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Ainz slowly turned his gaze toward Baal.

The figure of the Demon King that before looked, if not confident then at least ready for battle, did not look as if it was capable of any more resistance now. The towering figure looked resigned.

"Interesting" - Ainz wondered - "If I cast a curse on him now, will I strengthen his despair or will it paradoxically weaken?"

Even if Ainz did nothing, the Baal's chances of escaping without giving Ainz any time to react were close to zero. But, on the other hand, if he did indeed manage to somehow escape, Ainz would have needed to waste a few more hours finding him at worst. Therefore, by finishing off now with a spell, Ainz would have cut off any opportunity for the Demon King to escape. This could either increase his desperation by showing him that he had no opportunity to escape. Or instead it could strengthen his will to live, showing that no matter how illusory the chance of Baal extending his life, a very small chance it may be, he could still take it and then deliver more troubles for Ainz.

Ainz observed the figure of the Demon King.

Baal still maintained his human form, but all the pomposity, confidence, and posture of a battle ready Demon King was already destroyed. Baal did not even bother standing and just fell to his knees, with his gaze focusing on nowhere. More precisely, of course, in the absence of actual eyes, Ainz could not really determine where, if anywhere, Baal was looking at all, however, his defeated appearance suggested to Ainz that he had achieved the desired result.

Good.

Ainz then looked at Euryale, who continued to look at him with an unbelieving look and resignation.

The whole point of the battle was to sow despair in Baal's soul, and this goal has been reached. This meant that the hatred that Ainz was supposed to possess had subsided. On the other hand...

Ainz looked at Euryale.

Just letting Euryale go, or even just killing her with a simple spell, did not seem like a good to Ainz. He had many more experiments that he needed to conduct after all.

However, he had already conducted the most atrocious of them on Stheno, so he planned to deal with Euryale relatively quickly.

"Deicide, rank E-" - Ainz's skill responded instantly.

After a second, Euryale took a step back. No words escaped from her mouth, and no exclamations, but her hands began to tremble the moment when Ainz's skill was activated. The skill produced such an amount of dread even at its very minimum level.

The strength of this skill depends on two factors. First is the rank of the skill itself, and last but not least is the rank of divinity the target possessed. After all, the best poison is tailor made. In other words, the eternal goddess Euryale, possessing a full-fledged core of a goddess, was the best experimental subject in order to test this skill in the field.

"Rank E-" - At this rank "The Divine must not fight this adversary."

Euryale took half a step back while slowly retreating she still continued to attack, firing another shot from her useless bow.

"Hm" - Ainz slowly took a step towards Euryale - "So, the skill at this rank has no full-fledged permanent effect. Perhaps some slight influence on the enemy in the form of fear or other sensation... However, it is too weak to fully influence the enemy... "

"Rank E" - At this rank "The Divine must fear this adversary."

After a second, Euryale, who had so far continued to shoot in a senseless attempt to somehow harm Ainz, froze in place.

"It imposes a feeling of fear," Ainz said to himself. After a second, Euryale was still able to pull herself together. After which she started sending a wave of spells against Ainz - "But the effect is not insurmountable."

"Rank E+" - At this rank "The Divine must suffer from this adversary."

After a second, Euryale uttered a cry, falling to the ground for some reason, as if she had been hit.

"Oh, it seems that at this rank the skill is able to influence the enemy directly" - Ainz nodded to himself, and then observed Euryale, whose face was twisted in a grimace of pain - "I wonder if this skill causes actual damage or if it only causes pain?"

Ainz was not opposed to conducting the experiment and waiting ten or even twenty minutes to find out if Euryale would die from the effect of the skil at this rank or not. But too long a delay could give Baal time to recover from the shock he felt and do something troublesome, a thing which Ainz did not want to happen. Ainz wanted to kill Baal at the highest point of his despair, showing him how much he made a mistake by provoking an enemy he could not hope to defeat, so he continued to increase the effect of the skill even further.

"Rank D" - At this rank "The Divine will be weakened in a battle against this adversary."

Presumably, this rank was supposed to weaken the three physical parameters of Euryale - Strength, Dexterity and Endurance, but Ainz did not notice a significant change in Euryale's physical capabilities. Even before the weakening effect of the skill, her physical parameters were already extremely low, so Ainz planned not to linger on this rank.

"Mana Essence" - Ainz casted a spell that allowed him to see the mana points (MP) of the enemy - "Impressive."

The level of mana that Euryale possessed was really impressive, and in Ainz's eyes it looked like a huge bonfire, rising to the skies - smaller than that of Ainz of course, but still terribly huge. If Ainz were to compare it with information known to him from Yggdrasil, then he would say that her mana indicator was currently approaching the maximum, a 100-point value - and therefore was at least at Ulbert's level. However, a large amount of mana by itself didn't mean much, without the spells for which the mana could be spent on. Ulbert, who possessed similar mana reserves, was also the strongest magician of the guild Ainz Ooal Gown - and was even one of the strongest magicians of all Yggdrasil. Given his race, skills, and available spells, he could have razed a small city to the ground without even having to resort to the help of Supertier Magic. While Euryale, even though she possessed a similar amount of mana...

"Please!" Euryale's spells, which she casted with desperation, were stopped by Ainz's shield with contemptuous ease, "At least something!"

Euryale was far from a similar level of strength.

"Rank D+" - At this rank "The Divine will find its powers disappearing in a against this adversary."

After activating the next step in the skill, Ainz saw the bonfire rising to the heaven representing Euryale's level of mana began to slowly decrease - "Hmm, so at this level of the skill it imposes a minus to all parameters of Divine beings it seems to work normally."

Euryale, sensing her strength slowly beginning to leave her, attacked with frenzy.

"Rank C" - At this rank "The Divine will be wounded in a battle against this adversary."

Euryale's mana bonfire has shrunk dramatically, causing her to slowly stagger. Slowly, a trace of awareness of the futility of her attempts began to dawn on her. All her parameters were reduced by one rank.

"He must possess some kind of weakness!" Euryale used her plethora of magics and abilities, sending blow after blow toward Ainz.

"Rank C+" - At this rank "The powers of the divine are insignificant in a battle against this adversary."

Suddenly, even the flow of Euryale's spells was interrupted for a second before she continued casting more spells. Spells which looked much weaker even compared to the previous attacks that Euryale had used before, attacks that were inconsequential somehow became even weaker. Not only her parameters, but also her skills were reduced in their rank by one.

"Rank B" - At this rank "The strength of the divine leaves them in a battle against this adversary."

Euryale's bonfire of mana, which until then had continued to be an impressive sight, shrank yet again.

"Hm," Ainz nodded thoughtfully, "Now I would say that her mana parameter has dipped to eighty..."

The reduction of all parameters and skills of the divine by two ranks. A fairly significant decrease.

"Rank B+" - At this rank "The Divine will discover that their greatness has become dust in this battle."

Although this skill, at this rank, full effect was not that apparent at the moment, due to the fact that Ainz was already immune to Euryale's Noble Phantasm, as far as he was aware, at this rank Euryale also had to lose one rank from her Noble Phantasm. However, it was not feasible to verify the decrease in rank at the moment.

"Rank A" - At this rank "The Divine is weak in this battle."

Euryale's bonfire of mana has been weakened even more, forcing the girl to stop her futile attempts to attack, perhaps she has even already run out of mana. A three rank decrease in parameters and skills now...

"What the fuck is this even..." Euryale stopped trying to attack, realizing the futility of it. Moreover, she was frozen by Ainz's gaze. A gaze that seemed to cut into her.

"Rank A+" - At this rank "The Divine has no ability to perform a miracle."

Now even the ability to cast her Noble Phantasm was sealed. Of course, Ainz could not verify it right now, so he slowly moved towards Euryale.

"Rank A++" - At this rank "The Divine has no right to power."

At this rank of Deicide all of Euryale's skills have been sealed. Even if she tried to attack Ainz now, nothing would have happened. However, she did not even bother trying, she was transfixed into paralysis by the slow approach of her executioner.

"Rank A+++" - At this rank "The Divine has no right to divinity."

Then Euryale Mana Bonfire ceased to exist completely. Her Noble Phantasm was sealed, her skills were sealed. Now even her parameters as a Servant were sealed.

Although Euryale possessed meager physical parameters — the parameters for her mana and luck were above all possible limits — at least for a Servant — they were equal to the EX rank. However, Deicide of this rank cut off this link with ease - all parameters of Euryale were now reset to zero. In other words, she has lost all her skills, Noble Phantasm, and all that she could gain from the capabilities of a Servant, essentially ceasing to even be a full-fledged Servant. Now she possessed only the same capabilities that a normal person with her body could possess. She has turned from a very strong Servant into a simple girl.

Ainz slowly approached Euryale, who have finally given up all hope, and raised his bony hand, laying it on her forehead.

"Rank EX" - At this rank "The Divine has no right to exist."

After a moment, the absolute power of the skill penetrated the spiritual core of Euryale, after which it easily broke it.

Euryale froze for a second, frozen in a rictus of a scream. In an instance of infinity she felt an incredible amount of pain suffusing all parts of her body as it began to disintegrate, but she did not even have time to scream. Her body was instantly turned to dust and dispelled in the wind, her destruction was complete the moment when Ainz's skill was fully activated.

The strength of Deicide as a skill is governed by a strict correlation between the rank of the Skill and the rank of Divinity, or its equivalent skill, of the target, total disintegration for that reason is very rare. For example, if one were to use Deicide at rank EX against an enemy who possesses a Divinity at rank E-, then the effect would be the same as if one were to use Deicide at rank E- against an enemy with a Divinity of rank EX, the skill then would only cause minimal effect. Therefore the skill would show its greatest effect when Deicide is of a high rank, not a problem for Ainz, and the enemy also possesses a high rank of Divinity. The latter is not a problem in and of itself as there was a fairly powerful correlation between the strength of a Servant and the possession of a high rating of their Divinity.

Looking at the place where Euryale stood a second ago, Ainz dropped his hand, after which he turned off the effect of his skill and turned towards Baal.

Baal, the proud Demon King, continued to sit in a stupor, looking at the place where Euryale had recently been. Ainz sighed and moved toward his last adversary.

"Baal," Ainz said aloud, "Demon King."

There was no reaction to show that Baal had heard Ainz.

Finding his existence in the Singularity was a great accident. His existence was so hidden, barring the existence of his three Servants, that finding him was credited only to ordinary "luck."

"You resisted with dignity," Ainz displayed some glee with his voice. Its purpose was to further crush any hope remaining in his enemy, - "How does it feel to see that all your endeavour was all pointless?"

Researching the skills that his Servants possessed allowed him to plan out any esoteric use of their abilities, and with that information in hand, allowed him to carry out his plan. He did not know anything about the leaders of the three camps in this singularity. This dearth of information caused a seed of an idea to be planted in his head. The development of the plan was not organic in any way, but it was logical.

Cainabel was able to absorb the memory of the people whose blood she drank. The more blood she drank, the fuller more detail she could absorb. However - this a logical question arose in Ainz's head - did it work only with blood?

The short answer is no.

Then a scheme was born in Ainz's head. If he was not able to use Jeanne to look at the parameters of the three leaders - why couldn't he use Cainabel?

The plan was extremely simple in its essence, Ainz sought to create a sort of alliance between the three camps, at least for the duration of the barrier's destruction, in this Singularity. Why couldn't he pursue an additional goal just in case he has to fight one of the camps?

In any case, the organization of the meeting between the three leaders relied on him, he had to create a place suitable for negotiations. But dragging furniture was too slow and burdensome, especially considering that Ainz could create the necessary furniture just by using his magic.

Negotiations began and Ainz was glad that they could agree to cooperate. However, this agreement did not last long, unlike the other goal achieved by Ainz.

After all, all the leaders had to take their place at the table for negotiation. The human body, even if this person has become a Servant, has some physiological characteristics. Like fingerprints, Servants possess the print of their mana. However, while there are people who have learned to erase their fingerprints - for Servants the matter was somewhat more complicated. Even if Baal had casted a spell preventing the acquisition of information about his Servants - even he was not so paranoid as to separately cast the same spell on the equivalent of the sweat remaining on a door handle.

However, Ainz was paranoid enough to suggest that this information could be used.

Each of the six Servants who came to the negotiation table had to sit on chairs created from pure mana at a table also created from pure mana and therefore leave a little of their own imprint on these things. Ainz then used Cainabel's abilities to destroy his mana-made furniture, absorbing those bits of information about the Servants that they had left in the few minutes of negotiations. This was enough to find out one simple, but important, thing. The three leaders of the three factions had the same Master.

Then everything went wrong. Ainz, realizing that all the three leaders were controlled, went to the island, which the three leaders carefully ignored in their conversations, after which he found Euryale. From her, he learned that a Master really existed among the three Servants - his name and even, um... His occupation - as Baal, the Demon King.

The rest, as they say, is history...

Ainz slowly approached the enemy, after which he stood opposite the figure, which slowly raised his face to him - or at least what counts as its face.

"So," Ainz smiled. "Have you finally known despair?"

"Despair..." Baal repeated with a dull voice, then he laughed, "Oh yes, perhaps... My respect for you, Foreigner... You are very eloquent in your lessons…"

"Thank you," Ainz nodded, and then held out his hand to Baal. "Your last word?"

Baal grinned sadly, after which he looked at Ainz, "Whatever you do... My King will kill you."

"I would like to see him try," Ainz smiled at Baal, after which he casted his spell, "True death."

A second later, Baal's body fell to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut, after which its shape slowly began to melt, turning into the same red meaty slush that it had been before.

"Hm" - Ainz sighed - "Now... I wonder what kind of data crystal will drop out of it?"

Although Ainz did not encounter monsters in this Singularity, which meant that his supply of loot was small, he still did not ignore the chances to loot that were given to him periodically. Baal, Euryale, Stheno - he also needed to check the place where the rest of the Servants had fought for the drop...

Ainz sighed, and then turned around in place in shock after hearing a voice.

"Ha," Ainz heard this voice not so long ago, but he could not even imagine that he would hear it again, which made him bewildered for a second, "You... Won..."

Ainz carefully looked around, trying to find the source of the sound, before his attention was attracted by the figure of a girl in a red tattered dress, slowly rising from the ground.

"Nero?" Ainz looked at the girl in surprise. He believed that Baal had already killed her.

"Umu," the girl grunted languidly, after which she grimaced, clutching her side, "But not for long. The Master has disappeared and now his Command Spells do not limit me... But his mana supply has also disappeared in kind."

Nero rose slowly, after which she nevertheless rose to her full height, glancing at Ainz, "You... Defeated Baal."

"Yes," Ainz nodded, after which he looked at Nero, "And you fought for him."

Nero cringed at the accusation. In a sense, she really did fight for Baal... More precisely, she had served as a pawn in his plans.

Yes, she could justify her actions in that she did not know about his plans and that she was just a tool to him, that if Nero had not come up for this role, Baal would have found another executor of his will - perhaps even that would lead to even more devastating consequences. But in the end, these was just excuses that were too easy to find solace in and she would not hide from the uncomfortable truth.

"Yes," Nero nodded slowly. This action was full of remorse and pain, - "Yes."

"Why?" Ainz looked at the girl. Carefully holding himself from lashing out. His hatred had subsided after the destruction of Baal, but Nero was also guilty of everything that had happened. Because of her actions Humanity was endangered, his Servants were killed and this whole charade was put into action. Of course Ainz knows that he's also partly to blame, he had committed many mistakes in this Singularity, but still most of the blame still lays on his enemy's hand - "Why did you obey him?"

Nero looked up at Ainz, - "Because I wanted to protect Rome."

"Why?" Ainz looked at the girl again. There was no point in killing her, one way or another she would die. She would soon die due to the death of Baal and the Singularity around Ainz had already begun to slowly collapse, marking the end of the battle. He could afford engaging in conversation.

"Because Rome is all that I am," Nero looked up at Ainz, "I am the emperor of Rome until the very end. Therefore, when the Baal seized control of me, when he summoned me... I was afraid for my Rome and followed his instructions. He promised that after the completion of his King's plan, my Rome, my people, my empire will be saved."

"A foolish promise," Nero grinned, feeling tears slowly starting to drip from her eyes, "But what else could I hope for? My empire - for its sake I was ready to do anything."

"And now Rome is destroyed," Ainz looked at the scorched wasteland that still surrounded him.

"Yes," Nero grinned through her tears. "Because of my actions."

Ainz thought for a second, then slowly bowed his head. "I apologize."

What Servants, ha...

The mad mage who had lost everything, strove for his source of admiration's salvation. An Emperor, who wanted to keep her dearest thing in the world safe at all costs.

Ha... Ainz kept thinking about how much the Servants were different from normal people - and from him.

Although, if you really think about it, would he be different were he placed in the position of Nero? If something had threatened his Nazarick, his Ainz Ooal Gown, would he have acted differently?

No, he would act just like Nero. He would dance to the tune of an unknown enemy for a ghostly and even false promise to preserve his precious treasure. Perhaps in such a situation he would have acted in a much worse way than Nero.

Ainz slowly knelt down, and then bent so low that his forehead touched the ground. "I apologize for what my Servants had done to Rome and I will accept it if you never forgive me."

Nero froze for a second. She expected a lot of things - anger, hatred, even a tirade, but... Not that.

"Ha..." Nero grinned through her tears. "Ha ha... Ha ha ha!"

Unable to resist it anymore, Nero laughed, and then fell to the ground, continuing to laugh.

Ainz slowly rose from his bow, looking at the laughing girl. He did not expect such a reaction.

"Ha ha ha!" Nero laughed, even feeling her last seconds of existence coming to an end, "Just think of it... Ha ha! You really know how to surprise people!"

Ainz looked at Nero in confusion.

"Ha ha..." Nero laughed several more times, slowly rising from the ground, after which she looked at Ainz, "Ha... And I thought you would kill me now... I have even prepared myself for such a thing..."

"For what?" Ainz glanced at the girl uncomprehendingly. "You were only trying to protect what is dear to you. You did the same thing as anyone in your position would do."

"Ha…" Nero grinned, after which she looked at Ainz, smiling, "Yes... And my actions led to unfortunate consequences."

Ainz slowly inhaled air and exhaled.

"You know," Nero smiled sadly, "During my life there was a story that I had burned Rome..."

Nero sighed slowly, after which she looked around at the wasteland that is what remained of Rome. "Let this story be a… reminder of my actions."

Ainz looked around, after which he looked at Nero.

Actions, ha...

It's funny that If Nazarick were to be destroyed, Ainz would never forgive anyone who would allow such a thing to happen. And yet, Nero, whose whole motivation in serving Baal in the first place was to protect Rome, forgave him with ease... No, she instead took all the blame for it.

Could Ainz do this?

No. Of course not.

"Servants... Really are amazing…" Ainz grinned to himself.

"Of course," Nero smiled back at him, "And you have the right to look at Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, the most amazing of them all!"

Ainz sighed and looked up at the sky.

If you think about it... What gave him victory in this Singularity?

Force? Mind? Luck? Fate?

Perhaps the most correct answer was...

The Servants.

If it were not for the information from Jeanne that Nero, Romulus and Altera were unreadable by the sight of the Saint, then Ainz would easily have joined any of the camps, convincing himself after the last Singularity that not every coincidence was due to the evil plan of the enemy. If not for Mashu, he would never even have thought about his attitude to the Servants. If it weren't for Cu Chulainn, then the Witch... No, Jeanne Alter, she would never have been able to escape from the attack of Romulus, and if she had not escaped, then Baal would have remained unscathed in his den, since she used her Noble Phantasm, forcing Baal to escape. Medusa was the reason that made Ainz linger in the battle against Stheno - and what made him take a closer look at Cainabel's abilities - and thanks to Cainabel he was able to find out that there was a puppeteer in all this Singularity and avoid his traps.

Not to mention the fact that they destroyed most of the opponents, while Ainz barely participated in the battles.

"Ha..." - Ainz blinked, looking at the sky - "I'm still a bad boss..."

After all, most of his Servants in the Singularity were dead. Yes, he finally felt angry for it and they would return eventually, but... They died under his leadership. Fulfilling his orders. They were in danger, because Ainz had put them there.

And yet, despite this, they obeyed his commands. And Ainz was sure that when he returned to Chaldea he would not find any sideways glances and any misgivings toward him. No, it would not be strange if someone like Medusa only apologized for her own death... It was...

Absurd, if he would put a word to it.

The Servants of Ainz were for him, in essence, random allies with whom fate and chance brought together. They were not even obliged, strictly speaking, to obey him.

But they obeyed nevertheless.

'Ha…' - Ainz grinned. 'Did you too feel like this too, Touch Me?'

The story of Ainz becoming a guild leader was not the most interesting one, but at the same time it was pretty significant.

Once in the game, he was saved by Touch Me, one of the strongest players of Yggdrasil, simply because he considered such a thing to be a natural course of action. He just saw a low-level player from an unsuccessful undead race being bullied by high-level players, that taunted the undead in voice chat - and appeared like a hero of justice, shining with snow-white armor, because he considered it right.

It was Touch Me who then organized the first version of their guild, along with Momonga and seven other players - Nines Own Goal. He was their leader - charismatic and noble, of those who ignited a fire in people inside. The guild grew, changed, but in the end - there were people who did not agree with Touch Me. Internal contradictions eventually forced him to resign as Guild Master - and the guild needed a reorganization. Then Momonga became a figure they could compromise on.

He was one of those who was a friend to everyone - even to Luci*fer, who was disliked by the other guild mates for his habit of forever spoiling every situation with his stupid jokes. He was close to everyone, everyone was his friends, and, in the end, Ainz became the leader of the new guild simply because everyone was okay with such a thing.

And he coped well with the duties of a Guild Leader - he was a good tactician, raid leader, a good fighter for all occasions and a good manager. He was, in general, a good guildmaster.

But not a leader.

Ainz was a good friend to everyone, but Touch me was the one who organized the guild, assembled the first squad, who lit a fire in Ainz - and in the others. If Ainz had become a leader from the very beginning, he would never have been able to do that. He would not help an unknown player like Ainz, and would not organize them all together, would not inspire them to seek greater exploits, and would not lead forward. Ainz was a good guildmaster, but he was not a leader.

"Ha..." - Ainz sighed again.

Perhaps now, looking at what had happened, at his Servants, Ainz understood him. He understood why he helped an unknown player, why he brought them together, why he breathed life into what would once become one of the most powerful guilds in the game - Ainz Ooal Gown.

'Good, Touch Me' - Ainz smiled. 'You convinced me. There probably is still a reason to keep this world around.'

Not only for the sake of the adventure, treasure and new battles... And not only for the sake of Ainz Ooal Gown.

"Thank you, Emperor of Rome." Ainz smiled at Nero and bowed.

"Sure ~ umu," Nero smiled, after which, after a second, her mana supply finally dwindled and the Servant, Nero, disappeared.

But for the sake of those who follow me.

Golden Rule: EX (A+++)

This ability at the maximum rank allows one to get any amount of any resources that would ruin entire countries in pursuit of them. Countless artifacts of unimaginable power, libraries that store the greatest volume of wisdom on earth, or gold that seemed to flow down in an endless river at the request of the possessor of this skill. This skill, in fact, is not limited in the number of valuables and artifacts that it is able to provide.

However, it would only be true if Ainz used this skill to its full potential, putting his hands to the treasury of Nazarick in case of a need. Toward the treasury that stores so many priceless relics that they could fill all the oceans of Earth with them. However, since Ainz refuses to use Nazarick's treasury for his own purposes, using his own inventory only instead, the rank of this skill was reduced. However, even so, Ainz possesses valuables and artifacts, the mere appearance of which in the public domain can lead to a global, economical - and possibly political - disaster.

Also, this skill, in combination with another, is responsible for obtaining "loot" from killed targets. Although in fact, of course, opponents should not leave any "data-crystals" Ainz's certainty that "the killed enemy leaves a drop behind it" creates the suitable data crystals for him, further expanding Ainz's - and his combat potential.