The King's Beloved

[Music Recommendation: "The Fire Within" by Hiroshi Mizuta (Final Fantasy XV OST) - available in Spotify or Youtube]

After a few more hours in the sky, Clavis' team soon reached the Shrine of Lunaflora. From above, the surrounding area looked darker than the rest, and the miasma was thicker. The abundant trees and plant life that it used to have were all dead, turning it into nothing but a wasteland. The springs, lakes, and rivers were dried up as well. Only monsters were left scurrying, ravaging, and searching for ways to survive.

In contrast to other shrines, the monsters in Lunaflora's continent weren't as aggressive. Thanks to this, the team didn't need to fight much to be able to enter the shrine. Even inside the shrine, the monsters avoided them like the plague, much to everyone's surprise. 

Still, they had to get rid of the monsters in the area to cleanse the shrine, so they decided to leave Aqua and Terra in charge. Ventus and Caligo once again partnered up and remained outside to cleanse the surrounding area. Clavis, Selena, Illuminaire, Ducis, and this time, Saburra, all continued to the innermost place to fight the boss monster.

On their way, Selena asked, "I wonder what kind of boss monster is it this time?"

"Hmm… Guardian Lunaflora is a Grand Fairy, so it will most likely be of the same kind," Clavis deduced. "Fairies specializes in nature elemental magic, so they have ample amount of resonance to any element. What's more, they can amplify elemental affinity and strengthen the magic they cast."

"Yikes! Then it's going to be another hard battle."

"That's true," Ducis joined the conversation. "What's more, the monster here absorbed a lot of spiritual energy for the last 20 years. This battle might be the hardest we'll encounter so far."

"How will we defeat it then? Is there a skill to decrease the stats of monsters? Like the opposite of amplifying it?"

"There is, but it's not as powerful as the nature magic of fairies."

"Oh no… I guess we just need to fight it head-on like last time."

"Yes, that's the only option. Also, we can use the same strategy with Guardian Caligo. I specifically had him outside the shrine so once they're done cleaning the monsters outside, he can teleport inside and perform his Obliterate skill. I'll create a waypoint for him to enter."

"You're right! He can do that! Phew, that's good to know."

"For the meantime, Ducis and I will help you out in pre-occupying the monster in battle. How's that?" Saburra confidently said. "I'm really great in creating quicksand and—"

"You do know that a fairy flies, right?" Ducis interrupted him.

"Ack! R-right. He-he-he. Of course, I know that! I mean, I will just use that in case she has minions—non-flying minions."

Ducis squinted his eyes, obviously not believing him.

"No matter, since we have decided, let's continue forth," Ducis declared. "I'll send a message to Caligo and Aqua to let them know."

"Yes. Thank you."

And so, they continued to the innermost place where Luna's pink crystal obelisk stood. Large fissures on the ground surrounded it, and like their guess, the monster that awaited them was indeed a fairy—a Dark Fairy, to be exact. It was beautiful, like how fairies usually were, her skin was fair, but her large wings that looked like a butterfly's wings were black and red. She floated on top of them, looking down on them like insects.

"How admirable of you to dare enter my shrine," the Dark Fairy said. "Even the other monsters cower in my presence, yet you dare disturb me."

"I do not understand how you have the guts to claim that this shrine is yours," Ducis rebutted. "If there's anyone who's the queen of this shrine, it's MY Luna, not you—some dark fairy copycat."

"Hey! You learned that from me," Selena whispered to Ducis, amused.

Ducis nodded and smiled at Selena, acknowledging her remark.

"Hmf," the Dark Fairy scoffed. "There's only one way to settle disagreements."

"Surprisingly, I quite agree."

With that, Ducis began the fight with the fairy queen wannabe. He seemed to be more hostile to the boss monster this time around than before. Perhaps, he really didn't like the idea that someone was impersonating his beloved.

Chuckling, the others joined the fight as well, even though the angered Ducis seemed to be more than enough to fight the arrogant Dark Fairy. His attacks became heavier and more concentrated than before, and his aura reeked out, making the Absolute barrier shake and the shrine walls crack with its sheer power. It turned out he was just reserving himself, careful not to destroy the world even further.

Due to this, Clavis, Selena, and Illuminaire, who were much weaker compared to him, felt the pressure of his aura. Saburra quickly helped them by creating a barrier around them and reprimanding Ducis for using too much energy.

"Hey, you feisty dragon! You better hold yourself, or you're going to destroy this shrine!" Saburra reminded him. "Luna is not gonna be happy with that for sure!"

Realizing what he said was true, Ducis cooled down and controlled his aura. By that time, though, the Dark Fairy was already heavily wounded.

"You… HOW DARE YOU!" the Dark Fairy was immensely angered.

This time, she's the one who wreaked havoc and released what probably was half of her spiritual energy. The ground shook terribly from the impact, and her power kept on growing stronger.

"She's using nature magic!" Clavis immediately alerted everyone. "Her magic is going to multiply tenfold or more. Be careful!"

The team did as he instructed. Selena and Illuminaire resumed their defensive stance, Clavis and Saburra aided Ducis in the offense. Once the havoc rested, the real fight just began. The Dark Fairy turned much more powerful than before.

Heavy blows, elemental attacks after attacks, massive energy balls, defense barriers shattering one after another, their bodies teleporting or gliding from here to there—everything happened so fast. The naked eye would barely be able to keep up with such speed. Yet, this super-fast attack and countering happened for hours. Both sides just wouldn't give the other a chance to subdue the other.

When Clavis finally got a chance where the Dark Fairy's defense was down, he immediately called for Caligo and teleported him inside the shrine. As planned, Caligo used his Obliterate skill on the Dark Fairy, but she was quick enough to sense his presence and evaded the attack.

"Oh no! The surprise attack failed!"

Angered all the more, the Dark Fairy reached out her hand to Caligo, grabbed him with one hand, and cast strong magic on the other, ready to kill him. Good thing Saburra was near, and he managed to snatch Caligo from her and teleported to safety.

"Haah… Haah…" Saburra panted from the shock.

His heart beat loudly, and his body trembled, terrified by the thought that they almost lost another Guardian.

"No more…" he whispered. "You're not killing any of us. Not today. Not ever."

His desire to protect everyone grew more powerful than ever. His golden eyes shined bright as if it was burning. Remembering Selena's words from earlier, he thought of a new skill to defeat the enemy.

"Absolute Domain."

Suddenly, the dark and dead forest that was how Luna's shrine appeared turned into a clear desert. Not only that, the Dark Fairy's immense aura and amplified abilities disappeared like they were never there! Along with it, she dropped to her knees, feeling greatly weakened by the pressure from her surrounding.

"What is this? I-It's just a desert… I'm not weak against a desert, but why is my body… haah… haah… This feeling. I feel like I'm drowning."

Seeing her down, Ducis took the chance to end her life.

"Die."

A colossal sword formed out of nowhere, with its blade looking as if it was made from the stars of the universe. It pointed towards the weakened Dark Fairy and pierced its chest.. A loud shriek followed after until her whole body turned into black sparkles that disintegrated in the air.