An elite force departed from Leyndell, Royal Capital, bound for the Consecrated Snowfield under the personal command of Godfrey, First Elden Lord. Morgott remained behind to hold the capital. The Erdtree might have fallen, but the Lands Between were still far from peaceful, so Leyndell could not afford to mobilize its entire defensive force.
Godfrey had only summoned the Crucible Knights who had once fought beside him during his conquests. Those who were too far away could not be contacted in time, but at least the two foremost knights among their ranks had returned. He also brought along a Draconic Tree Sentinel and a company of Leyndell Knights. A force like this was already more than enough to storm a fortress.
The army marching south from Miquella's Haligtree was considerably more impressive. Malenia had brought every Cleanrot Knight under her command, along with half of the Haligtree's army. They were fully armed and had enough provisions for a long campaign. Judging from the preparations, she genuinely intended to burn Mohgwyn Dynasty to the ground.
Skyl, meanwhile, was just an innocent bystander with popcorn, enjoying the show. All he'd done was persuade Malenia to keep her temper under control long enough to let Mohg's actual father have the first shot at him.
The most important objective was rescuing Miquella and seeing whether the poor kid could still be saved.
As for how Mohg had managed to slip into the heavily guarded Haligtree and abduct Miquella without anyone noticing, that historical mystery could probably only be cleared up by asking the people involved.
Strangely enough, Malenia had actually listened to Skyl.
Her attitude was peculiar as well. On one hand, she looked ready to march straight into Mohg's palace and kill him immediately. On the other, she didn't seem particularly worried about Miquella's safety.
"You really trust Miquella that much? Aren't you worried about the situation he's in? He's being held underground on a stone island that no detection spell or device can locate. Mohg, Lord of Blood, is a divine servant of the Outer God known as the Formless Mother. He intends to soak Miquella's body in blood and tamper with his Great Rune and Law. And you're still not worried?"
Malenia gave a strange answer.
"I believe in Miquella. He made me a promise that he would return one day. Miquella always keeps his promises."
Skyl nodded.
"I underestimated him."
Miquella was the most dangerous of the Empyreans. His ability to charm others bordered on religious devotion, making people obsessively loyal to him.
Maybe he had gone with Mohg willingly.
Otherwise, how could Mohg possibly have taken Miquella away while he was surrounded by countless fiercely loyal guards?
Perhaps Mohg wasn't the one taking advantage of Miquella at all. Perhaps Miquella was the one using the Lord of Blood to acquire even greater power.
Several days later, the forces of Leyndell and the Haligtree met in the Consecrated Snowfield.
The two factions were old allies. When Rykard and Radahn had once joined forces to attack the capital, the Haligtree army had helped defend Leyndell. Likewise, Miquella and Malenia could never have established the Haligtree and Elphael in that barren, freezing wasteland without material support from the capital.
Even now, wagons pulled by Trolls continued traveling between Leyndell and the Haligtree, carrying a steady stream of supplies.
When Morgott heard that Malenia's condition had worsened under the Scarlet Rot, he had even ordered his Night's Cavalry to deliver a Flowing Curved Sword to her, hoping it might help his ally regain her strength.
Neither side had ever forgotten that friendship.
The return of Godfrey, First Elden Lord, was a tremendous boost to the morale of both the Lands Between and the battered capital of Leyndell. In his prime, the old warrior had swept across the Lands Between and helped create the most prosperous era of the Erdtree.
His legendary reputation had endured to this day, so even the soldiers of the Haligtree were excited to see him.
The two armies greeted one another warmly when they joined forces.
Their commanders, however, were considerably less friendly.
Godfrey thanked Malenia for being generous enough to allow him the chance to talk Mohg down before she killed him. The old warrior was bold yet steady, broad-minded and straightforward, making him surprisingly easy to like.
Malenia's response was much colder.
She probably wasn't much of a conversationalist in the first place. Normally, all she needed to worry about was cutting people down. Whenever diplomacy became necessary, Miquella handled the talking for her.
Unfortunately, her spokesman had gone missing.
So Skyl, being the considerate traveler that he was, volunteered to fill the position.
"King Godfrey, I've always wondered about something. Did you know that Marika was Radagon?"
Skyl was genuinely curious about how those two had handled that situation.
Had Godfrey really spent years sleeping beside his wife, only to occasionally wake up and discover a muscular red-haired man lying on the other side of the bed?
That would be enough to give anyone emotional whiplash.
"Of course I knew. Radagon was nothing but the Golden Order's dog!" Godfrey answered without the slightest change in expression, cursing him on the spot.
"So you really got the two-for-one marriage deal."
Skyl smiled strangely but decided not to ask anything further. That was private territory.
Whether Godfrey and Radagon had ever settled their disagreements in bed was something the world would simply have to live without knowing.
A Sanguine Noble guarded the Sending Gate leading to Mohgwyn Dynasty.
The cultist took one look at the approaching army and nearly died of fright. He immediately tried to shut down the gate, but before he could do anything, the Draconic Tree Sentinel charged forward and slammed him with a devastating blow.
The enormous Dragon Greatclaw smashed half his body into pulp.
Somehow, that still wasn't enough to kill him.
Blood vessels writhed from the remains of his torso like the tentacles of a sea anemone. The blood that had splattered across the snow flowed backward, gathering around his wounds and barely reconstructing the missing half of his body.
Despite this astonishing determination to remain alive while missing half his body, the Sanguine Noble was captured and dragged before the commanders of the two armies.
Standing before him were Godfrey, First Elden Lord, Malenia the Undefeated, Blade of Miquella, and the otherworldly god known as High Tower King Skyl.
The three powerhouses sat atop their mounts, chatting casually among themselves without so much as glancing at the Sanguine Noble.
By the time Skyl finished talking and finally looked down again, the man was lying facedown in the snow with a thin layer of frost covering his body.
"He's dead," a Haligtree Knight announced after inspecting him.
The knight paused.
"Scared to death."
The blood within the Sanguine Noble's corpse, however, seemed to remain alive. It slithered through the snow like crimson snakes before flowing over the Sending Gate, forming an ancient and sinister holy symbol.
Red light pulsed from it repeatedly, sealing the gate shut.
The mark of the Outer God known as the Formless Mother radiated enough eldritch power to make the knights instinctively recoil.
Several of them stepped forward and tried to scrub it away. First with snow, then with holy water, then with lightning.
Nothing worked.
Worse, those who remained in contact with the mark for too long suffered ruptured capillaries all across their bodies, leaving them badly injured.
Godfrey sighed.
"What a disgrace to the family. Even my son has become the lapdog of an Outer God."
"It's only the mark of an Outer God."
Skyl casually flicked a spark of Mystic Fire toward it.
The bloody symbol burned away without leaving so much as a stain.
With the seal removed, everyone passed through the Sending Gate and successfully entered Mohgwyn Dynasty.
The gate on the other side had been placed inside a mountainside cavern. Once they emerged from the cave, the eerie and blood-soaked lands of the dynasty stretched out before them.
Skyl stood at the edge of the cliff and looked across the landscape.
On the opposite side was a vast lake of blood, where enormous crows covered in swollen, rotting tumors wandered through the crimson water.
"Welcome to the grandest city underground, Mohgwyn Dynasty. Beautiful place, absolutely beautiful. Oh hey, is that Big Bird? Anyway, let's check out those Albinaurics in the distance."
"What are you talking about now?" Malenia asked expressionlessly.
"Skyl gets a little weird sometimes," Millicent explained on his behalf. "He says it's an IYKYK thing. If you don't get it, there's no point asking, because explaining a joke just kills it."
"Millie, you really are becoming my personal spokesperson."
Skyl grinned.
Godfrey was considerably more practical.
He swept his gaze across the surrounding area and immediately formulated a battle plan.
"Most of them appear to be civilians. Offer them a chance to surrender first. If they refuse, kill them. As for the mutated creatures along the way, wipe out as many as possible. We'll advance quickly. Follow me, we're going to drag that idiot Mohg out of his palace."
The moment the words left his mouth, Godfrey grabbed his enormous axe and charged.
After an astonishing running start, he launched himself through the air.
The old warrior cleared a gap nearly a hundred yards wide in a single leap, soaring from the cliff all the way down into the blood lake on the opposite side.
His enormous boots came crashing down from above.
A giant crow that had been peacefully wandering through the lake didn't even have time to react before Godfrey stomped it into an explosion of blood and feathers.
Skyl stared at the remains with profound sorrow.
"Biiiig Biiiiiird!"
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