1 hour before the meeting.
Glancing at the clock on the mantlepiece in his quarters that he seldom visited and seeing that it was 11 AM, Ashah.e.l.l once again sighed before hearing a knock on his door.
"Come in."
Heeding the command, a man entered the door.
He looked just like one of the regular folk who serviced the Central Tower, but when he entered the room, he looked around carefully before closing the door.
He was holding a tray that had a teapot and many teacups. Setting it to the side, he touched the spot near his stomach.
On the surface of his body, Ashah.e.l.l saw a bulge appear which moved eerily, as if it were some kind of worm that had been trapped inside the man"s body.
After a few moments, he said, "It"s clear."
"Yes, I know. I checked with the sect"s formation."
"But my orders are my orders. The item you asked for is in the teapot."
Nodding, Ashah.e.l.l carefully walked towards the tray that had been set down before.
The man had been carrying it casually, but when Ashah.e.l.l neared it, he gingerly lifted the lid of the teapot to look inside.
Instead of tea, the pot only had a few tea leaves which looked ordinary.
They were the most expensive sort which were grown in the east of Angaria especially for consumption by the rich and influential, and many liked them because of the tea"s incredible aftertaste.
Not even he could guess that these were actually objects which had been transported from thousands and thousands of kilometers away, from a distant land where those with his talent and power would be considered just slightly worth paying attention to.
There, according to what he had heard, even reaching the Hero level was just the first step to entering the higher levels of society.
Apparently, the cost of these tea leaves itself was something that couldn"t be estimated in Ker Gems, as the number would easily reach terrifying heights in the range of tens of millions.
"You don"t need to be so careful. I was told that they are effectively bound for one and a half hours more. After that, when their essence is released…"
Instead of continuing, the man only smiled sinisterly.
Nodding again, Ashah.e.l.l picked up the tea leaves and carefully adjusted them in his sleeves.
Seeing him do so, the man walked forward and laid an arm on Ashah.e.l.l"s shoulder before saying, "Your cause is n.o.ble. Just march forward without a doubt. You know this is necessary. Purges are the way of nature. I don"t think I need to give you a speech regarding them now. Just drop the tea leaves in the pot, and at 12: 30 AM, anyone who has had more than half a cup of the tea will die, even if they have somehow managed to reach the Exalted Hero level. This plan was completely designed by you; have more confidence in it."
It seemed that the man had seen the slightly glum expression on Ashah.e.l.l"s face, which must have led him to speak in this way.
Indeed, he, himself, had been the one to design this entire thing.
The Hero-level individuals of Angaria were elusive individuals who always secluded themselves in some or the other corner of the continent; reluctant to show themselves lest they be attacked by the Church or anyone who is capable of ending their long life which they had come to enjoy.
For a long time, he had been looking for a good enough excuse to host a physical meeting. He had slowly started to increase the pressure placed on the continent by the Church so as to make them panic, even going to such lengths as to have the Church invade those Olympics, even though they had been convinced that it would be a waste.
Ashah.e.l.l had continuously persuaded them saying that it would all be worth it in the long run, and now was the time for all of it to pay off.
This trinket and the item which purportedly contained the inheritance were items that had brought the ruin of the continent before, so although these geezers were confident that they could find a way to use them properly, they still had to all appear physically.
As for the fear of dying, it didn"t exist right now as they were confident that no one would be able to do anything when all of them were at one place.
In a way, a physical meeting would even force reluctant individuals to appear, as they would fear even more that they might be targeted if all the others were busy with something.
Hence, all in all, he had needed a proper, solid excuse to host one to get them all in place, and after doing so, he had chosen the simplest method to kill them: poison.
He knew for a fact that due to living for so long, all of these geezers had gotten used to the comforts of life, which included this tea which apparently also had some narcotic addiction effects.
So, he would just add in these tea leaves with the pretense of "checking" the tea, and watch as the first step in the saving of Angaria began.
He didn"t even need all of them to die. Within half an hour of the meeting, whoever had drunk more than half the cup would perish, and even the others who had had a little would be incapacitated. h.e.l.l, even if one or two didn"t drink at all, the next step, which involved the Exalted Hero of the Church who was permanently posted on the continent arriving with deadly trinkets in two, would definitely be enough to allow him to reach his goal.
Everything had gone without a hitch. He had even started the meeting early so that there would be more time for them to have the tea, and although one of the newest additions to the Council would be arriving late, the others had already almost drunk more than a half-cup.
However, everything had been ruined when that woman appeared with that warning.
If she had chosen to at least use communication trinkets to send the message, he could even have tried to allay suspicion on her. However, her sudden appearance and the expression on her face had caused everyone to leave without hesitation.
In that split second, he had vowed to find the one responsible for foiling his plans, no matter what it took.
As for the decision to have the tea himself, it was to make sure that he wouldn"t be suspected. He had known that it would be like going to h.e.l.l and coming back, but he hadn"t hesitated, as he knew that it was crucial that he retain the trust that the others had in him.
After taking this step, he, too, teleported away, reaching his quarters before sending a quick message to the man who had come before that the plan had failed, and that it was time for backup measures to remedy the situation.
With his countermeasure in place, Ashah.e.l.l added mock panic to his voice before using the oathstone to communicate with the others.
"What"s the matter?! What news do we have of the trap?"
He heard only silence in return, which made him worry a bit.
Still, he repeatedly kept sending messages before he finally received an answer that made him narrow his eyes.
It was from the actual head of the High Council, who was the strongest Hero-level individual on the continent.
"Ashah.e.l.l, stay where you are."
….
Around 30 minutes later.
The woman who had warned everyone before was currently standing in front of a man with a short, grey beard and crafty eyes.
He had very handsome features, and one would be able to tell that he must definitely have been a lady-killer in his youth.
His grey hair was curly, and he was wearing the latest fas.h.i.+on on Angaria: a double-breasted vest over a white s.h.i.+rt.
In between them was the sect leader of the Sect of Hedon and the leader of the High Council of Angaria, who had been knocked out minutes before being teleported here.
Unlike what he thought, he actually wasn"t the one in full control of the core formation of the Sect of Hedon.
The bearded man was poring over a data trinket, while the woman was looking at Ashah.e.l.l with disgust on her face, as if she was resisting the urge to attack him.
"This rat! We gave him everything he wanted! Well, almost everything! But he still decided to side with the Church!"
"Calm down, Halle. This is only the interpretation of that girl. Yes, she may have seen him being alive while all the others were dead, but it may have been due to other reasons too. She can"t be sure he"s smiling. I don"t even think that she can be sure that he was alive. The main thing that can be taken away from the vision is that we were all in danger, and you were right to warn us like that. However, I still don"t understand what that threat is. That arrogant p.r.i.c.k from the Church is still twirling his thumbs on the sh.o.r.e, and there are no signs of any attack, anywhere. We shouldn"t act hastily-"
Mid-sentence, the bearded man"s cut off as he clutched his heart in a quick motion.
His face started to turn purple, and he gagged as if he couldn"t breathe.
Ashah.e.l.l, who was on a podium in the air, also began to writhe violently, while foam started to appear at his mouth.
Similar scenes occurred all over the continent, but the bearded man was the first to recover.
With a quick motion, he changed his hand into a claw and struck his chest, extracting a beating ma.s.s of blood and flesh that was completely purple.
As he crushed it, noxious fumes perfused the air, while his skin turned back to normal.
Although he was slightly pale, it looked like he was going to be Ok.
Seeing Ashah.e.l.l in that state, he quickly reached the kid before encasing him in a block of ice to stop the progress of the poison.
Glancing at the woman who had a shocked and worried expression on her face, he said, "Another reason not to suspect him. This poison is so potent that I doubt that he will survive. If he is the perpetrator, he would have fleed by now, as that p.r.i.c.k can definitely save him. Let"s not jump to conclusions regarding the vision. Go help the others. Leave the kid to me."
….
2 hours later.
Back in Lanthanor, Daneel was striding to and forth in his quarters with his brows furrowed.
As he finally got a message from the Watcher, an expression of relief came on his face, but it was replaced by one of frustration.
His main fear, all along, had been that Xuan"s vision might be suspected to be fake. If Hero-level monsters came investigating, he knew that he would be found out, and that was a risk he hadn"t been willing to take.
Hence, he had told the system to be subtle, as, per the records, visions could only show one thing clearly, while the rest were only half-truths.
The main goal was to save the Hero-level individuals, and catching Ashah.e.l.l would have been a bonus.
Gritting his teeth, he couldn"t help but applaud the determination of the man to swallow poison to absolve himself.
Shaking his head and realizing that this battle between them was going to be very, very tough, Daneel started to decide what his next step would be.
Whatever it was, it definitely had to involve that b.a.s.t.a.r.d getting his comeuppance in a way that he wouldn"t be able to dodge this time.