Shadow of the Stars became like a bottomless black hole, devouring every trace of black mist and every corpse around it.
Yet the power contained within the mist and the dead was ultimately finite.
Gradually, the disturbance subsided.
The corpses and violet sludge vanished completely, leaving the entire pool crystal clear.
The ominous black fog that had permeated the area was swept away as well.
The pool became peaceful and serene, much like the basin within the Church of Vows.
In stark contrast, however, was the Shadow of the Stars floating above it.
Having consumed the power born from the corpses, the blade now radiated a sinister and unnatural aura.
The power it had just acquired from the pool was not the true source of its strength.
It was merely a key.
A key that had successfully unlocked the power sealed within.
A terrifying malice began to seep from the blade.
Like ink spreading across parchment, it stained the surrounding space black and dragged everything into darkness.
This was the black shadow hidden among the stars.
The true night.
With the unsealing of Shadow of the Stars, night had finally descended upon Nokstella.
The false stars disappeared into darkness, their radiance extinguished.
The blade's power was completely restored, transforming it into the counterpart of the Fingerslayer Blade.
Another god-slaying weapon.
A weapon specifically created to oppose the Greater Will and Its envoys, the Two Fingers.
That overwhelming malice carried the Nox Dynasty's ancient ambition to slay a god.
Unfortunately, the weapon forged for a king and an age that never arrived had never found the Lord of Night the Nox had awaited.
At the very least, it had finally found a wielder.
It would no longer gather dust.
And with Asimi's existence, one could even say it had fulfilled the purpose for which it was originally created.
That said, Shadow of the Stars seemed somewhat disobedient.
Lucian extended a hand and seized the blade from the air.
The moment he grasped it, the katana began vibrating violently, as though struggling against him.
Feeling the resistance transmitted through the hilt, Lucian smiled.
The weapon possessed no true consciousness.
This was merely an instinctive rejection.
But a weapon rebelling against its wielder?
That was simply unacceptable.
In fact, the more it resisted, the more excited Lucian became.
He would tame it in an instant.
His aura erupted.
The sinister energy surrounding Shadow of the Stars was immediately shattered and suppressed.
Now that it had fallen into his hands, it thought it could escape?
Not a chance.
Before long, the blade settled down.
Lucian casually swung it a few times.
Soon, it became much like the Fingerslayer Blade, entering a dormant state where not a single trace of its power leaked outward.
Once its edge was concealed, Shadow of the Stars returned to its ordinary appearance, as though nothing had happened at all.
Yet as Lucian held it tightly, he could clearly sense the destructive power hidden within.
Perfect.
He could use the Baleful Shadows as test subjects.
After all, they served the Two Fingers.
And he had just acquired a weapon specifically designed to kill servants of the Two Fingers.
Putting Shadow of the Stars away, Lucian left the now peaceful pool behind.
His next destination was the elevator hidden within Nokstella that led underground.
From there, he could reach the location Ranni had prepared in advance.
She had already marked the route for him.
All he had to do was follow the guidance of moonlight.
There was no need to explore on his own.
Before long, Lucian successfully passed through the elevator and arrived at the hidden basin beneath Nokstella.
After finding a large boulder to sit on, he took out the miniature Ranni and placed her in his palm.
Gently, he poked her cheek.
That alone served as his method of calling her.
After discussing the plan earlier, Ranni had been preparing the entire time, so Lucian was confident such a simple gesture would be enough to summon her.
While waiting for her consciousness to descend, he didn't remain idle.
Instead, he decided to test the new ability he had recently acquired.
Entering that mysterious state once more, he looked toward the miniature Ranni.
Immediately, a cold and frigid Dark Moon appeared above her.
The moon was tiny, matching the size of the doll itself.
Just as expected, Ranni's power manifested as a pure Dark Moon.
At that moment, frost began spreading around the doll.
A sign that Ranni's consciousness was descending.
As her awareness entered the vessel, the tiny Dark Moon rapidly expanded in Lucian's vision.
Little Ranni opened her eyes.
After surveying the surroundings, she nodded.
The Nokstella Basin was the battlefield she had selected beforehand.
This was where the Two Fingers known as Celes had once lingered.
Its presence still remained here even now.
Looking at Lucian, Ranni spoke.
"This is the place."
"Wait here for a time."
"I shall attend unto the preparations."
"And when the Shadows make themselves known, I shall leave those troublesome creatures unto thee."
Lucian nodded and quietly watched as Little Ranni made her arrangements.
She released her power.
The aura of the Dark Moon spread outward in all directions.
Though faint, it reached an astonishing distance, covering nearly the entirety of the lower reaches of the Ainsel River.
For the keen senses of Shadowbound Beasts, that faint trace was more than sufficient.
After finishing her preparations, Little Ranni sat down in Lucian's palm.
With nothing to do but wait, she suddenly seemed inclined to speak about the past.
"Let us speak a little of that which came before…"
"Thou shouldst already know that, amongst the demigods, only Miquella, Malenia, and I were Empyreans."
"Each of us was chosen by a different Two Fingers, and marked as a candidate for godhood."
"To succeed Queen Marika, and ascend as the god of the age to come."
"…Yet I rejected the Two Fingers."
"I stole away the Rune of Death."
"I slew mine own Empyrean flesh, and cast it aside."
"For I would not suffer myself to be ruled by such beings."
"From that hour forth, the Two Fingers and I became bound in mutual curse."
"And the Baleful Shadows became the blades They loosed in pursuit of me."
Ranni let out a self-deprecating laugh.
"What a ridiculous thing."
"I spent long years making ready for vengeance, yet all the while I was driven hither and thither by those Baleful Shadows."
"Most troublesome foes they are, and no easy matter to put down."
"Once they set upon my trail, great effort is needed ere I may shake them off again."
"Thus did I keep myself secluded within Caria Manor for many a year."
"Partly because my body required sleep."
"But partly because of the Baleful Shadows as well."
Admitting weakness was difficult.
For someone as proud as Ranni, it was even harder.
Yet by now, she had completely come to regard Lucian as someone she could rely upon.
"Yet Blaidd and old Iji remained ever at my side."
"Through those most arduous years, their companionship did sustain me."
"By their steadfast loyalty was I permitted to preserve what little dignity remained."
"And then..."
Ranni looked up at him.
"Thou didst appear before me without warning."
"And one by one, thou hast broken apart every obstacle that stood in my path."
"Those matters which once troubled me so deeply now seem almost trivial when placed before thee."
"I must admit… fate hath a rather twisted sense of humor at times."
"Hadst thou not been here, I would never have come so near to the completion of my vengeance."
"So… I am grateful unto thee."
With her back turned toward Lucian, Little Ranni ultimately couldn't bring herself to reveal her true feelings.
In her opinion, it was still too soon.
And so she could only whisper the words silently within her heart.
'To me, thou hast already become something… special.'
Since he had no idea what Ranni was thinking, Lucian didn't react much to her thanks.
After all, from his perspective, none of these things had been particularly difficult.
He had simply dealt with them along the way.
However, hearing her mention Blaidd and Iji again, he spoke up.
"When all of this is over, and the curse of the Two Fingers is gone..."
"Without the Two Fingers, you'll finally be able to appear openly in the Lands Between."
Little Ranni lifted her head and gazed toward the distant stream.
"When the Two Fingers are dealt with…"
"…we shall speak of what followeth when the time cometh."
Lucian looked at her curiously.
"What?"
"You're not planning to go back and see them afterward?"
"Blaidd and old Iji are both waiting for you."
Ranni fell silent, seemingly lost in thought.
Perhaps the future beyond her revenge still felt too distant.
She had never seriously considered it.
"…As for Blaidd and old Iji, there is no repayment I could ever make."
"They knew what end awaited the path I had chosen."
"They knew I would one day betray all and abandon all."
"And yet they followed me nonetheless, without question."
Suddenly, Ranni turned around and smiled at him.
"…Ah. Perhaps I should include thee in that number as well."
"In matters of being a hopelessly kind fool, thou art their equal in every regard."
Lucian scratched his head.
A kind fool?
He didn't really think that description fit him.
When it came to characters he knew and loved from the game, he was willing to help them reach a happy ending without expecting anything in return.
For a player, giving an unfinished story the ending it deserved was reason enough.
But helping Ranni wasn't entirely because of that.
To put it bluntly—
He was attracted to her.
A wife from a game was one thing.
A wife in reality was another matter entirely.
—
The aura of Ranni's Dark Moon continued spreading throughout the basin.
The keen-nosed beasts quickly picked up her scent.
Just as Ranni had predicted, her presence successfully attracted the Baleful Shadows.
Under the command of the Two Fingers, the Baleful Shadows emerged from the ground before Lucian and Ranni, rising from mere shadows into physical form.
The creatures came in all manner of beastly shapes.
Some resembled wolves, others stranger creatures still.
The only thing they shared was their crimson-black shadowy bodies.
Their arrival interrupted Lucian and Ranni's conversation.
Looking at the various shadow-beasts before him, Lucian rose to his feet.
The time for chatting was over.
Now it was time to eliminate them completely.
As for these conveniently delivered test subjects, Lucian had no intention of showing mercy.
He drew the newly awakened Shadow of the Stars and gripped it firmly.
This would be the perfect opportunity to test its effectiveness against beings infused with the power of the Two Fingers.
The first Baleful Shadow sprang forward, lunging directly toward Little Ranni.
Lucian released the blade's power and casually swung it.
Darkness flowed from the sword, pure and absolute, as though it intended to devour every source of light in existence.
The star-born shadow collided with the Baleful Beast.
The moment the two touched, the creature's body was torn apart.
Its shadowy form shattered beneath the pitch-black slash.
Blood sprayed into the air.
When the remains finally hit the ground, the crimson-black shadow body had completely lost its power.
All that remained was the ordinary corpse of a beast.
"One."
Ranni's eyes widened in astonishment.
The power of the Two Fingers...
Had been erased from the Shadow entirely?
The most troublesome aspect of the Baleful Shadows was the unique power granted to them by the Two Fingers.
As shadows assigned to hunt her, they were extraordinarily difficult to kill.
Even if their bodies were destroyed, the shadows would reform through the power of the Two Fingers.
Normally, they could only be eliminated after repeated battles that consumed enormous amounts of time and effort.
That was what made them such terrifying pursuers.
Against such creatures, only the Fingerslayer Blade could dispatch them efficiently.
Yet even Ranni's Fingerslayer Blade merely killed the Shadow itself.
It could not completely erase the Two Fingers' power in the way Lucian's blade had just done.
She had seen Shadow of the Stars before.
But at that time, its seal remained intact.
Now, however, she was completely certain.
This was another Fingerslayer Blade.
Perhaps weapons like these could only display their true power when wielded by a truly powerful warrior.
Looking at the beast's corpse, Lucian narrowed his eyes slightly.
This had been a genuine beast.
Not merely a construct created from power.
He suddenly understood how the Baleful Shadows came to exist.
It seemed the Two Fingers selected special beasts and then transformed them into Shadows through Their power.
His gaze shifted toward the remaining Baleful Shadows as they surrounded him.
These creatures possessed no true self-awareness.
Their lives and deaths were entirely controlled by the Two Fingers.
No wonder even someone with Blaidd's iron will had been unable to resist.
This was the price of accepting the power of a Shadow.
Once you accepted that power, you inevitably became subject to the Two Fingers.
Four Baleful Shadows remained.
Crimson-black flames ignited along their weapons.
Lucian's eyes fixed upon those flames.
They carried a sense of danger.
That was the power of Destined Death.
But so what if it was Destined Death?
A smile spread across Lucian's face.
The lingering flames covering his body suddenly flared violently.
As long as the attacks couldn't hit him, Destined Death was meaningless.
He swung Shadow of the Stars once more.
Darkness instantly swallowed the entire basin.
The Baleful Shadows showed no fear.
As hunters that pursued their prey to the bitter end, they relied on scent rather than sight.
Even in complete darkness, Lucian's presence remained clear to them.
They locked onto him immediately.
But identifying a target was one thing.
Reacting to him was another.
A bone-white blade born from corpses suddenly pierced through one of the Baleful Shadows from behind.
"Two."
Only after the blade was withdrawn and Lucian's voice echoed through the darkness did the remaining Shadows realize their companion had died.
Then Lucian's voice sounded once more.
"Three."
As the words fell, the presence of another Baleful Shadow vanished completely.
Far away, sensing everything that was happening, the Two Fingers that had once chosen Ranni—
Celes—
began to experience an emotion It had never expected to feel.
Despair.