Evan conjured more chains to bind the Calamity, closing his eyes montarily to absorb another wave of pain.
The magical strain was starting to get to him. He looked at his Guardians and saw Elyana summoning hundreds of crystals that covered a wide area of the puddle. They were probably testing the liquid and its effects.
He watched as the sturdy, sharp crystals quickly lted, mixing with the puddle until they beca one with the dark liquid. The liquid now bubbled dangerously, as if being boiled at high temperature.
Evan narrowed his eyes and conjured more chains to bind the thrashing monster. He quickly chanted incantations under his breath, focusing his energy on manifesting the final part of the sealing ritual: the Celestial Prison.
After the celestial prison, it would turn into a huge box that would imprison the Calamity, shrinking and shrinking until it turned into a small sealing crystal. Once that was done, the crystal would fly up into the sky and remain there for a full eight years.
The Deiridh would disappear, and the sealing would be complete.
* * *
"I’m fine, I’m fine," Clay said, waving away Elyana’s concerns. "I accidentally inhaled a little bit of the smoke earlier, so I’m feeling kinda dizzy."
After talking to Ansel, Clay suddenly staggered, causing the younger man to panic and try to support him. Elyana quickly approached him in concern, but he was quick to reassure her.
"Are you sure?" Gideon asked worriedly.
Clay nodded. "I’m fine." He turned towards the scene of Ardyn just dangling helplessly in the air, thorny barbs stretching out to prevent Blade’s flas from getting through. "Right now, we have a more serious problem on our hands."
Elyana followed his gaze, her expression becoming even more worried. "I don’t understand it," she murmured. "How is he here?"
"We’ll save those questions for later. For now, we need to focus on getting him out of there," Clay said determinedly. "Evan can’t possibly finish the sealing if he’s there. He might get hurt in the process. Even worse, he might get caught up in the celestial prison."
"The Calamity’s probably feeling a sense of danger," Voss observed, gripping the handle of his sword. "The Deiridh is slowly draining its energy, but that won’t kill it at all. That monster will always have tricks up its sleeve in order to get away."
"Gideon," Mathias suddenly called out. "Can you co here for a bit?"
Gideon ran to him and they began to discuss sothing. Mathias also called for Elyana and Blade, leaving Voss, Clay, and Ansel to stand guard for any tendrils that might co their way.
"I thought of sothing that might work," Mathias proposed. "Gideon, do you still have so magic left in you?"
Gideon nodded. "I managed to recover so during that brief period of rest."
"Good, because I need you to use your magic to capture Ardyn."
"Capture him?" Gideon repeated. "What do you an?"
"Here’s the plan. I’ll go first," Mathias said. "I’ll gigantify my hands and prevent the thorns and roots from getting through. That’s when you guys co in. The timing is crucial."
"Wait! But you’ll get injured!" Elyana pointed out.
"It doesn’t matter. The wounds will heal later," Mathias assured her.
"Then what about your shoulder?" she questioned. "Can you move your arm better now?"
Mathias nodded. "Don’t worry about . Worry more about Ardyn. Compared to us, his current situation is much worse."
Elyana clenched her hands into fists. He was right. If they didn’t make a move now, an innocent life would be taken.
"What should Ely and I do, then?" Blade asked.
"If I cover Ardyn with my hands, there’ll be an opening at the front," Mathias explained. "Your job is to prevent them from getting there."
"Got it," Blade said with a nod, flexing his fingers as he did so. "I still have a lot of flapower left."
"Good, because we need to do this quickly. Otherwise, the roots will outwit us." Mathias sighed. "The Calamity won’t kill him off that fast, especially since he’s an Otherworlder. And you know that it hungers for Ardyn’s soul the most compared to ours."
"Yes," Elyana said slowly.
"Ely, your job is to cut off the tendril that’s gripping Ardyn," Mathias told her. "You don’t need to worry about him falling down the puddle, because Gideon’s magic will be there to catch him once he gets loose."
"Okay, I got it," she said. She still seed worried, but Mathias had no doubt that she would still perform the technique perfectly. Elyana was a compassionate person, but Mathias knew she was aware that there was a ti and a place for everything. After all, her warmth was one of the things that had drawn Evan to her in the first place.
They nodded at each other, the discussion over in a matter of minutes. They turned to Ardyn, who was now dangling helplessly in the air, dangerously close to the Calamity’s mouth.
If the Final Spirit hadn’t prevented it from moving as it pleased, the monster would probably have devoured Ardyn by now, and the re thought of that was not pleasant at all.
"Let’s hope it’ll work," Gideon said.
"Just be careful," Elyana reminded.
Gideon nodded. "Thanks."
He stepped forward and stretched out his arms, preparing to cast his magic when the ti ca.
Mathias took that as a cue and stepped beside him. "Now!" he called, enlarging his arms and hands. He covered Ardyn with his massive palms, preventing the thorns and tendrils from reaching him. As they tried to get around the front, Blade burned them all to ash with his flas.
The Calamity was enraged and opened its mouth even wider, as if to fire another beam of dark energy. But the Final Spirit summoned another sword and plunged it through the mouth, effectively stopping the monster from emitting anything.
"Okay!" Gideon imdiately conjured a long, wide stretch of earth towards Ardyn, right underneath him.
Elyana summoned a huge, sharp crystal and sent it at the massive vine, effectively cutting it off.
Ardyn yelped as the vine fell off, landing him directly on the earthen floor.
"Got him!" Gideon shouted, quickly pulling back the earth towards him.
When the magic dissipated, Ardyn collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.
"Ardyn!" Elyana said, hurrying over to him in concern. "Are you all right?"
Clay looked at him, and a look of relief crossed his features. "Thank the gods that you’re okay," he said softly.
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