Attack
Guard
Scaling
Requires
PassiveDark Moon Greatsword is a Greatsword in Elden Ring. The Dark Moon Greatsword scales primarily with Intelligence, Dexterity and Strength and is a staple weapon, in one way or another, in all From Software games.
A Moon Greatsword, bestowed by a Carian queen upon her
spouse to honor long-standing tradition.
One of the legendary armaments.
Ranni's sigil is a full moon, cold and leaden, and this sword is but a beam of its light.
Where to Find Dark Moon Greatsword in Elden Ring
The Dark Moon Greatsword weapon can be found at the following location:
- Found below the Cathedral of Manus Celes after giving Ranni the Dark Moon Ring. [Elden Ring Map here]
- You obtain the Ring by progressing Ranni's Quest, which is complex and requires you to do quite a lot of content:
- Radahn must be defeated so that the stars may once again move across the sky (with one crashing into Limgrave and unlocking access to Nokron.
- Retrieve the Fingerslayer Blade from the now accessible eternal city (the chest containing the item can only be opened once you have talked to Ranni at her Rise to join her cause).
- Return the blade to Ranni, and you will gain access to Ainsel River main from the teleporter located in Renna's Rise.
- Pick up the Ranni doll ahead of where you were teleported to, and talk to it three times from the nearby site of grace to be enlisted to fend off the Baleful Shadows located deeper in past Nokstella. Upon defeating said enemy the player is given the Discarded Palace Key.
- Use this key to unlock the chest that houses the Dark Moon Ring, located in the Raya Lucaria Grand Library.
- The last step is to continue past where you fought the Baleful Shadows, through the Lake of Rot to the Grand Cloister, down to the end where a coffin can be interacted with by the edge of a waterfall. This will take the player down to fight Astel, Naturalborn of the Void. It is after beating this boss that the Dark Moon Ring is actually required, as a seal will block further progress to the elevator to the Moonlight Plateau unless the ring is in the player's possession.
- At this point it is a case of running to The Cathedral of Manus Celes, carefully falling down the into the cave where Ranni is located with her dead Two Fingers, progressing through the interactions and dialogue with her and being given the Dark Moon Greatsword.
- Video Location
Elden Ring Dark Moon Greatsword Notes & Tips
- Weapon Skill: Moonlight Greatsword
- This weapon cannot be infused with Ashes of War
- Can't be enchanted with Magic or boosted by Consumables.
- Dark Moon Greatsword can be upgraded by using Somber Smithing Stones
- Causes Frost buildup:
(55) - This weapon has a unique R2, which fires a projectile when buffed by its skill.
- The projectile does 22 stance damage, or 35 when charged.
- The damage scales with weapon upgrade level and INT.
- The buffed R2's Projectile is affected by Godfrey Icon, Warrior Jar Shard and Shard of Alexander talismans. It is NOT affected by the Axe Talisman nor the Spiked Cracked Tear.
- With Update 1.07, the weapon's blade itself was given damage detection while imbued with it's skill. This allows the Axe Talisman to activate if using charged attacks against an enemy if the blade is within distance.
- Powerstances well with Helphen's Steeple, as both weapons share similar stat requirements and scaling
- Sell Value:
1000 - The Dark Moon Greatsword is part of the moonlight sword archetype of weapons appearing in other FromSoftware games. It debuted in the King's Field series as the Moonlight Sword, and has since appeared in Armored Core series as Moonlight laser blade, Demon Souls as the Large Sword of Moonlight, in the Dark Souls trilogy as the Moonlight Greatsword, and in Bloodborne as the Holy Moonlight Sword.
- One of the 9 Legendary Armaments.
- NOTE: As of Patch 1.09, the scaling values of this weapon were changed. Please refer to the Upgrades Table of this weapon below. Additionally, speed, range, recovery time and guard counter speed of Greatswords weapons has increased.
Moveset & Videos in Elden Ring for Dark Moon Greatsword
Dark Moon Greatsword PVP Poise Damage Values in Elden Ring
Patch 1.10 adjusted PVP Poise Damage of all Weapons including some Spells and Incantations. Please take note that these adjustments are exclusive to PVP.
One-Handed Attacks
- 1H R1 (1/2/3/4 Attacks): 203.5/165/101.75/110
- 1H R2 (1/2 Attacks): 330/330
- 1H Charged R2 (1/2 Attacks): 990/990
- 1H R1 Jumping: 305.25
- 1H R2 Jumping: 660
Two-Handed Attacks
- 2H R1 (1/2/3/4 Attacks): 264/132/132/143
- 2H R2 (1/2 Attacks): 363/363
- 2H Charged R2 (1/2 Attacks): 1089/1089
- 2H R1 Jumping: 396
- 2H R2 Jumping: 726
Dark Moon Greatsword Upgrades in Elden Ring
Please see the Upgrades page to understand the weapon bolstering process.
Requires regular reinforcement with Somber Smithing Stones.
This upgrade can be enchanted with Magic or boosted with Consumables.
| Attack Power | Stat Scaling | Passive Effects | Damage Reduction (%) | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Moon Greatsword | Phy | Mag | Fir | Lit | Hol | Sta | Str | Dex | Int | Fai | Arc | Any | Phy | Mag | Fir | Lit | Hol | Bst | Rst |
| Standard | 82 | 98 | - | - | - | 63 | D | D | C | - | - |  (55) |
57 | 63 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 44 | 21 |
| Standard +1 | 93 | 112 | - | - | - | 69 | D | D | C | - | - | (55) |
57 | 63 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 44.44 | 21 |
| Standard +2 | 105 | 126 | - | - | - | 75 | D | D | C | - | - | (55) |
57 | 63 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 44.88 | 21 |
| Standard +3 | 117 | 140 | - | - | - | 81 | D | D | C | - | - | (55) |
57 | 63 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 45.32 | 21 |
| Standard +4 | 129 | 154 | - | - | - | 88 | D | D | B | - | - | (55) |
57 | 63 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 45.76 | 21 |
| Standard +5 | 141 | 169 | - | - | - | 94 | D | D | B | - | - | (55) |
57 | 63 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 46.2 | 21 |
| Standard +6 | 153 | 183 | - | - | - | 100 | D | D | B | - | - | (55) |
57 | 63 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 46.64 | 21 |
| Standard +7 | 165 | 197 | - | - | - | 107 | D | D | B | - | - | (55) |
57 | 63 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 47.08 | 21 |
| Standard +8 | 177 | 211 | - | - | - | 113 | D | D | B | - | - | (55) |
57 | 63 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 47.52 | 21 |
| Standard +9 | 189 | 225 | - | - | - | 119 | D | D | B | - | - | (55) |
57 | 63 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 47.96 | 21 |
| Standard +10 | 200 | 240 | - | - | - | 126 | D | D | B | - | - | (55) |
57 | 63 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 48.4 | 21 |
Anonymous
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This sword + Blaidd Set + Altered commoner Headband --> epic Drip
- Anonymous
I was playing as a full sorcerer until I got this weapon and now I don't even cast spells anymore bcs this deals much more damage than anything I can do except the Comet Azur 0FP strat
- Anonymous
Imagine a newcomer to soulsbornekiro ring sees these comments and thinks, "why tf is everyone calling this their guiding moonlight?" S**t looks like a cult from their perspective :D
anyways 9/10 blue sword make me happy
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Aah, you were by my side all along...my true mentor...my guiding Moonlight.
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Demon’s souls is still my favorite in terms of gameplay and visuals(I mean have you seen that sword in the remake, it is one of the most beautiful looking weapons in the souls series)
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I like the trail it leaves when you swing it with the buff active
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arguably the best weapon in the game, even better than blasphemous blade
- Anonymous
PvE: S tier
Invasion: D+ tier
PvP: F
don't call an armament suck when u use it in wrong place eh.
- Anonymous
Does this scale well with strength or have I wasted 30 levels?
- Anonymous
If they gave us the real Moonlight Greatsword in DLC it wouldn't even be a bad idea.
The Dark Moon Greatsword would still have a big place in the game as it will do cold damage. The Moonlight Greatsword could do pure magic.
But in every game they have made the Moonlight Greatsword weaker. So I'd expect it to be more physical damage than magic if it actually showed up.
Also I can't be the only guy out there who gets mad at the fact someone at Fromsoftware made the Spellblade Set, yet knew people would use the Dark Moon Greatsword with the set. I don't mind the clothing, but the hat is so annoying with Dark Moon Sword big. The greatsword clips through the hat! Allow us to get another set that works with bigger weapons that boost magic damage or at least let me alter the hat to become a circlet!
Perfekt for chad Int builds who don't level mind. Get those points in hp and stamina instead, and go to town like a man
- Anonymous
Not as pretty as Bloodborne, but I like the buff and puff playstyle instead of using the limited "bullets" Wish it had unique casts for different r2 attacks though.
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And all it cost was an eternity of having a doll as a wife :)
- Anonymous
Arguably the best version of the MLGS in terms of damage, but the turquoise glow from Bloodborne holds a special place in my heart
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This is my favorite INT-scaling weapon because it's not actually that amazing for pure mages. Sure, it's got low physical stat requirements and its AOW scales well with INT, but 1) those charged attacks eat stamina like crazy, so a 15-END mage with no stamina can only swing it once before having to wait for the long stamina regeneration; 2) having tons of FP (mages love to have way, way too much Mind than is reasonable) doesn't help you because the weapon skill can be used 3 times in a single FP bar with just 12 Mind; and 3) there aren't many talismans that overlap between the DMGS and a spellcasting setup -- Godfrey Icon and Magic Scorpion Charm stay on, but your Graven-Mass Talisman isn't any good, and neither is your Radagon Icon. So your wizard guy ends up as less of a generic laser shooty guy and more of a pure melee guy who just happens to inflict frostbite easily and deal 1500+ damage with heavy attacks. Stack some poise to buff that greatsword hyper armor and invest in Endurance to swing multiple times and that's a whole build right there.
- Anonymous
well at least it's not the ds3 mlgs, that's about the only positive about it other than the design and how it fits into the lore of carian queens or whatever
- Anonymous
Guys am I the only one who didn't get it at the end of the quest? Someone knows a possible reason for that?
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The sword is said to be bestowed by a Carian Queen upon her spouse. So this proves two things.
Firstly, Ranni is a Carian Queen and the Carian’s legal heir. Secondly, the moment we receive this sword, it means we married Ranni and become her legal husband.
Her ending is also the best to me actually, we open a new age though we don’t know whether it’s bad or good but at least, we pursuit the new and get rid of the old. Don’t know why brainless peoples blaming on this character so much. B/tch please! This is Lands Between, whenever a conflict happen, don’t tell me you expect them to sit down and talk? Even on Earth is not that peaceful, there are several wars happening right now all around the world. So of course the demigods will go into a war, fight and kill eachother for their own goals, Ranni is no different. With or without Ranni, the Lands Between will just ****ed up sooner or later, her presence only speeds the matter because obviously Marika have plotted this for so long, not only because of Godwyn’s death did she do this. These dudes are blaming a character without even know what is going on in the game pfff.
- Anonymous
People in this page have de evolved to “if your opinion doesn’t match mine you must be mentally challenged and your parents throw you on the floor as a baby because of how stupid you are”. People can have different opinions then you
- Anonymous
This thing is a beast that killed my magic build, it abuses talismans like no other weapon in the game since a point blank fully charged strong attack under its buff can benefit from a ludicrous number of talismans, even if you dont hit the point blank its damage is on par with things like comet and the poise damage is just unfair at times, AND IT PROCS FROST. So I start wondering why I even cast spells when this thing just kills faster and for less FP, I was trying to play an Intelligence build not a second strength build in disguise.
- Anonymous
I mean it’s not bad, it’s just, it doesn’t have the same other worldly feel like the other ones have, this feels almost too…simple, like it’s a ice sword, there is another sword that is ice, heck there are swords that are made out of holy text and the blade of death and a sword made out of a literal god. This sword just feels like “Ice sword”, I wished it kept thr same general design of the other ones.
- Anonymous
How do I buff this thing?
I'm at 70Int, with the godfrey icon & graven mass talisman, I dont have shard of alexander yet, but i feel like I do bullshit damage. like 900ish on a charged R2
is it just because im not buffing with mixed flask, golden vow constantly? Either way i love this weapon because its simply pretty to look at.
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It looks amazing, I like frost addition, it fits well in the game's lore. But in the game where every other weapon has a projectile laser wave or aoe explosion, I'd expect a little bit more from the moonlight to make it truly unique. I really dont like weapon skills that are buffs. If it was buff but at the same time an attack, like DS3 moonlight or GS of Judgement that had 2 attack variations that buffed the sword at the same time, it would be perfect. Now you have R1 and R2, thats it. R2 is very good, but you put sacred blade on random greatsword and you have 1 attack more on it.
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People who go on about other people who got the Age of Stars ending are so annoying. It's a video game, let them get the ending they want. Ranni Enjoyers also need to chill, cool you like her, don't need to attack everyone who doesn't agree with you lol. But hey this is the internet and an anon comment isn't going to change anything.
Honestly one of the ugliest MLGS in the series. Let’s start with the handle, instead of the shiny metal handle we get a frozen over handle that makes it kinda like a frozen tree branch. Now let’s get to the handle, now instead of the bluishGreen that literal been there since king field, the literal first time it ever appeared, and it replaced it with a dark blue, I mean it’s alright I guess, but its only good looking once buff it. It’s not a ugly sword by any sort, but compared to basically every other MLGS, it’s one of the worst looking
- Anonymous
Its so goddamn strong, i killed elden beast before he could run away(it got staggered), and i didn't even get many buffs. I think its pve stance should be nerfed, otherwise it outshines most weapons.
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from mythical glowing great sword forged from the tail of an immortal crystal breathing dragon to dowry popsicle. Look how they massacred my boy.
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what could i power stance this with? been using marais executioner's sword but, i want to try something different.
- Anonymous
Top 3 PVE weapon right here combined with all the sorcery that int builds get, nothing can challenge you
- Anonymous
I think the stat requirements have changed, for me it says it requires 20 int and 20 Arc now
- Anonymous
Is it just me, or does the blue-cyan color scheme of ER darkmoon greatsword look more like a moon than the previous title’s green?
- Anonymous
You got this sword since your a simp
I got this sword since moonlight great sword is awesome
We are not the same
- Anonymous
Does ranni's set affects the damage of the projectile and infusion of the great sword? What set also does?
- Anonymous
I don't get why some people think this thing is bad. I absolutely annihilated some fights with this & Mimic Tear, including Melania and Mohg, needing about 10 and 2 tries respectively. Buffed R2 hits like a freight train, and your mimic wields that same freight train. Not to mention it has frostbite for even more damage.
That thing is the best excuse for a wedding ring ever.
- Anonymous
After getting this sword at around level 100'ish I respecced to an int build (which i haven't tried yet) and my goodness what an absolute beast this thing is. The charged R2's with the weapon art active hit stupidly hard and I was stance breaking enemies i've never even broke before. All the enemies I once feared now began to fear me. Rune bears, revenants, ulcerated tree spirits, you name it they were getting full moons sent at them with a side of charged R2s. First time I made it to the final boss and I had them on their knees within seconds.
Thing is nuts and hard carried me through the later half of my playthrough. The power was addicting. I tried using other weapons and found myself swapping back to this bad boy minutes later
- Anonymous
This weapon is an absolute beast both in pvp and pve seriously no joke.
- Anonymous
Just to help people out with this weapon, the spiked cracked tear does not enhance the damage of the wave attack. It's very confusing and convoluted what works and what doesn't, but yea. Just retested it yesterday on some NPCs keeping everything constant, and can confirm the charged attack tear does not increase the charged wave attacks. It doesn't increase any projectiles at all, only melee attacks.
Things that DO work are the jar shards, magic tear, magic scorpion charm, and any other body or aura buffs. Use the other tear slot for whatever you want, maybe increase intelligence more, opaline bubble, crimson bubble, etc.
-TitNinja
- Anonymous
I'll get down voted to hell for saying it, but I don't care for this weapon. I miss the greenish glow and more classy appearance of the older versions. I know it'll never happen, but I'm holding out for a true Moonlight Greatsword in the dlc- as opposed to this blue dollar store ripoff that you get for serving one of the least sympathetic characters to ever grace a soulslike.
- Anonymous
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Every Moonlight sword was green, even the one in Armored Core, so f this, I still wish for another one in dlc. With DS1/DS2-like light waves, DS3-like weapon skill and pure magic damage. A man can dream.
- Anonymous
Wield this with minimum str/dex and 80 int. Equip the axe talisman, godfrey ican, shard of alexander, and magic scorpion charm. Spiked cracked tear and magic damage tear in the physic. With this setup, the weapon gets over 1000 AR with the L2 buff active. Use charged attacks, make sure the actual blade connects with the enemy. This way you get the damage of the blade (buffed by the magic dmg buffs, spiked tear and axe talisman), and the projectile (buffed by the mgic dmg buffs, godfrey icon and shard of alexander). Strongest PVE build I have ever used at just over 500 hours on the game, very fun too.
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What a gnarly wall of text on acquisition. Let's condense it:
Requires completing the majority of Ranni's Quest:
Defeat Radahn
Pledge yourself to Ranni in her chamber
Enter Nokron, retrieve Fingerslayer Blade
Return to Ranni, enter Renna's Rise, take waygate to Ainsel River Main.
Pick up Ranni doll and talk to it three times
Defeat Baleful Shadow in Nokstella, get Discarded Palace Key
Open the chest in Raya Lucaria Grand Library, get Dark Moon Ring.
Proceed through Lake of Rot to the Grand Cloister, down to a coffin which will take you to the Astel, Naturalborn of the Void.
Defeating Astel grants access to the Moonlight Altar, where you will find the Cathedral of Manus Celes.
Inside the Cathedral is a cave which you can decend to find Ranni, who awards you the Dark Moon Greatsword.
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Anyone remember those days where you'd need to carry like a bajillion Repair Powders for this weapon? :D
Glad Elden Ring got rid of weapon durability...
- Anonymous
Hot take: I liked moonlight wave more before its tracking got patched, purely for PVP. For PVE its now 100 times better, but for pvp it used to be a fantastic rollcatch, now it tracks to the rolling guy which means it shoots the ground, you have to free aim it every time for it to go horizontal and actually have a chance to hit someone.
- Anonymous
My favorite weapon from an aesthetic point of view. Fun but probably way too op
- Anonymous
ahhh you were with me the whole time my awesome Sword my epic moon greatsword!!
- Anonymous
Use spellblade set, shard of alexander, godfrey icon, axe talisman, magic + charged attack tear, and every boss gets easily poisebroken and destroyed. I no-hit elden beast on my first try with this
- Anonymous
Pair it with kriss and and sword of Milos. Milos is just for fp restoration. Kriss benefits from the same talismans as DMGS so you can use it against single enemies or as a ranged attack on softswap.
This is the strongest setup I've ever tried and the reason I think int is overpowered in PVE
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If you're going for something around 50 INT 40 STR Helphen's is better than this.
If you're doing the opposite then a cold Iron GS is better and has flexible AoW options.
This weapon is only good at being iconic
- Anonymous
"The sword is named after moonlight, but it is slightly different than the one fashioned of the paledrake Seath. Perhaps it is rooted in an older memory, from not long after the Beginning."
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I liked this weapon, at the beginning, but now it seems to me one of the most boring weapons to use in the game despite the high AR, this because the bad moveset and only consist in spamming R2 to the death. It's funny, because probably the most powerful iteration of the Moonlight Greatsword to date is also the rawest.
- Anonymous
I still wish for another moonlight greatsword in the dlc, that will have an attack instead of buff for its skill. It can be an attack that also buffs it for r2 projectiles, or just DS3 weapon art thrust. I like this weapon, I actually made my 1st character with an intention to find it and use it when the game launched, before even anyone knew it existed and I spend hundred of hours with it since then. I just always feel like a buff for a weapon skill equals one attack less in the weapon's moveset.
Hopefully there'll be another Carian princess we can seduce with out elden charm. Or at least we could get Rennala's sword before it was reforged by Radagon.
- Anonymous
This sword is so good that I got bored half way through the game
moral of the story INT is boring and go use the zweihander
Does this one have a backstory like bb's holy moonlight or it's yet another "blue big sword that somehow made it's way through separate worlds along with patches" ?
we finally got a good MLGS in armored core 6 , the curse is broken! praise the sun!
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An interesting property of this weapon is that the r2 seem to be in a higher poise damage category. Similar to collosal weapons r1 and great sword jumping r2.They can make flinch enemies that normally don't flinch to greatsword r2. This is true even of the unbuffed r2. So in addition to being a laser sword, it is also the black knight sword
- Anonymous
this weapon is a beast, i can reach almost 1000 AR with buffs, just spam r2 and demolish anything.
FYI for anyone that comes across this that is also doing a melee build: It has a 38 Int required attribute.
- Anonymous
Man I miss the Moonlight Greatsword from DS3.. Moonlight Vortex hit like a damn truck and it looked cool as hell, and the charged L2's felt more satisfying to use but that's just me. In my biased opinion the only things this version has over the former is the added frostbite build-up and that it's no longer affected by durability.
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This sword probably the most economic use of FP of any weapon I've tried.
- Anonymous
If you depend on the weapon art to use this greatsword, you aren't worthy of wielding it.
- Anonymous
Easy S-tier PvE weapon. Usable in PvP, but the R2s need the AoW buff first, leaving you open, is short, and very telegraphed.
- Anonymous
Hopefully after patch 1.10, R2 has a bit of hyper armor? If so, it has some potential to be a trading machine.
- Anonymous
Kind of strange not one person mentions the major negative of this weapon. You have to use the skill to keep the buff up and it has an animation. So mid battle good luck finding a moment where you can buff the sword during this seconds long animation that leaves you wide open and can be interrupted. Without the buff the heavy attack (R2) doesn't fire a projectile.
- Anonymous
Ah... You Were At My Said All Along...
My True Mentor...
My Guiding Moonlight...
- Anonymous
bloodborne fans trying not to quote ludwig for 5 seconds challenge (impossible)
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"This sword, it's been in my family for generations. And only a real man can wield it true."
- Anonymous
Stop quoting Ludwig here, bloodborne was bad *Grabs a bag of popcorn* good, now that everyone is already seething and malding while pounding the dislike button harder than radagon pounds you when you try the moon wave attack on him, let's get into the real comment.
Nice sword, cool design, playstyle can be a little stale since you rely on the r2 wave a lot. All in all nice weapon tho. And now my little moonlight cupcakes, no I don't hate bloodborne, I love it in fact, I just want to see the world burn, so take this sword and pound mohg so hard that his stance breaks and then thrust the sword so hard into him that even the lord of blood feels it and then take the frenzied flame and become Mommy Hyetta's little frenzied cupcakes <3
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