It was difficult for Addam to believe that His Majesty had not at least somewhat expected something to happen to Uraya. The Aegis had no apparent methodology to its madness, but the fact that it had attacked it while two queens and a prince were visiting made sense. It was a public visit, so it wasn't like the Aegis would have had a hard time with timing.
Queen Eris' unsurprise at the ordeal made Addam feel as though his suspicion towards His Majesty was deserved. She had all but told him that it had something to do with the Aegis in some way, shape, or form.
It wasn't the Aegis that was attacking Fonsa Myma directly. Apparently, that was typical; it was rarer to see the Aegis in person, according to one of the Urayan mercenaries. He had evidently survived and heard of one too many attacks to forget any details about the "Architect's Blade." Calling the Aegis such a thing was something that Addam was beginning to question; if the Architect was as virtuous as so many believed, then why would his Blades be causing so much death and destruction? It didn't make any sense to him.
Once the flying, mechanical snake appeared in the sky, Fonsa Myma had devolved into chaos. He, Her Majesty, and the Urayan Queen had all been ushered into some sort of underground keep where they did nothing but hope that they would outlast the attack.
Of course Addam still held the other Aegis' Core Crystal. He certainly would not have let it go anywhere, especially since it was so likely that the first Aegis could destroy it so easily.
There were no others to awaken it. Her Majesty did not have the aptitude and the Urayan queen had no interest in Blades. (In Uraya, it seemed that only the lower class and mercenaries made use of them, but that was neither here nor there.)
Addam did not want to be a Driver. His Majesty had offered him the opportunity to do so more times than he could count but his grandfather's stories were more than enough excitement for him. Many called him foolish for turning down every Core Crystal that came his way, even his wife had, once, but he did not wish for a glorified weapon to parade around like a status symbol. Truth be told, Addam found it difficult to imagine any reason other than war to awaken Blades, and war was the last thing that he wanted to be involved in.
But he was no fool; the Architect's Blade was declaring war on Alrest and at this point in time, another Aegis was the only weapon that humanity had. Addam only hoped that he had the aptitude to awaken a Blade like so many people believed he did. When he glanced around at the queens, Queen Eris was staring down at him like a hawk. Her eyes were sharp and told him all that he needed to know. (There were many times Addam wished that she did not despise him as much as she did; there always seemed to be so much that she knew simply from watching others yet never had anyone to share her knowledge with.)
In spite of the panic and the dread and the despair that was spreading to more and more people around him, it was easy for Addam to only focus on the spirit that seemed trapped inside the Core Crystal. With the intention to awaken it, he allowed himself to reach out fully, and let whatever being inhabited the crystal engulf him.
Awakened, the second Aegis took the form of a large man that towered over everyone in the shelter when it stood. It wore what looked like had once been Tornan war armor but had at some point evolved into something else entirely. When it awoke, its eyes were closed as if it were sleeping, and it opened them slowly, still saying nothing while it stared intently at Addam.
"Please help us," the Urayan queen said from behind Addam before he could say a single thing to the second Aegis. "Please save my kingdom from the Aegis."
The Aegis turned its gaze towards her. Its eyes narrowed and its tone was abrasive. "Who are you?" Who are you to be telling me what to do? was the unsaid question. Addam had heard that tone one too many times from his cousins to not recognize it.
"I am the queen of Uraya," she said. Her Majesty approached the Aegis boldly. "The Aegis is attacking my home and we have no way of defending ourselves. Awakening you was our last hope."
It turned back to Addam. Its gaze was intense. "My name is Malos," it said. "Did you wake me up just so I could help you, Driver?"
The way that it—that Malos—put it made Addam grit his teeth. Architect, what if this Aegis simply joined in on the other's fun? Why did anyone think that they could control two forces of nature? Two forces of nature that never should have left the Architect's side?
He clenched his hands into fists. "Please," was all he knew to say. They were entirely at this Blade's mercy. Addam had possibly even put them in a worse situation than they had already been in and he didn't know what he would do if that was the case.
He wanted to fall to his knees and cry when what he thought was a sneer continued to grow into a smirk and Malos said, "Show me where and I'll give you one hell of a show."
