Morgott remained silent.
"My ideal world of equality requires no leader, yet it must be established by a leader, otherwise it will easily fall apart in its early stages," Makhno said. "Long ago, after realizing I did not have the strength to be a leader, I knew my task was to find that future leader and guide him toward his mission.
"I traveled far and wide until I finally found you. A demigod of the Golden Dynasty, cast away into the sewers, possessing the powers of both the Crucible and Gold. Cursed and loathed, yet your heart remained untainted by the dust of this world. I did my best to guide you, but it seems you have chosen a different path."
"I will not betray the Golden Order," Morgott finally spoke. "The Erdtree has not rescinded my grace, and the path I walk has never changed."
"What if these hundred thousand people of Deeproot want you to walk a different path?" Makhno asked calmly. "Just because the Erdtree forgot to take back your grace, you would betray so many people who love and respect you?"
"I love Deeproot, but not because its people love me. It is because I see children playing in the fields, because I see households that do not need to lock their doors at night, and because when a newcomer builds a house, the neighbors drop what they are doing to help.
"Therefore, I will not allow Deeproot to take the path of confrontation with the Golden Dynasty, sinking into a war that will never end—where everyone sleeps with their boots on, living in hatred and fear. Deeproot is bound together by love, not hate. Makhno, I know this is not the future you want."
Remembrance of Morgott the Omen King, hewn into the Erdtree.
The power of its namesake can be unlocked by the Finger Reader. Alternatively, it may be used to gain a great bounty of Runes.
Though born an Omen, a child devoid of grace, Morgott took it upon himself to be the Erdtree's protector. He loved not because he was loved, or because he sought to be loved. He loved simply because he desired to love.
The two stared at each other for a long time. Finally, Makhno looked away.
"How much certainty do you have?"
"I don't know," Morgott said. "But I will do my absolute best."
"Go and defend Deeproot in your own way, then, Morgott." He pushed away the supporting hand of the Deeproot warrior and turned around unsteadily. "Everyone, leave this place."
"Comrade Makhno!" a Deeproot warrior cried out, unwilling to let it go.
"We cannot have internal division," Makhno said sternly, before breaking into a violent coughing fit. He gestured weakly toward the Omen-born gathered outside. They had only come because they heard the shouting and had no idea what was actually happening.
Makhno straightened his back and shook his head. "Besides, I, too, wish to give peace a chance."
The group looked at one another, and eventually, one by one, they followed him out.
Morgott prepared to leave as well, but he found Mohg standing before him, unmoving.
"Mohg?"
"Give me the crystal," Mohg said. "I won't let you leave."
"Makhno no longer objects."
"Stop! This is the task Prince Raven entrusted to me," Mohg raised his harpoon. "I promised him I would ensure the demolition went as planned."
"So, those explosive stones were given by Raven." Morgott frowned. "Collapsing the sewers was his plan?"
"I'm not sure, but he told me to return to Deeproot to ensure the demolition wasn't interfered with."
"I haven't had the chance to ask you how the peace talks failed, and why the Golden Dynasty suddenly decided to attack Deeproot," Morgott paused. "Raven is a Prince of Caria. Perhaps he actually wants a conflict to break out between Deeproot and the Golden Dynasty—"
"The failure of the talks wasn't his fault! No one could have done better than he did! It only happened because someone attacked the Capital in the name of Deeproot—you know nothing at all! You have no right to slander him!"
"Enough. Put down the harpoon. Are you really going to strike me?" Morgott said. "You aren't the type of person who stabs others with a harpoon."
"Don't push me." Mohg took a step back, his hands trembling, yet he still gripped the harpoon tightly.
"What did he say to you to make you trust him so much?" Morgott said disappointedly. "You've only been with him for a few days, yet you're so subservient that you won't even listen to me? You are far too easy to manipulate."
"Because he is the only one who respects me! You only tell me what to do and what not to do, but you never explain why, and you never ask what I want to do."
"When I was growing up, no one ever respected me," Morgott paused. "So I truly did not know how to teach you. But that doesn't mean—"
"He showed me a wider world. In the last few days, I've learned more than I ever did before," Mohg said. "I used to feel like I could never achieve anything, viewing you as an unreachable role model. Now I understand that it was because you were always restraining and controlling me."
"That world does not belong to you. Mohg, you and he are not from the same world," Morgott snapped. "He bought you a set of clothes you have no business wearing; that is the true restraint and control. Look at yourself. Do you really believe what you are doing now comes from your own heart, and not his manipulation? Wake up!"
"I have never been more awake."
"Mohg! What are you two doing?" Tata rushed in through the door. Seeing the brothers at each other's throats, he shouted in shock.
In the moment Mohg was distracted, Morgott lunged and grabbed the harpoon's shaft, wrenching it from Mohg's grip.
"Give it back!" Mohg struck back instinctively, swinging his hand in a clawing motion.
Morgott did not block or dodge. Unexpectedly, wherever Mohg's sharp nails passed, three crimson flaming claw marks appeared in mid-air, tearing massive gashes across Morgott's chest. Blood sprayed out, but vanished eerily in mid-air, as if swallowed by something invisible and formless.
An old laugh, coming from nowhere and everywhere, echoed through the room—a sound of maternal affection laced with an unspeakable madness, like a thousand deranged old crones laughing at once. The blood, rich with the power of the Crucible and Gold, had pleased an unknown entity, and it had lovingly bestowed a reward.
The claw marks suspended in the air sank deeper, as if space itself had been carved into a bloody wound. In the next heartbeat, as if an artery had burst, blood-flame erupted from the claw marks like an explosion, instantly engulfing the entire wooden shack.
Tata, at the doorway, barely had time to shield his face with his arms before he was blown backward. He rolled several times on the ground, his scales melting in the heat of the blood-flame.
"Big Brother Morgott!"
Tata roared, and the yellow-oil flames of Omen souls erupted from his body. The cursed spirits of Omen children who had died in the sewers before they could grow flew everywhere, struggling to purge the blood-flame from Tata. After doing so, they grew visibly weak and retreated back into the Omen Bairn doll at Tata's waist.
The tide of blood-flame gradually receded, revealing Morgott standing tall. His hide robes were in tatters, and his charred, powerful physique beneath looked as if it were cast in iron.
"What power is this?" Mohg looked at his own hands in terror, then at his brother's chest. The three horrific wounds had closed under the searing heat of the flames, leaving behind deep, charred scars that would never fade.
He suddenly clutched his head in agony. "What is that voice—get out! Stop talking in my head!"
Morgott looked at his brother with deep concern. He took a step forward, then forced himself to stop.
"Tata, you and the others take care of Mohg," he said to Tata.
"Big Brother, what are you going to do?" Tata chased after him.
"All of you, go back. You are not allowed to follow," Morgott said. "This is my war."
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Elden Ring: The Unborn One's Journey Through Elden Ring(174 Chapter - Ongoing)
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