Ainz stood on the edge, overlooking the dimly lit expanse below, his glowing red eyes scanning the horde of freshly created death knights assembled in perfect formation awaiting his orders. The clank of their armor and the quiet hum of necromantic energy filled the air, a relaxing scene for his undead overlord mind.
The Defias Brotherhood, now under his iron grip, had proven a useful resource. The corpses of discarded brotherhood members were put to use daily as he cautiously increased the amount of summons and watched his energy reserves fluctuate, adding to their military and reliable labor forces.
Corpses piled up daily as the cleaning of the crime cartel progressed by the hour, and Ainz had encountered a minor inconvenience: keeping the bodies fresh for necromantic use. He glanced toward the frozen remains stacked like cordwood, neatly preserved by powerful frost magic. "An unexpected logistical problem," he muttered under his breath. Who would've thought running a criminal empire came with such... mundane concerns? The cleanup was progressing smoothly, sweeping through the ranks region by region. Of course, "smooth" was a relative term when disposing of dozens of rebellious souls in the most efficient manner possible, especially when turning them into obedient foot soldiers for his undead army, but it was being done with little issue. If anything, the more that were killed the smoother it went.
Although the list of summons differed from the game to some degree he still knew what he could summon and for what cost, at least qualitatively. For now, it seemed that building a small army with powerful undead was the best option as creating masses of zombies would be the easy part comparatively. Unfortunately, they did not provide the same benefit. A single death knight was a powerhouse that could plow through hordes of low-tier undead with ease, even when magical costs were matched.
His strategy was simple: quality over quantity. And once he had enough Death Knights to patrol his most important regions, powerful liches would come next. Each lich, a powerful necromancer in its own right, could raise and control vast armies of lower-tier undead themselves, adapting on the fly on the battlefield. They were near the apex of undeath in Azeroth, and having a few of them would ensure that his dominion would be all but unshakable against this world's standard political forces. It was just slow going, being the paranoid spender he was.
Stepping forward, Ainz began to issue commands with the ease of a general who had seen countless battles unfold before his eyes. "You three, oversee the metal works and the lumber mill area. We need more materials if we are to continue the Dreadnaught's construction. You four, report to du'Page in Moonbrook and assist her with cleansing the city of all undesirable elements. You six, deal with the gnoll clans to the west of Moonbrook."
As the Death Knights silently departed to carry out their orders, Ainz pulled out the to-do list and glanced over the next steps. He needed to give the list of orders for Edwin to issue among the sub-leaders. "That's that. Now onto the next task."
There was so much to do as building up an empire from scratch turned out to be far harder than he imagined. He and Buku were hard at work to not only shape the brotherhood according to their vision but to establish total dominion over Defias-controlled lands. Not to mention Buku had been thoroughly enjoying their newfound role as an unquestionable ruler. She'd always had a knack for leadership, but she was truly thriving with an army of underlings to boss around and do her bidding. She didn't want to be on absolute top as she had admitted that her more emotional nature wasn't the best for on-the-spot decisions, which were better left for Ainz's more cold and calculating mind, but she was more than happy to manage most of the on-the-ground decisions in turn.
Ainz had to admit that ruling over mortals came naturally to him now as long as he didn't trip over his own feet and let his human side with all its insecurities take charge. That part of him was but a faint whisper now, mostly clinging to his memories of Earth. In truth what Artemel did to him and Buku wasn't just changing their bodies and making them more powerful. The whole process was more akin to reincarnation into something far superior to a mere human, with all the mental changes that came with it.
Finding the man wasn't hard. The former kingpin of Defias spent most of his day in the cabin at the top of the dreadnought, working hard on reforms at Ainz's commands.
The undead overlord felt no need to rush. He slowly descended the fortress, walking through the cavern towards the ship. His subordinates, noticing him strolling among the mortal men and women, lowered their heads and hurried out of his path. Good. For now, fear was necessary. The hardened criminals of the Brotherhood might have been difficult to subdue, but once they saw what happened to those who dared disobey, the idea of rebellion became a distant memory and snuffed out in its entirety. Fear was a powerful tool, after all. Some had fled but they were quickly found by those loyal to Ainz and made a brutal example without any need for the Overlord to lift a finger.
He strode through the docks and up the makeshift steps leading to the top deck of the massive warship under construction. At the top, he found Buku sparring with Vanessa, offering tips and advice. The girl attacked with fierce determination, twin daggers flashing as she blitzed in a relentless flurry of strikes. Despite her efforts, Buku masterfully held her at bay effortlessly, using a single short sword in her right hand while simultaneously giving calm instructions in between parries to the young human.
Ainz watched the scene with a certain amusement. He knew that Buku had taken a liking to Vanessa who was quick to treat her like the mother she never had. From what Buku told him, Edwin had lost his wife soon after Vanessa's birth and had raised her alone as a single father, even amidst all the chaos and criminals that was the Brotherhood. The girl had felt little affection throughout her life, always striving to prove herself to the adults around her, growing whenever and wherever possible.
"Strike faster, but don't waste movement. You leave yourself too open. If you miss, I can stab you here." Buku's voice was firm but encouraging, her sword moving effortlessly to deflect Vanessa's wild stabs. "If I can block it with one hand, it's a wasted effort. Think before you strike."
"I would not miss against a human, mistress." Vanessa shot back with a stubborn scowl, lunging forward again.
Buku sighed, her expression one of exasperation mixed with amusement. "That is a stupid assumption. First, you don't know if your opponent is a human or not. They could be using a visage like I am." She sidestepped the girl's thrust, and with a casual flick of her wrist, the flat of her sword struck Vanessa's shoulder with a resounding smack. Vanessa yelped, more out of surprise than pain, and crumpled to the deck. The hard wood rattled beneath her as she struggled back to her feet, her face flushed with embarrassment. "And second, you aren't wearing heavy armor so a direct strike would be lethal. A fight where your enemy is dead matters not when you aren't capable of reporting it."
Vanessa grunted in pain, her thin frame resisting the intense training. She was tough, no doubt about that, but was still a human, fragile compared to the beings she sought to emulate.
Ainz, standing at the edge of the scene, prepared to pass them by. But just as he took a step, a sudden message from one of the shades stationed outside the cavern crackled in his mind. { Two black dragons approaching. }
Before he could get more information, the mental link cut out abruptly. The temperature in the air spiked, unnaturally hot, and the massive wood and metal door shielding the cavern entrance began to blacken, as if something monstrous on the other side was radiating pure heat.
{ Dragons, two of them this time. } he warned Buku.
Buku's demeanor shifted instantly. Her playful instruction turned cold, military-like. "We are under attack, inside the ship, now! Make sure you know where to escape if it catches fire and warn others!" she barked the order at Vanessa, who didn't hesitate. The girl's face paled, her instincts telling her to obey. Buku discarded the training sword, summoning her to flamberge and a heavy shield. Vanessa dashed into the ship without protest.
Ainz's mind raced as he tapped into his vast magical repertoire."Casting buffs and warning everyone," Ainz informed his wife while sending a message to everyone present in the cavern. There wasn't much point in ordering the humans to fight a dragon- they would be little more than fodder.
It was safe to assume that the pair of beasts would be on a different level compared to the one they dealt with in Ogrimmar, and thus, if the dragons proved too difficult to deal with he, would send all his active undead into a suicidal charge and retreat with Buku. Defias at this point were nothing more than pawns to use, though he preferred not to lose such valuable assets.
The cavern became eerily silent, the air charged with tension as everyone prepared for the worst. Buku stood ready, her posture tense but focused, knowing she would take the brunt of the dragons' attacks herself with her equipment. Ainz would provide buffs and deal ranged damage with his spells. All her stats went up significantly as her husband's buffs flew into her, she even gained the ability to fly. It was a crucial advantage when dealing with winged enemies, otherwise one would be at a massive disadvantage.
The ground rumbled beneath their feet, threatening to break. For a moment, it felt like the world held its breath. Then, with an explosive crash, the massive gate at the cavern's entrance shattered as one dragon tore through it like a cannonball. Hot on his tail came the second dragon, smaller in size but no less fearsome. Her roar filled the cavern, deafening and primal, shaking the walls as dust and debris rained from the ceiling. { Come and face us cowards! } her voice echoed in their minds with arrogance and fury.
{ Casting [Dimensional Lock] and stunning the large one with [Grasp heart]. } Ainz relayed the plan to Buku without hesitation, firing off his spells immediately. It was like watching a master strategist move pieces on a chessboard, each action calculated, each decision precise. The first spell would block any teleportation attempts, keeping the dragons trapped and within range, and the second spell would momentarily incapacitate the larger one, leaving the other one vulnerable to Buku's brutal offensive. Ainz's cold, methodical approach was the counterbalance to his wife's often reckless but highly effective nature.
As the spell [Grasp Heart] took effect, Ainz could feel the surge of magic gripping the massive dragon's heart. Even something as powerful as this beast couldn't resist, if only for a moment. The dragon's massive form shuddered as if gripped by an unseen hand, its roar turning into a guttural choke as he channeled even more power into his spell.
Nefarian, one of the mightiest dragons in Azeroth, now stood momentarily frozen, a puppet whose strings Ainz controlled.
Simultaneously, Buku shot up in the sky. Her shield collided with the second dragon's head with such force that a resounding crack echoed through the air. For a split second, Ainz watched with detached curiosity as the larger dragon convulsed, its eyes bulging in shock at the comparatively smaller creature before it. Then, almost anticlimactically, it slumped and crashed onto the dock below, splintering the wooden planks into a jagged mess as it plummeted to the ground. The sheer weight of the beast caused the dock to buckle, collapsing into the water with a sickening crunch. Three hapless onlookers were unlucky enough to get crushed beneath the beast's mass, their screams drowned out by the creature's final struggles.
Ainz's mind registered their deaths with cold indifference. Collateral damage, he thought. Acceptable losses in the grand scheme of things. They would have to be raised later as less-than-ideal undead later.
The second dragon, however, was far from finished. With a panicked roar, it flailed wildly, its wings thrashing as it recovered from Buku's attack. The creature turned its back in a desperate attempt to flee or reposition, a fatal error against the speedster. It was all Buku needed for a follow-up attack. She twisted her body, launching herself like a cannonball at her prey. Her trajectory was flawless as she struck the dragon's back between the shoulder blades. There was a sickening crunch as the dragon's spine bent unnaturally, its entire body folding it in half.
{ Buku! } Ainz shouted as she disappeared from his sight between the two sides of the unnaturally contorted dragon, blood spraying through the air.
{ Bullseye! } Buku's voice came through their mental link, brimming triumphantly. She burst from the other side of the dragon as her opponent helplessly fell into the water with shocked desperate roars.
Ainz's gaze followed its descent, noting the frantic movement of its claws in a desperate attempt to stay over the water, yet the attempts proved futile and the beast sank like a stone. The water in the cavern was deep enough for a creature of such size to get submerged completely right in front of the tip of the dreadnought.
{ Not like this! Help! Brother! Help me! } The dragon's cries echoed in Ainz's mind, a telepathic plea filled with panic and despair. The voice was unsettlingly familiar.
{ Is that…? } Buku hovered beside him and peered into the bubbling water as the beast struggled for its life. She too recognized the voice of the noblewoman.
{ Katrana Prestor is a dragon. It all makes sense. } Ainz remarked. He had suspected she was more than she appeared, but this revelation was a convenient confirmation of his suspicions.
{ Help! Please! Brother, don't let me drown! } Katrana's screams grew more desperate the more she struggled, her massive form sinking further into the depths.
Ainz watched with a detached fascination. He wasn't particularly familiar with dragon anatomy but it stood to reason that even these mighty beings needed air to survive. Soon, her struggles would cease and her lungs would burn, filling with water. It was an excruciating way to die, one that Ainz found fitting for someone who had attacked them.
{ Should we tell her? } Buku's voice was tinged with amusement, her lips curving into a smirk. { I don't feel like giving her a quick death. } Buku added glancing at the corpse of the other dragon.
{ Sure, if you want to torment her for a short while. She'll drown soon enough anyway. } Ainz replied, turning his attention to the other dragon's remains, his curiosity piqued. It wasn't every day he would have a chance to experiment with a dragon's corpse, and while the parts were most certainly very valuable, the possibility of raising it as undead was too tantalizing for an overlord like him.
Buku descended towards the water's surface, hovering above the struggling dragon. Her eyes glinted with malice as she watched Katrana's frantic efforts to keep her head above the water, swinging her sword above the overgrown lizard. { Your brother is dead, have fun down there! You get what you deserve, bitch! } Buku gloated in response, her words dripping with glee.
{ No! No! No! Not like this! No! Help me! Don't let me drown! } Katranas pleas were now little more than incoherent shrieks, the voice of a creature who had realized too late the futility of its existence against its enemies.
{ Asking me to help you after you came to kill us? Just how stupid are you? } Buku responded with laughter.
Ainz meanwhile flew toward the other dragon's corpse with an air of nonchalance, as if resurrecting such a formidable creature were a simple matter of course. His skeletal fingers infused the remains with massive amounts of necrotic energies, hundreds of times more than he used to reanimate human corpses, finally putting a slightly noticeable dent in his magical stores for a singular entity.
The necrotic energies seeped into the dragon's body, tendrils of darkness infiltrating every muscle and sinew from top to bottom. The transformation was immediate and grotesque. The once-glorious scales of the dragon dulled, taking on a sickly, mottled appearance of moss and worn stone. Its flesh decayed rapidly, sloughing off in putrid chunks as if the very essence of life was being stripped away, leaving behind a rotten monstrosity that radiated a malevolent aura. Its eyes, which once blazed with draconic fire, now opened slowly, glowing with an eerie dark red light that seemed to pierce through the very fabric of reality like its master's.
Ainz observed with a keen eye, the necromantic process a testament to his unmatched control over life and death. The dragon's maw opened, revealing rows of decaying teeth as it let out a guttural growl. "The voices?" The dragon turned his gaze towards Ainz with a questioning look. "They are gone…"
Ainz tilted his head slightly, intrigued. "What voices?" he inquired. He sensed that the dragon was firmly under his control with no hope of breaking free, so there was no reason to worry about an attack.
"The voices of the Old God." The dragon's voice was filled with submission. It lowered its head in deference. "You… so you are my new master. Very well, I will serve you with conviction."
"What is an Old God?" Ainz asked, his curiosity piqued. The implications of this were vast; the rabbit hole seemed to extend into unknown depths, and he was keen to explore it to both satisfy his curiosity and determine his safety. The idea that there were entities powerful enough to corrupt and control a being as mighty as a dragon suggested a complexity in this world he had yet to fully grasp.
"One of the primordial entities that once ruled the world." the dragon began, "N'zoth corrupted my father, Deathwing, and through him all of the Black Dragon flight. We, the dragons, were the guardians of this world, yet we were turned into its greatest threat. I and the rest of my kind worked tirelessly to set them free. If you could break the Old God's dominion over me so easily, then you must be as powerful as them. Yes, that's why I died so easily."
"Interesting. What is your name?" Ainz inquired
"Nefarian, Lord," The dragon replied, sounding eager to please.
Ainz raised a bony hand to his chin, his thoughts racing. Keeping an undead dragon of such immense size and power hidden would be a challenge. The next question was crucial. "Can you use visage?"
"With ease." Nefarian shrunk, his decayed form shifting and warping until he stood as a pale human man before him. His black hair was as black as a moonless night and his glowing eyes gave off an eerie light.
Ainz gave a small, approving nod. How convenient; a dragon in human form would be far less conspicuous. "Good. Now then, explain why you attacked us?"
Nefarian, in his new human guise, bowed his head in a gesture of submission. "You disrupted my sister's plans, Lord, and we foolishly assumed we could deal with you. Speaking of which, " he hesitated, his eyes flicking toward the still-struggling form of Onyxia in the water. "If you want to rule over the Black Dragonflight, it might be beneficial not to let my sister, Onyxia, drown. There are precious few females left and she is the current brood mother. If nothing else, she can be used for breeding purposes."
Ainz considered this. An army of dragons would be a formidable asset, even if they weren't useful against the new forces he had been just made aware of. However, loyalty was paramount and mandatory. "If she is under the control of these Old Gods, then she wouldn't be loyal to me and would need to be kept in chains, which in turn would mean controlling her children would be problematic," he replied.
Nefarian's gaze was steady, "If you could assume control over me so easily then I have no doubt you can do the same with all of my flight. We will make them all serve you, Lord. Besides, she can be used only for breeding purposes and the eggs taken away before she can affect them."
There was almost clinical detachment in Nefarian's offer as if the dragon saw his own sister as nothing more than a breeding machine used to further the goals of his new master. Not that he minded.
"We'll see," Ainz muttered, raising a skeletal hand. He cast [Levitate Object, the spell wrapping around the floundering Onyxia like an invisible hand, lifting her massive head just above the water's surface. Her scales glistened wetly, her eyes wild with panic and rage as her limbs flailed.
Buku appeared by his side, her presence as commanding as ever. "So we're letting her live? That bitch tried to kill us?" she questioned, her tone laced with irritation.
Ainz's glowing eyes narrowed. "Let's see how willing she is to serve, first. Getting an army of dragons to serve us would be beneficial, more than another corpse. If she proves to not be cooperative, I believe Neffarian can find ways to still make her useful." His voice was cold, and pragmatic, as always.
Buku crossed her arms, eyeing the flailing dragoness with a mixture of disdain and interest. "I guess. But that one said something about the voices so I'm kinda iffy." She gestured towards Nefarian, her expression skeptical.
"If he could be freed from the influence of these Old Gods, then perhaps a living dragon can be too." Ainz reasoned. His voice took on a more contemplative tone. "I think this is the best time to figure out how to do it before we have to deal with more servants. There might be some who serve these Gods among the Defias as well. And if we can handle her, we can handle the rest."
"Good point," Buku agreed, her gaze sharpening slightly. She turned towards Onyxia, her voice ringing out with authority. "So what will it be, loyal servitude with life or back underwater for undeath?"
Onyxia's eyes widened, desperation flashing across her features. "I will serve! Old Gods be damned!" she cried out, her voice strained and frantic. Her previous arrogance was replaced with sheer survival instinct, seeking anything to preserve herself.
Ainz lifted her fully out of the water, setting her down at the cavern's edge. The dragoness was a pitiful sight, her once-proud form now bedraggled and broken with wounds. Without serious healing, there was no way she would move on her own for quite some time thanks to Buku.
Buku stepped forward, a faint glow of divine energy gathering around her. She cast a healing spell on Onyxia, pouring massive amounts of holy light into the dragon, making the beast glow with a radiant golden aura. The radiance enveloped her, as it suffused every inch of her being.
During her studies about holy light late at night, she had found multiple mentions that the light could change the minds of people and make them more attuned to the light with the possibility to outright control them. With this knowledge in mind, she was putting all her effort into bending Onyxia to her will and making the dragoness recognize her as the absolute authority, pushing with all her might. Like golden chains, Buku's authority would shackle the very essence of Onyxia, rendering her unable to even think of betraying her new mistress.
With a series of audible cracks, Onyxia's bones realigned as her wings spread out majestically. Her roar filled the cavern, echoing off the walls with deep reverberation. The transformation continued until she shifted into the familiar form of Katrana Prestor. The noblewoman stood before them, dripping wet and appearing miserable.
Ainz, Buku, and Nefarian landed before her, their gazes set on her. Onyxia's eyes flicked from one to the other, assessing her new reality.
"I don't hear the whispers anymore if that's what you are asking," she stated, her voice carrying a hint of bitterness, yet laced with a grudging respect. "But I sense a certain control engraved in my very being. It seems my new mistress intends to keep me on a short leash." Her lips curled into a toothy grin. "How devious. I like it!"
"Behave and you won't ever feel it," Buku warned.
"Of course," Onyxia purred, her demeanor shifting to one of compliance. "I believe there is a lot to discuss now that we are under new leadership, don't you agree, brother?" She shot a glance at Nefarian, who stood silently, his expression one of unwavering loyalty to Ainz as he too nodded.
"Indeed." Nefarian agreed.
Edited by NabeisWaifu and aidan_lo.
Proofreading by IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO, I AM THE STRING CUTTER, and aidan_lo.
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