As Daneel watched the Head go about the preparations for the crazy plan which he still didn"t really seem to believe, his mind wandered, and as a result, he got the perfect a.n.a.logy for his present situation.
He felt like a fisherman who had laid a trap for a school of harmless fish, but instead, a d.a.m.n shark had wandered into it, leading him to be in a very difficult spot where he would either be devoured by it, or be rewarded with much more than he had set out to get if he somehow managed to salvage everything.
Yes… That was definitely apt.
So far, only a minute had pa.s.sed between when he had appeared in front of Arnold and the one from the Church and been attacked, and now, when the Head was busily bustling around, familiarizing himself with the powers of the Overseer and doing what Daneel had asked.
Still, Angaria was eerily silent, almost as if even the birds and animals knew that something momentous was going to happen, and hence had hidden in their homes, hoping that they would not be the ones affected.
The Order was the most comprehensive organization to ever have existed on Angaria, and hence, it had many, many means all over the continent which it had built over the innumerable years during which it had reigned supreme.
One of these means was a hidden formation right at the highest point that could be reached by Heroes, which enabled one to look down, as if they were a G.o.d from the Heavens, upon all of their subjects below.
In fact, the bar was the focal point of this formation, and it was from there that one could control it and use it to see things that would definitely not be visible from the ground.
Because Daneel had sworn himself over and taken the position of Cain, he now had certain privileges, even though he had no official office in the Order.
Also, because the Overseer was now the Head, he had also granted everything he could to Daneel, giving him almost near unlimited access, which was something that he knew that Cain had never had. That man had sadly only believed what he had been told, and hence, he didn"t know that one could even gain information and access to almost all of the formations that were present, and that the only thing they couldn"t do was control them, which was something that only the Overseer and the Leader had the authority to do.
And hence, he also had the logbook of all of the things that the previous Overseer had done, right until the moment when he had died, so that was how he knew that Cain and everyone had believed that the Overseer was the only being who could access them. For years and years, they had continued to build defensive measure after defensive measure, all while depending on the Overseer who could control them, not knowing that they could take that role, too, and bring much more transparency in the entire process.
This was one of the many things that Daneel had found out, but he had placed all of them to the side at the moment. The only reason he was thinking about them now was that he had already done everything he could, and he was waiting for the go-ahead from the Head.
Still, he did remark on one last thing: it was the image of the Kingdom of Axelor from above, and the first time he had seen it, he had sucked in a sharp breath, as it had been even worse than he had expected in his wildest dreams.
Axelor was located to the southwest of Angaria, quite a bit away from the sh.o.r.e, but still not exactly in the center. The G.o.ddess"s of Sanctum was the closest establishment to it, but it could be said that the two were divided by a huge chasm, mainly because of the ancient formation which protected the sect.
Also, the G.o.ddess"s Sanctum that was marked on the map was the place where all of the inhabitants of the sect resided, with the important areas all being elsewhere, at the place that Daneel had visited when he had gone to check the library of the sect. At the moment, he also knew that it was completely empty, as all of the members of the sect had either joined the war, or gone to this other place, which had better defenses.
Hence, it was almost as if this kingdom was an isolated part of the continent.
The place that Daneel had been to before was the capital of Axelor, which was weirdly situated near the border of the Kingdom. At that point, he had seen that the citadel that had appeared had risen on the exact place where the Palace had stood for the longest time, and the area all around it, where hundreds of thousands of people had once lived, had all been flattened out, almost as if it was a barren wasteland and not the flouris.h.i.+ng city that it had once been.
He had been hoping that the rest of Axelor was completely unaffected… But he was wrong.
Blood Sacrifice. These were two words that he detested, but somehow, the continent he loved had been subjected to it, without his knowledge.
This was definitely the part that he hated the most - it had all happened under his nose, and after everything was done, he would definitely find out how and make sure that anything similar would never, ever repeat.
At the moment, though… The reason behind him being so shocked due to that sight was that from above, a gigantic formation could be seen on the ground, which had been hidden all this while.
The most horrific thing about it was that it was carved into the ground, like an array of small ca.n.a.ls that delivered water to the fields, but in this case, all of them were filled with red, s.h.i.+ning blood.
Judging from what he had seen before when he had traveled to the Kingdom, he could tell that this formation encompa.s.sed the entire capital. The citadel had arisen right on the center, destroying the Palace that Daneel had blown up before in the process, and it was now obvious that the rest had been destroyed to make this happen.
As for the even more worrying thing… It was that each and every major city and village also had all of these formations set up, which thankfully hadn"t been activated yet.
If they were… Daneel could almost imagine it.
Just one citadel had been enough to give him a feeling of danger, as it had been clear that it definitely held many, many Heroes who were all just waiting to be deployed so that they could force their way through all of the ranks of the Order and Angaria and defeat this continent that had been in their sights for such a long time.
If all of the cities and towns were also sacrificed… On the bones of millions, many more citadels would rise, and it would be as if their graves had spoken the death sentence for their continent, which would be defeated in one breath.
The greatest solace was that it had not happened yet, and because it had already happened once, the system was able to scan this formation and find out that after it was activated, the first thing that would come into being was a killing formation that would deliver all of the blood into the ca.n.a.ls laid on the ground. This process wasn"t that easy and would actually take a little bit of time, so the fact that it wasn"t activated meant that there was something wrong, and that it was the perfect moment for something to be done.
And Daneel… Had worked out the perfect plan.
"It"s done. Are you sure about this, Daneel?"
Hearing the voice from beside him, Daneel smiled for the first time since he had found out the truth about what had been going on.
Many, many emotions had been a.s.saulting him continuously, but right now, all he felt was antic.i.p.ation.
Antic.i.p.ation… To see the same d.a.m.n shock that he had felt in those who looked like they had been a.s.sured that everything was within their grasp.
Taking a deep breath and knowing that this decision would change everything, but acknowledging that there was definitely no other way, he said, "Yes. Begin. It needs a little bit of time to warm up, so until then, I can tell you how I figured this out."
Turning to the side, Daneel saw the Head nod, following which his eyes rolled into the back of his Head.
The man was in no way the same as his regal self who had impressed Daneel with his impeccable attire and the way he always used to carry himself, but even though he had a scraggly beard and his hair was overgrown, just now, when he had seen Daneel, his eyes had returned to the same clarity and sense of purpose that they had had before the incident, which was something that felt great to see.
A moment later, there was no visible change over the continent, but the Head let out a sigh and said, "I am ready, on my end."
With a nod, Daneel folded his hands and began to speak.
"Head, you might not know this, but I have been researching our continent for the longest time. Well, I guess it was more of a search for knowledge, in general, but on that path, I"ve found out many, many things regarding Angaria. I thought I had found out everything that there was to find… But after taking this oath, I realized that that was not the case. There are certain things which can only be found out by those who are in our positions, and because no one else had access to them over all these years due to that d.a.m.n guy making sure that he kept everything to himself, even I couldn"t find out about it, as it is something that has been scrubbed from all sources. Have you ever wondered… What exactly the defense of our continent was, which allowed us to remain unseen for so many millennia after the apocalypse?"
Turning, the Head shook his Head and said, "No. All the records say is that it was like a veil that had been pierced by the curiosity of the Emperor, and that had attracted the scourge of that force which caused the Apocalypse. By using the Grand Inheritance, he fixed it and killed our enemies, and that"s all anyone who is in the Big Four finds out."
"Exactly. But we… can access the truth. You can see it, too, but because you"ve been busy with my requests, you must not have gotten a chance to peruse them. You see, unlike what anyone might think, the location of Angaria…is not fixed. Angaria, and many continents like it, are adrift on the Endless Sea, and hence, they are always moving. Because of the vastness and mysteriousness of this sea, it is impossible to locate all the continents at all times. Hence…the first objective of any force is to set up a sort of homing beacon with which they can transmit the location. This beacon must be quite powerful, so that small place the Church has been hiding in was not enough. They needed something on the scale of that citadel so that they can send more troops…but we CANNOT allow that. So, the only logical conclusion…is to set them adrift, so that they are no longer a part of us, and hence, cannot know where we are. What do you say?"
Before the Head could nod after getting over his shock, a faint sound could be heard from the west.
Turning around and rubbing his hands, Daneel couldn"t stop himself from grinning.
"It"s starting," he said, and at the same time, at the spot where he had met his two enemies, a conversation was going on.
"d.a.m.n this! You said that we could deploy everyone right after coming!"
As Arnold exclaimed in this way, the one from the Church replied, "No one could have expected the abrupt attack from deeply hidden defensive measures that disrupted the teleportation. Don"t worry- it"s almost fixed, now, and we"ve been left alone, anyway. Poor sods. Their army is lying senseless, so what can they do?"
Before Arnold could respond, he spotted something in the corner of his eye.
"Look! Over there! Aren"t they Peak Warriors?"
In the distance, at the border of Axelor, a group of individuals were moving around swiftly.
They wore dark robes, and as Arnold was someone who had been to the Olympics, he knew who they were.
"They"re the personal Corps of that King! But what…are they doing?"
With a puzzled voice, he wondered, and casting a spell, the one from the Church answered him.
"They seem to be placing…teleportation formations, of some sort, at equal intervals. But who do they expect to teleport? There"s no one left!"
The one from the Church said this with glee, but in the next moment, he continued with a puzzled voice.
"Hmm…strange. Aren"t those…mosquitoes? But why are each of them half the size of a human? And why…are their bodies glowing? It"s almost as if…"
BOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!
His voice was drowned out by the sound of an explosion, which was accompanied by the ground below them shaking violently, but the weird thing was…that they couldn"t see its effect anywhere around them.
Suddenly getting an idea, the one from the Church cast his sight through the earth, and in a voice filled with horror, he screamed:
"THAT F*CKING BRAT! HE OBTAINED ACCESS TO THE CRUST! HE"S BLOWING APART THIS PART USING THOSE d.a.m.n MOSQUITOES! QUICK, WE HAVE TO ACT! QUICK, QUICK, QUICK, OR ALL OF THIS WILL HAVE BEEN WASTED! DEPLOY EVERYONE- I DON"T CARE HOW INJURED THEY ARE! QUICKLY, BEFORE HE SETS US ADRIFT!"
At the same time, from above, thousands of small pouches began to fall.
They struck the defensive barrier around the citadel and fell to the ground a few hundred meters away, but a second later, mosquito after mosquito started to climb out of them.
In barely the span of five seconds, hundreds of thousands of pouches had fallen, and millions of mosquitoes were standing at the ready.
Seeing this, in the distance, the King of Lanthanor chuckled, before saying, "Welcome to h.e.l.l. Mosquitoes…destroy."