"What is it? Your wish is finally going to come true. Is there any problem? You can tell me, Mark. The G.o.dking always stands by his oaths. You helped him, so we are indebted to you."
Her gentle words made Mark look up and smile. He was supposed to be a young man, and from the stories she had heard, he had been a carefree person until Daneel had found him. From then on, all the twists and turns that had happened on the continent had not been kind to him. He looked much older than his age, and even his eyes were that of someone who had gone through a lot.
She could guess that the tension and stress he must have felt due to the fact that the one who held his secret was being hunted must definitely have been no joke. And of course, it must have returned during the fight against the Church.
Weaker men might even have gone insane, but Mark had stayed strong, and now, it was time to cash in on the bet he had made when he had decided to share his secret.
When he spoke, his words came slowly, as if he had put great thought into them.
"We are setting out to destroy my family, and maybe even kill most of the family members. But like me, what if they had no part in the treachery? What if they had been lead on by promises of wealth and glory, or had had their decision to choose taken away? If you prosecute them all, won"t the innocent also be harmed?"
Hearing this, Eloise chuckled, and it was a cheerful sound that made Mark smile despite the emotions he was feeling.
He had been present during the discussion, but he had only heard everything that was said out loud. The sovereigns were so close that a few things did not need to be said, so it made sense that Mark was thinking in this way.
"Do not worry. If it was possible to avoid it, no innocent man has been harmed so far by any decision made by the G.o.dking. We follow this rule closely, too, as is expected from his most ardent followers. You already know that there will be no casualties on either side, so after everyone is captured, we will take time to ensure that we corner those who are guilty. There is a simple way to know this: it is an Artefact left behind by the Emperor, himself. You even saw it during the fight- it is what our G.o.dking used to vanquish so many Heroes, at the cost of his own body. The Head and the rest of the Heroes used to use it to make Heroes swear oaths so that they would stay loyal to the continent, but due to the force we face, these oaths have turned out to be useless, as the Church always find some way or to circ.u.mvent them. However, so far, the Artefact has been dormant, but now, the G.o.dking has been granted permission to use it fully. In that state, an oath that is sworn to it must be followed, even if one has taken precautions to help them hide the truth. All those who are captured will be told to swear an oath to speak only the truth, so if one is innocent, they will have no qualms in doing so. Long ago, when no one had even heard of him, this was the technique he used to ensure that innocent individuals weren"t harmed after his first conquest. Now, I feel proud to be using it again in a plan that I devised, myself. It will work, because it is a kind of oath which they have not seen yet - if we used the Obelisk of the Order, again, they might try to use the same method that was employed before to bypa.s.s the oaths sworn to the Church. Here, though, they will have no choice but to admit to each and every wrongdoing in their life. Is that alright?"
Eloise could see that Mark appreciated the fact that she was taking the time to explain everything to him so patiently. Toward the end, he noted, and left, too, as he also had a part to play in the play that would soon play out on the verdant lands of Angaria.
Before she left, she checked on the sovereigns that had not joined them. Their task was important, but it was nothing compared to the one they had been given to prepare the people for war. Hence, the commanders had been charged with taking care of this, as they were the ones with the most experience in dealing with large numbers of people, anyway.
And as for Percy, he had been given an entirely different duty relating to the place he had been born in. As he was the perfect one to take care of it, they hadn"t seen him in quite some time, but from his infrequent messages, it seemed that he was enjoying himself.
After seeing that everything was alright, Eloise disappeared, too, leaving the strategy room empty.
A few hours later, the five of them gathered in the eastern part of Angaria, right near where the Kingdom of Axelor had used to be.
Mark arrived last, and it looked like he had worked hard to make it seem as if he was no different from the one who had gone into the Order.
His eyes once again had the carefree att.i.tude of one who had given up on life due to the stance of his family which he did not like and could not change. His clothes were extravagant, his smile was infectious, and his laugher was merry.
He was the only one who still kept his ident.i.ty - as for the rest, they had taken on different faces and bodies, but as one, they nodded and began to fly towards a mountain that jutted out among the others that surrounded them.
A few minutes later, they were in the sky above a peak which looked completely normal.
Like someone telling a joke, Mark knocked in the air, but for a few moments, there was no change.
Seeing that a polite knock would not suffice, he opened his mouth and let out a shout, which made both Eloise and Xuan blush slightly.
"Stop f*cking around with your wh.o.r.es and open the d.a.m.n door, Moxley! I"ve brought friends who want to meet father! Make it quick, or I"ll have your hide!"