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Veni Vidi Vici	By : Saber007 Category: Final Fantasy Games > Final Fantasy XV Views: 1503 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy XV, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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- 4
"Why are you here with Lunafreya? What's the emperor playing at?!" Nyx shouted at Imperatrix.
"I have no idea what's going on. I am as confused as you are." She didn't back down from the glaive's anger.
Her nose still stung from resetting it and she had a throbbing headache. Imperatrix's patience was already dangerously low and dealing with a grieving soldier was not helping matters.
Nyx's comrade had just been killed by a daemon and at the moment he was looking for an easy target to vent on. In his mind Imperatrix was indubitably behind this.
As if she planned to be locked in a room with Lunafreya on an airship monitored by magitek soldiers while her father signed the peace treaty. As princess she was meant to be present and stand as a witness.
"Bullshit!" Nyx seized her arm, yanking the princess closer. "Tell me what's going on!"
"I don't know!" Imperatrix insisted, grimacing from how tightly he was squeezing her arm.
If he didn't let go she would respond in kind with violence.
Lunafreya hesitated to get between the two. She was unsure of the validity of Imperatrix's answers.
The imperial princess had awoken in the same room as her and was confused as to why. The oracle found it hard to believe that General Glauca had subdued and kidnapped Imperatrix. He was a dog of the emperor and Iedolas wouldn't harm his precious heir.
Yet, the oracle wanted to believe Imperatrix. She had shown Lunafreya kindness and it didn't make sense for her to lock herself in an airship.
"Hold on a sec." Nyx loosened his grip on the princess to speak into the comm in his ear. "Target secured, but I've got some added baggage."
Imperatrix glared right back at him as he relayed the situation to his superior.
"Are you kidding, Captain?!" The glaive complained, letting go of the princess to speak further without being heard.
His expression went from miffed to enraged.
"What did your captain say? He must have forbade you from killing me with your level of displeasure." Imperatrix rubbed her arm, cautiously observing the man for any sudden moves.
She was unarmed and bogged down by a party dress. If he had been given authorization to torture her for information the princess wouldn't be able to overpower him.
"You're coming with me, Princess Imperatrix. You're now a hostage of the crown." Nyx informed her.
She huffed. The tormenting would come later then.
Or perhaps they planned to use her as leverage.
King Regis could present her father with an ultimatum; leave Insomnia undisturbed or watch his daughter be executed.
A wise tactic for a weakened enemy backed into a corner.
The glaive could tell Imperatrix opposed his order, his fingers twitched, tingling with magic. "Are you going to resist?"
The princess saw actual sparks emitting from Nyx's hand and clenched her fist. "Do as you will, Glaive."
"Smart move. I'd hate to blemish your record as The Unbreakable Sword."
"Revel to your heart's content. Were I armed, you would be crushed, Hero."
"Guess we'll never know."
Nyx tugged Imperatrix forward into a sprint. Lunafreya hastily followed them.
The three weren't running down the ramps long when they caught sight of an explosion coming from the city.
Large specks of colored light appeared on the Great Wall of Insomnia, expanding along the dome. Then suddenly, as if something had struck it, the wall shattered with millions of pieces falling like stars into Insomnia.
"It's gone…" Lunafreya whispered brokenly, clutching onto the window to hold herself up.
Nyx let go of Imperatrix's arm, staring unfocused out the window.
The last line of defense against Niflheim had been destroyed. There would be no where else to run.
"But how?" The princess was both horrified and amazed at the sight of the wall collapsing. A terrible weight settled in her stomach.
What was going on in the city? Was her father safe?!
A pair of glaives approached the three.
Nyx tore his eyes from the window to shout at them. "Fall back, it's a trap!"
They ignored him, pressing on towards them.
"Didn't you hear me? I said fall back!"
As he moved to meet his comrades another glaive dropped from above, landing behind Lunafreya. The glint of a dagger prompted Imperatrix to pull the oracle away and snap at Nyx.
"Stop him!" She demanded.
He didn't delay, intercepting the attack and snapping the glaive's neck. Nyx froze, it suddenly hit him that he'd killed someone he fought alongside countless times.
"What the hell's going on?" He asked, willing his hands to stop shaking.
"You have been betrayed!" Imperatrix's blunt proclamation snapped him out of his stupor.
He was helpless to stop one of the glaives from stabbing the another comrade. The dead soldier was tossed overboard like garbage.
Lunafreya gasped at the savagery.
"You bastard!" Nyx shoved his regret to the back of his mind and charged.
The fight was put on hold by the ship lurching from an exterior impact. Fire erupted in the area.
The glaive hurriedly helped the girls up an entryway to escape the flames. With the ship's new angle, all three slid uncontrollably down a hall and to the outside portion of the splitting airship.
The oracle grabbed onto the nearest object, which turned out to be the princess. Nyx caught Imperatrix's hand, stopping the girl's fall. He yelled in exertion from sustaining himself and two bodies.
Their arrangement wouldn't last long. He had to do something, fast. The choice was made by a rouge glaive attacking him and Nyx was forced to let go of the girls.
Lunafreya and Imperatrix screamed as they fell.
The princess racked her brain for a solution to their predicament, but there was none; Nyx was fighting off the enemy and they were falling too fast for him to reach them.
They were going to fall to their deaths!
Strangled gasps came from the girls as they were grabbed midair by the tentacle of a daemon. It roared in their faces, revealing sharp teeth with bodies still caught on some of the dentures.
The oracle felt ill from the sight.
"Hold on!" A falling Nyx screamed, hurling his kukri into the tentacle holding the girls and teleporting beneath them.
Fire gathered in his hand.
"Nyx!" Lunafreya called worriedly.
"You are going to get killed, you reckless fool!" The princess berated the dangling man.
"Didn't know you cared." He retorted, preparing to launch the fireball.
The daemon swung its tentacle, attempting to shake off Nyx. The motion caused the fireball to explode near the beast's body and it howled. More fireballs were launched at it till the daemon dropped the girls.
The gliave jumped after them, using the kukri to teleport closer when debris got in his way. He reached for the girl nearest to him and latched onto a beam. Unfortunately, it broke under their weight and Nyx lost his grip on Imperatrix.
The princess managed to grab ahold of the ramp and hung precariously with Lunafreya clinging to her hand. Nyx swung himself up to the ledge and leaned over it.
"You've got some muscle for a princess." He reached for Imperatrix's arm.
"I am not a princess from storybooks." The princess grunted, turning red from the strain.
The glaive snorted. "No you're not. Now let go, I've got you."
Nyx couldn't pull her up unless she let go. Imperatrix looked away from him to Lunafreya.
Protecting her subject and more importantly, Ravus's sister, came first.
"Take Lunafreya."
"Are you crazy?! You can't pull her up. Just let go!" He punctuated this command with a squeeze on her wrist.
"Our combined weight will be too much for you. Secure Lunafreya!"
"Seriously?! Stop argu--" Nyx paused to asses the daemon returning for them. "Pull her up then!" He conceded.
Imperatrix warned the girl before she began the arduous task of lifting the girl. Miraculously, she accomplished getting the oracle to Nyx.
Lunafreya held her hand out for the princess and she took it. The glaive reclaimed his previous hold on the princess's wrist.
This time when told to let go, she obeyed and was pulled to safety.
"That was ballsy!" Nyx panted, impressed that Imperatrix had stuck her neck out for Lunafreya without any prompting from him.
She didn't have to insist on saving the oracle first.
Niffs were notorious for only caring about themselves. Color him surprised!
"Look out!" Lunafreya warned them too late.
The daemon swopped down on them, tentacles whipping at Nyx. He created a barrier to deflect the assault, but that left the ramp they were standing on to take the damage. The structure began detaching from the wall.
Another airship arriving distracted the daemon and Nyx snarled. Being attacked on two fronts was entirely unfair!
The bridge lowered and a familiar face stepped out.
"Luche!" He yelled enthusiastically.
The blonde man didn't get a chance to respond as a tentacle knocked him away.
Imperatrix sighed, dismayed. "He had the element of surprise...and he wasted it."
"Shut up." The glaive weakly countered. Out of the corner of his eye, Nyx detected Lunafreya moving away. "What're you doing?!"
His hand missed reaching the oracle as she leapt off the ramp to a lowered panel and pulled herself into the interior of the ship.
"Go, go!" He panicked, pushing Imperatrix in the same direction.
"We are too far from it now!" She pushed back against the shoving.
The girl's actions had dislodged the ramp. A jump from their present location would fail.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Nyx groused, tempted to punch something. "Only one way to get there now."
"And that is?"
"Don't hit me."
"Why would I do tha--"
Imperatrix sputtered incoherently as Nyx tugged her to his chest and threw his weapon. Instantaneously, they were transported to the inside of the ship and rolled into a wall with the princess sprawled on top of the glaive.
"I am going to be sick." She slipped off Nyx and fought off the urge to dry-heave.
Teleporting was ineffectual on the battlefield if it left soldiers in such a state of motion-sickness and disorientation. The crystal's magic was downright dreadful.
How did the Kingsglaive suffer through teleportation?!
"It'll pass." Nyx assured her.
The princess wobbly moved into a sitting position.
"Come on, we don't have time." He carefully helped the dazed woman to her feet. "Where could Lunafreya have gone?"
"She went for the cockpit." Imperatrix pointed to the door most likely taken by the girl.
"How do you know that?"
"It is what I would have done."
Nyx decided to follow her advice and let the princess lead him to the piloting area. Lunafreya was indeed inside and trying to work the controls.
The glaive raced up to the oracle.
"They teach piloting back at the royal academy?" He jibed.
"They do, it is a fairly basic skill in the empire." Imperatrix threw back, moving to take over. "I will fly the ship."
"Yeah, fly us right to Niflheim and stuff us in a cell!" Nyx shot her down, swatting her hands away from the controls.
Lunafreya leaned back in the seat, avoiding the feud.
"Do you want to die? You have no idea how to fly this aircraft!"
"I've got an idea of how to." He replaced the oracle in the pilot's seat and flippantly gestured to the co-pilot seat. "Better buckle up, ladies."
Imperatrix scoffed, unimpressed. "Buckle up for our imminent deaths."
"I got this!"
"I do not mean to insult you...perhaps Imperatrix should pilot..." Lunafreya butted in, deciding to give the princess the benefit of doubt. the princess had saved her, a little trust was warranted.
"You too?" He looked mildly wounded. "I commandeered an imperial airship once or twice. I'm not full of hot air."
The explanation soothed some of Imperatrix's worry, but she still wasn't convinced.
"We're wasting time with this, please take your seats."
"Show me these flying skills of yours then, Glaive." The princess yielded, sharing the seat with Lunafreya.
"Prepare to be so amazed you'll be offering me a job!"
The ship smoothly angled away from the debris of the other fallen dreadnaughts and towards Insomnia. Seeing that Nyx proved to be a competent flyer, Imperatrix turned scolding eyes onto the oracle.
"Do not be so rash next time, Lunafreya. You could have died!" Jumping from a ledge and steering an aircraft was beyond foolish for a girl as sheltered as her.
The girl bristled at the chastisement, justifying her actions with a stubborn frown. "I was trying to help."
"By gambling that you would make that leap? Or by hitting every button on the console and hoping the ship would move?"
The oracle pursed her lips, cheeks taking on a pink hue. "Given time I would have figured it out."
Imperatrix blinked, not expecting such an immature argument from her.
"That is an impudent girl speaking, not the oracle of Tenebrae." A sigh escaped from her. "And Ravus lectured me about rooting out childish behavior."
The hypocrite!
"I will not stand idly by when I'm able to do something!" She cast her eyes to the side, clenching her dress with balled fist.
The princess shook her head. The girl was missing the point.
"It is not your reasoning I was admonishing, it was your methods."
Lunafreya remained silent.
Truly, it was like dealing with one of her sisters whenever Imperatrix sat them down with an explanation for the scolding. The oracle was far more bull-headed than any of three younger girls and wouldn't be owning up to her mistake.
The females were jerked forward as the ship dipped sharply downward.
"What are you doing?!" Imperatrix shrieked.
They were headed towards a tower at a rapid rate.
"We've got a daemon to get rid of." Nyx responded and right on cue, tentacles obscured the view.
"How is this going to get rid of it?! Pull up already!"
"Quit shouting orders and watch!" At the last moment he swerved, impaling the daemon on the tower's tip. "How bout that, Princess Imperatrix?!"
She rolled her eyes at the smirking glaive. "Well played. Maybe I would offer you a job."
"So you can be nice."
The ship rocked from an internal explosion. Nyx frowned, checking if he still had control.
"Take me back to King Regis." Lunafreya abruptly demanded.
"Are you outta your mind? Insomnia's a war zone." The glaive rejected the idea.
"I have a duty. I cannot neglect it." She pushed the subject.
Imperatrix wasn't sure what they were going on about. The duty of the oracle was to heal starscourge and commune with the gods. What did King Regis have to do with any of that?
Lunafreya should be more concerned with finding her brother.
"I've heard all that before." Nyx pointed out dryly.
"Then you know we must hurry!"
"Hurry to do what?! Get yourself killed like you almost did earlier?!"
What was with her blind confidence?!
Lunafreya was the oracle for crying out loud! Shouldn't she be more level-headed?
Nyx could only attribute her behavior to the stupidity of royal privilege. Royals had in their heads that they could do just about anything.
He'd wanted to cuss her out for the stunt on the ramp, but Imperatrix beat him to it.
The "hero" moniker of his was really a snide reminder of all the dangerous stunts he pulled on the field, but maybe Lunafreya Nox Fleuret deserved it more.
Nyx could at least take of himself in dire situations.
"I do not fear death!" Lunafreya proclaimed.
"Oh, enough with this almighty princess act!" Nyx slammed his hand on the dashboard. The look of alarm on her face caused him to sigh and dial back the aggression.
"Where are we going?" Imperatrix posed in the lull.
She wanted to locate her father, but the princess knew he was in safe hands between the chancellor, Ravus, and the guards.
The oracle was the more pressing responsibility and couldn't be abandoned.
"Just pray this thing makes the trip." Nyx dodged the question.
The princess also hadn't forgotten that the glaive claimed her as his hostage. Were she to flee he would pursue her.
"The crystal!" Lunafreya leaned forward.
The magical artifact was being towed to a warship. Her father must've been aboard the very one.
Had he…conspired this whole situation?
Was the peace treaty a scheme to capture the crystal?
The emperor couldn't have done all this for a rock...
"You are going too fast. You have to land." Lunafreya remarked to the pilot.
"You're gonna have to give me a minute on that."
The sensors and alarms started ringing.
"Would you like to switch now?" Imperatrix offered snidely in light of Nyx's agitation.
"Not a chance!"
"There is no time. I will go on my own." The oracle announced over the squabbling.
"How will you do that?"
"You got wings underneath that dress?"
She floundered, slowly digesting the two responses and vexed faces examining her with exasperation. Consistently being treated like a child by these two was beginning to rub Lunafreya the wrong way.
Ravus's fretting was a nuisance on its own. The princess of Niflheim and the glaive of Insomnia judging her at every turn due to her age was aggravating.
Lunafreya knew what she was doing!
"You can't use magic. There's no way for you to reach them." Nyx urged the girl to see reason.
"Not all miracles are made by magic." The sun bathed Lunafreya in a halo, momentarily enrapturing the skeptics. "I do not fear death. What I fear, is doing nothing and losing everything."
While Nyx and Imperatrix were astonished and blinded, the oracle slipped out of her seat and into the gaping hole in the cockpit.
"Lunafreya!" The princess reached out in vain for the girl.
"Oh, come on!" Nyx threw off his seat belt and moved next to Imperatrix. "Get on my back." He said without preamble.
"Excuse me?"
"Now!" A kukri was pointed at her throat.
"Fine." She wrapped her arms around his neck after he removed the dagger.
They were out the airship and free falling.
Imperatrix swore that Ravus would get an earful from her about his sister.
Confining the girl to their manor had made Lunafreya too unmindful of safety. So used to comfort and serenity, the oracle had no sense of fear like a soldier that actually looked death in eye did.
Nyx adjusted their trajectory and they reached their target. He threw his weapon, transporting them all to the balcony of the palace. Imperatrix took the brute of their landing and the glaive apologized for crushing her after rolling off her.
"You can thank magic for that miracle, Princess!" The glaive heckled Lunafreya, taking a minute to catch his breath.
The glowing markings adorning his face piqued Imperatrix's interest. It looked painful, but Nyx didn't seem bothered by it.
"We must hurry." The oracle maintained, back on her feet and ready to go.
The magic hadn't affected her like it did the princess. How was she not nauseous?
"You heard her, up and at'er." Nyx hovered over the woman still on the ground and holding her stomach.
He offered her a hand.
When she stared it suspiciously, he chuckled. "I don't bite."
Imperatrix accepted the offer of help. "I have seen kittens with sharper teeth than you."
"Betch'a see those snarling teeth often, not surprising for a Niff."
"The correct term is Nephilim, we are the children of the gods. Not your derogatory, Niff."
Lunafreya ran, for the king needed her.
"Why does she keep running off?!" Nyx complained.
"I suppose when you have been locked away all you want to do is run."
The glaive and the princess ran after the oracle.
"And whose fault is that?" He accused thoughtlessly.
"Not mine. Her brother did that."
"Shocker!"
They quickly caught up to Lunafreya.
Nyx didn't bother rebuking the girl, knowing it to be a waste. He sprinted forward to take the lead and guide them to where the king would be.
"What is so important that you had to return here?" Imperatrix interrogated the girl.
The glaive was curious too and didn't criticize the princess for prying.
"Emperor Iedolas has taken the crystal, but that is not the true treasure." She answered vaguely.
"Are you referring to Prince Noctis? Or an actual treasure?"
He snickered at the flush that could've been from exertion, but most likely was triggered by a lovesick heart. It was obvious how fond Lunafreya was of the prince from the short discussion with the king.
Nyx sprinted harder as they came upon the conference room. He could see three figures inside. One of them dropped to the ground.
"Ravus!" The oracle cried out, paling at the sight of her brother convulsing on the ground as his arm was eaten away by blue flames.
The smell of charred flesh made Imperatrix gag.
Dead bodies were scattered throughout the room and the king's shield was suspended from the wall by a sword impaling his back. General Glauca stood in the middle of the carnage with King Regis cradling his mutilated hand.
A ring cluttered to floor and rolled towards the king. The general raised his blade to end the king before he could claim it.
"Look out!" Lunafreya darted to the Regis's side.
Nyx engaged the armored titan. The princess had to duck as the glaive was immediately tossed into the wall. She slide near Ravus, assessing the damage.
His entire arm had been destroyed, a cauterized stump at the shoulder all that was left.
"The ring did this?" Imperatrix stalled in touching the thrashing man.
Not once had she witnessed Ravus so broken and distressed.
When he was first brought to the capital after the attack on Tenebrae, she'd anticipated a grieving, belligerent boy to greet her father, instead, he pledged fealty with little delay.
Amazingly, most the ex-prince's wrath was directed at the King Regis, not Emperor Iedolas, and by extension her.
"Luna?" Ravus feverishly called for his sister.
The oracle didn't register his plight as she assisted the king in escaping.
"Impera, don't let him take Luna from me too…not like mother!" He worked himself up with delusions caused by the pain.
"You are not thinking straight, you need a doctor." She tried to stop his flailing and help him up, but Ravus knocked her off.
"Do not let him take my sister! You should understand!"
That struck a nerve.
Imperatrix ground her teeth, two difficult choices were before her.
She could leave Lunafreya to her own devices and get Ravus to safety, or she could leave him to protect what he held most dear.
Deserting an injured comrade didn't sit well with the princess.
He would never forgive her if his sister died on her watch and Imperatrix would have to live with the guilt of abandoning a defenseless girl in a war zone.
"I understand, my friend." The princess rose to chase after Lunafreya.
"You're not going anywhere, Imperatrix." Glauca slammed Nyx into the ground and swung his sword at her.
Her familiarity with the general's fighting style was the only reason she managed to dodge the strike.
The princess frantically scanned the room for something to defend herself with. Sadly, there were no weapons lying around since the fallen consisted of Lucians, and they summoned their weapons with magic.
"Betrayal appears to be a theme today." Imperatrix hissed, shifting into a defensive stance.
Her teacher had become her enemy and possibly a enemy to the empire. What subject would murder their princess?!
"Don't, he'll kill you." Nyx wheezed from beneath Glauca's foot that was crushing his lungs.
"What choice do I have? If the general has targeted me, death is all but assured."
"Correct, so stand and face your fate as I taught you." The general marched forward.
Blood rushed to Imperatrix's ears, Glauca became her only focus. If he was going to kill her she would not make it easy.
"Why do this?" The princess inquired before the match could begin.
The general stilled, unable to answer after lighting sent him into the wall.
"Quickly, through here!" Regis signaled to the elevator he'd opened.
His magic kept the greatest threat pinned to the wall.
Nyx materialized next to Imperatrix and then they were inside the elevator. The king backed up, ending the lighting and joining the three on the elevator.
The princess fell against the wall as the lift began to move, adrenaline and fear hit her like a mallet.
Glauca really would have cut her down.
"This leads to a hidden passage way. Follow it." Regis instructed briskly, leaning heavily on his returned cane. "Once away, make way for Altissa. Noctis awaits you there."
"Majesty?" Lunafreya stole a furtive glance at Imperatrix while she wrapped the king's mangled hand.
Could they trust the imperial princess not to compromise the prince's safety?
"It's alright, Luna."
"The prince was never here, was he?!" Imperatrix came to understand that neither party believed in the treaty.
All of it had been a farce!
"No."
"You knew this was coming?!" Nyx muttered, disgusted with the king he'd pledged himself to.
Had Libertus been right about him?!
"Yes." He admitted grimly. The weight of all the innocent lives lost weighed on Regis terribly and he slumped forward, not as a king, but a guilty man. "It was the only way to draw their wrath from Noctis."
"Is that the way of our king?" The glaive snarled. Lunafreya flinched from the burst of anger. "Sacrificing Lucian sons to save his own?!"
"To save the world!" The oracle came to the king's defense.
"How is a boy going to save the world?" Imperatrix dubiously questioned. Nonsense was all she was hearing.
What kind of monarch sacrificed his entire city for the well-being of one person?! It was blasphemy to her!
King Regis had a responsibility to every citizen under his domain. If he knew the treaty was a ploy he should've rejected it or surrendered. He should've surrendered a long time ago!
What madness had this man set in motion?!
The king slammed his cane on the ground, fixing Nyx with the unyielding stare of a desperate man out of options.
"See Luna safely to Altissa!"
The glaive was unmoved by the command.
Regis aged in seconds, shoulders hunching and wearily holding himself up. "This not an order from a king to his glaive...this is a plea from one man to another. Please Nyx Ulric, keep her safe...and the future of all."
"The future?" Nyx scrunched his face in thought, caught in a memory.
He turned to Imperatrix. "You are not your father, I have seen you walk a different path. Ally with my son, work towards real peace...towards a better future."
"How…how do you expect me to do that, Your Majesty?" The princess balked at the king.
She'd already been tasked with Lunafreya's safety by Ravus. Now her enemy was requesting the impossible.
"You will find the way." She didn't understand the meaningful appraisal he was giving her.
The elevator shook.
"Take this." Regis passed the family heirloom, the Ring of Lucii to Lunafreya, enclosing her hand around it and savoring the warmth of her smaller hand. "It is time it passed to another's keeping."
The king had done all he could.
His time was running out and destiny was calling. The future would now be left in the hands of the young.
The elevator opened and the group departed. Lunafreya lagged behind with Regis until he abruptly released her hand with a resigned sense of sadness.
The oracle teared up, recalling the similarity to when she pulled away from the king fleeing her home.
It seemed cruel that after re-connecting with the man she'd held as a father-figure in her heart, she was about to lose him, and lose him in a parallel manner to the first parting. Noctis and Regis had spent less than a few months in Tenebrae and yet that period was a tender portion of her childhood.
Why?!
A crystal barried formed between the king and oracle.
"No, please don't. Stop!" Lunafreya banged her hand on the translucent shield. "Do not leave us!"
Imperatrix felt as though she was intruding on such a personal exchange. A flare of anger overtook her.
Ravus had expressed the same sentiment for a sister that hadn't come to his aid.
Lunafreya held too much care for a man that played no part in her life and too little for the one that had been present for far longer!
"I know your mother would wish the same as me, that you and Noctis live happily." Regis shook, as regretful and weak as an elder on his death bed with too much unfinished. "All those years captive, because I failed you. Not again! Locked doors will seal your fate no longer."
"King Regis!"
The elevator trembled at the the general's arrival.
"Our hope goes with you now, Nyx Ulric." Regis turned his back to the children, limping forward to face his destiny. "Godspeed, children..."
Nyx nodded, accepting his last mission as Kingsglaive. Lunafreya resisted his tugging, keeping the king in sight for as long as she could.
General Glauca emerged from the ruins of the elevator, bowing contemptuously to the king.
The first strike was delivered by Regis. Lightning struck and proved ineffective against its target. The attack was weakened from the king sustaining the barrier.
The general fended off the magic with his sword, leisurely approaching his prey.
"Behold, the king of Lucis! War within his precious wall. Where is your tranquility now?" Glauca taunted, the red of his armor glowing maliciously. "Here is your peace by steel, swift descent!"
He struck Regis with the hilt and drove the blade into the king's back.
The children all sucked in a collective breath.
Lunafreya fell backwards as if she'd taken the blow. Imperatrix caught the quivering girl. When she tried to turn in her grasp, the princess forced her to look forward.
"Do not look away, these are his last moments. Honor them..." Imperatrix had experienced the fall of many good soldiers.
It was heart-wrenching each time, but death shouldn't be faced alone in her opinion. The least she could do for the dying was to be by their side till the end.
"Aeternum vale." The princess recited.
Lunafreya squared her shoulders and wiped her face. A sobbing oracle wouldn't be the last memory Regis had of her, a determined and strong oracle would be.
The king tugged his lips upward into a weak smile. Three young, sorrowful faces were the last thing his eyes took in as they went dim and the abyss called.
Glauca thrust the corpse off his blade. Nyx yelled and withdrew his weapon.
"No, we must get away from here!" Lunafreya pressed her hands to his chest. Her pleas weren't enough to calm the infuriated soldier. "It is what your king wanted!"
Imperatrix had to help restrain him. "I know revenge screams loudly, but you are no match for Glauca. Waste not your king's sacrifice, live another day!"
Nyx gaped at the imperial princess, really looking at her. She wasn't smiling or gloating about the death of her enemy, she was as stricken as them over the loss of life.
He couldn't afford to be emotional when two princesses were depending on him. Pragmatism had to win over sentimentality.
With great reluctance, the glaive turned and ran with the girls.
XV
"What the hell did you do to piss these things off?!" Nyx carped at the oracle.
He bumped into Imperatrix, panting hard enough that he needed to kneel and catch his breath.
Without the king's magic for combat purposes he was having a harder time fighting off the horde of magitek machinery and turncoat glaives.
"It is not me they are after, it is the ring." Lunafreya rubbed her injured shoulder.
Imperatrix tore off the bottom of her ruined dress for maneuverability. She refused to be impeded by the thing a moment longer.
Search lights passed the room they were hiding in.
Nyx urged the girls to move, avoiding the machines hunting them.
"What's so special about this ring?" He huffed, wiping dirt off his face. "The future's really riding on it?"
The three crouched behind a bookcase.
"He who wears the ring communes with the Lucii and commands great power." Lunafreya elaborated.
"What kind of power?"
"A forbidden one, filled within the ring long ago."
Imperatrix had heard tales from her father about the ring gifted to man by the gods, but she'd written it off as fantasy. The crystal already gave the Caelum family the power of magic. What need would they have of a magical ring?
"The old wall…" Nyx jerked in understanding. "I thought that was a bedtime story?"
A patrol flew by the windows.
"I can assure you, it is not. But the Lucii grant their power only to those they deem worthy."
"I take it Ravus didn't meet their standards?"
Imperatrix's nose twitched, remembering the sickening smell of burnt flesh.
"These twelve years have changed my brother. He is bound by the past and lost in his lust for power." Lunafreya sadly fixated on the floor.
The princess wanted to rectify the oracle's assessment of her brother, but a pair of flying daemons crashed through the windows.
"How the hell did they find us?!" Nyx wrestled with one of the winged-creatures, keeping its talons from skewering his face.
"Get down!" The princess rammed Lunafreya to the ground as the other daemon sailed past. She grabbed a computer and used it to strike the beast when it doubled back. "Damn it, I need a weapon!"
"I think you're doing alright with that computer." Nyx stabbed his attacker.
"Don't you have more than that kukri on you?" The princess examined his uniform for hidden daggers.
"Like what you see, Princess Imperatrix?" The glaive couldn't help teasing the woman as he parried a blow meant for her.
"I would like you more if you had not thrown away that dagger's twin!"
"Give me a break! How was I supposed to know I'd lose my magic?"
Nyx had thrown his weapon at the glaives chasing them in an airship, only to realize too late that he couldn't warp. Luckily, they were saved by that asshole from the gate patrol.
"Your military is too reliant on magic, it is disturbing." Imperatrix dropped the computer as he finished off the daemon. "Actually...I could take you magic-less soldiers in my present state."
"Really, let's test that." Nyx haughtily challenged.
"Later. We need to move, this place is compromised. " She dismissed the challenge.
"Wait." A flashing light stopped the glaive. He inspected the fallen daemon. "The hairpin. They're tracking it!"
"What?"
"Give it to me!" Nyx held out his hand to Lunafreya.
She gave it to him with little protest.
"How do you know that?" Doubt laced Imperatrix's voice.
He flipped the pin over. A red light flashed inside it.
"Unbelievable!"
Why had the princess been dragged into this in the first place if her father was keeping tabs on the oracle?!
"I had a little sister once...she was killed when the empire came. I couldn't save her..." Nyx defeatedly sank to the ground. "I was as helpless then as I am now! I couldn't show her the future she wanted."
How many people had he'd failed?
He'd led friends of his into a trap, Crowe had been killed, and Libertus turned his back on him.
How could he have lost so much in a day?!
Imperatrix grit her teeth. She couldn't deny that the empire left destruction in its wake. Conquest couldn't be acquired without sacrifice.
The princess tried to minimize those casualties by targeting military personnel. Sadly, not all shared her methods and she couldn't be in charge of every operation to mitigate the bloodshed.
Magitek soldiers made no distinction between civilians and fighters. Which is why she insisted on using human troops, but other members of the military felt less-inclined to spill Nephilim blood when machines were an option.
The Galahd acquisition was headed by General Glauca and he was merciless when ensuring there would be no resistance to the empire.
Nyx's loss was great...
"True power is not something that is found by those who seek it, it is something that comes to those that deserve it." Lunafreya said firmly, treading beyond formality. "Your sister wanted you to see a future as well."
The glaive swallowed heavily. He couldn't wallow in regret. Nyx had a job to do and wouldn't crumble in front of two girls younger than him.
"Anyone would wish the same for family they love…" The oracle trailed off.
"You don't pull any punches, do you?" Nyx laughed derisively. "I got two princesses riding my ass, lucky me."
Screeching and the sound of flapping wings made the two jump to their feet. Imperatrix backed away from the window.
Dozens of flying daemons had located them.
"Shit!" Nyx braced for them to swarm, but fortunately they circled him and not the girls.
They were reacting to the tracker!
"I'll lead them away, get out of here!"
"Let's go." Imperatrix took off with Lunafreya on her heels as gunfire tore into the building.
Escape was straight-forward with the daemons and machines preoccupied with Nyx.
The oracle was worried about his safety, but the princess her reassured her that a glaive would prevail and urged the girl to pick up her pace. They made it outside the building and saw the battle going on in the sky.
"Is that?" Lunafreya kneeled and picked something off the ground. "It is!"
She now possessed the tracker and the daemons were coming for them.
"Get rid of it!"
The oracle frantically looked around for a suitable place. The airship above them became her target.
"I cannot throw that far, you must toss it at the ship." Lunafreya transferred the tracker to Imperatrix.
The princess dithered only for a moment.
Traitorous glaives had taken over the aircraft, none of her people could be onboard. Nephilims would never attack her.
With a mighty throw, the tracker landed in the airship's thruster. The daemons crammed into the space, causing an explosion. The ship crashed into the building, filling the area with smoke.
Nyx hobbled out of the wreckage.
"Nice throw. Didn't know you had it in you." He greeted like his leg wasn't ailing him.
"It was us or them..." Imperatrix searched for usable items.
If she didn't get her hands on a weapon soon she would go mad.
"You really had nothing to do with this, did you?"
The princess hunching over in her ruined dress, covered in dirt and blood, didn't reconcile with the propaganda posters he'd seen in outer regions. Those posters depicted a radiant figure garnished in white armor wielding a mighty sword, or posters of a smiling princess rallying her people.
In Niflheim, Imperatrix was the golden princess who could no wrong.
Right now she looked like a dirty street urchin.
"Finally believe me, Nyx Ulric?"
"Hard not to when everyone's been trying to kill you." He sagged against a wall, alleviating the weight on his bad leg. "What'd you do?"
Imperatrix seriously considered his question. There were plenty of people with vendettas against her.
Many of the older noble families viewed her as an unsuitable heir simply due to her gender. One of them could have plotted to have her killed on foreign soil where the matter wouldn't be scrutinized as it would in the homeland.
Money could also turn almost anyone.
It was General Glauca's involvement that confounded her. He was above such politics and followed her father.
Or, so the princess believed. The general could have gone rouge.
"I do not know, but I will find out." She promised.
XV
"How bad is your leg?" Imperatrix inquired of Nyx, testing the weight of a dagger she'd retrieved from a fallen glaive.
"Not as bad as Libertus's." He muttered darkly, scoping out the area for hostiles. "I can fight if that's what you're worried about."
"Of course it is, we are wide open for an ambush here."
The extraction point Nyx had been directed to by his superior was dead center in the middle of a big commercial street. Cover was nonexistent with all the television screens illuminating the area.
Imperatrix would have ordered her soldiers to retreat to a more discrete location for an extraction. This didn't feel right...
"Don't jinx us." The glaive poked his head out, checking one more time for enemies before addressing Lunafreya. "Don't move until I say so, alright."
"I won't."
Imperatrix was next to be spoken to.
"Can I count on you to protect her?" Nyx's jaw clenched.
He took a risk in letting the imperial princess take that dagger. She hadn't stabbed him in the back or slit Lunafreya's throat. Maybe it was time to have a little faith...
"You may. I have a promise to keep to her brother." She dipped her in acknowledgment. "Be careful."
Nyx saluted her playfully and walked into the square.
"Imperatrix?"
"Yes?" The princess kept her focus on the glaive shouting for his captain.
"Thank you."
Imperatrix softened as Lunafreya touched the necklace she bought for her. The girl sagged now that the goal was in sight.
The oracle, for all her bluster, was still a young woman that was unaccustomed to the frontline harshness of war. She had pushed herself to keep up with the two veteran soldiers.
Her fortitude in light of the day's events was admirable.
A gunshot went off and Nyx crumpled to the ground.
The princess covered Lunafreya's mouth, muffling the girl's scream. Imperatrix couldn't make a move until the shooter entered her line of sight.
Luche advanced on Nyx, cocking his gun for a final shot.
"Listen to me!" Imperatrix shook the struggling oracle. "Go distract him and I will counter with a sneak attack."
Lunafreya was slow to respond and the princess urgently repeated her plan until the girl calmed down and bobbed her head in understanding.
"Go." She released the oracle and crouched down, removing her shoes for stealth.
Luche payed no attention to Imperatrix's approach. He continued kicking Nyx and gloating about how he killed a girl named Crowe.
Lunafreya couldn't stop the deranged man as he leveled the gun at her.
The princess hid behind a pillar and waited for an opening.
"Why'd you do it?!" Nyx howled.
"Because the Kingsglaive is nothing, an old man's battle fodder sent to die in Insomnia's war, while our homes are bound and shackled!" Luche spat.
The turncoat glaives must have struck a deal with someone from Niflheim, someone high up. They must've been offered land or clemency for staging a coup.
Her father abhorred disloyalty! He wouldn't have sanctioned such an arrangement.
The chancellor on the other hand, thrived in convoluted schemes and underhanded methods. Ardyn had to be behind this!
"Niflheim took your home!" Nyx argued, lifting his head when something moved behind a pillar. It was the princess creeping closer to Luche.
He was stunned and stole a glance at Lunafreya. She tilted her head marginally.
Imperatrix hadn't ditched them, she'd hidden herself!
Nyx couldn't blow her cover and went back to yelling. "They took all our homes! Nothing will ever change that!"
Imperatrix set aside her unease with his words. He may not have been directing his anger specifically at her, but it still felt like an attack.
"You never were too smart. You could've had a future with the empire." Luche's words confirmed the theory.
His predatory gaze fell on Lunafreya and the gun twitched.
Imperatrix struck. The dagger plunged multiple times into the traitor's chest and he wobbled in the princess's grasp.
Luche wailed, elbowing her off his back. "What the hell?! You're supposed to be dead! Can't anybody do their jobs around here?!"
"According to who?" Imperatrix twirled the dagger, intent on getting answers.
Nyx wouldn't mind her damaging the traitor since he'd killed his friend, Crowe.
Luche hunched over from the blood escaping his wounds.
"According to daddy-dearest!" His hand whipped upward, firing off a round.
Imperatrix evaded the shot, obtaining a graze on her arm instead of a hole in her chest and collapsed to the ground. The shooter turned tail and went after a weaker target, namely Lunafreya.
The reality of his words prevented the princess from giving chase.
"The traitor lies! Father would never…I am his daughter…" Imperatrix whispered to herself, hand hiding her anguished face from the world. "It's a lie…"
She was Iedolas's first-born, his precious jewel! The child he'd groomed for the throne since birth, in spite of grievances from his council.
As disappointed of her as he'd been in recent years, her father would not order her death!
"What're you doing?! Lunafreya's in danger!" Imperatrix jolted from Nyx's shout. "I thought I could count on you!"
She heard him and knew what needed to be done, but her legs wouldn't move and her eyes were blurry.
A car pulled up and Titus Drautos stepped out.
The princess got her head back in the game.
The man's approach was met with Imperatrix shakily wielding her dagger in defense of the glaive. Lunafreya could outrun a man bleeding to death. An enemy of his size and muscle would cut her and Nyx down, and then kill the oracle.
"Wait, that's Captain Drautos!"
"What if he is compromised too?" Imperatrix didn't ease her stance.
"He's not! Go after Lunafreya." The glaive implored.
"He is the bigger threat!"
Titus raised his eyebrow, stoically inspecting the pair frantically whispering to themselves.
"Princess Imperatrix, may I tend to my subordinate?" He raised his hands peacefully, demonstrating that he wasn't armed.
"Not a--"
Nyx grabbed her ankle, stopping her from making any sudden movements. Imperatrix grunted from her foot's scrap with cement, and reluctantly permitted the man to come closer.
"You're very protective of a Lucian for a Niff." Titus slowly approached the pair. "Strange, since I ordered him to take you hostage."
"He is wounded and abandoned, it would be heartless of me not to be defensive." She didn't drop her guard as the man kneeled next to Nyx.
"Noble to a fault..."
Another car sped into the square, but it didn't stop. Imperatrix fell onto her bottom to escape the vehicle ramming into Titus.
Nyx desperately called for his captain.
The car was flipped over and and in the man's place was General Glauca. Libertus crawled out of the wrecked vehicle, unacknowledged by the new enemy.
Nyx's heart stopped. The princess had been right.
"Your captain is the general... How is that possible?!" Imperatrix jumped to her feet.
A dagger was a butter knife in this instance!
"Better question is, how are you the only person I can trust at this point?!" Nyx fought to stand upright.
He was in too much pain to fight!
Lunafreya ran into the square, joining Nyx and Imperatrix. Imperial Airships flew over the square. Glauca readied for a blood bath.
"It's over. The daemons are unleashed, Lucis has fallen." The general pointed his blade at the group. "Surrender the ring!"
Imperatrix disregarded the order, issuing her own demand in turn. "Tell me, General. Did the emperor call for my death?!"
"The death of a beloved princess shall unify a splintered land." The truth hurt more than any of Imperatrix's wounds, even more than the intense stinging coming from her arm. "Fortune favors you, for your teacher has become the executioner."
The princess suddenly felt like she was a child once more.
She desired nothing more than to run from her fear and hide behind her parents. However, there would be no Iedolas or Valeria to chase away her aggressors and embrace her with loving promises of safety.
The dagger began to slip from Imperatrix's hold as she crumbled, accepted her fate of death.
"Didn't anyone tell you? I'm the hero around here!" Nyx declared.
A barrier formed between Glauca and the group. A hand landed on Imperatrix's shoulder.
"I'll take it from here, Princess."
"You have magic again..."
The Ring of the Lucii glowed brilliantly on Nyx's finger.
"What have you done?" She mumbled, horrified at the red scarring on his that looked as if it was eating away at his skin.
What price had this man paid for the return of his magic?!
The barrier trembled in the wake of Glauca's strikes.
"Leave this to me." Nyx gently forced Imperatrix to the rear with Lunafreya.
The next strike was met with a stream of lighting from the glaive and the general went flying. Libertus dashed to Nyx.
"I could get used to this." The glaive bragged, facing the new arrival.
"Nyx, I'm sorry." Libertus bowed his head shamefully.
"Don't be, you saved me. Now, I owe you."
His friend may have turned traitor, but when it really counted his Galahdian brother had Nyx's back.
"For a change." Libertus snorted.
"Gonna need another favor, pal." Nyx jerked his head to the girls. "Meet Lunafreya and Imperatrix, both princesses with the future in the palm of their hands. Get'em out of Insomnia."
"What?!"
"Oh, almost forgot! Betcha need this." Nyx removed the ring and bequeathed it to the oracle. "Give Prince Noctis my regards."
"This sounds eerily like goodbye." Imperatrix took in the glaive, searing him into her mind. "Did I not tell you to live another day?"
Nyx Ulric had been betrayed, his city destroyed, sovereign murdered, and rendered helpless, but he stood tall and courageously through it all. Someone as virtuous as him was rare in their world.
It would be criminal to see him go.
"That bastard had it right... You really are noble to a fault." Nyx gave the princess a rueful smile. "Libertus will take care of you girls. Have a safe journey."
"The hell are you doing?!" Libertus objected. He wasn't on board with this plan or his friend's resigned tone.
"Following the king's orders."
"I will see the ring to Noctis. The future will be safe, I swear it." Lunafreya vowed, doing as Imperatrix taught her and honoring a person's last moments.
She would not avert her eyes. Nyx Ulric of the kingsglaive would live on in her memories.
Glauca finally rose from the ground. Libertus held out the missing kukri to Nyx.
"Planning on punching your way out of the city? Keep it." He slapped his friend on the shoulder. "Now we're even."
"We'll settle it once you're back in Galahd. Where everyone else will be waiting for you."
"I'm counting on you, Hero." Nyx saluted Libertus and left the three to face the general one last time.
Libertus guided Lunafreya to the car. Imperatrix indecisively looked between the car and Nyx.
She hated leaving a soldier behind.
"Let's go, Imperial Princess!"
She clicked her tongue in frustration, hastening to the car at the crescendo of the general and glaive's battle. The last thing Imperatrix saw as they drove off was Nyx's glowing figure.
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