Elden Lord of Cinders

After a round of not-so-smooth communication, Lloyd and Ranni finally reached an agreement to cooperate and tackle the situation at the academy.

That said, even with the agreement in place, Ranni didn't immediately set off to deal with the seal.

As mentioned earlier, the academy was stuck in a time-warped fold—whether they waited three or five years, nothing inside would change.

Of course, they wouldn't actually wait that long. Over time, even a stable rift could shift if disturbed by outside forces. But facing a threat that the Full Moon Queen and the entire Academy Faction could barely restrain—and had even called for outside help against—rushing in unprepared would've been plain reckless.

And that's not even counting what came after. Just breaking the seal alone required serious preparation.

After all, that seal had been placed by the combined strength of the Full Moon Queen and the academy's top sorcerers. Even with Ranni and Sellen, cracking it wasn't going to be as simple as waving a hand.

Because of this, even with Lloyd's help temporarily solving her hibernation problem, Ranni didn't head straight to the academy. She planned to prepare first.

And part of that preparation was...

"I've decided to accompany you for a while," Ranni said seriously, meeting Lloyd's eyes.

After that barrage of surreal information, Ranni had clearly sensed the abnormality in Lloyd. He wasn't just any Tarnished—he had the potential to be a true collaborator.

Before jumping into an alliance, it was essential to understand this "potential ally"—his abilities, his loyalties—and to establish some degree of synergy.

As for Caria Manor, Ranni barely managed it anyway. Most of the time, she was dormant to conserve energy. Whether she stepped away for a few days or went completely AFK and left a puppet behind, it wouldn't really make a difference.

And with nothing to object to, Lloyd readily agreed.

Then...

Ranni's nightmare began.

To be fair, after their earlier conversations, she had braced herself for all manner of bizarre occurrences. She knew Lloyd was "abstract," and she'd mentally prepared for strangeness.

But...

"Wait, is he seriously...?"

Watching Lloyd "scouting" around Caria Manor, Ranni nearly fired off a Dark Moon on the spot—if Renna hadn't already anticipated this and stepped in to block her.

How did they just form an alliance and he's already mapping her turf like an enemy?

"Hold on," Renna said, trying to calm her.

Reluctantly, Ranni suppressed her impulse and decided to wait and see.

It's not like he could actually reverse time and bring everyone back, right?

...Except that's exactly what he did.

The moment Lloyd reached a new Site of Grace, activated it, and sat down—Ranni's joke became real.

Everything around them reversed like a clock winding backward. The dead were restored in an instant, snapping back into place like nothing ever happened.

Even their routines resumed. Guards patrolled, servants bustled—it was as if nothing had changed.

"Amazing, right?"

Renna asked the question, but Ranni fell into stunned silence.

Not because she wasn't surprised—on the contrary, she was more shocked than anyone, even more than Lloyd's previous companions.

Because unlike others, Ranni had a unique identity:

She was an Empyrean, chosen by the Two Fingers, bearer of her own Law.

Which meant she could sense—and even see—the source of that "disruption" radiating from Lloyd.

It was a Law.

A Law unlike any she had ever seen or even heard of.

The realization stirred deep suspicion.

Could this man be an Empyrean too?

Before she could fully process that thought, she noticed something even stranger—

Lloyd's Law was unstable.

But not in a self-destructive way. It was fluid—gently shifting, constantly evolving.

In simple terms, his Law, bizarre as it was, could actually be altered—by someone else who also bore a Law.

Take Ranni herself, for example. If she wanted to, she could add an effect to Lloyd's laws that boosts magic damage and increases frostbite accumulation speed.

But that doesn't mean Lloyd's laws are weak. Quite the opposite—after observing closely, Ranni could almost be certain that the core of his laws wasn't "can be freely modified," but rather "he allows them to be modified."

It's like a duel in an arena where one fighter stands calmly, opens his hands, and clearly tells the opponent, "We can fight by your rules."

As for the strange way his laws alter the environment, it wasn't so much about suiting his fighting style, but more like a form of protection from external interference.

Sure, in Souls-like games, swarming enemies is an effective tactic.

But under Lloyd's "Law," even if you sent a whole army at him, it would be compressed into individual units. The monster density might increase, but it would always remain within a "reasonable" limit.

Of course, if you don't want to follow his rules, that's fine too. If you're strong enough, you can even break his Law entirely.

But when that happens, without the buffs from the Law, even if the soldiers swarmed him and Lloyd just stood there taking the hits, it's questionable whether they could even scratch him.

In fact, the main function of Lloyd's Law wasn't to strengthen himself—it was to give the "weak" a chance to challenge him.

As for the strong...

Under his system, you'd need both "great power" and "the ability to modify the Law" to be considered a worthy opponent—a true strong one who could stand on equal footing.

Otherwise, going along with his rules might ironically be the most effective way to defeat him.

Realizing all this, Ranni's expression became complicated.

Why are even his laws so strange? She couldn't understand him at all...

Driven by curiosity, Ranni finally tried asking Lloyd directly.

After all, based on how his laws worked, it didn't seem like he was trying to hide anything.

Then...

"What are laws?" "What's an Empyrean?" "What's a Two Fingers?"

Three questions—and Ranni was speechless.

But it wasn't just the questions that broke her composure.

What really did it was that after she patiently simplified her explanation and tried to walk him through the basics, he stayed silent for a while, then looked up at her sincerely and said,

"Sorry, I didn't understand. Can you say that again?"

Ranni: "..."

Taking a few deep breaths, she explained everything again, this time even more simply and directly.

"Sorry, I still don't get it."

Staring at the genuinely apologetic face in front of her, Ranni—for the first time—wished this guy had just come to kill her.

If he were an enemy, the worst would've been getting stabbed.

He had the strength. He had the attitude. But his brain...

With a heavy sigh, Ranni decided to change the subject.

"Let's talk about you then. Your past..."

"I lost my memory."

"Your sorcery...?"

"Isn't it just something you learn with a few Runes?"

"The Crucible Fragment in your hand...?"

"A Misbegotten gave it to me. Didn't even tell me his name."

Silence.

For the first time, Ranni regretted her ability to tell when someone was lying.

Otherwise, she could've at least convinced herself he was dodging her questions—fooling her on purpose.

But no. He was answering seriously. Honestly, even.

Taking another deep breath, she finally spoke again...

"Do you have anything you want to ask me—other than what we just talked about?"

Lloyd was originally going to ask her about The Law again, but seeing she'd already anticipated the question, he let it go. After thinking for a moment, something else came to mind.

"Can you tell me about the Night of Black Knives? I've heard people mention it a lot, but no one's ever explained it to me properly…"

As soon as he said that, even Melina, who was still cosplaying Madoka, glanced over.

"...Did Melina talk to you about the Night of Black Knives?"

"No."

Lloyd shook his head, answering honestly, "I'm just asking. If you don't know, that's fine too."

So it really seemed like he didn't know.

Ranni was quiet for a moment, then sighed.

"I was the mastermind behind the Night of Black Knives."

"…Huh?"

Lloyd, who had just finished off a Colossal Fingercreeper, turned to look at Ranni, giving her a quick once-over.

"You're the one behind the Night of Black Knives?"

Ranni nodded and admitted calmly, "Yes, I am the mastermind. Witch Ranni."

After a short pause, she continued in a steady tone, "I don't hide from my past, and I don't regret it. If you've got something to say about it, go ahead."

His thoughts?

Lloyd considered it, recalled the bits and pieces he'd heard about the Night of Black Knives, then nodded.

"Then you're pretty badass."

Ranni blinked. "What does 'badass' mean?"

"It means you're impressive."

Ranni frowned. "That's all?"

"What else do you want?" Lloyd looked genuinely confused. "Should I ask you to walk me through the whole assassination step by step?"

Ranni immediately shook her head. "Let's not do that."

Even setting aside whether she could actually explain everything clearly, she didn't dare imagine how many more questions Lloyd would throw at her during the process.

Just as they were about to drop the topic, a voice cut in.

"I think what she meant was—what do you think of the Night of Black Knives itself?"

Melina turned to Lloyd and clarified.

"After all, to many people in the Lands Between, the Night of Black Knives marked the beginning of the Golden Order's downfall. Without it, there might not have been the Shattering, and the Lands Between wouldn't be in this state."

"Huh? It's that serious?"

Glancing at the corpses scattered around him, Lloyd paused to think.

"First off, I don't think I count as a good person, so let's skip the moral judging."

"Second, I don't think a normal, stable system should completely collapse over a single incident."

"That wasn't just some incident."

Ranni lifted her gaze to Lloyd, speaking evenly.

"I can tell you clearly—it was because of the Night of Black Knives that Godwyn the Golden didn't die properly. That threw the Erdtree system into disarray, which eventually led to the breaking of the Elden Ring and the Shattering. That's how the Lands Between ended up like this…"

"Wait, why do both of you just assume that all of that happened because of the Night of Black Knives?"

Lloyd's question caught them both off guard.

Before they could respond, he continued.

"Honestly, I still don't fully understand what the Night of Black Knives even is. But from everything I've heard—whether from you two or others—it just sounds like a large-scale assassination. Sure, a lot of people died."

"But I've killed more. And I did it myself. If you're the mastermind, that just makes you an assist. If we're talking kill-death ratio, you don't beat me."

"If a few murders were enough to collapse the Golden Order, then I would've broken it ages ago."

"As for the demigods and the improper deaths—yeah, that's on you. That part's definitely your fault."

"But here's the thing—don't you think we're missing something important in this whole conversation?"

Lloyd looked at both of them, puzzled.

"Have you really never questioned whether the Golden Order itself was flawed from the start?"

"It's a single-threaded system with no backup, no contingency plan, no repair functions—not even room for error. One bug, and the whole thing crashes…"

"Let's say the Night of Black Knives never happened. What if, one day, a super-powerful Omen shows up and jams the Erdtree system?"

"Or what if there's a fire, and the Erdtree gets damaged? The Return system breaks down. Wouldn't things still end up the same?"

And that's just the surface. That doesn't even account for long-term system bloat, hardware decay, or any other weird unforeseen problems.

Sure, the Night of Black Knives was a mess, and Ranni wasn't exactly innocent—he got that.

But after talking with them, he realized something: both of them were obsessing over the Night of Black Knives itself, completely overlooking a more fundamental issue.

"The Night of Black Knives was just the fuse—it might've lit the bomb, but a spark and a fuse alone don't make an explosion."

"The real gunpowder was the Golden Order."

Lloyd looked seriously at the two women in front of him.

"The Golden Order was flawed from the beginning."

"That's the real reason the Lands Between blew apart."