[ Yuri's reply is, in turn, quiet. He needn't disturb the proceedings with his opinions, but no one has strayed particularly close to where he and Hayame stand. ]

I expect that was the point. That witch had to know an election was coming, and with it a new leader. An assassination has no value save to wound morale or provoke retaliation. Seems to me she must want war.

[ Perhaps Yima's hope was to bring out some side of Meridian that she could point at and claim to be worse than some of those who followed her. Yuri couldn't rightly say. What he knows is that in seeking to snuff out the life of someone who had treated her with undue civility, she had ordered the deaths of countless citizens who weren't equipped to defend themselves.

What sort of future could she possibly build if so few would survive to see it? He supposes it's no surprise that one who would consign countless worlds to death wouldn't quibble over snuffing out more lives, but how many would even remain to populate her supposed utopia? It all reminds him too much of the war he had come from.

The willingness to trample commoners underfoot in the name of an ideal...his distaste for it only deepens with the familiarity of it. ]

And she'll have it, surely.

[ He huffs out a weary breath. ]

When we're done here, I'll get you back in fighting form. Assuming you'd rather not have onlookers, anyway.