After seeing Xuan teleport away in front of her, Molan remained where she was, thinking back to that moment seconds ago again and again, where Xuan had looked at her with real anger for the first time in the decades that they had known each other.
She was currently standing in front of a large, 6-sided building that rose into the sky like a tower. At the top of the tower was a smaller version of the same humongous statue that held the other part of the Sect.
Indeed, this was where the Sect members typically stayed. In fact, far off, in the distance, she could spy a couple sneaking away into a forest nearby, which was usually empty as this was a place where only the most elite in the sect had the authority to come to.
In her hand, she was still holding the gla.s.s with water that she had intended to give to Xuan after the isolation training, in which no food or water was available to those who were part of it.
Yet, she had left not even a moment after finding out about that woman in that Kingdom.
And as for her, who had always only existed as a shadow to care for her and think about her every need…she had been left alone.
If it was just that, maybe it wouldn"t have affected her so much, as she had slowly started to get used to it after seeing the changes in her friend after her breakthrough.
Only…those eyes that had been filled with anger.
Those G.o.dd.a.m.n eyes!
Crack!
As her whole body started to shake, Molan clenched her fists while emotions that she couldn"t even make sense of ran through her, devastating her in the process and threatening to return her to whom she had been before the Matron had randomly chosen her, all those years ago.
The gla.s.s shards went deep into her palm and blood started to pour on the ground, but she didn"t care.
Yes, maybe she had been partially responsible for this happening. The Matron was someone who always spoke her mind, and it had looked as if she didn"t care much regarding who found out about this. So, she had made a random comment about two people, with one being an outsider, kissing in the Secret Archives, and that it should henceforth be banned.
The rumor mills were always overactive in the G.o.ddess"s Sanctum. And with this comment, it didn"t require genius-level intellect to figure out who was being referred to. In the records, which were accessible to those in charge of administration, it had been clearly written that Xuan would be bringing the King of Lanthanor under "special circ.u.mstances".
And hence, it had become the talk of the entire area.
When Eloise had reached out to Xuan regarding some matter, Molan had been about to tell off a couple of maids involved in the discussion. In the process, she had known that Eloise would be able to hear, but for reasons even she couldn"t figure out, she had let it happen, after remembering how Xuan had used the sect-preserving heirloom treasure to save her life and give her top-grade potential, which she firmly believed she was unworthy of.
After all, she, herself, only had near top-grade talent as a Mage, and she had faithfully served the Sect, and Xuan, all her life. What made that random woman worthy?!
As she collapsed to the ground, she couldn"t help but remember how dreary her own life had been, before that marvelous encounter had changed everything. She had been brought to the sect as she was an orphan with good talent, and initially, this had made her ecstatic, as Molan had always liked to be better than everyone wherever she went.
Only, here…she was nothing.
For a year, at the tender age of 8, all she did was find some way to feel special again, as that was the one thing that was most important to her.
No one had ever told her it was wrong. So it had always felt right.
After miserably failing due to being in a place where those better than her in various things were aplenty, she had finally gotten her chance when the Matron came along looking for volunteers to become a companion of a new Sect Member, who would need some time and care to fit into the Sect.
That had been her first image of Xuan. A girl with footprints all over her faded dress, as if she had been mercilessly kicked multiple times by many people, and feet that were so worn after running endlessly that they didn"t even look like they belonged to a human.
Since then, Xuan had become her whole life.
She vicariously lived through her, always standing beside her through every step of the way, while always believing that theirs was one life, together.
Yet, all that had changed now.
Because of one man.
As his image came in her mind, boundless fury and mindless rage engulfed her.
…
Meanwhile, in the room that the Empire Spirit, Arnold, had selected for their discussion.
After controlling their shock regarding the revelation of the Empire Spirit"s true motives, the two of them couldn"t help but feel excited, as they hoped that a question that they had asked each other right after their talk when Daneel had revealed the true intentions of the Church might be answered right now.
This was doubly so for Daneel, who had had no option but to carry this question around for ages and ages, ever since he had become King.
In the vision that his master had shown him, the entire continent had been flowing with rivers of bottomless blood, with the connotation being that most of the citizens were definitely dead.
But why? Why subdue a continent with great difficulty, only to ma.s.sacre it completely the next day? What did they gain out of it?
Faxul hastily looked through the memories and replayed the same way that the old Raven displayed shock.
A slow lean forward, followed by an intense gaze.
As the Empire Spirit saw this and noticed the interest of his "friend", he said, "Ah, I guessed that that would catch your eye. Come on, let me show you, then."
Saying this, the Empire Spirit teleported away, while Daneel and Faxul followed by noting the s.p.a.ce stamp left behind on purpose in order to teleport to the same location.
The first thing that Daneel heard as soon as the sense of sound returned to them was the wailing of a baby, from somewhere nearby.
Of course, Faxul had heard it, too.
As he looked around while trying to identify the source, a thick stench of blood hit him, causing him to wrinkle his nose and almost react, which would have, again, given away his ident.i.ty.
Impersonating someone was truly not easy.
The old Raven and Arnold were two people that had been in multiple situations where the stench had been ten times worse than this. So, even the wrinkling of the nose wasn"t supposed to happen, but that could thankfully be attributed to the suddenness of the sensation.
The first thing they noticed was the King, who spread his arms wide and said, "Welcome to my personal h.e.l.l!"
Followed by this statement, the lights in the room sprang to life, making Daneel and Faxul experience a sight they would never forget.
Over 200 people were caged, individually, in metallic cages that hung from the ceiling.
All of them had varying degrees of wounds, with some even missing limbs.
As for the crying, it was from a particular cage in which a woman was holding an 8-year old boy who was bawling his heart out.
With time, more and more details started to become clear.
For instance, most of the cages contained men, and they were all wearing a specific dress that almost looked like…prison clothes.
The woman was the same- her, and a few others in the large cavern where this "h.e.l.l" was located, were also wearing that dress.
As soon as light appeared, they all cowered in their cells and fearfully stared at those who had appeared, with even that boy stifling his cry.
If Faxul hadn"t gone through the baptism, he was pretty sure that their cover would have been blown by now.
Yet, the calmness and surety in himself that he had adopted saved him, allowing him to stay calm, while he experienced the red-hot anger from the King of Lanthanor.
However, that vanished when the Empire Spirit spoke while idly looking at that cage with the boy.
"You would think that being a by-product of primitive life-elongating magic experiments who slaughtered an entire village single-handedly would take away the ability to cry from someone. But no, this guy cries just all day. I can"t make sense of it."
What?
Arnold continued, while walking in a particular direction and talking in a casual tone.
"Remember I told you that a prison is the best place to get live bodies from, if ever the situation arose? Well, here"s proof that I was right. Being in such a controlling Kingdom puts people under enormous psychological pressure, you know. So…a lot of them crack, and go on killing or raping sprees while not caring about their life. I was quite surprised when I found out that the prisons of Axelor are filled with more sc.u.m than any other force in this continent. I didn"t want them to go to waste, so here they are."
These were all…prisoners?
Rapists and murderers?
But…even if that were the case, did they deserve to be treated like this? Or did they deserve special care like on Earth to fix their underlying problems and release them back into society?
Daneel didn"t have the luxury of time to think of an answer, as they had just arrived at a laboratory of sorts, where all sorts of torture devices were s.h.i.+ning on neatly arranged tables.
Picking one up that looked like an elongated scissor, Arnold said, "Torture is most fun when your subject is one whose mind is deranged, you know. You can never tell when you truly broke them."
Putting it back down, he continued in a tone that wasn"t as chilling.
"Anyway, I wasn"t doing this for fun. I was merely carrying out a set routine of experiments where each and every aspect of a "blood sacrifice" is tested. We already know of that infamous blood sacrifice that helps one along when they want to become a Champion. It twists them, true, but it also has the power to change someone"s fate. I took up the clue from there, and decided to check whether that power can be used for something else. And, of course, where does that power come from? Their resentment, of course."
Saying so, Arnold snapped his fingers, causing two men to appear in a formation in the middle of his "lab".
"I"ll show you the short version."
Saying so, he flicked his finger again, causing invisible wind blades to appear that gouged the skin off of the two people, while Daneel and Faxul were forced to watch on.
When their screams reached a crescendo, the formation that was under them lit up, causing them to melt into puddles of blood.
Most notably, in that formation, a specific place lit up, which caused Faxul to turn toward it.
And as Daneel saw what was in that place, in the ground, as a part of the formation, he couldn"t help but gasp with shock.
Two parts of the Grand Inheritance!
They were weirdly shaped, just like the others, but their material stood out clearly.
Seeing his "friend"s eyes captivated by those two small objects, Arnold smirked and said, "You got that right. Although I can sense that this isn"t the whole story, as forces like those only do stuff which give them multiple benefits, I can tell that this is at least one of their primary objectives. Sacrifices…when done right, can somehow affect the Grand Inheritance. My guess…is that it allows one to wield it without risking the catastrophe."