Harbingers of Change

Mastering the skill "Servant of Nazarick" was child's play for someone like Testarossa, and soon she knew the exact hierarchy of everyone connected to the skill, except for her and her two peers. Theirs was yet to be established, and raw power wasn't a definitive unit of measurement - how trustworthy you were was the larger factor.

Not that it would grant her any chances to become equal to direct servants of the Supreme Overlord. Access to this new skill showed her just how powerful the high lords and high executors were compared to what she knew. Even Diablo had grown immensely and would likely be able to defeat her, Ultima, and Carrera simultaneously with his current abilities. And that was accounting for the fact that they each had a perfect body and were named with immense power.

Now standing in her new master's office, she was waiting for her first duties alongside the two other primordials. Lord Momonga was sitting in his office chair accepting a cup of tea from Diablo, who was his personal attendant, hence his butler's outfit, due to how quickly he had earned the undead's trust. Also present were Momonga's three consorts, Albedo, Shalltear, and Shion, and the void beast Rubedo, who was considered not only Momonga's personal guard but also the younger sister of Albedo, armed with a body made of something supposedly called caloric stone.

What unnerved Testarossa was the fact that both her master and the void beast were the two links to the deep void she had observed from deep within the hell realm. Aside from that, the void in the hearts of three consorts, akin to one Diablo had, painted the clear picture that to be in her master's inner circle, one needed to give oneself to the void and build acceptance of it.

"I want to give these three and their demonic lines as your personal attendants and agents. You each can pick which one of them you want as your servant. Then summon and name the rest of their demon families, they're mostly greater demons with a few archdemons. You each can take roughly six hundred deadmen bodies each," Momonga addressed his consorts.

Testarossa instantly knew who she wanted as her new mistress: Albedo. The main reason was that Albedo wasn't only the first consort of their Supreme Overlord but also the head of the executive branch of the Tempest Hegemony, second only to high lords, the true rulers of the Great Tomb and the vast nation. But there was an additional reason for her to serve Albedo over the other two consorts: the demoness of an unknown, likely foreign family oozed hidden malice, cleverly masked with a pleasant appearance. Even her faint smile the demoness wore was just a facade, and in the depths of her yellow catlike eyes, near-unmatched cruelty was hidden, and that she could work with.

"Oh, but I already have enough assistants." Shalltear dismissed the need to take one of them as a personal servant, glancing at one of her nails in disinterest.

"Are they even competent? One of them was so foolish she thought to threaten you, my love." Albedo joined in.

"I'm sure you can train them to suit your needs. And as I have Diablo, you each would also have a primordial of your own. There are only seven of them after all, together we will have four in total, and you can't overlook the usefulness of an entire demon color at your command," Momonga pointed out.

"I suppose…" Albedo nodded and then stared at the three primordials critically.

"If I may," Testarossa raised her arm.

Momonga motioned for her to talk, staring back.

"I am well suited for administration and can train my line to be of great assistance to you, Lady Albedo." She offered shamelessly, using the opportunity to be chosen by the succubus, kneeling before her.

"Hmm…" Albedo fixated her eyes on the eager primordial. The fact that this demoness was the origin of the white demon line spoke to her on a personal level. Albedo knew her name meant whiteness in one of Earth's languages, and thus Testarossa would suit her the most as her personal servant on a metaphorical level. And she felt subtle cunning in the elegant demoness, the only one among the three who appeared and acted like an adult. "You might be the best choice. I will give you the chance, but I hope you won't disappoint me for your sake."

"You'll find a competent and effective servant in me, My Lady." She tilted her head, mimicking Albedo's faint smile.

"Then it's settled. Testarossa will serve Albedo. Shalltear? Shion?" Momonga declared.

"In that case, I'll take Ultima, and Shion can use Carrera as a punching bag or whatever." Shalltear made her choice immediately after Albedo had made her pick.

"Hey, why do I have to get the useless one? She isn't even strong enough for a proper warmup." Shion immediately protested, getting in Shalltear's face.

"Because all you do is fight!" Shalltear glared back, aura flaring.

"Hey! I'm not useless. I can kill whoever you need me to!" Carrera protested the assessment of Momonga's consorts.

Both Shalltear and Shion quickly turned their heads toward the demon, shouting in unison, "Shut your mouth!"

Seeing the dynamics between the most influential people of the new order she was now part of couldn't be a better gift for Testarossa, who was already contacting her elite subordinates within Hell about their newfound superiors. With her political and personal power being sorely lacking at the moment, all she could bank on was to exploit the relatively weak personal relationships of her superiors to her advantage in order to rise in the ranks.

{ I would advise against such patterns of thought. You are not as valuable as you think if there is no loyalty. } An unfamiliar sensation entered her mind, directly coming from Servant of Nazarick.

'Why are you, how-'

{ I am the expression of the will of Lord Momonga, and you, as everyone else, now belong to him; thus, his goals should be yours. You may refer to me as Nazarick.}

'Absolute control!' for a moment she completely stopped all thought processes. Her new master would know all and see all. Not even her subordinates were controlled to such a degree by her, and she was the strictest among the primordials. Her whole approach needed to be readjusted immediately. { Very well. What does master wish I do then? }

{ Be loyal to him. Lord Momonga does not want infighting. If you are competent and prove yourself competent, you will be rewarded accordingly. If you are worth empowering, you will be empowered. Your personal goals do not go above the goals of the master. }

It seemed she would not be punished, at least not yet. And that meant she could make sure no punishment came and do what was expected of her. A rough start, but it had not been accounted for.

{ I see. In that case, for now, I will do my best to assist Lady Albedo and learn- }

{ All the necessary information will be provided. Your task is to make sure Lady Albedo's work is not impeded and administration works with peak efficiency. The more effective she is, the less the master needs to worry about mundane governance and can concentrate on more important matters. }

She felt the presence fade from her mind, but she could feel it, always there, lurking in the background in the depths of her soul.

The two consorts of Lord Momonga continued to bicker for a good minute, exchanging insults with apparent ease while Carrera wisely took a step back and patiently waited for their spat to end.

"Enough of you two. Shalltear, as the second, has the second pick and thus can pick Ultima, and Shion is getting Carrera. If this demon proves to be untrainable, we will reorganize the yellow family line and find a better candidate," Albedo finally interjected.

"Fine," Shion grumbled and glared at Carrera, clearly unhappy that she got the least sought-out option. The yellow primordial was the one who challenged Lord Momonga without reading the room and assessing the power of her opponent, after all.

"Then it is settled. Summon the rest of the demons and notify Nazarick if you need help," Momonga announced.

Albedo was the type not to waste any time. There were no lengthy talks, no long introductions, just sheer efficiency. The moment Lord Momonga had ended the meeting, they were standing on the summoning floor of the Great Tomb with hundreds of deadmen bodies delivered and placed on the ground in orderly rows.

"So many bodies? It seems the master was fully prepared." Testarossa mused out loud.

"My beloved values efficiency. We had over a hundred thousand human corpses at our disposal and all of it was put to good use. I trust you won't waste any of them on unsuited subordinates," Albedo replied.

"My line is efficient and cunning. We will do our best to live up to your expectations." The white demoness didn't hesitate and began the summoning ritual, filling the bodies with archdemon and greater demon souls, using four out of six hundred bodies.

"I think these are worthy of receiving bodies, and the rest of the bodies can be stored for other uses or until more notable candidates appear in my line," Testarossa explained her choice not to use all of the bodies.

The undead forms shifted into white-haired, white-eyed demons clad in evening dresses or sharp three-piece suits, reflecting her nature as their source of origin. Most demons of the same color had relatively similar dispositions, with few exceptions. A boy in his late teens in a schoolboy outfit was one of them, although he was second in power and authority to Testarossa herself.

The young-looking demon was the second oldest of the white line despite his appearance and was the most loyal to her, bordering on fanaticism. Beside him stood a demon with short, slicked-back hair, a large lock falling on his face, and small glasses on his nose. He, too, was her direct assistant, albeit a more aggravating one with a tendency to speak his mind out of turn.

They knelt and waited for her to speak, knowing better than to question the white primordial. Testarossa, to drive the point home, turned towards Albedo and dropped to one knee. "My demons are yours to command, Lady Albedo."

"Good. I need the list." Albedo responded as a translucent woman materialized beside the succubus and handed her a folder.

"Here are all the names. I took the liberty to connect them to Nazarick and give them the basic rundown." The woman, who Testarossa suspected was the skill itself that talked to her previously, spoke confidently, used to working with the first consort.

Albedo wasted no time at her task, going through and naming in an almost mechanical manner as if, what to everyone with a slither of common sense was an absurdly improbable feat, was just another item on her today's to-do list. The first to receive names were her two direct subordinates, the young-looking Moss and the refined Cien, who didn't get as much as a passing glance from Albedo as she moved to the next even before they could thank her.

'Albedo values efficiency above all else when interacting with lessers.' Testarossa made the obvious conclusion and was proven to be correct the moment the last demon was named as Albedo teleported to her original place.

"Take five of your best with you. The rest will be on standby to be ready to take upon any menial tasks until properly trained," Albedo ordered and teleported to her office.

Testarossa picked Moss, Cien, and three other archdemons who she knew were highly competent and followed suit, arriving in a room packed with correspondence, with more coming in every minute. There were neat stacks of folders everywhere in the spacious room, the five tables packed to the brim with paperwork as far as the eye could see. Behind the desks sat undead eerily similar to Lord Momonga, going through the stacks with frightening speed while liches arrived and left one by one, bringing in new correspondence and taking orders.

"Teach them what you do, and once they can take your place, report to Lord Momonga," Albedo ordered the undead creatures and motioned for her to take place by her mistress' side.

"You will start by preparing incoming proposals and reports for me to review. Familiarize yourself with how I order things." Albedo issued an order and started working, flipping through the pages with the same speed as the undead as she sat in a desk chair.

'Is she running the Hegemony's administration by herself?' The thought was a frightening one.

Testarossa wasted no time, and once she recognized the basic patterns in the organized chaos, she began to flip the folders around, merging them together and stacking them by the type of report or request, teaching her underlings to do the same. Her job surely was cut out for her, and until she got the hang of the inner workings of the executive branch of government, she wouldn't be able to delegate tasks, just organize them.

Yet her goal was achieved. She was working under one of the most influential beings in Nazarick and only Diablo was ahead of her by serving Lord Momonga. Would she ever be able to serve Lord Momonga directly she couldn't tell, but if the opportunity presented itself, she would take it. She already had her foot in the doorway by serving his first consort, she would have plenty of opportunities for positive interactions.

Editing by aidan_lo.

Proofreading by Sluethen, Omnax, IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO, Stac, and aidan_lo.

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