Ch. 8 A True Performance

Momon and Evileye are defending against the vampire that was once the leader of Blue Roses and an old friend. Lakyus shows no mercy to her former allies as she goes in for a brutal downward slash after jumping into the sky. She aims for Momon with this attack but the armor-clad warrior blocks with his two swords with ease, but the clash of the swords still creates a shockwave that causes the area to shake, and Evileye can tell this was a powerful clash.

Lakyus jumps back with swift movement realizing that her opponent is very strong. She stands with her sword in a simple stance "If you're as strong as the original Momon, then it just makes me more frustrated." She states

Not letting his guard up, Momon regards "Yes, I've been compared many times to my grandfather. You'll find that I am…very much like him."

Lakyus actually smiles at this comment and adds "Then I'm really going to enjoy this."

Evileye has no real comments at this point because words are only going to fall on deaf ears and it's pointless to reason with the Black Knight.

Lakyus waves her hand and her swords spiral around her body as a rainbow of elements forms in multiple rings around her body "Earth, wind, water, fire, and everything between. No elemental weakness is beyond my powers." Her swords begin to fly at Momon and he swiftly flicks his swords around his body to deflect all the swords and then he sees Lakyus charging at him, but Evileye casts Crystal Wall in front of Lakyus, who smashes through it with a swing of her sword.

Not noticing, Evileye is struck from behind as she feels a sharp object pierce her back and then it's followed by a few more stabs. Momon swings his swords to knock more swords away from his comrade for the moment to prevent more damage.

"Keep your guard up. She's trying to close up all blind spots in this attack." He suggests in a commanding tone while Evileye observes the swords hovering all over the area.

Under her mask, Evileye is blushing again "Oh, he even has his charisma and battle sense." She thinks to herself but is brought back to reality when Momon tosses her a potion to heal her wounds while they jump away from Lakyus who still appears unrelenting.

Evileye recovers from her wounds and states "If that's how she wants it, then I'll have to treat her like a real enemy….Aura of Rose!" her body glows blue and her power increases.

Lakyus holds her sword ready and asks "Is that a new trick, old friend?"

Evileye takes a breath and answers "I created it as my tribute to my friends…our friends."

The Knight clad in black reminisces a little about the time when she was the leader of Blue Roses, but then is quickly brought back to reality when Evileye casts an even faster Crystal Lance and shoots multiples of them that she fails to block completely as her arm and side are punctured by the powerful crystal spells.

Inside the Cave

People run from the Crimson Empress, Justina Bloodfallen as she is holding the empty husk of a corpse once being a citizen of the Slane Theocracy after sucking all the blood from the body. Justina looks around and sees normal miners, who bow in her presence, and she can tell the difference between fear and unease. Her subjects are unease by her presence, her enemies fear her. She sniffs the air and licks her lips but her tongue appears a little whip-like.

"I can smell a den of them. I see, they must have built a small camp under my nose. No matter, I'll show them what happens when they cross into my private lands!" she declares as a deep red aura emerges from her clothing as it turns completely white, the colors from her clothing swirling off into a sphere that changes colors to blood-red and her body glows black with her eyes shining red. Her body begins to crack and her eyes seemingly disappear while her jaw seemingly disappears as her hair becomes disheveled and covers her lower face and her hands begin to elongate and her body becomes skeletal in shape and her fingers open up and reveal tongue-like protrusions emerging from all her fingers.

Deeper in the tunnels, members of Blue Roses are scattering to get the civilians out of the area since they can tell that the Empress is transforming into her vampire form. Nikola is oddly absent.

Instead, she is meeting up with an unexpected guest, and comments "You couldn't have come at more opportune time."

The person makes a dramatic pose and then salutes as he states "My greatest pride is my service to you, Lady Flamel." As they are then revealed, by the posing alone, as Pandora's Actor, and Nikola is really Flamel.

She takes off her mask as her face returns to normal and clothing turns to a black color with a purple fauld forming around her waist and she orders "Quit saluting and transform already. I have to stop Justina before she kills any my comrades. You need to get outside and help Keeno."

Pandora's Actor transforms his body into an exact copy of Flamel's Nikola disguise and puts on the mask she wears. The mask records events and memories so the two can switch without troubles. Pandora's Actor smacks himself for a second and gets into character.

He then questions "But why would you fight against Lady Justina? I don't find it appropriate for my lord's daughters to be so violent with each other."

Flamel looks at her servant and asks "Are you questioning my orders?" her tone commanding and not happy.

Pandora's Actor assures her "Not at all, Milady. But fighting between the daughters of my great creator fills me with sorrow." His body showing a constant salute even in this guise to his empress as he conveys his dismay to her, Pandora's actor just makes a spectacle of himself.

Flamel hears Justina coming and then states "Just get out of here, I promise I won't hurt her or start a real fight. Just don't, no matter what happens, drop that disguise."

Pandora's Actor follows his orders despite his unease but only hopes that the two lovely empresses don't really fight each other. Flamel summons her sword as Nikola, a weapon created with an extremely rare item and was duplicated for Pandora's Actor to use, but she also summons a second sword, a katana-like sword that has a platinum blade and a silver tsuba. She hears the sounds of people screaming and knows that Justina found the encampment in the mine.

While on her rampage, Justina has her hands dug into the flesh of two victims as she sniffs the air and wonders "Why do I smell the scent of father in my mines?" She sniffs more and looks around to see her sister approaching with her swords. She growls "Flamel, I've warned you before about trespassing in my empire without my consent!"

Flamel holds her swords to her side and argues "It's not trespassing if I'm stopping a violent animal, "sister"."

Justina's eyes revert to normal and her body reverts to its previous form and she becomes less rabid looking and she summons her armor from before and generates her weapon. Then, the two begin fighting immediately without any warning.

In the caverns, Pandora's Actor is finding his way out while disguised as Nikola. His mission is to get back Evileye and protect her in place of Flamel herself. He wanders around the caverns for a moment until he sees someone familiar; he sees an armored figure approaching. He stops for a moment and remembers a line that Nikola would say.

"Hold on! Where do you think you're going?" he says in a very similar way that Flamel does.

But the armored man proclaims "Wait, I'm an ally of yours, Nikola."

Upon the visage of the armored man becoming clearer, Pandora's Actor completely freezes in place and his real tone shines through when he utters "Lord Ainz?..." his body trembling and he falls to his knees in shock.

Immediately, Momon recognizes the voice and he asks "Is that you, Pandora's Actor? If so, transform into your original form."

Pandora's Actor salutes and replies "But, Sir, I have orders from lady…"

Ainz swiftly declares "This is an order from ME. Transform back at once."

He transforms back immediately while shouting "Sorry, Sir, I won't hesitate ever again. I just thought I was hallucinating. But I could never mistake the armor you were. It's just a glamorous as the legends speak."

It would only be natural that all the denizens of the tomb would know what his armor looks like due to the information they probably gave everyone they could when he disappeared three hundred years ago. But now he has learned something, if Pandora's Actor is here and wasn't impersonating Nikola before, then she must be Flamel is disguise since Justina is in the mines in her true form.

But before they can continue to converse, the cave begins shaking and Pandora's Actor states "This is bad! I thought she told me she wouldn't fight Justina."

Surprised a bit, Ainz asks "Wait, do you mean to say that you allowed her to move on and fight against her sister?"

Not excusing his actions, he simply replies "But, Sir, I was ordered by your heir. My options were to either obey or defy."

"Hmm, that is true. The fault is not yours. You were merely following the whims of a foolish girl." The true overlord replies.

But Pandora's Actor does admit "But I wished I had argued a little more. Now this mine is probably going to be destroyed."

He looks around and sees the abundance of the metals here and he wonders "But would a true ruler sacrifice such a precious resource over a petty squabble?"

"Lady Justina and Lady Flamel fight all the time, my lord. They occasionally fight despite any of our protests. They've even destroyed many cities over the smallest arguments." He confesses while kneeling.

He also wants to know "But why is Flamel assuming the guise of a different person?"

Pandora's Actor confesses "I'm not sure of the full reason, but I believe it's because she wants to spy on Justina. Oh, what travesty! The two daughter's of my creator use…." He just dramatically monologues for a moment.

Ainz, now knowing the this little bit of information, thinks "Perhaps it was too whimsical of me to make this approach. He then removes his armor finally and says "They destroy without cause, they use MY servants to conspire against each other. They show no ambition for the Great Tomb of Nazarick." He places his hand to his face while saying "Then I need to show them that the Tomb is not for campaigning for dominance against itself."

He looks to his servant and the first words out of his mouth are "What are your orders, Sir?"

Ainz declares "I will handle these two. As their father, I will quash this pointless struggle to redeem the name of Ainz Ooal Gown!" He looks upon his servant and orders "You will fulfill your role of playing the woman Nikola. I am curious as to why she has chosen this persona. I will return to the Great Tomb after this and I will make my presence known once again to all. In three days, be there."

Pandora's Actor is in awe of his creator and lord returning as he changes back into the form of Nikola and carries his orders with renewed vigor and hope. Ainz then steps forward to end this conflict between his daughters post-haste.

Indeed, Justina and Flamel attack each other with great ferocity as the mines surround them crumble before their great powers. Flamel using magic and is firing black fireballs while Justina slams her weapon into the ground and creates a wall of blood that negates the magic and they charge at each other with Flamel taking a slash to the face, but Justina takes a blow to the side and destroys some of her side armor with Flamel's powerful weapons dealing some damage.

They look at each other with Flamel using healing magic on her face and Justina drinking blood by plunging her hand into a nearby corpse to regenerate her wounds, but Flamel can still visibly make out a scar on her sisters' body.

"Such an unsightly scar, Justina. How is it that you have many concubines with such an ugly body?" Flamel sarcastically remarks.

Laughing a bit, Justina retorts "Oh, they adore licking my wounds, as well as other places." She licks her lips and then adds "Then again, how would a virgin know of such pleasures?"

Blushing, Flamel demands "How do you know about that?"

Justina's face turns cocky when she answers "I know because you just told me, stupid." She laughs like a child at her sister's embarrassment.

Flamel simply tackles her sister and starts hitting her like a teenager going through puberty.

Upon entering the area, Ainz's jaw drops at the shameful display and he announces "Stop!" Which immediately catches the attention of the two girls who look at their father and stare for a moment, and they cannot believe what they see.

Almost in sync, they mutter "Fa….fa…." they then both scream "Father!?"

He wishes he could say something more dignified but what he says is "When I heard that you two were conflicting with each other, I expected a battle of grand proportions, but this? This is shameful."

The two girls are frozen in place for moment until Justina pushes Flamel off of her body and runs to her father without hesitation. She bows to him and says "Forgive me, father…" like her nightmare from before, Justina feels inferior in his presence.

But Flamel looks skeptical when she shouts "Justina, show some dignity! How can we be sure that this is our godly father?"

Ainz looks upon Flamel and replies "Oh ho, am I sensing a challenge from you, Flamel?"

Justina angrily looks at her sister and shouts "Don't disrespect father! As his daughter, I can tell it's him." He looks down at his cowering daughter Justina, who seems afraid of him and she fears the words from his mouth may very well be the same from her nightmare and she panics "Wait, father, I not cowering…I'm just so stricken by your visage. Please, don't call me a disgrace."

He kneels down to her level and states "Rise, Justina. Your anxieties are justified. No, it is I who has committed a disservice."

Still skeptical, Flamel demands to know "If you are our father, then why do appear in a rustic mine like this?"

Justina's eyes glow red as she turns to her sister and yells "Don't question father's motives!

Detecting distrust, Ainz responds "I see it'll take more convincing. Very well then. I shall reclaim my throne and send armies to your capitals. Will that suffice in proving my identity?"

He raises his hands and then he alongside Justina and Flamel are teleported out of the mines. The next thing they know, they are outside the shaft and near the destroyed camp with Evileye and Pandora's Actor gone. Lakyus is still here with her wounds from earlier keeping her down.

Finally standing, Justina laments on her father's proposal and states "Father, I have no intentions of fighting you. Please, just allow me to show you what I've made in your honor."

Looking at the two, a thought comes to the mind of the overlord "It almost feels reversed to me. Justina pleads at my feet and Flamel doubts me. While I don't think Shalltear would be this skeptical, Albedo would fall all over herself for my favor. Something isn't right between them.

Flamel simply turns her away and wonders "I can't think of anyone who'd have this presence." She trembles now and falls on her behind and says "After 300 years, he finally comes back, and don't even know how to feel."

With their roles reversed, Justina demands "Flamel, stand up and show our father respect." She turns back to him and now hugs her father and further pleads "Father, please come see it, come see my empire."

Looking at her pleading face, he answers "Justina, if you and Flamel truly honored me, you would have never divided the denizens of the great tomb. I will come visit your empire when it suits me, but it's clear I have some cleaning up to do." He waves his arm and states "I will also be requesting the guardians you have divided and take them back with me."

Flamel jumps in and argues "Hold on! The guardians serve our empires now. You can't just come and demand their services when we need them."

"On the contrary, I can, I will, and you will not argue." He argues with her. Further, he berates them "Aside from your mothers, who I will have to speak with, relying so heavily on the guardians when they are clearly needed for Nazarick's prosperity is a sign of weakness on your behalves."

Not wanting to disagree, Justina buts in "Yes, we need them right now. My empire is facing a crisis and I am in need of the help from the guardians."

Even though she's not acting the most appropriately for an empress right now, Ainz does empathize with her plight. Seeing back in the town that the mayor is being shaken down for resources, he makes an offer "Very well, Justina. I will personally see to this crisis first and foremost. But only because I will not permit people living in MY territory to face famine and disease." He looks back at Flamel again and orders her "I wish to gather the guardians to announce my return. Flamel, inform all of the ones in your service to meet me in my throne room. (looks at Justina) I will inform the ones in your service personally. Tell them to meet in the tomb in three days, and I'll have this whole crisis settled. Then, I will have to teach you both a very prominent lesson in ruling."

Flamel clenches her fists, summons a vortex of darkness, and walks into it while saying "Fine, I'll inform my mother and the others of your return."

With her gone, Justina sticks her tongue out at her and says "Screw you, annoying bitch."

"Justina, watch your mouth!" he shouts to his daughter, who seems to jump in the air at hearing her stern father. He calms down and asks "Is she always like this?"

Calmed down, Justina converses with her father "No, normally she's very respectful around your name. I can't imagine why she's like that. It has to be that she hangs around humans too much."

"But aren't your empires filled with humans?" he asks confused.

She scoffs and answers "Yes, but those humans are only good for helping MY Empire flourish. Flamel, on the other hand, simply sees too much in them. She actually thinks fondly of humans if I'd take a guess."

Albedo and Shalltear don't particularly like humans at all, and it seems Justina carries the same sentiment. But Flamel is different from the sound of things. Despite what he's seen and done, Ainz will have to teach his daughter's proper lessons starting now. He had hoped that he could have been subtler, but the situation demands command, and he will give it. But first, he will help Justina's crisis before showing her what she needs to change, from force if need be.

Philosophers Empire

Flamel arrives back at her throne room after teleporting and is greeted by the commandant of her knights, the one armed paladin, Duchess Vaiself, the woman with brown hair that resembles Renner herself, but she is now wearing white armor with gold trim and a cape covering one of her arms. Flamel then summons clothing resembling a black robe with her Empire's symbol on it and she approaches her throne while her mother diligently stands next to.

She smiles at her daughter and asks "Flamel, how was your trip?"

Flamel remembers her father's demands to tell the guardians about his return, but then she looks at her mother and has a bad memory.

Years Ago

Flamel is playing with her mother in the Tomb and all seems well for the moment. She plays with her in on a lower floor in a forest. After which, Flamel hugs her mother's leg and says "I love you, mother."

Albedo rubs her daughter's head and replies "I love you so much, Flamel, and I know your father does too."

She grips her mother's leg and replies "I don't love father…"

Without a moment's hesitation, a loud slap is heard and in a brief moment, Flamel is looking upon her mother, who now has a scornful look on her face and she states "Don't ever say things like that about your father." She now has a red mark on her face and she begins to tear up.

Present

There were many times like that were she let things like that slip and every time she'd get that slap from her mother with that scornful look followed by a lecture. Despite this, she still loves her mother who would always be there for her.

So she simply smiles and answers "Oh it was uneventful." She takes her place on her throne and thinks about what to do next when she inevitably has to deal with this situation.

Author's Note- Sorry this took longer than the others, but I'm going back to working on this more regularly and hope to have new chapters each week or sooner.