Suzuki returns to the throne room, sitting atop the Throne of Kings as he absent mindedly ran his hands across Eliza's hair as she rest her head on his lap, sitting by his feet.
It had been three days since their arrival into the New World. A term they conned to make it easier to swallow the fact that they are no longer back on Earth as they were before.
And though he was scared for those he left behind, he found solace at the fact that he and Eliza had done what they can to protect themselves. Something that in his irrational state took convincing.
"Ar-Are you certain?" he asks in uncertainty. Afraid of her answer and when she nodded, his fear exploded.
"No!" Momonga reacted on impulse as he smashed his fist against the table. He suddenly stood up, toppling his chair in the process and paced around his office. "We have to go back..."
"Suzuki-"
"We Have To!" Momonga shouts, only for calm to wash over him. Unfortunately it did nothing but to strengthen his irritation. "We have so much to do... so much relying on us. We can't just- just-... My friends! They need our help we have to find a way home!"
"....we don't even know where we are... or if there is still an us to go back to." Eliza reasons softly. Her words jolted him to a halt.
"Are you saying that we're..."
"It is the only way to sever our connection Suzuki-kun."
Momonga stood frozen, his emotions going rampant as his racial trait tried its best to calm him down. But all has its limits, and when his knees weakens, he falls on the small table smashing it to pieces.
"""Momonga-sama!!!"""
The three other occupants cried out as they rushed to his side. Sebas was with him in an instant, kneeling in front of him. His butler did not intrude on his personal space but remain close by. Attentive of any possible injuries and ready to help at a moments notice as Momonga tried to pick himself up.
The same could be said of Narberal who was fighting to urge to help him as she bit down her lip and held her arms against her chest.
But Albedo had no such qualms as she tried to help him up.
Unfortunately, Suzuki wanted none of it. He raised his hand, hoping to stop the Overseer but she did not seem to pay attention to it.
"I'm alright... Leave me be."
He says softly, hoping to dissuade her actions but again, Albedo did not care and instead wrapped her arm around his waist. Slowly trying to ease her strength to lift him.
Her disregard of his wishes irked him, and his worries and fears bottled up to the point that it exploded in but a few words.
"I SAID LEAVE ME BE!!!"
Albedo flinched back as if physically struck. Her face twisted to the verge of tears, as she slowly slid away from him, on her knees and bowed. Hiding her heart broken face.
Pain bit down on his heart, knowing the woman did not deserve such words... but his wishes. His desire to return home in the circle of friends and trusted people he had created. To the future he cultivated.
His hopes, his dreams....
The changes he had tried to push forward. The good news he had all but delivered. To finally reshape the dark and foreboding work culture that had eaten at the hearts of the people... His heart clenched. Fearing that his dystopian world may reshape itself into something darker once again.
And then there are his friends and even those he had grown closer to, that he could call them family...
He clenched his bony fists, trying to muster the strength to utter a few words. "I must-" only to be cut off as he felt her hands on his cheek... so foreign yet, so familiar. But it was the underlying shiver beneath her touch that captivated him.
Not the pulse of a machine engine nor the artificial warmth he could not properly place. The way she looked at him reminded him of what it felt the first time he saw her.
She was radiant, so warm, so smooth, so alive as if...
Like an explosion that echoed like a gong, crashing against his non-existent chest... he felt the beating heart that he had always been. The heart within the undead that he has become.
With resolute words, he commanded. "Leave us." In the absence of others within closed doors. All that remained is him and her. Just staring at each other.
She stood beneath his gaze. Smiling gently as she always did but her glistening eyes told a different story that made his chest ache.
"I'm so sorry, Suzuki-sama-"
"Don't!" he nearly shouted. "Don't go there." he pleaded. "You accepted me, remember? Till death do us part, was that not what we shared?" she held back a sob at his words. "And as far as I'm aware. Neither of us has died yet." an attempt at a joke that fell poorly against their frayed minds.
He slid his hands with hers, while casting [Soul Mirror] feeling her skin as he grew his, and slowly he intertwined their fingers. Savoring her presence pressed against him.
"I am scared.... for both of us. We are lost, we are surrounded, and all I can think of is you and them. Please my love, I need strength. And I fear I would fall if you leave me here. Please..."
Her tears spilled, as sobs of joy escaped her lips and with an overwhelming feeling of relief that left her chest softly drumming, she whispers- "Never alone...
"...never."
Now here they are, sitting in the Throne Room in comfortable silence. While softly running his hands against her hair as he waited on her while she sees what more she could find out about their new found world.
It wasn't long before he felt her magic, drained from her. And with a soft snore escaping her lips, he carried her into his bed room. And left her there under the watchful eyes of two maids.
One is a bespectacled beauty with black, braided-bun hair framing her beautiful face. She wore a choker around her neck with a pair of green gauntlets and a single shoulder guard atop her maid outfit. None of which diminish her incredible figure that showcased her mature beauty.
And right next to her is a maid just as curvaceous as herself. Only with a more elaborate and beautifully decorated maid outfit that looked aristocratic with touches of victorian era in their design but seemed to be maid of materials made to look cute up close. She has a snouted face of a dog and a pair of eyes hidden beneath her raven colored veil that stretches to to her ears and back. She was a perfect mix of a maid and a nun.
The first is Yuri Alpha, the eldest of the Pleiades Battle Maids and Pestonya Shortcake Wanko, a household maid with levels invested on the divine cleric classes. Specialized on healing and anti-ailments.
He exchanged no words with them. Already afraid of his place due to his unbecoming display of vulnerability from earlier. He gave them both but a nod of acknowledgement, and nothing more before returning to the Colosseum at the 6th Floor.
Within he arena sat Momonga, sitting in meditation. Wearing a black robe with crimson trims opened at the chest exposing his muscular body. Tied at the waist with a pair of black baggy pants tucked beneath a steel layered shin-high boots.
Within a familiar skin, he took a steady breathe and released a long one. A practice his friends Takemikazuchi, Touch Me, Beast King Mekongawa and Bellriver had imposed upon him.
It helped him recollect himself after nearly drowning in so much stress brought about by his new responsibilities and problems.
He remembers it well. He was frayed and scared and most of all, guilt racked at him when a terrible news reached his ears. His previous company, had knowingly held his friends, Hero-Hero and Blue Planet hostage within their respective cubicles. Trapped inside the building they worked in. The reason? They wanted an in at the Dome. But that was never going to happen, not when the Dome has an ironclad policy about bringing said questionable people within its walls.
The same type of people who had just threatened him with his friends lives and safety. It was a terrible news that had his world shaking and twisting to the point he doesn't know what to do.
Everyone tried to help, specially his personal Aid, but Eliza's way don't always work. Despite the tea, the massage even the sex both in the game, the matrix or in real life. In her presence, he can't help but feel vulnerable, yet too stubborn to let himself show weakness.
Somewhere, always, in the back of his mind, his brain would scream at him. Reminding him of being with the perfect woman for him, demanding that he do better.
And at some point he breaks, knowing those voices were right.
Eventually, every worry piled up to the point that he was tethering on the edge of actually considering questionable paths, darker motives, bloodier options, all to get the desired result. It was so bad that when Eliza had picked up on his thoughts, she locked his consciousness inside the Matrix.
He should have been scared. To be imprisoned without hope of defending himself, all within the whims of another. But he wasn't...
His friends came by one by one. Each one, invited in the virtual sandbox in hopes to reach him.
In the end Eliza made the call, people died and his friends were rescued but still, he needed release. And it came in a way that had him apologizing to high heavens for forgiveness.
Though his friends forgave him, he still blames himself and how could he not? When the shame lingers mixing with his desire.
He fought the urge to groan at the memory of it. The sudden fucking in the roundtable hall where he fucked Yuri Alpha, the kitchen where he took Lupus Regina Beta and finally the throne room. The last of which, he remembers vividly. Where he grabbed Narberal among the maids dragged her across the carpet, tearing at her clothes as she struggles to put her feet beneath her and just tossed her atop the Throne.
He felt her whispers at his neck, her sultry voice, encouraging him. To just let it all out. Let frustration and anger flow and he did. Not a day went by where he had forgotten the sounds she makes. So, alive as if she were real even then.
Eliza had assured him of it, that they weren't as sentient as they are now. That it was all her doing. Writing, adding and mending more into Narberal's being.
But now, this new world had somehow changed that... and the only explanation she could give him was 'magic'.
"Ainz-sama." Albedo's sultry and mature voice jolted the memory.
The moment after he planted his seed deep into Narberal and with the post nut clarity that came, after having his way with the poor maid. He had stopped himself from grabbing the horned beauty next to him, and drown out the curiosity if her horns would make good handles should he take her from behind.
The distraction effectively made his mind swirl violently. As if he was tugging at his attention that was too enraptured at the white clothe-golden gilded ass that is the Guardian Overseer.
He opened his eyes and felt his heart nearly leap out of his throat as he found her there, on her knees and bent over in front of him with her breast in full view of his face. With her eyes, half lidded and bright as she gazed up at him.
His focus drowned out everything around him, his eyes taking in everything about her. Every curve, every detail of her dress, every wrinkle that contracted against her flesh, every miniscule piece of skin that spilled against her golden trims, the cling of her raven hair against her shoulders, the golden necklace that shimmered as if contending against her perfect skin and robust figure, ....her horns crowned like....
His heart hammered, "Albedo..." her name left his lips and just inches before they touched he felt it again.
Horns gilded in silver and gold with eyes like blazing flames trapped within the finest rubies and a skin just as perfect... but far warmer.... holding him in such familiarity that he felt like the most precious person in the world.
His heart hammered a third time and with gritted teeth, he undid the spell within him. Making his skin melt into nothing and his flesh receded into black flames. His eyes hollowed and in their place, golden embers sparked like an exploding star in the vast galaxy.
The air trembled around him. As, his body went to the Undead's natural reaction of purging all emotions out of him. And with his semblance of control forcefully restored.
"What is it?" he continues. Feigning ignorance of his earlier turmoils.
Albedo felt like she was slapped, recoiling where she knelt, but then her blush intensified, her golden eyes open wide and her lips left small puffs of pink as she breath out. Yet she instead shifted herself, sitting primly on her feet, hands folded atop her lap, secretly clenching at her robe. And with a gentle smile, she spoke.
"J-just worried my Lord. You seemed troubled, I had thought I could help elevate you of them, that is you would want me to Ainz-sama."
"No." he replies firmly, not wanting to delve too deep if her words had any deeper implications. "I appreciate your offer and your concern most of all Overseer." Albedo flinched. "But emotions... they are something I must face and not hide from, lest it cripples my mind, cripple my heart and inturn cripple my blade."
Not far from the two, Cocytus left off a puff of frigid air as his chest raised a bit higher as if receiving words of wisdom.
"Now then, we have delayed this long enough."
Momonga stood up, summoning a black longsword in one hand, as if unsheathed from thin air. He turns to Cocytus as he signalled,
"Come."
He spent the rest of the day after training with Cocytus at Eliza's side. Mostly just sitting and sleeping. All in the comfort of his room.
But at the end of the day, they had to come out and face reality. Only, this time, he had to prepare for whatever it was that he had found himself into.
While Eliza tried to make sense of where they are now. He inturn focused on their protection.
One of the most important matters they had to see to is mainly what they wrote in their own character lore. Almost everything in Yggdrasil has three descriptions. The stats, the effects and the lore.
And since the last of three might greatly affect them, they had decided to address such issue first.
Eliza has confirmed her powers remained. Her combat prowess she has yet to touch upon but within her mind, she is still aware of her own limitations. Which at this world is a whole new level of power on its own.
And then there is the improvement on certain spells. Rebirth and Creation.
For the time, she is no longer playing the part of the perfect philosopher stone... Now, she believes she is one.
And with that came her connection to the foundations of reality itself. During her time in Yggdrasil, Eliza had shown great resource in using the system of Yggdrasil to make sure the guild gets the best outcome.
Many had envied her 'Information Network' and found it extremely efficient but also extremely powerful. During one of her conversation with Tabula Smaragdina she had written it into her lore that she was reborn as an amalgamation of human knowledge. With a form born of desire. And life bound to life. She was the purer form of servitude as her will. Freedom in shackles. Slavery as a choice. Her purpose belongs to another. And wrote that all that she is, belonged to Ainz Ooal Gown.
A lore that was later reiterated to Momonga of Ainz Ooal Gown, the day that the couple's system was introduced and she and Momonga married in virtual reality.
Such was their first problem that they needed to address. Suzuki isn't happy that she had practically chained herself to him, but he couldn't blame her. Neither of them knew what would happen. But of this problem there is a silver lining, and that line is the amount of freedom they could take from it.
He is Momonga, there would be no changing that. But Ainz Ooal Gown is too broad a term. It is a name that needs definition and this definition is simply the guild. But the guild is no longer just the players but also NPC's. The same NPC's he could barely trust. But if Suzuki has any say in it, it is the fact that he would make sure that he remain the core of it all. And to prove his determination, he had officially made it so that she would accept no orders from anyone but himself, and obey no others that goes against her will without his express permission.
For now, Suzuki had made sure that he remains Momonga and his will is Ainz Ooal Gown. But precautions needed to be made, so he made a slight reiteration. Simply put, he ordered Albedo, Sebas, and the Pleiades Battle Maids to address him as Ainz Ooal Gown instead. His reasoning, is to use an alias that is both familiar but not directly linked to him. When in truth, he is merely testing the waters if the concept would be acceptable or rejected. The guild is after all, not all his, but the collective hearts and minds of his fellow guild members but not all of them are friendly. But what if the NPC's would accept him as the collective?
As for the benefits of her existence, that would be her new found connection to the world through the Throne of Kings.
As an Artificial Intelligence, she felt incomplete in the absence of the servers that held her. Like an untethered plug looking for something to plug into. And luckily for her, there is one active system within arms reach.
The Throne of Kings is no longer just an Anti-World Item. It now served as the Master Source of Nazarick. Granting the one who sits upon it complete control over the Guild Base. With complete access to the secrets and the whole archived information of the Guild.
And if the past three days are to be believed, then the Guild Base of Nazarick is no longer bound nor limited to one hollowed graveyard.