Archive Of Potentialities.

Re:Slime: Prologue.

Prologue

The world changed in a single moment, or maybe many?

The Freedom Academy was as quiet as ever, Rimuru was always amazed at how a place primarily occupied by children could be so tranquil.

Of course, he didn't mind the peace, though his students seemed insistent on taking it away from him.

"Sensei, sensei! Let's go play outside!"

And of course, they were being led by Kenya...the little brat.

"Pst, Kenya, you were supposed to say train, not play!"

"Ah, right. Sensei, sensei! Can we go train outside?"

"You know I can hear you, right?"

Rimuru sighed before smiling. He was glad they had warmed up to him. Ever since returning from Ulgracia and acquiring their spirits, he noticed a certain quality in their smiles. There was no death hanging over them anymore.

"Fine, but you're really gonna train, hear me?" Feeling in a good mood, he decided to indulge them.

"We will!" They chorused, even Chloe, who had grown taciturn after the labyrinth (but somehow...happier?) wasn't left out.

They all bumbled out of the classroom, teacher and student indistinguishable from each other, as they were all the same height...

Rimuru grimaced slightly, thinking of how manly and tall he used to be.

The children made noise as they headed to the end of the hallway, drawing the attention of the occupants of the other rooms. Rimuru signalled for them to tone it down as he bowed slightly in apology.

The teachers only huffed before turning away, already used to class S' antics.

A minute of walking and they had arrived in the Freedom Academy's grassy courtyard. It was a beautiful place, Rimuru thought.

The children seemed to think so as well, as they immediately organized themselves into a mock war.

Rimuru sat under a nearby tree and watched as they played. It was bittersweet.

He enjoyed seeing them happy but at the same time, was sad Shizu didn't live to see the sight.

He shook his head, life was full of such moments and such a feeling was proof that there were good things, happy things, for him to think of at all.

"I've fulfilled your wish, Shizu." He said, speaking to himself.

Rimuru felt a sense of peace and completion, as if he had accomplished what he had come to this world for.

Oddly, no thoughts of Tempest came to him at that moment, he simply leaned his back against the rough bark and closed his eyes.

"This is peace..."

He couldn't feel fatigue, nor could he sleep, but he strangely felt a lulling tranquility then and there.

It was so comforting, he began to find it strange.

"Interesting, I feel so peaceful I can't even hear the children anymore..."

It never even occurred to him....

Something had changed.

[[Warning! Foreign Spatial interference detected!]

The robotic voice snapped Rimuru out of his unnatural daze. He had never heard Great Sage sound that panicked, he had never sensed any emotion from the skill.

Thought Acceleration had automatically engaged as he snapped back to his senses, he saw the grassy courtyard, the children playing on it, the smiles.

But he rapidly felt it drawing away, even through the lens of a hastened mind.

Defend! He mentally screamed at the skill, which replied with damning words.

[[Answer. Defense, impossible.]]

Then and there, perhaps Thought Acceleration was a curse.

It couldn't give him enough time to escape, it couldn't help him come up with a solution.

It simply made him watch.

Slowly, painfully, as the world was pulled away from around him.

And first, there was nothing left.

Then, color.

Then, despair.

...

...

...

Magic Sense, still at full intensity, caused information to crash in from all sides.

The houses around him looked quite pastoral. Cracked walls, held together by rusted nails and rotting wood. He could see rats moving in basements, and people coughing three blocks away.

The scenery reminded him of the slums back in Japan.

'Great Sage! Where the hell am I?'

[[...Unknown.]]

Rimuru grimaced. His frustration only grew when he realized he wasn't where he used to be.

He stumbled forward, and a wooden crate beside him exploded from the pressure alone.

Around the corner, he saw people-humans and beast humans alike-screaming and scrambling. Their tattered clothes were flapping, and their hair was swaying violently.

He even noticed trash and other loose debris skidding away from him.

Wind?

[[Answer. Your aura was forced outward as a temporary medium for Magic Sense.]]

He immediately suppressed it. The pressure snapped shut like a jaw.

He felt his vision condense as Magic Sense reeled itself back in, pulling his perception back to a few meters.

The silence afterward was a little too loud for Rimuru to bear. Now everyone was staring at him like he'd grown a second head.

"Damn it! Please, someone! Someone help!"

He had barely taken three steps forward when he heard a shrill, desperate voice.

Rimuru stopped and turned to the small girl the voice belonged to. She was running to him, possibly drawn in by the little commotion he caused earlier.

She had blonde hair tied with a black bow, paired with a red scarf that fluttered behind her as she ran.

The blonde froze a few meters away from him, breathing heavily.

"You-! You're not with her, right? You- you're not-?"

Rimuru stared for a bit then shook his head.

"No?" He noticed how frantic the girl appeared, then approached her. "Okay, calm down first. Tell me what happened."

"We... were attacked," she answered. She then grabbed onto Rimuru's collar, and tears began to form in her eyes. "Please, please... Rom's going to...!"

"...Die?" He finished her sentence.

In response, the girl reluctantly nodded her head.

Rimuru's eyes narrowed.

Even if the situation didn't concern him, leaving someone to their death would leave an awfully bitter taste in his mouth.

"Where?"

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Peak cowritten with CrestfallenSoldier, who wattpad refuses to let me ping so here https://www.wattpad.com/user/CrestfallenSoldier

Later chapters could possibly come out on another book entirely.