The King's Beloved

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" the Mad King laughed hysterically. "I see you've gotten yourself a new king!" 

He looked down on Elliot and assessed his spiritual capacity through his eyes. 

"Too bad," he smirked, "he's just a frail little boy without magic! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

In his hands, he conjured a giant ball of light in a matter of seconds and threw it to Elliot's direction.

"He's really mad! There's a lot of people -," Rania ran towards the villagers in danger and helped them get up. 

Elliot noticed it too, so he jumped from his position and welcomed the giant ball in mid air. With his Zweihänder, he easily slashed through the giant ball and it exploded in thin air, scattering its spiritual energy everywhere. Elliot's body was so light that he looked like he was flying even if he only jumped and carefully landed on a rooftop on his feet. 

The Mad King couldn't believe his eyes. "H-h-how?"

Elliot glared back at him. "I don't need magic to defeat someone as weak as you".

Hearing this, the villagers cried. They regained their hope and with all their might, they cheered for Elliot. 

Rania and Luna helped evacuate everyone while Ducis assisted Elliot in the fight. He played with the five generals who came with the Mad King and stopped them from following the villagers and destroying the village. Compared to the current generals, they were too weak to be considered one. 

The five generals tried to gang up and attack Ducis all at once - but they were too slow for him - the Guardian of Time and Space. He easily evaded their feeble attacks until they ran low on their spiritual energy. They didn't even last an hour!

"Hmf! Boring," Ducis snorted. "You dare try conquering villages with that puny magic of yours? You're making me laugh!" 

With the flick of his fingers, he stopped the time for them, paralyzing them in their position. Then, he conjured a golden chain, tied them altogether, and threw them hard on the ground.

"Stay there, foolish generals," Ducis sneered at them as he landed his feet on top of one of the houses to watch Elliot in his fight.

The Mad King got furious with what Elliot said.

"Tch! You just got lucky since you've got yourself a great sword. But let's see how you'll deal with this!" he shouted like a madman and conjured thousands of sharp icicles in thin air.

Seeing he chose to cast a wide-ranged magic, Elliot fled towards the dead forest, outside Pius Village. This was to ensure the safety of everyone and so they don't get dragged in the fight. 

The Mad King followed Elliot to the forest. 

Reaching the edge of the forest, the Mad King laughed.

"Scared are you? Didn't want the villagers to see you get beaten up? Ha-ha-ha-ha! You've got nowhere to run now!"

Elliot looked back at him and smirked. He didn't know Elliot deliberately made him angry so he would lose his judgment and follow him blindly. 

The Mad King got more infuriated seeing him being cocky and launched the thousand icicles he conjured towards Elliot. 

"DIE!!! You son of a bi**h!" 

Smoke and ice particles scattered around the forest, freezing the ground and the trees nearby. The Mad King waited for the pile of smoke to clear up to see Elliot's dead body. He waited eagerly with a devilish smile carved on his face.

"Is that all?" Elliot's voice echoed throughout the forest.

The Mad King spun his head around, looking for wherever he was. And there he saw him, on top of an unfrozen tree, sitting nonchalantly. 

"Why didn't I see his movements?" the Mad King thought in his mind. In his anger, he shot towards Elliot again, this time with fireballs, burning the whole forest with him. 

He aimed at him like a lunatic. Wherever he would see him pop up, he would throw magic at his direction. 

But Elliot's movements were too swift for him. He's not even teleporting, yet he could glide in the air, hop around, jump from one place to another even with great distance, and even disappear from the shadows - you'd never know where he'd pop up next! 

The Mad King felt his blood boil, but at the same time, felt extreme thrill from fighting such a great opponent. 

"How could this be? It's like he's toying with me?" the Mad King thought in his mind.

An hour passed, and the whole forest got destroyed from the Mad King's tantrums. All the trees burned down and the whole place turned into ashes. Only the ground and smoke remained. 

The Mad King breathed heavily from exhaustion. He might have had larger spiritual capacity than most Magi, but running around throwing and casting big magic towards Elliot wore him down. Now, he only got a few amounts of spiritual energy left in his body.

Little did he know that Elliot, also, deliberately wore him down. He wasn't planning on killing him, but he needed him to exhaust himself so he won't wreak havoc once he got captured by him. 

"Surrender," Elliot whispered from his back, as his Zweihänder aimed at the Mad King's throat. Just one move, and surely, this king would die.

"H-how did you? I didn't even feel your presence! How in the world can that happen? You have no magic! You're a pleb! And how can you move so quickly? This is preposterous! You're hiding something!" 

"I told you, I don't need magic to defeat someone as weak as you".

"No!" the Mad King shouted and released a great amount of his aura. He shielded his neck and let the impact throw Elliot far from him.

But the impact was nothing for Elliot. He didn't even move an inch from his position. 

Now, the Mad King's hand bled as the edge of the blade sank deeper into his skin. 

"Surrender now, or you'll forever hold your silence in the grave," Elliot threatened him for the last time. 

The Mad King felt his body shiver from Elliot's menacing gaze. He fell on his knees and with trembling hands and body, he answered him, "Fine!  I-I sur-render! D-don't kill me".

"Ducis," Elliot whispered and Ducis suddenly appeared from thin air. "Tie him up".

"Yes, master," Ducis obediently followed.

Elliot looked down at the Mad King. 

"Thanks for helping me clean this forest. I've always wanted to clear it up and build an extension of the village here," Elliot smirked at him again.

The Mad King's eyes widened. "T-this child! He used me to - what the! So he also purposely led me here? And provoked me?" his rage heightened up. But it was useless, he was cornered. Plus, there was Ducis, tying him up with golden chains, whom he felt such a tremendous amount of spiritual energy. "Why is such a person following orders from this child?" he thought to himself. "I don't understand. Who are these people?".

"Oh, by the way," Elliot added. "Just a piece of advice. You may have a lot of spiritual energy since your capacity is average, but -"

"A-average?!" the Mad King went nuts.

"Yes, it IS average," Elliot shrugged. "Don't tell me you thought you're the strongest?"

  The Mad King furrowed, "I destroyed many villages and countries! I conquered them all! I AM the strongest!"

"No, you're not," Elliot rebuked him. "You should learn some humility. And learn kindness too while you're at it. You have a really foolish view of strength.

If you think being the strongest meant destroying more, and conquering more, then you're wrong!"

"And what does strength mean to you, if you're so clever?" the Mad King mocked him.

"A real strong person doesn't go looking for fights … Instead, they look for people to protect!"

The Mad King felt his spine shiver once more. Those eyes … it kept glaring at him as if piercing the depths of his soul. There was fire in it - a fire of burning passion. His heart shrank as he stared on those raging aquamarine eyes.

"Change your ways, Mad King, before it's too late …

Since when did wickedness equate to greatness? 

I'd rather be known for the kindness I spread, than the destruction I gave. 

What would I gain out of evil? Fear? 

Should I use fear to rule over a nation?

Foolish things!

If you want to rule the world, start it by ruling over yourself!

Once you master that, then make leaders out of your people!

And lastly ... 

A man who does not know how to love his people is NOT fit to be a king!"

Elliot continued to reprimand the Mad King.

In his mind, the Mad King thought, "Who is this person? And why … Why do I feel that … I somehow want to follow him and listen to what he says? I-I'm a king! But … I want to follow another king? And what is this feeling burning in my chest? After all that I've done? Why do I feel like I want to change? This is madness! T-this is not me … yet why? Why?!"

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