[Lord of Lands Between]: 1.
[Lord of Lands Between]: Hmm? I assumed the Grand Witch herself would be acting on this retrieval task — I didn't expect it to be her child doing the work.
[Lord of Lands Between]: How admirable. To have such an exceptional heir... it puts My own children to shame.
Right as Shin was achieving a one-sided, crushing advantage over Kars, Marika — who had been quiet for an entire month — finally reappeared in the group chat.
[Moon Princess]: Oh my, Lady Marika, long time no see~
[Moon Princess]: A whole month without a word — have you finished what you were working on?
[Lord of Lands Between]: Not entirely. I've only activated the contingency I prepared in the past. There is still a great deal of guidance needed going forward. I'm merely checking in on the chat for a moment.
[Lord of Lands Between]: Three C-rank basic tasks this cycle — I'm not worried about whether you'll complete them... but sigh. In My current state, I can no longer carry out group tasks Myself, and there is no one I trust enough to entrust it to. In that regard, the Grand Witch truly does make Me envious — at least she has someone she can rely on.
From Marika's words, it was clear the shattering of the Ring and her sealing within the Erdtree by the Two Fingers had happened within the last few years.
That did answer one question Shin had been sitting on — how had the Marika sealed inside the Erdtree completed eight tasks in the first place? Had she been going full Radagon mode to pull that off?
[Moon Princess]: With so many children, Lady Marika — really none that you could trust?
[Lord of Lands Between]: There was one, once. The one I once considered My successor — the finest and most perfect of all My children.
[Lord of Lands Between]: But he is no longer with Us... I had once thought of having him do as the Grand Witch's child does — traveling through the worlds via group tasks to forge himself.
Marika was speaking of Prince Godwyn — the firstborn demigod, born of her and the first Elden Lord Godfrey.
The conspiracy of the Night of the Black Knives had taken the prince's life, setting off Marika's grief-mad destruction of the Elden Ring and the beginning of the Lands Between's collapse into chaos.
The true instigator behind the Night of the Black Knives was a matter of much debate — some said it was Ranni, others said it was Marika herself.
But whatever the truth, the grief Marika had felt at her firstborn's death could not have been feigned.
[Moon Princess]: Oh.
[Moon Princess]: I'm sorry, Lady Marika — I didn't mean to bring that up.
[Lord of Lands Between]: Ha, it's nothing. Consider it the idle lament of a mother who failed her child.
[Lord of Lands Between]: @Spreading Witch Factors (Temp Account) — child, take care of yourself. From what I've observed, your strength should be more than sufficient for a C-rank task — but if danger arises, retreat at once.
[Lord of Lands Between]: I don't know why the Grand Witch is unable to act herself, but I have no doubt she would never wish to see you come to harm. If you need anything, say so openly — We will do what We can to look after you.
Perhaps touched by something close to home, Marika offered Shin her quiet concern. After two group livestreams, she had gotten a fair sense of who he was.
Had her firstborn not met with that fate, perhaps she too would have had the chance to see him cut a brilliant figure across the worlds.
[Spreading Witch Factors (Temp Account)]: Thank you for your concern, Lady Marika.
For the record — that line was not sent by Shin.
[Spreading Witch Factors (Temp Account)]: Shaya, did you see what Lady Marika wrote?
[Spreading Witch Factors (Temp Account)]: Take care of yourself out there. You're my one and only child — you wouldn't want your mother to end up a widow at such a young age, would you?
[Spreading Witch Factors (Temp Account)]: Sigh... if something happened to you, I genuinely don't know what I'd do. In that sense, Lady Marika is truly remarkable — to lose the child most precious to her and still hold herself together. I don't think I could manage that.
Shin: ?
Shin — still holding Kars pinned to the ground with one hand — sent a question mark.
Setting aside the question of whether Marika had actually kept her composure after Godwyn's death... mother, are you perhaps using the wrong word here?
Unless Shin was misremembering, "widow" referred to someone who had lost a spouse, not a child.
"Ahem..."
Outside the chat — while the Grand Witch was engaged in that heavy conversation about losing a child with Marika — the atmosphere between Wamuu and Kars on their end had its own tragic quality.
After all, Wamuu was currently facing the prospect of losing someone who was, in all but name, a father.
"Cough... cough... release Lord Kars... if you have the nerve, step over my corpse first..."
Wamuu coughed blood. The kick Shin had landed on him hadn't been pure physical force — it had carried ripple energy too, leaving him grievously wounded in an instant.
He could not understand how things had come to this — from the moment this young man who appeared to be of their own kind had appeared.
No — it was more than the same kind by now. After all, neither the Clan of Darkness nor the evolved Pillar Men could use ripple.
Wamuu didn't understand how Shin had managed it. But one thing was not difficult to understand at all.
That was the fact that this young man had gone further than even a genius like Lord Kars —
With no more restraint, Shin let the Ice Mode and ripple energy combine and amplify one another. Kars's body disintegrated completely, and within moments it had crumbled to ash and scattered.
[System Notice: Human non-humanization trait · Pillar Man (Bone) — retrieved.]
[System Notice: Minimum retrieval quota for non-humanization traits met. 1,500-point task reward has been disbursed. Additional points available for continued retrieval.]
The intangible shimmer of light was drawn into the group chat system. At the same moment, the eyeball portion of the Saint's Corpse rolled out from the ashes of what had been Kars's skull and came to rest at Shin's feet. He bent down and picked it up.
Good. Things were moving along more smoothly than he had expected.
"I was only taking revenge, Wamuu."
"I don't know how much Kars told you — but before we became Pillar Men, we were members of the Clan of Darkness. And the Clan of Darkness was wiped out at Kars's hands."
"Your parents were among them."
"Knowing that — do you still want to honor him, and keep fighting against us?"
Shin's intention toward Wamuu was persuasion — his task was already complete, after all.
As one of the few remaining of the same kind left in this world, if there was any chance of it, Shin wanted to give Wamuu a way forward.
Wamuu had a great deal of human blood on his hands as well — but his position was more that of a blade wielded by Kars than a will of his own.
Much like a soldier faithfully carrying out orders from above — or like Rudolf von Stroheim, who was a friend to young JoJo despite being on opposing sides.
To be continued…