1 Chapter 1: The New Enemy

"Defeated by humans. Pathetic… But you did your purpose and revenge shall be yours. As the Supreme Being commanded."

The rough voice sounded angry yet calm at the same time. As if it simply couldn't express itself any better.

Now, there he lied. Deformed by all means of physicality. 001, Vecna, the five-star general. Defeated by three teenagers in his own home. But eventually, not even physical death would stop him.

"What is THAT?" Robin asked Steve in disapproval. Vecna was gone, now there stood another unknown entity before the house, before them. It was a horrific creature, surrounded by blackness that let them feel the pure essence of dread. It had horrific robes that one would only think to be worn by fantasy creatures. Yet his face was the most unsettling. Even more horrific than Vecna, this creature was almost freed from most of its flesh, as if it wasn't in need of it. It was more of a coat, one that it could simply discharge at every moment.

Steve was in shock, as all the three were. They thought Vecna was the only one here, the only enemy they had to face. But there it stood, a mysterious entity that symbolized death. And it was coming for them.

But their experience in supernatural phenomena let them unfreeze from the fear of the unknown much faster, as they faced many monsters in their past years.

"We have to go!" Steve yelled at the others. Nancy and Robin quickly followed his command. They followed Steve back into the house, closing the door behind them.

Yet the being just stood there, not wanting to move for any teenagers today. It was not planning to play hide and seek. It had orders. Ones he had to obey at every cost. Or it would take its own life out of fear of facing the Supreme One with disappointment.

"You will try, humans. But there is nothing stopping the Supreme One. Nothing."

Gone. As it was never there, the being left as a black cloud surrounded it. Yet the teenagers weren't there anymore to notice it. They had more important in mind than that. Something that shouldn't have happened, something they tried to stop just made its way into reality.

And as the grandfather clock let its iconic sound into existence, they knew the fourth victim was in Vecna's hands, and with that, the whole of Hawkins.

"Four Chimes" Robin said in haste.

"Max…" Nancy knew what that meant. Max would probably be dead by now. As the clock had showed.

From nowhere, the ground started shaking with the sound of the clock indicating the immense tremor. The earthquake made its way from the Upside Down to the real world, creating a massive gate as a cross from every victim's death point to the middle of Hawkins. Everything in the way of the gradually accelerating catastrophe was being destroyed. Nothing was left untouched. That was Vecna's' first revenge. Crimson underground was all that was visible from the earthquake. Most would think it to be the way to hell. Still, some knew better. It was a massive portal to the mirror dimension called the Upside Down. And now even the biggest and most powerful beings from that dimension could freely move to the real world. Something the Heros of Hawkins feared the most.

It was claimed to be a simple earthquake. But the massive storm full of reddish lightning and unknowable creatures said otherwise, whatever the media and the government claimed. This was the hour where all should unite to fight the massive threat that would come. But would it really help?

In a place no one could enter, a certain conversation was happening. One that would start the madness that was about to happen.

"So, did Vecna fulfill his promise? Tell."

"Yes, oh Supreme One. He has done as you wished. Now we have access to whatever lies beyond the gate."

"That is delightful to hear. After thousands of years, I can finally make my appearance again. Now if you excuse me, Elder Lich."

"As you wish, Lord Ainz." The Elder Lich left the throne room, leaving the Overlord alone in the overly massive hall.

He did it. After all these years of imprisonment, he could finally escape this dimension. A realm which acts as a sort of Dimensional Lock for everything outside itself. He tried to teleport into the real world, and when arrived, he instantly noticed that something was dead wrong. Everything around him started to disappear, as if the world couldn't even hold his presence. The Overlord teleported back to the Upside Down to not expand this phenomenon further. The Overlord had theorised a lot. And his conclusion: The real world cannot hold his power as it is not transferred through a portal of equal means. And exactly that was what Vecna did for him. Allowing him to traverse the realms without consequence. As illogical as it sounded, it is still only a theory. Nothing the Overlord was sure about.

"Now it is time to do enter the first stage of my plan." The Overlord grieved for a moment to let the past slide through his mind one last time. It was very long ago that he found himself in this world. And it was all the new world's fault. They amassed a plan to kill him and all his subordinates by using a famous world item to erase their existence. But to save himself and his servants, he used a Wish to bring Nazarick to a safe place, where nobody could reach them ever again. And after the spell was done, he found himself in the lonely halls of Nazarick, with no Guardian NPCs, only probs. He could revive them, yet decided not to. Only when the time would come.

However, he wasn't the same person as when he last saw his guardians. He changed, or better, changed into an actual Overlord. As there was little of his previous human persona in him after all these years of loneliness. Yet in these years, he spend his time thinking about life itself, about everything significant. He read every book in the library about hundreds of times. He was now the wisest, most powerful Overlord there ever was. His knowledge only increased with time. There was nothing to be compared with the old Overlord. He was now what he pretended to be, a 10.000-year planner.

Yet something was missing. He had everything he could wish for, every power, every knowledge of magic. But not even with all his wisdom, couldn't figure it out. But that didn't hinder him. It didn't stop him from continuing his plan all along. At least now that he finally had the chance. He could finally take revenge on the new world. On all that wronged Nazarick and himself personally. Nothing would stop the Overlord now.

He stepped up, leaving the throne that he never left for a remarkably long time. Standing at his full height with his guild weapon in one hand, he felt ready to take on the entire world.

"I don't do this for satisfaction. But I do it because I must. Because I have to. Their human minds will never understand it. I will only be a villain in their beliefs, death itself even. But I don't really care about that. They can think what they want. It changes nothing. Maybe I am doing them a favor... Ha… Yes. I let them know there is always something powerful waiting for them to be weak and defenseless. It will unite them and bring them back together. And I am the evil person here?! What a joke!"

The Overlord continued to take the stairs down from his throne. He remembered the times when his guardians would kneel at the exact location he was passing by, looking at him as if he was their god. But was he really their god? He couldn't even protect them from erasure. Would they forgive the last Supreme Being for such a failure? Ainz wouldn't know. He could only hope when the time comes that it would be such case.

"Mirror!"

A mirror showed itself before the undead lord, yet it was not a normal mirror. This mirror could show places beyond the user's sight. It was a magic mirror.

"Show me Hawkins."

The mirror immediately portrayed the happenings of the small town. And what Ainz saw was catastrophic. Most of the town was badly damaged, and nothing was left unscratched. Everywhere was chaos and the people were even evacuating the town.

"Vecna has done a great job. This portal will surely be able to hold my existence."

He looked around more, seeing various helicopters filming the scene. That was to be expected for such a big phenomenon. Yet was he ready to take on the entire world? He would bring unparalleled chaos, revealing his existence to the humans. Yet nothing would change the Overlord's mind. Nothing.

"It is time." The mirror disappeared, and so did the Overlord. Now, standing before the massive gate, he prepared himself. The creatures that previously lured around the gate promptly ran away, as the overlords' aura even put fear into their minds.

"Come darkness, follow your master."

Tentacles of blackness surrounded Ainz, slowly ascending him from the ground. Now that he had a good view of the portal, he could see where all four lines were connecting. There he would enter the real world.

"Mmh..." Ainz mentally commanded the surrounding darkness to lower him into the portal. Now, he was facing the portal as if he was facing a wall. He stretched his hand out, trying to grasp into the gate. And the portal reacted to his touch. First, it screamed. As it was not fond of such powers trying to pass through it. A red light shone from the middle, even in the real world. It was dazzling, and all the helicopters focused their cameras on the source of the crimson light.

"Obey Me!"

Seconds passed and only his hand had crossed through it, but with it, some of his darkness could successfully enter the other side, enveloping the entrance so that nothing would be seen but a black sphere. The people watching the live tv were shocked. What was this mysterious sphere? Slowly, the concerns grew, and the government thought about closing all live channels immediately. But scaring the public would only bring chaos to the world.

"Finally" He was through. His whole body passed through the portal, which was almost broken down after it transported Ainz through itself.

"Now, for the second phase."

Darkness enveloped Ainz, and suddenly he burst into the air, leaving the black sphere that morphed with the rest of the fluid. He stopped at a certain height at which he could see the helicopters face to face. Now he knew the whole world has seen him, but he didn't care.

The humans that watched the tv couldn't believe it. It must be fake! Myths don't exist! But how come Death itself hovers there in the air? Has he come for their lives? What does IT want? And why was it always Hawkins? The residents only wanted to live in peace. Nothing more. But what were the dreams of simple humans to a Supreme Being? Nothing.

Ainz stretched both of his arms, and everyone could see it. They all waited for what would happen next. It would be phenomenal, wouldn't it?

One of his bony arms slowly was aimed at a helicopter. The pilot, not wanting any of Death's curses, tried to pull off, but it was too late.

[Energy Drain]

Suddenly, some sort of force sucked the helicopter away, further into the Overlord's hands. All the energy was fused and sucked into the Ruler of Death until nothing was left of the machine. He did this on purpose. There were more helicopters, yet he only wanted to show what he was capable of.

"Now for the ritual."

Ainz turned around, facing one of the biggest cities in the whole of Amerika, Los Angeles. He stretched the same arm out, now aiming for a larger target.

Suddenly a massive flame of darkness exited the Overlords' hands. It made its way to everything that was living. And in a radius of 100 meters, every life force got sucked into the Overlord. The only thing that was to be seen was some sort of darkness flowing into him after leaving nothing behind. It was a terrifying sight. Yet Ainz didn't stop. He slowly raised his hand towards the horizon, and with that, the wave of darkness slowly continued forward, sucking everything in its path and converting it to energy. But Ainz, his plan, was not to suck the forest dry but to reach the city with his spell and collect the countless souls of the people living there. But that could take a while as the darkness only continued slowly, yet the surface it was affecting only increased over time.

The people watching the live broadcast could only freeze from shock. And the ones that were living in the city that he aimed at felt even more dread.

The government wasn't any better. There was, of course, an emergency meeting to discuss the situation. But most of it contained watching the live doing nothing.

"We should nuke that thing? Whatever it is, we need to destroy it before it does whatever it's doing to Los Angeles! Mr. President!"

The President was momentarily stunned by the scene. He was just a popular politician. Yes, of course, he was good at some things, but such a situation never occurred to him. Not even to any President in time.

"We… We will do nothing. This… Thing. Whatever it is. We will not make any contact with it. We will react when it targets another city. Only then, General, but only then we will go nuclear. I don't really want to nuke Death. We can only hope to be spared…"

The meeting room was silent. Everyone could somehow agree with that statement. As nobody knew any better.

Back at Hawkins, the wave of darkness now crossed a third of the path to the megacity. Nothing in its way was spared, and the only thing left was a lifeless, gray desert.

The Overlord looked down on the town while his one hand was still draining all the life forces away. Now, suddenly all the people disappeared. They didn't flee as their cars were still there, but simply disappear. And Ainz didn't remember targeting the town with his almost super tier level spell.

"They must hide somewhere."

The Overlord didn't focus too much on that matter. As if he would care about some dozen people. The only thing that mattered was to reach the city with his spell. So the ritual would be complete.

…

…

…

Suddenly, the vision went dark. Sounds of birds singing and wind blowing came into the foreground. Eyes opened, still in bed, Eleven awoke with a terrible nightmare. She screamed, loud so that it was heard in the entire forest. Even the animals of the woods asked themselves what would drive a person so mad to release such a tone of itself. Well, nobody could imagine what terror Eleven just saw in her dreams. Or, more accurately, in her vision.

"What's wrong?! Are you okay?" A familiar voice was heard after a bulking man entered the bedroom. He seemed like a man in his mid-forties or higher, but definitely not lower. Only looking at his face, one could guess that this man had been through a lot.

"What's wrong?" The man came closer, slowly sitting on the left side of the bed. He was clearly worried about the sudden outburst.

"I-I.. I saw something. Something terrible…"

The man simply took the young girl in his arms. Letting her cry into his sweater until she eventually would finish.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Jim asked El. What would be so dramatic to scare her this much after all that happened? Was it this Vecna? Or was it something else completely?

"I-I… I will tell it if Mike and the others come."

"Sure you will. But remember, you don't have to. Whatever you saw, it wasn't real."

At this moment, red blazing eyes of fire entered the material realm. Reacting to that motion, a golden staff, screaming of divinity, slowly hovered towards a certain throne. A hand, one of bone and primordial essence, slowly rose from its place, reaching out for the staff. Gradually, but ever inevitably, the staff made its way to its master. And as it finally made contact, a distasteful aura was released, yet nobody was near to witness it.

"So… Someone has seen the future. What fun… Haha… What fun…"

The Overlord knew the future, in some way or another. And now, one person to knows what is about to come as well.

"MY guardians. No… I didn't kill them… I freed them. From… life. Once I sorted everything, I will revive them. I promise it, my guardians."

The scene changed to a small living room. But even its size was no hindrance to put so many people in it as possible. They had all come to see what El saw in her vision. They needed to know what would happen next. To be prepared is better than walk blindly.

"El, we are all here. You can tell what you saw. Was it Vecna? Or, or was it something else, maybe the mind flayer?"

"No, no, again, no, mike. It was nothing from what we have seen. It was… something very evil. Darkness surrounded this being…" Everyone was silently listening El's words. As if she was telling a myth a thousand years old. "... It was a monster… It had no flesh… no flesh. It destroyed everything, sucked everything into itself. It came from the portal that Vecna opened. And when it arrived in our world, it sent a wave of death, killing everything in its path. And then it looked into my eyes… it..it had red burning flames as eyes. It.. it was as if it burned me, and then I awoke. Here."

Everyone was shocked. But not Dustin. He noted everything she said. "So he has no flesh, is surrounded by some sort of darkness. What was he wearing?"

"He had dark robes. Like a king. And they somehow sucked the surrounding light. Creepy."

The pen rolled as Dustin wrote every detail he just heard. "Dark robes, darkness, no flesh… So it must be some sort of undead, like in D&D."

"Seriously Dustin? This is not a game! This is real!"

"C'mon Mike. We have to describe it somehow. What if we call him… Dark Sorcerer?"

"For the start, we could call him that. But we need more clues. Something like this wouldn't simply come to destroy our world. Did you see any other clues, El? Don't want to push you too hard, so be at ease to say no." Steve asked the young girl.

"No, it's okay. I remember a golden staff in its hand. It was beautiful, and it was adored with seven golden snakes, each holding a different orb in its mouth. The thing also had a red orb in its stomach. Where a stomach would be if it was human." El finished.

"Well, it seems we don't have any clue. The only thing we have is Dustin's fantasy wisdom. Which we surely can rely on."

"Cmon Steve. I think we can fuse fantasy and reality together in this case. I mean, we have seen many monsters by now. So, why not get our wisdom from it?"

"Yes, Dustin. But we named Vecna because of a fantasy villain. It's not even his real name!"

"Steve, Dustin! We are drifting from our real objective here." Nancy said angrily. She knew this would have only continued if someone didn't stop them.

"Your right. So, what are we going to do about our new villain?"

"Well, Steve. We don't know. But one thing is sure, we have to somehow close that portal. Or that ,"thing" will come into our world and kill us all." Mike said while El was looking at him, liking that he has, once again, entered his leadership position.

"Ah yeah. Great idea, Mike. How are we going to do this exactly? Will I, the mighty Steve, have to close it with my bare hands? I mean, have you seen that thing?" Steve pointed in the portal's direction, clearly wanting to make a point here.

"But there must be a way to close it. I mean, if El can't do it alone, we will need help, of course." Jonathan added his own thoughts to the conversation. If they fall into despair now, they would surely fail.

"Maybe we can strengthen El's powers somehow. Like an amplifier."

"And you just have the tools to do this, do you?" Steve asked Dustin, clearly making fun of his idea.

"Maybe we can strengthen El with psychic energy so that she could close the portal."

"Will, do you even know how her powers work? I mean, that's crazy! How do you even want to make that happen?" Steve asked Will, without hope for a rational answer.

"It could work."

"What was that?" Steve asked.

"It could work. If that is indeed true, we can amplify the magnetic energy around El, giving her parse more power. But it will surely be dangerous." At the last word, almost all heads turned to the young girl. El knew what that meant. They were waiting for her to decide if she would put herself in danger to save the entire world.

"I… I wi-"

"You don't have to do this, El. We will find another way if you won't do this. It's okay." Mike comforted her with his hands on her shoulder. But her answer didn't change.

"I will do it."

The room was silent for a moment. The answer came way too fast for everyone to process.

"Ok. Great! Then, guys. Let's plan." After Steve said these words, the frozen faces all around gained back their normal glow. "So, Dustin. If you can explain to us what we exactly intend to do because I don't have a clue of how that would work."

"Sure. So, what I mean is that El doesn't have to close the portal on her own. We will find a way to spread and grow her powers on such a scale that… That it would allow her to interact with the massive portal on her own."

"But we will need someone who knows how this even works. I mean, don't we know some scientist that could help us?"

"Nancy, I don't know if there's even someone left in Hawkins. I doubt that we'll find some specialists in time. We, my dear friends, will have to find it out ourselves." Steve said as he pointed at each one of them. He tried to make them feel better, but it made it actually worse.

"By the way, where's Jim?" Nancy asked curiously.

"He went to do some stuff. But what we really need is some plan, something solid we can build on." Mike turned his head to El. "When you use your powers, were there moments when they would feel stronger than usual?"

El thought deeply about the answers to that question. "I don't know. I'm sorry. I just don't know."

"It's okay El. It's okay." Mike told El, who slowly calmed down. "If El knows nothing, maybe the Hawkins lab does?"

"You really want to return to "that place, Mike?" Jonathan asked dumbfounded.

"It's our only hope to find some sort of device that could help us."

"Dustin is right. We have to take that chance. I will lead a group into the lab, and we will need at least four people to come. It's a big place, guys. It'll take time."

"I'll come, Steve." Dustin said, eager to explore the lab.

"Count me in." Lucas added himself to the list.

"I will come too. I know the layout of the lab." El said shy.

"If El goes, I'll go too." Mike knew letting her go there would release some bad memories in her mind. So he would come to be there if she gets a mental breakdown.

"So we got four people. Someone else? Robin?" Steve asked. And it surprised Robin to hear her name suddenly. She was feasting on vanilla ice cream in one of the room's corners and silently listened to the conversation. But now Steve just had to pull her in.

"Why Steve? Do you need me as your babysitter or what?"

"It was just a friendly invite, Robin. Jeez. Relax. You don't have to come if you don't want to." Steve said and turned his back to her.

"Ok, I'll come. But just because I'm curious."

The trick worked. Steve had convinced her to come with reverse psychology. He was just that smart.

"Good. Then we can split up into two groups. Each group will search different parts of the lab. So simple."

"Don't know if splitting up is a good idea." Dustin added.

"We'll be fine. Now." Steve put both his hands on the living room table. All the others came closer to hear what he was about to say. "Sunset is in 9 hours. If we get ready in 15 minutes, we will probably make it before it gets dark."

"And our parents? They're going to freak out if we're missing again." Mike said.

"No problem. You're telling them we are going to save the world. Better be telling the truth this time. And if they can see the massive storm out there, they would not be surprised, only worried. BUT! We're wasting time. The ones who wanted to come with me, go to your homes and make yourself ready. We'll meet here in 15 minutes. Hope everyone understands the plan?" No one interfered. "No questions. Good. Then let's go."

All the volunteers quickly left the house, leaving for another 15 minutes until every one of them came back ready as ever.

But they were not the only ones preparing themselves. No. Deep in The Upside Down, an undead lord was doing the same. He had summoned one of his most successful summons. And its looks where terrifying. Its body was made as if multiple skeletons were fused together, giving the creature multiple heads at once where the torso would normally be. On its right shoulder was a pad that had three long bone spikes, yet the other shoulder was unprotected. Its biceps were merged with ribs to make them look even bigger. Releasing a dark aura behind it made every enemy feel even more dread. It wore a simple black robe, and around the undead were multiple chains. Their usefulness was still unknown. As its main weapon, it possessed a great halberd made of dark iron. In the middle of the two blades, where they were connected, a symbol of a skeletal being was engraved. Most likely to honor its master, the Overlord of Death. And with all that, it even stood 2.5 meters tall, making every human look small to it.

"Corpse Guardian. I have a task for you." Ainz told the currently bowing undead. Sitting on his throne, he continued talking. "Secure a location for me. Call it, watching over a certain building. It is of the utmost importance that you do not let anyone steal something from the place I will assign you to, understand."

The summon quickly answered. "Yes, My Lord. I will do as you wish."

"That is good to hear. Now. About what exactly you will be defending. It is this." Ainz projected the Hawkins lab onto the ground, but he forgot one thing. "You can raise your head."

As told, the Corpse Guardian raised its head towards the projection.

"You will guard deep in the lesser floors. You will let nobody steal a thing from that place. If they manage to do that, they might hinder my plan. So you understand the importance of your quest, Corpse Guardian?" Ainz asked the undead. He wanted it to know that failure was not an option.

"I have fully understood what you desire me to do, My Lord. Shall I make my way right away, or do you wish me to fulfill another task first?" The Corpse Guardian said those words while he lowered his head once again.

"I will send you there immediately. There is no time to waste. Our enemies could even be there at this moment. I will open you a gate to the exact location you'll have to defend." The Overlord lifted his finger, and to his motion, a rift in space opened. "Enter this gate, Corpse Guardian, and fulfill your duty."

"As you wish, My Lord."

The Corpse Guardian stood up, turned and entered the gate slowly. Now, Ainz was once again alone in the throne room, opening his mirror to spy on the real world.

"The time has not yet come. What did change? I felt something hinder my ascending into the human world. But what was that, exactly? It couldn't be humans, they don't have the means. Maybe something different. But in all these years, I have seen nothing extraordinary from viewing the world. So it must be random. Well, this time, I can feel it. This time is when it will definitely happen."

The anomaly let the Overlord think once again about what he will do in the near future. A Thousand of times he thought about it, yet this time was different. He somehow knew it would not happen as he wished. But it had to! There was no questioning. He knew it! If he wouldn't do it, he could never avenge Nazarick. The new world had to pay for it! That was something Ainz couldn't forgive. So he has to return. It is the only place that has any kind of root to him, to Yggdrasil.

"Forgive me, Touch Me. I will kill millions of people soon enough…" The Overlord facepalmed his face in deep thought. "... Am I evil?" The Overlord asked into the empty throne room.

…

"... Tell me, world. AM I EVIL!?"

…

A green aura enveloped the undead lord, calming him once again. "No, it is only right to do it. And they are only humans. I can sacrifice them. I am undead, after all. I feel nothing…"

His body could not be exhausted, but his mind certainly could, to a limited extent. And such thoughts would certainly burden the Overlords mind.

"I should do something useful…" With that, the Overlord disappeared from the [Throne of Kings] and reappeared in the Treasury. He entered and walked past the golden golems that guarded the mausoleum. He looked at all golems each. His guildmates, all of them, were here. Their equipment, here. And there were even some leftover golems for himself. If he would leave the realm of existence once and for all, then he would like to be remembered and put close to his friends.

"You, my friends, will witness the greatest feat ever made by a player. Maybe not the most dignified…"

Ainz continued to walk deeper into the Treasury, leaving the golem of his comrades behind. First, he had to pass a short lobby, then the next section before he finally could come to the important items. The World Items. These were what made Ainz Ooal Gown one of the greatest guilds ever. As they had 11 of them. The next guild only had three. So there was quite a gap between power, yet each World Item had a specific ability, which could make it completely useless in one moment, but the opposite in another. But one thing every World Item had in common. If one owned a World Item, another World Item could not affect the user. That also passed for wild magic. A sort of magic only found in the new world that was first used only by the dragon lords, the ones that helped the new world drive the Overlord of the new world into the Upside Down.

And as the Overlord passed each World Item he had found uninteresting, he slowly closed in on the one who he would need. One of the twenty which Ainz Ooal Gown possessed.

"There you are. This time, you will help me."

The skeletal hands grasped out the object, an object that appeared to be a watch. A golden watch adorned with jewels. A pocket watch, if one could say that, was the nearest thing to be similar to it. Yet, its effects were only known to the Overlord. The only one of the twenty which was not made public in Yggdrasil. As intended by Ainz.

"I will activate you soon, but not now." Ainz grasped the clock out of its socket, putting it in his dimensional storage, and leaving the Treasury. But just when he was about to exit, he felt something pulling his attention. He turned back to see what it was, but he only saw nothingness. At first, he was confused. How could nothing have a presence? How could Ainz feel it if it wasn't visible? Yet Ainz stayed to investigate the matter, as it was certainly odd. He went to the exact location he would've thought the item to be, yet nothing was there. Unless…

"Brilliant…"

The Overlord stretched his skeletal hand out, creating a white powder in his hand and throwing it up into the air. Now it was visible what he had felt. The powder, one would think, would just fall onto the ground. But that was not the case. In straight lines, forming a spider web, the powder showed something invisible to the naked eye, one of a human at least. But the Overlord could somehow see it. Feel it. Now it was fully visible.

"That must be the web to… I remember. It can change fate. It spins around fate and wherever you pull a string, it may change destiny to your will, or that was at least what it could do in Yggdrasil if I remember correctly."

So it would seem. Ainz hesitated, but decided for it. He slowly removed the web from its place and put it in his storage, where he would use it when the time was right.

"Now I can leave."

He walked the halls back to the Entrance of the Treasury, only then he could teleport out of it. One last glance at his comrades and he was ready to leave. It was the least he could do to honor them. Even if they were long dead, forgotten by history all along.

Now the Ruler of Death found himself in a completely different place. It was a hall full of memories, the memories of a certain Overlord. There, he could view them, analyze them, and re-watch them.

"I will never be tired of watching the times with my comrades. It was the best time of my life. I will never forget it… But then…" The shift in the surrounding air clearly stated that the Overlord was starting to feel anger and hate. "...The new world had to happen. They had to fight me. Robbing me of my chance to see my friends again, to live happily with my friend's creations." Then a green aura encompassed the Overlord, calming him down accordingly. "Let's see the memory of how I met Number One. It was the first time I had contact with something that wasn't a summon after a long time."

The room shifted to a dark environment with strong winds and storms covering the heavens. It was like a desert, devoid of most normal life. Yet something was walking through it, with much hate and disgust. For one thing, humanity. Its hatred was so deep that it couldn't let it die so easily. And after walking for days, it finally met someone, a person of some sort who looked all too familiar with the environment of the Upside Down.

"So you're the one that fell from the sky."

A deep, regal voice sought out the surrounding air. The man, shocked, looked in the voice's direction, only to see the Overlord standing tall a couple of meters away from him. Yet his face and most of his body were not visible, as the strong storm darkened all the surroundings. The only thing the man could see was a tall shadow. But the feeling of dread he felt was nothing he ever experienced.

"WHO ARE YOU!?" The man screamed, ready to use his telekinetic abilities against the figure at every moment. Would it make one wrong move, one wrong step. He would've instantly attacked him. Simply out of pure defense.

"Is it really important who I am? Or is it you who needs to know yourself first? But very well, I will tell you my name if it calms you down." The being came closer, yet every step was making the young man more anxious, more nervous. It was giving him a bad feeling. That he should've run at the very first second. But it was too late for that. Now, the being made one last step, and so entering the viewing distance of the young man. Behind the being stormed a cruel wind, yet nothing bothered it while One had to keep himself in a heavy stance to not be dragged by it. And when he saw the Overlord from up close, he fell to his knees, tears running out of his eyes. Was he happy or sad? Well, it was no ordinary reaction from the Overlord's memories. "My name is Ainz Ooal Gown, the Ruler of Death. Now, you will assist me if you like it or not. And you will be compensated for your actions, of course..."

In One's head, a mental breakdown was currently happening. He didn't know! He thought all his life he was the biggest monster ever in history, but to meet such a being in this hell of a world was simply phenomenal and frightening at the same time. What would this being want from him? Why would the Reaper need him, a monster of a mortal human?

"Haha…" He laughed, like a maniac. "Hahaha… I am sorry. Your form simply took aback me. But… How can I trust you? … Are you the devil.. Or death that has come to use me for one last time?! What would you even need me for? I can't even defeat a child!"

The angry outbursts did nothing to the Overlord. He simply kept his gaze towards the young man, who slowly calmed down. He knew by now that it was inappropriate to talk like that before the undead lord. Now he was wary of what it would do next.

"I will give you a possibility for revenge. Now, follow me. We have much to discuss."

A rift in reality opened behind the undead being, which walked in it with no regrets. However, One was frightened by it. He sneaked to the gate, slowly nearing it. He put a finger into it, but nothing happened, no pain, nothing. Then, he took a big breath and rushed into it. And from a living hell, the scenery changed to a magnificent throne room, where the being he had just seen was sitting on a godly throne, befitting of the one claiming it.

"Now, let me tell you your next task, One."

The rest was history. Ainz quickly stopped the recording of his memory, opened his storage, and took a cassette player out of it. Even in his time, this device was counted as an antique. But in-game, it was just another item to be used. Now the rusty thing was in the Overlord's hands, who carefully inspected the thing.

After a brief moment, he put it on the ground and sat next to it. Now again, he took out something from his inventory, a certain cassette, which was marked as: -041-.

His gaze momentarily looked into the cassette. He was having memories of his prime. But coming back to reality, he carefully put the cassette in the device, closed it, and pushed the start button. But it jammed. He tried again. Yet failed again. A mighty Overlord couldn't even start a cassette player. His luck was that nobody was around to see him. But after many tries, he held the button instead of tapping it once. Now, after ten seconds, the device made a sound.

"Finally."

The device took a moment to fully start just because it was counted an ancient invention. But after a short amount of waiting, it played the recording.

"Come, Momonga, we have a dungeon to raid! It's clearly our best option! We can use it as a base if we conquer it! It's THE DEAL!" One voice said.

"No! We have to farm bosses and players! Don't listen to the silver bug, trust me, Momonga!" Another voice said.

"You clearly don't know how important a guild base is, Ulbert! Just going out and fighting is NOT an intelligent option!"

"Ah, yeah. Says the dude who wants to bring "justice" in a game. Give me a break."

"I think I'll have to side with Touch Me on this one. Our guild could really use a good base. And I think the one we found would be perfect. And it's best to conquer the dungeon before any other guilds find it. And we also will be able to fight some bosses in their two, so you also get your fight, Ulbert."

"Good choice, Momonga. I mean no harm to you, Ulbert. But you have to think for the best solution we can execute as a guild, not as a solo player."

"I guess we can do it your way then. And I know Touch Me, but being a team player is really hard. I still have to get used to it. For now, I just blasted my way through everything. But that doesn't mean I regret killing that raid boss, even when it had 1% health. It was clearly my win!"

"Nonsense! Momonga and I brought its HP all the way down while you had to make one of your grand speeches. Don't try to boast about that victory. It was clearly team play that made it happen."

"You can tell yourself what you want. But with my grand firepower, I clearly made the most damage to the beast. So it was clearly my w-..

The device suddenly stopped, and as Momonga removed the cassette from it, he turned it around to continue the recording. Yet when he wanted to start it, nothing happened. He removed the cassette again. He saw there was something wrong with the tape inside it. So he opened the object with utmost care. But his huge hands just weren't designed to do such work, and the tape flew all over the place. It was a shame, but he couldn't use this one again until it was repaired.

"I broke it…"

Nothing new to the Overlord. Sometimes he simply underestimated his strength.

"Time to return."

The room went dark, nobody was left to view its memories, so it lost any color the instant the Overlord left to his throne room. And as he sat on the throne, he could see in the mirror he left what the Corpse Guardian was currently doing.

"He summoned some minions to assist him, clever."

What he wasn't seeing was that a bunch of teenagers and Steve were about to enter the laboratory soon enough. Steve, Robin, Mike, El, Lucas and Dustin were ready to go, all dressed in their own adventure suits, with all things they deemed necessary attached to them. And, of course, each one of them had some sort of weapon. The most remarkable one was Dustin's spiked shield, made of a metal lid. Just to honor his fallen brother Eddie.

"So, you guys, are you ready to explore?"

"Of course Steve! These ancient ruins will reveal many secrets unknown to us."

"It's just a lab, Dustin. Chill. " Mike said.

"You got to have the spirit, Mike. The spirit!"

"Well, I guess it's fine if you're all hyped up. But it'll be dark down there. This building wasn't used for years now. So get your flashlights out at any moment! So, let's go!"

Steve marched to the entrance of the lab with his teen soldiers behind him. And there was also Robin, but she stayed at the end of the group. She wasn't eager to enter the lab as everybody else. But someone else was also having mixed feeling. Bad memories, to be exact. El didn't like the place. It gave her the chills. But as she felt an arm around her body, she knew she was safe. Mike, of all the people, has come with her. He knew this place was not new to her. And all the horrors that she must've witnessed would've surely traumatized her. That's why he came, for her sake.

"The government got rid of every monster in the lab. So we should be safe. Stay behind me, guys."

Steve was the first to enter the building. The flashlights went on, and they slowly made their way to the stairwell, as the elevator wouldn't work without energy. The air got stickier, dust was all over the place, and ambient sounds made themselves known from every angle.

When they descended the staircase, everybody held the one person in front of him. They didn't want to lose anybody, and so they would always know if someone stopped following.

"Guys, we almost made it. Just some staircases lef-

"Wait, can you hear that?!" Lucas interrupted Steve mid-sentence. As a silent growl was heard from downstairs. It was as if a dog and a bear were fused together. A horrific sound that made the teenagers know that they were not alone anymore.

"Don't point the flashlights down! We don't know what's down there. Important thing is, keep quiet and don't step on anything loud. Whatever we're facing, it's probably the bad guys. So take out your weapons, but quietly."

The teenagers readied themselves to face the lackeys of the Overlord personally. Will they stand a chance against the Corpse Guardian and his minions? In the end, it will be mostly luck that could save them.

"Everyone alright? Good. Now. Let's go!"

To be continued