In front of him, Faxul who was acting as the Protector Raven that had gotten gravely injured during that fight with the ancient Black Raven before could sense that his friend was very tense for some reason. He asked for the reason through the communication trinket that he had on him, but the only reply he got was that they should get finished with this soon, and it was given in such a terse tone that he wondered whether anything was wrong.
Yet, because Daneel hadn"t bothered to say anything, Faxul didn"t worry too much, and continued their act which was to show the people of the Black Raven Kingdom that Daneel had been acknowledged by the Protector Raven, which meant that they could have no qualms about accepting him as their leader officially.
Of course, there would still be some obstacles to pa.s.s through, such as getting the approval of the Council. All the senior members of the Council were now staring with completely astounded expressions at this scene, and as the "Protector Raven" stood up and let out another loud squawk before flying off into the direction from where it had come from, they regained their senses and focused their eyes on the King of Lanthanor as if he was some kind of primordial monster.
Daneel also used this little bit of time to control his excitement, as he knew that this was the culmination of all of his efforts so far. Clearly, that act had been very effective in changing the minds of many of the citizens who were congregated under him, which had led to the satisfaction level reaching the required threshold that had allowed the final seal to become broken.
Obviously, same as before, Drakos couldn"t tell whether this was the case, because this part of his consciousness wasn"t in the pedestal. Yet, when Daneel told him that the golden light that had whisked him away into that vision before had appeared once again, Drakos also confirmed that this meant that the final seal had been broken - apparently, the Emperor had planned it so that the first and last seals would have these visions, which would be most effective in explaining whatever he wished to those who pa.s.sed the criteria than any number of words that might be spoken by the Emperor Spirits left behind.
Elanev, as Faxul, continued his part after the "Protector Raven" left.
As they were maintaining the act that he was shocked beyond anyone else, he just ended the event by once again a.s.suring everyone that only prosperity would follow for the Black Raven Kingdom, and that another event would soon be held after a discussion with the Council.
Although he didn"t explicitly state that this discussion would be regarding what they had just seen, it was apparent, and when everyone in the air disappeared, a loud buzz of conversation could be heard from the people below, with most of them advocating for the fact that there was nothing more they needed to wait for. The King of Lanthanor was their rightful ruler, and they apparently wouldn"t have it any other way, especially after seeing how he had saved them all from that purge before, which was more powerful than any other thing that he could have done in an attempt to sway them toward him.
Of course, all of Daneel"s efforts to go to each and every town and adding thoughts about supporting him also came to fruition now, as these blossomed into beautiful flowers of loyalty that stood stronger than ever after witnessing this unscheduled, yet sacred connection ceremony.
Typically, their agenda now was that Daneel would right away begin the discussion with the Council, but he couldn"t wait anymore. He just told Elanev and Faxul that he needed to handle something in the Kingdom, and that he would come back soon. After all, the council wasn"t going anywhere.
The two were a bit surprised, but after seeing the way in which Daneel completely cut off connections and immediately teleported to Lanthanor, they had no choice but to wait.
Barely a few seconds later, Daneel was already standing in front of the secret room in the library, from under which that golden light could be seen.
It cascaded onto his boots, lighting them up splendidly while his face also lit up with joy and expectation. He paused to cherish this moment, for which he had worked so hard. He couldn"t wait for the mysteries to finally be revealed to him, but he still thought back just once to everything he had done, so that he could instill it in himself that with the correct vision, anything could be achieved.
Taking a deep breath, Daneel opened the door, and just like before, he collapsed to the ground as his mind was whisked away into the visual message.
Unlike before, when he had woken up in the presence of the Empire spirit which had apparently been acting with all that bravado in order to impress all those who managed to reach that level, there were no happy conversations to be heard from the citizens of the Empire. Instead, screams of pain and loud explosions greeted his ears, making him snap open his eyes and look around, with the intent of finding out where he was.
Dark clouds could be seen everywhere around him, and in front of him, a familiar figure stood, yet there was something different in him from what he had seen before.
First, Daneel took a measure of their location. They were clearly in the airs.p.a.ce of Angaria, standing on a physical balcony which was very similar in style to the buildings that Daneel had seen in his last vision.
It was a style which reminded him of the Victorian Era back on Earth. They were standing on a C-shaped balcony with a railing that was artfully constructed using a material that looked a lot like marble.
Flowing designs could be seen etched all over the railing, and the floor also seemed to have had a large sigil -"had", because it looked like it had been attacked using a fireball that had caused soot to appear all over it,.
As soon as Daneel finally looked up to once again see the figure of the giant-sized man in front of him, he turned around, and although he had the same face with those bold features and perfectly cut short beard, there was an additional weariness about him that hadn"t been present before.
At this moment, Daneel could also tell what the difference in his figure was - unlike before, when his back had been the very symbol of confidence, authority and power, it was hunched now, slightly, as if burdened by the weight of a failure whose magnitude could not be imagined.
Yet, as soon as his eyes fell on Daneel, a small smile appeared on his face, which also seemed to drive away the gloom that was present all over where they were standing.
Without saying a word, he simply gestured Daneel to come over using his hand, before turning back and once again gazing upon whatever had been looking at when Daneel had rudely interrupted the scene.
Daneel picked himself up, and maybe because he couldn"t help but compare himself with this man, he straightened his back as much as he could and also arranged his hair, with was quite funny as he had never cared much about his appearance till now.
Adopting a neutral expression, he finally walked forward to lay his eyes upon the same sight that the Emperor was looking at.
As he did so, he couldn"t help but widen his eyes.
They seemed to be smack dab above the center of Angaria, and in the part of Angaria they were watching, there were five major settlements, all of which were completely covered by furious flames that rose to the sky. In each and every one of them, as Daneel focused his vision, he could see multiple individuals in the same form he had seen in the first vision- their upper body was swollen to a size of at least five times of the lower body, but the head still remained the same size, which resulted in a grotesque being that would bring terror to any who saw it. Such figures were proceeding to wantonly ma.s.sacre all those around them, all while Mages and Fighters here and there tried to futilely stop them using whatever trinkets they could find. Yet, it was clear that all of these individuals were at most Warriors, who stood no chance against these beings which were mostly Champions, with even a few Heroes mixed in here and there.
Everywhere he looked, this was apparent, and in places where there were no more people to kill, these beings began thras.h.i.+ng all of the buildings around them.
By now, it was obvious that he was witnessing the catastrophe that had destroyed the Empire, and resulted in Angaria having to pick up the pieces and survive with barely a fraction of its population left.
Although all this was very shocking, Daneel had already imagined it before, as the records in the Secret Archives had been quite elaborate in describing how it had been.
The true shock… came when he looked up, as he had just heard a strange rumbling sound from there which did not match with any natural sound of lightning that he knew.
When he did so, above the clouds, Daneel could see some kind of… ma.s.sive being that was at least the size of Angaria, itself.
He couldn"t even comprehend how this was possible, and as he moved his head to take in its entirety, he saw that there were actually tentacle-like things which stretched from it and were approaching the borders of Angaria in various places.
He couldn"t gather any more details except for the fact that it was somehow hidden using a spell whose complexity he couldn"t comprehend - it was as if he was watching something wreathed in a mist that he couldn"t see through no matter how much he tried, and this applied to those tentacles, too. He could only see the general shape, and that they were actually… moving up, away from Angaria.
It was then that he noticed something - right in the middle of this humongous ma.s.s which was literally like a cloud that covered Angaria and darkness, there was a gaping hole through which just a single ray of suns.h.i.+ne fell through.
It was such an incongruous sight that Daneel had to rub his eyes to see whether what he was watching was really true.
Finally, the Emperor spoke, and as Daneel listened to his words, the shock and awe that he felt only increased in magnitude until he could just stand there, watching this sight which was straight out of a nightmare.
"A World Eater - it is named grandly so, but it can barely be used on a continent of this size. If I hadn"t used the Grand Inheritance to gravely injure it, all of Angaria would have been swallowed whole by it by now - leading to not a single Angarian surviving to tell the tale. It was inevitable, and we all knew that it was coming - but we still hoped that we could somehow stop it without resorting to this measure. Alas, this is what it came to. It was to prevent this that I set up so many obstacles to test those who wished to take control of the immense knowledge of the Empire, after which they would certainly use it to gain control of the ultimate power that is the Grand Inheritance. From the criteria that was fulfilled, I can tell that you actually went about it the right way- which is something that truly gives me pleasure. On behalf of this continent, I thank you and congratulate you on breaking the third seal, behind which all of the mysteries and secrets that you must have come across before are hidden. Now then, instead of me droning on and on about things you might not be interested about, why don"t we do this - ask away, and I will answer each of your questions to the best of my ability."