OVERLORD: GOD OF THE NEW WORLD - CHAPTER 33

I woke up in my bed, sweating, the nightmares since my battle with the Dragon Lords had not stopped, each time they became more vivid, more real, more strange. At first I ignored them, as they would normally make no sense, but as of lately, things have started to become strange for me.

For one, I no longer feel like I have to eliminate everyone that is strong enough to entertain me outside Nazarick, I simply didn’t crave battle like I used to, I also found myself finding Ainz’s methods on his conquest rather cruel, and this was when I realized those dragons had actually done something to me.

But how to tackle a disease with no real symptoms, I mean, I felt the same, and at times I would act the same, but more than not, I would find myself questioning my own actions, I was… I felt how I felt before becoming Alastor, I felt human inside.

From that point, my nights were spent on a singular mission. Finding out what exactly they did to me, and why I now found myself with a conscience.

And as I investigated this, I started to question my own motives for this mission. Did I want to be the clear psychopath I was before? This question alone haunted me, because I had no idea if this sudden change of heart was the real me, or something the dragons did to change me.

I mean, I was immune to mind control, but did that apply to Karmitic changes? I couldn’t really tell, not until I knew for sure what the ritual was, so I went to the dragon kingdom, and asked their queen.

To my surprise, she seemed to be waiting for me, and without hesitation gave me all the information she had on the ritual. With the scrolls and notes of this ritual, I started to study, if this was some kind of brainwash that went beyond my defenses I wanted to break, and if it wasn’t… well, I would decide when I got to that bridge. 

Hours and hours of my life were spent on those scrolls, trying to understand what had happened to me, and as I read them I found messages the Dragon Lord had left behind, messages addressed to me, with answers to questions I would get while studying the ritual, it was as if the Dragon had expected me to come here, to think he had seen so far ahead, in was impressive. 

The scroll went into high detail about how the summoning ritual worked, and how our souls changed to match our new bodies to perfection, this explained why Ainz the most friendly guy in the entire world was okay with things like massmurder and such, a guy that before would faint at the sight of real blood.

The more I read, the less I knew what I wanted to do. I was at an impasse with myself, I knew the me of now, was the me of before, but was that me the right call for this world… I didn’t know, mostly because in both cases I was afraid to do anything. If I went back to my Nazarick self, I would be allowing the faulty ritual to dictate my behavior, but if I stayed like I was… I would be allowing the dragon lords to dictate my behavior.

In both paths, I was but a pawn of the circumstances I was currently in, both paths would shackle me to a destiny without real freedom. 

In short, I had a call to make, Good or Evil.

With the notes I had, reversing the ritual was easy enough, but that would simply shackle me to my prideful arrogant psychopathic self. If I didn’t do anything, I would be the man I was before coming here, but with time I would become more and more good, for the lack of a better term, and I didn’t want, the reason I came here, was to be truly free, I wanted to pick for myself, not be a slave of the circumstances.

Good or Evil, those things didn’t matter to me, not at all. I wanted to be free, more than anything, it was after all the main reason I basically killed myself to come here.

-If you truly wish to break free from all the shackles on this world, go to the world between worlds, the place where you became what you are now, only there you will be able to pick a path for yourself, everything you need… is in Emperor’s Dragon Lord house… there you will find the path to the world between worlds-

Funny right? That was the last note, how stupid I was before to let this overgrown lizard play me like a yoyo, he knew he was going to die, he planned accordingly, he knew I would come to his granddaughter for answers, he knew I would reject both paths, and in the end, gave me what I needed, how funny is that…

“Do you have everything you need?” the dragon queen asked, tense as she looked at me, even a fool could see she feared me, and I couldn’t blame her, a week ago I would’ve killed her just for annoying my study session.

“I do,” I sighed, saving the scrolls in my inventory, “I will take my leave now.”

“Are you going to kill us?” the queen asked, bold move from her part, I found that funny.

“I won’t, my friend might,” I answered with a shrug, “I no longer crave death as I did before, but I am no hero, so you are on your own, worry not though, my friend is not as violent as me, he will likely offer you a chance to surrender,” I chuckled, “A piece of advice, take it… you stand no chance against him,”

“I see,” the queen sighed.

“Well, bye…” I sighed, teleporting back to Nazarick will all the information I had acquired, wondering if I wanted to tell Ainz about this, for a part of me worried how he would react.