"..."
Certain Death had no idea how to describe the feelings she was experiencing now.
She could only stare blankly at everything happening before her, her mind unable to fully process what was going on.
Even though she could barely make out the scene, her mind, in contrast to her exceptional dynamic vision and senses, seemed to be rejecting the information, leaving her in a state of blankness.
Nevertheless, the only thing she could understand was one thing—the scene unfolding before her was something her usual self would never have been able to imagine, an extraordinary situation beyond her comprehension.
Previously, the group of monsters, which had instilled fear and even despair in her, was now easily defeated in front of a young man who wore no armor and only held a sword.
Once resembling a thunder god, the young man had now transformed into a fire god, carrying flames capable of purifying all evil. With his sword, the young man effortlessly cut down those powerful monsters, which were symbols of terror.
No, he wasn't a fire god but a sun god.
Only the sun, which could banish darkness and purify evil, turned those rampaging monsters into sacrifices for the divine sword radiating intense heat, their blood falling from the air one by one.
A fire dragon continued to roar as the young man wielding the divine sword emerged, bathed in the fiery blaze.
Meanwhile, as the monsters' anguished screams, so sharp and pitiful, fell on Certain Death's ears, instead of increasing her fear and despair, they seemed to dispel them.
At this very moment, the being known as the guardian of humankind was being protected by a young man far younger than her, making her feel a profound sense of security.
Riezel, bathed in the flames of the sun, became deeply etched in Certain Death's mind—an image she could never forget.
However, the battle was far from over.
"DAMN IT!"
Shalltear, her body sprayed with blood, wounds burning like they were on fire, with flames still dancing on them, screamed as she activated her special skill, Time Reverse.
As Shalltear's time was reversed, her severe injuries gradually disappeared as if they had been wiped away, restoring her to her original state.
"LORD AINZ!"
Albedo, drenched in blood, screamed to Ainz before activating her special skill.
As a defense-focused NPC, while Albedo may not have had an overpowered time-based special skill like Shalltear's, she possessed a special skill designed to avoid defeat called 'Damage Shift', which allowed her to transfer all the damage she received to her armor, making it bear the brunt of the damage.
Because of this special skill, she didn't have a divine-class weapon like Shalltear but was equipped with a divine-class set of armor known as 'Hermes Trismegistus'—a full-body armor set with three layers designed specifically to repel damage.
When Albedo used this special skill, if the damage exceeded the durability of Hermes Trismegistus, the inner layer of the armor would start to break down, continuing until all three layers were destroyed, at which point her body would finally take damage. In theory, this meant she could endure up to three fatal hits without harm to her body.
Now, Albedo activated this special skill, transferring the damage she had received to her armor.
*PENG!*
As the sound of armor breaking from within resounded, Albedo's severe wounds quickly healed, leaving her body completely unharmed.
Unfortunately, Demiurge and Cocytus didn't have the convenient special skills that Shalltear and Albedo possessed.
Sun Breathing emitted the same energy as the sun itself, with devastating effects on demons. It caused them to experience agonizing pain as if their internal organs were being burned alive by the flames of the sun itself, gradually breaking down their bodies in a way that prevented regeneration—the most destructive breathing style.
One should remember that although Demiurge and Cocytus weren't demons from the world of Demon Slayer, Riezel was no ordinary Sun Breathing user either.
Because of Pioneer of the Sun, not only did Riezel deal special damage to evil entities, but he also acquired a spiritual body that humans should not possess, making him similar to a naturally born spirit in nature.
When Riezel used Sun Breathing, the sun energy from his slash, combined with the special damage from Pioneer of the Sun, had a purifying effect on evil entities, and when coupled with the power of Hermit, the damage from his slash was not something to be taken lightly.
In other words, without a special skill like what Shalltear or Albedo had to avoid being completely overwhelmed, the damage from Riezel's attacks was truly devastating for beings like them.
As a result, Demiurge and Cocytus, with severe wounds on their bodies, slammed from the air to the ground, creating deep craters in the earth—their impact sent up clouds of dust, staining the ground red beneath them.
Cocytus, being an insect, fortunately still had some health points left, but Demiurge, being a genuine devil, an undeniably evil race, took maximum damage.
Now, Demiurge's health points had plummeted to near zero, leaving him on the verge of death.
"Cocytus!"
"Demiurge!"
Seeing the condition of Demiurge and Cocytus, the eyes of Shalltear and Albedo widened as they stared in disbelief, once again losing their rationality.
If even NPCs like them were like this, Ainz, who valued everything in the Great Tomb of Nazarick greatly, was naturally even more affected.
Now, the undead ability that had always forced Ainz to stay calm had completely lost its effect.
"Skill!"
Ainz, still burning from the flames of Sun Breathing, gritted his teeth and let out a furious, powerful shout.
"The Goal of All Life Is Death!"
When this voice, like a devil's whisper from hell, echoed throughout the area, a cold shiver ran down the spine of everyone present, including Riezel.
"You finally use it, huh?"
Riezel quickly turned around and looked at Ainz.
Over there, floating in mid-air behind Ainz, was a golden clock, its hands moving steadily.
*Click!* *Click!*
Clicking sounds came from the moving hand of the floating clock—the hand of the clock moved one tick at a time, slowly heading toward the 12 o'clock position.
Needless to say, once the clock hand reached the 12 o'clock position, Ainz's special skill, The Goal of All Life Is Death, would activate.
In YGGDRASIL, there was a saying used to describe this special skill.
—Only an Overlord who specialized in necromancy and instant death magic can use this special skill, thus, they became a true lord of death, a life-consuming eclipse.
Such a special skill was what Ainz was about to unleash.
While The Goal of All Life Is Death could only be used once every 100 hours, it could strengthen the instant death effect of any instant death magic or special skill to the point of bypassing anyone's immunity or resistance to instant death after a certain amount of time had passed—clearly a broken and overpowered special skill.
Now, with this special skill activated, Ainz became the most terrifying necromancy magic caster, capable of causing instant death to all things. Even inanimate objects with no life could not escape the instant death magic he was about to cast.
"Widen Magic - Cry of the Banshee!"
Ainz chanted another magic without hesitation, causing a wave of sound, like the cries of women, to ripple through the night sky.
Cry of the Banshee was an area-of-effect instant-death magic that could cause instant death to all life within its area of effect.
Unfortunately for Certain Death, because Ainz had also expanded the range of Cry of the Banshee with Widen Magic, she was naturally caught within its affected area. As soon as the cries reached her, she felt as though her soul had frozen, her body stiffening in place.
She would die.
Certain Death realized this fact.
In fact, let alone her, even Riezel couldn't guarantee that he would survive Ainz's instant-death magic this time.
Earlier, the reason Riezel could withstand Ainz's instant death magic, True Death, wasn't because of Self Redemption, which made him immune to mental and physical interferences, but because he possessed the highest-rank development ability, Abnormal Resistance, as well as the resistance to the power of darkness granted by Pioneer of the Sun.
Since Ainz's instant death magic was considered a negative status and a power of darkness, it had been resisted by Riezel's Abnormal Resistance and Pioneer of the Sun.
In other words, not only was Ainz's instant death magic neither a mental interference nor a physical one, but it couldn't be immunized against and could only be resisted by sheer force.
Sadly, Riezel didn't think he could continue resisting Ainz's instant death magic under the effect of The Goal of All Life Is Death, which ignored any instant death immunity or resistance and caused everything to be affected by Ainz's instant death magic.
Simply put, Riezel's resistance to instant death was highly likely to be overcome by this special skill.
If that was the case—
'I'll stop you from unleashing it!'
Riezel prepared to cast Greater Teleportation, getting ready to teleport directly to Ainz's side, but unfortunately, it seemed like Ainz had been prepared for this.
"Delay Teleportation!"
Ainz cast a magic spell that temporarily hindered and disrupted teleportation, causing a delay of a few seconds between the disappearance and appearance of the one using teleportation magic. Even worse, it also had the effect of precognition, informing the caster where the opponent would teleport.
As a result, Riezel felt his teleportation was delayed, and in the end, he didn't appear immediately at Ainz's side but instead several seconds later.
"Drifting Master Mine!"
Ainz immediately unleashed another magic spell, causing several transparent mines that sensed Riezel's arrival to explode.
*BOOOM!*
Around Ainz, a massive explosion erupted, blasting him away and sending Riezel, who had been affected by Delay Teleportation, flying a considerable distance as well.
"Sun Breathing..."
Riezel, who had resistance to high temperatures and fire attribute attacks, wasn't harmed by the mine explosion, so he was only thrown back before quickly readying his sword to continue attacking Ainz.
"DON'T YOU DARE HURT LORD AINZ!"
"STOP RIGHT THERE, LOWLY CREATURE!"
At the same moment, Shalltear and Albedo both used teleportation magic, appearing in front of Riezel and blocking his path.
Just then, however, Riezel instinctively froze as he saw the clock behind Ainz complete its course in that split second.
"…"
In that instant, the world lost its color.