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 kill his younger brother before dawn. That

the immortal Transcendent, and

to drive a

this, Noctis simply

Dragon is just a mindless beast. Killing a beast is not too

and his eyes suddenly shone with

am blood of the Moon,

the sorcerer leaned back and took a sip of his wine, slowly returning to

just so ghastly, you know?

sighed heavily, and

he really

Finally, he said:

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

waved his hand

nothing much. More or less the exact opposite of his. I am at my strongest under the

thought for a bit,

with her, the more they want to possess her, eventually giving in to irresistible desire. A terrible fate, no doubt,

then shook

Prince's Flaw… well, it doesn't 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

each other, and

night, and you are fighting the Sun Prince and Solvane… what, exactly, are we four supposed to

sorcerer stared at them in confusion, then raised an

with the Chain Lords... you will simply have to destroy the Sun Legion and the army of the

thought for a bit, and

you somehow fail to destroy them, at least keep them away from me for a while. Solvane and the Sun Prince… yeah, shouldn't take me

***

the edge of the island

that things were nearing the final stage, there was a lot he had to think about. There was the seemingly insane plan of attacking the Ivory City… the battle the cohort was

then there was Mordret, who remained