Chapter Summaries

A player followed an online guide to summon Melina in a normal playthrough, but Torrent crashed into the Tarnished and eagerly chose him as his companion. Melina offered to serve as his witch and gave him Torrent, while the player noticed Alberich's Blood Glintstone suggested the playthrough was not entirely normal.

• The player searched online for a way to find Melina and followed a guide to rest repeatedly at the Church of Elleh.
• Torrent charged into the Tarnished, knocking him into Kalé and scattering the merchant’s goods.
• Melina arrived, saw Torrent show affection toward the Tarnished, and considered selling him to Sellen.
• Melina offered to turn Runes into strength for the Tarnished until they reached the final destination, and the player accepted.
• Melina gave the Tarnished the Spectral Steed Whistle and left Torrent with him.
• The player noticed Alberich's Blood Glintstone in his inventory and suspected the playthrough was not truly normal.

The Tarnished repeatedly raided Mohg's Tender Paradise near Agheel Lake, killing its dancers, stealing their clothes, and earning Runes. As Melina grew baffled by his apparent money-farming method, she asked Kalé to deliver a letter to the True Magic Academy.

• The player guided the Tarnished into Mohg's Tender Paradise, where he killed the dancers and took their outfits instead of paying.
• The manager watched the Tarnished return and repeat the raids, then decided to let him continue because the missing Runes could be blamed on him.
• Melina saw the Tarnished return with more Runes each time and began questioning whether the establishment was really a bank.
• Melina went to the Church of Elleh and asked Kalé to deliver a letter to the True Magic Academy.
• Kalé asked whether anything was wrong with the Tarnished, and Melina calmly denied it.

Horace struggled to govern the Lands Between after Godfrey and Marika took most of its forces to the Land of Shadow, until news that Caelid had become a sea of blood led him to confront Lilith. He found Lilith transformed and battling the Inquisitor Knights, but her attacks seemed deliberately ineffective, leaving Horace to wonder what she was really trying to accomplish.

• Godfrey and Marika took most of the Lands Between's military forces to the Land of Shadow, leaving Horace and the Inquisitor Knights to handle law enforcement across the realm.
• A messenger told Horace that Caelid had become an endless sea of blood, and he ordered the Inquisitor Knights to assemble and seal off the battlefield healers' gathering place.
• Horace led the Order of the Great Rune Knights to Caelid's border and found Lilith transformed into a huge, many-armed creature amid the blood sea.
• Lilith turned the sky red, summoned Bloodflame, and attacked the knights with a trident, but her theatrical strikes failed to hit them.
• Horace chose not to suppress Lilith with the Great Runes because he suspected her ineffective attacks were part of a larger plan.

Lilith summoned Asmodeus by sacrificing her prepared Avatar, and the newborn demon king devastated Caelid with a meteor shower. As Horace fought Asmodeus and recognized that Lilith had likely absorbed her child’s authority, he decided to end the battle himself.

• Lilith impaled herself with her trident, revealed the Avatar she had prepared for the moon, and swallowed the girl as a blood-red meteor descended into her.
• Asmodeus emerged, called distant kin to Caelid, and caused countless Fallingstar Beasts and Astels to rain down, leaving the land devastated and covered in Blood Glintstone.
• Horace ordered the Inquisitor Knights to retreat when Asmodeus’s tentacles shattered a knight’s shield and proved resistant to his attacks.
• Asmodeus rained Bloodflame-infused Glintstones on Horace, causing his blood to boil and flow into the demon’s mouth, while Lilith also swallowed some of his blood.
• Horace realized Asmodeus lacked the authority expected of a demon king and suspected Lilith had absorbed her child’s power, then resolved to clean up the mess.

Horace defeated Asmodeus, received the Eshma Sword, and left the unconscious girl in the Inquisitor Knights’ care before escaping Caelid. He then assessed the devastation and learned that juvenile Fallingstar Beasts had struck Sellia, but his duties left him with no one available to deal with them.

• Asmodeus forged the Eshma Sword from its body and died cursing the world, while Lilith emerged unharmed and gave the sword to Horace.
• Lilith revealed that the girl was the true gift, then vanished after telling Horace to make use of the sword.
• Horace ordered the Inquisitor Knights to take the unconscious girl somewhere quiet, sent the Fell God of Fire away, and left Caelid on the Ice Dragon.
• Horace inspected the damage to Caelid, found the Beast Clergyman’s Sanctum intact, and learned that Fallingstar Beasts had devastated Sellia and killed most of its sorcerers.
• Horace ordered a letter sent to Master Lusat, but realized he had no available forces to handle the juvenile Fallingstar Beasts and remained trapped by his administrative duties.

Melina dismissed Kalé’s warning that the Tarnished had grown close to Duchess, while the player began courting Duchess with Pocket Bread and learned she was lonely and cut off from her family. When the Tracker learned that a revealingly dressed Tarnished had been bringing his sister bread, he canceled his mission and set out to hunt him.

• Kalé warned Melina that the Tarnished had been spending time with Duchess, but Melina said his relationships were none of her concern.
• The player followed a guide, farmed Pocket Bread from patrolling knights, and gave it to Duchess at the Church of Elleh.
• Duchess told the Tarnished that Pocket Bread reminded her of her mother and brother, and explained that becoming a maiden had cut her off from things connected to the gods.
• The player realized the Tracker might have sent him to keep Duchess company rather than simply to punish him.
• A knight told the Tracker that the Tarnished was bringing Duchess Pocket Bread, and the Tracker canceled his mission to pursue him.

Horace named Lilith’s shared Avatar Yera and watched the Lands Between settle into a rare peace. When Froesanks told him the Dragon Lord had pardoned the Flying Dragons, Horace explained that uniting dragonkind was necessary for its survival, though Froesanks remained unsure whether she could accept them.

• Horace named the Avatar Yera after Stars and the Full Moon agreed to share the name.
• The Lands Between entered a quiet period while the Golden Dynasty and Caria recovered and the Land of Shadow war stalled.
• Froesanks told Horace that the Dragon Lord had pardoned the Flying Dragons, and Greyoll had spoken in favor of the decision.
• Horace explained that the Ancient Dragons were dwindling and that dragonkind needed the numerous Flying Dragons to survive.
• Froesanks said the two groups were keeping apart, and Horace told her the Dragon Lord had chosen dragonkind’s survival rather than forgiveness.
• Horace warned Froesanks that killing was the worst revenge and that being unable to die could be true torment, then she left.

Placidusax, Messmer, and the Golden Dynasty’s forces devastated the Hornsent in a campaign that became an extermination, while Godfrey rampaged through the enemy ranks. The chapter ended with the Black Knights stuck hauling supplies and Serosh once again torn apart as Godfrey became Hoarah Loux.

• Placidusax descended on the Land of Shadow with the Ancient Dragons as the Golden Dynasty’s armies and Messmer’s forces attacked the Hornsent.
• Messmer’s Fire Knights and the reckless Madstorm Knights slaughtered Hornsent across the region, while Godfrey smashed through enemy formations faster than his guards could follow.
• The Caria Knights and Crucible Knights struggled to find enemies left to fight, and the Crucible Knights settled for tidying the battlefield.
• With Marika absent and Messmer giving them no orders, Andros told Xiu and the Black Knights to move supplies to the front.
• Godfrey, frustrated that the Hornsent were too weak to satisfy him, tore Serosh apart and became Hoarah Loux again.

Hoarah Loux and Messmer continued the war against the Hornsent while Horace advanced toward Belurat and gathered the dead through his blood moon. The chapter left Messmer accepting the Fell God of Fire’s flames and becoming clad in burning armor.

• Hoarah Loux tore through the Divine Beast Warriors and Hornsent, reshaping the battlefield with his attacks while the Caria Knights and Crucible Knights watched from a distance.
• Messmer ordered his Fire Knights to continue the campaign and kept fighting the surviving Hornsent.
• Horace entered the Land of Shadow and headed toward Belurat, intending to use the Divine Gate to gather its souls.
• Horace encountered Messmer impaling the last Hornsent warrior, then continued on as the blood moon rose and absorbed the dead Hornsent’s souls into Horace.
• The Fell God of Fire’s kindling gathered around Messmer and formed burning armor as he stood still and let the flames consume him.

Godfrey and Horace led the assault on Belurat, defeating the Hornsent as they advanced to the Divine Gate. There, Marika revealed that she had stripped away her divinity and conservative side, leaving Radagon to hold the divinity while Horace wondered whether half a god could still be a god.

• Godfrey and Placidusax breached Belurat's walls and crushed its defenders, with Godfrey complaining that Placidusax kept killing enemies before he could reach them.
• Horace entered the Spiral Tower and found Godfrey slaughtering its warriors; Horace destroyed a group of inquisitors with a glance as his power neared completion.
• Horace and Godfrey reached the Purification Chamber and stood together before the burning Land of Shadow and the Divine Gate.
• Marika told Horace that she had stripped away her divinity and conservative side, leaving them at the Divine Gate.
• Radagon explained that he had accepted the divinity, and Horace considered Marika's division of herself and questioned whether half a god remained a god.

Marika explained her plan to divide the Golden Order’s divinity from her godhood, while Horace completed his power at the Divine Gate. Beings summoned by the Gate revealed that Absolute Order and omniscience led to fatalism, leaving Horace to face the consequences of a world where every possibility was predetermined.

• Marika told Radagon he would receive the Golden Order’s divinity while she became an Outer God representing immutability, allowing the Law to be replaced.
• Godfrey failed to follow Marika and Horace’s discussion and fell asleep.
• Horace absorbed the spiritual power gathered by the Divine Gate and completed the God of Restraint.
• Nyarlathotep, Hermes Trismegistus, and a white dove emerged from the Gate of Myriad Laws, and Nyarlathotep said they were simulations sent to deliver Bubbles’ message.
• Hermes and the dove explained that Great Runes restrained things and that civilization’s Absolute Order could extinguish possibility.
• Nyarlathotep explained that omniscience made everything certain and predetermined, turning the end of all things into fatalism.

Horace understood that Great Runes were both his own power and the beast restraining him from omniscience, then chose Hermes as his guide. Nyarlathotep kicked him out of the vision, leaving him standing before the Divine Gate with Marika and Radagon.

• Horace realized Great Runes were his beast and that the Gate of Myriad Laws did not need energy; Nyarlathotep had only pretended it was hungry.
• The dove explained that it represented omniscience that had forgotten, while Hermes pursued omniscience and existed between man and god.
• Horace declared that he was both beast and God, then chose Hermes because he seemed the most normal.
• Hermes vanished to seize Little Garden, while Nyarlathotep kicked Horace away for calling Hermes normal.
• Horace opened his eyes before the Divine Gate, where Marika and Radagon remained as before.

Horace became a god and inscribed a rule that the Elden Ring’s Law would change every thousand years, leaving Radagon as its permanent vessel and examiner. He then woke Godfrey and set out with him to face Metyr, while Marika and Radagon watched them go.

• Horace’s spirituality became complete, and his Great Runes appeared as a peacock embodying his enemy and other self.
• Horace told Radagon he would not seize the Elden Ring and inscribed a rule making its Law change every thousand years.
• Horace made Radagon the Elden Ring’s permanent vessel and chief examiner, able to test those who sought to change its Law.
• Horace woke Godfrey by telling him there was a fight, then named Metyr as their final opponent.
• Godfrey led the charge toward Metyr with Horace following, while Radagon asked Marika whether they would win and she said they would.

Horace and his allies entered the Fingers' Birthing Chamber to confront Metyr, the Mother of Fingers. After their overwhelming assault failed to kill her, Metyr tried to escape through a black hole, but Horace trapped her and prepared to strike.

• Horace gathered Godfrey, Messmer, Godwyn, Fortissax, and Dragon Lord Placidusax at Manus Metyr Cathedral, then teleported them into the Fingers' Birthing Chamber.
• Metyr attacked the intruders, and Godfrey, Placidusax, and Messmer overwhelmed her with blows, lasers, and fire.
• Horace watched with the Fingerslayer Blade and the Sword of Vengeance, ready to harm Metyr with the god-slaying weapons.
• Metyr opened a black hole and tried to flee, but Horace restrained space and caused her to return to the chamber.
• Godfrey taunted the trapped Metyr as Horace stepped forward and raised his sword.

Horace discovered that the Mother of Fingers had not been opposing him; she had been abandoned by the Greater Will and was waiting for a reply. He persuaded her to work for him as an information manager in the Lands Between, leaving with her agreement to the unpaid job.

• The Mother of Fingers told Horace that her receiver had broken, she could no longer hear from the Greater Will, and she had only pretended to pass along decrees.
• Horace realized the Mother of Fingers had not intended to stop him and felt guilty after hearing how she had waited for the Greater Will to remember her.
• Horace offered the Mother of Fingers work relaying information through the Fingers and argued that she had no reason to remain idle.
• The Mother of Fingers accepted Horace's offer, and Horace privately celebrated gaining unpaid labor.
• The Mother of Fingers asked whether the information management center provided meals, and Horace said that it did.

Horace realized the Fingers could transmit messages instantly across the Lands Between and planned to recruit Metyr to help manage communications and paperwork. He returned to Leyndell to find Marika, Godfrey, and the lion gone, and Radagon fled the paperwork too, leaving Horace with the documents.

• Horace recognized that the Two Fingers could relay messages across great distances and planned to build a communications network using Finger Reader Crones.
• Horace decided to employ Metyr as an information manager, imagining she could eventually help process administrative work.
• Godfrey, Marika, and Horace headed back toward Leyndell while Godwyn flew off with Fortissax; Metyr shivered in her underground chamber.
• Horace returned to Leyndell with Radagon and Messmer and found the room empty except for mountains of paperwork.
• Radagon tried to slip away, then bolted through the doorway and left Horace to handle the work.

Horace began his rule over the Lands Between after forcing Radagon and his peacock to manage the Golden Dynasty’s and Caria’s affairs. The old Golden Order remained in force for the first millennium, which Horace would rule directly.

• Horace used his power to retrieve Radagon, while Messmer escaped and ran off.
• Horace put Radagon to work handling the Golden Dynasty’s documents and recruited his peacock to manage Caria’s paperwork.
• Turtle Miriel witnessed the new Beast Regents at work and wondered who would become the next drudge.
• Horace began his reign, ruling the Lands Between for a thousand years while the old Golden Order remained in effect.

Horace learned that Rellana’s unborn daughter had been empowered by the Outer Gods and was already fighting a god before birth. He pulled her soul back and resolved to restrict the gods’ interference, while considering the dangers she might face after she was born.

• Rellana became pregnant, and Horace discovered that their daughter’s powerful soul was mismatched with her weak body.
• Lilith and Yera revealed that several Outer Gods had blessed the child, including the Moon, the Fell God of Fire and Death, and Scarlet Rot.
• Lilith told Horace that the unborn child was a god and had encroached on Death’s domain, where she was chasing and beating up a god.
• Horace used his power of restraint to bring his daughter’s soul back into Rellana’s womb.
• Horace worried that the child might become the First Dead if her soul left her body after birth, and decided to limit the Outer Gods’ blessings.

Horace gathered the Outer Gods and their representatives at the Elden Throne to discuss how to restrict the Outer Gods. After Lilith and Marika’s quarrel disrupted the meeting, Horace began the agenda, leaving Lilith stunned by the idea that she would have to help restrict herself.

• Horace assembled seven chairs for the Outer Gods, with Lilith, Yera, Malenia, the Fell God of Fire, Death’s emissary, and Marika represented or present.
• The Fell God of Fire made Messmer pay Radagon for damages with his monthly wages.
• Marika and Lilith traded insults until Horace ordered everyone to be silent.
• Horace announced that the conference would address how to restrict the Outer Gods.
• Lilith questioned why the Outer Gods would restrict themselves, and Horace confirmed that they would.

Horace established that the Outer Gods could influence the Lands Between only through agents, then learned that his unborn daughter Hether would hold authority over childbirth and reincarnation. He was left contemplating what her power over reincarnation meant, since the fate of souls after death remained unknown.

• Horace barred the Outer Gods from directly interfering with reality, and Lilith reluctantly accepted the arena as an outlet for her bloodlust.
• Lilith secretly decided Mohg could run a club in Limgrave without violating Horace's rule, and the Outer Gods dispersed after the meeting.
• As Rellana's pregnancy advanced, Horace worried that his daughter might inherit an authority overlapping with Lilith's lust.
• Lilith clarified that the child's authority involved childbirth, not lust, and Horace chose the name Hether.
• Lilith revealed that Hether's authority also included reincarnation, leaving Horace to wonder how souls returned after death.