The figurines were such that they would be consumed in so little time that even someone with advanced scanning capabilities like Daneel could only sigh and grit his teeth in frustration, as the secret of the Church, which is practically their bread and b.u.t.ter, was ensured of its privacy as perfectly as possible.
After absorbing all of the Energy into their bodies, each of the members of the Church could not help but shake all over, as they were like gla.s.ses which had been filled to the brim, and were close to overflowing with disastrous results.
But in a practiced manner, all of them thrust their hands forward, thus pouring all of that power into the defensive mechanism which expanded in size until it was five times what it had been before.
Of course, this expansion was accompanied by the enlarging of the statue of the Saint, which now towered over them.
For once, Daneel wished that he could see the faces of the three that he was accompanying, so that he could judge whether they were confident that their attack would succeed, or whether they were feeling hopeless. They were clearly outnumbered, and their enemies even seemed to be on the same level as them, so Daneel had no intention of dying because of the arrogance of these three sent by the Basilisk.
It didn"t make sense for them to be so foolish, but Daneel was in no mood to trust his fate to common sense, which was never common enough.
Asking the system to stand by to take the best action possible in case he needed to fight or flee, he watched with bated breath as those six bright orange rays made their way to the giant figure of the Saint.
The moment before the impact, Daneel even braced himself, as it was possible that the after-shocks might be quite damaging even if he was supposed to be safe where he was.
Only, right at the moment of contact, everything changed.
He felt it in the pit of his stomach even before it happened. It was a feeling which accompanied any move that turned the tables, and as Daneel, himself, had done it many times, he knew it well.
Right before those rays met the statue, an undulation unlike any that had appeared anywhere near the continent of Angaria in its long history was felt by all of the Heroes residing below.
One by one, each of them looked up with different emotions. Some were afraid, but most were puzzled, as they just couldn"t understand what they were sensing.
It was only Daneel who knew what was going on: dimensional magic was being deployed on a scale that he had not seen before.
He felt his entire body pa.s.sing through something, and for a moment, he was taken back to those early days when he had experienced teleportation for the first time and had been struck with amazement.
That same feeling was present all the more now, as he opened his eyes and saw that the orb he was in, and the attack that was supposed to be deadly… Had exchanged places.
He even heard a merry laugh which was surely from the feline member of the group, as it sounded like a mixture between the sound a cat would make and the roar of a tiger.
Behind them, the rays actually fizzled out, as they had only been a feint.
As for them… The moment the orb came close to coming into contact with the statue, the reptilian changed form again, and this time, she remained whole.
Positioning herself at the tip of the orb so that she would make contact with the mechanism of the enemy first, the reptilian took turned into a bolt of lightning that was stranger than any Daneel had seen in his life.
This bolt was pitch black in color, and it just felt… Wrong.
It was as if all the wrongness of the world had been concentrated at its tip, and even though this description sounded like something that would come from a boy just learning about magic, it was the best he could do.
When he delved into the feeling further, he saw that it was a natural human feeling that would appear whenever one saw something that was extremely dirty or revolting to them.
Before he could study the phenomenon further, the tip of the lightning bolt met the statue, and instead of the loud sound that would be expected when two strong forces collided with each other, all that could be heard was a faint fizzling sound before they miraculously broke through and were instantly upon that blob of flesh which was what the members of the church had sought to protect.
All of the 20 hooded individuals froze in shock as they saw their opponents easily make it through, and from the point where the lightning bolt met the Saint, black rays of light seem to spread out, almost as if the wrongness that had been on display was a corrupting force that had begun to poison the formation.
Yes! That was exactly what it was!
Corruption. This abstract concept had somehow been adapted into a technique that had overcome a defense that should have kept them at bay for a long time, but soon, it became clear that deploying it was no easy feat.
The members from the Church had maintained some distance between themselves and the central area of the eye, so in the time that they were still flying toward their final destination, the reptilian appeared inside the orb and collapsed onto the floor with the same black rays that were rapidly corroding the Saint behind them visible on her face, and even her entire body.
Before Daneel could say anything, they were upon the target, and this time, there wasn"t much resistance. They easily tore a hole through the flesh before reaching a large, empty room made of metal where five people could be seen with their eyes closed and their faces focusing on something. With veins that seemed to be pumping some substance from their bodies to the eye, they were connected to the ceiling where a hole was present outside which the same flesh they had broken through could be seen.
All of this was captivating for Daneel who was being exposed to applications of magic that he could never even have dreamt of. He hastily swept out his senses and took in all the data that he could, and it even seemed that victory was at hand, as both the man made of stone and the feline individual took back their original forms and began to fly towards the five in the center, who looked defenseless.
They left Daneel and the reptilian behind, and at first, it looked like there were no more threats here. This was clearly the place where the eye was being controlled, so Daneel figured out that the objective of these a.s.sa.s.sins must be to kill the five who were either vital in the task of controlling of the eye, or were somehow tied to its continued existence.
Only, right as the two began to near their targets, two individuals appeared in front of them.
As one of them, who looked like he had been burned extensively and was still recovering spoke, Daneel narrowed his eyes with concern.
"Welcome… So it is the TriCobra sect that has been messing with our plans. As soon as we are done here, the Church shall know of this enemy that is colluding with the continent. I see it all, now! That brat behind you was only a figurehead who did what he did with your help! I"ll surely be promoted for exposing this information! As soon as it becomes public knowledge, the Church will be able to put even more focus here! Come and meet your death, for you are the sacrifice to ensure my rise! You brought that brat, too, so I must thank you! Come, and take my grat.i.tude in the form of a swift death!"