The One Over All
Japan was covered in a thin sprinkle of rain drops and smog, a foul stench emanating from…well everywhere as anyone who had found themselves outside quickly made their way indoors. Though, some with no place to go simply cowered within the meager shelters of old boxes hidden within the alleyways, desperate to avoid the water that fell from the skies. The rain that fell steamed as it met the ground, before slowly forming into bubbling puddles on the ground as it slowly began to eat away at the trash and cement that made up the streets.
Suzuki Satoru shambled his way into his apartment with a tired sigh, the lenses of his respirator mask fogging at the action, prompting the skinny man to remove the headwear along with the black hazmat suit he wore over his sweatpants and shirt, "Honey, I'm home!" Suzuki called out into the small, dark apartment, only to give a dismal chuckle to himself, "Oh right, I live alone…" Suzuki kicked his hazmat suit to the side before hanging his mask on a hook near his door. He gave a wide stretch of his arms, showing off just how thin the young man had gotten, before shutting the door behind him and going towards the fridge. The light that flickered on within the fridge practically blinded the salaryman as he looked for whatever to eat. He gave a disappointed sigh when all he saw was a moldy piece of bread, a half empty jug of water, and a dead rat that had somehow found its way inside, "Right, I was supposed to go to the grocery store today…eh, I'll do it tomorrow."
Suzuki shuffled his tired form down his rundown apartment and came to a stop in front of his most prized possession, his gaming setup. A 'comfy' gray lounge chair, with a worn headset placed gently in the center sat smack dab in the middle of the apartment, showing just how important this piece of furniture was to the one who owned it. Suzuki looked around in his empty apartment for no reason in particular, before laying down on his gray chair, and plugging the headset into the port on the back of his neck.
Connecting...Connecting...Conne-Connected
"Fuck…that's always so disorienting…" Momonga commented as his avatar pixelated into existence. The guild meeting room shined a million times brighter than his dingy old apartment, gold and marble etched themselves within the room with artistic flair, the grand round table of obsidian being the main focal point of the room. Momonga allowed his avatar's eyes to wander across the magnificent room, red circles in a sea of black looking for any trace of another player within the Great Tomb of Nazarick. No one was here. Momonga let out a disheartened sigh that was visualized by his avatar giving a similar expression, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I haven't seen anyone in awhile anyway, I doubt they'd come for one last hurrah even if I invited them…"
Momonga closed the lids of his avatar, leaving even only darkness in his vision, before he heard the familiar ping of another player logging into the game right besides him, "Sorry I couldn't come sooner Momonga. I'm not too late am I?"
Momonga's eyes shot open as his avatar's face matched its user's expression by curling its lips into an almost comedic grin, "Not at all Herohero! You're right on time!" A twinge of happiness making its way into Suzuki's eye.
"Really?" Herohero responded, his avatar's viscous ooze spilling from the chair he sat in and onto the floor, "Good, my company's been having me work all-nighters more frequently, my sleep schedule is all screwed up."
Momonga's avatar gave an equally comedic frown at those words, "Sorry to hear that bro, must be tough."
"You don't know the half of it…" Herohero said with a tired sigh, before his oozing avatar turned to look around the grand round table of obsidian, "Huh, guess I'm the only one who bothered to show up."
Momonga hummed at the comment, "Yep…it's a real shame too, I was at least expecting Peroroncino to show up. That guy spent literal years minmaxing the crap out of his character."
Herohero gave a tired laugh at that, "True, true, though if you asked me, I think he's far too busy wacking off to loli's for him to show up here!"
Both of the men laughed at the joke before the virtual room grew quiet once more. Momonga raised the ring-covered hand of his avatar and spoke with a smile, "It really is nice to see you again Herohero, even if you're half dead from work."
Herohero gave another tired sigh, "Yeah…don't get me wrong, I can definitely use the extra shifts, it's just…the company doesn't know the first thing about worker's rights."
"I thought they got rid of that kind of stuff because…was the reason fascism or communism this time?" Momonga wondered aloud.
Herohero replied nonchalantly, "Fascism, communism was the reason they gave to fully illegalize worker unions a few years back." Herohero stopped himself before giving a laugh, "I'm sorry Momonga, I came here to spend the last moments of the game with my friend, and instead I'm bogging you down with personal crap and work politics."
Momonga raised his avatar's hand once more as if to wave off the words, "No, no, it's fine Herohero! I'm just glad someone decided to show up after all this time. I'm sure the tomb would be grateful as well…if it could talk that is…"
Herohero chuckled at that, his oozing avatar once again looking across the room, "You've really done a good job keeping this place running, haven't you? Looks about the same as we left it if I'm honest…" Herohero's avatar gave a weird slimy smile as it's 'eyes' landed right on Momonga, "We really made the right choice making you guildmaster, Momonga. Oh! I'm sorry, I meant, King of the Great Tomb, Lord of the Dark and Shadows, True God of the Night, etcetera etcetera." Herohero said in a dramatic fashion.
Momonga felt his cheeks explode red in embarrassment at the titles, "Hey, you know I'm not that good at making names! I…just thought they sounded cool is all…"
Herohero gave a chuckle at that, "Yeah, but look on the bright side! At least you're not as bad as Takemikazuchi! That guy was just the worst at naming his crap."
Momonga laughed along, "True, true…"
The two talked for quite some time, from what they were getting up to in the present, to reminiscing on the stories of the guilds conquest within the game of Yggdrasil. Momonga laughed along and enjoyed the time spent talking to another human being, while Herohero tried his best to put more pep into his voice, despite his obviously tired tone. Though, it didn't last forever, it couldn't last forever, it never does…
Herohero gave one last tired sigh before looking across the room one final time, "Well…it was fun hanging out with you again Momonga, even if it was only for like half an hour. I really need to log off and get some shut eye though…my boss is going to kill me if I come into work tomorrow as a zombie…again."
Momonga gave a sad smile at his friend's sudden desire to depart, "I understand Herohero, trust me, I do. Go on and get your rest."
"Thanks Momonga." Herohero said, before reaching out to click on his interface, "I'm not sure if this means anything to you dude, but all the years we spent playing this game…well, I don't think any of them would be half as enjoyable without you there. Hopefully we'll meet IRL sometime." And with that, Herohero's avatar disappeared in a flurry of pixels.
Momonga gave a sad expression at his friend's departure, the only one who decided to show up, and not even he cared enough to stick around to the end! Momonga shook those angry thoughts from his head. No, all the guildmates had lives outside the game, real lives to live rather than this fictionalized recreation of pixels and fantasies. They all had their reasons, some more understandable than others…still didn't make it hurt any less though…
Momonga stood and began to pace within the virtual room, his deep scarlet cape billowing from just the simple motion. The clock near the top right of his vision ticks ever closer to midnight, with only a few minutes left before the servers of Yggdrasil were shut down for good. He didn't have any time to dilly dally, if he was going to do anything before the end of the game, he'd have to do it now.
A noise left Momonga's lips as he reached his ring-covered hand towards the ornate golden staff that floated unassumingly on a stand within the wall. As if by magic, the staff snapped to his awaiting hand before the bottom was clanked loudly onto the floor. The guild's weapon, the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, a weapon forged to surpass even World Items…surely his friends wouldn't mind if he used it before the end. Momonga's avatar gave an artificial smirk before he walked out of the ornate room and into the lavish dark lavender halls of the Great Tomb. To the side NPC's dressed in various maid uniforms stood awaiting instructions, led by the well-groomed butler at the front. The Pleiades, the last line of defense for any who managed to make it to the final floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, though…no one had ever managed to get that far, he made sure of that.
"Follow me." Momonga commanded, and with a wordless bow, they followed. Momonga marched forward with purpose within his boots and his avatar's most arrogant smirk on his face, it was the very best he could do to stop him from bursting into tears as the clock clicked down further, and further. Momonga walked up to his throne, the throne of Nazarick before gesturing towards the maids and butler, "Kneel, show your king your devotion." With robotic, wordless, precision they did. The light magenta glow of the throne room danced beautifully against his avatars curly black hair, the consistency of which was like oil as it traveled from his scalp all the way down to his shoulders.
Momonga looked to his side towards the only other NPC in the room, Albedo, Tabula's creation. The guildmaster let his eyes set on the virtual succubus for just a moment before immediately letting out a mixture of a laugh and a sigh. Tabula really used every resource he had in making his NPC's…more appealing to say the least. Almost nonchalantly, Momonga tapped the space in front of Albedo with his staff and brought up the character information of the NPC before skimming through the flavor text. Name's Albedo…high tank stats…surprising housewife skills…what the-? Momonga had to physically blink his eyes at the very end of the text box. According to Tabula's flavor text, and extensive background information, Albedo was programmed…to be a bitch.
Momonga rubbed his actual eyes at the writing, when he told Tabula to build some interesting, contradictory characters, he didn't mean this! The master of Nazarick gave a sigh, before an incredibly devious idea sprouted in his head. Faster than he had time to question himself, Momonga erased the last part of the flavor text with his staff before typing in his own replacement.
'She is completely and totally in love with the great and handsome Momonga.' Even the avatar blushed at the act, the usually deathly-pale cheeks turning a nice shade of red out of embarrassment. God, he was such a fucking loser, he can't believe he actually just did that…and yet he did.
Momonga gave a nervous chuckle before sweeping the text box away and sitting softly on his throne. It was just a minute now, just a minute before all his hard work, all his guild's hard work was erased. Momonga's face fell as his sad red eyes stared off into the distance. What did he have other than this game? A crappy apartment, a crappy job, a crappy life…
Momonga leaned back in his throne, his skull-shaped chest piece igniting in its own red glare as he gripped the armrests with his strong hands. After everything they'd gone through, they just decided to leave? He didn't leave when he was targeted by those PKers. He didn't quit when his original avatar was glitched out of existence due to the shitty dev's fuck ups. He didn't quit even when there was no one else to help him keep this place running! It was him who cleared those dungeons! It was him who grinded for the gold needed to keep the Tomb going! It was him who stayed when everyone left! Because this was the only place he ever truly could call home!
Momonga felt like crying, he really did, but in the end all that remained was complete and total apathy. As the clock neared midnight, Momonga closed his virtual and physical eyelids as he counted towards the inevitability of all the hard work he put in being erased. Well…at least he had fun while he could, maybe he can try out some other games in the future? Perhaps even starting from scratch might be fun, what with a new avatar and such.
His countdown neared zero, leaving Momonga with a terrible sense of sadness as he couldn't bear to open his eyes at what had to be the digital destruction of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Besides, he really needed to get at least a few hours of rest before work tomorrow, he didn't want to end up as another Herohero now did he? It wouldn't be the first time he'd fallen asleep while plugged in…
He counted down along with the clock as he manifested the sound of a clock ticking in his mind. Even though this was the end of something beautiful, even though the one thing that gave his life some meaning was about to be destroyed, he couldn't help but give a bitter-sweet smile.
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