The Lord of Time

'Plans that can be constructed, are ones that can be destroyed. The future is a flowing stream that changes according to what happened in the past.'

'Men can't know everything, even the gods are no exception. If they knew everything, how could they fall from grace? How could they have enemies?'

Even in his infinite wisdom and power, Ainz Ooal Gown never once foresaw his 'death', let alone at the Phoenix Mountain.

Had he knew of his death, the plan he had constructed would have been different. He had two plans, but he ultimately chose the safer, more secure one which turned out to fail in the end.

The plan he chose is where he traveled throughout Celestia, collecting every piece of intel he could. Knowing the ins and outs of Celestia, before claiming this world as his.

As the Master of Death, Ainz plans to live up to that name, by unleashing Death to a world.

Of course, he was not going to go about it in an evil way, he would only do it if he had no choice.

Ainz had planned to conquer this world the moment he learned of the mana of this world and the presence of gods.

He wanted to kill the gods and research them, in order to obtain the secret to become a god.

By killing an actual god, not a NPC god of Yggdrasil, could he surpass his level cap? How would the experience be calculated?

Whether he got stronger or not, the main goal remains, to increase the overall strength of Nazarick.

There were not many ways he could improve Nazarick apart from its NPCs. The Floor Guardians were already at the level cap, so only the Area Guardians and the maids could hope to improve the Tomb's strength.

Of the Nazarick denizens, Ainz sought to improve the Homunculi Maids the most.

On occasion, he could see the look of sadness and disappointment on their faces, when their names weren't called for a task. There was truly nothing he could do, as they didn't have the skills or strength to hold down the fort. Even some of the Floor Guardians struggle with this, let alone them.

On the overall scale of the Tomb, the maids didn't have much of a presence, even though the Tomb's entire management was helmed by them.

No, that wasn't true, everyone that belongs to Nazarick is priceless, and he wasn't willing to lose a single one. If he had a choice between a World Item and a Nazarick, Nazarick would be his answer each time.

To help them, Ainz had thought of many things, even going as far as thinking of using his Wish Upon a Star. In the end, he didn't as he believed he would find a better option, which he did, Celestia.

If he obtained the knowledge of the gods, he was bound to find a way to make them stronger. Though they might not reach the level he hoped, any improvement was welcome. If it worked, it would mean it was possible to surpass the level cap, though he already experience that area.

When he gained the power over life and death, though he still remained at level 100, his strength far surpassed that.

In fact, if he was being honest, if the World Eater was in front of him, he felt he could fight evenly against it. Not only that, his strength was growing as time went on.

However, though he loves that power, his roots still remain Yggdrasil. He can't give it up.

To others, this was irrational to the extreme. He was planning on killing an entire world to help his servants. What logic was this?

To Ainz, even if he had to destroy the universe for one servant, it was worth it. The treasures of his friends are priceless after all.

He didn't speak of this plan; because he knew people were probably watching him.

If he was the God of Death, he would watch whatever unknown being he had summoned until he knew of its full capabilities.

Only when he knew his full capabilities would he make an appearance.

Since this is what he would do, he didn't shelve the idea that the God of Death, an actual god, wouldn't have a similar idea.

Moving as if the God of Death was watching him, Ainz became stricter with his action, leaving no trace of his actual motives.

To accomplish this; aiding Soul Eater was the best choice. No matter what he did while aiding them, no one would question his actions.

However, while he wanted to, he couldn't kill a god, as that was too high profile.

There was a difference between a native able to kill a god, and an outsider killing a god.

————

Inside the Death Fortress, far away from the Soul Eater, Ainz signed with regret at how careless he was. Was it because he had no opponent in Ainzland? Was that why he believed nothing in the world could kill him?

'Or maybe it was because of that power that affected my mind? I didn't have my emotional suppressors, which cause my emotions to dictate my behavior, not cold hard facts. A bad trade off for me…'

Shaking his head, Ainz cast Perfect Warrior, and began thinking of the second plan. Unlike the first which was safer and had little to no risk of failure, this one was risky and had a high probability of death.

However, this plan was one that invoked his memories as Momonga, the Guildmaster of Ainz Ooal Gown!

At Ainz's side, stood a well dressed undead that looked like a handsome young man with pale skin, the tone of death. In his hands, the Einherjar's Planar Scepter rested, looking like the legendary weapon of the Grim Reaper, Death Scythe.

Sighing, as his memories came back, thinking of how he almost fell back to level 99 when he summoned Chrono Wiseman.

Chrono Wiseman, an undead that had a large amount of time-related spells. To a certain degree, this undead would be unrivaled if he uses his power to the limit.

Just like how he wouldn't dare to claim complete control over death, Chrono could at most be called a Lord of Time.

Ainz had summoned Chrono before he departed from the Death Fortress. He was so secretive about it that he doubted anyone, even the gods would know about it.

Chrono was to be the guardian of Einherjar's Planar Scepter; just in case of his unfortunate death, and it seems he was right to do so.

The Einherjar's Planar Scepter is a powerful item almost on the level of World Item, but remains firmly in the Divine Item class.

It allows one to do World Transfer, meaning the can freely hop from world, only one must have been to that world before.

Second and final ability is Death God Resurrection, which activates upon the owner's death, resurrecting them at the Sceptor's location.

These abilities are ones researched for many years, especially the second one.

Though Ainz was not too worried about his life, he understood the responsibility he had to shoulder, so he and Demiurge researched many different spells, and Wild Magic to create this ability. The only problem with this ability is that it takes a long time to recover.

Rubbing his chin in a pondering manner, he placed the scepter inside his inventory. Ainz was thinking about who the man he gave his items to was?

He has used one of his spells to talk to him while his body was being recreated at this location.

From Ainz observation, he could tell the guy was impressive as he seems to possess the power to become one with the surroundings. If it weren't his perk of being able to see through all illusions, he would not have noticed him.

Another thing he found interesting was the place he put his capture items. It looks like an inventory but not, as it could hold living creatures.

It was the above mentioned reasons that prompted Ainz to initiate 'Fallen Hero' to force the guy to join his cause.

Fallen Hero - is a strategy meant to tie someone to his chariot by pretending to die.

If Invincible had not appeared, he would have simply continued 'living' and left the mountain. However, there are many factors that force him to pretend to be dead.

Being under the eyes of beings he cannot locate, Ainz didn't feel comfortable nor could he get what he wanted.

If he continued, eventually he would slip up and reveal something he shouldn't, which could jeopardize his plan or worse, put his life at risk.

When someone offers power in return to do something, they would stop at nothing to complete the task.

And the task Ainz wanted completed was finding his comrades.

It might seem he was generous and not evil in his approach, but only Ainz knew he had done an undermined tactic to place a curse on Invincible. Should he be unable to complete the conditions, he would die.

The only good thing was that Ainz didn't place any time limit, so Invincible had as long as he needed. But should he stop….

His eyes flowed deeply red for a moment before returning to normal.

Ainz pondered if Pandora Actor was activated, if he was, that would mean his wife was too far gone and he was to be blamed.

He had betrayed the trust that his guildmate had placed on him by tempering with her settings, but she had also betrayed his faith. If she kept on her current path, he would have no option but to kill her and recreate her as her creator intended.

"Chrono, how is the mission I gave you?" Ainz turns to the young man, no undead.

"Great One, the mission is complete. I have found the coordinate to the realm of an Outer Fire God, he is estimated to be equal to a True God by this world's standards, but by using ours, he's equal if not stronger than a level 100 Player." Chrono spoke, his voice cold as if a machine was talking. It was as if he had no room for useless words, only speaking pure logic.

'Outer Gods, gods that reside outside Dominion and Celestia. Now that I think about it, my Super Tier Spell, La Shub - Niggurath summons Dark Youngs of an Outer God. I wonder if this universe's Outer Gods is the same as the ones in my mind. If it is, then I can't win.'

"Hmm, a Fire God? This would be a problem for two reasons. First, another undead can't appear after one just died. Second, as an undead, i'm weak against fire. Hmm, save its location, I will decide after you get me That information. Anyway, what about killing a god? Have you found a way?" Ainz spoke expectedly. This was the reason he didn't kill a god. He wasn't sure he could kill them.

Yggdrasil gods and Celestia gods are different. One was mere data and the other was real. Even power wise, there was a big gap. For example, unless one was a main god of the faction, it was rare to surpass level 80. But in this world, even Demigods could affect a continent size landmass. That's not the same level.

"I have confirmed the information and done some experiments of my own, concluding it is unlikely to kill a True God inside Celestia. While the world hates the True Gods, it cannot do without them, therefore it would protect them. Even if one happened to kill a god, without removing their mark in the world, it was impossible to truly kill them as they would be reborn from faith. At our current level, we could at most kill Demigods." Chrono spoke as if he was an adviser which he was kind of. Being a figure on the same level as the Death Emperor, Chrono wasn't to be looked down upon, though he was weaker in combat.

​With all his time-related spells, him also being a warrior would be overkill, thus he was made an advisor amongst the undead population. While strong, he would be hard pressed to kill a similar level creature, since they usually have resistance to time spells.

He could make enemies become slower, while allies became faster. He could change any battle in seconds.

"How problematic. This world's depths are really deep. Despite being level 100, we can only kill Demigods, which is the third sphere of power in Celestia." He frowned as he didn't believe what he was hearing. He, a level one hundred Overlord, was not equal to a True God despite his spells and items? That's hard to fathom, but even he knew that Chronos did not lie to him.

"Great One, do not misunderstand, you can fight a True God, but winning is impossible. No matter how many times we kill them, they will just come back. Outside Celestia is a different story." Chrono continued, "The universe is big, it can contain creatures of great power, making it an ideal place for gods to go to become powerful. Since a Heavenly Kingdom is not connected to the Celestia, it is hard for the gods to sense intruders of their domains, unless they prepare beforehand. The good news is if we kill God, we will gain their Heavenly Kingdom as our base of operation."

Ainz eyes dimmed as he listened to Chrono, "Hmm, still with the increase in power inside their Heavenly Kingdom, it would be hard to kill them. Well, if I use everything I have, I could succeed, but that's something I cannot do since it would be eye catching and expose too many things. Continue your research and tell me when you have found a solution to this problem."

"As you wish, Great One. However, I might be stepping over the line but couldn't this problem be solved if we ask someone to show us how to become gods? If that happened, it will lessen the time needed, however who would do that?"

"Only a fool, I would think. I see the logical in your words and I have indeed thought of this option but I don't like uncertainties, especially within a world I don't know too much about. How can we guarantee the god won't betray us or give us false information? These worries are ones I cannot overlook, so I will have to forgo that idea." Looking in the direction of Invincible, Ainz offhandley change the topic and ask , "Chrono, I hate to ask, but what do you think of that fellow? He gives me an uneasy feeling as if I had made a mistake. He isn't a threat to my life, no; it felt like he would suck me dry, I can feel it in my bones!" The aura around Ainz body absorbs the light in the surroundings before becoming contained.

Invincible gives him the same feeling as his 'daughter', making him feel that Nazarick's treasury will soon be empty.

"Although I cannot sense what you are feeling, I can tell he would be a great addition to Nazarick. He could help you with that loneliness in your heart. You will gain a new companion, someone of equal status as yourself, but if things continue the way they are, instead of a friend, you will create your worst enemy. I suggest seeing him as one of your own instead of chess pieces." Chrono's voice became somber as if he was speaking from experience.

"Right as always. If someone played with my life, no matter what I had to do, I would kill them. Sigh, I just hope this person doesn't have the same mindset as me. " Sighing, Ainz adds, "I will think about you suggestion. I look forward to your continued service."

"My pleasure, Great One." Chrono bowed.