Mother (250)

Perhaps if Ainz possessed a normal human mind, the perception of traveling through the mind —  or more accurately the dream — of Tiamat would have been a colorful and incredibly vivid event for him. An indescribable event that defied all possible sensations. 

But there were two reasons why that wasn’t the case and why it was a good thing. 

Firstly, if he was able to experience it fully, Ainz would have likely gone mad. It was only due to the fact that Ainz's mind was shielded from such effects due to his undead nature, that the full metaphysical meanings of the journey through Tiamat's mind via [Message] felt no more unfamiliar to him than simple teleportation. Even if mentally, internally, Ainz understood that at that moment he was not being transferred to a new place, but into a new state of being entirely. 

Therefore, after the transfer, Ainz immediately re-oriented himself, not allowing his body to fall downward, catching himself with a spell of flight over the ground. 

Or, at least, over what counts as the ‘ground’ in this mental realm.

As soon as he found his feet, Ainz’s gaze immediately fell upon the vast, almost infinitely stretching fields. A steppe with sparse forested areas and rocky deserts, a landscape that Ainz, with some surprise, found familiar.

After all, not so long ago he had flown over it on Ozymandias’ barge 

The vistas in front of him were perhaps exactly how a ‘normal’ Babylonia would look like. The Babylonia beyond the walls erected by Gilgamesh, if it was not covered by the Black Sea, that is.

Unlike the lands behind the walls, where Humanity still persists, protected by Gilgamesh.

The lands that Ainz was seeing were quite peaceful, untouched by the constant battles with Tiamat. While, the ‘real’ Babylonia was scarred by numerous fissures and craters, the marks left by natural disasters, or the disasters in Human form, Servants… 

It is strange to ponder how similar the results left behind by the passage of Servants, and the destruction that had once been attributed to that of an angry god…

Regardless, Ainz didn’t spend long contemplating the beautiful environment before him — something else had caught his full attention. 

It started with a rumbling, and then a dust storm that slowly ate the horizon. Then, with an impact that violently tore the earth, flipping it over in mountainous slabs — a geyser erupted. 

But it was not water or even black oil that erupted from the violent geyser – Ainz would have been glad if he hadn't known just what that liquid is.

An oily black that cannot be mistaken for crude oil — the Black Sea of Tiamat.

Despite it all, Ainz did not miss the figure that flew out of the ground with the eruption. Ainz couldn't see the full figure, let alone any details, as the figure was camouflaged by the dust and black liquid. All Ainz could notice was its coloration.

A mix of white and green…

Ainz could not look more as the figure darted away as another calamitous rumble happened. The earth overturned, another geyser, and the figure would flit away — this series of events happened again and again until the peaceful and beautiful vista was no more.

The picture was quite clear to Ainz. 

Just as it was with the two Medusas locked in a struggle, so was the situation repeated here… If in a much more active and destructive manner, as the participants were active, unlike the torture of the monstrous Medusa.

Though Ainz couldn’t see the other adversary, it was obvious that the figure in the distance was fighting somebody… Or something. The perfect chance to find more information, and his hope that he could find a path forward only became stronger after having to walk through dead ends after dead ends in finding a way to solve the Singularity.

And so, like usual, he cast [Teleport] and quickly found himself much nearer to the site of battle – only to have to immediately recast [Teleport] when he found himself under attack immediately after he had exited his first [Teleport]. He could not see exactly what it was, but one doesn’t need to see a bullet, to know that you don’t want to be hit by it.

And the fast projectile currently flying towards Ainz, certainly counts as a danger.

If he was being honest with himself, Ainz had become slightly disappointed with just how uninteresting his journey to Tiamat’s prison had turned out to be. Sure, the journey through the Underworld was interesting… Somewhat, the various ‘trials’ with the gates had soured a lot of it, to be honest. His journey through the Abyss had likely been interesting at the start, with various puzzles that he had to solve, but the lack of true threats to him, had allowed Ainz to fall into a false sense of safety.

He had forgotten that he was actually walking through enemy territory – the most dangerous one he had faced so far, even. He was after all inside the mind of the cause of the Babylonia Singularity. 

‘Tch, I had become careless… What a rookie mistake.’

It was a severe blow to any prospect of Ainz relaxing his paranoia, his feeling that there would be an enemy just around the corner. Though to be fair, he had been blindsided, not because his paranoid mind was too relaxed, it was simply because he had too many thoughts occupying his mind.

His current occupation of trying to actively solve the Singularity rather than just letting the solution fall on his lap like usual, had been very arduous to, in Ainz’s opinion, lacking intellect.

But strangely, rather than be annoyed at his lack of proper caution, Ainz found himself unexpectedly pleased with this attack on him. After all, it not only indicated some actual concrete development in finding a solution for the Singularity. It was a stark contrast to the morass that he had found himself before, being stymied at every turn, whether it was in Uruk, the Underworld, or even Uruk, he had not found a concrete answer.

All of it changed the moment he had come under attack – because that meant that there’s an enemy.

The perfect chance to distract himself from constant contemplation and immerse himself in a far more understandable situation — a battle. 

In battle, one simply had to fight and defeat enemies — and here, unlike the problem of Tiamat, Ainz knew exactly what he had to do.

So, after half a moment of contemplation and surprise, Ainz's astonishment was cast aside, and he dodged the next projectile launched at him from out of sight with ample time and preparation. He managed to see what he was under attack from before teleporting away. 

The projectile reminded him most of a chain.

In a sense, Ainz could even find something in common between the chain hurled at him and Medusa's weapon, as in both cases two daggers resembling were used as the deadly tips. Except, in Medusa's case, the chain looked like steel and was that of a singular chain, connected to the two daggers in her hands. Whereas, what he’s seeing right now, was that of multiple chains made of gold, coming at him from all sides and at great speed. 

It was an inescapable attack.

Given the speed and number of such attacks — if it had been another Servant in Ainz's place without the ability to teleport, or lacking immense defensive capabilities – they could possibly die right there and then. For Ainz, however, such an attack was no danger, dealt with without pause or worry, except of course the usual amounts when dealing with deadly attacks. With his usual ways of dealing with such attacks effective, it had allowed him to finally make out the white-green figure before it could be masked by the explosions and eruption.

As expected, the white-green figure turned out to be a Servant, though whether the Servant was a male or female was incredibly hard to determine. Not simply because of the immense speed the Servant had moved through the air, attacking with chains that seemingly appeared from nowhere, or rather, from portals sparkling with gold opening in midair, firing golden chains around him. But simply because the Servant’s figure and looks are simply that androgynous.

Long green hair, with a baggy white cloak completely concealing their figure, and a face on the absolute edge between masculine and feminine, left no chance to properly determine the Servant's gender. And, of course, Ainz was not the kind of pervert that is able to determine something like that in the middle of a pitched battle. 

For now, Ainz simply decided to refer to the Servant as a male — even if, judging by the records, the Servant was more likely than not to be female with just how lopsided the gender balance of the Servants he had met so far.

Still, male or female, after a couple of exchanges, Ainz noticed something – the Servant was not actually fighting Ainz, he had just reacted to Ainz’s sudden presence, busy as the Servant was… fighting another version of himself. 

More precisely, almost an exact copy of the Servant, the same hair and face and even the same white breezy cloak, but the difference lay in that the doppelgänger used chains of a slightly different hue. Instead of pure sparkling gold, they looked more like bronze with a light greenish tint.

‘Something analogous to rust for the bronze metal, perhaps? Patina I think…’ 

And then there was the voice and reaction of the two nearly identical Servants.

Contrary to his expectations of a mirror match, the two Servants did not bother to dodge each other's attacks, instead taking them indifferently on their bodies. Blood and flesh were spilled liberally by each side – occasionally the bronze chains would cut into the floating Servant's body, then the golden ones would do the same to the other side. And each and every single time it ended very similarly for both, with chains and blades slicing and tearing chunks of flesh from the Servants' bodies… but the battle would still continue on.

Each time parts of the Servant's body were literally torn away, the parts shorn off would disintegrate into dust, or some kind of earthy powder, or explode into streams of black oily liquid much like Tiamat's sea. Depending on which Servant was wounded at that particular moment. 

No blood splatters, furious screams, or even grimaces of pain — overall, no reaction one would normally expect for a person when suffering such grievous wounds. It was no wonder each side didn't care for their wounds, as a moment later after each such wounding, they would heal instantly, their body restored before the fight would continue, back to square one.

It vividly reminded Ainz of the two Medusas that he almost lowered his arms again, but besides the dynamics in the fight between two Servants, there was another significant detail that immediately captivated Ainz's attention. 

The voice. 

“Why, why, why doesn't Mother hear me?!”

Contrary to what one might expect, the one who spoke — and thus showed some semblance of thought under the circumstances — was the Servant who wielded bronze chains and periodically exploded in sprays of a black oily liquid, indicating his connection to Tiamat. However, apart from this fact, it was impossible to determine which of the two combatant Servants was the ‘good guy’, as much as this term could be applied to the current situation and to Servants in general. 

Even further observations of the battle between the two Servants did not provide Ainz with any additional information. Other than that, both versions of one Servant exclusively used chains for attack and possessed excellent and balanced parameters, without bias in any direction, being simultaneously fast, strong, and so on, without any incredibly lopsided capability.

Therefore, after waiting a few more dozens of seconds of observation, Ainz came to the conclusion that he had no right to pass up possible new information – even if it could lead to possible dangers falling on him.

And so, he took a deep breath, both to steel himself, and so that he could do what he intended to do — he shouted. 

"I would be pleased to converse with one capable of it at this moment, as Servant to Servant!"

Ainz's voice was such an unexpected surprise that the Servant involved in an endless battle with his doppelgänger suddenly stopped and sharply turned to Ainz himself, forgetting his opponent for a whole moment — an error immediately exploited by his counterpart. A dozen bronze spears and chains shot towards the back of the Servant, but they did not reach their target, instead embedding themselves into a wall that had suddenly risen to protect the Servant. It was a wall made out of bones, as if constructed from hundreds of skeletons compressed into a single entity.

“[Wall of Skeletons].” Casting the spell, Ainz was not prepared to lose the first person? Thing? Imaginary form? Ainz wasn’t sure what to call the people he had met, but he would definitely not want to risk losing the first person that actually reacted to his presence.

And, as he found out soon, could actually interact with him.

"You… Who are you?" The Servant's voice wavered for a moment but returned to its normal cadence by the end of the second word, maintaining a smooth and soft androgynous tone. It seems that he too was surprised by Ainz’s presence… Which is quite rude since, the two of them had almost pasted him in their conflict.

"Do you also hear Mother’s voice? Do you know why I can't hear her?"

"If you are referring to Tiamat, then no, but I have a very good reason for it. As for why you can't hear her… I'm not sure that I possess all the knowledge necessary to conclude the reason why." Ainz sighed, even the fact that he was apparently communicating with a likely adversary who perceived Tiamat as his ‘mother’ did not particularly deter him from continuing his conversation.

 At least it was some new information in Ainz's current situation.

"What is your name?"

To his question, the Servant opened his mouth to answer, however, unexpectedly, before he could, the other Servant, still behind the wall of skeleton created by Ainz, chose that moment to intervene. And he didn't intervene with another attack — but unexpectedly, by shouting his own answer to Ainz's question, as if it had been addressed to him. 

Something which had caused both Servants' responses to merge into an unintelligible noise. 

““Kiengkiudu!!””

The words coming out, almost like an echo, caused both Servants to freeze before the two abruptly began fighting again, as if they had been gravely insulated by each other. So fervent was their hatred for each other, that it seems that they had forgotten Ainz’s presence entirely.

Immediately, both began trying to kill each other again, attempting to catch each other off guard with chains and blades. A fruitless endeavor that the two had been repeating for who knows how long, as the two were equally matched with each other, with each move countered by the other easily. 

It was not a conflict that an outside should, or could, get in between.

“[Paralysis]...”

However, Ainz, having just felt an actual living dialogue from a living person for the first time in so long, was not ready to retreat so easily from his goal. Within a moment, with a spell on his lips, Ainz’s magic bound both Servants in paralysis, forcing them to freeze and hang suspended in midair.

"My name is Ainz Ooal Gown." Deciding not to elaborate on his mission to resolve the Singularity and likely destruction of Tiamat, Ainz introduced himself… Before thinking about something, and cast a spell of silence on one of the Servants, so that they would not once again answer at the same time.

"[Silence]…” Seeing the other Servant moving his mouth without any voice coming out, Ainz could finally address the other one. 

“What is your name?"

"Kingu," Replied the Servant that Ainz had previously spoken to, the one with bronze chains, after which he tentatively wiggled his hand, or rather attempted to do so, before shifting his gaze to Ainz when he found that he couldn’t. His look was not condemning or hateful ; neutral instead, in some sense, perhaps even understanding. As he forced his body to move, to stretch his hand forward, only to find that his chains also did not respond to his command, Kingu looked like he had accepted his fate. 

"I will not beg for mercy if your aim is my elimination. I cannot hear Mother—my life is no more valuable to me, as I’ve lost everything."

In the absence of alternatives, Ainz paid attention to the words of the Servant, before coming to the most plausible conclusion as to why Kingu couldn’t ‘hear’ Tiamat. "You're talking about not hearing Tiamat… But should you? Maybe it's because she's sleeping right now?"

Ainz didn't want to reveal all that he knew about Tiamat, as little as they were, especially considering that if Kingu was an ally of Tiamat, he was also an enemy of Ainz and a target for elimination. However, under the circumstances, it was simply physically necessary for him to talk to Kingu before trying to destroy him, he needed to learn as much information as possible. To learn more about Tiamat, he could give out some information of his own — if Kingu needs to be eliminated? Well, that could be sorted out a bit later.

"I heard Mother's song even when she slept. A beautiful lullaby of creation that reaches out to all her children…" Kingu spoke almost pensively – but before he could continue, [Silence]’s effect ran out. A voice, perfectly matching both Kingu's voice and tone, spoke from the side of the paralyzed Servant. 

"None of us has heard Tiamat's voice. You're lying to yourself."

"I suppose we’re doing this now… [Silence].” Silencing Kingu now, Ainz began addressing the other Servant. Snapping his fingers, Ainz turned to the other Servant who looked calm even when he was silenced and paralyzed, barely changing his posture. 

"What is your name?"

"Enkidu," The Servant replied calmly. Then, unexpectedly, Ainz had to create a new barrier, though this time not to protect Kingu from Enkidu's attack but rather the opposite, because to Enkidu's calm voice, Kingu suddenly responded with an indignant voice harboring some unnecessary childish contradiction. It seems that [Silence] had been dispelled early. 

"I'm not Enkidu, I'm Kingu! Child of Tiamat, not the Child of Heaven!"

After these words, Ainz, just in case, imposed a stronger paralysis spell on Kingu. This time, when Ainz looked between Kingu and Enkidu, he tried to find any distinguishing feature between the two of them – and could find none.

They are so similar that even comparing them to the ‘Twin’ Servants that he had met in the past, seems like an understatement. It’s like looking in a mirror, when compared to Servants who had different ‘versions’ of them, just like the two mismatched in size Medusa, the two looked exactly the same. 

Was this because he was in Tiamat’s mind? He strained himself, trying to remember Merlin's tale about the Servant – he remembered the annoying Mage saying something about Enkidu… Or was it about Kingu? If only he could remember, then he would have a clearer picture…,

It came to him like thunder from a clear sky – the weird relationship between the two ‘twins’.

The two Servants before his eyes were not two Servants or even two versions of one at all! It was more accurate to say they were two parts of one Servant, possibly the two personalities of a single Servant given form. Judging by how they responded simultaneously to the same questions, rejecting the other so completely and constantly attacking each other when one is addressed – it was practically impossible to determine which of these personalities was the dominant one…

Memories of Merlin's explanation about this strange situation made Ainz sigh. 

Merlin had told him a brief story of how Enkidu, Gilgamesh's mythical friend — mythical not because he was created by godly hands, but because of how hard it is to imagine Gilgamesh of all people having a friend, had died. After which Sumo… What was his name again? Uh, not important, the guy had resurrected a creature by using Enkidu's body – apparently this was Kingu.

Well, Sumo then used Kingu as a puppet to try to awaken Tiamat by making him find this Singularity's Grail and present it to Tiamat… Only to be caught in Merlin's counter trap in turn. Tiamat's aborted and temporary awakening, whilst being a very close call for Humanity, had also destroyed Enkidu's body, or Kingu's in this case, almost entirely, leaving nothing for him to complete his mission. 

However, given Enkidu body’s nature as a non-living being created from divine clay, the body wasn't absorbed by Tiamat. And it seems that it had ended up trapped in the pandemonium inside Tiamat's sea. 

So close, yet so far from the being which at once, is his mother whom he served in this Singularity, and his killer who he had no kinship with…

If this was true, then Ainz was lucky, or is it unlucky? To stumble upon Kingu and Enkidu, trapped in constant self-struggle within Tiamat's mind. It was just his luck then, that when looking for Tiamat, he had found the one who was also looking for her, but could never find her.

For Enkidu, and therefore Kingu, was never one of Tiamat’s children… Almost alike to Ainz.

But that was not important, perhaps Ainz would no longer need to look for Tiamat. Because, purely by chance, Ainz had met the person who held in their hand, not only the Holy Grail of this Singularity but perhaps even information about how in theory Ainz could destroy Tiamat… Easier said than done, of course, to get that information from Kingu would be harder than drawing water out of stone. 

Though, since they are the same person in essence, could Enkidu know the information that he wanted?

Ainz pondered for a moment whether there was any sense in destroying Kingu, if it were even possible in this place. This is nothing more than a mental space after all, both Enkidu and Kingu are already dead. 

Still, he did not require a full-fledged ally, but information on destroying Tiamat could only be obtained from Enkidu, who was not her child… So he would need to find a way.

After several seconds of reflection, during which time both Servants waited calmly for him, as if the unknown mage binding them with paralyzing spells were something completely ordinary, Ainz shook his head in the end. 

At the end of the day, he might as well try asking first.

"I would appreciate learning exactly how it is possible to deal with Tiamat. And honestly, I'm not too bothered about what I'll have to do for this – I just want to deal with this Singularity."

After these words, the two Servants exchanged glances before looking at Ainz with a single impulse, completely forgetting that they were supposed to fight each other, showing that whatever personality was in charge — this thought belonged to both of them. 

"But Tiamat is not the cause of this Singularity."

"Ah…?" Ainz nodded automatically, before it seemed like a supernova had ignited in his mind, making him widen his eyes in surprise. 

"What?!"

The information Ainz had heard had turned his whole thought process upside down.

"Tiamat is the cause of this Singularity," The two Servants corrected immediately, speaking as one, their voice coming in stereo. If Ainz was not so out of sorts by the revelation, he would be creeped out by the almost horror-like situation he had found himself in. 

"But her awakening is just a consequence. Tiamat filled the Singularity, but she did not create the conditions for it."

After these words, the two Servants looked at each other and then at Ainz again. "The Singularity, the cause for Tiamat’s awakening, was done by human hands."

Kingu's voice was more venomous, whilst Enkidu's was calmer, but the fact that both versions of the Servant made such a claim once again proved that it was true… Or at least true from the point of view of Enkidu.

"The Mother wants understanding, Tiamat wishes to destroy humanity. It hurts her, she's lonely," The voices of the two Servants followed one after the other, merging into one thought. 

"Tiamat is a Beast, but the Beast is a manifestation of humanity. Tiamat cannot be destroyed without destroying humanity. The Mother does not wish to destroy her children. Tiamat wishes to devour and reincarnate them."

Looking at the two Servants before him and finally getting the answers that he had wanted, Ainz let out a slow exhalation, placing his palms before his face, becoming even more tired by the second. The situation, as it always is, was more complicated than he first thought.

"Why can't I just beat some enemy!? That was usually more than enough to deal with all past Singularities! Why is everything so complicated!"

Unexpectedly, someone answered his question.

"That's why Solomon did it," Kingu's voice replied first, causing Ainz to frown slightly, it seems he had heard this name somewhere before, hadn't he?. 

“The Grand Caster knows he can't win in direct combat, not now at least, when his grand spell is yet completed, so he wants to prolong the fight. Any possible delay will do. Including an irresolvable paradox of the Beast.”

To be finished by Enkidu.

"Solomon, hmm…" Ainz scratched his chin as he thought, noting in his head a very important piece of information. No, not that his opponent had trapped him — the fact that the Singularity was the Grand Caster's fault didn't bother Ainz too much, but that his adversary’s name was Solomon and not Samson or Somali… Before returning to a more important discussion. 

"How exactly did Humanity give birth to Tiamat?"

This was the main crux of how he could solve this Singularity, and of course it couldn’t be straightforward.

"Tiamat gave birth to Humanity. Humanity gave birth to the Beast." Both replied simultaneously, thankfully afterward clarifying their answer, otherwise Ainz was sure that he would be doing something drastic. 

"The death of the Mother will mean the demise of humanity. Tiamat will not be destroyed as long as Humanity exists. The Beast is indestructible because it is a manifestation of the human essence. To kill the Beast means to destroy the very edge of humanity and forever eliminate one of the facets of civilization."

Not that their ‘clarification’ made anything clearer.

After the ‘explanation’, Ainz sighed. Indeed, theoretically speaking, he had his Noble Phantasm… [The Goal of All Life is Death], which might, just might be strong enough to ‘destroy’ Humanity, which would clear the requirement to kill Tiamat, clearing the Singularity…  But, since his mission is to save Humanity – killing all humans seems pretty damn stupid. Especially since he doesn’t know the range and indiscriminate nature of his Noble Phantasm.

It’s not like he had used it before…

"In theory… Who can do this?" Ainz looked at the two versions of Enkidu, not expecting an answer from them but deciding to try his luck. Before Kingu could open his mouth to claim that Tiamat could not be killed, Enkidu replied first. 

"The Hassan. He could"

Ainz grimaced at the unexpected answer, trying to envision the Hassan of the Cursed Arm and Serenity attacking Tiamat together… And not seeing at all how either of them could defeat Tiamat if the likes of Gilgamesh and Merlin couldn’t.

Before Ainz could go on a mental tangent that could match the worst of conspiracy theorists on how Hassan and Serenity had been hiding their strength and just what that meant for the future, Enkidu decided to clarify. 

"The First Hassan." Memories of a past Singularity's encounter with the strong undead that had even frightened Semiramis made Ainz frown. It means, considering the nature of that undead, if Ainz was not mistaken… It seems that the First Hassan was more similar to himself, or at least to his [Eclipse] class, if he indeed possessed the same nature of abilities as Ainz do.

Perhaps… Maybe he could ask the First Hassan for help? It’s possible that his ability was more specialized for a one-on-one encounter, unlike Ainz.

The problem, of course, was that Ainz and Chaldea didn't have the capability to return to previous Singularities, so how could Ainz ask the First Hassan for help! And even that remained but a minor difficulty, an unsolvable one, yes, but still a minor one. 

At least the plan of just asking the First Hassan on a way to destroy the Beast, without killing Humanity in the process — which most honestly sounded more like a ‘pie in the sky’ kind of plan, akin to just ‘Wishing on a Star’ for a solution. In reality, it sounded unimaginably better than the nothing that Ainz has right now. 

‘I do not have a single idea how exactly I can resolve this problem’ is pretty much just giving up, and pretty much the only other ‘plan’ that Ainz has.

Ainz sighed deeply before almost smiling to himself. At least he had accomplished one goal of his, to learn more about Tiamat. Looking at the two Servants standing before him, nodding to them in gratitude. Despite the fact that their information hadn’t helped much, they did still help him.

"Thank you, at least now I will be able to return to solving the problem…"

Only for him to suddenly pause as he noticed a strange expression on the two Servants.

Despite their calm tone, Enkidu and Kingu, and how they had provided him with important information, when both of them turned to Ainz in concert, eerie in their synchronicity, it made him feel like something ominous was approaching him. A quick examination of the two’s expressions before him confirmed his suspicion, so the following question Ainz asked, already knowing what answer he would get, "You won’t just let me leave Tiamat’s consciousness like this, will you?"

"Solomon created me, us – to prevent your victory. We know that he has his own plans… But that doesn't mean we won't act together with him if necessary," Both versions of Enkidu looked at Ainz, making him frown and try to salvage the situation as much as possible under the circumstances, trying to find a possible ally right now, in one of his personalities. "Enkidu, haven't you been fighting Tiamat all this time, preventing her from gaining strength? Attacking someone capable of dealing with the Singularity and Tiamat, would be playing into Solomon's hands right now… Sounds extremely counterproductive, doesn't it?"

Sadly, it seems that Ainz had picked the wrong twin to try to convince…

"Your intervention has already caused disturbances in Tiamat’s mind, unforeseen ones. So, any further action you take may lead to the destruction of Humanity, irrevocable damage which not even my friend and Merlin can restore. You are too dangerous – not because I don't believe in your intent to defeat Tiamat and resolve the Singularity, but because you have already touched Tiamat's mind with your powers… And the process has begun. The trap is complete, you cannot leave Tiamat's mind now." 

Enkidu looked at Ainz with a slight smile, showing that there wasn't a gram of hatred for Ainz or prejudice against him like Scáthach. But this in no way prevented Enkidu from talking about the inevitable confrontation with Ainz, simply because Ainz’s further actions were recognized by Enkidu himself as unacceptably dangerous to Humanity.

Without much hope for a positive outcome, Ainz looked at Kingu, who just shook his head. "You are too dangerous for Mother… It doesn't matter whether I hear her voice or not, after all, I am her creation. Even if I didn't find a place among her armies, you are an enemy to Humanity no less than you are to Mother…"

After these denials, Ainz fell silent for a second before unexpectedly exhaling sharply and smiling slightly. After all this time, he had been so worried about the situation in this Singularity – the enemy is in sight, but at the same time, it cannot be fought against. All answers to questions have been obtained, but had not allowed for a plan for further action. The situation had felt like an inescapable morass, like being stuck in the Black Sea without ever touching it.

Now, a simple, even banal, fight suddenly seemed not only an expected but in some sense a calming possible outcome for Ainz. As if finally, after wandering around in circles, facing unanswered questions, Ainz once again encountered something understandable and simple. 

At last, he had a plan. After emerging victorious from Tiamat's mind against two versions of Enkidu, he would just need to find First Hassan and…

A sharp tremor unexpectedly ran through the ground around Ainz, so that only after a second did he realize that the cause was not an earthquake nor another attack from Enkidu colliding into the ground next to him. Moreover, the tremor that had passed around him not only spread around them through the ground but also in the air, as if the very air was shaking.

It caused Ainz to recall that he was not actually in ordinary space at the moment, but in the mind of Tiamat… And that meant the surrounding earthquake certainly couldn't be caused by natural causes or a positive event.

"The Holy Grail…" Enkidu's whispering voice caused Ainz to turn to him in order to discover genuine sadness and even some annoyance in his eyes, both directed at himself, "Of course… The Holy Grail captured by Kingu, which he was supposed to use to awaken Tiamat, was never returned to her and was buried with the destruction of my body into the Black Sea… But if I granted Kingu full control over my body in order to hold back the threat in Tiamat's mind, when Tiamat's mind was already altered…"

After these words, Kingu, previously thoughtfully silent, shifted his gaze onto his environment, a world slowly shaken by a tremor. He surveyed his surroundings, as if to mark them in his mind, before he began speaking thoughtfully. It seems that he already has an idea of what is happening. 

And it definitely wasn’t good news for Ainz…

"Mother’s awakening will destroy Humanity… But it seems I have spoken with a grain of truth – Solomon is indeed ready to resort to any trickery for his victory…"

But even in the direst of circumstances, Ainz would grasp even the flimsiest chance of victory. After all, Ainz Ooal Gown never loses!

"Does this mean that there's no point in fighting?" Ainz tentatively asked a question and received only two puzzled looks from two Servants, not understanding how changes in circumstances were supposed to lead to a change in their plans. Ainz smiled as a plan began to form when the two didn’t immediately refute him like before. 

"Then excellent."

After these words, Ainz raised his bony fists and slowly, almost demonstratively, first and foremost for himself really, snapped the fingers of his skeletal hands.

The inevitable awakening of an incredible monster, invincible opponents, unavoidable battles, and a completely meager chance of any victory…

Finally, this Singularity began to make sense!