Elden Lord of Cinders

Like he'd thought before—because of his unique nature, Lloyd was like a flame burning in the dark. He easily drew the gaze of other beings.

And because his Law distorted the surrounding space, it made it easier for those beings to project their power through.

So after Lloyd defeated the Incarnation of the Fell Omen, the vessel—which happened to contain many elements ideal for such projection—was quickly seized by two different forces trying to snuff out the destructive flame he carried.

As for the third one—well, just like He said: "Since the others are here, I might as well toss in a bit of power too."

Of course, He said it was just to join the fun… but who knew what the real motive was? Maybe testing the waters with the Golden Order, checking its current status, or trying to peek into the Crucible of Life.

No one could say for sure.

But what was certain was that, with the infusion of three powers, the Fell Omen rose again—stronger than ever.

And it wasn't just raw power. It was more than that...

"Holy shit, that's a psycho combo!"

"Holy—what kind of full-screen light pollution move was that?!"

"Bro, are you cracked? How are you not stopping?!"

Lloyd was in disbelief. The thing in front of him moved nothing like before—it was faster, more aggressive, chaining together attacks with huge AoE effects, chaotic skill sets packed with fast swings, delayed swings, unpredictable patterns...

No, seriously, Miyazaki—are you sure this is still a Soulsborne boss?

That teleporting five-hit combo, followed by Bloodflame effects that detonated after a delay—causing stagger without knockdown—meant even grazing it would get you caught in a follow-up.

Try backing off? It starts spewing fire, shoots laser beams, and just when your camera gets blocked, it throws in a few homing holy daggers for good measure.

And when its health drops below half? Sometimes it'll finish a combo, raise that cursed sword, and slam it down for a massive full-map explosion with ridiculous damage.

What is this, a super-trashmob from Devil May Cry?!

Thankfully, even though the moves were absurd, because it was still anchored to the vessel of "Margit" and partially influenced by Lloyd's Law, its raw damage wasn't through the roof. Even with Lloyd's low-level build, as long as he avoided heavy hits or greedy trades, he could take three or four clean hits and still hang on with a sliver of HP.

More importantly—he wasn't alone.

First, the Leonine Misbegotten. For some reason—maybe due to a certain shard's influence—its combat strength hadn't dropped much despite becoming Spirit Ash.

And after summoning it, Lloyd even tossed it the greatsword the Misbegotten had dropped earlier. The output was a bit underwhelming, sure, but once it triggered its Ash of War, it could tank a good bit.

Then there was Melina.

Yeah, her poise was low, her damage was weak—especially since her Blade of Calling dealt holy damage, which barely scratched the dual-blessed Margit for double-digit numbers.

Still, even if her DPS was worse than the Leonine Misbegotten's, she had a crucial role neither Lloyd nor his summon could fill.

She buffed.

Attack boosts, defense buffs, slow regen—she even opened her arms to manifest a phantom Erdtree in the arena, stacking a large AoE healing over time.

As for Lloyd himself, while he hadn't switched to his main character, he suddenly noticed a strange new buff icon glowing in his status bar—something he'd never seen before.

Although he didn't know exactly what the effect was—and it didn't seem like something Melina had applied—one thing was certain: once that icon appeared, the blue bar he had drained using Ash of War began to regenerate at a pace visible to the naked eye.

What is this, a special boss battle buff?

Muttering under his breath, Lloyd raised his Bloodhound's Fang and charged straight at the 'Margit' in front of him.

Crucible, Gold, Bloodflame.

Misbegotten, Finger Maiden, Ashen One.

As their clash began, life, law, and cursed blood burst forth in a chaotic explosion of color.

Margit's moveset was bizarre, and from the start, he had the upper hand against the three of them. His unrelenting, mad-dog offense pushed Lloyd to the brink multiple times. If not for Melina's potent healing and the invincibility frames built into the Bloodhound's Fang's Ash of War, he would've been dead several times already.

The Leonine Misbegotten had gained a massive boost in tankiness from the Crucible's Aspects greatsword, but the issue was the Bloodflame. It caused bleed buildup, and with all the full-screen attacks coming at him, even with Melina's support, his HP was halved in no time.

But...

It was about time.

Rising once again beneath Melina's Erdtree, Lloyd stood tall and walked toward 'Margit'.

The cursed blood sword came slashing in, but with a slight sidestep to the left, Lloyd dodged it cleanly.

The trail of Bloodflame burst behind him as the second strike followed—but instead of retreating, Lloyd rolled forward, shifted slightly left again, and landed right on the edge of the third slash's turning arc.

He activated the Bloodhound's Fang's Ash of War a split second before the fourth strike landed, slipping past it with perfect timing. Using the invincibility of the second-stage skill, he dodged the fifth slash and countered with a clean hit on 'Margit'.

Then a quick backstep—he evaded the frame-zero dagger and the explosion of the Bloodflame mark, caught his breath, and rolled again to avoid the fire breath and the tracking light spear.

A flash of holy light. In the blink of an eye, 'Margit,' who had been in the distance, teleported right in front of Lloyd and slashed down—but the blow was parried by a suddenly raised small shield. A tail sweep followed, dodged with a roll, and then Lloyd landed another hit with his Bloodhound's Fang Ash of War.

Pfft—

The bleed gauge, already at its limit, overflowed with that strike. The impact staggered him, and he dropped to one knee.

Then, execution.

Bang—

[System notification]

Of course, that hit wasn't enough to kill 'Margit'.

With three different power sources stacked and his base stats, his HP bar was still thick.

But as was clear now—once Lloyd adapted to his rhythm and figured out the dodge timing for every move, the fight was essentially over.

Sure, under normal circumstances, he might've lost to bad luck—a misdodged combo, a string of wild swings slowly bleeding him dry.

But the difference now was the presence of a tanky Leonine Misbegotten and a super healer with rapid recovery.

Maybe if he had found an opening to one-shot Melina, 'Margit' might've had a chance.

Unfortunately for him, Lloyd never gave him that chance. All those near-death encounters were just bait—to keep 'Margit' locked on him and stop him from ever turning his attention to Melina.

What followed was just a repeat.

Dodge, counterattack, occasionally slip up—any lost health was immediately patched up by Melina. When targeted, just focus on dodging. The Leonine Misbegotten could still deal some damage and occasionally chip in with a skill or two. If the enemy targeted the Misbegotten, ramp up the offense. If they went for Melina, then charge them head-on.

With the final slash, blood burst forth again. The last sliver of health vanished, and 'Margit' dropped to one knee. The golden flames and light around him faded, and the Bloodflame on his blade extinguished completely.

[ENEMY FELLED]

[Obtained Item: Talisman Pouch]

[Obtained Incantation: Golden Throwing Knife]

[Obtained Incantation: Aspects of the Crucible: Foot]

[Obtained Ash of War: Bloodflame Slash]

Lloyd put away the Bloodhound's Fang as he looked at the notification pop-up, his expression a little tired.

"That was one hell of a Ruby."

Even for him, this battle had been tough.

After a brief pause, Lloyd didn't press on but turned back toward the earlier Site of Grace, where he found a clearly weakened Melina.

"Thanks for earlier."

He crouched down, switched to his main account, and condensed a cluster of soul energy.

This time, though, he didn't hand it to her—he brought it directly to her lips.

It wasn't because Lloyd was into weird games or trying to mess with Melina. It was simply the most efficient way to do it.

He didn't know how to refine or repair souls, but as a veteran Soulsborne player from the Dark Souls world, he had confidence in his soul-handling skills.

Put simply, souls had a kind of autonomy. While in Lloyd's grasp, he could ensure their purity. Once they left his control, even putting aside the inevitable energy loss, the soul's very nature would shift. Maybe not outright contamination, but definitely some impurities would creep in.

Melina had just burned through countless prayers for his sake, and her exhaustion was obvious.

Normally, he'd let her consume his soul on her own—it could handle impurities just fine when healthy. But in her current condition, if something indigestible slipped in, it might cause lasting harm. That's why he'd always insisted on personally feeding the "Incomplete Finger Maiden Ashes."

As for what might happen if the impurities built up too much...

Hallucinations and madness were the light symptoms. Worse ones included full-on soul-splitting—or even becoming a different person entirely.

Even if the chances were low, Lloyd didn't want to risk it with Melina. So, despite her reluctance, he half-forced the soul into her mouth.

Why "half"-forced?

Well...

If she had shown more resistance or insisted a bit longer, Lloyd wouldn't have gone through with it. But what actually happened...

Was she resistant? Yeah, kind of.

Maybe she was used to being fed, maybe their bond had deepened, or maybe there was some other reason.

Anyway, despite looking reluctant and hesitating, even trying to turn him down once or twice, Lloyd just acted a bit more assertive than usual. After a silent pause, Melina lifted her hair, lowered her head, and, still looking reluctant, ate the soul from his hand.

After feeding the Melina-who-might-as-well-have-been-cosplaying-Madoka-Higuchi, Lloyd let her rest, then summoned the Leonine Misbegotten.

As one of the key contributors in the fight—though not as crucial as Melina—it had taken quite a few hits for him. Lloyd figured it deserved a reward too, so he fed it a soul and casually gave its furry head a couple of pats.

"Oh right, Alice—earlier..."

"That buff was from me," Alice replied calmly. "They started it first."

Lloyd: "..."

What the hell kind of secret God War nerf was that?

After feeding Madoka, chatting with Alice, and giving the Misbegotten a couple more pats, Lloyd stood up and walked back to the battlefield.

Margit was still on one knee. As Lloyd approached, he slowly raised his head, voice hoarse.

"Why didn't you kill me?"

Because the reward already dropped, and you're still talking post-fight—it's obvious you're an NPC with follow-up content.

Actually, the strength from three figures had substituted for Margit, letting them "die" once in his place.

But Lloyd had no clue how to explain that, so he just ignored the question and walked up to him, squatting down.

"So, I've got a question."

Margit sneered, "I won't answer any questions from a traitor..."

"Why am I even fighting over that Olden Ring?"

Lloyd crouched in front of him, looking up sincerely.

"You seemed like you really understood all this when you spoke earlier. Mind explaining it to me?"

Margit: "..."

Margit: "Huh?"