Protocols were in place in every Kingdom that spelled out the individual who would be put in charge in case the ruler was missing, and because Daneel had caused Faxul to be trapped in a place from where he could not leave, she took up the duty. She knew what she had to do, so she was ready to represent her King at this crucial moment.
Finally, for the elves of Eldinor, the two Queens were present. Over all this time, support for their rule had only grown, with the duo winning elections effortlessly. They had taken many, many steps that had almost turned Eldinor into a paradise, and hence, there was no question as to who would be speaking for this race.
The faces of almost everyone present was filled with anxiety, and many kept constantly looking up to ensure that the man they had come here for was all right.
There was only a minute to go for the sun to be at its highest point in the sky, and as instructed, Joselyn gave the order for the writ to be pa.s.sed around.
Right at the moment that the writ pa.s.sed into the hands of the Queens from Eldinor…Vohler"s face changed.
For the first time since he had arrived with his contingent of Heroes on behalf of the Church, a broad grin came on his face.
Those who knew him were shocked beyond belief as they saw this, as they could attest to the fact that this might even be the first grin that had graced his face in centuries.
This was even visible in the way his facial muscles twitched uncontrollably, almost as if they were just not used to being in this form.
The end result was a demonic grin with all of his teeth being shown, and raising a hand, he made a change come over the Artefact.
All the mages could tell that something had changed as the formations were now different from what they were, but it was only he spoke that they understood exactly what he had done.
He…had disabled the function of the Artefact to block out all sound from the inside from being heard by the people of Angaria.
His voice thundered over the area just as the Queens began to read the official declaration to swear fealty to the King, so they had no option but to pause.
"Citizens of the Central Continent! You do not know me, but due to the importance of this moment, I decided to give you an early introduction. I am Vohler. That"s all you need to know, for now: you will find out the rest when we take command of all of you. This is the man you"ve come together to place on your shoulders as your ruler. This is the man you"ve chosen to entrust your future to. This is the man…who made many, many claims to save all of you. But right now, the question is: can he save himself?"
Vohler"s last word was accompanied by the sound of multiple blades slicing through the air as if it were b.u.t.ter.
The mages could see that they had appeared from his back, and once again, he was using the power of the 30 Peak Heroes behind him.
As expected, he wasn"t taking any chances.
In fact, it was only because he was extremely certain in his calculations that he had taken the decision to speak now, unlike before when he had attacked directly without saying a word.
The blades took an arcing path through the air, and soon, it became clear that their paths were meant to cut off all avenues of escape for the king.
With bated breath, the entire continent watched as the invisible blades made their way to their target, and as they reached the sh.e.l.l, almost everyone widened their eyes and waited to see what would happen.
For some reason, Vohler had decided to use blades that moved more slowly than before. Hence, the king had time to move, but as Vohler had already made sure that moving would not give him any advantage, it seemed that he had decided to hunker down. The whole point behind the arcing paths was to make sure that they would be able to make minor changes and reach their target no matter where he went, so in this case, the King had taken the right decision.
For a second, even Joselyn forgot to push the Queens of Eldinor to continue with haste. Even she could only watch as the blow that would judge the outcome of the confrontation made its way, and like everyone else, her whole body tensed up as the blades made contact.
Weirdly, they didn"t make any sound when they met the sh.e.l.l: instead, a wave of air blew out from each point of contact, and as everyone saw that the sh.e.l.l seemed to be unscathed, they breathed out a sigh of relief.
Alas, even as millions of sighs were heard all over Angaria…Vohler"s grin grew wider, and the sighs turned into gasps of shock as the sh.e.l.l fell apart into tiny pieces to expose the King in the form of the Divine c.o.c.kroach.
He was pinned to the ground by the upper part of his body by one of the invisible wind blades, and as the entire continent watched, agape, he managed to extract himself and scuttle away at a speed that made him a blur.
As he ran, he left behind a line of golden blood that seemed to be oozing out from thousands of cuts all over his body.
Joselyn was actually the first to react from this unexpected sight. She had trained herself to be able to concentrate on what was important even if the sky was falling on her head, and at this moment, that skill came in handy.
"Speak the oath of fealty! That is his wis.h.!.+ DO NOT LOOK UP! JUST SPEAK, AND SIGN!"
Hearing her scream the last part with a sense of frantic urgency apparent in her tone, the Queens of Eldinor snapped out of their reverie.