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Characters and New Abilities (Or just Their Abilities seen through a YGGDRASIL Menu):

Ainz's Spells he can use with Armor On (Armor allows all sub-third tier spells, and one above third tier spell, along with three non-combative above third tier spells thanks to Truth. Not all spells are listed, only the most used ones.):

Grasp Heart: Uses much much more mana, as it is restricted by the armor. (Note, if it does not kill target, it will stun instead. Example: Effect on Lust was both, as she comes back from dead using souls.)

Discern Entity

Create Low Tier Undead (20/day)

Create Middle Tier Undead (12/day)

Sense Boosting and Aura sensing abilities

Explosive Land Mine

Invisibility* (Just above what the armor allows Ainz to use, it is limited to only be used without the armor)

Perfect Unknowable

Perfect Warrior (Obviously, he needs this to be able to wear the armor)

Ainz's Notes on Races:
Humans: They Appear to be Stronger here than in The New World.
Homunculi:All 7 of them have Regenerative Powers. Each one of the Homunculi have their own defining 'Ultimate' ability that makes them unique, and very dangerous. All extremely capable. Note: Can be killed just like a human, sometimes even more easily, but will heal any wounds, then resurrect.
Possessed Armour: These beings are made by attaching a soul to an empty suit of armour alchemically. Unfortunately, they are not made to last long, and fall apart after a few years of being bonded to the soul.

Name: Roy Mustang
Level: 33
Race: Human, Amestrian, Part Xingese
Job: Colonel, State Alchemist
Titles/Nicknames: Flame Alchemist, Colonel Bastard
Abilities:
Combat Prowess
-Mustang has been through many fights and battles, and is skilled in hand to hand combat.
Combat Alchemy
-Mustang is trained in combat alchemy, and can use his gloves to create explosions with pinpoint accuracy.
Weapons:
-Ignition Gloves [Gloves]: When the user snaps, the material rubs and creates a spark. It will not work if the glove is wet. Can be used with alchemy to move around hydrogen or oxygen in the air to create explosions.

Name: Alex Louis Armstrong
Level: 28
Race: Human, Amestrian
Job: State Alchemist
Titles/Nicknames: The Strong Arm Alchemist
Abilities (Passed Down through the Armstrong Family for Generations!):
-Combat Prowess
Armstrong has been through many fights and battles, and is skilled in hand to hand combat.
-Combat Alchemy
Armstrong is trained in combat alchemy, and can use hard materials in many ways through his punches, as he wears gauntlets with transmutation circles on them.
Weapons:
-Gauntlets [Gloves]: Armstrong's gauntlets have transmutation circles for stone on the back, allowing him to redirect and transmute many objects with a punch.

Name: Edward Elric
Level: 24
Race: Human, Amestrian
Job: State Alchemist
Titles/Nicknames: Fullmetal Alchemist, Ed, Pipsqueak
Abilities:
-Circle-Less Alchemy (Clapping Alchemy)
Due to his seeing of Truth, Edward is able to use Alchemy without a circle, simply touching his hands together to make himself a circle and then touching what he wants to transmute while imagining the circle he would have used to simulate its existence.
-Combat Prowess
Edward has been through many fights and battles, and is skilled in hand to hand combat.
-Combat Alchemy
Edward is trained in combat alchemy, and can use nearly any material around him to make a weapon or just to hit someone from a distance with using his Clapping Alchemy.
Weapons:
-Automail [Body Enhancement]: Edward's right arm and left leg are automail, a prosthetic made with a lighter steel variant. In combat Ed often transmutes the plate over the back of the hand into a blade that to most people it appears to simply be a hidden blade. He often wears gloves and long pants to cover up his automail.
-Spear [Lance Weapon]: Edward often transmutes a spear form the nearby material, often metal, and uses it to fight. It is usually around six feet long, and has ornate designs on it, often gruesome, as Ed's personal art style is usually gaudy.

Name: Alphonse Elric
Level: 24
Race: (Ex Human) Possessed Armour
Job: None
Titles/Nicknames: Al
Abilities:
-Circle-Less Alchemy (Clapping Alchemy)
Due to his seeing of Truth, Alphonse is able to use Alchemy without a circle, simply touching his hands together to make himself a circle and then touching what he wants to transmute while imagining the circle he would have used to simulate its existence.
-Combat Prowess
Alphonse has been through many fights and battles, and is skilled in hand to hand combat.
-Combat Alchemy
Alphonse is trained in combat alchemy, and can use nearly any material around him to make a weapon or just to hit someone from a distance with using his Clapping Alchemy
-Self-Sustenance
Needs no source of air, water, food, or nutrition to survive.

Name: Ling Yao
Level: 15
Race: Human, Xingese
Job: Prince of Xing
Titles/Nicknames: Heir to Xing, Prince Ling, Young Lord, Master Ling, Idiot Prince, Xingese Prince, Squinty Eyes, Piss-ant, Young Master, Thin Eyes
Abilities:
Combat Prowess
-Ling has been through many fights and battles, and is skilled in hand to hand combat. He has also survived many assassination attempts on his life, due to him being the Xingese Prince.
Dragon Pulse
-An ability many Xingese people have. Allows them to sense the souls and emotions of nearby people and entities.
Advanced Swordsmanship
-Ling h
Weapons:
-Sword: Ling carries a Dao sword on his hip, wrapped in white tape. He is skilled in using it.

Homunculi:

Name: Wrath the Furious (Alias: Bradley)
Level: 75
Race: Homunculus
Job: Fuhrer
Titles/Nicknames: King Bradley, The Ultimate Eye
Abilities:
Combat Prowess
-Wrath has been through many fights and battles, and is skilled in hand to hand combat.
Ultimate Eye: If Wrath can see the attack when it hits, he can see it coming from an unknown amount of time in the future.
-Immunity
Immune to all poisons and negative substances
-Enhanced Physiology
Has advanced strength, movement, and senses.
-Self-Sustenance
Needs no source of air, water, food, or nutrition to survive.
Weapons:
-Swords: Bradley is extremely well trained with swords, and is almost the fasted in combat, due to reflexes from his Ultimate Eye.

Name: Envy the Jealous
Level: 70
Race: Homunculus
Job: Instigator
Titles/Nicknames: None
Abilities:
Combat Prowess
-Envy has been through many fights and battles, and is skilled in hand to hand combat.
Shape-Shifting
-Envy can take any form that is alive so long as it doesn't take up more mass than his true form, which is so large it's nearly impossible to have anything larger than it.
-Immunity
Immune to all poisons and negative substances
-Enhanced Physiology
Has advanced strength, movement, and senses.
-Self-Sustenance
Needs no source of air, water, food, or nutrition to survive.
Weapons:
Envy often grows weapons from his own arms using the shape shifting powers he has.

Name: Lust the Lascivious
Level: 50
Race: Homunculus
Job: Instigator, Emissary
Titles/Nicknames: Solaris
Abilities:
Combat Prowess
-Lust has been through many fights and battles, and is skilled in hand to hand combat.
-Immunity
Immune to all poisons and negative substances
-Enhanced Physiology
Has advanced strength, movement, and senses.
-Immortality
Never grows older, always beautiful and young
-Self-Sustenance
Needs no source of air, water, food, or nutrition to survive.
Weapons:
Ultimate Spear: Lust grows her fingernails into spears which can puncture any material.
Beauty: Can seduce most men with ease.

Name: Gluttony the Voracious
Level: 70
Race: Homunculus
Job: Target Locator, Evidence Eraser
Titles/Nicknames:
Abilities/Traits:
-Advanced Sense of Smell
Gluttony can track using smell, regardless of light. Most likely because he is always hungry, he has adapted to smelling food from up to a half-mile away.
-Immunity
Immune to all poisons and negative substances
-Enhanced Physiology
Has advanced strength, movement, and senses, more so with smell than the others.
-Self-Sustenance
Needs no source of air, water, food, or nutrition to survive.
-Tank
Gluttony is large, and can tank hits, as he has a lot of mass, but it also makes him a bigger target.
-Eating
Gluttony can eat any substance safely, with no limit, including people and prey, often whole and alive.
Weapons:
No Known Weapons other than eating his victims.

Other Beings:

Name: Barry the Chopper
Level: 40
Race: (Ex Possessed Armour, Ex Human) Low-Tier Summon
Job: Partner to Ainz, Serial Killer
Titles/Nicknames: Barry the Butcher, Barry the Chopper
Abilities/Traits:
-Increased Strength
Barry's strength is greatly increased as a level 40 summon, about 25%higher than when he was a possessed armour.
Weapons:
Bladed Hands: Barry's Fingers are blades, allowing for easy attacks. They are tier 4 blades, and can cut through stone with barely any trouble. They often get in the way when doing a non-combative activity.

Chapter Text

I own nothing except maybe abilities of Ainz, possibly some timeline bends as well. I will update disclaimer as needed.

The idea for this was... something. I was sitting on the toilet and it popped into my head. That seems to be the location where I get the most of my ideas. This requires further research.

CHAPTER  1: A Skeleton and A God Walk into a Void...

Truth stared at the being that appeared in its realm out of nowhere. It stared back with burning red eyes.

"What are you? Where did you come from?" Truth said curiously. "I know of everything in the universe, but I have no idea who or what you are. You don't even have a Gate on you. Clearly you aren't of this world."

He gazed at the being, confused at what the hell it was. It appeared to be a sentient, living, skeleton wearing a purple cloak with gold trim, and holding a strange Golden staff, which looked a bit like a Caduceus. The staff itself had seven snakes around it, each with a differently colored gem in it's mouth.

The most interesting thing was its eyes, which appeared to be a burning red flame, commonly known as soulfire to those who were familiar with it. The few beings with this soulfire for eyes were souls bonded to armor, which this skeleton was clearly not. Even if a soul was bonded to the skeleton, how could it move? It has no visible means of staying together and not becoming a pile of bones. But, then again, soul armor shouldn't be able to move either.

Then the skeleton spoke. "I could ask you the same thing. What are you? Clearly some kind of boss monster, but this place is rather strange." Its voice was deep and charismatic, not exactly what one might imagine from a skeleton.

"I am Ainz Ooal Gown, Elder Lich, Dark Caster, and Overlord of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. As well as the only remaining one of the 41 Supreme Beings. I was sent here by a method unknown to me. If I had to guess it would be a [World Tier] item. A dimensional one at that from what I can tell.

Truth nodded, taking in the skeleton's position and accepted his explanation as the truth. (Heh. Truth. I made a pun.)

"I am the Truth, God, One, Everything, knowledge incarnate. I know all about everything in this world as I am everything. Except for you. You are not of my domain." he grinned.

"My world is made up of equivalent exchange. You are aware of what that is, yes?" Truth asked. Ainz nodded his confirmation. "As of now, I have no idea how to get you back to your world. If you were to assist me with a little, ah, issue, in my world that could affect me, I will do everything in my power to assist you. I'll even ask some other higher beings that are out and about somewhere." it says, waving it's arm in a general direction.

"That sounds interesting." Ainz said aloud. 'This should be useful. I don't have any of the items I would use for dimensional transport or long distance, so this is my best very to get back. Plus, it should be fun. I could always go as Momon again.' Ainz turned to face the white figure. "

Truth's grin stretched impossibly wider. "Let's play a game. Just a trust exercise. We take turn answering each others questions, only saying an answer if the other will answer it as well. A warning. If you refuse to comply with the rules and don't answer a question I answered first. You will have a bad time." Truth explained, smirking.

Ainz jawbones twisted into the approximation of a grin. 'Finally, a challenge.' he chuckled internally. "How about limited questions, perhaps, three each?"

Truth grinned. 'Clever, limiting your opponent early on, huh. I like you.' he thought excitedly.

"Very well."

Ainz tilted his head. "I must let you know, I am one of the 41 Supreme beings, we are equivalent to Gods, and I personally have killed some myself. Their remains went into making this staff I hold. I warn you as well."

Truth frowned. "Was that a threat? You believe you can harm me in my own domain?" he says in his echoing voice.

Ainz chuckled at the irritation on the God's face. "Not a threat, merely a statement of my power. Now that we both have made ourselves clear, let us begin."

Truth took the opening, and began. "What do you mean, you have killed Gods?"

"That's a simple one. I have lived in two worlds before this one. I am not sure of one of them, but the second one has Gods behind the religions there, leading their priests. Some are fair and kind, whereas most of them were dark. My comrades and I located the Gods on our quest to create the ultimate staff, made specifically for me. When we found them, we fought them in long raids and eventuaply killed them, taking the magical essence from them after. In the world I came from I was one of the strongest known beings. Now, tell me about you.

Truth's face scrunched up at the phrases it didn't understand. "I am a higher being, tasked with dealing with interlopers to my realm. I can do anything, mostly I make deals with puny mortals using Equivalent Exchange."

The Ainz put a hand on its chin in thought. His soulfire eyes flared. He raised a hand and pointed it at Truth. He then used a spell that he often forgot to use in both YGGDRASIL and the New World, as it wasn't needed in YGGDRASIL when you had already memorized the known enemies stats, and the spell only showed the name, level, job, and race, no abilities or attacks. All races are able to use the spell, so it wasn't useful for most points. In the New World he had completely forgotten about it.

{Discern Entity}

Name: Truth

Race: God

Jobs: GateKeeper, Judge, Toll Giver

Level: 100

Karma: 0

"Interesting." Ainz non-existent brows furrowed. If this "God" was level 100, then he would be the same as Ainz in Level. But were they the same in skill?

He was broken out of his musings by Truth. "What was that? Was it that 'magic' you spoke of?" the God grimaced at the word.

Ainz nodded. "All I did was take a look at how strong you are." Truth opened his mouth and asked.

"How strong am I compared to you?" he asked curiously, interested in how this measure of power applied to him.

"Ah ah ah. That is one of your questions, Truth!" Ainz exclaimed. Truth's grin dropped straight off its face when it realized that Ainz had tricked it.

"As you say." it said, dissapointed.

Ainz grinned, his bones clacking, and responded. "According to the spell, you are a level 100 Godly Creature. You are a Gate keeper, and you are aroubd my level in power, but I know not of your skills compared to mine. I do hope we dont have to test our abilities, at least not against one another. It would be quite an even fight if we were prepared for one another's abilities.

'Now that's interesting. I assume the levels go up to one hundred. I have to be careful, since he can possibly bypass equivalent exchange, and he has other powers as well.' Truth considered.

Ainz quickly thought up a question. "Tell me about your world and the issue you spoke of. It sounds interesting, and you wouldn't be a Gatekeeper if you aren't stopping things from going in and out. And I want to know what I'm facing for this favor I'm doing for you. That will be two of my questions."

Truth nodded "That's true. My world has many countries, but the one that is significantly more important than the others is Amestris. Amestris is almost perfectly circular. It is a militaristic state, and has a Fuehrer. It doesn't have physics, but rather Alchemy, which is the manipulation of elements by channeling tectonic plate energy through a Transmutation circle." An example circle appeared next to Truth. "This is a Human Transmutation circle. One of the two laws of alchemy is never to do human transmutation."

"Why so?" questioned Ainz.

"When an alchemist uses any transmutation circle, they open a Gate within them, a Gate of Truth," A large ornate black Gate appeared with what looked like Latin and lines all over it. "which allows the Alchemic energy to flow through them. If they use a Human transmutation circle, then I have to intervene. The entire point of Human Transmutation is to bring back the dead. Unfortunately due to natural laws I do not want unbalanced, I have to... intervene. They are brought here, and in exchange for knowledge, I take something they value greatly. A part of them to be exact. For example, if you have a great vision, such as an army commander, I will take your sight. If you wanted a child, I will take your reproductive organs."

Ainz winced. "Ouch."

Truth nodded. "It is a fair punishment. I take something from them because they need to be punished for playing God, but in exchange, they gain some knowledge. It may be anything, mostly you learn a little more more about everything you know. And now, as for the explanation as to our deal. When killed, people's souls enter a cycle of rebirth, keeping the world in balance. Someone figured out how to make a condensation of those souls, via mass death at once. It creates a philosophers stone. These stones can bypass my equivalent exchange, but stop when they run out of souls. There are artificial humans in Amestris, some high ranking officials, each with a different ability. There are seven, each named after the deadly sins. Their goal is to create an enormous philosophers stone somehow and then use it to kill me. The result will be this world being destroyed, and whichever homunculus eats me, they get ALL of the souls in the world as power, forever. I need you to do a deal. As I cannot leave my Gate, and you need a way home, which will take time, I thought you could be my vassal down there in Amestris. I will send you messages periodically to check in.

In all honesty, it didn't sound too bad. These homunculi sounded similar to the Guardias of Nazarick. Although it they were like that, it would be quite difficult for Ainz to beat seven of them in a fight, he couldn't just us an instant kill spell, because the spell targets the victim's soul, and the homunculi have many souls. And there was also another issue. "How am I going to be undercover and get enough intel if the country is militaristic? Their secrets must be hard to get to."

Truth nodded happily. "Exactly. Buuut, as you are having to enter my world, whose main ability is Alchemy, the army has state alchemists. I would like you to become one. As you leave my Gate, I can bend the rules a bit. So you can have a Gate of your own, and willgain enough alchemical knowledge to pass the test on your way through. I assume you have a way to disguise yourself?"

Ainz held his arms out to the sides, and used the spellset {Create Greater Item}, which made what appeared to be a set of ornate armor over him, with two large broadswords on his back. Each of the swords has a crescent flare to it at the tip of the sword. In reality this was an improved setup of his Momon disguise, with an extra ring on his hand that held a glamour on his body underneath that simulated a real body, although it could do little more than be touched. It was still weak, and would shatter under large amounts of stress, so him using it is a minimum priority. His eye slits were slightly wider, allowing his soulfire eyes to be seen through it. It didn't matter too much, it was only seen it you were trying to see his eyes, and even then, looked a bit like just really reflective eyes.

Truth whistled. "Fancy. Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." he replied.

"Very well then Mr. Skel-e-ton" itsaid in an echoing voice, teasingly. Truth's entire demeanor changed as it fell into the script he uses every time for when people show up from the Gate. "I am Truth, but you can call me One, All, God, the Universe, but most importantly, I AM YOU!" a copy of the Gate by Truth flickered into existence behind Ainz, and he sensed a flickering of his magic, as if he was using an item, but not quite. The Gate crashed open. Ainz turned to see black creeping hands grow from the gate, pulling him into a giant eye. The hands wrapped around him, pulling him into the Gate. As he was slowly being dragged backwards, Truth used his last question.

"Ah, yes, my last question. What kind of magic do you specialize in?" Truth called.

Ainz laughed aloud at the irony. "Why Truth! I thought you would never ask! I specialize in undead magics!" he cried cheerfully as the door slammed shut. 'Man, that'll throw him for a loop.' Ainz snickered mentally as he fell backwards. He turned to see images and knowledge flashing into his mind, feeling new alchemy abilities being added to his mental list of spells, and how to transmute without a circle. 'That will be handy'. He turned as he got through the blackness, and a bright light was ahead of him. He covered his eyes, and then everything went dark.

Truth sat there stunned at the answer to his last question, then started cackling and clapping his hands with glee. "Oh yes! This is going to be VERY entertaining!"

AN: Ainz in armor with his glowing eyes must look a lot like Alphonse. *wink* *wink* *cough* *cough*

All ideas are taken into consideration when I write this. Also, anyone who knows chemistry or whatever can tell me scientifically what Kimblee does to the human body to make bombs? Like what elements does he move around? And would those chemicals exist in human bones, therefore Ainz? It would be nice to know so I don't just have to figure it out myself later.

It is I, Nyx, Lord Momonga's Disciple! The ETA for Chapter 8 of GEDN is about a week, minimum, maybe two max. I have writers block with the Shalltear pairing in that story. :( But fear not! This chapter will have copious amounts of plot! Leveling Up! A hopefully half-decent pairing! And... A House Elf?! And In the Realm of the Dragon Who Lived Reading, we will have new characters at least every other chapter for a few chapter! YAY! Stay tuned for more updates on what are hopefully some of your favorite stories! Suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

Chapter Text

Guest reviewer: Why do you think Ainz should be insecure? He is one of the strongest beings other than God and homunculi. He is from around Volume six of Overlord, and had no reason to not be confident.

Arrival
Location: Amestris, Central City, Unknown Alleyway
Time: 0800 Hours

In an alleyway in central a homeless man was sleeping by some dumpsters, with a few cats. Some wind came through the alley, rattling a few cans. The man looked around cautiously, but couldn't see anyone. He settled back down and was falling asleep when he heard in again, but louder. This time he rose up and looked out of the alley, as it was a dead end alley with no entrances. Something caught his eye, and he turned to see the shadows twisting unnaturally. Then a crackling sound came from behind him.

The homeless man whirled around, pulling out a small blade he had on him. On the wall behind him was a large, blood-red transmutation circle with a pentagram as a center. The man backed away as a large vertical eye appeared in the center of it, about six and a half feet tall. Within that eye, a figure appeared to be walking towards the man.

"Stay away! I-I'm warning you!" The man shouted. The figure had exited the eye, now standing right next to the wall. It was a large armored figure, with two huge mounted broadswords on its back. The figure took a menacing step forward. The man took a step back. The armor moved forward again, and the man moved with it. One more step. The man couldn't handle it anymore, and ran. The armor watched him run. Within the armor, Ainz watched amused as the man ran like a chicken with its head cut off.

Ainz observed the man. 'He seems to be poor, most likely homeless. I doubt anyone would listen to him if he reported the occurrence, but I can't take many chances at the moment. Oh well, now I have to dispose of him.' The thing about Ainz's armor that was different than his previous set was that is boosted spells slightly, allowing him to use [Tier I] and [Tier II] spells while wearing it, but they would take more energy than normal, and he still cannot regenerate mana while using it. He raised his hand, and used a charm spell on the man.

"You shouldn't have shouted. Then I might have actually spared you." Ainz whispered into the man's ear. The man paled and tried breaking the charm spell. Ainz put the man under a simple immobilization spell. The man stared at him, wide eyed, trying to move. Ainz dragged him into the back of the alley. Ainz clapped, already knowing how to transmute because of the knowledge gained from the gate, and clapped the floor. A hole opened up in the ground with an open space underneath it. He undid the immobilization spell, and broke the man's neck with his hands. He put the man in the hole, and sealed it. He placed a simple illusion over it so people wouldn't take notice of the alchemic symbols until much, much later.

Ainz looked through the knowledge he gained from the Gate, which was quite a large amount. He spotted something that sent a chilling grin upon his masked face. 'What is this?' He chuckled as he looked over the knowledge, an idea forming. He un-equipped his armor, and cast an invisibility spell to prevent anyone from seeing him. He put his armor in front of him on the ground. He clapped his hands, and pressed them to the chestplate. Blue lightning arced, crackling across the armor, changing its shape. The end result was different than if he had used an aesthetic spell, as it was actually solid. What he had done was emblazon the logo of his guild across the front of the armor in a dark gold that matched the trim of the helmet and chestplate. It was still maneuverable. In fact, alchemy naturally lines up the molecules and elements to the users will, so he actually strengthened the integrity of the armor. As well as strengthening it, he changed the shape of the armor, so it still looked sleek, but it looked to be used, so people didn't assume he was some rich arrogant asshole who thinks he's great because he has fancy armor. He quickly did the same to the rest of the set. As he put it back on, he had an idea.

Reaching into his Dimensional Pocket, he pulled out the red cape he used when he was using the identity of Momon with Narbaral.

A few moments later, now fully equipped, Ainz left the alleyway, now fully visible. The surrounding area appeared to be a town from around the early 1900's, and had electrical lines hanging over the streets, and electric lights on poles along the street. The place reminded him of poor areas he had seen before, with dilapidated buildings on every few corners. It was day time, and Ainz judged it was around early morning. He started heading down the road. As the houses passed by he couldn't help but notice how much it felt like he was back on Earth. Albeit an older earth with 1920's tech and different countries with different histories. Lost in thought, he eventually noticed that where he was was much more lit up, and more like a highly populated city he had been to in the past. He saw a few people on the street, mostly civilians, who looked strangely at him when he passed, then walked away nervously though he ducked out of sight when he saw an officer coming out of a late day bar. A few cars went by, but no one seemed to try to stop him yet.

He realized that people were looking at him because of the armor and how suspicious he was. He straightened his back, and made it look like he was supposed to be there. Discreetly reaching into his spacial storage space, Ainz grabbed a backpack he had used before he gained the use of pocket dimensions. It was in pristine condition, due to backpacks technically not having durability, as the developers didn't want gear spilling everywhere if it broke. As he reached into the pack to put some items in there for easy access, an envelope was in there he did not remember.

Ainz,
Within this envelope is papers confirming that you are an Amestrian citizen, born there at birth, as well as a small amount of money until you become a State Alchemist. I doubt someone like you would need any help, but I wouldn't want you to be stopped by something as simple as that. I don't care whatever sob backstory you come up with, just remember, you are doing this to get back. This is all I will help you with. Prove that you are worthy to claim you have killed gods.

Don't Fail,
Truth

P.S. Saying you can do circle-less Alchemy in your interview page should attract enough attention to guarantee a pass on the test.

Ainz chuckled at the message Truth had left. 'This shouldn't be that bad.' Ainz thought confidently. He made his way through Central, looking for anyone who could direct him to where he could take the State Alchemist test.

'Now THAT's a wall'

Ainz had been walking down a street, taking note of how the cars looked. He turned a corner and stopped at a sight that was unlike something he had seen in a while. In front of him was a huge wall, one of five that made up a pentagon around the middle of central Central. Something about that statement sounded wrong in his head, but he couldn't tell what it was. As he took in the sight of the city, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of amazement. "Wow..."

Someone nearby heard his words.

"Amazing, isn't it?" a nearby soldier standing by a gate said. Ainz turned to face the soldier.

"O-oh, yes, I suppose so." Internally, Ainz scoffed at the wall. 'It has good construction, but against anything other than humans, it would come tumbling down. Even a simple [Tier III] spell could clear it if the proper one was used. It is pretty good for a human building it.'

"Are you new around here?" the soldier asked curiously. Ainz nodded quickly.

"Yes, I have recently arrived around here. Why do you not find my armor strange?" he asked, wondering why the man hadn't immediately arrested him or at least interrogated him for having large weapons on the street. The soldier blinked.
"Well, you don't seem to be causing any problems. Also, everyone is so used to seeing Alphonse Elric and his armor, it must be not too unnatural for them. Also if you wanted to cause a problem you wouldn't be going around like that."

Ainz nods. "Those are fair points. Can you inform me where I can take a test to become a State Alchemist? I came here trying to become one."

The soldier nods. "Hey! You're in luck, the tests are being held later today. If you get in line you might make it in the list on time. Just remember to have your papers ready. Just head down this street here, and take the third left, and you should see the building right there."

Ainz bows respectfully. "Thanks you for your troubles."

"Glad I could help!"

Ainz walked away, armor clanking as he walked.

The Test
Location: Amestris, Central, State Alchemist Examination Facility
Time: 1200 Hours

Ainz looked around the large lobby to the facility. It was pretty large, as it was a government facility, they could afford those kinds of things there. There weren't many people in the area, only the officers by the doors, the receptionist, and two men waiting on seats by the door. The receptionist turned to the door as he came in.

"Hello! Is there anything I can- Oh!" her eyes widened as she saw him standing there in his armor. She quickly caught herself staring and continued. "Is there anything we can help you with today sir?

"Yes, I was wondering If I could take the State Alchemist test?" he said politely. She nodded, reaching under the desk to pull out a small stack of papers.

"Of course, here you go! This is just a form for your identity and background, Mr...?" she stopped, not knowing his name.

"Ainz."

"Yes, here you go Ainz." she said with a smile. He took the papers and clanked over to the seats by the two men. One of them was very young, around 21, with a small beard and very tan. The other was an older man, who was around 40, and had a large beard, with red-copperish beard hair. He walked over and sat down by them, the weight of his armor bending the metal seat slightly. 'That'll leave a mark.' Ainz absentmindedly noted. The two men looked over at him, then paled a bit at his imposing figure, and promptly returned to their own work, ignoring him. He turned his attention to the papers in his hand. It didn't look too bad, really just a fill in the blank sheet.

Name:Ainz Ooal Gown
Age: 35
Occupation: None
Gender: M
Previous Jobs: None
Abilities:  I have a good sized experience with Alchemy, and can transmute without a circle. I also have decent skill with a sword, and hand to hand combat. I can speak many languages.

It was mostly true. He could speak languages due to an undead skill which allowed the understanding of spoken languages, but not written ones, as many of the monstrous races speak different languages in YGGDRASIL. The next question had Ainz temporarily stumped, but it wasn't difficult to come up with a reason that was a half truth.

Medical Conditions:  I cannot take off my armor easily, as without it my skin will burn in any kind of bright light. I also am comfortable wearing it due to how long I have worn it as well as not wanting to show my scars publicly.

It was partly true, as many undead burned in light, such as lesser Vampires, and some zombies. And for him being albino, his red soulfire eyes and white skull do match the color of an albino person, allowing himself some truthfulness in the statement. He quickly filled in a few other questions, such as place of birth, which he passed off as his family moving out of Amestrian years ago, and eventually his coming back here when he had gotten older. It wasn't his problem if his birth certificate doesn't exist. Signing his full name in a fancy scrawl, he stood up, the seat creaking, and handed the paper to the receptionist.

"Please wait in the seats until you are called." she said. Ainz nodded and sat back down in the chair, which was groaning in protest under his weight. He observed the men near him, and immediately dismissed them as threats. He sat there for a while, but wasn't really bored because anytime he got frustrated from nothing happening, his undead body got rid of the emotion. After about half an hour, a man in a soldier uniform came from the door next to the desk.

"Can Isaac Vermillion, John George, and Anz All Gown please come this way." Ainz winced at the butchering of his name, but didn't bother correcting him on it. He stood up and transmuted the metal chair back to its former unbent condition before leaving. He walked through the door, ignoring the other men's expressions at his circle-less alchemy.

The next room was a few tables with dividers between them, and one had a stronger seat than the others. Someone clearly noticed Ainz's issue with hus weight when he sat on the other chair. He sat down in that chair, and faced the front of the room. The same soldier explained the next section of the quiz.

"Alright, so in this part of the test, you will be asked mostly simple questions, all pertaining to laws and alchemy. That was the harder part of the test. The questions were rather complex, but some were pretty easy, since he had knowledge from Truth.

What molecules make up an average brick building... What is the circle for transmuting air into hydrogen... What is the atomic number and weight for Argon.

Some of the questions, however, seemed to be advice rather than a serious quiz answer.

How can Roy get rid of his paperwork fast if he only has ten seconds?... Can Edward be held down with metal bars if he tries to kill someone for calling him short?... Can Roy make a statue from transmuted gold if he wants to steal Havoc's girlfriend?...

Ainz frowned at what we're clearly accidental questions, most likely a prank that slipped into the quiz, but he still answered them seriously. Answer 1: Roy should use Flame alchemy if he is capable of doing so, or else just own up to it like a man should a bit back out. The work would just build up more. Answer 2: If Edward if human, then metal bars should usually hold him down. If he is stronger than average, try a steel alloy. Answer 3: If he wants to steal someone's girlfriend, he should try to take one who isn't so easily swayed by money, buy rather by emotion.

He shivered a the last one, remembering a rant Albedo had started about people who only went looking for money and not love, so Ainz was quite informed in that department. He clomped up to the desk, and turned in his papers. The woman glanced through them, and sent him to another room next.

Finally, he was in the room that would be the final part of the State Alchemist Exam. It was actually an arena, rather than a room, and had men in military uniform all around it. 'This would make it way too easy for a head officer to be assassinated. Really, it wouldn't even take me that long at all.'

It was paltry compared to the coliseum in the Jungle Area of Nazarick, but we'll kept. When he walked in wearing his armour they started muttering, many staring at his armour either with mostly curiosity. Through two other doors the two men from earlier showed up. A man in a uniform wearing an eye patch stepped forward, his eye taking them in, lingering over Ainz's armour and his swords. He stared at the man back, both of them eyeing each other. Something about the man felt off. Ainz narrowed his eyes behind his helmet.

Suddenly someone began speaking from the side. "Alright, we will now begin with the final stage of the State Alchemist Exam. These three men will show their skill with both fighting and alchemy however they wish. As you can see, we have targets representing enemy soldiers. Any questions?" No one responded "Ready, beginning with John George."

The older man reached down and traced a perfect circle on the ground. As he filled it out, one could notice the skill and talent over the years he must have practiced. He traced on summons for Earth and Stone. It took some time to finish, bit was really well done for good age. He placed his hand on the circle and created a pillar of stone that allowed him to see the arena. He transmuted the pillar in such a way that layer of the pillar shot out and hit the targets in the arena with great accuracy. It shot out chunks at a time, the pillar dropping a few feet at a time until he reached the ground. The military officers clapped at the display, but not too loudly, as they shouldn't show favoritism.

"Next up, Isaac Vermilion!" Isaac pulled out a cloth with a circle on it. It flashed as he used it, and the result was water condensing out of the air to splash to the ground. He pressed another cloth with a different circle to the water, and it froze the water in a formation of spikes that slammed through the targets.

"Finally," the announcer paused. "Ainz All Goon."

'Why is my name so hard to pronounce?' he sweatdropped to himself. Ainz stepped forward casually, noting the way the man with the eyepatch was glancing through his papers. The man's eye widened, his head snapping up, staring at Ainz. 'Ah, he must know the significance of circle-less transmutations. Well, I might as well put on a show.' Ainz grinned, glad that it had been so easy to find someone who knew of Truth, or at least clapping transmutations. He subtly sent a {Discern Entity} at the man as he readied himself. He had an idea, a great one, based on the {Flight} spell.

Ainz crouched slightly, then jumped using a decent amount of strength. He shot up around fifteen feet into the air, and he clapped his hands, then straightened his arms out in front of him. The air sparked with the blue lightning as it shimmered. The lightning spread all around him, reflecting off of the armor he wore. The air shimmered before him, in a flat horizontal platform with shimmering lines through the air attaching it to the ground. Ainz landed upon it, the alchemy crackling to hold it in place. As he was controlling the air, it was not necessary for him to directly touch the platform, rather just the air near it, much like someone who uses Flame Alchemy.

'Please, I don't even need my swords for this.' he thought. He simply altered the formula he was using for the air in his head and his hands changed the air to shoot down slivers of condensed air that shot straight through the targets, shredding the area all around the arena, not hitting even near any of the officials. As the dust cleared, the audience was shocked to see not even a single target remaining whole, all riddled with holes the size of fists. Ainz, calmly stood there for a second, then created and walked down a set of air stars in silence. He reached the bottom, and then the room was filled with polite clapping, but clearly less than the others, as most of the men were speechless at how quickly he had decimated such a large amount of targets.

The announcer took a moment to get his bearings, but quickly realized his hesitation. "Thank you for demonstrating, you may now leave the area and wait for your results."

"Thank you." Ainz said aloud, and nodded. He did a sharp about face, and walked out of the room. As he walked back through the halls, he pondered the complications caused by his bout of recklessness. It definitely altered his plans now that someone recognized the significance of his abilities. Hopefully the man that saw him wouldn't be too high ranking to do anything about it.

He checked the results of his subtle {Discern Entity} spell. He was surprised at what came up, but expected the results.

Name: Wrath the Furious (Alias: Fuhrer Bradley)

Race: Homunculus

Job: Fuhrer of Amestris

Age: 61

Level: 85

Karma: -500

Despite his outward facade, this homunculi is extremely dangerous, and quite capable in combat. Watch out for uncanny reflexes to sneak attacks.

He paused for a second, then sighed. 'Goddamn it. I swear, I need to level up my Luck stat.' he chuckled to himself. 'So that was the leader of this country. Huh. So I guess he is a homunculus as well. They must be clever to get one in at such a high location in the Government.' he thought curiously. 'I'd better watch my back since he'll be in charge of me if I pass the test.' he checked his money from his backpack. 'Also, I need a place to live.'

"Ah, excuse me, Ainz?" a voice spoke from next to him. Ainz broke out of his thoughts and looked down. It was the receptionist from earlier. She was holding a manila folder.

"Ah, are those the results? I didn't think they'd be done so fast." he noted.

She smiled. "Well, you have been standing here for a while." she pointed out. He blinked, noticing that much time had passed when he was thinking.

"Ah, well thank you." he said, receiving the papers from her. He pulled out a fancy looking paper with gold trim. If he could have whistled, he would have. 'Man, why didn't I think of gold trim and writing for the Nazarick papers? I never come up with fun ideas first. I should get Albedo on that when I return'. Out loud, he mumbled it to himself. "Ainz Ooal Gown, we hereby..." Ainz skimmed down the page. "By the order of King Bradley you shall hereby go as the 'Armored Alchemist'! Huh, how original." he deadpanned. He shook the envelope, and realized there was a heavy weight in it. He shook out the folder, and a heavy silver pocket watch fell out, with an insignia of a dragon on it.

"Hmm? What's this?" he said aloud. The receptionist happily explained. "That is your State Alchemist pocket watch. It is the symbol of the State Alchemists, like their badge."

"Thank you." Ainz replied, already reading the second sheet of paper. "Report to headquarters at 0700 sharp for assignments to a squad." he frowned at the idea of someone having complete and total authority over him, at least on paper. Satisfied, Ainz stuffed the sheet into his backpack and began walking to the door.

"Now to find a place to live."

NN (Nyx Note) : I was planning to let the homeless guy go in this chapter, but Ainz wanted to kill him. Better luck next time old guy. Also Ainz won't say he is an Albino, because that would make him sound like an Ishvalan, but he will say he has sensitive skin, which is common with Albinos, but not quite solely found with them. The next update will be the GEDN story, or the Green Eyed Demon of Nazarick story if you haven't read it yet. Ainz's Alchemy platforms are like Weiss' glyphs. But with air. It's hypothetically possible, and all FMA explained was that Alchemy could do anything so long as there is a circle and formula for it. In this story I am also having mana allocate for Alchemy use, but he can use a flight spell for extended amounts of time and can use HUGE spells, so this shouldn't be too hard, right? Please try not to flame, or Roy will simply put them out. Advice is welcome.

Chapter Text

Shorter chapter, but with plot. Chapter Title says it all. :D

"Ready to go." Ainz murmured to himself as he made sure everything was locked up tight in his room at the apartment. He had shown up there after the Exam to rent a room, and it was well within his prices, and still looked nice. he set up his room with a few cosmetic items from his void inventory, as well as a small model, around half a foot tall, he got from an event in YGGDRASIL. It would take the form of a chosen player and wear whatever armor you wanted. At the moment it was set to Touch-Me from his guild wearing the pristine white armor that he had worn when Ainz met him all that time ago. Ainz smiled at the memory.

'I should go talk a walk around the area, and check out some things.' Ainz thought. Before closing up his room, he summoned a few low level undead that would hide in various locations in the room, and shouldn't be disturbed unless someone was searching where they shouldn't be. If they did, they would get a nasty shock via skeletons. If the skeletons were defeated, which would most likely happen if the person who set them off was a State Alchemist, then their remains would vanish, leaving no trace.

Ainz walked out of the complex and began walking around the city, mapping the streets as he went. It would never do to get lost and stuck in an alleyway during a fight. It was actually rather nice, being able to walk around freely without bodyguards, servants, or (shudder) yandere succubi following and constantly annoying him.
'Hmm?' Ainz glanced up at the sky, and saw it was sunset and realized how dark it was getting. 'My body is undead, so I don't require sleep, but I shouldn't be out here too late. I'll head back to the apartment in an hour.' he decided, continuing down the street, memorizing as best as he could the streets.

Location: Unknown Park in Central
Time: 2000 Hours

It was nighttime, the sun having set around forty five minutes ago. Ainz had been walking through the city to get back to his residence, when some movement in a park nearby caught his eye. Unnaturally quiet for a person wearing armor, Ainz twisted behind a tree to see what was going on.

Ainz's enhanced senses allowed him to hear the conversation. "-Are you trying to waste time?! It's Uncle, Sugar, Oliver, then 8, 0, 0!" A man in a phone booth shouted angrily into the phone. The man was wearing glasses, and was in a military uniform. That was all Ainz could see, but what caught his attention was the blood covering the man's right side. A muffled voice sounded on the other end. As the man listened to the phone, a figure in a military uniform walked up behind him and pulled out a gun.

The man in the booth kept talking, unaware of the threat. "This is an emergency!" he said, glaring at the phone. He froze at the sound of the gun being cocked. The man in the booth glanced back at the woman who held the gun.

"I need to ask you to put down the receiver." The woman said calmly. "Please, sir."

Ainz quickly considered the situation. A military man, bleeding out, was being held at gunpoint by another officer. One of the two must be breaking a law or have committed treason. There were no other possibilities that were that likely. Ainz held back to see if he should interfere, as he is a State Alchemist, which is equal to a Major in the army, probably higher than either of the officers. Ainz snapped out of thinking to hear the man.

"You look just like..." his face twisted, smirking. "But you're not. Who the hell are you lady?"

The woman shifted her position slightly. "I'm 2nd Lieutenant Maria Ross sir. You've lost too much blood."

The man frowned at her, grimacing as his injured side moved. "Drop the act already. You're not 2nd Lieutenant Ross. She has a mole under her left eye."

Both sides froze, leaving the atmosphere tense. Suddenly the woman grinned, her voice changing drastically.

"You're observant. I can't believe I forgot." she said in a rougher, androgynous voice. She tapped under her left eye, and in a burst of red lightning, much too similar to the normal blue Alchemy lightning for Ainz's liking, a mole appeared, just as the man said. She stared at the mad sadistically. "There, how do I look now?"

'That has to be a Homunculus! No humans have that power!' Ainz reached back to grab his swords to fight, but instead waited to see what the Homunculus would do.

The man gaped in shock. "Please tell me this isn't happening. I must be hallucinating or something." he muttered to himself.

"You really are a smart man Lieutenant Colonel. Did you ever think it would be the cause of your death?" the woman replied snidely.

"C'mon, have a heart, will ya? I have a wife and daughter waiting for me." he explained dangerously. The woman silently flickered red as the strange alchemic lightning covered her, and her form changed to that of another woman. "So the last thing I'm gonna do", the man continued, oblivious to the Homunculus changing, "is die on them!" He whirled around at the fully changed Homunculus with a small knife in his hands, but froze at her new form.

"You look surprised!" the woman said joyfully as the Lieutenant Colonel froze, pale.

"W-what the hell are you?" he said fearfully. *BANG!* A shot rang out from the gun, and the man crumpled to the floor, bleeding. A voice came through on the line, but Ainz couldn't make it out.

"You humans don't make any sense to me. You throw away your lives senselessly." the woman began, hanging the receiver back on the hook. Ainz had seen enough. He didn't want to reveal himself, but now there was a Homunculus right in the open, and he just killed a man, who was probably going to have important info on him. Ainz clapped, his gauntlets clanging. The woman turned, startled at the sound, as the ground came up and made spikes, stabbing it through the stomach. The woman crackled again as it changed, now into an androgynous figure, but was clearly male. It's hair was a shimmering green, and hung down like palm fronds on a palm tree. He wore a low cut sleeveless shirt, and had an Ouroboros mark on its chest. Ainz recognized the symbol from mythology back on his original world, and a faction had it as a symbol in YGGDRASIL. It had to be a Homunculus. The Homunculus choked out blood, shocked at the surprise attack. "Damn!" it cursed, leaping backwards, out of the spikes. It's skin healed over as its regeneration kicked in.

Ainz ran forward, pulling out his huge swords simultaneously. The Homunculus' eyes widened at the sight of the armor with huge swords running at him. "The hell?!" it exclaimed. Ainz swung at it, and the Homunculus bent its body in an inhuman fashion, the swords narrowly missing it. Ainz used his strength to suddenly change the direction of the blades, coming back and cutting the Homunculus in half at the waist. It shouted at him, collapsing to the ground. Ainz was surprised to see it heal so thoroughly, but it was to be expected of such powerful beings, since they ran on souls of all things. Angrily the artificial human raised an arm, which twisted, and suddenly became a flexible steel blade from the shoulder down. Ainz drove an overhead strike at the green-haired Homunculus. The arm raised to block the sword, at a loud clang commenced when they made contact. The impact bent the arm and cause the Homunculus' feet to sink unnaturally deep into the ground.

The Homunculus stared at him in surprise. "What are you?!" No human can hit that hard!" It shouted, confused. Ainz glanced at the Ouroboros mark on the Homunculus. "I am something your mind cannot comprehend, little Homunculus." Ainz said smugly as he shoved the Homunculus, the force pushing it back a few feet. Sticking his swords into the ground, Ainz clapped. He shoved his arms forward. Just like during the Exam, the air condensed into a few dozen shards, and shot forward, absolutely shredding the opponent. The Homunculus screamed, blood splattering the ground behind it, and the ground getting holes punctured in it. The Homunculus' eyes widened at the clap Alchemy. "Argh! You're a sacrifice? Now I can't kill you either!" it grumbled angrily. "Damn it, I so wanted to go all out on you, but it must wait." it sneered, turning and running into the distance, rippling as it turned into an unknown civilian and turned a corner. Ainz was confused by the statement and the words in it, but was determined to not let it get away.

He clapped and was about to follow when the man in the booth coughed up blood. 'Damn, now I can't chase him. I have to know what this man found out.' Frustrated at losing his quarry, Ainz shot a {Discern Entity} at the retreating Homunculus, barely landing it before it turned the corner. Ainz put off checking the results to see the man. Ainz frantically ran options through his skull. 'Should I heal him? No, that would be too suspicious, even if I need data, I can't just blow my cover like that. Same with resurrection. I doubt Truth would be too happy either with that.' He sat up the man and looked into his eyes.

"Are you able to talk?" Ainz asked him. The man groaned, and was able to open his eyes, albeit slowly. "Who're... you? Al?" the Lieutenant Colonel asked, slurred. Ainz shook his head. "It doesn't matter right now. What's your name?" the man winced.

"It's Lieutenant Colonel Hughes. I... I need to get a message to Roy. Roy Mustang. Someone's targeting him, and the government cannot be trusted." he made out. Ainz put a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down, I know all of that. I'm here to fight them. I'll inform him. How can I get him a message without him knowing its from me?" he asked Hughes. Ainz immediately shook his head at himself. "Never mind, I got this, don't worry Hughes, I will get the message to Roy."

Hughes smiled softly. "Thank you... now I can rest." he closed his eyes. As he drifted away, he spoke one more sentence. "If you can, please protect my family as well." Ainz watched as Hughes stopped moving. Ainz sat him back against the booth in the same position, and stood up. Making sure he didn't spread any signs it was him who was there, he checked the ground. A photo caught his eye. A picture of Hughes, a girl who was probably his daughter, and a woman who the Homunculus had turned into, probably his wife. Ainz placed the photo in the ma's shirt in respect, and left.

A few hours later, all the government would find at the scene would be a dead body covered in blood, and signs of combat, with more blood all over the ground. The ground itself was torn up by what appeared to be Alchemy, as well as puncture holes via an unknown source. No signs of identification were found on the ground.

Location: Ainz's Apartment Room
Time: 2230 Hours

Arriving back at his room safely, Ainz checked the {Discern Entity} spell's result.

Name: Envy the Jealous

Race: Homunculus

Job: Instigator

Age: 176

Level: 80

Karma: -500

Be cautious around this Homunculus, his outward appearance can copy any other at will. Watch your back.

'Interesting. It can change its appearance at will. I have to be careful. At least I can use my {Discern Entity} spell to check them, and they wouldn't know that I did. Also, I should do something to make it easier to use Alchemy other than having to come up with a circle and then focus it through my palms. I know! I'll put them on my armor!' Ainz took off his boots, and transmuted circles onto his boots, specifically, the ones to make his floating platforms and air. He placed the circles on the inside of the boots, so they were hidden. Now he could transmute the air, and it would look like he wasn't doing anything. 'Nice..." he thought.

Ainz realized he had a while until the sun came up, so he decided to go through his gear and think up plans based on what he knew.

Location: Underground, Beneath Central
Time: 2300 Hours

Envy stalked his way down through the tunnels, snarling as his wounds healed. It had hurt really badly to get shredded like that out of nowhere like he had. Envy stalked angrily into the room under central. Within the room, Lust lounged against a pillar, with Gluttony on her side eating something leftover from his meals. Wrath stood stoically with his back to the door, which was understandable seeing as he had his Ultimate Eye to help him. Lust raised an eyebrow at Envy's condition. "Envy, how did it go? Is Hughes dead?" she asked.

Envy snarled. "Yes yes, he's dead. However, we have a problem. Where's Father?"

Lust snorted. "He's out. What, did Hughes not die as fast as you wanted to? Maybe we should've had Gluttony deal with him instead, hmm?" she teased Envy. Envy glared back.

"Someone knows about us." came the reply. This caught Lust's attention.

"What do you mean?" she asked cautiously. "Does someone know of our plan?"

Envy growled. "That's just it! I don't know! He knows I am a Homunculus, but it was probably just the Ouroboros on my chest and-"

"You let someone see the Ouroboros on a mission?!" Lust growled. "I would understand if it was Gluttony or I, since we can't cover them up, but you?" she said.

Envy sneered. "I bet you'd have a hard time staying in a changed form when you're impaled! This guy, I have no clue who he was, covered in this dark armor with two big swords came out of nowhere and attacked me using Alchemy!"

Wrath turned around, bringing their attention to him. "Armor? Using Alchemy? Are you sure it wasn't Alphonse Elric?" he asked carefully. Envy nodded. "Yeah, I know what that kid looks like, and his armor ain't got nothing on this. This guy was wearing almost pitch black armor, and he bent my steel arm I made with one hit! It cracked!" That startled them, as steel was the closest man-made thing Envy could turn his body into to the Ultimate Shield or Ultimate Spear. OF course, it wasn't anywhere close to those, but it was pretty strong. "Then he used some kind of air based Alchemy that shredded me!"

Wrath flinched. "What?!" Envy turned to him.

"Do you know this guy, Wrath?" he asked.

Wrath nodded, thinking. "This sounds exactly like someone who just became a State Alchemist. He wore armor exactly like you described, and used similar Alchemy. I know nothing of what he looks like under it, but he claimed to have a condition that stopped him from taking it off, or else light would burn his skin." Wrath rubbed his chin. "He could use circle-less Alchemy, so he is now a sacrifice. We should stay away from him, we wouldn't want to make Father unhappy. I am worried whether or not it was a coincidence that he found you, and how much he saw. I shall look into this."

Envy nodded, still glaring, and walked out of the room as he called back "I'm going to go see if I can find out how much the military knows."

Wrath nodded, leaving as well. "I will check on my end as well." he said, striding from the room.

The only ones were Lust and Gluttony. "Did you get that Gluttony?" she asked. He nodded vigorously, a grin covering his face.

"Yes! No eating the armored ones!" he exclaimed excitedly.

Lust nodded. "Follow me, we have to report to Father." Together, the two strode out of the room.

Anyone want to be a Beta for this story, pm me. Also, let me know if I mess up any facts, as the timeline may get a little wonky with Ainz in the mix. If you want Ainz to resurrect Hughes, because he can, let me know. I don't really have a definite reason to bring him back, or one that fits with the plot, but I will consider it if you give me ideas for it.

Note: I refer to all Homunculi as it or them mostly, as although they have a set gender, minus Envy who can shape shift, they have no gender, and take the form of who was used to make them, mostly. Ainz is not going soft for staying for Hughes and getting a message to Roy, he simply wanted information, and thought it would be better to get it from Hughes before he died, but didn't get too much. Ainz can't bring Hughes back to life because the government would probably get them both. He simply has respect for Hughes, not going soft for Humans. Glad that's sorted. I have a poll of whether to continue or redo my entire Green Eyed fanfiction. I will upload one more chapter for it eventually though. If I am to redo it, it will have the same plot, but better written.

Chapter Text

Guest Reviewer: Ainz's staff is in his dimensional pocket, and he cannot use it with the armor, since he is a Warrior class and not a Magic-Based one with the armor on. If at any time he needs to use it, then the victim is going to have a BAD TIME.

IAmPedoBear: That's because we like to see the readers suffer a little bit longer for the next chapter.

NOTE: There may be some plot twisting to make Ainz be able to be at important locations when needed

Location: Amestris Military Headquarters
Time: 0650 Hours

Ainz walked into the compound where the headquarters for the military were stationed. In preparation, he double checked his items, and decided to spend some time to put some buffs on himself that would allow him to have boosted senses. The boost itself didn't take much mana, so he could do it every day, but it required him to remove the armor to do so, and it was unnerving being it 'enemy territory' and not wearing armor. Especially when he had no idea how his magic may fare against Alchemy. He wore his two swords on his back, and had his watch stored in his backpack, with easy access if needed. He also put the symbol of Ainz Ooal Gown on his back, just for the nostalgia, and to remind him of his friends from YGGDRASIL.

He walked through the front doors, and someone came up to him. "Are you the Armored Alchemist?" a woman's voice asked. He glanced to the side and saw a blonde woman standing there. Her eyes were hazel and she had a wariness around her that people who have been in combat before have. His was well aware of the gun she had clipped to her side, and he spotted another hidden behind her. It wouldn't surprise him if she had even more hidden.

"Yes, that's me. And who are you?" if she was surprised by his armor or deep voice, she didn't show it.

"I am 1st Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, subordinate to Colonel Mustang, the Flame Alchemist. You will be working under him."

Ainz held a large amount of suspicions as to why he was going to be working under Mustang, and who placed him there, but didn't dwell on it.

Ainz gazed around as they walked to his superior's office. The building was symmetrical, and the hallways were pristine, much like Nazarick was, and Ainz could feel the similarities in the air, it all had a strict and orderly feel to it, as if-

"Colonel Bastard!" a shout came through the building, followed by a slam of a door, ruining the orderly tone.

Ainz glanced at Riza who simply sighed and put her hand on her gun. Ainz was slightly worried as to why she might need her gun, but focused on the room they were heading towards, where the shout came from. They walked through the doors, to see officers working at desks. Or rather, they were staring at a door on the other side of the room. They looked up to see Hawkeye enter, and jumped back to work. Ainz took note of how she seemed to put fear into them, despite not being the one in charge of them.

"I assume Fullmetal is back?" she asked one of them, a man who had a cigarette in his mouth with blonde hair.

"Sure is. I'm sure your heard him." he said lazily, glancing at the paperwork. "His eyes widened when he saw Ainz. "Who's the new guy?"

This attracted the attention of the rest of the crew, who glanced over and saw Ainz standing there. Their reactions were varied, from one smaller man with glasses looking pretty afraid, and the others were interested.

"This is the Armored Alchemist, Ainz All Gown." Riza introduced. Ainz sighed at the mispronunciation of his name. "It's Ainz Ooal Gown, actually. Don't worry, everyone gets it wrong." He turns faces the officers. "And you are...?"

The man stood. "I'm Jean Havoc, Officer in charge of these guys. Below the Higher ups, Mustang, and Hawkeye of course."

A shorter, wider man, also with blond hair nodded to Ainz. "I'm Vato Falman, Information Specialist."

Next was an unassuming taller man who had graying hair raised his hand. "Heymans Breda, Investigation Specialist."

"I-I'm Kain Fuery." the shorter man with glasses nervously said.

"And you know me, Riza Hawkeye, Adjutant." Riza said.

"It is nice to meet you all." Ainz bowed. Riza gestured for him to follow her. As they walks across to the door on the other end of the room, she explained the situation. "We have recently had a death of one of our officers, so please don't mention it to anyone if they ask where he is. His name was Maes Hughes by the way."

Ainz carefully controlled his reaction, which was easy thanks to emotion nullification, but he still twitched slightly before it kicked in. "My condolences." he said, trying to sound like he cared, although it was difficult when he in fact didn't care and couldn't feel emotion. They came up to the door where they could very clearly hear a young voice shouting on the other side. Riza opened up the door, and stuck in her head.

"Sir, he's here." she said. A quick pause later and she opened the door.

Inside, Ainz immediately picked out the biggest threat in the room, which was the man at the desk. He seemed laid back and relaxed, but Ainz could see him as a large threat if they were to fight. Ainz didn't know about his abilities, other than it was the fame alchemist. Coincidentally one of his undead weaknesses. \

Ainz would win if they fought, but it would at least injure him a little. Mustang had an air of a trained general, ready for combat, and Ainz was wary of it, even if he shouldn't have a reason to be attacked.

He then turned to the other occupants in the room, which surprised him. The first thing was the bright golden-haired boy with a glaringly red coat, holding a rather large suitcase to the side. Then he noticed his height, which was at least a foot under Ainz's. Ainz was aware of another figure, who he deemed as powerful as the blonde. (He?) appeared to be a large adult, easily taller than any human or race he had seen, other than Cocytus. Actually, he looked around as tall as Cocytus, which was surprising. The armor was medieval, and seemed to be made of Iron. Ainz's increased senses and ability to see in the dark allowed him to notice the eyes of the armor had soulfire eyes, just like his, although his were rather hard to see through his helmet. The armor also had some kind of symbol on the shoulder.

He took in all this in a few seconds before he turned his attention to Mustang. "Sir." he said, saluting.

Mustang took in the armored man before him, and seemed to take in every little note about him, which put Ainz on edge, but Mustang didn't comment on anything about his armor. "Welcome to headquarters, Armored."

Ainz nodded. "It's good to be here."

"Who are you?!" the blonde kid shouted at him. The suit of armor turned to the blonde and chastised him. "Brother! Don't be rude!"

Ainz glanced down at the blonde, and smirked. "I'm the Armored Alchemist. Who are you?"

"I'm Edward Elric! the Fullmetal Alchemist!" he shouted proudly. "And this is younger brother, Alphonse Elric. Ainz studied him, then laughed. "But you're so young! He looks more like the older brother."

...

The room froze. Or rather, everyone stared at the young boy, waiting. A few heads popped around the edge of the door to watch. Ainz began to worry.

"DON'T CALL ME LITTLE!" the boy roared, jumping at Ainz. Alphonse reached out to grab Edward, but missed. Almost lazily, Ainz used his height and strength to catch Ed by the hood of his red coat. Edward struggled, hanging in the air from Ainz's hand holding his hood, and trying to get at him.

Roy smiled. "You'll fit right in here."

Edward stared at Ainz, who simply chuckled. "Its adorable to see someone as little as you try to jump me." he was about to continue when he was cut off by another round of shouting.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A PINT-SIZED SHRIMP WHO'S SO SMALL HE CANT EVEN HIT AN UNNATURALLY, FREAKISHLY TALL GUY LIKE YOU!" he shouted.

Ainz blinked. "I didn't say that exactly."

"BUT YOU MEANT IT!" the little red and gold ball of Napoleonic Fury screeched.

Mustang had a smirk on his face as he watched the antics. "Armored, drop Fullmetal please." Ainz considered how far he should push the little alchemist, then held Ed to the side and ignored his continued ranting, as he answered. "If he calms down, then I will."

Roy sighed. "Fullmetal, stop harassing Armored."

Edward continued struggling for a little bit longer, but couldn't reach any part of Ainz or something to grab on to. Finally he stopped, sighing angrily. "Alright, sure thing Colonel Bastard."

"Is that normal for them?" he whispered to Alphonse. Alphonse sighed and nodded. Ainz shrugged and put Ed down.

Ed glared at Ainz, but looked relieved when he touched the ground. Ainz turned to see Al staring at him curiously. "Why are you wearing armor sir.

"So about Lieutenant Hughes? We came all this way to see him." Ed asked Roy.

Roy froze, and looked distinctly uncomfortable. Ed continued. "And where is he, anyway?"

No one responded. Edward looked around, then stilled. "Where is he?" he said in a confused voice.

Roy stared at Ed, calculating, then answered. "Gone." He let the word sink into their head before continuing. "He retired from the government. He left with his wife and daughter to the country, to go continue the family business."

Ainz observed Roy carefully. Truly he was an expert liar, and manipulator, which would be dangerous to his enemies. Riza twitched, glancing towards Roy slightly, surprised in his decision. Edward comprehended what had been said, and then looked down. "I see, that's too bad."

"We were hoping to see him." Alphonse said regretfully. Roy turned to leave, and paused.

"Fullmetal." Roy began, and Edward looked up at him. "Don't do anything crazy." Ed looked confused, but nodded, and left.

Roy looked to Ainz, and gestured for him to follow Roy.

On the way to the archives to get general information on what he may need to know, Roy started up a conversation.

"So, what Alchemy do you specialize in? I see you use swords as well?" he offered.

"I like using air Alchemy, and it would be interesting combined with fire Alchemy, but I can do most any kind if I need to. An interesting fact is that I can even do it without a circle." he said, changing his tone with the last words, startling Roy, Riza glanced at him, surprised.

Roy narrowed his eyes. "How can you use Alchemy without a circle?" he said seriously. "I have my proof on how Edward and Alphonse can achieve that, but I know nothing about you that would indicate you using the same... methods."

"Well, that would be telling, now wouldn't it. I may have gotten it slightly different than what they did, but from the same source, Colonel. Another interesting fact..." Ainz delved into the depths of his memories given by Truth, and found what he was looking for. He used the military hand signals 'You', 'surrounded', 'enemies', caution', and spoke aloud. "Orobouros."

Roy's eyes widened, remembering what he had learned about laboratory five, and the symbols on the people there.

"That should be something to get you going. I trust this will not be spoken of?"

The multiple meaning were clear. Roy had blackmail on Ainz if needed, as he had almost completely stated that he had done human transmutation, but Ainz expected equivalent exchange, meaning trust the other way around as well.

Roy considered the deal, then nodded. "I'll make sure of it."

(General Time Skip to Next Day)

Ainz looked at the newspaper outside of his door at his apartment. 'Oh ho ho! So they think Maria Ross is the killer? This should be interesting. I suppose it doesn't matter if she lives either way, but rather... why would the government blame it on her of all people? The only plausible option beside sheer coincidence is... Envy.'

Location: Roy's Office

Time: 1900 Hours

Ainz stood in front of the desk, awaiting his orders. :i'm happy we caught you in time, most people aren't up this late. Maria Ross, you know of her?"

Ainz, going under the implication that he hadn't seen her before, which was technically true, shook his head. "I've seen her in the papers, but I've never met her. What about her?" Roy stood, and began pacing.

"Maria Ross, Second Lieutenant. Found to be the murderer of Lieutenant Hughes. As of the moment, she has escaped the prison with the help of an unknown, very dangerous man, and is running away. Our orders are to shoot to kill."

Ainz tilted his head. "You wish me to kill her?"

Roy turned his head. "No, I wish to fake her death. I don't believe she did it, and can interrogate her if I can locate her. I have a fake body, and can burn it enough to have it pass inspection. I'm only telling you this because of Equivalent Exchange." he noticed Ainz didn't look very surprised. "You knew already?"

Ainz nodded. "I won't tell you how, but I have definite proof. I also may know who killed Hughes, but I'm trying to look into that. I cannot tell you, too dangerous at the moment." Roy looked at him sharply.

"What? You aren't the only one good at getting information."

Roy glared at him. "If you locate them, let me know immediately. That is an order."

Ainz nodded. Roy walked out with him. "Let's go."

Ainz chuckled. "I bet I can find her first."

Roy tilted his head, amused. "Maybe, but you don't have a plan for what to do then, do you?"

Ainz simply walked on. "Perhaps."

Location: Alley in Central

Time: 1955 Hours

Second Lieutenant Maria Ross was running with what appeared to be Barry the Chopper, and a Xingese teen, and was very worried for her safety. If she stayed, she would be killed.

"How much further?!" she gasped, not used to running this much.

"Just keep moving!" Barry said with his metallic voice.

Footsteps came from up ahead, and Edward turned a corner. Maria Ross and her group stopped in surprise.

"Edward! Alphonse! What are you doing here?!" she said, surprised.

Alphonse and Barry saw each other.

"Hey! It's that guy!" they both said at the same time. "And Ling too?!" Al noticed.

"Hey guys!" Ling said, sheepishly. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same of you!"

"Quit chattering! We don't have time for this!" Barry cried, swinging his blades at Alphonse, who dodged.

Suddenly, from the third direction, clanking was heard, until a dark figure came from that direction. "What is this?" Ainz said, coming upon the scene.

"Hey! It's that guy from earlier! The Armored Alchemist!" Ed exclaimed.

"Alright sweetheart, we don't have time for this. Take that Alleyway straight to the warehouse district. The dark should cover you there." Barry shouted.

Ross nodded, and began heading that way. "Ross!" Edward shouted. She stopped. "Tell us about Hughes!" he shouted, frustrated.

Barry motioned for her to keep going, so, ignoring Edward, she kept running.

She ran down the alleyway until she saw someone standing at the end of it. It was Roy.

"You're Maria Ross, right?"

...

Snap.

An explosion sounded from where Ross had gone. Barry stared at it. "I guess they got her." he said, not sounding worried at all. Ed ran off worried, and Alphonse followed him hesitantly.

Barry charged at Ainz, while Ling stayed back, not bothering to fight. "Yargh!" Barry shouted as he swung an overhanded chop at Ainz. Ainz simply took a sword from his back and blocked it, not flinching at all. The cleaver Barry had shattered on impact. Barry stared at the blade, and then at Ainz.

"Wow! You're really strong!" he said, impressed. Ling narrowed his eyes at the figure.

"You aren't human." Ling stated with certainty.

Ainz glanced at him. "What have we here... minor race sensing and tracking abilities? Very astute of you. However, I am not a threat to the country or yours. Well, at least I don't plan to be."

Ling eyed him warily, but nodded. "I'm keeping an eye on you." his eyes widened. 'Maybe he can help me achieve immortality!'

Barry seemed more excited at the idea of him not being human. "Ooh! Can I chop you up? Or are you a bonded soul like Alphonse and I?"

Ainz stored that information for later, simply answering. "I care not for you, and I am not a bonded armor. You can leave before something happens. So long as you aren't in my way, I will not have a reason to fight you."

Barry nodded and dragged Ling behind him, past Ainz. "Let's go foreigner!" Barry said, excited. Ainz, always cautious, casually scanned the two with the discernment spell.

Ainz then walked towards where he knew Roy had been waiting.

Arriving on the scene, he saw Alphonse's huge figure standing behind Ed, who was staring at Roy with pure hatred in his eyes, similar to those of people who saw their family die right before them.

Ainz pushed past Alphonse, who was watching Ed warily. "I've got this." he said, and Alphonse cautiously nodded. As they passed, Alphonse bumped into him, causing two hollow clangs. From Al's intake of breath, Ainz assumed that he had assumed what Barry the Chopper had about him. Now was no time to worry about it. Roy trusted the Elrics, so he would too.

Ed threw himself at Roy, and Ainz caught his arms, noting that one was much stronger than the other. Interesting.

"LET ME GO AL! HE KILLED ROSS!" he roared.

Ainz sighed. "I'm not Al." he said firmly. "You cannot be attacking your superiors like that, Edward."

Edward snarled in rage when he realized he was being held by Ainz, and struggled harder. "But he killed Ross!"

Ainz glanced down. "I can see that. Well done with your control by the way, you didn't even damage the buildings or dumpster. I wouldn't have been able to use that much skill."

Ed's eyes widened at the absolute lack of caring in Ainz's voice. He struggled, breaking out of the grip enough to clap and press it to a wall. Ainz reflexively went to use magic, then realized that he can't use it in his position. He clapped as well, and pressed his hand to the fist that came from the wall towards his face. The bricks deconstructed immediately, turning to dust. Ed gaped at Ainz, dropping to his knees.

Ed stared at the circle-less Alchemy in shock. "You... you did it too?" he asked, with something that sounded like hope and horror. Ainz ignored him and walked away, towards Roy. Mustang nodded, and they walked away. A few steps away, Alphonse called out to them, sounding torn.

"How could you do that to her Colonel?! And you! How come you don't even care that she's lying dead there?!" he cried.

They stopped. Without turning, Roy simply replied. "She was a criminal. We were told to shoot to kill. So I did." He allowed the words to sink in.

"It's our jobs. We are soldiers. That is what a soldier does."

"That's all you have to say?" Alphonse cried out.

"I'm sorry for not telling you about Hughes' death. You do not disobey direct orders." Roy said over his shoulder.

He turned to Ainz. "I can handle it here. I'll talk to the rest of the brass about it." he explained, still looking deadly.

Ainz nodded. "Of course. I will see you tomorrow, sir."

He walked away, leaving Ed and Al staring at the body, then at him, in shock.

As Ainz walked away, he wondered how this would change the future.

(Not my favorite part of the story. Ainz is difficult, since his goal is to not give away anything, but now one more person knows he's not human, and another knows he has interacted with Truth.)

Omake 1: The Missing Part of the State Exams

A brief explanation. Amestris officers must go through a psyche eval before becoming a State Alchemist, so here is Ainz's.

"So you are here today to take a psyche evaluation, and we will see if you are mentally healthy enough to become part of the military." the Psychiatrist explained. "I am Dr. Phil. You are Ainz Ooal Gown, correct? An interesting name. Is it Xingan?"

Ainz nodded, happy that someone had gotten his name right for once, and took the excuse when he could. "That is my name. My parents traveled with me to Xing for a part of my life. I can prove it to you if you wish." From his knowledge of the world, Xing was basically Asia from his original world, but slightly different.

"Very well. I will ask you questions, and you will respond accordingly." He paused to clear his throat.

"How old are you?"

"I am currently 35."

"When is your birthday?"

"October 31st, 35 years ago."

"You are male?"

"Yes."

"Why do you have armor on?"

"I do believe that is in the forms I filled out earlier."

"Yes, but I want to hear it from you."

"I have a condition that causes my skin to react to almost any light, and it is very severe."

"Hmph. Very well. Race?"

"Amestrian."

"What do you look like under the armor?"

"..."

A pause. Ainz hesitated.

"I have pale skin, dark hair, and red eyes." It was true, if his ski were bones and his eyes soulfire.

"That sounds Ishvalan, yet you claim you are from Amestris?"

"Yes, it was a condition at birth."

"Can I at least see your hand if you won't take off your helmet?"

A longer pause. Ainz would be sweating if he could.

"May I have something to cover it from the light?" he responded.

"Sure." the doctor said kindly, and passed a blanket to him. Ainz covered his hand with the blanket, and cast a glamour over it, one tat would pass detailed inspection, but was very fragile. He showed his hand to the doctor, mentally manipulating the illusion to have small red splotches appear on it, as if allergic to something.

"I see." the psychiatrist said, then muttered as he wrote something on the clipboard. "May I touch it?"

Ainz tilted his head. "Why?"

"I am a doctor, and I haven't seen a condition as sensitive as that." the doctor explained reaching for the hand.

Ainz, worried about his illusion now, as well as his harming touch ability, pulled it back, careful not to touch it. "Please, I would rather-"

The man reached farther and Ainz had enough. "ENOUGH!" he boomed aloud, standing up, and putting his gauntlet back on. He stood angrily, and immediately his emotional negation kicked in, calming him immediately, and he sat back down. He sighed and looked at the psychiatrist.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled, but my hand is extremely sensitive when exposed."

The psychiatrist sighed, and nodded to Ainz. "You may go."

Ainz stared him down for a moment, then left. "Thank you Doctor." was all he said on his way out.

Notes from Psychological Exam:

Patient seems to be truthful when explaining his past and information. Skin condition proven to be true. Patient showed me his hand, and even protected from direct light from the light bulb, it was affected by ambient light off of the floor. Skin very sensitive when exposed. Emotionally, the patient seems to have practically none, which is worrying, however doesn't seem to take to dangerous or arrogant action needlessly unless pushed too far. I repeatedly tried touching his hand, until he got angry. He calmed down unnaturally fast, but he wasn't faking it. Shows great patience and calm unless violence is required or is pushed too far.

Overall Result: Fit to go into Military Service

Omake 2: Resurrection! (AKA: Kinda just wrote it as I came up with it)

"Where's Hughes? I haven't seen him in a while." Ed asked Roy.

No one said anything. "Ed, Hughes-"

"-is dead" Ainz finished. Ed turned to Ainz in surprise. Roy glared murderously at him. "Armored, why would you just say that up front?!" he growled.

Ainz continued, not afraid of the two Alchemists. "But don't worry, I can bring him back to life."

"You did human transmutation?! That's not possible!" Ed shouted.

Ainz shrugged, "Not if you're friends with Truth. And you're a skeleton mage who is powerful enough to do anything. Like this!" Ainz said, waving his hand, his armor being replaced by his robes. Out of nowhere a Gold staff appeared. "And this!" Hughes' dead body showed up, and Ainz pointed the staff at the body. "{Resurrect}!" He shouted. The body began moving, and jumped up.

"Hey Ed! I'm back! look at these photos of my daughter and wife!" Ed just gaped, Roy stared, and Ainz stood there in his bonely glory, amused at the puny mortals assuming Resurrection is impossible. Truth sighed in frustration.

New updates to Appendix containing files on Alchemists and Ling, maybe Barry.

Why. Why do I make myself watch Anime that make my cry? The only things I have ever cried when I watched them were two movies, and Anime. No other shows/movies/books have made me cry. I just watched RWBY Season 3 Episode 9-12. The feels. :(

What material is Ainz's armor made of? I couldn't locate any details as to the actual element. (Ex: Adamantite, Platinum, Iron, etc.) Also Ainz is around Roy's height in the armor. Not sure about military protocol and saluting/titles, but Roy is pretty relaxed around his crew. Assistance with Military stuff would be appreciated. Fun fact: Roy's crew (Not sure about Hughes) all have last named named after a type of military vehicle. Ainz isn't being over trusting with Roy, just that one, he likes toying with the officials and Roy, so the no circle is the 'bait' for now to keep them intrigued about him. Also, Ainz did promise Hughes that he would inform Roy about the danger. Final note, I changed the location of where Ed met Ainz slightly because instead of Roy and Ed being in a hallway, they were in his office. Slight edit.

Chapter Text

Momon the Lich King: Aura of despair is limited by an ability at the moment, as his Aura of Despair V can cause instant death. This is why he didn't accidentally kill anyone in E-Rantel, then harmed the Wise King of the Forest with it in the Light Novels. He can release it if necessary, but that won't happen until he has a chance of his identity being compromised or he needs to. And Ling doesn't care about Ainz not being human so long as he doesn't have any harm to either country, and Ling's Dragon pulse can sense Ainz's truthfulness. Although he will mention it to some people if necessary, Ainz has a plan set up for that.

Nemesis Lyonner: I do not have his armor made of pure magic. Yes, it would be untransmutable as magic is not an element, but that wouldn't matter so much in battle against most beings. If Ainz really fought a being that could pose a decent threat, then it he wouldn't bother using his armor.

Guest: Yeah, I made the homunculus a little strong. I need to elaborate on that. I have their strength being so high because it is relative to the souls within them, meaning the more souls the stronger they are, but because all souls are unique, they are sketchy when it comes to levels, so really it isn't a good measurement. Just because they have lots of souls doesn't mean they are easy or hard to kill exactly, because they still get hurt just as easily as a human, but regenerating from it is what affects the level. I hope I explained it well enough.

Guest: Perfect Warrior makes him a level 100 warrior with no limitations. He has that constantly active in YGGDRASIL when being an adventurer, or else he wouldn't be able to use the armor at all, and his mana regen is higher than the spell cost. SO he is already using it. And yes, his armor is Adamantium Strength, specifically Dark Cobalt level, which he can only transmute as no one int that world knows what the material is.

Ainz crouched in the shadows, waiting for his target. He was on a mission with Mustang's team, trying to bait out whoever framed Maria Ross. The idea was to lay a trap for the puppet master behind it.. Ainz already knew for certain that is was a Homunculus' doing, but Roy didn't know too much about them. Ainz had originally been supposed to be stationed somewhere else, but he pushed Roy to let him, and made a deal. Ainz would give him all the information he had (Which was false, only some of it would be true, but it was worth it if it helped Ainz track down the Homunculi), and Roy would let him in on all deals and missions if it was worth it. Roy agreed, and told him about the mission, so long as Ainz told him information afterwards.

So here he was, waiting out by a tower where Hawkeye was stationed, waiting for the call that an enemy showed up. He had his aura sensing buff active, and it was helpful that he had his advanced hearing, because he could hear Riza using codes words to talk to Roy. He could also hear Heymans in the building they were watching, where Barry was waiting as bait. Luckily, Fullmetal was sent off somewhere thanks to Roy, and wouldn't get in the way. Not that he could, because of his height.

(Ed sneezed as he stared at the broken transmutation circle in Xerxes)

Ainz also had an idea of how to get away with magic. See, now Ainz had a theory on spells. It wasn't much of a theory, but he figured that Alchemy must be related to his magic somehow, as the glyphs that appear when using spells are extremely similar to the transmutation circles. He had been looking into it, and there is a possibility he could get away with magic here in Amestris and pass it as Alchemy if he used an item he had, but it would take a while to plan a way to use it. He listened to the conversation Riza was having, and heard her say the words that meant someone showed up.

"Hey Kate? We have a customer. Could you please let Jacklyn know?" she said. A dog began barking in the background as Ainz listened to the room where Barry was, and heard someone hit a wall and climb into the window. A low growl sounded, and Heymans let out a sound of surprise. A shot rang out, hitting the floor, and Barry intervened.

"Barry!" Heymans complained.

"We want this one alive, so trust me and don't kill him!" Barry said, a whistling sound from his blades going through the air, as whatever was growling was fighting him. Ainz was about to begin moving, when he felt a being head in Hawkeye's direction. It may have not been the best idea, but they were two people, only one armed, meaning the easiest target. The entity coming towards Hawkeye's location was male, breathing heavily, and Ainz could hear its stomach growling softly. Making a split second decision, he went up towards Hawkeye, who was with Fuery, and both of them relatively undefended. He walked up stealthily, using {Perfect Unknowable}, one of the other abilities he could use with the armor, to be silent, as well as nonexistent to all other senses.

He heard a shot from Riza fire, and hit something down on the streets, which howled. From the sounds, the creature on the street didn't seem to be a homunculus, and Ainz's sensing abilities were telling him it was human, but something off about it. The creature heading surprisingly silently towards Riza, however, was most definitely a Homunculus. Ainz was looking forward to finding out which one.

Ainz was interested when he heard Barry say that his old body came to them to try to get its soul back, which was rather interesting. Reaching the top of the tower, Riza hadn't noticed his presence, and let out a sound of surprise when she saw him standing in the shadows out of nowhere. Shaking of the minor shock, she waved him to the side to stand by Fuery. Black Hayate began barking angrily at Ainz, and startled Riza, who had never seen Black Hayate like that before. She got him to stop with a hand signal, but Black Hayate growled lowly at Ainz, who glanced down at the dog. He released the Tier I version of his Despair Aura, one of the few class abilities he could use with the armor, and Black Hayate backed off, whining.

Roy, having noticed her sign of surprise, asked worriedly, "Elizabeth, something happen? That customer come back?"

Riza focused back on the group. "No, it's just this one guy... Adam, who started working with us recently. He arrived and the dog was barking. Tall, dark, brooding? You might know him?" she said into the phone.

Roy paused, since he didn't know if dog was code for anything, then assumed it was Black Hayate, and understood that Adam was Ainz. "Oh, that guy. You're hanging around him? Are you cheating on me?" he said teasingly, keeping up character.

Riza sighed. "Of course not Roy, I would never cheat on you." she responded in a cheerful voice, all the while focused on the people below. "Oh, one of the customers is mouthing off."

Ainz felt the homunculus arrive, and make it upstairs nearly silent, rather quickly. Ainz could see a large, hulking figure, but that was about it. Riza somehow heard it, and reloaded her gun. "You may have to wait a minute, I've got a customer of my own."

She spun around and fired, landing a solid shot straight to the homunculus' shoulder. It fell back rather heavily, and Ainz could make it out then, as the setting sun lit up the room enough for him to see better. The homunculus had on a similarly themed clothing to what Envy wore back when he was in his true form, and was rather overweight. If the Homunculi were named after the sins, Ainz would put all his money on this being Gluttony, or Sloth. He bet the former.

Riza reloaded her weapon, as Ainz pulled his sword, still silent, and unnoticed by Gluttony. Riza gasped as Gluttony's wound healed before her eyes, and stood up to his full height, looking rather imposing. The receiver for the telephone clattered to the floor, and Roy's worried voice came through. "Elizabeth? Hey? What's going on?" he called, worried.

Riza fired more shots, knocking Gluttony back a little. Black Hayate was barking frantically. Gluttony surged forward, grabbing Riza by her neck, and raising her up. Ainz stepped forward, and pulled back his arm. Gluttony smiled. "Are you done now? I'm ready to eat you!" he said in a child like voice.

He opened his mouth, showing a tongue with the Orobouros on it, and was about to bite her, when suddenly Ainz swung with one of the huge blades he had and decapitated Gluttony. Gluttony stumbled, and dropped Riza. He backed away, and turned to Roy as his head regenerated. Gluttony looked at Ainz, and appeared to be thinking. "Hey you're the new sacrifice! I wanted to eat you, but Lusty said no, so I can't eat you." He turned back to Hawkeye, but when he moved, Ainz spoke.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you must fight me. If you don't want to, I'm sure it would be fine with Lust if you didn't kill me, so long as I'm alive in the end? I do want a challenge for once. Maybe you can give me one? Gluttony." Ainz said to the clearly slow thinking Homunculus. Hopefully it was dumb enough to accept that as a reason to focus on him instead. Gluttony nodded, and ran at Ainz. Ainz sidestepped, tripped Gluttony, and when Gluttony hit the floor, stabbed through Gluttony so hard it went through its spine, then the chest, and finally through the stone floor, cracking it from the force. He then pulled it out, simultaneously slicing the body down the back, spilling blood all over the floor.

"Move, Armored!" Riza called, and Ainz, seeing their guns, stepped to the side. Riza and Fuery began emptying their chambers into Gluttony, every shot forcing him to move back, whether out of the impact, or trying to move out of the way. The dim witted homunculus went back until he was close to the edge of the tower. They stopped firing when their guns ran out. Gluttony healed rapidly, and was about to move back to attack them, but hesitated when he had to choose between them or Ainz. A snapping sound appeared, and Roy came up from the stairwell, the explosion from his ignition glove blasting Gluttony to where he was teetering on the edge. Ainz charged, swinging both his blades, and cut the homunculus completely into quarters, and knocking the body off the edge from the force. The pieces flew out, the smaller ones turning to dust, and the main part of Gluttony's burnt body hitting the roof of a building across the street. He watched the homunculus, who didn't seem to be moving.

Roy looked at the blood, and paled. He turned to Riza. "Is that-"

"No Roy, all the blood it that guy's. Ainz did that to him." Roy's eyes widened as he looked at the armored figure who was covered in blood that spurted from Gluttony's wounds.

Ainz made to jump down, or transmute stairs, but Roy stopped him.

"That guy is dead. Armored, I need you to go meet with the rest of the group. It is imperative that we follow the target. Remember, you owe me an explanation for letting you do this." Roy said.

Ainz watched the body of Gluttony for a moment longer, then nodded, and used a {Discern Entity} on the body as he turned away. He walked down the stairs to meet with the others and Barry. On his way down he used a spell to to simultaneously remove the armor and make a new set, so the blood was gone. At least he didn't have to worry about dents in it. There wasn't any weapon that could dent it in this world, and no one other than him knew how to transmute Dark Cobalt.

Arriving at the bottom, he saw Barry chasing his body. Ainz heard them mention that it had the mind of a wild animal now, which made Ainz happy that he didn't have to worry about any morals stopping him from killing it.

Running up to Barry, Ainz realized his silencing spell wore off, but he would put it back on when he had a reason for it, but it wouldn't matter because Barry was louder than him because Barry's iron plate armor was clanking more. Barry waved as Ainz caught up to him. "Hey! You're the new guy with armor! Didn't that foreigner say that you weren't human?" he chuckled.

Ainz looked to Barry. "I'd appreciate that if it didn't get spread around." Ainz said dangerously, frustrated that he hadn't made sure the Xingese teen couldn't tell anyone, possibly via mind spells.

Barry waved his remaining arm. "Don't worry, your helping me get my body, right? I owe you for that, so I'll keep your secret!"

A car roared up to them, with Roy at the wheel. "Armored, Barry, don't let him get away!" Roy called.

"Don't worry, we won't lose him!" Barry cackled.

Ainz listened to the conversation in the car as he ran next to it, but only paid attention when he heard the word 'Homunculus' and the car swerved.

Roy argued that that was impossible, but Al responded my saying that Greed had kidnapped him earlier. Ainz entered the conversation. "You met Greed? Which Ultimate power did he have?" Ainz asked, swiftly aiming to get information about the enemy. Al glanced at him, surprised for a moment that Ainz was keeping up by the car, and that he believed the story about Greed.

"W-well, he survived the top of his head being knocked off and recovered a minute later, and he had what he called his Ultimate shield, which was essentially hardening the carbon in his skin to become harder than any substance I've ever seen." he responded. "I wouldn't be surprised if you din't believe me." Then he would have frowned if it was possible to as a suit of armor. "Have you met him before?" Al asked.

Ainz hit himself mentally for cornering himself. "I believe you. I have read on them, yes, I was wondering if you could make a sentient being without doing human transmutation, so the result is homunculi, except the ones without Philosophers Stones don't last more than the time you are powering them."

Al accepted the answer as true. "Well, King Bradley fought and killed Greed, then his subordinate." his voice shook a little with the words.

"Interesting." Ainz mused. 'Bradley must be strong to kill someone with unbreakable skin. Although the Fuhrer's abilities may lie in something that can puncture the shield.'

"Wait, so I turned fat boy back there into a burnt puddle of grease. You're telling me he's already back up and fine?" Roy said in disbelief.

Al nodded. "Probably."

"That's just great..." Roy grumbled.

Location: Laboratory 3

Time: 2045 Hours

The people from the car peered around the corner, looking at the entrance of the building the body had entered.

"My body ran in there. It seems to think it can hide from me."

Roy rubbed his chin. "The third Laboratory, huh? So this ties them directly to the Government." Roy turned to the group. "That's all we need for now, we're falling back."

Barry ran in front of Roy, into the building. "You have fun doing that. I'm going to get my body now." he said, running inside.

Jean cursed, pulling down his mask. "That psycho stormed the building!"

Roy nodded smugly. "Yep, it's our lucky day." Havoc turned, confused.

"It is out duty to clear the building and follow a dangerous criminal, is it not?" Roy explained excitedly.

"Clever." Ainz said, walking into the building with the rest of the group.

Inside, people were screaming, getting out of the way of Barry as he tore down the halls trying to get to his body. Somehow, he did not get lost in the Lab.

"All personnel must evacuate immediately!" Roy called out. He turned to a guard that walked up next to him. "The trespasser is a deranged murderer, we'll handle this. Secure the exits!" The man nodded, and started shouting orders behind them.

They walked down the staircase and through two wire doors. Before them were two paths.

"How are we supposed to find him?" Havoc complained.

"We'll have to split up." Roy commanded.

Ainz judged each path, and called out, "I'll go left."

They decided who else would go each way, and it ended with Ainz, Riza, and Alphonse going left, and Havoc and Roy going right.

Ainz silent-cast the silence spell, so his armor didn't clank. Alphonse if Alphonse or Riza noticed, they didn't comment.

After saying goodbye, they parted ways.

Ainz got a nervous feeling in his chest, and it only grew over time when he didn't sense anything nearby, nor did he hear anything up ahead. Suddenly, the room shook from an explosion. They glanced at each other, then kept on moving.

A few minutes later, they arrived in a large white room, with a door covered in some kind of strange symbols. In the middle of the room, Barry stood over his bloody dead body. "You're too late. It appears a body cannot survive with a random soul stuffed into it." he explained. Al stiffened, realizing the same might apply to his body.

'That's something to look into. I technically give undead beings their souls back so they have at least a modicum of intelligence. Would they fall apart over time? Clearly not the completely sentient ones, as they have no drain on my mana to stay in existence, but the smaller ones, like the skeleton swarms, have a limited duration before they die again and have to be re-summoned.'

Al began saying something about his brother, but Ainz spun around, cutting him off. "We have company." he said, facing the direction they came from. A woman with an Orobouros tattoo on her chest, right above her breasts, walked in through the entrance.

Barry turned as well, and chuckled when he saw who it was. "I was wondering when you were going to show up, Lusty."

The Homunculus had no emotion on her face. "Number 66, Care to explain why you're helping the Colonel?"

"I thought it would be fun to change things up." he explained. "Plus, I've wanted to chop you up since I met you!"

Lust sighed. "You're such a handful 66, and I'm sad to see you here, Armor Boys, you just had to tag along. Talk about a setback." she pouted. "It's bad enough to lose one, but now you're forcing me to kill the second and third candidates!"

"Candidate? Third?" Al said, confused.

"Yes, you, Mr. Dark and Brooding, and Mr. Gallantry." she responded, smirking. Ainz realized that she was referring to Alphonse, him, and Mustang, but for what? It frustrated him to no end how much information he had, but yet so little.

"That's enough of the casual chitchat Lusty. All I want to hear from you is screaming!" Barry cried, as he threw himself at her. Lust swiped up a hand at Barry. Her fingernails extended in midair, and cut through Barry with ease. His pieces clattered to the floor, and remained there, deathly still.

"I do hate overconfident men." she sighed.

'I suppose that would be the Ultimate Blade, or Spear, depending how she uses it. If it's like Greed's Ultimate shield, she can cut through my Armor with it. I need to be careful.' Ainz thought.

"Ah, where was I?" she asked, turning to the group. "Ah, I was about to send the Lieutenant to be with her superior." Lust began walking towards them silently, allowing the words to sink in.

Riza's eyes narrowed, confused. Ainz snapped his head towards Lust. "How dare you..." he said coldly. Ainz's anger was turned immediately to a mild frustration by his emotion suppressant. The anger wasn't caused by fear or revenge for Roy's death, but rather Roy dying would practically reset Ainz's progress in infiltrating the government, and he would lose a source of information about the Homunculi unless he found someone like Roy, which was very unlikely. Before he could move to kill Lust for disrupting his plans, Riza realized what Lust meant.

"No... When you said you'd already had to kill someone, you didn't mean... You didn't!" Riza said in disbelief. Lust smiled widely.

"YOU BITCH!" Riza cried, pulling out a gun and repeatedly firing at Lust. The bullets slammed into Lust, who's eyes widened for a second. Holes started appearing as the bullets slammed into her. The gun clicked as it ran out of ammo, and Hawkeye pulled out another one from behind her back. Finally, the bullets stopped, Riza panting as she stared at Lust with pure hate.

"Are you done?" Lust sighed. Tears began streaming down Riza's face and she dropped to her knees. Lust continued walking towards her, her nails lengthening again to a few feet long. "Such a sad and weak creature... another typical human." Lust said, staring at Riza.

Suddenly, a movement from Ainz caught her attention, and suddenly he was right in front of her. Lust felt an immense pain in her chest, and gasped, dropping to her knees. Looking down, Ainz's blade stuck through her chest, right below the Orobouros. Unknown to Ainz, her Philosophers Stone had cracked from the impact. As a true Philosophers Stone is made to perfection, when a stone cracks, which is theoretically impossible, they simply reform, and can only truly be destroyed by being used up. However, they lose a large amount of souls in the progress, about 10% to repair, and lose quite a few souls over time afterwards if it is still cracked. The resulting energy being blown out forcefully caused immense pressure within her. Blood came out of her mouth as the pain grew. She healed the stone and her body seconds later, weakened by a fair amount from the fracture of her Philosophers Stone and leakage. She pushed off of him, leaping backwards.

Lust was filled with something she had almost never felt before. Fear. She looked up as Ainz moved towards her, a practically visible aura of death bubbling around him. He flashed forward, faster than she could see, even with her advanced senses. He stabbed her completely again, this time with both swords, and pulled her close. Her skin burned wherever he touched her, and it regenerated just as quickly. "Well then..." he whispered into her ear. "How about you face something that isn't human then? Hmm?" he said chillingly, just loud enough where only she could hear.

She paled, and looked into the helmet right next to her, and all she saw were glowing eyes. She was frozen with the amount of killing intent rolling off of him, and it seemed as if only she could see it. Alphonse looked on in shock, seeing the Homunculus not moving, in a perfect position to strike Ainz, but seemed to be terrified instead. Ainz took his swords, which were still in her, and with a feat of strength, pulled them to the sides, tearing Lust apart. She shrieked, as he body quickly regrew he lower half, which had been ripped off in the process.

Lust snapped out of the feeling of terror enough to move around, and strike at Ainz. He stepped back, wary of her Ultimate Spear. She pointed it at him, but Ainz clapped, and then pointed at her. The air shimmered, making it look as if she were underwater. From Ainz's point of view, she was encompassed in a dome of shimmering air, like on a hot summers day. He pointed the finger down, and the air condensed on her, shredding and compressing her entire body, flattening it completely before she could scream. As she was a Homunculus, she had no entrails, and her 'blood' was a philosophers stone, which fell apart afterwards. Even still, it was gruesome.

Ainz stepped back, ready for another attack as she regrew. He didn't attack until she was mostly reformed because he was unsure if he could harm her much while she was destroyed, and would rather wait until Lust was full to attack again. Lust, completely ignoring the fear aura by now, thrust her hand towards Ainz, growing the spears out until the hit Ainz. He spun his swords, deflecting three of the spears, but the other two hit his armor, puncturing it. And then through his arm and upper shoulder. Alphonse gasped as hit hit, and Ainz just stood there with the spears in his arm.

"That hurts." he said dryly, swinging an arm upwards, shattering the spears. Separated from the main body, they disintegrated. Lust stared at him anger.

"Sacrifice or not, you will pay for being in my way!" she shouted. She struck the ground shattering the concrete and creating a dust cloud. She reached forward, stretching her nails to be long, and backhanded Ainz with the flat part of the nails, who was taken by surprise due to the dust in the way. The impact threw Ainz across the room, stunning him from the impact. He winced from the pain, which took him by surprise. The puncturing of his armor must have dealt more damage to him than he thought. Still not a lot, but the amount surprised him. 'About 7% of my health, probably a critical hit, and the armor piercing bypasses my natural defense stats. That leads to more damage than I would like...' he realized, as his body numbed the pain and he already healed from it.

Clang!

He looked up to see Alphonse standing in front of him, taking the hit from the Ultimate Spear that would have hit Ainz right in the skull. The spears were stuck in Al's helmet, chest, and stomach. Ainz was surprised it hadn't hit the glyph binding his soul.

Lust narrowed her eyes at him. "Such a shame, you are a perfect candidate." she growled, more frustrated than anything.

She made to stab Riza with a spear, but Alphonse blocked them with his arm, and stood still, holding her arms in place while they were embedded in him.

"Alphonse, leave me and run!" Riza cried, with tears still on her face.

"No!" Alphonse cried.

"Go!" she sobbed.

"I won't!

"Leave!"

"I won't leave you!" he cried. Lust glared at him with pure hate. "I'm sick of seeing people die! And I just can't sit back and take it anymore!" He cried. "I won't let anyone else get killed! Not when I can protect them!" he said, determined. An image of a white knight with a red cape overlayed himself onto Alphonse in Ainz's mind. For a split second, Alphonse was the perfect image of Touch-me, Ainz's guild mate. Lust pulled upwards with her arms, her claws shredding through the armor into the air, and Alphonse stared her down.

"Well spoken! I couldn't agree more!" a rough voice called out.

Ainz whipped around to see Mustang mostly shirtless, with a severe burn on his side at the entrance. Al clapped, and made a wall encompassing him and Hawkeye. A second later, flames burst from Roy, encompassing Lust, burning her alive. The flames burst out near Ainz, but he clapped, and held a vacuum in place Alchemically, preventing the fire from reaching him.

"Looks like I could get you on your knees after all!" Roy said smugly, glaring down at Lust, who was on the ground in pain.

She stared at him in so much surprise, Ainz nearly laughed. "He's using flint as an ignition, and carved a transmutation circle into his hand!" she gasped. Ainz was surprised at his ingenuity. "You should've bled to death by now!"

"I burned the wound closed." he replied, burning her again, and again. "You told me I couldn't kill you, so let's see how many times it's going to take!" He flicked the flint again, and again, burning Lust's skin away as it grew back. Lust shrieks filled the air, as she was unable to move while her body was burnt, the nerves were destroyed in the process, immobilizing her.

Lust finally let out a screech, lunging at Roy, who dodged as he moved to burn her again, and tripped, the blade narrowly missing his face. Roy fell to the ground, and looked up as she brought down her clawed hand, and closed his eyes.

Then nothing happened.

He opened them to see Ainz there with his sword through her back, and her chest, shattering the exposed Philosophers Stone with a tinkling sound. Lust gasped for air as her lungs were punctured. Lust struggled for a second, then seemed to relax. She began disintegrating, and sighed. "You've killed me..." she said as she died. She gazed into Roy's eyes. "I love the way your eyes are cold and focused. I look forward to the day those eyes will be wide with agony. It's coming... it's coming..." she whispered, as she finally dissipated. The remains of the Philosophers Stone melted away into nothingness. Roy remained there on the ground, relaxing as the injuries finally kicked in.

Ainz stood up, relieved that Roy was still alive, and sheathed his swords. He walked over to Roy, who was reassuring Riza that he was alright. Ainz made sure that Roy really was fine by quickly checking his health stats, and looked down at him.

Roy chuckled up at Ainz. "Nice one with the swordsmanship and the Air Alchemy. I caught the end of that attack, and I have to say that that was one of the most devastating attacks I've seen. And I should know, what with Air Alchemy having to do with my Flame Alchemy, as I control the oxygen to burn the flames."

Ainz grinned under the helmet. "Smart thinking with cauterizing the wound. We Alchemists really are ingenious aren't we-" Ainz's head snapped up, looking to the doorway, the rest followed his gaze, but saw nothing. A few moments of holding his gaze there, Ainz lowered it. "It's nothing... thought I saw something." he stood up and stretched. "I must be getting paranoid in my old age. I need to stretch these old bones." he said, rubbing his arm.

"You aren't getting old." Alphonse said, being polite. He glanced at Ainz's armor and saw the puncture wounds in it from Lust.

Al gasped upon seeing the holes in the armor, but Ainz waved him off. "I'm fine, nothing a bandage or two wont fix. In fact, I already transmuted the material I wear underneath this armor to cover it." Al sighed in relief, and Roy chuckled.

"We need to get you a doctor!" Alphonse cried, mother-henning Mustang.

"Get one for Havoc as well." he responded, still smiling. "I'm happy we're all alive.

Alphonse lifted up Roy carefully, and Riza made sure that he was stable, Ainz turned back to the room, and saw that Barry's old body was crawling to the remains of the armor. Thinking quickly, he strode over and decapitated the body in one strike. He then walked over to the armor, and saw one piece, from the neck of the chestplate, with a circle inscribed on it. Picking up the piece, it moved slightly, and Barry's voice came from it.

"Hey! That was a close one, wasn't it? Did you get her?" he asked excitedly.

Ainz nodded. "I sure did. Now, I have an idea to get you a better body for your soul." Ainz said. "If you're up for it... that is."

Barry cheered. "Of course I would! I never got to thank that woman for helping me, or the Colonel for that matter."

"Then it's settled. This may be a bit disorienting." Ainz opened up his dimensional storage, and gently placed Barry inside. He turned, and left the room, and followed the group out of the building.

Name: Gluttony the Voracious

Race: Homunculus

Job: Target Locator, Evidence Eraser

Level: 70

Karma: -500

Beware of this Homunculus' voracious appetite. He can truly consume as much of literally anything he wishes.

Name: Lust the  Lascivious

Race: Homunculus

Job: Instigator,  Emissary

Level: 70

Karma: -500

Beware of this Homunculus' claws, they can cut through anything with ease, and her appearance makes information gathering all the easier.

I wanted Ainz to take out Lust, but Roy took the limelight, and Ainz did get rid of over half of her remaining Stone with crushing it as well as other stuff, leaving around 30% for Roy to burn up. Alphonse is suspicious of why Ainz armor clanked last chapter, but Ainz threw him off the idea by showing injury and that he referred to himself as wearing clothes under the armor. Edward has been woefully left out, so I hope he gets filled in after this, what with Scar going around. Ainz vs Scar, Anyone? Decomposition vs Dark Cobalt... hmm.

Chapter Text

(Every reviewer up to 7:00am Pacific Time on the 19th): 'Hey, Grasp-Heart is a Tier IX spell, not Tier V!' Yes, I know, I put that in, but it wouldn't work with the armor, so i removed it. An explanation for personalities with Truth and Ainz: I see Truth as being serious and following the script when judging someone and interacting with someone who performed human transmutation. However, he would not be that serious all that time, and he would be more laid back around people that he is equal to or friends with, so he and Ainz are chummy now, since they can relate to each other. Expect more hangout scenes like it.

Momon the Lich King: He has penetration resistance, but Lust's ultimate spear bypasses all armor, so I took that to include buffs against said damage as well.

Killer-Kog:  I don't believe the armor is made of magic exactly, but rather he uses magic to create the item, which is tier 3 to 4 mythril armor, and it is stylized however he wants. It is made with magic, not made of magic. It is the best description I could get, and many people told me so, so we're going with that.

Dragoon 596: It still kills her, but if she does, it brings her back. It also regenerates itself after it broke, and I was being generous with the amount of souls lost because of it. Even though she can die easily, it doesn't matter how quickly if she just comes back from using souls. The spell was weaker because the armor. Just wanted to put it in there because it's his favorite spell.

RyuujiVantek: No pairing, since he is an undead, and he doesn't really have any emotional attachments outside of maybe Nazarick, and he has emotional suppression.

Killer-kog: I never specified when he is from in the Overlord Plot. Right now, he has knowledge from Truth, his own abilities, and some almost immortal beings to kill. I enjoy Marie Sue stories, but that isn't what I exactly want this to be. Next chapter, Ainz gets some alone time for a little to, you know, actually progress without the chance of blowing his cover. Thanks for letting me know.

Shogun of Shorrow: Changed it for you.

Final Note: I think this chapter is grammatically correct, and I didn't forget to put in any scenes.

Over The Xingese Desert

The wind whistled by as Ainz flew over the land. Thanks to him remembering the [Flight Charm] he had, Ainz was now able to fly with the armor on. Fortunately, he remembered to place {Invisibility} and {Perfect Unknowable} over himself before leaving his apartment. He set out a course East, towards the desert he had read so much about. He looked down at the humans below, and sighed as he took in the sight. 'Truth, you're world is rather nice, isn't it? I can see why you would want help in protecting it.' He flew onward, finally reaching the edge of Amestris, and landing far enough away that no one could see him, and the Amestrian border was a black line on the Horizon.

All around him were sand dunes, and the moon was overhead. He found a suitable location a few days before the incident with Lust and had practiced to see if his idea would work. The location he chose, now that he knew the plan would work, didn't have too many dunes. There were enough, however, to actually make it difficult to find the same location again, especially if the sand was blown around by the wind. Ainz raised one invisible bone hand and pointed it at the sand. "{Meteor Fall}, {Triple Maximize Magic}!" he chanted.

Far above him, a speck appeared in the sky, which he knew to be a magic circle, which created three large meteors, due to his {Triple Maximize Magic}. He flew back, out of the area of impact, and watched from afar. The large flaming meteors fell at terminal velocity, and slammed into the ground below, shattering and leaving an enormous crater in the ground. Due to the impact of the meteors being focused in a downward movement, the crater was around fifteen feet deep. It was just enough where the sand within it would not be affected too much by natural powers. Ainz stood in the middle of the crater, and raised the [Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown].

The brown stone upon the staff glowed as he roared, "{Summon: Primal Earth Elemental}!". A wind built up, and the said was pulled into it as the Elemental appeared. It turned to him, the sand swirling.

"Excavate a large space under the ground, around thirty five meters on each side, with a 10x10 base, and stabilize it so it will not collapse. I will be securing the area, and if anyone comes nearby, you are to conceal yourself and your work." he ordered. The Earth Elemental, being a high enough level to practically be sentient, nodded and moved through the crater. It hovered at the center of it and began sinking into the ground, transporting earth and sand away via its natural abilities. As it progressed, sand was torn away at a rapid pace and was packed in with more sturdy dirt and stone created by the Elemental's own body. It was a level 87 Elemental, and the highest tier of them as well. Due to its superior strength and ability, the Earth Elemental was doing a lot of work faster than if Ainz summoned a group of worker undead to do the job for him. Finally, Ainz cast a major speed buff on the Elemental, tripling its speed for a short time. The speed boost should speed up the hole enough to dig what he wanted in minutes.

While the Elemental was working away, Ainz moved to the top of the nearby dune to get a view of the area. Ainz had sacrificed some of his Exp to summon the elemental, but he could easily refill it with the countless Exp potions stored in his dimensional pocket. He raised an arm to the sky. "{Summon Low-Tier Undead: Undead Vulture}, {Triple Maximize Magic}!" A small magic circle appeared, and three vulture flew out. Its appearance was one of a vulture, but it was missing feathers, and many bones were showing. From afar it would be nigh impossible for any normal human to differ it from another vulture.

"Go, patrol the area. Alert me if anyone approaches this area, and stop them if they attempt to investigate." he intoned. The birds squawked, and flew into the air. The summons did not have a limited lifespan, and should stay in existence until killed or Ainz dismisses them.

He turned to the Hole, and saw the deep pit that had been dug out. Ainz nodded to himself, and checked to see if he was missing anything. Confident that he was not, Ainz cast {Create Fortress}.

{Create Fortress} is a 10th-Tier spell that summons forth a mighty fortress or a 30 meters tall tower out of thin air. In YGGDRASIL, anyone on the same team as the creator could open those doors with a touch. All others would have to break them down. Ainz created it out there so it would be within the 10x10x35 hole he had his Primal Elemental dig out. Ainz had used the spell often when he was with his comrades back in the Guild, often hiding in it. They used it so often that Ainz had used a cash item that changed how the building he spawned looked so it wouldn't be just a bland castle or Tower, but also have decorations they chose on the inside. It would be easy to defend, with the enemy being unable to enter, and there is another opening on top for aerial access. Ainz planned to have the top opening open up to the surface of the desert, with the rest underground. The top would be covered with sand, and would be hidden.

The entire hole shimmered, and a tower came into view, complete with strong fortified walls and a large reinforced door at the base. The hole it was in was pretty snug, but there was walking space around it of a few meters. The entire structure was intended to be either a quick location for safety when traveling but it also was used for guilds just starting out, since it had many floors and quite a lot of room, but not as much as a dungeon would have if a guild took it over. Ainz flew down to the base of the tower, and in front of the doors. He moved to clap his hands, but paused. Then he started laughing aloud before his suppression could kick in. "How could I not have thought of this?" he wondered aloud. "The circle less transmutation requires you to make a circle with your body, but it doesn't require that circle to be make with your hands!"

Enthusiastic from this breakthrough, he touched his middle bone to the thumb bone on the same hand, and then pressed it to the wall of compressed sand. Alchemical lightning spread as Ainz transferred sand from the surface to cover the top of the tower, and fill in the top couple feet of the hole. Before the transmutation could end, causing the sand to drop, Ainz flicked the wall, transmuting the walls and floor into highly dense sandstone, practically unbreakable by any non-alchemical or magical method. Now the surface would look the same, unless someone knew he was there.

Ainz turned to the elemental. "Dig a tunnel system, specifically about 5 kilometers in that direction, and when it is fully stabilized, stop and return here. If you hit another tunnel, stop digging and close up the intersection, so they cannot track you. Once you have returned, then dig close to the surface, but do not break it. Instead, patrol the tunnels and ensure the structural integrity of it does not change. Anyone who is not undead, or appears human must be terminated if they enter without me." The elemental nodded its non-existent head, and moved away, tunneling into the wall.

Ainz pushed open the pristine door, and entered the tower. He walked in, and observed his surroundings. The tower, his new headquarters out of Amestris, had a red carpet interior, with flowers placed along the sides in niches, and empty decorative suits of armor with poleaxes standing at attention along the side. The walls had maroon banners depicting the symbol of Ainz Ooal Gown in a dark black. He sighed in nostalgia as he remembered the good times, and how his friends used to use a summoned building like this to hide from PKers and to prepare for bosses. He reached into his dimensional space, and pulled out a massive painting, and put it up on the wall facing the entrance to the tower. The painting depicted he and his friends from YGGDRASIL in their player forms, from Peroroncino and Blue Planet to Touch-Me and Bukubukuchagama, as well as Ainz, back when he went by Momonga. They were all standing in front of the throne in Nazarick, and was a screenshot from right after they had taken control of the Dungeon. Later on they had paid money to make it into an actual painting that looked realistic, and pooled together their money to make it into an item. After that, many other players began doing similar things, finally the devs made it into an item in the game which you could place any image into so long as it was appropriate.

He continued to the next floor, which was stone and had empty platforms where one could place the required crafting and magical stations to create new items of various kinds. There were a few things Ainz wanted to make, but he wanted to check out the rest of the building first. The third floor was a room for storing mounts, and some other pets. The fourth floor is a sleeping quarters, meant for beings that require rest, which fortunately, the Guild was made of Grotesque creatures, which do not require sleep. The fifth and sixth floors are a storage room, and the seventh floor are empty, and had not been used in the past. The eighth floor is an arena for sparring, and the 9th is a throne room, because it was cool, and they used it to look out over the lands.

Satisfied that the tower had not changed since he had last used it, Ainz went to the seventh floor, and pulled out a few items. The first of which was his {Player Editor}, which was a cash item that allows a player to customize his or her race and skills as if they were starting anew, but at almost a new level. Ainz also pulled out a case of 32 Medium Exp Potions. He had a few dozen crates stored in his dimension, ready at a moment's notice for his team if they required massive Exp summons or to level up an NPC. He reached into the storage and pulled out the piece of metal Barry's soul was attached to.

"Whoa... that was a crazy experience! Just what was that?" Barry asked as he came out of the dimensional pocket. Barry whistled, somehow. "Wow, fancy! This place is nice!" he continued. "Are you a skeleton? That's sweet! Although it means I can't cut you up." he finished, grumbling.

Ainz set down Barry upon the floor, and turned to the soul. "I'll tell you later. I am here to get you a new body. What would you prefer?"

"Ooh!" Barry exclaimed. "I want something strong, of course, but I don't want just any old body, I want something good for chopping!"

Ainz ran through the list of possible summons he could try and attach Barry's soul to, and found one that was just too perfect.

"I think I know what you should be," Ainz began. "but first, let me tell you the story of Jack the Ripper. Jack the Ripper was much like you, killing people he found beautiful, and went on a killing spree, murdering at least five people in the city. There were definitely more deaths, but they were not located. They never caught Jack the Ripper, and to this day, they say he is still out there. SO!" Barry's soul jumped as he was startled by Ainz's loudness. "I have the ability to summon Jack the Ripper, or at least a very close representation of him. Would you like to become Jack the Ripper?" Ainz asked onimously.

Barry was silent for a few seconds, then replied. "It sounds great! So many people must know about him! Can I see him?"

Ainz nodded, and put a mental note to refill on Exp potions later. "{Summon Mid-Tier Undead: Jack the Ripper}!" he intoned. A magic circle shone on the ground, and Jack the Ripper appeared, giggling to itself. flexing its clawed hands. "Wait here until further orders." Ainz commanded it. Jack nodded, and stood still, fidgeting slightly as it maintained its giggling. Ainz held up Barry's soul, and frowned. 'How am I to connect the soul to a sentient monster?' Ainz wondered. "I guess I need some assistance..." he muttered, casting a {Gate} spell.

"Whoa... what is that?!" Barry asked, amazed at the portal. Ainz shook his head.

"I'll explain afterwards." he said, walking into the portal with Jack the Ripper.

Truth's Domain

"Almost... got... it..." Truth said, balancing a final card on the tower of cards he made out of a few thousand cards. He had been focused on it for a few hours, in his time, and was almost done. He was so focused in fact, that he didn't notice his surroundings.

So, Truth was rather surprised when he looked up to see a portal appear in front of him, completely different from the gate that normally appeared and opened when someone did human transmutations.

"What..." Truth began, moving to protect his pyramid from the portal. He leaned in, his blank face practically brushing the surface. As he leaned in to inspect it, someone stepped out, and their heads collided. Truth was knocked onto his bottom in midair, knocking over his tower. He looked up in rage, frustrated that he had lost so much work in a few seconds. He glanced up to see Ainz who had his head stuck through the portal. "What are you doing here?" Truth grumbled out, confused. "There's no way that you would have done all of what I asked by now. Also, you knocked over my card tower..."

Ainz shrugged as he stepped through the portal. "Well, now you have two more options for what to do when you're bored: clean up the cards, or rebuild the tower. I could have finished the task at any time, simply blow up the entire city in one go, then kill the survivors, but you probably didn't want me to ruin your country and most of the world. I'm hypothetically as powerful as you, remember?"

Truth rolled his eyes, or at least looked like he did. It was hard to tell with a completely white face. "We still should have a spar of some kind to prove that." He mentioned. "How has it been in Amestris? I haven't been able to see a few events you were in, most likely the major ones because of Homunculi blocking my vision somehow. Also, how was meeting the Al-che-mist?" Truth said casually, leaning back to get comfortable.

"It was interesting. Someone should get that ball of insecurities a psychologist.

"So, what brings you to my realm, besides showing off the fact that you can bypass the prerequisites to get here?"

"Well, the spell I used is called Gate, so I assume it has the same capabilities as the gate you have, simply easier and with no side effects. Also, I need your help with souls." Ainz held up Barry's soul.

"And what do you have in mind? I assume you wish to get him a body? You would simply need to attach it to armor of the same material using Alchemy." Truth said.

"In most cases, perhaps, but I wish to give him a body I already have a soul in. I don't want to know what will happen if I try using Alchemy to do this, and I don't have any spells that would help. Actually, let me grab it." Ainz offered. He stuck his skull back through the portal, and said something on the other side. As he stepped back, a tall lean figure stepped through. The first thing Truth saw was clawed hands, with fingernails for blades. Then an overcoat with purple trim and white buttons upon a slender body. The rest came through soon after. The creature was wearing a mask with two yellow four pointed stars for eyes, and a grin engraved on the mask. It stood at attention, slightly hunched over and giggling to itself.

Truth observed it, inspecting the summon carefully. "It appears to be alive, yet the body is most certainly dead. I assume this is your doing?"

Ainz nodded. "Of course. It is an undead Jack the Ripper. According to its abilities, it is a level 30 summon. Some summons are so strong they use my experience, a representation of my power, but..." he reached into his dimensional pocket and grabbed a few minor Exp potions. After chugging them down, he placed the bottles back in the pocket. "I can refill it in seconds, and I have a few dozen of the potions. This is a level 30 creature, but even though it is close to our level, you probably have nullification against its attacks, and I can kill it easily if it were to attack us. I have used Alchemy to strengthen its skin, bones and muscles, raising it to around 45-50 if I had to say."

Truth nodded as he circled the summon, and leaned in, peering into its eyes, through its mask. "I can do this." Truth stated firmly, pointing at the summon as well as Barry.

"I cannot just swap souls, it wouldn't be equivalent. However, I can simply use a double negative and send them through the Gate. Barry gets his lack of a body taken by him getting a body, which is the summon's body. The summon loses said body and is given the metal piece instead. I do enjoy loopholes."

Truth faced the soul piece and Jack the Ripper, and waved his hands. The body of Jack the Ripper disintegrated, and the metal of Barry's souls shimmered as the body regrew around the soul, leaving the piece of metal where Barry's heart would have been. The body of Jack the Ripper expanded back to its previous size, encompassing the soul. Finally Truth sat back, and all that was left was what appeared to be Jack the Ripper.

After a few moments silence, the body moved, looking side to side, then at itself. After staring at its claw hands, it began laughing. "YES! I liiiive!" Barry's voice cackled loudly, no longer having the same metallic quality it had when in the suit of armor.

He ran over and hugged Ainz around his bony waist. "Thank you thank you! This body is so much better than armor!"

Ainz patted him on the back awkwardly. "It's no problem. you are a valuable asset and it would be a shame for you to go in the way that you would have."

"Yes, yes, it was nice seeing you Ainz, but I insist you leave, I have some matters to attend to. I can inform you that one of the few other beings that can appear here from another world gave me advice on helping you, but it is not doable at the moment. Now, please get out of my dimension." Truth complained.

"Alright, but you know you enjoy my company." Ainz said smugly. He and Barry stepped through the {Gate} he createdand it began closing. "You sound like an old man telling kids to get off his lawn." Ainz called as a parting shot as the portal closed.

Truth sighed to himself. "He is nice to hang around with. It's not like there are many things to do here, and Tet is busy playing games with the mortals of his world. I should be more active..." he muttered to himself, gathering up the cards that were still on the floor.

HQ Tower
Barry looked around in awe at the tower they arrived back in. "Check out these digs! This place is fancy!" He exclaimed, ever the excited one about new things. He glanced up at the painting framing the entrance hall. "Is that you up there? Who are those guys?" Barry asked, referring to the image of the Guild member's player models.

Ainz smiled, nostalgia being one of the few sensations not blocked by his emotional block. "That was my Guild, or my closest friends, you could say. We were some of the strongest beings in our world."

Barry tiled his masked face, absentmindedly clicking his claws. "Other world?"

Ah, Ainz had not told Barry yet. "Allow me to explain..."

A long explanation later (I don't want to explain everything again):

and that is our goal." he finished. Barry nodded to himself. "So you want me to help kill the homunculi for ya? I can chop them up good! Especially Gluttony! He creeped me out."

Ainz nodded. I have plans, but I want you to get accustomed to the tower we have here, which is under the Xingese desert. If you can explore the tunnels, and make sure they are all blocked off, that would be helpful. I remembered to inform the Elemental to not attack you. If you need practice, ask me when I return." Ainz recommended, slinging his backpack over his shoulders.

"Sure thing boss, I'll see ya later!" Barry cried.

Amestris, Central
Hotel Room
0812 Hours

Edward's eye twitched as he stared.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" he shouted aloud.

"I'm sorry brother." Alphonse replied as Ed stared in shock as the damage to his armor.

"B-But... how are you this beat up? Argh!" Ed said frantically as he worried over Al's condition. He stopped and glared.

"And you! What are you doing here!" he said angrily at Ling and Lan Fan, who were sitting at the table.

Ling stared at him. "Eating a delicious dinner?" he replied with his mouth full as if there was no better answer. "Get out!" Ed shouted at him.

He kicked them from the room, where they promptly sat down waiting in the corridor. Ainz was waiting out there for them leaning against the wall.

"I told you he wouldn't want you to be in there." he chastised the Xingese prince as Ed was ranting in the background.

"Now I don't get any more food..." Ling said sadly to himself.

Ainz sighed, and reached into his backpack. He pulled out a sandwich from his bag, which he could make easily enough with magic. "Here you go. It's not great, but it's a meal." Ling stared at the food in awe. He moved to snatch the food out of Ainz's hands, but hesitated.

"Why should I trust you? You aren't human. Just because you helped out Edward and that officer lady from the alley doesn't mean you're on our side. You attacked that armor guy and I!"

'I really shouldn't have let him get away alive.' Ainz groaned internally.

"I can say for a fact I have nothing against you or your country." he said aloud. "And Barry is alive. I cannot tell you what I am as of now, but I am fighting against those who threaten Amestris."

Ling looked at Ainz in suspicion. Ainz continued, "You can easily tell anyone that I am not human, then I would have my cover blown. I have a question for you. Why are you in Amestris. You don't have any reason to show up illegally, and if you needed to contact the country, you could have done so diplomatically as a Prince of Xing." Ainz asked.

"Very well. I am looking for a source of immortality, so that I may return to Xing, impress everyone, and become Emperor." Ling replied confidently.

"Immortality? That's a hefty goal, and a dangerous path as well." Ainz said ominously.

"You never said it's impossible." Ling noted.

"I never said I was mortal." Ling went silent for once, as the impact of the statement hit him. Lan Fan sat seemingly indifferent, but Ainz could see the strain she had preventing her from attacking him. "However, the method that I gained my abilities is not one that can be replicated for you." Ainz explained. "This conversation does bring up an issue. I don't believe I can trust you not to give away my secrets, and I have all the reason to wipe your memory. I would have done so already, but it would be nice to have you as an ally. Also if I tried, you would attack me and my cover would be blown before I could." he explained. "Can you not give away my secret as well as help this country? I will help you gain immortality after we have killed the ones planning the downfall of Amestris."

Ling squinted at him even more (if that was possible) and finally sighed. "Fine, I agree to your terms. I will help this country, and you help me get immortality eventually. And you don't get to order me around!" he complained. Ainz nodded gratefully, and got up.

"Welp, I'm on my way to go investigate the Third Laboratory again, but this time on my own. I'll be nice and let you know what I locate, if anything. We should meet up later, but you'd probably find me before then."

Invisible, Ainz walked calmly through the Third Laboratory, his tracks covered by {Perfect Unknowable}. Arriving where the steps used to be, he inspected the wall, and found some hasty Alchemy covering it up. Seriously, even a novice could have done it. Sighing at the stupidity of the person who sealed it up, he considered his options. Any Alchemist worth his salt could undo the transmutation, even if he was unsure of the exact proportions of the moved stone, they could easily Deconstruct it. Ainz did not want to reveal himself to the scientists, so he slipped into a closet nearby, and used a {Gate} to appear in the room he was in before.

Gazing up at the large doors in front of him, he could sense a being on the other side, nearly God-Like, at par with Albedo, or one of the other Floor Guardians, but Ainz was not here for the being, not directly. It would be so simple to just devastate the one behind all of the Homunculi, but it would most definitely level all of Amestris, or at least Central. All Ainz would have to do was enter, throw around some low level spells, and then drop some information he shouldn't know, and instant paranoia for the bad guy. It was standard Villain-101 that the bad guys kept their plan to their chest until they strike and monologue for a while.

"Time to see what this guy is up to..." Ainz said, his invisibility vanishing, and he and Barry started towards the doors.

Ooh, Ainz is nearing Father! Will they meet, or will someone interfere and try to stop Ainz? I wonder what will happen? Find out next time!

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

I'll tell you everything.

The group seemed to go silent as Ainz spoke those words. Ed leaned in closer to the armored man greedily, desperately seeking information about the mysterious alchemist. "All of what I am about to tell you is true." Ainz began. Which was true. "I will hide no secrets, but you must swear on your lives to not attack me or tell anyone. If you attempt to do so, I will kill you on the spot."

Ling glared at Ainz. "And how can we trust you?"

Ainz chuckled. "You can't. But I would like you to do so with no reason. A leap of faith, I suppose."

To the group's surprise, Alphonse was the one to speak up. "I, for one, would like to hear Mr. Gown's explanation of the events around him, if not about his personal life. We're missing too much information about things he knows, let alone what he is under the armor."

Ed sighed. "Fair enough."

Ainz sat back, and pulled out a few items from his pocket space, using his backpack to make it appear that he wasn't using magic. Magic was one thing besides his skeletal body that he was going to keep secret for now. He would tell them everything about Amestris though, as it was far enough into the conflict where that doesn't matter too much.

"From the beginning, I suppose..." he muttered. Ainz activated a single use AOE scroll that most players referred to as the 'Tablet' spell, which shared whatever the user thought of in their head, like copy pasting information. Way back in Yggdrasil he used it to share screenshots or give players knowledge of locations they had not yet visited in game, allowing for them to better prepare for the upcoming raid. The information would stay with the player it was shared with forever, and could not be shared again. He displayed images of his world's countryside and people, showing the lizard men as well as some other species in the display. Ed let out a strangled sound at the sight of the demihumans, but didn't say anything. All images he displayed of himself were edited to show his armored self and not his skeletal body.

"I am originally from another world, where I once ruled a kingdom. I was the King, and had controlled everything. In the past, before I was a king, I went across the countryside gaining popularity under the name Momon, and I dressed as you see me now, so to hide my identity. Me and my... lieutenants had been unknown to the rest of the world, so I took advantage of... well I suppose it doesn't matter to the story. In the end I won, and ruled the world. Now, I had lived a very long time." Ainz grinned internally at the understatement of the century. Immortality was a very long time. Nothing he had said was false, just a lot of facts were removed. "I found myself in a realm that I did not recognize. The Portal of Truth." This time Ed was looking rather pale, and Alphonse was making small sounds as his armor trembled. "Yes, it is that Portal of Truth. It turns out Truth and I are of equal power, so I made a deal. I assist him with saving his world, and he helps locate a way back home."

Ling sat back in amazement. "So you're a God? Is that what you meant when you said I couldn't get immortality the same way as you or Barry?"

Ainz waved his hand. "No, no, no. I have the abilities to at least hurt Truth, but I'm no God. As a bonus for agreeing to help him, he gave me the knowledge of Alchemy and everything I could do with it."

Ed gasped. "So you have the entirety of the Truth in your head?"

Ainz shrugged. "At least all of the Alchemical knowledge. Not much in history or geographical, mostly useful stuff though. Hence my alchemy being different, and I can transmute without drawing a circle. Also my Alchemy doesn't have the same limitations as yours. It has a different power source."

"A different... power source?" Alphonse inquired. Ainz nodded. "You guys use Alchemy from the tectonic plates under the ground, and the natural movements caused by the magnetic field of the planet power those transmutations. I use mana- I mean life force, which is what I refer to my physical energy. It would work for you if you tried, but you hu-people have so little of it you would be killed quite rapidly. Hence the need for such a large amount of souls when you make a philosopher's stone."

"Does that mean, you know how to make one of those stones?" Roy asked dangerously.

Ainz scoffed loudly. With a single clap and sufficient knowledge of the country he could change all of the ground to lava. It would be equivalent if he used the proper circle and powered it with his mana and energy from the air. OR he could simply call down Meteor Strike everywhere. Or change the biomes using higher tier magic to become inhabitable. "Please, those stones are sooo inefficient. I could do more damage to the entire country with one soul than the Homunculi plan to with their thousands of souls. It would take a few weeks of planning and one transmutation circle. Easy."

You could have heard a pin drop. Riza was holding her gun without even realizing it, and Ed stared. This man, no, this monster, claimed to be able to destroy a country with the power of only one soul? And he claimed to not be a God?

"I could have stopped their plan completely if I so wished, but they have had too many years to not have contingency plans. Therefore I am waiting until right before their plan before annihilating them."

"A clever plan." Ling said quietly.

Roy leaned in. "Annihilate them? How do you plan to do that? I couldn't even completely destroy the fat one, and it took too long with Lust."

"And that brings me to the crux of the conversation. Do you truly wish to know what the Homunculi have planned, and do you want to stop them?" everyone deadpanned at Ainz. "Fine, fine, I had to ask. Very well. They plan to turn the entire country into a philosophers stone. Then sacrifice it to destroy the Portal of Truth, and then the leader of the Homunculi will take Truth's spot as the guardian of this world, and probably kill everything." They stared. Ed passed out.

Alphonse surprised them all. "What the fuck?!" Al said, his voice cracking.

Ainz blinked in surprise, then shrugged. If they couldn't handle the news, it wasn't his fault. It would be hilarious to show his true self, but he didn't want them to die of shock.

Gluttony rocked back and forth, trying to get out of his constraints, to no avail. A floorboard creaked, and Gluttony stared at the slim figure before him.

"Heya! Not so powerful now that you're all tied up, huh?" Barry chuckled at the Homunculus. Gluttony stared innocently at the bladed figure.

"When can I go? I'm really hungry." Gluttony whined.

"Not until we get answers from you." The now conscious Edward stated from the doorway. The rest of the group stood around him, eyeing the restraints of the Homunculus.

Once they recovered from the statement Ainz had made, they had all agreed to act like they had no knowledge of the plan to destroy Amestris until the perfect time to attack the enemy. Armed with the knowledge of Gluttony's 'Annihilation Beam' as Ainz called it, they formulated a plan to kill Gluttony.

Ainz and Roy strode forward and bent down to interrogate the Homunculus. "What can you tell us about your creator's plans?" Roy asked coldly.

Gluttony turned and stared at Roy. "Who are you?" Then he sniffed.

"Get ready!" Ainz was shouting as Gluttony began screaming at them. "MUSTANG AND ARMOR! MUSTANG AND ARMOR! YOU MUST PAY!"

He began squirming, rolling around trying to escape. "MUST EAT YOU! MUST KILL YOU! MUST ANNIHILATE YOU!" Gluttony cried, stretching into its enraged form. The solid steel chains creaked as Gluttony grew larger.

"What is this?" Ed shouted. Ainz saw the tear in Gluttony's chest open up and he motioned for the group to move. "Everyone! Get down!"

Gluttony fired his Annihilation Beam, and it ripped through the building, sounding like a large piece of paper being torn up. Everyone dove to the sides, the beam missing them altogether. It devastated the area, and Gluttony stood up, now free of his chains with his chest-mouth wide open.

Roy snapped his fingers, fire roaring around him. To his utter shock, the flames were sucked into Gluttony's mouth. Roy backed away, leaving the area open for Ed and Al to move to the offensive. Rock hands and blades thrust upwards, blasting pieces of Gluttony off, stunning the creature. They dodged another Annihilation Beam, and launched another attack. Hawkeye fired from the side, unloading all of her bullets into him. Ling darted behind him, hacking away at the large being's unprotected backside. Barry and Ainz stood on the side in case the large man was able to get away. Gluttony cried out in shock and not a small amount of fear, unable to move due to the rate at which he was torn apart.

Gluttony finally managed to slip between the attacks when Riza had to reload, and dodged under a fist of rock. He used his increased strength to leap away, darting into the bushes, once far enough away to no longer be trapped in the house, the Homunculus turned and fired its attack while turning, cleaving a swathe of forest away and cutting off the last foot of Ainz's sword.

Thinking ahead, Ainz had made an extra set of blades and other weapons and stored them in his bag. It would be questionable that he could store so many weapons, but if he required any of the spares, it would most likely be in a life or death situation. Ainz stored his blades, and drew a minor magic item, a Quarterstaff. This pole was used as a weapon for monks back in YGGDRASIL, so it was for melee combat and minor magical abilities. Ainz quickly began casting rapid Magic Missile spells, which arced to the sides of him, and then curved around to aim at Gluttony. The amount of projectiles and the different angles they were coming from resulted in Gluttony unable to hit all of them with an attack, and they impacted his body, creating a cluster of minor explosions.

Gluttony was rapidly being forced back, and reached the edge of the forest. He sniffed the air and then smiled. Darting backwards, the weakened Homunculus vanished into the forest. "After him! We cannot allow him to escape!" They chased after the rapidly retreating form. Riza stayed back with the doctor and Lan Fan, allowing the rest to follow the fleeing Homunculus. Suddenly there were three possible roads to take, and they paused. Making a split decision, Roy, Ed, and Al went one way into the woods, Ainz another, leaving Ling and Barry to go the third way.

Ainz sprinted down the path, his stamina not even being affected by the pace he was moving at. A figure was moving in the bushes ahead. Ainz put on an extra burst of speed, and began catching up. He stopped. There was no sign of Gluttony. Ainz stood still, listening. To the side he heard rapidly approaching footsteps. 'Got you.' Ainz grinned.

Barry and Ling ran along, Ling among the trees and Barry along the rocky ground. Ling was able to sense Gluttony, and was following him. Then Ling stopped abruptly. Barry stopped as well, turning to face Ling. "Hey, what's wrong? Did you lose him?"

Ling gestured for Barry to be silent, and focused. "Something's not right. I'm following Gluttony, but he met up with another being. No. Two more beings. They are splitting up, each to meet with a group. We must be cautious. If I were to guess, Gluttony is that way." he said, gesturing to the side.

Barry nodded, darting through the forest, making surprisingly little sound for such a large figure. They rapidly arrived at a clearing, and saw a clearing, with Ainz in the middle. They ran up to him. Ainz held up a hand, and they stopped. He gestured to the bushes, where they could hear even louder footsteps. "There are three beings coming from over there. None human." Ling muttered. Ainz twitched in surprise, but simply nodded. Gluttony ran into the clearing, chased by Ed and Al. "Ainz! We got him!" Ed shouted.

Ainz simply moved, piercing the Quarterstaff through Gluttony's shoulder. Ainz looked over the Elric brothers. HE rose up to his full height, glaring. "You are not the Elrics." he growled, drawing his two signature blades. "What are you talking about?" Ed said in confusion. Alphonse turned to Ainz. "Yeah Ainz, that's not possible. I'm-"

With a swing, Ainz sheared through 'Alphonse''s armor and stabbed the other into 'Edward'. The suit of armor stumbled back, falling to the ground. Ed stared in shock, then his face twisted into a sadistic grin. "You really know your stuff, Armor Boy. You haven't changed since I first met you."

Ainz glared. "Envy. I see you're still the sadistic little worm like before. Unfortunately your shape shifting won't affect me. Who's the friend? I didn't thin you could turn into Alphonse, since he's only armor."

Envy cackled as 'Alphonse' stood up. The armor stood still, then changed. Unlike when Envy changed, there was no Alchemical Lightning. The form simply shimmered and then twisted. It shrunk into the shape of Ling, then Barry, and then Ainz. "Who says he's like me? I'd like you to meet our newest ally."

The Copy-Ainz faced the real one. "This body is so wonderful! So strong! What a wonderful opponent we have to face!" It cried theatrically. Ainz winced as he heard his own voice spouting prose.

"Ainz, are you alri-" Roy called, appearing with the real Ed and Al. "There are two of you?" he said in shock.

Simultaneously both Ainz's turned and said, "What? No, that's an impostor. I'm the real one! Hey, stop that!" They glared at each other. "So I see you are better at imitating than Envy is." Both muttered.

Ed and Al looked at both, then shook their heads. "I can't tell the difference."

Roy frowned, then blinked. "Simple, Ainz has showed me his face before, so it should be fine to see who is the real one."

'No I didn't!" Ainz shouted mentally. The Copy-Ainz nodded. "That should be fair enough." he raised his helmet and there was a human face, identical to one Ainz would have used with a glamour.

"Roy, trust me! I'm the real one!" The real Ainz called.

Roy nodded. "I know." he said murderously. Snap. Roaring flames engulfed Envy, Copy-Ainz, and Gluttony, causing the Homunculi to howl in pain. The Copy-Ainz didn't react.

'Ah, so that means he has my immunity to minor fire attacks? This is forming to look like...' "No, that's impossible." Ainz said suddenly.

"What, realizing how powerful I am with your form?" The Copy-Ainz said with a flourish.

"No, I think I know who you are." Ainz said in disbelief.

Envy frowned. "It doesn't matter! We don't need to fight! You guys are sacrifices, so you need to be safe! If we fight you, you'll probably die, and then we'll have to find more sacrifices!" Envy said. "Come on, let's go."

Copy-Ainz nodded, "Wenn es meines Gottes Wille ist." The fake Ainz replied to Envy cheerfully.

That was proof, yet it was an impossibility among all other possibilities. "PANDORA'S ACTOR!" Ainz roared furiously.

The Copy-Ainz stopped. Then he turned and faced Ainz. "Yes? Do I know you?" He said with slight confusion.

"How are you working for them?" Ainz asked sadly.

"I don't know what you're talking about, let alone who you are. I was found by Father, mein Vater, and he rescued me. I was simply helping plan with him when we heard you entered the fight. Since you are an anomaly, he put me on the chessboard to counter you."

"I have a mission here, and you DARE interfere by joining an enemy side?!" Ainz roared. "I care not how you arrived here, but you, my own creation, entering the conflict and fighting me is crossing a line. That is treason. I will strike you down if you do not stop."

Pandora's Actor, for that is who it was, shrugged. "I don't know who you are, so it can't be treason if I have no memory of ever being on your side. However, you are in the way of Father, and that is an issue. Despite you being a sacrifice, I'm sure it would do more good than harm if you were to die. Right, Envy?"

Envy sighed. "I don't know how the situation got like this. Alright, you can kill the Armored Alchemist, the Prince, and Mr. Claw Hands over there. Then we leave." Envy said.

"Of course." Pandora's Actor replied. "I now face you in glorious combat! Bereite dich vor!" he shouted, drawing the swords that were copied from Ainz.

Ainz simply stood and activated his Aura of Despair. His eyes glowed, piercing the night, as an unholy aura appeared around his body. "You face Ainz Ooal Gown, ruler of the Sorcerer Kingdom, and the only remaining of the 41 Supreme Beings! And you, Pandora's Actor, have made a grave mistake."

Omake
In which Truth finds a hole that he probably should've noticed before.

Truth floated around, playing with the soul of the Jack the Ripper. He bounced the soul across the floor, staring off into space. "I'm bored again!" Truth called, his voice echoing on forever. He bounced the soul one more time, especially hard, and it flew over the Gate of Truth and landed behind it. "Dammit." Truth muttered, floating over to get it. He reached the Portal and then gazed at it. "Huh, I just realized I've never been behind the Gate since there was no need to. Huh. I wonder what's behind there?" He drifted over to see the soul sitting there, by a hole in the void. He grabbed the soul, and blinked at the hole. "Has that always been there? Meh, it's probably not important." he muttered, going back to the front of the Gate.

Chapter Text

Ainz simply stood and activated his Aura of Despair I. His eyes glowed, piercing the night, as an unholy aura appeared around his body. "You face Ainz Ooal Gown, ruler of the Sorcerer Kingdom, one of the 41 Supreme Beings! And you, Pandora's Actor, have made a grave mistake."

Pandora's Actor
Level 100
Doppelgänger

In YGGDRASIL, the direction of a battle could be predicted by whomever decided to use their best attack (Trump Card) first. It often showed arrogance, and would signify that the user was confident in their victory or overcompensating as they lost. Opening the fight with a Super-Tier magic was a waste of time and resources when the opponent most likely could dodge or counter it immediately. If they waited they could hit their opponent when they least expected it. Of course Ainz was no fool. Even if he did open with such a spell, it would also encompass such a large area it would kill his allies. Not to mention most of his Super-Tier spells were meant for large groups of enemies, such as Fallen Down.

Unfortunately Pandora's Actor still seemed to have the protections against instant death spells and other attacks, so he couldn't just cast Death.

Immediately, Ainz released his Aura of Despair II, which filled the area with large amounts of unfiltered killing intent. The humans all collapsed, unable to move in the face of such power. Alphonse did not move, his artificial body protecting him somewhat and stared at Edward in surprise, not understanding what was happening. The homunculi staggered, struggling to move their limbs, but not unconscious. Envy staggered to his feet, shakily taking a step back. "What is this?!

Pandora's Actor did not move, but shook its head to clear the effect. "It seems you were more willful than I had first thought." Ainz said to the Homunculi. "Unfortunately, you're still puny worms compared to me."

Ainz quickly switched out what he was wearing, equipping his loadout he used when he first helped Carne Village all those years ago. His Mask of Envy (rather ironic, seeing who his enemy was) sat upon his face, his Robe and the Gauntlets of Thor covered his hands, concealing his true identity once more. However, he was now able to use the full extent of his powers, no longer inhibited by the armor specifications and Perfect Warrior.

As a higher-tier Doppelgänger, he has the ability to mimic a player based on their appearance as well as their ability. In particular, it is the Players belonging to the guild Ainz Ooal Gown that he can mimic with exceptional accuracy, having all of their abilities as opposed to a handful of them. His purpose was to guard the treasury, and become the guild member that would be best at fighting his opponent. By transforming into one of these players however, Pandora's Actor will receive penalties in all attributes in exchange for their weapons and abilities. He has the ability to become others, including non-players like Possessed Armor, which allowed for him to become Alphonse earlier.

Realizing Ainz was unable to move while re-equipping, Pandora's Actor moved in for the first strike, wearing the form of The Armored Alchemist, his blades flashing in the moonlight. He was intercepted by Alphonse, who tried to block the attack. Pandora's Actor's weapons, being Dark Cobalt, cut straight through his iron body, much too strong to be stopped by such measly weapons. Alphonse's arm fell to the ground, no longer attached to the body of the armor. He frantically began tracing a circle on the ground to repair himself, as Edward was still shocked unconscious.

"You cannot harm him with your weapons." Ainz exclaimed. "He has taken my form, so I can only face him in a fair duel. This is my fight!" Ainz growled. He held a hand to the side, and The Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown burst into existence into his hand, summoned by Call Item, a low tier spell he had learned ages ago. The visual effect appeared around the Guild Item, forming the faces of the damned as the flowing red aura surrounded Ainz.

"Triple Maximize Magic, Dragon Lightning!" He called, three lightning shots coming from the white gem on his staff. The lightning formed the shape of small dragons, and shot after the three enemies. Envy leapt back away from the attack, and it whizzed by.

"Nice try, but you'll need a fancier trick than tha-grrk!" Envy let out a pained sound as the Dragon Lightning curved back around behind him and punctured straight through his chest, frying him in seconds. The other two spells hit their targets, the first damaging Pandora's Actor, who stumbled when it cracked his shoulder guard, but other wise didn't harm him. It made sense, as although the shape shifting being had lowered stats whenever he copied a form, he still was equivalent to a player that was over level 70, meaning Ainz would have to be more serious about this than normal if the NPC could still become any of the Supreme Beings.

The final shot hit Gluttony, who immediately began healing from the puncture wound. He fired an Annihilation Beam at Ainz, ripping through trees. Ainz countered by opening a Gate in midair. The beam rocketed through, into the starry night on the other side. The Gate deposited the attack far out into the desert by Xing, and was pointed into the sky. So long as it didn't hit the moon by accident then the country should be fine. He didn't want to try redirecting the devastating beam into Gluttony, as it could have no effect, or hit someone by accident.

"Roy, Riza, and Ling, focus on Envy. Edward, Alphonse, you guys are fast enough to dodge Gluttony, so restrain him. I've got Pandora's Actor." The armored shape-shifter leapt at Ainz, who growled in annoyance. Fighting oneself was more frustrating than one might think.

"Greater Magic Seal!" Three magic circles formed above Ainz, and 90 glowing arrows flew forward over his allies and covered an enormous area with the glowing bolts. The two homunculi were heavily wounded, unable to avoid all of the attack, but Pandora's Actor was unharmed by the simple spell. Ainz took a brief moment to cast Greater Haste, Body of Effulgent Beryl, and Complete Vision. The buffs took a few seconds to complete, so he was forced to dodge to the side at the last second, his reflexes moving him away as a greatsword whipped by his mask.

"Damn, what's with this guy?!" Ed shouted, repairing his automail blade with Alchemy.

"His armor is the strongest substance currently in use on this world." Ainz said. "You cannot transmute it, as it is not on your periodic table of elements. The only one-" Ainz paused in thought.

Then he realized something, and chuckled. He leapt forward, clapping. He barely touched the Dark Cobalt armor, but the brief contact was enough. The armor twisted, spikes appearing within the suit and impaling the figure inside. What he had created was essentially a locked Iron Maiden. With a cry of frustration, the armor was dispelled, and Pandora's Actor's true form was revealed.

Ainz sighed as he recalled once again his past self, more specifically why he had made his NPC a German officer of all things.

"The hell is that?!" Alphonse cried.

"A Doppelgänger. Shape-shifter from my world." he replied softly. "This one is currently the third most powerful being in this world."

"My true form has been revealed. Baden in meinem Ruhm!" The strange being said. Rolling his eyes, Ainz flicked the staff at the air behind Pandora's Actor.

A Gate formed in the air, pointed directly downward, and Barry fell through with a battle cry.

Barry the Ripper
Level 79 Jack the Ripper (Soul Bound)

Pandora's Actor twisted, dodging the blow from the crazed butcher, but was stabbed through the shoulder before he could move away. Ainz lazily cast Thousand Bone Lance to the side, spearing Envy so many times the Homunculus couldn't even twitch as his body was eviscerated. Sparks burst from its skin, but the body could not heal as the spears stayed within its skin.

"Needed something Boss?" Barry giggled. The hours upon hours of straight training really boosted Barry to a new level. Thanks to the experience potions, he was now close enough to hold his own in a fight against a Homunculus. His blades carried a poison on them, and were much sharper and longer, brushing the ground. He was faster, gaining new abilities as well. Behind him, Ainz could see the two Elder Liches he had summoned to train Barry. He held open the Gate, and the undead the Liches summoned began pouring through. Ainz silently directed the crowd of Skeleton Workers, Undead Vikings, and Death Knights, all of them converging on the three enemies.

Alphonse was horrified, the storm of undead causing his armor to shake. Roy and Hawkeye were unnerved, but stood steadfast as the swarm of undead charge. "W-what the heck is this?!" He shouted. "Human transmutation?"

Ainz shook his head, watching the Elder Liches float through the hole, and left them to control the battlefield for a moment. "These do not have souls, merely constructs of my power, with their feeble minds following my last given order. These summons are not made immorally, and are not against natural laws." He fibbed a bit and left out the part about resurrection and how Death Knights were made with sacrifices, but it wasn't like they could prove him wrong with their knowledge.

They watched as Pandora's Actor fluidly dodged each fireball and strike, but was gradually being driven to a wall of skeletons behind him.

"This is taking too long..." Ainz complained. He pointed at Pandora's Actor. "Barry, kill him." he said to Barry, pure fury coursing through his undead body. The emotional suppressant that he normally had was still in effect, but rather than cancelling out the rage, it seemed to be funneling it into a colder fury, a storm of pure wrath. If this was anything like Shalltear's possession back in the New World, then killing the NPC and reincarnating him should work. There was no reason why it shouldn't, as previous experiments with reincarnation had worked on other summons in Amestris. If it didn't, he could get Truth to help.

Barry shifted, his blades glowing. "Sure thing Boss! I'll show this poser the meaning of real pain! HaHaHaHa!" Pandora's Actor shifted back into the armored figure of the Armored Alchemist, and faced the oncoming figure.

"Piercing Stab! First Blood!" He cackled, leaping at Pandora's Actor. Piercing Stab was an attack in the Piercing Blades category that caused the next attack to pierce through all layers of armor, and had a cooldown of thirty seconds. First Blood caused the first strike to deal damage on an enemy in a fight would deal triple damage, and give the status effect of Bleeding. His claws pierced the armor, shredding it, and dealing damage and puncturing the shoulder within. Blood spurted out, and the Doppelgänger flinched.

"Oh my, how could you! Landing a hit on me?! How ruthless!" Pandora's Actor cried out, appearing to have taken a hit. He swung at Barry, who caught it with his claws. "Full Counter!" Barry cried, swiping back at the faux-Ainz. His claws cut through the armor yet again, damaging the figure within. Full Counter was a skill that would take a melee attack that was dealt to Barry and deal it back with twice the force.

Pandora's Actor changed again, twisting into a form that caused Ainz's irritation to rise dramatically. It appeared to be the form of Albedo, wielding her battle axe. "Hello, Ainz-sama~" she began, but was cut off as Ainz cast Reality Slash, hitting 'her' dead on.

He had frantically cast the spell, reacting instinctively. Thoughts rushed through his head. 'What the hell? Pandora's Actor was never designed to become any of the Floor Guardians, the members of Ainz Ooal Gown were much stronger and therefore would be the best option to shape shift into. It seems a few options could be possible: his abilities were edited by whatever anomaly brought him here, whoever is controlling him made some edits, or he was given specific orders that limited him as the one in command did not recognize the full limit of his powers. His attitude is as if he were another player's NPC with really bad combat planning.' Time seemed to stop as 'Albedo' was cut brutally in half, and the 2 pieces of 'her' fell to the ground. It shimmered and quickly changed to Envy's body, the regeneration from the Homunculus' form healing the Doppelgänger. Ainz glanced to the side to see Gluttony dodging swipes from Alphonse, with Envy still stuck in the spears.

"Hmm, I guess this armor is too weak." Pandora's Actor said, a tone of foreboding settling into his words. He shifted and bubbled, forming an all white armored figure. "Mein vader commanded me to do what is necessary to win, so I suppose I must assume this form then."

The figure that Pandora's Actor had become was an intimidating figure with shining white armor with a helm that had a huge sapphire embedded in the middle of his chest, radiating with pure and divine light. He was also adorned with a reddish cape attached around his right shoulder. His armor struck an intimidating figure into the heart of evil, a near contrast to the Dark Cobalt armor Ainz normally wore. Additionally, he was armed with both a sword and shield, both gilded with jewels and gold, exquisitely made. "I suppose Touch Me-sama's form will be sufficient to defeat you!"

Ainz stared at the form he thought he would have never seen again. His best friend, the ultimate warrior from which he had gained camaraderie and strength during his darkest times. And this traitor had defiled his image. Ainz took in a deep breath to calm himself.

Then he flipped his shit.

With a guttural roar, Ainz used Mass Teleportation to take Pandora's Actor straight up into the sky. Upon the ground, the others began waking up, the effects of Aura of Despair V wearing off as they left its range. "Delay Teleportation, Triple Maximize Magic, Thousand Bone Lance! Triple Maximize Magic, Drifting Master Mine!" A ripple shot out, cancelling all teleportation magic that would be used any time soon. With a booming sound, three thousand lances of bone flew from the ground far, far below, all aimed at the white figure. As that happened, three floating mines drifted to Pandora's Actor, exploding violently on contact. Ainz watched dispassionately as the bone lances reached their target.

He had never once beaten the white warrior in combat. Well, this wasn't his friend. There was no way it would be as effective as Touch-Me had been back in YGGDRASIL due to Pandora's Actor's ability and the fact Ainz had a head start in the fight.

Pandora's Actor dodged them with the skill that was from Touch-me's World Champion title that his form provided, but was still falling through the sky. The rest that he failed to dodge deflected on his shield, shattering into fragments that flew into the distance. For a brief moment he seemed to dodge or deflect them all, but at the end of the attack twenty or so slipped through and bounced off his armor.

"Very good, but my armor, Compliance With Law, is unable to be broken by such a feeble attack."

"That is not your armor! You don't deserve to own it!" Ainz roared, enabling Fly for himself. Pandora's Actor did the same, apparently having the skill as well. (Fly was one of the few spells Touch-Me had known in YGGDRASIL along with a ring that let him use Gate without the requirement of being a mage)

"Slow!" Pandora's Actor's movements slowed to a crawl, and Ainz began casting as many buffs as he could. "Greater Magic Shield! Greater Luck! Greater Full Potential! Greater Hardening! Greater Break Item! Life Essence! Infinity Wall! Indomitability! Greater Resistance! Body of Effulgent Beryl!" Waves of colors washed over him as the buffs took hold.

"NO! WORLD BREAK!" Pandora's Actor shouted back, slashing his sword in a line. Ainz gasped as an immeasurable force ripped into his body, devastating his health. He hadn't expected the attack, so focused on devastating the impostor.

""Ainz choked out as he began casting as many spells as he possibly could before Pandora's Actor could react.

"Triple Maximize Magic! Gravity Maelstrom! Triple Maximize Magic! Explosive Land Mine! Triple Maximize Magic! Cry of the Banshee! Grasp Heart!"

Pandora's Actor writhed under the effect of the spells, his massive health losing chunks of damage at a time. Explosions filled the air as space itself compressed around the white figure. No being naturally born in Amestris could have survived the attack. Cry of the Banshee was especially deadly as his resistance to instant death spells caused it to simply deal damage instead. Finally, the Grasp Heart spell left him with less than a quarter of his health. With a choked cry, the Doppelgänger was flung away. Ainz hovered triumphantly over the now bodly injured NPC.

"You would never have won, Pandora's Actor. I never made you to be on the front lines like this." He explained, absolutely disgusted by the use of his creation. "Whoever is controlling you made a mistake. I'm sorry it came to this. I will save you if I can..." Pandora's Actor struggled to dodge. "Triple Maximize Magic: Time Stop." Ainz cast, also summoning multiple High Wraiths to hold off his opponent until his spell could finish casting.

Ainz took a breath, and then focused. He spoke.

Enormous glyphs appeared around him, slowly aligning as the spell began casting, the thirty second buildup beginning. Pandora's Actor exited the Time Stop ten seconds later. He took five seconds to reach Ainz, and another fifteen to fight past the High Wraiths, inches from Ainz' face as the spell finished casting.

And then there was silence. A calm before the storm.

A-A

Edward stared as two figures floated above him with no visible propulsion, Alchemical or technological.

When he had awoken, Envy and Gluttony were completely restrained, and Envy was incapacitated by spears that restricted his movement and his healing completely. Edward had then mimicked the impaling effect on Gluttony, finally stopping his devastating beam as he could not use it and heal at the same time. Then he had looked up.

The figures danced in the sky, blasts of light and explosions flickering around. One was completely white, a gleaming point. The other was deep purple, glowing with a deep reddish-purple aura. He couldn't look away as thousands of spears shot from the ground, no sign of Alchemy, yet there they were. He could see Ainz floating in the air above him, layers of colorful light filling the sky as he heard the dark robed figure chanting. "The hell is he doing? Some kind of ritua-"

An enormous array appeared in the air, surrounding the two dueling beings. A gasp left his mouth as his mind began analyzing the display. The arrays were vast, glowing lines forming symbols and shapes he had never seen in Alchemy before. The circles themselves weren't the most interesting part, but rather how they moved. They moved in straight lines, rotating a specific amount here, tilting a specific amount there with a full three hundred and sixty degree range of turn. If he could replicate this ability with normal Alchemy, it would be a historical breakthrough! What would happen if rather than making a circle, one made a sphere, or a unique geometrical shape? The pull of the unknown, that feeling he had when he had attempted human transmutation, ached like a sore muscle at the back of his mind. The floating glyphs seemed to pull together, forming one giant overlapping circle. He leaned in expectantly, knowing whatever was going to happen would be spectacular.

A-A

And then there was sound. A pillar of fire ripped through the air, super-heating the surrounding area in a shockwave of heat that would have fried anything nearby.

The spell of choice was Vermillion Nova, a 9th Tier spell that took a long time to cast. It could be combined with Maximize Magic and Triple Maximize Magic together, exponentially increasing the damage and radius of the spell to apocalyptic levels, nearly equivalent with the highest tier of magic. Thanks to a few repeat castings of Time Stop and the summons meant to protect Ainz, Pandora's Actor was unable to stop the casting of the spell. The fire based damage completely overwhelmed Touch-Me's armor thanks to the debuffs and the Greater Break Item spell used earlier on Pandora's Actor. The fight came to a conclusion much more quickly than Ainz had predicted, a sign that Pandora's Actor must have been fighting the control of his commander on some instinctual level. If he had wanted to win, he would have been much less dramatic and transformed straight into Ainz's true form and used Slow, Time Stop, and then Fallen Down together in one fell swoop.

He watched as the corpse of Pandora's Actor fell to the earth below. He cancelled Fly and plummeted down with the figure. A Gate later and Pandora's Actor's form was lying within their base in the desert awaiting resurrection. Ainz landed harshly on the ground, a crater bursting from his feet. His armor appeared back over him as he moved, silently casting the Create Greater Magic Item and Perfect Warrior. He stalked past a whimpering Gluttony and the groaning humans, and grabbed the mutilated form of Envy by the jaw. "Who is you leader?" he asked softly. He raised a brow as Envy was much heavier than he seemed. Some kind of matter condensation? He did have to store the unused parts of his form...

Envy spat in his face as he healed. "As if I'd take you to him! You just destroyed the result of months of work and experimentation!"

Ainz didn't move. "I said, TELL ME." His voice boomed, and he ground his staff farther into Envy's side. "I have the ability to drop you into a room of spikes and never come back. I could fry you alive over and over, or crush you within a black hole, never to return. Why, I could leave you with god himself to repent your sins and pay for your crimes. I doubt you could weasel your way out of another dimension now, hmm?" He flexed his control over Aura of Despair II. Envy stared in fear as he realized how serious Ainz was. "Y-you're dead serious!" Envy said, paling.

"Well, you're not wrong about the 'dead' part." Ainz said, pulling off his Mask of Envy, turning his face away so only Envy could see it. "Now talk."

"Eww, what the hell?!" The man said in disgust. He leaned in closer a moment later. "Hey, you look kinda like Greed when he-"

Ainz crushed Envy's head in his hand. "You know what? I'll have the Liches deal with it." He dropped the body of the Homunculi into a Gate. The massive ripped up form of Gluttony whined as Ainz warily looked him over. "How are we transporting you?" he murmured to himself. "Ah, that will work."

He reached into Gluttony's chest. His clawed hand pulled out the Philosopher's Stone, the object pulsing with a red light. The Homunculus squealed as his body withered away, Ainz focusing on the gem itself. "Appraise Item!"

Gluttony the Voracious' Core
Homunculus Core: Philosopher's Stone
An object created via the sacrifice of a multitude of living souls. The energy of the beings is transferred into the stone, which can be used to bypass the laws of equivalent exchange. This stone is the core of a homunculus. If it is removed from the body, then it will reform the body as soon as it can so long as there is enough room.

Ainz would have smirked on the spot if his body would allow him. He placed the core into his Dimensional Pocket, and sighed in relief as no negative effects happened. It seemed the homunculi's Philosopher's Stone Cores could be placed into inventories and not reform the body while contained. That was a relief. If Gluttony reformed into his enraged form again in their base, it would have been devastating. Envy had no known abilities like that, so he simply sent the Homunculus to the Liches back at their HQ. They would keep him contained and unable to form again for the time being. With a final glance at the babbling Fullmetal Alchemist behind him, he vanished into a Gate, Truth's realm visible in the background. That seemed to be the final straw for Edward, who collapsed again. Ainz snorted as the Gate closed itself behind him.

End Chapter

Chapter Text

Ainz watched curiously as the Philosopher's Stone Core he stole from Gluttony was inspected by Truth. "Hmm, yes, this is quite enough payment. Just the fact you took care of one of them is enough. I can revert the stone itself to simply be a power source for you to use, and I should be able to assist you with reviving your... Pandora's Actor." the entity giggled to itself quietly. "My, that name certainly has many interesting connotations. You say you created him from scratch?" Pandora's Actor's body lay on the ground before Truth, the white god inspecting it thoroughly.

Ainz nodded absentmindedly, focused on the multiple menus in front of him. There was a multitude of screens floating before him keeping him updated with live feeds from multiple summons. One of them was for the Eyeball Corpse he had floating high above Central, its gaze zooming in far below on the Military Headquarters. Yet another was a Bone Vulture's gaze, watching Edward Elric from afar as the Military interviewed him about remains of the fight they had. He had to make sure his allies were safe, if the Homunculi wanted them then they would be very important. Multitudes of others were live views of his headquarters in the Desert, watching Barry, the military headquarters, the tunnels, Envy's containment room, and the surface above. Each one was a view from either a Skeletal Vulture or the Eyeball Corpse summons he had made. One even had an Eight-Edged Assassin's point of view. It had been a surprise when they realized Envy had a monstrous form, but a quick reaction from Barry had the Homunculus destroyed again before he could grow. Before Envy had fully healed, Ainz had summoned the two Liches to guard him. Every time he had regenerated, the Liches would harm him. This was a test to see the limits of the Philosopher's stones, what happens when an 'immortal' creature were tortured over and over again, and if Envy would give up any information they did not know.

The tunnels the Primal Earth Elemental had been digging had made contact with multiple tunnels under the city. The summon had quickly blocked off the tunnels and began making a second one going North, where it seemed to be heading. If he could figure out what the tunnels were for, he could make a move against the Homunculi and this mysterious 'Father'.

"He was my first and only permanent creation. My... allies of the time and I each made a servant or two for our home. Ever since they left ages ago I've been the one they look to for guidance. Pandora's Actor may be a bit eccentric, but I still made him." Ainz explained, comfortable with sharing his story with the god.

"I understand, I too care for my creations, but not as much as you clearly do. He'll be fixed shortly." Truth began fiddling with the soul in his hands, the representation of Pandora's Actor himself. When he had died at the end of the battle, his soul had passed through Truth's Gate as was proper of all beings who died in this world. Truth had thankfully caught the anomalous soul before it had been recycled or whatever happened to souls that passed through the Gate. "I'm a bit curious as to what you plan to do with Envy and the rest of the Homunculi. This Father figure has been hiding from my gaze still, so I'm thankful you've uncovered some of his plot."

Truth may be omnipotent, but not omniscient. He could only directly interact when someone was violating the natural order, and was limited in this sense. That was why he was indirectly using Edward Elric for help before Ainz had come along to handle the Homunculus. "Well, Envy's been a thorn in our sides for quite some time..." Ainz murmured to himself. His soulfire orbs flickered brighter in anger as he seemed to be thinking. "First I want to try to use his Philosopher's Stone to power my magic. If that fails, I'll torture information out of him. Finally, I want to know what happens when one kills a Homunculus."

Truth nodded, golden glowing strings of light beading off of the soul towards the body like a spiderweb, carefully choosing his words. "I would be cautious, Sorcerer King. Shattering a crystal filled with hundreds of thousands of souls would have quite the negative effects if done improperly." The body began glowing softly, the wounds from the Vermilion Nova healing seamlessly, life returning to the Doppelgänger's face. Ainz watched in interest as he observed the process. The Resurrection looked to be different than his items that would be used on players. Rather than an instant glow caused by resurrection, the body seemed to slowly absorb the soul like a sponge. Ainz waited with bated breath as they watched the NPC.

"MEIN GOTT!" Pandora's Actor cried with a shout as he sat up in surprise. He turned to Ainz and practically threw himself to the ground in embarrassment. "Ich bin zurück gekehrt! Was ist mit mir passiert?" He said loudly. He coughed in surprise and repeated himself in English. "My Lord? What happened to me? Where are we?" He looked around in interest at the endless white plain. "Oh no! Have we died? Woe is me, it appears I have been slain!"

Ainz was holding in a smile at the familiar personality. He could almost forgive the Doppelgänger for speaking German. Almost. "Calm down. We are not dead and are not in danger."

Pandora's Actor sighed in relief. "Ah, that's wunderbar!" Ainz twitched but continued.

"It appears we were transported recently to another world, much like what happened to Nazarick. I was alone when I arrived, and met Truth." He gestured to the god who waved a hand. "You are the only one of the inhabitants of Nazarick I have located so far. You were..." he hesitated slightly. "You were under the control of the enemy commander, known as Father. I managed to best you in combat much like I did with Shalltear all those years ago. I need you to tell me anything you can remember from the experience."

Pandora's Actor went silent, his boisterous attitude vanishing in the light of such news. "I must say, my memory is a bit hazy. I have memories of a man with golden hair and eyes commanding me. He mentioned something about trying to 'Grow yet another life from his Jealousy.' He referred to himself as Father, thinking himself my creator." Ainz was startled by Pandora's Actor as his form twisted into what appeared to be a much older Edward Elric with a beard and wearing a toga. "I was not quite myself at the time. I recall a few figures, who were later revealed to be Homunculus." He then changed into Lust, extending his claws. "Lust was sent on some kind of mission at one point to assassinate someone. I was masquerading as a few government officials as my ability to transform is inherently different than Envy's."

That was true. Pandora's Actor changed in both appearance and skill, rather than Envy's change of appearance. He could not, however, change into any shape, but only that of a living being. A loophole would be to change into Envy and then use Envy's ability. He shifted into a few generals that Ainz recalled spotting in the military headquarters. "I planted fake orders that set off a few conflicts in some cities across Amestris. Father was very specific about the locations. After Lust didn't return from her mission, Wrath" he changed into Bradley, "decided to send Gluttony and Envy after Scar to remove him as a threat. The only other thing I remember is Envy alluding to the fact that he started the Ishvalan war."

Ainz pondered this information, multiple ideas sparking through his head. "This sounds like some kind of Alchemical ritual or long term spell, no?" he muttered.

Truth exhaled angrily. "Those stubborn Homunculi! What are they doing?!" He began muttering and paced from side to side.

"Is something wrong?" Ainz asked the furious god. Truth threw up his arms in frustration. "That's just it! I don't know what they're doing. As I believe I mentioned, I only get information from whenever someone does human transmutation. I'm not as hands on with my realm as other gods, so I have no clue."

Ainz nodded, glancing to the screens again. "Well, that can be solved rather quickly. I'll take out the rest of the homunculi and make Father tell me his plans. The villain always gets overconfident. Even I was at fault to this every now and again, but I made up for it with my sheer power and skill. I would assume the tunnels my Elementals made contact with would have the information I need. I will go inspect them soon myself." A Gate opened and Ainz began making his way to it.

"Ainz?" Truth called.

Ainz turned to Truth. "Yes?"

"I'll say this again. Please don't destroy my city accidentally. That forest was enough on its own."

Ainz chuckled. "Very well." He stepped into the Gate, Pandora's Actor following closely behind him. Once they were out of sight, the portal closed with barely a whisper.

Ainz exited the Gate, stepping into the stone halls of the underground base. He eyed the Core in his hand, considering whether to keep it or destroy it. "This could be useful." He muttered, dropping it into his Dimensional Pocket.

He turned to the cell where Envy was being guarded by two Liches. The summons had orders to burn Envy whenever he tried ti change shape, as to prevent him from escaping. The bedraggled Homunculus glared up at him with furious eyes, lightning still arcing off of his body to heal the extensive burn scars.

"Finally decided to stop?" Envy sneered from the corner. He held a very good facade, but Ainz could see the desperation in his eyes. When he looked over at Ainz, he raised a brow in surprise. "Wow, what happened to you? Fall into a chemical bath or something? I haven't seen someone like you before."

Ainz chuckled. "There is no one like me." he said.

Envy narrowed his eyes. "Hang on... you sound familiar. Are you that armored guy? Man, you really do have a good reason to wear that armor. Didn't you kill Lust? "

"Perhaps." Ainz responded. "Do you want to tell me your Father's plans? Things will go a lot easier if you do so."

Envy grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know! Why the hell should I tell you anything? I'm more curious as to why you care so much about these puny humans. You're not human yourself! In fact, you should be helping me! That's why I wont say shit, asshole." He flinched slightly when the Liches each held up another fireballs, but stood firm.

Ainz nodded, ignoring the Homunculus' choice of language. "We know you were causing incidents in Amestris, like Ishval, and that they were in specific locations. I also know you have tunnels being dug underground, and they are there for a reason. I want you to tell me why." Ainz explained, red eyes burning furiously.

Envy's eyes widened. "Ishval?" he started laughing. leaning forward with a smirk. "You remember the incident which started the war, right?"

Ainz nodded. "I've heard it was because a military officer accidentally shot an Ishvalan child." Envy's smirk grew. "But we both know that isn't true." Ainz finished.

"Ah, so you really found out?" Envy asked, leaning in. His smile became deranged, pupils dilating in glee. "I mean, talk about invigorating! I ravaged the country with a single bullet! And the best part-"

"Yes, yes, we know about all that." Ainz said with a wave of his hand.

"Ruin my fun, why won't you..." Envy muttered.

"What I want to know is why." Ainz asked.

"What, you haven't figured it out?" The homunculus said, tone changing to be sarcastic, with shit eating grin on his face. "I'm surprised. I'm honestly flabbergasted. You're telling me you don't know?! I mean, you went through all that trouble with fucking useless Pandora's Actor and the sacrifices and you have no clue? Hah! At this rate you won't even be able to save your little friends, not to mention all of Amestris! I don't even know why that fool of a shapeshifter would follow an idiot like you. I bet any friends you've had hate-AARGH!" Envy shrieked in agony as Hellfire burst into existence, engulfing him in blackish flames, exponentially hotter than his previous torture.

His flesh melted instantly. Thanks to the exact mechanics of their pseudo-immortality, the Homunculi could be tortured indefinitely. Rather than not taking any damage or having a particularly high defense, they regenerated from any attack. This means they are essentially average humans that heal really well. This means a high level spell like Hellfire was like dropping a candle into a volcano, but it would fix itself over and over. Ainz swore he saw the Philosopher's Stone itself melt slightly when the spell finished, but a moment later it smoothed out again.

"I will allow you to speak insults towards me, but do not speak that way about my friends." Ainz said darkly. "They were and still are greater people than you worthless being. Now, tell me what I want to know."

Envy gasped for air, throat ragged as his body stopped burning. He then turned towards Ainz with an exhausted scowl on his face. "Never."

Ainz calmly watched Envy, gauging his reaction. The devotion in Envy's eyes was like the Floor Guardians of Nazarick when they spoke to him. There was no way he would get anything else from Envy. "Very well then." With a single movement, he used Grasp Heart, and the Philosopher's Stone in Envy shattered. The Homunculus froze, staring down at his chest where a shard of the stone pierced through his skin. He screamed out in agony as the very skin on his body began turning to dust. Such was the power of a 9th Tier spell.

"What did you do? This is impossible!" He began writhing as he disintegrated. Red light burst from his chest, ripping apart the walls and leaving cracks everywhere. The two Liches moved away from the damaging aura but Ainz ignored it, the damage to him was negligible and would heal in moments. Envy twisted to look at Ainz' impassionate face. "Don't look down at me, you worm!" he cried out as he was decomposing.

Envy changed into multiple forms, wings appearing, then burning away. An enormous arm erupted from his body before vanishing as well. Ainz stared silently as the sniveling creature shifted over, and over, and over in agony. It was a blur of whirling limbs and faces as Envy tried to escape the fate he was destined upon.

He shrunk, smaller and smaller and he lost mass. Finally, ask that was left was a worm, squirming to get away. It let out one more shuddering gasp and vanished into nothing.

Ainz rolled his eyes after the homunculus had finally dissipated. "Moron." he muttered. "I didn't expect that to actually work though... this does prove some theories I had about this world. Demiurge would kill to be here and experiment." He turned to the Liches that were on standby. "Now that that's taken care of, gather the troops."

It was time to take the offensive. Ainz went around, preparing to summon Overlord Generals. Overlord Generals were skeletal leaders that could be summoned by a select few. The mana cost and summon limit deterred other players from specializing such creatures. Ainz had thoughtfully added them to his arsenal once he had made an army in the New World.

They bowed, and floated down the hall towards the other summons. Ainz raised The Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, the real one this time, and began chanting. In his other hand, bound by magical chains, lay the Philosopher's Stone Core from Gluttony. "Triple Maximize Magic: Summon Overlord General! Summon: Death Knight!" The Core he took from Gluttony glowed a ruby red as it was used. Using the souls within the stone, Ainz was able to summon the undead units he needed, with the human sacrifices being replaced by souls in the Core.

The air swirled as skeletal beings rose from the shadows. Each stood proudly, skeletal faces covered in enchanted armor, not dissimilar to the Nazarick Old Guardians. They knelt as one before him. "We serve you, Supreme One." they intoned.

Ainz gestured for them to rise. "We are going to expand into the tunnel system the Elementals located. I fully expect them to lead into the enemy's base, as well as connecting to other locations in the country. You will each head a separate direction down the tunnels with a quarter of the troops staying behind to defend the base. Our goal is to find the limits of these tunnels and take out all who are within. If you encounter any unknowns, report back immediately. You are to not expand above ground or be seen."

With a sweep of his arm he gestured to the entrance behind him. The Overlord Generals moved forth, the forces behind them following in unison. Ainz nodded in satisfaction, turning to the base once more. Barry and Pandora's Actor stood proudly, eagerly awaiting orders. "Hey boss, what do you want us to do? I've got one or two more tricks I want to try!" Barry said excitedly.

Pandora's Actor dropped to his knees, prostrating himself in front of Ainz. "I'm so sorry, my lord! I will do whatever I must to make up for my past transgressions! I even remembered some more information! Sloth, the fastest Homunculus is the one digging the tunnels! He is currently digging towards fort Briggs as we speak, nearing the completion of the tunnels!"

Ainz nodded, and snapped his fingers. An Overlord General near the tunnels turned around just before it left with the others. "What do you wish of me, my lord?"

"Take Barry and your assigned troops through the tunnels. Find the one that leads north, out of the city. I will take Pandora's Actor and follow the other Overlord Generals into the tunnels." He ordered. "Kill all who are within, other than the humans in Briggs."

Barry giggled in glee, anxiously clacking his fingers together in glee. "Oh boy! I can't wait!" He danced down the hall after the guard.

"Now, Pandora's Actor, do you know if-" Ainz glanced at the vision of one of the Bone Vultures distractedly. "What's this?" he muttered, leaning in towards the screen.

Two figures were making their way into a tunnel, possibly one of the ones that connected to the underground tunnels Ainz was about to enter. He glanced at another screen, connected to an Eight-Edged Assassin group he had following Bradley, and saw the Fuhrer in conversation with Roy Mustang. "Now, this is interesting..." he turned with a flourish. "Pandora's Actor, we depart at once. There is no time to waste." With a movement, he made his way into the underground labyrinth.

Pride sat at his dining table, working on his homework. His mother was cooking a meal in the other room. It was a simplistic scene, something that would be the norm. If someone were to look deeper, they might notice the vicious twinkle in his eye whenever someone looked away, as if looking forward to a meal. Or perhaps the fact he licked his lips as the shadows lengthened.

A thin line of shadow extended from him beneath the floorboards, running through a pipe into the excavated area under Amestris. From there it made a series of twists and turns until it was deep within a labyrinth. The shadows spread out like a spider's web, moving along through the empty- Ah.

Pride blinked in surprise as one of his shadows encountered a group of people moving down the hall in complete darkness. Who was this? A shadow moved forward, eyeing the group. Shallow breaths and fog filled the air as an army of hulking skeletons in massive armor shambled down the hall, behind it was a group of living liquid... slime? He eyed the group with distaste. This was clearly an invading force of some kind, similar to the skeletal figure who was in the lower chambers a little while ago. This time he would take them by surprise, and win. He reached for a nearby phone as his shadows moved in to strike.

Bradley took a sip of tea. "Now, Colonel Mustang. Do you know why I brought you in here?"

Roy frowned, leaning forward. "I can't say I do."

Bradley sighed. "I have a few questions about an event that happened yesterday night. Particularly with a large amount of fire?"

Roy realized he was referring to Ainz' attack last night. "Ah."

Bradley nodded. "I see you understand. Now, how about we have a little chat about Homunculi, shall we?" He asked, turning to glare at Roy with his Ourobouros eye.

Deep beneath central and on a train moving towards Central, two identical beings felt the stirrings of power in the distance. A time of change was approaching, and neither knew if it was for the better or for the worse.

END CHAPTER

NN: The 'screens' are a part of the YGGDRASIL menu system, which shows up in the Anime at one point in season 3, when Albedo is seeing through the eyes of Nazarick's security system. I'm taking artistic liberties to have Ainz connect to his summons in a similar fashion, as in most games like StarCraft you can see the area around your allies through the fog of war. The Overlord Generals are canon, being mentioned in the light novel and being on the wiki.

We approach the end of the beginning.