A/N: So, as you saw, it took me some time to fix up and do a rehaul for the story. I take reviews very seriously in the sense that I try to improve upon them, so it is appreciated when they are left, even if they're complaints. Though of course I won't be normally doing this, this was a special case since I found myself agreeing on the whole power-level side of issues with the fic. So I made reading a bit smoother and changed some details aswell as completely re-did chapters going from #2 and onwords, which will be posted later on, given I am resuming this fic's normal schedule. For whoever thought Asmoday was too off the charts, hats off to you, I actually agree. I nerfed her, not that badly to the point she can't handle herself or the story completely changed, but she doesn't need a World Enemy in order to tussle around more seriously anymore. I hope everybody has a better time reading this time around lmao, be seein' ya in chp 3.
Also, if you didn't find the story for you before, maybe try now? Who knows, I find its vibe past chapter 1 to be completely different from before.
CHP. 1 - "Making of Torment a friend, the Start & the End."
"Shit! I'm gonna be late!" Loyis Seriene Kaedee, a 19 year old boy with a girly middlename and apparent flimsy sense of time scampered towards the VR chair without changing from his part-time job uniform. His day had been completely packed, first the swordsmanship tournament, studying and then work… truly exhausting.
But the game was not even an hour away from ending, this really wasn't the time to be late.
Quickly plugging the VR gear on his head, a sense of nostalgia washed over him as he waited for the game to load. After all, it had been quite some time since he had last seen this interface, three months, to be more exact.
- YGGDRASIL - DMMO-RPG [ 2138 Platinum Edition ] -
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Quite a shame indeed, given how the time he had spent on the game with his friends had been extremely enjoyable, and how much effort and money he had spent to better his experience.
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Of course, the game had quite some years on its bones. It was by no means recent, it had been around for a decade now, but it was still hailed as one of, if not the best, DMMO-RPG to ever exist.
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[I= Welcome to Yggdrasil ! =I]
After staring blankly in both excitement and slight sadness at the makeshift void in front of him for quite a while he finally saw her in all her glory.
His pride and joy of the virtual world: Asmoday, the Apocalypse Dragon. Or as he called her, his "Dream".
In YYGRASIL existed mainly two slots for character customization, two ''forms'' of sorts between which one could change even if they weren't able to shapeshift. Her first form had blonde light orange-tinged hair with flaming red-orange tips and eyes a mixture of yellow, orange and red with slit pupils, along with horns on her head and a tail. While when in her second form, the one she was in currently, she appeared as a white-haired woman with ruby-like scarlet red eyes inside which resided an ivory iris. Her tail was nowhere to be seen and adorning her head was a crown-like black ornament slightly tilted while she herself was dressed in a blood red off-shoulder casual dress with some teal details and black laces, reaching slightly lower than a normal pair of shorts would it could be classified as a short dress. It had long sleeves that fluttered in the virtually created breeze and the lower part of the dress was longer behind her, reaching almost to her feet.
The expression she had on her face was that of an absolute pride and confidence filled, but at the same time slightly evil-ish and mischievous, smirk.
One of his many passions were evil villains and payback plots, so what?
Back when he wasn't yet working he read alot of novels and books in general about them, and took great satisfaction in the payback the main characters would serve to the ones that wronged them. One thing he liked even more than villains however, was mythology. He had read many, many legends and myths during his childhood, be they Norse, Roman, or Greek. Including even ones such as the Ars Goetia or simple olden tales. During this time, he fell in love with Dragons. They were powerful and ancient beyond measure, bowed to no-one and most of all they were free.
Free as the wind to do whatever they wanted.
Perhaps that amazement he developed towards them was born exactly because of that. Because they were free. Something he was not. Be it enormous glass spheres, masks, or absurd regulations, life on Earth had become all that Freedom was most definitely not.
Was that love borne of envy? Envy for Freedom? Perhaps. Perhaps not. He had not yet taken the time to contemplate that, and now, it was too late to do it.
When wronged, Dragons would wrong you back. They'd accomplish that at all costs, be it destroying the entire city of their target, merely killing them or driving the Kingdom itself to ruin. None could stand in their way. Something about them which had amazed him even more.
And then arrived Yggdrasil in his life. A place where he could fulfill both his passion for mythology and Dragons, and act as a dramatic villain as much as he wanted! A place where he was free to do whatever he wanted and escape the ugly tight shackles of a pollution-filled reality.
The combination of all those gave birth to Asmoday. With her full name being Asmoday Rea Qilipoth, later shortened, she was a mighty Dragon with a backstory whose lore was in no way lacking any of the villain-like details he so liked in tales. Without a doubt, of his many tries to create a character, she was his greatest masterpiece. She was his very passions and hope given form, his "Dream".
When he first began playing, at the dawn of the game, he saw many players sporting races and classes of all types. Varying from slimes, to human mages, to skeletal liches... trolls, demons, and even chimeras!
But... no Dragons.
Or rather, there were many Wyverns and Dragonlings, but no Dragons. And he soon discovered why.
Imagine his horrifying surprise when he entered the game's character creation screen and discovered there was no Dragon race. Needless to say he was incredibly sad. Luckily it didn't last much, as he discovered that a similar race was still accessible through evolution from the [Wyvern] race.
However it was incredibly hard to advance in the evolutionary tree of that very race. One could go from [Wyvern] to many other stages, and in the end to [Mystical Drachon] apparently. Or so the data-mining Forums said, not that anybody had actually unlocked that yet, far too early into the game. Still, there simply seemed to be no "Dragon" race anywhere in sight. With him being the only player to ever reach the [Mystical Drachon] race, which turns out existed, a whole two years into the game.
Everybody else just quit or changed character before reaching even the second race-stage of [Wyvern].
It was simply too taxing, the time it required, and the stupidly absurd conditions that needed to be met were simply insane, even he had to admit it. Things like killing a boss at a specific second of a specific day with a specific weapon of a specific level. Classic YGGDRASIL devs. It was just way too absurd.
Hell, he had to climb up an entire mountain by himself, which took 11 hours of real-time only to unlock the prerequisite to a race evolution!
Why you ask? Why were the requisites so taxing? Why were the missions so strange and difficult?
Shitty devs. That's why.
When he reached the [Mystical Drachon] race-stage, which seemed to be the end of the [Wyvern] Evolutionary Tree his heart still screamed at him that this was no Dragon. Sure, it looked like a miniature version of it, it had scales, a humanoid form even, and definitely didn't lack wings. If it looks like a Dragon and acts like a Dragon then it has to be a Dragon... right?
But.. no. It didn't feel like one to him. And the problem was that no matter how much he pondered this issue, he had to do so alone. No one had reached his race, and the devs, shitty as they were, sure as hell wouldn't help him in any way on the Official Forum; with the leak and data-mining ones already having been long shut-down thanks to the company responsable for YGGDRASIL.
So he decided to search for answers himself.
Yggdrasil was a game known for its freedom and incredibly vast amount of unknown and hidden content. And there was simply no way that there didn't exist a Dragon race.
Absolutely no way.
That's what he convinced himself of. So he started to dig deep into forums, weapon lore, flavor text, rumors.. even exploring all the Realms of the game ceaselessly. Yet none of that... not Niflheim, Alfheim, Nor Asgard, Midgard or Jotunheim, let alone Muspellsheim and Helheim provided him with answers. After a year and two months of investing into his character to make her strong enough to overcome any and all difficulties his journey of discovery would no doubt provide, he was about to just plain and simple give up. Until, while he stood in Vanaheim, the last step of his journey, sitting atop a branch of an enormous tree of that ever-expanding lushful jungle that Vanaheim was, as the rain ceased and the first peaks of sunshine fell on the hundreds of emerald leaves, a yellow pop-up notified of him of the unlocking of something.
A new stage in his Evolutionary tree.
Turns out that alot of people had been taking note of his journey, and in the end banded together on the forums to make a petition addressing the Devs asking for the implementation of the race. The Devs, in turn, also appreciated greatly the dedication of the "One Who Seeks the Dragons" as they themselves had dubbed him and his supporters.
A couple months later, by meeting the necessary criteria, which were still unknown and so would remain for the coming years, the Devs had announced that players could finally evolve to the Dragon race when following the [Wyvern]'s evolutionary tree.
The bastards had the gall to not even include the class in the game prior... which meant he'd have basically wasted a year and a half of searching, were it not for the gains Asmoday had been provided with from it in both level, skills and equipment.
It took him alot of exploring and several tries at guessing the requirements, things like maxing out the [Mystical Drachon] racial levels and the such, but while on a quest in Helheim he was finally able to unlock the race he so coveted, "Dragon".
...Or so one would've thought. But no. While the petition was a welcome surprise indeed, what came off as an absolute shock was the fact he didn't just unlock what was supposed to be the hidden Dragon race, but instead, as the message the Devs sent him said, he had unlocked the Hidden [Ancient Dragon] race and subsequent evolutionary tree.
All because, as they had put it:
"All the first ones, the progenitors, of the different races in fantasy tales or legends are hailed as somewhat unique, divine even. You're the first Dragon! A DRAGON! And the progenitor of such a race has to have a cool-sounding race and title! Amos-chan, it is only right that after all the effort you put in we would reward you, no? Now that you have the cool race you HAVE to earn a cool title too! Don't keep us waiting!"
And so he did. Though only after wondering who the hell "Amos" was, can't even spell his name correctly, tsk.
At first, during the first couple months of his time in YGGDRASIL, he put all his points into Magic Attack, MP and Special. After all, as they say, the best defense is offense. Because of this, his defense and physical attack had been nigh-nonexistent. Though it might seem like a slipup, this was something that actually worked in his favor. As Asmoday evolved, physical attack and defense increased far more than the other stats, making it easy to obtain a decent, if not even good level of both. This was solidified when he evolved Asmoday from [Ancient Dragon] to [Divine Dragon], gaining an incredible boost in physiology, and thus both defense and offense, though no skills for some reason. A good trade off however, he believed.
After that he grinded quite a lot, becoming a well known solo-player who wouldn't associate with any guild. When asked why, he would simply shrug the question off by typing a "Dragons are beings of incredible power. But what fascinates me most about them is their freedom, I shan't ever tarnish it.". And though he partly truly meant that, as a consequence he became known as hardcore RP and eventually people stopped bothering him.
With time, going on Dungeon Raids meant for two to three people alone and clearing them, aswell as exploring the Realms, all chok full of hidden treasures left empty after hours-long investigations, became routine for him. His Asmoday grew more and more powerful by the day, to the point that he eventually unlocked the next stage of his three-step final evolutionary tree. Though with no little effort; he had to, in fact, slay a sum total of High-Rank Dragonheirs each hidden in different spots of the depths of the Asgard to Midgard Bifrost Ocean. Which rewarded him the corresponding achievement, and his evolution to [True Dragon]. Gaining various skills and abilities, aswell as unlocking a true humanoid form in the process.
His new race allowed him to ignore the scaling his stats would have to go through when shapeshifting to human form, allowing him to retain his incredibly high parameters even as a humanoid, quite the skill in his opinion. But at the same time, there were no other Dragons in YGGDRASIL, not even a single one to compare to, so there was no way to know. The [Elemental Giant] race possessed a similar skill, if only slightly weaker, with a restriction on MP-scaling. Something he thought to be the one advantage to his skill.
[True Dragons] were, after all, beings who were literally made out of pure Magic. Magecraft and Sorcery came to them as second nature, just as normal it was that they breathed, it too was to use magic. In fact, actually, in the lore, they didn't even need to breathe, for their bodies had the ability to passively absorb the Magical Energy in the air and both harness it and use it as sustenance, aswell as be able to slowly regenerate, another reason why they were able to live so long. And YGGDRASIL surely would've had an unlimited amount of Magical Energy, were it the real World.
After the Developers' announcement, many of the players who had just started playing, and thus were still in the process of creating their character, decided to choose the [Wyvern] race in order to become Dragons. But incredibly few managed to do it, if at all. That's because the requirements to evolve were still thoroughly unknown to the general public, hell, they were still a mystery to even him, and he was a Dragon! Though one of a kind, for sure.
Even then, each and every Dragon build he had seen so far to him seemed like the typical generic build anybody who wanted to "smack strong" would have. Their defense was hardly good, and their MP?
Awful.
They just went for a physical build. Something he found so… boring. Plus, had they truly paid attention and dedicated time to research like him, they'd have found out that there were many other ways to augment one's PHY. ATK stat, which didn't include putting all one's points into it the very moment they created their character as they did.
Not that they would know.
With his new totally humanoid form he was finally able to fight off the PKers more efficiently. As time went by, he eventually accumulated an obscene player-kill count, even though it was technically self-defense he basically became a PKer himself in the eyes of many, which also assured him that a lot of annoyances would scare away from him, thankfully.
With the passage of time, as Asmoday's rise in the leaderboards of YGGDRASIL slowed down considerably, he started to notice more and more that no matter the skills and spells one might possess, you needed good gear first of all. It just made the difference. And good gear was something he himself had, for the most part that is. Asmoday was in fact equipped with a glorious Divine Class robe and boots. Along with 4 rings on her right hand and 3 on her left. The first two were the [ - Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown - ] and the intricately designed [- Draupnir - ], found while exploring a Hidden Dungeon in Asgard. Which, in truth, was Draupnir only in name, for she had long been to Svartalfheim's forge and smelted it with the help of some of the greatest [Dwarf] crafters she knew of, who were all too happy to offer their priceless skills for but a moderate sum of real money. Infusing into the finished product some incredibly rare data crystals she found in the very same Realm, Asgard. She then had a ring known as [ - Remembrance of Alexandria - ], and one for countering divination attempts.
The True Dragon also wore earrings in the form of the ultra-rare Item [ - Gaze of Heimdallr - ], which allowed Asmoday the benefit of two improved versions of the high-level [All-Seer] class skills, the passives [Astral Clairvoyance] and [Absolute Precognition], both several times beyond the scope of their normal counterparts.
Not only that, but Asmoday enjoyed the protection of menacing scales that spread from her shoulders all across her arms in a long glove-like fashion, down to the wrists where claw-like hands were, as well as a Divine class necklace.
That however wasn't enough. Not if Asmoday wished to go back to climbing the ever-steeper leaderboards, redraw his limits and finally evolve one last time.
He needed a weapon, something that would meet his niche needs. Months passed as all types of swords and polearms, even bows, made their way to his arsenal. Yet none were what he had been looking for. He kept grinding but was still unable to advance in his Evolutionary Tree. On a day meant to be like all the others, whilst in Muspelheim, one of his favorite realms, he finally received that push he so needed in the form of a World Enemy Raid Boss.
Within the time Asmoday's right boot touched the rocky ground in front of her, the battle had already started and 29 other players were firing their best attacks. The only cue that he found himself standing right in front of the " Primal Lord Of the Fire Giants, Surtr ", being the far too close for his liking swing of an enormous flaming sword that threatened to split and burn him to nothingness.
On that day and with the info he had, had he thought longer about agreeing to the Raid, entering that fight would have been the worst call he could've made. One that would leave him almost dead at its end.
Surtr was not a Boss that had high-attack power, in fact, his was incredibly low. Sure the hits that would hit, hurt. But his attacks were slow, and telegraphed a lot, easily dodgeable for someone with high agility such as Asmoday. The only problem that he faced, the reason why he was so beat up after that fight, was patience. Indeed, patience. Surtr boasted an immensely large pool of HP, that would also fill right back up when using fire-shaped or fire-infused attacks on him. Which meant using Asmoday's variations of『 Breath 』would be useless. Aswell as a good chunk of magic she was most proficient in, being a Dragon.
But the seven hour long fight would be worthwhile still. Many of his forum-found unknown Raid companions would fall, but Asmoday would remain among the last.
The roaring volcanos of Muspellheim stopped erupting, and Asmoday's HP was almost but 13% of what she had started with - the most he had ever been damaged - yet Asmoday would nonetheless be the last to strike, making Surtr's nigh-unending healthbar decay to zero, his gigantic body falling to the ground.
The enormous thud decreed it was finally time for the World Item [~ Crown of Surtr ~] to appear, something which took by surprise all of the present Raiders. The one closest to it being none other than Asmoday, the very same one whose instincts zeroed in in order to lay his avatar's virtual hands on it. Something in which he succeeded, to the others' dismay.
He had finally found it. An Item which would finally grant him an advantage over his [Lv.100] peers, for it could store up to [15 lv.], well, more like extra-levels: be they of xp or data, and would grant her "Sway over the powers of and derived from the Great Sun'', whatever that flavor-text meant, "aswell as immunity to them".
His attention was however soon grabbed by something else. After the fight, to his dismay Asmoday remained a [True Dragon]. Yet that wouldn't last long. All his past efforts had finally been acknowledged in an unexpected form.
Beating Surtr bumped him into the top 5 of Muspellheim's monthly leaderboards, a position that time would not change, merely better. Which came with the privilege of being able to challenge the current holder of the Divine Seat of the Realm.
In YGGDRASIL, for each realm existed a Godhood system, where the top 5 players would be eligible. Whenever one of them killed the current holder of the Divine Seat, normally the first on the leaderboard, they'd be granted the privilege of gaining the passed down Divinity. To his knowledge, this didn't carry any in-game advantages, like winning the World Championship did. Not that the current holders would reveal anything, or know too much either really. It was still too new a feature at the time, and there was a loom of mistery around the whole thing. Enough mistery that he'd of course be interested.
The War God was ruler over Muspelheim, the God of Verdure over Vanaheim, the Snow God was Lord of Jotunheim, the God of Curses ruled Niflheim and thus Helheim, the God of Forgery was Sovereign over Svartalfheim, the God of Knowledge over Midgard, and the Sun God over Asgard. Or so said the text in each forum when the update was released.
Asmoday would eventually go on to indeed challenge Muspellheim's Divine Seat, Loreleei, and after a fervent and annoying fight, win. During this very fight Loreleei, first holder of the Divine Seat and unchallenged yet, demonstrated what poor skills she had honed in the little time spent with what privileges she had apparently acquired over Muspelheim through that very Seat of hers. Though not enough, for she lost nonetheless. In the end allowing Asmoday to gain both the title of "War God" and "Lord of Muspelheim ''.
In the moment when the poor girl's HP reached 0, amidst all the angry screams she emitted, Asmoday could hear a sound in the background. As Loreleei's body dissipated in the virtual atmosphere, a bright colored light colored the skies of Muspellheim for a second. At first Asmoday feared it was an ambush, but what was actually happening was him receiving his Gnosis.
He remembered hearing fragmented rumors through word of mouth of this. "With the crumbling of a Seat of Divinity, a new one must be established", said the flavor text of YGGDRASIL's forums, in this case - he assumed - that new one, had to be him. The symbol of Godhood, he would soon learn, in YGGDRASIL was exactly that: the Gnosis. Something that, though he didn't yet know the appearance or use of, something which through his previous fight with Loreleii he now had an inkling of, he'd soon discover for sure.
That bright light in the amber skies coalesced into a sphere in a dazzling spectacle of flashes, and then in the form of a King chess piece finely decorated and pulsing with energy, with something that looked alot like the [Calamity Aura] data crystal cosmetic would grant all around it, if only more ethereal and flame-like in form. Its aura blazed like wildfire whilst in the air, but the moment it gently floated down towards Asmoday and fell in his character's hands it calmed to a mere flame-like form, gently burning, the pop-up that appeared reading:『 ~ Divine Gaze: Muspelheim 』 (Heart of God) Unequippable item.
So.. this is a Gnosis? He thought until a new pop-up window appeared once again.
"Divinity be granted unto you. YGGDRASIL acknowledges your ideals. Do you accept? YES/NO"
The very moment he earnestly clicked "YES", the Gnosis took off from Asmoday's virtual hands and disappeared right inside his avatar's chest with a glow, exactly where the heart would be.
With that done, something he had not thought of for a long time now happened. While the Gnosis indeed didn't boost his stats, and he would only latern learn its use, it seemed that no longer was Asmoday a [True Dragon] anymore, but would finally be able to evolve once more for the last time. It might've not been the traditional way to evolve, but the Gnosis fulfilled the conditions he needed to finally get to the last step of his evolution nonetheless. As his newfound virtual "Divinity" merged with his Dragonic Nature resulting in him becoming an [Ascendant Dragon], a plethora of skills and powers made themselves known in his status display, aswell as affinities and resistances. While some skills were indeed new, he found happiness in noticing that some however seemed to remain the same. One such example was『 Battlelust - 0% 』, his most trusty companion and the skill which most likely allowed him to both beat Surtr and Loreleii in a fight.
It had a meter, a percentage. It started off at 0% but the longer the fight lasted, the more that percentage would rise. At certain thresholds it would grant boosts to Asmoday's stats, buffs, or unlock skills and spells previously not accessible. It was a table-turner.
However fun only lasts so long. None but one person at a time could hold Muspellheim's Divine Seat, and unlike World Champion, this one was a title that none had said anything about. Not even Asmoday himself had talked of it on the forums, for even to the last day of the Game he still didn't quite understand its effects and use besides when present in the Realm itself. So people remained curious for a long time indeed, so curious they'd want it for themselves. Reason for which, PKers became an annoying problem. Humans would keep attacking him merely for the fun of it and eventually regretted it, while Heteromorphs and Demi-Humans because he wouldn't reveal how he became a Dragon, which he didn't even know, or to try to attain his Divine Status.
Nonetheless, with his min-maxed offense build he still was able to prevail.
Eventually the Heteromorphs got fed up of being killed and seemed to stop caring, so he got a couple weeks of peace and quiet grinding in. All until his encounter with Ainz Ooal Gown. For some reason, the Guild, still in its early days at the time, had taken up the challenge of trying to conquer a Realm, proposed by one of the members. The idea of course, absurd as it was, initially got rejected, but when it was reproprosed as gaining the Divine Seat of a Realm rather than outright conquering it, they accepted.
The Realm they chose was none other than Muspellheim. Apparently not out of trying to ease their way to their objective, but because they saw Asmoday as an actual challenge. Probably knowing they could beat the other Lords of the Realms someway or the other. A challenge they'd undertake and try to win at all costs.
By that point in time, Asmoday was powerful. She could be called strong among the strongest, created in order to fight solo even groups of 5 to 6 players through racial and class skills and spells. With her race buffing her damage output to the very extreme with each evolution. She was an offensive force, but also didn't lack in defense. A well thought out build with equipment worthy of being in such a character's inventory. Plus, of course, the fact Loyis was no newbie to PvP helped.
He couldn't however say he'd win.
It was a Guild. And he was a solo. Sure, he might've not known how many people were going to attack him out of the 23 that were currently part of the Guild, but the thought remained. He was strong, and well equipped.
But so were they. Never having failed a single Guild Raid up until that point.
Yet... they were no Dragon. Was what echoed through his mind.
The day they set off to Muspellheim, they informed Asmoday personally through a message. They asked for a duel, and Asmoday accepted with all the grace he could muster. On that day, fifteen people walked the lava-filled soil of Muspellheim with the intention of taking its Lord down. All equipped best they could.
He wondered why they brought so many people, perhaps to make sure they just couldn't lose. Or they were simply weary of him because there wasn't much knowledge about him in neither forums nor Ainz Ooal Gown's ranks. His most powerful skills had been laying dormant for a long time now, anybody who'd witnessed them probably long forgot them in either anger or frustration at their loss. Or perhaps they were well aware he'd have an advantage if they fought in that Realm of his, he didn't know.
Asmoday's chances weren't nonexistent, true. Yet slim indeed. He could've perhaps handled eight... nine of them if the fight took entirely place in Muspelheim, where he could bend fire and partially the terrain to his will. But fifteen was too much even for him.
The fight started with no words, simply a staredown, from Momonga and Asmoday in the distance atop another cliff. Mere seconds later, all kinds of powers were being fired between the two parties. Creatures summoned, and Magic invoked.
The first attack he received was a 7th tier [Napalm] from Momonga, creating a column of flames that sprouted from right below Loyis's avatar. Something that completely surprised Momonga was how he was able to roughly redirect it towards an ally of his. This was of course only possible through the use of Asmoday's Authority over the Realm of Muspelheim derived from his Gnosis, added in with his sway over Fire; he had to thank Surtr for that.
Within seconds, a Dance of Flame and Brimstone opened its curtains to the Ash Realm. Asmoday was constantly moving, jumping from a cliff to the other, casting spell after spell as his MP reservers tried to keep up with the consumption by regenerating. The volcanoes of the Realm were one of the few ways he could use the terrain to his advantage in order to cause damage to Ainz Ooal Gown. Asmoday would call forth an eruption every twenty seconds or so, fighting a battle of magic while dodging. He'd mainly defend and not attack, though for a reason. He was trying to find an opening in their formation. Or more like, he needed to find that opening, or he would lose, and the moment he didn't find it, he thought of creating it.
No matter where Asmoday would go however, they just wouldn't split up. Muspellheim was wide for the most part, but some caves or corridors in the rock were narrower than you'd expect. And not all could fly. Something which Asmoday used to his advantage a couple of times, getting chased all the while using the 9th-tier [Aegis] to protect his avatar, and then suddenly flying up in the hopes they'd split.
He had not yet summoned any weapon, something which slightly bothered Momonga at the time.
That changed the moment in which Asmoday's defense turned to offense when he met Touch Me in combat.
Whilst his strategy, up until that point, had been to run away and focus on a smaller group of people through AOE spells and use the innate advantage he possessed, this time that wouldn't work.
The Paladin was brutal himself. He'd constantly slash and use Holy skills one after the other. Aswell as World Champion ones too. Something which required a lot more to defend against than it would to attack and stop him from casting abilities. Reason for which Asmoday summoned her Divine Class sword『 Laevateinn 』the moment that her『 Battlelust 』skill reached『 Battlelust - 45% 』.
At this percentage, Asmoday's HP and MP regeneration would be boosted considerably, so he wouldn't need to keep up as many defenses, finally allowing him to go on the offense.『 Laevateinn 』was a weapon Asmoday had made with all the materials gained during Surtr's bossfight. It wasn't the World Item, yet she named it the same. It was a sword of extraordinary stats, which was heavily affiliated with Heat and Fire. Something at the time of crafting he hoped would come in his favor. He had packed it full of a ton of data crystals, it was one of Asmoday's main weapons. It could incinerate mid-level to low high-level attacks thanks to the [Negation III], [Deflect IV] and [Outburst] data crystals he had gathered and was able to apply.
Asmoday's speed was not to be underrated, with it, he was able to parry each slash of Touch Me's and respond in kind, damaging him to a good enough extent while tanking some hits himself.
The moment both Takemikazuchi and Nishikienrai however returned to the fight, Asmoday's HP started to dwindle alot more, though he seemed capable enough to hold them off and inflict some damage.
After three hours and a half of exhausting battle, not that much progress was made. Asmoday's 『 Battlelust』had reached its peak,『 Battlelust - 100% 』, and she had long since summoned『 Heartseeker 』, her only other World Item as well as main weapon to aid her in battle. It initially possessed no name, but it was thankfully one of the few object-type World Items that could be renamed.
Her HP was at 68% of what she had started with. Though a couple members of Ainz Ooal Gown had thankfully already perished under the tip of Asmoday's weapon thanks to『Heartseeker』's『Strike True』ability, one of its many, but also one of the few she had mastered. The remaining eleven players of Ainz Ooal Gown were worn down cooldown-wise, aswell as just really tired and sleepy in real life. Just like Asmoday was.
He had to give his compliments to them. They were good, not only were they powerful, but their teamwork was incredible and their strategies too.
Not even mentioning their leader, Momonga, he was astonishing. Every last one of his spells was perfectly timed, and had not only direct effects but even indirect consequences that would hinder Asmoday continuously, as if he had planned them beforehand.
Which, thinking of it now, perhaps he did.
After having established that neither could Asmoday deal the final blow, nor could they penetrate her defenses enough to deal fatal damage with what skills and spells they had left. Which left both parties stuck using minor, near cost-less attacks on eachother uselessly for a good ten minutes while thinking of a plan.
And then it dawned on him. Or more like, it dawned on Momonga first. As 『Heartseeker』's tip flashed and stopped right in front of the Skeletal Overlord, he noticed.
It was 3 A.M. . In a panic most likely not derived from having Heartseeker pointed right at him, but from the actual issue, Momonga screamed his lungs out:
"I HAVE WORKKK!".
Silence reigned. Not a spell or skill going off, nor anybody moving.
He followed that same thought process himself.
Indeed. He had work too.
Asmoday saw the entirety of Ainz Ooal Gown's remaining players immediately realize the same exact thing. Each and everyone, including Asmoday, quit YGGDRASIL for that night in the middle of the fight.
A fight that would go down in each and every Forum, too.
The next day, with a laugh, and everyone back on, he found in his inbox a message saying that if he were to accept, Ainz Ooal Gown had decided to call it a stalemate. Of course, only after having asked question after question about what skills or spells he used, to which he responded vaguely, not wanting to give away too much.
He wondered though. He honestly believed that, sadly as that was, he'd have lost to them if the battle continued. But true enough, Ainz Ooal Gown would have incurred in a lot of general losses if that fight had carried on, they'd be vulnerable to other Guilds attacking too, which might have been not worth it to them.
A win at such a high price, might just be a loss. He understood and shared that sentiment, so he felt far more than just fine with accepting the stalemate.
After that was settled, he sent Momonga a friend request, his first ever friend request, in the hopes he would accept, which he was incredibly happy to see he did.
Soon afterwards, the Yggdrasil forum blew up with recordings and videos of his battle against Ainz Ooal Gown and the unstoppable power of real life issues.
Because of the terrifying onslaught of high-tier spells and skills he continuously rained at them, how he defended from theirs, and his strategy, his reputation alone went a whole lot up. Also thanks to the fact that the Forums had apparently recognized his latest and second World Item acquired in a year or so, his spear, Heartseeker.
In a day, he went from always being chased by PKers and insulted on the forums, to being loved by the very same people and being left finally alone.
It was that very day that his greatest adventure would also begin. Loyis was surprised by Momonga's strength, his leadership skill and truthfully Ainz Ooal Gown as a whole, for the fifteen out of the ever-growing twenty-three members he had seen. They truly did surprise him. And he, well, he was thoroughly impressed.
And though at the time he didn't know it, so were the members of Ainz Ooal Gown, Momonga in particular.
They could not fathom the complexity of his build, and were amazed at his skills in battle in general. How could a single person drive them to such a difficult battle, create so many problems for a group?
He was indeed the strongest solo-player at the time, and anyone who'd tell them otherwise was a fool.
Momonga on the other hand, was mostly astonished by how fast he was able to adapt and learn, almost making his fighting style of calculated and precisely placed spells his own in a single battle.
With that, in the evening of that day, something happened that Loyis didn't expect in the slightest.
Momonga messaged him inquiring if his no guild status in the friendlist was the result of some visual bug, out of pure curiosity. And the response he got was a simple 'No, i just never really found the right one to join'.
Indeed, up until that point, all guilds seemed like constraints. He was looking for a group of friends, someone to share his freedom and adventures with, not someone to feel chained to by a mere in-game prefix with whom he didn't share a single interest. And, once again up until that point, no one had caught his eye.
And then, again, Momonga surprised him.
Momonga replied with a simple 'I see. Then I believe I have somewhat of a proposal.'. He then asked what he did for a living and next thing he knew, he had a pending invite to join Ainz Ooal Gown.
First thing that came to his mind was 'Gotta be a joke.'
Ainz Ooal Gown was one of the top guilds in YGGDRASIL, nigh-impossible to join. Boasting a 25-ish members at the time, each being incredibly powerful, they also possessed the highest amount of World Items in the game as well as were undefeated.
Strictly speaking they weren't undefeated anymore, but oh well..
He pondered on it for a good ten minutes staring at the message. He had heard of them, how they were an amazing guild, and how all of them were good friends, not just members of the same group. At the time he hadn't really paid much mind to the rumors, shrugging them off as pipedream nonsense.
But now. Now, he had seen them himself. During his battle with them, how they were all serious, yes, but also had tons of fun. How Momonga, their leader, asked, not ordered.
He saw how they shared their freedom in a big all-including adventure.
If there ever existed a guild he'd join after refusing so many, perhaps..
In the end, he got rid of all his doubts and decided to click accept on the invite.
In a second, he was teleported to a gigantic ivory round table adorned with golden linings where all the members were sitting.
Immediately he was bombarded with welcoming messages like ''Congratulations!'' and friend requests from all the members of Ainz Ooal Gown.
A voice to his right popped up in his ears, which shocked him slightly because he had never had to use those features before as a solo player.
It was that of a young adult, " Hello and welcome Asmoday-san. I am Momonga, and I'm the guild leader of Ainz Ooal Gown.''
''Hello'' he replied, "It isn't.. April's fools, is it?" he continued, earning chuckles and giggles from the other members, aswell as a disappointed ' Wait you're a guyy!? ' from Peroroncino, to which everybody laughed even more.
They explained that they had been astounded by his might and how they already had their eyes set on him since a long time ago, all thanks to his incredible YGGDRASIL journey he had been on to find and unlock the Dragon race. Explaining that such was what Ainz Ooal Gown, this place and group, was meant to also be, a journey.
After the cheers and welcoming subsided, he was thrown into a pit of questions, first from Touch Me about his build and classes, then from Ulbert, who had proposed to band together and bring absolute destruction upon the world as the mightiest of villains, Takemikazuchi, who seemed incredibly interested in Heartseeker and Laevateinn, and in the lastly Momonga, about his strategy and playstyle. All questions, to which, now that he didn't need to hide any details from them anymore, he obliged happily.
With that, in the coming months YGGDRASIL became like a second home. He forged bonds with all the guildmates, but his closest friends were Momonga first and foremost and then Ulbert, who in the end also convinced him to change his character's name from Asmoday to Asmoday Rea Qilipoth, mixing in both his like for myths and the evil-ish vibe they both so cherished.
He grew closer to Momonga the more time passed, as they both shared a fiery passion for both Magic and the game itself, likely being the most online members of all.
With time, eventually their numbers grew to 41 members, they had fun together and enjoyed countless adventures. At first all their meetings were hell, everybody disagreed or wanted to do things a different way, or wanted to go to another dungeon, use different tactics, and the such. So with time he started using his wisdom as a gamer to help Momonga in his decisions as a leader, and eventually, because of how frequent he gave him advice on which all 41 nigh-unanimously agreed and acted upon, he became jokingly known as ''The Shadow of the 41'', because he seemed to be able to embody everybody's will in a perfectly balanced mix.
As the months went by, they became the most powerful guild in all of YGGDRASIL, or one of the many anyways, and even acquired a crazy amount of World Items, maintaining the title of guild with most of them and growing ever more powerful, both individually as Asmoday and as a consequence as Ainz Ooal Gown, the Guild.
But then reality hit.
Literally.
And really hard too..
A few years after he joined, the number of active guild members dwindled down as they found more important things to do IRL.
He could understand. Bitterly, sure, but he couldn't blame them either, so he really had no choice left but to understand. Or try, at least.
Despite it all, Momonga remained. His rival, but most importantly, his closest friend had remained with him and eventually even met IRL a couple times, going to cafes together.
Slowly, but surely, the game was dying. Its Golden Age ending. The guild's active members went from 41 to 35, then 26, to 14, and as the end approached, though in truth since a long time ago now, only two active members remained.
Asmoday and Momonga.
Momonga often vented about how sad and frustrated he was that their friends had abandoned them, and in truth, he too felt quite angered at the thought of it, but for his friend's own good he suppressed it and tried to ease Momonga's burden by prompting him to be more understanding.
They continued playing, until one day a post showed up on the YGGDRASIL forum on December 1, 2138.
"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Today, the Developers have made the difficult decision to shut down YGGDRASIL DMMO-RPG permanently as the game is no longer in line with the newest technology and is getting more and more difficult to update. The official day of shutdown is January 1, 2139.
The Developers thank you for having played YGGDRASIL up until this point.''
Not even an hour later, Momonga sent emails and messages to every member of Ainz Ooal Gown asking them to stay until the shut down of the game as a last meet-up.
And there he was, scrambling over his unmoving loading screen merely half an hour away from the game's shutdown.
After a few minutes, he finally entered into the game and teleported directly to the meeting table. Momonga was sitting at the large round table, all alone.
He was sad. After having grown closer to Momonga in the past years he now knew that YGGDRASIL was everything to him too. He had poured his heart into the game, just like him. They were truly kindred spirits and so he could not help but feel sad for him.
But now; now, they had to celebrate their efforts. It was no time to be sad. Rather, they should be happy one last time together in their home, at least.
Being sad could wait.
''Mo-chan~!'' he cheerfully spoke in the mic, for the first time in quite a while, using the girly sounding "buku" voice, as he had dubbed it because of Bukubukuchagama's insistence he learn it to troll with his female avatar, though currently his intention was merely trying to lighten up the mood and not a prank as he would much rather, ''Sorry for being late, I had a bit of an issue with loading in.''
He never was too good at soothing others' emotions, more the "if your emotions don't work, shut 'em off and go for a nap, next time you wake up you'll be fine and dandy." type. Though he'd try in the hopes to achieve some sort of result for his friend anyway.
"Mh? That high pitched voic..? Asmoday-san! I'm so glad you're here! And, it's fine! The important thing is that you're here, I'm so happy you could come.''
He definitely sounded happy. Well at least that's a step out of the gloomy shadow that seemed to be cast on him before.
"Am i the only one here?'' he asked.
"Herohero was just here Asmoday-san, but he couldn't stay long.'' his tone drooped slightly, showing how disappointed he was. But there was nothing to be done. The fact that someone even visited for the last time was already more than he had hoped for, he knew they didn't care, and never would care, as much as Momonga and him.
"Well.. i finished my work for today, so i'll be here by your side until the very end Momonga.'' He affirmed, in a consoling and solemn way as Momonga looked at him.
''So rejoice, this dragonic beauty will be your companion for the night!" He added.
Momonga sent a laughing emoji, "That's true."
A couple seconds went by and Momonga broke the silence, whispering as if talking strictly to himself, though it was loud enough for Asmoday to hear "I really am happy that you came.."
Asmoday smirked in mischief, and responded while suppressing a laugh, "Hoooh? Are you now? Take care not to fall in love with me you know? Though I may not look it in the game, I am a guy after all!"
Momonga looked at him as if he was made of stone for a good 5 seconds without making a single sound and then they both broke into laughter.
"You're so silly Asmoday-san.''
So what? If anything he was thankful he could lighten up the gloomy mood he had been in before.
"Now,'' Asmoday got up from the chair she was sitting on and approached the Guild Weapon with slow steps, then he grabbed it and handed it to Momonga, who just stared at it for a while.
''I couldn't possibly-''
He stopped him and spoke in a serious tone, ''Mo-chan. It's yours by right, take it.''
He continued to look at it for a couple moments, ''Bu-But I don't know if the others would want me to..''
Asmoday closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
''Momonga-san.'' He addressed his closest friend seriously, in a way he normally never would, "You once told me that I embody the will of the entirety of Ainz Ooal Gown, so listen close, because when I say this I speak for the entirety of the Guild.''
"Wha? What's all the seriousness about, Asmoday-san?''
His voice softened, "Thank you. Thank you for everything you've done, for all your hardwork and dedication. Thank you for having been the best Guild Master we could ever hope for. And most of all, thank you for having been a great friend to many, and my greatest friend to me. You deserve that weapon. It is the crystallization of our Guild and friends, if any are worthy to wield it, it's you without a doubt.''
While he talked he could sometimes hear him gulp or sniffle, showing how much simple words could do when said aloud.
He took the staff that Asmoday was handing him, ''Thank you, really... thank you, Asmoday-san''.
He cleared his throat. "Well then, now that all of that's said and done, how about one last tour of the Tomb?''
''Of course! It'd be my honor to give such a fair Lady one last tour.'' He said in a joking tone.
He laughed at him. ''Let's go then, you lead.''
With that, they walked around the Tomb for some time, floor per floor, committing to memory as much as they could so that their home could live forever in their memories, though before Momonga visited the Floor Guardians once last time Asmoday had a little incident with her internet connection, thus missing on that very same visit and sadly only getting to see a few NPCs because of the ticking timer.
At one point they got to Floor 9, the place where the space created by Asmoday was situated: Elysium, also known as Heven. The Realm Odin cut off from the World Tree, where the angels resided in mythology.
It was accessed through a normal black door with golden outlines, but the moment the door was opened it revealed the sky, along with a single bridge-like construction made out of prim-white bricks. It led to a floating citadel with the castle inside which lies the second Throne Room of Nazarick on top. The castle was pearl white with golden rooftops and linings, its architecture and decorations were of the highest complexity, it had many towers and was surrounded by a clear, never-changing sky in which one could discern many floating steampunk-like ships.
"Wow, you've really outdone yourself with this place Asmoday-san...it's really pretty."
Naturally, almost none of that was actually physical, just illusion-like cosmetics, aswell as the citadel and its citizens, which were all base tier angel summons with some high-ranked seraphs and the like mixed in. Though none of them lacked a backstory Asmoday took the time to write for everybody, even if they existed and had a story of their own, they were more like a background to the only actually interactable part of Elysium, the castle known as Celestia and its inside.
The Throne Room, which belonged to Asmoday, had its floor made out the most precious of dark marbles, a brownish stone that glittered with the slightest ray of sun. It was mostly adorned with navy blue or cyan pieces of cloth, hanging from top of the many white-gray doric columns with bases and ends made out of gold, sculpted in the likeness of bird-like creatures, easily recognizable to be Phoenixes if one knew of their existence.
It wasn't a long, stretched room, like the first and Momonga's Throne Room, but instead it was located in the tallest tower of the castle, which was by no means small, but had an almost circular shape.
The walls were full of columns and intricate designs, with mixes of golden, white, gray and cyan decorations aswell as black, while the ceiling on the other hand was mostly a painting of scenes from Asmoday's lore.
As one entered the room they could notice a carpet, jet-black in color, and as they approached the black with golden linings and cyan stuffing armchair-like throne, they could make out the pedestal it stood on, decorated with designs and a small head of a dragon sculpted in the gold. On top of the first of two stairs of the pedestal there were two roughly shaped person-like statues, each with six angelic wings, one female and one male.
Behind the throne there were four columns, displayed in a two and two fashion, with a gap between the pair. There lay the carvings in gold of clouds and four dragons all with their jaws open and two wings folded in awe and respect. All of them were looking at the center, where there was a single dragon, Asmoday's dragon form, with its six wings spread seemingly flying upwards while looking at the one observing it, at the same time having on top of its head a crown-like halo, symbolizing both her Divinity and Royalty as a Dragon.
It was in this room, that three of the 4 NPCs that lore-wise had authority outside of Elysium were positioned. All them being dragons: Fafnir, which in human form appeared as a tall dark-brown, basically black haired teenage man; Tiamat, which appeared as a teenage girl of average height with pale blue, messy, almost wet-looking hair, and in the end, Ophis, also known as Orphis, the highest-ranking and most powerful NPC in the whole of Elysium, created together by Asmoday and his real-life now deceased sister back when she wasn't in hospital yet.
She was inspired by her favorite character, and his sister had insisted she be his lore-wise sister as a small act of mischief since she didn't play the game as much, to which, thanks to how much he spoiler her, he agreed. A Dragon almost on par with Asmoday herself, a dreambuild optimized to its max that appeared as a young cute girl with hip-lenght jet-black hair and pure crimson eyes, exactly like Asmoday's. Both Tiamat and Fafnir had red-ish eyes somewhat reminiscent of Ophis and Asmoday's, but with both being tainted by golden and orange, lacking the ruby-like purity.
They walked the majestic halls of the castle at a slow but steady place, passing by all the NPCs as Asmoday gave each one some parting words.
Eventually it was Ophis's turn, "H-Hey Momonga.. mind if you go ahead? I'll catch up in a minute."
"Mh..?" He looked at his friend and noticed the NPC.
Ah I see.. I understand Momonga thought, "Sure, no problem. Take your time.", a smiley-emojii popping up.
"Thanks" Asmoday spoke as Momonga made his way back.
She looked at her creation. The NPC that embodied, even if only partly, her sister.
"Ophis.." She spoke, trying to find the right words.
I feel so stupid talking to an NPC…
"I'm sorry for not having been here lately...I really wish I had more time…"
He let out all his pent-up feelings and gave her a long, emotional, speech. One he should've given his sister when he still had the chance to. He told her how much he loved her, how much she mattered to him and how he hated the situation in which he found himself in.
But sadly this wasn't his sister. She resembled her, yes, but she was just a bag of data stuffed with his sister's personality and a backstory aswell as levels, classes and skills. Not someone who could answer his feelings.
"Well...that's all I guess, goodnight, Sister."
Calling her that feels wrong, but she resembles her so much...
After having taken a last good look, she returned to the Throne Room on the 9th floor of Nazarick along with Momonga accompanied by some NPCs: the Pleiadies Battle Maids, Nazarick's Head Butler Sebas Tian and Tiamat, by request of Momonga, she was one of his favorites NPCs after all.
''This place hasn't changed a bit. Still as majestic as ever huh?'' Asmoday said out loud without paying much attention to it. Indeed, this Throne Room was one of the most intricately designed places in Nazarick, and it was breathtaking at the very least.
Momonga then proceeded to sit on the lone throne in the room, and Asmoday sat on its meanwhile Momonga commanded the NPCs to kneel in front of the steps leading to the throne.
"You're really into lore writing and all that stuff Asmoday-san right? have you read Albedo's ?"
''That I am good Sir. Jokes aside though, I don't think I've ever had the opportunity to. All I know is what Tabula-san kept blabbering about.''
Momonga opened her lore for Asmoday to read.
"She is a demoness who holds the title of Guardian Overseer, which is the highest-ranking position in the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. With flowing raven hair and golden pupils, her beauty could bewitch a nation.
She is proud of her position and confronts intruders as a confident, dignified superior being.
Regardless of how brilliant or brave her foes are, or whether she considers them strong, she will never acknowledge them as being equal to herself.
This is because she understands the meaning of the position bestowed upon her.
Her abilities befit the title of Guardian Overseer, with outstanding intelligence and combat ability.
That said, she is not omnicompetent. For instance, in pure wits, Demiurge is her superior, while Shalltear is superior in fighting ability. Yet, nobody in Nazarick can rival her administrative ability.
In addition, her feminine skills - particularly those pertaining to being a housewife - are excellent, and during her free time, she can be seen sweeping, sewing, and so on.
Though the reason is unknown, she enjoys cleanliness and her desire for such frequently drives her to clean things up.
In particular, her ability to sort bookshelves knows no peer.
However, she recognizes the possessions of others as belonging to them, so she rarely insists on cleaning up.
That said, the items accumulated through her collector's habit are typically very messy.
Therefore, it remains to be seen whether she actually likes being tidy.
This might well be an act - in order to appear as the perfect woman - though the truth of that is unknown. It is too scary to confirm.
She always has a gentle smile on her, and her elegant way of speech has made many people think she is a goddess or an angel.
That mistake is not particularly laughable, given that she is surrounded by that sort of atmosphere and acts in an appropriate way.
The fact is, it would not be wrong to view her in that way.
She was originally planned to be an angel of the highest order, but she ended up with a greatly distorted appearance after being fused with a monster from the land of dreams.
Because of that, her personality is similarly twisted, being merciless and cruel, cunning and savage. She gives her enemies despair and revels in their agonizing deaths.
Her usual expression seems to be there to suppress the urges which flow from her heart - a mask which exists to conceal her desire to perform ruthless acts upon the weak.
If the mask breaks, she would probably end up being like Empress Lu Zhi Shen or Empress Wu Zetian.
However, that only applies when dealing with those not of Nazarick.
Fortunately for those who do not serve Nazarick, one can take comfort in the fact that the mask is very sturdy and will not break easily.
She feels very strongly about her duties as the Guardian Overseer of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.
Naturally, the fact that she has ears everywhere listening for information goes without saying.
But that doesn't mean she knows everything. An example of that is the fact she has only vague knowledge regarding many of her masters, one of them being Seriene Asmoday, the King of Destruction, also known in her "legend" by many other names, Anthares or Satanael alike.
In addition, she smiles all the time - to the point where one might say she does not show any other emotion.
Her smile is nothing more than a poker face to her.
She can also show emotions like anger, grimaces and fake tears.
Her sophisticated lady's face will not break, even when she is torturing the fools who oppose her.
By her appearance alone, she is a perfect beauty.
Incidentally, she's a slut."
Asmoday immediately laughed, unable to keep the urge down.
"Man, that was a good one Tabula-san, what a plot twist… still, what's with the extreme gap moe? Poor Albedo..'' He was silent for a few moments, "How about we make a little tweak? Do you have a way of changing it?".
"Well, since I have the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown here I can access the master source, so yes. What do you want to change?"
"How 'bout we take out the slut part?"
Momonga moved to do just that, but Asmoday stopped him, "Wait! Can I do it? I've never had the opportunity to use the staff even if I had basically the same authority as you because there could only ever be one Guild Master''
Ainz looked at her for a few seconds and then relented slightly amused, ''Sure.''
The orange virtual keyboard and screen rotated towards Asmoday and she started writing something after having deleted the slut part and then closed the tab without giving Momonga any chance to peek.
"So, what did you change Asmoday-san?'' He asked curiously.
Asmoday coughed twice and looked straight at him, then, in the most girly voice he could muster, he seductively whispered. "Se-cr-et!"
Momonga stared at him, likely blushing under his helmet, for a good twenty seconds and then Asmoday burst out giggling as he mumbled something incredibly Peroroncino-like, akin to "Damn virtual traps… he's even got game.." or so he heard at least.
Momonga would deny it later on.
A little time went by, and Momonga started looking at the various flags on the columns near the ceiling and pointing at them. " Ankoro MochiMochi, Peroroncino, Bukubukuchagama, Warrior Takemikazuchi, Tabula Smaragdina, Variable Talisman, Genjiro…''
He kept listening to his voice speaking their names one by one, with no small amount of nostalgia.
"… Me, and in the end, with the longest name in the whole guild," he joked, "Asmoday Rea Qilipoth,'' he finished.
''We really had a great time.''
[23:58:34]
Asmoday hummed, withholding his nostalgia so as not to ruin the moment.
[23:58:12]
"I have to wake up at 4 AM tomorrow morning, definitely not looking forward to that..'' He lightly chuckled.
"Hey Suzuki, if there ever is an YGGDRASIL II or something of the like.. wanna play together?''
[23:59:01]
For once, even Momonga dropped the charade of slight formality and answered using his real name without honorifics, "I'd like that Serieen.''
Haven't heard that name since grade school.. Haaa, I guess if it's you who's calling me that I might even not mind it.
He was the only one to whom he had spoken of that name. Embarrassing though it was to keep it a secret, he didn't really like it. Not because of the name itself, mind you, it was the name of his mother, which had passed away as a child so he took great pride in it, merely the memories it reminded him of where he was picked on as kid for having a "girly" name by those despicable little jerks weren't as pleasant as he'd like to admit.
But he was the exception. With his sister gone, no one had called him that in a long, long time.
Aside from him of course, they were best friends after all.
[23:59:24]
And their world was ending…
"So is this End.. "Apocalypse" of sorts we're facing your handiwork O' mighty Dragon of the Apocalypse?'' Momonga joked.
"Guess so huh?'' Asmoday chuckled weakly.
"If so.. I wish I could take it back..and make all this last longer, or rather – I wish it could last forever..'' He spoke in a soft tone.
[23:59:49]
Momonga responded, "So do I my friend, So do I..''
[23:59:52]
''Sleep well, or you'll feel tired tomorrow.'' Spoke Asmoday.
[23:59:54]
"Same to you,''
[23:59:56]
"Goodbye Nazarick." They spoke in unison and turned to eachother, "Goodnight''.
[23:59:58]
The virtual clock ticked.
A small tear through their Dream.
Steadfast repaired by hope, on waves of wishes transported.
For a new Start. So that it may be Eternal.
[23:59:59]
The falling of YGGDRASIL's last 9 leaves.
yet but a piece of one, the most powerful wishes would keep afloat.
Amidst the chaotic shining lights it would follow stream after stream, bifrost after bifrost.
For an old End. So that it may prove Finite.
The end of an Era.
[00:00:00]
Yet its spirit would continue living.
Only to end up in a Land uncovered. The shiniest of Treasures.
Where its only passengers would soon get off.
[00:00:01]
And the unexpected start of a New One.
For all that is Finite is beautiful, ever-more to appreciate.
Yet all that lasts eternally in spirit, is ever so pleasing to the heart.