Ch6. Last minute

The clock rang 23:59:00 and Rei anxiously awaited the universal glitch.

During his wish-choosing process, Rei made sure to question the ROB about this extensively and got to know a few nice details. This entire game-turning-into-reality thingy was not a work of some bored god or clumsy entity that sneezed a new world into existence.

In hindsight, this was what made Rei really chose this start for his adventure. There was simply nobody who orchestrated it. Rei didn't have to worry about some hidden overpowered mastermind who had his plans for him.

According to the ROB, this was all a simple glitch in the system.

These apparently happen extremely rarely. Like... once per several billions of years rare. Someone in the 'new' world where the Nazarick will be transported cast a summoning spell that would certainly fail. The problem, however, came when the signal from said summoning spell actually did something unexpected and mixed up with signals from other summoning spells while smashing into the Yggdrasil servers as they were being shut down. Rei didn't really understand half of what ROB told him and how it worked but from what he gathered, the system called multiverse had a very bad reaction to it, creating this whole mess and bringing things from the game to life as it 'summoned' them to this 'new' world.

In short, it was a bug in the system.

Rei swept the throne room with his eyes for one last time, looking at the unmoving NPCs kneeling on the ground, at Albedo silently standing near the throne, at Momonga who was lost in his depressing thoughts, at the majestic room the guild put countless hours into creating. He couldn't help but feel a small trepidation that this all will become real as doubts started to fill his brain. Rei was nervous, excited, happy, expectant... but he was also worried he forgot about something or forgot to get some important item. He knew it was just him being a human. His greed and desire for more simply played their tune alongside his nerves but still...

Rei nervously shuffled closer to the throne. He knew that the entire Nazarick would be transported but there was still a bit of irrational fear that these thirty-five years would go to waste and he would stay in his current world.

Apparently, it was not the entire Yggdrasil that would be transported. Only certain places in the game during the shutdown would be affected and Nazarick was one of the lucky ones that were in the right place at the right time. That was the whole reason why Rei joined the guild.

He didn't really need the Ainz Ooal Gown. In fact, he preferred solo play but knowing that not the entire Yggdrasil would be affected by the transportation kinda ruined any plan to go solo. It would have been the biggest joke ever if he spent so much wealth and time preparing for it only for the servers to shut down and forcefully log him off just because he was standing in a place that wasn't accounted for in the transportation.

Sure, there were supposed to be more places in Yggdrasil that would be affected but Rei was certain only about Nazarick. Hence, here he was.

"Well, I have to wake up at 4 am tomorrow," Momonga suddenly said, "It was nice playing with you, Rei. I think I will go off now."

Hearing that, Rei's heart almost stopped as he saw Momonga lifting his bony hand towards the interface. Springing into action before his brain even realized what he was doing, Rei screamed, "NO! Wait, wait, wait, you skeletal ass!" The volume of his voice actually made him winded.

Fortunately, Momonga was so shocked by Rei's reaction that he stopped his finger an inch from the log-out button before looking at Rei in surprise.

Shaking himself out of his stupor, Rei took a deep breath and looked at the clock that read 23:59:29, "The few seconds won't kill you. Stay until the shutdown, will ya?" Rei tried to sound casual but... he was far too shaken for that.

'Damn... I almost lost my free administrator! Damn you, Momonga, scaring me like this!' Rei inwardly huffed before shuddering as he imagined Albedo's reaction if she came to life and found out Momonga was not there. 'What a nightmare!'

"Ah... maybe you are right." Momonga wryly answered in a dejected tone. It was obvious the guy was sad beyond words but Rei had no idea how to console him since deep down, he felt the same. A large part of his life was ending.

'Of course, I am right.' Rei darkly thought, 'I am so stuffing you into a living body and sicking Albedo on you, Momonga. You shall pay for almost making me have a heart attack!'

Rei couldn't wait to see how the naive and innocent Momonga would react to the overzealous succubus desiring nothing more than to ride him for all eternity. In Rei's opinion, that ought to be a source of entertainment for months to come.

'Oh, and when Shalltear joins the fray... I can't wait to witness that marvelous love drama between a vampire, succubus, and skeleton in a living body!' Rei creepily smiled, not noticing how Momonga flinched and leaned a bit away from him, already aware that his friend was plotting something nefarious. In that instance, Momonga was actually glad Yggdrasil was ending as it meant he wouldn't get caught up in Rei's schemes.

Oh, how wrong was the poor lad...

23:59:49

'Ten more seconds.' Rei mentally exclaimed, excitement and worry filling him.

"It was really fun..." Momonga said in a detached tone as he reminisced in sadness about the times long past.

Usually, Rei would scoff because he was not a sentimental type of guy. The guildmates who decided to leave were just past acquaintances for him. He never really gave all that much weight to them but Rei also knew that for Suzuki Satoru, a naive man who lived more in Yggdrasil than in the real world and his only friends were his guildmates, these people mattered more than the world.

Rei reckoned that if Suzuki didn't have his address and free pass through the bodyguards, he would probably be begging for some information or trying to make plans to enter a different game together considering Rei was the only one who stayed with Momonga till the end of Yggdrasil.

Alas... now such things didn't matter anymore. Rei looked at the timer and a smile started tugging on his lips.

00:00:00

00:00:01

00:00:02

00:00:03

"What the heck is going on!?" Momonga exclaimed while Rei just widely smiled.

'All according to the plan!'