A few days had passed since the Great Tomb of Nazarick had experince an earthshattering event! The last of the Supreme Beings, Lord Momonga, the Ruler of Death, had announced that something had transpired to the Great Tomb of Nazarick.
While the NPCs didn't understand their Lord's reasoning, they did not question him, even the greatest mind of Nazarick, Demiurge was no exception.
To them, the Supreme One words are always correct, it's impossible for him to be wrong.
Lord Momonga, true to his status as the Supreme One, was swift as a bolt of lightning, as he laid plans to strengthen Nazarick's defense and created an information sharing network inside the great tomb.
Both Mare and Sebas were sent outside, one camouflaging the tomb to fit into the surroundings, the other searching for any living creatures in the immediate surroundings.
Currently, Lord Momonga is in his office going through all the documents which required his signature, with Albedo by his side.
After camouflaging the tomb, Lord Momonga had forbidden anyone from exiting the tomb, until they could gauge the strength of the outside world.
Lord Momonga left Shalltear in charge of The Mirror of Remote Viewing, to observe the surroundings of the Tomb.
So far, no creatures had been found, well, of great significance or threat to them.
Shalltear had found wild animals like sheeps, goats, wolves and smaller animals.
While they were weak, Lord Momonga was not stupid to assume this unknown land doesnt have things that could posse some threat to them, so he had remain cautiuos.
However, Lord Momonga was aware of where the tomb was, or a general idea.
From what Shalltear reported to him, the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick is located on an island, whether it be deserted or not, is up to debate.
Signing a document, Lord Momonga glanced at Albedo from the corner of his eyes and sighed deeply, seeing the reverence and worship in her eyes. He sensed something else that made him focus on his work, not daring to look any longer.
Lord Momonga was under a lot of pressure not only because he has somehow become his game avatar, or transferred to another world unlike any of the Nine Worlds, but because of the expectations the NPCs have of him.
To them he was the leader of a group of Supreme Beings that are no less than the gods, no they might be superior according to them.
How they had such a fanciful views of himself, he didn't know, because he was sure any of the gods in the Yggdrasil are Bosses capable of fighting a group of players, even a weak boss, like Cainabel, the Divine Blood Ancestor was a force to reckon with, requiring a suitable number of players from Ainz Ooal Gown to kill.
Not only that, he messed with Albedo's settings, making her to be madly in love with him, but he felt guilty about it because he couldn't be a person in the way she wanted him to, and as a skeleton Overlord, he didn't have the appropriate tools needed to fulfil her needs. So he tried to keep her at an arm's length, hoping she could find someone else to love.
As Lord Momonga was trying to ignore Albedo's fervent eyes seem to lick his body, he recieve a from Aureola Omega, the youngest of the pleiades sisters.
Feeling surprised, Lord Momonga asks, while continuing with reading over the documents before him. "Aureola Omega, what is wrong?"
A young female's voice entered Momonga's mind, "Lord Momonga, I sense a teleportation magic inside the Throne Room, it's not anyone from Nazarick, so I taught to alert you."
Lord Momonga froze and questioned himself if he heard it wrong, how could someone enter the Great Tomb of Nazarick via teleportation magic, the Throne Room nonetheless? Not thinking deeper, he turned to Albedo, with urgency in his voice, and commanded her, "Albedo, summon all the Guardians, have your sister Rebudo join us as well, make sure they are equipped, we may face a battle inside the Throne Room."
"Lord Momonga, what of you?" Worried, Albedo asked. Even as a love struck fool, Albedo knew what was the most important to the denizens of Nazarick and that was Lord Momonga's existence. If he fell, even if they won, would they really? A temporary victory was not a true victory.
"I'm going to the treasury, hopefully i can find something that can change the situation in our favour." Lord Momonga hurriedly left. If someone could just waltz into the Great Tomb of Nazarick, they had to be capable. He would need to use everything to put such a threat down, or even understand how they enter so he could prevent such problems in the future.
Watching her lover rushing away, Albedo felt rage and guilt as she as the head of the Floor Guardians failed in her mission in protecting Lord Momonga and the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.
The sole meaning in a Floor Guardians existence is to be of use to the Supreme Beings, and while she hated them to the bone, with the exception of her lover, going against their divine directive was something she didn't want to do, as that would be slicing her own soul to pieces.
With eyes filled with rage, Albedo contact the Floor Guardians and her sister, while donning her armor with her halberd in hand, she used the ring of Ainz Ooal Gown, arriving inside the Throne Room along with Demiurge, Mare, Aura, Cocytus and Rebedo.
Shalltear had to remain behind to guard the first floors incase of enemy attacks.
———
Stepping through the , Ming'er and I appeared inside a Throne Room, which surprised me. The last time I was inside the Great Tomb of Nazarick, I didn't remember there being a Throne Room, then again a lot of time had passed and a lot of things had changed.
The Eternal Expanse was designed to be attached to Nazarick via the last floor, so if I entered the Throne Room, that could only mean this was the last floor of the current Nazarick.
Looking around the Throne Room, I spotted the Throne of Kings, the World Class Item that was rewarded after clearing the dungeon, sitting at the far end of the room.
Ming'er looked around in wonder, she could tell this room was created with perfection in mind. The high walls, the forty one flags and the throne resting in the back. She felt this was a room worthy of her father status, but she didn't say anything, learning from her earlier failure to please her father.
I began to walk to the Throne Room's doors, but stopped as many figures appeared, wearing armour and excluding hostility towards me.
At the head of the group, was an armoured woman in black. Her armoured head had two horns and in her hand a black halberd.
Behind her was an Archdevil wearing an orange tuxedo but Chu Yi could faintly sense the suit was at the same level as the armor the woman was wearing. How he could tell, he wasn't sure, but he trusted his intuition.
Two twins stood together, one with a whip in his hand and the female with a staff. The air around the female elf shook and congealed into physical form, showing the devastating power she possessed.
A blue insect stood, with weapons in all four arms, excluding an icy presence that caused the floors to freeze over.
Even though all these opponents look threatening, I calmly look away from them and instead look at the small girl, standing behind the armoured woman with horns, with a slight change of expression.
I could sense she could threaten me, which is surprising since most of my stats were exceeding the limit.
No Player or Bosses gave me a sense of danger, maybe because they were data and this was real life?
Her eyes were calm like a lake, and her face cold, but one couldn't hide the dependency she had towards the woman before her. Was the armoured woman her mother?
The Throne Room became stifled with everyones powers exploding out without restraints. Everyone looked at each other, with confusion and fear. They could sense the aura of a Supreme Being from Chu Yi which couldn't be fake, but they have never seen him or heard Lord Momonga speaking of him.
Albedo was extremely livid as she felt her husband's status could be threatened but she was no fool, she felt Chu Yi was extremely dangerous, even though he was calmly standing there before most of the Floor Guardians without a shred of fear. Only a Supreme Being that had everything within their grasp could remain so calm before so many adveraises.
As the situation developed into a stalemate, a cute voice spoke, "Father, didn't you say this is your old home? Then why are they being hostile to you?" Listening to the words, the Floor Floor Guardians were sure the man was a Supreme Being, but they did not lower their guards.
They were also surprised that a Supreme Being other than Lord Momonga remained, even bringing his child back with him. But why would he appear inside the Throne Room instead of the entrance to the Tomb?
Once again, they realize how frightening the means of the Supreme Beings can be.
"This is indeed my old home, but it's not how I remembered it." I shook my head, walking to place Ming'er behind me, so I could protect her in the event they began to fight, "Ming'er stay there, don't move until I say otherwise, understand?"
"Father, I understand." Ming'er nodded frimley, because she knew even as a level 100 NPC she didn't stand a chance before those before her, after all, she was only five thousand year old without much combat experience. If it was one of her elder siblings, then they could fight alongside their father.
I smiled fondly at Ming, before turning to look at the Guardians, " There are three things I require to know before we begin fighting. Firstly, have you all noticed the changes that took place? Second, are any of my old comrades present whom I can converse with? Thirdly, are you sure you want to fight me?" As I said the last line, my golden eyes began to glow, with heat radiating off my body like a sun. My right hand grip the scabbard of Rule Breaker, ready to draw it .
All the Floor Guardians gasp in awe and fear as the pressure pressing on them increases five fold, and is still increasing! The power they witnessed was not something that even Shalltear, the strongest of the Floor Guardians could amount to.
What made them even more fearful was that it seemed he wasn't serious.
The Archdevil prop his glasses up and spoke, "If I may, who might you be? You have the presence of our Supreme Beings, but we have no recollection of a 42 Supreme Being. I'm Demiurge, the Guardian of the Seventh Floor."
Looking at Demiurge, I digested his words, 'Supreme Beings? 42 of them? When I was last here, there were not many players in Ainz Ooal Gown, but still, I should at least leave a shadow behind.'
"You have not answered my questions but I suppose being cautious is needed in such situations. My name is Heaven's Blazer, the Ruler of the Eternal Expanse, the Celestial Emperor, Father of The Nine Suns and a member of Ainz Ooal Gown, though it seems I've been forgotten." I chuckled but shook my head faintly, not truly mad.
Everyone changes with time, no matter who they may be, so forgetting me was not that important. I too forgot the name of some of the members of the guild, but the ones I remembered are etched deeply into my memories forever.
Hearing the titles of Chu Yi the Floor Guardians became even more guarded but we're 70% sure this was one of their Lords. However, without Lord Momonga's orders they cannot simply let him go.
Demiurge uses to converse with the Floor Guardians before speaking back to Chu Yi, "Lord Heaven's Blazer, Lord Momonga is on his way, we will wait for him to verify your identity, until then please stand by." Demiurge bow slightly before straightening his back and looking curiously at Ming'er.
This was the first time any of the Floor Guardians had seen a direct descendent of a Supreme Being and from what they could observe she was truly deserving of that status.
She was so young, yet she was a level 100 being, her body radiating a similar might to the Supreme Beings but was smaller and weaker than theirs.
I simply nodded and created a throne, sitting down, while glancing nonchalantly at the Floor Guardians.
Looking at them, I saw the way Demiurge was looking at Ming, thankfully it wasn't perverted and was akin to respect, "Ming'er, you are free to interact with those two dark elves. The other Floor Guardians introduce yourselves."
"Yes, Father." Ming'er skipped happily over to Aura and Mare, looking at the Dark elves in wonder, she had never seen an elf before. The races inside the Mortal World were mostly humans with a few heteromorphic races such as demons, angels and nephilim. This is the first time she has seen an elf.
"Hi, my name is Chu Ming, my Father is Chu Yi." Ming introduces herself with pride, raising her head like a proud peacock.
"We are the Floor Guardians of the Sixth Floor, Aura Bello Fiore and Mare Bello Flore, nice to meet Young Lady." Aura and Mare bowed to Ming, while still cautious as to not lower their guards.
Aura and Mare look at the young lady before them and cautiously interact with her.
While they might become enemies, they could understand that this child was their superior, she was a child of a Supreme Being! Even if they were to fight, they would not harm her, as she could continue the line of said Supreme Being or strengthen Nazarick with her presence.
Looking at the children interacting on one side, I looked back at the Floor Guardians, "I said to introduce yourselves, don't make me repeat myself!" The temperature rose to the boiling point before subsiding.
"Forgive me, my temper gets the better of me sometimes." I bowed slightly as an apology, before noting that I needed to watch my emotions.
As a creature that represented fire, It seems Heavens Blazer is easily irritated. Even with my will, it was hard to suppress the dissatisfaction in my heart.
This is bad. I'm calm and I like to think, however with this side of Heaven's Blazer, it would make it harder for me to make rational decisions. As long as I control my emotions, everything will be fine, for now.
The Floor Guardians grasp, and hurry, speak, "My Lord, please don't bow to us, we apologize for our failure!"
While feeling her husband throne could be threatened, Albedo, the armored female step forward and curtize, "My Lord, I'm Albedo, the Guardian Overseer of Nazarick, all the orders of Lord Momonga are directed through me, thus making me second in command as of now, of Nazarick."
My eyes narrowed for a second , as I spoke, "Albedo, I must say whoever your Creator is, they gave you a very important role. You are the bridge between Creator and the Created." There are other things I didn't say such as, 'Albedo, why do I still sense hostility from you? No, that is clearly killing intent.' If I wasn't an Eternal Bright Lord I couldn't sense such subtle emotions.
Albedo's eyes opened slightly under her helmet, 'My Creator indeed gave me a very important role, as the Guardian Overseer. I had been placed above the other denizens but below the Supreme Beings, I didn't see my value until it was pointed out. Did Tabula plan everything from the beginning? He made me a woman, instead of man, gave me a messy backstory instead of a clear one, but all that was changed by Lord Momonga, making me fall in love with him. When i look at it from this angle, i realize i might have been narrowed minded to be mad at my Creator, if everything i assume was right, then even my current feelings are within his control. My Father is truly terrifying. However he gave me a chance to be loved by Lord Momonga, I won't lose it!'
I was listening to Cocytus' introduction when I briefly glanced at Albedo, sensing her emotions becoming stable and her deeply hidden killing intent towards me vanished, and then at an empty space to the left of the group, "Momonga, I assume? I hope you can clear up the misunderstanding with your Guardians, I don't want a bloodbath if it's not required, but then again, I also don't mind fighting the silent one." I said, pointing at Rebedo, the only NPC that had not left their place since the beginning.
A sign appears from the left of the Floor Guardians and a grandly dressed undead in academic robes with a golden staff with seven snakes biting seven orbs appeared. "Floor Guardians, this fellow is indeed one of my comrades. I never thought I would get to see the Unrank Supreme Being once more. Heaven's Blazer, why have you returned?"
All the NPCs except Ming kneeled down as they looked at their undead Lord in reverence. Ming, feeling the shift in atmosphere, ran towards me.
Looking at the undead before me, I signed as I remembered Momonga. He was one of the weakest members of the guild at the time I left, but he was also the most loyal to the cause. He had invested much into this game, going as far as spending a majority of the money he earned from working in the real world.
"Momonga, believe me or not, I didn't leave because I wanted to, my family required my presence and I couldn't disobey. After spending many years with them, I was abandoned. I worked all my life for that family, only to be abandoned by them, how heartbreaking is that? Honestly, if i did not return back here, I would most likely have died. So to me this situation is a blessing,"
The room became so silent that the sound of a pin hitting the ground would be heard from a distance. The Floor Guardians were confused and alarmed.
A Supreme Being was abandoned and would have died if not because of some 'chance'? None of them would believe it if not hearing it themselves.
To them the Supreme Beings were gods of the highest order, failing or dying was impossible without the Supreme Being wanting it. That had been common knowledge since as far as they could remember.
Ming's feelings were different, her father had another family but they abandoned him? Was this the reason he didn't name his children before today? While she was sad, the fact that he named her and would do the same to the rest means he was opening up to them.
Lord Momonga was silent, but the Floor Guardians knew he was thinking of many things at once, that was the Supreme One's intellect, wise and boundless. "Heaven's Blazer, we will talk about this at a later date, but first I must ask, how did you enter the Throne Room?"
"The Great Tomb of Nazarick, depending on the number of floors it has, adds one more floor and that is where I entered from." I use my fingers to explain, with a teasing smile on my face. The Floor Guardians and Ming'er wouldn't understand but I was sure Momonga would.
Indeed, Momonga understood immediately and asked with shock, "How did you solve that? Many players have been trying to break this rule since the beginning of the game but you cracked? Didn't the Devs find out?"
"Creating a Guild within a Guild is nigh impossible, but with the right items, even the impossible can become possible." Laughing, I felt my gut shake a little with pain, I had spend much money and World Class Items before barely succeed, but in order to make the Eternal Expanse, well eternal, I made it forever attach to Nazarick but once Nazarick is destroyed, the Eternal Expanse would also be destroyed.
Nodding, Lord Momonga looked at the Floor Guardians, "Have everyone return to their post, Aura and Mare, take Ming to the Sixth Floor, my friend and I need to discuss the future of the tomb."
"Yes, Lord Momonga!" The Floor Guardians bowed towards them and teleported back to their floors with Ming tagging along with Aura and Mare.
She looked reluctant but when she saw that I nodded at her, she became excited and teleported to the wilderness of the Six Floor.