Pairings: Noctis Lucis Caelum/Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, Ravus Nox Fleuret/Aranea Highwind (this is background relationship only, won't be the focus of this story)
Unexpectedly there are a few of you that liked this story lol. I was trying a new writing style when I wrote this so there's not a lot of dialogue, but starting the next chapter it went back to my usual style I think.
Enjoy!
Like A Fire in the Dark
Two
When Iudicias came back from his visit to the Oracle, with Aurys' help he began to plan seriously for this revolution.
First, he had to form an army and look for someone who could reprogram the Magitek units to free them. With the soldiers taken care of, with Lunafreya's help combined with his own magic they would try to deal with the Accursed.
They have to deal with him first because he would cause the most trouble if left alone for too long. If they failed to cleanse him, at least seal him until they could find a way to either purify the scourge from his body or banish him for good.
After that, they would go find Verstael Besithia and send him to the shadow realm.
Like, seriously. The man didn't deserve to live anymore after all he had done. He had to go.
The last step was to confront Iedolas and either get him to surrender his throne or take it from him by force.
Iudicias had to remind himself that he wasn't Harry Potter anymore and this wasn't his old peaceful world. He shouldn't be afraid or hesitate at the idea of having to spill some blood for the sake of the future.
If Iedolas man wouldn't let go of his throne… he could die in it for all he cared.
With Lunafreya's help, they got Ravus (who had just become the Deputy High Commander of the Imperial Army and was Very Strong) into the cause. He would be a really big help in a fight, as his strength alone could match like, a hundred squadron of Magitek soldiers.
Loqi Tummelt, a young Brigadier General under Ravus's direct command, joined them after a really heated discussion with Ravus that he ended up overhearing and interrupting.
Knowing that Ravus wasn't betraying the empire (even though he technically was) but was serving the will of the Imperial Prince, he decided to join too.
Apparently, he privately disagreed with the Empire's unethical experimentations, but he couldn't do anything but stay silent because disobeying the Emperor's will meant death or a fate worse than death. Tummelt was loud and a bit narcissistic, but he was capable and strong in the field so he was glad to have the young man with them to help with the inevitable fight.
Aranea Highwind, a Commodore of the Imperial Army, joined soon after with the group of mercenaries she led. Apparently one of her boys used to be infected with the scourge really badly a few years back and they met Lunafreya by accident in a town she was visiting. She saved the Dragoon's underlings and they've secretly been good friends ever since.
Iudicias had heard of Commodore Highwind even before she joined them.
The young woman was insanely strong and tales of her achievements reached his ears once or twice in passing. The mercenary group she led on the side was loyal to her and would do anything she ordered them to. They were not weak and they worked best as a team, so they were reassuring to have as a back-up for the others.
With Aranea's help, they also got the cooperation of the freedom fighters—or 'terrorists' as Iedolas put it. The leader of the resistance was old friends with the Commodore and when she approached the leader with the idea, although suspicious she tentatively agreed to help Iudicias.
Meanwhile, Aurys managed to locate several of his special 'siblings' and they agreed to help with taking control of the Magitek soldiers after Iudicias dispelled their mind-controlling device. He also discovered some of Verstael's assistants that agreed to join their cause, which was a pleasant surprise.
Of course, Iudicias make them swear with a binding vow so they wouldn't betray them and their cause before he let them in. This was too important to risk anything.
Iudicias himself went on his days kissing his father's and the chancellor's asses, being the perfect heir to the Empire while taking the court members that he suspected wasn't completely on his father's side aside one by one and convincing them to join him in his usurpation.
He found himself surprisingly good at acting and sweet-talking them into his clutch. He would be a mean businessman if he ever tried his hands on that, but one thing at a time.
A lot of the court members actually never agreed to his father's decision to abandon their humanity. They were all for expansion of territories, but cloning humans, experimenting on daemons… yeah, most of them were a little freaked out at that, but they didn't dare raise their voices because they didn't want to become an experiment subject themselves.
Figured.
Of course, he got some of them wrong. Those that he misread and was actually a believer of his father's disgusting vision got a really hard slap to the face because how could they agree with that twisted view have they lost their minds before he obliviated them and send them their way.
It took 3 years, but the preparation for this coup d'etat was finally ready.
The hardest thing was to stay out of the Accursed's line of view, but they managed. Sometimes, he thought that the Chancellor knew exactly what they were doing in the background but he allowed it to happen anyway.
Iudicias didn't know what that man wanted from all of this mess, but he was prepared to do anything and fight him if they have to.
.
The end of July of M.E. 752, they began executing the operation.
Iudicias and Lunafreya quietly slip away on their own to head directly to confront Ardyn while Ravus, Tummelt, Highwind, and the Resistance dealt with the Magitek Soldiers to create a diversion for them and Aurys's team, who was heading straight to the control rooms.
He had told Aurys to take control of the Magitek Soldiers if he could, but in the event that they couldn't be disabled, they were to be destroyed instead from the central command to release them from their nightmare. They would just save the clones that hadn't been experimented with instead after everything was over.
When Lunafreya and he finally encountered Ardyn, Lunafreya took out her Trident and handed him his spear before she began gathering her magic to weaken the scourge inside the man. While she gathered her magic, he brandished the spear and tried to stab the man who after blocking his attack—flew into him?
He dodged it, barely. His left leg was hit by the Accursed's sword though and he couldn't help the curse that slipped from his mouth.
"No one told me he could fly!" He hissed at Lunafreya who rolled her eyes and went back to concentrating.
His leg was only hit a bit, but the force of it was enough to damage the bones there and he stumbled, trying to strategize. He was planning to wow this man with the skills he learned from Aurys, but it seemed like he had to take a defensive stance after all. Damn his child body.
His mind raced. He couldn't let Lunafreya be injured. Quickly he moved beside Lunafreya and began to hurl whatever magic that came to his mind at the man as he multi-casted protego around both himself and Lunafreya in time with his attacks, using his spear as his Focus.
He had never thought the Accursed would be an easy opponent, but he was really beginning to infuriate him with all his warping around and the bombardments of his flying Armigers. The timings of his protego had to be really precise, see, and he was bad with precise castings like that (especially because the spear wasn't a good focus for his magic).
And then Lunafreya began to glow with holy light and Ardyn stopped for a moment to cover his eyes.
It wasn't that bright, to be honest, but maybe it was different to Ardyn's cursed eyes.
Lunafreya took this chance and took his hand into hers. He felt her holy magic flowing into him and took a deep breath before he fired his stupid signature spell that had been enhanced by Lunafreya's magic at the Accursed—
"Expelliarmus!" he yelled and waved his spear in the chancellor's direction.
A bright light shot out and hit the man full-force, sending him into a wall unconscious.
Lunafreya let go of his hand and immediately run towards Ardyn's body to check him, but when he asked her she shook her head and told him that the scourge was still there and although weakened, she said it was still very strong—too strong for her magic to purify completely without destroying herself.
It seemed like they couldn't do it without the King's power after all, but okay, this was a start.
He hobbled carefully to Lunafreya, minding his injury, and held his hand back to her. She took it and gave him her power again. This time, he hit the man with a holy element-enhanced stupefy.
Hopefully, the altered spell will knock him out for at least three centuries, but he'll take a few years too. At least until they could find a solution for him anyway.
His first task done, Iudicias called Aurys on the mic on his earpiece, telling him to send someone to their location to retrieve Ardyn's body and take it somewhere safe as Lunafreya healed his injured leg.
When the pain finally ebbed away and he could walk again, he and Lunafreya wasted no time and went to locate Verstael Besithia.
The moment he saw the old man in his lair trying to merge his own body to a worm-like piece of machinery in a desperate attempt to came out of this alive, Iudicias rushed forward and stabbed him in the chest with his spear, not giving him a chance to say a word before he pushed him down onto the hard floor.
He reminded himself that wasn't doing this just for himself. This was for Aurys and countless others who had been hurt by the man's immoral experiments.
Mercilessly, Iudicias pulled out and stabbed him again until he was absolutely sure that the man was dead.
Lunafreya wisely didn't comment on his ruthlessness, knowing who the man was and all the horrible things he had done. She simply averted her eyes and rested her hands on his shoulders when she saw the slight tremble of his hands.
The Oracle held his hand all the way to the throne room, being the support that he didn't know he needed. They navigated the countless corridors to reach the elevator that would take them to the heart of the palace while battling Magitek Units that were positioned nearby to guard the throne.
When they reached the elevator, an uncountable amount of Magitek Soldiers dropped down from above and surrounded the two of them. Iudicias pulled Lunafreya behind him and was about to destroy all of them with his magic when suddenly all of them dropped motionless to the ground.
"We've taken control of the command room," Aurys's static-y voice said through their communication line. "All the obstacles have been cleared—the elevator is safe for you to use."
Iudicias nodded even though the older man couldn't see it.
"Thank you, Aurys."
There was static for a second before Aurys's voice spoke again as they ascended up on the elevator. "Break a leg, my Prince."
He laughed at that. "I just did, actually."
He stepped out when the elevator door opened again, ignoring Aurys' panicked questionings about his leg. There was a long corridor that led to the throne room—the room where his father was waiting for him.
The final confrontation before everything was over.
Before the door, Iudicias turned off his communication and handed his spear to Lunafreya who bowed to him before she stepped aside to let him go. He had talked about this with her before. When he confronted his father, he wanted to do it alone.
He didn't know why, but he felt like he didn't want to let others see the downfall of the man who had created him.
He heard that this man used to be a just ruler that was beloved by his people. What happened to him that he became like this? How could he let himself be manipulated so?
"Thank you, Lunafreya. I will take over from here," he told the Oracle who nodded her head at him as she clutched his spear to her chest.
"Be safe," she smiled and bestowed a chaste kiss on his forehead. "May the protection of the Crystal be with you, Prince Iudicias."
Iudicias nodded back and took a deep breath before he put his hands on the door and pushed inward. When the door opened, he saw his father, sitting on the throne like nothing happened.
The old man pushed himself up the moment he entered and from the look on his face, he was absolutely enraged at him. Around him were the bodies of the Magitek Soldiers stationed there to protect him, lifeless and unmoving.
"You have sat on that ugly chair for far too long, Father," he began as he stepped towards the man. "I think it is time for you to pass on the flame to another, don't you think?"
"Foolish boy!" Iedolas Aldercapt bellowed, throwing his arms to the side as he pulled the sword that he kept on his hips and pointed it at his own son.
"What do you know power? Of duty? Of responsibility? What makes you think that you can bear the weight of the crown?" Iedolas asked him furiously. "You have not the slightest idea of what it means to rule an Empire!"
"Indeed, I haven't," Iudicias hummed softly. "But I do not have to, Your Radiance, and you know why?"
He smiled at the man with a smile that didn't reach his eyes and told him in a clear voice, as clear as the diamonds on his father's crown.
"Because I'm going to abolish this wretched empire of yours and create a new country from its ashes—a country where the people are the one that chose their leader as opposed to the one we're having right now."
That's right, this was the final and extra step to this plan of his to protect his people.
Even if their coup right now succeeded, there was no guarantee that the future rulers of Niflheim will follow after Iudicias's vision of a just country, so he wished to abolish the current system and let the people choose the one to lead them.
It will be difficult to achieve—maybe not even in his lifetime, but he would be satisfied with just introducing the idea to the masses.
The reason that he chose to reveal his plan to his father was to make him so mad he couldn't think about where he swung that sword of his. The old man, who was once a clever ruler, foolishly fell to his trap and rushed towards him with his sword pointed right at his stomach without thinking.
Despite his old age and rickety body Iedolas was somehow still quite fast, but Iudicias was still faster than him. Gracefully, he sidestepped his father's attack and with one swift motion, he took the ornamental dagger that he always wore on his hips and stabbed the man's chest.
The sword in his father's hands fell to the ground with a loud clang as he slumped forward, coughing blood. Iudicias watched him fall to the ground on his back and looked down at the once powerful ruler of the empire, now gasping for breath, desperately clinging to the life he was undeserving of living.
He stayed silent as Iedolas propped himself onto his arms and crawled towards the throne, simply observing the man as he took the sword the man dropped into his hands.
"One day, you will know why I do everything I did," the old man gasped when he finally gave up and lied there at the steps that elevated the throne he desired for so much.
"You will never be sated with life and forever suffer from wanting…" the man kept talking as he coughed, spewing blood all over his white robes. "You will understand me, and you will destroy everything you hold dear… just like I did."
Iudicias snorted and stepped forward to loom over the man's body.
"If I ever became like you, then I gave my friends full permission to put me down," he told him as he poised the sword above his head. "Just like what I'm going to do to you right now."
He stared at the man's gray eyes—the same color as his, but so different at the same time.
"Goodbye… Father," Iudicias finally said before he slashed the man's chest with his own sword, ensuring his death.
Iudicias let out a long breath and closed his eyes.
Finally, it was over.
The preparation for this coup d'etat took almost 4 years, and yet, it took them less than a day to actually make it happen. He turned his communication device back online and told everyone the good news.
"Iedolas Aldercapt is dead," he said, wincing a bit as his ear was assaulted by the cheers of his men even as he smiled in relief. "We did it, everyone. We did it."
.
M.E. 752, at the end of the 7th month, Emperor Iedolas Aldercapt died in his old age of 89. His life was taken by his only son, the Imperial Prince Iudicias Aldercapt, who took his head as the proof of his victory and displayed it to the public.
The day after, on the same day of his 13th birthday, Iudicias Aldercapt ascended the throne and was crowned the 112th Emperor of the Niflheim Empire by the Oracle of Light. His accession was celebrated by the whole nations who heralded him their savior for freeing them from Iedolas's cruel regime.
The news traveled fast to the Kingdom of Lucis and reached the ears of King Regis and his son, Prince Noctis.
Their kingdom wasn't sure what to do with this turn of event and they upped the security for their beloved king to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the unrest to harm him.
The kingdom was still full with whispers of conspiracies and of worries for the future when a certain messenger suddenly visited their prince, bearing a letter for the future king from the Oracle herself.
"I apologize for not telling you anything before it happened. I imagine that you must be surprised by the news reports, hearing what was happening here in the heart of Niflheim," was what Luna wrote to him. "Please be assured that I am unharmed. Emperor Iudicias protected me during everything that has been going on and will continue to protect me, even after this."
"Although I am free to go where I wish now, the Emperor has asked for my assistance for something and I decided to accept his request, which is why I couldn't come to your side right now," the note continued. "The Emperor had promised me that I will be able to see you soon, however, so please have patience for a little bit more. When the time is right, we will be reunited once more."
"I miss you, dear Noctis," Luna wrote. "May the Crystal's protection be with you."
More than 6 months passed after that with no more letters from the Oracle, but Noctis kept seeing the young woman in the news standing behind the young emperor with a man that looked so much like his best friend whenever he made public appearances.
He patiently waited for this 'time' that the Oracle mentioned, but each day he became more disheartened from the lack of news about her.
And then, suddenly an emissary from Niflheim arrived at their door—offering terms for peace between Lucis and Niflheim.
End of Chapter Two
If you recognized the dialogue from when Iudicias confronted Iedolas: congratulations you have impeccable taste in your reading material lol.
It's a slightly modified version from the last scene in King's Maker's season one. It's my absolute favorite webcomic of all time. Gorgeous art, beautiful story. Chapter 24 have some of the most memorable scenes I've ever read. There's barely any dialogue and yet you can clearly understand what the character's thinking, what they're feeling. God, it was absolutely gorgeous. Definitely check it out if you don't mind reading BL.
Sorry about the promotion there lol but I genuinely love King's Maker and I couldn't help to put the dialogue here because of the similarity of the situation. Also, I forgot to mention that Iudicias is derived from iudicium (judgment, justice) while Aurys is from aurum (gold).