Chapter 48

The sound of crunching. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. That was all Hilma heard for day after day, except for the fabric like sound of her own flesh tearing. She never screamed, not once. Her mouth was open in a silent cry, but she did not scream.

She couldn't.

Her body was paralyzed, she couldn't even shut her eyes. But she saw everything in the mirrors. Little bugs were eating her flesh and bones save but for her vital organs, preventing her death, then, each time she wondered if the sweet release of her demise was nearly going to happen, a dog headed woman approached, healed her completely, and it began again.

So it went for the better part of a week...as near as she could guess.

No explanation.

No reason.

No questions.

Only pain.

And silence.

Except for the crunching, the ripping, and the tearing.

Then it was done. A slender man with pointed ears and glasses in a formal red suit of the sort she recognized as being popular in the south, approached and stood over her body. His hands were folded behind his back, and he leaned over her so that his head was above her face by no more than a foot.

"I'm sure by now you're ready to die many times over, not because you want to die, but because you want to feel no more pain." He said, and placed a hand on her cheek. Tears welled up in her eyes which blurred her view of the stranger, the man she recalled from the night the two women took her. He wiped her pooling tears away with a white gloved thumb.

"My name is Demiurge, and, other than the wish to die, I'm sure you have many, many questions for me. Well the same is true for me, but this wasn't done for interrogation, this torture was done to you for 'educational' purposes. To teach you to obey completely. There is no running, there is no escaping, the lord of this place is the master of death. Even if you take your life, he can bring you back to endure it again. You are now a servant of Nazarick."

Hilma didn't answer. Paralyzed as she was, she couldn't.

"Entoma, withdraw your bugs." He said, and from the shadows the purple haired girl emerged, then with a wave of her arm, the bugs that crawled about her, began to leave. They crawled out of every orifice, both the ones made by nature and the ones they had made themselves, a healing spell was cast from out of view, and Hilma's body was whole again.

"You may now move, but do not rise, only speak. Tell me you understand, or we will start over and I will return in another week." Demiurge commanded her, and Hilma babbled her subservience.

She sobbed out her words, she moaned them, she cried them out, tears flowed like waterfalls and she hiccupped through every word. No part of her body wasn't shaking in both terror and relief. "Yes! Yes I understand! I beg you… no more, no more no more no more! I promise I will be loyal! I obey! I am your servant! Your servant till eternal death releases me!

"Good, then we understand one another. Since the night you vanished, my master's work has done a great deal of harm to your business ventures. Farms growing your pathetic plants have been burned, your crime hotels were raided and everyone there killed, your underground games destroyed, customers slaughtered and fighters freed. To name a few things, I have only one question… where will your leaders gather to decide on a response?" Demiurge asked the question with a half open mouthed smile on his face. "You'll tell me, won't you?"

Hilma nodded, 'Anything! Anything!' She thought, and whimpering like a beaten dog, she answered, "There's an old manor in the city, nobody lives there, but we… we use it. It belongs to Prince Barbro, but he lets us use it for meetings and entertainment with the wealthiest of our customers. They'll meet there."

"I see, we've been monitoring your home since we brought you here, and nobody has come looking for you, no messages were delivered. How much more will we have to dismantle before they gather?" Demiurge asked the obvious followup question, and Hilma thought that over. But the fear of error was a significant one to say the least.

"I… master Demiurge, it may be that they've delayed because they suspect each other." Hilma bit her lip to stop the quivering, at least her answer wasn't obviously wrong, because the looming face rose away from her when he straightened up.

"Yes… scum of your sort wouldn't know anything about true loyalty, not like us." Demiurge stroked his chin and thought it over. Then he was looming close again, "You will dispatch a message, inform them that you've caught wind of the ones responsible and laid a trap for them, but you need help to pull it off. Tell them… tell them to gather as many fighters as they can, that should make them comfortable enough to appear, shouldn't it?"

Hilma gave many rapid tiny nods before she found her voice again, "Y-Yes, my Lord. Only give me what I need and… I will help you."

"Of course you will, and… just so you know, pain avoidance isn't the only reason to serve well. That… is just the reason not to betray us. The reason to serve well…" He said, then laid a hand over her breast, just where the heart lay beating rapidly below. [Aspect of the Incubus] [Absolute Bliss Level Five]

Pure white filled Hilma's eyes, absolute and total pleasure overwhelmed her body, where there was pain before that made hell look like a vacation, now there was only bliss that made heaven itself to be hell in comparison. Her body shivered, shook, and cries of ecstasy overwhelmed her every single sensation. The world that consumed her before had vanished, leaving her broken to pleasures she had never dreamed were possible for a mortal.

Then the touch to her skin was broken, and the bliss began to fade, leaving her a quivering lump that could barely breathe hard enough to stay alive. "Obey well, and you will experience pleasure, comfort, and happiness. Disobey, or betray, and your suffering will be a tale of caution that will be whispered of in tales of terror for generations."

Hilma couldn't respond, and as her brain started to work properly again, she realized she didn't need to. Her answer would come in the form of her actions. But that didn't stop her from giving it in the privacy of her own mind. 'Of course! I can't wait to betray them!'

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Ainz looked at Aura and Mare through dark, human eyes, and with childlike innocence, their little hands came up and touched his cheek. "M-My Lord what…?" Mare started to ask, then listened with wide eyed attention as Ainz explained everything.

When he was finished, Aura was the first to speak. "They knew, didn't they, my lord?" She turned her head partially to indicate the trio behind her.

"Arche has never known me except in this form, but yes, they do. Lupusregina figured it out during our travels, and I revealed it to Sebas not that long ago." Ainz admitted.

That made the little dark elf twins start to tremble a little, and their green and blue eyes began to quiver, as did their lips. "D-Didn't you trust us?" Mare asked in a voice of hurt.

"Aura, Mare, that wasn't it. Something like this…" Ainz brought his hand in and touched his own face. "It is a great deal to cope with, and I couldn't be sure that this wouldn't hurt you. You're the children of my precious Lady Bukubukuchagama, the woman I had…" He gave a wry little smile to the twins, "a bit of a crush on if you want the truth. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her children, so I put off telling you for my own reasons, and I am sorry, can you forgive me?" Ainz asked, and took Aura and Mare's right hands.

"Can… can we hug you, Lord Ainz?" Aura asked, sounding as anxious as her brother ever did, she had a rare demure and uncertain look on her face, but it vanished into a look of shock when the master of death pulled both she and her brother into his embrace and squeezed them tight against his body.

Their arms enfolded his own, and looking past them with their chins over his shoulders, he saw that Sebas, Lupusregina, and Arche had each visibly relaxed with the passing of tension.

'That leaves the remaining battlemaids, Demiurge, Albedo, Shalltear… the ones most likely to pose a problem. Rubedo was successfully started up, presumably she is loyal to me no matter what form I take, but still it would be best to inform her with backup available… which means telling the remaining Guardians first.' The thought filled Ainz with dread, and yet at the same moment, as he tried to imagine Albedo's reaction, the spine tingling anxiety was almost cathartic.

'I did something truly awful to her, even if I didn't know it at the time… if she betrays me…. I betrayed her first. I'm not ready to die, but if she cannot serve a human Lord in Nazarick, I will give her somewhere she can be happy. Even if I have to create a kingdom just for her.' The resolve settled in Ainz's gut like the lump in his throat that refused to leave, and his embrace over the twins grew subconsciously tighter before he found his senses again and released his grip.

When Ainz did, he gave them orders. "Go to the treasury, explain what I said about proper weapons for Carne Village, and deliver enough for the entire place to be equipped. Also, send Ninya to me as soon as you've made your delivery, I will be in the arena."

"Right away, Lord Ainz!" Aura was bright eyed and all smiles again, every inch an enthusiastic child who had just gotten a hug from a loved one, and with that, she grabbed her little brother's hand and hurried him away.

When they were gone, Ainz stood to face the remaining trio. "That went well." He said with an undisguised sigh of relief, "I was confident it would, but… doubt is the most insidious enemy…" Ainz touched his forehead, then cast his spell. [Perfect Warrior] Again the armored warrior of legend, he said, "Arche, Lupusregina, you are with me. We will be trying an experiment to see if I can increase your skills at the same rate when there is more than one of you at a time"

Lupusregina's wolfish grin was the only answer she needed to give, and the same went for Arche's bright eyes as her own ambitions to better her talent loomed large in her mind. The security of Arche's sisters allowed her to reawaken her former dreams, and little by little as she grew accustomed to a place filled with impossibly powerful monsters, she was blossoming.

Nowhere was this more evident than in the fourth hour of their training when Ainz pinned the dragon down at the neck, while Lupusregina tore violently at its exposed gut, and Arche shouted her spell again and again into its great red eyes. [Lightning! Lightning! Lightning!] Over and over Arche spammed the spell, feeling her body grow by leaps and bounds as an opponent that once would have been legendary, was rendered down to nothing but a punching bag.

'Power leveling in reality is shockingly like the game, satisfying.' Ainz reflected and checked the exp gains. His frequent private returns to Nazarick to have Cocytus spawn opponents for him had proven exceedingly profitable. His own levels had gone up to one hundred and ten, while Lupusregina was now the second strongest of the battlemaids, after Aureole Omega. Arche had grown less, but still thanks to Sebas's help, she was up to level twenty-six and was nearing her current peak. 'I'll need to provide her with new spell scrolls soon.' Ainz made the mental note and stepped away as the young dragon breathed its last.

The body was beginning to disappear when the gate opened, and from it stumbled a very uncertain, very fearful looking little mage in a cheap brown cloak with a staff that was every bit as cheap as everything else she wore. Her smallish face was brightened somewhat by her wide eyes, but it was obvious she was nervous by the stumbling way she walked.

"Master Momon I… sir, I was told I was going to meet the Lord who saved Carne ah, did I, what do I-" She stumbled over her words, her knees were wobbly and she was looking down at the sand under her feet, as if unsure if she should kneel or not. Ainz cut that off by raising his hand up in a simple gesture and then putting it on her shoulder in a comradely sort of way.

"Tell me, Ninya, would you give up everything if it meant the chance to protect your new home from your sister's fate? If it meant that such things would never be allowed to just 'happen' ever again? Would you give your absolute loyalty, if you had the power you needed to serve that purpose?" Ainz asked, his noble voice and high charisma rating was clearly having an effect on the woman, and though she couldn't see his face from behind the helmet, there was only one answer.

"Sir Momon… I still want to find some way to rescue my sister or… or avenge her if she's dead, but yes! I would do anything… anything to have the power to do what you said." Ninya's face became bitter, her grip on her staff, tighter. "Lord Ainz, he sent weapons to the village, it included a few magic items, things I'll use and do my best with but, but I am still weak. I can learn quickly, but I still need the experience, and that's extremely dangerous. It will take years, and the village doesn't have that. Are you… are you going to fight? If you do…?"

Ainz squeezed her shoulder a little, she ceased to speak, "Offer me your oath of allegiance, offer me everything you are, and your wish will be granted."

He waited while Ninya took in those words, she recalled his absolute power on the battlefield, and caught the eye of the cleric companion to the mighty warrior. The absolute brutality of Lupu had been a sight to behold, even looking at the maid whose equally brutal advice had upended Ninya's world, made her shiver. But when the cleric gave a tiny nod, Ninya recognized that she was being given an opportunity that would not come again.

"I-I pledge myself. Your cause, your will, everything. My very soul is yours, do what you want with it." Ninya shot the words out like an arrow launched from a tightly drawn bow, and when she spoke, the last strength in her legs faded and she fell to her knees. "I am your servant. Just… help me make this right." Ninya pled, then taking his hand from her shoulder, she slowly removed his glove, and kissed the ring on his finger as if he were a king, and she his subject.

"Then stand up, and follow me, you have some very difficult days ahead, but there is something else you must do first." Ainz said when he reclaimed his mailed glove and put it back on his hand.