Elden Ring: My Ending

One question. Just one question crossed Melina's mind the moment she saw what was happening.

"What is going on?"

Two men—one half-naked, the other clad in heavy armor—stood a short distance from the manor on the scorched volcanic plain, burning each other with their gazes alone. Melina instantly recognized the Crucible Knight. As for Kosta—well, that went without saying.

The knight didn't have to remove his helmet for anyone to understand his intent.

Melina directed her question to Sellen. Her voice was melancholic, devoid of anger, laced with reluctant acceptance.

The sorceress flinched, feeling a phantom ache shoot through her body, and forced a smile.

"A duel, my lady. Please close that cursed eye of yours—it unnerves me."

Mostly because of its mysterious properties, which lore scholars—both reputable and otherwise—were still debating endlessly on various forums. The discomfort she felt every time Melina opened her usually sealed (though, as of late, not so much) eye was never a good sign.

Sellen trusted her instincts. As much as she was intrigued by something so unusual and enigmatic, she'd rather observe its effects from a safe distance.

Melina narrowed her eyes. They had already sorted things out—the hierarchy was established. And yet… Sellen remained remarkably uncontrollable.

Under normal circumstances, Melina would have long since eliminated her, but their situation was so far from "normal" that trying to compare it to anything was pointless.

And what infuriated her the most was that Sellen understood this, which was exactly why she allowed herself such frivolities! What a witch!…

The other women didn't concern her as much. With the exception of that filthy temptress at the Roundtable Hold. The one who stole warmth from the Tarnished, her Tarnished, in such a questionable manner. But Konstantin hadn't interacted with her recently. He had been too busy with his other "quests," leaving only Sellen within Melina's line of sight.

A witch even bolder than the other semi-divine witch!

But at least that one was honorable, and Melina knew she wouldn't do anything stupid…

Probably.

Most likely.

Maybe.

Melina desperately wanted to believe that.

Sellen, however, was different.

The false Finger Maiden let out an unexpectedly weary sigh and closed her cursed eye. Sellen raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.

"I will not harm you," Melina said calmly. "Just promise me you won't exploit his weaknesses for your own gain."

"The jealous girlie greatly underestimates her chosen one," Sellen smirked.

At those words, Melina flushed—both with rage and embarrassment.

Fortunately, Sellen was quick to continue before the goddess's daughter had time to do anything to her.

"You may not believe in my honor or honesty," Sellen said smoothly, "but do not underestimate my sense of reason. Have I ever given you a cause to doubt it?"

Seeing Melina's deeply skeptical gaze, Sellen let out a soft giggle.

"I crave the light no less than you do. Perhaps even more. Is that really so unnatural?"

The false Finger Maiden had no answer to that.

Instead, she averted her gaze, deep in thought.

What drowning man wouldn't want someone to reach out and save him? Even among those who had long lost their will, many still hoped. And what about those who had no intention of perishing at all?

Melina exhaled slowly, shifting her attention back to the two men.

"He considers him a serious opponent?" she asked.

Sellen smiled cryptically.

"Yes and no."

The goddess's daughter frowned, demanding an explanation.

It was actually very simple: Kosta never underestimated Crucible Knights. Back in the day, their insane poise had drained much of his patience and sanity.

That is, unless you overleveled, of course.

And while now he was definitely overleveled, Konstantin wasn't the type to dismiss weaker opponents outright.

He knew—Soulslike games had taught him well—that bosses weren't the hardest part of the game.

The real threat was the trash mobs you had to plow through just to reach the boss.

Every single enemy—no matter how weak, no matter what level a casual or tryhard might be—could potentially be dangerous.

Hesitation meant defeat.

And let's not even talk about the dogs.

But in this case, the reason for taking off his armor was something entirely different:

Kosta, an experienced Soulslike player who had fully 'awakened', was doing what all experienced players did at some point in their career—

He was trolling.

Blatantly. Deliberately.

With his very presence, he was mocking the Crucible Knight's heavy armor.

And the knight knew it.

"Arm yourself, Tarnished!"

Only the Greater Will knew how much Tanith's knight was holding himself back. The openly mocking Tarnished wasn't even giving him the bare minimum of knightly respect!

Not a single shred!

"Your armor restricts you," Kosta's eyes sharpened—like an experienced tryhard, trying to educate an innocent newbie whose only previous gaming experience was pressure washer simulator. "You think just because you leveled up and found a good set, you've become invincible? That's not just casualizing the game.

That's just being a noob."

The Tarnished smirked, then—without warning—he clapped his hands together…

And laid down on the scorched ground, sprawling out as if he were about to take a nap(1).

To say his actions were strange would be an understatement.

But that only made them more infuriating.

The Crucible Knight snapped.

Behind him, spectral angelic wings unfurled, his massive sword glowing with power. With a flash, the armored knight lunged forward, intending to tear the arrogant Tarnished apart.

Only…

The outcome was already obvious.

"…Those dodges…" Rya whispered, drawn by the sounds of battle.

Kosta, rolling effortlessly around his furious opponent, occasionally patting the knight's shoulder as if in encouragement.

At first glance, it looked bizarre.

…At second, third, and fourth glances?

Still bizarre.

But at the same time, the fluidity—the grace of those dodges—was almost hypnotic.

Each perfect roll, each frame-perfect dodge, briefly phased Kosta out of space and time.

It was perfection…

Sellen nodded, unsurprised when she turned and found that Melina had already vanished.

If General Radahn couldn't kill the Tarnished, what hope did a Crucible Knight have?

He was strong, yes. One of the few who had once sworn fealty to the first Elden Lord, having survived multiple Eras of the Lands Between.

But he was nowhere near the might of the strongest demigods.

The outcome was inevitable: Konstantin won.

He exhausted his opponent, forcing him to drop his sword and fall to his knees, acknowledging the absolute superiority of a seasoned Soulslike player.

Though, to the women's collective surprise—the ending was far more dramatic than they had expected.

"Rolling…" the Crucible Knight rasped, barely able to speak. "How… how did you reach such power, Tarnished…?"

Tanith's loyal knight knelt before Konstantin.

But Konstantin didn't look down on him.

And not because the Crucible Knight—even kneeling—was still taller than him.

No—Konstantin's gaze was the same as that of a veteran, who had just seen potential in a rookie.

"I kept trying until I got it right," Kosta said matter-of-factly.

"And when I did get it right…

"I didn't stop."

"Didn't… stop?" the Crucible Knight whispered.

"Different builds, challenges…

Kosta's eyes scanned the battlefield before he lowered his voice.

…Speedruns."

For some reason, those words sent a chilling shiver through the air.

Everyone felt it.

Even if they didn't fully comprehend the true horror of the Tarnished's words.

Not that he needed them to.

"You thought the world had given you everything and that there was no room left for growth, but you've limited yourself too much," Kosta declared with inspiration. "A true Soulslike player doesn't restrict themselves with conventions—or even the game engine itself."

The Crucible Knight, somehow grasping the deeper meaning behind his words, unexpectedly bowed his head. He remained composed, but this time, without challenge—his posture carried cold determination and acknowledgment.

"What must I do?"

Kosta clapped again, this time without mockery—only respect. And truly, how could he not respect someone who actually managed to understand his nonsense? The Tarnished smiled.

Everyone started as a noob. That was normal.

"You've grown too used to your armor, knight. It's become your power, making you complacent. Do you even remember the last time you took it off?"

"I understand," the Crucible Knight nodded solemnly.

An unseen Melina rubbed her eyes.

She felt drained.

And rightly so—because the Crucible Knight, ever composed, began removing his armor. In the end, he stood clad only in a loincloth, one eerily similar to Kosta's own.

A figure of muscle and scars, his body marked with draconic growths, the knight stood before Kosta—a noob who had finally set foot on the true path. He still bore the face of an old man, but who said it was ever too late to start anew?

Sweating from failed attempts and cursing everything under the sun was something you could do at fifteen or fifty. This was one of the core pillars of the community.

"Excellent," Kosta said with complete composure. "Now, repeat after me."

The Tarnished raised his hands toward the sun.

"PRAISE THE SUN!!!"

For a brief moment, the Crucible Knight hesitated.

Then, firmly, he echoed the Tarnished's cry.

Two half-naked men, magnificent in their solemnity, standing upon the scorched ground, had reached an understanding.

"W-what is happening…?"

Rya, Melina, and Sellen turned their heads toward Tanith. Though her mask remained in place, it could not fully conceal the expression of the Lady of Volcano Manor.

"They're just insane, isn't it obvious?" Patches scratched his bald head. "What?"

Naturally, he had no idea why everyone was looking at him so strangely.

Surprisingly, Rya had little trouble believing that there was a hidden passage in their home. Having spent her entire conscious life in the manor, she had noticed plenty of oddities, and the existence of some… secret extension to the manor would explain a lot.

So when she saw Sellen touch an unassuming wall—only for it to crumble in a flash of casual energy, revealing a concealed passageway—she wasn't even that surprised.

"It would be strange if the son of the Grandmaster of Raya Lucaria wasn't a skilled sorcerer," Sellen muttered thoughtfully, examining the wall.

Ordinarily, she could sense such hidden passages easily. But this wall had been indistinguishable from the rest of the manor. If the Tarnished hadn't known for certain that a passage existed, they might never have found it.

"So it was real…" Rya murmured in quiet resignation. "Unbelievable…"

Truth be told, she had long known her mother had lied to her. Not just about the manor's secrets, but about… many things. She simply had no proof and had subconsciously avoided unpleasant questions.

Who would have thought that the man she had personally invited would be the one to uncover the truth?

'Lady Tanith… my mother… lied to me… Was I not born by the grace of the King?'

Rya shook off those wrong thoughts, turning her gaze to Konstantin.

"This passage… Does it lead to the Lord?"

"It's one of the ways to reach him," Kosta grimaced, sinking into unpleasant memories.

God, how he had hated exploring this place(2).

And yet, there were so many players who loved it…

Truly, the ways of the community were inscrutable.

From the passage, a repulsive giant slug slowly slithered out.

"Why… why do you need to fight him?"

Rya started glancing around, feeling like her mother could appear at any moment and find out what they had discovered.

"You'll understand when you see him," Kosta shrugged.

His social skills had long surpassed any other Soulslike player of his caliber, but even he found it difficult to explain what became of the current Lord of Volcano Manor.

Seriously, he should have just gone farming like a normal person instead of… this.

"Can I… come with you?" Rya whispered.

Kosta shrugged.

"Sure. But first, I need to prepare."

'Prepare?' Melina's eyebrow twitched.

Her Tarnished never prepared!

At first, he refused to be a casual, and besides—

He never needed preparation in the first place.

But it didn't take long for her to realize what he meant.

A magic staff appeared in Konstantin's hand, which he struck against the ground. Casual energy flowed into the staff and radiated outward.

Objectively, Melina found it hard to say exactly how long she had been gone. More than a few days? Probably. But no more than a week. A pathetic week—hardly any time at all in the Lands Between, where nothing of significance had happened for decades, if not centuries.

But, as usual, Konstantin had his own opinion on the matter.

Or perhaps… he had no opinion at all.

Which was somehow even scarier.

Before them stood a perfect copy of Konstantin.

A material illusion, mirroring the Tarnished's every movement, woven from golden energy. Stable—so much so that even Melina couldn't immediately tell which of them was real.

Seeing how ecstatic Sellen looked, it wasn't hard to guess who had taught him this.

"There is no limit to casualization."

Both Konstantins said it at the same time, then simultaneously grimaced.

"You still need a bit more practice, my apprentice," Sellen whispered sweetly.

Rya, nearly shifting into her snake form out of pure shock, stared at the two Tarnished with wide eyes.

Kosta grimaced again.

Obviously, the developers—who had already given casuals a million and one ways to make the game easier—had stopped short of gifting players Sellen's ability to create stable material illusions.

But this world was… different.

In a way, this was the first casualization that Kosta had actually mastered himself—one that didn't just come preinstalled due to his… bizarre existence.

Kosta grimaced again—this time, only him. The illusion remained motionless.

'I need to farm more,' Kosta thought, glancing at the innocently crawling slug.

The illusion slowly turned its head toward Melina, who visibly flinched.

"Can you teleport me, Meli-Meli?"

Still refusing to manifest, the false Finger Maiden grabbed the illusion's hand—gasping at how real it felt—before both of them vanished, swept away by the currents of Grace to some far-off place beyond Volcano Manor.

Rya, her horror barely concealed, stared at the spot where the copy of Konstantin had just been.

"Ghosts-s-s…" she hissed, her voice slipping into something serpentine…

…and her tail flicking through the air.

Sellen's gaze snapped to Rya's tail.

Kosta, barely sparing it a glance—still adjusting to being in two places at once—reached into his inventory and pulled out Meli-Meli's gift, looking at the club with pure love in his eyes.

Words couldn't describe how happy he was to have received a present from her.

And now, finally, he could use it.

Rya, coming back to her senses, finally noticed the way Sellen was staring at her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.

Following the sorceress's gaze, she suddenly froze—and let out a frightened hiss.

"Powers-s-s almighty…"

'I wonder which 'powers' she's talking about… and how many phases they have…' Konstantin mused as he headed into the hidden passage.

Still struggling to move his legs, he felt each step growing easier.

Though he still had to figure out how to explain why he needed to…

Well, quite literally tear himself in two.

As it turned out, his greatest enemy wasn't bosses, mobs, or even interactions with his waifus, but—

Time.

In the game, quests would wait for him as long as needed.

Here, though? This place introduced a whole new factor.

Thankfully, it didn't take Melina long to realize where Konstantin was headed.

There were times when Alexander hated his life.

Normally, he was a rather cheerful warrior-jar, but if he was being honest with himself, his entire existence had been artificially created. So he wasn't exactly designed for life or survival… in general.

Not that he usually dwelled on it—except for moments like these.

He was stuck in a hole. Again(3).

Great Jars above…

It happened often. Way too often. Sometimes he was trapped for days, sometimes he got out easily. There were times when the warrior-jar genuinely thought he wouldn't meet his end in battle—but in some random hole instead.

Even though Alexander put on a brave face, showing no signs of fear, every single pit he encountered, terrified him.

Natural enemies in an unnatural form. Opponents he could never defeat. They could only be buried. Then again, was that really winning…?

"…What am I even thinking about…" Alexander sighed—somehow. "Hey! Can anyone hear me? I'm stuck! Somebody help! Hey, anyo—OH STARS, KONSTANTIN, WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!"

The last person Alexander had expected to see was the Tarnished hero who had materialized out of thin air—accompanied by a slightly bewildered Finger Maiden.

"I came to help," Konstantin said with complete composure, deliberately ignoring how he had even found him. "And to invite you somewhere."

"Invite?" The jar-warrior echoed in surprise. "What are you talking about, my friend?"

Konstantin smiled.

"Have you ever tempered yourself in a volcano? I thought you might find it interesting."

Alexander, who had just been preparing to set out toward Mt. Gelmir, shuddered—jar and all.

'Is my friend becoming omniscient?'

Wait… Did he imagine it, or did the Tarnished's form just glow for a moment…?

…No, surely he was just imagining it…

Melina, seeing how lost the jar-warrior looked, pursed her lips, staring at Konstantin's illusory form.

'He scolded me for running away from healing… Again…'

She was almost afraid to imagine what he would become when he finally sat on the throne of Elden Lord.

But…

The more she observed, the more she wanted to see it for herself. Not just to keep an eye on the witches and other questionable individuals around him. But simply to witness it.

To feel pride for her chosen Tarnished.

To experience an Era the Lands Between had never seen before.

A vision of the Crucible Knight stripping off his armor and accepting Konstantin's faith flashed through her mind.

…Perhaps, in the end, she wouldn't need to protect him from scheming women.

She might have to protect the world from him instead.

Despite herself, Melina hadn't even noticed the subtle shift in her own thinking.

She was starting to see herself in a time where she was never meant to be.

And that, without a doubt, was a good thing.

(1) A rather popular gesture that players can learn through interactions with White Mask Varre and the Blackguard.

(2) Reaching Rykard is possible through exploring the lower levels of Volcano Manor, but honestly, it's much easier to just complete Lady Tanith's questline. Seriously, Volcano Manor is one of the most confusing and bizarre locations in the game. Sometimes I get the feeling the devs deliberately tried to stop the player from reaching it. There's probably some hidden lore behind this…

(3) This isn't just a storytelling detail—Alexander's quest in the game actually involves helping him escape from a pit twice.