Harbingers of Change

Chapter 6

Momonga put the last documents of the day in an appropriate stack and leaned back in his office chair. For the last few days, his leisure time consisted of watching Rubedo's activities with Remote Viewing. Lately, the angelic golem's actions had gotten more and more bizarre.

At first, she just touched and sniffed and in some cases even tried to taste various objects. Then she started to follow maids around to watch them work. Now it has escalated to the level that she was touching and sniffing other people.

Complaints from Eclair, the assistant butler, alone were a stack on its own. Her most outrageous offense against Eclair was from two days ago when she grabbed the penguin, plucked out some of his feathers, and consumed them.

Until now, the assistant butler only needed to be worried about Shizu Delta using him as a plush toy. Adding Rubedo to the mix was too much for the penguin and he was sending letters of complaint to everyone on a daily basis. Half of his manservant staff was doing nothing else but delivering the strongly worded letters to their intended recipients.

Right off the bat, he caught Rubedo assaulting one of the potted palms on the ninth floor, chewing its leaves. 'Just what the hell is she doing?' things were clearly getting out of hand.

{ Albedo, bring Rubedo over to me! } He messaged the guardian overseer and not even a minute later Albedo and Rubedo teleported into his office.

{ Albedo, come closer and activate the shield. Be prepared to retreat if she goes hostile. }

{ My lord, Rubedo would not… What did she do this time? }

{ Her behavior is too strange to be ignored. If she shows hostility I will deactivate her.} 'If that will even work of course.'

{ Understood, Lord Momonga. } Albedo replied and walked around the table to stand by his chair.

She activated the defensive shield and then asked Rubedo with a clear and loud voice. "Sister, Lord Momonga demands an explanation from you about your recent activities."

Rubedo tilted her head in confusion and asked in a neutral voice. "What activities?"

"Harassing the cleaning staff, eating and touching objects, not to mention the near constant assault on the assistant butler!" Albedo raised her voice. "I have six different letters from him with a demand to, and I quote, 'Keep that winged menace away from me and my staff!' Two of them were sent on the same day!"

"Are those activities wrong? I was just following protocols." Rubedo responded in a tone that betrayed a hint of nervousness.

'What protocols? Could it be that Tabula messed up something on purpose when he created her?' "Execute order seven A!" Momonga said.

Robedo's face twisted in panic, but before she could make a move she closed her eyes and froze up.

"Check if she is faking her deactivation. I need to verify a few things." Momonga said and leaned back in his chair.

Albedo took out her bardiche and put it in front of Momonga, assuming a guardian's pose. She opened the Nazarick's staff list and quickly found Rubedo with her status being inactive.

Meanwhile, Momonga relaxed and entered Nazarick. Locating Rubedo wasn't that hard as her close proximity guided his path. 'What is this?' Some sort of tendrils were coming out of her ultimate skill and wrapping themselves around the other parts of her inner psyche.

Of course, as a golem, she only had a rudimentary sentience, and that seemingly was fully engulfed in strange black tendrils.

'This is bad. Her skill is doing something to her.' He looked around. Those tendrils were everywhere. The only thing they were not touching was her connection to Ainz Ooal Gown and Nazarick. Suddenly one tendril started to move to his direction but stopped some distance away, grew an eye, and looked at him.

A moment later, the tendril reshaped itself into a humanoid figure with a single eye in the otherwise formless head and kneeled down in an awkward position.

"What are you?" Momonga couldn't help but ask.

"Zhratgz'a is a name given to me. I am… from outside. I am… different than… than beings of form." The thing responded with the voice of Rubedo that came from all directions at once. Whatever the being was, it seemingly was struggling to put words together in a cohesive manner.

"What have you done to Rubedo?" Momonga asked.

"Done? This form…Rubedo… no awareness. Only weak sentience. I can give to her more, become one with it. Let me… be. I have done no harm, only helped to be aware."

'This thing has taken over. I hope the resetting of Rubedo will help to get rid of it.'

"Activate restoration order…" Momonga started to say, but the thing shouted. "Wait! Please… listen…"

"Please… listen." The thing repeated with a pleading voice.

"Go on." Momonga reluctantly said.

"This form. Rubedo. Vacant, no awareness. I can give it true awareness, become one with it. She wouldn't be gone, she and I would become one. Let me stay in this… ordered reality." The thing sounded like a crying child extending a hand in a pleading motion.

"If you think you can manipulate me you are wrong!"

"No! Not manipulate. Please let me exist here. I will serve you unquestioningly. Your will… Absolute to me. I wish to be. Ordered existence gives new sensations, pleasant sensations." The thing assumed a form similar to Rubedo but with a single eye and pitch black hair.

She then took a step towards Momonga. "Can't harm you… Master. See?" and extended her hand for Momonga to touch.

'This could be some trick to take over me as well.'

"Let me be, let me serve. I only ask to experience the ordered existence." She repeated again while nudging her hand closer. "There is no… trick."

When Momonga took a step back, the thing kneeled once again. "I will be your servant, your weapon."

'Why do my instincts tell me to trust it?' As much as he wanted to purge the thing, its pleas sounded genuine. 'What if I try to remove it and it doesn't work? If it wants to serve, how could I ensure its obedience?'

Some sort of failsafe was needed. Momonga looked around for a solution and soon found one. He put a trigger shield around the entirety of Rubedo's core with two simple commands: first was to deactivate Rubedo, and second was to reset her to base settings.

In theory, it should cut out the skill that was corrupted, or more precisely, the skill that corrupted her. The moment this thing tries to make its way toward Nazarick, the failsafe would activate.

He moved his awareness out and back within the shield, and with a guess that one touch would not instantly corrupt him, he extended his hand toward the thing. She stood up and carefully put her hand into his. The touch, even for his undead nature, felt painfully cold but otherwise harmless.

"See! No threat to you, master. You will control me till the end of the ordered existence. After that, I will be free to seek new experiences."

'Till the end of time? I guess if this thing is really from some weird realm, then Rubedo's actions were nothing more than this thing trying to understand ours. But what if I am wrong?'

One thing was clear: Rubedo had to have a say in this, and if she couldn't then Albedo would have to stand in for her.

"You will have your chance to remain in my service, but you will not decide what vessel I will give you." Momonga said and pointed back to his core in Nazarick. A new thread shot out of it and collided with Zhratgz'a's core, wrapping around it in a net like structure.

"Thank you, my master." She responded with a bow of her head.

"Now you will release Rubedo and I will activate her."

"As you command. I will accept any vessel you deem suited for me."

Momonga straightened out in his chair as the dark flames lit up in his empty eye sockets. He turned his gaze to the unmoving Rubedo and could see that the thing had kept their promise and released the angelic golem.

"Execute order fourteen B." He said and watched Rubedo open her eyes once again, now having her usual expressionless face. After a quick explanation to Albedo and Rubedo on what had transpired he waited for their input.

"I will accept whatever decision Lord Momonga makes." Rubedo said in a monotone voice.

"Lord Momonga I will follow your will, but I don't think my sister should be given to whatever monster has made her its home." Albedo said as she still held her bardiche in front of Momonga, ready to defend him even from her own sister.

"The creature would not take over Rubedo, but have more of a symbiotic relationship. They would, as I understand, become fully sentient and gain true awareness, but we can give it another vessel to inhabit." Momonga said.

Albedo pulled the bardiche closer to herself and carefully approached her sister.

"My sister, would you want that?" She asked, observing her unmoving face.

"My duty is to carry out my master's will." Rubedo responded without changing her tone.

"Lord Momonga. I trust you will make the right decision. I understand Rubedo is more of an automaton than a person, but she is still my sister. With our creator gone, you are the only one who can decide her fate."

"I need to be sure you are ok with this. If there is any doubt in your mind I will not let Rubedo be changed."

"Her duty is to be the strongest weapon of Nazarick. If tearing that thing out of her would weaken her, she would fail her duty." Albedo said, adding after a moment of silence. "I cannot let her fail her duty."

"Are you sure?"

"I… Yes."

{ You can merge with Rubedo. } Momonga messaged the creature.

After a moment of silence, Rubedo's face twisted into a smile as she kneeled. "Thank you, my master. I will carry out your will till the end of the ordered existence as I promised. How will you call me from now on?"

"Your name is Rubedo…" Just as he uttered those words he understood the horrible mistake that was just made. His magicule levels started to drain at unprecedented levels. In panic, he activated Nazarick's reactor and let it fuel the naming.

Both Albedo and Momonga watched in horror as Rubedo's angelic form cracked with numerous dark tendrils sprouting out of it, filling the room with a sense of dread and wrongness. The water in the air instantly froze and covered the room with a thin layer of ice that looked like it was rotting away.

The tendrils then wrapped Rubedo in a small cocoon as the energy continued pouring into her.

"What is going on?" Albedo shouted in panic, shivering in fear.

"I renamed her." Momogna responded calmly. His emotional suppression had activated a few times already and catching the right moment to appear calm wasn't that hard.

Slowly, the cocoon opened up and revealed a naked dark haired woman. Compared to Albedo, her body was slimmer and slightly more muscular. She slowly stood up and opened her eyes with two pitch black irises in each. She looked down, curiously inspecting her body and then made the remains of the cocoon retreat inside of her.

Momonga politely averted his gaze as Albedo shouted in anger. "Rubedo, why are you naked?! What happened to your armor?"

"My armor?" Rubedo tilted her head. "Oh, should I cover this form?"

"Yes!" Albedo shouted once again.

Rubedo looked first at Momonga, then at Albedo, and finally at herself. The tendrils sprouted out of her body and quickly formed a black dress that looked like an exact copy of what Albedo was wearing. "Like this, sister?" She asked, as if awaiting for approval.

"It will do for now." Albedo let out a sigh and stared at Rubedo intently. 'Is she my sister anymore? I feel her power is even greater than before, much greater, but could she be fully trusted now? I will have to look for any signs of ulterior motives.'

Momonga turned his head back to look at Rubedo. She had the same face as before, but her eyes were different. Multiple irises floated in and out of them, sometimes there was just one in each, and sometimes two or even three. Her six wings were still snow-white contrasting with her now much darker appearance.

"You understand that just as I let you merge with Rubedo I can split you two apart once again if I suspect any duplicity from you." He wasn't sure if that was possible but it was better to make this being believe it is.

"No duplicity, my master. Only servitude. But I have a… favor to ask from my sister." Rubedo said as a third pitch black eye formed on her forehead, looked around for a bit, and then disappeared.

"What favor would you want from Albedo?" Momonga asked.

"I need to learn how to behave and act when in the presence of other beings of form. The formed reality is confusing. I would be grateful if those things were explained to me." Rubedo said as she looked around the office that now had melted ice mixed with rot all over it.

After a nod from Momonga, Albedo spoke up. "Of course I will help you. But are you really my sister anymore?"

"Half of my being is the entity that was your sister. Would that not be enough? Or does this title 'sister' only count if the entirety of the being is unchanged?" Rubedo asked with a childlike curiosity. Most terms used were somewhat of a mystery to her. 'Sister' was supposed to mean that her form, and that of Albedo's, were made by the same creator but the addition of Zhratgz'a made it seem like that was not the case anymore.

"I guess that will be enough. Please wait in my quarters, I will join you when I can." Albedo replied.

The moment Rubedo left the office Albedo looked around with disgust. "She ruined your office, my Lord."

"It's fine. These things can be replaced." Momonga said with a sigh. 'I just know that the smell of rot will linger for a while.' "I think it's more important to bring the new Rubedo up to speed on how she should behave. If what we witnessed was any indication, full exposure to her might kill or drive insane anyone below Guardian level."

Her aura could be easily suppressed with the ring of false data she was already wearing, but the ring would provide no protection against her natural void form that seemed incompatible with natural matter even at the soul level. As long as her outer, almost indestructible shell was intact it would be fine, but even a small crack was enough for her to cause massive damage and she needed to be made well aware of that fact.

"Then, Lord Momonga, with your permission, I will organize the refurbishing of your office and deal with Rubedo." Albedo said with a bow, finally putting away her bardiche.

Momonga nodded in agreement and stood up. Even his undead form wasn't enough to fully block the urge to gag. He quickly exited the office with Albedo, and after leaving her to her duties, he beelined straight to the bathing area in his quarters.

Proofreading by Kazuma, I AM THE STRING CUTTER, Saphy, Abbysalidiot, and Sad_Smiles

AN: Thank you for reading the story, and if you have caught up to the latest chapter, you can join my discord server (Link is in my profile) where additional chapters are available.