Alright! Alright! Alright! Let's see what we got:

Grafting, bring your butchers knife!

I idly hummed to myself as my many hands set about preparing my latest graft. I was currently sporting a total of 9 arms, with twice as many hands between them. Working them all in tandem like this straining on my ability to process what was doing what, but that was the whole point. Wouldn't be considered training if I wasn't pushing myself.

Plus, I could focus on training myself even as I worked on my latest project.

The graft in question was what I was calling the first in a series of 'caster' arms. The limb itself was built of multiple other limbs, taken from the sorcerers of course. The whole point of this was to test whether or not having their limbs let me perform their owners previous spell work.

I could use what was tantamount to the ashes of war contained within a warriors limbs, why not the spells and incantations of a scholar?

Sure I could just devour souls to learn the spell, but I wanted to see if I could get it to work this way first. If I did, I could save those souls I would have otherwise spent and use them for something else, like imbuing into magic items, or empowering already known spells.

Waste not, want not and all that.

So I rigged up this little experiment. If it succeeded I'd have an easier time learning magic, and would be able to cheat for all intent and purpose. If it failed? Oh well.

I'd still gain new limbs either way. There wasn't much of a downside here. Especially considering that I would need disposable body parts that could easily be replaced in order to use my Primeval spells.

Hmm, I guess the mess technically counts as a downside. Fortunately I'd already seen around this. I had no desire for Raya Lucaria to look like Stormveil castle with severed limbs and piles of shitty spoiled meat everywhere for many reasons.

Not in the least of which because it would piss off Rennala. Well, she didn't seem care that much, but I wasn't gonna chance it.

Happy waifu, happy life-u.

And so I relegated any and all of my grafting work to this private little workshop I had established throughout the previous weeks.

Based out of the secret rooms that were on the path leading from the first classroom to the debate hall, and recently cleaned out of all the damaged shit. I set up some preliminary grafting equipment, which Rennala had been sure to have replaced by the most expensive approximations she could make with the materials we had and her own magic. The end result being a setup that was much more streamlined than what I had going on over at stormveil.

Most important of all was the location though. The shattering meant it was perched right near the edge of a massive cliff, the perfect disposal sight for the guts and gore I worked with.

Rennala had even been so kind as to set up some fire giant enchantments inside a modified furnace that was basically one step from a modern stove. Whenever I was done with the body in question, I could simply dump everything I didn't want into the oven, cook that shit up well done, and dump it out the back over a fucking cliff.

One little spell to ensure a smell proof barrier and voila! An efficient and effective grafting system that left no mess or smell. Every problem I ever had with grafting at stormveil taken care, no muss no fuss.

That was another thing. I was still trying to learn how to do basic in game spells, where as Rennala was a master who could do straight up Harry Potter shit, seemingly performing magic that just did whatever the hell she needed on the fly.

I couldn't wait until I was on that level. It was going to be glorious.

Now where was I again? Oh, right!

Idly I reached over and grabbed another straggler who hadn't kneeled to Rennala after the big public service announcement. The gagged man let out a muffled scream as I dragged him across the floor and slapped him down onto the table.

I started humming the taken king theme as I raised my hand and ripped his soul out of his body, while bringing a butchers blade down on his neck, severing his head completely and cutting off the annoying noise.

Funny enough, for all the learning they did, I didn't actually need their brains. An earlier and far messier grafting attempt at making living computers told me that.

Note to self, grey matter is a lot more soupy than modern media would suggest. Rennala had not been happy about that one.

Speaking of her and happiness, I was finally managing to succeed at coaxing her out of her depressive slump. She had been in it ever since learning the whole unadulterated story of Elden ring. Courtesy of a wiki trawl and some handy videos courtesy of vaatividya. At least the dickhead who put me out here was giving me free internet despite the lack of router.

Maybe he just had me on a copy of the way back machine.

Either way, ever since she had learned of her kids true fate Rennal had been equal parts motivated and depressed. She spent all day locked away in the library, except now instead of clutching an egg she was clutching tomes. She spent all day studying, came back and spent the night fucking me, cuddled and slept like a baby until morning, then woke up and repeated it all again, like clockwork.

She was a goddamn machine. The part of me that hated studying and schoolwork was equal parts impressed and annoyed.

I didn't mind the nightly passion, but I was a little worried about her during the day. Wasn't exactly healthy to be doing what she was doing. The only problem was, I couldn't exactly stop her.

It was her right to try and find a way to save her children. I didn't feel like I had the right to stop her, and even if could I wasn't sure I would. I wasn't that much of a bastard. If she was going to try and save her kids from their own bad decisions, I would do my best to support her. I had many reasons to do so.

Not in the least of which because I had scores to settle.

Ya see, I could actually take those fuckers now. I wasn't ready quite yet. Still exploring the depths of how far my powers could go. But I was getting there. Slowly but surely I was making this power, this body, this life, mine. Already I had mastered the ability to throw a lighting bolt.

It was pathetic compared to the likes of the true nameless king, and even more so to the ancient dragons and their cult here in my world. Barely a soda can in width, and only about three feet long.

Pathetically small, just like I had been. And just like my frail body, I would force it to grow bigger and more powerful, day after day. I would keep working and never stop. Not until I was ready for a self imposed mission.

When I marched on the erdtree capitol, whenever that may be, I'd strike lannseaxx down from the sky with a single almighty sunlight spear. It would be glorious.

But back to more important matters. Once I had attained enough strength and Rennala had finalized her plans, we were going to save her children.

Her children who would likely want me dead.

Even more so when they realized I was sleeping with their mother.

Shit, I was pretty sure I had already done that to Ranni. I knew she was still snooping around this castle somewhere. A quick glance at my book of the dead told me she was hiding over in the southern reaches of the academy. I was sure to keep tabs on her throughout the days, though I didn't tell Rennala just yet. I know that I should, but…

Well I wanted to see what she would do.

Ain't no way she hadn't realized by now.

However, at the same time, I also wasn't worried in the slightest.

In a fucked up way, I had achieved the ultimate vengeance. All I had to do was be a good partner to Rennala, and let her sort the problem out. All I had to do was hang back and keep her happy. Can't wait to see the looks on their faces when mommy forces them to play nice.

Fucking hilarious.

And if the plans didn't work, and they couldn't be saved, or even better, tried to kill me after I saved them? Well then I probably got to kill them. I couldn't really see a down side to this situation in anyway.

All in all, it was pretty good to be me.

I finished up detaching the key ligaments and tendons holding this fuckers arms in place, and slowly removed them as to not damage anything. They tore off easily enough, with a blood spray that nearly got me in the eyes.

I wiped my face and looked over at the wall and ceiling, covered in arterial spray. I let out a sigh. If I didn't clean that now it was gonna leave a stain. Ah fuck it, it's fine, I can leave it for later.

Hmm, but on the off chance Rennala decided to visit me in the workshop…

Goddamn it. I was such a fucking simp.

She probably wouldn't even visit here.

Well, wait a minute, that's not true. She stopped by the other day to check on me and observe grafting procedures up close. I expected her to be repulsed but the work. Instead, I was surprised to find that she was endlessly fascinated by it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised? This was a place of learning and grafting, grisly it may be, was one of the most advanced forms of surgical procedure. It was like an autopsy, a dissection, and an organ transplant all rolled into one. Rennala had spent more time studying and learning about it than I would have expected.

So I tried to keep it clean, because the one thing she didn't like about it was the mess.

I shifted my lower half into the draconic state I had grown to love over the course of my time here in the lands between. Rising up, I was now tall enough to reach the ceiling. I grabbed a rag and started wiping it down, grumbling all the while.

At least the arms came off clean enough. Didn't see any major damage to the pieces. It was important to try and get as much as I could.

The rune of rebirth let me shape and mold my body at will, but I couldn't make something that didn't already exist. Sort of like a less Freeform Alex Mercer, but I wasn't absorbing biomass. I was surgically grafting a limb onto myself, and then magically pulling it into my 'system'.

I couldn't make a new dragon head without first finding a dragon and taking his. The power was very convenient but it wasn't quite a cheat like regeneration. It relied on a finite resource pool that I had to stock myself.

Not a very big downside at all, but it was important to make sure I knew the rules of my own powers. Last thing I needed was to be surprised by own abilities mid combat. That was a death sentence.

Finishing up with the ceiling, I wrang my wet bloody rag out in handy little bucket, before I started on the wall.

When I was finished with that I resumed my work. There wasn't much left to be done with this one. I sank a knife into his sternum with a solid thwack and opened him to the groin. After a cursory glance over his insides I picked up the body and tossed it into the oven.

When I had first started on the grafting projects, I had wanted to use every last bit. Waste not want not and all that. But sorcerer organs were…well…

These guys were fucking useless. None of them had anything worth pilfering. None of them were prime physical specimens, and there insides reflected that. I was convinced the magic they used must affect them internally, because there wasn't a single standout from the bunch.

Not one outlier in this whole damn place.

I had thought for sure that these fuckers must have had some method of enhancing themselves physically. There was certainly evidence of internal body modification in sorcerers. Sellen's primeval glinstone was a prime example of such. Holding the soul and spirit inside a rock that could be transferred to a puppet body. I figured what with that being the most esoteric bullshit ever, surely there had to be smaller examples, or other works derived from that.

But no! Every single last fucking one of these useless nerds had shitty fucking organs that looked like they belonged to a dying alcoholic. I suppose that's what thousands of years of life without end does to a motherfucker.

Worst of all, when I finally settled for substandard organs, I couldn't make it fucking work!

I just couldn't get any newly added internal organs to work. I was convinced that my heritage had something to do with it, because as far as I could tell I was doing everything else right. For every organ I tried, I painstakingly made sure every last detail was done to the letter.

All that work for nothing. The organs shriveled up and died inside me each time.

Do you have any idea how annoying it is to perform what's tantamount to open heart surgery on yourself, only to find out all the extra organs you transplanted are useless?

It was positively infuriating.

Fucking ridiculous. My dreams of turning myself into a pseudo space marine would have to wait.

Well, not entirely.

I had gotten the dragon hearts to function correctly. That had been a trip alright. Growing them out in my chest was like taking a shot of adrenaline and doing a line of cocaine at the same time.

Why, I almost felt alive again.

Having your own blood suddenly start thundering in your veins because of your own stupid ass decisions is one heck of a feeling. I had gotten it under control eventually. Sorta. It was easier to manage if I went full size, and brought out all the grafts. The pulse wasn't as intense when there was more places for the blood to go.

Still, I had come to slowly be addicted to the feeling as time went on.

I wasn't kidding when I said it was the closest thing I had come to feeling alive again. Well, that and fucking Rennala. That was different though. That was carnal feeling of man that I still felt completely and utterly.

This was about me being a lich. Death-lord? Grim-reaper?

I suppose psychopomp is the proper term. Regardless, it was a strange feeling to get used to, and I had considered myself well versed in adapting to big changes at this point.

The big and most noticeable example was the fact that I didn't need to breath anymore, sure.

However that wasn't the only change. I no longer did any of the core tenants of life.

Oh sure, I could move and respond to my environment, and the ability to fuck and reproduce was ensured by my patron. But everything else?

Like, I didn't grow. At all.

It hadn't been observable at first because I was a full grown man with a body modification power, but on a basic living level I didn't grow. My hair didn't get longer, neither did my nails. Fuck, my skin didn't even flake away as new layers came in.

I had painstakingly worked with Rennala to forge some pseudo scientific equipment to see at a cellular level. I was quite surprised to see what the academy had already come up with in regards to the study of the human body. With a little hindsight, maybe Rennala's interest in my art doesn't seem so far-fetched.

It had just taken a few explanations of how a lens on a microscope works and few spells from Rennala to tune a piece of glass the right way. I was quite shocked at how adept Rennala was at making the impossible, possible. I was even more shocked when I looked at my own self under that microscope.

My cells didn't undergo mitosis.

The very thing that comprised me and every other human in existence didn't do its most basic and necessary function. There was no doubt about it.

I was not alive.

Hell, I didn't even piss or shit any more. There was no excretion. Another basic characteristic of life to cross off the list.

Yet I still persisted. My Brains synapses seem to still fire. I think, therefore I am. I was here, I was learning how to be an immortal undead magic warlord, and I could still fuck my hot soon-to-be legally wedded wife.

I wasn't having a crisis about this. There were very clear explanations behind most of these phenomena, what with the company powers I had.

No, I wasn't having a crisis. I was curious.

The question became, why did the dragon hearts work fine and still beat vivaciously, while other internal organs would wither away and die?

Was it simply because they had already been present when I had taken the Great rune, while the rest I had tried to add after? Could they ignore my lich like qualities because of this too? Or was it something else entirely unique to the gravel stone hearts of the drakes?

Those scales were the symbol and source of a dragon's immortality, right? They might work because of this, ignoring the power of death in my body in a way that the other organs couldn't.

I was unsure. Further testing was required.

I grabbed another sorcerer from the stock. This one was quiet as I lopped his head off and ate his soul. Pity.

It wasn't as entertaining that way.

I 'dusted' off my hands in a satisfied manner as I left my grafting chamber. With the caster limbs constructed and attached, I was done with the workshop for the day. I had inducted the limbs into my 'system' and drew them into my body. All that was left to do was to test them out. And to go check on Rennala.

The woman didn't tend to eat unless someone(me) reminded her to do so.

I didn't really need to eat anymore, what with not having the ability to actually process nutrients. Regardless, I was still a hedonist who wanted to enjoy the finer things in life like tasting good food and drinking fine wines.

What was the point of having multiple different kinds of taste buds from multiple different species of apex magic predator if I couldn't even enjoy using them?

Thus, I made sure to enjoy meals everyday with Rennala. If nothing else it lent a sense of normalcy to an otherwise fantastical life.

Speaking of which.

It was a about lunch time right? A quick glance at my phone told me that it was quarter past three. A bit late for lunch then, but what the hell? I still wasn't convinced that the day/night cycle here was a proper 24 hours.

I meandered my way through the classroom hallways and made my way to the debate hall.

All of the bodies had been removed days ago, and the hall itself had been cleaned thoroughly by ones who still served.

There wasn't many scholars left at the academy, but the ones that were still breathing were quick to follow orders from Rennala.

They were quick to do the same for me, but generally with a lot more pants shitting terror than with her. I didn't really mind. I didn't have much use for them to begin with, and having people that froze up and bowed whenever I walked by was a solid boon for my ego.

I made my way out of the debate hall and started the accent up to the grand library. The courtyard had been cleared of both Rykard's Iron Maiden and the crustacean infestation.

We had a lovely seafood dinner that night.

The main set of stairs leading to the library were still broken down, and barely connected to both sides by the few remaining struts. Rennala and I both agreed that they needed to be repaired. However, finding building materials and laborers to work the job was going to be next to impossible. The shattering and subsequent collapse of society into warring states saw to that.

Maybe in a few decades, after we had firmly established governance of Liurnia and rebuilt some modicum of proper society, we could get construction crews. Or Rennala would get fed up with not being able to use those stairs and just find a way to fix them with magic.

Her Harry Potter level of magic was probably capable of just about anything if she applied it right. I was still puzzling over how she made what was basically a fully functional microscope from my half assed explanation and a little elbow grease. She probably would just get too annoyed about the stairs one day and fix them up with some new form of repairing magic.

…Hmm, or maybe that's something I should do? Learn or create some form of repairing magic that lets me fix and fortify structures and then just do it myself before Rennala has the chance. I bet she would appreciate that. It would probably take a significant amount of time and effort, but shit, it would certainly be worth the investment.

Practically every building in the lands between was crumbling to pieces.

Pioneering sorceries capable of what I'm thinking would be a huge boon going forward. The kind of innovation that could change the game.

Well, if it was even viable.

I wasn't thinking about that though. I had already decided to do it for another reason, one that was far more important than repairing a nation.

I was just thinking about the look on my girl's face when I showed off a new form of magic that would be super useful to her. Even better, I would get to demonstrate to her personally, by fixing her school and home.

And it would make a great apology for blowing up her tower.

I was still trying to make sure I was in the clear on that one. Oh sure, Rennala never outwardly made a commotion about it, but that don't mean she had forgot. I had made sure to give her princess treatment to the max everyday since.

I was probably in the clear already, but I had an excuse to give extra special treatment to my crush, so fuck it.

Speaking of which, I passed through the elevator and made my way into the library. After a quick glance around I found her hunched over a tome amidst a sprawl of other written works, from books to scrolls and all manner of things.

She was scribbling notes and equations on a piece of parchment, a quill in her hand and an inkwell by her knees. The quill danced with ferocious speed, yet she moved with perfect precision, and there wasn't a splotch of ink everywhere. All the notes were neat and oriented.

I was honestly jealous. That was a skill a former overworked student could envy.

"Hey Rennala." I called out to her with a grin, as I made my way over, carefully stepping over books and scrolls as I moved through the mess. Hehe, reminded of when I used to leave my floor covered in legos. I had to make sure to step in the right spots.

Except I wasn't trying to avoid foot pain, but an earful from Rennala if I messed any of the library's collection up. As if I wouldn't already be mad at myself for doing some stupid shit like that.

Rennala hummed at the noise to acknowledge she heard me, but otherwise didn't take her eyes off her work in front of her.

I closed the distance and wrapped several arms around her in a hug, causing her to pause in her actions as she was lifted off the ground.

"Guess who gorgeous." Yeah I had no rizz. Thank god this woman was already sleeping with me.

Rennala smiled, but her eyes were still glued to the paper on the ground, "Godrick, thou have interrupted mine work."

I snorted. "Pfft I know. Just like I also know you probably haven't eaten anything since this morning right?"

"I can eat when I'm finished up here. I have come close to making a breakthrough in my study of-"

I didn't even interrupt her. I just reached into my inventory and pulled out the already made meal I stored inside. She was immediately assaulted by the scent of roasted and seasoned meats as I took out a platter of all manner of foods. The aforementioned meats of course, but also several helpings of delicacy's taken from all over the countryside.

As I'd come to find out, isolationism for sorcerers still meant getting trade from the people reliant on the academy and thus never stopped enjoying their creature comforts. The larder wasn't running out any time soon, that was for certain. We had all manner of foodstuffs and when combined with my inventory that shit could be preserved forever.

The scent and sight of the platter immediately caused Rennala's stomach to make a noise of protest at her decision to not eat since breakfast. Her face went carefully blank, and when her eyes glanced over at me I made damn well sure I had my best shit eating grin on my face.

She sighed, "Very well. I supposed a small break from mine task is in order. "

I snickered at her. "Aww, don't sound so upset dear. It's only a delicious meal, it won't bite ya."

She raised a brow at me, the corner of her lip tugging in the beginnings of a smile. "Hmm, you might."

I gave a faux gasp, and reeled back dramatically, putting several hands on my chest. "What? I would never." I denied facetiously, smirking at her all the while.

"Mhmm." She hummed, disbelieving and coy about it. "And I'm sure thou visit to me this evening comes with no ulterior motives? Say, trying to seduce the headmaster of the academy?" She said while sliding a palm across my thigh.

I shivered.

"Hmm." I hummed back, hands curling to paw at Rennala robes. "Seems your the one doing the seducing here…" I trailed off as I shifted slightly so that my face was just inches away from hers, and I could gaze into her eyes.

"Is that so?" She asked, her voice teasing, eyes lust filled and needy. "Well, what are thee going to do abou-"

Her stomach gave another loud rumble, signifying just how hungry she really was. Her face went blank, before a blush started to rise.

I started laughing. I couldn't help it.

After a moment Rennala couldn't keep up her pouty expression and joined in on my good humor.

God, I fucking loved being in love.

-

Ranni paced up and down the length of her old workshop, her mind racing with thoughts.

None of them were very happy or good thoughts.

Fucking Godrick the grafted.

This had to be a joke. Some sort of cruel jape being played the Greater will in retaliation for going against its commandments. Because surely it wasn't enough to take her Father from her, and drive her mother's mind into insanity.

It wasn't enough to suffer in silence all these years, yearning to speak to her mother again, wishing desperately beyond measure that she couldn't return to that happy little family they were before. Back when she still had blessed ignorance.

No no, that wasn't enough at all! Ranni felt the urge to laugh hysterically.

She won't pretend that she's an innocent woman. The death and destruction she's been largely been responsible for is proof enough of that. That was all done in service to a greater good, something that would never be understood by the servants of the Will. Her desire to take control and divest the world of her own order is borne from a desire to forge something better. Despite this, the guilt Ranni is carrying in her spirit tells her she deserves to be punished for what's she's done.

But this? This is a cruel and most unusual punishment, that's for damn certain.

It's not even that she can blame her mother for finding someone else! Her father fled from Liurnia in order to be with Marika, and she stayed heartbroken and alone for ages. Her mother deserved to find someone who would be there for her, who would love and cherish her, worship her like the venerable queen she was. Ranni would not begrudge her that for anything.

But Godrick the grafted!?

It was a nightmare. This whole situation was like a terrible waking dream that conjured the most absurd things and then laughed at Ranni as she was left reeling.

The worst part is, she thinks, is that her mother seemed happy. Or at the very least content. This would be so much easier if she wasn't. If she were being held against her will it would be so much easier. So much easier If Godrick was merely a brute that her mother was being forced into a relationship by.

And doesn't that just make Ranni feel like a terrible daughter, wishing for something like that?

Still, she does. She wishes so desperately that she could swoop in with her allies and kill him. Conive a plot that ends with the man bleeding out in a corner, cold and alone and forgotten, while Ranni goes on to spend time with her renewed mother.

But no.

As she spies on Godrick, shes loathe to find out how utterly devoted he is to her mother. He dotes on her constantly, and the only time Ranni finds to spy on her mother without his company is during the day when she is alone doing research. The filthy bastard spends that time perfecting his disgusting craft, and it seems like that is the only time he spends apart from her.

Even then, there's still a chance each day that one of the two will pause in their usual work and go keep the other company. These are the worst days as Ranni has come to find out. She's forced to watch her mother and that bastard spend time together, and were she not certain that her presence was hidden Ranni would think they were being this disgustingly sweet on purpose.

They're together right now, Godrick forgoing his cursed grafting to visit her mother, though for once Ranni has not deigned to watch. She didn't think she could bear the sight of her mother reclining in those many arms any longer without snapping. Or being sick. Her puppet body should not be capable of that, and yet if anyone were capable of making an object without a stomach retch, it would be Godrick.

So instead she paces her old workshop, stewing in anger and waiting for Blaidd and Iji to make contact. They'll be here soon, she knows. Her stalwart companions know how much this means to her, and more than that she knows how much it means to them. Rennala was Blaidd's mother too, and Iji had been serving in the full moon queen's house since before Ranni was born.

The door creaks.

Ranni whips around, and for a moment a light of hope enters her heart. Has Blaidd already made it?

That light is smothered when she sees it is not in fact her shadow, but rather a tarnished woman. Ranni can see no grace of gold in those eyes. Moreover, she recognizes this tarnished.

The one who was hurtling through limgrave atop a spectral steed. She had visited her under the name Renna, and gifted her the spirit caller bell. Blaidd had also had his own encounter with this tarnished. She helped him track down and eliminate the trigger Darriwil. She had been considering cultivating an ally in this tarnished.

What was she doing here in the academy? How had she discovered this place?

The tarnished was first to break the silence. "Awful spot you've picked for brooding, princess." She said noncommittally.

Ranni's gaze narrowed in on the tarnish.

The number of people who knew her true identity was quite small. She had never made any mention of her title to this tarnished either.

That she's apparently been recognized at all is telling that this tarnished must have a benefactor, and a motive.

"Tarnished." Ranni returned the noncommittal statement with one of her own. A simple acknowledgment of identity. But Ranni finds she's tired of walking on eggshells in a place akin her own damn home. This is her domain. "What is thine purpose here? How did thee even come to find this place?"

"Hmm, you know, if I were you I might be less concerned with why I'm here, and more concerned with what my mom might be doing in a certain library? That woman is your mother, right?" She spoke without a care, yet she still seemed to embellish her words with dramatics.

Black rage floods Ranni. How dare she! Ranni draws back to send a scathing reply, but is caught flat footed by what the tarnished says next.

"Want some help with that?"

She stops herself before she can loose her retort. It wouldn't do to lose her temper, regardless of what some uncouth bitch was saying. Ranni was the one in control here. "What is thy meaning?"

"Ugh" the tarnished groans, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. "Haven't you been paying attention, love? I'm offering my help in ridding yourself of a certain motherfucker? You know, the grafted bastard who's literally fucking your mother?

The audacity of this graceless- "And what precisely makes thou think that is my intent?" Ranni bites out.

The tarnished stopped short. "You serious?" She sounded legitimately incredulous. "What? Are you that curious as to what all those hands feel like at once? Guess I can't blame ya, I'm a little curious myself." She near muttered that last part.

Ranni almost physically recoils at that. If she still had a nose it would be scrunching in disgust. "I most assuredly do not, you foul mouthed scum!"

"Ah, so I can get a reaction out of you!" The tarnished pointed at her and whooped, the sound bouncing off the ceiling. She was utterly delighted. "Knew I'd get a rise out of you at some point, ice queen!"

Ranni however?

She had had enough. Enough from this tarnished, enough from this day, enough from this whole damn week!

This puppet body has a ring with a glinstone embedded into it. The sorcery she calls to her hand glows with fury, and her power saturates the room, almost physically lashing out at the air itself as its filled with pressure.

"Woah woah woah!" The tarnished wave her hands, "easy there! I was being serious when I said I would help!" Despite her words there's no mistaking that she is not pleading in any way. That same contemptible smirk is in place.

"I have given thee courtesy enough. Begone, hapless scum." She intones. She raises her hand, and the spell glows brighter, poising to fire. With her other she flicks her wrist, and in a move Radahn taught her long ago, increases gravity on the tarnished, forcing her to the ground.

The smirk drops from the woman's face, her head now pressed back against the floor's ancient stonework.

"Alright, Alright! I give, I'm sorry!" The tarnished forced her hands up off the ground in surrender. With no small amount of effort either.

Ranni stares her down, her spirit heaving, as if she were taking deep angry breaths. After another moment, she lowers the intensity of the sorcery. Slightly. She still keeps her attack raised, primed to strike. "Speak plain. What is thy intention here?"

"I'm here to help you!" The tarnished forced out.

Ranni tilted her head, raising a nonexistent eyebrow. Her spirit face showed her doubt plain and clear.

"I was, ok! I figured if there was anyone here who would want some help taking that bastard down, then it would be you!" She pleads.

The facts aren't aligning though. Again, Ranni never told this tarnished her identity. Yet now she finds her here, in a place she never planned returning to, in a spot hidden from all but her closest friends and family. "And how does thou know this? How did thee even know to find me here?"

"That would be because of me." A new voice cuts into the conversation. A familiar voice that Ranni had not heard from in ages.

Ranni's gaze whips over to stare at the newcomer. A woman in academy robes, a witches glinstone crown covering her head.

"Sellen." There a million and one emotions conveyed behind that name.

"Hello princess Ranni." The banished witch replies, voice fond. "Would you mind letting my associate up off the ground. We have business to discuss."

"And just what business do you think that is?" Her voice is iron. She hasn't forgotten why Sellen was banished in the first place.

"Why, haven't you been listening to my friend here?" Sellen replied smoothly as she sauntered up to Ranni. Just before she could reach her, she found herself stopped in place by Ranni's power. Despite this, she still leans in as close as she can, as if to whisper a secret. Ranni can hear the grin in her voice when she says,

"We want to help you kill Godrick the grafted."

And Ranni knows she shouldn't trust these women. She certainly doesn't trust Sellen. She knows the witch has her own interest, and doesn't want her mother around anymore than Ranni wants Godrick around.

But interest can sometimes align between parties that held contempt for one another. And Ranni didn't have to like Sellen to use her. Already, a plan is taking shape in her mind. She gazes back at Sellen, as if looking right through the stone mask.

"I'm listening."

And though she can't see through that mask, Ranni just knows that the second she said those words, Sellen's face twisted into a smug grin, to match the look on her tarnished ally's.

And that's all she wrote. Would like to thank you for reading. I don't have any more chapters written at the moment, but that will change eventually. I don't want anyone to think this story is getting dropped or that I've stopped writing for it or anything. Honestly, this is one of my more personally beloved fics, and not jsut because you guys have given me the numbers to say it's good. This is one of the few things I've written that I don't have any self criticism for. Well that's not true, I still do have plenty of that, but there's no glaring issues I have with my work here.

Honestly, the only thing I can think of that annoys me sometimes is that I made it a waifu catalog fic, which paints the thing with a certain brush. I wonder how the fic would be shaped and received without that. Then I remember that I wrote this in the first place to have a lich lord Godrick do cool shit and stay playing house with Rennala and I'm suddenly not so down abt it. Sure it has its faults, but fuck it, it's my Godrick Si fic and I wouldn't change it for anything.

still considering making an elden ring SI that's just straight elden ring.

ahh but I've rambled enough.

Thanks again for reading, you beautiful person you!

Actually can I just say as a small pet peeve, that I fucking hate italicizing shit? Like not as a writing tool, I love it for that. The problem is that I type this up on pages, and then copy paste the text here. It doesn't carry over the shit that I've already italicized, so I end up having to go through it all again. Honestly, if it wasn't such a good excuse/motivator to edit and proofread the whole chap before posting I don't think I would bother.

all right, now I'm done rambling. Have a nice day fuckers.