GOD IS AN IDIOT

Chapter 10 – The Conductor

Momonga watched the minuscule movements of the green dots above him displayed on an ethereal world globe stretched over pale white lines, which appeared to have partially descended and manifested through the ceiling of Nazarick's throne room. In its entirety it would have been several times as large as an air balloon and even the fantastic expanses of the tomb's architecture could not have fitted its whole form if it was solid, but it did not have to.

For now, he was only interested in a small particular section of the whole sphere, displaying the Slane Theocracy and its surrounding nations. The green dots represented the armed forces of the humans; each one a single soul unaware of the undead's monitoring. They formed uneven smears in their hundreds of thousands on the map, teeming like ant swarms.

Their majority were stationed around Humanitas, with smaller blobs scattered around the Theocracy, and even some minuscule groups operating in the neighbouring nations of Baharuth and Re-Estize, but the mass was finally in one coherent motion. Troops were being withdrawn from their posts and slowly congregated near the capital and the north-western border, while most of the units in foreign lands retreated to their home, except for a small number moving straight west across the Empire and Kingdom.

Momonga was pleased with the development, and moved his focus hundreds of kilometres south of Humanitas to the largest, crescent-shaped lake on the map, where the second largest smear of green remained. Spanning almost 300 kilometers from tip-to-tip, it could very well be considered an inland sea in its own right. The soldiers of Slane had blocked off access to its north-facing outer curvature in a solid green line, which contained a slightly fainter concentration of orange dots – the forces of the elf country.

While he could see clear patterns in the greens playing out like a kaleidoscopic dance, the orange one seemed to move at random, brushing like flies against the human window glass, before retreating back to the safety of the swarms' inner parts. Almost like they lacked a central command, which was at odds with what Momonga had learned of the elves political structure. Elf country was supposed to be reigned by a king who had been in power for centuries. So why did they act so chaotically?

All the same; in a matter of hours, it would hopefully not matter any-more.

Setting up the whole system had taken weeks of considering the most suitable servants of Nazarick, picking gear from the treasury which was available in sufficient numbers and quality, and finally getting them all in position. Throwing up an Old Guard or Death Knight into low orbit and handing them a binocular, plus a water tank and squirt gun for course correction was easy enough, but it would take weeks before all his summoned eyeball corpses reached geostationary orbit – which was why they did not yet cover the whole globe.

While Momonga had written the code for the [Omniscience System] which channelled together all the information flows, following the movements of Slane humans and elves in such detail would not have been possible if not for the work of Aura and Demiurge. The ranger girl had secretly abducted hundreds of test subjects no one would likely miss from Slane, Re-Estize, and Baharuth, till the devil found distinct heritable markers in their blood. The Theocracy's centuries spanning eugenic program had actually helped a lot in that regard, according to Demiurge.

Despite the End's initial worry, he had actually enjoyed working with the fiend. His creator Ulbert Alain Odle might have been a hopeless chuunibyou in his paling memories, but the fiend proved to be one of the soundest minds he ever met, in his opinion. He not only possessed a frighteningly sharp analytical mind, but also refreshing wit and humour. Together, they would discuss the merits of new ideas, defensive tactics for the Tomb, or even laugh at the occasional silly antics. At one time, Demiurge blew up an ileum like a balloon and formed a figure from it. They debated for minutes if it resembled a wiener dog or a weasel more, till Demiurge settled the topic by asking its owner on his opinion. They settled for a hot dog.

'Still don't know what we would gain from creating a human-elf-dwarf-duodenopede, though. Sometimes his creativity just goes overboard.'

'Anyway, he deserves a commendation for his excellent work.'

Momonga looked down from the hologram to praise the devil among the gathered Guardians.

"Demiurge, once again I have to...

"...have... to..."

'What the hell?'

Momonga fumbled with the words as he beheld the party in front of the [Throne of Kings]. Demiurge growled on a literally burning stage to hard rock music; Seus Chef, the fungoid bar tender, was wading through the crowd of monsters with tablets full of drinks; Cocytus bisected a dragon-shaped pinata with his halberd in just that moment and showered three elder liches; Shalltear and the elven twins drowning in red candy; scores of maids helped themselves to the ridiculous amounts of food on the long tables, which had been placed between the columns.

"Did I miss something?" Momonga wondered where all of the sudden the festivities had sprung up from. He had just summoned the Guardians and Pleiades to check up on their preparations for storming the elf country, before looking up at the map for a moment. "How? I looked away for only a second, and suddenly Nazarick's sanctum turned into a mad house? How can that be?"

Then, a frightening thought rushed through his head.

'Wait, could I have become victim of a [Time Stop]? That would be the only sensible explanation! But I should be immune to that kind of shenanigans. That's my game! What is happening?!'

"Albedo-" he started to ask and looked to his side.

He stopped again mid-sentence when the Guardian Overseer blinked back with something resembling an especially thick maggot poking from her mouth. She bade him to wait one moment with a raised finger and pulled it out, instead of eating the invertebrate.

It did not turn out to be a giant insect but a peeled-off banana. Not a cut piece – all of it.

'Was she going to swallow that thing whole? How did she not gag?'

"My Lord, you are back with us at last. I was getting worried," Albedo said warmly, playing with the slick fruit in her hand.

"What do you mean 'back with us'? I just briefly checked the troop movements, and the next moment, I see you partying like you all got nothing better to do," Momonga stated, quite aware of the annoyance lurking in the accusation.

Instead of embarrassment, perplexity formed on her features, and she raised a single brow once more when defending herself. "Lord Momonga, You have been looking at the map for nearly a week."

'A week? '

'A week?!?'

She continued before he could vocalize his outrage. "Of course we know a Supreme Being as you must have an unfathomably different approach to time than to us servants, but please keep our limitation in mind in the future. We only thought we should use the chance to celebrate your stay with us, while we had no other orders."

The statement was a shock. The noise of the frolicking monsters and loud music turned almost mute while he tried to grasp her words. How could he just have missed a whole week without noticing? Although he had felt his own psych change since arriving in the New World – he had lost his last inhibitions concerning mortal life, and slowly felt the memories of his old human days harder and harder to remember – he thought the lack of human needs were the only other changes his soul experienced.

But this...

Was he really turning more and more into the undead magic caster – an ageless monster – he once only role-played? Was also his perception of time slowly changing?

'Just what is happening to me? Who will I be in another month? In a year? In a thousand years?'

The warm feeling of Albedo's hand on his pulled him back to the there and now, and he was glad for it. Before he could lose himself in her sympathetic smile, she cleared her throat and looked away to inhabitants of Nazarick, who still failed to notice their master's returned attention.

"SHUT UP, YOU WORTHLESS MAGGOTS, BEFORE I SEW YOUR MOUTHS TO YOUR OWN ASSES!"

Albedo roared louder than a firing artillery battery, and Momonga could have sworn the very light fled from the terrifying demonic voice spilling from her throat. Everyone: the Guardians, the serfs and the End; knew instinctively it was no hollow threat or even just an allegory, and froze, before dropping whatever they're holding at the moment and rushing to the throne.

Once everyone had assembled on their knees – the Guardians at the front with the lesser servants behind them – she turned back with a friendly expression. She softly squeezed his hand one more time before letting go of it and licking on her banana like some lollipop, leaving it to him to address them.

'Is that fury always lurking beneath that sweet smile?' Momonga wondered briefly, before he spoke, "Where was I? Ah yes, our preparations for storming the elves' holds."

'Please be happy about the party and just forget the autism of your boss!'

He hoped the Guardians would cross off the missed time as Albedo had done. Fortunately, no one present seemed to mind or dare voice concern at his lapse… or maybe they were still too occupied with Albedo's threat, for Mare seemed far paler than most days and covered his mouth like it was about to drop off.

"Cocytus," Momonga continued to act, like nothing noteworthy had happened. "Have you double-checked the items I requested? I'll have to count on you to watch my back, and everyone else be able to fulfil their designated roles professionally."

The four-armed verminlord stomped his halberd and reported, "I. Have. Equipped. The. [Ring of Poison Immunity]. And. The. [Burning Pit Amulet]. As. Commanded. And. Distributed. The. [Message] scrolls. In. Sufficient. Numbers. To. Assure. No. Operator. Will. Be. Lost. To. Chain. Of. Command."

"What about health and mana potions?" Momonga inquired further and leaned forward on the throne, fixing his gaze upon the ice warrior.

Cocytus did not budge under his probing stare and answered without hesitating, "Everyone. Received. Further. Potions. Should. Their. Base. Stock. Run. Out."

"[Bells of Trap Detection]?"

"Handed. To. Homunculi. Maids. In. Command. Position. And. Supplemented. With. Another. Scroll. Of. [Find Traps]. For. Everyone. Else."

Momonga would have liked to use the Pleiades – foremost among them Narberal Gamma, the Doppelgaenger, and the Shoggoth Solution Epsilon – but they had been deployed on the northern borders of Re-Estize to watch and react to possible moves of the Dragon Lords who ruled Argland Council States. The rest of them – Lupusregina Beta, CZ2128 Delta, Yuri Alpha and Entoma Vasilissa Zeta – were either also deployed in watch roles or just unsuited in his opinion.

There was nothing to be done about it, and he questioned further. "[Talismans of Fake Life]?"

"Personally. Checked. By. Me. If. Truly. Donned."

"[Rings of Lesser Charisma]?

"Working. Without. Exception."

"[Gloves of the Trojan Prince]?"

"Handed. Out. In. Bundles."

He felt almost bad for putting Cocytus's diligence to the test, but he had to be sure they were prepared for any situation, so he continued picking at random items from the list he had Pandora's Actor prepare.

"[Van Hel-Spike's insidious Candy]?" Momonga inquired, yet it was not Cocytus who answered this time, but Aura, barely understandable.

"Yesh! More, pleash, 'ord Momong'A."

Seeing the chewing girl almost choke on the words, he was glad for her high poison and disease resistance, and decided he had probed the warrior enough.

"I see. Well done, Cocytus, you proved to me I was right in handing you the task of preparing our forces and," The End threw another glance at Aura. "everyone seems to be in high spirit for the coming hours. And with a full belly, too."

"Yes, we are!" An enthusiastic male throat called out from the back ranks, and a heavily muscled arm shot up with it. Had Momonga still had eye lids, he would have blinked in disbelief at the source. It was an incredibly ripped, blonde man in a maid's clothing, hiding between the Homunculi Maids… and he was not alone. Only now did Momonga notice half the serfs were similarly-muscled and arguably 'beautiful' men.

And every single one of them wore a maid outfit like the female homunculi serfs. Momonga needed a few seconds before he was ready to ask. "And who are you?"

"Homunculus Maid Foire, always ready to serve, Lord Momonga!" He answered at once with a devotion which hinted unmistakably he would serve him in any way he desired.

Momonga felt a cold chill race down his spine at the expression, but he retorted in good sport… or tried to, anyway, "I see. I did not know my friend Whitebrim also created male Homunculi Maids."

'Which is strange, since the obsessed nerd always went on about how "Maid uniforms are justice!" and took absurd pride in showing us his creations. Oh well, maybe I was just too annoyed at the time to notice. It wasn't like I ever paid them much attention before.'

"Oh no, Lord Momonga, he didn't..."

'Eh?'

"...it was Lady Neuronist Painkill who operated me into this new, beautiful form!"

"And whose brilliant idea was that?" Momonga sighed. Did he really want to know?

"That was mine, my Lord," Demiurge answered instead. The Devil rose and bowed gracefully, and then elaborated, evidently pleased with himself, "While you were studying the cattle's-"

"Humans." Momonga corrected him. He disliked imprecise language when it came to plans and explanations

"-the human's actions, Guardian Overseer Albedo and I had a discussion about your plan of using the Homunculi Maids as a diversion for the troops. Of course we could only applaud your ingenious idea of using their beauty as another potent weapon to exploit the primates' primitive instincts. Although I myself cannot truly grasp the idea of neglecting my honourable service to you to satisfy such selfish needs as procreation..."

"Uh-huh…" Momonga groaned while massaging his skull.

"...attempting to dissect your scheme proved illuminating. Truly, seeing you play the minds of inferior beings how a musician can only wish to master his instrument fills me with even more awe, every time I witness it."

"Mm-hm…?" The End murmured in a half-hearted attempt to appear invested. By now, he was way past the point of getting excited over anything Nazarick could throw at him, and felt more like an impotent passenger in a roller-coaster of insanity.

Demiurge showed no sign of feeling offended, and spoke merrily on, "But your unfathomable insight is even more inspiring when I noticed how you also played us loyal slaves for our own betterment. I admit I was at loss when I first foolishly thought you had lost yourself in contemplation, but then, a joyous epiphany filled me.

"You had not lost track of time; you were waiting! Waiting for me to futilely ape your intellect and do the work required for the plan a superior being should not be bothered with. I knew you intended to use the maids to appeal to the humans' base needs, but talking to Albedo, I finally noticed she is a woman!"

Glancing briefly at the smug-looking female, Momonga agreed laconically. "Yes. How could one miss that?"

Demiurge nodded eagerly along, and proceeded while rubbing his hands. "And half of the Slane troops are women."

"As one should expect of a semi-monogamous species," Momomga deadpanned.

"Right, right! So I asked myself: 'Why would Lord Momonga only send the Homunculi Maids?'. The answer was as simple as it was natural: You must have expected me to cover that handicap!"

'Handicap?'

"I choose half of them at once to be brought to Neuronist Painkill, so she could adapt their bodies to better appeal to the female soldiers' loins. Guardian Overseer Albedo could not find fault in my logic and gave her approval to proceed."

Once again, Momonga glanced at Albedo, who did not appear to have been bothered by any kind of shame.

"Did she..."

"Yes. I acted at once and handed them also afterwards literature on commonly-expected male human behaviour to study to complete the transformation!"

Momonga had no words – he could only stare at the tail-wiggling devil, as he stared hopefully back. He looked like an expectant puppy, waiting for a treat… and Momonga would have liked nothing more than to kick it.

"Demiurge..." Momonga began slowly.

"Yes?" Demiurge stood, ready to receive his praise.

"Without a doubt, you are Nazarick's finest analyst – a scientific genius and one of my greatest assets. And you are a moron."

The giddy expectation of Demiurge, the hope for his master's approval, the pure miss-placed bliss was crushed under the horror assailing him when receiving Momonga's judgment. His tail dropped like a limp hose and he fell to his knees with sagging arms, staring forlornly at his Lord.

"But... but you said: 'They will appeal to their needs!', 'The humans will be utterly enthralled by their charm, and they will grovel and abase themselves to earn their goodwill.'."

"Just like you have been grovelling before me."

Just like you are still abasing yourself before me.

Momonga's words did not sound angry, because he was not. They sounded annoyed. They were hard and open about his frustration. "For all your formidable intellect..." Momonga went on, uncaring for the devil's utter dismay. "... you are still an arrogant child. What did you see in them, those pitiful humans? Inconsequential beings? Witless playthings? Primitive beasts?"

"I... But are they not?" Demiurge appealed to him, as Momonga rose from his throne to loom over him.

"Oh, they are, just like you are. As we all are," Momonga spoke coldly and pointed his finger at him. "You laugh at their failings in conscience of your own power, while you are no better than them. Those pitiful humans look for guidance and purpose, for reasons I will conveniently give them, just as I gave it you."

The last blood drained from Demiurge face as he crumbled under Momonga's suffocating presence. The End knew he no longer held his full [Aura of Despair] back – he saw the other Guardians and servants struggle just as much as the target of his ire – and he did not care. Shalltear visibly trembled, Cocytus managed only ragged breaths of condensed air, and the maids and other serves collapsed without exception, just like Mare. His sweat-stained sister held on to him before he could hit the floor, while straining to not faint herself.

"When will you accept only scale and cosmetics differentiate the mortals from you, Demiurge? I've seen wickedness in them which would make you shudder, seen them wield power you can't even imagine, and die in their millions for a cause no outsider could comprehend any-more after the blood had dried."

His claw almost touched the devil's forehead as he asked, almost whispering, "Tell me: How would I appeal to you, Demiurge, Creator of the Blazing Inferno, Defensive Combat Leader of Nazarick, Guardian?"

Demiurge might have drowned in cold sweat, he might have shivered and his lips trembled, but he did not flee or back away from Momonga's probe. One of the maids' whole body began cramping on the ground with foam bubbling from her mouth, before she suddenly stopped, and one of the downed liches spontaneously burst into dust, but Demiurge held his master's gaze as good as his own obvious panic allowed… and eventually, he answered.

"You would fan my pride."

"Yes..." Momonga hissed.

"You would point me to a goal."

"And?"

"And you would goad my hope for your love."

'Finally, you begin to understand, you poor devil.'

Momonga let his finger slowly drop. At last, he started to pull back his dreadful aura, held his breath of entropy, and the present denizens of Nazarick visibly sighed in relief.

Aura started to lightly slap her brother till he awoke with addled eyes, Cocytus put a sympathetic paw on Shalltear's back, and the surviving Elder Lichs began waking up the unconscious maids with [Minimized Jolt] spells.

Demiurge, on the other hand, was still transfixed by Momonga, as the End hissed for his ears only. "Rein in your haughtiness, my shrewd friend, and you will not only stay a master of the stick, but also become an artist with the carrot. Your logic wasn't at fault; only your scope and empathy are too limited.

Now, rise; we still have much to do."

The devil obeyed with little tears leaking from behind his glasses, and lightly bowed. It looked like it cost him immense strength, but his voice was again firm and collected as he said, "Thank you, my Lord. You humble me, just as you teach me with your own fundamental insight. Again, my deepest gratitude for reining in my hubris."

"Never think to highly of yourself to consider another's perspective and similarity."

Momonga gave his last advice, and turned back to the other servants. The Guardians had shaken off the worst of his relaxation, but the remaining two elder lichs stood at a loss over their comrades remains, and the maids futilely tried waking their fallen sister. They all parted to make room for Momonga and went down to their knees, as he walked over to them and inspected the two casualties.

'Well, I should scrounge at least something from this mess. [Create Low-Tier Undead].'

As he pointed his hand at the maid's corpse, he saw black runes eat into her flesh, dissolve it into their simplest components, and slowly built it up again into the gaunt form of a dark-hooded wasted corpse. Finally, two tiny flames ignited in its eye holes, and the runes paled into nothingness.

The new Elder Lich sighed in exhilaration and bowed before his creator. "I exist to serve, Master Momonga. What shall be my name?"

"Your name?"

'I had not thought of that.'

Instead of bothering with brainstorming for a fitting name, Momonga turned to the maids and asked, "Hey, what used to be her name?"

"Etoile, great Lord," a scared maid managed to mumble.

"Etoile, eh? Okay, I've got a name which should fit," Momonga said, and turned back to the undead who waited, still bowing. "Your name shall be Trou Noir."

The Lich bowed even deeper to proudly claim, "So it will be. Trou Noir stands ready to serve for all eternity and beyond, should you-"

"Yes, yes; just get over to Demiurge with your siblings, and let him instruct you in the use of [Omniscience]."

His creator already ignored him and stalked over to the Guardians. Mare still looked pale, but his sister no longer needed to support him, and while Cocytus's bug face was unreadable as ever, Shalltear's expression was foremost lewd and blissful – the only one who had just enjoyed the whole scene.

Momonga reached into his inventory space, and pulled a small item from it resembling a chrome colored sea urchin with golden tips moving at random, and six octopus-like eyes spread evenly over its surface.

"This is a [Phlegmatic Hedgehog]," the End explained, and the Guardians moved closer to inspect the strange item. While Aura probed one of its quickly-retracting spines, he elaborated further. "It is a rare one-use-item than can absorb a single attack and slowly release its energy over the time span of one day. They were too rare in Yggdrasil to base a consistent strategy around it, but it will be quite useful in the coming hours. When I tell you to, Shalltear, you will cast [Brilliant Radiance] upon it. Spread over 24 hours, none here should take any real damage from the [Holy] spell's effect, besides some uncomfortable itch.

"Afterwards, you will stand ready along with Mare and Aura to extract a Maid, should their situation turn sour. I regret the loss of one of our serfs, but there will be time later to create a replacement for her. I am certain we'll find some loot on our trip we can spare to invest.

'I could have used a [Rod of Resurrection] for her, but they are exorbitantly expensive and would just as well work on a high-level serf. It's just more economical to create a new maid.'

"Lord Momonga?" Aura asked, still gawking at the twitching item in his hand.

"Hmm?"

"Why do we do it this way? If you are concerned about the Elf King, then why not invade the elf country with all Guardians at your side? Surely, he couldn't stand against our combined power, plus a Supreme Being?"

"That is correct, girl, and by the same logic, I simply could take anything I desired from the Theocracy by force." Momonga agreed and moved his hand in slow circles, as the Guardians' eyes were glued to the item.

"Aha!" Aura nodded absently. "And then you also wouldn't have to deal with that whiny human, you know. Just let him kick the bucket, or hand him to Neuronist Painkill with no risk of him telling the cardinals anything he shouldn't."

"Hmm. That is one idea. Tell me, Aura, if I told you to hunt a beast in a vast savanna, how would you proceed?" Momonga asked in turn, while the girl took turns blinking with one of the item's eyes.

"I would activate [Sky Eye] and my superior senses to sniff them out, maybe sic some of my own beasts on them. I could use a lot of skills for such an easy task."

"And if you had no skills and no pets; if you didn't know what beasts lurked in the grass, didn't know how dangerous they were?"

"I would ask Mare for help or another Guardian, of course."

"And if you were all alone, with no one else to count upon?"

"Hmmm..." Aura began to think.

'[Minimized Fireball]'

A small explosion went off behind the Guardians, certainly not strong enough to even scratch them, but still, everyone turned instantly around to the quickly-fading flames and smoke. Momonga's proposal caught their attention again, as he suggested, "I would stay at the edge and set the grass on fire."

Shalltear was the first to giggle, and the twins looked confused back-and-forth between the two undead, till Cocytus spoke, "Setting. The. Whole. Savanna. On. Fire. Would. Force. Any. Beast. In. It. To. Move. And. Reveal. Itself. They. Would. Fly. To. The. Sky. Dive. Into. The. River. Or. Run. For. The. Edge, too. Scared. Of. What. Is. Happening. To. Their. Home. To. Think. Of. What. Could. Be. Lurking. At. The. Edge."

Finally, Aura understood and she finished, "I wouldn't search for the dangerous beasts; I would let them reveal themselves in the chaos."

"Exactly," Confirmed Momonga.

"And what do you plan with the priest?" Mare wanted to know.

Instead of answering, Momonga ruffled the blushing boy's head and asked, "Tell me, boy, how would your creator Bukubukuchagama react, if she still was here, should you and your sister fight in earnest to the death?"

"She would never allow that! Lady Bukubukuchagama is way too kind to allow that! She would storm between us and scold us for such silliness!" The boy spoke with unshakable conviction.

"I am sure of it too," Momonga agreed again with a twin who didn't quite understand.

"But what does it have to do..." He was about to ask, when Shalltear's fine-boned hand on his shoulder and a head shake stopped him.

"I will explain it to you later, Mare. We have bothered Lord Momonga enough for now."

The elf lad was still at loss when Momonga turned away and headed for the center of the room, but he did not miss the cold look Aura directed at him after his question. He concluded very idea of truly warring with her brother must have been painful to her – abhorrent, even.

'How absurd. She would slaughter whole armies without second thought if I asked, but this simple, theoretical scenario hurts her feelings? She really is still a child.'

'Oh well, what does it matter? I have a kingdom to topple.'

"Demiurge, ready the [Omniscience System]! Maids, Shalltear, come over here!" Momonga called out, noting how everyone had shaken off the ruckus of the past moment and went to work.

While the girls and men ran to him, Demiurge and the Elder Lichs went before the Throne. White lines formed on the ground and cut the stone into shards. Demon and undeads let themselves fall into the raising tiles, which approximated sun chairs, taking them closer to the map above. Meanwhile, half spheres of light formed around their heads. Momonga placed the [Phlegmatic Hedgehog] in the middle of the room, while they reported the system's status.

"Old Guard #17 reporting in; Old Guard #13 reporting in; Old Guard #8 reporting in..." – "Old Guard #18 course corrected; Old Guard #31 reporting drift, calculating correction..." – "Eyeball Corpse #2 moving into stationary orbit; compensating for atmospheric error, elf country still occluded from vision as before..."

The map became rapidly more detailed as grey-white mountains, dark cliffs, green forests and pastel plains with majestic cloud formations flowing over them spread under the buzzing dots, but the area under the orange ones stayed without detail, while the edge of the blank zone turned black with countless sources of black smoke.

"[Omniscience System] 100 % operational, Lord Momonga," Demiurge reported at last, and Momonga turned, pleased for the serfs.

"Take off your clothes and form a ring with Shalltear around the item, facing outwards!"

Not one hesitated even for a second in stripping their precious uniforms and taking position next to the vampire, while Albedo and Cocytus walked to his side.

"Albedo, I entrust the safety of Nazarick and command of the Pleiades to you, while Demiurge monitors the intelligence feeds." She answered with a modest bow, and he turned to the ice warrior. "Ready, Cocytus?"

A mace and a katana falling into his lower arms, in addition to the halberd, were his response.

Finally, he addressed the Guardian of the first floors. "Shalltear, do it!"

"[Brilliant Radiance]!" The eternal teen called out, and a scintillating bolt shot forth from her hand into the [Phlegmatic Hedgehog], which began to fill the whole room with warm, blinding light so everyone present became little more than shadowy outlines.

'[Gate], [Gate], [Gate]...'

Momonga repeatedly cast as he reminded everyone one last time, "Remember, people, our goal is not to wantonly slaughter humans and elves. I don't care if you have to break a few hundred necks in self defence or to guard Nazarick's secrecy, but pointless murder will draw my wrath upon you!

"Tell your audience whatever makes them happy and listen – just do NOT reveal Nazarick or any names. Your goal is a good show, one which will burn itself into the humans' hearts – nothing more, nothing less!

Go now, and make your lord proud!"

One after another, the maids' shadows vanished into the portals. Eventually, Demiurge's voice resonated from above, "Everyone has reached their target. No distress signal yet."

"Excellent."

Momonga congratulated, as Shalltear placed an overturned pot over the [Phlegmatic Hedgehog], and the light vanished instantly.

"Your will be done, Lord Momonga," Albedo wished, as he stepped after Cocytus into the last remaining portal.