Chapter 4: New Body, Same Man.

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Jaune Arc had no idea on what was happening as his darling Albedo was looking at him with a concerned look as if worried about him which was strange to the blonde haired man for several reasons, the biggest one being Jaune was used to no one remotely caring about his well being so this was a new feeling.

Albedo looked at her master and lover before she gasped "Ah! I am so sorry Lord Vader! I shouldn't have gazed upon you without permission!" She immediately kneeled to him as if expected to do as did the remainder of the NPCs that were in the throne room "Please punish me for my transgressions, my love!"

Jaune didn't know how to feel on the fact that the NPC Albedo was literally alive as he doesn't know what to think on that so he looked down towards his midsection and brought the gloved hands into view, the armored knight clenched his grabbers, feeling the sensations through the gloves.

'This is crazy… I can feel this, I can feel the weight of the armor yet it weighs hardly anything to me maybe because that's due to my absurdly high strength stats…' Jaune thought as he kept looking down at his gloved hand.

Suddenly the armored man quickly got up from the throne of kings to get a better feel of the armor.

feeling…

A sensation greatly reduced when playing the game of Yggdrasil yet Jaune could feel it even through his specialized full body plated armor which gave off red flags and a loud siren within the helmeted blonde man.

Jaune looked up from his armor to get a good look at all of the NPCs that he had gathered but they were all kneeling and looking down due to Albedo having exclaimed that she looked at the dark knight without his permission.

And that brought a whole different set of problems for the armored man as NPCs didn't have the capacity to display such a level of intelligence, which meant that whatever was happening was far beyond the capacity of the normal Yggdrasil game.

'This can't be right, is it Yggdrasil 2? I don't think it is because they only hinted to its existence, is this a beta test? That's also Improbable…hmmm' Jaune begun to think in depth of his situation even bringing up his right hand to his chin trying to think of a logical explanation of what is going on.

Until Jaune lifted his head up to see the rows of flags that adorns the walls of the throne room until his eyes reached his flag of the two lunar moons overlapping each other, Jaune hated this feeling, the feeling of acknowledgment, Jaune hated this much more than he hated himself.

The armored man would unsheathed his obsidian black longsword from his hip, Jaunes personal weapon by the name of [Obsidian's Edge], feeling the weight of the weapon before twirling it around and launched it like a javelin towards his flag causing the sword to penetrate the wall where it stood causing the flag to slowly descend to the ground.

Everyone watched this in amazement on seeing there lords ability first hand yet two wondered why he brought down his own flag which were the thoughts of Albedo and the floor guardian Demiurge.

Jaune spoke up suddenly though his voice was slightly muffled and reverberated from the effects of his face plated helmet "Albedo" this would cause the succubus woman in the white dress to suddenly flinch at the sound of her beloved.

"Yes, Lord Vader?" She asked curiously but kept her gaze fixed to the ground as she wasn't given permission to gaze at him.

Jaune would slowly descend down the red carpet clothed to bypass the two rows of NPCs turned real "Tell me something, why do you love me?" The armored man hoped this would quell any more doubts in his mind that this is his new reality.

Albedo would look serious as she slowly gripped her hand that was directly over her heart as her mind is overflowing with reasons to why she loved the last supreme being "It's because…you are the last supreme being, the strongest warrior known to us and the only human worthy of praise among those worthless insects, you stayed behind and I shall love you for all eternity for it" Albedo exclaimed the truth yet even the overflowing emotion of love doesn't allow her to look up.

Jaune remained silent as he took in Albedo's words yet despite such love he's receiving from the succubus woman, his mind is berating him because he tampered with her original background but would the horned succubus still love him even if the black armored warrior didn't change anything.

The echoing steps of Jaune's metallic boots reverberated from the marble walls of the throne room as the armored man was walking towards the front of the room in silence, the blonde man kneeled down to pick up and unfurl the flag of the two lunar moons overlapping each other before standing up once again "Everyone, you do not need permission to gaze upon me because I won't punish you for such things" Jaune turned to see that his friends creations were now looking upon him.

'Ok, this is nerve wracking but I need to give off the feeling of a ruler who wields both a Golden and Iron Fist, I can't allow myself to be pushed around like Momonga…' The blonde man thought as he started walking forward in a motion that made him appeared to be encumbered but that was Jaune's natural speed with the penalties slammed down on his shoulders "I have stayed behind because I would feel saddened to have left without saying goodbye to you, the children of my friends" Jaune said as he stopped in front of one particular child, Demiurge.

The Blonde Armored Man had read Demiurges background diligently and felt disturbed about what he had read so Jaune 'modified' the background enough that the Archfiend isn't as publicly terrifying "Demiurge" The Armored Man spoke which caused the spiky brown haired devil to bow his head deeper.

"Yes, Lord Vader?" He asked as his smile grew more as his desire to serve the last of the supreme beings had arisen until his Diamond eyes fell upon the end stretch of Jaune's personal flag.

"When you have time, burn this, let the symbol of Lord Vader be erased from this tomb" Jaune exclaimed deeply while Demiurge shakily grabbed the flag though the blonde man did catch this "Is something wrong?" Jaune asked as the armored man couldn't help but feel alarmed that one of his tombs NPC was distressed, especially when it was just a simple flag, hell, Jaune was even pressured by Touch Me and Momonga to put a flag up there because 'he was apart of the team'.

Demiurge would speak up as he felt like he was desecrating a mark of the last master "Lord Vader, permission to speak" He asked, hoping to air some of the fiend's grievances to his lord and master.

Jaune felt curious as he continued onto his walk with his boots echoing on the walls of the throne room "Proceed Demiurge" The blonde man gave permission to the Archfiend.

The Devil man would look up as his glasses moved slightly which showed the fiends Diamond eyes "My lord, is it really necessary to destroy your mark? I feel as I'm desecrating your place as lord of the tomb"

Jaune would finally sit down at the throne but his mind would be entrenched in that question, why did the blonde man want to destroy his flag? Was it because Jaune couldn't accept that he had a place in the guild or was it because of his sheer need to belittle himself at every possible opportunity, hating himself since the day he had lost Pyrrha to Cinder Fall.

"Demiurge, nay…everyone. Do tell me. What is my greatest strength?" Jaune asked Demiurge before changing his mind and asked everyone which caused them all to suck in some air as none of them rightly know what made their lord, the only human to deserve a place in their home, so strong.

Shalltear was the first to speak "Lord Vader, I believe it is your ruthlessness that encompasses your strength" the pale Loli woman would look up with a bright smile and a blushing face, hoping that was the answer he sought and would praise her but Jaune simply shook his head causing the vampire woman to look distraught for a few minutes.

Cocytus was the next to speak up "It. Is. Your. Presence. You. Control. The. Field. When. You. Step. Onto. It" the ice beetle would point out that Jaune did think that the four armed warrior was close to the original depiction of Vader who controlled the flow of any room with just his breathing alone, that was how much of a presence that the original Darth Vader had.

"No, but good try" Jaune said as he really believed Cocytus had gotten close to the blonde man's original depiction of the dark lord himself.

Everyone started to look at each other as they couldn't figure out what made their Lord Vader much stronger than before, Jaune would sigh to himself as he had figured that they wouldn't figure it out so might as well just give them the answer "It is Hatred".

This alarmed them all when the silver haired loli girl Shalltear had sprung up slightly in obvious distress "Hate?! What do you hate, My Lord?! Surely I can destroy it for you!" Shalltear was immediately hushed down by Jaune simply raising his hand.

"I appreciate such loyalty Shalltear but this sort of hatred just doesn't go away nor will I allow you to destroy the source" The armored man said with a tone that meant that he will not be disobeyed regarding the source of his hatred.

The Ice Armored Four Armed Beetle creature exudes a breath of icy haze and speaks "Lord. May. I. Speak?" The creature was known as Cocytus and he embodied the word 'Warrior'

Jaune would nod at the four armed creatures, who exuded a hazy fog cloud in gratitude "What. Do. You. Hate. So. Much. That. You. Can't. Destroy. It?" Cocytus asked as he was curious on what would distress the greatest warrior in the great tomb.

Jaune would look up in obvious thought as he is wondering if he should tell them all, even with the little time of interaction with the creations of the blonde man's closest friends, they would try to dissuade him from his self hatred 'Should I tell them? They are obviously going to try to get me to not hate myself but that's just not how it works…I hate myself for being so weak, for not saving Pyrrha, for losing everything and even my own life…'

"Myself" the armored man answered the ice beetles question which caused everyone to look at their lord with shocked expressions yet before anyone could try to protest, Jaune continued "I am not strong my friends, infact I'm incredibly weak because if I weren't weak then I could've done more…changed my past, saved those whom I held close or even protected my nation but no, I was weak, so very weak that I lost everything…" Jaune said as he looked down as his breathing was hitched slightly, sure this was maybe an exaggeration, but Jaune wasn't one to make himself seem like a warrior or a leader but a weakling and a coward.

'I'm so sorry, Pyrrha…' Jaune though as the armored man did a slight sniffle before looking up as his Will seemed to be invigorated which quelled the growing fear of his underlings "But now…Now I have all of you, even if my life is at stake, I'll protect each and everyone of you as you are the children of my friends"