City Fortress Rantel
The day was sunny in the grand fortress-city with the citizens full of energy walking the streets and the sidewalks. In the past, it was a city that had only the human population, but now everything has changed under the rule of the Sorcerer Kingdom of Nazarick.
In a place, you'll see a human, on another one, a demihuman, and on another one, there will be a group of wood elves. One step you take and you will see people of different races all over the place.
While the southeast of the Nazarick Kingdom where the Orc Kingdom once was located was being populated with immigrants, the newcomers wanted to travel way more to the west. So this city-fortress was not left untouched by the newcomers of the eastern continent.
But still, the citizens asked each other where in the world are these people even coming from and why here. A job here could be found very easy, for example, the dark elves were very good at woodworking, the bunny warriors and the cat women took jobs as stewards.
Some others were just warrior spirits that wanted military duty. And today the military zone of Rantel was filled to the maximum with Nazar troops. These Nazar's did not have years in duty, not at all, they all were fresh Nazar's that had come out from the boot camps around the kingdom a couple of days ago.
The total number of young Nazar's and also the wizard troops in the military zone was one million… It was a frightening number of professional warriors that could conquer an entire kingdom without hard efforts.
And there were still new young people that are registering for the boot camp and others that are about to graduate, it was like a never-ending cycle and with the rise of the population, the numbers still went up.
And now, Lieutenant Neia Baraja with the graduated platoon from the Island of Samara was part of this massive army.
"Hmm, so this city was once called E-Rantel but now it's just the city-fortress Rantel. Not much about the name but the city must have changed a lot since the time his majesty took over the kingdom.
Indeed it has changed drastically and Neia had learned a bit about this city before arriving, how it was in the dark age and how it is now. Of course, the greatest change was the migration of many races within the city.
When Neia returned home from the island, she was welcomed warmly by her parents. She was not expecting her mother to be so… motherly, after all those debates they had done before she went to the boot camp.
Her mother was not hanging anymore with Remedios and those ex-paladins because they had left Roble. Remedios told Neia's mother to come with her too, but she couldn't abandon her husband and daughter.
The path Remedios was following was not good and she was afraid that her family might be in danger if she follows this woman. This holy alliance that Remedios was talking about sounded like a childish dream and she refused to believe her. Pavel had told her before that Remedios Custodio was not right in the head that even Calca refused to have her around. From that time, Neia's mother changed, her faith in Remedios began to fall.
The conversation about the holy alliance never came to the surface because the mother thought that it was a stupid idea that even the cardinals of the Slane Theocracy would refuse, so it was something that she forgot about and never reviled to anyone.
"Glad things turned out good. Now I do not have to worry about my parents."
The Baraja family returned to their happy life again and Neia will focus more on her duty than having her mind worried about her mother's actions.
The one million Nazar Army was standing straight as statues. A wide path was opened from the gate of the camp straight to the podium.
"There will be a speech today captain?" asked Joker.
"Yeah, I was told that General Cocytus will be here to inform us about the new front."
"The new front?" Billy asked out of nowhere.
"That's all I know, Billy. The General will give us the details about the situation.
The gates of the camp opened and Neia with her comrades stopped their conversation instantly. Five figures arrived inside the military camp. One of them was a blonde girl with crimson eyes that had short hair barely reaching her shoulders, she also wore as a magic caster. This girl was called Arche Eeb Rile Furt. Behind her were her twin sisters wearing dark plate armor.
The other person was also a blonde woman with long hair that had a beautiful face of a mature woman. Same as the twin sisters, the woman with crimson eyes wore dark plate armor with the crest of the Nazarick Kingdom upon the breastplate. This woman was the legendary knight, Leinas Rockbruise. She and Arche were not seen in the last two years in duty, rather they were having a normal life.
"What in the world is he?" Neia saw a strange creature passing near her.
The last person was a tall insectoid covered in sharp spikes like icicles, which was a fusion between a mantis and an ant. With a tail twice as long as his height and hardened bone armor, the steps of the insectoid made hard sounds as he walked like the ground was shaking.
It took an amount of time to reach the podium because they had to pass an army of one million Nazar's. As the five beings reached their destination, the Nazar's raised their right arms as a salute to the General. A Major was waiting upon the podium, the demon shakes hand with Cocytus and the others.
"Welcome General Cocytus, Lieutenant-general Rockbruise and Arche…"
"Great. To. Meet. You. Colonel. Elyaz."
"As you can see General, the new legions of the Nazar Army have been formed and are ready for your commands."
"Mhm. Impressive. Work."
The insectoid general turned at the Nazar Army.
"Nazar's. I. Am. The. Guardian. Of. The. Fifth. Floor. Of. The. Great. Tomb. Of. Nazarick. General. Cocytus! I. Congratulate. You. Oh. Young. Warriors. For. Your. Graduation. From. Boot. Camp!"
The strange deep voice of the General was heard in every ear of the Nazar's. It gave them a feeling that this being was a proud pure warrior to the roots.
"A. New. Life. For. You. Started. When. You. Threw. Away. Your. Civilian. Clothes! Now. You. All. Are. Part. Of. A. Brotherhood. That. Have. Made. An. Oath. To. Fight. For. The. Mighty. Supreme. Being. And. For. The. Glory. Of. The. Sorcerer. Kingdom. Of. Nazarick!
"GLORY!"
All the Nazar's shouted in unison making the birds around to fly away. Who knows, their voice could have been heard in the entire city. The General turned his head at Arche and she stepped forward.
"Nazar's, the enemies of the Supreme One are being more active these days. Yesterday, the rulers of the City-State Alliance have submitted before the might of the Nazarick Kingdom. The reason they did this, is because hordes of trolls, orcs, apemen are razing entire villages and towns, slaughtering and eating innocent people. Forests and towns have fallen under the rule of the Troll Kingdom. Fear and terror has fallen upon the citizens that live near the occupied lands!"
Leinas stepped forward.
"Which is why we are going to protect the citizens and take back the land from the barbarians. When you encounter them, do not show any slice of mercy, terminate every enemy that dares to set foot in this Kingdom, let none of them alive."
The faces of the Nazar's could tell they were ready for blood. It's like she was giving the children the freedom to do what they want.
"Remember. Everything. What. You. Have. Learned. In. Boot. Camp. Young. Nazar's! All. The. Skills. That. You. Have. Gained. In. Your. Training. Will. Be. Put. Into. Use, When. You. Encounter. The Enemy. Or. When. You Guard. A Town."
The General put one of his arms inside a small black circle and after that, he took out from that circle a great katana. All the Nazar's turned surprised by what they saw. It was an amazing sword fit for the general. Something like that will never fall upon their hands, it was impossible.
This. Sword. Is. Called. The. God. Slaying. Emperor. Blade! It. Was. Gifted. To. Me. By. Lord. Warrior. Takemikazuchi. One. Of. The. Supreme. Being. Of. The. Great. Tomb. Of. Nazarick. And. My. Creator.
When he called him a Supreme Being, the Nazar's thought of him as a powerful warrior like their king. But in their hearts, Ainz Ooal Gown will always be the ultimate Supreme Being of this world. Nothing can go against his mighty power, some Nazar's here have seen just a little fragment of that power when they were younger.
"Once. My. Creator. Have. Said. That. To. Die. By. Magic. Spells. Is. A. Terrible. Shame!
The Nazar army hit the bottom of the spear on the ground, creating a hard sound.
But. To. Die. By. The. Blade. Of. A. Sword. In. Battlefield. Is. The. Greatest. HONOR!
"OOOOOOOOHHHHH!"
The heroic moral was reaching the high heavens and the legions of Nazar's will annihilate everyone in their path that stands against the Supreme Being. Neia also shouted with her brothers and sisters.
The General said nothing but the truth, who the hell wants to be blown away by [Fireballs] spells and die alone so easily without swing the sword once?! All that training will go to waste.
"Legions prepare!" Leinas shouted with a high voice.
The Nazar Legions turned to face the gates of the military zone.
"MARCH!"
The army of one million Nazar's began marching to north-east where the new territories of the Nazarick Kingdom are located which are being harassed by the hordes of demihumans.
Meanwhile, lieutenant Neia with her company went out of the fortress city. The whole army will hop upon horses because the road to Karnassus will be very long.
"Bum, bada, bum, bum, bum! We doing it. We doing it big, hehe. Let's get it!" a happy bafolk was getting excited.
"Aye, chill Billy, don't get your hopes up." said Joker.
"Yeah, we might get orders to protect towns and villages." said Scavenger
"Nut shit! We are going to war with the Troll Kingdom."
"We can't just march into those dense forests that are flooded with trolls, Billy. It's going to be a real pain in the ass. We are going to conquer the Troll Kingdom, phase after phase." explained lieutenant Neia.
"You mean, hitting the trolls hard and weaken them? How we gonna do that, if we don't want to break through deep in the forest."
"Um… Sky Guardians."
"Oh… the airstrike huh? Phase after phase, yeah I get it."
"That's right, with that, we won't have casualties on our side. And remember Billy, we are not a simple army, we are Nazar's" spoke the lieutenant with a firm tone looking at the young bafolk with her soul penetrating eyes.
Neia did not want to lose in whatever battle she'd be ordered to go. She fights for his Majesty and losing a battle will bring shame to this great kingdom that is worth dying for it. She joined the Nazar army to become strong because being weak is a sin.
Her old kingdom was full of weaklings and sinners. In the end, what did they get? Nothing but death and destruction. It was him, Ainz Oowl Gown, the God-King, the Supreme Being that brought justice upon this poor failed kingdom.
While there are other beings that use their power for evil deeds, her undead god was nothing like them. The power of the Sorcerer King was justice, that's what Neia thought. She touched her head where her king has pated her and Neia smiled. She hops on her horse and now she had that scary look again.
"Weakness is a sin…"
Kami Miyako, Slane Theocracy
The ancient capital of the Slane Theocracy was lively as always but it did not have that majestic image like in the past. Even on sunny days, the city looked so grey and gloomy. Only the children that knew nothing about what happens outside the Slane Theocracy brought a bit liveliness to this sad city.
The disturbance that fell upon this six-hundred-year-old nation started ten years ago but that panicked only the people in power and not the citizens. But four years ago, this ancient nation will change when a new god appeared in this world.
They wanted a crusade to defeat the evil Sorcerer King but their hopes got crushed when the Sorcerer King himself showed up and gave them a lesson telling them in what dangerous situation they were in and how wrong they were about the foolish crusade.
But the cardinals told the citizens that there is no need to fear and strong they should stay. That was one big fat propaganda but still, the citizens eat that. The elf slaves were no more and the people in power turned at the poor people, sending them to do labor work and the rise of the human slaves started to rise.
The cardinals did not like this at all but they didn't know other ways to keep the economy up because they have always relied on slaves. The citizens of Kami Miyako didn't know about this. They thought that criminals and heretics were being sent to do labor work but that was wrong. If someone didn't pay taxes, his fate was decided.
Astrologer did not enjoy walking in the streets of her birthplace. She did in the past but not after that unforgettable encounter. It was rare to see her out of the room but it was even rarer to see her walk outside in the street.
She was wearing normal civilian clothes so she might not be noticed by… wanna be heroes, because there were a lot of brainwashed naive young boys that wanted to fight the undead.
"This area… that-that area too… "
She was having a terrible time. The nightmares won't leave her head and were becoming worse than years ago. She has seen all the areas in Kami Miyako covered in blood and body parts. Every citizen her eyes see right now is slaughtered in her nightmares.
The citizens around were looking at her with weird, confused faces because of the way she moved her head. She looked at every direction very fast like she was being chased by some murderer.
Astrologer turned her gaze at two buildings on her right side that were very close to each other. The way between those two buildings was dark because the sunlight was blocked. She concentrated her eyes at that dark narrow.
There were… things moving in the dark. No one was noticing it only her. Astrologer's dead-looking eyes were stared at the darkness. At the end of the narrow, crimson points showed up and Astrologer started to shiver.
"No… Please no… not again."
Like shadows, they moved freely on the walls of the buildings till they stopped where the sunlight was a bit more present. Slowly one of the creatures showed the upper body from the building.
The girl slowly took two steps back. The tears were starting to run down her cheeks because the nightmares won't leave her in peace. The nightmare creature had a dark humanoid body with two bat wings on his back. The demonic face was dark and red like it was burned making it look horrifying. The creature smiled evilly at Astrologer, rising the fear inside her heart.
"You can not run from us. You're delicious soul…" the demon started to crawl on the wall approaching the girl. "Give it to me… Give it to me!"
Astrologer was frozen on the sidewalk with a terrorized face. It's like she was paralyzed on the spot.
"He-Help! Help! Help me! Help me! Help me! GODS!" she screamed inside and prayed to the gods to stop the horror.
"GiVe It To Me!"
"Out of my way brat!"
Astrologer was pushed by a citizen that was walking near her. Astrologer came to her sens again, she was grateful that someone brought her back. She turned the head at the dark narrow and there was nothing there just two trash cans and some wooden boxes so the nightmare was over but there were still evil laughters inside her head that were not going away.
"Stop, I don't want this!"
Again she turned her head at the other side on the left. Her eyes moved to a sewer, she did not intend to look at that but her eyes captured something. There in the dark was a creature that looked like a demonic clown and he stared straight at her.
A wave of fear fell upon Astrologer. It was so scary that almost caused her to scream and cry. The demonic clown laughed silently like he was making his funny jokes. He raised a demonic hand with long sharp claws and waved at Astrologer smiling.
She could not bear to stand there anymore looking at that ugly clown so Astrologer started to run away.
"Hey what are you..."
"The heck?"
"Where you.."
"Damn slut…"
She ran like crazy and hit the citizens on the street. The voices in her head demanding her soul did not stop laughing. She cried and ran and did not care who was in front of her. The demons want to drag her in hell and she did not want to go with them, she did not want to believe that her fate was to burn in eternal hell.
Astrologer ran away from swarms of the citizens not looking back. From the paved streets, she went to the green area of the city. It was a park so the citizens would spend free time with each other or the children playing.
But not many people were seen these days in this park, nobody had time to stick around anymore. Most of the young people that are full of energy were drafted in the army, the children were taken to see if they had any talent.
She entered the park and went deep till she stopped at a park chair. Astrologer was trying to calm her heavy breath.
"I don't want to do this anymore, hhhhhhhh, I don't want to do it, make it stop, please!"
The girl stared at the sky like she was asking the six great gods to cure her of this nightmarish hell. She was waiting for a miracle but slowly the sky turned dark. She was hopeless, nothing could save her, the nightmares were still haunting her.
She stared at the area around her burning while giant rock in fire flew and fell upon the city. She was afraid but not that much because this kind of nightmare was seen many times. She kept witnessing her birthplace getting destroyed while sitting on the park chair.
What can she do? This nightmare was one of the brutal ones where she has to see the citizens running and getting butchered like pigs. Simply, it was hell, she does not understand how things went like this. She might have resisted the nightmares with battles, but demons lurking her surroundings was something she did not expect.
"Isn't it beautiful?"
The same blonde girl appeared in front of Astrologer. She looked like she had been fighting that's why her face was covered in blood.
"Isn't it beautiful?" she asked again.
Astrologer started to breathe heavily again. He eyes… were demonic, and penetrated straight deep in her soul.
"Why-Why are you… doing this?"
Astrologer decided to ask her for the first time.
"Justice."
"Wh-What?"
The armored blonde girl with short hair grabbed Astrologer by her clothes. She was so close that her breath blew on her face… in a nightmare.
"I executed them all.
"Huh?"
"We were protecting them but they lied to us, so I executed them all. What they were doing was wrong. I ordered to crucify them and burn everything, I brought justice upon that town."
Astrologer had no idea what she was saying. It sounded like it had nothing to do with the capital Kami Miyako because she was talking about a town.
"Who are you?"
"I am the one who brings justice in the name of the Supreme Being. The Slane Theocracy is the source of all sins so it must be burned to the ground."
Her eyes went wide open because of fear. This girl was dangerous… and crazy. She had the blade of her sword colored with red blood.
"You, you can't, without the Slane Theocracy humanity will not…"
"Humans are evil!"
The girl raised her sword to end the life of Astrologer and she closed her eyes. This being a nightmare, she did not believe that she would be murdered but this felt like reality. The blade was going down to cut her head but…
"Astrologer… Astrologer."
"Eh…"
Astrologer was still on the park chair but had a frightened face. Lakyus had some free time and decided to take a walk but she never thought that she would see Astrologer out of her private room. While a park would be a perfect place to calm the mind but the girl with long blue hair didn't look like was having a good time.
"Hey, Astrologer, are you alright?"
The girl was looking at Lakyus but she did not respond. She hasn't spent much time with Astrologer because the girl was sick. The cardinals informed her that she was cursed with horrible nightmares and Lakyus wanted to help the girl but she did not want anyone around her.
"Astrologer, are you…" she lifted her hand to help her.
"Ah, don't touch me, please don't touch me."
"Why? I want to help you."
"You can't… Nobody can't."
Tears filled her blue eyes. For ten years this girl has gone through hellish torture. Her skin had become pale like that of a vampire, her eyes red because of insomnia. Lakyus gave her hand to help the poor girl.
"No, I am cursed, only death can release me from my sufferings."
"Don't say that dear, come with me."
Astrologer stared at Lakyus for a moment and a quick nightmarish grey vision appeared in front of her eyes. She saw Lakyus with her head chopped from the body and the blonde girl was holding it and then it disappeared.
Her predictions and the curse clashed against each other and that created these horrifying nightmares that might possibly happen in the future.
"Tha-Thank you."
While shivering, she accepted the help from Lakyus. But she did not talk about her fate in the nightmare, she hoped for that not to happen to her or to the citizens of the Slane Theocracy.
But with the rise of the Sorcerer King and the forming of this holy alliance, the end might be very close. She has seen the power of that monster and she thought that there exist no shining chances to defeat him.
"Gods help us…"