A/N: and thus, one of my best projects thus far draws to a close, the first project I ever completed (barring one-shots I slapped together in an hour). It was an interesting experience, and now I hope to continue Scrolls vs Souls, my new favorite project as of late :3

I'm teasing the idea of creating another level concept- one set in ancient Egypt in the desert. No solid ideas, but if it goes into high enough demand, I'll consider it :3

Now that all you have to do is ride the elevator to the peak of the Observatory Tower, you have the option to summon Agathyn's assistance in the battle if you advanced his quest thus far (his ability to parry and high attack power will be very helpful in the last battle, and you get a few really sweet rewards).

A shortcut to the streets is to go out of the Shifting Mass boss room to a new corridor that unlocks upon beating him.

There will be an elevator to the base of the tower, next to the broken one you were told about much earlier. At the bottom, you can simply walk to the inside of a gate, and open it, putting you beneath the ruin, where you can go to Agethyn and talk to him:

"You crazy bastard, you really did kill every last abomination. I honestly didn't think it was possible at this point. Look, I'm no good at fighting monsters, never could figure the things out- but people: I'm real good with people. You have no idea what it's like- having your soul ripped out, and getting something else just- stuffed in, let me at that bastard in the Tower- I'm not as strong as you, but I'm not delicate."

No: "I see- don't want an angry old man slowing you down, that's fine. But if you change your mind, I'm right here."

Yes: "hehehehe- splendid- time to do some damage." He'll disappear the next time you leave the area or go to a bonfire, leaving his summon sign at the threshold of the elevator.

Final Boss: The Puppet King

You emerge from the elevator, into domed room- the dome made entirely of glass, allowing you to see the entire ruined, underground city below. A hole with a great prism hanging over it sits in the center, and to the far side, directly in front of the elevator, is the throne.

The whole time you ascend the elevator and access the cutscene, you hear the throne room's ambient theme: which incorporates church bells, a deep, booming chorus, and an Organ: giving this place an archaic, dark, but royal feel (Organ Jaws)

When you reach the top, the camera shifts to the great king: his throne is highly ornate, hewn from solid onyx. The king himself is an older man, not entirely superhumanly large- but easily seven foot nine to eight feet tall, giving him a menacing figure. He wears an aged, faded yet royal cloak faintly stained with blood and dust, his hands and feet solid brass, leading you to assume he has partially made himself a homunculus. The skin on his face shows signs of hollowing, deathly pail with his features slightly dropping and peeled, numerous self-inflicted scars over the whole right side of his face- though by the shape and pattern they are surgical cuts- clearly not battle scars.

Both his eyes are closed, but his royal circlet contains an artificial third eye- which trains on the player, the king opening his natural eyes- only to reveal those too have been replaced with brass one. He smiles-

"Undead-" he leers, rising from his throne to reveal his full imposing stature in the dim room, "So glad you could come. To replace me- or to vanquish me-" he laughs, "there's nothing here to rule, I'm afraid. But I've grown frightfully bored of this place- I think it's time I ventured, somewhere new- with a new beast at my command- one, more voracious and deadly than even I could conceive." He reaches to his side and draws a great straitsword with an ornate golden hilt and a blade of runed glass- which erupts into soul energy with a twist of his wrist-

The boss theme has elements of tragedy at all that's happened, angelic themes of his grace as a one mighty king, but tension at his great strength and the peril the player is in- as this boss is not only strong but has one of the deadliest and powerful special moves of any boss, I'll get to that in a moment (Devil May Cry 3- Vergil Battle 3)

His moves are fairly straight-forward: he has a very powerful sword that can be parried- but it moves so fast with so many strong movesets that balances striking with slashing it will not be an easy task. Aside from the blade, The Puppet King can use his free hand to access some powerful grab moves, and he is a Gold Medalist in kickboxing- his feet even faster and deadlier than his hands with many spinning kicks and karate kicks that will punish anyone that takes him from the side or back-

Trying to backstab this boss will not work- if you try- you will stab empty air as he backflips over your head and dropkicks you across the room for trying. He also cannot be stunlocked due to his mechanical legs, so you have to be wary he doesn't counterattack when you're beating on him.

His attacks have a slow rate- when he's done attacking, he will take a moment to march at you to show you what a terrifying beast he is- letting you attack, but if you try to take advantage and heal, he has a variety of lunging and jumping attacks that will trigger if you're not standing a good distance away.

By far his most dangerous moves are his magic ones- his sword is also a catalyst for powerful spells, he has very dangerous blue pyromancy flame attacks, and if he holds perfectly still and puts his hands to his temples- watch out because he has telekinesis and force which are unleashed as his eyes flash blindingly bright blue with a high pitched shriek, which can easily take you off-guard at close range and cause a lot of anguish.

This leads to another trait, you cannot attack him with magic while he is passive (walking around like 'oh, you only wish you were as beast as me') if you try, he will put out his sword- generating a white shield as his central eye glows brightly, reflecting all magic, pyromancies, and miracles.

But his deadliest move of all is possession: you can clearly see it coming when he stops, reaches into his robes, and draws a glass rod- like the broken ones you see on Agathyn and the ones you've seen intermittently on various enemies. That's your cue to get gone, as the Puppet King will run at you full speed with his arm outstretched-

He runs as fast as you do and this particular move is unblockable, so you need to make sure you store up stamina for the five-ish seconds it takes for him to draw the rod and start running.

If he gets close enough (within melee range), he will lunge and stab the rod into a random limb, paralyzing it for the rest of the fight. An arm cannot hold a shield or weapon, a leg results in half speed, unless he got both then you're SOL, and a torso results in less health, stamina, and equip capacity.

But the deadliest, which has the lowest chance of success, is the head. If he hits you there- you die instantly- game over- doneso. But it gets worse- when you resuscitate at the bonfire, all your equipment will be gone- missing from your inventory while you stand at the bonfire naked and fully hollowed.

You find your body with all your equipment again- in the boss room- fighting alongside the boss. That's right- you fight you, your highjacked body even getting its own healthbar next to the Puppet King, the king giving a special taunt when he does this.

Thankfully, Agethyn is a very strong ally and is immune to this move, still, be wary as this attack is fairly easy to avoid- you literally just run away for a few seconds, but potentially game-breaking if you're OP enough. He also can only have one stolen body on the field at once- so you don't get ganked by yourself.

When you finally dispatch this Great Lord, you get 60,000 souls, the Soul of Ruin: "The blackened soul of the Ruin King. Why he became the monster he is today is unknown- but though this soul is withered and rotten- it still possesses an unparalleled arcane might. Use the soul of this mad king to gather an incredible amount of souls or forge a unique artifact" which forges:

Arcane Glass Sabre: "The sword of the King of Ruin, though it's blade appears to be softened glass, it is eerily resistant to nicks and scratches- it's blade deriving strength form the souls the user has drawn from his victims- reflecting it's wielders insatiable appetite for strength." This sabre is a very physically strong straitsword with a good moveset and excellent magic damage, a scaling bonus of C across the board for strength, dexterity, and magic. It cannot be buffed with anything, but this weakness, however, pales in comparison to its special power: it derides power from the user's SL. 75% of it to be precise, up to a maximum of about +525 damage on top of scaling at max level, making it the strongest of all strait swords in the theoretical DksIII by a wide margin.

And the last reward: the Crown of Ruin: "A plain looking circlet containing an inset gem molded after the true King of Ruin's eye. With the strength to bind the abominations of the ruin, this is a fitting crown for a new monarch of the ruin." Wearing this will make all enemies in the entire region save optional bosses (by now all the required bosses in this particular questline are dead and the enemies aren't too much of a threat, so this isn't too gamebreaking) not only nonhostile toward you, but they will actively destroy anything hostile towards you, so you own the place.

You can even sit on the throne, listening to the ambient throne room music while your vision shifts to the floating oculi in the various maps to get a scenic view.

But wait, that's boring, how do we make this better? PvP!

If you invade another map (this only works for dickwraiths), the enemies on the map you invaded will actively assist you in destroying the host- the floating oculi pointing all the creature's in the area to your position to call reinforcements. Likewise, if you are invaded in any part of your world, you can find them and go out to battle with all the abominations helping you secure the world.

If the invader and the invaded are wearing crowns, the enemies will attack both in the battle of the kings, so the PvP potential for "Ruin King Invasions" would be very interesting, especially since there are oodles of rather unfriendly weapons secured from the quest line thus far :3

Lastly, if you had Agathyn's assistance, he will appear at the blacksmith's:

"Finally- I can get some peace and quiet around here, unless you decide to go mad and screw everything up as bad as he did." He laughs, "Nah- you seem like a pretty good kid. Here- I don't need this crap anymore anyways. And Thanks."

Uncanny Ring: "A plain, dark iron ring with few characteristics, but, sometimes, the best things are gained not from a great power or flashy effect, but a little touch of uncanny luck…" though it doesn't list it, this ring boosts your I-frames by 10- two full tiers of adaptability, speeds your parrying rate, and raises your critical hit rate by lowering the enemy's. It may look useless to most players, but to an experienced player that uses many advanced moves, the difference would be great- and since it carries no aura when you wear it, it could be a sneaky ace-card for rogues.

Scrap Greatsword: "A curved greatsword that's been patched so many times, one must wonder if any part of the old material remains. Nonetheless, despite its appearance, this blade is very strong in the hands of the capable." Does a good amount of damage and has a spinning two handed R2 attack to boot, plus, it can parry when held in the left hand or with both hands using L2. It's like a deadlier, slightly stronger Marakumo- that's even more dickishly fun with the Uncanny Ring ;3

And his old scavenger's armor, which carries various special effects like the Jesters Armor and has fairly good defense for a lightweight set:

Torn Welding Gloves: "A pair of tough gloves covered with scorch marks and coming apart at the seams. To a highborn knight, this homely gear will hardly be appealing, but its functionality is tried and true."

Rugged Coveralls: "Tough, heavy suit made to survives intense heat and tearing- covered with soot and shards of metal soaked in oil. To a highborn knight, this homely gear will hardly be appealing, but its functionality is tried and true"

Rusted Boots: "Steel toed boots that've walked so many steps, the pad has nearly torn from the lopsided, decrepit fabric. The steel toe and cleats are covered with rust. To a highborn knight, this homely gear will hardly be appealing, but its functionality is tried and true."