At the moment, Alastair seemed to be eyeing Daneel up and down, as if trying to see just what had changed about him that had allowed him to steal that victory from the very jaws of death.
[Host is in the process of being scanned. Attempting to block scan. Attempt failed. Using clues already obtained from observing "Dimensional Magic" to check objective of the scan. Objective found: scan was looking for and any change in host"s consciousness. It has been deemed that blocking the scan is not necessary, as the system cannot be identified or detected.]
Daneel almost felt like grinning as he heard this, as for some reason, it gave him a great deal of satisfaction that the Basilisk would not be able to have her way.
The system had been able to hide itself for all these years even when it had been severely under-leveled, and it seemed that this trend, at least, was not going to change. Feeling glad that this was the case, he waited for the Basilisk to finish, and after a few seconds, she finally spoke.
"Alright, keep your secrets. You did something, and even I can only tell that it is somehow related to the Grand Inheritance, as there is simply no other way for you to have turned the tables so. Either way, it does not concern me - all I care about is stopping this threat, so that the prophecy that we heard will be fulfilled in my favor. King…no, wait, isn"t it G.o.dking, now? Quite an ambitious name, I tell you. If you even try to use it on the Mainland when you go there, I daresay that you might die in barely a second. Names also have power, oh so-called G.o.dking, so out of goodwill, here"s a bit of advice: do not use one unless you"re sure that you are worthy of it. It doesn"t really matter in this backwoods village, but you never know…"
The faint sound of a snake slithering with its prey in its eyes was heard as the Basilisk"s words stretched away into nothingness, and for the briefest of moments, Daneel felt as if he was suddenly submerged in ice-cold water, while he forcefully suppressed the urge to exclaim and move away from the gaze of the one in front of him.
Thankfully, the urge pa.s.sed in barely a second, and seeing that he didn"t respond in any way, Alastair shrugged and said, "Not bad… not many would stand without fear in front of my gaze. But well, you"re more like a foolish man who sees only the tail of a Divine Cobra and thinks that it is small, while its main body is actually many thousands of times bigger, and can send him into the void with just the force of the air moving aside when it gets up from a nap. Oh, don"t make that face, now - I did not call you here to mock you. I was watching when the eye of the Church fell upon your continent, and I must say that the step you took was quite smart. But isn"t it tiring to maintain such a complex Artefact for so long? If you slip for even a second, it will see so many important things…like that food being devoured by all those people who are unaware that an ingredient has been added to it that will forcefully increase their potential! We wouldn"t want the Church to find out just how much of a special cook you are, do we? So, how about this… Why don"t you transfer the Artefact to me, so that I can maintain it for you?"
Daneel"s face had started to fill with irritation when the Basilisk had begun to mock him as if he were a child, and that was why she had spoken in that manner.
When she exposed the truth about all that food, he had almost felt naked, as it felt as if she could look beyond all the methods he used to hide his actions, and even though he knew that it could not be avoided, it was quite annoying.
And finally, hearing what she said at the end, he did not even hesitate before scoffing and saying, "Not a chance."
His response was met by an eerie smile by the Basilisk, who shrugged and said, "I knew what you would say, but I still had to try… Well, then let me give you an alternate plan. I"m sending three of my best a.s.sa.s.sins to your continent- they began the difficult journey as soon as the decision was taken by us that we would throw our lot behind you. They will also be the ones healing the Emperor so that I can complete my end of the debt, as it was too taxing for me to facilitate the healing from so far away. As soon as they arrive, I have a plan. The Artefact does the job well, but that eye being there is a hindrance to a lot of the plans that you or I might want to deploy against those pious idiots. Watching what is going on below it is only one of its functions, so letting it stay there would be folly. How about… We go kill it?"
As soon as she made the suggestion, Daneel"s eyebrows shot up.
"Kill it? Is that even possible?"
As soon as he said this, the Basilisk threw back her head and laughed, and her laughter was such that it would make anyone want to close their ears and run as far away as possible.
It was not the laughter of a human, as it sounded like a combination of rasping sounds that would have been normal if they were the last sounds made by a man dying from respiratory failure.
It was so unsettling that Daneel even had to ask the system to block it, and it was only then that he felt peace.
After she was done, she smiled again and said, "Of course…anything and everything is possible when you have me behind you, my pet. I"ll contact you again when they arrive. Take care, now…"
For some reason, the moment Daneel heard the words "my pet", all sorts of danger signals began to ring in his mind.
Without giving him a chance to respond, Alastair winked and disappeared.
It was only a few minutes later that Daneel was able to extricate himself, at least a little bit, from the state his mind had entered due to her utterance. Shaking his head with a horrified expression on his face, he gulped and began to journey back to that gigantic throne in the middle of Angaria.
With his mind filled with waves of thoughts that were just as stormy as the sea below, he arrived at his destination, but at the last moment, he asked the system to make him invisible.
Looking around at his sovereigns who were talking between themselves and the people whose merrymaking was still going in full swing, he finally managed to throw aside all the dreadful feelings that had submerged him in the aftermath of the meeting with that serpent.
He knew that what she had said might just have exposed a lot about her motives, but right now, he had enough on his plate to worry about.
Hence, resolving to be as wary of her as possible, he got down to the very pressing matter that he had put off for what felt like ages.
Knowing that it was finally time, the fire of antic.i.p.ation began to burn in his eyes, and after letting out a long breath, he closed his eyes and said, "System, list all the changes that have happened due to the upgrade."