Overlord And The Blue Citadel - Chapter 15

“Are you retarded!?” The voice of Custodio rang out in Gustav’s ears, boggling his mind and bothering his stomach with perpetual cramps.

In a blink of an eye, he had returned to the Great Wall overlooking the base of the Citadel of Hel. The three paladins and Pavel the Black that had accompanied him before were standing beside him, flanking him at either side.
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As his superior was shouting at him, his eyes flickered down to the red potion in his hand, nursing it as he rolled his wrist. Debating on drinking it as his free hand grasped at his stomach. He was pretty sure Fenrir had done this on purpose, probably even watching as all his went down.

This was surely stress-related and despite this potion being somewhat of a cure-all it definitely did not stop him from getting upset or from his conditions worsening. His eyes rested on his superior officer as she went on screaming at him.

“You went ahead and negotiated with a beastman!?” She growled, seeing as there was no reason to negotiate with something that she saw as the embodiment of evil incarnate. “What kind of world do you live in, that you think this is okay? Do you think negotiating with a beast will stop him from climbing our walls, and murdering our people? Wasn’t the whole point of mobilizing the Paladin Order to kill the demonic beast that attacked our troops!?”

Gustav let out a sigh hearing her argument which was inherently flawed at nearly a hundred percent. They hadn’t been the ones to had been attacked, but the ones who had attacked him. It was completely backward and yet she saw it in a completely different way.

Keeping his calm, Gustav spoke to the woman, he had no problem talking to his superior Captain. “The one known as Fenrir, the beast you claim is evil, didn’t kill a single one of our Paladins.”

“What about the one that didn’t come back…? The Squire, if I am not mistaken.” Her eyes flashed over towards Pavel the Black and then over to the Paladin that was standing beside him. Those were the parents of the girl. Her eyes moved down to see that Pavel was holding an extra-sword, one which belonged to a Squire as it was not imbued with holy magics.

“Was that Squire not eaten or killed during the first expedition?” Remedios seemed to be trying to compose herself as there was hardly any reaction to her outburst and Gustav’s claim. His words meant something to her at least, and she wasn’t going to throw them away, even if she disagreed.

“She was presumed dead,” Gustav started as he shook his head lightly, “But she is very much alive and serving as a liaison between us and him. You know of Pavel the Black, yes?” He gestured towards the member of the nine colors which was standing beside him, “It’s his daughter.”

Remedios eyes drifted over the father of the Squire and raised a brow of her own, “Where is your bow?” She was curious about this as she knew of his exploits as a Nine Color due to his rankings.

“Under orders, Pavel was sent into scout out the situation further, but he was expected. Somehow the being known as Fenrir appeared behind him… Showing he was capable of teleportation. After that, we didn’t see him for hours until his return… Fenrir released him, and that’s when we learned the truth. Our people entered his domain and attacked him without proper provocation.” Gustav spoke as he kept a calm disposition visible to those around him and the woman before him. He could no lose his cool here, he knew that much.

“That doesn’t answer my question, what happened to your bow?” Remedios wanted to know the answer to her question and she was ignoring Gustav who was offering an explanation. He had neglected to answer it forthright.

“He destroyed it, Captain Remedios, he had be surrender my armaments and broke it under his foot.” Pavel’s lip twitched lightly at the remembrance of such a thing happening to his weapon.

“Oh?” Remedios looked him over for a few moments before crossing her arms, “And your daughter is alive inside that tower? What exactly had she offered him to grant such mercy? Has she become a traitor to the Paladin Order? Her incompetence with a swo-…”

“That’s enough, Remedios. There is nothing she could have told him that he wouldn’t have already known,” Gustav put a hand up to silence his superior before she could go on an abusive rant. “And with all due respect, you should consider her more of a captive in this regard.”

“Captive?” Remedios blinked at the idea of the Squire being held as a hostage. Though who exactly would hold back for a Squire? It would be one thing if it was a child, but a teenage combatant?

“He has a particular interest in Pavel’s daughter, she is quite literally the only reason he did not obliterate our forces surrounding the Citadel of Hel.” Gustav was convinced of this even though Fenrir hadn’t said a word indicating as such.

“Hel? As in Hell? The…” Her eyes slowly shifted towards the tower once more, seeing all the frost which covered the ground and crowded up along the exterior of the wall. “Hell is supposed to be covered in hell’s inferno! I don’t see any demons here!”

“It’s not the Hell we’re thinking of,” Gustav scratched the side of his head lightly, “He comes from another Plane… He didn’t go into much detail, but I’ve seen the angels who serve him.”

“Angels?” Remedios tucked her fingers under her chin, not quite buying the whole idea of angels serving something as evil and crooked as a beastman. Though seeing as the creature had not only taken a Squire captive due to having an interest in them, and sparing the rest, it was almost as if the individual had the mind of a human or even a heteromorphic creature. “How many Angels did you see?”

“Two,” Gustav sweatdropped, “One in the main corridor and one in the throne room that has a false sky above. It was rather convincing until one spotted the shattered moon… There was also a woman with red dragon wings protruding from her back, similar to the Dragon Queen. Other than them, there was only one other human there, she was watching over a massive map that allowed instant surveillance of Our Territory, the Re-Estize Kingdom and a large portion of the Theocracy. He can even see us now…”

“Wait, he can see us… From in there? That’s preposterous, I don’t even see any windows!” She looked to the massive fortress, it was as if the construct was built solely for structural integrity. “Such a magical item would be… Invaluable in fighting against the enemies of our nation. To think such an Evil creature has his hands on a thing capable of greatness…”

“He proclaims himself a Holy Sovereign and his official title as the God-killer,” Gustav said blankly as to try and turn her away from believing that this being known to them as Fenrir was in fact, not evil. If he had been such, he wouldn’t have held back, he would’ve just taken what he wanted.

“God-Killer? Is he looking to kill the four Gods? Hah! As if the Holy Queen would allow him to just waltz into our realm and destroy our temples!” She completely twisted it around to fit her world view, “And Holy Sovereign? What kind of bullshit is that? How can a beast be holy? His kind sees us as food! Our Queen is the only Holy being alive who can stand over us…”

Pavel and the Paladins behind Gustav just watched this go on. This woman was arrogant and clearly had something wrong with her mind. Many of her peers thought this and they weren’t alone. Even Pavel had to disagree with what the woman was spouting.

Fenrir looked human, aside from his animalistic ears and the probability of a tail tightly tucked into his armor. He spoke as a human and aside from the fear that he inspired in Neia should she come close to offending him, well, he couldn’t see the werewolf as a blood-lusting monster.

“You are completely misunderstanding what I am saying, Captain, he does not want to kill our gods. He is a God, expelled from the same realm ours came from! There is no other way to explain what I saw inside that Tower…” Gustav tried not to hiss towards his leader and instead raised his voice ever so slightly. This at least let her know that she was currently moving things out of line and likely creating an unnecessary problem.

“What you saw? What could you have seen that would make you believe he is a God? Did he do something to your brain, Gustav?” Remedios crossed her arms tightly over her chest, hardly believing in the idea that a being such as a wolf could be a god of any kind.

“It’s bigger on the inside…” Pavel reported as he stepped up beside the Vice-Captain, “It has false skies as Gustav has said…” His gaze shifted to the top of the tower.

“The first level of the Citadel is a massive forest with a giant tower in the center,” one of the Paladins spoke up as well and stood on the opposite side of the Executive Officer. “What you proclaim to be a beast, started out as a man who stood at least eight feet tall. He was capable of transforming in several seconds.”

“Transforming…?” Remedios could hardly understand the idea of a human being becoming a monster and then reverting back afterward. This had to be some sort of trick right? That was what she thought at least, “It must’ve been some sort of trick in order to lull you into thinking otherwise. So you would approach.”

“No, that’s not what happened,” the Paladin huffed under their helmet as the woman seemed adamant of villainizing the self-proclaimed God. “Remedios-sama, He went from being eight feet tall, two twice the size of a full-grown horse. It broke a holy sword with its bare hands… Then it let us go…”

“Tch,” the Captain of the Paladin Order simply stared at the subordinate who spoke up to her. “And even if you say Angels were following him, what makes you think they weren’t just Devils in disguise?” She shook her head as if blowing everything away, twisting it to make sense in her mind.

“…You have… Yet… To Meet… Fenrir-sama…” These words were eerily echoing from behind her, the voice was raspy and it didn’t sound all that human, to begin with, other than the speech used.

Remedios narrowed her eyes forward as she knew there was no possible way someone was standing behind her. There was the half-wall that kept anyone from falling over onto the grounds below. So, who was it who dared go behind her?

Turning her head, she was nearly face to face with a very unholy looking angel. Its wings and body seemed shriveled, it looked more undead than it did divine, “Detect Undead!” She immediately spouted out a spell, there were negative results, it was not an undead. “Detect Evil!” Once more, the Angel was not evil.

“Such… A… Rude Mortal…” Pelleon wasn’t happy, even with its raspy voice, that was distinctively clear as the tone had almost become violent. However, the Angel itself remained stoic, not that it could make much of an expression anyway with its flaky exterior.

The Captain nearly panicked, moving to draw her sword, “What is this thing!?”

“That is an Angel, I believe it was the one in the corridor that teleported us directly to Fenrir-sama’s location…” Gustav had automatically started using the honorific the moment the creature had appeared. It was clear he feared its wrath, especially the kind he saw in its inhuman eyes. He rested his hand on Remedios, trying to stop her from doing so. “If you draw your sword, it might slay you instead! Keep your head!”

“Listen… To your… Commander… Captain…” Pelleon uttered as it reached forward and placed its bony hand upon the teeth of the low barrier that lined the upper half of the Great Wall. “Or… You will… Be exterminated for looking down on…” The Angel paused in mid-speech before leaning back and turning its head away.

Pavel and his wife were now walking away, leaving the others alone with the heteromorphic being. It seemed they didn’t want to get involved in that, especially if it got out of hand.

As sweat began to bead down the side of her forehead, Remedios glanced over towards Gustav who was nodding to her. Essentially helping her calm down and regain her composure.

Facing the Captian of the Paladins once more, the Angel put a finger under its chin. It was looking over Remedios for a split moment before shaking its head. “… Fenrir-sama has… Offered you an invitation… To view the Atlas… Will you accept…?”

Remedios stared at the being, still not really believing this thing was an Angel. All the Angelic summon she had seen followed some sort of uniform appearance. This creature? It wasn’t donned in white-robed armor, while it had a stoic face, it didn’t look holy at all! Her fingers tightened into a fist on top of the pommel of her sheathed weapon.

“The thing he is using to spy on our nation and the rest of the world? Hah!” Her head turned to the side as she glared to the ground, this was an opportunity, but it could be a trap.

Letting her eyes fixate upon the disgusting looking being from Hel, she rolled her jaw, feeling her chin in thought with her free hand. “Why does he offer this now? Is he watching me at this very moment?”

“He… Has… Been since… Gustav… Was returned…” Pelleon answered in hushed slow and raspy speech, though not one of subservience, but one of irritation and blatant annoyance. “Alliance… Or depart…” Its eyes moved to Gustav, “Would you… Prefer a direct… Portal to… The Capital City…?”

“Portal?” Remedios was confused as to where the Angel’s attention was now going after uttering Alliance or depart. She could only assume that it meant if they didn’t kneel, they would perish. That is how it sounded to her. Though it was more so if they didn’t form an alliance, there was no reason to tolerate them near the citadel. Nor would there be a reason to protect them either.

“If Fenrir-sama is offering transportation, I don’t see a reason to decline his offer,” Gustav took out a piece of parchment that had been handed to him prior to his ejection from the citadel. It had a list of what he wanted, written by Neia, rather than God since he could not read nor write in their native languages. “It would make meeting the deadline much easier…”

With her eyes locked on him, Remedios didn’t like the fact that he was using such honorifics towards a being who was not even human and was evil in her eyes simply due to his description.

With the casting of Gate, a portal opened up a few feet away from Gustav, a popping sound ripping through the air at the very moment of its appearance.

When they all turned to face it, they were greeted by a swirling mass of magical energy. It could lead to just about anywhere, and they could assume that, even after the Angel had told them where it went.

Running a hand through his hair, Gustav gave his potion one last glance, before resting his eyes on the mysterious portal that the Angel had likely summoned. “This goes to Hoburns…?”

“Yes… it does… Please, step forward…” Pelleon gestured with its hand as if acting friendly.

Gustav let out a sigh before letting his eyes rest on Remedios, “Would you be willing to come within order to see the Holy Queen? I am sure she would be eager to hear your thoughts on the matter.”

“Naturally!” Remedios spoke almost pompously before marching through the portal without a seconds hesitation. Mentioning the queen was probably what got her to freely enter the portal in the first place, and he knew this.

Giving the Angel a once-over, he bowed his head before turning away and walking through the portal after his commanding officer. Leaving the next highest-ranking official on the wall in charge.

With a wave of his hand, the portal vanished and Pelleon let out a slow exhale. His eyes turned towards the Paladins which were now watching it from a distance.

To them, it had just emerged from the mist and held a conversation with their superiors. It was a monstrous-looking thing that had made them vanish after walking through a portal of some sort.

There was obvious animosity towards Pelleon due to his non-angelic features, due to his appearance being the representation of decay and pestilence. “How… Unnerving…”

Its eyes wandered over the face of many Paladin, and soldiers who had arrived for the mobilization. Its gaze resting on Orlando and Pavel, along with the man’s wife, as they were talking in a secluded area by the main tent behind the Great Wall.

They hardly even gave him a glance, not that it really meant much if it did. Others seemed to be sharing information, communicating. However, because of Remedios blowing up as she did, there were plenty of rumors already going around despite this.

Gustav going traitor, Remedios being fucked in the head and ready to get them all killed, the creature inside is actually the devil. There were plenty of things going on that the angel could hear ever so subtly. Yet it said nothing as it turned and began to hover back towards the open mouth of the citadel. It was returning to the first floor, its assigned location, as it no longer had a reason to be outside and putting itself at risk.

This was the first time it had seen the exterior, and Pelleon, he found it considerably enjoyable.