We traveled through time together, but I'm the only dragon? The others are all beautiful girls?

A complex and unfathomable light flashed in Eleanor's ruby-like eyes. When she could no longer sense Akalion, the emptiness in her heart suddenly became apparent.

Instead of exploring the Firelink Shrine as she had previously stated, she turned and headed towards the Undead Town outside the city.

Volume 1 Snowfield Dragon Lord: Chapter 30. Battle and the Mad Silence

The Undead Town outside the city, although it is neither a town, nor an immortal place, nor outside the city in reality, is what the game calls it.

The original name of this town, which stretches as far as the eye can see, has been lost to history as the original inhabitants disappeared.

Eleanor's purpose in going to the Undead City outside the city was not to ring the bell; otherwise, she could have first checked whether the elevator from Firelink Shrine to the church was working.

Although both elevators are unusable in the church in the game, who knows what might be the case in reality?

After all, the real-world version of Lordran is quite different from the one in the game.

Eleanor's steps weren't exactly swift as the wind, but they were certainly not leisurely strolls. She didn't know why she wasn't exploring the Firelink Shrine, but instead heading towards the Undead Town outside the city. Was it simply because she didn't want to rely on another 'me'?

She wasn't sure.

Although the body came back to life, a certain part of it completely died.

Akalion had previously chosen to land in the outer area of ​​Firelink Shrine, which was still several kilometers away from the actual border of the Undead Town outside the city.

This place is a suspended cliff that juts outward from a steep mountain, and the plateau at the top is very flat, as if it was directly cut out by a god.

The ancient stone slabs that make up the road, though showing signs of erosion and weathering from the years, are remarkably intact, which is likely related to the reason why time has stopped in Rodland.

The sunlight was not strong, so this cliff, located halfway up the mountain, was always shrouded in shadow.

Every now and then, Eleanor could see fleeting white, semi-transparent figures. These were projections of undead from their own independent timelines into her world, and they served no purpose.

On this plateau, where only the howling mountain winds and the biting cold wind blow, and the withered yellow grass can be heard, one can only feel irritable and anxious.

Eleanor's mood improved considerably when she came into view of the ruins of a watchtower that had long since collapsed.

A squad of undead soldiers was stationed at the watchtower ruins, wearing the same armor as the undead soldiers of the Undead Asylum. It should be the White Cult's outpost here, except that their armor was more tattered than that of the Undead Asylum, and only one undead soldier had a straight sword intact.

Even though they had long since become mindless, soulless walking corpses, they still faithfully carried out the patrol and guard orders that had long lost all practical meaning, day after day and year after year, as if driven by some invisible program, protecting the ruins of the watchtower that had long since turned into ruins.

Eleanor stood quietly at a distance, gazing at her 'kin' who were immersed in the eternal cycle of reincarnation.

She suddenly felt a pang of envy, or even jealousy—of these living corpses who had long since lost their so-called 'self'.

Living with a clear mind in this cold and cruel world is an extremely painful thing in itself.

Every breath she took reminded her of everything she had lost.

Every thought was tearing at her already battered soul.

Once separated from 'me', this enormous void is fully exposed.

Even when it's right next to me, this enormous void gradually reveals its presence. It offers me virtually no help; instead, it keeps demanding from me.

The more Eleanor pondered and recalled, the more uncontrollably she felt a deep, soul-deep envy and hatred for these living corpses.

The undead no longer need to feel physical pain, no longer need to bear heavy memories, no longer need to think about a hopeless future, no longer need to experience... despair.

Their existence may be closer to the truest essence of this world—the unknowing and unconscious [nothingness] slowly dissipating in eternal darkness.

Isn't that a kind of happiness?

As Eleanor thought this, her figure appeared like a venomous snake baring its fangs in front of a zombie soldier whose armor was more intact than the other zombie soldiers, whom we'll call the captain. She drew her straight sword and swung it with a ghostly slash.

The zombie soldier captain's head fell to the ground with a thud, making a rolling sound.

The undead soldier was only truly dead when its soul was absorbed by Eleanor.

The reason why the undead are called undead is not just because they can keep resurrecting from the campfire, but because as long as the undead still have a 'soul', they will not die even if they are crushed into mincemeat.

But once the soul is completely taken away, even if one is not immortal, one will become a dead person.

A zombie soldier without a breastplate saw Eleanor raise her rusty, broken sword just as she was closing in!

Instead of swinging her straight sword, she used her seemingly slender arm to deliver a precise and vicious elbow strike to the chest of the unarmored zombie soldier!

With a dull thud, the zombie soldier's sternum shattered, and his entire upper body was caved in by Eleanor's blow.

Immediately afterwards, she swiftly sidestepped the chaotic Xia Ji Ba Chuan attack of another zombie soldier wearing a breastplate but no helmet. Then, with a ferocious whip kick, like a cannonball, she slammed into the waist and abdomen of the helmetless zombie soldier!

The helmetless zombie soldier was immediately kicked into the air by the force, and like a broken kite with a broken string, he stumbled and fell to the bottomless cliff shrouded in ominous mist, leaving not even a trace of echo!

With four undead soldiers remaining, Eleanor threw her straight sword at one of them, performing a brain surgery on it without anesthesia, while simultaneously delivering a powerful kick to an unarmored undead soldier, sending it to join its brother who had just fallen off the cliff.

Finally, Eleanor looked at the two undead soldiers who were attacking her from the left and right. She ignored the stabbing attack from another undead soldier who was holding a broken sword. The senses of the undead are very different from those of ordinary people, especially in terms of pain, taste and smell, which are basically non-existent.

The instant the blade pierced flesh through the armor's seam, he punched the throat of the undead soldier, whose straight sword remained intact, and seized its soul.

At this point, only one member of the zombie soldier squad remained. It tried to pull out its broken sword, but found that the sword was stuck in its armor.

The next moment, a pure, violent punch landed on its helmet.

One punch after another rained down on the already dead zombie soldier's head, chest, abdomen...any part she could reach!

The dull thud of punches landing and bones shattering made Eleanor feel as if she had truly come back to life.

Until Akalion, who had been watching Eleanor the whole time, forcibly lifted her from the unrecognizable mass of flesh and bone that had long since turned into a pile of unidentifiable carcasses. In an instant, she transformed from a maddened monster into a cold doll.

Akalion brought her back to the campfire and then lifted her onto the fire, allowing her injuries to heal.

"Apologize."

Eleanor lowered her head, her long silver hair falling like withered weeds, obscuring all her expressions.

Her voice was flat and monotone. Was this abrupt "apology" addressed to the undead she had brutally murdered, or was it a confession of her uncontrolled cruelty and madness?

Eleanor's lips curled upwards in a strange way, forming a creepy and eerie smile.

"I don't know... I don't know what I just did... I think I—"

"Okay, that's it!"

Akalion's majestic voice, imbued with his dragon's might, blasted directly into Eleanor's soul, which was on the verge of collapse. He could no longer allow 'me' to wallow in this dangerous, self-destructive emotion.

"What do you want to do now? Tell me, Eleanor."

He originally thought 'I' would be able to get through this, but now it seems he overestimated himself.

What is your deepest, truest desire?

"..."

The crazed and twisted smile on Eleanor's face froze instantly, like a surging tide frozen in time.

She slowly raised her head, and all the brilliance in her eyes, which should have been as bright as rubies, had faded, leaving only a bottomless, heart-wrenching emptiness and deathly silence, as if even her soul had been completely swallowed up by that endless despair.

She stared at Akalion with a blank expression and a fixed gaze, as if she wanted to suck his soul into the void.

After a long silence, she finally uttered four words in a voice that was almost inaudible, like a dream, yet with an undeniable and heartbreakingly resolute tone. Each word struck Akalion's heart like a massive boulder.

she says:

"Just kill me."

The moment Akalion heard those four words, he jerked his hand holding Eleanor so hard that she nearly fell into the campfire.

"I don't want to live! I don't want to live in this strange, cruel, cold, and lonely world anymore!"

The despair and pain that had been building up deep within her for thousands of years finally burst forth like a flood from her long-dry eyes, turning into two streams of blood-red tears that left two heartbreaking marks on her once smooth but still pale face.

Akalion knew perfectly well that although Eleanor and Luminosity were both in 'cages', their situations were different.

Eleanor has no more ties in this world, and the world of Dark Souls is far less wonderful than Teyvat. Here, although she is immortal, she lives forever in regret and pain.

"What...what was it that made me endure such a long, long time in that dark and hopeless prison?"

Eleanor's voice was shrill and desperate, filled with accusations against the injustice of fate and the deepest denial of the meaning of her own existence.

"...for 'me'."

Akalion remained silent for a long time before saying this.

Volume One: Snowfield Dragon Lord: Chapter 31. Waiting and Holding onto Hope...

"Isn't it precisely because of yourself... that you've been waiting for that faint 'hope' to arrive that you've managed to hold on until now?"

Akalion lowered his massive dragon body slightly, carefully placing Eleanor gently on the edge of the flickering orange-yellow glow of the campfire.

Then, he extended his long, scarlet tongue, covered with fine barbs yet appearing unusually soft under deliberate restraint, and gently licked the still-dry, blood-stained, sorrowful tear stains on her cheeks, as if handling the most fragile glass.

Using his claws and scales wouldn't be very suitable.

The former is too sharp; even an unintentional touch could leave indelible scars on her skin.

The latter, however, was too sturdy and could easily scratch her face.

Although Eleanor might not care about these things at the moment, under the warm glow of the campfire, all injuries of the undead would be healed except for the Curse of Death—the power of the Death Lord's soul.

However, Akalion does not want to harm the other 'me' in any way.

"Even if... even if with your current power you can't travel through time and go back to the past, what about 'the future'?"

Akalion's memories of the Dark Souls world surfaced clearly in his mind.

"Time travel isn't impossible in the Dark Souls world,"

For example, the content of the Dark Souls 1 Ula Ciro DLC is the story of the Undead of Destiny going back in time to kill the Father of the Abyss and save the Dark Princess (the plot of Dark Souls 2 will not be discussed).

Eleanor remained curled up, her voice coming from the narrow gap, muffled and suppressed, filled with a sense of powerlessness.

"I...I can't do it—"

Before she could finish speaking, Akalion abruptly interrupted her.

"Even with our current strength, we cannot reach that distant past. But remember, Eleanor, we are not fighting alone! One day, among us 'Blue Heirs,' an even more powerful being will emerge, capable of reversing all despair—"

However, fortunes change, and this time, his words were mercilessly interrupted by Eleanor's final, mournful cry, filled with a complete denial of all hope.

"What if not! What if, forever, never, ever, that kind of 'me' will appear!"

Her body trembled violently from the intense emotional turmoil, and her eyes held an unshakeable despair.

“What if… what if you, Akalion Virminax Pantopkrator, are already the pinnacle among all of us ‘Blue Heirs’?”

“Then leave it to me!” Akalion’s words, like a thunderclap piercing through layers of dark clouds, suddenly ignited and then exploded in the depths of Eleanor’s soul, which was almost completely engulfed by despair! “When I rekindle that long-extinguished ‘divine spark,’ when I truly ascend to the throne of God—no, I don’t even need to wait until then! As long as I become a ninth-ring mage and learn how to use the ninth-ring ‘wish spell,’ I will take you across the turbulent river of time and return to that home that truly belongs to you, a home filled with warmth and sunshine!”

"Even though the ninth-ring spell 'Wish' is very risky, that's only if 'DM' exists. In the current state of the Dark Souls world, there are no characters of that caliber."

The ninth-ring spell 'Wishing' can basically grant any wish, but aside from simulating any eighth-ring or lower spell without any cost, it always comes with a price and limitations.

In the game, you are subject to the restrictions of the DM (Demonstrator); in the real world, you are subject to the restrictions of God or the world.

This restriction is based on the caster's wishes, but it will not cause the spell's effect to fail; rather, it will be implemented in a way that the caster would not want to see.

For example, if a spellcaster wants to obtain a legendary staff, they might receive a legendary staff called "Pink Bunny." Or, for instance, they might want to change a major past event, but in a way the spellcaster doesn't want... and such wishes have a 33% chance of preventing the spellcaster from using the wish spell again.

DM will perform a dice roll.

In reality, the connection between a mage and the magic network may be permanently damaged, leading to the lock of causality, the permanent lock of world order, and even direct accountability from the gods.

Spellcasters in the world of Eldra are corrupted and repelled by primal magical energy, becoming unsuitable for spellcasting.

The wish-granting spell is very simple to cast; in worlds outside of Eldra, it only requires words.

The Eldra world requires a legendary medium to assist in energy manipulation, a suitable concentration of primal magical energy, and the scope of the wish cannot exceed the Eldra world.

"Besides, I'm just sending you back to the past, not changing anything major that happened in the past!"

He suddenly spread out his enormous dragon wings, wide enough to blot out the sky, and a violent airflow swept outwards from him, dispersing the smoke and dust swirling around the campfire, and seemingly blowing away the gloom that had accumulated in Eleanor's heart for thousands of years.

"Anyway, your endless wait has lasted so long, so very long. Why... why not wait a little longer! For that 'home,' for that 'past' that truly belongs to you, for that... 'future' that is worth having 'hope' for again!"

"……real?"

In Eleanor's empty eyes, a faint light finally rekindled, flickering like a candle in the wind, yet stubbornly refusing to be extinguished, thanks to Akalion's powerful and resolute words.

“Really!” Akalion leaned close to Eleanor, his eyes brimming with confidence.

"You said you'd do it... but you did it?" Her voice, with each word, seemed to be squeezed out with great difficulty from the deepest part of her soul.

"I, in the name of 'Blue Heir,' hereby swear!" Akalion's deep gray dragon eyes seemed to shine brighter than the sun in Eleanor's eyes at this moment. He declared, word by word, "We may choose to run away because of our own weakness and insignificance, but 'Blue Heir' will never, ever deceive 'himself'!"

Like the last straw that broke the camel's back, or the final command to open the floodgates that held back the raging torrent.