Chapter Summaries

The war in Limgrave intensified as Redmane Knights forced their way into Godrick's stronghold, while Zhao Si explained Miquella's Silver Tears research and used Ash to create a decoy of Godwyn. As Zhao Si, Godwyn, and Fia neared Helphen's Black Steeple, the ground began to tremble and Godwyn suspected they were not driving on earth.

• Redmane soldiers charged through breaches in Godrick's defenses, and Aureg held back the Banished Knights so Godrick's troops could gain battlefield experience.
• Zhao Si told Godwyn about Miquella's research into Ash, a controllable Silver Tears substance that could copy hosts and produce spores.
• Zhao Si swallowed Ash, then used its spores to create a copy of Godwyn that the Black Knife Assassins killed with Destined Death.
• Zhao Si, Godwyn, and Fia continued toward Helphen's Black Steeple and discussed Miquella's plans to help the Albinaurics.
• The ground shook beneath their vehicle, and Godwyn warned that they might not be driving on the earth.

Zhao Si and Godwyn fled as the earth split apart and the Giant King rose from beneath it. Godwyn recounted the Fire Giants’ history and their war against Marika’s Golden Dynasty as the enormous king emerged in the Spirit World.

• Zhao Si reversed the Jeep and searched for stable ground as earthquakes and pillars of fire pursued them.
• Godwyn identified the being beneath them as the Giant King and urged Zhao Si to escape.
• Godwyn described the Fire Giants’ history, their friendship with the Astrologers, and the Golden Dynasty’s war of extermination against them.
• Zhao Si wondered whether the war had left the Erdtree and Elden Ring vulnerable, while he drove through the shaking terrain and evaded falling rocks and fire serpents.
• The Giant King rose from the earth, crowned and armored, with an enormous axe and undying flames burning across his body.

Zhao Si, Fia, and Godwyn fled the Giant King as he rose, but Zhao Si urged Godwyn to face the threat instead of relying on his father. Godwyn charged the giant, leaving the Jeep wrecked as their clash began.

• The Giant King rose from the earth, revealed the Fire God's power within him, and pulled a shield from a mountain.
• Zhao Si drove the Jeep through flames and falling rocks while Fia struggled against the Giant King's deafening roar.
• Godwyn told Zhao Si that Godfrey had defeated the Giant King before, and Zhao Si urged Godwyn to confront the giant himself.
• The Giant King split the earth with his axe, and Godwyn kicked the Jeep away from the fissure.
• Zhao Si used the Serpent Spear to hurl Godwyn toward the Giant King, who blocked his golden-lightning charge with his shield.

Godwyn struggled against the Giant King until memories of Godfrey and his allies helped him overcome his self-doubt and fight with renewed strength. Zhao Si joined him, and the two counterattacked, leaving the Giant King wounded but still standing.

• The Giant King battered Godwyn with his roar, shield, flames, axe, and a crushing stomp while Zhao Si left Fia to help.
• Pinned beneath the Giant King's foot, Godwyn remembered how Godfrey had fought alongside his knights and heroes, then summoned golden power to resist.
• Zhao Si stabbed the Giant King's ankle with the Serpent Spear, distracting him long enough for Godwyn to throw him off balance and escape.
• Godwyn admitted that self-doubt about matching his parents had weakened him, and Zhao Si encouraged him as they prepared to face the Giant King's renewed attacks.
• Godwyn drew the Black Knife and defended himself against the Giant King's axe, shield, and flames while Zhao Si flew toward the chest eye.
• Zhao Si drove the Serpent Spear into the Giant King's eye and pulled it free as Godwyn praised his strike.

Zhao Si and Godwyn fought the Giant King, using a golden chain to bind him so Godwyn could crush his head. As Zhao Si’s vision failed, the Gloam-Eyed Queen repeatedly urged him to bring Godwyn to her.

• The Giant King’s injured eye left him thrashing wildly, while Godwyn used Golden Magic to ease the pain in Zhao Si’s eyes.
• The Gloam-Eyed Queen spoke inside Zhao Si’s mind and demanded that he bring Godwyn to her, but Zhao Si pushed the voice aside to continue fighting.
• Godwyn attacked the Giant King’s legs to make him lose balance, while Zhao Si asked for a golden chain and ran around the giant to wind it around his body.
• Godwyn and Zhao Si pulled the chain tight, binding the Giant King and making him fall as his struggles tightened the restraints.
• The Gloam-Eyed Queen’s voice made Zhao Si’s vision go completely dark, and Godwyn smashed the Giant King’s head until it was pulverized.

Zhao Si rejected the Gloam-Eyed Queen’s demand to keep Godwyn in the Spirit World, choosing instead to continue his plan to bring Godwyn back to life. Blind and warned that a powerful enemy awaited them at Helphen's Black Steeple, Zhao Si set off with Godwyn and Fia to confront it.

• The Gloam-Eyed Queen revealed that she had guided Zhao Si to Godwyn so he would keep him in the Spirit World and help fulfill her plan.
• Zhao Si refused, insisting that reviving Godwyn and helping the Lands Between were his own goals, not a mission dictated by fate.
• Godwyn noticed Zhao Si could not see, and Zhao Si told him they should continue to Helphen's Black Steeple despite the danger.
• Godwyn trusted Zhao Si and went to bring Fia so they could set out together.
• Supported by Godwyn, Zhao Si called Fia and headed toward Helphen's Black Steeple to challenge what he believed was fate.

Fia examined Zhao Si’s blindness and suspected that the Giant King’s blood had carried a curse that eroded his eyes. The Gloam-Eyed Queen threatened to worsen Zhao Si’s condition unless he betrayed Godwyn, but Zhao Si refused and argued that the Erdtree could help Godwyn escape.

• Fia examined Zhao Si’s gray, hardened eyes and found that deathly energy had eroded them on the level of his soul.
• Fia suggested that the blood Zhao Si saw on the Giant King might have been a curse meant to keep Godwyn trapped.
• Godwyn promised Zhao Si a reward and help healing his eyes, while Fia warned that restoring them would be difficult.
• The Gloam-Eyed Queen threatened to restore Zhao Si’s sight if he sabotaged Godwyn, then threatened to strip away Zhao Si’s senses and limbs when he refused.
• Zhao Si told the Gloam-Eyed Queen that the Erdtree had answered Godwyn during the battle and that Miquella and Godwyn would find a way to stop her.

After the Gloam-Eyed Queen threatened to torture Zhao Si to force Godwyn’s submission, Godwyn carried Zhao Si and Fia at supersonic speed toward Helphen’s Black Steeple. With Miquella and the Erdtree sustaining them, the group reached the tower and prepared to confront the Queen.

• Zhao Si told Godwyn that the Gloam-Eyed Queen had threatened to torture him to make Godwyn submit.
• Godwyn grew furious, tucked Zhao Si and Fia under his arms, and raced toward the Black Tower faster than sound.
• Miquella sensed the sleepers’ distress, poured restorative Pure Gold magic into them, and received further aid from the Erdtree.
• Godwyn carried Zhao Si and Fia to Helphen’s Black Steeple, where they saw a suspended staircase lined with kneeling knight effigies above an abyss.
• Godwyn set Zhao Si and Fia down and told them to follow while he took the lead against any danger.

Godwyn and Zhao Si climbed Helphen's Black Steeple through a host of vengeful spirits and met the Storm King, who explained the Queen of Death's interest in Godwyn. The Gloam-Eyed Queen revealed her connection to the Queen inside, and the stone door opened as Sikatiya called to Godwyn.

• Godwyn fought off phantom attacks and continued climbing as wronged souls drained his strength, while Zhao Si sensed the spirits gathering around them.
• The ghosts of Alecto and Alecto clung to Zhao Si, making his legs heavy as Fia supported him up the stairs.
• At the Circular Plaza, Godwyn met the Storm King, who recalled fighting Godfrey and explained that the Queen of Death wanted Godwyn as her king.
• The Gloam-Eyed Queen revealed that she was part of Sikatiya and had become her younger sister and an Empyrean chosen by the Two Fingers.
• The Storm King named Sikatiya as the goddess of the Spirit World, and the stone door opened as she called to Godwyn.

Godwyn confronted Sikatiya about the ghosts bound to him, learning they were the lingering victims of the Golden Dynasty’s wars. Sikatiya offered to erase them if he became her lord, but the exchange turned into a reunion when she summoned her sister, Sikali, through Zhao Si.

• Sikatiya revealed that the ghosts clinging to Godwyn were the sins of gold: souls of people and clans slaughtered by the Golden Dynasty.
• Godwyn learned the dead souls could neither enter the Erdtree nor be reborn, and that he had no clear way to release or escape them.
• Sikatiya offered to erase the ghosts if Godwyn stayed in the Spirit World and became her lord, arguing that life in the Lands Between was ultimately meaningless.
• Godwyn challenged Sikatiya’s knowledge of the Lands Between, and she said she had experienced it through her chosen, Sikali, the Queen of the Full Moon Eyes.
• Sikatiya summoned Sikali’s phantom from Zhao Si; Sikali greeted her sister and said she had not completely failed, while Godwyn and Zhao Si urged them to hurry.

Zhao Si faced Sikatiya, the Goddess of Death, after Sikali returned to her corpse and merged with Sikatiya to form a complete god. With Godwyn bound and Destined Death making every strike fatal, Zhao Si fought with support from Godwyn, Miquella, and the Haligtree, leaving the battle locked in a dangerous exchange.

• Sikali left Zhao Si's body and returned to her broken corpse, which revived as Sikatiya and Sikali merged into the Goddess of Death.
• Sikatiya appeared amid fog, Ghostflame, ice, and Destined Death, wielding spears and short swords as Zhao Si prepared to face her.
• Sikatiya ordered the ghosts to bind Godwyn, so Zhao Si told Fia to leave the plaza and stepped forward to fight alone.
• Sikatiya hurled a spear at Zhao Si, but Godwyn broke free long enough to chain himself to Zhao Si and send him Golden Magic, allowing Zhao Si to evade the attack.
• Zhao Si attacked Sikatiya with the Serpent Spear and Black Knife, while the Storm King and Fia watched and debated whether Zhao Si's apparent foolishness made him difficult to defeat.

Zhao Si fought Skatia, the Goddess of Death, at close range, using his weapons and Godwyn’s enhancements to resist her attacks and break free from the ghosts. Skatia hurled two death-charged spears at him, and Zhao Si charged into them while trusting the Academy Crest at his waist.

• Zhao Si used the Serpent Spear and Black Knife to keep Skatia from controlling the battle, forcing her to retreat.
• Skatia summoned the ghosts of Zhao Si’s slain enemies to restrain him, but Zhao Si drove them away with gravity, Destined Death, golden flames, and Ghostflame.
• Zhao Si charged Skatia again, scraping the Serpent Spear along the ground and bathing it in golden flames.
• Skatia ordered the ghosts to restrain Zhao Si, then retreated to gain space and hurled both Piercing Spears at him.
• Zhao Si charged toward the spears, cleaved through one with the Black Knife, and relied on the Academy Crest as the other spear’s airborne spikes closed in.

Zhao Si used Thops's Force Field and his skill with the Flowing Sword to turn Sikatiya's attacks against her, then pressed his advantage with taunts and relentless weapon clashes. As Miquella and Godwyn's support began to fade, Zhao Si kept fighting while the outcome neared its decision.

• Zhao Si charged through Sikatiya's rain of death, deflecting the spikes with Thops's Force Field.
• Zhao Si redirected one of Sikatiya's spears and struck her with her own power, forcing her to defend herself.
• Zhao Si wounded Sikatiya's face with the Serpent Spear while evading her counterattack.
• Zhao Si taunted Sikatiya and fought her four weapons with the Flowing Sword, redirecting her strikes into one another.
• Zhao Si used gravity to slow Sikatiya as Godwyn urged him to finish before his borrowed strength faded.

Zhao Si exploited Sikatiya’s arrogance and used Ghostflame, gravity, and her own weapons to pierce her heart and drive her to the ground. Sikatiya fell into the mortal dust, leaving her fate uncertain.

• Zhao Si dodged Sikatiya’s spear and attacked with Ghostflame, drawing her attention toward the Black Knife.
• Zhao Si used gravity to pull Sikatiya and the Black Knife together, forcing her into a large movement that opened a gap.
• Zhao Si used Ghostflame and Sikatiya’s own force to seize her Piercing Spear.
• Zhao Si propelled the Piercing Spear through Sikatiya’s ribs and heart, then caught the Serpent Spear and drove it into her chest.
• Sikatiya slid down the spears and fell into the mortal dust.

Zhao Si defeated Sikatiya, but she survived and offered him Destined Death with a deadly curse attached. The chapter ended with Sikatiya making the weapon the price of leaving her domain.

• Zhao Si pinned Sikatiya down with spears as Destined Death ravaged her body, and Godwyn explained that she would not die permanently.
• Godwyn reproached Sikatiya for scheming to make him her lord, while she admitted she could no longer force him to stay.
• Sikatiya gathered the scattered weapons and condensed Destined Death into a spearhead, offering it to Zhao Si as both a reward and a curse.
• Sikatiya warned that the weapon would drain Zhao Si's life and require him to kill someone close for every enemy he killed with it, so Zhao Si refused.
• Sikatiya told Zhao Si and Godwyn they could leave only if Zhao Si took the weapon with him.

Zhao Si agreed to take the spearhead of Destined Death to free Godwyn, then destroyed the lingering undead before leaving Helphen's Black Steeple with Godwyn and Fia. As they traveled through a golden realm toward their bodies, Miquella sensed danger nearing the Haligtree, and Godwyn's finger twitched.

• Zhao Si accepted the spearhead despite Sikatiya refusing to restore his eyesight, and Godwyn vowed to share his future with him.
• Zhao Si hurled the spearhead into the undead, causing Destined Death to destroy them, then reclaimed it and entered the fog gate with Fia and Godwyn.
• After the trio departed, Sikatiya planned to attach herself to someone connected to Destined Death so she could find Zhao Si in the Lands Between.
• Zhao Si, Godwyn, and Fia floated through a golden realm filled with sleeping souls, and Godwyn guessed they were inside the Erdtree.
• Miquella watched over Godwyn's body, sensed trouble approaching the Haligtree, and saw one of Godwyn's fingers twitch.

Radahn overwhelmed Malenia and Morgott in the Mountaintops of the Giants, but Godwyn arrived with a black dragon and stopped his killing blow. Radahn recognized Godwyn as the dragon shielded the injured Demigods.

• Radahn used gravity magic to batter Malenia and Morgott, whose shackles and prostheses left them unable to fight at full strength.
• Radahn launched Starcaller to pull Malenia and Morgott toward his Starscourge Greatswords.
• Morgott used golden energy and chains to pull Malenia close and recover her prostheses, but Radahn's attack caught them both.
• Godwyn struck Radahn's sword aside as a black dragon descended and shielded Malenia and Morgott.
• Godwyn landed on the dragon's head and challenged Radahn, who recognized him.

Godwyn returned to the battlefield with Fortissax and confronted Radahn, who had been threatening Malenia and Morgott. After the two demigods exchanged challenges, Godwyn launched the opening attack, and Radahn met him in battle.

• Godwyn awakened and took Zhao Si’s Academy Crest before leaping through the roof to reinforce the front.
• Godwyn and Fortissax arrived at the battlefield, and Godwyn confirmed that Malenia and Morgott were alive.
• Godwyn asked Fortissax to fight beside him, and Fortissax carried him into the sky above the battlefield.
• Godwyn and Radahn traded taunts as Malenia and Morgott prepared to support their brother.
• Godwyn charged Radahn with a golden lightning attack, and Radahn blocked the blow with his Starscourge Greatswords.

Radahn battled Godwyn with gravity and his Starscourge Greatswords, but Godwyn proved immune to gravity and repeatedly overpowered him. Radahn trapped Godwyn inside a giant stone sphere, but a solar eclipse and strange deathly flames appeared as the sphere began to crumble.

• Radahn attacked Godwyn with gravity orbs, but Godwyn used them as footholds and struck Radahn with his fists.
• Radahn called on Asimi to enhance him and met Godwyn's descending kick with a headbutt, sending them both flying back.
• Radahn charged Godwyn with his Starscourge Greatswords, but Godwyn dodged and deflected the blows before interrupting Radahn's Gravity Wave with a knee strike.
• Radahn encased Godwyn in a huge sphere of stones and sent it skyward, where it overlapped the sun.
• The sun turned black and red as an ominous darkness covered the Mountaintops of the Giants, and the stone sphere crumbled amid dark-gold mist and flames that spread an aura of death.

Godwyn’s strange power of death forced Radahn to retreat, but it left Godwyn weakened and struggling to control the power. At the Haligtree, the wounded survivors recovered while Zhao Si remained blind and Maliketh continued to suffer from Amber Starlight.

• Godwyn’s display of deathly power frightened Radahn into withdrawing the Redmane Army to defend Caria.
• Godwyn stopped Fortissax from pursuing Radahn, then collapsed from exhaustion after the stone sphere shattered.
• Godwyn told Morgott, Malenia, and Fortissax that he had returned from the Spirit World with a power of death he could barely control.
• Godwyn and the others returned to the Haligtree, where they found their Demigods injured or weakened from the battle.
• Helena’s treatment did not improve Zhao Si’s condition, and Zhao Si discussed seeking a prosthetic eye from Miquella and Sellen.
• Helena told Zhao Si that Maliketh remained weakened by Stars fragments, while Sellen had found no effective way to treat him.