Not so Immortalis
"So, just lemme get this straight," Valyria started and rubbed her bare arms in an obviously futile attempt to warm herself. "Ardyn is, or rather, was, the Chancellor of Niflheim, the Adagium of legend and the older brother of the Founder King?"
She and Prompto sat around the most pathetic campfire he had ever lit, in the centre of a very worn-out looking haven, underneath of a rocky outcrop near the lakeside. The embers were eating through three meagre pieces of wood. Calling it a campfire was a bit of an exaggeration, really, because it provided little to no warmth. For five minutes or so, Prompto had been stoking it with a half-dry twig, but to no avail. He eventually gave up and threw the twig into the embers. It was cold, very cold. He had no idea how Valyria was holding up so well without a jacket. Just like Gladio, she rarely ever complained about the weather.
"The latter is also what makes him Noct's grunkle," Prompto continued their conversation. "Though he doesn't like being called that. I don't even know why. When he talks about Noct, he says stuff like, my dearest nephew or my beloved nephew. Well, not always, but sometimes."
He waved his arms around and tried his best to imitate Ardyn's overly dramatical tone, causing both Val and him to chuckle. It felt good, to be able to laugh for a bit when just half an hour ago he had thought he would never laugh again.
The crunching of snow caught their attention. From the lakeside, where they had parked the snowmobile, Ardyn trudged towards them. It appeared as though he had arrived without his vehicle.
"Do you seriously think I would have taken the name Ardyn Izunia if I wanted my connection to the Royal family to be commonly known?"
Prompto waved at the former Chancellor. "Relax, Ardyn! Val's not gonna go around telling people. She's part of the inner circle."
"So are you, and that's what worries me," Ardyn replied flatly as he stepped out of the snow and underneath the outcrop. Only at the last moment did he notice the faded runes of the haven. He stopped so abruptly that he nearly stumbled.
"Ah, sorry! Should've warned you," Prompto hastily said. "I think the haven's pretty much dead, though. See? Nothing's glowing." Although it was getting late in the afternoon, it was actually still too early for the runes to glow. Even so, most of them had been smoothed out by the harsh climate and were barely recognisable as such.
Yet Ardyn kept his distance. "You will have to excuse me, but I'm not in the mood to take the risk."
"It's okay. We're coming over." It was not like sitting around the embers helped much against the cold, anyway. Prompto rose from the ground, and so did Valyria, but unlike him, she did not settle again at the edge of the haven. Instead, she kept pacing around, as if trying to warm up her muscles by moving.
The longer Prompto watched, the colder he got. "Uhm, Val?" he started. "I don't think I've got anything left in Noct's armiger that would help, but I could lend you my jacket?"
"Thanks, but no thanks," she replied. "Not to seem ungrateful, but that'd leave you in the cold, and I think I can handle it a bit better." Valyria turned around, and, if the glow of Noct's magic was anything to go by, had summoned her sword from the armiger. She held it upright in front of her as though she swearing an oath on it, seemingly waiting or praying for something to happen. Could it be that she was trying to invoke the sword's flames by will?
"And there we have another fine example of just how much the blessed gods above value their delicate creations below," Ardyn said and gestured over to Valyria, before sitting down opposite of Prompto.
"Shut up," she bit back, desperately trying to concentrate.
Prompto shot the former Chancellor a questioning look.
"Legend says that the fabled Solferrum was created from the soul of a messenger and thus acts out the will of the divine. Isn't that right?"
Valyria shot him a glance. "How would you even know?"
"This sword has been around longer than I have, my dear," Ardyn replied nonchalantly.
"Which is saying something," Prompto added. Most of this particular legend was new to him, but not too surprising, given how they had met messengers and fought gods along their journey. Like, this was pretty much everyday business now. At this point, any mystical, magical sword was, quite literally, just another to add to the collection.
"Here. Take this and stop shivering," In one motion, Ardyn summoned a black piece of clothing from his armiger and threw it over to Valyria. "We wouldn't want the Prince to find you frozen like the Glacian's hollow corpse, do we?"
She dropped Solferrum back into the armiger, caught the coat and unfolded it in front of her. "Isn't that Crownsguard attire from the early days of King Regis' reign? I think my dad owned one of these from back when he used to train with the Crownsguard."
Prompto, too, had recognized the colour and style, if not the age, but it still begged one question: "How did that get into your armiger?"
The former Chancellor's expression turned sour again. "Have you ever heard of the expression not to look a gift chocobo in the beak?"
"Another terrible truth, huh?"
Ardyn's glare in return was enough to confirm his suspicion.
In the meantime, Valyria had put on the coat, which was a little too big for her size, but at least it had long sleeves and probably did a much better job warding off the cold than just her tank top. Out of the corner of his eye, Prompto thought he saw a small red stain on the hem of the coat. Blood, perhaps, from a fight? He quickly pushed the thought out of his mind, trying to heed Ardyn's warning this time.
Once Valyria had settled on the ground next to him, he could almost feel another uncomfortable silence coming on, by courtesy of the former Chancellor. "Can I ask just one teensy thing, though?", Prompto addressed Ardyn. "What happened to your snowmobile?"
"Oh, that old thing? We went separate ways, so to speak."
#-#-#
Noctis had, quite literally, a blast destroying the machine that had suppressed his Royal magic. On their way through the auxiliary building of the facility, they had stumbled across several boxes of prototype grenades. While they had not been able to take all of them without access to the armiger, just a few grenades turned out to be more than enough to make sure they were not leaving the facility without a bang.
Finding the machine in question proved to be no challenge. The closer they got, the heavier stasis wore on Noctis. – Until they blew the damn thing up, of course, and parts of the major control unit along with it. It had taken several minutes for the A.I. controlling the complex to react and send the infantry after them.
So much for Iggy's plan to remain undetected. In all honesty, though, if that part of the strategy would have gone perfectly, it would have been a first. They were just no good at keeping quiet. Thankfully, the delay between the explosion and the blaring of the siren had been long enough for them to find an escape vehicle. While Ignis manoeuvred the snowmobile out of the building, Noctis sent his full arsenal of Royal Arms ahead to punch a hole into the perimeter fence, and they fled from the growing numbers of MT units and armours coming after them. Although they had not been able to find Ardyn or reunite with Prompto, at least they had caused a large diversion and a fair amount of damage.
Their escape route led them through the snowfields, past patrolling MT armours, rocky terrain and sparse forests, until the view into the distance cleared and a lake appeared before them. Ignis, ever observant, spotted another snowmobile parked by the shore, and quickly theorised that Prompto must have taken it, though he also criticised that, if they could find it, so could the MTs. In theory, anyway. Noctis thought it rather unlikely that one of them travelled as far from the facility as they had. Consequently, Ignis parked their snowmobile next to the other.
The faded tracks of not two, but three pairs of feet guided them to an aged haven nearby, at the edge of which sat Prompto, Ardyn and …
"Val!" Noctis exclaimed in surprise.
Overjoyed at seeing him and Ignis, Prompto practically jumped to his feet and ran towards them. Val was quick to follow him, while Ardyn just about bothered to get up and walk over.
"Noct!" Prompto called out to him.
"You found Valyria. That's awesome!" Noctis bumped arms with Val in celebration of their reunion – just like they had celebrated their victories back at Insomnia, on the rare occasions they had defeated Gladio in training.
"I'm glad to see you too, Your Highness," she replied, addressing him by the title in a jokingly, but not disrespectful manner.
"Our forces grow stronger by the day," Ignis remarked with a chuckle to his voice.
Noctis' gaze shifted from Val to the former Chancellor standing behind Prompto. "Hey, Ardyn. Good to have you back."
An amused smile tugged at the corners of Ardyn's mouth. "Please, you shouldn't have come all this way just for little old me."
"No big deal." Noctis shrugged and turned his attention to where Prompto and the others had sat, expecting a makeshift camp, only to find the remains of a pitiful campfire. Right. Most of their equipment was stored in Gladio's part of the armiger, which meant they needed either him or Noctis to retrieve it.
But, first things first. Noctis had to contact Aranea to come and get them, preferably before night fell. Not because of the daemons, but simply because he was not looking forward to spending the night on the cold, hard earth. "Now that we're back together, let's see how quickly Aranea can get us out of here."
Just as he got his phone out, Prompto stepped forward, and he was looking a lot more nervous than usual. "Actually, Noct," he began, "there's something I need to tell you." He exchanged a glance with Val as though he needed some reassurance to keep talking.
A twinge of worry rose within Noctis at the sight. "Uhm, just me or …?" He knew Prompto could get a bit anxious when in danger, but this was clearly something else.
"No, I want Iggy to hear this, too. Gladio as well, but he'll have to wait." Prompto spoke with a semblance of determination shining from his eyes, though his lip was quivering. "You see, I'm not …" He took a deep breath. "I'm not from Insomnia. Not even from Lucis, actually. I'm from Niflheim, and – Ha! Guess what? – Worse yet, I was not born, but made. One of thousands, to be turned into an MT, in that very same facility we've just been through."
"It didn't come to the worst because the Crownsguard saved him," Valyria added in his stead.
Somehow, Noctis failed to imagine how a human could be turned into a MT unit. He had taken apart enough MTs in battle to know that there was nothing inside that bled, but judging by the look on Prompto's face, he did well not to ask for details. The revelation in itself, while surprising, concerned Noctis nowhere near as much as seeing his best friend so shaken by self-doubt and insecurity. If Noctis had learnt anything over the course of their crazy journey, it was that no one's fate was set in stone at the moment of their birth. By extension, the circumstances of one's birth did not matter, either. They could still shape their own fate, and thus, themselves, through the choices they made.
"Okay, that's pretty crazy," Noctis said, trying his best not to sound inconsiderate. "But where you come from doesn't make who you are, right? You've worked hard to get where you are now, so don't act like that was nothing. If that bit about your past troubles you, then just, try not to think too much about it, alright?"
"Or be all the more proud of who you've become today," Ignis suggested.
"Yeah, or do that," Noctis agreed. "In any case, you're not worth any less just because you're not from Lucis, if that's what got you so worried. Thinking that Insomnians would be better, than say, Niffs, is just plain stupid. I chose you to accompany me to Altissia because you're you. Not because of where you're from."
"But would you've still chosen me even if you'd known what a mess I am? You know, I try to be cheerful, but sometimes …"
"Dude, no one can be cheerful all the time. That's just impossible," Noctis argued. "Seriously, don't be so hard on yourself."
"Aw, man." His friend bit his lip as if trying to hide the smile that was creeping onto his face.
Val nudged him with an elbow. "See? I told you it'd be fine."
Prompto took another deep breath, exhaled in relief, and could no longer hold back on the grin. "Thanks, guys."
"Oh, and one more thing," Noctis hastily added. "You've already escaped your fate, right? I mean, you weren't made into a MT. So you're practically way ahead of me and Ardyn."
"If only it were that easy," Ardyn remarked and put a hand to his hip. Throughout their entire conversation he had not once looked so interested, and even now he spoke with an annoyed tone. "I very much doubt that a one-year-old MT-to-be had much say in the changing of its own fate."
"Don't go ruining this moment, Ardyn," Noctis asked of him, but quickly reconsidered. "Actually, wait. Are you saying you had a hand in saving Prompto?" It would have come as no surprise, considering how much of their journey the Niff Chancellor had orchestrated from behind the scenes, even long before they had set out from Insomnia.
Ardyn shook his head in disappointment. "Now, now, Noctis. You're seeing things that aren't there."
"I didn't hear a no," Noctis noted.
"Oh, but you did."
"Fine, whatever."
Noctis took out his phone again and finally hit Aranea's number. It rang for quite a while. Once the connection was established, he was greeted by the sounds of scraping metal and roaring fire. Noctis cast a confused glance over to Ignis, though his long-time advisor could hardly provide an explanation.
"Bad timing, Prince," Aranea's voice broke through the chaotic noise.
"Where are you?"
"Back at Gralea on short notice, trying to get those damn tinheads under control. Think you can hold out a little longer?"
Through the background noise, Noctis heard Biggs and Wedge call out for her. Spending the night in a warm, soft bed no longer seemed as important, when people were fighting for their lives elsewhere. "Yeah, we'll manage," Noctis replied. "I'll send you our location. Just come and pick us up when you can."
"Will do, pretty boy."
It was probably for the better that she hung up quickly. Noctis had learned the hard way not to fight with a phone in hand.
"I may assume we're setting up camp, then?" Ignis asked.
In response, Noctis summoned a camping chair from his armiger and gave it to Prompto. "Looks like it."
Valyria clasped her hands together as if she had just heard the first good news in ages. "Please tell me you're going to cook for us, Iggy. That stuff the Niffs gave me didn't even deserve to be called food. I could just about die for a proper meal!"
"And a proper meal it shall be," Ignis affirmed. "How does a bowl of Garden Curry sound to you?"
Her entire face lit up. "You're the best."
Noctis could not share her excitement at the prospect of a vegetarian meal. Of course, he could shovel his veggies onto Val's plate, like he used to do, but that would leave him with nothing but rice, and besides, Iggy still remembered him slipping his greens into the armiger, so he was going to need a lot of luck to trick him again in general.
Ignis turned to the former Chancellor. "Will you be joining us, Ardyn?"
While Prompto had begun setting up the chairs, Ardyn had somehow lost interest in their conversation and company altogether, and was staring absent-mindedly into the distance with an unusually sombre expression. "No, I'll pass," he replied, briefly raising a hand as if to dismiss Ignis.
It was not so much his decline as his overall demeanour that made Noctis wonder whether something else had happened at the facility. Surely, the discovery that MTs were made from humans could shatter a stronger mind than Prompto's, but not Ardyn's. He had helped with the research. – Unless that had been another lie by the Niff media.
Naturally, Ignis had also noticed that something was up and shot Noctis a knowing look as if to nudge him to take care of the problem before he walked off to help Prompto and Valyria set up camp.
So Noctis had to find out for himself what was going on with Ardyn. A problem that would definitely be easier to solve if he just told him like Prompto had, but that was about as likely as Cid giving them a discount the next time they rolled in the Regalia dented and smoking. Sighing, Noctis put both hands on his hips and turned to his distant relative. "Spill it, Ardyn."
The taller man cast him a confused look. "Excuse me?" At the very least, Noctis had managed to break his train of thought.
"Listen, I don't know what happened to you back at the facility, but if you don't tell me what's wrong, I can't help."
"Your concern is truly commendable, but I am beyond your help," Ardyn said, scoffing at him.
Noctis crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Try me."
"You might want to ask your friend Prompto about what happens to those who keep prying into certain matters."
It was a threat. Which kind of threat, Noctis did not know, meaning that it hardly frightened him. "I'll take the risk. At this point, you'll have to try hard to scare me. We're both doomed to die, Lucis was founded upon the burnt corpses of its people, and my father threw his life away, so how much worse can it get?"
"Oh, you have no idea."
"Has that crazy minister been experimenting on you?"
"No," Ardyn replied hastily, seemingly surprised by the question. "He did little else but pester me with his presence."
"Then what is it? Talk to me, man. Seriously, you're freaking me out with all this brooding."
"I'm not brooding," he said as if it were not obvious.
"'Course you are."
Ardyn glared at him in annoyance."Noct …"
"Please?"
The pleading tone seemed to do the trick. With a heavy sigh, Ardyn finally gave in and when he spoke again, he spoke in a notably quieter voice. "When I said you shouldn't have gotten me out, I meant it just so."
"You're kidding," Noctis claimed. "You wanted to stay imprisoned?"
"That's not what I said. Noctis, I know you're mistaking me for some kind of saint, but there is more truth to the legend of the Adagium than I led you to believe."
Noctis could not help but chuckle. "Oh, no one's mistaking you for a saint, trust me." he clarified and received a surprised look from Ardyn in return.
"Please, do enlighten me."
"No offence, but you're being an ass most of the time. Still, that doesn't make you a bad person."
"You see, that is where you're mistaken. I barely classify as a person to begin with, I'm afraid." Ardyn glanced over to the rest of their party before turning to walk out into the snowfields. "Come. Since you're so keen to listen, I shall tell you a story."
By the look of it, Noctis had to follow him out into the wilderness to hear what he had to say. So he did.
"Hey, Noct. You want one of us to come with?" Apparently, Valyria had noticed the two of them leaving the campsite. As a sword to the future king, it was in her best interest not to let him wander off into enemy territory without a guard, yet Noctis felt no need for additional back-up, even if they ran into MTs.
"Nah. It'll be fine, Val," he replied and hurried after Ardyn.
It had been pretty clear from the start that Ardyn had no particular destination in mind. He was merely leading them away from the campsite, out of hearing range and out of sight of the others, too. The nature around them was silent, any sound muffled by the snow and any movement slowed by the chill of permanent winter. It was a surprisingly peaceful sight, considering that the landscape belonged to a nation known for war and conquest.
Ardyn stopped to let Noctis catch up. "Not too long ago," he began, "there used to be a great and prosperous kingdom, whose king decided to celebrate the anniversary of his most revered ancestor's greatest feat, thousands of years after the kingdom's founding."
As Noctis tried to connect his story to real-world events, only the Founder's Day festival came to his mind. He had not thought of it since they had left Insomnia, but now that he did, a lot of puzzle pieces fell into place. Although the festival had taken place a few years before he was born, he knew from the Citadel's records that there had been a Niff attack and that his father had been severely wounded in battle. Given what he had learned about Ardyn, it only made sense that such an event, especially one in honour to Somnus, would arouse his anger at the other end of Eos. A light shiver ran down Noctis' spine. Chances were, Ardyn's story was not going to be a pleasant one.
"Unbeknownst to the king," Ardyn continued, gesturing as he spoke, "news of the celebration spread to the warring nation, where a monster of legend lay waiting, biding its time, plotting revenge on the kingdom and the Royal family that once had wronged it. And so, when the day of the great festival arrived, the fabled monster came to bring ruin to the people who were praising the name of their self-proclaimed hero. Many civilians died on that day, and many, many more of the king's men were felled as they tried to protect them. The road to the king's palace turned into a trail of fire and destruction. Only when the king lay dying at the monster's feet, did the god of the kingdom descend to put an end to the rampage. He revealed the monster's true calling and sent it far away, so that it may return on a predestined day to rid our Star of its kings and their blood. Until then, the god stood watch, ensuring that further harm befell the kings before their time." Apart from a little personal touch at the end, Ardyn had presented this tale of monsters and men in the detached manner one would expect from a storyteller, not from a man confessing his crimes. But it was just that. A confession told without as much as a trace of guilt.
For years, Noctis had assumed that the attack at the Founder's Day festival had involved a significant part of the Niff army, when it had been just one man, or rather a one-man-army, in the form of Ardyn. Noctis waited another moment, just to see if he was going to offer a different, perhaps better, conclusion, but the moment of silence dragged on. "Is that all?", Noctis asked eventually.
"Were you expecting a happy ending? I hate to disappoint, but this isn't that type of story."
"Okay, but why did you tell me all this? I mean, what's the point of it?"
Ardyn put a hand to his forehead. "Oh dear me, do I really have to spell it out for you? I want you to question that unreasonable amount of faith you place in me."
"Do you really think so little of yourself?"
"That is besides the point," Ardyn claimed. He looked irritated by Noct's attempt to drive the conversation into a different direction.
"No, that's the whole point." Noctis locked eyes with him. "You're asking me what I think of you killing dozens of Crownsguard members at the Founder Day's festival and nearly ending my father's life? Well, obviously, I can't say I'm happy to hear it! But I get it. I get why you did it. And I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that Somnus killed the same if not more people back in your time. Except he got a fancy title and a kingdom and you've had to serve your sentence for something you didn't do - or something you did eons later, whichever way you want to look at it. The way I see it, you've still suffered more than enough already."
The firmness with which Noctis spoke seemed to wipe the irritation from Ardyn's face, leaving him with a stunned expression. Perhaps he was not used to hearing people's honest opinions.
"And you've done a bunch of good things in the not so distant past, too" Noctis continued. "Go ahead and call me naive for thinking you're not half the risk everyone's saying you are, but if it wasn't for you, I'd still be bumbling along to Bahamut's plan like some idiot, Niflheim would've destroyed the only evidence that the treatment of the scourge is even possible, and Luna would be either dead or a daemon by now. The reason you attacked me was because you took the scourge from her, right? So you've practically redeemed yourself already. Don't go talking about yourself like you're some kind of monster. You're a human with some strange powers attached, like any Lucis Caelum."
In an obvious attempt to hide his expression, Ardyn pulled the brim of his hat down to his eyes and turned his head away. Still, there was the unmistakable quiver of a thousand barely contained emotions flickering across his face.
It became quiet again, and Noctis began to wonder if he had somehow broken him.
"You know," Ardyn said eventually. "I might – just might – be able to accept you as Lucis' first rightful ruler."
A feeling of pride engulfed Noctis' heart. "I'll take that as a compliment."
Ardyn threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, you absolutely should!" he exclaimed and looked back at him, grinning. "You see, if anyone asks, we never had this conversation."
"Right, of course," Noctis agreed, glad to see Ardyn back in his comfort zone of little tricks and schemes. For a moment, he considered thanking Ardyn for opening up to him in the first place, but he was not so sure the old man could take any more appreciation without tearing up. Noctis knew the feeling. He was not too good with all this touchy-feely stuff himself, but Ardyn? If honest praise left him any more vulnerable, chances were, anyone could straight up kill him by throwing him a birthday party.
Adagium, my ass, Noctis thought. So much for the monster of legend. Also, note to self: figure out Ardyn's birthday and get back at him for his constant teasing.
"Let's return to the others," he suggested. "You're gonna see through what you started, right? When we come face to face with Bahamut, I'm expecting you to be there and take the first swing at him."
"It wouldn't behove me to let down your expectations, now, would it?"
Noctis began to follow their own tracks in the snow back to the camp.
"Say, how many Royal Arms do you have in your possession now?" Ardyn asked as they walked.
"Twelve," Noctis replied, but quickly reconsidered. "No, thirteen. I keep forgetting your sword." And thinking of it, there was another Royal Arm he had almost forgotten. "This reminds me …" He stopped again to summon the Blade of the Mystic and present it to Ardyn. "Gladio took this from you in Altissia. I wasn't sure if you wanted it back."
"Ah, how considerate of you." At first, it looked like he was going to take it, but after a moment's hesitation, he gently pushed the longsword back into Noctis' arms. "On second thought, keep it. My brother's sword only caused a lot of bad blood to boil. It shall serve you better than me."
Somehow, this was not the reaction Noctis had hoped for. He looked down at the intricate geometric patterns adorning the blade, trying to figure out what to do with it other than to let it collect figurative dust in his armiger.
At about that moment, the earth began to tremble. The most likeliest culprit, the Archaean, was nowhere to be seen, and Noctis did not feel the presence of the Astral, either. All around of him and Ardyn, the trees were shaking. Formations of rocks were breaking and falling apart. A deep rumble echoed across the snowfields. In the distance, a giant mechanical monstrosity rose out of the earth. It resembled a metal worm, except that there were several drills surrounding its head, with a red glowing magitek core in the centre of each. It was, by far, the largest magitek creation Noctis had ever seen. Large enough to dwarf even some of the Astrals.
"And I was just wondering what was taking him so long," Ardyn thought out loud as the two of them watched the giant magitek unit rise in the distance.
"Who?" Noctis asked. At this point, he was not going to question how or why Ardyn had known this was going to happen. He would have been more surprised if Ardyn had not been one step ahead of everything, really.
"Why, the Minister, of course! Or, what's left of him and his megalomania, anyway." Ardyn took a step back, spread his arms and simultaneously summoned his collection of Royal Arms, as well as a few regular swords. The magic surrounding him surged until an invisible force lifted him off the ground. "If you'd care to join me, Your Highness, I daresay we will be done in time for dinner."
Noctis crossed his arms. "Hate to disappoint, but I can't use that kind of power for the duration of an entire fight. Not without Luna's help."
As Ardyn slowly drifted higher, he dropped his hat into the armiger with one hand and retrieved his signature longsword with the other. "When was the last time you actually tried?"
"Uhm." There had not been any bigger fights since Noctis had taken on the Hydrean. He had fought in the depths of Fodina Caestino, of course, but not called upon all of the Royal Arms at once. The increase in magic with the addition of Somnus' sword and the Katana of the Warrior had been noticeable, however. Noctis reached out to the side, summoning his arsenal of Royal Arms but kept the Blade of the Mystic in hand. Moments like this made him endlessly grateful not to be the only living person with the Power of Kings. "Thanks, uncle."
In a theatrical display, Ardyn put a hand to his chest. "Oh, be still, my aching heart! You're hurting an old man's feelings with that kind of familiarity, you know?"
"I think you'll live."
Needless to say, Noctis and Ardyn made short work of the magitek monstrosity. In a flurry of azure and crimson Royal Arms, they descended upon the machine, each from a different angle. And while there was apparently no hidden power to the blades of the Caelum brothers, the combined magical force of two people of Royal blood in itself was devastating.
The magitek unit had already sustained a great deal of damage by the time an Astral offered divine assistance from beyond. Not Ramuh, not Shiva. Not Titan, either. And definitely not Leviathan. No, it was the Infernian that appeared in a burst of flames atop the machine. Ardyn signalled Noctis to stay back and so he drifted back down to the ground while the magic of his armiger still surrounded him. The two of them simply stood and watched from a safe distance as Ifrit sliced the already weakened machine god into burning pieces. On occasion, one of the magitek cores exploded.
Noctis could not help but think that Ifrit must have had some kind of personal interest in killing this thing.
"Would you believe that the Minister had nicknamed this, his masterpiece, Immortalis?" Ardyn asked eventually.
Burning machine or not, it was still cold. Noctis shoved his hands into his pants' pockets.
"Kinda ironic, I guess."
As you might have noticed, this chapter took "forever".
One of the reasons why being that it went through several revisions until I liked how the conversations turned out.
Another reason is that I started on the Fodina Caestino chapter in parallel, but got stuck halfway through. Perhaps I'd have an easier time with Luna's dialogue once I get my hands on "Kingsglaive" or "Dawn of the Future" ...
Anyway, now that Episode Prompto's been wrapped up, the next chapter will most likely be another one added retroactively, even if only to break up all this heavy "plot" that's going on here.