Ch.15 Assault PT.2

Nursery

Shalltear sits in a chair in front of a group of vampire children, who look at her with wonder as she holds a book and reads aloud a story to them "…And then, Lord Ainz proclaimed to the cowering worthless human , "What kind of man can kill women and children, but doesn't have the nerve to face me." Of course, the feeble coward fell to his absolute power swiftly…"

A child raises his hand, curiously asking "Lady Shalltear, is Lord Ainz really Lady Justina's daddy?"

Happily smiling, Shalltear simply answers "Of course. I gave brought her into the world as his legacy. In fact, you all get to gaze upon him soon." To which all the children's red eyes beam with wonder and happiness.

But Shalltear does lower her smile and wonders "But, I wonder where things will go from here…"

Throne Room

Justina sits and coughs up some blood while her attackers look at her with anticipation, sweat running down one of their faces, the smell only overpowered by the blood in the room.

"I can't believe we did it…" one says nervously, the voice indicating male as he sounds like he's ventilating.

Another pulls out a sword and points it at the empress "We should end her now. We have the chance." A female says sounding determined.

Another woman, the leader judging by her commanding presence, lowers the weapon by gently placing her palm on the blade "No, we must gather information. If not, our plans for the other empress may not go as smoothly as this."

In intense pain, Justina tries moving her arm a bit, but one her attackers notices, and immediately stabs a dagger into her arm, silver dripping from the blade.

"Don't even try anything. We've been preparing for this day for a long time." She threatens her tone serious, and cold towards the vampire. She holds a blade towards her again "Now, you're going to tell us what we want, and we'll make this quicker." She then looks at one of the others, nods, and then one of figures reaches wanders over towards a panel on the floor, steps on it, and an orb appears from a hole. It has a purple glow and the person touches it.

Outside

The orb glows, and outside, to the surprise of the people watching, and the maids looking outside, a barrier begins forming around the palace. It envelopes the building completely and the people wondering "What's going on?...Why is the barrier here?" among the panic.

Seeing this, Solution Epsilon, who is outside with a people behind her "Why did Lady Justina deploy the barrier?" She then runs towards the building and sees Entoma and Yuri standing before the barrier with confused looks (Entoma less so) and wondering the same thing as Solution.

Before long, Ainz appears from a portal, the maids bowing in his presence the moment they see their lord.

He looks at the barrier "Hmm, I had wondered why I was brought here instead of the interior." He touches it and he feels a repelling force at his fingers. Putting his hand to his chin, he looks at the maids, asking "I assume you know of what this is?"

The maids nod as Yuri raises her head "Yes, my lord. This barrier is created through the use of a world class item from Nazarick's vault."

Stunned, he wonders "So, you allowed those two to have their way with Nazarick's vault?"

A bit nervous, Yuri explains, while adjusting her glasses "It was to better protect their borders. Lady Justina requested a powerful barrier for her palace. Lady Flamel requested a powerful weapon."

He inspects the barrier further "Oh right. I think I remember this. Yeah, I think it was called…Greed Shield. It was supposed to be an impenetrable barrier for bases. But we never used it because of how we wanted the Great Tomb to function." Looking on the maids again, he asks "Are there others inside the palace still?"

Nodding, Solution adds "Lady Albedo and Lady Shalltear are still inside. Other maids and that Black Knight are there as well. Oh…and those brats that Justina takes care of."

Confused, he asks "Brats? Oh, you mean that there are children inside?"

But Entoma adds "Yes, Lord Ainz. Justina keeps the children of her soldiers inside the palace for safety. They tend to attack anything that they perceive as food. To be honest…I sometimes join them." Her mouth drooling as she says this, to which she immediately wipes herself and apologizes "Forgive me, Lord Ainz."

He looks back "You are forgiven. That was an important piece of information. Perhaps…" he then receives a message as he puts his hand to the side of his head "Yes…" he greets.

The voice belongs to Shalltear as she sounds distressed "I received Sebas' message. Lord Ainz, is it true? Is Justina in danger?"

"Yes, where are you located?" He asks

She immediately answers "I am with the children in their playroom. I will go to Justina's side at once."

However, he orders "No, stay with the children. The barrier around the palace has been deployed, so you are locked in, and so are they."

His decision a little perplexing, Solution bows to her lord again, but a look of uncertainty appears "Lord Ainz, forgive my rudeness, but doesn't Justina's life come before those brats?"

His eyes glow a bit and he seems a little irritated "Brats? Those children are her servants, her treasures. The moment I heard I about them, I knew why Justina wanted this barrier. She wanted to protect them, what other reason would she have?" He looks at the other maids and his passion shines through "I would do the same for all of you, had I thought a danger too great. I would rather throw all I that I am away, than put any of you in harm's way."

Inspired, the maids bow even more devotedly, and Solution puts on a face of guilt, and states "I apologize, Lord Ainz. I misread your intentions."

Going back Shalltear, Ainz asks "Shalltear, remain with the children and protect them. If Justina is locked in there, she must have a plan…or rather, her attackers must be bidden their time." He looks at the barrier again, thinking "Okay, so either Justina put up the barrier in defense, or her attackers put it up and plan to interrogate her. But if that's the case, I wonder how long they were planning this, or even if they somehow managed to spy on her this whole time. Either way, I should contact Albedo and see what she can do."

Inside the palace, Albedo wanders, none the wiser to the barrier as she just inspects more features of this palace, but she does get a feeling, saying to herself "Something feels ominous…" Then, she hears a noise, knowing immediately as she puts her hand to her ear "Lord Ainz!?" She yells, her face red a bit "Please…"

But his calm voice commands "Albedo, calm yourself. Where are you? Are you still inside the palace?"

Taking a breath, Albedo calmly responds "Yes, I am currently on fifth floor, I believe."

Back outside, Ainz informs Albedo of the situation, and then looks at Solution and Entoma, asking "Do you two know the layout of the palace?" To which they both nod "Good, so tell me what we can do from the fifth floor."

Solution explains "The palace is modeled after the Great Tomb in terms of floor quantity. But each floor serves a different function. The fifth floor is the cold storage floor. This is where Justina keeps items and foods that need to be preserved for long periods. However, there is not much that can be done until the eighth floor, where the control for the world class item is located."

He asks "So the world class item is there?"

But she responds "No, but it can be accessed from a room there, and the throne room. Justina wanted it to be accessed from a few places, but I do not know them all."

Nodding, he goes back Albedo, asking her "Albedo, did you hear all of that?"

She affirms "Yes, and I understand. You wish for me to take this world class item, correct?"

"No, disarm it for us. A barrier is in place that prevents us from entering. Since it is produced by a world class item, I cannot dispel it. Disarm it, and we'll enter the palace. So I leave it up to you." Ainz says confidently to his trusted attendant.

Sure of herself, Albedo simply responds "Understood. I will do this without fail, my Lord."

Albedo summons her weapon and produces her helm as she prepares her armor as she has a mission to accomplish, and she plans to succeed.

Back in the throne room, Justina lowers her head from the pain as her attackers stand before her again. But the leader orders her troops "We need to get the further parts of the plans in motion. (Points at two allies) You two know where to go. I and Enit will proceed with the questioning." Two of the attackers leave hastily and each produces a weird looking pod in their hands.

Below on the fifth floor, Albedo is making her way up a flight of stairs "Okay, I've been here before, so the rest of the way is simple for me." However, as she gets up to the sixth floor, a new scene has taken the place of palace interior; a jungle-like maze is now here. Annoyed, Albedo makes her way through but is halted not long after taking a few footsteps and she feels around, noticing "Great, I guess that blood sucker is more cautious than I'd realized. But I will not fail on an order from Lord Ainz." Low on options, Albedo puts her hand to her ear.

In the throne room, Justina's head is near her palm from being bent over and she hears Albedo's voice "Justina, can you hear me. I'm trying to find my way through the jungle maze on the sixth floor."

Justina remains silent as the leader is approaching closer now.

Albedo just states "Listen I'm trying to help you. Lord Ainz has given me orders to find the world class item, so we can help you and those children you're protecting. So, distrust me if you will, but don't distrust your father, my Lord Ainz."

The leader holds a blade to Justina, demanding "Okay, I'm going to question you now, and if you cooperate, I won't torture you further and we'll be swift."

Sighing, Justina just calmly says "Just tell me what you want to know. I'll say what I can."

Understanding, Albedo asks "Okay, I am just five steps away from the stairs to the fifth floor. Where do I go from here."

The leader asks "Where there any plans to invade the Slane Theocracy?"

Justina keeps her head in place "Well…if I remember…yeah, it was about ten years ago, when I left the land by the border near Carne."

Albedo, thinking on the words "Alright, ten left… she counts her footsteps and then feels a wall right in front of her "So I guessed correctly. Okay, ten steps left."

The leader then demands "Okay, what about the border gave you the idea, and why invade now?"

Once again, Justina answers "The plan always lingered in my mind, but did eight years sound right? But, then I kept an eye on the camps you placed in the west and thought action was needed."

On her end, Albedo takes eight steps right and the nine steps left, but the leader on Justina's end isn't happy as she stabs another dagger "Details, we need REAL details, not a summary."

Feeling the torture more, Justina continues "Okay, I'll tell you about my seven squads…in the east….My …and my elite squads in the north were the last of my preparations."

Albedo walks the directions and after taking seven steps left, she sees a corridor ahead, and she sees the stairway ahead. A bit pleased, she now starts her way through the seventh floor, which looks normal for the most part, but because of the last floor, she asks "Is there a trick on the seventh floor I should be aware of?"

Feeling a stab at her abdomen, the leader demands "I said details! Now, what was the plan? What were you planning? What is the other empress planning?"

Coughing more, Justina answers "It was just a straightforward attack plan, nothing else. I thought my sixth idea was enough to defeat my enemies."

Sighing, Albedo comments to herself "I guess narrow thinking runs in that lamprey's side. At least making her traps limited is for my convenience at the moment." She continues her straightforward path.

9th floor: Crimson Bath

On this floor, there a many rooms of luxury for Nazarick's inhabitants and Justina's most elite guests, and his built with spas and grand bedrooms. Used by the Black Knight during her leisure time, a massive bath house is the center of luxury. It is indoor, but with a night sky perpetually surrounding it and pillars around with vines of roses around them. But the bath itself is a massive pool of soothing warm water and some vampire brides work around the corners, hand mixing herbs and berries for lotions, shampoos, and massage oils.

Sitting in the soothing waters, Lakyus is out of her armor and wears a bathing gown consisting of simple white cloth around groin and breasts as her feet are massaged by the attending vampire brides and her hair brushed ever so carefully by the beautiful monsters.

But, swiftly, a vampire bride is blown away by a light based spell and shoots far into the bath. Immediately standing up, Lakyus' eyes glow red as she pulls her sword of the water from under her feet. The other vampire brides attending all look towards where the attack came from, anger on their faces.

Lakyus simply orders "Check on the one that got hit. Dead or alive, take her out of here. I'll back you up." And so the brides all grab their fallen attendant, and carry her out of the room, as Lakyus watches the entrance. She then hears the sound of water and turns around as a light spear shoots at her, which she deflects easily. She then slashes her sword and unleashes a dark shockwave that shakes the ground, but a little water moves and a splash is heard a little away.

Serious, she lowers her weapon and states "Fighting me in the bath isn't the best idea if you're trying to fight invisibly."

Lowering their invisibility, a mask wearing robbed figure appears. He removes his mask, revealing a young looking man with yellow eyes with black sclera and removes his hood and reveals a white sleeveless shirt with ornate black pants with gold trim and no shoes and a slim build. He has short blonde hair that is swept back.

He has an arrogant smile on his face "I suppose it wasn't courteous to attack you like this, Black Knight."

Walking along the water, Lakyus looks at her foe and asks "You look familiar, but I don't think we've met. Tell me, who are you descended from?"

The young man shrugs a bit "I figured as much. It has been some time since you fought my ancestor. Does the name Nigun Grid Luin sound familiar?" he asks back

Thinking on his face, she has an image in her head but remarks "Sorry, I've met too many people over my life time, let alone people I've fought."

Smirking a bit, he rebukes "Oh that's right, you've been whoring yourself to that bloodsucking Empress for three centuries, I've heard. You can't remember, because you've indulged your vices nonstop. Trying to forget your past, I assume." He simply paces in a circle like her and pulls out a coin with one side with a sun symbol and the other of a flower, casually flipping it in his hand, catching it casually, and remarks "Let's see, Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra…noble from Re-Estize . Oh, sorry, FOMER noble. A whore who sold out her team for immortality, a harlot who watched her homeland burn, and a joke who fell for bloodsucking vampire."

She bites her lip in response, and the man just adds "Oh well, I think it's time for the subtleties to end. I, Luin of the Black Scripture, will now slaughter the Black Knight of the Crimson Empire." He then pulls out a pod and places it around his wrist as it expands on his arm with an eyeball on the back of his hand and his coin turns into a spear with an angelic design with a wing-like blade and feathers adorned around a white cloth along the head, and the coin itself in the center of the blade. Floating a bit, he simply adds "Although, I really don't think a whore like you really deserves such a grand title." Then, the eyeball glows black and he announces "Angel Boost!...Magic Boost!...Speed Boost!" His body glows with various colors.

Lakyus just summons her element blades and announces "Dark Awakening!" as her body glows a crystal blue and she readies for a fight.

8th floor: Crimson Gate

Albedo now makes her way to the star of the floor, her mission ever closer to completion. She now finds a different site, instead of a traditional floor, there is a large cathedral-like structure. In the center, there is a thick wilderness below with many ferocious looking monsters.

Looking at them, Albedo can't help but say "I guess Aura must have supplied these beasts. Flamel has no need for these kinds of defenses after all."

But now she hears a voice saying "So, the other empress has no guardian beasts. That's a good insight."

Albedo turns her attention and calmly states "Who are you to want information of the Philosopher's Empress?"

The person reveals themselves to be another masked and hooded figure. This one has a feminine voice and removes their robe and mask revealing simple black hair tied into a ponytail and wears thin white armor with a set of red gauntlets and greaves as her weapons as they contrast her armor. She stands before a tree-like pillar and states "If you are an ally of the Crimson Empress, then you will proceed no further."

Albedo scoffs at the notion "My allegiance is no concern yours, lower life form." She then holds her weapon, threateningly "That being said, I have no qualms simply ended your pitiful existence right here, and now."

The female warrior takes a stance as she simply moves up and down with her feet moving constantly and she reveals her arm to have an organic-looking piece of armor on it with an eye on the shoulder shining through.

Albedo just looks forward, her voice unworried "Hmm, if you were smart, you'd have run away, at least it would have increased your chances of survival." Brandishing her weapon, Albedo prepares for her own brawl.

Outside

Ainz simply watches the exterior and from a gate, the remaining servants appear with Sebas leading. Cocytus and Lupusregina following as well as they bow to their lord like the others.

Seeing them all, Ainz turns to them "Ah, good. You all got my message."

Cocytus stands firmly "Of course, Lord Ainz. Say the word, and we'll come without even thinking about it."

Nodding he requests "When this is over, I will hear of your findings. But for now, we wait." He turns back to the encased palace and states "It won't be much longer. Albedo should be done within moments. But saying it, he thinks "Got to wonder where Flamel is. She said she'd meet me here. Oh well, I'll trust in her for now."

?

Nikola and Evileye find themselves in a dark damp area with the latter sounding annoyed "Remind me again why we had to come in through the sewers, and without Tion and Pernelle?"

Stern, Nikola answers "Because, I think the invaders have something here. Something in case the mission needed something extra. Also, those two will be needed after the barrier is dispelled."

The two open a door at the end of the dark area and find themselves in a dungeon-like area. It has torture devices, prison cells, and patches of blood and flesh as Evileye shutters a bit "God, it feels like this place has seen happier days.

Hearing footsteps, Nikola pulls out her sword and Evileye readies her magic and then a bunch of zombie-like robed figures appear.

Sarcastically, Evileye utters "I REALLY hate it when you're right, Nikola."

Also sarcastically, Nikola replies "Too bad I'm ALWAYS right, Keeno."

The two share a chuckle as they begin their own battle inside the crimson palace.