"Are you sure, young kin - er… I mean, G.o.dking?"
10 minutes had pa.s.sed since Daneel had made the proclamation that had resulted in the ancient dragon taking a step back and looking like he was unsure about whether what he had heard was true.
Daneel had simply smiled at his mentor before turning around and calling all of the sovereigns over. He wanted them to be here so that they could witness this important occasion, and when Eloise and Xuan arrived, they both blushed when they saw him.
The only problem was that Elanev had seen the looks they shared, and right away, seeing his expression, Daneel could tell that he had guessed what had happened.
It had looked like his older brother was tempted to jump in the air and announce to the world that the legendary G.o.dking had finally become a man, but Daneel had silenced those notions with a single look. Elanev had shrugged on seeing it but had motioned that they should talk, to which Daneel agreed as anything was better than having the news spread to the world.
After that, he had summoned the combined form of the Grand Inheritance seeing which many emotions had shone in the eyes of the emperor. After all, this was the very object that had led to the apocalypse that the man still regretted, so knowing that looking at it once again must have brought back many of the feelings that he must"ve buried, Daneel had proposed that he study the spell that the system had created to reform Drakos"s body.
Glad for a chance to distract himself, Fenoras jumped at the opportunity and, for the last few minutes, had been hard at work a.n.a.lyzing each and every aspect of the spell, following which he had looked up and nodded.
At that moment, Daneel had not missed the unspoken question about how someone as young as he had been able to create such a complex spell that even Peak Heroes who had studied spell creation for decades might not be able to design, but knowing that it must be tied to the same secret that had led him to retain the Emperor"s memories when it could be said that he was just a child, the man let it go.
It was shortly after this that Drakos said those words, and hearing him, Daneel smiled.
He fondly remembered all the occasions when the ancient Dragon had called him in that way, so with a grin, he patted Drakos"s shoulder and said, "You can call me anything you like. You"ve earned that right. And yes… I am sure."
"But… Surely, a lot of resources will need to be used to go about this, right? Wouldn"t it be better if those resources were used for something else?"
The answer to this question came from his father.
"In this, I agree with the G.o.dking. Yes, we need to expend many Ker Gems, but the impact of a dragon on the battlefield cannot be quantified. We will be relying on you during the a.s.sault, Drakos, so I hope you"re up to the task."
Breathing deeply and letting the antic.i.p.ation that he had been feeling inside so far finally show on his face, Drakos nodded with confidence.
"No matter what task you give to me, I will be successful. Young King…it has been almost 2 years since we met. In all that time, you have proven again and again that I did not judge you wrongly. Even now, I am confident in the fate of Angaria as it is in your hands. Please… Carry on."
After that, no more words needed to be said. At the central point of the continent, Daneel walked up the steps of the grand throne and stopped just in front of it. Below him, the Emperor stood the closest, ready to step in if he needed help, as he had the most experience in handling the incredible power of the entire continent condensed into a single spell. Beside him was Drakos, whose face was set in concentration as he looked up at the Heavens, as if praying that nothing would go wrong.
Behind them, the 10 sovereigns stood in a semicircle. The more warlike among them, such as Elanev and Faxul looked excited as they were always looking forward to witnessing power that could motivate them to work harder and grow. Most were concerned, though, as it was not easy to forget what had happened the last time that this object had been used.
As Daneel gazed at the hollow eyes of its skull-like shape floating peacefully in front of him, he was reminded of the same thing, too, but the thing that a.s.sured him the most was the system, and the messages that it was sending him in his mind.
[All backup plans are ready to be deployed. All precautions have been engaged. G.o.dnet is on standby to deploy emergency measures. Probability of negative outcome: 3.5%. Probability of perfect outcome: 27.6%.]
The latter statistic was worrying, but even Daneel was not naïve enough to think that just his first brush with something so difficult to control would go well.
He looked up briefly to see that everyone was waiting for him, so deciding that delaying any further would not do anything for any of them, he let out a breath that he had been unconsciously holding and finally stepped forward to take the object in his hands.
He had been warned of what he would feel… But still, it almost drove him off his feet.
The moment he came into contact with the Grand Inheritance, he could vaguely feel a vast sea that threatened to drown him if he dared to even dip his fingers in its surface. It was a sea unlike any he had ever seen, but it reminded him of something in his past that he quickly drew on to gain strength, now.
When he had still been taking the first steps down his Path, it had been such that he would have to hear the thoughts of all the people whose support he was drawing on if he wanted to power up his attacks. Then, their combined minds had been like a roaring inferno that had come close to consuming him, but somehow, he had been able to form a protected alcove within himself where his mind could hide from the stormy tempest all around him.
Now, he attempted to do the same thing as he reached forward once more.
This time, he did not hesitate. Grasping the object with both his hands, Daneel closed his eyes and dived headlong into the sea.
His mind was only the size of a droplet when compared to it, so at first, it seemed laughable to even think that he would be able to control everything around him to do his bidding. But slowly, as he kept going deeper and deeper, he realized that he could touch all of the droplets around him, and every time he did, their thoughts would enter his mind, and the droplet that represented them would be absorbed into his own form.
At first, it was manageable. After all, what were a few thoughts to a Peak Champion like him?
But when the number reached a thousand, the incessant droning of so many different voices started to become so unbearable that he felt like throwing away what he was holding.
It wasn"t easy, but he resisted the urge and kept going. If it weren"t for his past experiences, Daneel was sure that he would have given up, and with each second, he grew more and more accustomed to protecting himself amidst the tornado that wanted to sweep him away to a world of madness.
After all, that was exactly what awaited anyone who gave in. He had been warned of it by the Emperor, who had made the honest mistake of not being prepared enough…and had dropped his guard for the briefest of moments, which had led to that enemy detecting Angaria.
Daneel had already made it clear that he was to be forcefully wrenched away from the Grand Inheritance if he was about to even come close to making the same mistake. Thankfully, he was doing well.
200,000, 500,000, 700,000…a million. A million individuals" thoughts, feelings, and emotions were repeatedly trying to breaking him with the weight of their very presence…but somehow, he held on.
If this were still an attempt to use them in the same way he had done when first deploying his Path, he would have failed long back. It was still harder than anything he had done in his life, so his thoughts moved at a snail"s pace, yet still, Daneel tried to see and find out why he was able to hang on.
Finally, when the total number began to near the magical figure of 1.5 million which the system had decreed as the requisite number of individuals he must "draw" from using the Grand Inheritance if he wanted to finish the task at hand, the secret was revealed to him.
In almost all of them, there was a certain…familiarity that he was depending on when he absorbed them. This familiarity made it so that even though their minds were different, there was a common element that could be used to combine them into a cohesive whole, like in the case of a fervent desire bringing together the most diverse of individuals to achieve it together.
This common element…was loyalty.
The Emperor was right! Loyalty is the key!
If he had a face, Daneel would have been smiling as he got this thought, but as he was in the form of his consciousness, he simply let himself admire the man for a bit before saying, "Begin."
[Beginning spell casting. Process is expected to strain host. Host must be prepared.]
He had no idea what he could do in this situation to prepare himself, so Daneel simply told the system to go ahead.
As soon as it began the process…Daneel learned the true meaning of the word "pressure".
All over Angaria, 1.5 million individuals felt the faintest stirring in their minds as their Wills aligned to grant the wish of the Prime Willbearer.
It was a term Daneel had learned from the Emperor. As all the millions of individual Wills congregated in his mind, he felt like a fool who had swallowed more than a hundred times the amount of food he could normally eat, and for a second, he became convinced that he would burst open.
[As theorized, forced usage of Wills to cast a spell is at least 4 times more effective than host"s usage of Wills using G.o.dnet. Casting "Creation" spell. Utilizing portion of Divine Dragon blood available. All modules are engaged to speed up casting of spell. Progress: 70%…]
It was all he could do to focus on the system"s cold words to stop himself from giving in to the temptation to let go of the Wills, and as that second pa.s.sed, he wished that he could relax, but they had only begun.
Each moment was excruciating, but he persevered. He had decided beforehand, itself, that he would test his limits in this controlled environment instead of being forced to find them during the war, so keeping the fate of the 1.5 million Angarians who felt like they were a physical part of him at this moment, Daneel cursed at the pain and the allure of the notion of giving up.
It only got harder and harder, until at last, Daneel saw that if he forcefully held the combined Wills any longer, he would lose himself in them and forget who he was.
At the same time, the system spoke.
[Maximum limit reached. Adhering to precautions set by host, attempt shall be stopped. Beginning casting of consciousness transfer into empty sh.e.l.l. Transfer successful. Overall success level of attempt: 78%]
Daneel"s mind was too fatigued to understand what the system was saying, but as he returned to his body, a strange flapping sound entered his ears.
Were those wings he was hearing?
A burst of heat struck his face next, and when he opened his eyes, Daneel saw that he was face to face with a gigantic, golden Dragon.
As its petrifying, yet majestic aura swept over him, for a moment, time itself seemed to stop…and then, in full view of the sovereigns who had recently suffered the same fate, the G.o.dking toppled over and fainted.
Only, when he fell, Drakos moved quickly, so a second later, for the first time in 10,000 years…a mounted Dragon rose into the air, where it was welcomed by the skies of Angaria with a roar of thunder in the middle of the day.
When it opened its mouth, its roar drowned out the sky, and as it spread across the continent, millions of Angarians dropped everything they were doing and looked to the Heavens while feeling palpitations deep in their heart.
As they saw their G.o.dking and the magnificent G.o.dbeast that could not be mistaken for anything else, they all dropped to their knees with awe…and began to pray to the only G.o.d that they would ever believe in for as long as they lived.