Messmer's expression was extremely complicated, his face turning completely ashen.
His gaze kept shifting back and forth between Melina and Lucian.
After repeatedly confirming what he was seeing, Messmer had no choice but to accept reality:
Lucian really was a Tarnished.
A Tarnished who had stripped of the Grace of Gold .
A Tarnished without Grace.
Messmer had never imagined that a day like this would come.
As a steadfast believer in the Golden Order and a warrior who revered his mother, one of his duties was to bring death to those who were "lightless," consuming them with Messmer's Flame.
But now, his own sister had just told him that she had chosen an unblessed Tarnished as her lover?!
Looking at Melina's shy, blissful expression, Messmer felt as though the entire sky had collapsed on him.
Why had things turned out like this...
He had finally reunited with and recognized his sister after so many years apart, and his beloved sister had also found happiness of her own...
Two wonderful things had overlapped. It should have been a moment of happiness straight out of a dream...
But why...
Why had it turned out like this?
Messmer gritted his teeth and glared at Lucian, forcing each word out through his throat.
"Wouldst thou properly… introduce him unto me?"
"I confess, I am rather curious to know what, precisely, he hath done to leave my sister so utterly enamoured of him."
Hearing the emphasis in Messmer's voice, Lucian couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth.
He had almost forgotten. That Flame Knight he encountered in the Tower Settlement before seemed to have been one of his future brother-in-law's subordinates.
And they clearly weren't very friendly toward Tarnished, or rather, toward the "unblessed" as they called them.
Actually, Lucian could use the power of Grace to make the light of Grace shine in his eyes again.
If he did that, Messmer definitely wouldn't have any objections.
But even after remembering that possibility, Lucian felt there was no need.
He was a Tarnished. That was simply a fact. What was there to hide?
Besides, family conflicts like this were better resolved as early as possible. Otherwise, his married life would probably be rather unpleasant in the future.
Lucian certainly didn't want his brother-in-law whispering complaints about him behind his back every few days.
Better to settle the conflict once and for all.
Melina had also noticed the emphasis in Messmer's tone, but she wasn't surprised.
The siblings had once been very close. Since her brother knew nothing about Lucian, such a reaction upon their first meeting wasn't strange.
It seemed she would have to properly introduce Lucian and change her brother's impression of him.
Melina cleared her throat before speaking again.
"Lucian isn't an ordinary Tarnished. He's the Tarnished who is going to become Elden Lord."
"Outside the Land of Shadow, there are almost no opponents left who can compete with him."
"I don't think it'll be long before Lucian becomes Elden Lord and restores the Elden Ring."
Messmer froze before turning around and shouting loudly.
"What?!"
"But… he is naught but an unblessed Tarnished!"
Irina, who had been playing with the Winged Serpent, was startled by Messmer's sudden roar.
The Winged Serpent turned its head as well, silently exchanging glances with the others.
Messmer took a deep breath, trying to calm himself...
...He couldn't calm down at all!
If Lucian were merely Melina's lover, then so be it. Messmer wouldn't interfere with the two of them.
After all, love was an unpredictable thing. Even sworn enemies could eventually become husband and wife.
Melina had clearly made up her mind about Lucian. All Messmer could do was wish his sister happiness. He wouldn't interfere with their relationship.
But an unblessed Tarnished wanting to become Elden Lord was something Messmer could never simply accept.
Before Melina could answer Messmer's question, Lucian had already shaken his head and spoken first.
"So what?"
"What did the Tarnished ever do to you? You're discriminating against Tarnished."
Messmer glared viciously at Lucian.
"Mother would never entrust the mantle of Elden Lord unto an unblessed Tarnished!"
Melina pursed her lips and spoke helplessly.
"Brother... Mother's charge to me was precisely to help a Tarnished become Elden Lord."
"The warriors were Tarnished and exiled, waiting for the day they could return."
"They would fight, slaughter, and die upon the Lands Between after the Elden Ring was shattered, ultimately restoring the Elden Ring once more."
"And Lucian is the one chosen by Torrent. He is also the person I have chosen."
Messmer's eyes widened as he looked toward the Spectral Steed Whistle in Lucian's hand.
He knew very little about what had happened after the Land of Shadow was sealed away. All he had received were a few scraps of information brought by Miquella.
But being chosen by Torrent was proof enough that everything Melina said was true.
Melina continued.
"Throughout our journey, I gradually came to feel the strength, kindness, and determination within his heart."
"Along the road we traveled together, I gradually found myself unable to take my eyes away from him..."
But by this point, Messmer's mind had already gone completely blank.
Melina's voice seemed to be growing farther and farther away.
He no longer had the heart to listen.
Messmer's spine, which had bent for his entire life, finally snapped completely today.
Melina finished speaking, only to discover that Messmer was still silent.
After hearing her words again, Messmer could no longer maintain any semblance of composure. His expression became twisted.
Eventually, Messmer clutched his chest with one hand and staggered backward two steps, muttering in disbelief.
"Mother… thou truly didst entrust the mantle of Elden Lord…"
"To an unblessed Tarnished?"
The three most important women in Messmer's life were his mother, Queen Marika; his sister, Melina; and his consort, Rellana.
And now, both his mother and his sister had chosen an unblessed Tarnished.
Messmer covered his face with his slender hand, completely obscuring his expression.
"…It must not come to pass…"
"…How could an unblessed Tarnished ever become Elden Lord?"
"Unblessed… Tarnished…"
"Nay, thou canst not! Thou truly canst not!"
As he roared, fierce flames erupted from Messmer's palm.
He raised his head and stared directly at Lucian, advancing toward him one step at a time.
He knew this was his mother's decision.
But why?!
Why, why, why?!
Anyone could become Elden Lord.
It didn't have to be him.
But why did it have to be an unblessed Tarnished?!
"If thou deemest thyself worthy, then prove thy worth unto me!"
Melina was startled by Messmer's reaction and immediately jumped backward, positioning herself in front of Lucian.
Lucian reached out and patted Melina on the shoulder, giving her a confident smile.
"It's fine. We'll settle this with our strength."
"I'll hold back."
Lucian stepped past Melina and calmly faced Messmer.
"Since you want me to prove myself, then I'll prove it to you."
"I'll show you that strength is the reason one deserves to be lord!"
With the roar and fury surging through his heart, Messmer's footsteps grew faster and faster as he charged straight toward Lucian.
As he charged forward, black-red flames shaped like serpents ignited along Messmer's great spear, giving him an imposing aura.
Seeing that Messmer also wielded flames, Lucian smiled faintly.
Residual flames once again ignited across Lucian's body, and he summoned the Sword of Night and Flame.
However, Lucian did not allow the blade to ignite with the sun's scorching flames. He was afraid he might accidentally burn his brother-in-law to death.
The next moment, Messmer's flaming great spear came thrusting forward in a sudden assault, and the two divine weapons collided.
With exquisite precision, the flame-shaped great spear knocked the Sword of Night and Flame aside, its momentum carrying the attack straight toward Lucian.
Lucian's strength in his ordinary state was still somewhat inferior, but raw strength had never been where his advantage lay in the first place.
Lucian rapidly pulled back, but Messmer's great spear followed him like a shadow, stabbing forward with the speed of a striking serpent.
The black flames seemed almost alive, their tongues of fire constantly lashing toward Lucian.
The Winged Serpents also lunged from both sides at extremely tricky angles, restricting Lucian's movements.
The spearhead passed within inches of him several times, but Lucian nimbly avoided every thrust.
Even so, Lucian could tell that Messmer had no intention of attacking his vital points.
Naturally.
Messmer had no intention of taking Lucian's life either.
As his sister's beloved, all he wanted was to make Lucian abandon his overambitious dream of becoming Elden Lord.
The Ancient Dragon Communion Seal in Lucian's hand suddenly lit up, releasing its power together with the force of the storm.
Dark clouds gathered overhead, while red dragon lightning became the only source of light in the area.
Within a dragonstorm so violent that it was difficult even to remain standing, a tempest capable of shredding everything into scraps, Ancient Dragon Lightning Strike advanced alongside the storm, gradually devouring the ground beneath Messmer's feet.
Seeing a spell capable of changing the weather itself, Messmer grew wary and slowed his assault.
After understanding the spell's power, Messmer quickly found a way to deal with it.
Black-red serpentine flames gathered into a mass within Messmer's hand before crashing into the tornado and erupting violently.
The constantly surging flames exploded one after another, gradually extinguishing the storm and dragon lightning.
However, protected within the storm, Lucian had already prepared his next move.
Unlike warriors who simply relied on their blood boiling and fought until the very laws of the world were worn away, the fighting style of sorcerers and incantation users was to launch wave after wave of attacks until their enemies were completely overwhelmed.
Lucian swung the Sword of Night and Flame in his hand.
The glintstone embedded within it began to shine, and the magic he infused into the weapon instantly formed a magical field beneath his feet.
And that wasn't all.
Lucian also put to use a technique he hadn't employed in quite some time, one he had learned from Sellen.
Dual casting: Shattering Crystal and Crystal Torrent.
A large number of pure crystal fragments appeared before Lucian before shattering into countless tiny pieces.
The crystal shards erupted at close range, spreading out like buckshot and raining down upon Messmer from every direction.
At the same time, an irregular chunk of crystal floated into the air.
An immense number of crystals scattered from it with tremendous force, covering the entire area.
This was a spell only the Crystalians' Oracles could cast, named "Crystal Release" for its appearance.
With Lucian's current attributes, the destructive power of his sorceries was astonishing.
Messmer had only just broken through the storm and dragon lightning when he was immediately forced to face Crystalian sorcery exploding practically against his face.
Under such close-range bombardment, even Messmer was left in a miserable state for a moment.
Dense crystal fragments repeatedly struck his body, bursting into sprays of blood.
Messmer turned his spearhead and began spinning it rapidly.
Flames continuously poured from the great spear, sweeping across the crystals and blocking them before him.
The Winged Serpents also spewed flames from their mouths, melting the crystals that he couldn't completely block.
The Crystal Sun in the sky did not suppress Messmer for long.
Before long, it was pierced by a phantom great spear and shattered in midair.
Yet the moment Messmer dealt with the Crystal Release, Lucian had already closed the distance.
A gigantic dragon head materialized and lunged toward Messmer with its jaws wide open, while countless magical glintstone blades formed a neat circle around Lucian.
Messmer dodged the dragon's bite, but the circular formation of glintstone blades had already activated, firing continuously toward him.
Gradually, Lucian took complete control of the rhythm of the battle.
Messmer could only struggle to withstand the overwhelming barrage of attacks, leaving wounds of varying severity across his body.
Although those wounds were healing rapidly as well, being suppressed the entire time was obviously not a sustainable situation.
Once Messmer realized his predicament, he immediately made up his mind.
An increasingly terrifying force of flame gathered within his body, carrying with it a trace of the Flame Serpent's presence.
This was a portion of power drawn from the base of the Base Serpent (Abyssal Serpent), something Messmer normally refused to use.
The Winged Serpents worked in perfect harmony with him, helping maintain control over the power while preventing the Base Serpent's influence from breaking through.
Finally, the flames gathered completely without incident.
Messmer raised his head.
Violent flames erupted in every direction, instantly transforming the entire valley into a sea of fire.
Under the terrifying sweep of flames, every attack Lucian had released was erased in an instant, leaving nothing between the two of them.
After unleashing what was essentially a one-button screen clear, Messmer didn't hesitate for even a moment before charging forward again.
The lingering flames were swept up like pieces of cloth before gathering upon the tip of his spear, instantly transforming into a crimson beam that stabbed toward Lucian.
Meanwhile, remnants of crawling flames on the surrounding ground began condensing once more, causing countless phantom great spears to sprout throughout the area.
Lucian's expression was strangely pleased.
This time, he didn't dodge.
Messmer's eyebrow twitched, and he instinctively pulled back some of his strength.
But when the great spear slanted into Lucian's waist, Messmer suddenly understood why Lucian had behaved so strangely.
The pitch-black, scorching flames moved like living creatures, crawling continuously across Lucian's body.
Yet they were unable to inflict any substantial damage. Instead, they were gradually devoured by the residual flames surrounding him.
The phantom great spears formed from those flames were even more pathetic.
The instant they touched Lucian's body, they shattered and dissipated.
The very flames that carried the aura of the Base Serpent, flames that Messmer himself had to treat with caution, burned across Lucian's body with almost no effect whatsoever.
Lucian smiled faintly and reached out to push aside the great spear embedded in his waist.
The wound rapidly healed.
Although he rarely had any reason to make use of this particular aspect of his build, Lucian possessed the Sun's blessing.
And now, with a Great Rune that contained the Sun's very law, that blessing had been fully activated and restored to its complete state.
Lucian's fire damage negation was roughly ninety percent.
He casually dispelled the remaining flames and looked Messmer directly in the eye.
"Still want to fight? I'm ready whenever you are."
By now, both of them had gained a clear understanding of each other's strength.
And Lucian still hadn't used any of his truly devastating spells, such as the Comet spell released through the Sword of Night and Flame.
Messmer's golden eye silently stared at Lucian.
Eventually, he gave a cold snort and lowered his great spear.
By this point, Messmer had also calmed down.
In his heart, he had already acknowledged Lucian's strength.
Although he had deliberately avoided attacking Lucian's vital points, he certainly hadn't held back in terms of power.
For most of the battle, Lucian had remained firmly in control.
Despite Messmer's advantage in strength and speed, he had barely even been able to touch Lucian.
That alone said enough.
Furthermore, using the Serpent's vision earlier, he had seen Lucian in a completely different form.
In that state, Lucian's physical strength was certainly no weaker than his own.
It might even have surpassed him.
And most importantly...
That body had been almost completely unaffected by flames.
For Messmer, a warrior who wielded fire, that alone was enough to make him abandon any thought of continuing the fight.
Although he still had reservations about Lucian's identity, he had to admit that Melina had excellent taste.
Messmer took a deep breath and spoke.
"Thou art a warrior of exceptional skill."
"But as to whether thou truly possessest what is required to become Elden Lord… I shall reserve my judgment for now."
"…Come unto the Shadow Keep. There, we shall sit and speak at length."