Ye gods, it feels like an eternity since I wrote anything for this story! Just goes to show how damned tiring the essay I had to do for my last class felt, ugh. Seriously, I'd rather do an actual presentation as a final at this point rather than do another essay involving APA citatations!

Heh, well, my whining aside, it really is good to be back with this chapter and with a fair bit of advancement to the events within the story. While certain details that will be revealed in the beginning of the chapter may come across as anticlimactic, I assure you all that things are only going to get worse before they actually get better. For a given value of 'worse' – after all, with the Dark Moon around, a lot of the other Outer Gods' influence had been curbed for the time being but it's not a perfect defense as of yet.

But rather than just say all of that, how about I actually showcase it through the story itself, eh? Now without further ado, enjoy the chapter!

P.S. As usual, consider purchasing any of my stories online! Universal links available on my profile page, just remove the spaces. Fading Darkness, Rising Light and my Infinite Genesis trilogy can be found on a variety of sites, just search them up!

P.P.S. My luck recently had been eerily good recently in FGO! Not only did I get both Morgan and Barghest, but I got Morgan to NP2 and Barghest all the way to NP5 without having to spend all my saint quartz! Even got a single copy of Baobhan Sith and was finally able to NP2 my Scherazarde (Likely spelled the name wrong, lol) after all this time! Now I'm just feeling suspicious about all this generosity, ha ha…

Chapter 19

A few pass by since the Tarnished and Ranni departed from the water town. Things had been rather straightforward and unexcitable since then.

"…That's yet another bunch down," the Tarnished said as he watched the wave of gold he'd unleashed from the Sacred Relic Sword quickly fan out and practically disintegrate the entire frenzied batch of people that had been heading his way.

This is how he and his beloved had been spending their time since journeying away from Sword Maiden's place of power – seeking out and swiftly dealing with the groups of people and beings afflicted by the Flame of Frenzy's deadly madness.

With Ranni having been able to accurately pinpoint the locations of each group and the Tarnished making good use of the blade obtained from his epic battle against both Radagon and the Elden Beast, the poor souls that had succumbed to the Frenzied Flame's influence had been culled in short order. This was something made all the quicker by the duo having refused to take any real breaks in between this brutally short dispatches in order to cover ground as quickly as possible.

"Ye sound rather disappointed, beloved Tarnished," Ranni noted from several feet behind him, hands folded together as though they'd simply been out on a light stroll rather than hunting down dozens of people and killing them. "Don't tell me that ye had hoped to test thy mettle against such downtrodden people."

The Tarnished could only shrug helplessly. "…You know me far too well."

Ranni huffed lightly. "Ye take after lord Godfrey's previous self as Hoarah Loux too much, perhaps. Tis admirable in its own way, but one cannot always be doing battle on such grand scales."

This elicited a chuckle from the Tarnished for some reason, the man feeling mirthful. "I'm aware. After all, with how dangerous the Frenzied Flame can be and how much it's already spread, we can't afford to take any chances. Thus, I'm willing to hold back my desires well enough."

He may strive to do what he believed to be right, but he wouldn't mind at all having some great challenges along the way. Ah well, eventually something will come along to test his mettle.

"Mm, good. So long as ye remember that." Ranni's tone was light, knowing how he'd responded. Their brief conversation just now was merely a formality of sorts, a way of idly passing the frankly monotonous time. In a way, it vaguely reminded the Tarnished of how he'd sometimes hum a random tune he could recall from his youth as he went about collecting certain materials over and over again without pause.

He was just quirky like that.

"In any case," he began, getting back on track. "Have you detected any more out there?"

"None as of now," Ranni answered, her sole visible eye pulsing with energy thanks to her connection with the Dark Moon. "As of this very moment, I'd dare say we'd vanquished all those carrying the Frenzied Flame's influence in this region. Although I doubt that means we've truly put a stop to its spreading…"

The Tarnished nodded as he now surveyed the ruined field ahead of him.

Though he had no way of knowing it, he'd just cleared out the very same area that had caused Goblin Slayer and his party to flee. It had taken some time to attack the other groups of madness afflicted individuals in the surrounding region before coming to this particular area, having had to make something of a circular shaped path, but in the end it had been worth it. Sure, the waves of gold that he'd been unleashing to put down the near mindless groups had ended up also devastating the land itself to some degree, but it wasn't as if the damage done was permanent. It would take time, but eventually the land would heal, which is a vastly better thing to deal with than the frenzy spreading out further and further.

Just about the one sole regret he had over all this is that he and Ranni had been unable to give the poor people who'd been violated by the madness proper burials. Unlike back in the Lands Between, where nearly every living thing would attack him regardless of their affiliation, he had no doubt at all that all the people he'd slain in this world so far had simply been people living out their lives. Now thanks to the Frenzied Flame and himself, their lives had been lost forever as part of a greater price to preserve the Four Cornered World.

If there was at least one thing he could take solace in aside from curbing the dangerous god's influence, it was that at least by completely disintegrating the bodies with the Sacred Relic Sword's power, he spared them all the indignity of their corpses being picked away at by the wildlife.

"Then that means it's time to make our way towards this kingdom's border, yes?" he then asked of his beloved, finally turning to face her.

"Indeed. With the Flame of Frenzy's influence put to an end nearly within the heart of the kingdom, we can now focus on any such groupings that lie between here and the border. Though I can only vaguely sense them at the moment, once we get closer, I shall be able to guide ye more accurately."

"Very well. Then let us be off," the Tarnished said as he strode on up to Ranni and took her into his arms without any sense of shame. Pulling out Torrent's whistle, he gave a quick blow on it and summoned the spectral steed to them.

"Take heed, my dear consort – the ones ye have slain here were quite new to the effects of the frenzy. The groups we shall encounter closer to the border have been under the thrall of the god for noticeably longer," Ranni explained as she shifted about somewhat in his arms still.

The Tarnished nodded, understanding her warning clearly; there was a chance, however small, that some of the individuals closer to the border may have somehow regained some measure of odd lucidity despite the frenzy afflicting them.

While he was uncertain about the possibility of some of them becoming something akin to Vyke – that great and amazingly powerful Tarnished whose madness hadn't dulled his skills at all – he couldn't fully dismiss the likelihood that the people out there may retain some measure of combat skill beyond simply lunging at him.

Contemplating some strategies he'd once used in the past against individuals who'd carried the madness, he wondered if he would soon have to rely on those strategies in the future. Alas, it was currently a line of thought that was pointless to him, something that could wait until he actually saw what it was he and Ranni would be working with.

Tugging on Torrent's reins, the Tarnished and Ranni set course for the border.


Spy let out a loud yawn, stretching out his arms as far as they could go. It bordered on theatrical, the way he went about it.

And this was something not gone unnoticed by the one accompanying him.

"Long night?" Changeling asked from beside him, the elf-looking girl quirking an eyebrow in his direction.

"Sure was," he grumbled.

He'd been out on a quest, tasked to ensure that a few certain individuals suddenly 'disappeared' into the night. Said certain individuals happened to be some pretty dangerous thugs that ran their own gangs off in some shitty section of the kingdom, where the capital's eyes and ears didn't fully reach. With all the craziness that had recently been plaguing the Four Cornered World recently, the gangs had gotten uppity and a missive had been sent to the Rogue's Guild to nip the budding problem as soon as possible.

It'd been just his luck to get assigned to the task and it'd been even luckier for him to have to take several punks on that had required him to expend some of the precious ammo for his gun, having forced him to eventually resort to his bare hands as well as whatever else he could get his hands on to get the job done.

All in all, it hadn't been a pretty job even by his usual standards and he'd had quite the time disposing of the bodies in such a way that wouldn't cause any additional ruckus.

Whether or not killing those fools would actually make a difference was irrelevant to him though. He fulfilled the request and that was all that mattered and he'd done his best to sleep off all the exhaustion last night…

…Only to get rudely awoken by Changeling here when she'd somehow tracked down his current place and roused him from his death-like slumber.

Not even her beauty, which would certainly have made plenty of people happy to see first thing when they awaken, had been enough to put him in a good mood.

He shot her a weak glare and she simply smiled in that weird mysterious way she sometimes did, clearly unapologetic.

"…So what's up anyways? Another damned quest?" he finally grumbled out.

"Most likely," she replied. "All I know for sure was to wake you up and come with me. That, and apparently, the quest was from Burglar's student?"

Now that got Spy to actually perk up a bit. "Oh yeah? That shitty ol' coot's student finally swung by, huh?"

Burglar was well known to everyone that was part of the Rogue's Guild and even beyond, both for his skills and also for how much of a mean little turd he was. That, and it was also something of a well known fact to them all that he'd once taken someone under his wing for a while, an adventurer who was obsessed with killing only goblins of all things.

"Seems so," Changeling asked as the two of them traversed through the hidden ends of the town they were towards where the Rogue's Guild set up a base of operations at.

Upon finally reaching the location and giving the password to get in, they were immediately greeted with the all too familiar ruckus that accompanied such a seedy place, tables set up for illegal gambling and a whole lot of folks dressed in ways to obscure their identities talking business off in some corners of the large room or in the backrooms.

Definitely not a place where adventurers and those who were otherwise all good and just would ever be caught dead in. But as time and time again have proven, Burglar's wayward student wasn't of the typical sort.

"Ah, finally awake, I see," spoke the place's current owner, an eye patch wearing man who worked the bar alongside a beastwoman dressed provocatively to lure fools into spending more than they'd normally do on piss poor drinks. "And here I'd feared you'd sleep the whole day away."

"Yeah, yeah, make fun of my fatigue," Spy grumbled as he got close. "So, what's up? Must be something serious to get shorty here to interrupt my beauty sleep."

The owner merely chuckled at his words before stopping whatever he was doing and now motioning for them to follow him elsewhere.

Without another word, they headed for a backroom and after making sure they were well and truly alone, the three of them took a seat and got down to business.

"You both have a new job," the man said, getting directly to the point.

"Courtesy of our favorite rhea's student?" Changeling asked as she adjusted the large cloak she usually wears when about to head out on a job.

The man shrugged noncommittedly. He was the sort to not care who really came to their guild in hopes of putting out a job nor the reasons why they'd do so. All that mattered was that there was work to be done, a sentiment that Spy could agree with to some extent.

"As I'm sure you're both well aware by now, the world has been getting upturned thanks to new forces of Chaos out there. Your new job requires you to look into this matter," the owner continued to explain.

Spy adjusted the mask he normally wears to cover the lower half of his face as he contemplated those words briefly. "Wouldn't it be better to send in that damned shaman of yours? Or the shifty cleric? I'm sure they'd be a better fit for them instead of us."

While any member of the Rogue's Guild theoretically would accept any job, in practice, it varied depending on compatibility. Spy may be fully confident in his own skills as well as in Changeling's, whom he's worked often with, but that was when dealing with slavers and other unsavory but straightforward sorts like them. Looking into more mystical matters like what this seemed to be suggesting was outside his skillset.

"Sadly, they're both out and about right now," the owner replied. "But moreover, it's been suggested that things will get quite violent – and that very much means you're a good fit for this job."

Spy grumbled slightly. "…If you say so."

Changeling, always the friendlier out of the two of them, leaned forward in a placating manner. "So what exactly are we dealing with here? Just telling us to look into the new things out there is pretty vague."

"Apparently, out there are people being infected by some sort of madness," the owner responded. "A very dangerous sort, if our job giver's words are anything to judge by – no regards for any sense of self-preservation at all, just direct and overwhelming use of violence and numbers. The madness came from somewhere, but as things stand, the source has yet to be located and other parties out there aren't able to focus on it."

"Hmm, makes sense given how many things seem to be going on," Changeling noted as she brushed a lock of red hair out of her eyes. Her hair, which was kept fairly short, was starting to get a little long, Spy noted. Wouldn't surprise him if she cut it a bit before actually going out on this job.

The owner pulled out a piece of paper from his breast pocket and slid it across the well-worn table between them. "This contains some other details, such as the last known sighting in accordance with our quest giver's knowledge. Make what preparations you need to and be on your way… best of luck."

Changeling replied in the affirmative. Spy, still tired, let out a grunt which the man took as a positive response and was now on his way out.

With only the two of them in the room now, Spy lowered his mask and fished out a cigar, already feeling the need to smoke. "Not one thing, it's another…" he mumbled as he proceeded to light it.

Changeling hummed. "I guess even a bunch like ours would inevitably feel the blowback of all this Chaos. Guess that's just how the dice rolls today."

Spy scoffed and puffed simultaneously. "Never been one to pay much attention to the gods' whims, but if that's really the case, then this is a bit much even for them." He turned to the side slightly, eyeing the paper the owner had given them. Changeling, who was currently looking over the details, shifted it a bit so that he could get a better look.

"…Somewhere on the way towards the border, huh?" Spy commented as he read through it all. "Guess that means whatever this is doesn't appear to be a local thing."

"Seems that way for now… but considering how odd this all is, we can't say for certain just yet." Changeling was frowning in deep thought. "This sure is different from what we normally do."

Spy puffed away at the cigar and shrugged. "Well, my grumbling aside, at least this makes for an interesting change of pace. Just don't tell that shady bastard that I said that – he comes across as condescending as it is."

Changeling let out a light, bell-like giggle. "Never took you to be so concerned with your image like that," she joked. But just as quickly as the joking tone came, it disappeared. "Shall we get a move on then? The sooner this is done, the sooner we can hopefully get a proper rest."

Spy sighed, knowing she had a point. A pity that this cigar was still so fresh. Putting it out, he got up and pulled his mask back up. "Come on. Let's get our stuff and move out."

Changeling nodded and stood up – but not before silently casting a minor flame spell to burn the paper into complete cinders, which she then disposed of into a tray on the table meant precisely for this exact purpose. As members of the Rogue's Guild, leaving any sort of trace leading back to them was a risk not worth taking, not even when on their own grounds.

The two of them wasted no further time in taking their leave, though in Spy's case, it was with oddly heavy steps.

Living a life like this has a way of teaching one certain skills, like on how to detect danger long before it rears its ugly head… and right now, his gut was telling him that he and his partner for this job may be in for a tough time.

Not for the first time, he really hoped his gut was wrong.


Near the border between the kingdom and the desert, Hero and her friends made progress into the latter area… though not without some measure of difficulty.

"Ew, ew, ew, ew…!" Sword Saint cried out in an uncharacteristically frightened and disgusted voice, like a naïve and gentle maiden who was witnessing a cockroach scurrying about inside her room.

In some ways, Hero couldn't blame her for reacting like that when she herself was screaming 'gross!' over and over again.

And with reason.

Just as had been noted to them by those two adventurers they'd encountered back at the outpost – Spearman and Witch – the desert had undergone some drastic changes thanks to an unknown pollen-esque substance. These were changes the trio had noted by the time the land gave way to more desert-like features… at first, that is, before they started to come across large and misshapen coral looking things jutting out of the ground, to say nothing of the dark crimson colored sand now or how the sky itself seemed to bleed a scarlet hue that had never once been seen before by any of them.

It'd been a stifling environment from the moment they'd fully entered this land and it'd been enough to make even Hero feel wary. Something bad had happened here and while she would hesitate to say it was as bad or even worse than whatever had happened with those poor villagers and travelers, even the young girl could tell that this was something that couldn't be allowed to spread at any cost.

As things stood, it was a genuine miracle that the changes had only really infected the desert area and had not managed to spread across in the grassy and moist lands of the kingdom – yet, that is.

But what had caused her and Sword Saint to essentially freak out was the now local wildlife, also mutated by whatever had caused this scarlet hue to envelope all.

Specifically, they'd come across some desert bugs, larger in size than any other they'd ever seen and with bulbous and hideous growths over parts of their many limbs and even their eyes and fangs.

Bugs – that is, spiders, for the most part – were already icky enough for the trio to look at, but spiders that were easily their size or even bigger and with disproportionately large and mutated fangs and eyes that looked ready to burst like a bad zit were even worse.

With another cry of 'gross!' Hero swung her holy blade as she dashed past a lunging burrowing spider, which had just popped out from the ground directly in front of her. Her horizontal swing took out half of its left legs, causing it to lose balance and crash on its side. It hissed and wriggled, trying to turn around, but she proved to be much quicker and with a concentrated amount of holy power being unleashed from her legendary sword, the spider's body was blown apart, what chunks remained getting blasted off into the distance.

Meanwhile, Sword Saint, with a pale and almost sickly look on her face, deftly parried a violently outstretched front leg before sliding under the mutated spider and cutting open its bottom with one smooth motion. As its inside's juices spilled out, Hero could practically hear the older girl retching.

As for the final member of their trio, Sage remained a fair distance away, preparing a large fire arrow. "Look out!" she called out as it was readied. Hero, the only one in potential danger of friendly fire, rolled to the side as several more spiders crawled out from somewhere just as Sage fired off her spell.

The fire arrow shot forth at an amazing speed and struck the spider out in front faster than it could even react to, instantly setting it aflame before exploding alongside the subsequent detonation of the fire arrow. The sheer size of the explosion proved enough to blow back the other spiders, also setting them alight and they wriggled about desperately. Alas, their struggles were futile – they burned to death in short order, shrill hisses leaving them as they expired.

Hero shuddered at the way their now ashy bodies twitched in the seconds immediately following their deaths while Sword Saint looked faint on her feet. While things hadn't been too bad so far, if this is what they could expect from the desert then things would be very rough for them… and in a different way from how those poor villagers had been rough on their emotional states.

"…Well, at least we know for certain now that fire is not so good for them," Sage commented as she jogged over to them.

"Y-Yeah, you said it…" Hero mumbled out as she collected herself for the moment.

This had not been the first fire spell Sage had fired – in fact, it had been the second. The first fire spell, a simple fireball, had been utilized at the very start of this battle from a distance. Sage had noticed how badly the first spider had reacted to the attack and so had opted to fall back and charge up the fire arrow spell just now. And the result appeared to speak for themselves, though Sage felt it best to say it aloud.

Good thing the older girl had felt the natural impulse to burn all bugs with fire otherwise the battle just now could have gone on for noticeably longer.

"Great!" Sword Saint called out all too quickly. "Just scorch the whole land then!"

Hero, despite feeling the same way as her, could only shake her head at how much the sword user disliked bugs. "Come on, we can't just be forcing all the work on her like that!"

Sage, for her part, just huffed. "While I am, in fact, tempted to do just that, it's not practical. We don't know how far exactly these changes go nor can we say for certain just yet that everything affected by them also share the same level of weakness to flames."

Hero watched as Sage's words seemed to pierce Sword Saint's very being, the latter looking heavily discouraged as a result. "…I really hope we don't see any more spiders for a while… or any other bugs or insects."

Hero got in close and patted her fellow close combatant on the back. "Come on, just hang in there. We'll just try and push on a little longer and then turn back, okay? We just need to figure out if this thing also has a source."

Sword Saint grunted incoherently, getting a heavy sigh out of Hero. She never thought she'd be the one trying to act like the responsible one here. Normally, that was Sword Saint's role alongside Sage here. It was a novel experience and the young hero had no idea how to feel about being in this position.

Unused to this, she could only turn to Sage and hoped she'd say something a bit more positive right now.

Sage seemed to take note of her gaze and understood her intentions. "…Changes aside, the spiders at least still seemed to retain some of their usual habits of remaining buried and only coming out once prey comes within a certain distance. If we assume all other affected lifeforms still operate by some measure of routine from their previous selves, then as long as we treat this like any other trek, we should be able to avoid battles for the most part. Though I will say now that if there is indeed a source we can interact with and destroy out here, it most likely will be heavily defended… but that in itself isn't anything new for us."

Hero watched as Sword Saint closed her eyes and took a deep breath, causing her well formed chest to stretch out that armor of hers pretty well. Despite the situation they were in and all that's happened up until now, such a sight was enough to make Hero quietly huff; just why were most other women around her so gifted…?

"That… that'll have to do, I suppose," Sword Saint muttered as she finally seemed to get a grip on herself. "In which case, we should get a move on, right?"

Hero, not much fancying the idea of encountering more spiders either, could only nod. If what Sage just said was right, then so long as they did this smart, things should turn out fine. It may take longer than normal to see this to the end, especially if the source of all this is out here and heavily defended as the older girl said, but sometimes the slow and steady do win the race.

"Let's go!" she exclaimed as she picked a direction and began to march in it. With her holy blade kept out in her dominant hand as a precaution and a determined expression upon her face, Hero was certain she made for quite the dashing hero-like figure.

"That's the way we just came," Sage deadpanned.

Alas, it was not to be.

With just the smallest and quickest of blushes of embarrassment, Hero did a perfect about-face and headed out, with her friends closely following, alert as could be.

Shooting a quick glance up to the reddening sky as they swiftly trekked deeper into the warped desert, Hero's grip on her sword tightened just a bit more.

For the first time in a very long time, she hoped the three of them hadn't bit off more than they can chew.


Within the capital, things finally seemed to have settled down for the time being. Though there were still reports of the dragons flying about causing Chaos, most of them had finally cleared out enough areas that people no longer dared approach their new territories, where the great beasts of legend now seemed content to patrol and venture no further. The king knew not how long this would last before the dragons fly out into the lands again, but until such a time, he was more than happy to accept the brief pause in all this madness.

In addition to these reports, he'd also received numerous other reports regarding the other matters currently being looked into. Although the desert's odd changes still remained, he'd heard that the Hero and her friends had gone in that direction after what had happened with these… well, crazed, for lack of a better way to put it, villagers out near the border. Hopefully this report meant that in due time, the famous trio will be able to put a stop for good to whatever was out there and possibly undo the changes caused to the desert. In any case, however, he was just glad to hear that the changes have spread no further for the time being.

But by far the most saddening bit of news so far was the situation the young girl and her friends had been in with the aforementioned crazed villagers.

Something had apparently caused them to go completely mad and attack all that they saw without any regard for themselves… and whatever had been responsible for this was still unidentified. Moreover, not even the young yet powerful Sage had been able to do anything to lift this strange frenzy from the people… and as a result, the trio had been left with no choice but to kill the villagers lest they eventually be overwhelmed and slain themselves.

The king, seated within his office, could only take his face into his hands and sigh deeply. Now that there was at least some sort of reprieve, all the emotions he'd kept himself from feeling during all the crisis management were beginning to boil up from within him. He felt ugly and completely drained.

"I bet my father never had to deal with anything like this… or even my other predecessors," he muttered, chuckling quietly thereafter in a morose tone.

He's more than well aware of just how little the title of king meant to him. It was, without mincing words, a burden of the highest order and placed an immense amount of stress on him and that had been when just dealing with the usual tasks required of a king to perform, to say nothing of the mounting forces of Chaos which always sought to gain an advantage. Now with all this new insanity added to the mess, it felt to him as if he'd just aged entire decades in just these past few days and this feeling was so intense in him that he actually was surprised to find his hair hadn't gone gray or fallen out just yet.

However, if there was at least one true silver lining in all this, beyond just the reprieve…

"Your majesty," spoke his maid/assistant as she entered the room.

"Any word on where they went?" He now sounded much more lively – hopeful, even.

Yes, the reason for this was due to the most recent bit of news he'd received from both Sword Maiden and Female Merchant, who'd pooled together their reports.

Mere days ago, a rampaging dragon had threatened the water town's very existence and Sword Maiden, his longtime friend, had made preparations to fend off its assault. But to the surprise of everyone, two people had appeared – foreigners – and promptly made short work of the dragon.

Or rather, it had been the male of the foreign duo that had killed the dragon, with only a bit of support from the woman who made up the other half of the traveling pair, a spellcaster.

Female Merchant's report had detailed as best as possible how the brief battle had gone between the warrior and the dragon while Sword Maiden's report had made mention of how the two had 'felt' to her, her divine senses as a devout follower of the Supreme God allowing her to ascertain their strength far better than most others.

And needless to say, in light of all the Chaos now going on, having two such powerful beings on the kingdom's side would do wonders for the situation.

Alas, the maid shook her head. "Nothing in particular, I'm afraid to say… but reports did at least indicate they appeared to be traveling in the general direction of the warped desert. But again, I must reiterate that this is simply conjecture based on what little our reconnaissance staff has gleamed so far."

The kingdom had spies and watchers of all kinds all across the lands, keeping their eyes out to the horizon and their ears to the ground for anything worthwhile. It was due to them and other methods of intel gathering courtesy of sorcerers bearing royal titles that the king and his advisors had been able to keep themselves so apprised of everything.

The intelligence network was hardly all encompassing – there were still plenty of things that they either didn't know or didn't have a lot of details on – but it was enough to help get the job done for the most part, provided it was within certain areas.

The king, for his part, was torn.

On the one hand, he'd been hoping to have these two foreigners guided to the capital so that he may try and convince them to join his forces in some manner. On the other hand, to know they were heading towards the desert, or so it seemed, was beneficial in its own right. If both Fate and Chance were willing, then perhaps the foreigners could aid the Hero and her friends in vanquishing whatever threat lied out there.

That said…

"…It would've been so nice to hear what stories they must surely have…" the king mumbled as he leaned back in his chair.

More than just the help the foreigners could provide, the king just really wanted to sit down with them and talk about… well, about anything, really. His desire to adventure was still as strong as ever and being so chained by his position as king meant that the best he can do is live vicariously through any adventurers that happened to come by. So, to him, these two unknown travelers were like a gift from the gods themselves.

His maid/assistant sighed. "We'll try to keep track of them, your majesty, but if anything more pressing comes up…"

He waved her words off rather dismissively. "Then you'll switch our intelligence workers' priorities, I know. Still, if at all possible, do try and stay focused on them and see if there's a way to make contact."

The maid knew better than to sigh again and simply bowed before taking her leave.

Left yet again with his own thoughts to occupy him, the king continued to dwell on the travelers. "Ha, been a long while since I've ever felt this worked about anyone," he remarked aloud. A small smile was now making itself known. "Gods, I really hope I can have a chance to meet you two… I simply hope such a situation happens under pleasant circumstances…"


Out in the plains where the Frenzied Flame had first manifested in the Four Cornered World, something briefly sparked into existence before flickering out like a weak flame… only for this process to repeat several times more before finally…

…Finally he arrived.

Ah, to think now of all times he would be granted a chance to once again try and spread the great chaos. He'd honestly gotten somewhat concerned with how long it had taken him this time around to return. Normally, the process was noticeably quicker.

Perhaps the sheer level of damage the Tarnished had inflicted upon the body of Yura had been the cause… or perhaps it was something else entirely. After all, not even he fully knew how the mind of the Frenzied Flame worked. Given his deep connection to it now, maybe it had foreseen such a falling out and had opted to hold onto his essence before allowing him to appear like this…

…And into a whole new world at that too.

A bit of a pity that the Lands Between was now out of his reach thanks to the Dark Moon's machinations at work, machinations that he could vaguely detect here as well. However, chaos was indiscriminate in its victims. Sooner or later, the Lands Between will suffer the fate it was long since meant to suffer. In the meantime, he was more than happy to see what work he could achieve here in this new world, as the sole agent his lord was able to slip past the Dark Moon's detection.

As his essence quickly flitted about in search of a useful vessel, he eventually came across a charred body, one of the nomads that had summoned the Flame of Frenzy into this world at the expense of his death. Though the charring was certainly severe, the body itself was still fairly intact, whole. It will do.

His essence entered the body and it quickly began to writhe as new life filled it. Fingers twitched and jerked, causing the charred and cracked remnants of flesh to crackle. Toes wiggled and limbs twisted, the body itself being tested to make sure everything was in working order.

Then after moments of doing so, the newcomer finally sat up, though not before uttering a single sentence, eyes of pure yellow flame flickering malevolently in the process.

"May chaos take the world…" he muttered through burnt lips twisted into a maddening smile.

"May chaos take the world!"


Yep, that's right. I went there. Everyone's favorite Frenzied Flame lunatic is back!

Was always kind of intending to involve at least one other character from Elden Ring in some way or another but was confused on who I should pick for such a role. After all, there has to be some measure of possibility for their inclusion in this story and I had to wrack my brain for a bit on who to chose until I remembered the one and only time I ever actually encountered Shabriri. And after brushing up a bit on his role and personality, I decided that he was about as perfect of a fit for this as I was going to get.

To elaborate a bit on his appearance, I figured that given his body hopping ability and whatnot, that he was essentially a wraith whose continued existence was tied to the Frenzied Flame itself. Maybe not in the same way that Ranni is tied to the Dark Moon or Marika to the Greater Will, but connected nonetheless to the Frenzied Flame in a way that would allow him to spread its influence in whatever way he deemed fit.

So, to that end, I decided that basically, after Shabriri got 'killed' by the Tarnished back in the Lands Between, his soul returned to the Frenzied Flame's grasp and it held onto him until it saw an opening to eject him into the Four Cornered World. As Shabriri is but a single soul, he would go unnoticed by the Dark Moon since it's currently busy making sure the more direct influences of the other outer gods are diminished and that whatever fallout is still ongoing from the battle between all the gods doesn't hit the Four Cornered World that hard.

Is this the most sensible way I could have done it? Maybe, maybe not. I like to think I can pull a decent twist in story writing but I know that I'm far from a master of this.

In any case, I hope you all will enjoy his inclusion in the story!

Until next time, everyone. Take care!