Far away, upon the Altus Plateau, within the royal capital of the Golden Order, Leyndell.
Morgott stood beside the throne, contemplating the current state of the Lands Between.
All of a sudden, he sensed something. He raised his head and looked toward the sky.
It was already night, yet beneath the Erdtree, everything was bathed in golden radiance, scarcely different from day.
Morgott's gaze pierced through the Erdtree's dazzling branches and reached the distant firmament.
The night sky appeared calm as ever, but to him, a crimson star hung high above, emitting an eerie, unnatural glow.
He frowned.
That was the Formless Mother. Why had She manifested once more among the stars today?
In the very next moment, Morgott received his answer.
Amid the star-strewn heavens, a beam of light tore through the stillness of the night.
It was a sun. A sun that had no place in the night sky.
Morgott saw it clearly. That sun appeared exactly where the crimson star resided, completely drowning out the Formless Mother's baleful glow.
Witnessing the entire process, his eyes widened in shock.
A sun… but why?
Was it Lucian?
The name that surfaced in his mind startled him. He shook his head repeatedly.
That was among the stars, and such power was far beyond anything Lucian could possibly wield.
Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
He refused to believe it.
Yet as he recalled the blood-red star being swallowed by the sun, a foreboding unease welled up within him. His hand tightened unconsciously around the armrest of the throne.
By the time he came back to himself, deep claw marks had already been carved into it.
Morgott stared at those marks, lost in thought.
—
The sun hung silently among the stars, announcing its arrival in a way beyond comprehension.
Its radiance cut through the darkness like a blade. Each pulse of light sent tremors across the Lands Between.
Its brilliance was so overwhelming that people instinctively raised their hands to shield their eyes, afraid to look directly at something so blinding.
Under this sudden illumination, all things appeared distorted, unreal, as though the very boundary of reality itself had been shaken by this sun.
As it continued to expand and collapse, the sun ultimately vanished from the night sky, as if all who lived in the Lands Between had shared the same dream.
When it was over, only the dimmed, no-longer-resplendent crimson star remained, hanging in the sky as proof that it had all truly happened.
This sun, which should never have appeared above the Lands Between, became a miracle spoken of in legend.
Poets and painters would sing of it in ages to come. Prophets glimpsed threads of fate within it and uttered their predictions.
In time, it came to be regarded as the omen of the coming "Age of the Sun."
—
Within the blood-soaked domain of the Mohgwyn Palace, the once boundless lake of cursed blood had dwindled to a thin layer, barely enough to cover a person's feet.
The cursed blood giants that had once been controlled by Mohg had vanished without a trace. He himself was left barely alive.
Mohg lay collapsed beside a rock. His body had nearly fallen apart, and under the influence of the sun's power, it could no longer regenerate as it once did.
After gazing directly at the sun in Lucian's hand, his eyes had been burned away in an instant.
Now, he could no longer see. He could only rely on his heightened senses and the presence of blood to perceive his surroundings.
This feeling was even more helpless than the days he had once spent in the dark sewers beneath Leyndell.
Mohg had completely lost himself. His body trembled as his mind teetered on the brink of collapse.
Never in his life had he come so close to death as he had just now.
The shadows of his childhood surged back, and in this moment, he was as powerless as a child once more.
That light had not even needed to touch him. Merely drawing near had caused his flesh and blood to evaporate instantly, leaving him utterly incapable of resistance.
Only now did Mohg come back to his senses.
He… was still alive?
Amid his terror, a warmth enveloped him. Gradually, he calmed down, returning to himself.
He could feel that he was within the embrace of the Formless Mother. All unease was soothed.
The Formless Mother had no limbs that could truly be called arms. If one had to describe it, Mohg was merely submerged within a mass of flesh and blood.
And yet he knew.
His Mother was embracing him. Embracing her worthless child.
He understood now. It was Mother's power that had saved him from that fatal blow.
Yes… Mother was still by his side.
Sensing that, beyond this embrace, Lucian and the others were continuing their assault against him and his Mother, fury surged within Mohg.
His shattered body began to repair itself, though his eyes never regenerated.
It didn't matter. Those golden eyes had always been a symbol of the heritage he despised.
From his empty sockets, thorn-like growths of blood emerged, piercing through the useless remains of his eyeballs.
Those golden irises, inherited from his lineage as a demigod, were utterly destroyed, severing him from his past, as if he had been reborn.
Mohg drew in a deep breath and let out a howl toward the sky, something between a cry and a roar, as if venting all the unwillingness and rage within his chest.
The accursed child born of Queen Marika the Eternal was dead.
What remained was Mohg, the Lord of Blood of Mohgwyn—Mother's child.
As long as Mother was by his side, he was invincible.
—
Lucian's expression was grave as he condensed a spear of sunlight in his hand and hurled it forward.
Under the illumination of the sun's power, the Formless Mother's presence was forced into visibility, her form briefly revealed.
It appeared as nothing more than a surging mass of flesh and blood, constantly writhing and churning, with nothing outwardly divine about it.
And yet, this very mass of flesh effortlessly blocked Lucian's sunlight spear, sacrificing only a portion of its body to do so.
Seeing the invisible outline that layered itself around Mohg, enclosing him completely, Lucian felt a chill run down his spine.
Before his previous, devastating attack which was enhanced to its limit could fully erupt, the Formless Mother had intervened once again.
It was precisely because of her interference that he had failed to eliminate Mohg while the latter had lost his will to fight.
Lucian could feel it clearly. The power he had unleashed had been devoured by the Formless Mother.
That sun had ultimately exploded among the stars.
Using the spatial fracture opened through Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear, the Formless Mother had somehow shifted the sun away from the Lands Between.
But she clearly had no time to do more. Relocating it had already been the limit of what she could manage.
That sun, amplified to an extreme degree, must have inflicted irreversible damage upon her.
Lucian stared at the Formless Mother as she enveloped Mohg.
At this moment, her once discernible outline had grown faint and unstable, as though she could barely maintain her form.
If even this fragment, merely brushed by the aftermath, was in such a state, what condition must her true body be in after taking that attack head-on?
For the sake of a foster child she had picked up in the Lands Between, she had gone this far?
Then again, beings like Outer Gods could not be judged by human logic.
Right now, what mattered was how to deal with Mohg.
—
At this moment, Mohg had already risen to his feet once more.
Lucian began releasing his magic power at a frantic rate, converting it into the power of the sun.
At present, only the sun's power could effectively counter the Formless Mother, forcing Her into visibility and dealing any real damage.
Beside him, Melina abandoned her black flame. Instead, she wreathed her short blade in golden fire and launched a rapid series of slashes.
Asimi also pushed herself to the limit, unleashing her strongest attacks.
Yet all of it achieved very little.
The Formless Mother's defense was far too resilient. Minor attacks were simply ignored, while stronger ones were redirected to Her true body among the stars.
At the same time, She continued to draw upon the rift opened by Mohg's sacred spear, emerging from the void again and again, restoring Her mass while shielding him.
No matter how Lucian and the others attacked, they could not break through the barrier formed by the Formless Mother. They could only watch as Mohg continued to change.
Looking at Mohg, whose eye sockets had sprouted thorny growths of blood, Lucian felt something was off.
Something within Mohg had changed.
The resurrected Lord of Blood raised the Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear. A massive crimson Great Rune materialized before him.
In the next instant, all the remaining cursed blood within Mohgwyn Palace surged toward the spear.
"Not enough… still not enough…"
"People of the dynasty, become my strength!"
"As promised, I will carry your will and build a dynasty that belongs to us alone!"
"So give me your blood!"
With a furious roar, Mohg raised the spear high once more.
Along the cliffside paths, the approach to the audience grounds, and within the mausoleum of the dynasty, every being that had been granted cursed blood felt the call.
Whether living or dead, all sensed that their king had need of them.
One after another, they tore open their own bodies, letting the cursed blood flow freely, crying out for the glorious dynasty yet to come—Mohgwyn.
A storm of blood-mist surged forth, carrying their power to Mohg.
The cursed blood gathered continuously upon the raised spear, then flowed through it, coming into contact with the power of the Formless Mother.
Lucian's expression grew more serious.
Was this meant to restore Her injuries?
No… that amount of cursed blood could never heal damage on that scale.
Compared to the stars themselves, what did this blood amount to?
Whatever Mohg and the Formless Mother intended, there was nothing he could do to interrupt it. With Her protection surrounding him, breaking through was impossible.
Lucian gave up on trying to breach the barrier and instead began restoring himself.
Experience told him one thing clearly: Mohg was entering a major transformation. A third phase was coming.
If this turned into something like a "limit-break Mohg" or "god-form Mohg," things would become far more troublesome.
What frustrated him most was how perfectly the Formless Mother protected Mohg. With that level of defense and the ability to shift attacks away, even using that trump card again might not work.
After drinking two flasks of cerulean tears, Lucian began stacking enhancement effects on himself one after another.
The sense of danger only grew stronger, urging him to move faster.
Melina once again summoned a small Erdtree, preparing for the battle to come.
Lucian glanced at her, intending to tell her to retreat.
But then he reconsidered. With the Formless Mother interfering, was there anywhere in Mohgwyn Palace that could truly be called safe?
"Melina, stay close to me. I'll protect you."
She nodded, her earlier panic settling into calm.
"…Alright."
At last, enough cursed blood had gathered upon the sacred spear.
That blood began to pour into the void, entering the bridge between the Lands Between and the star-bound domain where the Formless Mother resided.
In the next moment, an indescribably heavy, ancient presence descended, so overwhelming that merely sensing it made one's body and mind tremble.
The cursed blood became a vessel, carrying the Formless Mother's power before returning once more.
That blood, now imbued with Her essence, dripped down through the air and fell upon the crimson Great Rune before Mohg.
As it was bathed in the blood, the Great Rune slowly dissolved, merging with it before sinking into Mohg's body.
Only then did he begin to absorb the immense power contained within.
Mohg spread his wings once more.
His black wings had already been destroyed in the earlier battle, leaving behind only charred skeletal remains.
Now, blood covered them, forming vast, bat-like wings of crimson. His body swelled, growing more imposing.
The Omen horns upon him twisted and grew, intertwining with the thorned blood growths to form a grotesque crown upon his head.
He had received the Formless Mother's gift.
A fragment of Her divine essence.
And at this moment, the Great Rune that had been reconstructed with Her aid was finally his to command.
Now, he was a true Lord of Blood, no longer merely a demigod, but something that had stepped beyond that realm, into the domain of 'kings'.
The Formless Mother had granted him both the courage to continue this battle and the power to annihilate his enemies.
With Mohg's rebirth complete, the barrier surrounding him gradually faded.
His Mother released her embrace. In Her judgment, Mohg now possessed the strength to face the world on his own.
Mohg exhaled slowly, a stream of blood-mist leaving his lips.
"Lucian… all of this leaves me with complicated feelings."
"If not for you, I might never have come to truly understand Mother's will as I have today."
"In the past, I was always fixated on the identity I was given—abandoned, despised…"
"Even in hatred, I could never forget that I was born of Queen Marika."
"But now, I have severed that connection completely."
"I have you to thank for killing who I once was."
"So allow me to grant you an honorable death."
His expression was calm as he declared Lucian's fate.
At this point, Mohg's focus rested solely on Lucian.
With his rebirth, all previous grudges had been cast aside.
Asimi, who had once offended him, no longer mattered. Melina, another child of Marika, no longer mattered either.
Only Lucian remained.
He had offended Mother. He had to be eradicated.
Mohg raised his spear and swung it.
Lucian immediately tensed, bracing himself for the attack.
Yet no power came from the weapon. No bloodflame, no cursed blood, nothing at all.
It looked almost as if Mohg had simply lashed out in empty anger.
But Lucian did not dare underestimate it. The more incomprehensible an attack was, the harder it was to defend against.
A few seconds passed.
Then, as Lucian remained on guard, he suddenly felt something wrong within his body.
A strange weakness overtook him.
In the next instant.
A blood-soaked arm burst out from his chest.