When Death Walked the World

Chapter 40 - The Lord of Death

Demiurge, accompanied by his Lords of Sin has left the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Although it took quite a bit of convincing at last Albedo had faltered and ultimately remained inside the Great Tomb.

Her duties as the Guardian Overseer didn't allow her to go looking for Ainz, unlike him, Demiurge reasoned. And after bringing up how Ainz may compliment her hard work she finally relented.

The great Archfiend has already executed his daily chores, and his experiments. The "happy farm" didn't require his presence per se, albeit that didn't mean that Demiurge didn't delight in his job.

Now his attention was pulled elsewhere. It has been several hours since the Supreme One has left the Tomb and he was yet to return. Normally, they wouldn't send out a Guardian, but since Albedo insisted, he had 'sacrificed' himself for such a noble task and took time out of his strict schedule.

Demiurge didn't wander for long; he was still in the perimeter of the Tomb when his senses sharpened and picked up an anomaly. The winds rushed high above the dark clouds of the sky, illuminated only by the discharges of lightning and crimson flames.

The Guardian of the 7th floor, the mastermind of the Great Tomb had surmised that the weather was unstable in the new environment that surrounded the tomb, but this... this was beyond his estimations. He decided that even though finding Ainz was the priority, it wouldn't hurt to investigate the strange happenings up above and so a couple of dark wings erected themselves on his back and he took off the ground, straight for the anomaly up above.

The Lord of Wrath and the Lord of Pride didn't need encouragement as they swiftly followed the Archfiend to the skies and beyond. Soon enough air had become scarce, and the atmosphere had become thin, and the stars shone down all around them. The world had continued to grow smaller under their feet as they continued to elevate into even further heights.

They continued to climb higher and higher, up until when their Lord halted, and thus the Evil Lords of Sin did the same.

Demiurge watched, frozen in place thousands of kilometers off ground, as a giant serpent the size of an entire planet coiled around in the cosmos. No, that wasn't right, he corrected, this serpent was greater than the world Nazarick now inhabited, and the planet was of a mindboggling size.

Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as the presence of the World Devourer weighted him down, he had never felt such power, maybe... maybe the Supreme One, Ainz Ooal Gown had a similar presence, but...

Demiurge was disgusted with himself as traitorous thoughts formed in his mind. 'How could anyone be above a Supreme being, the mere notion of it was laughable, blasphemous! '

But then, he recalled his master's stories wherein he told them of his time spent in this world, the horrors that the Supreme One had to face, 'if Ainz Ooal Gown wasn't being humble, but meant every word he said then...' The archdevil's eyes shone in understanding and he got ready to alert the others.

Demiurge brought up his hand, ready to report his findings via message, while he issued commands to the Evil Lords of Sin. Should the monster before them attack, they are to engage and occupy its attention while he makes his retreat. Their inherit ability {Soul Born Miracle} should allow them to delay the monstrosity even if it is just for a moment. The Lords of Sin simply nodded at his mental command when Demiurge spotted something. He did not believe his eyes. Not at first.

As the moon orbited the planet and cleared his view the Archfiend spotted something between the World and the Great Serpent. A Staff of legends, a golden shaft reflected the Sun's rays as they entered his vision. Grasping the golden armament, a skeletal hand, covered in a thin layer of ice.