[Elden Ring] Chapter 65

Melina had expected many possible methods for fixing someone’s brainwashing—but, honestly, Konstantin’s creative vision blew every last one of her expectations out of the water.

It turned out that to remove the mental comands from Maliketh’s head…

All you had to do was smack him upside the head really well.

…well, not just any smack—

You had to smack him right. Hard enough to knock out the foreign presence inside the so-called brother of the Goddess. The scholar deep within (a lore enthusiast), and the classic tryhard who solved things with brute force, both rejoiced in perfect synergy.

Extracting the Rune of Death went off without a hitch. Kosta dampened its overwhelming power with sheer casual energy, layered atop the casualness of all the other runes inside him.

The might of the Rune of Death did rattle him a bit at first—it stood out starkly among the others, emanating an unstable, not-so-safe energy. Thankfully, Konstantin managed to stabilize it, and the Sun within him eagerly devoured the excess, silently warning the rune that if it acted up again, it would get digested—completely.

The Goddess’s Shadow didn’t need long to come back to himself. He rose—and realized the world had subtly, irrevocably changed.

More importantly, the hunger that had haunted him all this time—if not gone entirely, had at least receded enough to ignore without fear of slipping back into madness.

"Tarni… what have you done…"

The creature before him stood unharmed. Completely unaffected by the dangerous rune inside. In Konstantin’s calm gaze, there was no lust for destruction. No hunger.

"What do you think of the Greater Will?"

Melina narrowed her eyes.

Hearing the question so calmly asked, Maliketh hesitated. He almost snapped—but then…

He stayed completely calm.

Which shocked the Goddess’s Shadow more than anything else.

"I… you…"

Seeing his reaction, Konstantin smiled, satisfied.

"When you’ve recovered, take your people and leave this place. There’s nothing left for you here. You’re free now. Praise the Sun."

The massive wolf flinched, locking eyes with him.

The golden eyes of the Tarnished reminded him so much of the Goddess—but they were utterly different, too. The contrast was disorienting.

"You couldn’t have chosen a better Tarnished, Melina…" the wolf rasped, closing his eyes.

He needed rest. And… time to think.

Hearing the unexpected compliment, Melina lifted her chin proudly, her golden eye gleaming.

"My faithful steed, Torrent, never makes mistakes."

She said it calmly. Almost neutrally. But it carried so much smugness.

For a split second, Kosta could’ve sworn he heard a skeptical snort from the spectral horse hiding inside his whistle.

"I need to head out for a bit."

"The witch," Melina sighed, instantly getting the message. "Please don’t let—"

"There may be many waifus, Meli-Meli, but there will be only one queen," he deadpanned.

Melina, hearing those completely uncharacteristic words from Kosta, mentally blasted off into the stratosphere.

From what he saw, the waifu was very pleased with the answer.

"I’ll be back."

Without waiting for a response, the man reached into the flow of grace.

Only a few things left to do before the DLC.

"You seem a little disappointed, Konstantin."

Latenna’s voice was laced with surprise. As someone with the best seat in the house—watching everything unfold—she couldn't quite understand why the man looked… vaguely dissatisfied.

"I skipped the part of the quest with the rotting swamps, the waterfall coffin drop, and the battle against the giant cosmic horror(1)," Kosta admitted with visible regret.

"...What?"

Sitting inside her spirit-summoning bell, Latenna tried to wrap her head around what the Tarnished just said—and failed.

He was upset that he… didn’t get to walk through swamps, lie in a coffin, fall off a waterfall, and fight a cosmic entity?

Okay, the swamp and boss fight she could kinda get. For some reason, Kosta really liked swamps. And who didn’t love a good fight with an eldritch beast?

But… the coffin? The waterfall? What was that even supposed to mean?!

Latenna genuinely worried the Rune of Death might have scrambled his brain and reignited the madness he’d worked so hard to suppress.

Thankfully, the albinauric quickly realized Kosta was actually in pretty high spirits overall. He wasn’t any crazier than usual.

And, honestly, as long as he stayed the same casual-hardcore waifu simp, his ending probably wouldn’t last too long anyway.

Exiting the cave, he stepped into a familiar scene: a bloody, lifeless doll slumped atop the corpse of the Two Fingers. To Kosta’s slight surprise, the blade he’d asked to be returned at the end of the quest lay nearby.

Saying nothing, he sent the item off to some obscure personal inventory spot and stepped in front of the girl with the outstretched doll-hand.

Up close, the seemingly indifferent doll looked… unusually dignified. And very, very puffed up.

A warm ring formed in Kosta’s hand. He figured the patron of one of the greatest waifus might have some questions about what he was doing—and tried to reach out. But there was no response. No resistance. Nothing.

Either the Moon didn’t mind his casual approach, or, like the Greater Will before it, it sensed a bigger fish and chose to lay low for now.

Either way, Kosta was fine with it. Worst case, he wouldn’t mind finding out how many phases the Moon had. Probably four.

Dropping to one knee, he gently lifted the outstretched hand and slipped the ring on.

For a brief moment, he could’ve sworn he heard a distant, satisfied otherworldly shriek—but only for a second.

The bloody doll vanished. And in her place, a brand-new, fully restored version of her materialized.

He had never seen the moon demigoddess this puffed up before.

"So… you’re the one destined to command my fee… me?"

Ranni paused mid-sentence, clearly surprised by what almost slipped out. Her voice, however, remained calm and deeply enchanting.

Kosta’s vision darkened.

One of the most important quests for any Soulslike player had just been completely derailed—by a single word.

"...I just slipped up once—"

"And I’m so happy you did!" Ranni cut him off, utterly ignoring his protest. A spark of visible excitement danced across her otherwise stoic doll-face. "It is an honor to serve you!"

Everything had gone almost exactly how she imagined it...

Kosta winced slightly, then forced his usual stoic mask back on and gave a nod. Definitely not the time for extra commentary.

Ranni narrowed her ghostly eyes and folded her doll-hands, shifting into serious mode.

The already-broken quest was now about to go even further off-script.

"I’ve thought a lot about the Sun that lights the night sky. You know what I want to achieve, don’t you?"

Back then, she wouldn’t have even considered discussing her ambitions with him. At first, because she didn’t trust him. Later… because—

He was just too insane.

…Well, and the trust thing, too.

Ever since their battle with the Shadow of Death, though, that had all changed. Especially since Konstantin already knew about her obsession—so now he was morally obligated to take responsibility!

Originally, Ranni had thought his stoic silence might actually be preferable.

But as the man kept showing more of his focused, sane side, the demigoddess started to reconsider her opinion.

A man capable of making his own decisions, able to speak with her as an equal, and still firmly on her side—wasn’t that the dream?

Perhaps Konstantin’s only obvious flaw was his soft spot for women—something he had yet to overcome (if he even tried). But honestly, such indulgences didn’t really bother the demigoddess... as long as he didn’t take things too far.

And, as it turned out, the one she’d chosen to serve was fairly selective about who qualified as a waifu. More importantly, his priorities placed her, if not at the very top, then right beside it—only slightly behind a certain long-forgotten spectral daughter of the Goddess who was just a bit too clingy and neurotic. It was amusing.

Melina could be an excellent source of inspiration for her future books.

For some reason, Kosta had the distinct feeling that one of the top-tier waifus was this close to letting out a smug, villainous laugh.

Then again, maybe he was imagining it.

"I don’t think severing the Lands Between from the starry sky will end well," Konstantin said plainly.

If his inner scholar (a lore nerd) hadn’t realized the messed-up localization(2) had completely twisted her original meaning, he might’ve assumed the waifu wanted to plunge the world into darkness.

Sometimes it really felt like the people localizing Ranni’s dialogue had it out for her—even back when translating her name.

"And why is that?" Ranni huffed. "Don’t you know how long the Lands Between have been crushed beneath the yoke of the Outer Gods? Don’t you want to free it—to help keep vision, sensation, faith, and touch all safely apart?"

"Locking something away isn’t the same as freeing it," Kosta shrugged. "There’ll always be cracks. Ways for something to slip through. All you’ll do is smother what little life is left, robbing it of the chance to grow."

As he understood it, the waifu wanted to seal off the Lands Between from any possible vector the Outer Gods could exploit. But setting aside the fact that the lunar demigoddess couldn’t possibly account for everything, the very act of sealing would inevitably stifle the world’s remaining life.

It’d be stagnation—something Konstantin had hoped to avoid.

Not that Ranni’s ending had become less popular among Soulslike players. It was, after all, the only ending where the poor Tarnished actually got to stay with his waifu. But Kosta felt her plan only worked in the short term. Short in the context of a world where time had long since gone off-script, of course.

In the long run, the Tarnished saw no real future in that kind of solution.

"And what do you suggest to your servant, then?" Ranni’s voice turned cold. The path—her vision—was too important to her. "You’d replace Gold with your Sun’s light? But how is the gold of the Sun any different from the gold of the Greater Will?"

Kosta sighed and began to speak.

This might’ve been the most important and difficult conversation he’d had since arriving in the Lands Between. In some ways, this was a unique boss fight.

Not against one of the greatest waifus, of course—

But with her.

Ranni, doing her best to maintain a dignified pout, listened closely.

His vision of ruling the Lands Between differed drastically from both Marika’s and Ranni’s.

He wanted death to return to the world—so that the countless undead, stripped of will and wandering the land, could finally rest. Only with death could they be reborn into new life.

After that, he planned to find whatever semblance of sentient life remained and gradually repopulate the world.

Then, he’d move to rebuild what was left. To develop it. To dive headlong into the game’s mechanics, casual flair, and broken lore.

His inner scholar, now significantly leveled up, had been itching to explore the deeper mechanics that ran on pure instinct.

And the only real insurance that an Outer God wouldn’t come along and obliterate everything? Himself—and those around him. Including the lunar demigoddess and her patron.

Konstantin had no intention of force-feeding the world his Sun the way Marika had forced the Erdtree and the Greater Will on it.

Besides, the idea of the world being overrun by half-naked casual tryhard clones of himself was a little disturbing.

He hoped Brother Corhyn and the turtle pope could help give the Sun doctrine a slightly more traditional look.

And he had no issue with Ranni continuing to explore the stars as she wished. If anything, the chance of encountering some mysterious cosmic boss out there was very appealing.

Ranni, listening this far, suddenly imagined bumping into something absurdly massive out in the void. She froze. She hadn’t considered the situation from that angle.

"...It’s not a perfect plan. There’ll be problems," Konstantin admitted easily. "At first, I didn’t think about any of this. I just wanted to finish the waifu quests my own way and fight some bosses. But now, I think there’s no other choice."

A Soulslike that had stagnated for decades, even centuries, needed to move again—even if not everyone wanted that outcome.

"The Age of Sun and Moon," Ranni said suddenly.

Excitement flickered on her ghostly face. The poetic name clearly struck a chord.

"I understand," the demigoddess smiled grandly. "One who walks the path of a lord could never choose an easy road. I knew I wasn’t wrong to entrust you with my fee—my fate."

Kosta’s brow twitched.

This top-tier waifu definitely had some… preferences. And not just about covert observation.

Ranni, too lost in thought, didn’t notice his reaction.

"I thought I’d journey into the night sky to find my purpose. But now, there’s no need," she declared with regal finality.

Her doll-body crumbled. Konstantin felt a soft weight settle on his shoulders.

Startled, he glanced to find the spectral girl clinging to him.

Apparently, she’d decided to temporarily abandon the puppet.

"For now, I have no living body," Ranni said in her deep voice, wrapping her arms around the Tarnished’s neck. "Nor do I have Melina’s unique form of existence. I’ve used vessels to interact with the world, but I need them no longer. I have a lord now."

It would be far easier to follow Konstantin this way—no need to waste energy managing a vessel. And it would let her save her strength, avoiding the need to sleep for a while.

Still, sooner or later, she would need a full living body. Before, there wasn’t much need for such measures—in fact, it would’ve just made her less mobile. But now…

Things had changed.

Offhandedly, Konstantin noticed that the ring he'd placed on her doll had transferred to the spectral girl—faintly radiating ghostly warmth.

He figured he could think about that later.

Instead, his hands lit with light. He turned, wrapping the surprised spirit girl in his arms like she was flesh and blood, and kissed her gently.

"We need to go," Kosta said calmly.

Now that the quest was complete, it was time to move on.

He couldn’t afford to sit still.

The lunar demigoddess, barely holding onto her connection to the Moon, was not expecting that. She said nothing—just dissolved into stardust.

Somewhere beyond the material plane, a loud, high-pitched, otherworldly sound rang out…

Kosta touched his shoulder, still sensing that his waifu hadn’t truly left. She had simply descended even deeper, wanting a moment to herself.

Out of the immaterial shimmered a glowing blue greatsword(3). It looked like Ranni had originally meant to present it with a bit more grace, but… something had clearly gone off-script.

“I’ll still need your help,” the man smiled, reaching toward the stream of grace.

He needed to convince Iji to go to Stormveil Castle, where the Black Knives wouldn’t be able to reach him. The fact that none of them had shown up so far was starting to make him suspicious.

Soon enough, those suspicions would either be confirmed or disproven.

After that came the matter of Blaidd. Konstantin was curious where he’d been all this time, but he trusted Melina and had no doubt the wolf was alright.

…Well, hoped, at least…

And then...

Kosta had a surprise planned for one of the top-tier waifus. If she didn’t want to face her mother herself, then he was willing to be the push—and the guarantee—that made it happen. Queen Rennala didn’t deserve her current fate, and he was prepared to go pretty far to help her, too. After all, for a lot of people, she was a waifu even greater than the rest of the waifus.

A smile crept back onto the Tarnished’s face.

Even if one of the best waifus isn’t exactly thrilled about the will of the “Lord.”

(1) More a reminder than a footnote: during Ranni’s questline, the player must descend into the Lake of Rot, where they’re given the unique opportunity to enter another location by falling off a cliff… in a coffin. That leads to the fight with Astel, Naturalborn of the Void.

(2) As mentioned before, the Russian localization of the game has some serious issues, often twisting or completely mangling the meaning of item descriptions and dialogue. Perhaps the worst offense is buried in Ranni’s ending. To be fair, even the English localization has its problems—but it’s nowhere near as bad as the Russian version. (Eng localization error: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS08xpL0m8U)

(3) At the end of Ranni’s quest, she gives the player the Dark Moon Greatsword—a sort of heirloom passed down by the Carian royal family to their chosen spouse.