Wanted to post this yesterday but exhaustion is a heck of a drug. Anyway second chapter will probably be up tomorrow, let me know what you think.
Momonga sighed as he leaned back into the crystalline throne, the last of the supreme beings, surrounded by the NPCs designed by his wayward friends. The staff of Ainz Ooal Gown floated beside him the symbol of their hard work, more a symbol of their friendship.
Only ten seconds left before the game which he'd poured his life into would be no more. The connections he'd made, the accomplishments they shared would be rendered to nothing.
He had work in the morning, he could feel the weariness pulling on his bones as he closed his eyes.
5
4
3
2
1
…….
Momonga couldn't help the grunt of surprise that escaped him as he opened his eyes not to the apartment he expected but instead an endless sea of white. The ground and sky stretched into an endless white void.
Spinning in place revealed only more of the white void. He began to feel panic setting in before it suddenly vanished. Shaking off the strange phenomenon he wondered if this was some sort of final prank by the devs. Grasping the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown from where it floated in the air, he reached his hand forward to activate the GM call function only to grasp air. The menus and screens he was familiar with failed to materialize.
Another flash of panic quickly vanished, attempting to remove or deactivate his headset also failed to garner any results. Frustration simmering Momonga cast [Message]. Despite the lack of menus and hotkeys, it felt like second instinct. He could feel the spell reach into the aether only to fail to connect.
Grunting in frustration he attempted to reach out to anyone he could think of with [message], yet again to utter silence. Clenching his fist he breathed deeply only to notice the subtle scent of vanilla causing him to pause.
Scent wasn't programmed into Yggdrasil, clenching his fist again he noted the hardness of his own bones, in detail there hadn't been before. Raising his hand to his face he stared at the oversized appendage. The gaps between the bones and lack of muscle once so familiar felt foreign as he truly felt his body.
Another feeling registered in the back of his mind as he stared at his open hand. A feeling of unease that hadn't faded with his other emotional turmoil. It was the disconcerting feeling of not belonging. The closest experience he could equate the emotion to was the time he'd been half asleep and walked into the wrong meeting room with several executives. The feeling of the world itself wanting to reject you.
Despite recognizing the feeling he simply couldn't place its origins, the white void was hardly inviting but nothing about it felt inherently hostile.
Pushing the concerning feeling to the back of his mind he examined his predicament. He was trapped in a white featureless void, he could not reach the GMs or anyone else with the message spell, he was unable to exit the game or remove his headset.
Either he was part of a highly illegal experimental demo created by the devs for no discernable reason. He was stuck in some form of glitch…or something truly ridiculous had come to pass.
The feeling of unease lead him to another important question. [Message] had been like second nature despite the lack of menus, was his other magic still accessible?
He pointed out a single index finger into the void. [Fireball] His magic answered with a wonderful explosion of fiery radiance that swiftly vanished. Focusing inward he could feel his spells, their range, effects, and power. He knew them as if they were his own limbs.
Feeling comforted by his spells still being intact he decided to test his skills. Having a tank on hand seemed the perfect way to test. Thus he brought forward one of his favored undead [Create middle tier undead] Death Knight.
A black viscous liquid quickly rose from the ground forming the familiar avatar of pain and violence. The monstrosity was over two meters tall adorned in spikes with a massive shield and flamberge. Its glowing red eyes took in its surroundings for but a moment before it screeched in pain and shattered like glass.
Momonga was taken aback. The Death Knight was only level thirty but had incredible defensive stats for a monster of its level. Moreover, its special ability ensured it would survive any damage with a single point of health remaining.
Meaning it had either been hit with such a powerful attack it somehow bypassed its passive, or whatever damage it had taken was constantly being applied thus it had technically taken two "hits" in near the same instance.
That left the important question of what type of damage it had taken and why Momonga hadn't been taking any. Already he had a solid theory. The death knight was unique among mid-level undead in that it held no weakness to fire-based attacks, but it was weak to holy damage. Considering the speed of its demise it seemed likely it'd been hit by its weakness, more it would explain why Momonga was unbothered, as his divine equipment rendered him immune to holy damage.
Grasping the staff in his hand he decided to test his theory, bringing forth a set of moonlight wolves. The wolves quickly formed from glowing circles and stood before him expectantly. This time he could feel a connection between them and himself. Moonlight wolves were rather weak level twenty summons used for low-level ambushes but they also happened to be decently resistant to holy damage and as he had hoped they hadn't been instantly killed like the death knight.
Saying that he could sense they weren't doing well, their bodies were glowing brighter by the moment and they seemed to be in pain. Realizing what was about to happen Momonga raised his cape in front of him as the wolf exploded in a brilliant flash of light. Waving the smokey air away, Momonga stared at the spot his wolves had just been.
This seemed to prove his theory that the death knight had taken holy damage but it still left many questions. The moonlight wolves exploding was unexpected, more was the effect something native to this void or an effect born of some unknown spell cast upon this specific part of the void?
If it was native to this entire void the only thing capable of such a widespread and powerful feat he knew of was a World Class item. If he remembered correctly there was a specific World Class item with the effect of dealing constant holy damage to evil-aligned entities across an entire world.
The idea someone had used such and he'd just happened to land in an area affected by it seemed…Unfortunate.
Considering his circ*mstances there was only one more test he could reach for. He activated the most powerful teleportation spell in his arsenal targeting The Great Tomb of Nazarick. The void of blackness stood in stark contrast to the ethereal void around them alas no connection was made and the sphere quickly winked out. Attempting the same with every other world he knew of bore the same results.
He was truly stuck in an endless void with no beginning or end. He didn't consider himself a particularly evil person and this void didn't seem overly punishing beyond the constant holy damage. Was this perhaps a form of purgatory? Anin between places where people of no great goods or evils wound up in death?
The panic-inducing thoughts faded from his mind quickly, why would an afterlife trap him in his skeletal avatar? Why would it leave him his magic? Why would it enforce his emotional suppression as an undead to keep his mind clear? Whatever had happened to him, simple death seemed unlikely to be the answer.
Left with no direction and no means of escape, Momonga pushed aside his doubts, glanced around him one last time, picked a direction, and with a simple cast of [fly] took to the air.
It felt like days, perhaps even weeks, Momonga had quickly realized time had little meaning in the great expanse he found himself in, there was no sun, and shadows quickly faded where they dared exist at all. Add his seemingly tireless nature, lack of hunger, thirst, or exhaustion as one of the undead, and time became rather difficult to track.
His musings on the passage of time were interrupted when he felt something strike him. Blinking his eyes through the new blinding light that had hit him revealed a humanoid creature twenty meters away. It had white wings and glared hatefully at him, it was adorned in white gold armor, a flaming sword gripped in its hand.
The angel wasn't familiar to his eyes, though its design was hardly strange considering the variety in Yggdrasil. Part of him hoped he had happened upon another player who'd been pulled into this strange realm. Though the attack rendered ineffective by his holy immunity didn't give him much hope this would be a peaceful encounter.
"Greetings! Tell me, are you also by chance lost in this strange place? I am…" Momonga paused as he considered what name to give. This could be another so perhaps his real name was the better one to give?
"I know you, creature, I can taste your vile presence from here" The being spoke with an ethereal voice, as if several voices were joined to create a single choir
"Hm, I don't suppose there's a way we could talk this out? I truly don't wish to fight."
"I don't understand how you continue to exist in this place, you should have been purged by the holy light long ago, but I will correct this oversight" The angel spat as it raised it's sword.
"Wonderful, so glad we could have this chat" Momonga mumbled to himself as the angel flew at him, slashing its sword to launch a divine flash of light. With barely a thought Momonga teleported out of the path of the projectile to appear behind the angel.
[Grasp heart] The angel stopped dead in its tracks, though was still alive. This told him two things, one his spell's secondary effects were still working, and second whatever class of angel this was had some resistance to instant death effects. While not totally uncommon amongst higher-level angels it was still an unpleasant realization.
With that in mind Momonga quickly moved to cease his opening Triple maximize magic [Reality Slash] The three blades of space cleaved through the angel as it regained its movement. Its wings and lower half were severed from its body as it released a melancholy screech as it began to fall.
Before it could reach where Momonga believed the ground to be it dissipated into motes of light and dust. Vanishing as if it had never existed at all.
"Perhaps it was summoned? Angels didn't normally vanish like that in Yggdrasil unless they were summoned creatures…" Momonga couldn't help the note of disappointment in his voice. Angels while annoying enemies had the tendency to drop powerful loot and a decent amount of gold.
Lowering himself to the ground he found no trace of the divine nuisance, his disappointed thoughts were interrupted as something smashed into his side. Quickly righting himself with flying magic, Momonga found himself faced with several humanoid angels, elephant-shaped angels held aloft by their winged ears, and unicorns.
"...I don't suppose you're open to discussion?" Momonga asked with a note of sarcasm.
The unicorn grunt seemed like an answer enough, Momonga reeled back and smashed the creature aside with the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown
"Thought as much," Momonga mumbled as he rubbed the golden blood from the staff.
Yet again time seemed to lose meaning, the angelic forces were relentless in their pursuit, in that time Momonga passed glistening cities of crystalline brilliance, massive forest atop floating island, and innumerable other sights…All of them glowing in the same blinding radiance he had grown to despise.
The angelic forces he'd encountered hadn't been too difficult to escape at first, a simple application of invisibility and teleportation had rendered him free. Alas in what felt like no time at all he'd been hunted down again. While his anti-divination defenses were working, as proven by the massive explosion he'd heard after his first fight they must have had some means to either bypass it or locate him through other means he did not recognize.
In the next altercation they'd prepared anti teleportation countermeasures and seemingly brought along creatures able to see through invisibility, more they brought even more creatures born of celestial light.
The issue Momonga had quickly realized was for every angel he fell they'd make that crying noise and more would come to the call, and once they joined the pursuit they seemed reluctant to leave. He could only guess something about his presence truly rankled their sensibilities, which felt odd to him. Angels and undead in Yggdrasil held no love for one another but they weren't the natural enemies like demons and angels.
The musings were quickly shaken from his mind as another glowing blade of light passed his skull, without batting an eye Momonga grasped the angel's wing and tore it from its socket before tossing the dewinged angel into its fellows.
He had quickly realized the strength of the angelic fighters varied wildly, and most could be easily batted aside with the proper application of force. Of course, as angels their healing abilities were great, and would swiftly recover from any nonlethal injuries. They were also learning from him as time wore on. They'd all but abandoned traditional holy magic in favor of fire and healing spells. Though strangely they hadn't attempted to use their healing magic to harm him.
They'd also seemingly given up on attacking him with any magic below the sixth tier as they rarely encountered his negation passive.
Strangely he had yet to see an angel resurrect a fallen comrade, which seemed off putting, resurrecting without a body was no easy feat but angels were the apex of holy aligned magic.
Ignoring the oddity, Momonga cast [Nuclear blast] to clear the swell of angelic monsters before him. Some were instantly destroyed by the mixed blunt and fire damage, others simply picked themselves from the clearing dust.
The truth was he was getting tired, tired of the constant hounding, tired of the endless light. If not for his emotional suppression he likely would have given in long ago. Casting a tripled [Armageddon Evil] He quickly ascended as the angels were assaulted by the exploding mass of demons emerging from their portals.
Flying high into the air under flickering invisibility he looked out at the growing horde of holy beings as they fought the demonic horde that burst into fiery explosions as they lashed out in hatred. What had started as a few dozen had swelled to hundreds, possibly even thousands of holy agents hell-bent on his destruction.
He could fly away, it would likely buy him another few…Whatever passed for days in this horrendous place. If he combined it with [Timestop] who knew how long it'd take to find him.
Looking out at the horde an idea formed in his mind, the issue was the death knell the creatures tended to let out seemed to attract more allies. If they all died at once and instantly they wouldn't have a chance to call for backup.
Thus the problem became instant death magic. At first, he had assumed the angels and creatures were simply highly resistant to it. And while he still thought that was the case for the stronger ones he also believed he was being actively hampered by the place they fought.
During the battles, he'd had plenty of time to test some of his spells. From what he could tell all his necromantic abilities seemed weaker and more prone to be ineffective. Even relatively weak seeming angels had a chance to survive even his most powerful death spells.
He had yet to try super-tier magic in this place. A single cast of that spell would cover the entire horde, but if they resisted he'd be back where he started. Perhaps if he…
He should run. It was the smart thing to do, who was to say the death of all these creatures wouldn't bring tens of thousands more down upon him? As he gripped the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown in his hand he paused.
He had run more than enough, if his friends were beside him now they would face their enemy and make them rue the day they'd defied Ainz Ooal Gown.
Momonga crashed to the ground as fast as he could, crushing an angel and unicorn underfoot and producing a large cloud of dust. [Nuclear blast] As the dust settled the angels around him were launched back.
He could almost hear Ulbert cheering him on, Punitto Moe belittling him for not taking more time to prepare. Yamiko admonishing him for showing off. Touch me standing behind him protecting him from the humans that hunted him simply for being undead.
[The Goal of All Life is Death]
A massive clock appeared behind Momonga's back ticking down
With the shattering of glass, a super-tier spell was cast into the Aether. [Lä Shub-Niggurath]
Smashing the staff into the ground Momonga called upon the power of two of the gems and the horde of angels was quickly swept back by the starlight and fire primal elementals.
The constant ticking of damage on them alongside the horde of holy attacks would result in their deaths. It was why he'd summoned the starlight elementals, they were immune to holy damage. But that was all part of the plan, as the clock ticked down Momonga felt a grin spread across his face. As if his friends were smiling down at him.
"Today you learn what thousands before you learned. AINZ OOAL GOWN DOES NOT KNOW DEFEAT" With this declaration the hand hit zero, and everything knew death.
Momonga watched as the angels and celestial beings fell like puppets whose strings had been cut. The white that had so suffused his existence since arriving had been swallowed by a cool inky black wind. The ground and air all had lost their brilliance. The bodies that usually vanished remained as a massive black orb formed above them.
The feeling of shade and darkness, the cool dead wind over his battered bones gave a sense of relief he hardly recognized. Only after being trapped in this world of light could he truly appreciate the shade.
His musings were broken by a thunderous crash, as if the sun itself had descended a giant of a man stood before him, adorned in gold and white cloth, lacking the wings that seemed so customary for humanoids here. His hair glowed in fire and his face was like an eclipse
Something within Momonga instantly recognized the figure. He did not know its name nor what it represented but he knew it still. A god, a deity descended from up high likely to avenge its fallen children.
Momonga wanted to laugh, gods weren't uncommon bosses in Yggdrasil but they were rarely easy, let alone fighting them with no knowledge or allies. He should have considered an angry god taking issue with his acts but he'd still been somewhat thinking like a game. A boss wouldn't leave their designated area to help their minions. An oversight he'd have to correct if he survived.
The sphere dropped, coating the fallen in black ooze that quickly formed into three aberrations of darkness, bleating like maddened goats. Sighing, Momonga gripped his staff. He didn't trust his odds of beating a god, not without much more information and time to prepare. Especially alone and trapped in this hellish place but he refused to fall without a fight.
The god batted aside one of the dark young that struggled to return to its feet as its brethren leaped upon him wrapping him in their massive tendrils and attempting to wrestle him with their weight. Slamming the staff into the ground he activated the remaining gems, the [Goal of All Life is Death] had killed the starlight and fire elementals. Luckily he still had access to three more.
The primal water elemental flowed towards his enemy coalescing around his massive legs, the wind elemental assaulted his face as the earth elemental formed behind him to smash its earthen limbs into his back.
Triple maximize magic [Frostfall], the god was quickly consumed by three beams of freezing light. Frostfall was a single-target ninth-tier spell that dealt freezing damage, he had no idea what form of deity was upset with him but the flaming hair seemed to suggest it didn't have any love of ice. With his mana already a bit low it seemed the wisest decision.
The blackened area created by his death spell was fading, being consumed by that all-encompassing light. The god showed no signs of being damaged as it ripped a dark young in half with its bare hands. Reducing the creature to quickly fading black ash. Its brothers cried out in rage as they rammed into it.
A snap of his fingers brought forth a massive beam of light that burned away the water elemental.
Just as despair began setting in there was a peculiar sound behind Momonga. Like paper being torn. Turning from his enemy in a move that would surely have his old friends scold him his eyes widened at the sight before him. It was a massive fleshy structure, shaped after a boat with massive tentacles. It had slipped through some purple mist. The ship looked to be in rough shape, smoke leaked from its sides, and purplish blood seemed to be leaking from massive slices in its side.
Realization took Momonga as he saw the purple gathering at the head of the ship. Damaged as it was, it could seemingly still travel. The ship had come from nothing and seemed ready to vanish into it once more…
Glancing back towards the angry god he saw its eyes widen. Though Momonga couldn't make facial expressions he felt somewhat confident the god could feel his grin. He gripped the side of the passing vessel and vanished into the Aether leaving the raging god behind with the half-dead dark young and final elemental.
Im sure there will be some very upset dnd lore experts out there, in the end we're dealing with some really weird stuff here. Momonga is running of 3.5e hombrewed rules in a 5e setting expect much weirdness. (For instance ainz thinks the angels are using seventh tier spells but they're actually using sixth, because overlord has ten tiers of magic before getting into super/epic tier magic) He's also confused why they're not using healing magic to damage him, cause in 5e healing magic no longer damages undead, instead just having no effect for the most part. Where overlord is still fully dug into the negative vs positive energy system
