Manager, give me a membership card too!

It wasn't until the figure wearing the lava crown fell before her, just like the others, that she realized what she had done.

She became the Queen of Passing on the Flame.

However, a world without Ash has no reason to continue existing.

The glory that so many people yearn for, the burden that so many people crave but cannot obtain, was discarded like worn-out shoes by that silver-haired girl.

The flames gradually died down, but the king was nowhere to be seen.

The Fire Keeper, back at the Firelink Shrine, sat quietly in her usual spot, continuing to wait for the man who might return at any moment.

In the very end, the flames went out, but the world did not descend into the darkness or deep sea that had been imagined; instead, a new cycle began once again.

In that ancient, chaotic era, before the world was divided, everything was shrouded in a thick fog.

As far as the eye could see, there were gray rocks, towering giant trees, and immortal ancient dragons.

However, one day, the world's first fire was lit, and all the differences arose from it.

cold and hot

Life and Death

Light and Darkness

Then, several species emerged from the darkness. Drawn by the flames, they followed their light and found the king's soul around the fire.

The 'first dead', Nite, symbolizes death.

The 'Witch of Izaris' and her daughters, symbolizing chaos.

Gwyn, the 'Lord of Cinder', symbolizing the sun, and his Silver Knights.

And the 'dwarves' who went unnoticed by others.

Having obtained the King's Soul, they launched a challenge against the ancient overlords, the immortal and indestructible ancient dragons.

The thunder of the Lord of Cinder pierced through the ancient dragon's immortal scales.

The witch's flames consumed the great tree.

The first dead released the aura of death.

Finally, with the help of the traitor without phosphorus, Gu Long was defeated.

From that day on, the age of fire began.

This is a creation myth that has been passed down in this world for a long time, a story familiar to everyone from gods to mortals. But what no one knows is that in this cycle of reincarnation, there is an additional silent witness.

Those are survivors from the previous cycle...

防火女

Witnessing the myths she had heard since childhood unfold before her eyes, the Fire Keeper was filled with excitement. But her excitement did not stem from witnessing the rise of the gods, but rather from...

If everything could start over, would that mean I could see that figure again?

Ten years, a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years...

The Fire Keeper, who had always observed the world from the sidelines, finally reached the era when Lord Ash awakened in her memories. Suppressing her excitement, she easily became the Fire Keeper thanks to her years of preparation, standing in the spot she had been standing in for countless years, quietly waiting for Lord Ash.

One day, three days, five days, ten days...

Days passed, but the ashes she longed for did not arrive as she had imagined. Seeing the flames about to be extinguished, the Fire Keeper, unwilling to give up, once again took up her sword, buying herself more time.

The task she had already performed was so simple that when she came to her senses, she was already standing in the primordial furnace for the second time, and in front of her, the figure wearing the lava crown helmet had slowly fallen to the ground.

She became the Flame-Bearer for the second time.

Even now, her Lord Ash still hasn't appeared. Disheartened, the Fire Keeper threw down her weapon and retreated to her secluded corner in the Firelink Shrine, curling up there once more. Day after day, she stared at the gates of the Firelink Shrine, waiting for that familiar figure to push open the door and enter again.

Unfortunately, the Fire Keeper did not live to see the Ashes arrive, but instead faced another cycle of reincarnation.

Rocks, giant trees, ancient dragons, thick fog. Everything before me was so familiar, so familiar, as if I had returned to yesterday.

He firmly believed that the reason he hadn't waited for Lord Ash was because he had done something wrong, causing a historical inconsistency.

To prevent a repeat of the same mistake, the Fire Keeper prepared a coffin for herself and remained imprisoned in it for countless years until the sound of a bell that resonated through her soul was heard.

Emerging from the completely collapsed tomb, the Fire Keeper immediately headed towards the location of the Firelink Shrine that she remembered.

The familiar town, the familiar people, the familiar path leading to the Firelink Shrine that had been with her for countless years. However, apart from the Fire Keeper being replaced by a stranger because she hadn't appeared, nothing had changed.

The ashes still did not appear.

Unwilling, desperate, frustrated—countless years of effort, countless years of waiting, all in vain. But these countless years of longing had long since transformed the search for and waiting for the ashes into a part of the Fire Keeper's life, into her obsession.

She was unwilling to accept defeat; something must have gone wrong, something unexpected must have happened that led to all of this.

In front of the unfamiliar Fire Keeper, the Fire Keeper pulled out the spiral sword stuck in the center of the Firelink Shrine and disappeared before everyone's eyes.

Over countless ages, the Fire Keeper has developed a wondrous relationship with fire. She herself is an ever-burning campfire.

The Fire Keeper, familiar with the ways of the place, found those Lords of Cinder who had shirked their responsibilities and brought them back to where they belonged.

With the five Lords of Cinder gathered, the Fire Keeper initiated the torch-lighting ceremony.

Under the bewildered gaze of the new Fire Keeper, she took care of everything herself, heading straight for the First Forge and quickly eliminating the Lord of Cinder's avatar.

Without needing the new Fire Keeper to intervene, she extinguished the fire all by herself, then, amidst the despairing gazes of the others, pushed aside the unfamiliar Fire Keeper, returned to her seat, and quietly awaited the world reset.

After a long while, she opened her eyes again, looking at the rocks, giant trees, ancient dragons, and thick fog before her. Having resolved to do something, the Fire Keeper murmured softly:

"I will find you, Lord Ash."

Let's all join the True Ayumu Cult! Gururu Lingbo (●'`)ノpy time "I, My Girlfriend, Queen Shokuhou" [Congratulations on "Date A Live" surpassing 1 million views, successfully drawing the Angel Zafkiel!] [Successfully returned to 3 days ago, saving the already deceased clone Dolly!] [Congratulations on becoming a couple with Shokuhou Misaki, leaving the single life camp!] Mainly A Certain Magical Index and Railgun, crossover anime slice-of-life (Also, this book shouldn't have any bugs like demon gods). (10,000 words per day, 20,000 words per day after release, please support~ I swear on my integrity~)

Chapter 174 Lothric

Chapter 174 Lothric

In the dilapidated and old room, a bright flame suddenly ignited in mid-air.

The flame initially appeared weak, but within seconds it expanded into a huge ball of fire. Emerging from this blazing inferno was Rorschach, fully armed and who had come specifically to withdraw money.

Rorschach tightened his grip on the knight's shield, adorned with ornate emblems, and scanned the somewhat dimly lit room.

The broken ground, the mottled walls, and the withered plants on the walls all tell the story of this place's decline and ruin.

"Losrick."

Looking around at the small room, which was almost identical to the one in the game, Luo Xia turned around and looked behind him, following the dappled light spots on the ground. Under a window simply blocked by wooden boards, sunlight shone on a stone basin-shaped object.

This shape...

Royal Armor... or rather, a replica of a Royal Armor.

On this broken royal artifact, a broken spiral sword lay quietly.

Reaching out, Luo Xia took the spiral sword placed on top of the royal artifacts. He gently stroked the broken part of the sword, which clearly showed signs of human damage, and thoughtfully put it back.

In Rorschach's world, Dark Souls doesn't have an official script. To be precise, there is an official script, but to maintain the game's mystique and buzz, Miyazaki kept it hidden, never revealing it. He broke down the game's story into countless fragmented pieces, hiding them in item descriptions, character dialogues, and scene arrangements.

This is undoubtedly a brilliant move. Exploring the true story of the Souls world has always been one of the joys for Souls players. It has even given rise to a discipline called 'Souls Studies,' which has drawn countless players and even non-players, simply those interested in the story, to dedicate themselves to studying the history and stories of the Souls world.

The broken sword before us, a sword placed atop a Royal Relic and draped with the banner of Lothric, naturally has its own story.

According to some soul scholars, when the fire gradually died down, the whole world was shrouded in darkness.

Lothric, a kingdom whose mission is to rekindle the fire, naturally needs to make its own choice.

This generation of the kingdom has two princes.

The eldest prince, Lorian, is a brave and skilled warrior, the kingdom's war god and guardian.

How powerful is this Prince Lorian? While "invincible" might be an exaggeration, it's certainly accurate to describe him. For example, back in the day, Prince Lorian led his knights through Ash Lake, scattering the demons who inhabited it.

The scene was one of piled-up corpses, flowing blood, and utter defiance of demonic authority, a display of utter madness. The battle severely damaged the Chaos Demons, even frightening the Demon Prince into developing PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome), leaving him unable to recall the sensation of flames coursing through his body.

Such a war god would naturally be the kingdom's chosen next king, the absolute ruler to whom all hearts belong. As long as the flame could be successfully passed on, the kingdom's history could continue smoothly.

However......

Our Prince Lorian is a complete brother-obsessed individual, the kind who wouldn't hesitate to destroy the world for his younger brother. This resulted in the once prosperous kingdom becoming ruins, and the once vibrant world turning into what it is today.

The reason for all this goes back to the second prince of the kingdom.

洛斯里克

From the moment of his birth, Lothric carried the hopes and expectations of countless people. However, these expectations were so heavy that he had to repay them with his own life.

The kingdom's second prince is destined to become the Lord of Cinder who will link the flame in this generation.

With their own lives, their own souls, and their own bodies, they will burn everything to illuminate the kingdom's prosperous future.

Unlike his tall, strong, and brave elder brother, the second prince was frail and sickly from birth. Later, he was diagnosed with total paralysis and would never be able to walk again.

This was undoubtedly a tragic fate, but few people shed tears for the prince.

They are merely fuel to sustain the kingdom's prosperity; as long as a fire can still be lit, there is little difference between a complete piece of firewood and a broken one.

However, one person disagrees.

That was the kingdom's eldest prince, Lorian.

Faced with her disabled brother, her brother who was destined to be unable to escape the fate of passing on the flame, and her brother who was destined to leave her first, illuminating the kingdom he was about to inherit with his own body and soul, Lorian made her choice.

The kingdom's war god, the kingdom's guardian god, and the kingdom's chosen next king.

He became a mute and lame person who could no longer walk or speak a word.

Conversely, the second prince, who should have been unable to move, not only regained the ability to move his hands, but was even able to speak.

All of this was because the eldest prince voluntarily shared the unknown curse with his younger brother.

The king needed to hold the sword, so he swapped his leg for his brother's hand.

The king's mission was self-evident, so he exchanged his own tongue for his brother's.

From that day on, the two brothers, who shared the curse, became intertwined even in their souls. Their hearts were connected, and they needed no one else's understanding. For them, nothing in this world was more important than family.

Let's not pass this fire on!

The eldest prince's willful actions naturally triggered a series of chain reactions, especially as the flames gradually died down and the whole world began to fall into darkness...

A rebellion broke out.

The kingdom is engulfed in civil war.

The powerful nation that once ruled this land has fallen into civil war. Knights who were once as close as brothers and fought side by side on the battlefield have split into two factions and are now fighting each other because of their own beliefs.

Upholding the ancient vows and mission, the Fire-Borrowing Faction will do everything in its power to bring the Second Prince to the throne of Cinder and continue the world's flame.

They swear allegiance to the House of Lothric and resolutely support the loyalty of the two princes.

War broke out in every corner of the kingdom. The once mighty nation declined overnight, so much so that its unfriendly neighbors began to plot against it, wanting to take advantage of the enemy's rare moment of weakness.

Ultimately, when the knights' corpses littered every corner of the kingdom, the far greater royalists emerged victorious in the civil war. Although some escaped or missing Firelink knights still roamed the capital, the royalists, facing foreign invasion, had no time to worry about them; they had new problems to solve.

Despite their busy work of driving out foreign enemies and resisting the abyss, the royalist knights still did not forget to send men to seal off the Firelink Shrine and break the spiral sword within it.

Later in the game, players can also find the broken fragments of the Spiral Sword in the Blackfire Ritual.

The short sword before Rorschach and the broken Royal Armory may well be products of that era. (There's also a theory that the broken sword and Royal Armory were specifically designed for teleportation by the Ashes; various theories and conflicting viewpoints exist, and this only represents one perspective.)

After putting down the broken sword, Luo Xia turned around and walked towards the door behind him.

We've wasted enough time; it's time to get down to business.

Pushing open the door that had been closed for who knows how long, amidst smoke and ashes, what appeared before Rorschach was an incredibly magnificent sight.

It was a city, a prosperous city, or at least... a city that was once prosperous.

Spires, attics, high walls.

The magnificent and intricate architecture, even as time passes, still exudes a breathtaking power.

Such a scale and quantity could only be achieved in a world with extraordinary power. If it were in Rorschach's medieval world, even the combined wealth of all of Europe wouldn't be enough to complete a stone complex of this size. Even in modern times, it would be a national spectacle worth tens of billions, with no upper limit.

While admiring the scenery before him, Luo Xia's gaze inadvertently caught sight of something 'incompatible' with the imposing and grand architecture.

Those were a few 'trees', or rather, 'people' with the characteristics of trees.

These tree-people, with their stone-like texture, have legs that transform into tall tree trunks and arms that become crossed branches. In a very 'longing' posture, they stretch out their hands towards the magnificent royal city in front of them, as if they are pleading for something.

My king, go and set the fire burning...