Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

On his way out, San picked up Evian's dead body, which was somehow standing on an unaffected piece of land and left with it. He ignored the palanquin and that was to be expected as those who carried it were gone, having retreated along with the rest of the Plebeian forces.

In fact, the palanquin itself was in a precarious situation itself as the ground blow it had parted but not enough to swallow up the palanquin which was balanced on the two sides of the crevice.

Once the Plebeians were gone, the Rune circles seemed to reverse and as they did, the ground was stitched back, closing up completely on those that might have fallen in, after which the Royal blue Astral lines faded.

The attack San had sent to Hal had mostly hit the side of the Castle but its force was still too strong for Hal to attempt resisting without the lesser devil form which was why his Skin was now crimson and Devil energy shrouded him.

They protected him from the Castle debris as well as any residual Cosmic phenomenon force in the attack.

Now his skin was back to normal and he came out of where he had been hiding.

By then, the merchants had all exited the castle grounds. Since the Dome was down, most of them just leaped out over the high fence while others ran out through the main gate.

The only ones still seated other than Hal's faction were the Great family heads. Edvard continued to stare off at the direction San and the Plebeians had retreated to and his eyes were narrowed.

For one thing, Hal had been right; San and by extension, the Plebeians had won the day. A lot of Edgar men had died and it had not only been about number advantages.

The Plebeians were simply the better experts.

Also, Hector Edgar had been incapacitated. The one pillar the Edgar family could always count on was now gone and took with him any hope the Edgars ever had of staying on top.

Granted, a lot of things had been revealed today, one of them being the possibility that the Edgars were colluding with the Malevolent One and much as Gregory wished to know where his money was, he could also see that the brothers were mere pawns.

If even Evian could showcase the same peculiarities as the brothers (yes, he had seen the battle between the two former Lord and subordinate) then it means they were mere pawns and they most likely knew nothing of real importance about the mysterious figure.

Besides, if the grudge between San and the Malevolent one, albeit a one-sided grudge, held true then at some point, the man himself would show up and that was the time Edvard would get retribution.

However, the Malevolent One was only one of the mysterious parties that worried him today;

The guards that had come with Gregory had all turned Red-eyed and fought with the Edgars. They had done so the moment the two brothers were in a pinch and Olivia had gone off to assist by taking down the Archers...

Edvard's eyes widened as he realized that he had been looking at it all wrong, 

There were not two parties but most likely one single party. The Red-eyed men as well as the Fog shrouded brothers and Plebeians were all on the same side. They were on the side of the Malevolent One.

Quickly Eduard turned to Gregory, after all, it had been his guards who had experienced the change, so he could very well be the Malevolent One.

His face went red as he swelled with anger and indignation that Gregory had been out to screw them over. He was about to explode when he rethought the situation.

Gregory did not seem the kind of person to come up with such schemes. He seemed too much like a Man of action who handled all issues with his fists and even if he was to come up with schemes, this was much too convoluted to be his doing.

So Edvard calmed himself a little and looked at the 'Facts' once again. It only became even more evident that Gregory was not the Malevolent One, after all, why would he assist the Edgars if he was, considering how much he hated Hector.

Gregory was not the one calling the shots and if it was not him, it could only be...

As he came to this realization, Edvard shook his head at how impossible it was. While Hal was surely a capable Runemaster as evident by this elaborate Array...

This time Edvard grabbed his chest as the piece of the puzzle that proved it was Hal became more evident...

Immediately, he condensed a powerful Cosmic attack and tossed it towards Hal while he yelled, 

"The Array!"

Hal had been hugging Melinda to his chest when the Cosmic attack came rocketing towards his back. 

Before he could even make a move, Rita's sky blue long sword Cosmic armament was slashing at the Cosmic attack and splitting it into two large halves.

Even though she had successfully split the Attack, she was still at the Mid-stage of the Cosmic Armament and moving ever closer to the Late stages the disparity between her and Edvard's strength caused her to take many steps back.

As she did, Hal's arms caught her as he had turned and his glare towards Edvard was absolutely murderous.

Marla and Amelia were on their feet and even though they could not possibly contend with Edvard, it did not stop them from glaring at him as well.

"Are you alright?" Hal asked Rita and she nodded with a frown at Edvard.

"Uncle" Selina called with an indignant tone but Edvard ignored her.

The Edgar family, the core of the Family were crowded close together while those of the Edgar forces that needed treatment were taking away. The Blood knights all stayed together but far away from the Edgars.

Karon was quite upset with himself for not doing more but also glad that his lord was still alive. He was about to thank the one who had been responsible for that when he heard the commotion and the topic of it drew his attention as it finally answered so the many questions he used to have and the ones that were now forming in his head.

"It was you. You are the Malevolent One. You stole from us and don't you dare deny it because the Dome that surrounded the Confluence in that Day, while of stronger quality was of the same energy as this Array" Edvard yelled and there was silence.

Nobody said a word and those on the scene (who had no idea prior) looked to Hal as though expecting him to deny the accusations but the Blue eyes Young man simply sneered, 

"That's it? That's the reason you attacked Rita?"

"No, I attacked you" Edvard said.

"No, you attacked her. If she was the one who split the attack, then take responsibility that she was the one you attacked" Hal said.

Edvard was a little confused. Here he was accusing Hal of something as major as robbing the Great families and even making a fool of them and yet, Hal seemed only interested in Rita's discomfort.

He was about to speak again when he thought to why Hal might not be overly concerned,

The other Great family heads had said nothing thus far.

Even if they did not believe what he had said, Edvard felt they should still have asked how he came to that conjecture but they did not say a single word.

It could not possibly be a shock as they had faced much more surprising turn of events as Great family heads.

Then Edvard took another look around;

Amelia was with Hal.

The announcement that the Payne Father and Son had reconciled.

The Edgar brothers shrouded by Dark fog and not denying they were colluding with the Malevolent One, 

"Oh my goodness. 

He got to you too!"