A Lord for Men

Godrick the Grafted

Pushing past the wall of fog, you found yourself in an arena reminiscent of the one where you faced Margit, but with one stark difference: a massive dead dragon, impaled on a statue, loomed in the center. Standing before its head was Godrick, just as hideous as the tales had described.

"Mighty dragon, thou'rt a trueborn heir," he murmured, his grotesque hand caressing the dragon's snout as if it were the most cherished possession in the world.

"Lend me thy strength, O kindred. Deliver me unto greater heights."

Sensing your presence, he turned slowly, revealing more of his repulsive form.

"...Well," he said, leaning slightly as he gripped his great axe—an unsettling sight given the grafted arms protruding from his back, which lifted his cloak to expose the horror beneath.

Dozens of arms were grafted onto him like a twisted spider, a vivid reminder of Roderika's words. Spider.

"A lowly Tarnished, playing at being a lord," he sneered, dragging his massive golden axe across the floor, the metal screeching in protest.

"I command thee, kneel!"

BOOM!

The floor shuddered beneath him as he slammed the axe head down, sending a shockwave rippling through the arena, crushing everything in its path.

"I am the lord of all that is Golden!"

Sensing that Godrick's words signaled the start of the battle, you rushed forward, taking the fight to him—Nepheli following closely behind.

As Godrick dragged his great axe across the floor, he telegraphed his attack. Dodging was simple when he finally unleashed the swing; his large, slow movements made it far easier to punish him compared to Margit.

He focused his attention on you, perhaps seeing you as the greater threat, lifting his axe above his head, preparing to slam it into the ground as he had before. Anticipating the strike, you rolled away, though you still stumbled from the sheer force of his impact.

Bouncing back to your feet, you saw Nepheli effortlessly leap over the shockwave, treating it like a jump rope—clever girl...

Following her lead, you timed your jumps, avoiding the shockwaves with ease, allowing both of you to land quick, successive slashes against the false lord—your katana slicing through the air while Nepheli swung her dual axes.

'This isn't so bad,' you thought... until Godrick rolled away like a beetle, putting some distance between the three of you before spinning his great axe around him, creating a whirlwind before rolling toward you again.

What was the point of that? He rolled right into your heavy charged attack, causing him to stagger down to a knee and giving Nepheli the opening she needed to strike him hard across the spine.

You hadn't expected the grafted abomination to recover so quickly. He jumped into the air, landing a direct hit on you that sent you flying several meters away.

Coughing up blood from the sheer force of the blow, you fumbled for a flask, chugging it down before tossing the empty bottle aside, narrowly dodging another telegraphed assault from Godrick.

You couldn't tell who was holding up better in this fight—you or Nepheli—but it was clear that Godrick was directing most of his fury at you for whatever reason.

Continuing his relentless assault, he began to wildly swing his arms at you, missing entirely before attempting to crush you with one of those monstrous limbs.