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 ~

The whole throne room became silent the moment Elliot and Rania arrived.

The Anointed King and the Chosen Maiden… 

Such an overwhelming presence in one room…

Such irreplaceable people gathered in one room…

Avarus' followers—which were mostly Magi from noble families and Tribe Heads—cowered in fear as they stared in awe of Elliot and Rania. Elliot was the spitting image of the late king and queen… as if they're seeing them alive again when they should have been dead, only younger and more majestic in more ways than one. And the Chosen Maiden Rania, the human woman they used to look down on… it was as if an angel from heaven came down to deliver their demise. Their bodies and lips trembled to the point that they almost wanted to bend their knees.

But the same couldn't be said for Avarus. Though he flinched and trembled a bit, instead of fear, what he saw was an "opportunity". Yes, an opportunity to kill and destroy Elliot and Rania—people who bore the greatest threat to his own plans. Just showing themselves to him like that… how foolish of them. Only… were they really?

'Suddenly popping out of nowhere with just the two of them,' Avarus thought, 'they must have some sort of plan.'

Avarus did not stand and remained seated on the throne, looking down at Elliot and Rania. While the others alerted themselves, ready to cast magic at any time.

"If it isn't the young prince," Avarus greeted Elliot in a tone so proud that there was no hint of fear or cautiousness. "You've been alive all this time! I certainly did not expect that. But nevertheless, perhaps now I can thank you for your 'aid'. Thanks to you, I was able to eliminate the most stupid king and queen that existed."

Elliot and Rania clenched their fists. They couldn't succumb to anger or else their judgement would be clouded.

"Is that your definition of foolishness?" Elliot asked him in a menacing tone. With his burning eyes, he glared at Avarus, sending more shivers to his body. "Because for me, what I see right now is foolishness—in the most raw and concrete form."

"Ha-ha-ha-ha!" Avarus laughed hysterically. "It seems that the young prince has learned to talk back! Ha-ha-ha! Is that what you learned from hiding all these years? Hiding when you could have helped save our planet and it's people? But of course! You ROYALS only know how to hide! How to sit on your throne all day letting us nobles, and Tribe Heads do everything in our power to help and manage everyone. Sitting and doing nothing but look down on us. How does it feel now that you're the one being looked down upon?"

A mad man—that was the best way to describe Avarus' expression. In this battle of talks, it seemed that his very own hatred which he had hidden all those years couldn't contain itself and showed in his face.

"You mock the royal family from sitting on the throne when you yourself have coveted that same throne all these years," Elliot replied. "How foolish. Seeing as you're seated there right at this moment, do you hate yourself now?"

"Hah! How arrogant. I am not like your parents so NO, I don't hate myself. How about you? Do you hate yourself for feeling helpless? Weak? You may be powerful in terms of magic and have abundant spiritual energy as the gifted child you are but… you're surrounded by us. No matter how powerful you are, we can easily kill you right now. How stupid of you to deliver yourself to us in a silver platter."

"And yet you're not killing me."

"Ha-ha-ha! Not killing yet. I'm still enjoying myself looking down on a royal. Perhaps I can keep you as a slave and amuse myself every now and then by torturing you. Ahh… how sweet does that sound?"

"Lies," Elliot disagreed. "The reason you're not killing me is because you can't. And you don't know why I'm here with just me and the maiden. So, you're being cautious."

At these words, Avarus' smirk was gone in an instant.

"It seems that I underestimated the young prince," he sighed. "Indeed, what have you come here for? What is your purpose? Don't tell me you're planning on killing me? Because if you are, then you're on to a foolish conquest."

Avarus raised his arm, and a bunch of Exsorbeos appeared all around him—hundreds, or maybe thousands of them. They all aimed at Elliot and Rania. Elliot observed them and saw that they remained still, inside the octagonal boxes without attacking yet. Before, the moment it saw a Magi, it would immediately raise its claws and aim at the spiritual core. But for some reason, Avarus seemed to be able to control them.

The question was… how?

With his gifted eyes that could see what the others could not—something Avarus did not know—Elliot followed the flow of spiritual energy from the Exsorbeos and to Avarus. It was scattered and hard to trace but… he saw "it". Yes! A thin string connecting all the Exsorbeos unto Avarus! It was his ring! The ring on his middle finger was what he used to control them!

This time, it was Elliot who smirked towards Avarus. Raising his head, he scoffed at him, deliberately doing so to anger him more.

"Is that what you're using to threaten me?" Elliot's confident tone irritated Avarus. "If you're using numbers on me, then… should I use the same?"

As he provoked him, in his mind, he sent a telepathic message to Ducis who at that moment, floated adrift the sky, hundreds of meters above the throne room, and outside of the Grand Palace.

"Ducis, in my signal," Elliot said.

"Yes, master," Ducis replied in the same telepathic message.

"3… 2… 1…" Elliot counted in his mind.

"Perfect clone."

PWOOOOOOSSSSHHH!!!

One by one, hundreds—no, maybe thousands of Elliot's clones appeared inside the throne room! All bearing equal amounts of spiritual energy in them! Avarus' and his followers' eyes widened in surprise. They knew clone magic but for them, creating clones only produced lesser magic than the original one, thus, pretty useless in battle. It was easy to detect which one was a clone and not. But this… Elliot's clones… they were perfect and had immense spiritual energy none of them ever fathomed!

How could they possibly defeat such a person? Even the Exsorbeos will be confused which one is the real one, bearing the spiritual core.

At the same time, while they all got distracted on Elliot's perfect clones, Ducis started casting the wide-range time magic. A huge magic circle slowly drew itself above Ducis—a magic circle bearing the look of a clock. Far and wide it stretched until it was as big as the whole Floating Kingdom!