Ryad POV:

  I dove into the dark sea of unconsciousness.

  Memories of my past life kept flooding my mind. From how I was raised, how I emerged from Limgrave, the countless battles; even the quiet moments that I had shared with Melina.

  These memories kept repeating themselves in my mind over and over again.

  'Witless tarnished.....why covet Destined Death...? To kill what?'

  'Please.....'

  My head hurt.

  'Am I dying?'

  I couldn't help but think that I was once again relinquishing myself to death. Which was rather unfortunate considering the fact that I had arrived into this world not too long ago. I didn't want to give in to death so quickly.

  'Witless tarnished.....has thou killed what thou sought?'

  A familiar voice rang into my mind as my mind raced with countless thoughts.

  'Witless tarnished......has thou killed what thou sought?'

  Again, the same voice asked the same question.

  'There are countless things I want to kill at the moment, but I don't have the strength for it'

  'Even now thy still thirsts for death....thou art a better host for it than I'

  'Who are you?'

  'Even now...thou art still as witless as before...'

  'I have yet to be acclimated with the workings of this world, much less why I was born here. Enlighten me'

  'That....would make the two of us. However, know that I am apart of thee; recall the memories of battle before....and when thy is ready: Call upon me'

  The voice promptly faded after saying those words.

  This was going to take a while. The number of battles that I had faced were countless, there was no telling where I had heard that voice before, but I was sure that I had heard that voice somewhere.

  I continued dwelling even deeper into my sea of unconsciousness. Countless memories passing me and letting me relive my experiences within the nds between. Of all of them, one particur consistency that had been there was the appearance of Melina, my first and only Finger Maiden. Her strawberry blonde hair flowed gently around her head as she maintained a calm, yet steady gaze on me.

  'May you take the throne'

  A mixture of feelings between obligation and guilt raged in my mind as I pondered whether I did the right thing releasing the Frenzied Fme. If it wasn't for the fact that Shabriri had told me of what would happen, I was certain that she would have sacrificed herself to burn the Erdtree.

  'However, was establishing an Age of Chaos necessary?'

  Memories of a pale blue puppet that adorned a witch's hat appeared in my mind. Her demeanor radiated elegance under the full moon, and her words were rather articute for someone of her stature.

  'How long will it be, I wonder?.....Before the Tarnished tire of obeisance to the Two Fingers?'

  Was following the path of the Two fingers really the way to go?

  More and more thoughts and regrets flooded my mind; I could feel myself slowly beginning to drown in them.

  'I need to stop'

  Realizing this, I focused on clearing my mind. Imagining myself sitting on a boulder that overlooked the Lost City of Nokron. It was peaceful, quiet, and calming. I could feel the drowning thoughts slowly evaporate from my mind.

  The more those thoughts kept evaporating, the more I could feel myself slowly floating back up to the surface of my consciousness. Moreover, a faint voice called to me the closer I got to the surface.

  'The nds between is no longer my home'

  I had to constantly remind myself of this from the moment I woke up on that bed in that hotel. The way things ran in this new world was completely different, as, this was still my new home regardless.

  'If I'm going to live here, I'm going to need to have strength to reserve my right to live'

  The voice calling out to me was getting louder and louder, it was familiar; almost as if I had talked to it before. I was getting more and more closer to the surface.

  'I need to live'

  My speed to the surface got faster and faster. My eyes narrowed as my teeth began to grit.

  'I NEED TO LIVE!!!!!!'

  I opened my eyes just to see a bde lingering at the top of my throat. My eyes met the assassin's and my instincts from my previous life immediately set in.

  I grabbed the dagger with one hand before poking the assassin's eye with another. The assassin screamed in pain as blood began spewing from his eye, but before he could move a muscle, I immediately used my newly obtained dagger to slit his throat. My movement was sloppy compared to my previous life, but it was more than enough to get the job done. His blood pstered against my face as the assassin fell back and clutched his throat for several seconds before relenting and drawing his final breath.

  In the meanwhile, the rest of the assassins had immediately stopped what they had been doing and focused their attention to me.

  "You're not dead yet? I was pretty sure I caved your skull in...." the assassin who had been responsible for clobbering me to death slowly walked up from the side, "I guess I need to start cutting heads off to really make sure that a target is dead."

  I didn't say anything, instead, I readied my dagger defensively as I waited for him to attack.

  However, contrary to my assumption, instead of him attacking. I almost got stabbed from the back by another assassin that had tried sneaking up on me while I had been distracted.

  I rolled to the side before getting back on my feet and looking at my new assaint. The other assassins didn't seem to consider me much of a threat; even the leader stood casually as he watched the battle unfold with a rather uninterested gaze.

  The assassin in front of me lunged at me at break-neck speed. I stepped to the side to dodge the attack and deflected the little dagger made of pebble that he flung my way.

  'when thy is ready: Call upon me'

  His voice rang in my ears again. I still hadn't figured out who I had been fighting.

  All the while, the assassin continued attacking me with relentless vigor, I could only dodge and deflect all the attacks that the assassin had been sending my way. However, my injuries had halved my stamina, I could even feel my vision beginning to blur as I kept fighting him.

  'Witless Tarnished.....'

  'Call upon me'

  Those two phrases kept ringing in my mind, each reiteration slowly reminding me of a being that I had fought that held the same manner of tone. Even then, I could remember how it moved whenever it attacked and how agile and ferocious it was whenever it came to the art of killing.

  "How long are you going to keep this charade up? Finish him so we can move on," I heard the leader of the assassins order as he took a seat nearby.

  I was running out of time now. If I didn't access whatever kept calling to me, I was going to die for a second time.

  I recalled the beasts movements, and every minute detail that the beast tend to do as he fought me throughout the shrine.

  At one particur point of time, the beast had fallen to its knees; he looked at his hand before saying something. I remembered what he said rather clearly.

  "'Oh Death, become my bde once more.'"

  I slowly raised my dagger, in an attempt to mimic what that beast did.

  Suddenly, like the beast, I immediately stabbed my hand at the back hand.

  The assassin immediately froze at the spot as he was at; confused as to why I would perform such an act of lunacy.

  At first, nothing happened, blood spurted from the back of my hand to my face. However, a few seconds ter, I felt it.

  The cool calm power that the boy had taught me shortly before we were attacked came out like a flood as a bck and red aura began to seep out of my hand.

  I could hear the voices of the assassins as they all suddenly became alert and readied themselves for battle.

  "Oi! Wrap it up! We don't have the time nor the energy to deal with another unknown variable. Shut him down!" The leader yelled.

  However, contrary to the leader's orders, the assassins remained rooted in their positions.

  Gritting, I slowly pulled out my weapon from the back of my hand, and what repced it was a long bck bde with a golden hilt. The mana that the bde radiated killed all the grass and pnts surrounding me. The bde had a total length of seven feet, but the bde was way too heavy for me to hold with both hands. As a result, the tip of the bde rested on the ground.

  I took in a deep breath, I could feel raw power coursing through my veins. My already enhanced senses sharpened, I could sense nearly everyone within the vicinity; living or dead.

  "What the fuck are you idiots waiting for?! Get him!!" The leader roared as he summoned daggers made of ice and lunged my way.

  The rest of the assassins snapped out of their dazes before rushing at me. In response, I immediately raised the bde before stabbing it down to the ground again and fell to my knees, imitating the stance that my predecessor had taken when he was in battle.

  Right as the first assassin was going to attack, I strengthened my legs and unched myself right at him. I raised the colossal bde before nding my feet mere feet away from the first assassin and swinging it horizontally with all my might.

  Terra Shell

  The assassin raised an earthen shield in preparation for the attack, but it didn't stop the velocity of my bde cleaving the assassin in half. Blood shot out like a hot geyser as I eyed my next opponent, the assassin had summoned multiple fireballs around him, sending them my way as he lunged at me.

  I quickly used the ft of my bde to take the brunt of the fire attacks, and right when the assassin was about to swing his spear down at me, I raised the tip of my bde and ran him through right after I dodged the tip of his spear. The assassin coughed out several mouthfuls of blood before I pulled the bde and let him fall to the ground.

  'Two down....'