Chapter 0: Prologue:
Inside the 250-yard diameter desert [Cry of the Banshee] had left behind, a fierce battle between two powerful races was about to come to a close. For humanity, this event will be marked as the crowning achievement of the adamantite hero Momon of Darkness, his victory over the vampire Honyopenyoko. For the actual combatants though, something far more grim was happening.
Ainz was staring down his unwilling opponent, Shalltear Bloodfallen. She was a dear creation of his friend and former guildmate Peroroncino.
It was only because of Peroroncino's unyielding passion for her that Ainz was able to win, he knew every skill and weakness of Shalltear and indiscriminately and cruelly used them to guarantee only a complete victory.
It was time to end this senseless fight of Overlord versus underling.
Ainz POV:
"Super tier magic!"
Shalltear really had it coming for her, she believed every word I said during our duel. She's even letting me cast Super-Tier magic right in front of her! Although I can't blame her too much, cash-shop items really are cheap.
"Fallen Down!"
Ah, she realized it too late.
The scorching heat came down instantly. Shalltear could feel the weakest parts of her skin slowly crumbling down as her HP drifted down to zero. She finally dropped her Pipette Lance as her right hand dissolved, and it was then she realized it was over. No, she should have realized it long ago, when she first raised her blade against her one and only master.
Ah, How foolish I was, I bet you're making fun of me right now, shorty…
Still, as the rest of her body was drying up and turning into dust, there was one last thing she had to do, only if to regain some minuscule amount of honor as a servant of the Supreme Beings.
Ahh, I really hope I didn't miscalculate in the heat of things. Shalltear's HP should be hitting zero any second now, but it would be embarrassing if she survived after all the roleplaying I did, I don't think I could keep this facade of ruler up if I had to flee after draining all my mana.
Her Pipette Lance finally fell to the ground though, it seems I won't have to worry anymore. In the middle of the scorching white of Fallen Down, Shalltear is finally fading away. It's way more brutal than Yggdrasil ever was! When Shalltear fell on the 1500 player invasion, her body simply fell apart in the usual death animation, this is more…Huh?
Shalltear was still standing in front of me, for a moment it seemed like the light had returned in her eyes. I thought she would attack, but instead, holding her hand-less arm over her heart, she pledged to me.
"Hail Lord Ains Ooal Gown! The Supreme One is truly the strongest in all of Nazarick…"
"Hail Lord Ains Ooal Gown! The Supreme One is truly the strongest in all of Nazarick..."
There was an echo to her voice, and indeed, behind her was someone who by all means shouldn't be there. My mouth was agape if only for one moment, but before I could stretch my arms to reach out to the figure, he and Shalltear had crumbled away as the spell ended.
...Peroroncino-san, was that truly you?
In a nearby hill, two dark elves had finished watching the battle. Well, at least one was watching.
Aura sighed as the battle came to a close.
"Stupid. You got yourself mind-controlled even though you're undead."
"Sis, is something wrong?"
"It's nothing. We're done here."
"I-is it over then?"
"Obviously. Ainz-Sama is victorious"
Mare never doubted that result, but he still felt something was wrong, her sister wouldn't be in such a sour mood otherwise.
"I-is Shalltear gonna be okay?"
Aura stopped only for a second as she held her hand over her chest.
Ainz had gathered the Floor Guardians in the Throne Room to conduct Shalltear's resurrection. His mind was still foggy from the events of the battle, and as he raised up the list of names he wasn't surprised to see Shalltear's was missing.
There was really no other way, huh?
Ainz was apologizing not only to Shalltear in his heart, but also to Peroroncino. Even if there was no other way, he still felt guilty knowing it was his carelessness that led to this.
"I will be performing Shalltear's resurrection now. Albedo, watch over the name-list. If she's still under mind control…"
"In that event, let us Floor Guardians handle her."
Demiurge was quick to assure his and the guardians resolve, with Cocytus and Aura expressing quick agreement.
"If. Shalltear. Raises. Out. Of. Control. We. Will. Subdue. Her."
"We'll knock her out before she can cause any more trouble, Ainz-sama!"
Ainz wanted to object but had no words that could combat the combined resolve of the guardians, he could only accept them.
"Very well my guardians, protect me here and forever more!"
He could only pity himself at the image of his friends' creations bowing down to him.
…
Ainz took hold of the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown and began the process to resurrect Shalltear. Five hundred million gold were taken from the treasury for the occasion. In truth, this was more than originally necessary in Yggdrasil, but Ainz was willing to expend it so nothing went wrong.
The gigantic pile of gold coins began melting into a viscous liquid, shrinking and deforming as it began mounting in the center of the room. The flowing coins finally began taking humanoid form, and soon enough the golden body lost it's shine and revealed the waxy white skin below.
The body was undoubtedly Shalltear's.
"Albedo?"
Ainz motioned to the guardian overseer, but she didn't speak for a moment. The rest of the guardians were still braced for fighting while surrounding Shalltear, but something felt wrong.
Ainz grew impatient and opened up his own name-list using the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown.
"...What is this?"
The name of Shalltear Bloodfallen had appeared once again on the panel, not reddened like it was when she was under mind control, but now grayed out.
"...mein Father, Lady Shalltear doesn't seem to be responding to us."
"Pandora, surely there's no need to press Ainz-Sama about it, I'm sure he has it under control."
It was Demiurge that tried knocking down Pandora's worries, but the latter was starting to see through Ainz's mood. He choose to seal these thoughts away and wait for his masters' words.
As indicated by the system, Shalltear Bloodfallen HP was at Zero out of Zero, her stats locked away. In essence, Shalltear wasn't dead, but seemingly erased.
Ainz was the master of death, but this was something else entirely. As he was staring through the system with running thoughts, he finally realized the new job classes he had gained.
A/N:
Here ends the first chapter of something I don't know if I'll continue. Although I'm glad I managed to write it out in the first place, I don't know if I'm too happy with the quality of the writing. I've written this chapter for the idea of a more tragic route to Overlord, and while I have some scenes drawn out, it's nothing too deep at the moment. It'd be a domino effect kind of fic, aiming to show how things would change with this first happening, and later on other things such as Ainz returning Sebas and Solution back to Nazarick, effectively halting their mission in the kingdom.
I'm publishing this for thoughts and criticisms on the writing mostly, but if people seem interested in the plot and find the writing bearable, I may find the will to continue it.
Right now I'm aware this chapter is very poor content-wise. I admittedly didn't want to stretch things out, first because I believed people wouldn't want to read mostly the same events from the original story again, and because I believed I would stretch things out unnecessarily if I described everything in detail (kind of a stigma against my own unpolished writing style, but oh well, hopefully, I'll get better). Since future chapters will rely on those divergences, I will try and write out things in a more smooth fashion, with more natural progression