After escaping his confinement and catching up with the Tarnished, Kale Basha warned him to be careful of the Omen Beast. The man was no ordinary opponent, and Kale Basha could tell that he had not used his full strength during their fight.
Had the Tarnished been at his peak, there would have been nothing to worry about. But his strength was far below what it once was, and Margit would be a difficult opponent.
"If Godrick is your target, you'll have to defeat him. My advice is not to go there yet. Seek out whatever other power you can use, old friend," Kale Basha said earnestly.
"If he's an Omen, then he should have the weaknesses all Omens share."
Omens were people who bore the traits of the Aspects of the Crucible. Like the Misbegotten, they possessed features of various creatures, and both were shunned by the Erdtree... The horns covering their bodies were cut off at birth. Many Omen children died from having their horns removed, and even the survivors were sent to battlefields as expendable soldiers.
The birth of an Omen child was an atavistic phenomenon, so naturally, they appeared within the Golden Dynasty as well. Omen children born into royalty did not have their horns removed, but in exchange, they were imprisoned in the sunless sewers beneath Leyndell, spending their entire lives there without anyone knowing of their existence.
Since the beginning of the Erdtree's age, there had been those who hunted these Omen children. Wearing masks that struck terror into Omens, they wielded serrated blades and spat fire. They were known as Omen Hunters. Omens had many animal traits, such as thick fur and long tails, which was why the hunters used flames, proclaiming them to be fire that purified curses.
"Still, to think there's an Omen this powerful. Ordinary Omen Hunters' methods probably wouldn't work on him." Most Omen children were not overwhelmingly powerful. At most, they were stronger than ordinary people or could spray a little "cursed blood."
As for an Omen capable of defeating Kale Basha without using his full strength, the Tarnished already had a few uncertain suspicions about his true identity.
After that, the Tarnished and Kale Basha said their final goodbyes. The Tarnished followed his advice and headed back to the Gatefront Ruins, while Kale Basha went to search for his other scattered brothers and sisters, particularly their two former leaders.
"Did you run into trouble...?" Seeing the Tarnished ride back, Melina approached and asked.
"A bit, yes. There's someone up ahead that even a Crucible Knight couldn't handle." The Tarnished shook his head with a wry smile.
"What happened?" Melina frowned slightly, seemingly not having expected this.
"As you know, I told you before that Godfrey and I were sworn brothers, and I followed him to war."
"Yes, you did..." Melina listened quietly.
"You know there were seventeen Crucible Knights who followed Godfrey, right?"
"Seventeen... weren't there sixteen?"
"Oh, right. Officially, there were sixteen. That's because one of them turned traitor. There were originally seventeen, but that's not important."
"What matters is that those Crucible Knights were my comrades and brothers-in-arms. Their strength is beyond question. But when I went to the Evergaol on Stormhill just now, I found that a Crucible Knight had actually been locked up there, and recently, too."
"..." Melina had heard of the Crucible Knights' fearsome reputation. Rumor had it that they were warriors of unknown origins who wielded the power of the Aspects of the Crucible, shunned yet exceptionally powerful. No ordinary hero could match any one of them. Could such a warrior really have been imprisoned by Limgrave's dwindling forces?
"The one who imprisoned him in the Evergaol is called the Omen Beast, Margit."
"An Omen..." Melina now understood the general situation, as well as why the Tarnished had returned empty-handed. "Then what will you do? Do you need me to help you absorb the power of runes?"
The Tarnished shook his head. Runes would certainly make him stronger, but restoring enough strength to fight Margit through runes alone would require an enormous amount. It would be better to target his weaknesses as an Omen.
The dynasty was no fool. It exhausted every means available to deal with those it shunned. Just as it had cut open all the giants to suppress the Fire God dwelling within their chests, it surely had countermeasures against Omens of such extraordinary strength.
He had visited the sewers where Omens were imprisoned in the past. Many unusual individuals there had been restrained by special shackles, tools that used golden power to suppress the Omen blood within them.
He did not know when this Margit had been born, or whether he was the one he suspected, but things would be much easier if there were shackles for him.
"Perhaps... you might find something unexpected in a cave or a tomb?" Melina suggested.
"That makes sense, but I can't just run around blindly." His earlier explorations had indeed uncovered some unexpected caves among the tombs and caverns, but who could say whether anything inside would happen to meet his needs?
Still, he was not entirely without options. The power of the Aspects of the Crucible that Kale Basha had passed on to him included the ability to breathe fire. Given some time, he should be able to gain a degree of mastery over it.
One could never have too many trump cards. After some thought, the Tarnished decided to seek out Yura at Agheel Lake first. Yura had been here for some time and should know a fair amount about the people and things in the area-at least compared to him...
But when he reached the place where Yura had often stopped before, the man was nowhere to be found.
"Strange. Did he leave...? He did say he was looking for someone, so it wouldn't be unusual." Just as the disappointed Tarnished was about to leave, the atmosphere around him suddenly changed. Torrent shuddered beneath him, then vanished into thin air.
"Interference between spirits?" This was not the first time the Tarnished had witnessed such a scene. As he had said himself, space and time throughout the Lands Between were somewhat disordered. For instance, you might have passed through Agheel Lake ten minutes ago, yet someone arriving there ten minutes later would see you only just leaving.
Sometimes, people experienced discrepancies in time. The Golden Finger, which represented a bond, existed to eliminate those discrepancies. But spirits sometimes interfered with one another, and under certain circumstances, only either a Spectral Steed or a spirit could appear in this "world."
That was what had happened here. A new spirit had appeared, and Torrent, being a Spectral Steed, could not adapt to the change in space, so space-time had screened him out.
"What's going on?" The Tarnished's gaze sharpened as he looked toward the spirit approaching from afar. Unlike an ordinary Golden Spirit, this one was blood-red, with an utterly frenzied air about him. He was clearly trouble.
"I've found you, defiler of the dynasty... Heh, pay for your sins with your blood!" After that baffling declaration, the red spirit lunged at him with two oddly shaped daggers.
"Defiler of the dynasty? Another one from the Mohgwyn Dynasty, huh? Have word of my great deeds already reached your headquarters?"
"You're not worthy of knowing!" The red spirit moved with incredible speed, his twin daggers scattering blood as sharp as blades.
"What the hell? You think I want to know? You're nothing but trash." The Tarnished pressed his temples in irritation, then sidestepped the spirit's attack and kicked him in the flank. The spirit grunted and went flying, sending water splashing everywhere. Just then-
"I've found you... Bloody Finger Nerijus. It's time to put an end to your cursed blood... Huh?" Before the murderous Yura could finish, he saw Nerijus sprawled miserably in a puddle.
"Yura, I was just looking for you." Seeing who had arrived, the Tarnished greeted him.
"Oh... ah, it's you. Well, if it's you, there's nothing to worry about." Yura looked a little embarrassed.
"So, who's this guy? You know him?"
"He's from the Mohgwyn Dynasty... and he's a noble." Yura drew his exceptionally long blade.
"He's the one I've been searching for day and night. No... one of them."
"Looks like you've got a grudge against him. How about I leave him to you?" Being unable to settle a grudge was bad for both body and mind.
"Bastards! How dare you underestimate me! I didn't expect you to be here too, Yura... Perfect. You can perish in my blood alongside this sinner who defiled the dynasty!" Nerijus had barely risen to his feet with that roar when a slap from the Tarnished's dragon claw drove him into the ground.
"Shut up. You people from the Mohgwyn Dynasty really have something wrong with you. Can't you see the difference in our strength?"
"Don't waste words on them. They're all lunatics." Yura charged at Nerijus with his blade, clearly accepting the Tarnished's offer.
"This ends here, Nerijus!" Yura was just about to bring his long blade down.
"Don't you dare! Yura, if you still want to know where that woman is, lower your blade!" Nerijus raised his face and stared at Yura with malicious intent.
"...You despicable bastard!" Yura drove his blade into the ground in fury, missing Nerijus's head by a hair.
"Looks like there's more to this..." The Tarnished quietly watched the two from a distance. This seemed to involve something he knew little about.
"Heh, Yura. This cowardly side of yours is exactly why that woman left you!" Seizing his chance, Nerijus thrust a dagger at Yura.
"Ugh!" Caught off guard, Yura suffered a vicious bloody wound across his abdomen. "You Bloody Fingers really are a pack of despicable scum. You've long since lost your humanity! Beasts thirsting for other people's blood!" Yura spat.
"Show some respect! Our Mohgwyn Dynasty is the next dynasty chosen by the age itself. How could a crude lout like you understand? Naturally, you cannot comprehend the beauty of blood!" Nerijus burst out laughing. The next instant, a blade pierced his right eye. "Aaaaargh! How dare you!"
"Enough, enough. Whatever's between you and Yura is none of my business, but you're getting on my nerves. From now on, I'll kill every Bloody Finger and every member of the Mohgwyn Dynasty I see." The Tarnished walked over to Yura, helped him up, and sprinkled a generous amount of Red Crystal Tear over his wound.
"You have my deepest thanks..." Yura thanked him solemnly.
"Oh, come on. One moment you're telling me not to reason with these people, and the next you panic at the mention of a woman." The Tarnished patted Yura's shoulder.
"I... have no excuse."
"All right, I doubt keeping this idiot alive will get you the information you want. Just kill him."
"Don't you dare! If you kill me, the dynasty won't let you get away with it! I'm a noble! A trusted confidant of that lord!" Nerijus roared.
"..." The Tarnished's expression darkened at once.
"If you know what's good for you..."
"Then tell that bastard Mohg of yours to get out here! Let's see if he dares lay a hand on me! Do you really think I'm afraid of you, or that I'm good-tempered? Can't you watch your mouth instead of raving like a lunatic?" The Tarnished's voice seethed with murderous intent, frightening the nearby birds and beasts into fleeing in every direction.
"You..." Before Nerijus could finish, the Tarnished crushed his spirit with a single squeeze of his claw.
"Get lost." The Tarnished flicked his hand.
"!!" Hiding nearby, Nerijus's real body immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood, collapsed to the ground, and lay motionless.
Before you continue