Elden Ring: Atai vows to have a perfect ending

Lenya held my hand tightly and refused to let go, while Diaros walked towards me with a stern face.

To be honest, when I rescued Lenya, I never thought that things would become so difficult, and I would even be caught in the center of the storm in the Shura Field.

"Lord Zero! You must understand me, right? Those Cuckoo Knights are cruel and tyrannical. They regard themselves as the rulers of Lienia, and they bully the Sons of Platinum at will. They even use their bodies to refine platinum coagulated blood, and they arrogantly mock and spit on the Sons of Platinum as monsters and filth!" Lenia said passionately, "No life is born to be enslaved or humiliated! That's why I want to teach the Sons of Platinum to resist and fight! They should take their lives into their own hands!"

——Uh...but these Sons of Platinum were very tactful and merciless when dealing with me, Ah Ti.

Diaros advised from the side: "Lena, don't cause trouble for Zero and his friends anymore. Those Platinum Sons are willing to be Dujuan's subordinates. What's the point of you thinking about them?"

"Are they really willing to do this? Isn't it because they have no hope at all?" Lenia pushed the Platinum Son who followed her and continued to refute, "Look, Franken is willing to stay with us and doesn't want to return to Dujuan's hands!"

"That is..." Diaros was unable to argue with Lenya for a moment.

And Lenia continued to elaborate on her thoughts: "So, as long as we can awaken more Platinum Sons like Franken, they can escape the tragic fate under the hands of the cuckoo..."

As she was talking, Lenia's eyes suddenly fell on me again. She bowed to me and asked sincerely, "Master Zero, I know that my strength is far from enough, but if there is a warrior as strong as you, like Brother Yuno, you can definitely bring hope to this pitiful race... So, I beg Master Zero to go with me."

"This..." Before I could even prepare to say anything, Diaros refused to agree: "No, Lenya! Don't forget, you are my follower!"

"Hmph! Then from today on, I will no longer be your follower, Diaros! I hope to follow someone more powerful! Not a pampered young master!" Lenya was obviously angry and was rude to her master. She even muttered, "If I had known this would happen, I should have come out with Brother Yuno."

But these words seemed to have touched Diaros's sore spot, causing him to fall silent for a moment, while his entire body trembled.

Only then did Lenya come back to her senses and realized that she had said the wrong thing. Her eyes became a little vague, as if she was hesitating whether to apologize to Diaros.

“······It’s eldest brother again, eldest brother. Even you, look down on me from the bottom of your heart, Lenya.” Diaros suddenly spoke, his voice was low, like a sigh from the abyss.

"No, Diaros." Lenya shook her head subconsciously.

But Diaros didn't hear her words. Instead, he raised his eyes to me and said, "I'm sorry, but...Zero, I want to challenge you."

“Huh?” I had never expected things to turn out this way.

"If I win, Lenya, you have to listen to me. After all, you said that Zero and Big Brother are equally powerful, right?" Diaros said as he took off the large shield on his back and pulled out the symbolic weapon of their family, the petal whip.

——Ah, this... You two are just quarreling, don’t take it out on me. I’m just a spectator.

Lenya clasped her hands together and apologized to me desperately and silently.

But Laya, the little stupid snake, was still fanning the flames: "Oh, great! Let me witness the fight between the two of you! Who is the real warrior!"

"... Oh." I sighed and asked Diaros for confirmation, "Does it have to be fought?"

"Well, please." Diaros exuded an irresistible aura. He turned sideways, raised his arms, and made a swearing gesture, "Khosrow, I speak with blood!"

Then I can only pull out the hound's fangs and say to it: "Swords have no eyes, be careful!"

After saying that, I took the initiative to rush forward.

Snapped!

But I saw Diaros's petal whip swung, leaving a groove on the ground in front of me.

The attack range of the petal whip is about two to three meters, which is twice the length of a hound's fangs. Moreover, Diaros is indeed very skilled in using it. He can swing the petal whip wherever his eyes see, leaving me no chance to get close.

——Then let’s try this!

Combat skill - Storm Feet!

With the help of the wind released from my feet, I suddenly leaped to a height of two or three meters and pounced towards Diaros like a wild beast.

Seeing this, Diaros swung the petal whip and hit me hard.

——But how can the lethality of a whip be as great as that of a sword?

——And that’s because you lack combat experience, Xiaodi!

I took his attack head on, and brought my fangs straight down on Diaros' head.

Diaros also hurriedly raised his shield, but I used all my strength to chop him down, and just one move was enough to make Diaros stagger back a step involuntarily.

--good chance!

I seized the opponent's weakness and bit him with my hound's fangs.

——······Wait, it seems like I have no reason to win this battle?

-Although it cannot be said that Lenya's sense of justice is wrong, Diaros has always opposed Lenya's claims out of concern for her.

Because of this hesitation, the sharp blade of the fang slowed down a little, and Diaros rolled back as far as he could to avoid it.

Then, he swung his petal whip, like a long snake wrapped around the hound's fangs.

I subconsciously grasped my weapon, and Diaros grabbed the petal whip with both hands, hoping to disarm me and decide the outcome.

—But Xiaodi, you don’t seem to be as strong as me... I want to lose, but if I let him win too obviously, won’t it tarnish his determination and have the opposite effect?

——Wait, got it!

My arms began to tremble slightly. I pretended to be exhausted and quietly loosened my grip. The entire hound's fangs flew towards Diaros.

Of course, this is not over yet.

While the opponent's attention was focused on the fangs and I thought I had won, I rushed towards Diaros quickly.

After all, there was only a distance of two or three meters between us. In the blink of an eye, I had flashed in front of Diaros and bumped into him head-on.

"zero!"

"Diaros!"

Seeing the two of us stumble and roll several times, Laya and Lenya both ran over quickly.

I sat up from the ground and scratched my head in embarrassment: "Oh, I still didn't get the fang back. Now I have no weapon."

"..." Diaros also came down the stairs with my eyesight, "The petal whip was also thrown out just now. In this case, it can only be considered a draw."

Lenya said quickly, "It's a draw! It's a draw! No one is hurt, it couldn't be better."

Instead, Laya looked at me and tilted her head.

——Could it be that she saw through something?

I quickly stood up and tried to smooth over the farce: "In that case, I have something immature to say... First of all, I don't think there is anything wrong with Lenia's sense of justice in wanting to help the Son of Platinum, but the biggest problem now is that those guys have been enslaved for too long under Dujuan's control, so long that they may have become numb. This situation cannot be solved simply by one or two people in a short period of time. Perhaps it will take someone like Franken, who has experienced a life without being oppressed by Dujuan, before those guys will spontaneously rebel against Dujuan."

"But..." Lenya seemed to have something to say.

"But if we don't defeat Dujuan, how can we experience a life without being oppressed, right?" I guessed Lenia's confusion, "So, what we need is to find more partners, accumulate strength, and then work together to find a solution."

Even Patch agreed with my suggestion: "My old friend is right. This part of Lienia is now under the control of the Azalea Knights. If they are determined to exterminate the four of you, even if someone is as powerful as a demigod, they will eventually be defeated when facing a situation where the enemy outnumbers us... This is not a good idea, but a way to bring about our own destruction."

——Okay, okay, “you four”, right?

——You easily picked off both yourself and Laya. You are worthy of being like that, Pachi.

"Actually, I also have something important to do, so I can't be of much help." I glanced away, trying to exonerate myself with a legitimate reason.

But Laya immediately said happily: "Yes, that's right, Zero, you came back this time to take me to Gaileid to participate in the festival! I want to witness more warriors fighting!"

"Festival?" Lenya seemed to be unaware of Galide's affairs.

Laya had already explained to her: "It is said that in order to defeat General Starbreaker, many Faded Ones have gathered there! There will definitely be an exciting battle!"

"So many Faded Ones..." Lenia thought for a moment, then her eyes sparkled, and she had obviously found a new goal. "I've decided, I'm going to Gallid too, to find more companions who are willing to help Franken!"

——Ah, this... Can I say that I’m not in a hurry to go to Gaileed now?

As for Diaros, he was already standing aside, holding his forehead with his hand because of the headache.