Chapter 14: Nightmare

Katze Plains

After a long ride, Ainz and the company reached the cursed land that was surrounded by a foggy atmosphere. Ainz was amazed by this place. There could be seen some ruins but most of them were empty. He will raise his army here and nobody will know and disturb him. If the humans or demihumans dare to intervene with his plans, he will capture them, interrogate them, and eliminate them.

Ainz could feel it, there was so much negative energy here. Everywhere, he and the company went, the fog cleared like it was welcoming them.

But he saw something weird. There were many undead creatures coming after them. They did not attack Ainz and his servants, they were just following them like they were his servants. Could it be that Ainz's dominant aura put them under his control? But they were thousands of undead's coming after him.

"The atmosphere here feels good, right?"

"It is as you say, my lord. The negative energy here is great."

"Why are there so many skeleton warriors and zombies, coming after us? Oh~ and look, there are skeletal dragons too."

There were Skeletal Dragons, Wraiths, Bone Vulture, Ghosts that were flying in the air.

"That's because they are following our Lord, Clementine."

"Ah~ as expected of my beloved Master~!" said Clementine with joy.

"My love?"

Zesshi opened her beautiful eyes after a long sleep in the arms of her husband. Ainz has held her comfortably all night and he took care of her not to fall from the Soul Eater.

"Good morning Zesshi."

Zesshi hugged him tight, making Ainz's green aura glow after that Ainz patted her head gently and caressed her cheeks. Ainz wanted to hug her tight too but he was afraid that he might break her bones.

"My Master~ look there."

Ainz and the others saw in the direction where Clementine was pointing her finger. He saw a large building...no, that seemed more like a fortress made out of thick wood. There were two flags being rippled in the wind that had two lions with wings as an emblem.

"Who are they, Clementine?" asked Ainz.

"They are the knights of the Baharuthe Empire, my Master."

"Oh, now this is interesting, hmhmhm."

What Ainz was thinking is that he can use this as a decoy. If he eliminates these soldiers, the Emperor will be worried and will send more troops to find out what happened with the knights here. Ainz will eliminate everyone that the Emperor sends and when he is about to start his invasion, he will accuse the Emperor that he has sent armored men in his territory, and with that, he will declare war against the Empire. Or...or he will break the will of the Emperor when he shows him his might. He will invade the Empire without bloodshed.

Ainz thought that this was a splendid idea. He will put two larger nations, under his rule at the same time.

"Thanatos… kill them quickly!" ordered Ainz

"Yes, my lord!"

Thanatos went with his Soul Eater in the direction of the fortress.

"My Master~ can I go too?" asked Clementine with excitement.

"No, you stay here with us."

"As you wish, my Master."

Clementine felt a bit sad that she won't kill some blood bags today and Thanatos will take all the fun for himself. But she has to do what her beloved master tells her to do.

Thanatos used teleportation magic and appeared inside the fortress. His appearance shocked the knights of the Empire and they quickly took their swords to attack the monster, but Thanatos raised his war scythe and…

[Soul Harvest] Level 5.

The dark aura spread from Thanatos in the entire fortress. The bodies of the knights fell lifeless on the ground but their souls were still visible. Something was pulling them and it was the weapon of the grim reaper. The war scythe sucked the souls of the knights. They could be seen screaming but nobody could hear them. The souls belong now to the grim reaper.

The power of the Grim Reaper Thanatos was immense.

Thanatos opened the grand gate of the fortress for his master to enter inside. Ainz saw all the corpses. There were almost 1500 dead knights here. They will be turned into Death Knights and join his eternal legions.

When Ainz looked at the fortress, he was thinking to construct more buildings here. He will use [Gate] to transport materials from the Great Forest of Tob. His skeleton workers will build a wider and larger wall made out of stone and his grand castle. In other words, Ainz will build a city that will be a paradise for the undead beings that will migrate here.

When the time comes and the world will know about Ainz Ooal Gown, the borders of Katze Plains will be closed with walls and no mortal will enter, because he will experiment there to create more powerful servants.

For the mortals, Katze Plains was a cursed land, but for Ainz it was a blessed land.

Again he went outside the fortress. Ainz observed the horizon. There were thousands of undead creatures that were watching him like they were waiting for him to say something.

Ainz rose in the air and open his arms, a dark aura covered him. Everyone was watching the mighty Overlord.

"RISE! RISE NOW MY KIN!"

The dark aura spread from his skeletal body like a fury across the Katze Plains… maybe in the entire continent.

An earthquake started for a moment and then... A skeletal hand rises from the ground and then two and three and four and more and more. Hundred of thousands, undead creatures of level 30 and below came out from the ground. They rose their bony arms in the air like they were praising their God.

Every undead creature in the entire continent heard the message of the God of Death. Undead skeletons and zombies rise from their graves. Vampires leave their coffins. Elder liches with their minions abandon their tombs. Undead Dragons came out from their lair.

This is it. This is the beginning of his rule. The Supreme Overlord of Death.

Black liquid appeared on Ainz's skeletal hand.

"Now my children… Is time to upgrade you all."

Ainz crimson points now glowed like fire.

E-Rantel

Inside a luxurious inn called Shining Golden Pavilion, the girls of Blue Rose were resting after a hard mission. The adventure guild of E-Rantel sent a request to Blue Rose. It was about a necromancer called Khajiit Dale Badantel. He wanted to turn E-Rantel into a city of the dead.

Blue Rose accepted the request and came to E-Rantel. With the help of some other adventurer teams, they managed to defeat the army of the undead and later Khajiit with his subordinates.

It was morning and Evileye was still in her room. She was close to the window and was observing the city of E-Rantel.

"Lord Momon… I miss you…"

Momon's departure had saded her too much. She didn't speak with her teammates as she has done before, Evileye just felt... empty. If she would have spent more time with him, Evileye would have abandoned the Kingdom and follow Momon. Who wouldn't go after a great man like him?

"Hmph! I hope lord Momon comes back again, then I will tell him my true feelings… What the…?"

Suddenly a dark wave hit her and crashed her on the floor. It was such a powerful aura that Evieye couldn't resist it. She felt great negative energy like she had never felt before.

Evileye quickly stood up and saw outside the window.

Normal… everything was normal like the dark wave never hit her. The citizens were doing their daily work.

"What… was that…?"

Evileye came out from her room fast and went to see her comrades. She quickly went to Lakyus and saw Gagaran, Tia, and Tina there too. They were looking at Evileye with wonder because she seemed to be worried.

"Did that dark wind hit you!? Did you all felt it!?"

They didn't understand what she is talking about.

"What dark wind are you talking about Evileye?" asked Lakyus.

"Only I felt it?! Could it be because I am an undead?"

Suddenly, an earthquake started. Blue Rose looked around the room, everything was moving, and then it stopped. It was just for a moment.

"Wh-what was that?!" asked Gagaran.

"I'm telling you, something is not right. That dark wave hit me and throw me on the floor. It was so powerful that it caused this earthquake."

"Who could have done that?" asked Lakyus.

"I don't know, but I'm feeling strong negative energy around. Something must have been awakened!"

"Something evil!"

Evileye was really worried. The Demon Gods might have descended in this world again. Will the chaos spread again as it did 200 years ago? Who would save the world now?

"Lord Momon, please come back!"

Several days later

A girl just woke up, but it was not morning yet. She looked around the room. It had no windows. It was dark and she was thirsty

She went down from her bed to find if there was something to drink but there was nothing.

Suddenly, she saw a light. It was coming from under the door. For a moment she thought, it was the daylight but no. The color of that light was red like someone was burning something outside the room.

She slowly approached the door and open it. She went outside and closed the eyes because of shining light. She felt the heat that was touching her face and she slowly opened her eyes and what she saw was…

Hell.

The capital of the Slane Theocracy, Kami Miyako was on fire and chaos. The roads were covered in blood. Hundreds of citizens were on sticks, some were crucified. Dragons and Wyverns were releasing fire upon the city.

The girl was terrified of what was happening before her eyes. There were other citizens that were running for their lives. They were being hunted by bulky monsters with huge shields and swords.

The children were thrown into the fire, men and women were cut into pieces. The citizens were getting slaughtered like lambs and the monsters didn't care about their cries and pray for mercy.

This was horror. This was true hell.

The girl wanted to vomit but she couldn't do it. She turned to go back to the room but... it was not there. There were bulky undead creatures with huge shields and swords that saw her and were coming for her. She wanted to run, but where? She was surrounded.

The undead creatures stopped and were just staring at her. She slowly steps backward, but she felt something behind her. She turned her head slowly and…

Her eyes were shocked by what she saw. In front of her, was an undead being that was wearing a majestic dark gown, shining rings on his fingers and was holding a golden staff. It was entwined by seven serpents and in each of the squirming serpents' mouths hold a jewel of a different color.

This undead was the God of Death.

He approached the girl that was shivering in fear. She was frozen, she couldn't run away from him. His skull was in front of her and he was looking at her with his dreadful eyes.

He pointed his skeletal finger at her and spoke…

"When there is no more room in hell... The dead will walk the earth, kukuku.

Death chuckled wickedly.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Suddenly the girl woke up screaming. A maid entered quickly inside her room.

"Lady Astrologer! Lady Astrologer! Please calm down!"

"They are coming! They are coming to kill us all!"

"My lady is just a nightmare! Please, someone, help!"

Berenice Nagua Santini, the Cardinal of Fire and a member of the highest authority of the Slane Theocracy entered quickly inside.

"He is coming! He is coming! DEATH IS COMING!"

Astrologer was shivering and screaming nonstop.

"Calm down child!"

[Lion's Heart]

Berenice cast her spell on Astrologer to resist fear and then she was calm. She stopped screaming like a madwoman and started to cry. Berenice embraces her and comforts her.

"Shhh, it's over my child."

"Bam!"

"Impossible!"

One of the cardinals shouted while hitting his desk with his fist.

"The Black Scripture was destroyed!? BLASPHEMY!"

"This-this can't be happening!"

Two days ago the Clearwater Scripture found the bodies of the Black Scripture brutally massacred with only one survivor. When the information reached the capital, all the cardinals were in a panic. What was more shocking was that the god artifact and Zesshi were not there. This was a national emergency

"Calm down everyone."

It was the person with the highest position in the Slane Theocracy, Pontifex Maximus that wanted the cardinals to calm.

"How can we stay calm in a situation like this Pontifex!?"

Dominic Ihre Partouche, the Cardinal of Wind shouted worried.

Suddenly the door opened and Berenice entered inside. She was holding some papers on her hand. The others waited till she sits on her chair.

"So, where is Astrologer?" Raymond, the Cardinal of Earth and commander of the Six Scriptures asked.

"The girl it too tired to be here. But she was able to write a piece of information about what happened to the Black Scripture."

"Only a piece?"

"Please Berenice tell us, what happened?"

When she was about to start reading, the door opened again. It was Astrologer, she looked really pale.

"Child why?" asked Berenice while rises from her chair.

"I'm fine your Holiness."

Astrologer started to tell the story about the massacre. She told the cardinals that they first encountered Clementine the traitor and decided to chase and bring her back to the capital but Clementine managed to put a small resistance. They wounded her but she still resisted and got the chance to run away from them.

"We run through the forest until we reached her, but… she was not alone."

The Cardinals were listening to her words attentively.

"Who was with her?" asked Pontifex.

"We encountered an undead." Astrologer shivered when she said that.

The cardinal's eyes went wide and stared at each other. They were waiting for a Dragon Lord or a Demon… but an undead…

"He was just standing there looking at us, and Clementine was near him. We didn't understand what was an undead skeleton doing there."

"An undead skeleton?"

"Yes! I told the captain to leave that thing alone but he didn't listen. He wanted to respect the ideology of killing all the non-humans and then that undead spoke."

The cardinals felt a chill down their spine. An undead skeleton that is able to speak is not normal.

"What… did he say?" asked Maximilian.

"He wanted us to leave him alone, he warned the captain, but… he didn't listen. The captain went to attack him and…"

"What happened?" asked Yvon worried.

"...He killed the captain in an instant... cutting him into pieces?"

All the cardinals shocked. Killing a god-kin so easily was impossible.

"All of us were caught in panic and decided to attack him immediately. We hit him with powerful spells and martial arts but he was uninjured. He took our attack like nothing!"

"Than that undead cast his spell and killed so many of us. WITH JUST ONE SPELL."

Tears were coming out of her eyes. The cardinals were terrified of imagining that nightmare.

"We decided to use the god artifact."

This was the part that the cardinals wanted to know more about. The treasure of the gods was too important.

"Lady Kaire used the Downfall of Castle and Country and it hit the undead. We were not sure if it worked so lady Kaire ordered him to take some steps forward and he obeyed, but… he was just toying with us."

"WHAT! He resisted the god artifact!?" shocked, Dominic asked.

The Downfall of Castle and Country was really powerful that can mind control even the undead creatures.

"I-I really don't know, how did that happen? Lady Kaire was with use alive and fine, but in a second... she was lying on the ground nacked with her head c-crushed."

The cardinals were speechless. They didn't know how to describe this. What could this undead be?

"And the god artifact?" worried asked, Raymond.

"The undead had it on his hands and then it vanished from his hands."

The spine of the cardinals was wet because of the sweat. The god artifact was on the hand of a powerful monster. What if he decides to attack their nation?

"The last thing I remember was that I bent on knees with Rovena because there was no hope for us, and I saw Zesshi approaching the undead to fight him and then…"

"Then what Astrologer?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

"It's like my memory was cut. I-I don't remember anything after that."

"YOU HAVE TO ASTROLOGER!" angry Dominic shouted.

He just couldn't accept it that an undead being, destroyed the trump card of the Slane Theocracy. They have been in many dangerous missions that ended up losing some comrades, but this… this was just unbelievable.

"I-I can't!" Astrologer was dropping tears on the floor.

"Dominic enough. The child has suffered too much!" said Berenice.

He calmed and sit again on his chair, crossing his arms.

"My child, tell us about your nightmares." like a mother Berenice asked.

Astrologer lowered her head and spoke. "I-I see Kami Miyako on fire."

"What do you mean child?"

The predictions of Astrologer have always turned out to be true. If she had seen Kami Miyako like that…

"I always see the city on fire. Legions of undead warriors marching and slaughtering the citizens. Dragons burning everything. Rivers of blood everywhere."

For a moment the cardinals had some problems with their breath. Could this be the fate of the Slane Theocracy?

"And then, I see him!"

"Wh-Who?"

"Death! ...He always says…

"When there is no more room in hell... The dead will walk the earth."

Their heart was pumping faster and their body was shivering. They could not let this happen to their nation.

Pontifex rose from his chair and spoke…

"We need to revive them as fast as possible. Send more knights and paladins at the border and try to find more strong talents to train them.

Everyone in the room nodded. They have to do something about this quickly to save humanity from absolute destruction.