A minute later, Daneel had returned to the musty room in Elysium where Elanev was still lying down with a painful expression on his face.
Faxul was watching over him with care, and he looked up only for a moment to see Daneel nod before getting back to monitoring the vitals of the man whom they both considered as an elder brother.
"Welcome to Elysium! It-"
Strangely enough, the voice of the female receptionist was once again heard, and as they both glanced in that direction, they saw that she had reappeared, with just as dusty a frame as before.
This time, though, she burst into nothingness much sooner, and because they were prepared, they both cast spells to divert the curtain elsewhere.
"Seems the formation is failing even further," remarked Daneel, after noticing that even less of the welcoming dialogue had been spoken.
With a nod, Faxul asked, "Did they like the welcome?"
Chuckling, Daneel answered, "Splendidly. There"s only a minute more, but I think we are in the clear. Let"s watch."
Saying so, he made a display trinket appear which showed the scene above the Endless Sea, where he had laid his trap.
A small group of Heroes with a stoic man in the middle slowly made their way down, but the moment they reached a certain point in the air, the Sea began to squirm, making it clear that it would erupt again if they got any closer.
With frustration, the group went back, knowing what would happen.
This was already the 5th time that they were doing this since the trap, and the only reason was to check whether whatever it was that had made them so enticing to the Sea Beasts had faded.
After getting back to their group, the man in the middle could be seen shouting at a lady in a red dress with an inquisitive expression on her face, and she sulked as she listened to him while a.n.a.lyzing the substance that had latched on to them.
Daneel felt slight pity for her, but he said, "I wonder when they will figure out that the substance can only be canceled out quickly if something of the opposite polarity is used. Until then, they have no choice to stay in the air, unless they want to be subject to the, let"s say "attention" of hundreds of Champion-level beasts. Still, let"s keep watching."
As Faxul nodded, Daneel felt glad that his simple plan had worked.
The reason it had been so dangerous was that he had had to go out with his original body.
It was needed if he wanted to make those from the Order go after him, and this time, he had been lucky.
If it had been someone powerful enough, like a Peak Hero, they would have been able to disregard all the sea beasts and attack him directly, placing him in a situation where he would have to use a trump card, or die.
Both options were not preferable. The former would just give more fuel to the Order"s declaration that he was a part of the Church as it would be something that he should never possess as an ordinary King from the Central Continent, and the latter was, well, plainly not very pleasant.
The seconds ticked by, and with each one, Daneel"s heart beat loudly.
He had noticed that the woman had sensed something at the spot they had arrived at, but his appearance had thankfully distracted her. Would she feel like going back to see what it was?
If it weren"t for the leader, she might have. The man kept badgering her about the substance which they couldn"t get rid of even though they had tried scrubbing their skin clean, so she looked like she didn"t have the time to do anything else.
As the last second pa.s.sed, Daneel let out a huge sigh of relief.
The entrance s.h.i.+fted location, and so…the possibility that it would be sensed disappeared.
Turning to Faxul with a smile, he was about to say something, but he stopped when he saw the worry on his face.
Immediately knowing the reason behind it, he focused his gaze on Elanev, and what he saw made him take in a sharp breath.
Elanev"s skin had started to ooze blood.
All over his body, thousands and thousands of pores all let out the dark substance which congealed into a pool beneath him.
Yet, rather than the dark red of pure blood, it was even darker, giving it an almost unhealthy tint.
"Shedding of the Body. The last step before the final metamorphosis."
These words echoed in his mind, and the old man continued as Daneel did not give any sign of him understanding what was going on.
"The source of all Fighters" power is their body. Hence, the Path to Power is one of purifying the body, and making it as perfect as it can be. In this process, at this juncture, the old needs to be destroyed, and the new must take root. Think of it like the decalcification of the Mageroot that a Mage goes through when he begins his Path, and when he progresses on it. It might seem more violent, but in fact, it is extremely beneficial."
Even as the old man talked, Daneel could see the skin on Elanev"s face peeling away, as if he had been inflicted by the mother of all diseases.
However, in a sight that, for once, corroborated with some of the scenes he had heard of and seen in the comics and stories back on Earth, new, stronger skin and flesh began to form rapidly underneath the sh.e.l.l that was being discarded by his elder brother.
As it was such a common theme, he had always wondered whether there was some truth to it, and seeing what was in front of him, he got his answer.
The miraculous transformation made even Faxul"s eyes s.h.i.+ne with envy: in front of them, it was as if a stronger life-form was being born, and it was different from any breakthrough they had seen.
Curious, Daneel asked the old man whether it was a quirk of his specific Path, to which the answer he got was a proud chuckle and the words, "It wasn"t for nothing that he went through so much."
Even more excited to see in which direction this would go, Daneel remembering the sad past of the old man where his own son had called him a failure for inventing this Path and then not being able to prove that it was real. So, he understood that this was a landmark moment for him, too.
The Overdrive Inheritance. It had had such a domineering effect in the Warrior realm, itself. What would its power be when one became a Champion?
Even though time continued to pa.s.s, neither of them diverted their gaze to the room they were in, where there were still a lot of things that needed to be examined. They wanted to be ready in case they were needed, so they just continued to monitor Elanev together with unwavering gazes and expectant expressions.
Finally, ten minutes later…it looked like it was coming to an end.
The blood that had been flowing incessantly started to slow down, and as it stopped, the final layers of skin that was being shed also fell to the ground.
His clothes that had already taken a beating during the chase were barely covering his body, so they could see the almost gleaming skin underneath that gave off a feeling of strength.
"Uuhhh…f*cking beasts…you wanna screw me? I"ll screw you…I"ll screw all of you…get away…"
It seemed that he was returning to the state he was in before he fainted, as these words which made Daneel and Faxul slightly blush appeared from Elanev"s lips.
Right now, the man looked to be at the peak of his life. There was a feeling of hidden strength emanating from him that grew with each second, and although Daneel didn"t know yet why that was the case, it was apparent that the breakthrough was over.
Faxul understood this, too, and he bent to prod Elanev"s shoulder to wake him up.
Putting up an unconscious defense, Elanev groggily lashed out with his hand.
However…the effect this had made Daneel take a step back with shock.
BOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!
His hand had moved so fast that Daneel had had to use the Basilisk"s Breath to see it, and even then, he had been too slow to warn Faxul, who was in its path.
It collided with his shoulder, and although a barrier sprang up instantly, he was too unprepared.
With a loud sound, he was blasted off before colliding with the wall on the left of Elanev, which resulted in a storm of dust engulfing the room.
This was what had settled on that wall over centuries and centuries of neglect, and through it all, Daneel could not make out either of his sovereigns.
Quickly, he cast a spell to make it settle down, and he was greeted by a sight which made him gape.
Faxul was slowly sliding to the ground in the form of a Black Raven, but his wing was bent haphazardly. It had apparently broken due to the impact, and a line of blood could be seen from the corner of his beak.
Turning around, Daneel saw that Elanev had sprung to his feet.
Gone was the grogginess from before, and in its place was absolute astonishment as he stared at his hands that he held aloft.
"Finally…FINALLY!"
His voice of exultation turned into one of fierce joy, and he whooped in the air before shouting to the Heavens with tears streaming down his face.
"ALL THAT PAIN! ALL THAT BLOOD! ALL OF IT WAS F*CKING WORTH IT! HAHA, I"M UNDEFEATABLE NOW! OLD MAN, YOU WERE RIGHT! THIS IS F*CKING AWESOME! YES! DANEEL, COME AT ME! I"ll-"
"Hmm?"
Filled with joy, too, Daneel simply made a sound as if to say that he was right there, and that brought Elanev down from the clouds he had ascended to.
Gulping, he turned around and finally met Daneel"s gaze before smiling sheepishly. Until now, it had looked as if he was staring at the ceiling, but the truth was that his eyes had been unfocused due to all the happiness coursing through him.
It was still present, though, as that smile broadened before he went to Faxul and helped him to get up.
"Well, maybe I can"t beat him, yet, but you…oh, there"s a lot of payback coming for you, my dear friend."
Punching Faxul, who had transformed back into himself with a slightly annoyed expression on his face, playfully on his shoulder, Elanev said this with glee, and it made Faxul grimace and think back to the force that had almost made him one with the wall.
Daneel remembered it, too, and he could tell that it had already broken all the rules that he had thought existed which bound the power of someone in the Champion realm.
Taking a deep breath, he asked the system for the a.n.a.lysis of the Champion Path, and the answer he got made him let out that breath with a hiss.
[Champion Path a.n.a.lyzed.
Name: Limitless Juggernaut(as given in the official proposition from the records of the Empire)
Tier: Absolute Peak.
Description: Allows an individual to store Energy that can be used to temporarily upgrade one"s power level to one that is three minor realms above. No side effects except depletion of Energy. Attributed Energy Storage is also available i.e Energy can be stored with a certain end-result in mind, in which case the boost is to four minor realms. For example, Energy can manifest as fire-type to combat water-oriented Champions, in which case power will be higher, but the relevant weaknesses will exist. System has judged that this is a near-perfect Path which was almost unseen during the age of the Empire. It can be placed at a level beneath host"s Mage Champion Path in terms of absolute power. Integration with host"s present Fighter Path is recommended. Please upgrade system to facilitate integration.]