Elden Lord of Cinders

"What did I do?"

After being thoroughly "punished," Lloyd finally escaped Sellen's grasp. Once he confirmed she was still sane and unlikely to cause trouble anytime soon, he left the basement.

He finished combing through the remaining parts of Caria Manor, then returned to Ranni. As promised, he brought her to the entrance of the academy.

Then they went in.

The exploration itself wasn't anything special.

While the Academy Faction and the Carian Faction might've stood united in that broken timeline, things were different here. In this proper flow of time, the two factions were still enemies—locked in an active war.

The Academy was currently under the control of the Academy Faction. All outside routes had been sealed, and the Queen of the Full Moon was being held under house arrest in the Grand Library.

Naturally, as the princess of Caria, Ranni held no fondness for them.

Especially with Lloyd there to supply her with souls, she could finally cast freely without holding back.

So the rest was simple.

Top to bottom, inside and out.

Lloyd didn't have to lift a finger. Ranni simply raised her little staff and wiped out every single sorcerer of the Academy Faction throughout Raya Lucaria.

Sure, she knew these enemies had already been filtered by Lloyd's Law and would revive as soon as someone sat by a fire.

But damn, it still felt good.

And now she was beginning to understand why Lloyd enjoyed this sort of thing.

While sweeping through the Academy, Ranni also noticed something unexpected.

She had assumed the Carian Faction had been completely purged after the Academy Faction took control.

But during her stroll, she saw a spectral hound left behind by Radagon near the library, and a Carian knight still guarding her mother's chamber.

And outside the range of Lloyd's Law, she even found a few imprisoned members of the Carian Faction.

Maybe they had surrendered and were locked up afterward. Maybe they were caught and being kept around as test subjects for future sorcery experiments.

Either way, the Academy Faction hadn't gone all the way with their purge.

Looking deeper, it wasn't all that surprising.

Despite their ongoing feuds, the Academy and Carian Factions had managed to coexist after the first Sorcery War. If they hadn't pushed each other to the point of no return back then, there had always been hope for peace—and people who were trying to make it happen behind the scenes.

With that foundation, neither side could easily wipe out the other completely.

Even inside the Academy, there were differing opinions on how to deal with the Queen of the Full Moon.

Otherwise, with full control of the Academy now in their hands, they wouldn't have hesitated to add more restrictions—or clean up anything inconvenient—if they truly wanted to act.

As for sheer strength? If a single Carian knight and a half-mad queen were enough to overwhelm the Academy Faction, then it would be the Carians in charge of the Academy, or at the very least holding a stalemate.

But now...

"Lady Ranni?"

When Moongrum, the Carian knight guarding the entrance to the Grand Library, spotted her, he froze for a moment.

"You..."

"I came to check on things."

Ranni paused.

"My mother is inside, right?"

"Yes."

Moongrum nodded, then turned his gaze to Lloyd behind her.

"And who might this be?"

As Lloyd silently pulled out two pieces of shrimp and shoved them into the hands of a bewildered Moongrum, Ranni couldn't help but sigh.

"...Just think of him as an ally of mine."

That said, without Lloyd around, Ranni likely wouldn't have shown herself to Moongrum at all.

Her enemies now weren't limited to just those she'd crossed in the Lands Between. There was also that abstract force known as the Two Fingers.

Back when she delivered the Spirit Calling Bell to Lloyd in Limgrave, she'd had to be extremely careful—concealing her identity under layers of aliases and disguises just to avoid being detected.

But now...

Setting aside the strange fact that, for whatever reason, Lloyd's Law seemed to uniquely block the surveillance of the Two Fingers...

Even if they did detect her now, Ranni didn't care.

Her biggest concern had been the remaining fragment of Destined Death—stolen and not fully consumed during the Night of Black Knives—that still lingered in the hands of the Two Fingers.

And she wasn't worried because she couldn't beat them. She just didn't want to get stabbed in her sleep.

But now? With Lloyd nearby, forget sleep—she had a full soul supply, and could maintain combat readiness for a long time without issue.

At this rate, even if Lloyd didn't intervene, those Empyrean Shadows wouldn't be able to stop her. If anything, they'd just be giving her a clean shot at wiping out that lingering piece of Destined Death.

Wait... speaking of Destined Death, didn't she have something even more terrifying by her side right now...?

Ranni glanced at Melina, then stepped into the Grand Library with a complicated expression.

Then she saw her mother floating in the sky, while down on the ground, the "children" in apprentice sorcerer robes were crawling around like clones.

"...Mother."

Ranni whispered as she looked up at the floating figure, then turned around—

—and saw Lloyd squatting there, holding two big handfuls of shrimp, handing them out to the crawling "children."

"Alright, alright, no pushing, no fighting. One for each, there's plenty for everyone…"

Ranni: "..."

She was starting to regret bringing him along.

But oddly enough, the shrimp tactic was working.

Once he finished handing them out, Ranni clearly noticed the "children" around him were much friendlier—and even the one floating in the sky gave him a couple of glances.

After that, Lloyd pulled out the displaced fragment of Rennala that had dropped when he defeated Full Moon Seath. Holding it in his palm, he raised his hand.

Moments later, as if responding to a summon, the fragment rose from his hand and, guided by a golden glow, floated toward the golden figure in the sky.

Then it merged.

The golden orb of light slowly descended. The towering figure first closed her eyes, as if dozing briefly, then slowly opened them.

She lifted her head and glanced in Ranni and Lloyd's direction—then lowered it again, continuing to stare at the golden amber egg in her arms, without a word or expression.

Huh? The fragment didn't work?

Lloyd looked puzzled.

At first, Ranni thought the same—but she quickly sensed something was off.

"...Mother?"

The Full Moon Queen didn't respond, her gaze fixed on the golden amber in her arms.

"Mother."

Still no answer. She lowered her head slightly, staring at the egg even more intently.

"Mother!"

Realizing she couldn't pretend any longer, the Full Moon Queen sighed and slowly raised her head.

"It's been a while, Ranni."

Or rather—hadn't they just seen each other not long ago?

After all, the moment the fragment merged, everything that had happened in that twisted space-time flowed into her memory.

Seeing her finally respond, Ranni's expression eased slightly. She looked at her with mixed emotions.

"Are you… alright?"

"I'm fine."

The Full Moon Queen nodded seriously.

"Honestly, I feel much better than when I was queen."

Ranni: "...?"

She went quiet for a moment.

"Please don't joke like that."

"I'm not joking."

The Full Moon Queen shook her head.

"You know what things were like with Caria and the Academy Faction. It wasn't too bad when everyone was still around, but after that… well, you know."

"I don't feel restrained at all. See? No chains, no seals. If I really wanted to, I could just walk right out for a stroll."

As she gently stroked the golden amber in her arms, her voice stayed calm.

"The Academy Faction hasn't taken anything from me. Moongrum is loyal—he's always looked after me."

"All I have to do is sit here quietly. No disasters to handle, no bad news to hear. Nothing outside has anything to do with me…"

"I'm quite content with this life."

Ranni: "..."

For a moment, she didn't know what to say.

Because she knew all too well how hard it was to be the Queen of Raya Lucaria.

On one hand, there was the endless power struggle between the two internal factions. On the other, the need to navigate relations with the Golden Order. And sorcerers, by nature, were never a calm bunch—if you so much as blinked, someone might blow the whole place up…

Sure, she was called Queen of Caria, but the Academy Faction barely listened to her. And how many in Caria were actually loyal? How many only stayed because they feared the Academy would purge them without the Full Moon Queen's protection?

Her sister had left, her mentor had disappeared, and that red-haired man… even in his madness, his children had turned into something neither human nor spirit…

Looking at it that way—maybe a little madness really did suit her.

After all, Ranni herself had been one of the main sources of her pain.

Maybe even the biggest one.

She fell silent.

But then, another voice broke through...

"Want some shrimp?"

Lloyd pulled out a handful of boiled shrimp.

Ranni turned, just about to speak, when she saw the Queen of the Full Moon reach out and take the shrimp.

"Thank you."

Peeling the shrimp, the Queen spoke casually.

"Since the Academy went into lockdown, it's been hard to go in or out. I haven't had shrimp in ages…"

"Probably because of the war," Lloyd replied after a moment's thought. "I took note of the area on my way here—it's been heavily damaged. A lot of the shrimp nearby are dead. If you want to find any, you'd have to go pretty far out…"

"They're still fighting near the Academy?"

"Not much right now. Word is it's deadlocked, but there are still occasional skirmishes."

"Who knows how long the war will last, or how long it'll take for the environment to recover..."

"Exactly."

Ranni froze.

Wait, how did they end up chatting like this?

She came in first. She started the conversation!

"Ranni, want some?"

The Queen peeled another shrimp and offered it to her.

Ranni was silent for a moment, then shook her head.

"I've got nothing else to do. You two carry on—I'm going to check on that red wolf."

With that, she left.

As she did, the atmosphere in the Grand Library gradually quieted.

The Queen of the Full Moon continued peeling shrimp, feeding them one by one to the children around her.

Lloyd stood there, silently watching her, saying nothing.

After a while, she let out a quiet sigh.

"Please take care of that child."

She looked up, exhaustion and weariness deep in her eyes.

"She's stepping into the night—a path forbidden and full of danger."

"And she underestimates how dangerous that path is. On her own, she'll never be able to fulfill that destiny."

"She needs help."

"I know you're under no obligation to help her. Even I can't claim she's a 'good child.'"

"But as her mother, I can't just stand by and do nothing."

With that, Rennala raised her hand and took out the Great Rune that was never meant to be born from the amber egg, handing it to Lloyd.

"Consider this a mother's indulgence."

"And I promise you—if you do help her, she's not someone who'll forget it."

"She'll return your kindness."

"She will."

Lloyd didn't fully understand her words, but he accepted the Great Rune. After a brief pause, he looked up.

"What about you?"

The Queen shook her head.

"Let me stay mad. Sometimes madness brings peace. It's clarity that poisons you."

"Don't you think?"

As she said this, a certain power faded from her, and her gaze turned vacant once more.

She hugged the golden egg close, gently stroking it as she murmured softly.

"Your moon will be shaped by your will…"

"Ranni, my sweet daughter…"

She had actually wanted to talk more about what had happened in that warped space-time. There was still time.

But as a mother, she knew Ranni's nature—and her taboos.

So, it was better left unsaid.

[Obtained the Great Rune of the Unborn]

The second Great Rune was now in hand.

Lloyd tucked away the Queen's Rune and stood quietly for a moment, confirming she didn't wish to speak further, then shook his head.

"She really knows how to end a conversation…"

"I don't think you're one to talk," Alice appeared, extending her hand.

"Hand over the Great Rune."

"If you want it, then just—ah, whatever."

For some reason, after that talk, Lloyd felt unusually irritable. He wasn't in the mood for jokes, so he just gave the Rune to Alice.

While Alice started fiddling with it, Lloyd let his gaze wander to distract himself.

That's when he noticed the treasure chest nearby.

In an instant, the white light shining from it washed away his irritation.

What kind of loot could it be...

Driven by the instincts of a seasoned Tarnished, he stepped up, cracked his knuckles, and placed both hands on the chest.

Then—

"Don't touch that chest!"

With a startled scream, the blue-skinned, four-armed brute charged at him.

Bang—

It barely did anything.

In fact, it knocked him right into the brute's arms.

But it did stop him from opening the chest.