"My esteemed peers, servants and subjects. It has been a long and arduous road that I had to take, to stand here where I do now." Maria's voice echoed through the hall, undisturbed.

"I faced many hardships, and much sacrifice, to reclaim what was unjustly taken from me and my family. It was an unjust seizure, by the cowards and degenerates of Samdel and their monstrous allies of Hertiria, the mongrels who parade around as knights."

The mention of her enemies elicited a few murrs and nods from the crowd, which had Maria puff out her chest a little more as she continued, sneaking peeks at her paper. "They have lead our country, nay, our world, down a disastrous path, they have allowed for dest-destitut-"

Maria's blood turned to ice, her fingers trembling. She tried to look back at the paper, but it fell out of her hands. When she picked it up, she saw the few scribbled words on the back, clearly not the result of Sin's immaculate handwriting:

"Remember your enemies. Remember what they took from you. And how they just watched."

The lady of Len-Fey crumbled the paper in her hand. "Look at us. Look at all of you." Her body and voice were shaking as she looked back up. "I see before me the greatest of this country. Counts, dukes, princes from here and there. But what do you rule over now? A pretty chateaux outside the city?"

The murmuring would have become a lot louder, were the nobles not aware of Sin amongst their midst. That let Maria continue unopposed.

"You are the ones supposed to keep everything in check! The strong who safeguard the meek, look at your banners, your heraldry. Dragons, lions, Gryphons, where are they now? Hiding while commoners parade down the streets in spandex, proclaiming themselves the saviours of humanity, pah!"

With every word Maria talked herself into more of a frenzy. "These pathetic action figures roam the streets, and they do nothing while the snakes, insects and paradise exploit all those beneath them, unchecked, unopposed! With what right? They have none, none at all."

A strain of hair fell over her face, though she had long since lost vision of what was in front of her, all she saw was red. "My servants, my lineage, my inheritance, my very NAME was kept from me, my family was kept in undignified irrelevance, my mother was killed by my enemies. And all of you just watched. You watched while they plunder our country for all that it is worth. No. More."

She stomped her foot down, her face red with anger. "I will have no more of it. I will take back everything that I am owed. I will break the parasites and unworthy leeches that are running our country, so that those of proper lineage may take their place."

A few in the first rows began to nod, while still eyeing her with worry as she continued. "The common hero rabble will either rot in a cell or rot on the gallows, their kind is unworthy of the power they have, and it is time they are shown that!"

Here she earned her first applause, which only further fueled her speech. "Away with the parliaments, away with the senate, the legacy of kingslayers! While the common filth is allowed to rule they will continue to trod down toward ruin and decay, rot and degeneracy."

By now she was revelling in the attention, so much so that she did not see the guards shifting around, or how Armoire burst through a door to their right. Nothing could stop her speech. "With Merlayne at my side I will restore the glory we have lost, we will take back every inch of soil, every ounce of gold, every last soul they tried to corrupt, I will-"

Her last words were drowned out by the breaking of glass, and gunfire. Three figures burst through the glass windows into the hall, clad in bright colours and long capes, and they were not alone. More figures leapt out from surrounding rooms, heroes followed by paladins.

Within moments, the room dissolved into anarchy. Gunfire, sparks of energy, spells and singing blades filled the air as heroes and paladins descended upon the crowd. Maria was cut off and ran, hiding behind one of the two guards that quickly moved in to help.

Both were struck down by the lightning fast strikes of one of the few heroes who was not hiding his face behind a mask or a helmet, a face Maria recognised all to well when their eyes met, and his narrowed.

"James."

"Maria."

He slowly approached her as she was taking steps back, reaching under her mantle, and pulled her pistol. There were eighteen bullets in her magazine. She missed all of them. Her hand trembled as she dropped the weapon and instead pulled out her knife, holding it out in front of her.

James did not look threatened, only in pain. "Even now, after hearing all of that, I still can't believe you. I told him that you were not being yourself, you know. That that demon woman was pouring lies in your ear, manipulating you somehow."

Sin had broken out of the greater brawl, saw her master and began to run to her side, though enemy after enemy stepped into her way, blocking her path.

Maria had by now backed into a corner, her face contorted in anger. "Speak for yourself, look at you! Who is the one wrapped up in lies? You're a commoner, what you have you are not supposed to have, yet you strut around as the world dies around you and you think you are saving it!"

James stopped and shook his head, gritting his teeth. "Are you even listening to yourself? Yes, the world is an awful place, but we still do everything we can to make it better. And our way doesn't involve burning down cities!"

He clenched his hands to fists. "You have a lot to answer for. You may have been poisoning the mood with lies, but you will set things right. Surrender now, and I promise that nothing will happen to you. If our friendship ever meant anything to you, please show that."

His demands were met with a cackling as Maria shook her head, her body trembling stronger than ever. "I faced so, so much worse than you, and you think I will surrender? Where on earth did you get that idiotic idea from?"

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"That would be from us"

Time froze for her, as she heard the voices who spoke in unison. As she heard the voice she never had wanted to hear again.

The room flashed white, as a force-wave swept noble, hero, beast and paladin, Maria and James alike off of their feet. In their place, in the middle of the room stood too figures, back to back.

One, a tall lady, dressed in silver armour, in one hand a lance, a sword in the other. The other, a tower of a man.

Samdel.

He looked down at Maria, and she screamed.

"Sin, save me!" she crawled backwards on the ground As Samdel approached her.

Armoire and Sin were the first two on their feet, and they ran towards their master, stopped by the silver flashes of the knight-ladies' weapons. "Hertiria has longed to settle the old betrayal, beasts."

Armoire lost herself to rage. Blade of war in hand she threw herself at the woman with everything she had, though still the woman had enough wherewithal to keep Sin from passing her.

"My master, release me, you MUST release me!"

Sin's voice rang in Maria's ears as Samdel was towering over her. Her very sanity was slipping away, though this time the words reached her ears. She dropped the knife, her lore shone across her arm.

"Whatever you can, whatever you have, save me!" Her cries echoed through the room as Samdel grabbed her by her arm, pulling her up by it.

"I will be quicker this time." Were his only words as he reached out with his other hand, already glowing with heat.

At the mere sight of him she felt her scars burn again, her voice cracked as she screamed and flailed against him, unable to blank out as every nerve was screaming in fear.

"Get away from my master you disgusting abominable Untermensch!"

The words were followed by a deafening gunshot, as a massive projectile pierced through Samdel's back, and exploded within him. The shock sent him stumbling, and he dropped Maria, who crawled away in panic.

The shooter was covered in a black fog, the only sound coming from it being the click of the bolt and a large shell dropping to the ground, followed by another shot that rocked Samdel off his feet.

With another reload the fog began to clear, revealing Sin. She was clad in a black leather uniform, void of insignia that had been pulled off. The only sign of rank was her officers cap, adorned with a skull.

In her hands she held a massive rifle, taller than herself. She aimed at Samdel who was struggling to get back onto his feet with a wide, fanged grin.

"I've waited much, much too long for this." She pulled the trigger.

The recoil almost knocked her back as the shell raced towards Samdel. As it passed the lady of Hertiria she swung out her blade, cutting the bullet in two. Her action saved her companion, but it gave an opening.

For the moment that her attention was not on Armoire, the beast attacked with a wide swing. The blade carved through her armour and dug deep into her stomach as the fifth rider roared in triumph.

The knight was deeply wounded, but continued the fight and pushed back to the side, leaving a route for Sin to run to her master's side.

The other combatants slowly got to their feet, and the fighting continued, though none of this mattered to Sin, who quickly put herself between Maria and Samdel, who was getting back up on his feet.

"I know you'd flock to any banner that lets you get away with your blood lust, Sin. But I did not think those tales were true." He was coughing up blood, and resumed a fighting stance.

Sin released the case, and threw the rifle to the side. "Told them a hundred times that you'd need more than three shots." She pulled her officer's sword, and followed Samdel's gaze to her cap.

"Oh, that." She pulled it off her head and looked at the skull, before throwing it to the side with a shrug. "Not my proudest time, and what a pain having to learn a barbaric language." Sin shook her head and rose her sword.

"Nonetheless, do you really think you can stand against all of us?"

The sound of bells filled the room as the light of the morning star blinded them, leaving nothing but dust of any hero or paladin unfortunate enough to stand close to the lady of Merlayne.

Armoire was unrelenting in her pursuit of Hertiria, switching from sword to spear to scythe from strike to strike.

She eventually pushed Hertiria towards Samdel, who pulled out his key and vanished with her in a flash.

Elizabeth ran across the room towards Maria, but was stopped by Sin's blade aimed straight at her neck. The lady was not amused. "This is not the time to play jealous, Sin."

The beast narrowed her eyes. "This is the time that you will give me a reason not to gut you right here and now. What the hell were you thinking of hosting a ball on a spot connected to the Ancients!"

The lady of Merlayne rose her hands into the air. "It was all part of the plan, great Sin, it all went wel-"

Her words were silenced when Sin grabbed her by the throat and pushed her up against the wall. "Your plan almost killed my master, and you DARE saying it went well?!"

The golden lore of Merlayne began to glow across her arms, but before anything came of it, Sin let her go as her body tensed up. Maria was sitting on her knees, still trembling but with her arm outstretched, covered in the lines of her lore.

"Let her, speak, Sin." Her voice was weak in tone, with deafening authority.

Sin stood in place, unable to move, yet her fangs were barred and she stared at the lady with pure hatred.

Elizabeth dusted off her clothes and sighed. "Thank you, darling. Do not worry, I will not hold a grudge for that." She leaned against the wall and caught her breath.

"I would advise you to drop that attire though, as for everyone here to appear normal again." She flicked her fingers as more or her guards began to swarm the floor and more of the mansion, detaining the few enemy combatants that had stood outside of the rays of the morning star.

Sin vanished in another cloud of smoke, appearing once more in her normal attire, though no less furious. "So, can you now pray tell us, how giving our enemy this open an invitation to attack was your 'plan'?"

The lady let out a weak chuckle, and pointed through the broken windows outside. "Of course they would try, what other choice do they have when time and public opinion is against them. But now?" Sirens were audible from the distance, along with flashing blue lights.

"Now it will turn irreversibly." A low smirk spread across her face. "We have won."