66

Hatred.

Hatred, the only thing that moved the one called the Dragon Witch forward.

Hatred towards those who once betrayed her. Hatred towards those who raised their sword against her. Hatred toward God that rejected her prayers when she was in the captivity of the Burgundians.

Self-hatred.

Her Noble Phantasm embodied this unending hatred. Every part of this power was saturated with her endless hatred.

"I hope you will burn in Hell."

The Witch denied God and His divine providence, but in the depths of her soul she still believed in a single thing .

"The Lord will punish everyone I hate."

Her Noble Phantasm was a manifestation of this belief.

Her execution was the moment when the Lord brought out all the flames of Hell, punishing her.

Her Noble Phantasm brought this moment to reality again - however, this power did not punish her, but the one to whom the Witch's hatred was pointed at.

However... There is a limit to what a person is capable of. Even the greatest of hatred is not able to let one go beyond the limits of the possible. Even the most endless of hatred will not make one able to do the impossible.

But the possibilities that an infinite mana could provide on the other hand...

Jeanne instantly teleported away along with Mashu, retreating from the battlefield. Because the endless hatred multiplied by endless mana would be able to give a very... Potent result.

Thousands of blades and thousands of spears bloomed on the entire island, striking from under the ground, randomly piercing the Servants on the island.

"Thermopylae Enomotia!" Leonidas' Noble Phantasm instantly took its place. Once three hundred Spartans took on their shields the blows of an infinitely superior enemy. The legend of the three hundred Spartans brought to the present the grandeur of their feat, embellishing and portraying their feat with a truly heroic scale.

But even three hundred great warriors could not restrain the infinite power with which thousands of blades struck in all directions.

"Moles Necessrie!" Romulus' Noble Phantasm, his infinite love of Rome took shape. But even Romulus' love could not save them from the endless hatred of the burnt saint.

The Dragon Witch smiled while looking into Caesar's eyes.

Endless self-hatred of herself. A betrayal strong enough, giving her strength, which killed even herself. And the endless Mana from Ainz.

These three converging factors turned the Witch's Noble Phantasm into the greatest demonstration of her hatred.

"For we will all burn in Hell" - the Witch grinned.

Then on the thousands of blades that bloomed in all directions, the endless fire of her hatred descended.

"Damn, damn, damn!" Baal panicked. Even hiding in the deepest cave, he understood that it was impossible to defend himself from such power so simply, even for him.

Lines of magic circles, dozens of spells, barriers rising out of nowhere - all intertwined in a single panicked response, a panicking Baal frantically attempting to defend himself from the Witch's hatred fire approaching him.

Nero only looked at the display of magic blankly. Dozens of barriers, spells, all things that Baal wanted to use for his salvation and her remaining miserable shell that could not even move.

"Do not attack me" was the order given by Baal using the first Command Spell that Baal used against Nero.

"Obey my orders" is the second order.

Looking at the hastily constructed barriers arise, Nero blinked.

After all... The order to "do not destroy my barriers" did not exist for her?

Nero blinked, then clutched the blade in her hands.

"Fuck!" Baal used one more spell, then one more and one more, trying to create as strong a shield as possible, the one able to protect Baal from outside interference.

Nero understood that she would die... But even so...

Better to die defending her Empire, her people. Better she would die as the Emperor.

Nero's blade instantly pierced one of the barriers that just arose.

"What?!" Baal froze for a second. Nero managed to deliver a few more blows, destroying the hastily built defense of Baal.

"You - motherfucking bitch!" Baal used the last order, "Do not move!"

Nero froze instantly, but... Even in her assured doom, she smiled.

Enough damage has already been done.

Now Baal's spells could not save him. His beautiful den that he had been preparing for so long was now useless.

"Teleportation!" A moment later, Nero felt Baal and what was left in the cave, his Servants, carried away. Without its prepared lair, Baal was several times less dangerous. All for the better.

"This is my limit," Nero said to herself, "I hope... you can fix my mistakes."

Zhuge Liang understood with perfect clarity.

This Noble Phantasm he can not not evade nor survive.

Dozens of blades instantly pierced his body, blades that dotted the whole island, blades which should not have existed, thousands of blades struck in all directions, piercing his body and the bodies of the other other Servants. Alexander, Tamamo, Lancer - all of them instantly were nailed in place.

Zhuge Liang realized instantly that salvation from this attack could not be expected.

He grinned for the last time and looked at Alexander.

"Chu Shi Biao," the name of his last Noble Phantasm was invoked in reality.

The name of his manuscript, the masterpiece which he once created. The object that made him set off on a long journey in which he will meet his death. A small manuscript that he left to his pupil, Liu Shan, a manuscript that details the thoughts of Zhuge Liang himself. He explained to the young monarch his vision of life and politics, a look at the people around him, and gave his advice and directions. In other words, it was a tool of creating an ideal government written by Zhuge Liang himself, which he left to his pupil.

Perhaps in history the small manuscript has remained a record that simply gathers dust in a distant archive - or, perhaps, lay in plain sight in a museum, covered in a huge glass cube. But as a Servant, this ability was much more significant.

For it was not simply a manuscript, a record of his thoughts. It was the crystallized wisdom of Zhuge Liang himself, which contained the path to victory and to rule, the key to solving any problem. And the Noble Phantasm of Zhuge Liang embodied precisely this concept.

The key to solving any problem.

"Ah?!" Alexander recoiled when his body was absorbed by a barrier that cut him off from reality, "Waver?!"

Alexander turned around instantly, but found that Zhuge Liang was still mounted on many blades.

"I apologize, my King," Zhuge Liang smiled, "But as the captain of this ship, I will go down with it."

"Waver, you moron!" Alexander rushed forward, but the barrier that just appeared was truly indestructible. Zhuge Liang just smiled at him.

The problem facing Zhuge Liang was not "stopping the attack." It was only to "protect Alexander".

Zhuge Liang exhaled and looked at the blades piercing him.

"I want to smoke..." Zhuge Liang chuckled at the thought. His last thought.

"Did someone placed a curse on me," Elizabeth's body jerked as blades pierced her body, after which she turned her gaze toward Tamamo. The Berserker, for some reason not at all worried that her body was pierced in many places, only raised one eyebrow.

"In the last battle, I also died because of the actions of my allies," Elizabeth sighed.

And the Witch's endless hatred took shape, and nothing remained.

The resulting whirlwind of flame reached thousands of kilometers, not at all discriminating between the innocent and the guilty, all would burn.

For the Witch's hatred knows no bounds.

The whirlwind of flame rose tens of kilometers, evaporating the clouds with ease, and it plunged into the water, instantly evaporating trillions of tons of water, instantly turning the sea into blasted wasteland. Stone, steel, earth - in an instant, everything touched by the conflagration turned to dust. An area containing hundreds of kilometers of land, water, air simply ceased to exist. The strength of the attack was such that the very word "fire" could no longer be applied to it - it was not a chemical reaction of the transformation of elements, but something else that could hardly be comprehended even by the knowledge of magic. Air molecules have been unbonded into atoms, atoms are divided into quarks, and quarks are disintegrated into nothing that evaporates in the blink of an eye.

The ocean and even the earth beneath it - everything ceased to exist in an amount of time so insignificant that even the greatest time keeping inventions of mankind could not keep track of such amount of time.

The resulting scorched wasteland did not even contain any air.

For my hatred is endless.

Ainz continued to place his hand on Stheno's stomach, watching the subject with the inhuman patience of the undead.

Stheno screamed. She screamed. And screamed yet again.

At some point, Stheno's screams stopped - her throat seemed to have rotted away. After hundreds of years of unchanging immortality, her body was mutilated like a long-decomposed corpse. Her flesh fell in pieces, turning to dust and scattering on the wind - but Ainz continued to look at the corpse. Calm and even, perhaps... Gleefully.

He was not going to stop.

Stheno could no longer scream - she only continued to wheeze, twitch languidly from pain, but Ainz was okay with such a reaction.

Ainz Ooal Gown.

His family.

If there were things in the world that he really cared about, then this was one of those things.

Ainz did not know what kind of family the Gorgon sisters considered themselves to be. But they considered themselves a family nonetheless.

And Ainz believed that there was not enough punishment for betraying your own family.

But this did not mean that he would not try to reach it.

At some point, Stheno finally stopped twitching - the negative energy from Ainz's hands finally reached her head, turning the beautiful face of the eternal goddess into a mutilated skull covered with dead flesh, but Ainz didn't stop even then. Perhaps it's true that Stheno was already dead - but if there was at least a infinitesimal chance that she might still be in pain, Ainz would continue torturing her. As long as any cell in her body is still alive, the punishment will not stop. As soon as Ainz brought his hand away, Stheno would instantly die. But Ainz did not want to end the torment prematurely.

For death frees you from suffering. And Ainz did not think that he had brought enough suffering to show Stheno how wrongly she had wronged her family.

Only when even the bones of Stheno turned into dust and flew away, scattering the ashes of the goddess away, did Ainz finally step back.

Stheno died a long time ago - there were few things that could kill a Servant from pain alone, but Stheno was able to find one. However, she was definitely not happy of her discovery.

Ainz sighed, after a moment of calm his mind was touched by a connection with the Witch.

Mana.

All the mana that he could give.

This was what the Witch wanted.

Ainz understood that such an action would kill the Witch, but she was already dead.

It was…

It's strange.

Ainz suddenly felt that his anger, the anger that had calmed a little from the death of Stheno, suddenly flared up in him again.

How strange.

The Witch did not have a family here, at least Ainz is sure of it. So she did not die at the hands of her family. So Ainz should have no reason to feel angry, however...

His anger flared up again.

Why?

Why did he feel anger from the death of the Witch?

She was not a part of his family, And she did not die at the hands of her family.

She was a Servant. And she just died, not even permanently.

But Ainz felt... Anger. A new surge of anger.

It was anger directed not at himself or at the Witch. It was anger directed at... the enemy. On the one who had killed the Witch.

Under normal conditions, Ainz would not even notice such a flurry of emotions - the emotions suppressed by his skill would destroy this impulse with ease. But right now, when Ainz refused to suppress his emotions, they provoked a new surge of anger in him.

Because someone broke his exhibit, his collection. Because someone had violated his plan.

But…

How strange...

Because someone killed his Servant.

Ainz felt an incomprehensible emotion. He felt angry over the death of the Witch, which means that he... cared for her? Worried about her? Thought about her?

Did he really care about the Witch? Was he really?

All this time, his suppression of emotions restrained his mind, but now, being free from it, Ainz felt that he... was worried.

For the Witch. For Jeanne. For Mashu. For Olga. For Roman. For all his Servants that remained in Chaldea.

It's just that until this moment he... Could not understand this.

Ainz blinked.

All this time, he could not look at his Servants like that, because his mind was controlled by his skill. Without the influence of emotions, he could not feel what he really feels, thinks, and senses.

And now... He could feel it. He understood this with all clarity.

Ainz blinked again.

The discovery came to him unexpectedly, forcing him to sway on his feet and blank out for a second.

When Ainz came to, he heard a very peculiar voice.

"Fucking Servants!" The voice was full of anger, but at the same time remained very soft and silky, "Why are you interfering?! All of you, pieces of shit! Why did all this plan go to hell because of you?!"

Ainz looked at the source of the voice.

A moment later, he could see something strange not so far from him... A column of flesh. A monstrous column of flesh that poured, flowed from one form to another. Periodically tentacles that easily formed into hands would form on the surface of the column. The shapes look… disproportionate, as if drawn by a child. The tentacles form hands that are currently beating a girl in red that are frozen in front the column of flesh.

Ainz blinked. "Is that Nero?"

Nero's form did not move at all, as if frozen in time, while the column of flesh pulsating to the beat of its angry cries continued to attack her.

Ainz blinked again, and then moved forward.

"Ahem," Ainz coughed loudly, attracting the attention of all the people in the clearing, "Although the barrier was a trap, in the end our last battle will still take place here."

The column of flesh, upon hearing the voice, instantly froze, after which dozens of eyes, which immediately surfaced on the surface of the column shaped flesh, opened, looking at Ainz.

"Ainz Ooal Gown…" - the eyes on the column suddenly blinked in unison, - "Why... You have not left yet?"

"Oh, Baal, I suppose it's your name," Ainz answered with all his possible politeness he could muster, "I had something to do here that occupied my attention..."

After that, Ainz's gaze suddenly stumbled upon a third figure, still standing next to Baal, completely lost against the bizarre background.

Euryale.

"And I suppose," Ainz felt an endless storm of hatred rising in him and was forced to activate his emotion suppression in order to not instantly cut the girl in front of him out of reality and utterly destroy her existence. He decided to do things as calmly as always, "That my business is not over yet…"

An unimaginable amount of air was instantly sucked into the vacuum created by Jeanne Alter's Noble Phantasm, creating a great shockwave, immediately throwing away everyone who was lucky enough to survive the conflagration to the sides. Mashu barely managed to control herself in the air.

"Flight!" Ainz's ring was immediately activated, stabilizing the girl's fall and allowing her to fly in the air and look at what had happened.

The last Noble Phantasm of the Witch completely vaporized everything around her, reaching even into the seabed, leaving a huge crater, which immediately began to fill with water. Mashu froze instantly in disbelief.

"This..." - Mashu cut herself short. She did not even know how exactly she should have reacted to such a thing. Her vocabulary was simply too limited to describe the level of destruction she had witnessed.

"Last... Blow!" Suddenly Mashu heard a scream, after which she turned to the source. Has anyone else been able to survive this?

Leonidas swung his spear.

Unlike Mashu and Jeanne, he did not have the ability to stay on the air, and therefore simply fell down toward the sea. However, this was the lesser of his problems.

Even protected by the power of his Noble Phantasm and the Noble Phantasm of Romulus, Leonidas, could only last a few miserable moments more. And even then, this was possible only thanks to the power of his Noble Phantasm.

Spartans die standing.

Therefore, although Leonidas' body was disintegrated, the last remnants of his Noble Phantasm still allowed him a final act. And therefore, waving his spear, Leonidas struck his target.

Mashu barely had time to put up her shield, but after a moment she discovered that she could not block the force of the blow.

The Noble Phantasm of Leonidas was created by his legend. The legend of the three hundred Spartans. However, this legend had a different part. Not that which concerned the death of the brave warriors - but that which concerned the cause of their death.

The Spartans accepted their last battle, allowing a larger army time to form and respond to the enemy after the onslaught of the enemy was delayed. And Leonidas' Noble Phantasm did not overlook this fact.

Therefore, after Leonidas took the enemy's blow on himself, a retaliatory strike always followed.

Leonidas retaliatory strike becomes stronger the weaker the onslaught of the enemy was - the exact opposite of Spartacus' Noble Phantasm. And the Witch's overwhelming might meant that Leonidas' retaliatory strike would be the weakest possible.

But even so, such a blow was too much for Mashu.

Mashu gritted her teeth, trying to hold on to her shield before...

Suddenly, Jeanne knocked Mashu away, after which the blow of Leonidas' spear crashed into Jeanne, who remained in place of Mashu. She shouted in pain, a splash of red dyeing her robes red. Still Jeanne would smile toward Mashu. "Are you not injured?"

"Jeanne! No. I'm fine" Mashu worriedly looked at the girl,

"Don't worry," she smiled, after which she looked at Leonidas, "This is simply the result of a death rattle, pointless in the end. My wounds are pointless"

Leonidas, whose Noble Phantasm ceased its function, instantly crumbled to dust.

Now there was only one enemy remaining. The most dangerous opponent that they could have.

Cainabel smiled as she approached Remus, while Remus tightened his grip on his blade. But after a second he felt his hand, as if by itself, slowly relaxing, dropping the blade from his hands. After which his body, no longer under his control, sank slowly to one knee, then to the second. After he was finally on his knees he, though without his control, slowly hung his head down.

"Hm, I expected more resistance from you, Remus," Cainabel smiled, and then took a step toward the Servant. Licking her lips, she looked at the headless body of Altera, after which she shook her head, as if saying to herself "job comes first," after which she returned her gaze to Remus, "Just think... How much the essence of the Servant has perverted you."

A moment later, Remus twitched, but instantly froze when Cainabel's control riveted him to his place.

"Or, rather, you are not the Remus I knew," Cainabel shook her head, "Romulusremus was a dangerous opponent... But not you."

"Your "Noble Phantasm '', - Cainabel was not too lazy to make movements with her hands, indicating quotation marks, - "I know this force. True, in another time."

"This is not a real Noble Phantasm of the 'real' Remus," Cainabel smiled, and then nodded towards the Servant, "Though you might not know this... But I remember very well the taste of Remus on my teeth..."

Remus jerked again.

"You are not a Servant," Cainabel smiled, "And not a being of Yggdrasil, although you carry within yourself the traits of both. Someone... Something tried to summon the 'real thing' from Yggdrasil…"

"But, alas, they couldn't do it," Cainabel sighed, "And you appeared. Someone tried to pull a part of the 'real' Remus from Yggdrasil, and then combine it with the Servant from this reality to summon, hmm…"

Cainabel leaned toward Remus, after which her tongue changed, turning it into the tongue of a snake - a long narrow tongue touched Remus's face, licking it.

"Someone who does not know the essence of Yggdrasil and yet knows about it's existence," Cainabel sighed and exhaled slowly, after which she looked at Remus carefully, "Maybe... You will tell me?"

Remus just stared at the girl hatefully.

"Hm, I didn't expect to hear an answer to my question," Cainabel sighed and looked at Remus, then smiled. Her smile, instantly stretching out over her entire face, opened, exposing a mouth full of sharp teeth.

"Oh, don't worry," Cainabel's voice changed to a low, hoarse one, "I will find out everything I need when I eat you."

"Bon appetit!" Cainabel grunted, then plunged her fangs into Remus' neck.

Romulus fell.

Unlike Jeanne and Mashu, he did not have the ability to fly, so he simply fell, looking at how the earth was approaching him.

How stupid...

Even being protected by two Noble Phantasms, even being one of the strongest Servants, he still could not survive the Witch's Noble Phantasm.

So stupid.

Even his mortal shell, which still supported his body, will just break when he impacted the approaching earth.

How stupid, stupid, stupid...

Romulus understood that he would die.

If he dies, then Baal and his Master will never fulfill their promises, Rome will never be saved. They will never allow his beloved child to raise their branches to the sun. They will never give Rome a chance.

Romulus felt a lump in his throat.

Rome was destroyed, burned, but it can be rebuilt. May be saved. Still may ascend again.

Perhaps the name will change. Perhaps none of the architecture of Rome may survive. Perhaps there may be no more Roman people or Roman culture that would remain.

But Rome will live.

But not now.

Romulus sensed the approach of the earth.

No.

Romulus squeezed his hands that were burned to the bones, hands that still obeyed him, thanks to his will, his strength, his being as the Servant.

No. He will not give up so easily. It will not allow his Rome to fall into the abyss.

Romulus focused all the power that he still had, after which he fed the last remnants of his will, his body, his own life, for his last attack.

Magna Voluisse Magnum.

For the tree of Rome will be eternal.

Mashu looked at Jeanne with incomprehension, not understanding what she had just said, and then she looked downwards at the ground below her.

There are trees.

What a strange and surreal picture.

Thousands, hundreds of thousands of trees, are growing from under the earth and water, breaking through the oceanic depth, spreading their leaves and branches.

A Forest.

What a strange picture...

Thousands of trees grow again and again, spreading far and wide, stretching their branches toward the sun, rising for kilometers in seconds. It was a beautiful view...

Before Mashu understood the horror of the situation.

Rising wooden titans gnawed into the ground, instantly destroying it, blocking the sea, replacing water and air, rising to a titanic height. What seemed like a forest consumed all the space around it.

With the speed of a growing fire, the forest consumed everything - earth, water, air - ascending upward, spreading further and further. In other words…

"This would have an apocalyptic result if we allow it to continue!," Mashu blinked at her own thought.

The word "forest" did not sound threatening and "trees" were not perceived as a possible source of the apocalypse by people. But the Noble Phantasm of Romulus meant exactly that.

Romulus and Remus, two brothers united by a single destiny, were both equal in strength. Even their Noble Phantasms were equal.

However, Remus' Noble Phantasm embodied "all that civilization has achieved." It was a blow that concentrated all the power of civilization. Romulus' phantasm denoted "an ever-growing civilization." He did not grow stronger depending on the civilization around him. He was the civilization.

Everlasting in all directions, devouring all in its path, unstoppable.

The Noble Phantasm of Romulus did not grow stronger because it was originally already the strongest.

The civilization embodied by Romulus absorbed any space, any matter, any particles, in order to grow further. Endless. Without a border.

In other words…

It was a Noble Phantasm, capable of absorbing the whole world.

Like civilization infinitely moving forward, Romulus' Noble Phantasm would spread endlessly forward. Romulus could stop this on his own accord, limiting the growth of civilization, but this Noble Phantasm did not require constant replenishment of mana to maintain its activation. It sustained itself from the processed everything that it absorbed.

Mashu froze in horror.

Chaldea could correct, change, erase part of history. Ruined cities, whole countries… all of these could be fixed. For cities and countries disappear all the time. But if the Noble Phantasm of Romulus engulfs the whole Earth...

The outcome of the Singularity itself will mean nothing, Earth itself would be no more

It was only a forest growing in all directions.

And also it was one of the most terrifying Noble Phantasms that ever existed in the world.

Mashu froze.

"That's what I mean," Jeanne smiled, and then reached for her sword. Slowly, she touched the sword, and then pulled it out of its sheath, "And that power... Must be destroyed."

"What are you talking about..." - Mashu turned her eyes to Jeanne and froze. Her sword was pulled from its sheath.

"Stop!" Mashu tried to rush forward, but it was too late.

"Blade of St. Catherine," Jeanne glanced at her blade, "La Pucelle, Crimson Saint. For there is something that must be destroyed."

Master of Many Resistances: EX (Case)

Unlike many other skills, this skill has no specific reason for existing, because this skill is a combined one.

In other words, part of this skill comes from the strength of Ainz himself, part from his legend, part from the battles he went through, part from the tactics he used, and part from his spells and equipment. In other words, this skill has no specific reason for existing — it has too many to list them all.