//------------------------------// // Into the Dreg Heap // Story: Dark Souls 3: Cinders of Power // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// It didn't take Tirek, Sarana, and Martok all that long to leave the Shrine behind and head to the area that Elfriede had been resting in, or rather the chamber that Tirek had fought her and Father Ariandel in, where they discovered something that was a little odd, none of the fires had died down since the last time they had been here, but that wasn't the reason behind why they had returned to this area, rather the reason they were here was because of the second bonfire that Yuria had told him about when they returned to the Shrine, after defeating the Twin Princes to be exact. Sure enough they found a brand new bonfire that rested at the end of the chamber, in the area that was directly across from the area that the stairs that let them walk down into this area in the first place, so what they did was walk over to it and came to a stop as soon as they reached it, something that was followed by them accessing the magic of the bonfire, something that allowed them to vanish from the chamber they had been standing in and took them to the area of the Ringed City it was connected to, if what Yuria had said was correct. Not a few seconds later they discovered that they appeared inside what seemed to be a hallway that was mostly covered in ash, as in some of the passages that fed into this hallway were filled with ash and bricks, which also meant that the ground was broken as well in some places, before they found a bonfire in front of them, so if they wanted to head back to the Shrine they could do so, which was when Tirek checked the Infinity Gauntlet and found that none of the Stones wanted to do anything, just like what happened when he tried to use the Space Stone after they arrived in the first area of the Painted World, to which he said nothing as Sarana activated the bonfire and they marched outside the hallway that they had appeared in. Once the group had a chance to see what was around them, which wasn't all that much, Tirek walked forward and passed through the doorway that was at the end of the hallway, where he paused for a moment as he stared out at what seemed to be a ruined castle of some kind, one that was covered in ash and was in the process of collapsing, like the world was in the middle of ending, and off in the distance rested the blackened sun with the red flaming ring around it, before he found a pilgrim sitting on a chair that was near the edge of this area. "Oh, your heads are square on your shoulders, eh?" a voice commented, where the group glanced at the pilgrim for a few seconds, even though Tirek was able to tell that this pilgrim was female based on what they were seeing right now, which was when the pilgrim sighed for a moment as she shifted her head so she could stare out at the ruined area, one that now seemed like a melting pot of civilizations and cultures, since Tirek could see things from every location they had been to since their quest to take down the Lords of Cinder had started, "I thought that the clamoring tin can was going to be the last visitor, but here we go again... what is it that you want from this old stone-humped hag?" "I seek the source of power that sleeps in this place," Tirek stated, because there was no need to fear telling the pilgrim the reason he and his companions had come here, due to the fact that if she tried anything Sarana would either remove her head or Martok could cut her down where she sat, which wasn't counting what Tirek would do to her if she tried anything, but for the most part it looked like she was thinking about what she had just been told, something that was followed by yet another sigh escaping her mouth. "I have nothing for you, then, not even a smithereen." the pilgrim replied, where she shifted her head and glanced at the area that was in front of them, where she could either be staring down at the lower section of the area that they would be passing through or she was staring at the sinister sun that was off in the distance, though either of them didn't matter to Tirek, not since it appeared that she was going to be of no help to them, something he was getting used to since he knew there were a number of individuals in this world that didn't care to aid him and his companions, "I just like to sit here and take in the view that's in front of me." Instead of cutting the pilgrim down for being useless, like Tirek had done to the Priestess at the start of their journey, the group walked over to the edge of the area and found a ledge that was between where they were standing and what looked like the path that would allow them to move forward, to which Sarana and Martok jumped down onto the ash covered ledge first and made sure it was stable, along with checking for enemies, before descending to the next level of the area, which was where a stone walkway, a pillar that had collapsed at some point in the past, where Sarana nodded her head a few seconds later. That, in turn, caused Tirek to head down to the area that his companions were standing in, finding that the ash was more than enough to prevent him from taking damage from the second fall, and none of it stuck to his attire, which was rather interesting, where they walked onto the stone pillar and headed over to the area that it connected to, as it appeared that there was part of a castle or something they could walk on top of to their left and a drop to their right, so they headed to the left first, just to see what else was in this area. What they could see was that there was a summoner of some kind near the drop, who channeled its power for a moment and called up a number of shadowy figures that filled the area with shadowy figures that seemed to be crawling along the ground, murkmen as Tirek was going to call them until someone told him otherwise, which was followed by him channeling a Fire Orb and blasted the murk summoner before it could flee from the area it was in, even though Sarana lashed out with her blades and cut through a few of the crawling enemies while Martok cleaved some of the others in half, something that was followed by Sarana finding another of the summoners and cut it down before it turned and faced them. Tirek had to wonder if the enemies of this area were weak due to the world ending, though as they climbed up the stairs that the second summoner had been standing on it was too easy for them to spot a larger knight, with a massive greatsword, that had to be a harald knight or something, even though its head was wrapped in some sort of darkness and it had chains and branches wrapped around its body, but as it noticed them it jumped down from the stairs it had been standing on and started to approach them, which was when Tirek used a wave of Ice magic to freeze its legs, allowing Sarana to jump onto its back and stab its head, something that actually took out the knight in a matter of seconds. The only items that were in this area were a Titanite Chunk and a dagger that had an aquamarine crystal embedded inside it, one that Sarana claimed was supposedly engraved with a prayer that was used to ward off incident, though with it and the chunk in hand the three of them headed over to where the drop was located and found that there wasn't much for even one of them to walk on, rather it looked like if someone walked on the stones the walkway was going to collapse on them, to which Martok claimed the crestfallen soul and let the walkway collapse, while Tirek wrapped his magic around him and Sarana so they could follow their companion. What happened was that the path shattered and Martok fell down to what appeared to be a church or something, where he smashed through some stained glass and landed in an area that was filled with ash, even though it wasn't long before Tirek and Sarana landed nearby and the barrier disappeared, but after that happened Sarana pulled out her bow for a moment and loosed an arrow that put down another summoner as it started to appear nearby, allowing Martok to head over to an opening and cut down one more, meaning they didn't have to worry about murkmen coming to kill them for a time. The only things Tirek even found in this area were two pieces of Titanite, a scale and a twinkling version, so he let Sarana add them to her pack as they headed outside the structure they were in, something that was followed by a few murkmen dropping down on the walkway they were now walking on, even though a burst of Fireballs knocked all of them down a few moments later, though as that happened the group found a new foe to deal with, a humanoid creature that they could barely make out, or at least the main body of, and it had white wings that made it look like an angel of some kind. As it turned out the angel didn't want them here as it floated in the air that was near where they were walking, because it fired a few bursts of light energy at the area they were standing in, to which Tirek summoned a barrier in front of them and made sure it covered the rest of the walkway that they would be using to move forward, allowing Sarana and Martok to move forward first before he followed after them, though he took a moment to fire a Lightning Spear through the air and found that nothing happened, which meant that they needed to find something that would help them take it down, and any other angels that might be here. Tirek quickly discovered that part of the path he had covered also had a drop that was protected as well, where they were able to find a vial of some kind, a divine blessing according to Sarana, that was added to their collection, before reaching an area that seemed to be part of a city, one direction heading towards the area the angel was in and another heading into one of the buildings, so Sarana picked up a few urns that contained the power of lightning as they headed for the opening that was in front of them, since the angel path seemed to be less important at the moment. Tirek found that there were a few statues lining the walls of the inside of the building, a church or something, and there were two lothric knights, who had had the chains and branches that the harald knight had been wearing, though one carried a banner that allowed it to empower the other knight, though what happened next was that Martok rushed forward and cleaved the first knight right in half while Sarana stabbed the second in the back, showing Tirek that some of the enemies in this place really had to be weakened by the fact that the world seemed to be ending, something that made him wonder if they had been thrown into another Painted World or part of the future, given the state of his Infinity Gems. At the same time, however, the fact that all of the foes that were around them seemed to be weak wasn't a good sign, not when he was after an individual of power that he could twist the soul of into the final Stone, the Reality Stone, but part of him was willing to believe that this was due to the fact that he and his companions were incredibly strong and that was why things were this easy, but even as he took the time to think about that his companions headed through the opening that was on the right side of the building, which seemed to be the way forward. Outside the building they found a number of knights that seemed to either be resting near a fountain or all of them had left their armor and weapons near it, where the latter was likely more true than anything else they could have considered, though that was when Sarana lashed out at a summoner that appeared behind the fountain, cutting into it three times so it would fall into the ground and not call any of the murkmen into the area, before they took a moment and headed up towards the building that the foe had been standing near, where a summoner appeared inside it and was blasted into a wall by Tirek, who used a Fireball this time to do it. What they discovered was that, after a point, the murkmen and summoners started to appear on their own, as in none of them were connected to a summoner anymore and they were all angry at the group, which was why Tirek left Sarana and Martok to figure out the path they should be following while he blasted every murkmen and summoner that dared to step or crawl towards them, even though it seemed like they were heading right towards a dead end that was on the floor they had walked up to, but it didn't take Sarana long to find a hidden passage, which turned out to be a set of stairs that were protected by a illusionary wall. That set of stairs seemed to bring them to a second floor that was hidden, though they did find more enemies up on the second floor and it caused Sarana and Martok to lash out at them as Tirek caught up with them, even though the stairs at the end of the area they had found brought them to yet another floor that had a more open area for them to explore, even if it was contained inside the same building that they had entered earlier, where Tirek found a spell page for something called Great Soul Dregs, something he might think about using later on, before he and the others moved out of the area they were in and dropped down into a walkway that was in front of the path they were following, something that ended up bringing them to one of the silver serpent rings. Once that was done the three of them jumped over the ledge that was nearby and landed some distance in front of the statue, even though it was clear that all of the enemies that were reappearing in this area were slowly making their way towards them as they marched out of the building they had been in earlier, to which the group headed down the path that was nearby and left the murkmen behind for the time being, hopefully never crossing paths with them again while they explored this place. As they did that part of the building to their right cracked and a small circular tower collapsed, falling and striking the building to their left before coming to a stop in a straight line that connected the two buildings, even if it meant nothing to the group, though on the other side of it they found what appeared to be either part of a castle that was shifted due to the end of the world or a small keep of some kind, but in the end the group determined that it really didn't matter as they headed over to where it rested, since it seemed to be where they had to go next. The biggest problem of the area the keep was in was the fact that the angel from earlier, or a second one since there was always a chance there was more than one in this area, glanced over to the area that they were standing in and loosed a burst of light energy at them, where Tirek used his own magic to summon a barrier and stop the attacks in their tracks, all so Sarana and Martok could reach the structure in question, before he repelled the attack and rushed over to the building that was next on their list of places to explore while they searched for what he was looking for. As it turned out they didn't enter an actual building, rather it was more like it was the front of a keep or an arched walkway that had been twisted by the end of the world, though as they reached the safety that was behind part of the pillar Sarana had stopped near they were able to see a weird creature withering near Tirek and his companions were standing, something that was followed by Tirek burning it with a Fire Orb, which caused the Angel that was targeting them to scream in agony for a few seconds and then disappeared after a few seconds. That caused him to grin for a few moments, because this meant the angels weren't as immortal as he had originally assumed, rather they had a vulnerable weakness that they could be used to kill them, to which he nodded towards Sarana and Martok, who did the same thing and headed down the path that they had picked out a few moments ago, where they headed down the ash ledges and spotted a summoner that was ahead of them, one that was blown apart by Tirek, allowing his companions to deal with any murkmen that were called into this area, which was followed by a harald knight pulling itself from some of the murky water that was near them. Martok made sure to cut down the knight before it could get out of the water, while at the same time Sarana cut into a few of the murkmen as well, though while all of that happened the appearances of their foes, despite the fact that they had seen them a few times, did make Tirek wonder if their forms were the result of this world and the fact that it was ending, before deciding that there was no reason for him to worry about such a thing as they reached the edge of this area and jumped over the edge that rested in front of them, allowing them to fall down to an area that was covered in ash, but seemed to be the right way for them to move forward. From what Tirek could see it appeared that part of a castle was off to their left, a wall to be exact, though instead of even heading over there the three of them headed down the path that was in front of them and kept their guards up in case they discovered any additional enemies, of which they were certain they would find some at some point, hence why they focused on the bonfire that was down in front of the area they had landed in and made sure that they activated it, even if none of them were planning on falling anytime soon. Once that was done they headed further down into the area that was in front of the bonfire and approached the area that the massive tree roots, as it appeared that a massive tree of some kind had been uprooted and laid on its side, though one thing that they had to be careful of was any angels that happened to flying off on the left side of the area, where the first one had been flying earlier, so when they headed down the path that was near the roots Tirek channeled his power into blocking the angel's power as Sarana and Martok headed for all of the ruined buildings that were nearby, which appeared to be houses and shacks of some kind. The interesting thing Tirek found was that all of the ruined structures also gave them additional cover from the angels and their light based attacks, something none of them had been expecting if they were being totally honest with themselves, since these were enemies Sarana hadn't encountered in the past, but this allowed Tirek to pick when to use his magic and when they had to duck in the protected areas that had been set up by the world's shifting, all while they searched for the correct path that would let them reach the Ringed City, their ultimate destination. There was one building that happened to have a pair of thralls on one of the walls, who seemed to be hiding from the angel as well, to which the trio ignored them as they kept their eyes on the angel, or rather Sarana watched the angel while the others waited for her to indicate that it was time to move, and it wasn't long before they were allowed to move once more, heading right into a ruined structure that rested near them, one that was followed by Tirek grabbing a thrall that was rushing at them and hurled it outside, just in time to take the force of the angel's blast while he and the others ducked behind the walls that were half buried in the ash, even though they went over to the ledge that was deeper inside the structure and walked over it, allowing them to drop down into an area that looked sort of like a swamp, even if they were on the outskirts of the area in question. The reason Tirek knew it had to be a swamp was due to the fact that there were a few of the poison creatures hanging off to the right of the area they had landed in, with Martok crushing a thrall in the process, though there was another angel in this area and it seemed to be looking in their direction, to which Tirek made sure to stop the incoming attacks with a quick burst of his own magic, while the other thing they were able to figure out was that there was a curse of some kind in this area, one that, if they stayed in one place for too long, would start to effect them and eventually crush them if they stood still for too long. The massive problem that they discovered was that the lone angel that was in this area seemed to be far more aggressive than the last one, as in it hurled far more light arrows, or whatever its attack was called, down at them as they made a break for it, choosing to ignore the cavern that was off to the right or the area that was near the area they had dropped down into when they were escaping the previous angel, though the amount of attacks made it seem like they were being attacked by more than one angel, something that required Tirek's full attention to defend against as Sarana quickly scouted out the area they were in and picked which path they were going to take. The area that she picked out was one of the large roots, as it appeared that they could get out of the angel's line of sight for a time, to which Tirek nodded as they headed over the swamp, making sure to touch as little of the sickly water as they could, given the poisoned nature of these areas, before heading up the root and disappeared from their foe's sight, allowing them to take a few seconds to catch their breath and figure out where in the world they were going, even though Sarana could tell that the path that was near them wouldn't do much, as it appeared to backtrack right into the angel's view and would leave them sitting ducks until one of them found another place to hide. Fortunately there happened to be another set of roots resting nearby, one that seemed to connect to an area that the angel couldn't see, but they didn't have a lot of time to hide due to the fact that the angel loosed the curse aura over where it had last seen the three of them, which was the area they happened to be in, to which they emerged from their hiding spot and headed for the other root that Sarana had spotted, quickly climbing up to where three thralls happened to be hiding, not to mention a lady who was wearing next to no clothing and seemed to be commanding the power of fire. Tirek, knowing that the angels were more of a threat than this lady was, gathered his power for a moment and grabbed the sorceress before she could do anything to stop him, where he hurled her out into the open area that he, Sarana, and Martok had come from and watched as the angel opened fire on the area that she landed in, though while that happened the three of them continued along the path Sarana was leading them down, where she cut down the thralls who were in their way while leaving the heavier enemies for Martok, who was patiently waiting for the knights to get in their way so he could cut them down. While they did that Tirek noticed a spell page appear where the lady had been standing and he took a moment to use his magic to levitate the spell over to him, finding that it was a Flame Fan spell, to which he added it to his spell tome before catching up to his companions, though as it turned out the path Sarana had picked out was the roofs of the houses that were near the root that had brought them to where the lady was standing, something that put a smile on Tirek's face as he spotted the withering mass that was connected to the angel and flamed it, causing the angel to do what the other one had done as it faded out of existence. Of course there was the bad news, there just so happened to be a second angel in this area, meaning that they still had to be careful while they were exploring the rest of this area, which was annoying since that meant there was another withering mass that needed to be destroyed so the angel would fade to nothingness, though in the next couple of seconds Sarana ran out into the root covered area that they had seen the new angel in and headed for the ruined castle walls that were off in the distance, where Tirek and Martok followed after her a few seconds later, the former using his magic to make sure the angels couldn't hit them at all. Once they reached the area that Sarana had picked out it was easy to see that there was a small passage of sorts that allowed them to walk on a root, one that descended down into the depths of the outside area of the swamp, which just so happened to bring the three of them right to where a withering mass rested, something that was torched as soon as Tirek laid eyes on it, because he really didn't like these angels and their inability to actually take any damage from his attacks, before they heard the sound that an angel made when it faded away, allowing him to grin for a moment as Sarana and Martok made sure there was nothing else in this area before they resumed searching for the way forward. The only other thing in this area seemed to be a root that went nowhere, save death if the angels were still around since it was hanging above the abyss, to which the three of them turned around and headed back up to the structure that held the path that allowed them to come down here in the first place, as there might be a clue as to where they had to go in the previous area they had rushed through, which allowed them to find an area they could jump down into, also covered by a layer of ash that would break the brief fall they would be going through, that had a bonfire inside it, along with a ledge that looked like it would allow them to leap down into the abyss that was below them. "How odd, two bonfires so close to each other," Tirek commented, referring to the fact that the second bonfire was rather close to where the new third one happened to be resting, because he was sure that the angels didn't come back when an Unkindled used one of this lands bonfires to rest or teleport to another part of this land, though that could be false since this area seemed different from everything else they had seen so far, before he turned his attention to the walkway that was resting near where the new bonfire was located, "What do you think?" "Based on everything I've seen, the path forward might be down there," Sarana replied, knowing that Tirek usually didn't bother to ask her for her opinion on things, not after obtaining the majority of his power, his Infinity Gauntlet, and five of the six Infinity Stones that he used to turn the tide against the enemies that had been standing in his way when he truly started their trek through the castle, though that was when she glanced out at the open area that was beyond the ledge as she thought about something, "those giant knights are from the Harald Legion, seekers of the Dark Soul... I wonder if that is what Yuria was talking about, turning the Dark Soul into your Reality Stone..." "We won't know until we find it, or whatever we're looking for," Tirek said, though while he could question what the Dark Soul was, since it seemed rather important based on the way Sarana mentioned its name, right now his attention was on what else they would be facing before they found the Ringed City, since he was sure a powerful foe was resting down at the bottom of the crater, as from what he could now tell this looked more like a meteor impact site and the meteor was no longer here, leaving a massive crater in the ground that he couldn't see the bottom of. Sarana nodded her head in agreement, something that was followed by her and Martok walking behind Tirek as he walked over to the end of the short stone walkway that was near the bonfire and stared down into the heart of the crater, where he jumped into the air and headed down into the area that was far below where they had started, which allowed him and his companions to see that some ruins had either been built down here or had fallen due to the world ending, though that was also when they found two demonic enemies, the odd stone-like enemies that had pulsing red veins in their bodies, which confirmed that there were some powerful enemies for them to take care of. From what Tirek could tell the demons looked nearly identical to each other, save for the fact that one had wings attached to its hands and the other one seemed to have normal hands, which lead to him labeling the winged demon as the 'Below Demon' and the normal demon as the 'Pain Demon', but even as he and his companions landed on the ground, where he was sure some sort of magic had made sure none of them took any damage, the demons picked themselves up from where they were slumbering and turned to look at the group, he rushed over to where the Below Demon rested and nodded to Sarana, who did the same thing as she and Martok rushed over to the Pain Demon's location. Tirek's plan was to divide them into two groups, him dealing with the Below Demon while Sarana and Martok dealt with the Pain Demon, without allowing either of the demons to leave and regroup with their companion, though the first thing that they had to do was dodge the beams of fiery energy that raced over part of the ground, blowing part of the stone away, though as Tirek got his foe to follow him, and Sarana did the same thing, his demonic enemy came to a stop for a moment and loosed a burst of wind pressure, in essence a roar, that would have hurt if he was standing near it, but since he wasn't standing near it the attack did nothing at all, though even as that happened the Pain Demon struck the ground with its claws as it chased Sarana into another part of the area. Tirek focused on dodging his foe's attacks for a few moments, mostly because one of the first things he did was try to use one of the Infinity Stones, the Power Stone, to beat his foe into the ground, but nothing happened, reminding him of the fact that all five of his powerful Infinity Stones were lifeless in this land, possibly due to this being similar to the Painted World or being far in the future, to which he rolled to the left, to dodge an incoming claw slash, before loosing a spear made of Ice at his foe, striking the demon in the chest and knocking it away from him, which only seemed to make it angrier than it already was, something Tirek was perfectly fine with. The interesting thing about the Below Demon's elemental breath was that Tirek was sure it was poison related, as in when it wasn't breaking the ground it was also poisoning the area around it for a few seconds, which was why he made sure to stay away from his foe whenever that happened and then lashed out by calling forth five spheres in the air around him, all containing the same element of his last attack, which was when he hurled them into his foe's back and blasted it into the ground, despite the fact that the demon quickly picked itself back up and rushed back into battle. While the Infinity Stones were useless, and none of their powers could be used right now, the Gauntlet itself, forged from godly metal, wasn't the same way, as he was able to dodge one of the Below Demon's attacks and struck his foe in the arm, something that forced the demon through the air and created a small crater around it when it finally landed on the ground, not that such a thing meant anything since it forced itself back into a standing position, or what passed for it standing, and rushed back into the area that Tirek was standing in. At one point the Below Demon stopped and roared in anger, where Tirek found that it was due to the fact that Sarana and Martok had brought down the Pain Demon, who was no longer moving, though this was an opening that he wasn't expecting and was one he was going to put to good use as he summoned three ice spheres into the area he happened to be standing in, combining them into a larger attack, just like he had done earlier with some of the other elements, and struck his foe the moment the attack was ready, sending the sphere flying down at his foe and blew up the area that was around it, leaving a pile of icicles and blue energy around where the Below Demon had fallen, where the unmoving forms of the demons meant that this battle was over. However, not even a few seconds later Tirek and both of his companions found out that they weren't allowed to rest just yet, even if none of them were considering that, as the Below Demon's body started to shudder for a moment as all the demonic energy in the cavern seemed to gather inside its body, which was followed by a pair of large demonic wings ripping out of its back as it forced itself to stand once more, all while issuing a challenge to those that were in its resting place, though the demon's new appearance made Sarana say something about a 'Demon Prince', meaning it had to be important in some manner. Tirek knew their new foe, the Demon Prince as Sarana called it, meant business when it gathered its fire for a moment and jumped into the air, where it seemed to spin around and hurled what appeared to be an enemy seeking Fire Orb through the air that was in front of him, something that rushed towards where he was standing, to which Tirek gestured for Sarana and Martok to remain hidden for now as he fired an equally powerful Fire Orb into the space that was in front of him, one that was followed by the two attacks colliding in the air and caused the entire cavern to shudder as their powers clashed against each other. The Demon Prince was powerful, that much Tirek could tell from the clash that was going on, making him wonder if Prince Lorian had faced it at some point in the past, something that Sarana would be able to prove at some point if he cared enough to find out, though as soon as both of their spells exploded, and left a smouldering crater in the cavern's floor, which was followed by his foe rushing through the air and rapidly approached the area Tirek was standing in as it brought its claws down on him, even though Tirek swung his right fist into the incoming attack, another collision that caused the cavern to shack. Doing that seemed to cause the Demon Prince to lash out at him a few times with both of its claws, either forcing a collision between their powers or just smashing up the area that was around them, which really made Tirek glad he had silently ordered Sarana and Martok to stand off to the side as soon as the Demon Prince revealed itself to them, because he was sure this would be too much for them, or at least for one of them, but most of his attention was on the Demon Prince, who decided to leap backwards and put some distance between it and Tirek, where Sarana and Martok stood near the ruins that seemed to be the way forward while Tirek fought his foe on the other side of the cavern, which seemed to be the best course of action for them. It was in the following moments that the Demon Prince loosed an intense beam of fiery energy, one that it weaved back and forth in the area that rested right in front of it, something that caused Tirek to jump backwards and put some space between them, before the demon focused on him and fired a much more intense beam of energy through the air, this one aimed right at him, to which Tirek raised his hands and combined his magic with the godly metal of his gauntlets, preventing the beam from barreling through his body and doing a great deal of damage to him, before he forced his arms apart and split the Demon Prince's attack in half. Of course the Demon Prince wasn't the only one to go on the offensive, as Tirek made sure to use several of the Soul spells he had used so far, even if most of them looked like ice or crystal spells to him, and hurled them at his foe, who he failed to stagger, possibly due to the fact that his foe seemed totally mad about something, though when the Demon Prince did the beam of energy again Tirek did the same thing, firing a blackened beam into his foe's attack and blew it up, before the rest of his attack barrelled into the heart of his foe and blew it apart, leaving what appeared to be a sinister flame-like soul in its place, meaning it must have been using too much of its power to overwhelm him and it cost it greatly. Once that was done Tirek headed over to the area that Sarana and Martok were standing in, where the next bonfire was resting, where he made sure it was lit before they headed through the ruined structure that was near their location and found a banner, one of the small ones that looked like a black version of the banner Tirek and Sarana got at the start of their quest, which was collected as soon as they entered the ruin and proceeded to head down the path that was behind it, as Tirek was sure they would find a place to use it in. Tirek was also sure that this could have been a shrine of some kind, at least before the end of the world that they had seen when they were above ground, though his focus was on what might be in front of him and his companions as the three of them headed down into a tunnel that might lead them outside, something that ended in them standing on what appeared to be the very edge of the area they had started their new quest in, even though it was hard for them to see anything other than clouds at the moment. It was in the following moments that Sarana pulled out the new banner and held it out towards the open area that was in front of them, reminding Tirek of what they had done after Vordt was defeated, which was followed by the white winged creatures that had carried them into the area that they had found Martok in, the Undead Settlement, flew into the area and grabbed onto their arms, hauling each of them into the air before heading away from the area they had been standing in. Tirek grinned for a moment as they flew off into the distance, as it appeared that they were finally going to reach the area that the Ringed City was located in, something that would allow them to truly start their search for whatever powerful foe or relic that would be twisted into his Reality Stone, regardless of how long it might take them to search for it, though once that was done they could bring an end to their main quest and he could take over the rest of the world, before starting his rule over Lothric and the various lands that were around it.