Book 10: Frenzy and Truth
Berserk. It was the only words that could be used to describe what had happened to The Tarnished. Standing with a hunchback and frothing from the mouth, The Tarnished had reached a point of no return. With glowing orange eyes, frenzy basically fell off him as if it was acid on a sponge. Just being near him was enough to be inflicted with frenzy as his body was overflowing with it.
Being beyond the point of words, The Tarnished had all his focus solely on Lady Maria. All the hatred, anger, anguish, and wrath was all directed towards her. As The Tarnished began advancing towards her, a shift can be felt all around the battlefield. It was as if all attention was on The Tarnished. The power they all witnessed could not simply be ignored. Maria herself felt an overwhelming sense of fear. She had already done every preparation she could. All that was left was to take down this wild beast.
In the blink of an eye, they began exchanging blows. Lady Maria, with the help of the Hunter's Bone, had the advantage in speed and skill. She circled The Tarnished getting blows in when she found an opening and even aiming for major organs. Yet even after the flurry of attacks The Tarnished seems unfazed. Maria uses her abilities to their best and unleashes a second flurry of attacks combining bleed and fire. She sliced him down piece by piece. Neck, arms, ankles, back knee, even his eyes. Yet even with the relentless attacks The Tarnished still doesn't seem bothered. Instead he is just following her with his eyes and senses. No matter where Maria moved, he was already looking in the general direction. It was as if he was reading her so well he could see the future. After one more flurry of attacks Maria falls back to rest. She is almost out of breath with the amount of movement she's been doing.
After all those attacks, The Tarnished fell to one knee seemingly injured. With several ligaments severed he can't move the way he wants. Even though it seemed like she was winning, something was off. Why wasn't he attacking? And how come this is all the damage she can muster after all of that. Lady Maria begins thinking extensively. She is feeling emotions she is unfamiliar with when it comes down to battle. Doubt, uncertainty, Fear, but most of all.
"Despair…" The Tarnished says while slowly raising back to his feet. "Does thy feel it yet?" All the wounds on his body seem to regenerate as he turns to face her once more.
Maria's eyes widened with his words. Her? Feel despair? Impossible. Maria recomposes herself before speaking. "I know not what you mean." Even though she says this, her body says otherwise. Her body quakes and her hands tremble around the weapons.
"Is that so?.." The Tarnished says while looking down at his weapon. The greatsword of his love. Tears of Frenzy Flame begin to fall from his eyes as he turns back to Maria. "Perhaps..I should show you" Upon finishing his words, he appears directly in front of Maria. He engulfs his hand in frenzy and reaches out to grab her head. Maria instinctively jumps back and gains distance between the two. She doesn't know what frenzy is or what he planned to do, but every sense in her body is telling her to run. The Tarnished looks over at her trembling body.
"No.. You've done enough running around" The Tarnished says as he appears in front of Maria once more. But he seems..taller than before. Increasingly taller. Maria suddenly falls to the ground, staring at The Tarnished Legs. As well as her own.
Blood fell from the Dark Moon Greatsword as Maria's legs were severed from her body. Maria releases a scream of pure agony before getting grabbed by her skull. She had the wrong idea about this battle. She figured she was fighting a beast gone wild in his own power, but instead she was up against a wounded animal that had returned for revenge.
As frenzy began to cover The Tarnished hand and seep into the mind of Maria, he states, "Now thy can taste a fraction of my pain." Maria begins squirming in an attempt to release herself, but to no avail her mind had succumbed to frenzy. An ear piercing scream is released from Maria but it doesn't sound like her. Instead the scream sounded of a great one. The sound of the screech alone was enough to make both the beasts fighting Godfrey and the Amygdala above focus their attention on Maria. As frenzy continued to take her mind, she began to shake violently until finally being dropped to the ground. Between the pain she was feeling and the frenzy circulating her head, "Maria" could do nothing but struggle on the floor. Her words began to slur and her body stopped listening. The Tarnished did nothing but stare at her struggling with a satisfying smile.
"Now thy understands my agony.." He states while raising his greatsword into the air. As he was about to finish her off, he noticed that "Maria" didn't seem like herself. She was. Smiling. He couldn't understand why she would possibly be smiling. Did she not experience despair? Does she not feel pain?
The Tarnished, while still confused, starts dropping the blade upon her. But not fast enough for her not to say her last words.
"Thank you, Tarnished. And I'm sorry..Gehrman" *SLICE*
She had been cleaved in half by the greatsword. The Tarnished stood there in silence. He did the right thing.. Right?? She was evil..right?? SHE DESERVED TO DIE..RIGHT?? SHE DESERVED DESPAIR….R I G H T??
The Tarnished thought that after he had killed her he would feel better, but it was the opposite. He felt worse. Worse than ever. He begins to cry. Tears flow from his eyes as he stands above the body of Maria. He seemed to be falling even deeper into a frenzy with his mind only getting worse.
"Perhaps….everything should fall to FRENZY?!" He says as a slight smile begins to appear on his face. That's when he suddenly sees the ground. The Hunter had forced his head down onto the ground.
"Calm yourself Tarnished." He says while raising his head and pointing towards Ranni. "She is unharmed."
The Tarnished looks up to see the Doll tending to Ranni wounds and that she will be alright. The Hunter released his head and stood back on his feet. "Lastly, don't worry about Maria. You did the right thing." The Tarnished began to cry once again but this time with actual tears. The frenzy that surrounded him began to cease and he slowly returned to a stable state.
Over where the Hunter was fighting, Gehrman's corpse can be seen decaying on the ground. The Hunter helped the Tarnished off the ground, and attempted to console him. The Hunter figured he should explain what happened with Maria as a way to quell his emotions. He told him that the person he fought was not technically Lady Maria, it was just her body. In the mind was a being known as Mother Kos. Even outside of the Nightmare, she continues to attempt to torture him. Her hatred runs that deep. And it could never be quelled. Not as long as Hunters exist. The Tarnished accepted the answer but he couldn't help but wonder what made such a being so angry. Why would she go so far as to torture the Hunters.
"Well..That's a tale for another time" The Hunter says. He rises to his feet and says "For now we should focus on regaining our energy. We have yet to pass the worst part, for we still have an army of beasts to quell" The Hunter peers off the side of the mountain to see hundreds of beasts scaling the mountain at an alarming rate. They no longer cared about Godfrey and only wanted The Tarnished. The power that emitted from him earlier still had their interest. Not to mention he was now on the radar of Mother Kos, the Tarnished could no longer afford to fret about small details. Both the Hunter and Tarnished backed up and prepared to stand their ground. The Tarnished still had lingering frenzy in his body due to his transformation earlier. He figured if he could begin to control just this small amount perhaps he can be of assistance in this battle. The Hunter seemed as ready as ever, he had been dealing with beasts so it's no surprise to him.
One. Two. Four. Seven. Twelve. Twenty-seven. Bit by Bit the beasts came over the peer and locked eyes with the duo. Their snarling growls and steaming breaths, then slowly began to rile up. Hopping around and scraping at the ground, the first beast charges in ready to sink his teeth into one of them, if not both. But just before it can reach the middle grounds between them, it meets with a golden shield. *CLANG* It rolls backwards a bit before looking up again to see a crossbow loaded with a bolt and pointed directly at its skull. The weapon fires, killing the beast in an instant and causing the other beasts to stagger. The shield and crossbow were both wielded by Crucible Knights. Soon after the other Crucible Knights joined the two, forming a wall between the beasts and the duo. *SQUEEEEE* A squeal can be heard behind the beasts as an ax comes flying and landing on the side of the mountain they were scaling.
"Thy struggle with me is far from over... How dare thee, wretched tarnished, think to turn thy backs upon me at the mere sight of a golden ray! Nay, this battle is not yet finished!" Godfrey says while jumping up the side of the mountain. He does one more leap and grabs his ax off the side. Now flying through the air, he lands in front of the crucible knights in a majestic way and recomposes himself.
"I shall make thee witness the true woe of scorning the Golden Order! Come, and know the despair of those who dare stand above its grace!" Godfrey exclaims. Both the Tarnished and The Hunter can't help but be astonished. Neither expected Godfrey to come to their aid even with the temporary alliance. The Tarnished falls to his behind with a relieving sigh.
"Praise Radagon for The Golden Order!" The Tarnished says while raising his fist into the air. The Hunter glances at him with confusion. Wasn't that someone he was out to kill? Anyways, he grabbed the Tarnished and brought him back to his feet.
"Much is still to be done before this night is over." The Hunter states. "You assist in the purging of these beasts. I will go and assist the wolf-like man."
The Tarnished staggers forward with a depressing sigh. He was hoping he could rest a bit more before going to fight again, nevertheless he prepared for battle. He had nothing to worry about anymore as the Doll was taking care of Ranni, and with the Crucible Knights protecting them it should be alright. Grabbing his weapon, he walked past the knights and next to Godfrey. He readied his weapon and solidified his resolve.
The Hunter ran off toward the loud rumbles in the distance. As he approached the area, he didn't need to get closer to see what was happening. 2 dead Amygdala's and 3 still attacking Maliketh. He was surprised that Maliketh was able to kill two of them before being overwhelmed as lower great ones are still great ones. Then again, he noticed that Maliketh seemed different from the other DemiGods here. If anyone here could ascend to full godhood it would be him. He also noticed the Blade he wielded. The stench of death emitting from it was hard to miss. Nevertheless, he leaped into the battle to assist him. With the beasts and lesser great ones being handled the night would finally be able to end, and the sun would rise once more. But even if the night ends, the dreams had only just begun.