The familiar dreamscape and the familiar girl. Having not seen her for quite some time, St. Trina's face was puffed up with air, clearly expressing her dissatisfaction with how long it had taken the Tarnished to seek her out.
"Don't look at me like that. Too many things have been happening," the Tarnished said helplessly. Trina wasn't like Millicent or Melina, who were available at a moment's notice; seeing her required entering a dream. When one gets busy, it is all too easy to forget the time needed for sleep.
"How cruel..." Trina's small face drooped. Even with such an expression, she remained incredibly cute, possessing an innate, attractive temperament. "This time, you have to stay and chat with me for a long time... I want to see exactly what matters were so important they left you no time for me..." Trina puffed out her cheeks and linked her arm with the Tarnished's, her large, brilliant golden eyes staring straight at him.
"You sound like a wife giving a lecture..." the Tarnished muttered, momentarily speechless.
"Y-You! Don't forget, if your path to Lordship fails, you have to be my King...!" Trina, flustered by the Tarnished's comment, felt her face flush a deep red, her thoughts becoming a bit scattered. "No, no... I clearly meant to ask you what has happened lately..."
Trina had a childish side, but she was no ordinary person; she quickly regained control of her emotions and settled down. The Tarnished then recounted everything that had occurred recently in full detail.
Throughout the story, Trina maintained a calm expression. However, when she heard that the Tarnished had encountered a red-haired girl named Millicent who suffered from the rot, her demeanor changed visibly. Nevertheless, she continued to listen carefully until he reached the part where he found the Fingerslayer Blade...
(Sister Ranni... as expected, she won't let fate bind her steps... and... Millicent... Malenia...) Much time had passed since Trina and the Tarnished last met. Back then, the Tarnished had not yet defeated Godrick; now, he was a man of Kingly caliber, bearing three Great Runes.
The feats he had accomplished were truly numerous: the fall of the Grafted Godrick, the recruitment of the Black Knives, the rescue of the imprisoned Carian Queen, and the confrontation with the maddening Frenzied Flame... the trial of the Unquenchable Flame, allying with Ranni and the Godskins, and even challenging the strongest demigod, Radahn.
Any one of these deeds, if taken alone, would be enough to shock the Lands Between. However, what concerned Trina most were the Frenzied Flame and the one-armed girl, Millicent... Previously, she had entered the dreams of Irina, the blind girl the Tarnished had saved.
She had used her dreams of tranquility to suppress the Frenzied Flame within the girl, and the effect seemed decent, but it wasn't enough... that girl was no ordinary victim of the flame. What Trina faced was a desolate, terrifying desire to return all things to one—the Will of the Frenzied Flame.
This wasn't Trina's first time contending with the Frenzied Flame; there were countless precedents in the past. But she had never encountered such a terrifying host. As a result, the already weakened Trina had fallen into an exhausted sleep after suppressing the flame within that girl.
As for the red-haired girl... unfortunately, she couldn't see her with her own eyes. However, if she obtained the Tarnished's permission, she could extract his memories from within the dream—one of Trina's minor skills.
"Wow... Queen's Black Flame, Aspect of the Crucible, Flame of the Fell God... Tarnished, you can accommodate so much power." While the previous issues weighed on her mind, the sheer variety of powers within the Tarnished's body shocked her. It was too strong... such terrifying integration, to hold such disparate powers together without them repelling one another.
"It's normal. No need to panic."
"You're really putting on airs now, aren't you?" Trina squinted at the Tarnished, her eyes lively yet tinged with a hint of a girl's exasperation.
"But now you understand why I didn't come to see you. One thing after another, I just didn't have the time."
"Mmm~ I understand, I really do. But could you promise me one thing?" The girl seemed a bit bashful, but she spoke up resolutely. "Can you let me see that red-haired girl? Please!" Trina pressed her hands together and rocked them back and forth.
"Acting cute won't help. She didn't enter my dream... but she's asleep right now. Why don't you go try?"
Hearing this, Trina felt other reservations. Her power was currently weak. If she hadn't connected to the Tarnished through the medium of the Trina's Lily earlier, she wouldn't even be able to meet him in a dream now. To enter Millicent's dream, she would need another lily. The most convenient way now was to use the Tarnished's permission to access his memories.
"Ugh... it's no good. I can't reach that girl... even though I can feel she's right near you." Trina didn't give up trying, but the result was as she expected. Millicent's dream was like a locked door. In her prime, Trina held a master key; now that the "key" was gone, she would need to forge a new one specifically for that door.
"I still need your help, Tarnished," Trina said, blinking at him.
"You're quite pathetic, aren't you?"
"Waaaah... don't look down on me! I-I'm just too tired!" To think the great St. Trina of Dreams was being shut out of someone's dream was indeed a bit laughable. If word got out, her dignity would be ruined.
"Fine, fine. Tell me what I can do to help," the Tarnished said with a grin, rubbing Trina's head.
"I want to extract your memories of that girl through this dream... but I thought it best to have your consent." The Tarnished's technique was superb; despite being a person and not a cat, Trina found herself being tamed by his touch.
"Stop, stop, stop! I'm not a kitten!"
"I used to rub Serosh and the mountain lions like this..." Looking at Trina's fluffy hair, the Tarnished's hands were itching to keep going.
"Then go pet Torrent... wait, we're off-topic again." The pace was constantly being dictated by the Tarnished, making Trina feel strange.
(He really isn't like that little dummy Malenia... not as easy to handle as her... instead, I'm the one being handled by him... ugh.)
"Go ahead and look. I don't have any shameful memories anyway." The Tarnished was very generous, striking a pose that said "view at your leisure." After receiving his permission, Trina extracted Millicent's appearance from his memory.
A red-haired, gold-eyed girl appeared—somewhat frail yet standing tall, a resolute maiden possessing a chilling, dignified air.
"Malenia..." Trina's pupils trembled. The resemblance was uncanny... she looked exactly like Malenia in her youth. But why...? What was the relationship between this girl and Malenia? A daughter? No, impossible. As Malenia's brother... no, sister, how could Trina not know if her sister had a child?
(Could it be related to Malenia's slumber... is she an avatar?) Watching Millicent's every move in the memory—so green yet so familiar—the feeling was unmistakable. This was the Malenia of her youth, though Millicent was much more straightforward than Malenia had been back then.
Though the world revered Malenia as the Goddess of War, only Trina, as her family, knew that Malenia was a sensitive, delicate child who was prone to crying. Millicent, however, had not inherited that "crybaby" personality.
"Judging by your reaction, you really do know her." The Tarnished wasn't surprised by Trina's response. Since Millicent was related to Malenia, and Malenia was the Blade of Miquella, St. Trina would inevitably have a close connection.
"Yes... very similar... but... the two cannot be considered equal after all..." Just like Trina and Miquella... even if they were two sides of the same demigod, there were subtle differences in personality. Personality determines uniqueness, and the same applied to Millicent and Malenia.
"So who is Millicent exactly... it seems she isn't Malenia's daughter?" the Tarnished asked.
"No... perhaps one really could call her Malenia's daughter... she was born from the shattered dignity of Malenia in her moment of despair... this child is the symbol of her dignity." Trina then told the Tarnished about Malenia's fate after the great war.
When Malenia could no longer resist the whispers of the rot and her mind fell into despair, the Unalloyed Gold Needle broke... and with it, Malenia's noble dignity was discarded along with the blooming Aeonian flower.
Millicent was an avatar of Malenia... or one of them. The blooming of the Scarlet Rot had torn Malenia's persona into pieces. Millicent was not the same as Malenia; she had her own life experiences and was a living, breathing person.
Yet she shared an inseparable bond with Malenia... just as parents pass certain traits to their offspring, Millicent had inherited the noble will of the Malenia of the past.
As she had just said, Millicent inherited only Malenia's "dignity." Since Malenia's persona had been shattered, there must be other children who inherited other traits...
Currently, the Malenia within the Haligtree was but a hollow shell.
"In other words, to wake Malenia, Millicent has to return to her?" The Tarnished frowned; matters were becoming complicated.
"Yes... but..." Looking at the independent and hardworking Millicent, Trina couldn't help but overlap her with the Malenia in her memories. However, due to the Tarnished's intervention, Millicent was gradually moving toward her own unique will... to deny all that and force her back into Malenia would be cruel.
"...." Trina, who had always greeted the Tarnished with a smile, fell into an unprecedented state of hesitation. If there were a way, she truly didn't want to lose five unique personalities to awaken Malenia. But as Malenia's sister... her pillar of support, she had to make a choice.
"You look very hesitant. But I have a plan; I wonder if it's feasible?"
"Eh?" Trina opened her golden eyes wide in surprise.
"Bring both Malenia and Millicent into a cleft in time." The Tarnished's words were like a ray of light in the darkness, causing Trina's mind to suddenly clear.
"That's it... I almost forgot... that move can still be used." The Farum Azula where Placidusax once resided existed outside of time. In her early years, she had considered using the Gold Needle there to suppress the rot, using the frozen, chaotic time to achieve a truly eternal seal.
Now, she could rely on that secret seat of the Dragon Lord to preserve Millicent's existence separately... but would it really work? This was merely a theory; no one had ever tested it. Furthermore, the Dragon Lord was missing. Could the secret place really sustain both an awakened Malenia and Millicent simultaneously?
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