Ahna listened carefully as the dragonkin recited the events of that morning. From the moment that Momonga began attempting to master the Mirror of Remote Viewing to the moment he left through the portal to save the helpless villagers. Which she didn't really care about. If Momonga wanted to save some nobody villagers in Nowheresville then she was fine with that so long as precautions were taken.
No, the problem was that he left without so much as a message. That dug at her in a way that made her want to chase after the lich and chew him out. They still knew nothing about this world and he had charged in without a moment to inform her. He had said that they were to be partners, that they weren't going to be going it alone. However at the first chance she was left behind.
Sebas's own opinion was showing through as he recalled the 'callous actions of knights slaying the villagers'. She knew his karma level fell into the good range so she wasn't too surprised by this. However Momonga's karma levels didn't fall anywhere near the good range. Or perhaps it was that karma meant little to the two of them, maybe they retained their morals and 'goodness' so to speak. Whatever the reason she wasn't going to find out sitting around here.
"Demiurge, Sebas." Her words had the two males straightening ready to fulfill any command she gave. "I am going to the viewing room. Follow me." For a brief moment she felt a little bad for issuing the in game command. It was a habit to get the creations to move with her.
They bowed and waited for their lady to lead the way to the office and therein the portal. Demiurge could tell that the woman was not in the best of moods as her face was stiff and a frown was etched deeply into her pale skin. Hopefully this would be resolved as a miscommunication for the tomb's sake.
The woman seemed to broadcast loudly her emotions on her face and posture. He was willing to bet that in her archdevil form she would be lashing her tail around viciously. If he recalled correctly she had her base form, her arch devil form and her high wraith form.
However this form was not one of rigid anger, so there may yet still be time for him to salvage the situation. He desperately wanted to comfort her but Albedo's cursed words were echoing in his head. He wasn't sure if he was even permitted to touch Lord Momonga's woman, even if she wasn't a Supreme One. Stealing his nerves he decided to take the chance.
If it offended her he would offer his life as atonement but if he could calm her down his life was a small gamble.
His gloved hand snaked out slowly and rested gently upon her shoulder. "My lady." He softened his voice and let it take on a soothing edge. A thankful side effect of his [Command Mantra]. "Whatever development had occurred perhaps Lord Momonga had just not had enough time to relay his plan at this time. I am sure that he will tell you when he gets a moment."
Truthfully the devil could not even begin to comprehend the depth of Lord Momonga's fathomless mind but the two had weathered more than a simple misunderstanding could even come close to breaking. He was sure that a moment would be all it would take to make right the anger in his lady's heart. Her gold eyes looked past the male in thought and she hummed. "Perhaps."
She didn't seem to be convinced but her body was less tense. Clearly his words had brought her some level of relief and that pleased both males.
For the rest of the walk the two guardians flanked her on either side only a single pace behind her. They did not speak and matched her pace exactly she noticed. Even if she changed to a quicker pace they still stayed in sync with her.
She reached the doors, but before she could place her hand out Sebas had opened it with a small bow. She had not even heard him move around her to open it. "Thank you Sebas."
She moved into the room before he had a chance to protest her words. Inside was a mirror that was overlooking two girls, a lich, and a black armored female. However the portal that Momonga seemed to have opened was nowhere to be seen. It must have timed out.
Her golden eyes narrowed on the screen as the lich moved casually to the village and away from the little girls. "Are these the girls?"
"Yes, My Lady." Sebas bowed as his Supreme Lady dragged her hand along the back of the chair that was situated in front of the mirror. She moved silently around the chair and sat in it. The woman seemed like a goddess looking over the masses with an apathetic look. To add to this she propped her head on her hand and elbow on the chair's arm. Her whole body oozed confidence as she simply reached her hand forward and flicked the screen trailing the undead.
Demiurge watched alongside his lady while the Supreme Overlord calmly made his way to the town that was being violently rid of its intruders courtesy of the Death Knight. "I don't understand why Lord Momonga would take such effort to save such petty creatures."
Ahna could see that the devil was struggling to comprehend the thoughts of his commander and she sighed. Which in hindsight might have honestly been the worst move to make as the devil immediately apologized.
"I am sorry if my lack of insight has caused you any duress my lady. I would atone with my life if it would appease you." He spoke grandly but the sentence angered her more than that intern the day she was brought to this new world.
"Demiurge." The slow and hard voice she used made it incredibly obvious that she was angered. Its dangerous drawl caused both devil and dragon to flinch. Neither wished to invoke such emotion from the Supreme Ones and yet the devil had made a miss step as she aimed the frigid words at him. Golden eyes were looking at him from the side not turning her head but still piercing him with what he could only describe as pure fury. Demiurge found he couldn't even breathe or move. He couldn't even bow so great was his fear that he had done the unthinkable. "Let me make this abundantly clear. If I hear you or any other denizen of my home so casually mention your deaths again, as if it doesn't matter. There will be consequences." Each word was spoken deliberately slow and her command etched into the servant's hearts. She didn't want any of the creations of the tomb to know the taste of death. "Nothing. Nothing is a greater insult than destroying what Momonga and I have painstakingly fought to keep as ours."
The anger, no, the rage that built within her boiled out in an [Aura of Decay] that was tightly contained so as to not hurt her companions. The wraith and lich had spent a huge amount of time and money and materials into maintaining and healing the tomb and its residences. The raids and hunts to mine the data crystals and the hours poured into restoring the tomb, attack after attack. These creations were hers. Their guild mates had given up all rights to them after abandoning them for so long. They were hers and nothing would take that from her.
While she spiraled in her possessive onslaught of thoughts she was unaware that the two males were staring at her awestruck. She had called the denizens of Nazarick theirs and even been upset by the thought of them not being there. If the two could capture this moment and show it to the rest of the tomb, they were sure that the populace of the tomb would weep in relief. Clearly they meant something to the deviless even if it were just as mere possessions. Her posture was still rigidly angry and the chair she sat in was crumbling beneath her in that anger. Soon if she was not appeased the chair would be unable to support her. So the devil knew he would need to act soon lest she fall to the floor.
"I will correct myself in the future and inform all denizens that such actions and phrases will not be tolerated." The devil bowed to her. Then there was a pause before Ahna spoke again.
"I wasn't displeased with your 'lack of insight' as you put it."
Demiurge looked slightly surprised at her statement but she continued before he could question her. "Rather, there could be a million reasons why he is. However it isn't such a bad move when one thinks about it." She looked at him again out of the corner of her eye. "Tactically this village is isolated, perfect to rescue as the chances are slim that outside forces will be able to save them in time. Also humans are grateful to those who help them. We know nothing about this land, language, politics or religions.'' She paused. That little aspect might pose a problem her mind had yet to think of. Her cleric/priest classes relied on the existence of her 'deity' and her loyalty to it. But she herself did not have actual belief nor zealotry. The Goddess in question might not even exist altogether. So she was unsure how those powers would manifest or even if they would work at all.
"Amazing. You and my lord have thought so far ahead. No doubt this village will play a heavy role in our masters' future plans to conquer this world." The imp had thoroughly cheered up at his lady's explanation.
"Mayhaps." She said cryptically while watching her fellow guild member. She wasn't sure what he meant by future plans of conquest but it wasn't such a bad idea. After all they were the monsters. The Heteromorphs. Securing a place that would allow them to safely venture into this land would be a great advantage. Regardless of that, it seemed that Momo had taken care of the problem with bandits and was walking towards the side of the village. Her eyes followed his movements as he placed a bony hand to his temple/ear area only to feel that buzzing feeling again in her temple.
She waited for a moment out of pettiness before answering. "Hello Momonga. I see that you are having fun." She was less angry than she was earlier but still none the less annoyed at being shut out of his plans.
In the mirror she saw Albedo turn to him as he cleared his nonexistent throat and spoke. "Yes, well, I had no time to save the children. I will apologize later if it will make it better."
She watched the black armored body tense and grip her weapon tightly and assumed the lich had spoken the words aloud.
"I don't want your apologies, Momonga. Though I wouldn't mind a trip out there with you." While the lich paused in deliberation the room was far from quiet as both Sebas and Demiurge let their reservations be made known very loudly.
"My Lady." Sebas started his voice intermingled with the devil's.
"Both Supreme Beings outside the tomb in the same place, that is unsafe."
"Please reconsider My Lady."
"Very well. Bring a guardian with you and leave Sebas in charge." The lich answered most likely unable to hear the din in the room. Lucky him.
She cut the connection without a goodbye seeing as they would see each other in only a moment. She reached up and as if it were responding to her simple thought a small black veil appeared that she could reach in and pull out the items she had wanted, her inventory. The portal was cool inside and her hand only came in contact with the items her mind had thought of. When she pulled her hand out she had two small purple rings and one very ornate one sitting in her palm.
She tossed one of the purple rings at Demiurge who caught it confusedly. "Sebas until both myself and Momonga return you are to monitor the surroundings of Nazarick and have everyone on the highest alert. Be prepared for us to teleport back in if things go crazy. Demiurge, put that on. You will be escorting me to the village." Ahna spoke in a voice that brokered no argument, just demanded that they listen. She picked up the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown that she had taken from the inventory and gave it to the older man. "You will need this to move seamlessly through the tomb."
"My lady, are you sure? This is a relic fit only for the Supreme Ones. It would be the third ring given out to the residents." The butler clutched the ring even as he protested, clearly not wanting it to be taken but at the same time he knew that this was a valuable trinket. It allowed the free movement of creatures wearing this to traverse the tomb, as well as teleport here from any realm. It was an extreme honor to be given one.
Demiurge looked to the object in his hands then up again. He had been given a ring but not the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown, to his disappointment.
But nonetheless he obeyed by putting the ring on his finger. She watched intrigued as his tail simply faded into nothing and eyes became a chocolate brown color. Not too dissimilar to her own eyes…though she supposed her eyes were gold now. She contemplated for a moment why the change didn't seem jarring to her but pushed the thoughts aside. There would be time to think about it later.
The wraith wondered briefly how it was that Momonga had summoned his magic. She wished that she had probed him more about it when he had mentioned testing out the magic as she needed to summon a gate to go to the village. The mere thought of the gate spell had her recalling everything about it. The range, duration, and how much mana it would cost her. She could feel how much mana she had and how long it would take to cooldown.
Curiously she flicked her wrist, summoning the portal to just outside the village in the forest. She could feel the mana spent, the power that pulsed through her veins, coming from deep within her.
It pleased her that she could use this much magic without hindrance but only time would tell if she could use all of it.
Her eyes looked forward to the portal. It was even stranger than the inventory. It had no thickness nor could you see through it. It swirled the darkest of blacks endlessly inside it and she could only venture a guess how it legitimately worked, though she did itch to find out. No, instead she pushed her hand through it and found a quite balmy feeling then the cool tomb offered on her hand.
Pulling the appendage back she looked at it. Nothing about it was peculiar or changed besides the lingering heat on her pale skin. She glanced at each finger knowing that she would have to remove one of the rings for the Ring of Disguise to be attached. Ordinarily a player could only wear two rings, one on each hand. However, like most serious guild members she had purchased a special item that allowed the use of 10 rings, one for each finger. The purchase was a bit expensive but understandably worth it.
Anha elected to take off her summoner's ring, as it was the least useful of the ten, replacing it with the Ring of Disguise. As soon as the ring was secure on her finger she could feel the effect as an uncomfortable crawling sensation rippled across her skin. The grey color of her skin became clearer till the color was a pale white, like printer paper white. It was a stark contrast both to her original skin tone and the grey color that she had sported since she had gotten here. Her eyes itched but she was unable to see any differences without a mirror.
Demiurge watched as the transfermations took place, she would blend in with the mortals that they would be visiting. Though he was miffed that she had to hide her beautiful visage for the lowly creatures. She should never have to change her appearance for such trash.
"Well, Demiurge. Let's go learn about this world." She extended her newly paled hand to the devil. A sweet smile graced her lips as she stood in front of the portal, the pathway to the new world and the first step of their conquest.
"Yes, my mistress." He placed his hand within hers.
'The first step,' he mused. 'Until the world was rightfully theirs.'