Elden Ring: Atai vows to have a perfect ending

——Marienia actually invited me to walk with her around the sacred tree for a while? !

What she meant was that she actually had more to say to me, but I had no idea what it was.

However, the restoration of the blessing points had taken effect, and the pain from the battle had subsided. I agreed to her request without much hesitation, and followed Marennia to take the elevator at the bottom of Deeproot and returned to the corrupt church above.

As we walked out of the gate, the sky was gradually approaching dusk, dyeing the golden sacred tree land an orange-red.

All around was quiet and peaceful.

"Come this way, Zero." Marenia walked to the right side of the church. She seemed to be planning to go back along the route I brought Millicent.

I said casually, "If you want to go this way, you should have said so earlier. I can't fly, so I can only jump up from the second-floor terrace. Wait for me."

"No need." Marennia grabbed me as I was about to walk back, picked me up, and then jumped hard onto the inclined railing connecting to the inner city of Abrefil.

"Thank you, thank you." I was startled, but looking at my hands that subconsciously hugged the other person's neck, I couldn't help but blush with shame, "Can you put me down? Next, I should be able to walk by myself."

"Ah."

——Why do I suddenly feel like a princess? And Malenia has become my personal knight.

Theoretically speaking, she is the real Golden Princess.

Marennia remained silent as she led me through the sewer tunnel and then back to the hollow inside of Abrefil, the corrupt swamp.

—By the way, where's Pollyanna? Didn't she say she'd be waiting for Millicent and me around here?

I noticed a red figure on the edge of the corrupt lake, and quickly ran over, calling out its name: "Pollyanna!"

The Ionian butterfly flapped its wings, and Pollyanna obviously no longer responded to my words.

Just like Millicent's final scene in the game, the corruption in her body completely erupted and turned into nutrients for the flowers, causing scarlet flowers to bloom on her body.

There were still several scarlet threads on Pollyanna's body, connecting her to her eldest sister Mary.

I suddenly remembered the last words she said.

——"This way, we really don't owe each other anything anymore."

Could it be that my elder sister Mary's silk threads were originally covered with scarlet corruption, and she was planning to die with me.

However, Pollyanna helped me block it, which also caused the scarlet wriggling in my body to intensify, and I even lost the last bit of strength to pull out the silk thread.

I couldn't help but kneel down in front of her and touched her face which was already numb. "Are you stupid? Pollyanna, you said you would wait for us here... When did you owe me something?"

Naturally, no response.

“······It should be the time in Windmill Village, Zero, you defeated the Divine Skin Apostle and saved her.” Unexpectedly, Marennia actually answered my question.

I looked at her in surprise and she squatted down too.

Even the affairs of Windmill Village were known to Marlennia. It seemed that Millicent really gave all her memories to her.

“Pollyanna… This girl seems to be a part of me.” Marennia reached out her hand and gently hugged Pollyanna. The next second, the girl’s body suddenly turned into a red butterfly, flew onto Marennia’s body, and merged with her. “She must be very competitive and never admit defeat. She must have caused you a lot of trouble along the way.”

I thought about it carefully and shook my head. "Not really. Although sometimes I really don't understand why she is always upset, Pollyanna has helped Millicent and me a lot along the way. Without her, we might not have met you."

"Really? Well, I have her to thank, Pollyanna, my competitive child."

"...So, are the other sisters also different aspects of you, Marennia?" I asked curiously.

The other party nodded, walked towards the remaining three sisters, and explained to me: "Is this one called Mary? She should be the side of me that was called the Valkyrie after I learned the Flowing Water Sword Technique. She is calm and indifferent. Only in this way can she become my brother's true blade."

——That’s true.

"Jasmine...what a nice name. She doesn't talk much, but she should be quite obedient to other people's orders, especially to Mary. She is my dependence on my brother, my unconditional trust, and even...some of her is a little childish in your opinion."

——Uh, does Lianlian still have any memory of the battle just now?

——However, I was also very excited at that time and spoke without restraint... I think she doesn't mind.

"And Amy is a lot like me when I was a child. Because of the pain of the scarlet corruption, she would always hide in a corner and cry day and night. Neither my mother nor my father could do anything about the corruption in me... Whenever that time came, my brother would come over, huddle with me, and then use his strength to comfort me and calm me down." Touching Amy's cheek, Marennia also recounted her past lightly.

"······Michaela, it is indeed very important to you." I couldn't help but say.

——It is indeed hard for Marennia not to become obsessed with her brother when she has such a caring brother.

Just as all the sisters of the Holy Tree long for the love of their "father" Gwei, to Marlennia, Michaela is her everything, her whole world.

······However, that world does not completely belong to her. There is even a more important existence - Latan.

Finally, the Holy Tree sisters all returned to their origins, and Marennia's expression seemed a little gloomier than before.

"Are you okay, Marenia?" I couldn't help but ask with concern.

——Perhaps, she was displeased by the experience of the Holy Tree sisters who were bewitched by the corrupt followers.

Marennia shook her head and stood up: "It's okay, let's go."

Continuing to follow Marennia out of the gate of Abrefil, the knights and soldiers of the Holy Tree were all shocked when they saw her. They saluted her one after another, some even knelt on the ground or shed tears of gratitude with their companions.

After all, after losing Michaela, Malenia is the last hope for the people here.

But this hope has been dormant in the deep roots of decay, never seeing the light of day.

Day by day, hope unknowingly turned into despair.

And now, the appearance of Marennia also means that their sun may rise again. How can we not be moved?

While calming the excited soldiers, Marennia continued to lead me towards the crown of the sacred tree.

She suddenly said, "My brother hopes to create a dream world that embraces everything and everyone can be happy. Therefore, we have gained the support of many warriors... Originally, Abrefil could become a paradise independent of the border area, but the news that my mother smashed the magic ring shocked him and made him change his mind greatly."

We walked all the way to the prayer room. Looking at the statue of the blind swordsman, Marennia continued, "Marennia, perhaps, our time is finally coming! As long as we can obtain the power of the Elden Ring, we can guide more people to Abrefil and to the Golden Dream. By then, the border will become a true paradise, with no more pain, no suffering, and no war... My brother, he said so... Now, we only lack a true King of Elden."

"······So, he sent you to find Latan?"

Marennia nodded.

"But what about you? Marlennia, actually, you want to be your brother's King of Elden, right?" I recalled the chaotic words I heard during the battle, which were also Marlennia's thoughts.

“…I, I just want to be with my brother.” Marennia sighed slightly, “But after hearing those words, I really felt like my brother was taken away by someone… Just like what you said, Ling, I am still that dead child who never grows up.”

"I'm sorry, I was just mad at the goddess of Scarlet Corruption, so I was wondering if I could arouse your original consciousness and help Millicent fight against her." I'd better apologize.

——Marinia really took those words to heart.

Marennia seemed to smile slightly: "I know."

"Lady Marennia?!" Suddenly, Loretta's voice came from the front. She was extremely surprised and ran over in a hurry.