Chapter 14 The full picture.

Sitting down at the café I can feel the gazes of the entities within my soul, Sensing that they want to talk I Will to summon them out of my soul so we could talk, I ask Miquella to create another perception Barrier. 

Taking a sip from a cup of coffee and a bite of the sandwich in front of me I look up from my sight line to see one of the most cutest scenes I didn't expect to see occur.

In the middle of the table is the full assortment of the Demi-god family in Chibi form, equal in size to around the size of Ranni's Doll but still in their normal appearance, each person who had a great rune is there just in a smaller form in illusionary chairs sitting in an arch facing towards me.

From left to right its;

Lunar princess Ranni, who is depicted in her snow witch outfit and semi ghost like face.

Praetor Rykard, Who looks like a red haired Godfrey in amber coloured robes, behind him I can see a dark ripped cape that actually has part of the Elden ring symbol visible from where it was ripped.

General Radahn, sitting not on a Throne but on the table surface due to his size but under his arm Leonard is visible being cradled by the Mightiest of the demi-gods.

Next would be the Twins Miquella and Melania, their thrones close together as they can be and its visible that Melania is ready for combat since due to who is next to her throne.

Mohg sits on his seat as if its the first time he's sat on something that could both support him and isn't painful to sit on, he waits and watches, he's done that for a long time and he's one patient being.

Next to Mohg is his Omen Brother Morgott and ever the sourpuss he face depicts he is not happy at all, was he ever happy, I'll never know.

Lastly I would have expected Godrick the Golden with his many arms and legs to make an appearance as if a creepy spider on the table top to claim a Thone but instead its being occupied by what seems to be a black haired mermaid which is creeping the lot out.

Sipping my coffee again I look at the last member and make an assumption, the appearance of the black mermaid actually keeps the demi-gods quiet since they don't know the entity but I do.

"You can stop playing dead Godwyn, also aren't you missing some people ?"

My words cause the collection to go wide eye especially the twin faced princess.

The mermaid which was as stiff as a corpse flops to the side and lets out a creepy laugh before speaking with a voice that sounds like their Drowning at the same time.

"You knew, I though none would recognise this form."

Eyeing the first Demi-god as I munch on the sandwich before shrugging lightly "well I've seen your corpse and its a mermaid for some reason, so I connected the dots."

Godwyn just nods understanding.

Miquella is the first to regain from the shock, he even stands up and charges his brother for a Hug, once hugging him he speaks. "Brother, is it really you Brother, I though you died during the night of the black knifes!"

The mention of the night causes two of the demi-gods to flinch, but quickly they all start to talk to their long dead brother/Step brother.

Finishing the rest of my food as they talk, i speak when my mouth is empty and stomach full. "I could answer Miquella's question about the Black knife night for you since I'm guessing only me and one other person knows the full story, but it would be wiser if it was left off the table."

I get the feeling from Ranni that if she could sweat she would be sweating heavily right now.

"If your not gonna tell us why did you summon us here." I see Rykard say from his seat in a calculative pose with his fingers interlaced to form an arch.

Sipping my coffee is just smile.

"Well, I'm not opposed to telling you lot since its history but I have other more important reasons, first of all is to introduce your family who have been branded as heretics to you, who I think you don't really got to meet since we can all agree Marika is not the best mother/Father."

My words cause confusion in all the Demi-gods but their attention is grabbed when a pair of thrones appear at the ends of the arch of thrones, Sitting in one next to Godwyn is the lanky form of Messmer wielding his spear and accompanied by his pair of snakes in red flowing robes, Next to Ranni is someone only probably Ranni and Morgott would recognise, Melina.

The woman endorsed in beige robes just sits in her Thone silently watching everyone with only one eye just like her step-brothers Mogh and Messmer.

The appearance of Messmer isn't a surprise to most of the demi gods but since no one recognises Melina her appearance is confusing, But since she stays silent they just have a curious glance at her.

"Now that your all here and since I don't know how much you all know I'll tell you all some things that I've come to realise, First of all, I killed each of you besides three of you, mainly because both of them were already dead and one sacrificed themselves for the next age but regardless, I need everyone on board while in this world, since I know if your left to your own devices it would create a shattering scenario in my soul."

I drink from my coffee to let the statement sink in.

the first to speak is Rykard, "I can understand the need for co-operation but with your position couldn't you just force us to co-operate like how you pulled out her into these minute forms."

Giving Rykard a leer over my coffee I set it down.

"When I figured out that Miquella wasn't the dominant force in this situation I came to a realization, with the power balance If I forced you to work with me, none of you besides Melina, Godwyn and maybe Messmer would help me fully, also since I know the story of everyone here I can easily determine the 3 people would fight me directly, and the other 3 who would scheme behind my back, waiting to stab me where it hurts" I say as pointing at Radahn, Morgott and Mohg, in the first trio then at Ranni, Miquella and Rykard in the second.

My words and finger pointing at the demi-gods make them scowl for those who would fight and flinch for those who are known betrayers, Malenia kind of joined the direct fighters in scowling when I pointed at Miquella.

To be honest I never think the Demi-gods would work together without a overwhelming force like Marika who had Maliketh to hold them back.

Godwyn raises his arm to catch my attention, "Why do you think I wouldn't fight you on this."

looking at the mermaid again, "Well for one your no longer a rotting giant corpse spreading death root as well as those who live in death like a plague in the land between, Secondly your known for being quite amicable so I think your not gonna really be a problem since this situation kind of revives you even if not in a perfect state."

my words catch the attention of them but Goldwyn's eyes open in confusion. "How? I should be dead due to the black knife empowered with the rune of death."

Sipping from the coffee I'm silent before placing my cup down, I eye the expressions of the demi-gods who all have expressions that are curious to my answer. 

Tapping the table I make the rune of Death appear on the table in front of the Demi-gods, it looks like an ulcerated T with a curved top bar.

"you were killed with a weapon empowered with a 'Fragment' of the rune of death, not the rune of death directly, it killed your soul but not your body, that's why undeath became a thing since it undeath in the lands between was just death of the soul but the body was still alive." my word make the Demi-gods seems to come to a realization with this.

"Since I have access to the Rune of the Unborn powered up by Morgott's, Godrick's and Miquella's rune it allows me to reconstitute your soul using your semi living body as the frame work, ergo fixed soul but unfixable body due to its twisted form from undeath"

The statement that the Great runes just have the power to revive the semi-dead if needed causes some of the Demi-gods to eyes widen in shock, by looking at them I come to a confusing and annoying realization.

"You lot really didn't understand the power of the great runes you each had did you."

I let those words out but it causes the shard bearers to act confused by what I meant.

"Hell that explains why you let Godrick have the second most powerful rune, it didn't appear powerful in comparison to the others but it only works when in tandem with another rune." my words cause some of the shard bearers to shrink back in their thrones, too bad I'm here to let out my frustrations at being stuck in this situation.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I exhale before going on a rant.

"I think the only ones who actually used their Great rune effectively were the twins even though one was discarded and destroyed while the other was corrupted by a outer god, to be honest Godrick was better than most of you at using it, but I will say Mohg was on par with Godrick but I'm not sure if it was intentional or not."

The mention of the twins doesn't surprise them but when I said the weakest Demi god was better than them at using their Great runes it causes most of them to raise from their thrones in rage.

Pointing left to right I start by pointing to Rykard, "You had the Great rune of energy you could have empowered your solders endlessly, made an entire army of never tiring man snake warriors but you fed yourself to a snake that robbed you of your faculties and trapped yourself in a cavern within your volcano."

Next to Radahn, "your Great rune of Mass made you one of the hardest Demi-god to fight and kill, it took Malenia using her Great rune to just make you weak enough for others later to end the job, you could have taken Leyndell by yourself since only Morgott, Rykard and Godrick cared about it, and non of them could have stopped you since non of them were strong enough or used their rune effective enough to stop you."

I skip the twins before Pointing at Morgott, "your great rune of Vitality could have made you into a vampire and become essentially un-killable but you became the lands between's version of a phantom avenger when you could have easily become the Elden lord by getting Godrick's Rune and kidnapping a living maiden to burn the branches to become gain access. Before you say something about it being sacrilege just know the Erdtree grows back fine afterwards."

Pointing lastly at Mohg. "I'm not sure about you Mohg since I can only guess what your rune represented before it was corrupted by the formless mother, my though process makes me think it means its the Soul Rune with its corruption allowing the possibility of invasions using the soul to occur in the Lands between, that's why I'm not sure if its intentional since that also made it possible to assist others using their soul in positive Summoning events."

"I come to this conclusion with Mohg and the Soul rune since its the only one of the last six runes which could possibly be applied outside of the Mind rune going to Miquella, the The Life Rune of Malenia and the Great rune of Magnetism for Godrick." 

My declarations about how they could have won or at least improved their position on the board causes the Demi-gods to grumble in indignation.

Again Godwyn speaks out again "you said 6 runes were left but you detailed four of them, What were the last two? I'm curious."

Hearing Goldwyn's good question I make the Elden ring appear in front of the array of Demi-gods, I Wave my hand it segments to reveal the 11 runs which form the Elden ring, each of the demi-gods eye their own rune. 

"well the 2 great runes left were the Time and Space Runes. Time and Space were still with Marika while she was trapped within the Erdtree."

I point to the Time rune which looks like the inverse of Rune of Death with its Arch and line going upwards, its placement being at the bottom of the Elden ring at the base.

The Space Rune looks like a Lattice of Faded golden lines which hides itself behind the the run acting as its background.

"If any of you lot got those two in their entirety you would have won the shattering immediately, since its kind of impossible to defeat someone who can control time or space but they were the core part of the Elden ring which makes it so they were the parts to break first that's why those concepts were warped in the lands between."

my words cause some of the faces of the demi-gods to whiten at my deduction and statement of their failures, to be honest its nice to do this since some of their actions are idiotic when they had so much power.

"Anyway when Miquella told me I have everything in the lands between and shadow lands within my soul I had a stray though at the time about the Elden ring but didn't think much about it at the time, but the longer me and Miquella interacted I realised something, he's able to latch onto me since I'm not just representing the tarnished I'm acting as his Elden Beast."

My words make some of the demi-gods become confused at that, only Miquella and Messmer understand the weight of the statement, since the knowledge of the Elden beast was a secret of Marika closely related to the Gate of Divinity in Enir Ilim. 

"To those who don't understand, the Elden beast is the living embodiment of the Elden ring and is essentially the last entity I the tarnished needed to defeat before becoming Elden lord, and to those who still don't realise Miquella, is now equal in role to the greater will, meaning he can only channel his power though me while he's here since the two fingers aren't a thing here."

I take one last sip of my Coffee as I finish it, and let my rant pitter out.

"Since I'm now out of coffee I'll get to the point, I have plans and if you work with me till the end we won't have problems and you'll be rewarded."

Rykard ever the Serpent says "What do we gain from helping you? its not like we would work for little gain."

looking at Rykard, "well using what I know about this world and the strength I feel from the Elden ring, within the Shadow realm of this world I could make lands for you to do with as you wish."

Pointing at Ranni and Rykard "A land covered in a veiled in night, which is free of the outer will and where I won't interfere with unless its to fix a catastrophic problem like the realm cracking."

Pointing at Radahn "A land of endless conflict and mystery and war to prove yourself."

Pointing next at Miquella and Malenia "A Kind kingdom for those who suffered persecution." 

Pointing at the Omen twins, "A land bathed in rays of gold and a realm of blood and darkness no longer shackled to the whims of some un-loving entity."

Pointing finally at Mesmer "and for you, a life where your free to be your own person and not Marika's Monster, maybe finally get together with Rellana since she's in love with you and make a family not built on internal and external conflict."

Mesmer seems to blush at those words but he quirks his brow at my choice of words, "Internal and external conflict ?"

Quirking my own eyebrow I look at him, "Oh you didn't know, maybe because you were in the shadow lands again but in the lands between Marika essentially had a gender identity crisis and was also Radagon making them the same person, this makes the human twins and Melina children of self incest, its the main reason why their cursed to various degrees. To be honest I'm not sure if your in that group or not with the abyssal serpent in you, since I don't know when Godfrey/Hoarah Loux comes into the picture."

My words cause the Demi-gods to cringe back in my seats in shock but I can hear the indignant roar of Miquella screaming "WHAT! THATS IMPOSIBLE, YOU HAVE NO PROOF."

I tilt my head to the side in amusement and looks at Miquella who has turned red in rage, I simply point at Ranni and say.

"Ranni's the proof, She was born from Rennalla and Radagon as an empyrean which means she can take the place of Marika in the golden order, now think is Ranni in anyway related directly to Marika outside of being a step daughter from Radagon, when the Primeval Current would have a larger hand in her fate since she's a Lady from the house of Carian royalty which is matriarchal."

The Demigods all look at Ranni who jus sits there in the attention interlocking her fingers in contemplation.

"Being a Step-Daughter of Marika doesn't make her of Marika's blood technically so how could her fate be overwritten by the golden order's will, when she already has a fate with the stars and her Dark moon, simple If Radagon is Marika in a different form the direct blood connection would change her fate."

The realisation of the connection causes some of the demi-gods to recoil I even see Melina go though the 7 stages of grief with her facial expressions, maybe because she already hated Marika and it didn't really matter to her.

Radahn pipes up "Wait Dear Sister, Why are you in that form? I was confused for a while but the Tarnished's words kept my attention from the subject, you look like your in a puppet that depicts Renna the snow witch."

Looking at Ranni who actually flinches even though her body doesn't have nerves I see her face turn to me and quickly shake her head to not tell them.

"I could tell you why but, its a major secret of Ranni and would be counter productive to my plan of you lot working together, but I'm a fair person so we can put it up for a vote, Right hand for me telling left for not."

I raise a hand against telling, Ranni, Rykard and surprisingly Radahn raise their hands against but the rest of the Demi-gods do so since I feel everyone is curious about the subject.

"well it seems most of you are nosy people, but its fine I'll just say one line since it'll explain everything. Ranni with help from Rykard planned and executed a plan to kill a full Demi-god and they succeeded."

The Silence is total as the shoe drops.

Morgott Stands up in Rage "They, Plotted the Night of the Black Knifes!" he goes to lunge at the pair with his cane but with a quick hand and since I was expecting it I catch his cane mid swing with my hand.

The rest still have expressions of rage but only two of them don't care Malenia and Mesmer, one because she's a yandere for Miquella and the latter since he didn't even know about the Shattering since he was in the Shadowlands the entire time.

Mesmer being quick witted comes to a realization before the rest. "You said that Ranni killed a Full Demi-god but you said earlier that Godwyn died in soul not body, Wait does that mean?"

Smiling I say "your correct Mesmer, at the very same time Godwyn died in Soul, Ranni used a fragment of the rune of Death to kill her empyrean body, making it so she was no longer under the control of the greater will to become an empyrean wanting to fuck off away from the lands between, but being a bit hasty she forgot about her two fingers, so while those were alive she was connected to the greater will spiritually. she couldn't leave the lands between making it so she needed to get the fingerslayer blade from Nokron to cut that last tie."

Telling the Demi-gods about how naughty their sister has been causes me some joy since I was never a fan of her condescending attitude during the process in the game, the faces of the other demi-gods again are in a mix of rage and shock but I see the reaction of Ranni's direct brothers, Rykard seems a little miffed at being just a footnote in the subject while Radahn has his arms crossed and his eyes closed in contemplation.

after a while Radahn speaks "you must have killed me as well then since I remember Radagon asking me to hold back the meteor which would have made an entrance to Nokron" I just respond with a "yep, its funny how two of your siblings wanted you dead for completely different reasons."

With that I stand up and go away from the café table