As Tirek entered Firelink Shrine this time he could tell that there was a different feeling to the air, as everyone knew that the time had come for the way to the First Flame to be opened so he could, in their eyes, sacrifice himself to extend the Age of Fire that they were used to, even if it wouldn't be long before they needed to do this all again and raised more Unkindled and Lords of Cinder to make another worthy warrior to add more life to this Age, even though they were all wrong in why he was doing this, as he had no interest in their Ages of Fire and Dark. He was interested in the First Flame and the power that it had to possess, especially since Yuria and her allies had painstakingly sought out someone to mold into their Lord, a Lord of Hollows that would rule over the world to come once the Flame was usurped and claimed by someone, which he knew he could do now that he had access to all one hundred percent of his power, which he swore had been enhanced from what it used to be, and the power of his complete Infinity Gauntlet, meaning whatever guardians he would be facing wouldn't be much of a challenge for him. Part of him almost felt sorry for those that Yuria and her allies hadn't converted to their cause, as he knew there were some that stubbornly held fast to the notion he was going to bring the Age of Fire to life once more, but that was when he chuckled as he pushed the thought away, because now that he was so close to his goal he wasn't about to change his mind and do something stupid, as the power was almost within his reach and all he had to do was let the five Lords of Cinder do whatever it was they needed to do. As he thought about that he could see that everyone was currently gathering around the center of the Shrine, resting opposite of where the five thrones happened to be sitting, and it was easy to see that Ludleth, the only living Lord of Cinder, was eager to get this over with, while at the same time Sarana, who carried the cinders of the newest Lord, the one that had run away and started this whole mess, Prince Lothric, walked up to where the highest throne rested.
Everyone watched as she approached the throne and placed the cinders of the final Lord of Cinder in their place, where it was clear that nothing happened as soon as they touched the stone surface of the throne, causing her to walk down to the area that Martok was standing in, as she wanted to see what happened next as well, before Yuria stepped forward and stared at the assembled group for a few moments, as without the Fire Keeper they had no idea what was supposed to happen next, even if Tirek knew that Yuria had an idea of what she needed to do.
"As you all can see the five Lords of Cinder now sit on their thrones, and it is all thanks to you, Lord Tirek." Yuria said, as she took a moment to turn her head towards Tirek and perform the gesture she used whenever she was talking to him, an action that caused everyone in the Shrine to kneel where they were positioned and lowered their heads towards the five thrones, even if Tirek knew that they would be focusing their eyes on what was going to happen next as Yuria turned back towards the bonfire and the thrones, "Normally a Fire Keeper would tell their champion, who they then called the 'most worthy of Lords', to kneel before the bonfire's coiled sword, but we'll be skipping that part, as Lord Tirek kneels to no one, rather all shall kneel to our Lord in the days to come, and would ask that the Lord's embers acknowledge him as their true heir... a true Lord, fit to change the fate of our world."
Tirek noticed that, despite the alterations to what the Fire Keepers were supposed to say at this point, the inhabitants of the Shrine bowed their heads and showed that they agreed with what Yuria had said, no doubt assuming that she meant he would link the Fire, before noticing that Ludleth lowered his head for a moment and his entire body was reduced to a pile of cinders that matched what was now resting on the other four thrones, meaning that the Lords of Cinder that were called from their graves would have their bodies reduced to an amount of cinders, though that was when Yuria nodded her head for a moment as he stood in front of the bonfire.
"Noble Lords of Cinder... the fire fades, and the Lords go without thrones. Surrender your fires," Yuria continued, showing Tirek that she must have been studying what was supposed to be said by the Fire Keepers, something that revealed that they didn't need an actual Fire Keeper to do whatever was going on at the moment, though that was when he noticed that each pile of cinders had some flames dancing around them and those fires seemed to be in the process of leaving where they had been resting and the area around their thrones darkened as they gathered above the bonfire, which was where Yuria beckoned to him for a moment, "to your true heir and our true Lord. Let him grant death to the old gods of Lordran, deliverers of the First Flame."
In that moment Tirek watched as the flames gathered into a single spot and came to a stop, where he raised the Infinity Gauntlet and activated both the Space Stone and Mind Stone, where he could feel the destination that the flames seemed to be focused on, like they were the key to getting to where the First Flame was located, before a portal opened in front of the bonfire, leading to what appeared to be another version of Firelink Shrine, not the one that was resting in an alternate time where the Age of Fire had gone out, to which he stepped through the portal and arrived in his destination not even a few seconds later. From what he could tell this area, which he believed to be the Kiln of the First Flame, was broken in a couple of places and it appeared that the way forward was through the entrance that allowed him and Sarana to enter the true Shrine when they first started their quest, though while he didn't need it he tapped the bonfire that rested near him with his right hand and it activated, and the reason it didn't matter was due to the portal he had opened to get here in the first place, where it was clear that Sarana and Martok, at the very least, were following him through so they could see what the end of the line looked like. Once he understood what was around him Tirek headed up the stairs and headed for the entrance to this structure, though while the beginning of the path heading outside was the same as what was resting right outside the true Shrine he quickly found that the rest of it was different, as the path quickly ended and he noticed that the area he was in looked a lot like what he and his companions had found when they first started their trek through the area before the Ringed City, as it looked like the various structures of the world were melding together as they faced the end of the entire world, though there was an oddly placed bonfire resting near him, one that seemed to be connected to the start of the path that lead to where the First Flame was located. In that moment he made a portal for himself with the power of the Space Stone and moved himself over to the area he was staring at, leaving Sarana, Martok, Yuria, and whoever else was coming to watch the battle for the legendary First Flame standing outside the entrance of the Fireless Shrine, which he had decided to call the Shrine he had appeared in a few moments ago, before he walked up the seemingly diagonal path that was in front of him and headed for the opening that would take him to his target.
What he discovered at the top of the path was that he could see the darkened sun that had the Darksign around it, but it wasn't what held his attention, as he found a massive sized graveyard of sorts resting in front of him, where there were all sorts of weapons, as in swords, axes, lances, spears, maces, staffs, and everything else that someone could use to defend themselves while they traveled through the lands of this world, meaning this had to be where those that linked the First Flame might be sent, to join their power to those that linked it in the past, but sitting in the middle of this area was a large figure that seemed to be wearing an imposing set of armor that looked like it was an amalgamation of sorts, even if all of its armor appeared to be charred. Even from here Tirek could tell that this creature was immensely powerful, almost like he was staring at a godly manifestation of those that had linked the First Flame, meaning Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, was part of it and that he had to be careful in how he approached this battle, though with the power of the Soul of Cinder, as that was what he was going to call this creature, and the power of the legendary First Flame he would be able to have no equal in this world, to which he stepped into the graveyard that his foe was standing in. His actions caused a Fog Door to appear over the entrance of this area and was followed by the Soul of Cinder getting up from where it had been resting, as it had been sitting with its sword, which looked like a coiled sword interestingly enough, sticking in the ground, so it pulled its weapon out of where it had been resting and flames danced along the edge of its weapon as it faced Tirek, who walked down into the area the knight happened to be standing in before they rushed at each other not a few seconds later, where the Soul of Cinder thrust its sword forward and Tirek used the Space Stone to pause the attack before it could reach him, all so he could punch his foe in the chest with his stoneless gauntlet, knocking the Soul of Cinder backwards, even though it stopped itself by stabbing the ground with its weapon and then rushed back into the battle, which showed Tirek that he did have to be careful since this foe was likely going to be relentless, meaning it was going to be sort of like his battle with Midir, only he wasn't fighting a dragon this time.
The Soul of Cinder lashed out with a number of swings as soon as it was near Tirek again, just like the knights he and the others had seen in the past, to which Tirek raised both of his hands and parried the incoming attacks by punching them as the blade came at him, where the graveyard they were fighting in shuddered as both of their energies came into contact with each other as their weapons clashed, especially since the Soul of Cinder tried to twist its sword around so it could get passed his defenses and stab him, resulting in Tirek punching the blade backwards and causing them to separate for a few seconds before they rushed back at each other. Instead of relying on the Morion Blade, which he received from Yuria and was sure that there was something negative about it, like it might harm the wielder or something, which he might have paid no attention to while he was using it earlier, he grabbed a blade that happened to be resting between him and his foe as he moved forward, where he found that it was the weapon of a knight that protected Lothric Castle, as in the normal sized sword and not the greatsword, though at the very least he was able to parry the incoming attack as he stared at the Soul of Cinder, who didn't tilt its head as it focused on him. Tirek made sure that the blade was in his right hand before he pushed his foe backwards and found that the Soul of Cinder rapidly sprung back at him and thrust its blade forward, to which shifted his stance for a moment and forced the blade away from him, though that was when both of them swung at each other and Tirek found that his movements were mirrored by the Soul of Cinder, because if he swung diagonally at his foe it did the same thing from its direction, a thrust was met by another thrust, a swing was parried by an identical swing, and pretty much every other move that could be used with a normal sword, something that showed Tirek that his foe had to have the knowledge of those that had linked the First Flame in the past, so it had all the techniques, spells, and fighting styles of those who prolonged the Age of Fire. Based on everything that Tirek had seen so far, and would likely see as their battle unfolded for the watchers to observe for a time, the Soul of Cinder was going to be the hardest foe he was going to fight in this world, with Midir being a close second, before he raised his left hand and blasted his foe in the chest with all four of the elements he had access to, finding that his foe was resistant to Fire, which made sense, but it seemed weak to Soul, Dark, and Lightning spells, which he was perfectly fine with.
What happened next was that Tirek and the Soul of Cinder clashed with each other once more and jumped backwards not even a few moments later, which was when the darkness flickered for a moment as Tirek loosed a Dark Spear through the air and watched as his foe dodged the attack before it struck it, though he grinned for a moment as he engaged the power of the Space Stone and redirected his spell right into the back of his foe, causing the Soul of Cinder to stagger for a few seconds before it stood back up and swung its blade, where its power shifted for a moment as its sword transformed into a scimitar, almost like it was indicating a change in its attack pattern. The reason he knew that, besides the new weapon it was using right now, was due to the spell his foe decided to pull out while they were fighting, a spell that caused his foe to raise its empty left hand and form a Fireball of some kind, one that was pressed into its chest and quickly followed by a red aura taking over the majority of its body, something that seemed to empower its body and likely meant that all of the Soul of Cinder's attacks would be stronger than they had been a few moments ago, which was when it hurled a Great Chaos Fire Orb at Tirek, who used an equally powerful orb of darkness to counter the spell. This time around when they fought each other, as in crossed blades once more, Tirek found that the Soul of Cinder used quick slashes, both horizontal and wound-up vertical types, when it was attacking him and used what he assumed were ninja moves to dodge his attacks that overcame its own slashes, as his foe used backflips to get out of the way, something that was greatly interesting and made Tirek wonder which of the previous Lords of Cinder, as he was sure once someone linked the First Flame and sacrificed themselves they became known by that title, had used these techniques against their foes, before he focused on his foe once more and parried the incoming Great Chaos Fire Orb with a Dark Orb, causing the area between them to shudder for a few seconds as they rushed at each other and clashed with each other with their blades. Right now Tirek was going easy on the Soul of Cinder, mostly so he could see what sort of move styles it had access to and all the tricks his foe had to use against him, as he had the feeling that they would cycle through every move set the amalgamation of the other Lords had in its arsenal and then return to the first one it started with, which would be around when he bothered to go full power to smash it into the ground and secure the First Flame.
Another move he wasn't expecting his foe to use was one where it swung its scimitar to parry Tirek's incoming attack and then, after they were pushed back from each other from the initial collision, the Soul of Cinder spun around where it was standing and swung its blade at Tirek again, who threw his left fist forward and used the Infinity Gauntlet, with none of the Stones activated, to parry the incoming attack and knocked his foe backwards, to which the two of them quickly landed on the ground that was behind where they started and started to move around in a circle formation as they waited for their opponent to make the next move, especially since Tirek knew of his foe's strength and didn't want to be caught off guard at any point over the course of this battle. Of course there were two other spells in the Soul of Cinder's arsenal, or at least in the arsenal of the scimitar form it was currently using, and while they were incredibly minor, since his foe only cast the spells once, Tirek recognized them for what they were, as the first one was a blast of fire it directed towards his face, which was the Great Combustion spell, and a purple mist that reminded him of the Ghru from the swamp, meaning this was the Poison Mist spell, but he was able to pretty much dodge both of the spells without wasting any of his energy on them so he could focus on what the Soul of Cinder was doing at the moment. After some time of their battle going nowhere, even if Tirek was holding back to learn what his foe was capable of, the Soul of Cinder swung its weapon when there was some decent separation between them and its scimitar transformed into a pike, or at least that was what he assumed that was what this form was, something that was followed by it charging at the area that Tirek was standing in, who decided not to take the attack head on and moved to the side so he could blast his foe in the side with a Dark Orb, even though that only caused his foe to stagger for a moment as it got back up and charged at him once more, where it swung its pike as a sword and also thrust it at him every now and then, just like a pike, leaving Tirek to parry the incoming attacks and dodged those he couldn't parry, putting them on equal footing once more as they slowly moved around the graveyard that they were fighting in. As Tirek expected his foe also had a few spells to use against him, one where his foe gathered energy inside its body for a few seconds before releasing it when Tirek got close, something that involved him using the Space Stone so he could move part of the shockwave into another part of the area and avoid being hurt, a spell that allowed his foe to take less damage, and two spells that actually healed it, one that was over time and one that was instant, though when it used those spells Tirek reversed it by using the Time Stone until the Soul of Cinder ceased trying to use them.
It was actually highly amusing to watch the Soul of Cinder realize that he had reversed time and undid the healing that it had just done, since Tirek didn't want his foe to suddenly undo all of the damage he had been able to do since they started this battle, only to raise its pike to repeat the healing spells it used a few moments ago, to which Tirek used the Time Stone again to undo what it was doing and was followed by them repeating that about five more times before the Soul of Cinder stopped and seemed to stare at him with what could have been an unamused look, to which he chuckled as they rushed at each other once more, something that was followed by his foe not using the healing spells, meaning it realized that he wasn't going to allow it to use them, allowing the battle to progress as normal.
After some time the Soul of Cinder backed off for a moment and swung its weapon once more, this time transforming its pike into what Tirek assumed to be a staff, as his foe was how holding onto the area that was near the top of the weapon, where all of its spells would be coming from if what he had seen of the past magic users was anything to go by, though it was in that moment that his foe charged its power for a few seconds before releasing the Farron Hail spell at him, as in a surge of forty darts in four waves of ten and all of them were Soul blue colored. Tirek parried that spell by loosing a near identical one at his foe, this time his darts were made out of the Dark element and made it a Dark Hail spell, to which both of their spells clashed into the middle of the area they were standing in, though even as that happened the Soul of Cinder continued to go on the offensive as it moved to the side and loosed a massive crystalline spear at him, which had to be the Crystal Soul Spear Tirek had heard about, or at least read about from his tome at one point in the past, where he hurled a Dark Spear to counter the spell, blowing the area the two spells clashed in apart a tiny bit, something that wouldn't stop the Soul of Cinder from attacking him. Sure enough his foe went on to cast another spell not even a few seconds after the collision of their spears, where it created a crystal version of the Soulmass spell, complete with seven crystalline orbs that floated around it, instead of the usual five that most spell casters used, to which Tirek chuckled for a moment as he took a moment to gather his power and created a dark version of his foe's attack, where they stared at each other for a second or two and then rushed at each other, allowing their Soulmass spells to collide with each other in the air, though Tirek did find that the Soul of Cinder didn't actually attempt to strike him down with hits staff, meaning this form was a ranged form and his foe was going to maintain its distance for the foreseeable future, or at least until it changed back to one of the other three forms he had faced so far, even if there was no telling how many more forms it might use before they started to repeat what it had already used. Of course that happened to be when the Soul of Cinder came to a stop and raised its staff so that the tip was pointing at Tirek, where his foe started to gather its power for a few seconds as several strands of Soul energy started gather around the tip of its weapon, to which Tirek stabbed his borrowed sword into the ground and did the same thing not a few seconds later, where he fired a beam of crimson energy that slammed right into the Soul of Cinder's spell and came to a stop as soon as that happened.
The two of them stayed in that formation for a time, allowing their beam attacks to struggle against each other for a time as they attempted to see who the stronger magic user was, and it wasn't long before Tirek's spell started to push the Soul of Cinder's spell backwards, something that had to surprise his foe when it saw what was going on, something that caused him to grin as he continued to push his foe backwards, before his beam smashed his foe's to pieces and slammed into his foe's chest, detonating the area around the Soul of Cinder and had likely done some decent damage to it, but even then he knew not to lower his guard, since there was no telling what else his foe had up its sleeves.
From what Tirek could see the Soul of Cinder ended up falling to its knees for a moment, as if the damage he had done was enough to topple it and make it admit defeat, but instead of doing anything he paused for a time and watched what his foe was doing, which was swiftly followed by the imposing creature forcing itself back onto its feet so it could stand up and face him, though what happened next was that its body had an aura of flames gather around it as it raised its weapon for a moment and then stabbed it straight into the ground, releasing an explosive blast of energy into the area that was all around it, but once that was all done his foe pulled its blade out of the ground and started to handle it like it was one of the greatswords he had seen in the past. What was surprising and interesting was that the Soul of Cinder quickly jumped over to where Tirek was standing and swung its greatsword at him, an attack that he parried with the borrowed sword he was carrying and found that his blade shattered under the intensity of the blow, so much so that all of the fragments were knocked away from him, even if the weapon reformed so it could return to its place in the graveyard, before he jumped back and avoided the rest of the attack that had been sent in his direction, where he could tell that his foe was faster and was much stronger than it had been earlier, making him wonder about the new form it was currently using. His thoughts on the matter were confirmed not a few seconds later as the Soul of Cinder swung his greatsword in a manner that could have knocked a foe into the air, to which Tirek did something else, he used the Reality Stone to make a perfect duplicate of himself and then used the Space Stone to move into the area behind his foe, all while making sure the Soul of Cinder was unable to see the real him for a time, to which he watched as his foe knocked his duplicate into the air with one swing of its greatsword, before it swung at the area the duplicate was resting in several times and then dropped the duplicate on the ground so it could perform the ground stabbing motion again, by using both hands on the hilt of its weapon, though that caused another explosive blast to rock the area they were currently fighting in. Tirek made sure that the duplicate was still standing and caused it to move around like he normally would, something that prompted the Soul of Cinder to lash out at it with a variation of the Lightning Spear that he had never seen before, one that was much stronger and incredibly more potent than the ones he was used to seeing, a Sunlight Spear he guessed, which caused him to instantly realize who he happened to be fighting as the duplicate was shot in the back with the spell and disappeared once Tirek reactivated the Reality Stone to dispel what he had created earlier.
"Lord Gwyn, the first Lord of Cinder and the Lord of Sunlight, its an honor to fight you," Tirek said, because while he was sure that his foe had no idea what he was talking about, and it sure looked like the Soul of Cinder was that way as it took a moment to pause and tilt its head towards him, he decided that he might as well be a little respectful to the first being that had linked the First Flame, though it was in that instant he focused on his magic and the power of the Infinity Gauntlet, as he had the feeling that the borrowed blade would be useless in the next stage of this fight.
The Soul of Cinder rushed right over to the area that Tirek was standing in and jumped into the air when it was halfway to where he was positioned, where it sailed towards him and swung its greatsword down at him, to which Tirek swung his fist into the air and parried the incoming attack with the Infinity Gauntlet, though as he knocked his foe backwards he loosed a Lightning Spear into his foe's chest, just to do some damage, which was when the Soul of Cinder rushed forward and tried to grab him with its outstretched left hand, causing him to dodge the incoming motion and avoid the hand, figuring that it would have allowed his foe to grip him and maybe blast him while he was in the air. For the next few moments the Soul of Cinder tried to slash his chest open as it swung its greatsword at him, to which Tirek used the Space Stone to prevent each of the swings from hitting him as he moved out of the way and punched his foe in the chest, even if he also switched that up with using one of the elements that it was weak to, but it seemed that the Soul of Cinder was learning what his moves were and used that to its advantage not a few moments later as it gathered lightning in its left hand and hurled the spear right at the ground, basically trying to make it an area of effect spell this time around. Instead of sticking around to take a bit of damage, like his foe was expecting him to do, Tirek jumped backwards and landed on the group that was nearby, to which he paused for a few seconds and then charged back into battle as he hurled some Lightning Discs at his foe, who just swung its greatsword through them and shattered them in a matter of seconds, which was just fine with Tirek as he appeared behind his foe and punched it in the back of the head, using the power of the Power Stone to smash it into the ground that was below it, before he flashed off to the side and reappeared nearby, giving him a chance to see what sort of damage he had done to the Soul of Cinder and what his foe was going to do next. What happened next was different from what Tirek was expecting, as the Soul of Cinder hurled a Sunlight Spear at him, but that was only a distraction as it readied a second Sunlight Spear that it hurled into the sky and it quickly disappeared after it left its hand, though Tirek was ready for anything as he activated the Space Stone and redirected the first Sunlight Spear that was hurled right at him, which just so happened to be when a thunderclap sounded and a bunch of spears rained down on the area he was standing in, even though he made sure to redirect those spears as well, before dropping all of them down on his foe, burying the Soul of Cinder in all the Sunlight Spears it had thrown at him in the last minute or two.
What happened next was that the Soul of Cinder rushed at him and swung its greatsword at him, though this time Tirek let that attack push him into the air and used his own power to get away from the area that his foe was standing in, to which he summoned the four elements of this world into the space around him, creating three spheres made of Fire, three made out of Soul, three made of Dark, and three made from Lightning, meaning there were twelve spheres around him and that he was going to replicate something he had done to Midir. Each of the spheres had the same size and contained the same amount of power as the Forbidden Sun spell he had used in the past, though what happened first was that he made all the suns of the same element merge into a much stronger version of the spells in question, which resulted in him creating a large fiery Forbidden Sun, a large icy Forbidden Sun, a large dark Forbidden Sun, and a large Forbidden Sun that looked a massive ball of lightning, before he focused on the next step of what he was doing as the Soul of Cinder stared up at him, something the observers had to be doing from where they were standing. With the Nova class spells prepared Tirek willed the four spells to merge into a single sphere, starting with the Dark sphere as the core of his attack and made sure that it merged with the Lightning one, causing the entire area around him to shudder for a moment as the sheer power of what he was doing rolled out over the area they were fighting in, and that feeling intensified not a few seconds later as he had the Soul sphere merge with the mass that was in front of him, where the multicolored sphere, containing three of the four elements of this world, caused the entire graveyard to shake for a time, even though that was when the Soul of Cinder did the same time, it was preparing its own immensely powerful Sunlight Spear to take him down. Fortunately he was able to weave the Fire sphere over the other ones and allowed the sphere to take on the coloration of the Reorigination Beam he had fired at Midir during the end of their battle, making this incredibly powerful and destructive sphere more like a spell that shouldn't be used at all, which made him wonder if he should refer to it as Forbidden Reorigination or Reorigination Bomb, but for right now the name didn't matter as he hurled the attack down at the Soul of Cinder, who had moved over to the edge of the area so the middle wasn't wiped out by what was going on, and that was when it hurled its powerful Sunlight Spear into the air to count the sphere.
Sure enough the two spells came into contact with each other and the entire area, including the air, vibrated as the spells clashed against each other, though since Tirek had used his full power in creating this attack he had to grin as his sphere either smashed through the Sunlight Spear or absorbed it outright, where it eventually slammed into the part of this area that the Soul of Cinder was standing in and detonated the payload that it was carrying, causing a massive explosion to appear in the area that Tirek was staring at... though when the smoke cleared he could see a massive crater that covered the majority of the left side of the graveyard, where the Soul of Cinder, its body totally charred and its armor looking like it was going to fall apart, collapsed on the ground and vanished, resulting in a new bonfire appearing in the middle of this now ruined area, meaning he had won the battle.
"Finally, the last guardian has fallen," Tirek remarked, though at the same time a flaming, almost lightning-like, crystalline soul appeared in front of him, something that he claimed as he landed on the ground near the bonfire, to which he took a moment to grin as he realized that he now held the soul of the Lords that came before him, one final power boost to make sure whoever linked the First Flame was as powerful as they could be so the Age of Fire lasted longer than the previous ones had done, or at least that seemed to be the hope, before he gripped the soul and the power surged into his body, no doubt pushing his power to new heights, before he turned towards the final bonfire he would light as he sensed its innate connection to the First Flame, "and now for my prize!"
In that moment he accessed both his own ability to absorb the magic of whoever he was targeting and the power that had been integrated into his body by doing what Yuria wanted, by stabbing Anri and taking her Dark Sigils for himself, though once he was ready he focused his power on the bonfire that was connected to the First Flame and started to started to put his plan into motion, to which he started to steal the power of the Flame that almost everyone wanted him to link, which was when a surge of immense power rushed through his body as he tapped into the power he sought. As soon as he came into contact with the First Flame he had to admit that he had assumed the power of the fire had almost been out, due to the fact that everyone was in a rush to relight it and whatnot, but it sure felt like that was wrong, as cracks started to form in his arms and legs not a few seconds after he connected to the power of the First Flame, with red energy pulsing through the cracks, but after everything he had gone through to get to this point he wasn't going to just abandon his mission and let the First Flame consume him, like it had all of the others that linked it. That was followed by a surge of fire that rushed out and surrounded the area Tirek was standing in, where it appeared that the power of the First Flame was trapping him inside a sphere of flame of some kind, though his focus was torn away from what was going on around him as he felt the power surge into his body once more as it tried to tear his flesh from his bones and reduce him to cinders, but Tirek stood his ground and fought back the First Flame's desire to defeat him, regardless of the pain that it inflicted on his body since all of that could be healed once this was over. As he stood his ground, however, he noticed something interesting, which just so happened to be where the ground cracked under the intensity of what was going on, almost like the power of the First Flame was tearing this entire area apart for what he did, but that was when he pushed through what it was trying to do to his body and drew even more power into his form, as he intended on stealing every drop of power that remained inside the seemingly weakening First Flame, something he knew due to the fact that the pain was lessening. It wasn't long before a flickering flame appeared in the air in front of him, one that appeared to be just like all of the other flames he and his companions had seen over the course of their quest, though the weakened nature and what he was feeling informed Tirek that this was all that remained of the First Flame, which made sense given what he had done so far, which was when he grasped what rested in front of him and absorbed the rest of the First Flame, allowing the power to surge through his body as he felt the Age of Fire going out at long last.
In that instant, as the power of the First Flame rushed through his body and pushed his power to even greater heights, he raised his left hand and focused his mind on the Infinity Gauntlet, where the six Infinity Stones started to glow as he took a moment to think about what he was going to do, as with the power of the First Flame and his Infinity Gauntlet it was time for him to do what he was here to do, though as soon as he had a firm grasp of what should happen next he snapped his fingers and watched as a flash erupted from the area he was standing in.
Yuria, Sarana, Martok, and everyone else from Firelink Shrine watched as a flash erupted from the area that their Lord was standing in and witnessed a black light move out across the rest of the world that they called home, where the sun, which had previously had a red ring around it, now possessed a white ring that seemed totally different from what they had been expecting to find when Tirek finished what he had been doing to the First Flame, especially since a normal morning sky just appeared in the air above them, almost like the Flame had been linked, which they knew wouldn't have happened since it was Tirek they were thinking about. As they witnessed that change, however, Sarana also discovered something else, Tirek had done something after claiming the power of the First Flame, as she felt a slight urge to serve and obey their new Lord, which she was sure that the rest of the group had to be feeling right now, where she knew that the new feeling had to be influenced by their standing with Tirek, as she and Martok were the two that had given him the most help, with Yuria and the rest of her allies being the ones directly below them. The reason she knew that was due to the fact that Hawkwood and the others commented on the feeling and the various levels that they seemed to be experiencing, though Yuria, on the other hand, returned to the normal Shrine and seemed to leave them alone for a time, not that such a thing mattered as she returned not a few minutes later, where Sarana found that there was a second lady standing by Yuria, who wore the same armor that she was, meaning it had to be Liliane, the third sister who founded the Stable Church of Londor, not to mention a force of Hollows, or at least that was what she assumed they had been at some point before Tirek absorbed the power of the First Flame and asserted his dominance over their world, as each of them seemed to be aware of what was around them and who they were, though it also appeared that there was a coiled black flame marking on their left arms, a new marking that no doubt displayed Tirek's control over their world. In fact she, Martok, and everyone else took a few seconds to remove whatever was covering their left hand, since the tip ended on the back of their hands, and all of them found the marking, where Sarana had to assume that Tirek's style of Hollows was different from what they were used to dealing with in the past, though she wasn't expecting to see Anri again, even if it appeared that she was confused by what was happening, so either Yuria told her what had happened and she was having a hard time understanding it or she had been told nothing and was just confused.
The next thing that happened was that the ground shuddered for a moment as a walkway formed in front of them, which connected to the bottom of the path that Tirek had used to reach the area he had fought his foe in, to which Sarana and Martok walked forward and were followed by Yuria, Liliane, and the rest of the group that had come to this area to watch Tirek fight for access to the First Flame, though when they reached the area that Tirek had been fighting in the flames that were in front of them pulled away and revealed that their Lord was standing there, causing everyone to kneel and bow as that happened, even though Sarana noticed that whatever attire Tirek had been wearing over his chest was gone, maybe reduced to cinders, while his white hair had been transformed into a long flowing mane of flames, or that was what she assumed they were seeing.
"A new god has awakened, and this world is mine," Tirek stated, though while he was pleased by the power that was now coursing through his veins, as it was beyond what he had been expecting to reach when he planned on taking the power of the First Flame for himself, he knew what the next phase of his plan was and it was time to carry it out, something that caused him to turn towards his new subjects, who were kneeling towards him, before he started to move, even if he took a moment to notice that Anri was present and that she was confused, which he would fix once his plans were done, before he focused on what he was going to do next as he activated the Space Stone and opened a portal to the right of where the group was kneeling, "Come, its time we let the world know whose in control of it now."
Even as the group lowered their heads a little more, to indicate that they understood what he was talking about, Tirek was more than pleased with what he had just done and knew that this world was going to be totally different from what Yuria and the others were expecting, especially given the change to the sky and the sun, and he was looking forward to asserting his dominance over the rest of this world and the various races that called it home, before making it into a world that he could rule over for the rest of his life, however long that might be since he had no idea how long his lifespan was after all he had done to himself, but that was a matter for another time as he focused on his main mission and the people that were on the other side of the portal, as what happened next was going to be fun for him.