Shadow Slave

No one dared to speak for a few moments, unnerved by the sudden change in the sorcerer's mood. After a while, though, Effie tugged on his sleeve and asked:

"Uh, care to elaborate... Grandpa Noctis?"

Noctis looked at her absentmindedly, then flinched and jerked his sleeve away, wiping the spot where the little girl touched it with a repulsed look.

"G—grandpa? Who are you calling a grandpa, you critter?!"

He moved his chair away from Effie and stared at her menacingly for a moment, then threw a hurt look at Sunny.

Sunny shrugged.

"...You are a thousand years older than her."

The sorcerer opened his mouth with a deeply offended expression, then puffed and looked away.

After a long and poignant pause, he continued:

"Anyway… as I was saying, Sevras has three weaknesses. The first one is his Flaw — he is incredibly powerful during the day, but nearly powerless during the night. The second one is his brother… surprising, I know, considering what he did to the poor guy. But the Ivory Lord still genuinely cares about his younger sibling. In fact, that is probably the only thing he cares about anymore, apart from his duty and principles."

Noctis grew quiet for a moment, and then added in a somber tone:

"And the third one is his city. That… Sevras loves his people. But he also hates them. They are a burden that weighs heavily on his soul, one that he cannot escape. Their relationship had long been perverted by Hope, and by his own stubborn unwillingness to give up. Noble, righteous Sevras… he might seem like the sanest among us, but in reality, he is the closest to utter madness. All it will take to send him over the edge is one push."

The immortal Transcendent sighed, then shook his head reproachfully.

"That guy… ah, truly, he has always been too serious. You can't survive in this place without a sense of humor… even if you are immortal."

The sorcerer giggled at his own joke, and then looked at them with a relaxed smile.

will attack at night, when the Ivory Dragon Sevirax is at his weakest. And we will kill his younger brother before dawn. That will be

shivered, looked at the immortal Transcendent, and asked

to drive

Noctis

dreadful, but Sevirax the Dragon is just a mindless beast. Killing a beast is not too difficult, for a cunning hunter. And while

smile disappeared, and his eyes suddenly shone with pale

am blood of the Moon,

sorcerer leaned back and took a sip of

not hunted for a while… the wilderness is just so ghastly, you know? The dirt, the insects…

and then smiled

a question that he really wanted to ask, but was not sure

Finally, he said:

Flaw, then? I know that it is not the kind of question people ask, or answer… but our lives will be depending on your fight with the dragon. I think

his

nothing much. More or less the exact opposite of his. I am at my strongest under the moonlight, but grow weak in the sunlight. No reason

for a bit, and

with longing and lust, like an insidious drug. The more someone spends time with her, the more they want to possess her, eventually giving in to irresistible desire. A terrible fate, no doubt, but…

grinned, then shook

matter anymore. Now that he is encased in that steel monstrosity and almost mindless, we won't be able to make use of it, anyway. We will just have to kill him in a straightforward manner. So… do you

of them looked at each other, and

Noctis… just one. When we attack the Ivory City at night, and you are fighting the

sorcerer stared at them in confusion, then

Chain Lords... you will simply have

a

them, at least keep them away from me for a while. Solvane and the Sun

***

of night, Sunny came to the edge of the island alone and stood there for a while,

about. There was the seemingly insane plan of attacking the Ivory City… the battle the cohort was

Mordret, who remained