After 3000 years, I have returned! *ominous thunder sounds*
…LOL, okay, jokes aside, I'm massively sorry for basically 'vanishing' for so long, everyone. Most of my regular readers already know this as we talked through PMs, but for everyone else, I basically had a ton of issues popping up in my life shortly after my last update (Which was fully closing The Eroge's 'Hollow Fragment Arc', funnily enough). Both personal and familial issues, which also combined with the fact I wasn't able to find a job (Which thankfully has been fixed for now, starting out in a couple weeks) had me very busy for several months. And when I finally managed to solve them all, near the beginning of the year, I tried to sit down to write again and found out I…couldn't. I had been hit with the mother of all writer's blocks.
I have been doing my best to try and fix it since then, but the fact that it took me almost 3 months to finally get ready to finish a chapter should tell you how bad it was. Thankfully, I don't seem to have lost the connection to my stories or the capacity to write down what I wanted, which is a relief because let me tell you, I REALLY want to finish them, both for you all my dear readers, and for myself. I want to finish telling these tales for our sakes and to show my enjoyment of SAO!
Okay, with all that said, and hoping for the best, I will leave you all with the chapter now! Hope you enjoy it, and that you get the Notification that it is up in time, because on my side Email notifications haven't been working (Again) for like a month now XP But let's forget about that, have a fun (Hopefully) read of our whacky Evil Kirito's adventures!
And as usual, especially after so long, any help with the fic's TvTropes' page is greatly appreciated!
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 9: An Overlord's Duty
February 2nd, 2024. Toto Institute of Technology, Japan. 05:35…
Over 20 days.
That's how long his daughter had been gone.
Barely suppressing a shudder at the terrifyingly dark thought that had been haunting him since even before being released by the people of the JSDF, Shigemura Tetsuhiro reminded himself why he was there so early in the morning, why he wasn't doing anything to help the Heroine's allies anymore, and why he was still able to keep going every day.
Taking a deep breath, he sat on his computer's desk, turned it on, and, after a while of seemingly doing nothing, witnessed a window open by itself, before the visage of an empty-eyed little girl appeared on it.
"…good work again, Shigemura Tetsuhiro. Cardinal's analysis proves that you haven't been aiding either the JSDF or any of the known allies of Heroine Leafa. Another daily checkup confirmed…so you get your call." MCHP-001, codename Yui, coldly stated while looking at the professor, even as the view of the screen changed into that of a 'Call Connecting' one. "Enjoy it."
During the few seconds it took for the call to go through, the man wondered if he was doing the right thing like he had every single day since he went back home devastated after a long interrogation and had been contacted for the first time. If what was essentially betraying, even passively, humanity just for one person was something he would ever be forgiven for.
Then, as Yuuna's smiling face appeared on screen, like every single time it did, he realized that he would probably strangle someone with his own two hands every day if that was what the Overlord wanted to let him know his daughter was safe.
The scariest part, though, was that he couldn't know if he had always been capable of such a thing for Yuuna or if this was something that having been in the presence of the Evil Overlord had caused…and, as much as he wanted to, he wasn't all that confident it was the latter.
"Dad! I'm…glad to see you again."
"Yuuna…me too, dear…" mumbled the man while looking up and down his daughter's face, inspecting every inch of her that he could see, as if waiting to see some mark of abuse or injuries, anything that could justify the anguish he was feeling, and once again experiencing that strange mix of disappointment and complete relief upon not seeing any. "…are you…?"
"Yes dad, I'm…fine." wincing slightly at the words, the brunette girl leaned back on her chair with a sigh, looking exhausted. "It's…not easy here, of course, I don't think I need to tell you that, but it seems they really aren't gonna do anything to me as long as you…cooperate."
How ironic. He was probably the only man in the world that could somewhat trace where the Overlord was because he had stolen the tech his crazy former student had tried to use to imprison his daughter and thousands of innocents in a death game…but he had outright lied to the JSDF and then cut all ties with the allies of the Heroine just to NOT do so.
All for the sake of keeping his daughter safe. And he would do that, and probably more, all over again, if it meant not losing her like he had her mother.
"…Yuuna, I…I love you, and-"
"No, dad, it's fine, this was not your fault…hell, it wasn't even the Overlord's, as crazy as that's to believe…he genuinely was going to let me go that day until those bastards started shooting us all…when all those bullets were flying over my head…I genuinely thought I was going to die until he just…pushed it all away…" her gaze seemingly lost in the distance for a moment, the young woman took a deep breath and offered another apologetic smile to her father, whose fists were once again clenched at remembering the first time he had been told how the so-called 'authorities' had almost done to his daughter. "…dad, I have to go. I…I love you."
"I love you too, Yuuna." whispered Tetsuhiro while putting a hand on the screen, as if that would allow him to actually touch the girl that was so far away from him.
One last guilty smile, as if regretting the pain she was causing him for things outside her control, and Yuuna's face vanished from view, Yui's emotionless visage replacing it once again.
"As usual, her safety and commodity will continue to be guaranteed by your cooperation, Shigemura Tetsuhiro. And once we have neutralized the threat of the Heroine, she will be returned to you unharmed. You have the Overlord's word."
"…and I have no choice but to comply anyway, right?" the man spat with a mix of sarcasm and regret.
"Indeed, you don't. All belong to the Overlord. All will bend to His will. They just don't know it yet." For a moment, the AI's eyes shone an inhuman red that Kayaba Akihiko's teacher somehow knew wasn't any effect caused by computers or technology, but something older, primal, and darker; something that normal men weren't made to understand. "You all just haven't realized it yet."
And with that ominous declaration, the computer turned off and left Dr. Shigemura once again alone with his thoughts, fears, and worries. The constant worry of if the Overlord would torture his daughter or worse as soon as he stopped talking with her, the gnawing whisper of how he was betraying mankind and putting countless innocents at risk just for Yuuna's safety…and the cold dark assurance that he would always do it all over again if it meant talking to her safe and sound the next day again.
A small beeping sound coming from his pocket snapped the man out of his troubled trance, causing him to grab his phone in time to see several messages popping up from one of his few 'personal' contacts.
Smiling sadly upon seeing the worried words written down by Nochizawa Eiji, Tetsuhiro thought with irony how a few months ago the very obvious attempts of his daughter's childhood friend to try and 'evolve' their relationship would have annoyed him. Now, though, the boy's ever-present worry and, if useless, attempts to try and find her were one of the few reliefs he experienced, being reminded he was not the only one who truly saw Yuuna's true value. It made him even firmer on his decision of keeping the Overlord's secrets and no longer trying to track him down for the Heroine.
Still, he couldn't deny Eiji's worries also made him fall back into thinking the worst, even if the boy was also ignorant to his deal for his daughter's safety. Even if she looked unharmed and sounded mostly 'fine' when he talked to her every day, he couldn't help the nagging feeling that she was hiding something from him.
After all, who knew what terrible horrors she had to witness every moment her poor and innocent self spent in that den of monsters and madness…?
"How is everyone this morning, inhabitants of the Netherworld?! Are you ready for some evil music to shake your dark souls?!"
"YEAAAAH!"
"WOOOOOH…!"
"Then this next song is for all of you, Minions and monsters~! I call it 'Delete'!"
"All hail lady Yuuna!"
Even as the thunderous cacophony of sounds that could maybe pass as 'cheering' tried to drown everything, the girl sitting atop the impressive and slightly creepy stage was undeterred as she gripped the microphone, her unnaturally red eyes and white hair seeming to shine even as techno-magical systems all around her did their work creating special effects to accompany her 'evil' song, delighting everyone haring it as the dark dress she wore flowed alongside her dancing.
It was truly a captivating, if almost sinister, spectacle, her voice had a dark allure to it, yet undeniable beauty. Her movements were fast and almost wild at times, but they held a grace that one could almost call 'dark'.
Truly, if the majority of the audience hadn't been mostly-brainless Minions and monsters, they probably would have appreciated it a lot more, but for them hearing the words 'evil song' followed by singing was enough to turn them into a wild and pleased crowd…not that it pleased their 'idol' any less.
Of course, for the few 'normal' humans present around, that could actually react more openly to it, it was a different story…
"…ah, I see now…it wasn't all the people I got killed during the few hours SAO was online, no…THIS is my greatest sin." lowly whispered Kayaba Akihiko while staring at the 'spectacle' from under his usual robes. "Shigemura-sensei will find a way to kill me, then summon my soul back from Hell just to kill me again if he ever knows I allowed this to happen…"
"Why are you talking as if you had any way of preventing anything here?" Gnarl questioned with a raised eyebrow, even as he amusedly clapped at the bizarre (For such a place) show. "It was the Will of the Overlord that allowed lady Yuuna to become the tower's exclusive entertainer!"
"…when you explain it like that, it actually makes me feel even worse…"
"Oh, c'mon Heathcliff, cheer up!" Ryoutarou happily declared from where he was sitting on an oversized couch from their 'privileged observation area', Ochi and Miko nuzzled against him while Hana fed him some grapes, all 3 snake-girls clearly enjoying both the closeness with their 'master' as much as the spectacle. "We have our own Evil Idol! And we have VIP seats to her shows almost daily! You should enjoy life a bit more, man!"
"Forgive me if I don't 'enjoy life' as much as you clearly do, Klein-kun…" sighed the hooded man while sitting down, then casting a glance at the only 'seat' that was higher than theirs. "Or as our Overlord does, I suppose."
Above them in a stone elevation that was almost like a mini-throne in itself, the Overlord rested with a direct view of Yuuna's unique 'show' on a couch even fancier than the one he, the resident alchemist, and the Minion Master were not-quite-sharing.
Of course, any attempt at 'regality' for the image was completely ruined by the fact that Keiko was happily humming alongside the song while sitting on his lap, her now horse-sized electric-blue cat (Which he had given up on anyone acknowledging as 'weird' long ago) purring at their feet while curled into a ball. Added to the fact that Rika was sitting relatively close to one of the edges, sneaking glances at the pair between also enjoying the spectacle, and that Shino was more or less the same on the other, but with her attention more taken by the 'royal pair' than Yuuna's show.
Ironically, they were only sitting there, having been standing at attention close by before, because Keiko herself had invited/demanded them to sit with them, and Kazuto himself hadn't denied her. So taking it as a direct order of the Overlord's mistress, both girls had taken their current seats and done their best to 'enjoy the show'.
Kayaba really didn't want to point out how it looked like their 'evil master' was just surrounding himself with pretty girls for shady purposes, especially when he knew the boy hadn't wanted or tried to 'recruit' any of them, not even his so-called 'mistress'. It had been just an amalgamation of bad luck and absurdly convenient circumstances that he would have never believed if he hadn't been able to witness them firsthand.
…well, that and also because he didn't want to think of-
"Thanks, everyone, for listening to my songs again! I love you all! Let's keep cheering on for our mighty Overlord's evil triumph!" giving a quick bow towards the cheering crowd of Minions, the 'Evil Idol' vanished from the stage in a small burst of dark smoke, only to reappear at the back of the room where all the 'key members' of the Overlord's circle were, quickly doing a spin that turned into a bow towards their 'Dark Master' with amazing grace. "Kirito-sama, Silica-sama, Minion Master, esteemed High Servants…I hope you enjoyed today's performance as well."
"…it was amazing as usual, Yuuna. Consider me amused and satisfied once again." softly nodded Kazuto in what Kayaba dubbed his 'I'm Totally the Great Evil Overlord'-tone. "Also, time the Minions spend watching your performances is time they don't spend doing something potentially stupid, so they're never a waste."
"…your words humble me, great Overlord." replied the songstress with a soft smile…and a noticeably blush in her cheeks. Which the boy who ruled over the Netherworld either didn't notice or completely ignored.
Yes…that was what Kayaba really didn't want to think about. That his old teacher's daughter had a growing crush on the teenager with the overpowered evil magic and armies of semi-idiotic darkness Minions, while clearly enjoying herself being his 'Dark Idol' while said father was clearly worried sick for her…and was NOT going to tell him anything.
Honestly, if the whole SAO thing hadn't already sentenced his soul to Hell (Which he firmly believed probably existed now that he knew of all the supernatural bullshit that did exist), this would have. Regardless of how his more logical side told him that knowing the actual truth rather than the façade of being a prisoner Yuuna was putting on would make her dad probably go crazy, the fact was that he was sure Shigemura-sensei would also blame him for this if he knew he was still alive.
Which wouldn't even be that farfetched, given that, as he now knew, the currently 'transformed' girl bowing to the group had been among the people who he had trapped within Aincrad that first day, seemingly so long ago now…
"I also loved your performance once again, Yuuna-san!" Keiko's sudden proclamation brought the hooded man out of his internal musings, in time to see the Overlord's mistress hop off their master's lap and smile widely at the 'Dark Idol'. "You truly have an amazing talent for this!"
"Your words humble me, Keiko-sama." grinned the girl while her body 'shimmered', the dark power that had been imbued into her powering off and returning her exotic looks back to plain old and normal Shigemura Yuuna. "I'm just doing my part to repay you all for letting me live out my dream…while being useful to our great Overlord, of course!"
"Well, I guess that's what we all want, in the end." chuckled Rika while stretching and standing up, giving a bow towards Kazuto and Keiko before heading towards the closest exit of the observation room. "I shall retire to work, then! All those evil weapons and armors aren't going to forge themselves!"
"Same here, if I may be excused, my Overlord. Trying to improve the Minions' fighting capacity may be mostly hopeless, but it's always good training…and PoH always knows how to say the right thing to keep them in high spirits!" happily declaring such, Shino saluted her 'superiors' in an almost militaristic way before once again 'powering up', as her powers had been off during the 'spectacle', and walking away even before her hair had finished fully turning electric blue, seemingly eager to get back to 'work'.
"The gals have the right idea…all that evil alchemy isn't going to do itself, after all!" proclaimed Klein with a grin before standing up himself, his lamias/servants/girlfriends, or whatever else he considered them following cue with clear delight. "Let's go girls, we have job to do!"
"Yes, Klein-sama!"
"Right behind you, honey~"
"As you command, master."
"…I suppose I shall go back to my room myself, then." standing up, the Overlord's casual voice somehow managed to be charged with all the power and authority that his station granted him, nobody even questioning him in the slightest as he calmly exited the room while his mistress and Yuuna bowed at him. "There is much planning to do still, after all."
""Have a good morning, Overlord-sama."" both girls declared at once as the Master of Evil vanished in a flash of magic, off to his private chambers where he without a doubt was planning more dastardly deeds for them to take over the world
Or so would they say if asked.
"Well, I think I will go get a small post-concert snack, I'm a bit hungry after all that dancing…" making a small spin in place, the 'prisoner' waved goodbye to the last 2 occupants of the room (3 if you counted Pina). "Later, Silica-sama! Later, uncle A-ehem, that is, Heathcliff-sama!"
Staring at the retreating form of his old teacher's daughter, Kayaba once again thought back on when the girl first had realized his identity a few hours after she had 'arrived in their care'. To say she had been shocked when he had taken off his hood was an understatement, though Kirito's 'reassuring' words that he had decided that eternally enslaving him was a more fitting punishment for 'trying to be eviler than him' rather than just killing him had seemingly…put her at ease. Which honestly was rather disturbing in several ways, even if the boy had sworn to him he hadn't done anything to her with his evil magic…at least not aimed to make her obey him, at least.
Really, the fact that she had so quickly started calling him "uncle Aki" again despite the fact that, you know, he had locked her in a Death Game where she could have very likely died if their great 'Evil Master' hadn't ended it the very day it started weirded him out even more than her odd devotion towards the black-haired boy. Truly, it seemed as if the world made less sense every day he spent in that damned underground tower…
"Hmm…Yuuna-san is certainly winning on my list right now. I used to think Shino-san was the best one, but she has made me reconsider…" blinking at hearing Keiko's sudden mumbles, the man gave the young mistress a confused look even as she mounted her oversized mutant cat (Which clearly nobody was going to acknowledge). "Then again, Rika-san wouldn't do it half-bad either I suppose…"
"What are you even talking about?" couldn't help but question Kayaba…and quickly regretted it as soon as the next words exited the weirdly smiling girl's mouth.
"Why, who would be best to be Kazuto…ehem, Kirito-sama's next mistress, of course! I'm growing quite well, but I understand he has urges and he's too kind to force anything on me, sadly, but the others are older and I'm sure they would be beyond happy to offer all of themselves to him." as if talking about the weather, Keiko continued talking even as Pina carried her out of the room, ignoring or not noticing the paralyzed man's reaction to her words. "I don't mind having to wait a bit longer to be with him, but I would be a terrible mistress if I allowed our Overlord to be too pent-up, of course~"
It took almost a full minute before the last occupant of the now empty room was able to say anything else.
"…when did I become the sanest person in this godforsaken tower?"
"Coming from you, that's rich, Kayaba." came a certain young-sounding voice before Yui's emotionless visage manifested before her creator, making him groan in clear annoyance. "However, I have no intentions of arguing with you about this silliness today…I just wanted to inform you, given our Overlord is currently resting, that his amazing plans have finally given fruit."
"Wait, what? What do you me-?"
The sudden trembling of the Netherworld tower for a second before every single surface lit up with what he recognized as computer code traveling to unholy speed made the father of FullDive tech interrupt himself as he stared open-mouthed around himself, suddenly feeling as if the world had once again started making sense, though in the complete opposite way that he had wished for.
"Of course, I'm referring to his plan to wait around doing nothing but build up our Minions' forces while Cardinal fully and completely adapted to being integrated into the magical sources of the Tower. It has finally fully 'cracked magic'." casually informed the artificial intelligence while theatrically raising her hands, her form suddenly flickering…and solidifying as she stepped forward, looking at her hands and then casually up at her creator with a suddenly very disturbing smile, her new flesh and blood 'glitching' for a moment before turning solid again. "Now we're truly unstoppable…the Overlord will be pleased!"
Once again, Kayaba Akihiko felt that everything had gotten way too out of hand…
The sun was setting and, ever so slowly, the many fires that littered the once massively chaotic battlefield were being extinguished. All around, roars of celebration and victory echoed, praise for the fact that they had survived to see a new day.
However, Kirigaya Saito couldn't bother with any of that. Even if he had been able to look past the fact that their 3 Gods had died, which most seemed to be able to just for the fact that they had emerged victorious, the sight of his captain and friend bleeding out in his arms would certainly have prevented him from feeling any joy at all.
"Please, stay strong, Miroku-taicho!" shouted the black-haired young man while hopelessly trying to keep the gaping hole in the man's chest closed with his hands. "Tsukuyomi-sama did it; he sealed that monster's power and what remained of his hellish hordes away! The healers are coming you just need to hang on a little longer!"
"Heh…don't cry for me, Kirigaya…I'm happy to have taken this blow for you…you have your whole life ahead of you, and Nadeshiko-chan is waiting for you. May your future child and…all your descendants be blessed by this victory…" coughing blood, the old samurai held his crying subordinate's hand and gave him a weak smile, before looking up to the heavens one last time. "May my soul find rest…wherever our Gods are now…"
Then, with the last of his strength leaving his body, Senjiro Miroku died, the last of his family. Saito cried harder, holding his mentor's corpse with deep sadness…and almost dropping it when a vaguely familiar sphere of light emerged from it, orbiting around his head with a mix of resignation and tiredness.
'So ends this old wolf's dynasty…he truly should have listened to me and dedicated some time earlier in his life to find a wife and have children, but that's no longer an option, so…I guess you're my new partner now, Saito-kun.'
"Sa-Sanrei-sama…I'm not worthy of such a thing." lowering his head even as he closed Miroku's eyes, the young man gripped his sword as he stood up slowly. "I could barely do anything at all during the fight, and if it wasn't for Miroku-taicho, I would be…"
'Well, maybe, but he wanted YOU to live. That was his decision, in the end, so I will stand by it…besides, you may as well enjoy it while it lasts.' softly muttering so, Sanrei flew around Saito's head and the Kirigaya froze at feeling the pulsing power of the Spirit…and also how it seemed to, slowly but surely, be completely fading. 'Amaterasu-sama is death, so it won't be long before I fade…I can feel most of my siblings that were on this battlefield have already scattered into nothingness after our respective Gods died. Guess I was just lucky enough to last longer because the old man barely used my power near the end, as if he knew. So, in a way, we're both just a sad, lucky pair, Saito-kun.'
"Sanrei-sama…"
"Miroku-taicho, are you…?! Oh no." turning around, the odd pair stared at another samurai that had apparently come running, his face filled with despair and sadness at the sight of the dead captain. "I was sure he would…wait, Kirigaya?! Is that…Sanrei-sama with you?!"
"Ye-yes…with Miroku-taicho death, he seems to have decided to spend the last of his time here with m-"
"YOU NEED TO COME WITH ME!" not waiting for an answer, the man dragged the younger samurai away as fast as he could, startling both him and the fading Sun Spirit. "Almost every other Blessed Hero in the area is dead or dying, and any others are so far away that their Spirits will have faded before they get here, so you will have to do!"
"Wha-what? What's going on?!"
"Tsukuyomi-sama's seal was incomplete because that damned Overlord killed him as he was finishing it. As such, there is a chance that if someone with a connection to him ever tries to take his power again, they may do so!" ignoring Saito's horrified look at the words, the samurai pushed on, towards a gathering of many people that seemed to be hurriedly chanting and gathering energy in some mystical array. "The onmyouji have quickly devised a failsafe, though! We're going to put what remains of our Gods' energy into a single Spirit and seal it alongside the lock on the Overlord's powers!"
"Wha-?! Why would you do such a thing?!"
"Because that way, they will survive as long as the Overlord does, and by combining their powers with those of our Gods' relics, they may just have enough power to kill the new Evil before it gets too powerful!" still a bit stunned, Saito nodded along with the words even as he found himself being dragged by the monks and magic users, who nodded his way in respect and even thanked him for something he hadn't even done yet. "Kirigaya, your family has just been chosen to be the ones who will be entrusted this final duty of us servants of the Gods. Be honored!"
"I…" for a moment, the last smile of Miroku appeared in the young man's mind, causing him to grit his teeth and close his eyes before resolutely opening them, determination in his gaze. "I will do it. Sanrei-sama…will you lend your power to my descendants?"
'You bet I will, Saito-kun! I was resigned to vanish, but now I get to serve Amaterasu-sama's will one last time? To vanquish this sickening evil from our land if it ever rises again?! To have a portion of my Gods' powers live on within me?!' if he had been in any other state of mind, the young Kirigaya may have found the Spirit's words to be frighteningly fanatical, but at that moment all that he heard was the confirmation he needed. 'There is literally no other reason for my kind to exist! It's the highest honor possible!'
"Then…so be it. May this Evil never rise again, but if it does…then my descendants will end it for the sake of the land, and for the peace of all those blessed by our departed deities!"
And with that powerful declaration, the contract was sealed, the promise was made, and the world was bathed in otherworldly light…
…
…
…
"…so that's how it all went down, huh?"
'Oh? Did you have another burst of memories from Saito-kun, partner?'
"…yes, Sanrei. I watched how my oh-so-heroic ancestor carelessly and thoughtlessly decided to entrust the Fate of the world to a random person that he would have no idea if they would even be up to the task or capable of accomplishing it just because they would be their descendants…honestly, were all samurai back then so…simple-minded?"
'Hey, don't say that, Suguha! It was the highest honor for us both to accept this task, you know?! Plus, Saito-kun's faith was clearly rewarded! I mean, look at you! I feel proud to say that I don't think any Blessed Hero was ever born that came even close to you, Heroine Leafa!'
"…that's just because we're cheating, though." opening her eyes behind her glowing mask, Kirigaya Suguha stared in silence at the vast expanse of the sea depths before her, fishes and other creatures swimming past her as if she did not exist…or as if she belonged right there with them. "After all, nobody else ever had this much power besides the Gods, right?"
Not even waiting for an answer, Leafa 'flew' through the water, the currents guiding and pushing her as if she was their one and only master, the creatures of the sea stopping and seemingly bowing in reverence as she passed and headed for the surface, the ocean around her seeming to pulse with power, awaiting her command.
When she emerged, the dark clouds that had been gathered opened up to let the morning sun's ray bathe her form, not a single drop of water left in her despite having just come from the sea, which calmed down instantly at her will.
The power of Susanoo, the God of the Sea and the Storms, coursed through her veins, finally fully under her control. It hummed alongside Amaterasu's, the twin divine powers burning mightier than any weapon on Earth within the body of a simple teenager.
It truly seemed like something out of a manga or a cheap Light Novel…and it was all the more terrifying because of it.
Even the most capable and wise men in this world shouldn't be trusted with so much power. A girl that hadn't even finished high school should NOT wield the power to bend any aspect of the world to her very Will.
However…there was literally nobody else who could do so. No other choice for the country…hell, maybe the entire world to survive the calamity that was coming. If she failed, the Overlord would win and…she didn't even want to imagine how that would go down.
Plus, this power…if she…no, once she managed to save the world, she could use it to finally find Kazuto. And then she would-
"Suguha-samaaaaa! Over hereeeee!"
Blinking at being brought out of her inner reflections, Suguha couldn't help but let out a small sigh before casually waving towards the girl waiting on the beach near where she was floating, who had an (unnecessary) towel for her in one hand…and a camera in the other, which she was aiming straight at her?
…wait, had she been recording the whole thing?!
"Asuna-san…" speaking as she dissolved into light and instantly rematerialized at the Yuuki Heiress' side, the young kendoka tried and failed to hide the exasperation in her voice as she deadpanned. "Why are you recording this?"
"Ah, well…I know I can't exactly put this online or share it with anyone, but I thought I should keep a record of your amazing deeds whenever I could!" explained Asuna while handing her the towel as her transformation ended before holding the camera dearly with both hands and shining eyes. "After all, maybe in the future, the world will be ready to know all about how you prepared yourself in your amazing quest to save the world from Evil!"
"That's…great to hear, Asuna-san, heheh…"
Honestly, sometimes Suguha truly didn't know how to react in front of the older girl's enthusiasm for everything related to her, so she defaulted to her, by now, standard awkward smile when it came to dealing with it. Really, she was pretty sure that, by now, the Yuuki Heiress' 'admiration' of her was an almost borderline obsession, and she didn't really know how to deal with THAT can of worms. Seriously, what kind of over-controlling life had her parents put her through if all it took was saving her life from a random Master of Evil and being kind to her to gain her seemingly lifelong devotion?
…okay, when she put it like that, it kinda made sense why she idolized her so much, but still! It was weird for an older and so much prettier (In her opinion) girl than her to act as if she was the most amazing thing in the universe! She didn't know how to act around her half the time!
But, even with all that…she couldn't deny Asuna had been quite helpful and, as Sanrei put it, 'useful in their endeavors to prepare for the fight against evil'. Excusing it to her mom had been shockingly simple, just saying that the rich girl had taken an interest in her after seeing her win the nationals on TV once and approached her to try and befriend her. Kirigaya Midori had just needed one meeting with Asuna to not see anything wrong with her daughter spending a lot of time with her.
Which meant that she now had a solid 'cover', even for the few times her usually-busy-mom could have found anything suspicious about her vanishing for hours or not answering her phone at times (She couldn't exactly carry it with her to the bottom of the sea or high above the clouds while practicing wielding life-changing Divine Power, after all). Having Asuna answer that she was in the bathroom or something along those lines helped keep her 'double life' a secret with amazing ease.
And all that the Yuuki Heiress wanted in return was to follow her everywhere she went whenever she was doing 'Heroine Stuff', and to cheer her on and provide anything she needed in her 'noble quest to protect the world'.
When she considered all of that, dealing with Asuna wasn't really bad, in fact, many would have called it a blessing in disguise with the situation she was in. Also, having someone who she could talk about these things that weren't an ancient and clearly obsessed Sun Spirit felt nice, so maybe she was just being too overly drama-
"Indeed, Suguha-sama! Ah, I can't wait to get back home, this new footage is going to inspire me for days for my works on the Fanfiction Section of my Leafa-sama Site!"
"…e-eh?! Pe-people write Fanfiction about me?!"
"Ah…you have never looked it up, Suguha-sama? It's truly inspiring to see, sometimes!" happily commented Asuna before gaining a small frown. "But I have to be moderating a lot from time to time, some people try and foolishly write up really mean things about you. And don't even get me started on the Heretics that 'ship' you with the Overlord, they're the scum of the Earth!"
'You got that right, Asuna-chan! Such foolish people deserve to be erased from this world!' energetically agreed Sanrei while materializing at his partner's side, ignoring how the bug-eyed look she was giving the Yuuki Heiress turned towards him. 'How dare they insult my partner like that?!'
"Exactly! You totally get me, Sanrei-sama!"
…yeah, no, screw it, if she actually managed to survive the fight against the Overlord, she was dumping the overly fanatical Heiress. The crazy magical spirit was bad enough, but she was sure Kazuto would start running in the opposite direction if she ever found him while dragging that crazy girl in tow.
'…but putting aside the divine punishment we will inflict upon those disgusting 'shippers' later, partner…ehem, let me declare the second part of your training officially over!' making a little fanfare with multi-colored sparks, Sanrei just managed to make Suguha sweatdrop, which only was furthered when Asuna joined in by clapping, clearly impressed. 'You have fully managed to master Susanoo-sama's powers! Finally, the time has come for us to go and reclaim the last Regalia and obtain the full power meant to beat the Overlord once and for all!'
"Ugh…I was hoping we could delay that a bit longer…" confessed the young kendoka while looking away.
"That's…understandable, I guess." mumbled the chestnut-haired girl with a troubled expression for the first time since the Heroine had stepped out of the ocean, even as she looked towards the horizon. "Even Leafa-sama would probably be troubled doing this…even if she really shouldn't…"
'…I don't get it. We already claimed 2 of them with no issue, why would getting the last one be any problem?' the Sun Spirit questioned with a tilt of his…body.
"Because, Sanrei…if the legends are true, and given they have been the last times I'm willing to bet this one will be too, then the last of the Imperial Regalia, the jewel known as the Yasakani no Magatama, rests at…the Three Palace Sanctuaries. Within Tokyo's Imperial Palace."
Even if the legends didn't say it outright, she could literally feel it right now, as if calling for her in the distance…the remains of Tsukuyomi's divinity, resting far away in Tokyo, felt even all the way there, on that random bit of the coat at Hitachi Prefecture.
Which meant that, if she wanted to claim the last of the Three Treasures, she would need to confront the one who was surely guarding it, the arguably most important person in this country.
Emperor Naruhito of Japan.
Within the dark chambers where Overlord Kirito resided, the great Master of Evil could be found…groaning face down on his fancy bed, holding his head with both hands.
"Fuck, gods-dammit, hell…how is it that even doing absolutely nothing pretending I was preparing our faces has backfired this badly?! Is the world really just out to mess with me?! I know I'm supposed to be the bad guy, but still!"
Couldn't whatever higher powers existed realize that his attempts at becoming a 'shut-in Overlord' were to prevent more chaos from happening?! Was there some sort of rule in the Universe that just dictated even his attempts at NOT being evil had to be ruined because he was 'evil'?!
Honestly, when the tower had illuminated with lines of code he had been more than startled, but actually being informed that the Cardinal System had apparently managed to fully 'translate' magic in a way it could now 'code evil power into functional commands'.
Essentially, turns out that having hooked the Self-Updating and Self-sufficient Management System Kayaba Akihiko had once been sure it could fend off the attempts of literally the entire world of hacking into to free people from SAO for years to the magical reactors of an ancient evil tower hadn't been a good idea…at least not if you, you know, weren't actually trying to be an Evil Overlord bend on taking over the world.
Now, as long as the Tower's Heart had enough power (And because of the literal centuries that it had been 'sleeping' before Kazuto broke the seal, it had a lot of it), they could 'spawn' almost literally anything that could be virtually coded within Cardinal's FullDive space. Yui herself had demonstrated it by giving herself an actual physical body that she could dematerialize at will, having all the advantages of being able to interact with the real world and none of the disadvantages.
Gnarl had been overjoyed, the Minion Master clearly knowing a massively major asset even when he couldn't fully understand it, and even Kayaba himself had seemed absorbed into the possibilities while operating as many 'techno-magical' screens earlier. They had done simple tests like trying to generate simple disposable armors and weapons for the Minions and it had worked as easily as breathing, causing the dumb creatures to break out in joyous celebration and chants of their Overlord's greatness. In a way, it was a relief, because even with Rika's best efforts there simply was not enough time or material to properly outfit their ever-growing army of evil critters, so this had solved one of their logistic problems. Also, while they sadly couldn't properly function in the real world without a direct connection to Cardinal, 'Heathcliff' had, almost hesitantly, tested materializing some of the creatures from Sword Art Online from what few assets remained on the main server.
Their Minions effectively had all 'rides' now too, when needed. While arguably less dangerous than Klein's creations, especially given they lacked any sort of real intelligence or instincts, the 'mobs' from SAO were still capable of following the basic orders any Minion could give them (Which usually amounted to 'Forward!', 'Kill!', or 'For the Overlord!'). All of their forces had essentially doubled in dangerousness and effectiveness.
…all of which would have been great if he, you know, hadn't been trying to prevent things from getting worse for everyone involved by doing nothing with the excuse of 'Preparing for the inevitable conflict with the Heroine'.
A conflict he never wanted to come again, truly. It was bad enough that a legit hero that seemed straight out of an Isekai manga had appeared to stop his 'evil plans', but knowing that it was his sis-ehm, his cousin, made it even worse. He had no intentions of fighting Suguha, and he had done his damn best to also ensure nobody amongst his 'followers' discovered who she really was. There was almost no doubt in his mind that Gnarl would send Minions to try and kill them at their…her home if he knew, or something equally dumb, and even if he did think that she probably could handle herself, there was the small chance mom-uh, aunt Midori would be at home and could get hurt…
Also…he really didn't know what the hell was wrong with Suguha's powers, but if what he had seen inside her mind back then was any indication, they weren't being exactly kind to her health…or even her mental stability, maybe. And as there was no way to know exactly what the hell was wrong with her in that regard without talking with her, something he couldn't exactly do…ever, his only real course of action was to avoid her at all costs.
Honestly, if there was any way that his little sis-no, COUSIN could just stop being a Heroine, then everyone would…just be…
"…oh Gods…seriously? Even after all this time? Sigh…what the fuck is wrong with me…" mumbling as he sat up, Kirigaya Kazuto stared silently at his feet, suddenly feeling massively out of place in the massive bedroom that had been his home for a third of his life (And almost half of his remembered one, really). "Look at me, the mighty Overlord, Master of all that is Evil…and my greatest problems are still being unable to get over discovering I was adopted…"
In a way, it was almost understandable, though. After all, it had been his stupid reaction of running away from home that had ended up with him in his current situation, trying and keenly failing to prevent ancient evil forces from becoming a genuine threat to free life on Earth. So, it shouldn't really be that much of a surprise that a part of him was still conflicted over it, right? Between having to deal with Gnarl and the minions alone for years, then preventing his ever-growing 'followers' from making things go even crazier, he never really had come to terms with it because it just seemed so unimportant compared to everything else…
And yet, now, when he needed the most to be clear-headed, those so-called 'minor' issues were reading their ugly head. Hilarious, how he felt more like trying to deal with literal monsters, evil magic, and potential world-ending consequences than facing his personal problems. Some mighty Overlord he was.
Why couldn't his life have been simpler? Hell, he would have almost preferred being trapped in Kayaba's death game (He was pretty sure he would have been all over that if he had kept a 'normal' life, after all) over this madness. Truly, this was-
'How pathetic.'
Kazuto's entire body froze, all his senses suddenly going into overdrive as he jumped to his feet and let his dark powers come to the tip of his fingers like it was second nature.
"Who is there?!" demanded the black-haired boy while his eyes swiveled around the room, wondering why he felt so on edge, despite knowing how there arguably only existed one person in the world that had any hope of harming him.
However, nobody answered, and neither did a single trace of whomever that dark and terrible voice belonged to reveal itself. Even when a quick burst of his evil magic revealed no one else but him in the whole room, making him even more confused.
'You have more talent and more power than perhaps any of us before you. You excel in all our arts faster than any of us ever managed, still being barely more than a child and already stronger than most of us when we began…and yet, look at you…'
Once again, the young Overlord glared all around him, his powers even flickering around him as if ready to lash out at whatever had managed to infiltrate the safest place of his fortress.
But there was still nobody there. Nothing but himself and…and…
Slowly, his eyes turned towards the full-body mirror that adorned a side of the room, something he barely even paid attention to nowadays, having been there from the first day he had slept there, still a confused and scared child thinking he was having a nightmare.
And there, staring at him, many vaguely humanoid shadows stood in place of his reflection, looking at him with haunting eyes.
At the very front, looking almost as if they were about to step out of the mirror, a more defined specter stood clad in vaguely familiar armor and carrying a wicked-looking axe, his burning red eyes fixed into his golden ones as he felt his very soul paralyzed at both his words and his gaze.
'You could be the greatest Overlord of all, but you're nothing but a pretender thinking this is a game he can escape from.' mocked the Previous Overlord with an extremely condescending tone-
The door slamming open out of nowhere made Kazuto snap out of the fear-induced trance he had found himself in, accidentally lashing out and breaking the mirror into a thousand pieces with a bolt of dark lighting, causing the boy to cringe at the mess caused. Then, his eyes turned towards where a blinking Gnarl stood, his perplexed look quickly turned into an amused one as he shook his head.
"Ah, Overlord, I know vaporizing anyone who disturbs your sleep is a staple of evil, so I wouldn't have been too mad even if you did it to me, but you should learn to properly aim at the door next time!"
"I…will keep that in mind, Gnarl." tensely replied Kazuto while looking at the broken glass shards, nothing but his normal reflection visible in them. "…what did you come in such a hurry for again?"
"Ah, yes…so, this is going to sound a bit strange, maybe, but…did you perhaps order a couple of Minions to infiltrate the government headquarters of the people investigating us for years without telling us?"
"…I'm sorry, what?"
Kikuoka Seijirou used to be just a simple Lieutenant Colonel of the Japan Ground Self Defense Force, even if he had always aspired to be something more. To find a way to revolutionize their country, finding a way for warfare to change in a way that would have never been seen before.
A few years ago, with the advent of FullDive technology, when he was part of Sword Art Online's Beta Test, he had thought that maybe he had found it. A vision, a way to make their superiors proud and to help the people of their country be safer than ever…
And then Kayaba Akihiko had tried to pull off the greatest terrorist act of the century. One would think that would have been the most shocking development of that day…but no, it had just merely been the 'opening act' to something even crazier, something that seemed straight out of some bad children's show's plot.
An 'Evil Overlord' had appeared, commanding armies of weird monsters, and stopped Kayaba's madness…because he would not allow someone to do something 'eviler' than him. Then, while everyone was still wondering if it had been some crazy prank or not, he had proceeded to attack Argus building, steal the main servers of SAO, do a crazy chase through the city, kidnap a little girl and escape, making the authorities look like fools.
Ironically, he had ended up being one of the main people in charge of the so-called 'Anti-Overlord Task Force' because he had been one of the first people that were being deployed to deal with the SAO Incident that day. Seemed almost like a joke of Fate, at least to him…he wanted to deal with a tangible and real problem he could maybe glean some insight into his dream from, not bizarre monsters and evil magic!
Things hadn't stopped at that, though…while people were still trying to deny what had happened had been real (Bless their ignorance), the Overlord had struck again, having his creatures kidnap the daughter of a rich CEO who had been speaking against him, in the middle of the day, right as she exited her school.
They were barely scrambling to mount a response team and look for Yuuki Asuna, having been seriously unprepared with how long their supposed 'enemy' had been inactive…when the girl had been saved by an honest-to-Gods Magical Heroine, of all things.
Sure, why not? If there was an Evil Overlord, surely a Brave Hero would show up to face off against him, right? At least that's how the public had seen it, eating the whole thing up with borderline zealotry, spearheaded by the Yuuki Heiress herself, which was more than understandable he supposed…
But the average people couldn't see the real problem. And it had only become that much more terrifyingly apparent during the whole incident at Atsuta Shrine.
People had seen a heroic fight between 'Good and Evil', and a victory for the Heroine before the fucking legendary snake-dragon, Yamata-no-Orochi, had completely devastated the city. They? They had seen two beings with way too much terrifying power for any human to wield, and that seemingly had little care for safety beyond defeating each other. Hence why he had given the order of trying to bring down or capture both of them, if with little success.
Even if the so-called 'Heroine Leafa' was truly trying to protect people from the Overlord, as far as the government was concerned, she was still a potential threat with so much power nobody could be certain of. Especially once the Overlord was defeated.
There had been quite the small debacle with the Imperial Family after the emperor's sister had so casually handed one of Japan's greatest relics to her, after all, which turned out ALSO existed and contained some godly power. Things his superiors weren't happy to not have known about before this whole thing exploded, something he could understand quite well. Especially when, even if she had defeated the monster, the supposed Heroine had essentially run off with another of said relics, Japan's most legendary sword, after the aforementioned battle was over, this time technically not having asked anyone that mattered for permission to keep it before vanishing again.
Because of that, as far as Kikuoka knew, there were now agents around the very Imperial Palace almost 24/7, ready to arrest the Heroine if (Or more like 'when') she showed up for the last of Legendary Regalia.
Dealing with that wasn't exactly his jurisdiction, though, so he was stuck for now trying to come up with countermeasures against beings whose power they barely understood and that vastly surpassed most things they knew of at their peak, from what had been seen that day in Atsuta Shrine. His demands of having high-caliber weaponry and maybe even military-grade aid ready to be deployed against the Overlord were still being debated but had (Thankfully) a great chance of being approved after the madness of that day.
The incident that ended with Shigemura Yuuna being also kidnapped by the Overlord had helped with it too, as dark as that sounded. Even if they had been forced to remove their vigilance over Yuuki Asuna (Who was still suspected of somehow having a way to contact the 'Heroine', though nothing could yet be proved in that regard), and Shigemura Tetsuhiro had refused to tell them anything regarding why his daughter had been targeted, seemingly out of fear that the Overlord would hurt her, the added fear and the corpses that attack had left behind made the people in charge be more willing to lend them whatever they needed to fight off the country's boogeyman.
Indeed, things should have been 'simple' after that, at least as far as his current duty was concerned…so then, why…?
Why were he and his entire team restrained with telephone cords, rope, and tape badly tied up to their chairs, in the very center of their supposedly 'secret' headquarters, by a couple of stinky green monsters?!
"Heheheh…foolish humans. Long we planned for this day, ever since you brought us here unaware that day ages ago." casually explained a Green Minion while walking around the struggling and tied up agents, who were looking from him to his fellow grinning abomination holding a gun as he aimed at them from where he stood in a nearby desk. "We hid here in wait, following the Overlord's orders and hiding within your ventilation ducts and trash compactors…we befriended the rats in this building and learned from you by spying on your resting rooms when you were watching television and became greater than the average Greens!"
As if to exemplify his crazy words, his gun-wielding companion laughed while many rats swarmed across the room, carrying things or chewing in random places. Somehow, the creatures had tamed the rodents (Kikuoka wasn't sure how the fuck that was possible, truly) and made them disable the security systems and alarms through the whole building…by chewing on cables through it all.
It was stupid and there was no way it should have worked, or at least that's what the lieutenant colonel's logical mind was screaming, but somehow they had pulled it off by…spying on their agents' break time, apparently. And looking over the shoulders of people using unscheduled 'breaks' to do random things on the Internet.
If they all somehow survived this, he was going to fire a lot of people…
"Hahahah, Greens did their job nicely!" grinned the gun-wielding Minion while shooting at the ceiling a couple times, making more than one of the hostages cringe or let out muffled noises of panic.
"Indeed we have, brother. And because of that, we have earned something the greatest of Minions have…names! Using my new knowledge of human media and by the blessings of the Overlord, I baptize us as…Verde and Grün!"
More random shooting from the newly christened 'Grün' and their pet-rats doing what he was pretty sure was a 'victory dance' as 'celebration' for the event made Kikuoka whimper. Sweet merciful heavens, they had been bested by a pair of monsters dumber than a 10-years-old. There was no way this day could get any worse…
A sudden rumbling on the ground interrupted the bespectacled man's Fate-tempting thoughts, causing him to look around in a panic while his glasses almost fell off his nose and his co-workers to release muffled screams, even as the newly named Verde smiled sinisterly.
"Yes! Our message arrived at our Master! The Overlord comes to cast judgment upon your foolish attempts to defeat him, puny humans!"
Even as every fiber of his being tried to deny the words he had just heard, Kikuoka couldn't help but turn to look at a nearby computer, the cameras showing one of the inner parts of the facility still working…and showing one of those sinister-looking 'portals' impossibly rising from the ground, destroying the floor of the hangar where they kept armored vehicles ready for deployment. A moment later, it started glowing in a familiar ominous purple…and a small horde of the creatures that held them captive, but in different colors, emerged from within, spreading through the area to make way for a few riding what seemed like some nightmarish creatures (Some of which also felt vaguely familiar, for some reason).
And, finally, a red-robed figure, a few 'snake-girls', one with a dark hood wielding a giant cleaver-like blade, and a teenage girl with electric blue hair carrying a sinisterly-glowing crossbow emerged, before assuming 'formation' on the sides of the Gate to let the last figure, clad in new and majestic-looking black armor, to appear from within, golden orbs glowing within the darkness of his horned helmet.
Overlord Kirito had arrived…
Author's Notes: So, did you forget about those 2 Minions who were on top of Kikuoka's car back in Chapter 2 when he drove off? Don't worry, Kirito did too XD!
Jokes aside, boy does it feel good to put up an update after so long, so I truly hope you enjoyed it. We got quite a few developments here, from Yuuna's status as a 'prisoner' (Fun fact, the song she was singing there, 'Delete', is a legit song from AR Idol Yuuna in the SAO Ordinal Scale movie, in case you wanna look it up :P), some more Sugu and Asuna's whacky friendship, and also the beginning of the events that will unleash the climax of this story…get ready for OverGamer to reach its final stage soon! (I did say the story was meant to be a short one).
Hopefully, that will be soon, yeah, going to do my best to not take almost a year in updating something period again, but hilariously my free time is about to be reduced as I start working soon, so let's see how that goes XP Next time, it's time for OPG:CoF, after all, and starting its 'final arc' too, so the pressure is on!
Until then, though, this is Saint, signing off (And it feels good to say that again :3)!
PS: Oh yeah, and if someone didn't get the joke, "Verde and Grün" are basically 'Green' in different languages, namely Spanish and German respectively, which is perfectly in line with the great 'smarts' of the Minions :D