Chapter 5 Truth
In an ideal world, had [Dimensional Lock] been able to affect the enemy, Pandora would have had enough time to active Touch Me-sama's super-tier magic, the [Sword of Damocles] while the human was still at the opposite side of the battlefield. As it was now, Jim was flying in his field of vision when the giant, stylish sword materialized on the sky. The size of a 30-floor building, the glowing sword fell much faster than anything of that size had the right to, impaling the objective accurately.
It was the first cry of pain the enemy had let out since the fight started, and even if it was a short one, Pandora relished in it as he confirmed the impact to the HP with his enhanced vision.
Momentarily satisfied with the success of his attack, he used a support item to teleport to the opposing side of the battlefield, barely dodging the after-effect of the [Sword of Damocles]. Nothing happened when the massive sword impaled the target, but the instant the tip touched the ground—
The deafening sound of an explosion filled the air, the air pressure turning into slashing shockwaves which tore through the ground. It affected everything on the sky, on the earth, and buried underground, there was no hiding from it.
The low and mid-tier summons that were in that side of the battlefield died instantly, as the great wave engulfed the area surrounding the point of impact, leaving behind nothing but a cloud of dust, which looked almost like a sandstorm due to its intensity.
"Make the high-tiered survivors retreat, he may attempt to gain control over one," his creator's voice instructed over the shared link Albedo had constructed, to keep communication open among all parties during the battle.
"Already on it. Also, more summons are being sent to replace the ones lost, this time focusing on those specialized in air combat, as ordered," Albedo answered immediately.
"Well done. Pandora, did you have enough time to see the impact?"
"Yes! It dealt heavy damage; the end of his HP is now visible!" Pandora confirmed, even as he moved to try to relocate the enemy once more.
"I see… then I was right in my deduction."
"Yes, Ainz-sama!"
The Overlord's magic resistance was able to completely nullify low and medium level magic, regardless of his opponent's magic strength. On the other hand, Shalltear's resistance to magic depended on her opponent's level.
The magical resistance of their enemy seemed to be like the one of Shalltear.
"Hmph. But if he's a Raid Boss— that explains why he didn't react to my attacks until I equipped on the Guild weapon," Ainz-sama stated matter-of-factly, before adding, seemingly to himself, "shitty devs, there's no player that could equal a damn Raid Boss on their own, why give it that kind of magical resistance?"
Pandora didn't know what a "dev" was, but he silently cursed that word in his heart as well.
[Flying] during an ambush was, usually, a very quick way for anyone to die since all multiple enemies would have a clear shot at the individual. That was the reason most of Nazarick forces had been focused on covering the ground.
…only for most to be rendered useless due to Jim's magical protection, as the man took the less-likely action at the beginning of the battle and flew all over the Great Forest of Tob.
Really, the design of such an enemy was — as Tabula-sama would say — unfairly "broken", especially when paired against magic casters just like his creator, and considering the restriction they had on Physical attackers due to the unknown brainwashing factor— well, designing a fighting strategy wasn't exactly easy.
Thus, upon discovering this, the Overlord had instructed him to use Touch Me-sama's settings instead of the original plan of relying in Ulbert-sama's chaotic magic, which delayed things a little, even considering that Pandora had only gone to the protected dome behind Aura's fortress to change equipment.
The reason he had not returned to Nazarick was to prevent the enemy from learning that they could replenish their forces indefinitely using the [Portal] spell. This would make him think that the strength of the guild could be worn down over time; a false sense of security.
That said, the change in settings made him come back late into the battlefield— although it was right on time, in a sense, since Demiurge had seemed to momentarily—
"Enemy's on the move. Evading only, the summons around him don't seem to matter to him anymore," the 7th floor guardian interrupted his line of thought, almost as if he had known Pandora was thinking of him.
Pandora took a stance and waited. Since the enemy had seen him cast Super-tier magic, it was to be expected that he would be the main target now—
"Teleport to the sky!" Ainz-sama suddenly ordered, and Pandora immediately complied, activating the [Fly] item around his neck once he was up, so he could hover above the trees.
Not a second after he teleported, a magical wave washed through the whole battlefield. It seemed harmless at first glance, even the low-tier summons remained unaffected, so perhaps…
"A radar to locate—? Ack!" Pandora's phrase was interrupted when the enemy appeared right in front of him. He reacted by lunging at Jim with his sword, which was parried away by the lance.
The golden lance seemed to have [Rejection Effect] as a passive skill. That worked in Pandora's favor, since he needed to place distance in order to be able to use the World's Champion ultimate skill.
But, a fight in the air was disadvantageous. Firm ground was more reliable, so he activated his item to teleport once more.
"Wait, wait, Touch Me—!" was the last thing Pandora heard before disappearing.
Oh no.
"Ainz-sama!" he exclaimed through the shared link as soon as he was able to, "the enemy recognized— he mentioned Touch Me-sama's name!"
His creator cursed the "dev".
"Is it because he used to be a MOB? Because Touch Me-san was a World Champion…? No, could it be that he gained that knowledge by— if— if Demiurge's theory is correct and Harry was— if he was—" the Overlord's voice sounded too pained to even mention the theory out loud, before it abruptly turned steady once more. "No, he would know Touch Me-san is not really here… but—"
Jim suddenly appeared in front of him again. Pandora cursed, repeated the action that allowed him to place some distance between them, and escaped once more. The summons around this area weren't fast enough to interfere if the enemy tried to—
"Wait damn it—!" Jim started to yell right before he disappeared.
"Ainz-sama?" Pandora inquired again on the communication channel.
"Tsk. Ignore his words and continue. Once the HP bar is low enough, I'll get to it. Things will become clear during the interrogation," the Guild master finally ordered, which calmed Pandora's agitated mind.
Right, then he needed to prepare.
He was now inside Aura's fortress, which was filled with Hanzos and other high-tiered ninja and assassin Mercenary NPCs. They would be able to step in to take the hit if the enemy targeted Pandora with the brainwashing ability.
…still, how was he located the second time? The radar-like magic hadn't been used again.
Jim appeared in front of him once more. This time, Pandora was prepared, and immediately used [World Break]; the undodgeable, ultimate World-Champion skill that reached the target by tearing through the very fabric of space and time. It was like a much superior version of the 10th tier spell [Reality Slash], despite it not being a spell.
Oddly enough, the man didn't even attempt to defend. Instead of that, Jim stood still and received the attack head-on with a pained grunt, the efficiency of the attack visible in the impact to his HP. Pandora may only be able to use the skillset at 80% of its original capacity, but he had been heavily buffed and equipped to make up for it. Thus, the attack should still be as effective as if Touch Me-sama had done it.
Pandora didn't notice something was amiss until he tried to step back.
The sword— Jim was strongly clutching its sharp edge, blood immediately oozing from the wound, and even when Pandora pulled with all his strength it didn't move a single inch. He was unable to retrieve it.
The Hanzos and other ninja-like summons attempted to attack, but were repelled with a sudden shield bubble, created with nothing but a quick, hasty gesture with the lance, the symbols on its handle glowing and shifting.
Du Hurensohn, Pandora thought wildly, slipping into German in his agitation. He couldn't retreat and leave behind Touch Me-sama's weapon, he needed to—
"Touch Me, you… no, now that I— you're not him?" Jim muttered under his breath, just as Pandora finally managed to slide the sword out of the enemy's hand, "but there's no way to fake a World Champion's armor—"
He delivered another [World Break], this time with enough distance between them so the weapon wouldn't get caught again. The ultimate skill had a limit usage per day, but that was irrelevant in the major picture.
As expected, it pierced Jim's protective bubble— that was one of the things that made this attack so effective, after all — and threw him through the sturdy building as if the walls had been done with papier-maché.
Pandora escaped once more, teleporting to the area where his creator was supposed to deliver the last blow, from a safe distance.
"HP is at an appropriate level now."
"Excellent! Demiurge, retreat for now. Albedo, monitor Jim closely to wrap this up and— hm, I should be mindful of the twins' status. Aura, Mare, report."
"Don't worry Ainz-sama! The zerglings have caved deep enough, so we should be out of range now," Aura chirped in.
"W-we still cannot leave the area though…"
"Don't worry Mare, that will end soon."
Everything settled, the conversation ended and Pandora was alone with his thoughts once more.
He inwardly chastised himself. He had given intel to the enemy by allowing it to get close— but, how had Jim known Pandora wasn't the real World Champion? Had he—
Time suddenly stopped around him. Quite literally.
His current equipment immediately activated its passive skill, which helped him get out of the [Time Stop] effect. This caused a gap in his defense however, and the enemy immediately took advantage of that by casting another spell.
A dome of soft green light enclosed them both — the area ridiculously small, barely a few meters between them — before the magic turned translucid, invisible to the naked eye, and Pandora worriedly felt his communication link dissipate. More importantly though, after its activation, no matter what he tried to do Pandora couldn't get out; and the summons that were supposed to protect him seemed unaware of his predicament.
"You can't leave. No one will— haah— perceive your presence or communicate with you from the outside either," Jim explained unprompted, impaling the ground with the sharp end of the lance— a cease of fire? — but the weapon still remained on hand.
Pandora took a second to weight his options.
He was, no doubt, going to be brainwashed now. What could he do then, to avoid causing too much trouble? He couldn't kill himself, that would mean giving Touch Me-sama's equipment to the enemy, in which case it may be better to just hurt himself enough so his creator could kill him with just a few hits. Perhaps cut off his own arms to stop himself from harming—
"Oh, sweet Merlin." Despite everything, the phrase made him pause. There was only one person that used that expression, but that couldn't be. "Are you… Pandora's Actor?"
All thoughts of self-mutilation came to a halt. This man— no, no, he didn't feel like a Supreme Being at all—
"Pandora!" Jim exclaimed with a grin so wide it looked like it hurt, "you're here?! How? I can't believe— ah, but why are we fighting? Can you— I mean, um, do you recognize me…?"
Pandora took a defensive stance. He should be lashing out at the enemy — who wasn't even on guard anymore — attacking for daring to act like— just like…
"Oh wait, I'm still under guise. My bad, gimme a sec," Jim laughed in a self-depreciating manner, summoning a wooden wand from thin air and waving it over his head.
Pandora's already altered heartbeat jumped as the features began to shift, now showing a very familiar visage.
"Better now?" Even the voice was the same.
Pandora swallowed. This was— this enemy was so cruel. There was no way he could launch an attack when he looked just like Harry-sama.
Was this what Albedo and the Pleiades had felt, when Pandora had greeted them in the treasury while looking like Tabula-sama? Albedo, unaware it was just Pandora, had forced herself to order her own creator's death in order to protect Ainz-sama. The maids had been unable to follow said order, showing reserve when attacking someone with the appearance of one of the Supreme Beings.
Pandora silently apologized to them, from the depths of his heart.
"You… doppelganger," Pandora muttered with sorrowful anger. If he had had tear ducts, he would be spotting angry tears.
His creator, Ainz-sama would have surely considered the possibility of Jim being nothing but a façade, a guise, once the overlord first encountered the man with the familiar lance strapped at his back. But since his conclusion was that this was an enemy, then there was no way— the Guildmaster wouldn't make such a blunder.
…right?
"Doppel— no, no, it's really is me, I swear!" Jim exclaimed with a pleading expression, "you can ask me anything! Come on— uh, what can I say that… um, er, oh, I know. Pandora, whenever I visited you in the treasury, I'd tilt your cap down until it covered your eyes. It's my favorite part of your uniform, really."
The man smiled encouragingly.
It was painful to look at.
Pandora wanted to see the real Supreme Being do that, direct such a bright expression at him. To tell him— to tell everyone how much they were missed, that he was happy to see them again. That he would be happy to go back home, to Nazarick.
Pandora huffed at the doppelganger, and forced his hands to stop trembling.
"I won't fall for it!" he exclaimed with more certainty than what he really felt, "I know of your skillset, you can't lie to me!"
The enemy could gain knowledge using his brainwashing skill, Demiurge had already confirmed this man had somehow linked the 7th guardian's ultimate appearance to Nazarick, even if the demon assured that his special skill wouldn't allow the man to remember their encounter.
Under that premise, if Harry-sama had really encountered this individual, it wasn't impossible to think that was how Jim knew about their greeting ritual.
How dare he— to taint such a warm memory!
Jim frowned in apparent confusion, before straightening and meeting his gaze with unbreakable resolve. Pandora felt himself rooted on the spot for a second— was it the effect of looking directly into his eyes? He would have worn something to protect him had he known.
For the untrained eye, it would seem like Touch Me's head was a closed helmet, but that was only because the Supreme Being had belonged to an insectoid race. Due to his high stats, the exoskeleton was better than any helmet could be, so there had been no need to further protect it with equipment.
Emerald eyes continued to look searchingly at him, almost as if he were reading, and then—
"Oh." The enemy gasped in realization, as if he had heard Pandora's thoughts, "Oh Merlin, that's— uh, ok, I guess I understand where you're coming from," Jim muttered sheepishly, passing a hand through untidy raven locks, unsettling them even more.
Pandora tried to teleport away, hoping that whatever spell imprisoning him would be time limited. He didn't have such luck.
"Um, what else can I do then… my items could be attributed as 'stolen' too. Crap, er, what's my status in the Guild's list? Shouldn't I appear as 'active' or something?"
Harry-sama's name was damaged. It didn't display an active/inactive status, nor did it show his alliance to the Guild, instead showing a row of unreadable characters that were like the ones carved in the door of his personal chambers. No one could interpret it.
"Crap," Jim muttered as if Pandora had replied out loud, instead of just thinking the answer, "what gives then? Ugh, what else can I… oh, I think I've got it. Hey Pan, is Momonga in this world too?"
The question was enough to snap him out of his stillness. Pandora wouldn't let him target his creator, Ainz-sama!
"Eh? He changed his name to— woah!" As his creator was directly threatened, Pandora forced himself to look past the fake's familiar visage and launch an attack.
If Pandora had hesitated so long to fight against someone that looked like the absent Supreme Being, the same may happen to Ainz-sama or the other Guild denizens. If his creator hesitated, and the enemy took advantage of it— no, he couldn't allow, not under any circumstances—
"Wait, wait, I know what we can do! I'll take down my block, so just—"
Clank!
"—send me a goddamn [Message]!" Jim exclaimed as he managed to move out of the way of his first attack, rolling on the ground before retaking a standing position, and then parring away Pandora's second attempt with the recovered lance.
Gritting his teeth to stop himself from replying — don't fall for his tricks, ignore the appearance — he started to activate "[World Br—]"
Crack!
The attack that was supposed to be undodgeable, impossible to defend against, had been evaded. The enemy that had been in front of him just a second ago suddenly disappeared, but Pandora didn't have time to dwell on it.
The gravity around him increased and he was forced to kneel, barely managing to fight against it so he wouldn't fully collapse—
"Tarantallegra."
His body spasmed, like it had wanted to move on its own accord, which was enough to make him lose the battle and fall on his side, the pressure preventing him from getting up again— or moving, either to attack or defend.
Jim, still looking like Harry-sama, bent down to meet his gaze, familiar emerald eyes looking pleadingly at him.
Pandora, against his better judgement, vacillated.
When sending a [Message] the spell was automatically directed to the being the sender had envisioned. It wouldn't reach out to any fake— to any doppelganger nor brainwashed victim — since that wouldn't fulfil the activation requirements. For example, if Ainz-sama tried to reach out to Touch Me-sama, although Pandora was currently on that set, he wouldn't receive the spell. They hadn't been able to contact Shalltear nor the controlled shadow-demon either, when they had been brainwashed.
A small spark of hope ignited in his mind. Pandora mentally cursed at his own weakness, but still couldn't keep himself from thinking… that it was worth trying out.
His intent seemed to have gotten through the man somehow, because the pressure pushing him down suddenly lifted, and Jim straightened and took a few steps back to allow Pandora to stand up again.
Making sure the man was still in his field of vision and not making any suspicious movements, Pandora stood firmly with sword in hand, before hesitatingly raising a gloved hand to his temple.
"[Message]" Pandora activated, lungs constricting when he felt a connection form. All previous attempts hadn't been able to. "Can you… is this…"
"I'm Harry, yes. Hi Pandora," the man's voice overlapped with the reply Pandora received through the [Message] spell.
This was— he was!
"Harry-sama?!" Pandora choked out, still not dispelling the spell, still needing confirmation that—
"Yeah. You don't have to add any titles though? Just Harry is fine, really." The reply echoed as [Message] clashed with the voice of the man in front of him.
Pandora let out a disbelieving chortle. Harry-sama smiled and walked towards him — he was here, for real! — lightly tapping his armored arm as if to provide further proof of his physical presence.
"I'm honestly happy to see you Pandora, you have no idea how much I— fucking hell, that's—" Harry-sama's expression morphed from sincere happiness to one of pure alarm, looking somewhere past him. When Pandora turned, he couldn't see anything—
The bubble around them abruptly cracked up before collapsing, which enabled him to see the way their surroundings had dramatically shifted, the Great Forest of Tob now nothing but an arid desert. He only had a second to process the change in scenery, however.
A wave of pain made him collapse, his HP getting dramatically lowered in a single hit, vision blurring before darkening around the edges.
This… this had been The Ending area.
The one they had prepared beforehand, the one they had decided to use once the HP had been sufficiently lowered, enough for Ainz-sama's ultimate skill to be effective.
The Goal of all Life is Death.
AUTHOR NOTE:
Harry was able to convince Pandora! A little bit late for Momonga though~
And yeah, I'll go ahead and admit that the thing about Touch Me not wearing a helmet, and having a Super-tier spell in his arsenal is absolute bullshit, just an Author changing things to make the story move in the direction it needs to. My bad! I won't apologize though!
This chapter was written a Sunday, from 6am to 9am non-stop, because the rain woke me up and then I got inspiration, so I chose to turn on the lap to write instead of trying to go back to sleep. Can't say I regret it haha.
See ya' around, dEBB987.