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.

night, when 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 into the abyss, and dooms

at the immortal Transcendent,

it wise, to drive

Noctis

but Sevirax the Dragon is just a mindless beast. Killing a beast is not too difficult, for a

disappeared, and his eyes suddenly

am blood of the Moon,

that, the sorcerer leaned back and took a sip of his

while… the wilderness is just so ghastly, you

sighed heavily, and then smiled

was a question that he

Finally, he said:

the kind of question people ask, or answer… but our lives will be depending

his hand

More or less the exact opposite of his. I am at my strongest under the moonlight, but grow

a bit, and then

insidious drug. The more someone spends time with her, the more they want to

grinned, then shook

we won't be able to make use of it, anyway. We will just have to kill him in

them looked at each other, and after

one. When we attack the Ivory City at night, and you are fighting the Sun Prince and Solvane… what, exactly, are

in confusion, then raised

Lords... you will simply have to destroy the Sun

a

fail to destroy them, at least keep them away from me for a

***

the island

plan of attacking the Ivory City… the battle the cohort was going to wage against two armies while Saints fought in the skies above

there was Mordret, who remained an unknown variable in this whole