For what felt like the millionth time, they were back in that same corridor where their tale had begun.
Jessica was about to sacrifice her friends and finish her plan of obtaining power, and Daneel was about to stop her in her tracks.
The scene was frozen, at the moment, because the Nightmare Spider"s ability gave Daneel full control of her dreams.
To her, it would seem as if everything was normal, but Daneel could secretly manipulate everything behind the scenes.
At the moment, the scene was frozen right before he made the big reveal and saved the four seeds who had been about to be killed.
Each day, it had begun here, and they had had many, many "adventures" together.
The Nightmare Spider had always been a very strange creature. In the age of the Empire, many historians had been completely baffled regarding its powers, because in most G.o.dbeasts, the case was that their powers were those which helped them to hunt and live.
Seldom were there powers which didn"t satisfy either of these needs, but in the case of the Nightmare Spider, that was exactly how it was.
These G.o.dbeasts had a notorious habit of trapping their prey and then toying with them for days on end before finally eating them.
No matter who it was, unless they were a lot more powerful than it, a Nightmare Spider could burrow into their dreams if it could find them without any protection while they were sleeping. After that, it would keep digging inside their brain and unearth all the things that they were terrified of.
This didn"t require one to break into one"s consciousness, because fear was such an instinctual feeling that the things which triggered it could be identified if one was just able to view a consciousness and see the dreams of that individual.
On finding what it was looking for, it would keep the prey trapped in scenarios where their worst fears would appear in front of them, and because sleep was supposed to be the time when one was supposed to rest, these kinds of unnatural dreams would cause individuals to not feel rested, at all. This would, in turn, lead them to want to sleep again soon, and the cycle would repeat.
There seemed to be no clear reason for the Nightmare Spider to do this, because since the moment its prey entered its web and fell under its effects, it was doomed.
It was only found much later, and with great difficulty, that the reason behind its actions were that it thoroughly enjoyed torturing its prey inside their dreams, and also because fear made prey feel tastier for the Nightmare Spider, for some reason.
This entire thing was what inspired the torture master to formulate what became famous as a method which was almost ubiquitous with the Empire, because for a time, it was even used on those of enemy forces without being none the wiser.
There was a famous case where a very powerful Hero with ten powerful Champions under him had threatened to wreak havoc in the Empire when the Emperor and all those who could stop them were off to fight again someone else, and it had simply been a ploy by those who still hadn"t been annexed by the Empire to make sure that all the top honchos would be wary that something like that would happen, which might lead them to either being overly cautious, or distracted during battle.
One day, suddenly, that man and all ten of his subordinates entered the Empire and surrendered after shouting that they wanted to have no more enmity with the Emperor. They swore oaths of life-long fealty, and for some reason, they also begged for mercy, and all those in the court had been extremely shocked after seeing just how much fear was apparent on their faces.
The secret regarding the reason behind this strange event was kept for a long, long time, until it was finally revealed that it had been done by the torture master using that technique.
Daneel had gone looking for ways to use the Nighmare Spider"s ability on someone, and he had found this and been quite surprised.
Of course, he had even seen the torture master up close, and he could never have expected that someone who looked like that would be capable of doing things like these which were quite abhorrent.
Their effectiveness could not be denied, though, and even then, the Emperor had been divided regarding the whole thing, because even though he detested the way that it happened, he had to admit that there had been no bloodshed, which was quite momentous.
The same choice made by the Emperor then had been made by Daneel now, because he had needed something which could affect Jessica to make sure that she would stop targeting him while not arousing any suspicion.
Of course, this fit perfectly, and it had even been enabled by the Head"s trinket, as all that was needed was for him to find a way inside the cell to communicate with Jessica.
He knew that he needed to deploy the consciousness, and so, he had separated himself from his body and entered the same trinket which held all the consciousnesses of the G.o.dbeasts he was using for his transformations.
This trinket was not something that could be detected by any normal means, and hence, it had been hidden on Percy"s body. There was no problem with him inhabiting it, either, because the consciousness of those G.o.dbeasts were all dormant.
After reaching the adjacent cell, all he needed to do was use the same transformation technique to transform his consciousness, and deploy the power of the Nightmare Spider through the trinket given by the Head to affect Jessica"s mind while making it look as if everything was normal.
Everything had gone well, and it was now the final step.
Yet… Not for the first time since beginning this entire thing, Daneel had a few doubts.
It was said that one"s dreams could be used to find out what kind of a person they were, and the same could be said even of nightmares. By seeing everything that terrified Jessica, he had been able to understand just what kind of a person she was.
Her tenacity to get what she wanted had already been displayed both in her plan against the seeds and in her relentless efforts to bring him to ruin.
All she had ever wanted was power, and just like she had said, she didn"t like the Church because she still felt that she belonged to Angaria, and that outsiders shouldn"t take control of it. She wanted to reach the top on this continent, and for that, she was determined to do anything.
Although Daneel had no idea what exactly had made her think like this, after seeing many of her nightmares and the way she had screamed, he had found that she had also been abused when young.
He didn"t know how this figured into the whole equation, but he had a feeling that it must have been pretty important in leading her to become who she was.
True, she wasn"t good, per se, because anyone who was prepared to kill their friends that they had grown up with could not be described with this word.
However… She had only been doing what she thought was best to climb ahead and fulfill her goals.
Just like he had seen with Jordan, such people were rare, but in this case… She was capable of things much more powerful than Jordan could ever have done, mainly because of the talent that had allowed her to take her role as a seed.
On this final day, he had to decide just what instructions he would give her. The way the technique of the torture master worked was that on the final day, the question that was asked repeatedly on all the days before would be answered, and after that, there would be a short period of extreme suggestiveness where one could state what they wished the person to do.
It would almost be like planting the idea in their head, and it had reminded Daneel of a very famous movie from back on Earth which was known for its infuriating ending.
It would seem to them as if the idea had come from themselves, and there would be no indication, at all, of something like Mind Control causing this to happen.
Hence, even if anyone tried to scan her mind, no matter how much they checked, all they would see was that she had been having trouble sleeping over the past week.
Yet...herein lay a major risk.
Earlier, in the Age of the Empire, no one had known that such a technique existed, so the symptom of not sleeping well for a few days and then doing something that was uncharacteristic of them had gone unexplained.
However, after the technique became public knowledge due to a leak caused by an incident, it became easy to spot, and hence, from then, the torture master ceased using it on those from forces outside the Empire, and only deployed it on prisoners.
Daneel was not ready to take the chance that no one might have read of this famous technique. So...whatever decision he made, it should be something that might only seem strange, but not completely unbelievable.
For example, if he made her swear allegiance to him publicly, it would set off all the alarm bells in the minds of the Heroes who were watching, as in reality, no one could have that much of a change of heart.
Hence, her getting off his back had to have some other valid reason, and although Daneel had already gotten an idea regarding this, the decision now lay in whether he wanted to put in place something that could allow him to take her on as a subordinate.
It was clear that she had been a victim of life, and instead of giving up, she had decided to do everything possible to fight back, even if it meant taking gigantic risks.
Did he really want someone like that under him?
If it was a few years ago, or even a few weeks ago, the answer might have been a straight "no" as Daneel would have been averse to such people.
Yet, now, after his breakthrough...Daneel had started to realize that his mindset had started to mature, and that had been displayed when he took on Jordan, even though he had placed some hoops for the man to jump through.
Why not do the same thing here?
If he wanted to defend Angaria, he would have to work with the vilest of people, because no matter what they might have done, he would need their strength to fend off the Church.
Hence...it was most probably that Daneel would have to start getting accustomed to finding a middle-ground.
He might hate them for their actions, but there was no reason that he shouldn"t dominate them with his power, and then set them to make right their wrongs by fighting for their Motherland.
Why, that sounds...good!
With the smile that always came on his face when something had become clear to him, Daneel gave a command to the system.
"Deploy Final Layer of h.e.l.l."
[Deploying.]
At once, the place they were in shattered, and it was replaced by an amalgamation of everything Jessica had suffered over all these days.
Drowning in murky water, being chased by wolves, being crushed from all directions, being suffocated by an unknown a.s.sailant, being crushed by a random tree, being stabbed a thousand times- all of them seemed to happen at once, and Jessica"s scream was louder than any she had let out yet, because she was simultaneously remembering everything she had gone through while also reliving it all.
It was one of the cruelest things Daneel had ever done, but he took no happiness in it, just like he had said to Percy. On the contrary, he even slightly pitied Jessica while he once again asked the question that he had already asked hundreds of times.
The question wasn"t really important- it just needed to be something the person would never do, and the one deploying the technique could choose what they wanted to ask.
Hence, Daneel had chosen one that he liked.
"Will you bend the knee? Will you bend the knee? Will you bend the knee? Will you-..."
The torture master had made a clear indication of the number of times one could resist at this stage, and what that said regarding their strength of will.
If they agreed the first time, it meant they were weak.
If they broke after being asked 6 times, it meant they had moderate strength.
And if it was anything after 30 times, then it meant that their will was one which would definitely take them to at least the Exalted Hero level.
Jessica...answered after 28 times.
"I...WILL!"
Saying so, she collapsed onto her knees, and Daneel knew he should not dally.
So, without further ado, he told her her future.
"You will tell your mentor and anyone who asks that you feel as if you are close to a breakthrough in understanding your Champion Path due to the frustration you felt, and that you wish to use the method of becoming powerful to deal with the King of Lanthanor later, after he enters the Big Four, as he will not be unreachable to you then. At that time, you will fight him, and after the fight, you will understand that you were in the wrong, and that for power, you should follow him. In the meantime, you will also collect information on those who might be defecting to the Church, and you will expose them discreetly, as this will be your secondary goal. Henceforth, you shall only focus on these two things, and nothing else. You are compelled, and you shall obey."
[Final phrase to end the suggestiveness window has closed. The Journey has been successful. Ending ability. Sending message to Head.]
The Head had told Daneel that Percy could send him a message if he had finished his job.
Right after it was sent, Percy was teleported out of the cell, and before the Head could ask him anything, a flood of messages inundated Daneel"s consciousness which had all been sent through the oath-links, and as he heard them, he was quite bewildered.
"My Lord! The riots are risking the lives of thousands!"
"Daneel, I"ve decided to deploy mages to save them. They"re innocent, we can"t have their blood on our hands!"
"Daneel, come back fast! Things are not good out here! Your plan was a little too good!"
Alarmed, Daneel went back through all the messages, and as he understood the matter, he couldn"t help but blink with shock.