Yerin

Yerin Arelius
General information
Path	Path of Endless Blood
Rank	Underlady
Faction	Disciple of the Sage of the Endless Sword Adopted member of the Arelius
First Appearance	Unsouled
Family
Home	Unknown

Yerin is the companion of Wei Shi Lindon and the apprentice of the Sage of The Endless Sword. She is currently an Underlady on the Path of the Endless Sword and, following the death of her master, the only follower of that path. She is affiliated with House Arelius, the Skysworn, and the Akura Family.

Umm?

Yerin herself wasn't sure how old she was,
but twenty had to be about right.

-Uncrowned

Yerin doesn’t know her exact date-of-birth, because of her traumatic childhood. She thinks she’s about a year older than Lindon. In Uncrowned, book 8, Naru Saeya suggests she is about 20.

Appearance

In book 1, Unsouled, Yerin is very thin, and shorter than Lindon. She’s scruffy, like she has spent the past weeks camped out in the woods. She cuts her own hair with sword madra in a perfectly straight line to minimize its interference in combat. Initially, she wears a tattered black sacred artist's robe with a thick red cord tied around her waist, made of blood madra. Her "uninvited guest". Her skin is covered in thin white scars from practicing the Endless Sword technique. After she advances to Underlady, her body is reforged in soulfire and her scars disappear. Encouraged by Akura Mercy and Lindon, she allows her hair to grow past her shoulders but continues to cut her bangs short and straight.

Yerin-Ruby

Art: Yerin, end of Wintersteel, by felcandy, with permission. Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/felcandy.art/ felcandy.

Near the end of Book 8, Wintersteel, Yerin’s eyes become red and a lock of her hair turns red. Image by felcandy, with permission.

Personality

Yerin was dedicated to her beloved master, the Sage of the Endless Sword. Now that he’s dead, she clings to his teachings and his memory, seeking to succeed him as the next Sage of the Endless Sword, something that would come to hold her back. After her master was murdered in Sacred Valley she’s been suspicious of supposedly kindly strangers. However, once she gives her trust, she is totally loyal, especially to Lindon. She is an intense person, brave but not showy, without an ounce of self-pity. Her words are few but honest; her speech is habitually pithy and straightforward, but not mean-spirited. She doesn’t know when she was born. She is illiterate but she is intelligent and frequently comes up with dry-as-dust analogies, metaphors and similes. She hates and fears her Blood Shadow, a piece of the The Bleeding Phoenix, as it has murdered many innocent people, including her entire family.

Her Fear

She fears being alone. She lost her entire family at about age 7 to a hungry Blood Shadow (see Skysworn). She lost her master The Sword Sage at about age 16 or 17. She doesn’t want to lose anyone else that she calls friend or family. She values her relationships with Lindon, Akura Mercy, Ziel, Little Blue, Orthos the Sacred Beast, and Eithan Arelius.

Her Lord-Realm Revelations

• Underlady — Her personal revelation is that she first started practicing the sacred arts because she wanted to be strong enough to never again lose the one she loves and be left behind, or leave them behind (Underlord, book 6)
• Overlady — Her Overlord revelation was accepting that she is not her master, the Sword Sage. She cherishes his memory, but she is her own self. (Wintersteel, ch 23)
• Archlady —

Progression

Rank	Book & Chapter	Details
Jade	Debut	Yerin was a Jade when she first appeared in Sacred Valley with her master.
Lowgold	End of Book 1	Yerin took in her master's Remnant, advancing to Lowgold.
Highgold
Truegold
Underlord	Book 6 Chapter ?	Yerin advanced to Underlord in Night Wheel Valley. Her revelation was that she practices the Sacred Arts because she doesn't want to have to feel the pain of losing anybody she cares about, ever again.
Overlord	Book 8 Chapter ?	Yerin advanced to Overlord shortly before her last match in the Uncrowned King Tournament. Her revelation was to accept that she is not her master. She loves and admires him, but she is not him.
Half-Herald	Book 8 Chapter 25	In between the matches of her last match in the Tournament, she merged with her shadow, technically becoming a Herald while still an Overlady. In practice, she was not a true Herald, but something of a Half-Herald. Stronger and faster than an Overlord, but not quite to the level of an Archlord.
Herald
Monarch

Biography

Yerin was known to be a genius in her hometown before everyone was slaughtered by a Blood Shadow belonging to The Bleeding Phoenix. She was only seven years old.

The entire purpose of the Blood Shadow was to steal power by killing or possessing others and bring that power back to the Bleeding Phoenix, but Yerin hadn’t allowed hers to escape. Not since it had killed her parents. (Wintersteel chapter 16)

At only seven years old, she held the bloody thing back and stopped it from attempting to kill the Sage of the Endless Sword. Although he was completely safe, he was impressed by her willpower and natural talent, and chose to take her on as his apprentice. He challenged her and caused her many injuries and scars, taking her around the continent for training. When Yerin was about 16 or 17, he took her to Sacred Valley and went into the Labyrinth via the Ancestor’s Tomb on Mount Samara, intending to ask Subject One how to free her of her Blood Shadow. However, treacherous elders and jades repeatedly poisoned and then eventually ambushed and killed him, hoping to rob his treasures of his corpse. After his assassination at the hands of the Heaven's Glory sect, she was driven out of the temple they were using as a base. She met Wei Shi Lindon, avenged her master, and used his Remnant to ascend from Jade to Lowgold. About a month later, she met Eithan Arelius in the Desolate Wilds of the Blackflame Empire. He has guided her and Lindon ever since then. She joined the Skysworn (Organization) to fight Redmoon Hall, a Dreadgod cult. She competed in the 18th Uncrowned King Tournament. She also helped evacuate Sacred Valley and battled many hunger madra monsters and even a monarch in the Labyrinth.

• More information on Blood Shadows at Bleeding Phoenix

Powers and Techniques

Yerin is a top-notch sacred artist on the Path of Endless Sword who is consistently able to defeat opponents of a higher level of advancement, or multiple opponents of her level. After she merges with her Blood Shadow, she can do even more.

Notable Opponents and Duels

While a Lowgold in Soulsmith, Yerin was able to defeat 3 other Lowgolds who tried to attack Lindon. In Blackflame, Yerin as a new Highgold was able to give Jai Long, a Truegold, fear for his own safety until he decided to escape. As a Truegold in Underlord, Yerin (along with her newly advanced Blood Shadow clone) was able to simultaneously fight attackers from the Seishen Kingdom, Underlord Prince Kiro and Underlady gardener Meira. Her lifeline was cut and she was badly depleted. Later in the book, she again dueled the Seishen Underlady, advancing to Underlady herself and winning.

Tournament Duels

In the 18th Uncrowned King Tournament Yerin duels several contenders. Most notably she battled blindfolded against Altavian Arelius from House Arelius. At the end of book 7, she gave her all against her best friend Wei Shi Lindon Arelius. In book 8, she defeats Calan Archer from the Stormcallers and with Ruby’s help, she outperforms Yan Shoumei and her monstrous Blood Shadow Crusher.
Finally, as an Overlady-Herald, she fuses with Ruby and wins the crown against the gold dragon Sopharanatoth (ch 24-25 Wintersteel).

The Ninecloud Soul’s voice leaked in from outside. “. . .witnessing history here today! Sacred artists one and all, bear witness to the eighteenth Uncrowned King!” (Wintersteel chapter 25)

Innate Abilities

Steelborn Iron Body: Yerin's special Iron Body grants her superhuman strength dramatically beyond that of a normal Iron Body.

Sword Sage's Remnant: Yerin is bonded to the Sage of the Endless Sword's remnant. This grants her multiple other retractable limbs that end in swords, as well as access to some of the Sage's memories.

Blood Shadow: In Underlord, Yerin gains the ability to release her Blood Shadow, who is able to fight as an independent copy of her with all of her skills and abilities. She is well coordinated with her Blood Shadow.

Netherclaw — First employed to defeat Yan Shoumei via her Blood Shadow Ruby, in book 8, Wintersteel.

The black sword was called Netherclaw, named for the beast that guarded the Netherworld in the mythology of some culture Yerin didn’t care about. It was used by a slaughter artist centuries ago, an Archlord on a Path of blood and sword madra that had murdered anyone he came across to harvest their aura. He had eventually been stopped by a Sage…the Sage of Red Faith, in fact, though Yerin had a hard time imagining him saving anyone’s life, even by accident. Its binding was an advanced Forger technique, filled with the will of the murderer who had left it behind. Yerin had tried to activate it herself, but her compatibility with the sword was pitiful. The only reason she was able to use her master’s sword was her long history with it, and her familiarity with its power. Ruby could use the technique just fine, but she couldn’t survive doing it. Until now. Her copy of Yerin’s Diamond Veins had finally progressed far enough, her body was solid, and the spirit well had strengthened her madra. Scarlet madra Forged in lines over Ruby’s sword, weaving itself strand by strand, growing in power and intensity. (Wintersteel ch 21)

When Yerin merges with Ruby and advances to Herald at Overlady, Netherclaw becomes a truly terrifying weapon, used to defeat the gold dragon Sopharanatoth and win the 18th Uncrowned King Tournament, and Penance. (Wintersteel ch 24-25)

• See Advancement Level#Herald

Moonlight Bridge — a tournament prize for making it to the finals. She can travel anywhere instantly.

“The Moonlight Bridge!” the Soul announced, and for some reason everyone cheered at the construct’s name. “This Divine Treasure allows near-instant transportation anywhere in the world! Special credit is given to Reigan Shen. . . “There are some restrictions, of course, on such a miraculous power!” the Ninecloud Soul went on, and Yerin quenched her expectations. “Yerin cannot bring anyone along for the ride, and the Treasure cannot be used in quick succession. If she moves all the way around the world, the Moonlight Bridge can take up to three days to recover. But traveling within sight? That, she can do as much as she likes. Imagine the possibilities!” (Wintersteel chapter 22)

Path of the Endless Sword

Yerin was taught the Path of the Endless Sword by The Sword Sage, Adama.

Path Techniques

• Flowing Sword (Enforcer): sword aura is collected from the surrounding area with every movement of the sword. This technique strengthens Yerin's strikes as the fight progresses.
• Rippling Sword (Striker)sends out a wave of sword aura it can be launched from her remnant arms at her back
• Endless Sword (Ruler): waves of sword madra emanate from Yerin, cutting anyone and anything caught nearby. Any bladed edge caught in this technique will emit sword madra of its own, setting up a potentially deadly chain reaction. In Ghostwater, Yerin learns to control this better.

  Pain erupted all over Yerin’s body as her own flesh turned against her, seized by Yan Shoumei’s own Ruler technique. She’d burned soulfire for this, as it affected Yerin quickly, making her muscles twitch and her heart convulse. But Yerin didn’t need to move her body. Aura echoed from the black sword that had fallen at Yan Shoumei’s feet. The Endless Sword rang out, opening the Redmoon artist’s throat. (Wintersteel chapter 21)

• Frozen Blade technique — learned from the Winter Sage Min Shuei, who forged the wintersteel blade for Adama.

  Frozen Blade madra and icy aura erupted from her sword. White blades hung in the air like snowflakes as restrictive force enveloped them all. Yerin had an easier time controlling the madra than she had before, but it was still like wrapping her arms around the neck of a mad bull and trying to steer. (Wintersteel chapter 21)