Overlord: Blue Citadel Alternate

It didn't take long before Enri rushed Nemu off towards their home in the village, once more leaving Vertum and the half-elf alone in the Great Forest of Tob. It was strangely quiet as they just sat there, remaining in the same position they had been for the past several minutes or perhaps even hours.

Vertum had a hard time thinking about how to move forward from their current instance.

Zesshi, on the other hand, was purely content sitting in this stranger's l.a.p, the l.a.p of a stranger who had defeated her singlehandedly in battle. Did he want to mate now or later? She had no idea. Did he want to hurry on ahead with daily routine and forget her existence, she still didn't know. She just watched him as his eyes seemed to travel about, trapped in their own little world. She squinted her eyes briefly before resting the side of her head against his c.h.e.s.t.

This man had not only defeated her, but he had wiped out her entire Scripture. Even if he had used others to eliminate a number of her fellow colleagues, she couldn't really gauge his actual level of strength.

If he was going to kill her, he would've gone ahead and done so. She had already been under the impression he was informed of her, somehow. She wasn't exactly sure how much he knew though, but he had said that she would be getting revenge on her father.

She pursed her lips, and he referred to her as the True Queen of the Elves.

Zesshi hated her father, and because of that her heritage as well. Did she want to rule the elves? Or did he want to use her as a trump card in order to take them over peacefully?

In a way, she admired the fact that he would think towards that. Perhaps he was going to do this from the very start. Even come charging into the Theocracy and challenge her, knowing he would win. She let her mind travel into its own little world, thinking of what could have been and how many different ways her defeat could have occurred.

It was like watching a twisted version of being conquered by Prince Charming.

Her hand moved down to her stomach again as she thought about the whole ordeal of how she wanted to be i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.ed by whoever seemed to be stronger than her. At the same time, she knew that whoever was stronger than her was much more memorable, and worthy.

She rubbed the side of her face against his c.h.e.s.t.

Vertum glanced down at her as she was doing so, his fingers lightly c.a.r.e.s.sing over the pointed ear which stuck out from behind her locks of hair.

This caused her to lightly shiver from the feeling. Despite how strong he was, Vertum had soft hands at the touch, even though the gloves that he wore. It was hard to think that he had bested her with such hands.

The tip of her tongue glossed her outer lips briefly, her eyes rising to meet his as he was looking down at her. By no means had she been educated in fairy tales that had happy endings.

Hatred for the Elves. Hatred for the non-humans races that roamed the world. The Theocracy did not accept beastmen, or demihumans, let alone heteromorphic creatures. However, she didn't care that he wasn't human, as she would've proclaimed it before... As long as he had defeated her, as long as he claimed her, she was in personal ecstasy.

Before she noticed what was going on, she felt him grasping at the side of her head. As she was distracted with thought, his lips found hers.

At first, his lips forcefully pressed against hers, before slowly mellowing out.

This wasn't a kiss of love, but she could sense his low-class affections. Was he kissing her by courtesy, or was it by a curiosity for the feeling of her lips? He made it hard to tell.

He didn't tug at her lips and he didn't force his tongue inside either, not that she would've had a problem with it. He let her ear rest between his index and middle fingers.

Reaching up slowly, she placed a hand on his chin and softly broke her lips away from his. Despite the feeling of the kiss, her face was flushing from the first time interaction and her c.h.e.s.t was nonetheless filled with butterflies.

All her time thinking about being the strongest or being defeated by a man stronger than she, she never thought about the feelings of physical interactions that may come along with it.

Each touch made her feel a bit awkward, her forceful and powerful bloodl.u.s.t personality seemed to lull almost completely out of existence. Especially as she felt his hand drag its fingernails along her jawline after leaving her ear.

Her entire body tensed up as she watched him maneuver that one hand about, toying with her chin, tracing over her neck. It was only when she found herself suddenly shoved off his l.a.p, that she began to return to her senses.

Laying sprawled out, she could feel her heart drumming away in her ears, her nimble c.h.e.s.t shakily raising and lowering at an unsteady pace. She stared up towards the sky as her lips parted once more.

What was she doing? She wondered this curiously as she sat up and looked to the man who was now standing up and looming over her. A hand was reaching out, waiting for her to grasp onto, like a hook for a fish to be captured by.

Zesshi quickly noticed her weapon was gone, her armor pieces nowhere to be seen.

Her two-toned eyes stared at this hook that she was offered. Should she bite? Or should she stand up on her own two feet with her own power? Every choice, inside and outside of battle had a consequence and an award.

Finally, she made a choice, taking Vertum's hand and pulling herself onto her feet, she grinned up at the man. Though for a brief moment, a singular instance, she found herself missing the Captain. While she had no feelings for the feminine man one rank below her, she did often have little conversations with him. Sadly he was no match for her in combat, which negated anything she could possibly feel towards him... Even in death.

Though she had used him to pull herself to her feet, he didn't let go of her hand.

Zesshi watched as he lead her through the bushes and the ferns. He didn't hesitate to swat an entire tree away with the back of his hand. She had to admit, it was pretty comical. "Ahahaa..." So she couldn't help but laugh a bit, maybe even snort as she brought her free hand to her lips.

She remembered the warmth of the kiss, the forcefulness, the domineering spirit of the creature which had conquered her. She closed her eyes partially, narrowly hopping over an overexposed root that almost tripped her.

It didn't take long for him to lead her to what appeared to be a hill surrounded by trees. Yet there was a small patch within the hill that had no roots, no leaves and no twigs hanging on it.

She began to raise a brow as he continued to lead her forward without stopping. Curious, she was becoming too curious about what she was about to step into.

Before she could question before she let herself ask a single inquiry, she found herself standing at the edge of an underground city within seconds of passing through an illusionary boundary.

Forget parting her lips in surprise, Zesshi's jaw almost fell to the dirty ground as she saw the structures. She had seen the city of the Eight Greed Kings once before, at least magical images of it and divinations.

What she was seeing here, was not what she expected at all. The Divination ritual had been a failure other than locating the Village of Carne, the same location her colleagues died at.

The buildings here followed a different sense of architecture compared to the European structures found throughout the Kingdom, and the other architectural designs of the Empire.

There were tons of people walking around, villagers and soldiers. Her eyes narrowed on a girl in a red hood walking about wearing a mask. It matched the dossier intelligence of a member belonging to the Blue Roses, Evileye. Her eyes then narrowed on a giant insect which was shifting through crowds, the humans there not seeming to mind at all.

Though she was clearly bothered seeing such a creature mingling amongst them. That is until she saw two angels flying high above everyone else, watching those below.

If only her jaw could fall even further. She wondered just who commanded those creatures, that is until her eyes shifted to the man who appeared to be the leader of this place. The very man who had defeated her. Was he the one who commanded them?

This was her first time actually seeing the co-existence between humans and nonhumans. She was curious though, how did he keep control of them. She watched as the angels waved towards Vertum, and she turned her head to see him give a light wave in return before looking down at her.

He was smiling, her c.h.e.s.t felt like her heart was going to tear itself straight out of her rib cage.

"What is this place...?"

"It is the beginning of my Empire. The world you saw above, was Carnewall. Down here, down here is the lost City of Vilisyrteria." Vertum proclaimed as he gestured towards the grand underground superstructure.

The sound of the factory is in use could be heard throughout the city itself.

Her lips grinned widely hearing that this was the beginning of his Empire. This meant there was a war to come, and she... She would be fighting by his side, at least that is what she was going to let herself believe.

He surely had the power to take on an army on his own, as he had defeated her so easily, no?

Suddenly their surroundings changed and she hardly registered it. They were now standing in a long corridor, many rooms with closed doors and decorated with various emblems.

It looked like a residence. Her eyes traced over beings dressed in maid uniforms and even armored soldiers walking about. It only took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust completely.

"What... Is this place?"

"The Castle," Vertum responded to her question with due haste, before once more leading her somewhere else.

Zesshi stumbled after him like a dumbfounded ant, before straightening herself out and marching on beside him with her hands clasped in his. Her eyes rested on her dainty hand, not used to such contact with another man, let alone another person.

She had always looked down on those weaker than her and yet she had seen thousands of them in the city. Did this mean that her mind had thought all wrong? She had seen the content people of his Empire from a distance, she began to ponder, how content would she be here?

Before she could answer her own question, he came to a stop in front of a door. It was the door to his room, so it would appear as he dragged her along inside as the door slid open.

Once they were inside she was greeted by a dark room with an artificial sky. There was a large mirror in the towering over the desk it was planted upon, covered by a tapestry. She blinked a few times before looking to him as his hand left hers.

Grinning at this, she was impressed by the work put into the room itself. She could hardly tell the difference between the ceiling and the real sky. "Hoho, Is this your--?"

"Yes, it's my quarters here in Vilisyrteria, though I do prefer sleeping out in the fields. The idea of a real sky over my head..." Vertum was finally giving a genuine smile.

"Oh?" The elf adjusted her sweater for a brief second, before c.o.c.king her head to the side. "Is that so?" She swayed side to side as if she was about to pounce unto him.

Vertum could see the glistening in her eyes, he knew what she was thinking.