SWNOVELXO Chapter 3: Irene Grace
Several hundred feet above Alpine forest, a cloaked figure noticed the current development— this person had been watching everything since the dropouts set foot in the forest.
"Swallow to HQ. They just threw him down into the gorge. From what I can tell, he still seems to be alive, although things aren't looking up for him. There's a tier 9 down there"
"Understood, remain on standby"
"But he could get killed—"
"He's of no use to us without the overlord system. Or what? Did you grow a soft spot for him while playing instructor, Maya?"
Her face turned a little red as she refuted the claims of the man at the other end of the transmission.
Arc knew her as instructor Maya, a brutally honest instructor who he had a little crush on when infact, she was actually a Ragnarok spy tasked with the mission of identifying the cradle's masterpiece.
She was currently reporting to her direct superior, a member of Ragnarok as well.
"It's a good thing the cradle didn't fully understand the details of my research. All they knew was one was the masterpiece capable of wielding their weapon while the other was a walking liability that must be disposed immediately. Serves them right for kicking me to the curb"
The man said, venting his frustrations at the cradle for stealing his life's work and using it for their gain. Maya expressed her concerns.
"I'm a little confused as well. If you hadn't told me otherwise, even I would believe Ash Stollen was the masterpiece—He's a one in a generation talent with boundless potential. I don't mean to question you Master Silvers but....are you sure Arc Stollen is the masterpiece Ragnarok wants?"
Silvers let out a huge laugh before satiating his subordinate's curiosity.
"Hohoho, it seems you misunderstood my research as well. Tell me, what do you know about the origin of ygg and our world?"
Maya took a second to gather her thoughts
"Ygg is a special power in all living things...or rather, a droplet of Yggdrasil's sap connecting all living things, realms and worlds. 5000 years ago, the overlord Ymir took control of beasts and monsters from Jotunheim and Helheim and destroyed the world tree forcing a collision between dimensions and invading Asgard....."
She took a pause to catch her breath
"... However, they lost the battle. All the races banded together and stop him. His essence was used to grow a new Yggdrasil connecting the 9 realms while it's infinite branches make up the worlds hunters explore. Gates to worlds started opening up a bit over 2000 years ago and marked the start of the Midgard calendar"
"Aren't you forgetting something, Maya?"
"Hmmm..... Oh! Irene Grace"
"That's right, Lord Ymir's queen. She didn't participate in battles, though. Instead, focused on building the overlord's army. She was working to create something to revive the overlord in case he died in battle and that was....."
"The Overlord System!"
"Correct! That said, it wasn't complete by the time she was sealed. Due to it's incomplete state, it required some very specific conditions for a host"
He explained what those conditions were in detail. Ygg connected all living things to the world tree, Yggdrasil which was connected to Asgard. The system is too much strain for just anyone and it couldn't take root inside someone with a descent amount of ygg because the protection of asgard and Yggdrasil will protect it.
The host had to have immense durability and fortitude while also possessing little to no ygg.
"I see... Anyone who is blessed with such high specs will naturally be born with abundant ygg. That explains why Arc can't fit into any class, without ygg, it's impossible"
She also understood that his exceptional physical prowess was what kept him from dropping out sooner. However, as his peers gained more mastery over ygg, his advantage instantly vanished. She was still a little confused though.
"What about Ash?"
"He's a liability, as I said"
"How? He's the perfect hunter"
"And there's the problem. To obtain Arc, we had the genius paladin, Riley Stollen conceive twins. We performed multiple Gene sequence rewrites and modifications to make Arc a perfect vessel. In the process, we transferred all of Arc's ygg into Ash"
The reason Ash was so talented was because had obtained all the ability and potential meant for two genius hunter fledgings. This granted him an almost bottomless amount of ygg and infinite untapped potential.
"I still fail to see the problem, Lord Silver"
"Ash Stollen is an unknown quantity. With such potential, he might grow to rival Asgard itself in terms of power and with his overflowing ygg, he'll be favoured by the Asgardians. He may pose a threat to our Overlord or even prevent Ragnarok"
Ragnarok, the final war between realms and the end. It was the organization's goal and fate of the new overlord. One thing troubled Silvers though
"According to Maya's observations, he's yet to receive the overlord system, why?" He wondered.
"Is she really going to let her precious vessel die? The perfect conditions to create another vessel won't come around for another 2000 years.... What is she waiting for?"
"L-LORD SILVERS!"
"What is it, Maya?"
"The tier 9...it leaped out of the gorge and"
"And?"
"Arc was riding it!"
Something akin to a smile started forming on Silver's face
"HeheheheHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
"L-Lord Silvers?"
"REJOICE MAYA, OUR MASTER HAS RETURNED! CELEBRATE THE REVIVAL OF LORD YMIR, THE OVERLORD OF THE 9 REALMS!"
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30 Seconds ago
Arc hurriedly moved back after experiencing an unexpected "grown up kiss".
"W-What are you doing?"
"Fufufufu, there's nothing wrong with kissing my own husband"
"H-Husband? What are you..."
Upon moving back, he could see the woman who just kissed him from head to toe. Her beautiful, black dress perfectly outlined her curves and she was clearly much bigger than Maya(I'm not talking about height,lol)
He also noticed something rather strange—the scene around him had changed. He was sitting on a wooden chair in a dark room surrounded by 9 sealed iron maidens covered in chains, suspended in air and forming a circle around him.
The woman walked away from him to the throne a few meters away from him. It appeared as though it was....alive.
The throne was made up of blades and mismatched flesh and organs— you could clearly see the flesh respirating like living beings and the throne itself exuding a dark, ominous and almost evil aura
The woman sat on the throne, crossing her legs.
"W-Who are you?"
"Me? You can call me Irene"
"I-I don't mean your name, what are you after? what do you want with me?"
A seductive smile formed on the corner of her lips
"I want you to be my husband"
"What?"
"That's not important right now, did you forget you're about to die?"
The kiss made him forget something important— he was in a battle against a tier 9 beast about to kill him. His face sank acknowledging his impending death.
"At least I got to kiss a beauty like Irene before I die, haha"
"Don't make that face, darling. You're not going to die here. After all, you will take over this world"
"Huh?"
"As much as I want to see you use the system I created, fighting a disaster class is too much for a first time, sooo....."
Her captivating ruby eyes seemed to be drawing him in even more
"I'll be borrowing your body for a bit. That okay, darling?"
"Y-Yes"
He didn't understand what was going on and just agreed on reflex. The next thing he saw was his own real body at the gorge in front of the tier 9 with time still stopped and Irene beside him.
He watched her point her index finger at the wolf and utter a single word
"Enslave"
Nothing happened—well, time was still frozen so that's expected. She then stepped forward to Arc's main body, tilted her head to look at the ethereal Arc and said with a smile.
"You just sit there and watch. Your darling wife will handle this. Don't worry, I will punish those mongrels who tried to cause you harm while I'm at it"
Time started moving again and as though to signify that Irene was in control of Arc's body, his eyes turned ruby red. There was also something else of note.
The Shadowwolf was writhing in pain as though trying to fight off an infection. It continued struggling by itself for a few seconds while Arc(Irene) stood there.
It finally stopped. A dark purple aura surrounded it's body and something resembling an enslavement collar materialized on it's neck. Then, it bowed down to Arc(Irene)
"Good boy. Think of this as my wedding gift, darling"
She smiled at the dumbfounded ethereal Arc.
Arc(Irene) climbed on the wolf's back and spoke to it
"Find the fools who tried taking my life"
The Shadowwolf leaped out of the seemingly bottomless gorge in a single bound with Arc(Selene) on it's back getting them to the surface.
On the surface, it's shadow spread out covering the entire forest grounds. It gave a short howl indicating that it had found them.
The beast sank into it's shadow and rose right in front of the dropouts. It slammed it's paw into the ground intimidating them.
"Spacial teleportation....handy. now then.."
She turned her cold glare at the dropouts
"I could kill you right here and now but I'm willing to give you a chance to repent. Tell me why you tried to kill me"
"A-Arc?!"
Carl asked shocked just like everyone else. The Shadowwolf pointed it's claw a few centimeters from his face
"Wrong answer"
"Okay, Okay.... it's not like we had a choice!"
He explained what Craig had told them before he awoke
"We had given up on it since there was no chance we could survive the forest. B-But, when we got to the home stretch, there was finally hope! W-We couldn't help it, we didn't want to die! Y-You understand, don't you, Arc?"
"I see..."
She turned to watched the ethereal Arc's reaction to their story. Only she could see him and the tears streaming down his face.
"I-I see....so that's why? Thank God, I thought they did it cause they hated me"
"You're not angry they sacrificed you?"
"If we all left the forest, that man would've killed us all. They didn't have a choice in the matter, if my death guarantees their future, then it's fine, it wasn't meaningless..."
He smiled at Irene
"I'm happ—"
What he saw in that moment drained all color from his face— faster than he could blink, Carl's head flew off his body— this wasn't a metaphor, his head was literally separated from his body.
It was flicked off by the Shadowwolf's finger. His neck resembled a fountain except instead of water, it was spewing blood— blood which dyed the bodies of the dropouts around him.
"W-What? ARRRGGHHHHHHHHH!"
"Relax, darling. If they are fine with you dying for them to live, then it's common sense that they should also be willing to die for you to live"
"N-No, don't"
Arc realized Irene had no intention of sparing any of them. She was going to massacre all the dropouts right here and now, no matter what.
"Harming my husband is a huge offence,the only way to atone is death!"