Chapter Text
AN: Thank you everyone for providing so much love and attention to this fic. Your support is a great motivator for me to continue writing this. Please continue giving reviews/comments on this.
“Comments”
‘Thoughts’
{Harry Potter Spells}
[Yggdrasil Spells]
“...Hm?”
Momonga opened his eyes. He had not returned to his familiar room. This was still the Throne Room in Yggdrasil.
“What’s going on?”
The time was right. He should have been forcibly logged out by the server shutdown.
00:00:38
“What... on earth happened?”
Momonga was filled with panic, frustration, and suspicion, but he was also surprised by how calm he was considering the circ*mstances. He decided to call on other means. Forced connections that did not require a console, the chat function, a GM Call, a forced logout—
None of them responded. It was as though they had been deleted from the system.
“...What the hell is going on?!”
Momonga’s angry voice echoed through the Throne Room, then vanished. Today was the last day of Yggdrasil, yet all these things were happening on a day that should have marked an end to the game. Was this some kind of prank they were pulling on the Players?
“What’s wrong, Momonga-sama?”
It was the first time he had heard that beautiful woman’s voice. Momonga was startled, but he still kept searching for the source of the voice. When he found the one who had spoken the words just now, he was speechless. The person who had answered him was the NPC raising her head — Albedo.
“Is something wrong, Momonga-sama?”
Albedo kept asking him questions. Momonga did not know how to respond. As it was, there were far too many things he did not understand, so his thought processes short-circuited.
“No... nothing is wrong... no, nothing.”
Momonga was not the sort of person who made a habit of speaking politely to dolls. However... hearing Albedo’s questions instinctively made him want to respond with deference. Her movements, her speech patterns, her whole being radiated an undeniable humanity. Momonga still had the feeling that something was terribly wrong about Albedo and himself, but he had no way of understanding exactly what the problem was. All he could do in this ignorant state was to suppress his fear, shock, and other unnecessary emotions. However, Momonga was a common person, and could not do that. Just as Momonga was about to cry out, the words of one of his guild members came to mind:
—Panic is the seed of defeat, so you must maintain your calm and think logically. Remain calm, look beyond your surroundings, and don’t waste your effort on unnecessary details, Momonga-san.
As he recalled these words, Momonga slowly regained his composure. Momonga silently thanked Punitto Moe, the Zhuge Liang of Ainz Ooal Gown.
“Is something the matter?”
She was close to him now. Albedo was so close he could feel her gentle breaths. Her lovely face dimpled in an adorable way as she asked her question. Momonga, who had calmed himself after much effort, was in danger of being driven into panic again from her nearby face.
“...The GM Call function does not seem to be working.”
However, as his heart was about to jump out due to panic, his emotions were quenched, and he returned to normal. Momonga felt uneasy at the lack of strong emotions within himself, and he wondered if it was related to the words of his comrade from just now. But was that really the case? Momonga shook his head. Now was not the time to ponder these things.
“...Please forgive my inability to answer the Supreme One’s questions about this “GM Call.” I apologize for not meeting your expectations. Nothing would please me more than a chance to make up for my prior mistake. Please, command me as you see fit.”
...The two of them were conversing. There was no doubt about that. Learning this fact shocked Momonga so greatly that he could not speak. Impossible. This should have been impossible. The closest thing NPCs could come to conversations was with macroed responses to being addressed in a certain way.
She was close to him now. Albedo was so close he could feel her gentle breaths. Wait breaths.. As he finally realized what the problem was, he did not shout, nor did he keep silent, but he simply sighed imperceptibly. That unexpected breadth of facial expressions. The reason why her mouth could move and why she could speak—
“...pos...sible!”
Momonga hurriedly placed a hand on his mandible, and spoke.
—His mouth was moving.
This should have been impossible, going by what he knew about DMMO-RPGs. A character’s mouth would not move with their words. The basic premise was that external appearances were fixed. Because of that, facial expressions were impossible to design. In addition, Momonga’s face was a skull, without a tongue or a throat. He looked down to his hands, and they were the same fleshless pair that he was used to. He could also see that he had no lungs or, indeed, any other internal organs. But then, how was he speaking?
“Impossible...”
Momonga could feel the certainty he had in the world evaporating away, replaced by an ever-growing uneasiness. He suppressed his desire to shout out and, like he expected, his surging emotions were suddenly quashed. Momonga slapped forcefully at the throne, but as he expected, no damage values appeared.
“...What should I do... Is there anything I can do?”
He knew nothing about what was going on. Nobody would help him even if he got angry. Then, his first priority should be — looking for clues.
“—Sebas.”
He could see an earnest, sincere expression on Sebas’s face. He looked like a real person. It should be fine to give him orders, right?
Momonga took on a superior, commanding attitude, and spoke:
“Exit the Tomb and investigate the surrounding region. If you encounter intelligent creatures, interact peacefully with them and invite them to the Tomb. Attempt to accommodate the other party as much as possible during negotiations. Do not stray more than one kilometer from the tomb and avoid unnecessary combat.”
“Understood, Momonga-sama. I will do so immediately.”
Momonga folded his arms. The next step would be—
“...I should contact the game company.”
The game company would know the most about Momonga’s present situation. The problem was actually contacting them. Normally, simply using the /shout command or a GM Call would put him in touch with a GM instantly, but if these methods did not work either...
“[Message]?”
This was a spell used to communicate in the game. One of the fundamental rulings which pertained to DMMO-RPGs was that forcing a Player to participate in a game without permission could be treated as a form of cyber-kidnapping. As such, forcing a Player to test out a game in this manner was a prosecutable offense, especially if there was no way to force-quit the game. It would not be unexpected for a company to receive fines or jail time for such things. Which company would risk arrest or worse to commit a corporate crime like this? And there was another possibility...
...The possibility that the virtual world had become reality.
Impossible.
Momonga promptly rejected that idea. How could such an illogical, foolish thing happen?
But on the flip side, the more he thought about it, the more strongly he felt it was the right answer. And then — Momonga remembered Albedo’s scent. In accordance with the software legislation for virtual reality games, such games were not allowed to provide sensory data for smell and taste. Although Yggdrasil had food and drink items, consuming them was little more than changing a value in the game system.
In addition, the sense of touch was heavily limited, in order to prevent confusion with the real world. These limitations meant that VR systems were not very useful for the sex industry. However, none of these limitations were in effect now. Realizing these facts shocked Momonga. Countless questions like, “What about tomorrow’s work? What’ll happen if this keeps up?” flashed through his mind, but then he cast them all to the back of his mind.
“...If this virtual world is just a simulation of the real world... then the quantity of data involved must be unimaginable...”
Momonga swallowed with a nonexistent throat. Though his mind could not comprehend the situation, his heart could.
He was…
X
The Amphitheater, Sixth floor of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.
In the middle of the arena stood Momonga trying out various skills and spells in his repertoire.
“I see. Well, this was an informative experiment... thank you, Aura.”
—It seemed that Momonga could be sure that he still possessed the basic abilities of an undead being and his special skills gained through leveling up. After a casting a few more spells, Momonga could confirm these things—
To begin with, the restriction on friendly fire had been lifted. In Yggdrasil, he could cast a spell by tapping its respective icon. However, there were no icons for him to touch. Therefore, there had to be some other way. He was not sure, but he had a faint idea of how to use his magic. It was a power hidden within him. Just like how he had deactivated his [Negative Touch], Momonga focused within himself. An icon appeared, as though floating in mid-air—
And Ainz smiled in delight. He was fully aware of information like the spell’s effective radius, its recast delay, and so on. Knowing this information, being sure of his power filled him with a surging excitement and warm satisfaction. Unlike in Yggdrasil, he felt that the magic was part of him. This was a satisfaction he could never have experienced in Yggdrasil.
He channelled the jubilation in his heart — although his mood calmed quickly, he could still feel joy and excitement — into his fingertip, and spoke the words:
“[Fireball].”
An expanding globe of flame shot out from the finger pointing at the straw man. The fireball struck the straw man unerringly, as he had predicted. It burst, releasing a wave of scorching flame that blew the straw man away. The inner part of the fireball exploded, turning the straw man and the surrounding area into a sea of fire. All this happened in an instant. Then, besides the blackened straw man, there was nothing left. Glad with his success, Momonga began his next experiment.
“[Message].”
Momonga decided to contact Sebas.
—It got through.
This proved that the [Message] spell was working, and that most likely, it could only contact people within this new world.
“[Momonga-sama.]”
A voice of deepest respect echoed through his mind. Momonga considered that Sebas might have been bowing to him on the other side of the [Message], like in real-life companies. Just then, Sebas spoke again, as Momonga fell silent from thinking about these ridiculous things.
“[...May I ask if something is wrong?]”
“Ah, ahhh, forgive me. I spaced out there. That’s right, what are the surroundings like?”
“[Yes. We are surrounded on all sides by plains, with no intelligent creatures in sight.]”
“A plain... not a swamp?”
The Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick should have been bordered by a swamp that was inhabited by frog-like demi-humans called Tuvegs. The swamp was shrouded in mist, and it was poisonous.
“[Yes. There are only plains around us.]”
Momonga could not help but smile. All this was too much...
“In other words, the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick has been wholly transported to a different place? ...Sebas, is there anything floating in the sky, or did anything like a message appear?”
“[No, there is nothing like that. The heavens are as boundless as the Sixth Floor’s night sky.]”
“What?! Did you say night sky? ...Is there anything suspicious around you?”
“[No... I have not seen anything unusual. But the magic seems to be different here as compared to when I was inside the great Tomb.]”
“What?! Magic?.. Is there a hindrance in using it?”
“[No, there is nothing of the sort. Instead it seems to be flowing too freely such that variations in my natural flow of Qi is possible.]”
“Is that so... is that so...”
What should he say? All Momonga could do was grab his head and try to think. But in his heart, he knew that this was most likely the case. Sebas’s silence was a subtle hint that he was awaiting orders. Momonga glanced at the strap on his left wrist. In another twenty minutes, the other Guardians would arrive. If that were the case, there was only one order he could give.
“Return in twenty minutes. When you come back to Nazarick, head to the Colosseum. All the Guardians will be coming, so when you arrive, I hope you will tell them about what you saw.
“[Understood.]”
“Then, gather as much information as you can before you return.”
After hearing Sebas’s acknowledgment, Momonga terminated the [Message] spell.
Momonga had already verified that he could use his abilities from Yggdrasil inside the Great Tomb of Nazarick. That being the case, He now had to see if his powers worked the same in the outside world. He also had to unravel the reason for this. Maybe it was because the Tomb was protected by the world Item, Throne of Kings or maybe there was another reason. He could only wait for now…
With the exception of the Fourth Floor Guardian, Gargantua, and the Eighth Floor Guardian, Victim, all the other Floor Guardians assembled before Momonga. After they pledged their unwavering loyalty to their Supreme Ruler, Momonga addressed them, outlining the dire circ*mstances they currently faced.
“Excellent. Guardians, I know that you will understand my aims and successfully carry out my commands. There may be some things which may be difficult for you to understand, but I hope you will pay attention and listen. I believe the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick has been caught up in some kind of unknown situation.”
“Although I do not know what has caused this incident, the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick has been displaced from its original location in the swamps to a vast plain where magic behaves differently compared to within the tomb. Sebas is currently reconnoitring the surface.”
Momonga looked at his illusory timer,
“It’s about time for him to return.”
Just then, Momonga saw Sebas jogging over to them, until he reached the Guardians genuflecting before Momonga and went to one knee as well.
“Momonga-sama, forgive my lateness.”
“It’s fine. Then, your report on the surrounding conditions.”
“Yes. To begin with, the terrain surrounding us for a kilometre in each direction is a plain. There are no signs of man-made structures. I spotted some small animals, but there were no humanoid or large creatures.”
“Were those small animals monsters?”
“No, they were life forms which had no combat power.”
“...I see. Then, were the plains you spoke of covered in frozen grass which would cut you as you passed them?”
“No, it was simple grass. There was nothing special about it.”
"And what did you observe about Magic?" Momonga inquired.
"Although I am not a magic caster, I was able to compensate for it with my Ki Sense to perceive the spiritual energy of the world," Sebas explained. "It appears that the laws of magic are not well defined here, and a person's magical abilities are largely dependent on their emotions and innate talent. Even the strength and cooldown of skills/spells can be altered depending on the situation. However, there is a greater chance of their powers going berserk.
“I see. Unlike Yggdrasil’s Tier System of magic, which has well-defined rules, the magic outside Nazarick is much more volatile… Thank you for your hard work, Sebas.”
As he praised Sebas for his efforts, Momonga was somewhat disappointed because he had not obtained any useful information. However, he was slowly realizing that he was no longer in the game world of Yggdrasil, although he did not understand why he could use Yggdrasil’s equipment and use its spells.
He did not know why they had come here, but it would be wise to heighten Nazarick’s combat readiness just in case. For all he knew, this might be someone else’s territory, and he might be censured for having come here without permission. No, he would be lucky if that were all that happened.
“Guardians, increase the readiness of each floor by one level. We are unsure of what has happened, so do not act incautiously. If you encounter an intruder, do not slay them, but capture them alive at all costs. When you capture them, do as little harm to them as possible. I apologize for imposing such demands on all of you at a time like this.”
The Guardians voiced their acknowledgment and nodded in unison.
“Next, Aura and Mare... can you conceal the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick? Simple illusions don’t seem very reliable, and thinking about the cost of illusions gives me a headache.”
Aura and Mare looked at each other and began thinking. After a while, Mare spoke up:
“U-Using magic might be tricky. If we had to hide everything along with the surface... although, we could cover the walls in mud, and then add plants as camouflage.”
“Do you intend to soil the glorious walls of Nazarick with base dirt?”
Albedo said that with her back turned to Mare. Although her voice was sweet and velvet, the tone it carried was anything but. Mare’s shoulders trembled, and although the surrounding Guardians remained silent, their attitudes suggested that they shared Albedo’s opinion. In contrast, Momonga felt Albedo was being too much of a busybody. The situation was hardly serious enough to warrant such a reaction.
“Albedo... don’t speak out of turn. I am addressing Mare.”
His voice was so deep that it surprised Momonga himself.
“Ah, my deepest apologies, Momonga-sama!”
Momonga continued speaking to Mare:
“Can you conceal the walls by heaping dirt onto them?”
“Yes, yes I can, if you allow it, Momonga-sama ... However...”
“Yes, an observer from a distance would think the ground was bulging up unnaturally. Let’s also make dummy hills as camouflage?”
“Y-Yes. U-Understood.”
That was all he could think of at the moment. There were probably a lot of holes left in the plan, but that could be dealt with slowly, later on. After all, it had only been a few hours since all this had happened.
“Then, you are dismissed for today. Everyone, take a break before beginning your duties. There are many things we do not know, so do not push yourselves too hard.”
The Guardians nodded as one to show that they understood.
X
After the departure of the master of their revered creators, the Guardians shared their impressions of Momonga.
Then, as though to wipe away this jubilant atmosphere, Sebas said:
“Then, I shall take my leave first. I do not know where Momonga-sama has gone, but I should stay by his side.”
Jealousy was written all over Albedo’s face, but she quashed her feelings and replied:
“I understand. Then, Sebas, serve Momonga-sama well and do not disgrace him. Report to me if anything happens. In particular, if Momonga-sama summons me, you must let me know immediately. Everything else is of secondary importance to that!”
A pained expression crossed Demiurge’s face as he listened quietly from the side.
“But if he desires me in his bedchamber, you must inform Momonga-sama that I might take a while, in order to bathe and cleanse myself for him. Of course, if he wants me to proceed to him immediately, that is fine as well. After all, I do my best to keep clean for him, and my clothes have already been selected so I can heed his call whenever it comes. In any case, Momonga-sama’s wishes will always come first—”
"You slu*t," Shalltear exclaimed, following Albedo's command, her voice laced with venom as she remained on the floor.
"Shouldn't that be my line?" Albedo retorted, casting a pointed glance at the wet stain beneath Shalltear.
The two of them glared at each other. The Guardians did not know if they would fight as a result of this, but the way they were looking at each other was very unsettling. Shalltear slowly stood back up, and the two of them approached each other. Even so, their eyes remained locked. Eventually, the two of them came so close that they collided into each other.
“Don’t think you’ve won just because you’re the Guardian Overseer and can stay next to Momonga-sama. If you really think that way, I’ll laugh my ass off.”
“Hmph. That’s correct. While you’re stationed in a faraway place, I’ll swoop in and achieve a complete victory.”
“...What do you mean by ‘a complete victory?’ Teach me, Guardian Overseer-Sama.”
“As a slu*t, you should be fully aware of what that means.”
Throughout their trade of verbal barbs, neither of them had turned their gaze from each other. With a pacha , Albedo unfurled her wings in a threat display. Black mist wreathed Shalltear as she responded in kind, unwilling to admit weakness.
“Ah — Aura, matters between women should be settled by a fellow woman. If anything happens I’ll come to help, let me know when the time comes, all right?”
“Hey, wait, Demiurge! Are you planning to dump all of this on me?”
Demiurge simply waved lazily as he walked away from the feuding pair. Cocytus and Mare took a step back as well. Nobody wanted to get caught between them.
“Really, do they have to argue over this sort of thing?”
“Personally, I would be quite interested in the result.”
“What do you mean by the ‘result,’ Demiurge?”
“I refer to the increase in our fighting power, the future of Nazarick, and so on.”
“D-Demiurge, what do you mean?”
“Hmm...” Demiurge pondered on how he should answer Mare’s question.
“Any great leader requires a successor, no? Momonga-sama may have stayed with us until the end, but if he loses interest in us one day, he may leave for another place like the rest of the Supreme Beings. Thus, there is a need for a successor to whom we can pledge our loyalty.”
“I see. Then, which of us will be Momonga-sama’s successor?”
“How. Disrespectful. As. Guardians. We. Are. To. Serve. Momonga-sama. Faithfully. So. He. May. Stay. That. Is. What. We. Were. Made. For.”
Demiurge turned to the interrupting Cocytus.
“Of course I understand that, Cocytus. But do you not wish to pledge your loyalty to Momonga-sama’s heir?”
“Hmm... Of. Course. I. Would. Like. To. Swear. My. Allegiance. To. Momonga-Sama’s. Heir...” Cocytus began imagining himself running around with said heir on his shoulders.
Demiurge averted his eyes from Cocytus, who was fully into imagining himself as a cool old uncle, faithfully serving Momonga’s heir.
“Well, that aside, I think this is a test by Ainz Sama on deciding who is qualified enough to give birth and raise his Heir.”
“Eh? Ehhhhh?” After a short exclamation, Mare calmed down.
“This will be the start of the Queen War. the one who will raise the child that shall rule over us after the Supreme One’s eventual departure.”
Demiurge averted his eyes towards the feuding pair.
“Are Albedo and Shalltear still fighting?”
The one that answered Demiurge was the tired-looking Aura, standing by the side.
“They’re... done. Right now, they’re arguing about the problem of who should be the first wife.”
“It would be strange for the ruler of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick to only have one wife. The question now is who is worthy of being Momonga-Sama’s first wife...”
X
After leaving the mausoleum, Momonga was greeted by a beautiful sight. The surface area of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick was two hundred metres square, protected by six-metre-thick walls, with an entrance and an exit at the front and back. Momonga looked to the heavens and he could not help but sigh. He shook his head, as though unable to believe his eyes.
“Amazing... to think they could include such detail in a virtual world... The air here is so fresh that it must never have been polluted. People born in this world wouldn’t need artificial lungs to breathe...”
He had never seen such a clear night sky in his life.
Momonga tried to cast a spell, which should have been hampered by his armour. There were certain mage classes that allowed for the casting of spells in armour, but Momonga did not have that class. This discovery opened ways for many new possibilities. Even armour created by magic would not allow its wearer to cast spells while wearing it. There were only five spells he could use in his armoured state, but the flight magic Momonga wished to use was not part of them. Yet,—
“[Fly].”
Freed from the shackles of gravity, Momonga floated lightly into the sky. He rose upward in a straight line, gaining speed as he did. Although Demiurge was frantically trying to catch up, Momonga paid him no heed and ascended steadily. Before he knew it, he was several hundred metres in the air. Only then did Momonga’s body slow down. As he looked down at this world, Momonga could not help but sigh:
“This is beautiful... no, beautiful would not begin to describe this... what would Blue Planet-san say if he were here?”
He spoke softly, as though to his absent friends:
“...To think one could see so far just by the light of the moon and the stars… It's hard to believe that this world is real. Blue Planet-san... This world is like a chest of jewels.”
“Perhaps it is. I believe the beauty of this world exists to adorn you, Mo—Dark Warrior-san,” Demiurge said in a reverent voice.
“Indeed, it is beautiful. You say these stars exist to adorn me... perhaps that is so. Perhaps the reason that I have come here is to claim this chest of jewels which belongs to nobody else.” Momonga clenched his fist before him, and it looked as though he was taking the stars into his grasp. He shrugged at his childish behaviour and said to Demiurge:
“...No, this is not something I can claim for myself. Perhaps these jewels are meant to adorn the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick; myself, and my friends from Ainz Ooal Gown.”
“...What a moving statement. If it is your wish, then by your command, I shall lead Nazarick’s forces to claim this chest of jewels. I, Demiurge, would like nothing more than to present this chest of jewels to my lord and master, Momonga-sama.”
Those cheesy lines made Momonga chuckle. He wondered if Demiurge had been intoxicated by the atmosphere as well.
“As long as we do not know anything about the beings which live in this world, I can only say that your idea is foolish. For all we know, we might be minuscule weaklings in this world. However, conquering this world might be quite interesting…”
X
Momonga sat on a chair and looked at the mirror before him. The roughly one-metre wide mirror did not reflect Momonga’s face, but a patch of grass. The mirror was like a television set, showing images of a distant plain. The grass of the plains swayed in the wind, proving it was not a still image.
Momonga reached out to the mirror and swiped his hand right. The mirror’s image changed. This was a Mirror of Remote Viewing. This was a magic item used to display an image of a specific region. It was a very useful item which could show the outside world. Momonga enjoyed the movie-like quality of the grass within the mirror as the image changed.
“It would seem that I can move the image with a wave of the hand. That way, I won’t have to keep looking at the same spot.”
The scenery and the angles with which it was viewed changed within the floating mirror. Although he had made several mistakes so far, Momonga kept changing his gestures to alter the landscape within the mirror, hoping that he would find someone.
He repeated the same simple gestures over and over again, but all the images he got were the same: plains. Momonga was starting to get bored, so he looked at the other person in the room.
“What’s wrong, Momonga-sama? I stand ready to heed your every command.”
“No, there’s nothing, Sebas.”
Sebas was the other person in the room. Being with Sebas made Momonga think of his guildmate Touch Me. After all, Touch Me-san was the one who had designed Sebas. Momonga casually waved his hand with a vacant expression, and his field of vision suddenly expanded.
“Oh!” Surprise, delight, pride, Momonga’s exclamation was filled with all of these. At his wit’s end, he made a random gesture and the screen suddenly did as he wanted. Cheering and clapping answered him. The source of these two sounds was Sebas.
“Congratulations, Momonga-sama. Your servant Sebas stands in awe of your prowess.”
Granted, this was the fruit of extensive trial and error, so you don’t need to go that far. Momonga thought that, but when he saw that Sebas looked quite happy, he decided to humbly accept the butler’s praise.
“Thank you, Sebas. Although I apologize for making you accompany me for so long.”
“What are you saying? Staying by your side and obeying your orders is the reason for a butler’s existence, Momonga-sama. There is no need to thank or apologize to me... although, it is true that this process took quite some time. Momonga-sama, would you like to take a break?”
“No, there is no need for that. Undead like myself are not affected by negative statuses like fatigue. If you’re tired, you may go and rest.”
“Thank you for your kindness, but it would be unthinkable for a butler to rest while his master worked. With the aid of magic items, I am not affected by fatigue either. Please allow me to stay by your side until the end, Momonga-Sama.”
After agreeing to Sebas’s request, he continued studying the ways to control the mirror. Finally, an image of something like a village appeared on the mirror.
It was located roughly ten kilometres east of Nazarick. There was a forest nearby, and a wild moor surrounded the settlement. It was a quaint community, Cottages stood on either side of the narrow road... A short way ahead a golden glow of streetlights indicated the centre of the village... Behind the church, row upon row of snowy tombstones protruded from a blanket of pale blue that was flecked with dazzling red, gold, and green wherever the reflections from the stained glass hit the snow. As Momonga zoomed in on the village, he felt that something was amiss.
“...Is this a Neutral Zone?”
Children and Adults of various different races were roaming the streets and so late at night. In Yggdrasil, it was normal for Heteromorphs, Demi-Humans and Humans to kill each other on sight. Discrimination against Heteromorphs was nowhere to be seen and everyone was living harmoniously. One more thing to note was that the children were going door to door with bags or baskets in their hands to collect something from the residents.
“...Are they holding a festival?” It seemed oddly similar to a festival from his Original world called Halloween, Momonga mused.
“Hallo-ween…? I am afraid that I’ve not heard that word before.” The voice came from Sebas, who was watching the display with a keen look in his eye as he stood beside Momonga.
“I believe it is a kind of… Traditional festival. Halloween is a day when you… wear costumes and tell people to give you candy.”
“You disguise yourself to extort candy?” Sebas inquired, puzzled.
‘No! Not exactly. Well, actually, yes, but it's more than that. Come to think of it, am I sure about that? I’m pretty sure it started in Europe as, like, a way to celebrate the Pumpkin Harvest, right…? But you always associate ghosts and monsters with it, so was it more like a festival to honour the dead…? It may have gotten a bit lost in translation in Japan, so I’m not confident about any of that…’
As Momonga pondered how to explain this to Sebas, two children dressed as pumpkins were seen waddling across the square. Just then, with a sense of childlike wonder, one of the boys approached a mysterious figure cloaked in darkness.
“Nice costume, mister!” The small boy exclaimed, his voice filled with innocent curiosity.
The figure offered no response, its presence imposing and ominous beneath the hood of its cloak. The small boy's innocent admiration quickly turned to terror as he caught sight of the disfigured face lurking beneath the hood of the stranger's cloak. With a startled gasp, he stumbled backward, his eyes widening with fear before he turned and fled into the safety of the night.
Meanwhile, the cloaked man reached into the folds of his costume, his movements calculated and deliberate. For a moment, it seemed as though he was retrieving something harmless, perhaps a piece of candy to offer the children. But then, his hand hesitated, as he moved towards one of the nearby houses.
Reaching the doorstep, the cloaked figure withdrew a wand made of yew wood, its white surface gleaming faintly in the moonlight. With a flick of his wrist, he sent puffs of coloured smoke billowing from the tip of the wand, a sinister display of magic that hung heavy in the air. Without a moment's hesitation, the man pointed his wand at the door, unleashing a burst of energy that shattered the entrance with a resounding crash, sending splinters flying in all directions.
A man came sprinting through the hallway, his voice echoing with urgency, “Lily, take Harry and go! It’s him! Go! Run! I’ll hold him off!”
The dark cloaked intruder laughed before casting a curse. . . .
“{Avada Kedavra!}”
The green light filled the cramped hallway, it lit the pram pushed against the wall, it made the bannisters glare like lightning rods, and James Potter fell like a marionette whose strings were cut. . . .
Momonga was stunned by what suddenly transpired.
“Seems a bit too barbaric for a festival, doesn’t it?”
There was an undercurrent of disgust in Sebas’s stern words. As Momonga enlarged the image, he too furrowed his nonexistent brows. It was a massacre.
“Cheh!” Momonga scoffed, intending to change the image. This home had no value to him. If he could extract more information from it, perhaps he might have a reason to save them. But as things stood, there was no reason to save this family. He should abandon them.
Momonga was taken aback by how he could make such a heartless decision. A cruel slaughter was occurring before his eyes, but the only thing he could think of was the good of Nazarick. He was not an agent of justice. He was level one hundred, but this world’s commoners might well be level one hundred as well. Therefore, he could not tread blindly into this unknown world.
He could hear the women screaming from the upper floor. In Yggdrasil, the Mirror of remote Viewing could not transmit sounds or offer a view indoors, unless using special means. But in this world the functions of this once balanced item were broken to the point of granting it an unprecedented potency that far surpassed its intended capabilities.
The frail man climbed the steps, listening with faint amusem*nt to her attempts to barricade herself in. . . . He forced the door open, cast aside the chair and boxes hastily piled against it with one lazy wave of his wand . . . and there she stood, the child in her arms. At the sight of him, she dropped her son into the crib behind her and threw her arms wide, as if this would help, as if in shielding him from sight she hoped to be chosen instead. . . .
“Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!”
“Stand aside, you silly girl . . . stand aside, now.”
“Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead —”
“This is my last warning —” Despite his words, he had no intention to follow. He could have forced her away from the crib, but it seemed more prudent to finish them all. . . .
The green light flashed around the room and she dropped like her husband.
“What do you intend to do?” Sebas seemed to have been waiting for this moment to speak.
There could only be one answer. Momonga replied coldly: “Nothing. There is no reason, value or benefit in rescuing them.”
“—Understood.”
Momonga nonchalantly looked at Sebas — at the phantom image of his past guildmate.
“This... Touch Me-san...” Just then, Momonga remembered something.
—Saving someone in trouble is common sense.
If not for those words, Momonga would not be here. Momonga sighed softly, and then he smiled.
“I will repay that debt... besides, sooner or later, I’ll have to test my fighting strength in this world.”
After saying that to his absent friend, Momonga gave his orders.
“Sebas, put Nazarick on maximum alert. I will go first, and you will tell Albedo, who is standing by next door, to follow me after fully equipping herself. However, I forbid her to bring Ginnungagap. After that, prepare support units. Something might happen which results in my inability to retreat. Therefore the units sent to the village should be adept at stealth or have the ability to go invisible.”
“I understand.”
Since time was tight, Momonga swiftly incanted the spell.
“[Gate].”
The child had not cried all this time: He could stand, clutching the bars of his crib, and he looked up into the intruder’s face with a kind of bright interest, perhaps thinking that it was his father who hid beneath the cloak, making more pretty lights, and his mother would pop up any moment, laughing —
The pale man in the dark robe pointed the wand very carefully into the boy’s face: He wanted to see it happen, the destruction of this one, inexplicable danger. The child began to cry: It had seen that he was not James. He did not like it crying, he had never been able to stomach the small ones whining in the orphanage —
“{AV—ADAA—!! KED—”
The man’s voice was cut short when a swirling black portal appeared beside the crib. From it came a giant skeletal figure in Majestic academic robe edged in violet and gold. In his hand was a Golden Staff of immense worth. Momonga raised the Staff, and it immediately radiated a beautiful glow which lit up its surroundings. The glow was as blinding as the Staff itself. However, his surroundings were filled with inauspicious flickering shadows, which emitted an aura of menace.
The Skeletal Overlord pointed a bony finger at the Dark Lord.
“[Death]”
Voldemort succumbed to its power just like his previous two victims, falling lifeless to the ground.
This was an eighth tier, instant death spell. Many of the necromantic spells which Momonga was adept with possessed instant death properties, and this was one of them. He could use higher tier spells like [True Death] which invalidates the effect of lower-tier resurrection, or one of his favourite spells [Grasp Heart] which crushed a foe’s heart, but he chose a lower-tier spell to test the waters. Momonga’s necromancy spells were augmented, he could’ve used his innate skills or necromancy-enhancing abilities to increase the chances of instant death even further. However, it meant that he could not gauge the strength of that psychopath.
This way, he could measure the strength of this world and verify his own power. Momonga had been planning to follow up with another spell, [Triplet-Maximize Magic, Reality Slash] in case his initial attempt failed, but he felt silly as he noted the weakness of the pale figure.
“Pathetic... he died so easily...”
‘Who knew that dark wizard lacked even the most rudimentary resistance against such spells. It was really bad luck for the couple to have died from such a noob.’
As Momonga lamented the fate of the unfortunate couple, a subtle moment escaped his notice: a severed soul, unseen and unbidden, surreptitiously slipped past him, finding its way into the infant's vulnerable form. His focus, momentarily drawn elsewhere, failed to catch this significant event amidst the unfolding chaos.
The Overlord’s gaze fixated on the enigmatic figure emerging from the still-open [Gate] , his attention was wholly consumed by the mysterious being's arrival. At the same time, the [Gate]’s duration ended, and it slowly disappeared. A person clad in a suit of full-body black plate armour stood before Momonga.
That suit of armour looked like a demon. It was covered in spikes and did not expose the slightest bit of flesh. Its clawed gauntlets grasped a black kite shield in one hand and a bardiche that radiated a sickly green glow in the other. A blood-red cape blew in the wind, while the doublet beneath was also the carmine of fresh blood.
“The preparations took some time. I apologize for my late arrival,” Albedo’s melodic voice spoke from beneath the horned helmet.
“No, it’s fine. You came just in time.”
“Thank you. Then... how shall we dispose of this inferior lifeform? If you do not wish to stain your hands with its blood, I will gladly eliminate them on your behalf, Momonga-sama.”
“Wait, wait, don’t be so hasty. There’s a time and place for this, so lower your weapon.”
“...Understood, Momonga-sama,” Albedo replied gently as she withdrew her bardiche.
However, she was still radiating murderous intent, to the point where even the little child started crying again in fear. In response, Momonga’s nonexistent stomach began cramping up.
“...What exactly did Sebas tell you?”
Albedo did not respond.
“I see, you didn’t pay attention... My intention is to save this child. Our enemy is already dead, his corpse laying over there.”
Momonga observed Albedo's understanding nod before diverting his gaze elsewhere. In any case, he had to leave this place as soon as possible. If he remained here, who knew what other tragedies might occur?
“Then...” Momonga's tone was decisive as he gently lifted the child. “Deploy some Shadow Demons and other stealth units to monitor this area and its surroundings. Notify me immediately of any developments.”
With a swift gesture, Momonga activated [Gate] once more, whisking himself and the child back to the sanctuary of Nazarick…
