Harbingers of Change

Chapter 15

'Let's see if Ker will appreciate the irony of helping me evolve into something designed to fight her,' Momonga mused. He was standing in the chamber, holding the encased sword while Rubedo removed all the void liquid from the box, having teleported there from his meeting to temporarily hand over his authority.

Evidently, the void had eaten away at both the weapon and its caloric stone prison. The sword Ker had created through Yuuki had dents and cracks all over it, with an ominous red light glowing in the spots where the shining metal surface had been eaten away.

But the fact that it had kept itself together for so long in such a void was a testament to how much power it held and the type of power it utilized, all derived from a singular angry goddess who cared far too much about Momonga's consort.

"You know what to do if I fail. Do not hesitate," Momonga issued an order as he leaned down and grasped the handle of the weapon, throwing up every barrier he could around himself.

"Master, I might accidentally damage you. I hope you won't hold it against me," Rubedo replied, slightly bowing.

Just to be on the safer side, he had tasked Rubedo with pulling out all the divine energies should they take over him after he had claimed the power Ker had so carelessly lost in case she had imbued a parasitic attack within.

"I can repair my soul, so don't worry too much about it." He turned his head to glance at his trusty bodyguard who, despite her inherent nature, had been nothing but obedient and helpful whenever she could. As of late, he had felt the bond between them grow stronger as if walking the path of death somehow made him closer to the void, especially after his chat with Ra.

Unlike anyone around him, Momonga didn't fear its cold embrace as much, finding an inexplicable strange connection with the realm that opposed life itself. Everything that was here would end up there in due course after all. It was as inevitable as existence itself. For what has been born, must eventually die. Life could not exist without death, just as death couldn't exist without life.

'Ah, the usurper has returned. Do you think a bit of advice from a God will be enough to stand against me?' The dark Goddess whispered in his mind the moment his fingers gripped the damaged hilt, her presence ever-expected.

"Perhaps. We both know you wouldn't be talking with me if you didn't see me as a threat," Momonga retorted, expecting the Goddess to attack him as she did the last time he held the blade, readying his magics.

'You are but a speck of dust irritating my eye, nothing more. If you wish for me to back off, re-establish the link with my prize. It is not you who decides her path,' Ker didn't sound as furious as she was during the last time he attempted to talk with her.

"I will pass on that offer. I would not entrust anyone I care about to be controlled by you. Instead, I thank you for this wonderful gift you have given me," Momonga twisted the sword to admire it from all sides, its metals gleaming in the dark room like nothing else.

'Of course, you would reject my generosity. It is the arrogance of your lesser kind that drives you to protest against my will. You think now that you have dipped your toes in currents beyond your mortal shell, you are strong enough to defy me. It was you who had wronged me, not the other way around. The more you struggle against my rightful wrath, the more I will take as rightful retribution,' She spoke openly through the blade, the voice resounding throughout his mind now.

"Funny to hear you talk about arrogance. Not only did your attempts fail spectacularly, but you left part of your power in my hands," Momonga retorted, holding the blade up high.

'I hope you choke on my essence, or maybe I should hope you get addicted to it and beg for more. We will be in touch, whelp. This little game between us is far from over.' Ker's presence faded from the sword the moment she stopped speaking, leaving behind just sheer resentment in her place.

'Her attitude has changed. She knows other Gods might be guiding me. No matter, I will never let her have Shalltear.'

Momonga concentrated on the weapon in his hand, trying to sense the divine energies within, reminding himself of what he had felt just earlier. The swirling darkness of Ker was intertwined with rich mortal blood, but with the knowledge Ra had given him, he could easily split both apart as swiftly as Rubedo.

The sword dissolved in his hand in an instant, magic-rich blood staining both the floor and his robe in the process. What remained was an orb of blood-red light swirling just above his extended palm, about the size of a clenched fist, radiating enough power to almost stagger Momonga.

"There it is," Momonga commented, in awe of the orb's sheer brilliance.

"I am ready to follow you, master. I knew you would walk the path of the Gods. I could feel it!" Rubedo exclaimed, her smile growing wider with each word.

'Knew? Hmm, that's unsettling, but I don't sense any malice behind those words. If anything, she seems happy.' "What do you mean by that?" He asked just in case. If she knew anything about the Gods, the information could be crucial, and there was no better time to question than in the present.

"I felt a drive towards you. When the first window was opened, I felt you call me there. The others did not hear this call, only me. There's a lot I don't understand about how beings of form work and why this self of you at this point of time doesn't know, but I think you will understand why you called for me and then reveal this truth," She cryptically explained.

"Hopefully that will be the case. I don't know a lot of our connection either."

But the contemplations on why she was drawn to him could be left for a later date, for now, there were more pressing matters to attend to, such as the extremely volatile orb of magic that was straining against his will.

Momonga absorbed the energies by shoving it into his chest, fusing the divine power into his very being. The sheer amount of power he felt was glorious, euphoric and intense that made even Nazarick's batteries pale in comparison like a dim light against a blazing hot supernova.

But the power alone wasn't enough. As Ra had stated, it was just a catalyst guiding the evolution of what he was to become. He would come one step closer to becoming a God. One step closer to where not even Ker would be able to threaten the people he cared for, where he would be able to stand against her in person and strike her down.

Just in case, he double-checked if there weren't any nasty surprises the Goddess left behind, but there was nothing. Yet there was something else Ker likely was aware would happen. The power he absorbed came with an understanding, one so crucial it was no wonder she was upset with him. Ker was so angry about being cut off because once the link through the skill had been established, Shalltear should have become her apprentice and learned the ways of pure bloodlust and violence, guiding her followers to this dark path to shower in blood and gore.

Cutting off this link was not his but Shalltear's decision to make in the end. In his paranoia, he had made choices for others he shouldn't have, disrupting the natural order of the Gods themselves and their ways of communicating with the mortals.

However, Ker had shown how petty and vengeful she was. Letting her reclaim the connection could lead to Ker turning his beloved consort against him out of sheer spite, or worse. The malice he felt would've been enough to turn anyone else without emotional suppression into an unstoppable berserker.

'Maybe once I have a better position, I can try to negotiate with her, but I won't let Ker just claim her.' Even if in hindsight he shouldn't have been so hasty in cutting off the connections, Momonga decided not to regret his decision. Gods or not, he wouldn't give up the people he cared about so easily; he would keep them close and protect them how he could.

Putting aside the speculation on what he would have done differently for another time, Momonga teleported to the Throne of Kings and sat down in the seat of the Tomb's ruler.

Rubedo took a place by his side, standing proudly with her wings spread wide. The void lord seemed ecstatic at the fact that he was about to evolve. It may have come from the simple selfish desire for her anchor to the physical world to be a lot harder to kill and thus ensure she could continue to live among what she put as 'beings of the form.' Or maybe on some level, she was aware that this action would bring both of them to some as-of-yet unseen destiny, although at what level he didn't know. Whatever the motives for Rubedo's happiness, he was not about to squash them as her aura washed over the room, preventing anyone else from entering.

She reminded him of a little sister happily cheering for her big brother's success, whom he had seen in multiple slice-of-life mangas that he occasionally enjoyed.

Putting his attention back to the task at hand, he quickly slipped into a trance, sending his awareness straight to the core of the system. What he needed was to make a new type of class on the same level as true dragons, the closest this world had to Gods, which would allow for lesser evolutions to occur under his control despite conflicting rules long set in stone in the past.

With a backdoor to the world system in his hands, such a task wasn't impossible anymore. First, he grabbed the true dragon data set, made a copy, and renamed it to the rather uncreative title of 'True Overlord.' To ensure no one else could undergo the same evolution, he added a parameter that only one True Overlord could exist at a given time, akin to how there could only be one of a soul in the entire world, and it could only evolve from a regular Overlord if it had at least million subjects under its rule. And at the same time, it required a staggering one million souls to fuel such evolution, a nearly impossible amount to hold for long without already evolving into a True Demon Lord. As one last safeguard, he added that only Overlord-class undead could go through such evolution, ensuring no one else came even close to claiming the title.

Once evolved, he would become a truly immortal being who, even if killed, would simply be reborn again with all the previous memories and, similarly to true dragons, it would represent a fundamental aspect of reality, which in his case would be death. He also shortened the respawning time as short as possible, ensuring his people would never be left without him for long.

The last thing he needed to ensure was to save his personality within Manas: Nazarick and rebuild the skill in such a way that if he died, it would be temporarily assigned to the next in line, which at the moment was Buku, and be reclaimed by him upon his rebirth, no matter how strong Buku grew.

With all these safeguards, Momonga could be assured that there was almost nothing that could permanently threaten him. Now, he would only be limited by time itself, and even time would eventually lead to the death of every universe.

All that remained now was to enact these changes and trigger his grand evolution. There was still one worry remaining that Ker could somehow manage to gain access to the same backdoor to the world system and cause some catastrophic chain of events, but it wasn't something he could deal with at the moment. The evolutionary line he had constructed had to be executed now.

'I will need to return and enact some safeguards in case anyone else tries to gain access.' He decided, exiting the world system core and returning his awareness back to his undead body, his flames flickering into existence once more.

The next step was an easy one. He took a million souls from the Nazarick soul storage and let the evolution start, watching them disassemble into pure power to feed him.

The Throne of Kings was wrapped in a cocoon made out of countless bones as his physical form began to dissolve within into bits and pieces, fading into an amalgamation of material and immaterial. From this point on, he wasn't a physical entity anymore, but the same as Veldora, in which he could freely choose whatever form he wished to take.

Evolution of Momonga Tempest to True Overlord has begun. The Voice of the World announced.

Divine energy present. Converting divine energy. Divine energy converted into Ultimate Skill Omnipresence. The voice of the world dropped notification after notification in rapid succession into Momonga's mind.

'Hmm, not all of it was consumed when creating a skill. It seems it leads somewhere beyond the system. I guess I'll find out when I find a way to ascend beyond the system itself. If what Ra said is true, eventually I could become a God of Death. And if Ker doesn't back down, I won't have any other choice but to reach her level either, beyond the constraints of the Voice of the World.'

For now, however, he could only speculate on the next steps. It wasn't that he particularly wanted to take those steps, but if becoming a God was the only way to keep his people safe, then he would gladly do it, no matter the cost to himself.

The newest skill added to his arsenal of abilities allowed him to fully split himself apart into identical existences of himself, and as long as even one tiny part existed, he could regenerate to full power with enough time. In a sense, it was nearly identical to an already existing skill in the system called Parallel Existence. The only difference being that Omnipresence, in theory, went beyond the system itself, and likely made him basically unkillable once its full potential was unlocked.

The one thing Momonga found disappointing was that his raw power level basically remained the same as it was just under Veldora, the evolution only changing the type of being he was and adding one more skill despite his anticipations.

Sure, his tools and abilities combined with Nazarick likely made him one of the most powerful beings in the world, but there was no telling what ancient beings like Veldora's sisters and Guy Crimson were truly capable of, beings that reigning at the top of the world and the closest this world had ever had to Gods since Veldanava's demise.

His one advantage now was the backdoor to the world system itself. If it came to the worst, he could attempt to use it fully in his favor, deleting entire skills held by his opponents. Of course, there were huge risks such as the risk of making the system collapse upon itself if he changed something critical to its stability, but he was assured that his instincts would help him avoid such an outcome.

And if the opponent was beyond the system, he would just have to hope they were benevolent like Ra. But one step at a time. Ra had implied that change would take long enough that even he, a being strong enough to create worlds, would've had to get involved to expedite it through Momonga.

With no more skills changing or being added, the Voice of the World quieted, leaving him in solitude with nothing but his own thoughts as company. The trancelike state hadn't dulled his mind one bit and with the ongoing evolution, he had no choice but to wait patiently for it to end.

Since his sense of time was gone, he couldn't tell how long he had spent in this dreamlike state, sitting in his empty mind.

Momonga Tempest's evolution from Overlord to True Overlord has been completed. Beginning adjustment stage.

'Finally, it is done. Oh, I still need to rest. Heh, a small vacation in total silence wouldn't hurt.' He chuckled to himself. With most of the day spent working and the rest of it taken by his three lovely consorts, there was so little time to spend in solitude. He had all but forgotten about its calming effect despite his grand might and authority.

But the peace was not meant to last. Two distinct voices tried to get through to him, growing more insistent by the moment as they battered against his mental barriers.

'Never a dull moment,' He mused to bring his awareness out of the trance to at least be able to communicate while his new form was growing upon the throne.

'Boss, Buku has a matter of critical nature to discuss. She's trying to reach you.' Nazarick was the first to break through.

'Let's hear it,' he replied.

{ Hey Momo, sorry to disturb you but we've got a situation. Hinata just entered the same state she was in before we freed her and is now having a panic attack in my office. On top of it, Kagali collapsed on the floor, and, according to Ramiris, is undergoing a Demon Lord evolution! } Buku sounded agitated.

{ Sounds about right. With my evolution now complete, they would undergo theirs since I have not made any attempts at blocking them. Make sure all of Kagali's direct and indirect subordinates are accounted for, especially Clayman and whoever serves him. As for Hinata, she should be fine, in theory. I'm fairly sure she will survive, or at least I'll be able to fix her mind and soul if she snaps again. } Momonga responded.

{ Got it boss. Don't sleep for too long, ok? } Buku messaged with a sigh of relief.

{ Noted. But don't complain when no one lets you sleep. }

{ Point taken. Have as much rest as you need. } Buku hastily corrected her stance, her presence disappearing in an instant.

'A small nap wouldn't hurt right now,' Momonga slipped back into a deeper trance and let both his mind and body rest for a bit, choosing to truly sleep, without interruption, for the first time in a long, long while.

Editing by aidan_lo.

Proofreading by clagan, aidan_lo, FantasyTroll, Sluethen, Cay, shynavyseal, NuggetLover, KieraKieraARTS, CakeEight, IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO, and Nervy.

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