In my Astral state, I jumped through walls and ran down halls, taking in the empty and dead feeling of the castle. Without any lights the entire place felt cold and abandoned, and the halls were almost barren of decoration, only polished stone with a layer of dust, making me weary of rematerializing more than was necessary to avoid leaving marks.
Eventually I reached a point where I felt I was far enough away from the chamber Tsain slumbers in, and rematerialized into the world. Taking my specially made drones out of my inventory, they sat in my hand like a handfull of shirt buttons, very small in size. Giving them a small toss, they hung in the air before scattering off down the halls, almost entirely silent as they started mapping things out. Checking my goggles, I watched the little 3d map in my view expand and lengthen, with some groups of drones splitting up to map junctions and splits.
I stood still for several minutes, watching as rooms were marked, explored, and the map was filled out. As small as the drones were, they were small enough to fit underneath doors, scouting out the contents of rooms for me so I didn't have to stumble around in this massive castle by myself, scanning for magical energy high enough to suggest traps or defenses to protect things.
There was surprisingly little left in the castle, and as more and more barren rooms and hallways were mapped I grew concerned. Tsain himself was resting on a massive pile of treasure like any dragon you'd expect, and it was increasingly obvious he had stripped almost everything of value to make his bed in the center hall. I had almost resigned myself to trying to steal a dragon's treasure when one of my drones finally got a hit in what looked like a library. Smiling, I let out a breath in relief. If that wasn't what I was looking for I'd eat a hat!
Letting the drones finish mapping things out, I set them to standby where they stuck themselves to walls to act as my own security camera system, ready to alert me if anything was out of place. Becoming immaterial once again, I jogged my way to the hidden spot, leaping up and through one floor and through several walls before landing before the door to the library. Stepping through it like a ghost, I was quietly impressed with what I saw.
Instead of a ransacked and barren room, the shelves were stocked with books all around, as big as a public library, yet much dustier. I suppose a dragon's love of material wealth didn't quite extend to parchment and paper, or maybe they would just get sick of not being able to find things right. A blessing either way. A few finely made tables and chairs were covered in dust, and a cold fireplace sat in one wall surrounded by a few plush chairs. I could imagine this place being quite nice if it wasn't as dead and unloved as the rest of the castle.
One thing did make me pause though. There were evident disturbances in the dust, footprints. Old ones it seemed, from who knows how long ago, but it reminded me that there was still another member of the hero's party still alive aside from Tsan and Evileye. What was her name again? Rigrit? I didn't really know anything about her, but it was evident she must've looked through here in the past.
Oh well. It didn't matter.
Returning my focus, I padded over to the section of the library that triggered the drone's sensors, but saw... nothing? There was nothing at all here out of the ordinary. Wait, that thought didn't feel right. Of course it didn't, there was nothing there. Wait. Argh! I walked away, pacing for a second before pulling up the Drone footage. There... wasn't nothing there. There is an ornate pedestal with a simple leather-bound book, but at the same time... there was nothing there. Wait...
Fuck, must be some kind of magical defenses that screw with perception. Can't screw with my mind, because I'm immune to that, so it must be my perception. Now... I can perceive the book and the pedestal in the Drone footage because it is simply a recreation of an image, and I'm not actually looking at it, but how can I use that to get it? I might be able to use a live feed as a fake mirror, walk backwards and grab it, but it would be foolish to assume the pedestal isn't trapped beyond just the perception filter. Hmm...
Well, if all else fails, just cheese the fuck out of it using SCIENCE!
I pull my portal gun out and returned to the material world, aiming in the approximate direction of empty air and trigger the gravity function, crossing my fingers. Electricity arcs between the prongs of the gun before with a small whoosh, the brown leather book suddenly appears in it's grasp. I give a triumphant fist pump before letting it drop into my waiting hand.
That was a mistake.
pain pain painPAIN PAINPAINPAIN!
My nerves were on fire as I realized I failed to account for any traps left on the book itself. White hot electricity of indeterminate voltage floods my body from a magical trap, siezing my muscles and burning my flesh. Any scream I want to make is frozen in my throat as little more than unintelligible noises as both my lungs and throat are siezed. Dimly, I realized my legs had given out beneath me, letting me fall backwards onto the dusty floor. My senses felt frayed, my limbs twitching as the trap finally finished, leaving me choking on the ground at very low health. I'm lucky enough that trap didn't straight out kill me.
My eyes water with angry, pain filled tears and my nose is filled with the scent of burnt toast. Or flesh. I can't tell anymore. My left hand clutched around the book is badly burned, and my fingers aren't responding correctly. None of my limbs are responding correctly, actually, but that's only expected after touching the equivalent of a live power line.
Stupid, stupid, stupid stupid! Rookie mistake! What happened to all my caution? My preparations? At least the portal gun is fine, but what if that current had shorted it? Stupid, foolish, complacent me!
I drop the book and pull off my balaclava and freshly fried goggles, taking shuddering breaths of the dusty air and smarting as my left hand reminds me of its damages. I sit there for a few minutes, letting my limbs stop twitching before weakly getting to my feet. I sway a little bit before retrieving my mask and goggles, then the book.
[Item obtained! 1x- Nameless Book of Spells. (World Class)]
Well. At least that was over with now. If it turned out to be a diary of one of the eight greed kings instead I would've detonated a nuke here out of sheer spite.
Leaning against a bookcase, I put away my things into my inventory before taking out a few random snacks and some items from the Gacha for healing, munching away on some granola as I see my health bar slowly rise out of the red.
Fuck. Never doing that again. If only I had a semblance like Nora from RWBY. Wait. Why don't I have my own Aura unlocked? I have Ruby, she could do it... but can it even be done on me? Aura was the manifestation of the soul into a type of energy shield that unlocked a semblance, which could be a type of personalized super power. I'm a heroic spirit, my soul already made manifest through the imaginary element of ether, and my noble phantasm could be classified as a semblance, loosely. Would unlocking my aura make me... even more manifest? Alive? Would aura just return me to flesh and bone?
If that was the case I wasn't ready for that just yet, aside from the other benefits of being a spirit the ability to turn intangible was too big of a boon. Perhaps the spell Perfect Unknowable would allow me a similar level of ability, but I'd have to test that later. Now that I had the book, every spell in the world that has ever been used would be revealed, along with a large majority of tier spells from Yggdrasil, maybe even more, but I'd need to read it later to be sure.
Feeling some of my aches and pains subside, I stood back up, flexing my left hand to make sure it was in better shape. I winced as the skin still felt raw and tingly but my control was much better. Now that my limbs weren't twitching, I recalled all my drones with another controller I had in my inventory, gathering them up before getting ready to leave. I'd had quite enough of this place already.
Checking to make sure I had everything, I shot my return portal at the wall of the library, revealing a view of the ceiling inside the osprey and Northstar sitting in one of the seats. Taking a small run up to dive through it, I felt gravity change direction by ninety degrees before dismissing the portals, leaving me to fall back onto the floor of the craft, recovering from the sudden and swift change in equilibrium.
"You okay Boss? You look a little... singed." Northstar asked, her keen eyes taking in my slightly frazzled look and burned hand. At her sister's words, Intrepid turned in her seat up front to look back, giving me a concerned look.
I grunted, waking them off. "Got careless, triggered a trap. Got the book and got out, I'll be fine." Of course, I neglected to mention how close that trap had actually gotten to killing me. I was still thinking about it myself, no need to burden them over it.
"Bet you won't do that again, will ya?" Northstar gave me a teasing grin. "Just remember, we're here to take those risks for you if need be." I nodded along with that. She was right, I didn't need to do things alone. Another person along with me might help curb any stupid ideas I get.
"Fair point. Tell you what, I'm in a bit of a less than tolerant mood now, and I want to get a good grasp on your combat capabilities. Once I rob the Theocracy I'm going to set you loose on them, kill as many as you want but try to be quiet and not to leave witnesses. I'll set some det charges beforehand and hang around outside to pick off any runners. Be as quick as you can, and don't give them any time to organize or understand what's going on. With any luck, after you get out and I blow the charges nobody will know of your involvement."
A bloodthirsty grin spread across Northstar's face. "Boss, you give me such lovely assignments! They won't know what hit them!" Her expression sobered some. "But, are you sure you're still in a good shape to try for the Theocracy as well?"
I nodded, pulling a few more snacks from my inventory. "Yeah, I'll be healed up by then, I just need to regenerate some. Unfortunately Medigel doesn't work on spirits." Northstar eyed my slowly healing wounds and accepted it, turning her attention to unsheathing her claws to check their sharpness.
I sat back on the opposite side of the hold and relaxed, feeling the aircraft shift as Intrepid piloted it to the north, towards the capital of the Theocracy.
}x{
It was a quiet and cool night that Raymond Lauransan was found in his study, reading an old scripture under candle light before bed to calm his mind. Lately there had been no end of topics brought up at the meetings between the six cardinals. Concerns about everything from the war with the elves, supporting the Dragon Kingdom against the Beastmen, the recent betrayal of Clementine, and the strange transportation machines unveiled in Baharuth.
It seemed the troubles were never ending, as recently the thousand mile astrologer had predicted the revival of the Catastrophe Dragon lord this summer solstice, and had proclaimed this year as one of massive change. What was more concerning was that she proclaimed to be unable to see the changes that were coming, calling her visions foggy and shifting like the tides of the ocean. He just hoped there wasn't a tsunami hidden within them.
Raymond yawned, feeling a bout of drowsiness. He must be more tired than he thought. He wasn't a young man in the black scripture anymore, and his age was catching up with him. Hmm... something smelled... weird... but he was so very tired...
His desk was looking rather inviting... the book could work as a pillow... yes. Sleep sounded so very nice. His head dipped down towards the desk and he was out before his head fell on the pages.
The door opened behind him and in swept a figure as dark as the night. A satisfied pair of golden eyes glinted in the light of the candle before a breath snuffed it out, leaving the room pitch dark.
For all of Raymond's time in the military, he could never have been prepared for a canister of sleeping gas used on him in the seat of his power.
He would later awaken in a field beyond the city, to the sight of the grand church of his capital in ruins.
}x{
Thank god some things still went smoothly with enough caution and preparation. I made sure Raymond was sleeping soundly before putting him over my shoulder and using a quick portal to dump him in a field beyond the city. There was plenty to still do, and I wanted this over with quick.
The capital of the Theocracy was kind of interesting compared to the other countries I've passed through. In Baharuth, it was set like Rome, with sweeping grand architecture, domes and arches prevalent in designs, but here in the theocracy things were much more white and clean looking. Gothic architecture was a given, and where the Baharuth took technological and magical advances together, it seems the Theocracy shunned tech for magical advancement.
It certainly seemed to help make the city look cleaner, but it all felt like a mask to me. A sterile facade to cover the less desirable parts. Hidden away behind buildings and in the back alleys were the slave quarters and auction houses, everything that they didn't want you to see without going looking for it. I hoped it would all burn once I hit the detonator, but most of the city was carved stone and brick.
Due to the prevalence of magic, there were a lot more magical defenses around, and that combined with a small handheld sensor I had was helping me train my senses to detect ambient magic on my own, finding the locations of wards and traps before I could trigger them.
Unsurprisingly, almost all the defenses I found were centered around existing doorways and windows, with absolutely nothing stopping me from jumping through walls as a ghost. A glaring weakness but it could be forgiven considering most wouldn't think to defend their homes against ghosts. All the better for me, of course.
I dropped down two floors of the main church, landing in the basement where they kept their "vault" of treasures. Not much of a vault. All it was was a glorified broom closet with a heavily enchanted door and a single guard. It was the guard that interested me though. Instead of Zesshi, it was several other people, some nameless members of the scriptures. I suppose even the half elf "godkin" needed a break here and there.
I would need to find her, maybe have Northstar fight her. If she was beaten, she would willingly follow someone strong, but even as strong as I was as a servant, I was unpracticed against actual skilled combatants. I didn't fancy my chances against Zesshi in a straight fight.
Northstar, however, was built and designed to be a killer robot in the most literal sense. Reinforced with the best metals of the land and backed by several supercomputers in her ship, she would be in peak condition to tangle with her. Not to mention her lack of blood would allow her to negate Zesshi's trump card ability within her weapon.
Oh well, I'll worry about that later. For now...
I gauge the width of the traps and defenses on the door of the "vault" before taking a running leap, jumping through the ceiling and over the door before landing within the room, looking around in triumph at the various items around me. The room in its entirety might've been strengthened and warded against teleportation, but that didn't stop my intrusion.
And right in the center of it all was a mannequin with my priority target... A white dress with golden trim in the shape of a dragon. Downfall of Castle and Country. I smile but don't forget my painful lesson from earlier, taking the time to check for traps on items and even then, I don't pick them up myself. Thankfully there is a soundproofing ward on the door, so I'm free to rematerialize into the real world and set about picking items up with my portal gun before dropping them into a sack. A bit unwieldy to do, but if it saves me from any traps it will be worth it.
The quiet buzz of electricity filled the room as I repeatedly picked things up, even managing to stuff the mannequin with Downfall into the sack. Once finished, I unceremoniously shoved the entire sack and it's contents into my inventory.
[Items obtained!-
20x Assorted Sealing crystals (Tier 6)
30x Assorted Spell Tomes (Tier 5)
10x Assorted Sealing Crystals (Tier 7)
10x Assorted Spell Tomes (Tier 7)
5x Assorted Magical Swords
3x Assorted Magical Armor
1x Mannequin (Common)
1x Downfall of Castle and Country (World Class) (Iconic)]
Luckily, Downfall had no traps on it, so I was free to equip it through my inventory. Doing so, I felt a slight breeze as my pitch black outfit was replaced by the Chinese dress, perfectly tailored to fit me. It felt quite light and silky, and it emanated a feeling of power and capability that reassured me. I kind of liked it. Hmm, maybe add some hair ornaments and some sandals and I'd look pretty good!
Honestly now that I had a world class item like this I was a little loath to not wear it simply because it would nullify the effects of any other world class item, but it also wouldn't do to advertise to anyone looking that I had one of my own. Hmm...
Well, I can always quick equip it if I need it, I suppose, and it's not like I even have a target to use this on anyways. It can only control one target at a time, and I'd first need to find a target I felt comfortable brainwashing in the first place, and even then it probably would have to be from another world. The dragons here had wild magic that can possibly counteract World Items, and nobody else here was powerful enough to be worthy outside of Ainz's minions, and I didn't want to get on his bad side by enslaving one of his friend's creations.
Worries for later, I suppose. The main concern was just getting it out of the Theocracy's hands. I switched back to my stealth suit before deciding on my next course of action. I think it is about time to begin the final event. Nodding to myself, I took out a detonator and clipped it to my belt before withdrawing a subsonic silenced rifle of my own design, slinging it over my shoulder. Time to get things ready.
Astralizing, I leapt up a few floors before exiting out near the back of the church, returning to reality only long enough to jam doors and blockade exits before setting bricks of C4 in alcoves and on support pillars across the church. Once I released Northstar I would have her mostly target the ground and upper levels. She could leave the lower ones alone because when I bring down the entire building they'll most likely die anyways.
Even if they aren't crushed they'll be trapped because I took the time to find a strong area of effect anti-teleportation spell in the Nameless Book of Spells, and it'll last a full week or more once I put enough magic into it. They might be able to crack it if they can find the object I'll cast it on, but it'll be buried under rubble that will take them weeks to clear out.
I'm one devious motherfucker, aren't I?
I'm also a bit heartless, I realize. I really haven't given second thought to committing a massacre against the Theocracy's government, or worried about potential civilian casualties. Given, the civilians are probably all slave owners, mostly, but the theocracy itself is a nation dedicated to uniting humanity, even if they go about it the wrong way and the upper management knows it.
The main reason I want to get rid of them is due to their meddling in everything and unfavorable policies. They may do some good for humanity but they also did bad in their own interests, and chose a bad uniting factor to build a foundation on. I would cause them so many of their own problems to deal with that they can't afford to look anywhere but in their own territory.
Setting the last charge, I leapt up and across rooftops to the highest tower of the church and placed a portal, allowing Northstar to step through with an eager grin on her face. She licked a claw as she looked around, her entire stance eager. "Everything ready, boss?" She asked.
"All the doors are jammed or blocked, the charges are set, and I'll stay up here to pick off anyone that manages to escape. Everything is ready." I unslung my rifle, which looked like an old carbine with its entire barrel suppressed. A mixture of non-chemical propellant and the subsonic ammo would ensure it remained quiet, while the dart shaped rounds would make sure whatever it hit was going to have a hole at least an inch wide in it.
"Oh, before you go," I called out before Northstar could head down the stairs. "Zesshi wasn't at the vault, so you may encounter her on your... walk. You'll know her when you see her, she's half and half black and white. Don't take her lightly, she's very strong. I don't expect you'd lose in a straight fight with her but you can never count for everything. Worst comes to worst, run my way and let me know, and we can delay her long enough to escape."
Northstar flashed me a fanged grin, waving off my concern. "Who do you take me for, Boss? No matter how strong she is, I'll bring her to her knees at your feet!" And with a jaunty wave she disappeared down the stairs, engaging a set of noise cancellation speakers in her boots to make her steps much quieter.
It wasn't long before a muffled scream rang out, and the killing began. Humming a tune to myself I leapt to the top roof of the tower for the right view and set up perch, scanning the empty streets around the church to ensure nobody got away.
}x{
It was the screams that clued her in first. Not the screams of surprise or challenge, but the screams of terror and fear. They were muffled, almost muted, but they were there, and they were getting closer.
Despite Zesshi's distaste for her own heritage, she probably wouldn't have even heard it without her half elf hearing. Something was wrong.
Her grip on her Halberd became tighter as she moved to investigate, heedless of the confused words of the few military leaders that had called her for a meeting. She was just about to open the door when it exploded inwards, tossing her back against the wall.
In swept a blur of black and red, and before she could get back on her feet all of the room's other occupants had been slain. Blood painted the walls as the giggling figure in the middle of it all was revealed, claws dripping fresh blood.
Blood red hair flowed behind the intruder as it turned to face her, revealing a pale Demi-human of some kind dressed in black armor of unknown make. A bloody and black horn stuck out of her head while two glowing eyes with strange, cross shaped pupils zeroed in on her. An evil and wide grin broke across the invader's face as she looked at Zesshi, a black armored tail dripping crimson flicking behind her like a cat's.
"Secondary target identified! Please resist, it's so much more fun~!" The intruder immediately leapt at her, claws bared to maim and kill.
There were no words exchanged after that. The speed of the invader took her by surprise, but Zesshi managed to block, feeling her guard almost breaking from the sheer weight behind the Demi-human's blow. Her eyes narrowed. She would not be done in that easily!
Zesshi shoved off the invader and got ready, taking a swipe at them to force them back, but instead, the crimson devil used her claws on one hand in an impressive display to deflect the halberd above her head, enabling her to close the distance and attack again.
Zesshi snarled as she pulled back to block. This room was too cramped to use her main weapon effectively, and the invader would have the advantage in a fistfight. She threw her halberd to the side, swiping a sword from one of the now dead scripture leaders before engaging her martial arts, increasing her speed, strength, and durability.
Leaping at the devil, she exchanged a flurry of blows, each deflected or dodged with the most minimal of movements, with the invader often trying to put in enough force to throw off her sword arm in a parry to create an opening. It was... challenging. It was refreshing. It was... fun!
Zesshi soon sported her own grin as she realized she was actually having a difficult fight for once, immersing herself in the exchange fully as she redoubled her efforts against the intruder.
Said intruder responded in kind by sending their previously unused tail at her neck like a spear, grazing her skin as Zesshi twisted, avoiding the blow but leaving her vulnerable to a kick which knocked her back into the wall.
Recovering in time, she used a martial art to propel herself forwards in a thrust faster than her opponent could avoid. Contrary to her expectations though, Zesshi's stolen sword didn't penetrate through her opponent's flesh. It lodged itself about an inch deep into the frontal chest piece of the intruder with the sound of breaking ceramics, yet did nothing aside from knocking them back. Frowning, she yanked her sword out and retreated, eyeing her foe.
On Northstar's side, the AI was absolutely thrilled to be fighting such a capable opponent, as the combat data would be incredibly valuable for her siblings should they be involved in fights in the future. Truly, the boss was right to caution her about this... Zesshi Zetsumei.
The half elf was leagues above standard human capability, and if Northstar didn't have the processing power on her ship to literally analyze, observe, and strategize thousands of outcomes in the span of a second, she wouldn't have been able to recognize, deflect, or counter half as many swings as she had without enough data for a predictive algorithm.
That's what this fight was for, however, collecting a dataset to be used in future combat. And what delightful data it was! Reaction speeds, strength estimates, theorized bone and muscle density, what stimulating thoughts! In truth, she had only grazed the neck of the half elf with her tail purely to see if she bled red. Turns out, the red of her blood is a slightly different shade than human blood. How interesting.
Well, she supposed it was time to wrap things up with the elf, after all... her boss had plans for the halfling, and she needed to finish sweeping up the trash on this floor of the church.
Releasing limiters, Battle mode engaged.
Northstar's eyes brightened briefly before turning into incredibly bright strobe lights, acting like a repeated flash bang as the half elf was forced to cover her eyes and look away, soon clutching her ears as a sonic scream left Northstar's mouth, deafening her. Servos audibly whirred as Northstar rushed in, yanking the sword out of Zesshi's grip barehanded, crushing the steel beneath her grip before letting her other fist land a punishing blow to the half elf's stomach, knocking the wind out of her.
A rapid series of blows followed, all with the intent to overwhelm and incapacitate, targeting human nerve clusters and pressure points. Within five seconds and ten blows, the Theocracy's strongest fighter was reduced to a coughing mess on the floor, breathing greedily as she tried to recover, only to find her limbs not wanting to respond.
Northstar's eyes stopped flashing and returned to normal as she scrutinized her foe's wounds before giving a satisfied nod. Zesshi wouldn't be in any shape to move for at while, giving the boss a perfect time to talk with her. Picking up the weakly resisting elfling, she draped her over her shoulder before picking up the discarded halberd.
"Lucky you," She called over her shoulder, giving Zesshi a grin. "The boss is interested in you, so you get to live!" Hearing only a weak moan in response, she chuckled before heading to the stairs of the tower her boss was on.
The sooner she could get rid of her the sooner she could get back to clearing out the building, and she had a feeling that they had finally organized a resistance against her as well! It would be delicious to see the looks of despair on their faces when they realized resistance was futile!
}x{
Hearing steps climbing the tower below me, I dropped back in through the window to see what it was. Imagine my surprise when I saw a bloody but nearly pristine Northstar with a beaten and bruised Zesshi over her shoulder.
I was more than a little surprised, honestly. I knew that my Spectres were built above and beyond human, but maybe I underestimated how capable they were. Or, maybe I overestimated Zesshi?
Walking over, I spotted a gash in Northstar's frontal plate, in the shape of a sword tip. It was surprising that a sword even managed to puncture the frontal steel plate to get to the ceramic beneath... maybe I didn't overestimate Zesshi. The disposable Ceramic Ablative Armor did it's job though, and nothing penetrated.
"She give you any trouble?" I asked when we were close enough. Northstar dropped her at my feet and handed me the Halberd before answering.
"Not really, but she is a fascinating specimen. Much better reaction times than I expected, and her strength is well beyond expectations. I actually had to enter battle mode to overwhelm her!" She cheerfully reported. I raised a brow, looking between the weakly moving Zesshi and the chipper AI. Seems I really did underestimate the capabilities of my Spectres. Northstar mimicked looking at her wrist before faking a startled look. "Oh, look at the time! I need to finish cleaning up!" She shot off towards the stairs but I stopped her.
"Wait up a second! Did you kill the astrologer yet?" I asked. I hadn't had the luck of finding her when I was sneaking around earlier. Northstar nodded quickly.
"Yup yup! She was in the group of people I killed before fighting half and half there. The skies are free now!" A weight lifted off my shoulders and I smiled.
"Good, good. Now, you have ten more minutes before we need to leave, preferably sooner. Go on and finish cleaning up. I want to get out of here." Northstar saluted before dashing off down the stairs, no longer concealing her own steps.
Turning my attention to Zesshi, I pulled her over to the wall and propped her up, feeling her grab at my arm with a weak grip, still trying to recover from whatever Northstar did in addition to probably flashbanging her.
"She really did a number on you, huh?" I muttered, using a hand to turn her head to look at me. Black and white eyes met mine in a mixture of emotions, from fear, anger, and a bit of excitement? Hard to tell, but seeing her up close like this just reminded me how Zesshi was basically still a teenager. Hell, she looked around Ruby's age. I huffed before turning back to the window, tossing out a few drones to keep an eye on things so I could talk to her.
I pulled a chair out of my inventory and put away her Halberd, causing her eyes to widen as I turned the seat around backwards to sit. I leaned forward on the backrest to look at her. I imagined I was an intimidating sight, wearing a body suit that looked like darkness manifest, darker than even the shadows of the empty tower.
"I bet you've got plenty of questions, and in due time I'll answer them, but let me start by saying I'm not your enemy." At her disbelieving look I held up a hand. "I'm serious, I'm not your enemy. I may be the Theocracy's enemy, especially after today, but I don't have to be yours. I have no issues with you, but I also didn't think you would listen if I didn't use a bit of force to earn your attention. You see, I'm here to give you an offer, among other things."
She eyed me in skeptic anger, attempting to speak. Her throat was still hoarse from the beat down, and she coughed once or twice. "OFff- cough cough.. Offf-err?" I nodded.
"You want to fight. More specifically, you want to fight powerful people, and you want to win. I am going to encounter a lot of powerful people, but I do not like to fight. That's why I created Northstar."
"Norrr-th st-aar?"
"The woman who brought you here."
Her eyes opened in surprise. "You... Crea-ated hhher?" She asked. I noted her speech was getting better quickly. Might want to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't try anything. Still, I answered her question.
"Yes, I created her. She isn't organic, though whether she is considered alive is a different discussion. You can think of her as an incredibly advanced golem, if that works. I may be strong, but I am an Inventor first before a fighter, so I created Northstar and her siblings to help me with things like that." Zesshi looked troubled by the answer.
"What. Do you. Want. With. Cough. Me." She pushed out between breaths, eyeing me suspiciously.
"Well, aside from wanting another strong pair of hands to help in a fight, I want to help you, which will help me. You love to fight. You want strong opponents and ways to get even stronger. I can help with those. I want to have you help fight the strong people who take issue with me, or ones I need disposed of, and I think you'll find my first choice very... agreeable." I let a grin spread across my face. "I believe you're familiar with the Elf King?"
Her face hardened, but there was an interested gleam in her eyes. "You want. Me to. Kill him?"
"No." Her eyes narrowed, but I continued. "I want you to castrate him. I want you to eviscerate him. I want you to feed him his own entrails while he's still alive. I want you to murderize him so thoroughly that what's left of him will be unrecognizable." Zesshi relaxed at that and a small grin appeared on her face. "One thing you will learn about my tolerances, Zesshi, is that all rapists and slavers will die, which as you can tell, is why I'm going after the Theocracy."
She looked mollified, but also confused about something. "Who is Zesshi?"
I blinked.
Zesshi isn't her... ooohhh right. I never knew her name.
"Sorry, I don't know your actual name. Your title, Certain Death, translates to Zesshi Zetsumei in another language, and I've been using that instead. What is your actual name, if you don't mind me asking?"
She thought for a moment before nodding. "Antilene. Antilene Heran Fouche."
"Well, Antilene, I am Jeanne D'Altera. Nice to finally meet you. Do we have a deal?" I asked offering a hand.
Antilene studied me for a minute with her Yin and Yang eyes before grunting and reaching up with some effort, grabbing my hand. "Deal." We shook on it, then she tried crushing my hand in her grip, but by now I had around B rank servant strength at my level, so I gave as much as I got, causing her to grin.
I pulled her to her feet and steadied her, having noticed she had already regained her movement halfway through negotiations. Checking the time, I noted it was around two in the morning. Good, that gives me some time. "We'll leave to kill the elf king tomorrow, I want to prepare a little surprise for his summon so you can fight him straight, without any tricks." Zesshi- sorry, Antilene, nodded along, having a thoughtful look on her face.
Hearing footsteps behind us, I turned to see a chipper Northstar returning, covered in even more blood as she climbed the last steps. I eyed the bloody footprints she was leaving in distaste. "You're cleaning yourself off before we get back on the Osprey." I told her. Northstar sighed before seemingly shimmering in place as she quite literally shook all the blood off with sonic vibrations, splattering it all over the floor. She hopped out of the circle of red before joining us, looking over the now mobile Antilene in curiosity.
"Everything cleaned up?" I asked, recalling my drones and storing my rifle. The robot devil nodded happily.
"All the trash has been taken care of, boss! All of the cardinals except the one you spared have been disposed of as well!"
"You spared a cardinal?" Antilene asked, failing to hide her curiosity. I nodded.
"The Cardinal of Earth, Raymond, I believe, was one of the few who hadn't owned slaves before, so I spared him. I just knocked him out and dumped him outside the city." I saw the flicker of relief pass through Antilene's features and inwardly grinned. I'm glad that worked out. "Hate to be in his position when he wakes up though, the amount of fallout and paperwork from this will be staggering." I chuckled.
I clapped my hands together, rubbing them for a second as I ran over a mental checklist. "Right, everything is done here. Let's go." I took out the portal gun and shot the return portal onto the wall, much to Antilene's astonishment. Giving a quick jog and a jump through, I landed on the floor of the Osprey, with Northstar close behind.
Now looking at the portal on the floor, I gave Antilene a cheeky grin at her stupefied face since to her it looked like we were standing sideways. Kneeling near the portal, I stuck a hand through in offer, beckoning for her to take it. "Come on, let's go! We've got places to be!"
She shook herself before walking forwards, taking my hand and climbing through, visibly disturbed by the change in gravity as I hauled her up and into a seat on the Osprey that was still circling high above and outside the city.
Dismissing the portals, I walked over to one of the windows, looking out at the dimly lit capital. "Well, it's time for the main event." I looked at Northstar who had taken the window next to me with an eager grin. "Ready for the late night fireworks?"
"You know it! Hit it, boss!"
I grinned and fished out the detonator, noticing Antilene had found her way to one of the other windows. I gave the switch a double click, and in the distance fire bloomed. It wasn't a rolling fireball like all the movies like to portray, but it was still very destructive. All twelve C4 charges went off at once, creating brief flashes of fire followed by shockwaves that blew out windows of many houses in the city. Soon, smoke and debris filled the air as the entire church shook and shattered.
The entire structure began collapsing in on itself and falling apart as the structural support crumbled, creating a huge cloud of dust. It wasn't easily visible in the dark of night, but from a few small lantern fires that had started it was visible there wasn't much left but rubble. A successful mission.
I ignored the "Quest Complete" notification along with the rewards in favor of taking in the view. Honestly, there were so many quests the system gave me whenever I decided upon a task that I often neglected to look at them until reviewing the rewards later.
"What was that?" Antilene asked, eyes glued to the destruction, her voice a mixture of awed and wary.
"That, was a demonstration of controlled demolition. Several pounds of plastic explosive in the right places and you can destroy any building." I chuckled at the ruins. "They'll be cleaning that one up for weeks." Stepping away, I went to the cockpit and joined Intrepid, sitting in the copilot seat.
"Now, let's go home. We've got a busy day tomorrow!"
}x{
The next morning...
Rifles were loaded and checked as I stood on the deck of Intrepid once again, watching as two full groups of twenty Specters loaded with full kit entered a pair of transport Ospreys. The early morning light was yet to break, leaving the runway lights of the deck to illuminate things as the frigid air of winter swept in from the sea and over us.
With a full day to prepare before attacking the Elf King in his own capital, I had more than enough time to create a few essential weapons for this next excursion. The Elf King himself was almost a pushover despite his strength, a bully who had never been hit back because of his power, but he did have an earth elemental summon that was worthy of caution.
Behemot, it was called. A primal earth elemental. Highly resistant to normal weapons, but very weak to percussive attacks. If I had the tech for resonance drilling it would've been toast, but I didn't, and so I improvised.
Instead, I made concussive explosives in the form of rocket launchers, mines, sticky grenades, really anything that was useful and explosive. I also made a sort of grenade launcher that used shells similar to Northstar's sonic voice ability, capable of shattering stone around its impact area. Let it not be said this monster would go out without a bang, because this would be loud as fuck.
After designing some ear protection and readying some backup should the elves try and save the king, we were ready to whoop ass.
To my side, Antilene stood on the deck with her halberd, watching with fascination as my robotic soldiers moved with exacting precision onto their crafts before they took off. Instead of Anteline's usual outfit, she was wearing a modified and weaker version of my servant armor I had made for her, painted black with white trim to match her hair and a white fur lining.
Behind us was our own osprey, ready to lift off with both Dell and Ruby joining us for this, each toting rocket launchers of my own design. I hadn't wanted to bring them on an assassination mission, but apparently the promise of being able to use heavy weaponry was too attractive. Ruby wouldn't stop badgering me until I let her come, and Dell wasn't about to let Ruby out on a dangerous mission without being there, so they both ended up joining us.
Thankfully, despite Ruby's intense love of weapons, she was smart enough that she knew how to handle something so dangerous, saving me my worries of any accidents happening. I turned around and walked up the ramp, with Antilene following before taking our seats. The ramp closed and we lifted off, feeling our stomachs drop briefly before we met with the other two ospreys and flew in formation to the Elven Country.
Heh. Decaiptating two countries within two days, Who would've ever guessed I'd decided to get so involved like this? Thinking back on it I used to be scared of the Thousand Mile Astrologer finding my base, or having to deal with the scriptures trying to kill me. Now look at me, confident enough to go around killing the leaders of countries whenever I wish. Of course, that will change when Ainz gets here, so it's best to do this now and then relocate somewhere else entirely.
Perhaps I'll move everything to the moon, or just move further north. I still needed to get a network of satellites put out so I could keep a proper eye on everything.
After this mission, I'll finally get around to sending my fleet North to deal with the pirates before things can thaw properly. I couldn't wait to see what a volley of Railguns would do to an enemy fleet. Not to mention, just being on the deck of a ship as they fire... god I wanted to do that. I'd always wanted to see a battleship firing its guns in person, but now I own my own battleships! I could do it whenever I want!
The thought made me smile, and I looked out the window to the seas north of us. It was only a matter of time now.
}x{
An hour later...
Two thunks heralded another pair of guards getting knocked out as we quickly but quietly ran through the halls of the Elven King's home. All of my Specters were spread out in groups of three across the estate, taking care of the guards, with the last extra joining us as a rear guard. Everything was more or less going smoothly, and the drones were mapping things out well.
Since the elves were more perceptive, a few had noticed the drones, but they were quickly knocked out by the specters not far behind them, leaving us free to continue. The elven king himself was... ahem... indulging in his... "harem", so we knew were he was, and Antilene had broken off with a trio of specters as guides earlier to go and confront him. They would not interfere in the fight, but they would certainly make sure it was finished.
As for Dell, Ruby, and I, we were loaded and ready with explosives, several sticky grenades and mines at the ready for the instant we found the vault and the elemental guarding it.
The Specter behind us made a ping noise before jogging ahead of the group, evidently the vault room had been found. Letting it take the lead, we followed behind as it took us through several hallways and corners, past unconscious guards before slowing down before one large doorway. The spectre gave me a thumbs up and I nodded, looking to the other two who nodded back.
Safeties were removed, pins were readied, ear protection was worn, and rockets were loaded. It's go time.
I peeked around the corner and quickly used observe on the "random patch of ground" in front of the vault.
[Observe- Summoned Primal Earth Guardian. Level 96- Thoughts- none.]
Yep. That's it alright.
I looked at the specter again, mouthing 'Give me a signal for when Antilene confronts the king.' Thankfully it understood, and a small countdown was given, where we waited for half a minute before receiving the mark.
I nodded to Dell before pulling the pin out of several frisbee shaped mines, walking into the doorway and tossing them into an arc on top of the dirt before continuing in as Dell took the other side of the doorway behind me, tossing several satchel charges into the center where the earth was beginning to stir.
Several thunderous explosions later and the earth was now rising from the ground as a grinding roar echoed out. I dashed to the side into the room and towards the elemental's back as it rose to its full height, shooting several grenades that created craters in its body.
It roared, a grating, earthy sound before sending a very fast fist my way that I just barely dodged, the impact throwing me forwards from the force, but using my parkour experience I turned it into a roll before springing off to continue attracting its attention.
Explosions rocked its back as Dell and Ruby used their rocket launchers to take advantage of its focus, and when it turned to face them I shot a grenade into its shoulder that stuck before exploding, causing the limb to be blown off. Behemot roared again, the earth that was its severed limb swirling before rocks returned to reform it, with several notable cracks in them.
I ran through my magazine of grenades to keep its attention before switching to one of my newest toys, a rotating double barreled rocket launcher reminiscent of the one in Halo. Only thing was, the second barrel on this was always reloaded via portal, so I could fire off as many shots as I wanted!
Explosions rocked the room as I sent a continuous barrage of high explosive at the earthen construct, cracking and chipping away at its body before several explosions destroyed one of its legs, curtesy of several thrown mines from Dell and Ruby. It roared and slammed its fists down, sending a wall of chipped rock my way that I hastily jumped over, only to see its fist coming right at me!
Hurriedly phasing through the attack, I ran behind it before continuing my assault, blowing off another limb that began to reform again. That last attack was too close, this thing needs to be taken down, quick, before it decides to get any craftier with its attacks. I pulled out a second launcher and used my strength to dual wield them, liberally targeting limbs and anything I could see that wasn't already hit.
Stone and earth were continually blown off the summon, and less and less was returning to it as it kept reforming its limbs and body. It's earthen armor was cracked and shattering in many places as the explosives kept pulverizing the rock it was made of, and it finally seemed to be feeling the pain as it's attacks grew more desperate. Fists were flung wildly at me, causing me to work overtime in my dodging as it entirely ignored the barrage of rockets at its back.
In a messed up game of cat and mouse I had to put away the rocket launchers to fully focus on dodging as it hunted me down mercilessly, fists leaving craters in the floor as I got an overtime workout in the art of not getting hit. Just because I couldn't attack directly without getting hit doesn't mean I couldn't attack though, so I started dropping mines and tossing grenades whenever I could.
Explosion after explosion kept blowing away at it, causing it to finally get slower and slower as more and more mass was blown off or pulverized into dust by the shockwaves. Within a few minutes it seemed to have lost half its size, and was finally slow enough that I could take out my launchers again and add to the assault, beating and battering it down with even more explosions until it couldn't move, and even then I kept pounding it until there was nothing but a few rocks left.
All at once the battlefield seemed to be filled with silence as the explosions stopped. All I could hear was my own breath as I scrutinized the summon's remains, searching for even the smallest trace of movement. When none came and I got a level up notification, I finally relaxed, returning my launchers to my inventory before taking a breather.
Goddamn, that thing was way too fast for an earth golem. Then again, I'm only at... let me check... level 67, and Behemot was over twenty levels above me, so maybe it was only so fast because I was lower level than it? Oh whatever, it's over and done with, thank god.
I was barely given time to react before a black and red blur slammed into my side, hugging me before babbling at a thousand words a minute. "Ohmygoshthatwassocool!" Ruby squealed, stars in her eyes. "Youweredualwieldingrocketlaunchersandyouwerealllike- BAM, BOOM, BANG! AndthenIthoughtyouweregoingtogethitbutthenyoujust... Disappeared!" Barely parsing out whatever Ruby had said, I chuckled and hugged her back, ruffling her hair as she continued geeking out about the fight. "That was so cool! How did you avoid that attack!"
"I guess I haven't told you yet, have I? I'm a heroic spirit, which means I'm not quite like a normal human. I don't need sleep, I don't need food, and I exist entirely off of Mana, which also allows me to become intangible whenever I want to." I explained. Ruby was awestruck.
"You're a heroic spirit?? Who were you as a hero? How did you become a spirit? What's it like being a spirit? Do you haunt people?"
"Woah, Woah. I'll answer your questions in a second, just hold up for a second, I need to check how Antilene is doing." I turned to look at the approaching spectre that accompanied us, taking a small tablet from the robotic soldier's outstretched hand. On it was a camera view from one of the specters accompanying my new yin and yang friend, showing... wow. Well... I didn't think he would survive long enough for that. What is she... is she feeding him his own... Oh. Well. Seems like she's having some... quality time venting her anger on him. I carefully made sure Ruby wouldn't see the feed before handing it back as Dell joined us.
"Well, it seems Antilene has things well in hand on her end, so we should get moving soon. After all those explosions I wouldn't be surprised if the guards were storming this way right now." I turned to the specter, giving out orders. "Round up all the squads, we'll make our way to Antilene and then take a portal out of here." The unit saluted smartly before doubtlessly relaying my commands. It wasn't long before other units started joining us and we started walking up in a group, with me explaining to Ruby what a heroic spirit was.
"Well, Ruby, a heroic spirit is like this..."
}x{
Later that day...
The sun shone down through the clouds, failing to warm the frigid air as my fleet of ships made their way north. I sat on the bow of Johnstown's deck as I flipped through the Nameless Book of Spells, committing everything I came across to memory. Well, sitting wasn't the right way to describe what I was doing, not really. What I was actually doing was using (Fly) to lounge in the air like I was levitating.
I must admit it felt funny to use (Fly) as it triggered the instincts to swim, but I found that a rather apt description considering what I was doing. Flying using magic like this was almost like swimming through the air, except your movements are controlled by your will. Nonetheless it almost felt similar to diving as you could twist and turn in the air the same as you could in a pool, just with none of the resistance or ear popping.
Honestly I liked this spell but at the same time it was rather limited aside from short range mobility. If you pushed it you could go maybe 120 mph, but it was absolutely nothing compared to my jets. It was slower than most prop planes I had the blueprints of as well. However, I theorized it could be very useful for battlefields if you could harness it right.
Three dimensional movement at full speed around any battlefield would be very useful, but something told me it wouldn't work that well. I'd need to probably come up with my own spell in the future for something like that.
Nonetheless, it would remain a useful tool.
The rest of the book didn't seem to have too many valuable spells, even if they were an interesting read. The wild magic spells in particular I couldn't use because they required souls, something I had no way of collecting or want to collect. As for the tier magic spells, there were a good amount of tier nine and ten spells that seemed powerful and a few tier sevens of use, but there were no super tier spells recorded within it yet. All in all partly useful, but also stuff I could reproduce using technology.
Getting tired of holding down the pages against the wind, I put the book away and landed on the deck again, looking out over the sea towards our goal. Since I was feeling rather productive after my short spree of regicide, I decided to keep going at my bucket list, nailing the pirates as next up to be disposed of.
More and more chunks of ice appeared in the water the further north we went, and frost started to form on the railings of the ships. I patted myself on the back for making my fleet out of materials that wouldn't rust before heading back to Johnston's bridge. We were still a couple days away from the island that the pirates had reportedly taken, so I would move my focus to other matters while we traveled.
The roar of a jet passing overhead briefly shook the air as I opened a door into the ship proper, and I took a moment to watch an autonomous F18 fly off into the sky. I had just recently finished those designs and there were now at least two at a time in the air acting as recon and surveillance in a wide circle around my fleet 24/7.
Entering the much warmer interior of the destroyer, I closed the door and climbed a ladder to the bridge, where Johnston was standing at the windows with his arms crossed, keeping a watchful eye on the seas. He turned to give a brief salute as I entered, greeting me.
"Good afternoon, Ma'am. Anything interesting in the spell book?" He asked politely. I shrugged.
"A few things that were useful, but nothing groundbreaking yet. Any word from recon, both above and below?" I asked.
"Nothing much Ma'am. However, Stingray has mentioned she wants to show off some of the local wildlife she's found to you, she hasn't spent much time with you recently." He commented. My eyes softened a little. I really should spend more time with Stingray. She may have plenty to satisfy her curiosity with by documenting the wildlife, but it's still a lonely job being in a submarine.
"I'll be sure to drop by tonight then, make sure she hasn't captured any mer-men again." And wasn't that a surprise last time I visited her. I could applaud her enthusiasm for wanting to document things and have me meet one, but it just wasn't okay to grab one and put them in a tank just so I could meet it.
Thankfully the mer-man didn't seem too upset by things once I explained and apologized, but I don't think I'll be welcome by them for a while. Briefly shaking my head at the memory I bade farewell to Johnston before setting a portal on the wall, walking through and into the Cove once again, where construction of an Airlock was being made against one wall.
Why was an airlock being made? For the obvious! Tonight when the moon rose I would be taking the first steps beyond, further than anyone here has ever gone before! I would go to the moon, build a base, and then play low gravity tag with Ruby, because what is more fun than playing around in low gravity?
Then I would start building my evil laboratory complete with super weapons and death rays.
Cue evil laughter and dramatic lightning.
Most of the base would be pre-fabricated, which I could thankfully put into my inventory and then pull out later for easy assembly by my construction specters, cutting out a lot of the construction time. For air I could easily abuse the portal to forcibly pressurize the building, then get started on moving the material harvester to the Lunar base. After retrieving the last of the enchanted metals it could access, of course.
Returning from my thoughts, I walked the halls of the R wing, pausing for a moment to watch Dell teach Ruby how he made his sentries before continuing on to one of the newer rooms I've made. The Runic room. Ever since I unlocked runecraft I've been experimenting and testing how runes work, what the best way to carve them is, and how much a rune can take before things break.
I opened the door and swept over to a table where a large laser cutter sat, peering through the protective glass at the item within. All it was was a simple steel sword, but the runic engravings etched onto the spine of the blade were tightly packed and perfectly structured like script from a novel. Runes were fascinating in the way that you can chain them together in an array to link up and cause specific effects reminiscent of spells, creating an incredibly useful tool without a cast time or incantation. Of course, runic arrays are a lot more convoluted and confusing than any computer language since every rune has multiple meanings and interacts differently with other runes, but with enough testing anything could be solved by trial and error.
I had found that on its own, a laser cutter engraving runes into objects wouldn't cause the arrays to work, but if I injected a bit of mana into them it would often kick start things, which was actually very useful as I didn't want runes to start activating in the middle of being set up. That would just be a recipient for disaster.
However, injecting mana into my test pieces to activate the runes had sparked a memory, specifically of Structural Analysis and Reinforcement from the Fate universe, which was basically injecting a bit of mana into an object to feel it out, learn about it, or to make it stronger or better. And thus, I set out to learn Structural Analysis so that I could maybe try Structural Grasping, which allows someone to perform analysis by eyesight alone instead of physical contact.
I'll admit, I wasn't too happy about my progress on that yet, because using my mana to try and discern any information about things is an effort in itself. Not to mention some of the things I try it on end up exploding. I'll keep at it though, because it's a damn useful tool that I wanted to know.
That was a focus for later though, right now I had more tests to conduct. Opening the laser cutter, I removed the sword and held it up, inspecting the runes for any damages or deformities, nodding in satisfaction when I saw none. Carefully injecting a bit of mana, I ran a hand over the spine of the blade, watching the runes light up in a brief blue glow as the blade seemed to hum in response.
Checking it over once again, I made sure everything was activated before beginning the test, letting go of the blade. Instead of dropping, it merely dipped in the air before hovering in place, it's tip facing the ground with its pommel in the sky. Stepping away from it, the blade followed me, floating over to my side even as I continued walking around the room.
"Good, very good." I muttered. Now for the proper test. I walked over to one section of the room before triggering a baseball machine, causing it to spit out a high speed ball right at my head. The blade moved, and instead of the ball hitting me, it glanced off the sword and flew off to the side into a net behind me.
A grin appeared on my face. It was working! Granted it only got in the way of the ball instead of attacking it, and it was rather slow, but it worked! I am concerned about how the sword was pushed back by the ball though. Might need some kind of kinetic absorption sequence that fuels a counteractive force. Still though, progress! Not bad for a proof of concept.
My end goal was to probably make several hybridized nearly indestructible great swords with laser cannons, have them as an extra protective measure and method of attack. It was a bit cliche but you cannot tell me it's not awesome to have floating laser cannons.
I picked the sword out of the air and with a bit of effort snapped it in two, breaking the runic sequence with a flash of blue. I didn't have a way of "programming" it to be dismissed yet so I needed to break it to shut it down. It was steel anyways, wouldn't hold up against the things I would face in the future. I tossed the remains into a scrap bin to be melted down later before moving to a computer to continue refining the arrays. Busy days ahead of me, that was for sure, and only a few months until Nazarick's arrival.
A/N: Slightly longer chapter for you all, a bit of an apology for the wait. As you can see, things are speeding up, and a lot is getting done quickly.
If anyone has a problem as to how easily Zesshi was beaten, I would just like to remind you how impossible it is to fight an enemy when both deafened, disoriented, and blinded. Enough preparation and stacking the deck can win any fight.
To be honest, I'm eager to start the next mini-arc of the story I have planned for the Overlord world, and I'm also getting eager to move on from Overlord in its entirety, or at least throwing in another single player campaign to Speedrun. Problem is, Life has thrown the bullshit switch and I'm getting shifted around at my job to help on 12 hour shifts for several months, which may just cut into the time I spend writing massively, but we'll see.
In other news, 1,000 followers! I never thought this story would be so successful when I started it, but thank you all for joining me on this.
If some of y'all are getting disappointed by the increasingly sparse gamer elements, please let me know, but otherwise it's been a bit of a chore to track and plot that stuff so I've largely dropped it. That doesn't mean I'll drop things like companion gems, the challenge coins, or other elements, but the progression tracking is hard to keep track of when I've just been winging it for a while now.
I'll try and see if I can get another chapter out before two weeks are over but we'll have to see how things play out, might be longer than that.
Onto the reviews!-
XenoZip- You make some interesting suggestions with Ratchet and Clank there, though I'll admit I've never played the games. Gag weapons like that Grooveitron are a funny thought, makes me want to write a scene where some big bad gets cheesed the shit out of and humiliated. I'll try to keep those in mind moving forwards.
PitBullBytes-Mecha indeed would be awesome, except I'm waiting until Armored Core gets released before adding any of that, it's sure to give me inspiration. Very excited for that game, I already pre-ordered it.
KaneGehabite- Never heard of that game before, but it sounds interesting, I'll have to check it out.
Oxygen Destroyer- I'm glad you like the idea for the RWBY fanfic last chapter, but I think I'm going to wait on that so I can focus on this story. Haven't had the time to juggle two stories yet.
Gwynx- Not sure about the Heavy or the Scout, but I have thought of bringing the good doctor in, the Ubercharge would be utterly broken as hell, though the medic would need to find a way to have it work on Jeanne.
ZeroSpearow- You make a good point about the butterfly effect which I will certainly be exploring, and you make a good point about Ainz's stance on technology. Fortunately I have several solutions for that that are rather simple. However with the actions in this chapter there are going to be a lot more effects than just the Baharuth's increased military capabilities. Many things will be changed before Ainz even arrives in the new world.
Ok, that's it for the reviews. As always, comment, follow, fav, all that jazz. Feel free to send suggestions about challenge coins or single player campaigns if you have any, I can always use more inspiration.
