ALL NOVEL 32. The End of the Beginning
Shiraori PoV:
It has been a couple of weeks since Albedo initiated the plan to create time sanctuaries and Demiurge surveyed my spell. During this time, I have been learning more YGGDRASIL magic beyond the spell limit of 300 spells.
As a true magic genius understanding the workings of magic on my own was pretty easy, unlike Ainz. That said, I have only been learning some lower-tier spells first.
Speaking of super-tier spells, the results of Demiurge's survey have brought up the need to test out other super-tier magic. As the results could vary by a variety of factors, it's best to test those spells now to understand all their parameters.
Ultimately, I did not want to make assumptions about a spell's effectiveness and get caught off guard while fighting someone strong. So I planned to go to an alternate timeline where one of the less-important sanctuaries is being built to test out the spells.
I could have a look at the sanctuaries while also having fun destroying stuff. I better bring Aura and Mare with me as well. I did have the thought of bringing those two to play earlier so why not now.
I also reviewed Albedo's settings once more before Mobius had delivered the information, and Albedo began earnestly working on the construction of the time sanctuaries. I did this while I was talking about plans to carry out the operation with her.
Upon reconsideration, I chose to completely remove the line 'she is deeply in love with...' from her settings, just to err on the side of caution.
I did this right in front of Albedo to check if there were any issues, if at all. But there were no major changes in her behavior at all. As I had expected, the command for that incomplete line did not even take effect.
Well, if there was something that could be considered a change in her behavior, it would be that for some reason she was becoming slightly more clingy than before and staring at me with those deep terrifying stares.
I asked her if there were any issues just to be sure, but she said that nothing was wrong at all. She even said that her plans were going beautifully. When I asked her if she meant the plans for the sanctuaries, she just stared at me for a while before saying yes.
I had a vague sense that something might be amiss, but her settings appeared normal, and she hadn't mentioned anything being abnormal when I asked her. Despite this, a faint unease continued to linger in my heart.
Perhaps being in the Marvel multiverse was still making me paranoid. As evidenced by the fact that, I did not sense anything wrong with Albedo the multiple times I had met her after that.
Regardless, I also viewed the settings of all the NPCs after that. They were pretty much the same as what they appeared to be in the original series. There were no major problems on that front.
I was delighted to see that all the NPCs had learned of their counterpart's mistakes. Especially Shalltear who became a weeping mess upon reading the issues she caused before asking for punishments.
Ultimately, I managed to convince her that punishments were not necessary as she had not done anything wrong yet. Upon hearing this she promised to become better than her counterpart version while being slightly disappointed that she would not be punished.
At the very least, I can assign tasks to Shalltear with more confidence now. She would not dare to mess us so badly in front of the Supreme Beings twice after all.
With all that said, I started making my way toward the 6th floor to invite Aura and Mare. The other guardians had already relented to my orders to visit the alternate timelines after finding out I will be taking Aura and Mare with me.
The fact that Nazarick resided within my pocket dimension was also a compelling reason, I suppose. Well, let's get a start on this trip!
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Third Person PoV:
The stands in the Colosseum were noticeably emptier than earlier. This was due to the fact that the golems had been deployed elsewhere. But the guardians of the 6th floor of Nazarick were not seen anywhere in the Colosseum.
They were instead playing around in the vast stretches of forests created by the Supreme Beings for this floor. It was undeniable, that the magnificence of the 6th floor was beyond imagination.
The older sister Aura was running around playing with her pets while the younger brother Mare was tending to the world tree. As a druid, this was his specialty and the important job of handling the world item was given to him
Each of the leaves from the original World Tree was said to be the symbolic representation of all the nine worlds and two hundred World Items which were existential to YGGDRASIL.
After the Devourer of the Nine Worlds had eaten multiple leaves of the world tree, only 9 had remained which had their namesake from the Norse myth.
It was unknown how this currently juvenile world tree would develop, as it had only 8 leaves at present.
The twin guardians' business was interrupted by the arrival of their beloved Supreme Being. They immediately bowed towards her as Aura said:
"Welcome to the floor we guard, Lady White."
"U-um, Welcome to o-our floor." Mare also spoke after her.
'I will be going on a trip to an alternate timeline where a time sanctuary is being built. Would both of you like to accompany me?' The Supreme Being spoke while placing her hands on their head.
"Of course, we would be delighted to accompany you. You won't have to worry about any danger with us guarding you!" Aura spoke with a delighted voice. Guarding the last Supreme Being while going on a trip was a dream come true for her!
"S-Same with me. I would also like to accompany y-you." Mare also spoke nervously, but the joy in his voice could not be hidden.
'Well, I'm glad. Let's get going then.' The Supreme Being announced and turned around as the twin guardians happily followed after her.
Unfortunately, no one realized that after their departure, the ninth leaf of the world tree had sprouted. With the emergence of this final leaf, a brief mystical phenomenon occurred, lasting for a couple of seconds before returning to normal.
It served as a sign of the impending tumultuous events.
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*With this the prologue arc is finished. The background has been set for the story. The major events of the story will commence after this point.
Please comment on some of the villains you would like to see or concepts you would like explored in the story. Such as objects, pantheons, events etc.
As my ideas for the story are pretty brief, I can try to incorporate these concepts into the story if they work well. These last three chapters might give you an idea of what might come in the future arcs.
Conflicts with other pantheons will probably begin in the next arc. At least I have planned for it to be so right now.