A/N: EDIT:...ouch. That's not a lot of feedback. T_T Can't be helped, I suppose. I did the best I could. Hopefully, time will change things.
If not, I'll be moving this one down the update rotation with the rest.
Still sick, can't keep food down, but I'm here, writing.
Wind's howling today. Whole house is creaking...and I love it! Fits perfectly for today's chapter; really helped set the ambiance given where it takes place.
Health update, looking into walking canes atm. Hopefully that will help with my leg/back pain. If I didn't feel old before, I certainly do now.
As ever, the Embers rule remains for this story in particular, seeing as it seems to be one of my weaker ones. If people don't enjoy it? Well...I won't be able to continue it. That's no joke, folks. I'm so busy these days with two jobs in the holidays; basically, I don't have time off. Not anymore. What little free time I DO have before/after work is limited; as such, I can't afford to focus on something folks don't like. Reviews keep me writing in these times, and keep the daily updates flowing. Silence...silence only hurts. I hate having to beg for feedback, but without it...well, it feels like I'm not making an impact.
Now for your questions, comments, and concerns.
Q: Update schedule?
A: Got a few surprises this time around. Still need to update my Elden Ring stories for this month, but I've been going around updating my older works -A Boy's Journey for instance- in addition to those as well.
Q: We gonna be tuning all the spirits here?
A: Most, but not all.
Q: When will we get a Naruto P.O.V.?
A: Soon.
Q: I'm sensing a buff for Roderika here...good.
A: She's simply using her gifts to their fullest extent, as intended. You wanna buff? You ain't seen nothing yet.
Q: Will you work on your God of War stuff?
A: Already have and am~! I'm a very busy bee, please give me time to breathe.
You determine this story's fate. Once again, I own no references, quotes, themes, or memes. Nope! Not me! Not a wit or a one.
They're merely tributes to legends far greater than I can ever hope to be. Now then, I hope you enjoy.
Because all hell is about to break loose in Stormveil, right and proper. Case in point right here:
"Well! What have we here? A lowly tarnished playing as a lord. What can you possibly do, girl...?
"I...I can stop you! I'll put an end to this grafting madness once and for all!"
"Will you, now? You and what army-
"THIS ONE."
...oh."
~One with Spirits.
Best Served Cold
Naruto stalked toward the castle gate.
There was probably a better word for it, but try as she might Roderika couldn't find it as she and Aurelia followed the brash blond into hell. He marched right up to Stormveil castle, leading them go the gate without so much as an iota of doubt in his heart. No fear. No hesitation. Only that tireless, relentless advance.
She didn't mind looking at his shoulders.
Even with those tattered clothes, he didn't have a single injury on his back. Not a single scar either. She supposed that was testament enough to his bravery. He'd never run away from a fight before and he certainly wasn't about to now. Would that she had such bravery. Such fortitude.
But she didn't now, did she? Spirits, she didn't even know why she was here.
A curt argument to the gatekeeper was all it took to raise the gate proper; up it went with an awful clatter, rising in a squeak of rusted gears. An open expanse awaited within, littered by corpses. Many were skewered by heavy ballista bolts; others looked to have just...fallen over, until she saw their missing limbs. They had been mauled one and all by some great beast.
Roderika clamped a hand over Aurelia's eyes, shielding her from the horror of it all.
This was it, then. The remains of her allies were somewhere in there...
.
..
...why can't I move?'
Her legs locked up on her, refusing to advance a single step more, all but rooting her in place. She felt her knees knock together, her entire body atremble. Oh gods. She couldn't do this. She wanted to-she really, truly did, but she just couldn't! She was afraid! It was too much! She wasn't a fighter! She couldn't even swing a sword! She wasn't meant for this. Surely it wasn't too late to turn back-
Naruto flung a hand out, shattering her thoughts.
"Let me go ahead, then wait here for three seconds." a merry blue eye peeked over his shoulder, filling her with reassurance. "Both of you follow at a distance, alright?"
Roderika nodded numbly. "I...yes. That would probably be best.
Aurelia wriggled out her grip and looked up at him. "What are you going to do, papa?"
He patted the ethereal girl's head.
"Something stupid." His body began to shimmer before their very eyes, body bleeding gold-on-black as he turned to face the open gate. "I'll be riiiight back."
Then he moved.
Roderika was not a fighter. Her skills did not lay in the realm of fists and agility, or any violence at all, really. She was a spirit tuner above all else-maybe an adequate spellcaster at a stretch. She didn't know the first thing about proper brawling and battle. Not a bloody thing. Which was why it came as something of a shock-yes, an absolute shock!-when her brash blond berserker bulled forward with a whoop of joy and blitzed the defenders in a golden thunderbolt.
A great halloo went up from the guards. Ballistas barked.
Bolts hurtled through the air.
Not a one touched him.
He caught the first in midstep, snatching it clean out the air before whipping it back at the marksman with thrice the momentum. A man in heavy armor went down in a shower of blood. That was all Roderika managed to glimpse. Then he was gone, racing up the steps in a yellow flash.
In the distance, the screams began.
Roderika counted, just as she'd been told. One. Two. Three.
The very moment she finished, Aurelia tugged at her hand. "Alright, we waited! Let's go, mama!"
Together they crept up the steps after him, taking them two at a time.
Naruto wasn't hard to find. They just had to follow the bodies, a trail of defeated men and women leading inward to the castle proper. If that weren't enough he blazed like a golden beacon in the distance, a burning sun marching ever forward in the face of adversity.
What followed could not be a fight. That implied equality.
This was anything but equal. This? This was death.
Total annihilation.
Banished knights rushed him and fell in droves, toppling like toy soldiers. Naruto flitted too and fro, never in one place for more than an instant. His blows crumpled armor. Stomps stove in heads. A particularly plucky knight swung a sword at his exposed flank, only for him to catch the man by the wrist and rip him clean off his feet. Not satisfied with such he swung that poor knight about, smashing him into his fellows like a flail, clobbering any who got close.
He kicked him so hard his left sandal disintegrated. The knight wasn't so fortunate. He struck a wall, cratering it.
One warrior, larger than his boon companions, dared to charge while the blond was distracted.
Something sparked in Naruto's hand. Roderika glimpsed it at a distance; a strange sphere of some sort. Whatever it was, it brought the man low and drilled him into the ground. He did not rise again.
Aurelia cooed. "Papa's strong!"
Roderika nodded numbly. He certainly was, wasn't he?
A lion guardian leaped out the shadows as Naruto dispatched the knight, bringing bladed limbs ripping down at the blond's head with a roar. Roderika hollered a warning for naught. The whiskered warrior pivoted with eerie gace and drove a golden fist backwards over his shoulder-all without even looking. The feline recoiled with a startled yowl, reeling on its hind legs. Undetered, it gathered itself up to lunge again. Naruto swept an arm back to meet it, wind gathering in his palm-
Aurelia yelped. "Don't kill the kitty!"
Naruto's sighed and closed his hand into a fist. Red eyes blazed. "Bad pussycat. SIT."
It was like flicking a switch. The terrifying guardian dropped down on all fours with a whimper like an obedient kitten.
"Huh. That actually worked." Naruto padded over to it. Ran a hand through its mane. "Good boy. You wanna live?" Its head bobbed furiously. "Kill your friends."
The lion guardian didn't need to be told twice. It dove on the nearest knight, seizing him in mighty jaws.
What followed was a meander through the castle, rooting out every pocket of possible resistance. Roderika didn't feel an ounce of pity for the knights within or without. They were part and parcel to this grafting madness. Let them burn. Let them die.
And die they did, one and all.
Not even that ghastly grafted scion in the hall stood a chance. It screamed and shrieked at them, for all the good it did them. Naruto annihilated it with another of his strange swirling blue spheres. Roderika ached to ask what kind of magic that was, but fear held her back. She contributed nothing by being here. Even little Aurelia at least had her poison...
'I really am useless, aren't I...?'
Three feral dogs rushed them round a corner. They died painlessly, unlike the rest.
"Aw, hell." Naruto took one look around said corner and stopped short immediately. "Aurelia," he looked to their faux-daughter, "Why don't you rest for a bit? We might need you soon."
The ghostly girl grinned. "Okay, papa! I'll just take a little nap...
Roderika watched her fade with a frown. "Why did you send her away?
Naruto didn't say a word for the longest time. When he finally turned to face her, he looked tired. "...do you really want to see what became of your men?"
Roderika gulped, dread rising in her heart. "I...I do...
A sigh. "Alright. I warned ya. Have a look."
He took her by the hand...led her into the next room.
And she saw.
She saw it all. Every bit of it.
A rotten midden heaped with corpses. And there, in the room beyond...dead Tarnished. They were, all of them, missing limbs. Some of them were even children.
Roderika slumped to her knees with a gasp.
It wasn't so much a choice as an unconscious decision; she found herself overwhelmed by the horror of it all. Seeing was, as they say, believing. There were more than her men here. So many. Women and children too. They'd been butchered like cattle; no, even those poor creatures were killed with more dignity than this. And the smell. Oh gods, the smell. It was everywhere, filling her nose and lungs. She choked on it and her despair in equal measure...
She had known.
Yes, she'd already known she would find no happiness here, but still she had hoped there might be some survivors. Something, anything to assuage her guilt. Now she saw it all. The bodies. The corpses. The result of her cowardice. One of them, a dessicated little girl with blond hair, wore a red shawl. Just like hers. Gone now. There weren't even proper ashes left of this lot, only the wails of wraiths lost to horrors untold.
She heard their voices whisper to her now, a riot of noise:
"Roderika..."
...my lady...
...we failed you.
...So sorry...
It was too much. Roderika screamed.
She screamed and screamed and screamed until her mind broke, until she tore at her hair and throat was hoarse and her voice lost.
Someone pressed a flask to her lips, silencing her. A hand settled on her shoulder.
"Drink." Naruto's voice filled her ears. "It'll help."
She complied, tipping it back. It was full of wine. She'd never drank something so sweet before.
"Found it in a cabinet." Naruto confessed when she polished it off and gave him a baffled look. "Figured it would settle your nerves and help your throat."
It did, if only a little.
In the absence of her tears, of her sadness and sorrow, a curious feeling overtook her. She'd felt this before. Once. Long ago, when she'd been very young. Seeing spirits had always been her gift. But here in a place rife with such death and decay, the veil was so very thin. Terribly thin indeed. Light rose around her, wisps of light lifting her air.
And she heard them.
"Avenge us. Avenge us. Avenge us."
The words rose around her in an terrible chant, deafening her to all else.
"Slay the spider! Kill the usurper! Crush him! Kill him! Grind his bones!"
She was a spirit tuner after all. She was, in essence, a conduit.
In her grief, she let go.
Roderika opened her arms and opened herself, letting one of them in, if only to quiet the voices.
Strength rushed into her It felt...good. As though she'd regained a piece of herself long since lost. She gasped, shivering. Another joined the first, diving into her chest. She lurched. It didn't hurt. A third followed suit and she clutched at her shoulders, taking a deep breath to steady herself. A faint plume of steam escaped her lips.
Naruto reached for her. She waved his hand away.
"At last! We are recalled!" a deep voice boomed in her head. "Vengeance is at hand, brothers and sisters! For our comrades! For our fallen!"
The voice grew louder. The spirits saw her. Begged her for aid.
"Let us in, let us in, please, let us in...
She could not deny them. One after the other they struck her chest, countless dead crying out for retribution. She doubled over, clutching at herself. More were drawn to her from other parts of the castle but it was here, that the pull was the strongest. So many of them. It felt like she was about to burst. But she didn't stop. She could not stop. She dare not. And the spirits rose to meet her. They knew she was here now, a conduit by which to interact with the world, a chance to avenge their long-nursed grief and grudges.
"Rise now!" more voices came on now; men, women and even children joining the cacophony. "For justice! For redemption! For glory! Death to the Grafted!"
Her thoughts were all awhirl now, flooded with memories and powers that were not her own, gifts granted that had never been hers. She could no sooner stop them than she could cease to breathe. She no longer wanted to. Something tore loose in her and she dam went with it; she felt the last of her walls come crashing down as the last of them joined her.
"DEATH TO GODRICK!"
And then quite suddenly the world fell silent.
Her world went black and she pitched forward for a moment.
"Roderika?" when she came to, she found Naruto shaking her. "You alright, there?"
She favored him with a bleary blink. "...what happened?"
"You blacked out after that trick...
Oh. Was that all?"
"I'm fine, good sir." her head tilted back to look at him, feeling so very strange. "Its just...when I think of everything that's happened to me...?" she took his offered hand and stood slowly, feeling countless invisible hands guiding her, urging her on, as though the very wind itself at her back." What's happened these poor people...to our kind...it makes me so terribly angry...
He grinned. "You should've been angry ages ago."
She flushed. "I...yes. I should very much like to find Godrick now."
Before her newfound courage failed her. Before she burned away these newfound powers. Her body wasn't meant to hold this much strength. She could already feel it slipping away; water leaking out of a broken sieve. It didn't hurt yet. She wondered if it ever would. But there was so much of it now, a few lost drops here and there meant nothing. It would last long enough.
Justice.
She would start with justice.
Justice for all the souls he'd taken, all those lives lost...
(.0.0.0.)
Aurelia was a good girl.
She tried to be that, even if nothing else.
She didn't know why she was here, let alone how she could think again.
But these two were nice. They reminded her of Mama and Papa. Which meant they must be! So she would help them. She would fight.
For you see, Mama was mama. Papa was papa. Nothing simpler.
Aurelia knew she wasn't quite whole; she might never be, even with a humanoid form again. But that was okay. Maybe she might've imprinted a little too hard with mama and papa, like a baby bird just breaking out of its shell. She didn't mind that, either. She felt more like herself now than she had in years.
Because you see, she remembered now. She had a promise to keep.
Somewhere, in a distant snowy land, someone was waiting for her. Sister. She could barely remember her face anymore, only a vague outline, but she remembered her.
Until that moment came to pass, she would follow Mama and Papa.
When they called for her once more, she came.
After all, they were family in her heart.
They were one with spirits.
(.0.0.0.)
Godrick didn't hide.
He must have been aware that something had happened in his castle, yet for all that he still didn't face him.
They had to seek him out instead, rooting out his forces chamber by chamber.
They only found more corpses within. More souls joined her.
It was a strange, surreal feeling, an out of body experience. Was this how it felt to be powerful? There were so many dead here. So many spirits, all crying out for vengeance. All she had to do was reach out and call them, promise them vengeance, and they happily burned their lives as fuel. With each new soul she felt braver. Bolder. Like she could grasp the very Elden Ring itself.
They found Godrcik at last, hunched before the skewered corpse of a dragon on a statue.
"Mighty dragon, thou'rt a trueborn heir." He raked a six-fingered hand raked across its scaly neck with reverence, filling her with disgust. "Lend me thy strength, o' kinred. Deliver me unto greater heights."
Naruto sniffed.
Aurelia whimpered. "He feels wrong...
He heard them. Turned with a bemused look. "Well. What have we here? A lowly tarnished, playing as a lord?" his cloak rustled and fell off his broad back, revealing dozens of arms grafted to his flesh. She could hear the spirits wailing. It really was him. There could be no denying it.
Naruto stepped forward.
"Foolish wretches." Heedless to his anger, Godrick hefted his golden ax. "I command thee, kneel!" he brought it crashing down, taking a bracing stance. "I am the lord of all that is-
CRUNCH.
Godrick rocketed backwards, struck a wall and slid down it with a dazed groan.
Naruto whistled.
Aurelia clapped happily.
Oh. Roderika realized, lowering her arm. 'I did that...?
She'd only meant to point at him. Was she really that strong now? Awe gave way to anger as the spirits stirred in her anew. She could probe these new powers later, assuming they remained after today. But for now...no, no, no. Godrick was climbing to his feet. Couldn't have that now, could they?
Naruto nudged her, drawing her eye. He looked...concerned. "You want backup, or...?"
She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.
He made way with a nod. She
"Grafted lord." She had but to will it and a wave of purest force dashed Godrick back to the earth like the powerless pauper he truly was. "You took everything from me...
Her allies. Her hopes. Her dreams. He would suffer tenfold for every life he'd ripped away.
He scurried upright like the ugly spider he was. "I don't even know who you are!"
She snarled, and the spirits sang without her, echoing her words.
"You will."
His axe swung down. She caught in her bare hand, reveling in his startled squawk. Yanked him in. Her free hand slashed out in a wave of blue cutting light, severing his left arm at the elbow with pure force. For a moment it hung there, defying gravity, as if to mock its former master; then it flopped down to the floor with a wed thud.
Silence reigned supreme. Roderika counted the seconds. And then:
He screamed.
Roderika took a moment to savor it, hummed her appreciation, and drove a fist into his chin. An awful crack filled the air. The Grafted Lord tumbled away, reminding her of a skipping stone she'd once flung across a lake. Was that day her her memory? Or did it merely belong to one of many spirits bonded to her? She couldn't be sure.
She snapped her fingers and fire bloomed, scorching his back.
"No!" Godrick clutched at his ruined arm and clamored away from her like a drunken crab. "I shall not die! Not like this!"
Naruto clicked his tongue. "Don't get lost in that power now, you're letting him escape."
Roderika sauntered after him. "I shan't...
She could've killed him, then. Struck him down while his back was turned. Roderika almost wanted to. Something stayed her hand. She wasn't sure what. Anger? Arrogance? It felt like some mad blend between the two. A dark voice whispered in her ear. Let him live for now. Let him suffer. A quick death is too good for the likes of him...
She felt good. She felt powerful. Invincible. Doubtless this was how Godrick had felt...until today.
She never wanted to let this feeling go.
"Get up." she kicked his flank, sending him skidding away. "Face your end like the lord you claim to be."
"Truest of dragons!" Gorick rounded on the wyrm's corpse, bearing his teeth in a snarl. "Lend me thy strength!"
He jammed his wounded arm within. Thrust it deep. Deeper still.
Somewhere behind her, little Aurelia gagged.
Roderika agreed wholeheartedly. Witnessing grafting up close made her feel wretched. It was long dead and had no spirit to call upon, or perhaps the souls of dragons went elsewhere after death. She knew not. Regardless it didn't matter. The corpse obeyed his will. It gasped and twitched, a hideous unlife that left the spirits within her roiling in fury.
"Forefather's one and all! Bear witness!"
He thrust his new arm forth, forcing it to belch flame upon her.
Roderika walked through the inferno. In her current state, it only tickled her. Her scarlet shawly burned away, freeing her hair to shimmer in the flame.
"Is that all?"
Her hand cracked out.
SLAP!
His head snapped to the side.
SLAP!
"Monster! Murderer! You killed them! All of them!"
SLAP!
Godrick struck back. "You dare strike me?!"
By dint of skill or luck -likely the latter!- he managed to get his ax between him and her after the next strike. Blood splashed through the air as its edge bit into her chest. Roderika ducked a followup blow and skittered backwards, courage and power faltering for a moment. What had she been thinking?!
Godrick reared back, looming over here. "I am the Lord of all that is Gol-
"STAY AWAY FROM MY MAMA!"
Aurelia landed on his back and spat a cloud of poison hit him in the face, rendering the words a wheeze. He stumbled back as she vaulted away, warding his ax before him.
A giant golden hand caught him, flattening him to the floor.
"All those people you killed." Naruto stalked after him, eyes ablaze. "All that suffering you caused. Now its your turn!"
Roderika felt something spark in her. Power rushed back in. She waded in after him.
"Godrick the grafted." when she spoke, she felt countless voices of the dead and the damned speak with her, power bubbling just beneath the surface. "You have devastated the lands between." Her left hand rose and high above her head, the very clouds began to darken. "Your crimes upset the very balance of this world. Now you shall pay the ultimate price!"
Her hand sliced down in a singular strike.
And the heavens answered her.
Godrick died screaming.
A/N: Aaaaand scene.
Well? Should this be a story? What say you? Yay or nay! Really need to hear from you guys and gals here.
Roderika got quite the -temporary- boost there, and Godrick's solely to blame for it. Guess that what happens when you've got hundreds of souls howling for your head.
According to lore, he might've killed even more for that. Bloody bastard had a body count well into the thousands with all that grafting.
For those wondering about Margit/Morgott...well. There's a reason we didn't see him. You'll be surprised.
Doubly so if you read the (Spoiler) Previews below.
As ever, the Embers rule remains: If people don't like this story? If they don't enjoy it? Well...I won't be able to continue it. That's no joke, folks. I'm so busy these days with two jobs; basically, I don't have time off. Not anymore. My free time is limited and as such, I can't afford to focus on something folks don't like. Reviews keep me writing in these times, and keep the daily updates flowing. Silence...silence only hurts. I hate having to beg for feedback, but without it...well, it feels like I'm not making an impact.
As ever, reviews keep me writing. They're the only form of payment I'll ever receive. Without them...I can't write.
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...Review...Would You Kindly?
And of course, enjoy the previews.
References for daaaaaaaays!
And as always:
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!
READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!
YE BE WARNED!
(Previews)
"Your eyes are still glowing."
She touched a hand to her face. "Are they?"
Naruto watched her kneely. Are you going to hold onto that power? Or will you let those souls go...?"
He'd given it to her.
Roderika admired the great rune tattooed between her breasts. She turned in the mirror, watching it run the length of her chest, seeing it shimmer in the low light of the Roundtable. A tiny smile touched her mouth as she regarded it. She felt so much stronger now. Did she really deserve a great gift such as this? Did he think her pretty...?
She cupped a breast and frowned.
"Are you quite done using my mirror, dear?"
The spirit tuner squeaked and covered herself. "I'm so sorry! I didn't realize anyone was using this room!"
"Its quite alright." She found herself facing a woman in black.
"And you are...?"
She glimpsed a smile in the shadows of her hood. "My name is Fia, dear girl."
Naruto cracked his neck. "Next."
His foes shrank back. He stepped forward.
"What's wrong? You were all so eager to fight a minute ago...
"Don't wanna sleep?"
Aurelia shook her head, kicking her covers. "Nuh-uh! Bedtime Story!"
"Ohhh, so you want me to read to you. Alright, I can think of a few good ones.
"What's this?"
He blinked at the red ribbon she'd wrapped arouind his arm. It gleamed nicely to match his new armor.
"Its my favor. Do you like it?"
"I don't fear death. I've died before. What about you...
An awful crunch filled the air. They looked down, eyes bulging, balking at the fist thrust through their chest.
Naruto beamed back, smiling, blood on his face.
...tell me, do you fear death?"
The boss screamed.
"You came~!"
"Foul Tarnished. If this is some trick-
"No, no! Not at all. Come in, come in! Here sit down. We've got plenty of food~!"
...I do not understand. Why ask me to this place?"
"Just wanna talk."
A shimmer of blue light put paid to his words. He blew out an angry, aggravated sigh.
Naruto stepped away from the grace. "You again? I already told you no."
"I say again, I would like to offer you an accord-
Aurelia tilted her head. "...can I have a brother? Or another sister?"
Naruto pitched back with a laugh.
Roderika absolutely squeaked.
...I wish to enter into your service."
Naruto gave Roderika a long-suffering look. "Great. We've got another one."
She flashed him a timid, tiny little smile.
EDIT: Hey, you made it!
As ever, the Embers rule remains for this story in particular, seeing as it seems to be one of my weaker ones. If people don't enjoy it? Well...I won't be able to continue it. That's no joke, folks. I'm so busy these days with two jobs in the holidays; basically, I don't have time off. Not anymore.
What little free time I DO have before/after work is limited; as such, I can't afford to focus on something folks don't like. Reviews keep me writing in these times, and keep the daily updates flowing. Silence...silence only hurts. I hate having to beg for feedback, but without it...well, it feels like I'm not making an impact.
Looking forward to chatting with you all after work!
Warm regards,
~Nz.
R&R~!