Yet he was the true scion of gold, a descendant of Godfrey the First Elden Lord, the rightful heir of the Golden Order Dynasty, and now he had been abandoned by both the Two Fingers and the dynasty itself.
Endless resentment spread through Godrick's heart, impossible to hold back.
All those so called royal manners had long since been thrown aside. He could no longer care about any of that.
Nolan, who had just come to a stop, suddenly burst forward again, springing back like a heavy shot launched from a siege engine.
Boom!
The Claymore smashed the Greatshield aside.
Hit by that brutal impact, the Demigod staggered, then was sent flying backward.
Nolan pressed after him. Godrick swung his Greataxe while beating the wings behind his back.
The shockwave from the clash between the Claymore and the Greataxe made the air buzz and tremble.
And in the middle of that violent exchange, Godrick not only refused to give ground, he even used the force of it to slowly rise into the air.
He was actually flying.
Like a raptor soaring across the sky, he looked imposing and untouchable.
"How tiny are all creatures beneath gold!"
Godrick slowly spread his arms, every muscle drawn tight as though limitless power were about to burst free.
He gripped the giant axe blazing with golden light and raised it high overhead, the edge gleaming with a cold, razor sharp sheen.
At the same time, all kinds of weapons surrounded him, swords, halberds, bows, crossbows, and staves. Even that hideous Crayfish head lifted with the rest.
With his whole body stretched open like this, Godrick resembled a gigantic Kindred of Rot in the midst of a pious pilgrimage.
And yet those countless disorderly arms added no majesty at all. They only made him look grotesque and revolting.
They flailed in every direction, as if exposing the confusion and madness buried deep inside their master.
"Ancestors, bear witness!"
Godrick roared himself hoarse, his voice echoing through the empty space.
But what exactly did he want his ancestors to witness?
Did he want them to see how a noble descendant had fallen into such a hideous monster?
Nolan quietly watched that twisted, warped figure. He did not voice the mockery on his mind. He only let out a faint sigh.
"Then let me see the power of a Lord."
Godrick froze for an instant when he heard that.
He knew perfectly well how ugly he looked.
He had thought Nolan would ridicule and demean him without restraint, yet instead he heard words that almost seemed to acknowledge his place as a Lord.
A strange feeling surged up in his chest, leaving him momentarily at a loss.
Nolan did not despise this descendant of the gods.
Even knowing he was powerless, he had never stopped struggling. That was the golden scion called Godrick.
But reality was cruel.
When the burden on your shoulders is too heavy, and your strength cannot match it, this is what you become.
At first, Nolan had even thought about changing bodies. Even when your power falls short, even when the words coming out of your mouth are thin and empty, the heart still cannot help wanting to do something.
The difference was that Nolan had found a path, while Godrick never had.
"And now you beg for forgiveness? Too late!"
Godrick's eyes went wide with fury. He viciously lowered his head and let out a deep growl from his throat.
The golden Greataxe, the Claymore, the long Halberd, the bow, the crossbow, the staff, the holy sigil, even the Crayfish head and the Jar Cannon, not one of them was idle.
Storms, arrows, sorceries, incantations, water jets, and cannonballs all came pouring down at once.
This was the proper way to use Grafted attacks. If quality fell short, then quantity would make up for it.
With that kind of full coverage firepower, anyone on the same level would have no chance to struggle against a monster like this.
In the blink of an eye, Nolan's entire field of vision was swallowed by a dazzling flood of light.
Brutal physical force and frenzied magical attacks tangled together. Even Thops's Barrier was completely useless now.
He could only dodge.
Then came a deafening explosion.
The ground shook violently and burst apart, as though struck by a meteor from the heavens, blasting open a massive crater.
With a string of Bloodhound's Steps, Nolan flashed dozens of meters away in an instant.
Godrick's view was blocked by his own attack.
The currents swirling around that massive axe began to swell violently, as if a raging storm were about to break loose.
As the storm skill activated, the surrounding dust was blown clean away, and the blurred outlines of everything around them snapped back into sharp clarity.
His pupils suddenly tightened.
Nolan had flown up as well. Those broad membranous wings made him look like a juvenile Flying Dragon.
He had never heard of a Flying Dragon taking human form, and how had a Flying Dragon gotten mixed up with the Ancient Dragons in the first place?
It was not just Godrick who was baffled. Anyone else seeing this would probably have been just as confused.
Before Godrick could gather his thoughts, Nolan was already diving straight at him.
He looked leaner and slighter than the golden scion, but that only made the contrast with his agility all the more striking.
In that instant, Godrick reacted at once. He raised his great axe and swept it sideways, kicking up a violent blast of wind.
A thunderous whoosh tore through the air as the axe passed right over Nolan's head with savage force.
The distance between them was almost nothing. A margin that small would have been enough to take Nolan's head clean off.
But that tiny gap became an impossible distance in that moment, as Nolan suddenly ducked forward and shot ahead.
A cold flash streaked past. The Claymore in his hand, together with the blade condensed from Magical Power, slashed across Godrick's bloated body and tore open two bloody wounds.
In an instant, the two crossed past each other, then split apart in opposite directions.
Nolan kept rushing forward, then turned neatly in midair to steady himself before whipping back around and launching another high speed charge.
Dragon Dance!
Before Godrick could even think, Nolan was already driving forward, spinning as he cut again and again.
The Claymore in his hand whirled through the air, turning into a storm of fierce sword shadows that hacked toward Godrick.
The charging strikes came one after another in repeated bursts, fast and relentless like a squall, too quick for the eye to follow.
Faced with that sudden barrage, dense as falling rain, Godrick's massive body had little hope of dodging.
Left with no other choice, he raised his weapon and shield to block.
Bang bang bang!!
Every impact came with sparks and blood.
Magical Power and steel crashed together violently, and the force of it shattered the surrounding air into raging shockwaves that blasted outward in every direction.
In speed, strength, and Magical Power alike, Nolan showed power that clearly surpassed Godrick.