The moment Mohg roared that final "Nihil", every curse previously placed upon Lucian detonated at once.
The ritual was complete.
A vast blood rite unfolded, crimson light swallowing the sky while black miasma spread through the air.
The cursed blood embedded within Lucian, blood that could not be purged, erupted violently. It expanded and tore through his body from within.
In a single instant, he suffered devastating damage, inside and out.
Lucian coughed up a mouthful of blood, his expression shifting sharply.
Without hesitation, he called out inwardly for Asmi, asking her to watch his surroundings.
He might not be able to deal with the surging cursed blood while enduring what came next.
Asimi appeared at his side, eyes fixed warily on Mohg in the distance.
Though her form was different, she recognized him immediately, the same one who had caused chaos in Stormveil Castle.
Lucian clenched his teeth, forcing himself to endure the pain as he layered multiple incantations over his body, carefully choosing ones that wouldn't interfere with each other.
He had only just applied two when Mohg's voice rang out again.
"Nihil!"
Ignoring the agony of blood bursting within him, Lucian continued casting.
The damage was severe, but not fatal.
Healing could wait. Damage reduction mattered more.
At last, just before the final call, he completed every incantation he needed.
With the blessings in place, his body gained layered protection—damage reduction, regeneration, increased robustness, and resistance to bleeding.
"Nihil!"
With that final roar, bloodlight surged outward, flooding the entirety of Mohgwyn Palace.
Mohg swept his sacred spear through the air. From his back, black wings tore through his robes and unfurled.
The blessing of the primordial crucible surged within him, amplified by the blood ritual itself.
Lucian quickly drank from his Crimson Flask, restoring a portion of his injuries.
Mohg showed no surprise at his recovery.
He had never intended to end things with that alone.
If Lucian had fallen so easily, it would have been an insult.
And now that Asimi had appeared, so she had been residing within him all along.
All the better.
He would kill them both.
With a single beat of his wings, Mohg lunged forward.
But just as Lucian braced himself.
Mohg vanished.
In the next instant, he emerged from the blood behind him, striking from an impossible angle.
Only Lucian's reflexes saved him from a direct hit.
His expression darkened.
Was this the power of the Formless Mother?
Mohg had already been difficult to track within the cursed blood. Now, his mobility had multiplied.
Under the barrage of sudden assaults, Lucian and Asimi pressed back-to-back, searching for an opening.
As Mohg charged again, Lucian seized the moment, switching weapons to the Starscourge Greatsword.
With a roar, gravity surged outward, then collapsed inward in an instant.
The force locked onto Mohg, dragging him straight toward Lucian, as if he had flown willingly into the blade.
Both greatswords crashed down simultaneously.
An overwhelming gravitational force erupted, tearing Mohg's body apart. He was blasted backward like a shredded rag, crashing into the blood pool.
Asimi immediately drew the Sword of Night and Flame and unleashed a torrent of comet-like magic, striking him again mid-flight.
Yet when Mohg rose once more, his body had already regenerated completely.
Lucian's own wounds were healing as well, thanks to his incantations and the power of the sun.
But compared to Mohg, fighting on his own ground, it was far slower.
As the battle dragged on, the level of cursed blood in the pool had begun to drop.
But how much remained?
Impossible to tell.
No wonder Mohg was so confident.
Here, he was nearly invincible.
Unless he chose to leave this place himself, there would be no easy way to end him.
Lucian's mind raced.
The best option would be to use overwhelming force, something like a single and catastrophic strike to vaporize both Mohg and the entire blood pool at once.
But timing would be everything.
If Mohg escaped even for a moment, if he relocated himself elsewhere, then even destroying the pool wouldn't guarantee victory.
He could simply hide, gather more cursed blood, and return later.
As Lucian considered his next move, Mohg suddenly slowed his attacks.
Then he turned his gaze toward Leda and the others, who were still struggling within the battlefield.
"You enjoyed slaughtering my servants earlier, didn't you?"
His voice was cold, almost amused.
"Now… it's my turn."
He activated the power of his Great Rune.
A crimson mist spread across the battlefield, quickly engulfing the entirety of Mohgwyn Palace.
Far in the distance, Leda and the others saw the strange blood mist and immediately realized something was wrong.
They held their breath instinctively.
But this was no ordinary vapor.
It carried the power of law itself.
It passed through them effortlessly, invading their bodies without resistance.
Panic set in.
Their bodies began to lock up.
They could feel it clearly, the flow of their blood turning chaotic.
In some veins, it reversed direction entirely. Pressure surged, vessels burst, and blood tore through flesh.
Their bodies were no longer under their control.
Leda realized the danger instantly. With the last of her strength, she drove the Unalloyed Gold Needle into their group.
The golden light stabilized them, barely.
She exhaled shakily, her armor already soaked through with blood. She didn't even want to imagine the state of her body beneath it.
Even with the effect suppressed, the damage had already been done.
And there was no time to recover.
Ahead of them, howls began to rise.
Within the blood mist, one of the Albinaurics began to swell grotesquely, its body expanding far beyond its original size.
Blood from the corpses that those Lucian had crushed against the cliff, flowed together, mixing with Albinauric blood and cursed blood alike, pouring into it.
Horns burst from its body, more and more, like those of the Omen.
Its skin darkened to a deep crimson-black. Its already oversized head bulged further, a massive throat sac forming.
Clawing at its neck, it suddenly exhaled.
Flame.
And it wasn't just one.
All across the mist, enemies underwent similar transformations.
Some sprouted twisted wings. Others grew hooves. Every one of them became something far more monstrous.
Leda forced herself to stand, trying to raise her weapon.
But her body still wouldn't fully respond.
Nearby, both Dane and Freyja struggled with the same problem.
A streak of black flame suddenly swept past Leda and the others.
The moment it struck, it detonated, spreading through the enemies in an instant.
A dagger embedded itself cleanly into the throat of the foremost foe, ending its life on the spot.
Melina stepped aside, letting the collapsing Albinauric fall past her. Even the splashing blood failed to touch her.
Only then did Leda remember, the woman who had been traveling alongside Lucian.
She had barely noticed her presence before. It was as if she deliberately suppressed it.
So much so that, in the chaos earlier, Leda hadn't even given her the protection of the golden needle.
Melina stepped forward, placing a hand over her chest.
A golden sigil of the Erdtree bloomed beneath her feet.
The blessing of the Erdtree spread outward.
Under its radiance, Leda and the others felt their injuries begin to mend. Strength returned to their limbs, enough to stand and fight again.
Only after confirming they were no longer in immediate danger did Melina continue forward.
The moment the blood mist had spread, she had already sensed something was wrong.
Yet, for some reason, its effect on her had been minimal.
Perhaps… it had something to do with the nature of her body?
She dismissed the thought.
The enemies before her demanded her attention.
Dozens of enhanced foes, twisted and reinforced by the blood mist, gathered ahead.
And yet, Melina advanced alone, step by unhurried step.
Each enemy that rushed her fell just as quickly, their corpses piling silently behind her.
The Sanguine Nobles prided themselves on elegance in combat, but before Melina's calm, measured movements, their techniques seemed riddled with flaws.
Watching her cut through them so effortlessly, even they began to question themselves.
Had they always been this weak?
Behind her, Leda and the others watched in stunned silence.
They had thought Asimi and the ancient dragon were already terrifying enough.
But this woman…
She might be even stronger.
There was no doubt, this was power that stood among the demigods.
Meanwhile, Lucian stood within the blood mist, feeling his blood churn violently.
Fortunately, the effect on him was limited.
It seemed the technique scaled with the target's strength.
As for Asimi, she was completely unaffected, locked in combat with Mohg.
Now that Mohg fought in his true form, she could no longer overpower him through sheer stats alone.
With the crimson Great Rune active, he had become something akin to a demon god within this world of cursed blood.
Using the blood pool, he attacked relentlessly, shifting position at will.
Lucian blocked another incoming strike, preparing to counter.
Then suddenly, he sensed something.
A presence so faint it was almost imperceptible.
He twisted his body instantly, ignoring the spear that tore into him, leaving a deep and brutal wound.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw it.
A faint, translucent outline brushing past his arm.
The moment it touched him, something horrifying happened.
The connection between flesh and flesh, blood and blood, everything was severed.
Completely.
His arm didn't bleed in the normal sense.
It simply… fell apart.
Flesh and armor alike slid from bone, collapsing into the blood pool below.
In a single instant, his entire left arm disintegrated.
Lucian stared at the wound, cold sweat running down his back.
"So this… is the power of an Outer God?"
This was the first time the Formless Mother had directly intervened.
Before this, she had only acted through Mohg, her blood delivered via the sacred spear.
But now.
Her true power had manifested.
And it was overwhelming.
If not for Lucian's heightened perception, he wouldn't have even noticed the attack.
He would have lost far more than an arm.
Asimi stared at him in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Even Mohg looked surprised.
The Mother herself had acted… and yet failed?
It only reinforced one truth.
Lucian was an enemy worth everything.
With his left arm unusable, Lucian had no choice but to let Asimi hold Mohg back while he sought a moment to recover, either through incantations or healing.
But Mohg had no intention of allowing that.
He shifted through the blood again and again, constantly disrupting Lucian's attempts.
Just as frustration began to rise.
A warm light appeared.
At the center of the blood pool, a radiant illusion of the Erdtree emerged.
Its golden glow clashed starkly with the hellish surroundings.
From it, gentle light spread outward, bathing Lucian in warmth.
Flesh began to regrow along his arm, rapidly accelerating—faster even than the Crimson Flask's healing.
Melina had arrived.
She stood beside him, her dagger flashing as she sent a golden arc of light slicing into Mohg's body.
For a brief moment, Mohg pulled back, studying her.
"Who are you?" he asked slowly.
"There's something about you… something familiar."
"…A demigod. You're one of Marika's children."
His eyes widened, and then he laughed.
"Ah, now I remember."
"The first time I decided to kill him… it was because I sensed that same disgusting presence, like Marika herself."
He narrowed his gaze at her.
"So it was you all along."
A low chuckle escaped him.
"Perfect."
Midair, he folded his wings and let himself fall into the blood pool.
The cursed blood swallowed him whole.
Then.
The surface, once calm, erupted into violent waves.
A colossal figure rose from the sea of blood.
A giant formed entirely of writhing crimson, featureless except for its upper body.
From within it, Mohg's presence radiated.
The giant raised both arms and slammed them down.
Lucian, Melina, and Asimi scattered, each dodging the overwhelming strike.
Mohg's laughter echoed.
"Well? Well?"
"Aren't you so fond of relying on your power?"
"Then let's see how you handle this!"
Lucian looked toward the core of the blood giant, toward Mohg himself.
Then he made his decision.
Now was the moment.
By controlling such a massive construct, Mohg had limited his own mobility.
If Lucian could destroy both the giant and Mohg in one strike.
There would be no escape.
Lucian surged forward, activating his ability once more.
A faint chime rang out.
[Super Damage]
[Activated.]
A blazing sun rose into existence.
At the very moment it appeared, its heat alone evaporated more than half the blood pool.
Then, as quickly as it expanded, it collapsed inward—shrinking into a sphere of pure, unbearable light in Lucian's palm.
To gaze upon it was to be blinded.
Mohg's vision was gone instantly.
By the time he realized what was happening.
Lucian had already thrust the miniature sun directly before him.
And for the first time.
True fear appeared on Mohg's face.
But it was too late.
There was nowhere left to run.