A normal day in the vast city of Lugnica, with many beings going on with their day, at least that us how it should have been. From one moment to another, this beautiful world lost it's color as everything in it came to a halt and time stopped to move forwards. Reason for this rather strange phenomenon was a certain undead magic caster that was standing at the middle of the street with it's heteromorphic friends.
'W-What is going on!? What the hell happened. Where are w--?'. As Momonga was about to fall into panic, a strange sensation calmness washed over him forcefully. "Are you all ok? Do any of you feel strange?", asked a deep and unknown voice. To the undeads momentary shock, he quickly realized that it was his own vocal expression. The other heteromorphs looked at him with a bit of confusion. Momonga made a fake-cough into his fist and then addressed the current situation. "Well, we seem to be in some kind of city. The environment here doesn't seem to resemble Helheim."
Variable Talisman, who was still sitting on the ground, finally decided to stand up, though his lazy attitude didn't really change at all as he spoke up. "...Yggdrasil didn't have such fine details, nor the ability to smell.". His voice sounded a bit raspy, as if he's speaking through a small pipe. Right after his statement, the giant centipede tried to dust off his armor while Yamaiko nodded. "This place seems far too real to be a game. I mean, the technology was advanced, but to make a game so hyper realistic, they would've needed to work on this game way before Yggdrasil itself even released. Could it be that…... this isn't a game, but reality?". The voice of hers sounding a bit more authoritative, but other than that, her voice didn't change to much. The giant crab perked up to the statement of Yamaiko. "Is it maybe like in those isekai novels of the 21st century?"
'Isekai? Maybe Amano is right, but if this all really is a reality now, would that even be so bad?'. As the overlord was deep in his thoughts, he go interrupted, or rather startled by Shizyuutensuzaku's cheering. Thankfully though, he was forcefully calmed right after his little startled state. "YES. PLEASE, I NEVER WANT TO SEE A SINGLE ONE OF MY ARROGANT, APE-MINDED STUDENTS AGAIN. PLEASE, IF THERE IS A GOD, LET THIS BE REALITY!". There was an audible sigh from Yamaiko and Momonga, but also a hint of understanding from all. "Well, we should probably go somewhere more secluded and disguise ourselves before Momonga dispels the [Time Stop] spell. We don't exactly know how the local population here will react to our appearance, nor do we know their strength. Even if they seem to not be able to withstand Chronomancy.". And with all in agreement of Yamaiko's statement, the group made their way to one of the nearest alleyway.
As they individually searched for clothing or gear to cover their heteromorphic features, also figuring out how the new inventory works, they came across a problem. 'How the hell should we cover Amano? He is a giant crab with almost no covering armor...Hmmm, maybe some kind of big gown or big blanket?'.
Momonga pulled out a low-level big brown gown, which Amanomahitotsu quickly put on. "Haha, you look like big bean bag!" Amanomahitotsu quickly looked at the laughing, monkey-faced nue and clammed it's snake tail, which led Shizyuutensuzaku to let out a yelp of pain. "Are we all prepared?", asked Yamaiko, wearing just a yellow mask. Similar to Variable Talisman who was wearing a green mask, as both their equipment was already covering most of their heteromorphic bodies. Momonga had also put on a mask, though it looked a bit more eccentric with it's blue jewel-like yes and smile. Along with that, he was also wearing some gloves and closed his robes to cover his ribcage and World Item. Shizuutensuzaku, similar to Momonga, was too wearing some gloves and a plain mask, but to cover his legs, he was also wearing some armor, which seems to consist of red ruby like crystals with fine golden linings.
With a final confirmation from all, Momonga let time flow again as the world regained it's color and the masses started to move again, going about their day, not knowing of the new powerful beings who appeared in this world.
"What should our next step be? Our first goal should be to assess how strong the locals of this world are and if there are any potential threats.", said the undead overlord with a strange calmness that even surprised himself. Just as Shizuutensuzaku was about to suggest a test of their abilities on some kind of animal or beast, a voice interrupted their discussion.
"Hey hey, what's this now? Four rich-lookin' people in an alleyway? Seems like it's our lucky day, guys.". The group of hetermorphs quickly turned to the entrance of the alleyway to see 3 strange looking thugs.
The first one to the left was a big guy with purple hair and eyes, wearing tan clothes with an orange sash around his waist, a green west and some black shoes.
Then there was the slim guy in the middle with very white skin had black eyes with visible sclera on three sides of their irises and long grayish blue hair with pink at its end. He was wearing a tattered uniform with chains around his wrist and throat. Additionally, he also had a large yellow earring on his left ear.
The last thug which was on the right of the three was very small in height, having brown hair which was strangely shaped like a mushroom and large black eyes with a pink robe of sorts.
'Hm, they seem to be thugs. Looks like the greedy nature of humans is still present here. Anyway….'. Momonga took some steps towards them and spoke up in an intimidating and commanding voice, truly fit for an undead ruler. "What may it be that you three gentleman want from us?". 'Wait, they said 4, but there are 5 of us….Could it be that they didn't recognize Amano because of his robes?'.
The middle one, which also seems to be their leader, looked at them with a greedy look as he stretched out his tongue. "How about you four leave us with all of your belongings before someone gets hurt?". With that statement, he also pulled out a knife, the short thug smirking along.
Before Momonga could even speak up, Shizyuutensuzaku quickly stepped forward, a menacing red aura around the nue. 'Eh? What does Shizyuuten plan to do?', while Momonga was thinking, Shizyuutensuzaku already stepped past the undead. "I have a counter-offer. You three will scram, or I'll personally kill each of you.". The three thugs got a bit nervous, but they didn't back down. "So you three have chosen death…". And before they could even realize what had happened, the nue was in front of them, killing the slim and short one with one punch and ripping the big guy apart like a piece of paper.
The heteromorphic group was shocked, but not at the act of murder that Shizyuutensuzaku just committed, but rather that they seemingly didn't care at all, or because they didn't feel the need ti intervene. 'Normally, such a sight would've already made me vomit, but now, it's as if I watched someone squish an ant. It was a bit sad, yes, but I don't seem to care at all.'. The undead was about to question his own humanity, with his friends doing the exact same thing, but their collective moment of thought got interrupted by a particular young girl who jumped from building to building above them. With their thoughts interrupted, they looked at the current situation again, especially the 3 dead bodies on the ground.
"We should probably dispose of the bodies.", said Shizyuutensuzaku who cleaned his gloves with a piece of cloth he grabbed from his inventory while turning around to look at his friends as he finally turned off his [Aura of Intimidation].
"What is the meaning of this?" a female voice spoke up from behind Shizyuutensuzaku. They looked at the source to see a half-elf with long silver hair and purple blue eyes, wearing a white and purple outfit along with a white flower accessory in her hair.
The nue quickly spoke up at the accusatory look of the half-elf. "All we died, or what I did was self-protection.". The half-elf girl, even though still a bit hesitant, seems to be contemplating her next actions. "W-Well, if it was self-protection, then I guess...But you four should probably report to a knight about this incident, or you'll get in really big trouble.".
It amused the group of Heteromorphs to see the concerned look of the half-elf girl. "It seems you are mistaken about one thing, Miss. We are actually five, not four.", said Variable Talisman while standing up, as he was sitting on one of the crates in the alleyway the whole time, pointing at the Amanomahitotsu.
"Oh, I-I am sorry for not noticing you…", said the girl in an apologetic tone, but before Amanomahitotsu could wave away her concerns, she stiffened up as she remembered her true reason for even coming into this alleyway. "Did one of you maybe see a short girl, jumping from building to building?"
'Ahh, so she is searching the whereaboutsof that little blond girl.', mused the undead in his head as Yamaiko spoke up in his stead. "Yes, we've actually seen a blonde girl jumping past us from above. Why do you want to know that though?". To the answer of Yamaiko, combined with the soft voice of hers, the half-elf relaxed a bit. "She stole a very important thing from me and I really need it back.".The half-elf spoke in a nervous tone and as if on cue, some kind of spirit materialized besides the half-elf girl. Momonga along with Shizyuutensuzaku and Amanomahitotsu got a bit cautious, but refrained from attacking. "Could you maybe tell Lia which direction she went?", asked the spirit to the group. The spirit looked like an American Short hair cat with gray-white fur and bluish eyes, but unlike that certain cat race, the spirit was flying and really small.
As Yamaiko was about to respond to the flying spirit, something fell from the sky and landed right behind the group inside the alleyway. A bit annoyed at these sudden appearances, the group turned around to see some kind of knightly looking man. He had fierce red hair and deep blue eyes, wearing a whitish knightly looking attire with lilac accents at the edges, looking at the group of Heteromorphs with caution as his sword seemingly begged him to be pulled out, vibrating a bit, which confused Momonga and Amanomahitotsu, but also awakened the collectors instincts of the undead overlord. The Knight then spoke up in a voice which contained both respect for the group but also caution, probably caused by the dead bodies on the ground.
"Could you five please identify yourselves?"