Chapter 3 Enter the Actor

Chapter Text

"Didja hear the news? Didja? Didja?! DIDJA?!" Repeated the pink-skinned girl in excitement as she hopped up and down on her friend's school desk. Her pink hair and yellow horns bounced with her movements.

"Mina, I don't read the news much unless it's about a hero being awesome! What else is there to know in life?" The red spiky-haired kid retorted with his chair leaned back against the wall.

The girl, Mina Ashido, rolled her black sclera eyes with golden irises at the ignorant question, "God Eijiro, I'd think you'd be interested in the fact we found aliens on Mars."

"WHAT?!"

*CRASH*

The chair fell onto the floor with the red-haired boy, Eijiro Kirishima in it. After a second to get his bearings again, he gave Mina a proper answer, "Aliens?! Like… big gray-headed with bulging eyes and slim bodies?!"

"Well…no. We haven't found out what they look like, I think? The big-brained scientists only showed photos of the buildings. Uh…here, let me pull them up."

Mina pulled out her phone from her school uniform to find the images, "Oh! Here they are! See? They look so cool! Like a bunch of teeth just went *phbt* onto the planet!"

Kirishima stood up and got a good look at the photos. Indeed, it looked like molars on mars! "WHOOOOAAAH! That's so manly! Do you think they're here to take you back to their home civilization?"

Mina punched him in the arm, "Hardee har, asshat. I look way better than whatever those martians are. Besides, it's the end of the school year, I don't want to spend my break worrying about space people."

Remembering the date, Kirishima shouted with excitement, "HAHA! That's right! Just one more year than I'm going to learn to be a hero!"

Another punch landed in his arm, but softer this time, " We are going to be heroes. And we'll be damn good ones, too."

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"Okay Eri, now that we are partners…what's the very first thing you want to do?"

Eri didn't even need to think about what she really wanted. To be loved, to have a choice, to not be abused, but most all, "I-I want to leave this p-place!"

She flinched when the man touched her shoulder. It was just like when the bad man did it. She closed her eyes expecting to be on the walls, but all she heard was the snap of a finger. She kept closing her eyes until the hand left her shoulder.

"It's alright now. I managed to get us pretty far away from the facility," Ainz said.

Eri opened her eyes to see that she was now on top of a building. She wasn't sure where she was. She looked around until her eyes spotted a light in the distance. Colors she wasn't used to such as orange, pink, yellow, and purple streaked the sky. It was beautiful.

Ainz saw where she was staring and copied it, "Hmm? Oh, the sunrise! It's very pretty at this time of day as well. Must've been one of the first you- oh! Oh dear. I'm sorry, was it something I said?"

Tears flowed down Eri's face as she wished the dream she was in never ended. She always wished to escape. For somebody to come. For somebody to rescue her! But nobody came…until now.

The tears startled Ainz a bit for he wasn't sure how to react to a child crying. It was almost akin to a past instinct as he wrapped his arms around her. Choking sobs were the only thing to break the silence as the two stood there.

A few minutes passed before Eri calmed down and asked the questions she desperately needed to be answered, "W-Why? Why did you save me and not anybody else? Why did n-nobody come? Do they h-hate me? Why do you-you not hate me?! I'm a m-monster!"

Ainz still hugged the crying child in silence as he thought about the questions himself. Why did I save her? From a practical standpoint I just gain a burden and a group of enemies…which can be dealt with in a minute. Was it pity, projection, or something akin to actual love? No, I don't know much about my new form, but it has no capacity to love. Ainz looked down at the small girl, now exhausted from crying and sleeping soundly in his arms. 

He sat down upon the roof, watching the sunrise as two emotions spurred up from his uncaring self. Avarice and pride. The yakuza would have succeeded in their ultimate plan of erasing quirks if it wasn't for Ainz's intervention. He smiled at the thought and looked down at the trophy he earned. The girl was his now. Nobody was going to take away the overlord's possessions. 

Now one question remains: what to do with the Shie Hassaikai?

____________________

*SPLAT*

The security room of the Shie Hassaikai compound was now covered in gore and viscera. A jawbone lodged itself into a monitor and a vertebrae hit a coffee mug. 

Chisaki Kai grips onto the disembodied shoulder of the, now fired, security guard who gained a new job as a wall. Kai used his quirk, Overhaul, to disassemble the man. Kai dropped it in anger as he rewinds the footage of floor 15. He didn't need to rewind far, just a few hours ago and that fact alone pisses him off.

It starts with the elevator heading for the 15th floor without anyone inside of it. Then after everyone left, a massive amount of movement spread through the floor as if an unseen monster was looking for something. This indicated to Kai that the assailant obviously had an invisibility quirk. 

The footage continued with papers disappearing around the lab and reappearing minutes later, indicating that they were being read by…whoever. Another arduous wait occurs before the door to the child's room opens with irritating ease. It's supposed to only be opened by either Kai or Chronostasis.

Some more papers disappear, this time for good and nothing happens for several hours. The damn camera has a blind spot on the girl's sleeping area. (Another problem that'll need to be fixed once they find her again) It was not until the break of dawn that Kai finally saw the man who took everything from them . 

And the man was completely naked except for various black and gold robes covering him. Soon that disappeared as well revealing a gray-haired man with a small red orb jutting out from his stomach. A mirror materializes from nothing as the man admires himself.

Kai is rightfully confused, but begins to connect the dots. Somebody that has access to multiple quirks, looks like they're in their thirties, as well as possess the talent to barge in unnoticed? 

One villain fit that bill: All for One. It seems that I will need to head to the Kamino district. Can't have one of the founders of quirk society meddling in my crusade.

The footage continues to play out. The man gets dressed in very dark clothing and kneels down to someone off-screen. Obviously, it's the cursed child. Kai taps the mic button and listens into the conversation.

" Hello child. Can you help me with something?" A pause occurs before the man speaks again, "Thank you. Despite my looks, I am very new to this world and I was wondering if you could please guide me through it."

A couple of minutes pass by before the leader of the yakuza hears another voice, "I-I-I'm very s-sorry, sir. I h-have been in this room for so long… I don't remember m-much about the-the outside…"

Kai fasts forward the footage until it gets to the part he needs the most, "Ah! Yes, well my name is Momon-...My name is Ainz Ooal Gown, but you can call me Ainz for short."

They both disappear seamlessly with only the mic's crackle filling the bloody office. Good. We have a name. I should be able to contact a few friends in the Hero Commission and we can get our little walking blood supply back. Strange that All for One used a pseudonym…what exactly is Ainz Ooal-...?

The door to the office room slammed open as Kai began to take off a glove to kill the intruder. Hari Kurono, Overhaul's right hand man with the codename Chronostasis, burst into the room sweaty and furious. His signature mask was not on his face showing his blue hair and sharp eyes.

"Eri is missing!" He yells frantically. Any semblance of his usual cold personality was gone. With good reason.

Kai puts his glove back on as he snaps back, "I know that! It was one man around his 30s who might be related to All for One. Call Ricky from the HPSC immediately and gain all the information we have on the name 'Ainz Ooal Gown.'"

Hari nodded at Overhaul's words, "We'll get it done by the end of the day, mein chef!"

Both of the men froze at those words. Kai knew damn well that Chrono had zero experience in another language. Kai ripped off his glove fully preparing to kill "Chronostasis."

Unfortunately for the leader of the Yakuza, the German speaking imposter was faster. Within an instant, both of Kai's hands flopped to the ground.

Kai stumbled to the ground muffling a scream with his ornate bird mask. He looked up to see that "Chronostasis" was no longer there. What replaced him was a man in a neo-nazi outfit with his face being taken over by three holes.

The last thing that he managed to hear from the intruder was a sigh followed by, "Vater hatte recht…I really need to work on my German."

Those were the final moments of Chisaki Kai.

____________________

[1 Hour Before the Death of Chisaki Kai]

The solution to the Shie Hassaikai problem was laughably easy. He just needed to summon someone to do it for him. The problem was he knew the perfect man for the job.

Ainz started to have second thoughts on this idea. As much as he loved his creation, he was ultimately embarrassed by his…eccentric personality. No one could be blamed for that, except for Ainz, but the level of autonomy that creatures now have could make it so much worse.

Ainz sighed for what felt like the fifth time that day as he prepared to summon the area guardian from the treasury of Nazarick: Pandora's Actor.

He reached in his inventory for [Anchor's Tether] . The item was given as a quest reward from the giant Hymir if you caught him enough fish. The anchor had the ability to teleport one NPC to their creator once. It was extraordinarily useless in large PVP battles. 

However, in a world where everyone can die from a single low-tier spell? It was a godsend. 

Ainz dropped the anchor onto the floor as he gave the name of the NPC he created, "Pandora's Actor."

He wasn't even sure if it would work. (A bit of him hoped it wouldn't work) The anchor lodged itself in the ground and sank deeper into a deep blue whirlpool that appeared in the ground. Then a voice could be heard from inside.

"Mein Schöpfer? Is zat you?"

Annnnnd he does in fact speak German. Hoo boy. "Welcome Pandora. Do you mind coming out of that hole to meet me?"

"Natürlich!"

A blur of yellow hopped out of the hole, did a flip, and landed right in front of Ainz and Eri.

Mentally rolling his eyes, Ainz greeted the living manifestation of his edgelord phase, "It's good to see you Pandora. I'm glad you haven't changed… at all."

Pandora brushed off his neo-nazi outfit, "Well of course! Mein Gott, I was created with your will in mind. Nothing can ever change zat!"

That's what I feared. I'm so glad Eri is asleep for this. "Good. Now a few things need to be cleared up. What do you notice about this world Pandora?"

Pandora made exaggerated motions to look around, "Hmm, are we in Midgard perhaps? Ze technology is vastly superior so we might have landed in ze future. I also can't feel any of ze other realms…" Pandora pauses for a moment before turning back to his creator, "A-Am I in the land of the Supreme Beings?! Danke Gott! My greatest wishes have been answered!"

Pandora bows towards his creator with tears coming out of the two uppermost holes in his head. Ainz just stood there and brought his free hand to push his glasses up so he could rub his eyes, "Well at least you can tell we aren't in YGGDRASIL. My main point in bringing you here is to be an extra pair of hands in my plans."

The German greater-doppelganger perked up at the sign of his master needing him, "Yes, yes! Anything for you, Vater! I am always at your beck and call. You will never need to worry about a single mistake escaping my eyes! For as the creation of the great, glorious, großmütig, mer ciful, just-...!"

"Perfect. First off, cut down on the German. We don't want these people to become suspicious of us that quickly," And it's embarrassing, "Second, I need you to capture every single person at this specific building. I want no witnesses or evidence that either of us were there. And finally…"

Ainz accessed his inventory space and tossed to Pandora another copy of [Heimdall's Key] , "Take all of the prisoners there. Any method is fine, and you are allowed to cut off limbs, but not heads. Am I clear?"

At the notion of being given an order by the Supreme One, Pandora stopped his eccentric nature, took the key along with the coords to the compound, and disappeared in an instant. He doesn't want to dawdle with his first ever command.

Ainz, still on the roof of a building with a sleeping child in one arm, summons a chair behind him as he tries to focus on what he needs. Labor? Check, he's got an army of undead. Supervisorship? Check, Pandora's Actor is now here. Money? Che-... Shit. I don't have any money. Sure I've got YGGDRASIL money, but that won't give me yen without looking suspicious as hell. I also need to get connections and learn more about quirks. Uuuuugh. One at a time.

Ainz paced around the roof trying to figure out a non-boring money-making scheme. He could tell Pandora to do it, but he already planned to make him the grand overseer of Mars' terraformation.

He paced faster and faster until he remembered a title the devs gave him for reaching 100,000 player kills: Arbiter. In an instant, all of his goals flowed into one answer. Oh…now that…that could be really fun.  

____________________

In the world of heroes and villains, nothing is more messier than the groups of people that stand on the line between black and white. Vigilantes are illegal quirk users that refuse to get a hero license and follow their own moral code. This usually results in a high percentage of them shifting to villains.

The police force would try to quickly snatch up any new vigilante that appears on the street to prevent irresponsible deaths.

This time the police were focusing on a different type of criminal profession: a hitman. Neither friend nor foe, they kill for their own benefit as long as the money's good. Hitmen are an endangered species due to the rise of quirks and the unpredictability of each target.

"Just show me the damn case already," sighed the hobo. His head was being propped up with a hand on his cheek as he looked tiredly at the man in front of him.

Currently, the lead police detective, Tsukauchi Naomasa, and the hobo/hero, Eraserhead, were in a private meeting room in the police station. Tsukauchi slid a case folder with a tab sticking out with the word "Arbiter" across the metal table as he went to go make coffee.

"Any sugar or cream?" Tsukauchi asked the hero to know the answer beforehand, but asked anyway out of habit.

Eraserhead took his hand off his face and grabbed the folder, "Just shove as much caffeine as you can in that thing."

Tsukauchi rolled his eyes, You could've just said 'black.' He went to grab the coffee pot and easily made the hobo's cup as he worked on his own. Eraserhead was looking through the case with increasing frustration. Despite the file showing a dozen of common victims from the killer, there was not an atom of evidence to a possible suspect.

"These only go back a week since their appearance. How can one person possibly murder all of these people in that amount of time without leaving a single clue?" Tsukauchi passed the coffee to the Erasure hero and ushered him to continue his thoughts, "We don't even know their quirk! Every single victim seems to have died in different ways."

He began pulling out each paper. A couple heroes, mostly villains, but none could beat the new slayer.

Eraserhead began his, now caffeine-infused, tirade about each hit, "According to the autopsy, the Highwayman was killed from his heart shriveling up like a raisin as if it was crushed from the inside. Or the elusive Poltergeist dying of intense electrocution. Even better, that bastard Kardinal having the water sucked out of his body. Oh! How about the hero Speedfreak suffocated in acid while burning alive! The acid doesn't even match any known element, which means it's quirk-based. And this one…!"

Tsukauchi was taken aback at this sudden behavior. The detective had never seen his friend this intense about… anything. Except maybe his own wedding. Tsukauchi was used to quirk-related murders, however even he had to admit that none of the deaths made sense. 

He knew that Eraserhead wasn't mentioning the weirdest part of each of the corpses because it was the only common thread that they all died from the same person. Every victim, no matter how badly mangled, had a one inch hole in their neck with a significant amount of blood missing as if a vampire killed them.

Tsukauchi coughed to get the hero's attention, meeting his red eyes "Shouta. Take a breather for just a minute."

Aizawa Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose and calmed himself down, "Sorry, I just have never seen such an abomination of a case." He looked at the name of the case: Arbiter. The ultimate authority for any decision. "Is it possible that he is alive and causing all this?"

The detective sipped his coffee, "That's the worst part. We have absolutely no idea if he is or why. All we know is the name that he gave his clients, Arbiter, that they can be hired, and every victim dies in a unique way. His existence is only known due to us capturing one of his clients by complete accident. And even then he never met the man."

Eraserhead sighed as he leaned back in his chair. The important part was that they were hireable. This means they need to communicate or have a middle-man to get job offerings. Until they find out how, their hands are essentially tied. Aizawa changed the subject to a different case hoping he'd hear something good tonight.

"Any news about the Slaughter or what they took?"

It was Tsukauchi's turn to sigh now, Eraserhead was mentioning the greatest failure in all of Tsukauchi's career that happened merely a few weeks ago: the Shie Hassakai Slaughter. 

The detective was investigating an old yakuza group that was spiking up out of nowhere that had an anti-quirk slogan behind it. Narrowing down the location of the headquarters, the police force were planning a raid with two objectives: capture the leader, Chisaki Kai, and their quirk-suppressing agents. It took them months to coordinate a raid.

It would've been better if they found a fight instead of the scene plastered all over the facility.

Blood, gore, and limbs covered all 15 floors of the compound. The detective vividly remembers the exact floor he cracked on: 8. It took two days for anybody to handle the stomach to venture to the bottom floor. Worse yet was the amount of missing bodies. Sure, you could've found an arm or a leg, but rarely the entire body and never a head. This insinuated a mass kidnapping and slaughter both took place. 

Considering the size of the Shie Hassaikai, there should've been one witness. At least one person should've ran away. And yet, it was a plan so well-crafted that not a single member had been found since.

The other part of Shota's question was referring to the missing link of the yakuza group. They had a sort of deus ex machina that allowed them to strip people of their quirks and it was missing from the site of the massacre along with the formula.

"We still have no leads on the people behind the murders or even if they are a new villain group we haven't seen yet," now it was time for Tsukauchi to rant, "We don't know if what they took was organic, a new element, a human, some sort of chemical bullshit, or how it was used in the quirk-suppressant! You want to hear the best part? It was all done overnight! HOW DID THE ASSAILANTS AND THE YAKUZA BOTH DISAPPEAR IN THE SPAN OF HOURS?!"

Eraserhead had a lot less patience than his friend as he was already tired from the long day. He couldn't handle the incessant speech of his partner. It won't change the situation, but that just made him feel hypocritical about what happened minutes prior. His gaze lowered to the hitman file in front of him and began gathering the papers back together.

Tsukauchi takes this as Shota's passive aggressive way to say "we are done here."

"I'll update you as soon as anything happens," the detective lamented softly, "Just… stay safe out there. Along with the startling discovery from space, we have no idea what is going on anymore."

Aizawa was already opening the door and just nodded before leaving.

____________________

Aizawa Shouta was currently hopping across rooftops towards his most needed prize at the end of the work day-...he checks his phone and the time is currently 1:34 AM. God he really needs to keep a better track of time. Thank god the cat cafe is open 24/7.

He starts tapering off his height as he descends downwards to the late night streets. Funny enough, the biggest light source illuminating the area was the cafe. He lands a few feet from the entrance and opens the door.

The cats inhabiting the place immediately swarmed him as Aizawa was a long-time customer of the place. No one was at the counter at the moment, but that's fine. He knew humans needed their eight hours of sleep compared to his three or four. He began petting the cats at the doorway starting with Don Fluffles (his personal favorite).

He heard a hoarse chuckle from across the room as his eyes snapped to a man quietly sipping a cappuccino. Shouta was a bit on edge from not noticing the man, but brushed it off as him simply not having enough sleep recently. 

The man himself seemed to be in his early thirties, although his gray hair contradicted that fact. He also wore a matching gray turtleneck sweater, even though it was almost summer, with a black jacket on top. Square spectacles prevented the hero from seeing the man's eyes.

"Sorry for startling you. I thought I'd be the only one here at this time of night. You can come sit with me since we are the only people here," the well-dressed man said.

The man had a voice that demanded respect from just hearing it. Aizawa stood back up and decided to sit across from the man at the table as he had a good point. What was he going to do? Sit a couple of tables away and try his best not to make eye contact with the only other living person here? Well he usually would, but found the man to be comforting in a strange way.

Aizawa didn't notice it until he was closer, but the man had golden eyes.

The man noticed Aizawa's staring and smiled, "Like my eyes, eh? The doctor joked that my mother must've been touched by Midas for me to turn out this way. I prefer it to my hair already going gray. I'm in my thirties and people think I'm a sage!" He said throwing up a hand in pho-outrage, "To be fair, that's what having a kid can do to you."

Aizawa hid his smile behind his capture weapon, "Not surprised you got a kid. I'd be more surprised if you didn't have grandchildren."

"You should respect your elders, kiddo. Look, I managed to get a picture of her if that proves I'm not going senile."

Shouta's eyes widened as the man put his hand through a black portal that appeared out of nowhere. A couple seconds later and his hand seemed to produce a photo out of thin air.

The man looked at the photo, smiled, and handed it to the Erasure hero.

Aizawa observed the photo and it seemed to be at a playground with a little girl going down the slide. She had silver hair along with ruby eyes, contrasting her father. The notable thing that was different from the two was the fact she had a small horn protruding from the right side of her forehead like a unicorn.

Passing the photo back Shouta had a more pressing question for the man, "What was that just then? A sort of warp quirk where you can grab items?"

The man paused for a few seconds before answering as if he's rehearsed the answer to this question hundreds of times.

"No it's nothing of the sort, I call my 'quirk' Pocket. It allows me to simply…" he plucked the photo from Aizawa's hands and once again, a black portal appeared, "...put anything inside this space as long as I can hold it with my hands," he places the photo inside the rip in space and it disappears again.

Aizawa was slightly jealous of such a convenient quirk, "I'd bet that's super helpful no matter what job you have. The only thing that I would keep stored if I had your Pocket is just as many cups of coffee as I can fit." 

"My friends sometimes put their things in here and forget about them much later." He let out a sad chuckle.

"Remembering something that disappears from existence is-..."

All of a sudden a phone goes off and Aizawa starts checking his pockets only to find out it's coming from the other man.

The gentleman looks awkwardly at the hero, "I'm so sorry, but I have to take this," he answers the phone, "Yes?"... "Ah, it's done?"... "Are you sure it's working correctly?"... "Hey. Stop apologizing and just answer me."... "Alright, that's great! I'll head there now."

The man hangs up, looks back at Aizawa, and rubs the back of his neck. "Work just finished a project I've been looking forward to. It has been nice to meet you Mr…?"

"Aizawa Shouta. If you ever come back to the cafe, you can just tell the cashier you're my friend and they'll give you a discount."

The man chuckles, "I'd hate to be a leech, but cheaper coffee is cheaper coffee."

The gentleman pushes his seat back and prepares to exit the restaurant. Aizawa just got here so he's not going to leave until he gets a bit of sleep. He begins to fall asleep in his chair as he has done tens of times when he realizes something. He hears the jingle of the bell indicating the door opening then closing. Aizawa rushes towards the door.

"Hey, wait a second. I didn't catch your…name…"

Nothing answered him except the buzzing of the street light and the distinct lack of a golden-eyed man.

____________________

Like the flip of a dime, Ainz switched to his overlord form. Ainz put the key back into his pocket as he confronted Pandora in the martian courtyard, but not before noticing a pair of disembodied hands strapped to his belt, "Ah, I see you have liked your new tool very nicely." 

The tool in question was not from YGGDRASIL. When Pandora's Actor cut off the hands of Overhaul, the quirk was still active. The right hand disassembled; the left hand reassembled.

The doppelganger glanced down at the pair before shaking excitedly at his creator, "Yes zey are very helpful! I must thank you again, mein Gott, for allowing me to keep my prize."

"It was just a minor gift. Alright, show me the data that we found from the machines so we can get the ball rolling."

What Ainz was referencing was the next step in the revitalization of Mars: figuring out the complete data of the planet to get a foundation going. This included temperature, materials of the soil, chemicals of the sky, atmospheric thickness, etc. Lots of stuff that Ainz had vague ideas about, but using Earth as a comparison, even he could see what to do.

"Of course mein Gott! Let us first begin with ze relative temperature range which also includes the problems with ze atmosphere…"

Oh boy. Ainz thought as he guided Pandora towards the white castle. Ainz sat at his work desk gesturing with his hands for Pandora to continue.

"To begin, ze planet 'Mars' is completely uninhabitable to all life except for plants. Here is why."

He showed a graph to Ainz on a tablet. (Paper would be horrendous to use in the current state of Mars' gravity) The graph showed two columns: Earth and Mars. Earth's atmosphere was mostly the combination of nitrogen with some oxygen and very little carbon dioxide. 

"Zat's the ideal conditions zat we need," Pandora explained while pointing at the screen, "Mars on ze other hand has an enormous percentage lead of 96% carbon dioxide with very little of any other gasses."

Okay, this is understandable so far. I just need to introduce nitrogen and oxygen until the percentages match…but I need to make sure. Ainz put his bony fingers together, "Hmm…I would already guess that the solution to this is being prepared?"

Pandora beamed at his maker's ability to sense his creation's independence. Truly one that was created by the 41 supreme beings should hardly need their direct orders. "Yes! We are already planning to use [Surtr's Inferno] to melt ze ice caps to release more carbon dioxide and oxygen into ze atmosphere."

This information sent Ainz into a confused state, What?! Why would we put even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere? This doesn't make any sense! Oxygen I do get, but…huh?!

"Apologies Pandora, I thought that the atmosphere was already full to the brim of CO2?"

"Mein schöpfer, excuse my foolishness, I should've shown you ze real problem that we are currently having. Zat is ze pressure itself."

Another piece of data showed up on the tablet. The number next to Earth was 101.3, while Mars had 0.61. Pandora continued his explanation, "Ze atmosphere has practically nothing inside of it. We will need to artificially inflate ze pressure. This will solve many of our problems such as increasing ze temperature range, ze gravity, and incoming sunlight! Ze mining operations for ammonia, methane, and fluorine have already started per your wishes."

What the hell are any of those chemicals? Probably one of the orders I signed in these last weeks. "Fantastic work Pandora! Do you have an accurate prediction of when this will be completed?"

"Around 8-10 months, vater!"

Ainz nodded. He was beginning to accept his immortal body along with the agelessness that comes with it. This is merely a grain of sand in Ainz's hourglass of life. He left his desk to gaze out of the window overlooking his first martian settlement. Everything was falling into place. He couldn't wait for the next stage of plans he had for both worlds.