After the Heroes entered one of the most complex barriers that Daneel had ever seen, he couldn"t see what was happening inside anymore, but from the way the Head had a smile on his face after he became visible a few seconds later, Daneel could tell that everything had gone well.
He had been hoping that he could catch a glimpse of the fight as everything so far had had the intention of causing awe in the spectators, but it was clear that the Head had made the decision that that might be too much of a risk. If something untoward happened inside and if it was viewed by those watching, it might cause the opposite effect instead, and that would be disastrous, just like it had almost been the case during the Legacy Battle of the Fortress of Unyielding Might.
After the statement by the Hero, they had all entered inside, and that formation had been activated so that nothing inside was visible. Daneel knew that a very advanced illusion formation had been placed early on both around the Villa and around the sect headquarters to give a fake image regarding what was going on so that the infiltrator would not be spooked, and he had to admire the carefulness of the Head who had planned everything out quite meticulously. Rayen had said that he was known for being pedantic, and that was showing here.
As everyone saw the ruins of the Villa, they couldn"t help but take a few steps back in alarm, but on seeing the Head who was calmly floating in the air, they stopped and waited to see what he would say.
Taking a deep breath, he opened his mouth and spoke in a confident voice that resonated throughout the area.
"Today, as many of you will find out, a traitor of the continent has been exposed. He was charged by the Church to allow for the Mad Doctor to attack the King of Lanthanor even though strict rules have been set down that rulers in the Central Continent must not be targeted by any of the Big Four. This traitor, along with a few others who followed him only because they were under the impression that he was simply acting to take out a grudge on the King, made it so that me, and all the other Heroes who could have intervened, were distracted and unaware. Imagine if the same thing had happened to the entire sect. What if this sect, itself, was attacked, and all the Heroes who could have come to help were stopped? All of you would have been wiped out, and it would have been too late to lament afterward. To cover their tracks, this infiltrator broke out Ashah.e.l.l, who is a known a.s.sociate of the Church, and charged him to go kill that Hero with the help of a few special objects that only the Church possesses. If this is not a clear indication that allying with the Church is a bad idea, then I don"t know what is. Just think. They might promise safety, power and a long life, but all you will really be getting is a swift death. Bartholomew, the Hero who engineered all this, is currently in a very serious state where him recovering is uncertain. It is only because he had a special const.i.tution and because his path is one which focuses on the power of his body that he was able to withstand the attacks of Ashah.e.l.l, and was able to tell us the whereabouts of this infiltrator as revenge. If it was any of you, or even any of the many other Heroes of the continent, they would have died. After this, Ashah.e.l.l was simply put back in his cell, and we were all led to believe that he had never left in the first place. Thankfully, this time, fortune was on our side, and Rayen, better known as the King of Darkness, was able to thwart all their plans by pa.s.sing on this information. He would have been commended if he hadn"t had a part in this entire thing out of his grudge that was born out of losing his son, but either way, his loyalty for the continent came forth at the right time, and he should be an example for you all. No matter what your inner thoughts are, when it is time to defend your home, they should all be put aside and duty should be the only thing on your mind. Now, disperse, and spread the word. From now on, we will be implementing even stricter formations in each and every sect so that instances like these will not be repeated, and if even a little bit of proof is found that one still wishes to ally with the Church, they will directly be thrown into a torture cell and subsequently be killed in full view of the inhabitants of all of the Big Four."
This long speech of the Head which ended with the chilling statement made fear creep into most of those who were watching, mainly because those last words had been infused with a little bit of his Path. Warriors couldn"t even detect it, and all Champions were able to find out was that there was something…convincing about what he said.
The truth was that these words were designed so that they would stay in the minds of all those who listened to them for a long, long time, and they would definitely be spread endlessly.
Daneel, who was also watching, felt like clapping, because he couldn"t have done it better.
With this move, everyone would be afraid.
After the Head disappeared, he shook his head as there was one thing which he had made more difficult for himself, though.
He knew that the means the infiltrator had used to enter the sect must be very similar to what he was using every time he came inside, so if formations were laid down to target those, then he would also find it difficult to enter and leave the Sects of the Big Four as he pleased, like he was doing right now.
Well, he couldn"t get everything. And besides, he still had a chance to go to the remaining two sects, even if his value might have dropped a few notches after the "revelation" that he had the Bloodline of the Divine c.o.c.kroach.
Of course, both in the eyes of the Head and everyone else who was watching, he was still slowly healing himself inside that sh.e.l.l which was now placed in his quarters, and because the injuries had been so severe, it made sense that he needed so long.
After all, it was a Bloodline, and the power that could be used by a Bloodline possessor was nowhere near that which was present in a true G.o.dbeast. Daneel had, of course, channeled the powers of the latter, and that was how he had been able to recover enough to go kill the Mad Doctor.
With this, this episode had mostly come to an end, and even though there were a few loose ends to tie up, such as talking to the Head and trying to find out just what his true inclination was, Daneel at least had a little bit of breathing time.
Right now, everyone was on high alert, so it would be dumb to do anything high profile, so he decided to take a rest, as this entire thing had been quite tiring.
Before he left Lanthanor, though, he made a quick trip to Percy"s quarters, where he left behind a display trinket with a recording that would be erased after it was watched once.
It had a parchment with the words "A gift from your master" on it, and there were also instructions regarding how he could come outside and contact Daneel after he watched it.
For safety, Daneel also added a communication eye to this trinket to make sure that Percy would be the one who would watch it, and he had inlaid a formation which would result in the video being erased if that wasn"t the case. Even if it was, it would record everything, and even though Daneel wouldn"t be present when Percy saw the most hated man in his life killed, he would later be able to see the reaction of his disciple.
With this done, Daneel traveled back to his quarters, where that empty sh.e.l.l lay on his bed.
Outside, Eloise and Kellor were pacing to and fro with extremely worried expression on their faces.
However, if anyone could hear the messages they were sending to each other using communication trinkets, they would definitely have been pretty d.a.m.n confused.
"My face hurts from grimacing so much."
"Really? The stoic Grand Court Mage is saying that? I"m usually smiling! My face hurts more!"
"Hmm, well, my master always used to say that a stoic face commands more respect. Anyway, what did you have for breakfast? One of the things I still don"t understand about the King is how he is capable of eating meats like fish raw even though they are wrapped up in other things. I don"t know where he got the idea, but it tastes disgusting! He tried to make me like it, but because he"s the King, I had to force it down and commit soon after he left. Since then, I"ve been avoiding His Majesty during mealtimes…"
"Bleurgh! Kellor, you"ll make me puke! We"re supposed to be worried! People don"t puke from worry! Anyway, I guess I"ll start doing that, too…"
Yes, it was all an act, but it had to be set up, as it was possible that the Head could be watching. As for Daneel, he had already made himself perfectly invisible using Hero level methods, so there was no chance that anyone could know that he was present, and not injured at all.
Unaware of the criticism that was ongoing outside the door, the King of Lanthanor took a deep breath and asked the system to finally list the limitations of his Mage Champion Path.
[Listing limitations of Dual-Ability World Domination Champion Path.
First ability-Dominate the World: The World resonates with the possessor of this Path in the presence of those with aligned wills to directly find the counter-abilities of an opponent. World also directly casts the counter-ability. In absence of aligned wills, the latter does not happen. Only information regarding counter-ability is given to host, with indications that can be used by system to create counter spell.
Limitations:
1. Resonance cannot be maintained for a long time, as it is extremely stressing on the host. At present, the safe time limit is 30 seconds. This limit will increase with increase in Mage level of host.
2. Requires considerable presence of allies for full effects to be shown.
3. If opponent is already aware of counter-abilities and has countermeasures to oppose them, it will be up to the host to adapt to the situation and best use the World.
Second ability-"Fight in my name, and the World shall be yours": Allows host to empower those with aligned wills through the World. Targets directly have their abilities amplified, and information regarding counter-abilities is sent to them. Counter-abilities must be deployed by the targets, themselves. Factor of amplification depends on availability of followers. Host can also receive data from empowered allies such as vision, etc.
Limitations:
1. If counter-ability is too complex, target ally might be unable to make use of it.
2. If too few followers are present, amplification is low.
3. Both abilities cannot be used at the same time, so there is a chance of host being vulnerable when this ability is deployed.
4. There is a limit to the number of allies that can be empowered. Present limit: 10. Limit will increase with increase in host"s mage level.
Common Limitation: Since ability is based on aligned wills, system has detected that there is a possibility that different levels and types of such wills might be able to be leveraged for different purposes. Host is advised to constantly use the technique and experiment to collect data that can be used for a.n.a.lysis. At present, only presence of aligned will is being used.]
As Daneel went through the list while remarking that the limitation in the second ability was why he hadn"t been able to look inside that formation before in the Sect and see exactly what had happened, a smile automatically came on his face, as the Path had actually exceeded his expectations, and he was very happy with it.
True, it wasn"t all-powerful, but it was still…pretty d.a.m.n bada.s.s.
As a newly-broken through Champion, he had been able to kill an Exalted one.
Could anyone else on this continent ever boast of such a feat?
Just as Daneel was about to ask the system to repeat that last part, though, because it had sounded interesting.
Yet, suddenly, both he and the two pacing outside were interrupted by the sound of someone…knocking.
Indeed, it somehow reverberated so strongly that it could even be heard inside, and as Daneel looked to the gates, he found the source.
3 young men and 2 young ladies stood there, wearing exquisite clothes, and after the knock, the one at their lead who wore the skin of a tiger on his back declared, "We have come to meet the King."