[X] Let her rot
They brought this upon themselves. Let them rot.
They brought this upon themselves. Let them rot.
Dearth of Gold (Elden Ring X Fairy Tail)
- Thread starter Naron
- Start date
- Crossover
03. A Middle Ground
- Location
- Earth
[] Ease her pain
The blade lowers. Malenia hesitates.
Perhaps, she reasons, there might be another way? Miquella found a method to ease the Rot's influence after all. Now, so far away from the original god of Rot and with her new control, Malenia may be able to do something.
She takes a knee, her free hand grasping the dying woman. Sherry heaves again, rasps noises that do not quite form words. But she falls quiet when her forehead touches Malenia's.
She does not quite know what she is looking for. At first she feels out the Rot spreading uncontrollably in Sherry's body. Then she imposes her own nature upon it, for she is its sovereign. It resists as it always has, of course, but then some of it gives. The writhing growth relents, becoming not quite dormant but less vicious.
Sherry's breathing stabilises as Malenia works. She stops crying blood and her skin no longer peels off. Shudders of pain no longer wrack her body. When she is placed back on the ground, her eyes are clear again.
Malenia stands to study her handiwork, absently wiping specks of blood off her fingers with a handkerchief. Her control definitely increased, but it is not perfect. Be it the distant god's nature reaching this far or that just being inherent to the Rot itself. Perhaps these two are one and the same. But once the Rot settles, it can not be removed without slaying its host.
"What did you do?" Lyon demands to know into the heavy silence. All eyes are on Sherry and Malenia, she notices. Nobody dared another cheap shot while she was busy.
"I made the attempt to rein in the Rot, quite successfully at that. She is not contagious to touch anymore, although I recommend you avoid any and all of her bodily fluids."
Though she speaks to Lyon, her gaze rests on Sherry, who stares up at her with wide and glistening eyes. The younger woman has yet to rise, sitting still except for the occasional shiver.
"Were the circumstances as they were in the past, you could not expect to see another summer. Scarlet Rot can not be cured by any means known to me and mine. The alterations I made will buy you time if nothing else. They should have lessened the pain as well. Although, make no mistake, you are still rotting."
Sherry cries. Tears of water and salt run down her face on crimson trails. Malenia remains matter-of-fact throughout, uncaring for her emotional outburst.
"Why did you even help?" Yuka interjects in the following pause. He seems wary, attention focussed on Malenia. "You wanted to kill us all a few minutes ago."
Despite his attempt to appear unmoved, she can tell that he shakes once her gaze shifts to him. Lyon carefully wipes Sherry's tears away without touching her in the meantime.
"Slaying a foe is not the same as inflicting Scarlet Rot on them. The result may be equal, but I take no joy in needless suffering. Ordinarily, the only mercy she could have received after infection was a swift death."
All three of them flinch at the reminder. Malenia is not sure if they realise how close she was to deliver this mercy herself. She does not quite care, either.
"Yet I am aware all life desires to keep on living. With your surrender, you took away any need to slay the rest of you."
She is not quite comfortable saying out loud that this was but a gamble. Doing so might just jeopardise the uneasy peace. What is more, even Malenia can not fully tell why she figured there was another way. A gut feeling is difficult to put into words.
Yuka stares at her a moment longer, likely searching for a lie. Yet he knows as well as she that she has no need for a surprise attack.
Then Sherry coughs and spits out a bloody glob; it is tissue as much as liquid, writhing on the ground. A crimson flower blossoms from it within seconds. Everyone else stares at the hand-sized bulb, clearly confused. Malenia quashes it under her prosthetic foot.
"You have three days and three nights to leave this island."
She leaves with those words. Neither Lyon nor Yuka hold her back. The old-seeming man, Zalty, is nowhere to be seen.
She could not quite quench her curiousity about how this dome came to be, but that is fine; it clearly related to breaking Iced Shell. Overall, Malenia is content with her solution. It only required a single death and a delayed one.
The villagers take learning of what happened with worry, then relief. They easily believe her that it is resolved. At the same time, Malenia gets the feeling that there is something more afoot still; people walk around aimlessly at times, staring into empty air as if far away. There is no rhyme or reason to who is affected by this, nor how long it lasts.
She stays another three days to ensure Lyon and his followers leave as she demanded. The time is spent meditating on her new control over the Rot, though she learns nothing quite new.
Thankfully, Lyon manages to follow her demand. He leaves Deliora behind, though. Combing through the entire area reveals only signs of recent habitation, but no living soul beside the imprisoned demon. A haphazard grave was erected on top of the hill, dug right into the stone. Toby was put to rest right there, a final honour for one who had none.
With their departure confirmed, Malenia returns to the demon village to discuss what to do with Deliora. Only when she arrives, the entire place has an air of mourning to it.
Just about everyone is either in some stage of grief or stares into the distance. There are few exceptions, even the elder is distraught. And what is more, all of them bear the full forms of demons despite the gleaming sunlight.
Seeing all this, Malenia spends that night at the beach so they can mourn in peace. Her questions will be answered before long either way.
She returns at noon the next day. The overall mood remains morose, but people are no longer lost in their grief. Malenia returns subdued greetings on her way to the elder, with people still in the form of demons. It seems Lyon's comment that they were demons was indeed true.
"You no longer hide yourself," she greets the elder in front of his hut. His brow twitches up in confusion, but he understands when she nods at him. A mirthless chuckle is the answer.
"We never did," he grouses. "No, that curse did not turn us into demons. It made us forget we always were. We, we killed our own for nothing."
He slumps saying it, finally explaining why everyone was so morose. Even Malenia inclines her head in sympathy; death without meaning always weighs the heaviest.
"Do you wish those responsible brought to justice?"
The elder shakes his head slowly, still not looking at anything but the ground. "What would that get us? It won't bring anyone back."
Malenia does not quite agree, but she holds her tongue. This is not her choice to make, nor does she care enough to push him. So instead she changes the subject toward something more productive: "You and yours seem nothing like Deliora. The demon within the caves."
"Hm?"
After a bit of elaboration, the elder insists on seeing Deliora for himself. Several other villagers come along, but not one of them seems happy when they arrive. Especially the elder, who spits out and stomps on the ground.
"Bah, of course! That thing's not even a real demon, it's something from the book of Zeref! They just call themselves demons and give our kind a bad name!"
The reaction is a little extreme, though the angry muttering around them only underlines his point. Malenia glances between them, quietly acknowledging that the difference is stark. Even if one ignores the obvious divergence in height, the people here seem overall mild in temper.
"The book of Zeref?" she prods, curious whether this is something important. The elder nods grudgingly and turns away from Deliora.
"Yes. The big book where historians keep all of Zeref's crimes. I hear it's still growing bigger, even though he's hundreds of years dead! They call him the Black Wizard for a reason, they do!"
Malenia simply inclines her head, feigning understanding. She gets the gist of it either way. A scholar and mage turned bad is always a force to be reckoned with. Especially if the beast whose devastation she saw from Ul's memories is just one of his creations.
"Shall I dispose of Deliora, then?"
"Hrm?"
With how he looks at her in confusion, Malenia elaborates: "I should be able to deposit him somewhere in the ocean. Iced Shell will last at least another hundred years, he may well drown once his prison does give."
The elder hesitates, glancing between them. The other villagers shuffle a little awkwardly at the side. But then he shakes his head at her.
"No, there is no need. You already did more than enough for us, Malenia. We will figure out what to do with this sooner or later. Hell, maybe the Magic Council will pay us for keeping an eye on it far away from everyone!"
He laughs, clearly in an attempt to lighten the mood. Malenia does not react beyond inclining her head; she can see the wisdom in both sides, though the existence of a council of mages is also filed away.
She asks some innocuous questions on the way back to glean more information. It seems that this Magic Council regulates which missions are allowed to be posted to the wizard guilds. They control magical research and pursue crimes committed with magic, though they are beholden to the king of Fiore.
Now Malenia also knows which realm she is in, although Galuna is the furthest isle still within its borders.
"Now for the reward," the elder says once they are back. His mood lifted some over the conversation and he quickly goes rifling through his drawers. "Let's see here, where did it go. Ah! There!"
He then presents a golden key. Unalloyed gold at that, if she sees that right. An unfamiliar symbol is worked into the handle. Malenia takes it carefully to examine while a stack of uniform papers follows, each carrying a number on it.
"What are these?"
"That here's a Gate Key," the elder explains without hesitation. "It's a magic item we got our hands on some time ago. Can't use it ourselves, but it's incredibly rare. Especially the golden ones, I hear. Even if you can't use it yourself, a wizard who uses them will pay a pretty penny to take it off your hands. And two hundred thousand Jewel on top because I get the feeling you don't have any money on you."
Malenia studies the papers again, trying to discern how they are valuable. Even when called 'Jewels', they certainly are not. Just plain paper that she could easily tear up. She did not expect Runes in this strange world, but this is perhaps the strangest part she has seen so far.
"How is their value enforced?" she asks the elder, who scratches his head in response.
"Can't say I'm an expert, but the king has a big vault with the actual jewels somewhere. So the money's a stand-in for the real deal, much easier than bartering and lighter to carry, too."
Malenia nods. It is true enough that carrying a lot of gemstones would be troublesome. She grasps the bundle of paper and places it in a pocket on her coat, same as the key.
"I am not familiar with the value of these 'Jewels'. Will you explain how much this is worth?"
"Ah, sure. You must've come from really far away if you've never seen Jewels."
Malenia does not respond to the leading comment and he does not ask further questions. The way he explains it, she holds onto enough money to pay for food and shelter for about two months. The Gate key is worth several times that, too. He admits a little bashfully that the officially posted job had seven million offered, but he can not just give her that because the Magic Council would suspect foul play.
"That is fine," Malenia assures him. "This much is plenty. I am not a proponent of amassing material wealth. It is transient."
The way he relaxes with a sigh of relief makes her wonder. Did he expect her to take offense, or perhaps to claim he scammed her? Then again, she realises, how would an isolated village possess seven million Jewel anyway? He may well be glad that he does not have to somehow pay out money he does not own.
"What are your plans going forward?" the elder asks of her then. "Do you still want that boat ride, or will you fly?"
"My wings shall carry me forward. I will leave tomorrow, at first light."
It is not a difficult choice to make, though she keeps quiet on her plans or lack thereof. Malenia has no set goal at the moment, so she will be simply adrift and see where the wind carries her. If Miquella is in this world, then she will not find him by being static. If he is not, then she may as well travel.
The elder just nods, humming thoughtfully. "Alright then. Fiore, I take it? That would be the closest land, though I guess your wings could get you further."
Now he has her at a disadvantage again, not that he knows it. Malenia circumvents admitting to it by asking for a map. It is only an implicit admission, seeing how easily one can lose track of one's current position.
It is also further confirmation of what she already knew since her ascent to outer space: this world is not hers. The Lands Between are nowhere to be seen on the continent of Ishgar.
"The way I see it," the elder explains as they study the map, "your best bets are Fiore, Ka-Elm, and Seven."
He points at Fiore, which lies to the northwest. Then Seven further to the north, and Ka-Elm straight west. "Fiore is way ahead on magical research and all the scholarly things. Ka-Elm is a trade hub with all the island nations, and Seven is the gateway to Alvarez if you want to cross the ocean."
"What of these here?" Malenia asks in turn. "Minstrel and Bosco?"
Minstrel is a sizable country to the south and east of Galuna, about as far away from the island as Fiore. Bosco is Fiore's eastern neighbour, placed between her current position and Seven. Both seem like decent options, but the elder quickly shakes his head.
"Bosco is a rough place. We heard some bad stories about there, slavery and all that. Minstrel would be good, but there is a civil war going on right now. The second prince challenged the crown prince or something like that. We row over there to trade sometimes, no good news for over a year now."
He pauses with a look to Malenia, calculating.
"Though I guess a strong lady like you could earn a pretty penny as a mercenary over there."
Malenia nods without giving an indicator of her thoughts. Mercenary work does not appeal much, though the gratitude of a king may come in handy. Overall, she agrees with the initial assessment: Ka-Elm and Seven seem both suited to travel, though Fiore may be her best bet to learn more about this world.
Where will Malenia go? Consider your options before casting a vote.
[] Fiore
[] Ka-Elm
[] Seven
Here is the map of Ishgar I use for reference. It is not incredibly relevant, but a visual ought to help get across what is where.
[X] Seven
Because it gets old that it's always Fiore as the setting of the story. Such potential gold mine to explore the continent of Ishgar with several countries yet the story revolves around Fiore alone.
The closest thing was Kingdom of Stella in Dragon Cry movie.
The Principality of Veronica does not count because it's within Fiore as shown to be created from the ruins of Fire Village by the invaders that took out Eclair's people and claimed the half of the Phoenix Stone in Priestess of the Phoenix movie.
Because it gets old that it's always Fiore as the setting of the story. Such potential gold mine to explore the continent of Ishgar with several countries yet the story revolves around Fiore alone.
The closest thing was Kingdom of Stella in Dragon Cry movie.
The Principality of Veronica does not count because it's within Fiore as shown to be created from the ruins of Fire Village by the invaders that took out Eclair's people and claimed the half of the Phoenix Stone in Priestess of the Phoenix movie.
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- Location
- Earth
Those are words.
Knowing these words now, I should definitely preface that I have not seen either of those movies. Or any FT movies at all. I work solely off of the mainline series, the anime in particular. And excluding the filler content.
Oh okay then, I look forward to how the countries of Ishgar were portrayed and world built when Malenia explore there.
Also I made a mistake. It's Kingdom of Stella I was referring to. My bad.
So that means Zentopia Church will be tackled on? That'd be interesting as there's little backstory about that organization aside being Fiore's autonomous religion from Magic Council jurisdiction.
The Alvarez Empire.
Currently, it is run by Spriggan 12 (or at least August, Invel Yura and probably Wall Eehto in his law enforcement judge personality mode as others do what they like) while Zeref is hanging around at Tenrou Island.
- Location
- Earth
I believe I just said that the filler content is excluded from what I work with?
That aside, what a quick wiki-dive tells me about this religion sounds kind of dumb; their own military force? Immunity to Fiore's and the Magic Council's jurisdiction? That would require some notable adjustments to begin with.
[X] Seven
Fair enough. Filler stuff excluded. Some of them were weird anyway.
Also yeah, especially with the Legion Corps which is actually composed of a small elite squad of several Mage warriors. Even the English dub name of Legion Platoon was ridiculous as well.
Corps - composed of either 20,000 and 45,000 troops.
Platoon - composed of 20-50 troops
JmonsterNEO
Spouter of nonsense
- Location
- The quest forums
[X] Fiore
- Location
- Earth
[X] Fiore
[X] Fiore
I just enjoy established settings more
I just enjoy established settings more
So typical crossover plot of character from another world joining Fairy Tail and follow their adventures as stations of the canon? Than go explore the wider world and meet new people.
Nicolay
The Sequel Trilogy is Canon!
Na it's just that we already somewhat known what is going to happen so we can cause the most amount of chaos
That sounds like most Fairy Tail crossovers would do. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
- Location
- Goose Land
[X] Ka-Elm
Centers of Trade are also Centers of Information, and if we're looking for the Bro then we're looking for information.
[X] Bosco
Slavery is Bad and the idea of throwing ourselves into the middle of a messy and awful situation seems like an intriguing time for this character.
Centers of Trade are also Centers of Information, and if we're looking for the Bro then we're looking for information.
[X] Bosco
Slavery is Bad and the idea of throwing ourselves into the middle of a messy and awful situation seems like an intriguing time for this character.
[X] Seven
First to Seven, then to Alvarez. They're already used to obeying a distant god king so making them accept another should be easy. Once we have the throne we can start working on the world. Once the world is under our gold plated heel, we can work on finding Miquella. If Miquella is here, good, we can work on growing our tree. If he's not, we move on to Edolas and repeat the process.
Easy peasy.
First to Seven, then to Alvarez. They're already used to obeying a distant god king so making them accept another should be easy. Once we have the throne we can start working on the world. Once the world is under our gold plated heel, we can work on finding Miquella. If Miquella is here, good, we can work on growing our tree. If he's not, we move on to Edolas and repeat the process.
Easy peasy.
A point quite a lot of people forget, in and out of universe (let's be honest, is there any mentions of the actual demons once the book of Zeref's ones are introduced?)
Really? What gave it away?
You have no idea.
I mean, you did try that one before.
It didn't work, yeah, but you never know, you should try again, just to be sure.
Well, we could always...
I was about to say *create our own new Caelid*, but I guess that works too.
Filler stuff always is, it has to be independent from actual canon, and is always made with incomplete information.
Frankly, filler is, well, filler, no need to try and include it.
The vote is to go to Fiore, not to join Fairy Tail, we already had a discussion about the fact that it is far from impossible for Malenia not to want to go with them.
Be careful on asking for people to explore entirely new places outside canon in fanfic, quite a lot of the readers are there to interact with said canon, and going elsewhere is not always going to lead to enjoyment.
Not to mention that, while Naron is a good enough author this doesn't concern him, most fanfic authors are not able to create a whole cast of OCs, so you are asking for the moon in most cases.
I know for a fact Naron can do the *whole cast of OCs*, but this doesn't remove the fact readers are still going to be more interested in interacting with *canon*.
If you want to interact with things like that, I think you would be better served with searching for original fiction altogether instead of reading fanfictions, for the reasons I mentioned. Royal Road has some interesting things... once you manage to get past the torrent of isekais.
This is also a little dismissive of the QM and pessimistic, the Fairy Tail guild is not exclusive when it comes to creating Chaos.
[X] Seven
- Location
- Earth
I appreciate the vote of confidence. Although I should say that canonical OCs can be around regardless; at least some of them move around outside Fiore after all.
You are correct that OCs will begin featuring more prominently if people want to go elsewhere, though.
I mean, I remember *A rat's guide to glory*, who is basically 99% OCs, it's not difficult to say that you can absolutely create a cast of them.
*Take three steps in Alvarez, stumble upon Zeref*
Zeref is busy hanging out with Mavis' "ghost" at Tenrou Island.*Take three steps in Alvarez, stumble upon Zeref*
Malenia might get to meet some of the Spriggan 12 who were probably minding their own business or run the empire in Zeref's place.
I wonder if the Shields of Spriggan can sense her presence or not since she's not a Mage.
And in turn, she would be interested when sensing their power as well.