Tatsuya Shiba of The Irregular at Magic High School / Death Is the End of All Life...

Ainz Ooal Gown, ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, is Ruler of Death with the attribute of Extreme Evil and a justice value of -500. Although he was human in his previous life, his humanity was extinguished when his soul entered the body of this skeleton.

When everything is no longer a role-playing game, but a living, breathing entity, he can trample on it without hesitation.

He was respected and loved by the strange subordinates, despite various misunderstandings and over-interpretations arising from various coincidences. The fact that he could stay there already indicated his abnormality.

All soldiers who offended them were captured and taken to the Great Tomb of Nazarick as test subjects and tortured for information. Numerous Imperial soldiers were also tortured and killed using True Magic.

Of course, they also have no regard for the lives of people in this world.

But when he discovered the truth of the world, he realized that he was not the supreme ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick in the game, not the player Momonga who was above the NPCs, nor the invincible, godlike King of the Magic Kingdom.

He broke down when it was just a character in a light novel.

Although Ainz Ooal Gown could teleport, some of the system's functions were no longer working after he arrived in this world. He was unable to return to his original world.

Having lost his humanity, his body had transformed into that of Skeleton Lich. Appearing in modern human society, he was completely out of touch, his mind no longer able to comprehend such a world.

In the world he traveled to, he clearly possessed a mind and could control his body and will.

When someone understands that the people in this other world have emotions and lives, yet still plays the villain, indulging in evil desires and manipulating others' lives at will, they are already destined to deviate from humanity.

Ainz Ooal Gown sometimes upholds justice, and sometimes generously bestows favors upon ordinary people, but in the end, he is no longer human; at heart, he is the ruthless and terrifying King of the Undead.

At most, they can only be described as cold-blooded demons who retain some human memories.

If you don't provoke him and obey him, you can survive. But if you disobey him, he will suppress you without mercy. As an immortal being, he has completely lost respect for life and empathy for humanity.

"This world without Miyuki! I don't need it at all!" Shiba Tatsuya roared angrily, unleashing Mass Blast that disintegrated the point of contact at the atomic level.

"This is the world I'm going to conquer and then destroy. You can't just say whatever you want." Ainz also activated True Magic, releasing a black gravity ball.

Shiba Tatsuya and Ainz engaged in a fierce battle. Both were self-centered paranoiacs, and they destroyed a large area of the buildings on the ground.

"Damn it! Have you any consideration for the people living here?!" Shirou shouted, bursting out from between the two men and punching them both, sending them flying.

Shirou's punch was heavy, Shiba Tatsuya and Ainz were caught off guard. The two figures, one in black and one in white, were slammed into the abyss and crashed into the cliff, where they dented.

To stop them, immense power is needed. Now, Shirou has reclaimed the power of the white god. Furthermore, through a channel connecting to the god's true form, he has secretly stolen a large amount of energy from the sleeping god.

While the power released when the white deity decomposes can be used by anyone, much like a wish-granting machine, connecting this power to the deity's true form is a privilege reserved for avatars of the white deity.

At this moment, Shirou has seized a portion of the power from the original body and taken ownership of this planet and the worlds of numerous fantasy works, existing as a god of this galaxy.

The entire galaxy is now Shirou's domain; he can defeat anyone who runs rampant in this galaxy.

At this moment, Shirou's hair turned pure white, growing to shoulder length, and his eyes also turned pure white. The two sinners who had destroyed the world, who were sent flying, seemed to be burning with white flames, which was the majesty of Goddess.

As characters appearing in works, humans have a need for things like erotic music, gore, and violence. That's why themes like apocalypse and zombies have become popular all over the world and are welcomed as a subculture.

Characters like Yandere, sadist, paranoid, and mentally ill are also quite popular.

Films like Joker and Venom, through high-intensity Hollywood promotion and a well-developed industrial system, were released globally as restricted films, raking in between $800 million and US dollars 1 billion at the box office alone.

The Joker, in particular, as the most profitable comic book adaptation, certainly deserves to be called the most popular villain character in history.

People are capable of appreciating villainous characters, but that's something to admire from afar, like Lord Ye's love of dragons—beauty comes from distance. No one wants the clown to come knocking on their door one day, appearing beside them or their family.

Liking something doesn't mean people can accept it. There are such people around them in reality. Even for those who confuse real-world morality with entertainment works, they feel that such things shouldn't exist, even if they are works of art.

Just like someone who keeps saying that one of their eyes hides the power of an evil eye, or that an evil dragon is sealed on their arm, and who's a chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur) who's either going to destroy the earth one minute or saving the world the next, you can just laugh it off.

But when such a delusional person actually possesses the power he speaks of, it's like handing a nuclear button to a bratty kid—anyone would be terrified.

At that moment, two enormous energies surged up from the abyss below, a black energy wave and a white atomic sphere rushing towards Shirou simultaneously.

Shirou remained motionless, a white light emanating from his body, and absorbed all the energy. Ainz and Shiba Tatsuya materialized because of the power of the white god; ultimately, their power originated from the energy of the creator god.

No matter what kind of energy it is, Shirou can restore it to its original energy and then absorb it.

"Stop it, you can't hurt me. You should understand that, right?" Shirou said, looking at the two of them.

"So you're the creator of our world? How ironic." Ainz's eyes flashed red as he spoke in a deep voice. If he weren't restrained by the skeleton, he would have been gritting his teeth.

"That doesn't matter. If you are a god, then answer me: is my sister, Shiba Miyuki, even in this world?" Shiba Tatsuya asked, pointing his gun at Shirou.

Chapter 1123 Death is the end of all life

Shirou closed his eyes, sensing the pulse of the entire planet. As the creator god of the planet, he could hear the voices of everyone who grew up here and see what they were experiencing.

Someone was about to trip and fall while fleeing, and was about to be trampled by the people rushing behind them, when a white light lifted her up.

In one place, strange beings from another world appeared, attacking ordinary people and trying to turn them into little girls. A beam of white light swept up the strange beings and threw them back into their original world, where they appeared before the twin-tailed warriors.

After screening, the voices were limited to those directed at outsiders from the world.

Among these beings, there was no one who knew Shiba Tatsuya.

"The girl you're talking about doesn't exist in this world."

"Is that so..." Shiba Tatsuya slightly moved the gun away; at least for now, he saw no point in fighting Shirou. However, he didn't completely trust Shirou yet.

Ultimately, when Shiba Tatsuya was six years old, his mother subjected him to an experiment to create an artificial True Magic. His ability to generate strong emotions was sealed by mental interference True Magic, and he has been expressionless ever since.

Aside from his sister, he had never truly trusted anyone. He was raised as a weapon of war and spent his childhood on the battlefield. As a result, he was feared by those in power because of his immense strength.

Even after entering high school, surrounded by innocent and carefree girls, people always change. Even one's own parents can't be trusted.

Her aunt, who was also a victim, became someone who considered everything for the Yotsuba family, a rational being who seemed inhuman. Rather than familial affection, it was more like fear of Shiba Tatsuya's power. She was afraid that one day he would storm the Yotsuba family and kill all the high-ranking officials of the ten great True Magic families and the country that supported the artificial True Magic project.

Aside from his younger sister, Shiba Tatsuya wasn't even entirely clear about his own value.

In the previous world, the adults were filthy, ignorant, and insatiably greedy. In this world, although people don't have True Magic or anything like that, the gap between ordinary people and nobles/officials doesn't seem so large. However, at their core, it's still the same: class division, with the upper class acting recklessly and the lower class having to pay the price.

However, in such a world, there are still people who genuinely want to bring happiness to everyone, and who actually possess the power to make it happen. This is something that Shiba Tatsuya finds quite shocking.

"What is your purpose?" Shiba Tatsuya asked, looking at the white-haired god before him.

"My goal is to bring happiness to those around me! To bring happiness to this world! For this goal, I must drive out you troublemakers. But now, as your god, I also hope to give you the opportunity to repent and find happiness," Shirou said sincerely.

"Happiness? You want to make someone like me happy? It seems that the broken people here aren't just me and that skeleton, you're the craziest one." Shiba Tatsuya said sarcastically.

"That's right! It is for this goal that I decided to become a god. If it's not enough, I will become stronger. My original form, the white god, did this before, but failed. However, I have decided to continue doing it this way from now on." Shirou answered firmly.

Even if they are scumbags, hopeless bastards, Shirou wants to give them more opportunities to reform. Scholars have applied the Pareto principle (80/20 rule) to human nature, suggesting that it seems preordained from the beginning that 20% of the human race will exploit and harm others.

Moreover, these figures are not fixed. Even if you find 20% of the bad guys and kill them all, it won't be long before society breeds a new 20% of bad guys.

Some bad people repent and become good people, but some honest people, or good people, turn bad. Or, in some things, a person may act like a good person, but in other things, they may do wrong.

A philanthropist who appears to be a great benefactor to outsiders may be a negligent husband, father, and family member at home.

A person who cherishes their family deeply and is a loving father and filial son may become a thug and bully once they step out of the house.

"Happiness?"

"Don't you want to protect your sister? Isn't that the happiness you want?"

"All I can do is stay by Miyuki's side and protect her... But... how can I give her happiness?" Shiba Tatsuya shook his head.

He is an executioner, a modified person with mental disorders, capable of killing, assassinating, and using force to destroy all kinds of conspiracies and schemes, but he doesn't know how to bring happiness to people.

Miyuki claims she will inherit the position of head of household of the Yotsuba family, but she's nothing more than a puppet of a bunch of cunning old foxes in the family. Even if she agrees on the surface, there will inevitably be all sorts of scheming and infighting behind the scenes for power.

Miyuki is clever, and naturally she wouldn't just sit idly by without fighting back. But even if she outsmarted those guys and gained power, could she truly be considered happy?

Shirou looked at the man and loudly questioned him:

"It's true that sometimes reality is cruel, and things are so complicated that it's hard to tell right from wrong, and there seems to be no solution. But does that mean we should give up on pursuing happiness?"

According to Buddhism and Christianity, life is inherently suffering, or rather, living in this world is for atonement of sins. Suffering in this world is a form of spiritual practice; by striving to accumulate merit and do good deeds, one can enter heaven after death.

However, if one's only aim is to cultivate for the next life, then one is neglecting this life. Why do people come into this world? Isn't it to realize their ideals and find their own happiness? It's just that the world is too colorful and complex, dazzling people and causing them to unknowingly forget their true selves.

"Listen up! As destroyers of this world, you were originally to be treated as terrorists. However, considering that your presence here was not your intention, I will restore the world to its original state. Now I can send you back to your original world." Shirou floated above the two, looking down at Ainz and Shiba Tatsuya.

"Would you let me return to Miyuki's side?" Shiba Tatsuya asked Shirou excitedly. He thought he was going to die here, but he didn't expect that this god would actually spare him.

If it were him, he would definitely kill all enemies who harbored ill will towards him, because keeping them around is like planting a bomb nearby, and you never know what might explode. To protect Miyuki, this would absolutely be the best course of action.

But if he encountered a higher-level being, he would also be brutally killed in the same way; that's the law of the jungle. He had long ago come to terms with this.

"Yes, there's no need to kill you." Shirou nodded slightly.

With his current powers, the destroyed world can be restored to its original state, and the dead can be resurrected. All he needs to do is deal with everything and turn back time to before the disaster occurred.

Therefore, he was not in a hurry. Rather than punishing the criminals or seeking revenge, Shirou was more concerned with whether the world could achieve lasting happiness.

"Alright, send me back now!" Shiba Tatsuya completely let go of his antagonistic feelings towards Shirou.

Shirou released a white portal of light, and Shiba Tatsuya walked straight into it without a second thought. For him, the most basic happiness was probably being by his sister's side. As a human, he was incomplete.

"I will find a way to make up for the fact that the world is not perfect. Please be patient for a while," Shirou said.

"That doesn't matter. As long as I can stay by Miyuki's side, that's enough for me. I will protect her no matter what, and I will try my best to make her happy in the future. I hope your wish can come true." Shiba Tatsuya coldly agreed and disappeared into the white light.

Shiba Tatsuya accepted Shirou's explanation, but the King of the Undead on the other side was not so easily persuaded. Shirou's ideas were fundamentally at odds with Ainz Ooal Gown's ideals, practically irreconcilable like fire and water.

At that moment, red light shone from the eye sockets inside the skull, Ainz Ooal Gown opened his arms, unleashing his strongest skill!

"I don't need anyone to give me happiness, so let's all die together! Creator! I've given you the curse of certain death!!!"

Death is the end of all life.

Chapter 1124 Reincarnation After Death is the Basic Operation

When Ainz was in the other world, he often reminisced about his past memories with his guildmates, and he doted on the characters created by his guildmates as if they were all their shared children.

He will be placed in a situation above the natives of this world, which, in dramatic terms, is the fourth act, much like in the famous American TV series House of Cards, where, from the beginning, as the plot unfolds, the protagonist will suddenly stop and whisper something to the audience behind the camera.

The same applies to Ainz. The readers of light novels are his kindred spirits. That world is ultimately a game world, and even the seemingly living humans are just high-level NPCs, not his kindred spirits.

It's like playing a game; you can control and enslave people at will, and slaughter them at will.

Ainz once thought that if he could return to the real world, he would definitely be a normal person.

But he was wrong, especially when he learned that he was actually a character in a light novel, and then Ainz broke down...

This is not the world he wants to return to; this world is flawed. The people in this world are nothing more than NPCs, lifelike inflatable dolls. To prove this point, he plans to conquer this world and then destroy it completely.

Those who obey him may temporarily become part of the Magic Kingdom; those who disobey will be killed with True Magic right now.

Yes, it's not him who's gone mad, it's the world.

If you want to deny him, whether you're Creator God or someone who pursues happiness for everyone, then you should all die!

A golden pillar of light appeared behind Ainz; it was the halo of time, announcing the blessing of death.

This is a special skill that Ainz acquired after unlocking the hidden class "Eclipse" when the Ruler of Death race reached level 95 and leveling it to the maximum level.

It cannot be interrupted, ignores any instant-death resistance, and when stacked on an instant-death skill, the target will inevitably die after twelve seconds.

Ainz then unleashed an instant-death True Magic: 'Extended Area of Effect Skill - Banshee's Howl!'

Several purple-skinned banshees appeared in the void, emitting piercing howls towards the surrounding area.

Their voices are shrill, their cries carrying for dozens of kilometers. Anyone who hears them is doomed. There is no way to undo the curse, no way to become immune. Even if Ainz himself kills the caster, the victim will still die.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.

The clock ticked, and twelve seconds later, a wisp of black smoke rose from Shirou's body, but it was instantly absorbed by the white light emanating from Shirou, returning him to pure white. It did not cause Shirou any harm.

As for the others, Shirou casually created an invisible vacuum wall to block the transmission of the banshee's wails, preventing the curse from harming people outside.

"Unfortunately, I no longer have the concept of death," Shirou said, looking at the Skeleton Lich with some pity.

As for Shirou, he let the banshees wail. He had transcended the realm of life and death, becoming a manifestation of the consciousness of this galaxy created by the white god. As long as this galaxy exists, Shirou will continue to exist. He can kill a life, but how can he kill a phenomenon?

"Why! Why! Aren't all lives meant to perish?!" Ainz Ooal Gown roared in fury.

"That's not right. A lifetime is far too short to allow humanity to truly understand the world. Moreover, there are stars and oceans beyond Earth. The world needs excellent life forms to explore and develop it. Many worlds have mechanisms for reincarnation or ascension to Servant."

"Aren't you also a beneficiary of this mechanism? As a human, you should have died suddenly in front of the computer, but because of your intense longing, your consciousness entered your own world, didn't it?" Shirou looked at the Lich with pity and said calmly.

"Liar! It's clearly a plot point that lousy author arbitrarily added!"

"Do you prefer to believe a book rather than yourself, or do you not want to admit the crime of slaughtering hundreds of thousands of people? Those people were victims who were misled by those in power, committed their evil deeds, and are now entering the cycle of reincarnation to start over."

"It's great that you know your mistakes and can correct them. From now on, just do more good deeds and find your own true path." Shirou looked at the lich and advised him.

"You... this guy, is that really what you think? Do you really want to put me back in my original world so I can atone for my sins?" The red light in the hole on the skull's face wavered slightly.

"This is the system by which the world operates, with good and evil. Sometimes evil is punished by those who are lax, and then someone else raises the banner of justice to defeat evil, and the cycle continues. I conducted countless experiments on the previous one but couldn't find a better method. I guess evil can never be completely eliminated."

But humanity learns and evolves from its lessons. You will also have the chance to be reincarnated. Memories may not last forever, but your soul will remember your current reflections. So keep improving yourself and become someone you are genuinely proud of."

Ainz Ooal Gown realized that he and Shirou were fundamentally different—in terms of level, realm, or dimension. No, perhaps they were not even the same species from the beginning, and their thoughts and ideas were completely different.