10

Chapter 10 - To Grow and Change.

Three days have passed since the attack on Slane Theocracy. Ulbert has requested the audience with Ainz to discuss further action against them.

With Albedo redecorating his quarters, including the office, Ainz walks towards Ulbert's quarters at a leisurely pace. He wasn't sure if he should be amused or horrified by how sneakily Albedo fully moved in with him. First, a dress or two left behind. Then her handmade plushies appeared all over his office. She of course slept only in his bed since his return, even if Ainz himself worked most of the nights. When he finally realized what was going on, it was far too late to stop it.

And now she was moving stuff around the office so she could sit by him when needed.

'One day I'll just wake up married to her with children running around, without even noticing how that happened.' He says to himself with a chuckle while knocking at Ulbert's door.

Melibourius opens the door, and upon seeing him makes a deep bow and steps aside to let him in. Ulbert looks up from the document he is currently reading and says,

"Ainz didn't expect you to come to me."

"Albedo is redecorating my office, so I assumed we could talk here."

Ulbert says with a snicker, "At least we know who really runs Nazarick."

"Hilarious!" Ainz responds in a flat tone while sitting down.

"So, do I have permission to deploy Rubedo for additional harassment of the Slane Theocracy?" Ulbert asks in a bit more serious tone.

"I don't want to take unnecessary risks with Rubedo, even if there are no obvious threats for her. I plan to summon Archangel Metatron for your plan."

"A Metatron, are you insane, Ainz? Angel of that level can easily kill you."

"I will take all the necessary precautions and if it works, we will have an additional tool to use."

"Having a natural level 100 angel in our arsenal would be useful. Just don't pawn it on me if you are not sure it will follow my commands."

"Don't worry, I will double-check the angel's loyalty before giving it any orders."

"Just get me front row tickets for the show. By the way, did you check the lizardman bodies from the recent attack on dummy Nazarick?"

"Not yet, I haven't even received a full report on the incident. Is there a reason to check them?" Ainz asks, curious why Ulbert brought it up.

"They are stronger than humans, so I summoned a berserker demon using one of the bodies as a medium. Still no luck on high tier summons but better than using human corpses."

"Interesting, that means we potentially can use corpses in high tier summoning if we find species strong enough to be suitable."

"Exactly, however still no luck finding anything even remotely strong enough for tier eight summons not to mention above that."

"I'll keep that in mind, returning to the lizardmen situation. Do you have intel on attackers?"

"Only very basic information. Apparently one of the more aggressive tribes didn't like our presence so close to their borders and they attacked a patrolling death knight who promptly killed all of them."

"Not much to work on then?"

"Don't worry Ainz, shadow demons are investigating the entire area and I will get you a full report soon."

The next stop for Ainz was Tabula's laboratory. He wanted to resolve the Swords of darkness situation and he needs Tabula's input to return the entire team to life.

Mariposa was one to open doors for him. Until recently Tabula had experimented on corpses and prisoners to find various methods of body alteration. Now, with a decent supply of the new world's resources, he was back to alchemy.

A purple smoke filled the laboratory as Ainz walks in and starts coughing. In hindsight, Mariposa, wearing a mask, should have been enough of a warning.

"Dammit, Tabula… cough… you need to get a ventilation in here… cough."

"Oh Ainz, my friend, how nice of you to visit me, lets go talk in the living area."

While following Tabula out of the laboratory, Ainz wonders how he felt burning in the lungs, if he as undead didn't even have them. How Tabula could work all day in such conditions was beyond him.

Once Ainz sat down Tabula asks,

"So how can I help you today?"

"I wanted to test out resurrection on team Peros wants to get back."

"Oh, I remember I wrote a tome on the topic of resurrection and alteration. It should be around here somewhere. "

Tabula stands up and looks around, trying to remember where he put the tome. Mariposa just sighs, goes into the laboratory and returns with a book, and gives it to Ainz while saying,

"Here it is Lord Ainz, my husband has misplaced it a few times already."

Ainz replies, "Thank you," and looks at the thick tome, wondering how Tabula wrote the whole thing in such a short time researching top of that.

Ainz read the tome on the way to the fifth floor - the frozen wasteland. They kept all the corpses there for preservation. Tome is a mismatch of various rituals and techniques without a coherent plan. A list of instructions on how to change any type of body by using pure mana. How to change mana regeneration rate. A ritual for putting a soul in any type of body. The list of writings is long and somewhat incoherent.

Ainz quickly realizes that combined with 'Endless Strive' this tome was a key to limitless progression. In his hands, this knowledge could turn them all into actual gods with proper training. Tabula is a mad genius. There is no doubt about it.

Ainz devises a simple yet effective way of resurrecting the Swords of Darkness. A ritual that would capture a soul and push it into a shell body with caster feeding mana into ritual and soul itself choosing the new form. It didn't even matter if the body originally belonged to a soul or not. The only concerning part was that soul would choose the form on an instinct, not a conscious thought.

Upon hearing that Ainz finally planned to resurrect Swords of Darkness, Peros already waited for him to show up and perform the ritual.

Ainz performs the first test on Lakrut's zombified remains. Soul retrieval was easy enough, as unjust death drove it back to life. Then he puts the soul into the body and pours mana, letting it reshape the body. The body grows longer and leaner. Skin returns to normal, golden blonde hair grows to shoulder length as ears stretch out. An elf, Lakrut, is choosing his new form to be an elf.

Before Lakrut can awaken Ainz performs, another test by pouring even more mana into it and giving the new form a boost of power, and raising it to about level 20 right away. Muscles grow much more noticeable, and form gets bulkier.

Lakrut finally opens his eyes, dizzied and confused.

"Welcome back Lakrut, I am Ainz Ooal Gown or you may remember as Satoru, and behind me is Peros Ooal Gown or Itsuki."

"Wha… where am I, what's going on," Lakrut asks in a panicked voice.

Ainz casts a sleeping spell to let him rest, and for the soul to get used to living again. With Lakrut's panicked reaction, it was beneficial to make all of them sleep and get used to new circumstances at a slower pace.

Next is Peter. Ainz performs the same ritual but even upon starting it, he feels dark stains on the soul. Upon inspecting the soul, he realizes that the unjust death had caused it to let its darkness spread and change it. Once the soul enters the body, it rapidly bulks up as razor-sharp claws replace the soft human nails. His teeth grow sharp and a reddish glow behind his closed eyelids appears.

Peter has chosen the race of the fallen one, a mix between a demon and mortal. Driven by the more chaotic nature of the demon, he opens his eyes with a growl-like scream. Same as with Lakrut Ainz puts him to sleep right away.

Dyne comes after Peter. Because of his preference for nature, he is reborn as a nature elemental. A bulky form covered in a light bark, with a green grass-like hair.

Finally, it's Ninya's turn. Her soul, however, shows cracks in it. For now, Ainz does not know how to repair a soul but seeing a broken one gives him a reason to research the topic. Her resurrection process is not as smooth as it was for others. Her body shifts multiple times, not being able to settle on a form. Finally, it calms down and a genderless and featureless body, with 3 holes in place of mouth and eyes, remains.

"A doppelganger, that's unexpected." Ainz remarks to himself, he then turns to Adress Peros,

"Looks like all four are back. Do you need additional help with them?"

"Thanks, Ainz, I think I will manage. If they are part of my team, I need to handle this myself."

"Good luck with it them."

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Most of the spectator seats in the sixth-floor colosseum are filled with curious onlookers. Lord Ainz prepares to summon the highest tier angel.

Ainz stood in the middle of the arena. He had learned the spell to summon the Archangel Metatron. His first plan was to transform into a different form to avoid the devastating effects the holy magic would do to his undead body. However, after reading the tome he received from Tabula, he realized that the best way to gain power was to expose himself to his weaknesses.

Three figures stand near him. Albedo, Rubedo and Bukuma. He chooses them in case the angel would turn hostile towards him. On top of that, an army of spectators was also prepared to protect him. If angel as much as tried something funny, they would nuke it into the orbit.

Ainz is staling the process a bit. He wasn't looking forward to the pain. He set up the negative energy regeneration, an ability that uses his mana to transform it into negative energy and heal him. A few hundreds of mana crystals he has in his inventory should provide about two weeks of non-stop healing.

"Everyone, please restrain from attacking the angel unless it shows aggression. A natural aura of such being will damage me but that is part of my plan."

Finally, Ainz starts the summoning. It damages the majority of his undead body, brittling and blackening his bones as if they have been charred. A holy aura shimmers and a humanoid form appears. The figure is clad in shining plate armor with 6 snow-white wings stretching out from its back. A long flowing silver hair shines in its own radiance. A gentle feminine face with glowing silver eyes stands in front of Ainz.

Angel blinks and then drops on one knee, stabbing a polearm into the ground, and says in a soft voice,

"I, Eleleth, am ready to serve my Lord."

Ainz pours mana into the restoration of his body that desperately battles against the angel's unbearable holy aura. With a strained voice, he addresses her.

"You have no objections to serving an undead?"

"I came to serve the God of Life and Death, what form my master takes makes little difference to me."

"Look around you, everyone here is either my friend or servant. Will you work with them without prejudice if I order you to do so?"

"Yes, I will. My personal feelings towards the beings of darkness will not impede upon my servitude."

"Excellent, you may rise. Remember to deactivate aura when near the undead, me excluded."

"Understood my Lord."

Although dislike towards the Angel was rather noticeable among Nazarick's denizens, none openly sought conflict with her. For the most part, Eleleth paid little attention to others. Over the next few hours, Ainz felt the burning from her aura diminishing.

He had to spend twenty mana crystals just to keep up, but it had another positive effect. His overall mana pool grew as well. Ainz noticed a minimal increase in his mana pool when he slept with Albedo for the first time, and she drained him dry. Now being out of mana almost all the time lets him grow his mana pool even faster.

As painful as burning in holy aura was, it was the golden key for Ainz growth. Just two days later he had reached his limit and used 'Endless Strive' on himself again. At the same time, damage caused by it was diminishing slowly. As he healed himself with negative energy again and again and his resistance against holy damage continues to grow, his bones felt different, as if made from something different than a bone. His looks didn't change, but the feeling was something new.

It took just five days to reach the next cap and in terms of levels to be somewhere around 140 with almost complete immunity from holy damage.

To fully test it Ainz proposed a mock duel to Eleleth. She agreed, but Ainz was met with fierce resistance from both Albedo and Rubedo, who tried to talk him out of it in fear that the angel might kill him. No reassurance would suffice, so Ainz just allowed them to intervene, if his life was in danger at any point during the duel.

Eleleth opens a duel with holy blasts, but they do next to nothing to Ainz who responds with reality slash cutting one of her wings off and forcing Eleleth to self heal.

Seeing that her master is unaffected by a holy blast, she goes all out and sets off holy nova, drowning the entire area in holy light. Ainz counters it with his aura of despair, scattering the light. The effect is far more devastating than he remembers. It pushes Albedo on her knees and Eleleth drops to the ground, screaming in pain. Rubedo is the only one capable of withstanding it.

Seeing how fast his aura eats Eleleth away, Ainz deactivates it. To go from extremely weak against the angels, to burn even the strongest of them away with his aura alone in less than two weeks, was unbelievable. The next step was to develop same resistance towards the fire and no caster could ever hope to defeat him.

However, Ainz wasn't looking forward to it, at least not now. The pain he had to withstand nonstop was hellish. Not to mention constant weakness from being out of mana.

With Ainz turning his aura off, Eleleth gets up and heals herself while admitting she is no match for her master. No angel would.

"Thank you Eleleth for your assistance in my growth. You may rest and restore yourself, and once you feel rested, report to Lord Ulbert. He has a mission for you." Ainz says while leaving the arena with Albedo by his side.

"I will report to the demon named Ulbert at once," Eleleth says.

"Eleleth, it would be wise to remember that you should address him as Lord."

"Understood, I will report to Lord Ulbert at once."

Ainz and Albedo walk off together as Rubedo trails a distance behind them.

"Albedo, are you now convinced that I can stand against an angel?"

"Oh Yes, I have no doubts about it, my love. Your aura is so powerful now." Albedo responds with a purr as her wings shake in excitement.

Seeing her reaction, Ainz knows his mana will be drained again soon, but this time it will be much more pleasurable.

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After the resurrection of Swords of Darkness, Peros had ordered to put each member in a separate room and assigned a Pleiades maid to each to bring them up to speed once they wake up.

Lakrut awakes in a small room. There is a neatly folded pile of clothing for him and a small bell next to them. On the opposite wall is a large mirror. After the first drowsiness passes, he realizes he looks different. Elf, he is an elf now. Memory is hazy. Escorting Nfirea to his home, a blonde psycho attacking him, pain and passing out. Then death was looming over him.

He could pass to the opportunity to inspect his new body. Leaner, more distinct muscles.

'Ladies will love this,' he thinks with a smirk. After quickly dressing, he inspects the bell.

'Oh, this is probably to warn whoever is outside that I'm awake.' He muses and rings the bell.

A young maid steps in and greets him. Her unmoving face unnerves Lakrut right away. Or is it a mask?

"Awaken, good, let's start," Maid says in a cute, cheerful voice, opens the door, and motions for him to follow. Lakrut follows her as she explains where he is, what happened, and how Nazarick works.

'This is crazy, Lord of this place resurrected me and turned me into an elf. Do I even have any say about what will happen now?' Lakrut wonders as the strange maid leads him to a dining area.

Then comes the next surprise, the dining area is filled with maids, beautiful maids happily eating and chatting.

'Oh, this place is clearly not so bad, but if they aren't human, as my guide claims, what are they then?' His wondering is interrupted soon enough as his guide speaks.

"Sit down, I'll get the food, others should join soon."

"Others?"

"Your team, Lord Ainz, resurrected all four of you."

'My team, right, we all died then.'

Meanwhile, Peter awakes in a similar room. His now form takes him by a surprise. Why he looks massive, why his eyes are black and exude red smoke.

'What the hell happened to me?' Peter asks himself as memories returns. His death, the woman that attacked him and his team. He was too weak, he failed his team, he failed Nfirea, and most of all, he failed Ninya. Peter's last memory before his death is that of a blonde woman holding Ninya while jamming stilettos into the boy's shoulders, making him wail in pain.

Once he got his anger under control, Peter dresses and rings the small bell. A maid comes in a pale-skinned beauty with glasses and dark hair tied in a bun.

"Welcome back, Mr. Mauk, I'm tasked with explaining where are you and what will happen, if you could please follow me."

Maid talked like he was some kind of prisoner. Peter feels his anger overflowing and lunges at the maid. Before he could strike, she grabs one of his hands, bends it behind his back, and pushes him into the wall, almost knocking his teeth out.

"I would advise against such rash actions, Mr. Mauk. Rest of Nazarick may not be as forgiving as I am."

"Got it," he growls and desperately tries to calm down to not draw more ire from a maid that overpowered him like a little child.

"Good, now if you could please follow me."

Maid explained to him the inner workings of his 'New home' and events that followed his death as he is lead towards the dining area. The room is filled with maids and an oddly familiar elf stuffing his face and checking out the woman nearest to him with no shame.

"Lakrut?" Peter exclaims as the elf turns to look at him.

"Wait, PETER! What happened to you?"

"I could ask the same," Peter responds and sits next to Lakrut while the maid says that she will bring the food.

Same as his friends, Dyne awakes in a small room. His skin is a light brown with a strange texture. After a moment of drowsiness, he realizes he is covered with light bark, and green, grass-like hair grows out of his head.

When he rings the bell, a maid with an eyepatch walks in. She addresses him with an expressionless face.

"Come, I explain everything."

"Thank you, miss…"

"CZ2128 Delta, or just Shizu."

"Thank you, miss Shizu."

"Come, we have little time, need to explain a lot of things."

Dyne follows the strange maid while she explains his new situation. Being a living tree doesn't feel bad, it feels natural like it was always meant to be.

Once in the dining room, he sees what he assumes are Peter and Lakrut. Both look different but some of their old features remain.

"Peter, Lakrut, so good to see you both are well. But where is Ninya?"

"No idea, probably just lazy and sleeping in," Lakrut responds with a cheerful laugh.

"Ninya got it worst before dying, let him come on his own terms," Peter remarks with a low growl.

Ninya was last to awake. Once she looks in the mirror, a bald white head with 3 dark holes stares back. She touches her featureless face, not making a connection for a good minute. Once it settles in how she now looks, Ninya lets out a blood curling scream.

While Ninya stares in shock at herself in the mirror, Narberal barges in.

"What happened, why are you screaming?"

"I… I… look, I'm a monster."

"You are a doppelganger, just switch back to your human looks," Narberal says like it is the most obvious thing.

"Switch, how? What is going on? Who are… Nabe, is that you?"

By all means, Narberal should be annoyed with the insect that is making a fuss, but seeing Ninya in natural doppelganger form invokes a sisterly sense towards her. Narberal walks behind her looking into the mirror and says in a much gentler voice than before,

"Take a deep breath and remember how you looked when you were a human. You can do it."

'When I was a human, right, how I looked before.' Ninya takes a deep breath, trying to calm nerves, and starts remembering how her face and body looked. Her shape morphs and the form of a petite short-haired girl looks back at her from the mirror.

"Thank you, Nabe."

"It's Narberal Gamma."

"Narberal, got it. Where am I what's going on?"

"Get dressed, I'll explain everything on the way."

Ninya listened carefully while walking behind Narberal. She wasn't sure why, but Narberal felt like an older sister to her. All the predeath memories haunted her. Tortured to death, humiliated, and violated by the sadistic woman who killed her team, her friends.

Narberal explained that Lord Ainz resurrected her friends as well. Her friends, she hasn't told them the truth. The dress wasn't revealing but still hugged her small frame, making her look unmistakably female.

She found all three eating in the dining room. None of them were human. Lakrut was first to turn and shout.

"Ninya, they turned you into a girl?" then gave a second look to the maid in front of her and adds, "Nabe my lady, you are here too?"

"It's Narberal Gamma you worm!"

"Got it," Lakrut responds with a smile, ignoring the insult. Ninya shyly sits next to Dyne, across from Peter and Lakrut, while Narberal goes for her dinner.

"Guys, I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I was pretending to be a boy long before I met you all."

"Well, at least you are still human," Peter remarks. Ninya sighs and says.

"I'm not human anymore, Nab… Narberal said I am a doppelganger."

"What is that?" Lakrut asks curiously. He restrained himself from openly checking out Ninya. Finding out she was a girl was an interesting turn of events but she was a friend and he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable, especially not knowing why she choose to cross-dress.

"A race of shapeshifters. She is one too. Apparently, almost nobody in Nazarick is human."

"Yea, yea, we all got the same speech," Peter responds with an annoyed grunt. Being enslaved to rapidly shifting emotions was getting tiring.

"So the undead that posed as Satoru resurrected us and our new boss is Itsuki, or how they call him, Lord Peros," Lakrut says to make a conversation.

"Seem's so, just call the leader, Lord Ainz not some undead, folks around here take offense if someone does not address their masters properly." Says Dyne while absorbing nutrients with his hand from the bowl of soil in front of him.

"Masters, all we can do as good obedient slaves is lower our heads in front of our new owners." Says Peter while frowning and tearing into a large piece of steak.

"Maybe it will not be that bad. Remember how nice and helpful they were as adventurers." Ninya says quietly.

"I don't know. We still need to see how they will treat us. For now, at least food is good." Lakrut says while eating a strange dish, consisting of two buns made of very soft bread with meat, sauce, and some vegetables between them.

After all of them finish eating, all four maids return, leading the team to the Lord Peros' office. Even before they can get a good look at the majestic avian, maids kneel before him, dragging all four of them on their knees as well.

"Thank you for bringing my new team here, I will speak with them in private."

The Pleiades walk out of the office one by one, leaving Peros with Swords of Darkness. Once they are out of office he speaks.

"Ok, you can get up now, guys. You don't have to do all the honorifics if only I am present."

All four get up slowly, unsure how to act around Peros. Seeing their confused faces, Peros continues.

"So, I'll just get straight to the point. For now, you will train under me as potential agents in the service of Nazarick. Unfortunately, none of you can return to your old lives for obvious reasons. Any questions?"

Peter wasn't sure to be grateful for his new life or to hate his new master. But he was still the leader of his team and wanted to clear some things.

"Why us?"

"I grew to like you and we could bring you back to be something more than just humans."

"Do we have any choice?"

"I don't plan to force any of you to do things you would hate, but that said over time I expect to carry your own weight around here."

"What happened to the woman who killed us?"

"About that, well we captured her soon after she killed you all and we rescued Nfirea. At first, I just wanted for her to suffer but she provided critical information willingly."

Hearing it, Peter couldn't hold his emotions in anymore.

"SHE IS STILL ALIVE?"

"Calm down, Peter, she has partly atoned for what she has done and serves me and my friends zealously."

"YOU WANT ME TO BE CALM WHEN THAT PSYCHOTIC BITH JUST WALKS AROUND, SHE KILLED US?"

Peros, knowing he couldn't let it pass, gets up from his chair, walks up to Peter, and says in an authoritative voice,

"Yes, you will not attack her, just as she will touch none of you, got it?"

"YOU TRUST THAT MURDEROUS BITCH ARE YOU STUPID."

"ENOUGH!" Peros shouts and accidentally releases a small portion of his murderous aura, making them shiver in fear. Realizing its effect right away, he turns it off and addresses them in a much calmer tone.

"Look, guys, we punished her much harsher than any of you can imagine. And for your own sake, you don't need to know what our torturers are capable of."

Peros sighs, knowing he went a bit overboard but at the same time he needs to learn how to be a leader and sometimes be harsh towards those under him.

"W-where is she now?" Asks Ninya with tears forming in her eyes.

"She is near. I planed to make you all meet so there are no misunderstandings afterward but if you are not ready, I will order her to avoid all of you."

"And if that monster harasses Ninya while no one is looking?" Peter asks, shaking in anger.

"It will not happen."

"But if she…"

"It will not happen! Clementine knows where one word from me can send her."

"Can we just face her and get this over with?" Lakrut says clearly having enough of pointless arguing.

"Wery well," Peros says, and a minute later there is a knock on the door. Clementine comes in after the invite and kneels before Peros, paying no attention to others.

"Now then, say to each other what you have to say so we can move on," Peros says fully expecting a fight to break out.

Clementine rises, turns to face swords of darkness, and says with a polite bow,

"Thank you. Without you, I will not be in the light of true gods."

Before Peter could jump at her, Lakrut and Dyne grabbed his hands to restrain him. Seeing the scene, Clementine licks her lips sensually and asks,

"You want to punish me, tear my flesh, break me for my sins? Gods have given you such wonderful new forms for your great service."

"You, bitch!" Peter rages against his friends, restraining him.

"If gods will, you can do anything to me, they can repair my broken body afterward," Clementine says with a smirk, her eyes showing the depth of her madness.

Peter flinches back from her, realizing just how insane that woman is. It replaces his rage with fear and repulsion.

"You don't have to like each other but there will be no infighting besides planned duels in the arena, everyone got it?" Peros says adding, "Everyone besides Ninya can go now. Maids will show you back to your rooms and explain what we permitted for now. I want to talk with Ninya in private."

When everyone is out of his office, Peros address Ninya,

"How are you holding up, I can give you bodyguards if you don't feel safe?"

Ninya freezes on the spot. She already had heard some rumors of Peros' womanizing nature and preferences in women.

"I-I will be fine, my Lord," Ninya says in a quiet voice while looking down.

"You can call me Peros when in private. And don't worry, I'm not implying you should do anything you are not comfortable with. Just come to talk to me if something bothers you, ok?"

"Y-Yes Lord Peros. Thank You."

"No worries, off you go, Narberal will show you around."

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Bukuma stands before the mirror. Ever since she arrived in the new world, she could keep her Elven looks only because of the ring Ainz gave her. But now it was time to learn shape-shift naturally, even if she didn't want to see her natural fleshy slime form.

She takes off the ring and reverts back to the reddish slime. Clothing and armor just fall off as she slumps down into a more pile-like form.

'Let's see, first I need to get a humanoid form down.'

Bukuma stretches up, trying to hold an upright position. A realization that her entire body works as a muscle comes rather quick. With little concentration, she makes a pillar-like form and holds it with little effort. However, the moment she relaxes, her body slumps back into a pile.

'Dammit, I have to find a way to keep the change stable.'

She assumes a pillar form again and tries to keep it without thinking. A long and tedious process but after a few hours of relentless practice, Bukuma can hold the shape without thinking about it. To test it out, she makes a tentacle-like arm and takes a book to read.

'Let's see how long I can read it without losing my form.'

With just a few slip-ups she holds form until feeling sleepy. Feeling curious, she makes a vaguely humanoid shape and falls asleep.

To find out that she still keeps the form upon awakening fills her with joy.

With even greater determination, she now plans to get a fully humanoid form. This, however, proves to be difficult. Controlling two legs made of slimy flesh is not as easy as using ones made by a doppelganger ring and more than once she falls face first and splatters herself around the room. After few fails, she at least keeps the form after the fall.

Three full days, that's how long it took to learn properly to walk around as humanoid in her natural form. After that, learning advanced movements wasn't that hard. Jumping, swinging a sword, and even writing were successful with little practice.

The next step was to get back to full Elven body without using the ring. With no reference of how to grow skin and other features, and Solution not being available, it was time to hit the library again. Unfortunately, there was no luck finding anything useful. Luckily after complaining to Ainz about her problem he showed her tome Tabula had written and there was a way how to add extra abilities if potential wasn't maxed out.

With the Tabula's and Ainz's help, Bukuma gained abilities similar to that of and doppelganger called universal shape-shifting letting her change her cells into whatever she required.

With the newfound ability, she learned to create skin, eyes, and even fully functional digestive and reproductive systems if she so desired. Progress wasn't particularly fast but a week later she could switch between her slime form and elf form within seconds and even equip and unequip her gear.

After that, all that was left was to try out various forms like for example change size to a more childlike figure or add features to existing bodies, change the shape of teeth and nails, grow extra hands, and change proportions.

Using her natural form gave her an almost unfair advantage. She could use both her slime-type gear that was sunken in her body and regular gear on top of it, which gave her stats beyond what was possible in Yggdrasil.

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Ulbert sips tea in his office while going through intelligence reports.

'Mmm, lists upon lists of suggestions from the little princess. Someone is overly eager.'

Ulbert reads it with amusement at just how sick in the head that girl is. Some of her suggestions rivaled even the things that Demiurge could come up with.

Then he hears a knock on the door. His assistant Melibourius opens the door and then a soft voice is heard.

"Step aside lesser spawn of darkness, my business is with your master."

"Oh, that is rich coming from a walking light bulb." Melibourius spits back.

Ulbert sighs and shouts,

"You two can continue that foreplay later, let her in."

That is enough to snap them both out of the little feud. With Melibourius stepping aside, Eleleth comes in, addressing Ulbert.

"Lord Ulbert, my master ordered me to report to you."

"Ah yes, you will have a long-term task of harassing Slane Theocracy. I understand you can summon angels on your own?" Ulbert says and hands her a folder with details of her task.

Eleleth takes the folder and starts reading it while saying,

"Yes, I can summon up to four legions of angels if need be."

"That's certainly useful, any questions about your assignment?"

"So I'm to terrorize worshipers of false gods. What about innocents?"

"I'll leave that to your discretion."

"Understood, I will carry out this plan in the name of my master," Eleleth says, salutes Ulbert, and leaves his office.

With Theocracy business out of the way, now was a time to move on to experimentation. With Ainz's recent success and Tabulas tome with an entire list of curious ideas, Ulbert couldn't wait to experiment in his own regard.

His plan was to make an item that would turn any being into a demon or half-demon hybrid. Armed with the new knowledge, he learned how to gather and transform his own demonic energies into a plum-like fruit. Its juice was the catalyst that would cause transformation in anyone who would consume it.

The best part of the process is that it required only a minimal amount of energy. By Ulbert's calculations, he could make at least a thousand such fruits before running out of mana.

After making a hundred such fruits, it was time to test them out. Nazarick's prison holds several humans, goblins, few orcs, and two live lizardmen, all prime candidates for testing.

Humans came first. Ulbert picked one of the captured bandits and one of the former slaves, with a particularly nasty personality. Feeding them fruits was easy. After a week of starvation, they didn't even ask what he was giving them.

The transformation was fast and, by the looks of it, not even that unpleasant. Both prisoners looked more confused than in pain. Bandit just grows small wings, becoming a basic imp. Ulbert concludes that there want enough of a unique personality to get a more unique demonic breed. The former slave, however, hunched over with her mouth rapidly growing larger and skin developing nasty rashes, turning into a venom spitter type of lesser demon.

After showing her the new form in the mirror demon started wailing in horror, making Ulbert break into a nasty grin and laugh.

"Looks like your charming personality came all out."

Leaving the waling demon behind, Ulbert moves to feed fruit to the goblin. Another imp, no surprises there. The Orc turned out a bit more interesting, turning into a much taller and more brutish version of himself. Ulbert pitched the new beast against two other orcs, who promptly tore them apart while letting out horrific hauls.

'Oh, I can turn the mindless brutes into shock troops, how useful.'

The last test was on the lizardmen. Ulbert expected to get another imp, but got a scale demon. A three meters tall lizardlike demon with huge wings. It was still a lesser demon, but still leagues above the regular imp.

Ulbert was another experiment in mind regarding the fruit, but he waited for Eleleth to leave Nazarick, to not draw her ire and be forced to kill Ainz's summon. The reason was rather simple: he planned to test fruit's effects on an angel.

Once a pesky angel was out on her task, Ulbert goes to the arena and summons Seraph Empyrean, a level 80 angel looking almost fully human. Unlike Metatron, this one had only four wings and more human-like blonde hair and blue eyes.

Ulbert approaches him, hands angel the fruit, and orders him to eat it. To his surprise angel refused.

"Master, I will not consume seed of darkness," Angel says while kneeling in front of him. That is clearly an unexpected turn.

In annoyance, Ulbert summons another archdemon and orders it to hold down the angel while force-feeding him the fruit. The moment the angel consumes the fruit, he screams as his entire body smokes. His eyes burn with red flames, his hair and wings turn black, and small horns sprout off his forehead.

Seeing the violent change, Ulbert considers that he might have gone too far and have done something truly horrific and blasphemous. However, once transformation ends now a fallen angel lifts his head and lets out a demented laugh.

"What a truly evil and magnificent monster you are, my master. To turn me into a fallen one, a demon has done no such feat before. I am in a presence of a God, a vile and wonderful god of demons. I am ready to serve."

Seeing the result, Ulbert couldn't help but to laugh with his newest creation, sharing the fallen angel's glee.

‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›

After hearing about all the wonderful results his research brought to Nazarick, Tabula couldn't have been more satisfied. So many new insights, so many tests performed by his friends. In his previous life, no such thing could ever be possible.

He had done some changes to himself as well. First, he made his form bulkier to compensate for standing up for several days in a row. Then he learned to rapidly grow extra hands when there was such need and change the length of his tentacles to use them as extra appendages.

There was one thing that bugged him greatly, however.

The thought of meeting the being his wife called traveler again unnerved him a bit. Tabula knew it had to be done. First, he wanted to free his wife from debt to that being, and second, he wanted answers. Something about this new world and the way how he and his friends got here was seriously off.

No one gains such monstrous amounts of power out of the blue for no reason. Someone or something was behind it. Was it one being or many was hard to tell?

However, the answer came sooner than he thought.

Tabula was in the laboratory attempting to create a pure health potion by using only new world ingredients when Mariposa came in and said,

"Dear, you know who requests the audience."

"What, he contacted you?"

"Yes, he asked me as your assistant to schedule an audience with you."

"Can you tell him to contact me at his earliest convenience?"

Before Mariposa could answer, someone knocked on the door. She hurried to answer it and an unassuming-looking man dressed in a simple grey suit comes in, makes a polite bow, and says,

"Thank you, Lord Tabula, for accepting my humble request so fast."

Tabula just blinked few times, confused. This being talked to him like Tabula was his superior, mercifully accepting a request. And he just showed up in the full physical form on its own without summoning.

"Y-Yes, welcome to my home. Let's converse in the guest area."

Tabula says and leads the guest to a small table with a few chairs and motions for him to sit down. The man sits down and doors leading out of Tabulas living quarters open. One of the homunculus maids comes in with three cups of tea and a plate of various cookies comes up to the table and puts it all down with a smile. She then turns around and leaves as nothing has happened.

Man takes a sip of tea, bites a cookie, and says,

"Mmm, tea and pastries in this place are to die for."

"Of course, may I inquire about the reason for your visit?"

"Well, it is about time to have a little chat, don't you think. I bet you have a question or two to ask."

The whole thing has left Tabula so confused that he does not know where to even begin. The only thing that came to mind was asking to set his wife free from owing a favor to this man.

"Let's get the first thing out of the way. I want to transfer favor that my wife owes to you from her to me."

"Sure, I have no qualms about that. Anything else?"

"What are you, are you the one who transported me and my friends here?"

"As your lovely wife mentioned before, I am a traveler. And no I didn't transport you or your friends here, someone who lived in this world set the ritual in motion."

"Then what are your stake in this, what do you want from us?"

"Straight to the point, I like it. You being here is my answer to events set in motion."

Tabula is getting frustrated, again there are no straightforward answers.

"Are we just part of your game? ARE WE JUST SOME FIGURES TO PLAY AROUND WITH?"

"No need to get so worked up. Game is not mine, in a sense entire reality is a game played by those who know how to play it." The man answers, not changing the tone.

"You didn't answer my question!" Tabula says in an uncharacteristically angry tone.

"Do you want to know the answer? Do humans, you and your friends, play around, know they are just figures in your hands?"

"So we are just figures for you to play."

"Yes, and no. There is no such thing as just figures, you can affect your own destiny a great deal, I just steer it in a beneficial direction."

Mariposa sits down beside her husband and asks,

"How do we get out of it, what we must do to get free?"

Man smiles and sways like talking to a child.

"My dear, until you ascend beyond your great mother there always be someone who takes you as a figure in the grander game."

"She was right to fear you!" Mariposa says with a scorn.

"Oh, she doesn't fear me. She is just a bit salty that I retaliated when she stuck her fingers in my business."

"Retaliated?"

The man chuckles and says,

"I convinced one of her eldest daughters to go celibate since she wanted to stand out among other succubi. Lilith, for some reason, took offense to that."

Tabula getting more and more frustrated with this man dancing around the questions and says,

"Enough playing around, how do we get out of this deal. What we must do to not be figures you play with."

The smile on the man's face disappears, and he says in a much more serious tone.

"You can't get out of the game until you ascend, you can only change the player who guides your destinies, and believe me I'm not the worse thing around there. In your place, I would worry more about this world and who plays against me here."

"Plays against you?"

"Of course, there are many players, many worlds, and many destinies. Everyone is tied up in this grand game we all call reality. I give you a little hint. Be worried about what sleeps deep beneath the waves and why instead of traditional gods people like you are put in their place."

Man, then takes the last sip of tea and says,

"Believe it or not but I have your best interests in mind, after all this is a life you truly wanted isn't it?"

Before Tabula can respond, he gets up and walks out of his quarters saying one last thing.

"I'll be in touch, don't worry about the grander game, for now, your turn to play it will come in time. And guide your friends whenever they need it."

It left Tabula more confused than he was before the talk. Something deep beneath the waves. He had heard that phrase before.

Bonus Story - New home.

Nazarick was Ninya's new home for a few days already. Lord Peros hadn't given her any tasks yet, only told her she can explore the 9th floor and go sixth-floor arena. The rest of the so-called great tomb is off-limits for her own safety.

Ninya quickly noticed that as long as she was polite and didn't get in anyone's way, inhuman denizens didn't mind her walking around. Even the undead-looking librarian was polite and gave her book about second and third-tier spells when she asked about the basics of magic.

What shocked her the most was how civil and friendly monsters could be. She was one of them now and at first, she was so afraid to lose her humanity. But seeing that many of the even more monstrous-looking ones acted with civility gave her confidence that she will not become some mindless monster bent on killing.

However, there was one monster she feared to see again. The blonde woman was lurking around somewhere. Even with assurance that she is in no danger, every turn was always scary.

Ninya knew that one day she will have to face her again and confront her fear, her trauma of remembering how the blonde woman tortured and killed her. Unfortunately for her, during one of those turns, she bumped right into Clementine.

Ninya froze in place, looking up at her. A thousand thoughts ran through her in a heartbeat. Will the monster attack her again, taunt or humiliate her.

Instead, she just says, "Oh sorry, didn't see you there," and walks past her as nothing has happened.

To her own surprise, Ninya blurts out,

"How can you pretend nothing happened?"

As soon as she said those words, Ninya realizes what she just said and freezes on the spot again. Clementine stops and turns around to face her.

Ninya just squeaks as Clementine comes close and looks down at her. She then takes out one of her stilettos. Ninya's mind goes blank. It will all happen again. Then she feels that handle of stiletto is pushed into her hand and Clementine just says,

"Do what you must and let's get this over with."

"W-what?"

"Do what you must, get back at me, do what I did to you."

Ninya looks down at the weapon in her shaking hands. It feels like her blood is still on it. Part of her wants to stab this thing into a monster standing in front of her again and again, to make her feel like she felt. But why is this woman letting her do it, it feels like in that dark room alone against her even with the weapon in her hands, why she is still feeling powerless?

"Why?"

"Why's, what?"

"Why are you letting me do this?"

"Oh, that's simple, you belong to the God I worship above all else. If tearing my flesh will make you a better servant, then I have served my purpose."

"You, you are insane."

"One day you will understand, girl. Everything that happened was for a reason. Do what you must, so you can serve our common God better."

"Reason! What sick reason there was for you to torture me to kill my friends."

"Isn't that obvious? Gods gave you new, better bodies. Honor, I hope they will grant me one day if I serve long enough to earn it. For committing sin and killing you, gods punished me. They showed me what true torment is and then they let me atone. Now, no mortal can do what they did to me. I am free from my fears, all thanks to you."

There is a warm smile on Clementine's face as she continues.

"You already know what is worst a mortal can do to you and gods, our wonderful gods can fix you no matter what. All they ask is for us to serve with all our being."

Ninya hated to admit it, but in a weird fucked up way it made sense. She died a horrible death. This life, this fucking shitty life, never gave her a break, not until now. All she had to do was to serve the gods who granted her another life, gave her friends another life. All she had to was to believe and serve.