The game I loved so much was coming to an end. A game that my brother and I could escape the world's cruel reality. A place where we had good friends and a powerful guild, in which we had spent hours of virtual blood, sweat and tears to build. Our guild Ainz Ooal Gown. Then slowly over time the guild members had quit, choosing real life over a fake one. It was truly a kick in the teeth, but it was understandable. It was easy to detach yourself from the real world, when you had nothing to tie you to it. That was the case of myself and my brother. We only had each other and as we both played Yggdrasil, it honestly wasn't a problem for us. But that was coming to an end, because this was the last day that the game would be in service...

We sat at a round table, it was large enough to seat 41 people at one time, a chair for each member of Ainz Ooal Gown, except me as I was too "young", so I was a honorary member. Now only three of us were present, HeroHero-san, my older brother Momonga-kun and me, Mystic.

"It's been a long time you two"

HeroHero-san was the one spoke, his avatar was a Elder Black Ooze, one of the strongest slime-type race. His appearance was a mass of a black, sticky substance. His tar-like surface roiled and writhed continuously, his body never staying in one shape for more than a second.

"How long has it been? Probably two years since you logged in last" Momonga-kun said, he had the appearance of an Overlord, an undead skeleton creature who was devoid of skin and flesh. He was wearing an elaborate, jet-black academic gown adorned with golden and violet edges. Furthermore, he had a type of tiny dark red glow radiating from inside his empty eye sockets.

"Wow has it been that long? I've been working so much the days just blend together, I feel like how my avatar looks" He glanced up and sent a tired looking emoticon, which appeared over the slimes head.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have come to just complain"

I spoke up grumpily.

"No you shouldn't it's the last d-"

"Mystic-chan don't be rude! Apologise to Herohero-san" Momonga-kun snapped at me, but Herohero-san just shook his head chuckling.

"Momonga-san it's fine, I've missed you guys, but I have to go I have to get up early tomorrow and I'm seriously exhausted."

"Sorry Herohero-san I didn't mean to upset you!" I mumbled "Don't go..."

Another emoticon jumped over his head, it was a smiley.

"No, no it's not because of you, I just really need the sleep, I wish I could stay until the end, but I'm falling asleep here"

My brother was looking down at his skeletal hands, slowly he nodded.

"I understand, you get your rest, thanks so much for coming"

The ooze looked over to the skeleton.

"you really were a great guild master you know Momonga-san, I was really surprised that the Great Tomb of Nazarick is still under Ainz Ooal Gown's control."

I glanced up from my spot, I was a little taken back by that comment, my brother seemed feel the same.

"of course, I'm the guild master it's my duty after all, it was no trouble at all and Mystic-chan has been helping out too"

I nodded, if my avatar could grin, it would be.

"Anyway see you guys, maybe one day we'll meet IRL"

Herohero logged out.

Onii-chan sighed and glared at the chair that HeroHero-san had been.

"He's gone at least he bothered to come..."

I nodded quietly, that was true he was the only one to show his face, even after Momonga-kun had sent everyone e-mails.

I sat for a while staring down at my hands, they were the lovely colour of milky coffee and covered in freckles nothing like my real body. Mystic was pretty, Shika Satoru was not. She was an average 10 year old at best, with no friends and bad social anxiety. Mystic was cool, she had friends and the social anxiety was almost non-existent. I had designed Mystic to look the way I wanted to look in real life, minus the furry hindquarters of a deer of course. She was made to trick people into thinking she was a cute and innocent little fawn (And a different race as well), when It was actually a custom design to hide her true form (which was from a cash item that allowed you unlock and create another form, Onii-chan had bought it me for my 8th birthday), which was a tall dark chocolate brown bipedal deer demon, with towering antlers and bright red eyes. The very same race as my sempai Ulbert, only his avatar had been a anthropomorphic goat. Though the form I kept to most of time was the one I was currently in, the fawn. She had long dark brown curly hair, with two small antlers peaking from the waves. Her cheeks were sprinkled with freckles and her large eyes had long lashes.

And soon only Shika Satoru would be left, it was honestly depressing to think about, there would be no escaping reality. The only person that I would have left was my brother, knowing him, he'd would throw himself into his work as he had nothing else to do. He would just work, take care of me and forget all about himself. I did not want that, never again, already lost my mother to-

No, don't you dare think about that! It's the past, the future is in front of you. You cannot look back! Keep it together, Onii-chan needs you to take care of him. Your silly brother needs you to look after him, he only has you. Nobody else, just you! Suck it up you idiot, that's not going to happen to Onii-chan, I won't let it happen! I filled myself up with determination once again and nodded confidently.

I heard movement, Momonga-kun had risen to his feet, he had turned his back to me. Aww he's upset, maybe he needs some time to himself. Mmm well I did want to do some maintenance on the 7th floor for the last time anyway, I can't neglect my duties even on the final day!

"Okay see you later Onii-chan, I'm heading out"

"yes, ok..." He grunted absently, I left Momonga-kun standing deep in thought in front of the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown.

I teleported using one of my rings, it's name Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown, I know super inventive. The item was red and gold with the guilds flag marked on the surface. It was the weakest ring I had, but probably the one I used the most, it was terribly useful, allowing the wearer to transport themselves almost any where in the Great Tomb of Nazarick. There were exceptions like no teleporting to the throne room or the guild members personal rooms, for obvious reasons.

The place I had arrived at was the 7th floor, why had I come to such a hellish and fiery landscape? Well the answer was pretty simple, I had been one of the people to help create it. Ulbert-sempai had been my mentor of a sorts, I honestly thought he was the coolest guy I knew next to my brother. He was really into the art of being evil, it didn't mean he was evil, but more that he and I loved playing the role of bad guy. And that was what he mentored me about, how to role-play a truly evil character. In truth we were just two huge nerds who always enjoyed the villain in shows more then the main hero, the fact was that the villain always seemed the most interesting person.

I suppose that wasn't the only reason we got on so well, my brother and him were good friends before hand, and they shared a certain understanding that other people did not. The reason was because they were both "losers" in life as Ulbert-sempai put it. And I guess that was why he treated me so kindly was for that reason, he lost his parents just like us. It was a kind of kin-ship, people had joked that Ulbert-sempai was Momonga-kuns wife and I was their kid. Though I was not really sure why... when ever I asked people, all I'd get was sniggers and tell me I was to young. Geez how freaking annoying! Gah, adults what can you do?

I started towards my destination, as I trotted along with my shiny black cloven hooves I hummed, the tumbling ruins were all around me, the sheer size of the lava filled floor made me feel very small. Many statues of Greek gods littered the way, I skipped over a goddess with missing arms and past a distorted angel, before stumbling over a crumbling pillar. Finally after my short journey, I came to my destination. Once, this place was a majestic Grecian-style temple, but the columns were scattered like they had violently collided with each other, and the statues of various gods had been profaned and smashed. The ceiling had been broken down, and the pieces were lodged in the ground. It resembled the ruins left after demons had cast the gods down from their place in heaven. That was what it was meant to look like anyway. Well I thought it looked cool and it had taken a long time to build up (destroy...)

Someone was stood in front of the ruin, he was the one I had come to see. His name was Demiurge, a humanoid demon. He was the NPC that Ulbert-sempai and I had created together. Demi did look like a human but with a few striking differences. Long pointed ears one of them was studded with several earrings, a sharp face with very defined features, normal smirk in place. Glasses sat neatly on his nose, they give him a look of high intelligence, whilst Demiurges black hair was slicked back. His British suit was tidy and clean, he truly looked like a gentleman. But the demons most prominent feature was his long metal plated tail, ending in six long sharp points at the tip.

"Hello Demi"

I said trying to keep the sad undertones hidden, I didn't expect a response, he was just a bunch of code and data with no emotions. The expression didn't change on his face nor did he look down at me when I spoke, even the smug smile was just a simple aesthetic, it had no actual emotion behind, he might as well have been pokerfaced. Though that didn't mean I couldn't be nice to him.

I reached out for Demiurges settings, which instantly popping up in front of him, scrolling though his skills, then background and finally at the bottom of the page was the floor settings. I mean I could walk around the floor and do the maintenance manually, but I didn't have enough time, the server didn't have time... So Demiurges data connection to the 7th floor would have to do.

Checking over the traps, which were functioning normally, well with the exception to the pitfall, it never worked. Probably some kind of glitch? I donno know, but we kept the thing as it was hilarious. The trap did it's job even if it was wrong, instead of a enemy falling into a pitfall filled with lava, the ground would erupt like a mini volcano. It confused the hell out of thieves with the skill detect trap.

The other NPC's were in their normal positions, guarding the floor from intruders. They consisted mostly of demon like races, from simple POP monsters to custom made NPC's, levels varied from high to low. Each one had its purpose and reason for being on the 7th floor.

The general building status (which happened to say destroyed; structure respawn inactive, which was in a good way). Ulbert-sempai had programmed the temple to be frozen when it was destroyed (basically unable to respawn over time) and as we were the ones who had gone to town on this place to begin with... Though the other members of the guild didn't get why we did It, even when Ulbert-sempai and myself had tried explaining it. In response, all we'd get is "uh" or be called weird because of the route we had taken with this floor...

I sighed heavily, my thoughts of the former guild members came with a rush of unwanted emotions.

Dammit I want to cry again, why did they have to leave us? I miss them, I miss my friends... This sucks! I'm such a cry baby, no, I'm worst I have no backbone at all! I'll never have anymore friends like them, real people scare me too much, I can always read their faces and they always have eyes full of malice when they look at me. Why is that? What did I do to deserve all of that... I'm a nice person, right? But then again Onii-chan says

"You know Shika-chan, nice people do get bullied, but that's not to say you shouldn't be nice, if you stop being nice they win..."

Sniffling quietly, I took a deep breath and held it in for a moment and when I felt calmer I released it. Onii-chan is always right, he's so cool and wise like an old man. I guess 25 is pretty old or is he 30. Wow, ok this is embarrassing, he would definitely whack me one if I got it wrong. Wait he was 15 when our mother died and I was 2- oh, hang on a second... Erm math is not my strong point. Well I don't care, this isn't going to bother me! It did.

Flicking back up to his personal settings, I stood staring at Demiurge for a bit after reading what his summery said. Wow, Ulbert-sempai we created one sick bastard, I can't believe we made such a screwed up backstory for him. Well he is a demon, he is meant to be like that. But still some of this is pretty disturbing, well that just goes to show we might not be as nice as we think... Ulbert-sempai did have a twisted sense of humour and I definitely have some questionable ideas, hey it's not my fault humans are horrible and I find giving them a hard time appealing. Though "He enjoys tormenting humans (worms) by inflicting as much emotional pain as possible, before promptly playing with them physically (e.g. pulling limbs off...) and then if he likes his new "toy" enough he will keep them for another day" which I wrote was all kinds of "what's wrong with your head Mystic?". But I would never actually dream of hurting anyone in real life.

I was to scared to ever raise my hand anyone, no matter how they treated me, how much they pushed me or how much they hurt my feelings. I don't want to hurt anyone at all. If anything real people are terrifying, I don't understand them, confusing and often cruel I can't bring myself to like them.

Tilting my head up to the stalactites hanging from the ceiling, so sharp that it looked as though teeth were locked into the rocky gums, they looked as if they about to chew up the whole floor. Perfectly themed for a hellish landscape. And all this for absolutely nothing, simply going to erased. As if all those hours, all the love it took to create this place, the whole tomb of Nazarick. It didn't mean a damn thing. Not in this world...

"5 minutes left, brilliant"

Bitterness oozed from my words, my fingers were trembling and my heart was heavy in my chest.

"Momonga-kun, what are you up to? I expect you went to the throne room for the last time."

Pretty fitting for the guild master. Though I wonder if you visited Pandora's actor before hand? He's guarded the treasury loyally for the guild, a simple thank you is all he needs. You created him after all. No probably not, you've never been big on talking to NPCs, something about it being embarrassing. Well I don't get that. But the throne idea is a neat way to go out.

"Come on Demiurge!"

I said as I fell in to a trot, only to realise he wasn't following me a beat later, rolling my eyes I headed back over to him.

"Right, right, it's 'follow me'"

The demon responded this time and fell in behind me. His movements reminded me of a old robot I'd see in a museum, jagged and forced, with no fluidity.

"Moving like that must hurt"

No surprise, I only got a blank stare. Shaking my head, I carried on to my destination with Demibot in tow. It didn't take long to arrive, straight a head a large opening spread wide, in the centre was a pale white throne which sat on uneven ground. It was probably the most well maintained thing on the entire 7th floor, even with the large claw marks carved in to it. What would a powerful and evil demon lord be with a throne to sit on?

"Sorry Demi I'm gonna steal your throne for a bit"

I probably sounded way to excited at the prospect of sitting on a clawed up chair, but I do have my reasons. Ulbert-sempai always sat on the throne, he was the master after and I was the student. I recalled his words fondly even of there was a touch of annoyance in there.

"Mystic-chan you can't sit on here until you beat me in a fight of wits, meaning you got to be smarter then me in a battle and you have to throw an a evil speech in there too! Come on kiddo me and mommy Momonga-san need a strong daughter to take the throne when we kick the bucket!"

I miss the teasing, even if the whole daughter joke became a silly thing people ended up laughing about more then they probably should have... I got no clue why it got to be so popular. Saying that, it came about shortly after we met Ulbert-sempai in real life, I had nagged both them so much that we actually met up. It was fun until I went to the restroom and I came back to awkward blushing and stuttering from both ends. Something happened in that short amount of time that I was gone and I have no idea what. Soon after the guild members started joking around saying that Ulbert-sempai was officially Momonga-kun wife... As I said before the answer I got was "Your to young, ask again when you're older"

I certainly will! I hate being left out, especially when it concerned my brother being some goats husband. I was left up to my imagination, which was not a great plan, Demiurge was definite proof.

Look at that I'm lost in thought again, regaining control my mind once again. I perched on the throne and let out a childish giggle. Wiggling around excitedly for a few seconds, I was internally pulling my tongue at Ulbert-sempai.

"The student has now surpassed the master, eh Ulbert-sempai!"

Before sadness pulled at my heart strings once again.

"Well maybe not really, I still think your coolest, I could never surpass Ulbert-sempai. But for just these last few minutes I'd like to feel like I earned the right to sit here."

I felt my cheeks getting wet and my eyes started to blur. Shika was crying. Shika couldn't hold it in any longer.

"I can sit here because Ulbert-sempai isn't here to tell me not. He never will."

He left us, he left me.

Why did you all leave?

Weren't we all friends?

Don't we mean anything at all?

No they didn't abandon us, no we abandoned them. We abandoned real life, they couldn't leave there families, the matter was harsh but true, real life didn't like us or it wouldn't of taken our mother...

Times almost up, 30 seconds left.

I turned to face Demiurge one last time, my heart was thundering at this point, I stood up on the throne so I was at his height. Leaning forwards, my hand gently ruffling his hair.

I let out soft breath

"Thank you Demi, you did a brilliant job, now you can rest peacefully"

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