A Multiverse Journey Starting as a Supreme Sovereign

His gaze first fell upon a book floating before the banner of Ainz Ooal Gown.

The book emitted a hazy glow and looked ancient and mysterious.

This was a World Item!

World Items were the most powerful items in the entire game, each possessing a unique ability.

Among the two hundred World Items, the top twenty were specially known as the "Twenty."

The Twenty were so powerful that they could severely disrupt the game's balance, even forcing the developers to alter the game system.

As long as a player possessed a World Item, their fame throughout Yggdrasills would soar to unimaginable heights.

And the book floating beneath the guild banner before him was one of those World Items—and the highest-ranked one at that.

Its name was "Avesta." In theory, it belonged to the guild, but in reality, this World Item belonged to an individual: the guild member Zarathustra.

Thinking of that friend, Momonga once again sank into his memories.

Due to Momonga's personality, he had a good relationship with every member of the guild.

Zarathustra could be said to be the most famous player in the guild—perhaps even the most famous player in all of Yggdrasills.

He had been one of the original nine members of Ainz Ooal Gown, one of the pillars upon which the guild had been founded.

No one knew Zarathustra's real name.

No one knew what he did for a living either, but every guild member could tell that he was likely a highly accomplished and successful man.

Though it was not nice to say this about a friend, in Momonga's eyes, Zarathustra was a shrewd and deeply calculating person.

Many of the guild's development strategies, even the strategies for conquering secret realms, had been devised by him and Tabula Smaragdina.

Moreover, Zarathustra got along well with every guild member.

Whether it was the justice-driven Touch Me or Ulbert, who had a strange obsession with "evil," he could adapt to them all with ease.

Of course, comparatively speaking, Zarathustra was closer to Ulbert.

At first, everyone had nominated him to be the guild leader, and every guild member, including Momonga, had supported it.

Whether in talent or his relationships with the guild members, Zarathustra could have done better.

However, there were too many trivial matters involved in managing the guild. Using his dislike of handling such chores as an excuse, Zarathustra rejected the proposal.

Though in the eyes of the guild members, he simply wanted to slack off.

The reason Zarathustra was so famous in the game was that he was truly the strongest in the world, a title recognized by everyone in Yggdrasills.

Yggdrasills held a World Tournament once a year. Starting from the first tournament, Zarathustra won five consecutive world championships.

Only after he grew bored and stopped participating in later tournaments did other world champions finally emerge.

Among all the competitors who entered the tournament, he had even been given the title of "Great Demon Lord."

Like most games, Yggdrasills only offered two ways to grow stronger: grinding or spending money.

The only fairness came in the official tournaments, where everyone had identical attributes and equipment, leaving only control and skill to decide the outcome.

Winning five consecutive world championships in such a tournament made Zarathustra's title of "strongest in the world" entirely deserved.

After his fifth consecutive championship, the game developers personally stepped in to reward the "strongest in the world."

After discussing it with Zarathustra, they personally created the number one World Item for him—"Avesta"!

No one knew the specific abilities or effects of this World Item, not even the guild members of Ainz Ooal Gown.

After obtaining the World Item, Zarathustra placed "Avesta" in the Throne Room.

As he put it, "Avesta" would be the guild's final safeguard.

If players ever truly broke through the Great Tomb of Nazarick and reached the Throne Room, this strongest World Item would surely turn the tide.

What exactly did the number one World Item do? What was its ability?

Curiosity made Momonga unable to resist approaching "Avesta."

"Hmm, since today is the game's final day anyway, why not take a look at this item's description?"

Momonga extended his skeletal hand, hesitantly reaching toward "Avesta."

Just as his fingertips were about to touch "Avesta," Momonga froze.

He hurriedly shook his head and withdrew his hand, muttering to himself, "...No. This is an item Zarathustra obtained through who knows how much hardship and effort."

"...It embodies the blood, sweat, and tears of the members of Ainz Ooal Gown."

"Even as the guild leader, even if today is the game's final day, I cannot sully the bond between friends!"

With that in mind, Momonga gave up on touching the item.

Just as Momonga murmured to himself, a deep yet cheerful male voice suddenly sounded behind him. "...It's been a long time, Momonga!"

Momonga's body stiffened at the sound of that voice. He quickly turned around, only to see an utterly terrifying Great Demon before him.

The Aging Great Demon

A demon of infinitely lofty terror appeared in the Throne Room of Ainz Ooal Gown.

The Great Demon wore an incomparably magnificent black robe embroidered with intricate golden patterns, concealing his mysterious body.

Momonga's race was the Ruler of Death, and his appearance was that of a skeleton.

Though the Great Demon before him was also humanoid, he was completely unlike a human.

His body was formed from near-substantial Black Flame. Rather than a living creature, he resembled the personification of Black Flame.

Yet that was fitting for the Alien Species members of Ainz Ooal Gown.

Information about this strongest person in the world swiftly surfaced in Momonga's mind.

As the Great Demon Lord who had won five consecutive world championships, Zarathustra had received official rewards for his other championship victories besides the final one, where he had obtained the highest-ranked World Item.

For example, unique races, unique classes, and so on.

Momonga remembered that Zarathustra's race was the Demon of Aging, while his classes were Demon God LV.10 and Humanity's Final Trial LV.10.

As for what exactly the Humanity's Final Trial class was, Momonga had absolutely no idea.

Just like his race, many of Zarathustra's abilities were related to Aging.

However, while this ability was powerful, it also had a flaw.

Its effects were greatly reduced against undead races. After all, dead creatures should not be able to age further. That was only logical.

Momonga, as a Ruler of Death, was a typical undead race. Yet even so, he did not believe he had any chance of fighting Zarathustra.

With his many abilities related to Aging, people would instinctively assume that he was a mage. In reality, however, Zarathustra was an overwhelmingly powerful warrior.

Or rather, he cultivated both physical and magical combat. Setting group battles aside, in a one-on-one duel, absolutely no one in Yggdrasills could be his match.

The title of five-time consecutive world champion was no joke.

What was slightly strange was that although Zarathustra's race was the Demon of Aging, he was not categorized as a demon race, but as an undead race.

The guild members had once joked that perhaps the Yggdrasills system believed Zarathustra's abilities could affect himself as well.

To avoid the embarrassing situation of dying from his own skill before killing his opponent, perhaps that was why it classified him as undead.

Saigō looked somewhat helplessly at the skeleton standing there in a daze and could not help speaking up.

"...Momonga, have you finally developed dementia too? Has Alzheimer's started becoming common among young people now? What are you standing there thinking about?"

As Saigō's words fell, Momonga finally came back to his senses.

The skeleton, whose first impression was one of terror, rubbed his shiny bald skull and said rather foolishly, "...Ah, ah, sorry, sorry. I was thinking about something and got distracted."

Hearing Saigō's familiar voice and teasing words once more gave Momonga the illusion that he had returned to the days when everyone in Ainz Ooal Gown was still around.

Back then, laughter and joy always filled the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Every day, they completed quests together, leveled up together, and developed the guild together.

That period had also been the happiest time of Momonga's life.

Only, those days would never return.

Still, Momonga felt a little guilty. He did not know whether Saigō had seen him trying to secretly take "Avesta" just now.

Saigō did not pay Momonga any attention at the moment. In truth, he had noticed Momonga's little action when he logged in, but he did not care much.

Having known each other for nearly twelve years, Saigō understood Momonga quite well.

Put simply, Momonga was a good old guy. He was diligent and hardworking, valued relationships deeply, and loved playing peacemaker.

It was precisely because of that personality that the members of Ainz Ooal Gown had chosen him as their guild leader.

Though everyone had initially wanted Saigō to become the guild leader, Saigō felt that being leader brought too many worries and too many trivial matters to resolve.

That was why he had refused the position and instead recommended the tireless Momonga.

Saigō's black eyes, like crystallized flames, swept over his surroundings. Everything in the Throne Room entered his sight.

As one of the founding pillars of Ainz Ooal Gown, Saigō had fought in this game for nearly twelve years. He felt no unfamiliarity toward the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

He was familiar with everything here, because this Great Tomb had been built brick by brick by him and the guild members.

He looked around, his gaze passing over the Ainz Ooal Gown guild banner hanging at the center of the northern wall, then over the personal banners representing the forty-two members surrounding it.

It passed over the luxurious gold-and-silver carpet, the Roman stone pillars standing within the Throne Room, and the multicolored chandelier on the ceiling.

Then Saigō's gaze fell upon a corner of the hall.

There stood a beautiful demon in pure white.

She wore a gorgeous white dress as lustrous as silk, which wrapped around her exquisitely curved body like rolling mountains.

The demon's features were delicate and gentle, with a faint smile upon her lips. Like a Goddess Venus, her glossy black hair reached her waist, while her golden irises and oval pupils marked her as something beyond human.

If not for the two goat-like demon horns atop her head and the black angel wings extending from both sides of her waist, anyone would have taken her for an impeccable beauty beyond compare.

No, she was a peerless beauty, a demon of perfect temptation as imagined by humanity.

Albedo was an NPC created by Tabula Smaragdina, Saigō's closest friend in the game. Her position was Overseer of the Guardians of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

In that Cyberpunk-like society of the real world, many people lived numbed lives, and few still enjoyed history or mythology.

Tabula Smaragdina, however, was a mythology enthusiast who had studied many myths from around the world.

Naturally, Saigō, who shared the same interests, became close friends with him.

Saigō withdrew his gaze from Albedo. There was not much to see in an NPC without a soul.

No matter how beautiful she was, she was merely a statue, a soulless doll.

Finally, Saigō's gaze settled on Momonga.

The Black Flame beneath his hood flickered, as though he were smiling. In a calm yet clear voice, he said, "...It's been a while, Momonga."

"...I logged in to take a look before the game shuts down. Sure enough, even after everyone else has left, you are still here, guarding everything everyone created."

"From that alone, choosing you as guild leader may have been the most correct decision everyone in this guild ever made."

At that moment, Momonga's emotions trembled violently. Grievance and sorrow surged into his heart, nearly making him cry out loud.

Unfortunately, he was in the game. This skeletal body had no tears.

Even so, Saigō's words moved him deeply, and he felt grateful.

Momonga wiped his tearless skeletal face. His voice trembled as he spoke in a choked tone.

"...Thank you, Zarathustra. Hearing you say that makes me feel that everything I've done was worth it."

Kneel Before Me, Albedo!

"You're already this old. Don't tell me a few words like that moved you to tears, Momonga?"

Noticing Momonga's barely concealed emotions, Saigō said with amusement.

Yet his smile was eerie enough to make one shudder.

Someone like Momonga, who valued relationships, was inherently a good old guy, and was neither extreme nor stubborn, might not be liked by everyone—but no one would hate him either.

At the very least, after Saigō had been reborn into this world and spent twelve years with Momonga in the game, he had come to rather like this good old guy.

"Hey, hey, hey, Zarathustra, don't slander me like that. When did I cry?"