"Whether it was linking the fire or extinguishing it, that was a decision I could only make after personally seeing the Kiln of the First Flame. So, borrowing your Cinders back then was a necessary choice, wasn't it? Otherwise, did you really expect me to wait around slowly for everything to converge on its own?"
Gawain shrugged. Although he had made the decision to extinguish the fire long ago, the Fire Keeper only had the power to teleport him to the Kiln of the original flame at the end of time after he had hunted all the Lords of Cinder and brought back their remains.
Lorian, standing tall upon the ground, chose to remain mute. He merely looked up at the figure in the sky, his mind focused solely on how to resolve the opponent and finish the job quickly.
In truth, he didn't quite agree with his younger brother arguing with the Ashen One. After all, once they went back, there was a high probability they would be tied to their thrones again by that terrifying woman in black, unable to resist. Among the Lords of Cinder currently bound, it was just the two brothers and that "Drowned Pig," Aldrich.
While that pig was likely beyond saving, if the two of them put in the effort, they probably wouldn't suffer the same fate.
Prince Lothric looked at the smug expression on the Ashen One's face and found himself unable to say anything. After all, the fact that the two brothers weren't soaking in the Abyss trying to survive the Age of Deep Sea as planned was a miracle in itself. He didn't want anything unexpected to happen to their final place of rest.
Clasping his hands over his brother's shoulders, the "Holy Brother Duo" reappeared in the Land of Shadow in their full, peak glory. Lothric gazed up at the frenzied sun above, his tone laced with a hint of disdain.
"Brother, it is time to hunt once more."
Lorian nodded in silence. Then, the figures of the two vanished in a flash of white light. In a mere heartbeat, they appeared behind the Lord of Frenzied Flame. Before anyone could react, the Twin Princes' Greatsword, forged from their combined souls, pierced straight through Midra's chest.
"I have to say, from this perspective, that move is incredibly cheap," Gawain remarked.
Watching that familiar attack method still gave him a lingering sense of dread. Back then, even when Lorian was crippled, his ability to teleport into a blind spot and strike from behind had been nearly impossible to react to. Gawain didn't know how many times he had been impaled before he and Sirris finally figured out a way to handle it by covering for each other.
But the one appearing now was peak Lorian, unburdened by the curse. With the combat power that had once allowed him to slay a Demon Prince single-handedly, combined with his brother's support, the outcome was without suspense.
Caught off guard by the sudden strike, the Lord of Frenzied Flame gripped the greatsword impaling him. The sun of flame above his neck expanded violently, and his entire body contorted in a grotesque twist. An ensuing explosion blanketed a massive area.
Lorian vanished from the spot before the blast could connect. Guided by the power of Lothric, the two brothers turned into a blurring afterimage. Accompanied by flashes of blinding light, they constantly pulled away and closed in, the unextinguished flames on the Twin Princes' Greatsword tearing through Midra's emaciated body again and again.
Although the two sides were temporarily stalemated due to the constant infusion of despair from the surroundings, this bought Gawain the time he needed to find a way to break the status quo. Otherwise, this mutual attrition would go on forever.
Gawain knew that against the Lord of Frenzied Flame, cutting off the Omen horns remaining on Midra's body would likely achieve nothing. Midra had become a literal incarnation of the flame; he wasn't "invoking" a god like his kin—he was the chaos. Pure chaos like the Frenzied Flame didn't bother with such formal rituals.
The situation in the Abyssal Woods was growing more severe. Under the influence of the dense flame energy, countless soulless corpses were granted a false life and began to move again—including the Aged Ones Gawain had already cleared.
"Oh, you things just have to be eyesores at a time like this, don't you?"
Cutting through the deformed frenzied creatures like a hot knife through butter, he finally arrived before the Minor Erdtree. This was the only place in the Abyssal Woods that could still be considered safe.
"That Darksign on your chest... can it still hold?"
"It's fine for now. We're short on everything here except the flame power needed to maintain the seal. Listen to me, next... cough, cough."
Seeing the black matter leaking from the ring on Gawain's chest, Melina ignored the risk of being eroded by the Dark Souls and rushed forward to support him.
This was the first time she had truly touched the exposed Darksign. The feeling was incredibly complex—something she couldn't find the words to describe. She could only do her best to cast every useful prayer she knew to stabilize his condition.
"Don't push yourself," she whispered. "I can feel my brother approaching. Once he arrives, we can work with him to eliminate the suppressed Lord of Frenzied Flame."
"It won't be that easy. For a seed like Midra to grow to this extent, the despair in this Land of Shadow must be far too thick. That is why the power of the Outer God can interfere so brazenly."
"Mix those two tears into a physick for me. I need an opening to get close without being immediately affected."
The Sovereign Soul within Gawain's body surged. He stood up and touched the Minor Erdtree Melina had created. Instantly, the sapling that had been shrinking under the influence of the flame was injected with a massive amount of vitality. It expanded, suppressing the surrounding Frenzied Flame once more.
"There. This place is safe for now."
With slightly trembling hands, Melina quickly prepared the Flask of Wondrous Physick using the tears she held. She had a general idea of what he was planning to do.
"Ashmi, you don't need to stay here. I can look after myself. Stay by Gawain's side and help him."
"Eh? Are you sure...?" Ashmi looked at the gargantuan being in the sky with fear, but the mimic didn't hesitate when it was time to move. It was just worried about Melina's safety.
"Come with me," Gawain said. "Whether we succeed or fail, it won't take long."
To ensure success, Gawain didn't have time to waste on debate. It was either do or die; any hesitation would only allow the stalemate to drift toward disaster.
Once Melina finished the physick, Gawain downed it in one go. The effects of the Erdtree tears began to take hold: the Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear from Caelid and the Deflecting Hardtear he had recently acquired in the Land of Shadow.
Ashmi transformed into a liquid state, coating Gawain's entire body. This clone was going to take a lot of pressure, so she planned to squeeze every bit of potential out of this form. As long as her main body remained, she didn't care about the risk.
Under the influence of the tears, the flames already roaring on Gawain's body became even more ferocious. He offered a silent thanks to Godrick's Great Rune for its ability to integrate powers, allowing the tears of the Lands Between to perfectly buff his Ember. With this, the Lord of Frenzied Flame would have no chance of stopping his next charge.
Melina watched as Gawain gathered his strength and shot into the sky like a rocket, enveloped in a powerful storm. She looked at the traces of Dark Souls remaining in her palm, a cold sweat breaking out on her brow. Can that legendary effect truly work?
In the sky, Lorian was beginning to feel the strain of the constant hit-and-run tactics. It wasn't a disparity in skill—with his brother's help, they were absolutely dominating the exchange.
The problem was that, while absorbing a steady stream of despair, the Lord of Frenzied Flame essentially had no visible health bar. At one point, Lorian's flames and his brother's magic had reduced the opponent to nothing but a flaming sun-head, only for the body to grow back moments later.
Fighting a non-human thing that showed zero emotion was not enjoyable. He would have preferred another round with the Demon Prince.
But it was ending now. Their role had only ever been to create a distraction. The Lord might not have a health bar, but as long as the Ashen One could withstand the pressure, the Princes' current forms—maintained by the power of the Ember—didn't have one either.
Sensing the massive pressure rising from below, Lorian finally let out a breath of relief. It seemed the Ashen One had found a solution in that short window of time.
Sharing a single thought, the two brothers accelerated their attacks to their absolute limit. Countless flashes of blinding white light collided with the Frenzied Flame, clearing a relatively safe path through the sky.
"Thanks! I'll tell the Fire Keeper to go easy on you when we get back. Leave the rest to me!"
Gawain ignored the slight twitch of Prince Lothric's mouth and charged straight for his target.
The will controlling the Lord of Frenzied Flame seemed to sense an ominous aura. Ignoring the harassment from the two brothers, the sun atop his neck expanded violently. He let out a horrific roar, attempting to use the sheer weight of his maddened presence to block the attack.
Gawain spun the Coiled Sword in his hand, the blade shifting into the form of a spear in a blur of light. He channeled his roaring flames into it, wrapping the tip in the holy brilliance of a Sunlight Spear. Then, with every ounce of his strength, he hurled the divine weapon at the Lord.
The brute force of the throw tore through the air, piercing through layers of the flame's blockade. Amidst the thick smoke and chaos, it ripped open a small but tangible path, impaling the Lord of Frenzied Flame behind it.
Just as expected, even after having half his body shattered by such an attack, the Lord only slowed for a moment. With zero emotion, he began to spray a massive torrent of Frenzied Burst from his head.
He didn't need to defeat the enemy; he only needed to stall long enough for the despair to break out of the Abyssal Woods. Once it spread, it would absorb more despair, creating a lethal cycle.
At this critical moment, two silver arms emerged from Gawain's waist. Each cast Eternal Darkness, directly pulling the trajectories of the incoming attacks away. Before this clone was completely drained, Ashmi had played her role to perfection.
Gawain didn't waste the precious opportunity. The hastily cast magic would only last a few seconds, but that was all he needed.
In an instant, he was in Midra's face. The Lord unhesitatingly raised the Greatsword of Damnation to counterattack, but he was met with a crisp clang. The blade was parried by a Lothric Knight Shield.
The effect of the Deflecting Hardtear was even more powerful than he had imagined. At the moment of the guard, it completely negated the physical damage, while the Frenzied Flame erupting from the sun-head was reflected back. The Lord's emaciated body was thrown off balance.
"Sorry, Millicent. I'll definitely kill another god to help you eliminate your divine essence later. But for now..."
Gawain clenched his fist and punched through the Lord's chest. With a display of absolute violence, he shoved the cluster of ominous, Bone-Like Stone into the Lord's body.
He wasn't sure if the Bone-Like Stone would have the intended effect, nor did he know the "correct" way to use it. Part of his reasoning for using it now was to find a suitable method through trial and error. In his haste, this was the only way he could think to do it.
Clearly, this strike was more effective than any of his earth-shattering attacks from before. It was directly severing the source of the power itself.
The Lord of Frenzied Flame began to convulse violently. The Greatsword of Damnation in his hand seemed to want to make one last strike, but in the end, it remained still. The sun above the withered body began to slowly go out.
"Listen well. The Lands Between is no place for the likes of you. One day, I'll clear out your representative, the Three Fingers, as well."
Gawain didn't know if his threat reached the Outer God behind the Lord.
Gripping the headless corpse, he descended slowly to the floor of the ruined valley. Seeing that the task was complete, the Twin Princes returned to the Darksign.
This time, the Fire Keeper likely wouldn't give them a hard time. However, they had recently seen her discussing something with Aldia and Ludleth—something seemingly related to Sirris, who had successfully returned to the Lands Between through the Darksign.
None of that concerned them, though. After all this turmoil, unless absolutely necessary, they just wanted to find a quiet place to serve as their grave.
Gawain looked at the residue remaining in his palm. In those final moments, he had confirmed that the Bone-Like Stone was not just effective—it was incredibly potent.
Though his method had been a bit crude, he knew that the item began to work the moment it made contact. He wasn't sure of the exact principle.
Whatever. He had been forced to use the only Bone-Like Stone he had—the one taken from the remnant of the Outer God of Scarlet Rot.
Whose corpse should I use next? he wondered with a hint of melancholy. Well, no matter. The Lands Between is full of all kinds of monsters and gods. There will be another opportunity. If all else fails, once I'm stronger, I'll just go into the stars and kill one at random.
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Elden Ring: In the Name of Ash
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