Intermission

Demiurge strolled through Feo Berkana and occasionally earned a few glances from the Dwarves around him. Most were quite familiar with him and knew ahead of time that he did not require a guide. Demiurge was taking in the sights of the place whose entire conquest was planned for by his Master.

The most obvious thing Demiurge picked up on was that, though they had not started a religion their reverence for his Lord was absolute, unlike the Humans who needed their Master to intervene and place a certain girl in the right frame of mind in order to win them over.

Then again...

On his own, his Master had easily garnered absolute favour with those he dealt with completely of his machinations. Demiurge still had a long way to go before he could even fathom the endless abyss that was his Master's genius and cunning. Never mind replicate it.

This was the place his Lord truly laid the groundwork for at the very beginning of his world conquest goal after E-Rantel. The vassalisation of the Empire was Demiurge's idea and his Master simply showed him that there were quicker ways to go about completing things.

He took in all that he could while he made his way to Cocytus, however, Cocytus was waiting for him in Feo Jera. Now, Demiurge was not so crass as to intentionally keep someone waiting, the reason that he was able to take his time was that he still had an hour before their scheduled meeting time.

The rationale being that he had so much time on hand and that he had been given an absurd amount of freedom – more so than usual – in dealing with this exploration. A part of him wondered whether he was just nit-picking or if he was being tested, knowing Ainz-sama, it was probably both.

Having taken an uneventful path to Feo Jera, Demiurge found Cocytus. There was a good amount of distance between them and their target and an indefinite amount of time to accomplish their mission.

"Demiurge. You. Are. Early."

"I could say the same of you, my friend."

Cocytus simply expelled a cold breath of air. He was right, and Demiurge was well aware that he was usually the last to arrive at most meetings, so for him to arrive before the scheduled meeting time – albeit by only ten minutes – it was very early for him.

"I want to have gone through the initial phase of experimentation and testing by the time Ainz-sama returns. It will not do to take longer than necessary, especially now that I have less to do."

"Indeed."

The duo then travelled to Mt. Rappaslea in search of the Dragons and other various Monsters said to dwell there. Unlike the area directly under the Great Forest of Tob, their Lord had not strictly told them to leave well enough alone, so like any good servant would Demiurge and Cocytus were simply seeking new ways to fulfil their Master's ultimate desire.

They had been walking for less than an hour when Demiurge noticed red sparks dancing in the air that quickly faded into the background due to it having a similar hue. Demiurge turned to face his partner who had already seen them, slowly letting out a cold breath where anyone else would have widened their eyes in anticipation.

Demiurges nodded and Cocytus bolted towards the sparks.

"Let's see which ones we are going to keep. [Prostate Yourselves]."

Out of roughly twenty-five dragons that were fighting amongst themselves overhead, approximately seventeen dropped to the ground."

"Those. That. Seek. A. True. Challenge. Come!"

All but one went after Cocytus.

In his excitement, Cocytus took up a stance, challenging himself to use only one blade and only that blade against his natural enemy, knowing from Demiurge's research that his ice attacks would not give them a decent chance, though he still managed to cut down one after another until only one remained.

The flames of said dragon flared up as it made its way to him jumping up from the ground and screeching in its unsubtle approach. Cocytus did not show any sign of being fazed by this cheap attempt to scare him but neither did the dragon seem alarmed when it did not work.

It appeared to decide to change tactics, however, electing to first launch a blast of flames, then lunge only to claw at Cocytus. The flames did well enough to make Cocytus feel uncomfortable, but not enough for him to complain about it and, although he parried each claw strike they barely affected him.

The smallest one, and that was saying a lot, went straight after Demiurge.

"Seeing as you are quite the impudent one, you will have to assist me with a few tests. [Hell-Fire Wall]."

"You idiotic demon. Is it that hard to tell that I am a Fire Dragon! I am immune to flames."

"I wasn't exactly expecting you to die, hell, if you did, I would be quite disappointed."

"You're quite amazing at spouting falsehoods! Though I do suppose that's how demons are. Why don't you just tremble in fear like you're supposed to? Grovel at my feet while you dream about the day that you will come for my head! By the time you have a decent idea, I'll be stronger than I am now giving you another hundred years to rethink your plan."

The young Fire Dragon charged at Demiurge. It was stronger than most of the Dragons he had encountered, but it was still far too pitifully weak to believe it could stand against him. He dodged it easily and it landed heavily in the snow next to him as if it was made of lead.

Interesting.

He stared down at its body. He could have easily taken it down with only a single strike, but he would not. It was not because it would have been far too easy, rather, doing so would not have done anything useful, even if it had not been so weak it still would not be of any good to him if it died before showing the extent of its power. The other seventeen were still struggling against his [Command Mantra] so he would use this one for live experimentation.

Demiurge walked up to the Fire Dragon and grabbed its tail.

"[Aspect of the Devil: Hell-Fire Mantle]"

A flame that caused no harm to him surrounded Demiurge which was shortly followed by a shockwave.

The Dragon took on a more annoyed approach towards fighting Demiurge, even going so far as to use [Fire Breath]. A Fire Dragon's most potent and damaging skill, but unfortunately, it proved absolutely useless against his current opponent.

"Wha-? How?!"

At first, he thought it was simply the result of a bad matchup but soon realised that this specific Dragon was just unfathomably stupid.

"I have lost interest. [Hell Flame]".

As soon as the small flame touched the Dragon it started making music, but it soon faded as it simply became nothing more than a pile of ash that Demiurge's eyes remained fixed on for a while before speaking.

"If you were any more stupid, I would have allowed you to suffer longer, my deepest apologies about that."

As his gaze finally left the small pile of collapsed dust, he felt a phantom hand on his shoulder from behind.

"Good work." Ainz-sama would say when he returned. He could not wait. He did not bother looking back, knowing that Ainz-sama would not be there waiting for him.

"Cocytus!" Demiurge broke out of his thoughts and called out nonchalantly. Cocytus having finished his bout turned his body towards Demiurge seemingly unamused.

"What?"

"Are you done fighting that thing?"

His voice was calm with a genuine smile plastered across his face. Cocytus turned to face the Dragon that was taking in heavy breaths. Cocytus was not one to make an opponent suffer, Demiurge had called out to him just before he could deliver the final blow.

"I. Am."

A slice ran through the Red Dragon that separated its head from its spine.

"Did it help with your training?"

Cocytus sighed and shook his head.

"If. Only. That. Was. Enough..."

"Anyway, if you're done, I'll have Shalltear transport those left alive to Nazarick. I also certainly do hope that you did leave them in big enough pieces to still be serviceable."

"Nothing. To. Worry. About. I. Did. Not. Attack. Those. That. Did. Not. Wish. To. Fight."

"Very Well. You go on ahead, there is something I wish to confirm."

"I. See."

"Now, where are they?"

He asked himself as the [Gate] closed behind Cocytus leaving him standing atop a pool of blood being soaked into the ground.

They must be gone.

He continued down the path, passing many rocks, boulders and small trees. He walked until he came across a cluster of boulders that were surrounded by footprints. The footprints were fresh and small – Humanoid size to be exact – not the size of what one would expect to find around Dragons whose only interest was killing whoever killed the previous one to gain the temporary claim of being the strongest.

"Maybe, I missed them."

Demiurge decided to turn back towards the direction he had come from. This place was getting boring now. He needed more excitement or else he might go insane.

All in good humour.

He had not explored the rumour of the Fire Spirit that roamed around these parts.

As he passed the spot where that Dragon's body had disintegrated Demiurge stopped. He was almost certain that he had seen something near it... or was it under the snow?

Carefully he walked over and bent down to pick it up. There, not too deep in the snow, lay the spawn of a Black Dragon. It was a small thing – relatively speaking – smaller than any other Dragon he had seen before; it was probably a few days old seeing that it was curled up in a foetal position with its wings pulled in tightly to its back.

If one was to be asked to describe its appearance, 'dragon' would not be the first that came to mind. It looked like a cat, a very big cat, with horns sticking straight out of its head.

Its appearance was of little concern to Demiurge as he was trying to figure out what a Metallic Dragon was doing out here, but most importantly, why? It was not even a matter of a mother laying her eggs and leaving them to fend for themselves, even by draconic standards throwing your brood right in the heart of enemy territory was heartless.

So why?

Then it dawned on him.

It was the Fire Spirit.

He doubted any individual Fire Spirit had the energy to deal with a Dragon so...

Someone who has the ability to control Fire Spirits? You, little one, are going to be far more useful to me alive, you might even change everything that I believe about this place.

His first step was to either learn how to deal with Black Dragons or contact Ainz-sama and tell him about this dragon... wait.

I'd better not do that, Ainz-sama would get angry at me.

That left him with the former action. To make himself useful, deal with the Black Dragon and find the person who had captured the Fire Spirit.

Dragons were known to be quite territorial, especially those that kept their brood for longer than after the moment they hatched, so this one would be quite easy to track. Would he capture it or destroy it once he found it? Maybe both.

"What are you grinning at?" a voice asked "I advise you to keep your hands off of my baby brother!" Demiurge snapped his head around, only to see a bigger version of the one he held.

"Your brother?"

"The only Dragonling left. Stop staring at him because I promise you, you will die!"

It was odd for Dragons to uphold such strong familial bonds. Even in situations like this, they would normally avoid each other's company and if they saw one another regularly, they were usually hostile and rarely ever trusted each other. Yet these siblings...

"Why do you think I haven't killed him yet?"

Demiurge smiled down at the sleeping creature visibly sending shivers down the spine of the older sibling.

Once satisfied he continued, "I don't plan to, but I also can't guarantee that I won't end up killing him if you come after me. You'll have a lot of trouble protecting him until he wakes and even then, there will be a multitude of problems you'll have to deal with."

"Alright then, just don't hurt him or eat him or anything. I'll be watching you."

It was oddly submissive. Another out of character trait for a Dragon that was not enslaved.

Although, Demiurge was not one to complain and proceeded on his way with a Black Dragon in tow.

Several hours later he would return to Nazarick with three different dragons under his care.

Shalltear was not amused. She had finally been called by Demiurge after having been put on standby to help with his mission and when she arrived at the destination that she was supposed to be at she did not see the sight that she had hoped to see, ultimately there was nothing there left for her to do.

"Are you sure this is the place?"

"I would not have called you here if it wasn't."

"Well, forgive me Demiurge, for being a little disappointed. You said that I would get to battle some brazen creatures. Creatures that are so full of themselves that I would get to torture them and they would never submit, yet all these things look like they have given up on life; they are not running around trying to attack us! Why?!"

"That's not what I said."

"It's what you implied."

"Shalltear, I feel that you were reading far too much into my words."

"But... why aren't they at least attacking us?"

"About that, let's just say that they got a little attitude adjustment earlier, so much so that they may almost end up being more charming than my sheep, well almost."

"So, why am I here?"

"I found something fascinating that might catch your fancy. Out there exists someone strong enough to put an end to an entire colony of Dragons. Well, either that or they have a talent that allows them to control multiple Fire Spirits to do their bidding."

"That is intriguing."

On the other side of the mountain was a settlement of Humanoid beings. It was a relatively small settlement but was advanced enough to harvest Dragon materials.

Maybe this is an outpost?

"You are correct in thinking that but no. It is part of the village which is straight ahead, it is much larger too. This is simply the harvesting section of their farm." Demiurge said

Do you read minds now?!

"Farm?"

"That's what I'm calling it anyway. They are raising Dragons but to avoid rousing up any of their neighbours they have hidden their settlement within the woods and use decent illusion magic. This is a tribe of Dragon Riders. They, or maybe even one of them, annihilated an entire colony of Black Dragons in hopes of catching their eggs or their young, unfortunately, however, now only two of them remain on this side of the mountain."

"So, they are harvesting Black Dragon materials?"

"Resurrection magic did fail after all."

"Do you want me to wipe them out?"

"That's a good question. We do not have any Dragon Riders ourselves despite having quite the number of Dragons, plus considering that they live on the base of the hostile side of the mountain range they appear to be doing quite well for themselves, so, Shalltear, what do you want us to do?"

"When did this become a test?"

"Ah-ah, we are working together on this, yes, Shalltear?" Demiurge smiled mischievously.

"I've trained my Dragons well enough that they do not require to be ridden... wait, Ainz-sama said..."

"You are correct."

"You knew about this the whole time?!"

"I never forget the words of the Supreme One, Shalltear."

"Do you think Ainz-sama knew about them all those years ago?"

"Of course! I picked you for this mission because I thought maybe Ainz-sama had told you, considering you did accompany Ainz-sama back then, furthermore, you were the one to suggest the Air Raids on Re-Estize, but I suppose you were merely a cog in Ainz-sama's ten-thousand-year plan."

"Sasuga Ainz-sama!"

A/N:

FINALLY!

I managed to get my favourite chapter up. I wrote this intermission before Part One of Chapter Two and I had to stop myself quite a few times from throwing it in before the halfway point. Speaking of which, the entire second half has been living rent-free in my head for way too long.