Elden Lord of Cinders

Bang! Bang! Bang!

With a shrieking roar, massive ballista bolts tore through the air as a string of curses rang out.

"What the hell is this firepower? Three giant snipers at the gate?!"

From Margit's perspective, Lloyd had just stepped into Stormveil. He took only a few steps before being stopped by a sealed main gate. Off to the left, a gatekeeper named Gostoc advised him to take the side path, but Lloyd insisted on checking the front entrance. So, Gostoc helped get the gate open.

And then...

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As the gate lifted and Lloyd stepped inside, he was immediately met by soldiers positioned on a high ledge, manning siege ballistae. The moment he entered, the black muzzles swung toward him—and with a burst of shrieking force, the bolts launched straight at him.

Lloyd was blown back, skewered like a pincushion, reenacting a scene Margit had just witnessed moments before.

Then, before Margit could even step in to help, Lloyd got back up. Flames sparked to life in his hands, and he lobbed a few small, compressing fireballs toward the siege weapons. A few seconds after impact...

Boom!

A thunderous explosion erupted, flames sweeping over the ballistae and their operators, reducing them all to smoldering debris.

That fire... packed some serious punch.

Margit stared at the explosion site, expression hard to read.

But what happened next puzzled him even more.

"Didn't you just clear out the front gate? Why not go straight through?"

Despite wiping out the ballista crew and even taking down a few more soldiers inside, Lloyd didn't press forward—instead, he backed out.

"Because I need to explore the map."

Lloyd replied without hesitation. "And look at those ballistae at the entrance—it's obvious they don't want you going that way. Sure, you can brute-force through it, but you might miss something important."

Explore the map? Miss something?

What did that even mean?

Margit couldn't wrap his head around it. Before he had time to ask, Lloyd had already set off along the side path Gostoc mentioned earlier.

Soon enough, Margit understood what Lloyd meant by "exploring."

They hadn't gone far when several warhawks swooped down from above, their legs strapped with blades.

Lloyd didn't even flinch. He whipped out the Bloodhound's Fang and took two quick swings, dropping them in an instant, all while muttering something about "where the hell did these Bladed Talon Birds come from?"

A little deeper in, they encountered a few Exile Soldiers. Lloyd didn't wait for them to engage. He just charged in, blade swinging, and cut them down before they could even react.

A few more steps in, there were some deranged townsfolk sitting silently. As Lloyd approached, they sprang to their feet. One more lay in ambush, tucked into a blind spot. The moment his companions stood up, he moved in for a sneak attack.

But Lloyd seemed to have anticipated it. He dodged the incoming blade with a backstep, countered with a slash behind him, then turned and cleaved down the two in front—all in one smooth sequence.

Then, bafflingly, he muttered, "Goddammit, Miyazaki, what the hell were you thinking?"

Deeper still, they passed a section cluttered with barrels, with two more townsfolk standing on a platform above. Margit opened his mouth to warn him—those barrels might be explosive, a trap—

But Lloyd was already wearing a look of fond nostalgia. "Classic undead firebomb ambush, huh?"

Before Margit could react, Lloyd had already triggered the explosion with practiced ease, pulled out a staff, and eliminated the enemies with a burst of Glintstone sorcery. The rest of the way, he continued on with uncanny precision—nimbly avoiding every trap and ambush, dispatching everything that moved.

He didn't leave a single creature alive.

This guy...

Watching Lloyd kill his way forward, slicing anything that moved, checking every corner, even swiping at stray dogs just for existing—Margit's expression grew more and more unreadable.

He had to admit, he'd completely misjudged this strange Tarnished. This guy wasn't some rebel.

He was just a straight-up lunatic.

Normally, if someone planned to kill Godrick and take a Great Rune, maybe they wouldn't go full stealth, but at the very least, they'd try to keep a low profile—avoid drawing attention, right?

Sure, if you got spotted on a main path and had to kill a few guards, fine. That was understandable. But running around like a man possessed, inspecting every path he could find, even doubling back if he missed something—then killing everything inside, and wandering around afterward like he was determined to clear out all of Stormveil...

Now, watching Lloyd suddenly start hacking at a random wall, Margit's expression grew increasingly conflicted. For a moment, he didn't even know what to say.

Just as he was about to offer some advice—maybe suggest Lloyd keep the bloodshed to a minimum—

Lloyd sat down at a Site of Grace.

And then, as if time reversed itself, all the "corpses" he'd left in his wake returned to their original states in an instant.

Even more bizarre, the moment they came back, they just resumed their duties like nothing had happened.

Margit was frozen in place, the cursed sword in his hand nearly slipping through his fingers.

What in the world was this?

Born with an Omen curse and raised practically beneath Leyndell's sewers, Margit had seen his share of twisted things.

He himself was a natural-born Omen. He'd glimpsed the Formless Mother. He'd even encountered the Frenzied Flame's seal...

But this? He hadn't just never seen it—he'd never even heard whispers of something like this.

Still stunned, he watched as two figures began to appear beside Lloyd, who remained seated at the Site of Grace.

One of them, Margit recognized. The woman Lloyd had called "Melina"—his so-called maiden, who had once fought at his side.

But something about her felt off. It was their first real encounter, yet when Margit thought back to her battle stance, there was something strangely familiar about it... and an odd sense of dissonance he couldn't quite place.

As for the other figure, he didn't recognize her at all. No name, no presence in the earlier battle—likely someone who didn't fight, so Margit hadn't paid much attention.

But just as Margit was about to approach and ask what the hell was going on...

A scene even more disturbing unfolded.

He watched, eyes wide, as that strange Tarnished extended his finger. A wisp of his soul formed at the tip, which he then handed to Melina—who swallowed it without hesitation.

Judging by how natural the two of them made it look, this clearly wasn't the first time.

Margit: "..."

At that moment, he seriously wondered if this was all a dream. What else could explain such an absurd series of events?

After some quick resupplying and confirming Melina's condition, Lloyd got up once again.

And resumed his "exploration" of Stormveil.

Because this was reality—and also due to "The Law" having expanded its influence—Stormveil Castle was much larger than in the game. The monster numbers and their placements had changed too.

On top of that, Lloyd was paranoid about missing anything, so he scoured every inch of the map with painstaking detail. As a result, even though it had been half a day since entering Stormveil, he was still wandering around inside. Sure, he'd racked up a ton of Runes and loot, but he hadn't seen a single Golden Fog Gate yet, or even an NPC he wasn't allowed to attack.

When night fell, Lloyd figured he'd take a short break—sort through his haul, maybe check his inventory—but the moment he sat down, someone appeared.

Chaos flared into view, glowing with frenzied yellow flame. In her hands, she held a visibly shaking Roderika.

"My kin, you'd better watch over her yourself."

"What happened?"

Chaos glanced at the girl in her grasp, who was trembling even harder now, and shook her head.

"If I keep looking at her any longer, she might actually die from fright."

Lloyd raised an eyebrow. "Scare her to death?"

Chaos nodded. "Yeah. Seems like the kid has a spirit-tuning gift. She can see things other people can't."

Spirit-tuning, huh?

Lloyd blinked, then nodded once he caught the implication.

"Alright. You can leave her with me."

Chaos gave a short nod and vanished without another word.

Margit, who'd been standing nearby, glanced toward the spot where Chaos had disappeared and finally asked with some confusion.

"Who... was that?"

She looked like a Finger Maiden, but everything about her—the way she moved, the vibe she gave off—was deeply off. And Lloyd had already made it clear Melina was his maiden...

"Oh, nothing," Lloyd said offhandedly. "Just someone who plays with the Frenzied Flame."

"Oh, someone who plays with the Frenzied Flam—wait, what?!"

Margit snapped back to his senses and practically exploded.

"Do you even know what the Frenzied Flame is? Do you have any idea how forbidden it is? Do you know what happens if you come into contact with that—"

As someone who had personally sent his own brother to guard the Frenzied Flame's seal, Morgott's hatred for it ran deep. Absolutely bone-deep. Compared to that, he could tolerate the rebels. He could even tolerate Godrick.

"I know," Lloyd said calmly as he pulled the trembling Roderika into his arms. He cast a quick warmth spell, then gently patted her back.

"But killing one of its avatars doesn't do anything. Might as well keep it close and figure out what it actually wants."

"You—"

Margit started to retort but suddenly caught a detail in Lloyd's words.

He hadn't named the entity. He'd referred to the Frenzied Flame directly—as "it."

"Don't give me that look. I don't even know how she got attached to me. And I've already killed one of her avatars."

Lloyd shook his head. "Didn't matter. Not even half a day later, a new one showed up."

With that, Lloyd looked down, continuing to soothe Roderika in his arms.

Not that he had any odd thoughts about her—this kid was clearly terrified, and she needed someone to lean on.

And while he did have other women around...

Melina might as well have been wrapped in barbed wire. She instinctively kept her distance from everything, even him. The number of conversations they'd had could be counted on one hand.

The only time she'd tried to "comfort" anyone was when she told her brother, "Your mother's dead."

As for Alice...

Well, may the family gaze upon that distant burning cauldron in peace.

Besides, he'd been the one who asked Chaos to look after Roderika. Given how things turned out, he felt at least partly responsible. No matter what, he had to step up.

Speaking of spirit-tuning...

Lloyd thought for a moment, pulled out his summoning bell, and gave it a shake. The Spirit Jellyfish, the Incomplete Finger Maiden, and the Leonine Misbegotten drifted out and gently hovered around Roderika, radiating waves of warmth and kindness.

He didn't know if it would help—but it couldn't hurt to try.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Margit stared at the three summoned spirits floating around Lloyd. He checked over and over, confirming there were no Rebirth Monuments or anything similar nearby.

And fell silent again.

For a long, long time.

Then let out a deep, resigned sigh.

Maybe... he really should've just stayed at the gate.