"What in the world is that light... even the brilliance of the Erdtree seems to shrink away from it." From the corner of his eye, Darian caught a glimpse of a scene that once again shattered his perception of reality.
"I didn't expect to meet this so soon... I just finished dealing with the cursed fire of the Sickle Village, and here it is again in Liurnia. And it's in the hands of a master." The Tarnished released his grip on Rogier and Darian, narrowing his eyes at the distance.
A red phantom, silhouetted against the pulsating glare of a Frenzied Sun and wielding a long spear, walked slowly toward them. The blazing sun behind him seemed intent on merging with his form, but the phantom's own consciousness appeared to be fiercely resisting the union.
"Outsiders... leave... this place!" The fingerprinted man's body shuddered violently. He slammed his spear into the ground just to steady himself.
"This... this person... why does he look so familiar?" Both Rogier and Darian felt a strange sense of recognition.
"..." The Tarnished watched the fingerprinted man calmly. He could feel it—the power that came infinitely close to that of an Elden Lord, and the surging, manic fire of frenzy churning within that body.
"Outsiders... LEAVE!!" The man roared at the Tarnished leading the group.
"I'm very sorry, but we have reasons why we must move forward." The Tarnished drew the Crescent Blade. Its azure glow formed a sharp, cold contrast against the golden-red of the Frenzied Flame.
"Ugh... HAA!!" The man could no longer suppress the madness. He lunged, his spear aiming straight for the Tarnished's head. The Tarnished sidestepped the thrust, and a massive, golden spectral tail swept out, knocking the man backward.
The fingerprinted man dug his spear into the earth, using the momentum to spring back into a bizarre, crouched stance. He leapt high into the air, his spearhead wreathed in terrifying Frenzied Flame, intending to incinerate the Tarnished completely.
"Come on then..." Dropping to all fours to lower his center of gravity, the Tarnished channeled the Glintstone and Frost powers of the Crescent Blade. He charged. First came the flash of the blade's light, then the cold bite of the steel itself as it struck the target. But the fingerprinted man still managed to drive his spear downward. The Frenzied Flame at the tip surged into the Tarnished's body, and he immediately felt his soul beginning to sear.
"Tarnished!?" Rogier and Darian couldn't keep up with the speed of the exchange. By the time they regained their senses, the Tarnished seemed to be falling into a disadvantage.
"..." The Tarnished stood motionless, head bowed and hands clutching his face. Seeing this, the two companions rushed forward to pull him aside as the fingerprinted man charged again.
"Tch... Rogier, let's go. I hope your skills haven't gone rusty." Darian channeled his seal, casting the Protection of the Erdtree upon Rogier.
"Haha... I hope I won't disappoint you then..."
Rogier and Darian immediately entered a fray with the fingerprinted man. However, the man was incredibly powerful, forcing them back repeatedly. Even though he was simply swinging his spear with wild abandon, his raw physical capabilities were of a top-tier caliber.
"I remember now... this guy is..."
"The Round-Table's Knight Vyke! The one who was closest to the Throne! Why has he become like this?" Rogier knelt on the ground, his consciousness blurring and his head throbbing. His condition was deteriorating rapidly. "No... no matter why, we must move forward... the clues cannot end here...!"
Rogier and Darian locked eyes, a silent understanding passing between them. They crossed their weapons.
"I never thought the day would come where I'd use this move with you again... D."
"Neither did I... Come! Let's put everything into this one!" The two exerted their strength simultaneously. Gold and blue light converged as they poured nearly all the power of their respective armaments into two intersecting slashes.
This was the hallmark of their former friendship, a radiance born of mutual recognition—the perfect synthesis of Incantation and Sorcery.
"Aaargh!" Faced with an attack powerful enough to cleave a Tree Sentinel or a Putrid Tree Spirit, the fingerprinted man didn't even try to dodge. He met it head-on, his spearhead thrusting forward to stabilize against the combined strike.
"What... how!?"
"Haha... is the gap between us and a 'Lord-to-be' truly this vast? I'm sorry, Darian... Tarnished, if it weren't for me..."
The Frenzied Flame was about to shatter their light and consume them. They had no strength left to dodge; the combined technique had drained their reserves.
Inside the Tarnished's Consciousness
The fire was scorching his soul. A boundless sea of flame surrounded the Tarnished's spirit, whispering incessantly: May chaos take the world... let all be melted into one...
But then, something extraordinary happened. The Tarnished's soul, which had been dim and colorless, suddenly saw a speck of orange-red bleed into it like ink into clear water. The entire soul was dyed in a vibrant, living golden-red. Then, a massive eye, covered in complex and ancient patterns, opened within his spirit.
"You think this petty trash can consume my soul? Laughable! Get out." The patterns in the eye shifted into a swirling vortex, dragging the Frenzied Flame into its center. Then, like a fired cannonball, it blasted the Frenzied Flame out of his consciousness. As the madness was expelled, a faint purple mist arrived near his soul, seemingly a moment too late.
Back in Reality
Just as Rogier and Darian were bracing for the end, they heard the Tarnished's voice from behind them.
"You gave me such a grand gift... it would be rude not to return the favor, wouldn't it?"
"What...?" Rogier looked back and saw the Tarnished release his grip on his head. A pillar of fire, no less intense than Vyke's own, erupted from his pupils—the very Frenzied Flame that had been forced out of his body.
"!!" Even the near-mindless Vyke was stunned. The expelled flame absorbed Vyke's own fire and tore through the red phantom's spirit, shattering both the phantom and the image of the sun behind him.
"Wh-what just happened..." Darian was dumbfounded. Everything occurring today was beyond anything he had seen in his entire life.
"That combined attack of yours wasn't half bad," the Tarnished remarked. His eyes had already returned to their normal grey hue.
"What exactly happened to you? I thought you were finished," Rogier sighed in heavy relief.
"I don't know. The stuff was forced out of me, and I have a feeling I won't have to fear it anymore." The Tarnished truly didn't know what happened inside his mind; he had experienced a total blackout. But he felt the cause wasn't the Frenzied Flame, but something else entirely.
"As long as you're okay... as long as you're okay."
"You mentioned someone called 'Vyke, the Lord-to-be'... he must have been quite famous," the Tarnished said, leaning against a wall to catch his breath.
From Rogier and Darian, he learned that Vyke was one of the earliest Tarnished to return to the Lands Between. He was a champion of unparalleled strength who was said to be just a step away from becoming the Elden Lord. He was even favored by the Ancient Dragons, mastering the purest forms of their lightning incantations.
But one day, this man who was meant to be King vanished. No one knew where he went.
"To think the legendary Vyke would end up like this..." Darian sighed with regret.
"I see..." The Tarnished rubbed his armored chin. He had felt the immense power within Vyke's phantom. While it was still less than his own peak strength, it was certainly enough to become a Lord. Since he was a Tarnished from after the Shattering, he must have possessed two or more Great Runes. Why would such a man fail and go mad? There was a story there, and it was tied to the Frenzied Flame.
The trio adjusted their equipment and continued. Ahead, they witnessed a gruesome tragedy. Great trees were scorched, and the corpses of people in strange, foreign clothing lay charred on the ground.
"Those people are..."
"Likely the Ancestral Followers. Legends say they live in the underground world, though I've never been there," the Tarnished noted. He also saw the remains of the Erdtree Avatar, burned almost to charcoal. This scene was a testament to the Erdtree's total defeat; the wood simply could not withstand the fire.
"What are you digging for?" Darian asked, confused as he watched the Tarnished rummage through the Avatar's remains.
"Crystal Tears... tsk, looks like they were burned away too." The Tarnished reached into the hollow of the Avatar's trunk. The once-glittering yellow crystals had turned to a handful of ash.
"Crystal Tears... do you actually have a Flask of Wondrous Physick?" Darian was intrigued. Even for a devout believer—well, a former believer—obtaining one was difficult. In this age of waning magic, those with the skill to craft such flasks had mostly vanished.
"Yeah, found it in a church." The Tarnished shook the flask. Two crystals, melted into thick liquid, shone brilliantly within.
"Ha, you really are lucky. Though even the Erdtree couldn't have guessed that the one it blessed would choose to topple it."
"It doesn't know anything. It's just a wooden... no, a golden-wooden stump."
"I suppose..." Darian didn't say more. No matter how much grace one received, it could not surpass the Erdtree itself—that was the limitation of faith. You cannot draw more power than the source provides. But the Tarnished before him seemed to possess a multitude of powers; the strength of the Erdtree might just be a drop in the ocean for him.
While Darian mourned the fall of the Erdtree's glory, the eye in his hand began to tremble violently.
"It's reacting! It's nearby! Let's go!" Under Darian's lead, they followed the eye's guidance to the eastern side of the Minor Erdtree. At the foot of a very well-hidden mountain, the eye erupted with its strongest vibration yet. The Deathroot was just ahead. Below the mountain lay a catacomb.
"Looks like this is the place..." Rogier wiped his weapon clean.
"Yep. A catacomb-tomb."
"Wait, sorry, what did you say?"
"Nothing." The Tarnished shook his head and pushed open the heavy doors, entering the tomb where someone was hiding.
"...To think someone found this place... are they pursuers?" In the darkness, a cold female voice spoke, tinged with bitterness.