"Is something wrong, Lord Raazuka?" Albedo repeated her question.
Oh shit. Oh fuck. What the hell is going on. This series of mysterious events had short-circuited his brain.
"Ah, erm, hello?" Raazuka phrased it as a question in his uncertainty. "I greet." Albedo nodded shortly, "Is something the matter, Your Beatitude?" She leaned in close and smiled reverently. A faint but wonderful scent tickled Raazuka's nostrils. Perhaps kick-started by the fragrance, his thoughts began to return to him.
"No actually, I'm fine thanks and y—Never mind. I'm fine. Thanks. Just fine. You smell nice." He cringed inwardly. Girls! I'm terrible around girls! What do I do, what do I do! And yet he spoke, simply because he felt compelled to make conversation. There was something undeniably human about the way she spoke and moved.
As he was panicking, he realised something else. She does smell nice. Smell. How can I smell her? Yggdrasil didn't allow for taste or smell, so how can I smell her? Immediately, he came to several rejected conclusions at once: a sensory update hidden behind an announcement of shut down? No, why would they hide that. It makes no business sense. Maybe a malfunction in the neuro-nanites? It would explain the screen not coming up. But the servers still aren't down, and it probably isn't both, so what? He shook his head and sat up in the Throne of Kings. He opened his eyes and was swallowed up by the worried stare of Albedo. He motioned for her to step back, and noticed quite a prominent red tinge to her cheeks.
"Are you certain you are 'just fine' O Timeless One?" Albedo asked, still awfully close to him.
"Yeah, I'm just fine, thanks. What's with the titles?" As soon as the words emerged from his mouth, he remembered the little modification he'd made. "Oh. Right, never mind. Don't— You don't need to answer that." He was thoroughly panicked by now. He inhaled and exhaled slowly, remembering a meditative technique that his mother had taught him. Breathe in calm and tranquility, breathe out the fear and panic. And again, breathe in…and out.
No one had ever looked at Raazuka like this before. The look of being willing to die for him. He liked it, but it also unsettled him slightly. He knew it was just an NPC someone had made, but the flow of her expressions was so natural it was almost scary.
But somehow he noticed those feelings settling down already, as if they were being held back. The lack of wider emotional fluctuation, however, gave him a touch of anxiety. His mother's breathing techniques had never worked so well. But is that really it?
Raazuka shook his head. Now wasn't the time.
Once he was thoroughly finished freaking out, he gathered himself.
"Right then Albedo." She perked up happily. "Straight to business. Get me your Deputy Overseer. Get me the Sisters."
"Are you certain, my Lord?"
"Yes. Quite certain, I'm afraid."
Albedo bowed and went off to do as he asked. If memory serves, Syruliana is currently imprisoned in the black lake. Hmm, I honestly don't want to be there when she wakes up. But if it is dangerous, better safe than sorry. On the other hand, though, I need information…
"Sebas!"
"My lord!"
"Find out everything you can about where we are situated. Report back immediately if our location has changed."
"Yes, my lord."
"Maids!"
"Sir!" They answered in smooth unison, raising their heads in a slick motion.
"Go ahead and guard the ninth floor. Kill any intruders."
"Yes, sir." Their voices aligned again, and they sprang to their feet. Sebas walked to the door before bowing once and leaving, as the maids separated from him, going down a different corridor.
He sat up straight in his chair as he realised something else: the Staff was still floating. From this, and the earlier exchange he learned three things: First, since the Staff still behaved as it did in-game, this place was not so different from Yggdrasil; second, even though he had avoided using command words, they still recognised his orders as he'd asked. And last, if this truly wasn't Yggdrasil, and there wasn't any way out, he should care more. There was some part of him that should have cared when the gave orders. Some part of him that should have cared that he was about to release arguably the most dangerous NPC in the entirety of Nazarick. But there simply wasn't. There had been the initial panic, but that was more of a reflex-driven reaction, than a fear-driven one. He felt the occasional ghost of emotion brushing past, but no real feeling.
As he was musing on the implications of this, a side door to the throne room opened up. Huh. That was faster than expected. He raised his head, finding the source of the noise almost immediately: a tall woman with deathly pale skin stood in the doorway. Her black hair hung down around her shoulders, dripping wet from her stint in the glaciers. Her eyes were glowing black pools of oil swirling in her sockets, shining over her slightly upturned nose, and casting a shadow on her blood-drained blue lips. She wore a blue shirt and comfortable slacks, over which she had on a doctor's coat. How she functions in stiletto heels I still don't know, Raazuka admired his creation silently. She was being barely restrained by Albedo, who stood behind her. Raazuka raised his hand and Albedo stepped away. If Syru does rebel, she shouldn't get hurt, even though she is just bits of data. Theoretically.
"Syruliana Di'Ante. Do you greet?"
Thick smoke, black and dense, rolled off of the woman in waves, enshrouding her in a blanket of smog. Hmm. That animation isn't what I programmed it to be. Curiouser and curiouser. After about a minute, the smoke rose up from where it had pooled on the floor, coalescing into five figures. The woman had apparently cloned herself, splitting into five identical people.
Standing at the helm of the formation was a version of her dressed completely in white ceramic armour, textured to look like waves crashing against each other. There was a bow strapped to her back, and instead of a helmet, she wore a crown. This was Conquest. Second in line was the version of her dressed in a completely scarlet dress made of interlocking plates and a high, rigid collar that protected the back of her neck. On her palms she had tattoos of a massive broadsword. This was War. Standing just behind them was an almost emaciated version of her. She wore a black bodysuit, torn almost to rags, through which her bones were clearly visible, and carried a set of shining golden scales. The scales were laden with enough food to feed a kingdom, but as it heaped up and disappeared, the woman did not eat. This was Famine. After Famine came Death. She had no real body to speak of. A person that stood in a cloak of smoke and shadow was all there was. The only part of her that could be seen were thin hands grasping an evilly curved sickle. The last in line, standing almost in Death's shadow, was the woman who had walked in. Pestilence.
The five women put their hands to their chest and bowed their heads. That greeting I did program. Strange. Some things remain the same, and some don't. Anyways, now that we're here…
"Let us proceed to the sixth floor. Albedo!"
"Yes, your holiness?"
"Fetch the other guardians to the colosseum."
"Yes, your holiness!"
As she ran off once more to gather them all, he looked down at his own finger bones.
There were nine rings on his ten fingers; the only one that didn't have one was his left ring finger. In Yggdrasil, it was normally only possible to wear one ring per hand, but by purchasing an expensive cash store item with a permanent effect, Raazuka had gained the ability to wear them on all ten, as well as use all the powers they contained. Not that that made him very special—if a player prioritised being strong, buying the item was a no-brainer. He could use all the powers of ten rings, but he'd had to choose which ones when he used the item that allowed him to equip that many. It was impossible to swap after the fact.
The ring Raazuka was looking at now bore the same crest that was embroidered on the scarlet tapestry hanging behind the throne. It was a Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown, a magic item that every member of the guild possessed; he wore his on his right ring finger. Compared to his other rings (including the one he wasn't wearing, stored in the treasury), this one's power was pretty basic, but he wanted it at the ready, since, on average, he used it far more than any of the others.
The Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown let its wearer teleport freely to almost any named room within the Great Tomb of Nazarick. It was even possible to teleport in from outside. The Tomb blocked Player teleportation except for in designated areas, so there was no more useful way to get around. There weren't very many places, save the Throne Room and the members' individual rooms, that couldn't be teleported to. Without this ring, however, there was no way to get to the treasury, so it wasn't something he would want to be without.
He got up off the throne, and spoke to the only remaining occupants of the Throne Room.
"Rise."
As they allowed their hands to drop, he walked toward them, until they surrounded him.
"Grab on. That is an order."
As they opened their mouths to protest he cut them off sharply.
"Now."
They put their hands on his shoulders and waited.
Raazuka exhaled deeply. He was about to exercise the ring's power, but he wasn't sure what would happen. Would it work as expected? He thought it might, but the floating Staff may just be an exception.
He unleashed the power and his vision went dark, like he'd blinked.
The scenery changed—now he was in a dimly lit passage. The end was blocked by a barred gate. White artificial light came in through the gaps.
"Success…," he murmured, relieved that he'd been able to teleport. He set off walking down the broad, high-ceilinged passage toward the gate. The Five Sisters followed behind him in a line. The stone floor caused their footsteps to reverberate loudly. Flickering torchlight sent shadows dancing along the walls, making it seem like there was more than one of him. As he neared the gate, his nostrils, which should have just been holes leading to nowhere, were invaded by scent. He stopped to breathe in and out. A pungent odour and the scent of earth—this was the smell of deep forest. Having his nose working made Raazuka feel even more strongly that this place was now reality. Hang on, I'm made of literal smoke, how am I even breathing? How am I alive? He racked his brains, but soon realised trying to reason the problem out was ridiculous and abandoned the idea.
When he got close enough, the gate drew quickly up into the ceiling like a well-timed automatic door. Passing beneath, Raazuka saw the Colosseum, with its multiple levels of spectator seating encircling its central arena. It was an oval of 615 by 510 feet, 157 feet high, identical to the Colosseum built in Rome during the imperial period. Continual Light was cast in various locations, throwing enough white light that he could look around the area and see as if it were high noon. There were too many seats to count, and in them, a great many dirt golems.
This place was called the Amphitheatre. The actors were captured raiders, the audience was made up of golems, and in the VIP seating would be the members of Ainz Ooal Gown. What was on the program? Slaughter, of course. With the exception of the 1,500 in that huge raid, every intruder, no matter how strong, had met their end here. Raazuka walked into the centre of the arena gazing up at the pitch-black night sky. If there hadn't been any light, he probably would have been able to see the stars.
Of course, this was the sixth level of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Being underground, the sky hanging overhead was a false one. But it was made with quite a lot of data, so it changed with the passage of time, and there was even an accurately arcing sun that rose and set. Was the reason that even this fake sky could take the weight off Raazuka's chest and relax him because under all the graphics he was still human? Maybe also because it was programmed according to the particularities of a former guild member. He wished he could just stay and take it easy, but the situation didn't allow that. Raazuka glanced around. They're not here. The twins should be managing this place, but… Just then he felt someone looking at him.
"Yaaa!" At the same time the shout sounded, a figure hopped down from the VIP seating. That was the equivalent of six stories up, but the figure flipped in midair and made a featherlight landing. It wasn't due to magic, but simply great physical technique. Having absorbed the full shock of the landing by just bending its legs, the figure flashed a proud grin and made peace signs with both hands. "Victory!"
It was a child of perhaps ten who had jumped down. The most apt descriptor for that smile was 'radiant like the sun.' She had that kind of androgynous cuteness only children have.
Her golden hair reflected light in a way that made it look almost like she had a halo. Her eyes, bright like a puppy's, were two different colours—forest green and ocean blue. As a dark elf, a relative of the elf race, her ears were long and pointed, her skin tan. She wore fitted, dark red dragon scale light armour, top and bottom, over a layer of basic leather protective gear. On top of that, she sported a white vest with golden threading, featuring the crest of Ainz Ooal Gown on the chest, and white pants to match. A big golden acorn hung from her neck. Her hands were protected by gloves with magic metal plates on the backs of the palms. Whips were bundled at her waist and right shoulder, and across her back, she carried a bow with peculiar decorations on the grip, handle, and limbs.
"Oh, it's Aura." Raazuka murmured her name in recognition. Aura Bella Fiora was one of the guardians of the sixth level, a beast tamer-ranger who could employ fantastical and magical creatures.
She came running toward him with short steps that somehow carried her crazily fast, like an animal running flat out. She closed the distance in an instant and put the brakes on. Her sporty shoes inlaid on top with rubies sent up a cloud of dust as they scraped along the ground. If she had calculated it out so that not a speck would reach Raazuka, she'd done a brilliant job.
"Phew." She wiped her forehead even though she wasn't sweating and smiled like a puppy who wanted to play. Then she greeted Raazuka in that ever so slightly too-loud voice that only children have: "Welcome to the floor I guard, Lord Raazuka!" Compared to Sebas and Albedo she was less deferential and more familiar, but that was actually more comfortable for Raazuka. As the Sisters gathered around him he evaluated her reaction.
He wasn't getting any hostility from Aura's ear-to-ear grin, and Sense Enemy didn't pick up anything, either. His emergency plan had been to attack with full power and promptly retreat if the code had failed, but it seemed like that would be unnecessary. "Thanks. Good to see you're still doing your jobs; er, job. Where is…"
As if taking a cue, Aura turned on her heel, glared up at the VIP seats, and shouted, "Hurry up, c'mon! Lord Raazuka is here! You're being rude!"
Up in the darkness of the VIP seats, Raazuka saw something bouncing up and down in a fidgety way. "Oh, Mare's over there, huh?"
"Yes, Lord Raazuka, he is. He's such a wimp… Get down here!"
A weak little voice replied. In fact, it was a wonder they could even hear it, considering their distance from the VIP seats, but it was made possible by the magical necklace Aura had equipped.
"I-I… Sis, there's n-no way…"
Aura sighed, exasperated. "Oh, uh, Lord Raazuka, he's just a bit of a coward. He's not being rude on purpose."
"Of course. I know that, Aura. Actually, if I could ask you to join your brother?" Raazuka nodded and gave a satisfactory answer. Aura seemed relieved, but a moment later she blushed slightly and spoke. "Of course my lord. You need not even ask." With that she took a run up and leapt all the way back up to the VIP seats.
Raazuka slowly withdrew a short metal staff, about the size of his forearm, from his pocket. He faced the Sisters, who had lined up in front of him, and gave a simple order.
"Fight me, no holds barred."
His tone did not brook any argument. The ladies looked like the wished very much to argue, but seemed to realise that his tone disallowed any protest. He gripped the grey dull looking rod at opposite ends and twisted.
Immediately the small rod began to grow, hehehe, and started to swirl with shifting silver and gold patterns. Dark light emanated from the staff, which was now a spear, as he banged the butt of the shaft into the ground. But his opponents had not been idle either: War's palms had begun to burn as she clasped them together in seeming prayer. A moment later she pulled apart her hands, and revealed her signature broadsword. Conquest had made ready her bow, and summoned a quiver from who-knows-where. Famine had ditched her bodysuit for ancient flowing robes, full of holes and tears. Through this her ribs were even more visible. Pestilence had gotten out a crossbow that she loaded with sickly green bolts. Death was Death.
Advancing with blinding speed, War was the first to approach. She brought he blade around, leaving the air whistling in the wake of her swing. He brought up his spear and blocked easily, spear fighting had been his in game specialisation. The impact sent a shockwave through the air, sending them both stumbling backwards. This slight movement provided him just enough of an opening to dodge Conquest's arrows. There were three of them, fired in close succession, cutting off his dodging space. Without any other option, he jumped straight up before using the shaft of his spear, Gungir, to bat away Pestilence's crossbow bolt that shimmered with what was probably ebola. Famine tried to drain him of his energy, but the attack was almost purely psychic, it simply bounced off. Death hadn't moved.
War came at him again for another round of blows, but they had made their move, now it was his turn. He muttered,"[Smoke Teleport], [Expand Sense]". It was a little known fact that, while people could teleport in the Colosseum, they couldn't teleport out of it. He made use of this fact now. War hit only empty air as he blew away on the wind and rematerialised behind her moments later. It took her a moment to realise what had happened, but by the time she whirled around, the tip of his spear was at her throat. She nodded as spoke quietly, "I yield." She dissolved into red light and sped up into the VIP box to join Aura and Mare. Death hadn't moved.
Thanks to his [Expand Sense] Raazuka felt the arrow coming from behind him without even turning around. He turned his head slightly and the arrow whizzed past his nose. He flipped backwards to where he now knew Conquest to be, shifting into smoke in mid air as another bolt, courtesy of Pestilence, flew through him. He landed next to where the White Horseman stood cloaked against the wall. She broke camouflage and tried to whack him upside the head. He ducked, and punched her in the stomach, admiring the crack in the Colosseum wall from where her bow had hit. Groaning, she picked herself up off the floor before turning into a beam of white light, joining her sister in defeat. Death hadn't moved.
When his [Expand Sense] ended he turned his head, blind for just a moment. But a moment was all that Pest needed. When his sight returned, he caught sight of three crossbow bolts aimed at his face. Turning to smoke wouldn't work, he was too slow for that. With no choice other than defeat (and possible death), Raazuka did the last thing he could think of: he activated his aura. The aura of a Djinn is a volatile, uncontrollable thing; which was the main reason why he hadn't activated it before now. He hadn't been sure of how it would react outside the bounds of hard code. Immediately upon the activation of his racial skill, a veritable storm of thick noxious smoke exploded out of him. A moment later he reined his power back in, the necessary damage had been done. Pestilence had been pressed into the Colosseum floor by the sheer amount of pure power he had released, and held up her hand in defeat. She turned into a bolt of green light and raced to join her sisters. A moment later, a bolt of black light sped to the balcony. Famine was designed as a support, rather than a fighter, so it made sense for her to flee.
With all of her sisters defeated, Death bowed her head and spoke. "You cannot defeat Death, and I cannot rule over my creator. You must know how this ends." Her voice was unexpectedly beautiful for such a dark figure. He didn't even have to consider her words, she was right. She, unlike her Sisters, had been designed as the final sanction of Ainz Ooal Gown. She had required the XP of nearly ten NPCs on her own, and was nearly unkillable. Not truly immortal, of course, but she was basically a Raid Boss by herself. But at the same time, he had Gungir, along with all of his equipment and he was a Shamir. He could match her. This was what happened when an unstoppable force met an immovable object: stalemate. That's how this would end. He nodded and spoke.
"Alright then. If I can lift your Shroud before ten minutes are up, I win. If you can manage to evade me, I lose. Do you accept?"
"I accept."
And so it began. He put away his spear, it would be useless here, and took off towards Death like a bullet. She stood serenely until the last possible moment. He shot through her as she melted into shadow, and barely managed to stop himself before he hit the wall. He turned and looked around, Where is she. He spotted her a moment later, a ball of blackness leaking shadow shot off into the air, leaving nothing but a light, tinkling laugh in her wake. Alright then. Two can play at that game. With that, he gave himself up to his true form. His clothes dropped to the floor as he became a being made purely of smoke and dust. This was one of his most powerful forms. He spun into the air as a tendril of thick smoke, chasing Death upwards, past the viewing box, and into the night sky.
His smoke spread out like a thick cloud, covering the stars. When he found her seven minutes later at the very edge of the jungle, he was pissed. He really didn't like to lose. He reformed his upper half and dragged her into the sky. He enveloped her in his smoke, forcing her to turn humanoid. Raazuka reached into the darkness where Death's face would be, and formed a claw. He made a violent jerking motion, coming away holding a roiling sheet of (for lack of a better word) obscurity. It was impossible to look at, and if you tried, you'd get a splitting headache. This was Death's Shroud. "I win." The woman underneath the Shroud was extremely pretty, she had been designed separately from her sisters. She had blue hair and extremely pale skin. Her eyes sparkled violet with lively joy. He released the Shroud, and it flew back to its mistress, covering her face in shadows once more.