Chapter 48 : *Hidden* ; Nao Vs Momonga!

The timer started its countdown, and the top 2 match between Nao and Momonga started!

Even though the two ended their conversation earlier, it seemed Nao still had something to talk about, so he spoke out to Momonga, which drew his attention.

"Say Momonga, before we start attacking, I have a proposition for you."

"Hmm? I'm your enemy now you know. I could even start casting a spell right now."

"I know. Putting it that way, we are both magic casters, right?"

"Indeed. Ones of opposing elements in fact. You are an angel, and I am an Undead."

"Right? So I'll keep it short. Since we are both magic casters, why don't we give ourselves ten seconds each to buff our casting however we want?"

Hearing Nao propose that, a glint of light streaked across Momonga's eye sockets. He then raised his hands, answering in agreement.

"That is an intriguing proposal! It both has its advantages and disadvantages. We are in the finals for one if the nine tournaments. Starting the fighting right off the bat would be boring. As expected, Metatron!", Momonga replied with a smile emote, as if he was already assuming his moniker in the New World.

'I really just wanted to see you re-enact your quick casting you did against Shaltear though...', Nao said, retorting to himself while coughing inwardly.

"So you like it then?"

Seeing the two start conversing again instead of fighting interested the massive crowd of players watching them. The finals of the nine tournaments was to each be held at separate times. If Nao won, he would be the World Champion of Alfheim, but if Momonga won, he would become the World Champion of Helheim. The system developed by the admins matched the players with a special algorithm to where it would result in nine World Champions, even if they were randomly matched in the nine tournaments.

Speaking of admins, they too were watching the final match! Nao vs Momonga was the first of nine. Touch Me had actually made it into his finals as well, and just like the original, it seemed he was going to be the one crowned as Helheim's World Champion. It wouldn't be until later on would Momonga receive this title.

This match was also being commentated by several popular streamers, it was being watched everywhere in Neo Japan, to those who had interest in Yggdrasil at least. Moreover it took the crowd a good minute for them to recognize who Metatron was. They immediately recognized Momonga as his Guild was one of the most popular and deadly Heteromorphic Guilds by now, after forming a good foundation in their Great Tomb of Nazarick.

Once the players recognized Metatron as the False Angel, it turned into a huge uproar, only gaining more attention from the respective streamers. The streamers started using many silly titles as well, since the match they were spectating was a classic, an Angel vs an Undead.

Nao's Guild, Rising Phoenix, was cheering him on from the left side, while Momonga's Guild, Ainz Oowl Gown, was cheering him on from the right side respectively. Moreover, a special sound barrier could be seen erected around Rising Phoenix. Inside of it were the girls, Bukubukuchagama, and Tabula. Not only that, a cute little purple dragon npc could be seen on the fire sylph's lap. Both appeared very cute The dragon dangled her feet watching Nao and converse. Of course the one holding the dragon was Miya, and the dragon was Eve, Yggdrasil's AI.

This sound barrier prevented anyone from hearing them from uninterested parties, but those inside could still hear what was going on. Even the admins were estranged as to why they couldn't do a thing about it. They realized Eve had developed a bond with a player over the last couple years in Yggdrasil, but whenever they searched or tried to access Eve's data logs, the admins would either find such data deleted or too encrypted that became out of their reach to crack.

In the end, Miya decided against their last meeting as being the final one, and secretly continued to converse with Eve. She informed Nao too of course each time and it looks like Eve was soon reaching the point to join their family, but Eve still seemed s bit hesitant.

The fire sylph spoke out as they all saw Nao and Momonga continue to speak to each other.

"Now that you've been with our Guild for a bit, you like it, don't you, Eve?"

"I do...despite the ongoing hatred other players seem to rile up against "Inhumans" as they call them, yours show harmony between the three classes. I like the time I spend conversing with Big Sis too."

"Right? Then let me ask you, do you know what will happen in the next four years?"

Hearing Miya suddenly change topic, Eve became quiet for a good moment begore she responded back, drawing the attention of the rest of Nao's family.

"...Do you really want to know, Big Sis?"

Miya also found Eve's reaction different this time from her previous attempts to ask her this topic.

"Hmm, we kind of already do. And hearing you finally answer me like that, that makes it more spot on. Our Guild is planning to partake in that, Eve."

"You can't!", Eve suddenly shouted with a worried tone, quiet drastic to her usual indifference. She even tried to flap her wings a couple times.

"Oh? What makes you so worried to where you need shout?"

Hearing this, Eve suddenly realized she indeed let out a loud voice just now, and she let out a frown emote, dropping her head slightly. Miya couldn't help but rub Eve's head a bit.

"I-I'm sorry I raised my voice like that. It's just if you guys take part in that, I won't be able see you anymore!"

After Eve said that with a worried tone, Miya rubbed her head a bit more. It was then that Elsa spoke to Eve with a giggle.

"Fufu, there is a simple solution to that, Eve. Join our family."

"But...:, Eve said, trying to interject. Miya interrupted her next.

"Listen, Eve. Our family is special. As for me, I'm just like you."

"Big sis is like me?", Eve questioned with wonder.

"Yeah! I'm an artificial intelligence, AI as you call it.", Miya answered her, finally revealing a part of who Miya was. Eve turned around and blankly stared at Miya for a good moment. Well, she couldn't even blink if she wanted to, since this was Yggdrasil.

"Big Sis is an AI like me!? But you don't look that way!"

"I know, right? But I was indeed created, and my journey started shortly after with Brother. It took many years for our family to reach this point. As for Brother, he has quite a few special abilities, receiving visions is one of them, even though he hadn't had one in a while.", Miya continued to speak, diving into their past a bit.

"But one of the visions Brother had was about this place, well more along the lines of the place of which that was after we partake in that 'transfer', as you will. And among our family, while it didn't show all of us of who is currently gathered here, it did show off a dragon, who became humanoid. That dragon was violet, just like you, Eve. I've always had this feeling that you might be her."

"That...is a lot of information to process. But do you truly think I will end up joining Big Sis's family?"

"I do!", Miya firmly responded.

"I think so as well. The two do match up quite well. I've never really connected the dots until now.", Elsa also answered in acknowledgment.

"Are we going tog et another new family member?", Fie asked in anticipation.

"And yet we joined recently. No wonder you guys' family is so large already, hehe.", Bukubukuchagama giggled.

"Even I'm finding it hard to believe that Yggdrasil's AI is sitting here with us, let alone is interested in joining our family.", Tabula retorted.

After a few exchanges with each other, everyone let out a good laugh. They saw Nao was still talking with Momonga so Eve took this time to ask another question.

:But if I do decide to join...how will Big Sis make it possible for me to become like you?"

"Brother will do the most part in creating your body since Yggdrasil allows custom npc creation, but for the rest of that, just leave it to us, okay?", Miya responded, rubbing her hand over Eve's head again.

"Alright. If you guys really see me as part of your family, and that vision is true, then I will join. The admins said this transfer in four years will be the last one they do, and after I would get shut down for good. I...don't want that to happen!", Eve said with a resolute voice. Nao's family revealed more smile emotes.

'The persuasion finally paid off, hehe. I'll even get a little sister! I won't be the only AI in our family anymore. Eve will definitely be a good addition, especially if she becomes Brother's npc. He did express interest to create those guards too. There's also Hela's soul resting in that lamp of his...', Miya said to herself, giggling.

'Still, the end is shaping up already. I don't see ourselves staying in the New World for too long though...But we will see. For now, let's inform Brother the good news.', Miya said, concluding her thoughts.

"Great to hear. You're free to spend these next few years however you like, Eve, but once the transfer approaches and Nao's creation is done, you will have to be in our presence.", Elsa spoke out, instructing Eve.

"Okay!", Eve acknowledged. She then let her scaly feet dangle below in happiness.

"I'm going to inform Brother, Big Sis Elsa."

"Wait, now?"

"Of course! I want to see his reaction like this!"

"Fine. Do as you will." Elsa said, shrugging her shoulders with a sigh.

Everyone saw Nao and Momonga finally end their conversation, only for Nao to take out one of Yggdrasil's gold coins. It was at this time Miya whispered to Nao, revealing that Eve was now a part of their family.

The moment Nao received this notification, the huge crowd of players saw Nao almost trip over himself and tumble onto the ground, dropping his gold coin along the way.

Seeing this happen, Momonga asked him with intrigue.

'Are you okay, Metatron?"

"It's nothing.", Nao simply replied, He then straightened himself, getting up from the arena's ground, retrieving the gold coin from the ground.

"Now, back to where we were. Heads or tails? This will decide who of us goes first."

"Not doing the classic rolling method? A coin toss works too. I'll go with tails."

"Got it.", Nao replied. Since Momonga chose tails Nao had heads. He then did a fast flick of his thumb, letting the coin flip high up into the air. The coin attracted the player's attention, seeing as they were deciding on something. Everyone heard their ongoing conversation, and it looks like they'll take a few seconds to cast rapid buffing spells, which excited them. It was a showdown between magic casters, after all.

After a few seconds, the coin finally tossed back down onto the ground, creating a loud bang clank once it struck. It revealed tails. Momonga looked at the result, and nodded his head. He would go first.

Nao stepped backward, giving him good distance. Without any delay, Momonga started to rapidly press his icons on his system overlay, letting out fast chants. The ten seconds started.

"Fly. Magic Ward, Holy. Magic Ward, Water. Bless of Magic Caster. Greater Magic Boost. False Data, Life. Life Essence. Mana Essence, Greater Resistance. Penetrate Up. Shadowy Aura. Greater Full Potential. Delay Magic, Grasp Heart. Twin Maximize Magic : Black Hole!", Momonga yelled out, chanting spells rapidly without stop. This stunned the players watching him, as they saw a multitude of colored auras wrap around his body. He managed to cast out 14 before the timer stopped at zero!

Seeing his casting done, Momonga took both offensive and defensive stances. He knew Nao primarily casted light spells, but he knew water and thunder spells as well. It was possible he knew other elements, but Nao primarily showed off water and light spells during his matches, while throwing in a thunder spell every so often. Momonga would watch him and Touch Me.

So Momonga decided to raise his resistances against those two types, while giving him plenty of bonus damage to work with. He wasn't sure of Nao's weaknesses, but it was likely he was still weak to darkness. Moreover, Grasp Heart was one of his favorite spells, and one of his strongest. It had a high chance to cause instant death, but Nao probably had resistance against that effect. It could still cause a lot of damage. Black hole was a movement type high end magic spell, and if Nao tried to fly away with his wings, black hole would attempt to pull him back in, dealing damage at the same time. Moreover, he would launch two of these.

But now, Momonga's casting was done and he saw a lot of his MP used. But he still had a lot left, the blessing of being a Heteromorphic magic caster. The crowd was roaring in cheers while others showed their disdain, but he disregarded them. He now patiently waited for Nao to start.

Nao's timer started its countdown. Looking at his massive panel of spells, his fingers danced, even quicker than Momonga and he started chanting.

"Mana Essence. False Data, Mana. Magic Ward, Darkness. Magic Ward, Lightning. Magic Boost. Greater Magic Boost. Blessed of Magic Caster. Greater Full Potential. Penetrate Up. Protection From Evil. Heavenly Light. Chilly Aura. Resist Break. Triplet Delay Maximize Magic : Shining Blast. Delay Boosted Magic : Polar Claw!", Nao yelled out.

Hearing a continuous string of offensive chants, Momonga frowned. Moreover, he was leading with a very strong light spell, and the strongest single target ice spell! Not only that he delayed them and raised the ice spell's level by another stage! His timer was now over and he casted 15 spells, one higher than his.

Momonga did not delay his Black Hole like he did with Grasp Heart, so to catch Nao off guard, he flew up into the air thanks to Fly. Raising his hand, black mana seeped out of his bones. Nao saw the atmosphere around him start to distort, before the air and clouds started to gather inwardly. He also started to feel a tugging pull, before space distorted in the sky. A black hole emerged out of nowhere, sucking everything into it. Nao's body reacted and lost control, hurling itself toward the black hole that was sucking everything in.

All the while, his health started to drop. The damage increased the closer he got. to the black hole. Even the sky started to dim around it. Seeing the fight start, the crowd cheered.

To avoid being completely sucked in, Nao yelled out another spell. "Reverse Gravity!"

Reversing Gravity was one way to stop the tugging, and soon he felt his body's senses return back. He attempted to use his wings to fly away from the black hole that was sucking everything in.

"I knew you would try to escape like that, so have another one!" Using his second Black Hole, more dark mana seeped out of Momonga's bones. He launched this Black Hole further away, creating a good distance between the two. Nao soon start his body being tugged toward the second one, and he clicked his tongue inwardly. He felt his body swing around the two black holes as if he entered orbit between the two black holes, slowly chipping away at his health.

Unfortunately the two spells ended not long after they were cast, and the damage hipped away about a third of Nao's health, leaving behind a darkened atmosphere, as if it became night. This type of atmosphere was well suited for Momonga, as he was an Undead. After the two Black Holes vanished, Nao felt his body free once again.

Nao didn't waste time, and waved his hand up. Tapping his icon, he let out a chant after he stabilized his position while in the air. The air around his hand soon became chilly, with frost mana seeping out of his hand. The mana continuously leaked, until a gigantic claw formed, completely made of ice. It was in the shape of a polar bear's claw, and it seemed to be twice as large as the spell casted normally. This was due to Over magic, increasing its tier to a next level. It covered most of the arena.

"Activate, Polar Claw!", Nao yelled out, swiping down his hand.

The huge claw swiped down fast. The players thought it would be slow due to the size of it but they were wrong. It sped downward fast, blasting chilling air. Unfortunately they could not feel in Yggdrasil, as that was one of its locked senses. Regardless, Momonga erected a shadowy shield in attempt to block it. His shield met head on with it, the ice claw tried to burrow itself into the grounds. As a result, Momonga got blasted right into the right side of the arena.

Momonga's shield cracked apart, creating pixel dust, and several rainbow gashes appeared on his body. If blood could spurt out it would. Polar Claw was the peak of ice damage, the strongest of its spells. With penetrate up and reaching its max potential, it can rip though all sorts of shields. Not even Momonga could fully protect himself from such a spell.

"I'm not done either. Activate, Shining Blast!", Nao yelled out once more, activated his second delayed spell. Nao raised both of his hands this time, letting his staff float about around him. Three large balls of formed from light mana. This damage based its calculations off one's karma value. Nao did end up working on his karma value to match his angel build, maxing his karma out. It was now +500, whereas Momonga's karma value was -500, two polar opposites. This would do its maximum damage.

"Shit. Metatron is not messing around.", Momonga said, letting out a rare curse. That spell would likely hurt him more than the Polar Claw just did, which ripped through about 40% of his health in one go. He saw the three shining spheres start circling in a circular manner, as if they were waiting for a command.

"Activate, Grasp Heart! Maximize Magic, Implosion!", Momonga tapped two more icons swiftly, chanting two concurrent spells.

Nao sent the three large shining spheres downward, to where the wreckage of the arena could be seen. They flew down fast, even faster than the gigantic Polar Claw that struck down earlier. Momonga had an illusory bloody beating heart appear in his hand. It burst open, crushing the heart into pixels. He was planning to use this on Nao directly to stun him for a few seconds, but he changed his targets to one of the spheres, destroying it instantly. Two remained.

The second, all of a sudden, had space distort around it, before it slowly started to crumble upon itself, becoming smaller and smaller. It then created created a large boom, shaking the arena. The second sphere disintegrated into rainbow pixels.

Nao was surprised to see Momonga cancel out two thirds of his spell, but then again, he is fighting Momonga, the leader of Ainz Oowl Gown!

Unfortunately for Momonga, however, the force of the second boom created a blast that caused the third shining sphere to speed up even more. Momonga tried to erect another shield to protect him, but he couldn't react in time before his avatar got swallowed in a large blue-white light. The sphere exploded out horizontally, very similar to how one got hit by Holy Smite. This one blast of karma brought Momonga down by another 20%, and more rainbow gashes appeared on his robe.

He was blasted against the arena once more, striking against the barrier that was long put in place by the admins, so the players wouldn't get hurt from it. The members of Ainz Oowl Gown were dumbfounded seeing their leader wrecked with so many rainbow tears. Nao had some too, but they were less.

Others were surprised too. Momonga was really well known in Helheim. But that wasn't stopping Nao.

"Twin Maximize Magic, Call Greater Thunder!", Nao yelled, flying downward. Two large blue streaks of lightning formed in both of Nao's hands.

Momonga, who was still in his indent, jumped off the side of the arena, and looked calmly at the generating lightning.

His health was below half, but he didn't care. He even let out a chuckle.

"Haha! This is indeed a showdown between spells. I will respond in kind! Triplet Maximize Magic, Reality Slash!", Momonga yelled out excitedly. This was one of Momonga's signature spells! Space soon started to bend around him, sending out three white slashes of light in different directions. Nao responded, and shot out two large bolts of lightning.

Seeing spell after spell only incited the crowd to cheer. Their previous disdain was washed away. Nao's match against Momonga was well underway now, and it was approaching its climax!

*

A/N : Aht here. Here is the next chapter!

Full Chapter Title : Eve Joins! ; Nao Vs Momonga! (Thank you guys for the name input. In the end I decided to merge Eve and the dragon npc into one character. As to whether the name will change, not sure. If it will, it will become Shion)

A two in one chapter, enjoy!

Don't forget to keep dropping those power stones and leave comments below!