As this realization swept through Faxul"s mind, an ancient voice reverberated through the cave.
"Drakos. So you finally turned? Humph, took you long enough. I can just imagine what our Emperor must be feeling from above when he sees that even his most trusted general has become "lost". That"s how he would put it. I call it becoming "awakened". Welcome to our circle, and congratulations for being the first to succeed. I guess that it is because of the exceptional talent of that King? And spare that mutt. I still have use for him."
"Humph."
Squeezing slightly and cutting off the air of the crazy king, Daneel, or Drakos, as he had been called, watched on as the man"s face became purple before fainting.
Throwing him to the side as if he were garbage, Drakos walked forward before conjuring a throne that seemed to be made of dragons.
At the arms, the legs and even the back, ferocious dragons with realistic expressions could be seen, giving off a vibe of splendid, yet dangerous glory.
Idly taking a seat and putting one hand under his chin, Drakos answered.
"You guessed right. His talent was his undoing. Now, get on with it. I"ll make sure there are no interferences. After you"re done, we can discuss the future of this continent."
"What"s there to discuss? I"ll just share the Church"s help with you. What use is breaking free from the constraints of our prison with so much difficulty just to perish in a few hundred years? Besides, it"ll be easier to hand over Angaria on a plate to them if there are two of us. All right, I shall begin."
As the voice replied in this way, a change began to come over Faxul, whose hands seemed to be glued to the podium at the center of the open cave.
Faxul, on the other hand, had just had the Mind Control lifted.
Everything was already over! Right now, there was no more meaning in concealing the truth from him. Soon, he would just be a trapped consciousness that would slowly go crazy with time, stuck in an eternal prison that was his own body.
As soon as he had seen his friend"s body being controlled by someone, he had understood that something was gravely wrong, and that was when the veil had been lifted.
In a flash, all of it became clear to him: from his failed attempt at contacting Daneel, to the forced Mind Control spell that took effect on him due to the crazy man.
Of course, at that moment, all the thoughts that had been crushed due to the Mind Control spell also stood out in his memory. With growing horror, Faxul viewed all of those times when his gut had told him that what he was doing was wrong, but it had been strangled and thrown to the side where it could no longer be viewed, so that Faxul would still carry forward with his goal.
All this time, he had just been fattening himself up, just like a sheep before the slaughter. The Black Raven Empire Spirit wanted someone as close to the Warrior level as possible, so he had been doing just that: growing in power, so that it could reap the rewards.
The whole thing about stepping to the Warrior level itself had been false! It had all been just a ruse for him to arrive here today, when the Black Raven Empire Spirit recovered, so that he could be possessed.
As for his friend, the same fate had clearly befallen him, too.
At this moment, Faxul felt…pity, towards himself.
From ever since he could remember, he had just been a burden to Daneel. Discounting the minimal and forgettable help he had done for him, he had just been someone who held on to his coattails while being shown the world.
Even his revenge couldn"t have been possible without Daneel. Although he, himself, had played a large part, he knew that he would definitely be dead without his best friend.
Once, just once, he had been looking forward to it being the other way around. He would help Daneel, and they could do something together.
Alas, it seemed that fate only wanted to show him the heavens while dooming him to h.e.l.l.
As he involuntarily started to lose control of his body, Faxul fought with all high might to no avail.
It was as if the world"s strongest drug had been injected in him. Try as he might, he couldn"t shake the foggy state that was chasing him.
Soon enough, he was half-asleep, and his body was no longer in his control.
A s.h.i.+ny, black glow enveloped his body, and it connected to the podium, covering it too.
The black glow over the podium seemed to…coalesce, turning into something solid while it started to move toward Faxul.
At the same time, in the exposed spots through where the branch-like structures could be seen, their glow stopped, leading them to become dull.
"Go now! It"s time!"
As the Empire Spirit, or Drakos, as he had been called, shouted this in his mind, Daneel immediately regained control of his body.
All this while, he had been watching and observing while his body had been controlled.
He had noticed and learned many things, but it was time now to carry out his plan and save Faxul.
Teleportation had already been sealed inside the cave, so the only option was to run forward.
The whole show with the crazy king before had been to make sure that he wouldn"t interfere at this moment.
As the throne disappeared underneath him, Daneel took a step forward before pus.h.i.+ng off on it and running toward his friend.
However, suddenly, a low laugh appeared in the cave.
"Hahahahaha! I knew it, Drakos! You never were good at scheming, what with all the high and mighty att.i.tude you had! Did you think I would be so foolish as to trust you if you randomly appeared and said that you had turned? Did you think I would be so foolish as to leave the one vulnerability in this process unprotected? You fool!"
As soon as the statement which was spoken in a confident, scoffing voice ended, a circular, transparent barrier appeared around Faxul"s body, s.h.i.+elding him from all harm.
Inside Daneel"s mind, Drakos started to panic.
"No! This can"t be! He should have trusted me! That"s a Hero-level barrier! We are all…doomed!"
In this moment of hopelessness, instead of being forlorn or despondent, Daneel actually…smiled.
In his mind, he said, "Oh, shut up with your dramatics, and just watch. THIS is how you scheme against someone."
As Drakos shut up with shock, Daneel leaped forward, covering that last distance between himself and his target in one go.
"You fool! It"s useless! Nothing can get through that barrier! Nothing! NO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU MAD?!"
Initially, the Black Raven Empire Spirit scoffed even more, seeing the young King of Lanthanor leap to "save" his friend even though there was no chance at all of him breaching the barrier and harming him, in order to put an end to the possession.
However, that gloating turned into terrified panic, when after reaching the spot where the stone podium and Faxul were, the King of Lanthanor ignored his best friend and clasped his hands around the stone podium with a vice-like grip.
In a smooth motion, he lifted the podium up before banging it down the ground.
BOOOMMMMMM!
In an instant, the floor caved in, resulting in Daneel, the stone podium and Faxul free-falling for a few seconds before landing in another cave that seemed to have been excavated not long ago.
All the while, Faxul"s body flopped lifelessly along with the stone podium as if he had been glued to it.
In a practiced motion, as soon as they were close to the ground, Daneel used the podium to cus.h.i.+on his fall and roll forward.
He didn"t need to worry about Faxul at all, as he was being protected quite efficiently by the barrier.
After the roll, he thrust his hands forward, letting go of the podium and watching it fly through the air before it landed in a square pool in the floor.
SPLAs.h.!.+
As some of the liquid inside it, which was grey and glowing with a few specks that looked like silver stars floating around, flew out and fell on the cave"s floor, the stone podium became completely submerged, sinking to the bottom while taking Faxul along with it.
Standing up on seeing this sight, Daneel dusted his hands, happy that the pitching skills he had learned yesterday had served him well.
If Drakos, the Empire Spirit had a mouth, he would definitely be frothing at it right now with shock, while he moved his jaw up and down with a confused expression, wondering when the heck this "kiddo", as he had once called him, had set all this up.
With confident strides, Daneel walked to the pool with the thick, grey liquid before raising his palms and putting them over it.
Instantly, the stars in the liquid seemed to grow brighter, as they started to absorb the now-vulnerable Energy present inside the ancient Ker Roots in the stone podium.
"B-but this is a lost formula that only the most talented of Champions can use! H-how are you-"
That voice from before interrupted Drakos"s sputtering query in Daneel"s head.
"YOU FOOL! YOU SCHEMED WELL, BUT YOU COULD NOT HAVE KNOWN THAT-"
"That you will temporarily raise that crazy King to become a Hero-level mage, before using him to cast Hero-level Mind Control spells all over again, just like when you escaped from the Withering Leaf Sect after making their Heroes kill each other?"
Right on cue, the crazy King who had been made to faint woke up like a robot and headed to this inner cave.
However, Daneel"s response had made the Black Raven Empire Spirit sputter, but it regained its confidence the next second.
"So what if you know? You cannot defend against it! The only way to defend is if you know a Mind Control spell yourself! Even if Drakos gave you one now, you"re just a puny Amateur Warrior! You can never hope to face against one cast by a Hero-level mage alone!"
"Who said I was alone?"
Saying this, Daneel raised one corner of his lips before casting a simple spell to make his voice much, much louder.
At this instant, a hint of the regal air that belonged to that Emperor seemed to emanate from him.
Taking a deep breath, he shouted.
"PEOPLE OF LANTHANOR! HEED MY CALL! COME TO MY AID!"
"FOR KING DANEEL! ONWARD! ONWARD!"
As the sound of 1000 people rus.h.i.+ng into the vicinity of the waterfall and the cave began to be heard around them, Daneel spoke in his mind.
"Activate Ruler"s Inheritance: Second Layer."
[Activating. 10x Amplified Spells ready to be deployed.]