*ABC* = Korean

[ABC] = Russian

"ABC"/"ABC" = Japanese/English

VVVVVVVVV

January 10, 1992

[Hi. This will my first and only audio recording, and I have absolutely no idea what to say to this thing. I guess I should introduce myself, or something like that. My name is Shirokova. I have been having strange dreams lately. I would see a man in military garb, another man in a red and white suit, and a woman in a blue and black suit. I've never seen the former, but the latter of the two struck as odd. I thought to myself, why do they look familiar?]

[After that, I started hearing this long paragraph of some kind. It was sort of like a mantra, repeating over and over and over. Let me read it to you.]

[You are a worm through time. The thunder song distorts you. Happiness comes. White pearls, but yellow and red in the eye. Through a mirror, inverted is made right. Leave your insides by the door. Push the fingers through the surface into the wet. You've always been the new you. You want this to be true. We stand around while you dream. You can almost hear our words but you forget. This happens more and more now. You gave us the permission in your regulations. We wait in the stains. The word that describes this is redacted. Repeat the word. The name of the sound. It resonates in your house. After the song, time for applause. We build you until nothing remains. The egg cracks and the truth will emerge out of you. You are home. You remind us of home. You've taken your boss with your boss with you. All hair must be eaten. Under the conceptual reality behind this reality you must want these waves to drag you away. After the song, time for applause. This cliché is death out of time, breaking the first the second the third the fourth wall, fifth wall, floor; no floor: you fall! How do you say "insane"? Hurts to be happy. An earworm is a tune you can't stop humming in a dream: "baby baby baby, yeah!" Just plastic. So safe and nothing to worry about. Ha ha, funny. The last egg breaks now. The hole in your room is a hole in you. You came and we let you in through the hole in you. You have always been here, the only child. A copy of a copy of a copy. Orange peel. The picture is you holding the picture. When you hear this you will know you're in new you. You want to listen. You want to dream. You want to smile. You want to hurt. You don't want to be.]

[Did you get that? Me neither. I could not understand anything that has been said in there. I think that if you wrote it down like a poem, it would look much better, wouldn't it? Anyway, I've used up a lot of tape in here, so if anyone finds this in the archives of the former Soviet Union, please know that you will never be able to catch me. Just putting that out there.]

End Log

VVVVVVVVV

Interrogation room

Unknown location in North Korea

December 8, 2020

4:30 AM

*Okay, I'm sorry. I'll cooperate with you and answer any questions you have.*

Gerome Richardson was currently handcuffed to a bolted-down table somewhere with a guard for company. Said guard was blocking the only way out of the room. Not like he was going anywhere. He waited patiently for his interrogator to arrive, meanwhile trying to talk to the guard, with little success.

The guard in question was a man of average height and tired eyes holding a Type 88 assault rifle, a locally made variant of the AK-74 assault rifle. Every time he and Gerome met eye to eye, the guard would stare at him with contempt, as if an enemy was trying to pretend that he wasn't planning on leaving. Gerome was only trying to talk to him!

Anyway, the former Marine had given up on talking to the guard when someone knocked on the door. The guard opened it to reveal two individuals. Another KPA soldier and…

Wait, it can't be, he thought, his eyes widened at seeing the two newcomers. The KPA soldier was a young woman about 5 ft. 4in. tall; a beauty with snow-white skin, sharp black almond-shaped eyes and long black hair tied to a ponytail.

"Lady Shalltear, what are you doing here?" Gerome then moved his eyes to the smaller individual, who was looking at him in a very odd way. She was 4' 7", wore a dark-colored evening dress with a large heavy skirt. The upper part of her dress had a lace embellished ribbon and a short tailored jacket, and she wore long lace gloves that completely obscured the color on her hands. A large bow tied her long silver hair to a ponytail, and a bonnet-like headwear covered most of her head, except for her face. Some of her hair even stuck out of the headwear, giving her a more childish appearance. While she gave off the presence of an experienced woman, she looked no more than fourteen years old. But the one thing that made her stand out the most was not her age or attire, but what she was. Her pale skin, red slit eyes and fangs slightly poking out of her mouth made Gerome know that he was not talking to a human, but instead, a vampire.

Gerome's sudden words to the vampire in question rewarded him with a whack to his back via the shoulder stock of an assault rifle. The unknown vampire raised her hand to cease the activities the male guard made to shut the American's mouth, and then spoke in a cold and lightly accented voice, "American, do not talk to me like you know me. I am only here to ask you some questions and I will leave your body as is, if I like your answers." She sat down on a chair across from Gerome and laid her hands on the table, her nails becoming notably long and piercing through the left glove. "Now, tell me. How did you arrive here?"

"I arrived here through a portal, ma'am," he answered.

"Right. And where did you find this portal?"

"In America, in front of my house. I was curious to see what was on the other side and, well, you know what happened."

The vampire interrogator wrote down, with her normal hand, more of what he said in a small notebook. "All right. You have no intent on spying on North Korea?"

"No ma'am."

"Good, because I do not want any more paperwork involving you. I have heard about you after all."

Silence went on for a while until the vampire spoke up. "On a personal note, why did you call me 'Lady Shalltear'?"

It took a while for Gerome to respond with an answer. "Would you believe me," he began, slowly, "if I said that you look exactly like the vampire from the Tomb of Nazarick."

The moment he mentioned "Nazarick…"

"Um, ma'am? Are you okay?" The vampire interrogator had her head down and was dead silent which worried the guards and Gerome. The KPA woman approached her with her hand outstretched, as if to comfort the vampire when…

"Wait! Don't leave me alone! I can still fight!"

"No! I will not let you die again. Not this time. Survive for our sakes, Sh**l*ea* *loodfal***."

"No. Lord ***. No! NO! *******************************!"

"[TEMPORAL TELEPORTATION]!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

With a loud screech, she caused all of Korea to go dark, including parts of nearby countries. Only Gerome knew as to what she did to cause it. And then he felt himself being "moved."

Pyongyang, North Korea

9:00 AM

With no power to start up the cars, the Korean People's Army had to get around either on foot or on a bicycle. For a couple of hours, the country had no power until they started up the back-up generators. And even then, it wasn't enough. The generators could only power up 15% percent of the capital. Even so, with the help of the KPA, the North Korean citizens continued their daily lives like nothing happened. Only a handful of individuals were having a rough day. The penthouse of the Ryugyong Hotel was occupied by KPA soldiers. They were told to investigate Lady Shirokova, for she was suspected to be hiding something. They all found nothing except for her diary. However, not only was the diary written with a mixture of Russian and English, it was also encrypted. In a strange way, nothing was missing from the penthouse other than a large bag, clothes, passports, three handguns, one sniper rifle, one carbine rifle, ammo, various blades, and other miscellaneous items. It was as if they never existed. There were no signs of entry or exit of the penthouse either, which made the investigation even stranger.

For two weeks, the affected areas were without power, and the world wanted to know who, or what, caused the power outage.

Unknown location

*Hae-min? Hae-min, are you alright?*

*I'm fine for now, Lady Shirokova.*

In the middle of a well made stone hall was Shirokova and Lee Hae-min. They were caught unaware by a phenomenon that they currently do not remember. What they did know was that from the architecture of the hall, they were no longer in North Korea. Instead, the hall they stood in resembled something out of a western fantasy story. But letting the environment distract them for even a moment could lead to danger. So they had their guard up by raising their weapons, ready to kill. Hae-min held on to her Type 88 assault rifle like her life depended on it. Shirokova pulled out her concealed Makarov pistol from her ankle. The vampire's pistol was a PB model, a "silenced pistol", meant for espionage done by the former USSR's KGB and special units of the Soviet Army.

Shirokova was usually calm, but now she felt a sense of déjà vu, like she knew these halls. That she felt more at ease, more at…

…Home.

*Hae-min, stay with me,* she commanded. *We don't know what's down here and who could be living here. It's only a hunch, but something feels wrong with this place.*

*I agree, milady,* the female soldier responded. *This is unfamiliar territory after all. And I do feel safer being with you.* Hae-min shot a small smile to the short vampire before facing down the hall. It felt like a maze as they walked along the halls. After twenty minutes of walking, they found a door. They took both sides of the door, and listened in for voices.

"…There is someone behind the door."
"Check who it is. It might be Lord ***."

"Or it could be Shizu's new friend. Damn cockroach."

Who are they talking about? Shirokova thought.

"Eh, I don't think it's any of them. One of them smells like Lady Sh*******. The other smells like you, Narberal Gamma~.

The KPA soldier and the vampire spy froze at the possibility that they have been caught so soon. Footsteps could be heard, and they were approaching the door. The door opened and they had their guns trained on…

…a red-haired maid with a slit skirt.

"Who is that woman with you, Lady Sha******? Another one of you toys? And why does she have a weapon in her hands?"

Why is it that whenever I attempt to hear certain names, they get blocked off like a censor bleeping a word in a classified document?

Gerome felt weird going through what he called a "teleportation event." To make things worse, he didn't see the vampire interrogator or her guard. In fact, he realized that he was back in the Tomb of Nazarick. Specifically, on the 6th Floor of Nazarick.

(RAPID FIRE)

"Ah, I think that would be Shizu," he said to himself as he jogged to the source of gun fire. Sure enough, at the Amphitheater, he found the eyepatch-wearing Automaton firing his KRISS Vector submachine gun at a hay stack dummy. He remembered lending a few of his weapons to her when she took interest to the power of his firearms. Her personal opinion? "They are weak."

She only stated the truth and nothing else. However, despite that, Gerome had shown the battle maids, and anyone capable of physical and ranged combat, that even though he was "weak", they should NEVER underestimate him. That he made sure of.

"…"

"…embrace me."

Gerome swerved his head, wondering where the voice he heard came from. "Shizu, did you hear something?"

"I'm not sure. Sounded like a man," the Automaton responded with her signature flat, monotone voice.

The American then wondered where the soldier and the vampire were, at the moment.

VVVVVVV

Gerome's Audio Diary

Log #25

One hour and a half later

This is my thirtieth time coming here to Nazarick, and for once, I did not come here through a portal. From what I can tell, that "Lady Shirokova" did that teleportation thingamajig. Either way, it caused an uproar that Ainz and I could barely control. Eventually, everyone had calmed down, but Albedo seems to be faking her calmness and is actually still seething underneath her mask. You do not want to know what happened back there, trust me.

Anyway, as I was saying, the KPA soldier, Lee Hae-min, and Shirokova are currently under investigation right now. What strikes me as peculiar is that both Miss Lee and Shirokova stand out as identical to Narberal Gamma and Shalltear Bloodfallen, respectively. As of late, however, I've noticed that Aura has been acting strangely. Whenever anyone asks her if she was okay, she would shrug it off, claiming that she was okay and walk away in a hurry. I don't know about you, but it has been worrying everyone in the tomb. She has been giving off this very bad vibe, like something that could hurt you. Her smiles became too wide, she gets twitchy and she's been muttering to herself. Kind of like talking to someone…

(Mr. Richardson, are you ready to talk to the prisoners?)

Oh, yeah, umm. I'll be there. Thank you, Sebas.

(No problem, sir.)

End Log

VVVVVVVV

Log #27

Two weeks later

Ever since I've helped Aura, the others, finish the Nazarick decoy, that girl has trying to avoid us lately. And when Ainz accidently showed us the two Lizardmen, Crusch and Zaryusu, uhhhhh, in bed. Yeah, sounds about right. Anyway, when he accidently showed us that and immediately shut off the Mirror, my video camera was catching something. I was recording Ainz sitting on a happy Shalltear to humiliate him at the time, and I didn't hear the strange sound. But when I played back the video, I began hearing a man's voice within it. I'll read out the transcript.

"I will be back, and there is nothing you can do to stop me. You will never manipulate me, control me. We shall be one!"

After that, the audio in the video became heavily corrupted and I couldn't fix it. After mentioning this to the NPC, Demiurge, he claimed that he may have heard the voice during Shalltear's "punishment", but he could not understand it. He claimed that the voice was garbled, making it hard for him to discern the words. At the same time, however, he began hearing what he described as "an unlikeable hissing sound, so bad that it cannot be trusted."

I wonder what he meant by unlikeable hissing noise? Well I guess that could wait. I gotta go with Demiurge and Albedo as additional eyes and protection for their visit to the princess of the Re-Estize Kingdom. Bye.

End Log

VVVVVVVV

Throne room of Nazarick

December 29, 2020

6:00 PM (New World Standard Time)

"Aura, what the hell are you doing?!"

In the middle of the throne room, the dark elf child, Aura Bella Fiora, had the attention of Gerome, Ainz and the rest of the NPCs as they looked on to see her holding a subcompact pistol. Not knowing where she got it, they immediately went on the defensive. But the beast tamer didn't seem all that interested in them as her attention turned towards the gun in her hand. Gerome identified it as a Glock 26 pistol with the standard capacity of ten 9 mm rounds in the magazine. Without warning, she shot herself. The American expected her to fall to the ground like most corpses did, but that wasn't the case. She stood there, head hanging back, then she whipped her head forward to gaze at the shocked individuals before her. Her bullet wound showed no blood and instead had a red haze seeping out of the holes before the holes healed themselves.

"…You are a worm through time. The thunder song distorts you. Happiness comes. White pearls, but yellow and red in the eye. Through a mirror, inverted is made right. Leave your insides by the door. Push the fingers through the surface into the wet. You've always been the new you. You want this to be true. We stand around while you dream. You can almost hear our words but you forget. This happens more and more now. You gave us the permission in your regulations. We wait in the stains. The word that describes this is redacted. Repeat the word. The name of the sound. It resonates in your house. After the song, time for applause. We build you until nothing remains. The egg cracks and the truth will emerge out of you. You are home. You remind us of home. You've taken your boss with your boss with you. All hair must be eaten. Under the conceptual reality behind this reality you must want these waves to drag you away. After the song, time for applause. This cliché is death out of time, breaking the first the second the third the fourth wall, fifth wall, floor; no floor: you fall! How do you say "insane"? Hurts to be happy. An earworm is a tune you can't stop humming in a dream: "baby baby baby, yeah!" Just plastic. So safe and nothing to worry about. Ha ha, funny. The last egg breaks now. The hole in your room is a hole in you. You came and we let you in through the hole in you. You have always been here, the only child. A copy of a copy of a copy. Orange peel. The picture is you holding the picture. When you hear this you will know you're in new you. You want to listen. You want to dream. You want to smile. You want to hurt. You don't want to be."

During the incantation, the world began to change in an unexpected way. Said incantation was repeated over and over. And then, everything went black.

VVVVVVV

Gerome's New Audio Diary

Log #1

December 30, 2020

Are you expecting an explanation on what happened back there? Welp, too bad. Things will only get even more confusing as I tell you this story. It goes like this:

Ever since Aura became… whatever the hell she became, the Tomb of Nazarick began to change. After that, we don't remember anything else. And based the red haze we saw earlier, we will be encountering it much more in the future. What's more is that we found a door that led to a strange skyscraper in present-day New York City. From what I understand, Nazarick, and the New World, have been affected by this phenomenon and have been connected to the NYC skyscraper.

This Brutalist-styled building was one of the tallest in the city; no one is able to see it for some odd reason. We were wondering what had happened when we suddenly heard that the building was in a lockdown. If you are wondering why I'm using a tape recorder from the mid-1970s, it's because the more modern technology, smart phones, Playstation Portables, smart watches, etc, are not allowed here. Even No. 2 pencils are not allowed here! I mean, why are they not—

(Hissing noises)

Oh SHIT!

End Log