A/N: Been a while since I wrote fanfic so this is probably not great, but hey gotta (re)start somewhere yeah?
A/N-2: Sentry Enjoyer it's funny you should say that. The original idea was for the MC to be a Quetzalcoatl who could change into human form. However, I figured it would just feel like I was ripping off FGO's Quetzacoatl and just made it a NPC instead.
2:Homunculus Warlord Mun Culi
"My lord, what a joy to see you see you!" A homunculus maid, Fith, was practically beaming up at me.
"Good day, Fith." I paused, having been walking past her.
"Fith?" I looked at the maid, shaken by what I'd just heard and seen.
"Yes my lord, is there something I can do for you?" The maid looked up at my taller frame, nearly vibrating on the spot in excitement.
"...Walk with me, I'm headed to the throne room." I spoke after a moment.
"It would be my pleasure Supreme one!" She nodded at the order.
As the pair of us made our way down the hall we saw some of the other maids, doing as maids do. They often greeted us as we passed, with small curtsies or waves to acknowledge our presence. They seemed so...real, it was insane, was I having some kind of dream? I'd come back for the final day of Yggdrasil, one of only a few individuals to do so. Momonga and I had been ecstatic to see Hero Hero again after so long, if only for a moment. Then I'd gone to take one last look at the guild with him, eventually spitting to different parts of the tomb before the shutdown.
So why was I still here, in the game? Better yet, why did the maids seem so lifelike and real? A million and one thoughts raced through my mind as I neared the throne room. Only to see the battle maids guarding the entrance. They seemed surprised to see me there before one of them, Lupusregina Beta, practically skipped towards me.
"My Lord Mun Culi, you stayed with us!" She was swiftly yanked back by a braid, her older sister yanking back on her sister's hair in a way that reminded me of an owner yanking a dog's leash.
The redhead yelped as she was drug back to her sisters, turning slightly to pout at the older woman and I couldn't help but chuckle. The werewolf turned that pout on me just as quickly and I smiled back at her. Yuri Alpha clapped her hands, and simultaneously, the battle maids curtsied as if they'd rehearsed the act for years.
"Your servants are at your command Supreme one." The eldest of the Pleiades spoke, her tone professional.
"Good day to you girls." I greeted, pointedly ignoring how Lupis waved at Fith from behind her sister. At least until another one of her sisters, Naberal Gamma, poked her in the ribs.
"Are you here to see Lord Momonga, my Lord?" CZ spoke up, rightly figuring out my reason for being there.
More importantly, she'd confirmed the fact that my friend was present at all. A weight that I'd not realized was even on my shoulders lifted at her words. Ha, even knowing he was here was enough to put me at ease, what a Guild leader. I nodded at her words before I turned to Fith.
"Stay here for a moment, I'll be speaking to Momonga." I told her gently, getting a nod in return.
I entered the throne room, the sight of my friend's avatar striking on his throne. His hand was cupping his bony face and he looked to be deep in thought...while he fondled an absolutely ecstatic-looking Albedo.
"Should...Should I come back later?" I laughed awkwardly.
Suzuki's hand snapped away from the succubus like it was on fire. His "eyes" locked onto mine in embarrassment before the fact I was there entered his mind.
"Mun, you're here!" He stood, taller than Albedo by a wide margin, and practically ran to me.
I almost flinched when he touched me, wrapping me in a hug, his bony fingers clicking against my armour. He squeezed me in an embrace, thankfully he was too weak physically to cause any damage with the action. But there was something far more pressing that I had realized with the action.
"I felt that," I muttered to myself in shock. "I felt you hug me, that's not possible, right?" I asked a little louder, stunned and a little frightened.
"My friend, I don't think we're in the game." He whispered to me and the words shook me to my core.
"That's not a funny joke," I replied, unamused. "You never were one for comedy, cut it out."
He stared at me, not saying anything for a moment. Before glancing at the patiently waiting Albedo, before looking back at me. The unspoken response hit me like a sack of bricks to the jaw. He'd have been kicked from the servers for doing something like what I'd found him doing in the game. A hand came up to my brow, and I could feel a headache coming on.
"Fuck."
"Language, Mun." Momonga chastised lightly.
Glaring at the other...man, undead? I looked to Albedo who was failing to act like she wasn't interested in what we were talking about. She straightened up as I looked at her, a delicate smile plastered on her face. I had to remind myself that she was made by that gap-moe-loving alchemist. She was probably twisted in ways I couldn't even imagine. You couldn't see it by looking at her though, she was the picture-perfect beauty every horny teen dreamt about. Well, the ones that were into women anyhow.
"Albedo." I greeted with a nod, receiving a curtsy in return. I'd never been curtsied to so many times in a single day
.
"My Lord Mun Culi." She smiled up at me from her position.
"...Make Momonga happy." I jested, a grin plastered on my face when the man in question squawked indignantly.
"Oh to have your approval, of course, my Lord I will be the perfect wife!" The woman's widened with joy and her wings started to squirm in delight like she was about to take off.
I could already tell she'd taken that joke far too seriously. I tried to ignore Momonga staring at my back, no, glaring would probably be a better description of what he was doing. Was it wrong that I didn't feel nearly as bad as I should have?
I looked at my form, a strange mix of discomfort and appreciation at what I saw bubbling up within me. I had removed my armour for the time being, not like anything would attack me on the ninth floor anyhow. Cixous was with me, silently watching, but I couldn't help but feel awkward with her there. I looked, at least as far as I could tell, like a normal man. Perhaps a bit taller than the average man but not so much so that I would get a second glance from anyone walking past. My hair was longer than I would have ever allowed it to be outside of the game, tickling my shoulders as I stretched my back. The blonde mass flowed like a golden curtain down my upper back. The shade was alien to me, far removed from my own short dark locks.
Bringing my hand to my face I ran my fingers across the short beard that adorned my face, the feeling unfamiliar to me. I'd barely been able to grow stubble in my previous life, so even this trimmed beard was far removed from my IRL face. Speaking of my face, my green eyes gazed back at me, a nasty scar marring the flesh above the left eye. A change to my original design, I added it early on, when I was saved by Momonga and Touch Me from a group of PKers. I'd been nearly hunted to the character creation screen by the self-righteous human supremacy bastards in my starting area.
I released a fist I hadn't realized I'd formed, the disgust I'd felt when thinking of them was something new. I mean, I'd always felt disgusted when thinking of people hunting new players like that. But that was more of the "those guys are dicks" level of disgust. This was...utter revulsion, the same kind of feeling you get seeing a swarm of parasites destroying something that was once beautiful.
I turned to Cixous and the maid looked up at me in wonder. That would take some getting used to for sure. With how I now looked it almost felt like a daughter idolizing her father. Though I had no hand in her creation, or any of the maids for that matter. My form had been the inspiration for many of their looks, however.
"As the mighty warlord of constructs, it only makes sense a few look like you!" Whitebrim had said, damn maid fetishist.
I huffed a short laugh at the memory, how I missed him, maid-obsessed freak that he was. My pleas had fallen on deaf ears though, especially with Hero Hero and Coup De Grace backing him up. I'm not sure if they thought it was a good idea or they just wanted to troll me but I digress.
I shook my head, motioning for the NPC to follow me. Although it felt weird to call any of them that now, what with them being alive. If I had not been playing this game for so long I would surely have gotten lost in these halls, it never really hit me how big some of the guild base was. Usually, I just teleported around the place to save me the time. Soon enough though we found ourselves before what I had dubbed "the bone zone" otherwise known as the office of Momonga. I nodded to Sebas as I entered the room, seeing my friend fidgeting with a mirror of remote viewing.
"Found anything interesting?" I asked not really expecting an answer.
"Depends on what you consider interesting." The Overlord responded turning the mirror towards me.
I saw a battle, no, perhaps a massacre was more accurate a description. A man was futilely holding back an armoured knight even as he was struck by a blade. Well then, that certainly had not been what I was expecting when I walked in.
"What do ya think?" I nodded to the image as the man yelled something I couldn't hear.
"It would be dangerous to interfere, we don't know anything about this world." He noted blankly.
I raised a brow at that, the Suzuki I knew wouldn't have said such a thing. Then again he was under the effects of his new body. He also was not wrong, for all we knew those knights down there could be incredibly powerful compared to us. I watched as the man was cut down and my friend moved the image once again to a pair of girls running through the front. Behind them two knights in pursuit the grown men clearly faster than the girls, especially with the blonde one dragging the little one along.
She almost looked like...
My eyes drifted to Cixous, who looked back at me with a smile, anxious to hear any word from me. The girl looked far too much like many of the maids in the Tomb. Ah, sentimentality is going to get me killed her I just know it.
"I will be leaving the Tomb for a time." I announced, startling the occupants of the room.
"What, are you sure?" The undead asked after a moment.
"Call it me being sappy if you like, but I would want someone to step in if it was one of our girls down there," I smirked at my friend. "Plus Touch me would have my sack if I ignored this."
Momonga stared at me for a long moment, whatever he was thinking he swiftly came to a conclusion as he stood.
"Raise the security level of Nazarick to Maximum," He ordered Sebas firmly, receiving a bow in return. "Tell Albedo to join us fully armed."
"Bringing your girlfriend along for the ride huh?" I joked, getting a sigh in response.
"Just get in..." The Overlord ordered opening a gate for me to pass through.
"Yeah, yeah, and put on something would you," I spoke as I equipped my armour, "We have no idea how people will react to the undead." I noted as I turned to the maid who had sparked my action.
I leaned in and drew her into a swift hug, holding the fellow Homunculi close. She squeaked in my grasp before leaning into the hug happily, I'm sure I'd be getting requests for those from every other maid soon. I let her god and backed away, preparing myself mentally for what was to come.
"B-be safe my Lords." She whispered, clasping her hands in what seemed to be prayer.
"I'll be back before you know it!" I waved as I stepped through the portal.
Seems I had stepped through the portal just in time, the older one had been struck, the cut shallow but long and crimson dyed her clothing. My standard struck out, the blade on the end piercing the man responsible through the adam's apple before I could even consider doing it. The Knight choked on his own blood as he fell back. The body dropped with a thunk and I was faced with the fact I had killed a man. I should have felt sick, maybe thrown up or something. I felt nothing, I had thought my new form hadn't affected me as much as Momonga's did, but I was clearly wrong.
Speaking of said Overlord, not a moment after my bloody entrance, the guild leader followed. I had forgotten how tall he was, standing above both the Knights and me like we were but children before him. His robes were closed now, and he wore a mask and gauntlets. Personally, I think it clashed with the man's personality but it did look cool.
I was forced to divert my attention back to the knight when he spoke up in rage.
"Who are you, adventures?" He spoke up blade at the ready.
"You want to kill this one or should I?" Ignoring the man's question entirely I instead questioned my companion.
"I have a spell I wish to try, Grasp Heart!" The man fell over with a gasp, a wet gurgle on his lips.
"Hum, so weak." My friend scoffed.
"The first one didn't even try to block, not sure he could see it." I nodded to the body that began to twitch.
A groan like grinding metal escaped the armour, the passive effect of my standard activating. The new construct stood with a metallic creaking of joints. I nodded towards the animated armour, weak in the grand scheme of things but useful for adding mobs to the battlefield. Turning towards the shivering pair of girls I reached up and removed my helm.
"You need healing, stay still," I stated to the blonde, I raised a hand and cast a low-level healing spell. "Better?"
"I, thank you." She blinked, reaching to her now healed back.
"I'm going ahead." I nodded to Suzuki, pausing when Albedo came out of the still-open portal.
"My Lords, sorry for the delay." She spoke, regret in her tone. "Preparations took longer than expected."
"No, your timing is perfect Albedo." Momonga assured her.
"Thank you very much, my Lord." I could almost hear the smile behind her helm.
"These guys are weak as hell anyway." I tapped my standard on the ground, magical sigils appearing below my feet.
Soon a group of ten more animated armours appeared from the earth forming from nothingness. These however took on the form of Viking warriors, with large round shields and spears in their hands. Where their flesh should have been pale clay took its place, filling the void to give the armour shape. Nodding Momonga raised a hand, the other dead warrior suddenly twitching as black ooze poured from him. It was...well actually kinda nasty to be honest. Then again I did kinda reanimate a suit of armour with a body inside so I mean hey. Soon enough a towering death knight stood before us, looking towards its master.
"Death Knight, kill the knights that are attacking this village." Momonga pointed at the animated armour I had created.
To my surprise, the Death Knight not only was smart enough to not smack the armour but it also ran off on its own.
"I...didn't know it could just run off by itself." I admitted out loud.
The Overlord didn't say anything but the slack jaw painted the picture of what he was thinking well enough.
"You as well, take out the Knights in the village." I ordered, tapping my standard on the ground.
Another spell sprung forth, this time the spell haste, and the normally slow animated armours dashed forward at speed. It was interesting to watch, in truth.
"Well, let's get this over with." I lifted my standard and made to follow after them.