Chapter Text
HeroHero let out another, big yawn. The man had been up for some time now, it was perfectly reasonable for him to be tired. Still, Momonga could help feeling annoyed all the same. YGGDRASIL was scheduled to be shut down in just over an hour; all of his and his friend's hard work, including HeroHero’s, was going to be erased. Just like that, poof, gone. Momonga felt HeroHero could, at the very least, hold out till then. It would go some way to making up for all the time he'd missed.
HeroHero yawned again and this time Momonga joined him.
“Perhaps you two should log out,” A third voice spoke up. Momonga turned to him. Where HeroHero looked like a deep purple sludge pile and Momonga was a skeleton with a gaudy set of robes, to show off his power and wealth, this third person was both less monstrous and illustrious than the other two. Though , Momonga noted, he’s probably more of both . EMIYA was not a man to be messed with, despite his quite looks and gentle personality. The man was an absolutely beastly player. Dull copper skin with a pair of silver eyes and matching silver hair all rested on a somewhat handsome human face. Not that he was of course. Their guild, Ainz Ooal Gown, was made up of entirely heteromorphic players. Humanoids and select, good-aligned demi-human races weren’t allowed to join, let alone become guildmaster.
EMIYA been the leader of the guild for some time now, and there wasn’t a man Momonga respected more. Not only did EMIYA perfectly embody the very goal and ideal that had birthed the guild in the first place, he had also stayed after all the others had left to tend to the guild with his skeletal friend. Other than HeroHero’s brief return today, EMIYA and Momonga were the last two active members of Ainz Ooal Gown, real life having slowly taking precedence for all the others. The fact EMIYA had stayed behind with him meant a great deal more to the Lich than he could ever put into words. The two had played YGGDRASIL side by side for nearly a year now without even a brief appearance from their old friends, they’d often been each other's only real source of company for perhaps days at a time.
To be quite honest, Momonga hadn’t expected HeroHero to show up tonight. Of course he’d hoped some of his old friends might come back and say one last goodbye to their old home but he knew deep down it was a foolish hope to have. He and EMIYA had worked tirelessly together just to earn enough money to pay the guild maintenance fees so that they and the home they had all built together could be there to welcome them back but no one came. It stung, really stung, but neither he nor EMIYA had ever resented their old friends. Time moves on and people move with it, that’s just the way it was. If anything, Momonga was happy everyone seemed to be doing so well they had no time for YGGDRASIL anymore. While Momonga felt some annoyance at HeroHero’s seeming disinterest, that was dwarfed by the sheer glee at seeing his old friend again.
“You’re right,” HeroHero said, nodding, his sludge drooping down as his face slid into a frown. “I’ve been up for a while. I need some rest.” HeroHero opened up his menu, gave the two a brief goodbye and logged off of Yggdrasil forever. While Momonga genuinely wished the smile all the best a small hole settled in his stomach, a pit, that was almost swallowing him whole. He couldn’t even hold on for an hour .
“Perhaps you should leave too, Momonga. You need to be up in a few hours, don’t you,” EMIYA reminded him. EMIYA’s brow furrowed as he scanned his friend for any signs of exhaustion, not that there would be. For as advanced as YGGDRASIL had been, and still was, animated facial features were not one of those technical advancements. While in-game NPC’s might have very detailed and animated expressions, such advancements were lost for players and player made NPC’s.
That’s so like you , Momonga thought, it was one of the reasons EMIYA had been chosen to lead, after all. The genuine care and concern he showed to not only the guild members but to everyone he met, especially those in need, had made him fast friends with everyone in the guild. When Touch Me had stepped down during the reformation EMIYA had been voted guildmaster near unanimously. While he had made it clear he had no desire to lead, once the votes were in, EMIYA had accepted the position without hesitation. During his time as guildmaster, EMIYA had made sure that both the guild and he himself perfectly represented the singular desire Ainz Ooal Gown had been founded upon, the protection of the weak.
Back during YGGDRASILs peak, it was a bad idea to play a heteromorphic race. In the interest of realism, the developers had decided that there wouldn’t be any penalties for humanoid players hunting and killing heteromorph players, and a select few ‘evil’ demi-human races too. They'd tried to keep the mix of races balanced by giving heteromorphic races powerful racial abilities whereas humans had none, though they did possess a greater capacity for class customisation, as an obvious attempt to draw more players to a race classification they knew would be under used. It didn’t. Humanoid players dominated YGGDRASILs servers and, because the reverse was also true, heteromorphs not receiving debuffs or penalties for killing humanoid or ‘good’ demi-humans, this led to heteromorphic persecution.
Despite the incentives to play a heteromorph, the benefits of playing a human were just too great. Humans had free reign to enter any town or city of their choosing while most heteromorphic races, those that didn't look human, were attacked on sight for even approaching a lot of them. Combined with the ever growing human population of YGGDRASIL the relative safety of human players couldn’t be understated. YGGDRASIL was designed to be a punishing game where death, while not permanent, was devastating. A whole five levels were lost upon death meaning you were not only weaker but you had lost hours of play time as well as several abilities. Upon death a random high level item was dropped meaning you needed friends nearby to pick up your items or you’d lost it for good. This placed a high emphasis on PVP and the only safe zones were in towns, meaning anyone exploring the vast wilds of the game was able to be ambushed and killed by other players.
The large humanoid player base meant that human players could move in larger groups than heteromorphs. It also meant a larger amount of high level players. In a game that put a lot of emphasis on PVP it didn't take a genius to figure out what started happening next, humans started ‘culling’. ‘Cull’ wasn't an official term but it was one widely used by the heteromorph community. Human players arranged, IRL, a specific date, time and meeting point for a ‘cull’ and then moved out as a wave of various groups and guilds to kill as many heteromorphic players as they could in an effort to farm their items. Because only a single item could be looted from player at a time it wasn’t uncommon for groups to camp heteromorph spawns to kill respawning players, they’d be easier pickings when at a lower level but still have fairly high level gear. YGGDRASIL also only allowed players to have one avatar at a time. Once a person dropped below level 0 their avatar was deleted with no way to recover it, forcing them to make a new avatar and start again. With the ‘player farming’ that was going on for the high level loot a lot of heteromorphic players were forced below level 0 and their avatars deleted. It wasn't uncommon for someone who had lost their avatar to a ‘culling’ to roll up a human avatar next to avoid the same happening again, which only further exasperated the problem. The situation got so bad it had nearly caused the games developers to step in before the situation had begun to resolve itself.
EMIYA was one of the few heteromorphs who was strong enough to push back against these attacks and he did so with surprising frequency. His max level and extreme skill at the game gave him good odds to survive a fight against a group of high level players, sometimes even winning against them. His Draconic race also meant he had both a human form and dragon form so it wasn’t hard for him to go under the radar and simply not be targeted at all, something EMIYA had take advantage of on numerous occasions. Due to his ability to go unnoticed during ‘culls’ EMYIA could get close to ‘cull’ groups without them becoming on-guard, allowing him and his superior skill to dispatch small groups with little effort.
Ainz Ooal Gown had been formed, in part, in an effort to help stop the ‘culls’. The original group, Nine’s Own Goal, had originally been made from a small group of friends who just formed a guild together. They also just so happened to be all heteromorphs. Once the ‘culls’ started happening the group had decided to help out and started recruiting others into their guild. From there they had reformed into Ainz Ooal Gown, with EMIYA at it’s head and an express wish to protect heteromorph players from the cyber bullying and let them play the amazing game in peace.
EMIYA had been one of the few players Nine’s Own Goal had actively sought out. He’d been surprisingly hard to find due to his somewhat elusive nature and the fact he was always hopping around the map to help people. Eventually, the guild tracked him down; it hadn't taken long to convince him to join. After hearing their desire to protect the people just trying to play the game, EMIYA had joined up immediately.
Under EMIYA’s leadership, the guild swelled in size and started to turn the tide. The whole guild pitched in to do there part, hundreds of members each doing what they can to help out other players. Some people began specialising in various support classes, like Blacksmith or Alchemists, or building a combat support character like Healers or special Mage characters with an emphasis on giving players buffs and resistances. Resources were pooled together and shared amongst the guilds members. Players who’d specialised in the various artisan classes used the guilds money and materials to create things for other guild members to use at no cost, resulting in a ton of powerful weapons, armour and items at Ainz Ooal Gowns disposal. It even spread outside of YGGDRASIL itself. IRL players began a sort of information network that scoured YGGDRASIL forums and message boards for information on any upcoming ‘culls’ before logging back into the game to pass the information over. Teams were then created to attack the various groups taking part in the ‘cull’ and others were made to search out and protect targeted players. While the human players had managed to come together to organise the ‘culls’ they lacked any unity beyond that and EMIYA used that against them. Due to the sheer amount of players taking part in the ‘culls’ multiple meetup sites had to be picked for the various groups to start from. One of EMIYA’s more common tactics was to organised the guild teams to attack these meeting spots one by one, using the old divide and conquer. Their lack of communication meant it was impossible for one site to alert the others, meaning no reinforcements to help push Ainz Ooal Gown back and no one being able to alert the next group of the guild coming for them. AInz Ooal Gown soon turned into a small but elite force of players. Still, it took nearly a year before the ‘culls’ officially stopped. There were still targeted attacks against heteromorphic players but the larger raids were a thing of the past.
Not many stayed with the guild after that.
When everything had finally settled only 42 people had remained. EMIYA had been a bit apprehensive about leading the group when the guild finally started doing the in-game raids rather than raids on other players but he soon found his rhythm, as the rest of them had. They hadn’t all worked closely with each other during the ‘cull’ raids but quickly found their feet. The guild went on to battle dungeon after dungeon and complete raid after raid, all the while taking down some of the hardest bosses in the game. They all became close friends and eventually set about getting an actual guild hall for themselves, something that had been neglected in the face of stopping the ‘culls’. It was eventually decided they would try for the dungeon/guild hall The Tomb of Nazarick. It had been hard, requiring a lot of planning and more than a few attempts, but they'd gotten it in the end.
“I-it’s fine,” Momonga waved off. “I’m here till the end.” EMIYA’s frown deepened.
“You really shouldn't put games over your health. Too little sleep doesn’t just make it hard to concentrate and leave you feeling sleepy, it can also have adverse effects on your body too.” Momonga gave a little chuckle at that. EMIYA always was more concerned with the person behind the avatar than the avatar itself. It made it really difficult for the roleplayers in the guild. Momonga had been with the guild since before even EMIYA and he couldn't recall a single time that EMIYA had looked as lost as the day Ulbert had decided he wanted the guild to start playing into their evil theme.
Heteromorph races were evil races, that had been part of the appeal of playing one. While players had the ability to play their character however they wanted, regardless of race, one of the main draws, bar racial abilities, had been to roleplay as a bad guy. EMIYA had been quite uncomfortable with the suggestion before finally being convinced to go along with it when most of the members had stepped forward in support of the suggestions, after all, “ it's only a game, EMIYA.”
As the head of the guild, EMIYA was forced to play as the guilds ‘big bad overlord’. He’d never looked so uncomfortable in all the time the others had known him and they all gleefully took notice. He eventually got more into the role but never fully embraced it. The fact that the guild constantly brought it up around him to embarrass the Dragonoid didn’t help matters. More than a few jokes had been made at EMIYA’s expense but he’d taken them all in stride. Convincing EMIYA to go along with one of Ulbert’s later suggestions had been a lot harder.
A few months after the final alterations to their guild hall had been completed, Ulbert came up with the idea for the guild to make a final confrontation against invaders from Nazaricks throne room. He’d gotten the idea for one of those early morning anime’s with the stereotypical, mustache-twirling villains. A final show of arrogance from the bad guys by forcing their opponents into an all-or-nothing final battle. EMIYA’s had vehemently put his foot down, while he hadn’t told the others they couldn’t do so if they wanted he wanted no part of it. He said he just couldn’t bring himself to ‘cruel mock the efforts of others’. Up until Ulbert's suggestion, the guild had just fought on the various levels of the guild hall alongside the floor guardians that protected them and EMIYA hadn’t wanted to chance that, finding some sort of honour or something in fighting the invaders openly. Ulbert and a few of the others had spent a lot of time and effort and a little bending of the truth to convince him to go along with the idea, the effect just wouldn’t be the same if the main villain wasn’t there to take part.
“I want to be here until the end,” Momonga quietly admitted. Momonga dropped his gaze to the table. Having a round table in the guild's meeting room had been something EMIYA had pushed hard for. It was surprising to see him get so serious over something so small. Touch Me, perhaps the person who understood EMIYA best, had said it had something to do King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. EMIYA might be their leader but when they sat with him at the table they were all equal, no one sat at the tables’ head because there wasn’t one.
EMIYA dropped a gentle hand on Momonga’s shoulder. “I get it,” he sighed. “The time and effort we’ve put in to looking after the guild, what it means to you… I understand, and I feel the same way. But please, in the end, no matter how much you wish for things to be different, this place isn't real. “ Those words hit Momonga like a fist to the gut. YGGDRASIL might be made of various 1’s and 0’s, it might just be a digital world, but it felt real. Everything in it, everything that had happened in it, it was all real to him.
“The real worlds out there,” EMIYA said, pointing to the ceiling. “Never lose yourself in a fake world like this.”
But EMIYA was right, staying till the end was a selfish move on Momonga’s part. He and EMIYA had already said their goodbyes to everyone when the they’d left and Momonga did have work in a few hours and needed at least some sleep. Momonga might be willing to risk his health for just one more hour in the world that meant so much to him but not if it meant hurting his best friend, as ‘intentionally hurting himself’ would do. The fact that EMIYA knew just how much he was asking made it easier for Momonga to accept leaving. Momonga didn’t think he could part from YGGDRASIL if EMIYA didn’t.
“Besides,” EMIYA said with a smile, “just because this worlds gone doesn’t mean the memories are too. Just because this world was never real doesn’t mean what you felt in it wasn’t.” The mans kind words echoed his own and helped somewhat to lessen the blow, but it was still with a heavy heart that Momonga unequipped all his items and gear.
A trade window popped up in front of EMIYA. No words were shared between the two, there was no need. As the trade window filled up a lump formed in EMIYA’s throat. It feels like ha funeral , EMIYA thought to himself. It was an irrational thought, Momonga was just going to log off and then carry on living his life. Perhaps he'll find a new game to play and make new friends to share adventures with. So why did it feel so final for Momonga? After all, he isn't the one about to die , EMIYA remarked, calmly.
Shirou Emiya was a part of YGGDRASIL; he had been for the past twelve years. He didn't know how and he didn't know why but he knew that he was as much a part of the game as of the NPCs or monsters, yet somehow still acting as if he were a player. Once upon a time, Shirou might have tried to find a way out but he had long since given up looking for a way back to his own world. In part because it was basically impossible but also because, quite frankly, he didn't want to go back. In his world, his dream of being a Hero of Justice was unreachable. He still would have tried all the same but here, inside this game world, it wasn't just a possibility but a necessity. Heteromorphic players, despite still being human under their monstrous appearance, were being unfairly treated, targeted and persecuted. They needed saving. So, that’s what he did, Shirou Emiya went out and saved as many of them as he could. He joined a group of like-minded people and saved even more of them. He might have gone on to pretend to be a villain but he remained a hero at heart and that would never change.
Unfortunately, Shirou's decision to stay in YGGDRASIL now meant he shared the world's fate. While everyone else was able to log out and go home he could not. He wasn't entirely sure what would happen to him once the servers shutdown but it wasn't too much of a stretch to imagine. When the game shutdown and its data was deleted then so too would he. In a single moment he would simply cease to exist.
Some might think he'd be upset at the news, it isn’t unreasonable for people to get angry or fearful when confronted with their own mortality, but Shirou just accepted it and moved on. He saw no point on dwelling on something he couldn’t change. If that was his fate then so be it. He'd lived a good life, or so he liked to think, and he'd accomplished his dream. While their lives were never truly on the line he’d still saved people, rescuing them from the cruelty of others . He fulfilled his dream and that was enough for him.
“Goodbye, EMIYA. I hope we meet each other again. Perhaps we could play Kipla together,” Momonga said hopefully. Kipla was a new game Momonga had told Shirou about, nowhere near as expansive as YGGDRASIL but supposedly just as fun. Shirou smiled, joyous at his friends enthusiasm, but he couldn't help the tinge of regret from seeping in.
“I can't, I'm sorry,” Shirou told him. When Momonga asked why, Shirou hesitated. He didn’t want to worry his friend, to cause Momonga any unnecessary pain or grief by telling him the truth. Not that he could tell the skeleton man the whole truth anyway, it was both too long and Momonga wouldn’t believe it anyway. There might be magic in YGGDRASIL but YGGDRASIL was just a game, who’d believe it actually existed in the real world, or that it resulted in a person being trapped in a DMMO-RPG.. But, something inside of Shirou just couldn’t leave Momonga without an answer of some kind. “I can't, I… it's just impossible. I won't be playing any more games after this one.”
“But wh-” Momonga began before abruptly cutting off. His eyes widened as the realisation dawned on him. I should have expected that , Shirou admonished. Momonga always was one of the smarter members of the guild.
“Do you want me to stay with you until-” Momonga cut himself off again, not being able to bring himself to finish.
“No, you go take care of yourself. Besides, I could use some time to myself.” It was better this way, Shirou believed. He wouldn't live to see tomorrow whereas his friend would, Momonga’s physical wellbeing was more important than Shirou's desire for his friend to stay.
Momonga pulled EMIYA into a hug. “We had a good run.”
“Yeah,” Shirou agreed, “we did.” Momonga stood waiting, hoping his friend would change his mind and ask him to stay. He didn't. With a heavy heart, the man named Suzuki Satoru looked out of YGGDRASIL for the last time, devastated that he'd never see his best friend again. I wonder how you can still smile? He asked himself.
Shirou's final smile would stay with him for years to come.
Shirou looked at the clock, 42 and a half minutes to go. He should say goodbye to everyone else.
With his inability to log out, Shirou had to find ways to keep himself occupied beyond playing the game itself. One thing he did was hang out with Nazaricks NPC’s. Before the guild finally got themselves a guild hall Shirou would rest in the various taverns and inns that littered the world. While he no longer had a physical body his mind still needed rest. Once the guild had taken Nazarick, that became his home. He slept there, ate there, lived there. He knew all the NPC’s the guild had made by name and had memorised all of their stats and biographies; it still surprised him how in depth the other members had gotten when writing the NPCs bios.
No matter how grotesque their bodies or deranged their ‘personalities’ Shirou held each of them as dearly in his heart as their creators. Even if he didn't already know which member had created which NPC he knew that he would have been able to tell just by reading the bios. Each of his friends had left a little of themselves behind in their creations, even if they didn't know it themselves. Shirou sometimes found himself reading the various NPC bios when he was feeling especially nostalgic. They were all he had left of some of his closest friends.
Shirou walked through each of the ten floors, stopping to see each NPC briefly. He spent longer with each of the floor guardians, special NPCs that the guild had made to fight on their behalf. He felt a greater kinship with them than any other the others. During the early days of Nazarick, when enemy raids had been more frequent, Shirou had regularly fought alongside each of the floor guardians to stop the guild from losing the Tomb. With Ulberts suggestion of a final battle in the Throne Room, the final floors having finally been finished and all of Nazarick NPCs having been created fighting alongside the floor guardians became a thing of the past. While Shirou was happy that the NPCs were strong enough to protect Nazarick on their own he sometimes found himself wanting to fight alongside them again.
He visited each NPC in turn, not just the floor guardians. Due to his limited time, Shirou didn’t get to give them all a proper goodbye but it was still nice to see all of their faces one last time. After seeing them all, Shirou returned to the sixth floor. As guild master, Shirou had full access and control over the Tomb, he could change and manipulate each of the floors as and when he wanted. The guild voted to decide on what to do, which is why Shirou and Touch Me were forced to roleplay as ‘bad guys’ so much, but Shirou still had the power to do what he wanted if he so desired. He tried never to abuse it but there was one time...
Sequestered away in the far corner of Floor 6, behind a barrier that only allowed EMIYA himself could pass, Shirou had built his workshop.
Shirou's player build had gone through many changes over the years. He'd at first specced into both Knight and Archer as well as putting a decent amount of levels into Cook, Blacksmith and Survivalist, with a few stray levels in various other classes. When he joined the guild and they'd found out he only had the first level of his racial class, the one he was given as a level 1, several of his friends had launched into an immediate campaign to get him to change his build. After much nagging and convincing, Shirou now had a fair few levels in his racial class, though he in no way maxed it out like some of his friends had urged him to do. Knight, Cook and Survivalist had all been dropped completely while his Blacksmith level had been severely reduced, the levels also going into his Archer class as well. Shirou still sometimes played a blacksmith, using some of the level reset items within the guild vault, by re-organising his build for a few hours before reverting it back. He only did this when he was alone and none of the other guild members were online though, smithing was a pastime and was reserved only for his free time and never for when he needed to act as guild master. He sometimes re-specced into Cook, it was the one ability that Shirou had lost from his first world that he could honestly say he missed, but he didn’t do it nearly as often as he did with his blacksmithing. Unfortunately, his real-world skill in the art didn't transfer over to the game as well, unless he had the right class levels. That and YGGDRASILs cooking mini-game was nowhere close to the real thing. Still, he made do.
Even at his best, Shirou's blacksmith skills weren’t as high as say Amanomahitotsu, the guilds master craftsman, but he had gotten close. He likened it to his Projection magecraft of old.
While the rest of the sixth floor was under perpetual starlight, Shirou's forge was baked in a warm orange and pink glow. Blue Planet had painted the sky for him, the mans graphic design skills were phenomenal, and Shirou could never thank him enough. The sun never moved so it was impossible to tell if it was rising or setting but that didn't matter, it was exactly the same as Shirou remembered.
Shirou had designed his small homestead to be rather basic. The small brick house was used for storage and gave him access to any crafting materials he needed, it contained chests that linked up with the Nazaricks Crafts chest system. The guild had installed Nazarick with several chest systems that linked up to the guilds vault and each had been restricted to only be able to pull items from certain categories and under certain rarities from them. Chests that could access building materials were located in the forge areas of the guild with the NPC artisans, weapons and armour could only be pulled out by blacksmiths or from the armouries and so on. Even the wardrobes in each of the members rooms had been linked up to the chest system but they could only pull out items of clothing. Shirou’s chest also let him place some of his creations back into the guilds vault, giving any member access to them. Though he didn't do that with all his creations.
Sometimes, when the mood hit, Shirou designed swords he remembered from a dream. He didn't know where the dream came from but some nights he dreamt of a lonely sword standing under a lonely tree on a lonely hill. There were plenty of other swords surrounding the tree but there was a clear divide between them and the sword that stood on top. He tried to recreate the weapons he saw in the dream but only succeeded in copying their design, they lacked the power and abilities of those he knew the dream swords possessed. The only sword he knew the name of was the lonely sword but he just couldn’t bring himself to make a copy of it. He’d made his own version, differing it slightly, just to complete the dream. Just looking at it made him miss her.
As Shirou looked upon the hill one final time he realised what his dream had actually been, a vision. I saw my death, he chuckled to himself . Shirou had built his own grave and had been none the wiser. That was a sense of irony that he just couldn’t help but find funny.
A quick look at the clock. Two minutes.
Shirou quickly moved to the top of the hill and sat at the base of the tree. He got himself comfortable and looked out at the orange sky. It really is quite beautiful. You should be proud, Blue Planet , he praised. It was exactly the same as Shirou remembered. It was exactly the same as the day he’d lost her.
As the final seconds ticket down, Shirou closed his eyes. Saber. I'm coming.
Then the second ticked some more. A near minute had passed before Shirou opened his eyes again to see everything how he'd left it. No. Not everything , he said to himself, looking at his version of the lonely sword. He'd designed it on Caliburn, the sword he'd once copied from Sabers dreams and wield it alongside her, but had made some minor changes. This blade was made with thin steel and had a gold and blue pummel. Caliburn shared these with the blade but had a line of deep blue and gold that ran down the spine of the blade that Shirou had forgon in his version. The blades as well were of slightly different shape, Caliburn ran straight from tip to hilt but Shirou had designed his with a few protrusions along the blade, somewhat resembling thrones on a plants stem. It wasn’t just the blades physical appearance that had changed but the brilliance with which it shone. While his blade wasn't on the same level as Shirou remembered Caliburn being on it was closer than any blade he'd ever made before. It's almost as strong as the copy of Caliburn I'd Traced .
A shock ran through him. He could understand the blade. It’s lack of history, it’s young age, the exact way he’d forged it, what materials he’d used, everything jumped into his mind all at once. Structural Analysis was an ability Shirou had possessed in his first world, it let him analyse the structure and composition of anything he saw. Normally he’d have to activate the ability to use it but, on a blade, it activated instinctively. It was also more powerful when used on swords, allowing him to not only the blades shape and materials but also how it was made along with its entire history. He saw ever swing a blade had ever made, how many thrusts or swipes or cuts. He'd lost the ability upon arriving in YGGDRASIL, how had he gotten it back?! The only way Shirou could think of was if he wasn't in YGGDRASIL anymore. The game had a strict magic system that just didn’t allow his magecraft to work, YGGDRASIL using a Tier magic system to the more researched based abilities of his first world. Plus he didn’t think his new dragon body had possessed any of the magical circuits needed to perform magecraft. It seems he was wrong. But, if he really wasn’t in YGGDRASIL anymore, the question became, where was he?
Shirou looked around him. He noticed the rest of his swords had shared the same fate as his Caliburn based sword, they now gently thrummed with a power he had never given to them. Something welled up in his chest at the sight of his creations, a sense of accomplishment and…
Shirou squashed the feeling. He needed to find out what was going on. He took off as fast as he could, ignoring his forge and the slowly rising sun.
Shirou’s YGGDRASIL body was already extremely fast but the return of his Reinforcement magecraft boosted his speed even further. It didn't take him long to cross the barrier to the rest of the floor. The transition from dusk to dark was gradual, Blue Planet had gone all out to make the transition as natural and seamless as possible, which is why Shirou didn't really notice it. What Shirou did notice, however, was the immense amphitheatre that was the centre point of the entire floor and towered over everything else. The amphitheater was the same as he remembered, the corridor and floors remaining exactly the same. The familiarity was a small comfort to Shirou's slightly troubled mind, at least some things were still as he remembered. His memory of the theatre’s layout meant it didn't take long before Shirou was bursting into the central arena. Nothing. It was empty. Shirou really didn’t know what he was expecting but felt slightly disappointed all the same.
“Hey, Boss, everything okay?” A voice called out. Shirou jumped to face it and noticed it seemed to coming from the Emperors box. The box had been meant to allow important spectators to get a better view of any fights taken place on the floor below but Shirou and his guild had used it as the start point for the floors twin floor guardians, Aura and Mare.
A small, dark skinned child jumped down from the balcony. The was quite some distance between the box and the floor below but the small elfling made the jump look effortless, landing with little more that a puff of dust to show for their incredible feat.
Once they were standing, Shirou saw the child was wearing a white two-piece suit, missing the blazer. They had a red shirt underneath the suits vest and wore a necklace made from gold that had a charm in the shape of an acorn. The Necklace of Animal Spirits , Shirou reminded himself. It gave a buff to a person's Charm Animal skill. The child had light blonde hair and heterochromatic eyes, one deep blue and the other forest green. They also had ears with large, upward points. They were the dark elf NPC Aura, created by Bukubukuchagama.
A second child joined her, Aura’s brother Mare. Mare was designed to be the polar opposite of his sister. The colour of his eyes were switched, for starters, and his ears pointed downwards instead of up. He wore a blue, scaled shirt instead of red and had a green cloak thrown over his shoulders, coming to a stop at the small of his back. Instead of his sisters slightly unkempt, gravity-defying hair, Mare had a bob cut but the biggest difference by far was Mare’s slim fit vest and schoolgirl skirt; if you didn't already know which one was a girl there was no way you could tell from just a glance. Mare also wore a necklace like his sister, only this one was silver and called The Necklace of Nature Spirits, meant to boost ones plant manipulation abilities. There personalities were polar opposites too.
“A-are you looking for something, Supreme One?” Mare shifted nervously as he spoke and kept his head bowed. Shirou looked over the small display of respect with an uncharacteristic level of satisfaction. When he realised this, he nearly shot back in alarm before something suddenly calmed him down.
It was magic, Shirou knew, but more importantly, it was YGGDRASIL magic.
“Something's happened,” Shirou answered, somewhat distracted. His new discovery was perhaps more confusing than the return of his magecraft. He can handle a full switch from one style of magic to the other, he’d already been forced to once before, but from what he knew of both systems of magic a blending of the two should have been impossible.
“Invaders,” Aura asked, excited.
“I'm not sure. Probably not,” Shirou answered absentmindedly. Things were quickly becoming more and more complicated. Aura visibly slouched at the news. “I think it’s something else, but I'm not entirely sure what.” Until he knew for sure he'd keep his speculations to himself.
“T-think, my Lord?” Shirou’s head whipped to Mare, visibly agitated by the boys perceived jab. It wasn't, Shirou knew, but for some reason he couldn't think of Mare’s comment as anything other than a subtle challenge to Shirou's authority, a question of his intelligence and ability to lead Nazarick. Shirou tried to calm himself down, telling himself the boy meant nothing by it, but just the thought of someone challenging his rule was enough to set him off. It took another wave of magic to settle his mind. Mare ducked his head quickly upon seeing his masters anger. The boy hugged his twisted, black, wooden staff to his chest as he attempted to hide behind it. Shirou couldn't stop the smug feeling that welled up inside but managed to keep it off of his face. He felt a near overwhelming satisfaction of having put Mare back in his place, even if it had been unnecessary.
“Yes, think,” Shirou said, unable to resist bring attention to Mare’s careless question. Perhaps it'd teach the boy to take better care of his words next time. Shirou took a moment to think before speaking again. “You two, go and inform the other floor guardians to meet me in the throne room and then I want the pair of you to head up to the Tombs entrance. I'll give you further orders there,” Shirou told them, activating his guild ring. He was gone before the twins could even acknowledge his orders.
Each of the 42 members of the guild had a ring which allowed them to teleport around the Tomb of Nazarick at will, with some minor restrictions. Shirou, with the amount of time he spent living in the Tomb, had gotten a lot of use out of his. He used the ring to teleport to the base of the stairs that led to the surface, the end of the rings range. He climbed the steps and, at the top, was immediately knew his theory was correct, he was indeed in another new world.
As another point towards the guilds ‘evil heteromorph’ theme, the Tomb of Nazarick had been located in a swamp. Shirou was currently looking out onto flatlands. It is impossible to move a guild in YGGDRASIL, combined with the weird combination of magic and magecraft and the fact that the previously mute, expressionless custom NPCs of Nazarick were not only talking, thinking and moving of their own free will, it wasn’t much of a leap for Shirou to be certain he’d jumped worlds again. If one new world can give me an entirely new race and magic is it really too hard to think that this one might breath life into the NPCs , he quizzed himself. He’d been fairly calm at the revelation but he did think about it, them now being real just wasn’t anywhere near the weirdest thing he had ever seen making it easy for Shirou to accept.
A thought struck Shirou, what would his body look like in this world? He looked down at his hands, examining the body of this new world. Moving to YGGDRASIL hadn’t actually changed his body beyond his original colouring. His once red hair and golden eyes had both turned to silver and his pale skin had since turned tanned. Looking down, Shirou saw the same dark skin from YGGDRASIL. While Shirou might have been given a new race in YGGDRASIL it was more a mechanic of the game and didn’t really affect him in any way. He wondered if, seeing that he still possessed the colouring of his dragonoid body, he’d kept his newest race too. Switching to his dragon form was something Shirou had rarely done in YGGDRASIL but he did remember that you needed to hit a certain button on the games HUD. The HUD was missing in this new world, something he really should have taken note of sooner, so he was a bit lost about how to access his dragon abilities, if he even had any. The desire to access his power was all it took and his draconic abilities leap to Shirou’s command. A rush of magic and power spread throughout his body and Shirou felt an overwhelming urge to just take to the sky. He managed to reign these impulses in but it was hard when his body yearned so heavily to indulge in the feeling of power that waking his dragon had swelled up within him.
With the confirmation that he retained his racial abilities, it wasn't too hard for Shirou to believed he'd kept his class ones as well. That would mean that those rushes of calming magic had actually been the activation of his Archer class skill, Archer’s Mind. The ability was meant to mimic the calm and focused state of Kyudo, the Japanese art of the bow. In-game, it gave him a buff to his mind magic resistance, in this new world it seemed to help with forcefully calming himself when overcome by his own emotions.
Each new discovery was another piece of the puzzle, giving Shirou a clearer picture of just what it was that was going on. Unfortunately, each new piece just showed how big the puzzle really was and how many pieces Shirou still had left to find. I guess I'll just have to find the rest of them then , he said to himself.
“L-lord EMIYA.” Shirou turned to Aura and Mare. Mare shifted from side to side while Aura just stood with her hands behind her head and a large grin plastered on her face. He waved them over. It took a moment for the two to get over their shock at seeing the plains rather than the swamp they were used to but Shirou was patient and waited for the two to come back to reality before talking.
“Mare, I want you to get a lay of the land. Talk to plants and trees if you must but try to stay hidden. We’ve no idea where we are or what we’re up against.” Mare nodded his head and took off. Shirou then addressed Aura.
“Find out what lives around here. Focus on common fauna but if you come across any notable or rare creatures, magical or otherwise, make a note. Don't let yourself be seen. I want to keep our presence here as quiet as possible until we’re sure of what's out there.”
“Right you are, Boss,” Aura said, snapping off a quick salute. She took off giggling. Her childlike enthusiasm brought a small smile to Shirou's face. She looks so carefree. She is only 70 , Shirou reminded himself.
Shirou waited until the twins were out of sight before walking back down the stairs. Once there, a quick activation of his guild ring teleported him outside the throne room. Shirou stared up at the twin iron doors, one depicting a devil, the other an angel. The two were locked in an eternal clash but neither side held a clear advantage. They were both smiling. Flatfoot’s idea , Shirou reminded himself. A representation of the never ending fight between good and evil. Shirou waited at the door, slightly apprehensive about what was behind it. Shirou noted that the twins personalities actually closely matched the bios Bukubukuchangama had given them. They acted just as he’d imagined they would had they actually been alive, as they now were. The problem was that they were some of the more moderate NPC’s of Nazarick. Leaning heavily into their ‘role’ as creatures of evil, the guilds various creations reflected that. Very few had what Shirou would call an ‘agreeable’ personality. If the same remained true for the others, assuming whatever happened to the twins also happened to the rest of Nazarick NPCs, Shirou wasn't sure how they would react to his presence. One in particular was of great concern to him.
Shirou knew all of the NPCs biographies and some of them were undeniably evil but one stood out the most, Demiurge. Demiurge, Shirou decided, was the most dangerous NPC in all of Nazarick. Not because he was the most powerful, he wasn't weak but there were others far stronger than him. Instead, Demiurge possessed a much greater weapon, the keenest mind in the Tomb. Demiurge had been tailor-made by the guild to be the best commander possible and placed in charge of the guilds defences. While Demiurge had been created at the behest of the entire guild and the guild itself had decided on how and where to spend his levels it was Ulbert who had designed him and made his character bio. Meaning, Demiurge’s sharp intellect was now paired with an extreme sadism and an undying loyalty to the guild itself. While Shirou might be the guild master he worried that if Demiurge ever got the idea to take over the guild and run Nazarick himself then he might just be able to do it. The part of Shirou that had reared itself at Mare was now raging against such a thought. Shirou was determined to keep his position, he was the leader of Ainz Ooal Gown and he was determined to keep it that way.
Beyond Demiurge, there were the other floor guardians to consider. Most were heteromorph races and their character biographies reflected their respective races dark natures. For some reason, it wasn’t their potentially evil nature that bothered Shirou, rather it was the possibility that they could betray him. Evil races weren’t exactly known for their loyalty, after all. More than just wanting to keep his power, Shirou found himself wanting to prove his superiority over the guardians, he wanted to own not just them but their undying loyalty too. They were never allowed to betray him.
Shirou was surprised how he was taking all this, by how he was acting. While Archers Mind had helped to stop him from becoming overwhelmed with shock, that didn't explain why he was taking everything so well, nor did it explain these new feelings and desires. While he could easily come to terms with world jumping and NPCs coming to life Shirou’s growing need to prove his superiority and his almost prideful desire to keep his position within the guild were very much new and Shirou was uncertain as to where they came from. They certainly hadn’t been a part of him before the jump. The fact that he found himself so easily accepting that these feelings were his rather than freaking out and believing something might be influencing him should have been cause for concern but he found himself easily accepting even this.
Shirou decided that it could all wait for later and pushed open the door. “Time to face the music,” he muttered to himself. Once the door fully opened and he was admitted into the throne room he immediately focused on the kneeling figures around the throne. In front of the throne there were two lines, the first made of all the floor guardians bar five and the second, closest to him, was made up of the Pleiades Maids and their leader, the butler Sebas. On their knees next to the throne were two of the missing guardians Albedo, the overseer of the floor guardians, and Demiurge. Their position as the two top most ranking NPCs in Nazarick was most likely responsible for their place ahead of the lines. With the twins out on their scout mission, the final missing floor guardian was Gargantua, but that was probably because it couldn't actually fit into the throne room. The golem certainly lived up to its name.
Shirou walked through the ranks slowly. His eyes drifted to each of the creatures before him, scanning for any movement or signs of threat. There was none. Still, he remained cautious. Shirou climbed the steps before the throne calmly, putting him level with Albedo and Demiurge. He stopped briefly in between the pair and scrutinised them. They didn't so much as twitch. Did whatever affect the twins not affect any of them as well, he wondered. They were acting just like regular NPCs. Shirou took the throne without issue.
A moment passed and nothing happened. Shirou thought his ‘subjects’ might rise when he was seated but they didn't. He tried to remember the commands YGGDRASIL used to order NPCs. “Rise,” he tried. He didn't think it was correct, ‘stand’ sounded closer to him, but it didn't hurt to-
Everyone rose to their feet. Okay... so it did work.
“Will the twins be joining us, my Lord,” Demiurge asked. His voice was as smooth as silk. Shirou wasn't sure what type of voice he was expecting from the demon but he couldn't deny, Demiurges voice fit him well. It was just soft enough to lull the unwitting into a false sense of comfort and security, his dulcet tone like honey being poured down an ear, but just too soft so as to be suspicious to anyone with a wit of sense. He was just too in control of himself, too perfect, to not come across as ‘wrong’. Shirou found he liked it.
“No, I've sent them to scout the surrounding area. It appears we aren't in YGGDRASIL anymore.” Everyone reacted differently.
Sebas and the Pleiades kept their faces blank but all of them bar Sebas did slightly furrow their brows. Sebas himself took the news with a calm stoicism, only caring to serve any orders his Lord might give. A perfect butler, just as Touch Me intended. He was perhaps the only one Shirou was certain wouldn’t betray him.
Victim buzzed slightly. As an angel, he had a strong connection to the divine. For him not to have sensed what happened must have set him on edge, nothing short of a god could have the power to move all of Nazarick to another world and not having sensed the divine that did it was causing the sacrificial foetus great distress. Albedo looked inquisitive but unconcerned, her full attention was placed solely on Shirou himself.
Shalltear looked gleeful. It wasn't hard to guess what she thought, her bloodlust was strong and Shalltear had been programmed by Peroroncino to actively seek out new species to drink from in an effort to find the tastiest blood in existence. Peroroncino wasn’t as big a roleplayer as other members and, as such, left a lot of Shalltear’s personality blank, instead filling the biography space with a list of things he wanted his ‘vampire bride’ to be into. Giving her a strong bloodlust was about as far down traditional vampirism Peroroncino went, preferring instead to give her more and more fetishes. Shirou was slightly curious as to what sort of personality this gave, as a lot of those desires were fairly contradictory, but he was far more wary. He’d need to keep an eye on her in the future. Peroroncino hadn’t given her any self control either, he hadn’t exactly planned for her actually coming to life, after all. If she went too far in a bid to fulfill her desires Shirou might be forced to step up and reign her in.
Cocytus was the most apprehensive by far. His mind was always on the next fight, the next battle, and the pride he held for himself as a warrior, that Warrior Takemikazuchi had placed into him (a nod to the samurai of old and their bushido code), was certain to have the large beetle-like creature worried about what new enemies Nazarick would face and their potential strength. He was a skilled fighter and held much-deserved pride in his abilities but Takemikazuchi had specifically written that he never become overconfident. Cocytus was a cautious fighter.
Demiurge looked frustrated, though that might have been underselling it a bit. The demon had been filled with information on all the races, abilities and environments of YGGDRASIL by the guild in an effort to make him unbeatable. In YGGDRASIL, your level wasn’t the same determining factor it was in other games. It was more of a guide to show how powerful or varied a person's abilities might be. In YGGDRASIL, knowledge trumped all. Demiurge was programmed in such a way to be able to best guess any move an enemy might make by having him assess their racial features, their armour and weapons and their magic and to then work out a possible counter to them. It was quite possible such knowledge was now useless. Demiurge was the most prideful being in Nazarick bar none, was it any wonder he seemed annoyed that his valued knowledge and intellect were now possibly worthless. Shirou relaxed slightly at this.
Demiurges pride would have him furiously filling in the gaps in his knowledge before even thinking about anything else. This gave Shirou time to learn about his new changes, get a better grasp on where he stood with the others in Nazarick and better solidify his position as the Leader of Nazarick. The demons intelligence was still something to be wary of but was no longer something to be feared. Until this new world was fully understood, Demiurges main focus would be on that. Shirou just had to avoid being so incompetent Demiurge saw him as a threat to his learning. So, nothing too hard then. But Shirou found he didn’t want to just be looked over by Demiurge, he didn’t want that to be the reason he still ruled. No, he would show Demiurge how poor a decision working against him actually was.
“What shall be done, my Lord,” Demiurge asked. There was a seriousness in his eyes, a focus, as his attention was solely on Shirou. Shirou kept his face as blank as possible and his thoughts hidden.
“There's little we can do until the twin return and we have a better idea of where we are and what we're up against. For now, I want all of Nazarick on alert, raise all defences. Albedo, I want a full count of all area guardians, their subordinates and any subordinates of the floor guardians. Also, check in and make sure we haven't lost Gargantua.”
Gargantua was the only floor guardian not created by a member of Ainz Ooal Gown. The guild won it through a special event held every six months and its stats were so high it was immediately assigned a floor to watch over. As it wasn't a custom NPC it lacked a character bio and even Shirou didn't have the ability to set one for him. The game devs had set basic information about it but it wasn't anything new, mostly being a copy and paste of the lore information of a regular golem from one of the many lore books that littered YGGDRASIL. The only thing different was a line stating Gargantua was so large and powerful because it'd been created by tapping into the leylines of Midgard and drawing power straight from the World Tree itself. Shirou wondered briefly what Gargantua’s personality would be. It lacked a bio so would it be given a default personality or did it just lack one entirely? Perhaps it was created via YGGDRASIL lore information, in which case Gargantua would be best described as a mindless automaton.
“Sebas,” Shirou called.
“Yes, my Lord?” the butler answered, lowering his head.
“I want a full count of all staff and workers within the Tomb. All craftsmen, especially, need to be accounted for. As for the rest of you, return to your stations and prepare. I will call you all again when the twins return.” He then dismissed them all. So far they all listened to him, a welcome sign, but Shirou wondered why. Only Demiurge had been explicitly written to be loyal to the guild. Until he knew what made the rest so loyal he would have to remain careful. He might be powerful but he didn't want to test it against all of Nazarick.
Another thought struck him. Since when was I so distrustful? Shirou asked himself. Shirou had only just begun to scratch the surface of his changes, perhaps they went deeper than he thought. Distrust, pride and a desire for leadership were all things he'd lacked before but now seemed to possess in spades. He needed to find out what had caused these changes and fast.
Still, Shirou couldn’t find it in himself to be worried. How bad could these changes actually be?