Your mind is loud and filled with noise. Bright tall trees cover the ocean plateau you stand on. The sky is filled with a cloudy night sky with a dim sunset in the background. You turn around to see a large figure you can quite make out, it's approaching you. You feel drawn towards it as it takes out a large blade and slowly swipes at you. Your vision becomes hazy and slow as something bright begins to approach you. It gets brighter and brighter. Wake. Up.
Your eyes shoot open as a loud lightning strike hits nearby at one of the stone pillars, you slowly stand up and look around at a floating city Melina teleported you to. It's crumbling with ash and debris, dragons fly over head with a loud roar. Bright clouds continue to let off lighting as well as the dragons, you've never seen this place before. You look around for anything familiar when you spot Blaidd laying on the ground behind you.
"BLAIDD!" You run with haste over to him as he's unconscious.
You get on your knees and shake him lightly, his eyes begin to open.
"Oh thank God..." You let out a soft sigh and sink into your knees as Blaidd regains consciousness.
"U-Urghh... What the?.." Blaidd sits up and looks at you with a wide smile, "Y/N! What the hell is this place?"
You stand up and give him a hand, "No clue, but we better look for an exit." You grunt as you pull him up, it was a bad idea considering he's over twice your size.
Blaidd chuckles as he sees you struggling to help him up, but nonetheless, he appreciates the gesture.
The two of you cautiously begin your journey through the crumbling city. It seems that gravity is questionable here as you and Blaidd approach a floating platform to drop down on.
"Uhh..." Blaidd looks over the ledge to a small platform, he then looks over to you with a sheepish smile, "You first."
Your eyebrows furrow together as you slowly look at Blaidd, "As if!"
Blaidd turns to you and crosses his arms with a curious look on his face, "So, you'll jump into the mouth of a demigod snake but you won't make a small drop?"
You lean over the ledge to see if there's a safer way down, "No in fact I won't."
Blaidd watches as you lean over, he sighs and rolls his eyes. He lifts his hand up and brings it forward with intense speed, he smacks your butt which causes you to fall forward and fall onto the floating ledge... You're alive!
Shaking and filled with adrenaline, you slowly stand up and look at Blaidd, "YOU BASTARD!"
"You're still alive aren't you?" Blaidd looks down with a smug smile.
You look back down at another floating platform and drop over to an open balcony, Blaidd slowly trails from behind.
The two of you make your way through the building and find yourselves in front of a large tornado that seems to be holding the city together. A large dome topped building lies across from you, despite the crumbling structure, it's somewhat beautiful. The two of you continue your journey down the stairs and quickly run into what looks like some beastman. They're half dead with their skeletal structure peering out of their somewhat attached fur and skin. They are obviously not friendly and it is wise to avoid them, but you and Blaidd don't back down from a challenge. You and Blaidd quickly jump the one that is on patrol before running through the buildings halls. There are piles of bones and ash at every corner as you guys fight your way through the corridors. Everything is going well until you approach a large bridge. The bridge is next to the tornado with corpses laying in each crevice of the floor. It seems to be some sort of religious practskin
The two of you carefully drop down and maneuver your way around the corpses. As you approach the halfway mark, a loud roar is heard, one that could split the skies. The both of you look up and watch as a white colored dragon flies down from the sky and slams down onto the bridge. It looks at you and Blaidd before lifting it's neck up and roaring at the sky, as it roars it begins to glow before emitting out red lighting from it's body.
"We don't have time for this God damnit!" You angrily march forward and around the dragon.
Blaidd follows past as the dragon looks confused at the both of you, it was expecting a fight and not a foul attitude.
As you finally make it past the white dragon and across the bridge, you enter a chamber filled with more bones and corpses as well as more Beastman. The two of you prepare for a fight as a Beastman cleric spots you and begins to cast lighting incantations. A bolt of red lighting that cracks down between the two of you. The noise causes the rest of the Beastmen to focus their attention on the clutter. As you strike down the Cleric, another joins in with a Mercenary by it's side. The two of you fight your way out the door and into a more open area. After dealing with the Beastmen, you're approached by a large drop onto another yet larger floating platform. You notice Blaidd shifting behind you but you snap back at him before he can try anything.
"Oh no you don't!" You grab Blaidd by the hand and drag him down with you as the both of you slam down onto the platform.
You land with a grunt before getting back on your feet and dusting yourself off. The two of you catch your breath before continuing across yet another bridge. The two of you enter a building that is somewhat guarded, not by Beastmen, but by Banished Knights. They patrol the station with caution as they seem to be guarding something. You and Blaidd sneak past them and make your way down a spiral staircase before entering a large temple room.
Four stone structures sit in the middle section of the room, a dragon carvings of ancient civilizations are seen from along the walls as you and Blaidd step into the middle of the room. Suddenly, two flashes of black flame slowly appear from in front of a stone shrine of a dragon. Figures draped in pelts of blasphemous white skin step out of the flames and reveal themselves, The Godskin Duo.
There is a tall and skinny apostle with large peeler, he stands next to a shorter and fatter noble with a large stitcher weapon. Their clothes reek of death with faces of dead Gods peering out of their clothes. They slowly approach the two of you, surprised and not ready, you slowly step back as you fumble your weapons out. Once gaining control, the two of you charge at them. You charge at the Apostle as Blaidd charges at the noble. The both of you charge blade first, the Noble thrusts his body out and knocks Blaidd back while the Apostle slams his peeler into the ground and whips his body around your blade. You stumble forward as Blaidd stumbles backward in confusion.
"What the hell??" The both of you look in confusion, it's clear that these... Things... They can control their bodies in marvelous ways.
You charge back at the Apostle and swipe at him but he simply bends his body out of the way.
"Awh that's no fair..."
The Apostle kicks you back before looking back at Blaidd and charging at him. The Noble takes the place of the Apostle as now he focuses on you. The fight begins roughly as you and Blaidd endure the hits of the Godskins. Their skin is thick and tough, your blade swipes through and cuts their skin like thick rubber. You and Blaidd struggle to keep up with the intense movements of each of the Godskins.
"God damnit, what the hell do we do?" You back up with your shield and look at Blaidd.
Blaidd looks around for a solution when he spots a torch, "Uhhh... I might have an idea..."
You watch as he grabs the torch and chucks it at the Godskin Noble. He inflates his body causing the torch to bounce off into the direction of the Apostle. It lands on the Apostle's robe, he looks down as he slowly begins to catch fire.
You, Blaidd, and the Noble all watch as the Apostle flails around trying to put the flames out, but it merely spreads. The Noble lowers his weapon and tries to put out the flame but is clearly not helping. You and Blaidd look at each other awkwardly as the fire spreads to the Noble.
"U-Uhm..." You look at Blaidd and then back at the Godskins, you decide to take advantage of the fire and charge at them.
Blaidd follows quickly behind as the two of you begin to slash your way at the Godskins. The fire seems to be preventing them from stretching out their body, almost as if they're being cooked alive. Your blade slashes and pierces their tender bodies, it doesn't take long for them to finally fall with a large flash before disappearing into a dark mist.
You and Blaidd sigh and put your weapons away after finishing the fight. You begin to traverse the city once more as you exit the Dragon Temple. You make your way across some more floating platforms and run through a huge flock of birds, all while lightning strikes down from the dragon that was tried fighting you from earlier. Only this time it flies away before you can get closer to it. The air grows thick as you guys continue along the dead grass and empty temples. Something malicious is brewing... As you guys take an old elevator up and beside a great bridge. The wind howls with terror as you now stand in front of the dome building that you once saw in the beginning of your journey.
The two of you make your way up the steep ramp before approaching a fog gate.
"Really? Here? Who the hell could..." Blaidd's face grows with terror.
"Blaidd? Are you okay?" You reach out to Blaidd's arm and hold it gently.
"Maliketh... The Black Blade... Marika's shadow lies beyond this fog gate." Blaidd looks down at you with terror.
"Marika's shadow? Are you guys like... Related?"
Blaidd squints his eyes, "No! But Maliketh holds the rune of death, the literal concept of death is inside of this man."
"Ohh... That explains all the corpses and stuff..." You scratch your head and pretend to understand what Blaidd is saying before entering the fog gate.
Blaidd watches in horror as you waltz right through without hesitation, he slowly follows behind you.
You and Blaidd enter the fog gate and step into an arena. The loud roar of the tornado is abruptly cut to pure silence as the atmosphere grows thick. Four broken pillars are in each section of the large circle platform in the middle. You and Blaidd walk forward to a Beast Clergyman who is hunched over in front of a stone carving into the wall. The carving depicts someone in front of what looks like the Elden Ring. They are accompanied by three wolves as the person is kneeling down to pray. Floating pillars surround the dome as a ray of sunlight peaks through the ash and dust. Your gaze is cut short as a low deep voice comes from the Beast Clergyman.
"Thou who approacheth Destined Death..."
The Clergyman lifts his head up and grabs a dagger from his belt, "I will not have it stolen from me again."
You draw your sword and shield as the Clergyman charges towards you and Blaidd. He swipes forward as you block with your shield before he slashes again twice and backs up. You and Blaidd slowly approach the Clergyman cautiously as you're unaware of what Destined Death can truly do, as well as if he'll even use it as a weapon. The Clergyman puts his dagger away and stands up before slamming both hands into the ground. The rubble around you begins to shake as he tosses it up in the air, debris flies everywhere as it slowly crashes down and onto you and Blaidd. Unarmed, you and Blaidd jump forward at the Clergyman and begin to hack away at him. You manage to land critical hits before the Clergyman launches sharp gravel at you and Blaidd. You block it with your shield but Blaidd endures the hit to the best of his abilities.
You charge at the Beast Clergyman once more and begin the process once more, after a while, he starts to lose his vigor and agility. You and Blaidd continue to fight forward blades first. Blaidd attacks the Clergyman from the front and knocks him back into the center of the arena. The clergyman stumbles backwards and falls to the ground, he pants heavily as he looks to the back of his left hand. The wind blows his sleeve up to reveal a glass container that's grafted inside of his body.
"O, Death. Become my blade, once more."
The Beast Clergyman lifts his dagger into the air and stabs through his left hand. A loud shatter comes from his hand as his body slowly becomes engulfed in dark red flames. His dagger slowly turns into a large black blade as he pulls it out of his hand. The dark red flames burn his robe off to reveal black and gold plated armor that runs down along his dark slender body. The red flames roar with the dead, the flames surround him as he finally pulls out the sword. He leans back and let's out a loud roar before falling back down to all fours. His sword slams into the ground as he slowly turns his head to face the both of you once more.
With Destined Death as his blade once more, he flips around and slashes at you. You block the hit but get burned by the flames, your shield is useless for the rest of the fight. As the flames sink into your body you feel yourself grow weaker and more tired.
Blaidd looks at you and notices your weaker stance, "Y/N! Just focus on attacking! It'll wear off in a little bit, I'll distract him!"
You nod at Blaidd and try your best to grip onto your sword but it feels as if you picked it up during your fight with Darriwil. Blaidd distracts Maliketh but not for long. Maliketh is more agile than ever as he slashes waves of death flames at you and Blaidd. The two of you shelter behind a pillar as Maliketh continues his attacks. Once out of breath, you and Blaidd split up and charge forward at Maliketh. Blaidd slashes forward and attacks Maliketh with great strength, you on the otherhand... It feels like he's getting stung by small bees. Maliketh swipes back at the both of you before retreating back to a pillar, he hangs by the side of it and watches you and Blaidd carefully.
"Hey, Y/N."
You look over to Blaidd, he smacks you in the back of the head. For some reason, you feel back to normal.
"The process was taking too long, I figured I'd do it myself." Blaidd looks down at you with a smile.
You reciprocate the feeling but it's cut short as Maliketh slams his sword down in between you and Blaidd. It glows deep red as if it's about to rupture, you and Blaidd split up as the sword gushes out a large wave of fire. Blaidd rushes Maliketh with a flurry of attacks. The two of them lock blades intensely as they stare down each other. Blaidd is motivated with you by his side, Maliketh is motivated by Marika's orders, you watch as the two of them fight on their own. Their speed and dexterity are on a different level of yours, it's something you stand by and watch in hopes that Blaidd manages to come out on top.
Maliketh's black blade and red flames engulf Blaidd as he locks blades with his Royal Greatsword. Maliketh retreats onto a pillar only for Blaidd to follow, the two of them continue to fight as Blaidd knocks Maliketh down and onto the floor. You follow behind and finally see an opening for you to strike. You charge at Maliketh with your blade leading the way and jump in the air. Maliketh sees your attempt and brushes waves of death flame in your direction.
You fall down and grit your teeth as you blast your way through the flames and pierce Maliketh in his eye. You collapse to your knees as Maliketh falls down next to you.
"Witless Tarnished and Traitorous Shadow..." Maliketh falls to the floor with your sword stuck through his eye, "Why covet Destined Death..."
He slowly begins to disappear as his final words echo throughout the calm and somber arena.
"To kill what?.."
Maliketh flashes before fading away into a large black mist, your sword falls to the ground as he disappears. The fire from your body slowly fades as the Rune of Death appears in front of you and Blaidd. Both of you pant as he helps you to your feet, you stumble up and grab your sword before approaching the Rune. It's filled with a black substance and radiates slight heat, you gently reach your hand out to grab it but it quickly flashes with a bright light, it pulls in all surrounding energy before slowly pushing it out in dark red flames. Everything goes black...