The Witch of Death
Intending to keep Ainz in check, Nephthys cast Dark Flare — black magic of the pitch-black flame school.
"Guh!"
Ainz had prepared complete immunity to the fire attribute beforehand, so Nephthys's Dark Flare had no effect — but for the sake of the bluff, he staggered and put on a show of agony.
"My turn."
Ainz manipulated the golden lines on the mask he wore, making them glow.
"Release."
The Myriad Thunder Annihilation he had stored through a higher-tier magic seal was unleashed, and lightning poured down upon Nephthys.
She raised a defensive spell, but a speck of soot still appeared on her body.
"Not bad."
Ainz followed up by casting a barrage of debuff magics on her.
Slow. Charm Species. Hold Species. Dominate. Blindness……
Most were low-tier spells, and even the higher-tier ones were well within Nephthys's capacity to resist. But unlike Ainz — who was immune to such debuffs by racial trait — Nephthys had to roll her own resistances or unravel them through reverse calculation and similar methods. The cascade of debuffs he poured onto her was, at the very least, a nuisance.
"Release!"
Ainz triggered the glow on his mask once more and activated Crimson Sanctity from among the magics stored in his higher-tier seal.
Flames enveloped Nephthys, and a little more soot marked her body.
After several more exchanges, Ainz cast an instant-death spell.
"Grasp Heart!"
Nephthys's heart projected into his hand, and he squeezed. Of course, he had no intention of killing her — he cast the spell certain she could resist it. Just as he expected, Nephthys shrugged off the instant death and felt only a mild dizziness.
"Hold of Ribs."
Rib-shaped bones erupted from the earth, reaching to bind her. Nephthys released a surge of pitch-black energy and shattered them — and Ainz, seizing that exact moment, cast his attack.
"Triplet Maximize Magic: Thousand Bone Lance."
Thousands of bone lances erupted from the ground and launched at Nephthys — three times over. She cast Spirit Form, a soul-type black magic, becoming ethereal and slipping through every lance. But Ainz's follow-up came crashing in.
"Maximize Magic: Astral Smite."
Astral Smite — an attack effective against incorporeal targets — struck her at full maximized power.
After several more rounds of offense and defense, Nephthys analyzed her opponent.
A type that uses curses as his mainstay while applying summoning-school techniques for offense and defense? He seems to use elemental attack magic through that mask. Time-based abilities don't seem to work on him either… Pitch-black flame magic seems fairly effective, though…
Nephthys was thoroughly mistaken about Ainz.
Their strength was comparable, but Ainz was meticulously concealing the flow of his mana and had layered false-information magic on top of it, so she was being deceived. Whenever she cast pitch-black flame magic, he either blocked it with defensive spells or took the hit and continued acting as if it hurt.
The exchange dragged on. Nephthys kept pouring out pitch-black flame magic, wasting her mana to no purpose, and her reserves began to run dry. Ainz, for his part, only had enough left for roughly three more tenth-tier spells — yet even then, he maintained the false information that made it look as though he could cast only one more.
"It seems both our mana reserves are running dry."
"Seems so~. So what now?"
Feigning a probe, Nephthys cast Dark Blaze of the pitch-black flame school — and Ainz's mask shattered.
"Now you won't be able to use elemental magi—"
"Crimson Sanctity!"
Ainz's Crimson Sanctity surged forth without warning, and Nephthys cried out.
"W-wait! How on earth—"
"Glad you fell for it. That mask's only effects were modulating the wearer's voice and glowing whenever the wearer wanted it to."
"W-what…?!"
"Meaning every elemental attack spell was my own ability. And the reason pitch-black flame magic seemed so effective was because I was putting on an act the whole time. I had complete immunity to the fire attribute."
Ainz looked at her with pointed significance and added one more line.
"And right now, you're going to say, 'Th-that's impossible!'"
"Th-that's impossible!"
Nephthys clamped her mouth shut. She was stunned that even the words she was about to speak had been predicted — but having lived for over three hundred years, she somehow held her poker face.
"Checking an opponent's life force and mana is basic. Of course, I lay out false information precisely for opponents who do just that."
Nephthys was at a loss for words. It was a field she had grown quite negligent about after becoming the strongest. And so the figure standing before her — her equal, and fully capable of killing her right now — became rather interesting.
Then the next words out of Ainz's mouth surprised her.
"How about we leave the fighting at this?"
"Huh? You're not going to kill me?"
"I didn't come here to kill you in the first place. Interested in making a deal?"
"A deal?"
"First, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ainz Bilene, of the Ivory Tower."
"The Ivory Tower…"
The Ivory Tower — that was where Serne Aindark, who would enroll next year as Special Admission #2 of Kizen's 329th class, belonged.
"And the reason I attacked you was, 'nominally,' on the orders of the Lord of the Ivory Tower, Vermood Aindark."
Nephthys's expression turned dangerous. She had known the Ivory Tower sought independence from Kizen, but that the Tower Lord would go this far was unexpected.
"What I want to demand as the terms of the deal is for you to kill Vermood Aindark."
"Just that? Can't you handle it yourself?"
"I want that scum to die knowing he was killed by someone from Kizen."
Ainz pulled from his inventory the evidence that could prove Vermood had colluded with the Association and handed it to Nephthys.
"This should be enough justification, no?"
Nephthys regarded him for a moment. The evidence he presented was more than sufficient grounds for her to purge Vermood. And his combat power — enough to press her this hard — combined with the thoroughness to deceive even her… If she could recruit someone like Ainz, she was certain she could absolutely protect someone. Moreover, if he was from the same Ivory Tower as Serne, handling that particular matter she had in mind would be all the more convenient.
"Fine. I'll accept. But the conditions I'll propose are……"