Prompto hurried after Noctis, leaving Ignis and Gladio to talk with the glaives a bit longer under the bright lights of the base. Gladio chuckled at the sight of Noctis fawning over his dad's car before he turned and asked Crowe, "Can you watch over Iris for me?" He doubted she would wake up before they returned and he knew Crowe and the other glaives would ensure she was safe until his return.
Crowe gave Gladio an exasperated look as if commenting on the need for such a question. She carefully took Iris into her arms, "The airships went down just past the ridge." She smirked, "Just follow the smoke."
While Gladio spoke with Crowe, Ignis turned to his uncle and Libertus. There were several details that needed to be dealt with before they left. "We need to find a safe place for them," Ignis waved his hand towards the truck full of Insomnian refugees, "to hide until we can contact Sir Navalus and figure out how to bring everyone to Galahd."
Libertus was about to reply when ear-piercing howls interrupted him and the whole base was suddenly plunged into darkness. Ignis saw the refugees peering out from the trucks with panic and fear in their eyes but he couldn't stop to reassure any of them. "Uncle! Get them back into the tower and keep everyone calm!" He shouted before running towards the stairs leading up to the top of the wall.
Noctis had warped up there as soon as the howls started. He was surprised by how quickly Nyx appeared beside him, not in a flash of blue but rather simply there in a flash of bright light. He didn't have time to consider what that meant as the howling started up again.
"Damn it!" Noct swore as he spotted the source of the howls. He half turned and shouted to his friends, "Daemons! Lots of them!"
Nyx summoned his kukris, "It's been awhile since I saw this many of them all together. They must have been the weapons Scientia mentioned." He growled, "Damn Niffs! What are they thinking?"
"Doesn't matter." Ignis said as he came to stand beside them, "We must ensure they do not breach the tower." He considered the state of the few fighters they had. Nyx and the glaives had fought quite a bit as they cleared the base of soldiers. They, themselves, were not in the best shape but had more energy than the glaives.
As the daemons started drawing ever closer, Ignis told the others his plan. "Nyx, Crowe, Libertus and Pelna; please fall back to the tower and protect it. Noctis, Prompto, Gladio and I will bring the fight to the daemons and try to keep them from entering the base." There were nods all around him.
Nyx was reluctant to leave the fighting to the younger Crownsguards but he knew he was getting tired. Using Ramuh's blessing was taking a lot more out of him than he had expected, being able to move at the speed of lightning seemed to cost them almost ten times the energy of a long warp. "Got it, but we'll keep an eye on you and act as your backup if things get messy." He narrowed his eyes at Ignis defiantly.
Ignis nodded his understanding, turning away from Nyx in order to look at the daemons. He could recognize a most of the kinds approaching quickly. A sharp gasp from beside him had Ignis turning to look at Prompto worryingly. "Prompto? Are you alright?"
"Y..Ya, I'm okay… Just there's a really strong daemon somewhere close by and it's… like ridiculously strong." Prompto said, a hand clutching at the front of his shirt and starring out past the horde of daemons approaching. Gladio was rubbing a hand over his back, sending Ignis a worried glance before turning his attention back to their blond boyfriend.
Noct glanced over to Prompto quickly before demanding softly, "Prom, I need you to be honest. Can you fight?" Prompto nodded determinedly at that and Noctis gave him a grin. "Ok then! Specs, call out anything you notice. Now let's go!" He grinned at Gladio, receiving a confident smirk back before warping to the ground in front of the incoming daemons.
Gladio shook his head, giving Prompto one last worried look before jumping down to stand by Noct with his greatsword in hand. Ignis and Prompto both followed after them, leaving Nyx to tell the glaives the plan and keep everyone they had just saved safe.
The first wave of daemons crashed against them within seconds. Noct frowned as he noticed that a single strike was enough to destroy them but there wasn't time to think about why when every daemon he killed was replaced by three more.
While Gladio stuck beside Noctis in the middle of the daemon crowd, Ignis and Prompto stayed closer to the wall and took out the daemons that bypassed their two boyfriends. Prompto was having trouble concentrating as the daemon in him started getting more active. Already his sight was changing, the night growing darker and yet clearer as the sparks of the Scourged filled the night with every daemon they killed.
Prompto couldn't prevent the scourge that approached him to be absorbed into his body, feeding the daemon in him. He forced himself to shift that daemonic energy into magic, sending as much as he could to Noctis' reserve.
Ignis stayed close to Prompto, he was well aware of the troubles being close to daemons could cause him and wanted to be close in case something happened. He could see Prompto slowing down for a brief moment after a daemon was killed close to him. Ignis made sure to kill as many daemons as he could before they ever got that close to Prompto.
The four men fought together, supporting each other with the ease that came from a long friendship and lots of practice. Ignis kept a close eye on Prompto and was the first who noticed the sudden change in the daemons' attacks.
Within the span of 75 seconds, the daemons went from attacking all of them to ignoring Noctis, Ignis and Gladio in favor of charging at Prompto. Ignis reacted quickly by placing himself between his boyfriend and the incoming threats.
Prompto gasped, shouting "Iggy!", when the advisor jumped in front of him and grunted as a goblin slammed into him. He shot the daemon off and hissed as the scourge slithered into his body as the goblin dissolved.
Prompto stumbled back as Noct and Gladio arrived, cutting through the throngs of flans, goblins, and tarantulas and adding to the increase of scourge around him. He choked at the heaviness of it overwhelming him, barely managing to croak out, "Noct...magic…", before dropping to his hands and knees heaving.
Thankfully Noctis had been keeping an eye on Prompto while cutting through the hordes of daemons and caught on what Prompto needed. "Specs! Gladio! Grab Prom and get back! I'm going to light up the place!" He barely waited for either of them to reply, knowing that Prompto didn't have time to waste, before pulling as much of his magic as he could and forcing it into a flask.
The moment it was in, Noctis lobbed the flask towards a goblin and warped away. The goblin batted the flask with an arm. It broke and unleashed the might of Noctis' and Prompto's combined magic.
The resulting explosion of lightning, ice and… "Is that a gravity well?" Whispered Ignis as he kept watched for any daemon surviving the onslaught that Noctis had just created. The magic sweep away all the daemons, destroying them completely and leaving only burnt ground filled with icicles.
Gladio had grabbed Prompto as soon as Noct had shouted his warning and ran towards the base's wall while Ignis guarded their backs. He dropped Prompto to the ground and quickly checked him for any injuries, relieved when he saw none.
Prompto groaned, partly in relief and partly in pain, as Noctis drew on his magic reserve and allowed Prompto to force part of the Scourge into magic for his boyfriend. Having Gladio grab him so roughly wasn't easy on his stomach but he was more concerned with the unhappy daemon in him that was trying to come out and play.
He was winning that fight until the earth rumbling as something big and heavy drew closer. Prompto opened his eyes as he heard both Gladio and Ignis swear from beside him, it was followed shortly by even more swearing coming from the top of the wall above him.
"What in Ifrit's name is that?" Nyx exclaimed. "Is it the weapon?" The four glaive have felt the burst of magic and decided they needed to get closer to check on Noctis and his boyfriends before they got into too much trouble. They were rather happy they had as they spotted the approaching threat first while Noctis recovered from the use of his magic and Gladio and Ignis checked on Prompto.
A humanoid figure, twice as tall as a Red Giant, was slowly walking closer. Each step was followed by a small earthquake that grew as it got closer. As it approached, its features became clearer; a humanoid shaped machine with extremely large shoulders and legs was walking towards them with a single mindedness that could be felt from a distance.
Ignis and Gladio shifted protectively in front of Prompto as their boyfriend whimpered and curled up on himself. Noctis, Nyx and the three other glaives were quick to join them as they turned to face the last daemon they could see among the dark moonless night.
Ignis glanced at Prompto, gritting his teeth together as he saw how pale and tense he was. "We need to deal with this… daemon as quickly as possible. Prompto is not reacting well to its presence."
Nyx cast a glanced at Prompto, worried and confused. "I'd ask why he's reacting like that but we don't have time. Pelna! Get the kid to the tower. If Luna is strong enough she might be able to help. Otherwise we're on our own." Pelna nodded, dropping to a knee to grab Prompto before warping away with the blond kid in his arms.
Gladio brought his sword back into his hand, staring at the daemon as it walked. "Okay, Igs, how do you suggest we deal with that thing?"
Ignis looked at Noct, "Noct, how are you magic wise?"
Noctis quickly checked before he answered, "Looks fine. Prom filled it back up right after I used the flask."
The advisor and strategist smirked as he planned a battle strategy to combat the approaching enemy using the 6 of them effectively. "Nyx, Noctis. Both of you warp up to its head and aim for its eyes. Try to blind it as much as possible. Gladio and Libertus, concentrate your strength against its legs. Crowe and I will use magic to support all of you. We must bring it down before it reaches the base!"
Noctis and Nyx shared a smirk before warping away without saying anything else. The blue streaks of warps showed their path clearly as they quickly closed the distance. Gladio growled, swearing, "Damn it!", before running after them.
The rest of the group followed quickly after the reckless duo that was Noctis and Nyx teamed up. As soon as they were close enough, Libertus warped on ahead to help draw the attention of the daemon away from the other two.
Crowe stayed some distance away as she gathered her magic and started weaving her spells together. Ignis continued on with Gladio, both crownguard acting in concert to strike at the daemon. Gladio swung his great sword with both of his hands, wincing as metal struck metal, while Ignis used his daggers to the same almost futile result.
"Damn it! Its armor is too thick! We won't be able to get through it easily." Ignis exclaimed angrily as he retreated a few steps to reconsider the situation. It seemed that Noctis and Nyx were doing some damage but they couldn't be certain of how much. At least the daemon was no longer moving forward as it brought its attention to the annoying flies bothering it.
A/N: the humanoid shaped they see is a miniature Diamond Weapon from Kingsglaive. It's smaller than the ones in the movie because of the lack of strong daemons available to Niflheim.
