Last summoning of Servants (266)

The hum of machinery used to be a comforting sound, almost like a lullaby from a forgotten world. In that distant life, the low drone of jury-rigged wiring and the ticking of complex homebrew tech were the constant soundtrack of Ainz's apartment building. Now, the steady whir of the summoning apparatus echoed that same sense of reliable routine — a ritual untouched by changing worlds or cosmic battles.

“It’s ready,” Romani’s voice — once filled with the awe of a child stumbling upon a groundbreaking discovery, now carried the tone of steady satisfaction of a seasoned mechanic completing a familiar task. Summoning history’s most powerful familiars had long since lost its novelty; now, it was simply part of the job. A breakdown of the mechanism here would be met not with despair but with the calm certainty that the problem, like any other, could be solved.

“Excellent,” Olga Marie exhaled, glancing at Ainz, one eyebrow raised. 

“I don’t think I need to walk you through the procedure, do I?”

Ainz shook his head, approaching the summoning circle that, in his mind, had transformed from a sacrificial altar into an alchemical workbench. The last Singularity hadn’t involved much combat on his end; while his Servants handled the rampaging monsters, Ainz had descended into the Underworld to confront Tiamat directly. 

On one hand, avoiding fights was a welcome change, as no matter how secure he was of his own prowess now, everything and anything could happen in a battle. On the other hand, fighting no battles meant that he'd been deprived of valuable loot — especially the Saint Quartz he relied on to expand his collection.

To his immense relief, after her defeat, Tiamat's Beast II form had disintegrated, leaving behind a wealth of treasures, more than enough to fund the customary post-Singularity summons. His respect for the Primordial Mother grew, despite the macabre realization that he was grateful for her drop rewards after her death. It was quite the princely sum, almost as if he had just fought a World Enemy, only this time he could take all the rewards for himself.

Even so, he had no desire to repeat that battle.

Placing the first cluster of data-crystals, Ainz stepped back and nodded to Olga, whilst she commanded the people in the control room, whose fingers danced across a control panel in a practiced manner. Immediately, the colossal machine whirred to life, its massive rings spinning at an ever-increasing velocity.

Typically, completing a Singularity awarded him with a Holy Grail — a ‘False’ one, he was repeatedly reminded, but a powerful catalyst nonetheless for summoning Servants from YGGDRASIL or this world's history. This time, however, there was no Grail. 

Tiamat must have absorbed it when she reclaimed her Black Sea, though Ainz wondered if she even noticed it. For her the power-up must have been quite negligible, like a dusting of snow making a mountain, technically speaking, ‘taller’. 

After her self-imposed oblivion, the Grail was either consumed, destroyed, or simply erased from history. In any way, it was gone.

Ainz felt a twinge of regret at the waste, it was his reward after all, but he felt no anger. Unlike with Solomon, he held no grudge against Tiamat, and so Ainz chose to see the loss of the Holy Grail as a final gift to a world that had suffered enough. 

Who knows? Perhaps this too would lead to some unexpected, glorious outcome that his Servants would praise him for.

And as if the world had heard his silent prayer, the vortex of light imploded, and a young woman's voice cut through the cacophony.

“Servant Lancer-class. Ereshkigal, Mistress of the Underworld. I have answered your summons. I don’t typically assist individuals, but since you called, you have my aid. Be grateful.”

Stepping out of the circle, Ereshkigal tossed her golden hair, her eyes shut tight as if to project an aura of divine indifference. But her stoic facade crumbled totally the moment she opened her eyes and glared at the first person she saw — Romani.

“Hey! Why did you all go quiet? I’m a genuine goddess, you know!”

Ereshkigal shot a slightly indignant look sideways, when Romani simply didn’t give her the reaction she wanted. That is, anything but total silent, it would take something special to cause Romani to get excited now.

Her puffed-out cheeks made her seem less like an angry god and more of a petulant child, like a young lady whose ‘masterful’ drawing had been dismissed by clueless adults. But the moment her gaze landed on Ainz, still in his full skeletal form as he was too excited about the summoning to wait for Da Vinci to whip up a new body, she froze. 

A small, involuntary squeak escaped her lips, completely undercutting her previous declaration of divinity.

“A monster!” Pointing her finger forwards, Ainz had the strange impulse to bite into it, probably just because pointing at people is weird.

“Is it not strange for the mistress of the underworld to call an undead a monster?” Ainz sighed, a slight smirk playing at the corner of his lipless mouth. Her personality was just as ridiculous as it was in the Underworld.

“I thought you would remember me a little better, Lady Ereshkigal.”

Instantly grasping the irony of her position, the goddess of the dead, startled by a living corpse, she regained her composure, clearing her throat a few times as her mind raced through her memories. 

The connection clicked a moment later. “Is… Is that you Ainz!? You looked quite different from the last time we spoke!”

“Truly? Being a skeleton is much less weird than being a talking gate, isn’t it?” Ainz replied almost philosophically, recalling the lengthy ‘trials’ where the Goddess in front of him leveraged the opportunity to fish for compliments. 

The Goddess was too shocked to respond, it looked as if she really thought that Ainz was fooled by her ‘disguise’.

“Welcome to Chaldea, Ereshkigal.”

A faint blush colored Ereshkigal’s cheeks as she recalled getting a little carried away with the chance to finally be praised over her sister. It was just supposed to be a light prank! It was not like she was expecting any visitor to Kur!

She gave a quick nod and hurried away from the summoning circle, as if trying to escape the knowing glances of those around her. Realizing she had no idea where to go, she instead went near the far wall of the room, casting timid glances around, silently pleading for directions. 

Her audience, however, had already moved on to the next summoning.

After a few seconds of being ignored, Ereshkigal’s divine presence deflated slightly. She drew in a breath to assert her authority, but her voice was drowned out by another as the summoning circle flashed once again — one that was louder, livelier… and identical to her own.

“The goddess Ishtar has answered your call! As the Goddess of Beauty, I rule Venus, and I'm also in charge of fertility, war, and destruction, so you'd better respect me with all your heart!”

Unlike Ereshkigal, who had fumbled her attempt at projecting divine might, Ishtar didn't even try to look threatening. She emerged from the blinding flash with a radiant, seductive, almost bashful smile, which immediately vanished when her eyes met Ainz's.

“A monster!” Given that Ishtar and Ereshkigal were virtual mirror images of each other, save for the color of their hair and the way they dress, Ishtar’s reaction would have convinced any doubters that they are, indeed, sisters.

But where Ereshkigal had quickly remembered Ainz, Ishtar, who had barely interacted with Ainz, had no such advantage. She recoiled, her bow materializing in her grasp, as her gaze started darting around the room. Wisely, something that is very rarely attributed to Ishtar, she decided against punctuating her grand entrance with a firework display that would have likely shattered Chaldea. 

Then her eyes found Ereshkigal's, and the room fell silent, the only sound in the room being the slow winding-down of the summoning rings.

Both goddesses raised a hand, pointing accusingly at each other.

““You!””

Ainz knew that asking if they knew each other was pointless. Recalling the dual-Nero incident, he stepped forward, breaking their line of sight. Of course, Ainz had no idea that the two were actually sisters, being wholly unfamiliar with the Sumerian pantheon.

In Ainz’s mind, he just saw two Servants with features that are pretty much mirrors of each other – and, using his experience with the many Servants of his that carry such features, he knew that he needed to step in immediately.

“If you wish to settle this, do it over tea… or at least in the designated training hall, not here.”

Ereshkigal, remembering who Ainz was, the being who had descended into the Abyss and returned, instantly understood the unspoken ‘or else’ and lowered her finger. Ishtar, her sister, on the other hand, despite lacking this experience, nonetheless registered the shift in the room's atmosphere.

Plus, the tall skeleton looked scary.

She backed away, trying to slip out from under Ainz’s glowing gaze while shooting him a suspicious look. Was he really one to be giving her orders, or was he just a very convincing bluffer?

In any case, Ishtar made sure to stand a distance away from Ereshkigal – She stopped at a respectable distance before directing a piercing glare first at her sister, then at Ainz. Ereshkigal responded in kind, though her focus remained primarily on Ishtar. 

The resulting staring contest, with gazes flickering between targets, looked less like two warriors poised for battle and more like two roommates, each suspecting the other of leaving the stove on, and both already picturing the smoldering ruins of their shared home.

Ignoring the sparks blooming between the two, Ainz returned his attention to the summoning.

Setting down the requisite amount of crystals, Ainz stepped back and glanced at the two goddesses. He made a mental note; he would either need to intervene and resolve their issues… or quarantine them at opposite ends of Chaldea.

As Ainz began to sift through the various Servant dynamics and potential clashes, he caught himself as a near-smirk flashed in his expression.

‘So, this is what it's like to be a boss?’

It wasn't that he hadn't performed boss-like duties before, but usually, it was preceded by a mantra of ‘I must be a good boss’ or a thought beginning with ‘a good boss would…’ Now, without even noticing it, he had started thinking like a good boss without the internal reminder to do so.

Did this mean he had achieved the coveted status of a ‘good’ boss? Of course not. 

Ainz realistically understood this was merely the first, albeit promising, step. Besides, being a ‘good boss’ wasn't a one-time achievement to be unlocked and forgotten; it was more like a position on a leaderboard, one he'd have to constantly maintain to avoid dropping off. Perhaps once he discovered some ‘unbeatable combination’ or ‘meta-tactic’, maintaining his position on the ‘board’ would become easier. 

But for now, he was just starting on the path, he'd have to approach his new status with doubled attention, effort, and thoroughness.

Having finished his mental contemplation in time, Ainz returned just in time to see the summoning circle finish its routine, as another flash of light appeared. 

The figure that emerged was unfamiliar to him, but known to everyone else present, and she definitely made an impression. He had, after all, even after descending into the underworld and the Abyss, his Servant was a font of information about the grand ‘entrance’ the Goddess had made.

Arthur definitely has a lot to say at the very least.

“Haaaaai! The goddess Quetzalcoatl enters the ring!” The appearance of a tall, toned, and vibrant woman, quite mature, he might add, as two massive jiggling orbs made it obvious, it made Ainz's brow furrow. 

Spotting him, on the other hand, this Goddess reacted entirely differently from the previous two goddesses.

“Amazing! How can such wisdom and power reside in bones and a robe?” Quetzalcoatl's smile was so radiant that Romani and Olga almost squinted. Then, her smile widened, revealing small, sharp fangs, her expression like an eclipse momentarily blotting out the sun. 

A shadow passed over her face, and for an instant, her sparkling eyes held the glint of a nocturnal predator stalking its prey. 

“You don't intend to use it for evil, do you?”

Ainz paused; the statement was unmistakably a threat, if not an outright challenge, yet unlike some of his other Servants, it wasn't a direct call to arms. At least she hadn't rushed him with a weapon drawn, like a certain spear-wielding maniac. After all his efforts to save humanity, being suspected of some new, unspeakably cruel plot was tiresome, but he'd long since accepted that his undead appearance made a poor first impression. 

He saw no reason to get worked up over it.

“It's a pleasure to have you here, Quetzalcoatl. It's an honor to meet you — I am Ainz Ooal Gown. And no, I’m not using my wisdom for evil.”

“The pleasure is all mine! And no need for such stifling formalities, you can just call me Coatl, and I'll call you Ainz!” The shadow on her face vanished as quickly as it had appeared, like a fleeting dream. She shot a hand forward, grabbing his hand before he could react. Unfazed by his skeletal form, she enveloped his hand in a firm handshake, pumping it up and down vigorously with a smile so disarmingly brilliant that protesting the breach of personal space and propriety felt virtually impossible.

After a few more seconds of vigorous shaking, Quetzalcoatl released Ainz's hand, then beamed at everyone else in the room. Her smile lingered on Romani, then Olga, and finally settled on the two goddesses who had arrived just before her. 

Under the gaze of the goddess of wind and sun, Ishtar and Ereshkigal seemed to stand a little straighter, as if trying not to provoke yet another divine being in their midst.

“And now both sisters are together!” Quetzalcoatl’s smile somehow managed to become even brighter. Like a child who'd just spotted a new toy, she sidestepped Ainz and strode towards the two goddesses who were busy holding up the wall. 

“Ishtar, Ereshkigal! How rare to see you both in the same place! And for said place to remain in one piece!”

Ishtar, reacting to Quetzalcoatl's approach with a subtle nervousness, would have gladly taken a step back if she wasn't already pressed against the wall. She raised her hands in a defensive gesture. “Th-this goddess does not wish for you to come closer!”

Ereshkigal reacted similarly, though in a far more subdued manner, having apparently grown accustomed to Quetzalcoatl’s boisterous personality during the Singularity. 

“We saw each other not that long ago, Coatl…”

“It feels like the world has ended and reformed since we last spoke! So it must be just that long!” Quetzalcoatl quipped, the morbid joke delivered with the casual air of someone discussing the weather. She closed the distance, deftly turning Ishtar's defensive barrier of hands into an invitation for a handshake. “A pleasure to meet you, Ishtar, I’m Quetzalcoatl! And you must be that 'good-for-nothing sister' Ereshkigal was talking about?’

“Y-yes, I'm Ishtar,” momentarily overwhelmed by Quetzalcoatl’s sheer presence, Ishtar returned the handshake more out of instinct than desire before her words fully registered. “Hey! What do you mean, 'good-for-nothing'!? What kind of insult is that!?”

“Huh, so you’re complaining that it was an insult, and not that it’s a lie? At least, you have some self-awareness, sister…” Ereshkigal grumbled off to the side. 

“It's always some kind of catastrophe every month…” Despite the fact that she was grumbling under her breath, Ishtar’s ears were sharp enough to hear it.

“The most beautiful woman in the world is allowed a little whimsy!” Ishtar shot back, loudly protesting the, in her opinion, completely undeserved insult. 

“Besides, they aren't catastrophes, they're just… events! A little bit of excitement for the mortals!”

“After your 'events,' we have to redraw the maps, and the mortals were not screaming because they were ‘excited’, sister. No wonder Gilgamesh hated your guts.” Ereshkigal retorted, earning an indignant sound of complaint from Ishtar that was somewhere between a squeak and indignation.

Watching the scene unfold, Ainz felt a sudden pang of… nostalgia.

For a moment, he could vividly picture Peroroncino bragging about finishing a personal quest and getting the top-tier bow for his build. While a smug Bukubukuchagama would be right beside him, puncturing his inflated ego, in her opinion at least, detailing how he'd failed all secondary objectives and tanked his reputation with a friendly faction to get it. 

And there would be Touch Me; who had inadvertently started the whole thing and was now watching with a mixture of amusement and awkwardness. He would be wondering whether to defuse the conflict or fan the flames by mentioning he’d just crafted a new version of his blade and, in the process, improved his reputation with a neutral faction…

The vision lasted only a second before fading. 

The Servants before him were not his old friends, nor are they a replacement for his guild. But the wave of melancholy that had washed over him was suddenly dispersed by a small, warm spark born from that same thought.

The Servants were not his old friends.

They were something new.

Turning away, Ainz loaded the last of the crystals. He might be feeling the bittersweet feeling of nostalgia, but getting new Servants was of utmost importance.

A moment later, the machine whirred back to life, its rising hum cutting short the goddesses’ escalating argument. The rings spun faster and faster, sparks tracing lines of light until they merged into a single, blinding hoop, which then exploded in a flash.

“Hmph,” A voice, undoubtedly female, but low and throaty, emerged from the fading light, it was laced not with contempt, but with a deep melancholy that concealed pain and hatred. “Avenger, Gorgon. Use me wisely. And I will use you in equal measure.”

The figure that emerged from the flash was tall, almost rivaling Angrboda in height. Her pinkish hair cascaded in waves to the ground and beyond, spreading where it could. Where it couldn't, it coiled upward, twisting into living appendages, its ends forming the maws of snake-like creatures writhed around her body, their movements independent, as if searching for something to seize.

An enormous serpentine tail acted as a third leg, lifting her even higher, making her size seem truly immense. 

The blindfold over her eyes left no doubt as to her identity.

The Gorgon, however, hadn't taken a single step before her blindfolded gaze locked onto Ainz. Having experienced Medusa's stare many times, Ainz met her gaze without fear. 

And a silent staring contest unfolded, a certain sense of tension builds, compelling even the bickering goddesses to fall quiet, as if sensing the weight of the unspoken exchange.

The silence between them stretched for several seconds before the Gorgon raised a hand tipped with claws, small, relative to her own size, and pointed a finger at Ainz.

“I… remember you.”

“As do I,” Ainz replied simply.

His interactions with the Gorgon had been brief, but the image of the eternally suffering monster was unforgettable, as was their final, almost philosophical, confrontation. He also remembered that she had been the anchor Merlin used to restrain Tiamat.

The silence returned, lasting a few more seconds until the Gorgon, apparently unsure how to proceed, lowered her hand and simply continued to pierce Ainz with her unseen gaze.

It was Olga who finally broke the tension with a practical question. 

“I wonder how this will affect your relationship with Medusa.”

The Gorgon — who was Medusa but also wasn't — shifted her gaze to Olga. A question remained unasked, but Olga caught it nonetheless.

“They're in a relationship,” Olga stated, then frowned. “…and I too… well, the situation was already complicated, and now it's even more so.”

The Gorgon, an embodiment of monstrous destruction and self-loathing, reacted in the only way she could. 

She froze, even her snake-like hair paused their movement entirely.

“““W-what?!”””

Her stunned cry was echoed by Ishtar and Ereshkigal. Even Quetzalcoatl’s radiant smile dimmed for a moment as she sensed something monumental unfolding without her involvement.

“And that's not all,” Olga continued, momentarily savoring the rare sight of a powerful monster, and the Goddesses, completely bewildered by a world beyond their control. 

She decided to drive the final nail into the coffin of the Gorgon's self-awareness. 

“She's here in Chaldea, by the way. Along with your sisters.”

Though her eyes were covered, the Gorgon blinked with such force that everyone nearby felt it. 

Her gaze snapped back to Ainz, who was also lost in the strangeness of the situation.

“So I…” The Gorgon's mind was grinding so hard, trying to digest the new information, it was almost audible as she tried to reconfigure her entire worldview to accommodate this new piece of information without shattering her own view of the world completely. 

“She… They… We…”

Watching the scene unfold, Romani, who had managed to remain unnoticed throughout the summoning, sensed the precipitous drop in atmospheric pressure that precedes a storm. And like the genius of self-preservation that he is, chose the only option available to him.

Without drawing attention to himself, he discreetly edged towards the exit, his only guarantee of survival in the rapidly escalating situation.

The Gorgon’s gaze snapped back to Olga, silently probing for any sign that this was all some elaborate mortal prank worthy of a new myth. Finding only smug satisfaction in Olga's expression, she turned back to Ainz, her face wearing an expression utterly unbecoming of one of history’s greatest monsters.

It was a silent plea for him to tell her it was all a joke, or that there was at least some other logical explanation beyond the obvious.

Ainz, seeing this, felt a sudden urge to reinforce Olga's words. He spread his hands wide and spoke calmly, 

“I won't force you into anything, nor do I expect anything from you.”

The Gorgon, who just moments ago had declared her intention to use and be used by him, completely seized up. One could almost see the error code flashing across her ornate mask.

As he watched, Ainz felt the small spark within his soul burn a little brighter.

The Servants were not his old friends. They were something new.

And where there is something new…

There will always be new emotions.