Divine Revelation

"Your Majesties, on my way here I also encountered something else. It was not especially serious, but I still feel it necessary to report it to you both," Lucia said, sitting upright. "Not long after passing through the Altus sending gate, I was ambushed by Godskin Apostles in Vania Valley. They were led by two Godskin Nobles, one of whom has already been slain by my guards."

Lucia deliberately did not mention Samuel's name. At this stage, he could not possibly expose the existence of the Memory Battlefield to the outside world, so even Lansseax knew nothing about it. Apart from that, the news that the Gloam-Eyed Queen's consciousness had descended upon Samuel had also been tightly sealed within his own circle; for the time being, only Lansseax and the five people inside the royal tent that night knew about it.

The moment those words left his mouth, the drawing room fell into sudden silence. Even Miquella, who had always been gentle and mild, showed a trace of astonishment.

Even to the gods and demigods of the Golden Dynasty, "Godskin Apostle" was a word bordering on taboo—everyone understood that, compared with the near-unstoppable war of unification ten years ago, what had truly laid the foundation for the dynasty's rule was the War of the Gods that had lasted a full century.

After the Forbidden War, the dragons, rulers of the previous age, drifted away with the shattered Sky City to the far eastern seas, licking their wounds in lonely isolation. The giants, the Ancient Storm Dynasty, and the Ude Dynasty were largely in the same situation.

After those overlords from antiquity withdrew from the stage, countless new powers emerged with the revival of civilization. When their strength and ambitions swelled to the point that they could no longer coexist, a new war to decide the ownership of The Lands Between inevitably broke out. Among those who joined the war were Empyreans who were candidates for godhood, such as Queen Marika and the Gloam-Eyed Queen, as well as many native gods of The Lands Between newly arisen after the Forbidden War.

It was in that long and brutal war that the Gloam-Eyed Queen, who wielded the authority of death, and the Godskin Apostles under her command became the nightmare of an entire age—wherever the edge of the Godslayer's Greatsword pointed, the Apostles harvested the lives of gods like an autumn wind sweeping through rotten wood and withered grass. They flayed the skin from divine corpses and fashioned it into their own battle robes, then spread the black flame that symbolized death toward their next target...

The gods, already frightened birds at the mere twang of a bowstring, tried to unite against their enemy, yet still could not stop the Gloam-Eyed Queen's armies. All of this only came to an end after Queen Marika, through the Two Fingers, signed a pact with the beast clergyman Gurranq, who then changed his name to Maliketh and became the shadowbound beast guarding the Queen.

Faced with the shadow of the Godskin Apostles, Maliketh, who had not yet become the "Black Blade," displayed overwhelming power enough to dominate an era, defeating all the Apostles by his strength alone and seizing Destined Death from the Gloam-Eyed Queen's hands to seal it away.

After that battle, the Gloam-Eyed Queen vanished without a trace. The few remaining gods lowered their own stations one after another and prostrated themselves at the foot of the Erdtree. Queen Marika was thereby elevated to "Queen Eternal," officially becoming the only true god acknowledged by all under heaven after the disappearance of the dragon god Hlaris.

Now, those bloodstained events of the past still seemed vivid before their eyes. Yet the Godskin Apostles, who should have perished in the depths of history, had appeared once more, and the moment they acted, it was with a world-shaking move like assassinating an ancient dragon demigod. How could that not make the rulers of the Golden Dynasty present feel a chill of vigilance?

"You child..." Queen Marika remained silent for several breaths before finally letting out a long breath. "Why are you only mentioning something so serious now? You weren't hurt, were you?"

"You are too kind to worry. Of course not," Lucia replied with a smile. "I thought they were merely a group of remnants with ill intent. After suffering such a heavy blow this time, they probably won't be able to stir up any trouble for a long while, so I wasn't in any hurry to report it to you."

As he spoke, he was also quietly observing the changes in everyone's expressions.

Suddenly, a cold snort full of anger rang out. Radagon slammed his palm onto the armrest of the sofa and said through gritted teeth, "Too brazen. A pack of heretics who have turned their backs on the Order actually dare to cause trouble so close to the Erdtree!"

His perfect face twisted with rage. Lucia was slightly surprised. The Gloam-Eyed Queen and the Godskin Apostles under her should have been Queen Marika's greatest enemies before her ascension to godhood, but during the War of the Gods, Radagon most likely had not even appeared yet. Why did he seem even more furious than the Queen, who had been directly involved?

"Marika, we must investigate this matter thoroughly," Radagon said, striving to calm his emotions. "Attacking our ally in a place bordering the Erdtree is undoubtedly the most arrogant provocation against the Golden Order."

"Very well." On the other side, Marika first agreed, then considered for a moment and said, "The destructive power of the Apostles cannot be underestimated. I intend to dispatch First Crucible Knight Siluria to handle this matter with full authority. If necessary, she may mobilize all forces within the dynasty."

"I agree," Radagon answered decisively.

Lansseax exchanged an imperceptible glance with Lucia, then stated, "Your Majesties, in tracking down the Godskin remnants, the Ancient Dragon Temple will provide the Golden Dynasty with all support within our power."

Marika nodded slightly in thanks, then immediately summoned the female official waiting outside the hall. After giving clear instructions, she took out a token engraved with the pattern of the Erdtree and ordered her to deliver it to Siluria, the other First Crucible Knight in the royal capital.

The female official accepted the order and left. Marika took Lucia's hand and said gently, "Child, stay here in peace. We will certainly protect your safety. I believe Knight Siluria will soon uncover clues and catch all those rats hiding in the gutters in one net."

"Then I thank Your Majesties."

After receiving the Queen's definite reply, Lucia's mind, which had been tense for several days in a row, finally relaxed slightly. Although he had said aloud just now that "the situation was not serious," in reality, he did not believe that the Gloam-Eyed Queen would stop after one failed assassination attempt. Who knew what schemes and methods she had prepared against him next?

Under such circumstances, fully mobilizing the Golden Dynasty's power to counter them was undoubtedly the most effective response in the short term. Even if Knight Siluria failed to achieve results, she could at least greatly compress the Apostles' room to operate, forcing the other side to reveal flaws in possible future confrontations.

Next, as long as he steadily made it through the banquet, settled down in the royal capital, he would probably be able to welcome a long period of peaceful growth. He could begin attempting to use the Memory Battlefield to break the seal on the Dragon Bloodline Inheritance, he had to figure out the function of the analysis progress as soon as possible, and he also needed to try again and see if he could unlock more targets in that starry sky...

Since the serious business had already been discussed, what followed was nothing more than casual conversation to deepen relations. Lucia calculated his subsequent plans in his heart while not forgetting to tell a few well-timed jokes when appropriate, making Malenia giggle. From the little girl's radiant smile, there was not the slightest sign that she had still been suffering the torment of Scarlet Rot just a few hours earlier.

However, just as Lucia thought the banquet would end smoothly like this, a female cleric dressed in a white silk robe suddenly walked in from outside the hall. Out of the corner of his eye, he sharply caught the crest hanging before the cleric's chest—that was the emblem of the Two Fingers.

A nameless vigilance rose in his heart. As the Lord of the Stars who in his previous life had handed the Fingerslayer Blade to Ranni over a hundred times, ever since crossing over, he had always held the Greater Will and Its spokespeople at a respectful distance.

The clerics of the Two Fingers represented the will of the Finger Lords, while those strangely shaped Two Fingers themselves were the spokespeople of the Greater Will. Therefore, these clerics had the right to pass freely through most areas of the royal court.

The cleric came before the Queen and Radagon, bowed deeply, and said, "Your Majesty Marika, Your Majesty Radagon, the Finger Lord has just received a new divine oracle."

Marika's expression shifted slightly. She exchanged a glance with Radagon, who also looked somewhat puzzled, so she said, "We are prepared to hear the oracle. The divine envoy may descend at any time."

The so-called "divine envoy" referred to the Two Fingers, but only gods, kings, and demigods appointed by the Greater Will possessed an equal status with the Two Fingers and could use such a form of address.

The cleric bowed again and slowly withdrew from the hall.

Before long, everyone sensed a sacred and solemn fluctuation descend out of thin air. A cruciform Erdtree sacred seal, with the pattern of the Elden Ring outlined at its center, slowly appeared in midair. Then the light of the seal spread outward like pulsing golden veins, conjuring the outline of two fingers from nothing.

In the next second, the light of the sacred seal faded, while the outline of the Two Fingers fully solidified.

Lucia focused his gaze. The skin on the surface of the Two Fingers had a stony sheen, similar to the scales of ancient dragons. At the joint where the two fingers met, it wore a white robe woven with the pattern of the Elden Ring in golden thread. And below the robe, he actually saw two legs and feet formed from condensed light!

Looking at this strange being shaped like an X chromosome, Lucia did not find it funny in the slightest. Instead, his scalp went numb—this Two Fingers was clearly not the low-health, inferior version installed on a pedestal in Roundtable Hold. More importantly, it had chosen neither earlier nor later, but specifically the first day he arrived in Leyndell to descend. Had the Greater Will noticed that he was not actually a native creature, but an "extraterritorial demon" who had crossed into The Lands Between, and was preparing to erase him?

He did his utmost to keep his expression calm, but his muscles had tensed to the limit. Several dragon scales had already unconsciously emerged on the skin of his back. With a single thought, he could immediately transform into a dragon and charge out of this palace!

"Lucia." Suddenly, a soft little hand gently held his palm. He abruptly turned his head and saw that Malenia, sitting in the wheelchair beside him, had at some point quietly moved closer.

"This is your first time seeing Mister Two Fingers, right? Don't be afraid," she whispered. "They're all good people."

Lucia looked into her deep red eyes and felt the warmth of that little hand. His mind, tense to the extreme, somehow relaxed a little. He adjusted his sitting posture slightly and forced out a faint smile. "I know."

"I hear the divine envoy has brought a new oracle. We are ready to listen," Queen Marika said with a nod of greeting.

The Two Fingers bent slightly. This was probably its way of bowing. Then a gentle, waterlike voice rang out. "Your Majesty Marika, Your Majesty Radagon, and Your Highnesses, the great Greater Will has just issued a new oracle to me—"

Lucia's mind went blank for a moment, then he realized that this speaking voice had actually come from the Two Fingers. No, wait—where the hell did this thing's mouth come from?!

Could it be that the Two Fingers of the Golden Age not only had legs and could walk, but did not even need a Finger Reader?

Just then, he saw the Two Fingers turn to face him and continue, "The Greater Will has always watched over The Lands Between. Its gaze does not only linger within the shelter of the Erdtree, nor has It ever neglected any devout child upon this continent."

Its voice was mellow and solemn, as if recounting an ancient epic. "Before mankind took charge of the Elden Ring, in that distant ancient age, the ancient dragons were already the most faithful defenders of the Primordial Ring. The Greater Will is pleased by the birth of the Ancient Dragon Prince. The wills of the great Hlaris and Placidusax finally have an heir."

"Therefore, It has decided that Lucia-Sancus, son of Hlaris and Placidusax, ancient dragon demigod from the City in the Sky, Farum Azula—you shall become the fourth Empyrean beneath the Golden Order."