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The first thing people would think of when they hear the name Hans Christian Andersen was that he was a famous writer of children's fairy tales.

The second, for a narrow circle of his acquaintances and unhappy people who were unlucky enough to interact with the author in life - was as a quarrelsome, petty, bilious and unhappy person.

But above all else, Andersen was still a writer of fairy tales.

His fairy tales were not happy in the full sense of the word, where bunnies fart rainbows and prince charming arrives with his stupid white horse to save the day. No, his heroes have to save themselves. But in the end, having gone through pain, passing through trials and all the bitterness of this world, his heroes achieved their ‘happy ending’ with their own hands. Well as happy as Andersen himself thought was acceptable.

From these facts followed two things that were important for Andersen himself.

First, he did not accept in any way a happy ending for the protagonist when they did not deserve their happy ending.

And second, if the hero deserved a happy ending, Andersen would do everything in his power to make it happen.

Dr. Jekyll had suffered enough to deserve his own happy ending.

He was a naive boy, contrary to any depiction in media, rejoicing even at the very opportunity to be on the edge of the battle against a great evil threatening mankind. He acted stupidly, rushing into battle with an enemy that was unknown to him.

Oh, and Andersen was talking about Jekyll here, so don’t get any stupid idea.

Ainz had no plans for Dr. Jekyll to participate in any way. Of course Andersen has no idea what goes on in that monster’s head, nevertheless, Ainz was not particularly concerned with helping his likely ally. Only providing Dr. Jekyll with only a few general buffs and not planning to save him if he fell into a trap.

As far as Andersen knew anyway. Let it be repeated that he has no idea what goes on in that scary person’s head. He wouldn’t be surprised if all this was all as planned. If so, then he wonders just how much Ainz knew about him, to know that he couldn’t stand Jekyll’s plight.

The lyrical hero has experienced neglect, betrayal and contempt.

Shakespeare was immune to anything Jekyll could bring about. Their ‘fight’ was more of a farce in the battle between Servants.

The lyrical hero had experienced an unexpected and irreparable defeat.

Shakespeare had trapped Jekyll and imprisoned him in a dungeon of horror and hatred in his own making. He had trapped the hero in a torture chamber, where Shakespeare mutilated his mind, causing irreparable trauma and a terrible wound to his psyche.

The lyrical hero then lost, sinking to the very bottom of the abyss where he could not even lift a finger to defend himself. The hero is all alone against his invincible opponent.

This was, perhaps, enough for Andersen.

Marchen Meines Lebens. Andersen's Noble Phantasm, a tool greatly suited for the glorified writer.

Where Shakespeare's great tragedies were based on already existing works of his predecessors, Hans Christian Andersen created new things. Where Shakespeare used the past as his blade, Andersen used his creativity to cut a new path.

Andersen's Noble Phantasm was great, after all, it allowed reality to be rewritten.

To rewrite lines unsuited for a scene. A paragraph displaying the logical result of other people's actions. Was this not the strength of the writer? As they dipped a pen into an inkwell, each stroke of their instrument displaying a new facet of an adventure. With each sentence creating a new story and details of the life of a character.

In his own hand Andersen could ascribe any fate to his hero. With nary a stroke of a pen gifting powers and unpredictable endings to his characters.  Incredible plots and a dizzying victory - he just had to start a new line in his book, describing the victory of his hero.

Still, Andersen was known as a petty, bilious, unhappy man. And his Noble Phantasm, a sublimation of his legend,  also reflected this essence of him.

Indeed, in Andersen's tales there was no place for a simple ‘happy ending’, just as there was no place for a Deus Ex Machina. Each hero had to reach their own happy ending, and so received only the ending that he deserved.

Therefore, Andersen did not act, he could not.

What could he write to help Ainz? An existence that seemed to have no problems anyway? How could he help Da Vinci, the great and invincible scientist, when he could barely understand a word she’s saying? He’s a writer damn it, not a bloody scientist! Did Medusa Gorgon really need a happy ending, when she has already achieved her happiness?

However, for Dr. Jekyll, who has gone through so many tribulations - faced with so many adversities, so many trials… there’s no better material for Andersen.

And therefore, picking up a pen and an empty book - Andersen began writing.

The Death of Dr. Jekyll and the Hatred of Mr. Hyde.

After all, Doctor Jekyll, faced with Shakespeare, could not survive, Andersen knew and accepted this fact.

However, as he could rewrite reality like a book, he could compose another end to this fairy tale.

And this time, in his tale, he has all the actors on stage. The protagonist Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the antagonistic Shakespeare, and himself as the narrator. The stage? The battle taking place in the smog-covered London of the nineteenth century.

Really, Shakespeare had done a bang up job setting the atmosphere, that villainous monologue was just… perfect. Andersen didn’t even need to do much!

And therefore, when Shakespeare - with horror, with hatred, looked at Andersen - everything was already over.

After all, Andersen did not need to try and undo the horrors that Dr. Jekyll had gone through. He just needed to write a few lines and his job’s done. The ending that Dr. Jekyll deserved.

And so Andersen grinned as Shakespeare, blazing with hatred, took one last look at him.

But Andersen believed he couldn’t grin even more when he heard the voice of Dr. Jekyll, - “Dangerous games.”

And then Andersen gave history the opportunity to take its own course.

***

The Noble Phantasm of Paracelsus was quite interesting in its structure.

At first glance, there was nothing special about it.

The quintessence of Paracelsus’ magic research, the mad seeker of the True Ether, was very simple. His blade, when used, was able to unite the four elements under his control. This is done in order to create his unattainable Magnum Opus, True Ether. For a very short instance.

The consequences of such a creation were very simple and very destructive.

True Ether, the quintessence of magical thought, the very embodied pure magic would be directed in a single destructive stream.

Many scientists would give their right hand for the opportunity to look at such a miracle. But for a person less interested in magical theory, the result of the action of Paracelsus' ability was, albeit frightening, still simple.

It was Destruction, pure and simple. A huge blow created from unleashing pure magic.

It was certainly magnificent, but would be somewhat disappointing if that’s all it does for such a great scientist. That’s why there’s a hidden second part to his Noble Phantasm befitting his nature as a scientist.

Da Vinci certainly knew that the sword of Paracelsus was not a ‘gateway to pure magic’. No, it represented the ‘unified magic theory’ of Paracelsus.

On his way to reach True Ether, Paracelsus had created a thousand works and conducted a thousand studies, not inferior in scale and complexity to that of Da Vinci’s.

However, if Da Vinci was always driven only by an irrepressible thirst for knowledge, Paracelsus was only driven forward by a single goal.

For the sake of reaching True Ether, he studied thousands of books and wrote hundreds of works. And so his Noble Phantasm adopted his legend.

Because Paracelsus went through a thousand thoughts, a hundred theories - moving through all obstacles, analyzing all the data, creating his Great Deed, so does his Noble Phantasm.

And therefore, the beam of pure magic was only a minor part of his abilities, as True Ether was only the tip of his scientific path. A path that has been created from hundreds of scientific papers.

And so his attack, although strong, had a fundamentally different ability.

Endless perfect analysis, isolation of significant moments, change in theory and instant adjustment of the experiment to new conditions.

In other words, his attack could analyze everything it came in contact with. It would then transmit the information received to Paracelsus who would then instantly change its properties. Continually  adjusting his attack according to his understanding, acquiring a new form and new properties to bypass any defense.

Into fire against ice, into stiletto against a breach, into madness against reason.

The Noble Phantasm of Paracelsus reflected that side of him that was not forgotten even hundreds of years later. His work as a scientist. His great journey to his incredible finale.

That's why Paracelsus felt so uncomfortable fighting Da Vinci, his Noble Phantasm was only a lesser copy of Da Vinci's Noble Phantasm. And that's why Paracelsus was so surprised by Da Vinci's action.

Her choice to not even erect a single barrier was definitely a surprise.

Da Vinci could create tens, no, hundreds of defenses in the blink of an eye. That would be enough to hold back even Paracelsus' strongest attacks.

Da Vinci's skills could make her instantly invulnerable in the face of even the most incredible miracles in the service of Servants.

However, Paracelsus’ Noble Phantasm function was to bypass any defenses, whether it's skills or spells. No shield could save one from the Noble Phantasm whose main purpose was to shatter shields.

And Paracelsus saw no way for Da Vinci to win this clash other than simply overpowering his attack, taking advantage of the fact that Da Vinci herself had an even more incredible ability than the Paracelsus.

However, even if Paracelsus was surprised, this didn’t mean that his attack would stop.

His attack changed its nature, adjusting to various skills Da Vinci had, destroying the spell shields on the way of his attack. The beam of True Ether crashed into Da Vinci's body.

Paracelsus was surprised by Da Vinci’s choice, but still anticipating victory...

Before he froze.

Magic surrounded Da Vinci's body, but not Da Vinci’s magic. It was a completely different magic, with completely different principles for creating spells and completely alien strength and energy.

Paracelsus had never seen such magic in his life, and Paracelsus was initiated into the secrets of all existing magic.

However, faced with such an unknown, Paracelsus could do nothing but be at a loss.

He had never seen such magic before. He didn't know the first step on how to approach it. Should he have attacked this part of the spell, or this one? Was it fire protection or ice protection? Could he overload such magic, or did he need to make a gap in the enemy's defenses?

Facing such an unknown, Paracelsus froze for a moment. A moment that was enough for Da Vinci.

“If you are interested, this is how Ainz's protective spells look like.” Da Vinci was already a single step away from Paracelsus, and there’s nothing he could do about it.

“I will be very glad if you join Chaldea. I spent sleepless weeks trying to decipher it!”

It’s not that Paracelsus had run out of mana, his strongest attack is still beating with the same force as before. But his Noble Phantasm, left without its greatest strength, without Paracelsus knowing what kind of protection it had to cut through this time, was so ineffective...

Paracelsus struck with all his might, but the alien magic of Ainz, his Master's personal enemy, withstood the pressure with no trouble.

Paracelsus knew that he had lost. His trump card, his Noble Phantasm, was useless - simply because he was unlucky enough to face something he didn't understand.

But… this was still his victory.

“I will consider it my victory,” Paracelsus smiled as he looked at the grimacing Da Vinci, who is now right in front him, in hand’s reach. Da Vinci stood in front of him, ignoring the power of his Noble Phantasm.

No, she didn’t ignore it, the disembodied power of True Ether was still going strong, but so terribly insufficient… - “Two for one, hmm... Only in this way was the legendary Da Vinci able to defeat me.”

“Of course.” - Da Vinci smiled, - “I admit my defeat.”

A moment later, a blow from Da Vinci's hand cut off the head of Paracelsus from his body. He was dead before he fell to the ground, the already dimming Azoth sword falling from the limbless hand.

“Sorry, but I had to do it this way.” Da Vinci smiled sadly, looking at the rapidly disappearing body of her dear friend.

Perhaps she really would have preferred a fair fight, but... Alas, in the current conditions - Da Vinci could not afford to spend her trump cards on Paracelsus, and not on the King of Kings.

After another moment, walking away from the defeated Servant, Da Vinci rushed away.

***

If you meet the Buddha on your road, slay him!

So then Nobunaga’s fire flared up with incredible force.

On meeting a patriarch, slay the patriarch!

A pillar of flame ascending to the skies collided with Rhongomyniad’s storm.

On meeting an Arhat, slay the Arhat!

A moment later, as if an inviting howl from hundreds of voices rang out, Nobunaga felt the symbol of the True Demon King appear behind her.

On meeting your parents, slay your parents!

Rising as if from ashes, from the very flame, a bone giant loomed over Nobunaga, enveloping her in its figure.

On meeting your kinsman, slay them!

As if out of nowhere, guns covered the entire sky, overshadowing the black clouds created by Artoria Alter.

And by doing so, you attain freedom!

With a sound like ringing thunder, each of the thousands of guns struck a moment later.

Oda Nobunaga, Avenger. The thousands of stories of the rejected King, the killer of everything divine and the enemy of the human race has arrived.

"More, more!"

An inaudible march of thousands of armies of thousands of unrealized stories, carried through the worlds has their voice expressed through the sound of exploding cannonade.

“Fight! I wish to see you fight!”

Oda Nobunaga, the perfect spawn of thousands of unrealized stories. A true Demon King that surpassed the concept of an enemy is in its element.

“Fight and die! Burn! Burn! Burn!”

A thousand stories about the conqueror of the world, a thousand non-existent stories about the death of an entire civilization, a thousand armies that have taken over the world.

“Prove to me that you deserve to be real! Prove to me that my death was deserved! Fight with me to the last drop of blood! Fight, fight, fight!”

Oda Nobunaga, created from thousands of stories, denied the very idea of ​​the possible.

"Miracle? There is no miracle in the world that I did not conquer!"

After conquering a thousand worlds, destroying a thousand temples, killing a thousand heroes, Oda Nobunaga trampled into the mud the very idea of ​​magic.

“Heroes? There are no heroes in the world that I have not killed! "

Thousands of stories in which nothing could resist the legendary commander, thousands of worlds that were not saved by magic from the all-destructive march of the conqueror.

“Enemies? There are no enemies in the world that I did not shoot with my gun!”

Thousands of legends were woven into a single one in Oda Nobunaga, the conqueror of the world.

Her Noble Phantasm was a single idea.

What if Oda Nobunaga were real?

What if Oda Nobunaga conquered the world?

What if Oda Nobunaga could destroy magic?

This expression of the Noble Phantasm was only a pitiful part of its real power, but it was enough.

“We do not accept the gods - for our god is artillery! We do not accept prayers - for our prayers are orders! We do not accept offerings - for our offerings are the bodies of soldiers! Come on, my army! It's time to trample miracles into the mud! ”

Only for a short moment Oda Nobunaga made such an idea a reality. The story of her victory. A story about her greatness. The story of her conquest.

A story that denied the very possibility of a miracle.

The fire that rose from the earth was the fire that Oda Nobunaga used to burn magic from the conquered worlds. The giant skeleton was a hundred bodies that Oda Nobunaga had left after her war.

For Oda Nobunaga destroyed the miracle of a thousand worlds - what did it cost her to destroy the miracle of another?

It was the Noble Phantasm that embodied the most terrible action for any Servant, for any magus.

An Anti-mystery-class Noble Phantasm.

Mystery is what supported the existence of magic itself, the Servants, even their Noble Phantasms. What Nobunaga’s Noble Phantasm in its essence destroyed the very possibility of the existence of any miracle, any force, any Hero.

An Anti-Phantasm.

The spear, Rhongomyniad, the tower that united magic and humanity, and the fire, Papiyas, the True Demon King, that forever divided these concepts clashed.

A story about the end of a legend - and a journey that denied the very possibility of a legend.

And so the great spear of the thunderstorm collided with the great fire of destruction.

And Nobunaga smiled, looking into Artoria's cold eyes.

Now no one could say that she was weak.

***

According to the Theogony of Hesiod, it was Medusa Gorgon who was the first mother of monsters in Greek mythology, and not Echidna.

Pegasus and Chrysaor emerged from her body. Her blood spilled into the sand turned into asps, amphisbens and basilisks. Her blood that spilled into the water and became coral.

The blood from her body was taken by Asclepius, part of that blood was death, a part could save any patient.

In other words, Medusa Gorgon was the first, and the earliest manifestation of such ‘mothers of monsters’.

The last and most powerful Noble Phantasm of Medusa the Gorgon reflected this last part of her legend.

“And the blood was spilled…” - because according to legend, many monsters created by Medusa appeared precisely from that.

And therefore, falling down with drops of blood from Medusa's hands a shapeless mess of scales, fangs, and eyes. Before reaching the ground, they acquired a single form.

The creature that rose a moment later was only vaguely human in shape. It was a three-meter grotesque parody of the human form. In place of its eyes, there were only two objects like disfigured small glasses. His mouth was distorted, exposing many small, sharp teeth that ran in rows into its pharynx. Instead of the left palm, his left hand ended only in a narrow long blade, flickering in time with the creature's heartbeat. And the right palm, instead of fingers, had only whipping tentacles, wriggling every second.

The only thing that could resemble anything like a normal human in the body of the creature was its legs. It looked like a normal human legs, but it was covered, like the whole body, with a multitude of intertwining scales.

These bizarre features would not allow any observer to confuse the creature with anything even remotely human.

The Jabberwock, Alice's beast, rushed forward to confront the monstrosity a moment later. A certain understanding about the creature made Alice feel real emotion for the first time in the entire fight.

Surprise. Fear. “Stop!”

She hurriedly ordered her Jabberwock to retreat.

The Jabberwock, as if realizing the danger of the creature before him - so weak and insignificant at first glance - realized its mistake too late. The unknown creature looked with its false eyes - and cut the Jabberwock's bulk in a single continuous movement of its bladed left hand.

Jabberwock died instantly.

Alice couldn’t believe her eyes, the creature just killed something that cannot be killed. As Alice looked at the blade of the creature that just did an impossible deed, Alice realized how.

The creature’s left hand was the Vorpal sword, a blade that doesn't exist.

Medusa smiled at her opponent, her last Noble Phantasm was indeed surprisingly powerful.

A moment later, not even allowing the ingloriously dead Jabberwock enough time to fall, the created monster rushed forward.

After another moment, Alice disappeared - using her powers, she instantly disappeared not just in her form, but also from the world.

Discarding one of his hundreds of forms, the disembodied god of books discarded his very vulnerability. But the monster of Medusa did not pay attention to such actions.

His ugly glasses, which served as a substitute for his eyes, saw on a different level of perception, so he did not need to see Alice's body in order to see the Servant Nursery Rhyme.

A moment later, its tentacles, which were moving so chaotically before, stilled. After which, violating the laws of physics and biology, they rushed forward, clinging to the air where Alice was just recently, entangling the gaping nothing, as if capturing its prey.

Alice could drop any of its acquired form, gaining invulnerability, so the created creature gave Alice a form that could be defeated by force.

After another moment, as if realizing what a trap she was in, Alice used all the possibilities of her myriad forms.

Spears emerging from nowhere were interspersed with streams of pure magic, flashes of fire with fires from weapons, in a single hurricane of pure power. The disembodied god tried its best to remember every weapon it could, every form of energy that was described in hundreds and thousands of books that gave it birth.

It was useless.

The many blows and spells slid powerlessly over the creature's scaly skin, touching it and then disappearing without a trace. Since the creature was precisely created to counter Nursery Rhyme, every ability that they could use, every attack, all of it was meaningless.

It didn’t take long for Medusa’s monster to arrive in the space between realities where Nursery Rhyme resides. With the weak form that had been forced onto her, she was powerless as Medusa’s monster unhinged its jaw.

With its tentacles securely wrapped around its victim, Nursery Rhyme was lowered through the jaws lined with hundreds of rows of teeth. His throat was as dark as the Abyss and was endless, where time itself doesn’t exist. And so after fully devouring Alice's form, the monster’s jaw snapped close.

Its job done, the monster then turned to stone. With Alice still ‘alive’ inside it.

Medusa morbidly wonders what emotion her enemy must be feeling as she was swallowed whole. Medusa smiled one last time.

Her eyes serve primarily as a preparation for this Noble Phantasm, just as the Chrysaor was created only to make her imminent blow as deadly as possible.

What was the ability of her Noble Phantasm?

It was in creating the perfect monster, a hero killer.

Observing their abilities, movements, and actions of her opponent, Medusa studied them only for the next blow. The monster created by her Noble Phantasm was created as an ideal adversary for her enemy. Protected from the hero's attacks, it would ignore any of their abilities, would surpass any of their defense, safe from their traps, and inaccessible to their mind and invisible to their eye.

A perfect Hero Killer.

Medusa, after studying any ability, does not have the ability to copy any of it, but she could create the perfect weapon against it.

Medusa could create a creature immune to electricity against Tesla. Against Da Vinci - an endlessly changing chaotic creature that ignored any plan, always making the most illogical of decisions. Against Arthuria - an ephemeral monster, invulnerable to blades and the direct all-crushing power of Excalibur. Against Ainz...

Um, Medusa was forced to admit that against Ainz, most likely, she could not create a powerful enough opponent. Protected from magic? Perhaps, but Ainz was good at dealing with creatures whose protection against magic was really great - and he did not have any problems with such opponents...

However, of course, Medusa did not even entertain the thought of fighting Ainz. Firstly, she was loyal, secondly, she was smart, and thirdly she was in love.

However, Alice, hmm...

A being that ignored any disembodied form, for it saw Alice not with sight, but with perception. A thing that could give Alice a form that she could not discard, getting rid of her invulnerability. A thing that could keep entrap her. A thing that could have killed the Jabberwock, an invulnerable monster. A thing that could withstand Alice's onslaught…

Perhaps the most important problem that needed to be solved was Alice's ability to return time after her victory to the beginning of the battle. Therefore, the created monster would not ‘kill’ the form given to Alice, but instead absorbs it, before instantly petrifying itself. Therefore, neutralizing Alice.

The monster did not kill and did not cause any damage as it swallowed Alice, no matter how terrifying it looked. It was only a prison, a chain that consumed Alice, a prison in which time did not exist.

After all, Alice could not turn back time - if there was no time that could be returned. Alice was shackled as she was swallowed, placed in an endless timeless prison.

Unfortunately, Medusa was displeased to admit that her abilities, although great, were still not infinite. Even she could not easily destroy a Servant like Alice, however, to shackle and lock? Medusa could tell that she could do it.

And so the frozen stone statue of the creature continued to stand in its place, forcing Medusa to nod and rush on to help the other Servants.

In the end, she had to win the battle - and Medusa could easily find such a solution to the problem as victory.

***

An excerpt from non-fiction literature: "The Lesser Known Life of Gaius Julius Caesar":

… The figure that Gaius Julius Caesar represented is undoubtedly favored by men, Caesar, as beloved in his lifetime and posthumously, remained at all times as if an indestructible symbol of the Roman Empire. His figure deified by the Emperor, one mention of which often served as a justification for the right of the Emperors to rule.

It is widely known that during his reign, Caligula argued that Caesar's visions helped him in his reign, keeping him from rash decisions (which is quite ironic, given how many rash decisions Caligula's made during his reign), and Emperor Nero announced the spirit of Caesar as his personal adviser, claiming that he, being a deified descendant of Romulus and Mars, is able to give Nero his advice even after centuries after his death.

It is thanks to this fact that Caesar became a figure that is vilified by the Christians of the Roman Empire. The cruel persecutions of the emperor Nero, allegedly carried out on the advice of the spirit of Caesar often being cited as the reason.

The early Christians, whose beliefs were oftentimes mixed with the pagan beliefs of their time, correlated Caesar, and his legendary patron Romulus, and even at one time Attila, the leader of the Huns, as demonic henchmen in the service of Baal.

Although, of course, in Modern times this interpretation is already long forgotten even by the Church. Furthermore, Caesar was not officially condemned by the Christian Church, unlike a long line of his successors...