If you notice any errors, please feel free to give me constructive feedback. English is not my first language, so if you notice any mistakes, please mention them in the comment section at the end of the chapter. I do not own Overlord. All property rights belong to their respective creators. Let's begin the story!
-----------------------------------------------------------
Chapter-41
Dragon's Soul;
Chaos Sea, Ninth Floor,
The Eternal Flying Castle of Utopia – Avalon;
New World,
Overlord Verse;
In the bright expanse of the azure sky, a figure and a wolf-pup teleported onto a floating island. Gazing at the beautiful castle, Kai, now Mors, smiled. While Deicide leapt from his arms and dashed inside. The castle had no NPCs residing within it, as it was meant to be his personal space. 'Well, except Deicide,' he mused, watching his pet disappear through the gates.
Soon after, he followed him inside.
******
Kai walked into a chamber, looking around as he admired the artistic beauty of the castle. 'All those extra hours we put into perfecting the minute details… was worth it,' he mused.
As he wandered through the halls, his eyes lingered on the paintings and pictures of Yggdrasil that adorned the walls. Eventually, he arrived at his personal workspace within the castle. The vast room stretched before him, lined with bookshelves filled with books and files regarding the guild base and about magic. At its centre stood a massive wooden desk, paired with a chair that bordered on being classified as a throne. Beside it was a larger table, serving as a planning desk, while a sofa set was neatly arranged around a small centre table at the side.
Approaching the throne-like chair, Kai's gaze fell on the sizeable picture of his guild base hung behind it. The picture stirred some old memories, he could still vividly recall the moment they had first cleared the dungeon and were done with the event raid, the excitement of event completion, and the moment they had been rewarded with this very base, followed by the theatrics of his old guildmates. A smile crept across his face as he reminisced about those days.
Kai sighed, weighed down by the melancholic thoughts swirling in his mind. 'So, is this what my life ahead will be called—the melancholy of Kurenai Kai?' he mused, idly playing with the words. The thought made him chuckle softly before shaking his head at his own butchering of great titles. 'Times have changed… I hadn't realized it before, but haven't I been making far too many dad jokes lately? And I'm not even a dad. Setting aside age, I don't even have a child… much less a lover.' He turned silent, his face adorned with a resigned smile.
The humour drained away, leaving behind only silence. He had, once again, succeeded in souring his own mood. 'Hah… no lover, or do I? I can't even say for certain anymore. But one thing I know for sure, there's no room or energy left in me. My desire for love, relationships, or anything that even remotely is related to it is non-existent as of this moment.'
Resolute, he leaned back in the throne-like chair, the faintest trace of a wry smile tugging at his lips. His path ahead was already mapped in his thoughts. He would rather prefer to go for a solo ride, in this accursed world, for the foreseeable future and what follows after, than anything else that could present itself, his mental capacity drained and exhausted.
But Kai blinked, a faint smile tugging at his lips as memories of past experiences surfaced, amidst those inconveniences. Settling more comfortably into his chair, he leaned back his head against the head support, his gaze fixed on the guild ring he wore, the very ring that he had equipped to teleport within the base. The sight tugged at his heartstrings, yet this time, he refused to be overwhelmed with useless emotions. 'Why am I like this? Why do I have this urge… to destroy this world, and perhaps, possible every other world out there… Just from this sudden emotional turmoil?'
The thought settled in with a sour expression. He resigned himself to fate; he could no longer bring himself to care. His instincts as a World Enemy gnawed at him, fuelling volatile surges of emotion, far volatile than any markets he knew. The erratic rise and fall of his feelings unsettled him, and his mind kept circling back to the same conclusion: 'It must be tied to my race.' Whether it was his existence as a Demon of the Abyss or as an Ancient Dragon from some fallen world, he couldn't reason away these destructive impulses for every dissatisfaction, no matter how much he tried.
"While the Sovereign of Original Sins is a World Enemy template from the World Item Fruit from the Fallen World, my dragon template isn't tied to a World Enemy," Kai muttered, fingers tapping the armrest as if pacing in thought. "It came from the World Item Fallen Dreki's Heart – the heart of an ancient dragon that once reigned as the sole god of a fallen world, until it was consumed by the World Devourer."
He leaned back, eyes narrowing trying to piece together the puzzle with their combined effect of their respective lore. "Reigned is the keyword here. He wasn't classified as a World Enemy, but a being comparable to them. He could have even been the protector of that world against such threats – until the World Devourer struck." His eyelids closed, as he turned contemplative. "Fafnir was also powerful, yet he was neither a god, nor was he the strongest of his world. But this dragon… his lore implies of strength on a scale possibly… beyond most World Enemies. As, there was only mention of his world that came earlier in World Devourer's path, before others that had endured long enough for players to reach. It is quite ambiguous to draw any conclusion."
Kai exhaled, massaging his forehead with a wry smile. "The supposed world of the Ancient Dragon could have been weak, or strong. With the sparse lore, it is quite difficult to figure out anything. Honestly, I should've fired the guy in charge of writing lore." He shook his head at his own mutter, half-amused, half-frustrated.
Kai willed to activate his
"I hadn't expected it to work, but it was at least worth a try," he mused, a bit mixed in with frustration, thinking back to his character sheet. As, he had purposefully avoided carrying any sort of system or console interface into the New World. 'Not after I painstakingly wrote at lengths, how my character is supposed to be Supreme to a T. Exceeding all parameters and beyond logic, almost like the World Devourer, and even beyond him in lore.' he thought with a helpless smile.
'It was impossible to access World Devourer's stats or his character sheet, just like any other World Enemy. It was just an impossible task, even with World Items. At most, with a World Item in possession, the game had let us partially gauge their level, but the same was not possible for the Devourer. And after all the lengths I went to, shaping my character to be treated in the same light, I couldn't allow any system, console or AI to appraise me either in this New World. Otherwise, it would all be for nothing. If a player console could read my character sheet, so what would stop a World Item, or that chilling chaotic power I felt – from doing the same? World Items that can grant wishes, could may be make it possible for its user, but now, even World Items are beneath my build.'
He sighed, shaking his head, helpless about the future. 'Anyway, what was that chaotic power I felt? Alongside it was something familiar, yet unknown at the same time. My body recognized it… but I couldn't. It disturbed my calm, while the chaos entwined with it was something else entirely. It sent a chill down my spine…'
Cautious, Kai grew more aware of the unknown world he had stepped into. 'It makes me wonder… Are we really in the New World… or have we arrived somewhere else entirely?'
******
Abelion Hills;
New World;
The Four-Clan Alliance had long dominated the middle region of the Abelion Hills, their rule remaining unchallenged. Any small tribe foolish enough to invade their land was wiped out without a trace. Within their secured territory, they had built a haven for their races, flourishing under the protection of their Divine Gate and the embrace of their Supreme God.
Presently, on the battlefield, the Chief of the Griff, Adrovath, danced through enemy ranks with unmatched grace, his spear carving death through the bodies of demi-human orcs. Flesh parted at his strikes, and blood followed his every movement, lining up with bodies of orcs.
One orc, pressing hard against the battered line of goat beastmen, lost his head in a flash. Adrovath did not linger at the scene, and continued, slaughtering several of the enemy's key warriors, he spread his wings and took to the skies. Hovering high above, he surveyed the battlefield with sharp eyes.
When a sudden spear whizzed past him, grazing close enough that he avoided it only by tilting his body back in midair. All the time, his emotions remained indifferent towards the slaughter of his enemies, who dared to invade his homeland, the land of his Supreme God.
Adrovath was a genius, capable of wielding fourteen martial arts simultaneously, a feat that surpassed not only most of his kind, but even the famous Turtle Clan. Though the turtles were famed across the hills for creating martial techniques, few among them could rival him.
For Adrovath who had long been hailed as one of the greatest prodigies of the Four-Clan Alliance, his talent often spoken of in the same breath as Zolstrak, his fellow chief who could cast spells of the fifth tier. Yet, his comrade had already fallen, slain by the humans of a kingdom to the east, who had dared to invade their land. The action had angered him, where he had voted for the vengeance against the humans who killed his comrade, but with unprecedented invasion from the north, had occupied all his focus, and the alliance's resources. Leaving him, helpless against the humans, who had slain his comrade. It was an abnormal instance since the establishment of their Alliance, for a Chief to fall. Or for there to be continuous invasions from various tribes from the north, west and as well as from the humans in the east.
It angered him beyond measure, the memory of those humans who had not only slain his comrade, but stolen his corpse. To defile the body of a child of the Divine Gate was not merely a crime, it was a blasphemy, an atrocity committed against their Supreme Lord himself.
The thought had fuelled him and the rest of the elders into rage, their resentment for the kingdom to the east growing stronger by the day. Together, they had buried the truth, concealing it even from Zolstrak's son, Zorak. Few knew it, but Zolstrak had achieved a breakthrough before his death, he had cast a sixth-tier spell, a feat that would have marked a new era for the Alliance. And yet, somehow, he had been brought down by mere humans.
So, it baffled Adrovath how those humans could have bested his comrade. His rage, though far from those humans responsible for the blasphemous act, was now directed at the invading demi-human tribes. After all, he was supposed to be the strongest warrior of the Four-Clan Alliance; he couldn't let others surpass him.
So, it was not unexpected for him to dodge any of the stray arrows or projectiles with his reaction speed and reflexes. He remained hovering in the air, narrowing his eyes as he located the source of the projectile. All of it took place within a span of couple of seconds, when he dived in and plunged his spear into the bear tribe demi-human. With his experience, he hadn't faltered at the sight of the bear tribe, a tribe then with whom they were not at war with, and had gone for the kill. Though, it made him wonder about the increased attacks from the various tribes of the north. It had been a couple of days, and it was out of the ordinary for many tribes to invade their land simultaneously.
Just when he was tired of the invasion, as he somewhat agreed with his comrade's plan to conquer the Abelion Hills for their Supreme Lord, he let out a laugh mid-thought, amused by the violent notion, for his race was majorly peace seekers, but the continuous invasion was taking a toll on him.
He unfurled his wings, spreading them wide, as he took off for the skies, when he felt a slight tremor coming from the direction of the City of Dor. 'Was there an attack?' he pondered, worried for the city's situation. His mind raced with possibilities, seeking the cause of the sudden quake. He narrowed his eyes and was about to fly straight to the Temple of the Supreme Lord, when he noticed a young Griff approaching his direction.
Spotting the young Griff in the distance, he flew towards him without restraint, appearing before him with great speed, winds howling at his speed.
"Lord Adrovath…" The young Griff panicked at the sudden appearance of his lord.
The young Griff struggled to keep himself upright, the sudden gust from his lord's descent almost throwing him to the ground. His wings flapped clumsily, his eyes wide with shock at the overwhelming presence of Adrovath.
"L-Lord Adrovath… forgive me. The disturbance… at the temple…" the young Griff stammered, steadying himself as his feathers ruffled in the wind. "The Divine Door… it has emitted a wave of powerful mana… and released a shockwave that shook the city."
Adrovath's piercing gaze remained fixed on him, silent and calm as he listened to the report. The young Griff, still quivering, barely found the courage to lift his head from the strong winds that nearly ripped his wings, only to feel another violent surge of wind press against his body. By the time he blinked, his lord was gone.
Adrovath, did not wait for the young Griff to steady himself, and from the gist of information, the young Griff had conveyed to him, he could piece together the picture. The news wasn't pleasant nor unpleasant. It left him with more questions than he had answers. His mind raced, trying to find logic, as he linked his comrade's missing body and the sudden invasion to the Divine Door's reaction. 'It's either the Supreme God, expressing his displeasure about the current affairs, or… It could be the sign of the Divine Door opening.' He mused, when he turned silent, displeasured by the third possibility. 'It can also be caused by interference of some outside force, someone who wishes to harm the alliance.'
His mind was plagued with various scenarios, yet he remained clueless. All he could do was clear the situation on his side, and rush to the City of Dor, and the Temple of the Supreme God, as soon as possible.
******
-----------------------------------------------------------
**The End**
Drop a comment and leave a review. Be it negative or positive but make sure to give constructive criticism. Also if you think you can add anything of value to the fic, then you are more than welcome to comment. Any thoughts or questions, ask them in the comment section. I'll try to answer them as soon as I can.