AN:
I usually don't do ANs at the top of the chapter, but this is pretty important.
Did you know that I actually miscounted how many OC guild members I needed, so I was missing 2 all along?
Yeah, me neither.
I went back and added them to the previous chapters, so if you started reading Time Capsule after 12/23/2023 you're fine, but if you didn't, the 2 members are Bakuita, an archer chimera, and Wasewaru Kakyoku, a siren bard. Both dudes.
Anyways, I just wanted to let you know so you wouldn't go "Who the fuck are these guys?" When your eyes go down and read the first 2 lines of this chapter.
I'll talk about this more later down in the real AN.
And yeah, I also know that some of you skipped this and went to reading, and your eyes immediately came back up here when you went "Who the fuck are these guys?"
"I have never been so glad to have been a wolf-gorilla-fox-chimpanzee-elephant chimera before." Bakuita excitedly said as he eyed all of the food being laid out in front of him.
Wasewaru Kakyoku nodded eagerly alongside him, "You said it, man! I have never been more glad to have been a siren, dude!"
Wish III looked towards the maids bringing in the food, "Guys- Uh, girls, I love the work you're doing, but please speed up the process!"
"Hey! Don't be rude!" Vagisilious scolded, "They're doing their best!"
"Yeah, Wish, be more patient." Yoipesuto joined in on the scolding.
Eventually, all of the food was laid out in front of them, and everyone took that as permission to start digging in.
Tabula spoke across the table with his mouth full, "Vaggy, your- mh- stuff with the produce was- oh this is so good- The best thing you've done."
She had the courtesy to swallow before speaking, "Yeah, I know."
"Man, I wish I could eat." Momonga despondently said as he stared at his empty spot at the table.
Shihoutu Tokitu, Heket, and Leshy all kowtowed as they said in unison, "I'm sorry, Lord Momonga! We will endeavor to find something you can eat!"
Denshosho hummed, "Don't skeletons get some sort of enjoyment from negative energy? Maybe you can just make food doused in negative energy."
Yoipesuto then said, "But wouldn't that just fall straight through his stomach and onto the floor? Or even worse, onto his clothes?"
"Ah, I didn't think about that." Denshosho said.
"Sucks to suck." BigStall said as he gulped down a massive cup of oil, "I may not be able to taste any food, but this oil is awesome."
Garnet nodded alongside him, drinking his own cup, "Yeah, I love fossil fuels."
"Hey, can all of the NPCs leave the room?" Punitto called out, "We're gonna talk about… Stuff."
"As you wish, Lord Punitto Moe!" They all said in unison as they promptly left the room.
Momonga tilted his head, "Are we going to talk about stuff?"
Punitto shrugged as he took a fish from his plate, "Maybe after we eat." He puts the fish in his mouth, "Mhm, thank god I gave myself a mouth while customizing my avatar."
"I think you guys are subtly bullying us by eating." Temperance said as he poured a cup of juice into his body, which was quickly dissipated by his wind, "I mean, it's nice that I can at least drink something. But I'd love to have some actual food in me."
Ulbert hummed as he recalled, "Didn't somebody on Seraphim leak that they got a world item that allows people to change their racial classes?"
Bukubukuchagama groaned, "Uuugh! You guys knew that we'd go into another world and you guys didn't bother trying to steal that off of Seraphim!?"
"Haha, sorry!" Vagisilious apologized, "But Seraphim always had a few players on, mostly the ah… Mustapha Mond guy and a few others. No way could we sneak into their guild base."
"Ah, I think I remember about the Seraphim's world items," Momonga said, "They leaked all of them, didn't they?"
"I think they had 10," Vagisilious confirmed, "Which still falls short to us, since we have 12."
Then, she thought about it for a second before bringing out the red cube, "Hey, BigStall, do dev items count as world items?"
BigStall shook his head, "Nope."
"Ah, darn." Vagisilious sighed as she tossed the cube back into her inventory, "Well, I guess we can see what 'changing the guild rankings' do later."
"Wait, you have a dev item?" Suratan asked.
She nodded, "Oh, yeah, BigStall changed the rankings so that we were on top and gave the item that he used to do it with to me."
"Ah." Suratan accepted the answer, then he asked, "Hey, how many world items were found by the end anyways?"
BigStall thought about it for a second before answering, "Uh, I think publicly there's 50 that were discovered, but there were I think… About 140 of them that were taken from their spot, and people were smart enough to not reveal it. But most of them were put back since the end of the game because of guild bases disappearing or players just not logging on to the point where I actually think the number of world items that people kept went back down to, like, 50 or 60."
"Wow, that's crazy." Mekongawa said as if it was not crazy at all.
Punitto hummed as he raised another topic during the small lull in conversation, "Hey, if the Gate of Atlas can reach Earth, can it reach Yggdrasil?"
"Isn't Yggdrasil canonically dead and replaced by the new world tree at this point?" Denshosho asked.
"Well, it's worth a shot." BigStall said, "It's not like anything bad could happen at this point anyways."
Touch raised his hand, "Hey, can I bring some of this food to my family?"
"Oh yeah!" Shizyuutensuzaku gasped as he realized, "Vaggy, did you grab my niece too?"
She nodded, "Yeah, if that was the near-adult girl in your house. I think I put her on the 9th floor and told one of the maids to give her a room"
"Yeah, I probably should explain to her what's happening." Shizyuutensuzaku said, "I'm kind of a shitty guardian, huh."
"Yeah, you really should. And yeah, you are." Touch agreed.
Shizyuutensuzaku didn't take too much offense, as it was basically true.
Momonga turned the conversation back a bit as he said, "Touch, you could probably just ask the chefs to make food for all of our guests. I don't think they'll skimp out on the quality they give them either."
Touch nodded, "Okay, then in that case I'll just message Sebas and tell him to get some food for the guests."
Eventually, everyone had finished up their food, and they decided to let the plates enrich the smell of the conference room for a bit before returning the plates to the maids for cleaning.
Then, they had to discuss some more important stuff.
"So, about the NPCs…" Punitto started, "They kind of worship the ground we walk on, huh?"
Tabula nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I tried to be casual with them, but they still were just kind of… Devoted, I guess."
"I'm going to be honest, Demiurge thinks way too highly of me, I didn't even know half of the things he was talking about." Ulbert chuckled as he remembered that conversation.
"Oh, yeah, what's our story by the way?" Vagisilious asked, "Because Leshy attacked Touch because he wasn't human, so just announcing the fact that we were humans once might uh… Be bad, to say the least."
Momonga hummed, "Doesn't Leviathan know? And Shatallia to some extent too? Not to mention Pandora's Actor who gave everyone the correct rings."
Vagisilious thought about it for a moment before answering, "Well, I can't confirm Shatallia knows, I forgot to ask her about it, and Leviathan and Pandora are special cases anyways."
"Well, I don't want to know the consequences of telling all of our human hating NPCs that we were human." Punitto said, "So, don't tell the NPCs we were humans, and like Tabula showed, we can be casual with the NPCs. Just don't get too detailed on our past."
"What about the fact that our NPCs think that we're way smarter than we actually are?" Orphea questioned, "Should we act like it?"
"Neither confirm nor deny." Vagisilious said, "Basic PR stuff. Besides, it sounds like the NPCs will do their own mental gymnastics to confirm whatever they're thinking."
"Wait… I guess we are kind of the CEOs now, huh?" Ulbert said, with a bit of disgust in his tone, "God, that makes me wanna sort of throw up…"
Then, Vagisilious remembered Leviathan's request.
"Hey, speaking of the old world, what are we going to do about it now?" She questioned the group, "Are we gonna destroy it? Make it better? Leave it be?"
"Honestly, I don't wanna see that place ever again." Herohero stated his opinion.
Otanabetabeki nodded, "Yeah, same here."
Vagisilious then said, "Well, I was asking because Leviathan wanted to destroy the old world."
A beat passes.
Everyone started to debate the idea.
"Yeah, I say why not?" Ulbert said, giving a thumbs up.
"What- We can't just let him do that! Those are real, living people!" Blue Planet argued.
Touch stood up as he argued, "We have some measure of responsibility with all of this power! We can't just kill all of those people for no reason other than sating your NPC's violent tendencies!"
"Personally, I have no love for anyone living on Earth anymore." Orphea blankly stated as she was playing around with a bone, "Everyone I like is already here."
Peroroncino nodded along with her as he said, "Yeah, let's just leave it alone."
"We still know people on Earth, right? Why not just take them here?" Momonga suggested, "I'm sure Saibandoke and his friends will like it here more than on Earth."
Ulbert scoffed, "Saibandoke is a narcissist, I'm sure he would prefer being the king of ashes rather than live in heaven as a lowly angel."
"Are you trying to make poetry?" Wasewaru asked.
Ulbert did not respond to his inquiry.
"Hm, since we're all divided on the topic, let's just come back to it later, then." Momonga said, "It's not like the Gate of Atlas is going anywhere."
"Then can I ask about the next topic?" BigStall asked, and as Momonga gave him permission, he asked, "Can we use the Gate of Atlas to try and go back to Yggdrasil? Maybe even if Yggdrasil is, lore-wise, dead, I might be able to still tap into my GM form from there."
Vagisilious shrugged, "Sure, we can try it."
Then, Tabula asked, "Can we do some experimenting with our magic and skills? I've been itching to use some of the magic we have."
Momonga nodded, "Ah, I've been wanting to try out some more magic as well. Do you guys want to do that before or after we try the whole GM thing?"
A quick vote passes, and they decide to do it after the Gate of Atlas arc is wrapped up.
"Oh, yeah, can we test out the world items at the same time with the magic?" Denshosho requested, "I want to see how things translate to real life, especially with the Song of Insanity."
"Yeah, we probably should try the world items out." Punitto agreed.
As they all collectively agreed upon their next few hours, they called back the maids to clean the room as they all teleported to the 4th floor.
Shatallia bowed as she made way for Momonga, who walked up to the Gate of Atlas, "Huh, Vaggy, did you close it?"
She nodded, "Yeah, just in case anyone was looking for me and stumbled on the portal by chance."
Momonga understood as he nodded, "Right, that makes sense."
Then, Momonga walked up to where Atlas was being held in, and stated, "Make a portal to Helheim."
Nothing happened.
Vagisilious spoke up, "Oh, I think you have to be more forceful with it. Like, 'Make a gate to Helheim.'"
"Ah," Momonga lightly expressed as he said more forcibly, "Make a gate to Helheim."
Nothing happened.
"Huh?" Momonga confusedly said, "Why is this not working?"
"Here, let me try," Vagisilious slightly pushed Momonga away as she declared, "You Will Make A Gate To Helheim."
The Gate of Atlas lights up as a gate was created, showing somewhere in the swamps where Nazarick used to be, but considering that she didn't see a Nazarick, probably somewhere far from Nazarick.
She blinked, "Huh, why didn't that work for you?"
Momonga shrugged, "Who knows, at least it worked."
BigStall then walked up to the gate as he tentatively stuck a hand in.
Seeing nothing happen, he slowly moved himself into Yggdrasil.
"Okay, nothing seems to be wrong right now," BigStall said as he slightly hyped himself up, "Alright, testing to see if I can switch into my GM form in 3…2…1…"
BigStall releases a flash of light as his tank gear was replaced by the GM robe, as he cheered, "Haha! It worked!"
The guild cheered alongside him as BigStall took out a sword from his inventory, "Alright, here's a test sword that kills literally anything, and I'll come back to you guys-"
BigStall enters back into Nazarick.
His GM form and test sword immediately disappears.
"What?" BigStall confusedly looked at his empty hand, "Why didn't that come with me?"
Since nobody had given him any answer, BigStall went back into the portal, swapped back into his GM form, gave himself a random item, came back, and-
"What the heck? Why does it keep disappearing?" BigStall irritatedly said.
"Ahem," the voice of Leviathan called out from the side, "I believe I may answer that one for you, Lord BigStall."
Some members of the guild flinched upon the unexpected sight of Leviathan.
"Uh," BigStall hesitated for a slight moment before gesturing towards him, "Go ahead."
Leviathan experimentally entered the portal, and after a moment, he nodded and came back to say, "That plane of reality is merely a memory. The real Yggdrasil no longer exists, and everything there is suspended in time where nothing affects it."
Denshosho took the initiative to ask, "So nothing that happens there is real?"
Leviathan hummed as he walked back into the portal.
Then, he kicked the ground with so much force that it caused a crater.
Yet within the next moment, the ground suddenly shifted and there no longer was any evidence of Leviathan's attack.
"It seems to be that way," Leviathan confirmed as he entered back into Nazarick, "I believe that it would be more productive for you to find the new world tree."
She raised an eyebrow, "Denshosho-"
"We never got the name of the new world tree." Denshosho answered, knowing the question.
Everyone turned to BigStall.
He shrugged, "I think the team was split on naming the new world tree either Irminsul because it's German, or Jianmu because it's Chinese."
"Let's just try the German one first, because considering the not so subtle dissing of Chinese people in the game, I don't think they would do that Jianmu one." She decided as she closed the portal to Yggdrasil.
Then, she declared, "Make a gate to Irminsul."
The Gate of Atlas responded, and so there was a portal that led to the grounds far away from the blue tree.
BigStall once again took the initiative to enter the portal, and said, "Alright, 3…2…1…"
Nothing happened.
BigStall shrugged, "Yggdrasil only, I guess."
The guild was filled with disappointment as BigStall came back through the portal.
"Well, at least we got to see the new world tree?" Denshosho tried to console, but nobody was particularly buying it.
"Uh, yeah, nobody really cares except you, dude." Bakuita said, "I mean, I don't think I read a single lore thing in the game."
Denshosho was about to say something, but then he decided to let it go, "Agh, alright, fine, whatever."
"Hey, if the Gate of Atlas can make a portal to something that technically doesn't exist, can it make a gate to like… Pokemon?" BigStall curiously asked.
She raised an eyebrow, "You want to make a portal to… A game."
"Yggdrasil was a game too, see how that turned out." BigStall retorted, and to be fair, he did have a point.
She sighed as she closed the portal to Irminsul.
Then, she asked, "Wait, doesn't Pokemon have like, a bunch of gods in it? Won't they be upset about, you know, us invading?"
BigStall shook his head, "Nah, it should be fine. I mean, look at your favorite region, Alola. The ultra beasts literally were invaders. Nothing bad happened to them."
She felt a bit more comfortable about trying to make a portal to a fictional game, then.
As she was about to speak-
A wave of pure malevolence pierces through her very soul. She started hyperventilating and she could feel every bead of sweat on her body so clearly, she thought she might've been dying.
She musters the courage to open her eyes and all she sees is 2 dark blue eyes from the head of an gargantuan dragon, putting the fear of death into her heart.
She can't move. She can't think. She needs to-
BigStall slightly shook her, "Heeey, you good?"
She wakes from her terror as she immediately and quickly shoots back away from the Gate of Atlas, calming her breathing down.
Everyone stares at her awkwardly as Bukubukuchagama asks her, "Uh, Vaggy? What happened?"
"Did no one feel that just now?" She asked, leaning on the nearest person, who just so happened to be Ulbert, who took her with some grace.
"Vaggy, you're going to have to explain why you're super afraid all of a sudden," Ulbert gently told her, "Because we're all sort of confused."
"I-" She gets her bearings together as she tries to explain, "Something just hit me with some kind of aura of malevolence. A strong one. Some kind of dragon, I think."
Everyone naturally looked towards Ancient One and Leviathan.
Ancient One responded first, "I don't have anything that would do that, aside from maybe my roaring skills, but I didn't use them."
Leviathan followed up, "I would not be so bold to attack her in the midst of all her friends."
Momonga then chose to speak up, "Guys, Pandora's Actor just contacted me. Apparently one of the world items activated without anyone using it."
"...Let's stop here for now." Punitto declared, taking the attention off of her, "Let's check out the world items and see what's up with that, and then we can test our spells, yeah?"
Everyone takes the bait, and soon everyone teleports to the treasury.
Ulbert stayed behind for a bit to ask again, "Okay, but really, you're good, right?"
She slowly breathed in and out before she replied, "Yeah, I think so."
Leviathan silently bowed when she turned to him, and when she didn't say anything, Leviathan took that as permission for him to leave.
With that tied up, she teleports to the treasury along with Ulbert.
As they arrived, Momonga was guiding everyone through the defenses of the treasury. Though with their gear, it was fairly easy for them to just tank the damage coming from the toxic air. But they applied their anti-poison spells anyways.
They quickly joined the group, and only a few words were exchanged as they made it to the treasury proper.
Where Pandora's Actor was diligently waiting, "Meine Herren! Have you come to check the status of the world items!?"
Momonga quickly moved the conversation along as he asked, "Have you found which world item acted up?"
Pandora's Actor nodded as he showed off the Scale of Azure Dragon, sitting on the table, "It was this one right here, mei- Ahem, my creator!"
"...The one that didn't have coding?" Momonga muttered out as he turned to the rest of them, "What do you guys think?"
Denshosho spoke first, "I think that I don't like the implications of the random part of something powerful's soul being powerful enough to stop Vaggy from doing something as harmless as trying to open up a portal to a game world- If it even works."
Wasewaru nodded, "Yeah, I think the scale was deliberately doing that, and that it wasn't an accident."
"But it didn't even have coding, right?" Tabula pointed out, "How does it do anything here?"
"Let's just try to use the identification spell on it," Nubo proposed as he went to do exactly that, "[Final Item Identification]!" And then his head immediately recoiled, "Ow-ow yeah let's not do that! That hurt!"
"What happened?" Momonga concerningly asked.
"I think the item identification spells transmits the information directly to your head, but there was just… So much from the scale that it wouldn't let me do it." Nubo answered, unsure whether or not he was correct.
She hummed, "Maybe I can try? My build deals with souls, I think I have a better shot at it."
"I really wouldn't recommend that, Vaggy." Yamaiko said, knowing fully well what she was going to do.
"Well, I'm the reincarnated one," She said, floating over to the scale, "Not to mention if I'm the only one who could open the Gate of Atlas, then I should-" Then she spots the flaw in her contingency plan, "Wait, if I'm the only one who could open the Gate of Atlas…"
Momonga realized it as well, "Ah, that contingency plan wouldn't have worked at all…"
"Okay, super thankful that you weren't dead or anything on that day again, Vaggy." Blue Planet answered for everyone, "Now that you've shown that you're the main character, are you going to do the dumb thing you were going to try?"
She regained her confidence as she remembered that it didn't matter anymore, everyone was safe, she nodded again as she turned back to the scale, "Alrighty then, let's do this…"
She raised a hand towards the scale, "[Final Item Identification]!"
Hide.
She blinked, okay that was just a weird feeling in her head, but that wasn't painful at all.
"...Okay," She announced, "I got something from the scale…"
Denshosho curiously asked, "So, what did you get from it?"
"...It said 'Hide.'"
"Oookay I'm immediately not liking this turn of events." Orphea immediately declared, "That's some existential crisis sort of stuff."
Tabula nodded in agreement with Orphea, "Yeah, I think I hate this. It would've been better if you died from that."
"I wouldn't go as far as that," Punitto said, "But I do agree that there are thousands of different things that would've been better than just saying 'hide.'"
"Huh, I think I'm getting something from the weird sensor things that I have now…" BigStall said as he stared intensely at the scale, "I think it's… absorbing mana? Or just… Power in general?"
"Is that a good thing?" Whitebrim asked.
BigStall shrugged, "I have no idea, man."
Nishikienrai spoke up, "I propose we destroy the scale."
"I think that'd be a bit too hasty," Punitto acted as the counterargument, "I think it telling us to hide might be something done to make sure we don't try to do something we can't come back from. I think if we just let it chill in the treasury and power up or whatever, we can get more answers from it."
Bellriver disagreed, "I just came back to life, dude. I don't want to risk accidentally killing myself the 2nd time because we trusted something we shouldn't have."
That made people a bit more hesitant on letting the scale do its thing.
She spoke up, "I think we let it be. I think the malevolence I felt was directed mostly at my action, not at me specifically."
That was half-way sort of true. It probably was because she was about to do something stupid, but it really felt like she was going to die at that moment.
"I think we should let it be for now," Momonga said, "If it turns out to be evil later, we can just destroy it then."
They all accepted Momonga's proposal, so then they turned to the next order of business.
Namely, plundering the treasury of its world items, and then teleporting to the 6th floor to try them out.
"See ya later, Pandora's Actor!" She said as she left with the rest of the gang.
"Goodbye, my lords!" Pandora's Actor replied as she teleported away.
As Momonga was about to teleport, Pandora's Actor hesitantly called out, "Ah, my creator? If I could have just a moment…"
Momonga curiously looked to Pandora's Actor, then he turned to his friends, "I'll be there in a second." He turned back to Pandora's Actor, "Yes, what do you need?"
Pandora's Actor bowed his head, "If… I may be so selfish to ask… May my limit of one German per conversation be raised?"
"...What."
"It is painful for me to want to say all of these brilliant things, yet I am restricted from doing so from your commands! It feels as though a lump of coal is blocking my throat! Please, I implore you to be a bit more lenient towards my unworthy self!" Pandora's Actor passionately said, on his knees.
"Uhh…." Momonga stupidly breathed out as he looked back towards the empty room, "Uh… Yeah, sure, you can raise it to… 4. Tell Etoile of the same"
"Thank you! Mein Schöper!"
"No problem, uh, just… Nevermind, I'll see you later, Pandora." Momonga quickly left the room after that.
As everyone arrived in the amphitheater of the 6th floor, Aura and Mare were in the process of being overly polite to them, and many others were having different conversations about the world items in general.
"If we accidentally destroy the amphitheater, we can fix the damages, right?" Ankoro asked, hoping for an answer from anyone.
Momonga answered, "If the stuff in the throne room works, I think we can repair the damages like we did in the game…"
Ulbert tilted his head, "Do you want to go check on it really quickly? We can just break something and see if we can repair it."
Momonga nodded, "Yeah, I'll do that- Ah, take my world item too, in that case. I'll stay in the throne room to see what I can do there."
As Ancient One took Momonga's world item, Tabula hummed, "I just remembered Ginnungagap is still on Albedo… I should call her here."
"Ginnungagap was the one that blew everything up, right? I think we shouldn't use that one just yet…" Coup cautiously said.
"Ah, yeah, you're right." Tabula confirmed.
As everyone got set up, the very first thing they were going to try was to use Song of Insanity, the world item that had a different effect depending on what world it was used on.
Nubo used final item identification on Song of Insanity, and then he announced, "Apparently, the effect on this world is that the Song of Insanity creates some sort of massive 200 meter barrier that stops anyone from coming in or going out for 30 minutes."
"Isn't that basically Depiction of Nature and Society?" Nishikienrai asked, who was holding said world item.
Nubo nodded, "I think so, yeah. I'm not sure if Depiction of Nature and Society is bigger, though…"
"Well, good time to test it!" Punitto declared, "Nubo, Nishiki, stand next to each other. Pero! Vaggy! You two go fly far away to see the edges of the barriers, alright?"
Nodding, she cast fly on herself and traveled to where she thought would be around 180 meters, and waited for a second.
Then, Nubo used the Song of Insanity.
Within moments, a purple barrier manifested itself around the 6th floor, trapping everyone inside.
She experimentally touches the barrier, and she manages to just push through it. Though, that's probably because she's wearing her Mianguan right now.
Pulling her hand back inside, she took the Mianguan off and tried to push through the barrier again but failed.
Yeah, the world items work just about as they usually do.
Messaging Punitto about it, he tells her that Depiction of Nature and Society is about to be used.
So, she waits patiently, and voila, there's a sphere about 150 meters away from the center of the amphitheater.
She flies over to the barrier, pushes through it, and yep, the world item still works as usual.
Apparently, Nishikienrai just used a basic trap domain that doesn't do anything special other than to trap the other players inside. So, she shrugged and decided that her job was done and came back to the amphitheater. Peroroncino also came back after the barrier was put down.
"Alright, so, Pero, Vaggy, you both weren't able to just walk through the barrier like we did in the game, right?" Punitto asked.
Because they were guildmates and thus were technically in a permanent party with each other, they could freely move in-between the inside and outside of the domain and they weren't affected by the domain's special effect.
But this was a bit different.
Peroroncino nodded, "Yep, couldn't get through it."
She nodded as well, "I got through it with a bit of force. But after I took the Mianguan off, I couldn't get through either."
Variable Talisman hummed, "So that means friendly fire is on, right?"
"Yeah, probably, but that's what we're about to test. Ulbert, can you summon some of your demons since Momonga isn't around to summon undead?" Punitto said, pointing to a nearby space, "Just put them over there."
Ah, since minions worked the same way players did in terms of not being able to be damaged by friendly players, Punitto was using them instead of just putting one of themselves in front of potentially damaging spells. That was smart.
"Eh? Alright," Ulbert confirmed, "[Summon Demon: 5th]!"
A pair of bulky demons she didn't know the names of appeared and bowed as they moved towards the space Ulbert wanted them to be.
"Alright, summons work as normal…" Punitto observed as he turned towards Ulbert, "Alright, can you tell the one on the left to use a few spells?"
Ulbert nodded as he told the demon, "Alright, just shoot a few fire spells into that empty space over there."
The demon obeys his commands and he releases multiple bursts of flames into the empty area.
Punitto nodded, "Alright, Ulbert, can you use a weak attack on that same demon? After that, Vaggy, you heal the demon with the Mianguan."
Ulbert used the spell [Shock Lance], a 4th tier lightning spell, which hit the 5th tier demon. Then, she went to heal it.
Punitto rapidly fired some questions, "Hey, demon, did you get damaged? Did you get healed? Did your mana get restored?"
The demon verbally answered yes to all 3 questions.
"Hm, alright, friendly fire is on, then." Punitto said, "Alright, let me just message Momonga to see if we can restore that scorch mark on the ground…"
A few moments later, Nazarick shined as everything was restored to its original position.
"Okay, looks like that still works," Punitto observed, "Alright, I'll cut you all loose, don't start using any AoE stuff when you guys try to experiment with your stuff, and if you really want a target, just summon some minions. We'll test the other world items over here."
Everyone not holding a world item basically took that as permission to start dicking around with their spells and skills.
Ulbert loudly shouted out, "[Twin-Stream of Lava]!" At a random wall, causing 2 massive streams of lava to burst out of the floor and slam into the wall.
"What the- Ulbert! Calm down!" Pannokishi loudly complained, "I thought I was about to be toasted!"
"Ah, don't be a loser, Panno! C'mon, let's try some more spells!" Ulbert cackled as he started to use more spells.
She looked to Ancient One curiously, "Do you think that orb still uses experience for all of its stuff?"
Ancient One shrugged, "I don't know, how much spare experience do you have?"
"A lot," She answered, "I got a whole bunch from the 4 years I spent just grinding."
Ancient One handed the red orb to her, "Then you can use it, I guess."
The Spirit of The Dragonslayer had a few available options it could use to help slay dragons, and only dragons. A massive debuff that basically made the dragon do baby numbers, percentage damage in a game where percentage damage was probably rarer than the world items themselves, and a shield that would protect the user from the magic of dragons.
The most useful effect was usually the debuff, which cost the most experience, followed by the shield which made attacks irrelevant, and then the percentage damage which was just nice but most of the time wasn't needed or as important as the other 2 options.
"You mind if I shield against you for a while, then?" She asked as she held up the red orb against him.
Ancient One nodded, "It's the cheapest option, yeah, go for it."
She activated the Spirit of The Dragonslayer as it shined with red light as a red shield formed around her body, draining a lot of her experience.
Ancient One took this as permission to start hitting her as hard as he could, even trying to bite through it, but all of his attacks were made useless before her shield.
"Yep, that still works." Ancient One said as he stopped attacking her, "I'm sure that'll come in handy like… Once, maybe."
She chuckled, "I think it'll come up twice."
"Wanna bet on it?"
"Oh, you're on. Loser has to… Oh, I don't know, eat something gross."
"Hah! Gladly accepted!"
Up in the stands, a combination of all 6 Libertas, Lucilla, Demiurge, Aura, and Mare were sitting down and watching the Supreme Beings test their powers and world items.
"Hm, this doesn't look very organized…" Liberta from the youth of his life commented, "It looks like some of them are stepping on each other's toes sometimes."
Liberta from the prime of his life chuckled, "I'm afraid you don't have the perspective necessary to see the order in the chaos. But that's alright, that's what you were made for."
Demiurge nodded, "Yes, as you can see the Supreme Beings have already gotten into groups to test the nature of this new world, and Lord Punitto Moe is hard at work testing the new effects of their glorious world items. There is nothing unorganized about this."
Aura scratched his head, "Why do we have to test this stuff anyways? Shouldn't it work like it always did?"
Liberta from the midnight of his life shook his head, "No, we are in someplace different from the old world, we cannot take things for granted at the moment. It's better to find things that are different now, than to find out that things are different in the heat of battle or in some other crucial moment."
"Wow, the Supreme Beings are so wise…" Mare's eyes sparkled with wonder, "It's so nice to be able to serve under all 41 of them again!"
Demiurge grinned, "Exactly right, Mare! This has been truly one of the greatest days in our lives!"
Shalltear & Cocytus then showed up, with Cocytus saying, "It. Is. Good. To. See. You. All. Again."
Shalltear nodded, "I see that Albedo isn't here…" Shalltear's eyes flickered to the Supreme Beings, "Oh? Where is Lord Momonga?"
Liberta in the penultimate stage of his life answered, "I believe Lord Momonga and Albedo are in the throne room as of now."
Shalltear's expression turned murderous, "Oh- That lamprey! Stealing Lord Momonga's time!"
Lucilla hummed, "Why are you guys here anyways?"
"We. Heard. The. Supreme. Beings. Had. Gathered. In. The. 6th. Floor. So. I. Stopped. My. Training. And. Rushed. To. See. Them. In. Action." Cocytus answered as he sat down around them.
Shalltear nodded as she schooled her facial expression and sat next to Lucilla, "Yes, I was hoping to see Lord Momonga here, but alas…"
"That reminds me, Lord Bellriver was revived from the dead, yes?" Liberta in the evening of his life said, "I don't believe we were given the details about it…"
"Do we need the details about it?" Demiurge rhetorically asked, "Though Lord Bellriver may have died in the 'old' world, the Supreme Beings are above such things and all his 'death' did was temporarily disable his 'respawning' as the Supreme Beings called it. That is all we need to know, and we can forget that most dreadful phase of our lives."
Liberta at the prime of his life hummed dissatisfied with Demiurge's words, "I actually believe that Lord Bellriver's death was a true one. I believe the only reason why Lord Bellriver is here today is because of Lady Vagisilious's meticulous planning."
Demiurge tilted his head, "Oh? Is that statement backed up by the minds of all your other selves?"
It was common knowledge that the Liberta at the prime of his life was the most selfish out of the bunch, and there would be times where he would disregard the opinions of his other selves if he thought he himself was at the right answer.
Liberta Prime nodded, "Yes. I've exchanged words with Tokino before the transition, and apparently Lady Vagisilious concocted a plan that would use the death of the old world as the fuel to revive Lord Bellriver. The reason why Tokino knew of this is because Lady Vagisilious filled her in on the plan in the unlikely scenario where Lady Vagisilious is somehow incapacitated and unable to execute the plan herself."
Demiurge raised his hand to his chin as he thought about the new information he gained, "Most interesting…"
"I think you guys talk too much," Lucilla disinterestedly said as he stared at Lady Orphea Scarlet punching the shield of Lord Otanabetabeki, "Just say that our masters are smart and almighty and leave it there."
Liberta Prime frowned, "You know that I seek more than that."
Lucilla shrugged, "You know that you won't reach even a fraction of our master's intelligence."
Liberta Prime sighed, "As you say. But I will try to do so anyway, regardless of your thoughts."
Cocytus chose that moment to change the subject, "Are. Any. Of. You. Aware. Of. A. Being. Named. Cancer?"
Liberta in the adolescence of his life raised an eyebrow, "Isn't that the term used for when a mortal's body makes a mistake in its regeneration, and their own bodies begin to turn against them?"
Cocytus shook his head, "No. I. Believe. This. Is. Different. Lord. Warrior. Takemikazuchi. Fought. Cancer. For. Years. And. Was. On. The. Brink. Of. Defeat. Before. Lady. Vagisilious. Came. To. Turn. The. Tide. In. His. Favor."
Demiurge hummed, "Quite the powerful foe, then. Perhaps it was a world enemy?"
Liberta youth nodded, "Yeah! Only a world enemy could fight Lord Warrior Takemikazuchi to the brink of defeat!"
Cocytus hummed, as he agreed, "You. Are. Most. Likely. Right."
"Speaking of world enemies, where are Leviathan and Tokino?" Shalltear asked, "I don't think they have anything else to be doing, right?"
"Well, Tokino has to ensure that all of the production that happens in the 4th floor works as intended." Liberta in the penultimate stage of his life answered, "But Leviathan… I have no idea what he'd be doing."
Lucilla raised a hand, "I bet they're both slacking off and just kissing each other."
Demiurge frowned at the thought, "How wasteful… They could be doing more but Tokino- Ah… Nevermind."
Liberta Prime caught his turnaround and raised an eyebrow, "Oh? You usually take any chance to rail against Tokino. What's the matter this time?"
"Lord Ulbert Alain Odle has instructed me to change my opinion on Tokino, and I am in the middle of reconstructing my evaluation of her." Demiurge answered.
The Libertas silently discussed the information within their minds, and then Liberta Prime questioned, "Is it like Lord Peroroncino and Lady Orphea Scarlet?"
They skipped a step in that process, but they all knew what they were talking about.
Demiurge nodded, "That is what I believe so as well."
"Oh? Are. You. Suggesting. That. Lord. Ulbert. Alain. Odle. And. Lady. Vagisilious. Are. Getting. Closer?" Cocytus curiously asked.
Demiurge nodded, "Well, they have had 4 years together alongside Lord Momonga. But seeing as how Lord Momonga has chosen to be with both Shalltear and Albedo, I believe that has allowed the circumstances for Lord Ulbert Alain Odle and Lady Vagisilious to grow closer. Albeit, I don't believe anything official has happened yet as it did with Lord Peroroncino and Lady Orphea Scarlet."
Shalltear hummed as she looked towards Lucilla, "I realized now- That makes us sisters now, doesn't it?"
Lucilla blinked, "...I guess so?"
Demiurge happily grinned, "I believe that currently, Lord Ulbert Alain Odle and Lady Vagisilious are in the midst of figuring out their feelings together-"
"No, I disagree," Liberta Prime interrupted, "I don't think they realize anything is happening between them yet."
As to supply his argument with reason, he pointed towards Lady Vagisilious and Lord Ulbert Alain Odle down in the arena, using various illusion spells to play a match of chess together, which Lord Ulbert Alain Odle was soundly losing.
"I've spoken to Tokino a lot, so I've picked up some signs on whether or not people realize they like each other," Liberta Prime explained as he showed off their 2 masters, "And though the signs are subtle, it's quite clear when you see it that they have no idea."
Lucilla raised an eyebrow, "But they're getting along pretty well with each other."
Lord Ulbert Alain Odle was checkmated, and he responded by flipping over the illusory table in Lady Vagisilious's unimpressed face.
"Okay, maybe not?" Lucilla reamended her statement.
"Yes, the minds of the Supreme Beings are mysterious indeed…" Liberta in the midnight of his life said.
Lord Nearata began to charge up a super-tier spell, a realm of magic they couldn't even use, before it got rapidly interrupted by Lord Punitto Moe's shouting.
Demiurge had to agree with Liberta Midnight's assessment, the Supreme Beings are quite mysterious…
He wishes the Libertas good luck in their quest to advance themselves to the same level of intelligence that the Supreme Beings are on. Though he knows his intellectual capacity is great, he knows that he's nowhere close to the same level they are on.
Truly, what wonderful masters to serve under…
Nearata tried to use an offensive super-tier spell like a dumbass, so instead she charged up [Memory Of The Lord Of The Fey] to see if it still worked.
And after a quick 30 seconds, yeah, it did work. She felt a lot more powerful than she did 20 seconds ago. So, presumably, all super-tier spells work like they usually do.
After the 3 minutes of the buff, it disappeared like it was supposed to and eventually, Momonga messaged everyone to come to the throne room so they could maybe do some big announcements.
Which was what they were discussing right now.
"So, I'm planning to announce the humans here are under our protection, I'm planning to announce that we're going to scout out the new world to see what's up with it, and I'm just going to hype us up a bit by declaring a new era of Ainz Ooal Gown has begun. Any thoughts on that?" Momonga listed off, asking for any advice on what to add.
"Nah, that sounds fine." Daijobubua said, "But, uh, us undead or robots or elementals and stuff don't have to sleep, right? What are we supposed to do while everyone is dozing off?"
"I think these rings of sustenance let us go without any sleep," Herohero said, lifting the ring out from his slimy body, "That being said, I'm still going to my room and collapsing onto my bed. Preferably cuddled by Solution."
"Good for you buddy, I don't wanna hear it," Genjiro unenthusiastically said, "Anyways, yeah, are we late-night wanderers supposed to just stay up and chat up people all night?"
Momonga shrugged, "I mean, I guess so? Vaggy, you did mention finding a village, right?"
She nodded, "I mean, yeah, but it's going to be night, so everyone will be asleep by the time the scouts arrive."
Momonga hummed, "Oh, right. I guess we are kind of stuck in Nazarick for the night, then…"
"Vaggy, Nubo, are either of you going to bed tonight?" Punitto asked.
They both simultaneously answered, "I am collapsing onto my bed the moment I get there."
Punitto sighed, "I guess we won't be doing any scouting tonight…"
"Yeah, I guess I'll just fall asleep too, then." Tabula said as he then paused, "Wait… Bellriver, I wrote in Citritinas' bio that she's madly in love with me, right? Because of that truth or dare game?"
Bellriver mouthed, "Uhh… Yeah, actually, I remembered that."
"...I guess I have a girlfriend now, damn." Tabula said, a bit shocked.
"Can we hurry this up, actually?" Orphea impatiently said, tapping her foot, "Momonga, call everyone here already, Ryu- Oh this is an official setting, uh, Pero and I have some uh… Experiments to conduct in the bedroom."
Peroroncino wisely nodded, "Yeah, discovering if we can make babies despite being different species and her technically being a golem."
"That's great for you buddy, but I did not want to hear that." Genjiro repeated, unimpressed.
"Better hope those rooms are sound-proofed, then." Peroroncino chuckled.
Touch nodded, "Yeah, they are, Sebas told me about it earlier. Speaking of which, I should go get my family here for the big announcement…"
Shizyuutensuzaku nodded, "Yeah, I guess I should probably explain to my niece what's going on now, huh…"
"Wait, you didn't break off from us to go do that?! You monster!" Tigris indignantly called him out.
Shizyuutensuzaku decided not to answer as he teleported to the 9th floor.
Eventually, people began to bleed over to the 9th floor as Momonga was busy trying to think of a way to deliver his speech.
And at the same time, he told Albedo who was diligently standing next to him, "Could you please tell everyone in Nazarick to come to the throne room?"
Albedo bowed, "As you wish, Lord Momonga."
As she got to work, Momonga turned to Punitto, "Punitto, please tell me you have a good speech idea."
Punitto shrugged, "You were in sales, right? You should be good at selling this."
"You traitor."
As everyone gathered in the throne room, all 41 of them stood by Momonga's throne while the NPCs all bowed before them with the guardians in the front. With the humans standing to the side.
Momonga cleared his throat as he decided to make the speech fairly short and simple, "Our servants, you have done well in guarding Nazarick these past 4 years without us, and now, all 41 of us have returned!" Applause rings out across the NPCs, "Now, we are in a new world, and we are now stronger than ever before! We are strong enough to overcome anything our way!" More applause rings out, "First, though many of you already know, I announce that the humans that are staying in the 9th floor are to be protected under the name of Ainz Ooal Gown, and that no harm shall be inflicted upon them! Secondly, tomorrow, Nazarick shall begin to scout out this new world in order to decide what shall be done with it! And so, a new era of Ainz Ooal Gown shall begin, and it will be the greatest era yet!"
Momonga finished his speech, and the NPCs replied with loud applause.
As the applause kept going on Momonga realized that they weren't going to stop without his permission, so he loudly said, "You are all dismissed."
As the NPCs filed out of the throne room, all 41 of them smiled.
Momonga's speech wasn't anything crazy, but the NPCs hyping it up definitely made it above average.
"Hey, good job, dude." Ulbert complimented, patting Momonga's back, "Good speech, I know I wouldn't have done any better."
Yamaiko nodded, "Yeah, I would've died if I were in your spot."
Shizyuutensuzaku tilted his head, "Aren't you a teacher too? I thought this is like the one thing we're good at."
Yamaiko shrugged, "I mean, yeah, but not good like this."
Everyone laughed as Momonga announced, "Alright! That's it for the day! Don't go too far outside of Nazarick if you want to go outside, but otherwise you're all free to do whatever you want!"
She smiled from ear to ear, feeling truly blessed.
She collapsed onto her bed.
Yeah, she wasn't aware of the truth back when she had that thought.
THIS was being truly blessed. The years of having a small bed were over! Thank God she had the foresight to give herself a good bed!
Short Stories to inflate the word count because I'm close to 8k.
1: The Explanation (Canon)
Shizyuutensuzaku awkwardly entered the room where his niece was in, slowly saying, "Uhm, heeey, Ochaco…"
Her niece looked up from her spot from the bed as she raised an eyebrow, "Are you my uncle?"
He nodded, "Uh… Yeah."
She snorted, "That's what I thought. You're forgiven, this bed is heavenly, not to mention the food they gave me, which made me feel like I was royalty."
"Yeah, uh, about that… You need to come with me so everyone knows that you're my family, and you can walk about Nazarick, this place." He explained.
Ochaco blinked, "The game you were crying about that was going to be shut down?"
He nodded, "Exactly."
"Huh," Ochaco looked confused, "You weren't lying when you said you had 40 friends?"
"Wha- That's the part that made you doubt me?!"
2: A Very Good Idea (Non-Canon)
After losing his chess match, Ulbert looked up to her with a very scarily neutral face.
"Hey, Vaggy, watch this." Ulbert said with a very 'I'm about to do something dumb' tone in his voice.
So, she cautiously said, "Ulbert, whatever you're thinking, it's probably dumb. Don't do it."
Ulbert is surrounded by the rings of a super-tier spell.
"Ulbert you motherfu-"
He brings out the cash shop item that skips the casting time of super-tier spells and crushes it as he shouted out, "[Meteor Shower]!"
"Ulbert, you're paying for the 10 million gold it costs to repair the 6th floor." Momonga unimpressively said, his expression mimicked by all 40 members of Ainz Ooal Gown.
For his part, Ulbert looked a bit embarrassed, "Yeah, uh, my bad."
"And you're also not allowed to play chess with Vaggy anymore." Punitto said.
"Aw, darn, I was gonna get her in the rematch…"
AN:
It's 2:50 AM right now, and normally I'd be asleep but I saw that this chapter was at 6k and I was already getting close to the end of where the chapter was going to end at, and I realized that this was gonna be a shorter chapter. So I said 'eh, screw it, I'll finish it tonight.' and then I did, but I'll upload it when I wake up so I can skim over it to add or subtract from it. So yeah, 1~ day chapter.
Yeah, so Merry Christmas lol.
Anyways, onto the main subject…
YOU GUYS HAVE NO IDEA HOW STUPID I FEEL FOR MISSING 2 MEMBERS.
It's even worse because I know how it happened.
So, back when I was counting how many OCs I would need to get all 41, I already had 2 in mind, Vagisilious and Orphea, so I ended up adding them to the total of canon members so when I did the math, it was 41-33, which was 8.
Unfortunately, I forgot to separate Vagisilious and Orphea from that 8, so when it came time to create everyone, I saw 8 slots and 2 of them were filled already so I just filled it without recounting it ever again until the last chapter.
And so, like a fool, I was missing 2 members all along…
Honestly, if I saw that in chapter 13 or something, this fic would've been OVER because my ego would've been irreparably damaged. This is doubly so, because in the comments of Ao3 I was just replying to someone concerned I wouldn't be able to juggle all of these characters and I said I could juggle it but APPARENTLY I CAN'T JUGGLE SHIT.
Yeah, so basically, me stupid ape.
I still haven't gotten used to Wasewaru or Bakuita yet, so I'll be sure to cram them down in the coming chapters to get more used to them like I have with the other OCs.
Anyways, for this chapter it was just finishing up the experimentation stuff that would've been done in the last chapter if I weren't a lazy bastard, and so the next chapter is finally exploring the new world a bit with, you guessed it, Carne Village. And probably in the same chapter, E-Rantel.
I think the next chapter is when the guild is going to realize who they're going up against too. That's probably the spot where I stop writing for that chapter, "Oh my god, we're going up against…The bad guys."
X
Bakuita is "Explosion" and "Archer" google translated from Japanese and mashed together.
Wasewaru Kakyoku is "Forget" and "Song" mashed together. Or I may have mashed something for forget, idk I just google translated it and it didn't match up. And Kakyoku is from one of the alternate readings that goes like 歌曲. Is it accurate? Idk, it's google.
The Shizyuutensuzaku's niece is Ochaco which I just stole from My Hero Academia and I left Shizyuutensuzaku unnamed.
X
How many people actually read all of the ANs? Because I ask questions down here for you to answer if you guys want to have an affect on the fic a bit, but most reviews or comments don't really care about it.
I mean, thanks to the guys who do comment, that's why I just remembered I should use Momonga's orb in this chapter and screwed around with the world items a bit. And the idea of Demiurge thinking they'll Ulbert and Vaggy getting together because Ulbert told him to stop being mean to Tokino was also a review idea. Y'all the boss.
Speaking of which, that's the route I've arbitrarily decided to go down. OC x Canon is a bit cringey, but the base concept for this type of fic is already pretty cringe, and I haven't tried my hand at any proper romance writing yet so this may as well be my first.
When does it happen? Hell if I know, it'll come when I feel like it. But probably not for a while since that relationship needs some more time in the kitchen.
Oh, yeah, and just because someone asked, no, there is no smut. It's all off-screen.
Also, the group going out to scout isn't fully decided yet except for Vaggy, Momonga because they're the MCs, and Nishikienrai because someone in the reviews wanted him to be more mentioned. I might stick Ulbert into that initial scouting force too, but honestly it doesn't matter to me how big that group is, so if you wanna see more members do stuff in the new world, just comment and I can probably fit them in the scouting group.
That'll be different from the 2nd wave where they go exploring the world, by the way. At which point I'll ask you guys if you wanna see any specific pairings of people to go to places.
And I think that's all I have to say? So I'll keep this as it is right now, and when I wake up in the morning I'll upload Manifest Destiny, skim through this to do some slight changes, and upload this on the same day.
See you next time on "Genuinely, who let Skryb into the kitchen?"
And as tradition, the only metric that actually matters on any site is the comments. So please comment.