《Overlord - The Beast of the Apocalypse》 Prologue and Chapter 001 Overlord - The Beast of the Apocalypse Hey Guys. Here is the first chapter. I will release longer chapters than Azran-The Magic King of Darkness, So the chapters will come out a little farther apart ENJOY! Please don''t forget to Follow, Rate, and Vote. ************************************************************************ Prologue I exist. . . . . . I always have. . . . .And I always will. . . I do not boast. . . Or hope. . .I merely state the fact. . . I was born in the Darkness at the beginning of time. . . And I will exist until the end of time. . . I have no name. . .No family. . . And no idea what I am. . . You call me Monster. . .God. . .Demon. . .Beast. . . But none of those is my name. . . .For I have no name. . . But all peoples know and fear me. . . . . For I am the Beast of the Apocalypse. . .And this is my story. Chapter 1 Overlord POV I have no name. I am called several things, but I have never been given a name. They call me The Great Beast, and Beast of the Apocalypse, or just Beast. I live in a place known as the Hell Plains. It is located in the center of the Demon Continent. The Demon Continent is an enormous island that is overflowing with the strongest demons and other non-human races. The island is an enormous circle with the radius being 750 miles. Adventurers from different continents would sometimes come to kill demons and prove their skills, but many of them never make it very far. And even fewer return home. There are 20 rings that surround the Hell Plains, which are located in the middle of the island. Each of them is twice as hard to survive as the last, and the demons and creatures are twice as strong. And at the middle of the island, the 21st ring exists, The Hell Plains, the harshest place in existence, most beings cannot even step foot there, they would die instantly. The Hell Plains is the circle at the center of the island and has a diameter of 250 miles. The Hell Plains are a sea of lava and volcanic rocks, with multiple volcanoes, and underground caverns. I exist in the center of all this. I am the strongest being on the Demon Continent and my rule is unchallenged. My original form was that of The Great Beast. I was an enormous Demonic Dragon, who was large enough to swallow smaller dragons whole. My entire length from head to tail was around 11 miles long. Imagine a combination of these two dragons: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=120297 http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=252918 I was created at the beginning of time, to destroy the world at the end of time. I was born with this one purpose, and I would fulfill this purpose no matter what, it was the reason for my existence. Eventually the Gods came into existence, and began creating numerous other races. Many of the Gods used to come to talk to me and befriend me, but it was all an act. I trusted them and did what I could to advance their ideas but they secretly feared me because I could kill them, even though that thought had never occurred to me. So they banded together and attempted to seal me while I slept. Unfortunately for them, I was always a light sleeper, and I awoke when they began the sealing process. Now, not all of the Gods were such cowardly *ssholes and three of them attempted to protect me. They had been my closest friends and I had cared for them the most. There was Eris, the female God of War, who was in love with me. Long story there, but apparently she vowed to marry the man who defeated her in single combat, and I was the only one who did. (She Looked like this): http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=99127 The second God who defended me was Irenia, the Blind Goddess, and Wife of Harak, the God of Terror. (She looks like this): http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=269621 The third God was Irenia''s husband Harak, the God of Terror. He always wore this strange armor and told me that the only time he takes it off is around Irenia, because the sight of his face will drive even other Gods to madness. (He looks like this): http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=536020 Those three were my true friends and they attempted to stop the other Gods but they failed. Despite their strength, they were heavily outnumbered, and were taken away to be sealed in different places. Even though they had attacked me, the Gods were too scared to try and kill another God. They believed that they were immortal, and couldn''t be killed. They knew that it was not true and that anyone could be killed, but they persisted in their beliefs and would not kill any of them, for fear that it would prove that they were not truly immortal. I suppose I was lucky in that my only friends were not killed that day, but it taught me a lesson, to never trust anyone. I was used for my knowledge and power, and once their fear for me exceeded my usefulness, they betrayed me. That day I learned that you can not trust anyone completely. You must always be prepared for their betrayal. I truly realized that while I was under attack from millions of Gods, all of whom were trying to seal me away, and eventually they succeeded. Even I cannot fight every God in existence all at the same time. However; before I was completely sealed away, I sent a portion of my consciousness outside of my body, and into a piece of my arm that had been blown off during the attack. It was similar to the bi-location spell, that allowed you to be in two places at once. I was still in my body, but I was also in the piece of flesh that had been ripped off my arm. The Gods believed that they had sealed me, and left rejoicing that I was no longer a threat. However; only my original body was sealed, and unable to move. It took me a long time, but I was eventually able to form a much smaller form to reside in, from the single piece of flesh. The form I created was a humanoid form around 9 feet tall, and had silvery-gray skin with several cracks running through it, exposing the burning lava that flowed in my veins. It looks like this: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=314743 I was not nearly as powerful as I had used to be, but I was still stronger than all of the Gods, at least individually. However; I would not be able to handle any more than one of them at a time, I was strong but not invincible. I only retained 1/8 of my power, but it was still an enormous amount of power. I almost rushed off to find Eris, Irenia, and Hakar, immediately, but I realized that that would only lead to a true sealing this time, and decided to bide my time. If I wanted to find and free them, then I would need to act in secret, to avoid the Gods attention. I would have others do my work for me, while I plotted the rescue of my friends and the destruction of the Gods. Now, the first thing to do was to obtain disposable workers. I began my work by altering the beings who existed on the island I was sealed on. The Gods, in their arrogance, would ignore any mutations that occurred in them, and attribute them to leakage of my magic power from the seal. And once they began reproducing, I would be able to create new races and add them into the population. I first began by creating the Salamanders, by altering smaller lizards and worms. They were beings that thrived in the molten lava that surrounded my sealed body. The salamanders were split into two groups. The Fire Dragons, and the Wyrms. The Fire Dragons were much smaller replicas of my original form, with the largest being around a mile long, and most of them being between 200-800 feet long. I took and altered the small lizards, giving them wings and advanced intelligence. I also gave each of them the ability to shift into a humanoid shape at will, since I found maneuvering to be much easier in a smaller form. The Wyrms were made from common worms, and some of them were even larger than my original form, although they were not nearly as strong. The Wyrms were divided into two main groups,. These were the Minor Wyrms and the Major Wyrms. The Minor Wyrms were smaller and faster, only being about two miles long, and having scale plating that looked like metal. While the Major Wyrms were so large that they had entire mountain ranges on their backs, but lacked the scale armor of the Minor Wyrms. I chose not to give the Wyrms as much intelligence, and left them with a dog''s intelligence, and a perfect devotion to me as their master. Minor Wyrm: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=129838 Major Wyrm: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=400480 After I created these to occupy the 21st ring with me, I created other beings to occupy the other 20 rings. The 20th ring was a large empty desert that was populated mostly with Minor Wyrms, that lived under the sand and would strike from below. I discovered giant mutations of desert insects, that were a result of the magic leakage from my seal, and decided to leave them alone, since they would provide extra security. So I left the giant ants, scorpions, and spiders alone. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I also discovered giant mutations in every other ring and decided to leave them alone, after I dubbed the stupid creatures monsters. They were dull mindless creatures, that would provide a source of meat and battle for my creations. The 19th ring was a harsh mountain range, that I filled with Stone Golems and Tsuchigimos. A Tsuchigimo was a spider person, who had the lower half of a spider while their upper half was the torso and head of a human, albeit with tougher skin. The 18-15th rings were covered with several enormous lakes with marshland in-between them. I created beings of water called nymphs, that dwelt in the lakes, and drowned unlucky adventurers. I also created sirens, whose beautiful voices could lure people to their deaths. Sirens had the upper body of a human and the lower body of a fish. The numerous monster fish and sea snakes that populated the 18th ring were also very dangerous. While the marshlands were like death traps, as the numerous mutated insects and beasts would attack while you were bogged down in the marsh. The 14-10th rings, were full of hills and plains, and were inhabited by a humanoid species known as Demons. The Demons were an intelligent race of humanoids, who tended to have leathery or scaly skin, and claws. They formed their own hierarchies, and built towns and castles, while waging war on each other, the numerous monsters, and the occasional adventurer who managed to make it that far. The 10-6th rings were a mixture of frozen wastelands, and frosty mountains. I created several tribes of Ice Demons who could survive in the harsh environment, and scattered them through out all 5 rings. I then created a race ice spirits, called Yukki-Onna, which I gave the ability to shift into a human form that could control ice and snow freely, without being affected by the cold. I also created a race of tall fur covered humanoids called Yeti''s who roamed the mountains. The 5th and 4th rings were a thick jungle, (Think Amazon Rain forest). I populated the jungle with several different tribes of weaker Demons called orcs and goblins. The orcs looked like pig people, while the goblins looked like small green humanoids, who only grew to about 4 feet tall. I also spread several Dryads, forest spirits throughout the forest. Dryads were forest spirits who could take on a humanoid form, which they could abandon at leisure, reverting to the forest. Finally the 3rd, 2nd and 1st rings, were a giant forest(not jungle) that was inhabited mainly by mutated forest creatures, although there were several Dryads, and goblin tribes that had immigrated there. I also created a creature called a harpy, who looked similar to humans except that they had wings, and clawed hands and feet. They were also all female, and had to mate with a different race to obtain children. (This pic looked cool so) Harpies look like this: http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/069/b/1/harpies_by_sopic84-d4saj9y.jpg That was what I had gradually done over the course of 450,000 years. It had taken me a long time, but I had finally created a kingdom of my own, that I could use to locate Eris, Irenia, and Hakar. Although I have listed what I did, there were also changes to the creatures I had created over the years. The Demons were the most prolific species and they gradually expanded until they had tribes in every ring. They had gradually adapted to each new ring they traveled to and now were the most common species on the Demon Continent, leading to its name. They also evolved in several directions creating Demons who were nearly perfect copies of humans, to the minotaurs and trolls. I also created sylphs, air spirits that traveled constantly throughout the sky, never stopping in one place for too long. Along with harpies they were some of the fastest messengers. I also created dragons for each ring, and sent them out as overseers, to make sure that my creations did not exterminate themselves. This led to the creation of Water, Ice, Rock, and Plant dragons, with each one having an affinity with their own element. After I was done with this, I began creating a plan to find and free my friends, before taking revenge on the Gods. I knew that eventually the Gods would begin sending their followers to try and kill off the Demons. I knew this because the Gods thought of everything as a game. And now the game was their followers against the demons, who were the product of the magic leakage of the horrid Beast of the Apocalypse, meaning me. It didn''t take to long, before adventurers began traveling to the Demon Continent, to prove their strength and destroy the "Evil" Demons and monsters, as well as taking the precious metals and jewels that they found back with them. After all greed is one of the strongest forces in existence, even I am not immune to it. And with that the first phase of my plan activated. I knew that all beings crave power, and I was going to exploit that, tempting the humans, elves, beast-men, and dwarves to betray their makers. I started with small parasitic demons who could control the minds of other creatures. They invaded the returning ranks of adventurers and began spreading their beliefs and tempting power, among the populace. The parasitic demons could not reproduce and had to travel from host to host, but gradually their ideas would spread, because all beings can be tempted, and gossip is one of the fastest methods of travel. It took a long time, somewhere around 600,000 years, for my followers to spread across the various continents, but I didn''t care because I had all eternity to make sure that I did this correctly. I made sure that they never once referred to me as the Beast, rather I took on the name of Overlord, and was called that by everyone around me. Until the day that I rescued my friends and took revenge on the Gods, I would be known as the Overlord, the Beast of the Apocalypse was sealed, and would remain so until the end of time. The Gods considered me a powerful Demon, but remained oblivious to my true nature. They did not target me personally because to them this was a game, and only their pieces, or followers could attack me, since I was only a piece in the game. It was finally time. I had spread my followers across the continents, so that there was at least an underground section who served me in every country. I had a foothold in every kingdom. There were even several races who had completely submitted themselves to the Overlord. Their race had changed over time as they adapted to the use of dark power. This resulted in the creation of the Dark Elves, and the Dark Dwarves, who lived apart from the rest of their people. However; the humans and beast-men who served me, did not show any physical changes, resulting in their just being classified as evil, since their was no specific way to tell if someone served me. I had done everything possible to prepare myself and now it was time to begin the search, personally. I was currently sitting on my throne in the enormous castle reserved for the Overlord, and his closest subordinates. I slowly stood, and stretched my 9-foot frame. I glanced over at Sebastian, an ancient dragon shifter, and my personal butler. He was one of the first Dragons I had created and was a Dragon Emperor. He looks like this: (Had to use Sebas Tian from Overlord. Awesome Novel, can''t wait for the anime.) http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/overlordmaruyama/images/c/c3/Sebas_Tian.png/revision/latest?cb=20150321080723 "Have the preparations been made?" "Yes, My Lord. Our spies are currently researching all of the ancient texts that may contain information about the whereabouts of the three sealed Gods. One of them has found a text referring to the sealing of a great terror, which we believe to be Harak." "Good. Who is the agent who found it?" "She is a young shadewalker, My lord. Her name is Sharil." Interesting. Shadewalkers are extremely rare, and only the child of a Demon and a Human Warlock, can become one. There are only about a hundred of them in existence. Shadewalkers specialize in dark magic, and can become intangible at will. They can also melt into a shadow, and stay there until they are ready to leave. They are highly sought after as assassins, because of their stealth potential. I walked over to the wall and stretched out my arms, letting my armor leap from the walls and settle on my body. I always wore this armor whenever I left the castle, because it was not only an excellent source of defense, but it completely blocked my aura, so that even if I passed within a foot of a God, he would not recognize me. My armor: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=528297 The Gods had grown fat and lazy in their arrogance and power. Now was the perfect time to strike. But I had to be careful. I will not allow them to know of my existence until they are right where I want them. You can''t be to careful. After all, I have all of eternity to get it right. ************************************************************************ Hey Guys. Hope You enjoyed the first chapter of Overlord - The Beast of the Apocalypse. Please make sure to Follow, Rate, and Vote. Chapter 002 - Accelerating Plans Overlord - The Beast of the Apocalypse Hey Guys. Here is the second chapter. ENJOY! Please don''t forget to Follow, Rate, and Vote. ************************************************************************ Chapter 2 Overlord POV I walked down the hallway of the castle with swift sure steps. I did not even have to look behind me to know that Sebastian was following along with his battle maid division. Don''t ask me where he got the idea for a division of battle maids, but since he was such an effective servant I granted his wish. When I asked him why he desired them he replied that it was an insult to me that I had to make do with only one butler, so a division of people to clean and protect the castle was a must. He also said something about battle maids being moe.....Whatever that means. Whatever, I have some work to do. If this information is correct, then that means I am finally getting closer to releasing my friends. Now to see if this Sharil person is telling the truth. If she is I will reward her, but if she is lying I will annihilate her and anyone she cares about. I do not permit betrayal. I did not fear betrayal from within my personal forces, because they were not capable of betraying me. I had personally created every guard and being who lived in the castle with me, although not all of them were Pillars. The Pillars were first generation creations, who were in charge of all things on the island. I had taken a long time to create each of them, and had personally designed their every feature, making them specialists and extremely powerful, some of them even rivaled me in pure power. Each Pillar was in charge of a certain job or ring, and they were given control over the beings who made up that job or ring. Sebastion was a prime example of this. He was in charge of the care of Solomon''s upkeep and cleanliness as well as my personal protection. Solomon is the spirit of the castle, in other words the entire castle is one living being. This is what the Solomon (The Castle) looks like: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=516513 All of my creations and their descendants worshipped me as their maker, but just in case something happened, I had altered their souls so that they were mentally unable to betray me, although that only applied to the first generation creations. Even the thought of considering the possibility of betraying me would make them violently ill and if they actually betrayed me, they would die. Of course I didn''t tell them that. I had learned my lesson from the first betrayal, I had a backup plan for everything. I would never be betrayed or outsmarted again. I turned and walked into the throne room, followed by Sebastian and his squad of battle maids. I walked behind the throne and placed my hand on the wall behind it, opening the portal into my inner sanctum. My inner sanctum was located far underground and was only accessible through the portal behind the throne, it was my living quarters and treasure room. The Inner Sanctum looks like this: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=336003 Besides myself, only Pillars and the Battle Maid Squadron were allowed to enter, and then only with my permission. This was my private area and needless to say it was guarded extremely well, although the guards were not allowed to leave. There were numerous traps and dangerous beings to protect me and my treasure. What can I say, I may not have the form of a dragon anymore, but I definitely still had the love of treasure that came with being one. I had taken special care with the creatures that guarded this area. The most dangerous of them was the Swarm. It was composed of billions of tiny monsters that shared a hive mind. You could fit a hundred of them on a single grain of sand, they were a dangerous trap because since they were so small they could infiltrate your body and tear you apart from the inside. I quickly led them to the inner throne room, where I had them set up the Mirror of communication, which allowed me to see anywhere in the world, and send a projection of myself to anyone I wished. It was extremely usefull for showing your power, and convincing people to serve you on different continents. I watched as the image in the mirror blurred before becoming clear and focusing on the person I wished to contact. Hmm. Lets see now. So this is what our young Shadewalker looks like. Now to find out if she was telling the truth. Sharil looks like this: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=139697 Sharil POV This is wrong. I am a trained assassin, who is several thousand years old. So why am I feeling nervous? Assassins don''t do nervous...It just doesn''t happen. I had contacted the Overlord''s Spymaster and relayed the information that I found, only to be informed that the Overlord himself would contact me. I had started serving the Overlord over a thousand years ago, when one of his operatives had killed my employer. He had offered me a position as a spy and assassin, with very good pay. I had accepted and had served the Overlord ever since, but I had never once seen him, all my orders were relayed through a communication crystal by Septimus, the Overlord''s Spymaster. So that was why the fact that I would be reporting directly to him was so suprising. This information must truly be important. I truly had no idea why he wanted this information, but I believed that this terror that was sealed away, was one of his creations which he planned to put to use. Perhaps it was a creation of the Beast of the Apocalypse? There have been rumours that the Overlord serves him, and rules in his stead until the Great Beast''s seal is broken. Hmm. In the end I can only guess why this is so important. "Are you done thinking about me and the information you claim to have?" A deep voice boomed throughout the room. It seemed to resonate with power. I spun looking for the voice and its owner, only to see a 9-foot figure in full armor, with a full helmet that only showed his eyes. Terror. That was the only thing I could think of to describe his presence. I had always thought of the Overlord as a mysterious figure who was my boss. He was a faceless entity who merely paid my wages. But just now I realized how dangerous and powerfull he really is. His presence demanded instant obediance and respect. I got the feeling that he would be able to kill me from his throne thousands of miles away without even breaking a sweat. He was a truly fearsome person. I dropped to one knee and bent my head. "Yes My Lord. I have the information that you desire." "Really. And How do I know that this information is correct? How do I know that you are not merely attempting to decieve me?" "........I do not know. However; I am willing to do whatever you wish to prove myself. You have provided for me for a thousand years, and have never once betrayed me. I am quite willing to return the favor and prove that I do not betray others to you." "Oh? Interesting. Now what exactly does the information say, and where did you find it?" "I came across the information in an ancient text that told the story of the sealing of The Beast of the Apocalypse. It spoke of the sealing of a great terror, right before the Beast was sealed. According to the document the terror was sealed in the area that is currently under the Moravian Empire, specifically under their capital city." ".....So Harak was sealed in the middle of the Moravian plains. That sounds about right. For the Lord of Terror to be sealed there is a blow against his ego. The terrifying Harak is sealed in the middle of some unimportant place. It is like they are taunting him, saying that he doesn''t deserve a special seal, even an ordinary plain will suffice" "May I ask who Harak is? My Lord. You just said he was the Lord of Terror. Is that a reference to the Terror that was sealed?" "No. You may not. I will inform you of any information relevent to your duties. I will personally contact you soon. The information seems to be both true and relevent to the current situation. If it proves to be true, you may ask for any reward within my power, as long as it does not adversely affect my Empire." Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. And just as suddenly as he had appeared, he was gone. Not a trace of anything was left to prove that he had ever visited. Sebastian POV I watched the Overlord, my master as he sat back in his throne, letting the image in the mirror fade away. My posture was perfect, as I stood still and waited for my orders. I had served the Overlord since the moment he had created me and never once had I been unsatisfied. The Overlord was my maker, my God, and no matter what he asked of me, I would do it. My only loyalty was to him. If he ordered me to kill my pride and joy, the Battle Maids, then I would instantly do so. His word was law, and anything he said would immediately be done. I would destroy the world and myself with it, just to hear him say "Well done.". All of the Pillars feel the exact same way that I do. If the Overlord were to leave or die, then our existences would be meaningless. We could posess the world but it would all be in vain, because we would have failed our purpose in life, which is to serve and protect the Overlord....our God. Nothing else matters. Hmm. What is....I tensed as the ground began to tremble. What was that? An Enemy! Impossible! Nothing should be able to penetrate this deeply into the Demon Continent or Solomon. Let alone the Overlord''s Inner Sanctum. I immediately went into battle mode, bare milliseconds before the Battle Maids, as I looked around searching for the enemy. Now where were these tremors coming from....What! From the throne? I spun looking for the attacker, right before a loud booming noise echoed throughout the hall, shaking the walls and nearly deafening us. What?! This is coming from the Overlord. Is he. . . . . . Laughing? Yes. He is. I have never seen the Overlord laugh before. . . . .I did not know that he was even capable of laughter. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! Finally! My work has begun to pay off. After nearly a million years of planning it is finally time. The Gods will fall and I will release my friends from their captivity.HAHAHAHAHA! You have all done Well! Sebastian gather the Pillars. I will speak to you all in Solomon''s throne room. Take the Battle Maids with you when you leave. I wish to be alone for a while." "Of course My Lord." My heart swelled as I heard those words echo in my mind again and again. "You have done Well." This was the first time I had felt the true gratitude of the Overlord. I knew that he cared for us, since he went to the trouble of creating us, but this was on an entirely different level. I felt that I was actively fulfilling my purpose, and overwhelming joy burst through my body at the thought that I had been of use to my master. This was truly a great day. Absolutely nothing would go wrong. And if it did, I would make sure to give whoever was responsible for it, a long and painful death. Overlord POV Well, that was embarrasing. I wonder why I broke out in laughter like that. I haven''t laughe since. . . . . . .Come to think of it, I don''t think I have ever laughed before. Interesting. This is a new feeling for me. It is. . . .rather uncomfortable. I am not supposed to feel anything, at all. Everything I have done has been calculated. I should not feel simply because it is unnecessary. Any feelings will do nothing but slow down or destroy my plans. Feeling corrupts you. It makes you think that such things are necessary and that you must have empathy towards other people, because they are living beings. What a load of crap. There is absolutely no need to feel anything. If you do not feel then you are not restrained by those pesky morals all the other Gods were always talking about. Crap like ''We must save the world'' or ''Protect the humans'' or ''Stop the evil destroyer of the wold''. Pathetic. I was created to destroy the world, and until that time comes, I am free to do whatever the hell I want. Feeling only disrupts, there is no real need to feel. Feeling is an addiction, once you start you always crave more. Hmm. It seems I have lapsed in this area. I felt joy in finally getting a location for my friend''s location. It also seems that I have aquired some form of attachment to my subordinates, specifically the Pillars. I suppose that it is only natural to develop an attachment to what you have created. It is like an artist developing a liking for his masterpiece. Hmm. I suppose this attachment to the Pillars and their subordinates is bearable. I have looked at this from every angle and I cannot find a way in which it would inhibit my plans. Yes, it seems that if anything, it increases my success rate due to thier desire to serve me. Now, the only way to find out if Harak is really there is to travel there myself and see if I can recognize his aura from the magic leakage. Hmm. That will require control of the Moravian Empire, and the destruction of their capital, if Harak really is sealed there. If I am correct the Moravian Empire is located between the Forest of the Dark Elves, and the Zarian Kingdom. Hmm. The Dark Elves serve me, so that will not be a problem but I will need to consult with Septimus about our position in the Zarian Kingdom. Of course all of this is only relevant if Harak is really sealed in the Moravian Empire. I will need to verify this personally. . . . .So perhaps a small group of people led by this Sharil. Hmm. I will have to choose carefully, since this operation must be carried out in secret. Sebastian is a must, and he will probably insist on bringing some of his Battle Maids. I will have to insist on a decent disguise. Perhaps we could be a traveling Merchant and his hired mercenary bodyguards. . . .Yes. That could work. Now, who else should come. . .Well I will decide when I talk to them in the throne room. Hmm. I feel like I am forgetting something. . . .Oh, right. I did a quick search with magic to make sure no one else was in my Inner Sanctum before calling Swarm. "Swarm. Come here for a second." I watched as a cloud of black dust slowly formed in the center of the room. None of the Pillars had ever seen Swarm, since I kept him isolated and his real appearence a secret. Most of the Pillars only knew that Swarm was the name of a secret guardian, that I entrusted the safety of my Inner Sanctum to. They had no idea what he looked like or what his powers were, they only knew that he was possibly the most dangerous out of all my creations. Swarm was extremely dangerous because there were billions of him, and he could self-replicate himself to make up for any destroyed parts. Swarm could completely devour a Minor Wyrm in seconds, leaving nothing behind. It was like a gigantic swarm of locusts that could eat metal and rock, as well as flesh and plant life. I had actually had him clear out the area around my Inner Sanctum. And I have to say it was rather scary even for me. The only way to defeat him would be to use an enormous magic attack that destroyed all of his bodies at once. And the only being who could do that was a powerful God of Magic, who was willing to destroy the entire 21 ring. As an extra precaution, I had ordered Swarm to place some extra bodies in secret pockets far underground, so that if that ever occurred he could escape to his other bodies, and begin replicating himself again. He was truly a frightening creation. "Do you have orders for us, my master?" Swarm''s voice seemed to echo from every corner of the room at once. It was a single voice made up of millions of tiny voices all talking in perfect union. It had a rather strange sound but so what. Effectiveness and functionality over appearence, although I did try to make my creations appealing. Whatever, who cares about that. "Yes, Swarm. I have a set of very specific orders for you." "Good. We will always please the master. Whatever you desire us to do, will be done." ************************************************************************ Allright Guys. Tell me what you think. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and remember, I am always open to feedback. Please don''t forget to Follow, Rate, and Vote. I want this to be as big a success as Azran-The Magic King of Darkness. Chapter 003 - The Rest of the Pillars Overlord - The Beast of the Apocalypse Hey Guys. Here is the third chapter. ENJOY! Please don''t forget to Follow, Rate, and Vote. ************************************************************************ Chapter 3 Overlord POV I watched as Swarm began replicating himself, until there was another much smaller cloud of black dust. I opened my mouth and waited until the entire smaller cloud of dust had completely entered my mouth and traveled throughout my head and torso. Hmm. Now my throat is dry. I''m going to have to find something to drink. This was my emergency back up plan, on the off chance that I was dealt a severe wound in battle, Swarm would devour the weapon before it did any permanent damage, while healing the wound. I suppose most people would be disgusted by having millions of tiny organisms flying down their throat, but I didn''t really care. It was a means to an end, nothing more. Swarm would be able to destroy anything that punctured my head or torso, because regenerating you brain or heart is very hard to do, and it takes a lot of mana. The chances that someone would actually be able to hurt me seriously, were astronomical. From my calculations it would be just about impossible for that to happen. But I am taking no chances. As soon as you think you are safe, and nothing can touch you, you are killed. It is always like that. I thought that I was undefeatable, and so I used my power recklessly to further the Gods plans. And once I thought nothing could happen, they convinced me to help them with a massive undertaking that took much of my strength, before attacking and sealing me while I was recovering. It would happen to them too. They thought that I was sealed and that there was nothing to worry about. They thought they were safe, and that would be their downfall. Once you thought you were safe, you stopped looking for the attack that would kill you. Only when you constantly feared an attack, were you ready for it when it came. Fear is a useless emotion, that I do not feel, but I compensate by remaining in a constant state of awareness. I review my plans hundreds of times, from every possible angle. I leave nothing to chance. I control everything that happens. Control. That is the only true way to come out on top. You must control the outcome and bend the world to your desires. Everything that resists.....Is disposable. I dismissed the rest of Swarm, sending him back to guard the Inner Sanctum, as I prepared to return to Solomon. Sebastian should have gathered the other Pillars by now, and I had to decide who to take with me. I would need a mixture of people good at information gathering, close combat, and large scale magical attacks. If I used them right, I would be able to destroy entire armies with ease. Hmm. I walked into the throne room and sat down after glancing around. They were all here. All of my Pillars. My Perfect Creations. They were all on one knee(well at least those who had knees) and had their heads bowed. I wonder how long they have been like this, staying like statues, not daring to move for fear they offend me, and I ignore them. That is their greatest fear, that I will grow bored and leave them. They would rather I kill them in a fit of anger, then leave them, because at least they would die feeling that they had served a purpose. Well, I would not leave them, they were my creations, and an important part of my plan. Well, I already decided that Sebastian would be coming. Now who should I choose. There is: Septimus - The Pillar of Information and Assassinations.He is in charge of the my numerous spies as well as removing any troublesome opponents in silence. Septimus is a tall lich, or undead skeleton, who can turn his body to mist or melt into the shadows. In battle his job is removing troublesome commanders, and relaying information to me. Septimus looks like this http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=166295 Niverna - Pillar of the 21st ring, Niverna is a demoness who commands lightning and thunder. She rejoices in death and is very effective at long range and area of effect spells. She is relatively weak in close combat for a Pillar, but compared to everyone else she is still quite effective. Niverna looks like this: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=559920 Giganta - The Pillar of the 20th ring. She has two forms and one of them is an enorous giant. She is the tank of a battle, since her skin is almost impenetrable and she has a tendency to spontaneously combust. In her giant form she is over 200 feet tall and immensely powerful. Her smaller demon form, is almost as strong and boasts an almost perfect control of fire. Giganta''s giant form: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=177271 Giganta''s Demon Form: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=184512 Diablo - The Pillar of the 19th ring. He is in charge of the harsh mountain ranges. He is a faceless formless individual who can absorb the life essence of everyone around him. He inhabits a strange combination of armor and robes, to keep his shape. He is a close combat fighter who immensely strong and can kill virtually any living being by touch, but is weak against golems and the undead. He also possess a large amount of dark magic, which he uses freely. Diablo looks like this: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=509945 Lamar - The Pillar in charge of the 15-18th rings. He is a male lamia with a lust for women. Despite his length which is around 50ft, he is deceptively quick and is unmatched in water, where he swims like a snake. His tail is deceptively strong as he can wrap it around and shatter enormous trees or golems. He is a close combat fighter who excels with light and fast movement, using only light weapons. He also boasts control of water. Lamar looks like this: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=120721 Dimitri - The Pillar in charge of research, experimentation and torture, most of which he combines to form.....interesting results. Dimitri is in charge of extracting information from prisoners and finding the newest and best ways to use magic to manipulate the growth of things, and people. Dimitri specializes in traps and the use of his altered pets who he can summon at will. He is rather weak, physically but has superb knowledge and understanding of magic and the nature of existence. Dimitri is an undead demon who is highly intelligent. Dimitri looks like this: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=530751 Morgis - The Pillar in charge of the 10th-14th rings. He is a fifteen foot tall minotaur who is not very smart, and has no magic. He makes up for this with enormous strength and determination, allowing him to plow through enemies like water. When he falls into a rage, his strength doubles and he fights without care until all the enemies are dead, his strength runs out, or the I order him to stop. Morgis looks like this: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=522229 Shakira - The Pillar in charge of the 6th-10th rings. She is a mixture of Demon and Ice spirit or Yukki-Onna. She is a rather silent type and tends to keep to herself. She can manipulate ice freely and is an all around fighter, who is strong in both close combat and magic, but excels only in ice magic. Shakira looks like this: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=416687 Feren - The Pillar in charge of the 5th and 4th rings. He is a 30 foot tall humanoid wolf, with a body made out of plants and trees, except for his wolf head(Think Groot with a wolf''s head). Feren can control plants and trees, as well as having a body that can grow replacement limbs extremely fast. His plant body is immensely strong and he has unlimited stamina but is weak to fire. Feren looks like this: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=447622 Minerva - The Pillar in charge of rings 1-3. She is a tomboyish, bloodthirsty, Medusa, whose snake-hair is deadly, a single bite means death, to any human. Minerva excels in bloody swordplay and is a fast close-combat expert. Her speed makes up for any difference in strength, and she can summon and control any snakes, as well as turn people to stone with a single touch. Minerva looks like this: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=567839 Hmm. If I took all of them I could just wipe the Moravian Empire off the face of the planet. But that would draw to much attention. If I have to destroy the Moravian Empire I need to make it seem natural. Perhaps I will manipulate the Dark Elves and the Zarian Kingdom into attacking the Moravian Empire from both sides, at the same time. That will not draw any serious attention, and will allow me to operate from the shadows. So besides Sebastian and some Battle Maids, I think I''ll take Septimus, Dimitri, Minerva, and Shakira. Niverna will probably be annoyed, but I need her to take care of things here while I am gone. This is a good selection. I have Sebastian, and Minerva for close combat, with Dimitri as a portable army with his ability to summon his experiments, and Septimus to do any shadowy buisness, while Shakira will be the jack-of-all-trades, who helps where she is needed. Yes. That is a good team. I will take care of any magic usage along with Dimitri. Hmm. I almost forgot, I will have to create a human form, to be able to travel peacefully, without arousing suspicion. Now to inform them of the changes. I have kept them waiting long enough. "As some of you are aware, We have recieved information that leads us to believe that we have found Harak''s sealing place under the Moravian Empire. Obviously, no major actions can be taken until this information so, I will be traveling to the Moravian Empire to verify this information." Oh. It seems that that was a suprise. Most of them look angry and nervous all at the same time. "M-Master. You may destroy me for daring to speak in your presence, but I must insist you take guards. I will not allow you to leave without adequate protection. I will take my own life in penance for this outburst, but please take some of us with you." I listened as Niverna spoke. Her voice was trembling, as if she was so scared of my anger that death was far preferable. Well, she speaks out of loyalty so I will not punish her. "There is no need to end your own life. I was planning on taking guards from the beginning. Sebastian, Septimus, Shakira, Dimitri, and Minerva will accompany me. We will be posing as a rich noble and his demon slaves. I will assume a human form and play the noble. We will leave tomorrow morning, and meet with our contact in the Moravian Empire, via teleportation. Niverna. You will be in charge while I am gone, keep this place running in an orderly fashion. The rest of you should take care of your area''s and prepare for a possible war. Are there any problems?.........No. Then Good. You are dismissed. And I must say that I am appreciative of your constant hard work and labor. You are slowly helping me bring my plans to fruition. Thank You." I probably didn''t have to add that last part. But the looks on their faces were rather..... appealing. Besides, with this their productivity should rise. Hmm. I suppose it is time to meet with Septimus and Dimitri, to obtain detailed information about the Moravian Empire. I rose off of the throne and had Solomon transfer me to the torture room, before contacting Sebastian with a telepathic link and ordering him to bring Septimus and Dimitri to Solomon''s torture room. It was time to personally gain some information about the Moravian Empire. I believe that Septimus relays information to the best of his abiliy, but no relay is comparable to seeing something for yourself. Solomon could transport me anywhere I wanted in the castle instantly, but since I trusted no one completely, the Inner Sanctum was beyond his control. I waited patiently for Sebastian, Dimitri, and Septimus to come to the torture room. It was not long before thier quick footsteps sounded in the hallway. I watched as they bowed after entering the room. "I have reviewed all the information we possess about the Moravian Empire, and while it is very thorough, it lacks a few details currently needed for our trip. Septimus, I assume you aquired a source of information, once Sharil reported with that information." Septimus''s skeletal form bowed it''s head, leaving shadowy traces of mists floating through the air. "You are correct. My Lord. I immediately had a family of peasants, kidnapped and brought here by one of our couriers. It was easy to ransack their home and blame it on bandits. They are currently sealed within a cell in Solomon''s prison. They have food delivered three times a day by Solomon, but are cut off from any contact with any people." If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Hmm. I suppose a peasant family would provide the most knowledge on who passes through on their way to the city, and what they look and act like. Yes. That is good. Very Good. "Sebastian. What is tonight''s meal?" Sebastian is in charge of my personal service, and the upkeep of the castle, so that obviously includes my meals. I must say Sebastian has some very good cooks. He is what people call the perfect butler. I created him to serve me, but somwhere along the way, he began influencing the way I eat, and what I eat. I now eat like a sophisticated King. Sebastian serves me on a solid mithril platter, with intricate silverware, a gold plate, a delicate wine glass, and of course an immaculate napkin. I have no idea when I began to follow his mealtime instructions, but sometime along the way, I became a civilized person.......At least when it came to mealtime. The currency system on all of the continents works the exact same way. 100 copper coins equals a silver coin. 100 silver coins equals a gold coin. 100 gold coins equals a mithril coin. 100 mithril coins equals a black mithril coin. 100 black mithril coins equals a gold mithril coin. Now most countries do not use anything past a gold, and occasional mithril coin. Black mithril is extremely rare, and gold mithril is legendary. "Tonight, you will be having a lava-beast steak, with a truffle sauce. The side dish will be an exquisite salad, made with plants from the 5th ring. The drink will be a 450,000 year old red wine. Specifically, the rare Astrominia variety. It is a happy occassion that we have found a clue to Master Harak''s wherabouts, so I decided your meal should be a small celebration. I have authorized the cooks, to prepare something special for the other Pillars too." "Very Good Sebastian. I look forward to the meal. Have it served here in about an hour. Dimitri, I will want to see your latest information extraction method, as well as some older more reliable ones. Just in case the experiment fails. Septimus, have the prisoners brought here in an hour. Until that time I will be working on creating a believable human appearence. I will see you all then." With that I turned and walked out of the room. My stomach growled for a second before I quieted it. Sebastian really is the perfect butler. The meals he coordinates, and has the cooks prepare, are legendary and always perfect. Mealtime, is one of the only pleasures I allow myself. It is simply too good to resist. Anyway, I walked quickly to the throne room before entering the portal to the Inner Sanctum. My bedroom was right next to the other throne room, so I entered and sat on the luxurious bed, before staring into the giant mirror that almost the entire wall. Hmm. There are many problems with my current form, that must be changed. First of all I am over 9 feet tall, have silver skin and claws. Okay. So how about shrink my form to about 7 and a half feet, turn my skin pale, and grow hair. Yes, that should be a good start. Hmm. For a merchant I should either be skinny or fat. I think I will go for a skinny form with compact muscles. Hmm. Perhaps I will, have long hair that hangs down to my shoulder blades. I flexed my mana pool and began making the changes to my body. My skin and bones cracked as my body shifted becoming smaller and changing color. My claws shrunk back into my hands, and hair grew rapidly and fell down over my shoulders. I gazed into the mirror and shrugged my new shoulders. I suppose that it will do. The Overlord''s Human Form: http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=348769 Hmm. I have another half an hour until I need to be at the torture room. I hope that I can obtain some useful information that will help lead to Harak''s release. No. I do not hope, I create and take. I will force them to reveal the information I seek. And once he is free, Harak will be an excellent addition to the plan. Harak is one of the Greater Gods after all. Hmm. Maybe I should explain the ranking system of Gods. All Gods are placed in one of three categories. There are the Minor Gods, the Lesser Gods, and the Greater Gods. The Minor Gods are the most common, technically they do not even qualify as Gods, they are so weak. The Minor Gods are the spirits of every river, Mountain, and forest in the world. They make up the majority of the beings called Gods, but they have relatively little power. Even at my current strength, I could wipe them all out of existence, although it would take almost all of my power. The real problem occurs with the Lesser and Greater Gods. The Lesser Gods are beings who gain power from worship. The more they are worshipped, the stronger they get. There are a couple thousand of them, but they are still weaker than I am. With my current strength I could probably kill most of them, before I ran out of power. However the real problem are the Greater Gods. The Greater Gods were the first 11 beings after me to come into existence. Harak, Eris, and Irenia were three of them, but they were defeated by the other eight. They are immensely strong and at my current level I can only fight one at a time, together all eleven of them could rival my strength at full power. However; Since three of them would not fight me, they had to resort to exhausting me, and using the combined power of all the Minor and Lesser Gods to seal me. That is how powerful each of the Greater Gods is. It took all of the Lesser and Minor Gods together to equal three Greater Gods power. That is why I am so cautious. I cannot risk being discovered and defeated. That is not an option. I will wait and I will plan. I can allow nothing to distract me. I will triumph in the end. That is a fact, not a hope or a dream. Oh, it is time for supper. Ah, I can''t wait. Sebastian''s meals are really something to look forward to. I quickly left my bedroom and walked back to the portal. As soon as I entered the castle, I had Solomon teleport me to the torture room. I took a quick glance around before sitting on the throne-like seat, in front of a clean table that faced the wall with the prisoners, hanging in their chains. It was a rather muscular man, a rather plain woman, and two children. The older child was probably about twelve years old while the younger was a girl around nine years old. They were all naked with their hands chained above their heads. Septimus stood on one side of them while Dimitri stood on the other. Dimitri was nearly shaking with glee. I suppose that this is the first time he has been given humans to experiment on. Huh, he really is a mad-scientist type of person after all. Whatever. If he extracts the information I need, then he can have whoever is still alive to exeriment on. "P-Please Help us." The little girl squeaked out, as she stared at me with pleading eyes. It was a look that would have torn at the heart of even the coldest human b*stard alive. I ignored it. I could really care less about humans and what happened to them. They were the primary creation of the Greater Gods, and they were the great project I had helped create, only to be betrayed while I was exhausted. I had absolutely no qualms about using and destroying humans, even children. In the end, they were nothing but a reminder of my foolish trust and betrayal. Oh, Sebastian just came in. I watched as Sebastian placed the mithril platter on the table before whipping off the top to reveal the steaming meal. Ah, that smell is heavenly. It is like perfection on a plate. I waited a moment while Sebastian arranged the silverware and napkin, before opening a wine bottle and pouring it into the glass. "Thank You Sebastian. Dimitri, you may begin the extraction. If you are successful, then you may take the ones still alive and use them for whatever experiments you wish to conduct." "T-Thank You My Lord!" I watched as Dimitri bowed quickly, a gigantic smile on his face. Hmm. He really does enjoy his experiments doesn''t he. I watched while Dimitri set a crystal orb on the table. "This will replay the portions of his memories that you wish to see. I will weaken his mental barrier, and all you have to do is watch the orb. Just think of any particular scene and it will be shown to you." "Very Well." Hmm. That is an interesting object, that Dimitri has thought up. I take the knife and begin cutting the steak into small square pieces, as Dimitri begins his work, sending the man''s screams of pain throughout the room. I take a bite of the steak as I watch images begin to flash by on the orb. Ah, this steak is cooked perfectly. It is just a tad pink, and not burnt at all. From what the orb is showing, the man was born into a poor family, most of whom were killed in a bandit attack. However; instead of despairing he began working hard, and slowly worked his way up in the village. I stopped it to take a deep drink of the wine. It was perfect. They say wine gets better with age, and after 450,000 years, it is damn near good enough to kill you. I started the images again, as I patted my lips with the napkin, removing all traces of food and liquid, while ignoring the screaming and begging of the man''s family. So according to these images, he became one of the leaders of the village and married his childhood sweetheart. I guess that that is the woman. I continued to eat my meal, leaving all the screaming and crying as a backround sound. Hmm. The image just stopped. I guess the man is getting used to the pain. "Dimitri. He is recreating his mental barriers. Hang his wife in front of him. That should cause sufficient mental trauma. You may have the children when they are both dead. I have almost all of the information I need." "Immediately my Lord. May I take the adult''s corpses when you are finished?" "Yes, they are of no current use to me. Sebastian I must say that this meal is incredible. Good work." "Thank You, My Lord." I watched as the woman was taken down from her chains and Septimus placed a rope around her neck, and looped it over a metal beam that stretched all the way across the ceiling. "NO! NO! PLEASE! I''ll TELL YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW!" "Mommy!" "Mother!" I ignored her family''s desperate pleas. Why should I care? This way, I took the information I needed and Dimitri got the corpses and living specimens. Waste not ,want not. This way, I would be able to use their lives with maximum efficency, nothing would be wasted. If anything they should be grateful that their lives are being used in part of my master plan. I finished my steak and began eating the salad, while Septimus hauled her body off the ground, leaving her choking and gasping in mid-air. I patted my lips with the napkin once more, cleaning off the specks of food. Ah, there we go. I watched the rest of his life play out on the orb. He married her and had two children. They were leading a relatively happy life, until the night when people broke into their house and kidnapped them. And that was the story of his life up until this point. Aww. How sad. His perfect life was ruined by me. I don''t give a sh*t. Their lives are meaningless. Hmm. Well I got all the information I needed. Now I know what the merchants who passed through acted and dressed like. Now that I have a reliable view of how to blend in, I only need to make the trip. I finished eating the salad and watched as the family sobbed, as the woman stopped twitching and hung there lifelessly. I drank the rest of the wine before standing. "The meal was delicious as always Sebastian. Septimus, drop the woman''s corpse and break the man''s neck. Dimitri, you may take the children and the corpses back to you labratory. They are yours to do whatever you please with, as long as it does not endager any of our lives or holdings. I have gained all the information I need. We will leave early tomorrow." WIth that I watched as Septimus broke the man''s neck killing him, and Dimitri placed metal collars, attatched to chains around the children''s necks. Perhaps, he would turn them into a new form of demon, or maybe they would end up as food for his other experiments. Whatever. I turned and left the room, returning to the portal to the Inner Sanctum. Now it was time to and contact Sharil. The lucky little Shadwalker who had discovered Harak''s location. It was time to start moving. ****************************************************************************** I Hope You Enjoyed the Chapter. Tell me what you think about it. Please continue to Follow, Rate, and Vote. Chapter 004 - Thravis the Merchant Overlord - The Beast of the Apocalypse Hey Guys. Here is the fourth chapter. ENJOY! Please don''t forget to Follow, Rate, and Vote. ************************************************************************ Chapter 4 Sharil POV I dropped from the roof of the small castle down onto the parapet, under the cover of the night sky. My job this time was simple, kill the noble and all of his guards. I was told only that the noble was an obstacle. I did not know why the noble was an obstacle, nor did I care. This was a job. Nothing more, nothing less. Septimus had informed me that the Overlord himself would be coming here, tomorrow morning. He said that he would verify my information personally. I do not know what this great Terror is, but he must be very important, if the Overlord himself, is coming. The Overlord has never left the Demon Continent since he had risen to power, at least that was what the legends say. So obviously this terror must be very important, if it is going to force the Overlord to leave his fortress and travel to the human lands. Whatever. I''m not being paid to wonder about my employers motives. I kill and steal for a price. I do not need to know what my employers motives are. That is one of the cardinal rules in buisness. You do what you are paid to do and don''t ask questions. I stood up drawing my two long knives with a flick of my wrist. It was time to kill, and earn my pay. I walked through the doors and down the hallway. Torches flickered on the wall, casting shadows everywhere. This was where I was at my best. As a Shadwalker, I could walk through the shadows, and become intangible at will, at any time, but at night I could do it all effortlessly, it was as natural as breathing. I glided through the hallway, making absolutely no sound. I was a ghost, an apparition, a harbringer of death. All of my targets had died without exception. I had never failed. I would never fail. I would succeed or die trying. A guard rounded the corner and stopped with his mouth open. Shocked at seeing someone in the hallway. Before he could utter a word I was gone, the shadows sucked me into the wall and spat me back out beside him. He blinked and before he could move I was behind him, my knife slicing his throat open. I dropped his body and ran down the hall. Another guard appeared and my body disappeared into the floor, only to reappear from the ceiling. I slammed both of my knives into his eyes, as I flipped over his body. I yanked them back out a moment before turning intangible, as arrows tore through my body. I solidified again, and began killing the archers in a blur of metal and blood. Once they were dead I dropped into the shadows and came out in the noble''s bedroom. Unlike smart people, his bedroom was not warded against any magical movement, so I had absolutely no problem. The noble was hiding behind his guards with fear in his eyes. I knew what he was seeing. Many people had seen it before him, and none of them had survived. I was clothed in a black jumpsuit that covered everything up to my eyes. The only visible thing was my souless eyes, giving my targets a look at death incarnate. The guards charged at me, but it didn''t matter. I made a few quick swings with my daggers and they dropped dead. The noble tried to run, but there was nowhere to go. He crouched in the corner, begging and sobbing for his life. Pathetic. If you are going to die, then die proud and fighting. Don''t cry and snivel like the despicable coward you are. I stabbed the knife into his heart before turning and walking into the shadows. I reappear on ground outside the castle. This was just another ordinary day in my life. Nothing special had occurred. I walked back to my room in a local tavern. I am going to have a visitor tomorrow morning, and I need to be ready for him. People say "God help me, if I disappoint him" but not even a God would be able to save you if you disappoint the Overlord. Overlord POV I watched as Septimus, Shakira, Minerva, Dimitri, Niverna, and Diablo entered the teleportation room. Sebastian had already entered with me, so we had just been waiting for the others. Niverna and Diablo were in charge of guarding the teleportation room until we returned, just in case someone traced our magic pathway. Niverna was capable of devestating magical attacks, that could encompass massive areas. While Diablo was a living incarnation of death, he could absorb all life at will with a touch, making him the perfect close-combat expert. With Niverna taking care of any non-living threats, Diablo could destroy everyone else. I always have a back-up plan, and this time Niverna and Diablo were it. I had prepared several slave crests for Shakira, Minerva, and Dimitri, during the night. We would need them so that they could pass as slaves in the Moravian Empire. Each seal was a complex magic circle made of wax. You were supposed to place it over the slaves heart and simply add a drop of your blood, which would burn the crest into their skin, like a brand. This would allow you to gain control of the slave''s actions, with a set of commands or instructions. Once the slave was under your control, they would be forced to obey whatever command you give them, as well as automatically rendering them inable to physically harm you. This didn''t matter for my Pillars since they were more loyal to me than any slave crest could make them, but for appearence''s sake they needed to be identified as slaves. It didn''t take long to apply the slave crests to their chests. They all understood the necessity, and agreed with my method. Septimus and Sebastian did not recieve crests because one would be hiding in the shadows, and the other could pass as a human butler. With that our preperations were finished. Sebastian had had some of his operatives prepare a carriage for us, which we would take upon our arrival. I led the way into the middle of the giant magic circle, that was engraved upon the floor. I waited until everyone who was coming had followed before activating the portal spell. Dark energy swirled around us, tearing open a hole in space itself. We dropped through only to immediately emerge in the middle of a large empty room. Well empty of everything except a group of people wearing black hooded cloaks. I guess that these are Septimus''s operatives. Rather cliche, isn''t it? With all of those hooded robes. Whatever. I do not care about unnecessary appearences. "Septimus. Take care of any remaining issues, and lead us to the carriage. We will be posing as a rich merchant''s son from a foreign country, and his demon slave bodyguards. Once in the Capital, we will buy various objects to keep up appearences. It should not take us too long to find out whether or not the seal is present. We will meet with Sharil in the Capital." "Very Well." Septimus went to talk with the hooded people, while Sebastian led us to the carriage. It was an extravagant thing, painted with bright colors, and guilded with silver and gold. Personally, I would have prefferred a small, useful cart, but since I was posing as a merchant, appearence was a necessity. We had appeared about an hours ride from the Capital of the Moravian Empire so until the carriage reached the Capital, we would just have to wait inside. Oh, well. If there was one thing I excelled at, it was waiting. I had waited almost a million years for this day, what was another hour. I had slowly spread my influence across the world, right under the Gods noses, after building myself an impenetrable fortress, and an enormous army. Most people would think that it would have only taken a couple thousand years, but those people are not like me. I am an existence that rivals the Gods. Just as elves view time differently from humans, so do Gods view time differently from all other beings. Ten thousand years is the equivalent of a day in the eyes of a God. We are truly immortal, so time itself has no meaning. We are all willing to wait as long as it takes before making a move. Time only effects the mortals, so we have no care for it. A second or an eternity, to us it is all the same. Oh. The trip is already over. Well, that was fast. I didn''t expect for it to be that short. I glanced around to see how everyone else was doing. It was necessary that they were all functioning at full capacity, so that they could concentrate on their roles. Hmm. Minerva is continuously tapping her fingers on her arm. She was never very good at waiting, she is more of the ''Just hurry up and let me kill them already'' type of person. Dimitri is looking out the window and muttering something about all the new specimins and how many experiments he could conduct with them. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Shakira is just sitting still, with her trademark expressionless face on. She was always the quiet type, and she deals with waiting with the same stoic face that she uses when killing enemies. Some people would call her emotionless, but I know that she is not like me. She feels emotions, she just decides not to share them with the world. Sebastian is driving the carriage so I do not know what he is doing, but he is always in perfect condition so I don''t need to worry about him. I don''t need to worry about Septimus because he is an undead lich, so he will never become tired. His stamina is endless, and his emotions are forcefully muted because they are unnecessary for an undead, so he is always alert. I stretched my arms as the carriage rolled up to the gates of the Capital. If all went according to plan then I would be done within a couple of days. The carriage rolled into the city before Sebastian made several sharp turns and stopped in front of a large tavern. Judging from the extravagant clothing people were wearing as they entered, it was a high-end tavern that catered to the rich. I groaned for a second before cracking my neck. For my plan to work I would need to pretend to be a superficial arrogant b*stard. In reality I was a complex arrogant b*stard, and the superficial part was going to be really annoying. I glared at everyone else in the carriage before saying. "Absolutely Everything I do now, is the work of the fictional character who I am impersonating. DO NOT TALK ABOUT WHAT I AM ABOUT TO DO.............EVER!" Thravis - The Merchant (Fictional Character POV) With that I jumped out of the carriage and plastered a giant smile on my face. "Ah. It is so good to finally be back in civilization. Come my pets. Let us secure lodging." I waved at my Demon slaves, before sauntering into the tavern. I glanced around identifying the different types of people in the room, before gliding up to the bar. "Hello young lady. Would you please give me a glass of your best wine, and arrange a room for the night?" The bartender was a relatively young girl by human standards, she was probably about 17. I smirked inwardly as she blushed. Poor innocent maiden, to be decieved so easily by my false charm. "Of-f course Sir. T-That will be 2 silver a night, and the wine will be 50 coppers." "Here is three silvers. Keep the change for yourself." I tossed three silver coins on the table turning as my demon slaves entered causing the entire tavern to become deadly silent. Hmm. I should probably break the tension before anyone does anything unnecessary. "Ah. My pets, you have arrived. This lovely young lady will show you to my room. Be a dear and take my luggage up there will you." I reached out and patted Minerva on the side of her cheek. Honestly the look in her eyes was so completely bewildered, it was hilarious. Or it would have been if it weren''t so painfully obvious that she had absolutely no idea how to act, when faced with my strange personality. I sent her a stern mental command to remedy that. ''Reply ''Yes Master'' then comply with my requests. Do it now.'' Minerva jerked her head before lowering it. "Yes, Master." She turned and walked off, followed by Shakira and Dimitri. I turned and sauntered back to the bar, talking loudly so that my words could be heard by everyone here. This was a high-class tavern and the rumours would have spread throughout the city in an hour. Having a merchant with demon slaves, is a rare occassion and not one to be missed. Now slavery itself is not rare, but having demon slaves would be taken as a sign of wealth and power. Even the weakest demons on the Demon Continent were at least as strong as a B rank adventurer, and humanoid demons, like the ones I possessed were at least S ranked, if not higher. The ranking system for adventurers was: F - E - D - C - B - A - S - SS - SSS - X -. This system had F as a weak human, and X was only a legend, obtaining it meant that you were of equal power with the lesser gods. Most adventurers never made it past B rank. Professional Adventurers were A rank, and usually headed up groups of lower ranked adventurers to take on quests or jobs. S ranked adventurers were rather rare and ran guilds and led armies. SS ranked adventurers were usually classified as Heroes, and were very rare. SSS ranked were legendary and tended to avoid all other people. They would travel the world and do whatever the hell they wanted, or retire and live in peace in a kingdom of their chosing. The Adventurers Guild was like an international mercenary company. They would take any job as long as it satisfied two conditions. First, you had to pay for the job, and second, the job could not involve adventurers fighting other adventurers. Incidentally my ''demon slaves'' were probably around X rank, since they were my Pillars, but they were masking their power so that they appeared to be S ranked demons. This would tell people a lot about my money and power. Since I could afford three S ranked demon slaves, an unheard of luxury, they would assume I had an enormous amount of money and power. After all, to be able to hire someone to capture and bring back demons of this rank, would take a lot of money and connections. Anyway. I decided to break the remaining tension with a few unnecessary comments. "Nice girls really. But they do tend to lack a good amount of knowledge and the ability to have civilized behavior. They are horrid demons after all. But I don''t regret buying them. They have saved my life several times already. Of course I know that without the slave crest they would rip me to shreds, but since they are unable to do that, they simply obey my commands. It was worth the 70 mithril coins it took to purchase them. Although I sometimes wonder why I bothered buying the male." I heard a number of quiet gasps as I casually mentioned the enormous amount of 70 mithril coins. It was enough to hire an entire legion of mercenaries, to guard you for the next 10 years.(About 7 million dollars) (Think of Coppers as dimes. Silvers as 10 dollar bills. Gold coins as 1,000 dollar bills. Mithril coins being about a 100,000 dollars a pop. And Black Mithril as a 10 million dollars a piece. Obviously Gold Mithril Coins were legendary, at 100 million dollars a coin.) (Thravis just spent 5 dollars on a glass of wine, and twenty dollars for a room for the night.) People were looking at me with a significantly larger amount of respect as I downed my glass of wine and walked upstairs to my room where my demon slaves were waiting. Overlord POV (Thravis is a fake personality that Overlord created to interact with the human world. I made it two seperate POV''s to show the difference in their thought patterns. Thravis is able to fake emotions, and act like a foolish young man, while Overlord is incapable of doing that. Thravis seems to be a seperate entity, but is just a different part of Overlord''s mind.) I walked into the room where everyone was waiting and shut the door before casting a barrier around the room. WIth this no one would be able to hear, see, or enter the room until the barrier was broken or removed. I gagged violently as soon as the barrier was erected. Ugh. Absolutely disgusting. I know that I have to become the character I create to interact with the human world, but that was just disgusting. It was like watching while your body went and acted like a complete fool. Hmph. If anything at least no god would ever suspect Thravis of being me. Not even the most mentally retarded god would act like I just did. I glanced up to see Minerva trying to hide a grin, and Dimitri choking back laughter. Shakira and Sebastian were stoic and buisness like as usual, not showing any of their feelings. I stood and pointed at Minerva and Dimitri. "DO NOT SAY A WORD! I WARNED YOU BEFOREHAND. IF YOU REPEAT ANYTHING THAT JUST HAPPENED I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF." I swear. I would almost rather rip my heart out and cook it on a skewer, than play that freaking character again. Shudder. Oh, well. The end justifies the means. That''s right. Just keep repeating that. Over, and over, and over, and over and over. Ugh. Well now all that''s left is to make contact with Sharil, maintain my cover, and find out whether or not Harak is sealed under this city. ****************************************************************************** Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please do not forget to Follow, Rate, and Vote Chapter 005 - Enter Fairy and Blood Elf Overlord - The Beast of the Apocalypse Hey Guys. Here is the fifth chapter. ENJOY! And for everyone who was asking why Overlord didn''t make a whole bunch of Swarms or millions of Pillars. The answer is quite simple. While he could do that, he does not trust anyone, so why would he risk creating a force that could one day betray him and possibly defeat him? Something that would be able to destroy all of the Gods would also have the ability to seal or banish him from this plane of existence. So that is why Overlord is taking his time with his revenge. After all Revenge is best at Absolute Zero(science expression, it''s like -459 degrees Fahrenheit)...............Also if he just created a whole bunch of Swarms, then this story would be over after a single chapter, and I know that no one wants that. Please don''t forget to Follow, Rate, and Vote. ************************************************************************ Chapter 5 Overlord POV I groaned slightly as I stretched my arms. Playing the moronic fool was really tiring. I had given a quick reminder of my status to Minerva and Dimitri, due to their laughing at me and that was also rather tiring. I wasn''t too harsh, simply because what they experienced watching me acting like a fool, was similar to what I would experience if Sebastian put on a tutu and started dancing like a moron. If I was capable of being amused, then that would definitely be what would amuse me. Anyway, they are now back to their normal respectful selves. Although honestly, Minerva and Dimitri were always the least respectful out of all of the Pillars. Dimitri because he was so obsessed with experiments, new specimens, and genetic manipulation, that he never really paid to much attention to anything else. Minerva was also rather disrespectful because she was such a bloodthirsty maniac. She was a warrior through and through, never seeing the point unless it involved killing someone immediately. Whatever. I have more important things to do. To keep up my disguise I will have to continue to act like a merchant. That means boring trips to the marketplace, and haggling with human trash. It is obnoxious but bearable. Later on today we will meet with Sharil and find the seal.........if it exists. Thravis POV I quickly assumed the nonchalant attitude from the day before. It was imperative that everyone see me as a fool. My face reverted to the serious face of the Overlord for a moment as I spoke. "Allright. Septimus, today you will contact Sharil and bring her to a meeting point of pre-determined orgin. Sebastian, Dimitri, Minerva, and Shakira will accompany me on a shopping spree. If you get bored then deal with it. Your job is to protect me from any threats. Make sure your power is hidden so that it appears you are only S-ranked demons. Feel free to look tough and snarl at any obnoxious humans." With that I reverted to the obnoxiously perfect smile that Thravis wore and turned before walking out the door, with my subordinates following behind me. It was time to play the merchant. I led them down the stairs, and through the tavern ignoring the fearful and admiring looks from the rich patrons. Pathetic. They have absolutely no style. They should at least try and contain their fear. We walked through the streets, stopping frequently to look at and buy worthless merchandise, under the pretense that we would sell it for double the cost in my home country. The streets were crowded but the humans quickly parted whenever we moved close to them. I am having Dimitri carry the bags of items, while Minerva, and Shakira walk behind me on either side and Sebastian walks beside me. This is boring, having to play the young j*ck*ss who buys crap to sell it as expensive crap. But then I felt something. It was a faint spark of power. One like I had not felt for nearly a million years. It came from a fairy. The Fairies were Irenia''s greatest creation. They were few in number, and stayed far away from the Demon Continent. They were beings who dwelt in the light, the darkness and horrors of the Demon Continent did not suit them. Fairies were magical spirits who could take a human form with the exception of wings and a strange air about them. Even though Irenia was blind, she created the fairies so that they were all beautiful, and had strong magical powers. Fairies possessed a strange magic that not even I fully understood, it came directly from Irenia and was not bound by the usual laws of magic. I turned and walked down the alleyway that the faint trail of power was coming from. I could tell the others were confused, but it didn''t matter. They were here to protect me, no matter what I did, their job remained unchanged. Hmm. So this is the shop the power is coming from. It is a shady looking storefront, with a slightly rundown enterance. Interesting. It is called Slaves4U.......... Really? That is the best name they could come up with? Pathetic. Even just entering a shop with a name this bad is embarrasing........Or it would be if I could feel embarrassed. What I felt earlier was just immense irritation at having to act like a fool. I pride myself on my control, so acting like a fool, is similar to a vegetarian going out and eating several steaks(Real Meat Steaks, not that Tofu stuff). I entered the shop and glanced around. It was rather dark, and there were cages all over the place with slaves sitting inside them. It was a rather dark and depressing atmosphere........I liked it. It was a suitable place to keep slaves. But I didn''t come here to look at the store, I came here to find the source of that spark. "Ah. How may I serve you Master?" I turned to find a rather short, fat, and bald man looking up at me. From his clothes it seemed he was the owner of the shop. Hmm. He has a shifty appearence. I should be careful, and not let anything slip. "I am just browsing. I will probably have a few questions about the slaves I wish to purchase. You may answer them then." "Of course." I watched as his face turned pale when he saw Minerva and Shakira enter behind me. Hmph. It seems that all humans instinctively fear demons after all. Well it is not a suprise. Even the weakest of demons is stronger than the average human. Whatever. I walked deeper into the store, heading for the darkest corner, where two cages were located. Ah, there she is. No wonder no one has bought her. I crouched down and looked into the cage at her. It was a fairy in the form of a little girl, but she had been horribly mutilated. Both her hands and feet had been cut off, and her body was covered with horrible burns and too many scars to count. She also had stubs of wings on her back, leading me to the conclusion that her wings had been ripped out. I suppose I could buy and heal her. She could serve as a comfort for Harak, once we release him, and before we find Irenia. Normally, Harak would be devestated at finding out that Irenia was still sealed and would become unstoppable in his search for his wife, but perhaps the fairy girl would calm him down some. He always had a soft spot for Irenia''s creations. And I suppose that even if she wouldn''t calm down Harak, I would still save her. Not out of some misguided sense of pity, but because she is a creation of my true friend, who fought for me and was defeated and sealed by her companions. Yes. I began to reach through the bars of the cage when. "STAY AWAY FROM HER YOU PERVERTED CREEP!" Huh. What the hell? I glanced into the other cage and jerked back my head as a pair of small hands tried to gouge out my eyes. Well. That was unexpected. I looked into the other cage to see another small girl, although this one was probably a couple years older and was definitely not a fairy. From her ears and fangs, I would say she is one of the rare Blood Elves. Minerva grabbed her cage and tightened her fists, crunching the metal bars like they were made out of paper, her snake-hair hissing and trying to bite the little blood elf. "YOU DARE TRY TO STRIKE THE MASTER?! I WILL RIP OUT YOUR LITTLE HEART YOU B*TCH!!" "Calm down Minerva. No real harm was done. If she posed an actual threat I would have eliminated her immediately." Minerva glared at the girl for a few seconds before reluctantly nodding her head and releasing the bent cage bars. I turned to face the furious little Blood ELf and questioned her. "Why? Why should I listen to you or your pathetic demands? Give me a good reason and I will consider it." "Because I am the only friend she has and if you take her away she will lose all emotional support and become a walking fairy golem, without any reason to live!" Oh. That is a suprisingly good reason. It seems that the little Blood Elf believes that she is the only thing that is keeping the little maimed fairy alive. Hmm. I reach out and use magic to read the little fairy''s mind. It seems that the Blood Elf is correct. Her connection to the fairy is the only reason that she hasn''t died yet. Ugh. How annoying. Now I will have to buy both of them, so that I can use the fairy to pacify Harak, at least for a while. "Hey, I''ll take these two slaves. How much for both of them?" "Hmm? Are You Sure? I was getting ready to dispose of the two of them. The Fairy is useless even as a sex-slave, due to her condition, and no one wants the Blood Elf, because she has killed the last four people who bought her, despite the slave crest." Oh, that is interesting. To be able to endure the pain the slave crest causes when you try and disobey an order is praiseworthy, but to actually manage to kill your master and survive is pretty much impossible. I wonder if she uses the fairy as her link to reality, just as the fairy uses her. I suppose that makes sense. It would explain why neither of them have died or gone insane. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Ugh. This is a waste of time. "I don''t care. I will take both of them. How much?" "Hmm. Well if you don''t mind being killed then that is your decision. 30 Silvers for the Fairy, and 1 gold for the Blood ELf." "Aren''t you trying to cheat me? You just said that you were getting ready to kill them. Whatever. I don''t have time for this. Here. Now give me the slave crests and get lost." I tossed the money at him, before reaching out to grab the slave crests he offered. I reached into the cage and placed it on the fairy''s chest before cutting my finger and allowing a drop of blood to fall on it, claiming her as mine. I turned to the Blood Elf, only to watch Minerva rip apart the metal cage and drag her out, before offering her to me. I sighed and repeated the process. It seems that Minerva really doesn''t like the Blood Elf.........Or anyone else who would try and attack me, for that matter. Well, I suppose that we had done enough shopping to hold our cover. I could fix up both of the new slaves and still have time for a good dinner before going to meet Sharil, and Septimus. I stood and brushed the dust off of my clothes. "Sebastian. I would appreciate it if you began to prepare my dinner. Shakira, please pick up the fairy and follow me. Minerva, you take the Blood Elf and follow me as well." I had ordered Shakira to take the fairy because she was definitely more gentle and aware of her strength than Minerva.Minerva might accidentally squish her to a pulp, because she was so freaking strong. Just because her fighting style was based upon speed, it didn''t mean she was weak, in reality her strength was what allowed her to move so fast. It was easy to see her muscles, as she only wore a light scale armor to cover her breasts and parts of her legs and arms. It completely exposed her muscled stomach among other things. Huh. That is strange. I glanced down and willed my d*ck to settle back down. Odd. I have never once desired sex in my entire life. It was simply a way to feel pleasure and reproduce. I was never interested because I thought of feeling as a waste of time, and was able to create creatures with magic, so for me sex was useless. Why would I feel the urge to mate now? Perhaps it is because of this human body? Yes. That makes sense. Each body is prone to certain instinctual desires, such as food, drink, and sex. However, my demon form did not feel the urge to mate, because demons are immortal and have much better control over their emotions. That is especially true of the higher demons, as they are able to have absolute control over their emotions, if they don''t want to feel something then they do not. That does not mean that they can''t have sex. It just means that if they don''t want to, they can completely remove desire from their body. I had been doing that unconsciously for nearly a million years, so it was no wonder that this excitement came as a suprise. It seems that humans have much less control over their bodies than other intelligent creatures, with the exception of the beast people. That is a rather bad design flaw. Those f*cking gods really messed up my original design. Once they had sealed me, they had obviously made several different changes to all of the humans I had created, or at least to their offspring. Hmph. They really have no idea how to do anything correctly. And that is yet another reason why they should not exist. Of course I was going to get rid of them anyway, but even if I wasn''t the changes they made to my creations were reason enough to destroy them. I dropped that line of thought as I led the way back to the tavern and our room. Hmm. I would have to completely reconstruct the fairy''s body and regenerate her missing appendages. Perhaps I would make some changes to her genetic code, some of it seems to be altered or corrupted. Strange. I led them quickly up the stairs and into the room, where I had Shakira and Minerva deposit them on the bed. I think that I will start with the little fairy first. I quickly straightened her body on the bed, and removed the Blood Elf to the other bed. The little fairy looked up at me with tear filled eyes, full of terror. I suppose if I were in her situation I would be terrified too. "This is going to hurt a lot. But bear with it and I will restore your body." She stared up at me for a few moments before slowly nodding her head. Whatever. I was going to heal her whether she wanted me to or not. She is a necessary peice in my revised plan, so her opinion does not matter. I raised my hands above her body and concentrated, letting the power gather in my hands before sending it into her body. I closed my eyes and invisioned what would happen. Most of the humans, gods, and other species used and created different spells to perform magic. But they were actually pretty clueless about what magic actually was. Spells did allow you to use magic, by imprinting a certain image in your mind when you recited them, and allowing the magic to take that form. They were only able to use magic inefficently because they relied on spells to create an image, instead of creating that image themselves. I envisioned what I wanted to happen, and the magic did what I had envisioned. It was as simple as that. Spells were usefull as cheat codes, where you recited a buch of stuff and got a predetermined reaction, but true magic was using power to create or alter an object to match your desires. I concentrated, and watched in my mind as the fairy''s body hovered in the air, before having all of her skin and flesh stripped off, leaving only her bones and organs. Hmm. It seems some dark curses have affected her body, corrupting her genetic code. I quickly burned all her flesh and skin to a crisp before fixing and improving her internal organs, extending their life spans and making them far more efficient than they were before. Then I began working on her skeleton, regenerating her missing appendages and changing her bone structure. Instead of making them harder, I made her bones softer and more flexible, giving them a rubber like consistency that went well with her small flexible form. This way, it would be almost impossible for her bones to be broken and most attacks would only be able to bend her bones, before allowing them to revert back into their original form. Hmm. Now that that was done, I merely had to reconstruct her flesh and skin. I envisioned flesh, muscle, veins, and nerves spreading along her bones, recreating her physical form. It took mere moments, but flesh covered her entire body, completely encasing her body. I looked at it for a few moments, before accelerating her natural healing factor, and infusing mana into her body, giving it more strength and durability. And now that I was finished, all that was left was to grow her skin and hair. I created a small patch of normal skin, before altering it to my desires. I made it a light silver, as well as giving it some reflective properties, giving the illusion that it was shining. I then increased the molecular density and thickness, making it soft and supple but at the same time nearly impenetrable from stabbing wounds. I then replicated that patch of skin and allowed it to cover her entire body. I released a small sigh, as I finished, now all that was left was to grow her hair, and replace her wings. I decided to make it similar to her skin, so that it would complete the sparkling illusion one recieved from looking at her. I made her hair a silver-white, and grew it to her shoulders, before flipping her body and beginning to work on her wings. I re-created her wings so that they should be virtually indestructible from natural forces, only extreme magic would be able to damage them. I made them so that they would resemble butterfly wings, since them melded with her small form better than bug or bird wings. I leaned back and opened my eyes with a deep sigh. That was over, and her body was now perfect. Hopefully, this would help pacify Harak until we managed to find and free Irenia. "T-T-THANK YOU!" I glanced at the little fairy girl who currently had a death grip on my arm, it was like she was trying to hug the life out of it. I looked down into her smiling tear filled eyes and groaned inwardly, something tells me that this one is really going to give me a headache. "Whatever. What''s your name?" "I am Lucy. Thank you very much for healing me! No one besides Marie has ever been kind to me before." Huh. Oh, I guess Marie is the little Blood Elf. Hmm. Maybe I should do some changes to her biological structure after tonight. I watched as they both hugged each other and cried. Ugh, why do I feel like I want to throw up. By the way this is what Lucy and Marie look like now. Lucy - http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=160408 Marie - http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=455198 Ugh. I looked at the both of them and for some reason got the feeling that they were going to be more troublesome than this freaking Thravis character I had to play. Whatever. I will still complete both the plan and the mission. No matter the obstructions. Well, I suppose now we should go meet Septimus and Sharil. I wonder what we should do with Lucy and Marie. Hmm ****************************************************************************** Hey guys, Hope You Enjoyed the Chapter. Please continue to Follow, Rate, and Vote! I Hope you are enjoying this series.Please continue to read, and Thank You for Your Support. Chapter 006 - Finding of Harak Overlord - The Beast of the Apocalypse I HAVE RETURNED! I hope you all had a great Easter. Sorry for the late release but some important stuff came up. ENJOY! Please don''t forget to Follow, Rate, and Vote. ************************************************************************ Chapter 6 Overlord POV Damn. This is obnoxious. These feelings don''t go away even with my return to demon form. I tried transforming and I still had these obnoxious feelings. Oh, well. I suppose this is a decent price to pay for assuming human form.I can deal with some useless human feelings, if it allows me to travel secretly through human kingdoms. I glanced at Lucy and Marie who were currently hanging on to Shakira''s back as we walked down the street. I suppose that their friendship would be strange to most people, but I know that severe situations can result in unlikely friendships. Still a fairy and a blood elf is a very unlikely pair. The fairies are creatures of light while the blood elves are a rare type of vampiric elf. Blood Elves are sometimes known as High Vampires due to their greater abilities when compared to normal vampires who come from humans. The higher base capabilities of the elves result in a higher form of vampire compared to the lesser capabilities of humans. Hmm. Well, I suppose they felt a mutual fear and distrust of their owners and their mistreatment, leading them to trust each other because they were in similar situations. I wonder what exact experiences they went through to achieve that level of attachment as slaves. Well, it is probably better not to ask them. Lucy''s mental health is still rather weak even if I have enhanced her body. Only time and careful treatment can fix the mind. After we meet up with Septimus and Sharil, she will lead us to the place where Harak is supposed to be located and I will determine whether or not he is actually there. We haven''t encountered any real traffic on the streets because all of the humans run for cover as soon as we come into view. I suppose these pathetic exuces for the High Human race that I created are right to have such a fear of demons. After all they are much weaker than demons and are inferior in every way. My original High Human creations were far superior to these lowly Humans. They were nearly immortal and while they had the same body structure of these humans all of their muscles were far denser and they had an excellent affinity with magic. These humans have a life span of around 70 years, with a poor affinity to magic and their muscles are far less dense. Ugh. This is just obnoxious, having to stare at corrupted versions of my own creation is just sickening. Perhaps after I free Harak, I will search to see if there are any High Humans left. It is most likely that the Gods killed them all, but it is possible that a few of them escaped. Hmm. Yes, I think that I will do this after I free Harak, and begin the search for Iris. Well, we are almost there. I led the group as we turned off of the main road and slipped into an abandoned building on one of the side-streets. It was cluttered with trash and random junk, but I bypassed all of that and led the way into the basement, where the trapdoor was located. It went pitch black once we descended into the basement. That really didn''t affect us, as all demons could see in the dark and Lucy and Marie were still on Shakira''s back. We opened the trapdoor and descended down the carved stone stairs into utter darkness. Dimitri created a ball of dim green light that allowed us to see better and didn''t affect our night-vision. It was just enough to show a faint outline of the stairs, and our eyes did the rest. "Hello sir. I am honored that you have come." I glanced at the side to see Septimus standing against the wall, while Sharil was on one knee, with her head bowed. "Just lead us to where the seal is supposed to be. There is no need for any of that extra respect, at this time." "Of course. The documents say that the seal can only be found by following these underground tunnels, to the center of the city." Sharil stood and ghosted off into the shadows of the passageway, with Septimus following her and the rest of the order being Sebastian, me, Shakira with Lucy and Marie, Dimitri, then Minerva as the rearguard. Our travel was quick and silent, with there being no conversation. Even Lucy and Marie had turned silent once we entered the tunnels. Apparently pure darkness affects most forms of life, even demons. For them there is something oppressing and fearsome about pure darkness. Of course this wasn''t pure darkness, that only existed outside of the planet''s atmosphere, still it was very dark. Dimitri''s small ball of glowing green light provided some relief from the darkness, but it barely enabled us to see two feet ahead. I have never had a problem with darkness, I find it soothing and relaxing. I can tell that the other members of our party are feeling rather jumpy, so I hope we find this place soon. I don''t want to have to deal with a bunch of super-strong original demons who are acting skittish. We travel like this for about an hour. Our stamina would allow us to continue for days, but the mental fortitude of some members of our little group was beginning to stretch rather thin. Sharil slowed down and began proceeding with more caution, leading me to the conclusion that we were almost there. Sure enough, after a few more turns we reached a wooden door that was hidden in the wall of the tunnels. I didn''t actually need to enter since I could sense Harak''s energy signature, weak though it was. Now that Harak''s presence had been confirmed we could leave, but I wanted to have a look at the seal so that I knew how to break it when the time came, without revealing myself. I watched as Sharil forced the door open, wincing as it squealed loudly. The door was barely open before it fell apart, no one had been down here for a very long time and the wood had been barely holding together as it was. I ignored the crumbled wood door and quickly stepped into the room to look at the glowing seal. It was an enormous magic circle that was continuously rotationg and has several smaller seals within it to act as a preserver, so that the magic circle never deteriorated. I leaned down and held my hand over the enormous seal. I wasn''t dumb enough to actually touch it, but I wanted to be as close as possible to Harak. I spent a couple seconds memorizing the structure of the sealing circle before closing my eyes and reaching out with my mind to try and contact Harak. ''Harak..........Can you here me?............Come on, I know you are still conscious....................HARAK!'' ''Ugh. Who the hell are you? And how do you know my name?'' ''Seriously Harak? You don''t remember me?'' ''........You do sound familiar, almost like an old friend of mine, but he was sealed away a long time ago.'' ''Heh. Well I am afraid that only my original body was sealed, so this one is a temporary substitute, for until I can return to my original body.'' ''Beast?! Is that really you?'' Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.''Yeah. Although I am going by Overlord right now. Just to keep those other freaking Gods off my back. Are you ready to come out of there?'' ''Hell yeah. I''ve been staring at nothing for a million years. And I am so freaking bored. Besides, I seriously miss you guys. Especially Iris. She is my wife after all.'' ''Don''t worry Harak. You will be free very soon. I am going to organize a massive revolt or disaster in this city, and when everything goes to hell, I will free you from the seal in the commotion.'' ''Why not? I''ve waited an eternity, I should be able to wait a little longer.'' ''Allright. Just wait. You will be free soon, and I have a little suprise to remind you of Iris, unitl we can find and free her." With that I stood up and faced the rest of my group. "You have all done an admirable job. Sharil you will return with us, to the Demon Continent where I will grant whatever your wish is. Everyone needs to stay where they are. That way this spell will go off without any problems, like one of you being cut in half." I waited a moment before activating the teleportation spell, that led to Solomon''s portal chamber. It took a lot of magic power to teleport out of Solomon to an unsecured place, but teleporting into Solomon was easy, since the room never changed or moved. A magic circle appeared above us and with a brief flash of light we had returned to Solomon''s portal chamber, with three more people than had left. The instant we entered the portal chamber we were surrounded with a field of crackling lighting bolts from Niverna and the intimidating aura of Diablo as he prepared to suck the life force out of all of us. I stepped forward raising my hand and shifting back into my demon form, instantly stilling both Niverna and Diablo. "Sebastian have some of the maids take the guests to their rooms. Lucy and Marie will be staying together, and Sharil will have her own room. Then if you would whip up dinner in about an hour. Until then I will be planning our next move. To my guests please enjoy yourselves. Niverna and Diablo, thank you for guarding this room while I was gone. You have done well." With that I turned and walked quickly down the hallway, leaving the other members of our group behind me. It only took me a few seconds to reach the throne room, where I immediately took the portal to my Inner Sanctum. I had a relatively simple plan for causing a bunch of confusion and chaos, while giving me an edge over any enemies in the area. The plan was actually very easy to complete. All I had to do is grab a bunch of demons, just a couple thousand, from the 13th ring and toss them through a portal and into the Moravian Empire, with orders to fight and kill everyone they encounter for half-an-hour, before running into the forest and setting up several small camps. Which they can use to reproduce, and spread around through the forest harassing the merchants and travelers who try and pass through. This will lower the amount of people who are willing to travel to the Moravian capital as well as causing enough confusion and chaos, to allow me to free Harak and escape back to Solomon without anyone knowing that I was there. It was an easy and very effective plan. It doesn''t matter how skilled your soldiers are, if a couple thousand S ranked demons and giant monsters suddenly get dropped in the middle of your city, massive chaos will emerge. I walked over to the throne and sat down before activating the Mirror and altering it''s view to show the various kingdoms in the 13th ring. The various demon kingdoms were always fighting and I wanted to take one of them that was about to be wiped out and dump the demons into the Moravian Capital. Since they were going to die anyway, they might as well die doing something for me. I was also planning on sending a swarm of giant ants with them, just to cause extra confusion and to allow more of the demons to escape to the forest. I hoped that if a sufficient number of demons began to reproduce and prowl through the forest that was near the capital city, then the Moravian Empire would lose many of it''s merchants due to the high number of demons. Of course this would only last until the Empire sent out a large force to wipe out all of the demons, but with luck it would prove to be a large enough threat that the Moravian Empire would be somewhat weakened, enabling me to have an easier conquest. Of course I was planning on instantly returning to the Demon Continent after freeing Harak, but that didn''t mean that I was going to forgive the Moravian Empire for keeping him sealed for all of these years. I would infiltrate the Empire from the inside and slowly wear down all of their defenses, while gaining their trust. Then when they trusted me completely I would have the empire attacked and destroyed, killing or enslaving all of it''s inhabitants. Yes. That is what I would do. It was a fitting revenge, for the people who had dared to try and conceal Harak''s seal from me. It was possible that they had had no idea that they were located above Harak''s seal but that didn''t exclude them from my revenge. Whether they were aware of it or not, they had prevented me from finding Harak''s seal for a long time. So therefore, they must pay. I quickly selected one of the smaller demon kingdoms and sent a mental command to Morgis to go collect them. They fell under his command and even if they didn''t they wouldn''t even try to resist him. Annoying a berserker minotaur with serious anger management problems and a very small brain was only to be done by those with and excessive death wish. I sent another command to Feren, ordering him to round up some giant ants or other monsters and bring them a clear area for teleportation. Since the majority of Feren''s body was made out of plants and he lived in a jungle he could regenerate his body almost endlessly using trees and plants from the jungle as new limbs. The monsters were considerably strong yet stupid, and it took someone with a lot of health to bring them in alive. Feren was a very good choice for this particular assignment due to his high regeneration and innate strength. I watched on the Mirror for a moment as Morgis and Feren began their jobs, before sighing and deactivating the Mirror. Now it was time for dinner, and I would find out what reward Sharil desired. Hmm. Hopefully it wasn''t anything ridiculous. It would be dissappointing to have to kill her, after all of the services she has rendered. Oh, well. I sighed once more as I stood and prepared to return to Solomon''s throne room. I had finally talked with Harak again. A broad smile ripped its way across my face as I stretched my limbs. Today was a very good day. Now all that was left was to reward my followers, free Harak, and cause a whole bunch of destruction in a major human city. Yep, I definitely can''t wait for tomorrow. ****************************************************************************** Hey Guys! Hope You Enjoyed the Chapter. Any suggestions for what Sharil''s reward should be? Feel free to leave your comments in the posts below. Please continue to Follow, Rate, and Vote! Notification Hey Guys. I am going to have to put both of my fictions on a brief hiatus, because of upcoming finals. My grades have started to drop and I really can''t afford that right now. I will return as soon as I can. Sorry for the brief hiatus. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. REALLY SORRY! Chapter 007 - The First Objective Overlord - The Beast of the Apocalypse Sorry for the long break but my exams didn''t go exactly as planned and a whole bunch of stuff came up in RL. Anyway I am back and Here is chapter 7 of Overlord. ENJOY! Anyone anxiously awating the release of the Real Overlord Anime? I can only hope it turns out as good as the novels. But alas, it doesn''t come out until July, so merely one more month to wait..............AAAUUUGGGHHH! I CAN''T WAIT THAT LONG! Please don''t forget to Follow, Rate, and Vote. ************************************************************************ Chapter 7 Sharil POV I tried to stay calm as I paced the room I had been shown to. This was completely above my expectations. At most I had expected a bag of valuables, given to me by Septimus. Not for the Overlord to take me back to his castle on the Demon Continent. Normally something like this would be a precursor to me being hauled off and killed in various horrible ways, but I wasn''t very worried because the Overlord seemed very happy when he found the seal, so I don''t think that I will be tortured and killed unless I do something stupid. Ugh. What to say? What to say? What should I ask for? It has to be something that will be acceptable to the Overlord. It must be large enough that it s worthy of the finding of Harak but small enough that I don''t seem greedy. Damn. This is hard. It is so much easier when I only have to kill people. Now I have to figure out how to appease a super-powerful Overlord who wanted me to name a reward for myself and it can''t be to big or too small. I almost jumped at a rapid series of knocks on the door. I opened it to find a maid standing in front of it. "Please follow me. Dinner is ready and will be served immediately. You will be seated with the Overlord and his Pillars. Are there any problems?" "No. None at all." I quickly followed the maid as she led me down the hall. There was no way in hell that I was going to complain about the Overlord''s castle, and even if I wanted to, that maid gives me the shivers. I am a several thousand year old assassin, I don''t scare easily, but this maid scares the crap out of me. The dining room is a massive chamber that is lit by thousands of small balls of fire that hover in the air about 18 feet off of the ground. The long table that stretches down the middle of the chamber is beautiful and carved intricately. It seems to be made out of some tough rare wood which would explain it''s durability and unique sheen. The Overlord is in his demon form and is sitting at the head of the table while the Pillars line the sides. There is an open seat inbetween Septimus and the one known as Dimitri. Apparently it is my seat because the maid lead me there and pulled out the chair for me. This is completely surreal. I am about to eat dinner with some of the most powerful people in the universe............This is so not happening. This has to be some sort of dream right? Nope. Definitely not a dream. If it was a dream I wouldn''t feel so scared because Septimus is glaring at me because I haven''t sat down yet. Come to think of it. Just how does an undead skeleton glare? I mean, he doesn''t have any facial muscles or skin. "So Sharil. What is the reward that you desire?" I jerked my head as the Overlord''s voice rang out, shocking me out of my thoughts. Umm. What do I say? I thought for a moment before deciding on a safe answer. "I desire............whatever you believe is a fitting reward." There was a long pause as the entire table went silent, before the Overlord gave a low chuckle, relaxing his pillars and allowing me to give a gasp of relief. That answer had been a gamble since it could have been seen as an insult to the Overlord''s generosity. "Very well Sharil. As of this moment you are apprenticed to Septimus and given the rank of sub-pillar. You are also given a single trip to the treasury where you are free to take as much gold, jewels, or weapons as you want, as long as you can carry them out yourself." "Thank you, My Lord. I am honored to serve you." I bowed my head low as I recieved my reward from the Overlord. To be honest it was more than I had expected and more than what I was sure I wanted, but you didn''t refuse an offer from the Overlord. Not unless you wanted to die in the worst way possible. He wasn''t called the Overlord for nothing. I had known him for a short time, but I knew that he was far more powerful than I could ever hope to be. Honestly I would rather kill myself than think of betraying him, not because of the blind loyalty his pillars show him but because I would rather die than face what he would do to me for betraying him. Luckily the rest of the dinner passed with no interruptions or disturbances. I headed back to my room once the Overlord had left and began preparing myself for tomorrow. It''s not every day you help lead an attack on a major city and I needed to be prepared. Overlord POV Huh. Sharil seems to be an interesting person. Not many people would have come up with an answer like that. It was both a test for me and for her. Her answer was created to test my generosity and goodwill as well as her intelligence for seeing how much she could get away with. It was a very subtle way to test my attitude towards her and what her new work enviroment would be like. She seems like a clever girl, and as long as she stays loyal to me she will have a place in my shadow. The other pillars seem to accept her, although only time will tell if they truly mean it. Some of them can be rather possessive of their Overlord. Well, not that I mind. The more loyalty they feel towards you the harder they work to please you. Hmph. Anyway, I suppose I should begin preparing the teleportation spell. This will drain a lot of my power but I should be able to refill it by absorbing the stored mana, when I break the seal on Harak. It only takes a moment for Solomon to move me to the teleportation circle that has been drawn outside the castle. Several thousand S ranked demons had been gathered from the 10-14 rings as well a couple hundred of the giant mutated ants who roam throughout the rings. All of them expendable and very deadly. Sebastian''s dragons are keeping them in line for now. Well, I created all of the demons so they should live and die for me. Besides their kingdom was going to be wiped out by one of the larger ones in a couple of weeks. Now their deaths will actually mean something. And as for the giant ants, I have plenty of those, who cares if a bunch of them die. Hmm. Now who should I take with me? Sharil, to test her battle skills. And obviously Sebastian and Septimus would accompany me, but who else? Minerva and Shakira traveled with me last time, so perhaps Niverna, and Diablo would accompany me this time. Yes, that is a good set. Allright, that is who will come with me. Only two hours until the attack. Two Hours Later I raised my arms and closed my eyes, reaching deep into my mana pool and grabbing handfuls of power before forcing them into the teleportation circle. It was a very draining process but a necessary one. No one else had the sheer depths of power that I possessed and even if my body couldn''t use all of it, I could still infuse it into things. Teleporting several thousand demons and giant monsters however; was very taxing even on me. I took a couple of deep breaths before finishing the mana infusion and watching the teleportation circle light up. Here we go. I watched the demons and monsters disappear, before activating a smaller teleportation circle and taking my small group into the capital city. What I saw there can only be described as pure chaos. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Demons were killing and slaughtering and doing all those other things that they do best, while giant ants simply started to walk through and over buildings. It was.........beautiful. The humans who had tried to keep my friend sealed away from me were dying in droves and I was free to advance to Harak''s seal. I lead the way through the chaos filled streets as the human guards tried to make sense of demons being in their capital city before being cut down. "Please! Help Me!" A woman cried out as a demon dragged her to the ground and began ripping her clothes off. The scene was occurring everywhere as we walked through the streets. Men and children were being murdered and the women were being taken forcefully by demons. I looked at all of this, at all of the chaos, horror, and pain my petty revenge had caused........and laughed. The humans begged for me to save them, but what they didn''t know was that I just didn''t care. Their pain and horror fed me and stoked the burning flame that was my revenge. They had the audacity to believe that their lives actually meant something in the grand scheme of things. Oh, how wrong they were. The gods that they prayed to and begged for mercy wouldn''t intervene. They were probably laughing just as I was. To us the humans were nothing more than bugs to crush when they got in our way. We were far more important than any of them could possibly imagine and the only way they could have some worth would be to serve one of us. The only way their lives would mean anything at all to me was if they were related to someone who served me loyally or if they could be used as pawns. That was the harsh reality of life. Power was everything and if you didn''t possess it then you were worthless. Just as we rounded a corner we came face to face with a squadron of guards who were hastening towards the fighting. They didn''t even have time to react before lighting bolts sprayed from Niverna''s hands and scathed across the street turning what had once been a guard unit into smoldering piles of flesh. I glanced over and saw Sharil frown as she watched another woman being dragged screaming into the darkness of her house. "What''s wrong Sharil? Can''t handle the reality of who you serve? Do you wish to rethink your allegiance to me?" I watched as her face rapidly smoothed over erasing the frown and going to a emotionless face. It was amusing to watch her expression change so fast. "No, my lord. I am simply unused to it. It is nothing but a simple adjustment that has to be made on my end. Something as small as this has no chance of affecting my allegiance to you. The gold and jewels I took from your treasury were worth more than all of the money I have made in the few centuries. That is why I am here, because you pay far better than any of the pathetic humans, because I want to be on the winning side of this war, and because I am deathly afraid of what would happen if I attempted to oppose you. I would sell my soul to be able to stand in your shadow." I laughed then. She was an amusing person, not many people would have given me the full truth of their actions just like that. But her words were true. She did not serve me out of any sense of loyalty or honor, but because she was afraid of my wrath if she disobeyed and because serving me was more profitable for her. "You would sell your soul, you say. You already have little one. You already have." With that we entered the route into the underground passageways. Sharil took the lead and we quickly transversed the long corridors until we reached the room where Harak was sealed. The demons were doing their job correctly and we could hear the shaking of the ground as massive spells were set off and buildings crumbled back on the surface. There should be enough fluctuations from the magic being used in the battle to cover the temporary breaking of Harak''s seal. We quickly filed into the room and surrounded the glowing seal. I had Sebastian use a little device that Dimitri had whipped up for this project. It scanned and copied the seal so that when Harak was free we could replicate the seal and no one would be able to tell the difference. As soon as Sebastian finshed scanning the seal I closed my eyes and began searching for a loose strand of magic in the seal''s formation. No seal is perfect and if you know how it works you can unravel it or you can just release a large amount of power and shatter it. A seal is merely a magic barrier that is unbreakable from the inside. As long as you are outside of it you can break it. It didn''t take me too long to find a few loose ends of magic, which I quickly grabbed and began tracing back into the center of the formation. People think that a seal powerful enough to hold a god is very complex but it is actually just a lot of simple seals placed on top of each other. The more powerful the creature you wish to seal, the more seals you apply. That is how most beings tend to think. After all why waste time creating really strong and complex seals when you can just use a bunch of simple ones. Sometimes there is an exception and someone creates a really strong seal and then adds many weaker seals on top of it, but I''m not worried because the most of the gods are dumb enough to believe that no one will ever try to supplant them. It took me several minutes but I finally found the center of the seal, and after breaking the centerpiece, the rest of the seal fell apart. I had braced myself to absorb the power that had accumulated within the seal but it was far more than what I had felt since the sealing of my original body. I screamed as the power rushed through me, I struggled to contain it, and after a fierce battle that left me exhausted, I managed to add it to my own mana pool, tripling it in size. As soon as the rush of power left me I began to collapse, but was caught by Niverna and Sebastian each of whom grabbed one of my arms to keep me upright. I had used up too much power today. First I strained my mana pool by teleporting a massive amount of beings a long distance, and then right after I had stretched my mana pool by absorbing too much power. Both of these things combined had left me drained mentally. But it didn''t matter. The first of my objectives had been accomplished. I watched as an armored hand broke through the ground, soon followed by Harak''s distinctive armored body. I watched as he drew himself up to full height and rotated his arms, cracking joints back into place. His eyes blazed through the slits in his helmet, and he slowly turned to look at me. "Greetings, Overlord." When he spoke it was as if thousands of souls were being tortured and those with weaker minds would be driven insane just from hearing him speak. My pillars were by no means weak but they grimaced when they heard the terror that seemed to fill every word he spoke. Sharil grabbed her ears and moaned when she heard him, but to her credit she stayed standing. For me Harak''s voice was nothing if not smooth and gentle, but I knew that everyone else was hearing all kinds of horrors. I grinned as Sebastian replicated the seal and placed it on the ground where Harak had been. It was done. I had finally accomplished the rescue of one of my friends. I turned to Harak and smiled. It was my first true smile since I had been betrayed. "Hello Harak. Good to finally see you again." ************************************************************************ Allright guys, Tell me what you think! How was this chapter? I am open to all comments and suggestions. Don''t forget to Follow, Rate, and Vote.