A few minutes ago.
The King had actually been the most bewildered when Daneel, who was in the form of Varanel, walked up to the barrier and announced that it was him who had divulged the secret of the trinket to the outside world.
Varanel was just a cowardly brat whose best talent was to bolt the fastest when a dangerous situation arose. Laravel had been a different case. He had always been shrewd, so the fact of him choosing to help the enemy after being influenced by his father was at least something believable.
As the King looked behind him, it was the expression on the face of the Court Mage that gave everything away.
The King knew very well that the Court Mage was someone who did not like his rule. Yet, he was bound by the magical oath to never disobey the King"s orders.
Magical oaths were something which could be given either to a person or to special objects known as oathstones. Kingdoms usually used the latter, mainly due to the fact that magical oaths were related to the soul. An oath was like a string tied tightly to the soul. Too many strings would make the soul shatter, resulting in permanent death.
Thus, it was highly impractical to have important personnel repeatedly swear oaths in case the King changed in a Kingdom. The best thing to do was to use an oathstone with which the King could enforce the oath.
In fact, the King had had to threaten Kellor using the oathstone when he made the decision to accept the sect"s offer. Kellor had been dead against it, even going so far as to almost kill himself rather than see the aftermath. Yet, at the last moment, he had agreed and relented to the King as if clinging to some last strand of hope.
This incident also served to reaffirm the King"s suspicion that Kellor was scheming something behind his back. The suspicion had arisen long before itself due to some actions of the Court Mage, and since then, he had ordered the Grand Court Mage to keep an eye on him.
This was also the reason Kellor had had to be careful when meeting Daneel. In fact, in the last year, they had not met even once. Even now, he could not do anything to help Daneel as he was under orders to only attack on the King"s orders or to save him.
Right now, the court mage"s expression was one of fear when he saw Varanel walk to the barrier.
Fear of losing that something with which he seemed to be clinging to his life.
This expression made everything click in place in the King"s mind.
Daneel"s entry into the palace.
His apparent inaction until this point.
Varanel"s entry into the room in the Court Mage"s hands.
Varanel walking up to the barrier and admitting that he was the traitor.
When completely illogical things happened, it was usually because of a variable that was overlooked. In this situation, Daneel was that variable.
The King"s whole mind right now was set on revenge. He knew that his death was already determined, whether at the hands of the Vice Sect Master or those of the forces outside. It was too late to even hope to leave now.
Thus, he decided to fulfill his last regret, as that was the next best thing. In life, he did everything he could to follow his wish-to increase his longevity. Now, with death already set in stone, that wish had changed, and he would similarly do anything he could to fulfill that wish.
The Vice Sect Master"s words made it quite clear that Daneel had to get to the dragon heart. At that moment, the King was actually quite near to Daneel.
Thus, without hesitation, he ran towards Daneel.
His face had the maniacal expression of one so desperate for revenge as to even resort to supporting someone who he called an ant before. The humiliation and anger from helping a commoner potentially take over the throne itself was nothing compared to the burning fervor inside him to see the Vice Sect Master lose.
The pride of a King was not something to be underestimated, even if it was a King who could bring himself to sacrifice any amount of people if it meant he could live longer. This pride which had been awakened by the Vice Sect Master"s actions resulted in a stubbornness to see his enemy lose, no matter what it cost to himself.
Thus, it was his hand which reached Daneel"s back and pushed him forward, taking the hit on his behalf.
As the King, he had the best personal barrier in the whole Kingdom.
Although it protected him from the brunt of the attack, the impact of hitting the barrier at such a speed resulted in internal injuries that would surely kill him if he was not healed before long. After all, he was only a Peak Exalted Human who could not yet control his body and perform first aid on himself like those at the Warrior level.
Yet, as he crumpled to the ground, only a mad look of satisfaction was on him as he felt insanely happy seeing the dismayed expression on the Vice Sect Master"s face.
At that exact moment, the King fell backward as the barrier supporting his back had disappeared.
Outside the palace, two enormous dragon claws came into existence which caught hold of the pot-bellied man from the church and the black-robed man from the TriCobra society in an instant. The claws were so realistic that many people watching from in front of the Palace Gates were bewildered as they rubbed their eyes to see just where the rest of the creature was.
In fact, many of them didn"t even know that it was a legendary dragon that was the being which had such a magnificent claw.
Four ma.s.sive spears of bone were attached to red, scaled skin that shone in the sunlight. The hexagonal scales had a beauty to them as they glistened as if polished, while small black streaks swimming through the scales resulted in the claw looking both alluring and deadly at the same time.
As the pot-bellied man witnessed the claw close in and envelop him in darkness in a fraction of a second, panic appeared on his face as he realized that everything had gone wrong.
Even the black-robed man could only grasp around in the utter darkness that the claw had placed them in. As they both used a fireball spell to cast some light around them, the grandeur of a race that once stood on top of all the inhabitants of the world made them cower in instinctive fear. Each of the scales twinkled with a murderous light which threatened to wipe them off the face of this world if they even thought of resisting.
The claws also automatically produced a s.p.a.ce lock in the area around them, preventing the two of them from getting away. Thus, all the two could do was stand and cower in their boots, hoping that the claw wouldn"t close and obliterate them.
A third claw appeared in the room which held the dragon heart. As it came into existence and swallowed up the Vice Sect Master to trap him in its clutches, the jaws of those watching dropped while they tried to cope with the sheer number of up and downs that they were witnessing.
With a triumphant smile on his face, Daneel stood up from where he had fallen. Looking around, his gaze fell on the King who had been thrown away due to the last beam of light.
Daneel was just as surprised as everyone else, who had dropped their jaws once already seeing the selfish King leap forward and save Daneel from the Vice Sect Master"s attack.
Even though Daneel knew that it was impossible due to the oaths he had given, he had still thought at that moment that it was Kellor who helped him. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect his sworn enemy to save his life.
Although conflicting emotions started arising in his head, he used the communication trinket in his pocket to send orders to the waiting Domination Corps located around the city.
All around Lanthanor, throngs of people gawked at the panels that had appeared near them in the hands of the Domination Corps. The panels showed the image of the King"s chamber in ruins as Daneel, who had by now changed back into himself, stood in front of an enormous dragon heart after placing a trinket that looked like an eyeball in the air in front of him.
Step 1: Acquire control of the Dragon Heart Formation had been completed successfully.
It was now time to begin the show for step 2:
Take control of the Kingdom by giving the people what they wished and prayed for.