The skies over Caelid are perpetually covered with thick red clouds, while the land that was once a lush jungle is now nothing but a wild wasteland.
Beasts of all shapes and sizes run rampant across these red lands, yet strangely they are driven by inertia towards the common place, the fiery wall created by Radahn.
Such a construction is a monumental work that separates Caelid from Necrolimbo, it is mostly built of rock, fire and magic, things at which General Radahn excelled.
"Here we divide."
In the vicinity of the remains known as
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay? Just look at that opening, it's bigger than I thought."
Sitting in a half burnt chair with a rare composure about her, Nepheli points towards the gap in the huge burning wall, before turning her swarthy face to look at Aldrich.
"The plan remains unchanged. Such damage was to be expected and somewhat easy to control, you will continue with Max."
Dismissing the concerns of Nepheli, who clicks her tongue at being rejected again, Aldrich gives Max a quick glance.
As a good follower and minion of Kristoff, who loves to avoid any tedious problems outside of direct orders, Max easily reads Aldrich's look and rises from his chair.
"At your command, my lord. I will begin to raise the troops, they have had enough rest and the plan can't take any longer to carry out."
"Aghh, well, well, I'm off too... I hope this is at least a little interesting."
Kicking a rock and kicking it through the wall with it, Nepheli smiles revealing all her white teeth, then walks away a victor.
"What a personality... Lansseax, are you ready?"
Looking up from Nepheli's half-uncovered brunette back, she focuses her eyes on the dragon head appearing above the missing roof of the church, then calmly speaks.
"Hump, merely a group of fat animals. Nothing to fear."
Snorting in a voice full of classic dragon arrogance, Lansseax's head begins to rise into the air, making it clear that it is rising from the ground.
"Don't get overconfident, Lansseax. You must know this by now, but both Ekzykez and Greyoll have fallen here. Caelid is not a simple place."
"Well..."
...Aldrich pov....
The troops coming from Leyndell had left for their destination quite some time ago, leaving behind only Lansseax and myself, who were in charge of the defense of the wall.
Things were not looking bad, as all the beasts near the wall left in the first wave towards the defense line, leaving only the stragglers behind and a few beasts arriving from the confines of Caelid.
Still not to be overconfident, Caelid has a lot in store, be it the rotting dragon Ekzykez, Greyoll's army of lesser dragons, or even the near infinite number of plagues.
"Aldrich, can you trade with me? This is already boring."
Opening my eyes to return to the reality of the world, I notice how the color red spreads throughout the sky and earth, while the smell of burning flesh fills the air.
"Relax, Lansseax, this will get more interesting in quite some time."
Touching the hard scales of its head delicately, I extend my other hand to the side and make a strange golden object appear.
Space seems to vibrate at its sole presence, while Caelid's putrid wind stops, and even Lansseax becomes static from respect... Or perhaps fear.
"That, that, that's a..."
"Yes, a runic bow... A minuscule fragment of the Elden Circle that was formerly completely broken."
Explaining without really explaining anything, he stopped stroking Lansseax's scales and I calmly stood on his head, before bringing the runic bow up to the front of my chest.
Defeating the Caelid beasts as we currently do is inefficient, plus they will eventually be able to rejoin and threaten Necrolimbo... A fatal blow must be struck.
Now, these beasts are attracted to Malenia found in the Peaks of the Giants, so why not use the same model... The great rune of Malenia.
"A, A, Aldrich..."
Breaking the golden runic bow with a simple handshake, a sort of wave of pure power spread into the surroundings, before multiple golden lights entered my body.
It was addictive, for every passing second I can feel the power pulsing within my flesh, as the amount of mana expands out of control... As the world becomes more real.
"Ah... This power, what power..."
Watching the Caelid beasts that seem to have gone mad, and hearing the screams from all directions, like war bugles, I can only smile.
...In another place...
A strange combination of green vegetation and rivers of blood fills this place completely, while in the night sky neither the moon nor the Golden Tree can be seen.
In the midst of such an unearthly site stand the ruins of an ancient civilization, though now even those majestic ruins are stained with fiery blood.
Much farther away from such a site, which seems to be the source of the worship of various blood-stained beings, a simply brutal battlefield can be glimpsed.
"Water Dance:One Hundred Cuts".
Gracefully leaping over the swamp of blood that looks like a macabre pot due to the arms, legs, swords and spears within, a glowing figure can be spotted.
His hair is a fiery red, as if not a drop of dirty blood had touched it, in his white hand he carries a long, single-edged katana, and he wears a calm smile on his youthful face.
"Two hundred cuts."
Twirling the katana at a speed impossible for the human eye to follow, the red-haired young woman moves delicately over the water and makes another batch of unearthly cuts.
Heads were severed from the bodies, arms flew into the sky, swords shattered like glass... It can only be said that it was a one-sided massacre against the bloodthirsty albinaurics.
"Three hundred. Agh... What is this?"
Doing an odd twist in the sky to restructure her stance, Malenia lands softly in the swamp, then fixes her eyes on the fake sky.
Obviously she is not looking at the sky, which is beautiful, but rather her gaze seems to pierce the miles of dirt and rock that separates her from the surface, to pin herself to a particular spot.
"The great rune... My great rune has been activated?"
Sounding extremely surprised, so much so that she ignores the surroundings for a few moments, Malenia pierces the head of an albinaurid with her sword and makes a hand signal.
"Charge!"
"Charge!"
"For Miquella and Malenia!"
Under the thunderous shout of the troops, a column of cavalry makes its appearance from behind Malenia, filling even the craziest minds among the red albinaurics with fear.
Jousting spears pierce the enemy lines like paper, while the hooves of warhorses crush the survivors. In front of such a line of destruction can be seen a knight in silver armor with blue tones, symbols of the caria, also carrying a magic guja that she uses with mastery.
"Are you all right, your majesty?"
Bringing the horse to a halt with a simple rein movement, Loretta waves her guja leisurely, wiping all the dirty blood from her blade, then speaks worriedly to the lost Malenia.
"Nothing to worry about, Loretta. I can just feel a great rune... My great rune is being activated."
"But your great rune doesn't..."
"Yes, Loretta, my great rune was corrupted by scarlet rot!"
Pronouncing with utter contempt the part of:Scarlet Rot, Malenia extends her left palm and from it a red glow begins to emerge, which then transforms into a viscous liquid.
When the viscous liquid touches the red blood, strange flowers and misshapen butterflies begin to emerge, causing Malenia's face to show a brief grimace.
"So that power is still in you."
"It was something inevitable, now we are already one and the same... But something has changed, I can feel it, at least its approximate direction."
Mercilessly slicing through all the grotesque life forms born from their rot, Malenia cleans her sword with a swing and then puts it away, making it clear that here she has ended this issue.
"Finish them all, these beings can no longer be considered albinauric."
"At your command, your majesty."
Bowing her helmet-covered head in a respectful manner, Loretta takes her guja again with force and begins to make a massacre.