The King's Beloved

~ [Music Recommendation: "The Last Hunter" by Naoshi Mizuta. (Final Fantasy XIII-2 OST) - available in Youtube] ~ Please listen to it in loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter XD ~

Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!

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After a few minutes of wild cheers that echoed to the heavens, the crowd fell silent in anticipation of the first battle. Only the sound of their hearts beating could be heard. With eyes opened wide, they watched carefully. Some even cast magic in their eyes so they could see clearly, and in their ears, so they could hear better.

DING!!! DING!!! DING!!!

At the sound of the large gong, the battle started. 

The Liam Twins attacked first. The older of the twins who held the scythe teleported swiftly towards the man with the golden eyes and swung her scythe towards him. The man easily evaded her strike and teleported at her back. He aimed his arms towards her back and a ball of wind formed on his palm. 

"Oh no, you don\'t," the younger twin whispered to herself as she floated above the arena, overseeing everything that was happening. On her left eye was a tracing magic in the form of an illuminated insignia that allowed her to see where the man was going. Seeing her twin sister in danger, she quickly drew her bow and arrow, infused it with magic and shot towards the man.

But the man could sense magic even from afar. He canceled his ball of wind and evaded once again, sending him on the other side of the arena. His movements were so swift and light like the wind. You wouldn\'t easily know where he would be going.

Five seconds was all it took for all of this to happen. Or was it less? Both sides moved too fast that even blinking would make you miss out on a lot of things.

"Heh, as expected of the ultimate champion," the older sister grinned in amusement. "But we\'re not yet done". Signaling her sister, they continued attacking nonstop.

The twins\' coordination of movements were perfect. One would attack, leaving for an opening for the other, and in case of danger, they would support and protect each other. They repeated this multiple times but the man was too quick for them. A few minutes had already passed but they have yet to lay an attack on him. The older sister already damaged the floors of the arena, yet the man remained unscathed. He just kept on evading. His movements were unpredictable, too. It was very hard to guess where he would pop up next. And they couldn\'t cast a charm on him so that he would slow down, since they couldn\'t touch him or aim at him. It was like fighting with air - try and attack it, and it will just disperse. 

The crowd continued to cheer for the man who looked like he was playing with two little girls.

"Hah … hah … hah …"

Heavy breathings could now be heard from the twins. Fifteen minutes of running around the whole place and attacking full force wore them out. What\'s worse, the man was not even sweating. He had that forever mocking face that just grinned, causing them to lose patience.

But the twins weren\'t ready to give up yet.

"Did you finish it?" the older sister whispered to her younger sister when they rendezvous at the arena.

"Yes, it\'s ready now," the younger one replied.

"Let\'s do this!"

After saying these, the twins both floated high in the air and flicked their fingers.

Suddenly, the arrows that landed on the floor all over the arena glowed bright and a line of light connected them all together. The arrows formed an irregular shape, and from it, a pink barrier rose up, entrapping the man inside it.

"Yes! We did it!" the twins clapped their hands.

"Now that you\'re trapped, let\'s see what you can do!"

"For the finale, have a taste of our special move! Five Catastrophes!"

Then, the twins cast different elemental magic inside the barrier, attacking the man in all directions. They first sent an ocean wave that filled the barrier, making it look like a large aquarium. The waters were too wild and anyone who got drowned in it would definitely lose consciousness. After that, they sent a tornado that whirled the waters inside. Next was thunderbolts that combined with the water and tornado, sending high voltages across the waters, electrocuting the man. Then, came ice, freezing the waters, and fire, melting the ice and everything in it, burning the man alive.

The crowd grew silent. They certainly didn\'t expect their favorite to fall under such a trap. Most of them gulped in anticipation of what would happen next.

"Ahhh … is that it?" the man asked in a mocking voice. His voice was youthful but very intimidating.

Everyone\'s eyes widened - especially the twins.

Once the smoke of the fire subsided, the whole arena became clearer. And out of the rubbles and pile of smoke, came the man with the golden eyes - unscathed.

"W-what in the … How could this be?" the older twin jolted in surprise.

"His body … look!" the younger sister pointed at the man.

Indeed, a thin glow of light covered the entire body of the man. Upon further inspection of the younger sister through her eyes, she noticed that the glow was none other than a barrier itself - a full body barrier with very high concentration of spiritual energy. It was too concentrated that it was no wonder how their magic didn\'t affect him one bit. 

Such an impenetrable barrier … who would be able to break it? Only someone with the same level of spiritual magic could defeat him.

Accepting the horrible truth before their eyes, the twins lost hope and decided to surrender. There was just an enormous gap between their spiritual capacity. The way it looked to them, they would need a hundred or a thousand of them, if they really wanted to win against this monster. He was indeed the strongest fighter in Ventus Kingdom. No, probably not just there, but also in thousands of other kingdoms.

"We surrender," the twins trembled as they said that and they removed the white ribbon in their right arm. It was a symbol of surrender for the participants, should they no longer wish to proceed with the match. 

"Oh! It seems that we have our very first winner!" the emcee exclaimed from his seat beside the arena. "The Liam twins surrendered!" He moved closer to the man with golden eyes and raised his hands as he shouted, "And the winner is … the strongest fighter in Ventus\' Kingdom!"

Some people in the crowd booed and complained, while the others cheered for their champion. Again, loud noises could be heard across the whole coliseum.

"Wow, that was an intense fight," Rania commented after watching the first battle on the large screen in the waiting room. "But it was a one-sided battle. The man was too strong for them. He\'s most likely the guardian of this realm, so that\'s to be expected. What I don\'t understand is why? Why is he fighting his subjects?"

"There\'s a couple of reasons I can think of," Elliot answered. "But the most logical one is that … he\'s probably looking forward to fighting with us. The other contestant mentioned that he\'s been gone for a couple of years and only returned now".

"And we\'re the only new people that arrived, so that makes sense. So, does that mean … that\'s what the trial will be about? That … we need to defeat him?"

"Maybe? We can only speculate".

Rania nodded. "Hmm … should we think of a strategy? He\'s too fast and can easily evade. He can also cast a very concentrated and impenetrable barrier that can render our magic useless. So elemental magic is a no-go. As for his offensive magic, so far, we\'ve seen a ball of wind. I wonder what else he could do? The other guardians said they can use any element but they have a specialty in which their magic is the most dominant. Since he casted wind, I think that\'s his most dominant power?"

As Rania talked to herself, thinking of strategies, Elliot stared at her and asked himself, "Should I tell her to let me handle the fight alone? Hmm … but she\'ll be angry for sure. It would be nice if she would just let me protect her". Elliot smirked at the thought of it. "No, she won\'t settle with that. Ahhh … why is my girlfriend such a queen?"

Rania noticed Elliot smirking. "Why are you smirking? Don\'t tell me you\'re thinking of making me sit this out?" she pouted.

Elliot chuckled. "What? I\'m just thinking how my girlfriend is such a queen and won\'t let me protect her".

"Of course! I\'ll help you. I won\'t sit down and watch".

"What should I do to change your mind?"

"Nothing," Rania crossed her arms. "I will come with you and that\'s final".

"Alright. In that case, bribe me".

"Huh? Bribe you with what?"

"A kiss will do," Elliot teased and smiled sweetly.

Rania blushed. "W-what are you saying?"

"Ha ha ha! Just kidding," Elliot laughed and embraced Rania. Then, he whispered to her ears, "Here\'s what we\'ll do when we fight him …"

As Rania listened to what he said, her eyes widened in surprise.