Trigger warnings: Suicide(but not really) Character death (but not really)

Pov: The dry man.

I had expected this trial to be hard, no doubt. But did the system have to fuck me over right as I was reuniting with my daughter?

The cruel little fucker just loved messing with me, didn’t it... That’s why I always mess with it back, fuck the rules. Nothing gets to decide my fate, not even the system!

The system then gave me a tier 7 trial about ‘kindness’, of all things. As if any tier 7 alive still understood the concept.

The sneaky fuck had messed with me once again, and I could only imagine the chaos outside right now. Unable to defend myself, that abyssal psycho would see his chance and take it with both of his grubby paws.

Even worse... my daughter... Maria. The largest conflict the between lands had seen in the last two centuries was about to erupt, and I was in no position to protect her. Locked up in my own mind, for Helios’ sake.

I had failed her before... and I was failing her again. Some father I am...

Mercifully, the trial turned out to be rather straightforward, though it was super tedious and lengthy. I had to walk around an imaginary city and help those that deserved my help, while abandoning those that didn’t. Something I was well-practiced in after these past few years.

The clincher was that the system created exclusively two-faced characters.

Any ordinary farmer that needed my help repairing his cart turned out to be some kind of ancient demon, while the tyrannical overlord of the city had a sob story that explained, if not justified his behavior.

In the end, the entire city turned out to be filled with demons, yada yada yada. What a curveball, system. Like I hadn’t dealt with this type of stuff before.

If the system thought I hadn’t wizened up after all these years, it was dead wrong. Though, to be fair, most of that ‘wizening up’ had happened in the past decade, after the birth of Maria. The dry man from before would have failed this trial. His pride would have gotten in the way.

Oh, how family could change a man.

On top of that, the system had only stopped me from using any of my skills, but I still had access to my mana, and with it, my strongest yet most basic attacks. More than enough to kill a few demons.

After a few days the end of my trial was in sight. My only hope was that Maria was unharmed when I awoke. Any other conflict or death could be avenged, but I couldn’t resurrect my daughter from the dead. I could make her body move to my whims, sure. But a puppet controlled by my strings couldn’t be called a person. Not anymore.

In the end, the system threw me one last curveball by confronting me with Maria’s mother. A woman I had loved, for a time. Love is a strong word, though. ‘Desired’ would be more accurate.

With a wave of my hand, the woman turned into dust. What, did the system think I had gotten sentimental?

Then, the system showed me, my three generals, sitting around a campfire and laughing. Another wave did the trick and returned the apparitions to their origins.

My vision shifted one final time. I found myself sitting in a forest, the same one I had reunited with Maria in. Through the trees, I saw barricades and wooden walls. Had I made it? No. Several small details were off... One of the trees had moved, and the log I was sitting on felt slightly rougher... Did the system think it could fool me?

Nonetheless, I got up, hoping to find whomever I had to kill to make it to the next scene.

After some exploration, I suddenly heard a young man shout.

“GET OUT OF HERE! RUN!” he screamed.

I recognized that voice. Arthur, wasn’t it? A gamble that had paid off extremely well, that boy. I knew that boy had been blessed by the system the moment I saw him, but I hadn’t expected him to be quite so successful at his task as he had been. I had only hoped for him to be a distraction, but he went ahead and completed the entire mission!

A good kid. Still, if I had to kill him to advance, in real life or the system’s world, then so be it.

I followed the sound of the voice to a large clearing. Actually, ‘crater’ would be more... accurate. In its center I saw one of the abyss’ generals, with his back turned to me.

He was holding something else, but I couldn’t quite make out...

MARIA.

Her little face had turned blue, not enough oxygen in her veins.

A guttural roar escaped my lips and my body moved without hesitation. My essence, my flesh, my existence... every part of my being was more desperate, more furious, more fearful than it had ever been before...

I would save her.

I would kill that ant.

I would inflict pain upon him as none had ever felt...

I would comfort my girl...

The general turned when he noticed my arrival. Instead of the fear I had expected to see in his eyes, there was only contempt.

No matter. He would die regardless.

I charged up some of my mana and waited for the temporal shift to envelop my arm. After only a single second, my most permanent offensive skill was ready. With every fiber of my being, I swung into action.

However, the moment my fist touched his rocky exterior, my power fizzled out. He smiled. Then squeezed.

My little girl’s neck snapped, and I howled.

The abyssal general turned to dust this time, along with just about everything else. I hadn’t seen what happened. Except, at the end of it, only an endless white expanse remained.

That, and grief so painful none had ever felt it before. When my voice finally gave out, I put my hand on my head, and ended it. The last thing I pondered was how strange it was that everything I had fought for all these centuries was not worth a single child daughter, to a father.

Then, I opened my eyes. I found myself within the same clearing as before, only this time the details matched what I had seen before.

Immediately, my [Dry expanse] skill connected my senses to my territory, and I got a clear look at the battlefield. My men had acted as expected, their loyalty for me not wavering.

More importantly, I found Maria. Just like before, she was being choked. The immense emotions I had felt during the trial threatened to reawaken, but I pushed them down with all the willpower I had built up over the centuries. I need to think clearly, because, in this territory, I was the king.

I used [Time parallel constitution link] to send some of my constitution to Maria’s body, and toughened her up enough to resist, even if that asshole decided to get serious. That would keep her alive while she choked, too.

I teleported right behind him, and found him in some kind of betting match with a young man. Arthur, that fantastic little son of a bitch, had managed to buy me enough time. Not only had he saved Maria from captivity, but he had also saved her life by bullshitting too. By putting his own future on the line, he had saved Maria’s.

Hah. Time to make this victory official...

“Let’s raise the stakes a little...” I said as calmly as I could, “You unhand my daughter, and I’ll make your death slightly less painful.”

The boy, praise his guts, finally passed out under his restraints, while the abyss watcher didn’t have time to turn around before he turned stiff and fell over, out cold. Right at the end, he had attempted to break Maria’s neck. What a spiteful little shit. Even when he knew he had lost, he still found it necessary to try something pointless.

His death would be slow... and painful. So very, very painful.

As he fell, his grip on Maria loosened. She fell to the ground and started to cough, sucking in air for dear life. I went and embraced her while she recovered, and continued to do so while I annihilated the abyss watcher’s forces by proxy. Now that I had reached tier 7, making temporary tier 6 death knights had become easy as pie...

I held Maria well into the night, since she was still shivering. Apart from the occasional fearful moan, she hadn’t said anything yet... I worried for her. What was I supposed to do to comfort her?

When she finally fell asleep, I headed over the abyss, in search of that grubby fucker. When I found him, he was already halfway across the border to Ergo, the fucking coward. He would be spared a painful death, but only because I needed his body mostly intact to turn him into one of my puppets...

The next day, the boy had awoken. With his arrival, Maria’s spirits livened. She had quietly listened to my stories that morning, but still didn’t seem responsive. Now, though, she was bouncing back faster than a greecle. I had to admit I was slightly envious of the boy’s ability to commune with people of a similar mental age.

When he asked me for his rewards, that jealousy intensified. After all, he had done, the kid could very well ask for just about everything I owned...

-Scene transition-

Pov: Unknown

Inside of a small alcove, a man stirred. His perfectly trimmed, white beard hung listlessly, despite the intense winds that coursed through the small alcove. His hair, still thick and healthy, blended together with his bear below his chin, yet nothing else besides the man’s near angelic appearance stood out about him.

Though he looked far younger than he actually was, all could attribute age and wisdom to his visage. He wore little more than a clean loincloth and a single ring, but none were around to chastise him for it.

A man should experience the world with little resistance, he always said.

And yet, the otherwise calm and collected man now wore a frown.

“Another one...” he murmured. “I wonder if this one will disturb the pond...”

He caressed his beard as he pondered. He was too deep in thought to notice one of his chosen few approach with his evening meal.

“Your holiness...?” the young acolyte spoke.

Yet the man didn’t appear to have heard him.

“A single ripple will turn into a large wave... I hope this one sees the right side of things. MY side of things.” he spoke steadily, and his body disappeared into white light a moment later.