(A/N: Barely two weeks but it feels like its been centuries since I published anything. Anyway, me and me mates ended up going out of town to get a car on the cheap. Will it last without giving trouble? Who knows, you get what you pay for after all. Either way, it was a bit of a in the moment kind of decision so I've been playing catch up with everything since I got back.

I didn't really want to post something like a notice without anything to go with it but I realized that's a bit of mistake since most would just assume stuff is dropped. In the future I'll drop status updates for anything like that but on that note, I'll be getting back into the swing of things for now.

RWBY still my main story but I still do intend on trying to do side along updates to this story. Probably on Tuesdays and Thursdays.)

XOXO

An old cracked and crumbling stairway that doubled as a bridge, its golden railing having lost whatever splendor it once had, left in a fragmented state of disrepair. And disrepair was a running theme for everything ahead. Towering walls that cast a long shadow had the same cracks. The massive woodened gate that prevented entry into the castle was beginning to rot in different places. The flags and banner hanging over the edges of the structure along with all other decorations looked as if they’d all taken a beating, no longer appealing to look at.

Quite a state this apparent demigod let his base fall into.

“Hey!” A hushed voice drew their attention away from the gate ahead.

Graying skin, a thinning mess of gray hair, and eyes with the faintest tint of gold. The thin man in the doorway beside the gate, no visible weapon on his body, waved them over, before disappearing into the room.

Nepheli kept a hand near her axe, the two of them exchanging a look before heading over, Melina silently trailing behind him. They passed fallen parts of old walling before stepping into the room. The orange flames of hanging braziers lit up the small space, little more than rumble, an old table, and old decorations left within it. It probably couldn’t even be called a room anymore on account of the giant hole letting in cool winds.

“Over here.” The man stood in one of the room’s corners, calling them over. Skinny with sunken eyes. Clothes that were stained and worn, an odd wood shackle with intricate spirals that resembled the branches of a tree hanging from his slouched neck. The man looked like he’d seen better days. “You’re tarnished, aren’t you?”

Nepheli nodded as they stopped in front of the man.

“I would advise against taking the main gate into the castle. It’s tightly guarded by hardened old hands. Try that opening.” He raised an arm, a finger pointed at the hole. Neither Onyx or Nepheli bothered looking over. The suspicion he regarded them with was, at this point, customary given the state of the world and the label on them which only made his assistance all the stranger. “You’ll be able to breach the castle undetected.”

“Why help those after your lord’s head?” Nepheli asked, gauging the man.

A scratchy scoff left the man. “That lord is nothing. Just a craven that looks down on the rest of us.” He muttered. Dislike for this Godrick, from Marika herself, from his own people, was a constant thing.

Which only made him more curious.

Onyx stepped back, leaving the room behind and heading back out the doorway, Melina beside him.

“What do you intend to do?” Nepheli asked, following.

“Headed straight through.” Onyx said gazing up at the gate. There was nothing special about the worn out thing. With how saturated everything was in the golden energy of this land it was hard to say whether or not it had once been infused with some kind of energy to keep it durable, but even if that was the case, it was no longer active.

“Tarnished!” A yell came from far above. “This will be your only warning! Leave now and you will be allowed to keep your lives!”

Onyx focused a bit of mana into his throat.

“If you aren’t prepared to die, lay down your weapons.” He announced, voice loud enough to shake the loose bit of rumble around them and carrying well beyond the castle’s entrance. Warning said, he jumped up, leg pulled back. With one hard kick, the reinforced gate didn’t even get to budge, torn free from its edges and sent flying behind the castle walls.

He walked in, Melina following behind him, cloak shifting as she grasped her dagger.

Bolts.

Their release filled the air hardly a moment after one shouted a command, several of the speed projectiles heading straight for him. He swung the Grafted blade, splitting them in half and knocking more off course.

While he lowered himself, readying his blade, Melina had jumped up clearing most of the way up onto the walls, the slightest cracks and idents used to scale the rest of the way, a knight sent plummeting down the moment she fully made it over, dead before he hit the ground.

Knights moved to intercept him, more bolts fired ahead of them. A single swing saw both torn apart, Onyx charging straight up the winding stone path before their bloody remains fully split apart.

Shields, weapons, flesh. The Grafted Blade tore through all of that with ease, knight after knight cut apart. The bolts coming from above kept coming but they either undershot or overshot, not just missing him but slowly reducing in number, Melina no doubt killing those she came across along the walls.

As the path opened up, defenses set up along a gathering of stairs and balconies defended by woodened ramparts and knights, he shifted his weight, mana flowing into his legs, and jumped. The knight manning the ballista set up at the very top of the little area tried adjusting it towards him but with a bit more mana, his body weighing far more than it should, he plummeted down, sword falling upon metal and wood.

As fragments of the shattered ballista cut through the air around them, the knight stumbled back, fumbling for his weapon as he winded up a swing. The knight’s fumbling stopped, the sword and its sheath falling away from his waist. Onyx stopped his swing, the force of it knocking the knight on his rear but leaving him unharmed.

Rushing past the man, he focused on the flood of knights rushing up the steps of the balcony they thought protected. A swing decimated the shield line they were trying to form, shields and arms cut apart. Many followed the example of the other knight right then and there, injured and uninjured throwing aside their weapons.

But there were handful, some still screaming from the sudden loss of a limb, that still tried to push at him. More controlled slices that left those who gave up unharmed killed those determined few.

Down below, Nepheli had joined their rush. Both axes in hand she cut apart knights easily enough and, despite not having any part in the decision or being bound to it, followed his example, those who dropped their weapons spared. She was perceptive despite the numbers around her, those who made of show of giving up only to try and backstab her swiftly avoided and cut down.

Onyx raised his free hand and swung it, the knight to his left side sent crashing into the castle’s wall and buried beneath some rumble by the back of his fist. At the same time, Nepheli’s axe, sent twirling through the air, sunk deep into the neck of the knight attempting to step up on his right side.

Ripping out her axe, he tossed it back down to her then looked around.

He really did respect their tenacity. Too bad none of them were strong or skilled enough for any method, straight forward or underhanded, to make this entertaining. All the knights had on their side was numbers but that didn’t matter much.

He almost wished he’d come up here before regaining his mana. That would’ve made this whole direct assault far more entertaining.

Heavy steps, enough to shake loss more rumble from the old castle walls drew his eyes further up the winding wind.

A wolf. Maybe some kind of cat. He couldn’t tell which one it was closer to, but a giant creature was rushing down the steps ahead of descending lines of knights. Graying tough skin that pulled tight around parts of its body and a thinning mane of the same color, the sizable creature was collared with blades attached to its far too skinny arms, chains connected all of that metal.

It froze as their eyes met.

Taking a step forward, he leaped again, stone cracking as he landed directly in front of the creature, forced to crane his head back to get a better look at it. Starved no doubt. Beaten into submission too.

“That doesn’t look comfortable.” With aimed swing, its arc cutting through both the bladed cuffing around its front legs and collar, the metal split, crashing into the ground. “Go on and get out of here.”

The creature growled.

Then turned, knights sent flying and tumbling with a swing.

Or it could do that.

Readying his blade, he moved alongside the wrathful creature. Best to make sure it didn’t go killing those who laid down their weapons.

XOXO

She’d heard of the one wandering around in the white mask.

She’d heard of a small newly arrived group of tarnished trying and failing to storm Godrick’s castle.

She’d also heard of Onyx. Not by name but among those her father had information on and what the few knights willing to give up information in exchange for their lives had to say. He was one of the few that’d been actively making an enemy out of Godrick and his knights. Alleged kidnapping, stealing that Grafted Blade, and killing enough knights to have mercenaries sent out to ride the land in search of him.

Though their meeting was coincidental, she hadn’t been surprised to find someone like that making their way up to Stormveil in search of one of the Great Runes.

Nepheli stopped her axe just short of cutting the knight whose sword clattered to the ground, shoulder charging him aside and cutting down the knight that would’ve stabbed through his own disheartened ally to protect this place. Misplaced as it was, Godrick underserving of anyone’s loyalty, she could respect it to some degree.

Zealously moving to run through someone they fought alongside wasn’t a line that should be so easily crossed, however.

As she pulled her axe free, blood splattering across the crack stone of the castle’s pathways, Nepheli followed after Onyx who had just tossed some frozen knights out of the rampaging beast’s path. Bolt fire had all but come to an end, that strange maiden of his running along the castle’s walls and nimbly taking down those that attacked her.

A maiden, against all odds, bearing arms and, rather than merely surviving, weaving her way through combat.

That animal, easily turned on its former masters.

And, as Nepehli rejoined the thick of the battle rather than handling stranglers, the hair on her neck came to a stand just from being near him at times.

She’d marked Onyx as a formidable warrior from the moment they met but there was far more to him than just that. Whoever ended up with their hands on the shard of the Elden Ring, Father would want to extend an invitation to an honorable fighter like him, or, at the very least be better informed about him.

Using her left axe to force side a shield, she left a deep gashed across the chest of the knight before her.

For now, however, best she focused on the task at end.

A demigod was still a demigod no matter how pathetic and depraved.

XOXO

(A/N: Finally going to see Godrick in the next one but, unfortunately for him, Onyx is a lot stronger than when he first appear in this world. Chance aren't looking good for him and I'm pretty sure he has far too much pride to drop his weapon on the order of a mere tarnished.

We'll see how it goes for him.

I will say, being away for awhile, doing some rereading and extra editing, research on other more traditional novels has made for a bit of interesting time. I've written quite a bit and I should be more proud of that.

Again, sorry about the prolonged stint of no updates but I'll be trying to get back in a routine.)