The King's Beloved

[Music Recommendation: "Somnus" by Yoko Shimomura (instrumental only - FFXV OST) - available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in a loop while you read this part to experience the true atmosphere of this scene ~

Having a firm goal at hand, Elliot, along with the others, chatted a bit more in order to formulate a plan on how to completely subdue Avarus. Since they need not worry about the 12th Gate closing anytime soon now that the good side of Amare was with them, they decided to deal with him first. 

Sure, Elliot had an immense amount of magic within him and he was the strongest Magi that ever lived but Avarus' wits and evilness was not something to be taken lightly. After all, he succeeded in killing the late king and queen without fighting. Also, there were lots of strengthened Exsorbeos that they had to be careful with. Lastly, he couldn't possibly have acted everything alone. For sure, he had followers or accomplices that helped him achieve his goals and thus, adding to their worries.

"Regarding his followers," Calum started, "whoever they are, I'm sure we are stronger. We should be able to win against them if we battle against them. What we need to focus first is a strategy on how to subdue those… Exsorbeos. What do we know about it? And does anyone know of a way to defeat it or what it's weakness is?"

"There's only limited things we know since it was something created way, way back from the time of the Great Oracle. All knowledge of it was kept a secret and even mentioning had become taboo," Clavis answered. "What we know is that it targets a person's spiritual core and takes it as its own. Whoever it sees first, it locks on it and continues to chase it until it gets what it needs. And the new ones now are pretty powerful themselves. They can even break barriers created by a General."

"Yes. And not only that, even the late queen's barrier… that thing was able to break it," Illuminaire added. "The late queen's magic was greater than a general and very close to a Judge's."

"In that case, maybe the Judge's and Royal's barrier will work?" Selena asked. "But there's only four Judges, and well, two Royals." She glanced at Elliot and Calum.

"Hmm…" Elliot pondered for a moment. "I think we're focusing on the wrong thing."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Calum asked.

"We can't defeat it just by using a barrier. And we don't even know if a barrier will work."

"But we have to defend ourselves at least before attacking it."

"Yes but… why don't we just cut it's claws the moment it tries to attack?"

"But it moves too fast."

"Then we just slow it down—through time."

"Ah!" Clavis realized what Elliot was about to say. "I see. That can work."

"Won't the area be too big? We don't know where its coming from and how it's being controlled."

"In that case, we need to set up an extremely wide-range time magic. Like what Ducis is doing right now but bigger."

"Who can do such a thing? Time magic is one of the most complicated skills and it drains spiritual energy so fast. Even if I do it, I can only hold it for an hour if the scale is as big as the whole Floating Kingdom," Calum sighed. "Will an hour be enough to subdue all of them?"

"Don't worry," Elliot assured him. "We have the Guardians to help us." Then, he turned to Ducis and asked, "You should be able to do it, right?"

Ducis nodded. "Yes, master. But we will need a distraction or else they will notice me casting the magic right away. Since it's wide-range, like what happened here when I stopped time, a vast amount of spiritual energy will gather in the air and they will see it or feel it. I can try to hide the trace but the presence of magic will still be there. They will still feel it."

"Is there magic that can fool the senses?"

"I have an idea." Finally, Rania spoke and everyone turned to her. "As long as they can't see it, why don't we fool their sense of presence by masking it with something greater? With a spiritual presence more powerful than what Ducis will cast?"

Thinking about it, they all agreed with Rania's suggestion. And who was it that was more powerful than Ducis? Of course, it was Elliot. But the question was… how?

"Distraction… and something greater that can mask the presence of time magic…" Elliot mumbled. Then, as if he found the answer to his question, his face lit up and told everyone his idea.

Soon after, they finished planning everything and Ducis removed the time magic he cast within the Forbidden Chamber. All the Magi and humans trapped there were finally able to move again, not knowing everything that just transpired—only that, the position of Elliot's group changed a bit from how they saw it earlier. One moment they were scattered about, and the next, they were all together in a circle.

And so, they carried out their plan. Calum and Illuminaire were to stay for a few moments inside the chamber to talk to everyone there and explain the whole situation. They needed to gather troops who would aid them in battle. Clavis, Selena, and all the Guardians grouped themselves into two and surrounded the whole Floating Kingdom in different directions. 

Lastly was Elliot and Rania—they used Elliot's magic-imbued mirror to scout where Avarus was located. Much to their surprise, he didn't hide himself. Instead, they saw Avarus in none other than the heart of the Floating Kingdom itself—at the Grand Palace, sitting on the throne as if he had already announced himself as the new king. Along with him, were his many followers stationed all throughout the throne room.

"How dare he sit on that sacred throne!" Calum became furious when he saw it. Same with the twins and Selena, and the other Guardians.

Elliot, on the other hand, remained calm. He went with Rania towards the hole he made in the barrier of the Forbidden Chamber to reopen it for all of the team to get out and close it again to keep the rest of the Magi safe inside. Then, they teleported right in the middle of the throne room where Avarus was.

Avarus and his followers were shocked when they suddenly saw Elliot and Rania pop up in front of them. What's more, Elliot's gaze towards him was so intense that he felt his body burn and tremble.

"Avarus," Elliot called his name menacingly, sending shivers to him. "We need to talk."