Chapter 116: Make a run for it, get caught

Momonga sneezed. '...It's not getting cold here, is it?'

He shook his head to clear it of stray thoughts while he put Rosseweisse to the bed in the side-room to the main bedroom in his quarters. 'Umu… I hope she won't be upset that she sleeps in the 'concubine' room…'

Momonga ignored the feeling of being a slimy bastard for even having such a room, and tried his best to ignore the embarrassment from the thought of knowing that he had occupants for such a room.

Suzuki Satoru part of him was feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the fact that so many girls and women were after him, but the Overlord part of him reminded that it was mostly because of his strength and not so much because of his personality.

Strength was attractive, or so the 'Overlord' part of Momonga reasoned.

Ddraig pouted. "...Power draws power, whether it is opponents or power over others… You promised you wouldn't become a Devourer, Momonga!"

'...I don't think I have become one?'

"And you better not become one either!"

'...Any other cutting remarks? Perhaps last words to be carved into a dragon-sized tombstone?'

Ddraig narrowed his eyes at Momonga, and Momonga narrowed his eyes at the dragon, even if both happened inside his mind.

"...What do you want?"

'Same as always. To survive.'

"That is the answer of a cancer cell. You are not one. Not yet, at least. What. Do. You. Want?"

'...Hm… I suppose, if I looked past my immediate threats… I'd say, to live.'

"That is the same answer."

'Not quite. I haven't had a chance to live, you know? Live, love, eat tasty food… have kids, go out with friends… I had YGGDRASIL, and the guys there… I won't forget their memories, or what we had done together, accomplished together… but… Seeing now what I was missing, I suppose I am left wanting more…' Momonga reminisced internally while he stroked Rossweisse's hair externally as she lay in the concubine bed. '...It was a game, you know?'

"What?"

'YGGDRASIL. The game myself and my friends played. Ainz Ooal Gown. A guild of players, who played the game.' Momonga turned mentally towards Ddraig who looked quite shocked. '...It was but a past-time. Something we enjoyed in order to cope with our realities, our limitations… I suppose if you want to know what I want, it is to break those limitations, become something more… Something whole. Rossweisse helped me to see it, even if her attempt was rough at best.'

Momonga reached down to kiss Rossweisse on the temple, causing the girl to murmur happily in her drunken stupor. "[Break Item]... [Create Item]"

The woman kept snoring even though her attire changed from a businesswoman one into a comfy, fluffy violet nightgown.

'...Ddraig?'

The dragon had been quiet for a long while, and it looked like it was terrified.

"I got it, Momonga-sama…"

'...Fine, think what you want…' Momonga sighed internally at the dragon as it seemed to draw some odd conclusions, but he was not in the mood to start back-and-forth bickering about his intentions.

.

.

Ddraig was having an existential crisis. 'That can't be… That killing gods, Outer Beings, whatnot… Just a game to him? He isn't even being serious with all this? What is going to happen if he does get serious?!'

'He wants to be 'whole'... Break his limitations… What could those be? What evil did I drag into this world? Wait… Limitations… He is limited to this world, and the worlds connected to it through the Interdimensional Gap… But those are 'limited'... The only things that can break through the Interdimensional Gap, into the Dark Void beyond… Those Outer Beings… Don't tell me…'

'Momonga is trying to become an Outer Being on Earth?'

Another thought went through the dragon's mind. 'Or was he an Outer Being all along?'

Ddraig felt true fear. '...He is lying about not becoming the Devourer. His words say one thing, but his actions the other… In other words, he plans on experiencing what these worlds have to offer, and then devours everything, finally moving on to the next set of worlds…'

'...I dragged one soul into this set of worlds, thinking I'd swap Issei's and Riser's souls and bodies… But the battle was taking place technically in the Interdimensional Gap, as Rating Games were held in an isolated pocket of that space… Could it be that I didn't so much pull something into this world, but rather, I allowed something to enter?' Ddraig shivered while trying to keep his thoughts carefully contained as the monster in question, wearing two faces and cloaked in third, was looking at his 'body' inside the disturbing red salt-flat that felt like it was devouring Ddraig's scales more and more with each moment it spent in the internal hellscape.

'...Red-senpai… I'm sorry… I'll try to keep your soul safe, as long as I can…' Ddraig woved that he'd make right what he had made wrong.

He didn't dare to even entertain the thought of trying to send Momonga back where he had come from, as the consequences for failure would be horrifying beyond comprehension.

'...We can't win in a fight… Even Outer Beings flee in front of Momonga, or die… In other words, this place's days are limited. The only thing we can do… Is to make sure Momonga doesn't grow tired of us, and start devouring us. What a pitiful existence, to be forced to either amuse our destroyer or be eaten by it…'

Ddraig felt terrified, and his thoughts returned to his ancient friend-of-sorts, or rather, rival. '...Albion, I hope you'll stay safe… I can already tell what amuses Momonga in you, that is, feeding you to me… He has done it once before, and never promised to not do it again…'

Ddraig only managed to nod and make a grand show of diving into the pile of gold that the three-faced entity made for Ddraig with a lazy flick of a wrist.

'...What a terrifying entity… I'm sorry, everyone…'

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.

Momonga was fairly sure someone was pulling a prank on him.

He had returned from the side-room, and found…

'Um, isn't that… Yasaka-sama?' Momonga paused and sweated a bit.

The woman in question was placed on the floor between him and Lady Phenix, who was prostrating towards him with her face against the floor.

"So… Did you find her like this?" Momonga got the words out of his mouth as he stared at the unconcious woman whose face was contorted to an expression of terror.

"My lord… I ensured no-one would see me carry her into these quarters." Lady Phenix explained with a tone that quaked with fear, yet at the same time was oddly stable. "I believe that mylord enjoys blonde women with sizable assets, and-"

"...You kidnapped her?"

"...Temporarily relocated her, yes, in a way that allows milord to 'save' Yasaka, acquiring her trust and allowing you to make demands of Shinto…" Lady Phenix quaked a bit under Momonga's tone.

"She saw you kidnap her, no?"

"...I was led by Ravel to believe that milord can read and write memories like a painter draws colors on canvas…" Lady Phenix quaked even more and she lifted her face from the floor while biting her lip. "I… I hope that this offer sates thee hunger, my lord…"

She calmed herself before she could start sobbing, and steeled herself with visible effort. "I hope I am useful to my lord! With this offer, I feel that Shinto would become indebted to you, and if thee does not wish to mind control Yasaka-sama, then… Um… Ravel came before me and distracted Sona-sama from the bedroom, so no-one here knows I carried her here…"

"Haa… I get it… For the record, you oversaw her get kidnapped, alerted me, and I saved her…" Momonga sighed. "..[Message]- 'One', 'Two', I'm about to do something stupid again…"

He sent a message to his 'maids' in case Yasaka had similar anti-mind control abilities as Rossweisse had, and instructed the maids to detox the devilfied valkyrie in case he collapsed after altering Yasaka's memories. '...I suppose I should have seen that coming. Lady Phenix is desperate, is desperately trying to make herself useful, and that plan of hers was seriously harebrained… I guess I now know from whom Ravel inherited that trait. Yet, this is my fault. I should have praised Lady Phenix more and then given her some task, but instead I left her as is… I'm guessing she freaked out…'

"[Control Amnesia]" Momonga sighed as he knelt beside Yasaka and put his hand on her face, checking her memories and obfuscating Lady Phenix's face and body until it was just a vague dark entity. '...Really? 'The Supreme Being' is a rapist now as well? Thank you, Lady Phenix. I desperately needed more sins to weigh down the guillotine hanging above my neck… Although I suppose it'd be easy to pretend to be a savior like this… I'm the worst…'

"Hm…" Momonga cast an anti-stun on the woman and poured a black tear potion on her as well.

Yasaka spasmed out for a bit before regaining her motor functions. "G-ghaaaa! NOOOO! KUNOU! KUNOU! DONT-eh?"

"You're safe. Lady Phenix over there saw the whole thing happen and I got to you in time. Kunou should be safe as well." Momonga leveraged [Actor] to sound convincing. '...I'm becoming Pandora's Actor at this rate…'

The thought of the NPC he had created into Nazarik, the guild-base of Ainz Ooal Gown, made Momonga a bit nostalgic for a moment before he forced himself back to the current.

Yasaka was stumbling back to her feet. "I- I… wha… Ow…"

She fell back to the floor, and Momonga cushioned her fall.

"My head hurts… so much… Ngh…" Yasaka was holding her head while leaning her back against Momonga's legs. "What… Momon-sama! There is an assassin, no, a kidnapper-"

"Yes, I know, I took care of it." 'I suppose that's one way to put it…' Momonga sighed. "You're safe now." '...Yeah, I'm super not comfortable with this… I need to occupy Lady Phenix somehow or this will keep happening… Like mother, like daughter…'

"Ah… T-thank you…" Yasaka was shivering from head to toe. "K-Kunou, are you sure- Are you sure she's alright?"

"I'm fairly sure. [Message]- Two, can you go and check up on Kunou? Yeah, the kitsune child. Be courteous, and don't do anything unnecessary. Just check up on her if she's alright on behalf of her mother, and then report to me." Momonga was extra sure to include as many instructions as possible, as he didn't want the Gatekeeper to mistake his orders and make things worse.

Yasaka's lip quivered. "I… I don't know how to thank you… Twice. I am indebted to you twice- Once for bringing Kunou back to me, and now, for saving me before… Before…"

The woman shivered violently. "I think I heard a female voice… Talking about what would become of me… That sort of fate… I can't even begin to think what would have happened if you didn't get to me first…"

'...Er… Did I leave that in?' Momonga felt paranoia and considered just knocking the woman out again to rummage through her brain once again, before deciding against it. 'I think I just blurred Lady Phenix… Hm, haa… And the 'Overlord' in me agrees that this was a good move…'

"It seems that our enemies are more cunning than we thought." Momonga saw a way to explain away the assassin's presence as he recalled something lurking in the Underworld and more specifically, in Phenix estate. 'Might as well use that as a scapegoat…' "I've already encountered that particular assassin twice, once when it was about to kill Grayfia and almost succeeded, and another time when I was with Serafall… Do you know a being that goes by the name of Hastur?"

Yasaka's hairs stood on ends and she paled to the complexity of paper. "That name- No! Momon-sama! What have you done?!"

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.

A creature withered in the lost kingdom of Carcossa, it's lights dimming to mere embers and it's halls growing as cold as the dark void around it.

It heard the lure, the bleating of the lost sheep, beckoning it to come… But the Shepherd was lost in it's fear and despair, feeling the terror of the Devourer pierce through it's entire being.

'Edax vetrum... umbra mortis appropinquat...'

The Outer Being was doing the equivalent of a child hiding under its bed while clutching it's pillow while a blood-strained abomination stalked the house, calling the child's name while wreathed in the gore of the child's parents and siblings…

.

.

'Hm. I'm guessing that it caught on to my tricks… Ambushing that thing is going to be a bit more difficult than I anticipated…' Momonga resisted the urge to sigh, half in relief and half in exasperation. 'I'd have Yasaka, Serafall, Michael, the Cherubims, and my Peerage, specifically Gasper, to throw at it if it came here… Granted, I'm not entirely certain if that would be enough, but that spear Odin made should be strong enough to kill an 'Outer being', based off the spear's 'backstory' that I read… I'd just have to chuck it to Michael or someone who knew how to use spears to finish it off…'

Yasaka was shivering hard. "W-we must flee, the name of that one-"

"Don't worry. I got it under control. I drove it off onc- twice, I can do it again." Momonga sighed while waving his hand dismissively, causing Yasaka to freeze up.

"What…?" Yasaka was quite stunned from the flat, casual declaration. "You… Drove off an Outer Being? Just like that? Like Cthulhu?"

"Yes… Ah, Serafall. Remeber when I drove off Hastur just earlier?" Momonga glanced at the Maou who walked into the room, clad in a bathrobe.

"Eeeeeh? You did, but… Is it really safe for you to be saying it's name?" Serafall looked quite nervous for a moment, before she shook her head and seemed to notice the other occupants of the room. "Yasaka! What happened?"

"Serafall… I got ambushed, by some sort of shadowy figure, but Momon saved me…" Yasaka frowned as she got up on shaky legs, and Momonga supported her. "My head is killing me… I think I passed out, something… Something made my head spin and…"

"I know… I went through the same, it was terrifying… Momon drove it off though! How did you do it? You just grabbed it's tentacle and said 'ero-ero-chinono' or 'bubu' or something and it screamed and fled…" Serafall looked curious and tilted her head at Momonga.

"Erm…"

"Wait, no… Did you jumpscare an Outer Being?!" Serafall seemed to realize something and pointed her finger at Momonga in an accusing way. "Cheap! That's like basic horror stuff! You got to get more creative! You're my despicable dark knight, so you can't use lame out-of-fashion stuff like jumpscares! You need to at least make yourself look cute and go 'gauuu' when jumpscaring someone!"

"Umu… I'll keep that in mind…"

"...Ah…" Lady Phenix looked quite unsure as she glanced at Momonga, as if she wasn't sure if she was praised or reprimanded, at least until Ravel and Sona walked into the room while chuckling.

"Kukuku… As expected, my lord…" Ravel chuckled to the back of her hand as she noticed the room's occupants, and Sona followed her example.

"Um, it's starting to get a bit crowded, should we move into the living room?" Momonga asked as even 'One' and her fellow Gatekeeper-maids poked their heads into the room and looked around for a moment, spotted Momonga on his feet, and collectively sighed in relief.

'Oh, I did tell them to check up on me in five minutes if I don't contact them… Oops…'

The maids seemed to get pushed from somewhere behind them out of a sudden and the gaggle fell from the doorway and into a pile on the floor.

"..." Momonga paused as he looked at someone in the doorway that he hadn't expected to see for a while.

"It's noisy. And there are goats." Ophis remarked simply as she stood in the doorway while holding a pillow, her eyes blood-shot and black bags under her eyes. "I… I wanna sleep."

'Um…' Momonga had instinctively reached for his Inventory and retrieved a plate of macarons. He offered the plate towards the 'girl' and Ophis took a few of the sugary treats, stuffed them into her mouth, gulped down, and then slid under the bed with her pillow.

'Um, that's not how you use the bed…' Momonga wasn't sure what to think about the for-real monster under his bed, cloaked in the appearance of a young girl, specifically as the macaron's visual effect went off and billowed the cloth that hid the underside of the bed from view and in doing so vomited a small cloud of confetti and glitter in the air.

Ophis sneezed and the bed-cloth billowed again, sending another gust of glitter from under the bed and into the room.

"Oooo! Want!" Serafall nabbed one of the macarons and gulped it down. "Tastyyyyyyyooooooooooaaaa?! CUTEEEEE"

The Leviathan exploded with glitter and confetti, much like Ophis had, and the not-exactly-magical girl Maou looked in wonder at the visual effect while doing a small pirouette in the falling glitter… Until a massive draconic talon came from under the bed and pointed at Serafall.

"Quiet." The talon demanded, and Serafall nodded while having her hands up in surrender and face pale.

"Right… Umu…" Momonga made to excuse himself, except the talon snatched the back of his shirt and started to drag him towards the bed. Or more specifically, towards the underside of the bed.

'Oh no'

"Remember meeeee!" Momonga leveraged [Actor] out of instinct as he was dragged underneath the bed while clawing at the floor on his way in, and found himself being used as a hug-pillow by Ophis.

"Masteeeerr!" The swarm of maids followed instantly afterwards, and each of them looked equally unsure about what to do as they discovered Momonga being hugged.

"..." Momonga put his finger on his lips and motioned for the maids to calm down and quiet down, and each of them did as ordered.

"...eeh." A faint yet disapproving voice came from somewhere outside the under-bed. And then Momonga felt a weight settle in on the bed above him, and guessed that Serafall had bunched up her arms and had hopped on top of the bed to lie down while pouting.

"Um… Is this…" A unsure voice came from somewhere, before another weight settled on the bed, and Momonga guessed that it was Lady Phenix

"It is all part of Momon's plan…" Another faint voice chuckled and a pair entered the bed, cluing Momonga that it was likely Sona and Ravel.

A pair of feet tried to move towards the door, paused, turned around, stumbled a bit in clear indecision, before the owner of said bed seemed to figure out what to do, and entered the bed as well. 'I'm guessing that's Yasaka…'

The gaggle of six 'maids' looked at Momonga in an uncertain way, and Momonga made a small mental calculus before coming to the conclusion that it was better to have the maids guard him, even if it was a bit cramped under the bed with the total of eight 'people' in there. 'I'm glad that the bed is so massive… I thought it was kind of ridiculous, but I suppose it has it's uses…'

Momonga motioned for the maids to lie down and sent a wordless master-servant communication for them, instructing them to sleep for now.

All six of them looked at eachother, blushed a bit, and finally creeped closer... And went to sleep beside and around Momonga in a way that allowed them to surround Ophis in moments if the human-shaped dragon clinging to Momonga's waist turned hostile. However, that didn't quite explain why each of the maids were clinging to him with one arm, be it to his waist, arm, or leg.

Luckily enough Ophis didn't seem to mind as she slept, and Momonga even dared to pet her head for a moment to calm himself before he tried to get some sleep as well- As far as he could sleep, anyway.

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Rias returned to her, or technically, her and Momon's as well as Momon's other fiance's quarters.

'Akeno seems to be stable now… Although she's waiting for Momon to resurrect her mother…' Rias sighed as she took a shower and clad herself in a soft and fluffy nightgown.

She wasn't planning on wearing it for the night, as she preferred to sleep naked, but it felt proper to at least wear it until she reached the bed. '...I hope Momon resurrects dad soon… Sirzechs-nii…'

Rias steeled her heart against the onslaught of grief that threatened to overcome her. '...Sirzechs-nii. I'll make sure Grayfia has a chance to convince Momon to resurrect you as well. And I'll join in. I'm sure that we can find some way to justify it… You were wrong, Momon is not the monster you claimed that he was… And when you're back, I'm going to pull your ear so hard it'll tear, and Grayfia will pull the other! Sirzechs-nii, you're such a massive idiot! I can't believe that you'd… You'd…'

Rias took a deep breath to calm herself before she'd be lost in her grief and anger. 'Calm down… Everything is alright… Everything will be alright…'

'I'll think I'll have Momon pamper me for a while before I go to sleep…' Rias thought to distract herself. And if she was being honest with herself, her latest lovemaking sessions with Momon had been so good that she was looking forward to more. 'Gah, I feel like a horny teenager… I suppose it wouldn't be all too far off the truth… I'm only eighteen…'

Rias shook her head to clear it of stray thoughts as she entered the bedroom… And froze as she looked at the people in the bed. '...Right. I'm… I'm just going to…'

Rias blinked as she counted the number of occupants in the bed. '...Wait, Yasaka-sama as well? What?!'

Rias thought she heard something from below the bed, and noticed that the cloth covering the underside of the bed from view was billowing occasionally, almost as if something big was breathing in and out in a sleepy manner.

Rias snuck closer and lifted the cloth a bit, and saw sleeping Momon, who was being hugged by a sleeping young girl.

Rias opened her mouth, and then recognized who the young girl was based off descriptions that she had been told of the mythical Infinite Ouroboros Dragon.

Rias let the cloth flop back down.

'...I'm not even going to ask. Or think.'

She flipped Yasaka over to make space, causing the fox-woman to snore a bit as she rolled partially over equally sleeping Lady Phenix, causing the two's giga-breasts to smush together and bounce each other off while letting a 'boing' sound and appropriate amount of jiggling.

Rias looked at the sight that wasn't helping her already crumbling sanity, before the red-headed daughter of Gremory house snuggled between already-sleeping Ravel and Sona.

Serafall whined sleepily while rubbing her legs together and clinging to Sona's side. "Ophis-tan used 'mega blue balls' against Sera-tan… It's super effective…"

Rias felt something crack.

She was fairly sure it was her sanity.

'...I'm so done…'