Overlord System[1]: Welcome to Ragnarok

"AAHHHHHHHHH!"

The sight of the bloody fountain that was once Carl drained all life from the faces of the remaining three dropouts. In contrast to their despair, Arc(Irene) was laughing uncontrollably

"Fufufufuhahahaha....look at your faces.....a blood fountain, hahahaha"

"How can you be enjoying this, you monster?! I thought we were friends!"

Honoka raged at the 12 year old who seemed to be enjoying their despair. Neil stepped forward in an attempt to protect the two girls

"You too run for it! I'll try to hold him of—"

*SPLAT

He was crushed into unrecognizable bits by the Shadowwolf's paw before he could finish. As the blood splattered on the two girls faces in a single wave, Katie silently fell on her knees in shock while Honoka started screaming curses.

"Please stop this Ms Irene! They are my friends"

"You still consider them your friends after what they did?"

"They are scared kids who just wanted to survive. We spent four days together and I got to know them, they are really good people at heart. Any twelve year old would've made the same decision so please, spare them!"

"Did you even stop to consider what will happen if they survive?"

"Huh?"

"You don't know how to use the system yet, if you let them live, you risk letting the cradle know you're alive. As you are right now, you cannot defeat the Master Class 3 that brought you here, let alone the cradle's entire military might"

"Even so... please, let them live!"

The ethereal Arc bowed down before Irene, begging her to spare his friends. She silently stared at him in such a pathetic state, begging her to spare people who didn't hesitate to dispose of him. After taking in the sight of his heartfelt request, she replied....

.....With the death of Honoka Ishigami. The Shadowwolf's claws slashed off her upper body.

"M-Ms Irene?"

"Sigh, your naivety will be the death of you. This is why I didn't want to choose you in the first place. I'll get this over with quickly"

Arc knew what that meant, the next victim was his good friend who he made two promises, Katie. He ran to hold down Arc(Irene) in a desperate attempt to stop her. However, he was ethereal, no one other than Arc(Irene) could see or hear him, and he couldn't touch anything either

"Kill the girl"

"NO!..... PLEASE DON'T—"

The Shadowwolf's jaws took off her upper body in a single bite. Arc was powerless to save anyone

"AAARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—"

"Sleep"

Upon hearing Irene's words, the ethereal Arc instantly collapsed, falling into a deep sleep. Arc(Irene) got down from the back of the Shadowwolf directing her attention to the final problem.

"So? Are you friend or foe?"

Maya instantly appeared behind Arc(Irene) and took a knee.

"I am your humble servant, Lord Ymir"

"My husband is asleep at the moment"

"Oh? Lady Irene? It's an honor. I was sent by Lord Silvers, he was the one who prepared your vessel"

"I already know that, don't underestimate me"

"I humbly apologize, my lady"

Arc(Irene) took a long, hard look at Maya, who was afraid she had angered the fickle queen.

"Well it seems like my time is almost up so I'll let your branch have him. However, I will not tolerate you seducing my husband"

"Thank you very much, Lady Irene"

"And tell that incompetent twit to do something about this boy's naivety. It's getting on my nerves"

"Understood, my lady"

Arc's eyes returned to it's original color indicating Irene was done possessing his body. As his actual soul was asleep, his body quickly followed suit, falling into Maya's arms.

***************

***************

Arc noticed the bandages on his wounds as he awoke on a bed in a dimly lit room.

He sat up trying to get his bearings and remember how he got there

"Ughhh— I-I killed them...I promised we'll make it out alive but I just.... killed them... Katie..."

As much as he wanted all that happened to be one bad dream, reality wasn't so nice. The dropouts were all killed and he blamed himself for it.

[Quit whining, fool. Mistress Irene made the right decision. They were traitors so they had to be punished]

"Death is too cruel a punishmen—. Wait, who said that?!"

After all, he was alone in the room.

[The way you're looking around like an idiot is embarrassing. I'm in your mind]

"H-Huh?"

[I am I, your personal assistant for the overlord system. Lady Irene was supposed to be the one to handle this but she doesn't want to talk to you. She's pouty because you tried to stop her earlier]

[I'm not pouty! Just a little upset, that's all]

[That was Lady Irene. As you can see, she is pouty]

[Damn you, I! I'll turn you into barbecue]

[C-Calm down, my lady, ah, ahhhh...ow, that hurt! —*BANG]

[Ow! You hit me!]

[Ofcourse! Geez, What's wrong with you?!]

"H-Haha...."

Arc didn't know how to respond to the comedy routine going on in his head. It was almost like he was crazy.

[Anyway master Arc, raise your finger to eye level and swipe down]

Arc did as I instructed instinctively and something strange appeared— it was a status window like in games.

The layout was divided down the middle to two sections— on the left was a table of contents, outlining the major headings. Upon clicking one of them, the information and subheadings are shown on the right

[

† Status. —> |] Level: 0

† Missions. |] XP: 4/300

† Stables. |] Coins: 1040

† Inventory. |] Slaves: 1

† Skills. |].

]

Arc then clicked on Missions. It was divided into Event Missions, Emergency Missions and Lifetime Missions. The Event and Emergency Missions were empty. However, under lifetime missions there was one

[Kill Lifeforms (4/???): Reward: 1 XP, 10 Coins]

"W-What is this?! I, explain!"

He instantly knew those 4 were the dropouts.

[Shouldn't you wait till you've checked everything before asking questions?! Fool]

The fury in I's voice instantly made him comply. He clicked on Stables next. It was divided into 3 as well— Slaves, EVO Candidates, EVOs. The Slaves and EVOs were also empty. Under EVO candidates

[Name:Yami Race:Shadowwolf EVO: 4]

He looked at inventory next. It was empty.

Then skills. It was divided into Overlord and Borrowed Skills. While borrowed skills was locked with a message "0 slots", overlord had one— Appraisal.

"I'm done. Now explain"

*CREAK... The door opened

[I'll explain later]

Emerging from behind the door was a face familiar to Arc

"Seems you're finally awake"

"Instructor Maya!"

"Hey, easy..."

She replied, patting his head after he leaped into her arms, holding her tightly with tears in his eyes.

"Wipe off your tears. Boys shouldn't cry, you know"

"Y-Yes..."

"Come. There's some I want you to meet"

She took him out of the room through a long, dark hallway till they arrived at what resembled a throneroom that had a silver bearded old man on the throne.

He got up and took a knee to greet Arc.

"Greetings, young master Ymir. My name is Raymond Silvers, a member of Ragnarok and your loyal servant"

"R-Ragnarok? You mean?"

He turned to Maya who had an indifferent expression on her face. He knew all too well Ragnarok was a criminal organization involved with most of major chaos in Midgard and the gate worlds.

"W-What do you want with me?"

"We only wish to serve you, master. We'll help you take your revenge against the cradle"

"R-Revenge?"

"The people of the cradle treated you like a faliure, even your own brother. Even worse, they specifically ordered your execution in order to stop you from reaching your greatness. I know you must be burning with rage for them as I do, so join us, and we'll burn the cradle together"

"N-No, I don't want reven—"

"You must be hungry, young master"

Silvers stood up

"Come on, let's eat.... We can talk more later."

"But.."

"You also need rest and recuperation for your injuries. Once you're back to full strength, we of Ragnarok will teach you about the overlord system and help you realize your true power"

"You know about the overlord system?"

"Ofcourse. It and you are one of the main reasons Ragnarok was founded, after all"

"M-Me?"

Arc followed Silvers and Maya to the dining hall where he was greeted by two chefs and a huge feast

"Don't be shy, Arc. Please enjoy"

Maya urged and he reluctantly complied. While they were right about The Cradle wanting him dead and people treating like a faliure by others, he still had friends who didn't treat him unfairly— Amy, the children, and....Katie, who died in Alpine forest.

Still though, he couldn't defy them by himself— he was still injured and even if that wasn't the case, he knew Maya was a Master 5 warrior and mage and could tell Silvers was much stronger than her.

Master 1 maybe? Or Grandmaster, he couldn't be sure. One thing was certain though, even if he was fully healed, if he tried to fight these two, he will surely lose his life, even with the Shadowwolf by his side.

Nevertheless, he ate his meal with determination in his heart. He will pretend to be under their thumb while healing and learn about the overlord system, how to get stronger and about where exactly he is.

Then, once he's back to 100 percent, he will wait for a good opportunity and escape.