...Draconic Kingdom Capitol...

Kabak had the first good night's sleep in months, perhaps years. His kingdom had lived on the edge of life and death for generations, constantly harassed and threatened by the beastmen. This did not serve for comforting evenings or sweet dreams. However...now? Now he slept like a baby, oblivious to all danger of all kinds, because for the first time in his life since he understood the danger the beastmen posed, he felt he was not in danger at all. If anything it was the reverse, he was absolutely certain that whatever the Sorcerer King said to the beastmen, they would ignore it, their arrogance...the arrogance of the strong, would compel them to respond the way they normally did, and he was absolutely certain that those beings of unconquered strength were about to find out just what 'strength' really was.

As Kabak slept however, the Draconic Queen stayed up late, the precise terms of the Sorcerer King's offer had come to her in short order, and she sat up late and alone in her throne room except for her prime minister reading over it. The precise terms were absurdly brief, simple, and generous, outlining the territory to be given to him in exacting detail that would serve as a buffer, a single ruined city she'd already lost, plus twelve miles west of it as a space for farmland and expansion, and land to the east of it stretching to the old border. Likewise a few changes to her legal system, express prohibitions on slavery, express prohibitions on punitive forced labor to nobles or other organizations, expressly granting legal rights to all travelers, including demihumans. An unusual legal standard of equality in contract law with legal nullification by judicial decree for unjust or abusive contracts, an express set of 'workers rights' with respect to their pay and property.

"Have you read over this Vermillion?" She asked.

"I did, my Queen." He replied, his voice still awed and his eyes still wide.

"So I'm not seeing things just because I'm drunk right now?" She asked.

"My queen I have not even seen you pick up a cup since Kabak returned, you would have had to be even more impressively drunk than usual for you to still be drunk enough to be seeing things now." He said, nonplussed by her question. Their long working relationship was the reason he could get away with saying such things, truth be told she was glad of his bluntness and unwillingness to pull punches with her, it helped keep her grounded in dire times.

She swallowed, she had no real retort but said, "Careful there Vermillion," she waved the treaty in his direction, "I might just replace you with whatever advisor came up with all these ideas."

"Your majesty, if you could lure such an adviser to your side, I would resign immediately, and not just to deny you the pleasure of firing me, but because such a figure is far beyond my own abilities and could serve you better than I ever have." He shook his head numbly. "I think however, it wasn't an adviser who did this." He said as he held up his own copy. "I have read transcripts of some of the Sorcerer King's speeches, and this reads the way he speaks, I think he did this by himself, it bears only a single voice throughout, I can find no part that feels like any other author's input." He said softly, "I've heard he is unfathomably intelligent, this would seem to confirm it."

Before the Queen could return a response of her own, a gate opened in the middle of the throne room, and through it stepped the specter of death, dressed in clothing worth the price of a kingdom, bearing a staff of overwhelming beauty and power, and a skinless face and red eyes that looked through the very soul. It was the Sorcerer King, she was sure of that much, it could be no other. She composed herself as quickly as she could, while Vermillion froze in place as he looked at the face of eternity.

"Good evening, Queen Draudillon Oriculus," he inclined his head politely, "I am the Sorcerer King, Ainz Ooal Gown. It is a pleasure to meet you in person."

She swallowed hard, her dragon inherited instincts screamed about the incredible value of the objects that adorned him, it was unbelievable, yet it was real. Curiously from him, she felt no magic power at all, a thing that made no sense given the destructive reports of his magic...and what she'd just seen, that gate was clearly magic on another level entirely from what she knew.

"It is." She mustered out her reply at last. "I am overjoyed to finally meet our would be savior. I have read over your terms, and they are generous beyond measure, but...what brings you here? We are of course happy to receive you, but had you told us you were coming, we could have prepared a reception for you." She added.

Ainz shrugged, the gesture seemed so natural...he was gifted at acting like the living.

"I am not much for ceremony, and I prefer to see things done. If you are satisfied with the terms, we may sign the treaty now, and I will go deal with the beastmen now. I assume you would prefer that, to an elaborate ball held for a King who has not done anything for you yet." His voice had a thundering timbre of nobility to it, she could swear he was speaking to her very soul, not merely to her face.

"I...thank you sire." She said softly, "I have cursed my misfortune many times and my inability to act and do what my people need me to do, if you can accomplish this, I will be forever grateful, as will all my people." She said and took a quill offered by Vermillion and scrawled her name across the bottom of the treaty.

Ainz signed it in turn, and then they each signed a copy of it, so that each nation would bear a copy of its own for reference.

"Then it is done, and I will go." He said, "We can celebrate the safety of your people when their safety is achieved."

"That will be the first time I've drunk with happiness." She said.

"But...what will you do...how will you do it?" She asked, "There are so many of them, of so many types and of such power?"

"Not for long." Ainz answered, and he cast his 'gate' spell again.

"Incidentally sire, may I ask before you go...I have never seen that 'gate' spell of yours, may I ask what magic that is?"

"Its nothing special, just a ninth tier spell. Trivially easy, if you know what you're doing." He replied, before stepping through the gate.

As it closed the pair turned to look at one another, Queen and Prime minister alike, they stared at one another open mouthed and blown away.

"NINTH TIER?!" They shouted at one another, so loud that guards rushed in, fearing calamity.

Rather than reprimand them, the Queen immediately barked, "Go wake up every mage staying anywhere in the capitol, including the mages guild, and go wake up every historian out of every school, and go wake up every bard who sings of legends, and go wake up every adventurer, and bring them all to my throne room immediately!" Her voice carried the tint of urgency and they were not ones to argue with her orders.

While they waited, she spoke with Vermillion, "How can this be? can that even be real?" She asked incredulously.

Vermillion slumped over in a chair, "I honestly do not know, your majesty. I know little of magic, however we know that the Empire's former minister of magic, Fluder, could cast up to the sixth tier, and no human has ever gone farther that we know of. Legends say that the gods could cast the eighth tier, and that was the divine realm that no one, human, demihuman, heteromorph, or monster, has ever achieved. Even the dragon lords could not go beyond the seventh. Many even believe that the stories of the eight tier are merely mythical."

She thought it over, "The hero Momon supposedly had a crystal bearing eighth tier magic within it, retrieved from some distant lost ruin, and he used it to vanquish a dangerous monster that wiped out another team and, from what I hear, killed several black scripture members if our intelligence reports are accurate."

Vermillian rubbed his temple slowly from his slumped position. "I honestly do not know, majesty."

They continued to talk and draw no conclusions until mages, bards, historians, and adventurers began to filter in to the throne room, they were bleary eyed as could be, but summoned by the Queen herself, they could not refuse. When the last of them assembled, she asked bluntly, "Have any of you ever heard of ninth tier magic?"

Blank expressions met her face.

"Impossible." A mage replied.

"Never." An adventurer said firmly.

"Absolutely not." A bard said, "Except..."

"For one thing." A historian finished, and they looked at each other in surprise.

"Say it." The Queen said.

"Majesty, know that this is a wholly unconfirmed report, it is of only the most minor note, a single sentence in a single book." A historian said hesitantly, doing his damnedest to downplay the material.

"Well, what is it?" She asked impatiently.

"There is a an ancient text that reads about the gods of old, they were expanding the area controlled by humans, and one of the settlements was under attack, and Surshana, the god of death, used a scroll that created a hole in the air, black as night which crackled with power around it, and then he stepped through it, and saved the people of the settlement. This spell is said to be nineth tier."

The bard nodded, "I know that story, I use that scene in my songs and stories, I heard from another bard who grew up in that area that they even memorialize the place where he appeared and saved the place. Supposedly the statue of Surshana is placed on the very spot he appeared for their rescue. The thing is, its the only place I ever use that story because I don't know of anyone else ever doing it, and it seems impossible for a spell like that to actually exist."

"I see." She said. "Anyone else?" Silence greeted her.

"Thank you." She said. "Take ten silver each for your time on your way out."

When they were alone again the prime minister looked at her, and she looked back at him.

"I'd say we've just confirmed that the nineth tier exists and that he can use it." Vermillion said flatly.

"I'd say so, but more than that he said it was easy, that suggests there is even higher magic, how high can he go?" She asked in a hushed voice.

Vermillion's breathing grew shallow, "Lets make sure that...when we find that out, we are either beside him or behind him, and not in front of him." He said emphatically.

"Agreed." She said with conviction.

...At the Beastman ruled city of Ha'ak Pale...

Beastmen still stood watch on the walls, but they were very lazy about it. Humans were no real threat, this was more like busy work as far as they were concerned. Still, it had its perks, a few bound up humans were kept on the wall with them so they'd have something to eat, and as bearmen they ate a lot, all the way up until winter.

Their shift was nearly over, which was good, because they had only four humans left between them out of the original six. One of the bearmen looked down at the humans that were trapped there, he approached, he reached for one, it pissed itself and began to cry...then he reached for another, and got a similar reaction, then another, and it tried to wiggle away on its belly and got nowhere, before he settled on another human, its eyes were wide and staring up at the sky, not even seeing his claw. He'd been around enough humans to know what it was, it was a human woman, young one too. He touched her thigh and pinched it, the flesh was still soft and tender, she didn't react, she was in shock. This was a popular game for the beastmen, first eat a human in front of others, torture it by slow consumption to ensure it doesn't die painlessly, then keep the others nearby, and scare them relentlessly. Approach, pretend to be hungry, then when the human cries or wets or shits itself or otherwise degrades itself by pathetic weak behavior...ignore it. Humans had caught on to the game, they weren't stupid, sometimes they competed to degrade themselves, just because those who stopped, were sure to be eaten even if the beastmen weren't hungry. Only active toys were kept around for any period of time, and this on was now broken. That meant she might as well get eaten.

The bearman grinned viciously, "Looks like I win." He said to his companion, who grumbled about it, the one who got a human that mentally broke, got to eat first, and this one was ideal, young, soft, ample breasts, the last human he'd eaten had been desperate to protect her, for all the good it had done, now it was her turn. If she cared, she gave no sign, that was the only downside to the game, when one of them broke to far, there was no terror to savor, but the meat was still good and it was fun along the way.

It should have been just as much so this time, but his companion tapped him on the shoulder and pointed out into the distance. The sun was coming up, and in the light of the false dawn they could see a skeletal figure approaching the wall, it hadn't been there before...they didn't think, but it was clearly there now. Beastmen did not care for the undead, zombie meat was rotted and skeletons had no meat at all, disliking the undead was one of the few things they had in common with humans.

They were about to raise the alarm, but this was odd, usually the undead appeared in groups, and this one was alone. It also was remarkably well dressed, so as they puzzled over the meaning of its approach, they raised no alarm. The gate was made of iron, not impossible to break through in a siege, but not easy either, but probably impossible for one undead. So...what was it doing?

Their unspoken question was answered when the skeleton spoke.

"I am the Sorcerer King, Ainz Ooal Gown, and you are trespassing. You will abandon this city and every living being in it, or you will die." He said bluntly. The bear man laughed uproariously at this and picked up the human woman by her ankle, "Stupid skeleton, I won't abandon my dinner! Neither will the rest of us!" He licked at the woman's flesh, and she just dangled there, it was a painful position, upside down, gripped in a bear's paw, other leg hanging limp and tugging on her groin, but she showed no feeling, just a sickening whimper passing her lips at the feel of the bearman's tongue, she softly whispered out the name of the man who died futily to protect her, and waited for the end with eyes closed.

It was because her eyes were closed that she did not see what happened next. "Grasp heart." Ainz said, and squeezed, and the bearman fell dead, dropping the woman hard to the stone underneath her. The other bearman looked on in shock, Ainz pointed at him. "Go, inform your commander that he has one hour to abandon this city or I will kill every beastman within it. If I do not see you move to obey in five seconds, you will fall down dead as your partner did."

The bearman wasted not a single moment, and Ainz activated an item and ascended to the top of the wall where the woman had fallen.

She looked up from where she lay, groaning in pain, and Ainz looked over her injuries, she'd been badly abused, there were cuts and bruises everywhere, she had broken fingers and toes, her ankles were snapped so she couldn't run, and she appeared to be all but catatonic.

'Shock.' He thought to himself.

"Are you...death?" She asked softly, "Are you Surshana, have I died?" She mustered out the question as she looked at his skeletal face.

"Save your questions." He said, "Answers will come in time, simply know for now that you will not die today, and you are not dead now."

She closed her eyes again and let tears fall, the other humans were not much better off than she, and gibbered like mad men. "Silence." Ainz said in his noble voice. "Your Queen has asked that you be rescued. Your rescue is here." He said.

That set off a whole new round of talking.

"The queen?"

"How did she get the undead to help?"

"Who cares, even if it kills us, its better than what we were going to have happen?"

Ainz let them chatter quietly as he waited for a response, and he did not wait long, an impressive looking lion man approached the wall, and a bearman pointed up at Ainz.

"That is the one right there! He killed Dagin instantly!" The bearman's voice was filled with terror, it was not unusual for beastmen to die, even humans could inflict casualties, but the casual ease of it, the suddenness, chilled him to the bone.

Ainz pointed to the bearman guard. "You. Do not move." He said The bearman froze except for his trembling, but the lion man appeared to be made of sterner stuff.

"How are you?!" He said, "We rule Ha'ak Pale now, the humans here are OUR meat, and we will not give them up, now what are you, one measly undead, going to do about it!" His nostrils emitted a snort of contempt.

"This." Ainz said. "Grasp heart." He squeezed, and the commander fell over dead. "To the next in command, you have fifty five minutes to leave this city and every human in it, or I will kill you all."

"Kill it!" a tigerman shouted, before instantly falling over dead as Ainz used 'grasp heart' once again.

Beastmen were not known for their cowardice, and they did try to fight, save for the one bearman who had been told not to move, but even as they approached, Ainz simply killed them with a single spell, first using one skeletal hand, then two, and they dropped like flies. And every five minutes, he announced that they were running out of time.

"You have fifty minutes to leave!" And then he killed more who approached.

"You have forty five minutes to leave!" And then more who approached fell over dead.

This went on until there was only one minute remaining and those who were still alive ceased their attacks and turned and fled. One minute was not enough time to abandon a city, and none of those but the bearman reached the gate. "Create undead, death knight!" he said, and one of the bodies was covered in black fluid, and slowly took form. When it stood before the bearman in all its nightmarish horror, Ainz said, "Go, kill every beastman in this city except that one, and harm no humans." Ainz pointed to the bearman, who was suddenly understanding human fear very, very well as the Deathknight turned its gaze away and rushed off. There were a great many screams out of his sight as the death knight tore through his comrades like they were not there, the sound of a smashing shield, screaming throats, and breaking bodies did not go quiet for a very...very long time as far as he was concerned.

His relief did not endure as the Sorcerer King descended the stairs, and the bearman felt the approach of death itself, when the Sorcerer King stood over him, it was all he could do to kneel in submission. "You will go to the next nearest city, you will tell them what happened here, you will tell them that I will approach that city tomorrow, you will tell them that if I find them there, I will kill them all. You will tell them that if I find a single human having been eaten or tortured in the time between your arrival and mine, then they will not be killed, only wish that they had been, until their dying day. Get...out...now." Ainz said, and released his aura of dispair, and all resistance to the Sorcerer King, had their been any left, melted away like ice in summer sun.

The bearman scurried out of the gate as fast as he could go, casting away weapons and armor to give himself as much speed as possible.

When this was done, Ainz went to the humans on the wall and removed their bonds.

"Who...are you?" One of the humans asked. "I am Ainz Ooal Gown, ruler of the Sorcerous Kingdom."

"Aren't you undead? Why do you help us?" One asked.

"You have time enough to die, that there is no reason to rush it, for now we have other matters to attend to, each of you go and unbind your fellows, and tell them to do the same, let every human still living, meet me in the city's...does this city have a public meeting place?" He asked.

"An amphitheater." One of them said.

"Good, have them all gather there, I will await it, you want answers, you will come there, I will ensure your safety as you escape this place, and then tomorrow I will visit the next city."

Tears were common in the city of Ha'ak Pale, but until that night they had only been bitter, fearful, and sorrowful...and in truth many still were as they mourned the dead who had not been rescued, but there were also tears of joy at having survived, or of finding that other loved ones were also still among the living, but more than tears, there was fear and confusion still as the survivors insisted that it was an undead who had saved them, and that he had come at the behest of their queen. Many did not believe, many more could not believe, but when they found the mountain of beastman corpses they were told to give a look at before going to the amphitheater, most arrived quite certain that it had not been a human who had done the work of rescuing their lives.

It was early evening by the time they had gathered, there were some fifteen thousand out of the fortyfive thousand original inhabitants remaining, there were no elderly left among them, and very few young children. They took their seats with trepidation, fear...and a growing sense of hope that maybe...just maybe, they had a chance.

When the crowd had gathered, Ainz stepped out from behind a wall where he had been quietly rehearsing the things he had planned to say. Hearing about the undead was one thing, seeing it was another, and hearing the undead's voice itself was a different thing entirely.

"Welcome, citizens of the Draconic Kingdom, I am the Sorcerer King, ruler of the Sorcerous Kingdom, here at the behest of your Queen, and I've asked for you to come here, now, so I can tell you what is going to happen next."

There was not a sound from the crowd, hands clasped as if in prayer, but no words formed, no one wanted to say a word to the gods, and risk missing what their savior was about to say...