Man, I swear it feels like the stretches between each chapter feels longer every time to me. Just goes to show how eventful my life has been feeling recently, I suppose. Work, online classes, etc… yeah, sure has been quite the grind recently, ha ha.

But in any case, here I am with a whole new chapter! And yeah, I'll be honest – really had difficulty writing this chapter in particular since I was torn between going one of two routes, which only further added to how long it took me to get around to actually writing this all out. While I doubt I have the foresight necessary to see how exactly the fic would have turned out if I'd gone down the other path so to speak, I feel that doing things this way instead was the 'right' way to go for the time being, even if it may possibly feel contrived in some respects. As to why it would feel that way… well, you guys will see and be the collective judge of that.

So without any more rambling on my part, let's get right to the chapter!

P.S. As usual, if you're interested, you can find my novels, Fading Darkness, Rising Light and my Infinite Genesis trilogy on a variety of sites for purchase, such as on Amazon Kindle, the Apple store, Barnes and Noble, and many more! Universal links can also be found on my profile page, just remove all the spaces!

P.P.S Man, Kojima is once again doing his usual magic with how fucking bizarre the State of Play reveal of Death Stranding 2 was. Looking forward to it!

Chapter 29

"Come along," spoke the Tarnished. "We're almost done."

Adorned in his usual armor and with the Uchigatana at his side, he directed the small squad of knights that had been assigned to his command.

Following his and Ranni's talk, they'd wasted no time going to the King to speak of his idea of sending out several small squads to make contact with the enemy and dwindle their forces as much as possible. And much to the Tarnished's relief, the King had seen the merit in the idea and had been quick to act on it.

Admittedly, given the circumstances, the knights had been rounded up rather hastily and informed of what was to be done, but it couldn't be helped. With the threat to the capital so close now to said city, mobilization had to occur swiftly. Thankfully, due to all the recent events that had taken place, the knights had been adapt well to the suddenness of the order, made all the easier by many of them having already been on standby in case of attack. And of course, the Tarnished, having been put in charge of the whole affair, had done his level best to explain the particulars to the men now under his command.

Granted, said 'plan' had been fairly simple – after pulling out a map of the surrounding land, he'd shown the knights where the enemy was most likely to come from along with their possible numbers and had broken up the gathered knights into several squads that would head out to essentially patrol certain areas and deal with the threats accordingly if there was any contact to be made. An emphasis on speed and some measure of stealth was placed on the entire mission and while he understood that knights weren't exactly taught how to be silent killers like how assassins were, the Tarnished was certain that these men were capable of at least being able to get straight to the point when in battle.

There'd been no pushback from any of the knights either throughout the whole preparatory phase, most likely because by now, word of the Tarnished's combat prowess had reached just about everyone of note within the capital's forces.

And now here the Tarnished was, almost a whole day after having left the capital on this very essential mission – essential in his eyes, that is.

With four knights trailing him, he and them were making good progress throughout the area that effectively lied directly ahead of the capital with the other squads having broken off to cover their respective areas yesterday, when they all had left the capital together. Their departure had grabbed some attention from the surrounding populace at the time, but the simple guise of a training exercise had seemingly been enough to placate the citizens that had looked a bit worried by the large group.

"Still nothing?" he then asked of one particular knight in his group, who had some experience as a magic user. Not to the point of being an outright mage knight as some would call such individuals, but still experienced enough to make use of scrying spells and other useful spells meant to lighten the burden of traveling. Perhaps it would be best to think of this particular knight as a rather advanced scout more than a mage.

The knight in question mumbled a few words under his breath and with an outstretched hand. As the Tarnished could feel the mystical forces, minor as they were, at work, the knight then shook his head. "Nothing in our immediate vicinity."

The Tarnished nodded in confirmation and simply carried on in relative silence.

The other knights, however…

"Wonder how the other squads are doing…" one quietly mumbled, though the Tarnished could still hear the man along with the others as they spoke.

"We already got a report from them, you know," drawled out another. "They've seen some action already."

Another grunted. "Not sure if it's something we should be jealous of, considering the circumstances…"

The first one could only grimace.

The squads had their own way of staying in contact with one another. Much like the squad the Tarnished led, the other ones had at least one member among them that could make use of magic to some varying extent and among their small and not too powerful repertoire of spells, a vaguely telepathic one was included. It was hardly anything of true note in comparison to the other spells witnessed so far in this world, much less some of the other spells the Tarnished was familiar with back home, but it was enough to allow for short burst communications between the squad, which in itself was rather groundbreaking since it allowed for relatively real-time updates.

So far, a few of the other squads had already made contact several times with thralls of the Frenzied Flame. Thankfully, the information the Tarnished and Ranni had provided to the King and his advisors had already been passed down the chain of command, so the knights had known better than to allow any of the thralls from getting too close to them… and with some measure of reluctance – understandable, given the circumstances – the squads had been quick to cut down the madness afflicted individuals as swiftly as possible.

So far, the total number of kills came to a nearly few dozen already. This was a number that had held a negative impact on the knights who'd slain the thralls since the afflicted people were just that – people that had once been living their own lives prior to the Frenzied Flame affecting them. It was only the knowledge of such a terrifying force making its way to the capital that allowed the knights to admirably soldier on.

As for the Tarnished and his squad along with two others, they've yet to encounter a single enemy.

And this was something that worried him to an extent.

The number of thralls so far was a little less than expected. Normally, one could assume this to mean that the enemy forces weren't as large as initially estimated, but the Tarnished knew all too well how the Flame of Frenzy could so easily spread if unopposed.

There were more out there, this he was sure of.

That they've yet to encounter any was thus a point of concern.

He could think of only two possibilities.

The first possibility is that, by pure dumb luck, the forces of the Frenzied Flame truly were that spread out and he and his squad merely had the bad luck of not being anywhere near any thralls.

The second possibility, however, was that whoever was leading this veritable army was now aware of them and was moving their forces around accordingly to avoid having any more thralls killed before reaching the capital.

Given the disturbing level of coordination so far, the Tarnished felt the second possibility was more likely.

Henceforth, he was especially alert, ready in case of an ambush that not even the knight's scrying spell could see coming. Wouldn't be the first time such measures fell short for one reason or another.

"Sir," spoke up the knight who could use a bit of magic. "Why did you choose this area anyways? If you'll forgive me asking, it felt like you were rather keen on patrolling this area yourself."

The Tarnished, despite the circumstances, chuckled lightly. It was good to see the knight didn't simply follow orders and actually asked questions.

"I've some measure of experience at dealing with this particular enemy and so have discerned this may be the general path towards the leader of the forces we've encountered," he answered.

"…Will killing their leader free these people?" the knight asked.

"I'm afraid not," the Tarnished replied in a somber tone. "But it will help prevent this affliction from spreading further."

The other knights, who'd ceased their chatter to listen in, collectively grimaced. "Sure hope the bastard doesn't scamper off before we can sink our teeth into them."

"Rest assured, that is the last thing we'll be preventing from happening," the Tarnished explained. "We'll press on, find the leader and slay them. From there… all that must be done afterwards is to put the rest of those poor people out of their misery."

With the unnerving feeling of wrongness acting as a vague beacon, the Tarnished had been leading the knights towards the source, the presumed leader of the Frenzied Flame's thralls and it was as they trekked ever onwards that the feeling grew just a little stronger.

This in mind, the Tarnished now rolled his shoulders and spoke yet again. "Ready yourselves; I've a good feeling we'll be making contact fairly soon at this rate."

The knights, armed with either spears or longswords, did as ordered, switching from a simple trekking formation to something more battle-ready. The one who could use a scrying spell appeared ready to use it again but held off until they've covered some more ground.

The squad fell back into a comfortable silence, walking onwards with just a bit more speed now. Traversing over twigs and thick tree roots that poked out from the otherwise soft ground, they all began to make a bit more progress than before.

And as this happened, that sensation the Tarnished had been using to guide their path became just a bit stronger by the moment.

Some odd minutes later, the Tarnished's eyes narrowed beneath his Crucible Axe Helm. There was a shift in the air. Not in a physical sense, but something more esoteric – wrong.

If they'd been closer before then they were even closer now. However, the vague sense of distance between him and the source felt only scarcely briefer than before, meaning whatever was causing this shift in the environment was something else.

Then…

"-! Move!" the Tarnished cried as what appeared to be some kind of elemental blast sped towards them from deep within the forest. It appeared to be comprised of concentrated stormy weather somehow, blasting through the thick trees like they weren't even there.

The knights leapt out of formation and out of the strike zone while the Tarnished rolled forward, going under the blast right before it made contact with the ground. The result explosion shook the area violently, enough to nearly throw the knights right off their feet even though they'd moved several yards away from their previous spot.

As for the Tarnished, he was hardly even rattled and instead prepared to return fire. In addition to having the Uchigatana at the ready, he'd also had the Godslayer's Seal firmly clasped in his right hand this entire time and he wasted not even a split second in throwing a Blackflame Fireball in the direction of the attack. His own attack detonated on impact, setting the spot struck temporarily alit with its black and white flames before dissipating.

Unfortunately, whomever had launched the attack had retreated immediately after letting it loose, for the Tarnished's own attack failed to connect.

However, thanks to all the trees blown away, it gave him an unobstructed view for only a split second. Clearly a mage who'd attacked them just now… and one whose eyes bore the telltale signs of frenzy.

And the mage wasn't the only one here now, for off in the distance, he could spot thralls of the Frenzied Flame now begin to pour into the area.

"Contact! Ready yourselves!" the Tarnished bellowed to the knights, who'd scrambled back into their formation to avoid being blindsided one by one after the initial attack. "Remember, keep them at arms' length if possible!"

"What about the mage?!" asked one knight.

"I'll deal with them, merely focus on the thralls! But stay alert in case of another attack!" The Tarnished then dashed forward, being the first to make actual contact with the enemy forces.

One thrall, a heavyset man wielding a crude club, took a swing at the Tarnished as he suddenly came up on him. However, the Tarnished proved far quicker, using the Uchigatana to merely graze the man's exposed side. The blade's inherent ability to easily induce fatal blood loss, strengthened by the Ash of War infused into it, caused a massive amount of blood to erupt from every opening on the man's body, including the small wound just caused. The thrall collapsed immediately as the Tarnished now passed him by, dead.

As expected, the inherent resistance people of this world had to such deadly abilities was significantly lower than those from the Lands Between. A rather sad state of affairs, but in this case, something of a blessing; it'd make it easy to dispose of the thralls as needed.

However, as quick as the Tarnished is, the mage was already preparing another spell… and the energies gathering were tinted with madness, sickly yellow flames gathering as the mage prepared a fire spell of some sort.

The fireball, empowered by the Flame of Frenzy itself it would seem, was immediately unleashed, forcing the seasoned warrior to roll to the side. It was enormous in size, as was the ensuing explosion of flames, so much so that even the Tarnished was blasted away this time. Still, he was able to turn his impromptu blastoff into a controlled roll.

As he began to come to a stop, he reached into his pouch and threw a Poisoned Dagger in the mage's direction – only for a young and rather sickly-looking man to stumble into the line of fire. The thrown weapon elicited a gurgle from the thrall as it sunk up to the hilt within his stomach, the poison immediately taking effect and causing him to fall back.

The Tarnished grimaced as he dashed from his position. Looks like the thralls were aware of the importance of having a mage amongst their numbers and were vaguely coordinating to ensure the mage's survival for as long as possible.

No matter, he simply needed to adjust.

And adjust he did, by simply using more strength.

With a light jump, he then stomped at the ground, making the whole area tremble violently. A few cries from the knights made it clear that they'd been taken aback by his sudden action and he could only hope this would not cost them. But the mage had to be taken care of as swiftly as possible.

Sure enough, it sent the thralls stumbling and falling over themselves… including the mage, who reeled fiercely in an attempt to remain standing. The whole time, the mage's gaze remained fixed on the Tarnished, even clearly beginning to chant another spell of some kind.

But with a burst of speed, the Tarnished lunged at his target and spun about as he closed the gap. With a single swing of his blade, he rent the mage in two, cutting them in half from the start of the waist up to the shoulder.

Unfortunately, while the most dangerous threat of the now amassing legion of thralls had been dealt with…

A knight cried out, giving the Tarnished plenty of reason to pivot on the spot to see what had happened.

A fairly small creature – a rhea, if he remembered his terminology correctly – had managed to rush a knight that had been forced to break formation and stab the man directly in his exposed armpit in mid-swing.

Another knight let out a battle cry and tried to skewer the frenzied rhea with his spear, but the rhea proved exceedingly nimble, ducking and leaping away into the bushes as the knight he'd stabbed futilely tried to stop the bleeding from his deep wound.

The Tarnished ran back to the knights, stomping down on a woman that tried to throw herself at his legs. The sheer force of his foot was enough to crush her skull into a fine mist. He then flicked the Uchigatana at another nearby thrall that swung their fist wildly at his side, severing the offending limb, with the resulting blood loss immediately killing him.

"Stay close and cover me for a moment!" the Tarnished commanded as he got within the center of the knights' formation and used the Godslayer's Seal to cast Lord's Heal. Though this seal didn't specialize in non-Blackflame incantations, it should still be more than enough to do the job.

Taking the wounded knight into his open arm as he cast the incantation, the thralls of the Frenzied Flame began to pour out from the forest in earnest now, sensing weakness.

The mage may have been lost, but the rhea's surprise attack had been just as effective. Now with numerous thralls beginning to make an appearance, the situation was ready to devolve even further.

Were the Tarnished by himself, such numbers wouldn't be an issue given his raw physical and battle prowess, to say nothing of the weapons he could access. However, with the knights around, he couldn't combat these people afflicted with the frenzy so readily.

The knights may have known they'd one day die in the defense of the kingdom, but that didn't mean it would be right for him to just treat their lives so carelessly.

One particular thrall, a veritable child, wielded a crossbow that was much too big for them to wield properly. Sure enough, when they took aim and actually fired, the child fell down with nary a sound. But their aim proved shockingly true and forced a knight to hastily swat the fired bolt out of the air with the side of their spear.

Meanwhile another knight dared to take a few steps forward and swing their spear upwards at an angle, deflecting a thrown axe before promptly twirling the weapon around to now thrust it downwards into and through the chest of a woman that had tried to make a lunge at him with a large butchering knife.

As the woman groaned and began to keel over, the rhea emerged from behind her, using the dying thrall as a human jumping board. The rhea, armed with two daggers that were large relative to his own size, spun about in midair and went in for an attack at the knight.

The knight backpedaled lightly, trying to put some distance between himself and the rhea while simultaneously trying to raise the butt of his spear as an impromptu shield against the rhea. He succeeded just in time to force the rhea to cancel his attack and instead land feetfirst against the spear and kick off it hard.

The surprising strength behind the jump, combined with an unsteady balance, sent the knight crying in surprise as he fell onto his rear. Another knight had tried to attack the rhea in mid-leap but found no contact to be had, a scarcely missed opportunity.

Thankfully, the wounded knight was fully healed now and the Tarnished wasted not a second hoisting him up to his feet. "Back to back, all of you! Just focus on defending yourselves! I will handle the rhea!"

Moving outside of the protective circle, he heard the four knights practically slamming their backs against one another's as the thralls continued to pour out.

Walking ahead of the group, the Tarnished gave off the image of charging out on his own – but this was a bit of a trap.

The rhea undoubtedly had him marked as the most dangerous of the bunch, too dangerous to risk attacking at all for the time being, hence the targeting of the knights. If he could goad the rhea into thinking there was an opening with which to attack the knights, then he could counterattack.

Of course, this little idea of his meant he'd be the most exposed to the other frenzied individuals, who clearly lacked the same level of battle intelligence that the rhea had managed to retain. Case in point, a rather burly woman tried to attack from his side, a large plank in her hands that was raised in a clear attempt to bludgeon him to death.

With his Uchigatana, he parried the plank, deftly swatting it downwards and off course before thrusting the tip of the blade into her throat. As blood spurted out violently from the woman, he gave her flailing body a hard punt that knocked her into a forming crowd of thralls.

Once they got knocked down, the Tarnished turned in time to use his armored forearm to block a thrust from a rusty machete, the weapon breaking on impact against his gauntlet. He retaliated with a vicious backhand that literally reduced the attacker's head to mulch before then fully turning to stab his blade through the side of another incoming thrall.

The thrall, in his dying throes, held onto the blade as if to try and pin him down somehow. But the Tarnished merely hefted the Uchigatana and the lean man still skewered on it up as though they weighed nothing before swinging downwards. The speed of this move sent the now dead thrall flying off into the distance, crashing against a tree hard enough to break apart.

That was when the rhea made his reappearance.

Presumably, the rhea thought him to be distracted well and good now, for he darted out from behind several thralls and went for the Tarnished himself rather than the knights, who were fairing much better now thanks to him taking most of the pressure off them.

Seems the rhea thought him a much easier target now that his back was fully exposed to the direction he was coming from.

Well, unfortunately for the rhea, the Tarnished heard him coming – plus one of the knights cried out a warning – and the seasoned warrior twisted the Uchigatan around and stabbed just under his own right armpit, narrowly missing himself… but aiming true for the rhea.

The diminutive humanoid scarcely got a chance to realize what was even happening before the blade stabbed right through his open mouth and out the back of the skull. The Tarnished spun about and swung his sword as though it was a club now and sent the dying rhea sailing through the air like a humanoid throwing ball, only much faster than the sort of thing that children would throw around.

The rhea smashed against an elderly thrall, breaking bones on impact and leaving the now stumbling man easy pickings for the nearest knight to skewer through the skull.

As the rhea now died, there was a brief lull in the action, the other thralls almost seeming to pause at what happened, as if they now possessed just enough self-awareness to realize that both of their heaviest hitters had been lost in short order.

And to the Tarnished's genuine surprise, this thought turned out to be true as the remaining thralls, numbering just a bit less than a dozen, now appeared to turn around and attempt to retreat.

Attempt, that is.

With a quick commanding bark to the knights, he and them swiftly bumrushed the remaining thralls and put them down.

As the battlefield now grew quiet, the Tarnished waited a brief few seconds before speaking. "You four are well?"

"Y-Yes, just mildly winded…" mumbled one of them.

"…" The knight that he'd healed moments ago made an indistinct sound as he seemed to glance down at the various bodies now strewn about.

The Tarnished didn't need the man to say anything to understand the plight he was undoubtedly feeling. "…It is alright to hate what had to be done… but accept it nonetheless. Remember – what has become of these people cannot be undone."

The knight's breath hitched, the Tarnished's words striking at the heart of his moral dilemma. Ultimately, the knight could only bow his head in understanding, unable to say another word.

Another knight patted the man's shoulder gently, consoling him silently. The Tarnished quietly approved of their mental strength. It was never easy having to kill those afflicted with frenzy, for more often than not, they really were simply people that had been tainted by the Frenzied Flame. Alas, all that can be done is to strike them down before they can spread the madness further.

The Tarnished gave the knights a moment to get their bearings again, even offer up some words of mourning for the lives lost just now.

Finally, when it seemed like the knights weren't quite so winded and more emotionally stable, he addressed the magic using one.

"What of the other squads?" he asked.

The knight gazed off in no particular direction, something that he appeared to do whenever relying on that communication spell of his. Quite fortunate that said spell, in addition to the scrying one, could be used so readily multiple times a day. A real difference from the other spells out that that could only be used a handful of times at most per day.

"…!" The knight then tensed up, which in turn gave the others cause to stiffen as well, clearly worried.

"I-I… can't get in contact with a few of them," the knight mumbled.

The Tarnished's grip on his blade tightened. In immediate hindsight, he should have foreseen this.

If they could be ambushed by two clearly skilled adventurers afflicted with madness then it makes sense that other such individuals had been turned into thralls as well and made to attack the other squads.

"…" The Tarnished glanced in the direction they'd initially been traveling in, towards where the apparent leader of the thralls lied in. Taking a few seconds to concentrate, he could now sense that his target had shifted location, somewhere to the west, where one of the squads had gone in.

"Can you somehow pinpoint where one of the squads was last at?" he asked of the magic using knight.

"Yes. I just need to adjust the focus of my scrying spell."

The Tarnished nodded. "Then take point and lead us to the closest one as quickly as possible."

Several seconds go by as the knight made use of the scrying spell. Then once he seemed to get a lock on a squad's location, he quickly pivoted and began to rush off at a brisk pace in the direction his spell indicated him to go in.

The Tarnished and the rest of the knights immediately followed thereafter.

With his grip on his weapon tightening, the Tarnished couldn't help but suddenly fear for the worst.

Just what was happening out there in this forest?

"…Hmm."

Shabriri grimaced, the action causing the scorched flesh of this body's face to crackle, ash and what little skin it still had now peeling off.

Approximately an hour ago, he'd begun to feel the number of his brethren dwindle sporadically. Not long after noticing such a shift, he'd come to learn why:

There were squads of knights roaming the land, undoubtedly in search of him and his comrades. Despite being increasingly outnumbered as many of his fellow followers of the Frenzied Flame, the knights had shown their worth by striking down scores of people before finally perishing. Said slaying of the knights had been due to either overwhelming numbers or them being taken off guard by the adventurers that he'd recently converted to his great cause.

And as of just several minutes ago, Shabriri had personally wiped out one of the squads, his usage of the great Flame's incantations allowing him to either kill the knights or open their eyes to the one and only truth in existence.

However, despite having done away with a bit more than a dozen knights by now, he felt perturbed still. There was no way that this could be all of them. As such, he'd ordered his fellow believers to spread out and search the land for any other knights that would try to obstruct their path towards the capital.

But what had elicited his grimace just now was the realization that he'd just lost two of the few adventurers he'd managed to enlighten to the great Flame's all-consuming presence. While certainly not impossible for the knights to have overcome the adventurers, it seemed unlikely, especially with how quickly they appeared to have been slain after making first contact with the squad.

…The oddity he'd been detecting for quite some time… perhaps that is what was responsible for what had happened.

"Perhaps it would be wise to address this issue now before it grows into a true problem later," he murmured to himself as he was flanked dutifully by more than a dozen of his allies.

Looking to where the two slain adventurers had gone off to, he motioned for the others to follow.

Some odd minutes go by, him and them trudging along at a slow but steady pace.

But then some more minutes later, when he could vaguely sense more of his fellows being killed and along a path that seemed to be vaguely intercepting his own, Shabriri picked up his pace.

He pulled out his current weapon, a longsword that he'd deprived one of the slain knights of alongside a spear that seemingly served as the knights' primary weapons – another interesting oddity, seeming as though the knights knew to generally keep his devout followers at arm's length lest they spread their truth to them. It hinted that somehow the capital knew what he and his brethren were generally capable of despite having gone relatively unnoticed so far. And he highly doubted those two adventurers he'd fought days ago would have been the ones to inform the capital of this, otherwise things would have played out a little differently.

And speaking of interesting events…

Shabriri briefly eyed his drawn blade, which slowly began to wreathe itself with the flames of the great Flame itself, said flames coming from directly within Shabriri's current body.

It would seem that his very existence was undergoing a change of its own. Whether this was due to him possessing a body not of his original world or something else entirely was unknown, but in any case, he could actually feel his power steadily growing. Given time enough, perhaps it would be possible for him to regain the strength he'd once had at his peak back in the Lands Between, but that too was an uncertainty and not a possibility that he had the time to see play out.

In any case, it allowed him to essentially coat his new weapons in the Frenzied Flame's signature color, meaning he could now pass on its truth from himself to others through weaponry alone. It should prove to be a great boon to him very soon.

Perhaps he can even convert the oddity to their cause… surely, said oddity would make for a powerful servant of his Lord of Chaos, once said man is awakened to his potential.

The flames that surrounded the longsword finally settled down, fully seeping into the weapon and no longer being visible to the naked eye. No one would be the wiser should they glimpse his weapon now, not until they were converted.

This was almost enough to put a smile back on Shabriri's face…

…Until he finally reached a clearing just as the oddity appeared to reach the other end of said clearing as well.

It was just as he had entered said clearing that Shabriri's flaming eyes finally widened, the close proximity finally being enough for him to recognize the oddity for what – who – it was.

And when the man in question alongside four knights came to a sudden halt in the area, Shabriri received visual confirmation.

"…Tarnished…" he whispered in genuine amazement.

"Shabriri…" whispered back the man.

A few seconds of pure silence go by between the two, with only the sounds of nature and the knights readying themselves for a confrontation preventing a true absence of sound.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Shabriri's burned throat began to rumble… and then just a second later, hoarse laughter emerged from him.

"…How did you end up here?" the Tarnished spoke, his weapon at the ready. Though Shabriri, having fought and lost to this man, knew well that the Tarnished could just as easily switch to another weapon or use a throwing implement in an instant.

"Why, I ought to ask the same of you!" Shabriri replied as his laughter died down. "To think we'd meet again… while I never quite doubted a reunion between the two of us, the circumstances are well beyond my greatest expectations. A whole new world, Tarnished! Truly, existence is a vast expanse."

Shabriri's eyes then narrowed in sinister delight. "And it is yet just another sign of how much chaos could potentially exist."

Indeed. To think he'd once thought simply plunging the Lands Between into chaos had been enough for him at some point. No, now he knew for certain how narrow minded he'd been. That the Frenzied Flame, in its great and terrible power, had been able to allow his essence to travel here to this new world, was just a sign of how much further its influence could spread… of just how many beings out there can be subjected to its singular truth.

Shabriri began to raise his longsword, preparing to attack. "You've my heartfelt thanks, Tarnished. Not once did I even think to hold a grudge against you for killing my previous host, but to end up here of all places… yes, if not for you cutting me down, this likely never would have happened. Please, allow me to express my gratitude. Unless, of course, you've rethought my offer."

The Tarnished responded by twirling his blade around and plunging straight through his own chest. The action drew great alarm from the knights, who have clearly no idea of the man's true capabilities. But to Shabriri, he merely tilted his head in amusement. He recognized that form of seppuku very well, made all the more evident as the blade began to drip an unnaturally vibrant blood red.

"I'll take that as another refusal then," Shabriri couldn't help but quip as his brethren finally joined him in the clearing, with plenty more now heading this way.

The Tarnished pulled the blade from his body with nary a grunt of discomfort. "Read yourselves!" he said to the knights.

And then the Tarnished all but literally threw himself across the clearing.

Shabriri gleefully responded in kind.

"-!"

Back in the capital, Ranni had been in the midst of some additional preparations, casting upon the palace some of the same enchantments that the Carian Manor had also possessed. While the palace's new defenses paled in comparison to her home's, said difference was due to just how many years had been spent steadily transforming the manor into the veritable fortress it had become known as. That said, the palace would surely be one of the most fortified strongholds in the Four Cornered World now.

Such an accomplishment was not within Ranni's purview, however, not anymore.

Instead, she cast her gaze off into the distance – the same direction her beloved consort had gone off to.

Through the bond they shared, strengthened by having properly linked with the Dark Moon in this world, she was able to get a general feel of any abnormalities that her consort encountered. This ability, useful though it may be, only really showed its worth however when said abnormalities were of a considerable strength. The mark of the Frenzied Flame upon the young adventurer, for example, was just feeble enough that she'd needed to see the one known as Goblin Slayer up close in order to confirm the feeling rather than having been able to notice this detail through her connection with the Tarnished.

But just now, she'd felt an especially strong abnormality through this bond, one that she could vaguely recognize.

A follower of the Frenzied Flame. Not one that was forcibly converted to its cause, but a true believer of what the god stands for.

"Shabriri," she whispered.

Though she'd had little to no contact ever with any proponents of the Flame of Frenzy, she'd naturally done her best to keep tabs on all the major players back in the Lands Between. Thus, even though she'd never met them, she was very familiar with the sordid tale of Vyke, who'd gone down the path he did to avoid sacrificing his dear maiden.

And of course, she was familiar with the strange and dangerous Shabriri as well, a being who could possess others whenever his current host was slain. An existence that appeared to have no true way of being vanquished beyond the most extreme measures.

And such a being was somehow here in this world, with a level of strength that was increasingly comparable to what she recalled him having back in the Lands Between.

…

…

…The Tarnished, her beloved, was strong. Though he'd died plenty of times along the way, he'd always learned from his many deaths and made use of runes to bring out his inherent potential. Through many trials and tribulations, he'd been able to eventually overcome everything that had challenged him, from the lowliest of creatures to the mightiest of the demigods and even her father Radagon, the elden lord himself, followed then by the beast that was the very manifestation of the Golden Order.

So surely he'd be able to handle Shabriri well enough.

…Even so…

"Take heed, my dear Tarnished," she whispered as she already began to revise some of the additional defensive measures she'd thought up. "Thou must be ready for anything that can happen in this world."

In mid-leap towards each other, both Shabriri and the Tarnished made their moves. Rather than directly clash with their weapons, the two combatants used other methods of attack.

Taking one hand off the Uchigatana, the Tarnished gathered blackflames within his palm thanks to the Godslayer's Seal, activating the Blackflame Fireball incantation. Compressing it for but a split second, he furiously launched it at his target.

Shabriri in turn, despite still going forward with a swing from his longsword, opened fire quite literally with an incantation of his own, the sickly yellowish flames of the Frenzied Flame spewing forth from his long burnt out eye sockets. Rather than haphazardly shoot out everywhere, Shabriri demonstrated his mastery over the incantation by concentrating it into just two short bursts of pure madness-inducing flames.

The first burst of flames met the Blackflame Fireball directly, canceling each other out. The resulting explosion of the Blackflame Fireball in turn acted as an impromptu shield that guarded the Tarnished from the second burst of flames.

Thus, the two warriors from the Lands Between ended up clashing against one another after all – but only for an instant. As soon as the longsword met the Uchigatana, the latter won out thanks to the Tarnished's superior strength.

Alas, Shabriri seemed far from surprised by such a thing, for as he was knocked back, he gracefully rolled across the ground into a crouch from which he grabbed a handful of grass and dirt and chucked it directly into the Tarnished's face as he landed.

The Tarnished had turned his head slightly to avoid fully having his vision obstructed by the grass and dirt, though he still lost visual track of his foe. But he could still hear, and he detected movement coming his way. With the Uchigatana, he parried an incoming slice that had been aimed for his briefly exposed armpit but following with a swing of his own meant to decapitate Shabriri.

Shabriri, ever so swift, ducked and pivoted away, opening up some distance yet again while also trying to get one last attack in on the Tarnished.

The devout follower of the Frenzied Flame was looking rather wary of the possibility of additional Blackflame attacks. Being incantations known to the Godskin Apostles who slew many demigods throughout history, the full potency of such incantations could likely kill even him for good.

And the Tarnished knew this as well, his blue eyes twinkling slightly underneath his Crucible Axe Helm.

Around the two combatants, violence was also breaking out as the knights that accompanied the Tarnished now engaged against the thralls of the Frenzied Flame. Both sides seemed to do their level best to avoid getting caught up in the still beginning duel between the two inhabitants of another world, though whether this was somehow a conscious action on the behalf of the afflicted people or an unspoken command from Shabriri was unknown.

Though the effect of the Seppuku Ash of War was still ongoing, the Tarnished suddenly put away the Uchigatana even as he now charged at Shabriri. In its place, he pulled out the Darkmoon Greatsword, channeling his power into it in order to activate its freezing effect. Therefore, even as he swung the blade just shy of targeting Shabriri's current spot, the ensuing wave of frost should still hit him.

Or so he had hoped.

Shabriri, once again demonstrating how much of his swiftness he was regaining, managed to leap several feet to the side, avoiding both the attack itself and the wave of debilitating frost. He then sheathed his longsword and now pulled out the spear he'd had strapped to his back, which he'd no doubt taken from one of the knights he'd slain, the Tarnished noted.

Shabriri thrust said spear outwards, using its much greater reach to try and skewer his foe. The Tarnished swung the Darkmoon Greatsword, using it to deflect the thrust before taking a step forward. His blade grinded fiercely against the spear in an attempt to break it as he closed in, but the weapon remained strong. Moreover, just before he could fully close the distance, Shabriri pulled back the spear quickly and then went for three lightning fast swipes, forcing the Tarnished to block the first two hits before having no choice but to lightly jump back to avoid having his feet taken out from under him by the final attack.

The Tarnished grimaced. Even through the indirect contact of his weapon, he could literally feel the madness radiating from Shabriri's weapons, somehow enhancing them to a level where they would not break so easily against the weapons he possessed, which were of a make far superior to the ones Shabriri had taken. On behalf of Hewg, who'd worked his great skill upon every weapon the Tarnished had brought to him, the Tarnished couldn't help but feel almost slighted that Shabriri could so easily strengthen randomly picked up weapons to match up to Hewg's works.

He made ready to attack again with the Darkmoon Greatsword – only to instead stomp hard on the ground. His immense strength caused the whole area to shake, a risky move considering the knights were so nearby, but he had to put Shabriri down as soon as possible. He did his best to concentrate the blow in Shabriri's general direction, however, and it showed with how various deep gouges in the earth were formed where he'd stomped leading to Shabriri himself.

The Frenzied Flame follower could only stumble back, his balance disturbed. This gave the Tarnished the chance he needed to rush the man, his weapon ready to thrust forward in an instant.

However, just as he began to close the distance, Shabriri responded with a Frenzied Flame incantation, one that had originated from Shabriri himself – the Howl of Shabriri.

As Shabriri let out said howl, waves of madness were released throughout the area. The Tarnished, having been on the receiving end of such an incantation before, was able to grit his teeth through the encroaching madness but the sheer level of force behind the howl itself surprised him as it actually managed to blow him back.

But far worse than that were the cries of the knights from some odd yards away, whose minds had just been subjected to the howl. A brief glance in their direction showed that while just far enough away to not take the full brunt of the incantation's effects, it still polluted their very minds and souls enough to leave them horribly open to the thralls around them.

"-!" With an unidentifiable sound, the Tarnished spun around to fully face the thralls that now attempted to close in on the currently debilitated knights and from his belt, he picked out several Poisoned Daggers that he promptly threw with perfect aim at the thralls. Some of the thrown weapons struck the thralls in their throats or skull, others were stabbed in their torsos or legs. Either way, the potent poison within the daggers did their job and the thralls crumbled dead to the ground just before they could reach the knights who tried to recover.

The Tarnished now turned back around, facing Shabriri again-.

-Only to be struck by the man's follow up, in the form of the Frenzied Burst incantation. Though Shabriri had used this particular incantation earlier, this time around, it had packed considerably more power thanks to a slightly longer time to gather power.

The Tarnished scarcely grunted as the burst caught him dead center in the face of all things, causing him to stagger…

…And therefore, leaving him open to Shabriri's third attack – a vicious lunge with the spear at the helm.

Somewhat disoriented, both from the slight madness build up and the general force of the blow, the Tarnished tried to raise the Darkmoon Greatsword in time to parry the attack but couldn't. The spear made contact against his armor. Thankfully, as strong as Shabriri was and still is becoming, the attack lacked the force needed to fully penetrate his Crucible Tree Armor but it still hurt quite a bit and managed to drive him back.

However, when Shabriri went in for a second thrust, the Tarnished was ready this time, using his armored hand to smack aside the spear while using his other hand to swing the Darkmoon Greatsword. The attack failed to connect, but this time the wave of frost made contact, albeit only grazing Shabriri's right side.

This still proved enough to coat the man in frost great enough to slow him down considerably, even eliciting a hiss of pain from Shabriri, which turned into an outright howl when the Tarnished landed a brutal hook to the frozen side of his body. With Shabriri now crumbling in on himself, the Tarnished reared back his weapon and thrust it into him.

And this time, his move went unimpeded, running Shabriri through on the Darkmoon Greatsword.

Unfortunately, by this point, the chilling effect of his weapon had run its course, so the hope of freezing Shabriri solid and smashing him died. A blessing in immediate hindsight, however, given that he would have just found someone else to possess like he'd done with Yura and whoever his current body had belonged to.

But even more unfortunately, Shabriri proved to be just as tenacious as any other warrior from the Lands Between.

The Tarnished could literally feel the build up of power within the skewered Shabriri. He could even detect the incantation the man was preparing to use – the Unendurable Frenzy.

With the knights still so close and clearly winded from the effects still of the Howl of Shabriri even as they valiantly fought on, the chances of them being able to defend against this incantation and the thralls at the same time were exceedingly low.

And speaking of thralls, only more and more appeared to keep coming, this place becoming a veritable hotspot. Five, then ten, then more thralls could be seen coming from out of the forest towards the knights… along with one that looked very much like an adventurer.

If said adventurer was as troublesome as the other two…

With gritted teeth, the Tarnished performed two things.

Firstly, he roared out to the knights. "Escape! Quickly, back to the capital! Warn them all!" He knew not how many other squads out there were still alive anymore, but hopefully the magic using knight can get in touch with them and relay his orders.

The second thing he did was spinning around and swinging his blade forward as hard as he could. For the first time since coming to this world, he used his full strength and it showed as Shabriri was dislodged from the blade in mid-swing and went flying with the speed of a cannon ball off into the distance.

Girding himself, the Tarnished then leapt, using his strong legs to propel himself in the same direction he'd flung Shabriri in.

Whether or not the knights acknowledged his command, he knew not, but he certainly prayed they had and were now considering how to make their escape. As much as he would have loved to stay behind and thin the herd for them, allowing Shabriri even a split second of breathing room could be a huge mistake hence his haste in this action.

Besides, now that it would hopefully be just him and Shabriri alone, he can afford to fight much more freely.

The two inhabitants of the Lands Between all but flew through the air for many meters before finally landing, though not before Shabriri even in free-fall, managed to unleash his incantation with the numerous blasts of sickly flames somehow being primarily aimed at the Tarnished.

The seasoned warrior did his best to guard against the flames, using the Darkmoon Greatsword's sheer size as a shield against the blasts, but the flames proved especially potent and their numbers caused even his resistance against the madness to almost falter beneath the onslaught.

By the time they had landed near a cliffside, the Tarnished could only stumble almost like a drunkard, his mind on the verge of a brief bout of frenzy. Immediately, he pulled out a bolus and consumed it, purging himself of the Frenzied Flame's influence.

Alas, this action proved to be a slight mistake, for even though he'd still tried to move towards Shabriri in the process of consuming the bolus, it still left him just open enough for the man to recover from the hard impact and attack.

Shabriri, wheezing in pain, got up quickly and with a surprising burst of speed, circled around the Tarnished and kicked in the back of his right leg. Then when the Tarnished lurched forward, the devoted follower of the Frenzied Flame swung his spear and struck the back of the Tarnished's head with the side of his weapon.

The Tarnished rolled forward, not so much from the force of the hit itself but also to get away from Shabriri before he could attack again.

He considered either pulling out the Sacred Relic Sword so that he could use its innate skill to drive Shabriri back or Malekith's Black Blade so that the power of Destined Death could be used to annihilate Shabriri entirely, soul and all.

But his literal instant of hesitation over which option to consider proved his undoing as Shabriri wasted no time just following up with yet another incantation – the Inescapable Frenzy.

Shabriri threw himself at the Tarnished quite literally, the latter having to use the flat side of the Darkmoon Greatsword as an all too slim barrier between the two of them. It was just enough to keep Shabriri from fully latching onto him with his bare hands but thanks to the Tarnished still awkwardly being on a single knee after his roll and Shabriri standing right over him, the Tarnished couldn't properly leverage his greater strength and size against the man.

Moreover, deadly flickers of the Frenzied Flame spewed out wildly from Shabriri's eyes as the Inescapable Frenzy was still very much in use, forcing the Tarnished to also dedicate his efforts to resisting its debilitating mental effects.

Shabriri chuckled darkly. "How terribly kind of you to bring us somewhere so remote, dear Tarnished… and in a way, rather oddly fitting we'd be near a cliffside much like how we were when you slew my previous body."

He spoke, of course, of when the Tarnished had encountered him in the Mountaintop of the Giants and had battled him then and there upon realizing his true nature.

Aside from defeating Shabriri in combat directly, the Tarnished had gone a step further back then by punting Shabriri's body off the cliffside as a way of ensuring his demise.

And with that memory so fresh in mind…

"…Allow me to return the favor," Shabriri uttered before letting loose a howl as he upped the intensity of his current incantation.

The flames surging out from his eye sockets increased dramatically in intensity. So great was the power that the cliffside they were on, already on the verge of breaking apart thanks to Shabriri's less than gentle impact a moment ago, finally began to crumble.

With a wicked laugh as he then kicked off the Tarnished, Shabriri landed back on more stable ground as the cliffside fully gave way, with the Tarnished falling along with it into the deep, deep ravine that had lied below it.

…Some odd minutes go by with absolutely nothing happening, Shabriri waiting with bated breath for anything to occur.

Slowly, he approached the edge and looked down carefully in case the Tarnished had hung on somehow and was preparing to counterattack.

Seeing nothing other than continued splashes in the water below from the rubble that still fell loose, the follower of the Frenzied Flame allowed himself this chance to finally let out the laughter that had been welling up inside him for the past moment.

Whether the Tarnished was dead or not was irrelevant; with him now out of the way, Shabriri would be able to attack the capital openly now, especially now that he'd gotten a feel for how capable their defenses would be if the knights encountered so far were anything to go by.

Pivoting on the spot, Shabriri began his trek towards the capital with head held high and a sneer on his burnt face.

It was time to up the pace towards the capital in earnest.

Whew, 19 pages and more than 9,000 words!

Man, to think this chapter would be this long… feels kind of nice, ha ha. Of course, it helps that the action scene took up a solid chunk of said chapter and damn did it feel great getting to write what felt like a proper fight scene where the Tarnished actually had to stand his ground against Shabriri as opposed to not going too hard against the denizens of the Four Cornered World.

That all said, I do sincerely hope the way he fought made sense. As someone who prefers fighting up close and personal in any game save for occasional use of other items/methods to even the odds, I had the Tarnished essentially reflect my preference by fighting head on but just with enough battle smarts and restrictions to keep things more even and tense, especially since Shabriri is no slouch himself in combat and possesses abilities that make close combat usually untenable for those not used to dealing with Frenzied Flame incantations often.

Now, as for what will happen next exactly… well, telling would be spoiling, heh.

In any case, hope you all enjoyed this chapter and will look forward to the climax, which is swiftly approaching!

Until next time, everyone. Take care!