Tirek spent a few moments making sure that his Runes were spent before heading to the highest point of the Divine Tower that rested on the edge of Caelid, where he found exactly what he expected to find, that being the fallen Two Fingers that housed where he would bring Radahn's Great Rune in the very near future.
"So, this is what waits at the top of the Divine Towers... the slain bodies of the Two Fingers." Blaidd commented, which told Tirek that his friend had never been to the top of any of the towers that dotted the landscape, something he found to be a little bit odd before determining that it was likely due to Ranni's orders, "Is this what you hoped to find?"
"I wanted to be sure each tower was the same, as this makes two for two... I have not yet found the path to the tower that rests in Liurnia." Tirek said, as he recalled what he had seen at the top of the first Divine Tower and wondered if the same was true for the remainder that were scattered around the continent, which would make sense given that there were a few more Demigods for him to track down, "How that I've confirmed it, I would like to check out the lower floors and see if there is anything here for us to take... you never know where we might find something that will aid us in our quest, plus any foes we encounter will go towards strengthening me for the battles ahead. I have a feeling Radahn won't be an easy fight..."
"If he's holding back the stars, in his rotted state, he'll be incredibly strong." Blaidd noted, as he agreed with Tirek on this matter, because while he wanted to serve their Mistress, and get her quest completed with all the haste they could muster, he knew that building their strength was important.
Tirek said nothing to that as they turned around and headed back down the stairs, passing by the Grace spot before going even further by quickly walking down the second set, keeping their weapons at the ready since neither of them knew what sort of dangers the tower might have. What they discovered was that there were two knights, dressed in a red armor that had to be Radahn's colors, and both seemed to be stronger than some of the other ones that Tirek had seen, not that such a thing mattered to Blaidd as he parried one of their attacks and opened the way for him to blast the other with magic. Once that was done, and both knights were lying dead on the ground, Tirek discovered that they had been guarding a door that just so happened to be locked from this side, causing him to glance at the central area of the tower and found long beams connecting the walls to the central pillar, where the lift was located. As he glanced out into what was in front of them Tirek noticed something, there was no way that the two of them were going to be able to get down to the lower levels safely, as he could see that several of the beams were broken in places and would no doubt break at the wrong moment.
With that in mind Blaidd agreed to stand at the edge and watch him, even though Tirek suspected that he could just jump into the space and stab his greatsword into one of the walls, allowing him to carve his way down to the bottom, but for now he was willing to play ball. Once his friend was in position Tirek stepped out onto the ledge that was in front of him and took a few steps to be sure the side path was fine, in fact it was far more sturdy than he thought, meaning it was easy for him to reach the area that was above one of the beams he had noticed. When he jumped down to it, however, his thoughts were proven right as it cracked and shattered with ease, causing him to grip the stonework as it fell downward for a moment, as it stopped after getting stuck on something, no doubt two of the smaller platforms he had seen from above. There he found a cage that looked like it would bring him up to the path that likely held the way back up to Blaidd's position, a shortcut in the off chance that he died he guessed, though he had to knock down a lone knight that was guarding the cage, which he was able to do with ease.
Sure enough he confirmed that the path the cage lead him up to held a ladder that linked up to the door that the pair of knights had been guarding, so Blaidd was able to join Tirek on the lower level, even though they did have to deal with a new foe, a robed knight who used dark flames. With the two of them it was a simple matter to bring the newcomer down before glancing at the area in front of them, where Tirek found another cracked beam that would allow one to fall deeper into the depths of this Divine Tower, but there was no way back up to this point. As such Blaidd either had to come with him or he would have to return to the last Grace and wait for him to teleport back up there once he found what was waiting down in the depths, causing the wolfen warrior to inform Tirek that this time they would be going together. Tirek suspected that he knew what Blaidd was planning and was proven correct, as when the beam shattered Blaidd grabbed onto him before he started to jump down the few platforms and items that were in the way, with the speed and accuracy that Tirek was used to seeing, before reaching a second cage that took them down into the depths of the tower.
As it moved downward Blaidd set Tirek down and they stood there for a moment, watching as they went deeper and deeper into the depths, before coming to a stop at what had to be the basement of the Divine Tower, which happened to have a Grace for them to activate.
With that done Tirek found that there was next to nothing down here, save for a staircase heading even deeper while they found a dark flame knight blocking the way, someone they dealt with in seconds before Tirek paused as he found a golden mist door ahead of them. He had been right to assume that there was a powerful foe here, it just seemed like it since the entire province seemed to have powerful targets scattered everywhere, though he quickly made sure his Runes were spent before they bothered to pass through the doorway. On the other side he discovered a tall slim figure who wore one of the most disturbing robes Tirek had ever seen, it was white and seemed to be a patchwork of pieces from people, as in part of it looked like the faces of the figure's slain opponents taken and added to the robe. He was even wielding some sort of staff with a curved head, like it was designed to peel pack the skin to be used in whatever freakish rituals that the figure had committed before being locked up in this place, all while Blaidd informed him that this was a 'Godskin Apostle', a fearsome opponent indeed.
The Apostle's first action was to gather white and black flames above his left hand, his empty hand, before hurling it right at the pair, though this time Tirek avoided it as he and Blaidd jumped away from where it landed, as he could tell that it would be dangerous to touch it. His reasoning was confirmed as his friend informed him that the black flame was known as the god-slaying flame, a very powerful and very deadly flame that would be quite painful if one of them was struck by it, where Tirek wondered if absorbing it would do the same thing as being hit by it. With that in mind the pair assumed their battle stances, Blaidd up front with his greatsword with Tirek further back as he rained down spells on the Apostle, though in addition to that he also added in his dragon flames, burning their foe from behind when he focused on Blaidd, since it seemed to do a bit of damage in the process. The interesting thing was that the Apostle was faster than they expected, as he attacked quickly and could retreat quickly if he wanted to do so, meaning both of them had to plan their attacks with a degree of care to be sure they struck their foul target, and when they got close enough to defeating him the Apostle did something new, his body extended like he was a snake.
It was an annoying tactic, given that it allowed the Apostle to reach the area Tirek was in, though he grinned as he used a bit of his magic to warp to where his legs were located and incinerated them with his dragon flames, forcing the Apostle to the ground so Blaidd could cut him apart.
"Let's hope there aren't more of those bastards, or another variation." Tirek remarked, taking a moment to absorb the Runes that came from the fallen foe, a figure that would have been a right pain in the rear if he had fought it alone, but as soon as he was done they walked towards the other side of the chamber to collect their prize.
As it turned out there was a chest with an odd coiled greatsword inside it, something he added to their collection before using a bit of nearby magic to teleport out of the tower, causing him to sigh as he warped them back to the Grace that was outside the ruined city for a bit of a rest before they headed down the next available path.