"Gehrman has gone truly mad," Ki Song proclaimed.
The entire world had been thrown into chaos at the death of a Saint and the "attempted assasination" of Changing Star. The tides of war were now unstoppable and growing in enormity. The Vassals were all called to Ravenheart to not only prepare for the Domain War, but also to prepare for a new danger.
That of Gehrman.
"I can puppeteer him somewhat due to my implanting of Blood, but his Madness is able to fight me off occasionally. I have confined him to Godgrave, so he can still be of some use in clearing out the vile creatures of that land. After he carves a path for our conquering of the Domains there, I will personally eliminate him."
The emotions were running high as a mix of reactions ran through the gathered Saints. The last 24 hours had been an absolute rollercoaster. The death of their contemporary, Saint Ceres, the mess with Changing Star, their Monarch's recovery of her true body, and now this whole thing with Gehrman.
"I don't understand," Lonesome Howl shook her head. "Why would he do this?"
"He was in a fit of Madness, obviously," Silent Stalker said. Her voice was quiet, but it reached the whole room. "We knew this would be an issue, but we never thought that it would affect him out of battle. Taking him in was a massive risk, and though we are now facing the consequences, having him for a little while was still a net positive."
Some of the other Saints bristled at that. Many of them had worked or even fought with Ceres, saying that even with his death. Saying the Clan still gained more than they lost despite this, seemed too cold for many of them. Of course, that was just the type of person Silent Stalker was.
"I'm more interested in how he did it," Stalker said, looking at Ki Song.
Indeed, Gehrman had been in the Jade Palace, and somehow he still managed to pull off this stunt which occurred a few kilometers away.
"He appears to have kept in contact with the New Workshop. I am not sure how they did it, but it appears a weapon of great power has been made to kill each of us," the Raven Queen said somberly. "It can only be used by someone who is at least an Ascended, and it must have a heavy cost. I imagine their Essence reserves will be wholly drained, meaning that this will be a suicide mission for most of them if they try to go through with this."
The Saints all balked at that.
It was largely expected that he still kept in contact somewhat with his old home, but they hadn't thought it was to such a degree. Furthermore, his connection to that place was strong enough to get their members to effectively suicide bomb themselves for him.
"After all we've done for him," Saint Siord seethed. "My Queen, let me go and burn that place to the ground. That Citadel is rightfully yours anyway, and soon my daughter and her Cohort will return as Saints. If you will, they can take control of the ruins of that place in your name."
"If you try to do that, you'll die," Revel gave Siord a sidelong glance. Only one of us sisters can take on Honor Fell. Even then, we might fall to his blade.
"Not to mention the Master who rules the Citadel currently," Beastmaster said. "That guy is ridiculously powerful if he is prepared. A siege against New Yharnam would be a nightmare if he knows we're coming."
"And that's not even the main problem," Hel said. "It's a Government Citadel, if we take it, it will be seen as an attack on the neutral party. At that point, both the Government and the House of Night may take Valor's side."
Beastmaster nodded. She had been perhaps the most active in the Champions Crucible out of all the Song Saints as it was a great place to get new, powerful thralls. She also knew better than anyone the problems that would cause.
"It might have been manageable before if it was just the Government joining forces with Valor. However, Nightingale, Raised by Wolves, and Soul Reaper are all extraordinarily powerful. Like Honor Fell, they most likely have enough power to contend with us sisters even without a Divine Lineage."
It seemed that all the Princesses of Song were in agreement that going after the New Workshop was a bad idea. However, it was not their opinion that decided what happened.
"Mordret," Ki Song called out to the young man who stood in the back, arms crossed and face passive. "You will be taking the Nightgarden just as planned. Afterward, you should have enough power to defeat or hold off the Government Saints on your own, yes?"
The Prince of Nothing stared blankly at Ki Song, and then around the room. Everyone was waiting for him to respond. For the first time in a long time, he felt conflicted. Whatever answer he came to didn't matter though, he would respond to this question all the same.
"Naturally, I would be able to kill them all within a day so long as they do not run."
Some of the Vassals did not know the Prince of Nothing very well, so they were a bit skeptical that he could single handedly take out the Great Clan that had grown to prominence alongside their own.
It was like he had proclaimed he could kill everyone in the room so long as Ki Song wasn't there.
Those who knew him best were unfortunately quite confident that he could.
"We will not be taking any chances," Ki Song said, her eyes cold. "I mean to not only win this war, but to dominate it. That is the way of the Sovereign. So I promise you, my most beloved subjects, I will grant you victory so great that no harm may come to humanity every again."
…
Gehrman stood perfectly still.
He had to, lest he be burned to a crisp. The skies above Godgrave retained the immolating heavenly fire that still persisted even after their creator – the Sun God –had perished. The only reason this place was not totally inhospitable was the cloud cover. For some reason, the clouds which could be pushed by mundane winds were capable of blocking the instant death of the Sun God's light.
How that came to pass was simply beyond Gehrman's imagination.
Furthermore, a curious thing occurred when one stood totally still. The burning appeared to only affect things that moved, and so Gehrman awkwardly waited for the clouds to grant him cover.
As he did so, he pondered this place.
Godgrave would be the battleground of the Domain War that was now being prepared for. Last Gehrman heard, Valor had made demands to seize Silent Stalker and some random Master who were known for their archery. For they suspected that they may be the ones behind the assasination of Changing Star.
It was bullshit, but that didn't matter. When Ki Song responded with flat out refusal, and instead blaming Valor for launching the assasination of their own Saint Ceres, it became abundantly clear that the war would officially be declared by morning.
Despite the enormous armies numbering in the millions, each of the grunts Awakened themselves, Gehrman suspected that a good percentage, if not the majority of deaths would be due to this place, and not other humans.
Godgrave was not called a Death Zone for nothing. There were abundant amounts of Great Creatures, these ones much larger than average. Fortunately he had yet to sense any Tyrants. In fact, on the surface it appeared that only Beasts and Monsters lounged about. The real horrors were underneath.
"The Hollows" were the hollow parts of the country-sized skeletons bones. Though the identity of the dead god was unknown (though it was likely not one of the main 7) it held truly terrifying power. Perhaps it was not even a god, but a creature from the Void.
After all, the thing was technically imprisoned, not killed. The Sun God's sky of flame seemed to have been made to keep this thing from regenerating.
Indeed, what appeared to be red foliage bloomed rapidly within the bones of the creature. It reinforced its insides, and occasionally expanded outward. At times, large forests could form, but they would all be decimated by the Sun God's light before it could spread.
The Hollows were therefore a veritable jungle of death. Not only did the extreme growth of the strange life spread at a rapid rate, but Nightmare Creatures did the same. Gehrman could already tell there was a brutal ecosystem of death between abominations within the bones.
With no humans to feast on, they turned on each other. The cutthroat environment meant that the thousands that were born any given day would almost all perish within hours. One that survived would rapidly climb in Rank, meaning there were many, many Corrupted creatures. All the Fallen or weaker Nightmare Creatures would be instantly weeded out, after all.
Once one of them became Great, they either migrated up to the surface and learned how to survive the light by stopping themselves, or they would delve deeper.
Due to the size of the bones, there was a ridiculously sheer drop in some areas. Gehrman struggled to see the bottom of the bones even with his senses spanning several kilometers. What's more, that's where the truly outrageous creatures lived.
The Tyrants, Terrors, Titans, and of course, a few Cursed.
Gehrman had sensed a few of their presences, though he did not deign to actually view them. Their Will was on another level though, as befitting a fallen deity. It was something even a Supreme would have to kneel to.
They were so absurd, in fact, that Gehrman suspected that the gap between the 5th and 6th Rank was the most drastic. It made sense, there was a difference in godhood, after all.
At that moment the clouds finally moved in, and Gehrman was free to move again.
"You did something rather drastic, it seems," Mordret's cool voice suddenly interrupted his peace.
Gehrman wasn't sure where he appeared from, but the man was here nonetheless. His answer came in the one standing beside him.
With the cloud cover, a few sparse shadows had appeared, and thus the shadow creature could bring him and Mordret to Gehrman's location. He hadn't told them to do this, but he had been waiting for them.
Before starting though, he realized something.
"Wait, if you were able to transport Mordy, does that mean you've become a Titan?" Though teleporting through shadows was likely different than bringing someone with them as they moved between realms, he would be surprised if the requirement of equal or less that Rank and Class were not applicable.
"No, I'm about 450 Shadow Fragments away. I was able to bring him since this is just a vessel, not his whole true self."
Gehrman nodded. "Probably for the best, this place is a hell hole."
"So it seems," Mordret took a broad look around. "Yet, I can't help but think that if you were serious about still helping out Ki Song, you would be below in the Hollows."
Gehrman was silent and averted his gaze slightly. Then he let out a sigh. "I'm really pissed off that things turned out like this. It was such a drastic change too, it honestly caught me off guard."
"Well, she brought it on herself. She hadn't had any new Citadels in years, plus a bunch of Saints being born at the moment. The shift in her Domain probably just pushed her over the edge," Despite Sunny's words, he did not at all sound sad about this turn of events.
After all, it solidified the two of them as true and total allies. Mordret on the other hand, was more of a toss up. He knew that if it came down to it, the Prince of Nothing would prefer to be on Gehrman and the New Workshop's side simply due to personal inclination. However, he would likely abandon all of them if it meant he could kill his father.
The next words out his mouth were quite in line with this.
"So, now that you are on the outs with Song, I will need something rather hefty if you wish me to betray them alongside you. I do not believe you can offer me anything of the sort, but I figure as a professional courtesy I would ask."
Gehrman had been thinking about this for a while, but he hadn't come up with much.
"She ordered you to take the Night Garden?" Gehrman asked.
"Naturally. As well as all the other Citadels in the Storm Sea. All those powerful Saints ripe for the taking. Not only that, I will finally get to indulge a bit. I trust you have a suitable counter offer."
"...not this time,"
Gehrman dropped into a crouch, his shoulders hunched.
"I'd prefer if you just take out the Saints who are tethered to the Citadels and not anyone else. In exchange, I can offer you entry back into my Soul. I can make Memories now with the materials from the Soul Dungeon, another Supreme Memory would be nice to have, no?"
Mordret studied him, looking down at Gehrman with a bit of disappointment.
"You're not even trying to make me defect? What's with the weak offer?"
"I'll make you a better one some day, one that you can't refuse. If I'm being honest though, unless I am 100% certain that you will not back stab, I can't in my right mind become true allies with you."
He frowned, or at least, he performed a frown.
"Ah, I thought we were closer than that. Still, you see the truth of things. Even I don't know what actions I may take in the future. So many variables, its impossible to say for sure when the right opportunity arises."
He waved his hand.
"However, I'd be fine with jumping back into that nightmare of a Soul to get a few Supreme Memories. I'll let the majority of the House of Night's Saints live…perhaps I'll play along as ship captain for a while as well. It might be best to keep the capturing of a Great Citadel a secret. For you, I'll help those people living in the Night Garden live somewhat stable lives during this whole sham of a war."
"I appreciate it," Gehrman looked up and smiled at him. Despite everything, the psychopath had come a long way. "As a side note, if you can, dispatch a few of your Reflections to the Hollows, especially the one that can Reflect the Winter Beast. It will be a phenomenal place for growth, I believe. So long as you stay on top of things, it might be a better farm than South America."
"Noted," Mordret said. "I imagine we'll have to abandon that front. It appears that the truly powerful lieutenants of the Cursed beings are remaining at their gods side, so we shouldn't have to fear the birth of a new Cursed.
"I'll be sticking around there for a little while as I finish up collecting the last Shadow Fragments," Sunny said. "There should be nothing to worry about, but I'll monitor it all the same. I'll also be making a move to insert myself in the war. There won't be any human-on-human combat until the Solstice in a month. I'll move my Citadel here and save a few Sleepers, send them to both sides, and get the word out that I am up for hire."
Gehrman raised an eyebrow.
"You have a Citadel? Also, when the hell did Citadels start being able to move? I guess that the Ivory Tower and the Nightgarden can, but those are Great Citadels."
"Mine isn't a Great one, but it is special. It's one of the oldest things in existence, after all. I am currently figuring out the Sorcery on how to move it, so things should go fairly smoothly."
Both Mordert and Gehrman looked at Sunny with a dubious expression, but he ignored them.
"I won't have as much time to prepare as I'd like. I'm not certain how I'll go about ingratiating myself to Neph and the others again, or if I'll even try to. It might just be best to keep my distance."
"Perhaps," Gehrman stood to full height and did a little hop. "Though, if you are going to work on plotting a double coupe together, you may want to at least get a little familiar."
Sunny said nothing. Turning his head, he looked off in the distance toward Bastion. Or rather, toward the friends who had forgotten him.
That look in his eye…is he…Pineing??? I guess he has the hots for one of them. Ugh, that makes them forgetting him even worse. How depressing.
"So, that just leaves you. How do you plan to use these days of war?" Mordret asked.
This was another thing Gehrman had been thinking about a lot. Fortunately, he did have an answer this time.
"I'm going to be doing something stupid." He let out a breath. "I don't even know for sure if it will work, but at least it will be good practice with Madness."
Gehrman scratched the back of his head.
"I'll be drowning myself in Madness and try to accelerate the growth of the budding 4th Nightmare Seed inside me."