Harbingers of Change

Chapter 19

Predictably, her every move would be carefully monitored, but on the plus side, Kagali and her team now had the unlimited ability to use Spatial Movement within Tempest. Within reason, of course. There were still many regions of Nazarick they could not teleport to, particularly those that were critical to the Great Tomb's defense or contained secrets beyond their pay grade.

She had been shocked throughout most of the immediate post-enslavement tour, introduced by Albedo to their newly accessible facilities. Luxurious food beyond mortal imagination, magical items many nations would wage war for, and so much wealth her tenure as a Demon Lord paled in comparison to their storages of gems and gold.

All good things had to come to an end, and they had to get to work. Their new coworkers were unfriendly too, but none of them could blame the maids for their hostility when moments before they were enemies.

Her new masters, first and foremost, wanted the information she and the others possessed, particularly about humans, majins, and Yuuki.

Footman, Tear, and Laplace were pretty much handed over to Demiurge to serve as intelligence agents, but at least she still had consultant rights when it came to giving them fieldwork. She advised for them to work in the Western Nations, where they were the most familiar with their surroundings. Demiurge, in turn, had sent off all three to scout out the resources between Falmuth and Tempest, and to work with Souei's squad to evacuate villages at possible risk of attack.

A big relief was the fact that, unlike Yuuki, both Momonga and Demiurge were overly cautious and preferred to not take any unnecessary risks, meaning her children would remain safe for the time being. Hell, they preferred sending expendables even over them, despite shadow demons being ranked higher in the servant hierarchy.

Clayman was sent back to the domain he ruled over, Jistav, with an escort of invisible assassin-type monsters that would act both as his guards and handlers. Out of the group added to Nazarick, he had the highest perceived value due to him being part of the Ten Great Demon Lords. While he didn't receive any direct orders for investigation of humanity, he was ordered to quickly hand over a report of all the notable inhabitants and overall demographics of his nation, on top of acting as their puppet in world politics when they ordered for it.

And her own first task was reporting all relevant information regarding the Free Guild, usually influential and powerful figures. Hence, why she sat in her office and filled page after page, everything she knew about the inner workings of the organization. For hours she had been pouring over her guild records, and even now she was referencing records long thought buried as she listed active or retired Hazard-class adventurers and mercenaries, possible or confirmed demihuman adventurers, and powerful guild masters spread across the Western Nations.

For whatever reason, Yuuki had not yet tried to remove her from the guild, but the order would likely come in a day or so. Meaning she had such little time and not enough minds to hand over all the information she could.

{ Your presence is demanded by Lady Buku. Report to her in her quarters in the castle immediately. } Albedo's order came in just as she was cross-referencing the financial records of former A-rank adventurer, now guild master of the Blumund branch, Fuze.

'I better go right away. Making either Lady Albedo or Lady Buku angry right now would be disastrous.'

{ Understood, Lady Albedo. } She quickly replied and teleported to the castle, arriving directly at the entrance of Buku's main quarters.

Even if she had access to the Great Tomb of Nazarick for now, she spent most of her time outside of it. The leaders she served did the same, from Albedo to Momonga, meaning that most of the direct interactions with her superiors happened in Tempest's royal palace.

The constant moving around was beginning to become exhausting, considering she was just A rank in the current form and couldn't keep up with the magicule demands where Special A rank monsters were the norm. A homunculus body simply would not withstand her full power for any prolonged time, and the current homunculus body was being rapidly drained of its durability. She would have to look into borrowing the body of a Special A monster fast, perhaps one of the stronger 'expendables.'

Kagali knocked and the door was immediately opened for her, with a maid motioning her in. She stepped in and froze on the spot, disbelief flickering across her face. In the middle of the spacious guest room stood Yuuki, or so it seemed at first glance.

"Lady Buku, you called for me?" Kagali inquired with a bow.

"What gave me away?" Buku responded in Yuuki's voice, imitating her former employer nearly perfectly in inflection and tone.

"Your appearance is flawless, but I simply guessed that he would not be standing here," Kagali said with another bow.

"I didn't call you here for an ass-kissing session!" Buku's voice switched to her natural one, slightly angry and disappointed.

"I apologize, it wasn't meant as empty flattery. I assumed if Yuuki had truly entered, alarms would have been set off and I would have been ordered to attack immediately," Kagali stated, doing her best to remain calm.

"Then what gave it away besides that? I need to make the performance flawless."

"Yuuki looks older now. Also, your voice is slightly softer than his."

"What do you mean, older? He has not aged a day since he arrived in this world according to our current intel."

"If I had to guess, it would be due to the weapon he created. That power he is toying with is likely beyond his complete control, and aging is a side effect."

"What weapon? Why didn't you mention it right away?" Buku's tone dropped even lower.

'They didn't know? It means all the surveillance they did was done within Tempest. And that would mean… they decrypted Thought Communication.' Kagali gulped nervously. This lack of foresight on her part would be interpreted as an intentional attempt at concealing information, and something she had to warn her creations about once this interrogation was over.

"My apologies, I did plan to include what I knew in my report to Lord Demiurge later today. I assumed that you would know already."

"Speak! Now!"

Buku took a thundering step toward her, no longer calm. Combined with the fact that she appeared as Yuuki, Buku's presence was terrifying. Kagali raised her hands defensively, cowering slightly as she continued.

"He recently created a weapon that, according to him, could permanently kill a true dragon. I touched it once, and I'm inclined to believe that it is the case. We tricked Hinata Sakaguchi into retrieving it. She is the-"

"I know who Hinata is! This changes everything!"

Buku paced back and forth, strangely mirroring her human target despite not intending to. "Does he have the ability to create more similar weapons? If so, how often?"

"I would assume yes, but if he lost years of his life I doubt he would try again. He has aged approximately ten years in mortal human appearance."

"Dammit, I thought this would be easy! You're coming with me!"

Buku cast a gate and hustled through it, Kagali following shortly after. Both arrived in a spacious conference room with Momonga, Albedo, and Rubedo present.

Everyone, save for Kagali, had settled in their seats with Pero, Demiurge, and Veldora appearing as well.

Of course, the dragon had to whine, "What's the big deal? I was in the middle of the chapter."

"For fucks sake, this is important! You can continue reading later. Kagali, sit down and repeat what you told me," Buku hissed at the dragon and pointed at an available seat for Kagali to take.

"Yeah, yeah. Everything is always important," Veldora waved her off.

"Don't push it. It's your ass on the line as well." Buku picked up a can of soda from the table and threatened to throw it at the dragon, who grumbled in response. "Tell us everything you just told me and everything you know about the blade."

After that, she told everything she knew without attempting to hide anything. She vividly described the feeling of the sword and how unusual it felt, along with the sheer magical power emanating when Yuuki held it.

"You're not going after Yuuki," Momonga addressed Buku in a stern tone, leaving no room for arguing, upon conclusion of Kagali's explanation.

"You know I can't truly die. She likely thought that the trinket is powerful only because she doesn't know what real power is," Veldora declared with a hearty laugh.

"Do you want to test it?" Buku asked in a deadpan tone, calling his bluff.

"N-no," Veldora replied while looking away from her glare.

"Master, if you can give me another body in case this one gets destroyed, I can be the shield for Buku. I cannot be permanently destroyed by weapons of material form," Rubedo added.

"We have enough caloric stone to build a golem, but the Rubedo part of you cannot be recreated," Momonga expressed. For the first time, Kagali saw the skeletal leader state his limits, much to her surprise.

"Rubedo and I are one. I only need a vessel to contain this form. I trust you, master, would call me back from the void, should I lose my current form."

Kagali listened to the conversation with horror and dread filling her heart. She knew Rubedo was dangerous, and now she understood just how big of a threat the creature was to the enemies of her master.

While temporarily without a body, she had seen glimpses of the void and its cold emptiness. It was hostile to spiritual lifeforms, incredibly so.

'Sentient void creature! That thing is void-based. How is he controlling it?'

The fact that Veldora was not in charge didn't sound as insane anymore after working for the majin trio. But this? Having such a dreadful creature as a mere servant? Even the strongest demons avoided those parts of the immaterial realms, and Momonga kept a living void so close to him.

"In that case, you can act as a shield for Buku," Momonga stated, turning to Kagali, "Do you have any information on what skills Yuuki has and how strong he is in general? Past feats would be useful as well."

"He's definitely stronger than Laplace by a wide margin, but his upper limit is hard to tell, perhaps Special S. As far as I know, he has two unique skills, and very powerful ones at that which enabled us to avoid a good portion of your patrol. First is Creation, which allows Yuuki to temporarily create Unique skills of his design and intent, and assign them to others, but he is limited to one at any given time. The second and most devastating one is Anti-Skill, which nullifies the effects of all types of attacks and barriers against him, but also just one type at a time," Kagali explained all the details she knew about her former employer.

Having spent ten years in his body as a passive passenger, she intimately knew the man's abilities. Until recently, she had considered Yuuki a friend who shared her ideals and ambitions, and thus knew many of his weaknesses. She even shared some of his smaller quirks and habits, such as dressing up children in semi-lewd outfits, much to the disgruntlement of some in the room.

Buku listened intently to what the elven woman had to say. Her instincts were right about Shizue's former student. He was a lot more dangerous than he led on, and now with the uncertainty of what sort of weapon he had created, the utmost precautions were necessary. Being capable of creating Unique skills meant he could even somewhat imitate Momonga when he handed out Ultimate skills, meaning he could be armed with almost any power at any time.

There was one thing she wanted to confirm before deciding if she would be the one to lead the strike team or not.

"That does sound troubling. Does that Anti-Skill block ultimate skills as well?"

"I'm sorry? What do you mean by ultimate skill, Lady Buku?" Kagali asked, head tilting and preemptively bowing slightly. It might have been another word for unique skill, but she had a suspicion that it wasn't the case.

"You didn't know ultimate skills existed? That would explain why Yuuki thought that he could outsmart us with that parlor trick," Momonga remarked, fingers tapping on the polished stone table.

It was somewhat of a relief that Yuuki was overly arrogant, and wasn't even aware that something above a unique skill existed since it was easy to block his attempts at concealing Tear. Either that, or he knew of them but hadn't told his subordinates about it, which was far more concerning.

"No, Lord Momonga. I was not aware of such a level of power even existing, but I see how wilfully ignorant I have been in that regard."

"I see. In that case, we may assume he will not be able to fully disable ultimate skills. Still, I'm worried about the weapon he has made that is now in the hands of someone who plans to attack us. Can you elaborate on why you think it is so dangerous?" Momonga continued questioning, Buku perking up as she chopped Veldora into paying attention as well.

"It's hard to explain. I know the weapon had some sort of presence behind it. Something out of this world, and that presence was angry, wrathful even. The amount of power I felt…I have nothing to compare it to. With a single swing, it could decimate Clayman or Laplace with ease."

The elven woman so far had been useful, but it didn't mean Momonga was particularly worried about her well-being, as long as she didn't get outright eradicated. With Omniscience confirming that Kagali wouldn't die when fully exposed to his aura, he cast a shield around the room and took off the Ring of False Data, allowing his energies to fill the room. Obviously, he was keeping his natural aura on a lower concentration just in case it proved to be lethal for Kagali, who was rather weak in the grand scheme of things, and a dead Kagali would be a hassle to revive.

Buku raised a brow at what Momonga was trying to do but quickly figured out the reason behind his actions. 'Momo plans to test her. I guess I can prepare to clean up the aftermath.' The others either quickly figured it out as well, surrounding themselves with barriers in the case of Pero, Buku, and Demiurge, or ignored it like Veldora and Rubedo.

The Overlord's massive aura was crushing, to say the least. The guild members were obviously unaffected and Veldora even reached for his own ring, only to see a stern shake of the head from Buku. Kagali was not quite so lucky, feeling the first-row full brunt treatment. She held herself up by pressing both of her arms against the temple and taking short, sharp breaths to avoid suffocating from the immense pressure, obviously noted by everyone. To her credit, she didn't faint but held her head high, resolved to withstand the display of power.

After about thirty seconds, Momonga stopped and placed the ring back on his skeletal finger while Buku absorbed the excess magicules. Pandora would appreciate his father's magicules for fueling various experiments, particularly experiments for the mass harnessing of liches and the like.

Kagali let out a sigh of relief and spoke, "As powerful as you are, my Lord, the sword was at least comparable to you. But its power was different, like… I have no words to describe but it felt… similar to Lord Veldora's presence. Ancient, foreboding, and destructive."

Momonga sighed, skeletal hands cracking their knuckles. "We will have to reevaluate our approach towards the incoming attack from Hinata and the church. But for now, Buku, I will allow you to lead the strike team and take down Yuuki, and you will use Rubedo as a shield. If her body is destroyed you will retreat immediately, utilizing everything you have in your arsenal."

He glanced at the void being, who had broken into a delighted smile. 'She craves action. I'm not sure if I should worry, I don't think she will try anything fishy. I have kept her near all this time, after all.'

"Got it, glorious leader," Buku said. "I won't even attempt to take him alive, as much as that prick deserves a nice long chat with Neuroist."

"I think that's all for now," Momonga nodded. "And you, Kagali, I need all the relevant information as fast as possible. For now, I will consider you not mentioning the weapon right away as a simple misunderstanding, but I won't give you many chances like this."

"I apologize for not considering the possibility of you not knowing about the sword. I assumed you had spied on us everywhere, not only in Tempest. I will relay all the important information as fast as possible," Kagali bowed.

'This was a close one. I should not make such an obvious mistake again.' She left the room with Spatial Motion the moment Momonga dismissed her, fleeing to her designated office as she wrapped up reports and began compiling everything she knew regarding Yuuki's movements and past displayed abilities. Any information about past unique skills would be deemed useful, and any information about past interaction with foreign powers would be even more so.

X

There was no time to waste. Yuuki was surely well aware of Tempest lusting for his head, so he likely was crafting preparations to counter their possible attacks. Whatever they could throw at him, he likely had something similar constructed to counter, if Kagali's explanations were anywhere near accurate regarding his wits.

Buku had spent two hours perfecting Yuuki's speaking voice and mannerisms under Kagali's guidance, down to the eye twitches and body angles. Both agreed that it would be better to utilize his young look to make it more convincing that the real Yuuki was an impostor, as his now more mature look would work against him. People knew a Yuuki who appeared to be in his mid-teens, not a Yuuki in his mid-twenties.

"I think this is good enough, Lady Buku," Kagali finally declared after correcting Buku's eye movement patterns for the umpteenth time that afternoon.

"Are you sure?" Buku asked, fully embracing the role.

"My word will assure everyone that you are the real Yuuki, and you have been imprisoned for a while by clerics of the Ruberious Holy Empire. I am still a well-known figure in the Free Guild, second only to the Head Guildmaster Yuuki himself. I have even represented him at times."

"Ok, then we can proceed. Remember to stay back and not do anything stupid."

"I'm grateful you worry about my we-"

"What did I say about ass kissing?"

"My apologies. Diplomacy is a habit of mine when talking with superiors." Kagali hastily bowed, slowly backing away.

"It's fine," Buku sighed tiredly, waving it aside as she summoned for Rubedo via Thought Communication.

The next step was to make Rubedo presentable enough to be mistaken for a human, albeit a beautiful one. The angel-looking appearance of the void creature screamed nonhuman, particularly to those of longer-lived races who could see through the concealed wings behind cloaks and the too-pale skin of majins.

Buku walked around Rubedo critically, stating, "We have to get rid of your wings and you'll have to keep your eyes consistent regarding your irises. Also, I think we'll have to give you regular clothing for humans. The one you have made radiates… well, you."

"I can keep my eyes stable and replace the clothing. But wings are a part of this material form. I will have to physically tear them off for a while and seal the opening shut." Rubedo asserted, absorbing her clothing and standing naked before Buku and Kagali.

"Can you fold them so they don't stick out? Ideally, shrink them if you can." Buku asked as she took out a high-tier leather set from her inventory and handed it over. It had the specific ability to shape to fit the player, and she was betting that ability was preserved.

Rubedo did as told and put on the clothing, its base enchants made an opening to be put on with wings in mind. She folded the wings one over another firmly on her back, hiding them from view, covering them with the outermost layers of leather.

"Let's see… have you tried casting light magic in this world?" Buku asked.

"No, I usually consume matter that enters my body, but with some concentration, I can leave magicules floating within for a short duration

"Hmm, we'll need to get a caster who can keep the illusion on you."

Kagali leaned in, producing her own suggestion. "Lady Buku, I can keep her wings invisible. I am one of the most skilled mages alive, and if I was the one to keep up a spell, no one in the guild headquarters would be suspicious since one of my specializations is support magic. The story spun would be one of temporarily supporting her body until our dedicated equipment could be used to determine the curse."

"We can go with that," Buku nodded in agreement, motioning for Kagali to do her work.

Seconds later, with the illusion spell in place, Rubedo resembled a regular young human woman, dressed in a high-quality outfit and with a sword strapped to her belt. Going with the 'rich lady' impression helped offset some of her unnatural beauty, which Kagali had managed to reduce dramatically with more of her illusion magic.

Considering that arrival to the capital had to be discreet, they picked a side street away from prying eyes and cast a gate there. Buku led the trio with six hanzos following as guards before and after them. In case Rubedo failed in dealing with Yuuki, they would be the sacrificial fodder while the others retreated.

Entering the guild headquarters went without a hitch and not one alarm system picked up their true nature. Even the barriers that irritated Demiurge so much failed to pick up on them, Buku having even managed to imitate his energy signature after much refinement from Kagali.

The receptionist, on the other hand, was staring at the group with confusion.

"Miss Kagali… grandmaster?" She looked at the young-looking man and then at the door leading to the elevator and back, concerned.

"Evacuate the building, now! I was held captive by the clergy belonging to the church of Luminism, and Kagali managed to find and free me. The impostor is very dangerous and may attempt acts of terrorism while we deal with him."

"Sir, should I call the adven-"

"There is no time. We'll handle the impostor, but I need to be sure the building is empty. Instruct casters to construct shields around the entire building once they are out!" Buku made a round of rapid-fire orders, giving her absolute best to remain in character. It worked.

"Understood!" The receptionist nodded and ran towards the group that was sitting in the lounge area. "You heard the grandmaster! We have to move! Spread the word and evacuate the place!"

{ Be careful. Yuuki is likely prepared for us. } Kagali sent an encrypted message to both superiors.

{ I'm expecting that. }

Buku motioned for Rubedo to take the lead as they used the magical circle that served as an elevator and teleported them to the top floor. With Kagali having all the workarounds, there was no need to worry about anything malfunctioning or being sabotaged midway.

They barged into the office where Yuuki sat in his office chair, a sly smile on his face.

"So the traitor returns. I'm surprised, to be honest. I thought you wouldn't have the guts. You always were a coward, Kazareem!" Yuuki exclaimed, a mocking laugh at the end.

"You betrayed Tear you-"

Buku raised her hand, silencing Kagali. 'Something is off. He doesn't feel like the human I met the last time. This is… oh shit! It's just a magicule avatar, and it packs a punch close to a level seventy-five to eighty area guardian!'

Buku instantly placed a shield around Yuuki, but he seemed to not care.

He tapped the shield with a finger and chuckled. "I should feel insulted that you thought you could outsmart me twice, but instead I'll thank you for doing everything I expected. Have fun. I retrieved my consciousness before you entered the building."

"Rubedo, be prepared!" Buku shouted as the figure detonated into a catastrophic explosion, sending a shockwave through the shield. Luckily, with her and Rubedo's drain abilities, they managed to absorb the initial wave, containing the raging energies within the barrier.

'I have no other choice but to absorb it all and hope there are no more nasty surprises. If the city blows up he, no doubt, would pin it on Tempest.'

To Buku's relief, there was nothing that tried to corrupt or damage her, save for the pure magicule blast which could easily be absorbed. Curses were Kagali's and Clayman's thing apparently, not Yuuki's, corroborating reports from the rest of the clowns.

"That explosion, I would have… died again," Kagali muttered quietly once the situation was under control. Losing her body again wasn't a pleasant thought, especially considering that Nazarick would likely not provide a new form on par with her current one.

{ We take care of our own. As long as you do your job and do it well, you don't have to worry about such things. } Buku messaged, glancing around the office.

There wasn't much time to do sightseeing since the evidence prepared by Demiurge needed to be planted.

{ You know how the guild operates better than me. So I'll rely on you to deal with the rest, the press are already outside. I'll plant the evidence, but I need a few minutes. } "Go get an investigation branch involved. I need to know what the church was planning and why they used the guild."

"Of course sir."

Kagali bowed and power walked towards the lift.

It took only a few minutes for the office to be full of guild members inspecting every nook and cranny. Using the tiredness of being held captive for a month as an excuse, something no adventurer or faculty member could blame 'him' for, despite their images of an always-peppy guild leader.

Buku quickly left the guild headquarters and went straight for Yuuki's mansion which was nearby. There was a fairly large chance he had left some nasty surprise there as well, perhaps another explosion.

But what she found was a house deprived of any small items of intelligence or high value, and there was not a single living soul within the structure. Yuuki had fled for good, and they had turned an enemy they knew, into an enemy they didn't.

'So the bastard anticipated we would go after him. I have to give him credit for not being completely idiotic. Now the question is what to do next. I guess I better dump this on Demiurge. He'll have a better idea of how to handle the guild takeover.'

Buku sat down on a comfy chair in the guest room and sent a Thought Communication report to Momonga and Demiurge. The demon arrived through the gate not even a minute later, followed by a large team of hanzos, doppelgangers, specters, and a spectacularly massive army of shadow demons.

"Lady Buku, thank you for providing me with this massive opportunity. I have prepared doppelgangers to impersonate Yuuki and Kagali. Lord Momonga prefers to keep her in a less critical position for the time being."

Demiurge bowed and motioned for his subordinates to spread throughout the house. The hanzos disappeared into crevices and stairways, specters flew into the air, and shadow demons melted en masse into shadows.

"You know Yuuki might try to retaliate at some point."

"I'm counting on it," Demiurge replied with his usual devilish smirk.

"Good. Then pick up Kagali and send her back to the guild office in Tempest. Rubedo and I are returning to Nazarick personally."

The mission wasn't exactly an astounding success, but at least they had taken away the Free Guild from Yuuki, and that by itself gave a lot more opportunities to keep tabs on humanity and guide it in the direction beneficial to Tempest while simultaneously crippling him of his largest army. As a tradeoff, they had lost all information regarding Yuuki's location, something they would have to address soon.

Editing by aidan_lo

Proofreading by aidan_lo, Sluethen, FantasyTroll, Miracle of Gods, Cakeeight, Aurodium, LightFlan, and Alassandro

AN: Thank you for reading the story, and if you have caught up to the latest chapter, you can check out my other work or join my discord server (https://discord.gg/WmGKVU3XG2WmGKVU3XG2) where additional chapters are available or if you are interested in becoming a beta reader (gives access to chapters months ahead of regular readers).