The tiredness Momonga felt when his energy reserves were low grew old rather fast. Considering that |Nazarick's| reserves were low as well, he couldn't even borrow it from there. Thus, the work on his, Albedo's, and Pandora's skills needed to be postponed until everything was replenished.
Another annoyance was the pandering he received because of the freakout he caused. The maids looked at him with concern even when he did something as simple as lifting a cup to drink from it.
Momonga couldn't even work alone as Albedo and Shion had pretty much moved into his office to 'look after him.' Both women had ramped up their already overly flirtatious behavior, with Shalltear joining them every chance she got. They even took turns to help him eat, which was solely unnecessary. Even at one percent of his energy, he could easily bend metal rods with his bare hands.
His two friends and even Veldora were no better, coming to check up on him at least three times a day. So it came as no surprise that Buku arrived unannounced right around noon.
"Hey Momo, I hope I'm not interrupting anything." She said right after barging into his office without a knock.
'Why does she ask that? I'm fairly sure Albedo is reporting everything to her.' Momonga felt his paranoia once again taking over. There was something going on between the women who were openly showing their interest and his two friends. A conspiracy, if you will.
"No, not at all. I am fine, and there are no signs of me falling asleep." He responded preemptively, knowing that these questions would be asked.
"That's great. How are your energy reserves?" Buku asked as she sat down in the chair in front of Momonga's table.
"At about forty percent I think." Momonga responded with a hint of annoyance.
"I have a proposition." Buku started as she glanced at Albedo and Shion, who both looked up and stared at her. "You could test some spells and skills on me and I would convince everyone to ease up a bit."
"Lady Buku! Lord Momonga is still weak!" Albedo immediately protested.
"He has been taking it easy for a few days already, and his energy reserves are not critically low anymore. Besides, you have to give your man some freedom." Buku replied with a smirk.
"What do you have in mind?" Momonga asked to stop where the conversation between the two women was heading.
"I need to test how the instant death and uncategorized spells affect me. I am immune to physical, elemental, and magicule based attacks. Also, just in case, I want to try to break the infinite prison."
"Hmm, are you sure testing instant death spells is a good idea? I know your gear potentially should make you immune to them, but if something goes wrong I might not have enough energy to revive you."
"Don't you think it's better to find out now than being killed by someone who knows where?" Buku refuted his concern.
"Good point. But I'll try to be careful nonetheless."
"Sure. Let's go to the eighth floor then." Buku said and teleported away.
Just as Momonga stood up to teleport to the eighth floor, Albedo jumped to her feet as well and ran up to him. "Lord Momonga, I have to insist on being by your side."
'If I try to argue with her this will go nowhere… and she is using |Seduce| again. I thought I already made it clear that she shouldn't use that skill on me.' "Fine. You can accompany me."
"I'm coming too!" Shion shouted, and to Albedo's dismay, inserted herself between them.
Momonga just let out a sigh, ignoring them glaring at each other, and teleported to the eighth floor of Nazarick.
Although the sixth floor already had an arena, there was a need to make one on the eighth floor as well. Veldora's constant nagging alone was a reason enough since he and the eighth-floor beasts wanted to test their might.
Of course, an arena alone would not survive even a minute with any of them fighting each other. The only solution that somewhat helped was to give the |Infinite Shield| skill to all of them, including Veldora, and let them fight inside the bubble of their own making.
There were already a few observers sitting on the very few seats that were made mostly for aesthetic reasons. The arena, or more precisely, the flattened stone surface, was made purely for practical reasons and not as an artistic expression like the one on the sixth floor.
Momonga peeled the two women off of him and walked into the arena. Buku stood about ten meters away, dressed in her full plate gear with a shield and sword in her hands.
"Are you ready?" Momonga asked.
"Yes. Let's do this and don't hold back." Buku assumed a defensive position lifting her shield.
The first and most obvious spell to test was |Reality Slash|. It was one of few high-tier spells that didn't fall into any particular category and pretty much just warped reality, doing pure unrestricted damage to the target.
Because of Demiurge's report, Momonga knew that such a spell was not utilized by humans, at least in Blumund. That doesn't mean that some hidden entity couldn't have similar abilities.
Just to be safe, Momonga aimed at Buku's arm even though she was a slime and likely it wouldn't matter where she was hit. Without a need to chant or even say the spell's name out loud, there was no delay between him casting the spell and the dark ripple hitting Buku's arm and cutting it off.
The arm stopped mid-fall, with the reddish slime shooting out and reattaching the arm back to her body.
"That hurt." Buku said with a strained voice while using |Creation| to repair her armor. "But one attack isn't enough to seriously harm me." 'Shit, I must have forgotten how pain feels. Damn it means the rest will hurt even more. I didn't feel anything when sparring with Aura and Mare.'
"Hey Chief, test me next!" Veldora shouted. He was sitting in one of the seats with the rest of the dragons in human form. They could not pass up the chance of seeing the Supreme Rulers of Nazarick in action, even if it was just for testing abilities and not a real duel.
"Sit down!" Buku shouted back at the dragon. Both entered a short staring contest that predictably ended in Buku's favor. Once Veldora looked away in defeat, Buku turned her attention back to Momonga. "Let's test something more serious. Imprison me."
Momonga quickly executed his friend's request, encasing Buku in a bubble of |Infinite Prison|.
'I wonder how she would get out of it without any skill that can analyze and solve the paradoxes of the prison?
By the looks of it, the prison didn't restrict Buku's movements as she curiously pressed her palm against the invisible net made of mathematical paradoxes.
{ Momo, if it feels weird, tell me immediately and I will stop. } Buku messaged him.
{ Sure. What do you plan to do? } Momonga asked.
{ Watch. } She smirked from within the prison. The previously invisible bubble suddenly started to blacken and lose its translucidity. Then the fabric started to tear apart. At first just small holes appeared, but as seconds ticked by the shield just slowly dissolved. In less than a minute, Buku was free.
"Just to be sure, I didn't accidentally drain your energy as well?" She asked with concern.
"No," Momonga replied. "I didn't expect you to break that shield so fast."
"I could have broken it faster but I didn't want to drain you by accident. If I was trapped by an enemy I could have removed it in seconds." Buku said while she glanced at Veldora who just glared back at her.
"Buku, are you sure you want to test the instant death abilities?" Momonga asked once again. After all, they weren't in Yggdrasil anymore. There was a large chance that he could not only kill her, but heavily damage her soul.
'She does have soul regeneration but what if she is in pain for a long time? There is no spell or ability that can accelerate soul repair.' Momonga couldn't help but worry about hurting his friend too much.
"Yes. Do it, Momo. It's better I find out here what this kind of attack can do to me, than on the battlefield." Buku gave him a reassuring smile. 'This is going to suck so bad. If Reality Slash hurts then how much worse will it be when Momo goes for his big hitters?'
'She has a point. I hope this doesn't go horribly wrong.' Momonga mused and just in case tried to activate |Omniscience| to calculate what sort of damage he would do beforehand.
The skill, as usual, only gave a vague feeling but at least it was an assuring one. Even his most devastating attacks would be lessened by Buku's |Goddess of the Moon|.
Assured that he would not kill his friend by accident, Momonga extended his hand and executed |Grasp Heart|. He could feel her slimy organ crushed within his palm as Buku staggered and coughed.
"Fuck, that hurt!" Buku exclaimed, instantly realizing that she had once again swore in front of her children. She flipped around to face them and hastily explained. "That was by accident. Swearing is permissible if something bad happens!"
"You heard that, Aura? We can swear when 'accidents' happen." Veldora roared in laughter as he nudged the elven girl with his elbow.
Buku snarled and threw her shield at the dragon, hitting him square in the chest. The stone seat he was sitting on shattered, as he fell backward with a cry of surprise.
However, the attack did nothing but surprise Veldora. He instantly jumped back to his feet and threw the shield back at her with a shockwave, shouting. "Good one. I even felt a tickle."
"Don't push it!" Buku shouted back.
Veldora continued laughing in response, taunting the angry slime even more. By the looks of it, both were a step away from starting a real fight, but Buku just turned away from the dragon and remarked. "I have more important things to do. You can go duel Eclair if you want to have someone on your level."
"Hey!" Veldora glared at her back. To be compared to the delusional penguin was an insult, a grave insult. "You take that back!"
"Not a chance." Buku said in her high-pitched voice with a laugh.
'This will take all day.' Momonga knew better than to let it go on and let out a tactical cough.
"Sorry Momo!" Buku apologized with a short bow and then assumed a defensive stance. "Let's try the worst you can do. |Grasp heart| hurt a lot but did only minimal damage and my soul seems to regenerate at a decent rate."
Momonga nodded and walked in her direction while powering up |True death| with |The Goal of All Life is Death|.
Buku watched him approach with a nervous gulp but still removed the gauntlet from her right hand and extended it while keeping all her shields up.
The moment Momonga touched her hand she felt a pain like no other. She dropped to her knees with a scream. For a moment it felt as if her entire being was being torn apart. Her physical appearance started to melt, reverting to her reddish-pink slime color. She leaned forward holding herself upward with one arm while the other one fell off and shriveled up.
Momonga hastily pulled his hand away and asked with concern. "Buku, are you alright?"
"Yes, I think so." She grunted while trying to put herself together and stand up. Her entire form was drooping somewhat, as if her soul couldn't quite remember what shape to take, and was that steam?
Momonga extended his hand to help her up as he ignored Albedo's stare burning into his back.
"Thanks. That attack of yours... It hits hard. I think I'll need a day to fully recover." Buku said with her voice slightly trembling. There wasn't a UI panel to see how much damage her friend inflicted on her but it still hurt badly.
"How do you plan to protect yourself against something like that?" Momonga asked.
"My gear should shield me. I think I could take another hit if you tried it on my armor." Buku said, finally returning to her human form and regaining full human features.
"I don't think it's a good idea." Momonga shut her down. "We can perform such a test on someone expendable."
"I'll be fine. Just don't go all out, okay."
Reluctantly, Momonga tried |True Death| on her once again but this time without empowering it. Buku winced as he touched her armor.
"Not nearly as bad. In comparison, this felt like a wasp sting to the previous sledgehammer to the chest." Buku said.
"In either case, if you as much as suspect a similar level of threat…"
"I know. You don't have to go all daddy on me. I will call for the support team if something threatens me." Buku interrupted him.
"Ahm… Do you want to test anything else."
"I think that's all. I have tested my ability against pretty much everything we know about, save for Milim."
"She's a good kid. Milim will not betray you." Veldora came to her defense.
Buku chose to not retort. 'We all defend our family even if in some cases they are in the wrong. I hope she keeps her word. Veldora wouldn't be able to handle it if she suddenly betrays us.'
With all the tests done, all that remained was to rest and regain what Momonga burned away with his devastating abilities. After fully healing up she could set out on the mission to find Ramiris and heal the kids.
Proofreading by I AM THE STRING CUTTER, Sad_Smiles, Visur Nyxan, Abyssalidiot, RottenPizza, and alassandro.
AN: Thank you for reading the story, and if you have caught up to the latest chapter, you can check out my other work or join my discord server (Link is in my profile) where additional chapters are available.