Empire and Jaldabaoth

Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix, Emperor of the Baharuth Empire and one of the most intelligent emperors in the history of his empire could be seen sitting in front of a large table, there were many seats, occupied by ministers, generals, and other influential figures crucial to the running of the state.

The Emperor himself is a man with short blond hair that seems to glitter like gold, his purple eyes could only be compared to gems with their sheer beauty.

One seat could be seen empty, and everyone in the room awaited the missing individual with patience. Which paid off as an old man walked through the door.

"Ah, Gramps! You are here." Jircniv referred to the old man, known as Archwizard Fluder Paradyne.

The powerful yet old wizard immediately responded to the emperor with a grateful smile, "Thank you for caring about me so much Your Majesty, however, I am alright." He then sat down after bowing as much as he could.

Fluder is an elderly man of short stature, possessing a magnificent white beard, with a head full of snow-white hair. His age is shown on his face as wrinkles, and the light of wisdom can be seen in his eyes. While Fluder is mostly seen wearing a soft loose white robe, he also has a necklace made with numerous crystal orbs on his neck. Decorated with his fingers are numerous magical rings that glow with arcane energy.

Everyone in the room nodded their heads towards him in respect, in front of them, the most powerful wizard in the known world could be seen.

"Let us begin then." The Emperor initiated the meeting, prompting the people within the room to straighten themselves as their minds went over all of their ideas one last time.

The meeting went as usual with boring statistics and complex mathematical equations used to calculate their profits, they also went over their current harvest and the military situation.

"The Theocracy should also be addressed." Fluder Paradyne spoke after a minister finished speaking about the expenses of the education system, specifically the Imperial Magic Academy.

Everyone within the room acknowledged the point, and everyone knew exactly what was going on.

The Theocracy went from being the strongest human nation in the area to its existence being questionable at best, all in a matter of weeks or months depending on who you asked.

Now a more fanatic and zealous regime was taking shape. However, so far, no leadership was chosen nor were any delegations sent from or to the forming nation as the situation was deemed far too unstable.

Nonetheless, measures should be taken to ensure national security, the garrisons on the border were reinforced the moment the local nobles learned of the rebellion, but should further measures be taken?

"Gramps, do you know of the angel those fanatics keep mumbling about? Do any of your books have anything relevant?"

Fluder shook his head, earning a few disappointed sighs around the room, "Unfortunately no, but I believe I know of a place where there may be some relevant information." Fluder waved one of the servants over and requested a map to be brought over.

After the map was laid out on the table, he pointed to an area near the fortress city of E-Rantel, "A tomb should be located here, and if my sources are accurate, there should be much lost knowledge within. Including the name of that angel."

"Excellent then! We shall send out an expedition immediately." Jircniv thought for a second and then continued, "Let's lay out bait for one of the incompetent nobles, if they are caught by the Kingdom, we can simply execute them and offer their head as an apology."

Everyone nodded at the Emperor's idea, though a normal person would be disturbed by how easily he made such a decision.

Indeed, the rise of Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix could be tracked by the blood he spilled after his ascension.

Nicknamed "The Bloody Emperor" for a good reason, Jircniv slaughtered the incompetent and disloyal nobles like cattle with the military loyal to him and him only, any voices of dissent were silenced with incredible swiftness and efficiency, either through clever politics or raw force.

However, considering he was raised and taught by Fluder Paradyne, Jircniv was intelligent enough to recognize he had to earn the loyalty of those left too, leading him to grant many benefits to those capable and loyal, though the nobles still feared his wrath in the back of their minds, leading to them being united and swift to take action on the Emperor's behalf.

Compared to the Kingdom, which was on the verge of collapsing, the Empire was in its golden age.

Fluder nodded at Jircniv with approval, the boy was indeed someone he could be proud to have raised, though he is not his biological son sadly.

"Werent there rumours of an angel and some undead blessing some villages around the Great Forest of Tob not long ago too? And it is close to the area pointed out by Fluder Paradyne as well, should we investigate those villages?" Baziwood Peshmel, the acting head of the four Imperial guards, pointed out, making his fellow Imperial guards blink in surprise.

"What? You thought I wasn't paying attention?" He turned to his colleagues, a young woman with blond hair and blue eyes, a young man with blond hair and blue eyes, and a 50 or so-year-old man with silvery and greyish hair.

Jircniv spoke up, reminding the man to keep his manners while on duty, after doing so, he looked to the map.

Baziwood was correct, that was an awful coincidence, wasn't it?

"... Let's send over a small undercover contingent disguised as normal people, we can come up with the specifics later."

After that, the meeting ended soon enough, with everyone simply double-checking all of the decisions made.

Fluder Paradyne looked over everyone in the meeting, especially his little boy whom he raised with care, and he felt a tinge of guilt within his heart, though that was completely buried beneath his passion for magic.

He would betray the Emperor as many times as needed if it meant delving deeper into the arcane, so unfortunately, he could only be considered a necessary sacrifice.

The royal palace faded from sight as a new situation was unfurling within the Re-Estize Kingdom, specifically, within the capital.

Night came as the sun fell into shadow, and the moon hung high in the sky, yet the tranquil silence was soon to be interrupted.

Within a secure undisclosed location, a large number of guardians and NPC's could be seen, among them were Demiurge, Sebas, Shalltear, Mare, and Solution Epsilon, a combat-capable Nazarick maid with blond hair and blue eyes, though her form looked perfectly human, she is a slime. A human-eating slime to be exact.

Entoma could be seen within the room as well, her porcelain mask and cute maid outfit hid her true monstrous appearance. She is an insectoid battle maid, allowing her to control insects and other critters.

Demiurge, with his glasses and dark orange striped suit, began to speak.

"Well then, everyone is here." He began, his diamond eyes reflecting in the moonlight, "I believe all of you are aware of the Eight Fingers and how they have spat in the face of the Supreme Ones. So, we shall punish their hubris."

While Thoth was waging a crusade and destroying a nation through raw force, Sebas was spying in the city of E-Rantel, which led to him encountering a woman named Tsuare, he rescued her from her sex slave life and employed her as a maid.

He didn't report this to Lord Ainz as that may have been seen as a waste of his time, but this caused a misunderstanding, prompting Solution to report him as a traitor. Things were luckily cleared up after he proved his innocence in the test Lord Ainz prepared for him, and Tsuare was allowed to stay with him, but now, the Eight Fingers kidnapped her.

The reason that is a problem is first off, Sebas likes her, the two were basically a couple, and second and more importantly, Lord Ainz swore to protect her in the name of Ainz Ooal Gown, and then she was kidnapped.

This is a direct insult to the 41 Supreme Beings, which caused quite a reaction among the Guardians and all other NPCs, and now, they were here to punish them for their actions and save Tsuare.

"I must thank Lord Ainz for gathering so many of us here for this," Sebas mentioned as he bowed slightly to everyone gathered, courteously expressing his gratitude.

"Please Sebas, allow me to remove a misunderstanding." Sebas made eye contact with Demiurge, already prepared for his next words, "We are here to take over the Eight Fingers first, saving that creature is only secondary."

"I understand that." Sebas nodded, not an ounce of his true feelings could be read from his expression or body language, and his tone sounded the same as always.

"Good." Demiurge nodded and he turned to Solution, "You and Sebas will attack the Eight Fingers's base, Entoma and Mare will head over to the mansion where one of them is staying and will take care of a woman there, you should have no problems kidnaping her."

"O-Okay!" Mare stuttered out, nervous and scared of the responsibility he was now given.

"May I eat any of the unnecessary ones?" Entoma asked, her voice soft thanks to the lip-bug attached to her throat.

"You may, but focus on the mission at hand first." Demiurge nodded and remarked.

Entoma nodded her head, satisfied by the oncoming lunch, saliva dripped on her chin as she wiped it away, sucking the rest back into her mouth.

Demiurge then turned to the other two battle maids, CZ2128 Delta who looks like a loli with orange hair, an eyepatch, and a sniper rifle on her back, and Lupusregina, who has red hair, darker skin, and orange or red eyes.

"You two will be on standby, I will inform you if I need anything." Demiurge then pushed up his glasses, "Kukuku... This was all envisioned by Lord Ainz no doubt, I am beyond impressed! Now everyone, go and make Lord Ainz proud!"

"Ah, also, leave that one human alive."

"Yes!" Everyone then promptly left, leaving Demiurge and Shalltear behind alone.

"Erm... Demiurge? What should I do?" Shalltear asked, confused.

"You will do nothing," Shalltear's eyes went wide, her mind connecting the dots.

She wasn't trustworthy because of her lack of restraint.

"Eh?! But-!" The true vampire stood up, desperate to prove herself, but alas, no effort would make up for the doubt Demiurge felt, hence he interrupted her before she could continue.

"No buts. You have made up for your mistake by saving Lord Ainz, as he no doubt planned for you to do so you could stop feeling so guilty, but your blood frenzy is still a concern until you get that under control. You will only patrol the city, and do not lose control."

"...Okay." Shalltear relented, her expression a bit downcast, Demiurge was a lot smarter than her, and even she could tell he was right to do this.

As she walked out, Demiurge spoke to her one last time, "Oh, one more thing, make sure you take a disguise and do not kill the toy of our partner."

"Okay Okay! Geez..." Shalltear shouted back. 

Shalltear walked out, but she hardened her resolve soon after leaving remembering Thoth's words and the advice his books gave her.

'Right Shalltear! You just have to do your best to learn and stuff! You can do this!' So Shalltear departed from the room.

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