Hello, we meet again.

As you have already noticed, this chapter was delayed. Like last year, it was intentionally done to match the posting date with the anniversary date of this fic.

Yup, today marks the 3rd anniversary of Overlord Phantasy. This is the day I initially have never planned to reach because my roadmap was to end the story around September, but I went a little overboard and here we are. What a long road we have traversed through, and it is now nearing the end. This is the penultimate chapter, and there's no more changing that.

Let's go on with the show, or what remains of it. See you again in the afterword.


Chapter 83: Arise, Guardians of The World!


Clang!

Cocytus struck at one of the two female-looking insect-like Dark Falz clones with his Decapitation Fang halberd. The foe casually deflected the attack with her right hand, which wielded a sinister long bladed weapon backhand. The other hand also wielded the same bladed weapon, so this insect creature Guardian had addressed as Falz Appregina could attack from and defend with either side of her body, making them a formidable foe in a one-on-one duel.

However, this was not a one-on-one duel.

[Boost Magic – Sodom's Fire And Brimstone]

Fwooosh!

The Falz Appregina was suddenly enveloped in flame, courtesy of Demiurge's magic. Being primarily attuned to ice element, the heat from fire magic could potentially have an adverse effect on Cocytus, but he still could endure without problem thanks to the fire resistance of his exoskeleton armor.

"I have just been informed that this so-called Falz Appregina is weak against fire. Make use of that information"

"Understood"

Cocytus spoke his affirmation with a single word, and then one of his free arms pulled out a new weapon from his inventory. It was an ornate greatsword constantly brimming with raging flame. Bearing the name "Laevateinn of Surtr", this greatsword was Cocytus' go-to weapon whenever there was a need to deal fire elemental damage. Laevatein of Surtr possessed an even greater destructive power than God Slaying Emperor Blade, but in exchange it was more unwieldy thanks to it being heavier than it looked. In addition, the intense heat made Cocytus constantly take fire damage as long as he was wielding it. The self damage was largely negated by his fire resistance, but not completely nullified.

Falz Appregina staved off the flame from Demiurge's spell with a shockwave of energy around her, and immediately followed up with a series of quick slashes which shot out crescent-shaped energy projectiles. Cocytus deflected the projectiles with his Decapitation Fang and countered with a vertical slash from range using Laevateinn of Surtr. The slash shot out a similar crescent-shaped projectile, but made of raging flames instead. The Falz Appregina quickly evaded with her nimble movement, but as the result the flaming projectile hit the other Falz Appregina in the back.

"Aaaugh!"

The other Falz Appregina wailed with a clearly feminine voice, slightly surprising the allies fighting against her, but their battle still continued. Meanwhile, the Falz Appregina Cocytus was facing against flew higher for a second and then she instantly dove down straight at him, fully intending to do a ramming attack. Cocytus blocked the attack head on with Decapitation Fang and immediately slashed with Laevateinn of Surtr, seeing the opening. Falz Appregina withdrew at the last second, but she still took a hit albeit not fatally.

"Aaargh! How dare you!"

Falz Appregina shouted as she flinched back. She then radiated a more intense aura as she floated a bit higher and raised both hands. A sphere of energy materialized above her and Cocytus felt that an invisible force was pulling him in, probably along with everyone else as well.

"Kill her before she blows!"

Cocytus heard the shouting of one of the ARKS allies and he immediately understood. He jumped straight towards the Falz Appregina, but the energy sphere suddenly shot out a large projectile which exploded upon directly hitting Cocytus. The damage was still manageable, but he was thrown back by the force of the explosion, sending him back to square one. The energy sphere continued to shoot out explosive projectiles at random directions which, along with the pulling force, inevitably disrupted the battle of other allies.

[Evil Lord Summon – Wrath]

Demiurge used his Skill to summon an Evil Lord, in this case Wrath. Without wasting time, Demiurge issued a command to the summoned Wrath.

"Shield Cocytus with all you have!"

"As you command!"

Wrath immediately buffed himself with defensive spells as he moved onto the spot in front of Cocytus. Understanding the intention, Cocytus once again jumped straight at Falz Appregina, this time carrying Wrath along and using his bulky body as a shield against the explosive projectiles. Wrath took three hits in Cocytus' stead before he perished and disintegrated into motes of light, but by then Cocytus was already right on her face.

Slash!

Cocytus slashed Falz Appregina using Laevateinn of Surtr with all his might, making her flinch away and thus cancelling whatever attack she was about to do. In addition, a large smoldering slash wound was visible on her torso. Not wishing to give her any chance, Cocytus immediately charged straight at her. However...

Shriiiiing!

With a loud ringing sound, suddenly the battlefield was filled with horizontal laser beams of energy, moving in a sweeping motion. One of the laser beams hit Cocytus right in the head from his blind spot. The damage he sustained was not significant, but being caught off-guard by the attack made him cancel his action. He took a quick glance to see where the laser beam attack came from, and he immediately saw that one of the angel-like Dark Falz clones was the one shooting those lasers out while the allies fighting it were frantically trying to evade the barrage of laser beams.

Regardless of what he saw, Cocytus directed his attention back at the wounded Falz Appregina in front of him. Right now she was his opponent, and therefore he must focus on the adversary in front of his eyes. He had allies fighting their own adversaries, and he must believe in them while still watching out for stray attacks.


[X][X][X]


"Hhraaah!"

Wham!

Shalltear struck her foe, which was one of the two angel-like Dark Falz clones, with her lance. The so-called Falz Angel was very nimble in his flight, making it difficult to land a hit with a proper thrusting motion. Therefore she had no choice but to improvise by using it as a bludgeoning weapon instead. The battle had been intense with them trading blows equally, but thanks to the help of her allies assisting from range, she was winning. Right now, several of the six wings the Falz Angel had were already broken, though the damage didn't seem to bring notable effect on his flight capability.

During the fight she couldn't help noticing the similarities between the Falz Angel and the creature Guardian could transform into, but she had no time to be concerned about that. She knew for certain that her task now was to defeat the enemy she was facing, and ultimately Dark Falz Double who had dared to threaten Ainz Ooal Gown.

"Impudent! Know your place!"

The Falz Angel suddenly shouted, and at the same time he created an energy vortex around himself. The vortex pulled all enemies in range, which included Shalltear, and also drained their mana away, finishing with a radial shockwave. The shockwave disoriented Shalltear's mind and made her feel somewhat dizzy, but she quickly recovered and the other hit allies did too.

"Ha! Know my place? You know your place!"

Shalltear's blood was boiling now after hearing Falz Angel's shout. A Floor Guardian of Nazarick like her had no need to know her place to anyone other than the Supreme Being. The insolence shown by the Falz Angel drove Shalltear into rage. However, she was not stupid and her Blood Frenzy was still in control. She knew for a fact that she was out of mana thanks to the sudden mana-draining attack, thus lowering her overall combat capability. Recklessly charging at the enemy now would be too risky.

Schwing!

Suddenly a large vertical energy wave of golden color passed through the Falz Angel and sliced off more of its wings within an instant. Shalltear took a quick glance and saw that the attack came from Lily, the one Ainz had created to be Ryu's companion back then. The disintegrating huge golden blade Lily had just used to send the shockwave seemed familiar to Shalltear, but putting that aside, the Falz Angel was now staggered so she had an opening to exploit.

[Purifying Javelin]

Shalltear used one of her Skills which didn't require mana but could only be used thrice a day. With the skill, she conjured a huge radiant lance above her and then she immediately threw it straight towards the Falz Angel. If she still had mana, she could have enhanced the lance, but there was no time to mull over what could have been.

The radiant lance hit the Falz Angel dead center, making an explosion of light before disappearing. The Falz Angel flinched even more but then it disappeared, seemingly teleporting away. Just a split second later, Shalltear noticed that the Falz Angel was behind her now and began shooting multiple laser beams in a spreading and sweeping horizontal pattern.

Shriiing!

"Tch!"

Shalltear evaded narrowly by jumping high, but then the Falz Angel followed up by raising the laser beams. Being unable to evade in time, Shalltear braced herself with her armor and Spuit Lance. The hit she took soon after was quite painful, but she endured. Once again the Falz Angel disappeared, and this time it reappeared right in front of Shalltear who was still several meters above the ground. For a very brief moment, a magic circle appeared in front of the Falz Angel, and seeing this Shalltear's instincts screamed at her to get away. But it was just a little too late.

Fwoooom!

A significantly more enormous laser beam was shot out straight forward from the Falz Angel. Shalltear had tried with her utmost effort to dodge within the very short time frame she had, but while she had managed to escape from a fatal hit, the entirety of her left arm along with a portion of her left torso had been blown clean off.

"Aaaargh! How dare you make me look bad in front of Ainz-sama!"

Shalltear wailed as she landed on the ground. Her wail was not only from the pain she felt from her major wound, but also from the rage she felt seeing that a mere clone of an abominable creature could hurt her this much.

Little did she know that she had managed to accomplish a significant contribution to the battle by being above ground when the attack had happened. Thanks to her unintentional positioning, the huge laser beam attack had hit her, and only her.

A large amount of blood was dripping away from the major wound Shalltear suffered, but she didn't feel any worry about her well-being. After all, she still had her trump card against such predicament saved up.

[Time Reverse]

Like [Purifying Javelin], [Time Reverse] was a Skill which didn't consume mana but had a limited usage of three times a day. Right after activating the Skill, all the blood which had already spilled from the wound returned to her body, and the missing parts of her body returned to existence along with the armor covering them. Ultimately, Shalltear had healed herself back as if the huge laser attack never happened.

"I shall pay you back for that!"

Shalltear went back into a battle stance, looking straight at the Falz Angel who was still hovering up there. Despite her words, she still had a problem.

If only I hadn't got careless, I would still have mana to fly.

Right after Shalltear briefly lamented about the problem, she heard something.

"Starlight Overdrive!"

Shalltear was then covered in golden aura, and she felt very rejuvenated. In addition, she could feel her mana replenished within an instant. It was not even halfway refilled, but it was all she needed.

Shalltear took a quick glance, and indeed it was Lily who had rejuvenated her along with all other allies. It has just dawned on her at this point that the twin swords Lily was wielding were the signature weapons of Supreme Being Suratan, the Starlight Wings, which indeed was imbued with a very potent rejuvenation Skill.

Shalltear was grateful, but she didn't put it into words. She believed that right now everything must be shown through actions, and the best way to show gratitude was by eliminating the enemy.

And with that resolve, Shalltear flew straight towards the Falz Angel.


[X][X][X]


"Can we be friends?"

CLANG!

Albedo narrowly evaded and parried the huge gnawing mouth conjured by Dark Falz Double, which disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. She and Ainz, along with Guardian and Matoi, had been fighting together against the twin abominable creature in a frantic battlefield where the alliance of ARKS and Nazarick had been fighting against Dark Falz Double and the clones they had conjured. The four of them had been steadily whittling the twin monsters, but then they somehow merged themselves into a single being with four arms and two faces painted on a single head. Two of the arms protruded from the back of the head and their dominant color was still blood red, making them look revolting.

Good grief! They now look even more unsettling than before!

Ainz had been staying behind Albedo who was protecting him with all her might and devotion. Despite Ainz having become much less vulnerable than he had been in the past thanks to the power up he had gained from absorbing Dark Falz Elder, he still highly appreciated the cover she provided because it enabled him to cast spells with less worry of getting attacked in the middle of casting.

Crackle!

"Now!"

Guardian signaled Ainz after an icy explosion occurred at one of Double's pincer arms, leaving behind a glowing blue sigil lingering over the arm. Ainz then concentrated his mana into his hand and casted his attack at the lingering sigil.

[Boost Maximize Magic - Ilbarta]

DING! Crackle! Crackle!

"Aah! It hurts!"

With a ringing sound, a bright explosion of ice crystals occurred at Dark Falz Double's left pincer arm, followed by their wailing. The explosion was far, far larger and stronger than the one Ainz remembered way back then when Ryu had used the same photon tech against the Primal Fire Elemental.

I didn't really think that metamagic enhancement would actually work with photon techs. Still, the mana cost increase is far greater than I expected, so I'm guessing this is the tradeoff.

Guardian's idea of hitting Double with Ilbarta six times and then letting Ainz deal the 7th hit worked perfectly. Ainz having the greatest magic power, coupled with the metamagic enhancement actually working in amplifying the photon tech, made the 7th hit of Ilbarta powerful enough to be said as a decisive strike.

It wouldn't be too far-fetched to say that the explosion was possibly strong enough to severely injure even Albedo.

Deciding not to think further about it for the time being, Ainz focused his attention back at Double who now practically had one less arm. Ainz's and Guardian's combination attack had blown the left pincer arm off, rendering it horribly broken and mangled. Strangely, despite the major damage they sustained, Double didn't look fazed. Instead, they jumped in joy.

"Hey hey, what should we play next?"

Wham!

But before long, a large icy boulder was dropped on top of Double at bullet speed, staggering them. That was not Ainz's doing, and neither Guardian, Matoi, nor Albedo, but Ainz knew from where the ice magic attack came from.

It was the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, which Ainz had put into Automatic Engagement Mode. Having it activated essentially added another combatant on Ainz's side, along with the advantage of the extra member being perfectly in sync with what Ainz wanted and needed according to the situation of the battle. For safety measures, Ainz had applied various stealth-related spells on it, in the hopes of making it difficult for the enemy to locate. Ainz himself still could see the staff floating a good distance above ground, but it was common sense for him not to stare at it, lest the enemy would notice.

"Come on! I'm not done yet! Let's do more fun stuff!"

Double immediately floated a couple meters above ground and conjured a large treasure chest above their head. The chest seemed as if it was about to burst its lid open.

"Everybody go above ground now!"

Guardian shouted, but nobody knew whether the message reached all allies around. At least Ainz heard it, and the thing he immediately did next was to fly higher. He felt worried about the Floor Guardians who either didn't hear the message or didn't have the ability to fly, but there was too little time to attend to them all. He could only hope that they would survive.

Fwooosh...

The treasure chest was opened and a swarm of dark energy claws poured out from it. The claws were similar to the ones conjured by the photon tech Ilmegid, but there were significantly more of them coming out from the treasure chest. Like water, the claws flowed down to the ground and spread to all directions around, flooding the entire battlefield.

[Triplet Maximize Magic – Reality Slash]

Ainz immediately casted one of his strongest offensive spells at the treasure chest, which was still pouring the dark claws out. Three energy blades came out from his hand and went straight towards the chest. Because the chest was stationary, all the energy blades hit, slicing and dicing it into pieces. The pieces of the chest then disintegrated and the dark energy claws already out there dispersed into nothingness, though the fact still remained that the soil of the battlefield was now mostly scarred and littered with miasma left by the dark claws.

Ainz took a quick glance at the Floor Guardians and his allies. All of them were still alive and kicking, but their wounds and exhaustion were apparent. The Dark Falz clones they were fighting against were also very visibly damaged, so the battle was not lost. Still, Ainz couldn't quite believe how empowered Dark Falz Double had become, being able to summon clones of other Dark Falz which could give his Floor Guardians and ARKS allies a hard time. Even having been powered up himself and utilizing the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, bringing Double down proved to be far from a small task. So far, Ainz had not taken any damage thanks to Albedo's protection, but he knew that her protection wouldn't last forever. An even more decisive action had to be taken before the forces of the alliance got whittled down.

"Ainz-sama!"

Before Ainz could come up with a decision, he suddenly heard the voice of Aura, who had been tasked to remain away from the battlefield while putting the area and its surroundings under her surveillance. To ensure quick communication, Ainz and Aura had been connected through [Message] ever since he had stepped foot in the middle of this Katze Plains.

"Something's coming from the sky! It's coming in fast!"

Ainz's mind immediately went into overdrive hearing the news. What Aura had told him could be anything from ally reinforcements to a new enemy. It couldn't be ARKS since Aura already knew their method of arrival and how it looked like, so it was most likely something else. There was no time to prepare countermeasures, so Ainz braced himself with several protective spells, preparing for the worst.

Boom! Shhk! Wham! Schwing!

Blam!

Suddenly, all four Dark Falz clones and Dark Falz Double themselves were struck by something from above nearly simultaneously, creating explosions which raised a large amount of dust. Ainz still had no clear idea, but looking at how the attacks had accurately struck the enemies he could make an assumption that whoever was coming was an ally.

As soon as the dust cleared, the first thing Ainz saw was the fact that the Dark Falz clones had been struck by different weapons each. There was a greatsword, a spear, a hammer, and a katana. Meanwhile, Dark Falz Double themselves had been struck by the familiar suit of armor Ainz remembered.

"I have no clear idea, but I assume these abominable creatures are the so-called Dark Falz?"

The armor suit spoke as he jumped away from Double and landed near Guardian and Matoi. At the same time, the four weapons returned to him by themselves and floated around him. The strikes had staggered the clones enough that the allies fighting them made use of the created opening to strike a decisive blow which finished them all off.

"Yes, indeed they are, Tsar-san"

Guardian was the one who answered the question. Indeed, the newcomer was Tsar, the white armor suit remotely controlled by Platinum Dragon Lord from afar. The fact was clear that Tsar's surprise attack on Double and the clones had made a significant contribution to the battle, allowing the alliance forces to kill off the clones. Ainz felt that it was necessary to properly show appreciation, and so he spoke.

"I must thank you for coming to our assistance, Tsar"

"I sensed a great disturbance so I came here to check. Needless to say, I didn't expect everything I see. Also, don't thank me until the battle is won"

Ainz made a small nod hearing Tsar's words before replying.

"Indeed, you have a point. Then let me inform you that the real Dark Falz is the one in front of us. The other four are... were summoned clones"

"I see. Now that the clones are no more, we should all defeat this enemy together"

Tsar went into a battle stance as he spoke in response to Ainz's information. At the same time, Guardian spun her large scythe around and brandished it towards Double, who had been standing around doing nothing other than staring at Tsar.

"That's what we all have been trying to do, but they're really a handful"

"Yes... I see that clearly"

"A new friend? Let's play more!"

Double suddenly spoke, still with their usual creepy and echoing voice, and raised all their arms up. Immediately after, a large ring was materialized around their stomach and they spun it around like playing with a hula hoop. That action created a dark tornado around Double and pulled everyone closer.

Knowing from instinct that getting too close to the spinning ring would spell doom, Ainz flew backwards and away from Double. Other allies affected by the sucking force had the same idea, trying their best in their own way to get as far away as possible from Double.

"Hmph!"

Tsar raised his right arm forward and all four of his weapons were launched straight at Double. The weapons attacked Double with their natural suitable attack method; the hammer smashed, the spear thrusted, the katana slashed, and the greatsword struck. What happened next was the big ring breaking into a bunch of smaller rings which were shot out to all directions at incredible speed.

"Watch out!"

Guardian shouted right before turning herself into a dark ball of energy which let the ring projectiles pass through her without doing any harm to her.

Bzzzt! Clang! Drrrd!

On the other hand, many other allies didn't have it as easy. Lily, knowing that Alice was the one in danger the most, shielded her with all she had, taking a large brunt of the attack head on. The same applied to Albedo who protected Ainz, Shalltear who protected Mare, and Cocytus who protected Demiurge. But the one who seemed to take the most damage was Tsar. Having braced himself with his left arm, said arm was now badly smashed. Not to mention the fact that all four of his weapons were now very visibly damaged, having been at point blank range when the attack happened.

"It seems I misjudged"

Tsar spoke in a straight tone. No audible pain could be noticed from his words. It was no wonder, because after all the armor suit was not the real body of the one speaking.

"No, it's not your fault, Tsar-san..."

Matoi spoke to Tsar, trying to reassure him. At the same time, Guardian reverted back to her physical form, conjuring numerous trails of light which swarmed Double. Right after that, she spoke her reassurance to Tsar as well.

"Yeah, that was part of the attack all along. Though I won't deny that it cost us a lot"

Hearing Guardian's words, Ainz glanced around at the surroundings. It wouldn't be far-fetched to say that Double's radial attack had turned the tables against the forces of the alliance, despite having lost the clones. Pretty much everybody now was already at their limit and pushing further than this would impose too much risk than what Ainz could afford.

"Ehehehe! This is fun! Let's play another game!"

Double once again jumped in joy as they spoke, and then they engulfed themselves in a dark vortex which kept growing larger quickly as seconds passed.

"We ought to make distance now"

Ainz spoke to whoever heard him as he flew backwards away from Double, whom Ainz knew would soon transform back into that giant castle form he had seen before. All Floor Guardians, ARKS allies, and Tsar seemed to have the same thinking, backing away from Double.

"Ehehehe! Huhuhuhu! Ahahahahaha!"

Double's creepy and childish laugh echoed throughout the battlefield as once again their true form was shown in front of Ainz's eyes. The form of a giant castle tower and six other towers connected to it with appendages full of sharp spikes made them look more like a six-legged abominable giant creature than a living castle. The main body having discernible eyes and a mouth which took the form of a castle gate didn't help either.

Double's large body didn't make them any slower. The moment their transformation was complete signified by a bunch of fireworks harmlessly exploding above them, they jumped away and landed in a way that all seven towers were perfectly in line facing Ainz, his forces, and his allies.

"Brace yourselves!"

Guardian shouted, and immediately after, all seven towers shot out laser beams which were aimed at the ground right in front of each of them and then quickly raised forward in a vertical sweeping motion.

Bwooooom! Drrrddd!

An unimaginable amount of massive explosions occurred all over the grounds touched by the laser beam. If one would describe it in a modern world term, it was as if the entire battlefield was carpet-bombed with nuclear bombs, minus the radiation hazard. The tremors and shockwaves resulting from the force of the explosions reached all the way to E-Rantel, shaking the ground like an earthquake strong enough to topple furniture inside buildings. The barriers erected by the ARKS battlecruisers thankfully repelled the shockwaves, preventing further damage to the city.

The dust soon cleared, and what was left of the battlefield was nothing more than a cluster of huge craters, courtesy of all the massive explosions. Nobody in this world would have any chance of surviving taking those explosions head on. Even the Floor Guardians of Nazarick would risk severe injury without proper defensive measures.

"Ainz-sama! Please answer me, Ainz-sama!"

Aura's voice called out to Ainz through the [Message] which was still connected. The voice was very audibly worried, and Ainz could easily picture her calling out with tears spilling out from her eyes in his mind, and he didn't wish for her sad face to remain any longer. Thus, he spoke out with his usual dignified tone of speech.

"Shed your worry, Aura. I am fine. All of us here are fine"

Ainz fully spoke the truth. Everyone on the battlefield survived without any scratch inflicted by the massive attack. All of them were gathered together inside a dome-shaped barrier which had enough space for all of them to stand fairly comfortably.

That was close! Glad that I made it in time!

Everything had been thanks to the peerless cooperation between Ainz and the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. The Staff had simultaneously casted a multitude of instant teleportation spells which had put all allies near Ainz, who had casted the Super-Tier spell [Absolute Sanctuary] which granted the caster and all allies nearby complete protection to all incoming damage.

"T-Thank you so much, Ainz Ooal Gown-san!"

Matoi bowed and spoke her gratitude in a way which reminded Ainz about Mare. While still keeping his sight on Dark Falz Double at the distance, Ainz spoke.

"Unless this battle is going to last to the next day, I am only able to do this once. We must finish the battle before that thing does it again"

What Ainz told the others was the truth. A Super-Tier spell already had a usage restriction to begin with, but using a Cash Item to cut down the long casting time like he had done just now incurred a penalty which effectively made Ainz unable to cast any more Super-Tier spells for the rest of the battle unless it lasted long enough, which was very unlikely judging from how it had been going so far. Addressing the matter, Ainz resumed speaking.

"ARKS and Tsar... If any of you have some sort of a trump card or a dangerous forbidden technique, I advise you to use it now. The whole world is at stake in this battle, and withholding what could be possibly the key to victory is pointless, whatever your reason is"

"Ainz Ooal Gown, how much longer is this barrier of yours going to last?"

Tsar asked a question while his eyes were still looking straight at Dark Falz Double, who at this moment kept bombarding the barrier with attacks which were smaller than the explosive lasers they had shown before. The barrier dome still stood strong, preventing any harm from befalling those inside.

"Come out and play with us! Aren't we friends?"

Everyone could clearly hear Double's echoing voice, but of course nobody with a grain of common sense would come out of the barrier without preparations. Nevertheless, Ainz answered Tsar's question.

"Only two more minutes"

Tsar made a nodding gesture upon hearing the answer, and then he spoke.

"Good, that's more than enough. Pray for the safety of the city over there"

Tsar then looked above, and everyone else who noticed looked above as well. There was a brief glint of light in the sky, which was immediately followed by something bright falling down like a meteor.

"Zahydrat'n Da Ax'yr"

What followed next was a blinding flash which prompted everyone to look away covering their eyes by reflex. Then, a thundering sound of an explosion followed by a massive wind and intense heat wave came next, sweeping everything in their path. The next thing Ainz saw in front of his eyes was a gigantic mushroom cloud far more massive than any of the ones Double had caused. If Double's attack back then could have been said as a barrage of nuclear bombs, whatever Tsar had just done was the equivalent of those nuclear bombs merged into one and dropped on a single spot.

Holy... What the hell was THAT!?

Ainz would be lying if he said he wasn't astounded by what he had just seen. The level of destruction caused by Tsar's doing eclipsed even the Super-Tier spell [Fallen Down], which was one of Ainz's mainstay spells for dealing massive damage. Back then, Ainz had felt impressed by Ryu's Photon Blast, but this was on a whole different level. Seeing it, Ainz became fairly certain that the attack would be almost fatal against any Floor Guardian and even himself. Thus definitely making "Tsar" a dangerous person to be enemies with without thorough consideration and preparation.

"That was... massive. Xiera, is the city safe?"

Guardian spoke with her photon interface visible, and she immediately got a reply which everyone around her could hear.

"The city sustained some damage from the tremors, but the barrier still holds up and we will keep it that way! Go get 'em, Guardians!"

Ryu's group of six looked delighted hearing the news, while the Floor Guardians looked more indifferent but still pretty happy anyway since E-Rantel was now a property of Ainz. It would have been a complete shame if Ainz had lost his first city mere hours after obtaining it.

"Similar to Ainz, I can only do that spell once. I had my real body cast it from high in the sky up there, for your information"

Tsar spoke, and Ainz glanced up by reflex after hearing that. However, he could see nothing thanks to all the present obstructions.

"Was that a foreign language you spoke?"

Ryu asked the question to Tsar while still looking at the enormous spectacle of destruction. There was still too much dust, smoke, and flame to see anything, but since Double's attacks had stopped it was quite certain that the attack had at least meant something.

"Yes, it was my people's ancient tongue. Speaking it while casting the spell amplifies the strength of the spell. Not by much, but considering the enemy we are facing I felt it wise to use all at my disposal"

Umu... That sounds a lot like a metamagic enhancement, but he's definitely not using [Tier Magic]. This is something completely different. Is this a magic native to this world? Ah, dammit. Got to save those questions for later.

Ainz internally mused while being careful not to let anyone else know about it.

"I see"

Ryu nodded in understanding hearing Tsar's answer. Then suddenly a familiar energy barrier appeared around Guardian.

"Everybody Photon Blast with me?"

Guardian spoke, and all other ARKS members around her nodded immediately. Ryu, Hikaru, Rose, and Matoi all activated their Photon Blast barriers which began shining brighter as more barriers were activated. A second later, the barriers disappeared and a total of five photon beasts appeared above each ARKS member. Two of them were six-armed humanoids called Julius and the other three were fish-like creatures called Ketos. Ainz was familiar with them all because he had seen both types of photon beasts in the past.

The two Julius soon spread their arms and created two bright blue spheres of energy at a distance. Meanwhile, the three Ketos hovered above everyone in Ainz's barrier and showered the area with blue energy. Ainz, all Floor Guardians, ARKS members, and Tsar were covered by the energy, and they immediately felt the effect.

"I. Feel. Rejuvenated."

"What? I'm healed and... my mana is recovering like crazy!"

Cocytus and Shalltear expressed their astonishment, and so did all the others. Ainz himself experienced the same, feeling that his mana was now fully replenished. He had not expected the support Photon Blast to work this well on him and his Floor Guardians because back in YGGDRASIL there were very few methods of recovering a chunk of mana within a short time, and the few which were available were all either very difficult to obtain, very limited in use, or very impractical to use. Having been used to the scarcity of mana restoration methods, Ainz felt highly impressed seeing the readily available and very effective method ARKS possessed.

Putting his astonishment aside, Ainz looked forward as the energy spheres conjured by the two Julius pulled and swallowed all the ashes, dust, flames, and everything else within their range. By the time the energy spheres expired along with Ainz's [Absolute Sanctuary] barrier, all the matters which obscured everyone's vision had gone away and everyone could see that the environment had become an even more enormous cluster of craters, and Double was inside the largest of them, still in their giant toy castle form but heavily damaged and barely standing up.

"It... hurts... Ahahahaha..."

It was a wonder that Double still could laugh in their condition, albeit weakly. Nevertheless, the tables had turned again, and this time in the favor of the alliance. Everyone was now fully rejuvenated, and Double was seemingly unable to move on the brink of defeat. All they needed to do was to make a decisive strike as the final blow.

"Hmm?"

Tsar sounded as if he just noticed something, thus prompting everyone around him to look at him wondering.

"What is it? You noticed something?"

Guardian was the first to inquire to Tsar, who replied with the same calm and straight tone of speech while looking up.

"More allies are coming. Not ones I'm fond of, but allies nevertheless"

"Ainz-sama! More are coming! Could they be allies too?"

Aura's immediate speech through [Message] essentially confirmed Tsar's words. Indeed, upon looking up, Ainz noticed two red glints of light falling down at an incredible speed. Then when the two lights reached ground level near the group they stopped and dispersed, revealing the persons within who landed on their feet gracefully. Ainz had no idea who the two persons were because he had never seen them. However...

"Zesshi! Captain! It's you!"

Guardian's immediate delighted reaction gave a clear implication that she knew both of them. Seeing this along with the other implication from Tsar's remarks, Ainz could make a quick assumption that these two people came from Slane Theocracy, one of the nations Ainz had been most wary of.

"We apologize for coming late, Guardian Angel. It was difficult for us to convince the Pontifex and the Cardinals to let us participate in this battle"

"Heh! Screw those old farts! So, the enemy is that... castle thingy over there, right?"

The man, presumably "Captain", spoke to Guardian in a tone of speech which displayed a deep respect, while the girl spoke without hiding that she was very eager to battle.

"It's alright, and yes. That is Dark Falz Double, and due to some circumstances their goal right now is to devour Ainz Ooal Gown. We must stop that from happening, or else the whole world is in jeopardy"

The Captain nodded hearing Guardian's quick explanation, and then his eyes went towards Ainz.

"You are Ainz Ooal Gown, I presume? It is against our belief to be assisting your kind, but with the world at stake for the time being we shall put aside our differences and fight alongside your alliances. After all, it was your very words which have inspired us to join the battle"

As the Captain spoke the first half of his speech, Ainz immediately raised his right hand, signalling the Floor Guardians not to make any violent reaction towards the Captain's words. He then spoke in response.

"My words? So you have been watching all this time"

The crimson glow inside Ainz's eye sockets became brighter as he spoke, glaring at the Captain. Normally, those who were scrying over him would trigger his anti-scrying measures and their various effects. However, he had deactivated those measures on purpose for this battle, and the risks taken from that had born fruits in the form of additional allies coming to their aid. After seeing the magnitude of powers involved in this battle, only those with sufficient strength and confidence would join the fray. Moreover, the allies joining them could possibly include other Players, finding whom had always been one of Ainz's goals ever since he had stepped foot in this world.

But still, there's no Player showing up. Seriously, that 'Ishmael' guy should have shown up if he felt responsible for making Dark Falz Double this threatening... Wait! Could it be that he deliberately set this up to weaken my forces and strike before we can recover?

Ainz had his paranoia triggered, but right now there wasn't much he could do. One thing for sure was that the enemy in front of his eyes was real and he had to focus on the matter at hand. Putting the internal thoughts aside, Ainz saw that The Captain showed a slightly surprised reaction hearing his speech, but he kept his calm and replied.

"Yes. We noticed a great disturbance over this area and therefore decided to scry it. To keep things short, it was your words about not withholding trump cards which made our higher-ups see the light and send the two of us over"

Ainz made a slight nod before speaking in response.

"I see. That is understandable. Now, let us all arise and advance on the enemy before they have any more chance to recover!"

"Right!"

Guardian was the first to respond to Ainz's words, and without further speeches all forces of the alliance charged towards Dark Falz Double, fully intending to finish the battle once and for all.

"Ehehehe... Let's play one last time..."

Double then in response arose, thumping their gargantuan tower legs and shooting fireworks up. The castle gate mouth on the main body opened, revealing an equally massive blood-red tongue, along with a glowing core at the tip of it.


[X][X][X]


Afterword:

The final phase of the final battle has begun. Guardians of the world coming from ARKS, Nazarick, and the New World itself are united with a single goal in their mind; to defeat the enemy.

The next chapter shall be the final chapter, so I feel obliged to put even more effort than I ever have. It's natural that this will take time, and therefore the next chapter will have no posting schedule. It will be done when it's done.

With that in mind, see you again later.