IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! IT'S FINALLY HERE! Forgive my excitement but I have been looking forward to this story for so long and now that it's making its official debut I can hardly contain myself! Welcome all readers new and old to my first collab story: The Nazarick Triumvirate, set in the Overlord universe and co-authored by myself and my good friend daniel. santiago. 4545 (just remember to take away the spaces between the dots when searching for his username!)
Myself and daniel first started conversing when he started reading my Shield-Hero stories, and soon enough we got into talking about the anime we both enjoyed with Overlord being chief among them. When daniel first pitched the idea of working on our own story, I was initially a bit hesitant thinking I might be a bit out of my depth considering the size and scope of the Overlord universe, but over the next few weeks of discussion we managed to put together something not only feasible but that promises to be incredibly special, and thus the idea for the Nazarick Triumvirate was born, with myself and daniel both crafting our own characters to serve as the 42nd and 43rd members of Ainz Ooal Gown that would join Momonga in the New World. This means that, whilst it will be following canon for the most part, there will be several major and minor alterations to the plot due to the impact both of our characters will have on both the story and the New World itself.
This author's note will be long enough already so I'll save my usual spiel about the anime I've been watching recently and my real-life problems for another time. Instead, I'll allow my fellow author to say a few words before we kick this off!
daniel. santiago. 4545: Hey everyone! Daniel here! Very excited to work on this project with my good friend theoneandonlyedster!
I first got exposed to his work with his first Shield Hero Story and decided to DM him. And imagine my surprise when we started talking on a semi-regular basis! We both are incredibly passionate about Overlord and I was beyond honoured that the author of one of my favourite stories on this site liked my pitch for this and let me work alongside him, but rest assured that this is not my first rodeo in aiding authors with the stories since I have worked with other authors including Longclaw 1-6 and Vgn Golley (be sure to check out their stories as well on their profiles!)
Lastly, I promise you all I'll do my best and help theoneandonlyedster make this story the very best it can be! ALL HAIL NAZARICK!
With those words from both of us out of the way, we hereby present to you the first chapter of the Nazarick Triumvirate! But first, the usual disclaimer that neither myself nor daniel. santiago. 4545 own Overlord or any of its characters, locations, events or anything else related to the anime, manga or Light Novels. The only things we own are our OCs, Henry and Fengxian. ENJOY!
Chapter 1 – To All Things Comes an End
The year is 2138, and planet Earth, once the shining jewel in a sea of stars and worlds that made up the Sol solar system, is slowly dying. The cause of this long-term suffering and slow fall to extinction of the planet and the once populous races that inhabited it wasn't due to external factors such as meteorites or any form of increased radiation produced by its native star, the Sun, or any internal forces of nature such as volcanoes, rising sea levels or anything like that.
No, the true cause for the slow suffocation of what had once been a green world stuffed with natural resources and rich in oxygen…was arguably its greatest creation: humanity. Numbering at its zenith in the several billion, humanity came onto this world to safeguard and protect it if the texts of some of its religions were to be believed. However, as they uncovered more of the Earth's riches and developed even more advanced technology throughout the centuries, the vices lying within their souls came to the fore and soon those who controlled the fate and lives of humanity, and thus the Earth itself, were driven and motivated by one of if not the deadliest of the seven greatest sins that dwelled within the core of every man, woman and child who was ever born: Greed.
As the twenty-first century was winding down and the world entered the twenty-second, society's old structures and governmental systems were only just holding on to relevancy and existence. Despite the continued fall of the environment around them, those elected into positions of power, or those who ruled by committee or dictatorship, were still hanging onto these ideals through the continued belief of those who elected them or the power of those who put and kept them in their positions of authority. But in the end, the fall of these governmental systems was inevitable. As primary-sector industries, such as those responsible for producing, packaging, exporting, and selling food and agricultural products, collapsed under the weight of the continued environmental destruction and drying up of crops caused by the continued pollution of the Earth's atmosphere (which ended up becoming so bad that even the sky and the Sun itself were forever hidden from view by a cloud of thick, black smog that choked the life out of plants, causing them to wither and die along with the populations of birds and insects that relied upon them for food), food riots broke out in every corner of the globe as everyone tried to desperately hoard the ever-dwindling supply of food products for themselves, leading to countless deaths. These riots eventually led to coup d'états, with those who had the money pinning the blame on the politicians who then became the target of their people's discontent and were unceremoniously unseated from their power and tried by the ravenous and starving mobs.
In the power vacuum left by the downfall of governments, one group of people swept in and took all of the legislative, judicial and executive powers for their own, effectively making themselves the rulers of the countries they were based in, and these were the conglomerates controlled by those who were able to financially and environmentally manipulate and control what remained of the world's resources. Sequestered away in their new arcologies or 'environment cities', the conglomerates now had the power to make the rules of the world to their own desires which is exactly what they proceeded to do. However, instead of focusing on making the lives of the people they were now responsible for better, all they did was change the rules to ensure their own continued wealth and power, at the expense of the rest of the world.
Under their rule, the situation on Earth only worsened. The ever-expanding pollution only became more toxic, with people having to cough up most of their earnings to afford artificial lungs that would allow them to breathe in the new toxic environment. Water purification systems failed entirely, so even tap water now had to be filtered by hand before it could be drunk. With the crops all dried up, and the once fertile grounds turning into desolate wastelands, the practice of traditional farming became a thing of the past. All vegetables and grains were cultivated in domes, causing the prices of food to soar beyond any form of inflation the world had seen before. Even usual everyday products like fruits and vegetables became a luxury that the common folk couldn't get their hands on, forcing the less well-off to rely on supplements and processed foods in order to survive.
Not only did the environment suffer beyond all repair, but all the semblances of what had once been ordinary human life were also slowly eroded away as well. Policing became non-existent, allowing gangs and hackers to operate freely and out in the open. Conditions at workplaces slowly declined, with employees being treated cruelly and oftentimes with fewer rights than pets. But they did not complain, and hardly anyone rebelled against their bosses, for if they did and lost their job, they'd be unable to survive in this world.
Education, like food, became a luxury only affordable for the super-rich. The compulsory education system was dismantled, under the pretext of 'getting public expenditure under control' but with the true aim of robbing most of humanity of their ability to think, and tuition was required for children to even think of attending elementary school. As for leisure activities, such as playing sports, going on holidays, and even going away on small vacations for a weekend…those became a thing of the past as pollution and rising costs rendered these activities either unsafe or unaffordable. Even going outside was a risk, and required everyone to use an air-filtering mask with goggles to prevent themselves from being contaminated by the outside air while moving afoot. This made meeting up with friends and family near impossible, reduced to an activity you could only accomplish online or through a telephone call.
In fact, days for most people involved getting up, quietly commuting to their place of work, putting in the required hours, and then coming home to seek whatever enjoyment they could, as limited as it was, for the rest of the day. The only leisure activities people could do to enjoy themselves at home were also extremely limited: board games like shogi and Go, streaming movies online (interestingly enough, the one branch of life that didn't suffer from the slow death of the Earth was technology. In fact, its applications and uses had only gone up as more people were restricted to home life), and the most popular activity of them all: playing online video games, especially DMMO-RPGs which became increasingly popular in this new world due to both how interesting the games were and how it allowed a lot of people to escape their hopeless realities, which was made possible by the use of a neuro nano interface, a highly complex intracranial nano-computer network that allowed players to experience video game worlds as if it were their own reality, even going so far as to mimic some of the more common human sensory functions
To a lot of people, but especially three of them, DMMO-RPGs were not just an 'alternate' reality…to them, it had already replaced the real world. And no DMMO-RPG in the twenty-second century had been more popular than YGGDRASIL
~TNT~
Released in the year 2126, YGGDRASIL was released under the auspices of being one of the first sensory-based MMOs of its time. According to the developers' website, YGGDRASIL was a game of exploration, with its many mysteries left unknown for players to discover on their own or in groups, and with it being the first of its kind it would rise to huge levels of popularity due to the vast amounts of player freedom that was granted to anyone who even started playing casually.
This included a gargantuan class system, with YGGDRASIL boasting an unbelievable 2000 different basic or advanced classes to choose from, each capable of being levelled up to a maximum of 15 levels meaning that, with the player cap maxing out at 100 prior to shutdown, any player could possess at least seven classes by the time they reached that limit. Alongside this, players could also build their characters to have levels in many different races, of which there were over 700 unique races to choose from which ranged from the usuals such as humans, dwarves and elves to the more fantastical and unique demi-human and heteromorphic races, such as slimes, golems, liches and even insectoids and elementals with each race possessing their own positive and negative attributes and racial passives. With so many combinations of classes and races being available to choose from, the number of permutations this created was practically limitless, and if by some miracle two people did end up building their characters the same way, their appearances and weapons could be endlessly customized through the use of the in-game creator toolkit.
As for the world of YGGDRASIL itself, nine different worlds made up the entirety of it, one for each of the nine realms of Norse mythology: Asgard, Álfheim, Vanaheim, Niðavellir, Midgard, Jötunheim, Niflheim, Helheim and Múspellsheim, each of which was ridiculously huge and contained many notable places within them which made them difficult to explore. For instance, there were gigantic swamps, verdant expanses of rainforest, scorching deserts, and many other dangerous environments which required players to have special equipment to delve into the dungeons there, as well as a proper strategy and the determination to plug many hours, even days, to overcome these challenges and reap the rewards they contained. In order to accomplish these goals, alongside the overall goal of exploring each of these nine massive worlds, players banded together in guilds and worked in unison to conquer and explore all of the secrets YGGDRASIL had to offer. Over the course of YGGDRASIL's up-time, many noticeable guilds came and went, including Trinity (the number one guild alliance in all of YGGDRASIL's history), the 2ch Alliance, the Great Cat Kingdom, Three Burning Eyes, and perhaps the most famous (or infamous, depending on which guild you belonged to or what race you played) guild of them all: Ainz Ooal Gown.
At the time of the formation of Nine's Own Goal, the clan that eventually gave rise to the guild Ainz Ooal Gown, discrimination was rife in the YGGDRASIL player base against the heteromorphic races for no other reason than having monstrous and inhuman forms. It was thus seen as natural for those playing humanoid and demi-human races to hunt down and kill the heteromorph players over and over again. It got to the point where one of the strongest players in the game at the time, the renowned warrior Touch Me, took matters into his own hands and banded together a group of heteromorphic players to form their own clan and take a stand against those who cast them as villains. In Touch Me and the others' eyes, if they wanted to be seen as evil monsters then they would play the part. And so, Nine's Own Goal, a self-deprecating name for a group of suicidal players who only served to make their enemies stronger, was born under the leadership of Touch Me. The nine founding members, or the First Nine as they came to be known, consisted of Touch Me, Momonga, Nishikienrai, Wish III, Warrior Takemikazuchi, Ancient One, Flatfoot, Amanomahitotsu and one other unknown player who left the guild shortly after it changed its name.
Under Touch Me's leadership, the new clan bravely ventured forth to some of the other nine worlds in order to discover what treasures and rewards awaited them there. At the time, the humanoid players mocked the members of Nine's Own Goal as suicidal fools, whilst some of their fellow heteromorphs disliked them for doing unnecessary and reckless acts for their own gains and entertainment. Despite these seas of doubters, Nine's Own Goal were undeterred, their bonds of friendship and unity serving as their strength as they came together to defeat all those who dared attack them and conquered anything that stood in their path. And as the guild attracted new members, the disrespect and hatred soon turned to grudging respect and even admiration among the rest of the YGGDRASIL player base. Alongside the powerful world champion Touch Me and the overpowered wildcard sorcerer Momonga soon stood several other of the most powerful and unique characters to ever be seen in the history of YGGDRASIL, including the 'Demon of Great Disaster' Ulbert Alain Odle, considered the evilest entity in all of YGGDRASIL itself, the perverted Birdman archer Peroroncino and his sister, the Slime Shield and famous voice actress Bukubukuchagama, Punitto Moe, whose strategies became legend among the YGGDRASIL players base, the 'mad scientist' Tabula Smaragdina and many others.
Whereas a lot of guilds recruited hundreds of members, what became known as Ainz Ooal Gown kept their membership limited to a very select few with only 43 known members at the height of its power, each of whom fulfilled a key role in the structure of the guild and who were all part of the working class in their real lives. This made the guild very unique in the fact that it contained no students, only working adults, but it allowed all of their free time to overlap when they had finished their working days, and as such it allowed them to face any challenge or PVP encounter as a more united front than those guilds with players of varying ages, backgrounds and working lives.
As its player base grew, the clan started hosting regular meetings on a weekly basis where many, if not all of its members, were expected to attend. For those who couldn't make it, those members were asked to look at the clan's message boards instead for any notes they have missed. At one of these meetings where all the current members of the clan were able to be in attendance, Touch Me suggested they dissolve the clan and reform it into a proper guild known as Ainz Ooal Gown, a proposal which was unanimously accepted by everyone present. Touch Me then announced that Momonga would be taking over as the guild master in his stead, citing him as the most capable choice and allowing Touch Me to take on fewer responsibilities due to having a family in real life. This move also gained the full support of the membership, and so Ainz Ooal Gown officially came into being. Now an official guild, Momonga led them all into the frozen hellholes of Helheim to conquer the newly discovered level 80+ dungeon known as the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the location of which had been discovered by Nishikienrai, and after conquering it on their first try they proceeded to convert it into their new base of operations.
Initially, the Great Tomb was an underground base built with six floors. However, upon conquering it, Ainz Ooal Gown made the decision that they would make their new base into the evilest lair possible by greatly expanding its size and strength. Bringing up their membership to its full strength of 43 with a few new additions, Ainz Ooal Gown were able to turn the dungeon into a place of legend and soon they became the top guild in terms of World Class Item possession, managing to procure and hoard eleven of these legendary items at the height of their powers, completely dwarfing the next closest guild's collection of only three. Eventually, the Great Tomb of Nazarick became known as a place of pure evil that no guilds were able to successfully conquer in the remaining lifespan of the game, with the strength of the guild's members and the tomb's defences, created from the genius minds of both Tabula Smaragdina and Garnet, a brilliant programmer who designed and implemented all of Nazarick's traps, even being able to hold back the largest player-organized military offensive in YGGDRASIL's history, an alliance of eight guilds bringing over a force of fifteen hundred players, mercenaries and NPCs who were brought to a halt at the tomb's eighth floor. This deed served to elevate Ainz Ooal Gown and its members to the status of legends amongst the YGGDRASIL player base.
The 43 members of Ainz Ooal Gown poured all of their hearts and souls into making the Tomb the legendary guild base it became, spending hours upon hours, days upon days, and even weeks and months in creating, strengthening and upgrading the tomb, its defences, its various rooms and all of the NPCs that inhabited it. With all the time in the world on their hands, all of the members had a hand in expanding the Tomb to consist of ten floors alongside filling it with hundreds of their own painstakingly created NPCs to guard each floor along with serving various other roles in the Tomb. These included the Guardians, created to oversee each of the floors, the Pleiades Combat maids, the regular serving maids, several other NPCs serving as cooks, cleaners, bartenders and other roles and all sorts of other monsters created for the sole purpose of eliminating other invading players.
Unfortunately, all good times and experiences have to come to an end, and even YGGDRASIL and Ainz Ooal Gown weren't immune to this common trope. As 2137 rolled into 2138, the current developers behind YGGDRASIL soon lost all interest in continuing to update and roll out new expansions for a game that was ever falling behind its new competitors which possessed not only the revolutionary features of YGGDRASIL that made it popular in the first place but also the latest in technology, graphic settings and other key features that soon rendered the once lauded and ground-breaking features of YGGDRASIL increasingly obsolete. As these new DMMOS were released and became instant hits, many of YGGDRASIL's player base soon left the once popular game behind in search of new challenges and experiences in these new games. As the months rolled by, the game's community lost the vibrant player base it once had and soon became an echo of its past greatness. Seeing the decline of its player base and the subsequent loss of revenue that came from it, the developers of YGGDRASIL announced that it would be taking the servers offline for good.
At the point of this ground-breaking announcement, Ainz Ooal Gown had also fractured into a shell of its former greatness. The once legendary guild, held together by the powerful bonds of friendship and fellowship and who had created the mightiest lair to ever be seen in the history of YGGDRASIL, began to fracture as these bonds became tested more and more over time. What were once friendly jibes and respectful arguments soon dissolved into heated debates and disrespectful insults as several of the guild's more prominent members started coming to blows both verbally and physically. Thanks to Momonga and several of the other more neutral players, the guild's unity held for a while, but eventually the cracks became too big to ignore, and after one particularly vicious argument between the noble Touch Me and the malevolent Ulbert Alain Odle resulting in Ulbert leaving both the guild and the game for good, the downfall of Ainz Ooal Gown's numbers began. Even though most of the guild took his side in his argument with Ulbert, Touch Me was mentally and personally affected by the argument and some of what Ulbert had said. Combined with the increasing stresses of his personal life, he made the decision to quit the game for good as well, leaving behind his weapons, armaments and his created NPC in the care of one of the players he trusted most in the guild.
Ulbert and Touch Me's respective departures were soon followed by some of the guild's more prominent members also leaving the guild behind. First to leave was one of the guild's founding members, Warrior Takemikazuchi, who lost all interest in the game after the departure of his main rival Touch Me, and who was quickly followed by his fellow Nephilim Yamaiko. But even as the guild began to slowly bleed membership, their remaining unity allowed them to keep conquering and overcoming the game's remaining challenges. But when several members, including the likes of Peroroncino, Bukubukuchagama, Tabula Smaragdina, Nishikienrai, Punitto Moe and Whitebrim all left the guild and the game at the same time, the end of the once mighty guild was slowly in sight as YGGDRASIL entered its last days. But despite the incoming end to both the guild and the game they'd dedicated so much of their last 12 years to, the remaining members of the guild, under Momonga's leadership, did their very best to keep the memory and former legend of the guild alive in any way they could.
But in the end, as it was with all things, all good times must end. And so it was that the once famous game YGGDRASIL entered its final hours of uptime. In order to commemorate and see out these final hours out of respect for all the good times the game had given to them, Momonga sent out a group-wide invitation on the guild's message board to all the current and former guild members to join him in this final send-off. Unfortunately, very few of them responded, even out of courtesy.
~TNT~
In the once bustling and harmonious Round Table quarters of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, where in years past many decisions of import had been executed and where many times laughter, discussions and good-natured japery and commiserating regarding the real world had taken place, only the lingering memories of what had come before remained in the yawning emptiness that now remained of the once great lair and the once all-conquering and prosperous guild known as Ainz Ooal Gown. And where once upon a time most of the 43 chairs that surrounded the massive round table, upon which was carved the proud emblem of perhaps the most well-recognized guild in all of YGGDRASIL, would have been occupied by various heteromorphs of all shapes and sizes, only two now remained. And though they sat in close proximity to one another, the weight of the silence and fleeting echo of memories threatened to drown out the dull smatterings of unenthusiastic conversation that passed between the room's current occupants.
"…been a while, hasn't it Momonga?" Spoke the creature that was sitting awkwardly on its usual red chair in a sleepy voice. This was one of the last remaining guild members of Ainz Ooal Gown and someone who had been part of the guild for almost as long as the founding members, HeroHero. Unlike most of the denizens of the guild who walked on two legs, HeroHero's character was from the Slime race, to be more specifically an Elder Black Ooze which possessed acidic abilities that could easily corrode through and highly degrade weapons and armour. But for such a unique race, HeroHero's design was pretty dull, merely a mass of a black sticky substance whose tar-like surface roiled and writhed almost continuously…a reflection of the dull life and personality of the player himself if his endless rants and complaints in the past few years were anything to go by.
"It sure has. To be honest HeroHero, I didn't expect you to come back just for tonight." The other individual in the room answered. This was the renowned leader of Ainz Ooal Gown, Momonga. In contrast to the almost pathetic and weak-looking slime he was addressing, every inch of Momonga's avatar screamed royalty, dread and overwhelming magical power. He bore the appearance of a skeletal Overlord, a creature wholly devoid of skin and flesh, and was clad in an elaborate, jet-black academic robe adorned with golden and violet edges, and if one were to glance beneath these robes, they would behold a body made entirely of bones which also consisted of a dark red orb that floated under his ribs. From where his eyes should be radiated two dark-red orbs which, if Momonga willed it, could become largely intensified leading them to elicit faint red flames which could flicker and dance about all over those empty-eye sockets. "After all, it's been what…two years since you last logged onto the game?"
"Really? That long? Wow, I don't even remember those years," the slime groused, causing Momonga to sigh as the joy he had felt on seeing HeroHero again ebbed dramatically. Whilst HeroHero had been a good friend to himself and many others in the guild, he would often never stop droning on and on about his dull days at work and the emptiness of his life outside it, almost as if no one else could even comprehend how hard he had it. Even Momonga's patience and willingness to listen were tested when he had to keep hearing about the reminders of how dreadfully dull, uneventful and meaningless their lives outside the game were. "Been doing so much overtime lately that my body clock is completely messed up."
"That can't be healthy for you…you should probably get that checked out when you can," Momonga pointed out.
"That's kind of you Momonga…you always did show concern for everyone's health back in the day, even before Touch Me made you the guild master," the slime replied, his tone picking up slightly from Momonga's inquiry. "But I shouldn't just come here to just vent all my troubles at you…after all, this is the last day of YGGDRASIL, right? I honestly didn't expect the guild to still be alive but…credit to you, it looks like you kept it going right to the end…"
"I couldn't let what we had so carefully and lovingly built over the years fade away… besides, we made so many good memories in this game…you, me and everyone else...I wish it didn't have to end…" Momonga wistfully remarked, looking around the room at all the chairs that had often been inhabited by those he had, and still considered, his most precious comrades and friends, and even in the limited confines of the game his heart dully ached upon recalling how many of them hadn't even deigned to reply to his last invitation.
"Yeah…those were the good old days…" the slime answered as he lifted one of his slimy appendages to access his interface menu. "I should probably go, I'm way too sleepy to stay around any longer. If I'm lucky, I can get a couple hours of sleep before work."
"Oh…okay, HeroHero…" As much as Momonga wished he could have begged for him to stay right up until the final moments, he'd never be able to live with himself if he was responsible for losing HeroHero precious hours of sleep. "Thank you for coming…it means a lot that you were here today."
"Yeah, you too Momonga. Hopefully, we can meet again somewhere, either in the real world or YGGDRASIL II if it ever comes around," the slime yawned once more. "Oh, and if you know who shows up, make sure he delivers on his promise." With one last smiling and wink face emoji, he faded from view.
'HeroHero has logged out'
The glowing red timer signalling the countdown until YGGDRASIL's servers shut down was now Momonga's only constant in the wide, empty room. He sighed openly, sitting back in his chair as all of the loneliness of now being the last player online in the Guild crashed upon him like a tidal wave. After so many years and so many wonderful moments shared with all of his guild-mates, this was it…the day he never expected to come around and the one he'd been dreading since its announcement: the final curtain call of the most popular DMMO-RPG to ever exist, YGGDRASIL. For a moment, anger flooded through him and he was almost tempted to punch a hole through the solid surface of the guild table out of frustration, but he calmed himself just in time. As much as he wanted to be angry with everyone who had refused or ignored his invitation, he couldn't fault them for not being around. After all, they had their own real-life concerns to be worried about that were more important than marking the final hours of some game.
But this hadn't been some game to Momonga…no, for years now, YGGDRASIL had been his life. Any waking moment he spent when not working or eating had been in this game, sacrificing hours or even days at a time in making this guild, and their lair of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the greatest in all of YGGDRASIL. Even in the game's final weeks, his passion hadn't died one jot as he, along with those who were still around, had gone on some final epic adventures, conquering dungeons, raid bosses and any challenges or quests they had yet to complete throughout the nine realms that made up the game. Even reminiscing those memories, from the guild's beginning right up to this moment, simultaneously brought both great joy and sadness to the heart of Suzuki Satoru, Momonga's human identity back in the real world.
"Is this how it ends, after everything we've been through? Not with a bang but with a whimper?" Momonga reflected as he rose to his feet and shuffled over until he stood in front of the greatest masterpiece of the guild: [The Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown], a Guild class item unique to the guild itself and identified the one wielding it as the Guild master of Ainz Ooal Gown, a representation of the power and overwhelming skill of its guild members which, thanks to all their tireless efforts and dedication, had never allowed its main base to be conquered. It was a mighty golden staff, entwined by seven serpents right from the base to its head, and in each of the seven serpents' mouths were jewels of seven different colours, each made out of ultra-rare materials that had been collected and painstakingly crafted by the guild's elite and imbued with magical spells for its wielder to use and activate as he wished. It was a true symbol of the guild's spirit of cooperation.
To Momonga, it was another representation of both the joyful memories the old times had wrought as well as the lasting testament of his comrades' combined efforts and perseverance through all the trials they had gone through together, a true representation of what had made Ainz Ooal Gown so feared and respected throughout all of YGGDRASIL.
"I'm going to miss you guys…I already do…" Momonga whispered to the Staff, feeling more alone than ever as he lifted it from where it was held. Though the guild rule was that no one should use the Staff unless it was absolutely necessary, Momonga felt that it would be appropriate for him, as the leader of this great guild, to carry the last testament of his guild in his hands as the game came to a close. But just as he was about to turn around and leave the Round Table room, a sudden beep echoed around him, signifying that another player from the guild was logging in. Daring to hope, he fixed his gaze on a pop-up that had appeared in the corner of his field of view, and what loneliness he'd been feeling was suddenly replaced by elation at what he read:
'Henry Plantagenet-Caesar has logged in'
"I should never have doubted it! Out of everyone else in the guild, I should've known he'd make it here in time," Momonga cheered internally as the form of one of his guild-mates and dearest friends materialized not far from where he was standing. "Ise! You made it!" He cried elatedly.
The figure who had appeared before the joyous skeletal mage was the 42nd member of Ainz Ooal Gown, simply known as Henry by all who knew him, but in actuality his full character name was Henry Edward William Augustus Constantine Trajan Plantagenet-Caesar in honour of the historical warriors, kings and rulers he looked up to from the real world's history. His character was a Dragonoid, with his true form being that of a towering golden dragon with glimmering scales and his human form being that of a very handsome man standing at just over 6 and a half feet tall. He possessed very messy, medium-length shining gold hair which came down to just below his ears and dazzling green eyes that often sparkled with mirth, joy and friendliness but could turn a dark forest green with sudden seriousness and intensity. He also had a chiselled jaw, normally clean-shaven but currently covered in a five o'clock shadow, and his mouth always seemed to be constantly locked in a dazzling smile showing a full set of shining white teeth. He had Caucasian white skin and possessed the bodily physique of a skilled warrior, a perfect build suited for strength and speed with defined muscles that were just the right proportions for a man of his height. He was clad in his usual black and gold armour, and strapped to his back were two crossed swords: his own personal blade known as World Breaker alongside the blade he had inherited from Touch Me, simply known as Justice.
"Sorry I'm late Suki, my boss demanded I stay longer today to make up for the times he's caught me sleeping on the job," Henry replied somewhat abashedly, his kind and warm tone of voice instantly causing whatever remained of Momonga's feelings of loneliness to fade away. In the real world, Issei Watanabe, or Ise as he preferred to be called, was a shy and reserved young man who was incredibly loyal to those he considered his friends, especially Momonga who had been the one to save him initially from being killed for the umpteenth time before inviting him to the guild. But underneath his shy exterior was a very determined gamer who, like Momonga and many others, dedicated much of his life to the game and the guild, striving to make both himself and the guild the very best they could be, a goal he managed to fulfil by becoming one of the five strongest members of the guild when it was at the height of its powers, with only Touch Me and Warrior Takemikazuchi eclipsing him in physical prowess and Tabula and Momonga himself being stronger magic-wise, but at the cost of many hours of sleep…which he made up for at work to the frustration of his boss. And since they possessed very similar qualities, he and Suzuki became very close friends both in the game and in the real world. "I've only just got back home and had a bite to eat, but no way was I going to miss this. I promised I'd be here with you at the end."
If his character could have smiled, Momonga would have been wearing a wide one as he walked up to his fellow guild-mate and placed a bony hand on the armour covering Henry's shoulder. "I'm so glad you are here, Ise. I was beginning to think no one else would log in."
Henry's smile only grew wider as he returned the gesture. "After everything you've done for me and the other members of the guild, it's the least I could do. Besides, I'd rather be nowhere else right now." As he spoke, he looked around the room and frowned upon noticing how empty it was. "Has it just been you all this time, Suki?"
"You just missed HeroHero. He only logged out a few minutes ago," Momonga replied sadly.
The gesture was mimicked by Henry "He was droning on and on about his dull life and overly demanding work schedule, wasn't he?"
Momonga let out a sad little laugh "He sure was."
Henry just shook his head in response. "Classic HeroHero. He would have loved to hear that my boss was up my ass again." This was one of the few topics he and the Slime had bonded deeply over.
"And he told me to remind you of the… promise that you made him and the others two years ago," Momonga spoke in a teasing tone
Henry's real face went cherry red, a real achievement given the game's limitations. "You guys are NEVER going to let me live this down huh?"
"Nope!" Momonga stated cheerily with a slight shake of his head. It had been widely known throughout the guild that Henry was quite the pervert, by his very own admission. Whilst he wasn't as much of a degenerate and fan of H-rated material as the guild's resident eroge lover Peroroncino, he was obsessed with Yandere anime girls and dreamed of having a harem full of them to himself one day. This led to him getting teased a lot by most of the other guild members, especially when they caught him staring at the various female NPCs created by the guild. But it was these interests that allowed him and Peroroncino to form a close bond, with the Birdman even asking Henry for ideas and suggestions in regards to perfecting the last few details of his created NPC, the vampire Shalltear Bloodfallen. As Momonga and Henry shared a chuckle over the long-running gag, another sudden beep echoed in the room around them, signifying once more that another player from the guild was logging onto the game, and both Momonga and Henry's cheerful moods rose as they saw who it was.
'Fengxian has logged in'
"Awesome! Ki's here too!" Henry cheered as they both turned in the direction where their guild-mate, the 43rd and final player to join Ainz Ooal Gown, was currently materializing into the game.
Since they were all non-human races, the members of Ainz Ooal Gown had fewer restrictions to the heights they could set for their avatars, and Momonga, Henry and Fengxian were no exception. Both Momonga and Henry stood at 6 and a half feet tall, which was more than half a foot taller than the average human player, but even with their impressive height they were still dwarfed by the colossal Fengxian, whose entire 7 foot and 3 inches frame was covered from head to toe in a suit of armour coloured the darkest shade of black possible, crafted especially for Fengxian himself by the guild blacksmith Amanomahitotsu along with a black helm that was styled like an ancient samurai's headwear except for the bottom half which was left largely uncovered and was surrounded by serrated edges that gave off the appearance of fangs. This unique helm, a rare drop from one of the last raids conducted by the guild, also possessed glowing red eye slits that gave off a violent, blood-red glow that Fengxian could amplify if he so wished. And strapped to the back of his armour was the colossus' weapon of choice, a long-hafted halberd with crescent-shaped blades at the end on either side of the spear that stood as tall as the warrior himself, named Heaven Piercer
This suit of armour left hardly any of Fengxian's skin on show, and for any other races except for the heteromorphs that was a good thing. Fengxian belonged to the Nephilim race, fallen angels who were banished from the heavens for actions and behaviour unbecoming of the heavenly host, and as they were cast down their once angelic guises were mutilated into twisted caricatures of what they had once been, giving off an ugly and malformed appearance meant to horrify and disgust those who beheld them, and this was especially the case for Fengxian. If one were ever fortunate, or unfortunate, to catch a glimpse of the massive warrior when not in his armour, they would behold a massive, grey-skinned figure covered almost entirely in cuts and scars, most of which were incredibly grotesque due to these wounds being inflicted by cursed or serrated weaponry. As for his face, it too is a malformed sight that isn't helped by his natural expression being set in a brooding scowl. He also possessed a square jaw that is slightly off-centre, a heavily mangled aquiline nose, and eyes that are coloured a constantly glowing pitch-black and whose edges are always smouldering like fire with a long vertical scar running above and below his left eye. As for his hair, it used to be long, flowing golden locks that were synonymous with angels, but over time those, like his appearance, were also marred by imperfection. Whilst the locks remain, they are thinner and wirier and only come down to his shoulders and instead of golden his locks are now a dark blue colour.
"Suzuki, Ise," the towering warrior greeted his companions in a friendly tone as he approached them. "I had a feeling you two would be here as well."
"I'm glad you were able to make it as well, Kiyoshi," Momonga replied with a smile as he extended his bony hand to shake Fengxian's armoured one, a gesture which the armoured colossus heartily returned.
Henry was less restricted with his greeting as he wrapped an arm around his friend and gave him a hearty, one-armed hug which the colossal warrior returned with only slightly less enthusiasm. "I knew you'd be here as well Ki, you're never one to miss an occasion like this. What took you so long?"
"Our boss kept some of us behind to deal with a few late shipments that needed to be sent out of the warehouse. They were priority delivery so it couldn't wait until tomorrow, and it was quite a big load which took longer than we thought. I've only just walked through my door and got a bite to eat." The young man behind Fengxian's avatar was named Kiyoshi Fujimura, a 21-year-old warehouse worker. In real life, Kiyoshi was a warm and approachable guy who never found it hard to make friends due to his kind and generous nature. However, this wouldn't often be reciprocated due to some of his more outlandish and non-mainstream tastes and enjoyments, such as anime and metal music which were still not considered normal even in the current society. This didn't deter him however as he understood that not everyone had the same tastes, but he came to treasure and care greatly for those who understood or shared his less-than-normal tastes, including the members of Ainz Ooal Gown who quickly welcomed him as one of their own, and several of whom also shared in his non-mainstream interests, and in return for the warmth and care they showed him he threw himself as much as he could into the guild's activities and ended up becoming a strong player in his own right through hours of dedication into his build and playstyle.
"Sounds like it wasn't just me and HeroHero getting ragged on by their boss," Henry commented, drawing an amused chuckle from the skeletal avatar standing next to him.
"Indeed, but unlike Ki who was no doubt held back for being a skilled worker, you got forced to work extra hours because your boss caught you sleeping on the job!" Momonga pointed out good-naturedly.
"Again, Ise?" Fengxian chucked with an amused shake of his head. "That's what you get for spending all your time on here."
"And I'd have done it over and over again regardless. This game, the rest of the guild, and especially you two…you mean way more to me than my shitty job ever will," the Dragonoid replied. "You two are like brothers to me, and meeting you and the rest was one of the best days of my life, a memory I will always treasure for the rest of it."
"I think I can speak for both myself and Suzuki when I say we both feel the same about you, Ise," Fengxian added warmly, with Momonga quickly nodding his agreement to those words. "As for your other statement, that's something we can all definitely agree on. All the time, money and years we've put into this game, this guild and our characters have been the best times of my life bar none. We've made so many good memories together and I wish it didn't have to end, but no way was I going to miss the final hours of a world that, no pun intended, means the world to me…" He then tilted his head as he remembered something Henry had said earlier. "Hang on…did you say HeroHero? I thought he left for good two years back?"
"You and Henry just missed him. He was only here a few minutes and only came by to say goodbye to anyone who was here," Momonga answered.
"If only I'd gotten here sooner…I wanted to thank him one last time for all the help he gave me in creating Shinozaki," Fengxian commented ruefully, referencing his own custom NPC that acted as his character's personal maid alongside an honorary role amongst the guild's homunculus maids, before chuckling once more. "Let me guess…he also told you to remind Ise about the promise he made to him, Tabula and the others right?"
"Oh, not you as well, Ki! I was hoping everyone who was there had either forgotten or not returned to the guild to remind me!" Henry pretended to pout; an expression ruined by the amused smile still on his face.
"Sorry Ise, but my memory's just that good," the towering Nephilim replied, tapping his helm where his brain would be. "Besides, you always did a really shitty job of hiding how you felt about them. Even those who didn't log in much knew all about your supposed hidden desires and the way you looked at them." This caused the three of them to fill the once-silent room around them with laughter, a polarising contrast to the air of loneliness and sadness that had permeated the room after HeroHero had left. Even if it was just the three of them, it felt akin to some of the good times they had spent in this room with the others.
"By the way, Suzuki…is that the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown you're holding there?" Fengxian pointed out after they were done laughing. "I thought we weren't meant to remove it from this room unless it was absolutely necessary."
"I know, but since this is the last hour of the game and I never got the chance to wield it properly, I thought it would be alright to at least hold onto it before the game shuts down…that's if you two don't mind?"
"Not at all…after all, that's the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, meant only to be wielded by the guild leader himself. That's you, Suki," Henry answered warmly. "If anyone was ever worthy to wield its power, it's you given everything you've done and sacrificed for not only this guild but also all of its members, from those you founded it with right up to myself and Ki who were the last ones to join."
"I agree…and after all the hours you and everyone else put into making it, it's only right that you should be the one to hold onto it at the end," Fengxian added. "In fact, why don't the three of us spend the last few minutes of the game in the throne room itself? After all, not even the largest guild invasion in all of YGGDRASIL was able to make it there and it would be a waste for it, and the throne itself, to have never been used."
"That was epic. Even with over a thousand players, they couldn't even make it past the eighth floor and got wiped by Victim," Henry added wistfully. "And that sounds like a great idea, Ki. It's only fitting after all that we mark the end of the guild at the seat of its power." There was also another reason why Henry wanted to enter the throne room one more time, but given it was related to his slight perversions he left it unsaid.
"As the guild master, I think that is a great suggestion you two," Momonga commented as he summoned the Staff into his hand. "In fact, why don't we walk there together via the rest of the ninth floor and look over the place one more time before it all ends?" This suggestion was warmly received by his two comrades, and so, with Momonga leading, Henry following on behind and Fengxian bringing up the rear, they made their way one more time around the large Round Table towards the doors that led to the rest of the ninth floor.
~TNT~
After leaving the Round Table Room, the three walked through the majestic hallways of the Ninth Floor in silence as they took it all in for the last time. It was unique in that, although the Ninth Floor was not as big as the floors below it, it had more than a hundred different rooms, all designed and created by the guild for various purposes, with the majority serving as personal spaces for Guild Members and their NPCs. There were also other quarters made in imitation of popular Earth-based locales that many of the guild had never visited because of the current state of the real world. In addition to the bar, run by the NPC Sous-Chef, there was also a manicure salon, a theatre, a water park, and many more attractions and rooms. Though these facilities were built for decoration and nostalgia and didn't actually function the way they did in the real world, they offered more forms of escapism to guild members and served as the only location in all of Nazarick, and perhaps in all of YGGDRASIL, that was most comparable to what the real world was like before pollution and greed consumed it.
After allowing themselves a short time to reminisce about these rooms and the many memories they contained, the last remaining members of Ainz Ooal Gown activated the teleport gate, which allowed all of the tomb's residents to traverse between each of Nazarick's ten floors as long as they knew each gate's location.
After arriving on the Tenth Floor, they walked by the Pleiades combat maids' rooms and straight into the Lemegeton. This was the domed hallway that served as the final passageway between the rest of the Tomb and the Throne Room itself. It was adorned with four coloured crystal lamps that looked ordinary, but they actually served as one of the tomb's final defences, summoning elementals and bombarding the invaders with area-of-effect attacks upon activation. The walls themselves were carved with 72 niches each containing statues representing the Seventy-Two Demons taken from The Lesser Key of Solomon.
The three heteromorphs paused once again to take in all the intrinsically crafted details one last time before heading up the stairs toward the giant doors that led to the Throne Room. But just as they came up to this majestic set of double doors that stood well over five meters in height and were covered in intricate carvings, they found themselves face to face with some of the more prominent NPCs crafted by their guild-mates who, as they were programmed to, turned and bowed in sync as the three approached: The butler Sebas and all six members of the Pleiades combat maids.
Created by the guild's original founder, Touch Me, before being later programmed by the former World Champion to serve and protect Henry as a final gift to the guildmate who idolized him and whom he'd come to know so well, Sebas had the appearance of an elderly butler with white hair and an immaculately shaped beard and was dressed in a traditional black butler's uniform.
Next to him stood the unofficial leader of the Combat Maids, Yuri Alpha, created by Yamaiko, one of the guild's few female members. Like her 'sisters', she wore a standard maid uniform and possessed a very motherly appearance, sporting black hair that was tied in a low-cropped bun at the back of her head and a pair of small, rectangular spectacles.
Beside her was Lupusregina Beta, a brown-skinned beauty created by Beast King Mekongawa. She had an athletic build and long red hair that was tied in two long braids that currently dangled off each of her shoulders. She also wore long black gloves and a skirt that had a long slit on its left side, revealing thigh-high white stockings.
Next in the line was Narberal Gamma, created by Nishikienrai and who was the plainest looking of all the maids there. That didn't mean she was ugly though as she was stunning enough that any real-world woman would go green with envy at her beauty, possessing a beautiful facial complexion alongside black hair that made her look like a Japanese version of Snow White and which, like Yuri's, was done in a ponytail and topped by a small white bonnet.
Beside her stood the smallest and most uniquely designed of all the maids, the automaton CZ2128 Delta, created by Garnet who had also been responsible for the creation of most of Nazarick's traps. She possessed a very delicate face, red-gold straight long hair and bore an eyepatch over her left eye, while her right eye had an emerald colour and target-mark on its pupil. Unlike the other maids, her attire was pockmarked with accessories with military camouflage patterns.
The most aesthetically stunning of all the Pleiades Maids, Solution Epsilon, created by HeroHero, was standing next to her. She was a blonde beauty with spiral curls and blue eyes and was dressed in a way that emphasized her sexual allure, especially her bountiful breasts.
Last in line was the insectoid creation of Ainz Ooal Gown member Ganjiro, Entoma Vasilissa Zeta. In lieu of her true arachnid form, she currently bore the appearance of a young girl with bright red unblinking eyes and mauve hair with twin chignons.
As they all approached the maids, both Momonga and Fengxian couldn't help but note where Henry's eyes were currently looking and chuckled as a result, as it had become common knowledge among many in the guild that Henry was very much smitten by the appearance of Lupusregina, Narberal and Solution and had proclaimed multiple times that, if he could have the harem of his dreams, these three would definitely be a part of it, with Solution being the Combat Maid that had captivated him the most, second only to a certain someone that the three would be meeting shortly. This led to a lot of friendly teasing from the other guild members, especially the creators of the aforementioned maids, Mekongawa, Nishikienrai, and HeroHero, who had, in front of other guild members, made Henry promise to take good care of their creations if they ever left the game for any reason. Henry had made sure to keep this promise every time he logged into the game, even if it only involved admiring their alluring and adorable designs.
However, their teasing had nothing on what Henry's beloved sister figure Bukubukuchagama had in her arsenal, her favourite tactics being to announce very loudly for all to hear that Henry was admiring Solution, Narberal, Lupusregina and the other object of his affection at any given chance, and the other being her saying that any of the aforementioned NPC's were entering the room, causing Henry to frantically look for them, only to find out they were not there. And every time she teased Henry the Dragonoid's face would turn a cherry red.
Since they were used to this behaviour from their comrade, Momonga and Fengxian barely batted an eye at his current actions.
"Getting a good view there, Ise?" Fengxian teased as Henry's eyes were currently roving over Solution's ample breasts and beautiful physique. If their in-game avatars were capable of it, Fengxian was sure Henry would be drooling copiously right now…and he was 100% positive he was drooling like mad IRL
"Damn right…I want to make sure I remember every inch of their beautiful bodies for as long as I live, since I doubt I'll ever find girls this beautiful back in the real world. And even if I did, they wouldn't compare to these three and the other object of my affection," the Dragonoid replied unashamedly.
"I'm sure our friends would be delighted that you are keeping your promise to them, as well as the reverence and affection you hold for their creations," Momonga joined in good-humouredly. "In fact, let's have them join us in the throne room. That way, Ise can be surrounded by the objects of his affection in the game's final few moments."
If it were possible, the smile currently plastered on the face of Henry's avatar would have widened a great deal at Momonga's suggestion and he quickly nodded his agreement, followed a moment later by Fengixan who saw no issue with this. With a simple swipe and press in his interface system, Momonga gave the order for Sebas and the Pleiades maids to follow him and his comrades, an order the seven NPCs instantly complied with as they followed behind the three with regimental and programmed precision as they entered the massive Throne Room itself.
This massive room was one of the few rooms in Nazarick where all of the 43 members had had an input in its design, whether it be major or minor, and was designed to welcome any invaders who managed to get through all of the Tomb's defences, with the collective members of the guild all showing up for the final battle. However, this room had never been used for that purpose as no invading guild or group of players had made it to this point, rendering this chamber as little more than a decoration feature. Yet despite this, the room was an exquisite piece of architecture, large enough to fit several hundred people inside it with a high ceiling and surrounding walls that were predominantly white but had golden decorations mixed in as highlights. Hanging from the ceiling high above were numerous chandeliers made of precious stones decorated in all the colours of the rainbow and which constantly emitted a warm, dreamlike radiance. Finally, 43 flags hung from flagpoles embedded into the walls the whole length of the carpeted pathway that ran from the door to the Throne itself, each bearing the personal symbol of all 43 members of Ainz Ooal Gown and hung in order of seniority (for example, Momonga and Touch Me's banners, due to them both being leaders of the guild at different points, hung above the Throne itself, whilst Henry and Fengxian's banners were the first you'd view upon entering the room).
And at the focal point of the room, atop a flight of 10 large stairs, stood its centrepiece, the unique world Item [The Throne of Kings], granted to Ainz Ooal Gown by the developers of YGGDRASIL upon clearing the original Great Tomb of Nazarick in one attempt. Carved out of a single piece of crystal, with a huge red banner proudly displaying the guild's symbol hanging down above it and whose back was high enough to touch the ceiling above, it truly was a masterpiece befitting of the mightiest guild in all of YGGDRASIL. And standing next to this Throne was one of the most powerful NPCs in all of Nazarick, the one assigned to guard it and who served as the second-last boss of the Tomb itself, Albedo.
Created by Tabula Smaragdina, Albedo was every inch the impeccable beauty Tabula had envisioned when he'd started making her, possessing long lustrous jet-black hair that fell all the way to her waist and a face that could only belong to the most beautiful of goddesses. This was accompanied by a killer body that would put even Goddesses to shame, possessing very large and bountiful breasts that surpassed even Solution's and ample hips alongside a giggling but firm heart-shaped ass, combined with skin so pale and perfect it could only be compared to the purest of snow. Her eyes were golden with vertically split pupils, and on her left and right temples were two thick horns protruding crookedly, and on her waist were a pair of black angel wings. She was currently clad in a pure white dress with silky gloves covering her hands along with a golden spiderweb necklace that covered her shoulders and chest.
As Momonga and the others approached the base of the throne, she automatically turned to face them with an angelic smile that would've instantly melted the heart of any mortal man lucky enough to bear witness to it. And Henry was no exception whatsoever. In fact, he would've been the fastest to succumb to her charm. After all, Henry had been utterly taken in by her beauty since the day he joined the guild, having decided from the moment he laid eyes on her that Albedo was without a doubt the woman of his dreams alongside Solution, Lupusregina and Narberal, thus putting all the anime girls he'd previously admired to absolute shame. This of course led to very constant teasing from her creator Tabula, another close friend of Henry, who like the creators of the Combat Maids he was also smitten with had made Henry promise to take good care of not only Albedo but also her sisters Nigredo and Rubedo…they were going to be his sisters-in-law after all, Tabula had teased. And Henry delivered on his promise by regularly checking on the latter 2 while continuing to be completely captivated by Albedo's beauty.
What he wouldn't give to make those 4, the women that were the object of his every dream and longing, real….
"Aaaaand that's it, we've lost him this time," Fengxian chuckled again upon seeing where Henry's eyes had wandered.
"Indeed…I doubt we'll get anything else meaningful out of him until the server shutdown. And I don't blame him in the slightest," Momonga added, for even the harshest judge of a person's looks would no doubt agree that Albedo was one of the most beautiful female figures they'd ever laid eyes on.
As the three walked up the steps leading to both the throne and Albedo, Momonga waved Sebas and the Pleiades maids to stand dutifully at the base of the steps whilst he sat down upon the throne itself, with Fengxian taking the spot on his left and Henry, his eyes still fixed on Albedo's ample cleavage, standing off to his right. And as the Dragonoid continued to be enraptured by Tabula's creation, and with Fengixan's attention drawn towards the individual guild banners covering the ceiling, Momonga used the Staff in his hand in conjunction with the Throne itself to take a look at the settings that Tabula had set for Albedo. Upon opening it up, he was greeted by a vast wall of text that, from an initial glance, went into copious amounts of details regarding her personality, abilities, interests, relationships with the other Guardians and so on and so forth.
"Jeez Tabula, you really did hold nothing back when making her…I should've expected that from you," Momonga chuckled internally as he read through it all. "Let's see… 'she can be seen sweeping, sewing and so on'…wow, that is very specific, and very housewife like…wonder if that's what Tabula was going for. What else is there… 'Her elegant way of speech has many people think that she is a goddess or angel'…really? You'd already get that from her looks alone! 'Her sophisticated lady's face will not break, even when she is torturing the fools who oppose her'…wow, that's pretty dark there Tabula…wait, what the heck is this last one?! 'She's a slut'?! Okay Tabula, I think your love for Gap-Moe went a little too far with that last line…I'd better not let Henry see that, it'd probably ruin his day…what to do though, what to do…' With these thoughts, Momonga tilted his head to look at Henry whose head was now almost nestling within Albedo's breasts, and an evil thought came to his head that caused him to chuckle quietly to himself. And whilst Henry didn't hear this, so captivated was he by Albedo's sumptuous melons, Fengxian did, wresting his attention away from the banners and over to Momonga.
"What are you chuckling about there, Suzuki?" Fengxian asked quietly.
"I've just had one last great idea for teasing Ise," Momonga replied with barely a whisper as he programmed the Staff to be an editing tool and activated the administrator protocols, allowing him to change anything he wanted with any of the NPCs he pleased. "In her settings, Tabula wrote Albedo to be a slut, but I'm going to change it to say that she's madly in love with Henry, giving him the dream girlfriend he's always wanted for only a few minutes. What do you think?"
If Momonga could have seen Fengxian's expression, he would have witnessed the gargantuan warrior raise his eyebrows slightly and his mouth morph into a sadistic grin. "That…is absolutely diabolical, but at the same time remarkably sweet of you, Suzuki."
"Just what are you implying there, Ki?"
"Oh, absolutely nothing…aside from the fact that you are meant to be the all-powerful, evil Overlord you are playing as," Fengxian replied teasingly. "But seriously, do it…it'll make his day if not the rest of his life."
Grinning internally at the thought, Momonga erased the line that depicted Albedo as a slut and replaced it with the following: 'She is deeply in love with Henry Edward William Augustus Constantine Trajan Plantagenet-Caesar.' That was all that Momonga had initially intended to change, but looking up again at Henry, and then over at Fengxian, some more thoughts came to mind regarding recent events, specifically from the great fall-out between Touch Me and Ulbert that had caused both, and many others after them, to leave the guild and the game for good.
Being the more recent arrivals to the guild, most would probably have expected Henry and Fengxian to be turned off by this drama and leave the guild alongside them, but they didn't. They, alongside Momonga and the few who stayed around, dedicated themselves to keeping the guild going even as some of the more prominent members continued to leave. Even as the guild master, Momonga couldn't keep things in line all the time due to other real-life commitments, but Henry and Fengxian were the two who picked up the slack whenever that was the case and, perhaps more than anyone else at the time managed to do, kept the old spirit and comradery that had once defined Ainz Ooal Gown alive right up until the very end. And even now, with only a few minutes left until the final shutdown of YGGDRASIL, they were still putting the guild and Momonga himself at the forefront of their minds in lieu of their own lives and interests.
Suzuki had never seen himself as the father type, thinking himself too much of an introvert and gamer to ever consider having a family of his own in the real world, but being the guild master of such an eccentric group of personalities was the next best thing to it. Unbeknownst to him, the younger members of the guild, Henry and Fengxian especially, all looked up to him and Touch Me especially as father figures, even going so far as to often comment they would trust Momonga/Suzuki with their lives should they ever be in his direct care. And it was these thoughts, feelings and memories that caused Momonga to add an additional sentence to the last line of Albedo's programming that ended up as this: 'She is deeply in love with Henry Edward William Augustus Constantine Trajan Plantagenet-Caesar, and sees Momonga as her father-in-law that she constantly looks to for approval.'
"You okay there, Suzuki? You just went quiet for a minute there." Momonga was shaken out of his thoughts by Fengxian's voice and looked up to see the two aforementioned guild members watching him from either side of the throne. Henry's expression had morphed into one of concern, and if he had peered beneath his helmet Momonga would have seen a similar expression on Fengxian's disfigured face.
"I'm fine…I was just thinking about how much the two of you did to keep this guild together, and how best to thank you for everything you've done."
"You don't need to do that, Suzi. This guild's been the best thing to happen to both of us, so of course we'd want to keep it alive as long as we could," Henry replied somewhat abashedly with Fengxian nodding quickly in agreement.
"I wanted to, and knowing you Ise, I thought of the perfect way I could show you my gratitude." Momonga briefly lessened the administration restrictions on Albedo's settings so that both Henry and Fengxian could have a look. "Have a read and see what you think…I guarantee you'll love it." Fengxian chuckled quietly at his guild master's words.
Henry fell into silence as he browsed through Albedo's settings, his expression changing often as he read through everything that Tabula had written and released a few comments here and there reading some of the more specific entries. But when he got to the final sentence and saw what Momonga had written, his expression morphed into one of unbridled joy as he gave Momonga the biggest smile he could manage. "Suzi…I…thank you so much…you just made one of my biggest dreams come true, even if it's only for a few brief moments. I don't think I have the words to convey how happy you've made me, so I'll let my actions do it for me." He took a step back from the throne and knelt at its feet, an action that surprised both Momonga and Fengxian. "Suzuki...I swear here and now that in real life, I will always look upon you as a brother and treat you as though you were my own flesh and blood. And though we belong to two different races here, I'd be honoured and beyond humbled to have Henry acknowledge Momonga not only as his lord for the rest of his days but also as his adopted father should that be what you want as well."
Both Momonga and Fengxian were stunned and touched by the heartfelt words that came from their friend's mouth. If it were possible, Momonga was sure his avatar would be crying with happiness, just like he was IRL, at Henry's show of loyalty and devotion as he laid a skeletal hand on the armour covering Henry's shoulder. "Ise…" he began in a tone laced with authority and emotion. "I would be honoured and humbled beyond words to accept you not only as a brother in the real world but also as my adopted son and heir in this one." As he spoke, he used his Staff to access a hidden setting he'd discovered a while ago whilst idly browsing through all the Throne's capabilities where if one had the proper authority, honorary titles could be granted to any guild member or NPC that the user wished. The only titles that were currently being used were the specific ones that Momonga and the others had assigned to each of their creations, but Momonga quickly added two more to that. First, he created the title of Heir of Nazarick and designated it to Henry Plantagenet-Caesar. And then, after a few more seconds of thought, he created the title of Grand Marshal of Nazarick and granted it to Fengxian.
"I know how much you love your military texts, history and games back in the real world. Given that you've applied all of that and more to Fengxian, it seemed only fitting," he explained to Kiyoshi.
Unable to convey his feelings of gratitude through a facial expression, Fengxian settled for kneeling at the base of the throne as well and, as Henry did, proclaimed both Suzuki and Ise as his real-life siblings and both Momonga and Henry as his character's superiors, pledging to serve them both for the rest of his unnatural life.
"Let it be known on this, the final day of YGGDRASIL, that I, Momonga, guild-master of the guild Ainz Ooal Gown and Lord of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, do hereby proclaim Henry Edward William Augustus Constantine Trajan Plantagenet-Caesar as the Crown Prince and Heir of Nazarick as well as my adopted son. I also proclaim Fengxian as the Grand Marshal of Nazarick and Supreme Commander of all its forces!" Momonga's proclamation rang loud and clear throughout the Throne Room. However, as the only other inhabitants of the room, all Albedo, Sebas and the maids could do was smile and nod as dictated by their programming in response to any command or order the guild members made.
"Wow…that was awesome. Truly a great way to bring the curtain down on YGGDRASIL and Nazarick once and for all," Fengxian commented as he and Henry stood up and took the places at Momonga's side once more.
"Yeah…that felt like the best way to end things…and not just because I finally got to have Albedo to myself!" Henry added hurriedly.
Momonga chuckled as, with a wave of his hand, he commanded Albedo and the other NPCs to bow and kneel from where they were currently standing. As the countdown timer ticked into the final minute, he found himself suffused with an overwhelming feeling of happiness. Even though the game, the guild and the Great Tomb of Nazarick were all coming to an end, he was facing it alongside his two best friends, his brothers in all but blood and his precious guild mates, and that fact alone made what coming next just that little bit easier to face. "Thank you both…for everything," he told them sincerely. "Even though these are our final seconds here in YGGDRASIL, I'm glad you were both here with me for it."
"There's nowhere else we'd rather be, both in the game and in real life," Henry replied softly with a broad smile.
"Indeed, it's only right for the two of us to be here after everything you've done for us and after all the good times we've shared together," Fengxian added. "Let's make sure to play again together in the next game, and have that real-life meet-up one day."
"Nothing would make me happier," Momonga said last of all as the final few seconds ticked down.
23:59:50. 23:59:51. 23:59:52. 23:59:53
"Goodbye, Henry. Goodbye, Fengxian. It's been truly fun, and I hope we can do something like this all over again."
23:59:54. 23:59:55
"As do I. Farewell for now, my brothers."
"Indeed. This was an amazing ride. See you both soon."
23:59:56. 23:59:57. 23:59:58
23:59:59
00:00:00
The three of them tensed, expecting themselves to be logged out and returned to the real world. But instead, nothing happened. All remained as it was.
00:00:01
00:00:02
As the clock continued ticking past the announced shutdown time, they found themselves still in their character bodies and still logged into the game. The same exact thought passed through each of their heads at exactly the same time
"WHAT THE FUCK?!"
WOW! What a ride that was! I really hoped you enjoyed our first chapter and what is to come next!
I won't spoil everything here regarding Henry and Fengxian, especially their character sheets which will come next time, but I will let slip a few things. First of all, if it wasn't obvious already, Henry was daniel's creation whilst Fengxian was mine, and with both of them included the karma of the three Supreme Beings will cover all ends of the scale with Momonga/Ainz being his usual -500, Henry at +500 and Fengxian in the middle at -100.
Second of all, Henry will be getting nearly all the romantic action in this story as he will be paired with Albedo, Solution, Narberal and Lupusregina to start with, but we have plans to have that harem grown by the end of the story with at least 3 new members joining Henry's bed. No spoilers of their identities yet though!
Also, Henry's character design was based on Daeron I Targaryen from A Song of Ice and Fire, whilst Fengxian was largely an original creation except for his armour and weapon, which are based on Guts' Berserker Armour from the series Beserk and Lu Bu's weapon from the Dynasty Warriors series, the Sky Piercer, respectively. Lu Bu also served as the reference for Fengxian's character name as that is Lu Bu's historical style name.
Last of all, each of our characters has their own theme song which are as follows: Momonga's, as you would expect, is Overlord – Ruler of death from the official Overlord OST. Henry's is Carolus Rex by Sabaton (who are also my favourite band so double awesomeness there!) and Fengxian's is Smash Your Enemies by Tomas Herudek.
More information regarding our OCs will come in the next chapter, which we will start working on in the next few days. Until then, on behalf of myself and my co-author daniel, thank you all so much for reading this story and for all the love you have shown both this and all the previous works we've written/worked on together, and we'll see you in the next chapter of the Nazarick Triumvirate!