The Kold Crowning [CO]

Paladion opened a palm and made two small cameras, giving one to pandora and holding one to rime. "Sorry to ask this. Of a stranger but. Try and get. Some nice angles. This is an important event. As you know." Whispered the android before finding a spot with a good view to settle in. 

The discussion was clearly not going in a pacifist sense despite Mint's efforts, while Paladion could praise him for a pacifist approach the android did feel he was doing what he could to get something out of the event unfolding. When hibernal lifted his weapon Paladion materialized a sword and kept their hand on the pommel, readying to attack at a moment's notice. "Remain calm Pandora. Azoth is not the kind. To attack without warning. And he often. Gives his opponents. A chance to stand down. It is not our place. To interupt at the moment. But be ready. In case Hibernal. As a trick. Up his sleeve."

And stand down he should, unless he was hiding all of his power somehow the battle would be short and decisive. Just how Paladion liked them. The less danger for lord Azoth the better.

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kp:2/6 -4 due to preparing patient crescent.
mp:1/6
Patient crescent 30% bleed stasis, currently in stasis.

Rime was quiet as Azoth began his speech, seeming to have no care or sympathy for Hibernal's view on things. It was a dangerous thing to show. He wondered if that would be the case for all his judgements; if he would promise peace and security with a smile, and blast holes in any and all who stood in opposition to what he wanted. Rime didn't know what the future held for him, or the world that he wanted to create. In truth, he wasn't sure what this incident would mean for the wider galaxy. For the first time in his life, all his projections and intelligence analysing had come up short. Both men were volatile, and unpredictable, and as he saw Azoth raise his hand, his power charging, he saw little difference between the two. He wondered how many enemies had stood in the same position as Hibernal, how many Vulkis or stubborn warriors. He wondered if Azoth realised he stood in the same stance The Terrible once did. He doubted it - to the young would-be emperor, he was unique in purpose and action.

The flash of energy reflected in his eyes, the light casting over the entire room, and perhaps the city outside. Rime did not move or flinch, even as he felt power that was far beyond his own. Still, his eyes widened for a moment, like this entire thing was not real; that he had only imagined it up till now. The floating camera continued recording, up until he heard Hibernal tell Azoth to take the throne. Almost instantly, he turned it off, letting the camera float down afterwards. He would not record a man's death, or subject someone like the General to such an indignity.

In fact, as it happened, all Rime could do was watch Hibernal, and nobody else. He stepped off the wall, taking a few steps forward before stopping in place and just watching, seeing the man who had stood with this empire for over half a millennium walk out onto the balcony, and seem to say something. Rime did not know what it was, if it was simply him talking to himself or was a message to another.

He supposed it didn't matter. As he saw this great figure of Arcosian history fall down, staring up at the sky of their homeworld, there was an...odd feeling in him. Something in the pit of his stomach that tightened, and that made him realise how wrong he had been. This entire time, he had wondered where Hibernal the Terrible had gone, what had happened to him. Yet, in these last moments, he had seen him, with his own eyes, and he had been one of the very few witnesses to those same last moments. What was to happen to him? Disgrace in history, and an unmarked grave? Usually, all of this would have made no difference, and he came into this throne room thinking that it did not, but when he looked at the body, he felt something else.

Perhaps he was a fool, perhaps he'd always been a fool. All that had mattered to him his entire life was to acquire power, to simply gain for himself and nothing else, and yet, when he had watched this old, sick general die, he had watched him die standing for what he believed, prouder than Rime had ever been in his entire life. He wondered how he would die. If he would simply slump down in an alleyway against a wall, a hole blown in his chest. Yet, while the General could look over the city he had made, look to the sky where his daughter no doubt was somewhere far away, what did he have?

He looked to Azoth, the new and victorious Emperor. He was Arcose's future. Perhaps in that, Rime would figure out what his own was. He cleared his throat, turning and bowing in a formal manner, though not simply as he did to any noble above his station. There were certain protocols and flourishes to be done with the Emperor, and the fact that he carried them out was as much a sign of fealty as outwardly saying it.

Rime made no attempt to get in his graces now, or compliment him on his victory - such a thing would ring hollow after he had already won it. He acknowledged it and made it clear he respected the result, no matter how things turned out or what he may have agreed or disagreed with. Perhaps he was to simply go back to his role in the military, if Azoth did not care for what he'd learned of him on Earth, or not even that if the military were to be restructured. It was no matter - he'd find a place for himself.

WC: 802
TWC: 1,772

It was over in an instant. Lord azoth sent a blast filled with power at Hibernal and the older arcosian seemed to know that was he end of reign. But he was not so easily killed, with a powerful order that resonated trough the room he started making his way to the balcony despite his mortal wound.

Paladion's hand left their sword as they made two steps to folow but quickly stopped realizing the arcosian had nowhere left to go. The android's hearing was perfet and therefore they did hear the man's last word for his daughter. The android'd fist came to their chest has they felt... unease?... Regret?... It was the first time it happened but Paladion still knew what they wanted to do to fix it.

Making their way to the general's body they crouched beside him and closed his eyes. "Goodbye. General Hibernal. You were not. A man I liked. But you were. A good father. Rest well. Your daughter. Will accomplish any dream. She may have. By her own will and strenght." Paladion then made their way back inside and came to face Azoth bowing before turning around and asking Pandora to open the doors. If she did the android would would then proclaim "PEOPLE OF ARCOSE. I HAVE THE PLEASURE. TO ANOUNCE TO YOU. THE NEW EMPEROR. IS NONE OTHER THAN. LORD AZOTH ICEPEAK." Also using any sound output the android could hack their way into to realy the message. The android then approache lord Azoth and whispered. "If you have a message. You wish to relay. My emperor. Now would be. An ideal moment."

Rime was, if nothing else, a half-decent listener. He locked eyes with Mint for a mere moment as the other Arcosian walked off, but said nothing. There was nothing more that needed to be said, after all, not between them. He mused what the gangster must have been thinking, whether other ideas or solutions for how to aid his position, or simply methods by which he would flee. Rime had no doubt there would be many who had settled happily into the order of things who would need to find their place elsewhere. After all, what was Azoth if not a show of change? Whether that change was good or bad depended on who you were, how it affected you, though either way, they would have to wait and see. Such things didn't happen overnight.

Catching enough of Paladion's words to the now-dead General, Rime realised something that could throw a wrench in so much, before anyone else seemed to have mentioned it. Ise. The girl. How would she react? He asked himself that for a second, even knowing how stupid it was. He knew exactly how she would react. Coming here was a death sentence for her, and he would not be so naive as to believe otherwise. Even if Azoth believed himself the reasonable peacemaker and that he could talk to her if she did show up, she would never listen. Bloodlust and vengeance would overcome her, and it would not look good for his Emperor to have to kill a child. Even disabling her was only a temporary solution; what were they supposed to do, keep her in a comfortable jail cell?

It didn't matter. She was just one child. What did it matter? Stop worrying about such foolish things. Rime stayed at attention, his arms crossed as he listened to Azoth begin addressing him personally. He knew what it was about, and bowed his head in deference upon receiving the order. "You'll have your reports and my recommendations, your Imperial Majesty. With all due respect, I will take my leave to work on that immediately. It's better that I act fast so that no records are scrubbed, and we are at peak operating efficiency for your new incumbent government."

Rime made sure he referred to Azoth's new title properly, and even gave the appropriate bow for when one was leaving the Emperor before he turned around, heading out of the throne room. It was odd still, to even be in the capital building, in the great city that he used to watch on the horizon, wondering at and thinking about all the things he could accomplish if he just lived there, instead. What a stupid child he had been.

The Arcosian walked down the stairs outside of the building as Azoth's speech began to ring through the streets. He glanced at some of the faces of the people around him, many who simply listened. Many were confused and still didn't seem to know what was going on, some seemed unsure or disinterested, others clearly happy to see the change in regime. Looking at them, he realised something else. He had never, and would never, understand the people of Kuriza City, or the others in the high buildings, the old blood and the nobles. When he looked at them, he didn't see his own people, but some other, odd species that had never wanted to know who he was, who he was invisible to, even now.

Rime slipped into the shadowy alleyways of the city again, as he had been so many times, and began heading towards intelligence headquarters, keeping his power level at a resting amount to prevent any suspicion. No doubt that the old guard in charge of the place wouldn't care for the new regime, or for his presence. He had to be prepared for that.

WC: 642
TWC: 2,414

Rime is attempting to Exit.

Rime seemed to take Azoth's arrival and seizing of the throne much better than Mint, or rather, either he was better at hiding his repulsion or he was different than Mint and understood that Azoth did not intend on stepping on them like a tyrant and that he would keep his words that he gave them. With a polite nod, the new emperor would confirm to Rime that he could leave.

The throne felt right to Azoth. As he sat upon were the great leaders of old managed the empire, his ambition finally felt within reach. The judgemental look of the previous emperor was not down on him from the afterlife, and he would have to prove himself worthy of his new responsibilities. It was heavy, every eye was not turned to him, and as Paladion said, not all eyes were exactly there just to see what would happen, but to prevent it as well.

'' I will have you by my side Paladion, you are now the Emperor's Right Hand after all. The next few days are going to be interesting, to say the least. For now, I will have a bunch of files to check out, see exactly what kind of problems were left by that incompetent placeholder of an emperor we had before... ''

It was true, the inactivity of the previous emperor had given way to a rise in 'independent powers all across the planet. In the next days, they would either need to bend the knee to Azoth or face their dismantlement. There would be some action around on Arcose, it has been too long since this lake was undisturbed and left to rot.

'' Would you please go and put Hibernal's body in cryo for me? We don't want it to decompose after all...''

Would be the last words Azoth would speak for the rest of the night. Then, he would simply use the computer within the throne to look at all the data that was given to him through his new title. A few revolts, mostly harmless. Words from his companions all across the planet and statements from the different influence groups.

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Thread Exit!
TWC: 3,899