Counterattack Guardian Kakushigei Tournament

## Outcome

Shiro returns to Nazarick through proper ritualNew Year is celebrated by all

**Counterattack Guardian Kakushigei Tournament** (迎撃・守護者かくし芸大会) is a tournament event hosted in the Great Tomb of Nazarick. It appeared in Mass for the Dead on January 1, 2022 to January 14, 2022. The event was re-released on December 26, 2022 to January 5, 2022. And agains on January 21, 2024 to January 30, 2024.

## Background

"New Year" suddenly visits Nazarick. This time, in order to intercept the event that forcibly causes New Year's rest and play by mental control, Momonga worked with the guardians to prepare for the general cleaning――

## Purpose

At the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Momonga convenes with Albedo, Demiurge, Slimeko, and the protagonist in his office to discuss Pandora's Actor report on the Treasury's inventory and management. In this meeting opinions are exchanged and information is shared for the future plans of Nazarick. Pandora' Actor presents his creator a document detailing the amount of ore resources stockpiled in the Treasury as well as foreign currency earnings and expenditures of the tomb. Demiurge skimming the report notes that ore acquisition is going well as is foreign currency and that Nazarick's spending is rather insignificant in comparison. All this grain and minimal loss is from Nazarick's investment in E-Rantel.

Due to Nazarick's repair and restoration projects, local agricultural projects, creation of employment through manufacturing special goods, preparations for E-Rantel's self-sufficiency are steadily progressing. And the Sorcerer Kingdom is the one to profit from these acts. Momonga agrees as now his nation's investment into the city has produced an intangible product called "trust". While lacking monetary value its importance in this world is still very high. The protagonist promises that the true harvest of their labors will be very large indeed which Momonga looks forward to. On another item, for the foreign currency stored in the treasury, he orders Pandora's Actor to create a section for organization. Pandora's Actor agrees but also has his own proposal he wishes to pass to Momonga. The report the Area Guardian had given his creator was for the whole end of year and indicated to be a good break, so he would like to take another inventory of the Treasury. The mention of the end of year makes Momonga realizes that it is near approaching to the "New Year".

The Overlord shares his concerns of the event. Everyone remembers or fails to remember the exact details of last year's New Year. In the previous New Year, those in Nazarick fell under some kind of mental control making them lose their inhibitions and celebrate the New Year holiday like eating mandarin oranges, enjoying being warmed by a kotatsu and playing karuta. The protagonist and Slimeko recall the event clearly as he and a few others were outside the dungeon when the mental effect took over. While the action seemed unscrupulous, Slimeko still felt the New Year event was quite fun almost like a dream. Demiurge disagrees on that assessment as it was more akin to a nightmare to those who were under the mental influence. But Demiurge is concerned that Momonga has brought this topic up now, as he sees Momonga fears that something like it will happen again. While still not understanding what transpired last year Momonga think that even though he used [True Death] on Shiro, who was the culprit behind the New Year event, he is not so certain the White Mochi King is truly gone as he was an existence that originated beyond the Crack. In any case they should expect that he may return and prepare.

Albedo who is aware of the danger after Momonga informed her of the intruder from the Crack tells her master that she had personally investigated the issue from various angles but so far nothing came up from the Cracks or its occurrences. Momonga is more troubled by the mental control of the phenomena and while Shiro had no intentions of being hostile, in any case it would be a problem if Nazarick's defense system was compromised. That being said he order Pandora's Actor to create the new section for the foreign currency and to also check on the situation in that area even though the New Year phenomena did not penetrate the Treasury as some precaution is necessary. The Area Guardian complies and returns to his area. After he left Albedo suggest that they also should confirm the repair status of each floor in the mean time which Demiurge seconds as if they are going to experience another "New Year" then they need to investigate the state of the Crack since it is the primary cause. Since the timing of Chaos Beasts is near for the Crack in the Throne Room, Momonga tells Demiurge and the protagonist to accompany him to check on the site. Next to make everyone aware of the situation he has Albedo gather all the Floor Guardians to the Round Table Room. Albedo complies, leaving Momonga to tell Shalltear Bloodfallen of the meeting since she is currently guarding the Throne Room.

At the Throne Room, Shalltear is astonished by the unexpected arrival of the group and wonders if anything is wrong. She is told by Momonga that they are just checking up on the anomaly. The Crack then begins to glow causing Momonga finds it a good opportunity to examine if there are any oddities among the new batch of Chaos Beasts. Once the beasts are defeated the group finds that they is nothing unusual so far, not even signs of monsters associated with the "New Year" like the Mochi Type Beast or the Kadomatsu Type Beast. Upon examination of the Crack, Demiurge does report that anomaly is expelling a higher concentration of miasma. Though situation shows no abnormality, Momonga feels better to be prepared which the protagonist concurs.

All Floor Guardians assemble in the Round Table Room where Momonga addresses an order to carry out a "general cleaning" of Nazarick. The word is unfamiliar to the Floor Guardians but from the sound of their master's order they know that it was important. To lessen their confusion, Momonga states that while cleaning work is done by the general maids in the dungeon, this "general cleaning" refers to the upcoming "New Year" and uses it in place to refer of his plan to check the safety of Nazarick as a whole. This would of course to not any hallucinations and signs of psychological effects, among the Floor Guardians. Their task is to report any suspicious changes to him. Once he explains to the rest of the Guardians of the previous incident with "New Year", the Floor Guardians find it hard to believe, though a few like Shalltear Bloodfallen, Aura Bella Fiora and Mare Bello Fiore vaguely recall the stranger known as Shiro who accompanied him in last year's "New Year". Demiurge highlights that the gaps in their memories are proof of the danger of a mental attack on them and for that they cannot remain unresponsive to these incidents any longer. Momonga reminds them that Shiro is not their enemy, as he had not intention to be hostile to Nazarick, and seems that his visit to their domain was not his intent as is the mental effect that accompanies him.

But even if this is the case, Nazarick much be strengthen to repel another incursion. Hence the purpose of the "general cleaning" is not to just report any anomalies but to check and enhance the status and defense of each floor in the dungeon. The Floor Guardians agree to the plan and so Momonga also informs them that he intends to personally patrol each floor to check on the undead security in place. Once that is done everyone will report back to the Round Table for a debriefing. In doing so he invites the protagonist to accompany him as it will be a good opportunity for the homunculus to learn more about Nazarick. Envious Albedo and Shalltear attempt to invite herself to join Momonga's patrol, but they are commanded by Momonga to give priority to checking each floor, and assures them that he will be protected by the Eight-Edge Assassins as well as a Death Knight he will summon. For the latter, he asks Cocytus to go fetch a corpse for him to use from the 5th Floor for his summoning. Albedo and Shalltear comply with his wishes with the Overseer Guardian being tasked to monitor the 9th and 10th Floors whilst the vampire will handle the 1st to 3rd Floors. Momonga and the protagonist as well as Slimeko then agree to meet up on their first stop which is the Lemegeton after dismissing the meeting.

At Ashurbanipal, the protagonist does an inspection of the library with Slimeko and Albedo. Checking each bookshelf and tome the protagonist declares with certainty that there is no signs of any changes. Satisfied, Albedo permits the two to join Momonga on his patrol as she will attend to learning more about New Year and continue her inspections of the other rooms. At the Lemegeton, the protagonist and Slimeko meet up with Momonga where they take in the scene of what was once an impressive room before being ruined by the Crack. Momonga goes on to explain the features that the chamber had such as the Four-Colored Crystal Lamps and the golems to serve as a line of defense to the Throne Room. To underscore the level of protection the Lemegeton once had Momonga adds that not even two level 100 parties could penetrate it. Despite this he is sadden that this was not enough to prevent the near collapse of Nazarick. Momonga then uses a corpse to summon a Death Knight to add it as a guard to the room for permanent surveillance and alert purposes. While doing so, he gives brief history of the room and its sixty-seven golems that were created by Luci★Fer. Unfortunately though the Lemegeton has been repaired all the golems in the chambers were beyond salvage leaving only empty alcoves. The protagonist comforts his master on the loss of the golems as it goes to show the testament of one of the Supreme Beings' skills cannot so easily be replaced. Momonga takes solace in that though he is rather proud of the state of the Legemeton as it is, since all the repairs were made only possible through outside gold from the protagonist's projects to fund them. The party then listen to Momonga's tour as he describe each design of the room and the models of the golems.

After completing the inspection of the Lemegeton, Momonga walked through the 9th Floor hallway to continue the patrol. The protagonist inquires to the Overlord if they will continue the inspection by order of floors. Momonga is only interested in inspecting floors that are most likely to be signs of abnormalities based on past trends. The next destination is the 1st Floor as the protagonist recalls that there was a big change to the entrance of the Fake Nazarick there as the strange torii had emerged during "New Year". There at the floor they find themselves in the underground labyrinth. Going through the passages Momonga mentions that the 1st through 3rd Floor are equipped with an abundance of traps and gimmicks. There are rooms such as the Adipocere Chamber which is located on the 2nd Floor and connected to Shalltear's personal quarters. Additionally Grant's territory spans some floors and not only Shalltear Bloodfallen is the strongest Guardian that defends them.

The trio soon find Shalltear speaking with a platoon of skeletons and a trio of elder liches. Once they are dismissed to patrol the floor, Shalltear goes over the defense of her floors, having already confirmed with Grant and Kyouhukou that their respective areas are free of any changes. Momonga seeing her attentiveness to his instruction praises Shalltear for her duty. Pleased with herself Shalltear reports that the Area Guardians on her floor have confirmed that there is no problems. That only leaves the inspection of the passages in the tomb which the Floor Guardian will check herself. Momonga asks if there could be any improvements made, but Shalltear is opposed to the idea of altering the design of the Supreme Beings as the original design works correctly. Though she does suggest that they could re-examine the coordinates of the teleportation traps, though the functions for such gimmicks have been shut down and also [Gate] travel is useless due to the interference making it difficult to examine the traps. Momonga seeing that is a problem though remembers that teleporting via the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown has not bee affected but really wants to discourage its use since the ring can access the Treasury leading to some security issues. Best that they could do is locate a position to open a transfer gate that is unaffected to allow easy access to and from Nazarick. This of course would invole some more security verification that would need to be discussed later.

Momonga leaves the details to Shalltear before informing her that his patrol will be inspecting the entrance to Fake Nazarick. Hearing this intent, Shalltear offers to accompany them as an escort since her "general cleaning" of her floors are mostly done. Her offer is accepted by Momonga since the "New Year" phenomena had previously showed that it was less effective on undead, much to Shalltear's glee. At the entrance to Fake Nazarick the party are disappointed to see that no torii has appeared. Some question is perhaps they are being overcautious though Shalltear thinks that Momonga's caution is warranted. Soon someone approaches from the passage. It turns out to be Sebas Tian who came to check to see what was going on in the area. The butler gives his report to Momonga that on the surface of the tomb no signs of the Mochi Type Beasts have been confirmed and that a Shadow Demon is on standby to report any updates. Momonga is relieved though to be on the safe side he summons another Death Knight to monitor the area. Sebas Tian asks if he can help in the "general cleaning" which Momonga allows, instructing Sebas Tian to head to the 9th Floor to inspect the facilities and Guest Room.The next destination on Momonga's list is the 6th Floor where a second Crack exists. Though Shalltear's escort should have ended once Momonga finished inspecting the 1st to 3rd Floor, he invites her to continue to act as his guard.

At the 6th Floor, the protagonist and Slimeko use this opportunity to ask Momonga about the floor as he is ignorant on its history. To this end, Momonga explains that the 6th Floor is the one that boasts the largest amount of area in Nazarick and was made by one of his companions, Blue Planet. The space not only includes the Amphitheater for hosting events, but also various biomes like giant trees, mangroves, a lake grasslands, and a giant hole where Gashokukochuuou dwells. Recently the 6th Floor includes a village and some farmland. Also include in the 6th Floor is the beautiful night sky that was created by Blue Planet. This impresses the protagonist on the vast territory that Aura and Mare control. Slimeko though is fascinated by the number of monster that dwell in the space which include POP summons. Shalltear also tells her juniors that Mare's ability of controlling the earth give him home advantage, and further convince the protagonist and Slimeko on how awesome the dark elf twins are in managing the 6th Floor but also the Great Forest of Tob. Once the lecture is done, Shalltear suggests that they head to Aura and Mare's dwelling. They approach as great tree which confuses Slimeko at first until the vampire Floor Guardian knocks on the bark. Aura answers the knocking and quickly gets Mare out of bed to report before Momonga. It's revealed that the tree is actually a house which Slimeko is astounded by prompting Aura to give the slime a quick overview of her home. The twins guess that their master has come to investigate the Crack on their floor which Momonga states that to be so. From Aura and Mare he learns that her beasts have not detected anything unusual in the forests, swamps or even the farm areas. The last place the twins had checked was their tree home which they have deemed to be free of any anomalies. As for any request for repairs or feedback, Aura requests an alarm clock for Mare to wake him up. The dark elves then guide the party to the Crack where Momonga uses his magic to summon another Death Knight. The Crack begins to glow indicating that it will soon spill out Chaos Beasts. Once it does nothing seems to be out of the ordinary with the Crack or monsters other than the miasma being stronger a bit.

While the subjugation of the Chaos Beasts goes without incident on the 6th Floor, Sebas Tian meanwhile headed to the 9th Floor to assist the Pleiades in detecting any abnormalities in Spa Resort Nazarick. Yuri Alpha and the other maids report to the butler that the sweep of the area has been completed in any of the baths they inspected. The maids find it merciful that no harm had come to the space, Sebas Tian does as well as his feelinsg are out to not just Momonga for putting comfort first but also to the Supreme Beings who designed the baths. He hopes that the baths could be fully repaired as he wants to preserve as much of the works of his creators as possible. The next task is now to inspect golems in the baths, but with extreme caution as some were creations of Luci★Fer who was know for his childish antics with his creations. To take care in prematurely activating them CZ2128 Delta informs her sisters and the butler of the taboo acts and words that would cause the golems to be roused. From her knowledge there are three primary types of golems that respond and attack under specific circumstances: those that activate when characters rub their bodies in a bath, those that put on a towel in a bath, and those that enter without tying their hair. In addition the baths have special conditions which will cause the golems to become hostile, like eating the floating yuzu, crushing the charcoal, touching the electrodes, and entering a bath with the opposite sex. This information in hand the maids and buter work carefully inspecting the spa.

On the 5th Floor, Momonga's party are before Cocytus who informs his master he has not discovered any disturbances in his realm. At his residence, the Snowball Earth Cocytus welcomes them to his home. The protagonist and Slimeko admire the beauty of the scene which Cocytus is humbled by. In regards to request for any repairs, Cocytus asks his master for additional low-grade type weapons to give to the lizardmen to help improve their fighting capabilities to defend themselves. The 5th Floor Guardian believes it is only fair since the demi-humans provide Nazarick a vital source of ore from their labors. Not only that the lizardmen have in the past have been endangered from other threats forcing them to rely on Nazarick for aid. The reasons for the request makes Momonga agree to consider the proposal to allow the lizardmen to be less dependent on Nazarick for safety.

The party finds themselves on the 7th Floor, where it is comprised of molten lava and rocky terrain. Slimeko gets excited at seeing a massive slime swim nearby in a river of lava, which Demiurge, acting as their guide explains to be Guren. Demiurge then tells Momonga that after performing multiple checks around his floor there is not signs of any incident. And for the concerns of repair to his floor, he would recommend resources that were meant to restore his floor to be reallocated to other areas as the 7th Floor was minimally damaged. In fact he finds the damaged landscape to be suiting to the vision of his creator, Ulbert Alain Odle. A [Message] soon alerts Momonga from Narberal Gamma confirming that the "general cleaning" for the 9th Floor has been completed. Since all the Death Knights were deployed at key points throughout the dungeon, Momonga decides to gather everyone back to the Round Table for a full debriefing.

While traveling through the 9th Floor with his party, now joined by Demiurge, they get an unexpected surprise when they find that Cixous and Foire are in possession of mochi. Foire seeing their concern faces, explains that the Head Chef prepared the dish at the direction of Albedo for New Year as part of her research into the holiday. Things clams down once and Momonga apologizes to the maids for their reaction as they mistook this to be a sign of the White Mochi King projecting his influence over Nazarick. The maids try to ask forgiveness for their part in causing Momonga such a fright, but to their surprise Momonga thinks the current situation isn't so bad to their confusion.

## Tournament

Back at the Round Table, Momonga announces to the Floor Guardians that the "general cleaning" to be over as the inspections have yielded no incidents. Even so Momonga tells them just because they have not found anything abnormal does not mean something will not happen and the patrol was advantageous in acquiring feedback. As for the concern of the approaching New Year, Momonga having remembered that Slimeko mentioning that the previous experience was fun despite the mental effects has decided to proceed to celebrate the holiday. He explains while the mental effects were troublesome, they and Shiro presented no actual danger to Nazarick. In fact Shiro had requested Momonga to kill him to end the spell over the dungeon, something which he regretted as he preferred to fight him in true combat. Hearing this piques the interest of the other Guardians who now too wish to meet this Shiro. With Momonga's permission, Albedo is allowed to prepare a New Year's celebration which will include mochi, kadomatsu, and osechi dishes. Most importantly Albedo plans to host a "Kakushigei Tournament". The word "kakuskigei" shocks Momonga, stunned that Albedo assimilated that knowledge from her studies in the library. From Albedo's reading of the literature there, she came across the term and believe it to be a general martial art that each person secretly trains and performs on New Year. Thus the art is deemed to be appropriate for their New Year's celebration. Demiurge catches on and understands that Albedo wants to host a mock combat tournament with contender showcasing special tactics they devised themselves. The idea is well received by the Floor Guardians present in the room. Momonga despite knowing that Albedo's translation of "kakushigei" may be off a bit, withhold that knowledge to allow the NPCs some joy in the event.

Officially adopting the "Kakushigei Tournament", plans are put forth to have two teams fight against each other: Red Team and White Team each led by Albedo and Demiurge. To serve as moderators for the event, Slimeko and the protagonist are selected to fill the roles. The event is planned to be open to all so that everyone in Nazarick can enjoy the tournament which will take place in the Amphitheater. Just as plans are being drawn for the celebration, Pandora's Actor enters the room, having been directed by a maid that Momonga was there, to offer him the inventory report of the Treasury. Momonga explains to his creation about the upcoming "Kakushigei Tournament" and offers to invite Pandora's Actor to take a break from his duty to view the festivities, since he has very little opportunities to join in events in Nazarick. Pandora's Actor is hesitant to leave the Treasury unattended by accepts after Demiurge offers to send one of his demons to guard the area in his stead. Since the tournament will be available to most of everyone in Nazarick, Sebas Tian offers to chaperone the maids for the event to ensure their safety which Momonga agrees and assigns Pandora's Actor to also act as an escort. The meeting ends with preparations for Nazarick's celebration being swiftly made and the Guardian's polishing their techniques overnight for the tournament.

The next day at the Amphitheater, spectators such as the general maids and Pleiades all gather there. The Guardians and Pleiades are dressed for the occasion, in kimonos and adornments. Momonga welcomes them to the gathering for New Year's event. Momonga then turns the speaker to Slimeko, now in her own kimono, starts the ceremony alongside the protagonist. They explain that the participants to the events are the Floor Guardians divided into two teams, each composed of three people. The tournament is set up in a three-game match in which Red Team and White Team will send out their representatives to face each other. Though the tournament is a mock combat one, victory or defeat is not important. The entire tournament is for the viewers pleasure and for the participants to showcase their training and signify Nazarick's power. Once the details are explained, Slimeko officially starts the tournament.

### First Match

In the first match Aura representing Red Team and Mare representing White Team face off. Aura makes the first move by unleashing Queen, throwing the whip to ensnare a golem in the spectators seats. The construct flies and rotates in the air towards the center of the arena, controlled by Aura's whip blows until it lands safely and unharmed on the ground. The audience applauds the dark elf's precision of manipulating her whip. Mare then makes the next move by causing an [Earth Surge] below him to move him about the area surfing on the earth. The waves of earth eventually move and mold themselves into the form of a giant effigy of a Kagami Mochi. The techniques is hailed as wonderful as it displays Mare's magical control, discipline and concentration. Once the twins show case their skills the two then battle to determine who will be the winner. In the battle Mare proves to be the victory as he was able to use his speed to overcome Aura through his earth surfing skills.

### Second Match

The second match has Shalltear of Red Team and Cocytus of White Team. Both contestants are Guardians that act as cornerstones for the dungeon's defenses. Shalltear gives Cocytus the courtesy to present his technique first. The insect complies and summons an [Ice Pillar] with his skill. Using God Slaying Emperor Blade, Cocytus cuts the ice before him, creating a white mist that engulfs the arena floor. Once he halts his impressive swordsmanship, Cocytus presents a ice statue of Momonga. To heighten the art that Cocytus made, Shalltear takes out a wine bottle and parasol. The wine is said to contain a bit of blood inside it and using it, Shalltear creates a [Blood Pool] causing a sphere of blood to form above her head. Her parasol which also acts as a device to safely manipulate blood to avoid [Blood Frenzy] then uses it to balance the sphere of blood on her open parasol. Her show is not yet done as she uses [Brilliant Radiance] to shine a beam of light at Cocytus's ice statue to create a halo effect. Her display with the sphere and parasol is revealed to be just a distraction for the audience before creating the true dazzling scene. The vampire admits that she came up with the idea after she adopted the adventurer alias of "Shall". After being constrained and not being able to use magic, it made the Floor Guardian appreciate her abilities as a magic caster and expand her mind on how to creatively use her abilities. Even Cocytus is stunned on how his creation was used to enhance Shalltear's magical skill and accepts that Shalltear's work is vividly superior to his. The two battle and they come to a tense draw until Cocytus concedes that it to be his loss as he was deeply impressed with Shalltear's ingenuity.

### Third Match

Both teams are tied now, so the final match will be the decider on which team will win. Albedo and Demiurge face off against each other. Demiurge engages first by activating his ability of [Aspect of the Devil - Purgatory Cloth], becoming engulfed in a fire and approaches Albedo. His opponent recognizes this to be a "fire dance" from her reading of "Kakushigei". Normally Albedo would be able resist such an attack with Hermes Trismegistus but as she is wearing only a kimono she is defenseless, but the blow doesn't come as Demiurge leaps back, making it just a bluff. The 7th Floor Guardian continues his strange dance around Albedo confronting and them retreating, his movements entrancing those in the audience. When Demiurge stops, everyone sees that the floor of the arena has the written character of "New Year". This is Demiurge's show for the crowd and many wonder if this dance was somehow collaborated between both Guardians. They are proven to be right as both Albedo and Demiurge cooperated with each other in the dance to present a fine large scale display of "kakizome". Demiurge though has a surprise for Albedo, as he inserted a hair accessory in Albedo's hair whilst doing his choreography. The object is marveled by all as it is engraved with bones, symbolizing Momonga. Whilst others see it as a beautiful gift, the protagonist ascertains that Demiurge is giving Albedo a restriction to prevent her from using her full power, as she would now be force to avoid using any rough force that could damage the it. The battle between the two continues with Demiurge landing [Aspect of the Devil - Stout Demon's Gigantic Arms] on her. Albedo manages to hold Demiurge off showing that even with the limitations on her she is still formidable. They are evenly match and both display reluctance to damage the damage the hairpin in Momonga's image, so the Overlord then calls a curtain to the end of the match to offering his "Otoshidama", hailing it as a draw. In effect both teams are tied and ends with the audience celebrating the magnificent match.

## Participants

### Red Team

* Albedo
* Shalltear Bloodfallen
* Aura Bella Fiora

### White Team

* Demiurge
* Cocytus
* Mare Bello Fiore

## Interlude

Just as the match ends and the crowd is ruminating over the matches, a great light fills the air and soon all the contenders and audience find themselves in a unknown realm of golden mist and haze. The protagonist immediately recognizes it to be the unique Chaos Zone that appeared in Fake Nazarick last "new Year". To the surprise of Momonga, everyone still retains their minds and are not under any mental effect unlike the previous instances. Momonga connecting to his Death Knights spread throughout the dungeon confirms that everyone in the Amphitheater was pulled into this new dimension. To start, Momonga orders everyone from the Floor Guardians and Pleiades to safeguard the non-combatant general maids. Gathering together, Momonga answers his subordinates confusion stating that they may have been invited to this strange place by Shiramochi-ō, though he cannot fathom why they were brought so suddenly as it deviates from how the "New Year" event normally played out in the past. He is interrupted by Entoma Vasilissa Zeta warning that Shadows are approaching. Momonga orders all combatants such as Albedo, Cocytus, Sebas Tian, Pandora's Actor and the Pleaides to engage the hostiles and protect the general maids. To resolve the phenomenon that they find themselves in, the Overlord directs the the protagonist, Slimeko and the remaining Guardians to follow him and head towards the temple that should be the center of this strangeness.

Occasionally they are harassed by Shadows until they finally reach the Bishamonten Shrine, where they find the White Mochi King Shiramochi-ō, though albeit in his more mature humanoid form. Momonga steps forward to act as his group's representative and courteously asks the White Mochi King to explain himself for why he invited them into his realm. No answer is given by the entity even when Demiurge tries to use his [Command Mantra], leading Momonga to believe that the entity is similar to a game character in an event. This is not the same entity like Shiro who he befriended and Demiurge comes to a conclusion that Shiramochi-ō and Shiro may not be necessarily a single entity. In a given effect this entity before them is a new version of Shiramochi-ō brought forth by the desires of his gods and so is just an enemy. Momonga then directs Aura, Mare and Shalltear to engage Shiramochi-ō. Once those three approach Shiramochi-ō, he responds declaring his name and intent to defeat them.

Unexpectedly the three together fare no better against this incarnation of Shiramochi-ō. Momonga watching from the sidelines with his allies confirms with [Life Essence] that this version of the Ruler of New Year is several times stronger than Shiro. Slimeko trying to observe the battle more closely, despite warnings from Momonga is attacked by Shiramochi-ō. None of Momonga's allies are able to get to Slimeko in time, but a shadow from the mist emerges and shields the errant slime. The figure is revealed to be none other than Shiro. Memories associated with Shiro that were suppressed by the "new Year" effect are suddenly returned to the Guardians and soon recognize Shiro and his part in last year's "New Year". The boy greets Momonga as a friend which the undead returns the sentiment. To explain his unexpected return of him and his other self, Shiro states that they did not force themselves in the world like last time, but were actually summoned properly through a ritual. It is Demiurge who connects the dots when he sees that Nazarick's "celebration ceremony" acted as the catalyst to summon Shiramochi-ō and Shiro. This is most unexpected as Momonga ironically wanted to avoid having another "New Year" fiasco only to attract it instead. Shiro apologizes for all the trouble he has caused for his friends and transforms into his battle form to lend his assistance against his other self.

## Aftermath

Shiro fighting alongside the three female Floor Guardians succeed altogether in defeating Shiramochi-ō. The world explodes in a brilliant light and Momonga and his party find themselves to be in the replica of the Throne Room of Fake Nazarick. Their ally Shiro assures them that the crisis is over now that they defeated his doppelgänger. Momonga though still wonders why two of Shiro came this year. From what Shiro tells him and his friends, the ritual that was inadvertently conducted by Nazarick attracted the attention of his creators the Seven Lucky Gods on the other side of the Crack. In fact it came to the gods since their targets were celebrating "New Year" so they caused a new Shiramochi-ō to be born. However Shiro admits that he still does not understand why he had returned. His manifestation should not be possible after he experienced [True Death] from Momonga. It should have worked correctly and yet when he died he remembered that he returned to the Sea of Possibilities, but his still retained his memories of his experience in Nazarick. He wonders perhaps why he still remained was because of his jealous desires against the copy of him. He felt insulted that a reprint character of him would take his place as the Ruler of New Year and wanted to reclaim his title. It may have spurred his resurrection. Even so this is all just a hypothesis but in regards to everything that Momonga experience can only accept it as true for now.

Once again Shiro is invited to Nazarick as a guest of honor. Momonga then quickly orders Slimeko to contact Albedo predicting that they are safe in the 6th Floor of the true Nazarick before returning there themselves. Back at the Amphitheater, Shiro is welcomed and Aura and Mare reconnect with the boy by playing in various "New Year" games as the Guardians and Pleiades watch with wonder and excitement. Other among the group find that the whole experience to be very interesting, some such as Albedo believing Shiro will be a useful attention to their ranks even if his presence is limited to "New Year". Momonga is concerned about this as even he is unsure if Shiro is able to exist beyond "New Year". Beside Momonga expects that Shiro will ask Momonga to kill him again as before when his time is done. Sensing his master's uncertainty at this inevitability, Demiurge encourages his master that killing Shiro is a mercy to return him back to the Sea of Possibilities. Beside it would still be possible for Momonga to summon back Shiro via a ritual as it was proven. Still there are many uncertainties but Momonga pushes them aside for now. He focuses on making sure that this Shiro is in fact the same he met last year. In addition to his caution, Momonga orders Demiurge to obtain as much information from Shiro as possible on the Sea of Possibilities as well as the Seven Lucky Gods while Shiro is with them for the day. At the same time Shiro will be met with gratitude and kindness as he is a unique existence an hopes that they can make many happy memories with his before he departs.

Shiro who was vaguely remembered as a ghost of last year became solidified in the minds of all in Nazarick all due to being invited back in the world correctly. Momonga hails everyone to celebrate New Year and meeting Shiro properly this year which is met equally by all those in the area.

## References

1. ↑ *Counterattack Guardian Hidden Talent Competition (Reprint)*
2. ↑ *Counterattack Guardian Hidden Talent Competition (Reprint)*
3. ↑ *Counterattack Guardian Hidden Talent Competition Episode 0: Prologue*
4. ↑ *Counterattack Guardian Hidden Talent Competition Episode 1: Repairing for Counterattack*
5. ↑ *Counterattack Guardian Hidden Talent Competition Episode 2: Cleaning the Underground Tomb*
6. ↑ *Counterattack Guardian Hidden Talent Competition Episode 3: Spinning Retrospective*
7. ↑ *Counterattack Guardian Hidden Talent Competition Episode 4: New Year Nazarick*
8. ↑ *Counterattack Guardian Hidden Talent Competition Episode 5: Celebration Ceremony*
9. ↑ *Counterattack Guardian Hidden Talent Competition Episode 6: Shining Crimson and Self*
10. ↑ *Counterattack Guardian Hidden Talent Competition Episode 7: Visitors from Chaos*
11. ↑ *Counterattack Guardian Hidden Talent Competition Episode 8: Still Beyond Death*