The first thing Momonga did when he was up in the air was to cast Perfect Unknowable, just in case anyone was keeping an eye on the sky. Then the next thing he did was immediately rush towards the nearest escape from the city, the walls, in order to get out of the radius of the Veil of Isolation.

Did he catch the situation quick enough? Will something happen to the others because he decided to play it risky? Was conceding to the demands of his friends to split up and explore the whole world the right decision? These thoughts consumed Momonga's heart as he raced towards freedom.

Then, Momonga noticed someone on the walls of Re-Estisize. Some sort of mage-warrior holding a purple naginata. So he tried to correct his course to try and avoid potentially alerting him.

But the lone person- No, Momonga got close enough to see through his weak disguise. That was an angel-

"[Gravity]."

Momonga was caught completely off-guard and failed to cast a counterspell, causing his flight to cease.

His landing was completely abysmal, the momentum causing him to skid across the ground straight into the wall of the city.

"Hm, I suppose that is why he has been hounding me here…" The Angel mused as he gently glided to stand in front of Momonga.

Momonga stood up, already preparing his game plan to fight the angel, then he got a good look at him.

Momonga recognizes the face of Mustapha Mond from his lurking in the Yggdrasil Forums, where the profile pictures were just a face view of your avatar.

Mustapha Mond was wearing the final divine tier set from the final raid of the game for his build. If Momonga remembers it correctly, the set was titled, "Yggdrasil's Guard" and it was a mixture of knightish and mage elements all combined into a nice looking red, black and gold set that many players coveted.

But what struck Momonga as odd was that there were runes carved into his gear. That shouldn't have been possible, as runes were an expansion gimmick…

Mustapha Mond raises an eyebrow, "Momonga, you're here quite early."

Momonga didn't know how to reply to that. Were they expected? If so, how early are they? Was Mond even an enemy right now?
So, Momonga answered as vaguely as possible, "Perhaps I am, Mustapha Mond."

Mustapha chuckled, "You have utterly no idea what I'm talking about. Judging from what I see in front of me, you haven't been here for long enough to understand the nature of this world. By the way, I see you trying to silently cast buffing spells without triggering the aura animations. I must remind you that I am a spellbreaker, and I would beat you quite badly."

Momonga immediately stopped with his buffing. It would seem that he forgot about Mond's build.

Spellbreakers weren't a very popular build in Yggdrasil, but they were likely the best mage killers in the game when the developers died. Ainz Ooal Gown didn't have any need of spellbreakers though, as they already had the Mianguan which they used rather liberally at Vaggy's request.

But Mond was likely right in saying that Momonga would lose a fight between them. Momonga had no clue what the other half of Mond's build was, or if he dedicated his two trees into spellbreaking as Momonga did with necromancy.

So, Momonga had no choice but to agree, "Yes, I suppose I would lose quite badly, especially considering I believe I recognize that naginata you're holding…"

"Grasscutter, the world item," Mustapha confirmed his suspicions, "I'm surprised you recognize it, given it has been some time since we raided the Night's Triumph guild base for this, and their petty reveal of the world item."

Momonga didn't even remember what expansion that happened in, but he just remembered the name "Grasscutter" being cool, so he ended up burning it into his long term memory. He didn't actually remember what the world item did.

Of course, Momonga was never going to admit a fault in his memory against someone he doesn't even know is an ally or enemy right now, so he instead changed the topic to something he would have a stronger grasp on, "By the way, you seemed to have placed a Veil of Isolation around the city. I suppose this is all simply just a way to keep me away from getting help?"

Mustapha shrugged, "I truly had no hand in whatever is happening. What I believe is happening is that one of our NPCs is simply taking words we've said some 5, 6, years ago to apply to today."

Well, at least that was confirmation that Seraphim brought their entire guild base too. Momonga thought that was the worst case scenario, and here he is with said scenario.

Momonga questioned Mond, "If whatever is happening isn't to your- Or rather, to BlessThyHeart's design, shouldn't you stop it?"

"I'm afraid BlessThyHearts isn't around anymore," Mustapha revealed to avoid the question.

Momonga was caught completely off-guard by the revelation. Why would 72 Seraphim members stay until the very end of Yggdrasil, but not the guild leader?
It wouldn't make sense, unless Mond is speaking of…

"He died," Momonga stated.

"He did," Mustapha confirmed, looking saddened as he recounted the tale, "Unfortunately, the Heavenly Dragon Lord and the Catastrophe Dragon Lord were more powerful than we expected, and Bless took it upon himself to secure my escape. As his second in command, I was chosen to become his successor."

BlessThyHearts was killed by two dragon lords? Wasn't the Argland Council State ruled by dragon lords? Are they in danger? If two could kill a player in what sounds like a two versus two…

Momonga's emotional damper kicked in, eliminating his worry about the dragons, "I see. I'm sorry for your loss."

Mustapha hummed, "You seemed quite relaxed. I assume that your undead traits are dominating a part of you?"

"You know about it?" Momonga questioned, hoping for an answer.

Mustapha nodded, briefly looking behind him to see something Momonga wasn't sure about, then he began to explain. "We did some testing to find out what affects our new bodies had on ourselves. To put it plainly, you still have the most say in your thoughts and beliefs. For example, I know multiple people with their karma as extremely good, and their racial traits all align for them to become a paragon of good. However, they can still hate someone so much they would kill them for it, no matter how many other lives get ruined in the process. Then after that, your racial traits and karma would then take the things you don't particularly have an opinion on and sway them to whatever is appropriate for those traits. Though, our testing has told us that it is usually the racial traits that win out over karma."

Momonga tried applying that train of logic to his own actions over the past week. It was true that Momonga does vaguely remember his racial lore said that the overlord racial class was more apathetic than other undead, though still somewhat bloodthirsty, maybe even assisted by his negative 500 karma. But Momonga had no trouble getting excited for his friends, worrying over them, and doing his best to lead everyone like in the old days.

Of course, until the emotional suppression activated. But that seemed to be something separate from the order of 'importance' their new body had on their thoughts.

A magical golden barrier suddenly formed in the corner of Momonga's eye, reminding him of the danger posed to his friends.

"I suppose you cannot call that off, then?" Momonga asked, pointing to the disturbance. Already, Momonga is trying to figure something out to try and escape Mond's grasp.

"No, I suppose I cannot," Mustapha answered, looking at the barrier and shrugging, "But as it stands right now, we have the two guild leaders of the most powerful organizations on Apotheosis- That is the name we've given this planet, by the way," Mustapha mentioned offhandedly before continuing, "We should be speaking of the future, yes? And I'm afraid it looks like this place will become rather loud soon, and we should depart to quieter grounds to discuss the fate of Apotheosis."

Momonga coldly replied, "I'm afraid I cannot do that while my friends are in danger."

Mustapha smirked, as if to mock him, "Do you not believe in the strength of your friends? They're all skilled players, yes? We've all been given a bountiful amount of knowledge in our respective fields of war from the transfer. Doubled so, since they were all skilled fighters in the past."

Momonga knew that Mond was just trying to stop him from trying to escape to his guild. But the point of him trying to 'protect' his friends implying he didn't trust them to take care of themselves was still hurtful, and was working exactly as Mond intended.

"...What do we have to talk about?" Momonga questioned, allowing him to take the reins of the conversation. After all, he was the one who was specifically waiting here to meet him.

"I have an offer for you, but I know that if I were to ask you right now, you would decline," Mustapha said, "So instead, how would you like to see what we've been up to for the past 10 years?"

Momonga tilted his head, "What do you mean by that?"

Mustapha offered his hand, "Would you like to visit the London district of the Holy Kingdom?"

…This was dangerous. It was so obviously a trap. London was so far away from Re-Estisize, and the size of it all meant that nobody from Nazarick could come help him if he willingly went with Mond. Another Veil of Isolation and Dimensional Block will flat out stop him from getting out, and anyone from finding him.

…But this was an opportunity like no other.

Momonga didn't take his world item with him today, because he was paranoid that somehow, they would be in a situation like this where the world item would be vulnerable to being stolen. If Momonga had brought it with him today, perhaps Mond wouldn't have even given him this offer, and instead just took the world item from him by force.

This was an opportunity to get a deep look into the motives of Seraphim, and why they're doing the things they do. If Momonga didn't accept this offer, they might forever be in the dark on the mind behind the actions of Seraphim, forcing them to miss valuable information.

And even if this is a trap, that's something to be learned as well. Momonga would likely just surrender at that point and play to their formerly human nature to accept his surrender. As fighting would likely result in a forced resurrection, causing him to lose 5 levels that he isn't going to get back until Momonga gets back to Nazarick and uses Avarice and Generosity.

Momonga raised his hand to agree, "Then, I accept your offer. Let us go."

Mustapha smirked, opening a gate behind him, "Then let us go. I have a few things to speak with you about when we get there."

Momonga still had some sense of self-preservation, so he asked, "You first."

Mustapha shrugged, "Very well."

Mustapha entered the gate, and Momonga followed a few moments after him.

When he exited the gate, Momonga took notice of the fact that Mond teleported them just outside of the city walls.

"First and foremost," Mustapha began to speak, pulling something out of a small bag that Momonga hadn't noticed on him, "You are undead, yes? I assume that you've lost some sense of your humanity in the process."

Momonga nodded, "Yes, what of it?"

"This is a process that could only ever be understood by humans from our world, our country," Mustapha explained, "No one from anywhere else could understand why we are doing this. Though you were once human, your new body will not understand the past."

Mustapha opens the palm of his hands, revealing two small golden seeds, "Thus, I offer you two Seeds of Yggdrasil. One for you to become human, the other for you to turn back if you so wish."

Momonga was genuinely surprised by the fact that Mond was offering him such a thing, "The logic, I understand. But bringing two world items on you? That is quite… Irresponsible, don't you think?"

"The only world item I have on me is Grasscutter," Mustapha answered, "The bag itself is the world item, which replenishes the seeds whenever they are eaten."

Ah, that made sense, "I see. And if I eat the seeds, would my level drop?"

"There are two functions to these seeds," Mustapha replied, "One is to simply change your race and body, and lose all of your racial traits, but not lose any levels. It's actually quite harmful to most builds. The other is to actually change your racial classes. Fortunately, they respond in accordance with conscious desire, so you will have no issue."

"I want you to show me," Momonga simply said, not willing to test it on himself.

Mustapha looked Momonga in the eye, and then he shrugged, "I suppose that is why I brought four seeds with me today."

Mustapha reached into his bag once more and took out another seed of Yggdrasil.

Mustapha eats it without fanfare, and in a flash of light, Mustapha Mond is human.

Mustapha gestures to his armor, "If I were to have lost a level, this would have all fallen right off of me. Is that enough proof for you?"

Yes, it was. Momonga was actually quite glad to be wrong, as this was the exact type of thing that Momonga had wanted for the past week.

Momonga eagerly took the other two seeds on Mond and hastily pulled out a bag from his inventory to store one seed in, while the other he put into his mouth with the desire to become human again.

In a flash of light, Suzuki Satoru appeared.

In an instant, Satoru felt all of his emotions flare up like he hasn't ever felt before until it all finally coalesced into joy of having a real body again.

Then, Satoru looked at Mond and felt…

Malice.

Satoru had no real opinion on Mond as a person, but it seemed as though he was right in saying that karma would turn those feelings of neutrality into something more defined.

Mustapha Mond was part of the guild that had once raided Nazarick, should he not suffer the wrath of Nazarick once more and watch their own guild base be raided and destroyed? Should he not watch what he built crumble from the might of Ainz Ooal Gown?

Mustapha clearly noticed the internal struggles Satoru was going through, so he offered, "I am in possession of the super-tier spell, Judgment of Osiris. If you wish, I can quickly cast it on you and return you to a value of 0 karma."

"That…" Could he really trust Mond to do that without him being stabbed in the back? Should he just cut his losses and make an escape?

…No, that was his karma talking.

Even in a more logical environment, forcing him to use his super-tier spell cooldown for today with a combatively useless super-tier spell was just the superior option. The lack of trust against him was unsound advice from the devil on his shoulder.
"Yes, please do."

Mustapha Mond enveloped the area in the glow of super-tier magic, and he pulled out an instant hourglass from his inventory, "[Super-Tier Magic: Judgment of Osiris]"

Mustapha cracks the hourglass, and the Scales of Anubis shifts.

The weight of evil dissipates off of Satoru, and all he feels is… Nothing.

He was in control of his own destiny now.

Looking back at Mond, Satoru didn't feel strongly with him, still in the phase of figuring the man out.

Yes, that was how he used to think. Never forming a true opinion on anything until he had all the information he could get.

"I feel more in control now, thank you," Satoru thanked, scratching his head, "Now, are we going inside of your city?"

Mustapha nodded, "Yes, I'll even let you speak to some of the citizens so your view isn't colored solely by me. Though, I must ask you to defer to my command if anything goes… Awry."

Satoru raised an eyebrow, something he had been missing the ability to do, "What do you mean by awry?"

"The order in our kingdom has been paid for by… Less than stellar means," Mustapha revealed, "And there are still deviants around every corner. But I shall elaborate as we walk. Shall we?"

Satoru nodded, and they began to walk towards London.

Speaking of which, that was the first thing Satoru asked, "By the way, why is this district named London?"

Mustapha pulled out a book from his inventory, showing it off to Satoru. The book was titled Brave New World by an author Satoru had never heard of before, Aldous Huxley. Satoru felt quite fortunate to have learnt English from Vaggy, because otherwise he wouldn't have been able to read it.

"Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley," Mustapha elaborated, "Written in the early 1900s, is a "dystopia" book in the author's eyes, but the truth of what he's written is that it is a utopia, plain and simple. Huxley was British, so most of the book takes place in London, the United Kingdom's capital. So we named this city London to honor the author, and to also wash away the past."

Satoru tilted his head upon the words 'Wash away the past." What could that possibly mean? So far, it seems as though Mond was trying to make the world of the book become reality, but Satoru has no idea what was actually in the book.

Mustapha then took out another copy of Brave New World , and handed it to Satoru, "I have multiple copies of this book, feel free to read through it on your own time."

Satoru gladly took the book, and decided to put it into his inventory for now. Then he asked, "So you're just trying to copy the book to make it into reality?"

Mustapha nodded, confirming his words, "Precisely. The world of Brave New World is only called a dystopia because the author could've never imagined what the world would become in the 2100s. Though I will admit, what we've built today is rather unfaithful to the original material, as the progress of technology is still quite slow, albeit faster with the knowledge of our NPCs and ourselves."

"I don't quite know what you're trying to imitate, but most utopias are built with the correct mindset rather than the technology used, right?" Satoru questioned.

"Not Brave New World," Mustapha said, "In the book, people are born in vats, and perfectly conditioned to become good servants of the greater society."

"Born in vats? Doesn't that sound a bit too… Sci-fi?" Satoru asked, not recalling any news about being able to create humans in labs. After all, if that was the case, there wouldn't have been so much news about the dwindling birth rate.

Mustapha shook his head, "Oh, no. They are actually quite close, I was one of the researchers working on it. The last remaining problem to mothers and fathers being a thing of the past is that the brain doesn't properly grow as intended, and most of the created humans died very young as a result of that. The reason you never heard of it is because, of course, it wouldn't be a very popular thing to advertise that the one power the common folk had over the ruling class, the ability to create the next generation, was coming to an end."

Satoru widened his eyes, not expecting such a thing. He always held some stock in conspiracy theories like the megacorps doing something devious behind everyone's back, but creating human life? That was too far for Satoru, but it looks like he didn't believe in their power enough.

They finally reached the gates of London, and Mustapha told Satoru, "I'll get these gates opened for us, please wait just a moment."

Mustapha entered a small door on the side, and Satoru was left alone with his thoughts.

So, Mond was one of the researchers working on the creation of new humans. With magic, Satoru believed it wouldn't be too much of a stretch that Mond alone could finish the job when the rest of the technology eventually caught up to the level that Mond was playing in. If he remembered correctly, Nubo mentioned how the technology that people in E-Rantel were using for their jobs roughly looked like the early industrial revolution. Seraphim was likely filled with working adults, so they had the skills required to kick start off a technological revolution, meaning that their fabled book world could come into fruition much faster than if Ainz Ooal Gown, a guild filled with salarymen and service-based jobs, could do.

But somehow, Satoru didn't enjoy the idea of restarting Earth, but in the hands of even less powerful individuals. That seemed as though it would just repeat what Earth did.

Suddenly, the gates of London started opening, and Mustapha came out of the room he was in, "Sorry for the wait, the disguise was a bit too effective, I had to pull an arm in there."

Satoru nodded in understanding, "That's alright. Let's go."

They both entered the city, and there were some people hanging around the entrance of London who seemed surprised with the newcomers.

Satoru looked around at the architecture of the city, and it looked quite modern, with every house being built with brick and stone, and all of it looking very alike to one another. As if the architect of this city was forcing everyone into conformity. It felt… Unnatural.

Yes, unnatural. E-Rantel and Re-Estisize all had buildings that looked unique, though they were all built with the same materials and were likely trying to go for the same shape. But the human element that created the buildings made them special nonetheless. But these buildings looked as though someone had copied and pasted them here.

Satoru's eyes turned to the human citizens of London, and one detail caught his eye almost immediately.

"Why are they all wearing the same khaki clothing?" Satoru questioned Mond.

Every man, woman, and child Satoru could see were wearing the exact same basic style of clothing. There was no sort of diversity to be found, even amongst ages or genders.

Mustapha looked proud as he stated, "In our new society, no human being should envy another, and everyone should love themselves as they are. To that effect, we've decreed that everyone's clothing should be determined by their social standing. These people you see are the working class, and thus they all wear khaki. In the future, when we figure out human creation, we'll make them look the same as each other as well."

"That doesn't sound like stopping envy though, doesn't it?" Satoru pointed out, "It sounds like it'll just recreate our relationship with the ruling class, except it's more obvious with the clothing."

"That would be what would've happened if it was just their clothing, yes," Mustapha confirmed, "However, you forget that the setting of this new world is different from Earth. I suppose you have the spell Control Amnesia or its variants because of its requirements in some quests, yes?"

Control Amnesia? The one that could change memories in lore, but in gameplay only worked on NPCs and quest mobs? It was true Satoru did pick it up for a few quests, but…

Then, he realized what Seraphim was truly doing to enforce their society.

"You're brain washing them?" Satoru said in shock.

"That's quite a loaded term to use," Mustapha said, unconcerned with his disgust, "In a magicless world, and perhaps in the future of Apotheosis, we would've simply conditioned them since birth to our whims. But it's not like we force them to get along. After all, hate is one of the core human emotions. But we've controlled that hate to be funneled into bloodless thoughts. These khaki-wearing workers cannot even imagine working as a purple middle manager, or a gray ruler, or the green service roles. They believe that their jobs in the factories and the fields are the best jobs possible, and pity the others for working those jobs. The same goes for all the other castes, for they love themselves, and cannot imagine working anything else. But because they're all human, they can at the very least tolerate the humans and despise the work the others do."

"What about the non-humans?" Satoru had to ask.

"We've eliminated them or cast them out of society. It is far too much of a hassle to make separate societies for everyone," Mustapha said, "And after all, we hold the Seeds of Yggdrasil. If we truly wanted to, we could change up to 100 of them a day, but it would be quite the pointless endeavor, as we discussed, the soul remains no matter our new body. Some species truly cannot be redeemed."

"That…" Satoru wasn't quite sure what to think. He was a human salaryman, and he still hated the upper class for his working conditions being poor. He didn't really care how they looked, only that they were the oppressor and they were the oppressed. He knew others who thought exactly like him. So all this seemed to him was… "Isn't that just our world?"

"Momonga-"

"Call me Satoru while I'm human."

"Satoru, then," Mustapha corrected himself, "Haven't you ever felt envy towards the few workers around you who kept saying, "Oh, it's better if they have all the power because I don't think I could do very well with it" or those who simply accepted their situation with a smile and their face and gave it their all, knowing all their work was for a company that did not love them?"

"How could I envy them?" Satoru genuinely asked, "I knew a few people like that, and I pitied them for being so… Naive."

Mustapha tilted his head, "Was it truly pity? Because if you looked more carefully into how they acted, they were certainly much happier daily than you ever were."

…It was true, the overly naive workers were much happier at work than Satoru was. But where was Mond going with this?

"I believe that you were less happy at work because there were others who could accept their situation and still be happy about it, thus leaving you in the dark," Mustapha said, "After all, there is happiness in ignorant bliss. But for people like us, that ignorant bliss is unobtainable after our eyes have been open."

Mustapha gestured to the people who had started to ignore them after they entered the city, "However, with our magical powers, that ignorant bliss can be reobtained with just the flick of our wrists. And we can ensure, no, we MUST ensure that we don't repeat the sins of the old world. Everyone should be able to live in harmony, in a perfect state of bliss."

Satoru was silent.

Then, he decided, "Let me speak with some of the people here. I want to know if you're lying between your teeth, or you've actually lived up to the ideals you're talking about."

Mustapha smiled, "You may."

Satoru had a slight inkling that everyone around the gates may be planted there specifically for the purpose of creating a good image for anyone who enters. So, Satoru went deeper inside of the city, trying to find someone.

But in the process of walking, Satoru remembered something he had wanted to quickly ask about, "By the way, why did you name this planet Apotheosis?"

"It is an old word from Greece, in Europe," Mustapha Mond replied, "The word means "To Deify." We wish to create a utopia, shaped by our own hands. We have been granted godlike power, and the world we live on should have a name that reflects on that. And now, we will cherry pick all the good parts from the old world, and we will ensure that our past is destroyed. Forever."

"Destroying the past?" Satoru stopped his search to question him on his words.

Mustapha nodded, "Why be chained by the past when you have your entire future to look towards? If you recall, the archaeology wars in Europe were born out of petty land disputes and putrid ideologies born centuries ago. Such aged concepts should have no control over our future."

Satoru actually agreed with Mond's statement. After all, why should today be determined with the past? It didn't make sense back then, it didn't make sense now.

But to achieve that by destroying the past, by renaming everything to something else so people forgot about the old? That was too far for Satoru.

But it was something whose effectiveness could be solved with questioning of the people who actually lived here. So, Satoru decided he was far enough from the entrance and took enough twists and turns to be away from potential plants. Then, he chose a young looking blonde girl with mean eyes, someone who people likely wouldn't talk to regularly.

"Excuse me," Satoru called out to the girl, "Can I have a moment of your time to ask a few questions?"

The girl looked at him for a moment, not understanding, but then she suddenly realized that he was talking to her, and suddenly she became very nervous, "Oh! Um! Yes, of course! Anything you want!"

Satoru said, "My name is Suzuki Satoru, what's your name?"

The girl blinked, "Why do you introduce your last name? My name is Neia, by the way…"

That made Satoru confused, "Why would it be odd to introduce your family name?"

"Well, everyone belongs to everyone else, don't they?" Neia stated as if it was obvious, "A family name would imply we're specially connected with someone, but we're not. Our last name is only useful for separating each other from people with the same first names."

Satoru tilted his head and questioned, "Everyone belongs to everyone else? What does that mean?"

Neia frowned, "You sure don't know a lot of things, mister Suzuki."

"Call me Satoru," Satoru offered, as he felt somewhat bad for Neia only having one name.

Neia was even more upset, "See! Giving two names just causes confusion, why would you say Suzuki first if you wanted me to call you Satoru?"

Satoru wasn't about to talk to Neia about odd Japanese language customs that would obviously fly over her head, so instead he shrugged, "Well, it doesn't really matter. But I would still like to know what that expression means."

Neia shrugged as well, "Well, it means exactly what it says. Everyone belongs to everyone else. I can date anyone because they belong to me, they can date anyone because everyone belongs to them. My things belong to them, their things belong to me. We can all live without arguing about what belongs to someone like in the archaic old ways because now, everyone belongs to everyone else."

That… Just sounded like a massive polyamorous relationship with everyone? Satoru turned towards Mond, who had simply replied with, "It works."

It must be a Brave New World thing that Mustapha copied, then. Though, Satoru thought that it would just help in causing jealousy. But if Seraphim brainwashed and conditioned everyone to just accept it as a fact of life, and that nothing was truly out of their grasp… Maybe?

Satoru would have to live here for longer to figure it out, and he didn't have that luxury of time, so instead he asked a new question, "Do you enjoy being in this city?"

Neia accepted the change in subject and nodded, "Of course! Why would I want to live anywhere else? Food is free, work is easy, and life is easy. What more could I ask for?"

"What about freedom?" Satoru suggested, "Do you feel like you're stuck here sometimes?"

Neia raised an eyebrow, "Huh? I am free though…"

Satoru offered an alternative, "Well, maybe you want to work a different job."

"Why would I want to work a different job? My work in creating little machine parts is super simple and easy, and helps everyone else out," Neia said, "I wouldn't want to work anywhere else, least of all those weird gray, purple, or green jobs. Khaki is the right color for me."

"Is that an idea that you came on your own, or did someone else tell you that khaki is the right color for you?" Satoru countered.

Neia crossed her arms, "It was my idea, obviously."

Satoru had serious doubts on the validity of that claim. But he could tell he wasn't going to get further with this line of questioning, so he asked something else, "Do you remember your family?"

"We've gone past the need for a family," Neia said, "The city therapists got rid of the memory of all our parents. And any child we birth, we forget about it as they're raised by the state child care centers."

They completely eliminated the need for a family? Why? No government organization is a good substitute for an actual family. Even Satoru, whose mother died when he was young, knew that.

"Do you miss them?" Satoru asked.

Neia shook her head as if it was obvious, "Why would I?"

Satoru said, "The connections you build with family, they're very important."

"The connections I can build with everyone else is more important," Neia said, "And you said something about freedom just a second ago, but you don't seem to want me to have the freedom to pick and choose my own friends."

"That's not what I said," Satoru pointed out, "You can have your friends and family at the same time, and they're both important things."

Neia shrugged, "I think you're just old."

Satoru sighed. Did Seraphim create a city filled with stubborn kids like Neia? For a utopia, things seem very rigid in this place.

"Agree to disagree, then," Satoru dropped the topic before moving on, "Now, I believe this is my final question, but do you particularly dislike anything? About yourself, about this society?"

If the citizens can't even have dislikes towards what life they're living, then they're living a lie. That's what Satoru believed, and that's how he knew that, though everyone absolutely hated the megacorps, at least they weren't deluded. Because they all hated the situation.

Neia thought about it for a few moments before frowning, "Well, actually, I've been having some dreams lately…"

…Not what Satoru was expecting, but he allowed her to continue.

"Some people had to get new names because their old names weren't fit for the new society the Seraphim were creating," Neia explained, "But… I wasn't one of them, and I was hoping to get a new name."

Satoru was confused again, "Why would you want a new name? Neia is a perfectly fine name, isn't it?"

Neia frowned, "It makes me feel left behind."

"I don't think that's happening," Satoru said.

Neia didn't get a chance to reply, however, as Mustapha Mond suddenly stepped behind her and placed a hand on her head, "[Control Amnesia]."

Satoru widened his eyes as Neia's eyes blanked. Satoru protested, "Wait, what are you-"

"Shh," Mustapha shushed, "Even with the experience I have, this takes some amount of concentration to do this."

After a few more seconds, Mustapha Mond let go of Neia, the girl only being mildly confused.

"Huh?" Neia said, looking at Satoru, "Oh, right! Your question! Anyways, I don't think I have anything to complain about. I'm living my best life."

Satoru looked at her in confusion, "What? What about your name, Neia? You were just talking about it…"

"What are you talking about? My name is Lenina," She said.

Satoru began to feel sick. Mond just changed her name in seconds. He just made her forget about an entire section of her life. It made Satoru want to get rid of that spell.

Lenina looked at the sky, "Oh, it's going to be my shift soon, I shouldn't miss that! It was nice talking to you, mister Satoru! Goodbye!"

Lenina left the area they were in, and Satoru and Mustapha were alone together once more.

Once a moment had passed, Satoru gave his thoughts on the entire society Seraphim was trying to create, "You've made an affront to human nature here."

"Yet everyone here is much happier than we could've ever become," Mustapha countered, "You may hate it from your point of view, where you've only ever been raised by apathy and hatred. But these are not us. They deserve to not know of the hatred of the past, and to be raised to be happy."

Satoru leveled a look at Mond, "You know, the megacorps tried to make us 'happy' as well, and it did that by trying to make us into slaves and telling us we liked it."

"The only reason we didn't like it was because the megacorps were incompetent," Mustapha said, "If they were to put more effort into making their words into reality, we would've gladly let them chain us. You might've even put the chain on yourself. Instead, they poisoned everyone and failed to cover it up sufficiently, and nobody has ever been able to recover from that cycle of hatred. This is our chance to create something new, something that will last for eternity. Something that is worth defending. Happiness. If we were to change the system now, you would be robbing their stable futures for the uncertain tides. Can you truly look them in the eye and tell them they will be unhappy?"

Satoru… Could not argue against that. All his life, he strived to be happy. And now here these people are, being happy. How can he justify trying to take it away from them?

"I will now give you my proposal," Mustapha said, "As it stands now, a fight between Seraphim and Ainz Ooal Gown will lead to our victory. You may have noticed the runes upon my gear. I'll grant you a small freebie and tell you that they increase the stats of the gear. By percentages. You will not find any runesmith in this world that hasn't been claimed by us and is capable of producing such good results as our runesmiths could. So, we outgear you. Our guildbase is more impenetrable than yours could wish due to Praise The Lord. So, you cannot attack us. And as you may have heard, we have up to 72 members of Seraphim compared to, at best, 41 of yours. And I doubt all 41 have made the trip. And our NPCs are all equal to us, if not superior, and all of our NPCs have gained a wealth of battle experience that you simply lack the time for. So, we beat you in experience. So, my proposal is simple; Surrender. You do not have to fight, simply lay down your weapons, and you and all your NPCs can live a new, altered life in the Holy Kingdom, never having the memories of the old world."

Satoru couldn't believe the offer, "You want to make us into your mindless pawns? Why not share this world?"

"No," Mustapha denied, "I am offering you all a chance to be free. Free from the expectations of your underlings, free from the pressure of your guildmates. Free from responsibility."

"Somehow, I feel like you're concealing the truth from me," Satoru pointed out.

Mustapha shrugged, "Well, I suppose the more pragmatic and less nice answer is that if we're creating a society based on one truth and order, we cannot have a second powerful faction running around causing chaos."

Satoru tilted his head, "Why do you assume we'll cause chaos?"

"It is the nature of the ambitionless to cause chaos," Mustapha said, "They do not know what to do, so they do everything in the search for meaning. That, I believe, applies to you. You don't really have any grand designs for Apotheosis, do you? So you'll do everything to try and find one. But we cannot let you do that, for it'll jeopardize what we've created here."

Mustapha looked to Grasscutter, and then he quickly tapped it on the ground twice.

All of Satoru's malice suddenly came back to him, and he hated the situation Mond put him in.

"Now that you are no longer under the effects of Judgement of Osiris, you can come up with your own decisions," Mustapha said, before opening his palm, "[Create Recording: 20 minutes]."

A flash of blue light comes from his palms, leaving behind a small blue crystal, "This is a crystal of recording. It recorded the last 20 minutes from my point of view. Crush this in your next guild meeting, and consider my offer carefully. I will give you all a week to consider it."

Satoru could only halfway hear him, struggling with the desire to strangle Mond with his hands. How did Ulbert or the others deal with this amount of hatred? Or was it because Satoru was used to the neutrality his undead nature gave him, he was just unprepared for this wave of hate to overtake him?

At that moment, Satoru knew what he had to do.

Satoru bit down on the second Seed of Yggdrasil.

Momonga looked back to Mustapha Mond, taking the recording crystal out of his hands, "Ainz Ooal Gown shall consider your… Offer. Should I assume that if we don't send a friendly reply by the end of this week, it shall be war?"

Mustapha frowned, "Well, I would hate for that to be the case. But yes, by the end of the week, if you have not sent a reply to London or Kami No Toshokan if you still have Atlas, it shall be the final guild war."

Momonga nodded, opening a gate back to Nazarick, confident in the anti-tracking items in his inventory, "I see. Then I would like to remind you that Ainz Ooal Gown has yet to taste defeat."

Mustapha just laughed at that, "Then when I meet you on the battlefield, I will be sure to carry with me a list of your defeats from Seraphim."

Momonga did not accept the bait, for he instead simply exited London for Nazarick.

In the now empty street, Mustapha Mond remarked to himself, "The last guild war? What an intriguing concept. I hate that it applies to us. What a foolishly close-minded guild."

Mustapha Mond closed his eyes and sighed, "That future I saw in the grail… How comforting. I suppose I should give Elynas my apologies now."

World Item bios.

[Grasscutter - World Class Item - All meta-magic's effects are doubled when using Grasscutter, and widen magic is automatically applied to all abilities and spells. Additionally, all status effects last until the user disables them.]

Grasscutter Lore

A purple naginata which is famous for cutting grass. That is to say, the armies that stood in front of it.

On the world of Fukuma, there were two sisters who ruled together their country. One was a benevolent pacifist. She was kind and caring, and she took the effort to learn everyone's name in the country so she could remember who she was fighting in the political battleground for. Azsuna was the ideal queen.

Azshara… Was not.

Where Azsuna was compassionate, Azshara was ruthless. When Azsuna handed out the olive branches, Azshara handed out the sword.

For Azsuna, every dawn was an opportunity to make a brighter future.

For Azshara, every tear would be repaid with the whip of the lash.

Yet, because they were sisters, they worked together to create a society that would last through the ages. And for millenia, they succeeded.

Then, a simple question was proposed by a servant, "If either of you die, who shall replace you?"

Azsuna's reply was simple, "Whoever the people believe would be the best leader to replace me."

Azshara's reply was even simpler, "The one who kills me."

The two were at a disagreement with the other's opinions. After all, they were dear sisters, they couldn't imagine each other to be simply replaced.

And death was coming, for ancient prophecies told them of their incoming demise.

For Azsuna, it was an opportunity for the people to come together to create a new future after the dark.

For Azshara, it would be a bloodbath.

"Sister! Why can you not believe in a future devoid of war?!"

"The nature of our species demands it, Azsuna. You cannot expect a dragon to forget its roots."

Azsuna, in a fit of rage unbefitting of her status, said that if she could not get her sister to see the light, then she would create a new future all by herself.

Azshara, in response, drew Grasscutter.

By the end of the millenia, the empire no longer existed. For the historian, a baffling fall of an eternal euthymia. For the sisters, a tragic suicide.

For the forces in the shadows, the light of Grasscutter no longer needed to be feared.

Denshosho's Notes: If I were Azshara, I would've simply not killed my sister. Though, considering the other lore about Fukuma available, Azshara probably lived for like a century after this because there's other lores of battles of a lone empress cutting through her enemies like grass. Before getting murked by a primordial dragon, who got rekt by Nidhoggr.

Mustapha Mond's Notes: Great raid. And it's mine because I called dibs. Trust me, a spellbreaker has tons of good status effects to pair up with this.

X

[Seeds of Yggdrasil - World Class Item - Allows for users to change racial classes at will.]

Seeds of Yggdrasil Lore

A bag filled with the golden seeds of Yggdrasil.

Despite everything, the fanciful titles, the immense power, and the trials and tribulations it faced, Yggdrasil was still just a tree. And a tree without a way to reproduce was no tree at all.

When Yggdrasil was young, it tried to create more of itself, to reproduce, as all trees did. And so Yggdrasil casted off its golden seeds towards the cosmos, hoping to one day see its children.

Alas, the simple fact is, not many of those seeds will ever sprout. Dark beasts and power hungry monsters jumped on the opportunity to take a fraction of Yggdrasil's powers.

Consuming the seeds, they became more powerful than anyone could've ever imagined, wreaking havoc on Yggdrasil's leaves.

So, the experiment had come to an end, and when brave adventurers came to claim them, Yggdrasil was silent, for all they had brought was calamity.

And those adventurers were used to slaying calamities.

Denshosho's Notes: I don't get it, why did the dumbass devs decide to make a Seeds of Yggdrasil world item if they were just going to make Nidhoggr the seed for the new world tree? Speaking of, I swear to god if a major plot point in the next game is dealing with the corruption from Nidhoggr's dead body, I'm going to kill someone. Oh well, at least this is cool.

AN:

It's actually 4:51 in the morning for me, and I decided to call upon that old chapters 1-8 energy to chop this one out with no regard for my sleep schedule.

Anyhow, maybe it's just because I should be sleeping right now, but I REALLY like this chapter. It's definitely my favorite chapter I've written so far, at least.

I'm thinking of what to say here… Oh, right, Mustapha Mond's utopia is obviously based on Brave New World, but the things in this chapter are based entirely on my memory and some google searches to remind myself of what colors they wore for their caste system because I could not be bothered to reread the book. But most of the things in this chapter are temporary until they could replicate what goes on in the book. Of course, that's never happening in the time frame of Time Capsule, but if you wanted to know the weird shit that Aldous Huxley wrote and what Mustapha Mond bought into, you could read Brave New World. But unless if you're a big fan of dystopia novels, I would just not.

Anyways, I'm not in the right headspace to read my 7.1k actual chapter words or the now 8k total words of the chapter + lore and AN to look out for names I took from somewhere else.

X

Actually wait I'm lying. Lenina is from Brave New World, the one significant female character. (Neia will never be mentioned again. Which is still a step up from her never appearing in this fic at all which was my previous plan for her.)

Then Azsuna is like a World of Warcraft zone and Azshara is the naga queen from that same game. But then their lore in Grasscutter is basically Raiden Shogun's from Genshin Impact but more dramatic and more sister killings.

Then I'm too tired to see if I mentioned anyone else.

X

Anyone interested in seeing a light rewrite of previous chapters? Nothing too big, just some scenes being extended here and there. After all, I write a lot of these low on sleep. And some of them are just plain rushed.

Also, the Ulbert x Vaggy ship isn't going to happen for like another 20 chapters (exaggerating, but that's what it's going to feel like) because I haven't written those two together enough for it to feel earned. Should I tag it on Ao3 as Ulbert/OcFemC anyways despite the fact that it hasn't happened yet, or is not a focus of the work?

Circling back to the rewrite, if you have specific scenes that you felt like needed some extra work to it, feel free to comment about it and I'll probably get around to it in April (Because it's the 20th right now, and I have to do chapter 20 for both this and Manifest Destiny for this month. I am COOKED if I don't increase my writing speed.)

If it were not 5:06 AM before I went to sleep, this AN would be more coherent. But now, I shall upload this and go to bed.
Feel free to leave a comment.