Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a calm autumn day in the Village of Carne. Enri Emmot, a humble teenager working in said village was sorting out the harvest of the season alongside her little sister, Nemu Emmot.

It was getting harder and harder by each day to meet the demands of the Re-Estise Kingdom and Carne Village was in a tough spot. The small village was located quite far away from the Kingdom's Capital and very close to the border with The Imperial Empire. The distance was far enough that sending a request would take at least a few days. The Villagers had hoped to ask the tax collectors to lower the taxes, and every time they have responded with a calm demeanor and reassured that they would tell their worries to the king and everything would be fine.

However things were not fine, they never were. Every year the villagers would eat less and less, weakening little by little each day. Villagers hoped that everything would turn around in due time. Enri was young, but not a fool. She, unlike the others knew that things were not getting any better and it was only going to get worse. She thought about hiding and saving more food but the tax collectors were proven to be unkind to those who did that.

She had a friend around the same age that was taken in shackles to the capital's prison for it. Her stomach grumbled, she was truly desperate, she had only survival in her mind these past few weeks and hoped that at least in this harvest the Kingdom would lower the taxes. The villagers were not looking good at all. And she was not going to put her Alchemist friend Nfirea in a tough spot either. Shaking those thoughts, she pulled the roots of the wheat harder in frustration.

600 years ago, The Six Great Gods have saved humanity from the brink of extinction. The Gods however, like any other mortal, died from old age save for one, Surshana. He was an Undead, a being that had no life-span. However he too, have died 500 years ago after the Eight Greed Kings arrived and conquered the world. Sensing the world was in danger, Dragon Lords have finally shown their faces and fought the Greed Kings.

After the war between Dragon Lords and the Eight Greed Kings, Dragon Lords had severe losses and had to stay in hiding for decades until the Eight Greed Kings started their infighting. In the midst of chaos, Dragon Lords have chosen an opportune moment and destroyed what is left of the Greed Kings.

To this day, there were no more Gods to show up. Dragon Lords have also gone silent and the world was finally stable, or it was supposed to be. However this also meant to most that they were left alone, forsaken. The Gods were dead, Dragon Lords were in the hiding and nobody would hear their plea as the inhabitants of this world destroyed and exploited each other.

There was however, still one god. No, an entity to pray to. One that terrified even the Gods, Kings and Dragon Lords. The one who stood above all other existence, The Shade Lord. It is written in the Holy texts left behind by the Six Great Gods and records of the Eight Greed Kings. It is said that he is sleeping to this day, that he is in the underground where there is no light, that he would find a vessel suitable to walk through the world of mortals. He is described as an abomination with eight eyes that could swallow even the sun in it's embrace. It sounded like his arrival would be the doom of this world.

However he was also the only deity left. Dragon Lords were absent from the world since the Eight Greed Kings, nobody really knew where they were or what they were doing today. While some were in belief that they are alive and well, majority believed they had kicked the bucket long ago.

Although Enri didn't know the whole history, she heard enough tidbits of information to get an idea about the Lord and a few things she noticed during the last couple of days to confirm in her mind that Shade Lord was real. In fact, she started believing in it quite recently. For some reason for the past few days, every shadow she looked at gave her a really weird feeling as if something was watching her. She at first believed that she was simply tired or hungry but after a whole day of debating in her mind she decided to trust her instincts and believe in the Shade Lord.

She didn't know why she believed the Lord herself, maybe she was desperate? Clutching at whatever power could help her against the ruthless Kingdom who were supposed to keep them safe. Could The Shade Lord even help her? Would he help her? She didn't know, but decided to believe and pray anyhow.

"GYAAAAAAA!" a scream reached her ears towards the entrance of her village.

"Eh?-"

"Onee-chan?" her little sister said in a worrisome voice.

"Stay with me, Nemu." She held her hand.

The fields were a bit of a walkway away from her home but it took her only a few minutes to walk back to the village. On her way, she heard more and more screams and the smell of iron reached her nose. Her pulse started to accelerate, in her mind she only thought about the rest of her family, her mother and father who were still at home getting ready for winter. She grabbed her little sister in her arms and ran like her life depended on it. She hoped it was all for naught and she hoped that she was dreaming, but it wasn't a dream. She saw her neighbors getting slaughtered by soldiers and smelled the ash as their fields were set on fire.

Upon reaching her house she saw her mother on the floor with blood on her back, dead, right in front of the door of their house. Her father was pushing away a soldier wielding a sword that she recognized to be the Imperial Empire's soldiers. His father spotted Enri running towards him from the corner of his eye.

"ENRI! RUN! HURRY UP AND RUN AWAY!" he yelled before the soldier finally got his sword into her father's back.

Terrified after watching her father's life leave his eyes, Enri had no other choice but to run away from the village. She didn't even look back and ran as far away as she can and into the forest of Tob, a forest where many dangerous animals and monsters resided. She heard footsteps behind her, but didn't trust to turn her back. One moment and she might lose her and Nemu's life. Her weakened and hungry state didn't help much either.

After running for what felt like eternity, she saw something truly out of place. "A temple" is all she could think of after seeing what was in front of her.

"Where's that bitch!?"

"I heard them, there!"

She heard her pursuers getting closer. She quickly bolted inside, ignoring the text that she couldn't read at the entrance.

After opening the giant door and closing it behind, she saw an enormous black egg. It had a huge hole in it. She was intimidated by the sight but looking around she saw no other way but to move inside. She slowly stepped in and gasped in horror at the sight.

A being that she couldn't identify was chained up and hanging in the middle of the room. The entity had two giant horns that protruded from it's face. It had two completely hollow black eyes and a small crack in the middle of it's face, splitting it's face in two. It was wearing a metal cloak and a weird sword was embedded in the stone right under him.

Enri also spotted two metal doors behind both left and right side of the entity. She wanted to stay as far away from it as possible and was terrified that this thing would spring back to life.

"Nemu, be quiet, hold onto me." She whispered to her sister, watching the entity intently as she hoped she was not heard by it.

"Mm." Nemu nodded and gripped her older sisters clothes harder.

She hugged the wall and slowly made her way towards the door, constantly watching the entity as she did. Her hand slipped and she fell.

"Hyah!" her little sister blurted out.

They both watched the entity in cold sweat, was this it? The end of their lives? But the entity didn't move an inch. It was still hanging in the middle of the room.

After confirming that it didn't move, Enri looked at the wall again, but this time she spotted a small spot, a small crack that she didn't see there before. Weird. She thought, but she also felt like she had no other choice. The crack was big enough that they could hide and hopefully she could leave after confirming that their pursuers gave up on them. So she went in through the crack with her little sister and both laid low, controlling their breathing and trying to calm down.

She heard a metal door creek, She mused it was the same door that lead into this entity's nest and gestured to her little sister to keep quiet.

"W-What in the hell is this place?" she heard a man speak with a worried tone.

"I don't remember this being here back when the scouts returned." another man spoke angrily.

"Useless fuckers, can't even scout around a small village!"

Enri heard their footsteps get closer and closer.

"Woah! Would you look at that! How much are you betting that the Cardinals would pay for this?" one of them said in wonder.

"Uhh, I-I don't know.. t-this place gives me the creeps man. M-Maybe we should g-go back? It's just t-two p-peasants." stuttered the other, worried.

They were finally in view, two men, wearing the Imperial Empire's armor with a sword by their belt.

"What? You're scared it'll come back to life? Look at it, it's slimmer than our training poles!" said one of them in a sarcastic tone while the other simply grunted.

"Well, it's safe to say they are hiding behind either one of these doors.. aren't. You. LITTLE. MISSIES!?" he said as he increased his volume with each word with a sadistic look on his eye.

"M-Man, lets just kill them and g-get out of here."

"You're such a pussy, you know that?"

"S-Shut up."

"You take the left, I'll the right."

"Uhh, y-you sure about s-splitting up?"

"What? THEY'RE TWO COMMONER VILLAGERS! Don't tell me you can't handle a teenager and a fucking kid!" He shouted.

"Fine, Fine!" He shouted back biting his lip and gaining a bit more courage.

One in a leisurely pace and one in a wary stance, they both approached the doors. One with sadistic glee, the other with uncertainty.

"Little piiig, little piiig, let ME IN!" He said as both of them grabbed the door handles.

CLINK

The room temperature immediately dropped to a dangerous degree. Cold sweat formed on the temples of both men. Even the one who was joking around felt his heart jump out of it's place.

Enri saw that one of the chains holding the being just broke free. She looked at it's face, a faint orange light surfaced in it's hollow eyes.

CLINK

CLINK

CLINK

One by one, all the chains holding it ripped free as it's eyes turned bright orange. It fell on the ground.. and grabbed it's sword...

"..."

For what felt like an eternal pause, the men simply stared at the being in shock. They had a hard time breathing as if the time was frozen and they couldn't move.

"..."

OOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA it screeched, and it shook the entire temple.

The soldiers sloppily took their swords out of their scabbards and got ready to fight. But the being didn't attack them, it attacked itself.

It plunged the sword deep into it's own guts while screeching bloody murder and it stabbed.. it stabbed.. over and over as an orange liquid fell from his guts and splashed on the ground. The liquid melted the stone where it splashed like it's nothing.

Both Soldiers, bewildered by such action gave opposite reactions. One got out of it, stood his ground and attacked the being while the other whimpered as if he was stuck in place.

The being suddenly lunged itself forward and split the sadistic knight into two in a single blow. Blood gushed out of his stomach as he fell on the floor. He could feel his own blood filling his throat. His vision getting darker and darker, while he breathed slower and slower. His eyes finally lost color and he died in a small pathetic choke.

"Hiii! M-Monster!" the other knight shrieked as he fell on his back, still pointing his sword towards the being, before his vision turned orange.

Enri and Nemu witnessed in fear as the scared knight melted into blood and bone by the orange liquid still bleeding out of the entity. It stood up. It stared at the wall, it stared at them.

Enri and her little sister whimpered in fear as it stared at them. Watching.. waiting..

"Looks like my brother is awake."

Chapter Text

This page will be updated as the story progresses. I will notify in the chapter when a new character sheet is added. The Overlord characters, unless specified, will be the same, except for karma levels which I'll keep ambiguous.

The Hollow Knight

Level: 100

Job: Great Tomb of Nazarick, 1st Floor Guardian

Residence: Great Tomb of Nazarick, 1st Floor

Alignment: Neutral-Evil

Sense of Justice: -100

Racial Levels:

Lesser Vessel 15Lv.

Greater Vessel 10Lv.

Vessel of Radiance 1Lv.

Insectoid 15Lv.

Insect Baron 10Lv.

Insect Lord 5Lv.

Job Levels:

Nail Master 10Lv.

Sacrificial Pact 10Lv.

Others

As the first line of defense, The Hollow Knight slumbers in his domain until an intruder tries to enter the second floor. After either the fake door leading up to a trap or the real door leading up to the second floor are engaged, He will wake up, break his chains and chase after the intruder while warning the Entire Great Tomb of Nazarick of the Intruder(s) with his screech.

He is the vessel of Radiance which constantly gives him a life degen alongside extra abilities while he has naturally high life regeneration that keeps him at a stable hp. Sacrifical Pact allows him to get extra damage and speed depending on life spent in the last 10 minutes, he could harm himself to increase this buff further and the Tomb has an innate life regeneration buff that allows him to stay max hp even while he stabs himself.

He suffers as the light of Radiance burns his heart like a sun. He is more inclined to kill any who steps to the true door that leads up to the second floor, but will still kill any who dares to open either of the doors. One day, he wants to be able to talk with other Denizens of Nazarick without them getting confused from his grumbles.

The Knight

Level: 100

Job: The Strongest of the Supreme Beings, Ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick

Residence: Great Tomb of Nazarick, 9th floor

Alignment: Neutral-Good

Sense of Justice: +100

Racial Levels:

Lesser Vessel 15Lv.

Greater Vessel 10Lv.

Perfect Vessel 5Lv.

Vessel of the Shade Lord 5Lv.

Insectoid 5Lv.

Abyss User 15Lv. (VoidHeart)

Holder of Abyss 10Lv. (VoidHeart)

Master of Abyss 5Lv. (VoidHeart)

Job Levels:

Nail Wielder 15Lv.

Nail Master 10Lv.

Nail Legend 5Lv.

Others

As the Master of the Great Tomb of Nazarick and the guild leader of Ainz Ooal Gown, He resides on the safest part of the Tomb, the 9th floor. Where direct teleportations except for [Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown] and [Gate] spells opened by Aureole Omega are immediately cancelled and retaliated with [Vermillion Nova], a tier 9 AoE fire spell.

Wielder of the World Item [VoidHeart].

[VoidHeart] gives enhanced version of abilities (Abyss-touched) as extra abilities at the cost of life. This way, the user can use void version of skills to bypass cooldown restrictions. The user gains 3 Abyssal related extra abilities around the strength of a Super-Tier Spell with no cost and instant cast time. The user gains 30 additional race levels regardless of their race and unlocks extra set of abilities and quirks. These levels do not increase overall base stats and strictly unlock gimmicks of the heteromorph class.

Nosk

Level: 100

Job: Great Tomb of Nazarick, 2st Floor Guardian

Residence: Great Tomb of Nazarick, 2st Floor Entrance

Alignment: Extremely Evil

Sense of Justice: -500

Racial Levels:

Shapeshifter 15Lv.

Shapeshifting Master 10Lv.

Skinwalker 5Lv.

Insectoid 15Lv.

Insect Baron 10Lv.

Job Levels:

Infection Spreader 10Lv.

Deceiver 10Lv.

Jonin 10Lv.

Raikage 5Lv.

Others

As the Guardian of the second floor, Nosk will hear Hollow Knight's warning and watch the intruders through divinations given to him free of charge by the Tomb's defenses. He will shapeshift into one of the intruders, kill the original with stealth skills and take his place. He will lead the invader's group, with slight mind control (Deceiver), to his nest in the second floor, trap the invaders with Tomb's defense system, and transform into his monstrous form while he gains a ton of buffs near his nest.

Since most players capable of even entering the Tomb of Nazarick were high level enough to have mind control immunity, only careless players who didn't assess him as a foe, didn't invest in mind control immunity and the NPCs without said immunity were effected. He is used to weed out the weaklings or players and NPCs who sacrificed said immunity for other things.

He enjoys wearing the skin of strong foes and absolutely hates looking at the skin of weaklings let alone wearing them. He avoids the level 1 homunculus maids for this reason, but just like every other NPC in The Tomb of Nazarick, he would never harm any Nazarick denizens.

The False Knight

Level: 90

Job: Area Guardian of the 5th Floor.

Residence: Great Tomb of Nazarick, 5th floor.

Alignment: Neutral

Sense of Justice: 0

Racial Levels:

Insectoid 15Lv.

Maggot Baron 10Lv.

Maggot Lord 5Lv.

Job Levels:

Barbarian 10Lv.

Knight 10Lv.

Blackguard 10Lv.

Others

As the Area Guardian of the 5th floor, he strictly defends Nigredo's room from intruders and keeps her safe while constantly getting buffed and healed by her. The intruders who wish to kill Nigredo will have to go through him first and if they do get past him, they'll get jumpscared and attacked by Nigredo if they are not carrying a baby doll for her to pick up.

The False Knight as a maggot has the Innate ability to be completely immortal inside any armor, bypassing even instant death skills, so long as the armor is connected to him in any way. He has several different divine-class armors that he can switch between combat, each specialized for prioritizing offense, defense and utility. Using [Ethereal Ring], he can be completely immune to physical damage while he's switching his worn down armor with a fresh one, however it won't make his armor immune to physical damage.

In his bio, it is stated that Cocytus is his father and he loves sparring with him on a regular basis. He hopes that one day, he would be worthy enough for his father to draw all four of his weapons and break his current record of him drawing three.

Hornet

Level: 100

Job: Floor Guardian of the 6th Floor. Older Sister of the Ruler of Nazarick.

Residence: Great Tomb of Nazarick, 6th floor.

Alignment: Great Good

Sense of Justice: 400

Racial Levels:

Arachnoid 15Lv.

Arachnoid Baroness 10Lv.

Arachnoid Queen 5Lv.

Job Levels:

Nail Wielder 15Lv.

Nail Master 10Lv.

Trapper 10Lv.

Hunter 10Lv.

Jonin 10Lv.

Others

As the Floor Guardian of the 6th floor, She can create and manipulate multiple different traps inside the City of Tears. These traps range from simple spikes to sharp as a knife spider webs. She has incredibly high agility that stands close to her peer in the same floor, Aura. In the case of an invasion, she places a lot of traps for the invaders to die to. If the invaders make it past these traps, she coordinates her attacks with Aura and Mare while acting as a distraction with the support of Aura's beasts, for the twins to stay safe and attack from a distance.

She loves Entoma Vasilissa Zeta and considers her as a small adorable little sister. Though she constantly reprimands her for not having manners while she eats. Their favorite spot to eat is the cafeteria of Nazarick, because Entoma finds the head-chef's shouting funny, while Hornet likes the fine dining experience.

She is proud of her little brother as The Ruler of Nazarick and has a lot of respect for him. Though she thinks he is adorable at times, she would never condescent him.

Chapter Text

People used to scoff at those who wanted to live in the past, a common argument would be the torture and sickness the medieval times brought. But now, everyone would give everything they have to travel a century back.

In the year 2138, the Earth was on the brink of collapse and the only glue that held it together was the advanced technology. Skies were filled with thick smog and the air was toxic to the inhabitants. Humanity as a whole haven't seen any stars with the naked eye for decades. Wildlife was nonexistent and the livestock was only kept in the richest of houses. Eating meat was a luxury on few select could indulge in. It was a world where Mega corporations and the rich controlled everything and everyone. Governments were powerless and mega corps, corrupt to the bone.

The rich wanted to keep their prestige and made it significantly harder for the poor to get an education. A smarter populace meant danger to their paradise and they can't have that. The rich were never satisfied, they would not only fight the poor to keep them where they were, but also fight among themselves for a bigger piece of the pie. Though, of course the only one who suffered from their fights were the poor people.

It was a time where everyone had to look for themselves and helping others were viewed as something foolish.

Suzuki Satoru, a 28 year old office worker was walking home in his Hazard suit while wearing his gas mask that he would need to replace soon. Walking in an alleyway, he saw someone on the ground, a young girl around the age of six. She had purple spots all over her body, a sign of beating. The child was unconscious and it didn't look like she was breathing. It didn't even matter if she could breathe, she would die no less than 10 minutes in this toxic air anyway.

Satoru simply walked by her, not even looking at her direction as this was a common sight on the streets. Children were either left by their parents because they couldn't afford to look after them, or orphanages threw them out if they couldn't keep working.

Satoru entered his apartment and locked the door tight as to keep the toxic air outside. He took off his mask, his hazard suit and went to the kitchen. He took a protein tube and started sucking on it. It smelled and truly tasted horrible, but he was already numb to this taste. This is what he has been eating his whole life, except for a few days where his mother would cook him his favorite meal, a fried chicken egg. He started reminiscing the past in the silence of his apartment and sighed. His mother had died of overworking herself. She wanted Satoru to able to live a decent life, so she worked and worked everyday and was able to gather enough money for Satoru to enter and graduate a primary school.

After finishing his meal, Satoru sat down in front of his computer and turned it on. He plugged one of the cables sitting on the desk to the back of his neck and wore a giant set of VR headset. In the year 2138 a new term called DMMORPG was born.

"DMMORPG", or "Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game" was a few decades old genre that simulated being inside the game itself. Satoru was fortunate enough to play such a genre as some people were stuck playing on old LED monitors.

His favorite game of this genre was called "YGGDRASIL" a role-playing game where you have almost infinite customization. Save for a few copyrighted games and characters, the users were allowed to look like whoever they wanted, whatever they wanted. There were thousands or spells, weapon skills, races, job classes etc. It was truly a game where you could live your fantasy, though it still had some technological limitations, for example speaking in game would not make your character's mouth move and certain assets couldn't be destroyed. It was the most popular game of all time since DMMORPG became a term.

Today was a special day in YGGDRASIL, though not one for celebration. YGGDRASIL has lived out 10 years of service and today was the final day where it would be gone forever. Satoru was quite upset about the game ending it's service. He was the best player in YGGDRASIL, he had won several PvP tournaments and even achieved the impossible, killing a World Enemy which was 20 levels above the Player level limit, alone. There was no one that haven't heard of "The Knight" his in-game nickname, and Ainz Ooal Gown, the name of his guild.

Throughout the nine realms of YGGDRASIL, him and his guild were able to repel over 1500 players from their guild base in an invasion, impressing even the developers of the game and receiving a unique [World Item] that he himself designed, "The Void Heart". Though he would never share what the item did with anybody. Information meant power in YGGDRASIL and he would never put himself in a vulnerable spot.

His guild had two restrictions to be a member. One was that you would need to be a Heteromorph class and the other, a functioning member of society. Kids were naturally not allowed and those who joined were expected to have jobs. YGGDRASIL was a pay to win game after all. Most guild registrations were done smoothly as a new member would prove themselves and enter the guild. They also had no problems with the guild members. Until one day, one of them stole a World Item from the vault, left the guild and joined another one. To spit on their faces more, it was a human guild. One that was constantly on war with Heteromorph's in YGGDRASIL.

After logging into the game with his small avatar he was met with an empty guild base. YGGDRASIL was declining no doubt, he knew that the rest of the guild may not able to join him today, but he sent all of them an invitation anyway.

"Nobody? Really, Nobody is online?" He muttered to himself in disbelief.

He wanted to spend the last hours of this game alongside his friends and had planned to even crash the servers by spamming all the special effects him and his friends had before the game ended as a final joke. But nobody logged in. He did expect this outcome but believed that at least someone would be here in the end. It was the last day after all, they have spent years playing together and customizing this dungeon they conquered years ago, making it their own guild base, The Great Tomb of Nazarick.

He was in a room with 41 chairs and a giant round table. This is where they would plan which guild to attack, which boss to tackle down and talk about their next goals as the game updated and new content added. Now it was empty. He understood their decision, YGGDRASIL was just a game. Yes, they have spent a lot of time together and this place meant something to all of them. But not all of them had the time or luxury of being here. The small knight jumped up on the table and stared at the chairs with hollow, empty eyes. Being alone in this place gave him a weird feeling. This was a place full of joy, cheer, shouting and argument and now it was completely silent. What was it called again? Luminous space?

"..."

"Well, I guess I can go for plan B." He whispered to himself.

Satoru left the room and walked through the 9th floor of Nazarick where he saw a few NPCs his friends created in the halls. Sebas Tian, the Iron Butler and the Pleiades Battle Maids were kneeling, waiting for orders.

For roleplay sake they had written in the bios of NPCs that the members of Ainz Ooal Gown were referred to as Supreme Beings. His guild friend Tabula Smaragdina, the "setting maniac" as they call him, gave his all in customizing the behavior of every NPC in the tomb so that they would immediately take a knee in the presence of one of the Supreme Beings and stay like that unless ordered otherwise. He had written lots and lots of settings to truly make him and his guild-mates feel special as they all used YGGDRASIL as an escape from the harsh reality.

"Follow." Satoru said to the NPCs.

And follow they did. NPCs of YGGDRASIL was technologically advanced enough that they followed simple commands, but not advanced enough to follow every command. NPCs would have a default response, a question mark, that pops up on top of their head whenever the command given was too complicated or something that wasn't allowed.

Satoru had a plan B in case his friends wouldn't be able to join him. He wanted to go out with a bang and attempt to crash YGGDRASIL's servers and if that didn't work, he would go into roleplay mode. Sitting on the Pale King's throne and waiting for intruders as the world ended.

As he wondered in the halls of the 9th floor with NPCs in his trail, he looked at something that made him reminisce about the past. [The Nail of Ainz Ooal Gown] was a nail perfect for his character and rivaled even world items. He and his friends gave their all to be able to craft this. Some of them had arguments with their wives and some of them battled with insomnia.

"Let's go, symbol of our guild." Satoru said and equipped the nail. It sat on his back as he kept walking towards the throne room of Nazarick.

He looked around and saw screenshots of his and his guild's achievements framed on the walls.

"Ah, the Devourer of the Nine Realms. I still remember how excited I was after I saw the loot that dropped." he said in a longing voice.

Because a World Enemy was a boss meant for a party of players and he was able to kill it completely alone, he gathered around 10 times the amount of loot that was normally split between the party members.

"Man, it was truly worth it." he chuckled.

He was then met with a giant set of doors, his small size gave the illusion that the already giant door was as big as a mountain. It depicted a beautiful Angel and a cruel looking demon. "The Gates of Judgement" as his friend Lucifer called it...

Lucifer.. his prankster friend that loved playing pranks on his fellow guild members.

"They wouldn't come alive and attack me, right?" he muttered with a grimace in his real life face.

He pushed the doors, entered the throne room and after a small pause, he exhaled. It was safe. He was just paranoid.

He was met with a giant room even for a normally sized person, where the ceiling seemed to stretch to the skies, with chandeliers hanging from the light. Forty pillars on each side with banners that had his friends insignias, and a red rug that stretched towards the door to the throne. The throne was made out of Pale Ore, a Divine class crafting item. It had spiky exterior and had a flag dangling from the top of it with the insignia of Knight.

There was an NPC standing next to the throne. She had a beautiful face with unusual, yellow colored slit eyes. She had two horns protruding from the top of her head, a beautifully long black hair and had two black feathered wings around her waist. She was a demon. She was wearing a white long dress with spider web designed golden lining around her chest and the dress truly enhanced her figure and curves. She was Albedo, The Guardian Overseer.

After reaching the steps of the Pale King's throne, he heard the footsteps behind him, he had forgotten for a second that NPCs would follow him regardless of where he went because of the command he gave them.

"Stand by." He ordered them.

Sebas Tian, Pleiades battle maids and the Guardian Overseer Albedo all took a knee, bowed and waited.

Satoru checked the time again, there was still a bit more time until the servers closed. He checked his friends list, still nobody.

Weird.

Normally, at least a friend or two would be online, perhaps he was truly alone in YGGDRASIL now? How likely is that? The only player in the worlds most popular game?

"Pfft." He shook those thoughts.

"Maybe I can kill some time reading the NPCs bios?" He muttered to himself.

He opened up Sebas Tian's bio and saw..

"Nothing? Touch-me, that lazy.. He spent all these resources to level him up and not even a single line of text? Seriously?" He complained.

"Maybe I should write something?"

"Well, he is obsessed with justice, maybe I can..."

"No, never mind. I'll just keep it the way it is." He closed the UI.

"Let's see, What about Albedo?" He whispered as he opened the Overseer's bio.

"HOLY... Long! This is too long!" He shouted as the setting maniac truly deserved his title.

He couldn't be bothered to read all of it so he scrolled down and skimmed through the text, he noticed his name "Knight" in the midst of the text and went back to read it.

"...she is also madly in love with the Knight..."

"HAAAAH?!" He exclaimed.

"..."

"Pff-HAHAHAHA!" He started laughing as he realized Tabula of all people apparently left him a small joke.

"This is rich! HAHAHA!" his laugh echoed through the room as he hit the throne's arm with his small hands, the game recognized it as an attempt to damage and displayed "0" due to the throne being a part of the guild base.

After calming down he realized that the time was almost up and he chuckled.

"Well, I gotta sleep early, I got work tomorrow." he muttered as he watched the timer to server shut down.

00:10.

00:09.

00:08

00:07

00:06

00:05

00:04

00:03

"It was truly fun."

00:02

00:01

00:00

"..."

-00:01

-00:02

Huh?

"..."

"Did they delay the shutdown?" Knight said in a voice he didn't recognize.

Wait.. My voice?

"K-Knight-sama, is t-there a problem?" The Guardian Overseer Albedo trembled in fear as she asked her Lord.

She has never heard his lord speak before, even counting the 1500 player invasion, The Knight-sama was barely ever in the throne room. Hearing his voice that seemingly reached her soul terrified her, how could it not? Her lord, her beloved was the strongest in the world of YGGDRASIL, capable of killing Devourer of the Nine Worlds all by himself! A legend, bards would sing till their voice died, was right in front of her. She was both flustered and terrified after hearing his deep voice that didn't match his small frame.

"Hm?" He turned his attention to her, staring at her with those hollow eyes.

"K-Knight-sama?" She trembled as she repeated herself.

"Eh?" Knight let out in confusion.

"I-I'm terribly sorry K-Knight-sama! I s-spoke out of turn! P-Please forgive t-this worthless s-servant of yours!"

She bowed deeply, still trembling until her forehead touched the floor. Her horns scraped towards the floor and it hurt her, but to speak out of turn in the presence of the Supreme One was a terrible sin. The others in the room also started to shake in fear that they have disappointed the Supreme One, that he too would leave them like the other Supreme Beings.

The fear that they would be left was more so than their fear of getting killed. As being killed to satisfy the frustrations of the Supreme one was to be of use to him, to relieve them of their stress was a servants duty, and they would give their life without question if he asked them to. However if the Supreme One left, there would be no one left to guide them, no one to serve. Their life's purpose would end.

Something bothered Knight just before Albedo bowed however.

Her mouth is moving!

This was one of the technological limitations that humanity couldn't overcome, it simply cannot happen in YGGDRASIL, was he in a weird dream? But then he realized the trembling NPCs and shook off that notion.

This just might be real... he thought.

For some reason, even though he should have been panicking. He felt truly unbothered, as if this was a normal, everyday thing.

"Calm down, Albedo. You are forgiven. I was just startled due to a weird.. change." He clarified.

After exhaling and calming herself down she quickly recalled what she was supposed to do. She is the Guardian Overseer, she needed to act like one and be of use to the Supreme One. No matter how incredible her beloved's presence is, she had a duty to fulfill.

"Change, my lord?" she asked with a worrisome expression.

This was the confirmation Knight needed, they were not using a set of lines, they were truly responding to him. This wasn't a game anymore, it was all real.

"Yes.. Change. Have any of you felt something? Anything?" He asked everyone in the room.

Albedo looked at Sebas and the Pleiades maids, they were not given the right to speak yet and they were lower than Guardians in the hierarchy of Nazarick. To answer their Lord's question, they simply shook their heads. Albedo then turned to his Lord and replied.

"No, my lord. None of us has felt any change."

"I see..."

"Sebas!" He shouted, enough for his voice to be heard.

"Ha!" He quickly responded, still twitching a bit after his lord's strong voice.

"Sebas, Take Pleiades maids with you, a few shadow demons and scout the outside of the tomb in a 5 kilometer radius. Look for any animated beings, watch from far away and see if they can communicate, but don't interact with them. Tell the Shadow demons to kill themselves if they get spotted. But not any of you! You and the maids are not expendables, you will return and report to me the highest threat level in an hour from now on!" He ordered.

"Understood, my lord!" Sebas responded and waited where he was.

"You are dismissed."

"Yes, my lord." Sebas replied and along with Pleiades maids they left the throne room, to fulfill the task they were given.

"Albedo."

"Ha!"

"Tell all the Floor Guardians except for 4th and 8th floor to meet me in the City of Tears."

"City of Tears, my lord?"

Ah right, she never left the throne room before.

"There's a small city next to the Gladiator arena in 6th floor. Tell them to meet there in an hour from now on."

"Yes, I shall carry out your will, my Lord." she said and left to tell all the guardians after Knight dismissed her.

"Hmm, I should probably test my skills. Well, since we are meeting at the 6th floor anyway, I can use the Arena there." He whispered to himself.

"But first.." I don't want to be late.

He pulled out a small watch and clicked on a few buttons.

"Knight Onii-san! I'm setting the time!" said a cutesy voice.

Bukubukuchagama-san.. I wonder why I can't mute the sound of this watch. He thought to himself.

He looked at his hand, the small ring adorning his ring finger. [The Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown] was a ring given to all Guild members to prove that they were a member. It allowed one to teleport anywhere in the Guild base with zero mana cost and cooldown. The only restriction was that you couldn't use it in the presence of a player from a different guild or one without a guild. What would be the point of Raiding Guild bases if the guild members could avoid spells and attacks teleporting left and right?

After seeing his vision change into the metal gates outside the Gladiator's arena, he sighed in relief.

"Okay, good. It works."

He entered the arena and saw someone a little taller than himself jump from the VIP box of the arena.

"V!" said the figure while holding a peace sign with her fingers after she landed and ran straight towards him with incredible speed before coming to a stop just before him and took a knee.

"Knight-sama! it is a pleasure to see you visit us!" Cheerful Dark elf child spoke.

"Aura.. Where is Mare and Hornet?" Knight asked after recognizing who it was.

Aura was startled that Knight actually spoke and didn't expect such a deep voice from him.

"H-Hornet is in the City, though.. MARE!" She yelled behind her to his brother on top of the VIP box.

"I-It is high O-Onee-chan..."

"MARE! You are being very rude to Knight-sama!" She yelled louder.

"Y-Yes I-I'm coming!" He stuttered and jumped, he almost landed flat on his face but managed to balance himself before running in a girly manner towards Knight and took a knee.

"Y-Yes I-I'm here K-Knight-sama!"

Ah right, Bukubukuchagama-san was into cross-dressing. Isn't it a little extreme for children though!?

Aura was a cheerful and energetic girl, wearing a white coat with a red scaly shirt underneath. She wears white pants and her face is almost identical to her brother. While Mare was a shy and introvert boy, wearing a skirt and a similar coat with a blue scaly shirt underneath. Both of them wore boots and gloves reflecting their jobs. While Aura was a tamer and wore brown, leather gloves and leather shoes, Mare was a Spell caster and wore white, cloth gloves and white thigh-high socks. They both looked around 10 years old and were around 70 in elven years. They looked so much like each other it felt natural to call them eachother's twins.

"Hello, Mare. The both of you should know that there will be a gathering of Guardians in about... 50 minutes." Knight said while glancing at his watch.

"Oh? Where should we gather Knight-sama?" Cheery girl, Aura replied.

"In the City of Tears. However before that, be good children and set up some targets, okay? I need to test some stuff."

"Yes!" "Y-Yes!" They both replied.

They both cheerfully called for the Gladiator Arena's servants and setup straw-mans.

"Alright, I need to first see how my nails work." He said as he tried a bunch of different nails from his inventory and attacked the straw-mans.

All of the nails were enchanted with different attributes and skills. It really surprised him that he could actually poison a straw-man, a-non living object. He simply put the tip of the nail on it once and the straw-man turned into splinters as it started rotting from the inside. He tried more and more elements and how their effects transferred from the game. However, other than the elemental nails, he couldn't get a complete read as most of the nails were damage increasers and increasing damage on an already easy to break straw-man proved to be unfruitful.

He then tried his sword skills which he felt like he knew all the moves from the get-go. In the game, he would either press a button in the UI or say the name of the sword skill for it to work. Here, it felt like an instinct. He would still need to sharpen his sword skills later, probably under Cocytus's tutor, but for now he was satisfied.

He also noticed that he didn't get tired at all. Although his body moved and attacked, he never felt like he moved at all. It was as if he was puppeteering his own body...

Then it hit him. His ultimate ability in game, [The Shade Lord] which he spent a lot of racial levels to unlock and the skill he couldn't kill Devourer of the Nine Realms without. He still haven't used it, was he The Shade Lord and the body a vessel?

"Aura, Mare. Stay far away!" He warned them.

The Twins complied and stood far away.

"[The Shade Lord]!" He yelled and he felt his body fall.

A black smoky matter or anti-matter started to pour out of his body with incredible speed. Then it formed an enormous black mass of body that was bigger than the whole Arena with eight big glowing white eyes. He looked at the tendrils around him and tried moving it.

"HM." his voice echoed much more louder than when he was in his vessel.

It felt just right to move his tendrils, it truly felt like this was his real body. He looked at the twins who were shaking in fear and realized his mistake. He tried canceling the ability which immediately worked and the entire mass of body flew directly into the vessel and he started puppeteering it again.

"Aura, Mare. Sorry, that must've been scary, but I wanted to test it regardless." He said as he stood up.

"N-No Knight-sama! I-It is okay!" Even the confident Aura was stuttering which made him feel guilty. Mare wasn't even making sense with all his ramblings.

With a sigh, he casted [Fly] and flew towards the twins and hug them with his tiny body.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you two." He apologized.

"W-What are you saying Knight-sama! You don't need to apologize to us!"

"Y-Yes K-Knight-sama we don't d-deserve your a-apology!"

"Hm." He replied and looked at them in the eyes.

He saw how Mare had tears in his eyes, while thinking of his inventory, a void appeared and he put his hand in it which felt so natural. He pulled out a handkerchief and dried his tears with his small hands.

"I don't want to see my guardians hurt. I am sorry, truly." He said with care which brought a gasp from both of them.

"Now you two, there's only a few minutes before the gathering, you should go ahead. I'll be there in a bit." He said while glancing at his watch again.

"Yes! Knight-sama!" "Y-Yes Knight-sama!" they both exclaimed with new profound happiness and ran off to the City of Tears.

"Now, one last thing.." Knight muttered to himself.

He pulled out the [Nail of Ainz Ooal Gown] from his back and swung the nail to the last straw-man.

"..."

"EH!?"

It was deleted. It didn't "die", it wasn't "destroyed", It didn't "rot". It was gone. It stopped existing.

"Knight Onii-san, the timer you set up is up!"

The Knight is added to the Character Sheet.

Chapter Text

The Knight has ordered a gathering of guardians and Albedo was truly confused. As one of the smartest NPCs in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, she held her head up high when it came to understanding their masters intentions and acting on them. However this time neither she nor Demiurge was able to pinpoint for the reason for this gathering.

Nevertheless, Albedo, through great effort at communication with Hollow Knight and Nosk, was able to gather all the Guardians in the City of Tears. While Hornet was having an argument with Shalltear about decency, Cocytus took his time sparring with Mantis Lords to pass the time. Albedo and Demiurge were having an intellectual discussion about the future plans while Albedo was also throwing shade towards Shalltear. Nosk was currently disguised as a simple human he saw from the 1500 player raid with his divine equipment, speaking in grumbles with the Hollow Knight.

There was a few more minutes until the one hour mark their master gave them has passed, Cocytus and Mantis Lords were done with their sparring and were communicating and criticizing each-other through the use of pheromones, a trait most Insectoids shared. Everyone got to their place according to the hierarchy of the tomb and waited until they heard something that chilled them to the bone from the Gladiator's Arena.

"HM?"

Quickly glancing at the sound, they saw their masters true form that stretched to the fake sky of the 6th floor. The guardians watched with awe, fear and reverence. Everyone was shivering, some for different reasons than others, until the presence soon vanished once more.

"H-He's so handsome!" Shalltear broke the silence, fangirling and squirming.

"TO THINK THAT OUR MASTERS PRESENCE WAS THIS INCREDIBLE!" Cocytus revered and exhaled cold air.

"As expected of the strongest Supreme being!" Demiurge chimed in.

Hollow Knight took a step backwards and visibly shook as the orange light in his eyes dimmed in fear. Mantis Lords stood quiet, still entranced by what they saw, while Nosk simply hold a small smile in his disguise.

"Brother..." Hornet muttered.

Getting out of their trance, they took a knee and waited for their master. They watched as Aura and Mare returned from the Gladiator Arena and Albedo snapped at them for almost being late. After a quick explanation from the twins, the other guardians accepted their reasoning as they were assisting Knight-sama with his tests. Serving the Supreme Being takes higher priority than anything and they apologized to the twins for their hasty judgment. After a brief pause, the vessel of the hour has finally come and they waited in silence for him to speak.

"..."

Knight however was busy speaking with Sebas through the use of a [Message] spell.

"Sebas, Come to the City of Tears in the 6th floor and report what you saw outside."

"Understood, my lord."

While the guardians anxiously waited for the Supreme one to say something and order them, Knight simply stood there. While waiting for Sebas, he took the time to gather his thoughts.

So the [Nail of Ainz Ooal Gown] can delete anything from existence? Shit, it is too powerful, but also too risky to take it out. If something or someone out there is able to destroy the nail, the guild would be disbanded. Will I lose Nazarick if that happens? Would they turn on me if the nail is gone? No, no. I can't bring this out with me. I can probably create a powerful enough replica in the workshop at 9th floor.. Yeah, that sounds more plausible.

"..."

Wait a minute, If I am the Shade Lord..

He looked towards his brother and unconsciously started to drool a tar-like liquid that had black smoke coming out of it.

Do I need to call him my sister? Also, why does he look so tasty?

While Hollow Knight's body started trembling after seeing the look his brother had, Knight's thoughts were interrupted by Sebas's arrival and his discoveries.

"A village of humans?" He asked, surprising some of the guardians that didn't hear him speak before.

"Yes, my lord. Though the south is made entirely of flatland's, there is a small village towards our north, close to a forest. As you've instructed, I haven't interacted with any of them and utilized the Shadow Demons. We have deduced that the Village is called The Carne Village and it belongs to a Kingdom named Re-Estise. Also, the strongest entity including the forest out there was a level 30 beast with a snake-like tail, My lord."

That beast is probably not in the Village, unless this world has a different common sense. Which in either case means that the Village and forest are quite safe, unless something can avoid Sebas and CZ Delta's detection.

"Anything towards the east and west?"

"Nothing within 5 kilometers my lord."

"I see. Well, that confirms what has been on my mind for a while." he said, bringing the attention of everyone back to himself.

"We are in an entirely different world, and it doesn't seem like it's any of YGGDRASIL's nine realms either." he announced which was a huge shock to everyone.

"Hmm.. For now it is best we keep our cards close to our chest while collecting information. Albedo, Rise up the security of Nazarick to Maximum. Coordinate with Demiurge and improve the communication and response between each floor and keep Nazarick safe!"

"Yes, my lord!" Albedo replied.

"I want everyone to be wary, we don't know what will be thrown at us in this new world and we should always watch our backs."

"Yes, my lord!" echoed through the silent city.

"Also.." he mumbled quietly, he turned to Hollow Knight and Hornet.

Since we've built Nazarick on a hierarchy, I need to make it apparent where they stand. They're probably not my equals since they haven't got the Supreme Being role, but they are considered.. No, they are my brother and sister. Both of them are also Floor guardians, which is in a lower standing than Albedo. Hmm...

"Now that you have your orders, I have a question for all of you. Who am I to you, and what do you think of me? Starting with you, brother." he said.

Which the Hollow Knight grumbled unintelligibly, but Knight felt like he understood exactly what he meant.

"You are the strongest vessel of YGGDRASIL. You are my brother, my kin and my ruler. Even Radiance fears in your presence." he said, as his heart seemed to hurt a bit less while talking to his brother.

"Hm. Nosk?" he asked, which brought another grumble but one full of enthusiasm and joy.

"You are perfection incarnate my Lord, You own the perfect body I'll never be worthy to wear!"

Which seemed to fly above everyone's heads, except for the Insectoids which they nodded with skepticism and Cocytus shook his mandibles.

"I see.. Shalltear?"

"You are beauty incarnate my Lord! Especially after seeing your true form, I now understand who is meant to be my top!" she answered as she shivered with excitement.

Seeing my true form? Ah shit, so they saw me. Also, what does she mean by top- Oh...

"A-Ahem, I understand. Mantis Lords?"

Mantis Lords made hand gestures that seemed to revere Knight as some deity as they bowed with their horns touching the floor. Knight waited a bit to see if they would say something, completely forgetting that Mantis couldn't chirp or grumble.

Sure they could hiss or make other sounds, but that would be offensive towards the Supreme One and they decided it was best to communicate their thoughts through gestures. Though Knight didn't really understand other than face value of their gestures, he appreciated it nonetheless.

"Thank you, Cocytus?"

"THE STRONGEST WARRIOR AMONGST THE SUPREME BEINGS, EVEN SURPASSING MY OWN CREATOR WARRIOR TAKEMIKAZUCHI-SAMA! THE ONE LORD, TRULY FIT TO LEAD OUR ARMIES TO VICTORY!" He announced with enthusiasm.

"Aura, Mare, Sister?"

"A merciful leader with great foresight, my lord!"

"A-A very kind p-person, my lord."

"The perfect hollow vessel our father created, one that can hold even the Shade Lord itself." which brought some eyebrow raises towards her comment.

Though some guardians wanted to snap at her for such a comment to their lord, she was also his sister and they didn't want to get in the middle of them. It also stopped them in their tracks as they realized the happy and proud tone of his sister.

"Sister, you seem to misunderstand." which made Hornet look at him as if he had grown a second head.

"I am the Shade Lord. I am not the vessel." which brought gasps from all the guardians.

"I-Is that so?" she stuttered in shock.

She knew that her brother was inexplicably strong, above the norm of YGGDRASIL strong. But she didn't understand how the tiny vessel was able to contain or even control the Shade Lord to begin with. Her older brother was suffering enough with Radiance and Radiance was completely inferior to the Shade Lord. However with this revelation that she heard from his brother, it all made sense. Pale King, their father didn't just create the vessel and contain the Shade Lord in it. No, his father was able to create Shade Lord itself, and Shade Lord found itself a vessel in the form of what she mistakenly called as her brother.

Of course, only a Supreme Being can give birth to another Supreme Being, but Pale King didn't have a wife in YGGDRASIL, so it only made sense that he handcrafted the perfect vessel as he created herself and her older brother. But to think that he didn't craft the vessel of his little brother, but the Shade Lord itself was beyond incredible from her point of view. As expected of the one who ruled Ainz Ooal Gown, it made her feel in awe of his father and she longed to see him once more. She wanted his father to see how good his little brother was doing as the leader and showcase him the amount of Players she killed with traps in the 1500 player raid, defending their home.

She was reminded of a part of the conversation her little brother and her father had, after his brother failed to conquer a dungeon that one time. Her little brother seemed to sob and cry, which was strange to her as she didn't understand how a perfectly hollow vessel could show emotions. Which now it made perfect sense to her, because her brother wasn't the vessel she thought he once was.

"Son, you learn through mistakes. So long as you learn something from your mistakes and never repeat them, it is always a victory, no matter how small. Even though you didn't understand how to enable the [Phoenix Flame] and it costed us a dungeon run, as long as you do your best, that is good enough for me."

"T-Thanks, dad. I-I'll do my best! I l-love you!" he said between his sobs as they hugged eachother.

"I love you too, son."

"A-Are you not a-angry at me?"

"How could I be angry at you my little knight? Hehe, Come on buddy, the cooldown is almost over. Let's try this again, yeah?"

"Mm." he nodded.

Pale King was the father of the Knight. In his prime, he was known as the third strongest Player in all of YGGDRASIL, under his rule, Ainz Ooal Gown was the 8th strongest guild in all of YGGDRASIL. He ruled for over 7 years and achieved great heights never seen before. However after a certain day, which required her little brother and even a few members of Ainz Ooal Gown to leave YGGDRASIL, Pale King never returned. After the sudden disappearance of her father, her brother took the mantle and carried the banner of Ainz Ooal Gown.

At first, she was sad about her little brother's situation, their father has left them and he was put in a position to lead Ainz Ooal Gown. There was a lot at stake here and she was anxious about her brother failing to manage the guild and meeting the standards her father had established. But her brother pulled through with determination and perseverance. He pushed the guild into even greater heights that their father was able to manage.

Hollow Knight however, didn't take these news as well as her sister. His father was able to create a monster so powerful that could eat Radiance herself. Though he didn't understand how his father created the Shade Lord, he concluded it that it must have a connection to the Abyss. Perhaps he found a material to create him there and he came into existence? Would his little brother eat Radiance one day and free him of his torment?

But if he did, what of him then? His vessel moved thanks to Radiance. Without Radiance, would he be a useless servant? No.. that thought terrified him more than his current suffering as the light of Radiance burned through his heart and his regeneration kept it healed. To disappoint his Lord was the pinnacle of sin, his father would look down with disappointment and scorn from the heavens and Hollow Knight would kill himself rather than disobeying his lord's commands. He concluded that he would have to suck it up and hope that perhaps one day, he would be worthy enough to be rewarded the annulment of his pain.

Unbeknownst to both of them, it was written in their bio that Knight, Hollow Knight and Hornet were all brothers and sisters with Pale King as their father. Their bios didn't specify anything about the Shade Lord and this one change seemed to be the cause of their inner turmoil.

Satoru's father created these two to ease his son's loneliness. A strong looking brother and a loving sister. Since their hands were full affording Satoru's primary school education, his father and mother didn't have enough money to raise another child. One day, his father had the brilliant idea to create NPCs as Satoru's brother and sister, so that he would feel less lonely. Though data crystals and crafting materials of these NPCs were still pretty expensive, they were nothing compared to what the school demanded of them.

Satoru,was the only kid in the Guild as the sole exception of the rule thanks to his father. Most players would poke fun at him when his father wasn't around, and after his father reprimanded these guild members, his son would feel like he's not good enough and cry over every small mistake he made. After his father's passing from organ failure, Satoru swore to give his all and "live on" as his father begged him in his deathbed. He went on to becoming a salary man in real life and an incredibly talented player in YGGDRASIL, which impressed the other guild members and they believed he was good enough to be the next leader of Ainz Ooal Gown.

"Knight-sama." Albedo held her hand up with a twitch of her eyebrows and a soft smile, she was eager and anxious about something.

"Yes, Albedo."

"I do not wish to get in between siblings, but is it acceptable that they address you this way?"

"What do you mean Albedo?" He tilted his small head.

"They refer to you without honorifics Knight-sama, they may be your siblings but shouldn't they at least show you respect in a ceremonial setting?"

Which shook the both siblings back to reality. One grumbling, the other one profusely apologizing and both bowing their heads in sync.

"Haha, No. I'll allow them to address me as such even in ceremonial setting. My father created them to be my older brother and older sister. Though I am the ruler of The Great Tomb of Nazarick, I don't want my family to be so stiff around me." He said after a light chuckle.

Both siblings sighed out of relief and realized their brother was kinder than they initially thought.

"Back to what we were saying, Demiurge?"

"Your exalted self is the strongest of the Supreme Beings and have the means to bow any other being into your service where it rightfully belongs, my lord." Demiurge said with a polite smile and a bow.

"Albedo?"

"The one lord who stands above everything including us guardians, with strength none equal to. Also, the man who owns my heart!" She said seductively as she looked at her beloved with lustful eyes.

SHIT!

"A-Ahem. I see, I have heard of your opinions. Defend our home in my name. Failure is not an option. Remember, Ainz Ooal Gown knows no defeat!" He announced the guild's motto.

"Yes, my lord!" echoed the city.

Knight was about to leave back to his room but paused after seeing Albedo raise her hand again.

"Yes, Albedo?"

"With your permission, my lord. I humbly suggest we give our Oath of Loyalty to the Supreme One once more in this world!" she exclaimed which brought many smiles and approving nods.

"Permission granted."

After hearing their Oaths, Knight dismissed them and went back to his room in 9th floor. He sat down in his bed, looked at his vessel's small hands and started thinking about the future. He called for a homunculus maid and asked her to bring something light. He wanted to see if he could eat the food of Nazarick and if it still gave the buffs it did in-game. Even though it seemed like he didn't need sleep and didn't need to eat food, he still tried both as an experiment anyway.

After the maid returned with chocolate chip cookies, he grabbed one and realized that he didn't have a mouth. After a sigh he put the cookie to the only two openings in his body. It was interesting that he was able to eat the cookie through his eye sockets, which brought a gasp and a squeal from the maid standing him. She probably thought it was a scene both bizarre and cute at the same time.

Eating the cookie through his eye-hole, he didn't taste anything and it seemed like any food that went through, started to dissolve into black smoke. He thought about using his true form to eat but disregarded that thought immediately. Even his level 100 guardians were shaking in his presence, he thought that the level 1 homunculus maids of Nazarick would fall dead at the sight of him.

After eating the cookies, he felt swifter and stronger. Although there was no way to confirm if this was just a placebo effect or it actually worked, he saved some of the cookies and would try to eat them in his Shade Lord form when he had some alone time.

He then laid on his bed and tried sleeping, which kind of worked actually. However all he saw was darkness in his "dreams". He didn't see a vision or anything, his vision was completely black and though he felt like he was asleep, he swore he could move and control his vessel even though he was sleeping. It was as if he was sleep walking but had the control over his body.

"OOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

He suddenly woke up to a loud screech that shook the entire tomb.

"Looks like my brother is awake."

Nosk has been added to the character sheet and the character sheet itself has been updated to include small bits of knowledge about the characters.

Cocytus will talk without the dots from now on because of some technical issue that keeps deleting his dialogues whenever I try to save the chapter. Also, Please leave a review, I'm starting to think the "views" are all bots. Thanks.

Chapter Text

Hearing his older brother's screech, he immediately went to check the divination system of the tomb. Looking through the cameras in the first floor, He saw his hollow brother, two knight looking humans and two women in hiding. Before he could even [Message] his brother, he had already sliced through one of the knights and were pouring his insides onto the other.

"BROTHER, STOP!" he yelled urgently through [Message] spell.

"Little Brother? There's intruders in my floor! Please tell me you are in safety at the 9th floor!" Hollow Knight responded after killing the knights.

"I heard you brother but please, DO NOT attack those two!" he shouted through.

"Why, brother? They've intruded our home!"

"We are completely blind in this new world and they are a valuable information source! Also, judging by their equipment I wouldn't even call them a fly. Just don't hurt them and make sure they don't leave, I am coming to your floor."

His brother stopped and looked at the two remaining intruders with a watchful eye. They were trembling and the small one was crying while hiding her face in the bigger one's belly. Just as he was thinking of incapacitating them to make it easier and safer for his brother, Knight teleported beside him. The two small fries released a squeak and looked even more shocked at the appearance of his little brother.

"You two." Knight said in his deep voice.

"HIIEH! P-Please F-forgive u-us w-we-" the older one started stuttering like a woodpecker.

"Calm down, you two. You are not in any danger, so long as you provide us with some information." he responded but that didn't seem to calm the two at all. They were still shivering and kept glancing at his hollow brother. Knight simply sighed.

They need to calm down and they are not really in the right mind to calm down. Well, I don't really have any skills or spells to calm them down either, hmm... Oh wait, Ankoro Mochi Mochi-san had an NPC with healing and support abilities.. what was her name again? Oh, right! Pestonya Shortcake!

"Pestonya, I need you to come down here and calm these two." He used [Message] the contact the Head-maid of Nazarick.

"As you wish, my lord, wan." she responded inside his head.

After looking at the twins he noticed something odd. There were shadow demons in their shadows. Were they from the Village? If so, how come they came all the way inside the tomb without anyone reporting what happened?

Pestonya soon came in through a [Gate] that Aureole Omega opened for her. The sight shook the siblings and Knight could swear that one of them peed themselves from the smell that reached his eyes.

"I'm here my lord, wan." The twins let out a small shriek at the sight of the portal and trembled more as they saw the Dog-maid that could speak, coming out of it.

"Good, calm those two." He ordered.

"[Lion's Heart]." she casted with her hands glowing a strange orange light.

The twins suddenly felt their trembling come to a stop and their heartbeat turning to a calm rate. They were finally able to assess what was happening.

"It is done, my lord, wan." she dutifully said.

"Good job, Pestonya. Now you two, how did you get here?" He asked after visibly confirming that they seemed to relax.

Even after collecting themselves with Pestonya's help they seemed to stutter a little bit, they resisted fear thanks to the spell, but their unease didn't end there.

"O-Our Village was under attack. I..I saw this temple and I tried to hide here, I didn't want to enter your home unannounced! Please, forgive me!" She said and bowed, holding her little sister in her arms.

"I see, what is your name?" He asked with skepticism.

"Enri! Enri Emmot!" she replied hastily.

"And where did you come from, Enri Emmot?"

"I came from a village called Carne! I noticed this temple while I was running away from the knights that were attacking our village and I went inside to hide from them!"

"..."

"I understand, Shadow demon!" he called out to the shadows attached to her.

Two small shadows slowly climbed out of the siblings shadows and bowed to him. The sight shocked the siblings, but weirdly enough, it also seemed to bring life to their face. Knight asked the shadows how much of what she said was true and the shadows told him that all of it was true and the girl was completely honest.

"So you two, saw what was happening and didn't report this back to Sebas or me?" He said with a not-so-kind tone.

The small shadows started to tremble at his tone, their master was disappointed in them. After confirming that they indeed didn't do anything and were only ordered to watch the Village, Knight sighed. He can't just punish those under him who were dutifully following orders. The fault lied with Sebas- No, him. He didn't foresee the Village getting attacked and didn't order them to protect it. After assuring the shadow demons that they didn't do anything wrong, he turned to the siblings and told them to keep everything they see here a secret.

"Y-Yes, I will never tell a soul!" The older one replied.

"I-It is a s-secret!" the younger one said with a serious face ruined by her tears.

"Hm." He nodded.

"Hollow brother?" he tilted his head as he addressed the tall skinny Knight behind him.

"Yes, brother?" he responded with a grumble which put the siblings on edge.

"I have an important order for you. I need you to save the villagers in that Carne Village from these knights." He said as he pointed his small fingers to the corpse that was cut in half.

"Capture as much of them as you can. You can also use the other shadow demons in the village if you must. But try not to kill any of them. Coordinate with Aureole Omega and send them all in the Neuronist Painkill's Chamber to extract information."

"As you will it, brother." he said as he kneeled and bowed. He then stood up, left the temple and ran towards the Carne Village with incredible speed that one would mistake him for teleporting if it wasn't for the air trail he left behind.

Now that they were left alone with the Knight, Enri got anxious. The small Knight didn't look intimidating but he was the master to those monsters that were hiding in their shadows. Was this the Shade Lord? He didn't fit any of the descriptions in her world's history. You could even say he looked.. cute. He was a tiny bit smaller than her little sister Nemu. But those two hollow eyes unnerved her. There wasn't eight of them like the description in the holy books or the records, but when she inspected his eyes, she saw something horrifying for a single moment.

It was like a vision, she was in complete and utter darkness and saw enormous eight white eyes staring at her for a split second and it faded away like it never happened. She wasn't sure if this was the result of her hunger or that the small knight in front of her was indeed the Shade Lord.

The Knight looked at the siblings and saw how they hugged eachother with uncertainty in their eyes.

Sure, I just ordered my scary looking brother to save their village but they should at least be thankful right? Hmm.. Maybe I should show them a bit more goodwill?

"Well, I suppose I should treat you two as guests. My brother just went to save your village. While we wait for his return, I'll show you our hospitality."

The Siblings brightened up but Enri insisted that helping their Village was more than they could ask for. She can't simply stay at their house after entering it without their consent and profusely apologized for it.

"Nonsense, you were in a panic Enri. I can't blame you for this. Pestonya Dear, please escort them to a dorm in the 9th floor and assign them two homunculus maids."

"Yes my lord." She replied. Pestonya was truly happy and fluttering inside that her lord would show his kindness to even the unworthy beings outside The Great Tomb of Nazarick.

Knight looked at his guests once more. Both siblings had messy hair, they were smelly and it seemed like they haven't eaten their fill for a long time. They truly looked awful, the smaller one reminded him of those children he would see dead in the alleys. He thought that perhaps he could make a difference here and save this world from the terrible fate his own world suffered from.

"Tell those two assigned maids to give them a bath and tell the Head-chef Shihoutu Tokitu to cook up something up for them. Also, Pestonya?"

"Hm?"

"You forgot to woof."

"Ah! I'm sorry my lord, wan!"

Hahaha! I bet Ankoro Mochi Mochi-san would give her all to be here! He chuckled on the inside and would barely be able to keep a straight face if it wasn't for the lack of expression on his vessel.

Well, now that the big hurdle is out of the way, I can ask Nigredo to scout around and we can finally work on hiding the tomb instead. The guardians were all on edge after my brother's screech, they deserve a bit of a break.

After watching the siblings go inside the [Gate] with Pestonya, Knight decided to take a look outside and called for Demiurge in case he needed assistance. He told him to keep his tail and ears hidden. Although Demiurge had the idea of disguising himself using a doppelganger ring, Knight told him that he didn't want to waste two of his ring slots with simple disguises and told him to simply wear something to hide those features. After a few minutes, another [Gate] opened and a demon wearing a orange hoodie with a large back came to greet him and kneeled in front of him. Though his hidden tail made his back look a bit weird, Knight figured it would be believable if he simply told them that Demiurge had a condition with his bones.

"When we get to the village, you'll use an alias instead of your name."

"Understood. What should I call you then, my lord?"

"You can call me whatever, I'm planning to change my name after this anyway." He said and the demon shot him a weird look.

"Erm.." he shivered inside nervously.

"A-Ahem, after noticing my sisters misunderstanding, I should make it clearer who I am, don't you think?"

"..."

"Ah, I understand! As expected of Knight-sama! You are truly the only one fit to lead Nazarick!" he said enthusiastically as an understanding dawned on him.

Hm? Understand what? Is he making fun of me for not coming up with a better excuse? He thought and mentally sighed.

While they were walking leisurely towards the village his Hollow brother went to, Knight looked at the Demon and tried remembering more things about his personality. After seeing the state Albedo was in, it was unquestionable that NPC's were following the lore in their bio's and he would sooner break his mask than make the mistake of having someone like Albedo follow him where there's people around and embarrass him in the middle of everyone.

Demiurge.. Ulbert Alain Odle, The Demon of Great Disaster's creation. He was created as 'The Perfect Demon Lord'. Incredibly smart, cunning and cruel. Ulbert was angry at their unfair world where the rich could do whatever they wanted and poor would suffer what they must. He wanted justice as much as Touch-me did but had a vastly different sense of justice than him. Unlike Touch-me who only wanted the criminals punished with equal amount of punishment to their crime, Ulbert wanted those assholes to suffer. Not tucked up in a jail where they live the rest of their lives, eating from their taxes and definitely not hanging, no. He didn't want their suffering to end.

He created Demiurge with this vision that those deserving of the death sentence, would be granted a hundred times, tortured viciously and exploited upon until the end of their sentence. The offenders of the Tomb would pay their toll in exp, equipment, divine relics and sometimes even World Items until they were forcefully respawned over and over again until they were down to level 1 and thrown out of the tomb like a garbage bag. Him and the rest of Ainz Ooal Gown kept rich losers out of the game by constantly staying on top, stealing from the rich and adorning themselves with their wealth.

Some spoiled rich brat even tried to find and attack Ulbert in real life, but didn't know that Ulbert was a part of the city's underground as a twisted vigilante. Him and his buddies, ambushed and killed the rich kid along with his guards in cold blood and was never found. By constantly changing the chip ingrained in his spine with a new one and re-entering YGGDRASIL with a new ID, he was untraceable. Soon enough the police would catch 'Ulbert' and he would go 'missing' in his jail cell. The police obviously killed that random unfortunate guy and reported that he was missing to the media. They even put up arrest warrants for the guy, which they themselves knew that nobody would find and they were finally done with Ulbert. Unbeknownst to them, the real Ulbert was still in game and spending time with his friends on an alternate account that had the Demon avatar.

"...eg of you! Please don't kill us!" Knight heard someone say in a desperate tone as they got closer to the village.

He saw his brother with blood dripping at the tip of his nail. There were dozens of soldiers harmed and some were missing a limb or two. Their limbs were tightly closed with their shirts to stop the blood loss. They were all incapacitated and a few shadow demons were tying them up with ropes.

Quick work... He thought.

As he got closer to the village, a villager, after seeing the small silhouette of a child and an average looking man, yelled at them, warning them to leave, that there were monsters. The 'child' simply ignored the scared villager and asked who was their chief. There was some confusion after his voice was revealed and a second look at the newcomers proved that they were not human. Though they weren't scared of the small knight, it made them question who the person with an orange immaculate suit next to him was. His figure was that of a human, but he was also hiding his head with a hood and it was hard to see his face.

After the Village Chief came and revealed himself, the knight looked at his hollow brother.

"Stay here and guard the village." He said, receiving a grumble, which a few of the villagers thought was the end of the small knight, but weirdly enough, the monster complied and waited outside the village.

"Village Chief, I'll be blunt. Reason for my visit, relates to someone from your village intruding on my home."

"I-I apologi-"

"No need. They entered in panic, while they were running away from these knights." He said as he pointed to them with his tiny hand.

"Therefore I will be taking these knights back with me and interrogate them, hope you don't mind?"

"NNGH- WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE SHORTY!" a knight shouted through his pain.

"YEAH YEAH! YOU THINK YOU'RE SOME HOTSHOT? COME HERE AND I'LL BASH YER TINY HEAD IN!"

A few injured knights spat insults and others joined them in their taunt. The monsters were away and they hoped to intimidate these poor villagers and run away after threatening them to get rid of the ropes. Demiurge however, was having none of it and used his command mantra.

"[YOU WILL PAY RESPECT TO SHADE LORD-SAMA AND KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! YOU WILL NOT SPEAK UNTIL YOU ARE GIVEN PERMISSION!]" he angrily shouted.

Hearing his name, some villagers fainted and some kneeled in reverence, while the knights couldn't speak and were shivering in their place.

That's what he understood!? You stupid demon! Ugh... Wait, maybe it is a good thing? He is supposed to be really intelligent after all. Ah fuck it, roll with it, I guess.

"Rise." He commanded to the villagers still bowing with their heads.

A few villagers reluctantly rose and looked at him with pleading eyes. If one could read someone's eyes their eyes were screaming at him to save them.

"..."

"I already have two of your kind, Enri Emmot and her little sister as a guest in my home. They were running away from these knights and were saved by my brother. Worry not, I'm not going to waste his efforts." he announced.

Most villagers visibly relaxed and a few villagers smiled in happiness, they probably knew Enri personally and were happy that they were still alive.

"Though I can't do much for the lives lost, allow me to fix your village back up. I shall send golems as workers to help you rebuild what was lost." he announced, to which the Village Chief raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"Shade Lord-sama, I beg of you! Please accept us into your glorious kingdom!" He shouted which brought a shock only from a few villagers and Knight himself.

"..."

WHAT KINGDOM!?

"..."

"Why do you wish to join my kingdom?" he asked calmly after collecting his thoughts.

"Oh great Shade Lord-sama, the one who stands above all existence! Our kingdom is filled to the brim with corrupt nobles who abuse us. We are expected to pay unimaginable taxes and each year it got worse and worse. They've even taken a child from us in chains just last year, simply for saving a bit more food inside her house." He exclaimed as he bowed.

Demiurge's tail was swishing inside his clothes in joy. These lower life forms are intelligent enough to understand his lord's greatness and their superiors were abusing them to a fault. He immediately got an idea on what to do with those superiors, if Shade Lord-sama allowed it of course, he would build a farm. A nice, big.. Happy Farm, full of adorable animals who would supply his lord and Nazarick with endless supply of spell scrolls. Though he would need to experiment on the crafted scrolls, he was very excited at the prospect of getting at worst, unlimited [Message] scrolls.

Information was the most critical weapon in his arsenal, how powerful would Nazarick be if even the lowliest of the low of his summons could use [Message] to give information to them? And how incredible would it be if they could mass produce a high tier scroll? The sight of Pleiades Maids using Tier 10 spells flashed before his eyes and he couldn't help but let out a small giggle. The Future was bright and Demiurge would give his all for his lord and bring that beautiful dream into reality.

Why is he giggling? You think this is funny?! Why do these people see me as some sort of god!?

"So you expect me to save you?" He asked.

His insensitive way of questioning got a few gasps as a response as the villagers bowed deeper and was about to apologize.

"Fine. I'll save you. I'll save all of you. However it is not for free. The price is information." He said, causing the villagers to tilt their head in confusion.

Quick, Make up a bullshit story!

"I've been... asleep for a long time. The world has changed since then. I need to know everything you can tell me of the current era."

"Ah! Of course, my lord! I'll do my best!" The Village Chief said, after an understanding dawned up on him.

Just as they were about get into detail, his brother came back. Sight of the insectoid covered in blood and orange colored juice was horrible to witness, some Villagers even tried to hide behind Knight to avoid the wrath of the monster.

"Do not worry, that's my hollow brother. He is the one who saved Enri and her little sister, he won't harm you."

The villagers faces regained color and they apologized for their quick judgment. The Insectoid simply let out a grumble which Knight translated for him. Coming to the conclusion that the brother of the Shade Lord was sentient, most let out a sigh they have been holding in. His brother grumbled again, warning him about soldiers approaching. Knight translated his grumble and then reassured them he would be here and protect them. The villagers were thankful and the Village Chief joined Knight as they got ready to confront the newcomers.

Since Ainz Ooal Gown was the #1 guild in the world, heteromorphs were not hated as much as in the original. Some were even admired and copied after witnessing the best player, The Knight. Therefore not everyone in the tomb hates humans.

The False Knight has been added to the Character Sheet.

Chapter Text

The whole interaction with the small knight and that monster bewildered the siblings.

They saw the same ominous looking dark oval disk once more and the Dog-maid told them to follow her through, they were scared a bit and looked back at Knight. After seeing a small reassuring nod, they followed her, albeit reluctantly. After getting out of that darkness, they were met with two beautiful and elegant maids. The two introduced themselves as Foire and Sixth.

The maids took them to a bathhouse which they were absolutely in awe of. Their host was rich beyond measure if the bathhouse was anything to go by. Lion statues and human carvings around the stones were so realistic, it wouldn't surprise them if they were alive. Gold covered mirrors, marble floor and beautiful lights that shined the top of water. Enri has never taken a bath in such a place. She, as a village girl, was used to pouring wooden buckets of coal heated water to clean herself. To her, this place felt like an entirely different world.

She asked them about the swimming pool which the maids giggled and explained that it was the tub she was supposed to get in after cleaning herself. It was such a foreign concept to her but everything looked expensive and their host were willing to put two maids of such caliber as their caretaker that she felt like she should let them take the lead. Sixth and Foire went on to explain them the rules of the bath and how they must be followed or else it would bring a punishment, which seemed even more out of this world to Enri. A punishment for taking bath in a wrong way? What was the punishment? Why was there a punishment in the first place? Though she questioned, she also complied and went onto clean herself and her little sister.

The maids assisted them cleaning up and Enri noticed how smooth and clean her hair was after washing it just once with what the maids called a "shampoo". The maids also helped them with skincare, both getting ticklish to the slimy substance. Before they even entered the bath, their skin was glistening and smooth, their hair shiny and bright. She wondered if nobles felt like this everyday and her heart ached at the unfairness. After getting in the water, she felt her whole body relax. It was as if all the soreness from working in the fields were slowly being washed away. She felt like all the stress collected over the years were leaving her body. She felt even younger somehow.

Nemu was no better, after asking for permission from the maids, she started swimming around or well, acted like she was swimming. Her feet were still touching the floor, but she was moving her arms around to impress her sister and the maids which the latter clapped in celebration with a smile. She was so happy watching her have fun that she even forgot her parents for a while. However now was not the time to mourn them, their host probably offered this to ease their pain, how considerate of them. She would mourn her parents after leaving and giving her thanks properly.

While leaving the bathhouse, feeling more refreshed than ever, Enri and Nemu met a large man in a ridiculously luxurious armor. The black metal plate had golden lining around it and he had a red cape that fluttered behind him. It seemed like he was about to enter the bath. The man looked her way for a few seconds and scoffed in disgust. She asked the maids about who it was but they simply shrugged, refusing to answer. They did however tell her that he was "always like that". It made Enri wonder what other type of people she would meet. She got anxious, was her presence a problem? Did that man think that she was the one who invaded his home? He wouldn't be wrong, they did enter the temple after all.

She looked down and saw how Nemu huffed at the mister who scoffed at them and chuckled at her little sisters antics. That's right, they should cheer up. They wouldn't have been invited if their leader was angry at them. He was their leader right? Enri wasn't making a mistake, right!?

After having a war with the maids about the new clothes she and her little sister were gifted, the two reluctantly accepted the beautiful red dresses they were given. Both of the dresses had expensive looking glistening gems and even though Enri thought that it was too big for her, the clothes seemed to shrink down to fit her to a T. After reluctantly wearing the beautiful red dress, Enri couldn't believe that she was looking at herself in the mirror. After informing Enri that they will have their nightwear delivered to their dorm, the maids lead the siblings to the cafeteria.

While approaching the cafeteria as they call it, she was met with a mouth watering smell. After the cafeteria door opened, she saw a most bizarre sight. A lot of maids, as beautiful as the ones escorting them were sitting alongside abominations and monsters that could only be described as demonic while chatting with them as if they were close friends. Though, her eyes where more drawn to what was on the corner of the dining room.

There was a table with gorgeous maids wearing armor and weird trinkets. They were surrounded by most of the maids and some were even asking autographs from them. After noticing the human outside, most diners stopped what they were doing and started staring at the guest. Enri took notice of their stares and gave an anxious smile. Did they do something wrong? Is there a punishment here similar to the bath and the Sixth simply forgot to warn her about it?

The pregnant pause and silence was suffocating, only to be broken by a very angry individual yelling his lungs out in the kitchen.

"WE HAVE A VIP TABLE TONIGHT, YEAH? IT'S KNIGHT-SAMA'S GUEST! YOU BRING ME SHIT LIKE THAT, TAKE YOUR JACKET AND FUCK OFF!" his voice boomed through the dining room.

"Eh?-" Enri let out a squel.

While the professional smile of the maids slowly broke down to a scowl, Nemu had a finger on her chin and was trying to understand what "vee-eye-pee" and "fuck off" meant.

"You, come here you. Yeah, look at him! yeah? Smart, immaculate, and a blue fucking plaster, SHIT! Fuck off and go get some more white plasters, NOW!" He yelled at one of the waiters.

"Y-Yes, Chef." the demon waiter, wearing a blue plaster in his hand, sheepishly replied.

"Never seen such a fucked up dinner service in all my fucking life." The giant Orc complained.

"Two Halibut? Yes?" He confirmed the order with his staff.

"I know they are the idols of Nazarick but.." He was about to complain and grumble but then he noticed something truly unforgivable. This should never happen in a kitchen with as high standards as The Tomb of Nazarick.

"HEY, CLAVU!" he shouted at the Sous Chef.

The Sous Chef rushed over to his side and stared at where he pointed his giant finger.

"As a professional Sous Chef, yeah? Crafted by the Supreme Being Blue Planet-sama himself Clavu, THERE'S NO FRESH SALAD ON THE PLATE! I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY! HEY YOUNG MAN!-" he was about to tear the mushroom head a new one until Maître d. came in and told him that the VIP guest arrived and they could hear him yelling. The Giant Orc looked out of the kitchen and saw the orange haired human and her sibling. She gave them a smile but it was obvious she was disturbed. He turned back to Maître d. and lowered his tone.

"Why you- Why didn't you tell me this sooner!?" He exclaimed while Sous Chef prepared new, fresh salad.

"You, get on garnish. Clavu, after you're done with the salad, yeah? Get on the meat and watch over that fucking idiot will you? Because If I get another medium-well when it's asked for medium, I'm gonna lash out, do you understand?" the hulking giant said to the kitchen staff.

"Yes, Chef. Hakurou how long on that two Halibut?-" The chefs continued to communicate as they worked on the dinner service.

While Enri and Nemu sat down to the seats offered by Foire, a few demons in waiter suits elegantly served them water and then gave them the menu.

Looking at the Menu, Enri couldn't read anything, so she simply asked the maids and their recommendations. When the maids explained how some of the dishes were cooked, she was in awe with how complicated it all sounded. She felt gratitude and pity for all those that she could hear getting yelled at in the kitchen. She ordered something called Lobster Risotto as appetizer, Beef wellington as entrée and Bread pudding as desert. Nemu didn't understand the complicated stuff and wanted the same thing as her older sister.

Back in the kitchen, Shihoutu Tokitu, the Head-chef of the Great Tomb of Nazarick was about to lose his mind. It was a dinner service not only featuring the Pleiades battle maids, the Idols of homunculus maids, but also a VIP guest sent by none other than Knight-sama himself. Although most of the chefs were demons, even they started to feel the heat, as the order of VIP Table finally reached their way.

"Fire two Lobster Risotto, VIP table, how long?"

"About 5 minutes, chef."

"FIVE FUCKING MINUTES?! WE'RE NOT COOKING WITH STEEL PAN LIKE CAVEMEN YOU DONKEY, I WANT LOBSTER RISOTTO FUCKING 2 MINUTES!" He yelled at the nervous demon.

"Hey you, come here you." he called him. The demon was comparably smaller than him and it looked like a mountain was yelling at an ant.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I-I'm nervous chef, I've n-never cooked a VIP t-table before."

"If you're this nervous cooking for a guest, what the fuck are you gonna do when Knight-sama himself asks for you to cook, you fucking donkey?" He questioned and stared at the demon in his infernal eyes.

"You're gonna fail him?" He asked in an accusatory tone.

"No, Chef!" He quickly replied, terrified at the thought of disappointing their master.

"You're gonna fail him aren't you? You're gonna fuck up his risotto?" Head-chef Orc pressured him.

"No, Chef! I won't!"

"You cook that risotto in 2 minutes or I'll grab you by the fucking scruff of the neck and throw you outside the tomb, do you understand?" He threatened him.

"Yes Chef!" He shouted as the infernal fire in his eyes burned brighter.

"Look at the tables out there, LOOK AT THOSE TICKETS." He pointed at 14 different tickets in the pass.

"Yes, Chef."

"MOVE YOUR ASS!" He shouted with his nose-ring flailing from the hot air coming out of his nose.

"YES CHEF!" Demon yelled back with renewed determination as he put an enchanted golden pan in the stove.

After hearing a bit of the heat coming from the kitchen, Enri and Nemu sat nervously in their seats as they waited for their food. Though she wanted to ask a few questions of her own about this place, she found herself getting her food much faster than she anticipated. The smell of the risotto was amazing and it took her everything to keep herself from drooling at the sight. She looked at the maids as if asking for permission and they both nodded, they were approving how the meal was cooked but Enri saw this as a sign to eat and took a spoonful. Before she even tasted the risotto she heard her little sister squirm in delight. She took the spoon to her mouth and soon tears flowed.

In her 16 years of Village life, she has never eaten anything like this. The Kingdom demanded more and more taxes in the form of food from them and they starved on certain days. Now, she was eating something truly out of this world and she was overwhelmed with emotions.

Anger and Hatred towards the Kingdom that never sated, sadness and pity for her Village that stood torn, happiness and gratitude for his host that opened his door. All of those emotions overwhelmed her as she kept eating her fill.

The next dish soon arrived after she was finished with her risotto. If she had any doubts about her savior, she swallowed them along with the Beef Wellington. It was cooked to perfection and weirdly, she felt as if she was stronger. If someone were to tell her to cut down a tree, she would be able to do so with her bare hands. Then came the desert, ah the desert. The sweet taste reminded her of all the good memories in her life. Meeting Nferia her enthusiastic alchemist friend, that one harvest where they were allowed to keep more and ate their fill, Their aunt's wedding, Nemu's birth.. it all flowed down like water, refreshing her mind of all the good times she was fortunate to see.

After having a delicious dinner in the cafeteria, Enri and Nemu were lead to a dorm where they would spend their night. The dorm was luxurious like everywhere else as expected and the room was bigger on the inside which made Nemu come in and out of the room multiple times trying to understand just how the room was so big on the inside and very small like a cabinet on the outside. The maids giggled at the adorable sight of her running around and told the siblings that Knight would check in on them later and ask his questions.

After such a day it would be an underestimation to say that they were satisfied. They both sat on the fluffy bed and Nemu giggled and jumped around on it like a trampoline. After both finally got into bed, Nemu quickly fell asleep and Enri started to recall what happened today.

Today had a horrific start but also an incredible end. Though she couldn't simply forget about her parents and the village, she felt safer here. Her mind was racing, but calm. Tomorrow she would give her thanks to her host and mourn the loss of their parents. But not right now.

Now, she needed a good night's sleep and nothing would disturb her.

Chapter Text

"What if this entire thing is a trap, Gazef?" his vice-captain asked him on horseback.

"Even if it is, it is our duty to protect the citizens of this kingdom. I will not stop until we make sure all of our citizens are safe." he replied with a serious face.

"That noble, he told you that this would be an easy mission and you didn't need the kingdom's artifacts. Looking at all the villages we saw before, I have a bad feeling, Captain." he responded.

"Warrior Captain!" someone shouted far away.

Gazef, The Warrior Captain of Re-Estise Kingdom, spotted two of his scouts return from one of the villages that they were marching towards. The scouts that had the order to watch the village both looked horrified.

"Captain! There were imperial soldiers attacking the villagers, then monsters appeared and started to incapacitate all of them!"

Monsters? We haven't noticed anything like that in the other villages...

"Are you sure it was Imperial soldiers?"

"Yes sir, they were wearing their iconic armor! The same one they use in the annual war!"

We have to get to that poor village as fast as possible!

"We march!" He yelled to his soldiers.

His platoon shouted "Yes sir!" altogether and they started riding towards the Village as fast as their horses allowed them.

"Do we have an idea on the current situation?" Gazef asked the scout that was riding next to him.

"Yes, there were more monsters than soldiers down there. The soldiers were getting captured left and right, and I also saw one monster different from the others, it could be a leader of some sorts!"

"Alright. GET READY! WE'RE ALMOST THERE!" he shouted at his platoon and got the same energy back.

Now that he was in front of the village, things were vastly different than the expected outcome. He shot a look at his scout and saw him equally surprised as him. There were no soldiers and only a single villager. A villager, a monster, a man wearing a hood and a small knight with an equally small sword hanging on his back. Though what he saw surprised him, it didn't look like the other party was surprised at all. In fact, it looked like they expected him and his platoon and they were just about to greet them.

After seeing that the villager and the hooded person was safe and sound, he thought that at least they could communicate with these beings.

"Greetings, I am the Warrior Captain of the Re-Estise Kingdom!" He introduced himself with pride.

"Hello." replied the small knight, his sound made Gazef internally shiver.

"I am the Shade Lord. Nice to meet you." it introduced itself and gave a small bow.

Gazef hardened his gaze. Sure, this being was suspicious and his voice alone was enough to give him goosebumps. But it spoke way bigger words than it's figure. Claiming to be the Shade Lord was basically announcing to the world that he was the Primordial Shade, God of the Gods.

Sure, Shade Lord was prophesied to return with a vessel. But this small knight being the vessel? It was laughable, a being capable of destroying their entire world, their everything, inside this small being that was tinier than the average 10 year old. Also, the fact that many claimed to be the vessel before and it always turned out to be a fake. He looked at the villager and saw his small smile, he truly believed that the small knight in front of him was indeed the Shade Lord.

Did this being lied and made the villagers believe he was the Shade Lord somehow? They were simple villagers after all, they could believe such simple lies. Although he was a commoner as well, he was tutored in the Re-Estise Palace because of his Warrior Captain status and has met lots of educated people. He felt confident in discerning a lie from the truth and he judged that the small knight in front of him was lying.

"You speak big words, small knight. I'm not inclined to believe every person I meet to be the Shade Lord."

The small knight tilted his head as if Gazef has grown a second head.

"And why would I lie to you?" he asked innocently.

"..."

"Many people lied about being the Shade Lord's vessel before. I believe you are very likely to be the same."

"..."

Demiurge was chuckling inside his own mind, thinking how stupid this human was. It was understandable that the Captain was skeptical about his lord, but to outright think he is lying about being the Shade Lord? How stupid someone must be to lie about being the Shade Lord-sama's vessel?

A small noble in the Re-Estise Kingdom sneezed, he wondered how his magnificent self could ever get sick.

The Knight simply waited and stared up at the Warrior Captain. Then for a split second, Gazef noticed the small knight's body move very slightly and his hand glowed purple. The glow was so faint he barely registered anything.

So I can use the [Dream Nail] while I have [Time Stop] active. Hmm, so that's the kind of person you are, Gazef 'Stronoff'...

After that pause between them, the small knight complied.

"Fine, have it your way then." He said and silent casted [Shade Lord].

The small knight fell on the floor like a puppet without it's strings and black smoke started to pour out of his eye sockets. The Smoke grew and grew larger until it reached the height of the hill Gazef and his platoon rode horseback from. Eight giant white eyes slowly opened and stared down at them. Some took on defensive position out of instinct, a few fainted but most were staring with their mouths agape, completely in awe and terror. The monster took a step back in terror, while the village chief was happily crying in complete awe, his hands clasped, offering a prayer. While the man in the hood simply flashed a sly smile.

"DO YOU BELIEVE ME, NOW?" the enormous being said which echoed through the air.

"Yes! My lord!" The village chief couldn't hold himself between his tears.

The man in the hood let out a small chuckle to the villager's reaction.

Finally, a lesser being giving the appropriate reaction to the Supreme Being! You'll get the first stock of [Message] scrolls after Knight-sama's batch is done! he thought to himself.

Warrior Captain took a few more seconds to shook off his surprise and nodded. He didn't dare speak with the God of Gods staring down at him.

Taking his nod as an answer, he dispelled the [Shade Lord] and returned back to his vessel. It felt so nice to move around in his own body for a while, but he also didn't want to cause a big mess. He mentally noted that he could use the 10th floor of Nazarick, "The Abyss" as he named it, to fly around in his new body, perhaps he could even drink the pure black ocean water there.

After returning to his vessel, he and the Warrior Captain went into one of the houses and had a long talk. Shade Lord spoke about how this place was added to his new empire. The Village Chief explained that he plead to the Shade Lord and begged him to have this village be a part of his new Kingdom. He mentioned how badly they were treated and how they were left starving as the Re-Estise Kingdom trained more soldiers for the annual war.

Warrior Captain wanted to say no, he wanted to say that these people belonged to the Kingdom, that they were their citizens. But he could not argue, he didn't have power to deny Shade Lord's will but more importantly, he failed to protect this village. He could see the betrayed look on the Village chief's eyes. Villagers, they rightfully didn't want to be a part of the Kingdom, even he, A Warrior Captain that had nothing to do with politics were able to see the state of their Kingdom, corrupt to the bone, perhaps even beyond saving.

He thought that perhaps it was the best decision for these people to be citizens of Shade Lord's Kingdom. However if he were to simply take these people into his new Kingdom, their King Emposa III. would be at an even worse spot in their Kingdom. Not only that but this failure in protecting these villages would give extra ammunition to the nobles and allow them to take more control of the kingdom as their King sunk deeper. He was contemplating on what to say but Shade Lord had cut him to the chase.

"Gazef. I want you to give me some time while I learn of the current Era." he said.

A small shining hope appeared in his usually stern eyes, though he didn't like the thought, perhaps he could save some face for his King with these villagers alive.

"Though I won't make them my citizens right away, that doesn't mean I won't take them back with me."

Even though I said that, how will I know which of these villagers belong to us now? I can have the Mask maker make masks for them, but then it can just be stolen. Hmm... Ah!

[Pale King's Throne] was a world item his father won through a competition in the nine realms and it had the ability to convert creatures in "subdued" state. His father was so excited to show his son the Devourer of the Nine Realms but couldn't due to how the dungeon was inaccessible below a certain level. He can't blame his son though, he has been grinding for days and studying his alphabet at the same time. Satoru was a hardworking kid, but he still wanted to show him the world enemy they took on every week and then he got a brilliant idea.

Instead of killing the dragon and getting it's loot like he used to do every week, he had subdued him and brought him under control with the [Pale King's Throne]. The Replica of Devourer of the Nine Realms had became a guardian on the 8th floor from that day on and he showed it to his son as soon as he logged on. He even took off his VR Headset just to see his son's excited smile and it was truly worth it.

His father would go on to use this same dragon to raid Trinity's guild base and as a result, he took lots of guild items from their treasury and even got the replica dragon and any further subdued World Enemy nerfed, due to the complaints of a World Enemy raiding a guild base. It was such a funny and obvious oversight that the devs got backlash for over a whole year even after it became impossible for the new World Enemies to be subdued.

The World item in question would apply 'Mark of the King' to the subdued enemy, a white icon that looks like the Pale King's Crown, and convert them to a friendly unit. Any monster or NPC that had this mark, couldn't physically attack the owner of [The Pale King's Throne] and listened to their every demand just like the guild NPCs.

I should test that here first. Since they see me as some sort of god, my roleplay skills will be tested, here we go...

"I will mark all of their soul and bring them back here. They shall not be hurt by anyone." he replied as he looked at the worn down villagers.

"I shall also invite them to my realm. They look terrible and it is inexcusable for a king to have his subjects uncared for."

That felt like a sharp dagger stabbed into Gazef's heart. His king Ramposa III. cared about his subjects, but it was obvious that he couldn't look after them if the state of this village was anything to go by. Before he could say anything, the "monster" whom he now knew as the Shade Lord's brother, entered and bowed before his lord. He grumbled a few things which Gazef didn't understand.

"Brother, there's another group of people approaching here. Nigredo also told me that these soldiers look different from the ones before."

What the hell is wrong with this village and why does everyone want it!? I get it it's close to the border, but fuck!

"I understand, brother." he said as he turned to Gazef.

"Warrior Captain, this village must be so important that multiple different groups want a piece of it..." he said sarcastically, his question met with silence and a stern look.

"They must really hate you, huh." he said as he crossed his arms.

Gazef sighed and explained his circumstances. How the royalty was in power regression and how he was sent here without his primary equipment. He deduced that this might've been an attempt to get rid of him by the nobles who hated his King. To perhaps lower his political power even more and maybe usurp him given the opportunity. The Knight simply looked at him in his eyes for a while.

According to what the [Dream Nail] revealed, he is not lying and clearly wants my help. Do I really want to help though? I don't want to risk a fight without getting my bearings first. He thought as he looked down and stared at the floor, deep in contemplation.

Let's see, Gazef looks no less than level 30 and his troops are pathetic on the power scale. There's the option of confronting the enemy, which I don't want to risk yet. There's the option to kill them off which might not be necessary. And there's the option to invite them to Nazarick.. But that's too risky. I can't let the information about us, out.

Since I can just mark these villagers they will listen to me and keep everything they see a secret, but Gazef and the others will not want to be marked and it is not guaranteed that they will keep it a secret. Judging by his character, he also might think reporting everything to the king is the right thing to do. What a prideful fool.

He looked back at the Warrior Captain and saw his pleading eyes.

Shade Lord sighed.

I hope I'm not making a mistake by trusting his honesty, more than his senseless pride.

"I can shelter you and your soldiers." he said.

Gazef's face gained extra color and his eyes sparkled with life.

"Thank Y-"

"However! You are not to speak of anything you see when you enter my realm. Not to your citizens, not to the King, absolutely nobody... Can you promise me that?"

That stopped Gazef in his tracks. As the Warrior Captain, it was his duty to protect and work for the king with all of his being. It was unthinkable for him to keep a secret from the King!

But, the situation was also grim. If he wasn't saved here by the knight in front of him, he would most likely die and leave his king, his friend, completely alone. Standing between two different roads, he sat down and pondered, after a bit of time he came to a decision.

He would keep a secret from his friend in order to keep him company. He hoped that he would redeem himself in the future for his incompetence and ask the Shade Lord to share this secret then. He looked straight into his hollow eyes and with a sharp gaze, he replied with determination.

"Yes. I promise that whatever I see in your realm shall be kept between you and me, Shade Lord!"

"Good. Brother, we are leaving this village. Shadow Demons, call every villager to the center of the village."

"It may be presumptuous of me to ask, Shade Lord. But how are we going to leave?"

"Teleportation, obviously." which brought a gasp from him.

Is teleportation not common in this world? If so, perhaps we can abuse [Dimensional Lock] on the rare people that do have it. He mentally noted.

"What about the horses?" He got out of his shock.

"They'll be sent to a different place in my realm, but they will stay safe. You have my word."

After everyone gathered at the center of the Village, Knight asked Aureole Omega through a [Message] to open a [Gate] to his location. Although most villagers were reluctant to leave the corpse of their loved ones, Knight ensured that they would be watched over and had to stay where they were for the incoming party to not get suspicious. After the opening of the gate and a bit of shock from the villagers and soldiers, it took a few minutes for them to leave the village.

The place they entered after teleporting through the gate, was the guest hall of Nazarick. A giant Pub where guild members would bring in new recruits who applied to be a member in the guild. Because of how popular and successful Ainz Ooal Gown, the best guild in YGGDRASIL was, there were monthly waves of players who would wish to join, only for the majority of them to be rejected.

The demand on joining their guild was so popular in fact, that the devs had created a private part in their guild base, one that they cannot go in during a raid, as a pvp-free area. It was on the 9th floor and had a developer rigged door, that allowed only the guild members and local NPCs to enter and exit. They couldn't just allow players who acted like they wished to join and raid their base after the door opened.

It truly was an enormous room, one that could house over a few hundred people with big chandeliers lighting it up. There were portraits of him and his guild-mates placed around. The portraits were depicting the time when they were fighting the Devourer of the Nine Realms, a black dragon that was at least twenty times bigger than the giant Nephilim, Takemikazuchi. There were tables and chairs made with delicate and marvelous designs depicting various different mythological creatures. Most, if not all of them were plated in gold, and they looked truly breathtaking. The Villagers were gasping in wonder and awe, bickering with eachother. While the Knight had entered the Gate first and were waiting on top of a high table with a few maids around him. He looked around and saw the gate closing behind the villagers after his brother entered.

Looks like that's everybody.

"Fith." his voice silenced everyone in the room.

"Yes, my lord!" the maid enthusiastically replied.

"Have those who wish to join me follow you to the throne room, I will give them the king's mark and they will be my citizens from this day forward."

His announcement brought deafening cheers from the villagers that hugged eachother while crying from happiness. He was the Shade Lord, the God of Gods, allowing them to become his first citizens, it was such an honor that brought tear to their eyes.

"Fith, also bring back Enri Emmot and her little sister. It was a long time after all."

"Yes, my lord."

While the villagers are cheering, the soldiers were just meekly looking around.

There's gotta be something I can do for them.. Right, what if they train under the Nailmasters? That can at least put me in good terms with their Kingdom...

"Well, since the soldiers and the Warrior Captain will not be joining my Kingdom, all of you would still do better to train than lounge around, am I correct?" he said as he tilted his head.

Warrior Captain gave a thankful smile and nodded.

"First things first though, food. Everyone, join me in the cafeteria. We'll do the marking and training afterwards." He asked for Aureole Omega to open up another portal and went through with everyone else following, most used to the teleportation.

They were met with a giant dining hall with hundreds of tables that even nobles of Re-Estise would be jealous of. There were currently only a couple of people sitting, a penguin, a few maids and an abomination that kept rambling crazy things as he was painting a mask instead of focusing on the food in front of him. The man in the hood joined the penguin and started casually chatting with him.

A loud 'HMMPH!' in surprise could be heard from the kitchen soon followed by loud pots and pan noises. A giant Orc exited out of the kitchen door and took a deep bow in front of the knight.

"KNIGHT-SAMA! WELCOME TO OUR CAFETERIA!" he loudly exclaimed, shocking the group following behind Knight.

Right, Shihoutu Tokitu, the Head-chef of Nazarick. I better get used to this new, alive, Nazarick.

"Good to see you Tokitu, I've brought guests who will join my new Kingdom as it's newest members. I wish to give them a warm welcome and there's no better welcome than your dishes."

"YOU HONOR ME WITH YOUR WORDS KNIGHT-SAMA! WILL YOU BE JOINING THIS EVENING? I HAVE YOUR FAVOURITE DISH ON TONIGHT'S SPECIAL!"

"My favorite?"

"YES! THE BEEF WELLINGTON SIR!"

Ahhh, the beef wellington. I kept using it in game due to the physical damage buff it gave me. So that's why he thinks it's my favorite.

"Hmm, then I'll stay and eat as well."

"YES MY LORD! OI CLAVU! BRING THE ULTRA VIP TABLE OUT INTO THE DINING ROOM, NOW!" He yelled back at his sous-chef.

"I'LL GIVE YOU AND YOUR GUESTS A PERFECT EXPERIENCE MY LORD!" he loudly exclaimed and gave a big smile that terrified more than half of the guests.

TONIGHT I WILL PROVE MYSELF AS THE HEADCHEF OF NAZARICK! TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT!

After the funny sight of the Mushroom-headed Sous Chef, preparing his Ultra VIP table in a matter of seconds, he told everyone else to sit down as he did himself. He thanked Clavu and patiently awaited his dinner while Maître D. chatted with him to give the head chef some time.

Some guests were terrified at the sight of the Orc and most were uncomfortable with an Orc preparing their meal. The chef was an Orc and Orc's naturally eat humans! Some were about to faint from the thought of them being the food as they sat down, anxiously waiting the food. Hundreds of Demonic waiters with tuxedo suits came in and offered water and the menu to them. They all sounded very kind and professional, but their demonic nature still kept the villagers and the soldiers a bit on edge.

Then entered the orange haired village girl with her little sister. They were met with lots of tears and hugs. They've each explained how they got here to eachother and how glad they were to see them alive. She told them about how the food was to die for and how everything was incredible since she came to this place. After satiating their worries about the food a little bit, she spotted the small knight waving an even smaller hand towards her. It was way overdue for her to answer his questions and she thought that now would be a good time. After she sat down, Knight asked if they wanted to order but they said that they ate and were called when they were resting in their dorms. They started talking after he waved off Maître D.

In the kitchen...

"ON ORDER 73 RISOTTO, 22 SCALLOPS, 40 FOIE GRAS!" Tokitu yelled.

"HEARD!" his kitchen shouted back.

"ULTRA VIP TABLE, KNIGHT-SAMA HIMSELF, 1 PERFECTLY COOKED LOBSTER RISOTTO!"

"Y-Yes Chef!" they replied out of excitement with a smile.

"Hakurou how long on those scallops?"

"6 minutes for 22 scallops chef!" the old oni replied.

"Hey you, come here. Now there's 73 fucking orders of risotto and one very special order. I want you to make the most perfect fucking risotto you've ever made in your life and for that risotto to be the first one sent to the Ultra VIP table, do you understand?"

"Yes, Chef!" The demon's eyes ignited with bright red fire.

"Good, now fuck off and cook, go!" He said.

Tokitu couldn't yell at the kitchen staff today and have Knight-sama disgraced in the middle of service. Tonight he would cuss silently and shout only the orders, but he would keep himself restrained with everything he's got. He was a 50 Michelin star Head-chef and he would make his creator Amanomahitotsu-sama and the Supreme Being Knight-sama proud with his service. Tonight, he would prove himself.

2 minutes into dinner service, Tokitu has finally received the lobster rissotto for the Ultra VIP table. After looking at the pan he was given, Head-chef Tokitu had a vein burst in his large forehead. In an ordinary day, he would completely annihilate that imp, but not today. He took long, calculated breaths, each flailing his nosering, today he would not disgrace Knight-sama to his guests. He looked at the small demon putting the next set order of risottos and he called out to him.

"Hey you, imp, come here you. Look at it, you see nothing wrong with this shit?"

The imp stared at the pan with Lobster risotto and was genuinely confused. It was perfectly cooked, it had the right volume and balance, what could Chef Tokitu be upset about?

"You don't see that fucking rice there?" He pointed at the rice that was a tiny bit longer than the others.

The imp's face lost all color and his fiery eyes extinguished. He almost laughed at the obvious mistake and smirked for a split second before frowning, but that didn't escape his Head-chef's trained eyes.

"Now you think this is funny yeah? You want to serve this shit to Knight-sama himself and you're smirking, fucking joke."

"No Chef I-"

"Shut the fuck up, move aside, I'll cook his risotto." Tokitu said in a disappointed voice as he grabbed a hot golden pan and started cooking it.

"Gonna do a job, do it yourself." he muttered as the demon next to him turned even more red in embarrassment.

After 2 minutes, he was done with the Perfect Lobster Risotto and called out to the waiter.

"Give this to the Knight-sama, the Ultra VIP table and apologize for the delay yeah? I'm in a kitchen, with muppets. And I'm thoroughly embarrassed, you understand?"

"Yes, Chef." the waiter replied and took the plate, he was about to go to the table, before Tokitu called out to him again.

"And come here you, if you trip on that risotto, I'll cook you as the entrée, you got it?"

"Y-Yes Chef!" he nervously responded and collected himself. He then walked with grace towards the Ultra VIP table.

"Hey Clavu, get on the meat section and don't let him cook a fucking thing, not tonight. And you, open that big fucking eye and watch what the fuck this guy is doing." he told the now commis Cyclops, who failed last service.

Clavu simply sighed and prepped for the meat orders.

"Yes, Chef." replied the Cyclops.

"Shut it and watch."

"Yes, Chef."

"Shut it!"

After a couple of minutes, the diners were given their appetizers. Even with Enri's input on the food, they looked at it with skeptical eyes and tried it at the tip of the spoon, but they were surprised and pleased with the taste. Gazef pictured the royal family chef and imagined how his reaction would be to eat even a spoon of this wonderful dish. No doubt he would throw away everything he has just to be a pupil for the chef of this place.

Knight, although couldn't taste any of the dishes and had stares thrown out his way for eating through his eye sockets, called for the Maître D. and told him his compliments to the chef. Tokitu, although extremely happy about the praise, was still thinking about that fucked up risotto. He promised himself that he would go harder on that stupid imp for the next six months and whip him into shape. Maybe he should have Hakurou the old oni as his mentor for a week? Yeah that sounded like a good punishment.

After the wonderful meal that he couldn't taste and the information he learned about this world's history, Knight told the soldiers of Re-Estise that they would be sent to the training room and all of them would be given dorms for tonight. While he and the Villagers would go to the throne room for the marking. They both said their farewells and went their way.

In the throne room, Knight sat down and used the [Pale King's Throne] to mark every villager. After their name has been called, all of them had a small white insignia depicting the Pale King's Crown on their right shoulder and the Village Chief was given a unique King's Idol.

It was a small totem that had been carved in the shape of the Pale King and had the power to [Message] the Shade Lord whenever he wanted. Shade Lord instructed them to only use this idol in an emergency and in the worst case scenario that it gets stolen, he would be aware of it immediately.

While in the Training room however, something completely different was happening.

"I know that Knight-sama has sent you to be trained, but you're too weak to be trained by me. Run by Oro and Mato. I'll go back to my geo mountain while you all train." a small bug said.

He was easily wielding a nail twice as large as him on his shoulder and he left with a disapproving look that Gazef couldn't identify due to his bug nature. Gazef raised an eyebrow at the small bugs antics, but perhaps he shouldn't judge him. The last small person he judged was Shade Lord himself after all. Perhaps this small bug also was something of a big shot and they truly didn't deserve his training. He was in the Shade Lord's realm after all.

He looked at the door as the small bug left and two giant beetle-like bugs entered the room, both of them were so similar, it would be normal to call them twins. Both of them were wearing a large gray cloak with mane and a red bandanna. They were wielding large claymores that looked like one handed swords in their giant build. Their stature brought some gasps from his soldiers as these bugs looked truly intimidating.

"I am the Nailmaster Oro!"

"and I am the Nailmaster Mato!"

"Our master, The Great Nail Sage Sly, did not seem to find you worthy to teach, but don't despair! Together, as his pupils we shall teach you!" They said in unison.

"For a price.." Oro muttered and his brother shot him a disapproving look.

"'Those who do not share their strength will never learn' as our master used to say, brother."

"Well, Substitute 'Geo' for 'strength' and you'll have my own views on the matter, I say!"

"Regardless, Knight-sama wanted them to train and learn. So that's what we'll be doing brother."

"Yes.. Alright! Let's do this!"

The soldiers looked both stunned and amused at the twins antics, they took their position and they got ready to be taught.

Captain Nigun of the Sunlight Scripture was furious to his incompetent scout.

Today, his scout reported that he saw the Warrior Captain, Gazef Stronoff on horseback, running towards a burned down village. So, Nigun took the initiative of circling said village and trap them inside, only to find out later that it has been completely abandoned with his 'Imperial knights' nowhere to be seen. They must've moved to another village he mused and he continued to yell at his scout for his uselessness. The fool even had the gall to say that he saw the Shade Lord to get out of his punishment.

Warrior Captain Gazef Stronoff, the rat, has escaped the perfect trap and they were left with a failed mission. Nigun took a look around the village, to see if there's at least anyone who is alive who can tell what happened here, but all he was met with was corpses. He scoffed and sounded the retreat. They have failed and Cardinals would not be so happy about this report.

'Thousand Leagues Astrologer', 'the 7th seat of the Black Scripture', so that's who you are. Knight-sama will definitely be pleased. Thought a certain woman lacking a face as she watched 'Nigun' chew out his squad for their failure.

Chapter Text

The last few days have been a rollercoaster for the poor knight. Though this body nor it's vessel didn't need sleep, it didn't help about his mind which was in turmoil for the last few hours. It was all too sudden and looking back at his actions, he couldn't help but be proud and anxious. He was proud that he was able to take actions boldly and was reserved when needed, though he was also anxious about this new reality he found himself in.

He was about to log off of YGGDRASIL and sleep, getting ready for work the next day. Then, he was transported to another world with his entire guild base. He wondered, would they appear here if they were to login now? Can they even login if the developers took down the servers?

It felt both unreal and real at the same time. His circumstances made no sense, yet they felt too real to be fake. He wouldn't be lying to say he expected this entire thing to be a twisted prank by the developers for those who stayed until the shutdown and waited for them to appear and laugh at their face. Yet here he was, his vessel sitting on a chair, more comfy and softer than any bed he ever laid down on. He looked at the floor in contemplation.

Today, he felt little for others, more so than before. Though he kind of wanted to help these poor villagers, he also knew that helping without getting anything back was a net loss that should be avoided. His old world after his father's death, taught him that. But still, he was able to help them out, so why was it that he was feeling sad? He thought that perhaps this new body or the vessel effected his mental health in one way or another as his friends avatars splashed in his memories..

Ah.. so that's why. He was missing them and this round table reminded them. Touch-me, Ulbert Alain Odle, Tabula Smaragdina, Nishikienrai, Blue Planet, Takemikazuchi, Peroroncino, Bukubukuchagama, Punitto Moe..

He visually saw how they all disintegrated while sitting on the chairs of the Round table room. This was the room where all of them would gather, make their future plans and have constant arguments. It was never silent when he was in here, but now? Nothing. He let out a sad chuckle, of course they were gone.

How could they even be in this world? None of them were logged in during the shutdown, but even so...

No, clinging on such a dream was unproductive. Though he wouldn't completely cut the option either, he was transported here in an unknown way, nothing made sense to how he got here and it may have been true that he simply didn't have all the answers.

He looked at the door and decided that he would take his actions as if he is and always was alone. But he would keep a lookout for his friends in this new world regardless.

He was thrown out of his thoughts after he heard a knock on the door.

"hhhhnngh" he stretched his small body out of muscle memory and looked at the door.

"Come in!" he shouted, but was instead met with a rejection and a stuttering male voice.

Although the sound came in muffled behind the door, it was clear that he was rambling on and on about how this was a room reserved for only The Supreme Beings and how he wasn't worthy to be granted such an honor.

Knight sighed and opened the door himself.

He was met with a familiar man wearing an immaculate orange suit and a red tie. The man had sharp looking ears with his hair slicked back in a spiky way. His metal tail swinging around as he was on his knees and stared on the ground with his diamond eyes behind his glasses.

"Demiurge?" Knight said as he tilted his head.

The demon who was already on his knees, he gave him a sly smile and told him why he was here.

"Knight-sama, the soldiers of Re-Estise are badly injured after their training with the Nailmaster brothers and I had hoped to ask Pestonya to heal them, but I wished to confirm my suspicions with you before I did it." He said, which left knight flabbergasted.

Demiurge.. Wants to heal people? Did Ulbert made a deal with Tabula and left me with another joke?!

"Heal them? Why so?" he asked with curiosity.

"Excuse me Knight-sama for my boldness, but I have overheard you speaking with that villager girl in the dining table." He said as he stiffened and paused. Knight gave a nod for him to continue.

"With what I've overheard, I've deduced that we would be connecting our ties with the Kingdom and staying on their good side. Therefore, I wanted to advise that healing the soldiers would be a great move, however I wanted to confirm your intentions first by asking you. I wanted to make sure that I didn't make any mistakes that may upset you." He said with a determined face.

Knight felt a small light bulb shine on top of his head as he remembered another part of Demiurge's bio.

Right, Demiurge. The genius Archdevil with a twisted justice system that leaves a husk of the criminal after the punishment.. And an advisor for the Supreme Beings.

"No, well done Demiurge. Unless it is an emergency, I want you to always confirm with me before making any moves. Also, in the case of an emergency, I'll give you full authority as a Guardian to make the decisions in my absence." he praised the Archdevil.

"Yes, my lord!" He enthusiastically said.

It was the right decision to ask his lord! As expected of him, he knew best after all.

"Well, we still shouldn't heal them with a high level spell. His King may get suspicious to see them without even a scratch after they supposedly saved a village full of people from a bunch of offenders. Heal them all with low level spells and tell the villagers that they will be taken back and cared for after the Kingdom confirms their presence."

"Yes, my lord! May I also suggest sending shadow demons to the Kingdom as spies, hiding inside the shadows of the villagers as we send them?"

"Excellent idea Demiurge! We can get a lot of information about this Kingdom and it's state through the spies, do make sure to keep me updated." he exclaimed as Demiurge squirmed in joy with his metal spike tail swinging left and right.

"Is there anything else?"

"Yes, one more thing, my lord. I also wished to ask what shall we do with the nobles of this Kingdom. They appeared to have abused these poor, poor villagers. I believe a punishment is in order?" He said and switched to a sadistic tone as he finished his sentence.

"We are not doing anything rash yet." He said, which splashed water on the Archdevil.

Knight briefly remembered his old world, where the elite crushed the poor.

"Though if they turn out to be the certain type, we'll give them hell on earth." which brought back the devil's spirit as he hoped that they fit the type his lord spoke of.

"Now, if that is all, I will be on my way. I had in my mind to check the treasury after our unexpected transportation to this world and it's way overdue."

"Yes, my lord. I shall carry out your will." He said and waited for his lord to leave the hall before standing up and returning to his work.

Floor 11, the treasury of Nazarick was a sanctuary, a last shelter, before their guild would lose everything. Although they never had to use it, it was designed in a way that the invaders would have to go through the dangers of Floor 10, the Abyss, to enter it's halls. Naturally, it was such a place that didn't allow anyone to enter even with the [Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown]. If one haven't traversed through the abyss, they would never reach it.

Knight used the [Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown] and entered Floor 10. He looked at it's hand and curiously casted [Detect Invisibility] at it's highest tier.

He was using an mtx item before the shutdown called "Invisible Ring effect". It made every ring in the game visually disappear and lowered the effects of the spells casted from the rings. This effect was created and sold as a micro transaction for people who wanted to get rid of the bright effects of rings. Some players didn't enjoy seizures while using their items and the enemies would have a simpler effect on their rings with less flashy visuals.

The devs also started selling invisible effects of everything as it was easy to downscale the animations and delete the rings visuals, but most players didn't use them. It made the game less realistic and visually bland, but it wasn't such a problem for Knight who was climbing to be the best. By making the rings on his hand invisible to everyone, his opponents would have no idea which rings he equipped and it helped him gain an edge in PvP which became a meta defining move later down the line.

Looking at the invisible ring in his fingers was a different feeling though. It was still invisible even with the [Detect Invisibility] spell, but he somehow instinctually knew what he was wearing in all his 10 fingers, similar to opening his inventory.

Although most players who bought all 10 slots for the rings chose to wore 9, he was one of the rare people who equipped all 10. A player who chose 9 rings would keep the last one as a flex slot, an empty slot that they would choose a specific ring in battle to turn the tides, due to the cooldown ring slots had when re-equipping them. Knight however, had no such need as his rings were always invisible and he never fought without a winning plan against his opponents.

Dismissing that thought, he looked ahead of him, with broken masks on the ground everywhere and some Shade Siblings wondering around, which all started floating down and bowing as they spotted him.

They're welcoming me.. Maybe it's because of [Void Heart]. He mused.

[Void Heart] was a World Item ingrained to his character. It was a reward given to him after he won the World Championship of the Nine Realms where the best players of all the Nine realms fought in an intense Free for all match.

Although he socketed the item in the charm slots of his inventory screen, he didn't know where exactly the item was in this new reality. He wasn't sure whether it was inside the vessel, or in his new body, but either way it seemed to have an effect on the siblings. He looked around the small pools of black liquid and saw tendrils thrashing around violently, trying to reach above, to grab whatever they can. He wondered if there were something truly down there and went to take a peek, keeping his distance as he still wasn't sure if it could damage him or not.

As he approached, the tendrils stopped their violent thrashing and tamed down. He looked at the black liquid and was able to understand something primal. It wasn't a word, it wasn't a gesture, It felt like it was familiar to him.

Trusting the feeling, he got closer, reached his hand down and touched the abyss. Although it looked so violent and scary on the outside, it strangely felt right at home on the inside. He felt.. happy, like holding his mother's hand, like giving a high five to his dad. It felt like the abyss was a part of him, his family. He wanted to take a dive and be embraced by it, maybe to see what is below. But he held back for now, he needed to visit somewhere now and he was already late.

The Sea lamp was shining upon the giant black ocean, Knight walked up to the edge of the ledge.

"[Crystal Heart]!" he chanted and he flew across the ocean like a missile, creating ripples in his wake.

It was only an instant and he was already across the ocean. He killed his momentum mid air and landed. In front of him was a giant towering black gate.

"Ainz Ooal Gown knows no defeat!" he shouted.

Click

The giant gates opened and revealed a luxurious room filled with gold. This was the entrance of the treasury where the most worthless stuff they had was stored. They would of course store the more valuable stuff deeper in the treasure with golems guarding it.

Entering the room, he immediately spotted two familiar figures. One created by him, which his father cringed to look at but still smiled every time he saw it, and one of his father's creation. One were sitting on top of his weapon, floating in air, the other one leisurely sitting on a luxurious couch. After noticing the opening of the gates, it seemed like they were ready to give a small theatrical performance to their enemies with their monologues ready, but both gasped in shock as they recognized who entered and immediately bowed.

"Knight-sama!"

"MEINE SCHÖPHER!" Both simultaneously exclaimed.

"Pandora, Revek. It's good to see you both."

"So it is for us to see you, my lord." Revek replied, his nail sat besides him on the floor.

"Ja, Ja! Es ist sehr schön, dich auch zu sehen, mein Schöpfer!(Yes, yes! it is very good to see you as well, my creator!)" he exclaimed.

Knight felt an invisible vein pop in his vessel's forehead.

HE'S SO LAME! Also what's with the German? Sure, it sounded like he was positive, but what did he even say!? Ahhh! My Puberty phase is on full display! Why did I even think German was cool!? He rambled in his mind.

"..."

"I've came here to check the treasury after our unexpected transportation to this new world." he said after a brief pause, which brought surprise from both of the treasury guardians.

"This 'new world' my lord?" Revek, thankfully the more vocal one asked.

"Were you not informed? We are not in YGGDRASIL anymore and certain things have changed.."

Like how you guys all started being sentient but I can't say that.

"Therefore I was making sure that we didn't have anything missing from the treasury. It would be truly troublesome if our World Items suddenly disappeared."

"Ich werde eine kurze Überprüfung durchführen, mein Herr!(I will run a quick check, my lord!)" he exclaimed.

Again with the german..

"Pandora, please. Do not speak German in my presence." he said as he felt his invisible eyebrows twitching.

I BEG OF YOU, STOP WITH THE GERMAN!

"Yes! Although it has been 4 minutes and 23 seconds before my last check, with your permission I shall run a quick check again, my lord!" he said as he threw extravagant poses one after the other.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH Knight screamed in his mind as he watched the display, holding the urge to throw himself on the ground in embarrassment.

"A-Ah, yes. I shall join you as well. I don't have much on my table right now either way. And we can chat on the way." he said as they all started walking deeper into the treasury.

"..."

"How has everything been going here?" he asked absentmindedly as if he didn't have an idea.

"Well, nothing much my lord. Since the tomb is quite safe, we don't really have much to do. N-Not that we wish it to be in any danger, My lord!" He said as he stuttered mid sentence.

"No offense taken Revek."

Now that they are sentient, it must be really boring to sit here and do nothing all day..

"Hmm, perhaps you two should take turns each day with guarding duty. Or would it be too lonely? What do you two think?"

"Wouldn't the tomb be left more vulnerable my lord?"

This worrywart..

"No, it was already borderline impossible to reach this room in YGGDRASIL. Remember, we have stopped over 1500 players in the 8th floor and none have even made it into the Abyss. In the scenario where we are invaded, you would already be called back to the treasury. Also, it is better that you two have an idea on what is going on at all times instead of being left in the dark, we could utilize your skills before an invasion can reach the treasury."

"What if there are stronger players, my lord?" he asked worriedly and received a glare, well, a stare from his hollow eyes.

"Those 1500 players were not pushovers! Also, we already have information on the players who were in this world." he exclaimed which brought a relieved sigh from Revek.

"Well.." Revek muttered as he looked towards Pandora which he gave a nod as if they've spoke about this before.

"It would be nice if we could take turns each day. However, I am afraid that we could perish while traveling through the abyss, my lord." He sheepishly said.

Ah right. Abyss normally attacked everything.. Hmm... That interaction felt weird. Perhaps I could communicate with the abyss somehow?

"I'll see if I can do something." He told them as they reached the deeper part of the treasury.

This part had the golems that would attack the invaders who weren't part of the Guild. The golems were created in the image of his guild members. They seemed to be crafted a bit sloppy, as if it wasn't finished yet. He stared at them reveringly. While staring at his father's statue, he felt a weird feeling in his guts, it was telling him to open his inventory. Trusting the strange feeling and opening his inventory, his hand entered the Void and he picked up the [Dream Nail] that was now glowing brighter.

N-No way... He thought as his hand trembled in anticipation.

He looked at the Statue of the Pale King and got closer.

"My lord?" Revek spoke which took him out of his trance.

He looked at Revek and remembered his bio. Revek was a guardian of the treasury, but his primary objective was to protect these golems and the memories instilled in them. Normally, he would attack anyone attempting to view these memories, even the other guild members. But there was only one exception and it was the Knight.

Pale King created Revek as a reminder that all memories would one day fade away, he was planning to delete the videos of him, his son and the guild members, stored within the golems, to make his son forget about him, but he would fall into bed much sooner. As he realized he was getting closer to death, each day as his pain growing stronger. In a world as cruel as theirs, mourning his dead father would only ruin to Satoru's life in the long run. Pale King didn't want that, he wanted his son to move on. But he failed to delete those videos, he got sick earlier than expected.

Before he was bedridden, he programmed Revek, the second strongest NPC in Nazarick who is comparable to Rubedo, to attack anyone else but Satoru if they tried to open any of those videos. Although he knew it was best for Satoru to forget about him and move on, his heart still held onto that selfish desire. He hoped that Satoru would want to hear his voice one day, though he wouldn't be there to see his decision, he had hoped that Satoru would open the videos. This was his only regret, the chain he tied to Satoru, as he died.

Though Satoru didn't know why Revek was created, he knew what was written in his bio. After reading it and questioning his father about it, he said it was simply a poetic thing that he thought it was cool to write into his bio, that each memory viewed would cause Revek to forget about the people in that memory.

By no means Revek would stop me from using [Dream Nail], I have a chance of hearing dad again! But if I were to use it...

It was a hard choice, should he choose the memories of his father's creation , or give it all away for a chance to hear his voice again and potentially turn Revek into an enemy.

"My Creator, is something wrong?" Pandora asked.

"..."

His silence worried both of them and they were about to voice their concerns, but Knight spoke once more.

"Yeah.. No, nothing's wrong. I was just.. reminiscing." he said in a longing voice.

Revek and Pandora felt like they could relate to their lord in a personal manner. Although only Revek's creator has left them, Pandora still hasn't seen his creator for a long time. He was guarding and waiting in the treasury room since his creation.

They both wanted to see others in the tomb and their lords again. Although one of Pandora's wishes came true, he wanted to see outside too. Yes, he was a crazed maniac when it came to the magical items in the treasury and he wouldn't be able to stay away for long, but he also wanted an audience for his theatrics.

Revek on the other hand, wished to see Pale King and the other Supreme Beings. He was guarding their memory, but had the painful duty of protecting it. He wished to hear their voice, he wished to see what they have done. But deep down, he also knew that he would be losing something very important if he or anyone else dared indulge in it. After seeing his lord's reaction to his father's statue, he would have been happy to oblige and let him view the memories even if it meant losing that important thing. His purpose was to serve and he would sacrifice his everything to do so, but he was also thankful for his lord's mercy as he seemed to reconsider the option of viewing said memory.

After weaving the awkward air away, the trio went and checked the treasury. They confirmed that everything was as it was in the game and they had no less a coin. After giving a sigh, Knight told both of them about his recent name change and decided he would do an announcement later.

After dismissing the treasury guardians, Knight went back into the abyss. He spotted one of those puddles, now completely calm as if they've never been trying to reach the outside. He kneeled down and touched the surface, and felt the same feeling as before but this time there was something more. It felt like he was holding onto a dear family of his, yes. But It felt both like a sibling and an infant, a younger brother perhaps? After a bit of contemplating he went inside.

He looked around and saw complete darkness that seemed to stretch forever. There were a few openings with dimmed light reaching inside the darkness above him, precisely where all the puddles are. He felt like he was right at home, right where he is supposed to be, alongside his family.

He closed his eyes and tried listening..

Fa.. er.. The Pri.. dial.. one.. We ha.. wait.. so long.. He.. here.. Shade.. Lord?.. My.. Lord.. His.. vessel..

He heard small whispers from multiple different directions. It felt like the whispers themselves were muffled, as if sound couldn't travel well here and they got clearer as he concentrated. He looked around and a thought formed in his mind.

He could use his true form here, it was a big enough space for him to move around freely. Though he would still need to go back to his vessel in order to get outside, as the openings above were very small and the Black Ocean weirdly didn't have an opening below it. He silent casted [Shade Lord] and it felt like his ears unplugged themselves, his eyes much more clearer as if someone turned on the lights. The whispers became more coherent and he started to see the shapes of those who were inside the darkness.

Multiple voices called out to him as their father, as the first entity, as their lord. He felt nervous, the shades looked exactly like the silhouettes of the NPCs in Nazarick, they were completely dark with their eyes glowing fitting eye color, with Albedo's yellow, Aura and Mare's heterochromia. They were bowing and revering him as a some sort of god. The sight felt familiar with what happened to a certain village and yet it couldn't be any more different.

Natural, keep it natural, me!

"I AM HERE TO BRING NEWS." his voice echoed through the darkness.

The silhouettes went dead silent and waited his response, their eyes filled with.. happiness? Why can he tell what they were feeling?

"WE ARE CURRENTLY IN A DIFFERENT WORLD THAN THE LAST." he said, hoping to at least get some information from them so he could continue his acting.

"We understand. With your permission, shall we surface with you, Father?" Demiurge's shade replied which baffled the Shade Lord.

Wait, they could've left here all this time? What were they even waiting for then? Were they trying to communicate with me with all those tendrils? No wait, this isn't time to think about that. If they were to return to surface now it would be a problem, I don't expect them to have a smooth transition into the tomb, not with all the current shit going on.

"NO, NOT YET. FOR NOW, I ASK OF YOU TO STAY HERE AND GUARD."

Let's see...

"ALSO, ONLY ATTACK THE INTRUDERS."

"We should not attack Pandora and Revek then?" Aura's shade replied which caught him off guard.

"YOU KNOW OF THEM?"

"Yes, father. We know all about the Tomb of Nazarick! Though, our orders were to attack anyone approaching, so we would have kept them inside the treasury if they had left it." Aura's shade replied.

So If I had forgotten about Pandora and Revek they would be stuck here forever

He imagined Revek growing tired each day of his theatrics. Forever.

Hahaha.. No wait, That's not funny! What else could I be forgetting now!? He yelled at himself in his mind and mentally noted that he would check the entire tomb upside down to make sure there's no loose ends.

"WELL, THAT WAS THE REASON WHY I AM HERE. CURRENTLY WE HAVE A FEW PROBLEMS TO FIX ON THE SURFACE. AFTER THAT, I SHALL COME BACK HERE AND HAVE YOU MEET WITH EVERYONE."

Though I don't know how they'll reach to them...

"FOR NOW, KEEP DEFENDING THE ABYSS FROM INTRUDERS, BUT DO NOT ATTACK ANY MEMBERS OF THE TOMB."

"Yes, Father!" "Yes, my Lord!" "Yes, Primordial one!" they all said in a single shout.

He dispelled Shade Lord and went inside his vessel.

"You are dismissed." he said into the darkness as the small knight floated back on the surface.

He then talked to Pandora through [Message] and explained to them that they are free to move in and out of the treasury as long as one of them stood guarding it. He quickly dispelled the [Message] before Pandora's loud and extravagant appreciation fully reached his ears.

As he was about to use the [Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown] and teleport to the training grounds, he got a [Message] from the Iron Butler of Nazarick.

"Sebas?"

"Yes, my lord. Nigredo reported that she is in possession of very important information on a different country called the 'Slane Theocracy'. I thought it would be wise to inform you about these news as soon as possible. It is related to the Carne Village incident."

Another country?

"Inform her that I'll join her in a few minutes."

"Understood, my lord."

Should I hope that this new country is filled with idiots or filled with geniuses? Pick your poison, Satoru...

He teleported to the 5th floor in front of Nigredo's room and was met with a giant beetle-like armor standing between him and the door.

The False Knight, the maggot lord who can use any armor as his shell and is completely impossible to kill while he is wearing any piece of armor. He was wearing the armor of Hegemol, a different knight, who used to protect the City of Tears back when The Pale King was the ruler of Nazarick. Though Hegemol was strong when it was created, his skills got powercrept as the game reached it's later stages. The Pale King destroyed him and tried rebuilding him with a different concept in his mind.

Hegemol's Armor however was still very tough as a stat stick and it had complimented the new NPC's build in his mind, so he gave it to the new NPC, one he would call 'The False Knight'.

The False Knight, was created as a maggot who "stole" the armor of Hegemol and used the newfound strength to bully others into submission. Though his father, Cocytus, found this act dishonorable to the warrior code, the goofball was created to be kind only towards his own kind, Denizens of Nazarick and completely make fun of everyone outside.

He was an Area guardian, weaker than the Floor Guardians, and he was used as a way to buy time. He would defend Nigredo's room as long as he can while waiting for reinforcements. He would spend his spare time with his father, Cocytus. Sparring with him, with his enormous two handed mace against many of his father's weapons. Though he was not worthy for his father to use all four of his weapons, he still had a time where he managed to draw three.

After noticing the Knight, he stepped right besides the door, put the tip of his mace on the ground and kneeled,

"My lord!" he exclaimed, waiting for him to enter.

Knight looked towards his left, a small wooden table with lots of broken down baby dolls. He grabbed one that was a tiny bit smaller than him and entered the darj room. He noticed a woman cradling a baby with her hair all the way down to her face, obscuring it.

"My baby? my baby.. Wait, this isn't right..." She looked in confusion to the baby she was cradling.

She pulled the baby closer to her face, she noticed that it was a doll.

"No, No, NO! NO! MY BABY!" She shouted as her head snapped to the one who entered her room and threw the doll baby to the wall next to him.

"GIVE ME! GIVE ME! GIVE ME BACK MY BABY!" She shouted as her hair moved around and revealed her skinless face.

She jumped out of where she was sitting with scissors in her hand and ran towards Knight with bulging eyes only to stop as she noticed the baby in his small hands.

"M-My baby!" She stuttered in shock.

As Knight held the baby towards her, urging her to pick it up, she gently held the baby doll from it's small bottom with trembling hands and gently cradled it like a watchful mother. Then she gently put the baby in the cradle. She then went down on her knees and bowed.

"I apologize for the unsightly display, my lord!"

"No, Nigredo. This is how you were created, it's in your nature. I can't blame you for something like that." he said as he sat down in one of the chairs.

"Thank you for understanding, my lord."

"Please, sit. And let's skip the pleasantries, I wish to know everything you have uncovered so far."

"Yes, my lord. To start off, the group that was attacking the village seemed to belong to this country called 'Slane Theocracy', the group wore Imperial Empire's armor to misdirect the blame." She said as she sat down.

Imperial Empire and the Re-Estise Kingdom had an annual war between them. This Slane Theocracy probably tried to fan the flames.. but for what purpose?

"The group that I was able to view through my divination was named 'The Sunlight Scripture', they have magic casters of the third tier and their captain was a man who can summon a 4th tier summon, [Principability of Observation]. I've heard that their objective was to destroy the villages to lure out the Warrior Captain, a man named Gazef Stronoff."

Someone who can summon YGGDRASIL monsters is in this world? Is he a player? No... If they wanted someone of Warrior Captain's strength and were willing to kill hundreds of innocents for the sake of baiting him into a favorable position, it is very unlikely that they are. Any player, save for newbies, would crush Gazef with a flick of their finger. Either this world had YGGDRASIL magic innately or the players before me somehow introduced it to here.

"They were also being watched by their own country, my lord. There was a girl called Thousand Leagues Astrologer, she was using a simple tier 4 divination spell and I have easily broken through it without being detected. I heard them call her the 7th seat of the Black Scripture, apparently an elite squad of the Slane Theocracy."

She was able to find a member of an elite squad!? This is great-no, incredible news! If this is true, than that means the best divination spell they have is a tier 4. They are most likely not a threat, but definitely not Players! He mentally sighed in relief.

However it is still a problem if they are trying to mingle with the Kingdom that I'm trying to build friendly ties with...

"The members of the 'Sunlight Scripture' also mentioned that they were doing this for the sake of humanity. From most of their talk, I have deduced that they see anything other than humans as lesser beings, ones who don't belong in this world. Blasphemous!"

A pro-human group, killing villages of humans? This makes no goddamn sense.. It seems that I still need more information.

"I see, you've been hard at work Nigredo. You even brought news on an elite squad on a potential enemy. I applaud you for bringing this to my attention."

"I am not worthy of such praise!" She exclaimed but deep inside she was incredibly happy to be of use.

"No, no. Thanks to the information you've brought, I have a different idea now..."

"..."

"My lord?" She asked and the Knight chuckled.

"Nothing, nothing. But first I have something to announce." He said, Nigredo tilted her head listening carefully.

"I have changed my name. It shall be Shade Lord from now on, you may call me Shade."

"I understand, Shade-sama. Will I be the only one to call you by this name?"

"All of the tomb will be called tonight for this announcement. I figured, since I'm already here I might as well tell you. Anyway, if that is all, I'll be taking my leave. Please continue to look out for this 'Black Scripture' and be on the lookout for potential enemies. I'm counting on you, Nigredo."

"Yes, my lord. I shall do my utmost best! Also, thank you for generously spending your precious time with me." She said as she bowed.

Now known as Shade, sat up from his chair and left through the door, giving The False Knight standing besides the door a nod before he teleported to the training room to see the aftermath of Demiurge's order.

Chapter Text

It was a windy morning in the Re-Estise Kingdom. King Ramposa III. was anxiously sitting on his throne inside the palace.

To satisfy the nobles, he had sent the Warrior Captain, his lifelong friend, to rescue the villages under attack in his Kingdom. At the time, he didn't feel too bad about sending the Warrior Captain to rescue the lives of his citizens, 'it was the right thing to do' he mused.

After sending Gazef however, not a single day passed without the King, questioning his own decisions. How could he approve of such a stupid decision? Sure, the lives of his citizens were important, but what about Gazef? He was strong, but without the Kingdom's artifacts he was vulnerable, even with all his skills, he was only a man. He didn't even have the amulet that allows him to regenerate his wounds over time with him.

The small chance that he made the wrong decision and that he would be the reason for Gazef's death, ate at him for days and made him question his own standing in royalty. Was he incompetent, was he going senile? How did everything went downhill after his ascend to the throne?

As he was contemplating this with nobles bickering in the background, the palace door was knocked and all of them turned their heads to the door. A guard wearing steel armor, entered and bowed.

"Excuse me, your Majesty and your Highnesses, Gazef Stronoff has returned from the rescue mission and wants to report the details to you personally." He announced.

A lot of gasps and murmurs exploded in the throne room from the news. Most nobles kept a polite smile and forcefully exhaled relief. Marquis Boullope was gritting his teeth in frustration, which almost caught the attention of the others before he too left a dry happy chuckle.

Had Ramposa been smarter about this, he would've thought that something was fishy with the nobles reaction. But he was too busy focusing on the news that his friend was back, alive. He cleared his throat and told the guard to allow him to enter. After a few minutes, the doors opened once more. Ramposa gulped in shock as the doors revealed his friend. Warrior Captain entered in a badly beaten up state and kneeled. He had bruises and bumps all over his body as if he was sparring for hours under intense pressure.

Most nobles reaction to his state was sly smiles, small chuckles and disapproval at his beaten up state. While some were pleased to see him in such a state, their good mood didn't hold them back with their insults.

"To enter the Palace in such a state, do you not have any shame you damn commoner?!" Prince Barbro shouted.

"Warrior Pig seems like a better title now.." a noble whispered, after looking at his swollen face.

The nobles from the lowest of the low to grand nobles were whispering and laughing at the state of the Warrior Captain. It looked like he was truly beaten to a pulp. Though Marquis Raeven, held his iconic stoic face as he tried to understand what exactly happened. For him to survive the attacks of the soldiers and leave with bruises didn't seem natural, the Imperial Army that his scouts and spies reported were using swords, not clubs. He would pry into these matters later at a more appropriate time.

"Enough!" the old king shouted and silenced the room.

Though he was visibly old and frail, he still was able to instill uneasiness and fear within the nobles hearts. Majority of nobles were fragile, they were raised with a silver spoon in their mouth and a simple shout from an old man who can barely walk was enough to scare them into silence.

"Gazef, what happened to you?" He asked as he inspected his friend with his eyes.

Gazef looked conflicted before replying, but to everyone it looked like he was about to fall over.

"My King, the villages that we went to.. most were destroyed before we even arrived.." He said in a defeated tone.

"As expected of a useless commoner! Some Warrior Captain you are! Can't even protect a simple village!" Barbro yelled.

"Silence!" Ramposa shut his own son's mouth with a stern look.

He looked back at Gazef and nodded his head, prompting him to continue.

"My King, the attack on the villages were orchestrated by the Slane Theocracy." he reported with a solemn look on his ruined face.

His report brought gasps within the nobles. Some felt cold sweat forming on their neck. Marquis Boullope simply stood up from his seat and stared daggers at the Warrior Captain with hateful eyes.

"What makes you think that, you fool?! Do you want to add more enemies against our kingdom!? The scouts reported that they were Imperial Kingdom's soldiers, so stop lying!"

His outburst was shown support and most nobles nodded their heads in confirmation, except for Raeven who found the nobles reaction to his report suspicious, as he narrowed his eyes.

"It is simple, Marquis Boullope.." he stared back at the noble with accusing eyes.

Boullope was the one to bring up that Gazef should go there with his backup equipment, with majority of the nobles supporting this decision. Their excuse? Risking the capture of such rare and powerful artifacts on saving mere commoners.

"The soldiers that we were fighting wore a similar set of equipment to the Imperial Army, to shift the blame. I have personally fought against the Imperial Army in the annual war for years, I could tell that their armor was a replica."

"Gazef, are you sure about this? This may cause a bigger problem." Marquis Raeven spoke up.

"Yes, Marquis Raeven. I am completely sure of this. I even brought a few sets of those armor back with me, I can prove my claim." he said confidently.

"How did you conclude it was the Slane Theocracy?" Ramposa curiously asked.

I'm sorry for lying to you my friend, but I have no other choice.

"We have spotted the Sunlight Scripture before we evacuated the Village. They were coming towards the Village and summoned their Angels beforehand, they were ready for our presence."

Marquis Boullope slowly sat back to his seat and silently cursed at the Warrior Captain, while Marquis Raeven continued to question him.

"What about the villages? You have said most were destroyed."

"Regrettably, almost every village perished before we even reached them.." the nobles in the room smirked.

"However, we have been able to save Carne Village with small losses." which brought back scorns.

Sure the Warrior Captain was able to save only a single village, but that village was in the outer edge of the Kingdom, near the border. If the King had been able to see how the inner villages were torn down before the Warrior Captain could even reach them, while the outer village, the one that is furthest from the kingdom and closest to the enemy territory was the village that survived, it would be possible to deduce that someone wanted the Warrior Captain's death and were pushing him into a corner. Why else would they attack the inner villages before the outer ones?

But how did the Slane Theocracy know where he is headed?

Raeven confirmed in his mind that there was a traitor feeding information to the Slane Theocracy. As he looked at Marquis Boullope's disappointed expression, the conclusion only became more clear. He cursed his king in his mind and wished his stupid brain would register that he is being plotted against.

Luckily for the other nobles, the King Ramposa was a lighthearted fool. After seeing his reaction to the news and looking at his hopeful eyes, their smirk grew back again and turned into a pleased, polite smile. The fool was still blind, he was still thinking about the worthless commoners and had no idea about the snake pit he was inside of. They might have missed their bite this time, but now they were given another opportunity.

"Well, enough of this seriousness. It is good to see you back, Warrior Captain." King said with a happy smile.

"It is good to be back, your Majesty." he replied back.

Though he was smiling, Gazef felt bitter inside. He didn't report the full truth and even lied to his friend. However, now he knew exactly what he should do.

All he had to do was to wait until the Shade Lord decided to show himself to the world and urge his King to join his side. He knew that nobody in this world would be able to harm even a single servant of the Shade Lord, and even if they could, they wouldn't be able to escape his wrath. He was in his home after all.

He saw his servant's power firsthand as the supposed Grand Nail Sage's pupils beat him and his soldiers to a pulp in sparring, while teaching them a great deal of things. If that was the power and skill the pupils of a servant Shade Lord had in his ranks, he was glad that Shade Lord did not attack him after revealing his true form back in the Carne Village. He shivered inside as he recalled the event. After he saw Shade Lord's true form, his instincts shouted at him to kneel and beg for mercy, it was a miracle that he was able to stand in his presence and keep his composure.

He also saw how his subjects adored and revered him, pledging their everything to him. Unlike the nobles in Re-Estise Palace, their pledge felt genuine and it came from the heart. It made his own pledge of royalty to Ramposa III. pale in comparison. They told him how kind Shade Lord was to his subordinates and how they wanted to be of use to their lord. It was truly a teaching experience as he realized how shallow his own pledge was.

Kneeling on the floor, Captain of the Sunlight Scripture acted like he was in shame in order for the scolding from The Cardinals to stop. However he felt no shame, why should he? His stupid scout reported sighting the Warrior Captain and lead them to an empty village that only had corpses. The fool even dared to utter Shade Lord's name in order to get out of punishment. Of course, Nigun wouldn't report such a stupid conclusion to the Cardinals and reprimanded the fool to never show his face again in his ranks.

At first, Nigun had absolutely no idea why the Cardinals were so hard on him. Yes, they have failed their mission, but that meant they could strike at a different opportunity with a better plan. It was only now that he heard about the missing 'Imperial Knight' squad.

"To think an idiot like you thinks they could join the Black Scripture!" Dominic, The Cardinal of Wind exploded at Nigun.

"This is troublesome..." Berenice, The Cardinal of Fire muttered.

"We need a drastic change of plans." Raymond, the Cardinal of Earth announced.

"We could use the spies in the Kingdom..." Yvon, the Cardinal of Light made the suggestion.

The Cardinals of the Slane Theocracy were in trouble. Not only did their plan of killing the Warrior Captain failed, but they have also potentially gave a lead to the Re-Estise that they can trace back to them. Their massacre squad was missing. Not killed, missing. This meant that they could've been captured. Although all of them have received advanced training to resist torture, it wasn't guaranteed that all of them would keep their mouth shut. They needed to be saved or killed to avoid any loose ends.

'Having the corrupted Kingdom under their control was entirely for the benefit of humanity', they lied to themselves as they tried to formulate their plan.

The last few days were a rollercoaster for the Shade Lord. After taking the villagers and the soldiers in and allowing them to stay here in Nazarick, he learned from the Orange haired village girl, Enri, that he was prophesized to come back onto the surface with a vessel, walk amongst the mortals and create a large kingdom.

The Knight was appalled at the idea that the players before him warned the people of this world of his forthcoming. Did they really know he would come here? It was possible for the Eight Greed Kings to know as they have fought with Shurshana, the traitor, the one that stole one of the guild's world item and joined a guild of humans. But what about the Six Great Gods that Shurshana was a member of how did they know? It was unfathomable that his plans of staying low and silent was cracked thanks to a dumbass thinking it would be cool to spread lore about the strongest player in all of YGGDRASIL.

He thought about what happened to the World Item(s) the Six Great Gods and the Eight Greed Kings might have possessed and swiftly went into the treasury. After visiting each floor and giving every one of his guardians a World Item, he exhaled in relief. If that traitor was here, the [Downfall of Castle and Country] could also be somewhere in this world, and it would truly be troublesome if either Revek or Rubedo got mind controlled by it. Though Rubedo was likely safe due to being a golem and supposedly immune to mind control, he didn't want to take any chances. He described how the World Item was a white dress with dragon pattern to his guardians and warned them about the item's effects.

After spending more time and learning everything he could from both the villagers and the knights, he created a large ceremony. Inviting all inhabitants of Nazarick as he told them that he changed his name.

A few days ago, Shade Lord had instructed the villagers to cover up the King's Mark and sent them and the soldiers back into the ruined village. Though they were nervous about the soldiers, it seemed that Shade Lord was able to sense their anxiety and left them with protectors as one of them, Enri, pointed out to their shadow, which the villagers saw a small flicker.

They were reminded of the same shadow monsters that saved their lives alongside Shade Lord's brother. Noticing this, they were very appreciative to him and a bit sad since they were leaving his home. Even though they were taken back to the capital of those corrupt nobles, the beast's den, they felt safe and confident.

Currently in the throne room of Nazarick, several guardians were standing and listening with attention to Nigredo's Observation Report, from the mouth of Sebas. Hollow Knight, Mantis Lords and Nosk were in their respective floors as they proved to have difficulty communicating with the other guardians and Shade Lord decided that they would be utilized better by protecting the tomb instead.

Nigredo has been carefully watching the Capital of Kami Miyako for the past few days and noticed secrets untold to the world, her reports were truly mindblowing.

"So, the strongest being this 'Slane Theocracy' has is a Black Scripture member. Do we know what type of skills she has?" the now named 'Shade Lord' asked.

"Unfortunately no, my lord." Sebas replied.

A level 88 half-elf.. She definitely has at least some points in racial levels, but that doesn't tell me much about her Job levels. But the fact that she can wield a Divine tier scythe right below the level requirement of 90 is an indication that she has some weapon classes. Maybe either a scythe master or a more general weapon master. In both cases that's at least 5 levels down the list...

Ahh! Determining what skills she has by the levels is barely possible with this much information! Though.. one thing is for certain. That scythe Sebas described, is the same as that traitor's weapon. Considering he was in this world before, it is very unlikely that it belongs to someone else. Which means that what he stole is likely also in this world...

"We have to be careful approaching this 'Slane Theocracy'. The traitor of Ainz Ooal Gown is one of the Six Great Gods they worship." He announced.

The throne room filled with shouting as the guardians couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"That traitor, That foolish UNDEAD!?" Albedo cracked.

A Undead Overlord in the Sorcerer Kingdom in a different universe didn't know he could sneeze.

"D-Do Y-You m-mean S-Surhshana?" Mare innocently asked.

"That backstabber who stole what rightfully belonged to the Pale King." Hornet scornfully spat.

"Yes, that traitor. The Slane Theocracy seems to worship him and his human guild members as some form of gods."

"..." The silence was deafening.

"Blasphemous! They deserve utter annihilation!" Demiurge angrily spat.

"If only he was alive, so I could kill him again!" Shalltear yelled.

"DESPICABLE! TRULY DESPICABLE!" Cocytus breathed frost.

"We should destroy that stupid religion! For someone else to be worshipped as a god when Shade-sama is here, it's stupid!" Aura shouted.

"Calm down. I understand why you hate him, I truly do. However we cannot be hasty about this. They might have [Downfall of Castle and Country] and many different divine tier items in their possession..."

"I want all of them, all of those items, brought here, into Nazarick's treasury. I'll be taking what's ours with interest. However we should be careful about doing this." He told his guardians.

After Demiurge calmed down from the blasphemy he just heard, his mind immediately started tinkering to utterly annihilate the Slane Theocracy. He would also have to account to not ruin his lord's image as well as protecting his moral code as it was something ingrained to him by Ulbert Alain Odle-sama.

"Shade-sama, may I?" He gave a smile as he raised his hand and received a nod from his lord.

"I believe that the most effective way to do this is to announce yourself to the outer world." He said and his lord tilted his head.

"We could have the Black Scripture to attack a small decoy group and then wipe the floor with them. Since we can currently monitor their movement and the divination magic they wield is pitiful, we would have a perfect stage set for them."

"..."

Looks like I've been anxious for nothing, as Punitto Moe once said. "Those who choose where the battle starts, have already won."

"Incredible idea Demiurge. Although we need to plan a spectacular show for my 'awakening' kekeke." He chuckled.

"Indeed we do, my lord. Indeed we do." Demiurge gave his own smirk.

"Onto the last part of the report, what else did Nigredo uncover, Sebas?" He asked him.

"The Cardinals plan to use their spies in the Kingdom, to save or kill the captives they believe are held by the Re-Estise Kingdom." Sebas explained.

"So they have spies within the kingdom as well?"

"Yes, Shade-sama." the Iron Butler replied.

"..."

I knew the Nobles were corrupt from the state of the villagers, but being this incompetent and still having a standing Kingdom is a fucking miracle. I need to keep these tumors out of my Kingdom. He mentally noted.

"I've told the villagers to signal me when they return and the Kingdom leaves them alone. They should signal me any time now, after that we are going to rebuild their village closer to Nazarick. From there, we will create The Knight Kingdom, and they will be it's first citizens after you." he announced and the guardians nodded.

Even though it takes multiple days for them to reach their ruined village from the Capital of Re-Estise, thanks to the King's Mark they bear, Shade Lord could tell exactly where they were and they could [Gate] them back to Nazarick whenever they wanted to.

"Well, since we are building a new Kingdom, we need a new name and a symbol of sorts, something unique..."

It would make more sense to start with the name of the kingdom, but that would also limit our creativity with the symbol.

"We will start with the symbol first. I'm open to suggestions." he announced.

Two of the guardians suddenly raised their hands with anticipation. Shade pointed at them, calling their name.

"Albedo."

"Yes! We should have your glorious guild insignia marked to every citizen with hot metal, Shade-sama!" she exclaimed.

Shade felt a phantom pain in his vessel's butt.

THEY'RE NOT LIVESTOCK! WHAT IS SHE THINKING!?

But he didn't have the heart to deny the suggestion after noticing Albedo's proud and adorable smile. He tried to salvage the situation by asking the other guardian.

"Demiurge."

"Yes my lord. I am of the same opinion." he stated.

ET TU DEMIURGE!?

"However, using a hot metal on our citizens would create an undesirable effect, others from this world would be weirded out. The wound could also be infected since the people of this world doesn't seem to be immune to sickness. Perhaps we can use some kind of trinket instead, my lord?" he said with his hand holding his chin.

Before Shade could reply, Aura raised her hand. Shade nodded to Aura.

"Isn't the King's Mark enough?"

"..."

The silence was louder than a thunder strike as Shade and the guardians realized they already had something unique to them. The silence didn't last long and was broken by the Archdevil that had a small grin on his face.

"The King's Mark belongs to the Pale King. With all due respect, perhaps our lord is simply looking to leave his own unique mark in this world with this suggestion." The demon said and all of their heads turned to Shade.

"Y-Yes! That is exactly what I was thinking, Demiurge." He replied nervously.

It's definitely not because I want our kingdom to look cool! He thought, still plagued by his gamer brain.

Cocytus raised his hand.

"Yes, Cocytus?" Shade tilted his head with curiousity.

"WHAT IF OUR CITIZENS WORE MASKS AS AN INDICATION THAT THEY BELONG IN YOUR EMPIRE?" he suggested which brought a few approval and hmm's along the guardians.

"An identification in the shape of a mask.. Your suggestion holds merit Cocytus, we should also find a way to track our citizens through these masks. However their quality must also be exceptional and no one should be able to replicate them."

"Brother?" Hornet raised her hand.

"Yes, Sister."

"We could ask the Mask Maker to create masks for our citizens. I am sure he could craft masks with tier 4 and lower magical spell immunity. It would both protect our citizens to a degree and would be hard to replicate in this world." She suggested.

Hmm.. It is a good idea to have some form of protection on our citizens, it would also be easy to detect if someone is using a replica, anyone who we can't track through the mask and those that get hurt from a low tier spell would be easy targets for interrogation. From what we currently know, the 4th tier spell's are basically the peak of average humans. Even that Astrologer girl, a member of an elite squad is still incapable of detecting Nigredo's divination magic and she was reportedly a 5th tier spell caster.

Although creating masks that make their users immune to 4th tier spells and under should be possible, it also doesn't save them from being harmed by other means.. [Martial Arts], a new type of ability, native to this world that Oro and Mato reported to me about. By their report, it seems insignificant against my nail skills, but it is definitely a variable to look out for.

"That sounds like a good idea Sister, we would be protecting our citizens, but they should also be soulbound. I can't have them stolen. Also, can we instill physical damage immunity into these masks?"

"I'm afraid I am not sure, brother. I would have to ask the Mask Maker about this." She replied with a defeated body language.

Just thinking about forming a conversation with that crazed rambling insectoid was enough for her to get a phantom headache. She somewhat regretted mentioning him but if it was for the future of Nazarick and his little brother's New Kingdom, dealing with the Mask Maker would be worth it.

"See it that you do. If this is possible, I would very much like this to be the norm in my Kingdom." He announced, before he realized something terrible.

To have them all wear the same masks would confuse everyone in the short term and completely destroy individuality in the long run. He recalled some moments from Earth. There were times where he was overworked and would run up to tall bulky looking strangers wearing hazmat suits and gas masks, thinking that they were his dead father, even long after he died.

"Also Sister, make sure to tell him that every mask he crafts should be different from each other."

"Of course, Brother."

"For now, we will see this through! If the Mask Maker is able to create such masks, consider this a decision made!" he announced.

"Yes, my lord!" echoed through the throne room.

"Now, we should choose a name for our new Kingdom." he said and this time everyone held their hand up, though one was overenthusiastic about it.

"Shalltear?"

"Yes! Since we are going to be naming this country after your beautiful self, we should call it the Beauty Kingdom!"

Ohhh, Guardians chorused in approval. Even his sister joined them.

Beauty Kingdom?! That sounds like a fucking nail salon! Also when did they decide that they would be naming it after me!? Sister, not you too!

"Aura?"

"The name should highlight your power! What about Power Kingdom?" she cheerfully said.

The guardians nodded in approval and murmured with eachother.

That doesn't sound as bad as the last one. So the king would be 'Power King', it sounds.. childish...

"Mare?"

"I-I uhh.. I t-think w-we could call t-this new K-Kingdom the L-Love Kingdom to h-highlight his k-kindness!"

Ooohhh! loud murmurs started.

LOVE KINGDOM!? THAT SOUNDS LIKE A BROTHEL! NO MARE! Ahh What will I say if he asks why I declined his suggestion!? He's just a child!

"D-Demiurge?"

"I propose the name, Justice Kingdom. To show the world your great sense of justice, my lord!" he exclaimed.

While many delved into murmors, Sebas gave a slow but careful nod. Yes, he would very much like such a name, but he also knew how the demon operated. He would be just to the innocent only and judge the criminals with utmost care, as much care as one would give to a dying cockroach.

Hmm.. I can't say I would like such a name, I don't particularly care about justice. Though I do wish to help others, I can't say I can do the Kingdom's name Justice with it being named.. Justice.. Kingdom..

... He mentally facepalmed as he realized the accidental pun.

Also! If Demiurge were to be a Judge, no doubt he would sentence a kid that stole a small piece of candy to lifetime torture! His vessel shivered at the thought.

"Sebas?"

"I also think Justice Kingdom would be appropriate, my lord."

"..."

Sebas.. agreed with Demiurge about something!? Okay this might be the weirdest thing I have seen after coming into this world thus far. What the fuck did you do?! Touch-san, Ulbert-san!?

"Sister?" He asked after mentally collecting himself.

"What about Lightning Kingdom, in accordance to your speed with the nail, brother?"

Guardians murmured in approval.

It fits the theme but 'Lightning King' fits Narberal Gamma more, though she would be the Ligtning.. Queen... I'm about to lose my goddamn mind. He thought as he pictured a red sports car.

"Albedo?"

"Since Shade-sama is the one leading the other Supreme beings, and the fact that lesser beings in this world should know that our Kingdom is superior, I think Supreme Kingdom would be appropriate."

The guardians once more murmured in approval.

So the king would be called the Supreme King.. It doesn't sound bad, okay. This is the best one so far... Huh, Cocytus wants to suggest something too?

"Cocytus?"

"IN THE FUTURE SHADE-SAMA WILL RULE OVER MANY PEOPLE, HE WILL BE A KNIGHT WHO RULES AS A KING. THEREFORE, KNIGHT KINGDOM WILL BEST FIT THAT."

Hmm, the Knight Kingdom.. Shade Lord, the Knight King... He tested the name in his mind.

"That is acceptable. Then, from now on I shall be known as The Knight Kingdom's, Knight King, Shade Lord!" His voice boomed through the throne room.

"Long Live the Knight King!" Guardians exclaimed and the throne room filled with loud cheers.

"OOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

"!?"

Hornet has been added to the Character Sheet.

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