Chapter 39: Lingering Bitterness

The scene was a sadly familiar one, she mused as she drifted through the wreckage. Her blessed inner light had allowed her to see the site in all it's grisly detail. A broken ruin, smoke, dust and ash filling the air. The battles and assaults that this situation evoked from her memories were long in the past, but still clear to her as if they had happened only yesterday.

More than anything, she thought as she turned her eyes skyward, the sigil emblazoned in the sky for all to see was one that she was intimately familiar with. The Sagan symbol was displayed proudly over the destruction, claiming ownership of the devastation with a brazen glee. To be fair, the Vampires that called this Castle home could hardly be called innocents, but did their victims deserve to be destroyed alongside them?

There were times, Gabriel knew, where even the Angels were forced to accept collateral casualties in their battles. Each one was a tragedy, but she doubted that Damocles Sagan felt such remorse. She wondered if she had missed her chance to influence the boy, having been denied meeting him by the Satan's of the Underworld.

The diplomatic discussions between Heaven and Hell were delicate of course, but she failed to understand how a personal meeting would jeopardise them. She had accepted the excuses that were given to her, for her Brother Michael's sake, but it seems that she would have to be more assertive in this matter.

The Angelic Host was aloof, but not blind. They knew about the slowly simmering tension in the Devil's inner structure, how the Sagan was at odds with the Satans. The Sagan were isolated, with few allies. Was that why Damocles had done this? She knew what this scene was meant to portray, of course.

Already the rumour mill was swirling, the few magicians that lived in the area having spread the word that the Last Sagan had personally appeared here, and single-handedly wiped the seat of the Tepes faction from the face of the Earth. Many were rejoicing, the Vampires not particularly popular or liked, more tolerated than anything, but others knew what to take this message as.

Damocles Sagan was strong. Strong enough to crush an entire minor faction by himself, and confident enough to take full credit for the action. Despite his rank in the Underworld, everyone would know that he was now a player to be taken seriously.

What had driven him to do this? Was it linked to that presence that they had felt overtake the Moon? The Sagan was linked to that too somehow, or so she had heard. To many, this would look like the actions of someone calculated, confident and ruthless. In fairness, the target was well chosen. Few would miss the Tepes and even fewer would risk themselves to avenge them. But, Gabriel wondered if this was something else.

Did he feel backed into a corner, to demonstrate his personal strength like this? What was he scared of, what did he wish to deter? There was much she didn't know about the grandson of her old Rival, which meant that any theories she could conjure were likely flawed from the outset.

Getting more involved than she had been already carried risks, for both her and Heaven as a whole, but looking at the ruin her inaction had fostered she believed that she had a duty to try. Damocles was on a dark path, the power he had available to him could bring great destruction to the world if not properly wielded.

She made her decision. Diplomacy had it's place, but when it came to things such as this it was time for action, decisive measures must be taken. She had the chance to save Damocles, while he was still redeemable. She would not fail.

Before that however, she needed to do her duty regarding the ruin around her. Lifting her hand, clad in the pure white of Heaven, she shed her Light to the sky, dispersing the Sagan crest above the rubble. The crest yielded to her power easily, it's purpose already fulfilled.

Turning to the ground now, she breathed in and closed her eyes, focusing. All around her, she could feel the whispers, resentment and regret palpable, the human souls of those killed in the attack lingering near the site of their murder. If left alone, this wound would fester, cursing the ground and inviting manifestations of their collective malice into the world.

It was a common problem, but thankfully she knew the solution. Her Father's system allowed Human Souls to be guided into the Embrace of Heaven, to either be rewarded for their earthly virtues or punished for their sins, then when redeemed, cycled back into the wheel of life.

Christianity had spread throughout the world, defeating the Pagan Gods and Pantheons in their wake, partly due to a great innovation from their Father. Their success laid not in their offensive power, nor in the multitude of their faithful. Instead, their greatest advantage laid within the continuous consecration of their consolidated grounds.

Human Faith was powerful, being what fed the Divine acts of the Gods. However, most of it was wasted in the rituals and prayers they preformed, only a small sliver actually feeding into the strength of their objects of Worship. Those small slices added up quickly, especially in their millions, but still it left a vast amount of power underutilized.

This was known to all the Pantheons, of course. Most merely adjusted their Temples and Holy Sites to collect the remaining faith and use it to empower their defences or other properties, such as healing and divining. However, her Father had a different idea.

Hymn.

Divinely inspired songs which were sung by the Faithful the world over, pouring their Belief into the act. Each song had a different effect, but the end result was that all the lands under their stewardship were consecrated almost daily against their enemies. Making it almost impossible to regain land once it was claimed by Heaven.

There was a reason the Angelic Host was also known by a different name.

The Heavenly Choir.

Lifting her arms, light blessing the area around her and defeating the encroaching darkness, her Angelic voice began to sing.

"Mortals, join the happy,
Which the Morning Stars began,
Father's love is reigning over us,
Brother's love binds man to man,
Ever singing, March thee onward,
Victors in the midst of strife,
Joyful music lead ye Sunward,
In the triumphant song of life!"

Her Light reached the poor souls who had died in the attack, gently enveloping them and promising salvation. As she sang, the Choir of Heaven joined her, the blessed music filling the air. Not all the souls present accepted her offer, of course. Their resentment too bitter, their hatred too deep. Those she would leave to the Exorcists of the Romanian Orthodox Church, either to convince them to pass on or exorcise them forcibly if they couldn't.

Those that did however, were lifted Heavenwards, to join into her Father's system and be redeemed. Her light suffused the area, consecrating the ground and banishing the Darkness, making it difficult for it to further take hold.

As she finished, she lowered her arms, a contemplative look on her face.

Indeed, she mused, redemption may only be given to those that accepted it.

-XXX-

I finally had some time to slow down, after having to react to the fast moving situation around me. The plan I had come up with was simple and was actually in place long before Ranni had arrived, which was something I still had no answers for.

Yue, who was now named Selene, was always going to be my next target, but as she was a vampire she needed a believable backstory. With my 'rescuing' of Valerie, people would automatically assume that Selene was rescued alongside her. An assumption I will do absolutely nothing to deny.

For now, the only thing left to do was watch the dust settle. I had been given the meeting requests that were worrying CC, looking them over in the study. Valerie was resting, in her separate room. She appeared to be disassociating, believing this was all some hallucination or a dream. Understandable, I suppose. Also something that would take time to address.

Her Sacred Gear was immensely powerful, but to tell the truth, I didn't really need it. It could be helpful in negotiating with the Phenex Clan regarding Rias' marriage, but that was really it. The biggest advantage of having custody over her was denying Sephiroth Graal to everyone else. My memories were fuzzy, but I remember it being used to free Trihexa in the future, something I was very much in favour of preventing.

Apocalypses tended to be detrimental.

One of the requested meetings was from Katrea Leviathan, much to my surprise. My sole interaction with the Old Satan faction had been similar to my interaction to the Great King. They had sent me summons to their manors, which I had denied and instead invited them to mine if they wished to discuss business.

Which was predictably refused. I only discussed business and contracts within my own Manor, a fact that was well known. Having a mere Earl demand that they meet me on my terms, not theirs, would diminish their own standing. The common practise for negotiations was for them to take place in the territory of the highest ranked participant.

The way I operated, I was basically telling them that I did not trust them at all with my safety. Which to be fair, was not uncommon, but my brazen openness about it certainly was.

Reputation was a wonderful weapon to wield.

The other one was from Runeas Gremory. That brought me up short. The ancestor of Rias' house spent most of her time hibernating, a fact that was common knowledge. Everyone knew that she lived, but due to her complete disinterest in Underworld politicking she had become a non-entity.

I would have to navigate this carefully. My movements thus far have been effective due to manipulation of perception and tradition. Runeas was someone who had no reputation to worry about and her disregard for tradition was well documented. On top of that being an Old Devil. She would have to be handled with great 's not to mention her Clan trait... Luck was always difficult to factor in.

She stated that she would bring Rias with her to the meeting, should I accept. I would have asked for that anyway, due to the close relationship I had fostered with the girl. I had been very careful to not give any indications of romance however, as with the marriage issue still hanging over her head she would be liable to act rashly should she think she has a better prospect.

A thin line, but one I have successfully walked nonetheless.

I accepted the meetings, very interested to see where this was going. Writing the responses and sending them off to the recipients, I turned towards a piece of business that had been put aside until we had the time, that being the arrivals from the Lands Between. Both of them had requested to speak to me privately, something I was eager to grant them.

Their arrival had many questions surrounding it that needed answering and while I doubted that they would have the answers themselves, more knowledge would never be remiss.

Regardless of the implications of their appearance, I was actually rather pleased with the occurrence. I had planned to eventually travel to the Land's Between for Ranni anyway, but would have had to wait until I was strong enough to defeat almost the whole of the Lands Between in a single day to do so.

My trip to Arifureta was lucky, the magic systems of our two worlds similar enough for me to gain strength from devouring the monsters there and utilize the Ancient Magic. In fact, it would likely be my first stop once I completed Catharsis' challenge. The rest of the Ancient Magic in the other Labyrinths were tempting prizes.

However, there was no guarantee that I would always be so lucky. The magic system in Elden Ring operated by examining the movement of the stars, or giving form to inner Faith. It was uncertain whether my magic would be fully effective against the beings and Demi-Gods which inhabited that place, not to mention what the Outer Gods would do should an outsider like me get involved.

Ranni's arrival here neatly side-stepped that issue, but brought even more. She had obviously fallen in love with… I guess I should say the Other Me? Elden Me? Was he even a different person, or was he me from another timeline? Supposedly we had the same Soul. In any case, I did not possess the memories of their time together. Any relationship we built would have to be built anew.

I liked her, obviously, but our history together is non-existent. It's funny, one of my plans was to break Rias out of her arranged marriage, yet here I find myself in a situation that was strikingly familiar to one. My spouse chosen for me by events outside of my direct control.

Oh, I was under no illusions of what Ranni claiming me as her consort would entail, I would be marrying her in the future, almost certainly. She would not accept anything else.

Woe is me, my wife-to-be is a shy, awkward all-powerful Eldritch Goddess. Truly, I am cursed.

Then there is Melina. Who apparently really was the Gloam-Eyed Queen. If Elden Me managed to get Ranni to become a Goddess, the fact that Melina is still alive meant that I had taken the Flame of Frenzy in order to save her. That is most likely the reason for her animosity against me.

I don't know quite why she was still holding such a grudge over it, the game seemed to imply there was some sort of history between her and the Flame but even that alone shouldn't justify the anger she was harbouring. The sooner I got to the root of this issue, the better.

Never mind the fact that thanks to my Geass, I could see the properties of her Black Flame. A fire that burns souls directly was incredibly dangerous. Should that property become known, it would bring down the enmity of the vast majority of beings in the moonlit world. Ideally, I would be able to reincarnate her into a Devil to give her Demonic Power to use in battles, allowing her to use the Black Flame only as a last resort.

Of course I could make her weapons with Creation Magic to accomplish the same goal… but I preferred the first option. I knew what I was about.

Deciding to bite the bullet, I sighed as I got up from my desk, leaving to find the two.

-XXX-

I found Ranni overlooking Shiro's magic training. The two of them were surprisingly close, from what little interaction between them I could see. Ranni was seemingly fascinated with the Magic being portrayed by my little Bishop, the spells acting on a completely different paradigm from the Sorcery she was used to.

"How's the training?" I asked, leaning against the door frame.

"Nii-san!" Shiro called while turning towards me, a small smile on her face, "Ranni said she could teach me some Gravity Magic!"

"I see." I replied, turning my gaze towards the Goddess, "Gravity Sorcery is very powerful. It is boosted by intelligence, so I'm sure it will be terrifying once you learn it."

A smug feeling radiated from my sister at the compliment, while Ranni decided to speak for herself, "I thought so as well. The more structured nature would allow her to excel in the field. Perhaps she could even learn of the Glintstone later."

Her motivations for teaching Shiro were something to be questioned, but I would not do so now, in front of the girl in question. Certainly not at this relatively early stage in our relationship.

"Shiro should be honoured to have such an amazing teacher. Even in the Lands Between, you had very few peers." I complimented again, this time striking a different target, "Unfortunately, further training will have to wait. I'm sorry Shiro, I will need to steal your instructor for a chat."

"It's fine, Nii." Shiro replied, "I understand you have a lot to talk about."

"Thank you Shiro. Ranni?" I turned to the Goddess who seemed pleased by my words.

"Thy words are welcomed, Consort. But thou art correct, our discussion is long overdue. First however, I would have thee talk with my Herald."

"Melina?" I was surprised, "I thought you would want to talk to me first."

"The matter she wished to discuss with you is something that should be dealt with swiftly." Ranni explained, "Whereas Mine will require long deliberation."

"Alright." I agreed easily, "Let's go find her then."

-XXX-

It turns out that I didn't need to find Melina, Ranni could summon her remotely. Our conversation partner secured, we moved to a living room to hold said discussion in a more comfortable location. I summoned food and drink for us, and we got ourselves situated. Funnily enough, Ranni despite not needing to eat or drink, enjoyed the refreshments while Melina declined to partake.

Melina started the conversation, "When we arrived, I stated that you were a reincarnation. You have the exact same soul as the Damocles that we knew in the Lands Between, however you said your memories of us were not clear. What exactly do you remember?

Ranni was intensely interested in my response, as I was sure she would be. I answered honestly, "As I said, the way I interfaced with your world… it had severe limitations. It's difficult to explain exactly how it worked, but essentially I could only see milestones, important moments and triumphs. Between that, the travels and discussions were… summarized. For an example, from the Lift of Dectus to Leyndell it was about a 7 to 8 minute ride, from what I can remember."

At my words, the two looked to each other, surprise in their gaze. It seems that my suspicions that the Lands Between was much larger than what was portrayed in the game was correct. To be fair, it only made sense for that to be the case. A game could only show so much of a living, breathing world, after all.

"In that case, I might need to explain something to you." Melina sighed, "Holding a grudge that the other party has no recollection of is rather foolish. Do you remember the Forge of the Giants and what was needed to fuel it?"

"Your sacrifice or the freeing of the Flame of Frenzy." I replied, before leaning forward, "Look. You said that I have the same soul as the one you met. In that case, he likely would have made the same decisions as me in the same situations. It's unlikely I would have done everything exactly like he did, but that is the same as looking back at the past with the benefit of hindsight."

I stared into Melina's eyes, "I will take responsibility for my actions there, even those I do not remember. It was still me."

"Very well." She responded, eyes narrowing, "My purpose, the goal I devoted my life to, was the ending my mother's age. I accrued followers, fought her soldiers and marched to the base of the Erdtree. However, even after burning the tree to a husk, it still wasn't enough and I was defeated."

"I had a second chance, as the Kindling Maiden. The goal I devoted my life towards was finally achievable, destroying the symbol of Marika's power and restoring the natural order of the world, allowing Destined Death to act as it always should have. You stole that chance from me."

"And I would again." I responded simply, talking confidently, "You aren't angry at me for stopping your goals. I ended Marika's Age, The Erdtree was destroyed, and the Lands Between have been fully restored to their natural order. All your goals were achieved."

"No." I continued, "You are angry because you didn't get to sacrifice yourself. All that you wanted came to pass, yet you played only a small role in it. That is what frustrates you. You said that ending Marika's Age was your purpose? Well I have an order for you, as your Lord. Live, Melina. Live and find your own purpose, not defined by Marika for you. Sacrificing yourself achieves little but your own satisfaction."

"You truly are the same…" she mused, looked at me with an unreadable gaze, "A Tyrant true. Very well. You said you will take responsibility? I agree. Should I find my new purpose, it shall be your duty to aid me in accomplishing it."

"I gladly accept." At my response, she nodded and stood, making to leave the room.

Our relationship was not mended, her resentment and bitterness misplaced but real all the same. She would likely carry it for a while yet, but as first steps go this one was a positive one. Turning to the observer who had remained silent during this exchange, smiling through her biscuits and tea, the Goddess of the Moon spoke.

"At last dear Consort. I have thee all to mine self."

Some of my Patrons have opted in to being mentioned in the credits for the chapters, Here they are:
TheVolunteer, FengLengshun