I changed a bit of Shalltear's revival, I didn't really like the way it was handled during canon. Sadly, she won't be a chair this time around.

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  Antikythera stood alongside the other guardians within the throne room. Pandora's Actor had already filtered out the necessary amount of gold for Shalltear's metaphorical revival, and all they needed now was to wait for Lord Ainz to come back. The Automaton was not sure what the Supreme One was currently doing, but he assumed it must be something important. Whatever it was.

  "I do not care if Lord Ainz's current task is not reted to conquering the world." Demiurge scowled at Solution. "You dare tell me your assumptions of my belief regarding the Supreme One's feelings?"

  "I do believe that, even if it is irrelevant to our current task, what Lord Ainz is doing is still important," Antikythera stepped in. "And Solution, please stop taunting Demiurge. It is unproductive to our current goals, and you hinder it more with your words than the contrary."

  "No, no, it's fine!" Lord Ainz appeared in front of The Throne of Kings. Antikythera tilted his head—no, he shook off his invincibility and other effects that hid his presence, the Automaton corrected himself. Did that mean the Supreme One had been listening to them all this time?

  Lord Ainz cleared his throat and sat on the throne; they all bowed in reverence.

  "Stand up," he commanded, and thus they all obeyed. "I said that it is fine for Solution to do that. Your creators in the past were like this as well—HeroHero and Ulbert often argued, but they remained friends. Do not hold animosity toward each other just because of petty arguments."

  "Yes, Lord Ainz!" all the guardians said as one.

  "Umu." The Overlord nodded, then looked at the pile of gold on the right side of the throne room. "I see that the cost for Shalltear's revival has been set." The Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown appeared in the Supreme One's hand. "I will now begin the process of reviving her. Make sure she is still loyal to Nazarick after she comes into being."

  The guardians nodded, and everyone, including Sakai, prepared for the worst outcome. If an enemy appeared within the deepest floors of Nazarick, who knew how much damage they could do?

  Lord Ainz fidgeted with the control panels of the tomb, and after a moment, the gathered gold pile shone before coalescing into a condensed humanoid shape in front of the Throne of Kings. Features soon colored the humanoid—silver hair, a petite body, and thin lips, all within an unnaturally pretty face that would cause even the most dedicated saint to leave celibacy to earn the maiden's love.

  Then Shalltear opened her eyes, and everyone tensed. She looked around, blinking. "Wha?..”

  "Shalltear," Lord Ainz said from the throne. "How are you?"

  "Lord Ainz?" The vampire looked down at herself, then at everyone else. She shamelessly continued as though she hadn’t just realized she was naked, "What's going on? Am I finally..?"

  "Don't even finish that word, you traitorous whore!" Albedo scowled. "How dare you pretend like you didn't just betray Nazarick—"

  "Betray Nazarick?!" Shalltear screamed back. "Has your goril genetics finally affected you?! You mindless ape! I would never dare to betray Lord Ainz! I am his loyal guardian, and I—"

  Shalltear was cut off when Lord Ainz addressed someone. "Demiurge?"

  "She is not lying, Lord Ainz." Demiurge dismissed the [Lie Eater] and unsummoned the lesser demon. "It seems that she has, in fact, lost her memory." Demiurge looked at Antikythera, and the Automaton didn't need a cue to send the data packet of his battle with Shalltear to Sakai.

  A hologram popped up at the center of the throne room. "This is the battle between the first and the second-to-third floor guardian of Nazarick," the specter said. "Do you remember any of this, Shalltear?"

  It seemed that even Sakai could not hold back her loathing for the vampire's actions—expected, given how critical she was of fws and her hatred for any type of failure, no matter how minor. Shalltear's test failure just so happened to be the biggest one Nazarick had seen after coming into the New World.

  "N-no." A horrified Shalltear said as she watched the recorded battle unfold within the hologram. "What happened?"

  "You were sent on a mission to retrieve a—"

  "Martial Arts master." Shalltear cut Antikythera off. "But we were just leaving Nazarick!"

  "A contingency within the World Item's effects?" Antikythera faced Demiurge, and the archfiend nodded.

  "It seems that her memories of encountering the ones responsible for controlling her have been wiped out."

  "So she can't even do something so simple!" Albedo stomped her foot. "You failure! How dare you defile Lord Ainz's name like this!"

  This time, Shalltear had no jabs to respond with. The vampire merely looked down at the ground, dejected. Antikythera would have pitied her if the situation was different, but as it was, he simply offered the vampire constructive criticism.

  "Do not fail next time," the Automaton said to his fellow floor guardian. "You hold Lord Ainz's name wherever you go, and even more so when you follow his orders. As the peak of Nazarick's power output, we are expected to perform well in any duty given to us."

  "We do forgive you, of course," Demiurge chimed in. "Some of us are not created equal. We are given unique qualities that show the love of the Supreme Beings for us. You are a fighter through and through—wild you may be—but this is what Lord Peroroncino wanted you to become."

  "We cannot change that," Albedo joined in. The succubus fixed her hair in an arrogant manner—a st-ditch effort to annoy Shalltear, perhaps? "But we can train you on how to act during field operations. We can also educate you on how to do so, as well as give you pointers on your attitude towards lesser creatures."

  "We. Cannot. Underestimate. Them," Cocytus joined in. "Your. Failure. Has. Shown. That. They. Can. Fight. Back."

  "Indeed, you will join Aura and Mare in their education under Sakai," Demiurge suggested. "You will not be deemed an appropriate field agent until we consider you competent enough to be worthy of holding Nazarick's name under the banner of your actions."

  All this time, Shalltear did not respond. She merely stared at the screen, her fists clenched. She looked at Antikythera with a sad expression. "Did you mean what you said?"

  "No," the Automaton shook his head. "That was a taunt," he informed the vampire. "I wished to learn more about what was going on in your mind while it was under such an altered state."

  Shalltear chuckled dejectedly. "I see. So I'm useful like that, huh?"

  "Change," Antikythera told the vampire. "You have time to learn, and we will slow down our movement within the New World now that we are aware that some of the locals have the ability to fight us. You can still catch up."

  "I can try—"

  "No." Sakai gred at the vampire. "No trying. You WILL," the specter emphasized. "'Try,' 'if,' or some other ambiguous answer will not be accepted. You are a guardian. You are held to such a high standard, and you will show the world why that is."

  "O-okay..." Shalltear hastily nodded. "I'll make sure that when I'm done, I will be a worthy floor guardian."

  "Good." Sakai turned away. "Lessons start tomorrow."

  Albedo ughed once the specter left. "Appropriate," the succubus grinned madly. "Given that you are nothing more than a child, being in the same css as the youngest guardians is only right. Go cover yourself up!"

  Antikythera chuckled inwardly when it wasn’t Shalltear who followed Albedo’s command, but Lord Ainz. The Overlord draped a cloak over the vampire and, in response? Shalltear grabbed his cloak and pressed her head against his ribs.

  The pitiful wails of the floor guardian would have been mistaken for that of a banshee should anyone else hear it.