Rise Of The Godking

He breathed out a sigh of relief when the dwarf king"s eyes fluttered open and looked around groggily, before finally zeroing in on him… and adopting the look of one seeing a stranger.

"Who…" He began to ask weakly, before a fit of coughing overtook his gigantic body. Daneel stepped back as buckets of blood and spittle spewed out of his mouth, coming to land on the floor and on a few unfortunate dwarves who grimaced and shook their bodies to get rid of it.

The throne room was quiet. The Will of the town was quite weak, but it had been the easiest thing to influence the weak individuals around him. The only one who had been remotely difficult to control had been the crimson-clothed man, but after increasing the aura a bit more, he had collapsed, too, and had had no option but to stay silent as he was tied up with the weight of a mountain bearing down on his shoulders.

Daneel knew how it felt to be looked at by someone in a different realm than oneself. It could be humbling to those who had flexible minds, but in the case of egoistic maniacs who had lived all their lives stomping on those weaker than them, it would cause a break in their psyche.

This had happened in the case of both the master and the crimson-clothed man, along with a few enforcers who had been in charge of squads under them. They had devolved into mumbling shadows of themselves, muttering about how what they were seeing should be impossible, and how they had been about to kill everyone and go back and have a feast.

When he had heard that part, Daneel had been tempted to not show mercy, but in the end, he had relented to logic which said that they might be useful, in the long run, especially because there was a lot to discover about the layers above him.

He was feeling better and better about being complete. Each second that pa.s.sed made him feel glad that things had worked out. The only problem was that he hadn"t asked the system yet about the fate of those who had come with him… but he had left it for a time when he could trust that things wouldn"t fall apart without him.

For the present, he was content with dominating all those who had sought to vanquish him. He was determined to find out the rest of the secrets of the town soon, too, but first, he wanted to check on his brother.

The man was shocked, to say the least, after seeing that he was alive, and that the situation was under control. His eyes wandered around the room disbelievingly, and when they finally focused in on him, again, he seemed to finally have caught a hint of recognition that made him whisper, "Bro-brother? But… you look different!"

Daneel smiled, not knowing what to say. He couldn"t deny it; the change in him was both subtle, but significant enough that he looked like an entirely different person. The set of his face, the stance of his body, and even the very tone of his existence had evolved, matured, grown into that which was possessed by a king of kings, so of course, it was to be expected that the dwarf king would feel that he looked…"different", to put it mildly.

"h.e.l.l, if I was put in front of the Daneel from before, I wouldn"t even have recognized myself…"

With a nod to encourage the dwarf king, Daneel replied, "Yes, it"s me. The situation is more or less under control, here. I was just checking to see if you were alright. The healers will quickly be coming over to help you. Meanwhile… I"ll be going up. I"ve got some work to do… and some answers to be found. Do you know where Reese is, by the way?"

The giant looked at him with surprise even as he spoke, as the way he did so was also startlingly in contrast to the comparatively meek Daneel from before. After he was done, the man needed a few moments to comprehend what he had said, so after pausing for a bit, he replied, "Oh… Okay? It is good to hear that. How did you… never mind, that can wait. He might have been captured by the enforcers above, when he left to come help you. He knew what was afoot, too… but he was worried about you. Didn"t you see him on your way back?"

Daneel frowned, not liking what he had heard. Still, he would be able to find out what had happened to his friend by himself soon, anyway, so he shrugged and nodded to the giant before turning on his heel… and finding a sea of excited faces looking up at him.

The library was close to crumbling, too, so the dwarf children had been brought here, which was the most stable area in the entire city. They grinned, ready to launch into the task he had given, but as he didn"t have the time, he shouted, "Your father wants to hear all about what you were thinking, himself! Go on! I"ll be right back!"

Nodding obediently, they all left, with some even coming in front of Daneel to demand a few pats. He laughed and delivered, before stepping to the crystal formation they had come through when fleeing from the surface before.

When he had been giving the orders, he had asked the dwarves to empty the enforcers of the crystals in their possession while they were being tied up. Hence, a sizeable pile was waiting for him near the teleportation matrix, and it was only after fitting as many as he could into his pockets that he touched one to the crystals, and stepped forward to leave.

The plan was quickly forming in his head as he waited for his vision to adjust. Dawn was just breaking over the surface. The early rays of the sun glinted over the burnt buildings of the town where the people had just begun to come out to see if the coast was safe. The air smelled of singed wood and death, and as he looked around to find the source of the latter, he came upon a sight that made fury sweep over his mind for the first time since his return.

A group of ten enforcers was near the crimson crystal formation, holding hammers and other blunt tools, taking out their frustration on the dead bodies of the dwarves who had had to be left behind. There were some standing to the side with uncomfortable faces, but most were gleefully giving vent to their helplessness from before, their faces splattered with blood while their lips stretched wider and wider with delight.

Caution, logic, and all such things flew out of his mind. All that remained in their wake was an urge to kill… and this wasn"t something he was new to, at all.

All the years spent training his body and his mind on Angaria, his home, came back to him, as vivid as ever, as potent as sheathed steel ready to be drenched in blood. His body was only that of a Neophyte… but with the Will of the town at his beck and call, what had he to fear?

He did keep in mind that the Will was weak, which meant that he should use it sparingly. His anger was such that he didn"t want to think of innovative methods to do the same, so he just squinted toward the enforcers… and burned the crystals in his pockets to have his aura sweep over the place.

They suddenly froze, like prey alerted to the fact that it was being eyed by an apex predator. He walked forward with slow, measured steps, betraying none of the rage that was flooding through his veins.

He had only deployed a spike of it, so right now, just the after-effects were keeping them in place. Once, he had had to use the auras of mythical beasts to scare men and women of power… but that had only been because those opponents had been close in power to him. The enforcers in front of him were weak, so weak that just the aura of domination that he had built up over the years was enough, just like it had been in the throne room below. 

As he reached the first one who was still holding a hammer in his quivering hands, he reached forward to catch his neck with his palm and squeeze the life out of him.

The beauty of it was such that the man was so terrified that he didn"t even move when he began to choke. Only at the last second did he convulsed once before falling into a heap, and before the hammer fell to the ground, Daneel caught and swung at the woman to his right.

The others had just begun to rouse themselves, but he invoked the Will intermittently, targeting it at the individual enforcers he was facing to make them freeze as he delivered justice. After pulverizing her stomach into nothingness, he took out the knife from her waist and used it to slash the neck of the one to his left.

It was grim, b.l.o.o.d.y work, but it had to be done. When it was finished, he panted, eyes as red as the sticky substance that covered his face. Straightening his back, he regained his breath… and turned to the enforcer to the side, who promptly fainted.

"Maybe I should decrease the strength of the aura… can"t have people fainting on me everywhere if I want answers, now, can I?"

A scream from the town made him look up. It sounded like that of a woman, and after hefting the hammer that he was still holding on his shoulder, he wiped his brow, and took a step forward.

There was more justice to be delivered. More killing to be done. And even if the streets might flow red today… the town would be purged, and he had no doubt that this was something that had been long, long overdue.

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