Chapter 5: Training in Time

...In Nazarick...Sixth Floor...

Introductions were brief, there were four hundred lizardmen who would serve as sparring partners, opposition forces, and instructors, and by putting Black Justice in an outnumbered position against naturally stronger forces, they would be forced to adapt and use their skills to best effect. It excited the band, but nothing so much as what happened when Ainz arrived at the training grounds. As soon as he was seen, the humans began chanting, “Long live the Sorcerer King! Long may he reign, long may he reign!” with fists pumping into the air with every chorus.

Ainz waited until the cheering died down before he explained his coming.

“First, I understand you have only twenty-nine days, that is precious little time, so I intend to extend the length of those days considerably.” He said.

“You mean you’re asking the merchant and the king to give us more than a month?” Neia asked.

Ainz chuckled, “No, I’m going to stop time for you, so that you can train for several months or more to prepare yourselves properly.” His statement was greeted with awed silence.

“Stop... time. Did I hear that correctly...? Your majesty will stop time... for the equivalent of months?” Neia asked, even for her already high opinion of Ainz, this was more than she imagined possible.

“Yes. Among other things. While time is stopped, you will be able to train here with the lizardmen and any opponents I create for you to push your limits under the leadership of Cocytus. Moreover, I will provide you with Rings of Sustenance so that you do not need to sleep or rest, I will unfreeze time for brief periods so that you may have some recreation, meals, and some time to mentally recuperate, but you will train in the time between times. You will take your meals here in my realm for the month, and I will have your latent talents revealed so that we can develop them, if there are any.” Ainz explained, then turned to the cold blue insectoid, “Also... Cocytus, didn’t you have something else?” He asked.

“Yes, my lord. I have observed their fighting style, and I believe they would benefit greatly from monk training from Sebas. They incorporate much of his combat philosophy, so learning his martial skills, and facing his imposition of the fear of death should elevate them considerably.” Cocytus said simply, and the jaws of the humans were slow at closing after falling open.

“If you pass your training, which is to say, if you survive, I will furnish you with some runecrafted gear tailored to you, similar to what I provide the adventurer’s guild.” Ainz said, and the hands of his devotees clenched in disbelief, until Neia knelt with eyes downcast.

“We are forever grateful for Your Majesty’s support, but I must express confusion, how will you know if we have any latent abilities?” Neia’s voice was reverential, awed, and eager as a child being offered a new puppy.

“I’ll have the Sorting Hat brought out.” Ainz said, “It’s an enchanted hat that reveals any as yet unknown abilities in the wearer, after that it is up to you to develop them, if there are any worthwhile that are yet unknown.”

“He has everything.” Neia muttered to herself, “He truly is a god.”

He handed a pouch over to Sebas, “Distribute the rings, I will stop time, and leave you to your work.” Sebas nodded to his master, and Ainz cast his spell before walking away.

As the rings were being handed out to human and lizardman alike, one of the men asked Sebas, “Sir, where did he come across such a... hat? I have never heard of anything like that.” The other men perked up their ears in curiosity.

Sebas stroked his beard thoughtfully and said, “Oh, that. My creator mentioned it once, he said it came from someone called “Shi-ti-dev” who got it from a school called Hogwarts that had many pupils long ago, which Shi-ti-dev was very fond of. My master didn’t approve, he called it a cheap way to learn one’s inner magic. However, be that as it may, it serves our purposes now when you will undergo training.” Sebas then turned to face the men, giving them his steely expression as he continued, “While we wait for it to be brought, you will face death, and we will see how much that improves you. Find your focus within the whirlwind of my killing intent, and if you can, you will grow beyond yourself today.”

There were loud swallows, and for a moment nobody moved. "I'll go first, this is my job." Neia said as she stepped in front of the Butler of Steel.

Her step was not more than thirty inches, and yet it felt to her as if, in stepping to the fore she was stepping over a chasm. her skin felt atingle like she was closing in on a warm fire and her heart quickened with every second.

"Brave. Dangerous. But brave." Sebas said, and then his killing intent engulfed her world. Neia felt asif a thousand shards of ice were stabbing into her soul, like she was cast about in a whirlwind. "Prepare yourself or perish! You will die if you fail!"

His punch flew out, and for a moment Neia feared she might truly die, in the back of her mind, she felt she saw the image of her Lord, the one Lord she felt drawn to. His words rang in the back of her mind, like thunder out of a clear sky. 'Come back safely.' She remembered him saying as she went to her death at the wall. With the echo of those words of his, which swelled her heart to bursting, it felt as if the strength of her heart leapt up three sizes, and thrust out the ice that pierced it. With the piercing pain gone, she moved aside, and found herself staring at the perfect cloth of his arm out of the corner of her eye.

Her breathing intensified, her teeth gritted, and the fatal blow had instead become a near miss.

“I faced Jaldabaoth, I felt his evil... but never in my life have I felt a core of terror so great.” She muttered as she wiped the sweat from her brow, briefly falling to her knees, before she managed to rise and held out her hands to wave away two of her people that had approached to help her move aside.

Sebas nodded, “Yes, that is the power of the killing soul, you are... very impressive for a human, Lady Neia. I wonder what you will achieve when you leave here.”

She smiled at the praise, and two of her band, though unneeded, assisted her in moving away regardless as the next one stepped up. When it was done, while no one had died, some had been badly injured and required healing.

That led to the first real shock, that it was unquestioningly provided, instant, and above all ‘free’. The test was then repeated until everyone passed. By that time, the ‘Sorting Hat’ arrived, their spirits had risen through the roof.

One by one they sat and put it on, it was a pointy hat of the sort favored by witches, only it had a mouth, and it spoke their talents, known and unknown. Some had oddities that were seemingly useless. One man could tell the exact age of any food item, while another had a powerful but highly specific ability to breath underwater, and another had the latent ability to sense hostile intentions in others just by looking at them.

While this was going on, two dark elf children arrived, and they supervised the construction of a series of wagons by some undead laborers. They paid no mind to the humans, who took their silence as a lack of interest.

So while they watched the pair work, they did not approach or interrupt the labor. It was clear that this was going to be used for training purposes. When skeletons finished working and clambered noisily into the various wagons, the band of human warriors stared in confusion.

That uncertainty did not last long as Cocytus said, “These skeletons will represent your merchants whom you must protect. They will do little to defend themselves, and they will not turn on you, when the lizardmen play the role of hostile forces you must secure your encampment against all threats and fend off all attacks. Every one of you must know where you should be and what you should be doing in that position.”

They nodded sagely as the last man put on his ring and the last one recovered from Sebas’ test.

“Lady Neia,” Sebas called, “show me the Black Justice combat system.” Neia smiled happily and took up a position thirty feet away.

“Fear not,” The stoic butler reassured her politely, “I will limit my skill to that of a mere platinum ranked adventurer, and I am not out to kill you. I simply need to see what your system employs to see where I can help develop it further.”

Neia nodded politely and took out her bow, and Cocytus declared firmly in a guttural voice, “Begin!”

Swift as she could, she drew and fired two arrows that Sebas blocked with his hand, before moving in close and pulling out her sword. She slid forward and slashed low at the knees of the Butler of Steel. He jumped straight up, easily avoiding her attack, however while he was in the air, she was hot on his heels, having turned, compressed herself like a coiled spring, and leapt at him in turn. Her free hand grabbed at his collar and yanked to throw him off balance, before bringing her sword to his neck in what would be a killing blow to most potential threats.

However his palm knocked away her sword, and he followed with a kick to her sternum, which Neia blocked with a palm of her own, and pushed off, buying distance to redraw her bow and fire two more arrows, before darting in and trying to strike the solar plexus to knock the wind out of Sebas, who in response chopped down at her shoulder, only to see her roll away, draw and fire again, before leaping forward and stabbing at his exposed armpit.

He avoided the blow, after which she chopped at the exposed side with her mana enhanced hand. After several minutes of back and forth, Sebas leapt back and Cocytus called a halt.

“A fine display.” Cocytus answered, “Seamless incorporation of range and close strikes utilizing speed and precision blows and the use of your sword gives you both a shield, a weapon, and a distraction to give your free hand an opening. You built this system yourself?” Cocytus asked.

“I did.” Neia replied with a humble bow.

“From what did you draw it?” Cocytus asked with professional interest.

Neia wiped the sweat from her brow and cast it off into the grass as she put away her weapon. “My time on the wall. I was never very good with a sword but, I remember noticing that as long as I was attacking, could keep the other side responding. And if I kept them reacting to me, I could create openings. Also, my free hand lets me switch weapons easily for either distance, creating lots of opportunities that any one alone just doesn’t provide.” She had sounded like a true professional as she accounted for those things, though with some clear anxiety when she mentioned the wall.

However as she went on, her voice became equal parts awed and filled with glee, “I realized this when I watched Our Lord fight Busar. He switched from one weapon to another as well as using his magic. I learned from him how important it is to be able to use many ways to engage my enemies.”

Sebas straightened his coat, “Very impressive, were I a peak level platinum adventurer, I’m sure you would have defeated me, your style controls the flow of battle by way of controlling the flow of your body, I can see why Cocytus thought my monk techniques could be of help. I will teach you what I can while you are here. If you can further develop your control over magic, you will be able to enhance your abilities further.”

Neia grinned from ear to ear, “I can’t wait.” She chirped with a cheerful voice.

The first exercise was to set up an encampment... which they quickly made a mess of, leaving the carts lined up and trying to patrol them, left them vulnerable at every point to massed attack. As a result, they lost over 80% of the skeletons in the first attack before they could muster a defense.

When the second exercise took place, they knew to contract their wagons into a small circle, as small as possible, and they kept the skeletons inside the circle while they held the wagons themselves... they did better then, sort of... except for when the blunted arrows were accidentally fired into the backs of their colleagues as those men and women leapt down from the carts, in front of the archers just as they loosed their volley, and a distraction perpetrated by the lizardmen resulted in a penetration that saw seventy percent casualties before it could be dealt with.

The third attempt went well, the archers stayed back and fired in an arc behind the warriors after tightly compressing their next crop of skeletons in the wagon circle, and it continued to go well until it didn’t, which is to say that when a simulated night fell, they could see nothing, and they were picked off one by one.

On the fourth attempt they lit torches and stationed guards, only to find that fail too because the hostiles targeted the torch emplaced guards.

This prompted Cocytus to say, “If you keep your torches where you stand, you’ll see several feet out and then nothing beyond it, instead, stagger your torches at a distance, and stay back from them, that way you will be in the darkness, and you will be looking into the light, and anyone who approaches, you will see before they can see you.”

They followed that excellent advice and caught the lizardman advance.

This led to a series of bouts with blunted swords, that saw the humans and their lizardman counterparts gradually both continue to improve.

They had no idea how long they were practicing for in the frozen moment, before at last Cocytus called a halt when Ainz returned and dispelled his time stop magic. “My master has decreed that you should not be made to suffer unduly by the stress of constant action. Therefore you will be served a meal and given six hours of recreation time, and then Sebas will provide guidance in monk arts that will improve your existing combat skills.”

Neia expressed her gratitude, but she could not help but ask, “How long have we been training for... in... I don’t know... real time?”

Cocytus did not have a mouth suitable for smiling, but she thought she could hear a smile in his voice when he said, “My master has chosen to not reveal that, not until the end will you know what you have achieved.” Neia’s face appeared slightly disappointed, but she accepted the answer, and then her jaw dropped... as seemed to happen every time Lord Ainz presented something. For what she saw was a series of maids of unrivaled beauty pushing carts filled with food and drinks.

Having lived a relatively meager existence merely sustaining herself on field craft, rations, and whatever her parents could provide when she was a child, this was a whole new experience. “Line up, take a plate, bowl, and cup each, and help yourselves as you move down the line, my master calls this a ‘buffet’. If you wish another helping, please feel free.” Sebas said kindly.

“What... are these things?” One of the men asked in awe.

One by one Sebas gestured to the items and identified them, “That is crab, that is dragon steak, that is hamburger, made from cattle, that is lobster, that is a stew called minestrone, those cold items are desserts called ice cream...” One by one he rattled off the names, but people had ceased to care what they were called... though the dragon steak did raise eyebrows, what mattered was the taste of paradise as they dug in. It was so overwhelming that it wasn’t until after the first helping and the start of the second that the humans began to converse with the lizardmen.

Internally, Neia sighed with relief. ‘That is a load off my mind,’ she thought to herself, ‘If I’m being honest about it, I wasn’t sure they would be able to work with demihumans, but perhaps because there were no lizardman invaders and they are the servants of our savior, they can do so without fear or reservation.’ Her thoughts on the matter faded as the explosion of flavor went off in her mouth as she drank something called a ‘mango juice’. ‘What else was there to try, if even one item was this good?!’

...Throne Room...

Meanwhile, alone in the throne room, Demiurge and Albedo were deep in conversation.

“You felt the same thing I did, Albedo,” Demiurge said, “She’s utterly devoted to him, the power imbued in her voice could not have meant anything else, and it must have been as obvious to you as it was to me.”

Albedo fumed, she did not like other women around her master, though it was natural to tolerate those of Nazarick, this was something else entirely.

“Yes I know, and though I don’t feel the power of the voice as you do. It was clear that she has awakened the power of the evangelism profession, and she has rendered it to the service of our master. She couldn’t use it if she didn’t have dedication to something other than herself. But how strong is it?” Albedo asked after acknowledging what Demiurge had stated. She rapped her fingers on her bicep after crossing her arms impatiently. Her wings shook with mild annoyance.

“It’s hard to say,” Demiurge said as he stroked his chin thoughtfully, “At first when watching her, she could only move those who shared the common tragedy that she had. Since then however, she’s been giving nightly speeches and has constantly been improving her ability, like training with a sword. Practice makes for mastery, she can now win others over who are very different from herself. In addition her exhortations are providing stat boosts to those who follow her and penalties to those who do not, I would say she is about level three.”

“We have no evangelists among us, I’ve no way to gauge just how significant that is. Give me the context for your analysis.” Albedo said as patiently as she could, “I dislike any woman’s affection for my beloved, but for the sake of usefulness I’ll tolerate almost anything.”

Demiurge suppressed a mild laugh at the more than slightly obsessive lust that he heard barely beneath the surface of her words. “It may be slightly higher than that, but it is so difficult to tell. But as far as significance goes, well we’ve yet to see another like that in this world. Swordsmen, paladins, monks, all of these are plentiful. But not a single evangelist anywhere. I would say her rarity alone is valuable, if only for when she dies.”

“Dies?” Albedo asked curiously.

“It’s inevitable I think. When her power peaks in that class, if she dies, we can make some truly unique undead, or so I believe. If nothing else, I can learn a great deal from her corpse I’m sure.”

“That makes sense of course. But you’re sure she’s not at the peak already?” Albedo asked with more than academic curiosity in her tone.

“I would know if she were level five, at that stage she could call on the aura of the one she serves, and she is definitely unable to do that. But her ability to both intimidate and to inspire suggests level three.”

Albedo raised her eyebrow at that, “Level three... well the locals of this world seem to not have the same restrictions we do, can she use the command voice as you do to control others?” She asked with a measure of concern at the thought.

“No. I doubt any human will ever be that powerful, but still, she is the first evangelist I have seen in this world. But if she is not as devoted as she seems, then she should be disposed of.” He said, a sentiment that Albedo found herself in agreement with.

“Shall we do the ritual of the Supreme Beings to see who gets to test her, and watch her fail?” Albedo asked, confident that the limits of human devotion stopped at the conflict of self-preservation.

“Agreed. Best of three or just once?” He asked.

“Once.” She replied succinctly.

Their hands went back, then snapped forward... “Rock!” they said, and drew their hands back swiftly again... “Paper!” they snapped out and drew their hands back again... “Scissors!” they shouted and drew their hands back again... “Shoot!” they shouted and snapped their hands into position, Albedo held her hand in a fist...while Demiurge had his flat as paper.

“I win!” Demiurge exclaimed with a smile, prompting a huff from Albedo.

“Very well, you see if her devotion to our lord is greater than it is to her own life. But when she fails, I want you to make sure that the way she dies is humiliating, degrading, painful, and slow.”

Demiurge’s cruel smile didn’t change, “Albedo... when have I ever had any other way?” They shared a laugh, and Demiurge walked away.

...Sixth Floor...

For some time Neia could think of nothing else but the experience of this amazing meal, and her revelling might have gone on for longer, if she had not felt a hand on her shoulder, and a well-dressed frogman asked to speak with her alone.

She swallowed quickly, and stood up, “Of course, sir. I am at your disposal.” He began to walk, and Neia stayed beside him.

“I am Demiurge, a guardian of Nazarick.” He said, introducing himself.

“Neia Baraja, at your service, sir.” She said simply.

As they moved away from the others, he asked her pointedly, “What is Lord Ainz to you?”

She didn’t even hesitate. “He is a god. The god of justice, and the only god in this world I serve.”

“I see, not the god of magic, life, or death?” He asked.

Neia pursed her lips in thought and looked at the ground for a moment, before raising her face to meet his gaze, “No. Oh, it is true his magic power is beyond anything in this world, and one might call him a god just for that. It is also true that he is able to provide life and unlife to the dead and there is no living being he could not defeat. However, these are only tools and aspects of being himself, and while he is greater in those than others, I call him the god of justice because he can literally define justice for all the world. He is the ultimate arbiter, and his will is done over any that might be foolish enough to contest against him. If that is not a god, I do not know what a god is.”

Demiurge silently accepted her words, and then said, “And if your god demands your life?”

Neia’s eyes were afire when she declared, “Then my life is his, tell me now how I can best die in his service, and I will make it so.”

Demiurge produced a dagger from his pocket dimension.

“Your words will please the Supreme One, I will pass them to him after your body has gone cold.” He said politely.

Neia looked at him in discomfort but stayed silent to listen. Demiurge’s words were silky soft and said with a gentle, friendly smile.

‘He is enjoying this.’ Neia realized, ‘But so what, a god requires many kinds of servants. Including this one.’ She reminded herself, and listened as he explained.

“Lord Ainz requires your life, and he requires it immediately. Push this into your heart, and his will shall be fulfilled.” He then held out the dagger, the handle toward her hand.

Neia began to remove her armor, “Then let his will be done in all the world, as it is in Nazarick. Tell him I said thank you for everything, and that his humble servant begs that he please lend his power to my people when I am gone.” She said, and as the armor fell to the ground, she snatched the dagger, met his gaze, and put it over her heart. “Also, please tell him I didn’t hesitate.” She said and the black flash of her eyes was beautifully demonic, impenetrable as ink and hard as armor, she did not blink as she brought the dagger home full force.

Nothing happened. The dagger shook in her hands, the tip did not even penetrate her shirt, she looked down at it in frustration, then drew it out away from her body with both hands as far as her arms could stretch. She tried again, drawing it in swift as one of her arrows from a bow. The dagger was clearly at her flesh, but no matter how hard she brought it to bear over her heart it would not pierce her skin.

She brought it out again and again, and slammed it against her heart as hard as she could. She tried to turn it sideways and draw it across her throat, but it would not cut. She tried to force it into her eye, but though she could feel it at her pupil, it would not even scratch the surface of that vulnerable part of her. Demiurge was standing over her, watching intently.

She began screaming in a rage at herself, “Why won’t I die?! His will must be done! I must die! I have to!” She pushed the dagger at her chest again with such force that she felt her bones ache, but the tip would not enter.

She snapped her frantic gaze toward the frogman and began to cry. “I’m trying!” She shouted, “I don’t know what’s wrong, I’m really trying! I swear it!” She snarled out and held the tip at her throat. Her legs locked up, she closed her eyes, and she leaned forward intending to fall and force it to open up her veins that way.

“Stop.” Said Demiurge, and he reached out and stopped her with one hand. Neia paused as his hand held her back from the fall. When he’d righted her, he turned his hand over and held it out. “Give me the dagger.” He said. She looked at him uncertainly but flipped it around and put the pommel in his hand. Already she was trying to choke out a plea for forgiveness for her failure to end her life. Her lower lip began to quiver, only to freeze as Demiurge spoke.

“You could never kill yourself with this, nor anyone else. It’s the Dagger of Paradox. You can only do things with it that you do not intend to do, and can never do what you want. If you tried to kill yourself for a thousand lifetimes, it would fail to so much as break the skin, if you accidentally dropped it on your foot, you could easily lose all your toes. If you had tried to pretend to end your life, you would have the dagger in your heart right now.”

Neia’s face calmed down as understanding dawned. “It was a test?” She asked in a small voice.

“Yes,” Demiurge said with a nod, “...and you passed.”

Neia’s face was conflicted, and then Demiurge clarified, “The test was of my devising, not that of Lord Ainz, as his servant, I must ensure all those he trusts are worthy of that trust, and Lord Ainz has placed great trust in your devotion to his will.”

‘Lord Ainz trusts me?!’ Neia thought as her face expressed her pure joy as the words echoed in her mind and she impulsively hugged Demiurge, who was caught off-guard by the gesture, but he gingerly disentangled himself, trying not to hurt her as he did so.

Back in the throne room, the remaining guardians available, were watching through the mirror of remote viewing as Neia struggled to end her life and go almost mad at the failure, and the change to happiness when she hugged Demiurge, before turning the mirror off.

“It was a cruel test.” Shalltear said, a sentiment that surprised others who knew her merciless ways. “Don’t you agree, is there any fate worse than failing the last Supreme Being, as one who did fail once, even I can pity her if she went completely crazy over it.” She said, and this prompted a consensus that Demiurge had indeed been cruel.

“But,” Albedo said, “it would not have been cruel if she had not passed the test, then it would have just been useless meat being disposed of. Now we know, and I begin to see what my precious Ainz, wisest of the Supreme Beings, sees in these humans. If they are capable of the same devotion we are, some of them at least, are worth having around.”

Shalltear’s eye twitched at Albedo’s word of ‘my precious Ainz’, but she silently dismissed it as she and the guardians dispersed back to their duties.

...Sixth Floor...

Neia returned to the training grounds, and their sessions resumed, hour after grinding hour, she had no idea how long it had been in those timeless moments. It was hours, days, weeks, perhaps even months of constant drilling, training in combat, learning the sword from Cocytus and lizardman alike. Interspersed between these sessions of combat, were strength exercises, and for those expected to lead in some capacity, additional lessons drawn from books… only to go right back to training against monsters summoned just for them to face, and demihuman golems of the sort that still hid in the countryside and mountains.

The terrain changed that they had to account for in securing the caravan, so that they learned how to fight uphill, downhill and in mountains and forests. They were taught something called ‘sign language’ to speak silently with one another, and the scouts were guided by a group called ‘The Eight Edge Assassins’ in the art of stealth.

While talents were developed relentlessly, only intermittently did Ainz unfreeze time, allowing them to celebrate milestones, and they were taught the arts of war and strategy, opening up worlds of knowledge they had never dreamt of before coming to the dreamland of Nazarick... and then at last, after what seemed like an eternity, Ainz announced, “This is the last unfrozen moment, you have completed your training, we will celebrate your progress in my grand hall, and then you will return, for tomorrow your mission begins. I will have some runecrafted equipment delivered to you tomorrow, and you will make me proud of you all. Of that I am sure.” Ainz’ noble voice had a hint of enthusiasm and praise. His red eyes gleamed brightly, piercing the band’s eyes as if he could see their thoughts.

They cleaned themselves up, and walked into the dining hall, and jaws did as they were now used to doing... which is to drop at the phenomenal and intricate artwork, which Ainz began to explain to them, leaving them in an even deeper awe.

A rousing series of speeches followed, from Cocytus, from their lizardmen counterparts, to Neia, who expressed her thanks to Ainz and the denizens of Nazarick for their time and instruction, and at last Ainz stood to speak. “You were worth teaching, you will do me proud, it was a year well spent. Now go forth and make my justice known.”

That was how they dropped the bomb... their ‘month’ had been expanded into a full year for them by training in frozen time, and their explosive growth and breadth of knowledge suddenly made more sense. There were murmurs of surprise, excitement and admiration among the band.

When the dinner was concluded, Ainz summoned [Gate] and when the humans had formed up behind Neia, they knelt as one and shouted, “Long live Ainz Ooal Gown!” Until their voices were hoarse, and at a gesture from Ainz, they stood, and walked through the gate, larger, stronger, faster, and wiser than they had been when they first walked into Nazarick.

What awaited them beyond the gate was a world they would never see the same way again, and which in turn, would never see them the same way again either. That much both the human band of Black Justice and the denizens of Nazarick, were certain of.