As Daneel"s words echoed in the area, the Matron raised her head to look straight into his eyes, and it was clear that if she could, she would have smacked him to the ground and crushed him into pieces without a second thought.
However, the spear insistently began to move forward as she continued to do so, and even Daneel"s sharp eyes, which refused to back down, made her begin to sweat.
She knew the power that he now held on the continent. What if he decided to end her, right here? What would happen?
True, he might face some retribution, but was it an answer worth finding out at the cost of her life?
Definitely not.
As she gave a command in her mind, Daneel let out an invisible sigh of relief.
He had put on a brave act in front of everyone, but in reality, he had been quite worried.
There was still the possibility that the Matron"s anger might be so extreme that she would choose to sacrifice herself and then a.s.sign someone else as the leader of the Amalgam who could launch an immediate strike, and in that case, things would turn out very, very badly for the sovereigns who were standing proudly right now.
Even they knew that their Energy reserves were close to 0 after this move which had forced them to give it their all, so if the Amalgam attacked now…they might not even be able to escape.
But as they saw the incredibly large stone statue slowly start to "power down", with its formations all going back into a non-active state, they realized that the battle had been won, and began to celebrate in their hearts.
Of course, Daneel merely humphed to maintain the c.o.c.kiness and said, "I"m not in the mood for tricks. Swear an oath that you will not act against me or my followers. We both know that you can weasel out of it later, but for now, it should be enough. And, of course…aren"t we forgetting something?"
He had always been someone who meant what he said, and he really was thoroughly incensed by the actions of this woman, in particular.
He could tell, by now, that the rest were only following orders even though they were also angry, but it was the Matron putting them in a murderous mood which might have lead to their destruction today, if Daneel didn"t value each and every iota of strength on the continent.
Either the Matron was someone who couldn"t control her emotions even though she was supposed to be the wisest and strongest among the G.o.ddesses, or…there might be something else.
Right now, though, this felt like a suspicion that had no basis, but as Daneel had already decided after the episode with Axelor that he would never let something like that fester without his knowledge on his home, he was keeping his eye out everywhere.
He wondered now whether it was paranoia as he had had the same feeling before, in the Sect of Hedon, too, but even if it was…it was justified.
The G.o.ddesses all fearfully looked at their Matron as Daneel"s words still lingered in the air, and they all knew just headstrong she was.
She was someone who had once said that she would rather die than have her dignity sullied, but as everyone saw her grit her teeth, grimace and then finally get to their knees, they hurriedly mimicked her with sighs of relief, as they, too, could feel the awesome power of the spear, and knew that in their powerless state(in lieu of giving themselves up to power the Amalgam), it could kill them all without breaking a sweat.
This was the major drawback of a defensive Amalgam: if the controllers were exposed, it would almost certainly result in their deaths, and the King had managed to use it perfectly to obtain victory.
A small smile came on Daneel"s lips as the hundreds of Champions all knelt where they stood, in their respective places in the Amalgam, and in the silence that followed, the Matron forced out the oath.
"I swear not to act against the King of Lanthanor, and his followers."
"Good. Now, couldn"t this have gone in a much easier way if we hadn"t gotten up to deceitful tricks, in the first place? Ladies, think back: I only acted in defense, so you have no one but yourselves to blame. Now, put the Amalgam back, and sit down for a proper discussion. Oh, and of course: dissipate that wall blocking us from the outside world, will you?"
That was the last straw. The Matron knew that as soon as that happened, the King would be able to call on his unrivaled force, but with another glance at the spear which seemed as if it was looking forward to moving just an inch and turning her brain to mush, she sighed and did so.
That was when Daneel finally let the spear turn back into elementary particles and dissipate, before giving back his sovereigns their minds, and bodies.
"Go recover. Quickly. I"m just an apparition: I"ll be fine. Besides, our friends are here…"
The reason he said this was that they were all close to collapsing, and with grateful nods, all 8 of the sovereigns disappeared…while 100 ma.s.sive bodies appeared in the air.
Seeing them, the Matron knew that the game was up, and after getting up, she and all of the other G.o.ddesses teleported to a spot in front of Daneel.
Various expressions could be seen on their faces: anger, disappointment, resentment, and even hate.
But above all, due to the pressure that was forcing them to go back on their knees even now…there was fear.
Sometimes, Daneel knew that this was the route that had to be taken, and he had no regrets.
As the Amalgam began to march back to its position even as the wound on its forehead began to heal, Daneel said, "Now, then. The G.o.ddess"s Sanctum is mine. Make no mistake about it. I have defeated you all in fair combat, and you have knelt, so if you have even a shred of dignity in your bones, stand by what you have done. Like I said, if things hadn"t happened like this, I would have been willing to engage in discussions. But now…all you"ll get is orders. This is my first order: reopen the investigation into Xuan"s case. I feel like there might be more people who are responsible for what happened. Even if there aren"t, it"s best to be thorough. I shall take my leave, now, but I will be back soon. At that time, if there is even a shred of disobedience…you will feel my wrath, and believe me, it won"t be pleasant. Farewell."
After the last word came out of Daneel"s mouth, instead of leaving right away, he looked up at a spot in the sky which seemed normal.
His gaze, though, made a woman appear there, whose lips were pressed into a thin line.
Daneel humphed again as he saw her, daring her to act, but seeing her stay put, he shook his head, and left.
The Heroes left a beat later, after also actively establis.h.i.+ng their dominance, and it was only then that the terse expression on this woman"s face loosened.
She was, of course, the Hero who was really in charge of the G.o.ddess"s Sanctum, and she knew that his every word had actually been directed at her, who had been ch.o.r.eographing things from behind the scenes.
She still remembered that time when she had allowed that kiss, and then, if she had been asked whether she would believe that she would have no choice but to shut her mouth and hide in front of him just a few short years later…she would have scoffed at the notion.
Somehow, that had become reality, and musing inwardly about the fickleness of fate, she said, "Take heed, G.o.ddesses. The first G.o.ddess always said that it is more important to know when to step back, than to know when to advance. Today, we learned a lesson: sometimes, we must bend to fate. If you do not wish to do so, all you need is strength. Take heed, and work harder. Disperse."
…
Meanwhile, Daneel was flying in the air towards the west of Angaria.
"So, Drakos…I trust that your self-control wasn"t lost on seeing my actions?"
Daneel had been dreading this ever since he had left, but thankfully, the Ancient Dragon decided to act like a gentleman.
"Oh, definitely not, Young King. It was definitely…unique. It even reminded me of a certain unique Hero who could turn into either gender, and seduce the opponent, thereby weakening them and gaining victory. The only problem came…when that Hero went up against a couple, so there was no option to seduce either."
Daneel wondered whether the Dragon was trying to advise him in some way using this story, but seeing that they were close to their destination, he discarded this line of thought and said, "We can talk about that later. Now, then…are you ready for another reunion?"
With three of the Big Four under his grasp, there was only one left, and if he was being honest…he hadn"t been looking forward to this, at all.
The Eternal Blossom Sect"s methods were still unknown to him, as they belonged to the opponent of the Emperor whose only wish was that even they would not help his lifelong rival"s cause, so now, for the first time, he would have to go up against a foe who might pull out a completely unexpected trump card.
Of course, that had happened in the G.o.ddess"s Sanctum, too, but he had at least had the option to guess, and prepare beforehand.
Here, though, he had no idea!
Stopping and thinking for a bit, Daneel spoke to the system.
"Make another apparition with the bare minimum of consciousness needed for it to function."
[Affirmative. Splitting consciousness.]
A few seconds later, a second Daneel was standing in the air, and as he took control of it, the first one, which was now being controlled by the system, took out a bunch of trinkets and handed them over.
They were the basic ones which would allow him to fly and defend himself, but the whole goal behind this was that he wouldn"t be too injured even if he lost this part of himself.
That had not been the case before, as he had needed a major chunk to pull off all the things he had done in the Sanctum.
He asked Drakos to do the same, as he didn"t want to risk the Ancient Dragon being injured and slipping into a long slumber.
With all his preparations(or at least, the ones that he could do) done, Daneel braced himself, and took the plunge.
The strange area where the Eternal Blossom Sect was located was surrounded by a barrier, but as he was coming with Drakos, he expected to have a clear way through.
Sure enough, he could soon see the flowers and plants that were repeatedly coming to life, wilting, dying, and then being reborn, and after landing on the ground, Daneel made his way to the large structure where he had met the Empire Spirit before.
He saw no one else, but he didn"t find this strange: this sect had been barren even the last time he was here, but as he reached the lavish stone structure that was the residence of the Empire Spirit, he finally realized that something was wrong.
Taking off at a run, he reached the door and opened it to enter the domed area where she usually lived, but alas…it was completely empty.
As shock appeared in his mind, the system and Drakos both spoke.
[Scanning complete. All formations were put on an auto-control mode which was deactivated with host"s arrival. There are no humans in a large area around host.]
"Young King, they"re all gone! They"ve vanished! What is going on?!"