Overlord: Advent of the New Gods

With Renner out of the way, Ainz could finally converse with his own apostle. Neia was standing before him in his office, her head downcast and body trembling as she didn't see herself worthy to even look at him. Ulbert's suggestion to constantly use mind reading when interacting with apostles and other locals surely came in handy, even if it violated one's privacy in the deepest of ways.

The girl was a living ball of insecurity at the moment and was just waiting for him to tell how disappointed he was for her not being able to withstand the resurrection spell channeled through her, seeing it as inevitable.

It was time for him to play the role Neia expected, so Ainz started with a simple question, "Even standing before me, invited into my home, you still see yourself unworthy?"

His tone was that of curiosity, not of accusation, and yet the girl was paralyzed with fear, clutching her hands tight, shoulders pushed forward and gaze downcast, skin as white as bone, "Lord, I will try to be better, I-" Her voice shook.

"No mortal had the willpower to push herself as far as you did." Ainz paused and then quoted a line from the Bible, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Although he wasn't religious back on Earth, quoting religious texts was something he and other guild members often did for dramatic effect, and it was one source of knowledge everyone happily accepted from Tabula, who had basically memorized most of the esoteric texts found at his homeworld.

"Lord?" Neia looked up, only partly understanding what was said as it was a reference to her being willing to die for her friends which gave her the strength to stand as long as she did.

"You are not chosen for what you can do at the moment. I can rebuild you, empower you, and make you superior to any mortal, but even Gods can't give you the willpower to walk the path you have chosen. For this willpower and your sense of duty, I choose you."

Neia glanced up, her fear and sense of inadequacy fading. She had looked at everything the wrong way, the test hadn't been one of physical prowess but a mental one. She had to show her God she would not back down from the challenge and stand for what she believed in till her last breath.

"Lord, I will carry out your will. I will spread your word! I am beyond grateful to be chosen by you!" She declared, straightening out her back.

"Excellent. Then we can move on to receiving your gift. I empowered Renner enough for her not to worry about locals and to be able to defend herself. For you…" He paused, "How about we make it another test, see how far a mortal can be pushed?"

Neia dropped to one knee, lowering her head, "I will do my best, Lord. Test me."

The empowering process could potentially scar the soul and he wouldn't have the means to repair it, but his instincts told him Neia was much more durable than she appeared and thus he could test the limits of empowerment on her to make her the most powerful apostle. Currently, the strongest one was Antilene, who after losing her talent was around level seventy. But if he gave his all to this girl, Neia could potentially be pushed past that point, far past it.

The first thing was to increase her limit which currently stood at around level twenty, the easiest part. He instantly increased it to level sixty which already took a noticeable part of his mana, but there was still a lot to spend and his own mana pool had only grown since he became an overlord. Additionally, Ainz wanted to see if he could tap into his growing divinity and pull some of the immaterial power into the material world, and his apostle would be the perfect experiment and example if it worked out. He and other new Gods were rapidly expanding their astral forms subconsciously and their physical parts in theory were but faint shadows of their true might, mere vessels for their capabilities and power.

He placed his hand on the girl's forehead, increasing her limit and then pushing her to the said limit instantly, making her entire body rebuild itself in an instant. But that was only the first part. By spending exponentially more energy he put her next limit to level ninety, evening it out with Antilene's limit and rebuilding her body again. This time the process wasn't instantaneous and her body changed gradually, making her experience excruciating pain far surpassing the one she felt when channeling his spells, magnitudes more.

He heard her teeth crack as she clenched her jaw, her face twisted into an ugly lump and her muscles tensed beyond what they were supposed to withstand, but she didn't utter a sound, resolving herself to suffer through his remodeling. Working as a conduit for his own immaterial part, Ainz channeled his own divine energy in the transformation with quite a success

A strange sense of pride filled Ainz. For a moment he saw her as his child, showing the will of dedication to withstand everything the world could possibly throw at her. Neia's will was stronger than star silver and her desire to be worthy was brighter than the sun, the strongest out of all the chosen ones. Like the Buddhist monk who doused himself with gasoline, set himself on fire, and then sat in lotus pose while burning to death, she was willing to give her all for what she believed in, and what she believed in was him.

The transformation lasted only thirty seconds and Ainz had used the majority of his mana, only stopping because he felt he had pushed Neia's soul to the limit and it would be a long while until she could be empowered more. But even this short amount of time must have felt like a lifetime of hellish agony as other empowerments usually lasted less than a second.

Ainz took a step back and spoke, "No one had withstood even a fraction of this empowerment. Do you see now?"

Neia gulped hard and stood up, her legs wobbling and her entire body breaking into a sweat as it adjusted to its newfound power. Her eyes were bloodshot and her teeth were cracked and broken, blue patches covering her face from biting on her cheeks too hard and muscles being torn from sheer strain. "I do Lord. What is your will?" She asked, her voice breaking.

Ainz waved his hand over her, casting a high-tier healing spell to repair the damage and replied, "You will work with other apostles and for now help resolve the Re-Estize issue. Ulbert has a plan on how to cleanse the human nation of all the filth and disease holding it back."

"Understood. I will seek those willing to follow the Gods among those worthy to live!" She declared with dedication, but Ainz felt a certain worry in her mind.

"Ask what you want to ask," He ordered.

"My homeland, my people, they worship the four. Will Roble be cleansed the same way?"

"Depends if your people will be willing to cooperate and cast down the false beliefs. Tell me, is it the entire nation you are worried about or just people close to you?" Ainz continued.

"I…" Neia didn't know how to answer the question. Her only friends were her team that was from Re-Estize and besides them there were her parents. She didn't really have any other close relatives or social circle members. Was she even still loyal to her queen? Her loyalty and dedication were to Lord Ainz above all else, and if her God deemed Queen Calca unworthy, then it was not her place to intervene.

"You can put people close to you under your protection no matter their beliefs," Ainz answered her question before she could even ask it.

"Thank you, Lord. I would like for my dad and mother to live. I will take responsibility for their actions." Neia bowed her head.

"Granted. Do they need extra protection? Keep in mind I can return them back to life and soon you will be able to do that as well. With your current power level, you are capable of learning even tenth-tier magic, which includes the mass resurrection I channeled through you."

"I can!? T-then I will do my best to learn everything I can." Neia stammered in shock. She did feel stronger by a wide margin at that, but to know she was made so powerful that she could perform miracles on her own if she learned the spells wasn't something she was prepared to hear. Her legs wobbled as the shock of what she had experienced finally caught up with her.

"Nfirea will teach you the basics and Tabula will do the rest. From now on, your visits to Nazarick will be relatively frequent. Just one thing before you go, you will not show your full power outside Nazarick if it is not absolutely needed." Ainz continued.

"As you command, Lord," Neia responded, her dedication fighting back the tiredness.

"Good. Now go rest. You know how to contact me." Ainz opened a gate for her back to the capital of Re-Estize, to the room her team had rented in the inn.

"Thank you, Lord. I will not let you down," Neia stated as she passed through the gate and then collapsed into her bed.

"So how was the realm of Gods?" Iona questioned, shaking with excitement.

"Boss, don't you see Neia is about to pass out," Kira pointed out.

"Wonderful. I met Lord Ainz and other apostles." Neia yawned. "I was made better."

"Made better?" Iona inquired, ignoring Kira.

"Lord Ainz remade me, stronger. I'll explain everything after a nap." Neia closed her eyes and rolled to her side.

"But…" Iona pouted.

"Let her rest," Agasha patted the priest on the head like a grumpy child, pulling them away slightly.

"Fine…" Iona grumbled and plopped down on her bed. The team had already decided that they would follow Neia for the most part, with Iona still formally being the leader in case they needed to talk with other groups or organizations.

Clementine strode towards her master's office. Her armor was polished, and she had washed after the encounter with Nfirea. As she moved with a catlike grace she put on her necklace, enchanted earrings, and rings.

The guards let her in immediately since Lord Pero was already expecting her.

Clementine walked in and without uttering the word dropped to one knee.

Pero was sitting behind his desk, his legs on the table and eating chips from a bowl as an illustrated book floated in front of him. "Nice job," he stated without paying much attention to her.

"Thank you. Lord. Although I'm afraid the boy will likely still be antagonistic towards me."

"You killed his only living relative. Two things, you will keep your head low and not provoke him further, and he and Tabula shouldn't know you let him kill you."

"Of course, Lord. I will keep a polite distance. Should I attempt to smooth things over time?" She asked.

"Let him approach on his own terms. It will be easier for me to deal with Tabula directly than to try to make Nfirea not hate your guts."

"Understood, Lord."

"Good. You are dismissed." Pero waved her off.

The ruse to let Nfire get his revenge was a successful one at least for now. From what she knew, it was another of Lord Ulbert's schemes to make sure there were no hostilities between apostles and she was more than happy to play her part in the schemes of the Gods.

There was only one thing that bugged her: the spell Nfira used. It was very subtle and effective, something invaluable in an assassin's arsenal but mostly wasted on a scholar. With her elevated power level, she too was capable of learning magic, but there was no feasible way for her to get clutches on such a spell, at least not any time soon.

Editing by aidan_lo.

Proofreading by Stac, mfkz_rocker, aidan_lo, and IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO.

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