After locating the room in which the Crystal was kept, the unorthodox trio started gathering several jars of pickled fish from one of the crates in Bay C. Those got opened and tipped all over one of the underwear crates, and Nyx in particular thoroughly enjoyed doing it...apart from the smell, of course.
How anyone could eat that was beyond him.
After that, they then went back to Bay C to try and find some drugs that the guards hadn't discovered as yet, and struck white gold in another crate. Two more bags, to be exact, looking rather like baking powder in texture and consistency.
"...what's this stuff?" Helena asked Nyx.
"Looks a bit like Daytripper," he replied, "can get it in tablet form but most people prefer it ground down."
"What's it do?" Noctis then asked.
"Apparently, this stuff does its namesake; if you have some you start hallucinating, seein' stuff that ain't there and shit."
"Woah. Sounds hardcore. How do you know so much about it?"
"One of the Glaives had some on him ages ago. He went out on a job and during that, got shot. He didn't die, which was real fortunate cos' then I could bust his ass for takin' drugs while on a fuckin' job. He was real easy to track down, though. Few civs reported him cos he was tryin' to eat a tree."
Helena looked at him. "You just made that up, didn't you?"
He grinned. "Sorry, sweet, but it's totally true. All of it. Had to wait two days to read him the riot act and slap him in jail cos' at the time? He couldn't hear shit. He was way out to lunch."
"...and you wanna burn this stuff?"
"Won't kill 'em, if that's what you're worried about. But, it will start makin' them trip if they breathe too much of the fumes in. That also goes for us, too, so once we light this and grab that Crystal, we need to get outta here fast."
That was their next destination, so after quickly scouting the front side of the Garrison where they were hoping to escape from, Helena carefully lit several crates and then closed the lids, giving them a little more time before the alarm was raised.
They then returned to the stone-walled room quite a bit further away and up a short flight of stairs, and stood looking at the Divine who was asleep on a reinforced bed in the far corner of the room. Right next to him on a low table and glowing softly, was the Crystal of the Lucii. They'd imagined it to be a lot bigger, somehow; as it was, it was maybe the size of an ostrich egg in rough shape and dimensions, hollowed out and covered in jagged, hexagonal-shaped crystal chunks as if it had just been mined.
There was no time in which to be jubilant, though.
As Nyx was the actual stealth expert and most likely to be the quietest, he carefully moved on silent feet towards that low table, hands reaching out for the softly-humming item.
He froze briefly as the form of Ifrit seemed to flicker slightly when his fingers touched the Crystal's surface, then he tensed and the item came free of the table, resting in both his hands.
They then heard a distant sound, and managed to leave the room and close the door before a loud siren shattered the silence.
"Uh-oh." Noctis said. "Time to leave."
Unknown to them, a couple of guards had gone to help unload a truck that had pulled into that bay, and they'd smelt smoke.
They investigated, opening one of the crates where wisps of it had been seen, and were then hit with an almighty whoosh of flame that shot out due to a backdraft effect. It soon spread to the other crates as well as the nearby truck, and the two guards collapsed to the floor with their faces burnt beyond recognition.
Their bodies soon followed, and huge clouds of evil, grey smoke began billowing out of every gap that it could fit through.
The bay was full of it, and as the trio started to get closer they could see several guards running around, swatting at things that weren't there as well as trying to rip their own clothes to shreds.
The fire was therefore expanding rapidly, unchecked, and anyone who got close enough to try and douse it were then covered in smoke and also began hallucinating.
"...look for a gap." Nyx said in a low voice. "And whatever you do, don't breathe that shit in."
"This looks awful." Helena said sadly.
He looked at her. "It's harmless, I can assure you. Cos' it's in the smoke, it shouldn't kill 'em. Only the fire will do that, if they're stupid enough to walk into it. Come on, we haven't got time for this. We need to escape." He then touched his earpiece. "We're leaving, job done. Where are..." He then paused as a large amount of static interference was heard on the other side.
"What's up?" Noctis asked him.
"Lots of static. They may already be out." He then turned the earpiece back off. "We need to do the same. C'mon."
They followed his lead, hiding frequently to avoid being seen by any screaming or gibbering guards. Even if they were high, they couldn't take the risk of being spotted by one of them.
"Look!" Helena pointed towards the front. "There's a truck, and it's trying to leave."
"Not without us." Nyx said.
He then warped forwards towards it, skipping around several guards who were scratching at their faces, and flung open the driver door to start attacking the two people inside.
Noctis was right behind him, going for the passenger seat, then he shifted over and helped Helena to get in and sit down on while he crouched inbetween them both, holding onto the seat sides.
Nyx took the wheel, and the truck broke out of its line and headed away from the Garrison, bearing west towards Leide.
After they'd gotten quite far away, their breathing started to settle down and it was then that a faint beeping noise crept into all of their ears, roughly once a second.
"...forgot that." Nyx said. "Noct, look under the seats. These delivery trucks have tracking devices."
"Shit." The King bowed his head and started to search, using his pocket torch to illuminate the very dark areas.
Nyx stole a brief glance at Helena, and saw that her head was tilted backwards on the seat's head rest, eyes closed. He extended a hand towards her to touch her shoulder and those eyes opened, looking at him with a relieved smile.
"You okay?" He asked.
She nodded. "Just about. You?"
"Yeah. Think we were lucky there, those crates went up fast. And there was a breeze, too."
"Let's hope that luck holds."
"Think I've found it," Noctis reported, "there's a box with an aerial and a little red light near your leg, Hel."
"That sounds like the bastard." Nyx agreed. "Can you get it?"
"Need more room, gotta cut a few wires."
"Elle, hop on over to me for a bit."
"Uh...okay." She unbuckled her safety belt and headed towards Nyx, sitting down on him at a sideways angle while he moved his head over to her right shoulder so that he could still see to drive.
"Won't take long." Noctis reported.
"Throw it out the window after." Nyx said to him.
"Gotcha."
He then looked down, seeing Helena's shoulder near where his chin would be, and he smiled.
"Any excuse." She whispered to him.
He grinned briefly, then gave that shoulder a single, quiet kiss.
She fidgeted slightly at that, and heard him draw in a very slight breath. Guess that's payback, she thought with a smile.
Noctis cut away the device's wires a few seconds later, seeing the red light flicker and die as he did so, then he got into the passenger seat and wound the window down, watching the box bounce on the grass before winding it back up again.
"There." He said with satisfaction. "Minus one tracking device."
He then looked at Helena and Nyx. "Can you see okay, bro?"
"Yeah, I'm workin' with it." Came the happy reply. "Can stay there if you want, I'm sure you two can do a timeshare thing with the seat or somethin'."
"You okay stayin' there for a bit, Hel?"
She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'll live."
She then turned a bit more forwards, knowing that Nyx might not be able to resist her shoulder being that close and being proven right barely a few moments later.
They then reached the meeting area, and their borrowed truck ground to a halt so that they could get out and stretch their legs.
The Great Plains rolled ahead of them in all directions, a veritable sea of green grass and flowers that had waves almost like the sea, thanks to the still-present breeze.
They were also the first ones there, which caused confusion.
"...I thought they were already here?" Noctis asked.
"I thought that too." Nyx frowned. "There was a lot of static on the earpiece, usually get that when you're almost outta range."
Helena looked at him. "But...weren't we in range before that? Back at the Garrison, they called once before and we weren't really too far away from that area."
"I'll try again." Nyx touched the earpiece, feeling uneasy at her silent suggestion as he was starting to think the same. "...guys? If anyone's able, please pick up when you can."
At the time, though, they really weren't able to at all.
Back in the Citadel, the others had had a very exciting time dodging all the guards that were fleeing the building as their own custom-made fire spread out on a mission of its own.
The highlight so far had been spotting the venerable Emperor Aldercapt running out of the Citadel flanked by several guards...largely as the Emperor wasn't wearing much. He'd managed to throw a dressing robe on, but they'd still caught sight of his skinny pigeon chest and bright yellow boxers as he'd torn past their hiding spot at a rate of knots, which Prompto had also managed to take a very good picture of from a window.
The Emperor looked to be seething with anger and humiliation, waving and screaming at guards while waiting for emergency services to arrive and stop the hungry flames.
After the trio had had a good laugh at that, they'd then carried on towards the safe room on the next floor up, meeting almost no resistance and taking a gigantic pile of cash to boot. However, that was where the laughter ground to a halt.
In the next room along, which would have also normally been heavily-guarded, they spied the Tenebrae Crystal as it sat on a low table towards the rear of the room, with the Ring of the Lucii perched sedately beside it.
Also in that room, curled up on a bed and asleep, was Ifrit.
Nobody needed to ask why he was there. There was only one of each Divine in existence, so it was plainly obvious that the one at Formouth Garrison was actually fake, somehow. A trap, probably designed to weaken them by diluting their numbers in the hope that one side would end up getting killed. And if not?
The real Ifrit was here, to finish off anyone who'd survived.
The trio quietly tip-toed out of the room and retreated back into the one that had held the safe.
"What do we do?" Prompto whispered.
"What can we do?" Gladiolus snapped. "We need that stuff, no matter who's havin' forty winks in there."
"It's got to be a set-up." Ignis said, giving voice to what each of them had separately thought. "The one at Formouth must be some kind of illusion, a hologram maybe."
"We need to warn them." Prompto added.
Gladiolus then tried, but all he heard from their end was static.
"Sounds like somethin's jamming it." He reported it.
"Might be their proximity to the fake Ifrit." Ignis said. "Whatever device is responsible for that, must be interfering with the earpiece's radio frequency."
Gladiolus made a fast decision. "That means we can't wait. This place is about to burn down and when that fire reaches him, it'll only serve to make him stronger."
"Agreed. Let's get the items and get out. Now."
"You're smallest." Gladiolus said, looking at Prompto.
Who then blinked. "...so?"
"So, you're gonna have the quietest feet."
"You can not be serious! No way am I goin' in there!"
"You have to!" Ignis said sternly. "You might not get discovered. If those items are left here then this is all for nothing."
Prompto looked at them both, swallowed nervously, then he nodded and took a deep breath. "...okay." He quivered. "Okay, I'll just be real quiet, and...I can do this."
"You can." Gladiolus told him. "Just keep calm and ignore him."
They went back to the other room, and the two friends perched around its door frame while Prompto crept inside. How the fuck am I sposed to ignore that big bastard, he thought as he tried to keep his fear to a minimum. That's the real deal, he's right fucking there, for fuck's sake. You can't miss him.
He managed to reach the low table, glancing at the Divine to make sure that he was still fast asleep. Seemed to be, his breathing was steady enough. He then looked down to see the ring, which he picked up and pocketed, then he carefully took his backpack off and started pulling open the zip at the back.
"...guys? If anyone's able, please pick up as soon as you can."
That voice belonged to Nyx, and it was clearly heard by all of them so they instantly assumed that they'd been able to escape the Garrison.
Not now! Prompto thought in his head. Please stop talking.
He then picked up the Crystal and almost dropped it due to seeing the sleeping Divine turn from his side and onto his back, snoring rather loudly in the process. The slim blonde crouched, trying to make himself smaller while also struggling to hold in the yelp that had been desperate to fly out of his mouth. He held his breath, closing his eyes and trying to not shit enough bricks to make an entire brick shithouse with, then gingerly opened them a few seconds later when he realised he was still alive. Ifrit was still asleep, and he let his thankful breath out as slowly and quietly as possible while seeing a slender wisp of black smoke curl around the base of his left foot.
He then turned and crept towards the others, who were now holding a sleeve over their mouths, and they headed further up the corridor and away from the approaching fire.
They paused at the flight of stairs, stuffing the Crystal into Prompto's backpack, then headed up and onto the third floor of the property, where the fire hadn't yet taken much hold.
"Never send me to do that again." The blonde shuddered.
Gladiolus patted his shoulder. "You are officially the luckiest son of a bitch alive." He said with a smile.
"We need to get to the Plains as soon as possible." Ignis reminded hastily. "We won't have long before he sees the fire."
"Nyx called us." Prompto then remembered. "Almost got me fuckin' killed, but I'm glad he called us."
"They may already be at the Plains, the signal was clear."
"Let's get away from here first." Gladiolus decided. "We can soon call 'em once we get some distance between us and Angry."
"We are almost on the top floor." Ignis reported as he took a cautious look out of a landing window. "Guards are everywhere, and I can't see an exit from here."
"Let's keep moving."
They searched that floor, went in every room, but any exits that were viable were also swarming with guards at the bottom.
"This is shit." Gladiolus fumed.
"Hang about," Prompto said then, "we're Glaives, right?"
"...yeah, so?"
"Well...don't Glaives do all that warping shit? Y'know, like Nyx and the others do with those knives?"
"We're not that Glaivish, pal. Wish we fuckin' were."
"Technically speaking," Ignis said, "he's right. We're all Lucian, and Nyx is the Captain. He appointed us, so doesn't that mean we're sharing Noct's power right now?"
Gladiolus paused. Was that even going to work? He wasn't sure.
"...let's try it." He decided. "I don't feel confident enough to jump off the roof just yet."
Prompto drew one of his knives. "How does he do it?"
"You're askin' the wrong person, dude."
"...that's it." He tapped his earpiece. "Nyx? Yo, dude, please don't be out for a walk this time."
"Prom? Fuck, am I glad to hear from you. Listen-"
"There's no time." Gladiolus said sharply. "We need to escape the Citadel, it's burning beneath our feet. Can we warp?"
"Wha- uhh...I guess so? Lemme ask Noct a sec."
"We may not have a sec."
"I know, just hang on. Hey, Noct!" He was then heard to yell. "Stick that fuckin' thing back on, we need you."
Nyx quickly explained for him, and Noctis thought briefly.
"Repeat after me." Nyx whispered into the King's ear.
"Okay guys, listen up." Noctis then said. "As is my right by the Kings of the Lucii...and in accordance with the law...I hereby name Gladiolus, Ignis and Prompto to be Kingsglaive...you are sworn to defend and uphold the Crown and its people..."
"Why can't they do short speeches?" Prompto hissed.
"Sssh!" Ignis reminded him.
"...so I grant you the gift of that magic, in order for you to secure the gift of our freedom." Noctis finished. "H-hey, uh, Nyx? I feel a little funny, what's goin' on?"
"It's worked." Nyx said. "Just focus on where you need to be, then throw that knife. You'll appear where it lands. I don't expect you to catch it though, you won't be that good yet."
"Very funny." Gladiolus told him.
They now all took out one of the knives, then deciding where they should throw it to.
"How bout over there?" Prompto pointed to where a wooden cart had been abandoned over the way, with gossiping citizens standing close-by. "Will they try to stop us?"
"Hardly. Not after they see us do that shit." Gladiolus then nodded. "Alright, let's try over there. We'll need to get up and head down that street, past the Bakery ovens. Meet round the corner, okay?" He looked at them, and they also nodded.
He then aimed carefully, concentrating, and threw the knife.
His body vanished a second later, and they saw the knife skitter along the cobbled floor to bump into the cart...which he then materialised right next to, lying on his side.
"Holy shit, it fucking worked!" Prompto grinned. "Me next!"
Ignis rolled his eyes but let his excited friend travel next in line, before he threw his own knife and landed on the floor.
A slight wave of nausea spread through him, then he shook himself out of it and grabbed the knife back, getting to his feet and following the others on their chosen path.
They met up around that corner, gasping for breath, then looked up and saw a group of guards heading straight for them on the opposite end of their street.
"Come on!" Gladiolus yelled.
He took off, running to the next corner and carrying on a ways while his friends followed further back, and he kept on turning to try and keep the guards from discovering their location. He was also trying to not get trapped, the city layout was confusing and he was determined to not find any one-way areas.
He spotted one nearby, and instead ran through the first open door that came into his vision.
He ran straight past a family sat at the dinner table, who paused eating to stare at him.
"Sorry!" He said as he ran past, heading for the back door which he then kicked open with one foot.
"'Scuse me!" Prompto ran past the table next, causing the woman to bolt from it with a shrill scream.
"Guards!!" The middle-aged man yelled.
"My sincerest apologies." Ignis ran through last of all.
They met on the other side of the back door, then spied the city's outer wall in the distance and began heading for it.
As they neared the gates, they disposed of the few guards that were watching them and then turned around. An angry mob of civilians was now also heading towards them, some armed with swords and others had small firearms.
Gladiolus remembered his bag full of money, and he quickly unzipped it before tipping the lot out onto the street, waving at the civilians as he did so.
They rushed forwards, past the guard forces in order to try and get hold of some of the paper notes as they fluttered about in the breeze, and the guards soon became swamped, being forced to try and push the citizens back in order to get through.
The friends then ran out of the gate, shoving it closed behind them before heading towards one of the nearby garages.
After some rather 'pointed' negotiations, they borrowed a delivery truck and were finally speeding away from the accursed city altogether, Ignis locating and removing the tracking device after roughly a minute or so.
"Soon as I see Nyx," Gladiolus panted, "I think we need to bring up the matter of our wages. We need a raise."
"We did it, we fuckin' did it!" Prompto yelled. "We shoulda been called the Alpha team, bro, we fuckin' rule."
"We still have a very angry Divine to subdue." Ignis then said. "I imagine that he'll be awake by now."
Prompto stared at him. "Awww, ruin the moment, why don't you?"
"He's right," Gladiolus grinned, "but I'm still gonna feel a little bit proud of what we just did."
"As am I." Ignis smiled. "Just didn't want us to get too ahead. Shall we contact the others again now?"
"...oh yeah." Prompto agreed. "I'll do it." He then tapped. "Yo, this is Alpha Two reportin' in, are you there guys?"
"...Alpha Two?" Was Nyx's first response.
"Bro, you did not see the shit we just pulled off. It was godly, man, we need a raise for this."
"I'll see what I can do." Came the grinning reply. "You okay?"
"Just about, that was pretty close."
"We have the items," Ignis said then, "but we'll also have an Ifrit on our tail fairly soon."
"...Ifrit?" The shock was clearly audible. "But we had an Ifrit."
"Was there anything unusual about yours at all?"
"Aside from bein' asleep?"
"Ours was too."
"Uhh...well, he did look kinda hazy at one point, right when I grabbed the Crystal. He kinda flickered a bit?"
"That settles it." Gladiolus said. "Yours was a fake."
"...oh fuck." Noctis sighed. "That explains the static."
"The real one was here all along, and he's now inside a burning Citadel that's gonna make him real pissed off."
"Did you get rid of your tracking device? Sounds like you managed to grab hold of a truck like we did."
"Yeah, we threw it out...but that's not gonna make much difference now. We need to be ready for him. Where are you?"
"At the Plains. There's..." Noctis looked around. "There's like, a cluster of trees nearby? And we came over from Duscae, followed a river part of the way."
"...guess that's as good a set of directions as we'll ever get. Alright then, stay put while I try and find you."
Nyx looked at Helena, who'd been shocked into silence at hearing that their Ifrit was actually a fake, and he was worried too.
"Are you sure it was him?" He double-checked.
Prompto spoke up. "Trust me, bro, I got to within a foot of the guy and I'm tellin' ya, that was no fake. He looked a bit different from how he does on the internet, though."
"...how do you mean?" Helena then asked.
"Well...he looked more...kinda like a Daemon? His face was all gnarly and animal-lookin' and stuff. I thought he looked human?"
Her heart sank. "Normally, yeah. He's not normal right now. That explains how they were able to get him to start building up power for Hellfire, then."
"I don't get it."
"What you saw is his demonic side. He's half-Daemon, part of the agreement was that that side got buried to try and keep him more neutral than he used to be long ago. That's his primitive side, the one that has no reason or mercy...rather like fire itself. The collar must be keeping hold of his more human side, the one that Bahamut could have spoken to. Without it..." She then fell silent, and to Nyx she looked even worse.
"Get back here as soon as you can." He then said, signing off.
He went over to her and took both of her hands, looking at the huge amount of worry on her face.
"We can reverse this." He said. "You just need to follow your plan, then he'll turn back. Right?"
She looked at him for a few moments, then nodded quietly.
"He was gonna come for us regardless, we just need to be a little more careful with him, that's all."
His eyes, however, were trying to say more than that. Noctis was too nearby, so Nyx was unable to do anything else to help her.
"...didn't happen to bring your flask, did you?" Noctis asked.
Of course. "Think it's in my pack." Nyx went to the driver's door to take a look, and the others followed him.
"Aha." He said as he pulled it out and handed it over. "You first," he said, "need one of us to keep an eye out for the others."
"So what are we gonna do?" The King asked before he drank.
"If this Ifrit is gonna be the extra-angry version, fightin' him may not be the best plan." Nyx told him. "Might not last long like that. Hopefully I'll be able to discuss it with the others soon, but what I think we need to do is see if we can distract him. Not for long, just enough for Diabolos to let rip with that Gravity of his."
"Yeah. Then what?"
"Well...you're the King of Light. That means you've got access to the Lucian Armiger again. Maybe one of those would hurt him?"
That caused Helena to freeze solid for a second, and she then started thinking very rapidly.
"Maybe..." Noctis hedged. "I don't think I'd wanna run up to him with the sword or axe, though. I can't get near Gravity either."
At that moment, she was talking to Diabolos.
"How do I use Omni?" She asked him.
"...that is forbidden." The Daemon Prince told her.
"Are you able to detect how much of a fuck I give about that?" She snapped at him. "Your Gravija won't mean anything unless Noctis can get through it to strike Ifrit with the Armiger."
"I am present to cast Gravija, then I leave." He reminded her sternly. "I shall do nothing else."
"And that time hasn't arrived yet. Do you want the balance to remain intact afterwards?"
An ominous growl echoed between her ears that almost made her teeth rattle, then he spoke. "...listen well." He said.
Noctis then left to carry on looking out for the others, and Nyx turned to Helena to see the faraway look on her face again.
"...what are you doing?" He asked her.
She blinked, then looked at him. "Checking my plan." She said. "I'll need to make a small adjustment."
"Looks like it's gonna get you into trouble."
She smiled briefly. "I already was in trouble, I shouldn't even be summoning Diabolos really. But...I need to do this."
"You're...still gonna be here afterwards, right?"
"Hopefully."
"You will." He briefly checked to make sure that Noctis wasn't looking, then he was finally able to kiss her for a short time.
"You've always done the right thing." He told her afterwards. "Don't stop believing that now, or you'll fail."
She nodded, and he kissed her once more before they both went to rejoin Noctis and wait.
Five minutes later, the binoculars held an unnerving sight.
In the distance and heading towards them was a truck, and Gladiolus could easily be seen behind the wheel. Behind him was the flame-covered form of Ifrit, and behind that were several vehicles belonging to the Niflheim army, one of them Imperial.
Nyx smiled. "Looks like the Emperor wanted a front-row seat."
"Stupid bastard." Noctis muttered.
The army forces then stopped, not wanting to get caught up in the impending battle as the truck carried on and screeched to a halt not far from their own, the other three friends scrambling out of it to join the others quickly.
"Reunion may have to wait." Gladiolus said. "He's not far behind us now. Probly wants us all together."
"At least we agree on that." Helena smiled.
He looked at her. "...are you alright?"
She nodded, now feeling unusually calm. "Yeah, thanks. Glad you all are too. You won't want to miss this."
"Says the person who's about to break the law." Noctis joked.
"Who's got the ring?" Nyx then asked.
Prompto fished it out of his pocket. "Here."
He threw it to Nyx, who then put it on his right hand.
"Mind if I borrow this for a bit, Your Worship?" He asked.
Noctis grinned. "Be my guest. I got enough tricks now, really." He then looked at Helena. "You'll tell me what to do, right?" He asked her, alluding to the plan they'd not long discussed.
She nodded. "Yep, I'll take care of it."
"Alright then. Guys, we need to distract this big bastard and not get into a fight. Repeat, not get into a direct fight with Ifrit. We can't win while his Daemon face is showin'." He said loudly.
The newly-joined friends stared at him, then nodded while looking back towards the steadily-approaching Divine.
Ifrit slowed right down as he got within thirty yards of the group, looking at them all, then he howled and shot a huge fireball towards one of the trucks. The group moved out of the way, and the truck exploded instantly, a huge gout of smoke and flame mushrooming out towards the clear blue sky.
"Well, he seems charming enough." Nyx murmured. "Let's spread out a little, need to keep him away from our two shooters."
He instantly warped to one side, and the others similarly moved to circle the raging Divine as he began selecting a target and swinging towards it with a huge, flaming fist. At the same time, his other targeted to the side or behind, little clusters of fire spreading out of it like homing missiles to try and hit one of the other people nearby.
"Is he still charging?" Ignis called out.
"Yes!" Helena answered. "He's not quite there yet."
"Get that summon out here." Gladiolus told her.
She began charging herself, drawing the power but not putting it into her own body, and trails of black smoke started to linger behind as she moved around the body of Ifrit.
As he missed hitting them more and more times, his anger steadily grew and his face became even more twisted, making him appear rather like a giant, flame-covered Ogre than the neutral Fire Divine he was supposedly meant to be. It also made his attacks and spells far more dangerous and wide-reaching, forcing the group to be constantly on the move, not able to stand still for a single second.
Gradually, they all started to become tired, and they knew that something had to happen soon while they could still move.
"We can't keep this up." Nyx groaned, having just been forced to use a drop of Slow Time to avoid getting a fireball to the face. "We'll get tired way before he does."
"You got any...better ideas?" Prompto panted.
"We ain't gonna get a clear shot unless..."
Nyx then stopped moving, and pointed at the Divine.
"...we stand still." He finished. "Hey, you! Ifrit!"
The others stopped and turned towards him, then starting to approach as they figured out what he was up to.
The Divine also stopped, one fist raised and in the middle of throwing yet another fireball.
"We can't run anymore." Nyx told him. "You must be pretty tired too, right? C'mon. Gimme your best shot." His hands were waving at Noctis and Helena, beckoning them to stand next to him.
"Are you charged?" Noctis asked her.
"Yeah." She nodded. "Fuckin' bursting."
"Get ready."
"What, don't you like stationary targets?" Nyx taunted. "Can't make it any easier for you, you dumb bastard."
Ifrit then started charging a much bigger fireball, one that seemed to need both hands, which made Nyx glance at Helena.
"...that's not Hellfire, is it?" He asked.
"No." She shook her head. "But it's still rather big."
"Just checking."
They watched as the fireball grew to twice the size of Ifrit's head, then after a pause, he let it go.
At the same time, Nyx, Noctis and Helena all cast Slow Time, compounding the effect, and the flaming missile slowed down to almost a crawl...and then stopped.
A huge hexagonal shield then sprang up to block the fireball, and right behind it, the black, bat-winged form of Diabolos appeared wreathed in smoke, staring down his target full in the face.
The fireball struck the shield, transforming it into a curtain of slow-moving flame as it spread out horizontally, then Ifrit spotted the Daemon Prince for the first time and started to move.
"Now, Diabolos." Helena commanded.
The Daemon brought his hands together and an even bigger missile flew out of them, coloured like deepest shadow.
It shattered the shield into fragments, travelling on to strike Ifrit full in the chest before expanding to cover his entire body in a matter of seconds, a hollow, alien sound droning out as it did so.
Ifrit howled once, then vanished beneath the still-expanding mass of liquid black, gravity pushing down at him from all sides and angles to crush the Divine into stasis, unable to move an inch.
He could barely even breathe, it was far too heavy for his body to take and as the others looked on, unable to see, his vision started to waver and grow darker at the edges.
Nyx tossed the ring to Noctis and he put it on while the others backed away to stare at the unearthly sight, then Noctis turned towards Helena to see her facing the black sphere, holding a miniature version of her own in her right hand.
"I'll take it now, please." She told him.
He nodded, and extended his hand out to her left with glowing fingers, and steadily, a blazing ball of white began to appear in her left hand, now holding one of each as she concentrated on the large mass in front of her.
Ignis instantly recognised it, and gasped, but there was so much noise in the area ahead that nobody heard his epiphany.
Helena then brought her hands together, and the ball of black energy was covered by the white for a few seconds before the black tried to push through it to the surface, seeking dominance.
She aimed the strange concoction at the globe containing Ifrit and fired, and a gigantic hole was punched straight through the dense ball of Gravity to reveal Ifrit underneath, looking dizzy and struggling to breathe as the rest of the globe pressed on him.
"Shoulder." She said to Noctis. "Quickly."
Noctis spun the Armiger in his head until he reached the Ancient Spear, then looked at Ifrit's shoulder and the gigantic weapon materialised into existence, its half-transparent form streaking out to embed itself into the Divine.
He didn't even scream; there was no time in which to do so.
Instead, he instantly fell unconscious, and Helena relaxed her command to Diabolos so that he could dispel the globe.
Once it had vanished, Ifrit's body fell to the floor with a heavy sound and the Daemon Prince looked at Helena.
"...it is done." He said. "On your head."
He then vanished, and she felt him leave her mind. Gone.
The others started to smile wearily, then that faded as they saw the Imperial Army heading towards them.