Accumulate power through battle, then release it all at once—using that explosive force to shatter the "immutability" imposed by the Golden Order over this land, and seize the moment to spread the power of Abundance across the world.
That was Seriel's plan.
It wasn't hard to understand and sounded simple enough, but when it came to actually doing it... well...
It's not so easy to explain.
The first issue to tackle was Seriel's identity.
After all, showing up with Malenia to fight Radahn was more than a little absurd. If they didn't prepare ahead of time, who knew what kind of chaos would erupt the moment Lloyd brought her in?
Still, even if the situation was absurd, the solution turned out to be fairly straightforward.
From previous conversations, Lloyd had already heard from various sources that Jerren—the "Castellan" organizing the battle festival—was aligned with the Carian faction.
To break it down simply, he was once one of General Radahn's trusted aides and remained loyal to him.
Radahn, while known as the Starscourge General and a master of gravity sorceries, had a mother named Rennala and a sister named Ranni. He grew up in Caria Manor and was naturally aligned with the Carian faction—many of his subordinates were as well.
Even after the battle festival concluded and General Radahn was laid to rest, Jerren had planned to return to Caria to continue serving them.
So...
When he saw Lloyd holding Ranni's staff in one hand and a token from the Queen of the Full Moon in the other, with Malenia standing by his side, Jerren's mind momentarily blanked.
Seeing Jerren frozen in place, Lloyd assumed he didn't believe him and, after thinking for a moment, offered,
"Want me to bring Ranni over so she can explain it herself?"
It was about time for a soul supply anyway. He could bring her over for that—and let her see her brother while he was at it.
At those words, Jerren's eyes widened in alarm and he quickly waved his hands.
"No, no, there's no need for that..."
After shaking his head, his gaze shifted to the golden Malenia beside Lloyd. He paused, then spoke with a touch of emotion.
"To think the suffering that began with the Flower of Rot might end with the Flower of Abundance..."
"I still can't forgive what you've done. The scars left by the rot won't vanish. But if you can truly bring this suffering to an end, I'll cooperate with you and help organize this festival..."
He paused, then seemed to recall something and shook his head.
"The sacrificial battle ceremony... it brings back memories. It was General Radahn's favorite. A fitting way to send him off..."
"What's the sacrificial battle ceremony?" Lloyd asked.
"It's a battle rite offered to the Erdtree, but it was abolished during the reign of Radagon—the 'King Consort'—and all the Colosseums were shut down..."
"What's a Colosseum?"
"A Colosseum is..."
Caught off guard, Jerren and Lloyd began chatting.
Eventually, Jerren fled under the excuse of needing to organize the festival, and no matter how much Lloyd called after him, he didn't look back.
Why did people in the Lands Between always leave things half said?
Lloyd shook his head, but didn't dwell on it.
With that matter settled, the next issue was Millicent.
As mentioned before, since her rot wasn't being suppressed by the pure Unalloyed Gold Needle, she couldn't stray too far from Seriel.
Seriel had said that once the Blooming Ceremony was complete, Lloyd could return the needle to Millicent. After the Flower of Abundance fully bloomed, the Unalloyed Gold Needle's suppression and purification properties would improve.
Still, for now, Millicent couldn't leave Seriel's side.
In other words, if Lloyd was taking Seriel to the battle festival, Millicent would have to go too.
Even if that weren't the case, Millicent still wanted to join the fight as an aide. After everything Lloyd had done for her, and with no other talents to offer, this was the only way she could repay him.
But if she was going to participate, then her arm needed to be strengthened.
Millicent might have thought it was fine as-is, but Lloyd wasn't about to let his little flower suffer damage because of carelessness or laziness.
So over the next few days, Lloyd barely explored at all, devoting most of his time to studying her right arm.
And as for how he studied it...
Physical examinations, soul resonance, various treatments and adjustments...
Especially the examination of her right hand—it required careful, inch-by-inch caresses to detect any irregularities or lingering issues.
Under Lloyd's attentive care, Millicent's condition naturally improved.
And it wasn't just her right hand.
The wounds caused by the rot across her body, though still scarred and a little uneven to the touch, had generally improved under Lloyd's meticulous care. The skin no longer festered or ached, and while the texture remained slightly wrinkled, it was manageable.
Her torso, in particular, had improved significantly—thanks to ample nutrition, courtesy of a certain someone who always seemed to have grilled shrimp or meat on hand. She'd even put on a bit of weight and no longer looked as pale and frail as before.
But her petals had grown even redder than before. And when she noticed his hand approaching, instead of flinching or resisting like she used to, she instinctively leaned in closer. It was unexpectedly adorable.
...
While tending to this newly blooming crimson flower, Lloyd didn't neglect the other little piece of wood at his side.
Ever since her burns had started healing, whenever he had a break from helping Millicent with her arm, he'd ask Melina for her hand so he could continue her treatment. At first, she had hesitated, but after enough repetition, Lloyd no longer had to ask—whenever they were alone and she saw him approach, she would quietly start removing her gloves.
He'd cradle her hand in his palm and gently stroke it, letting his white soul energy spread out bit by bit, soothing the pain buried deep in the scars.
Unlike the first time, she didn't fall asleep anymore during treatment. Now, it was just a quiet routine of touching, applying medicine, and healing.
And the results were clear.
Thanks to Lloyd's efforts over the past days, most of the burns on Melina's delicate hands had faded. Her skin was now noticeably smoother and softer, and at this rate, full recovery wasn't far off.
However, during the healing process, Lloyd realized that her injuries weren't limited to her hands.
That didn't mean Melina's entire body was burned, though.
In truth, the burns on her hands were more like physical manifestations of the pain and death she had experienced last time. Had Lloyd chosen a destructive approach, he could have easily erased them.
But instead, he chose a gentler method—soothing the pain, gradually integrating it back into Melina herself.
As a result, once the burns on her hands were treated, more injuries started to appear on her arms as suppressed memories resurfaced.
And inevitably, once the burns on her arms were healed, new ones would appear elsewhere, spreading across her entire body.
From her hands, to her arms, and then...
Just like the path fire takes when it spreads.
But that wasn't the real problem.
The real issue was that, with Lloyd's method, treating hands was simple enough, and arms could be handled by rolling up her sleeves.
But after that—once the burns spread to deeper, more private areas...
Then treatment would become... complicated.
Though both Lloyd and Melina understood this, neither of them brought it up.
Lloyd simply figured he'd do what he could for now, and if Melina didn't want to continue, he'd stop.
As for Melina...
She wasn't resisting the treatment of her hands, and she was still okay with him treating her arms. But anything beyond that...
Well, that was hard to say.
...
After finishing Melina's hand treatment, Lloyd paused and asked if she wanted to join the Battle Festival.
Melina was silent for a moment, then gave a slight nod.
"All right."
She didn't know why she agreed.
But somehow, she couldn't bring herself to say no.
...
Meanwhile, in between helping those around him, Lloyd hadn't forgotten the tasks he'd picked up earlier.
One of them was restoring the soul of the Finger Maiden he had found at the Chapel of Anticipation.
After nurturing her for quite some time, her soul wasn't fully whole yet—but she had regained consciousness and could now communicate.
"I'm sorry I failed to guide you... it was my fault..."
"Thank you so much, Miss Melina, for carrying out the duties of a Finger Maiden in my absence..."
"But even so, I am still your Finger Maiden. And besides, you've been feeding me your soul bit by bit… If there's anything you need, or anything I can help with, please don't hesitate to ask..."
Looking at the apologetic Finger Maiden before him, Lloyd paused for a moment.
"Then eat up some more souls and get some rest. Once you're recovered, I'll shape a flesh body for you."
"When that time comes, whether you want to stay with me or go hang out with Roderika and the others, it's up to you. I'll call on you if I need you."
"Mm."
The Finger Maiden gave a small nod. After being fed some souls by Lloyd, she returned to his inventory and drifted back into slumber.
Aside from the Finger Maiden's soul, there was also the spirit of the wolf he had received from Latenna. Since its death was relatively recent, restoring it was easier.
Even though he'd obtained it later than the Finger Maiden's Spirit Ash, the restoration was completed first.
After completing the restoration, Lloyd followed through on his promise and began preparing a flesh body for it.
But then...
As he started shaping the body, Lloyd discovered a problem: the Crucible Fragment in his hand only seemed to store templates for humanoid creatures.
He hadn't noticed before, since he'd only ever crafted bodies and limbs for people. But now...
"Yeah, she's your Lobo."
Brushing off the wolf-eared girl who was trying to lick his face, Lloyd looked seriously at Latenna and defended himself.
"I told you before—I can't guarantee the body would be the same."
"And hey, you can walk on your own now, right? So you don't need to ride her anymore."
"Wait, no, you can still ride her... as long as you can get past the mental hurdle."
No, this wasn't just about a mismatched appearance—the entire race was different!
Forget anyone else—even Chaos couldn't keep a straight face after Lloyd said that, and the others looked just as conflicted.
Still, after some quick-talking, Lloyd managed to convince Latenna to accept this new Lobo.
...
Once they wrapped up everything and explored for a while longer, the day of the Battle Festival finally arrived.
As the horns sounded, warriors from across the Lands Between gathered at Redmane Castle.
There were so many people—it was the first time Lloyd had seen so many friendly NPCs at once, and he made sure to greet each of them.
Some were familiar to him, like Blaidd and the Warrior Jar, Alexander.
But many were strangers, like the masked Okina and the massive-horned "Tragoth" in a full Bull-Goat set.
And then, he spotted an unexpected face.
"...Patches?"
The man in the strange armor turned his head away.
Lloyd raised a brow.
"You really think I wouldn't recognize you just because you're wearing the Lapp's Set?"
After confirming Lloyd wasn't about to go berserk, Patches relaxed and looked over.
"Why are you here?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
Lloyd eyed him with suspicion.
"This festival's about taking down Starscourge Radahn. You do know that, right? You're not planning to dip out halfway, are you?"
It hadn't happened before—but knowing Patches, Lloyd figured he was definitely capable of something like that.
Patches visibly froze for a moment when he heard that.
But he didn't deny it.
"...Well, yeah, if things go south, of course I'm gonna run."
He admitted it easily, spreading his hands in a "what else would I do?" gesture.
"I mean, who wouldn't run when things look bad? Only an idiot stays."
Lloyd flipped him off with a middle finger.
After that friendly exchange, most of the festival's participants had arrived.
Then, Jerren stepped onto the platform and called out loudly.
"Champions, welcome!"
"The stars have aligned! The festival is nigh!"
"General Radahn, mightiest demigod of the Shattering, awaits you!"
"Champions, prepare for battle! Defeat the General, claim glory, and grab that Great Rune!"
"For the blooming of the Flower of Abundance, for the return of prosperity to this land, and for glory!"
"A celebration of war! The Radahn Festival!!"
With those words, a portal opened.
…
With a slight lurch of weightlessness, a battlefield ruin strewn with wreckage appeared before Lloyd.
At its center, a towering figure—giant-like in size—was gnawing on corpses.
Sensing their arrival, it slowly raised its head.
And at its neck... were two pitch-black fragments.
...
[Upto 20 chapters ahead for now]
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