Ardyn rematerialized in the middle of the Citadel's main courtyard practically vibrating with fury. He didn't know how that child and his friends had escaped the grasp of the crystal; in his two thousand years of life, never had any Lucis Caelum been seen again after being absorbed. In fact, he'd been under the impression that their magic and essence actually fed the crystal's power, as each time the blasted rock had become more unpleasant to be around, more invasively burning against his skin.
It was high noon, though nobody would have known it. Ardyn noted with satisfaction that if the Lucians hadn't bothered to light up the area, it would've been dark as night. As it was, he barely cast any shadow in the well-lit courtyard. Prince Noctis stood a ways above him on the stairs, his retinue clustered around him, the arrogant Marshal and what was left of the Lucian army spread around.
"Welcome back to Insomnia, Noct," he said, sweeping a low mocking bow, his hat almost brushing the ground. "I do hope you like what I've done with the place." The young prince remained unperturbed, but the other fidgeted anxiously.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here when you arrived," continued Ardyn glibly. "I had such plans for you. Oh, the fun we could have had!" With an unnecessarily elaborate gesture his features melted into the illusion of King Regis. The onlookers gasped, and the prince was especially shaken.
"You're sick," he choked.
"How could you say that to your own flesh and blood?" Ardyn savored his many-times great nephew's horror. "I'll try to find it in my heart to forgive you..."
"Enough, jester," interrupted Noctis. The starscourge rose in Ardyn until it bubbled just below his skin. How dare he? "This is my ascension."
"The once helpless and hapless prince!" Ardyn spread his arms wide. "Is he now ready to claim his crown?" He indicated the crowd around them. "Don't let us down." Noctis drew his sword, King Regis' old sword, Ardyn noted, and warped forward to smash his blade against the Rakshasa blade that Ardyn whipped from his own armiger. The strength of the clash blasted both of them backwards, but as one, they warped back to the center.
"Let the games begin!" Ardyn was excited in spite of the frustration and uncertainty that had plagued him since he'd first realized his trap in Zegnautus had failed. Would the boy falter? He was facing Daddy Dearest, after all.
"No. Now they end!" growled the prince.
The prince put up a decent showing for the child he was. He warped in and out, striking from various angles, doing his best to break through his opponent's guard, even landing a few minor blows thanks to the interference of his retainers and Cor the Immortal, who buzzed around like gnats. Ardyn shrugged off the wounds, feeling the scourge drip from his skin and repair the injuries, frankly more peeved at the damage to his clothing than anything else. He retaliated in kind but struggled to land any hits on his primary target, as each attack was obstructed by one or the other. Even the nearby Crownsguard were doing their level best to shoot at him whenever they got the chance!
"They have no place in this, the battle of kings!" snarled Ardyn after the shield blocked yet another one of his parries while the clone shot him in the shoulder. It hurt, even though the bone began to knit together immediately.
"We will always stand beside him!" declared Ignis. Ardyn had been very entertained watching the boy named after fire get his eyes burned away from the inside out. He noted with surprise that the advisor's vision had somehow been healed. Yet another unexplained mystery!
"This is the end for you!" shouted the Marshal, landing a particularly powerful slash with his katana that forced Ardyn to block...just in time for the Advisor to stab him in the ribs with flaming daggers. Ardyn growled and warped up to the top of a nearby pillar, raising a shield for a moment's reprieve. He patted his clothes to extinguish them, and that gave him an idea.
"Oh Noct!" he called down. Noctis had formed up, his friends flanking him on either side. "I feel I must repay you for the warm welcome you've shown me. Ifrit, the Infernian!" Ardyn pulled hard on the connection between him and the corrupted deity, and the sixth astral erupted into being behind him in a rush of flames and heat. Some of the crownsguard screamed, and Ardyn smiled viciously at the sound. This would keep them busy!
"Go, I've got this," said Noctis to Cor and his companions. The marshal instantly moved to join his soldiers, but the prince's companions were understandably reluctant. Ifrit raised his enormous flaming greatsword and began laying waste to the soldiers, flinging a large, fiery, molton blast at the palace that left a smoking crater in the side. "Go!" Noctis flung out his hand, and his blue crystal armiger exploded into being around him. His friends finally obeyed, realizing that they would be of little use during the next portion of the fight.
"Ah, a king at last!" crowed Ardyn as his red armiger mirrored his opponent. They rose into the air, borne by the power of their bloodline, and the battle truly began.
Ardyn and Noctis flashed all over the city, warping through the air, armigers clashing in sparks and light and crashing power, ripping and tearing and bashing and slicing, ancient weapons striking each other over and over. The boy had to use many healing potions, but he doggedly kept fighting, refusing to falter. He fought like Somnus, but Ardyn remembered a few dirty tricks from his younger days.
"Ah...My revenge is soon at hand," Ardyn purred, savoring the feeling of the boy's throat in his grasp. This was so much sweeter than trapping him in some half-sentient magical rock. But the child had a few tricks of his own and hadn't been quite as helpless as he pretended. He channeled a blast of lightning straight into Ardyn's face, who was thrown back and forced to throw up a shield.
"Don't worry, it's far from over!" promised Noctis, massaging his neck.
"Well, let's have it then!" growled Ardyn, finally letting his Regis disguise melt away into his own form as the scourge began to drip down his face to repair the damage. "You and your crystal against all I have become."
Noctis' eyes went red, and Ardyn stepped back as he felt the shiver of gathering power. Far above, in a crackle of lightning and storms, the Stormfather appeared, staff in hand, as Shiva's many incarnations hovered around the prince in a display of loyalty. The Hydrian burst from a nearby reflecting pool, screaming in fury, and Titan exploded from the earth (destroying a large chunk of the city in the process, Ardyn noticed with amusement) to loom menacingly over the scene. Through the sky, Bahamut, the old dragon himself, soared to hover behind his proclaimed King of Kings. Ardyn felt a thrill of anticipation. He was immortal by sheer dint of his scourge-induced healing factor combined with the Lucian magic and the healing power that he had been born with, but he was not indestructible, and should these five gods bring their entire combined force to bear on him, he wasn't sure what would happen to him.
But the foolish child still failed to make the hard choices. The gods bypassed their fight and instead joined the battle against their fellow astral instead. Ifrit had been tearing through his opposition, and Noctis clearly worried more for the safety of his friends and fellows instead of the fight in front of him. As the battle behind them increased in ferocity and destruction because of the divine powers brought to bear, Ardyn tutted loudly.
"A king in name alone. I'm truly disappointed," scolded Ardyn. "Is that really the best you can do?"
"I'm just getting started," Noctis warned, and their battle reached a new pitch as the prince attacked with newfound strength and intensity. As they struck each other, Ardyn realized with a start of surprise that the prince was slowly but surely inflicting more damage than the scourge could heal. The brat was taking much more injury himself, of course, but he kept downing potions and elixirs and returning to combat. At that point, if Noctis ran out of healing first, then the battle would end with his death. If not, then it would be Ardyn himself who left the mortal plane. For the first time in over two thousand years, Ardyn considered that there might be another outcome beyond the satisfaction of defying Bahamut's prophecy at the cost of an eternal, miserable existence. A strange feeling entered the Accursed's heart, but he wasn't going to let go of his revenge just yet.
"A war of attrition then," said Ardyn, struggling to pull himself off the ground after he and Noctis crashed from high above the citadel into the courtyard far below. Their magic had protected them against terrible injury, but the drain on their power reserves left them both weak. Noctis staggered to his feet, pulling himself up by the hilt of his dead father's sword. The kings of Lucis began to manifest, lining the walls of the citadel. Beyond them, it seemed that the battle against Ifrit had finally ended.
"The kings of yore are on hand, calling you forth...to oblivion," said Ardyn. Noctis was still having difficulty summoning strength, in spite of the two elixirs he'd just taken. Ardyn slashed at him, knocking him to the ground, and for a moment, he thought it was over. But the prince clutched a red feather in his hand, and in a burst of flame, the phoenix down burned through his body, restoring his stamina and health and bringing him back from the brink of death, and the fight continued.
"When your father died, you were off playing with your friends!" Ardyn proclaimed, trying to goad his opponent into making a mistake, but Noctis was too close to his goal to be distracted at this stage. He parried a blow aimed at his head and managed to strike Ardyn on the arm, knocking Ardyn's faithful Rakshasa blade out of his hands, leaving him to rely solely on his royal arsenal.
"When I killed your beloved, you lay watching, powerless to stop it," snarled Ardyn, one last ditch attempt as the scourge ignored his other wounds to focus on reconnecting the tendons and muscles that had been severed so that he could continue fighting. Noctis was too quick for him. Blow by Blow, weapon by weapon, he struck the ancient man with the royal arms. Ardyn could only try and fail to match or block him again and again and again until, with a gasp, Noctis drove King Regis' sword straight through his chest.
"So, this is how you would end it," Ardyn gasped out, feeling the scourge try and fail to heal him. He collapsed backwards to the ground, a strange peace filling him. He'd resigned himself to an eternity of pain and madness and loneliness after the destruction of Eos, tempered only by the satisfaction of defying Bahmut's stupid prophesy and ending his traitorous brother's family line, but it seemed instead that the King of Light was going to be able to fulfill his destiny after all, finally freeing him from his curse. The ancient Luciian kings faded away into nothingness, and Noctis came to stand over his enemy.
"Now it is over, Majesty," croaked Ardyn, feeling his limbs slowly stop responding as the scourge screamed in defiant disbelief in his head. "What will you do? Banish the demons and bring peace? Erase me from history once more?" He laughed, choking on blood and the scourge.
"I will fulfill my destiny," said Noctis.
"Then I will await you in the beyond," whispered Ardyn as his eyes shut. After two thousand years, sweet sleep finally, finally overcame him.
"Kings of Lucis. Come to me!"
