With a new rift made by Twilight. Discord, the Spirit of Chaos, agrees to travel there. Just around the time as Nazarick.
After opening a rip in reality, thanks to keeping the mirror portal on, Discord finds himself with a new task. Asked by the Equestrian Council he is to explore the world beyond. Now he's reliving a part of his old life in traveling to the "New World" beyond.
Around the same time, The Great Tomb of Nazarick has appeared in the New World. Ainz Ooal Gown and the NPC turned real inhabitants have a much to learn about this world, and maybe conquer it because it sounds like fun.
What happens when these two cross paths is anyone's guess. Hopefully, the world will still make sense when it does.
There were many things that Discord would say he didn't expect the ponies to do. Suddenly overthrowing their benevolent demi-god rulers in the name of some revolution, deciding that meat was better than plants, and ripping a hole in the fabric of reality. Currently, he was standing in front of the third thing with the leaders of the known world.
“Run that by me again?” Discord had one eye on Twilight and another on the glowing string-like crack in the fabric of reality. “You say you kept the portal on?”
Discord knew about the portal between two realities. The mirror that Twilight now had was connected to a rare stable transdimensional wormhole that was connected to a humanized pony reality. A place Discord knew about but never visited due to not really having the time. “Yeah, and somehow this string looking thing popped out of it and well.”
Discord blocked out the rest of what she was saying. He was honestly shocked that they had unknowingly created a tunnel through reality. Such a thing was bound to punch a hole to other universes. “So, Celestia and Fluttershy figured it was best to call you over given your experience with this.”
He pushed aside his marveling at the fact that Twilight had done one of the things he thought was impossible for her. “Really I expected you to walk up to it and try to cross into it.”
Twilight had an awkward laugh at this. Starlight rolled her eyes at this. She was just about to open it when Starlight stopped her. The stories of some of those realities were more than enough to get Twilight to stop from trying to open it. Even she wasn’t curious enough to risk that.
Discord touched the trip in reality. His magic reaching out to see what was on the other side. The first thing his powers felt was another form of magic, a few actually. His eyes narrow as one of them tried to force his magic to follow its rules. Discord had gone to many realities and different magic systems. Equestria’s was very fluid and easily able to adapt but this one was rather forceful. His magic was his own and he could fight and overcome its attempts. Cutting a small pocket of space he introduced Equestria’s magic to it.
“Well, that’s a relief,” Equestria’s magic system was too fluid for it to overcome and control. If anything it was actually weakening the strange, and rigid nature of it. “It seems that the magic on the other side can’t alter the magic in this world although,” He took a sample it into himself to temporary subject his magic to the structure. “My god it's like a video game growing in strength with each level.”
No one understood anything Discord just said. Except for Luna who Discord got a gaming console and several games for her birthday. “Wait which kind?”
“I think an RPG, maybe an MMO,” He pushed the magic to took out of him and crushed the pocket dimension returning the two magic forms to their home realities.
Discord was in thought about were that reality could be. He knew much of the multiverse either through travels or second-hand accounts. From what he recalled a large cluster of realities had these strange magic. The name of them escaped him but he thought it was Iseka, Iseki, Displaced to another world? Whatever it was they didn’t need to deal with it.
“So is it dangerous or are we going to get invaded from another dimension?” Thorax voiced what a lot of them was thinking.
Discord just waved him off at this. “No, the dimension not dangerous as for being invaded.” He right out another mirror like the one Twilight had and slammed it onto the rip in reality. “There now they have to create a mirror of their own if they don’t want to pass through.” That or have a being like him open it.
Three days later Discord was called back again this time in front of the mirror that he made for the rip in reality. Celestia Luna, Cadence, and Twilight were all standing there to greet him. “Alright, so what is it that the four of you wanted?
“Well, Discord we've been talking and we are wondering if you could travel to the other world,” Celestia answered causing Discord to summon up a cup, literally drink the glass, and do a spit take.
“I’m sorry I just couldn’t help myself,” Discord in a flash looked at the mirror. He had expected the ponies to get curious as to what was on the other side. Truth be told he had done a little surface probing into the world on the other side. “Mind me asking why you want me to?”
For a second Discord pictured himself traveling across another world. It had been a long time since he had ever traveled to another world. There was just something about adventuring in another world. Plus, he could pull a prank with little to no consequences. A win-win for him.
“It wasn’t hard given that you have the most experience and your magic wouldn’t be affected by the magic in the other world,” Twilight still didn’t know what Discord had gone on when he said, video games. Although when she asked Luna all she got was her talking about things like Skyrim, and Final Fantasy. She had heard something similar from Sunset but for some strange
Celestia chose that time to walk forward. “Furthermore assuming that they are not hostile we figure we could learn a great deal from them and they us so it makes sense that one of the Equestrian Council goes to the world.”
That all made sense except for one part. “I’m not apart of the Equestrian Council though.”
There was an awkward since between the both of them. After a few minutes, Celestia realized that he wasn’t joking. “I sent you a letter about it we just thought that you had other things to do during the Council meetings.”
“Tia the mail refuses to go to my dimension something about Eldritch horrors and weird shapes that shouldn't be.”
That explained why Discord didn't ever show up to the meetings. Perhaps she should look into getting him a way to get mail via something like Spike could do. “Well, in any case, you were made part of the Equestrian Council and I do hope you would at least be on your best behavior to any non-hostile entities.”
“Oh, so no causing a war between two rivals for fun than?” Discord voice dripped with joking sarcasm. “I'll be on my best behavior but there something a need to get first.”
In a flash, he was back in his home. Opening up the ceiling that led to his basement he pulled out a cardboard box with a metal lock. Discord removed the metal lock and reached into the opening it left pulling out a sack that was seemingly filled with something. If he was going to an unknown world perhaps he could take a few things. With a flash, they were stored away within his personal hammerspace.
In another flash, he returned to the princesses. “Alright, I'm all set!” He reached into a pocket that somehow existed in his fur and tossed Twilight a crystal. “Here this should allow you to communicate with me and vice versa.”
Tapping his talon on the mirror he gave a snap and on it, the rip appeared before opening up. A one-way wormhole leading to whatever world Twilight had punched a hole too. Discord gave them a two-fingered salute and jumped right in. Before him, he could see the ever-changing color of the Realm Between. The space between realities inhabited by horrifying beings both malevolent and benevolent. A few took notice of him while others ignored him.
‘Wait did I leave the microwave on?’ A blinding light caught Discord's attention before he found himself standing out in the middle of an open plain.
He looked around as he got his bearings. The first thing he noticed was that it was nighttime. The second thing was the rip, in reality, glowing behind him before closing and disappearing. He raced out with his talon hand to it before he became aware that his body had been changed. His body wasn't the long serpentine-like form as before. It was broader and more humanoid in appearance.
Doing a once over it seemed that his form was vaguely modeled after that of a human based on the terms of structure. He brought his hand to his face and felt his goatee was still where it was. Touching his face a few times he finally got his answer as to what had changed. It seemed that he had gained a human or an outward human looking form. From his goatee, he could see that his hair was still the same color.
As for the outfit that had just formed, it seemed to be a three-piece suit. A black robe with sleeves embroidered with white threads, paired with a black vest, and white undershirt. A stone engraved with the sun and moon joined, the symbol of Equestria, was edged into a bolo tie just under his neck.
‘I can feel my wings and tail despite not seeing them,’ So, it seems that they were retractable. Now that he had taken note of his form and the changes he decided to return to what he was doing.
Reaching out he grabbed the rip in reality and sealed it up. Making certain that no one but himself would be able to open it again. With this done it was time to take a look at the surrounding area. The plains seemed to go on for miles and slowly Discord began contemplating just teleporting. Even if he was going in blind it was more fun than just randomly walking.
With a snap, he disappeared and reappeared within a forested area. He raised his head up to take note of the stars. He had only teleported several miles northwest from his position. Figuring it was better to get a bird's eye view of his surroundings Discord’s wings shot out from his back through two openings in the suit before he flew up into the air. They didn’t need to flap as his magic held him in the air.
He looked out seeing the forest going on in several directions and the plains in the distance. Narrowing his eyes he could just make out a village in the distance. Finally, a place for him to get a better grasp on the world that he was in. He flew down into another clearing and decided to watch from afar to see what the inhabitants looked like before taking on their form temporary. Unfamiliar territory after all and for all he knew his form would be seen as something of food to them.
He wasn't totally surprised that the village had humans in it. Out of the many races in the Multiverse humanity, in various forms and histories, was one of the most common. The second most to be exact if he recalled. With this in mind, he had used his old human appearance and learned what he could from the village.
Apparently, they were close to a board region between three nations. The Re-Estiza Kingdom which the village belonged to. Its neighbors were both the Baharuth Empire, an absolute monarchy the kingdom’s at war with, and the Slane Theocracy which taught human supremacy. That last bit made Discord remember a few worlds that he had visited that had similar teachings.
Taking a look at the situation he figured he could try his luck with the Kingdom first. As he set out at night again he stopped as he felt a shockwave ripple through space and time. No other being could sense it but he could thanks to his cosmic senses. From the effect, he knew that it was possibly caused by an anomaly in the world, or perhaps even from a rare cosmic event that occasionally happened. He should investigate the disturbance and see if it was a threat to reality.
‘If it was a threat to reality I would be having the huge shakes right now,’ Nevermind such an event would catch the attention of several forces seeking to defend the multiverse or maintain balance. Such threats were usually dealt with before they became a huge problem. ‘Still, I should keep an eye on it just in case.’
He raised his hand up and closed it. The effect causing a tiny bit if his shadow to fall out if his hands and into the ground below. It shot out through the ground forming a spy for him to track whatever it was that just entered this reality. It couldn’t see what was going on but it could feel what was going on for him. Plus, it can taste the feelings of who or what it was.
Plains greeted Sebas when he walked out of the Tomb. They were no longer in the same place and by the position of the stars not even in the same world. He was about to report this back when he thought he saw a shadow moving around. Sebas looked around but saw nothing for miles around him. ‘Perhaps, it’s nothing.’
Discord walked looking around seemingly aimlessly at the buildings and streets of E-Rantal. In his mind, he compared it to a city in his world for reference. The similarities and differences were striking. If any traveler took a first look at Equestria through ponyville they at first might confuse it for a medieval or feudal society much like this one. By some aspects that were true but Equestria was actually more along the lines of an industrial society.
Hell, Equestria a thousand years ago seemed more advanced in certain places then this world. A sigh escaped his mouth at this. Discord had always found the more advanced societies as fun and exciting.
‘At least I am getting a lot of knowledge about this world when compared to the village.’
Already he had headed for the library to read a few of the books they had there. One of the benefits of being himself was that he could understand a language without actually knowing how to write or read it. This, of course, meant he was technically illiterate due to not needing to ever write. Until he learned how to read and write in ponish. Right now he was just familiarizing himself with the world wondering if he should attempt first contact, and with who.
Already he had started to be hesitant in trying it with the Empire. From the history books, it seemed that they had a history of antagonizing the Kingdom. While he didn’t fully trust them, history tends to get forgotten and altered depending on who’s writing it, he wasn’t ruling it out.
For a moment he stopped as his little probe relayed a batch of information about his fellow dimensional travelers. Already it had taken notice of a few of them. The first one it noticed was by the taste of the aura and the feel of them a type of draconic life form. The next few were demonic in nature followed by an Undead. The Undead was a curiosity as there was a faint feeling of something off about it. A faint echo of a human and life.
‘There is something to be said at such an anomaly,’ A tough call was to be made on what to do about them. ‘I could walk in and clean them up, send them back where they came from without them knowing is preferable, but right now I have no idea how powerful they are or if they have any surprises.’
For all, he knew he could either be walking into an easy cake walk or into an incident much like the attack on the Changeling Kingdom. He was still sore and baffled on how Chrysalis had gotten a hold of an anti-magic object as powerful as her throne. Especially, one that actually worked on his magic. Finding that whoever they are had something like that was too much of a risk. Giving the probe orders to find a way into their base undetected Discord returned to his wanderings.
After a while, he didn’t seem to care about where he was going. Actually, he started singing a song in his head as he was now officially on a walk. It wasn’t until a bunch of unsavory gentlemen started to surround him did Discord focus. They had taken notice of his outfit and assumed that he was someone of a higher social standing.
“Well, look what we have here boys,” A small group of thugs gathered around him. “It seems this man took the wrong turn boys maybe we should help him,” Sneakers came from the group. “How about say for all the valuables he has on him?
On a normal human, this might be intimidating. However, to Discord, this was actually hilarious. They were trying to rob him. This was like a house cat trying to intimidate a dragon. Discord had a chuckle at this.
“What's so funny?” Each one looked at him annoyed.
“Sorry, it's just you have no idea how stupid you all are,” Discord have him an almost bored expression. The novelty having worn off for him. “How about you all just move aside and we can forget this ever happened?” At this, they all drew their weapons. ‘... really?’
“How about we just kill you and take your things instead!” The leader of the group swung his sword at Discord only for it to fly out of his hand mid-swing. He turned his head around as he noticed it floating above him. “What the?”
The sword then flew through the air with Discord grabbing the handle. “You honestly have no idea the difference in power between us?” There was a cold fill to Discord’s voice.
Suddenly the leader found himself lifted into the air and pulled neck first into Discord’s other outstretched hand. The pressure of his grip immediately crushing his windpipe as he struggled to breathe. A smirk formed on Discord’s face as he tossed the man into his friends knocking them all down. The group’s weapons flew out and surrounded each of them.
“How about a counter offer?” Discord had a smirk on his face as he looked at the attempted muggers with his arms crossed. “You give me all you have and I let you walk away?” His eyes glowed as the weapons circled around them menacingly.
A few minutes later Discord tossed a bag of coins in his hands. To be sure they didn't go and tell the guards or whoever about him mugging them he made sure to but a little truth spell on them. The image of them complaining to the guard that they tried to mug someone only to end up mugged themselves flashed in his mind.
The sun overhead started to set as Discord looked at the celestial body. After living in a world were such a body rose and fell at the whims of two demi-gods he actually missed a world like this. He was tempted to reach out into the void and see if he could play with the system for old times sake.
A flash caught his attention as he saw someone walking by with a plate of metal on their outfit. A buzzing sound came from his pocket as he pulled out the crystal that he had given Twilight. Walking out of the way he activated it allowing a connection to come through.
“Discord are you there?”
“Yes, Twilight I am here.” Honestly, he half expected Twilight to struggle with it for a few weeks. Guess she proved him wrong.
“Sorry, I have no idea how this works it’s not like any magic I had ever seen.”
A chuckle came from Discord at this. “That’s because it’s actually super advanced technology from one of my old travels,” He couldn’t risk a magical means of communication as that could bleed the two worlds magic into each other. Luckily for him, his bag of secrets had a lot of things. “Just don’t try studying it you could open up a black hole.”
It was a lie but Twilight didn’t need to know that. “I wasn’t thinking of studying it,” Discord rolled his eyes at the terrible lie. “Anyway, how are things on the other side?”
Discord wondered how he should convey his first few days in this world to her. “I ended up in a large plain, found out that the three nearby nations consists of two that have been at war on and off again, while the third is into racial supremacy,” He decided to be blunt and tell her as it is. “So far I’ve encountered humans but from what I been told things like demi-humans, orcs, elves, what have you exist as well.”
“Anything else?”
He could just picture Twilight writing everything he said down, which she was “Oh, and there another group of dimensional travelers who so far include demons, a dragon, ad an undead.”
He waited for her reaction to all of this. Three seconds passed before she finally spoke. “What?”
“Don’t worry Twilight they aren’t an issue or a threat to Equestria.”
He did mine the rip from this side. If anyone that isn’t him tried to travel through it the thing would open up another rift and leave them stranded in the Realm Between. Death would then be a mercy to whoever was stuck with the things that lived in that place.
“I have my reservations with that,” Twilight would trust him for right now. “How exactly did they get there?”
Discord shrugged his shoulders. “Unless I can get close to them I won’t be able to pinpoint if it's an anomaly, or if they did it themselves.”
A few minutes later Discord walked out of the alleyway and continued to look through the city. He saw something shine in his eye a did as he noticed a small group of people with a metal plate on their outfits along with weapons and armor. Discord had seen a few others, some with what he assumed were copper, iron, and at least one with gold. There was something to it and Discord wanted to figure out what it was.
“Hey, you don’t mind me asking,” Discord pointed at the iron plate on one of their outfits. “What’s with the whole wearing metal plates?”
They all looked at him wondering if he was serious. Discord could just take the information from their minds. However, Fluttershy had told him that it was just rude so he promised to not do so. At least not for things he could just ask someone for. Assuming they would tell him.
After a few moments, one of them spoke up. “You're not from around here are you?” He held up his arm and the plate with it. “We’re adventurers.”
Adventurers were something of a rarity back in Equestria. Outside that writer that Rainbow Dash liked it had seemed that such a thing had fallen out of favor. A shame too as he quite liked watching adventurers go into the dangerous ruins that may or may not have been from a civilization that had accidentally killed themselves when trying to become a race of Gods.
“Really?” Playing up the role of a foreigner who had no idea Discord continued. “Tell me more.”
Being an adventurer in this world sounded a lot like being a mercenary if you ask Discord. Then again many adventurers doubted as such so he wasn't complaining. The ranking system and the way they handled it was really annoying. Starting out at the bottom of the rankings and unable to do anything that sounded fun officially.
So, Discord did what he always did when presented with a stupid rule. He chose to ignore it and do what he wanted. Right now he found himself walking into a cave structure. The quest said something about a monster devouring passerby and even people from nearby villages.
‘Didn't go into detail as to who and what it was.’ A copy of the quest was pulled out of his pocket as Discord read over it.
He looked up as something dropped in front of him. It looked like some kind of pinkish goo. Looking up he was then greeted with a slime creature. It jumped on to him covering his body and attempting to consume him. Emphasis on tried as Discord simply grabbed the slime pulled it off of him and tossed it into the wall with only annoyance.
The slime creature looked at the, in its nonexistent eyes, low-rank adventure with confusion. “How did you do that?!”
“I'm me,” Discord really didn't need to answer the slime. “Plus, I have experience with you little ooze balls.”
The slime creature pulled himself up as a magic circle formed in front of it. Discord didn't pay attention to the name if it. When a stream of fire came at him he simply raised his hand as a torrent of cream soda came crashing into it and the slime. The slime creature absorbed the fluid and immediately stopped attacking.
If it had eyes it would be having stars of joy and amazement. “What is this heavenly taste!?”
“Cream soda,” Discord raised an eyebrow at this. “You never had a soft drink before?”
A few minutes later Discord just looked as the slime creature was drinking from the straw of a large cup filled with soda that he had given them. Normally in this situation, one wouldn't be given a drink and or food to someone who tried to eat you. Yet, there wasn't any reason not too for Discord as the new passive slime drank the soda.
“What is your name?” The slime looked at Discord before remembering something.
They should be fighting. “Ah, shouldn't you be trying to destroy me?”
He got a handwave at this from Discord. “Details,” Besides he was certain that there was nothing that could hurt him. “Now, back on topic what is your name because calling you just ‘pink slime monster’ would be crude.”
“I don't have one,” The Slime paused for a moment wondering something about the man in front of him. “You any anymore of this?”
Discord held out his hand as another cup of cream soda appeared. The unnamed pink slime reached out for it only for Discord to pull it back from them. “First we have to talk about your attacks on others.”
“I’ll stop I promise just please give me my precious!” Discord floated the cup over to the slime. Immedientally the slime went to drinking the soda.
In that move Discord had just by, accident, addicted a slime to soft drinks. He was the only source of soft drinks in this reality. After soon realizing this Discord just shrugged his shoulders. Technically he did just stop the thing that was attacking people so the mission was a success. Even if he didn't actually kill it like they had expected.
Stroking his goatee Discord thought about what exactly to name the slime creature. “How about I call you,” A list of names smashed through his head before he picked one at random. “Bola?”
He got yelled at for effectively doing something they thought was too dangerous for him. After ignoring the whole pointless argument, and having confirmation from another party Discord found himself skipping a few ranks. It didn’t matter him one bit although he was starting to get an idea to the level of powers for each rank.
As for Bola, the pink slime had taken to staying in the room at the inn he had. Completely content with drinking soft drinks, and eating candy. He had learned a few things from him. For one the slime wasn't native to this world, at least their slime type, having come from someone who came from something called YGGDRASIL. Supposedly their progenitor came by a few hundred years ago.
With this in mind, Discord started to wonder just how long such things had happened in this world. If such a thing was common then there had to be something seriously wrong with the structural physics of this reality. Which remained him about the travelers.
The little shadow probe managed to slip into their base. The defenses were a pain for it but the information was worth it. Several levels with numerous life forms. Undead, demons, and a few monstrous races.
‘Hmm, I wish could give it the means to hear,’ Although Discord did know that this wasn't going to last much longer. ‘However, I have all I need and I can't waste time on remaking it.’
Pulling out from the thoughts on the load of information he was given Discord entered into the Adventurer Guild building. He stopped noticing a tall figure covered in armor with a young woman by their side. While everyone else would take notice of the armor that the guy was wearing Discord was taking notice of their auras.
The girl wasn't human despite appearances. In fact, if he focused he could see her true form underneath. It was a lot like how Changelings seemed to change form in modern times. The man, however, was an undead. An undead with a faint tinge of a human within them.
‘So, it's the undead traveler,’ Discord was actually surprised to see them just standing in a populated area. ‘Than again the armor is likely hiding what they are.’
This at least made some things easier for him. He held his hand out as one of the quests floated away and to him. “You know just between you and me you can choose to ignore the rankings if you’re ok with getting yelled at.”
Ainz turned his head to the man in front of him. Something was strange about him that he couldn't put his finger on. “You must have done it yourself then?”
“Yeah, I just drone out their words until they gave me the rank up,” The paper rolled into his hands as Discord’s expression narrowed a bit. “Given who you are I am sure you rather skip up the ranks.”
Discord walked right passed them as his words seemed to echo through the mind of Ainz. Did he know who he actually was or was he just commenting on the way he looked?
‘I should keep my eye on him,’ Who knows he might just be over thinking things.
Discord, however, had a similar thought and unlike him was already doing so if not indirectly. He first tried a surface probe into the mind of Ainz.almost immediately his powers hit a wall as something was keeping him out. A passive ability or a trait that seemed to make him near immune to mental attacks. Instead of forcing his way through he moved his target to the girl next to him.
Let's see Narberal Gamma, a member of the Pleiades a group of battle maids, Ainz Ooal Gown?” A weird name for the undead but then again he came from a world with names like Applejack so was he really able to judge? ‘Oh, a hatred of humans, sad really I find them simply amazing.’
Out of all the most common sentient life forms in the Multiverse, they had an insane among of verify and origins. In one reality they could be the product of a curse, in another aliens are the cause, and at least one reality had them evolving from foxes. There was enough possibilities and variations that it was almost a shame for anyone to hate them in his eyes.
Her thoughts on him were just insulting. ‘Oh, really I'm below you?’
Thing is while he was sure that wasn't the case he was still bad at getting an idea as to the level of power this magic system had. Watching them might give him a better idea.
When the undead and his companion had taken on an escort job, along with another group of adventurers, Discord had chosen to shadow them. None of them seemed to pick up on him. What he had overheard about a dragon though caught his attention. Discord had been sensing a strange pull for a few days now. He had thought it nothing more but a usual thing, or a minor side effect of dimensional incursions.
Leaving behind another probe to keep track of them Discord headed for the pull of energy. It took a few minutes of searching to finally locate just where the whole thing was happening. He almost threw up at the feeling of nausea that came to his senses. The magic that was all around him was heavily corrupted by the Tier magic.
He literally reached his hand out and his magic and made contact with it. As soon as he did the Tier magic, now suddenly hostile at the new magic, attacked him trying to force its will on the Chaos magic. As soon as it tried the Tier Magic was beaten back by him.
“Not even Orderic Magic is this hostile!” Sure the background Tier Magic got on his nerves but not like this. “Fine you self-entitled energy!”
A pulse of chaotic energy was let loose from Discord. The wave caused the surrounding caves to bends and twist as rock became rubber, crystals became cotton candy, and finally, Lego bricks formed randomly in the air. When it was done the area had been cleansed of the invading force if only temporary. Along with a little help from whatever it had been contaminating.
Discord crossed his arms at this before feeling a new type of magic. This one seemed more natural to the world around him. “Who are you?”
He turned around as a vague ghost of a dragon appeared to him. “You’re the Dragon that kid was talking about,” Judging by the energy it was coming from them. “So, this magic is yours then?”
“You can feel it?” The specter of the partly resurrected Dragon Lord was curious as to the nature of this being. When their powers touched it got to see a brief glimpse into the mind of the being before it. ‘Just like them, he isn’t of this world.’
“Of course I can,” Speaking of magic he could feel the Tier Magic returning to them. They were going to have to make this quick. “You’re trying to resurrect yourself correct?” Holding out his hand Discord pulled at the natural processes. “Let me help with this.”
Bringing back the dead was actually the hardest thing for him to do. This was due to him having little in the way of experience in doing so. Even in his travels he hardly ever had the need to do so. Luckily for him, the process was already underway so this made things easier.
Technically this wasn’t him causing trouble given that it was going to happen anyway. Celestia probably wouldn’t see it that way but he could omit the fact. Plus, he needed help and answers about the magical disruption in the world.
The Catastrophe Dragon Lord was soon among the living yet again. Although looking at his form there seemed to have been some alterations and changes from what it should be. “Sorry about the more humanoid form something about your magic seemed to have wanted you to become like that.”
‘Likely from the effects of the soul energy from the nearby humans,’ Regardless of how it happened he was back and surprisingly he felt more alive than before.
Just as he was admiring the feeling Discord felt the Tier Magic return flooding the area around them. Yet, surprisingly enough it couldn't bend the will of Wild Magic within the Dragon Lord to its will. After so long-suffering by it, Discord actions had been akin to a medicine helping a sick patient. Now free there was a degree of immunity to the magic but for how long none could be certain.
“Anyway, I ask that you help fill me in on a few things about this worl-” Discord eyes glowed as he immediately his first shadow probe terminated itself. ‘It was almost found by someone.’
That was not good. Still, it was to be expected. Hopefully, no one would get suspicious of the fact.
Traveling out at night in the countryside was never a good idea. Unless one had an escort or was part of a group there was always the danger of an attack from bandits, monsters, or violate animals. To travel alone one had to either be strong and able to go without sleep.
Or in the case of one figure be able to fly overhead. Yellow feathered wings flapped through the air before landing just outside of an old watchtower. The door blocked by rubble had no way for someone to get in unless they flew.
A sigh escaped their mouth as they looked up at the sky. It had been about three months since ending up in this world. Transformed into whatever she currently was. At the base of her cloak rested a necklace with a crystal hanging there. If it wasn't for it helping mask her appearance she would be run out of towns.
Pulling down her hood two horns curved around her head was met with a red and yellow mane of hair. “I guess this will have to do.”
Shalltear was certain that she had seen something. Out the corner of her eyes she had made out a shadow and went she was looked that way she swore that she had seen something disappear in shadows before her very eyes. ‘Have we been infiltrated?’
Discord talk with the Dragon Lord was rather enlightening for a few things. First, it seems that there had been quite a few incursions happening at what he suspected was a hundred year-long intervals. The second was that Tier Magic came with them. ‘So, it is an invading force.’
The temptation to capture some of it and send it over to Twilight for analysis was strong. If the scientist in her managed to figure out the fundamental makeup of it he was sure she and her fellow researchers in the mystic arts could create whole manner of means to fight it. The risk of contaminating there reality was what was stopping him. He'll rather not risk it right now.
In exchange for this information, Discord gave him a brief summary of what he was to the Dragon Lord. Keeping Equestria and the like out, it wasn't lying if he didn’t tell him everything after all. The last thing he wanted was to endanger Fluttershy and his growing list of friends. Nevermind it was his job to cause the chaos back home.
“So, you came here due to sensing a portal to my universe?”
“Yeah, someone played around with a stable bridge between two realities and as a reaction tunneled to this one,” Discord crossed his arms in front of his chest at this. “I took the liberty of closing the thing don’t want it to accidentally collapse and open this reality to the things that dwell between realities.”
It wasn’t unstable enough for that and collapsing it the way he had mined wouldn’t cause them to enter. However, Discord still shuddered a bit at the thought of what they could do to this universe. He heard stories of what they had done to realities and even some of the evilest and powerful beings in existence were absolutely terrified by them.
“Then why are you still here?”
Discord shrugged his shoulders. “I am chaos do I really need a reason?”
"I don't suppose you do," At the very least his magic seemed to lessen the effect of tier magic. "Do you happen to know what the Players are?"
"Depends I know of several terms for the word player," A thesaurus appeared in his hands as he looked over it. "Can you tell me what they are for you so I can see which one fits?"
"All I know is that they are some kind of people from another world with the powers to equal or surpass gods," Discord flipped through several pages.
Not one of the descriptions he read fit this. Except for one and it was rather loosely. "Well, the only one that comes close is a late-game avatar of a video game controlled by a sentient being and not code."
Naturally what he had said went over his head. Discord could try to explain it to him. Instead, he decided to show him what he was talking about. Tapping one of his paw fingers on his forehead Discord imprinted him with the information of what a video game was. The Dragon Lord took a few seconds to process this and seemed rather confused.
"Wait, they are nothing more than illusions created to entertain people?"
“Eh, I’m not sure that this is the case,” Discord had to confirm if it was the case and to do that he had to meet with them. “Although, if it is the case something has happened which has changed it from mare illusions into reality.”
In flash, Discord reappeared in his temporary inn room. On the side, the pink slime, Bola as he was now known, drank away at a glass of soda that Discord had left him with. Discord wasn’t paying attention to him right now. He was in thought about what it could mean if this really was something due to a video game coming to life. It wasn’t like there wasn’t a reality where this had happened or could happen. Quite a few worlds had discovered how to turn data into reality.
"The dimensional event must have caused a quantum alteration to happen using the code's data as a basis for atomic data," Bola stared at him wondering just what Discord was talking about. "If that is the case then it would explain the nature of tier magic as being akin to a computer virus that attempts to hack into the firewall of reality."
"What are you talking about?" Discord turned over to the slime.
“Oh, it's just metaphysics,” He waved his hand at him as he continued to think about what to do. "You know what Bola stay here I'm going to go on a little trip brb."
Walking out of his inn room the slime just shrugged and returned to drinking his soda. Discord made his way to the adventurers building. He needed to run a few tests and what better way than to go out of his way and locate native life forms to run said tests on. Looking at the jobs he found several to do with monsters running around. No one was going to miss them so with that Discord copied each of them and head off.
'Maybe I should ask Twilight how to run an experiment with questionably willing participants?'
One of his theories was now checked off as being false. The monsters of this World it seems didn't have any quantum harmonic field associated with lifeforms descended from creatures beyond their native universe stream. This meant that it was very likely that most of the monsters and lifeforms were native to this world. Except for Bola who did have a faint change in the field.
Of course, he figured he should relay his findings to Twilight. The scientist within her wanted so badly to take a look at this. Perhaps, if he found a way to ensure safe removal of the Tier magic he would allow her to pass through the portal and study it. Overhead he looked at the night sky and figured he might as well head back to the city.
Suddenly he felt a shift in the flow of magic. 'What was that?'
He turned his head towards the direction of where he felt it. A large burst of magical energy had been given off. The only times he felt something like this was when either he or the elements were involved. Even if this did feel weaker in comparison. At first, he wondered if he should look into it but thought against it.
"Hello?" Pulling out the communication crystal he was greeted with Luna's voice. "Discord are you there?"
"Yes, Lulu I am here," In a flash, he teleported out of the forest and off to somewhere not as close to the epicenter of whatever happened. "Sorry for not reporting in but I was doing a little experiment."
“I hate to ask but what exactly were you experimenting with?”
“Oh, nothing much I’m seeing if the monster native to this world,” He tossed a piece of already dead creature to the ground after saying that. “It does seem that most are native to this place which is rather strange actually.”
Most of the time you rarely find creatures in one reality being the same in another. Unless it was due to quantum field echoing or perhaps even interference from higher dimensional forces. Those were always such annoying and he should know. This was a huge cosmic coincidence that needed further investigation. Of which he would get to later or maybe not at all.
The next morning he teleported back with the proofs of his many endeavors. Still, he was just barely rose up one rank. Apparently, they hadn't forgotten how he just went on these quests without anyone knowing. A few that were above his rank. He was wondering if they had it out for him.
'At least they let me take part in this,' He was one of the highest-ranked adventurers in the city after all. Looking around he saw a bunch of people he didn't knew, nor cared to learn, the names of. ‘I wonder if… speak of the devil.’
The disguised undead had made his appearance. Discord was tempted for a moment before he decided to push in and see what he knew. As soon as his latest memories were read a plan formed within his mind. Until then he'll just ignore the rest of this meeting. Not like anyone but him and the undead ever mattered.
Discord walked into the clearing to see this so-called “Honyopenyoko” as Ainz had told the others. Even if he didn't know her real name, Shalltear Bloodfallen if he recalled, such a name would have told him that it was fake. The Lord of Chaos looked at the vampire in front of him as she just looked down and seemingly unresponsive. He turned his head and eyes upwards for a split second.
They were watching her. A smirk formed at this. He could disrupt the mirror but he wouldn't. Eventually, both of them will run into each other and while he did know a lot about them they knew nothing of him. Better to get it over with.
“So, this is the vampire?” He waved his hand in front of her. “Well, you almost seem to be like a living doll.”
No response from her. Tapping his eye with his finger he saw the effects of a powerful spell cast on her. Something to do with her mind it seems but the caster wasn't around anymore so it just had her on a default attack anything that attacked back. Really this was just asking for a handicap come an actual battle if someone was smart.
‘Well, if that's the case,’ He pulled out a few seeds and dropped them into the ground. ‘Might as well plant a few surprises.’
Now it was time to begin the fight. Thinking of how to begin it he picked up a rock and throw it right at her. A red armored hand caught it in the air as Shalltear looked at that person who had tossed the object.
“Oh, so you are alive after all here I thought someone left their life-size doll in the middle of the forest,” He had a smirk on his face. “Nope turns out it's just a little girl.”
Shalltear’s gaze hardened as she looked at the man in front of her. Immediately she crushed the rock in her hands and rushed off to impale him. Said man disappeared in a flash just inches before she hit him and instead she ran face first into a pie. Discord was standing behind her holding back the desire to laugh.
"What in the…" Shalltear was momentarily taken back by the strangeness. "You dare mock me?!"
A smirk formed on Discord’s face. "Yes."
Shalltear was going to kill this human and she was going to enjoy it far more than was needed. "Implosion!"
Discord's eyes widened for a moment as he actually felt a tinge of pain but outside of that nothing else. His unique physiology was extremely malleable negating much of the effects from the spell, which said nothing of him being strong enough to resist its effects under his own power. Shalltear stared at the individual shocked to see that he was still standing after that.
'Impossible there no way he should be standing after that!' As far as she knew he had to be a player or at least somewhere near a level 100 to take the attack. Laughter started to escape from Discord s mouth. "What's so funny!"
"I actually felt that," The last few times he had been hurt was due to his powers and magic being negated. In terms of this gamed system, it was akin to him being deleveled heavily. "It's been a thousand years since someone has been able to injure me while I am at my peak congratulations."
"A thousand years?"
A torrent of energy erupted around him as the skies started to turn purple with green swirls overhead. The ground wrapped and shifted into a chessboard like substance while the trees seemed to float overhead lifted off the ground and by gravity. A shockwave broke the energy cocoon as two wings, one leathery, the other feathered flapped in the air. A scale-covered tail moved behind him. His face was still humanoid but his two horns grew out the sides of his head and the lone fang poked from his mouth. The Spirit of Chaos could almost hear the invasive tier magic yelling at him as his power raced through the air in purple sparks.
“Round two!” He disappeared and reappeared behind her. "Fight!"
Shalltear turned around to attack him only for it to phase through the illusion of Discord that he had cast. "What the…"
A flying piece of the earth slammed into her from behind. "You fell for an obvious trick?"
Discord crossed his arms as the real him was flying in the air with two boulders circling around him in a classic electron orbit. He grabbed one and pulled out several cards from it. Shalltear looked at the being in front of her.
"What are you!" He seemed similar to a few things but there was something off about him that she couldn't put her finger on. "Who are you?"
"That's easy I am a Spirit of Chaos," The rocks exploded into confetti as a fireworks display appeared behind him. "As for who I am you have to beat me to learn that."
Cards appeared in his hands. "Do you know the rules?" In a flash, seven cards appeared in front of her and flipped over to show Discord's image. "I'll hide in one of them and you have to find me but pick well."
At that, they all flashed and then appeared backs turned as they circled around her. There was no way that she was going to play his little game. Jumping into the air she hoped to fly out of the way. The cards followed her on the same level regardless.
"Fine if I have to play," Using Detect Life she looked at the cards looking for his life signature. "Gotcha," She stabbed the card to just about the right side of her. It revealed what was on its face to be an explosion. "Wha…"
The card exploded knocking her to the ground as the other six circled around her. "I figured you would try to cheat," All of the cards merged into one before breaking apart again into six of them. "You got two more tries this time don't try cheating again."
Aura and Mara had altered the other Floor Guardians that had stayed behind to get Ainz and now they were seeing what was going on with the viewing spell. The image showed Shalltear fighting what looked like four circling cards. Shalltear attacked one and nothing happened. One of the last three cards was replaced by whatever she had been fighting.
Immediately one of the cards was tossed at her and on contact, a clock appeared and slowed down. He then tossed the last card which immediately exploded knocking her back into the ground. The being that Shalltear was facing crossed his arms.
“I see you really are nothing but a little girl,” The cards appear in front of him. “You didn’t even notice the one card out of place even when I changed the pattern how sad.”
Ainz looked at who Shalltear was facing and realized the similarities in appearance with a certain adventurer. "Wait is that Loki?"
"Loki?" Albedo questioned as they watched the strange creature laughing at Shalltear.
"Stop laughing at me!"
"No!"
"An adventurer me and Narberal meet he was the only one who didn't follow me from that meeting," Although that now looked like it wasn't the case.
"You will take me seriously right now!"
“You really want me to take this seriously?” Discord just crossed his arms as he raised as he gave her a raised eyebrow. He hadn’t been serious in a long time and rarely ever acted like it. “I mean that is so boring and unfun,” He sounded like a child being told he couldn’t play outside. He closed his eyes and let out a defeated sigh. “Ok fine we’ll do things your way.”
Closing both his eyes a smile formed on his face as he opened his left eye. It glowed for a moment as it stared right at her. “You’re in for a bad time!”
He fell into the ground which seemed to explode on impact. The sky turned into a swirling vortex as the ground flew up all around. Gravity became almost nonexistent as Shalltear had to right herself within the air. At the center of the growing vortex was Discord who flew held his hand out quickly brought it down. Eldritch chaotic lightning shot out of seemingly nowhere and blasted into Shalltear. Then several small bolts struck her in rapid succession.
Her eyes widened as her body arced with pain. Discord then tossed two floating rocks at her with intent to crush her under them. “Greater Teleportation!”
She disappeared before they could hit her and appeared behind Discord. The chaos spirit had figured she would try that. He let her attack impale him. The effect caused Shalltear to heal from the damage but almost immediately afterwords her arm and weapon were grabbed as every part of Discords body did a one eight. Face to face with her he opened his mouth. A laser blast fired from it blasting her into a tangled mess of floating trees and rocks.
With a snap of his fingers, the seeds he had left in the ground shot out and grew to the size of soccer balls. “Catch.”
Shalltear looked as all around her they tried to impact her. Immediately jumping away from one of them the seed impacted the floating debris and exploded into a fireball. Another missed her before exploding into an electric storm on connect with a large rock.
‘They all have random effects?’ Another two hit themselves right in front of her. In a flash, the colors of her armor turned white and her around her was two floating balls of light. Both of which disappeared and appeared again slamming into Discord who was tossed back into a piece of floating rocks.
He wasn’t surprised that this had happened. After all, there was always a chance of that happening. “Time for a change!” With a snap, both of them were now on what appeared to be a chessboard. “Get a load of this!”
Several bombs rained from the sky exploding all around them. Discord disappeared and reappeared over the barrage while Shalltear had to avoid each and everyone one of them. “You have fun yet?”
Her response was to hold her hand out. “Maximize Magic: Force Explosion!”
A shockwave knocked Discord back while surprisingly pushing the Spuit Lance out his body. “Okay did not expect...” Then he was suddenly consumed in a pillar of flames as Shalltear unleashed Vermillion Nova on him. “Hot hot hot hot!”
When the flames died down Discord’s body was turned into what looked like a burned corpse. Everything seemed to have returned to normal after that. “Looks like you were all just for show…”
Shalltear was interrupted as the corpse exploded revealing a now buff looking Discord as the sound of some kind of song was heard behind him. It was time to finish this. “Just for show?” Immediately he shot towards her and delivered a straight punch to her stomach. “Nah, I was just wondering how I should end this!”
He unleashed a barrage on unarmed strikes at her as the inspirational song continued to play in the background. The Way of the Shonen flow through him as he unleashed attack after attack on her. He dropkicked her into the air before jumping at her spinning her around he slammed her into the ground with enough force that she bounced back into the air. “You may have never heard this before,” Discord landed on the ground in front of her. “Go beyond,” He readied one last punch as chaos energy surged through his arm and fist. “PLUS ULTRA!”
On contact with her body, everything seemed to explode. The clouds parted and the ground was torn apart. Trees flew everywhere and at that moment Discord returned to normal. In front of him was Shalltear who had seemingly survived what effectively a condensed nuclear explosion. It took him a moment to realize how that had happened. Limited temporal manipulation, turning back time at the last moment.
'Really…' He had better things to do than continue this. Returning to his human disguise he just turned away bored. "Alright, I've had enough."
"What's the matter all used up?" Shalltear inwardly hoped that was the case. The power he had shown was actually terrifying. 'I can't read any MP from him so that had to be all he had.'
"No, I just don't see you as worth it anymore," Be continued on walking away from her.
Rage filled Shalltear after hearing this. Just because he could seemingly warp reality and his last attack didn't end her he thought she wasn't worth it? "I'm not worth it!?" She raised her lance and moved to strike him. "How dare you!"
Discord had a small smirk before he turned around dodging the thrust. He held his hand in front of her face as a glow covered it. "Why don't you take a little rest."
With that, the spell was cast. Slowly stone started to covered her feet before moving up her body. "What's going on?!"
"The spell's called Stone Sleep," Discord had a chuckle as he watched it spread up of form. "Turns you into a statue hope you enjoy."
Shalltear tried one last time to attack him but fell short as the stone finally covered her form completely. Discord felt the lingering effects of whatever magic had been used on her fade away as spell tricked it into thinking she was dead.
With a snap, he appeared within the Tomb leaning on the newly petrified Shalltear. "Anyone order a lawn ornament?"
Immediately everyone, excluding Ainz, turned him with their weapons out. It seems that they were on edge. Honestly if what he had managed to get was true then by power scaling he doubted he was in much danger from them. Maybe if they fought him as a group they would win but from the way their "settings" were last Ainz checked he seriously doubted they would successfully be able to.
Although he rather not push his luck right now either. "We'll talk later Suzuki."
With that Discord disappeared from the area as he canceled the spell. Shalltear fell to the ground freed from both her stone imprisonment and the mind control she had been put under. A feeling of confusion came over everyone in the room except for Ainz. He had a different feeling even if it was one that his passive tried to control.
