[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-starting-at-hogwarts-logging-into-elden-ring":3,"chapter-starting-at-hogwarts-logging-into-elden-ring-starting-at-hogwarts-logging-into-elden-ring-chapter-269":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Starting at Hogwarts, Logging into Elden Ring",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1496162,1944,"Chapter 269: Melina’s Death and Rebirth, Two Entirely Different Flames","starting-at-hogwarts-logging-into-elden-ring-chapter-269",269,"\u003Cp>Arthur believed that the so-called \"vision\" was a manifestation of faith—a glimpse of the future shown to believers, a utopia that their belief promised they would one day reach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ordinary Tarnished followed no particular faith. Thus, they could not see any vision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But those who accepted the Frenzied Flame could see a future where everything was burned to ash and reduced to chaos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was why they could use themselves to ignite the Erdtree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Marika, who embraced the faith of the Erdtree, became the vessel of the Elden Ring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Elden Ring guided the future of the Lands Between through the Golden Order.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that sense, Marika bore within her the future revealed by the Erdtree's faith—that \"vision.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Melina's relationship to Marika was much like Malenia's relationship to Millicent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had been created by Marika, carrying Marika's will and certain traits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was why she could perceive the guidance Marika left behind—and why she could see the vision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was the ideal sacrifice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because from birth, Melina had been connected to the Erdtree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rather than calling her a sacrifice—or the kindling meant to ignite the Erdtree—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It would be more accurate to call her a medium.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A conduit that guided the flame of the Forge of the Giants to the Erdtree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Frenzied Flame Tarnished offered proof of this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They accepted the Frenzied Flame beneath the Erdtree, then ignited themselves at the Forge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fire they carried was guided to the Erdtree's roots, burning the foundation of the Lands Between and reducing everything to nothingness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Melina's role was similar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only, she was not extreme like the Frenzied Flame.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What she sought to burn were merely the thorns covering the Erdtree's surface—the thorns that rejected all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Understanding all of this at last, Arthur finally grasped why Melina regarded burning the tree as her mission.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was Marika's will, inherited by her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a burden she had carried from the moment of her birth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a brief instant, Arthur felt a pang of pity for the quiet girl standing beside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed her destiny had been arranged the moment she came into existence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing him come out of his thoughts and look at her with something like sympathy, Melina spoke softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There is no need to pity me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is the path I have chosen. It is my mission.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"…And besides, traveling with you has been a joy. I am already satisfied.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thank you for bringing me here. Now… please allow me to fulfill my purpose.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Arthur exhaled quietly and stepped aside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Melina walked up to him and, without warning, embraced him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the edge of farewell, she allowed herself a moment of selfishness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pressing against his chest, she listened to his heartbeat, savoring this fleeting fragment of peace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Until the small Ranni doll nestled in Arthur's arms squirmed in protest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn't jealousy—Arthur holding other women was nothing new.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ranni's complaint was simpler.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Being sandwiched between them meant she couldn't see anything, and it was uncomfortable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Melina released Arthur and said softly,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Would you… turn around?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She did not want him to witness the flames consuming her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlike in the original game, she lacked the strength to force him into unconsciousness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So she could only ask.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Arthur felt the additional mark imprinted upon him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knew what it was—the mark that led to Crumbling Farum Azula.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Melina had placed it on him during their embrace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maliketh, bearer of the Rune of Death, awaited there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But none of that mattered now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What mattered was that Melina was about to become kindling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Arthur knew he could not stop her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nor would she allow him to trample on her resolve.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet he still had one final method.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Following her request, Arthur turned his back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Melina stepped forward to face the interior of the Forge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She extended both hands, drawing upon the flames Arthur had ignited.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crimson-gold fire coiled around her body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Raising her arms high, she spoke:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Those who walk alongside flame… shall one day meet destined death.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Farewell.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her words carried two meanings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One: those who walked with the Frenzied Flame would meet the kindling maiden who would grant them destined death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two: those who traveled with the kindling maiden would one day face the destined death waiting to be unleashed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without question, she meant the second.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With her final words spoken, Melina closed her eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her body transformed into a towering pillar of fire and shot toward the Erdtree, which covered most of the Lands Between.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that very instant—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Arthur turned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His hand plunged into the blazing column and seized a small white light from within.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he withdrew, he looked at the faint glow resting in his palm and smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Farewell?\" he murmured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"More like… see you soon.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The white light was Melina's soul imprint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had extracted it before the flames could completely reduce her soul to nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as he replenished it with sufficient soul power and found a suitable vessel—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Melina could be revived.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And for Arthur, fulfilling those conditions was far from difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He glanced once more at the Erdtree now engulfed in flame.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Let it burn for now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Melina's intention had only been to burn away the thorns rejecting all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once they were gone, the fire should subside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for traveling to Crumbling Farum Azula and slaying Maliketh to release Destined Death?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What was that compared to resurrecting his wife?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that thought, Arthur left the Lands Between and returned to the Zen Garden to prepare the materials for Melina's rebirth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had overlooked one crucial detail.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Would the flames consuming the Erdtree truly stop as he expected?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If events had unfolded exactly as in the original game—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Melina had ignited the Forge herself and sacrificed her body—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then perhaps things would proceed as Arthur imagined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the reality was different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was not Melina who ignited the Forge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was Arthur.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And that single, subtle difference…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Would send the course of events down an entirely different path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Advance Chapters Available on Patreon\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>patreon.com\u002FWhiteDevil7554\u003C\u002Fp>",1005,"2026-06-06T04:19:46.382Z",1,"novelbin.me","e3bc8a026fad49b0445d6fe759337c5f9b6002dd0a917f7a602bfb026d296617","starting-at-hogwarts-logging-into-elden-ring-chapter-270","starting-at-hogwarts-logging-into-elden-ring-chapter-268",281,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstarting-at-hogwarts-logging-into-elden-ring-cover.jpg"]