//------------------------------//
// Facing the Pursuer 
// Story: Dark Souls 2: Rarity's Trials 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

The first thing that Rarity and Edric did, after defeating the Lost Sinner and claiming the Great Soul that she had been holding onto, was return to Majula with their heads held high, because they were one step closer to completing their quest and saving themselves. The moment they returned to the small city, and smiled at the people that were around them, before either of them approached the Emerald Herald, who actually gave them a small smile in return. That told Rarity that she must have known about their success in acquiring one of the four Great Souls, thus confirming that they were one step closer to completing their quest.

"The two of you have acquired the soul of an Old One." the Emerald Herald commented, though her tone definitely told Rarity that she was pleased with them, especially since it involved fighting a lot of powerful creatures before they could find their first target, "That is more than most Undead can say. You should visit Shalquoir and ask her your questions, as I'm sure that she's more than willing to help you... that's also more than she does for the other Undead that come through Majula."

"Yeah, because most of the other Undead ignore her shop altogether," Rarity said, remembering what the cat had told her when she talked to her, though at the same time she shook her head and knew that Shalquoir would be glad to hear about their process.

The Emerald Herald nodded her head and beckoned for the duo to continue, to which Edric knelt before her and used the souls he had acquired from the Lost Sinner to empower his body, though once he was done Rarity moved forward and did the same thing. Rarity knew that the two of them were going to fight much stronger opponents in the future, especially since some of their enemies were pretty strong already, so she focused on the task at hand, though when they were done she led the way back to Shalquoir's shop. When they entered the building, however, Rarity found that Shalquoir was already sitting in the middle of the table and was staring at the doorway, though once they stepped into the shop a smile, or what she assumed was a smile, appeared on the cat's face.

"I believe congratulations are in order," Shalquoir commented, to which she smiled at the duo for a few seconds, even though Edric was already pulling out some of the items they had acquired from the Lost Bastille, so she could tell them what they had found, "the two of you managed to find the Lost Sinner, overcame the Belfry Gargoyles, and acquired one of the four Great Souls by defeating the Lost Sinner in battle. You know, when I first saw the two of you I knew that you were destined for great things, though acquiring one of the four Great Souls verifies what I originally thought about the two of you."

"I'm glad that we've confirmed your suspicions," Edric said, though at the same time he set the last item down on the table in front of Shalquoir, while Rarity moved to the side and looked at the items for a few seconds, "though before we ask where we need to go next, I have some items that we know nothing about... and I was wondering if you could tell us what they were."

"Of course. Anything for the two of you," Shalquoir replied, though at the same time Rarity had the feeling that the cat was referring to her, especially since she was the first Undead, in a long time, to actually care about her shop, before she glanced at the items and pawed at the ring, "This is the Southern Ritual Band, generally worn by people who cast spells to increase the number of available spells they can use at any given moment, but given the fact that you can use every spell in your arsenal, instead of relying on three or four at a time, its sort of useless to you. Now, you might think that this branch is an ordinary branch, but in reality its a Fragrant Branch of Yore, capable of curing the petrification of whoever your target happens to be."

"And the mushroom?" Edric asked, though he was slightly disappointed that the ring was useless to them at the moment, at least it was useless for Rarity, before staring at the mushroom in question.

"Its an Elizabeth Mushroom, capable of healing wounds when consumed," Shalquoir answered, though she did smile when she stared at it, meaning that she had likely eaten a few in the past or had sold them at one point in time, "but, now that I had identified your items, I believe that its time that we get to the main reason you came here."

"Yes, we need to know who holds the other three Great Souls," Rarity said, to which Shalquoir turned towards her for a moment, though at the same time it was clear that they were on the same wavelength once more, "and where the three of them are located."

"The three remaining Great Souls are held by the Old Iron King, the Rotten, and the Duke's Dear Freja," Shalquoir stated, noticing that Rarity and Edric were nodding, despite the fact that they were interested in figuring out where their next targets were located, "The Old Iron King is located somewhere in the Iron Keep, though to get to him you'll have to overcome a creature called the Smelter Demon before you can get to him. The Rotten lies deep beneath the Grave of Saints and the Gutter, in a region called Black Gulch, though you'll have to kill a few additional creatures before you can reach him. The Duke's Dear Freja, the last of your three remaining targets, lies in Brightstone Cove Tseldora, though you'll have to fight quite a few enemies before you can even reach her and acquire the final Great Soul."

"Considering the order that you listed them in, am I correct in assuming that the Old Iron King is the first one we should be searching for?" Edric inquired, because after everything that Shalquoir had told them about, and had been right about, he was willing to put his full trust in what the cat told them.

"I would suggest that you head for the Old Iron King first," Shalquoir said, though at the same time her tail whipped back and forth, telling Rarity that she was likely thinking about something that only she understood, "but its up to the two of you to determine which of the three Great Souls to go for first."

Edric nodded his head and walked back out into Majula, no doubt heading to one of the other shops so he could see what they had to offer and repair some of the cracks in his armor, which they really needed to replace, though at the same time Rarity stayed back and stared at Shalquoir.

"Despite your victory you are still plagued by a single opponent," Shalquoir commented, to which she turned her head towards Rarity, who nodded her head in understanding, as she already knew who the cat was referring to, "Rarity, thanks to your victory over the Lost Sinner you no longer need to worry about the Pursuer and can leave him alone in the Forest of Fallen Giants. The choice is yours now, you can either forget about him entirely and move on with your quest, or head back to the ruins and hunt him down. I cannot tell you which is the proper path, as this is something that you need to decide on for yourself."

Rarity wondered if facing the Pursuer at this point in time, after finding and recovering one of the four Great Souls, was even something that needed to be done, because based on what Shalquoir had said, as it almost sounded like the all-seeing cat was suggesting that the path forward rested somewhere else in this world. At the same time, however, she knew that leaving the Pursuer behind would make her worry, as there was no telling whether or not the person would chase them to the ends of this world and disrupt their quest even more. As much as she hated to admit it, but the Pursuer needed to die before she and Edric could begin their search for the remaining three Great Souls... to which she bid Shalquoir farewell and departed from the shop.

She walked over to the bonfire and waited for a few minutes, to which Edric returned to her side and they knelt beside the bonfire, though when they reappeared in their next destination Edric looked around in confusion, because they were back in the forest ruins and not where he had been planning on going.

"Why did we come back here?" Edric said, to which he turned towards his companion, who was already heading towards the large hole in the wall that they had created earlier.

"We're here to kill the Pursuer and claim whatever armor he's guarding," Rarity replied, though at the same time she waved her staff and blasted the grenade throwing hollow away from where he was standing, causing him to blow himself up in the process, "then we can start the search for the other Great Souls."

Edric was honestly surprised that Rarity wanted to come back here and fight the Pursuer again, as if she had a death wish, but he figured that since they had beaten the Lost Sinner, and claimed the first Great Soul, that they now possessed the necessary power to defeat this particular opponent. He also assumed that Rarity was tired of thinking about the Pursuer and wanted him out of her mind, and in order to do that they needed to kill the creature that had killed them the first time around. Sure, he wanted to be rid of the Pursuer as well, though he believed that they should have started their search for the other Great Souls, but he simply sighed and followed Rarity through the ruins once more.

They headed towards the ladder that would take them down to the area that they needed to go through, where they dealt with the hollow guarding the stairs and the other hollows that were on the lower area, who patiently waited for them to arrive before emerging from the hole in the wall. When those hollows were dead, mostly by being cut down by Edric's sword, they walked towards the small area where the armored warrior was being guarded by two archers, to which Rarity focused on the ranged enemies while Edric took out the warrior. From there they entered the ruined hallway area, where they could see the ocean and the ruined statue, before approaching the door that was near the stairs on their right and discovering that it could be unlocked with one of the keys they had discovered in the ruins the last time they were here.

Once the door was open they had to fight another pair of hollowed warriors that were in their way, though Edric showed them the strength of a true warrior and dealt with them, to which he and Rarity walked up the stairs and moved into an area that had a fog door in front of them... which caused him to turn towards his companion for a moment.

"I'm pretty sure that the Pursuer is behind that door," Edric said, though neither of them knew if that was true or if they had found the resting place of another powerful creature, as none of the other Undead that they had helped had come this way, "Are you absolutely sure that we need to do this?"

"Yes... I am sure." Rarity replied, to which she walked forward and pressed her hand against the fog door, though as she stepped through it Edric sighed and followed after her.

The two of them walked through the fog door and stopped in their tracks when a familiar large sword struck the floor a fair distance in front of them, to which they turned their heads towards the sky and watched as the eagle from earlier flew over their heads and dropped the Pursuer into the area they were standing in. The Pursuer landed on the ground in front of them, behind his large sword in reality, and glared at them as he stood up, which was followed by him pulling his weapon from the floor and floated into the air a little bit. Rarity could tell that the Pursuer was studying them, as if silently debating which person to go after once the fight started, though this time around she intended on bringing him down so they could finally be rid of this enemy.

Before the Pursuer could start moving, and pick his target, Rarity thrust the head of her staff towards the knight and released a Greater Soul Arrow at her target, blasting him just a tiny bit backwards, though he turned his gaze towards her and seemed to glare at her. The Pursuer flew in her direction and readied his weapon, but Rarity had been expecting that to happen and immediately moved out of the way the instant her opponent started his swing, to which Edric moved in and struck the Pursuer's armored chest with his sword. Once that had happened the two of them moved behind the Pursuer and put some distance between them, as they knew that one wrong move would mean instant death, especially against an opponent like the one they were fighting.

Thanks to the reach of the Pursuer's blade, and the fact that he could close distances between him and his target in a matter of seconds, Rarity and Edric opted to remain separate from each other, because if the Pursuer targeted one of them the other could hit him while he was distracted. It was a plan that had worked to their joy against most of the powerful creatures that they had encountered so far, though even with that information in mind Rarity knew that their opponent wasn't the easiest to fool. Fortunately it appeared that, for the first minute of their fight, the Pursuer was more interested in chasing Edric, allowing Rarity to focus on picking and choosing when to cast a spell at their opponent... who was most definitely not weak to lightning based attacks.

It didn't take the Pursuer long to come up with a different plan of attack, as he swung his sword through the floor in an attempt to hit Edric, though the moment Edric dodged the attack the Pursuer let go of his weapon, while its tip was still in the floor, and reached for Edric. A few seconds later he used his now empty hand and grabbed onto Edric's head, to which he turned around and hurled Edric into the nearby wall, causing him to cough in pain and collapse on the floor for a moment. Once that was done the Pursuer claimed his weapon as Rarity blasted him in the back with a Lightning Spear, where she noticed that her attack only seemed to annoy her target in the process, as he flew after her and started swinging his sword at her.

Unfortunately Rarity still didn't have the speed or ability to accurately avoid the attack of a large weapon, not on the level that Edric had thanks to the fact that he had the training to be a warrior, so while she avoided the attacks to the best of her ability she still received a few cuts to her arms and legs. She noted that the cuts were light enough to bleed and not actually cripple her in the process, meaning that her opponent wanted a decent challenge before he cut her down and ended this fight. Rarity used a few more of the spells she had picked up so far, testing the water and seeing how they worked against such an opponent, but as she dealt less and less damage she was beginning to assume that the Pursuer's armor made it incredibly hard for someone to kill him.

After her last failed attempt to do some damage, with a Soul Spear Barrage, the Pursuer bashed her with his shield and caused her to stagger backwards, which was followed by him driving his sword right into her chest once more... before he pulled back and focused on his remaining target, while his first target fell to the ground behind him.

"Goddammit, your an annoying and overly strong opponent," Edric said, to which he coughed as he stood up and faced his opponent, though at the same time he knew that this was likely the end of their last attempt at killing this one powerful creature.

While the Pursuer approached him, however, Edric noticed that Rarity's body hadn't disappeared yet, meaning that, despite the massive wound she had received, she was somehow still alive... and, oddly enough, there appeared to be some sort of black mist starting to gather around her head.





The Emerald Herald had known that, from the moment that Rarity and Edric had returned with news of their acquisition of the first Great Soul, that they would have gone after the Pursuer once more, though she only knew this because of a certain individual told her about their decision. That was why she and Shalquoir, who usually remained in her shop at all times, were standing near the bonfire and were staring off in the direction that the Forest of Fallen Giants rested in. The cat knew that something was going to happen while Rarity and Edric fought the Pursuer, that much she could tell from what she had been hold, though she patiently waited for Shalquoir to tell her what was going on.

"Honestly, I have no idea what you see in Rarity," the Emerald Herald commented, though at the same time she could tell that Shalquoir had turned her head a tiny bit, so she could glance up at her, "She's just another Undead, one that's bound to fail like all of the others that come through Majula."

"She's a special Undead... one that's unlike all of the others that have come before her," Shalquoir said, though her tone indicated that she wasn't surprised by the Emerald Herald's statement, to which she smiled as something flickered in her eyes, "and it appears that she's starting to awaken the power that she's not aware of yet."

The Emerald Herald stared down at the cat that was standing beside her, trying to figure out why Shalquoir liked Rarity so much and how she knew so much about the mysterious Undead that had shown up with Edric, but right now it appeared that the cat was unwilling to tell her anything specific. She let out a small sigh as she waited for the two Undead to come back with more of their humanity missing, because that was the fate off all the Undead that came through Majula... and she was sure that Rarity and Edric would share their fate.





Rarity moaned as she placed her hands on the ground around her and gently picked herself up off the stones that made up the floor she had been resting on, though as she opened her eyes she found that the Pursuer was slowly advancing on where Edric was resting. She was aware of the fact that her arms and legs had several cuts on them, and the fact that there was a large stab wound on her chest from where she was stabbed, but this time around she could barely feel any of the pain. She didn't know if that was because of the fact that she was losing more of her humanity with every death she suffered or if her nerves were shot, but at the moment she had to focus on the task at hand and get Edric out of here before he died as well.

While she stood up, however, Edric something odd about her eyes, as their color had changed to a bright red color with a deep red center, while around them rested an eerie green color... with a strange vivid purple colored mist emitting from her eyes, making her look more menacing than she really was.

"I... have had... enough... OF YOU!" Rarity shouted, to which she raised her right hand into the air for a few minutes, gathering her magic while the Pursuer turned to look at her, before slamming her hand back down on the ground and igniting the magic she had been gathering.

An instant later a pillar of crystals, nearly black colored, erupted from the ground and struck the Pursuer in the chest, though as Edric watched all of this he saw the crystals pierce the warrior's armor and push him into the air. He turned his gaze towards Rarity and saw that his companion was focusing on the Pursuer, who was trying to pull himself off the crystal at the moment, before his arm went limp and he stopped moving. Rarity glared at the body of the Pursuer for a few seconds, as if she was making sure that he was dead, before she removed her hand from the floor and collapsed on the ground. She was alive, that much he was sure of, but Edric had no idea what had happened or what Rarity had did... and he resolved to ask her about it once she woke up.