Chapter 19: You Came to the Wrong Tomb Motherfucker
Lucifer Dracul sat on his throne with the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown in his hand as he surveyed the scene before him. Armies of Death Knights, Dark Paladins, Skull Knights, Vampire Knights, Dragons, Elves, Demons, Clockwork Soldiers, Nazarick Elder Guarders, and the Floor Guardians were in front of him. All of Nazarick was bowing before him.
"My lord," said Albedo. "Through your careful preparations and flawless planning, Nazarick stands ready to begin world domination."
"My demon hordes hunger for their orders, my lord," Demiurge proclaimed.
"The. Lizardmen. Are. Eager. To. Do. Your. Bidding. Supreme. One," Cocytus said in his usual commanding tone.
"My Clockwork Soldiers are at your disposal, great one," Jigsaw swore.
"Your undead armies are ready, father," Shalltear declared.
"Excellent," Lucifer said with his usual cold smile. "Then we only have one thing left to do. Our agent in the Baharuth Empire, Fluder Paradynes is sending workers to Nazarick. This will allow us to test Nazarick's defenses against what this world would consider a formidable force and trap the Emperor into beginning "negotiations" if you can call it that."
"Narberal Gamma and Pandora's Actor stand ready for this operation, Lord Dracul," Sebas stated. Lucifer's cold smile became an evil grin.
One last operation. Then, no more hiding.
Several teams of workers had gathered at Count Femel's mansion. What Femel didn't realize was that he had been set up as a sacrifice by Fluder for Jircniv. That way, once everything started going wrong, he would take the fall for Jircniv who would try to use the situation to get on Lucifer's good side. All in vain.
The teams gathered were Foresight, Green Leaf, Heavy Masher, and Tenmu. Momon sneered at them from the shadows where his armor allowed to remain unseen. From Foresight there was Hekkeran Termite: a blonde warrior, Imina: a half-elf archer and Hekkeran's lover, Arche Eeb Rile Furt: a small blonde mage who absolutely adored her little sisters, and Roberdyck Goltron: a kindly paladin devoted to doing the right thing. Out of all the worker teams present, they were the only vaguely interesting team. Green Leaf consisted of five members but the only one worth mentioning was Parpatra, an 80 year old combat veteran. The biggest group was Heavy Masher which was made up of fourteen workers. Their leader Greenham, who was wearing armor that reminded Momon of a beetle, spoke in an antiquated style probably to mask his own ignorance. Finally, there was Tenmu led by Erya Uzurth, who was rumored to hail from the Slane Theocracy. The other three members of his team were elven slaves who, by the looks of them, were beaten and raped on an almost daily basis.
These people wouldn't get a shred of sympathy from him. They were going to come into HIS Nazarick and try to take what was HIS. He was tricking them into it of course but all that would earn them would be a quick death if they were lucky. For the time being, he just listened to them talk about strong workers, adamantite adventurers, and just how unbelievable the team "Darkness" was. Momon had never picked the name, but it was just what people had started calling him and Nabe. Ainzach just went along with it. After another few minutes of the workers conversing, a butler who served Count Femel stepped out.
"On behalf of the count, I would like to express his gratitude to those who accepted his request," the butler said with a bow. "There will be two of the count's representatives accompanying you on this trip. Additionally, adventurers will protect the carriages for the duration. Your destination is an unexplored tomb near the borders of the Kingdom. Additional bonuses will be handed out for any valuables recovered. Now, if you would please follow me." Apparently finished saying his piece, the butler motioned for them to follow him as he led them to the carriages that had been requisitioned for this task along with a team of gold plate adventurers known as Screaming Whip. Momon silently followed them from the shadows. The carriages were pulled by massive Sleipnirs, which are essentially enormous eight-legged horses.
"Woah," Hekkeran breathed when he saw the majestic beasts.
"Aren't those things supposed to be really expensive?" Imina asked.
"Thou art correct," Greenham replied.
"Isn't all this a little too pricey for mere gold plates to be guarding?" Uzurth huffed. The adventurer glared at Uzurth and started muttering to themselves.
"They will not be alone on this," the butler spoke up. "We have received aid from someone stronger than all of you put together: the Dark Knight Momon." Hearing his name, Momon decided to interpret that as his cue and stepped out of the shadows, seemingly appearing out of this air. "His teammate Nabe is on her way."
"No, she is here," Momon interjected as Nabe rode up on Hamsuke, who was now equipped with new brown leather armor that had metal spike-like studs.
"Sir," Nabe acknowledge Momon with a nod.
"Nabe and I will handle security and coordinate the gold plate adventurer team," Momon stated. "Is this arrangement is acceptable?" The workers stared at him with wide eyes as they nodded while the gold plate adventurers' eyes were shining like kids who just met their idol. The workers started talking amongst each other.
"That's Momon?"
"He's the guy who beat the Demon King Jaldabaoth!"
"Meh."
"That girl is hot!"
"He saved E-Rantel."
"So cool!"
"Thank you for saying such things," Momon said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "But I must ask, why did you decide to take this request?" The workers looked at one another with raised eyebrows before looking back over at Momon.
"Because of the money, obviously," Hekkeran said with a shrug as the other workers nodded their heads in agreement.
"You would risk your lives for this?" Momon asked.
"That's right. The reward was enough to entice us all," Greenham said. "That's not even including the bonuses if we discover additional treasures."
"Very well," Momon sighed. He had given them their chance but now they had sealed their fate. "We should leave immediately."
Corvo was heading back to the Slane Theocracy after laying a trail of breadcrumbs for the Theocracy to follow should they try to investigate where he got his information. Currently he was leaving crossing the borders of the Baharuth Empire after speaking with Fluder Paradyne. However. He was being followed everywhere he went. Not by assassins and not by spies. No, those he could kill in his sleep. What was following him was much more troublesome.
"Where are we going to next, Corvo?" Jessamine asked, as happy as ever. She was jogging just behind him with a large travel pack strapped to her. Her smile and lighthearted nature contrasted heavily with Corvo's scowl and overall brooding. After he had left the Theocracy, it had only taken her two days to track him down in E-Rantel and she's been following him aroud ever since.
"We're going back to the Theocracy. You need to stop following me," Corvo sighed.
"Aw, but I could get attacked by bandits out here," she pouted.
"Not my problem," Corvo said grumpily.
"PSSSHH! We both know you would come running if someone put so much as a finger on me," she said with a confident smile. Corvo simply growled in response, but knew she was right. If someone laid a hand on her he would cut off said hand and put it where their brain used to be. Dammit this woman knew him too well. "Hey look! There's some carriages coming!" she exclaimed as she pointed at three carriages coming in this direction. Corvo's eyes widened as he saw one of the men guarding the carriages. Even in that armor, there was no way he wouldn't recognize his creator. He was about to bow but noticed the "company" his master was keeping. They were all insects, except for Nabe who nodded to him in recognition.
"Sir, Momon!" he called out. "Might we acquire a lift?" Momon nodded to them, instantly recognizing Corvo. As the caravan started moving again, Corvo sat next to his master who was handling the Sleipnir that was pulling his carriage. Nabe ended up with Jessamine who was freaking out about how fluffy Hamsuke was and was talking Nabe's ear off. Nabe looked like she was contemplating suicide.
"How have our operations in the Theocracy been proceeding?" Momon asked.
"We are ready to unleash the rat plague at your command," Corvo reported. "Additionally, Oras Fries of the Black Scripture has been revived but is still being brought up to full strength. Kaire's injury has not been sanctified yet so she remains in critical condition and the same problem is preventing Cedran from being revived. Ruvik has sworn to avenge Avenir no matter the cost."
"He's in for a surprise," Momon said with an evil grin. "As long as they are incapable of using [Downfall of Castle and Country] we maintain our ability to operate without fear of mind control and take more public action. Once you return to the Theocracy, you are to unleash the rat plague as soon as possible. Ruvik will be dealt with in time." Once they were sure that nobody was watching and Jessamine had fallen asleep on top of Hamsuke, Corvo bowed to his master quickly before grabbing Jessamine and her things gently, ensuring she didn't wake up.
"I live to serve, Lord Dracul," Corvo said solemnly before teleporting away with the snoozing woman draped over his shoulder who was mumbling something about onions in her sleep.
The floating city Eryuentiu of the Eight Greed Kings. Although this massive structure has been abandoned, it continues to float because the Greed Kings' guild weapon still slumbers within its confines, protected by a powerful entity of legend: The Platinum Dragon Lord. He was so bored. You'd think that guarding an ancient city of evil would be exciting but no. Nothing ever happened. Except for whenever she showed up. He smelled her before he saw her and grinned when she came into his field of vision.
"Rigrit," he called out in a voice befitting a powerful dragon such as himself. "What brings you here?" The old woman smiled at him.
"Does an old woman need a reason to see her good friend?" she asked with a smirk.
"No, but I can tell that something important must be happening," the Platinum Dragon Lord said. A concerned expression made its way onto Rigrit's expression.
"You probably haven't noticed since you're always up in this floating monstrosity, but things are changing down on the surface," Rigrit sighed. "The balance of power is shifting, heroes and villains have begun to battle, and there are whispers of powerful entities stepping out of the darkness. It's happening just like last time. What makes this time special is that whoever this being is, they haven't chosen a side and instead seem to have made their own faction separate from the rest of existence. They're playing the long game but we have no idea what it is they want." The Platinum Dragon Lord furrowed its scaly eyebrows.
"Should we call on the others?" he asked.
"No, we don't know anything for certain," Rigrit sighed. "Evileye is cleaning up in Re-Estize after the demon attack so she couldn't come anyway and Zur wouldn't help. He never got over how the humans treated him and Evileye."
"So what shall we do?" The Platinum Dragon Lord frowned.
"For the time being, we should just keep doing what we've been doing," Rigrit responded. "We don't really know what is happening, so it would be best if we just keep our eyes open for now."
Camp was set up as quickly as possible in the woods near the tomb. The workers' and adventurers' tents were all congregated around a campfire while Momon and Nabe had set up farther away from the others. Some of the workers and adventurers snickered about them having dirty nightly activities while others stayed professional.
"Check out those tombstones," Hekkeran said as he gazed at the ruins from the trees.
"This place looks like something that is from about 600 years ago," Arche breathed. "Imagine the kinds of secrets that could be buried here."
"The possibility of uncovering valuables is extremely high in a place like this," Roberdyck said as he too was mesmerized by the ruins.
"This is going to be lucrative, no doubt," Imina affirmed. "If only we could kill Uzurth off while we're down there." The others sighed, well aware of her hatred for the foul man.
"But then again, thou may not have to," Greenham spoke up as he approached the group. "The possibility that this tomb is under the control of something powerful is high." The others glanced at the graveyard again and studied the trimmed grass, well maintained statues, and gloomy trees that sprung up wherever they pleased. The gravestones were not set orderly but were scattered like the teeth of an ugly witch contrasting heavily with the cleanliness of the place. The thing that scared them the most though was the fear of the unknown. Despite all of their efforts to research this area, there was absolutely no information on it. It was unnatural and eerie.
"C'mon guys, let's get back to the camp. It's almost our turn for guard duty," Hekkeran said as they turned back. Arche continued to stare at it a little longer. It's too bad she didn't know the expression "When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you." For a moment, just a brief moment, Arche thought she saw a pair of soulless red eyes glaring at her from the mausoleum. But when she blinked, they were gone. With a shrug, she turned around and ran to catch up with her teammates. A few hours passed until it was time to move into the ruins. The exploration of the large tomb had begun. Nabe scowled at them all as she watched them leave. She swiftly walked back to her and Momon's tent. Sitting within the tent was Momon with his helmet off. Ever since the demonic disturbance had ended, the way his face looked when [Mortal's Mask] was applied had been altered. There was now a scar across one of Momon's eyes with a leather eyepatch covering the eye Jaldabaoth had scratched out.
"They're on the move sir," Nabe reported.
"Excellent," Momon said as he stood up. "Pandora's Actor will be here to take my place soon, I will go meet with Albedo."
"Yes, my lord," Nabe said with a bow as her master teleported away.
When Momon reappeared in Nazarick's throne room, he immediately dispelled his [Perfect Warrior] and [Mortal's Mask] causing his armor to be replaced by his usual attire as his face returned to normal and the eyepatch disappeared. Lucifer Dracul looked up to see Albedo bow to him as he approached the throne.
"Nazarick stands ready to repel the scum that now infects your home, my love," Albedo said smiling more than usual as Lucifer sat on his throne.
She's been like this ever since that night. Maybe I fucked up. Totally worth it though! I'M NOT A VIRGIN ANYMORE!
"[Crystal Monitor]," Lucifer said with a wave of his hand, creating four mirror-like monitors. Each one gave him a continuous feed of the workers that had entered Nazarick. He stared at them with hate in his eyes as they tracked their muddy boots through Nazarick gawking at its wonders and rubbing their grubby little hands greedily whenever they found a small amount of treasure that was left to lure them in. The only one who was particularly intelligent was Arche who was excited by the money but equally fascinated by the architecture and lore of Nazarick.
"Typical humans," Lucifer scoffed. "At the mere scent of money they charge into a situation where they know absolutely nothing like a bunch of overexcited children. Humans really are predictable."
To think I used to be one of those lower life forms. Dammit now Narberal has me saying it!
"Albedo, set the defenses to Alert-1. If that doesn't repel the invaders then we will raise it to Alert-2. I don't want any chance of Ariande activating."
"Yes, my love," Albedo replied.
"Let the games begin," Lucifer said with an evil grin.
"Leave no survivors."
"Elder, why did we decide to stay on the surface when most of the loot is likely to be deeper inside the tomb?" one of Parpatra's teammates spoke up.
"There is too little information to go running in blindly," Parpatra said with a cold look in his eyes. "The other workers will be our canaries. I'm more willing to risk their lives than I am willing to risk you all."
"Quite reasonable. Unexpected from an interloping wanker." a man with a British accent called out from behind them. Parapatra's team spun around to see someone or something dressed in a plague doctor's outfit staring down at them from behind his beaklike mask. Next to him were four tall skinny….. things. Each one of them was made out of metal, had four arms that ended in blades, and had many moving gears visible in the gaps of their armor plating, no doubt left there intentionally to allow for more flexibility. They reminded the workers of golems, but they were too thin and the insides that were visible reminded them of the inside of a clock. "Ah, how rude of me I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Professor Hannibal Mengele Lector, but everyone just calls me Jigsaw."
"Why is being reasonable unexpected?" Paraptra asked, on guard against the man and those things he had never seen before.
"Because you are invading the home of the God of Life and Death, Lucifer Dracul," Jigsaw said as he tilted his head. "You'd have to be absolutely bloody MAD to do something like that and believe me: I know a thing or two about madness."
"If we're intruding we can leave peacefully," another one of Parpatra's teammates spoke up.
"I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that. I've been dying for the chance to test my Clockwork Soldiers in real combat. The master has high expectations after all. Besides, I look forward to the experiments I could conduct on you. For example: I am currently calculating the average amount of pain a human can endure before he dies, or I could surgically graft you to each other and observe what changes occur to you psychologically as well biologically." Jigsaw told these men the horrible things he was wanted to do to them as if he was talking about what he wanted for lunch. "But alas, work comes first. Clockwork Soldiers, kill them." The Clockwork Soldiers stomped toward their targets. As they got into about five feet of them, two of the mechanical monsters pounced with surprising speed. One of the workers rolled out of the way to dodge, and the Clockwork Soldier's blades almost hit the ground but with an inhumanly fast reaction to the fact that its blades wouldn't meet the target, it changed mid motion from a downward slice to a side slash with its body rotating quickly giving its now spinning blades the appearance of highly lethal fan blades. The worker didn't stand a chance and was shredded by the the blades as they carved through him. The other worker who was pounced on raised his sword to block the blow but the pure strength behind that strike forced his sword out of the way and carved through him like butter.
"This must be this tomb's ultimate strength!" Parpatra declared. "If we beat them we're home free!" Jigsaw started laughing manically.
"You humans! Oh, you make my sides hurt!" Jigsaw laughed as the workers stared at him. "Did you not hear me? This is a field test! We have armies of the undead, assassins who would've killed you the moment you walked in if we allowed it, and things beyond your primitive imagination. The Floor Guardians make all of this look like mere toys. That's not even including the master." Parpatra was hit with the sinking realization that not only was he going to die here, but these people, whoever they were, would not be satisfied just living in this tomb. They would go on the march and tear down everything Parpatra had grown up knowing. That was the last thought he had before the blades of the Clockwork Soldiers came at him and his remaining friends, carving through armor and bone alike. The worker team Greenleaf was no more.
"Excellent," Lucifer smirked as he watched Parpatra's head roll across the floor via [Crystal Monitor]. "I should reward Jigsaw for his outstanding work on the Clockwork Soldiers."
"I believe he will be jubilant to hear you praise his work, my lord," Albedo said. "Any of your servants would-urk-gulp." Albedo suddenly looked panicked and rushed out of the throne room just as Demiurge entered. Demiurge shot a questioning glance at Albedo as she raced past him but simply shrugged before he approached the throne and bowed to his master.
"Rise, Demiurge," Lucifer said with a wave of his hand.
"My lord, I have completed my report on Nazarick's military assets just as you requested," Demiurge stated as he stood up. "Additionally, the human with the elf slaves is approaching the Lizardmen's training ground. Who shall I have dispatch them?"
"Send Avenir to kill the human but leave it up to her to decide the fate of the elves," Lucifer said as he dispelled the [Crystal Monitor] that had been watching Greenleaf. "I'm curious to see what she will do with them."
"Very well, my lord," Demiurge said as an evil grin came to his face. "Forgive me if this is rude of me to ask, but might I watch the humans with you until Albedo returns?"
"Absolutely," Lucifer replied. "It looks like another group is about to meet with an unfortunate turn of events."
Greenham roared as he stomped on the skull of a Skeleton that had grabbed him by the leg. He and the rest of his team continued to flee deeper into the tomb as they were chased by a mob of the dead. As they continued to run they found themselves in a room with even more undead creatures. They weren't high level and were very weak, but because of the sheer number of skeletons Heavy Masher had to stay on their toes or they would be swarmed. The cleric holding a holy symbol began an exorcism.
"My lord, the god of earth, please repel the evil ones!" the cleric chanted. A shockwave of holy energy reduced the number of undead drastically, creating an opening for them to escape through.
"Let's go!" Greenham shouted as he led the charge through the horde. As he and his fellow warrior smashed and slashed the skeletons in their path, the rest of the team followed behind. As they came to the center of the room, the floor underneath their feet vanished and they fell into a chamber shaped like an upside down pyramid with sixteen elevated tunnels not to mention it had walls having a steep slope that would cause anything that slipped to fall towards the center, which was the unfortunate fate of one of Greenham's comrades as he had slipped, fallen, and ended up crushed by the remaining undead that had fallen in with them. But it got worse, much worse. Creatures that looked like bloated corpses began to jump out of the tunnels and when they hit the ground they would explode in a mass of negative energy which damaged the living and healed the undead.
"Plague Bombers!" the rogue of Heavy Masher yelled. "Let's get through that door!"
"No!" Greenham interjected. "We need to climb back out the way we fell in!" With that, they fanatically began climbing out of the pure evil trap by using a [Web Ladder]. Once they got their feet on solid ground, they dropped to the ground panting. "Who art the devil who would design such a place? Thou must be sadistic as hell!"
"Greenham, why couldn't we go through the door?" the cleric asked in between pants. Greenham responded by grabbing one of the rusted weapons used by the Skeletons and threw it at the door. When the sword got close, the door opened its jaws revealing itself to be a monster that looked like a door and started chewing on it.
"A trap inside a trap!" another team member exclaimed. "That's just evil!"
"Quiet!" Greenham whispered harshly. "Someone is coming." That's when they heard it. Metal boots came clacking towards them. From out of the shadows the figure of a behemoth of a man emerged. He black plated full body armor and wore an open red robe over top of that. His black angular helmet had two small decorative bat wings on the sides and red eyes glared at them from his narrow slit of a visor. This was a Dark Paladin, a medium level vampire paladin. It was summoned through the spell [Create Dark Paladin] and was slightly stronger and more intelligent than a Death Knight but cost more mana to create. Whereas a normal paladin would practice holy magic, the Dark Paladin devoted itself to the unholy. Recognizing this was not your average undead creature, Greenham bowed to it. "I presume thou art the master of this tomb? If I may, is there any way I may convince thee too-"
"Foolish mortal," a deep voice interrupted from the helmet. "I am not worthy to rule this tomb. Only the father of all vampires, Lucifer Dracul is worthy of ruling Nazarick." He boomed as he drew a large black broadsword. "You mortals exist because he ALLOWS it and you will DIE because he DEMANDS it!" Greenham and his team turned to run only to find seven Elder Liches approaching from that direction. If these weren't the masters of this tomb, then what being could possibly be powerful enough to rule over monsters like these? "Die! For the glory of Father Blood! The God of Life and Death!" Those were the last words the members of Heavy Masher ever heard.
"Rather anticlimactic wouldn't you agree my lord?" Demiurge asked as he chewed on another mouthful of popcorn.
"Indeed," Lucifer said as he took a sip from his [Goblet of the Vampire King] and closed yet another [Crystal Monitor]. "What is keeping Albedo?"
"It's possible she didn't make it in time, ended up vomiting on her dress, and went to go change," Demiurge replied. Lucifer furrowed his eyebrows. The rings he had given the Guardians negated things like hunger, tiredness, and diseases. So how was Albedo sick?
"Why is she throwing up?" Lucifer asked, for once unaware of the situation.
"Ah, yes. I forgot you and Narberal weren't here when Albedo used that item Lord Peroroncino left behind. A "pregnancy test" I believe is what it's called," Demiurge smirked. "You will pleased to know that your efforts to create an heir with Albedo have borne fruit. Congratulations."
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT THEEEEEEEEEEE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!? I DON'T WANT TO BE A DAD! Vampire + Succubus = Total cluster fuck! Who knows what kind of abomination I've created? Then again who I am to talk about abominations? I'm a fucking vampire! I can't think about this now. Not while these humans are still running around Nazarick! Focus now, freak out later. Goddamn Peroroncino.
"I see," Lucifer said completely calm. "We have much to look forward to."
"Indeed," Demiurge nodded enthusiastically before looking back up at one of the [Crystal Monitor]s. "Ah! There's Avenir. Looks like she's ready to attack Tenmu."
Avenir was panicking on the inside. Her master wanted her to deal with this human, that was clear enough. But when Demiurge said that the master left the fate of the elven slaves he had brought with him up to her, she freaked out. Was this some kind of test? Ruvik's life could be on the line if she made a bad call.
"Hey hot stuff!" an arrogant voice called out. Avenir turned to see a heavily armored man followed by three elven slaves waving to her. This was clearly the man she had been sent to kill and she already disliked him. "What's a cutie like you doing in a nasty tomb like this?" he asked, clearly thinking he was pretty slick.
"I'm here to kill you," Avenir stated bluntly as she gathered magical energy in her left hand and unsheathed a dagger with her right. Uzurth glared at her and charged. He was skilled among humans there was no doubt. Unfortunately for him, she wasn't human. Not anymore. Avenir wasn't like most in Nazarick and preferred ending the fight efficiently as opposed to drawing it out and crushing their spirit. This trait had only amplified after she heard what happened with Shalltear and it only happened because she relished in the killing. Ending the fight as quick as possible drastically reduced the chances of such a mistake happening and for Avenir a single mistake might be all it took for Lord Dracul to change his mind when it came to sparing Ruvik's life. The moment Uzurth swung his sword at Avenir, she ducked under the blade with a quick motion she couldn't do while she was human and stabbed the bastard in the eye with her dagger. The blade pierced his brain and he died instantly.
"How?" was the last word he ever spoke. Avenir turned to look at the elves who were trembling with fear. She didn't hate elves, they reminded her of herself. She ended up working for the Theocracy because they had found out about her ability and tore her away from her mother who she never saw again. The only reason she was sane was because Ruvik was already there when she had been brought to the church. He had been taken away the moment he was born because of his heritage as a God-Kin. He was the only thing that didn't make her lose her mind. That is also why she never told him how she felt. If they ever had kids they would've been taken away by the Theocracy because of Ruvik's heritage.
"Ah! Stop thinking about that!" she muttered to herself when a blush worked its way onto her face at the thought of children.
How does Lord Dracul stay so calm when he has his own on the way!? It's not fair!
She turned back to look at the elves who were still staring at her.
I can't kill them. We've all been wronged by the Theocracy and they certainly had it worse.
And with that she walked away, leaving the elves to start kicking the crap out of Uzurth's corpse.
"Good move," Lucifer commented as he stood up from his throne.
"My lord?" Demiurge asked.
"Her decision has given me a better grasp of who she is," Lucifer replied as he started walking out of the throne room. "By killing Uzurth and letting the elves live, she has become their liberator as well as revealed that little disease called a conscience she has. She will serve me well in public affairs, but isn't suited for dirty work in the shadows."
"I see," Demiurge smirked as he followed his master. "By giving her the option you have found what she was best suited for and what matters we should distance her from."
"Correct," Lucifer said when he turned his head to pierce Demiurge with his soulless eye. "When we begin to take over the world we will need to make ourselves out to be the hero in every situation. A civilian population will be much more content with a government that they believe has the best of intentions at heart than the civilian population of a warmonger who believes that they're living in a society of war and oppression. As our civilization evolves we will have very few parties that are unhappy with our past actions and history will remember us as heroes who brought peace and prosperity to a very nasty world."
"I see," Demiurge marveled. "But might I ask why we're heading to the Sixth Floor?"
"Yes my love, why are we going to the Sixth Floor?" asked Albedo who had appeared from out of nowhere.
"The final group of workers are heading there," Lucifer replied, masking his surprise at Albedo's sudden arrival. "I believe they've earned the right to meet me themselves."
The members of Foresight found themselves teleported in an area that followed an architectural design completely unlike the parts of the tomb they had seen so far. They were in a wide corridor with a high ceiling. There was no sound except for the crackling of torches.
"A-are we safe?" Arche stuttered.
"I think so," Hekkeran responded as he panted. Imina straightened up and looked around, still breathing heavily.
"I don't know where the hell we are," she said. "But the vibe here is completely different from what we've experienced so far."
"This place is like the Empire's arena," Arche commented.
"She's right," Roberdyck agreed as he looked around.
"What we just went through was a long range teleportation trap," Arche informed the others. "Long range teleportation like that is 5th-Tier Magic, but using it as a trap is only ever heard of in legends. Whoever is in charge of this place must have unimaginable skill in magic. We should turn around and get away from the arena."
"That would be quite impossible," a new voice boomed. The members of Foresight jumped and turned to see a Dark Paladin and two Vampire Knights blocking the other path. Vampire Knights were weaker than Death Knights but were much more nimble and cost less mana to create. They were thin creatures wearing triangular helmets that completely covered their faces and while they had black armor covering their right arms and shoulders, their left arm and chest were completely exposed apart from a blood red toga that didn't really cover any of their chest revealing pale gray skin covered in black veins. Their left arms were more like bat wings than actual arms and their legs were covered by the lower part of the toga. One of them was holding an axe and the other held a mace.
"Yes," one of the Vampire Knights hissed. "The master has come to greet you and it would rude if worms like you didn't accept his invitation." Deciding it was best not to fuck with the hulking Dark Paladin, they turned around and entered the coliseum. There were countless monsters in the stands. Golems, skeletons, vampires, demons, zombies, elves, goblins, ogres, werewolves, and creatures they had never seen before.
"Outside?" Imina asked. Unsure what she was talking about, the others looked up and, sure enough, there was the night sky.
"Yo!" a child's voice called out in and amplified voice. They turned to see a young dark elf waving at them from a podium. Imina gasped when she noticed Aura's heterochromatic eyes. "The challengers have arrived! Before us stands four reckless fools who dared to attack the Great Tomb of Nazarick! Facing them is our master! The Father of all Vampires! The God of Life and Death! Lucifer Dracul!" As those final words left her mouth, a swarm of bats appeared from out of nowhere and began converging on a single point, colliding together until they became a single, tall man. They shivered as the soulless eyes of Lucifer Dracul glared at them but his cold smile remained the same. The monsters in the stands started shouting and cheering. It was a reception befitting a king. After a few moments, Lucifer waved his hand as if he was wiping something away and the arena fell silent. Hekkeran immediately bowed before Lucifer since Imina was still staring at Aura, Roberdyck, was staring fearfully at the unholy presence that accompanied Lucifer, and Arche had turned pale at the implications of the titles: "Father of all Vampires" and "The God of Life and Death".
"I would like to apologize Mr. Dracul…" he began.
"LORD Dracul to you, human," Lucifer interrupted.
"Lord Dracul," Hekkeran corrected. "We would like to sincerely apologize for entering your home without permission. If you can find it in your heart to forgive us…."
"I don't have a heart," Lucifer stated coldly. Hekkeran was sweating buckets by this point.
"…. We will gladly offer appropriate compensation to atone for our transgressions." Lucifer stared at them for a few moments before letting out a sigh.
"Is that how things are done where you are from?" he asked coldly. "Someone sends a bunch of insignificant lower life forms into your home and you let them out unscathed?"
"Humans aren't lower life forms!" Roberdyck shouted.
"They are," Lucifer sneered. "I have lived longer than your kind has even existed, do not claim to understand that which you cannot comprehend," he lied. "As for your offer of compensation, you would be foolish to think that money can make this problem go away. I have plenty. I am not unreasonable so I will give you a chance: What are you willing to do in order to not have me snuff out your miserable existence?"
"Anything," Imina choked out as she bowed next to Hekkeran. Lucifer grinned as he heard one of his favorite words.
"What about the rest of you?" he asked as his piercing gaze swept over each of them.
"Anything," the rest of them said as they bowed, except for Hekkeran who was already bowing.
I have come to thoroughly enjoy the sight of humans on their knees.
"Very well," Lucifer said as he began walking towards them. "I intend to change everything about the world you know. From what is acceptable to the god you worship." He leaned over them and gave them a lovely view of his fangs as he grinned. "I will be the ONLY god ANYONE worships! So I will need churches and churches need priests to teach their god's doctrine. You will be my priests, and from now on, I will be your god!"
"Never!" Roberdyck cried as he rose to his feet. "My god's love is boundless and I will never betray what I believe in! He is holy and you are a mockery of all that is just and-"
"[Grasp Heart]," Lucifer said as, without even looking at Roberdyck, he raised his hand towards him and clenched his fist. Roberdyck coughed out blood as death took him and his corpse hit the floor. "What of the rest of you?" he asked in his true, terrifying voice.
"W-w-we will obey," Arche stuttered, looking like she was going to throw up.
"Yes!" Hekkeran cried as he and Imina held hands as if it was the last time they would ever be able to feel each other's warmth again, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed by Lucifer.
"And your woman?" Lucifer asked as Hekkeran and Imina stiffened, disturbed how easily he had figured them out.
"O-of course my lord," she answered hastily.
"Gooooooood."
Jircniv's eyes widened when he heard the report. Multiple groups of skilled workers had entered, but none had come back out. It seemed Lucifer Dracul had a bad personality.
"None of this will be traced back to us, correct?" he asked Fluder, who was sitting at the other end of the table where several officials were also seated.
"Unlikely," Fluder replied. "The workers only knew that they were working for Count Femel. We were not mentioned. The count is extremely foolish however. If he had hired workers from E-Rantel we wouldn't be indicated at all," Fluder said while hiding that he was responsible for picking out those teams.
"It doesn't matter," Jircniv said with a smirk. "The Kingdom's Adventurer's Guild will hear about this and will investigate Lucifer's dwelling where he will no doubt kill anyone who enters. Once the Adventurer's Guild discovers their people have been killed they will retaliate against him, sowing discord between him and the Kingdom while driving him towards our side. The count has been taken care of, yes?"
"Of course your majesty," one of the officials replied. "We just need to manage-" He was interrupted as the ground shook and a loud crashing sound like an explosion. The ground shook but it wasn't like an earthquake, it was more like a shockwave from an impact of incredible force.
"What was that!?" Jircniv cried out as one of his guards opened a door and stuck his head out to take a peek.
"Your majesty," he said clearly shaken. "You may want to take a look at this". Jircniv marched over and pushed the doors open. He looked up and saw a massive hole in his ceiling and through the hole he could see dozens of dragons flying about, breathing fire angrily. But of course, the most eye-catching thing was the fact that there was now a dragon IN THE MIDDLE OF THE IMPERIAL FUCKING PALACE. The final thing Jircniv noticed was the two dark elf children on the dragon's back.
"Can you bitches hear me!?" Aura yelled out in a magically amplified voice.
"S-sis, language," Mare muttered.
"I am a servant of Lucifer Dracul, forever may he reign!" Aura proclaimed, ignoring her brother. "The Emperor of this pathetic little country sent a bunch of disrespectful idiots into the Great Tomb of Nazarick: our lord's home! Lord Dracul is most displeased and if your emperor doesn't apologize we will burn your country to the ground and eat your babies!"
"W-w-we won't actually eat your babies," Mare spoke up. "But the burning part is right." Jircniv's eyes narrowed. How had they figured it out? He didn't have time to think about such matters as Mare lifted up his staff and earthquakes began to shake all of Arwintar. Cracks appeared in the ground, swallowing up hundreds of the Imperial Knights and, worst of all, one of the Four Knights, the "Immovable" Nazami Enec, killing them all.
"What do we do your majesty?" one of Jircniv's servants cried out. Jircniv ignored them and strode forward confidently.
"I am Emperor Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix! I will be with you in a moment, honored emissaries!" he declared before turning back to his servants. "Prepare the finest welcome possible for our "guests" quickly!" As his servants began to carry out their tasks, Jircniv glared back at the dark elves.
Dammit. I underestimated them. However, if these are just subordinates how can I not be able to handle them? I cannot retreat here! If they want to negotiate then we will have a war of words! Lucifer Dracul, whatever you're planning, I will crush your ambitions here!
I had to fill in for someone at work... again. You've probably noticed this, but the fan has been and it had been hit by shit.
BTW because I got a lot of questions about this, the player who knows Momonga is NOT an OC and is in the actual Overlord LN. It will also NOT be a happy reunion. PvP is gonna happen.
HAIL AND KILL!