The stench of blood suffocates the air with the amount of bodies littering the ground. Intense battles go underway amidst all this carnage. Godfrey, The First Elden lord makes his stand to hold back the army of wretched beast. Him and his crucible knights all battle to keep them at bay. Maliketh the Black Blade is under siege by the lesser great ones known as Amygdalas thanks to Gehrman. The mountain being too unstable, he retreats to elsewhere to try and fend them off. The Hunter is engulfed into a 1 on 1 battle with Gehrman, the one leading this plague. And lastly, Ranni and the Tarnished are left to face the old but graceful Lady Maria. Ranni was still filled with rage after Maria attempted to consort The Tarnished, as such she has entered battle with her. But little to everyone's knowledge, The Tarnished has a plan of his own.
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FWOOSH* Ranni fires another barrage of spells toward Maria, but most of them miss as Maria is very nimble. But at the same time, Maria doesn't see a chance to close the distance. The constant spells prevent her from doing anything but dodging. Trapped in a stalemate, Maria decides to change up her tactics. She darts to the side one more time then changes direction, running directly toward Ranni. Ranni immediately cast crystal barrage and magic glintblade simultaneously. Even with such magic flying towards her, Maria did not falter. She drew her pistol and began firing at the separate projectiles, destroying them midair. Ranni gasped at the sight, as she never expected that pistol to be able to destroy magic. Either way she figured she needed to do something else the distance would be closed. She casts Carian Greatsword and dashes toward Maria, them both clashing midway.
"Did thou think I was unable to enact in close quarters battle?" Ranni states while backing away once more. She casts Carian Greatsword now wielding two of them. Maria scoffs at the comment and converts her weapon to dual swords to match her.
"Tis would seem this little witch carries more spunk than it seems" Maria responds as she prepares herself to charge. Then in the blink of an eye the two clash once more, exchanging blows at an alarming rate. Large waves of mana and aura release in waves due to their battle. Maria begins to smile as she hadn't had this much fun in a while. That's how it seemed on the outside anyways. Ranni decides to show more of her power and cast spells while they battle. She swings one of her swords overhead, causing Maria to duck right into phalanx. Caught off guard, Maria launches herself backwards, flipping away from the sword. Ranni chuckles and casts Carian Phalanx surrounding herself in blades of magic. Maria can't help but release a sigh at the sight.
"How many tricks can a witch carry?" She asks while running towards Ranni and releasing a flurry of blows. Ranni matches the blows and sends the swords flying at Maria midway. Maria quickly flips into the air and shoots the oncoming blades. She then fell back to the ground and almost instantly pushed Ranni once again. She had gotten faster than she was before and even stronger. But Ranni wasn't backing down either, summoning more swords and pressing her own attacks. Eventually she removed her cloak, freeing up her movement. Back and forth these two went, neither seeming to get the upper hand.
Off to the side the Tarnished watched this battle with anguish as everyone was battling except for him. Even the one he loves was fighting for him. He hated it, the feeling of not being able to help. The Tarnished slowly goes from feeling anguish to hatred. Hatred for Maria for attempting to consort him in front of his love. Hatred for The Hunter for bringing all of this carnage into the world (even though he summoned him). Hatred for the beast that has decided to plague this world. And lastly hatred for himself for being so weak. All of this hatred caused frenzy to start. A powerful frenzy at that. He began to shake violently while screaming. His pupils dilated and mind left. Ranni notices the change in atmosphere around The Tarnished and changes her focus. She kicked off Maria and ran to his side. The Tarnished himself blacked out but his body still stood. A large power surge releases from him sending an orange like flame flying off in multiple directions. Ranni ducks as one of the flames just barely goes over her head. She tries talking to The Tarnished to quell his anger but it doesn't seem to work. More and more flames start to spurt out as his power and aura only rise. A bright orange can be seen emitting from his body as the frenzy takes over more and more. Maria changes her expression as now The Tarnished seemed more like a threat than Ranni. Her goal was to take out Ranni and capture The Tarnished but that doesn't seem possible now. She turns toward Gehrman as if she is trying to see what to do now. Gehrman looks over with a surprised look. He didn't expect such a turn of events. He begins to hold his head as if something is gnawing at him. The Hunter runs and drop kicks him square in the chest sending him flying.
"Getting distracted are we? Your focus should be on me." The Hunter states as he raises his weapon. While he may be focused, even he can't help but ponder what is happening to The Tarnished. Nevertheless he trusts that The Tarnished can handle himself and if he can't then Ranni can stop him. He has his own battle to beat. Not with Gehrman but the one's controlling their souls. Gehrman gets back on his feet and shakes his head violently.
"I was just slightly surprised that's all.." Gehrman says as he prepares to continue their battle. Lady Maria turns back toward The Tarnished and Ranni with a conflicted face. Eventually it calms and she reverts her blade to single form. The Tarnished begins to release an ear-raping scream that echos throughout the mountain. Ranni pleads for him to recollect himself, in an attempt to stop this berserk stage. She runs and wraps her arms around him while whispering to him "Tis ok, I am here". The bright orange light began to dim and the flames lessened. The Tarnished slowly began to become himself again. Ranni takes her arms from around him and begins to pat his head. The Tarnished calmed himself with her warmth. But as things seemed to calm down, Maria appeared above Ranni.
"Getting sidetracked aren't we?" Maria states as she stabs Ranni in her side and kicks her to the side. Ranni goes flying into a nearby wall and falls unconscious. The Tarnished gasped for air as she was sent flying. He begins to reach his arm out for her even though she is so far. But as far as he reached, he was only met with a blade between his chest. Maria plunged her sword into her heart and slammed him into the ground. She deemed him too dangerous to let continue based on that showing from before. As The Tarnished fell to the floor he felt pure sadness. He couldn't protect Ranni. He couldn't fulfill her dream. He couldn't marry her. He couldn't…. It's all her fault. Maria. Lady Maria. It was all her fault! His sadness switched to pure rage. Pure unfiltered wrath. As Maria begins to withdraw her blade from his body, she feels a burning sensation on her wrist. She looks down to see The Tarnished gripping her with a black hand. He no longer had eyes as they were filled with frenzy flame. She yoinked her sword and jumped back. The Tarnished rose to his feet and only looked at her. Frenzied flame went spurting all throughout the surrounding area as The Tarnished brought out a new weapon, the Dark Moon Greatsword. Maria felt nothing but fear in this situation as The Tarnished stood there. She knew nothing about frenzy or how to deal with it so she wasn't sure what to do. In the midst of her trying to figure out what is happening, The Tarnished suddenly appeared behind her. Before she could fully turn she felt a piercing knee to her side, sending her to a nearby rock. She coughed up multitudes of blood from that single hit. The Tarnished then lets out a screech of pain and hatred. It sounded almost inhuman. Maria slowly got back on her feet but she began to stagger. She shoved a blood vial into her leg and tossed it to the side, healing herself. As she recovered she noticed the burn on her wrist did not heal. Whatever that flame was, she couldn't heal it. She decides it would be best to not take this lightly and once again breaks her sword into dual blades. But this time, a red and black flame sprouts from both blades. She also takes time to use a Hunter Bone boosting her speed and more. She then stabs herself with said blades. Her blood, instead of dripping, begins to cover the blade like a coating. When she takes the blades out, the wound she inflicted remains open, constantly replenishing the blood on the blades. With the preparations done, she can take on The Tarnished. The Tarnished himself seemed like a wild beast with its only intent to kill Lady Maria.
Down below, Godfrey feels the amount of power coming from above him. But most importantly, he feels the frenzy. He temporarily changed his focus and looked at The Tarnished. His eyes widened as he took in what he was seeing. The others around him may not have noticed, but what was unfolding was simply astounding. They were witnessing the second coming. The Birth of The Lord Of Frenzied Flame.
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