Overlord of Biblical proportions

Overlord of a High School (1)

The NPC formerly known as Pandora's Actor, now playing the role of 'Issei Hyoudou', moved through the slowly darkening streets of the city of Kuoh. He refrained from assessing his surroundings openly, to not give away his unfamiliarity with the surroundings.

'Hmm, how unusual.' Pandora's Actor, no 'Issei', smiled inwardly. 'There are so many people around, so many different thoughts – and they're all meaningless, chaotic and so geistlos.'

Unlike lesser Doppelgängers, 'Issei' was a Greater Doppelgänger with the maximum racial level, so his mind reading was not as bare and superficial as that of his lesser brethren. He could read not only the superficial thoughts swirling above, but even the deepest of them, pulling out important information from the depths of the minds of those around him. And at the same time, remembering to appreciate all other thoughts of no importance other than as a collectible item.

The whole point, however, was that Issei was a collector of sorts, a trait he shared with his Father, he shared a love of collections of all unusual kinds. Primarily, related to objects of a magical nature, but anything could be a collection for Issei. Father also loved to collect living people, unusual creatures, strange materials, exotic spells, and a host of others, while Issei above all else loved to collect the roles available to him and given to him from his surroundings.

So now, finding himself in a new world, outside the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Issei expected to be able to collect hundreds of new roles. And he did see them, as he walked the streets, revealing with a light touch the minds and souls of those around him. But, he realized with some sadness, all these roles were... Empty. They were practically meaningless.

The people around him did not give themselves to their roles, preferring to hold those as meaningless carnival masks. They use their daily life, walking through familiar roads, following their routines, as if hoping that it was the mask that would turn them into another being, into another role, rather than their actions.

Standing at the crossroads, looking at his watch, the young man considered himself 'an exemplary worker, a faithful husband, and a good teacher'. But he, in fact, was empty inside, like a glass jar whose walls had been painted over, in a foolish attempt to pass off emptiness as fullness.

No, there was no desire inside him to really commit to his role, as a 'model employee' he pondered how he could wean himself off his job early and weasel a pay raise from his boss. A 'Faithful husband'? Nothing more than a paper lantern, easily pierced with one finger, only just below his 'faithfulness' were fantasies, desires, dark emotions. A 'Good teacher'? It was only a screen to hide his weariness and stale irritation at stupid students, and at himself, forever stuck in his position as a mere 'teacher'.

Empty, empty, empty and absolutely meaningless existence, protected solely by the easy mask and drawing of the 'role' that they performed, but deprived of the most important thing. They lack the spark of existence, the meaning of existence itself – they were soulless beings in their weak, imperfect bodies.

Indeed, Issei knew that they were not actors, but only scenery, wandering meaninglessly around the stage, creating 'extras' as the background in the Actor's and Father's stories.

There were dozens, hundreds, of them wandering about their business and yet deprived of the sacred understanding of what their business was. Blind kittens trying to find their way through meaningless pokes at walls, unaware of what they were really deprived of.

Issei even felt some pity for them. He had no particular love for humanity in him, but faced with the sight of their current condition, he could do no other than regret their senseless and hopeless walk to one day realize their true destiny.