When the red horse girl stepped forward, the once lively battlefield remnants fell into a brief silence, and the atmosphere grew subtly tense.
The story of Radahn and the little horse wasn't exactly a secret in the Lands Between.
After all, Radahn's title as the strongest Demigod carried enough weight on its own, and the sight of him riding a comically undersized horse was so strange it naturally sparked curiosity. People couldn't help but wonder about the story behind it.
But it wasn't a bad thing—quite the opposite. The tale highlighted Radahn's loyalty and sense of honor, so both the Golden Order Dynasty and Radahn's followers quietly approved, even encouraged, its spread.
Anyone who had come to participate in the Battle Festival would have at least heard about their relationship beforehand or picked up the basics before arriving.
So now...
With the red horse girl's appearance, all eyes instantly turned to Radahn and her—even Okina, usually consumed by the thrill of battle, couldn't help sneaking a few more glances.
Under everyone's gaze, Radahn—who took a good while to recover from his mental crash—stared at the horse girl before him, who looked tiny and delicate compared to his massive frame.
This man, once hailed as the mightiest Demigod, who had just shattered the Gold Order and was revered by the Redmanes as the man among men, now displayed an uncharacteristically helpless expression.
"Um, that, uh…"
He mumbled a few broken words, then turned to Lloyd.
Lloyd simply spread his hands.
"I told you her appearance would change."
This was way beyond just a change!
Radahn wanted to say that, but after a long moment of hesitation, he turned back to the horse girl.
After thinking it over, he reached out, gently lifted her up, and set her on his shoulder.
It still felt a bit strange, but compared to the alternative—having her carry him—it was the lesser of two weirdnesses. Radahn could live with it.
With her now on his shoulder, and after another stretch of awkward silence, Radahn finally opened his mouth.
"...Thank you."
That was all he could manage to say.
He had never been good with words. Even when he was in his right mind, he rarely took charge of any external affairs.
According to the Redmanes, for any formal diplomatic event, it was best to just plant him there, arms crossed, silent, pretending to be some enigmatic expert. That alone got the job done.
Because the moment he opened his mouth, it was anyone's guess how much extra cleanup work he'd cause for the external affairs department.
Not to mention, he had just recovered from Scarlet Rot. While the corruption had temporarily receded, the trauma carved deep into his mind still lingered. His memory was patchy at best. And the shock of the little horse incident had stacked on more than a few layers of mental debuff.
So even though he knew deep down that Lloyd had done a lot for him, Radahn couldn't think of a single thing to say.
After all, whether it was purging the Scarlet Rot from his body, making the Flower of Abundance bloom in Caelid, or the little horse now perched on his shoulder...
Any one of those would've been monumental. But Lloyd had done all three.
Radahn sat there thinking for a long time, face slightly red, completely at a loss for how to repay him—or what to say.
"The Great Rune," the red-haired horse girl reminded softly.
Oh—right, the Great Rune.
Only then did Radahn remember. He quickly pulled out his Great Rune and handed it to Lloyd.
"I just heard Jerren mention that the Tarnished need Great Runes, right? I should've given this to you when you defeated me. As for everything else... I need to take stock of what the Redmanes still have left."
[Obtained "Radahn's Great Rune"]
After handing it over, Radahn fell back into thought. The red-haired horse girl spoke up again.
"Earlier, Jerren said he serves Ranni and holds the token of the Full Moon Queen."
Right—Ranni and her mother.
Radahn jumped on the new topic.
"I heard from Jerren that you have Ranni's staff and her mother's token, right? Then you must have met them. May I ask... how are they doing?"
"One's preparing something world-shaking. The other... also preparing something world-shaking."
"What kind of world-shaking thing?" Radahn asked curiously.
"No idea."
Lloyd thought for a moment. "Should I drag them over here so you can ask them yourself?"
"You can actually drag them here?"
Radahn's eyes lit up, just about to speak—when the red-haired horse girl covered his mouth.
"He doesn't need to."
Radahn: "..."
After that short exchange, Lloyd was sure of it.
Radahn hadn't just placed the little horse on his shoulder—he'd effectively plugged in an external brain.
Just as Lloyd was about to speak with the red-haired horse girl again, Alice appeared.
"Her soul's still too weak to handle your antics. Let me speak to her instead."
Lloyd nodded, and the two external brains went off to chat by themselves.
With them gone, Radahn and Lloyd exchanged a look, then started talking too.
"How's Ranni doing? I'm not sure why, but she doesn't seem to enjoy talking to me. She always brings her plans to Rykard instead..."
"What's your relationship with Malenia? I saw you with that golden-haired woman before—that was Malenia, right? She looked a little like Miquella to me..."
"Oh, right, about Miquella. That kid's been close to me since childhood, so I've had quite a few interactions with Malenia as well..."
"At first, I thought she came for the Great Rune, or maybe just to fight. But partway through, she suddenly said, 'Miquella is waiting—the promised king has appeared,' and then pulled the needle..."
"What did she mean by that? If you're close with her, could you ask her for me?"
"And something about all of this feels off. That Unalloyed Gold Needle she had—it was made by her brother Miquella himself, specifically to suppress the Scarlet Rot."
"Miquella really did so much for her. From the Unalloyed Gold to the Haligtree—almost everything he created was meant to cure her corruption, to stop her from blooming..."
"But those last words she said before blooming—I..."
Radahn went quiet for a while, then shook his head.
"No... maybe I'm just overthinking it."
Lloyd didn't say anything either. After a moment, he pulled out a handful of shrimp.
"Want some?"
Radahn's eyes lit up.
"Liurnia shrimp? It's been ages since I had these... brings back memories."
After some time, the two finished their conversation, and the two external brains returned.
Since Radahn was still heavily injured, and the newly revitalized Caelid had many matters needing attention, he picked up his brain again and bid Lloyd farewell—for now.
After Radahn left, Alice, as usual, held out her hand to Lloyd.
This time, without a word, Lloyd handed over the Great Rune. While she busied herself with something, he strolled around the battlefield, chatting with the others.
"Hey, uh... Blaidd, this yours?"
Lloyd approached Blaidd, who stood with a serious expression, scouring the ground for something, and handed him a small item he'd picked up from the battlefield.
It was a palm-sized doll—roughly made, but clearly modeled after Ranni, complete with a little dress. Cute, in its own way.
If you leaned in and sniffed it, you could even catch a faint scent of Blaidd.
Blaidd accepted the doll with an awkward expression, hesitated a moment, then muttered softly, "Uh, don't tell Ranni..."
"Sure."
Lloyd hadn't expected someone as seemingly proper as Blaidd to have this kind of hobby, but seeing his embarrassed look, he didn't ask any further. He returned the doll, chatted a bit longer to confirm there was nothing else, then went off to find someone else to talk to.
"Ah, it's you."
Alexander was crouched next to a pile of corpses, lid slightly ajar, stuffing bits of flesh into his pot with both hands.
"That was a beautiful battle just now. You're a true warrior."
"In comparison, I'm a useless jar. I didn't even join the fight. I didn't help much either, and I'm already cracked, leaking all over... I'm honestly ashamed to face you..."
"But I haven't given up."
"Fortunately, there are plenty of warrior corpses here. Once I collect them and store them inside, I can become a Warrior Jar again."
"The bodies around here are all excellent—true warriors of the Shattering. I'll grow stronger. Look forward to the day we meet again."
After listening, Lloyd glanced at Alexander, who was still stuffing corpses into himself, and couldn't help asking, "So... how does this work exactly?"
"Huh? You don't know about jars?"
Alexander looked surprised, then gave Lloyd a rundown of how jars function.
Lloyd didn't quite get it, but he tried to make sense of it with his own twisted logic.
"So... like a sentient coffin?"
According to Alexander, a "living jar" is just an ordinary jar, filled with human flesh and blood, then brought to life through a certain ritual.
It sounded like the origin of something sinister—some kind of evil creation.
But in the Lands Between, living jars were actually beloved.
They were charming in appearance, kind by nature, and some even helped transport corpses for Erdtree ceremonies...
Though they carried corpses, living jars weren't indiscriminate. Their very nature depended on what was inside them. For example, a Warrior Jar like Alexander would only accept the remains of warriors he deemed worthy.
Even then, it wasn't about "eating" them. As the warriors' flesh and blood gave strength to Alexander, he offered their souls a resting place—a dreamlike sanctuary.
In that dream world created by the jar, even if their bodies perished, the warriors remained warriors. They continued to train through endless battle. And one day, when the jar decided the time was right, it would take them beneath the Erdtree for soul rebirth.
So in the Lands Between, living jars weren't seen as evil. In fact, many warriors dreamed of becoming part of one.
Some trained and fought endlessly just for the chance to be chosen—because it wasn't death, but recognition. A badge of honor reserved for true warriors.
Beyond Warrior Jars like Alexander, there were other kinds too—like oil jars, slick with grease.
But whatever the type, to be placed inside one was a mark of honor.
Especially when the Golden Order was intact and the Erdtree system working properly, being accepted by a jar and granted reincarnation was an immense honor—something worth bragging about.
So no one present found it strange that Alexander was filling himself with warrior flesh. Radahn even felt comforted. It meant those fallen warriors were being honored.
But Lloyd didn't look pleased. In fact, he frowned.
Something about all this didn't sit right with him.
Not that he suspected Alexander—he suspected Miyazaki.
Damn it. Anything that looks this wholesome in a Soulsborne world is bound to end in tragedy.
If not full-blown genocide, then at least a few bloodbaths.
And probably some disturbing, twisted truth behind the scenes to contrast with Alexander's goodness.
Maybe, by the end of Alexander's journey, he'd uncover the truth... and go mad. Or die.
Either way—Lloyd made a mental note to keep an eye on him.
After finishing with Alexander, he moved on to talk with the others—starting with the Finger Maiden, who had been wandering around repeating the same phrases and patching herself up.
The woman was a Finger Maiden without a Tarnished, and she'd come to the Battle Festival hoping to find one who didn't already have a Maiden.
Turned out, there were—Lloyd himself, for one.
Unfortunately for her, Lloyd already had Melina, so she didn't push the matter.
But just as their conversation was wrapping up, Lloyd suddenly remembered that he actually did know a few Tarnished without Maidens. So after chatting a bit more, he tossed her over to the girls' group at Stormveil and let her pick for herself.
Next was Okina.
Despite being someone whose brain ran entirely on "battle good," Okina should've left once the festival was over.
But Lloyd had made such an impression during the festivities that Okina stayed a little longer to speak with him.
"I had planned to challenge you," he said, "but I've just received news."
"In the Land of Reeds, beyond the Lands Between—my homeland—a new 'Shura' has emerged."
"I must admit, I'm not yet strong enough to fight you. So I'll return and face this 'Shura' first."
"If I defeat him and make it back, then I'll challenge you."
With that, Okina left.
Lloyd stood there, lost in thought.
Land of Reeds? Shura?
Why did that sound so familiar?
"Don't get distracted by déjà vu."
Alice appeared, handed Lloyd the Great Rune she'd finished processing, and slotted it into the side of Godrick's Great Rune.
Now, Lloyd held the power of two Great Runes.
He'd gotten one earlier from the Queen, but since it was the Great Rune of the Unborn, it lacked any real power. Even embedded, it didn't do much of anything.
But now...
Alice glanced at the three Great Runes in Lloyd's hand and shook her head.
Then she looked to the sky.
Lloyd followed her gaze—and saw.
With Radahn's seal on the stars broken, countless streaks of light rained down across the Lands Between.
These weren't just Fallingstar Beasts. Nor were they just random falling objects.
Thanks to a certain blazing fire, the sky above the Lands Between had already become brighter than in the original version.
Before, the seal on the stars had masked most of that light. A little slipped through, but the rest remained hidden.
Now, with the seal gone, the flame's full brightness and warmth finally shone through.
It was like someone had lit a bonfire in the middle of endless night—immediately attracting a lot of attention.
Including eyes that had never noticed this place before—and hadn't intended to.
[Dolls are becoming restless...]
[Filth is spreading...]
[Beware the eyes in the lantern...]
Three system alerts popped up in Lloyd's view.
And more progress bars were loading.
These weren't just the gazes of others—they were the effects of fragments, tainted by otherworldly auras, embedding themselves into the Lands Between.
And their influence wasn't limited to the present.
As mentioned earlier, those fragments had fallen upon the world itself, and their effects spanned not just the current Lands Between, but also its past—and its future.
Radahn's seal had anchored the stars above, but it also helped suppress the fragments' influence.
Now the seal was gone. And fate had begun to shift.
So, the stars fell.
And everything started to change.
Lloyd didn't really care.
He'd heard all the talk before—stars, fate, change—but it didn't interest him much.
Staring at the falling stars and the watching eyes, he only knew one thing:
More bosses to fight.
More loot to earn.
Standing beside him, Alice looked up at the falling stars and sighed quietly.
"Ugh... more work again..."
...
After watching the stars fall, Lloyd went to chat with Tragoth.
There wasn't much to say—the guy was just a genuinely nice person.
He mentioned that if Lloyd ever headed to the Altus Plateau, he could look him up for some help.
But Lloyd had no plans to head there yet. He hadn't even finished exploring Caelid.
And now that the region had been refreshed—Abundance cleansing the Rot, the map essentially reset, and the stars falling—there was probably new stuff out there. He had to comb through it again, just in case.
But before that...
After chatting with everyone, Lloyd touched the Grace and arrived at Ranni's Rise.
"I've seen it," Ranni said, looking up at the sky, her voice heavy. "The stars are moving again."
"You've done well. I won't blame you... because I know he would never want to live on in that state..."
"Even without Destined Death, and though Demigods cannot be truly killed, if he can rest now... that's enough."
Lloyd looked at her somber expression and blinked.
"But he's not dead."
Ranni froze, then turned to him.
"Those stars...?"
"Oh, I just brought him back."
Lloyd paused, then added,
"Also brought Caelid back while I was at it."
Ranni: "...?"
What the hell?
...
[Upto 20 chapters ahead for now]
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