Elden Lord of Cinders

After wrapping her arm around Lloyd's neck, the real battle with Full Moon Seath began.

Beneath the night sky, above the sea of moonlight, under the radiance of that crystalline full moon—just as the ancient Stargazers once said—night and flame stood side by side. Bound together, inseparable.

Stars fell from the heavens. Flames raised their shields, warding off the falling stars from the Stargazer.

A massive Dragonclaw plunged from the sky. The Stargazer lifted her staff, teleporting herself and the flames into the narrow gap between the descending claw.

In that brief window where the enemy was left open, she swung her staff, forming a Darkmoon Blade, and slashed in sync with the moonlight blade held by the flames.

Bang!

The enormous Dragonclaw was driven back by their combined strike. The devastating beam that followed was blocked by a small, elegant dark moon. The Glintstone Stars that came after slammed into the Greatshield but caused no damage.

A roar echoed again.

The sky filled with stars that turned into shattering Crystal Spears, raining down like a blizzard. But under the protection of flame, not a trace of cold could reach the Stargazer standing behind.

And then, within that shelter, the Stargazer looked up at the falling stars, a glimmer of realization in her eyes.

She raised her staff, mimicking the descent of the stars, and a layer of frost began to form in the air above.

Then came the ice blades. Though far weaker than the nearly world-ending stardrops, they were numerous and biting cold. When concentrated, they inflicted a chilling effect.

While Homing Crystal Soulmass was also a form of condensation, its nature was more aligned with the essence of "crystallization" than with cold itself.

In theory, that made it more advanced—but because it didn't involve temperature, even experts in soulmass had little resistance to extreme cold.

Naturally, the frost dealt heavy damage.

It wasn't just the freeze itself—it slowed Seath's movements, dulled its reactions, and increased the damage from physical attacks.

"By the way, are you good on FP?" Lloyd asked.

Ranni didn't hide it. "The doll's body burns through a lot."

Lloyd had previously said he could craft her a body, but Ranni hadn't agreed.

It wasn't a matter of trust—it was because the Crucible Fragment in his possession wasn't enough to reforge a demigod's vessel.

If it were an ordinary body—even something like Sellen's half-dragon form—Ranni wouldn't be able to use much of her strength.

Her current doll body, though energy-intensive and the reason she often fell into slumber, could, when needed, match a demigod's might.

But the cost was high—immense consumption and limited duration.

Under normal circumstances, Lloyd could pause and feed her some soul essence.

But Seath clearly wasn't going to give them that chance. And judging by how things were going, this fight wouldn't be ending anytime soon.

After another exchange with Seath, Lloyd paused to think, then shoved the Moonlight Greatsword into Ranni's hands.

"Here. This'll help you conserve some FP."

"What about you?"

"I'll use this."

Lloyd drew the Firelink Greatsword.

The moment he did, something seemed to snap in Full Moon Seath. It let out a sudden, guttural roar—and launched into an even more ferocious assault.

"Lloyd—!"

It was howling.

Or maybe… it was mourning.

It was as if that sword, still smoldering with dying flame, had stirred some long-buried trauma.

It struggled. Resisted. Tried to flee.

All in vain.

The fire was burning.

It kept burning.

Again and again.

First the body. Then the soul. Then the very essence of existence.

It knew this feeling too well.

And it never wanted to feel it again.

Truth be told, Full Moon Seath still had a solid two-thirds of its health left. In theory, it could keep fighting—there was still a chance.

But it knew that monster.

Either overwhelm him in one decisive blow—

Or die.

Health bars were meaningless. Even if you rewrote the Laws to give yourself extra phases or changed your attack patterns...

To him, it was just the difference between taking no damage and sipping a few flasks.

Especially since it had tried to cheat at the start, aiming to end things before they even began.

But even that got hard-countered—banned by some unknown method.

Lloyd might allow others to modify their own Laws or create conditions to their advantage.

But cheating? That was off the table.

Seath knew this man too well—and had specialized in precisely these matters—which was how he managed to bypass certain restrictions and achieve his goal.

But the problem was, in unlocking his own limitations, he also lifted Lloyd's.

And now, even without taking advantage of those restrictions, Lloyd had already chipped away a third of his health.

Seath was already heading toward death. The only question was how long it would take.

In the past, he might have just given up, laid down, and accepted his fate.

But now, with both sides incomplete, he thought—maybe it was worth trying.

So he raised his head.

That massive crystalline full moon hanging in the sky—what should have been nothing more than a background prop—was beginning to take solid form.

And it was starting to fall.

Noticing the disturbance above, Lloyd paused and looked toward Seath.

"Bit overkill, don't you think?"

More than half its health left, and it was already busting out the ultimate—especially one this broken? Kind of bad manners.

But Seath didn't respond. He even closed his eyes, fully focused on manifesting the crystalline full moon's form.

Since this spell was clearly beyond regulation, and judging from the time left it wasn't likely they could interrupt it, Lloyd hesitated, then turned to glance at Ranni on his back.

"Can you handle that thing up there?"

If it dropped, it'd be an instant kill no matter what—no shield could withstand that, even with maxed-out physical and magical resistances.

Ranni looked up at the full moon, uncertain.

"I can give it a try…"

"If you're not confident, I can swap characters."

Sure, that might give Seath a chance to escape during the temporal distortion—but better that than letting this bastard win with some janky exploit.

But before Lloyd and Ranni could even decide, the crystalline moon above suddenly froze mid-formation.

Then, it began to fade.

"In the name of Queen Caria..."

"I will not allow this moon to fall."

Under Lloyd and Ranni's gaze, one of Seath's hands suddenly moved against his will and clutched his own throat.

Glintstone runes flared across his body—and the Full Moon Sorcery was forcibly terminated.

Breaking the rules always came with a cost. Even bending them would eventually expose a weakness.

And for a queen who specialized in Full Moon Sorceries, there was no better time to strike than the moment a weakness appeared mid-cast.

So, the moon stopped falling.

The soul of the White Dragon was briefly suppressed.

And the Queen of the Full Moon lifted her head and, in a tone that brooked no argument, said to the two standing before her:

"Finish it."

Splurt—

Without hesitation, the Moonlight Greatsword pierced the heart where the White Dragon's soul resided.

A brilliant flash erupted—heart and soul both shattered into nothingness.

"Ranni… you've grown."

Smiling, the Queen of the Full Moon looked at Ranni before collapsing to the ground.

The world returned to normal. Only the queen's corpse remained, blood slowly spreading around her.

Lloyd glanced at the body, then at Ranni holding the Moonlight Greatsword, hesitating.

But Ranni just looked at him strangely.

"Aren't you just gonna extract her soul and toss it in your crucible to reforge her? The body's not even cold yet."

Lloyd: "..."

Well. She had a point.

After a brief pause, Ranni added,

"Oh right—my mother always said that big body was hard to move around in. Especially in classrooms—kept bumping her head. Make her smaller this time."

"Got it."

[Acquired Misplaced Fragment of 'Queen of the Full Moon' Rennala]

...Huh? Not Spirit Ash?

Just as Lloyd was wondering, the long-missing golden blur popped back into view.

"Of course it's not Spirit Ash. She's still alive in the main timeline. If you created a duplicate, it'd just cause trouble."

Lloyd looked at Alice.

"So what's it for?"

"Simple. When we return to the normal timeline, give this to her—it'll temporarily restore her sanity."

"Not bad."

Lloyd nodded, stepped forward, and pushed open the door ahead.

...

The scene shifted. The Roundtable Sanctuary, which had appeared before after clearing the City of Pus, Stormveil, unfolded once again before him.

Just like last time, Ranni vanished the moment he entered.

Only he remained, seated at the bonfire.

Alice stood beside him on tiptoe, struggling to stuff the pages torn from Full Moon Seath's tome onto the top shelf of the bookcase.

After a moment of silence, Lloyd suddenly spoke.

"The Seath matter isn't over yet, is it?"

"Of course not."

Alice nodded.

"This fragment's bigger than any before. What you just dealt with was only the part that seeped through."

"Like with Stormveil, if you want to uncover more books and pages, you'll need to go deeper into these shards."

"But personally, I don't think you should go just yet."

Lloyd was quiet for a moment before suddenly asking,

"Is Seath in there?"

"Which Seath are you talking about?"

Alice raised an eyebrow.

"The one you just met, the one who had the nerve to lose his temper at you—you already handled him."

"The one who's known you longer, the one you drove to a breakdown—you'll find him behind that door."

"And as for the ones after that, I can't see that far until you've restructured the order in that section. So I don't know. Maybe."

...How many Seaths are there?

Lloyd sighed and shook his head.

"Forget it. I think I'll get some sleep first."

"Sure."

Alice nodded.

"It's about time you woke up anyway. Any longer and you'd risk staying conscious. Get some rest. I'll wake you when we're ready."

"Got it."

Lloyd nodded, and the lingering embers on his body slowly faded.

His memories remained intact—he hadn't lost them—but now, with chaos restored, the information was jumbled and abstract.

He still remembered everything, but his understanding of it was a bit off.

"So, does this count as clearing another dungeon?"

"Pretty much."

Alice nodded again, then glanced at him after double-checking the books were in order.

"So, ready to head back?"

Lloyd was about to nod but paused, scratching his head.

"Hey, do you have anything you need help with? Like, work or chores or something? You've been looking after me this whole time, and I don't think I've done anything for you..."

"Nope."

Alice shook her head. "What you're doing right now is already helping."

...Huh? What's that supposed to mean?

Lloyd glanced around. All he saw were shelves with a few scattered books.

Even those, Alice had sorted herself.

Still, he didn't press.

If Alice said it was helping, then it was.

And honestly, even if her reaction time was way beyond human, if she needed him to do something, she'd tell him. He'd just follow instructions.

Once he was sure there was nothing left to do, Lloyd gave a nod.

"Alright. Let's go back."

"Hold my hand."

Alice extended her hand, and Lloyd took it.

When he came to, they were already standing in front of the academy's main gate.

But this time, the seal looked a lot simpler, and there were no crystals nearby.

"Where's Old Margit and the others?"

Lloyd glanced around, but the familiar faces were nowhere to be seen.

Alice materialized beside him.

"Due to the time distortion correcting itself, everyone got sent back to their original locations."

Oh, so their trip here got retroactively erased?

Lloyd nodded, then something else came to mind.

"What about everything that happened before…"

"I remember it all."

"Good."

Lloyd nodded.

Even though the overall vibe hadn't been great, he definitely didn't want to see his friends tearing each other apart.

Fighting side by side might not solve every issue, but at least it offered a shot at reconciliation.

Still, not everyone seemed to get along better after that.

Case in point: two people who were still awkwardly standing around, even after the timeline reset.

Melina and Chaos.

Lloyd had no clue what those two had said to each other, but it was the first time he'd seen Melina completely lose her cool.

Chaos still had her usual poker face, but that stiff smile at the corner of her mouth? Not convincing.

Yeah, they definitely didn't mesh.

Sensing the tension and seeing that things were wrapped up, Lloyd chatted briefly with Chaos, then let her leave.

As for Melina, she clearly didn't want to talk, so he didn't ask.

"So, where are you heading next?"

In an unusual move, Melina took the initiative to change the subject.

Lloyd didn't hide it.

"I'm going to find Ranni."

"What for?"

"I need a Moonlight Greatsword."

Melina: "...?"

"Say that again. What do you want from her?"

"A Moonlight Greatsword."

Lloyd replied without hesitation.

After all, the Moonlight Greatsword he handed to Ranni earlier was still with her—of course he had to get it back.