Rite of Darkness

"How interesting. This book reminds me something that Tabula will make."

Ainz spoke to himself about the book of Prelati.

After murdering, or slaying the Caster and his disgusting master, Ainz decided to clear his head with some insight about the knowledge that his servant had. So far, his servant showed concern about how there's chance that somebody was following them.

His bets were on Assissin or Rider. The former was adept in such things, while the latter was possibly using his skills or NPs to hide himself. There were many possibilities out there. And the limited wisdom of his knight was truly a blessing for Ainz.

"By the way master, where else are we going next? We can't stay the entire time in this library. Even if you are good in stealth and Invisibility, there are other masters who can use their magecraft to either detect you or nully your spells. Staying at one place for too long is not good at all."

Lancer cautioned Ainz like he was whispering. Though he had complete faith on his master, the world was a small place. There were many heroes who could find his master.

"I appreciate your concern Lancer. But if we don't collect the info, then this war will become even more dangerous. If you are worrying about other servants, then they will never attack us at day time, infant of may people. Being paranoid is not bad, but sometimes it may cause harm."

Ainz replied. He had seen the side effects of paranoia in his time at the Sorcerer Kingdom. He didn't want to repeat the same mistake again. Working with two geniuses like Albedo and Demiurge, and even with his son, Ainz had amassed a great deal of wisdom regarding such affairs.

Most enemies would plan directly to defeat him, some enemies would plan indirectly to defeat him, few enemies would observe his moves only, while the remaining enemies would try to trap him. And thus, he just needed to make a counter against their plans and traps, especially the latter.

"What did you suggest Lancer? What should be my current action for enhancing our chances of victory? If you have some plans, then you can share with me."

Ainz asked curiously. He didn't mind hearing the opinions of his colleagues or servants in that matter. He waited for Lancer's ideas on their next course of action.

"If I wanted to increase my chances of victory in the Grail War, then I will eliminate as much servants I can. My reserves are already full, so why not check the waters ? Sitting idle will only give them time to counterattack on us."

"Hmm, true enough. But which class of servant you try first? I want to retreat as fast as I can if the servant is overwhelmingly strong. Do you have anyone in mind?"

"Yes master, I have one.

(Scene Change)

Kariya Matou was not happy today.

His performance, or more likely, his servant's performance was very troubling at the dock yard. He had no idea, but his berserker suddenly changed his target in the middle of the battle and attacked the Saber servant.

Even though he had already beaten Rider servant by some luck and better planning, his servant gave up his opportunity to kill the first servant in th battle. And the root of this was none other than that Saber servant.

She arrived out of nowhere and got the attention of his servant with ease. At that point, he understood that he had messed up. Not only he had wasted his magical energy on the Berserker, but he also didn't use his command seals, to stop him.

One way or another, this would become his fault. And the one who was going to pay for this fault was... Sakura.

"All because of you."

Kariya grumbled. He wanted to say something more, but it was all useless here. The servant of insanity would just ignore him.

"If only there is a way to save Sakura, without this literal idiot and that psychopath. Haah..."

Kariya sighed. At the end, he could not do anything here. He wa-

"BLAAASSSSTTTTT!"

The deafening sound of blast halted his train of thoughts. Something, or someone had arrived here. Kariya could only think the worst.

It might be some enemy servant. He prayed that it was just some stupid experiment by his senile, sadi–

"Come out! I know that there is a servant here! Fight me!"

Or, it was really a servant this time.

Kariya felt even more pain in his stomach than before. Oh, if only he could do something with this pain. But right now, his main concern was not the stomachache. It was the well-being of Sakura.

If this servant took his Sakura as a hostage, then there would be no choice for him but to fight at the fullest. Now, he had no options left but to fight. His reserves were low and the vermins of the scum were eating his body from inside.

But he would prefer fight than retreat. He couldn't do that often here. At the very least, the scum had some way to send away Sakura from here.

"Berserker, it's time!"

(Scene Change, Zouken POV)

Zouken Matou was not having a great night at all. It's the worst night ever he had witnessed.

First, his insignificant "son" lost his chance to kill the Rider servant.

Then, there was this possibility that the masters of Rider and Saber would join hands to defeat them.

And finally, this servant, possibly Lancer if the red spear in his hand was anything to go by.

But the most troublesome part was how Lancer didn't hide his NP at all. It was like he had assurance over his victory. And Zouken didn't like this scenario at all.

This was the 4th Holy Grail War and if his secret came to open, then he would even loose his chance in the future Grail wars. He must secure the Bounded Field around Sakura's "training" chamber.

That girl was his only hope to maintain the bloodline of Matou and he would not let this opportunity to slip away.

His telepathic link was not working today. It must be his worst day after all.

"I have arrived."

He reached to the door of the "training" chamber and...

(Few minutes earlier)

Ainz stared at the extravagant manor of Zouken Matou.

The information he had collected so far, through his undeads had showed this location. It wasn't easy at all, but also not hard too.

It was obvious that the Holy Grail War was nothing if the three great magus families had not entered here. If they had joined the battle, then it must be something really obvious that they would made near to the battlefield of this war. Since teleportaion was considered as the highest form of magic, not magecraft without following certain conditions, then everything would be fine.

"[Mana Essence], [Life Essence]."

Ainz analyzed the life signatures and magical energy around the manor. There was one place where he found a huge chunk of HPs and MPs. And then there was the master and the servant of this War at the opposite end of the manor.

He had understood his next course of plan.

"Lancer, draw the servant and the master out. If they overwhelm you, then don't waste any time and retreat. I will soon follow you."

Ainz ordered the Lancer through his telepathic link. He had a plan to accomplish and the knowledge to gain.

"Now, I have done that. Let's check it out."

Ainz casted the 2nd tier spell [Intangibility] and then [Anti-Information Wall] upon himself. With a steady descent, he came near to the location where he could see a vast number of HPs and MPs. And as he entered, his non-existent eyes widened in surprise.

Because in front of him, was a sea of maggots or vermins or whatever one could say. It reminded him of Kyuohakou's lair where he always saw this type of scenes.

"Hmm, so many vermins and there seems nobody around here. The vermins are unaware of my presence, thanks to my concealment skills and spells. I must not let this opportunity slip away."

Ainz muttered giddily. He wanted to check his class skills here. In the new world, he had used this skill numerous times, yet this one was was different. This world was truly different. If not the presence of Lancer, he would have many more experiments then.

"Let's do it. [Field of Interference], [Tether Lock], [Skill—Rite of Darkness]"

He activated the skill that could be considered the trump card of his, a skill that allowed him to enhance his necromantic powers on the number of sacrifices than the quality of sacrifices.

Quantity had its quality too!

The skill activated with the appearance of a disc-like structure around the room. The violet flames covered the room instantaneously and the maggots reacted violently. They felt the presence of their eventual death too.

And so it happened.

One by one, they were engulfed by the flames of undeath and little by little, it devoured them. They tried to move around the basemen but it was fruitless. The fire had already covered the borders of the room.

Ainz felt the flow of information in his mind and near a corner of the room, he stared at the rise of XP with glee. It was going smoothly.

Almost perfect.

Almost.

"Hmm, why the flames are showing the presence of a human there? I don't need one now."

He ordered the flames to not touch the human in there. At best, that poor victim would be here because of some disgusting experiment of the magus, or just a fetish. He believed the latter, as some megacorps loved to see the poor people in bugs with curiosity. It was no wonder that the idea of making Kyouhakou's chamber, was because of that.

"Well, atleast leaving a single human will be fine, right?"

He remembered the grievings of his friend who had also went through the very same trial by his boss. He had a fetish of bugs and used them to "examine" the employees. It was the worst way to examine. But Satoru himself was incapable of helping him. Atleast this human should live.

While deep in thoughts, he missed the presence of a certain frail old man who just entered the room and later engulfed by his bugs whom he considered his "children." He didn't have the time to scream as the bugs inside his body were in great pain. Like their very essential part, their soul and then their body was going to be eaten by this flames. Never they had thought that someday, there would be something who might eat them, like they had done this in the past.

"Hmm, it seems I heard something. Naah, must be my imagination."

(Scene Change)

Kariya was tired. He had nearly expended his last ounce of powers too. If this continued, then sooner or later, he would die here. The worms were also agitating for some reason. There would be only two reasons for this agitation. Either Zouken was angry over him again or...

...something wrong was happening in the basement.

For a second, Kariya's mind flashed with the words of his "father". His words regarding Sakura's life and...

"No... this can't be! This can't be happening!!"

Kariya screamed in terror.

Suddenly, he felt a jolt of energy in his legs and he rushed to his niece, no, his daughter.

At this point, he didn't care whether his current action would bring his servant's death or what... he had already lost his mind. And the agitation of these worms were helping his mental sanity at all.

So he ran. He even ignored the words of Lancer. His current aim was not this battle at all.

"Damnit! Master, there's a prob-"

"WAAAAGGGHHH!!!"

But the Berserker didn't let him finish his words. The command seals had already empowered this berserker and now the enemy master had left.

(Ainz POV)

"Hmm, it seems that Lancer contacted me. Did something happen?"

Ainz muttered in worry. He knew that his plans often went to some twists and turns. But this was faster than he imagined. He had already commanded his undeath flames to only devour maggots or worms. However, there was a change of plans now.

"Go my flames of undeath, cover the entire manor. Devour every single bug here."

With that command he teleported away. His part of plan had worked and now there was nothing much to do.

Just wait and watch.

"Saku-"

Kariya, who had arrived at a wrong time, was soon engulfed by the fires of undeath. The worms inside of him, screamed in terror as their base instincts knew what was about to happen.

That night, the bloodline of Matou had completely eradicated, while a certain Overlord was enjoying at his new found XP loot.

"Hell yeah!"