Michio Kita wheezed, clutching his stomach. His blood poured out on the dirty street from a gun wound. Stupid. What the hell had he expected to happen by confronting a corrupt cop? Masahiro Isobe, known in Yggdrasil as Touch Me, knew what had happened to their guildmate Bellriver, who had found incriminating evidence about the megacorporations and was killed for it. Isobe refused to speak more on it and warned Kita he would end up dead if he continued his investigation.
Isobe was proven right; the man whom Kita thought was a close friend of Bellriver was the one who had just shot him and left him for dead. The pain was slowly fading, replaced by coldness, as his vision slowly faded.
Then he felt a pull and was suddenly standing above his dying body beside a stunning black-haired woman in a red dress.
"I applaud your bravery, but bravery alone is not enough." The woman spoke.
"No shit, lady. So, I kicked the bucket. Well, that was stupid. By the way, what even are you?" Kita asked. There was no point in stressing about being dead, as there likely wasn't anything he could do about it now. Even if this was the delusion of a dying mind, it was best to just go along with it.
"My name is Ker, and I have come to you with an offer before you enter the reincarnation cycle and return to this dull end. I'm sure you'd prefer any fate over remaining in this dying world." She gestured at the dark sky.
Kita slapped his pockets and pulled out a pack of cheap cigarettes that were somehow on his spiritual form. He took off the breathing mask and lit a cigarette, deeply inhaling. "I'm listening, but let's not pretend this isn't a deal with the devil."
The scene around them shifted to a bloodied battlefield with a bone throne beside them. Ker sat down, crossed her legs, and spoke, "I am Ker, the Goddess of Blood and Violent Deaths, and I need you to accept my gifts and be summoned into another world. There, you will kill an old friend of yours. You know him by the name of Momonga."
Kita took a long drag and turned away from the woman. "So what did he do, and why do you need me?"
"He took something that was mine, and I want my righteous revenge. As for why I need you, I cannot enter mortal worlds with my full power outside of very specific circumstances. I will remake you into Ulbert with all the resulting power you once knew, and if you succeed, you will receive my full blessings and can do whatever you want in what's left of the world I am sending you to. You will be one of the most powerful entities there," Ker explained.
"What's the catch?" Kita questioned. He knew better than to believe it would be an easy task. He had no reason to hate Momonga or get any sort of revenge on his old guild master, who likely had been reborn under similar circumstances and somehow angered this goddess. Still, if there was even a tiny chance to get away from the hell that was Earth, he would take it. There might even be a way to get out of the agreement and carve his own path once he gets empowered.
"It won't be that easy." Ker's expression darkened as she materialized a scroll and presented it to Kita.
'So you can read my mind. Figures.' He accepted the scroll and read the agreement. His soul would belong to Ker until he succeeded in killing Momonga. And if he utterly failed, he would belong to this vengeful goddess for eternity.
At the same time, if he succeeded, he would keep all his power and retain a new immortal form, that of Ulbert Alain Odle, and be under her guardianship as long as he retained loyalty toward her. Overall, it was a deal Kita was more than willing to accept, even if it wasn't skewed in his favor.
"I agree. You got a pen?" He asked.
Ker motioned for him to come closer, and Kita obliged. Once close enough, the goddess grabbed his right hand and impaled her nail into his index finger, drawing blood.
He signed the contract with his blood, and the Goddess, to his surprise, did the same, pricking her index finger. Once both signatures were on the contract, it disappeared, and Kita felt an immense rush of power, filling him to the brim. His entire body twisted, growing taller and larger. Horns sprouted from his head, and his body grew soft black fur. His face elongated into the muzzle of a goat, and his simple work outfit turned into a black suit with golden accents. Finally, a billowing red cloak appeared on his back, a tophat poofed into existence above his head, gloves with long sharp knives for fingers covered his hands, and a red plague doctor mask with golden accents hid half of his face. Kita was no more; Ulbet Alain Odle was born.
"Now, your first task will be to train with your new powers and scour through the digital world of Yggdrasil for more recruits for you to lead. It will take years in the mortal realm for my followers to gather enough summoners to bring you over." Ker ordered
Ulbert stretched, and before he could answer, a group of beautiful winged women with inhumanly wide mouths appeared around him as Ker continued. "My Kerai will attend to your needs and serve as your assistants. You may take one of my castles as your own. Do not fail me."
His afterlife, or new life, was the polar opposite of his previous one. The moment he was transformed, he preferred to see himself as being reborn as Ulbert and thought that Kita had died on that dirty street. He strolled through the bloodied field with an elevated mood, bones crunching under his hooves.
After passing over a hill, a beautiful castle with wide windows and multiple balconies came into view. It predictably was in Greek style with decorative columns and statues depicting Ker. He, as a history enthusiast, had some knowledge about mythologies, and recognized that Ker was from the Greek pantheon right away. The implications of a Greek goddess snatching up his soul were interesting, to say the least, not that it mattered anymore from his first life. There now was a chance that other pantheons also existed, as Ker had all but confirmed that there was a multiverse, and he would operate in a world not on the same plane as Earth. One that apparently required the power of a max-level player to compete on.
Though somewhat monstrous, his new attendants surely were easy on the eye. The six kerai followed him silently, their expressions betraying their curiosity about him. He never denied he was a man of many vices, and when the opportunity presented itself, he was eager to indulge in smoking, alcohol, and the company of loose women, something he was always lacking. Ulbert instinctively felt his now spiritual body didn't require things like sleep, food, or even bathing while he was in this spiritual realm, but he wasn't about to live the life of a monk.
As he inspected his new dwelling, he could see the castle change to reflect his wants and needs, walls fading and appearing. There was a bedroom with a bed as large as half of his former tiny apartment room. If he felt hungry or thirsty, a dining room with a kitchen and an alcohol cellar connected to it awaited, stocked to the brim with whatever he wanted. If he wished to bathe, an area with baths and saunas was there. Ulbert also suspected that the kerai would not be opposed to indulging in carnal activities with him. In short, he was in paradise. Ker surely knew how to present a carrot, though he did not doubt that as one hand gave prizes and the other held a stick.
The kerai who had followed him thus far had dispersed through the castle, leaving him alone, taking up places around it.
He had no desire to be on the leash of a vengeful goddess for long, even if he fully intended to play along for now. He found a spacious office in the castle tower with a singular window overlooking the gore-filled fields his owner called home. On the table sat a leather-bound book, which he immediately inspected. After skimming through a few pages, it became apparent that the tome contained all the information he needed to do his job and mentally access the worlds beyond, armed with near-unfathomable power. The Earth with Yggdrasil was but a single thought away, and so was the world where he would find Momonga.
'I need a coffee and a smoke.' He mused as he sat in a comfy leather chair, similar to the ones he had seen rich people have in movies or interviews.
Immediately, two kerai phased in, one with a wooden box filled with cigars and another holding a cup of coffee. Apparently, they too could read minds.
"Thank you, ladies." He accepted a cup and allowed a cigar to be placed in his mouth and lit by the fingertip of one of the two women.
"Before you go, introductions are in order. My name is Ulbert Olain Odle, but you can just call me Ulbert." Ulbert motioned for the two kerai to do the same.
"Kerai." Both responded as one.
"Are you not permitted to have any autonomy?" He inquired.
"We do, but names are unnecessary. We know each other."
'This will be a pain in the ass.' Not only did they not have individual names, but they also looked similar, with all of them having black eyes and black hair, pale skin, and mouths that extended beyond their lips. A moment later, they spoke again.
"Vasso." "Magia." " The goddess gave us names so you can tell us apart." They spoke their new names in turn before giving their explanation in similar synchrony.
"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, ladies." Ulbert flashed them a smile and made sure to remember individual details like eye, nose, and lip shapes to tell them apart. Even if they were borderline twins, there were some differences.
The kerai smiled back, showing rows of razor-sharp teeth before fading away. His old self would have found them unnerving, but now he wasn't a human either, so their monstrous features now only added to their charms.
'They just disappeared. It seems this realm is built around intent, and they know what I need. Well, this will be fun.' He knew Ker could read his thoughts; thus, all his plans to break free needed to be kept on a deeper level, so hidden that even a goddess couldn't sense his true motives.
Ulbert took a long puff from the cigar and sipped coffee. 'Now this is life.'
Five minutes of leisure. Then he would start looking for candidates among Yggdrasil players who could carry out Ker's will. There were some obvious choices, like the Seraph guild, but he wanted a more chaotic, personal touch to ensure that not everyone was on the same page, to ensure that they couldn't build up a power base against himself once all was said and done. Perhaps more of his old guild mates could be chosen as well. Punitto for his strategic mind. Takemikazuchi for his willingness to fight as long as he was given a decent challenge. And perhaps even his old rival, Touch Me. Sure, the world champion was a self-righteous prick, but he also was the strongest overall guild member.
The information about Momonga and the world steadily flowed into his mind as he planned. Ulbert already knew that not only was Momonga a lot stronger, but so were the NPCs and the two players, Buku and Pero, who were also present in the world. They had surpassed their limits greatly, with Momonga and others gaining powers that tied them to other Gods. Not to mention locals like Veldora and Milim, who were closely tied to his target, strong enough to deny most of Ker's currently available methods that were also laid out for him to analyze. Ulbert assumed Ker had tricks up her sleeve, and he, alongside other people, would get tools to kill their opponents. Still, it was best to overprepare, especially considering how cautious and borderline paranoid Momonga was. The undead player knew Ker was planning the next strike, so the name of the game was overpreparation. Whoever overprepared more would win.
Luckily, he was in no hurry. It would take years for him to get summoned to Momonga's world, and even more to bring all the forces over and set them up properly. Until the fateful day, he would do everything possible to be prepared and gain the upper hand.
He was Ulbert after all. He had overcome the odds against a World Disaster before, and he would bring disaster upon the world he was aimed at. Momonga may have been a harbinger of change to that world, but he would be the disaster that finished it. All change had to end eventually, after all.
Editing by Nich L and aidan_lo.
Proofreading by Stac, mfkz_rocker, fvvck, Omnax, clagan, Ivan Chechnya, Alassandro, and aidan_lo.
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