Part 5:
As the day progressed, the capital was still in major turmoil due to the mysterious monsters that had suddenly appeared and relayed such a grim message to the citizens. So far the guards had been successful in driving off the creatures but not in regaining full control of the city. In all districts there were signs of looting, murder, arson, and even live sacrifices of people who mated to appease the wrathful god that had come to their land. All the churches in the city were overcrowded as a large part of the citizens had turned to prayer in spite of everything else. It was a good thing that the Slane Theocracy had such a strong religious foundation or else the mayhem in the capital might be too much even for the local garrison to handle.
By now a large portion of the citizens had abandoned their logic and reasoning and made way to the gate of the city in order to try and make a break for it. Even if the chances of surviving out there with the Sorcerer King were virtually nil, it was still a chance that many were willing to try and take solely out of desperation. And yet they only found barricaded gates when they tried to flee as the guards weren't just going to open the gates when their enemy might invade the capital at any time.
As the soldiers and city guards were having their hands full with keeping the city under control, none but the lookouts and soldiers on the walls saw that just outside the city a group of peculiar individuals had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
Some of the members of this group looked somewhat normal whereas others had a bizarre appearance. The first part of the group was the most normal as it appeared to be a number of humans who wore a somewhat formal attire. They seemed to be extremely scared despite doing their best to keep this hidden from the rest. Amongst them stood a man with a plastered face as he looked towards the capital with anguish. This man was none other than the aide to the Emperor of the Baharuth Empire Roune Varmilinen. His majesty had dictated he had become an intermediary for the Empire to communicate with the newly founded nation of Nazarick.
On the other side of the group stood a man whose age was unclear but he gave off an ancient aura that suggested that a hundred winters had long since come and gone since he was born. In his hand he firmly gripped an intricately carved magic staff that he had been given by his new lord and which he treated as his greatest treasure. Of course, this man was none other than the former head of the Empire's Magic Academy, Fluder. He, unlike his former friends from the Empire, looked towards the capital with great expectation and excitement as a mysterious light in his eyes glimmered ever so slightly.
Behind Fluder stood his bodyguard, or rather his warden, a monstrous Death Knight who never ceased fixing his gaze on Fluder who stood but three steps away from him. Any warrior by now would have succumbed of fright from always having such a monster stand behind them, but Fluder's insatiable thirst for knowledge had long since made him accustomed to this situation.
Fluder stood on the opposite side of the group from where Roune and the others from the Empire were. After all, he was now technically a traitor to the Empire; although he had been borrowed to the Tomb of Nazarick as a pretext, it was no secret to Roune that Fluder had betrayed them since long before he had made his exit from the Empire. Fluder himself couldn't care less as his only ambition had always been the true pursuit of magic. Even if he had become a pillar of the Empire in the process, he had never sworn to stay loyal to the Emperor even if it would obstruct his true path. But one could hardly expect the Empire to see it that way.
Further behind him stood six beautiful figures, each a jewel in their own way. Six absolute stunners wearing maid uniforms were standing neatly in line with their heads slightly bowed, waiting for their lord's arrival. The Six Pleiades had naturally been summoned as well. Even further behind stood the lonesome figure of a punkish, thug like man with dark skin and shockingly yellow eyes. Lycan likewise had been summoned to this place by his lord, although probably not as punishment seeing as he was able to restrain himself from killing Zesshi when she was knocked out by Sebas.
In the middle of the group stood the most prominent members as all the available Guardians had been gathered. Each of them managed a terrifying amount of tasks in and out of Nazarick, but naturally they wouldn't hesitate to respond to their master's summons even if they had to drop everything and rush over.
Demiurge, Cocytus, Sebas, Shalltear, Mare and even Victim had all gathered along with some of their aides to come and witness what their lord would do with the remaining humans that were still trapped inside the human city.
Not long after they had all gathered did another gate appear with Ainz stepping out of it as he radiated an incredible dark presence that made the weaker members of this group stand stiff from fear. Ainz looked towards the capital for a brief moment as everyone waited in silence for their Lord to speak out, and even Roune and the others from the Empire would naturally never dare to interrupt the thoughts of someone as dangerous as Ainz.
After awhile, Ainz finally turned around to greet the members of the group that had responded to his call as he began to speak in a most regal and authoritarian tone.
"First off, I'd like to thank you all for going along with my selfishness and attending this meeting on such short notice, especially you members of the Baharuth embassy and 8th floor guardian Victim."
"Em deciton iapnes (it is nothing my lord)."
"Of course we would answer your call, Sorcerer King. After all, it is vital for strengthening the bond between our nations."
Ainz gave a slight "Umu" sound as he continued talking.
"Today is a momentous day for Nazarick. Just once in our entire existence was there a deviation from my plans that brought great horror and pain to my heart and caused the death of one of my subordinates. After extensive searching, we never did find out who caused that atrocity until today."
Ainz seemed to glance over towards Roune and his group as he spoke.
"Initially, I merely wanted to send a message to the nation that despises those who are not human so much by showing them the true meaning of fear and despair. Wiping out their main fighting force and leaving none but the citizens would have sufficed at first. But now…"
The skeleton's tone got even darker as his voice seemed to contain a slight trace of almost undetectable fury that boiled somewhere deep within him like a sleeping Volcano.
"An attack can be forgiven and hatred can be ignored but murder can never be taken back or payed back no matter how many mountains of gold one offers. For the crimes of attacking one of my subordinates and putting her in a situation that led to her destruction, I hereby declare the citizens of this capital to be put under the super tier spell [Rain of Banjir], in other words…
"COMPLETE EXECUTION OF EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!"
Every single one of the humans present was shaking in their boots from the words that they had just heard. They all knew that Ainz had the power to wipe humans out like one would step on an insect if he so wished, but to hear him say such things and to see him do it was another. Amongst all the human spectators, only one was not shaking due to fear but instead…
"Roune-dono, I'd like to hear your opinion first. If considering all the offences that the Theocracy has against Nazarick, what do you think the other nation's reaction will be to us destroying one of their cities?"
Roune twitched as he heard Ainz speak his name. At this time, he already had half a mind to make a run for it as pointless as it may seem. Collecting his thoughts, he finally made up his mind and managed to squeeze out an answer.
"Yes, your majesty, considering your alliance with the Empire we are naturally not going to take offence to you destroying one city if their crimes are so heinous. As for the Kingdom, at this point they no longer have the strength to complain about anything that you would do. Neither does the Draconic Kingdom since they are currently at war with the beast men and the citizens of Roble couldn't care less about what goes on behind their wall. That's as far as all the human nations in the vicinity go, if we take into account the non-human nations than they would probably rejoice since the Theocracy is famous for hunting down all bipedal creatures that aren't human."
The men behind Roune were slightly baffled by Roune's words as calling someone your majesty was an honor usually reserved for only one's own despot, but it was understandable considering the immense pressure that one faced when talking to someone as imposing as Ainz. If anything, it was impressive that Roune still managed to produce such a complete and eloquent answer at all.
"Hmm, about the same as what Demiurge had said so it must be true."
Ainz now turned his gaze back to the capital as he stared with a profaned look at the walls and buildings of this city. In every single one of those buildings, there were probably humans hiding, praying for salvation, holding their children closer as they cowered in fear and hoped for the storm to pass them.
At this moment, Ainz felt a slight regret of his words, in a moment he would be committing a crime that would most likely mean that he tossed off the final remnants of his humanity. The massacre on Katze Plains was a demonstration of his power and an act of war and all the other immoral schemes he had pulled off in the past were all for the sake of Nazarick. But this time….
There is still time for me to take back my words. If I don't kill them all but rather enslave or banish…
But then memories of him killing Shalltear flowed into his mind, of him expending days of scheming and planning to avoid the same mistake twice. All of it had brought Ainz no end of misery and at the end of it all…
He was still alone in this world.
Secretly, he had hoped that he would finally meet another player. Even if he was hostile and his enemy, it would give Ainz peace to know that he is not alone in this strange world. But his hopes had been shattered.
With that last wandering thought, Ainz…
"Let us begin!"
A vast myriad of magic circles began to swirl around Ainz as he activated his spell. The formations and letters seemed to constantly change as to Roune and his men it was hard to imagine what level of spell exactly this was. Since he called it super tier magic, it seemed like it was even higher than 10th, on the same level as the spell he used when he wiped out the army of Re-Estize.
As the magic spell was preparing, not a single one of the spectators dared to say a word or interrupt Ainz as if they feared that the next target of his spells would be them. All of them could but look in awe or fear as the spell readied.
After some time passed, the spell was finally ready and an air of satisfaction could be felt from Ainz as he spread out his arms towards the city and launched his spell.
"Now go, [Rain of Banjir]!"
…
…
…..
Inside the capital, mass panic ensued once more. Although chaos was still raging rampant, the army had been at least somewhat successful. But now the entire city had been thrown into chaos once more as pitch black clouds had appeared above the city.
Rumors of the Sorcerer King being able to kill entire armies with a single spell had long since reached the capital, and not a single soul was unconvinced that these clouds were the first part of a spell that would wipe them all out.
Finally, a thundering sound rang out from the clouds as something began to fall down upon the city. Screams could be heard from every part of the capital as many fled into their homes and began to cower under their beds or in their cellars praying to whatever they believed in at the moment in hopes of surviving the worst possible outcome. The only ones still on the streets were the knights, guards and paladins who were honor bound to stay and protect the citizens.
As such, they were the only ones who saw what fell from the sky was none other than…
"Rain?"
One of the guards in charge of guarding the main gate could but utter this one word. What had fallen from the sky was indeed nothing more than rain. It began to steadily pour from the sky and into the city as many of the guards were beginning to get quite soaked from the unrelenting downpour.
Not a single guard could understand what was going on here. They had been expecting some kind of monster to emerge from the skies or maybe they would be subjected to death just like the soldiers of the Kingdom had on Katze Plains, but instead it just began to rain.
None of the soldiers had any idea why the Sorcerer King had decided to summon rain on top of them. It was an unpleasant feeling to have the water pour down upon oneself like it did, but it was hardly comparable to death. At the most, it caused them to be a bit confused as to what the enemy's plans were.
The guard captain who presided over guarding the main gate could but stare at the pitch-black sky and wonder what would happen next. To assume that this was ordinary rain would be foolish. Just as he was about to walk back to his private station to report the situation to the higher ups from the Windflower Scripture, he noticed that his steps felt heavier for some reason.
Now that he thought about it, his entire body began to feel weird as a dizzy spell overcame him along with a sickening feeling in the stomach. Only now did the guard begin to notice that everyone around him was likewise feeling dizzy and sick as some already began to show signs of losing consciousness. Feeling that the sickness was getting worse, the guard captain bent over as he felt the urge to vomit rise up from within him. It was then that he finally began to understand the reason why he felt so weakened and ill.
As the rain touched the ground of the capital, it caused a strange reaction as the earth and stone upon which the rain fell darkened in color and seemed to almost rot away as the rain corrupted every patch of ground upon which it fell.
This would have been strange but not dangerous were it not for another of the rain's properties. As the ground darkened from the downpour, a strange green fog began to rise from the desecrated ground. Too late did the guards and knights realise that exposure to this fog was poisonous. Every one of them had been so fixed on the sky as they anticipated some kind of malicious attack to come from within the clouds, not realising that the true terror lay within the seemingly simple rain that poured from them.
The effects of the fog began to show themselves as the soldiers and guards that had been exposed to its vapor began to fall to the ground like puppets with their strings cut. Many of them were either already unconscious or were in the process of vomiting blood as their intestines felt like they were bursting apart. In the span of mere minutes, several thousand guards, soldiers, and even combat priests and paladins had fallen victim to the fog's poison.
All over the once bustling city now lay corpses of soldiers, priests, and other peacekeepers. The death toll was already well in the thousands as most of the capital's regiment had been decimated to but a fraction of what it once was, still shrinking as time went on.
Over at where Ainz and his group stood, Ainz has just finished explaining what was currently happening inside the city. It was not difficult to imagine what Roune and his group's inner thoughts were despite their faces having a neutral or even slightly joyous expressions. No matter the day or age, anyone that came in contact with chemical weapons of mass destruction like Ainz's spell would inwardly cower in fear. It was already quite commendable for Roune and his group that they had not tried to flee in terror like the Imperial army had at Katze Plains.
"The Sorcerer King's magic is indeed without match. To think with just one spell the entire city has now become a hazardous zone where life cannot exist for a long period of time. With this, it won't be long before all of the citizens that angered his majesty will succumb to the poison and die."
Roune managed to put up a brave front and even complement the skeletal figure with a fake smile on his face. Even he himself thought that it was marvelling how he managed to keep his cool, never mind the people behind him.
Hearing his praise, Ainz gazed towards the city as he responded with a slight chuckle in his voice.
"All the citizens? I'm afraid you may be mistaken there, Vamilinen-dono. While it is true that this spell's deadliness lies in the poisonous properties of the fog it creates when the rain touches the ground's surface, the real danger lies in what comes after its first victims meet their end."
Roune and his group looked with even greater fear as they did not take this being's words lightly. If death by poison was only the beginning, then what on earth could be more devastating still?
Inside the city at this moment, the streets were both almost completely deserted and yet there were sometimes dozens of corpses lying on the ground. As soon as the guards began to notice the effects, they barricaded themselves in their posts in hopes of surviving the poisonous fog.
By now, the only ones that were still on the streets were the elite holy corps of the Slane Theocracy's divine-type magic casters, the paladin guardians. When they noticed the fog's poisonous effects, they naturally did not hesitate for a second as they activated various protective spells and charms that shielded them from poison. Most of them had already been sent away with the other five Archbishops and another part had been guarding the treasury until Ainz and his group came in and exterminated all of them. Despite all of this, there were still approximately fifty paladin guardians that had managed to shield themselves.
As they walked mostly alone or in groups of two or three around the capital, they were all without exception at a loss of what to do next. The relatively best plan of action was to go either to the wall and observe both the city and its outside from a higher vantage point to get a grasp of the situation or go back to their headquarters in hopes of receiving orders on what to do. Both seemed silly. Even if they got a grasp of the situation, there was hardly something that they could do to change it. At this moment, if the enemy had an army of a thousand regular warriors, he could easily take this city down. And it was not like their superiors would have any plan to change it.
As most either looked around or were heading to what they thought was the best place to reform, they all suddenly noticed something almost simultaneously. Each of them had been exceptionally well trained to detect when something was amiss as their prime function was to protect the nation's VIPs, but it took them awhile to understand what exactly felt of.
"Movement?"
Not all of the paladins could quite put their finger on it at first, but the sense that they felt right now was as if something in their direct vicinity was moving. Too late did they realise what exactly was moving.
One of the paladin guardians stood unmoving like a statue amidst the corpses of the soldiers as he was vigilant against any disturbance around him.
Suddenly, he felt that despite his best efforts to detect the enemy, his foot had been grabbed by something below him. A look of shock appeared on the paladin's face as he gazed at what had grabbed hold of him, only to find that it was the hand of one of the fallen soldiers that was laying next to him.
At first, the paladin was overjoyed as he thought that perhaps this soldier had somehow resisted the lethal effects of the poisoning. But then his expression quickly twisted into one of pure horror as he saw the face of the man that had grabbed him.
The soldier's face was covered in strange green veins that bulged almost like a heartbeat but in his eyes there was no light anymore as a dull expression covered his face devoid of reason or will. It was painfully obvious that this soldier was no more alive than an actual corpse. The only thing that still moved was his body. In other words…
"Zombie!"
The paladin shouted frantically as he drew his sword and slashed at the head of the soldier before he could do anything but was a little too late as the zombie soldier's teeth managed to dig into the calf of the paladin before he could cut off the head.
Just as he chopped off the head of the zombie did he notice that all the other corpses around him began to rise up. To a paladin, this was still a horrible situation but not without hope. He had been trained in divine magic; in other words, he had the advantage against undead enemies like these. Even if they all joined together, he would be more than capable of cleaning up a dozen zombies like these. The bigger cause for worry was if really all of the corpses in the city would rise up like the ones here.
Just as he was about to take a stance and launch a series of divine spells at the zombies nearest to him did he notice that something felt off.
The paladin's eyes suddenly went wide as he quickly looked at the place where the zombie had first bitten him. Pure fright and terror emerged on his face as he saw green veins spread out from the wound identical to the ones present on the bodies of the zombies. All of his holy spells had indeed shielded him from the fog as they had created a sort off lair around him that protected him, but he was defenceless against an internal attack like this.
Before he could somehow react, he felt his strength leave his body completely as if it had been sucked dry by leeches and promptly fell to the ground in a lifeless manner. In his mind, he realised the horror that had been summoned to this city. There could be no mistake. This would spell the death of all citizens in the capital without a doubt.
All over the city, corpses began to rise once more as they spread out into different directions and started tearing down the doors of various buildings. These creatures seemingly had the ability to detect life as they quite methodically began to tear down the homes where people had locked themselves in to hide from the disaster.
It didn't take long for the sound of screaming to envelop the city. The sight of these monsters invading their homes whilst wearing the armor of the city guard caused most people to be frightened beyond belief.
Some fought back or tried to hide, but most ran out into the streets hoping that there weren't many of these creatures. When they saw just how many monsters were roaming their beloved capital, some simply fell to their knees in complete despair almost as if they were accepting their deaths.
Some of the citizens managed to run away into parts of the city where there weren't any zombies since the city guard naturally couldn't cover the entire surface of the city with troops. Thinking that they were at least temporarily safe, the few that escaped almost felt elated until a familiar feeling of sickness and weakness came over them.
The true terror of Ainz's spell was the unfading poison fog that the rain caused would not cease so quickly. It would still be an hour before the poisonous fog would subside, but by then the amount of infected zombies in the city would be almost equal to the previous number of living people in the capital. Whether one was killed by the fog or by infection from so much as a single scratch or bite from the other zombies…
The result would still be absolute death. This was the truest form of terror that Ainz had brought down upon this nation.
Unbeknownst to anyone else, the zombie knights were tearing down one house in particular that seemed a little more lavish than the ones next to it. As they bashed on the door, not a single soul could spare a glance as they were too busy running fighting or dying to worry about who might live there and whether they were in danger. The ghoul knights smelled food in this house and were rapidly bashing down the door with their immense physical strength.
As the loud bangs were audible throughout the house, just one person stood just on the other side of the door, not even trying to hide or run as the monsters continued pounding on the door with all their might. It would not be long before the door would cave under the pressure and she would be beyond saving as these monsters would tear her to shreds in seconds.
Vi looked fearfully at the rapidly fading door that separated her from death as she clenched her stomach with her hands. Not a week ago she had received such wonderful news and now…
Initially the plan was for her to leave the city as was ordered by Sylvan in order to guard the bloodlines of the Six Gods. However, she argued that if Sylvan could not best the danger that was coming towards them, then no place in the nation would shield her from this evil.
Sylvan could have ordered to drag her out of the capital or he could have tried to persuade her, but he knew that Vi was right. This would be a battle where they would throw every last ounce of strength at their enemy. If they lost that, the Slane Theocracy might as well fold completely.
Even now, she continued praying that she would hear her husband's voice any second, that he would burst down the door as he stepped over the monsters' corpses and took her hand to lead her to safety. Even though deep down, she knew it was futile.
As this last thought ran through her head, the door finally broke down and from behind it jumped out two humanoid beings who wore the armor of Theocracy knights ,but their gaze betrayed that their humanity had been lost beyond a doubt. Without even giving Vi half a chance to act, they leapt towards her and slammed her to the ground as their mouths neared their next victim.
Sorry, Bastion-sama, no Sylvan. Looks like I won't be able to make you happy as your wife in this lifetime.
As the bodies began dropping and then rising anew, the sound of screaming victims and horrified city folk echoed all the way to where Ainz and his group were standing as they watched the city being consumed in a green fog.
If the words of the Sorcerer King were to be believed, right now the scene that was unfolding inside the capital was too gruesome for words. But not a single soul that heard the sounds coming from the city had even a slither of doubt in their minds about the authenticity of what Ainz had said.
Roune and the other members of the Empire could not utter a single word. Even from this distance, they could hear the horrendous wails of the unfortunate inhabitants of the capital. Even if they wanted to, they could not provide any kind of help to them. Despite the Slane Theocracy and the Empire not being on friendly terms, it was but natural to feel pity for the innocent civilians that would suffer an agonizing death due to the mistakes and crimes of those that ruled over them.
As silent as their group may be, the other spectators were full of praise for their lord, one more than the next as they watched the clouds continuing to spill their malignant contents on the city and heard the sounds of the spell's victims crying out in horror all the way to where they stood.
"As expected of our compassionate lord. For the sake of his subordinates he spares no effort."
"To think that he is willing to go *sniff* to go that far for my sake *sniff*."
"A-Ainz-sama's magic is impressive, I think…"
"snoisolpxe ta kool t'nod syug looc!" (Truly the only being worthy to rule over us all!)
"Heh, as expected of the only being truly fit to rule over me."
But amongst even all of these voices there was one even more remarkable than all the others. Surprisingly it belonged to none of the guardians or the Pleiades, but instead…
"Huhuhu…"
Fluder softly murmured a slight chuckle before his body began to violently tremble with excitement. From the looks of it, he may very well collapse at any moment if this went on. But not before his voice finally exploded into a roaring laughter!
"HAAHAAHAAA, TO THINK THAT IT WAS THIS PROFOUND HAHAA! ALL THESE YEARS I HAVE NOT LIVED IN VAIN! THIS COMPLEXITY! THIS DEPTH! I FLUDER WHO HAVE BEEN TREADING IN DARKNESS MY WHOLE LIFE ADMIT DEFEAT TO THE GREATEST OF SORCERERS AINZ OOAL GOWN! IS IT DEPRESSING?! DO MY LUNGS HURT FROM LAUGHTER?! THE ANSWER IS YES! BUT TODAY I HAVE FINALLY SEEN THE VERY END OF THE ROAD OF MAGIC! TODAY MY LIFE HAS BEEN FULFILLED! FUHAHAAHAHAHAHAAAAHAAAAAH!"
Roune wanted to shout all kinds of things at Fluder who he used to treat as his own mentor and greatest ally in aiding the king. But now all he could do was restrain himself from lashing out as technically speaking Fluder's reaction was more appropriate than his own. If he tried to harm Fluder, it would be the same as insulting the Sorcerer King, not that he'd stand a chance against Fluder anyway.
And so eventually the capital grew increasingly quiet. The sound of death throes were gradually fading as all that remained was the sound of the rain falling down upon the city, consecrating the ground even further.
That and the maniacal laughter that echoed far and wide.
And so the day that would be known in the history books as the Tragedy of the Undying City finally came to an end.
Author's Afterword:
Sigh, this was meant to be like 2000 words ended up with a little more than that as you can see so no Epilogue but instead a short afterword and we say goodnight to this story so I hope you enjoyed it. Initially, the name of this chapter was "Only the rain and laughter" but that would be a little too revealing of the final twist. Plus death vs death god sounds a lot more exciting… (If a little bit cliché)
Decided to make this epilogue instead since my original epilogue is too boring for words and can't think of any replacements.
If you have problems with my vision of Ainz mass murdering ST I swear to god that's what he will do in LN if he ever finds out they brainwashed Shalltear. At least that's my opinion so feel free to disagree but it's not gonna change my mind :p
And as always!
Burn in hell Yen Press
And
GLORY TO AINZ OOAL GOWN