The King's Beloved

[Music Recommendation: "The Sea of Eden" by Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Cross OST) - available in Spotify or Youtube]

"Finally, it\'s defeated," Selena sighed in relief as she fell to her knees. "My goodness, that was so exhausting. That Dark Fairy is too fast. Are all winged beasts like that?"

"Most of them," Clavis replied.

"I sure hope we don\'t encounter more winged boss monsters in the future. I barely managed to help this time."

"Me, too. We\'re all so weak compared to Guardians. They truly are on a different level. It\'s amazing how King Elliot was able to receive their blessings and be on par with them."

"Yeah. He\'s awesome, alright. He seems nice, too. And he takes care of Rania—that\'s the most important part for me."

"Ha-ha-ha. Of course."

"Haah… I wonder how I can be strong like them? So I can be a little more useful."

"But you\'re already useful as you are," Clavis disagreed. "Taking care of defense and giving time for the offense to fight back is such a great help. Without you and Illuminaire, it will be hard for us to attack. It\'s our strategy. We just have different roles, but each role is equally important. So don\'t think that you\'re not helping or contributing to the fight."

Selena was touched by his warm words. Thinking back, Clavis was right. If everyone focused on offense, who would defend the team? In battles with such powerful monsters, every second counts. Just a moment of recklessness could cost a life.

"Aww, my husband is truly the best!"

She then raised her arms, wanting a hug, and Clavis went to embrace her. On the other hand, Caligo was fawning over Saburra.

"That was so cool, Saburra! How did you do that?" Caligo asked, overjoyed. "Oh, and thank you for saving me. I almost got a heart attack back then."

"You know, I think you need to get your priorities straight," Saburra grimaced. "You mentioned my new skill being cool first, rather than be thankful you\'re alive. Are you right in the head?"

"Hey! I am! But what do you call that? Absolute Domain? Oh wow! It even sounds so cool. How did you come up with that idea? Were you so worried about me? Aww, gosh. I didn\'t think I mattered to you, you sis-con."

"Shut up. Ugh," Saburra shook his head and pressed his temples. "You\'re making me regret saving you. And I\'m not a sis-con."

"But you always scare away other elves that are trying to court Terra, right?"

"T-that\'s a long time ago. Besides, they\'re a bunch of low lives. They don\'t deserve my sister."

"Pft! Right. Definitely not a sis-con."

"I\'m just trying to protect her. Ugh. Why are we even having this conversation?"

"It\'s fun teasing you. Ha-ha-ha."

"Really? Or you\'re just missing Eres, you bro-con."

A hint of sweat trickled on Caligo\'s forehead.

"T-that\'s not true. Master asked me to take care of Eres like a brother, so of course, I will protect him. It\'s normal to protect the family."

"Heh. Fine. If you say so."

Meanwhile, Illuminaire and Ducis, who were both watching the scenes—one scene filled with flirting and another scene filled with fooling around—simply shook their heads and sighed. Somehow, they felt like babysitters taking care of children during the end of the world. 

Well, the little distraction didn\'t sound so bad but being the mature people they were—though not 100% applicable to Ducis since he\'s only acting mature because Luna was not with him—they decided to carry on with their tasks. Illuminaire took another of Rania\'s clones and placed her by the crystal obelisk to fix the fissure. Ducis strengthened the barrier of the shrine and repaired the damaged areas because of him going ballistic during the fight.

When their craziness died down, the team sat down together for a meal and rested inside the shrine. They\'ve been in Gaia for more than 24 Gaia days and managed to subdue seven shrines. Four more to go before they confront Vindicta at the last shrine. They all hoped and prayed that everything would go well moving forward.

As Clavis\' team began their rest, Elliot\'s team departed from Saburra\'s continent and continued forward towards the south, where Aqua\'s continent was located. The distance between them was twice the others they traveled so far since a vast ocean parted them. Due to this, their travel time was doubled as well.

On the way, they encountered different kinds of monsters who were much stronger than the previous, making the battle harder. Before, they could simply shoot them with fireballs or ice spears, and they would fall to the ground. But this time, they could heal themselves, and their skins were much tougher. Because of this, they had to deal more damage to them in order to kill them.

By the time they reached the center of Aqua\'s continent where the shrine was located, Rania, Elliot, and Luna felt a little fatigued. They debated if they should continue going inside the shrine at such a state or should they rest for a bit before continuing. Worried about Rania and Luna, Elliot decided to rest for a few hours and asked Eres and Bronte to clear the surrounding area so they could set camp near the shrine. There were still hordes of monsters there, so they had to clear the surroundings first before they could rest.

Eres and Bronte did as told, and soon enough, they were able to clean a part of it for the team to rest. Elliot created an absolute barrier around them, and Luna cast a soothing aura to help relieve stress in everyone\'s bodies.

"I wonder what kind of monster we\'ll fight this time," Rania asked as they all sat together while having a meal."

"Hmm… Aqua\'s beast form is a mermaid, so maybe something alike?" Luna replied. "We fought a sphinx in Saburra\'s shrine and a dryad in Terra\'s, which was also part of the elven clan."

"I see. You\'re right."

"We have to be really careful, though," Luna continued. "Mermaids are… well, they\'re the last creatures you want to fight with."

"Huh? Why? Are they that strong?"

Sighing, Luna nodded.

"Yes. But what\'s worse is their special ability."

"What kind of ability?"

"They can ensnare the mind by their melodies and control you."