Elden Ring: With God Chapter 356: Nanaya's Letter

As they watched the horned butler's soul lt away in the Frenzied Fla, returning to primal chaos, a heavy silence fell over the group.

A soul was supposed to be eternal.

Even in death, it would follow one of several paths to its proper place.

Whether it was returning to the Erdtree, being housed within the horns of one's kin, or the more ancient rite of spirit-fla burial.

The souls of the dead either journeyed to the next life or lingered in the Lands Between, attached to so object.

It was just that the Lands Between were in such disarray now that none of these paths had been fully restored.

But the Frenzied Fla could lt a soul away completely.

It was like flipping the ga board and refusing to play by the rules.

For this reason, all creatures with souls ought to fear the Frenzied Fla, and every dynasty had deed it taboo.

This was true for the Golden Dynasty, which managed the souls' return to the Erdtree and sought eternal life.

It was also true for the Hornsent, who revered the power of their god and yearned for the soul's immortality.

That even the eternal soul could not withstand the Frenzied Fla, that it would lt into nothingness—this was why the Hornsent people loathed it.

Bai Shi shook his head, finding their fate rather tragic.

Clearly, what happened at Middla's manor was another classic case of playing with fire and getting burned.

For so unknown reason, Middla had co into contact with the Frenzied Fla.

From the horned man's soul a mont ago, it was clear that Middla had been aware of the danger and terror of the Frenzied Fla.

While sealed away, he even retained enough reason to warn others against embracing madness, against touching the fla.

And yet this sage, who still possessed a shred of sanity now, had in the past known the Frenzied Fla was forbidden and chose not to stop...

Or perhaps, by then, he could no longer stop himself.

In the end, Middla beca the Lord of Frenzied Fla, causing all the tragedy that followed.

Irena stared blankly at the spot where the horned man's soul had vanished, covering her mouth as she murmured:

"How could this be...?"

"Without even realizing it, everyone in the manor turned into monsters..."

Seeing Irena's bewildered expression, Bai Shi began to explain.

"That is the terror of the Frenzied Fla."

"When one is infected, the first thing to be burned away are the eyes."

"Under the fla's influence, the eyeballs rot, a symptom accompanied by maddening, excruciating pain."

"However, once the eyes are completely lted by the Frenzied Fla, bursting and erupting with yellow embers..."

"...those patients in the late stages of the affliction beco calm."

Recalling the cases he had taken in from Limgrave, Bai Shi continued:

"The Frenzied Fla lts the eyes to bring peace to the mind—this is the light of salvation."

"That is what the patients whose eyes have been completely possessed by the Frenzied Fla believe."

At this thought, Bai Shi couldn't help but spare another glance at Irena.

If he hadn't saved her back on the Weeping Peninsula, she likely would have already started down the path of Frenzied Fla.

He never imagined that she would now be on a completely opposite path.

Hyetta, the witch of Frenzied Fla who sought the distant light, and Irena, the magical girl striving to seal it away. It was truly a twist of fate.

Perhaps this was just another manifestation of the duality that was ubiquitous in the Lands Between.

The Frenzied Fla would erode its host, driving them ever deeper into forbidden territory. That much was obvious.

Upon becoming Hyetta, she would be lured by the false, distant light fabricated by the Frenzied Fla, setting her on the path of a fla maiden.

Yet as Hyetta, she was like a blank slate, and should not have harbored the kind of despair that would lead one to the Frenzied Fla.

There was no salvation born from despair; it was simply that the Frenzied Fla needed a maiden to guide its king.

Coupled with Shabriri's proselytizing, it was proof enough that the Frenzied Fla actively seduced and deceived to spread its influence.

Perhaps that was what happened to the servants in this manor.

Once they were completely infected, they even forgot their painful past.

Bai Shi scanned the desolate manor and said:

"...All began with the Great One. And from the one, distinction."

"Once distinction arose, life was born, and with it, a mind. Thus ca disparity and difference."

"Yet the Frenzied Fla deems this a 'mistake,' and desires to lt all back into the Great One."

Bai Shi took a deep breath.

To return to the One. It might sound appealing.

Like the Human Instruntality Project from a certain world next door, where nothing would ever separate people again.

But Bai Shi could not accept such a world.

"It is precisely because disparity and difference were born that 'people' can truly live in this 'mistaken' world."

"To lt away lives full of aning, to return the world to chaos..."

"I will never allow such a thing to happen. I will never allow It to deny the very aning of life's existence."

Lilianna nodded in earnest agreent.

"That's right!"

"The Frenzied Fla is the enemy of life, you must never forget that!"

Irena still couldn't fully grasp the aning behind Bai Shi's words, but she committed them to mory and nodded silently.

Just then, lina, who had been listening quietly, pointed to a spot in the manor's grand hall.

"There is sothing strange over there."

"There might be a space behind it."

Everyone turned to look.

It was an enormous tapestry that took up nearly the entire wall.

The image depicted was that of a beautiful manor, vibrant and surrounded by flowers.

Naturally, this was a scene of the valley before the outbreak of the Frenzied Fla.

Bai Shi reached out a hand toward the tapestry depicting the beautiful manor.

As his fingertips touched the fabric, the image shimred into illusion, revealing a passageway behind it.

Seeing the illusion broken, lina gently shook her head.

"Such a beautiful scene, yet it is an illusion."

"Is it ant to be a taphor for sothing?"

"It's just like the beautiful visions seen by the victims of the Frenzied Fla."

Glancing at a large, sealed door nearby, Bai Shi stepped into the passage behind the tapestry.

He had only intended to take a look, but since there was a path here, he decided he might as well take it.

The mont he stepped inside, Bai Shi saw several inquisitors already in a battle stance, blocking the passage behind the tapestry.

Seeing an outsider enter, the inquisitors all raised their candlesticks, firing arcs of golden light.

Bai Shi shrugged at the sight of the ambushers.

He had to admit, the commotion he’d made outside was a bit loud, a little disruptive to the neighbors.

But who gave them permission to block his path?

Bai Shi extended a hand, from which two completely different kinds of light blood.

A field of pale green, Thops's barrier, materialized before him, deflecting the golden arcs.

anwhile, a purple laser began to gather and concentrate in his palm.

The next mont, a destructive ray designed exclusively for the Hornsent people erupted, sweeping through the passage in a dense barrage.

These inquisitors were clearly no match for the elder inquisitor from before, and the narrow confines of the corridor made it impossible for them to dodge.

Under the blanket of destructive rays, every last inquisitor was struck.

The parts of their bodies that were hit imdiately began to disintegrate, a process that no healing incantation could reverse.

It was over in an instant, their screams vanishing as quickly as they began.

Ever since he developed this Lifeform Disintegration Ray, dealing with the Hornsent people had beco remarkably efficient and swift.

Lowering his hand, Bai Shi walked silently deeper into the manor. Venturing inside, Bai Shi was surprised to discover that the place was filled with books.

The walkways on either side of the corridors had nothing but bookshelves.

The rooms themselves were exactly the sa.

Unless the owner's collection was simply too vast to be contained, a situation like this would never arise.

Unfortunately, the inquisitors here clearly had no respect for books.

Tos had been knocked off the shelves and lay scattered on the floor, trampled to pieces.

Just as Bai Shi was marveling at the sheer volu of the collection while lanting its condition, two familiar figures appeared at the doorway of a room.

Two imposing Hornsent warriors, one in front of the other, raised their weapons and charged toward the group.

Unlike the inquisitors from before, both of these Hornsent warriors were spirits and couldn't be instantly destroyed by the Lifeform Disintegration Ray.

Without needing a word of prompting, lina struck even before Bai Shi could react, having spotted the enemy first.

As she swept past one of the Hornsent warriors, her Blade of Calling darted toward its neck.

The blade's edge plunged into the spirit with precision and grace, piercing straight through its body.

The spectral form instantly disintegrated, dissolving into motes of primal magical light.

The other Hornsent warrior paid no mind to its vanished comrade, its eyes fixed solely on its designated target: Bai Shi.

Bai Shi smiled faintly and charged forward to et the oncoming Hornsent warrior.

The warrior had just begun to swing the great curved sword in its hands when it found its head seized in Bai Shi's grip.

Before it could react, Bai Shi had it by the head and sent it flying back the way it ca.

Its spine had already snapped backward from the force of the impact long before its head hit the wall and dissipated into motes of magic.

After casually dispatching an inquisitor who was hiding nearby summoning the spirits, Bai Shi led the others deeper into the manor.

Before long, the manor's true library was revealed to them.

Bookshelves several ters high filled the room, and the collection was so dense that books were piled into 'hills' on the floor.

Looking at the massive library, Bai Shi felt another pang of regret.

Though he wouldn't study these ancient texts himself, their value was undeniable.

Besides, professional matters could be left to the professionals; all he needed was for them to report their findings to him in the end.

Bai Shi clicked his tongue, unable to hold back a comnt.

"There are probably more books here than in all of Stormveil Castle combined."

"What a pity they're all unreadable now."

"Otherwise, this manor would still be of considerable use."

Normally, a private residence like this would be lucky to have a few studies.

Even a larger one would amount to nothing more than a small library.

But looking at the books that were practically overflowing from the shelves, one could easily mistake this for a major library.

There were no enemies here. They had probably all mobilized together upon hearing the commotion earlier, only to be mostly wiped out by Bai Shi.

Suddenly, Bai Shi heard a voice from the second floor:

"...Stop, I've had enough..."

"Aren't we all kin? Then why are you so cruel...?"

"What did Lord Middla do wrong?"

Bai Shi looked up to see a white spirit, head in its hands, weeping, seemingly trapped in the agony of its final monts.

From the words of these Hornsent people, one could undoubtedly hear the respect they held for Middla.

It was not born of power, but ca from the heart.

Otherwise, they would not have defended him with such words even after being tortured.

"Ah! I think I sense the presence of another Lord of Frenzied Fla..."

"No, wait, that's not it. It's a very strange aura."

Lilianna suddenly spoke up, but then imdiately fell into deep thought.

The next mont, her figure vanished.

A short while later, she reappeared beside them and said:

"I think I've found sothing—and soone—related to the Lord of Frenzied Fla."

"Over here—"

The group exchanged glances and followed Lilianna to the place where she had found the anomaly.

It appeared to be a small study.

Bai Shi looked toward the source of the Frenzied Fla's aura.

There, slumped in a chair, was the desiccated, mummified corpse of a woman.

In her arms, she gently cradled a single vertebra, upon which flickered a faint ember of the Frenzied Fla.

This vertebra was what had made Lilianna mistake it for the Lord of Frenzied Fla's presence.

Ignoring the frenzied vertebra for a mont, Bai Shi turned his attention to the desk beside the corpse.

Because there, he saw a letter.

'Nanaya's Letter'.

The na sounded familiar to Bai Shi.

Wasn't that the na of Middla's wife, the lady of the manor, whom the spirit had ntioned?

His curiosity about the truth piqued, Bai Shi opened the letter:

——

To you who may one day co upon this.

My na is Nanaya, wife of Lord Middla.

Much ti has passed since the inquisitors purged our ho.

Fearing they might stir my Lord Middla's heart, I was allowed to live, though I must remain here in confinent.

Behind this wall is the lord I so deeply love.

Though only a wall separates us, I cannot see him. I can only silently endure the cries of his eternal penance.

My king, Lord Middla...

What a rciful king, who would not touch madness.

I cannot describe the state of mind in which I write this letter.

Is it anguish, despair, or is it a joy sprouting from the depths of my heart?

This manor is shrouded in despair, consud by the Frenzied Fla.

And as I look back on all that has passed, I am horrified to realize that I am the source of all this wickedness...

——

Reading this, Bai Shi's expression changed.

What was this?

Nanaya was the culprit behind it all?

Bai Shi imdiately read on.

——

I was once with child, and I should have borne a son for my lord.

But the blessed misbegotten horns upon my infant son took my life during childbirth.

And yet, I who should have died, lived again.

Gradually, I ca to realize that another '' existed within my body.

Was it ? Or was it sothing not ?

I could not tell...

But I had survived, and I could continue to spend the rest of my days with my king.

—At the ti, I was so imrsed in such blind happiness that I allowed my king to suffer so terribly.

This is a pain I can never forgive.

To you who have co after.

If you are fortunate enough to read this letter, please, give the candlelight in my arms to Lord Middla.

For it is the king's light of hope.

My king, you need not endure any longer.