Chapter 9: Forossa

Upon my question Thaddeus was the one to speak up, most likely anticipating the question.

"We came because we had sensed a perculiar signature originating from your Domain."

"What kind of 'signature'? I was not present at the time but have received reports about it." I lied while maintaining a perfect poker face.

Shiraori off to the side, next to Ariel, came forward towards us and poured some drinks for everyone.

When I had claimed the Elden Ring, I used its power to make Ranni's body become a physical one.

In the end, Ranni had requested that I recreate her orignal body with red hair after she had a long talk with Rennala before our departure from the Elden Ring verse.

(A/n there were more votes for Ranni body then the new one.)

"I can't exactly describe it, but it was similar to our King Elbas. He had contacted me through my inscribed notebook and told me to investigate this region because it had traces of power similar to his in nature. All that we can determine is that traces of something of sixth Rank was here, maybe even in the realm of Gods." Thaddeus said and I could see Lisa on the side was nervous at the fact Thaddeus had revealed such big information.

But I was aware that Thaddeus only revealed it so I can stay in their good graces, while also subtly threatening me by saying that King Elbas would personally come here if I refused to elaborate and give an explanation.

Anything that can help King Elbas to advance to the Divine Ranks and to the Immortal Lands is something he will take by force and wouldn't allow the other Rank 6 beings - Great Elder Diana, Chasing Demon, God's Left Hand, God's Right Hand or anyone else take out from under him.

"If that is what you think it was then I apologise for the time wasted. It isn't anything as you described but a distortion of some kind in my territory that I am still unable to determine. I have had a brief battle against some rather perculiar individuals though that attempted to invade my domain shortly after the anomaly was detected. However, their bodies turned to ice before Shattering upon death." I partially revealed wanting them to chase this up rather than trying to subtly threaten me again.

"Did your subordinates take any prisoners?" Lisa, the commander of the Royal Guard, asked being the military official between the two.

"Yes, though it is only a creature. It is strange."

I let out a whistle and the next moment a Rank 4 Magical Beast, a Wendigo that looked like the Earth legends of what they looked like, entered the room a few minutes later while dragging a small cage that was covered by black sheets.

I Telekineticly removed the cloth as the Wendigo obediently stood to the side quietly.

I had domesticated it, since I wasn't a Hybrid yet I couldn't command Magical Beasts like Noah could so I used the modern method instead.

Once revealed the creature inside the cage began to viciously attack the closet being next to it, which was Ariel but a single galre from her wasn't enough to make the beast yield.

The creature inside the cage was a Hound of the Wild Hunt.

I had my subordinates capture one so that I would be able to have a good alibi to tell anyone, such as the Royals, should they visit my territory which they did.

"This creature does have any Centers of Power?!" Thaddeus said in shock at the strange phenomenon he was witnessing after he examined the Hound.

"How can that be?!" Lisa was equally shocked.

"Lord Tallon! The Royals would be willing to greatly compensate you and the Niflheim Sect if you are willing to trade this creature to us and allow us to investigate your territory to find and examine the 'anomaly' that occurred here!" Thaddeus requested in an exited and desperate voice.

It's possible that King Elbas already had a theory about other Mortal Lands but had no actual way of confirming it or reaching them.

It was only until the Peak Rank 5 Black Flower, that possessed Spatial properties, was obtained by the Royals from the Piece of the Immortal Lands that King Elbas was able to create a portal to another world.

After thinking a few moments on this by also using the newly upgraded Divine Deduction Technique, courtesy of me using the Elden Ring to improve it, allowed me to boost my mental capabilities to greater levels and allow me to think thousands of time faster in a few seconds to think of how best I can take advantage of the situation.

"I do not mind giving up the creature given that you provide suitable compensation for losing such a rare and invaluable asset to study such as this. But the matter of investigating my territory will cause problems. Especially, now that I have a wedding to prepare for myself and my wife."

The two Royals were shocked at announcement of my marriage.

I had received many requests by many families and ladies to marry them. Even the Princess of the Royals had been one of my requested potential brides, but I had always declined or put off the matter.

Thaddeus and Lisa both followed my gaze to the one I was looking at and finally decided to take notice of Ranni besides me.

Other than Ranni's innate beauty and flaming red hair, along with her clothing that was designed to match that of High Ranking Nobles or Royalty, they sensed that she was a Rank 0 Cultivator.

They were perplexed by this at why I would marry someone in the Human Ranks compared to the many potential wives I could have had in the Heroic Ranks and even the fifth Rank.

However, they didn't dare voice their own thoughts out of fear they might offend me by looking down on Ranni, my Wife to be, since we were not officially nor publicly declared as one.

Only the inhabitants of the Lands Between was aware of this.

"Dear, maybe we could come to an arrangement of some kind with our honoured guests." Ranni decided to make her voice known especially since she was aware the Royals had her eyes on her now.

Thaddeus and Lisa were suprised by the boldness that Ranni held to attempt to change my mind on the matter I just discussed.

"What do you suggest?" I asked humouring her question, knowing where this was possibly going as we had discussed something like this before.

Ranni turned to the Royals before speaking in a polite manner.

"Lord Thaddeus, Lady Lisa. Allow me to introduce myself as Lunar Queen Ranni of the Carian Royal Family of the Kingdom of Forossa. Allow me to kindly explain what it is I am suggesting."

Thaddeus seeing that Ranni was waiting for him to speak, replied quickly.

"Of course, Lady Ranni. Though please forgive me for not being familiar with the Carian Family nor what region your Kingdom of Forossa resides within the continent."

"All is forgiven, especially since the Lands that I hail have been kept off limits to outsiders. We don't care about the Cultivation journey and are only content with preserving our people's way of life. Obviously, the recent developments in my Lord's territory have attracted some unwanted attention. As such, my Lord and I will move the entirety of the Niflheim Sect to Forossa where we will remain. That will slove the issue of any third party wanting to come here for the same reason as the two of you had done so unannounced. This land will be yours to investigate for this 'anomaly' but the mines of Obsidion Credits and Vostrum will still belong to us along with any additional mines discovered here as we will have ownership over them. Additionally, compensation and assistance in providing the necessary supllies and resources for the transportation of the Niflheim Sect will naturally be donated. I trust that there is no objections to such generous and beneficial conditions for the gains by the Royals?" Ranni informed them and the look on their faces at the end was priceless.

She had directly mocked them and forced their hand into not refusing us otherwise it would damage their reputation.

They are part of the Royal Faction who in turn is speaking to Ranni, a member of the Carian Royal Family of which no one has any clue about.

The Royals can't offend her nor decline her proposal because of the clear benefits and necessary provisions they must provide in exchange for the reward of investigating the potential 'anomaly'.

As for why she had said Forossa was the name of the Lands Between?

It's because I had discussed this with her previously of naming the Lands Between as Forossa.

It was perfect in every way.

Thaddeus and Lisa looked at each other and had a mental conversation for moment before Thaddeus spoke up.

"I would like to discuss further details with you and inform the other members of the Royal Family about this."

***********************

Hours had passed and night was approaching.

Ranni and I had struck a deal with the Royals and struck gold!

The 'anomaly' was simply the residue of Ciri's ability to teleport across Space and Time, however without similar means of power it was all in vain for the Royals to examine it.

Ciri had probably arrived in this world in the cannon story but since analysing the site of where she used the Elderblood was impossible without prior knowledge of The Spiral, the Royals would eventually give up and forget about all this.

At least that was the most believable explanation I could think of.

Thus, I did not deny them the chance to take my Territory as their own, so long as the resources and mining operations here still belonged to me and was under my control, I had no issue with moving my Sect.

As for Forossa, aka the Lands Between, I decided to go far north east, waaay past the Archipelago and far into the open sea.

I made sure to keep close to the main Continent and the place where the Piece of the Immortal Lands would eventually land in the future.

If i was wrong about the location then no problem cause I can use the Dimensional Ring to store all of the Lands Between, now named Forossa, inside of it again.

I had activated my Dimensional Ring and the entirety of Forossa came out of the Ring and perfectly rested in place in the middle of the sea.

The various Inscriptions and Formations I had created and placed across the Lands Between while using the Elden Ring had kept it hidden from all others.

For example, a large Fog protects the lands, though not permanently because of the absence of the Elden Ring's power which had diminished upon crossing worlds, the Formations and Inscriptions I placed would feed off Breath in the world.

However, I can't have them drain Breath indefinitely because it would fuck up the world and I still needed it intact until I can ascend to the Immortal Lands.

Hence, the rest of the world will become aware of Forossa which currently was, I guess, invisible and unaccessible to even Rank 6 beings.

But that's not an issue for me to be concerned about at present.

I was half expecting Heaven and Earth to react and send a Heavenly Tribulation but they didn't which meant my plan was a success.

Unlike Noah who made a Hybrid body the way he did, because it fell out of Heaven and Earth's fairness, they would send a Heavenly Tribulation to destroy the said anomaly.

However, I expected this and had previously used the Elden Ring to perfect the bodies of all the inhabitants of Forossa while also making the continent of Forossa itself become apart of Heaven and Earth's system.

Additionally I had done the same with my own Blood Companions the same thing since they are new species that falls out of their control but I had been prepared and countered that.

Speaking of which, I had the Blood Companions become apart of my Tattoos again which the [Shadow Copy] had created in the Elden Ring verse and place in the Divine Storage Ring.

I also called forth large numbers of my Rank 3 subjects from Forossa to help in moving everything from the Niflheim Sect to a certain location so that I can deposit everything into my Divine Storage Ring and redeposit it in Forossa once i reach there.

Additionally, the Royals have given many things required for Cultivation for my subjects, reparations for taking my territory away, a Rank 6 Oath made by King Elbas himself which i thoroughly examined before going through with it.

The Rank 6 Oath would kill all members of the offending side should they break the promise of taking the mining resources and resources found within my former territory.

I made sure to call Elbas out on it which put his Pride and Reputation on the lone if he violated, lied or attempted to break the Oath himself which is something he could have done but can't now or his Cultivation would suffer because his Individuality is fueled by his Pride, which would affect his Cultivation that he cared so much about.

Lastly, the Royals helped in preparations for my wedding with Ranni where I would be inviting all the allies I have and even the Balvan family.

Oh yes, I had become acquainted with Thomas Balvan for a while now and wanted to use him while I could before they all get murdered by Noah in the future.

Just as I was in the middle of discussing things with Miquella, Malenia, Rennala Rykard, Kenneth Height, Iji and Blaidd about prepations and the arrangements for the wedding, I was interrupted by a few people I had never expected to meet again.

"It's been a long time brother!"

Turning around, I saw a youthful looking girl with white hair while another yet adult looking woman with brown hair stood next to her though nervous, while the former was smiling widely.

"..." I just stared at the duo not knowing how to react at the sight of my sister Jade and mother Lilith.

On one hand I felt indifferent because I had transmigrated into this body so I didn't care about what they mean as family.

While on the other hand, I had the memories and feelings of the previous inhabitant of this body and felt a great amount of anger and rage build up within me at the sight of them.

I wanted to make them suffer for the "betrayal" of "abandoning" "me" in my time of need. However, I was aware that these aren't my memories and I already knew the true reason for why Jade and Lilith acted the way the did when the Previous Tallon had fucked up his life so much and became a shit of person.

I can't blame them, but the memories and emotions I felt from the Previous Tallon still affected me and I felt that what he/I was feeling was well justified.

They just cut off connection with "me" when they could have helped and improved "my" life.

There is always a path to redemption available so long as it wasn't abandoned completely.

But they did abandon "me" thinking that by doing so was the very solution I'm helping him regret his actions and strive to improve and become a better person. But it didn't and he went straight to the Death Inheritance where he ended up dying and I transmigrated into his body.

"What are you doing here? You are unwelcome." I coldly said, wanting to get some amount of revenge on them.

My family back in my past life on Earth was the same and I saw Jade and Lilith's "abandonment" of the Previous Tallon as a reflection of my own life.

In addition they have the guts to come and face me after several hundred years only when I have become successful when the Previous Tallon or myself could have needed their help way back then.

Jade flinched at my words while ability looked like she was expecting it with a sorrowful expression.

I can't trust whether or not the emotions they are showing are real or not, in this world lying over such things wouldn't be uncommon as many had tried it on me and many others in both my lives.

"I-" Jade tried to say but I had cut her off with my raised voice.

"Nothing! You don't get to speak! Not after the abandonment I had to experience when I needed you two the most! And now you two want to come back and visit me?! To try and gain my good favour because I had become one of the leading Sects in the Utra Nation, rivaling even your own!"

"It's not like that! We want to make ammends! We know what we did and want to apologise! I want us to be a family again?!" Jade yelled back in desperation.

"Ha! Sure you do, what a coincidence you show up now of all times especially when I had kept my identity hidden for the last few hundred years and had been using an alias. Only the Royals knew who I was and in recent weeks I had publicly revealed my true identity. You only came so you can make me an ally rather than a potential enemy!"

"No! That's not-" Jade had tears in her eyes as she tried to defend herself while Lilith still said nothing but closed her eyes and kept her head down.

"Enough! I will not tolerate your presence nor your attempt to deceive me last any longer! You two are to leave or I will kill the both of you!"

Jade's mouth was left agape and Lilith widened her eyes in shock at my threat.

"That goes to far Tallon." Lilith had spoken for the first time, seeing that things have escalated way to far than what she had expected.

As I was already walking away, I had stopped and turned my head to look at her.

"Oh, so you decided to join in as well, 'mother'? You say I went to far, but is it? In the Cultivation journey one would do anything to gain allies and avoid making enimies. And you came here today trying to reconcile oh so suddenly out of the blue like the past never happened. You all favoured Jade over me ever since her aptitude had been revealed. Because I was of the water aptitude and not Light like she was, I wasn't worthy of the valuable time, attention and resources but she was. She was the favourite while I was the outcast. I simply do not wish to see you anymore nor are you invited to my wedding. I'll give you some time for you to take in the sight of my achievements which i earned alone before you leave either willingly or by the afterlife." I replied before I departed.

Miquella, Malenia, Rennala Rykard, Kenneth Height, Iji and Blaidd were all watching the spectacle unfold not knowing how to react to the situation.

Blaidd would definitely report this to Ranni as he was her shadow, a part of her very being, while the others had taken in all this as a new discovery of more of my past being uncovered.

I returned to my room and decided to rest for a while.

*knock* *knock*

"Who is it?" I called out, completely mentally exhausted with what has gone on today.

"It's me, Ciri. We need to talk."

****************

Image of world map and Forossa placement.

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Bonus lore:

Forossa, the name which Tallon used to call the Lands Between, his nation territory, is a distant land in Dark Souls 2 from Dranglaic where the game takes place in.

Forossa is a land where the lion headed warrior race resides.

The lion people also worshiped Faraam, the God of War.

Players of Dark Souls series will notice ever since the first game that Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight (Cinder) had a banished son whose name and image was erased from the annals of history.

The Sunlight Alters in all the Dark Souls games are alters that were destroyed which once depicted Gwyn's Firstborn's appearance.

Gwyn's Firstborn is also known as the exiled God of War.

And in Dark Souls 3, we finally fight the Gwyn's Firstborn God of War, also known as the Nameless King boss.

Needless to say that Faraam is the name of the Nameless King, and an entire religion and land was named in honor of the God of War Faraam. Forossa is a neibouring land of the Land of Faraam which also worships the God of War, Faraam.