There is light ahead, so praise the sun—Gwyn recalled the message he had written tens of thousands of years ago when he first saw the sunlight of Lordran.
“Light? Truly nostalgic.”
He murmured, originally intending to liberate the spiral sword just like that.
But in the end, he casually recited a passage, considering it a result of being caught up in the atmosphere.
“In the primordial age, there was no life, no death, no light, and no darkness.”
“Then came fire, and with it, heaven and earth were born, and all things became whole.”
“Burn, the first flame that split the heavens and created the earth!”
Endless flames surged from the spiral sword, filling the entire First Flame.
Gwyn swung the spiral sword down heavily, and countless flames erupted as sword blades, covering the entire world.
Burning, burning…
everything was burning.
Whether it was the swords and military flags covering the ground, or the Holy Lance descending from the torn sky.
Not a single place in the entire world was left unignited, turning into falling ash.
The first flame can create a world, and it can also destroy one.
Even a fully liberated Anti-World Noble Phantasm could not stand against it.
The Holy Lance, as majestic as a giant city in the sky, was completely devoured by the flames.
The light dimmed, and ash drifted down.
As the explosive first flame extinguished, the world once again fell into boundless darkness.
The only one emitting a faint glow and conveying a touch of warmth was Gwyn.
He was still being scorched by the first flame.
Turning one’s soul into kindling to sustain the first flame and prevent its extinction from leading to the world’s silence—that is a Lord of Cinder.
In the First Flame, that thick layer of ash filling the entire tower was what remained after generations of Lords of Cinder were burned to completion.
In a dark, cold, and empty world, everything gravitates toward and gathers around the only source of light and heat—the Lord of Cinder; this is the origin of the Dreg Heap.
Gwyn slowly lowered the spiral sword and looked toward Artoria, who was shrouded in darkness.
The Avalon barrier she had deployed with all her might had been burned away, and the Holy Lance was covered in dust.
These two were now completely unusable…
at least until they were repaired.
Tossing the Holy Lance aside casually, Artoria drew the golden holy sword from her waist and called out its true name for the first time in a long while:
“EX—calibur!” (Sword of Promised Victory)
A beam of light, a torrent carrying the momentum of destruction, descended once again.
Clang!
Approaching with slow steps, Gwyn casually waved his left hand, and a golden flash flickered and vanished.
The light beam instantly vanished without a trace. Get faster updates on g.com.
The light beam released by the holy sword in its normal state was simply vulnerable—at least for Gwyn in his Lord of Cinder state.
Gwyn showed no hint of urgency, approaching slowly as if taking a stroll in a courtyard.
A way of walking that looked terrifyingly powerful at a glance.
“…”
Artoria remained silent for a moment, then raised the holy sword above her head with both hands: “Round Table Decision, begin.”
“This is not a battle that turns its back on humanity, acknowledged.” — Gaheris
“This is a battle in pursuit of truth, acknowledged.” — Agravain
“This is not a battle against an elemental, acknowledged.” — Lancelot
“This is a battle for survival, acknowledged.” — Kay
“This is a one-on-one battle, acknowledged.” — Palamedes
“Acknowledged.” — Mordred
The restraints were rapidly lifted, and the Holy Sword of the Stars revealed its full form.
A golden torrent of magical energy emerged once more, illuminating the world again.
This was the Holy Sword of the Stars, forged by the planet itself rather than by the hands of any god, elemental, or human; it stood above all Divine Constructs.
Even the EA in Gilgamesh’s hand would not be enough to face the fully liberated Holy Sword of the Stars.
However, the Round Table Decision had not yet ended, even though there were no more restraints to lift.
“This battle is a battle against a world-destroyer, acknowledged.”
At that moment, Artoria herself spoke.
The first flame, capable of destroying the world, triggered the holy sword’s special attack, and its power was still stacking.
And right now, the spiral sword was still in Gwyn’s hand.
“Excalibur!”
The holy sword slashed down, erupting with a terrifying power no less than the explosion of the first flame just now.
The massive golden light sword was thousands of times thicker than before, blasting out at faster-than-light speed, impossible to evade.
Once, the Vanguard of the Umbral Star that preyed on civilizations—the White Titan, Sefar—had fallen under this strike.
Treating me like some alien invader—wait, it seems I really am an alien.
Never mind then.
This was Gwyn’s final thought before being blasted away.
He was somewhat ‘high attack, low defense’—Undead were generally like this; their tankiness was maintained by drinking Estus Flasks to recover health, unless they applied defensive buffs, which Gwyn hadn’t done now.
Moreover, he didn’t expect himself to make the same mistake as Prototype Gilgamesh.
How the hell was he supposed to know Lancer Artoria could also pull out the Holy Sword of the Stars?
Wasn’t that in Proto-Arthur’s hands?
He had been blindsided by an information gap.
The distorted space-time rapidly recovered.
After the Holy Sword of the Stars’s attack tore through this world, the remaining torrent fell onto the Pacific Ocean, giving it a ‘middle part’ hairstyle in passing.
But she soon thought of a solution: whoever broke it, fixes it.
Gwyn wasn’t dead; she could sense it.
Sure enough, accompanied by a roar, she saw that figure again.
“I’ve had enough of these formalities!”
A figure wearing a mysterious headpiece and clad in bulky, bloated armor slowly appeared amidst space-time fluctuations.
The mysterious masked man tossed the spiral sword aside and took out another straight sword that could emit fire, while a shield appeared in his left hand.
Simultaneously, behind him, a complex and magnificent Elden Ring pattern gradually emerged, changing from dim to radiant.
The Servant status screen also underwent a massive change; all attributes surged to an unstable EX-rank, and his E-rank Divinity also rose to EX.
As the Elden Ring fully expanded and activated, a golden Erdtree as tall as a world tree pierced into the clouds, and after a brief moment, it began to burn.
Ash fell from the burning Erdtree, drifting across the globe.
The burning sky of fire completely replaced the original firmament; even from space, one could see that the blue planet had turned fiery red.
People all over the world could see this magnificent spectacle, even those currently on the other side of the planet.
The burning Erdtree obscured the sun, and fiery red light illuminated the world; looking up at the sky, the sun was but a faint, pale white outline.
This was the scene from when Gwyn had gone to the Elden Ring World in the past, using the first flame to burn the Erdtree’s Thorns of Rejection—which rejected everything—into Thorns of Acceptance, which accepted everything.
“To think you could push me into my third phase. You truly are a delightful opponent; I don’t think I’ll ever forget you in my life, Artoria.”
“Because of that, I will spare no means and no cost to defeat you.”
“Because I have a reason why I absolutely cannot lose.”
Gwyn approached holding the fingerprint knight straight sword, performing a weapon art to ignite the Ember within, but instantly canceling it with his shield, repeating the cancellation over and over.
This was the technique commonly known as ‘Ring Cancel,’ which allowed the attacker to gain extremely fast attack speed.
The Ember in the sword were about to erupt each time but were stopped at the last second, becoming extremely glitchy and gradually glowing red-hot.
“If possible, I would rather not be remembered by you for a lifetime in such a manner.” Artoria’s eyelid twitched, and she took a few steps back.
The current Gwyn made her feel a bit fearful.
The aura coming from him was actually stronger than hers…
of course, that wasn’t the main point.
She wouldn’t feel fear just because someone was stronger than her.
Rather, it was that flaming straight sword in Gwyn’s hand that triggered her past memories.
Years ago, the other party had used this very straight sword to ‘train’ her.
He called it ‘military training,’ saying it could help her become stronger quickly.
Though it wasn’t a lie, it had left a deep impression on her, one might even say a psychological shadow.
It was just that Gwyn seemed to be wearing a different outfit back then.
She didn’t want to recall it because it was too painful, so she couldn’t be certain.
“Words are useless. Let us battle, just you and me.”
Gwyn didn’t care if she was scared to tears by the glowing Ring Cancel; he just went in for the kill.