Author's Note: It's Elizabeth Bathory! Oh no! The gothic loli Lancer with a singing voice capable of exploding eardrums! How exactly with Nazarick deal with this monster- Oh wait, they're all monsters… But this one screeches! I'll like to give a shoutout to a fellow writer of Hakuno fanfiction celian Cogitore (Same guy as below). His stories come quite close to the storytelling of my Digital Human Series! He's written Hakuno-chan in three separate universes so far, my favorite being both Fantasy Warhammer and Call of Cthulu (Tabletop)! Give him a chance!
Jmspikey: Haha, I do have a minor running gag that Hakuno believes the Moon Cell likes messing with her.
Magostera: Glad I made you laugh, I do try to have a good level between Overlord and Fate/Extra type of story-telling.
EvanderAdvent: I have thought about having Medusa plenty of times for this story.
Engineer4Ever: Hakuno is quite the power-house in Supreme One, and she can probably beat some of the weaker Servants single-handily. But she's still primarily a support build and isn't built for direct combat.
Zeedmillionmon: A fellow Digimon fan, eh? Anycase, Nazarick is powerful, it would no doubt take the mid to higher end of Servants to fight against them. Elizabeth wouldn't survive fighting against a Floor Guardian, though she can possibly beat the Battle Maids one-on-one save for Sebas and Aureole Omega. The 'systems' that each side work on may have similarities, but they function differently that it's hard to tell.
Pheonixblade17: Yeah, I thought Elizabeth would make a good choice considering her visual appearance. I even have some plans for her concerning Shalltear and Sebas, considering both the vampire and draconic points.
Daemon of Crawling Tentacles: PRAISE BE TO LADY HAKUNO! SOVEREIGN OF THE MOON!
Celian cogitore: It definitely did.
ReavesTheReader: Hilarity in the future awaits, poor Hakuno.
A Supreme One, an Inheritor, an Victor, She is described in many things. But can the girl of the moon keep a new world from the destruction caused by her friends? Or will the distant star devour all before then?
Digital/Supreme One
Chapter 15: Ainz's Thoughts on Events
Lord Ainz Ooal Gown, known as Momonga to his guild members, admittedly had grown rather stressed by the recent events that transpired. If he had to summarize it all, Demiurge's plan had gone off brilliantly, provided a few last-minute changes per Ainz's request to save face. While Hakuno and Shalltear had been elsewhere for the past few days, Ainz under the guise of the Dark Hero Momom, helped save the city of Restize from the demonic villain of Demiurge's own disguise, Jaldabaoth.
From an outside perspective, things went rather well in the grand scheme; Nazarick's coffers got a major boost in New World finances, they subjugated the underground criminal network to their own ends, and Momon received quite the reputable increase as an Adamantium Adventurer.
But there were plenty of details that Ainz found troublesome, if not for his own supervision of Demiurge's plan, something Ainz only did under criticism from his guild member, there might have been a few mishaps.
They managed to avoid direct confrontation with the other Adamantite Team, Blue Roses, and even gain information about them. Their combat level was quite high for New World standards so far, Ainz could recognize that even some of Nazarick's lower level denizens would fall to them, so having avoided hostilities was quite a boon. With the exception of demon summons, Blue Roses hadn't managed to do any harm to Nazarick's forces.
Demiurge had spoken praises to Ainz for his foresight, though it had only been a small piece of advice that such a vast criminal organization could likely draw other factions against them. This advice had Demiurge avoid any incidental conflicts when it appeared that the Adventurer's Guild was also striking against the Eight Fingers at the same time period.
It also allowed for a more staged introduction of Jaldabaoth, instead of winging it on a yen, certifying Jaldabaoth's presence and threat while also increasing Momom's own as a countermeasure to the demon.
Another catch had prevented Demiurge from taking the women and children elsewhere, but not the men, from some of a vast population of the capital. Honestly, Ainz had a rough time trying to make an excuse for that, but he pushed through for Hakuno's sake and for her Traveler Project. She reminded him to keep a sense of morality, even if it was more a mental obligation than a feeling for what used to be his humanity.
He was ideally curious if Hakuno felt the same, if perhaps she also experienced something akin to an emotional suppressor. But so far, it didn't seem like that, so that could mean her race was neither undead or automaton.
"Mmh, perhaps she's more akin to our resident Immortal Human?" Ainz wondered out loud.
Her race had always been a mystery, it had been quite the discussion on determining if Hakuno met the required criteria as a Heteromorph to join Ainz Ooal Gown.
Albedo, who was at his side examining papers, looked at him curiously, "Who do you speak of, Lord Ainz?"
Ainz waved offhandedly, "It doesn't matter now, just mild pondering," He said as he picked up another few sheets of reports. He still had these to look over and Hakuno is currently relaxing on the 9th Floor, so no help on that front-
-In that instance, Ainz felt a somewhat familiar surge of energy wash over him. It wasn't directed at him, but rather felt it was coming from elsewhere. Still, it wasn't a signature he didn't recognize, though this might be his first time feeling it.
Albedo looked tense, the reports nearly dropped from her hands, "That was Lady Kishinami's World Class Item in use."
So that is why it felt familiar in spite of the contradiction?
"What prompted her to use a World Item?" Ainz felt concerned and a minor sense of dread in his mind.
After all, as every Player knows, the best use of a World Item is to counter other World Items.
"Report!" Albedo commanded through the use of [Message], her face turned into an expression of alarm. "Lord Ainz, there is an intruder on the 9th Floor!"
"Let us make haste!" Ainz abandoned his desk.
Another Player? How did they get through Nazarick's defenses? Did they have a World Item that bypassed them? That shouldn't be the case because of the [Throne of Kings] on the 10th Floor.
Also, they targeted Hakuno… The memory of the initial coma filled his head...
Momonga was confused, shocked, but most overall, concerned. The final countdown of YGGDRASIL's closure hadn't gone through, the server appeared not to have closed, the NPCs were acting bizarrely and without clear command. But most importantly, his kouhai now lay on the ground like a puppet cut of her strings.
The Battle Pleiades had formed a defensive perimeter around Hakuno Kishinami's prone figure. Lupusriniga had already attempted various healing spells to no result.
A fear gripped Momonga's heart for the well-being of his friend, but that feeling was soon suppressed to a clear head, logic and reason now served as his guide to this precarious situation.
Did Hakuno perhaps log out? No, her avatar was still present, and he could clearly see her breathing. His console wasn't working, he couldn't call a GM or even report an emergency ticket. Something was wrong, but first, he needed to check on Hakuno's condition and get control of the NPCs.
"That will not work, the [Moon Regalia] prevents all single-target Tier Magic," Momonga explained to the panicking Lupusregina. "Back away."
At his command, the werewolf stopped her attempts and retreated back into a defensive position. Momonga sat up from the [Throne of Kings] and walked to Hakuno's figure, his skeletal hand-checked numerous points, running by pure memory of the basic first-aid training.
"Lord Momonga," Albedo spoke. "What has happened to Lady Kishinami?"
He accessed his Inventory, ignoring his own surprise at how different it was to do things and yet knowing all the same. The [Sleep] or [Unconscious] status could be remedied with a consumable, which he brought forth and used on Hakuno.
To no effect.
"I do not know," He replied to Albedo, choosing to ignore the impossibility of her life-like actions.
Momonga debated whether to try Super-Tier Magic [Wish Upon a Star] or perhaps bring out a World Item. But, in the end, decided to instead make her comfortable, at least until he can figure out a more suitable solution after dealing with the situation.
"Yuri Alpha, bring Hakuno to her chambers. I want a rotation of Pleiades to guard her. Sebas, check outside of Nazarick, Albedo double-check our defenses. Something had changed."
Hakuno's sudden comatose state was the first and only hint that whatever had brought them to the New World was clearly hostile. It was a power beyond even World Class Items, and that very thought made Ainz even more cautious the more he learned that everything was real.
However, Ainz would not deny that her presence and sudden state at the time had served to drive him out of his stupor. He had found himself taking quick command of Nazarick for the next few days, creating a distraction from the shocking reality of what exactly happened.
But still, her state had been a constant reminder for two months, even as the New World spoke in contrast to his expectation of power, Hakuno's comatose form would bring Ainz back into his cautious thoughts.
That the true enemy remained somewhere out there.
It was also the reason why he was perhaps a bit more proactive as well, his cautiousness drove him to approve other plans before the incident with Shalltear...
A spy network that extended to other countries besides the Kingdom, which is why Hakuno managed to have information on the Baharuth Empire...
Additional means to gain revenue outside the Adventurer stick, a source of steady currency that supplement Nazarick's New World expenditure. There were a few small companies under different aliases, interconnected through a wide web that didn't directly lead to Nazarick…
Wider experimentation on various Tier Magic spells, in search for a potential cure for Hakuno's then comatose state. Which lead to quite a few discoveries on how some Tier Spells functioned now.
These and more were actions that Ainz Ooal Gown had taken that he would otherwise not have so early.
Now, that potential enemy might have struck yet again. Ainz was prepared to fight an opponent that might match a World Enemy from YGGDRASIL. A climactic battle where all the Floor Guardians would have to be called back to face a mighty opponent.
He arrived at the 9th Floor's Hot Springs using the [Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown] and barged into the area with Albedo at his side.
In all honesty, he was probably a bit too emotionally driven to think rationally at that point.
Hakuno Kishinami stood in the streamy water stark naked, covering her chest and nether regions with hands while scolding Lupusregina and an unknown individual with demi-human or heteromorphic characteristics.
Ainz felt his emotional suppression attribute shoot off immediately at his kouhai's state, stopping him from doing anything that would have otherwise foiled his reputation.
Albedo didn't so much as hesitate as she moved to apprehend the stranger.
"Stop!" Hakuno commanded at Albedo immediately, causing the manager of the Floor Guardians to freeze, visibly split between the decision to obey her Lady or eradicate the potential threat.
Ainz wisely decided to glance away from his friend's nude state and instead focus on the humanoid with either reptilian or draconic features, it was hard to figure which in particular. Unfortunately, Ainz forgot a crucial detail, and that his face lacked the expression to accurately tell who he was looking at.
"Momonga, turn around," Hakuno spoke, already trying now to access her own inventory and cover herself...
"Ah- Right," Ainz was briefly overwhelmed by a sense of common courtesy and turned away, but a moment later when he remembered the problem in the room. "No, I cannot. Hakuno, who is that?" He referred to the newcomer.
"Lancer," Hakuno answered straightforwardly. "Alright." She said.
He turned back around, comforted by the fact that Hakuno Kishinami now wore her usual roleplay attire [Sovereign's Robe], though it was a bit soaked due to the water.
That didn't stop Lancer from introducing herself, "I am the pop idol of the Servant world! Though I have to say, this is quite a strange place, the information in my head is abuzz with different knowledge," She rubbed her forehead like a small ache was bothering her.
"She's my Servant," Hakuno answered. "I'll explain later, everyone, leave. Lancer, please."
"Well, I know that a relaxing bath is important for one's beauty," The flat-chested lizard girl spoke. "So, I'll leave you be for now," She grinned mischievously and her entire form vanished in a display of data and magical energy similar to Hakuno's World Item.
Ainz drew a conclusion there.
"I see, false alarm then," He said to Albedo and quickly made haste to leave and give his friend some privacy, the Floor Guardian followed behind him, though glancing back worriedly to Hakuno, Lupusregina was also promptly kicked out.
It had been around half an hour since the incident at the hot springs, Hakuno Kishinami had retreated to her personal room elsewhere on the 9th Floor, leaving behind her assigned Pleiades and homunculi maid in favor of a more private moment. The Digital Human dried out her white dress quickly with a Code Cast, something she didn't usually do, and now stood alone in her own room.
Well, not exactly alone.
"Lancer," Hakuno spoke out.
With a display of magical energy astralizing into existence, the fourteen-year-old Heroic Spirit manifested in front of her Master. And before Hakuno could so much as speak a word, the Servant's expression broke into a mild panic.
"What the hell is this place, squirrel?!" Lancer shouted with a shocked and worried face. "Great Tomb? YGGDRASIL? New World? Super scary skeleton man?"
Hakuno could only nod to all of those inquiries, it was not surprising that the summoned Servant would be provided with the knowledge necessary to understand the current era. The Moon Cell would also know every detail, its observation of Earth would cover its post-dystopia virtual realms like YGGDRASIL, though Hakuno was unsure if the Earth whose network she had found herself in was the same one where she was born.
As for the New World, however, well, the Moon Cell was no stranger to alternate timelines. The true question remained on why exactly it has chosen to forcefully summon a Heroic Spirit.
After all, it had not summoned a Servant in all the time that Hakuno Kishinami spent in YGGDRASIL. Sure, it had a presence, the Regalia attached to Hakuno's finger had served to broaden her knowledge and skills involving Mystic Codes and Code Casts.
"I was even summoned in the middle of my concert, didn't even sing the finishing line!" Lancer complained.
The Master blinked, out of all the subjects to be concerned about, that is what Lancer picked.
"Concert?" Hakuno questioned curiously, "You sing?"
The draconic girl's expression made a full one-eighty as she proudly puffed out her chest and had a smug smile on her face, "Of course, I am an idol. And you've been hired to be my manager, little squirrel."
"That might be a problem…" Hakuno replied. It was difficult to tell where a Heroic Spirit like Lancer would fit in the power scaling within The Great Tomb of Nazarick. But, forwent that, the most important factor was trying to explain Lancer's existence to Momonga, and by proxy, the rest of the tomb's denizens.
"What's wrong? If what I know is correct, you're a queen in this place! So, of course, you can manage any concerts. Just keep out the more creepy things and we'll be set to begin my world tour," Lancer explained excitedly.
Hakuno had a sinking feeling they might kill Lancer after the first recital. She needed to find a way to satisfy her Servant without killing the Heroic Spirit by letting her interact with Nazarick.
"Nazarick has a high standard," Hakuno began twisting her words. "If you have a world tour, this will have to be one of the last places. Like, a goal?" She said.
"Mhmm, I guess returning to base for a finale does fit a typical schedule," Lancer mumbled over it. "Very well, I look forward to your plans."
She did it.
Hakuno Kishinami managed to avoid certain doom.
Now to tell Momonga, and also have Lupusregina prepare some tea because her head was aching from immense stress. Who should actually be outside the door?
The Spiritron Hacker opened the door, revealing the werewolf battle maid who looked positively eager to serve. "Lupusregina, can you prepare some tea and deliver it to Momonga's office? I'm heading there to converse about recent events."
"Master, I wish for some as well," Lancer interrupted.
"Prepare an extra cup," Hakuno added.
The werewolf bowed her head, but Hakuno spotted the subtle glare towards the Servant. There were already bad relations, and rumors would spread quickly throughout the tomb, especially with a talkative individual like Lupusregina.
"Whatever assumption you have of Lancer is incorrect," Hakuno stated.
"A-apologies, Lady Kishinami," The werewolf replied, looking almost scolded. Did Momonga recently punish her? She wasn't normally this quiet.
"It's alright," Hakuno patted the bowed red-head, only with her at this stance was Hakuno able to do this, otherwise, Lupusregina was taller than her.
The werewolf's face became decorated with a pinkish hue.
Hakuno retracted her hand then proceeded to make her way toward Momonga's office, Lancer followed behind while Lupusregina left to obtain tea per her Lady's orders.
"Lancer, we are going to talk with Momonga."
"The spooky skeleton man?" Lancer inquired, her tail twitching at the thought.
A smile decorated Hakuno's face, "Yes."
"Then how about you do it and I'll… I'll just follow while astralized," She replied with an excuse.
"Alright," Hakuno agreed to that.
"Great! Oh, but I will still have that tea, I've gotten a taste for tea ever since I was invited to a Servant meet up," Lancer said.
Hakuno tilted her head in confusion, a Servant meet up? When did that ever happen?
"Ah, yes, my manager should be cute," Lancer nodded in acceptance before her physical body vanished into a spiritual state.
She didn't understand why exactly people kept telling her she was cute.
Ainz felt like he had pressured Hakuno in trying to explain the situation concerning Lancer. She didn't really need to, but he had been a bit emotionally driven while back at the hot springs when he needed to have acted rationally that he felt that his words might have come off forcefully.
Of course, Hakuno Kishinami now sat in a chair before him across the desk, no longer occupied by Lancer. She had come here to explain the situation concerning the said individual. Ainz had sent Albedo away for the meantime, hoping to have a more relaxed conversation with his friend rather than having to keep his persona as an Overlord throughout the entire conversation.
Again, she didn't need to.
Ainz had already come to the conclusion of two distinct possibilities concerning their new resident.
The first is that Lancer was a summoned entity, tied directly to [Moon Regalia]. That was the most straightforward example, Ainz had plenty of undead created through [Summon Undead] spells working in Nazarick. The spell itself functioned differently than in YGGDRASIL and had a different visual effect when a corpse was nearby. So it's not entirely surprising that Hakuno's own [Code Cast] list of spells might also be altered in some manner.
However, [Moon Regalia] was a World-Class Item. A World Item that Ainz only had a basic understanding of its effects. Out of many World Items that the guild of Ainz Ooal Gown had collected over the years, [Moon Regalia] was perhaps one of the oddest. Many WCIs had straightforward effects, but Hakuno's own had a wide arrangement of effects that didn't match the scale of a typical WCI yet also wasn't exactly weak to the point of Tier Magic matching it. That's not to say it was a weak WCI, the power-scaling of various World Items varied from one to another.
Ainz reasoned that because Lancer was summoned under a World-Class Item belonging to a member of the guild, the [Throne of Kings] didn't refute her appearance. After all, while World Items might resist one another, that rule didn't apply if the user accepted the other's effects.
In this case, the user of [Throne of Kings] was the guild Ainz Ooal Gown, which would accept Hakuno Kishinami, as they were one in the same guild.
They never did figure out where Hakuno Kishinami managed to obtain [Moon Regalia], she was already in possession of it prior to her joining Ainz Ooal Gown.
The second possibility was that Lancer was a prototype NPC that Hakuno Kishinami was in the process of creating but never finished, instead saving the altered data crystals within her Inventory. The guild's kouhai never managed to create her own NPC for Nazarick, the NPC Level Cap for the Guild had been met multiple times, but had been increased via the cash shop. When it met its max, plenty of guild members offered Hakuno to extend the cap again so that she can make her own NPC.
She denied their offer every time, in fact, Hakuno Kishinami remained the sole individual that had been entirely free-to-play. Not to say she hadn't used cash shop items, but Ainz had theorized that all of her family's currency had been applied to Hakuno's own higher education., something both he, Peroroncino, and Ulbert admired greatly.
Hakuno was more intellectual than Momonga, and plenty others, barring some other members.
Of course, such a thing was an accepted fact in that post-dystopian world they called Earth.
While a bit more far-fetched than the first theory, it may have been possible that the [Moon Regalia] brought to life the NPC under its own jurisdiction since the data was readily available. Possibly, it couldn't do this before in YGGDRASIL due to game limitations and hadn't done so in the early months of the New World as its user was comatose.
"I presume you wish to talk about Lancer?" Ainz questioned his kouhai.
"She's a unique type of summoned familiar," Hakuno answered straightforwardly, putting most of Ainz theory into the first conclusion. "But behaves like the others in Nazarick."
"Both?" Ainz questioned mostly to himself. "A summon that acts like the NPCs?"
So Lancer was both a summoned creature and an NPC-type entity? Did Lancer function like a summon, but had the personality and behavior factor of an NPC like Albedo and the others? Sure, the more intelligent summons that Ainz and the others had made had their own unique personality, but the behavior was still strictly loyal to the summoner above all. Did Hakuno imply that her summon, Lancer, had the capability to commit to actions outside the summoner's orders and typical summon restrictions?
"Yes," Hakuno said. "She's more like Shalltear and the others?" She questioned her own judgment on that, but it was the closest comparison.
"Does Lancer have the ability to betray?" Ainz questioned.
It had always been a slight concern that the NPCs could rebel against them if he was a bad boss.
Hakuno frowned, which made Ainz know for certain that it was indeed a possibility, still she answered him, "Yes, but there's a safety net." She flashed him a particular crimson tattoo that now decorated her left-most hand's backside. A quite elaborate design that Ainz found rather interesting, it would certainly fit in a game design found in YGGDRASIL. "Command Seal."
"I imagine that implies it gives you absolute commands the summon must obey," Ainz figured from his expertise in gaming knowledge.
She nodded in confirmation but didn't further clarify.
A way of acknowledgment that was quite typical of her.
"Mhm," Ainz trailed off. "But I imagine it can be used for other benefits besides that."
The girl nodded again, but this time explained a bit, "In most cases, augmentation of the Servant, more potent than my Code Casts."
"That's a substantial increase, your buffs were some of our best in-game enhancements," Ainz commented.
He knew that Hakuno's Code Casts were divided into different levels, similar to Tier Magic, but described in a manner more befitting a technological setting. A 'Code Cast: Heal 16' would match a 3rd Tier healing spell, whereby her highest rank, 'Code Cast: Heal 128', would match a 9th Tier spell. He knew that his kouhai was primarily a support build, though she did have some higher-grade offensive spells, they were mostly meant to delay or debuff enemies for other members of a party to come in and defeat the opponent.
However, it wasn't so much the power of her buffs that was special, but rather the versatility they applied and that they stack on top of one another.
Ulbert Alain Olde's [Grand Catastrophe] had completely one-shotted the boss Asura and its summons after Hakuno stacked offensive and magic-based buffs on him. It was perhaps the single-most exciting moment of him using that spell for his friend.
"Yeah…" Hakuno trailed off.
"You sound a bit concerned there," Ainz noted.
"Lancer… Lancer wants to be an idol singer, and I'm her manager."
Ainz' emotional suppression kicked in immediately.
"What?"
"I wonder when the tea arrives…" Hakuno sighed.