The overabundance of the magicules on the eighth floor was just the right catalyst to synthesize the strongest material known in Yggdrasil; caloric stone. It was the same substance Rubedo's physical body was made from, and was even considered to be on the level of a world item in Yggdrasil.
The primary factor lay within the caloric stone's indestructible nature. Even people who harnessed powerful skills in this world would be hard pressed to completely shatter all of its layers. It would become critical in developing countermeasures to creatures that Nazarick would need to contain.
Obtaining them would usually require obscene amounts of each of the seven prismatic ores, which slowly and surely were being generated by the beasts on the eighth floor under the supervision of Aureole. But due to the abundance of magicules within Nazarick, the necessary amount to start the process was decreased about ten times in order to prevent excess supply.
With such a drastic decrease in said requirement, the once almost unobtainable material was accumulating at a decent rate.
Momonga arrived at the newly constructed block in the frozen prison where Pandora and Demiurge waited for him.
The building itself was enchanted with infinite shields which was only possible because it was part of Nazarick itself and thus could be manipulated to a much greater degree than objects outside of the great tomb.
Inside it consisted of four identical square rooms each with a massive stone block in the center. Thanks to Pandora's ability to replicate the abilities of ultimate skills, the blocks were enchanted to a point where they not only contained infinite shields, but also a gravity enchantment and Buku's powerful drain ability.
It would have been considered nigh-impenetrable were it not for absurd existences such as Milim.
Indeed, the whole construction was built with one goal in mind; to contain a Milim-level threat. Even if Milim never went against Nazarick, she was not the only unreasonably powerful entity in the world. There was also a large chance that at least one or both of Veldora's sisters would need to be contained at some point.
"As you see, Vater, the stone block is nearly indestructible and has a simulated weight of ninety thousand tons. Once the last Sobald die letzte Zutat geliefert wurde, werden wir…"
"Pandora!" Momonga interrupted his son before he could go on a long tirade speaking only German.
His son was a very innovative and hard-working member of Nazarick's upper echelons, but his eccentricities were often too much for both him and others to handle.
"I apologize v… Father," Pandora said with a deep bow, letting out a tactical cough. With less bravado than before, he continued, "As I was saying, once the final ingredient has been delivered, we can finalize the prison and make a test run."
"I should mention that Diablo has volunteered to be the test subject, Lord Momonga. Although his raw power is not the greatest, I can attest he will look for all possible weaknesses to outsmart the prison." Demiurge joined in.
"We can start with him, but his attempts alone won't be enough. Shalltear and Buku have volunteered as well. But ultimately there is only one candidate who can really put the prison to the test," Momonga said, tapping the stone block with his finger.
"I will call for Diablo to come the moment we are finished with our tasks," The demon said, bowing.
The last ingredient, namely twenty enchanted chains as thick as a finger and made purely out of caloric stone, was delivered by Aureole. She was someone within the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick that Momonga did not see quite often.
Like many other denizens of Nazarick, the Pleiade sister had strongly expressed her desire to be more active in the betterment of not only the tomb, but Tempest as a whole. She worked tirelessly to expand the transportation network of the whole nation. And while her own abilities were up to par, she received even greater ones with the help of Pandora, who could distribute the necessary skills.
Aureole appeared through the gate holding a massive box in her hands. She gently put it down, bowed, and spoke in her usual soft tone with a happy smile on her face.
"Lord Momonga, all the chains were created without any problems. In addition, we still have about twenty kilos of the stone left."
Momonga's gaze fell upon the girl whose short black hair was tied with a ribbon. The girl looked to be in her late teens dressed in a traditional shrine maiden's outfit, long divided trousers, and a kimono jacket. She had the face of a traditional Japanese beauty, rarely seen without a smile.
Out of all Nazarick's natives, Aureole was the only one who technically counted as a human, although as an immortal human, she was on a path to becoming something different.
Right now, Momonga had only partly understood what was happening to the area guardian, but she slowly was becoming a purely spiritual being.
The only explanation for such a thing happening was of her becoming a saint. It was a process which was usually caused by a human pushing beyond all limits, both physical and mental. With Aureole being far above what a human could ever be in terms of raw power, the safe assumption was that the world was simply correcting her state of being.
In other words, she was heading towards the path where she would be truly compatible with the world she was currently in.
Before she became susceptible to the world's changes, she was roughly equal to a floor guardian in raw power. And even after coming here, she did not possess an ultimate skill.
However that was quickly made up with her unique skill |Inspirer|, which made her perfect for a support role.
In her presence, all six of her sisters became noticeably stronger, to the point where they could put up a fight against monsters whose Yggdrasil level was somewhere around eighty. Their own levels would be boosted as well, with their new values ranging from level forty-seven to level sixty-three.
"Wonderful. Thank you for your assistance, Aureole. I am glad to see that someone who was usually obscured from the main stage as of late is now playing a critical role in our plans," Momonga complimented. This made Aureole blush profusely since this was the first genuine compliment from her lord in so long.
"Oh, you are too kind to me, my Lord! I am only doing what is necessary for the betterment of Nazarick." She bowed deeper to hide her reddening face.
Momonga chuckled at her adorable response and let her be on her way.
'She is just like Shuna. Maybe I should introduce them to each other. I'm sure they would become friends in no time.'
Shelving the friendship plan for a later time, he returned to the present moment. Pandora was already taking out the chains and applying Buku's drain enchantment on the shield, so breaking them would be a near-impossible task for even the strongest of entities.
Meanwhile, Momonga began working together with Demiurge in creating batteries for the prison complex. It did not have to be aesthetically perfect, since the only concern was having the whole system connected to Nazarick's energy circulation whilst having extremely low chances of failure down the road.
The last enchantment applied to the chains was |Ultraspeed Regeneration|, which was only possible if the batteries had enough energy to fuel the regeneration. The stone by itself was not producing any sort of energy, after all.
The final step was to put chains inside each stone block so they would act on their own accord to ensnare any prisoners when necessary.
If one chain was somehow broken, another would swiftly take its place while the first one would regenerate with astounding speed. Combining this with the drain ability, the prisoner's own power would be used against them, further easing the process of containment without having to spend any more resources than necessary on Nazarick's end.
Satisfied with the results, Momonga called for all the willing test subjects to arrive. There was one who was not yet sold on the idea, and he contacted him while he waited for the rest of the people to arrive.
{ Veldora, the prison is ready. We need you to test it right now. }
{ Eh? Do I have to, chief? I was sitting in prison for centuries, you know? I would prefer to not want to be in one again. }
{ I assure you that it's only for testing. I won't keep you in it for long. While it may be exhausting, the process itself isn't painful whatsoever. You have my word. }
{ Hmm…I'm still not sure, chief. A-and anyways, you can't make me! Now please find someone else to do your dirty work! }
Although he hated to stoop so low, time was not on his side at the moment. Momonga decided to go for a response that could not be parried so casually by the Storm Dragon.
{ You should know by now who I'm going to ask to help me convince you. It's better that we get this over with as soon as possible. }
He could hear the mighty dragon grumble in his mind for a while.
{ Fine! But I want compensation. }
{ It depends on what you're asking for. }
{ I want editing access to that Nazarick's overlay. I have many ideas about what I can do with it. }
'That would definitely end badly. But if I say no, he likely will refuse to help with the experiment. I guess I can at least offer a compromise and hope he just forgets about it soon enough to occupy himself with something else.'
{ You will get the permission, but any changes will need to be approved by me. }
{ Don't worry, chief! I know what I'm doing. You'll be happy with all that I could offer. }
{ We'll see about that. In either case please arrive at the frozen prison. You'll be the fourth one to test it.' }
One by one, the four testers arrived.
Diablo, as the first one, walked up to the cube and pressed his back against it spreading his arms and legs. Four chains, at Momonga's command, shot out of the stone block and incapacitated him.
At first, he tried to physically break them, but nothing seemed to work. He then started to use magic as his kind was more attuned to using it than brute force to achieve their goals but the chains just absorbed it.
Finally, he closed his eyes, and after a deep exhale the chains around his wrists started to blacken.
'This feels almost like…Rubedo. But it seems even this trick is not enough.' Momonga observed the demon's futile attempts at weakening the chains. There was no doubt in the undead's mind that Diablo was one of the very few candidates who could break some of them, with evidence pointing to the chains becoming more brittle by the second.
It seemed that Diablo would have needed to concentrate for the entire duration, however. The moment he stopped focusing all his attention, they started to regenerate before Diablo could yank them hard enough.
After struggling for about ten more minutes with various other techniques, the demon spoke with a defeated look on his face.
"I cannot find an easy way to break the chains. Unless someone has an ultimate skill that can fully counter its effects, I do not think there is even the slightest chance of escaping it, Lord Momonga."
The next one to try was Shalltear. Among the floor guardians, she was one of the physically strongest.
After a few minutes of struggle, she managed to break one of the chains, but before she could grab another chain with her now-freed arm, a new chain shot out of the stone and grabbed it. With a noticeable frustration on her face, Shalltear's attempts started to become more aggressive.
"These… Stupid…agh…"
After seeing little to no changes within the durability of the chains, Shalltear threw in the towel, hiding her irritation.
"I cannot break out, Lord Momonga. I simply cannot understand how Diablo was able to perform much better than me."
"I have no doubt you can show better results, Shalltear. I recommend learning a thing or two from Diablo who took advantage of niche techniques rather than brute force," Momonga said.
"Yes, Lord Momonga!" Shalltear exclaimed. Momonga nodded at the vampire's reinvigoration and signaled for the next person.
Last but not least was Buku, and she decided to go for a different approach.
Once she was in position, she immediately went for draining and weakening the chains. Since the draining ability of the chains was just a weaker derivation of her own skill, the prison could not keep up with her. The chains even took less energy from her than she did from them.
After that, she proceeded to use her full strength to break one of the chains, which was instantly replaced by another while the broken one repaired itself.
The cycle of her breaking chains and then repairing themselves went on for about twenty minutes until she gave up, seeing that nothing remotely different had happened.
"I think if this was a life and death situation then I likely could break out, but even this short struggle is taking a toll on me. If anyone with a similar skill of mine is imprisoned here, you'll likely have to do something yourself for a few days before the prisoner is broken in."
"I see. That means we will have to pay a lot more attention to stronger prisoners to make sure they do not break out." Momonga said, letting Buku out of the chains.
Veldora as the last one approached the stone block with a nervous gulp. Shalltear and Diablo watched with amusement as Buku gave a cheerful expression. The Storm Dragon only felt more terror upon seeing Buku's uncanny smile.
'Let's hope Veldora doesn't go on a hysterical rampage. Although it would be good to see how much the new barriers in Nazarick can handle, I'd rather have the experiment happen with given permission beforehand.'
"Mm, I don't understand, Lord Momonga. Why is Veldora so adamant on not wanting to perform his duty? Even though I already acknowledged how powerful he is, the dragon is starting to get on my nerves," Shalltear said, letting out a frustrated huff.
Momonga thought of a way to explain the situation to Shalltear without crippling the Storm Dragon's dignity
"To put it simply, Veldora has undergone what Buku and I would refer to as 'forced solitude.' Being secluded from the outside world would most definitely have psychological effects on one's mind. This experiment is similar to what caused Veldora discomfort in the past."
"I guess that makes sense when you put it that way, Momo," Buku intervened. "Still, for how powerful Veldora is, being a cry-baby about it makes it a little… How do I say this? A little disappointing."
Ignoring Veldora shouting of denial from a distance, Shalltear curled her lips. A dawn of understanding reached her face after a minute.
"I see. I think I get this idea of forced solitude. But it doesn't change the fact that Veldora would be disobeying Lord Momonga's orders, right?"
"It was merely a request, though it serves a greater deal of importance purely due to his raw power," Momonga replied, giving a silent thumbs up to the hesitant Storm Dragon.
Although his schedule was freed up for the moment, Momonga had to admit that Veldora's hesitation was starting to get annoying.
Veldora had made several steps forwards, then a few steps back. This tirade repeated until Buku beat the undead to the punch, having lost patience way before him. She yelled for Veldora to get on the stage which finally cemented the Storm Dragon's decision to step forward and get the experiment over with.
The moment the chains grabbed him, he panicked and broke two of them, freeing his arms. They were immediately replaced by two chains on each hand which Veldrora broke with a greater struggle.
The dragon clearly was strong enough to break them all, but it quickly dawned on Momonga that Veldora's weakness was the desire to get out immediately, having abandoned the idea of careful observation and developing a coherent escape plan.
Unlike Buku, who could drain the prison, he could not take back his energy, and soon after it became clear that he started to get tired.
Interestingly enough, Veldora's massive energy pool filled the batteries to the brim. This would become a huge issue as the energy needed to be diverted somewhere else.
To not exhaust the dragon too much, Momonga released him, but it was clear that adjustments would be needed to make the prison capable of holding a true dragon for any prolonged period of time.
'I mean, it's not like I'm the kind of person to ignore the possibility of a catastrophic explosion,' Momonga thought.
Overall the experiment was a great success and at least in theory, they could hold an unreasonably powerful enemy as a prisoner.
X
It was one of these days when Souka stepped into her brother's cell. Whenever she needed to blow off some steam she used her disgrace of a brother as a punching bag.
Gabiru more than had earned such fate. In fact, it was the mercy from her side that her brother even lived. At any time she could just kill him without any consequences.
The former, short-lived, leader of the lizardmen sat on the small bunk bed and stared into the gray stone wall with a blank expression. As before, she raised her fist to hit him. But instead of cowering, Gabiru closed his eyes and remained unmoving, which surprised Souka a little.
'Have I broken him completely?' Souka stood like that for a moment. Slowly she lowered her arm and observed her brother.
Gabiru's face was all crooked from the constant beatings he had received. Souka flinched after hearing a despairing groan from her brother, but quickly resumed to that of an indifferent stance. It did not however quell the thoughts that were now surfacing in her mind.
'What am I even doing? Tormenting him won't bring father back. This is just me taking out my anger on him for everything that he did to my people. But…what should I do with him?'
Save for Gabiru's arrogance and high opinion of himself, he was never particularly mean to Souka. After all, it was him that trained her from time to time when she was a kid, not to mention that he was already the upcoming champion of the clan back then. It was Gabiru who gave her the confidence needed to pursue the guard's position.
Overall he was always a decent older brother, if not too full of himself from time to time. His more arrogant behavior started only after he was named by the despicable majin whose name Souka didn't want to remember.
Even before being named by the honorless bastard Gelmud, everyone knew that it would be Gabiru who would arise to become the next chieftain. Not only did he wield enough might for the chieftain to acknowledge, but his charisma that made the majority of the young lizardmen cheer for him was also well known too.
Silently she sat down next to him. Gabiru didn't react.
"Do you want to be released?" She asked after sitting like that for a few minutes.
Gabiru opened his eyes and looked down, "Why are you asking me about this now?"
"What do you mean why?"
"Why would you release me? I killed our father."
"I would kill you and father for my master so… so I understand why you challenged him. I still… I don't know if I can forgive you but I understand." Souka spoke with a quieter voice than usual. At this moment she found it increasingly difficult to stare at her brother for some reason.
"...I have no master. I know he died, I felt it. Now…I have nothing. I have nowhere to go." Gabiru spoke, his voice sounding lifeless and devoid of any emotion. "Just leave me here to rot in this prison. I deserve this. You know that too, else why would you treat me as a punching bag?"
Granted Souka was still angry, but the last words left more of a profound impact on her mental state. Her lips quivered for a bit before she found the words that she wanted to say to her brother.
"I could find you a place in Tempest. You can start anew."
"Sis..sorry, Souka was it? Why would you do it?"
"Because…because you are my brother." 'I have punished him more than enough. I don't want to have to see him in this pathetic state anymore. And it's not like I can apologize to him after everything I had done to him, but still…'
Gabiru slowly looked up and turned his head with a genuinely surprised look on his face.
For all the times she had come into the cell and beaten him, she had not called him brother. Usually, she used various insults or if she felt generous, she called him by the name he was given by now-dead majin. A majin who went against Tempest and paid with his life for his arrogance. "...Sister?"
"Don't get me wrong, I have not forgiven you and I don't know if I ever will. But I don't want you to rot away in this cell anymore."
"Then, then let me work! I will do any work to redeem myself. I will fight for your master's cause." A slither of passion returned in his voice.
"You are too weak to fight for my master." Souka stood up with indifference on her face, though it was lingering with a bit of regret right now. "Come on, let's go."
"W-wait. What do you mean let's go, sister? Don't you have to ask for my release?"
"No, brother. Your fate is fully in my hands. I am responsible for all our kind. Though there are no more lizardmen. Everyone evolved into dragonewts." Souka opened the cell's door and motioned for him to follow.
'Everyone evolved? Does that mean I am the weakest now?' Gabiru mused. The idea itself was bizarre. He once was the champion, the strongest of his kind. Now he could probably not even hold a candle to the weakest of his evolved brethren.
His sister radiated such power. It was hard to compare, but it seemed that she had easily surpassed Gelmud by now. Gabiru had tried to keep up with her, but he eventually admitted that it was a foolhardy effort as the months spent in a tiny cell restricted much of his movement. This had atrophied his muscles to a point where people would assume Gabiru was starting to suffer from anorexia.
It was hard to tell what awaited him outside, but if his people all had evolved their forms, then it surely wasn't worse compared to when they were free.
What Gabiru saw outside blew away all his expectations. Everyone lived in spacious houses by a lake. There were street vendors selling various treats. His nose twitched at the smell of fresh fish and felt his mouth salivate. 'I hope I will get decent meals after so long…'
"Hey, can we-" He pointed at one of the stalls with a hopeful look.
"No! You'll eat when you've earned it." Souka harshly cut him off.
"But…" He tried to protest but seeing her glare looked down and followed Souka without protest.
His empty stomach decided to not give up the fight and let out a loud desperate grumble.
Souka stopped and turned around, stifling the urge to sigh.
"S-sorry…" He clutched his stomach trying to make it stop making the embarrassing demands for the food.
"Five damn minutes and I already want to throw you back in the cell," Souka whispered to herself. With impatient steps, she walked over to the stall and grabbed one of the skewers, dropping the coins in the merchant's palm.
"Here. Now let's go before I have changed my mind," Souka said. She pushed the food in his hands, and Gabiru's snout instinctively sniffed at the delicacy before him.
Not making any further eye contact with her brother, Souka swirled her body and began marching back on the road.
"Thank you!" Gabiru shouted after her. "Ah, wait-"
He realized that the silhouette of his sister was already shrinking into a dot after he blinked a few times. He tried to both keep up with her and eat the first tasty meal he had in months.
Soon enough, they arrived at a larger house, and he was led into a spacious office. A human-looking dragonewt sat behind the table and was sorting a huge pile of papers with an undead sitting beside him.
"I released Gabiru. Can you find him a place to stay and something to do to earn a living?" Souka addressed the dragonewt.
"Yes, ma'am. I'll see to it that he will get a job that will be satisfactory to fulfill that request."
The dragonewt gave a salute to Souka who responded with a quick affirmative. After she left, the receptionist-like dragonewt turned his attention towards Gabiru with a stern look on his face.
"Welcome to the Tempest Hegemony, Gabiru. You look worse for wear. But even people like you get a chance. Show enough dedication in your job and perhaps Lord Momonga will rename you."
"Of course! I will do my best!" Gabiru replied with renewed determination in his heart.
'I have been given a second chance by my sister and my new masters. I cannot…no, I will not fail again! Just you wait all, for this one is ready to return back onto the world stage!'
Edited by Zirmeister
Proofreading by Ethal07, Tophrel, SwissChocolatess, Kazuma, Miracle of Gods, 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 or if you are interested in becoming a beta reader.