Eryuentiu, the Former Base of the Eight Greed Kings
Within a dark chamber were corpses littered upon the ground. Dragons of countless hues lay broken and silent across the stone floor, their blood staining the ground in an artistic pattern. The air was thick with the stench of blood and scorched flesh. It seemed to be a silent battlefield, mourning the loss of such powerful beings.
However, towards the center of the room lay a single dragon- still breathing, albeit barely. A dragon larger than the others, with scales scarcely gleaming due to the gruesome battle. However, although the silver-white scales were cracked and scorched, nothing could hide the majesty behind them. Blood leaked from multiple orifices around the body of this dragon. Despite being so large, this mighty dragon, which should have been the most powerful being in this world, was not lying on the ground, barely breathing. Every ragged breath that was drawn would echo across the entire chamber.
This being, this dragon, was none other than the Platinum Dragon Lord, known as Tsaindorcus Vaision. And before him stood a figure no bigger than one of his claws. However, this figure had no less presence than the mighty dragon. A skeleton draped in royal robes as dark as obsidian, with a bright fire in his eye sockets.
This was none other than Ainz Ooal Gown! And around him were the Guardians of Nazarick, who had come out in full force to deal with the largest threat they had ever encountered. Surrounding Ainz Ooal Gown in a half-circle, they glared at the half-dead dragon with murderous intent. Some, like Shallter and Albedo, showed obvious disdain for the worm in front of them, no matter how oversized it was. Their eyes were filled with scorn for a slightly stronger insect who had dared to mess with them- who had dared to go against their master, Ainz Ooal Gown. Unlike them, Aura showed great greed in her eyes, continuously looking the dragon over, looking as if she could barely hold back her excitement.
Ainz Ooal Gown spoke, his words echoing throughout the room, "So, Riku Aganeia… Or perhaps I should call you the Platinum Dragon Lord? Or would you prefer I call you Tsaindorcus Vaision?" He paused and chuckled lightly "It matters not. It doesn't matter what I call you. Only one thing matters right now. I want answers." With a slight flare of his eye flames, Ainz Ooal Gown spoke again, unconsciously releasing a large amount of dark aura, "How do you know about Players? About NPCs? About World Items? Who… Told… You?"
After he finished speaking, the chamber returned to silence, except for the ragged breathing of Tsaindorcus. However, after a few seconds, a few light chuckles escaped from Tsaindorcus' maw.
Seeing the defeated inferior gnat laughing, Albedo could no longer hold back. "You insolent bug! How dare you laugh! Who do you think you are? Daring to go against Ainz-sama! Do you-"
Ainz raised his hand, which caused Albedo to suddenly stop speaking mid-sentence. "Enough, Albedo." However, if one took a closer look, it would be barely susceptible, but it could be seen that Ainz was not calm. The flames within his eye sockets burned brighter than ever. "Tell me. Where did you get such information? Did you read it from somewhere? Did someone tell you personally?"
Tsaindorcus slowly closed his eyes before opening them again and looking at Ainz. "You seem… impatient. How amusing." He suddenly coughed violently, causing blood to gush out from his mouth and wounds. Speaking slightly weaker, he continued, "I lost… I failed to protect this world from you… I'll answer your questions. It's all here." As he spoke, he slowly reached under one of his scales and pulled out a small, obsidian coin that glinted in the dim light. However, the moment the coin appeared, the gleam in Tsaindorcus' eyes suddenly brightened. He used his claw to flip the coin into the air while laughing and shouting. "I may have lost, but you haven't won! You won't get this world, you evil undead! I heard from the Puh-lay-ers that this is a rare item of which only twenty were made. I never wanted to use this since they said it would take effect on everyone, even the wielder, but you leave me no choice, Ainz Ooal Gown! Your evil reign ends today!"
In fact, the moment the coin appeared and was flipped into the air, Ainz had already recognized it, and his burning flames had dimmed immediately, before burning their brightest. He immediately cast [Reality Slash] at Tsaindorcus and shouted at the rest of the Guardians "Attack him and stop him!"
After hearing his orders, the rest of the Guardians launched attacks immediately.
Shalltear immediately rushed in with her Spuit Lance and struck at an area where scales had already fallen off, immediately causing the wound to worsen. Cocytus immediately slashed with full power, with the God Slaying Emperor Blade in one hand and the Billion Blades in another. Aura attacked with her whip while also commanding her beasts to attack. Mare immediately cast [Stream of Lava], causing the exposed flesh to burn, leaving a faint smoked meat smell in the air. Demiurge immediately cast [Frost of Judecca], causing Tsaindorcus to be frozen, unable to do anything as all these attacks rushed towards him.
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[Written by MaxSurvivor. DO NOT SELL/REPURPOSE STORY FOR PERSONAL USE!]
POV Platinum Dragon Lord, Tsaindorcus Vaision
'I was told that humans experience their life flashing before their eyes when they feel they are nearest to death. It seems that it is true for dragons as well.'
Sighing, Tsaindorcus closed his eyes. Despite being frozen and unable to move, he was no longer fearful of death. Countless scenes of his past constantly flooded his mind. The era of the Six Great Gods. The era of the Eight Greed Kings. The days when he was traveling with the Thirteen Heroes. The day when they found out he was a dragon. The peaceful days. The painful days. An entire life, countless years, was remembered by him in a few milliseconds.
'I will die here today. That is a fact. I do not know what the effect of that item is, but considering the importance the Eight Greed Kings put upon it, I believe it is powerful. Indeed, seeing that undead show true fear was truly a wonderful scene to see before I die. I'll see you soon, Riku. It seems I won't be able to see you for our next meeting, Rigrit. Father, you shouldn't have brought this disaster upon our world. Truly… I hope that this world can be peaceful.'
And thus, ended the long life of the Platinum Dragon Lord, Tsaindorcus Vaision. With a small smile which could barely be seen through all the blood, he died thinking of all the fond memories of his life, and of a wishful dream of a peaceful world. As for whether or not he succeeded in his final attack of desperation…
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POV Ainz Ooal Gown aka Momonga aka Suzuki Satoru
The moment that coin appeared and was flipped into the air, he knew he messed up. He'd gotten cocky. He'd gotten too full of himself. He thought he could finally find some answers about other players, but in the end, he almost ended up losing it all.
'When did I start becoming so… conceited? I was always cautious. I always made back up plans, and backups for my backups. I never rushed into things. So what went wrong? Was I too anxious to find answers? Did I not think? Is it because I wanted to see my friends again? Why-'
Stopping his torrent of thoughts that were in his head, Ainz immediately raised his skull slightly to glance at the obsidian coin.
Lethe's Exile. One of the Twenty. A World Item that was ranked among the top in overpoweredness and the very top in developer BS. Honestly, if he didn't know any better, he would bet that some dev added this item in just to see how much trouble it would cause.
It was just a small obsidian coin, with a pattern only on one side. On one side was a pattern of two rivers forming an X, while the other side was blank. The rivers represented the River Lethe, symbolizing forgetfulness.
However, regardless of how small it was, Ainz wouldn't underestimate it. After all, it was one of Twenty, the strongest World Items that were created. Its effect, after all, was absurd, just like the other Twenty. It was kind of similar to the Longinus, which could completely remove any target from existence at the cost of the wielder's existence. However, Lethe's Exile was slightly different in that it could target not only a single target, but could target a party or even a guild! But unlike Longinus, it wouldn't delete their data. It would just target that character or party or guild and erase their existence from a certain area.
There's only one recorded use of that item being used, and it was used against one of the former top guilds in YGGDRASIL, Ragnorak. Ragnorak had taken complete control of one area in Midgard, one of the worlds of YGGDRASIL. After a player randomly got this world item after killing multiple World Bosses without dying, they tried the item and used it against Ragnorak.
The results were surprising, to say the least. It completely erased Ragnorak's presence from that area. All of their claims, bases, and items- anything within that area that was due to Ragnarok- were completely deleted from the game. That area became completely new, just like how it was when the game was first released. Of course, the person who used the World Item also lost everything, including all items that were in their inventory or in their storage at their base. Anything that the user ever created also disappeared.
In fact, the person who used it might have been one of the most miserable people back in the day. They were relentlessly chased down by Ragnarok for days. Since they lost all their equipment and levels, it was really a massacre. Being chased and dying again and again, for countless days. Everyone in the forums had a good laugh. In fact, Ragnarok was lucky that guy didn't use it on their main base or something else that would have devastated them if removed.
Of course, other people tried to get Lethe's Exile by killing the World Bosses without dying, but it was never received as a reward. No one knew what happened to it or if someone had already gotten it, but it seems that someone really did get it and somehow travelled to this world…
The coin was flipping through the air, going higher and higher, and starting to have a slight glow. Looking at the coin that was defying gravity and getting brighter and brighter the higher it went, he wasted no time at all. He immediately cast [Reality Slash] and yelled at the Guardians. Mere seconds after, a huge explosion of sound of spells and weapons colliding with flesh and scales exploded throughout the room.
Ignoring the explosion, Ainz glanced back at the coin. It was still continuing to flip through the air, but it was no longer getting brighter, and was actually getting dimmer by the second.
He couldn't help but inwardly sigh 'I can't believe I almost screwed up. Thank god it didn't fully activate. If we were even a second late in killing him, it would have been ov-'
Before he could even continue these thoughts of relief, the coin in the air started to spin faster and faster, rising up higher and higher. Although it was no longer shining, a dark premonition arose from Ainz's nonexistent stomach.
Before he could even say anything or react, the coin suddenly emitted a large flash of light that engulfed the entire chamber, including Ainz and the other Guardians.
"Ainz-sama!"
"Ainz-sama!"
"Ainz-sama!"
"Ainz-sama!"
"Ainz-sama!"
"Ainz-sama!"
"DAMMIT!"
The last words that could be heard were the desperate screams from the Guardians yearning for their master's safety, and the enraged roar of a skeleton who had been denied his victory. The only thing remaining was whiteness- an explosion of whiteness that had drowned the entire world and everyone in it.
[Written by MaxSurvivor. DO NOT SELL/REPURPOSE STORY FOR COMMERCIAL USE!]