[color=fff79a][center][h2][url=https://youtu.be/O4irXQhgMqg?si=T0Z61usI5WWm7Mp_]Edmund Silvaine[/url][/h2]
In Collaboration with [@Hero][hr][/center][/color]

[color=indianred]"I wish someone had told me that a long time ago,"[/color]

The lights flickered as Edmund finished wiping the blood off his hand. His gaze turned back towards the servant, as he watched her pull off her white gloves. His eyes narrowed slightly as he watched her pull out black gloves and begin putting them on. When the lights flickered, the hairs on the back of his neck stuck straight up. Something was wrong here. In the flickering light, the gloves began to glow. Edmund reached under his coat, hand resting firmly on the grip of his revolver. [color=fff79a]"Whatever you're about to do... I'd recommend against it."[/color]

[color=indianred]"Unfortunately, I don't answer to you or your Goddess,"[/color] She told him. Raising one hand, she snapped her fingers, and the lights finally gave out and plunged the room into darkness. [color=indianred]"It must feel good to wield power given to you on a whim. Not everyone is as fortunate as you are."[/color]

Edmund quickly drew his revolver with his left hand and pointed it at the spot he had last seen the stranger, though he hesitated. In the dark, and surrounded by all these people... firing off a shot in the dark was a recipe for disaster. In that moment in time, as tensions were high, Edmund instead stared directly at that spot she had stood to let his eyes adjust to the dark. More importantly, in the panic, he focused on his other senses. He still felt her presence close by. That was a good start. [color=fff79a]"You didn't do much research, if you think I was given a blessing on a whim."[/color] Edmund reached his right hand into his jacket pocket, pulling out the fist-sized crystal and slamming it into his chest, pouring in just enough mana to let the armor begin to melt and form around his body. At this point, without endangering lives... the only thing he could do is take proverbial shots in the dark. His voice rang with a metallic hollowness from inside his helmet. [color=fff79a]"Who are you? Kaudian? Come to take more Scions like you took Theodore? Or are you here for the Royal Family...?"[/color]

[color=indianred]"You're more clever than you appear, Edmund Silvaine,"[/color] She chuckled. [color=indianred]"Estora will be crowning a new king after this year is done, but that will be a consequence of his poor health. Of course, no one will believe as much after tonight, and instead they will be pinning the blame on Kaudus and reigniting the flames of war once again."[/color] Her gloves glowed all at once, covering her body entirely in a light blue glow. As it faded, her silhouette changed. [color=indianred]"I am Salome, daughter of Termina. And I will liberate Gaia from the false Goddess."[/color]

At that moment, the sound of shattering glass surrounded him, as soldiers stormed in. Edmund, though, stood motionless for a moment. Through no coercion of magic or force, his body felt like it weighed ten times its normal amount. Thoughts even felt forced and painful. Surely this was just another devotee of that crackpot cult he had read about in the paper... but the sincerity in her voice and the gravity with which she spoke shook him to his core. She spoke about her beliefs the same way he spoke of his... as of late, she seemed to speak with more conviction. While his muscles and mind desperately struggled to catch up, the screams and cries of the crowd felt distant to him. He felt like he was on the verge of drifting back into the same nightmare that stirred him from his slumber this morning.

[b][color=7041A5][i]“Edmuuuund!!”[/i][/color][/b]

Edmund was jolted into a state of lucidity, as if waking from a dream. His eyes immediately tracked up towards the location of the sound, until his eyes caught a few of Maya on the ceiling. It was hard to tell precisely what was happening... but two soldiers were clinging to the ceiling with her while a grappling hook seemed to be fired up towards her direction. He clutched the revolver close and immediately sprung into action, running towards the nearest wall. Just as he was about to run into it, he cut into a diagonal line and kicked off the ground. His holy symbol glowed through the armor on his left hand, the purple seeming to pulse along the fringes of his armor. He felt the pull of Gaia's gravity shift slightly as his feet landed on the wall, never breaking his full sprint. He ran in a diagonal line up the wall, the direction of his gravity shifting with each step from below him to above him. As he was about three quarters of the way towards the ceiling, Edmund kicked off the wall and rolled as he landed on the ceiling.

The moment Edmund felt steady with his new personal gravity, standing upside down on the ceiling of the ballroom, he sprang up and raised his revolver. He had the foresight to adjust his eyes to the dark, and hardly got a good look at the burst of light Rosemary had created. The chandeliers obscured his vision a bit, but he saw a much darker figure clinging to the ceiling and beginning to stir. Edmund broke into a run, getting within a few feet of the soldier. He stopped, lifted his revolver, and fired two shots into the back of his head. When the figure's head slammed back into the ceiling and stopped moving, Edmund turned his sight to the line of the grappling hook and Maya. He didn't have enough time to assess her situation, other than making the quick observation she wasn't moving much. As he stepped close to the now dead soldier, he felt his personal gravity seem to increase in scale. Maya, without much surprise, was keeping this area firmly rooted to the ceiling. He dismissed his personalized gravity, relying on Maya to keep him rooted to the ceiling for now.

Edmund recognized the faint mechanical whirring sound as the grappling hook's line seemed to be drawn taut. He appreciated the company. Another soldier was speeding towards Maya, and Edmund leaned over to reach towards his ankle. With a small glow from his sigil, the metal armor shifted to reveal his pant leg, and Edmund rolled it up to pull out the combat dagger strapped to his ankle. He walked over to the grappling line and cut it. The soldier, about two thirds of the way towards them at this point, seemed to float in the air for a moment. Edmund's sigil glowed as he motioned his revolver to the soldier, and the tiniest nudge of gravity sealed this soldier's fate. He plummeted the ten feet to the ceiling, unable to shift or catch himself in time before falling face first at Edmund's feet. With an uncomfortable professionalism, Edmund aimed at the upper back of the soldier at his feet and fired two shots. He proceeded to sheathe his dagger into a hilt that formed on the hip of his armor.

Edmund's eyes turned finally to Maya, after assessing that the three armored assailants in the immediate vicinity were all dead or incapacitated. One look at the way she was kneeling, and the slight twist of the ankle, gave him the information he needed. He knelt down next to his Scion, helmet hiding his calculating stare as he met Maya face to face. [color=fff79a]"Can you keep us up here a little longer? I need to find you a way out."[/color] He reached towards his chest, another miniscule exertion of mana opening a hole in the armor for Edmund to reach into another shoulder holster under his coat. He unclipped a small handgun, Maya's sidearm, from its holster and held the grip in her direction. [color=fff79a]"I was hoping you wouldn't need this tonight... but I'm going to need your help to get you out of here, Maya."[/color]
[hr][right][@Obscene Symphony][/right]