Hi there once again, everyone! So, this week has kind of annoying for me: I had an exam at the beginning of it (Which I did great in, btw), so I spent last Sunday and all of Monday studying, then the day after the weather got horrible here and I caught a horrible cold, which had me on bed for a couple days and with almost no will to do anything another one, hence why I have barely written anything. In fact, this chapter technically was finished just between yesterday and today XP

That aside, though, I'm back and ready, and I would like to address a specific review from 'chunnin33': I don't really force myself to write CoF, I can assure you that; in fact, it's the work I probably am the most excited to write about, but it's also the one with the most details and in which most effort and research go, so writing it requires much more effort and dedication than my other random ideas, like this one, for example, which is done very fast and with little effort O,O Sorry if you haven't been enjoying that one so far, I promise it will get better, but for now, let's all turn our brains off and have some mindless 'evil' fun, okay OwO?

On with the fic!

Disclaimer: Neither SAO nor Overlord belong to me. I'm just mixing the characters and plots for fun because I'm weird like that.

Chapter 2: Half-assed Evil Plans

November 6th, 2022. Japan, Argus Main Building. 21:20…

Chaos, worry and confusion were what filled Argus' Corporation's main building in that moment.

It was no surprise, of course, given the nightmarish day the company had been experiencing, what with the gaming system and the videogame they had developed (The Nerve Gear and SAO) being turned into a literal death trap for over 10000 people by their apparently insane manager of the 3rd developing branch and main genius behind both projects, with over 200 people actually dying in just a few hours…and then it all ending without any warning.

Oh yeah, and then an illegal transmission had somehow been broadcasted to all of Japan showing how their aforementioned employee was killed by a perhaps even crazier lunatic calling himself an 'Overlord', who had used an extreme amount of special effects and weird costumes and/or animatronics to scare the hell out of everyone (Making most of the police officers and government agents that had been dispatched there to rush off somewhere else they were suddenly needed at because of the chaos). At least that's what rational thought said.

No one wanted to actually vocalize or even consider the alternative, after all. The mere notion that, somehow, what they had seen minutes ago was…real.

There was no way. It wasn't possible; such things didn't, couldn't, happen in reality, and that was final. After all, if there was one thing mankind could do exceptionally well was convince themselves that what they didn't want to accept didn't exist or had a perfectly logical explanation.

That's why no one could have really blamed the two nervous police officers, standing beside their car in the building's front yard, when they screamed in fear when a Netherworld Gate excavated itself from the ground like a demonic drill, opening as if some flower from nightmare.

They had barely started to reach for their side-arms as they stared in shock at the unnatural structure when a literal fireball emerged from within its eldritch blue glow, hitting their vehicle dead on.

Possessed by the most primal survival instincts humans possessed, both of them started to run as fast as they could in opposite directions, and as such only were sent flying painfully through the air when the police car exploded (Despite the fireball not having directly hit the fuel tank), one of them falling unconscious from the crash and the other slamming painfully on the grass surrounding several decoration trees.

As the latter slowly raised his head, he was in time to see an image that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Laughing sinisterly, the demonic forms of the Minions emerged from the Gate, 4 red ones at the front maniacally weaving fireballs on their hands while the rest, almost 2 dozens of Browns, armed with bats, sticks and crowbars, quickly spread out in a loose 'formation' around the evil portal.

And then, Overlord Kirito himself emerged, the figure in black armor with burning golden eyes, white mantle flapping at a nonexistent wind, being the last thing he saw before darkness claimed him.

As such, only the people on the street attracted by the explosion and the few curious idiots that were still around since the police had flooded into Argus witnessed how a tall figured in dark robes followed after the Dark One, his face covered by a featureless metallic mask filled with eldritch runes, Rubber-band (Atop his 'loyal ride'), 2 green minions and a blue one following him.

"Browns, close the doors and beat anyone who tries to come after us or the Gate! Blue, do your job! Greens, you know what to do. Reds, Rubber-band, with me!" ordered the Overlord while the people around finally break out into terrified screams, running away screaming while the laughing Minions rushed to close the doors leading into Argus' front yard, even as his gaze turned to the man in the robes. "Where are the Servers, Heathcliff?"

"On the fifth-floor basement, Overlord. I will lead you there." calmly replied 'Heathcliff' before calmly entering the building, a grinning Rubber-band followed by the laughing Reds (Not-Wolfy's barks as background), the Greens having vanished from sight as soon as the door opened and the Blue one rushing away, the personnel still within the building running away screaming. "…was this overdramatic getup really necessary?"

"I just 'killed' Kayaba Akihiko in national television, I can't exactly show up doing evil acts with him right after that, right? Well…I guess I could, but the terrifying implications of that would probably be too much, and I don't want to deal with even more backslash than the already guaranteed one." explained Kazuto as they made their way through Argus' corridors. "Let's just get this over with fast, okay? Even only armed with blunt weapons and told to stand by, I don't want to risk the minions killing anyone who tries and get in before the authorities wise up enough and simply shoot them all from a safe distance."

"…wait, you mean that, they aren't going to move and defend themselves if they start being shot at?"

"Nope. Though a few of the smarter ones may remember to take cover when that happens." commented the young Overlord as if it was the most normal thing in the world, ignoring Kayaba's deadpanning stare from behind his mask as they turned a corner, the sight of Rubber-band slamming his rubber chicken against the head of an unconscious security guard while his loyal steed mauled his shoe greeting them. "Rubber-band, stop wasting time, we gotta hurry! Where are the Reds?!"

"End of the corridor, my Overlord!" cheerfully (And evilly) informed the armored minion while stepping off the unconscious man, his dog happily following cue. "Hard closed door stopping us, so they trying to blow it up!"

"Wait, are you talking about the fifth basement's entrance? That door is made of double reinforced steel and protected by a triple security Password! Why would they think they can get through by using fire?!"

"The Reds philosophy is that they can solve any problem by using fire, Heathcliff." calmly explained the Dark One as they headed towards their destination, which they could see the 2 red minions effectively attacking with endless fireballs. "And if they can't…it means that they aren't using enough."

"…I won't even bother trying to argue with that." resigned himself the scientist as they reached the minions, who stopped their useless attempts to bow at their Overlord. "Let's just get this over with…"

Imputing the code on the panel besides the smoking metallic door (And thanking his new 'evil gloves' were thick enough to not be affected by how hot it was), Kayaba walked inside the basement's main room, the hum of heavy machines greeting him together with the visage of the imposing machinery that formed the main SAO Servers…and that of a familiar bespectacled man in a suit, who was pressing his back against one of the machines and staring at the door with abject horror as 'Kirito' and the 3 minions entered behind the frozen man.

"…the hell?" questioned the Dark One with confusion at the sight.

"…Sugou?" flatly came from the disguised scientist's mouth before his eyes widened at his mistake. "Shit!"

"Wait…that voice…Kayaba?!"

Sugou Nobuyuki had been having a stressful day, if 'positive', day. First, his long-time 'rival' apparently went insane and decided to throw away all his success and genius in favor of trapping people inside his virtual world for unknown reasons, killing hundreds and putting the lives of thousands more at risk, among which had been his young 'dear' fiancée, Yuuki Asuna.

He had, obviously, been one of the first people in rushing to Argus after receiving the news from his superior in RECT, Yuuki Shouzou, the aforementioned girl's father, as a 'concerned future member of the family trying to find a way to help his trapped fiancée'.

Of course, that his true objective was to try and take advantage of the situation in some way and also secure that Argus' Cardinal System, not to mention the custody of the SAO Servers, fell directly under his division of the company, was something that no one needed to know…

But then, again for no apparent reason, all the SAO Victims still alive had been released from the death game, and he had still been on his phone trying to call the Yuuki family and know exactly what was going on when some of the people in the floor he had been at gathered before a television screen with shocked eyes, the bespectacled man joining them in time to see how his old college rival was executed by a madman dressed like some kind of evil villain from a cliché fantasy manga.

While he was probably one of the last persons on the planet that would feel bad at all from Kayaba's death, Sugou had still been left quite out of it after witnessing that bizarre and macabre 'spectacle', so he had been wandering around trying to make sense of the madness he had seen for a few minutes…when the building had shook, an explosion had been felt and the screams had started, so he had done the 'simplest' thing and gotten inside what he assumed would be the safest part of the floor, the room where the SAO Servers were hidden, using the codes he had 'borrowed' from one of the computers earlier during the commotion.

What he really wasn't expecting was for the door to suddenly start being rammed by what sounded like small bombs and then his supposedly dead 'colleague' to enter the room dressed like some evil wizard (So well-covered that he wouldn't have recognized him if it wasn't for his voice), followed by the aforementioned 'Overlord'.

He was still trying to process what was going on when the Dark One's hand suddenly pointed at him and unleashed what seemed like blue lighting against his head, making him feel as if his brain was being boiled…and then no…thinngggg…

"What the hell?!" shouted Kayaba as he saw the most annoying man he had ever known fall to his knees with an empty expression, his eyes glazed and a little drool falling from the side of his mouth as Kazuto's weird magic finally stopped. "Why did you do that?!"

"He recognized you a-and I panicked, okay?!" replied the young Overlord with a small hysteric edge on his voice. "Be-besides, I didn't kill him, I just broke his will with my Evil Presence spell and turned him into a puppet that will do my biding…he had a will even easier to break than a Minion's, by the way."

"…oh, just that, I see. I don't know why I was even worried." groaned the scientist while resisting the need of pointing out the messed up morals of the black-haired boy, reminding himself that he HAD accepted being in a position where he basically served him.

"I'm sorry…was he a friend of yours? Because he's now going to be kind of brain-dead for the rest of his life…" muttered Kazuto while the bespectacled man stood up again and walked closer to them, still with the same stupid expression on his face.

"He was an acquaintance from back when I went to college at best, even if we kind of worked in the same place during those times…huh, that reminds me I haven't even called Shigemura-sensei in over a year…I wonder how he and his daughter are doing…?"

"Yeah, Kayaba, I'm sure that your old teacher must be thrilled with you after what you did today." sarcastically commented the Dark One before walking towards the central Server, caressing the symbol which read 'SAO' on its side. "Okay, let's not waste any more time and get this back to the Netherworld."

"…and how exactly are we going to do that, now that I think about it?" questioned the masked man with worry, looking from the massive servers to the closed door. "The machinery here was mounted piece by piece and not meant to be taken out assembled, so there isn't really any way to take it outs…"

"Flamethrower!"

Outside, police officers were busy screaming for people to get out of the area while a few of them aimed against the minions covering behind Argus' front yard's gates (5 of them lying dead on the floor with bullet holes all over them) when a roaring explosion of fire emerged upwards and slightly angled from within the company's building, the fire soaring high into the air before the open-mouthed humans while the devilish creatures cheered madly.

The Overlord and his strange 'henchman' emerged from within the gaping and smoking hole going all the way to Argus' 3rd basement floor, the forming barking orders towards his servants while the latter (Who was being half-carried/half-dragged by his master and the two happy-looking Reds) stared dumbfounded from the Dark One to the massive 'scar' in his old workplace.

"Minions, a dozen of you go down and take our objective back to the Gate! Rubber-band is standing just beside it!" shouted Kazuto while his hands glowed with a 'Halo' spell, the 12 minions that rushed past him glowing as their strength and resistance were enhanced. "The rest, grab whatever you can and throw it back at those humans as distractions!"

The police was just starting to come out of their shock from what they had witnessed when they found themselves being bombarded by rocks, pieces of still smoking debris and, in one case, the corpse of one of the dead minions, which crashed against a particular officer and made him scream and faint on the spot, shooting back being now the last thing on their minds as they desperately tried to take cover, the Browns evil laughter filling the air.

"…I know you told me about your 'evil magic'…but holy shit, that was…terrifying."

"Really? I was actually holding back to not damage the place too much…" muttered the young Overlord while looking back into the hole, ignoring Kayaba's scared/shocked stare. "Ah, here they come."

"Wait, what?" asked the scientist while coming out of his shock, just to enter it again on a whole new level as he saw the Minions jumping out of the hole while carrying the massive (Especially compared to them) bulk of SAO's main server. "Ju-just how strong are those things?!"

"Their strength when working together is inversely proportional to their stupidity." commented Kazuto while the man followed after the group as they moved the massive server in the glowing energy of the Netherworld Gate, grimacing slightly at the view of the countless cables they have needed to 'cut' for that. "Is this good enough?"

"More or less…we will need replacements for the cables, but that shouldn't be too difficult." muttered Kayaba as he saw the Minions and the Main Server vanish within the eldritch light of the Gate. "Now we just need to get the secondary servers and…"

"Holy sh…! Heathcliff, MOVE!"

"Wha…?!"

The next thing the scientist-turned-evil-henchman knew he had been thrown painfully through the air, his body going through the Netherworld Gate just as the sound and blast of an explosion started to consume the world around him…

…and then he was rolling through the cold ground of the Throne Room, the Browns that had just finished putting down the server's hardware containing the Cardinal System, the mainframe of Aincrad and its main subroutines staring at him with shock.

"What just happened?!" demanded Gnarl while rushing to the man's side as he shakily stood up. "Where is the Overlord?!"

"There was…an explosion…?" confusedly muttered Kayaba while trying to stop his head from ringing.

"Ma-master Gnarl, we just lost the Gate our Overlord was using!" shouted a panicking Blue while looking at them in fear, both Minion Master and scientist looking at him in shock. "Wha-what do we do?!"

Back in the building of Argus' company, Kazuto cursed endlessly in his mind while standing up, quickly unleashing a wave of eldritch power to throw the remains of the destroyed Netherworld Gate as an improvised last 'distraction' attack, half-panicking and half-growling at seeing only 2 stunned Browns remained from those that had still been there, both Reds lying not far from him with what remained of their heads having been destroyed by shrapnel, even the Blue one having been crushed by a piece of the Gate.

"Get back inside!" barked the young Overlord before doing so himself, not stopping to see if his remaining minions did so while his mind raced. "Where the fuck did the police get a grenade so fast?!"

Outside the building, the street looked like a small war zone while the officers still hiding from the latest 'rain of death' tried to decide if it was finally safe to get out of cover or not.

Near the back of the group, standing behind a car that had been half-crushed by one of the broken spires of the Netherworld Gate, a female officer stared at his partner in disbelief, the man taking deep breaths and shaking like a leaf.

"A-and you said that carrying that good-luck-grenade of mine around was a stupid idea, e-eh, Hikari…?"

"Why would you do that, you idiot?! What if the explosion killed us or someone inside?!"

"W-we were fighting hordes of monsters that take several bullets to take down led by a freaking Overlord of all things! I-I think my action was justified!"

Ignorant of the convenient plot-advancing events taking place outside, Kazuto had finally returned to the basement's room where the SAO Servers were located, the 2 remaining Minions from outside slightly behind him while Rubber-band rushed to his side, atop the worried-looking form of Not-Wolfy.

"Overlord! What do we do?!"

"First, making sure to cut our losses!" replied the Dark One before unleashing a wave of evil lighting from his sword, frying all the secondary servers remaining in the room, a few of them even exploding. "Now, we need an actual escape plan to a place where we can call for another Gate…wait a moment, you, Sugewo or whatever!"

"Mugyh…?" asked the mind-broken man while turning towards his master.

"…did you come in a car?"

Emergency services were finally being called in and requests for reinforcements were being demanded in droves as several officers entered warily on the destroyed front yard (Guns raised and pointed forward) when the sound of screaming wheels caught many off guard, a business car speeding out of the company's underground parking lot and speeding away through the street, with two minions looking out of one of the rear windows and making obscene gestures with their fingers to the officers…and a dog with his tongue out just feeling the wind through the other.

Everyone blinked and STARED at the retreating vehicle, as if trying to process what they had just seen.

"We did it, Overlord!" cheered Rubber-band from the backseat as he caressed his dog's back, his fellow minions still busy making weird faces and giving the middle fingers to everyone they passed. "We got away with your master plan!"

"I'm just glad this guy still had enough left of his mind to drive, because I sure as hell don't know how!" shouted Kazuto for answer as he held into his seat for dear life, his armor and mantle making that slightly difficult, while Sugou drove the car with that stupid expression still on his face. "Now we just need to get away from populated areas and find an area with enough raw earth to…"

The sound of several police sirens interrupted the young Overlord, making him curse as he saw several cars giving chase while his minions started shouting insults at them, only to duck back inside the car as gunfire answered them.

"Overlord! Troubles!"

"Yeah, seems like we have been declared as a 'Shoot first, ask later'-kind of objective…Fucking great." cursed the Dark One before glaring at Sugou as he opened his window. "Keep driving as if your life depends on it! I will distract them!"

"Blow them all up with your magic, master!" cheered one of the minions as the boy turned around and got one hand out of the window, aiming towards the incoming cars.

"Eh, I'm low on mana right now, so I will have to settle for something simpler…" lied Kazuto with some nervousness, as he still had most of his evil magical energy left, but had no intention of just blowing up all the police officers doing their job of trying to stop him. "Let's just go with a simple…there! Fireball!"

A watermelon-sized orb of fire answered the young Overlord's car and shot out of his hand, flying straight towards a nearby lamppost and burning through its base, letting it fall down…and crush the front of one of their pursuing cars, making it crash and most of the ones behind to follow cue against the polo or the first vehicle.

"…awesome, Overlord!" congratulated him Rubber-band while the boy just gulped, slightly pale under his helmet at the way more destructive consequences of his attack than he had planned.

"Ye-yes, of course, I totally planned that o…"

"Trees!" screamed one of the minions while looking forward with wide eyes, making Kazuto spin around just as screams from scared people filled the air, the young Overlord's own eyes widening.

"FU…!"

Today had been an especially bad day for Ayano Keiko. Then again, when you were 12-years-old, got trapped inside a virtual reality game where you could die for real, were told you wouldn't be able to escape until you completed said game, then got released without warning while you were in the middle of having an emotional breakdown on a street, would probably do that to anyone.

Because she had woken up and almost had a panic attack as she was being transported to the hospital, like way too many people in the whole country, she had just been released a few minutes ago, so she had decided to go out into the hospital's gardens to try and get some fresh air. At her side, her cat Pina (Which her mother and father had brought with them to 'cheer her up' as soon as they knew she was awake) stared at her with feline curiosity while rubbing himself against her leg, making the twin-tailed girl smile and caress him.

Her mother had just come back inside to see if her father would take much longer finishing the paperwork of her release (Then again, given the sheer amount of people having similar problems because of the SAO incident, it wasn't that surprising) after telling her not to move from there, so right now she was alone with her pet. Honestly, the only thing she wanted was to get back home, have a nice dinner and then go to bed and forget this day ever happe…

"…CK!"

The end of a word that her young ears probably weren't meant to hear and the scream of tires trying uselessly to stop was all the warning Keiko had before Pina all but jumped from her side, the young girl feeling as if the world slowed down as she turned to the side in time to see other people running and screaming as a car careened in her direction, only one of the few tall trees adorning the garden between her and the out-of-control vehicle.

An unholy glow surrounded the car in the last second, making it half-crash into the tree and take the poor thing down as it half-crumpled, half went flying in her direction, Keiko screaming in terror as she threw herself to the ground, the vehicle flying over where her head had been a moment before and crashing upside down several meters ahead, catching fire as it came to a stop several meters away.

Tears filling her eyes, the trembling girl was just starting to try and get up, unable to believe how lucky she had been, when the sound of wood breaking made her look up, feeling something inside her breaking at the sheer misfortune of the tree falling apart towards her.

Meanwhile, Kazuto groaned as he got out of the destroyed car, cursing everything under the sky that he had been foolish enough to think the mind-broken man would be able to drive them safely with him not paying attention to the road, before his eyes widened at seeing the tree they had hit earlier (And that would have been their end if he hadn't used his power to reinforce the car at the last second) falling atop a frozen little girl.

Behind him, the car with his minions and the half-dead slave that was Sugou Nobuyuki had caught fire. If he didn't do something, they would probably die. He had to choose between helping them or the little girl.

It was an easy choice, really.

Closing her eyes as she screamed, Ayano Keiko prayed that at least the end would be swift…and then opened them in shock when the sound of wood breaking and crashing was felt around her instead of crushing her, and stared open-mouthed to a sight that, years later, she would recount fondly as the moment that changed her entire life.

A tall and sinister figure in an armor blacker than the night, a white mantle hanging from his back, his armored hand raised as a shimmering shield of black energy protected them by 'absorbing' all the falling piece of the broken tree…and then sending most of them flying away like bullets, which embedded themselves on the ground or into the incoming police cars that had started coming their way, forcing them to stop.

Quickly, the Dark One turned towards her, Keiko feeling her heart stopping in fright upon being confronted by those glowing golden eyes.

"Are you okay?!"

"…uh?" was all that the young girl could say, even as Pina quickly rushed to her side and did his best to seem 'intimidating' before the young Overlord.

Barking, Not-Wolfy chose that moment to emerge from the wrecked car, dragging his rider with him and quickly getting away just as it exploded, making the confused SAO survivor scream again.

"O-Overlord…we're…alive!" croaked Rubber-band while Kazuto stared from him to the burning wreck that had been his escape vehicle, and also most likely Sugou Nobuyuki's grave…not that he especially cared right then.

"Gnarl, send us a Gate, now!" screamed the Dark One to the heavens before once again turning to the trembling Keiko, who recoiled as he leaned over her. "Hey, calm down, okay? You're going to be just fi…!"

"OPEN FIRE!"

The young Overlord almost felt his heart stopping at hearing those words, his head whipping around in time to raise another Shock Shield by instinct at seeing like half a dozen policemen opening fire upon him (Clearly not having seen the little girl and her cat because of his armored form and the fallen half-tree covering them), the bullets quickly ricocheting everywhere as he cursed for the umpteenth time that day, even more when he felt the shaking girl grip his leg in terror at the rain of bullets.

"Wa-wait a minute, you idiots!" roared Kazuto while grabbing Keiko by the shoulder and bringing her up to his level with a squeak, the ones shooting at him freezing at the sight. "There is an innocent…!"

"Oh my god, he has taken a little girl hostage!"

"What a monster!"

"Stop shooting, he will use her as a living shield!"

The young Overlord didn't even have time to refute those crazy claims before the ground shook all around them and a new Netherworld Gate emerged, his eyes widening while a new set of shocked screams filled the air at the sight.

Freedom was just within his reach! Now he only needed to…!

"Don't let him get into that thing!" came a mechanical-sounding voice through a megaphone, all gazes moving to see a Special Forces' vehicle speeding towards the site. "I repeat, all police agents, keep shooting, but don't let the target escape!"

In that instant, the Overlord known as 'Kirito' realized he had to act fast and without thinking if he wanted to take advantage of the clear hesitation of the agents around him.

Sadly, the decision was taken entirely out of his hands by Rubber-band rushing past him while screaming and swinging his rubber chicken, Not-Wolfy howling in fear for his partner as he had been ordered to stay behind.

"Overlord, run with hostage! I distract humies!" screamed the armored minion as he was welcomed by a rain of bullets.

Acting almost in auto-pilot, Kazuto cast a Halo Spell with all his power towards the suicidal creature, not taking into account he was holding something else with that same hand, who gasped in shock at feeling the evil magic cursing through her body before shooting at Rubber-band.

Then, he ran towards the Gate as if his life depended on it (Barely aware of something jumping and clawing at his mantle as he did so), idly hearing Keiko whimper when the sound of the bullets piercing through his last remaining minion reached them, Not-Wolfy rushing after his Overlord in sadness as they reached the eldritch light and vanished within.

Not even a second later, the gate sank under the earth once again, no amount of shouting coming from the special vehicle or the police officers being able to stop it. Any attempts later at 'excavating' the site would be met by nothing but dirt.

Back in the Netherworld Tower, though…Overlord Kirito stood up, the minions that had come around him stepping back and Gnarl and Kayaba falling silent before even starting to ask for his state, even as the Dark One unsheathed his blade and dramatically raised it to the ceiling.

"VICTORY!"

At his shout, the minions exploded into evil cheers, all of them celebrating the 'success' of their 'evil operation', even as Kazuto inwardly sighed in relief, glad to have remembered he couldn't afford to show any weakness in front of his 'subordinates' and gotten back 'in character' just in time…

"Splendid work, my lord! You managed to pull off that mission perfectly despite the unexpected actions of our pathetic enemies!" preened Gnarl while walking to his master's side. "And you even brought a toy back for the minions!"

For the second time in the last minutes, the black-haired boy's mind froze at hearing those words. What did he mean by…?

"Ahahah, little humie and pet look tasty! Maybe we should cook them?!" eagerly asked a Brown while he and several others surrounded the small and shaking figure that their Overlord had unconsciously dragged with him under Kayaba's more than disturbed gaze, her cat hissing at the devilish creatures in a vain attempt to protect his owner.

Whimpering in fright, Ayano Keiko could do nothing but held Pina close to her for dear life, her eyes shooting from the dark and sinister place in which she had suddenly found herself to the countless demonic creatures that surrounded her, horror confusing her fear and about to make her explode as she saw one of them coming closer to her with a hungry look on his horrible face…

"Noooooo!" screamed the young girl while closing her eyes, tears spilling from them as her hands shot out, grasped the minion's arm and, under the shocked stares of everyone, flung him over her head and slammed him against the ground, several times. "Don't hurt meeeeee, bwaaaah…!"

"Wha-what…?!"

"Strong! Little humie strong! Stronger than minion?!"

"E-evil power! She reeks of evil power! How?"

"Overlord's magic fills her?!"

"Why is…?!"

"Shut up, all of you!" boomed Kazuto's voice as he walked through the scared minions surrounding the now crying girl and ignoring the hissing form of the cat beside her. "This is a, ehm, valuable hostage of mine, you hear?! I'm now taking her to my private chambers, wait for me here while I 'fix' some things with her!"

Not giving the creatures any time to answer or react, and pointing ignoring Kayaba's 'Kidnapping a little girl?! Seriously?!'-stare, the young Overlord grabbed the crying girl's hand and dragged her up the stairs behind the Throne Room, uncaring of the cat quickly following them.

As soon as they arrived at his room, the Dark One let the girl go and turned around to seal the door with his dark magic, sighing deeply before turning around towards the terrified and tear-stained face of the young girl.

"Hey, don't be scared, okay? I-I'm not going to hurt you…" promised the black-haired boy as he quickly took off his helmet, shock filling the pre-teen's eyes when she saw the effeminate face of a boy just a couple years older than her and normal-looking black eyes under the terrifying helmet. "Uhm…d-do you want candy or something?"

"…I'm 12, not 6." deadpanned Keiko while barely containing something between a chuckle and a sob. "A-and one of the first things your parents teach you is to not accept candy from strangers…"

"…you're right, that was dumb of me. Sorry, I just…this is a new experience for me. Talking with…someone I accidentally kidnapped." muttered the young Overlord while deciding it was also best not to point out it was the first time he talked with anyone 'normal' close to his age in over 4 years. "Let's try this again…I'm Kirigaya Kazuto, and I'm not going to hurt you."

"…my…my name is Ayano Keiko, Kazuto-san." muttered the young girl while hugging her cat, who had been looking from her to the boy with confusion and worry. "Yo-you saved me back there, s-so I believe you…ca-can I go back home now?"

"I…fear that's not going to be so easy." grimaced Kazuto with regret, feeling a painful pang in his heart at seeing her face morph into a look of fear and confusion. "N-no, Keiko-chan, let me explain!"

For the next minutes, Keiko was gifted with one of the craziest and most complex stories she had ever heard, filled also with several violent scenes and curses that her parents would have never let her hear.

"Tha-that's…woah." simply muttered the young girl as she sat beside the tired-looking boy, both of them on his couch. "…you have had a rough life, Kazuto-san…"

"Tell me about it." groaned the young Overlord before looking towards his 'hostage' with a pleading gaze. "Do you get now, why I can't just let you go? I can't risk losing control of the minions if they think I'm doing 'good' things like releasing a hostage, they would kill you and your family for sure if that happened, not to mention the untold damage they could cause without anyone controlling them…"

"Bu-but, wo-won't I simply be locked away or killed if I stay here too?!" asked Keiko with teary eyes, quickly throwing herself on Kazuto's side, the boy stiffening and unsure of how to react at the unexpected contact as she buried her face on his mantle. "I-I don't want that, Kazuto-san…"

"…i-it's okay, I…there IS a way to ensure that doesn't happen to you long enough for me to come up with a way of getting you out of here, I think." revealed the young Overlord with an unsure tone, the young girl's face suddenly filled with hope as she looked up at him. "It…may take some time, though, and you would have to 'play along' with what I say, not to mention that you will probably have to do some things around here to keep suspicions off you…"

"E-even so, is there really a way?!" half-asked/half-pleaded her while gripping his mantle, Pina purring behind his owner. "I-I will do anything if it keeps me, you and my parents safe, Kazuto-san! What is this method?!"

Gulping, and feeling strangely shy all of a sudden, Kazuto told her. Keiko's brain froze.

A couple minutes later, the minions still in the Throne Room, Gnarl and Kayaba turned to see the fully armored form of 'Overlord Kirito' coming back, the young girl from before walking at his side in a very robotic way, a trembling and very fake smile on her burning red face, caressing the cat in her hand almost compulsively.

"Gnarl, here is your new helper." simply stated Kazuto while pointing at the unusually still Keiko. "Treat her well."

"Uhm…a helper, my lord?"

"Yeah, I mean, no offense to your great work, but extra hands making sure this place doesn't collapse upon itself would be appreciated…"

"But…wasn't she a hostage? Why assign such a position to a slave?" questioned the Minion Master while narrowing his eyes.

"Because…that's just a temporary occupation until we're…old enough for her to assume her…tru-true role…" as the words kept coming from his mouth, it would have been very obvious to anyone with enough common sense (Meaning only Kayaba and Keiko out of all the beings in the 'room') that the young Overlord was trying very hard to force himself into saying them. "Everyone, thi-this is Ayano Keiko…my future mistress."

At the unexpected words…all the Minions fell silent. Gnarl's eyes widened. Kayaba (Who had been inspecting the main SAO Server to make sure it wasn't damaged) choked on air.

Keiko made a small sound that seemed like something between a squeal and an embarrassed scream, her face turning even redder and her fake smile shaking again.

Then, the Throne Room exploded into cheers of the minions while they bowed to their new Mistress (In the other sense of the word), many rushing around to spread the news and others to celebrate by murdering rats or something

"…those are wonderful news, my Overlord!" congratulated the Hellspawn while walking to his master's said and looking proudly at him. "To think you would not only successfully complete your first mission with your training incomplete, but also get your first mistress on it, truly unprecedented! And I assume you want me to make sure she remains sharp and helpful with everything while she grows up enough to truly 'fulfill her purpose', eh?"

"Ye-yes, Gnarl, that's exactly it." confirmed the black-haired boy while being very thankful for the fact that the helmet covered his by now scarlet face. "Also, I may accidentally have overcharged her with a Halo spell which hasn't worn off yet, and I wanted you to take a look at that, because, as you know, that was meant to be used only with minions, so…"

"Not a problem, my lord! I will make sure your woman is in perfect condition!" promised the Minion Master before turning towards the still extremely nervous young girl. "Keiko…sama, was it? Please, follow me; I will give you a tour of the tower's main facilities before showing you the private chambers where you will be staying."

Exchanging one last nervous look with Kazuto, whose eyes pleaded for her to play along, Keiko shakily nodded before tightening her grip on Pina once again and following after Gnarl, leaving a barely relieved Kazuto to resist the urge of rushing after her.

"…did you just made a 10-years-old you kidnapped your mistress?" flatly asked Kayaba once they were alone except for the random minions.

"She's 12, and I assure you this all has a perfect and logical explanation that I will give you later, Kayaba." growled the young Overlord before walking to his side to stare at the massive frame of the Main SAO Server. "Now please, tell me this operation was more successful than how I think it really went."

"Well, we got the main server but we lost most of the cables and connectors when 'extracting' it. While that wouldn't be too difficult to replace…we also lost all the secondary Servers because of what happened…"

"Oh yeah, I made sure to destroy those just in case."

"…there goes a lifetime of VR-development mankind will not be getting back anytime soon, but I'm not really in any position to complain." groaned the scientist before taking off his mask and lowering his hood, staring tiredly at the main server. "Going by what you assure me your minions can do and what I saw today, getting the formers shouldn't be too difficult, but…making up for the lost servers will take a while, especially in these conditions, even after re-activating Cardinal."

"It's…fine. Time is literally the thing we have the most of right now, I guess. I sure as hell am not doing another random raid to the surface anytime soon if it's not for a very important thing." tiredly stated the black-haired boy before taking off his helmet. "Right now I just want to make sure Keiko-chan is okay and then faint on my bed until tomorrow…Anything else?"

"Well…we lost literally every minion that went with us." dryly commented the man while looking with some pity at Not-Wolfy, who had been silently sitting beside the Servers the whole time. "Then again, that doesn't seem to bother you or anyone here, so…"

"Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me, Kayaba." thanked Kazuto to the confused 'evil henchman' before turning towards the dog. "Not-Wolfy, come along! We gotta resurrect your partner…"

"Wait…what?" came out of Kayaba's mouth as he saw the dog eagerly following after the young Overlord. "Resu…rrect?"

"Ah, didn't I tell you? We got this 'river of souls' we simply call 'The Graveyard' down in the Minion Burrows where an old minion dressed like the Grim Reaper can bring back to life specific minions if I want to, in exchange for other minor souls." casually explained the black-haired boy as he and Not-Wolfy headed for the nearest 'floating platform'. "Never really used it much, but Rubber-band is probably the most useful of the bunch after Gnarl and always takes good care of his dog…not to mention the one that insists on using an extremely non-lethal (And stupid) weapon, so that's always appreciated."

"…yeah, sure, you just…casually go to throw out of the window all scientific and religious preconceptions about life and death." emptily commented the man as he turned around, once again to inspect no actual damage have been made to the Servers. "I will just…stay here with what makes sense and…wait a minute. Weren't 2 Greens with us when this all started?"

Back in the mess that was the hospital where the Overlord had 'escaped' the police, a bespectacled man in uniform, who had come in the special vehicle that ordered the agents to keep shooting earlier despite the hostage, watched the cordoned off area with worried eyes, his gaze lingering to the side where a crying woman was comforted by her husband as the police took them away, the parents of the kidnapped girl.

That was when the strange stench hit him, making him gag for a moment. What was that horrible smell?! It was something akin to rotten eggs and meat or…

"Lieutenant colonel Seijirou!" came a voice from the vehicle behind him. "Headquarters just called, we need to report back right now, sir."

"Sure, I'm going now." muttered the man before looking around one last time, eyes narrowed as he boarded the car.

On top of it, the grinning and invisible forms of the green minions exchanged a sinister chuckle as it drove away.

"Those Greens will be following their orders right now, Kayaba, so don't worry about them." finished Kazuto as he and the dog boarded the flying rock. "For now, let's just be grateful nothing else is getting in our way…"

It was past midnight in the Kirigaya household, and Kirigaya Suguha still couldn't sleep.

Of course, most people in her situation didn't change into their kendo hakama and started swinging a shinai until exhaustion in their family's dojo to see if that tired them enough to sleep, but then again, she wasn't like most people.

The bizarre events of the day that she had seen/read about on the internet were still ringing through her mind as she slid against the wall and sat down, looking at her bamboo sword with an unusually empty stare.

Kendo…didn't motivate her as much anymore. In fact, she could almost feel herself losing drive for the sport she had dedicated most of her life to with each passing day during the last years. Why, though, when she had apparently a lot of talent for it? Why would she…?

"Grandfather, stop! It's okay, I…I will practice hard enough for both of us, so please, don't hurt Onii-chan anymore!"

…no, she knew very well why. It was because, in a bizarre way, the main reason for which she had started to practice it in such a way had abandoned them…abandoned her. The closest person she ever had in her life was gone.

Idly, her gaze moved towards the dojo's open doors, seeing the moon reflected on the pond outside. Inevitably, a shiver ran down her back as she remembered when she almost drowned there, years ago…and a smile quickly filled her face as she remembered him jumping inside and saving her life.

"Onii-chan…I miss you…" whispered the young kendoka with a small voice, a normal and seemingly unimportant statement in a world that, hours earlier, had apparently been turned upside down by impossible events. "Please, come back…"

The small plea echoed into the empty dojo…just a second before a shining ball of light crashed through the open doors and slammed into the wall beside Suguha's head, making the girl scream and turn around in fright, shinai raised to try and protect herself.

"(Ouch, ouch, ouch, dammit all…uh?)" suddenly, the strange 'ball of light' rose from where it had fallen, 'turning' towards the wide-eyed girl. "(Ah…THE OVERLORD IS BACK!)"

"…eh?" was all that the young kendoka could say, still staring dumbfounded towards the glowing and talking ball of light.

"(This is no time for 'Eh?', young girl! The Overlord is back and, without any youkai or Gods around to stop him this time, the world will soon be completely at his mercy! As the last descendant of Kirigaya Kaneshiro, the last servant of Amaterasu-sama whose family still lives, still present on this land, it falls on you to throw away your…ehem, I mean, to heroically risk your life to stop him!)"

"Wha-what?! M-me, beating the Overlord?!" shouted Suguha while taking several steps back, wondering if she wasn't having some bizarre dream. "A-are you crazy?! That guy has hordes of monsters that follow him…a-and can shoot fire strong enough to blow through a building from his hands!"

"(Yeaaaah…it's not gonna be easy, downright impossible, really, but you know, beggars can't be choosers, it falls on you to be the legendary hero in the hopeless fight, sorry, sucks to be you.)" 'apologized' the spirit before floating around the disbelieving girl. "(Also, with some training and once we steal…cough, I mean, once we 'get back' the 3 Legendary Treasures, you will have at least a 30% chance of victory in a suicidal Final Fight if we get him before he has become too strong! You should be happy, most legendary heroes start with way worse odds!)"

"…I think…I'm going to sleep now…" nervously gulped the young kendoka before turning around and doing a mad dash for the door leading into the house.

"(…sigh, why do they always run? When Amaterasu-sama herself chose people they always took it as an honor…oh well, not my fault.)" shrugged the shining spirit before shooting faster than the eye could see and crashing against Suguha's back, the girl screaming before freezing in place, her eyes wide as a rainbow light seemed to fill them. "(Now then…this will only hurt excruciatingly during the first few minutes.)"

"…uh?" was the last thing that came out of Kirigaya Suguha's mouth before the pain hit.

Her screams were, somehow, drowned by the rainbow light filled with hope, kindness, bravery and everything that is good and sickening in the world that consumed the whole Kirigaya dojo.

And so, the gears of Fate finished screwing each other in the most bizarre path possible…

Author's Notes: Convenient plot-development, get XD!

Seriously, though, what would an Evil Overlord be without a foolish Hero, with seemingly no hope of winning against him and his forces, standing in his way? Nothing, I tell you! Nothing XP!

But well, with this the first 'arc' (?) of this weird idea is done! The Overlord has revealed himself, base objectives have been achieved, accidental kidnappings have happened and a 'mistress' has been obtained! There is no way anything can go wrong :P!

Okay then, now that I'm recovered and relaxed, I'm going back to write OPG:CoF, but I may still write this silly thing from time to time, who knows? Next time, whenever that is, we get the first important time-skip (It wouldn't be SAO story without some of those OwO), the Overlord gets…virtual 'minions'(?), evil plans for world domination are developed, Gnarl learns to use the internet, and the goal set is…to kidnap a 'princess'?! And, of course, the brave Hero of Justice appears to save the damsel in distress and oppose the Overlord! Don't miss it!

Until next time, this is Saint, signing off!