Chapter Two: First Conquest, Part Seven

"I heard from Mother that you were the one who gave me my name."

"That's not exactly true. it was more that amongst the options presented mine was the one that was chosen. The Fallen Angel that stands above all demons, devils and mortals, creator of fiends, born of a God and a mortal woman..."

"Mother's not mortal."

"Of course. I simply found the poetic meaning behind it very fascinating."

"If you value your life, kid ... you will run."

Momo grabbed the obsidian blade that had fallen beside him... but what was he supposed to do against a Greater Barghest? Stab it to death? That did not even qualify as a good 'bad joke' in his books. What hope did he have of killing it – never mind processing its materials – if he could not even get out of this alive? The Hobgoblin unsheathed the sword at his side and stood between Momo and the beast.

He was acting how he believed his teacher would in this situation, but a part of his pride would not let himself shame the one who have given him his name.

"..."

"NOW!"

The creature roared shaking Momo's body like a fallen leaf at the mercy of whatever walked the earth in its vicinity, but Momo still stood with blade held aloft. It would take a miracle for him to escape with his life. Despite being consumed by fear this was something that he understood within the very fibres of his being.

His opponent took a step forward and swung its massive claws with the grace of a dancing Orc, the Hobgoblin managed to parry the strike, following up with his own move – stabbing it straight through its chest. Liquid oozed then splattered across the forest floor but did little to slow the beast down.

The beast lifted its opponent off of the ground and slammed him against a tree, sending debris and tree bark flying everywhere. Momo could hear all the air exit the man's lungs. The monster looked up from his adversary to stare directly at Momo and it was... smiling?

The Hobgoblin tried to speak but all that came out were gasps of terror. The beast lowered his body on top of his adversary and Momo could hear the sound of bones crushing beneath its massive claws. The pain he had experienced earlier was nothing compared to horror he was witnessing.

What should I do? If this thing wants my life, it is only a matter of time before it kills me... but then again, maybe it won't kill me. I don't pose that much of a threat anyway, right? Maybe it will just leave me here to die.

What was he thinking?! Demiurge would never approve of such thoughts!

I'm trying okay? I'm trying to live up to the name you gave me! Please ... I want ... I want my ...

All it took was a moment for Momo to blink and the creature burst into a combination of blood and viscera.

"MOMO-SAMA!"

The voice that called out to him sounded familiar, but Momo would not believe that anyone in his father's camp had come to rescue him. Why would they? He had disobeyed an order. Momo closed his eyes refusing to believe that his father still wanted to deal with him. He had upset him more than once in successive order.

When Momo opened his eyes, he saw none of the creatures that were surrounding him waiting to devour whatever they could of him if he ran, instead he saw a Dark Elf standing in front of him with his hand extended in Momo's direction.

Momo did not require being prompted and grabbed onto the only thing that would bring him back from the brink – away from the giant beasts. The ground suddenly felt strangely slippery and cold. His ears rang as all the pain suddenly rushed back to him, numbing every sense, although, he could have sworn he heard the sound of his father yelling his name. Momo forced himself to stay standing on shaky feet. He lifted his head and was surprised to find himself looking directly at his father.

"Why are you helping me?" he barely whispered

Tears ran down his face, making Momo realise just how tired and drained he truly was. This was not what he wanted at all. His father seemed to notice his struggle and knelt down in front of him to give him a big hug. Momo returned the embrace ignoring the hardness of the armour, taking in the feeling of safety and security that he had not felt since the attack happened.

"I knew you would be okay." his father told him, as if to eradicate any doubts he himself had had.

"No, you don't get it. I'm not okay. I'm not enough, I failed." he wiped a stray tear from his cheek.

The response was a perplexed look from Mare, probably mirroring his father's own.

"How long have I been missing?" Momo asked instead.

"About an hour."

An hour?! An hour?! There was no way all that had happened in an hour. Night had fallen!

Night had fallen... right?!

No, he was right. They must have probably only noticed the fact that he had gone missing half an hour ago or so. They did not realise that he had been gone for so much longer... or had he?

His father must have noticed the change in his expression, because the next thing he said caused Momo's heart to sink.

"We'll fix things," his father said. "Don't worry."

He reached out to pick the boy up and it was only after he did so that Momo noticed the other figures behind his father. Elves, Hobgoblins, various distinct humanoids and a dragon. The Greater Barghest's fellows and those strange birds were nowhere to be found. Momo's eyes widened as he realised why his father had taken so long to find him.

"Father..." Momo whispered. "What have you done?"

Before his father could reply, one of the Hobgoblin approached and knelt before them.

"Your Majesty, we're about ready to move." he said. "Thank you, Riju."

"They know?"

"Uh... about that, you stay here," his father said dismissively while putting him down, "we'll talk later, I promise."

Momo nodded slowly as he was placed on the ground and watched as his father followed the Hobgoblin out of sight. He could not help but feel guilty. He had betrayed his father's trust, and now he was going to lose the one thing he had done all of this for.

"Momo-Sama." Momo turned to see Mare still at his side. "Are you alright?"

Momo nodded, "They didn't touch me." he said.

The sound of wings flapping above him plus the air and sand particles being continually dispositioned made him look up. The area was practically cleared meaning the smell of blood that lingered in the air was further permeated by the landing of a massive dragon. Two more dragons were simply looming ominously overhead while the one that landed seemed to be talking to someone. Momo stared at it in wonder, its scales glittering with every colour imaginable and its wings stretched far and wide. This second dragon was much bigger and more muscular than the one that was with the Hobgoblins – though with that being said they were still much smaller than the Frost Dragons he had seen in E-Rantel – from this vantage that dragon had nothing special other than what seemed to be golden horns.

Whatever had been said caused the dragon to chuckle then flew off to join the group that was surrounding the corpses of the Barghests.

"Who are they?" Momo asked pointing at the group.

"Remember when we asked the Dark Elves who owned a piece of territory in these parts?" Momo nodded. "W-Well, the 'wolf' it seems is a Greater Barghest, this one that I killed was a rival until they decided to team up to eradicate the Half-Dragon... but what they didn't know is that there's an entire population of H-Half-Dragons there, so it's more accurate to call them a tribe of Dragonkin? A-Anyway, it doesn't matter, there are quite a number of them and they separate their society based on who can fly and who can't... e-either way they seem to have issues with the Dragon Rider tribe."

"Oh... well, anyway the Greater Barghest you killed was not the one that attacked me. I wasn't even aware that there were more of them." Momo said casually.

Mare's eyes grew wider than usual.

"W-Which one attacked you, Your Highness?! I will ensure it suffers an eternity for such a front!"

Momo giggled at the sight of Mare getting angry on his behalf and shrugged. The pain caused him to wince but he ignored it.

"It's no problem, Mare-Chan. You don't need to make such a fuss, the last time I checked he only bit me."

"IT BIT YOU?!"

Momo shrugged once more. "Aura said I could have first pick."

"Your Highness was not allowed to fight these beasts!"

"I'm a child! I'm supposed to behave like one, remember?"

Mare clenched his staff tighter, obviously finding fault in his lieges' logic. After taking a minute to calm himself he smiled apologetically at Momo.

"Alright, let us deal with this before anything else happens." Mare took out a healing potion and handed it to Momo.

Momo took the potion in hand then followed Mare towards the group of soldiers. He nodded at them and they nodded in return. Momo took one last look at the carnage around him, glad that he had managed to survive, though wishing he had had the strength to fight.

As he turned again to follow Mare, a sudden pain shot through his back, causing him to scream in pain. He fell to his knees and a moment later Mare was by his side. He knelt down to lift him up, but Momo pushed him away.

"Leave me alone!" he yelled angrily. "I'll figure something out by myself!"

Mare did not back away and Momo was too weak to do anything about it.

I am weak. I am exhausted.

He was barely able to keep his eyes open, so he shut them tight before he took in another deep breath before slumping his body against the grass. After pouring the contents on himself he fell asleep before he could utter another word.

Aknon Carve walked cautiously through the remains of the City of Ruin. He had just lost his two goblin slaves – his only slaves – to some sea-folk three days prior and now he had to return to camp. His squad was in charge of scoping out the competition against the Dragon Rider tribes west of their location. Admittedly this made no sense as the Dragon Riders stronghold was a good week's travel away from where they lived.

He was well aware that the sea-folk would not interfere with land dwellers but considering the Dragon Riders could offer to trade things that the sea-folk were interested in they could potentially be harmful to their migration. Lodos was dying and sooner or later they would lose their place to the Barghests that they had been fighting all this time.

The Barghests were terrible in the sense that they could capture them and their slaves and turn them into slaves as well. That was not so terrible as the lives of the conquered were in the hands of the conqueror, but they could just as easily turn them into a food supply. Not knowing whether you were livestock or free labour was not something the Hobgoblins wanted to experience.

He had parted with his father who had gone searching for the Dark Elves that resided in the centre of these woods. They had failed to negotiate with them several times and they had failed to enslave them thanks to the impenetrable wall inside a giant and nigh-untraversable cavern, but Aknon knew that they were not completely oblivious to the happenings of the outside world, hopefully this time round his father would have better luck than previous generals.

The sun shone brightly above him as he took in a deep breath. The air smelled sweet which disagreed greatly with a temperature that was too hot for the current season. It did not matter to Aknon much as he was not a fan of the cold weather anyway.

He turned around when he heard rustling behind him. As expected, there was nothing there but ruins. He kept walking, his steps sure, almost assured by the sound of crunching dirt under his feet.

"You are not going alone." said a voice.

If Aknon had spun around any faster he would have been likened to a certain children's toy. He found himself staring at a relatively large Dark Elf with red eyes. They may as well have been staring deep into the abyss that was Aknon's soul.

"I have to go home."

His words were firm, but his tone hesitant. There was something about the Dark Elf that made Aknon want to run away from whatever danger he presented.

"Why? All your slaves have been taken, your people are scattering and your father is dead. What do you plan to do?"

Aknon stared into the Dark Elf's eyes. He did not know this Dark Elf personally but with the way they locked gazes it felt like those eyes were piercing into his very soul.

"I'm going after my brothers." he looked down and began walking away. The Dark Elf followed behind him silently.

"I hope you don't follow me too closely; I have no intention of getting killed if you don't mind."

It took Aknon another five minutes before he finally came upon what looked like the edge of the dying forest. The land beyond the border lay barren. Aknon frowned.

"If you're so worried about my safety, you can come with me. At least until we find the others."

"No. It seems you really don't know what happened. I'll be going back."

"Fine then... wait, what are you talk..."

The Dark Elf was gone by the time Aknon turned around.

Word had gotten out that the Dark Elves were sending individuals to look for more hospitable lands. Most did not want to settle in the City of Ruin as it recently started spawning the Undead but the curious thing was that such an individual was busy watching Hobgoblins instead.

Aknon had no choice but to turn back around and walk, but faster this time. The Dark Woods were so quite that his footsteps echoed across the empty landscape. At first, he thought that the Dark Elf had been following him again but was being patient and allowing him space to think without being questioned, but now he knew better. Aknon sighed.

"Come here." he called looking up at the sky that was receding into the woods. A small figure dropped from the branches of a tree. Aknon grinned at the sight of his brother.

"Where have you been?"

The younger Hobgoblin shrugged and looked at the ground, then without out warning, jumped forward and hugged him tight.

"Nii-San!" he wailed. Aknon put his hands on his shoulders and looked at him sternly.

"What have you been doing? Why aren't you with the others?"

"The Barghests got them!" he cried. "We fought, but were easily despatched so we ran, but they caught up to us!" he was trembling visibly, tears threatening to spill over onto his green cheeks.

"They aren't here, you know," he told him gently. "So, why are you running alone?"

"Because Nii-San, they'll be coming for us next! We should stay hidden until we know how many there are..."

There must be a mistake.

"No. They won't come for us; I know you too well, Nuada," Aknon told him. "You wouldn't leave your family behind." he smiled reassuringly – half to himself – and patted his younger brothers' shoulder lightly.

"Let's get back to the camp for now. If we're going to take precautions, we'll do so immediately. We'll talk about it over dinner, okay."

For a few seconds his brother's expression was unreadable before he nodded.

"Don't worry, I promise everything will be alright."

They decided that they would continue the search in the morning. The thought of sleeping on the hard ground again brought back painful memories of the last few nights, but it was best not to do anything stupid like skip sleep, besides he had already lost most of his belonging, who knew what else would happen.

Even though he had had a terrible night on the forest floor, breakfast tasted so much better today than it had the past few days thanks to the company.

"So, what do you want to do?" Aknon asked Nuada.

"... Well, we'd better start by searching the woods for anyone that might have gotten separated."

"Right. So then, where should we begin searching first?"

"I would say the north side of the woods, the Barghests seem to be heading further south, but something doesn't feel right."

Aknon frowned internally. Nuada was no warrior, in fact most of his classes were absolutely useless in battle which meant his battlefield senses were next to non-existent so if Nuada felt something was off, it would be best to ignore it, except for the fact that Aknon could feel it too – something was definitely not right.

"I guess so." he mused instead.

"Do you want to check out the southern or northern part."

"I don't know, Nuada. We should probably start searching in the southern area as soon as possible, find out what it is that the Barghests are after. If there is nothing then they might be running from something."

"Alright, sounds good. Are we starting today? Or tomorrow?"

Aknon shrugged looking down into his empty bowl, "How about now?"

"Aright, let's go."

They started towards their south-south west in comfortable silence for a couple of hours. Aknon became relieved when he saw the river as it streamed over a rock formation. There was clear water flowing down it. It would normally not be safe to drink as is if his brother was not there.

"Hey, Nua, can you do that thing." he said when he collected enough in his water skin.

"I'm not some convenient water well."

"No silly, just purify it."

Nuada's expression did not change, and for someone who wore his heart on his sleeve it meant he was conveying his honest feelings.

Before he could reluctantly cast the spell, however, three dark creatures came out of the woodworks. Aknon instinctively unsheathed his sword.

"Wait!" his brother grabbed his wrist before he could lunge at them. "We're outnumbered. We don't have a chance in hell at beating them, especially with those two here."

"You're right." Aknon admitted reluctantly.

"Are you with that screeching demon?!"

"...What? What screeching demon?" Aknon's confusion was audible.

What is this thing talking about.

The abominations looked towards each other before slowly approaching the two boys. Aknon tensed up ready to fight.

"That creature that let out that monstrous shriek, instantly killing not only our kin but most of the surroundings as well! Are you Hob's such brazen creatures that you would make deals with such devils?!"

"What are you on about?! What demon?"

"Hah! Jokes on you, Servilla is pissed about this. Your best option would be to go to Terra-Fior with your demon friend and your clan might just survive."

"Wait... there's no way Servilla sent you all the way here just to deliver a message!"

What is really going on? If Servilla was pissed he'd...

His eyes widened in realisation as he continued his line of thought.

"Oh... oh gods..."

Aknon tried to run away but before he could even move two of the monsters had snapped their jaws shut around his arm. After some unsolicited violent shaking he saw himself flying through the air then felt himself crashing onto the forest floor.

He could not move.

Everything felt numb.

Momo woke up. All the pain he had felt earlier was gone. Mare was still by his side.

"Where are we?" Momo asked. Mare looked at him. "W-We're still in the forest."

"Forest?"

His response prompted Momo to look around. The tent he was in was comfortable, with the flap slightly open to let in some cool air. The scenery appeared unchanged: there was just grass trees and stones.

Wasn't there a clearing around, somewhere? What happened? ... A question for another day, I suppose.

"Can I go back to sleep now?" he asked when Mare refused to stop watching over him.

Mare shook her head. "Ainz-Sama w-wants to see you."

Momo stared blankly while standing up. How long had he been unconscious? His stomach twisted with guilt.

Is Momo four or forty?!

Definitely, most likely, probably ... uh, mm. Yes.

My employer: You seem unhappy and as if you don't want to be here, so...

Me: I'm just unhappy in general.

Employer: ... So, I'm cutting your work days.

I'm pretty sure I hate my job. My employer hates me because of it but can't fire me because I'm not a "bad" employee. I got two days off in a work week and I got two chapters done! I wake up early and happily! BUT let it be a work day! Don't get me wrong, I wake up but I don't want to. However, one cannot eat happiness and my savings will only get me so far so I'll probably hopefully have a new job by next year but for now let's complete this arc!