Daneel only had a split second of time before Raven Faxul would be upon him.
Without hesitation, he chose to use his strongest defense- the turtle sh.e.l.l barrier, so that he could just defend and observe.
This wasn"t some random enemy that he could attack as he wanted while not caring whether they lived or died.
No, this was Faxul, whose mind was thoroughly in the control of that d.a.m.n bird which did not want to lend its power to him.
At least, that seemed to be the instinctual aim of those memories and the essence in the blood of Faxul, which had awakened.
Daneel had already tried Mind Control in order to see if it was possible to break Faxul out of the illusion, but it had failed, as his mind was already under complete control.
Therefore, all he could do was fight, and find a way to subdue his friend after observing everything he could about the Devouring Monarch of the Skies.
He had to say that he was actually excited.
Although Daneel knew that he was just someone of common descent unlike Faxul, whose blood was royalty, he was confident that anything and everything would eventually be made possible by the system.
Since he had seen that awe-inspiring sight of the gigantic beast, he had to admit that he had been pretty interested in these bloodlines.
Only, he had been ready to carefully unveil and research everything about them, but he now had a chance to experience one"s power firsthand.
So, he decided to make full use of it.
However…it turned out that it was not as easy.
The turtle sh.e.l.l, which had last been used against the Hero Bam in order to defend against his blow, once again came to his rescue and did well in protecting him, but Faxul was no simple opponent.
As soon as he approached, he launched a barrage of punches with the objective of breaking through the layers and layers of barriers.
They were in a pa.s.sage that had been formed underground due to Daneel barrelling through the earth because of the remnant force of Faxul"s punch from before, and as the King of Lanthanor"s turtle sh.e.l.l ablated the force it was experiencing into the surroundings, the earth behind Daneel began to break apart and essentially form a cavern.
All this would have been fine if Faxul were a normal, albeit powerful Fighter who wanted to get through to Daneel.
The problem was that that wasn"t the case.
As Daneel watched with wide open eyes, the black holes that were present on both the hands of Faxul were tearing away at the elementary particles he was controlling to make the barrier. With each punch, it was getting harder and harder to hold the integrity of the sh.e.l.l. If it broke, Daneel knew that he would have no option but to teleport away if he wanted to escape.
Only, that wasn"t an option!
In this place, with Drakos"s help, he had also deployed a Hero-level anti-surveillance formation quickly before Faxul had arrived before, so that they wouldn"t draw undue attention.
After all, he had seen the records, and knew that there was a major chance that the Big 4 knew a lot about bloodlines.
If they saw the one that had been triggered in Faxul, all kinds of questions would appear, that would definitely throw Daneel in hot soup, as he didn"t want them to know the answers to any of them.
He would basically have to go back and tell them everything about Empire Spirits, and this was something he knew could not be done.
So, all he could do was defend and try to control Faxul in this small, closed s.p.a.ce, yet, his friend was punching away like a madman, making Daneel feel hard pressed to keep defending.
The most impressive thing, however, was that Faxul wasn"t even using any Mage powers, at all. This was all his Fighter strength, that seemed to have somehow been temporarily amplified.
As for the black holes and the wings, they had formed naturally from the world.
Because they were bigger, the d.a.m.n attractive force was also greater, so much so that it was able to affect Daneel"s spell.
As he saw the barriers in front of him break at an alarming pace, Daneel wondered what the heck he was supposed to do.
By his estimate, Faxul would make it through in 2 seconds, and it would be futile to make another sh.e.l.l, as it would fatigue his Mageroot too much and leave him with lesser strength for the fight.
Only, with a howl of rage, Faxul did something which threw Daneel"s estimated in the trash.
His long wings that, when combined, would at least have a length of 4 meters, suddenly raised up almost as if they were extensions of his hands.
Two black holes appeared on the edges of the winds, and before Daneel could react in panic, they struck forward at a speed that he could only see using the Basilisk"s Breath.
In fact, if he hadn"t activated the inheritance, he would definitely have suffered a grave injury, as the combination of the two wing edges which frantically slashed over and over again, down then up and then down again, like two d.a.m.n chainsaws, with Faxul"s punches allowed him to cut through Daneel"s layers of barriers as if they were b.u.t.ter.
Thankfully, with the Basilisk"s Breath, Daneel noticed this and made a barrier of air in front of him on which he kicked to launch himself backward.
Defense was no longer an option. If he chose it, he was now genuinely afraid that those sharp blade-like wings might cut off an arm or leg.
This Monarch…was definitely not to be underestimated.
Initially, he had thought that the black hole might be an attack that could only be used by the possessor of a bloodline when they obtained the corresponding Mage/Fighter technique, like Drakos had mentioned.
However, he now understood that the Natural Construct formed after the baptism wasn"t just for show.
It already gave its possessor certain attacks that gave them an incredible edge in combat, which meant that even if a bloodline possessor wasn"t skilled at all as a Mage, they could just focus on their bloodline and grow pretty incredibly strong.
This…was just too f*cking overpowered!
If an untrained and rage-filled bloodline possessor, himself, was so powerful, then just how terrifying could someone trained with the right technique be?
No wonder they had comprised of the special corps of the Emperor.
Daneel had no more time to think, as Faxul was already approaching again.
However, finally, he saw a flaw that he could exploit.
The attractive force from the black holes on Faxul"s fists and wings took a little bit of time to have a considerable effect. That was why Daneel had at least been able to defend himself for that much time.
He got a feeling that this flaw might also be meant to be covered using their exclusive techniques, whatever they may be, but right now, it was there for him to exploit.
But would it be so easy to do so?
Just like before, the answer approached with the intent to smash his face in.
With rage-filled eyes, Faxul was ready to begin another barrage, but he couldn"t help but pause when he found himself surrounded by s.h.i.+ning barriers.
His opponent was nowhere to be seen, so his sole objective became that he had to break out.
Due to the mindless rage which was induced by the Baptism, Faxul used the same approach again, but Daneel had already planned for that.
Each time Faxul approached one particular location of the "cage" he was in, Daneel would focus all the power of the cage onto that spot, leaving the rest in such a weak state that they could be pa.s.sed through without any resistance.
And, besides, this was Lanthanor.
His Lanthanor.
Fighting against the madness that threatened to creep into his mind from the thoughts of a thousand people, Daneel used the amplification to full effect to trap Faxul with no way out.
Next up, the plan was simple: hammers.
Insects could be swatted using a fly-swatter. But what to do when the insect is huge and powerful?
Just use a d.a.m.n hammer to smash it to bits.
Daneel felt slightly bad as he prepared to go on.
He was basically using a smart way to fight, by exploiting the flaws of his opponent, instead of meeting him head-on in battle.
Because the attractive force of the black holes needed time to have a considerable effect, Daneel kept making sure that his image appeared on a different side of the cage, pulling Faxul in that direction and letting the overall barrier recover.
And so, the mindlessness was also being used to effectively control his friend and get him ready for a good ol" swatting, which Daneel told himself was for his own good.
Well, he had already accomplished his objective: he had experienced the terrifying power of the Monarch, and he was even more interested now in bloodlines.
So, rolling up his sleeves, Daneel prepared to get hammer-happy, but he was stopped by Drakos.
"Young King, this is not the correct way. Fights of Baptism are supposed to have a clear resolution. Either your friend loses, or wins. A resolution is needed to move on to the last and final step. If this happens, the result will be up in the air, and he might have to go through it all again."
"Oh? Then what do you want me to do?"
"It appears that he believes that killing you will rid him of the illusion. That is what happens in most cases, and it"s also safest to use the approach of letting him do that. In the time of the Empire, we had sophisticated flesh clones to make one believe that they were fighting their real opponent. Clones don"t cut it. Back then, this was called "Guiding the Baptism"."
As Daneel heard this, he thought for a bit, and then suddenly got an idea.
It was a bit ruthless, but he was going to go ahead with it.
However, before that, Daneel decided to do one last thing.
Taking off his robe, Daneel walked forward in his pants, exposing his perfectly proportioned body with lean muscle that was filled with explosive strength.
Before he closed this chapter of baptism, he wanted to have a fair fight, Fighter to Fighter, just to see how it would be, and also brush the rust off his Fighter skills.
The result…was a resounding defeat.
He had collected numerous Fighter skills from various places, and he had been confident that he might at least be able to put up a fight.
Only…all he could do was use the Basilisk"s Breath to barely dodge the attacks from Faxul which were coming from 4 directions.
Besides, the attractive force of the black holes worked on one"s body, too, making one expend considerable effort to make sure that their body didn"t move erratically.
His mind was still resisting the voices, but he still tried to put forward the power of a Peak Fighter.
Only, even with the Basilisk"s Breath, which was supposed to raise his own power by a large margin, he could only dodge for 3 seconds before a large gash appeared on his abdomen, causing him to retreat and immediately begin healing.
Yes, it was thoroughly settled now.
Bloodlines were unparalleled among Fighters and Mages, and like a kid deciding on a toy for Christmas, he decided that he wanted one.
With this decision made, Daneel traveled to the place where all the Warriors lead by Raul to invade Lanthanor were kept.
Here, he picked out an Exalted Warrior and Mind Controlled him to take on Daneel"s appearance.
Coming back and heaving a sigh of relief on seeing that the barrier stood, he threw the fake Daneel inside, who was immediately pummeled to death by Faxul, who fell unconscious right after that.
Seeing this, Drakos said, "Well done, Young King. The second phase is done. The objective of this phase is to have the bloodlines possessor killed in the process. That didn"t happen. So, the bloodline will begin its last-ditch attack. If he pa.s.ses this one, he will consume it and make it his own."
"What is it?"
"Well, in the first phase, one is confronted with the past. In the second, it is with the present. And in the third…the future will be used. Let us see."
With this, they once again entered Faxul"s mind, ready to witness how this elaborate baptism would end.
…
Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Axelor, King Safiros was madly going through several sheaves of parchment in his hands, which listed a few chilling projections he had asked for.
The question was simple: how many people could be purged without causing ma.s.s riots that would destabilize the Kingdom?
All the projections pointed to minuscule numbers, which the King wasn"t happy with.
Burning the parchments, he had everyone leave, leaving behind his trusty minister.
Shrugging, he made a proclamation which made the Minister"s blood run cold.
"Well, all my other plans are failing. If nothing else develops, it will be time for drastic measures. The best way to stop riots from happening is to unite them against a common enemy. How will it be if an elite hit squad from Lanthanor invades us and ma.s.sacres all the babies and children of a particular town to stamp down on the future of Axelor? After that, they could escape into various parts of the Kingdom, giving me a perfect reason to carry out multiple purges. We will be in the endgame soon, after all, and all that matters is that I win the Race. For that, sacrifices are necessary, my dear minister."