"The world, at my fingertips."
Daneel had often heard of this expression back on Earth, but he had never really understood what it meant.
Now, though, as he flexed his hands and felt the entirety of the continent behind him respond, he knew that he had found out the answer.
In one word, it was glorious. But instead of describing it by himself, he decided to listen to the system to see what it would say.
[Breakthrough to Hero realm successful. a.n.a.lyzing path. Energy absorption has been amplified using G.o.dnet.
Path a.n.a.lysis complete.
Name given by Cognition Module: Worldheir.
Worldheir: When the user of this path acts for the Will of the World he is joined with, all Energy reserves of the World will be available to be deployed. Any wish of the user can be made true using the Will. The Will willingly acts to fulfill each and every whim of the user, thereby not requiring intervention on user"s side to establish method to carry out the wish.
Advantages:
-Power only restricted to power of the world, hence effectively crossing the Hero realm in terms of strength.
-If conviction is strong enough, reduces brunt of processing required to act, effectively turning user in a proverbial G.o.d
-Power boost can be applied to both magic and fighter paths, allowing user to use the next level of their abilities in battle
-Power not restricted to presence of people, as was the case in host"s Champion Path
Disadvantages:
-Extremely high level of conviction required to achieve the state of oneness needed to use the path
-Acting without conviction will cause serious backlash
-If power is used without care, Will of the World can exceed limits and dry up a continent
-If consciousness of user is not necessarily strong, power can corrupt and consume the mind of the user.
Achievement: "Ultimate Domination" obtained.
"Ultimate Domination": You have reached the peak. Making the world your own, you have become a World Dominator worthy of owning the system. The highest point possible has been reached…but only in the world you are in. What lies next? It is for you to decide…but before making the decision, it is recommended for you to ask a question whose answer has been unlocked. Congratulations!]
It was stronger than his wildest dreams, and after listening to the description, Daneel almost laughed out loud due to how he had achieved the power.
He hadn"t even been planning on reaching the Hero realm for this war…but by sending the ghosts, the Bishop had inadvertently allowed him to reach the goal set long ago by the system.
He could feel it, more clearly and perfectly than ever.
World domination. I thought that it meant the act of one dominating the people of the world…but perhaps, it"s the achievement of being able to wield the world like a weapon? I thought that that was what I was doing before, but I was so, so wrong.
The very air seemed to be br.i.m.m.i.n.g with antic.i.p.ation, waiting for this plague that had gripped Angaria to end.
Who am I to stop its wish?
A bolt of lightning struck above. It was golden, but his eyes had fixed onto the Bishop.
He didn"t care about anything else. All of it could wait. He had been very intrigued about what the system had said at the end, and the golden lightning almost made him pause…but he set all of it aside, deciding to deal with them later.
He took a step forward, and with the images of Eloise and Kellor burning to cinders in his mind, he began flying toward the Bishop.
He already knew about the Will of the World waiting to fulfill his every wish. He had known it the moment he had emerged in the world, and the method of using it had come to him naturally.
All he had to do was picture what he wanted…and the World would move.
After returning to Angaria, he had asked the system to show him everything that had happened so far. His improved consciousness made it so that he could split his stream of thought and do multiple things at the same time, and hence, it had been quite easy to go through all the data in a split second.
That was when he had heard Skrr"s thoughts, and been inspired.
These were the beings who had risen to defend their land…and so far, they had only been relegated to being at the back. He had felt that it was high time that they be given a chance to truly enjoy the feeling that came with wielding power for one"s homeland, and hence, when given an opportunity in the form of the Bishop"s last gambit, he hadn"t let it go to waste.
He didn"t even glance at them, now. Led by his sovereigns and the G.o.dbeasts, he knew that they were more than up for the task, so he proceeded toward the Bishop who had flung herself into her weapon after cursing him.
It had paused, then. Standing over 150 feet tall, it towered over him, its face constricted with the same fury the Bishop had displayed after she had witnessed his breakthrough.
Her bloodl.u.s.t could be felt in the air, but Daneel kept flying forward, unperturbed. When he neared her, he had to raise his head to see her face.
He knew that he looked puny in comparison, and the Bishop seemed to take pleasure in this. Making the hammer disappear, she reached back and drew the strange sword that had killed his master.
It grew in size to match her figure, the void at its tip vibrating with the power to break through dimensions. Before, he might have been wary of it…but now, it represented all the threat of a toothpick.
Reveling in "feeling big", the Bishop opened her mouth and screamed at him. It was a wordless scream, filled with all the vexation and rage she felt due to everything that had happened so far. It made the wind rise and sweep toward him, but it dispersed an inch away from his body, splitting to buffet the trees far below. Still, it made his hair rise, and the Bishop took this as a triumph, grinning with glee before raising the sword as if to attack the barrier.
More than anything, Daneel was amused. He could tell that she was so desperate that she had taken to finding solace where she could, but remembering Eloise"s face when the Tenebrous Flame had broken out, he decided that he would not give her anything.
Raising his hands, he breathed in, and once again, the World moved to his will.
I want to make her feel small.
That was his wish, and in response…the clouds above began to move rapidly in his direction.
The Bishop froze, staring, as they wrapped around him and began to form a being whose highest point reached the heavens.
Mist rose from the forests of the continent to give the clouds strength. Leaves that were about to fall off floated to him to help him grow. The very ground heaved up below him to pelt the clouds with moldable earth, and from the west, a volcano erupted. Its magma flew into the air and was drunk up by his being, and finally, using all their power, he began to coalesce.
The G.o.dnet disappeared as there was no Energy left on Angaria to power it. There was nothing separating the two of them anymore…but the Bishop didn"t move.
His face formed first. The magma was his blood. The earth, his bones. The air and water made his skin, and as the elements flowed together seamlessly, his body came into being.
He stood 500 feet(152 m) tall, his head closer to the stars than it had ever been. His body was flawless, garbed in golden robes that drunk in the sun instead of reflecting it. Now and then, his face would ripple to expose the elements that it was made of, but apart from that, he looked every bit like a G.o.d descended from the sky to rule the earth.
He opened his mouth and roared.
The sound made tornadoes rise all over. The sea rose and fell, tsunamis forming and disappearing everywhere, and the Bishop stood among it all, her head raised in order to see him.
He could swear that he heard her squeak with fear when the roar washed over her.
She was the puny one, now, and with his wish fulfilled, he waited to see what she would do.
More than ever before, she seemed close to breaking down. She even sunk to her knees and had to use the sword to keep herself from falling down, and for a second, he wondered whether she wouldn"t give him the satisfaction of pummelling her to bits.
Thankfully, after a few moments, she raised her head and lunged forward, sword first.
He raised his hand and caught her as if she was a child.
She froze with shock as his hands closed about her waist. Daneel wondered whether she had forgotten that she was facing the might of an entire continent as a lone Hero, but he understood that she might have placed trust in her weapon.
Before, he had thought that he had tapped into all of Angaria"s might, but he saw now that he had been as wrong as a foolish teenager who thinks that he"s smarter than the rest of the world. Angaria"s power lay in its land, in its air, in its jungles and in all the beings that breathed on top of it, and now, all of that power was at his beck and call.
What could one Hero do against all that might?
The Bishop tried. She really, really tried.
She tried engulfing parts of him with the mist of her weapon before striking with the dimensional sword, but the elements were always one step ahead of her, streaking out of her way before she could do any reasonable amount of damage.
She tried hacking off parts of him, but the elements were boundless. They reformed every part of him that she destroyed, so she could only flounder where she was, still stuck in his hand.
She managed to finally get out of his clutches by destroying a part of the mist that she was made of, but it was a short-lived victory.
She stabbed at him and did no damage.
She tried to get past him but was stopped by barriers that instantly rose at his command.
She tried to find his real body inside the giant, but every time she even touched him, the elements burned through her weapon and threatened to consume her.
She was like a little kid trying to cut a man in armor with a wooden sword. It seemed almost cruel to let her keep attacking hopelessly, but Daneel did so anyway.
Finally, it was the laughter that broke her. The elderly folk and children of Angaria had all come out of where they were hiding to see the war end, and on watching the battle, they had burst out laughing.
These were the people she had sought to vanquish…but they were now lost in mirth, completely unafraid of the fate she had sought to grant to the continent at large.
She even held on for a few moments after the laughter began, but after that, one of the swings of her sword slowed…then stopped.
She fell on her back, defeated and exhausted. She had already overdrafted her power to keep attacking, but it had all been for naught.
The mist disappeared, leaving behind a broken woman. Tears ran down her cheeks. Her eyes had a faraway look to them, but Daneel wasn"t sure whether he saw any regret in their inky depths.
All right…that"s enough.
He was tired, too, just like her. So, raising one gigantic hand, he prepared to end it all.
As it moved through the air, relief bubbled up from deep within him. A smile began to appear on his face, and he almost turned to see what the rest of the Angarians were up to.
Then…feeling something amiss, he stopped and turned to the Bishop.
In front of her stood a familiar woman. Her appearance was originally supposed to have made him feel happy, but seeing the side she was on, anger suddenly threatened to overwhelm.
Clad in a flowing white dress, Erin, Drakos"s love and the leader of the Eternal Blossom Sect raised her hand in an attempt to stop Daneel.
His fury and displeasure getting the better of him, he made his hand accelerate, intending to render her unconsciousness and kill the Bishop.
Yet, a moment before the strike reached them, she shouted in a piercing voice, and the first thing she said made his mind go blank.
"Hear me, traveler from Earth! Stay your hand! Kill her, and Angaria perishes with her! Heed my voice, and STOP!"