[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/rJicBem.png[/img][/center][center][h1][color=2E8B57]M[/color]anfred [color=2E8B57]H[/color]ohenfelter von [color=2E8B57]M[/color]eckelin-[color=2E8B57]T[/color]handau[/h1][/center][hr][hr]
The entire thing was an illusion. Manfred was no master of that particular art, but he was practiced enough that, when combined with situational factors, he was able to figure it out. Carmillia, apparently, wasn't. That may have brought him some satisfaction. It may not have.

Unfortunately, it didn't much matter whether the ship's arcanists understood what was going on or not. Leon had revealed his hand as a... [i]liberator [/i]of the Lyre of Ipte-Zept and they were in pursuit. Violence: Manfred would have to resort to it again. [color=2E8B57][i]At least they're Rednitz scum,[/i][/color] he told himself, hating every bit of his flimsy justification even as he thought it. Perhaps they were just distracted. Maybe they hadn't yet registered that allies of Leon Solaire were no longer [i]their [/i]allies.

Whatever the reason, Manfred did not hesitate to act. [color=2E8B57][b]"Leave her defenseless again,"[/b][/color] he said simply to Zarra, [color=2E8B57][b]"you will die."[/b][/color] He stalked up behind the closer of the two arcanists, reached out with The Gift, and slammed the heavy metal cap that had fallen from a chandelier into a human head. [color=2E8B57][i]Escheran willing, merely unconscious,[/i][/color] he told himself, muffling the noise of his action. Striding forward in pursuit of his ally, the enemy, and Carmillia, he shot a brief, concerned glance back at Dorothea and drew a pair of loaded flintlock pistols.
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