84

"Darling!" - a very voluptuous girl with very noticeable assets - which was especially emphasized by her short stature, angelic figure, and choice of dress, snapped out - "I understand and am accepting that you are very attracted to me - just like me to you, darling! But please, could you at least calm down a little?"

"Let me enjoy at least some of the benefits of my current circumstance!" - the source of the consternation that rang out, contrary to any possible expectation, originated somewhere from the depths of the very decent breasts of the girl. After a moment a figure appeared from the depths of the girl's bosom... A bear to be exact.

More precisely, of course, not an actual bear, but a teddy bear instead. However, his completely toyish existence as a comedic brown teddy bear did not stop the man - who has a somewhat muffled and comical voice because of his body - to speak, move, and fidget around in the girl's valleys.

"Darling!" The girl frowned exaggeratedly, "Please, I beg you, stop!"

After a second, the girl screamed and, with a slightly pink face, pouted - "Enough!"

"I am a man!" Answered the little bear as he shouted out. "If you have already turned me into such a laughing stock, be kind about it, and take responsibility!"

"Darling, I'm fine with it later, just not right no-AH!" The girl exhaled sharply, not completing her complaint.

Standing not far away from the two Servants, or one Servant stuck with a pseudo-Servant that can't fight, flirting in a very indecent way, a long-suffering man reigned in his annoyance, and then turned to his companion.

"Let's go", - The man was of a very short stature, which looked extremely comical in comparison with the Servant next to him, whose mighty figure towered at a three-meter-high bulk. Despite this stark contrast in stature however, the man casually patted the giant on his hands, leading him away - "Children shouldn't be looking at such things."

"Of...course…" - The large Servant answered with a low booming - but paradoxically extremely quiet and even, perhaps, submissive voice, after which they slowly moved away from the public display of affection.

Not far from the three, or is it four? Servants, a figure wrapped in a cloak standing next to two other figures is regretting their decisions while looking at the display. After calming themselves down they complained to one of their allies, "Sometimes I'm not sure if it was worth the trouble contacting that couple at all."

"No matter how you look at 'that' display - she's still a goddess," One of the two figures, a man with brown hair, next to the cloaked one replied with a relaxed voice "Even if her mind works somewhat… strangely, - she is more than capable in a fight."

"Assuming her capabilities based on her status as divinity is not a great idea," The last of the trio replied, a man with spiky green hair casted a glance at the cloaked figure, "Her existence is supported by a Saint Graph that is barely suitable for her, we shouldn't be so sure that her abilities remain intact."

"Even so, I would still prefer not to fight her," the other speaker replied, after which he looked at his - verbal - opponent, - "But I will not mind at all if you were to try to start a fight with her. It seems to me that it's what you do in your free time... At least other than trying to win a race against a tortoise."

"No," the cloaked witch's voice intervened after just a couple of phrases between the two rivals, just before the small banter would turn into a full-fledged quarrel, "You two can bite into each other after the Grail is protected. Before that, you two will have to work together."

"Never!" - The two Servants cried out at the same time, after which they immediately glared at each other "I'd rather die than fight side by side with him of all people!"

"These two are worse than the Argo," the witch wrapped in a cloak hissed to herself, "No one is forcing you to love one another. But you have to fight on the same side - whether you want it or not. Even if I have to force you two."

"I doubt that you will be able to," replied out one of the Servants, "There is not a drop of divinity in you."

"I have enough opportunities and abilities to make you fight anyway," spat back the girl wrapped in a cloak.

"Why do you have a problem with that guy anyway?" This time the other Servant began to speak, " I understand about keeping the Grail safe and saving the world and such things... But are you sure that we should be keeping the Grail away from that person? As far as he appears to me, he's an opponent of the Demon King too…"

"An enemy of my enemy doesn't always mean that he is our friend," the cloaked witch sighed, "And even if he didn't come here to steal or use the Grail for his own goals, it could also be a trap of the Demon Kings. It is too easy to create an illusion of a possible ally by arranging only a couple of battles. Until he can prove that he is our - my - ally, we will do our best to defend ourselves."

"I need no further convincing," The more confrontational of the two Servant raised his hands in a conciliatory gesture, after which he glared at his 'friend', "Unlike this coward who prefers to hide behind walls."

"Oh, is someone barking about this again?" The 'friend' in question smiled with a deceptively joyful smile, "This time our battle will have a different result - believe me."

"I work with idiots," the girl wrapped in a cloak sighed, "At least none of them are Jason..."

After that, the girl's gaze focused on the horizon, where the enemy's fleet is slowly approaching - "Is the Ark of the Covenant in place?"

"Yeah," one of the two Servant was distracted without question, "I even feel sorry for the unfortunate guy who will touch it..."

"It is better to do too much than too little," the girl in a cloak sighed, and then looked at the approaching ships, "Now... Everything will be decided by fate."

Ainz was not one who liked to leave anything to a decision of fate. He prefers to plan his actions in advance.

The night in the Oceanic Singularity was surprisingly calm - excluding, of course, Drake's attempts to find or kill Blackbeard, with Blackbeard's attempts to avoid Drake, and Anne's and Mary's attempts to interfere with Blackbeard's attempts to avoid Drake's attempts to find Blackbeard. In other words, two ships in the Drake armada were sunk by morning.

However, as it turned out a little later - Ainz should not have been worried about such a thing. The 'pirates' that crewed the ships in this Singularity were not real people. They were something like ghosts or phantoms created on the basis of the 'idea' of a pirate that took shape due to the instability of the Singularity.

It's not that Ainz cared about them at all and if Drake sent two or three ships full of her 'pirates' to the bottom of the sea, he wouldn't be bothered at all. However, Mashu, Nero and Mozart were troubled about it and rejoiced at this fact, so Ainz also rejoiced at the fact that he didn't inadvertently soured his subordinate's mood.

Well, to more important things. Medea was able to determine the approximate location of the Grail, and after sailing over the past night, the fleet, under the leadership of Ainz, have reached the alleged location of the Grail. It was a small island covered with forests that were dotted with glades, in the center of which was a large hill - or, perhaps, a small mountain. And somewhere in the depths of that island is the Grail, at least as far as Medea could tell. And these findings paralyzed Ainz with indecision.

Indecision, should he attempt to scry the island from afar, sending all kinds of scouts or even using his detection spells? Such an action by itself could be dangerous - the false sense of safety that it could give would be just as dangerous attempting to rush right into the place, a place that practically shouted to him that it was a 'trap'. However, it was doubly dangerous to rush forward since Ainz could fall into a trap that he did or could not foresee. Despite the fact that Ainz could withstand most of the ambushes that could be sprung on him - if the enemy's goal instead was to lure Ainz away in order to attack his Servants, then any situation where Ainz would be indisposed looked much more dangerous. In other words - Ainz had to choose the right course of behavior with the least amount of danger possible and not a long passive wait filled with expectation and also not a carefree rush forward.

"Hmm..." - Ainz thought about it for a moment, after which he came to a decision - "In that case..."

After a second, Ainz, with a voiceless command made his Servants to appear next to him, after inspecting his Servants for a moment, he communicated his plans.

"Baal and Cainabel will go to the island with me," , after which he carefully looked at his other Servants, "The rest... Be prepared for an attack. It is likely that this is a trap designed to target you specifically. As far as I know, four more Demon Kings are currently operating in this Singularity, so before we go, I would like to do some preparations…"

Ainz extended his hand forward and then started casting. Casting buffs were not his specialization, unlike clerics, whose abilities were often specialized at various buffs for their comrades or command classes. Even so, Ainz had, by no means, an impressive list of spells suitable for strengthening his allies, moreso if they were not undead, of course. Therefore, because of his lack of specialization, his next actions were not particularly effective in terms of the ratio of spent mana versus the final result. But preserving mana was not particularly important - because even though he would be casting a lot, the mana required for such a thing was not particularly great compared to the amount he had. At least it was nothing that Ainz would not recover after a dozen minutes. In other words - Ainz planned to cast as many buffs as possible - within reason, of course.

'Magic Focus', 'Blessing of the Magic Caster', 'Draconic Power', 'Greater Luck', 'Greater Magic Shield', 'Greater Resistance', 'Boost Magic', 'Mantle of Chaos', 'Penetrate Up', 'Paranormal Intuition', 'Resistance to bludgeoning weapons', 'Resistance to slashing weapons', 'Resistance to piercing weapons', 'Sensor Boost' - After casting the buffs to all his Servants that would stay behind Ainz exhaled, casting fifteen spells on four Servants was a tiring feat. Considering that none of these spells was even of the ninth rank, Ainz did not spend that much mana on strengthening his Servants. Even so, having to call out this entire list of spells four times tired Ainz a bit, forcing him to catch his breath for a while.

"Wow..." Nero was the first to react to Ainz's buffs, looking at him with some kind of childish adoration," I feel... Invincible!

"I agree," Mozart added to Nero's remark, and then looked at Ainz. "If I were to ask you if you have spent all your mana on such tricks, I'm not even sure what answer I want to hear. The one that will make me happy - or the one that will calm me down."

Ainz thought about it for a second, and then shook his head. "It doesn't matter. In any case, all I ask of you now is to inform me immediately if an enemy appears. Even with such power-ups, this place is still dangerous for all of you…"

"By the way, senpai!" Mashu perked up a second later, "Senpai, before that, I would like to talk about…"

"Oh, it seems the Witch has noticed us," Baal's voice was quiet enough so that his mutterings could not be considered an 'interruption' in the full sense of the word, but it had distracted Ainz's attention enough to distract him from Mashu, "Servants… Seven? No, six Servants - divided into three groups."

"Three groups," Ainz frowned, and then looked at Baal. "Could they have known about our plans?"

"They could," Baal answered calmly, after which he smiled, "But will this help them?"

Ainz just shook his head in response, after which he then looked at Mashu, who, having been interrupted yet again, fell silent, catching her breath, "Yes, Mashu... Be sure to tell me about this after I return."

Mashu, seemingly annoyed by the answer, began to say something again, but Ainz, not paying any attention to her anymore, somewhat fearing the fact that the enemy might know of his plans, teleported away.

"It will be very bad if they know about my plans" - Ainz exhaled - "Especially about what I hid in the ship..."

Baal's information somewhat unsettled Ainz - however, this did not mean that he did plan to take full advantage of it. Still, he did not dare to use some of the information to his advantage.

Cainabel, after instantly arriving on the island, was greeted not in the most pleasant, but in some way, in a very expected way, a spear's thrust.

The sharp stab of the spear, however, did not touch Cainabel's body at all. The surprise attack was foiled by Cainabel's small umbrella, an instrument that should not be on a par with the legendary spear of any Servant. The umbrella lazily opened then took upon itself the full impact of the spear thrust.

A moment later, a stone crashed into Cainabel's body - although, to be more precise, it was a clot of magic in the form of a stone released from the sling of another Servant. However, as much as it did reach Cainabel it had no effect. The stone shell instantly crumbled into dust, without forcing Cainabel to even turn to acknowledge the 'attack'.

"Well, well," Cainabel smiled when, after a moment, the two enemy attacking her instantly retreated back, away from Cainabel's reach, "What terrible manners... How can you welcome your future mistress in this way?"

"What confident words," The man who had just stabbed Cainabel, with no effect, smiled and looked at Cainabel with a carefree attitude, "But I honestly love girls with character."

Cainabel's gaze evaluated the speaker.

The man in front of her was in the prime of their life - he appears to be twenty-five years old, maybe a couple of years older or younger. With his sharp features, a pointed chin, sly eyes, an athletic but thin body, and green spiky hair and green eyes gives the impression of that of a 'predator'. Even the armor he wore - steel light plate armor adjoining to his body and an orange bandage around his chest that flayed behind him in a manner akin to that of a cloak or scarf - everything in it accentuated the image of a 'predator'. Like that of an eagle watching for prey. However, perhaps more importantly to Cainabel, his appearance was, of course, magnificent - perhaps not in the classical sense of beauty, but from the point of view of a hunter or warrior - the man's appearance was beyond praise.

"I beg your pardon for such a crude greeting - but in battle, I'm afraid there is no room for courtesies," The second Servant then attracted attention to himself, "Although I am sorry to fight a girl, of course. Especially someone as beautiful as you."

The second speaker was also a man - maybe one that is a little younger than the first one - he is also slightly shorter than the first one. However, unlike the first Servant, which accentuated the somewhat exotic beauty of a bird of prey - the second Servant displayed a more feminine beauty. With softer boyish facial features and a short haircut decorated with a white headband on his head, he was what one would call a 'pretty' boy. To complete the image he was also completely without armor - instead he was dressed in something that could charitably be called, with a stretch, a jacket, under which one could see a white sash that still displayed the bare chest of a man. His hands are equipped with black leather gloves and in his hands he was holding... A staff, of sorts, the top of the staff was crooked and bent like that of a question mark, within the small crook of which a small bell was hung from the top of the staff.

"Hm, Archer and..." Cainabel looked at the Servant with sharp features, "Lancer?"

"No," the supposed Lancer smiled, grabbing the spear in his hands, "But I can also be summoned as Lancer."

"It doesn't matter," Cainabel sighed and shook her head. "In any other situation, I would be glad to slowly dismantle you two limb by limb — but since Baal is also here, I will finish this quickly."

"Commendable words from a strong person confident in their strength," the man with a spear, the non-Lancer, smiled, "But I would not want you to fight while underestimating me. Believe me when I say that I know a thing or two about battles - unlike this guy."

The man poked Archer lightly in the side with his spear.

"Maybe I didn't fight as much as you do," Archer answered calmly, "but my battle remained in the memory of every person after me."

"Good point," the non-Lancer grinned. "I would not want to fight side by side with some unknown guy."

"With an unknown girl, then you wouldn't mind fighting by their side?" Archer grinned. "However, I can't judge you for it when I completely agree with you."

Cainabel, looking at two Servants, smiled, - "Ah, you are so sure of your victory…"

"Forgive me, unknown girl," the non-Lancer smiled, "But it's hard for me to take my opponents seriously. If you want me to fight you seriously, you will have to show me your strength."

"Ha... - Cainabel, having heard such an insult, only grinned, - "On the other hand... I think that Baal will not use his trump cards from the very beginning, so…"

Cainabel smiled while slowly raising her umbrella in the manner of a blade, pointing the tip at two Servants, - "I still have enough to take the time to make you regret your words…"

A few spells crashed into Baal and, what was surprising, actually passed through his threshold of passive suppression of magic. However, given that passing it, they still scattered harmlessly, Baal was able to determine that the magic used against him was that of the seventh rank - or an extremely weak eighth rank spell.

However, the fact that not one spell, which took the form of a beam, but a dozen, had immediately crashed into Baal the moment he appeared in the Island, aroused respect in itself.

"I can't say that I didn't expect such a greeting," Baal facing such a barrage, however, only smiled, shook the dirt from his outfit theatrically, and then smiled some more, "But still, it always seemed to me that the capability for speech is what distinguishes people from animals. Wouldn't it be better to discuss our position first than to immediately throw magic at each other?"

The figure who had attacked Baal, was a figure wrapped in a purple cloak and with a hood deeply pulled over her head in such a way that it was impossible to even examine the attacker's face, said nothing in reply.

"Looking at you, I don't have any desire to talk with you," The second person who attracted Baal's attention was a girl of rather short stature, whose white hair, white robe that left a huge neckline on her large chest, in which a small teddy bear rested - and huge blue eyes, suit the expression of endless curiosity, and not the alertness that is in them now.

"Eh, you empty-headed girl!" - the little bear in the girl's neckline stirred, "You said that you wanted to find an enemy that just wanted to talk. Now that you have found one, you wanted to fight. Just who would you like to talk to?"

"And here I am," Baal instantly took advantage of the opening given by the strange helper, "Speak of the Devil, as they say..."

A second later, Baal smiled, after which he looked at the silent figure wrapped in a hood, "Indeed, why don't we have a little chat?"

Having been alert a few seconds ago, the figure in the hood slightly changed their posture, relaxing a little, after which the Archer next to her looked at Baal with rapidly dying hostility.

"I didn't come here to fight to death," Baal smiled, "I don't like fighting at all — and death, for that matter. I just would like to talk with you a little - because we have no reason to fight."

The last sentence was uttered simultaneously as a statement - and as a probing question.

"No," the figure in the hood said slowly in a feminine voice. "We are here to protect the Grail."

"From me?" Baal sighed. "But why? I understand the need to protect the Grail from the Demon Kings - but is it really worth protecting it from us - those who fight them."

"It could be a trap," the figure in the hood answered calmly, "An attempt, an illusion to make us believe that we have allies."

"But you do have allies," Baal smiled, "Believe me, we do not need to fight with you at all. Even better - we could join forces - wouldn't it be better for us to join forces and fight the Demon Kings?"

"It is certainly better," the girl wrapped in a cloak fell silent, and then suddenly staggered back, "Mind control!"

"Not at all," realizing that his ability was revealed, he sighed. "The control of the mind is too rude and unsophisticated. It is something more. But the distinction doesn't really matter already, does it?"

The girl wrapped in a cloak retreated back away from Baal while dragging the Archer with her, as if doubting her words and actions.

"Stop quarrelling!" Archer tried to intervene in the dialogue, not particularly understanding why the two people who were peacefully conducting a dialogue sharply devolved to a fight, "Wait!"

"Rule Breaker!" After another second, a twisted blade flashed in the hands of the cloaked figure.

"Hellfire," Baal casted a spell, but with a wave of the blade, the cloaked Caster instantly destroyed the spell. Which was quite surprising since all she had to do was touch its tip with her crooked blade. A second later, with a sharp movement of the curved blade, the cloaked figure stabbed her palm, dropping the fetters of Baal's Noble Phantasm in an instant, - "Tsk, I should have attacked immediately."

A second later, Caster's blade then sharply struck Archer, forcing her to first look at Caster with disbelief. The Archer looked with confusion as to why her ally had attacked her suddenly, after which, when her eyes had became clear - she looked at Baal with hatred, - "I knew that I should attack you from the very beginning!"

"But you didn't attack," Baal smiled, after which he looked at Caster with more attention, in whose hands was still a small curved dagger, "Rule Breaker, hmm..."

After this, Baal sighed and extended his hand. After a moment, a spark of flame appeared on his hand which then turned into a small cane. After another second, Baal's gaze touched Caster's wrapped cloak, "But why continue this performance? If I have already seen your Noble Phantasm - then it seems to me there is no more sense in hiding your appearance. Isn't it, the Witch of Colchis, Medea?"

Ainz was the one who teleported as close to the mountain as possible, where, apparently, the Grail presence was felt.

"Perhaps I will need to check the limits of my magic that is aimed at collecting information," Ainz sighed. Indeed, how much has he lagged behind in collecting information from the moment he entered this world…? Maybe next time he will even be able to find the Grail himself in the Singularity without resorting to the help of the Servants...

Ains moved slowly through the vegetation, approaching his destination - "Hmm, a cave?"

After taking a few more steps through the forest the surroundings turned to a large clearing, Ainz could make out a large dark passage in front of him, going somewhere deeper into the mountain - "Probably the Grail is somewhere inside..."

"Hey there!" However, Ainz was thrown out of his ponderings by a male voice. Turning his head, Ainz stared at the speaker.

Not far in the meadow in front of him, hidden in the shade of a tree, with his back resting on the trunk, a man was sitting on the bright green grass. Ainz, as soon as he saw this, stopped in shock.

Throughout his time in the new world, Ainz has seen many beautiful men and women. Almost every Servant that he saw was somehow, very beautiful in their own way. The beauty of a warrior, the ephemeral nature of the diva, the grace of wind, the magnificence of the king or the unattainable cold nobility. Ainz had seen many, many people and Servants whose beauty in his past world would force other people to turn their necks in an attempt to enrich their gaze with their splendor for at least another second. Ains never thought... He never thought that...

Ains felt tears come into his eyes and only the suppression of emotions kept him from crying from relief and joy.

He never thought that he would meet an absolutely unremarkable ordinary middle-aged man as a Servant!

"Oi, what's wrong with you, man?" - The regular man was a slightly lanky middle-aged man with a short haircut of brown hair that was fashioned on the back of his head in a small ponytail. With his tired black eyes and small goatee beard he looked like that of an ordinary salary man. He rose from his seat, glancing at Ainz.

"Nothing," Ainz slowly breathed out, taking control of the joy in his heart, looking at his alleged adversary with real gratitude in his eyes, "Absolutely nothing..."

"Well, then," the man looked at him with a confused look. A man with a completely ordinary appearance of a thirty-five-year-old office worker! Yes, somewhat muscular looking, and dressed in something that could be called armor and a green cloak on top - but still!

Ainz smiled.

"I suppose," he began complacently, "are you guarding the path to the Grail?"

"Yes," the man sighed and smiled, looking at Ainz, "Sorry, but that's just how it is."

"I don't want to fight with you," Ainz smiled, looking at the man, "I absolutely do not want to. So please - just let me pass."

"I would be glad to," calmly replied the Servant, looking at Ainz, "But, as much as I'm sorry about it, you can't go any further."

"I can't?" Ainz looked disappointedly at the man, "But I really don't want to fight you."

"It's nice to hear that," the Servant smiled. "But — there's nothing to be done."

"Eh," Ainz breathed out, "Really... Greater Teleportation!"

A second later, Ainz found himself behind the Servant, crossing several hundred meters in one instant, passing the Servant behind.

"I really don't want to fight him," Ainz breathed out, taking a step inward.

Only to bend down a second later, when a huge ax whistled where his head was located.

"Wow, I almost got hit!" - Ainz reacted instantly - "Fly."

After a second, Ainz flew away, avoiding yet another blow - this time crashing into the stone floor of the cave, the huge ax caused a quake and a cloud of debris to fly up, as if from a small earthquake. The floor broke apart with a wild roar, easily tearing stone from the mountain.

"Ha..." - Ainz stared at it in surprise - "If that had hit me... Such an attack can cause damage."

Although an ax did mostly slashing damage - some of the damage from it was considered bludgeoning, which, together with the huge force behind the blow, could have been an unpleasant surprise for Ainz.

"Wow, so you found Berserker, ruined my plan and even know how to fly?" The ordinary looking Servant stared in surprise at Ainz, who was hanging in the air, "You are very good."

'I just didn't want to fight you, what's this 'plan' you are even talking about…' - Ainz exhaled wearily and looked at the Servant - 'But then, what difference does it make? If they want to ascribe to me some ingenious plans, let them. I don't care, even if they conquer the world, I don't think I would care about it now at all…'

However, while Ains was feeling depressed about potentially removing the treasure that he had just found, the figure of the 'Berserker' slowly began to emerge from the dark passage of the cave. A huge, three-meter-tall with a cow mask giant, his muscular body was mottled with scars and he was dressed only below the waist. Except for the shackles without chains on his hands - and a huge ugly iron mask that looked like a bull's head that made him look like a Minotaur on his face, his upper body is completely bare. Considering the massive golden ring inserted into the nose of the mask and the pair of horns that decorated both sides of the Berserker's head, the image of a Minotaur only intensified even more. The huge wave of unkempt white hair that fell to the middle of the back of his huge body kinda lessened the image. The other thing that grabbed Ainz's attention were the two large battle axes in his hands, so large that an ordinary person could hardly use one of them even as a two-handed weapon.

"Tsk," Ainz sighed and glanced at the two Servants. "So no other way further on, without battle?"

"Alas," the ossan-looking Servant smiled and shrugged, "No other way."

"I'm sorry," Ainz exhaled and looked at the two Servants. "I will try to end this quickly."

"Oh," the not-at-all beautiful Servant smiled, looking at Ainz, "Unfortunately, I can't promise you the same. Let's just say I'm used to long battles…"

"Well..." Nero leaned on one of the siderails of the ship, looking sadly into the distant island, "I feel stronger than ever — but I have absolutely no one to demonstrate it to!"

"Isn't having a battle better than having one?" Mozart disagreed, and Nero frowned at him.

"Well, are you telling me that you don't want to check how much stronger you are now!?" - contrary to her expected answer, Mozart did not answer Nero's words with a refusal. Yes, he didn't like battle, but... if It's just a little but... He also wanted to use his magic, which, thanks to the efforts of Ainz, became much stronger.

"Don't worry", - in any case, it is impossible to change the situation for now, - "I'm sure that one day…"

"THE ENEMY FLEET!" Drake's voice made Nero and Mozart instantly look at where Drake is, and then into the distance where she is pointing at.

In the distance, on the horizon, shadows slowly appeared - one, two... Ten, twenty... One hundred, two hundred...

"Ha," Mozart looked at Nero disapprovingly, "You and your big mouth."

"What are you talking about?" Nero simply smiled in response while looking at Mozart, "But it seems to me that this is exactly my luck in action..."

Description

There comes a moment when everything comes to an end. Flowers fade, people die, stones are crushed into dust, stars dim, and with strange aeons even death may die.

In the end, death will come for everything. For thought, for man, for existence itself. And even that which is immortal meets its end.

This Noble Phantasm is not death in the literal sense of the word - rather, it is simply the end. The end of everything. The end of people, gods, of that that is existing and unreal, eternal and that which is already dead. The end in its entirety.

This Noble Phantasm reflects this very facet of the end. The end of everything that comes to everything. In the end, the goal of all life is death.