Hi, all! Author here again.
Well, it is late by a few days, but I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Congratulations for surviving through 2018, and may this year be another good year to live through.
See you again in the afterword. Cliffhanger warning, by the way.
[X][X][X]
Lower Fire Month (9th Month), 4th Day, 22:47
Demiurge felt the heavy weight of guilt clinging to his mind.
Narberal had just contacted him through [Message] spell, asking to confirm what his plan was about. He had replied truthfully, including the one result of his fatal mistake; Entoma's death.
Narberal definitely didn't sound happy at all. In fact, Demiurge could feel the overwhelming anger of Ainz, despite not directly talking to him.
Even someone as benevolent as Ainz would never forgive a mistake that resulted in the death of a Nazarick resident. In the case of Shalltear, Ainz had insisted that it had been his own fault, much to the disagreement of guardians, Demiurge included. However, this time the blame was fully on Demiurge himself, and he wouldn't deny it.
He would gladly accept any punishment for this fatal mistake. Death? That would be a mercy. Centuries of torture? He would gladly bear it, if it would help Ainz vent out his anger.
It was just one thing that Demiurge, and any other guardians, would never be able to bear.
Abandonment.
Being abandoned would mean the loss of purpose of his existence, and he would eventually go mad. In his madness, he would probably rampage across the world and likely ruin any other plans Ainz had.
And therefore, he had made a decision.
If abandonment would be his punishment, he would commit suicide on the spot to prevent himself from going mad and causing further damage to Ainz's plans. That would be his last act of loyalty towards the only Supreme Being who had not abandoned Nazarick. Other guardians would likely see his action as an escape from the consequences, but he believed that it would be the right thing to do.
But before then, he had to go on with the plan he had made.
He was determined to ensure the success of this plan, to prove himself and his capability, even though it likely wouldn't help to lighten his punishment later.
So far, his plan was going smoothly. He had activated [Flames of Gehenna] to surround the warehouse district of the city, and he had put demon minions summoned by his Evil Lords to do various jobs such as plundering wealth and goods, capturing civilians, and killing resistances as necessary. Later, Pandora's Actor and Shalltear would handle the transportation of those goods to Nazarick and all that was left would be playing the acts to raise the fame of Momon.
Unfortunately, despite the contingencies Demiurge had planned, the next thing happening had never came into his mind.
Suddenly, numerous amount of blood red energy vortexes of varying sizes appeared throughout the area. Within seconds, unknown monsters came out from all the vortexes, which apparently were portals. Smaller portals vomitted out smaller monsters, while larger ones vomitted out larger monsters. All the unknown monsters immediately went to attack everything on sight, humans and demons alike.
"What the hell is happening!?"
Demiurge gritted his teeth as he saw the things ongoing before his eyes. The unknown monsters were strong. He could see the demon minions falling like flies facing even the weakest looking ones. The chaos prompted the civilians to flee in all directions, causing even more chaos.
"Summon all the strongest demon minions as many as you possibly can!"
Demiurge gave the order to all the Evil Lords present in the area. All of them complied, summoning more powerful demon minions to the point of exhausting both their mana and daily usage limits.
"Have them exterminate the unknown monsters, or at least hold them off! We must not let those monsters interfere!"
The Evil Lords complied and gave the orders as instructed. However, after watching for a little moment Demiurge could see that while the demons could beat the smaller monsters, the larger ones were on par, or even stronger.
"Evil Lords. Retreat to Nazarick!"
While the Evil Lords were stronger than most of the Pleiades, Demiurge didn't want to risk another loss like Entoma. He had to assume that there was a monster far stronger than these invaders, one which could be strong enough to challenge even a Supreme Being. He had not made that assumption at the very beginning of this operation, and it had resulted in the death of a Pleiades.
Demiurge once again felt that he had made another failure. He had underestimated the power of the resistance he would meet.
No, to be exact, he had not made a contingency plan in the scenario of strong monsters invading his invasion operation. A Supreme Being like Ainz would have considered this kind of scenario happening and had a plan prepared for that. Demiurge had not, so he was a failure.
"Everything will fall apart at this rate..."
Indeed. At this rate, no civilians would be captured because they all would escape or get killed in the chaos. There would be no goods to transport to Nazarick because either the demons tasked with plundering would be dead or the goods themselves would get destroyed.
[Message]
"Pandora's Actor"
"Oh, if it isn't Demiurge! What's up, kamerad?"
"Listen up. The situation has turned to rock-bottom. Abort your mission. That includes everyone else in this operation"
"Oh, is it a SNAFU I hear? You better report this to Ainz-sama! Or would you like me to do it?"
"Please do, while I try to salvage what I can salvage from this operation"
"Viel Glück, kamerad! Don't overdo it!"
The Message spell ended, and Demiurge fell into silence for a few seconds.
[Aspect of The Devil – Razor Sharp Claw]
Demiurge decided to join the fray in person. Despite him being one of the weakest guardians in terms of combat ability, he still could easily slay the monsters with his Razor Sharp Claw.
Demiurge couldn't rule out the possibility that the man Mare and Entoma had encountered was the one behind all this. He was determined to find that man and give the worst punishment for spitting at the pride of Nazarick.
[X][X][X]
Lower Fire Month (9th Month), 4th Day, 22:45
Ryu, Lily, and Alice were floating about ten meters above the ground. They were trying to get a good look on the tall flames engulfing the city. It didn't take long for them to notice that all the buildings within the flames still stood strong and were not burning.
"Liz, do you have any idea what that is?"
"Nope. I have never seen anything like that"
Ryu couldn't help worrying that the towering flames were a very bad sign. He had never seen a magic of this scale before.
"Lily, Liz. This might become our most dangerous battle ever. Please be careful"
"You too, Ryu-san!"
"Yeah, the same applies to you too"
"For now, let's wait and see how the officials respond to the situation"
The three of them then went back down to the ground. As they landed, the aide who had left before returned in a haste. The other aide who had been staying asked a question.
"Have you told the marquis? What did he say?"
"Yes, he told me to notify the Adventurer's Guild immediately"
"Then do so. Is there anything else?"
"Nothing. I'll get going immediately"
After saying that, the aide left by using Fly spell.
"Hey, what about us? Is there anything we should do?"
Ryu couldn't help asking that because there had not been any orders issued on his group. Granted, the current situation was a sudden, extraordinary event, which had never been part of the plan. But doing nothing while this disastrous event was taking place would be the worst thing to do.
"Uhh, there's no particular order for you so..."
The aide looked confused and undecided, and therefore Ryu made a decision.
"We will scout around the flames"
"No, please don't. We don't want you to risk your life unnecessarily"
"Hey, we are adventurers. We always risk our lives doing every job"
Ryu looked at Lily and Alice, and they both nodded.
"We will flee the moment we notice any danger"
After saying that, Ryu flew up and the other two followed. They flew closer to the area engulfed in flames, and they pretty much confirmed that the flames were not real because they didn't feel any heat at all. They could fly through the flames harmlessly if they wanted, though right now they couldn't see anything behind the flames.
"Do you think we should try going through the flames and look what's behind?"
"Wait a second"
Alice then casted a spell which Ryu didn't understand, but immediately she sighed.
"The magic energy of the flames is interfering, but I can sense a high number of monstrous beings"
"I see. I feel bad for the civilians there, but going inside there isn't a good idea if it's just the three of us"
"I suggest that we go around the flames and see if there are civilians who need help"
"You're right. Let's do that"
Indeed, right below them the civilians were running around in panic. The guards tried to guide them, but there was no evacuation point established yet, so they pretty much had no idea where to guide the panicking civilians. Ryu's group was no different in that matter, so there was nothing they could do.
"Look out!"
Ryu heard a scream below. When he looked, he saw a horse panicking and running around, almost trampling anyone coming across its path. It would be a matter of time until someone got trampled for real.
"Hmph!"
Alice dove down towards the horse and mounted it. The sudden mount agitated the horse even further, and it raised its front legs, neighing loudly. Alice tried her best to maintain her grip on the horse's harness, and thankfully she didn't fall off the horse.
[Exhaust]
Alice casted a spell with one hand. The horse suddenly calmed down with a heavy breath, looking exhausted. She then took full control of the horse and led it to the sideways. One guard hastily approached her as she did this.
"Thank you for calming the horse down. Let us take it from here"
Alice nodded and jumped off from the horse as two more guards approached to take care of the horse. Ryu and Lily came down from above at this time.
"Nicely done, Liz-san!"
"Yeah, nice job"
"Thanks, I guess"
Alice averted her eyes as she said it, and she seemed to be blushing.
Before they could talk any further, a different guard approached the group in a haste.
"E-Excuse me! Are you three adventurers?"
"Yes, we are. What's the matter?"
Ryu was the one answering.
"I'm here to deliver a message to all adventurers. The guild has ordered all available adventurers to assemble at Royal Palace for a strategy meeting"
"We're not from this city, so tell me one thing. The Royal Palace is that large one on the hill, isn't it?"
"Yes, sir"
"Alright then. We will head there"
"Thank you, sir!"
The guard then left the place to look for more adventurers. Ryu looked at Lily and Alice.
"Liz, are there many adventurers capable of using Fly spell?"
"As far as I know, no. It is a third tier spell after all, the pinnacle of the vast majority of magic casters"
"Then we can stand by and help around here for a while"
Lily and Alice nodded, getting what Ryu had said. Logically, it would take a while to notify all adventurers in town and have them gather in the appointed location. The three of them had the advantage of having access to Fly spell, so they could get there within minutes. Going there immediately would mean they had to wait around for a while until the adventurers arrived, and that would be a time spent meaninglessly.
But before any of them could speak further...
BOOM!
A loud bang was heard coming from somewhere behind the wall of flames, immediately followed by a ground tremor. The tremor was not an earthquake, rather more like a vibration resulting from a massive impact to the ground, and from the sound of it, the impact was quite near.
"What's happening over there?"
"Look!"
Lily pointed to one road right in front of their position, on which the wall of flames stood tall. A bunch of humans ran out from it, scared out of their wits.
Ryu quickly flew towards the wall of flame and stopped while still floating at a medium distance from it with his Weddle Park rod readied, in case the civilians were chased by something. Both Lily and Alice followed, staying afloat beside him with their weapons ready.
"Can anyone tell me what is chasing you?"
Ryu shouted, taking his chance to hopefully obtain some information from the fleeing civilians running below him.
There was one answer, which Ryu heard without looking at the one shouting.
"Demons! They are fighting each other!"
What?
That one answer only served to raise a question in Ryu's mind, the same with the other two in his group. Could that mean that there was an infighting over there?
Soon, they got an answer.
A monster came out from the flames. It was at least three or four meters tall, with bloated green body and gross-looking head. Also, there were weird marks all over its body, looking like human faces.
"Overeating. If it devours you, your face becomes another addition to its mark collection"
Alice spoke out the name of the monster and a short explanation. But before they could begin doing any action, something happened. Another monster, slightly larger than the Overeating, emerged from the flames at a height and dive-smashed the Overeating with a huge bludgeon weapon.
BOOM!
The sound was similar to the one they had just heard before. The downward strike was so powerful, the fleeing civilians were tripped by the resulting tremor, and the Overeating was reduced into a literal bloody mess after spattering blood all over. Thankfully, Alice had casted some kind of barrier spell, preventing the group and the civilians behind them from getting dirtied. The road and the buildings around were not so lucky, though.
The new monster was more humanlike in terms of body shape, except that its head was horizontally wide oval shape with spikes protruding in a straight line across the span of the head. In addition, there was only one large, swirly, fire-red eye on the face and nothing else. No mouth, nose, or ears to speak of. Its right arm held the bludgeon weapon which was as long as it was tall, around four or five meters. On closer inspection, the bludgeon weapon was actually its right arm all along.
"What is that? I have never seen anything like that"
Alice had no idea what the monster was.
"Oh, no"
"You know it, Ryu-san? Don't tell me..."
"Yes..."
Ryu knew the monster very well.
"It's a Darker. A Kuklonahda"
"Okay, so what's the weakpoint? That huge eye?"
Before Ryu could answer the question, the Kuklonahda turned around and walked back into the flame, disappearing from sight.
"It retreated?"
Ryu didn't reply to Alice's remark. He had just realized something very horrible. His face began to turn pale as Alice looked at him.
"Hey, Ryu-san. What's the matter? You look really pale. Can you explain to me and Lily?"
It took Ryu a few seconds until he began explaining.
"Darkers... They are by nature berserk creatures which attack any non-Darker creatures on sight"
"But that one didn't. What does that mean?"
"That means it was under command, which also means that there is a leader behind the flames. A Dark Falz"
"Not gonna ask what a Dark Falz is. How strong is one?"
"I pretty much have little to no chance alone if they are at their prime"
Alice didn't say anything after hearing Ryu's answer. Ryu himself had no idea what to do, now that it was pretty much confirmed that there was a Dark Falz somewhere behind the wall of flames.
"Eh? What?"
Lily suddenly spoke, slightly surprising the other two.
"What's the matter, Lily?"
"Someone is calling me with that messaging spell"
Lily then began listening to whoever called her. She didn't speak any reply other than some occasional nods. It took about ten seconds until she seemed to be finished.
"Who was that?"
"It was Nabe. Momon is requesting us to meet him at the Royal Palace immediately"
"I see. Let's get going then"
Ryu looked at both Lily and Alice, who nodded in response. All three of them then flew towards the Royal Palace. Ryu, being the only one of the three who knew that Momon and Ainz were the same person, hoped that Ainz would provide assistance against the ongoing threat.
"By the way, Ryu-san"
"Yes, Liz?"
"Why did they call Lily instead of calling you directly?"
"I don't know the cause, but Ainz-dono once told me that Message spell, for some reason, never works on me"
"Hmm..."
Ryu felt a little uneasy seeing Alice's deep thinking. He began to worry that he had said something wrong.
[X][X][X]
Lower Fire Month (9th Month), 4th Day, 22:51
Ainz, currently still being Momon, was filled with rage. His passive trait of suppressing emotion still worked, but his rage kept filling up again after getting suppressed.
Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Who had killed Entoma!?
From his short conversation with Demiurge, who had been disguising himself as Jaldabaoth, Ainz had learned that Entoma had been killed by someone during her mission. After Jaldabaoth escaped, his further conversation with the Adamantite Rank adventurer Evileye had not given him any more info other than confirming that it had not been her group who had killed Entoma. Nabe had not obtained any further info after contacting Demiurge either, so the murderer was getting away with it at this rate.
The cost of reviving Entoma would be just a speck of dust compared to the wealth of Nazarick Treasury, but the fact still remained that someone had stepped on the pride of Nazarick by killing one of its residents. They didn't even take her items, which meant she had not been worth looting for them. For Ainz, that was a major disgrace.
Right now, both him and Nabe were at the courtyard of Royal Palace after accompanying Blue Rose members in delivering the dead bodies of their two members. He had been requested to wait until adventurers came to begin a strategy meeting, but he had become impatient. He wanted to exact retribution to whoever had killed Entoma.
"Momon-san, is there anything I can do for you?"
Ainz looked at Nabe. Her face seemed calm, but Ainz knew that deep down she was raging like himself. Entoma was her sister, so it was natural that she would be as angry as him, if not more. Ainz wanted to ensure her again that the murderer would pay dearly for what they had done, but someone might overhear them so he couldn't say that.
"Just keep yourself prepared. I assure you, we will get the one who has done this"
Nabe bowed her head after hearing Ainz's words.
"Understood, Momon-san"
I sure hope she caught what I actually meant.
BEEP! BEEP!
Suddenly Ainz heard the notification of [Message]. Receiving it here would be risky, but none of Nazarick residents would contact him at this time unless absolutely necessary.
I will risk it. This better be important.
"Nabe, talk to me about some random topic"
Ainz spoke in low voice while making a hand gesture to Nabe, trying to tell her that he was receiving a [Message]. Nabe nodded and began talking while Ainz picked up the [Message].
"Ainz-sama!"
Pandora's Actor?
"Hmm..."
Ainz still couldn't speak freely since he might accidentally leak some information out, so his option was only simple short responses.
"It is unfortunate, but I have bad news!"
What now!?
"Oh..."
"A group of strong unknown monsters appeared in Flame of Gehenna and is decimating our demon army. Demiurge had ordered me to abort my task, and I feel the need to report this"
Say what!?
"I see"
"Right now Demiurge is trying to salvage the operation, but I'm afraid we must abort the operation entirely at this rate"
You better! Prioritize your survival!
"Alright"
"That is all I can report. I will retreat and remain on standby! Viel Glück, Ainz-sama!"
The [Message] ended, but immediately...
BEEP! BEEP!
Again!?
Nabe was still talking to cover him, so Ainz picked the [Message] up immediately.
"Ainz-sama"
It took a few seconds for Ainz to realize that this time the one calling was the Kashin Koji spy inside Lily's body.
"Yes"
"Just now, a monster from Ryu's origin, a Darker, appeared. It killed an Overeating in one hit"
Say what!?
"I see"
"In addition, according to what Ryu said just one second ago, there is a leader. A Dark Falz"
Hearing the last words, a memory was stirred up inside Ainz's mind. He had seen the image of a Dark Falz way back when he had tried looking at Ryu's memory. That giant, many pairs of arms, abomination of a creature would be a major threat to Nazarick. And now a creature of the same kind was nearby.
Ainz ended the [Message] immediately and looked at Nabe.
"Call Lily with Message. I need Ryu to be here as soon as possible"
At this point, Ainz had decided to stop caring about being overheard. Without prompt actions, destruction would spread like wildfire, and there would be no use building reputation if there was no living people praising him. One thing he still felt the need to maintain was the secret of Momon and Ainz being the same person. So far, the only ones outside Nazarick who knew about this secret was Nfirea Bareae and Ryu. Ainz wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.
Nabe nodded and began using [Message] spell.
"Lily, listen up. This is Nabe. Momon needs Ryu to meet him immediately. Find us at the Royal Palace"
Three minutes later, Ryu came with both Lily and Alice. They landed right in front of Ainz, who could immediately notice that Ryu looked really worried.
"Thank you for coming, Ryu. I will get to the point immediately. As you have already seen, a large part of the city is surrounded by magical flames. That is the work of a demon, Jaldabaoth. I had a short fight with him before he fled, and from that I learned his objective was to find a certain item, and also to find whoever responsible for killing one of his subordinates"
Ainz paused for a short moment before continuing.
"Did you learn any information outside what I've said while we were not together?"
Ryu seemed to hesitate, but he began speaking soon enough.
"Yes, actually. Monsters from my origin, namely Darkers, have joined the fray inside the wall of flames. We have just seen one Darker killing a... what was the name, Overeater? Anyway, that happened right before Nabe-dono called us"
"I see"
"Though I'm afraid there's something worse. The Darker looked at us for a bit and then walked away. Normally that doesn't happen because Darkers are naturally berserk and will attack any non-Darker creatures on sight. That means it was under the command of a leader. A Dark Falz is also inside the flames"
"That sounds bad"
"My chance of winning against one is not good. Therefore I would like to request assistance if possible"
Ainz folded his arms and fell into deep thought. Right now he was in the effect of [Perfect Warrior] spell, making him pretty much a half-baked level 100 warrior on YGGDRASIL scale. His options were limited because his mana was near zero as the side effect of the spell, so reverting the spell would make him pretty much useless for a while.
At this time, someone else came into the scene.
"Momon-san. I'm going to- Wait, who are these people?"
The one who just came was Evileye. It seemed that she had finished delivering the bodies of her two partners for resurrection.
"They are adventurers who came with me from E-Rantel. I can vouch for their capabilities"
"Ah, you don't need to vouch for anything. But if Momon-san said so..."
Evileye acted a little strange for a moment, seemingly shy or something. Ainz didn't really get her behavior, and he didn't want to care since there was a more important matter.
"Anyway, Momon-san, I'm going to scout the flames for the strategy meeting"
"No, you don't need to. They have done it, and the matter is turning out worse than we thought"
"What?"
Evileye naturally looked surprised. Momon then explained about the presence of Darkers and the very likely possibility of a Dark Falz being present in the area.
"Darkers? Dark Falz? I have never heard of any of that"
"I have, and they are highly dangerous"
"If even Momon-san says they are dangerous, does that mean this city is doomed?"
Ainz could feel that Evileye was worried behind her mask.
"No, I have a plan. Listen up"
Everyone on the scene focused their attention at Ainz.
"Jaldabaoth's objective was to search for an item. On the other hand, Darkers are a force of indiscriminate destruction, putting aside the Dark Falz for now. If left alone, they might end up destroying the item Jaldabaoth was searching for"
Evileye seemed to realize something.
"Are you saying that the plan is to ally with Jaldabaoth?"
"Correct"
"I can't agree with this! He has killed my friends and who knows how many innocent civilians down there!"
Evileye, who had been calm and collected so far, had lost her calm upon hearing the proposal of allying with Jaldabaoth.
"Your emotions have clouded your judgement. Of course, the ideal scenario would be if both Jaldabaoth and the Dark Falz are eliminated. But if you can only choose one to eliminate, which one would you choose?"
Evileye was speechless hearing Ainz's words.
"While not certain, I feel that we still can reason with Jaldabaoth. But I can't say the same for a Dark Falz. Therefore, this is the best course of action we have. In addition, it is quite likely that the one who has killed Jaldabaoth's subordinate is the Dark Falz, so we have a better chance forming a temporary alliance with Jaldabaoth"
"Alright, if you say so"
Evileye looked a little unhappy, but she seemed to accept the proposed plan.
"So, Momon-san. Do you need help from us? Or other adventurers?"
Ainz looked at Ryu after hearing Evileye's question.
"Before answering that, I need to ask some questions to you, Ryu"
"Yes?"
"Do you have any idea about the Dark Falz behind this invasion? What does he look like?"
"Well, the one Darker I saw was among the aquatic type, so it is likely Elder. He is probably in his Falz Hunar form, which is a four meter tall armored humanoid. The easiest way to recognize him is his very large curved sword, which... Lily, come here for a second"
Lily looked confused, but she approached Ryu anyway. Ryu then stood behind her and made a hand gesture above Lily's head.
"When sheathed, the swords go behind his head and back like this. Kinda easy to dismiss it as part of the armor because its color is similar. I'm telling you this detail because he likes fighting bare-handed with punches and kicks rather than with his sword"
Like a huge mohawk hair, huh?
Lily seemed to realize something, and then she asked a question to Ryu.
"Uhh, Ryu-san. Sorry for asking, but I wonder if he is what you saw me as when we were trapped in the illusion spell back then"
"Yes, Lily. That illusion spell made me see you as Falz Hunar, but let's focus on the more important matter"
"Right, sorry"
Momon then asked another question.
"It seems the Darkers, or the Dark Falz, chose to stay within the flames. Do you have any idea why?"
"Well, long story short, he likes to battle. Maybe he thinks the demon's minions are more worth fighting than the humans outside?"
"So as long as Jaldabaoth and his minions are there, the Dark Falz and Darkers will stay there too"
"Hopefully"
Momon then looked at Evileye.
"I want every other adventurers to focus their effort on evacuating the civilians as far as possible from the flames and stay away from the Darkers. I know some won't be satisfied, but Darkers are a whole different level of monsters. I judge that anyone weaker than you, Evileye, will perish easily"
"Alright, but at least let me come with you"
"No. Listen up. Your team is probably the only one who can put up a fight against Darkers. We need you to stay behind in case some stray ones leak out and attack the evacuating civilians"
"Alright then"
"We depart immediately. Who knows how long Jaldabaoth can hold them off"
Demiurge should be able to slay the Darkers, but there's still no information about the strength of the Dark Falz. I have to go there and make sure he is alright. If only we're not in front of people here, I could have Narberal contact Demiurge, but oh well...
Nabe then used [Fly] and lifted Ainz along with her. Ryu, Lily, and Alice also followed, flying behind. Ainz went into deep thought on the way towards the flames.
Alright, the plan I have to keep secret is to get into contact with Demiurge and tell him to fight together with me while playing his role as Jaldabaoth. In the worst case scenario where the Dark Falz is too strong, I can order him to evacuate us all back to Nazarick and regroup. I will end up blowing my cover, but at least everyone will survive. Then again, Ryu and Lily have seen Demiurge back in Nazarick, so they probably will see through his thin disguise and complicate things. But what choice do I have?
BEEP! BEEP!
What?
Ainz was a little startled by the [Message] notification. He took a glance at Ryu's group to make sure they were far enough to not hear anything, and then he picked up.
"Ainz-sama"
"Albedo? Is there something happening?"
"This is bad news, Ainz-sama"
"What is it?"
There was a silence for a few seconds.
"Demiurge has rebelled..."
[X][X][X]
Afterword:
Every plans have gone down to oblivion. What has happened to Demiurge? How will Ainz go through this matter without putting his cover in jeopardy? Will this chaos take another casualty from Nazarick? Find out in the next chapter of Overlord Phantasy!
...
It felt lame and embarrassing. Not gonna do that again.
Nevertheless, Happy New Year once again, and see you later.
