Elden Ring:After the end

"Hahaha, Hahaha, I'll show you the power of our god! Hahaha. 

Laughing uncontrollably even as the cuts begin to tear his body apart and blood gushes out in heaps, Shabriri raises both hands towards the sky, more precisely towards the appearance of the God of Frantic Flame. 

Strangely the enchantment seems to react to her actions, causing the "Eye" to dilate and turn to look at Shabriri, who laughs even louder. 

"Are we going to leave him?"

"Not that I don't want to intervene, but... Just watch this. "

Gathering a moderate amount of mana in a few moments, Aldrich points his staff forward and releases a comet easily. 

The comet follows a beautiful straight line towards Shabriri, even leaving a bluish tail behind itself, combining the powerful force of a spell and the gentle beauty of an art in perfect harmony. 

Even with all those compliments, the comet starts to twist the closer it gets to Shabriri, almost as if affected by the gravity of another celestial object, and after a few seconds, it shoots off to the side. 

*Boom*

Ignoring the destruction caused by the comet, which was no small thing, Nepheli and Aldrich's eyes remain fixed on Shabriri, who continues with his actions.

Gradually the appearance of the Frenzied Flame was devoured by Shabriri, more precisely this one merged with Shabriri, causing her power to have several leaps forward. 

"Now... You will feel the power!"

...Aldrich pov... 

Fast, incredibly fast was Shabriri's movement augmented by the recent fusion. Of course, if compared to Malenia, Crazy Dance, it was nothing too serious... But it was still at a high level. 

"Dexterity against me?"

Watching in slow motion as the Najikaba's lunge approaches, I make the scythe disappear and in a flash of golden particles, the Moon Veil appears in my hands. 

Certainly the Lunar Veil catana is not solely for dexterity, but I'm not a samurai, so... Meh, I'm going to say it's legal to use it in this dexterity duel.

"Die, false lord. "

The speed of Shabriri's lunge increased several folds, though that doesn't stop me from hitting the underside of her blade with Lunar Veil and redirecting her lunge elsewhere.

Savoring the surprise that Shabriri must be feeling, I turn around without moving from the spot and with a kick I send him towards Nepheli. She doesn't hesitate for a second, she raises both axes into the air and brings them down with superhuman strength. 

*Booooom*

The ground tears apart, while lightning and gales spread out into the surroundings from the area where Nepheli's blow hit. It was so astonishing the blow that it even dragged me back a few steps, making it clear that she didn't hold back one bit. 

"Attentive, Aldrich, I didn't hit him... At last he managed to escape"

"That's why the anger?"

"Of course he did, he should take my blows head on, like a real man!"

Finishing speaking, Nepheli hits the ground out of anger and easily raises a cloud of dust, making me only able to sign at his tantrum. 

Finally calming down after acting like an angry child for a few seconds, Nepheli looks up to where Shabriri should be and then looks towards me. 

"Ehh, looks to me like she's run away, Aldrich."

"Only now you realize... Weren't you acting angry so that he would let his guard down?"

"In battle you must give your all, no matter who the enemy is, so I really was angry that he won't fight head on... But then why are you here, you know that he"

Patting Nepheli's bare shoulder, as she still wears the armor originating from the Wastelands, he pointed his finger forward and got her to look that way. 

From the darkness now restored by the disappearance of the illusion of the God of Frenzied Flame, dozens, hundreds, perhaps thousands of glowing yellow eyes appeared in the darkness, like predators in the night. 

They moved slowly and eerily, just as if something was pushing them forward, making their decrepit, broken bodies move against their will. 

"Well, I'll settle for quantity before quality. Now try the power of, Aghh, why are you stopping me, Aldrich!" 

"Obviously it's a human wave tactic to wear us down... Probably won't work too well with you though. Still let them handle it, I want to see the difference between soldiers and knights."

Finishing speaking to Nepheli, he pointed towards the bridge, where the camp troops had gathered under Sellen's command. 

Incredibly, Sellen seems to have the wood for commanding people, though the training is a bit too rigid... Don't tell me he's been reading books on tactics to understand what I had written in my notebook, maybe even politics and religion?". 

"What difference can it make? They all get knocked out with one cut, well maybe two if we consider the best knights"

"Enough difference that I'll have to see them live... You'll go to the front in the next round, Nepheli"

"I knew you'd understand me, now then... Go on men, show what you're made of!"

Regaining the sparkle in her eyes that she had lost when I stopped her from attacking those madmen, Nepheli puts away one of her axes and points the other forward.

Clearly it was signaled to initiate the attack, but no one moved from the place, they only moved their eyes from one side to the other and seemed to hesitate to act. 

"The front line will be composed of knights, soldiers as support in the openings of the formation and crossbowmen behind... Apprentices, attack at your own discretion"

"At your orders!"

"Go ahead, form lines, or do you wish to be trees?"

Under the shouts of those who were the squad leaders, the troops quickly formed up in front of us, thus avoiding being trapped on the bridge and occupying enough ground for a supply line. 

"Unbelievable, how did you get them to behave? Even the troops recently taken from the nobles..."

Holding Sellen's hands, just as if they were lifelong friends, Nepheli asks her about her secret. 

"One of the most interesting magics are those of transfiguration, the change from one form to another... A pity I was never talented in that area."

"How to transform someone into a tree?"

"Actually, Aldrich, that's one of the first steps. Too bad I'm not very good at that either, eventually that troublemaker ended up as a fleshy, crimson, screaming tree."

Acaso Sellen just confessed to me that she turned someone in the camp into a tree, but that backfired, and now there's a sentient flesh aberration there... She's crazy. 

"The results show it was effective, so I won't say anything. Now on the other hand, where did you get those... Apprentices from?"

Ignoring the uncontrolled shouting happening in front of us, the throws by Sellen, and Nepheli who has moved a few steps away from her, I asked her about what has caught my attention. 

"Apprentices? Oh, those materials... Don't get upset, they are servants, relatives or kin of those former nobles I lured with promises of revenge. They are future traitors, so why not put them to use?"

"Glup, Ehh, Aldrich... Can I go fight?"

"Go easy"

Giving the nod to Nepheli who seems to feel quite uncomfortable with Sellen, which is obvious, basically one is the prototypical hero and the other a crazy mage for advances, I glared at the crazy one. 

"She really didn't react one bit, she's a reliable ally, Aldrich"

"You were testing her"

"Certainly, but everything I said is true. Fear is a powerful way to impose order, plus I'm also short on experimental materials."