The King's Beloved

~ [Music Recommendation: "Mount Pyre" by Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Cross OST) - available in Spotify or Youtube] ~ Please listen to it in loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this scene ~

"That dark aura … I've seen it before," Rania muttered as she stared into the giant monster. She was reminded of the red-haired woman she saw inside the crystal in the vision that the Supreme showed her before. She had that same dark aura … so sinister that it sent shivers down her spine. "What is the meaning of this?"

"You've seen it?" Elliot asked. "Where?"

"In a vision. One that the Supreme showed me," Rania answered, turning to Elliot. "But the dark aura covered a woman, not a monster".

Elliot was about to ask something when the giant suddenly roared again.

"WWWRRRAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" 

Another deafening sound echoed all throughout the temple. This time, it was followed by large movements that shook the depths of the earth. The giant lava monster moved closer to the clones and raised its arms, ready to attack them in one swoop. Even if he was large, his movements were swift and precise.

The clones managed to dodge the giant's arm, despite the lack of space it was giving them. However, the dark aura emanating from its body managed to touch the clones. Suddenly, the clones dropped to their knees and writhed in agony.

"Ugh!" Elliot felt a light sting on his body. Seeing the state that the clones were in, he easily guessed it was because of the dark aura. Since he summoned the clones using his spiritual energy, they were still connected to him, thus the reason why he felt a tiny fraction of the pain they suffered. He looked at his arms as he tried to analyze what the dark aura was but all it left him were more questions.

"Oh no! What's happening to them?" Luna blurted out, as her hands tried to cover her mouth that was wide open in shock. She pointed at Elliot's clones, leading Rania, Elliot and Ducis to look back at the mirror.

When the team saw what was happening, they, too, were appalled.

The clones … while they writhed in agony, the dark aura surrounded their whole body until their eyes turned red, and their skin turned dark! Just like the giant lava monster, they looked like they lost their sanity and suddenly became evil!

Rania gasped at the sight of it. She was too speechless to even utter a word.

Ducis was alarmed. His hands trembled slightly, and his face looked like he just remembered something utterly terrible.

Elliot, on the other hand, was shocked as well, but he remained calm and quick to action. He immediately canceled the flow of spiritual energy he was giving to the clones, thus, canceling them before they became anything worse. The clones bodies scattered like golden sparkles mixed with dark ones.

"This doesn't look good," Elliot told everyone. "It seems the clones won't work anymore. We need to travel there on our own and defeat that giant monster, whatever it was".

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Ducis," Elliot turned to him, "Mind telling us anything you know about this dark aura? You looked like you've seen it before. Since nothing is going as it should be in this realm, it should be fine if you tell us about it, right?"

Ducis gulped before he answered, "Y-yes … you're right". He had to breathe heavily before he continued. His tone turned serious. "That dark aura … is a 'spiritual corruption'".

As soon as Ducis mentioned it, the atmosphere became heavy.

"A spiritual corruption is very dangerous," Ducis continued. "As you all have seen, just a simple touch of it can corrupt the whole body and the person itself. First, it harms the physical body, then, it seeps into the mind and heart, until it reaches the soul, and lastly, the spiritual core of a person or any creature. Once you come in contact with it, it should immediately be cleansed by holy power or else! …," he turned his head towards the giant in the mirror, "you would be like him. Lifeless. Full of darkness. Just a walking catastrophe. An empty shell. Existing, but not Living".

Rania unconsciously embraced herself. Elliot noticed her so he extended his arms around her shoulder, gently rubbing it to calm her down.

"... And how should we cleanse it? In case we get touched by it?" Rania asked.

"And those that have holy powers, like me and Rania, are we still susceptible to it? Even if our bodies possess the cure for it?" Elliot seconded.

"Yes, you're still susceptible. It's main goal is a person's spiritual core. So regardless if you have spiritual energy or holy energy in you, unless you activate that holy energy and attack it, you won't be vulnerable. You may try to create a barrier made of holy power though I'm not sure if it can pass through that. As for how to cleanse it, I've never done it before since I don't have holy energy … but it should be the same as transferring life energy. The only difference is that you transfer the holy energy into the dark aura or the corruption itself, instead of the person - somewhat like attacking it".

"I see …" Rania and Elliot chorused.

"B-but … but …" Luna sniffed. "What about me?" she bawled her eyes. "I don't have holy powers. Sniff … sniff … And I'm not as strong as Ducis. Sniff … sniff … How will I protect myself against it?"

Rania smiled towards Luna. "Of course, we'll protect you," she comforted her. "Just make sure to stick with us and don't get separated".

"Okay, I won't," Luna nodded, as she wiped her tears.

"Let's try that barrier made of holy energy," Elliot told everyone. "Rania and I will cast them to all of us before we enter the last room. If it breaks, or the dark aura still passes through, we'll have to think of another solution. But if it works, we'll just need to cast it again".

"Sounds like a plan," Rania agreed. "So this time, we will be using holy energy instead of spiritual, right?"

"Yes. We can create the same elemental skills as we do if we use spiritual energy, the only difference is composition, attribute, and potency".

"Got it. We should make the barrier in a way that it would allow us to attack from the inside, too".

Elliot nodded. "Are we ready?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Then, Elliot created a black hole connecting to the top floor, just outside the door. He could create the black hole now since his clones already travelled that area and he became familiar with it. The team jumped towards the hole, and by another second, they were now in front of the door towards the room of the giant lava monster.

As discussed, Rania and Elliot cast a spherical barrier on each of them - one on Luna, another on Ducis, and one each for themselves. They tried casting magic inside the barrier and shot it outside to see if it would pass through without breaking the barrier, and it did. Now, they were ready to go inside. The nervousness in their hearts remained since they would be battling with something they barely had knowledge of. But at least, they were all together. After a silent prayer of guidance from the Supreme, the team opened the doors towards the last room.

When they opened the door, the giant monster was already staring at their position. The team thought of the same thing - perhaps, it detected the holy energy they were using since his energy was the exact opposite of it.

"HHMMMRRRGHHHH" the giant let out a snorting sound. It's red eyes glared at them, like a predator to its prey.

Except, the team wouldn't let themselves be preyed upon.

Elliot led the attack towards the giant monster. Since the giant was made of lava, he used ice and water magic to attack it. At the wave of his right hand, he cast tsunami on its whole body - from its head and down up to the lava pool. It tamed down the degree of hotness on its body, darkening its skin like a cooled down molten rock. On the other hand, he fired thousands of large and thick ice spears towards the giant, piercing its hardened body, and spreading the freeze on the areas it hit. This slowed down the giant monster's movements, enabling the rest of the team to attack and aim better.

Rania supported Elliot's attack with lightning magic, since the body of the giant was now covered in water and ice, thus, allowing the electricity to deal more damage to it. Luna and Ducis helped cool down the lava pool beneath the giant as well to hampen its movement by flooding it with water and ice. Thus, the giant was stunned in its position.

"WWWRAAAAAAAAA!!!" the giant screamed, as if it was in pain from all their attacks. Suddenly, it became more irritated and aggressive. It hated being unable to move. Like a child throwing a tantrum, it waggled its body hysterically.

But Elliot and Rania's holy energy was very concentrated for the giant to just break off from it.

It was then, in its great anger, did the dark aura surrounding it grow worse!

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