Without hesitation, Ainz gathered all the Guardians back to Nazarick.

He couldn't teleport directly into the Throne Room, so he activated his teleportation magic and arrived in the chamber directly before it — Lemegeton.

There, he pushed open the grand, heavy doors and strode toward the throne of crystal that gleamed at the center.

Inside, all the Guardians had already assembled.

There was no table, no decorations — only a single crystal throne in the great royal hall.

Once, forty-one chairs had stood here, but now only that one remained.

Passing by the kneeling Guardians — Albedo, Cocytus, Mare, Aura, and Sebas Tian — Ainz quietly sat upon the throne.

Yet among the gathered Guardians, two seats were empty.

One belonged to Victim, who was never summoned outside his defensive floor.

The other… was absent for a far more dire reason.

....

As Ainz's skeletal steps echoed across the hall, his bony face betrayed no emotion —but every Guardian present could sense it.

Their master was displeased. Deeply.

And beneath that cold aura lurked an anger so intense it made their bodies tremble.

Seated upon the throne, Ainz looked down at them —

six Guardians kneeling, one seat empty.

The missing one…

Nazarick's greatest intellect.

The wisest of demons, the strategist who never failed to devise an answer —Demiurge.

His place… was vacant.

....

"...Master Source, open."

Ainz spoke softly.

The words weren't directed to anyone in the room,

yet a semi-transparent console appeared before him, floating in the air.

It wasn't quite like the old YGGDRASIL console — similar in appearance, but different in function.

Countless glowing tags and lines of text filled the screen.

This was Nazarick's internal management system.

He had used it once before — back when he resurrected Shalltear.

Within it were lists of the tomb's daily upkeep costs,

the number and types of Servants and constructs currently active, and other data that allowed for remote maintenance —but only here, in the Throne Hall, could the system be accessed in this world.

Back in YGGDRASIL, it had been usable anywhere on the server.

Now, Ainz's experiments had proven that it only functioned from Nazarick's heart.

...

The crimson flames in Ainz's sockets swept across the floating panel.

With a few gestures, he opened the NPC tag list —

the record of every NPC the guild had created together.

He sorted them by level.

Names lined up in pristine white script, scrolling downward.

And there —where Demiurge's name should have been —was a blank space.

Or rather, it wasn't blank — the text was there,

but so faint that it had nearly disappeared.

Ainz's teeth clicked together sharply.

In this system, when an NPC or character dies,

their name vanishes, leaving only empty space.

When resurrected, the name reappears.

It was all the confirmation he needed.

For a moment, rage flooded his mind —a red haze of fury washing over all thought.

Then, with a faint metallic chime, Emotional Suppression triggered.

His consciousness cleared —only for anger to surge up again.

Again, suppression activated.

Again, it fell silent.

It repeated several times, until finally,

Ainz realized his fury could rise no higher.

He exhaled slowly.

"...Haa. I see. So that's how it is."

It was confirmed.

Demiurge was dead.

Dead beyond all doubt.

Ainz's jaw tightened until his teeth ground together audibly.

This was nothing like the incident with Shalltear.

Then, he had been confused — caught off-guard —

and Shalltear's survival had allowed him to act rationally.

But this time—there was no ambiguity.

Demiurge had been attacked and killed.

The enemy might still be unknown, but this was an undeniable act of aggression —a declaration of war against Nazarick itself.

Fury boiled within him like molten fire.

Yet Ainz knew rage alone would solve nothing.

He steadied himself and looked down upon the kneeling Guardians.

"First of all... I ask you all —does anyone know anything about the circumstances of Demiurge's death?"

The hall fell into heavy silence.

Then, at last, a deep, halting voice broke it —Cocytus spoke first, his tone measured and slow.

"Forgive me, Ainz-sama," said Cocytus first, his deep voice halting as usual. "I was stationed in the Throne Hall and have not had contact with Demiurge since receiving his report yesterday."

"I-I as well… have none," Mare added nervously. "I was… in the Lizardman village, so…"

"Ainz-sama! My brother and I were building an outpost in the forest!" Aura quickly followed.

"Y-yes… I was with my sister too, Ainz-sama," Mare murmured again.

"As for me," said Sebas with calm formality, "I was in the royal capital carrying out the cleanup operation and other assigned duties. Like Albedo, I last spoke with him only yesterday, during our regular report."

"...I see."

Ainz nodded slowly. He, too, had received a report from Demiurge just the previous day. None of the Guardians had any reason to lie; it was now certain that no one knew anything about the circumstances of Demiurge's death.

To be honest, Ainz had been tense all the way here. Demiurge was dead — Demiurge! Of all beings in Nazarick, the wisest devil, the overseer of all royal capital operations, the brilliant strategist who shaped Nazarick's direction — gone.

The realization filled Ainz with a greater sense of danger than even Shalltear's incident had.

True, Demiurge had been acting outside Nazarick, and death was always possible. But that Demiurge? The cunning, careful demon who was always ten steps ahead? The shock was unavoidable.

Now, seeing that the other Guardians were unharmed, Ainz felt a small measure of relief. If multiple Guardians had perished, he wasn't sure even he could have contained his fury.

Still— anger remained. There was no information, not even the faintest clue. Who was the enemy? Just like with Shalltear, they knew nothing again. Twice now, Nazarick had been attacked— and both times, they hadn't even glimpsed the enemy's shadow. It was infuriating.

"Then… for now…"

They would find out soon enough. Ainz manipulated the Master Source once more.

At once, golden light flooded the room.

The faint clinking sound of coins echoed as rivers of gold poured down, filling every corner of the Throne Hall except for the crystal throne and the kneeling Guardians.

It was gold coins — not of this world, but from YGGDRASIL.

Ainz had just withdrawn five hundred million gold coins — roughly ten thousand tons — from the guild treasury through the system interface.

Just as he had during Shalltear's resurrection, he had opened the guild vault to prepare for Demiurge's revival.

Of course, the process didn't require doing this manually, but it felt right to follow the same ritual. More than that — seeing it with his own eyes made the act feel… meaningful.

This would deplete Nazarick's treasury even further, but Ainz didn't care. Just as he hadn't cared for the cost of resurrecting Shalltear, the life of a Guardian was worth infinitely more than any sum of gold.

Demiurge wasn't just any NPC; he had been created by one of the Supreme Beings, Ulbert Alain Odle, and had since become one of Ainz's most loyal subordinates — Nazarick's strategist, its mind.

He could not be left dead.

"Ainz-sama… you intend to resurrect Demiurge?" asked Albedo softly.

"Yes. Let us bring him back first, and then we'll discuss what happened."

"As you command, Ainz-sama."

All the Guardians bowed deeply.

Ainz focused his gaze on the faint blank space where Demiurge's name should have been and pressed it.

Once.

Twice.

Again.

And again.

And again—

Nothing happened.

The name remained pale and empty. The console did not respond.

Ainz's bony fingers stopped midair. The red light in his skull flickered — confusion, disbelief.

"Wha… what…?"

A sound escaped his jaw — halfway between a gasp and a groan — the voice of a king who had just realized the unthinkable:

Demiurge could not be resurrected.

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