the same position to the child on the ground. The soldier turned away.

Rubble and stones blocked their way, and most came flying toward him. Even from the distance, as balls of fire, the juddering impact of the fireballs was still felt on the ground.

BOOM! BOOM!

THUD!!

The skill should’ve stopped after annihilating the dome, but he never gauged its width, so they kept falling. He sighed and rubbed his face with the back of his hand.

Hell Rain would always destroy everything it came in contact with. There might be no managing it unless he wanted everything to be gone. And he did.

His knees gave way the moment he entered a dark cave far away from the stadium grounds. He fell on his face, and his sword fell beside him.

The faint shimmer surrounding the blade died as though covered by a cloth. Benign couldn’t even see his own hand.

No footsteps echoed. No breathing reached his ears. The silence wasn’t empty but watching.

"Who is there?"

Laughter drifted through the darkness. It was soft at first, almost childlike, bouncing between the walls until it became impossible to tell where it came from.

Another laugh joined it. Then dozens more voices overlapped. Then hundreds overlapped into one unbearable chorus that crawled under Benign’s skin.

He stopped breathing, and slowly rose from her ground. He looked ahead into the darkness.

Something wet struck the stone.

Drip.

Drip.

Two crimson eyes opened within the darkness. A woman stepped into the light, fair-skinned, her long black dress gliding over the stone without making a sound. She smiled with gentle elegance.

"What do you want?" He folded his legs.

Her head tilted while she kept the smile. It kept tilting till it reached too far. Flesh split beneath her jaw.

A second mouth unfolded across her neck from ear to ear, rows of jagged teeth dripping black saliva as freezing mist escaped between them.

Another mouth opened lower across her collarbone, breathing scarlet flames that lit the chamber in violent flashes, illuminating the cave.

Benign grabbed his Blade. Before he could move, something heavy dropped from above.

BOOM.

Stone fractured beneath a pair of boots that landed directly between Benign and the woman. The woman quietly stepped back.

Dust rolled across the chamber as the newcomer stood with his back to everyone, his shadow swallowing the soldier.

He looked down at the sword for a long moment. Then he slowly lifted his gaze toward Benign and smiled.

There was no surprise in his expression. Only recognition.

"So, it is you," he mumbled. His smile widened ever so slightly. "I have been waiting—"

"Who the fuck are you?" Benign deadpanned. His tone was flat.

Silence.

The smile faded.

"Do you... not remember me?"