Hi! I'm back with another chapter as you can see. Expect somehere around two updates a week for this story. I'm very happy some of you have liked it so I decided to continue it : . Thanks for all the follows and reviews, I'll do my best not to let you down!

That's it for the intro today, i tried to keep as short as I could, enjoy! :D

.

.

.

.

CHAPTER 2. - "Death & War, their enemy: Life, one all new to Explore" -

.

They waited with eyes closed and rising anxiety for the end that was meant to come.

[23:59:58]

[23:59:59]

He let a tear flow down his cheek. This would be their last time in Nazarick, and now, the only existing proof of their friends and guild would be erased..

[00:00:00]

Now that the time had reached zero, the white numbers that were the only thing left in his dark vision faded.

With those gone, all that remained was the natural darkness one would see with their eyes closed..

The game had logged him out..

Dammit.. He thought.

"This is so unfair!'' He yelled at the top of his lungs, eyes still closed to try and hold back the tears threating to burst out. Now that the game had closed, nobody but his neighbor would hear him.

Huh?

His voice had sounded similar to his buku voice, the one he used to troll normally, just more.. natural?

He heard a feminine worried voice, the very one he imagined someone like Tiamat would have call out:

"Mother..? What is unfair? is something troubling you?''

Who's that?! Did someone break into my house?! He thought, instantly forgetting the weird sound of his own voice.

He kept his eyes closed and stilled his body. If someone was indeed in his house or his nostalgia was playing a twisted game with him he didn't know, but if it was the former, then so long as he didn't see their face or they didn't notice him, perhaps there would be a chance to avoid violence.

He had nothing of value to be stolen in his house anyway.

Suddenly he could hear multiple loud heatbeat-like sounds, what were his neighbors doing at a time like this?! While he was being robbed!

He started to panick a bit and his breathing increased in speed, the air felt oddly refreshing… almost smells like mint or something...

"Mother, you seem unwell... is there something I can do to help? '' That voice… yeah, his mind was definetly playing tricks on him.

Damn, all that stress about the permanent shutdown of YGGDRASIL I bottled up finally got to me huh? Now I'm hearing my own NPC's voice in real life..

"Mother!" The voice got louder, not an irritated yell, rather a panicked exlamation but he still kept silent and remained unmoving.

"Serieene, are you there?"

A second voice. Far deeper in tone, but still rich, not rasp at all and incredibly full of concern.

He slowly opened his eyes, he had to know what was going on. This had been the third time he heard the female voice and now a male one was added, so either he was going crazy or something was not right.

As his eyelids slowly lifted up, he could make out he was nowhere even similar to his own grey and white messy room, this was…

Nazarick?!

He turned to his right and found Momonga's avatar, in the panic of the moment he didn't pay attention to the girl a couple meters in front of him that had been looking at Asmoday with worried eyes.

"Momonga is that you?!'' He spoke in a low voice, expecting his normal deep voice to come out, but all he heard was the whisper of a sweet high-pitched voice.

''It is Asmoday-san.'' He responded, his voice sounding completely different aswell.

Asmoday was stunned.

"Lord Momonga, is Mother not feeling well?'' Another voice. This time from down the couple stairs leading to the throne.

Momonga gestured to the girl and she nodded, a little less worried.

Is that…

"Tiamat?" Asmoday spoke, this time taking full notice of his new voice.

"Yes, Mother..? "

Instantly, realizing all the sensations he had felt before had nothing to do with his home getting robbed, he turned to Momonga – all the while getting incredibly close to him resulting in him glowing green.

"Suzuki. What. Is. Happening..? Why is my voice so high? Why can I smell the air?! Why can i hear their heartbeats? Forget that, why do they even have heartbeats in the first place when they're just NPCs!?'' He wanted to scream but instead whispered, so no one outside of both of them could hear.

Then he slightly lost control and raised his voice, "But most of all why is she talking?!"

Momonga spoke in Asmoday's ear, "Calm down Seriene. I'll explain everything, just ride with me for a minute..''

Tiamat looked incridibly ashamed, "I apologize Mother, I had hoped to be of help to relieve your unease…''

For some reason, seeing her apologize like that chilled Asmoday to the very bone, he felt like hugging Tiamat.

Momonga looked at her, and answered in a frozen Asmoday's place, "Tiamat. You have committed no offense, worry not, it is merely that your..M..Ahem! M-Mother.. currently has many things occuping her mind and needs a little rest. I will see to him, err- her.''

He addressed everyone in the Throne Room raising slightly his voice, though they looked worried none of them had spoken a word, knowing they hadn't received permission to do so.

"Leave the Throne Room at once! We are to have a private conversation.'' He addressed all.

"Sebas. You go outside on a recoinnaissance mission and meet us in the Amphitheatre on Floor 6. While you Albedo, gather the guardians on the very same floor. We will meet you both in approximately twenty minutes. Now go!"

"Yes, my Lord!" They spoke in unison, though Albedo had a strange look on her face, as if she couldn't quite recognize who Asmoday was even if her previous interaction with Momonga had gone well while she was asleep.

That aside, all left the Throne Room in haste, including Tiamat, which offered a last look at the unmoving form of her Mother on the Throne's armrest. Not that, in his shock, Asmoday noticed.

As the doors of the massive Throne Room closed, Momonga spoke while extending his bony arm as a grey-ish small magic circle appeared on his palm and he cast the 2nd-tier spell "[Cancel Sound]".

Asmoday was still in slight calm-panic, wondering what in the hell happened a few seconds ago.

I'm supposed to have logged off YGGDRASIL.

The game ended.

His mind was working a thousand miles per hour with alien precision and cold logic.

Am i dreaming?

Are these illusions born from my own delusion? Am I that pathetic?

Such were the thoughts occupying his mind as of now.

But no.. Suzuki, he's real..isn't he?

Momonga turned to him, "Now we can talk at leisure. What is troubling you my friend?"

Asmoday was confused. He got up from the throne and walked towards Momonga as he swept away the flame-like long hair getting in his face.

Wait.. long hair..? Aghh! It can wait damn it!

"What do you mean what's troubling me?! Momonga, why hasn't the game ended? Is this something like.. i don't know, YGGDRASIL II? I can feel stuff, it's weird!"

Though Asmoday's voice came out panicked, the thoughts behind it were as calm as the sea on a windless day for some reason.

Momonga hummed, "Mhm, I see. You weren't awake when..t-that happened then.. ?''

''That what?"

Momonga turned around, hands on his skull and mumbled something for a good 10 seconds straight,

"thank god thank god thank godthatwastooemberrassing! Tooembarrassingg.. Albedokept...phew.."

Then he faced Asmoday once more, and afer a cough he continued as if nothing had happened, ''Good to know. A-Ahem! Anyways, I will explain what happened to you, though not even I know for sure, I have learned some details".

"I know this might sound crazy, but you've had a peek of it yourself. It appears we are no longer in the game. We've become our avatars, somehow… I don't know weather we can use our powers yet or anything like that, but I can cast spells so I'd assume so. The NPCs seem to be alive aswell and act according to their lore and seettings.."

He took a pause to let the words sink in, " They seem to be loyal to us, though I don't know the extent of that loyalty just yet."

Suddenly all the jumble in Asmoday's head seemed to order itself and a strange calculated calmness, that normally one would expect to be born only from years of experience, washed over him.

"So… you're saying that we're not as much inside the game, but instead in some kind of parallel world? Is that it?'' He spoke, as if it wasn't in the least bit strange. Seemingly forgetting his previous mix of unease, excitement and fear.

Momonga was pleased to see his friend had calmed down.

"Wait, so you're an-'' Asmoday was about to speak, but his long hair kept getting in the way, he moved it aside a couple times, until he finally realized.

"Wait a second, If we've become our avatars and I'm Asmoday.. doesn't that mean.."

Asmoday looked down, only to find long, fiery blonde hair with flaming red tips descending to her waist, a pair of breast and a beautiful dress aswell as some simple but of the highest quality shoes.

"I'm a girl..and a Dragon.."

Momonga looked at him and spoke, dead serious, "It seems we both share the same pain my friend. A truly regretful loss."

Asmoday inspected her body, but no matter how much time she spent doing so, all of it felt natural, as if he had been born this way.

Then a thought came over him, one he had felt at the back of his mind all this time, since having opened her eyes.

"Then, this means that our efforts, our legacy, Nazarick is still here.. does it not..?'' Asmoday spoke carefully, as if her words alone could shatter the illusion like a sphere of glass thrown to the floor.

"It does my friend, it does." Momonga said with pure happiness in his tone. Then a green aura appeared to incircle his form.

"Damn emotional suppressor…" he spoke in a low tone.

"That's right.. " she mused, "..don't undead have a thing that doesn't let them experience the full extent of emotions? ..Do you have that too now?"

''Sadly, yes. Though it may come in useful. I also noticed you have something similar, it seems to be able to clear your mind but doesn't hinder your positive emotions, yes?"

"Ah, yeah..? I don't know but I guess that may be what i felt earlier…'' a couple seconds went by, "..though, what is it we're supposed to do now?"

The Overlord locked his crimson flames with her unnaturally vibrant eyes, "Well, we still have fifteen minutes or so before our meeting with the guardians, so how about we test out our powers?" his voice lost the glimmer of slight excitement and became solemn, "As I told you, the NPCs are currently loyal bu-"

"-But we don't know how long that'll last, or if it will, for that matter." Asmoday finished for him.

He smiled seeing their chemistry still was the same as ever, "Exactly. Plus they seem to basically worship us from the minor interactions we've had before you woke up, so we have to somewhat act the part in front of them. I read basically all their lore in my freetime, and you were present for most of its writing, so you must know just aswell as I that none of them like humans very much…If they discovered that we were..."

Asmoday understood what he was implying, "The higher one flies, the harder they fall huh?.. since they are so loyal you believe that if they revolt it won't be something we can reason our way out of. It's an understandable thought to be honest, I share it myself."

She got off the throne's arm and started walking towards Momonga while speaking, "That aside though, you sure were quick to consider yourself no longer human eh? But I guess you aren't wrong.."

She looked down at herself, it was irrefutable now, It was no longer an avatar, a mere lump of data. Currently, that avatar was flesh, real flesh. It had a temperature, was soft and was physical. So there was no denying it. The calmness, the improved eyesight, hearing, smell, all of these were proof.

Loyis, or well, Seriene, the human earthling was no longer there. Rather, it had merged with something else and given true life to that which once was a fictional character, Asmoday.

She stopped near Momonga, "So where should we test our powers then?"

The Overlord's eyes glowed with glee at the thought of unleashing his powers, "I was thinking of a show of force in front of the NPCs, so perhaps we could try our abilities out individually on the 6th Floor before they come and then spar?"

The Dragonic Deity looked at him with a deadpan, "We'd flatten the arena."

He looked down for a bit, as if pouting, "Yeah.. I guess it isn't meant for actual high-level fights, well then we'll just test our powers and see from there, how about it?"

Asmoday nodded, "Sounds good," for a second she wondered how they'd get there, but then instictually the thought of using the ring of Ainz Ooal Gown came to mind.

"How do we use it?"

"No idea."

Well that isn't useful. She looked at her new dainty hands, adorned with ten rings each one with a different function, and thought back to when this World was still a game. The ring was used by clicking on an icon representing the floor you wanted to teleport to, so perhaps..?

"Maybe… try imagining it? Like, the floor I mean, and it'll do its work?"

Momonga was the first to teleport in a flash of blue light, while for Asmoday it was slightly different, a light orange magic circle with a sun and many other glyphs appeared at her feet and a a beautiful bright, grand, amaryllis-like flame engulfed her in a controlled manner, closing its fiery petals in on her and eventually disappearing, leaving nothing behind.

Almost instantly, she found herself at Momonga's left, in the hall that led to the Arena,

"What happened? Why were you burning?" He spoke with concern.

She appreciated his friend being concerned for her, so after thanking him, she looked at Momonga with a smug face and a smirk later she answered, "I'm pretty sure that was because of my customized teleportation, I payed hella money for it you know?"

The Overlord took a thinking pose, "So that means our customizations impact our spells, skills and the like.. that should help with looking as flashy as we can while testing our powers, so that the NPCs don't get any ideas."

She nodded, He arrived at the same conclusion as I it seems.

They walked through the hallway and eventually found the entrance, stopping there for a couple seconds.

"This should be where Bu-chan's NPCs are right?" Asmoday looked at Momonga, though one normally would think that she'd barely be able to discern anything from his skeletal face, strangely she actively picked up on little things that gave off both his mood or feelings in the moment, and right now he was slightly confused.

"Bu-chan? Do you mean Chagama-san? If so, yes they should be here Asmoday-san."

While she listened to him, she took a peek at the sky, as did Momonga.

Blue Planet-san really did a great work with this place…

"I agree." Momonga spoke.

Asmoday looked at him surprised, "Did you-"

"No, I didn't read your thoughts Asmoday-san. It's just that you had the expression of a little girl who just saw Santa for the first time."

The red flames in his eyes danced as if amused, "Hey! Who are you calling a little girl you damn Dark Skelly!" She jokingly pouted, trying his, or well, now "her" best to imitate a little girl.

Strange though it was that was the least of changes that was on her mind, perhaps amidst the excitement confusion had no place.

As she banished that thought Momonga spoke while not taking his sight off the night sky, "Well, technically you currently ar-" he stopped as he realized something and turned to her frantically, "wait! D-Dark Skelly?! That's… kinda true actually.."

They looked at eachother and both chuckled, though the moment didn't last much as the same green wave washed over Momonga once again.

"You ready?" He spoke.

"As ready as it gets."

"Let's go then."

They made their way to the centre of the sand-filled arena and looked around.

It resembled the Roman Colousseum, though the style was slightly different. Eventually after waiting for a couple seconds, a presence they knew all too well made itself known.

"Lord Momonga! Lady Asmodeus!" She spoke after she twirled in the air from one of the balconies of the Arena to the ground.

Isn't that one of the names I jokingly used in my lore? Does she..?

Her name was Aura, one of the two Floor Guardians of the 6th floor, a Dark Elf with heterochromatic green and blue eyes with blonde hair. Dressed in white pants and vest with under a red shirt.

As she recollected all this info, a 'beep!' sound, not too loud but enoug to be recognized, made itself know in her head, followed by Momonga's voice.

[{ Can you hear me Asmoday-san? }]

[{ Y-yeah, this is kinda weird, but I can, what's up? }]

[{ Oh. I wanted to test the [Message] spell. Also, why did she call you that? }]

A couple embarrassing seconds went on as she pondered on how to answer.

[{ It's.. It's complicated okay!? I thought it sounded cool, so i put in my lore as one of the many names..titles I guess that I used, you know how my lore is structured like a myth kinda? so there are many versions and all that… but in the end, it ended up sounding cheesy and lame... }]

Momonga's skeletal face looked away from Aura for a second, I swear I can see him trembling and his eyes flickering as if laughing his ass off… damn Dark Skelly ...I'll have my payback, just you wait! There has to be something embarrassing i can tease you with somewhere!

"My Lord..? Is everything ok?"

He looked back at her, "Yes, yes Aura. Everything's fine." he regained his composure and continued, "So, isn't there supposed to be someone else here?"

Aura turned behind her and yelled, "Maaaree! Come down! You're being disrespectful to the Supreme Beings!"

Supreme Beings..?

A shy dark elf similar to Aura but with a skirt instead, Mare, jumped off of one of the higher lines of spectator seats of the colosseum onto the Arena's sands.

"I-I'm here..S-sorry…" He spoke.

"Well, hello little ones!" Asmoday went for a head-pat each.

"My Lady.." They spoke in unison as they slightly blushed.

Cuteee…

Momonga looked expectantly at her, "A-Ahem.. Asmoday-san..?"

"Oh oh yeah! ...of course.. so Aura, Mare, we're here to run some tests, you mind?"

"Of course not my Lady! Your very presence here is a privilege, could we perhaps.. ask to watch? If it is combat related and pleases you of course! We wouldn't dare impose on the Supreme Ones! Witnessing even a sliver of your might is the best present any resident of Nazarick could ask for.."

"Ah. I see, very well then, peek away!" Asmoday chuckled.

As Aura and Mare made their way to the spectator seats they noticed a figure sitting comfortably cross-legged on top of the walls of the colosseum, they were only able to make out a couple details regarding her appearance, that she seemed to have small smile on her lips and her hair, jet-black in color, and were naturally about to do their job as Guardians and call her out, all until they recognized who it was and froze immediatly.

Meanwhile, Asmoday and Momonga were trying out their powers at the centre of the colosseum.

"So.. what should we test first?" She spoke, eyes brimming with excitement.

Momonga thought for a couple seconds, "Spells perhaps?"

"Sounds good, how about a Tier-4 spell? An inoffensive one?"

"Sure. You go first then Asmoday-san."

Asmoday extended her hand, and pointed it palm-up. She could feel somewhat the extent of her power - absurd for sure - and how to use it. She tugged on her immense MP reserves, she could precisely somehow feel how much the spell would take out of her, its range, size, and properties as if she had studied magical theory for centuries.

The cost would be comperable to far less than a drop in an ocean. She breathed in, and out…

"Here we go… [ Ice Crystal ] "

A two-layered light blue magic circle with tens of ancient glyphs materialized as a small fist-sized chunk of clear ice slowly formed itself floating in the air on top of her palm.

"It worked!" She turned to Momonga who was inspecting the crystal suspended in the air, the flames in his skull flaring.

"Indeed it did Asmoday-san. Good work, it seems your ice-affinity is still as good as ever."

He seemed to ponder something for a while. Then spoke when he finally made up his mind.

"Do you think you could manipulate it?", not even trying to hide his curiosity.

"You mean like, enlarge it? Or change its shape?"

Asmoday focused on the ice chunk. What should I make it do..? Mhmm..

Slowly, as she poured drops of her MP pool into the spell with the intention to make it grow in size the chunk grew bigger and bigger. Eventually becoming the size of two human heads.

"Like this, right?"

"Yes. This was something that couldn't be done in YGGDRASIL. It looks like this world's rules are quite different regarding this aspect of magic. Should we try something more advanced?"

She intook all that info to ponder on later, "I don't see any harm in it."

She instinctively closed her eyes and the ice chunk made a distinct noise as its unruly form twisted into six slender elegant main arms and several other thin, smaller ones attached to them, giving it the form of a snowflake.

It floated there, as a work of art, in the air. The magic circle that had initiated its creation nowhere to be seen during both steps of manipulation, something she took note of.

Do I not need a magic circle to cast spells..? That's totally against YGGRASIL rules though. Gotta ask Momonga later.

Asmoday looked slightly amused at the sight, and had an idea. She snapped her delicate fingers and the ice's snowflake-like form undid itself in a flowing and steady motion. It rocketed towards the sky in the form of a needle-like ice pillar until creating a net that folded in on itself forming an intricate round cage, now [Fire Lv. 1] , she cast in her mind with no motions.

As if to test, and confirm in this case her theory, A flame exuding great heat was conjured in the middle of the ice cage, melting it into a blanket of mist that coated the open ceiling of the Arena in moments.

Asmoday, too enthralled to take notice of the look on her spectator's faces continued, [Vector Control] she reached out to her passive, a skill normally utilized for battle but that would do just fine in this case.

The mist that was fastly covering the portion of sky they saw when they first entered the Arena did a complete 180. The force that propelled it to expand now inverted, making it instead coalesce into a single sphere at the centre of the arena's sky, which then sprouted mist petals and formed a beautiful lotus flower. It later forsook its misty appearance to gain realistic color and texture through [Geas], an illusion spell, and floated down to Asmoday's up-facing palm, remaining there for a couple moments. All before she clenched her fist and it melted to nothingness in the air once more, back to mist.

Momonga was amazed. No, amazed would be putting it too lightly. This was a spectacle the likes of which he would never be able to see if he was in his old world.

"I seem to have perfect control over my magic, low tier-spells that is. What about you?" He was shaken out of his stupor by a smirking Asmoday.

"Wooow! My Lady you're amazing! I've never seen anybody with such precise magic control!" Aura was on the brink of jumping of joy from the spectator seat as she shouted, something to which Asmoday responded by throwing a smirk at her and a victory sign.

"Let's see.."

Momonga looked at his skeletal hand, likely browsing through the many spells he knew to decide which one to use.

"Summon [Mid-Rank Demon]!"

A moment later, a small pillar of darkness erupted from in front of Momonga as a humanoid creature oozed into existance. Nothing new, the same animation as back in YGGDRASIL. He had black hair and wore a butler's outfit, quite unusual for a Demon..

Must be Momonga's personalized spells...

Yup. He looks so embarrassed hahah!

"Congrats Mo-chan, it seems your butler-calling spell works just as well.. pfftt…"

He seemed like he wanted to say something to that, but was interrupted.

"My esteemed Lord! I have answered your call and am here to serve. How may I please you?" It spoke.

Asmoday walked up to the demon which slightly shrieked as if to realize something for a second, though it seemed as if it let go of that thought immediatly as she pointed at it, "Can I fight it?"

"You sure?", the Overlord questioned.

[You don't have any combat experience right?] That beep again.

"Sure as hell Momo-kun!" She winked at him, signaling she had received the message spell, to which she responded saying that she had a feeling she could take him no problem.

The demon smirked a bit, as for wether he did so at the pun or at the challenge none knew.

If it's truly as she says it's clear we have full mastery of our powers then, physical abilities and combat sense included.. good to know.

[That was horrible Asmoday-san]

[It was an awesome joke.]

[horrible.]

"Very well then, demon, fight her with all you've got."

"So I shall my liege." He got up from his kneeling postion and did a small bow.

Momonga got out of the way and moved towards the spectator seats where Mare and Aura, which were now glued to the upcoming fight were seated, intent on memorizing every second of it.

The fighters were on each side of the Arena.

"I won't use any skills, nor any spells during our fight. Just a sword will do."

The demon had a confused face. And then tried reading his his opponent's strength, something which he found he was unable to do. Small doubts sprouted in his mind, but he still remained confident in his own abilities, so he nodded without complaint.

I should try that one ability… Asmoday thought.

"Age of Babylon" she spoke in a low volume so that nobody would hear, trying to use the skill.

She waited.

And waited...

...Nothing.

Huh? That's weird. Magic worked though… do I have to provide it with some rough info to build on maybe? The game didn't need it, but I guess there's no longer a software doing the work for me so do i have to imagine it like the spells from before…?

She tried imagining the reusult of the skill, choosing three words from which her thoughts would branch out, in this case "Golden" , "Elegance" and finally "Sharp".

Image… fixed.

Material… set.

Concept… displayed.

Properties… applied.

A couple seconds passed as the result took hold in her mind.

"[ Age of Babylon ] '', what she meant as a silent whisper rung true with great volume, unmatched solemnity and echoing in the arena as if gently refusing its call to be that of a coward and instead proudly announcing its arrival. She held out a hand, and as if an undeniable command to the Earth itself, the sand beneath dutifully complied and slowly rose forming into a beautiful but simple and slender golden sword, taking on the color of the grains of sand itself.

Rough information flowed into her mind when she gripped it, content with the result.

[ - = Unnamed | Legend Class Sword = -]

A sword borne of sands glorious and gold, Lord of Dreams be its maker - a sole desire shines within, the Eversplendent Glory of Victory.

Momonga got up from his seat, a little surprise in his flaming eyes.

I've never seen Asmoday use that, I didn't even know he had that skill! Since when?! That would've been so useful back then when I needed to practice enchanting, that idiot!

He sighed internally.

" Very well then! "

" Three; "

" Two. "

"One, "

"Go! "

" [Fastpace]! ", the creature, or demon to be more precise, chanted the 5th-tier spell as a dim orange glow fell over him.

It jumped forword with a speed that would amount to a mere blur to normal humans, though to Asmoday it was quite litterally sitting still.

Her battle insticts had been activated subconsciously.

Is he gonna start..? she thought and waited for a bit.

Wait.. could it be that..

Calmly, she walked toward it as the world around her slowed down to a still thanks to her senses and speed. She brandished her sword and cleaved his head off in a single sweep,

dismissing the blood-stained masterpiece a moment later as it returned to sand.

As Time retook its hold for Asmoday two different unexpected things happened.

One was the makings of a weird expression on the demon's face, as if remembering something again, and the other being wind – nay, entire gales following her "sprint" and consequent beheading as the sand flew up in the form of dust.

Even from Momonga, or the two Guardian's perspective, she had teleported from where she was to the demon's side, whose head fell off his neck the very instant the spar started.

I couldn't follow at all.

[Teleport]..? But he -or she? Man...gotta ask her. That said, didn't she say she wouldn't use spells ?..

Momonga's jaw was hanging open.

"That was…"

"Incredible!" The two dark elves shouted at the same time.

Asmoday's hair ruffled from the wind, So that was that… definetly a welcome surprise, she thought as she let go of all thoughts regarding the demon.

Momonga got up from his seat, while the twins kept spectating from afar as instructed, many questions still running through his head, though he didn't present any of them to his friend yet.

This next test was gonna be dangerous so distractions weren't exactly welcome.

As he was making his way to the center of the Arena the headless body of the demon he had summoned minutes before lay there, slowly dissipating to smoke.

"So, that was really something else.." A delicate voice spoke with surprise, he immediatly recognized it to be Asmoday's, even when the cloud of dust had not yet dissipated.

"Indeed. I'd like to know more about what exactly happened, but that will come later. We've tested normal magic, whatever tier it may be, but we still lack knowledge about the other types of spells and their more powerful variants. We should likely try some of them out too. Just to gain some insight."

"Don't make risky assumptions as they say. Sure, wanna have a go?" She spoke.

"I've already tried some of mine as you and the demon were making preparations for your fight, weak spells for sure, but I know my all magic is fully under control so I'll leave this one to you." Momonga answered. He did try some magic moments ago, though he left out some details out of the feeling of them being less than worthy of being mentioned.

Him almost casting several high-tier, longlasting debuffs by accident on his own friend included of course. Mostly out of embarrassment and not fear she would be angry.

She wouldn't.

Meanwhile Asmoday was dispelling her semi-permanent anti-debuff countermeasures.

Wait is she...? Scaaaary thought.

He would from that day on be far more careful with debuff spells casting.

That said, he really was just curious. Asmoday was one of, if not outiright the strongest player there had been in YGGDRASIL, strong enough to earn the divine seat of God of War when divinity was introduced in the later updates, aswell as his best friend and someone who was just as passionate about magic as him, and yet he never really revealed much of his arsenal, though he did go in-depth about his build.

YGGRASIL had at first a 450 learnable spell limit, that was of course until customizable-spells and high sorcerer archetype classes were discovered, which broke that limit. As of the last day of the game he had in fact more than 630 spells, though he hadn't really memorized all of them, as they weren't all that useful.

Even then, the only thing he knew about his friend in this regard was that he, she now, I have to get used to it , had an even larger amount of them under her belt. Something which made him curious to no end, though even then he never asked the details either, or more like he couldn't in the past really.

All mainly because of a rule Ainz Ooal Gown had in place that forbade major exchange of such info in case somebody was there to merely get intel and then left the guild for some other group. An unlikely scenario, yes, but one can never be too cautious; this he had learned from Punitto Moe himself, the Master Strategist of Ainz Ooal Gown.

Asmoday visibly brightened up at the prospect.

"Truth be told I was hoping you'd say that!" She had a twinkle in her eyes and voice that suggested mischief.

"What should I cast though?" she spoke, though he cheer didn't fade, merely subsided momentarily, if Momonga knew her well enough it would come back with even greater intensity.

"Umu…" he didn't really have a precise spell he could suggest, "We've already tried low-tier spells, so perhaps go with a variaty of different schools of magic and higher tier spells?"

She took on a pensive look, "Mhmm.. I guess, yeah. But at the same time there's not really much I can cast that wouldn't wreck the place or that doesn't need a target, though I guess I could just use the ground.."

She wasn't wrong. They needed to change location for further testing.

"I have an-" She cut herself short when she felt something was amiss.

It was a feeling she had been having the whole time since they entered the Arena. A gaze on her, it wasn't hostile, if anything it was filled with what seemed to be affection but it still slightly irked her not knowing where it came from.

And then she finally noticed it, she had been for some reason picking up on her mental radar everybody's auras. Or so to say, the accumulation of extra energy seeping out of someone.

The more energy they had, the more their stores couldn't keep up with its ever increasing regeneration and ever decreasing cost and effect ratio of using it, and thus it was expelled, something that could also be done willingly in much greater amounts consuming one's energy pools and carry one's intent or emotions as a show of power.

Basically a power-scale. The more aura one had, or the stronger and more dense it was, the more powerful the being was expected to be.

They were used as natural coats at times, Dragons had especially strong auras and were known to be almost always fully unleashed, as it was an honor-tarnishing disagrace for such beings to restrain the reason of their pride, their power, a conviction which was only strenghtened the higher-ranked the Dragon was. It acted as their armor of sorts, their second pair of scales, and that conviction was almost always the reason for which Asmoday thought they oftentimes, as much as she loved them, lost. Flaunting their power was cool and all, but it can often lead to disaster if done willy-nilly unless sure of the outcome.

Auras were integral to all beings, though for most it was so weak it could barely be called a faint presence, let alone an aura, and they didn't display their power as they had almost none. The art of reading such auras was known as Senjutsu, though they called it life-force in their practioners' case.

This was of course all knowledge Asmoday had accumulated during his life on Earth as a fan of fantasy books, films and the like, which was so far also correct as far his hard-earned YGGDRASIL wisdom went.

The stronger the aura the more stark its charactersitics of sorts became.

Yes, aura had different "flavours", as a certain ice-cream lover who was currently an Overlord just in front of her would say. Kinda at least. One could learn a couple or two things from them about the one that emitted it.

The twins' auras both felt energetic, playful for Aura, shy and reserved for Mare, yet they both carried a faint trace of forest and life. While Momonga's was like a mix of magic and Dark Energy aswell as Undeath, it very well symbolized his nature as an Overlord and Undead Sorcerer and it was clearly stronger than the twins, despite all of them being [lv.100].

It was a weird feeling to be able to notice them, overhwelming even. And at the back of her mind there was a constant alert that screamed that she was missing something she felt a strong connection to. Or rather, someone. Yet no matter how much she concentrated she couldn't make out anything of that warning.

Momonga noticed her hesitance, suprise perhaps, though he didn't question it and just moved for her to continue, which shook her right out of her thoughts.

"S-So, yeah. A-Ahem, as I was saying, i have an idea. We could maybe go outside and cast something like a Bounded Field in order to both grasp our surroundings personally and test some of our more powerful abilities without having to worry about damage. What do you think?"

"Mhm.." he waited a few moments before answering, "That sounds like a good enough idea. Though I'd say we should act on it only after the Guardians have given us their report, how does that sound?"

She smiled brightly, "Sure ".