83

"So" - The Demon King named Aim practically gritted his teeth - it was only the lack of teeth in his current body that stopped him from actually doing it. Such a course of action was provoked after he heard a voice that he wanted to hear the least in the world.

"Hmm hmm hmm, what is this smell that I am smelling... Oh yes, this very particular vile smell, it is as if someone had just shit himself after their 'miraculous', 'brilliant', and 'absolutely-can't-be-outsmarted' plan… failed"

"Shut the fuck up, Focalor!" - Even though Aim was barely on the cusp of a breakdown, it was not Aim who snapped first, but Astaroth. Of course it was only logical that Astaroth would be the one with the least amount of patience for Focalor's needling. As the creator of the plan and the chosen observer of the entire operation, he was the one who is most sick of hearing Focalor's barbs- "Or I swear by my King, that I'll send you straight to rebirth!"

"Well, at least I'll be able to be reborn!" - Focalor spat back in Astaroth's face - "Not like Balam and Beleth, apparently, no... Oh, oh, how could such a thing happen, and who is to blame..."

"Your parents clearly failed in disciplining you if you still haven't learned to keep your mouth shut!" Belial exploded at Focalor who kept running his mouth - "We already lost two of our colleagues, and, what's worse, only finding it out when we had received a last signal from them. So, maybe, rather than yapping on and on you instead shut up and start thinking on a course of action, and not just blabber on?!"

"I already gave you my plan!" - Focalor gladly replied with as loud a voice as possible - "Did you already forgot? From the very beginning we had two plans. One is us arranging the Singularity in such a way to force the enemy to go through a bunch of 'coincidental' fights and encounters that only an idiot will not see through to figure out their abilities and possible weaknesses. Finally after these confrontations kill them, somehow. And the second one, my plan... Oh, it was basically to do the same thing, only without any unnecessary steps. Without arranging any 'coincidental' encounters, without having the Grail fall into the hands of the enemy. And lastly, and most important of all, not playing a strange game of giveaways and just nuking the enemy straight to hell! "

"We acted quietly so as not to give up our presence to the enemy" - Aim tried to object calmly to the now shouting Focalor.

" Oh wow, what a great idea! It must be so successful?!" - Focalor, however, did not buy the excuse even for a second - "Oh no, wait, the plan is shit and already two of us are dead, the Grail is lost and! we! know! nothing! about! the enemy!"

Each word of Focalor was pronounced with so much poison that it would be enough to kill the population of a couple of cities.

"Focalor, calm down, you shouting will not help us in any way." Aim tried his best to calm the fuming Demon King. "As it has become obvious now, the original plan needs to be changed - and changed quickly at that..." Aim was the first to admit his mistake.

"We still have the trump card!" - Astaroth exclaimed. Of course, it was still not easy for him to admit that, currently, the part of the plan that he had developed was rendered useless - "No one, not even this 'mythical' enemy, can withstand the power of the Ark of the Covenant!"

"And what will we do if it fails? Are you ready to die if you're wrong again?" - Focalor replied to Astaroth viciously.

"You didn't do a damn thing in this Singularity!" - Belial came to the aid of Astaroth - "It's easy not to make any mistakes if you do nothing!"

"So instead it's better to just die stupidly?" - Focalor then twisted his face into an appearance of mocking astonishment - " Oh what Wisdom! Such Great wisdom has just been revealed to me! Hurry up and gather everyone, Belial's overwhelming display of Wisdom is on display for everyone today!"

"That's it! I am going to disintegrate you into atoms!" - Belial finally lost his patience for Focalor, but Aim knew that he would not carry out his threat... At the moment. Probably.

"You can only give out threats when you can ensure that you won't die first!" - Focalor gallantly grinned back - "And you know, judging by how the Singularity is going - I'm not sure about that..."

"Enough" - Aim intervened in the fight - "You can tear each other's throats out after the end of our assignment..."

"That is if, in the end, we have something to tear up" - Focalor spat out.

'Moral seemed to be on the edge of fraying…' - Aim sighed. Of course he didn't broadcast what he had just thought to the rest of the Demon Kings - 'Not good…'

The Demon Kings were slavishly faithful to their King, Father, and God. They obeyed him and carried out his orders without question... But, alas, this fidelity was not absolute. Of course, it doesn't mean that their loyalty is weak in any way. On the contrary, it was very strong, as strong as a loyalty could be to their Creator, who is capable of reviving his subjects at any moment of time, capable of granting his subjects strength and also capable of taking it away - but still not absolute. Rather, this fidelity was similar to how people believe in their god - a very real, physical god, that is capable of giving them advice, strength, guidance and prohibitions... Fidelity to a god supported by his constant presence is stronger than that of a metaphysical faith in some invisible creature with unknowable thoughts. But at the same time, it is much more vulnerable. It is difficult to maintain faith in the omnipotence of one's god when there is someone capable of challenging this omnipotence.

In other words... Confusion among the Demon Kings would be very dangerous right now. However, it would be even more dangerous if he were to ask the King to replace Focalor. Such an act would only show the rest of the Demon Kings that their seemingly monolithic loyalty to the King has cracks. And, as was widely known, even one small crack was enough to destroy any structure, destroying the wall that seemed to be so indestructible.

"Focalor, your remarks, although full of bile, are not without merit" - Aim was forced to intercede in the ongoing verbal altercation, trying his best to calm down the Demon Kings currently threatening to kill each other - "You were right and your original plan was more viable..."

"Are you serious or are you just high?!" - Astaroth was the most indignant about Aim's words - "If we were to go with Focalor's plan, then it would go against the direct orders of the King to 'not show yourself'!"

"Gathering information is higher in priority now," Aim sighed. "Especially considering that the enemy has become aware of our existence now..."

"Well, finally! Someone acknowledging my merits!" - Focalor figuratively raised his hands in the sky while simultaneously rolling his eyes in a tired pose of victory. An impressive feat, as he was able to convey such complex emotion exclusively with the tone of his voice - "I'm going to have to celebrate it or something..."

"The past is already past," Aim sighed again. "At least at the current stage of the plan... In any case. Yes, we made a mistake, but you are also on the same team with us, and no matter how much you would like to gloat you need to control yourself. We, having made a mistake, are all in a bad situation."

"'Bad situation'? Is that your version of 'up shit creek without a paddle'?!" - Focalor rolled his eyes - "We were discovered, the 'genius' plan went to hell, we have no intelligence about the enemy - and, what's worse, even the fucking Grail is lost!"

"We still have time to pick up the second Grail and bring down the Singularity" - Belial answered solely for the sake of settling the dispute with Focalor - "We know where it is located and the four of us are overwhelmingly capable of defeating those who now control it..."

"Will you be able to give me a guarantee that this 'second Grail' is not simply another trap set for us?" - Focalor chuckled - "Or what, did your 'miracle plan' not account for the possibility that they will now be hunting us?! Yes, this Grail is probably already furnished with so much observation and signaling spells that it would rival the Vatican cellars! "

"The witch's magic interferes with my long-distance observation" - Astaroth was forced to intervene in the conversation, admitting his weakness - "Even if she is only a Servant, she is one of the greatest magi in the history of mankind..."

"Yeah, fuck you and your problems, Astaroth" - Focalor did not even hesitate in expressing his hate- "I always knew that you are a miserable shit of a magi."

"I will turn you into such a figure - that even until the end of your immortal existence you will still be trying to disconnect your anus from your mouth!" - After Astaroth lost his calm, Aim believed that the threat of internecine conflict was very real and was forced to intervene.

"ENOUGH!" - a wave of fire went through the minds of each of the Demon Kings, causing everyone to hiss from the more than unpleasant sensations - "The Grail is lost, this is already fact. So stop whining and gnawing, we have to work!"

All the Demon Kings were forced to gnash their teeth in front of each other's nose for the last time before returning to coming with a plan of action.

"Well, so what are we doing then?" - Focalor asked the question first.

"We are going to wait for an opportunity to strike," Aim sighed. "The Grail will be doing the work for us. Even if the second Grail is lost - we still have the one."

"What? All that complaining, and in the end, you still took my plan..." - Focalor inhaled, preparing for another rant. But after feeling Aim's intense gaze on himself, he was forced to exhale - "Yes, I know, I know... What then are we waiting for?"

"Good," Aim exhaled. This time, he had managed to calm down the feud between the Demon Kings. For how long - was a much more important and yet harder to answer question... - "Listen, this is what we are going to do..."

Currently Ainz had nothing important planned for the moment. And for the immediate future he also had nothing important planned. Speaking directly and openly, he generally had no plans for this Singularity - except for 'killing everyone and then taking the Grail' - there was nothing else. However, due to the fact no else had even an idea that Ainz is not planning on doing anything important alone- after his teleportation to his own cabin, no one bothered him, allowing Ainz to relax and think.

"This is not Yggdrasil" - Ainz shook his head - "This is definitely not Yggdrasil..."

This fact, of course, was obvious to Ainz for a long time now and is easily understandable. However, even though the differences are stark and Ainz could easily distinguish between the two, Ainz still find it hard sometimes to differentiate between the two. After all, Ainz still possessed all the same abilities that he had possessed in Yggdrasil… So, is it that strange that Ainz sometimes forgets the distinction?

Ainz, in his introspection about the differences in his ability with those that he has in Yggdrasil, then became focused on his Noble Phantasms. He then shook his head - well, just with a quick look, he could conclude that he had even more abilities in this new world than in Yggdrasil. And these abilities that he also had in Yggdrasil functioned in almost completely the same way. That is, of course, all the abilities except for the changing of equipment and his Noble Phantasms - were used in exactly the same way as before. It is to the point that Ainz could instinctively, without the help of control pads or pre-prepared commands, use them seamlessly. He knew about their features, functions, mana costs and even their cooldown. In other words, except for a few changes, he was still the same as his Yggdrasil character. Still using the same abilities and the same mechanics as before. However, a question has arisen in his mind - was he the only one who is unique in this way, or is there someone else?

On the one hand, the concept of Noble Phantasms did not fit into the framework of Yggdrasil itself. The concept of 'Servants' also should not have been subject to the rules of Yggdrasil at all. And yet, at the same time, his immunity to magic or physical damage completely countered the various spells or attacks of the Servants according to the rules of Yggdrasil. Automatically assigning a suitable rank to the magic and attacks of things that did not exist in Yggdrasil at all. In other words, the Servants were not part of Yggdrasil - and yet, clearly, they were not absolutely 'foreign' objects for him. What were they? The riddle...

Additionally, the fact that not only one or two Servants had the same names and, in a sense, the same abilities as their counterparts in Yggdrasil made the situation even more murky. Of course this isn't true all the time, some of the Servants he had met differ greatly in their appearance as the one in Yggdrasil. And even more importantly than that, is that their level of strength was radically different from what Ainz might have expected from the same Hero as the one in Yggdrasil. Ainz, as the person who preferred to have a plan in any battle, was not sure what he needed to do to bridge this conundrum. The simplest example for this discrepancy is Heracles.

The Heracles in Yggdrasil was, strictly speaking, a killing machine to match his status as a boss. If Ainz were to fight with the Heracles in Yggdrasil, then in the best of the best cases he would have started the fight by equipping himself appropriately, then stacking all his buffs and summoning all of his free summonable MOBs in the first ten minutes of preparation and while remaining some distance away. Finishing his preparation he would start the fight by using the most destructive of his Supertier magic as the first move. After the fight began for real, he would then use his MOBs as meat shields in preparation of a long-drawn fight. And yet, even after all of this preparation, he would still, 9 out of 10, lose miserably.

Preparing to fight Heracles in Yggdrasil is comparable to preparing to fight with a force of nature, one that he prefers to stay far away from. And yet, as recent history has shown, fighting Heracles in this new world requires no such preparation. If Ainz had any premonition that he would be fighting someone even partly as strong as Yggdrasil's Heracles, he would prefer to simply avoid the fight.

Fortunately, as of right now, Ainz had never encountered such an enemy. But, even if the chance of meeting such an enemy is very low, if Ainz simply carried on thinking that 'there are no Servants stronger than me in the world' - he would risk one day to pay very dearly for his arrogance. Even if Ainz hadn't met Servants that are strong enough to threaten him - this did not mean that they did not exist at all. This also does not preclude the fact that a Servant might exist that even though they may be weak in a fight did not discount the fact that they might have special abilities that could threaten him.

One that he could use as an example is Jeanne's second Noble Phantasm. If he were fighting Jeanne and she used that Noble Phantasm, it would be a very unpleasant surprise to Ainz. So the best course of action for him was to not think of himself as unassailable, and remain vigilant..

This lapse in judgement had already caused him to make a lot of mistakes in both extreme laxness and caution. In Orleans, barely knowing about the existence of Fafnir and the many Servants of the Dragon Witch, and by putting his absolute safety as the center point, Ainz had decided on a plan that resulted in the death of almost all of his Servants. On the flip side, as soon as he became lax in Septem, his enemy had then exploited this opening to kill almost all his Servants, again. The enemy had done this not with brute strength, but with cunningness. In other words, both excessive caution and laxness were detrimental in this situation.

In other words, Ainz needed to find a sound balance between these two things, ceasing to be afraid of each enemy, even those that had the same as those that he had known in Yggdrasil. And, still, at the same time be prepared for the appearance of a strong enemy, which could demand from Ainz all his strength to deal with.

Ainz nodded to himself, finding the answer to the problem that had come to his attention. After a short while he heard a knock on the door to his cabin.

"Come on in," Ainz instantly took on the pose of the proper boss as soon as he received a visitor, after which he carefully looked at the Servant who had appeared on his doorstep. "Baal?"

"Exactly, my lord," Baal nodded, and then entered the cabin. "I'm sorry for bothering you, I had heard that you are contemplating on an incredibly important part of your current plan. But I have received some important information, so I hasten here to inform you."

"Of course," Ainz breathed out. Telling Baal that he had no plan at the moment was probably a stupid move - "What did you find out?"

"According to your instructions and thanks to your efforts, Cainabel and I had managed to capture and destroy the two Demon Kings," Baal smiled, "Unfortunately, they were able to prevent us from getting some of the important information, but I and Cainabel managed to get some of it."

"Ah," Ainz nodded. "Oh yes, that one..."

"..." - Ainz tried his best not to blurt out the overwhelming desire to ask a question - "...what?.."

"Yes, we managed to confirm that at the moment there are six Demon Kings present in the Singularity, of course, after our intervention there are only four remaining. What's more, there are also two Grails in the Singularity - and I suppose that it is the interaction between two Grails that gives rise to the current instability of the Singularity. I am not particularly confident in my magical knowledge, so I would like to look at the Grails in this Singularity before making a judgment. However, it seems most likely to me, is that the two Grails are in conflict with each other because one Grail is the 'Grail of the Singularity'. That is, the reason for the creation of this Singularity, while the second Grail is the 'original Grail'. A Grail, which was supposed to exist in this world at this time. And, apparently, the attempts of the 'Grail of the Singularity' - to create the Singularity are met with a resistance from the 'real Grail' and its attempts to maintain the world around it in its 'real' form, inadvertently also preserving the original human history."

Ainz would gladly ruminate on the bevy of new information that he had just received. He would be doing this if , at the moment, his mind was not currently filled with white noise, which completely erased Ainz's ability to hear or even to understand what Baal had said.

"Good," Ainz could only nod when his suppression of emotions pulled him out of his strange trance. "It's good that you got this information, but... What about the Demon Kings?"

"The Demon Kings?" Baal flinch, "Oh yes, we… didn't succeed in capturing them... I'm sorry, my lord, but after we were able to disable their movements and was draining them of their knowledge they suddenly turned to ash as we were doing so. I assumed that this was due to some built-in self-destruction mechanism that they themselves activated - which in such a case shows their sufficient commitment and loyalty to their commander. Or perhaps it was activated remotely - which would show the extreme personal interest of their 'King' in concealing information about their identity and for it to remain in secret. The death of the Demon Kings was absolute and almost instantaneous. Unfortunately, this means that any opportunity to get any more information from them is now impossible. Fortunately, this also means that any leakage of information about your plans and our actions is also impossible."

"This…" - Ainz sighed, - "Well, of course, such a thing is important. But I wanted to know about something a little bit different. In particular, hmm... How did you manage... To catch the Demon Kings unaware?"

"Oh, of course it's all thanks to your plan, my lord," Baal smiled.

'My plan, huh?' - Ainz sighed. 'My plan, haha ... Well, of course, my plan! Oh, my wonderful plan! Oh, this great comprehensive brilliant plan! The plan to end all plans, which includes all other existing plans in the world, extends for millennias ahead and knows absolutely all the possibilities for the development of all events! Oh, my plan, truly, the most ingenious plan of all plans!'

After a moment, the suppression of emotions prevented Ainz from emitting an exhausted moan and then covering his face with his hands from hopelessness, at the very least the remaining emotion made him look into the face of Baal.

"Hm, that's how it is..." Ainz sighed, "So everything went according to my plan..."

"Definitely, my lord," Baal nodded and smiled.

"In that case... Ahem... How exactly did the plan go?" Ainz nodded carefully, trying not to give away his inner tension, "Tell me about it. Perhaps some detail may be suspicious or subpar... In the implementation of my plan. And I need to know more about this... Definitely, this is necessary for my further planning…"

"Of course, my lord," Baal smiled and began to tell what had happened.

"I'm dying!" Nero sprawled theatrically on the side of the ship, placing her hand to her forehead, "What a sad outcome for the emperor of Rome!"

Altera looked disinterestedly at Nero. Nero waited a few seconds, sighed, and then looked at Altera.

"You should have asked what had happened to me!" Nero pointedly pointed a finger at Altera.

"Why?" Altera carefully answered at Nero in response.

"Because I said so!" Nero rolled her eyes, as if she was saying something obvious, and it was Altera who was strange in not understanding, She then exhaled, "So, again."

"Oh no, I'm dying!" Nero leaned back on the side of the ship once more.

"What happened ?" Altera carefully looked at Nero, asking the necessary question.

"Ainz is outperforming me!" Nero dramatically spread her arms side to side. "Oh no, I can see it now, I can see it! The breath of death comes to me - my title as the best Servant in the world is at stake!"

"Ainz is technically not quite a Servant, so technically speaking, your title as the best Servant is not in jeopardy," Altera glanced carefully at Nero, "Of course, who deserves the title of best Servant is a controversial topic of discussion and you need to present the reason of why you are better than the other Servants to obtain the title."

Nero fell silent for a second, after which she glanced at Altera while pouting, "You spoil all the fun."

"Really?" Altera glanced at Nero and slowly bowed, "Then I apologize."

Nero, seeing Altera's behavior, only rolled her eyes, "Ugh ... What's wrong with you?! Why can't I even really get mad at you ~ umu?!"

"This is a difficult question," Altera nodded slowly, "but I can assume that your absence of malice is related to how difficult it is for you to experience negative emotions because of your character and personality..."

Nero, hearing this, sighed, - "Each time you speak it became more and more difficult to communicate with you…"

"I apologize," Altera was not sure what exactly she is apologizing for, but as her interactions with Cainabel had shown her, sometimes it was not necessary to know.

"AAAAAAA, that's enough!" Nero grabbed her head, "That's enough, you won, won!"

"Um... Thank you?" Altera glanced at Nero a little in surprise, "But still, I won what?"

Nero, unable to bear it anymore, instantly grabbed her head in frustration, after which, coming to a conclusion slowly dropped her hands.

"Okay, forget it!" Nero instantly pulled herself together and looked at Altera with a grin, "Exactly, if you defeated me in this battle, accept responsibility ~ umu!"

"Um..." Altera nodded with uncertainty, after which she looked at Nero, "Of course. What exactly needs to be done?"

Nero looked at Altera and dropped her hands, "No, well, I don't play like that! It's like you don't want to talk to me at all!"

"I don't want to," Altera answered honestly. Her conversations were very worrying at the moment. Truthfully speaking - she had no practical reason for speaking with Nero, nor does she have a question to ask Nero. And, even if she had, she would have turned to Cainabel or even directly to Ainz with them, and not to Nero.

Nero, having heard a similar answer before, grabbed her heart theatrically, and then looked at Altera.

Altera saw moisture flashing in Nero's eyes...

'Tears?' - Altera was a little surprised at this. It seemed tears appeared in an instant in Nero's eyes - 'Because of what?'

In Altera's memory, there were several logical reasons why an ordinary person could cry - from pain, bitterness, or even powerlessness. But, in this situation, the most suitable as the reason for her tears was 'from disappointment'.

Altera froze in place while looking at Nero.

As the Great King of Destruction, the avatar of the god of war, and Attila the Hun, Altera had no emotional reaction while looking at the tears of humans.

But, as she looked at the tears slowly appearing in Nero's eyes, at Nero's slowly shaking lip, and at how offended and defenseless she looks at Altera...

"It was a joke," Altera sighed as her defense crumbled.

Nero, hearing Altera stopped moving, - "Really?"

"Yes," Altera did not actually know how to lie, but in this case, her usual lack of emotion benefitted her greatly, "That, ahem, was a friendly joke. Actually, I really want to talk to you."

Nero, frozen for a second, then started to smile, after which she quickly wiped away the tears from her face and frowned. "You have a terrible sense of humor!"

"Probably," Altera sighed. For some reason... She did not want to see Nero becoming upset because of her words.

"Umu!" Nero glanced at Altera with a look of 'that's it!'. What 'it' she had in mind, Altera could not determine, but, exhaling and looking at Nero, shook his head.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Altera looked straight at Nero.

"Ah?" Nero thought, as if she had completely forgotten what she had been talking about all this time, after which she nodded her head, "Ah, sure, yes! The Title ~ umu!"

"The title?" Altera glanced blankly at Nero.

"I feel inadequate next to Ainz," Nero sighed. "You can judge for yourself - he had captured a whole fleet, defeated Heracles, and then destroyed the two Demon Kings - and all this in a day! This is simply incomprehensible to the mind ~ umu! Seriously, I am already beginning to doubt which of us is the emperor - and the emperor is me! I must not doubt myself!"

"Hm... Okay," Altera nodded. "In that case, what exactly are you planning to do?"

"The title!" Nero repeated again, "If I come up with a title for Ainz, then I won't have to doubt which of us is the emperor — because Ainz will be... Something that I have not yet come up with. But the main thing is that if he has a title - that means he will have a certain position in the world - and therefore I will not have to worry about mine!"

"Ahem..." Altera thought for a moment. In a strange sense, it sounded logical, - "And what exactly do you want from me?"

"You are the Great King of Destruction!" Nero smiled smugly. "Judging by this fact, you should know a couple of beautiful titles!"

"But..." Altera fell silent for a second, "People gave me this title, I didn't invent it myself."

"But as someone with such a beautiful title for so long, you must be able to come up with some good ones ~ umu!" Nero smiled as she finished her illogical point.

"Hm," Altera thought sincerely for a second. A beautiful title... - "Then, maybe... The Great King of Death?"

Nero thought about it for a second, and then lifted her hand in the air, - "A bit harsh for my taste. But let's leave this as a spare one."

"Great King of Necromancy?" Altera suggested another one.

"Hmm, that doesn't sound right either," Nero thought for a second, then smiled. "Oh, I know a beautiful title! The Emperor!"

"But.." Altera blinked in confusion. "Isn't that your title?"

Nero smiled mysteriously, - "Junior Emperor!"

Altera was not quite sure of her feelings regarding such a position...

"I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!" Drake rushed forward. Only by a miracle - a miracle and innate dexterity - that allowed Blackbeard to avoid the bullet that whized next to Blackbeard just a second ago.

"It was a coincidence!" Blackbeard ran across his ship, frantically dodging from side to side, "And stop fucking up my ship!"

"I WOULD SINK IT TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN!" Drake rushed after Blackbeard, "FACE YOUR DEATH LIKE A MAN!"

"I lived as a 4chaner - and I'm gonna die like a 4channer!" - Blackbeard suddenly crouched, letting a bullet whistle by above his head, - "Huddled in my closet while jerking off, and not from your bullet, old hag!"

"OLD HAG?!" - Drake, already blazing with fury, rushed after Blackbeard with tripled frenzy, "I WILL HANG YOU AND WILL USE YOUR BODY AS A FUCKING PRACTICE TARGET!"

"Oh, captain!" Looking out from the cabin for a second, a random sailor stared in surprise at what was happening, "what's happening..."

"MOVE AWAY, LANCEL!" Drake, flying past the scared man, pointed his gun at Blackbeard, who had already jumped from his ship to the neighboring one, "I WILL TURN YOUR SHIP INTO A FUCKING OCEAN DECORATION BLACKBEARD!"

"Don't touch the Queen of Tsundere's Revenge!" Blackbeard only managed to stick his head out for a second from his hiding place before a shot from a percussion pistol - which had become part of the Servant Drake - struck the ship's boards next to Blackbeard's position.

"HAVE YOU RENAMED 'QUEEN ANNE'S REVENGE'?! - Drake stopped for a second, - "TEAAAAAACH!"

Drake didn't even pay attention to the Servant who just appeared in front of her. Drake simply jumped over Jason, who had just risen to his feet, on his way to Blackbeard.

"M…" - after a couple of seconds of silence, Atalanta shoved Jason to the side, - "Why were we afraid of these Servants again?"

"Pretending to be an idiot to let your enemies underestimate you is the simplest possible tactic," Jason replied seriously, albeit quietly, for a second.

"What are you muttering over there?" Atalanta shoved Jason sideways.

"I say you look - what a woman!" Jason smiled instantly, pointing to Drake, who continued her pursuit of Blackbeard, "Look how she shakes her goo-AAAAAA!"

Atalanta, grabbing Jason by the ear, pulled him downwards, - "Should I tear your ear or something? It would at least reduce the amount of unworthy men in this world."

"EAR!" Jason clung to Atalanta, "RELEASE MY EAR!"

"The ear is the best option for you," Atalanta only sighed, looking at Jason, who almost fell to his knees in front of her, "It's because I couldn't overcome my disgust for you to touch some other parts of your body…"

After a second more, Atalanta nevertheless let go of Jason's ear, after which she slightly shook off the invisible particles of 'unworthiness' that remained from touching Jason.

"And now..." Atalanta exhaled.

"And now," a second later a voice came not far from Atalanta, forcing her to immediately turn to the speaker, pointing the arrow placed on the bow that had appeared in her hands, "Huh, aren't you a jumpy one?"

"Atalanta," Jason instantly gave an order, immediately becoming uncharacteristically serious, "Lower your weapon and remove your arrow. Slowly."

"Well, don't treat me like some monster," the one who had just appeared started smiling, "I am not your enemy... At the moment at least. It's just that, as I understand it, you came here with some information about the search for the Grail?"

"Yes," Jason nodded instantly, glancing at the speaker.

"In that case," the speaker smiled. "Would you believe me if I said I was just speaking about you? Speak of the Devil, as they say…"

Jason nodded slowly, looking at the speaker - a man in a beautiful suit and with a perfect face that smiled while looking at Jason.

"And before you go to Ainz — could you politely answer a couple of my questions?" Baal smiled the kindest of his smiles. "I assure you that it won't take too long."

"Of course!" Atalanta instantly blurred into a smile.

"No," Jason reacted instantly, looking at Baal.

"Oh?" Baal suddenly looked at Jason in surprise, after which he squinted a little, keeping a smile on his face, "I understand... It's a pity, but in this case I can't detain you anymore."

After a second, the man who had appeared suddenly, just as suddenly, disappeared.

"Jason, you idiot!" Atalanta gave her captain an immediate punch to the head, not holding back her strength, "Why did you refuse to talk with him?!"

"Why did you agree to talk with him?" Jason looked at Atalanta seriously, "I don't remember you being especially talkative with strangers before."

"Ha?" Atalanta looked at Jason as if he were an idiot, after which she suddenly thought about it for a second, "Ha... Really, why did I?.."

"One piece of advice, Atalanta," Jason looked around him, then carefully whispered to his companion, "Stay away from that guy."

"Hm?" Atalanta frowned at Jason.

"A worm placed in a mixer has more of a chance to survive than anyone who hears even a word from the mouth of that..." Jason breathed out, "Monster."

"Is he that strong?" Atalanta looked at Jason carefully, discarding her past behavior instantly.

"This is the lesser of the problems associated with dealing with it," Jason flinched, then exhaled slowly. "I hope this Ainz has something to control such a monster..."

"And by the way," Jason suddenly instantly broke into a huge, stupid smile, "Let's go! The faster we report to Ainz - the more chances that I will stay alive!"

"Maybe you wanted to say 'we will stay alive'?" - Atalanta smiled at Jason.

"Exactly so," Jason nodded right away, moving forward, "Don't look at me like that, but I'm Jason, the hero! The team for me, of course, comes first!"

Rank: EX

The highest possible rank for a Noble Phantasm, in fact, the EX means that the ability is 'off-rank' and so powerful that it cannot be quantified. Ironically, this also means that this Noble Phantasm of Ainz is the lowest ranking of Ainz's Noble Phantasm. Of course this fact only applies when the other Noble Phantasms are fully released.