"Marika's Tits…"
Ray swears, gripping the sides of his head in worry. The new skill (Frenzy-Touched) hanging above his head like a guillotine.
"This is bad, really bad… I need to get rid of this as soon as possible. But what can I do to get rid of a god's influence?... I could ask the Ancient One for help… No, If I let the flame of frenzy get into the marvel world…"
Ray shivers in fear, picturing the mad titan with a head of madness flames and swinging around the infinity gauntlet, burning the entire universe to ash.
Ray takes a few deep breaths to calm his raging heart before turning the jeep around and heading back to the Agheel lake south grace. He returns the vehicle to his inventory and sits down, his head in his hands as he brainstorms a way out of his predicament.
Fortunately, Melina was keeping an eye on her champion. She sees his dejected visage and manifests next him, worry etched in her facial features.
"Tarnished? What ails you, my champion?"
Ray looks up at her, a look of desperation clearly written on his face.
"Melina… The god of frenzy has his eyes on me. I felt him place something within my very soul… I need help desperately."
Melina's eye widens drastically as she places her hand on his arm. Her expression shifts from shock to blinding anger when she senses the seed of chaos within her champion's heart. She reaches into her cloak and takes out an ornate seal depicting the Erdtree and kneels next to him, her hands clasped around the seal.
"By the grace of the golden order, may you bask in the glow of the Erdtree."
A golden light envelops Ray as Melina casts Blessing's Boon on him. The panic and fear in his heart slowly fades as the warm light suffuses into his body.
The seed of frenzy reacts violently to the divine intrusion, flaring out and causing Ray to stagger and fall to the ground, a flicker of yellow flame appearing in his eyes as he struggles to remain in control of his body.
Melina grits her teeth as she feels the flames of frenzy push against her magic. A determined glint lights in her eyes as she sees the image of Vyke superimposed over her new champion.
"Never again… Never again will you take what is mine… I call upon you, O great Erdtree. Shine your light upon us and banish the darkness."
With a burst of divine magic, a small Erdtree blooms overtop the site of grace, bathing lower Limgrave in golden light. An inhuman screech echoes through the clearing as the seed of frenzy dissolves in the blinding light, freeing Ray from its master's clutches.
Once the light returns to normal, Ray rubs his eyes and looks at Melina, noticing her apparent fatigue.
"The seed of Frenzy is gone. You have saved me for a second time, Melina…"
Melina smiles tiredly. "Tis nothing, my champion. I am your maiden, and as such, your burdens are mine to bear."
Ray inches forward and places his hand upon hers, looking deep into her eye.
"We each carry the burdens of the other, so that we may never fall to darkness. Your burdens rest upon my shoulders as well. I will recite my oath to you one more time… Melina, I will take you to the foot of the Erdtree and beyond. I will be your knight, your protector, your everlasting guardian. Even if the Erdtree itself burns to ash and the light of the golden order fades into darkness. If such a time comes to pass, please accept my extended hand, as I have yours."
Melina stares into the eyes of her tarnished, a faint blush dusting her cheeks before she gets a better grip on her emotions.
"If that time comes, I shall accept your accord… Until then, continue your path towards the fallen fortress to the south. Once you defeat the leader of the rebellion, I should have sufficiently recovered. Call upon me at a site of grace and I shall reward you with access to the roundtable hold. I would do so at this moment, but my strength has been thoroughly drained."
Ray shakes his head and smiles at her. "Rest well, Melina. Castle Morne shall soon be cleansed of the traitorous misbegotten."
Melina nods, her figure disappearing as she always does. Ray slowly gets up and looks at the grace, finding a small Erdtree in its place. At the base of the tree is an item pickup, the purple hue being quite eye-catching.
Ray walks forward and picks up the item, finding it to be a golden seed.
'Hmmmm… I wonder if Melina can make me like twenty of these so I can get a head start on my flask uses…'
Ray chuckles to himself and shakes his head before heading back down the road towards the bridge of sacrifice.
…
Arriving at the bridge of sacrifice upon Torrent, Ray stops a good distance away as he is expecting to see a contingent of soldiers from Castle Morne manning a large ballista. Instead, he finds a hastily made barricade being overrun by a tide of scaly misbegotten.
The soldiers are holding the line for now, but the harassment of the flying misbegotten archers alongside the aggressive waves of ground forces slamming into the fortifications is whittling down their numbers at a rapid pace.
Ray takes out his trusty crossbow and rides Torrent onto the bridge whilst picking off the flying archers with uncanny accuracy. The barrage of arrows doesn't go unnoticed as the misbegotten archers start to focus fire on his location, ignoring the wounded soldiers.
Ray is forced to unsummon Torrent and hide behind a wooden stockade as his location is pelted with arrows. He doesn't let the threat of getting hit stop him from returning fire, each shot from his crossbow taking another combatant out of the sky.
He does get hit a few times in the arms and legs, but the liberal use of his crimson flask keeps him topped up on health.
The soldiers, noticing that the misbegotten are distracted, begin opening fire with their crossbows as well, the concentrated volleys taking out the majority of the fliers and opening up a chance for a counter attack.
A Godrick knight with a spear and tower shield screams a war cry and points towards the enemy, a tide of soldiers answering his call and storming past the fortifications into melee combat.
Once Ray has finished wiping out the remaining archers, He runs towards the fortifications and leaps into the fray, the Bloodhound's Fang on his shoulder. And like a whirling dervish, He begins massacring any misbegotten in his path, multiple foes being sliced apart with each swing.
Ray relishes in the carnage of war throughout the night, only stopping once the last enemy is felled and the golden rays of the sun shine down upon the lands between once more.
Only a few of the soldiers remain standing, the rest having either dissolved into runes or are far too injured to fight anymore. The leading godrick knight limps his way towards Ray, his shield discarded and his spear now nothing more than a glorified crutch.
"Warrior of Kaiden… Thank you for your assistance. We would not have held much longer without your aid."
Ray looks down, realizing that he is still wearing the full Kaiden armor set. He mentally shrugs, not bothering to clear up the misunderstanding.
"I normally charge for my work… But for these traitorous misbegotten, I will make an exception. I take it that Castle Morne has been overrun?"
The knight nods his head solemnly. "Yes, the castle has fallen to these ungrateful beasts. They may have been slaves but at least they were well fed. But what do you expect of beings birthed from the forbidden crucible?..."
Ray grimaces behind his helmet but manages to not let his displeasure show.
"What shall you do now? Will you rally the remaining soldiers and make a push towards Castle Morne? Or are you going to let fear cloud your integrity?"
The knight grips the haft of his spear with such force that the wood shatters.
"I swore an oath to the golden order that I would serve and protect until my final breath. I will not allow these traitors to conquer our lands…"
The knight turns towards the remaining soldiers.
"Men!!! We will not be defeated so easily. We will not bow to slaves. We will fight until the golden order shines upon the weeping peninsula once more!!! Are you with me?"
"AHHHHH!!!"
The remaining soldiers scream in affirmation, their faith standing strong. The knight turns back to Ray.
"We will set up camp here, draw reinforcements from lower Limgrave, then stage an assault on the castle. It will take some time, but I hope you will aid us in this quest."
Ray nods his head. "When that day comes, you shall have my blade. May the golden order prevail."
The knight salutes. "May the golden order prevail."
The soldiers gather at the barricade, salvaging discarded equipment and repairing their fortifications. Ray turns towards the road ahead and summons Torrent, hoping that he is not too late to save a certain damsel in distress.
...
(A/N) I'm lazy and haven't written in a while. sorry for the short chapter but I feel that this is a good place to end the chapter.