Chapter 13: 13. The World Alliance
Hello, this is my first time writing a fanfiction. If you notice any errors, please feel free to give me constructive feedback. English is not my first language, so if you notice any mistakes, please mention them in the comment section at the end of the chapter. Let's begin the story!
Word Count: 3900 Words
Note: Just a reminder that I've changed the Guild Auxiliary chapter. I've made some changes in it. I've removed a couple of NPCs and added.
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Omni Pov
Bruce stood in the NULL Void in his Sequence 0 or 9th and the Final Avatar of his class.
Admiring his form, "Vantablack" body with a violet outline marking his body, separating it from getting integrated with nothingness.
Making his presence known to the World.
The Violet coloured hue defined his body structure, his knuckles, ankle, elbow, shoulder, fingers, wrist, knee, foot, spinal cord, etc.
Though they shaped his body and defined his parts he had none of the parts mentioned. It was just his body that was shaped to be the way it was.
A lean body of fighters.
Cyan Blue coloured pixelated cloth wrapped around his waist.
Bruce had turned the appearance of the armour he got from defeating all World Champions into the cloth that he had wrapped around his waist.
With two white star-like eyes on his face.
"This is great"
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Side Story:
Kendo was a normal guy in high school. It would have stayed normal if not for his childhood crush falling in love with their mutual friend from high school.
Which led to him betraying his Guild in Yggdrasil. He and his friend, whom he thought of as a brother had started a Guild in the game.
While his friend was the Guild Master, Kendo was the Vice Guild Leader.
Both of them had achieved a lot of things, but the person he thought of as a friend in a week took away both of the important things from his life, The things he considered as precious.
He was devastated.
Yggdrasil was his solace after losing his love but even that was snatched from him.
He was lost.
He tried contacting Yggdrasil support and staff but all of them turned him down.
Just as usual, he was seated on his chair connected to his console trying to log in.
He had made it his habit to check his emails, to find replies from them.
Alas, he hasn't received any so far.
To cope with it, he started a new account using his different ID. But still hadn't given up on his old account.
It didn't help him that his friend and his crush were happily living their life.
It infuriated him.
Today, as usual, he checked his mail, to find a new mail he had received.
He was disappointed to find it from someone else.
Since he had opened it, he thought of reading it anyway.
[Mr. Sato Kendo.... ]
He couldn't control his expression. Tears filled his eyes.
It was an invitation from Wayne Corp.
"God hasn't forsaken me"
His clip of fighting against 30 players had reached them and they were inviting him to join their company. As a gamer sponsored by them, they were also hiring him to work as an alpha tester, with the prospect of working for their Game Development Sector after his graduation, if he were to meet their requirements.
"It's my chance, but isn't Gotham in America? That is quite far from here. No, this is better the further away I am from here the better. I can join them after high school.
It's great that they are also offering to cover my college but I will have to move there. Since I am in my final year now, it won't be long."
He was having a headache thinking about the prospect of his future.
"Things are moving too fast. I have 4 more months before I finish my high school. Then I will have to move to America for my College. Wait, nothing is fixed yet. I don't even know if this is legit."
"Wait!!"
At last, it was mentioned that one of the heads in charge of this department had been nearby when the fight took place and had watched it all and even recorded it.
They had been playing the game to pass the time.
"That explains it. But I'm not sure about game development. I've played games till now but haven't made any games, wait. I did make a small game a long time back. It was a simple space battleship game, where we just shoot down alien battleships. I should contact the company to confirm the legitimacy of this mail."
He was happy.
"I can't wait to tell Sae, Mom and Dad about it."
He sprinted from his place after logging out from his console but stopped midway from opening his room door.
"Sae"
.
"I shouldn't worry about her."
He got on his knees. Tears were running down his face.
---
Yggdrasil 3 Months After Bruce Becomes a World Enemy
It had been a couple of years since Yggdrasil had launched, its golden age was slowly coming to an end.
It wasn't eminent but still the process was slow.
Currently unknown to Bruce major changes were taking place in the game.
Many players who were portrayed as Villains in Bruce's story were portraying him as such in their story.
They had taken it to the internet to complain.
They were being petty, though they were the ones to attack first to rob him of his precious weapons. Seeing him all alone with expensive gear, motivated them to attack.
A heteromorphic race player roaming alone was asking to be attacked, according to them. But when the heteromorphic player when attacked, retaliated. It was not acceptable to many.
They couldn't accept the fact. Him calling his friends and guildmates was something unacceptable to them. They complained about him acting as bait to hunt them.
They complained about him cheating them.
Some people are oblivious to their situations. They complain when things don't go their way and when they are on the receiving end of cruelty but are happy when they are the ones inflicting harm.
Bruce had received a lot of animosities, especially from the guilds from whom he had so generously received World Items.
Though they didn't know a lot about him, when they reached out to the forum to vent their anger, a lot of them found companions who had been through similar situations.
The most infamous alliances that Bruce knew from the Novel like 2ch Alliance and Trinity had few skirmishes.
2ch in one of the wars, even had their headquarters destroyed. After which their members declined. At one point of time in the game, they boasted of having the highest number of players, as many as 3000.
With great numbers comes less flexibility and difficulty in compliance.
Trinity one of the major guilds had faced a similar situation to theirs but was still standing above them, followed by World Searcher and 2ch Alliance.
Many new guilds were born from them.
The players who found companions online got to work to find the guy who stole their World Items.
They were successful in it. It took them almost a year to find him.
In the meantime, the 8 Guild Alliance had also raided Ainz Ooal Gown and a record had been set.
Ainz Ooal Gown has successfully managed to defend against a horde of 1500, comprising of players and NPCs.
Most players had given up on going back, after losing their prominent weapons and items in the raid. Their hunger for revenge had died down. When they couldn't beat them with 1500 of them then what use is it to attack again when most of them had given up on the cause?
But the same couldn't be said about the others. The self-proclaimed victim of Bruce's rampage.
Many had united under the same banner to bring justice to LordofTheMysteries.
An alliance had been formed of many guilds. Many were partaking in the raid against LordofTheMysteries to quench their thirst for revenge. While most of them had united to get their hands on the World Items in his possession.
They had heard a lot of stories about how LordofTheMysteries had snatched World Items and there were even stories of him spending a fortune to fight against Raid Bosses all alone. The fact that he emerged victorious was shocking to most. They couldn't fathom the amount LordofTheMysteries had spent to get his win.
An alliance called the World Alliance had been formed, and major guilds from Asgard, Alfheim, Midgard, Jotunheim and some small guilds from other worlds had banded together.
Most had learnt their lesson from Ainz Ooal Gown, especially now that they are attacking a man who has no problem throwing money around to get things done.
Plus they knew of the Strongest World Champion being in the same Guild as him.
They were prepared for a difficult raid to come.
Banding together to attack a guild was not uncommon but most of the time the rewards weren't worth it.
According to their information network, Ainz Ooal Gown houses 2 World Items or possibly more. At the same time The Root, LordofTheMysteries's Guild houses more than a dozen World Items. Which is confirmed by many players online.
The rewards they could reap and their distribution among all the guilds participating in the raid and still earn a great haul themselves.
According to their estimation, He has nearly 15 to 16 World Items. With this raid, many guilds could get their hands on World Items.
So the choice was simple, they had set their sights on The Root rather than Ainz Ooal Gown.
All of the discussion regarding the raid was taking place in private forums. Many new guilds also joined the raid to get many divine-tier weapons and other items He has.
The World Alliance were ready for the raid. They had managed to form a 3672-player Alliance. With 41 guilds banding together with their animus towards Him.
Counting NPCs, the raiding party had surpassed 4700 strong.
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Ainz Ooal Gown
The members of Ainz Ooal Gown are still playing the game at present. It wasn't until a year later that most of them decreased the number of times they used to log into the game until they stopped altogether.
Currently, the members have gathered in the conference room of the guild.
Not a lot of their guild members were present in the room.
With Momonga, Touch Me, Warrior Takemikazuchi, Herohero, Ulbert Alain Odle, Tabula Smaragdina, Blue Planet and Ancient One occupying the seats at the table.
They were busy discussing about future,
Warrior Takemikazuchi grabbed everyone's attention by mentioning a new Dungeon he had found.
"Where did you find this Dungeon?", asked Touch Me.
"I was out trying to gather materials to make a worthy weapon for my NPCs when I found it."
"Doesn't Cocytus already have a good weapon?"
asked Momonga, he was confused. So were most of them, Cocytus the Floor Guardian of the 5th Floor of Nazrick, was a strong warrior. He already had a strong divine-tier weapon.
To make yet another strong weapon of its calibre is a difficult task and here Takemikazuchi was planning on building a stronger one.
"I wish to build him a katana just like the one I use. He already has a Halberd as his main weapon and having spare weapons in emergencies will help him in fighting against intruders.
In the last raid, he had to face multiple opponents simultaneously. This will help him in duel-wielding. We can't forget the Alliance Raid, Cocytus faced difficulty killing them, with more choice of weapons, he could have taken out more of them."
"That's reasonable, so a katana huh!"
"That's what I have planned Touch Me"
As they thought about it, they were glad of their luck to have survived. Herohero seeing everyone agree with Takemikazuchi shared his experience, "We were lucky to have survived the raid. Seeing the numbers I was afraid of our guild falling."
"Yes, we were able to pull through with Touch Me and Ulbert San's amazing interference with the enemy from time to time"
"That's true, without them we could have lost our guild. Momonga's right."
"That's my duty. As a member of Ainz Ooal Gown, I must protect it. Even Momonga handled it as a pro"
"Yes, but as a Guild Master of Ainz Ooal Gown, how could I let it fall so easily. ? We have built it with our virtual tears and sweat. We can't let it fall so easily"
The recollection of the Battle brought a smile to everyone's face. Though they couldn't express it with their Avatar but they did show it with emojis.
They heard the sound of laughter,
*Haha, Ulbert with his laugh attracted everyone's attention.
"Those foolish people didn't know anything. How could they take over our guild? This guild is our temple of Evil. They were truly ignorant if they thought they could take over it, right Momonga?"
"Yes, Ulbert san"
Ancient One, who had been silent till now, followed along with a question to Takemikazuchi to further their conversation.
"Takemikazuchi San, so where is this Dungeon?"
"Ah! Ancient One, it's in Múspellsheim."
"So Múspellsheim it is. We can gather everyone later and plan our conquest towards the dungeon as soon as possible. We can't let others take it over", said Blue Planet.
"So let's wait till we can hear what everyone has to say about it."
"Yes"
*silence, when they thought about it, they didn't have anything else to do now. Even their talk about raid and other things had come to an end.
Seeing the awkward silence, Herohero asked a question that had intrigued him since the raid.
"I have been meaning to ask, Tabula how come your NPC Rubedo is so strong. Her strength is unparalleled in our guild. Seeing her fight, I am sure of it. She might be even stronger than Touch Me"
"You're right, I have seen her fight. She is strong. Well, you may be right about her being stronger than me. So what did you do Tabula?"
"Touch Me and Herohero"
They were getting sidetracked again, Ancient One had wished to discuss more about the dungeon but wasn't able to bring it up again. He had missed his chance and Herohero had taken over the conversation. He had been thinking about his work, which he remembered after hearing Blue Planet talk about it to Momonga.
He got distracted from the conversation and had the chance to take it over. He had been busy lately, which is why he wished to complete the dungeon conquest as soon as possible. As per his estimate, this workload wouldn't be decreasing any time soon rather it would even increase more with time.
Now the topic being spoken was something even he had been wondering.
"It's not something that I wished to hide. But I don't wish for this information to get outside our guild."
"There is nothing for you to worry about. All of us have been in this guild for a very long time now. Everyone is loyal to the Guild."
"Momonga is right, we are all in this together. Why would we even think of betraying the guild"
So everyone chipped in, they had been curious about it for some time now. Especially Momonga had been curious about it.
"I have used a World Item when building her.", no sooner had the words left his mouth, Momonga countered him.
"But that's impossible. You can't use World Item to build NPCs. Neither can you build any items using World Items, I think.", As he continued he wasn't as confident as he was when spoke at the beginning. By the end he grew doubtful of his own understanding of the game.
"Right"
Everyone at the table agreed.
"Yes, I know that. When building her, I found a loophole."
"We really are a menace to the World, aren't we? Now we have an NPC who is as powerful as World Items"
"You may be right. Tabula, if you don't mind I would love to Battle her"
"Even I would like to fight her after him"
"It's fine, I don't mind. Touch Me can fight her after Takemikazuchi."
Ancient One, just as he was trying to lead them to talk about the dungeon. The Door to the conference room was swung open. Everyone paused their discussion to look at the rude intruder.
---
Peroroncino after hearing about it had right away made his way to the game and his guild. Fortunately, he found many of his friends including their Guild Master, Momonga.
"What is it Peroroncino?"
"Just wait a minute."
Without answering anyone, he made his way to his seat at the table. After getting seated, he kept his silence.
Others tried asking him about it but to no avail. All he said was, "Wait for a bit"
Just as they were waiting for him to speak, another one of their guild member Bukubukuchagama entered the conference room.
Seeing her, they connected the dots. "So you were waiting for her"
"What is it Peroroncino, it better be important. I had to leave my practice to come here."
Seeing her fuming with anger, the rest decided to leave the two siblings alone.
"Right, since you have all gathered here. I would like to share an important piece of information I got to know from one of my online friends "What is it?", they wished to ask but still the rest were maintaining their silence. To not interrupt their quarrel.
"Something big is going to happen in Múspellsheim."
"What? It better not be another one of your pedo gathering also, who is this online friend of yours? Is it one from your fetish forum?"
Though he wished to point it out to her about herself but refrained from doing so. He couldn't wait to share the news with his guild.
If he were to go down that path, the fight would have prolonged till the end.
"Everyone had the freedom to love what they love. Also, that's not important right now. Our fight, the raid on our guild was the biggest thing in the gaming industry and in this game specifically. But that record is going to be broken now."
"What?", Momonga was confused now. At first, he had assumed it to be something related to his interests like a Dungeon or an event. But now,
"Listen carefully, Lord of The Mysteries from The Root has made a lot of enemies. Some of them are from major guilds. Also, it was revealed in the forum that, The Root, his guild has 16 or more World Items."
"What?"
"That's crazy"
"If we can beat them, then all those items would be ours"
"Dream On. We are a small guild. Do you think we can conquer Seraphim much less The Root?"
"Can't a girl dream?"
"Fine, so let's go. We will conquer The Root"
"But no one knows where the base of The Root is"
So they bantered.
"You can't underestimate them. They are ranked at the top and have maintained that position for a long time now. Even Trinity and 2ch Alliance boasting more power than us have failed to do anything against them. It's The Root followed by Trinity, World Searcher and 2ch Alliance in Guild Ranking. We are a strong guild within the confines of our Guild, we can defend against most attacks but attacking or picking a fight outside is a bit foolish thing to do. Especially if it's in Another Guild base with just the 41 of us. We can't fight 41 vs 100 hardcore players."
"Not to forget, they also have a World Champion in their Guild and not just any World Champion, but the strongest one. The World Champion of Múspellsheim."
"True, but that's not the end of it. According to my friend, an alliance has been formed. It's being led by Trinity, with many new guilds, some of them were members of 2ch Alliance and even a few of the 8 Guild Alliance have joined in.
Major guilds from Asgard, Alfheim, Midgard and Jotunheim have joined together to raid his guild. With more than 3600 players and raid strength totalling more than 4700 players and NPCs."
"Impossible. How could they even fit that many players into a guild."
"They are opting for a war approach to this raid. They have learned their lesson fighting him and his guild in many Guild wars they have been a part of. From what I know Lord of The Mysteries alone has managed to defeat a dozen of players with just his pure skills.
His Guild's World Champion To'kustar defeated many players with his swordsmanship. It is said that he is a sword and hand-to-hand combat master in real life."
"I was defeated before I knew what happened. The way he moved and dodged my attacks was amazing. It's no wonder that he was able to defeat the rest to win the Tournament of Yggdrasil.", said Touch Me.
"Isn't this interesting? You can't complain to me now of disturbing your practice. So should we check out the fight?"
"I am interested in it", starting with Takemikazuchi many of them responded.
They were thinking of checking out the fight but Touch Me, saw Momonga in a contemplative state, so he asked him. "Is something bothering you Momonga?"
"It's not anything major but aren't all those guilds of Humans and Demi-Humans. If we were to walk in there, the chances of us getting killed are high."
"We know Momonga, that's why we're planning to watch it from afar."
"Wouldn't they have measures to counter divination?"
"Watching from far means to watch from a safe distance. Not divination. Yes, we wouldn't be able to watch the main fights inside the Guild but the sheer size of the participants participating in this Raid camping outside The Root will be incredible to watch. It might be the last time we may see the Guild. A guild like The Root isn't your average guild, to see it fall is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You may never know if there will ever be such a big alliance of players again."
"True, but don't they have World Searcher as their allies? If they were to participate, The Root would have more breathing space to defend."
"Yes, don't you think we should help our fellow Heteromorphic guild?"
"Well, they aren't exactly a Heteromorphic Guild. They sure have more Heteromorphic players but they aren't one. I don't have any idea what the requirement to join the Guild was. It has had 100 players since the very beginning. There never was an empty seat."
"Yes, but Peroroncino how are we supposed to watch the fight? We don't have the skills you have to spectate as an Archer and a Birdman. You aren't trying to take us along as Bodyguards are you?"
"I would never"
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**The End**
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