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.

the Ivory Dragon Sevirax is at his weakest. And we will kill his younger brother before dawn. That will be the push that sends him

at the immortal Transcendent, and asked

it wise, to drive

this, Noctis simply

beast is not too difficult, for a cunning hunter. And while I might

smile disappeared, and his eyes

am blood of the Moon,

a sip of his wine,

have not hunted for a while… the wilderness is just so ghastly, you

sighed heavily, and

a bit. There was a question that he really wanted to ask, but was

Finally, he said:

not the kind of question people ask, or answer… but our lives will be depending on your fight with the dragon. I think we have the right to

waved his hand

exact opposite of his. I am at my strongest under the moonlight, but grow weak in the

for a bit, and

with her slowly drives people mad 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… not exactly something we can use. Unless, of course, one of you… no, let's not think about

grinned, then

monstrosity and almost mindless, we won't be able to make use of it, anyway. We

them looked at each other, and after a long pause, Kai asked

the Ivory City at night, and you are fighting the Sun Prince and Solvane… what, exactly, are we four

them in confusion, then raised an

is it not clear? While I am preoccupied with the Chain Lords... you will simply have to destroy the Sun Legion and the

for a bit, and

me for a while. Solvane and the Sun Prince… yeah, shouldn't take me too long… I think you will

***

of the island alone and

seemingly insane plan of attacking the Ivory City… the battle the

who remained