A/N: Hey there!
SURPRISE!
Weren't expecting an update from me now, were you?
Well here it is!
Hearts and prayers go out to Florida and the islands! Those in Texas as well! They got absolutely hammered and donations are appreciated! Ironically, I was considering moving there before Hurricane Irma. Florida, that is. Makes me glad I didn't go there after all, jeez, it would have been bad.
Also, the new light novel just came out, and I'm reading it over here! Good stuff!
ALSO!
WE ARE NUMBER ONE! THAT'S RIGHT! Thanks to all who reviewed-excluding a certain multiple account creating flamer whom we all know but shall not be name-for putting this story at the TOP of the NarutoxOverlord Fanfiction with a whopping 199 reviews! Give yourselves a pat on the back, each and every one of you! I'd be happy to listen to your story requests anytime!
So it got me thinking, and back into character to write for this! Also, Team Daigurren did an EXCELLENT version of Overlord abridged which had me in fucking stitches! Be sure to watch it after you read this!
And with that said, off we go!
No massive author's note this time!
Do try to keep up, my beloved fans =D
Title's a touch ironic, given what happens here.
And kudos to Team Daigurren for lighting a roaring fire in me!
Any and all quotes from the abridged version belong to them! Not me!
I'm merely using the words for entertainment purposes when they suit the situation.
"Choose."
"W-what?"
"Your tongue or your hands. Now, choose."
~?
The Blackest Heart
Journal Log Entry: #4
Hello again dear journal of mine!
Today, we're gonna switch things up a bit.
Its sure to make you laugh, you who may read this.
So in lieu of a common conversation, I have a question:
Whaddya get when you stick an idiot between two almighty beings?
Here's a little hint for ya.
PASTE.
But first, I want to play a little game...
(...Outskirts of Carne...)
Something was amiss.
Nigun felt it as keenly as he would the loss of a limb; as dearly as one might a favorite blade. There was something off about Carne village, though he knew not what. Unable to put his finger on it, he could only lead his men deeper into the ramshackle series of homesteads-all the while vigilantly maintaining his perimeter. Perhaps it had something to do with the suffocating silence hanging in the air like a shroud. The empty houses. Or maybe it was the strange chill lurking in the air, the complete and utter lack of anything resembling life in said village. Or man they'd been sent to kill, for that matter.
They were to assassinate Gazef Stronoff of course; that was the whole reason for this farce to begin with.
Attacking villages disguised as an enemy nation at the behest of corrupt nobles, slaying their strongest warrior to bait the kingdoms into open war with one another...a brilliant ploy, really. For he would accomplish this task, this duty, or his name was not Nigun Grid Luin, captain of the Sunlight Scripture of the Slane Theocracy! At least, that had been the plan.
Needless to say, events weren't transpiring as he'd anticipated.
By the Six, how were they going to accomplish their mission when they couldn't find a single, bloody villager! As if they'd gotten up and left in the middle of dinner! What nonsense was this?! They couldn't have fled; they would have been seen and run down by the angels long before they reached the forest. Yet they were clearly gone, spirited away to safety by some unknown means. Had they been lurking nearby one of his summons would have surely noticed by now.
Was it a trap?
"Captain, we've found someone!"
Finally!
Heartened by his subordinate's words, Nigun blinked the ominous inkling away without a second thought and followed his underling into the town square. There he found a rather strange sight. Awaiting him within was not a man as he'd expected, nor their target, or even the village elder for that matter.
T'was an elf.
A dark elf at that.
He wasn't even bound or gagged, indeed, his subordinates actually seemed afraid to approach the demi-human and the strange cart he carried. Perhaps the latter had something to do with it. Crouched upon the battered frame of the wagon like some bloodthirsty beast, a tall woman with ice-blue hair leered down at them with an eerie smile. A half-bred? She certainly looked the part. He didn't like that look in her eyes. She was looking at them as though they were no more than dirt beneath her feet-no, he amended, not as if they were dirt, but prey.
And his men were afraid of her?
The very thought threatened to send Nigun into paroxysms of anger. His own men! Trained soldiers of the Scripture versed in the most sacred of holy arts, were frightened by a mere elf and a woman?! Absurd! How could they, members of the Sunlight Scripture, be skittish of such trash?! Now that he drew closer to the elf. however, Nigun found the man's red eyes all too keen despite his humble hooded tunic, a fact which only further served to rouse his already inflamed suspicions. Dark elves seldom ventured far from their homeland; what business could one possibly have out here?
Nevertheless, he drew himself up to address the irritating creatures as was befitting a man of his rank.
"Who are you?" he demanded to know.
"Name's Naruto." the elf answered readily, revealing a confident voice that betrayed its owners less-than-humble origins. "This here's m'wife, Esdeath." he indicated the lethal-looking lady with a bob of his head, causing her to preen slightly. "As to the who, we aren't all that special. Just a pair of merchants passing through. What about you?" the blond inquired, tilting his head beneath the hood to expose spiky blond bangs, "What brings you boys here? Don't look like you're from these parts."
The scum lied, of course.
If this elf was a merchant, he'd eat his own boots!
"I could ask you the same thing, filth."
"Hmm?" the elf frowned, hopping down from his cart with a nimble bound. "I told you; I'm a merchant. I like to travel."
Restraining his growing ire at the recalcitrant demi-human, Nigun
"What's in the cart?"
Naruto offered a small shrug.
"Odds and ends, nothing special."
"Then you wouldn't mind if we inspect it?"
"You don't believe me, is that it? I'm hurt. Really."
"Save me your platitudes. You there! Search him at once!"
The "merchant" demurred with a small shrug.
"As you wish."
A cursory inspection revealed the cart's contents to be little more than spun cloth and bundled iron, much to Nigun's consternation. Nor did the elf have possess incriminating evidence on him. A pity. He would've liked an excuse to wipe that smug smile of the man's face. No matter. There was still the matter of the woman and unnerving eyes aside, he doubted she'd be willing to defy him with their angels present. That would surely strike the smirk from that filthy elf's face. Perhaps he'd become more talkative once they were finished with her.
"I'm afraid I'll have to ask your companion to come with us."
A slender brow arched inquisitively.
"Under what charges?"
"Suspicion of sedition against the Slane Theocracy." Nigun replied, smiling. An utter lie of course, but one meant to draw a reaction from the blond. In that sense, he succeeded.
It was not the reaction he expected.
"So you call yourselves the Slane Theocracy, then?" Naruto's head bobbed up and down in almost childlike delight. "Interesting! I'm afraid I've never heard of them. Would you mind telling me more? Is it a country? Where is it located?"
"Enough! She comes with us!"
"Oh, please try." the woman declared coolly, placing a hand on the pommel of her rapier. "I'm so tired of all this talking."
"Esdeath." Naruto put in sternly. "Calm down."
Those azure orbs flashed dangerously.
...very well."
An icy sensation coursed down the back Nigun's neck and pooled in his stomach. Where had this sudden chill come from? He could feel the conversation slipping through his fingers and it galled him to no end. Why was he wasting his time with this one?! He had a mission to complete! And yet...! Again came that lingering feeling of dread and he furiously shrugged it off, refusing to admit defeat.
"Where are the villagers?"
"Oh, bugger it!" The man sighed, throwing up his arms. "This isn't fun anymore. They're out of your reach. We've seen to that."
"Aren't you a merchant?"
For a fleeting moment, the facade slipped.
Eyes the color of fire blazed out at him for but a moment, then dimmed.
Naruto looked at him for a moment longer and sighed deeply.
"Yes, yes I am!" he declared with a decidedly false smile. "In fact, I have a very special limited time offer for you and your so-called soldiers." Nigun barely heard him over the chattering of his own teeth. He could see his own breath now; visible as a cloud of steam in the frigid air. Cold. Why was it so cold?
"And w-what might that be?" he forced through shaking teeth.
That lightning grin of his again.
"If you apologize and leave right now, at this very moment, you can tell your children of this day. That sounds like a fair deal, doesn't it?"
Nigun bristled furiously.
"Fair?!"
Filthy non-human! How dare he! The gall! He ought to be put to the sword for such base impudence! Still, he might make a good slave. Slaves were a popular and expensive commodity in the Slane Theocracy, dark elves especially. The elves themselves were psychologically broken and their ears mutilated so as to know their place in society of course, but those who possessed skills and good looks were looking are worth a huge sum. Nearly the worth of a magical weapon. This one seemed handsome enough, if a bit willful. No, not worth being a slave then. He'd pay for his temerity here and now with his life!
'Know your place!'
Nigun gestured with his chin and the nearest angels swept forwards, effortlessly cutting through the air.
There was no warning for the assault; merely the slightest blur.
At this, the bluenette finally stirred, but it wasn't to defend.
Impossibly her faint smile only deepened; for to Nigun's mild annoyance, the elf didn't cry out as the blade ran him through. Didn't even move, for that matter. His only admission was to turn with the blow, his feet shifting ever so slightly upon the well-beaten path. Ha! It seemed all his bluffs had been for nothing after...wait. A flicker of alarm passed through the men, shared by Nigun. Why hadn't he fallen? Why hadn't the angel pulled back by now? Surely they'd given orders. He was just about to tell his subordinate to do this very action when the angel inexplicably began to move.
Something was wrong.
In contrast to its earlier fluid grace, its movements now seemed stiff and unnatural by comparison. Forced, even. As Nigun looked on in quiet consternation he realized why; Naruto's face reappeared in the gap a heartbeat later. In one outstretched hand he gripped the unfortunate angel by the neck, heedless of the blade thrust through his chest. Impossible. Putting his mortal wound aside, surely a lowly elf couldn't possess enough strength to stop an angel with one hand?! Yet there he stood, in open defiance of reality, crushing its throat.
Then the laughter reached his ears.
"Well, now. This is unexpected!" the elf tittered softly, wrenching the flailing creature away from him. "I don't feel anything. Nothing at all. Greater Physical Immunity, perhaps? Hmm," craning his hooded head aside, the blond regarded his intact body with a wondering look that soon turned to one of understanding. "I get it. That's good to know. I'll have to remember this."
Greater Physical Immunity? What was that?!
With this, Nigun's composure finally slipped its leash.
"What foul sorcery is that, you filthy demi-human?!" he shrieked.
"Filthy?" Naruto tilted his head, still cradling the hapless angel. "That's your final answer?"
"I beg your pardon?!"
The elf sighed anew.
"You know," he drawled roughly, straightening up to his full height, "I once read of a man who burned his enemies alive. Burn them all, I believe the phrase was. Burn them in their homes. Burn them in their beds. Me? I prefer ice. Revenge is a dish best served cold after all. I mean, humans are humans after all. Most of us are ugly, broken creatures. Despite my flaws, I like to believe I'm one of the good ones, even after everything I've done today. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, ya know?" laughing, he rambled on, giving his captive angel a vicious shake. "Try as I might, I like to be the nice guy. So, I wanted to be absolutely certain you were just as scummy as I suspected you to be. You had your chance. Several, in fact."
"What nonsense!"
"Indulge my nonsense, then." the blond waved his frippery away with a dismissive flick of his free hand. "Or is that too much for your precious pride to bear? Nigun of the Slane Theocracy! You rape and kill innocents and take slaves of the rest. I'll be sure to burn your precious country to the ground. I'll bring them a storm the likes of which they've never seen." he paused then, perhaps intending to let the weight of his words sink in, their poison in his blood. "And when they ask why, I want them to know this. It was because of you. Nigun, my boy...
When he next Naruto raised his gaze, Luin finally saw the hapless "elf" for what he truly was.
His filthy tunic burned away, replaced by crimson armor and fine robes.
The staff appeared then, burning black.
Only then did he realize his folly.
"I am so very disappointed."
In that instant, several events occurred at once.
With a deafening roar that threatened to shake the very earth under, the blond raised his arm and slammed the angel to the dirt, obliterating its body into countless particles of light. It vanished at once, sword and all. In the next instant the "village" they stood in shattered like broken glass, leaving Nigun and his men standing upon they very field they'd forsaken some hours ago. The former reeled back, spying the true town as a speck in the distance, far to the south. Which meant...illusion magic?! When?! How?! None of this made any sense!
"Esdeath?" Naruto turned his back then, causing his companion and Nigun to stiffen for entirely different reasons. "They're yours. Leave one alive for questioning."
Looking back, it was her smile that sealed everything.
"Gladly!"
Some instinct compelled Nigun to leap backwards, desperately flinging himself away from the crazed blond and his mad mistress. In that aspect, he was fortunate. He survived where the rest did not. Even as he leaped to safety the ground turned to ice beneath his feet, freezing several men as they tried to flee; shattering them as they'd perished. At this, the rest finally recognized their peril and skittered away like drunken crabs, tripping over one another, forgetting themselves in a frantic attempt to escape the rapidly encroaching field of ice. In the chaos that followed, Nigun would always remember what came next.
The laughter.
It burst out of Esdeath in a demented giggle as she started forward, the tip of her rapier trailing a long line against the now-frozen field. Nigun saw his death in those cruel eyes and something in him quailed at it. Fear. It coiled like a cruel snake in the pit of his stomach, tying itself into endless knots. In that moment, he cared not a wit for the angels, or even his subordinates.
He just didn't want that blue terror near him.
"Tell all the angels to attack!" he shouted orders! "Now!"
As one, more than forty angels swooped towards the unarmored woman. To his immediate dismay, said woman barked out a spell in a foreign language and a hail of icicles rendered them so much frozen dust in a matter of moments. Despite the brief casting time, Esdeath's pace never slowed; even as their disintegrating corpses crashed to the earth ahead of her, the smiling general continued her relentless stride forward with nary a care in the world. The sound of her footsteps thudded hard in Nigun's ears, pounding alongside his pulse.
"That's now...how did you...
"Is that all?" she purred. "Please tell me you can do better than that."
Despair set in, crushing hope.
"Impossible!"
"This can't be!"
"Holy Ray! Poison! Shockwave! Fire Rain! Confusion! Charge of Stalagmite! Open Wounds! Fire! Word of Curse! Blindness!"
Esdeath's saber rose ponderously to greet the spells, but instead of of striking their target as the casters intended they found themselves absorbed. Drained away to nothingness, as Naruto snapped into existence before her with an outstretched hand. A muscle jumped in Nigun's jaw at the sight. Again! How did he keep doing this?! Defying the impossible?! The elf's speed and strength were well beyond an annoyance now. In fact, they'd genuinely begun to to concern him. Too many questions, and no answers in sight. What kind of caster boasted that kind of strength and absorbed magic?!
"Stop! You idiots! You're only making him stronger!"
Heedess of his orders and in full panic, the witless fools continued to feed the flame. Infuriated, Nigun rounded on the nearest caster and struck him full in the face.
"I said cease!"
This at last produced the reaction he desired.
Startled by the sudden brutality, his men lowered their arms and the storm of spells ceased.
Too late.
-was no reason to endanger yourself, darling." Esdeath could be heard saying as his ears ceased ringing. "I could have dispatched them easily."
"What can I say?" Naruto shrugged. "I didn't like the idea of them soiling your beauty."
"Flatterer."
"What can I say? I am! Now then...
Naruto surprised even himself by laughing; the resonating timbre that leaped out of him as he drank in the weak spells like so much water sounded more monster than man.
Burgeoned to new heights by the onslaught, his mana sang and he raised a hand.
"I'll return this to you!"
Here was something he'd forgotten about YGGDRASIL back when it was a mere game; for all its supposedly balanced gameplay, magic would always accomplish what physical strength could not. Indeed spells exceeded strength. They were powerful. Ridiculously, absurdly, overpowered. Throw enough skill points into your magic stats and you could annihilate armies. Naruto had never given thought to this before. The game had always been his garden, a paradise were he could revisit the past. Leveling up-and the many spells that came with it-was merely a means to achieve and then maintain that end.
But what was an end without purpose?
In his darker moments, he'd even contemplated suicide. His physical body was absurdly sturdy, but he was by no means immortal. He didn't doubt he would've found a way if he put his mind to it. Thrown himself from an incredible height? Leaped into a nuclear reactor? Cowardice had stayed his hand then, however, and it was because of that very cowardice that he'd lived to see this moment; that he came to an abrupt realization.
He was strong.
Horribly, woefully strong. So strong he'd never had chance to enjoy himself. Never had a reason to.
Until now.
Perhaps Nigun sensed this. Perhaps he realized what was about to happen.
Flailing, he turned his gaze to the sole angel remaining.
"P-Principality of Observation! Enga-
"Oh, please! Rasenshuriken!"
A deafening shriek eclipsed the rest of his command and the world burned white, throwing Nigun on his back.
'What just...I don't...
When he came to his senses and scrambled upright, the last of his hope withered and died. He found himself staring at the mangled remains of what had once been a divine being, now smoldering away in a frozen crater. He hadn't even seen the spell that had slain the defensive type; reality's only admission remained the ringing in his ears. Senses came back to him, the screams of his men, the reality of the situation falling upon him in a painful pall of despair.
Sense slinked away.
Slowly.
Through legs that felt like lead he stumbled back, unable to believe what his eyes were telling him.
"Devil! Oni! Akuma! What aaaaaaaaaaare you?!"
Naruto sighed.
"Do you know how it feels to be overpowered?" the words emerged as growl as he prepared another spell. "To be so hopelessly outmatched-overwhelmed-that you can't even lift a finger against your opponent? That's how those villagers felt when you slaughtered them. They were helpless. That's how you're going to feel once I'm through with you." a hand rose, pointing at him imperiously. "So...go ahead. Cast your spells. Summon your oh so precious angels. Because no matter what you do in this situation, what you say, what you summon, what you use as a weapon, we are going to kill you."
Nigun quailed.
"We?"
A voice like the grave itself rose from behind him a heartbeat later.
"Grasp Heart."
A sudden intense pressure manifested in Nigun's chest, as though a giant hand had suddenly reached inside of him and squeezed. He staggered, still clutching inside his coat for the sacred item with numb fingers. To no avail. His arm refused to respond; it was all he could do to turn his head. In his final moments, as the mangled organ that had once been his heart wheezed out another beat, he saw his killer. The sight of it nearly killed him outright; for The face of death stared back at him in all its skeletal glory, eyes like blazing coals judging him and finding him unworthy.
Then, as though dissatisfied by his inability to die swiftly, the elder lich raised a hand.
"Dragon Lightning!"
Mercifully, Nigun no longer felt much of anything. As such, he was only distantly aware of fifth tier spell slamming into him, hurling him away. His end was abrupt and immediate; it never once occurred to him that he'd yet to use his trump card. That his subordinates were being butchered by an armored woman wielding a massive bardiche, cut like wheat from chaff. He saw all of this, yet beheld none of it, felt not a thing. It wasn't until that moment that he understood what was happening; it was then, as a skeletal a hand reached down and gripped the very essence that was his soul that he realized his suffering had only just begun.
"Hey!" Naruto's distant voice groused as the last of life slipped away, "That was my prey! Hands off!"
"Apologies." the lich rumbled. "First come first serve. You can have that crystal."
"Tch! Spoilsport! You weren't supposed to jump in yet!" the elf argued.
"I follow my own whims, not yours. Hmm. So this is a soul...?"
Nigun whimpered, but his captors didn't react. The dawn broke then, in that horrid moment.
No, no, no! It couldn't end like this! Not this! He wanted to die! He wanted peace!
Nigun shrieked soundlessly, flailing to escape his prison; this fresh hell.
'No! NO! Release me! I command you! Let me go!'
No one heard his screams.
A/N: There we go. I'm still horribly sick at the time of this author's note, so I do apologize for not making this chapter longer. Its nothing serious mind you, just a really bad case of the flu which has me laid out and feeling like absolute crap. But hey, at
So I decided to divide this chapter into two respective parts. I also apologize for not including Nigun's asskicking in this. I felt it ought to be more devoted to Naruto and Ains respective viewpoints, and the potential conflict that may one day stem from it. Shoehorning a fight in at the end just felt...forced, ya know? I pride myself on doing my best when I write, even if I'm feeling sickly, and I did my best to get this out before the Mass Effect craze hits.
NEXT CHAPTER BRINGS THE GOOD STUFF!
So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview! Hope it makes you smile. And Review! Or face the wrath of AINS!
Its going to be a nice LOOOOOONG chapter filled with action, humor, and all the good bits!
(Preview)
"What do we have here?"
Ains exhaled deeply.
"You're insufferable, you know that?"
"Hey, I try."
R&R! =D
