Final Fantasy Frontier 105 (Patreon)

As the group made their way deeper into Raithwall's Tomb, battling various types of undead, Fran forewarned, "We must be wary. The Mist grows denser as we descend. Something powerful dwells within."

"Is that what this strange fog is...?" asked Penelo, referring to the hazy, increasingly rainbow-hued fog permeating the air. It didn't obscure their vision, but it was 'very' noticeable.

"It is," affirmed Fran, nodding slightly before explaining, "In places where many lives have been lost and great beasts felled, Mist gathers aplenty. It is the source of the undead we've encountered."

"That's cool and all, but does it matter...?" asked Vaan, drawing everyone's gazes.

Undaunted, Vaan smiled and added, "Mist is what powers Magick, right? I feel super powerful right now."

Demonstrating his point, Vaan emulated Andrew's action of creating a ball of flame above his open palm. Unlike Andrew's, however, his was a bright orange, burning at a much lower temperature than the bluish-white flame typically produced by the former.

"We should heed Fran's warning and save our energy," expressed Ashe, unimpressed by Vaan's display of power.

Nodding a second time, Fran appended, "The Mist may empower us, but overexposure to high concentrations can lead to dependency and mental erosion. The sooner we can leave this place, the better."

*tsk*

Clicking his tongue, Vaan unleashed his flames on a monster resembling two grinning Oni linked together, facing opposite directions. The creature, known as a Ragoh, had fairly decent Magick Defense, but it was rendered completely useless due to the gauntlets Andrew had gifted Vaan. Andrew hadn't considered it when he gave the gauntlets to Vaan, but their ability to empower attacks and ignore damage limitations didn't apply to physical attacks alone...

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As Andrew was considering whether or not he should confiscate Vaan's Genji Gauntlets, the group eventually reached a square-shaped chamber with large braziers in each corner. More notably, a statuesque, four-armed figure stood at the opposite end, guarding a sealed stone door. Its height exceeded five meters, and it had fiery orange fur framing its two helmet-like heads, one of which protruded from the entity's chest, standing with crossed arms atop hooved feet.

Though the figure resembled a statue at first glance, the power exuding from it was discernible even to Vaan, causing the sandy-haired youth to swallow hard as he remarked, "That's no ordinary fiend..."

"It isn't a fiend at all," contended Ashe, her breath quickening as she revealed, "I believe it to be Belias, a Gigas said to have been subjugated by King Raithwall in his youth. I anticipated that it might appear after the Garuda, but to see it in person...it appears the legends surrounding King Raithwall were not embellished..."

"It comes...!" shouted Fran, sensing the surrounding Mist begin to surge toward Belias as if it were a black hole. As it did so, the statuesque entity, known to Andrew as an Esper, shrugged its muscular shoulder, shedding a thick layer of dust before picking up a colossal, incredibly ornate staff that similarly functioned as an axe and a spear. At the same time, the air seemingly became devoid of moisture, accompanied by a stark increase in the surrounding temperature as an aura of flame exuded from Belias's body.

Feeling cheeky, Andrew mused, "This is a good opportunity. Why don't you test your flames against this guy, Vaan...?"

"Wha–have you lost your mind!?" exclaimed Vaan. He would have been sweating profusely, but due to the peculiarities of Belias's aura, his lips cracked due to how quickly moisture evaporated.

"I will go...!" shouted Basch, seizing the initiative to leap forward before Belias could unleash an attack. Then, using the Mist within his body, he released a surprisingly large wave of ice that sent Belias crashing into the door it was guarding.

Following Basch's lead, Balthier and Fran leaped high into the air, aided by the latter's Float Spell. They couldn't get close to Belias without getting in Basch's way, so they intended to support him from a distance, making use of their elevated position to get a full grasp of the battlefield.

Breaking free from its icy prison, Belias released a loud, continuous roar that produced a visible shockwave. Basch winced and was pushed back as a result, but the expression on his face remained grim and resolute as he shouted, "So long as I draw breath, I...will...not...yield...!"

Slicing through Belias's shockwave, Basch attempted to leap toward the muscular gigas but was repelled by a sweep of its massive, exceedingly hot staff. Luckily, while the temperature from Belias's staff was enough to melt metal and stone, Basch's Icebrand was no ordinary sword. When the two weapons came into contact with each other, a large explosion of ice was produced, separating the duo and temporarily lessening the intensity of the fiery gigas's flame.

Taking advantage of the opportunity created, Balthier unleashed a salvo of explosive ammunition on Belias's body while Fran attempted to end it by targetting its helmeted heads with her arrows. Unfortunately, while her accuracy was on point, the heat exuding from the interior of Belias's body caused the arrowheads to melt on contact, their shafts bursting into flame before disappearing into ash.

"We must douse its flames...!" exclaimed Fran, noticing that Belias's only weakness, at least according to Libra, was Water. It completely absorbed Fire, and every other element, excluding Water, was resisted.

"Sounds like that's my cue," mused Balthier, surprising nearly everyone by descending from his perch and landing between Basch and Belias. Then, even Andrew was forced to perk his brows as Balthier closed his eyes and began weaving a spherical lattice using light from the fingers of his right hand, forcefully wresting some of the Mist feeding Belias's fiery aura and repurposing it to distort the space around him into a sizeable black sphere that enveloped them both. 

"A Quickening..." muttered Ashe, causing Andrew's right ear to twitch as he recognized the word but presumed the associated phenomenon was simply a product of the games. Since it was occurring right before him, Andrew's curiosity compelled him to say, "I'll return shortly," before flying directly into the sphere. What he saw within changed how he viewed the power scaling in the world of FFXII completely...

As Mist in the world of FFXII was an interdimensional energy that linked together various planes of existence, gathering a tremendous amount let the user create a temporary pocket dimension where imagination and will reigned. Balthier was able to use this space to materialize a tsunami out of thin air, impervious to its effects as it swept past him and crashed into Belias, causing the fiery gigas to roar in defiance as it struggled to endure the powerful current.

"My, aren't you resilient..." remarked Balthier, retaining his smile even as blood trickled from his nose and ears. He used a handkerchief to wipe it away. Then, noticing Andrew floating nearby, he blinked in surprise and remarked, "This is a private showing, and I don't enjoy sharing my stage with others."

Before Andrew could respond, Balthier's pocket dimension collapsed, returning them to the stone antechamber. The moment they were back, Belias leaped high into the air, seeming to desire retribution as he struck a pose and produced a similar black bubble, this time enveloping the entire room and everyone in it. What awaited them inside was a wasteland that appeared to have been devastated by a wildfire, encircled by blackened mountains and an ashen sky. 

"Mmm...I may have made him angry..." remarked Balthier, staring stoically at the sky as Belias gathered flames to produce a massive sphere more than 50m in diameter. Damage sustained during a Quickening was mostly spiritual, so he wasn't too concerned about tanking a hit. It wouldn't be a pleasant experience, but so long as their wills weren't broken, they would emerge on the other side physically intact.

Unaware of this peculiarity, Andrew's expression became solemn as he prepared to use Ultima. It was generally accepted that there was no point in trying to harm the user of a Quickening, as they were practically a God within the space they had created, but Andrew had missed that particular memo. Thus, while everyone else grit their teeth and steeled themselves to endure, he took to the sky like a rocket, veiled in a bluish-white aura as he flew directly at Belias's fireball.

Surprised and then offended by Andrew's actions, Belias roared, fueling the ball of flames with his anger and causing it to contract, changing its color from orange to white. Before it could unleash them in the form of a meteor shower, however, Andrew plunged directly into the fiery sphere, trusting in his fire immunity and the Body Temp Ability. The heat was far beyond his expectations, but it didn't last long as he quickly reached the sphere's center, spread his hands, and shouted, "Ultima...!"

Forcing Ashe and the others to reevaluate their understanding of power and Quickenings, the group stared in awe as the ball of flames produced by Belias ruptured, torn asunder by tendrils of silvery-white light. Several struck Belias himself, shattering the notion that the caster of a Quickening was indestructible as they tore through his body, dispersing the Mist that comprised him and causing the space surrounding them to fracture like a glass pane.

With his spirit and ego severely damaged, Belias lost control over his Quickening, returning everyone to the chamber. His previously damaged body became whole again, but as Espers were projections of powerful entities that had been sealed away, doomed to roam the Plane of Mist and serve those who bested them, it immediately collapsed, unable to sustain the connection between its sealed and manifested forms.

Raising its heads to gaze at Andrew, hovering a few meters overhead, Belias surprised nearly everyone by weakly groaning, "A power that can defy the Gods..." before collapsing and becoming limp. Immediately after, its body began to disperse into Mist, leaving behind a fiery-hued crystal prism, within which sat a glowing emblem resembling the ornate structure of Belias's staff.

Before anyone could get a good look at it, the crystal abruptly shattered. The energy within then tried to swirl toward Andrew, gathering around his left hand, but he willfully propelled it, stating, "I have no need for a power derived from subjugation. Go to the one who desires you most."

As it had no choice but to obey Andrew's will, the fiery energy darted over to Ashe, startling and then causing her to cry out as it branded the back of her left hand with the same symbol that had floated within the crystal. Penelo went to support her but immediately let go when she felt the heat coming from Ashe's body, the result of Belias's essence coursing through her veins. 

"Majesty...!" exclaimed Basch, darting to Ashe's side instantly. Before he could reach out to help her stand, however, she shouted, "Do not touch me! I'm fine...!" before gritting her teeth and enduring the pain and heat flowing through her. It was a painful and unpleasant sensation, but she could feel Belias's power becoming her own, granting her an affinity and borderline immunity to the Element of Fire. She was also conferred with knowledge of its use, allowing her to summon it in areas rich with Mist or when her emotions became strong enough to give it form using her own...

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Passing through the doors guarded by Belias, Ashe, feeling more powerful than ever, muttered, "The Dawn Shard..." in reference to a glowing purple sphere covered in golden runes. It was roughly the size of a baseball, but even Andrew tensed when he entered the room, the energy within the stone so great it stirred his instincts, warning him of the immense danger he was in just by being near it. After all, unlike the Dusk Shard, which had exchanged hands several times before being placed to rest in the castle's treasury, the Dawn Shard had spent seven centuries gathering energy at the heart of Raithwall's Tomb, a structure specifically designed to gather and condense it. As a result, despite being small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand, the Dawn Shard was comparable to a high-yield nuclear warhead, hungering for someone to set it off...

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(A/N: Sorry for the late post. I spent 75.3 hours playing Baldur's Gate 3 over the span of four days, so I was a bit burnt out xD)