A/N: I couldn't bear not posting something today, everyone was crying out for an update, so here's something that I was able to put together via the app.
Site is glitching out, hope you see this. Looking forward to your feedback!
Short chapter this time. I'm not pushing myself this week, lest I have another anxiety attack.
The spree begins. It was torture waiting this long. Seems I was right to pause and wait for the DLC after all. Now we can continue.
Just wanted to say, I appreciate you all! More feedback means faster updates! It's especially important, in these, trying times, with the main site notifications down. Every word counts and i appreciate you all! All these reviews really keep me inspired! Looking forward to hearing from you~!
Speaking of which, I finally bested the last boss on NG 4 after many hours, I've beaten the DLC...and I am dead inside.
What. Was. THAT ENDING?! How am I to sleep after that! The DLC also forced me to change up a few story beats in several of my stories for Elden Ring, while, oddly enough, enhancing others. Runt of the Litter -Naruto reborn as Godrick- and Forget Me Not -Naruto reborn as Miquella- come to mind. To say nothing of the others. Slifer and I are preparing a story given Marika's official origins now, and it's going to be a doozy.
As ever, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes. They're tributes to legends far greater than little 'ol me.
I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time.
Time and feedback will determine if this remains a story. Simple as that.
In other words...its up to YOU, the reader. Do let me know~!
SPOILERS FOR SHADOWS OF THE ERDTREE AHEAD!
"Kindly Miquella, I see you've thrown away something you should not have. Under any circumstances.
How will you salvation offer, to those who cannot be saved...
...when you could not save your other self?"
~?
Divest Thyself
The Elden Ring lay shattered.
Broken well and truly and with it, the Lands Between thrown into anarchy. Chaos had taken the world.
And what did Marika have to say for herself?
Nothing. Not a bloody thing. Nary a word.
Naruto confronted
"Have you taken leave of your senses?!"
There was no answer, naturally. Of course not. Naruto shouldn't have expected one at this point. Even as a Miquella, his patient had limits.
Evidently, Marika's insanity did not.
The broken queen continued to stare at the wall, blank and devoid of life, uncaring of the ruined cracks in her back, her broken body, any of it.
...Radagon is dead!" he howled the words at her, to no avail. "he died when you shattered the Elden Ring!
She didn't even blink, just continue to stare at the wall.
"Malenia is falling apart! The Elden Ring was one of the few things helping keep her rot back! But do you care? Nooo, because Mummy's favorite dies, you decide to fuck the world over!"
"..."
Her silence drove his fury to new heights. "Now I have to try and pick up the pieces and good bloody luck with that; because they're everywhere! It'll take years to find ever shard of the Elden Ring!
She didn't say a word.
You have thoroughly ruined us, mother of mine, and for what?!"
She looked at him with blank, unseeing eyes. "Godwyn...? Is that you...?"
Even now she didn't see him, not really. Out with you!
He gave her a firm kick to the rear, sent her sprawling across her bedchamber and left her there now as he stalked out..
So be it! If things were to end, if this world was to break, then he would mend it. Upon his name.
even if it cost him his heart
(.0.0.0.)
She was falling apart.
Her body was crumbling. It was only a matter of time now. All the world was waking, fever dream, she could no longer tell what was real, and what was false, what was fact or fiction...
Where was she? Where was her brother? Where was anything?
Distantly, she heard a voice.
"Sleep. Someone laid a hand on her head. "When you wake this will all be over."
(.0.0.0.)
He hated this.
To charm an individual with his silver tongue was one thing, to take them and make them his was another. Until now, he he had not and never would control someon's mind. But this was different.
He found Mohg, reached into his mind and broke him, made him beholden to him, even more than he was now.
It wasn't hard.
From him he learned the necessary arts of blood crafting as well as how to enter the Land of Shadows...and then, when he had exhausted his purpose, he killed him.
He felt nothing when he did it. Nothing at all. It was easy.
That frightened him, but his fear become his strength. He would fix everything. He would become a god, even if it cost him his soul.
Events progressed rapidly after that.
Needle Knight Leda was one of the few knights genuinely loyal to him a friendship he'd cultivated long ago and he called upon her, tasked her with gathering allies -sacrifices- for what was to come. He couldn't bear to do it.
He hated himself.
With Malenia asleep, Kurama having run off to gods knew where, he was alone. His family was unable to see the horrors he would commit, and so he began casting bits and pieces of himself aside.
His right eye first.
Followed by his doubts.
Then came his fears. His vacillations.
His love, he kept. It was love that made him do this int he first, and it was long, alongside his heart, that he kept. Nearly everything else he cast aside.
Divest thyself.
(.0.0.0.)
Messmer rose from his cold iron throne as the doors to his chamber parted. "What have we here...?"
A hooded figure limped inside, leaning on a cane.
How had they found their way up here?
"Mongrel intruder." he reached out for them. "Reveal thyself or perish in the embrace of my flame-
A hand caught his wrist and yanked it down. In that instant, he was granted a fleeting glimpse of a pale face.
"I'm so sorry."
"Sorry for whaaaaargh?!"
They yanked him down and touched a hand to his face. There was some brief resistance. He was Firstborn of Marika, after all. First of the Demigods, as Godwyn hadn't been. But, in the end, he was no true god. He had his limits.
Naruto took them and crushed him with a single command.
Just one word.
"Kneel."
Messmer complied, supplicaitng himself before him with a smile that seemed too wide for his face. "But of course, little brother...
He gazed upon him for a moment. "Remove your helm."
He obeyed. "What else do you desire?
...your death."
His hand slashed out, opening his throat.
Messmer's golden grace gaze widened, dimmed now as his body slumped. The serpent within him died a fitful death, spasming pitifully. He stomped on its head to make certain it wouldn't rise again.
Naruto watched Messmer a moment more just to be sure. The He ripped the kindling from its corpse, bound it in a pouch, and moved on.
"Everyone who stands in your way is an enemy, Miquella." The Greater Will crooned at him, her voice the sweetest of honey. "Do what must be done. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy."
Mercy? He had discarded that long ago, alongside his hatred.
Distantly, he knew he'd lost something terribly important, but he couldn't bring himself to care. So long as he kept his courage, his compassion, his kindness, all would be well. He would make it so.
Becoming a god was not a seamless process. He was still an Empyrean, and for that, he needed a consort, however temporary.
It was terribly tempting to use the remains of Mohg for such, but no. He had not cast his dignity aside.
Radahn had died a warrior's death, perishing with as mile on his face. He would not drag his lord brother back from the beyond. Let him pass in peace. He alone deserved that.
Of course, that was not to say he couldn't use the remains of Mohg for other purposes.
He used his half-brother's remains to beckon another.
(.0.0.0.)
Ranni opened her eye.
Eyes, she corrected herself. How strange it felt to have a body of flesh again, however fleeting. Freed of the shackles that bound her soul to her Empyrean flesh, she was adrift, untethered, barely able to hold herself together at first...until she had been recalled.
Now she stood once, cracked her neck, marveled at her familiar red hair. She had missed the familiarity of flesh and this one been reshaped nearly in her old image, with all of the power and none of the flaws. She had even retained her four arms from her temporary puppet body. Truly, this was the best of best worlds.
But the bond was temporary. It would not last.
She looked to the one responsible, half-expecting a betrayal or worse, a knife in the back here at the final moment. How relieving it was indeed, to actually be dissapointed for once. Kindly Miquella sat in a chair before her, his hair unbraided, eyes closed, She could see the pieces he had carved off from himself. The emotions that held him back. He'd sacrificed an arm and a leg alike, all for this, his final moment, his grand triumph.
She confessed herself more than a bit bitter for not having seen it coming.
So this was his scheme.
"Thou art most clever indeed, little Miquella."
He stared at her with his closed eyes, somehow seeing her despite it all. "That's my name in this life. In that last, I was someone else."
"curious, but I doubt thou summoned me here for pleasant recollection. I have answered thy summons and am at thine mercy. What dost thou desire?"
Her half brother shrugged the stump of his left shoulder, unfazed by her praise. "This was a last ditch plan, something I never wanted to use."
"Then for what purpose didst thou beckon me into this body?"
He knelt on his good knee and offered up his remaining arm to her.
Ranni tilted her head to consider him. "Are you sure this is what you desire? There can be no turning back for this."
He held his tongue and she tutted. "Silly boy. You do not love me."
"No, I don't."
"Yet you would give yourself to me?"
"For her sake, I would sacrifice everything."
"Even if she should no longer remember thee in thy age to come?"
He bowed his head. "Even then."
Damnable boy. He would sacrifice all for his twin.
"...I must decline."
His head snapped up.
"Godhood would be your prison. A caged divinity beyond saving. " It was tempting to keep this body, and use it to rule. Yet it did not belong to her, and the horns in her forearms itched terribly. "But I shall grant you my knowledge and wisdom to save her."
She touched two fingers to his forehead, imparting him with that which he sought.
Let us go together then, aspiring lord of the new order."
(.0.0.0.)
Malenia opened her eyes. Blinked twice, now.
Stared down at her new body.
"What have you done...?"
A/N: Nearly done now.
Its a shame to end this early, but the people have spoken. Unless...?
Do you want this to be continued? Yes? No? Maybe so? Make yourselves heard! By all means, let me know!
Aaaand there we go. As ever, reviews keep me alive. Without them, I cannot write. So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review...Would You Kindly? No previews this time.
Simply put, I cannot think straight.
R ~!