If it were to be described, the current scene wasn't the end of the world, but more like the destruction of the world.
Naturally, this statement wasn't an exaggerated metaphor on purpose—at least, during this time, the world within the range of 'Cry of the Banshee', an area-of-effect instant death magic, was indeed dying.
The drifting specks of sand in the air disintegrated into nothingness before fading away.
The mosquitoes buzzing around turned into corpses before perishing.
Even the lifeless air was dying, creating a vacuum with a diameter exceeding 200 meters, leaving only the aura of death in this part of the world.
If the battlefield had been on the ground, the earth itself wouldn't have escaped the fate of death and would have turned into a desert in the blink of an eye.
It was a desperate situation where even inanimate objects couldn't survive—whether living or non-living, everything would die in an instant.
In such a desperate situation, even Shalltear and Albedo had disappeared without anyone knowing when—it wasn't clear if they had used teleportation magic to escape early or had already vanished, completely dead.
If they hadn't escaped, there was no doubt that they would have died.
Needless to say, this was necromancy-specialized magic caster Ainz Ooal Gown's trump card, the Overlord's true ace, the ultimate means of bringing death to all things. In this space filled with the aura of death, it seemed that only he alone could stand here unharmed, unaffected when facing such terrifying power.
Even Riezel, who was subjected to such terrifying power, had no hope of surviving—that was how it should have been.
*Swish—*
A fresh breeze began to flow into the space, diluting the deathly air.
Ainz once again stood facing the wind, hovering in mid-air, yet he found himself at a loss for words, staring at the young man hovering opposite him.
In a world where only Ainz should have existed, a second person, still alive, had miraculously existed.
"...Hmm, what a scary power. I honestly thought I was gonna die."
Speaking with a nonchalant tone, Riezel's body was surrounded by magical energy from 'Fly', his expression calm as he gazed at Ainz.
Yes.
Riezel was still alive.
"How... How are you still alive...? Did you use a resurrection item?"
Ainz asked with a rasped voice, feeling disbelief.
One should know that 'The Goal of All Life Is Death' was supposed to be a special skill that could strengthen the instant death effect of any instant death magic and special skills, which ignored immunity or resistance to the instant death effect.
In other words, once it was activated, no one should have been able to resist Ainz's instant death magic. Even if Riezel had resistance to the instant death effect, his resistance would practically have no effect after Ainz activated The Goal of All Life Is Death, and he would certainly die in that instant.
If one wanted to resist this special skill, the simplest way would be to wear a precious resurrection item or use a resurrection magic that had delayed activation, allowing one to be immediately revived after dying.
As far as Ainz knew, there was no method to resist this special skill outright and remain unaffected.
In response to Ainz's question, Riezel calmly shook his head, denying Ainz's assumption.
"I did use an item, but it's not a resurrection item."
Riezel pulled open his clothes as he spoke, revealing a green jewel pendant around his neck for Ainz to see—the same item he had been wearing when Ainz first met him.
At this moment, the jewel on the pendant was radiating a brilliant light—clearly the item Riezel had just used, as he had mentioned.
"Its name is Divine Meloe, and it has two very powerful abilities."
Riezel's calm voice slowly reached Ainz's ears.
"One of the abilities is that it can completely isolate the wearer from the outside world, making it so that any power directed at the wearer, whether harmful or harmless, cannot affect them in any way."
Upon hearing this, Ainz understood Riezel's meaning.
"I see..." Ainz said in a low voice. "Because of that ability, even with The Goal of All Life Is Death, its absolute instant death effect won't work on you because Cry of the Banshee couldn't reach you..."
"Your special skill is indeed very powerful, but Cry of the Banshee is ultimately just magic." Riezel responded calmly. "As long as its target is not in its area of effect, no matter how strong your special skill is, it's useless."
In simple terms, Riezel was now in a space different from the present world, seemingly present here but actually in another world.
In this case, no matter how overpowered The Goal of All Life Is Death was, as long as the instant-death magic used as its medium couldn't affect a world different from the present one, it wouldn't be able to do anything to Riezel.
Needless to say, realizing he couldn't stop Ainz, Riezel chose to activate one of Divine Meloe's abilities, putting himself into an invincible state to avoid this deadly finishing blow.
Understanding his failure, Ainz's gaze toward the Divine Meloe pendant around Riezel's neck changed. Such an ability, such a power, was something that, as far as he knew, no divine-class item could achieve.
What did this mean?
"...World Item."
Ainz's voice now carried a hint of hesitation and anxiety that hadn't been there before.
"No, impossible... It can't be a World Item..."
Every player knew that there were only two hundred World Items.
Moreover, Ainz had never heard of an item called Divine Meloe in YGGDRASIL, let alone one of the two hundred World Items being named that way, so he could be certain it was definitely not a World Item.
However, this thought wavered because of Riezel's next words.
"Why is it impossible?" Riezel said calmly, a faint smile appearing on his face. "Even if there's no such World Item in YGGDRASIL, who says an item like this can't exist in another world?"
Upon hearing this, Ainz was speechless.
"You mean... that pendant is a World Item born in this world?"
Ainz guessed what he thought was the only explanation.
However, at Ainz's guess, Riezel gave a nonchalant smile.
"Does it matter if it is or not?"
While speaking, Riezel sheathed Hermit, which emitted intense heat, into a suddenly appearing, exquisite scabbard and placed it at his waist.
"No matter what, since you couldn't kill me, now it's my turn to kill you."
Riezel's words, as if stating a fact, made Ainz stare at him for a long while.
"Greater Teleportation!"
In the next second, Ainz used teleportation magic and chose to retreat.
No choice.
He had realized that he couldn't defeat Riezel.
It was truly ridiculous.
Not only was the information Shalltear brought back completely wrong, but Riezel's strength also greatly surpassed their expectations—simply impossible to contend with.
If calculated by the levels in YGGDRASIL, the power Riezel demonstrated had already surpassed Level 100, reaching the level of the Dragon Emperor, which Riezel had mentioned once before.
A person capable of dealing with five Level 100 beings, each with their own specialized roles in attack, defense, front-line, back-line, close-range, and long-range—Ainz had never even heard of anyone as absurd as Riezel.
Considering this, if he didn't escape now, when else could he?
However, Ainz had forgotten that he wasn't the only one who could use magic to interfere with teleportation.
"Over Magic - Dimensional Lock."
Following this chant, an extremely powerful wave of magical energy expanded throughout the area, causing the entire space to become incredibly dense.
Dimensional Lock was a magic spell that prevented the use of teleportation abilities, but because Riezel had enhanced its effect with Over Magic, raising it to 10th-Tier Magic, no matter how strong the teleportation magic Ainz used, he couldn't escape the locked space.
"Magic Destruction!"
Ainz attempted to use a magic spell specifically designed to destroy other magic to counter Riezel's magic, but he was shocked to find that he failed.
Why?
Simple.
Since the success rate and effectiveness of Magic Destruction depended on the opponent's magic prowess, when Riezel's magic prowess surpassed Ainz's, Ainz naturally couldn't break Riezel's magic.
In other words, at this moment, Riezel's magic prowess was above even Ainz's, who was a top-tier magic caster in YGGDRASIL.
"Seems like my efforts to improve my MAG during this period were not in vain."
Riezel's voice echoed again.
"Well, to repay you for that special skill earlier, I'll use my strongest sword move."
"You know, to be finished off by this move isn't exactly a disgrace to your status as the highest ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick."
"Wouldn't you agree, Momonga?"
When such a powerful statement reached Ainz's ears, he hadn't even had time to respond before he saw it.
He saw a bright sun rise before him.
Raging flames swept through.
An astonishing heat began to spread.
In an instant, the entire night sky seemed to turn into day, illuminated by the dazzling sunlight.
"Sun Breathing – Thirteenth Form..."
Following this voice, a blazing sun flickered, sweeping across the world as day and night alternated.
""LORD AINZ—!""
Shalltear and Albedo were flying toward Ainz from a distance, their appearance somewhat frantic.
Sadly, Ainz couldn't respond to them anymore because the world before his eyes had been completely replaced by a sea of flames.
Within the flames, a figure suddenly appeared, drawing a sword in an instant.
His sword seemed so hot it could evaporate anything in its path.
His sword seemed to absorb the very sun rising in the night sky, burning with a fiery red.
In the next moment, an ultimate, fierce sun slash flashed before Ainz's eyes.
"Blooming Radiance."
Riezel's voice no longer rang in front of Ainz but instead appeared behind him.
"..."
Ainz opened his mouth as if to say something, but unfortunately, he couldn't.
*Crack—!*
Suddenly, the cracking sound of Ainz's skeletal body, which should have had resistance to slashing attacks, echoed.
Ainz looked down and saw that his body, starting from his chest, had been burned as if by a red-hot branding iron, with the crack glowing red and his body broken in two.
*WHOOSH!*
In the next second, flames erupted from Ainz's body, enveloping him entirely.
Ainz's body gradually burned away in the flames until nothing remained, disappearing completely.
""LORD AIIIIINZZZ—!!!""
Shalltear's and Albedo's sorrowful voices echoed under the night sky, and for a long time, their voices didn't subside.