[3rd Person POV]

“ARGH!!!! Take it, FUCKER!!!!”

Said a certain insectoid, completely irritated and without patience, crushing the skull of a huge wolf again, again and again, using the blade of his great sword.

“Should we… calm him down and tell him that [The Great and Legendary Fenrir] is already dead?”

“No... Let's let him take out all his anger on the corpse... after all, he almost died 20 times in this final stage, plus the Boss drops are being spawned in the next room.”

Those who were talking were Momonga and Punitto Moe, both watching the famous paladin, Touch_Me, having a fit of pure rage for the aforementioned reason. Meanwhile, most of the Guild members were entering the said room that was beyond the Boss, but there were still those who watched the Punisher Insectoid beating and cutting that corpse.

AOG was finally finishing the Ragnarok History Quest, something that was initially thought to be fast, turned out to be a pure two-year adventure. With this grand quest being divided into 20 stages, 19 of them being given to guilds in random order, and the last being the battle against 4 Bosses, [Surtur The FireLord], [The Great and Legendary Fenrir], [Fury of Vidofnir] and [The Oldest Remnant of Odin]. It had been a very intense Final Stage, with each guild member being forced to use at least twice a very expensive item called [Max Refresh], a transparent tube with a blue liquid that allows the user's HP and MP to return to maximum instantly.

“Hey! There’s something interesting here, come and see!” Peroroncino ended up drawing their attention so that all members could enter the next room.

It was a half-destroyed square room, the intact part was full of large chests with orange decorations, while the other part was simply a large hole, in which they could see an immense abyss, and on the other side of the abyss, something that resembled a japanese dojo. There didn't seem to be any way to get there, it was like a scene element, but Hikari was staring at that landscape while the others were opening the loot chests.

The main reason the chests were decorated in orange was because AOG had been the 3rd guild to complete the entire History Quest. The two guilds had finished their final battle at least 5 hours ago, but compared to the fact that the most powerful guild behind them was still stuck at the 17th Stage, then the mighty Heteromorphs were actually far ahead.

“Was that the interesting thing?” Momonga asked while also looking at the scenery.

“I don’t see anything much, it’s not on the map, so it must be an area made just for landscapes, there’s no way to get there.” Punitto Moe commented, turning around and heading towards the loot chests, the same way all the other members did.

“I don't think it's just a scene element…” Hikari said, pointing to a kind of metallic target that changed color between blue and red. “It appears to be a bifrost temple. I'll go and see what's there…”

"To see? But how?" Momonga questioned, but was stunned by what his colleague did.

Hikari took his bow [Bow-Bifrost] and aimed at that metal. Using [Greater Aim of Ranger] he fired, a sharp sound was made as it hit the target, and surprisingly, a portal appeared below the cliff. The human player looked at the Guild leader with a smug face.

“Okay, you’re right…”

“I'll go there and see what's new, I'll send you a message if it's an extra battle.” He said, before throwing himself off the cliff, entering the portal and going to that dojo.

“Damn… why would they do something like that?” Touch_Me said, finally arriving in the room, but managing to see what his best friend did.

“Well, it must be a kind of extra for story reasons, after all, it is said by some that the original bridge, the Bifrost, had been destroyed during Ragnarok. So whoever has an item of this material can do this…” Peroroncino got involved in the conversation and sighed. “I even tried shooting with my own arrows before, but it didn’t even work.”

“Seeing as how the vast majority of items made by devs, with ‘Bifrost’ in the name or flavor text, are not that strong, it must have been a way of congratulating whoever still decided to bring something like this to the fight.” Momonga tried to come up with the only possible explanation and soon he also joined the others to see what they had achieved.

The chests contained numerous consumable rewards, the vast majority being [Greater EXP Balancer] and [Gacha Coin Tier 3], two items that made any player gain an absurd amount of EXP and Gold, depending on the current amount each player had. There were also some weapons and magic stones, which could be used to create or improve items. But what interested everyone most were 3 specific things, the first being a special skin, in which certain species could have interesting effects, with embers and a divine aura around the body, few AOG members had races that this effect could be placed.

The second was a kind of invitation that only existed in one of the chests. That invitation seemed to give permission to the Players to be able to talk to the Devs, in addition, according to the flavor text, the conversation would be related to making the guild in question part of YGGDRASIL's canonical lore. This made several AOG members excited, for a player to be recognized as part of a game's lore due to achievements? This even seemed like a dream. And of course, the person who would use this item to talk to the Devs should be the Guild Leader.

And speaking of the Guild Leader, the third thing was something that caught Momonga's attention when he opened a small chest a little away from everyone. Inside it was only a red and glowing sphere, as if it were some currently deactivated mana receptacle. What intrigued him most was the name of the item… or in this case, the lack of a name.

“What did you find there, Momonga? Seems interesting." HeroHero, the second slime player in the guild, asked as he approached the skeleton.

“Nothing much, I think I’ll keep it, it looks like it’s some kind of equippable item.” he replied as he put the orb on as equipment.

When he did this, it positioned itself inside Momonga's body, more specifically where his intestines would be, if he weren't a skeleton. But one thing scared him… It was permanent equipment…

“And now it’s attached to me… but it seems to be a magic caster assistant according to the basics I understood from the flavor text, so perfect…” he said again, now completely opening the cloak he was wearing to see what the orb looked like there.

“Wow, it looks like you have a shining target.” Peroroncino commented, and everyone ended up agreeing.

“Well, the idiots who target this thing, thinking it’s a weak point, will end up suffering.” Punitto moe took one of the positives of having a shiny red orb exposed like that.

It didn't take long for everyone to finish collecting the loot from the room, including Hikari, who ended up returning the way he had gone. Having a kind of reddish metal staff in his hands, it ended up catching the attention of Punitto Moe, who went to see what the boy had picked up in that extra area. Touch_Me and Momonga also went to see what happened.

“There was nothing much, other than dusty chests with data crystals and this item here.” He showed that metallic staff, with the name [Laevatein]. “It is a type of multi-weapon with a flaming appearance and which gives an attribute buff to spellcasters, swordsmen and martial artists. Depending on how you use.”

“Multi-weapon?” The three players questioned and the boy demonstrated it.

Initially, it looked like a very elongated metal bar that slightly resembled a simple staff. However, placing the staff horizontally, keeping one hand at the end, and moving the other hand towards the other end, suddenly the central part glowed and turned into chains, the staff had become a nunchaku. After that, he returned it to the shape of a staff, held it with just one hand and swung it very quickly, until it made a sharp sound, as if cutting through the wind, shining and remodeling itself, now becoming a big knife. Everyone found the options that that item gave to the user interesting, but even so, they allowed Hikari to be the owner of it, because he was the only one who went looking for that object.

Finally, the last members of AOG left the reward room, making it completely official that this guild of heteromorphs was the third, in all of YGGDRASIL, to complete Ragnarok. It wasn't long after that that Ainz Ooal Gown entered the game's lore, as being the most powerful group of heteromorphs in all of history.

Information about the guild was being exposed by members, ranging from superficial things, to completely dramatic and theatrical versions of events, maintaining the roleplay identity that everyone there loved. With the most impressive situation being a joint interview with 20 of the 41 members, answering questions about what they liked most about the game, how everyone there met, and giving tips to some players, as expected from AOG, the vast majority of tips they were related to builds with Racial Levels, leaving human players largely aside.

After the interview and the addition of AOG to the game's lore, there was greater recognition. With enemy guilds becoming increasingly rare to attack, and allied guilds spending a lot of time close to them. Their fame grew, and they became, in everyone's eyes, like the biggest villains, the type of group that no one wants to see the bad side of.

Two specific players, these being Bukubukuchagama and Hikari, ended up being much more affected by the guild's fame, as they were recognized as TeaTeaBoomPop and “Camera Boyfriend” in such a short time due to the hardcore fans they obtained over those 3 years of streaming. Even so, they did not stop using pseudonyms, and continued their work together.

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{2141, May 1st, Monday}

{IRL - Keiko’s House}

The young game journalist woke up and tried to get out of bed, having a little difficulty because of his girlfriend, who had come by surprise and spent the whole weekend with him. After leaving her firm embrace, he managed to go to the bathroom, clean his face and take care of all his personal hygiene, having not put on his contact lenses and being in his pajamas, he went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

While there, he prepared a hot bottle of coffee, as well as artificial bacon in the frying pan and some really thin slices of tofu, which, when fried, became a kind of snack. Putting everything on plates and glasses on the table in the living room. The morning seemed calm and simple, like any Monday morning for someone like him.

Until a call destroyed the calm, it was Masato Senju's professional number, the one he uses when working in police. Keiko didn't take long to answer. "Hello? Masa-san?”

“Keiko, I don’t want to scare you, but could you turn your TV on to the live news?” The voice of the famous Touch_Me seemed breathless, with even some strange noises in the background.

Without questioning, the boy left his breakfast on the table and went to turn on the television, putting it on the local news channel. What he saw made his eyes widen.

It was a broadcast about some kind of attack that a building was having, according to the information that the news gave, it seemed that one of the companies that used that building had a huge drop in their business actions, and because of that, an employee went completely crazy, setting fire to the place, in addition to killing some of his companions as result. The police had been called after an explosion occurred in one of the parts of the building due to the fire, and were already surrounding the building together with the fire department.

Keiko stared in shock at that transmission, recognizing the name of the company. “This is not the company that…”

“That Bellriver works for? Yes, it is... I was called to provide backup and we are helping the people we managed to rescue. I just saw him being taken away by an ambulance, with his legs badly burned and some wounds on his body. I'm warning you in case something worse happens, or if the members ask about him... you know very well that-”

“I know that most members don't watch the news... Anyway, thanks for letting me know right away. And for the love of god, Masato, stay safe! If this building starts to collapse because of the fire, get out of there immediately!” Keiko spoke worriedly on his cell phone.

“Okay, as I was called as an extra reinforcement, I’m not really obligated to stay in the area, I’ll update you with anything.” Just like that, Masato Senju ended the call.

Keiko stared at the television, carefully observing this sudden situation, until he felt a gentle touch on his right shoulder, as he looked, it was Haruka. She was also in her pajamas, a little messy, as she started hugging him from behind and watching what her boyfriend saw.

“Ah… darling, it’s morning… Why are you seeing this kind of thing?…” From the sleepy way of speaking, it was obvious that she had now entered the room, not knowing the context.

“Of course I’m not going to see this, I just turned on the TV… your breakfast is ready, you can go eat.” He kissed her on the cheek and sat on the sofa. “I’m going to have to change my calendar…”

That sentence was much stronger than he expected to be…

He was still planning a party for all of AOG to attend IRL, in order to celebrate the achievement they made two weeks ago. That sentence was referring to having to adjust the schedule a little and put it for a few weeks after the normal, for now he was thinking too much about Bellriver’s situation...

And so, it started to get worse…

The members were informed why the hecatonchires was not participating as much in some events, saying that he was in the hospital due to accidents at work, but only few really knew the level of severity of it all. Three weeks passed, and sadness truly hit the guild members.

Bellriver was unable to resist the large degree of burns and cuts for long, ending up dying in hospital due to a general failure of organs that had been affected in the fire, but which doctors only noticed when it was already in an advanced state. There were two burials for him, one inside YGGDRASIL, with members paying their respects inside the Cherry Blossom Sanctuary, and the other taking place irl, in a simple cemetery in Japan’s countryside, within the AOG members, only Hikari and Momonga had a schedule open to participate.

The funeral was simple, with only 3 of Bellriver's relatives there, his mother, sister and a cousin. The two players knew the difficulty that the deceased's family was going through, due to some mandatory conversations about a “stable life” that was required to Bellriver to enter the guild. With him, that family even had enough money to save, but now, it would be difficult to stay okay. And because of that, Keiko went to them and gave them a card with money, which represented the deceased's hard work during his days in YGGDRASIL, in addition to proposing a side job as a helper for his sister, it wasn't something common to see these days, but the kindness he delivered was accepted.

“You really are a very different person, Keiko-kun.” Satoru said, thoughtfully, as he got into the car, the funeral was over, and he would be driving.

“Different?" The young man asked, a little confused, sitting in the passenger seat, taking off the breathing aid that was attached to his clothes.

“Being charitable and respectful like that… It even sounds like things my mother said about my grandparents.” he replied, taking off his suit tie and starting to drive. Taking a while to continue. “That's not really what I expected from a rich man's son. And… what was that? Give a job out of nowhere?”

“From some conversations I had with Bellriver, I know that his sister works part-time at a grocery store, even though she was trained to be a Designer. So, giving her an opportunity to earn a little more by helping me write articles, when I’m really tired, shouldn’t be that much of a problem…”

“But with what money???” Satoru asked really wanting an answer. “You haven't received an allowance from your parents for a year from what I heard, besides, the YGGDRASIL Staff might not like it.”

“I will pay her half of the salary that I earn from YGGDRASIL, with an additional amount that I earn with Haruka…” He replied calmly. “And like I said, she will only work and be paid when I need help, which will be soon, as countless BoomPop fans are asking me to appear a lot in the gameplay and interaction lives that she does.”

“I can understand your logic… in theory it makes sense, given how things are, there will be no complaints in the monetary case… I think…” Satoru commented, stepping a little hard on the accelerator.

“Are you still going…?” Keiko apparently wanted to change the subject.

“For the event? I already told you that you need to tell me in advance when it will be so that I can at least say whether I'm going or not.”

“Of course, I'm still planning properly, since with his death, I was forced to see a better day for us, and the place I thought about renting doesn't have any other upcoming dates, but I promise you, it will be on a Saturday.”

“If it's a Saturday, I'm definitely in…” they did a fistbump, playing some music, as there weren't many things to talk about.

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{2141, October 28th, Saturday}

It was the day...

The guild's celebration had become a reality, and, as expected, it would not be held inside YGGDRASIL, but in the real world. The chosen location was a large building belonging to a company specializing in events and entertainment. Each floor of the building had a kitchen, a set of bathrooms, and, most importantly, a party room. Considering the number of guests, only a single floor of that place had been rented.

The hall was magnificent, compared to the life they had outside the game. The walls were decorated in a way that resembled some of the floors in Nazarick, apparently, a small band had been hired, as there were some instruments on a small stage, with no people at the moment, and not only that, part of the hall had a grand table, in which there were 41 chairs, each one having the nickname of each AOG member written on the back. It wasn't such a round table, but it was a clear reference to the Round Table Room on Nazarick’s 9th floor.

Keiko, as the main person in organizing all of that, was already present at the moment, asking some of the cooks in the building to defrost and prepare some desserts, as the snacks had been on the main table for a few minutes. Due to the dress code that he and Punitto Moe planned, the boy was wearing a simple black suit, with a red shirt underneath, as well as a white mask that covered half his face, with an abbreviation of his nickname written on his cheek.

The purpose of the mask was to take into account the fact that there were still people in the guild who had not met in person in the real world, so, out of pure respect for them, everyone was asked to speak to each other using their nicknames if possible. This way, everyone would feel comfortable on such an occasion.

“The party is going to be very interesting…” Said a person who approached, wearing a classic theater mask with a long beak, obviously it was Peroroncino.

"Oh yeah it will be great. I don't believe everything worked out after that unfortunate incident... I thought it would happen in 2 years, given the number of companies that rent floors here to hold meetings between the most important members.” Keiko adjusted his mask a little. “I was extremely lucky to find out that they were released for a date close to Halloween… It's almost as if fate wanted us to have our day.”

“I agree… And are you really going to do that?” The perverted friend asked with an eyebrow raised beneath his mask, but he was soon left speechless when he saw the organizer respond silently, simply taking an item from his bag. “Man… this is going to be amazing.”

“Everyone’s reaction will be incredible. And her? Is she ready yet? I mean... it was because she wanted to dress up like crazy that you two arrived early... So she could put on makeup right here.”

“Last time I knocked on the bathroom door to check on her, she screamed at me and all she had to do was kick me between the legs… she must be almost ready.”

“Perfect… and you were quiet, weren’t you, you idiot? You, Suzuki and Masato are the only ones in our entire group who I spoke about this.” Keiko spoke, putting the item back in his bag as he walked close to the stage.

“Of course I kept quiet, I can be an asshole sometimes. But ruining that would mean her destroying or selling all my model figures.” The pervert's words seemed like the most logical he had ever said in his entire life, and Keiko could do nothing but agree.

It didn't take long for some people to arrive, all following the same dress code, with suits of different colors, as well as white masks that slightly resembled the races of their characters. In the case of Slimes like HeroHero and Bukubuku, both received completely smooth masks with details that slightly resembled slime. The women of the guild, being the large minority, came in dresses that covered them below the knees, with long gloves.

Everyone was talking and introducing themselves to each other, as well as sitting in their seats. Only when the last chair was filled, Keiko stood up, tapping a glass lightly.

“Ladies and Gentlemen! I wanted to say a few words before the party starts... I'm very happy that I managed to invite you to this place, where we can all interact and have fun outside of YGGDRASIL! A true demonstration that friendships don’t change, no matter where they are made.” He said, raising the glass a little higher, indicating to the employees on the floor to fill the glasses of the people sitting at the table.

With a slight movement of his hand, in addition to sitting down, Satoru noticed it was his time, standing up and continuing Keiko’s speech. “Thank you for the sweet words, Hikari. Well, today we are all here, together, to celebrate our victory against the game! Many saw us as villains just because of who we chose to be and our friends, but now, we truly are the villains, even within the game's Lore! Many would dream of a moment like this! A moment when you, as a player, are recognized in such a big way. And now, it’s our turn!!”

Everyone raised their full glasses to the guild leader, and he continued. “Unfortunately, absolutely all the members present on the day of our conquest cannot be here today, so, among the guests, I asked Bellriver's younger sister to come in his place... I would like us to take a moment of silence out of respect for him…” he said pointing to the girl who was wearing a white mask with several small faces on the left side, as expected, everyone gave their period of silence for their friend.

After the silence, the words returned to Keiko. “And now, our grand banquet can begin! You can serve yourselves at will and without being afraid! It’s all on me!” The lids of the trays were lifted, revealing food that was extremely expensive and beautiful to look at. Much of it was imitation of food items commonly seen in the game, with the taste being the most faithful attempt possible at what such foods would taste like. They ranged from roasted pieces of chicken and shrimp, to burgers and full rows of salmon and sushi.

Everyone ate happily, talking a lot among themselves, especially with the deceased's younger sister. It seemed like everyone wanted to cheer her up by telling stories about the adventures her brother had with all the members, this clearly raised the aura of the place a little, to the point where they started having drinking competitions and some karaoke, using a holographic screen for song lyrics to emerge.

Without exception, AOG members participated in those small events. There were those who were embarrassed, those who had a great voice despite being shy, and obviously, those who thought they were being incredible, when in fact it was necessary to put a cloth over their mouth after the songs. If this was a competition worth money, clearly Haruka and Keiko would win as a duet, since they had been working in music and entertainment for a while.

It didn't take long for everyone to be extremely comfortable there, the scene was perfect for something to happen. Everyone's attention went to the leader of the group, who gently tapped the spoon on the wine glass in front of him, causing a thin and calm sound.

"Guys! I know everyone is having an incredible time on our special day, and I would like everyone's attention to an urgent announcement from our fellow human.” Suzuki said, forcing his voice a little to be a little similar to Momonga's voice.

Pointing to Keiko, he already knew what that was, getting up from the chair. “Thank you, Momonga-Sama! I would love to make a grand announcement that could change the lives of some people in Ainz Ooal Gown, both within YGGDRASIL and here, in our world… My dearest slime, could you look at me for a brief period?”

As he said that, everyone looked towards Haruka, who, a little confused, adjusted her chair. Seeing her boyfriend approaching her, he continued to speak. “Bukubuku, we've known each other for a long time... We can count from the period when you still played as a Human Sniper, after you became a heteromorph, or from the day we were able to touch hands IRL... Whatever, it's been almost 5 years that we've known each other, with 4 of those 5 years being our incredible relationship that started as just a roleplay, and then evolved into something bigger than that…”

His words touched the hearts of some of the guests, while Haruka remained silent, looking at him, a little confused about where this conversation was going. With the first one that realized what was really happening being Maiko, she was left slightly awestruck.

“And I would like to know if our relationship can evolve further…” The situation became as obvious as possible when he knelt down next to his girlfriend, pulling from his pocket a beautiful pink box, completely decorated with silver details and reddish spheres.

When opening the box, she could see a golden ring with small pink and red stones surrounding it, with an oval, greenish jewel as the main one. The woman's face became completely red, almost the same shade as her avatar, her wide eyes showed surprise at that, she really didn't expect something like that to happen.

“This is not for Bukubukuchagama, not even for TeaTeaBoomPop… This is for you…” A smile appeared on him, as he lifted the open box a little higher, closer to his beloved. “Haruka Aoki… Would you like to marry me?”

The woman seemed to lose her voice for a few seconds, as she slowly stood up and pulled the young man by the arm, hugging him tightly while stealing a long kiss from him. Everyone was amazed at her way of expressing herself, until, when she parted her lips, she responded sweetly.

“Yes, of course~”

It was possible to hear a whistle while everyone clapped for that event, it was Masato Senju, Touch_Me, the one catching the waiters' attention. “Bring more wine! We need to drink to celebrate the couple here!!”

“Did you really ask me to marry you? Me? An older woman?” Haruka spoke with a silly smile, still hugging her lover tightly.

“And do you think there would be someone else who would have this role? You are my sweet in the middle of my sour life.” He said that, stroking her chin, but she couldn't control herself, laughing.

“Haha! You were so cheesy just now!”

“Relax, all this cheesiness will turn into something else in bed.” Now, speaking with a seductive voice close to her ear, the voice actor began to blush extremely, but with a smile on her face, she really loved it.

“Are you inviting me to your house when the event is over?~” She followed the flow, still whispering.

“If you want… we can repeat everything that happened from our first meeting. You just need to drink alot, and then I’ll take you to my bed.”

“Oh, maybe I can be with less clothes than before~”

While the two were whispering indecent things to each other, some other members talked a little more, until they reached an important topic, started by Punitto Moe. Everyone was there, with the exception of the two lovebirds who had gone out of the room to do “something else”.

“So guys, I don’t know if this is a good time to speak, but I received a communication from some important guilds in YGGDRASIL, two of them want to have a guild fight with us.” He said calmly as he pulled out some wine to drink.

“Oh, a fight between guilds, tell me more please!” The person with a mega deformed mask spoke, it was HeroHero.

“Well, they want a friendly fight against us. The original idea is that each guild will form two groups, one for attack and one for defense. Those attacking will go to the opposing guild to attack and those defending will remain in their own guild bases.”

“Hmmm. So would it really be a fight between guilds just so we have something to do while there are no events…? There must be something bigger to this, what are the gains for whoever wins?” Masato asked as he enjoyed a burger.

“Simple, the fight would last until one guild completely dominates the enemy base, or until a time limit runs out. The winner gets the percentage of loot equivalent to the percentage they dominated in the dungeon.”

“So this is if the time limit runs out, if we manage to take over their dungeon completely, we get all the loot?” A member with a robotic mask asked, this being Garnet, the person in charge of creating gimmicks in Nazarick.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Exactly! BUT the same applies to the enemy!” Punitto Moe spoke a little theatrically, moving the cup in his hands a lot.

“Hmm… I hadn’t heard about that.” Suzuki commented, adjusting his skeleton mask. “When was this request made?”

“It was about 2 am today. If it had been something delivered to me earlier yesterday, I would have re-emailed you. But I was busy seeing if I was really ready to come to the party.” That really was an acceptable excuse, considering the situations.

Suzuki just shook his head a little, thoughtfully, but exposing his voice. “Depending on the guilds that wanted this and their credibility, I will be able to see whether or not we accept the invitation to a controlled guild war, did they at least inform us what the time limit is?”

“Well, they said nothing has been fully confirmed and we can talk over time to rearrange any of the rules before an official date. But the initial idea they gave me was that there would be a maximum period of 1 in game day.”

“Well… yes, of course… we will talk to them if we accept, and arrange everything so that everyone feels comfortable. But I see 6 hours a day as something acceptable only on weekends.” Several people agreed with the guild leader's words.

The rest of the party had been simple, but incredible for the members, ending around 8 pm, everyone went to their homes, with the exception of Haruka, who had gone with her now fiancé, so that the party continued for much longer, just for them. And things didn't seem to have changed that much after the event, with everyone having their jobs, moments in YGGDRASIL, etc.

With the information Keiko had, it was discovered that YGGDRASIL would not have any major events until August 2142, with the holiday events before that being completely simple or just remakes of those that happened in 2140. Having this knowledge, the most important members of Ainz Ooal Gown began to see the possibility of actually participating in a friendly guild war.

Among the guilds that came up with the idea and those that were invited, there were 5 guilds made up only of Human Players, 7 mixed guilds that roleplayed among themselves for pure fun, and 2 guilds focused on Heteromorph Players, including AOG. They were all within the list of Top 20 guilds, which was not seen as so important, as the list only took into account the average number of points earned by the total amount of Kills, Gold and DataCrystals that each one had. This meant that a guild known for being PKers was on the same level as a guild focused only on accumulating Gold and items.

During the period in which everyone would be coming to an agreement on the rules of this particular event, some were leaving, others were joining, the number increased and decreased depending on the choices made, and this was mainly due to the guilds seeing this as a very serious event, to the point that, if a guild leader was not present at meetings for 2 weeks in a row, their guild would be removed from the competition. Everyone wanted an incredible guild battle that really focused on the game, and that was clearly going to happen.

In the end, there were only 4 guilds participating in the competition, one of them being AOG. Among the other 3, two of them were in 2nd and 7th place in the Top Guilds, both being composed only of Human Players, while the last one was a mixed guild, which was in 5th place. And the rules had finally been agreed upon by everyone.

The rules were that each guild could only have 2 teams, one offensive and one defensive, with a maximum of 10 members each, if the guild had more than 20 total members, the others would be left out, being the narrators and judges for see all the events from both sides. The score of each offensive group would refer to how much of the opposing guild was explored and how many traps were destroyed, the winner would be the one with the most offensive points. Because there are 4 guilds, there would actually be three battles, two between two guilds and a final one between the two winners.

The winner of everything would receive 50% of all the loot dropped during all 3 battles, second place would receive 40% and third place, the one with the highest offensive point among the first losers, would receive 10%. Last place would receive nothing, just compensation in gold and the reputation for at least having participated in a private guild war.

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{2142, May 5th, Friday}

This little championship had become a kind of entertainment. With permission from all of the offensive and defensive groups of the 4 guilds, the battles that would take place were recorded and posted as videos in a separate tab on Keiko's website. In the videos, there were recordings made by the offensive teams and the members left out, who narrated the events, in addition to giving their own comments and recording the scores.

4 videos had already been published, all of them from the first round of that particular event between the guilds. And today was the final, with the participants being AOG, and “L30nidas’ Warriors”, better known as “L-Thirty”, respectively 3rd and 2nd on the list of best guilds in YGGDRASIL.

In Nazarick, AOG's defense team and L-Thirty's attack team were chatting, before the small war began...

“Haha! What a good joke, eh. Anyway, I'm really happy to be on the same battlefield as you, even though I'm like an enemy.” Said a member of L-30, a human who appeared to be a Hunter Sniper, due to his clothes and the revolver on his waist.

“Oh, I'm grateful that there are still people like you who know how to separate roleplay from reality. Seriously, there are some crazy people who keep filling me with racist messages in DMs…” Garnet replied to the human player.

“I agree… impressive how there are crazy people who really see me as a complete traitor to the human race… I mean, I was among the founders of this group…” Hikari was also in the middle of that conversation, he seemed to be taking a potion to make his HP and MP complete, he even offered a potion to the Hunter Sniper, but he refused because he had already taken one before.

"Guys! 1 hour left until we start! Prepare yourselves!" The leader of the L-30 attack team spoke loudly using an item that looked like a megaphone.

“Well, I think it’s time for you guys to get ready, good luck there.” Garnet said waving and heading towards Nazarick.

“I agree, no hard feelings, right?” The player said, taking the pistol from his waist.

“Of course, roleplay only.” Hikari responded, doing a firstbump, but his attention was soon caught by Momonga.

“Hikari!! There has been a change of plans, you will be relocated, due to some problems we noticed with our defenses.” The guild leader said this while sending a private message to the journalist, so that no one from the rival team would know.

Hikari soon waved to everyone there, disappearing from the front garden of the great tomb using [Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown], reappearing shortly afterwards on the 6th floor, realizing that even Yamaiko was there. He approached the Niphilim waving. “So, you and I will be here together?”

“Yes, the plan was for Bukubuku to stay here, but we discovered that one of the players on the enemy team has a very intense build that could destroy Peroroncino’s NPC, so she was taken there as a way to intensify defensive buffs.” The healer commented as she sat on a fallen log. “So you had to be called in, to help coordinate the NPCs here in case someone invades.”

“I understand… Then I will be the leader of the ‘6th floor squad’… I don’t see a problem with that. You’re here to amplify NPC regeneration, aren’t you?” She agreed with the boy's question. “Perfect, if everything goes wrong, even with me here, I will use the ‘Phantom Claw Zeentry’ position… any questions?”

“What is this bizarre formation you said?...I never write these things down.”

“Simple, my NPC, Mary, will use [Possession of Awakening] to enter Mare and increase his magical power, while Belindo will be in dragon form and will be used as a mount for Aura, thus optimizing and maximizing their strengths. ”

“Why these strange names?” The Healer said, confused.

“Says the person who called an attack formation with a healer in the center ‘Yuri-Alpha’ and then decided to pay homage, for always working out, by calling an NPC the same way.” Hikari's words ended up reaching Yamaiko's big heart, who just remained silent, questioning her ability to name things.

“The NPCs are now scattered around, so I will call them and organize them in more strategic areas. I recommend staying in the Coliseum area.” He continued to speak after the long silence and soon disappeared, leaving a shadowy trail with a trail of flames that disappeared after a few seconds.

"..." Yamaiko just sighed, staring at where her companion was, but she did as suggested and walked towards the large arena on the 6th floor.

After an hour, the small guild battle finally began, 10x10 pvp, with NPCs as additions to make the situation more exciting. At the entrance of Nazarick, there he was, Momonga, the guild leader, floating in the skies as enemies appeared, everything being filmed.

“Hahahaha!!! Look what we have here! Welcome to the destruction of your miserable existence, oh, those who dare invade my dear home!” The skeleton said, focusing hard on the roleplay, swinging his grand cane.

“So you are the grand demon king of the evil guild? I expected more than a skeleton in a purple cape!” Said the player leading the attack team, swinging a kind of greatsword he had in his hands.

"Demon king? It's a title I could accept in many ways…” Momonga said imposingly, then pointing to the ground. “Unfortunately, you, peasant weaklings, don’t seem that powerful in my eyes! Face simpler minions, they are perfect for weak beings that still ensure the existence of humanity!!”

“[Quintet Extensive Magic! Summon Skeleton Legion!]” Momonga shouted his spell, creating a huge magic circle across the land.

Within the area of the large magic circle, 5 different types of skeletons began to emerge from the ground, these being [Skeleton Archer], [Skeleton Mage], [Skeleton Warrior], [Skeleton Rider] and [Skeleton Centipede]. But it wasn't just that, as some separate bones also came out of the ground and levitated to the heavens, joining together and forming some [Bone Vulture]. All those monsters were very weak, ranging between levels 20 and 30, and because of having [Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown] in hand, he managed to summon 30 of each. In Momonga's view, this would serve as an excellent way to start a fight in which the enemies were all around lvl 80 to 100.

“The Demon King has summoned a legion against divine morals! I will not accept this! [Second Lesson of Holy! Harm Undead]!!” Said an elf woman, High Cleric, who was on the attack team, raising a staff full of religious symbols and launching a bright beam towards some of the skeletons that surrounded her. Few Skeleton Warriors and Skeleton Centipedes were destroyed, because they didn't have their shields raised or because they didn't dodge quickly.

“A High Cleric?! I see you're not that stupid when choosing your team of heroes! I must respect them for that.” Momonga spoke again with that imposing voice, flying above the entrance to Nazarick.

One of the rival players, a dwarf with a bow and arrow, started shooting towards the Overlord, who started to dodge some attacks, but seemed to be hit, or in this case, he let that happen, with the arrows sticking in his bones, but causing no damage, due to passive skills with high physical resistance. This ended up scaring the dwarf himself, who tried to shoot using arrows loaded with fire magic, but this distracted him deeply, causing him to be hit by one of the Skeleton Mages. It wasn't that much damage, but it was annoying to say the least.

“Let’s use our strategies! Just because they are low level doesn’t mean we should let our guards down!!” Exclaimed the leader of the rival team, making Momonga laugh again evilly.

Inside, Satoru was loving that mix of roleplay and competition. It wasn't every time he could use spells like that openly instead of using something more overpowering. He was thinking of using things like [Fallen Down] only if a lot of them managed to get past the 4th floor.

It didn't take long to see 2 of the 10 players being left there while the rest invaded Nazarick. The leader didn't seem worried and summoned more skeletons to hinder the players there from reuniting with their allies, even slightly increasing the amount of MP used for Skeleton Archers to use Bone Vultures as mounts.

After some time, 3 of the maximum 6 hours had already passed, apparently staying separated was the attack team's strategy, as only a few of them managed to go through each stage, they were divided, the limit becoming the 5th Floor, with the glacial effects affecting the two remaining players. In the current situation, Momonga took care of the entrance by always summoning skeleton monsters; Bukubuku helped on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd floors, being a damage sponge and giving protection to Shalltear Bloodfallen; Tigris Euphrates, one of the guild's Rangers, focused on attacking anyone on the 4th floor, as it was a very open cave, he could position himself on platforms on the roof to attack enemies; Garnet was on the 5th floor, in order to help the Floor Guardian, Cocytus, in attacks on enemies; On the 6th floor, Hikari and Yamaiko were also there as assistants to the Floor Guardians; The players on the 7th floor were Genjiro, the AOG loot organizer, Ulbert and Nubo, the guild's divination specialist, two of them focused on identifying any invaders, while Ulbert would go into battle with the help of Demiurge and his minions; And finally, the tenth player on the defensive team was Luci★Fer, who hilariously was sitting on a chair in the middle of the main hallway of 9th floor, just waiting for someone to arrive.

In the midst of all that, a message appeared in the guild chat... it was one of the members of the AOG attack team, but why would they be sending something?

[Peroroncino: Guys! A big problem happened here!! The enemy guild is being attacked with full force!!!]

[Hikari: But isn't that good? Attack our rivals and conquer as much as possible???]

[Peroroncino: No, you idiot! Another guild decided to attack them while we are here!! I want to ask permission from Momonga and Punitto Moe if we can help them, as this is completely out of our control.]

[Momonga: Permission granted-... wait a minute, I see some enemies from outside the rival guild approaching! I want everyone here at the entrance, now!!]

Suddenly the situation changed... Apparently some ill-intentioned guild wanted to take advantage of that particular competition there. All available AOG members, with the exception of the attack team that was far away, quickly went to the entrance, to defend that dungeon. Due to the goodwill that happened, L-30’s offensive team decided to join the AOG members to also defend the place, thus, an unforeseen invasion began.

Without any real start, the true enemies started attacking from all sides of the entrance, luckily, several of the allied players had AoE skills to attack as much as possible. There were several, the vast majority that could be seen were Human-type Players, with some Heteromorphs and the majority being Demi-Human players.

"Lucifer! Take me high!” Hikari said, after fighting 5 enemies at once, he was using [Kuwoi-Muramasa] and [Laevatein], occupying both hands.

"Okay!" The angel replied.

Holding tight to Hikari's shoulders, he used [Fly] to get off the ground. Gaining a better view, they could see the extreme number of enemies that came to invade, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to think that the entire invasion was carried out by a group of 5 entire guilds at least, if it takes into account that another party was invading L-30’s base. And in that position, [Laevatein] changed form, from being a big knife, to becoming a crimson staff.

“[Quintet Potency Fire Magic! Epic Magic Missile of Fire World!!]” Hikari exclaimed the skill, quickly rotating the staff in his hands, large spheres of fire appeared around him and his winged friend, all of them were projected in different directions, exploding upon impact with the ground and causing a great Burning effect on everyone close to the explosion.

“Are you sure it’s okay to do this?”

“Of course, I have JobClass MAX in War Wizard and High Wizard, along with this staff here. So spells, specifically fire spells, won’t cost that much MP.”

“If you say s- OH SHIT!!!” The winged friend said, holding on tight and trying to dodge some arrows and magical projectiles that were aiming at both of them.

During the dodges, it was possible to see several AOG members having problems, as they began to resort to their most powerful abilities, [Fallen Down] being the easiest example to notice, as a large pillar of light descended from the skies, causing a large amount of huge number of messages related to dead players. There were also some types of small meteorites conjured up and hitting the ground hard, an attack characteristic of Ulbert.

That wasn't the only thing that was noticed, a little behind all the enemies, there were three figures with armor that caught a lot of attention... they weren't just any Player, and Hikari quickly recognized them. This made him decide to use one more blow, getting rid of his items to take [Bow-Bifrost] and aim at the heavens, pulling the line back with great force and releasing an arrow of pure energy.

"What was that?" Lucifer asked, not paying as much attention to his friend as he continued to fly and dodge the attacks while holding him tight.

“[Double Potency World’s Sun. Hell’s Rain of Arrows]” Hikari responded after saying the name of the skill, with a now very serious expression on his face. “Throw me as high as you can!”

The arrow slowly disappears as it passes the vertical limit of the map, but in an instant, clouds appeared from that same point, spreading and creating several small arrows that were stationary, without falling yet, waiting for the user to aim at the true target. And this happened, with him being thrown, there was a better angle for the skill to be very effective. When he reached the maximum height, Hikari pulled the bowstring firmly and released it, thus making the various arrows move forward with speed and strength.

Due to the bow used for this skill, the areas hit by the arrows changed, with the swamp floor freezing, in addition to creating numerous sharp clusters of ice that impale and even burn nearby enemies. Unfortunately, out of the three he wanted to target, only one seemed weakened.

“Bastards…” Hikari said to himself as he activated voice communication with all AOG. "Guys! We have a World Champion attacking us! Just in case none of you die easily and lose too many levels, I ask everyone that is in this battlefield enter Nazarick and only attack whoever enters.”

[Momonga: Are you serious?!]

[Touch_Me: Wait! Is there a World Champion there? I'm going to help you!]

“No need, Touch… Keep helping and defending L-30’s base… I’m going to DESTROY this guy…” Hikari returned to the ground while summoning [Kuwoi-Muramasa] again, cutting three enemies in half. “And the reason I want you to join inside Nazarick is because I will have to configure to leave the Party [AOG_Battle_Defensive] to be able to go all out, that is, my attacks can damage even you... and I don't want anyone to lose levels because of me."

[Bukubukuchagama: Love, do you want me to help you by serving as an extra layer?]

“Don't worry... I'll use something else to give me great buffs, honey... I would only ask to use you if it was something I know I can't handle on my own. I don't want you to lose levels just because you're being my shield. Hold things tight inside Nazarick, and good luck to everyone.” He said, leaving the Party, jumping very high, in the middle of the air, activating some basic buff skills focused on magic classes and thus landing in front of the possible organizer of the invasion.

He was very tall, holding a large big war axe with several golden details and amplification jewelry. His two large skeletal horns made him have 60 centimeters added in total height, with a purple color over much of his skin, a trademark of zombies with high racial classes. The minotaur seemed to have a serious expression, but upon seeing [Midgard’s World Champion], a mocking smile appeared on his face, with steam coming out of his nostrils. Next to him were two people with uniforms that resembled fighting Jesters, but one of them had part of his body frozen.

“Look… if it isn’t the crazy minotaur…[Aurogoth_Rher]… What are you doing here?” Hikari asked a rhetorical question, while making a portal appear behind him, from inside it, Mary Necry and Belindo Dracul, his NPCs, showed.

“Hehehe… I just heard that the group of so-called ‘villains’ was playing such a friendly game… a competition with rules to boot…” Muspellsheim’s Champion spoke in a bored manner. "This is unacceptable…"

"Unacceptable? With what context, you idiot?”

“Shut up, you stupid little boy!!” Said the unfrozen jester. “You guys are supposed to be the peak of evil! THE BEST IN DESTRUCTION!!! But do y’all actually end up being friends with people who are friendly and play games with rules? WITHOUT any conspitation?!?”

Hikari was slightly confused by that sentence, but he replied. “So… you’re attacking us because AinzOoalGown in Roleplay isn’t the same as the real guild itself…?”

"OF FUCKING COURSE!! THIS IS TOO IRRITATING!!! And to think that worms like you act like this!! Mostly you! You are a World Champion! A GOD among all players! And yet, don't you use all your power to cause what your guild represents? EVIL INCARNATE?!?” The other Jester, even though frozen, complained too.

“Yeah... in short... I'm here creating discord, just to end the competition, and show YGGDRASIL, what true evil is... I was actually hoping to fight the stupid paladin... but my informant only told me that only one World Champion would be here…” Aurogoth sighed, but soon had a maniacal smile, his teeth grinding and his grip on the axe tighter. “But I don’t care… I will destroy you, along with the 10 guilds that decided to join me…”

“And given their level…”

“Yes, very weak, they were at the very bottom of the guild list, and because of that… I was able to hire them with the reward of having part of the loot we gain from destroying you and your friends…” The minotaur's smile widened. “But you decided to come alone… and with just two companions? Wait, I can't see their tag, are they NPCs? Is this serious? Fight me using NPCs?!?”

He started laughing loudly, while the other invading players were also laughing at the situation. Hikari kept hearing those laughs that came from all sides, having a serious expression in that situation. Was the guild being attacked because the members aren't that bad compared to when Roleplaying or facing enemies? And this was the motivation of a World Champion to carry out such an attack?

“If you want something destructive, I will give you something destructive…” Without wasting time, he used some commands. “Mary, use [Possessions of Awakening] targeting me. Belindo, use [The Guardian Angel Sacrifice] targeting me.”

The Poltergeist started becoming translucent and entering Hikari's body, his character changed his appearance a little. His spiky red hair turned into a long orange hair. The hunter's uniform and armor he had were all disappearing, taking on a cosmetic appearance of a green British suit with a blue bow tie. Meanwhile, the Half-Dragon was behind Hikari, with her body slowly falling apart, giving all her energy to create a golden halo, which was placed above her creator's head. This gave an almost divine aura to the player.

“Will you give some destruction? For me?!? Hahahaha!! And how will you do that? In that dumb outfit? Or is it this Halo? OOH NO! He is an angel!!" The minotaur began to laugh and make fun of the whole situation, not being afraid of what it all possibly meant.

“Apparently you didn’t really research much about some things in YGGDRASIL…” Hikari used [High Leap] to fly away from them, ending up landing very close to Nazarick’s entrance, this way, all the enemies would be right in front of him.

He continued to speak loudly for everyone to hear. “You will know PAIN and SUFFERING!!! I swear on all the GOLD and DATA CRYSTALS in my player account that I will get you all to Level 10 and this will happen due the damage taken being so excessive!”

Holding [Kuwoi-Muramasa] in his left hand, he extends his right, calling out his World Item, [Yamato-Kowaidasai]. Holding it firmly, countless magical circles appeared around him, these created barriers prevented some desperate players from hitting him with projectiles, and thus, he was filled with buffs, more than he expected to use.

…[Attack Boost], [Great Attack Boost], [Greater Attack Boost], [Agility Boost], [Great Agility Boost], [Greater Agility Boost], [Body Strengthening], [Refined Body Strengtheing], [Magician’s Body Strengtheing], [Manaterization], [Great Manaterization], [Greater Manaterization], [Elementarist resist: Fire], [Elementarist resist: Ice]...

The thing he said about others not researching, was in regards to what it means to be possessed by a ghost and have the protection of an angel. Certain races can use abilities of this type, which gain maximum efficiency when used by an NPC and not a Player, because when used, the beings themselves decide to stop existing for a temporary period just to add their attributes to the target. The biggest backlash to this is that the target's maximum HP will decrease absurdly.

With two NPCs doing this kind of thing with Hikari, his HP attribute became 5, when previously it was 50, but his other attributes each easily surpassed the 150 point mark. He, at that moment, had become the best representation of the term “Glass-Canon”...

Among the various skills he used, all the skills from the “Manaterization” series allowed him to intensify the blades of both katanas, making them more robust and powerful. It got to the point that they could be categorized as greatswords instead, their blades, along with much of his body, glowed in an intense cacophony of red and green.

“[WORLD CLASS DESTRUCTION! SLASHER!]” It was possible to hear Aurogoth launch an immense blast of energy using his war axe; some of the players brought there ended up being caught in the middle of the attack, which was heading towards Hikari.

“[World Class Catastrophe: Null], [High Level Counter]” He responded, giving a light and gentle swing with both katanas, directing the attack towards the skies, preventing Nazarick's entrance from being destroyed in the process.

Without letting the others react, he started attacking the players that were close to him, killing them with ease after one or two hits. They seemed to never stop coming, as if all of Aurogoth's players now decided to go all out, but nothing changed the fact that they were torn apart quite easily.

All the AOG members who were inside the dungeon looked at the scene thanks to a holographic screen created by Momonga, it could feel the seriousness on their faces, even if many of them were unable to express it in the game. It was worrying, to say the least, as most of them had never seen that World Champion use so many buffs at the same time, without taking into account that it was very likely that he had also activated the ability [Alpha-Glass] in the process.

“Can’t we help him now?” Genjiro asked, seeming to doubt what he was seeing on the screen.

“I don’t think he needs it… and you heard him, we will only attack those who enter here.” Nubo commented, giving a sigh. “Isn’t that true Punitto?”

Punitto Moe was talking to some members of the L-30, asking about their strengths and weaknesses, in case they were needed in any strategy. “Of course, did you forget that he is the 3rd person in the guild that everyone can count on for strategies?” He responded without even looking at his colleague.

“I hope this doesn't make him too stressed later... Last time he was like this, he didn't even talk to me, he just kept going into fight simulations and beating dummies like crazy.” Bukubuku finally spoke, she seemed to be hugging the NPC Mare like a stuffed animal as she watched the scene.

“Is he that kind of person?” One of the L-30 members asked.

“Sometimes he relieves stress by eating, other times by playing heavy metal… and sometimes he wants to beat something up… I think it's pretty normal, tbh…” Tigris Euphrates joined the conversation, but then looked at the guild leader. “Momonga, when do you think the others will be able to get here?”

"According to what Touch_Me told me, the situation there isn't the best either... Even though there isn't a World Champion, they're facing a little less than twice as many enemies..." Momonga answered them, still looking at the fight that was taking place up there, for better protection and preparation, everyone was in the church on the 2nd floor.

“My god… that's really scary to think about…” Garnet said as he soon looked back at the holographic screen, being quite shocked by what he saw. "What the hell is that?!"

Everyone's attention was on what was happening on the screen. The number of dead players seemed to increase more and more, but not only that, Hikari was shining as if he were a green and red light, which went through everyone, giving countless blows until he killed them, leaving a trail of black fire wherever he passed.

“Why does this remind me of ‘snake’?” Lucifer said this and was soon slapped hard on the back of the head.

“I know that the fact that he's leaving a trail and 'devouring' everything in his path makes it seem like he's from the game 'snake', but at a time like this, for the love of all that is divine and evil, don't make jokes.” Ulbert, the one who caused the attack, commented.

“It looks like he is attacking Aurogoth while also attacking the surrounding players…” Ankoro said his thoughts.

“He must be using the other players as ‘charge’ to continue the skill [Blood Rush Fever] against the same person... I remember him saying that this was a viable form of exploit.” Bukubuku said, still hugging one of her NPCs.

Almost exponentially, the enemies disappeared, pillars of fire and countless bursts of attacks even began to appear on the scene, making it a little difficult for everyone to understand what was happening with Momonga's help. But it was clear that all that was coming to an end.

Extremely loud and sharp noises could be heard, with even some strong earthquakes reaching the 2nd floor, demonstrating the intensity of the attacks that were occurring. After a few tremors, everything seemed to have gone silent. The Overlord soon reactivated the holographic screens and it was clear to see… only Hikari was there. That image made everyone celebrate immediately and everyone walked out of the guild, whistling and clapping for Midgard’s World Champion.

Bukubuku was jumping and jumping with her gelatinous body to where her lover was. “Hey! You did it! My god, next time I go there, I will give you a graaaaand gift as a reward!”

Hikari didn't respond, he seemed to be resting a little, kneeling and with one of the katanas stuck against the ground, close to several data crystals, possibly Aurogoth's loot. This made the slime jump a lot closer to him.

“Hey! My dear fiancé! Not ignore me! HMPH!!” She made an imaginary pout, and even so, Hikari didn't respond, in fact he didn't even move.

“Heellooooo?? Love? Are you hearing me?!?” It didn't take long for Bukubuku's agitation to draw the attention of other members who were going to see what had happened. Unfortunately, a system message appeared in front of Hikari, before he simply disappeared.

[Player Hikari was logged out due to lack of connection.]

“Lack of connection? He? Is this serious?” Lucifer was the first to speak seeing that system box.

“There must have been a problem with the power at his house, or someone must have visited him and he went to see who it was… but he ended up leaving the game on and it took too long to come back.” Momonga spoke of the most likely options.

“Okay, shall we wait for him for a celebration?” Ulbert commented and everyone seemed to raise their hands, accepting.

However… Something was happening…

1 day…

2 days…

5 days…

Hikari wasn't entering YGGDRASIL, not even answering others' calls...

A week after the last time he was online, Masato and Haruka decided to go check on him. That was very strange to happen, considering that he works with YGGDRASIL. The two were chosen to do this because they both live very close to him, and Haruka had access to the apartment.

“Ugh… seriously, why isn’t he even answering ME? Did I do something?” Haruka responded, getting out of Masato's car, both already inside the garage.

The police officer was finishing turning off his vehicle, getting out of it and locking the doors as he walked to the elevator. “I don't think it's that... I mean... he was happy and all before that bullshit... and it doesn't seem like it was some general energy problem...” He said, pointing to the garage lights, they were the regular, not the emergency ones.

The confusion only increased in both of their minds, not even understanding why this was happening. When they entered the elevator, Haruka not only clicked the floor button, but also swiped a card on a reader, these were some security upgrades that the building had undergone in the last year. Arriving at the apartment door, they opened it, revealing the room that looked a little dirty. Not in the sense of pure dirt or mess, but they could notice some dust.

“Love! Darling! I arrived! I'm sorry for not coming sooner, I was busy… Are you home?” She said that as she put her things on the sofa and opened the curtains that were completely closed, turning on the holographic window, setting to show a calm landscape of a clear morning.

Masato walked a little further away, heading towards the main corridor, seeing that the doors were closed, he knocked softly on each door to let anyone know that he was going to enter, and then opened it, revealing no one there. With every door he opened, a stupidly high anxiety arose in his mind. But why was he like that?

The situation was already strange enough, his intellect as a police officer thought of some alternatives when seeing the situation as a whole, since normally he hates to go out of the apartament, one of them would be kidnapping, in other words, he wouldn't be there. This would even be the most common thing to think, since he comes from a family that owns one of the biggest companies in Japan. So before opening the door that led to the game room, he took a deep breath and pushed the door lightly...

What was there was unexpected...

Masato remained silent, with a slight twitch in one of his eyes as his legs slowly began to tremble…

“Did he leave a message about where he is?” Haruka's voice came, not so close to him, and he swallowed hard.

“Haru… please… can you wait for me in the garage?”

"Why do you say that? Something happened?" She said approaching the door where he was.

Masato stretched out his arms, preventing her from passing through that part of the corridor, his legs still shaking. “I told you to go down…”

The way the police officer acted made her want to really see what it was, even though she felt like she shouldn't do that. When she looked into that room, a scream of horror could be heard coming out of her mouth, but not only that, she was pulled away from that door and started vomiting on the floor, with tears coming out of her eyes and her breathing was incredibly heavy, as if she was going to faint.

“No No No… That’s a prank… WHO THE FUCK MADE THIS PRANK?!?”

“Please... go to my car... I have some strong tranquilizers in the backseats... use them so you don't have a more severe panic attack than now... understand?” Masato said with tears also streaming down his face, trying to get the most profissional he could. “I-I’m going to call some of my friends… let’s start an intense investigation… Do you understand me?”

What was inside the room was simply a body, sitting on a chair and headless, several electronic shrapnel everywhere near the corpse, and what appeared to be pieces of flesh and muscle burst on the ceiling and walls, there was even one of his eyeballs, the amber one, slight near the entrance...

No one could believe that something like this would happen to such a kind and friendly person…

It was later confirmed, after some research in the security and info logs, the cause of death. A technical failure had occurred, the virtual reality device exploded in his head, after trying to amplify the neural speed by 64 times, and it seems that it exploded in the time he won that last battle.

Time of death: 2142, May 5th; 9:00 pm. He died at the age of 26.

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End of Volume 1 - YGGDRASIL

Next: Volume 2 - A New Holy World