𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝐸𝓋𝒾𝓁 𝒞𝒽𝓇𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓂𝒶𝓈
When Leviathan woke up from a small nap, the last thing he expected was for the Evil Capital to suddenly have a plethora of snow layering the city, but also tons of decorations, from wreaths, to ornaments, to a lot of lights. It was oddly festive, and the King of Hell did not know why.
"Alright, someone explain to me what in the hell is happening here," Leviathan said to Young Xehanort and Ainz as he looked around the main hall and saw a giant Christmas tree. "What's the deal with this tree?"
"This is a Christmas tree," Ainz explained to Leviathan. "It's Christmas day."
Leviathan raised an eyebrow at the notion of a day called 'Christmas'. "...what is Christmas?" Leviathan questioned as he looked at Ainz. "How come I've heard nothing of this day yesterday? Hell, where did all the snow even come from?!"
"Ho ho ho!" A voice rang out, before the doors to Evil's throne room opened and Evil walked out of it, wearing a Santa Claus costume, minus the hat and having no fake beard. "Merry Christmas everyone!"
"I… can sense that he enjoys Christmas," Young Xehanort commented as he looked at Evil with an unamused expression.
"Evil, what is Christmas?" Leviathan asked Evil, looking down at the ruler of the world.
"Hmm?" Evil looked up at Leviathan. "What do you mean 'what is Christmas'?"
"I'm asking what Christmas is," Leviathan repeated, causing everyone to truly take a look at Leviathan.
"I'm going to attribute your lack of knowledge regarding Christmas to you sleeping for a long time prior to being summoned," Ainz commented, assuming why Leviathan knew nothing about Christmas, which was arguably one of the largest holidays on the planet.
"You see, Christmas is a time of joy," Evil began. "Of gift giving to all girls and boys. It doesn't matter if they are young or old, but everyone naughty only gets coal."
"Oh god he's rhyming," Xehanort said, taking a step back due to being stunned by Evil's choice of words.
Ainz was also similarly stunned. "...he's not inaccurate though."
"From a more competent person," Leviathan began, before looking at Ainz and wanting him to explain.
"Christmas is like Evil said," Ainz said. "A time of gift giving, where people tend to spend lots of money on gifts for family and friends. It's also a reason to get children to behave, as the entity known as Santa Claus will only give gifts to good boys and girls."
Leviathan raised an eyebrow. "...is he real?"
"Considering the state of this world, I wouldn't doubt his existence," the Overlord remarked. "I mean, with all the superpowered and demonic entities we have running about, who's to say Santa Claus isn't real?"
"A part of me wants to know more about this holiday, but a part of me is generally uninterested," Leviathan remarked.
"It's really not that interesting," Young Xehanort remarked. "It's just giving gifts and typically also a really large extravagant dinner. Not everyone can afford to do so though, but it's almost no different than Thanksgiving."
Leviathan had no clue what 'Thanksgiving' was, but decided not to inquire. "Alright, so seeing as this is clearly a major holiday and the entire castle has been decorated, does that mean there is some sort of event happening."
"Indeed there is," Evil said with a smile on his face. "I shall be hosting a party ever so grand, one of which my whole army is allowed to attend."
"Why am I only hearing of this now?" Leviathan questioned, confused.
Ainz shrugged. "We have been somewhat busy. But in any case, I am definitely looking forward to the party. It's been a while since I celebrated Christmas, and I believe my Floor Guardians could use a break." Looking at Xehanort, Ainz asked, "I take it you'll also be joining us?"
"No," Young Xehanort stated, with Evil's mood instantly changing to one of confusion.
"Pardon?" Evil asked.
"Look, Christmas is fun and all," Xehanort said. "But I'm not that interested in celebrating it." Xehanort crossed his arms and looked around the heavily decorated and Christmas themed hall within Evil's castle. "Besides, not everyone celebrates Christmas to begin with. Take Hannukah for example, or Yule."
Presented with a valid counterargument, Evil let out a low hum. "Well then, you are pardoned."
Xehanort seemed surprised. "Huh… well thanks for understand- oh my god, did you really rhyme that?!" This caused Evil to smile, enjoying the time traveler's reaction.
Evil then walked off, teleporting to who knows where. Ainz also took the opportunity to walk off, leaving Leviathan and Young Xehanort to stand around, with Leviathan lazily glancing at the Christmas decorations.
"So… you've never heard of Christmas before?" Xehanort asked, trying to hold a conversation with the King of Hell.
"Nope," Leviathan replied, watching some Christmas lights change colors.
"Either you've been asleep for a long time, or Christmas wasn't that big when you were last awake," Xehanort commented, still a bit surprised Leviathan hadn't heard even a bit about Christmas.
"Try sleeping for a couple of centuries, the world tends to change a lot," Leviathan replied as he looked at Xehanort. "And besides, this isn't a celebrated holiday where I'm from, nor do I understand at all why a holiday about giving gifts and coal suddenly boomed."
"Well originally this was about the birth of Jesus Christ," Xehanort replied. "The son of God in Christianity."
"Oh how lovely," Leviathan remarked dryly. "A celebration based on the gods, how quaint."
The Keyblade wielder raised an eyebrow at Leviathan's unamused tone. "...considering the fact Overhaul said Jesus is real and that his mother was murdered by an old pervert who was assisted by Jesus Christ, I would potentially be a bit concerned about what you say about the son of the person who allegedly created this planet and universe."
Leviathan rolled his eyes. "Please, I'm not concerned about what the inhabitants of this planet can do."
"Say, where did Evil go?" Xehanort questioned now, seeing how this conversation was dying.
"Teleported away from the city," Leviathan commented. "Lots of people are near him… also, I think there is a portal to where he is?"
"What makes you say that?" Xehanort asked, before Leviathan gestured to a large decorated portal that looked like a giant Christmas wreath. "...oh."
Leviathan shifted his weight onto one foot and looked down at the Keyblade wielder. "I'm guessing you're curious about Evil's party?"
"He seemed really excited," Xehanort answered. "I mean, he decorated this entire castle and is throwing a party, knowing that basically no one is going to get gifts for each other, or is going to receive any themselves."
"Well, it wouldn't hurt to take a look at his party," Leviathan said, before he and Xehanort walked through the portal to wherever Evil's party was.
To their surprise, Evil's party was located on several wooden platforms that were on a tree… a tree that was exceptionally massive and was nothing short of overgrown.
"WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?!" Xehanort shouted, stunned by the sheer size of this tree that stretched on for miles.
"This is the Christmas Tree of Might," Evil called out, with Leviathan and Xehanort watching Evil descend from a different platform down to their level. "This is where my party will be hosted tonight."
"The Christmas Tree of Might?" Xehanort questioned.
"Turles!" Evil called out, before a tan Saiyan wearing purple armor landed next to him. "Explain to them this tree's purpose."
"The Christmas Tree of Might is a tree that sucks all the joy out of a planet," Turles answered. "It kills a planet as a result, and bears powerful fruit that not only increases one's strength, but the amount of joy one feels." Looking at Evil, Turles added, "This jackass somehow managed to modify the seed of the Christmas Tree of Might so it only grew to its full size, but not drain any joy from the planet."
"It was convenient for my plans," Evil replied with a cheeky grin. "And man, I love it when a plan comes together."
"Ugh, why must this last?" Leviathan questioned.
"It works best when you know each letter," Evil said, drawing a groan from Turles and Xehanort.
"I… what is that supposed to mean?" Xehanort asked.
"Presents!" Evil declared as he stood in a hollowed out section of the Christmas tree, with stacks of presents behind him and a throne he sat on, with the rest of the room being filled with members of his army and his advisors, although Overhaul and All For One were absent.
"Where did you get these?!" Xehanort asked, baffled by the sheer amount of presents Evil had.
"I made these all for my army, and to each of you I present," Evil answered with a gleeful smile. "Step forth and claim your gift! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, if you catch my drift." With a clap of his hands, the presents all suddenly shot out to most of the people within the room, namely the lesser extras.
"Huh, how thoughtful," Ainz commented, watching the villains open their gifts from Evil, before seeing most of them acquire a weapon of sorts. "...oh."
"I did not forget to gift you something Ainz," Evil said as he held a gift out to Ainz. "It might be something that appeases your eyes."
"Low bar," Ainz stated, before unwrapping Evil's present and receiving a wand. "A… wand?"
"This one I stole," Evil said. "I took it from Voldemort after I snuffed out his soul."
"Not surprised," Xehanort remarked, before Evil walked up to him with a large present.
"To you my comrade," Evil said as he gave Xehanort the gift. Xehanort was surprised and perhaps dumbfounded that Evil would get something for him, but opened it nonetheless, and received a longsword. "Seeing as you're a swordsman, this was the best idea I had."
"I don't even know how to use a sword," Xehanort replied. "But… thanks?"
"Time to learn," Leviathan remarked, before Evil walked up to Leviathan with his hands behind his back.
"And for you, Leviathan, I have a surprise," Evil said with a smile.
Leviathan let out a hum. "...is it my wife and daughters?" This actually caused all the background chattering to stop, as well as making Evil, Xehanort and Ainz dumbfounded.
"Well, seems I've been surprised." Evil replied, genuinely startled by Leviathan's revelation that he was not only married, but had children. "Hmm…" Evil then held out a present to Leviathan, lost in thought at the revelation that Leviathan had a family of his own.
The King of Hell slowly unwrapped the present, before finding that he had been gifted a black and blue Christmas themed sweater, made by Evil himself. "...how nice," Leviathan commented as he held it up and inspected it. "...did you make it in my size?"
"I did indeed!" Evil replied with a smile. "I had to alter my form a couple of times to get the measurements right, but eventually I managed to succeed."
"Hmm, he knows how to stitch," Ainz commented.
"Here I thought he was just an idiot," Xehanort remarked, also surprised.
"Well when you have plenty of powers, it's easy to make a sweater fit perfectly and not tight," Evil responded, crossing his arms behind his back. Ainz and Xehanort's expressions instantly changed into ones of unamused disappointment.
"And just like that, respect lost," Ainz said, no longer impressed.
"Try it on!" Evil said to Leviathan, ignoring Ainz and Xehanort's stares.
"I'm afraid I'll rip it, but… thanks," Leviathan responded as he folded the sweater and held it with one of his arms.
Evil seemed to accept that and nodded. "By the way, where have All For One and Overhaul gone? I haven't seen them at all."
"All For One hasn't shown up, but I haven't seen Overhaul for a couple of days," Ainz answered. Meanwhile, Leviathan seemed to lightly smile, hinting at something happening.
"Well All For One better show up soon, or else I won't be able to gift him One For All," Evil said, gesturing to a small present he had.
"Seeing as we're still giving presents," Albedo began as she and her fellow Floor Guardians walked up to Evil with a wrapped present. "We have one for you, Lord Evil."
"Just Evil, and thank you!" Evil said as he accepted the present, before unwrapping it and acquiring a massive claymore that had several glowing parts. Pretty generic overall, but Evil looked quite pleased. "My my, this goes nicely with my gifts to these two." Evil smiled at Ainz and Xehanort. "Now we're the Three Musketeers!"
"Please no," Xehanort responded, shaking his head.
Before Evil could continue, suddenly everyone heard sleigh-bells and a jolly, "Ho ho ho!" Looking off the platform, the gathering of villains saw a flying sleigh pulled by flying reindeers land on the platform, before Santa Claus dismounted his sleigh.
"There is only one man who rides and sleigh pulled by reindeer," Evil began, surprised. "And that's Santa Claus!"
"Merry Christmas!" Santa Claus said. "And quite frankly, that's almost too much for any of you to have!"
"Santa Claus is real?" Xehanort questioned, startled by the appearance of Father Christmas.
"Very real, just like my Naughty List," Santa Claus replied. "And I daresay, all of you are Naughty!"
"I suppose you have reasons for that clause," Evil said. "But I'm not bothered by your words."
Saint Nick hummed at Evil's tone. "You actually made my job much easier when visiting this planet, young man."
"I am now bothered by your words," Evil replied. "What?"
"Well, you gathered all of this world's villains and most of the Naughty people into one place, which is ironically your city," Santa Claus explained. "By doing such, you have made my job in visiting this planet easier, because you have gathered the most vile people relatively in one spot!"
"I vote we kill Santa," Turles commented.
"I don't know about that," Evil said, not letting the vote even begin.
"In fact, these people are so vile that I'm not going to even give them the satisfaction of receiving coal, because these fiends would likely benefit from owning such," Santa continued.
Ainz gave an amused hum. "Not wrong about that."
"There are only two exceptions to that," Santa Claus replied. "Leviathan is one of them. I would much rather not have a target placed on my back by disrespecting such a prominent figure." This caused Leviathan to raise an eyebrow, surprised that this man knew anything about him.
"Let me guess, the other person is me and you're going to give me coal?" Xehanort asked.
"Actually, you've done a fair amount of damage yourself, young man!" Santa Claus stated. "Traveling through time is a serious crime, and you disrupted the flow of time as a result of your meddling and forcing yourself into the future. The world is still suffering the aftermath of your willy-nilly time traveling!"
"Bullshit!" Young Xehanort shouted, finding that notion to be ludicrous.
"Wait, then who is the other person?" Evil questions as he looked at Santa Claus, before the jolly fat man handed a present to Evil.
"You actually made the Nice List," Santa Claus replied, catching everyone off guard.
"WHAT DO MEAN I MADE IT TO THE NICE LIST?!" Evil shouted. "I AM DEMON GOD WHO SINS! I'VE KILLED MANY PEOPLE!"
"My elves argued you did the world a favor, murdering all those sex offenders," Santa Claus replied.
"I'm not just talking about them!" Evil said, dropping the rhyming entirely now as he glared at Santa Claus. "I'm talking about my crusades prior to staying in this timeline!"
"Well I don't know about those, so you're technically clean here in this timeline," Santa Claus replied as he got back into his sleigh. "Additionally, you brought the world crime rate down to a whopping 1%. Frankly put, you deserve a spot on the Nice List." As Evil's jaw dropped, Santa Claus said, "Merry Christmas!"
"Kill Santa Claus!" Turles shouted as Santa's sleigh flew off, with the various villains trying to shoot down Santa's Sleigh, only for him to get away.
Evil looked down at the gift he got from Santa Claus, staring emptily at the gift in his hands. Xehanort nudged him. "...you good?"
"...nope," Evil replied. "Quite frankly, I am appalled." Scratching his head using the hilt of the claymore he was gifted by Ainz's followers, he said, "I don't know how this could get worse…"
And then the claymore started to glow and shift colors, like a rainbow as music played, with a voice from the claymore singing, "I just wanna be part of your symphony~!" Evil looked at the sword, while Albedo, Demiurge, and Shalltear laughed at the Demon God holding the sword.
Leviathan stared at the sword, before looking at Ainz's followers and then back to Evil. "...god, this chapter is so non-canon it hurts," Leviathan said to himself.
And so, this is the last chapter of 2024, and a late Christmas chapter at that.
To those who stuck around this year despite the drastic change in tone for certain chapters, I appreciate you! Even if not everybody likes what I'm writing, you're still reading it.
I'm also thankful for each of the homies, like Tale, Dragon, and Rai who collab with me. That's not gonna end, especially with Leviathan in the story, but it's fun to see the random things in my head actually stick to the wall.
Will the tone change in 2025? Maybe. I do want to make more goofy chapters to balance out the serious ones. But we'll get there when we get there.
In the meantime, I gotta go enslave Pals in Palworld and execute people in Black Ops 6. Ciao!
Crossover Credits:
Leviathan (Euphory.a_, Instagram)