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 ~

After the landslide battle between the twins and the man with golden eyes, the fighting competition resumed. The third and fourth pair battled against each other, with the fourth as the winner. This was followed by the fifth and sixth pair, in which the latter won. Then came Elliot and Rania's match with the eighth pair. Ducis came just in time for their battle, and joined Luna on the crowd's seat.

The battle was easy and served as a good warm up for both Rania and Elliot. They fought with muscular brothers who leaned more on their physical strength and attributes. 

Since Elliot was extremely fast and strong despite his slim physique, he served as a decoy to lure the enemy who didn't use their heads. Rania conjured a barrier around her in case she got attacked, all while planting magical vine traps on the ground. When she got a good position, she would shoot projectile magic like fire arrows and earth spikes. Rania was pretty good with projectile magic - her aim and timing was impeccable. The younger brother soon noticed their strategy so they changed to attacking Rania instead - well, that was if Elliot would allow them. Before they were able to conjure earth spikes to attack Rania from below the ground, where her barrier didn't cover, Elliot electrocuted their bodies with lightning magic. Too bad their movements were very predictable for Elliot.

Upon witnessing Elliot's abilities and movements which were as flawless, swift, and light as the man with golden eyes, the crowd was astounded.

"What is this madness?" the emcee said, with awe written all over his face. "Did you see that? Did you guys see ALL of that? We may just have a great challenger for tonight! And they seemed new here. I've never seen them before but … oooh! This is gonna be an epic battle! I can't wait to see them fight with our strongest fighter!"

The crowd got more hyped and suddenly, some people changed their bets for the last match, even if the second round of fights between the winners had not been decided yet. Everyone was pretty sure already that Rania and Elliot would be battling with the man with golden eyes for the grand finals.

And so, the day ended and the second round would continue tomorrow morning. The first contestant would battle with the fourth, and the seventh, Rania and Elliot, would battle with the sixth pair. The winner of the first battle would then battle the ninth pair and whoever wins would proceed to the grand finals against the winner of the second battle, until a champion was decided from among them.

Rania, Elliot, Luna and Ducis went back to Ventus Inn to get some rest. They tried to book for another room however there were no more slots so they all stayed together in the same couple's deluxe room that Ducis initially reserved. Elliot created extra beds for him and Ducis so that Rania and Luna may share the heart-shaped bed. Once settled, Ducis reported back to Elliot regarding the task he asked him to do.

"I was able to find a temple inside the castle," Ducis told Elliot as they sat across each other on the sofa in the living room. "However, security is tight and the only way inside is by being summoned by the king or by receiving an invitation to the party".

"How tight is security?" Elliot asked. "Is it really impossible to go inside?"

"Hmm … for you, not really. You can definitely sneak in".

"But it wouldn't be right to sneak in, am I correct?" Rania asked.

"That's highly possible. We've been guided inside temples so far. We never really sneaked in. It could also be part of the test which I'm still unsure what it's about".

Luna was about to bite on a chicken leg when she suddenly remembered something.

"Hey! Did you know?" a man sitting beside Luna in the coliseum whispered to his friend that sat beside him.

"What?" asked the friend.

"They said whoever wins this competition will be invited to the party of the king and queen inside the castle!"

"For real? Wow! That's fantastic! It's very hard to get inside the castle. They said only the king's trusted people can go in and out".

"Yeah. Whoever the winner is, they sure are lucky. They'd get to see the king and queen, too. And celebrate with them. Man, I want to see the queen. She's gorgeous!".

"Ahhh … we can only dream".

Luna shut her mouth and turned to Rania.

"Ahm … actually," Luna started, "I heard something this afternoon".

"Heard what?" Rania asked.

"There were two men saying that … whoever wins the fighting competition will be given an invitation to the party inside the castle".

Rania and Elliot were surprised.

"Oh! That's perfect," Rania concluded. "In that case, we just really need to win the competition".

Elliot nodded. "Better prepare for tomorrow then. Time to get some sleep".

"Huh? But I'm still eating," Luna complained.

"Feel free to continue, Luna. I'm going to bed first, I feel exhausted," Rania stretched her body and walked towards the bedroom. Elliot followed, too.

"Hurry up with your food, midget. Why do you have to be so slow?" Ducis complained but he didn't leave Luna behind.

"Fine! I'll eat faster! Hmf!"

While Luna finished her food, Elliot tucked Rania in bed and gave her a good night kiss. Then, he went to the other bed located on the far end of the room and laid down to sleep. Later on, Ducis and Luna followed and they all took some rest. A few moments passed by and morning came. The team ate some breakfast, bathe themselves, and prepared themselves before going back to the coliseum.

Booms of fireworks, drums rolling, and the loud noises of the crowd welcomed them again inside the Ventus Coliseum. Like the first day, the contestants settled in the waiting room so Luna and Ducis were left to sit with the crowd to watch the battle. Before the first match began, some people wandered around the crowd, asking them to bet on who would be the champion for this year's fighting competition. 

Instead of a landslide favoring the man with golden eyes, this time, the crowd's opinion was divided. Most people still placed their bets with the man with golden eyes since they knew him to be strongest. But there were a couple of people who took risks and bet on Rania and Elliot. If they win, surely, these people who voted for them would earn lots of gold in the process considering how many were on odds against them.

"Good morning once again, to our beloved ladies and gentlemen, who came today to witness the most anticipated Annual Fighting Competition!" The emcee cheerfully greeted everyone. 

The crowd yelled and cheered with all their might.

"Now before we start, I'd like to make some announcements. This morning, we just received an intent of surrender from the ninth pair. This means that we will only be witnessing two battles, and the grand finals will commence from the victors of each. So make sure to place your bets wisely!"

DING! DING! DING!

At the sound of the gong, the first match of the day started. Like yesterday, it was a one-sided match once more and the man with golden eyes won in a matter of five minutes, considering he played a bit with the enemy. After that was Rania and Elliot's match, which was also a one-sided battle. They easily subdued their enemies by the traps Rania placed and Elliot's decoy strategy. It was still early in the morning and two matches had already been completed.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect our event to end so soon," the emcee shrugged as he went back on the center of the stage to announce the last battle. "As we all have guessed, our strongest fighter would indeed be battling with our challengers from another kingdom! The first contestant versus the seventh contestant!"

The crowd got hyped like never before. This was the battle they had all been waiting for since yesterday. After a few moments of extremely loud cheers, they grew silent in anticipation of the final match.

"In the east corner, none other than our very own -" the emcee introduced as the drums rolled, "the strongest man in Ventus Kingdom!"

"Yeeeeaaaahh!!!" the crowd screamed in support of him.

"And in the west corner, our awesome challengers from who knows where, and also the only pair who's actually a couple - ha ha ha! - give it up for …" and the drums rolled again, "Elliot and Rania!"

"Yeeeaaaah!!!" the crowd also cheered for them but they were less compared to the cheers they gave for the man with golden eyes.

"On my mark, let the battle … begin!!!"

At last, Rania and Elliot met the man with golden eyes face to face. 

Who would win this match? 

Once again, only time could tell ...

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