Chapter Text
You finally send your last email and check the time. Ten past ten. An overwhelming sense of guilt fills your stomach. It’s so late, and today’s the last day you will have a chance to log into YGGDRASIL. If only you worked a little harder, you might have been finished sooner, and have been able to spend more time there before it goes.
You roll your desk chair back and reach out for your dive gear. Really? What use was this going to be tomorrow? Sure, there were other games out there, but none would be the same. YGGDRASIL would always leave an unfillable hole behind… just like everything else that left.
Wasting no more time, you quickly set it up and log into the game, if you were fast enough, you might be able to catch one of the other members. Momonga had sent a mass email to the 41, it would be so great to get to see the others one, last, time.
“I hope we met again somewhere- eh, Svalinn?” Herohero startled with his goopy limb hovering over the login button. Just seeing how close you had been to missing him sent your heart rate through the roof – too close. “… eh…” Although his avatar didn’t display emotion, his voice by itself made it obvious that he was uncomfortable. “… It’s great to see you, but I, I really have to go, its late and I have work tomorrow, and-”
Your heart dropped, “It’s okay, I understand, it was great to see you soon, I mean, we can still email, right?” you had always had a good level of skill when it came to hiding your emotions, which, unintentionally aligned with the racial side of your build.
You had a base race of Clockwork Golem, which you had jumped on immediately when you saw that it had a natural resistance to magical attacks, you also had levels in Automaton, another racial type which’s flavour text said never displayed emotion, although, you had just picked it for the poison immunity.
“Yeah,” Herohero’s voice relaxed. Good. “let’s all keep in touch.” And he logged out of the game.
You looked to your left where Momonga was sitting, the air becoming uncomfortable in the silence. Your time together in YGGDRASIL had become increasing like this as time went on after the other players left. You and Momonga didn’t get along well without someone else as a conversation buffer. It wasn’t like you hated him, or even really disliked him, but conversations always ended up going sideways.
“So…” You started, trying to fill the empty conversation. “What do you want to do in our last remaining hours?” Momonga was silent for a few moments, you allowed him the time to think.
“I want to gather some of the NPCs to the throne room, so I can sit on the Throne of Kings at the end.” Already, something about that irritated you. Sure, you could see the appeal of going out with some final moments of glory, but… wouldn’t he want to spend some time with his own NPC?
You had a personal love for the NPCs of Nazarick. Thanks to your rather obsessive (Ulbert called it insane) min-maxing, it had been much easier to level up through gaining EXP through your crafting classes than combat, so you had found yourself spending most of your time wandering through the halls waiting for timed actions to complete. You had used that time to read out the NPC lore. Everyone had put so much love and effort into them, it felt like a betrayal that Ainz wouldn’t want to visit Pandora’s actor before he left.
“Maybe I will meet you there later if I have time left over, I’m going to say goodbye to everyone’s NPCs one last time.” Although the statement itself was passive, you had made your disapproval known through your bitter tone of voice.
“R-right.” Was his timid reply. Argh. Why did Momonga have to be such a dork? Now you felt bad, and that just made you angry because it was you that was upset first.
You made a quick wave and teleported to the seventh floor before you could say anything you’d regret. You sighed, you really did hate fighting with your friends, yet you just keep picking fights it was like you couldn’t even help it.
You started to make your way through the fire and brimstone towards Ulbert’s NPC, Demiurge. You and Momonga may not have gotten along much, but you and Ulbert? You two got along too much, it had actually freaked out a few of the other guild members back in the day. You and Ulbert had almost complete opposites when it came to your roleplay persona’s – yes, you roleplay as your avatar, shut up – he was the depiction of evil, and you were everyone’s shield, and you had opposite karma levels to show for it, and you even got along with Ulbert’s ‘Arch-nemesis’ Touch-Me. But… Ulbert had read your books and was one of the very few who liked them, so despite everything else, the two of you were destined to get along.
Despite Ulberts’ insistence, you never made NPCs of your own. Writing was your job now, and you just didn’t have the creative energy left over to create something new in your spare time, Ulbert had offered to help, but you refused. You didn’t accept other people’s help. You would just be a burden to them, and then they’d hate you and leave.
Demiurge stood at his usual post, and you increased your pace to stand in front of him. You gave him a final look over. “I don’t want to go, but they’re not giving me a choice.” You were tempted to put your hand on his shoulder and apologize, but it felt weird touching the NPCs when they couldn’t give or refuse permission, so you kept your hands still by your side.
You gave him one last look before teleporting to the fifth floor. This time your teleport was much more fortunate, and you found yourself standing in front of the two twin guardians. Feeling the urge to ruffle their hair fondly, but again feeling too weird to, you compromised with yourself and knelt to see eye-to-eye with them. “Bye-bye, sweeties, I really wish I could stay longer.”
With only an hour left to go, and two more floor guardians to go, if you wanted to make true to your promise to Momonga, you would have to speed things up, you teleported to the fourth floor and inwardly groaned when you found yourself on the opposite side from the guardian you had hoped to see off. You ran in an attempt to save time, now regretting more than ever how low your agility stats were when it didn’t do much to increase your speed. The price of wearing your precious enchanted heavy armour. It had resistance against heat and ice attacks, but stealth and speed operations were a no-can-do for you.
You made it to Cocytus twenty minutes after than what you had hoped for. Alarms blaring in your head to hurry things up you said the first thing that your mind came up with.
“Thank you for your service Cocytus, it’s been an honour fighting alongside you.” You were referring to all the times you had been online when other guilds had dared raided the might tomb. Cocytus was pretty tank himself and had some good defence stats, but his specialization was more aimed at dealing high amounts damage, which meant the two of you work well together in combat.
Giving the insectoid a final solute, you teleported to the second floor, which is where you hoped to find Shalltear, the creation of one of not only the most perverted member of Ainz Ooal Gown but the most perverted person you had met. Was there anything that he wasn’t into? Not that you knew of.
You managed to find Shalltear relatively quickly, only to realize you didn’t really know what to say.
“Well… um…” You felt a little silly bumbling for words in front of an NPC that didn’t actually care what you said, but you wanted to say something now, so you wouldn’t regret it later. Eventually, you settled on something.
“Thank you, Shalltear, you’ve had to take the brunt of every raid for years, if I had more time… if I had more time, I would have loved to share some stories with you, about that rascal creator of yours.” Hopefully, she’d be able to hear the humour in your voice… Ugh, what were you thinking? She wasn’t really… you know…
You checked the time, 11:45. Fifteen minutes, you could make it to see Momonga, you were about to teleport to the throne room, a thought stopped you right in your tracks. While true that you would want to see of Touch-Me’s NPC creation, Sebas, the thought of Pandora’s Actor alone in the treasury for who knows how long not getting a goodbye… Silly you admit, but damn it you had a conscience.
So, you teleported to the treasury, hopefully, this would be quick.
The entrance to the treasury wasn’t that big, so Pandora’s Actor was imminently within eyeshot standing by the gateway to where the items were stored. Walking up to him, you decided to rush things by starting your greeting right away, if you were lucky, you could make it to the throne room in the last five minutes.
“Hey Pandora, we really shouldn’t have left you down here all by yourself, but hey, this was Momonga’s decision, who am I to question our mighty guild master?” Humour was laced in your voice, “I should have visited more often, but unfortunately I’m out of ti-”
You stopped what you were saying mid-word as you caught a glance of the statues of your former guildmates in the corner of your eyes, and like that, the floodgates were opened. All the grief that you had been suppressing since they had left begun to seep through. It wasn’t fair! Why did everyone always have to leave?! Tears began to fall down your cheeks behind your dive gear, but as always, your avatars face remained completely neutral.
Too lost in your despair, you didn’t even notice when the GUI disappeared.
“Meine Dame! Are you alright?” Words from an unfamiliar voice startled you out of your moping. You turned your head to see Pandora’s Actor leaning over to look at your face.
Confusion, panic, excitement, fear. You felt all of your emotions come at you at once. Normally, you guess you face would be in some kind of dumbfounded expression, but you felt your face steeled into a neutral expression.
“Pan-Pandora?!” You managed to get out. The emotion in your voice was also reduced – not exactly nullified, but instead of the extreme panic and confusion it should be, it was a mild alarm mixed with a tinge of confusion.
That was when you noticed your thoughts. In amidst all the panic, you were still thinking rationally, logically.
“Ja, Meine Dame! You are correct, it is I, the one charged with guarding the grand treasury of the supreme beings, Pandora’s Actor!” He said melodically striking a bizarre pose.
You were unsure if he was doing this on purpose, but it was hard to keep a serious and concerned line of thought in front of someone so odd, you let out a small chuckle.
What was going on? This wasn’t a reboot of YGGDRASIL, for sure, the ‘shitty devs’ you had grown to know and love would never be able to come up with something this complex.
As someone who’s job revolved around literature, this was beginning to feel like the plot of an amateur novel. Suddenly everything became a bit clearer to you. Your static facial expression must come from your racial classes in automaton, and your rational thinking might be an effect from the same racial class, or possibly a mixture of both of your racial classes.
What was it that the characters always did in novels like these? You strained to remember. Yes, that’s right, asking questions the inhabitants was a good idea.
“Pandora’s Actor, do you know who I am?” You found you had no trouble at all keeping your voice steady.
“Why of course, meine dame! You are our supreme being Svalinn-sama!” Pandora’s Actor took your mechanical hand and kissed it, honestly making you more uncomfortable for how unnecessary it was.
Supreme being? Was that what he thought the players? Then what about the other NPCs? Would they think the same? Most likely. They did run based off similar code? But what if it was more settings based? You vaguely remember from Pandora’s setting something about treating ladies like precious flowers? Admittedly, from a writer’s perspective, Momonga had done a horrendously tacky job at writing Pandora, but even you had started out poorly.
{Em- Svalinn? Are you here?} You heard Momonga’s voice ring inside your head. You realized he was using [Message].
{Yes?} Woah, that was your voice, full emotions and all.
{Um, are the NPCs acting…}
{Alive? Yeah, same on your end I’m guessing.}
{I’ve sent Sebas out to check the perimeter.}
{Hmm… Good call.}
{I’m going to test out my abilities, I’ve organized a meeting with the floor guardian for in half an hour.}
{I should do the same. I’ll be there this time. Wait, which floor?}
{Sixth, see-}
The message ended suddenly, and you notice Pandora’s Actor looking at you concerned again.
“There’s been a situation. I need, I need to test out my abilities to make sure they haven’t been affected.” You explained, beginning to try and think up a plan on how you were going to do just that.”
“Would you allow me to assist you, meine dame?” Pandora asked, and if you didn’t know better, he almost sounded hopeful.
Useless brat!
“No!” You said in reflex.
Pandora stepped back as if struck, and you felt an arrow of guilt strike your heart.
“Eh- um, well…”
~Dum, dum, dum, inspector gadget~
Many refusals and many gut shots later you were almost going to concede when you saw that at least half an hour had gone by.
“Shit. I’m late for the meeting, see ya later PA!” Pandora looked like he was about to say something, but you were gone before you could hear it.
Everyone else had already gathered. You could feel all their eyes on you. They weren’t hostile as you’d expect to someone that was what seemed to be at least five minutes late, some, especially Demiurge, actually looked relieved to see you there.
All except Albedo… It was odd. You didn’t know why, and her face certainly didn’t show it, but she felt hostile. You could think of a reason why.
You made way to stand next to Momonga, who had been oddly silent.
Albedo stepped forward to begin “Now that we can begin, everyone, let us pledge our loyalty to the Supreme Ones.”
Shalltear, who stood on one end of the line, knelt.
“Shalltear Bloodfallen, Guardian of the First, Second and Third Floors, presents herself to the Masters.”
After that, Cocytus knelt.
“Cocytus. Guardian. Of. The. Fifth. Floor. Presents. Himself. To. The. Masters.”
Then, it was the twin dark elves’ that knelt.
“The Guardian of the Sixth Floor, Aura Bella Fiora, presents herself to the Masters.”
“Al-Also a Guardian of the Sixth Floor, Mare Bello Fiore, presents himself to the Masters.”
After that, Demiurge too knelt in a dignified manner.
“The Guardian of the Seventh Floor, Demiurge, presents himself to the Masters.”
Finally, knelt as well.
“The Guardian Overseer Albedo presents herself to the Masters.” She looked up and smiled oddly at Momonga, before continuing. “With the exception of the Fourth Floor Guardian Gargantua and the Eighth Floor Guardian Victim, all the Floor Guardians are gathered before you. Thus, do we offer up our utmost loyalty to the Masters.”
“THIS WE SWEAR”
The unified guardian’s voices thundered across the room, shaking the gears in your chest. You looked to Momonga instinctually for what to do next.
Momonga was silent for a moment before he finally opened his mouth-jaw.
“Raise your heads. Your loyalty pleases me. I believe that each and every one of you is capable of meeting our expectations.” The guardians’ faces lit up with joys, and you felt the urge to back Momonga up.
“Momonga’s right! You are all more than capable of meeting our expectations!” Though you didn’t know what was going through Momonga’s skull right now, you didn’t really have any expectations to speak of, but your words had the desired effect as everyone’s grins widened.
You once again felt a wave of hostility coming from Albedo. You didn’t understand. You must have read her profile a dozen times, as Tabula really had put a lot of effort into writing it, so it was nothing short of worthy for admiration, even if the last part was a little ‘~eh’. There was nothing that you could think of that you have said or done that would have conflicted with her settings, this was really weird, you must have missed something.
Deep in your thoughts, you didn’t notice that Sebas had entered the room until he had begun to explain Nazarick’s new surroundings. The fact that Nazarick had moved made you uneasy. It was quite possible that you weren’t in YGGDRASIL at all anymore, which means that neither you nor Momonga knew what was out there.
It was more than possible that they were in a hostile environment completely outgunned without even knowing it.
You were brought out of your thoughts by Momonga, you must have missed his orders aimed at the NPCs, because he started with, “Now before you leave to fulfil your duties, I have a question for the Guardians that I want you to answer honestly. To begin with, Shalltear — what kind of person am I to you – Svalinn too?” He added the last bit after seeing your confused glance.
Shalltear’s response was immediate, “You, my lord, are an incarnation of beauty, even jewels cannot compare with your snow-white body.” Suddenly, you remember Peroroncino had added more than a few kinks to Shalltear’s profile, including Necrophilia, you were suddenly glad that you had your new perfect mask of neutrality to hide your repulsion.
“Svalinn-sama is most beautiful as well, a most alluring mystery.” Shalltear said glancing at you. You, a mystery? You had always thought that you were pretty straightforward, could it be that the NPCs perceptions of your past actions had also been affected by your racial levels? Worry started to fill your stomach, you were one to tease in humour, if they had taken some of the things you had sarcastically, literally, you wouldn’t be surprised if they hated you.
Momonga nodded and to Cocytus, “-Cocytus,”
“One. Who. Is. Mightier. Than. All. The. Guardians. And. Deserving. Of. The. Title. Of. The. Supreme. Overlord. Of. The. Great. Underground. Tomb. Of. Nazarick.” No surprised there, really, you would argue that Touch-Me was stronger, but Momonga did have the best PVP record.
Your turn was next, “An. Indestructible. Ally. Who. It. Has. Been. Truly. Been. An. Honour. To. Serve. And. Fight. Side. By. Side. With.” You were less glad you couldn’t show Cocytus your inner smile as you felt the urge to hug him, you almost returned the compliment but Momonga moved on.
“-Aura,”
“Very kind and merciful supreme beings, with great foresight.”
“-Mare,”
“Very – very gentle people.”
Aww, these two were so adorable, you just wanted to hug them forever!
“—Demiurge.”
“A wise leader who makes decisions and acts on them quickly. Truly, a man worthy of the title ‘inscrutable.’ My lady is one that my creator respected most greatly, as do I, a powerful world-creator that we are not worthy of being in her presence” World creator? Wait, please no. He couldn’t remember ‘back then’, could he?
You were waiting for a sword you were making to finish smelting and be ready for the customization stage. Warrior Takamikazuchi wasn’t online right now to begin discussing the details on how you were going to build it, so you had decided to go annoy Ulbert instead.
You and he were not really friends yet, most of the time you had spent talking to him had been arguments that you had sided with Touch-Me.
“Nice creation you got there Ulbert, mind if I give his profile a read over?” You said startling Ulbert out of his thoughts, he had been in the middle of adding levels to the demon-imp and was currently at level 78.
Ulbert looked at you suspiciously before nodding and stepping out of the way. You stepped forward and began to read the profile, humming as you thought it through, it had a good start, and it was a nice touch that the demon – Demiurge, you corrected – had a soft spot for his allies.
“You also probably agree with Touch-Me that it was stupid to ‘waste crystals’ on customising his suit to look like that but-”
“‘A good demon dresses to best ensnare his prey’” You interrupted him with a quote, “I think that it suits him nicely.” you turned to face him in an attempt to show that you meant what you said.
“Don’t tell me you’ve also read the ‘Demon’s Fall’ series?” He said, sounding surprised, which made you laugh.
“I wrote it.”
“What! Really?! Your (y/n) (l/n)?! The creator of the best world known to literature?” Ulbert burst out in excitement.
“Now I wouldn’t say *that*, I mean, my books aren’t even that popular-” You barely made a living based of your sales, you’ve had to work two different part-time jobs to make ends meet.
“Vindic has to be-“
No-no-no-no-no-no! It had taken Ulbert weeks to calm down back then, if Demiurge believed everything that he said… This was bad you didn’t want any of the NPCs to think you were something that you were not, you hated disappointing people in general, disappointing them like this?! It made your heart clench.
“—Sebas.”
“My lord is the one responsible for assembling all the Supreme Beings, and my lady is one of Nazarick’s greatest shields. In addition, the merciful ones who did not abandon us, but stayed by our side until the very end.” Oh Sebas, it was your absolute pleasure to stay.
“And finally, Albedo.”
“Svalinn-sama is one of Nazarick’s greatest defenders, who has devoted herself to improve herself to reach her goal in defending it and her fellow supreme beings. Momonga-sama is the man who rules over the Supreme Beings, and our highest, most exalted master. In addition, the man I love most deeply.” Love?! It took you a few moments to realise what Momonga had done.
Your neck snapped to face Momonga, “What the hell did you do?!” you were just so angry. You more than anyone knew that people put their heart and souls into the things they create, for Momonga to have edited an NPC without their creator’s permission – especially Tabula’s NPC whose had possibly the most amount of detail and care of all the NPC’s that you had read – it made your blood BOIL.
Momonga looked down in shame, his aura of despair flared, but even with the guild weapon, it wasn’t potent enough to cause you any effects. This was the second action in the domino effect that you had started.
Albedo stood up in rage.
“How dare you talk to your superior Supreme Being like that!”
The others shared nervous glances at each other, obviously unsure what to do. You paid little mind to her and kept your gaze pinned on Momonga and grabbed at his shoulder to make him look at you.
“What were you thinking?! You know how Tabula was, how much effort he put into making his creations!”
Fearful shouts from the twins drew your attention back to the hostile figure in front of you.
Okay, maybe you didn’t think this through. Maybe ignoring Albedo wasn’t a good idea.
Sometimes it takes a weapon swinging at your face to realise these things.