Returning to Stormveil

Beyond the steep cliff, the Tarnished spotted a staircase built from wooden planks below. Its far end led into Stormveil Castle.

"Looks like this is the entrance. Quite a few soldiers here, though." The Tarnished looked down at the many red-cloaked soldiers, just like those he had encountered in the graveyard where Oleg was buried. Just then, the soldiers scanning their surroundings spotted him as well.

"Look, lads! Another Tarnished with a death wish. Come on, let's capture him and offer him to Lord Godrick!" Though the Cloaked Exile Soldiers could still speak, their faces were twisted and their eyes resembled those of beasts that knew nothing but slaughter.

"Ha. Nobody ever said you had to lose the ability to speak to be mad." The Tarnished immediately leaped down from above and drew the Curved Sword from his back. Cold solidified as he touched the ground, instantly freezing the soldiers' feet in place. A single slash had robbed them of their ability to move.

"Impossible!" The soldiers frantically hammered at the ice around their feet, but how could it break so easily? This ice carried Golden Grace.

"Well, that's checkmate." With those casually spoken words, the Tarnished swung his Curved Sword. Several Exile Soldiers froze into ice sculptures on the spot, then shattered into fragments and perished.

A considerable number of runes flew out of the shattered soldiers. "Looks like plenty of people fell victim to you." The Tarnished chuckled and absorbed the runes into his body. Later, he could have Melina help him fully integrate them into himself.

Stealthy footsteps came from behind him, accompanied by a malicious chuckle. "Heh heh, your treasures are mine." The man behind the Tarnished shoved hard, intending to send him over the cliff. What he had not realized was that the Tarnished had noticed him long ago. With a slight sidestep, the Tarnished let the man's momentum and the ice beneath his feet send him tumbling toward the precipice.

"No! I don't want to die!" The man clung desperately to the wooden planks on the cliff.

"You're awfully eager, Gostoc. So curious about me that you had to follow me all this way?" The Tarnished looked down at Gostoc with a mocking smile.

"No, no, no, you've misunderstood! I only wanted to say hello. I didn't expect the ground to be so slippery. Please, save me!" Gostoc pleaded, his hands locked around the planks.

"Oh, is that so?" The Tarnished nodded, bent down, and pulled Gostoc up, then straightened his Tattered Clothes.

"I-it's wonderful that you understand." Gostoc was surprised. He had not expected the man to believe him so easily. What an idiot.

"Well, that certainly made a fool of us." The Tarnished smiled.

"Ah, haha, yes..." What's going on? Why am I shaking...? As Gostoc looked at the Tarnished before him, his body began trembling uncontrollably.

"W-what are you doing?! Aaaagh!" The Tarnished's sudden punch struck him square in the face, knocking out what few teeth he had left. Gostoc fell to the ground and glared at him in fury.

"I thought you'd get the hint. If you hadn't attacked, I would have spared you. But it turns out you really are an idiot." The Tarnished had deliberately slowed his steps now and then along the way, and even demonstrated his combat skill against the Exile Soldiers, all to persuade this man to turn back. Yet Gostoc had been so blinded by greed that he had failed to notice any of it.

"Ah..." Only after hearing the Tarnished's words did Gostoc realize. He began begging again. "I was wrong! I was wrong! Forgive me! I'll never do it again!" But the answer was another heavy punch from the Tarnished, this one driving straight through his heart.

"No... why is it always me...? I don't want to... die. How can I die before that bastard Godrick...? This is all your fault, Godrick! It's you, it's all you!" Gostoc screamed himself hoarse, while the Tarnished simply watched in silence.

"It's not as though you never had a chance. You just failed to take it. If you try to kill me, you'd better be ready to die yourself." The Tarnished turned and walked away, leaving Gostoc dead with his eyes still open.

Under tyranny, there would always be people forced into evil. But when someone was given a chance and refused to take it, there was little reason left to pity them.

The incident with Gostoc was only a minor interruption, one that revealed Godrick's brutality and tyranny.

After dealing with a few rank-and-file soldiers who tried to attack him, the Tarnished reached the tower. The interior was rather dim, and he could not rule out an ambush, so he kept his guard up.

"Die!" A massive Exile Soldier raised a Greataxe and brought it down toward the Tarnished.

"If you're going to ambush someone, don't shout. How amateurish." With a single kick, the Tarnished sent both the man and his weapon flying. The soldier's chest caved in, blood spilled from his mouth, and he stared at the Tarnished in terror, as though looking at a monster. His mouth opened, but no sound emerged, and his life gradually faded.

"These soldiers have really fallen on hard times. How disappointing." The sight of the Exile Soldiers now irritated the Tarnished to no end. Their clothing and origins were the same, yet they could not compare with the men of the past. He had not seen a single soldier along the way use Storm Power.

The Tarnished fought his way onward, easily handling every ambush and surprise attack. Eventually, atop a ruined wall covered in roots, he found ten arrows.

"This power feels familiar... could it be Trina?" Looking at the arrows in his hand, the Tarnished felt a faint drowsiness. "These might come in handy."

Farther ahead, he found a locked door that would not open. Apparently, it required a key. "Am I really going to obediently hunt down a key?" With a cold laugh, he raised his Curved Sword and smashed the door open.

"There. Open." In a cheerful mood, the Tarnished rested the Curved Sword on his shoulder and stepped inside. This seemed to be a route to the upper levels, though the path was made from assorted wooden planks that could easily break. Several people dressed like Gostoc lay in wait here with Fire Pots, along with others hiding in corners, hoping to stab him in the back. After disposing of them, he made his way out of the building.

"If I remember correctly, there should be a lift up there." The Tarnished had certainly visited Stormveil Castle before. As long as its interior had not undergone major renovations, he was unlikely to get lost. Someone else, however, was an exception.

"...Who's talking about me?" A burly Crucible Knight stood lost in thought on a remote cliff somewhere.

The Tarnished followed the stairs upward, and sure enough, the enormous lift was still there. A Banished Knight holding a Halberd approached him from ahead. The moment the knight spotted the Tarnished, he summoned a storm and charged without a word.

"A Banished Knight... have you joined Godrick?" The Tarnished easily blocked the knight's attack. After resting for a while at Roundtable Hold, he had gained a new understanding of the powers he had recently acquired. He was now stronger than he had been during his fight with Morgott.

"Hmph. We're merely mercenaries. He pays us, and we guard the place. And hunt down Tarnished like you while we're at it," the Banished Knight said viciously.

"That depends on whether you have what it takes to bring me down." The Tarnished rolled backward, and a flash of his blade rose from the ground immediately afterward. The Banished Knight whipped up a storm to shatter the Tarnished's ice. Just as he was about to mock the feeble attack, the Tarnished's Dragon Claw struck him and sent him flying.

"Dragon Communion Incantations... damn it." The Banished Knight stamped his right foot against the ground, leaped high into the air, and thrust his Halberd downward. Violent winds erupted. Spinning his Halberd, he hurled a storm powerful enough to demolish an entire wall toward the Tarnished.

"Your strength isn't bad. But you seem to have forgotten what the wind of a Banished Knight truly is..." The Tarnished raised his Curved Sword in one hand and stood perfectly still, waiting for the approaching storm.

"Arrogant fool!" Enraged by the Tarnished's stance, the Banished Knight unleashed three more Wind Blades.

"Excellent. Let me show you the true storm of Stormveil." The Tarnished gently turned the Curved Sword in his hand, and something incredible happened. The storm meant to attack him transformed into a gentle breeze that wrapped around his blade. Yet as more and more of the storm gathered, the gentle wind gradually grew violent, once again taking on the force of a tempest that swept everything before it.

"How can this be? What is that?!" The Banished Knight, well versed in storms, was terrified by what the Tarnished had done.

"Heh. Seems I'm better at playing with storms than you are." The Tarnished stepped forward and swung his long blade. The storm swept up huge rocks and hurled them at the Banished Knight ahead.

"Impossible!" The Banished Knight raised his Halberd to resist, but it snapped less than half a second after meeting the attack. Then the boulders struck him, knocking him over the nearby cliff.

"No!!!" the Banished Knight roared, powerless to stop the storm from carrying him into the bottomless abyss.

"The wind... has risen? Is there still someone in Stormveil who can wield a storm like this?" On the lower level, the Crucible Knight gazed at the Banished Knight, whom the storm had reduced to fragments of armor, and sighed in wonder.

"Interesting... but where did that wind come from...? Above?" The Crucible Knight looked up. "Never mind. I should find Godrick first..."

"The lift seems to have been activated, and the switch isn't here either... Forget it. I'll take things as they come." Upon entering the room, the Tarnished had intended to activate the Lift and go straight to the top floor. Unfortunately, it had already been activated.

"Once I've fully mastered Wings of the Crucible, I'll go wherever I please."

Heading farther up, he discovered a Site of Grace inside the room. He activated it, but to his surprise, Melina did not appear immediately.

"Hm? Where's Melina?"

"Were you looking for me...?" Hearing the Tarnished call, Melina appeared with Kukla in her arms. "I was thinking about Kukla..."

"What's wrong with her?"

"I can sense her unfulfilled wish... it seems to have something to do with her family." A faint ripple of emotion entered Melina's voice.

"You can communicate with her? Is it because you're both spirits?"

"I believe so. The child misses her family very much." Melina looked at Kukla, who was tugging at her cloak.

"Do you have any other information? We could look for them along the way," the Tarnished said.

"No... Kukla seems to have forgotten exactly whom she was supposed to meet, and where," Melina said calmly, gently stroking Kukla.

"Perhaps she'll gradually remember as time passes."

"What happened to that man, Gostoc...?" After a period of silence, Melina spoke.

"Pitiful, but hateful too."

"I see..." Melina was no fool. Back at the gate, she had already noticed that Gostoc had other intentions. "Cruelty breeds evil thoughts... and when that evil spreads, it marks the end of an age," she said quietly.

"Exactly. Godrick cannot be allowed to remain." Returning to Stormveil Castle, the Tarnished could clearly feel Godrick's influence on this land and this castle. Bloodshed, filth, madness... even this wind... had been tainted.