Sorry for the late update, I have been quite busy with several things and also have a bit of a writer block to be honest. But hey, now I came back with the first part of the epilogue. I intended the epilogue to have 3 parts: The Redemption, The Vision of the Future to Come, Why You are Great. The other two parts are both currently under writing as well. The "new" named character of this chapter as well as a mention of a character are both characters from the original fanfic and not mine.
The Redemption
Many things had changed ever since what happened that day - the day that would be officially dubbed for a long time as "The Day of Revelation and Reckoning". The incident and the appearance of numerous entities in that fateful arrival, especially that of The Entity - the title they gave to Magnus, had stirred the souls of many artistic minds and the bottomless ambition of numerous wealthy megalomaniacs who wished to see themselves as gods. Numerous aspects of that day had been incorporated into culture, works of art and entertainment, with each trying their very best to express the fullest extent of the holiness that happened, but none could ever truly depict or even grasp the slightest fraction of the truth. Same thing goes with those who tried to make what they were wearing as none of the copies can ever get even close to an extremely insignificant fraction the degree of the detail or the essence that suit gave off. In comparison to the real thing, they were nothing but shamelessly cheap wannabe cosplay.
However, what was affected the most were the very fabric of society and what people thought they had known about the reality they were living in.
At first, the bystanders and all those who were watching thought that everything had been made clear: gods and higher entities exist, one of them has finally revealed himself on Earth and salvation has come to them. As such, all of them immediately bowed down, some with their face touching the ground where they were standing to show worship, some looking up with curiosities to gawk at his magnificent existence. This was also broadcast on televisions and to the Internet as well and it had gained numerous reactions from all types of groups of people, most typical were from the academic and religious communities.
Throughout the duration of the incident, being awed was an understatement as they witnessed miracles after miracles, magic after magic, scenes they thought only existed in the wildest fantasy settings being so gracefully done and flung around as if they were nothing at all. Then, the dream of salvation started to fracture as they heard his judgment about this world of theirs. In every way possible, they could not say that he was wrong. In the end, as he had only one more step from getting into the gate and had one last stare at them and this pathetic world, everyone, especially those that were there could feel all that he had for them. His eyes were beautiful, so much so, everyone could easily fall in love with him, yet, so full of pure contempt, hatred and disgust. It was a look of someone who had seen it all would give to something that was never meant or should be with absolutely no reason why it was necessary to be like that. In that very moment of silent, every decent person, or at least, those that still had some humility and self-esteem on the world had the same idea floating on their minds:
'God… has abandoned us… It was our fault...'
With the current state of the world, the idea that God or any divine beings had left them long long ago had been something quite obvious to those who were more realistic. But there had still been a bit of hope, especially for the more religious folk. That was until today, what happened ultimately felt like the final nail in the coffin that was this moribund hope that had been closer to a permanent death as time went by. Most fell into a deep state of depression. Some even ended their lives.
As there was proof of higher existence, a lot more seemed to become attracted to religions even more. They were desperately trying to stick to the idea that there was still some worth in this world. As such, old religions rose in popularity and new ones were created. Many prayed and worshiped with an amount of devotion that had never been seen before with the hope that some other gods or idols would answer their prayers and bring salvation to them.
However not everyone was like that.
For some viewers of the incidents, those that were familiar to both versions of YGGDRASIL recognized the identity of The incarnation of Death that they were now witnessing, it was even confirmed by the declaration of the radiant being standing next to him. To their shock, it was Momonga - the head of the old infamous guild Ainz Ooal Gown, the holder of the throne of King, the ruler of the invincible fortress of Nazarick. Why he was called Ainz Ooal Gown instead of Momonga though, many didn't understand and didn't really care about. What they truly cared about was why it hadn't been them in his place.
Many had heard about Ainz's history in the Dragon Land and on various internet forums, and half-jokingly claimed that they could have done many times better if they were him, their ideas for an empire would make his so-called utopia into a shithole. However, those ideas were either absolutely idealistic, self-righteous or/and straight out extreme anthropocentric, just like how the old Slane Theocracy had been, but on a much greater, more extreme scale. Some could even be considered as mindlessly, worthlessly brutal, psychopathic, megalomaniac that served no purpose in any ways, like it was some sick power fantasy. Meanwhile they kept saying that those were "righteous actions against abominations".
That was why when they saw this, they saw the entity that represented - or even, master of - reality itself granting this "nobody" his avatar's form and power, that in their mind, they with their character builds, ideas and "moral high ground" were much more effective and suitable to be chosen! With this incident, it was clear now: those tales of the people who had been the patients of the YGGDRASIL coma were all real. Thus, among those viewers, greed and the desire to take all of the riches of that world for themselves had started to rise up. Thus, plots had started to take roots among those deemed themselves worthy.
Information about the 41 individuals were hunted down with great prizes by numerous individuals, each for different reasons, however there were two main groups: those wished to find a path of redemption and those who wished to expand their wealth and their ego more. One of the people who was able to somehow give out the most was a psychologist as he so proclaim to be, which included: very vaguely on how the Players were able to go to that other new world, great amount of information on the history and many other details on Ainz Ooal Gown and his kingdom in one go, then he just went silent. This person also made the claim that he was a Player and one of Ainz's close allies back when he was still there.
It had captured a lot of interest that some people started to track him down and kidnap him to interrogate for more information. However, for some reason, no matter how hard they tried, he was just gone… vanished without a trace as if he had never existed.
Mega corporations and governments started to work on means to travel to other worlds for their own gains. However, the method given the most focus was seemingly the similar way that the ex-Players had accidentally been put through as that way had been proven to work and it could also give those who used it godlike power if they wish to. Yet, there had been almost no progress.
Every time they tried to mimic what had been done by the Players, there hadn't been any affirmative result as there was no way to know as the mental tracking and mental image capturing device just suddenly failed with other damage that varied with each experiment. There were some subjects that hadn't woken up, some could never wake up anymore. Then there were even some instances where the subjects just woke up immediately. No matter how powerful their avatars had been, they were all in very unstable state, they refused to answer any question as they immediately started running around when they first saw an opportunity, breaking everything, becoming overly violent to anyone who tried to stop them to the point that there had been many casualties caused by them while they frantically ran, screaming, shouting not to continue the experiments. No non lethal method could hold them down, they could only be stopped when they were put down permanently, either by themselves or by someone else.
In the end, it felt as if something had been actively preventing them from escaping this reality. By now, in the back of their minds, many had a clear idea on what was responsible for that and why.
Although many flocked to the established cults and religions to find a sign, an answer, much more would be attracted and convinced by gods that had directly appeared with the world as his witnesses and had even given them somewhat of a direction for where to go. Initially, the belief was fractured with many new independent cults and creeds that had their own way of honoring Them. However, at some point in time, they were all unified into one new religion and it's name was "The Church of Nazarick on Earth". Like the name had dictated, it was a religion dedicated to the entity and 41 people had been chosen by Him, which by the word of its leader, now 42 of them shared the same title of Supreme Beings.
The teaching of this new religion had been the recollection, analyzation and adaption of stories and information gathered about them that anyone could get, with the details of the original religion that worshiped the 41 from the other world was highly focused upon. Compared to that of many other religions, this one was much simpler, some even described it as "a mystique, yet straightforward manual on how to have a meaningful life and be a good citizen".
Due to its simple and close to the ordinary lives and desires nature, it very quickly gained followers everywhere, in every corner of the entire world and had started influencing daily lives. What was troublesome was that many of the ideas and lessons there could cause harm to the current order that was benefiting the upper echelon. Completely aware of that, at the very beginning when the religion had not been too popular and unified with many different sects and creeds and not as troublesome, there were only initial defaming campaigns and actions against the Church, secretly and officially backed by the mega-corporations. As time went by, regardless of those actions, its popularity hadn't had any signs of stopping or slowing down, they had tried to limit its growth through various other more serious measures. Just like before, none of those methods really did anything, the influence of the ideology of the Church still grew and didn't seem to stop with the people becoming even more independent .
Ideas spark actions, something never seen for a long time has happened. Inspired by the lessons of that religion of how leaders and society should be, people all around had been becoming bolder and more "rebellious" as there had been many widespread demands for changes.
The futility of such methods combined with the fact that they had long been consumed by insatiable greed, the leaders of mega-corporations around the world had decided to make a secret grand alliance with each other with the purpose to purge the pesky religion from existence with a total war in the near future. With the thought that they held absolute control of abundant force and resources, they all confidently presumed that it would end in their victory quickly.
How terribly wrong they had been. A mistake that would cost them everything forever.
No matter how much they tried to limit the influence of this new religion among their ranks, it had already very secretly rooted into the hearts and souls of numerous soldiers, up to even some of the highest military positions on every branch in every nation and corporations. A day after the alliance's position was appointed, several generals, with one of them being among the appointed chief generals of the mega corporation coalition, who were all staunch secret followers of the Church themselves, sent a secret message to the upper echelon of the Church informing them that there would soon be a war upon their belief.
Just like how the leaders had foreseen this from the start, now confirmed by an insider source, with plans and all types of preparations had already been made in absolute secrecy and revised numerous times since the beginning, now they just accelerated the process and prepared themselves for a war greater than any other.
Two years later, the war was declared. Yet, no follower of the Church was surprised. On the contrary, this was something they had been waiting for, a chance for this world, for themselves to be redeemed.
42 minutes after the declaration, countless mutinies all around the world had been reported, multiple regions quickly revolted, liberated and solidified their positions. The arrogantly delusional idea of one sided balance of power initially filled the minds of the ruling class, but had been brutally shattered by the reality where both sides were actually much more comparable in strength to each other.
With that, what would be called The Redemption Crusade had officially begun and the world had become a massive war zone.
For the first time in modern history, the world had shockingly witnessed such a brutal war, with such a dramatic and fast beginning like that. One of the most crippling series of events during the initial phase was the surprise capturing or destruction of facilities that held weapons of mass destruction by the Crusaders. As such, from the idea of an all out offensive tactics, the opposite side had to quickly make a tactical retreat while grabbing anything they could to more secure positions. Although it sounded easy, it was not, especially when the majority of the population had been pathetically oppressed by the elites. No matter how well trained they were, their journeys were treacherous, with many having fallen and some being captured.
Some of the rather isolated ecologies had either quickly fallen from within, from siege or surrendered themselves. Those that are rather close to each other, combined with their surrounding and loyal interconnecting zones would form into a military district. Their formations were not simple as rivers of blood had been spilled by both sides, who had fought nail and tooth for these small patches of land. Due to the concentration and flanking of the mega corporate forces, these places ended up in last stands meanwhile the noncombatants tried their best to escape toward the nearby Church controlled area. These brave fighters would later be canonized as "The first legion of Martyrs" as there would be many more to come.
Initially, if one only looked at the number and the skill of combatants belonged to both sides, many would say that this would lean a bit more to the side of the mega corporations and they could win due to generally more experience, better training, better equipment and they had more resources.
History would prove them wrong. The Crusaders - as they were called. There was more about them than meet the eyes.
As if they were blessed, when the ground troops directly confronted the enemy on the battlefield, they came in holy chanting and their eyes were fierce. They were not just filled with hate for those who had ruined this world, but also absolute fearlessness, unbreakable spirit, inhumane resolve and oddly enough, utmost serenity. All of them combined radiated an aura that could be described to be divine protection as it strengthened all around them, made them all more steadfast, and also put fear straight to the heart of their enemies. And when they charged, the wrath of the world and of the 42 gods fully manifested in their unison roar that shook the whole battlefield. The only reason why their enemies could still stand their ground was the fact that the fear suppression devices that attached to them were working at full capacity.
What made this war even more legendary to the point that it had become a real story within the realm of myth was the leader that led the Crusade and what would be deemed as "The gift of the gods" that he bestowed upon his rank.
Leading the followers of the Church was their Eternal Prophet of their belief and the one who united all the cults and sects that worshiped the 42. As if the gods had finally decided it was the time for this world to finally redeem itself, they gave this world a divine boon in the form of a man.
He was not an ordinary man however, but one with an ethereal, rather angelic beauty that was somehow able to speak what some said to be "the tongue of angels", as well as any other language. As people looked into his bewitched eyes, they could feel the mind and soul of a true immortal that was wiser and more experienced, that none can ever be compared to. Initially, he hid his true self and became the founder of the religion based on that dedicated to the 41, with the recent extension into 42, from the other world with the amount of knowledge and conviction about them that had no rival.
Only when the war was declared did he reveal his true identity. He was a deceased ex Player, now brought back beyond his full former glory to lead this world toward the path of redemption by the order of Ainz Ooal Gown - the leader of the 42. The relationship between the Prophet and the God of Duty and Kingship seemed to be very close as every time his name or title was mentioned by him, he had always referring to the god by titles in a utmost reverential and devoted manner: "my eternal honorable master", "the most divine and greatest of them all" and what seemed to revealed his history to that god himself: "the true deity I have had the ultimate honor to walk side by side with for more than a millennia".
He led the war with an utmost dedication, charisma and ingenuity history had never seen before. He cared not for any luxury as he worked tirelessly, took a big role in taking care of every facet of the war from personally leading the troops to the logistics and other important decisions making.
At the same time, he was a god of war on the battlefield. There had been many sightings of his feats that could only be compared to stories that existed in the most imaginative minds. Every time he marched onto the battlefield, his sole roar made the enemies feel like the whole reality was going to crash down on them. Armed with an absolutely divine suit of armor and an equally magnificent golden holy lance on his one hand, he furiously charged at the enemies ahead faster than any augmented eyes could see. When he engaged the enemy, he was an undefeatable force on the battlefield, literally almost nothing could scratch him.
Accompanying such nigh invincibility were his otherworldly offensive powers. Either it was magical or physical, the endless blitz of attacks that he unleashed upon his enemies were mind bogglingly fast, precise and oh so devastating no matter who the enemies were. All at the same time, with a voice of the herald of the gods should be, he led his troops in such a masterful fashion that history had so rarely seen while buffing their capability. Despite all the chaos that had been happening around, anyone who accidentally laid an eyes on him felt like he was masterfully waltzing through the battlefield with the grace that could only belong to the highest order of angel while his magnificent pairs of wings elegantly moving to his will, which had only embellished his magnificent statue even more.
However, what could be considered as the greatest gift of their prophet was the thing many had seen that day, before the arrival of the entity: magic, or tier magic he called it. Beyond the degree of power he used to have, one of the things he also gained was the ability to give others the ability to use magic like the Players, as such it was dubbed as "The gift of the Gods".
This was one of the factors that had greatly boosted the capability of many and the overall spirits of the Crusades, making them even more worthy of a legendary army chosen by the divine. On the battlefield, magic users had always been one of the greatest fears of their enemies. Dire situations with no way to escape for normal people, in the frustration, panic and death of their enemies, they could solve them. More troublesome were the numerous times these magic users used spells to support their allies and control the minds of their enemies.
The corporate loyalists had tried to discern how they could do it and had even done countless experiments and dissection on captured magic users to learn its secret. Just like their attempt at travelling to a different universe, especially to the one that held the 42, all of them ended up in utter futility. Those who performed these experiments had to admit to themselves that these magicians were anomalies and there was no way to explain or understand them if one applied any science or principles of this universe onto its working. So anomalous these abilities were, they deemed this gift as the product of the twisting and manipulation of reality by some higher authority whose power they could never comprehend.
At long last, after 10 years of the most gruesome, devastating war to ever exist, the Crusade had ended with the whole world having been united under one flag and that is the ideology of the 42. As such, the Age of Redemption had begun.
Despite all the initial difficulty of a world that had been completely ravaged by the war, the average standard of living had quickly returned back to normal and improving as time passed in a speedy and sustainable manner. Come with them were ideas and things that were thought to have ceased from existing in the past. Social welfare - a rather mystical, if not, idealistically foreign concept had returned to all with every necessity for everyone's growth and daily lives had been provided quite cheaply and some were even free. New technology and innovation, both scientific and magical or the combination of both had been developed quickly. Infrastructure had been rebuilt and upgraded better than ever before with many towns and cities having been completely remade into something new with both high practicality and aesthetic value, some major ones were even inspired by the design of the cities in Their kingdom. The government had been running with utmost efficiency and there was almost no corruption.
Most important of all, the world was now lush with life once more. Birds now flew freely in the open sky and the glorious golden light of the sun could finally once more greet the surface of the Earth in a wide scale as the ever-present smoke and smog had been permanently cleared out. The ground and the water had also been renewed. The forests and the jungles had finally returned on the fertile lands as the sunlight sparkling on the beautiful shade of blue that was the natural stretches of water on this world. With the renewal of the habitats, its wild inhabitants, thought to be long gone, had also returned in full.
For everyone, this truly was a fantasy come true. For the first time in forever, people could finally truly hope and dream once more.
All of these miracles were possible owing to the help of the gifts combined with the tireless dedication of many brilliant, devoted minds filled with vision of a bright future. This especially applied to the Prophet as he had been micromanaging everything with the efficiency a leader should have. For that, people praised his name along with the 42 Supreme Beings as such:
With an immortal mind that held wisdom and experience of a millenia in the kingdom of gods, he guides us. With godlike strength and power, he liberated us and destroyed those who defile the will of the divines. With charisma, beauty and compassion of an angel, he graces us. With the devotion and authority of a loyal agent to the gods, he illuminates us with Their light and grants us a portion of Their power. With such, we have saved ourselves and made our home a land where hope and all lives can once more bloom.
All hail the 42. Praise be Their names. They had judged us that day and shown us the error of our ways as well as showed us what divinity is. They had given us a chance to redeem ourselves by sending us a seraphim who would bring us to the path of salvation.
All hail Percussi. Praise be his name. He was the one sent by them that day, for he was the Messiah, the prophet of the Lords on this world. Through him, we understand more about the Lords, their ideas and dreams. Through him, we have seen the paradise that is Their eternal kingdom and materialized Their ideas into our every action and the society that is now. Through it, we have been saved from the annihilation that would have been caused by ourselves.
Two centuries after that fateful day, when everything had truly become better than ever before, the people could stand straight with pride and filled with knowledge and hope for the future, a major disturbance that marked the beginning of a new age had happened.
On the ground where He had arrived on this world and where They had left this world behind, now had been turned into a wide clearing that was the most important holy ground for the devotees of the Church. On the 200th annual commemoration of The Day of Revelation and Reckoning, devotees all around the world made their voyage and gathered there to pay homage and show their devotion to the gods, a gigantic ornately carved gate of gold and marble that bore the holy emblem of the 42 and Their Kingdom of the World Beyond appeared in the same place and at the same time where the gate of that day delivered the 42 away from this world.
However, unlike what happened the first time, that day was an utterly heavenly day and all around were filled, with nobody being ignorant of the greatness of the Supreme Beings. Almost instantly, people all around swarmed in and only left a small area around the gate. The information about its sudden appearance spread like a wildfire as just a moment later, the whole city was on the street, trying to move toward the direction of the gate.
In the clearing, a [Gate] appeared and coming out through it was The Messiah. Normally, he would be seen in a very ceremonial clothing of marble white with elegant golden detail and shining a warm holy aura. Today however, he adorned himself in the divine armor that had accompanied him throughout the war all those years ago.
As he gracefully stepped out, he immediately gazed at the gate with tentative eyes. Just through that gaze alone, everyone around could feel the eternal flame of passion that was his legendary devotion to the 42. Just like how it had always been, it was palpable, overwhelming and divine that none in the entirety of their history could ever achieve.
However, for those that had had the honor to experience it before, they knew well that today was even more exceptional.
If normally his faith was like a great beacon that shone the glorious path of the 42 and enlightened the world around from the eternal darkness of ignorance and unbelief, that faith now shone with the intensity no less than that of a sun.
Then, in a swift movement, he closed his eyes and knelt down before the gate in absolute grace and devotion. Seeing their messiah in such a manner, they followed his action and anticipated the greatness that would come out from the gate. Just like before, 200 years ago, no one dared to make a word, no bird or animal dared to make a sound and the world once more was in utter silence.
However, unlike what happened that day, their silence was replied.
Slowly and majestically, the giant gates moved as every one of its elaborate details glistening under the tender sunlight. As it opened, in an array of calm light and soothing air shot out from the gate, 42 beings and the denizens of Nazarick revealed themselves.
They radiated with overwhelming divine aura, more than when they left two centuries ago, beyond even the description in the most exaggerated story. Coming along, as their bodyguards, were retinues of soldiers coming from every single race of that world beyond. They were all equipped with the perfect combination of magic and science, that came in the form of elegant futuristic weapons and armor that spoke of great power. But that was not to say they were not powerful by themselves as everyone could feel an amount of power radiating from each of these soldiers which no one in this world had ever achieved except for the Percussi himself.
Unlike before, there was no disdain and hatred. Instead, there was only content and satisfaction coming from the Supreme Beings as they saw the result of their investment.
They gazed up to the sky and felt the essence, they found life and progress coursing through corners and within every object and every creature of this world. Then they looked toward the people of this world. Compared to the people that they left back many eons ago, just like the world, its denizens right now was a complete contrast. No longer the downtrodden men and women that were stripped of everything, now, they all looked healthy and in their eyes shone the fire of hope, of purpose, of great dreams and utmost devotion that couldn't be found within any in the past. All in all, they were pleased.
For that, under the heavenly weather, the 42 Supreme Beings announced that the people of this world had truly redeemed themselves and asked them to stand up with pride, which they followed in utmost gratitude.
As a reward for a job well done, at that very place they ascended, their Messiah ascended to godhood. By the suggestion of Ainz Ooal Gown himself and the agreement of those he held dear, The Entity - whose name was now revealed to be Magnus, bestowed upon him what had given for several times to the 41 many eons ago in awe and zealots devotion of all the watchers.
For the people of this world, with the charismatic voice that could tame the law of the whole universe, the Greatest of the 42 - the God of Kingship Ainz Ooal Gown himself declared that the people of this world are now officially citizens of Their Eternal Kingdom and would be personally governed in the name of the 42 by no other than Percussi himself.
Immediately after the announcement, everyone all around the world could feel a great surge of power coursing through their body, as if they had transcended to a state of evolution. Realized of what had just happened, a new and eternal golden age for the people of this world has begun with a great celebration that had lasted for a full 6 weeks.