Eldra, the Queen of Eldinor, was currently screaming with all her might.
There was only one problem: no one could hear her.
She was locked in her own body, unable to move a single inch, while that voice kept laughing continuously as if the enjoyment it was receiving was something that couldn"t be summed up into words.
She was still in the sky above the dome, but after that moment when she had seen that horrifying sight which still tormented her, the voice that had only used to come when she went to that room had exploded in her head.
Her heart had completely been shattered into bits, and her mind had gone into disarray when she saw the full might of the blood-purifying formation.
Unlike what was really happening, she had watched while all those who were affected by the red veil had instantly burst into a shower of blood before leaving behind some sort of substance.
Hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands and finally over a million people had been wiped out in the short span of less than a few hours.
Each and every face and voice that had screamed for mercy still flashed through her consciousness, making her want to claw her eyes out if she could just move her body.
However, she was just a disembodied being who could only look out of her eyes and do nothing else.
Since that moment when that voice had triumphantly screamed inside her mind, she had been locked in this cage in her own mind, and there was no way out.
So, motionless, she kept watching and watching, while the laughter went on and on.
In fact, with each minute, the laughter seemed to grow in intensity, until it was so loud that Eldra was sure that if she were hearing this from outside, her ears would have burst.
The laughter kept bringing forth her guilt, which was the thing that was consuming her the most.
Just a few hours ago, everything had been normal. She had gone to place those 6 trinkets, with the only thing to remark on being that she had almost felt as if someone had teleported in front of her for a moment.
Yet, she was pretty sure that that had just been her imagination. After that, she had gone and placed those trinkets, before waiting for the appointed time.
As soon as the sun was at its highest point in the sky, she had placed a mysterious red-branch like material that had been placed in that room by that voice for her to collect on each of the spots, just a few meters below the surface.
That was when the terror began. The veil popped into existence and began killing everyone in sight, and now, everything was over.
Even though the blood of each person had burst into a substance like steam, there was just too much.
That blood started to precipitate, and as she watched, it looked exactly as if it were raining blood.
Finally, after a few minutes after the almost 2 million people had pa.s.sed away, the laughter receded, before stopping.
The silence actually seemed more deafening, until that voice spoke again while urging her to go to the ground and collect something.
"To think that your mind would be so shattered that my weak mind control spell is enough to control you so much. Well, this was more fun than I"ve had in thousands of years. So, let"s get this party started, shall we? You just need to do a little something for me, and we can meet and become best friends after that. Go. I"m waiting."
As soon as the voice said this, Eldra felt that something was different.
Wait…she was back in control of her body?
But…she had already killed everyone.
What else was there for her?
She should just kill herself.
But before that, why not do this small task and find out what the origin of that voice was?
The Mind Control taking full effect, Eldra just floated down to the ground she saw.
Casting a spell, she watched as all of the yellow substance that had been left behind by most of the bodies of those that had died collected together into a large orb, which rotated in the air slowly before becoming compressed into a palm-sized ball.
This was it? Over a million elves had died for this?
Even as this question came in her mind, Eldra found herself reaching for that ball even though she hadn"t meant to. There was something she couldn"t stop that was pus.h.i.+ng her, but the main fact was that she didn"t want to stop it.
She was just…utterly defeated. She had no more purpose to live, so why fight anything?
As soon as she grasped the ball, a location appeared in her mind.
It was a specific spot about 4000 meters below the Palace of Eldinor. If someone wanted to find it by manually searching through all of the ground below the Palace, then it would be harder than endeavoring to find a needle in a haystack.
Dinora was simply ecstatic. If she had a body, she would be jubilantly smiling right now, although many had told her when she was alive that that smile terrified them.
Happily controlling the mind of the weak little elf, she awaited her resurrection.
That spell had been cast with the power of the blood of just a few hundred elves, and it was so simple that it could barely be considered to be at the Warrior level.
She had had no choice! If she wanted to have her true power, she needed millions of elves, not hundreds! That was why she had had to decrease both the complexity and power of the spell just to be able to cast it.
Well, that was all in the past. Soon, she would be whole again, and Angaria would feel her return.
Resisting the urge to cackle again, Dinora watched as Eldra clumsily chose a spot in the Palace and began to dig.
As a Peak Exalted Human level Mage, she wasn"t too weak, so in a few hours, there were mountains of dirt behind her as she finally reached the spot.
After all, it wasn"t possible for her to blindly teleport forward when there were obstacles there, unless she had some sort of method to scan it beforehand.
Finally, as a bright light shone into Eldra"s eyes, making her stop the digging and shade her eyes, Dinora"s excitement rose to palpable levels.
She was going to be free!
This was where her true body had been placed all those years ago by that Emperor.
Hidden from all means of detection, there was even a cage made of Ker Roots that only she knew how to open.
And right now, it was finally time to open it.
For her to move her consciousness from her dead body, which was in this place, to her new one, she needed the purified blood essence to come into contact with it.
So, she gave the instructions for Eldra to open the cage.
The bright light had been from the Ker Roots of old, which still blazed with the Energy that was singular to them. That was why they had been used; Ker Roots were some of the few substances which were capable of absorbing Energy on their own over a long period of time if they were left alone without moving.
The Energy they gave off was enough to maintain her, while they absorbed Energy from Angaria to sustain themselves.
It was a perfect cycle, and when she had seen its design in the Emperor"s hands, she had even thanked the guy personally, thinking that it was her key to breaking through the barrier which had stopped her.
That fool had thought that she was doing this for his "Grand Plan". If he could have known that these were her true intentions all along, she wondered how he would have felt.
Regardless, that wasn"t important now. Eldra had just cut her wrist and was drawing a secret formation on the Ker Root in front of her. Her small cage was entirely made up of them, so it didn"t matter on which spot she drew.
The Emperor had taken precautions to make sure that she wouldn"t be taken advantage of by using two key pieces of information that he told noone: her exact location, and this key.
She did not even hesitate to reveal them both now; after all, it was impossible for anyone to take advantage of her.
All the Empire Spirits were accounted for, except for that old bird, who might have gone completely senile, and that dragon that she had so many memories with.
The former was definitely not a threat, and the same could be said about the latter, too, as everyone knew that if that innocent thing was exposed to scheming on this scale that it could fool her, then Angaria would have been doomed by now.
So, there was no danger whatsoever.
Crack!
As a small opening appeared in the thick web of Ker Roots in front of the elf, Dinora refocused and felt like jumping with joy, now that her rebirth was close.
Watching those 2 million people die had been fun, but the real fun would begin soon.
The crack widened enough to let in one person, and as Eldra entered with that same defeated expression, she came upon a small s.p.a.ce which was mostly occupied by a large body that was curled up into a ball.
It took up the least s.p.a.ce in this way, and it seemed to be floating in the air. When the body floated around to expose its face, Eldra was quite surprised to see just how beautiful it was.
Slightly upturned nose, high cheekbones, and a sharp chin complemented long, blood-red locks of hair.
The peaceful expression of the sleeping figure would never be able to do justice to the true bloodthirstiness inside her.
"Go! Go touch that ball in your hands to my body! Do it!"
Unable to control herself any more, Dinora spoke in Eldra"s mind, who was so pitiful that even she wasn"t sure whether she was just following orders like a meek little dog because of her nothing-matters-anymore att.i.tude, or the Mind Control.
Regardless, she stumbled forward and bent, pressing the ball to the forehead of the curled up, floating giant.
Dinora had just burst out into a loud laugh as she saw the yellow blood essence go nearer and nearer, but that cut off when she realized that she felt nothing with her true body.
Wait…what the heck was going on?
Like other Empire Spirits, she had the ability to "see" or "feel" the things around her corporeal body.
Right now, she had two differing sights: one showed that the Queen of Eldinor was bending and pressing that ball on her forehead, while the other, which was her own, showed that there was nothing in the Elf Queen"s hand.
NO! SOMETHING WAS DEFINITELY WRONG!
As this realization started to dawn on her, she seemed to hear a sound coming from the crack through which Eldra had just entered the Ker Root cage.
It was the sound…of someone clapping.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
With each clap, the source was getting closer, and as Dinora finally saw a man she had never seen before enter her private abode, panic finally started to appear in her mind.
He had a mocking expression on his face, and even though he had stepped inside, he had still not stopped his clapping.
It was only after he walked forward and stood a few inches from her original body did he finally stop clapping and speak.
"Good plan. h.e.l.l, it almost worked, too! Too bad I was around. Poor Eldra here has been seeing everything you wanted to see- a very handy application of the Hero level Mind Control spell that you weren"t able to detect. When I saw her gathering air in an empty field, I actually felt like laughing! Well, I would have, if you weren"t such a crazy bi*ch."
As these words reverberated throughout the cage, Dinora finally became aware of what had happened.
He had cast a Hero level Mind Control Spell!
B-but how?
As if sensing her question, the man raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh, so you"re wondering how? An old friend of yours sends his regards. He regrets that he can"t greet you by flapping his wings."
By now, because of the close proximity and the direct contact with her, Dinora had been able to cast a full Mind-Control spell, and as a Mage who was more powerful than even Drakos, her Mind Control was almost like possession. Whatever commands she gave, Eldra obeyed.
At this moment, anger clouded Eldra"s face before she began to scream, "DRAKOS! NO! IT"S NOT POSSIBLE! YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN UNLEASHED BY NOW IF YOU WERE A PART OF THIS!"
"He just says that he was meditating, and he doesn"t know what has happened up until this point."
Instead of that sentence clearing things up, it only made the puzzlement Dinora was feeling increase.
"NO! MEDITATION DOES NOT CUT YOU OFF FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD! YOU STILL SENSE EVERYTHING, EVEN IF YOU DON"T WANT TO! Unless, the Emperor…"
With this, the truth of the matter finally seemed to dawn on the man.
"Well, then I guess the Emperor gave a few special tricks to the one he considers his son. By the way, keep this a secret, would you? I don"t want the other Empire Spirits to know about this…if they knew I was coming for them, they might do something I wouldn"t like…"
The man spoke in a completely casual manner, as if he were taking a stroll in the park.
Of course, this only further infuriated Dinora, who couldn"t believe that she had just been schemed against by a puny human who wasn"t even the age of her toenail.
That d.a.m.n Emperor"s hand was also in this, but he was dead, so she blamed this man.
Hysterically, she started to scream through Eldra.
"NO! JUST YOU WAIT! I"LL MAKE SURE THAT…"
"That the others find out? Oh, I was hoping you would say that."
Suddenly, the smell of burning flesh appeared in the closed s.p.a.ce, and a scream came from Eldra"s mouth.
However, her body was fine.
It was the leg of the floating giant that was burning, and as the man flicked his finger, the fire went out.
"Good old Drakos is meditating again, but before he left, he told me about how you, unlike the other Spirits, are vulnerable because your consciousness is still in your true body. So you took so much delight in killing millions of innocent people? Well, then, I"ll take delight in watching this. Time to burn, you crazy b*tch."
"YOU! I"LL KILL YOU!"
With no other option, Dinora made Eldra lunge to attack, but with a simple wave of his hand, the man made the elf faint.
After all, a Peak Exalted Human who wasn"t even temporarily possessed was no threat to a Peak Exalted Warrior.
Although the s.p.a.ce became silent, Daneel could swear that he was hearing silent screams, as he set fire to the body of the elf who could have been killing the entire continent by now if he hadn"t stepped in.
At the same time, a notification sounded in his head.
[Higher-tier Lifeform a.n.a.lyzed. Gathering Data.
Achievement Unlocked: Empire Spirit Reaper(1)
New Acquired Champion Path "Hedonist" a.n.a.lyzed.]