Sweat poured down Gundrik's brow as he deftly threw his body to the side, narrowly avoiding a grisly claw that had surged forward to snatch him. He was still knocked off his feet only to be knocked off his feet as a moment later. The rot scorpion slammed the claw into the ground, almost crushing him under it. Thankfully, it only sent him a few meters away, entering a coughing fit as the wind was knocked out of his lungs.
"I thought," Gundrik retched, standing up and gathering lightning in his left hand. "I was done getting pushed around by giant monsters!"
A moment later, a spear of lightning formed in his hand, and with one swift motion, he shot it forward, striking the scorpion in one of its many eyes. It only seemed to anger the beast, however, as a screech pierced the darkened day, causing Gundrik's ears to ring and his vision to cloud slightly. It was just enough for an opening as its claw soon flung him through the air. It took all the strength Gundrik could muster to keep hold of his seal and Bolt before he roughly landed upon the soggy ground.
"This is the worst," Gundrik mumbled to himself, pulling himself out of the muck. Luckily he was no stranger to pain, as he could feel that many of his ribs were broken. It wasn't anything a sip of Crimson Tears wouldn't fix, but he hadn't felt a blow quite like it since he defeated the Elden Beast.
Malenia, for her part, was doing much better than Gundrik, although that didn't come as much of a surprise because of her ungodly swiftness. Even then, her abilities had limits, and the avatar of rot did not seem to care for fighting on two fronts; whenever either Gundrik or Malenia was incapacited for a few moments, it would focus on the other. Gundrik wondered if it thought of the current battle as a game.
Grunting as he stood up fully and taking a swig from his flask, Gundrik got back into the fray. He felt the cool, bitter liquid ease down his throat, and a moment later, his chest felt better. Just in time to attempt to pull off a dangerous stunt.
Though her martial prowess was nearly unparalleled, a quick jab of its tail sent Malenia spiraling backwards. She landed on her feet, but she was sent too far away to affect the battle for a few moments. As Gundrik ran forward, he could still hear the battle on the shores of the Swamp, raging even as he and one of the last demigods tried their damndest to put the Rot to rest.
When the scorpion noticed him, it swung its claw, and Gundrik's immediate instinct was to duck underneath it. Ignoring it, he instead jumped, sinking the Bolt of Gransax into the beast's wooden flesh. Rotten sap-like blood oozed out of the wound as Gundrik crawled around on its claw. As if in curiosity, the scorpion raised its claw, Gundrik dangling off it, as if studying what, exactly, he was trying to accomplish.
It received its answer when Gundrik pulled the bolt out of its claw and landed upon its face. Within a few seconds, Gundrik poked out as many of the beast's eyes as he could reach, the sickening squelching noise upon bursting each one nearly making him ill. The scorpion screeched and batted at its own face, its screams almost sounding like a monstrous crying infant as Gundrik narrowly avoided being squished, even as its tail stabbed its own head in an attempt to get him off.
After a few more moments, however, he was thrown off as a beam of sickly red light surged from its mandibled mouth, crashing against the ground and sending a wave of dust through the air. Gundrik finally lost his hold and was flung to the ground. He stabbed the Bolt into the ground to slow his skidding, standing up when he finally stopped.
The creature was nursing its wounds. Gundrik had taken out many of its eyes, each one so eerily similar to the ones he saw at the top of Mt. Gelmir, or deep beneath the earth near Nokstella. The Bolt of Gransax had been thoroughly coated in a layer of grime and rotten blood. No doubt anyone he cut with it would be afflicted with the Scarlet Rot, were he to suddenly lose all sense.
What Gundrik didn't know until it happened was that he had given Malenia the opening she required. With speed seldom seen, she zipped forward, and swung her sword down upon one of the beast's claws. A shrill, deafening shriek pierced Gundrik's eardrums as the claw was cut off and fell to the ground like a rotted tree branch.
As if it had had enough, the beast let loose everything it had at its disposal. Like before, it sent a beam of pure energy through its mouth, and its wings flapped, sending it into the air. How it was able to hold itself aloft with such things was beyond Gundrik's ability, but it wasted no time in soaring across their arena. Gundrik was barely able to throw himself to the side in a roll as it passed by him. It did not stop there, though. Instead, it moved toward the battlefield nearby, its beam of red light spreading death and destruction to both sides in its wake.
What it did not count on, from Gundrik's perspective, was the golden discus that shot out from nearby, and severed one of its wings. The beast let out another screech as it crashed into the battlefield, leaving Gundrik and Malenia in the dust.
"Well," Gundrik said, catching his breath as he grunted and held his side. "That could have gone worse."
"You are reckless," Malenia noted. "You are lucky your actions did not place other lives in danger."
Gundrik lightly glared at her. "Like yours did?"
Malenia went silent.
"This was always a possibility, and the longer we tarry here, the more people it is going to shred through. The key to purifying Caelid lies within that monster, does it not?" Gundrik asked. "Then, let us end this."
"So long as I deliver the final blow," Malenia warned. "This is my demon alone to slay."
Gundrik let out a humorless laugh. "Should not have to tell me twice."
It wasn't until Gundrik was upon the creature again that he realized the disparity between demigods and the average person. Basically becoming a demigod himself after his crowning as Elden Lord, and facing several of them in battle, he had grown used to blistering displays of speed and overwhelming magical prowess. Even Godrick, the runt of the demigod litter, had proven himself somewhat in battle before he had lost whatever shred of dignity he had to Grafting.
In comparison, the average person was slow and clumsy, just as he had been comparatively when he was a simple Dragon Cult Knight of Leyndell. The avatar of Rot effortlessly swung its single remaining claw, felling scores of men as their broken bodies landed at Gundrik's feet. Several were impaled upon its stinger, and already their bodies began melting away to the potent Scarlet Rot held within. Whatever their bodies became, they were added to the beast's mass.
The only reason the entire army hadn't been decimated when Gundrik and Malenia finally arrived was due in no small part to Radagon. Gundrik remembered how the former Elden Lord fought when he battled him within the Erdtree; he was a monster, swinging his hard-light greatsword as if it weighed nothing at all, sending wave after wave of light into the scorpion's maw. Gundrik knew it was Radagon that had clipped the beast's wings, and he could not be more grateful.
It also didn't take long for Gundrik to spot Marika. For all of their bickering and internal strugglings, when it came down to it, Marika and Radagon fought as one even when they were separated. With a conjured hammer of light, she batted aside Kindred of Rot as if they were nothing but pebbles upon the road she tread. Seeing both of them in the heat of battle, Gundrik would be lying if he said his heart didn't skip a beat seeing such a sight.
Of course, he was able to get past it when he finally arrived, wasting no time in sending a red lightning bolt at the creature, blindsiding it as it struck one of its legs and sending it to the ground in a heap. That gave Radagon the time he needed to strike again, thrusting his sword into the beast's face before slicing sideways, sending the avatar some distance away as it shrieked.
Gundrik walked up to Radagon, wiping the red-haired half of the god's shoulder of dust. "It's rather durable, is it not?"
Radagon grunted. "Were we not split apart, though more powerful we would, we would be susceptible to the Rot. You have my thanks for the suggestion, Lord Gundrik."
"To be without Radagon's incessant rambling within mine skull has been a boon as well," Marika chimed in, walking up beside Gundrik with her spectral hammer in her right hand. "Hearing such epithets as 'snake' and 'serpent' grew tiresome."
"They may not resemble you physically, but they describe you all the same. You are mad because they are true," Radagon spat. "But this fight is folly. It cannot be held forever. This creature must be destroyed for the good of the new Order."
"Do mine ears deceive? Hast thou finally seen the truth to our words, Radagon?" Marika asked, raising a delicate brow.
"You may discuss what you wish when this is over. Allow me an opening, and I can end this fight," Malenia said, holding her sword up. "I wish to end this before there is more senseless death and destruction."
"With the four of us, that shouldn't be too difficult," Gundrik said, nodding.
"Very well. Thou speakest the truth, dearest Malenia. Stand back, and let us peel apart this creature's defenses," Marika said, golden light gathering in her hand.
As if in response, the avatar of Rot slammed its claw down right where they had been standing. Gundrik rolled to the side, and the others moved out of the way swiftly as dirt and dust flew through the air. Gritting his teeth, Gundrik wasted no time in distracting the avatar. Holding his seal close to his chest, red lightning gathered around him before he held it out to the sky. A moment later, pillars of lightning surged downward, hitting the creature and the ground around it, forcing it backward and allowing Radagon and Marika to send their own power in. Waves of rippling golden light, incantations of the Fundamentalists, Gundrik remembered, crashed into the scorpion's woody flesh, as well as javelins of light that reminded Gundrik of his battle with Radagon.
Gundrik was glad he did not have to face the avatar of Rot alone; he might have been able to defeat it, given time, but with others at his side, it proved to still be a challenge, but a manageable one. Having his own god on his side tended to even things out.
Before long, the opening Malenia asked for was delivered. Gundrik's lightning brought the beast to its belly, while Marika and Radagon's incantations kept it in place, constantly fighting to keep its remaining limbs even as a leg was cut off, or half of its remaining wing. Gundrik watched Malenia charge forward, her remaining flesh hand running along the length of her katana for a moment before it started to glow with a pure light, not unlike the kind he had seen on the unalloyed golden needle.
More of Miquella's work, no doubt, Gundrik thought. The tiny demigod slumbering beneath the earth. One day, perhaps they would find a way to awaken him from his slumber, but it was not that day.
With whatever strength the scorpion could muster, it launched its remaining claw forward, attempting to smash Malenia into paste. Unfortunately for it, Malenia looked as if she had weathered such an attack before. She planted her sword in the scorpion's claw, the pale light of her blade spreading through its wooden flesh like an infection. It let out a scream that Gundrik would never forget: like a maddened troll had been afflicted with the most heinous of punishments, alongside a horse that had been dehooved while alive.
Malenia did not stop there; she ran across the avatar's hide, cutting through it as if it wasn't even there at all. Wherever she cleaved it, pale gold light spewed out and spread, before finally, she landed upon the beast's carapace, and plunged her blade into the middle.
The monstrous scorpion finally stilled, its death rattle cutting off so abruptly, Gundrik wondered if it had even made a sound at all. A moment later, and all of the carved surface crackled, as if made of stone. The beast fell to the dusted floor, unmoving. The evil light within its eyes faded, until the creature more resembled a wooden carving rather than something that had been attacking them desperately just moments before.
"I see," Gundrik heard Marika beside him, her weapon fading away. "Dearest Miquella's masterwork - sealing an outer god in its entirety. Thou hast done well, my son."
"I remember a story about a blind swordsman who sealed an ancient god of rot," Gundrik supplied, planting the Bolt of Gransax into the ground. "History repeats itself."
"That swordsman was her teacher," Radagon said, coming upon Gundrik's other side, the Golden Order Greatsword upon his shoulder. "Though, yes, the irony is not lost on me. The Rot, is it-?"
Gundrik was alerted to a fleshy sound beneath his feet. Little pockets of fungal rot were all around Caelid, complete with roots, but even then, they seemed to be falling apart. Gundrik heard roars of triumph nearby, and he turned to see the rest of the army celebrating. Redmanes and Stormveil host alike held their weapons aloft, cheering as the sky cleared above Caelid for the first time since the Shattering. The red gloom peeled away to reveal a brilliant blue sky. All the while, the Erdtree stayed where it was, shining all the while upon a new day.
The decaying Rot gave way to sand, and minutes after the avatar had fallen, Caelid seemed more a desert than a cesspit of Rot. The former Swamp of Aeonia looked the part of a deep basin, with the crater near its center the last remnant of the Heart. The body of the scorpion remained where it was, Malenia sword still plunged into its body. The woman herself lightly fell from the wooden carapace of the scorpion, her unalloyed gold and porcelain limbs clanking all the while. Gundrik did not miss the way she limped.
"It is done," she said, her voice coming out as an airy whisper. "It is banished from the surface, so long as my blade is embedded in its flesh. There needs to be a fortress built here. It must be buried where it will never see the light of day again."
Gundrik held up a hand, placing it on Malenia's shoulder. "Slow down, there. We just defeated an envoy of an Outer God. You essentially sealed away a god. Marika, Radagon, how many does that make now?"
Radagon lightly glared while Marika held up her hand. "Two. Thine slaying of the Elden Beast impresses me to this day, and this, my dearest Malenia, has impressed me further. Though it may not be thy wish to hear these words, know that I am forever proud of thee."
Malenia tilted her head down, and Gundrik did not miss the way her lips trembled slightly. "Thank you, mother."
"I doubt there are many who would see that sword removed from its new scabbard, save for the Kindred we have all but slain entirely," Radagon added, "Nonetheless, it shall be done. There will be a fortress here come better days, to ensure that the Rot never returns to the surface."
"Aye, but you will need a castellan for such a task, eh, chum?"
Gundrik turned to see Jerren hobbling toward him. Though the old knight looked to have taken a blow to the side, he still seemed to hop along just fine. With his flamberge supporting him, he stood tall after a moment.
"Perhaps it is simply my destiny to be one. I tried leaving once, when our General was put to rest, and then I found myself at it again, with no witches to hunt. Of course, if you have someone better in mind, I will not take offense," Jerren said, nodding his head.
"I never thought it was in your nature to play coy, Jerren," Gundrik remarked.
"Heh, perhaps it is merely the familiar feeling of a lifelong commitment fulfilled," Jerren replied, a dry chuckle escaping his mask. "And you, Lady Malenia…"
Jerren marched forward, whilst Malenia stood stock still. Jerren's footsteps echoed in Gundrik's ears until the former witch hunter stood right in front of the demigod.
"That battle would be worthy of General Radahn's respect, and thus, you shall have mine," he finally said. "You may not have my forgiveness, but you may have that."
Malenia bowed her head. "He was a worthy adversary. The greatest I have ever known. Were things different, I would not have minded crossing blades with him again. But perhaps this shall suffice."
The former sworn enemies shook hands.
In the days that followed, Gundrik watched Caelid become a bitterly hot desert. Sands blew across the new dunes, obscuring his vision and sending brief, but violent sandstorms through the once rotten plains. The Scarlet Rot had touched everything within the destroyed fiefdom, and when it had been purged and sealed, everything had gone with it. While Caelid was freed, it was inhospitable in a different way.
But even still, Gundrik knew it was better than what had been before. While a desert was treacherous, in the end, it was just a desert, and time would see Caelid changed to what it had been before.
Beyond the landscape itself, the corpses of Caelid's mutated creatures still remained, falling apart amidst the sand. They would likely be there for years, preserved by the new landscape, an altogether different fate than they had previously, forever changing and rotting.
The army would march to Castle Redmane to regroup, although Gundrik would not be surprised if a celebration was to be had. However, before they left, he and Malenia had to pay a visit to one of the few monuments to survive the purging of the Scarlet Rot.
All across the Lands Between, monuments had been created to honor ancient battles. Near Castle Morne to the southwest was one such monument: a hill dotted with massive stone swords, with the largest in the middle etched with writing. Another one laid at the former shore of the Swamp of Aeonia, and thankfully, the stone swords had been preserved in the aftermath.
Caelid had borne witness to many terrible battles, from the final battle of the Shattering all the way to its purging, but perhaps, as Gundrik and Malenia made their way to the monument as the sun set below the horizon, they could put such old ghosts to rest.
When the two stood in front of the stone sword monument, night had fallen, and a sky filled with brilliant stars was what greeted them. The moon hung high in the sky as if in celebration of being able to shine upon Caelid unfiltered once more. For a while, both of them simply stood there, looking upon the swords. Gundrik wondered what it would take to uproot one, or if they had anything beneath where they had been impaled. It depended on if they were carved from the earth itself, he supposed.
"I dreamt for so long," Malenia whispered, moving forward and pressing her flesh and blood hand against the cool stone of the central sword. "Of this moment, of freeing myself of the accursed Rot. I had hoped he would be there with me, that we had won."
"Life is full of disappointments like that," Gundrik conceded. "Then again, if there was anyone who deserved a happy ending, it was you and Miquella. At least, from what I have gleaned."
"There is no such thing as a true happy ending, Lord Gundrik," Malenia replied, turning to him while still keeping her hand on the blade of the stone sword. "That was proven long ago. Even this new Order you and my mother and father are devising will have problems. They will never end. This is only the beginning."
"Goldmask seemed to put a lot of stock into the Mending Rune I used," Gundrik said, shrugging. "He would not have given his life creating it otherwise. From what I understand, nothing can tear apart this new Order. Not even Marika herself can destroy it. She may still wield its power, is still a god, but she cannot alter causality. Nobody can. I doubt the Greater Will can do that now."
"To deny an Outer God its creation, I doubt it shall take such a slight lightly," Malenia said.
Gundrik shrugged again. "I doubt it even cares anymore. It fled long ago. The Two Fingers said it had come back, was merely disappointed at what had happened but was willing to try again. They were liars. Or they had been deceived as well. And with the Scarlet Rot purged from the surface, scarce few Outer Gods call even a sliver of the Lands Between their domain anymore."
"Mm. Perhaps that is for the best," Malenia stated, pushing herself from the stone monument. "Whatever this new Order of yours is, Lord Gundrik, I would be honored to have a part in heralding its arrival."
"I could knight you, if you want," Gundrik chuckled, "I suppose I have that authority now, don't I? Lord Godfrey had his Crucible Knights. Perhaps one day I should start a knightly order of my own."
"Would it not pertain to dragons? You use the incantations of a Dragon Cult Knight."
"That would not be a bad place to start, I have to agree. But that is something for later. After this, we shall return to Leyndell and begin working to excavate it from the ash that has consumed it. And after that, well, I would not say no to some free time," Gundrik mused.
When Malenia stood in front of him, Gundrik was shocked to see that he was taller than her, ever so slightly. He knew something had been happening to him; he had not been small before, but ever since becoming Elden Lord, his height had been growing, and it was impossible to ignore. He had many questions for Marika and Radagon that he had been holding off on so that preparations for Raya Lucaria and Caelid could be made smoothly, but with most of the major crises quelled, the time for answers had come.
"You are Elden Lord, Gundrik. Such things as 'free time' are a thing of the past," Malenia said, though there was no malice in her tone.
"Then perhaps we should fix your helmet and retrieve new clothes for you. The half-burned, broken valkyrie look is starting to wear thin," Gundrik said. "And while we are at it, create a massive statue to Radahn within Caelid somewhere. A man who wrestled the very stars deserves such a ceremony, I think, and a statue to you as well."
"You may do so, if you wish, though I would ask that you do not make a statue of me," Malenia stated, "I have never asked for personal glory or fame. I merely wish to perform my duty, whatever it may be."
"Very well," Gundrik bowed his head. "Then I suppose we will solely make a statue to your mortal enemy, then."
"Radahn was not my mortal enemy. He was merely the biggest obstacle I could see," Malenia explained, sighing. "And it was such thinking that led to my brother's abscondment. Truthfully, I miss Radahn, and the atrocity I committed to win my fight against him will haunt me until the end of my days. I can only hope that what we have accomplished this day will put such demons to rest."
"We are not the ones who decide who should be redeemed. What matters is that you are repentant, and that you work to make it right. And right now, I believe you have done everything in your power to set this old wrong, right. For what it is worth, I am glad I didn't need to kill you and pillage your Great Rune," Gundrik said.
"And I am glad I have this chance. But we have tarried here too long. The hour grows late and I doubt mother and father will want you away from them for long," Malenia said, walking past Gundrik.
Gundrik sighed. "Then let us go, Malenia the Purified."
Before he turned, Gundrik swore he saw a faint pinprick of yellow light on the horizon. But it was gone as fast as it had arrived, and he dismissed it as him seeing things.
And thus, the Scarlet Rot is purged from Caelid. If only you all could be there to see it.
Anyway, not much to say about this big battle scene of a chapter lol. I do have some interesting developments, like a certain Miracle of Sound song having the same title as this fic. Let it be known that I had it first!
It's a good song tho, I love it.
Anway, thank to GrandPaladinTyrux for being the beta for this chapter!
Here's a link to our Discord server: discord .gg/9XG3U7a
See you guys next time!