//------------------------------//
// Lord of the Profaned Capital 
// Story: Dark Souls 3: Cinders of Power 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Once Tirek, Sarana, and Martok were ready to go, which was easy to do given what they had just been through, they took a moment to head back down the stairs that were in front of them and entered the area that all of the wardens had been in earlier, which was why they had found the shortcut back to the entrance of the dungeons in the first place, not to mention the temple off in the distance that Tirek used his Space Stone to access, though as they reached the bottom of the stairs it was easy to see that all of the wardens were still patrolling the area, no doubt keeping an eye out for enemies or inmates that were trying to escape, even if the latter wasn't going to happen. Of course, since there was a large number of them, around ten by Tirek's estimates after watching the wardens for a few seconds, the problem the group faced was that once all of their enemies realized that their health draining enchantments didn't work at all, due to the power Tirek weaved over the three of them earlier, they would come rushing and attack them at the same time, from different angles no doubt, and there was no telling if the wardens would release some of the inmates or not, but he was hoping to take that chance from them in the next couple of seconds. The reason for that thought was because Tirek held out his arms and channeled his power for a few moments, creating three Forbidden Suns in rapid succession, but instead of combining the spheres together, like he had done some time ago, he held the spheres apart and hurled them into three different locations, making sure to maximize the damage he could do to the wardens that were in the areas he targeted, knocking all of their enemies backwards as soon as his spells hit the ground.

The moment that happened Sarana and Martok rushed forward and started slashing at the enemies that were standing in their way, with Tirek joining them a few seconds later so he could cut one or two of them down with his own weapon, before the smoke cleared and all of the wardens were laying on the ground, totally dead from what he could tell, which was when they started to see what else this area had to offer them before they found the path that would lead them to the walkway that would let them access the ruined tower that was part of the Profaned Capital. From there they took a few seconds to explore the area that was around them, to check out everything else that was in the massive cell covered chamber that they were in, though Tirek found that they discovered two loose embers resting nearby and a suit of armor that reminded him of the knight that they had fought outside the dungeon's entrance, though he let Martok claim it and stash it inside their pack before they moved once more. As soon as the three of them were done checking out the rest of the area, and found that one cell couldn't be opened since they didn't have the key while ignoring some of the locked cells since there didn't seem to be anything interesting in most of them, they moved forward and carefully looked at the part of the massive chamber that was beyond where the wardens had been standing, before they found an opening that seemed to lead out towards the tower Tirek was interested in exploring, hence the reason he and his companions were heading towards it at the moment. Not even a few seconds later Tirek paused as they stepped through the opening and found that they had found the correct path that would take them to the tower he was interested in, and, of course, the Profaned Capital, though that meant crossing over a stone bridge that looked like it might break if something bad were to happen to it, hence the reason they headed down the stairs that rested to the left and walked down into the area that was on their side of the bridge.

As they walked down to the area that would allow them to walk across the bridge, however, Tirek spotted a massive crack in part of the mountain wall and discovered that he and the others could see sunlight enter the area they were in, though as that happened Sarana found a lost soul resting nearby and collected it in seconds, but when they stepped onto the bridge itself they paused as a roar sounded and a stone creature, like a gargoyle of some kind, landed near the other side of the stone bridge and brandished a staff of some kind as it stared at them. Instead of attacking the gargoyle as it landed right on the middle of the stone bridge, just in the off chance that beating it did something to the weakened bridge it was on, Tirek had the others back up and they took a few steps backwards as it stepped towards them, though when it stepped into the area they were standing him Sarana and Martok lashed out at the gargoyle as Tirek pushed himself even further backwards and hurled some Lightning Bolts at their foe, where he noticed that the element did weaken their foe, something that pleased him since he had no idea how many more gargoyles they would be facing in the future and it was good to know what their weakness was. He did think about the Way of White Corona spell he had found earlier, back when they were exploring Ariandel and were fighting all of the enemies that were in that world, but right now he was of the opinion that he didn't need such a spell as the gargoyle shuddered for a moment and fell to one knee, something that was a little interesting as they stared at the foe, though that was when Sarana jumped onto its back and drove her daggers into the material that made up the creature's neck and separated it, allowing the head to collapse on the ground near them as she stepped down from where the gargoyle had been standing.

"Good, another foe taken care of," Tirek remarked, though as he said that both he and his companions started to walk over the bridge that was in front of them, making sure to keep their eyes open for any enemies that might be waiting to ambush them and knock them off the bridge, while at the same time he was impressed by how quickly they had taken down the gargoyle in the first place, since it wasn't a common foe for them to fight, before they reached the other side of the stone bridge and stared at the center of the ruined tower.

What they discovered was that there was no floor in front of where they were standing, due to the fact that the small stone platform that was in front of them was all there was, not counting the wooden platforms that had been set up by someone at some point in the past, though the way down consisted of two different paths, one being to their right and involved jumping down a few stone steps while the other was a ladder that was to their left, where Tirek jumped straight down to the bottom floor, which wasn't too far of a jump, while both of his companions used the stone slabs that he had seen as they entered the tower. From there they found a long ladder that reached the top of the wooden platform that he had seen a few moments ago, which seemed to be the way forward, though he investigated a hole in the wall and noticed that it could drop them off on a ring that wrapped around the tower, with stone statues scattered along the ring, but he decided not to bother with the area in question and followed Sarana and Martok as they climbed up the ladder, as it was time for them to see what was on the platform and, more importantly, if it held the way forward. As it turned out there was a bonfire waiting for them when they reached the top of the ladder, to which Tirek, Sarana, and Martok activated it and paused for a moment, mostly to regain their energy from everything they had done since they first entered the upper part of the dungeons, and once that was done they weighed their options on which path the three of them should take, as there was the hole in the wall that would allow them to walk on the ringed walkway that Tirek had been looking at a few moments ago, one that could have a hallway leading somewhere else, before Sarana noticed that there was a body resting nearby and found one of the bone shards that were supposed to empower their Estus Flasks, meaning that they could take a moment to return to the Shrine and give them to the blacksmith, so he could use the bone shard and the flask piece that they had found so far, but Sarana shook her head and indicated that she would rather move forward.

Once that decision had been reached Tirek approached the ladder and started to climb down it, where he spotted what appeared to be a stone walkway between the tower they had been walking around and the structure that had been carved into the mountain wall, though there was a large chalice of some kind near an opening that had to lead into the area that Yhorm was resting in at the moment, though the interesting thing was the couple of white robbed individuals that were standing around the chalice and were manipulating the flames, no doubt either keeping the fire lit or preparing for battle with some invaders. He suspected that it was the latter, where the robbed figures, possibly handmaids based on what he was seeing, meaning that they had to be careful since he was sure those figures were enemies and were waiting for the three of them to get closer to the area their projectiles could reach, though as he stepped on the bridge itself that was when a decent sized fireball rushed through the air and struck the area he was standing in, as he backed up a little and it changed course, meaning they would have to be careful this time around, as those handmaids were dangerous and their attacks meant they would have to cross the bridge in one swift motion. In that moment Sarana did something she usually didn't do, she pulled out one of the bows they had found over the course of their quest, the one that they found in the Smouldering Lake, and pulled out the strongest arrows that went to that type of weapon, where Tirek watched as she aimed down at the area the handmaids were standing in and seemed to be locking onto one of them, hence the reason he and Martok stepped onto the bridge and let the fireballs rush towards them, even though he used his magic to cancel out the fireballs as they rushed towards them. That also meant that Martok would have to deal with the gargoyle that landed on the other side of the stone bridge that the two of them were standing on, though that was when Tirek watched as an arrow went flying through the air and struck one of the handmaids in the head, taking her out in seconds, where none of the others of her group moved out of the area they were standing in, allowing Sarana to focus on the other three that she could see at the moment, something that was swiftly followed by several arrows flying through the air as she struck all of them down and took out the enemies that had been controlling the chalice.

With the handmaids taken out Tirek focused on the foe that was in their way and watched as Martok cut down the gargoyle on his own, showing him that the warrior was rather skilled and that he didn't have to worry about him, not that he worried about Martok given the armor that he happened to be wearing and the greatsword that he carried into battle, to which the three of them regrouped on the bridge and walked across it, where Tirek found some large arrows that had to go to one of the larger bows they had recovered since their quest began, but since it appeared that they were too large for Sarana's bow he let her pocket them and said nothing as they moved forward. From there they reached the end of the bridge, even though there were some ruined stone slabs that seemed to form a path in the middle of the bridge that lead down to the end of the walkway that would take them to where the chalice was resting, something that Tirek ignored as he and his companions stepped into the structure at the end of the bridge and quickly passed through the opening that was in front of them, where they entered the temple that had been carved into the mountainside. From there they found that they were at the top of a chamber of some kind, one that just so happened to have a set of stairs leading down to the lowest part of the area, but what was interesting was the four handmaids that were to the left of where the steps came to a stop and, unless Tirek was mistaken, there was a gargoyle to their right, resting in the ceiling of the hallway that just so happened to connect this chamber to what he assumed was another one, though something that interested him was all of the ruined metal that seemed to be held by a vast amount of charred bodies, meaning something must have burned this place and this was the result of what had happened.

As such Tirek did things the smart way, and by that he meant hurling a Forbidden Sun right into the heart of the small group of handmaids so he could blast them apart from each other, something that allowed Sarana to rush in and cut all four of them down before they had a chance to get back up and attack them, while at the same time Martok raised his greatsword and engaged the gargoyle as it flew down to see what was going on, showing that he was ready for their foe and that he was able to handle himself while the others cleared their area of enemies. What was interesting was the area that was just beyond where the gargoyle had appeared, as there was a path in front of them that lead to another chamber of some kind, one that was just as large as the one they had been in a few seconds ago, a path to their right that lead to the chalice the group had seen while they were walking on the stone bridge earlier, and a rather important path to their left, one that lead to the Fog Door that had to be what Yhorm was hiding behind, even though that was surprising since Tirek was expecting there to be more to the Profaned Capital than what he and his companions had seen so far, but he wasn't about to complain about what they had just discovered. Instead of heading for Yhorm immediately, like Tirek had planned, the first thing they did was cross over to the other chamber that was in front of them and found a number of handmaids standing near the backside of the chamber, eight of them according to what he was seeing, so he did what he had done earlier and hurled a Forbidden Sun right into the middle of the group, something that knocked all of them away from where they had been standing and allowed both Sarana and Martok to step forward and cut their foes down, which was when Tirek noticed that there were three chests resting in this area, though the chains were hidden well, making it a little hard to tell if any of them were mimics or not. Of course that was when a gargoyle dropped down into the area that they were standing in and Tirek frowned for a moment as he channeled his power for a few seconds, where he quickly loosed a few lightning discs into the space between them, the spell he had considered earlier, and they struck its stone arms, legs, and its body before disappearing, allowing him to cleave the gargoyle into fragments in a number of fragments that fell into the hallway behind him.

As soon as that was done he turned his attention towards Sarana and Martok, who were waiting for him to test all of the chests that were in the chamber they were standing in and he used a small amount of fire on the pair of chests that were resting in front of them, on the right one to be exact, which caused the mimic to get up and attack, even though it fell within seconds due to the pair being ready and dropped a few golden coins, before they did the same to the other chest and found that it was a mimic as well, where the second dropped a massive shield of some kind, though the third just had an Ember inside it and they pocketed it before heading towards the passage that lead to where their target had to be, so they stared at the Fog Door for a few seconds as they prepared themselves.

"I hope you two are prepared for the fight that's ahead of us," Tirek remarked, though even as he said that he realized that it was a rather stupid comment for him to make, because both Sarana and Martok had been ready for everything that they had faced since this adventure had started and he knew they were more than ready to face the next Lord of Cinder, despite the fact that they had no idea what was going to happen when they entered Yhorm's lair, so the moment he saw both of his companions holding their weapons at the ready he passed through the Fog Door and headed into the area that their next target had to be resting inside.

What they found on the other side of the Fog Door was a massive chamber that looked like a giant, which was exactly what Tirek had heard Yhorm was supposed to be, would feel right at home in, which came complete with eight large stone pillars that seemed to hold the weight of the ceiling and prevented it from collapsing, though that was when Tirek noticed the massive throne that was on the other side of the chamber and spotted the armored giant, who bore a crown on top of its head, meaning this had to be Yhorm and he seemed to be carrying a massive cleaver of some kind. As Tirek stared at the Lord of Cinder, who seemed to be annoyed by what he was seeing at the moment, Sarana and Martok followed him into the chamber and stopped when they were right behind Tirek, something that prompted Yhorm to get up from where he was sitting and step down into the slightly water filled area of the chamber that was between them, which was why the group readied themselves for whatever was going to happen next. The moment Yhorm charged at the entrance of this chamber the group separated from each other and Martok rushed towards the throne, where Sarana danced off to the side and loosed an arrow at Yhorm's face, where Tirek noticed that there was a purple aura to the arrow and wondered if she had poisoned her entire stock of arrows at some point, and found that the Lord of Cinder didn't even bother to make an attempt to dodge the attacks as he swung at her, narrowly missing her in the process. Tirek, as that happened, took a moment to gather his magic and hurled a number of lightning discs through the air, where they rushed towards the area that the giant was standing in and watched as they struck his side, not cutting him apart like the gargoyle had been done in earlier, though Yhorm did stagger for a moment before turning his attention towards him for a moment, which was just fine with him as he noticed that Martok was now carrying a greatsword that had been resting near Yhorm's throne, one he felt contained a decent amount of power inside it.

Tirek jumped backwards and narrowly avoided the incoming attack that was headed his way, as it appeared that their foe was attacking everyone that struck him and Yhorm didn't seem to care whoever happened to be his foe, even though it was clear that if one of them slipped up their foe was going to smash them into the ground and seriously wound them in the process, though that was when Martok, who seemed to have noticed something, held the new greatsword at the ready and seemed to charge the power that was inside the blade, before he swung it vertically towards Yhorm. What happened next was that a wave of energy, possibly wind based on what Tirek was seeing, rushed out from the area that Yhorm was standing in and struck the giant's chest as he turned to stare at the next opponent he would be focusing on, causing the Lord of Cinder to stagger for a moment and happened to be the opening that Sarana was looking for as she jumped onto the giant's back and ran up it, before leaping off Yhorm's head as she turned around and fired a pair of arrows into his head, no doubt to increase the amount of poison that was coursing through his body. Tirek was sure that their foe would need far more poison than what had been forced into his body before he was taken down by that, but it did appear that whatever Martok had done was the key to quickly defeating the giant Lord of Cinder, something he felt was a little odd and a tad bit disappointing when he took a moment to consider it, but even as Yhorm picked himself up Tirek jumped back a bit and hurled several more lightning discs thought the air, which struck the giant's chest once more. He was finding that their search for Elfriede, even if they really didn't learn anything about the Painted World of Ariandel and everything they had seen during their time in the painted world, but he had to admit that the Way of White Corona spell, which he was sorely tempted to call 'Lightning Discs' or 'Discs of Lightning', was very useful and he was happy he had picked it up before they left the world that his target had fled to when she betrayed the Church.

Sarana landed a few moments later and was just in time to see Martok, having discovered that the greatsword might be the key to defeating Yhorm, swing the blade at the advancing Lord of Cinder and struck him in the chest with another burst of energy, causing their foe to stagger for a moment as Tirek blasted his chest with some of the lightning discs, all so he could deal more damage, while Sarana found a good spot to fire poison tipped arrows from, which struck both Yhorm's head and his chest, pushing more poison into his body, not that it appeared to be doing anything. From there the three of them maintained being separated from each other and used the openings that each of them provided, making sure that each of them took a turn dealing damage to Yhorm so he would focus on whoever attacked him, something that opened the way for the other two to attack him while he focused on the one that was pissing him off at the moment, which was just fine with Tirek as they dealt some damage to their foe and continued to make the giant stagger as he was struck by all of their attacks. After the next couple of moments Tirek watched as Yhorm, in what could be an instant controlled by the poison that was coursing through his veins, struck the pillar that was behind Sarana and smashed it to pieces, where she managed to avoid the fragments without being smashed in the process, and Martok's incoming attack staggered the Lord of Cinder while he was going on a rampage, not to mention the fact that Tirek's spells were starting to have an effect on their foe at long last, no doubt due to the poison that was coursing through his veins, and it wasn't long before Sarana switched to her blades and slashed into Yhorm's arms and legs as he staggered, showing that they were in control of this battle at long last. Once they established true control over the battle the trio made sure Yhorm couldn't swing his massive blade anymore and even forced him to drop it at one point, something that was followed by Sarana cutting open his neck, Tirek blasting his chest with Lightning magic, and Martok delivering the final blow with the greatsword, causing Yhorm to collapse into a mass of ashes and a skull that would go on his throne and, more importantly, the soul that Tirek started to drain the moment he got his hands on it.

From what Tirek could tell absorbing the power of Yhorm's soul, which actually wasn't as grand as Aldrich's soul, was enough to push him to being at eighty-five percent, adding ten more percent to what he currently had and informed him that the Twin Princes of Lothric would have the remaining power that he needed to achieve his full power... though as he finished doing that, and both Sarana and Martok pocketed their souls as Sarana collected the ashes, they were teleported out of the chamber that Yhorm had been located in and dropped off in the area that the old lady, who gave them the one flag a long time ago and Tirek stabbed in the chest, had been resting in, finding a spirit of some kind, who looked like the lady in question, powering down a summoning circle.

"Prince Lothric is in your hands," the spirit declared, where she pointed at the basin that had been dropped when she had been stabbed by Tirek so long ago, something that looked the exact same as Tirek remembered it, showing that it was important in some manner and that she needed them to do something with it, before she faced the three of them as they shrugged off the effects of her spell, even though Tirek admitted that using his Space Stone would have been much better for them in the grand scheme of things, before she glanced at the statue that was behind her for a moment, as if she was trying to tell them something, only to glance back at them for a few seconds, "Please, save his soul... tell him what he must be... a Lord... of... Cin..."

It was in that moment that the spirit, as if her energy had dissipated, vanished from the church chamber that she had brought the trio to and the energy disappeared entirely, though at the same time Tirek picked up the basin with his magic and placed it in front of the statue, a statue that was a kneeling knight that seemed to be in the middle of cutting open its neck with a greatsword, where the placing of the basin beneath the stone figure's hand caused the upper arm, the one that was gripping the stone weapon, to move and cut into the figure's neck for real. What they discovered was that a black liquid, possibly blood from the looks of it, poured out of the cut and flowed down from where the wound happened to be located, something that accumulated in the basin as it moved down the side of the stone blade and flowed down into the bowl, which only made Tirek wonder if there was someone was trapped inside the statue and this was their life until the day the ruling family allowed the individual to die, though part of him then wondered if Sarana knew the truth and if she would be willing to tell him what she knew on the matter, before deciding that it didn't matter at all. From there the three of them watched as the basin filled to the brim in a matter of seconds, which caused the bleeding to stop and allowed the liquid to settle after a time, something that was followed by the statue sinking into a small indent that was below it and then it moved backwards into a slot that just so happened to be resting behind it, before a metallic ladder descended into the area they were standing in, meaning it was a good idea that they avoided standing near the statue, something that caused Tirek to glance up at the top of the ladder and found a path that lead into the castle itself. That caused him to grin for a moment, because this meant the old lady had been hiding the path to the missing Prince from him, his companions, and the rest of the Unkindled that were running around the other versions of this world, and that his slaying of her earlier was likely a just punishment based on what he had discovered, before he glanced at Sarana and Martok for a moment, who nodded their heads as they stared up at the top of the ladder, each of them knowing that they had found the way to the final Lord of Cinder and, more importantly, the end of their quest.

As such Tirek made sure they rested at the bonfire that was nearby, the one that appeared when the Dancer had been brought down, that way all three of them would have their energy for whatever was standing between them and their last target, even though he did have to wonder if there were any other powerful foes to take down before the path brought the three of them to where the final Lord of Cinder, or the rebellious Lord of Cinder, had to be resting, and once that was done they would be able to bring this quest of theirs to a end, before Tirek put his plan into action at long last.