Hm..." Momonga wondered as he walked through the swamp while Gasper was struggling to keep up.
The two of them had made good progress in their trek towards the center of the swamp where the Crow created by [Lead of Yatagarasu] pointed them. As Momonga expected, there had been no undead to intercept the two, which meant the Elder Lich had his undead creations under a tight leash.
Momonga had long since noticed that a frog which seemed to ooze negative energy was following the two, which meant that the Elder Lich was already well aware of Momonga's journey towards Ravel. Indeed, Momonga would have already contacted the Lich through [Message] if he hadn't been forced to lug Gasper alongside him.
'...Now, how should I dispose of Gasper so I can contact the Lich? Gasper's a valuable member of my party so I can't just kill him, his part-vampire physique makes him immune to stun so I can't just knock him out... Although, since his powers confer negative energy on the target, he wouldn't be able to deal significant damage to undead creatures- or quite the contrary, his negative energy would heal the undead even if he managed to deliver some physical damage from attacks, cancelling each other out.' Momonga came up with a plan to go ahead alone while also giving Gasper a 'bodyguard' of sorts, just in case. "Gasper? Stay on alert. I think there's something nearby. I'm going to release your seal, so be ready."
Gasper let a 'eep' before starting to scan the area, hiding behind Momonga's back like a scared rabbit. The distraction allowed Momonga to use his silent undead-summoning to create two Death Knights in the cover of the swamp's undergrowth.
Momonga then relayed simple orders to the Death Knights through the link the creator and the created shared, allowing him to deliver instinctive orders to his creations. There seemed to be a limitation of distance on the wordless communication though, as while Momonga could feel the Elder Lich's precise location now that the two were close, he could not reliably give orders to it just yet.
And with the last fiascos in mind, Momonga was far from willing to give vague orders to the intelligent undead he created.
"AAH!" Gasper jumped as the two undead Knights charged through the vegetation like a pair of freight trains, the lower part of the heavy tower shields the two wielded splitting foul-smelling water like prows of ships while the two Knight's main bodies were hidden behind the slabs of dark metal.
One of the Knights impacted against Momonga, as he had ordered, and pushed him away from Gasper while the other knight did much the same with the blonde vampire.
"MOMON-KUN!" Gasper's scream turned desperate as the two were separated in an instant.
The separation had been so quick that Momonga believed he could later claim that he hadn't had time to undo the 'seal' on Gasper's powers- Momonga needed to keep Gasper sealed as it would be troublesome if the 'she' used 'her' version of [Time Stop] to bypass the separation and join forces again. After all, the Death Knights had no means of overcoming time stoppages and thus their ability to block Gasper would be very limited if he had access to his powers.
'That should give me some breathing space...' Momonga sighed in relief, but froze as he realized that the fairy he had created for a certain pink-clad girl was near him as it entered his 'command range'. 'Oh no.'
The Pink Haunter had returned upon Momonga's trail and had caught wind of her prey. 'Levi-tan is somewhere here...'
Realizing that the easy way out was blocked, Momonga allowed himself to be flung like a doll whose strings had been cut as the Death Knight continued its ram, crashing into a withered tree and shattering it into splinters.
A chorus of cracks of trees and bushes being snapped and a scream turning faint told Momonga that the other Death Knight was succeeding in its task of separating Gasper from him, and was likely running like a train away from Momonga with the half-vampire plastered over its shield like a bug in a windscreen.
Thinking quickly, Momonga 'allowed' himself to be pushed back further and deliberately fell into a deep-looking hole in the swamp. He then ordered the Death Knight to kick him deeper, almost as if it stomped Momonga under the foul-smelling water, then ordering it to stab the water a few times with each hit missing Momonga's body underneath the surface but making it appear as if the undead Knight had overpowered and debilitated 'Momon' to an outside observer. The undead then it turned back to rejoin its brother that would be 'fighting' Gasper.
'Ugh... Somehow I'm not sure how I should feel about this. This is quite uncomfortable from one point of view, and quite homy from one.' Momonga felt troubled as he hid under the swamp water, unharmed by lack of oxygen even if his fleshy body suffered and suffocated slowly. 'Suzuki Satoru' was quite perturbed by the whole 'drowning' affair, specifically since that part of Momonga's mind was the closest associated with the fleshy body, while the undead part of 'Momonga' felt invigorated by the negative energy imbued in the water. 'Well, this buys me some time to think. Serafall is probably going to report that I died since she's under orders to not interfere, and when she leaves, I should be free to get out and contact the Elder Lich. Afterwards I can just claim that my 'Phoenix heritage' allowed me to heal myself...'
Something splashed above the water and caused Momonga's scheming to come to an end as a pair of hands broke the surface and reached to grasp for something.
Before Momonga could push himself deeper into the water the hands found his host body's hair and pulled him out of the swamp.
'Oh. Well, this provides an opportunity as well.' Momonga recalculated his plans as he saw Serafall's face, which was utterly and completely pale after the magical girl had pulled 'Momon' out of the swamp. "A-grlgh."
A jet of foul mire water flowed out of Momon's mouth upon him trying to speak, followed by a series of hacks and coughs as the body expelled water from its lungs. He made sure to fall on his knees as well, so that the body's autonomous actions wouldn't look out of place.
"Hold on, I'll... I'll... um... Wait, I'm not supposed to interfere..." Serafall fell on her knees as well in apparent despair, although she remained above the surface of the water that seemed solid under her weight. She pulled out a phone that had been ruined by swamp-water when she had dipped below the surface out of her pocket and tossed it aside as it let a sizzle of frying electronics. "N-no... Mo-kun, you can't, this isn't, this isn't a cool way to die, please don't!"
"I'm... alright." Momonga coughed out after his host body had managed to expel the water, then using the chance to reinforce his cover with pointless questions. "Thanks. I didn't expect you to be around. Is Gasper okay? Where did that... thing go?"
"Uuuh, I didn't check. I think it went to fight Gasper-kun. I'm not supposed to interfere, specifically now since we're in the area where that 'Supreme thing's forces have presence..." Serafall twisted her hands, clearly distressed. "Y-you know, that was too close. Please, just, um, please show your cool mysterious side, like, any day now... I'm watching you at all times, remember! You can use your mysterious second stage at any time! Any time being now!"
'...Don't tell me I have to do 'that' to convince Serafall to back off...' Momonga sighed, not at all reassured by Serafall's words, specifically the last part.
"Don't worry, my dread, my dear, my love Levi-tan! In truth I was merely trying to gauge thy affection for me after your confession!" Momonga turned around, channelling his 'chuuni' to his every move and action, taking inspiration from the nonsense the magical girl had spouted during their last meet- with hope it would distract her enough for him to escape. "I was using your affection to force your hand into rescuing me!"
The girl blushed to her eyebrows, and Momonga pushed the advantage after pointing his finger at the girl dramatically and running his hand through his fingers with his other hand.
"Indeed! I was attempting to see if you'd break your vow for me!" Momonga turned around, pulling from his 'edgy teenager' aesthetic from back when he had created his greatest triumph, and his greatest shame, in Pandora's Actor- the Area Guardian of Treasury of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Even if saying words that Momonga was saying caused his mind to break a bit from the sheer amount of cringe imbued in them "And lo, I was rewarded!"
Unfortunately by turning around Momonga missed the way Serafall's head snapped to the side like a hawk who had sensed a prey. Likewise he missed the fact the girl's eyes widened to saucers in sudden fright.
"...And now that you've arrived, let us fight together against this foe- A Dark Warrior and a Pink Maou-Mahou side by side!" Momonga finalized his flourish, using [Create Greater Item] to make a uniform coat and a military cap for himself.
Unfortunately, when he turned around, Serafall was nowhere to be seen, causing Momonga's dramatic flourish and grasp at the air as if aiming to crush his enemies within it to freeze still.
Momonga could hear the sound of a cricket coming from somewhere as he stared at the empty piece of air Serafall had occupied just a moment before. 'Did I... Did I just use my 'Chuuni' for no reason?'
Something cracked a bit more in Momonga's mind-scape, and the two plushies and two pieces of his personality's manifestation quickly stomped on a thing trying to creep inside through the crack, quickly sealing the cracks with wooden planks and trash. 'T-that was too close... In more ways than one...'
Momonga sighed deeply, glad that he had a moment to breathe as he could feel the fairy he had created a decent distance away, meaning that something had caught the pink raid boss's attention and she had gone to poke her new object of interest.
'I can't afford to waste this opportunity...' Momonga steeled himself before calling the Crow from [Lead of Yatagarasu] to him and set off towards the invisible strand belonging to the Elder Lich... and noticed that the Crow was pointing in a different direction. 'Hm? The Elder Lich is moving? Hold on... that's the direction where the main battleforce would be going... Oh. Hold on, is it doing what I expected it to do when I told the plan to Lady Phenix and Belial? Did he spy on me? Oh, of course. That frog. In that case it would have interpreted my orders to the group to concern the Elder Lich as well...'
Indecisive on how he should feel about the situation, Momonga decided to follow the Crow as he didn't have much he could do for the Elder Lich, so he decided to at least see if he could salvage something from his base, potentially retrieving Ravel to further reinforce Lady Phenix's positive opinion of 'Momon'. Also, Momonga figured that he could finish off Lord Phenix if he was present before the latter could blabber about him.
With the man's death more or less set in stone, and since Momonga wasn't willing to let Lady Phenix die as his whole cover depended more or less on the woman's survival, Momonga created a few more Death Knights and a Death Cavaliers after making sure he wasn't spied on and sent them towards the battlegroup with orders to delay the group but ensure that the Phenix woman survived. The survival of the entire force was unnecessary for Momonga's purposes, so Momonga gave the undead orders to kill a few of the security guards in order to not raise too much suspicion, but not to inflict lethal blows on his Peerage or Lady Phenix.
Death Cavaliers were more or less the cavalry equivalents of Death Knights, trading the Death Knight's trademark ability of surviving one lethal attack with one health and creation of lesser undead from its kills for a negative Aura ability that imbued fear on living creatures around it, as well as increased speed due to a mount that also gave it vastly stronger charge. Otherwise the durability of the two undead was more or less the same thanks to the Death Knight's shield and the Cavalier's mount, while the damage was also quite similar with the Cursed Flamberge versus the undead Bicorn-mount's hooves and the Cavalier's lance.
Momonga hoped that the Death Cavaliers could use the speed to weave in and out of combat, intercepting the combatants from making too much progress either way and generally be a hindrance that would allow Momonga some time to think while also ensuring the survival of his Peerage and the Phenix woman.
"This has become a royal mess, hasn't it..."
The automatic anti-divination spells that Momonga had constantly active were suddenly triggered, causing his mood to go from 'apprehensive' to 'outright paranoid'.
.
.
The Elder Lich was panicking.
It was quite impressive, considering that an undead like it couldn't quite feel emotions like a living being could, and what it could feel were heavily muted by limits on emotions.
'No, no, no, no, no! This can't be, I, I miscalculated! I failed! No, I haven't failed quite yet, I just, I just need to... Yes, time! No, that isn't it, I can just ask him for more, he's already provided me everything I needed...' The panic was joined by crippling anxiety and severe feeling of the Master being disappointed in the Elder Lich, and all of the emotional failscade was feeding a negative feedback loop that had the Lich scrambling through his notes after his initial ambush on its Master's prepared prey had failed.
The Elder Lich occupying Riser Phenix's body had firstly theorized that the 'attack' on his base had been his master's carefully orchestrated plan to both complete his own objective and at the same time give the Elder Lich an opportunity to make up for its mistake of not being the Undead Phoenix it's Master had expected him to be.
'But, the sacrifices had fought off the ambush... What does that mean?' The Elder Lich used [Undead Slave Sight] to take a look through the eyes of the undead he controlled, his undead which totaled a huge number of lesser undead as well as a few stronger ones, and importantly for surveillance, most of the fauna of the swamp and the lands around it.
Indeed, The Elder Lich heard the plan its Master explained to he sacrifices through the ears of an undead frog, and the Supreme One had then departed after manipulating the sacrifices into sending his undead servant girl to accompany him in case the Elder Lich's undead ambushed him, or if the 'Supreme Being' ambushed the Elder Lich's master.
The whole thing would have normally caused the Elder Lich to enter a state of rapture upon seeing its master's brilliance at work, convincing unknowing sacrifices to sacrifice themselves out of their free will to fight the 'enemy', who they unknowingly fought beside with, and who they also believed was their most trusted agent.
However, the Elder Lich's panic came from the very fact it had realized that the sacrifices were not just hapless sacrifices delivered to the Elder Lich's waiting hands, but rather, a test.
'As expected of the Supreme Being... I was foolish, the gentle caress through his indirect actions caused me to become soft and complacent. Indeed, He is expecting me to be able to overcome this challenge, to claim these sacrifices and complete the ritual... A test of strength, of conviction, and cunning to make up for my past failures.' The Elder Lich gathered as many scrolls as he could into a burlap bag as he scraped every bit of fighting advantage he could get out of his cave, leaving the Scroll behind so it wouldn't get damaged in the fight. 'Of course, he didn't intervene when my ambush failed... And he sent the group towards me. And that plan... Ah! I see, of course, my Master must have a plan for this 'Ravel' test subject he sent to me. Ah, thus he's 'rescuing' her, meaning that she likely has a place in his overhanging plan since Kokabiel retrieved her from His declared land, and Master is taking her back after she fulfilled her role in resolving my failure... And now he's using the same 'rescue' to send sacrifices I can use to test my growth... My growth... Of course! The 'experience gaining experiment'! It all makes sense now!'
The Elder Lich had to stop itself before it would suffer an aneurysm from merely gaining the slightest glimpse to the depths of the multi-layered interlocking plans the Supreme One had weaved.
It glanced at the tied-up amputated girl and decided that she would need to stay in the cave, as while she would make a good hostage, the plan the Supreme One had detailed meant he couldn't use her as one. 'Ahaha... the 'plan' for the sacrifices was also a guide for me, how cunning... As expected of my Master!'
"Come! Our moment of test and triumph awaits!" The Elder Lich cackled at the huge mass of muscle, sinew and bone that made the entity once known as 'Lord Phenix'.
The soulless husk let a hollow groan and hobbled back on its feet, neither undead nor truly alive, inheriting many of Phoenix's abilities yet incomplete in all of them- the monument to the Elder Lich's greatest achievement second only to the still-incomplete [Scroll of Dark Wisdom: Dark Phoenix], and also the monument to the Elder Lich's greatest shame.
"We march! March forth! To war!" The Elder Lich commanded the undead he had created, urging them forwards to march from the now-cramped cave while every single undead in the whole swamp rose from their watery graves to converge towards the waiting challengers and sacrifices, with the Elder Lich following in suit.
The Elder Lich felt a sudden surge of darkness, activated his [Undead Slave Sight] again and felt a twinge of shame as his undead slave frog saw its True Master put up a grand act to seduce one of the opposing 'Maou's, Serafall Leviathan, the names and powers of whom the Elder Lich had gained from its ally.
'That he realized a Maou was observing us, and seduced her by giving her a mere glimpse of his grandeur...' The Elder Lich had to pause to calm it's unbeating heart from glancing at the majestic display. 'Now, Kokabiel should be executing his harebrained idea of starting a war that has already started, which would pull the Maou's attention to him, in addition to every other Maou around, should they prowl here as well... yes, there she goes... Ahaha!'
The Elder Lich then noticed that the undead its Master created were heading towards the main battleforce, likely intending on joining the Elder Lich's attack while a Death Knights He had created earlier were making a show of fighting against an equally play-fighting undead servant girl in the distance.
The Elder Lich could no longer hold himself back.
"Just as planned!"
The words were like a triumphant prayer.