Enjoy some self-indulgent writing. Pure speculation, headcanon and possible OOCness below.
Suzuki Satoru was there to witness the end of civilization.
The year was 2138. Despite the leaps and strides made by technology, Earth cannot stop her inevitable degradation. The stubborn use of fossil fuels, with clean energy still struggling to keep up, had gradually corroded the atmosphere until the coup de grace delivered with the Great Discharge of 2125. Dubbed the greatest ecological disaster in recent history, two-thirds of the Amazon jungle was set aflame, completely destroying most of the Western Hemisphere's ecosystem. Faulty and outdated tubes drawing crude oil from the Amazon basin was found to have leaked copious amounts of oil undetected during the past few years, which caught fire due to the sweltering heat, having long worsened due to gobal warming. It did not stop there. Five days later, the Yucatan-Campeche-Quintana Refinery Complex burst into flames, forever contaminating the Gulf of Mexico and pernamently rendering most of Southern Mexico and Lower Central America uninhabitable. Million died, tens of millions more displaced, trillions of dollars in damage.
By the time Satoru graduated and began work Earth had only a few years left in her. He can already see the effects – evident on Japan's smog-ridden skyline. It was so bad they had to install an LCD screen to mimic the sunrise.
Suzuki Satoru was born apathetic. If he looks away at what ever happened, it never happened. Ever.
Values like altruism, honesty and kindness have began to disappear as part of the inevitable decline of society. Friends, family, colleagues have become merely relationships of convenience. The call for greed far eclipses the cries for a better future; for a stronger, loving world. Suzuki Satoru learned more from that fledging society than he could ever had from his loved ones.
He sometimes wondered if he ever loved them.
Suzuki Satoru cried only once.
It was when his mother died suddenly. He recalled it perfectly.
It was a night like all nights. He was coming home after work. Dinner should be prepared by then. As soon as he stepped in and clicked the door after him…
Thunk. Like a hollow log crashing against a body.
There was his mother. On the ground. Stiff and still warm.
First, it was surprise, then confusion. Then it was hope, then finally…
Crippling realization. Screams. Tears.
Then, frozen silence.
Even after the paramedics carried his mother away, having pronounced her dead the moment of their arrival.
She's… not dead yet,…
…is she…?
…
…
…
He asks himself, in vain. Late, now.
Better now to finish that stale dinner.
Suzuki Satoru had lots of distractions.
In a world so broken beyond repair, the best thing to do is to look away.
His mother's family had owned the house long before he was born. Satoru's grandfather, long passed away, had a great trove of books that he kept in his dilapidated closet. Novels, short stories, plays all. Satoru, then no older than 8 years old, with his endless curiosity, dug in.
It enthralled him.
Shakespeare and Ibsen taught him verse.
Robert Ludlum, Stephen King and John le Carre kept him on the edge of his seat.
Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and Eugene O'Neill gave him a taste of true drama.
Haruki Murakami, J.M. Coetzee and Orhan Pamuk left him melancholic.
By the time he was 16, he had gone through every single book in the trove. By the time he was 20, he had memorized every storyline, every quote, every plothole they have. But like the humans that consume them, distractions do evolve.
By the time he was 23, DMMO-RPGs became popular worldwide, with stand-outs such as Gun Gale Online, Battlefield: Unscourced and most famous of all, Yggdrasil. He drops everything and falls headlong into this brave, new world.
It sucked him in, like flies to a drop of honey.
Are the books to him, temporary companions of a bygone era?
Has he truly forgotten them?
Suzuki Satoru is a perfectionist.
He was beaten black and blue when he first joined. It was not a good time for those playing as an Heteromorphic Race class.
If it weren't for Touch Me's words, he would've quit the game. History would've been unmade.
As times pass and Yggdrasil inevitably wanes in popularity, as do DMMO-RPGs in general, players have slowly dropped out.
Including his own guildmates.
Therefore, as leader of Ainz Ooal Gown, Satoru, or Momonga as he calls himself, took it upon itself to maintain their guildhall, the feared Great Tomb of Nazarick.
Solo hunting and farming areas were excavated endlessly for gold needed to maintain the dungeon. Monster hunts, guild wars, missions of all levels,… the lot. Gold poured into the Treasury like sand in a construction site. He became a double salaryman – both in life and fiction.
Few can say whether his attempts had paid off, but so far, Nazarick still stands, steadfast against all intruders.
Suzuki Satoru, as Momonga, now quietly awaiting the end.
It's over. Yggdrasil, as humungous and influential as it can be, announced its shutdown date not long ago. Servers closed, players evicted…
All shall be lost.
Everything runs its course.
Momonga sits alone at the table, having seen off the last of his guildmates. Herohero was the last to leave. He cursed them for leaving him, and the guild, all alone. Only to realize that the lives of his friends do not lie solely around a glorified distraction.
He quickly teleports to his throne.
He summons the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown in his bony hand. The crowning achievement of his, and his friends', hard work. Sebas Tian and the Pleiades Six Stars lay in wait beneath the throne steps.
After fiddling with Albedo's original programming (Tabula Smaragdina won't really mind, would he? It's not like she'd actually fall in love or anything), he looks at the banners of his comrades. He remembers them.
Shijuuten Suzaku.
Ankoro Mochi Mochi.
Herohero.
Peroroncino.
Bukubukuchagama.
Tabula Smaragdina.
Warrior Takemikazuchi.
Variable Talisman.
Genjiro.
That's right. It was fun…
It was really fun.
AN: Overlord is possibly the best anime I have ever watched for a long time.
Well written, grey morality, OP protagonist? Check
Well rounded supporting cast? Check
Shitty isekai tropes? Either none or subverted.
General awesomeness? Check check check check!
I'll probably do a crossover in the future. I'm already full of ideas.