Elden Lord of Cinders

With the fall of the Incarnation of Filth, the corruption that had spread throughout the Eternal City of Nokron—constantly writhing and expanding—finally lost its core and began to crumble. The fleshy sludge stopped moving. The slain zombies no longer reassembled.

The foul brown hue gradually faded, replaced by a serene violet glow.

At the center of the fading corruption, the silver-white girl rose onto her toes, reached out, and gently touched the massive corpse's chest. As silvery light flowed smoothly across her fingertips, the nectar of the Holy Grail—tainted with the power of filth—seeped into her, entwined for a moment, and then merged with her body.

Visibly, after absorbing the core energy far surpassing that of other monsters, Asimi underwent a dramatic transformation. She grew taller, her skin turned paler, her features more refined, and her long white hair cascaded down to her legs.

Of course, this was only a mimicry to match her enlarged form. Her true nature remained that of a silver teardrop, merely imitating the appearance of the White Witch.

Still, her body and appearance had matured significantly, and with the surge of knowledge and memories, even her mind rapidly evolved.

Yet the first thing she did after absorbing that power was happily run to Lloyd and show off her new abilities.

In fact, she'd already learned a ton of new moves from all the bosses they'd fed her earlier.

Like morphing a massive hammer and smashing things with it.

Or turning into a sludge puddle, charging up briefly, then bursting out in a wide spike explosion.

Or mimicking a dragon's head to spray a chilling mix of bone powder and spirit fire.

And now, with the power of the Incarnation of Filth absorbed, not only were all her abilities enhanced—she even learned a new skill. Not another mimicry, but an actual prayer.

[Ancient Covenant]

[A prayer that can only be used once]

[Through an ancient rite, a covenant of protection is formed]

[Upon swearing the covenant, a connection is forged between souls]

[The two may draw strength from one another]

[The Purified White Witch is not suited for battle]

[Thus, she requires a warrior ever at her side]

[This is a lifelong bond]

Since the prayer was Asimi's, Lloyd couldn't see any of the related system information.

So when she skipped up to him, excited to show off her new skill, he agreed without a second thought.

Then...

Lloyd suddenly found himself in a new covenant.

[Covenant: "Ancient Covenant"]

[Equipping it slightly increases physical damage reduction]

He wasn't sure why it counted as a covenant when he hadn't even given her a ring, but after thinking for a moment, he decided to give her one anyway.

Asimi happily accepted the gift and, imitating others, wore it on the ring finger of her mimicked hand like it was her most precious treasure.

With the covenant complete, Lloyd gained some passive benefits—but Asimi, too, picked up something new.

In short, she could now replicate Lloyd's fighting style using their soul connection—without changing her appearance.

And the result...

A straight sword that spits fire.

A giant blade that spins like a helicopter.

And a small scythe capable of dark-element enchantments.

Whether they were powerful or not was another matter—but these three weapons had left a deep impression on Lloyd's mind, so of course Asimi copied them perfectly.

Once the covenant was sealed and she'd shown off her new arsenal, she clung to Lloyd again—likely overloaded from all the power she'd taken in—and asked for a little more soul.

After being fed, she transformed back into her silver cocoon form, and Lloyd tucked her away into his inventory.

...

Meanwhile, on the other side, Elizabeth had had her fill of blood and enjoyed the show. She was ready to leave.

Naturally, after being given blood, getting another satisfying high, and being brought along for the fun—Elizabeth had no complaints about Lloyd.

"Let me know next time you've got something this fun going on."

As she spoke, Elizabeth handed something over.

[Obtained weapon: Accursed Blood Whip]

[A whip woven from blood vessels corroded by cursed blood]

[It is covered with curses and pain]

[Due to its material, it is not an outstanding weapon]

[However, it has a strong ability to inflict wounds and cause pain]

[Exclusive Ash of War: Call Pain]

[Strike yourself with the whip to call forth pain]

[Increases attack power and strengthens the effects of abnormal bleeding]

It was an extremely specialized weapon.

To put it simply: abysmally low damage, absurdly high bleed buildup, and not too short in reach either.

In a regular game, this thing could easily serve as a niche bleeding setup tool.

The only issue was... Lloyd already had Elizabeth's Twinblade, which was practically a bleed meta crutch. So what exactly was this supposed to be?

While pondering that, Lloyd glanced at Elizabeth's face.

She was beaming with anticipation, her eyes practically sparkling.

He suddenly understood what the whip was really for.

Then, without hesitation and right in front of her, he stored it back into his inventory.

"If you behave better next time, maybe I'll consider using this thing to fight you."

Not that he could actually use it now anyway—the whip required 40 Arcane to equip.

Elizabeth clearly hadn't expected to get whipped right then and there. Hearing him say that, she just smiled faintly, then melted into the real world and went off to find some new excitement.

...

After she left, the Regal Ancestor Spirit approached Lloyd.

At first, he thought she'd come to say goodbye, but—

"Sorry, I might need to trouble you again."

The holy antlered girl looked a bit embarrassed.

Lloyd had already helped cleanse the filth and even revived her. Normally, it wouldn't feel right to ask more of him.

But as mentioned before, the Regal Ancestor Spirit followed her own law of life and death—life begets death, and death begets strength.

Yet because of the emergency earlier, she'd allowed Lloyd to interfere. In doing so, not only had he helped her, but he'd also disrupted her cycle of life and death.

Just like how Caelid's rot had been halted by the Golden Order, Lloyd's involvement had jammed up her law.

"Sorry, I don't really follow."

Lloyd looked at the antlered girl, thought for a moment, then spoke sincerely.

"Just tell me what you need me to do."

She fell silent.

Part of it was because Lloyd wasn't easy to communicate with. But more importantly, she genuinely didn't know how to handle this situation.

This was her first time facing something like this, and she had no experience dealing with it. She'd identified the issue, sure—but she had no ready-made solution.

"May I stay with you for a while? If I can observe your laws a bit more closely, I might be able to figure something out…"

"Of course."

With a nod, the Regal Ancestor Spirit officially joined Lloyd's party.

And that made everyone else's expressions grow even more complicated.

How does this guy just… pick up everyone he meets?

And every single one heavier than the last.

Since the Ancestral Forest still needed organizing, she went off to handle that after confirming she'd joined the team.

...

After she left, Lloyd gave his little red flower a gentle pinch, offered it some praise and a little watering, and then went to find Melina.

As usual, after a battle, Melina's body was bristling with rejecting thorns.

But just as Lloyd was about to leave, she hesitated for a moment, then reached out and tugged at the hem of his clothes.

"Could you… call her out?"

"I have something I want to talk to her about."

Melina didn't say a name, but it was obvious who she meant.

Lloyd gave it a bit of thought, made sure she wasn't asking to throw hands with Chaos, then turned and shouted into the air to summon her.

And the moment Chaos appeared, the air around Lloyd went dead silent.

Was that… Chaos?

Standing not far away was a woman dressed in a flowing yellow robe, perfectly adorned, her silky hair falling to her shoulders, a faint smile on her face, and a soft, alluring fragrance lingering in the air.

Forget Melina—even the little red flower that had just been swaying beside him froze completely.

Wait, sis—who are you?

All three of them had seen Chaos before. They all knew who she was.

And that was exactly why they were so stunned now.

Especially after catching sight of the ring on Chaos's ring finger—the one that symbolized the covenant. The already silent atmosphere turned utterly dead.

But Chaos didn't seem bothered in the slightest. The moment she appeared, she looked straight at Lloyd.

"What's wrong, my dear kin?"

Lloyd didn't hold back.

"Nothing much. Melina said she wanted to talk to you."

Chaos thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright. As it happens, there's something I'd like to discuss with our dear sister as well."

She turned to look at Melina. The latter opened her mouth as if to speak, but no words came out.

Chaos wasn't surprised. She simply raised a hand and gestured toward the other side.

"If you don't mind, we can talk over there. Don't worry—I'm not going to do anything to you, nor do I plan to."

Melina hesitated for a while before finally nodding.

"Okay."

And with that, the two of them walked off.

...

As they left, Renna stared after them and couldn't help but ask,

"They're really not going to fight?"

"I think they very well might," Lloyd replied, nodding in agreement.

Honestly, he wasn't that worried about Chaos. Sure, her mental state was unstable, but that very instability made her behavior more predictable—just rope everyone into the same goal.

Melina, on the other hand... the little Frenzied Flame enforcer...

Well, Lloyd wasn't sure what to expect from her.

Still, he'd already agreed, and they were already off talking. He didn't plan to backtrack or eavesdrop.

Worst case, if one of them died, he could just pull them back out with Spirit Ash. Wouldn't be the first time he'd done something like that.

...

After sending Melina off, Millicent also wandered toward the waterfall, hoping to gain insight for her swordsmanship by observing the flowing water.

That left just Lloyd and Renna behind.

Then...

"You're looking for that special Teardrop because of the Albinaurics, aren't you?"

Lloyd spoke up suddenly.

Renna, who had been nervously wondering how to bring it up, nodded reflexively—then immediately realized what she'd done and jumped back.

"Wait, how do you know that?! Did Ranni tell you?!"

Before Lloyd could say anything, Renna's face turned red and she started rambling.

"I didn't mean to leave it unfinished—it's just that someone died…"

"I hadn't even finished it and they took it and used it…"

"I'm me! The Snow Witch is the Snow Witch! So you can't blame me for that…"

"And seriously, who's the genius who thought giving weapons self-awareness was a good idea? I'm speechless…"

Honestly, Lloyd had no idea what she was going on about.

And for the record, Ranni hadn't told him anything about her connection to the Albinaurics.

"So how did you know?" Renna asked, clearly confused.

"I guessed," Lloyd replied honestly.

"..."

But it wasn't a complete shot in the dark.

He had a first-generation Albinauric under his command and was curious about the second generation's appearance, so he'd done a bit of observation.

He noticed that Albinaurics had a lot in common with the Teardrops found in the Eternal City. They were likely created using similar technology.

On top of that, Albinaurics could emit a freezing mist. Not through their weapons, but as a natural ability.

A being with deep knowledge of Nox technology and a mastery of ice sorcery…

As far as Lloyd could recall, only one person matched that profile: Ranni's former mentor, the Snow Witch Renna.

Of course, the Renna standing here wasn't exactly the same one. While she carried fragments of memory, she was more like the Snow Witch's successor—or child.

And based on her earlier comments, it was pretty clear she had a deep fear of the Greater Will.

Every time that name came up, her body tensed.

So sending her to hunt down the Artificial King technology—which possibly invoked the Greater Will's wrath—just didn't line up with her personality.

Which meant she probably needed part of that tech to complete or repair something.

And given the likely connection between her and the Albinauric creators, Lloyd had just pieced it together.

"You…"

Renna didn't know how to respond at first. After a moment's hesitation, she sighed.

"Fine, I'll just say it."

"That Teardrop of yours... if I'm not mistaken, it's the base form of the Eternal King."

Lloyd hadn't thought there was anything special about his Teardrop, but the way it grew and evolved definitely wasn't normal.

Not to mention it had absorbed the power of multiple Holy Grails—even that of a Great Holy Grail. Any regular Teardrop would've exploded by now.

But Asimi had taken it all in and looked perfectly fine—thriving, even.

That left Renna conflicted.

She'd spent so long searching for the base of the Eternal King, but now that it was right in front of her, she couldn't help but worry.

Sure, according to the information she had, the destruction of the Eternal City wasn't caused by the Artificial King project... but still—what if it was?

"I don't think you need to worry that much."

Lloyd looked at her, his tone earnest.

"I think the Greater Will actually has a pretty good temper."

Renna: "...?"

After hearing that, Renna went quiet for a moment, her gaze drifting to the ruins of the Nox civilization surrounding them.

"...Are you serious?"

"Dead serious."

Lloyd nodded firmly.

"I haven't had direct dealings with the Greater Will, but I've talked quite a bit with the Two Fingers at the Roundtable."

"According to your people, the Two Fingers are the messengers of the Greater Will, so to some extent, they should represent its will, right?"

"From what I've seen, while the Two Fingers can be a bit rigid and strict when it comes to matters of their laws, that's just them following orders."

"But outside of that? They're surprisingly easy to talk to. Decent temper, reasonable. Sure, sometimes they misunderstand what I'm saying…"

"So I figure, if even the messengers are like that, the Greater Will probably isn't some petty control freak. Might actually be pretty chill."

"I mean, I've seen several dead Two Fingers corpses at Divine Towers. If the Greater Will were really that vindictive, the Lands Between would've been a crater by now."

"As for the whole Nox incident… I think they did something big themselves. Like, 'world-shaking genius' kind of big."

"Otherwise, I really can't imagine why a will that didn't even react when its messengers got killed would suddenly decide to nuke this place."

Renna fell silent.

Faced with Lloyd's logic, her mouth twitched slightly. She didn't even know where to begin refuting him.

Seeing her like that, Lloyd paused, then raised an eyebrow.

"Hold on a sec."

Renna looked up, confused about what he was planning now.

Without bothering to explain, Lloyd opened his map and vanished right in front of her.

...

A few moments later, he reappeared—carrying something.

Or rather, dragging something.

It was yellow. Rough. Upright. Still struggling.

Two Fingers.

"Phew—man, you're a real pain to move," Lloyd muttered, setting it down and patting its knuckle like a shoulder.

"I've told you before, it's not healthy to stay cooped up in that little room all day. You gotta get out and stretch once in a while."

"I could never find the right time, but now? We've got water, great scenery…"

"And look at you, filthy as hell. Can't even remember the last time you took a bath. Hang on, I'll find a brush and scrub you down..."

After his chat with the Two Fingers—who knows if it even understood—Lloyd turned back to Renna.

"See? This is the guy I was talking about."

"If you're still hung up on what destroyed the Eternal City, why not just ask him yourself?"

He sounded completely serious.

Renna, on the other hand, was stunned.

Especially when the Two Fingers gave up struggling, curled up, and just let Lloyd brush it like a pet.

Her vision darkened.

What...

What the hell are you even doing?!

...

[Upto 20 chapters ahead for now]

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