The words of the being seemed to strike a blow deep into the hearts of the sovereigns who had been thirsting for victory until now.
Together, they had been sure that they would be able to beat a Peak Champion, even though they were only a bunch of three Warriors and an Amateur Champion. This was a feat that would have been lauded even in the age of the Empire, but here… It looked like it was still not enough.
Even the extreme amounts of pain from each of their injuries did not stop them from pulling themselves together, and starting to think of another plan.
"Come back, first! You can heal and then try again! It doesn"t look like he"s in a hurry!"
"Yes! Exercise caution!"
Those who were behind the barrier that was ready to be overrun by the undead force sent these messages, but they did not have any impact on these four who had just failed in the one thing that they had hoped to achieve more than anything else in their lives so far.
When it finally did register, they realized that it was a good choice. There was nothing wrong in retreating and coming back, and from the level of the Energy of the barriers that they had seen on the king, it was obvious that he would be able to last for quite a bit longer.
Yet… It looked like their opponent had meant it when he said that it was time for him to have fun.
That same golden barrier which had caused all their injuries instantly sprang into being, locking them in, and preventing them from even thinking of leaving.
With this, it became clear that they were being played around with.
Since the beginning, it looked like this thing, whatever it was, had wanted them to feel hope that they could win before obliterating it and seeing them despair. Anyone who despised their enemies would want this to happen to them, and even though they did not know the reason behind this being"s hatred towards them, it became obvious that it had decided to really fulfill what it had said that it would in the best way possible.
"Don"t let him win. Don"t lose hope."
Elanev was the one who muttered these words. First, he did so slowly, under his breath, but after that, he shouted them out defiantly after taking a deep breath.
The truth was that even with all their training, the Domination Corps had started to lose hope, as it did not look like their opponents would be letting up anytime soon. Their plan of cutting the ones whom they were facing into tiny pieces so that they could not put themselves back together was not working very well, mainly because of the fact that they were outnumbered 10 to 1. No matter how many injuries kept piling onto those bodies, all they did was provide minor inconveniences which were shrugged off by the soldiers that continued to attack their barrier while depleting their Energy resources in the process.
The moment it broke, they knew that they were doomed, and they had run out of ideas.
The reign of Domination that they had been looking forward to all their lives did not look like it would come to be, so desperation had already started to gnaw its way into the minds of the many who were fighting as hard as they could.
It was Elanev"s words, though, which pushed it back, but what Faxul shouted next made their fighting spirits ignite.
"Don"t let him win. Even if I die, it will be with pride! When I meet Daneel in the heavens, I want to be able to tell him that I gave my best! Otherwise… I would rather roast in h.e.l.l for eternity!"
"Even if I die, it will be with pride!"
"Yes! F*ck you, you disgusting things! Even if I die, I will die proud! And mark my words, the last thing I will do is make sure that we are burned up so that you will have no way to make your claim come true! We, the Sovereigns of Angaria, will never be defiled either in name or body! What do you say?!"
Ca.s.sandra screamed this rallying cry, and her words began to echo in the cave, making even those in the Domination Corps scream out in response.
"Yes! If this is my last day, I want to go out covered in the blood of these f*ckers!"
"When the barrier breaks, I"ll kill 10!"
"Ha ha, 10! I"ll get 20, even if I have to bite them till they can"t move!"
"Let"s do that together! And we can go for 40!"
The camaraderie of those who had gone through many situations close to death together came into play, making laugher and mad cheers appear among the ranks of the Domination Corps.
Seeing this, small smiles appeared on the eight sovereigns who were still conscious, too.
Finally, this seemed to affect the mood of the one who had been gloating while imagining their deaths so far.
"Humph! Let"s see if you"ll still be laughing in a minute!"
As soon as the last word appeared from its body, the being raised one arm, and all three sovereigns found themselves being crushed from all sides, as if they had been placed in a spot between mountains that were h.e.l.l-bent on grinding them into paste between them.
This made the emotion from before instantly disappear, and silence also appeared in the Domination Corps which was repeatedly punctured by the oddly coordinated shouts from the undead army.
The smiles returned in a second, though, and from where she stood, Eloise spoke out.
"It looks like we never had a chance, after all. Like they said, all we can ensure is that we go down fighting, without giving that thing any satisfaction."
Saying so, she took out two trinkets which she had been specially made for her long, long ago.
They enlarged into twin crescent-shaped blades which glinted in the light present in the cave, and she looked at them with a morose expression on her face.
"I wanted to surprise him by showing my skill with these blades."
She said so with tears starting to stream down her cheeks, but her expression remained defiant.
Behind her, the three elderly sovereigns looked at each other with sorrow-filled expressions on their faces.
"We have seen life, and we don"t fear death. But why them? They still have so much to do, so much to see! And my son…"
Robert said this in a low tone, and Kellor and Luther both grasped his shoulders.
He looked into their eyes, and saw the same emotions that were going through his mind reflected in them.
Regret, unwillingness, desperation.
Yet…they said nothing, as there really was nothing they could say at this moment.
Luther gestured his head in Eloise"s direction, and the other two nodded before walking toward her.
They wanted to console her, but it looked like she was stronger than they had expected.
Seeing the three elderly men approaching her, she looked up and actually…smiled.
Wiping away the tears weren"t stopping, she said, "It"s all right. My life was…good. For the most part, anyway. He gave me everything, and I just wanted to stay by his side forever, no matter if we became closer or not. I just wanted to keep giving, but our time is up. And so far, I"m happy with what I"ve done. I-"
Her voice completely broke down here, as if the strength she had mustered was gone.
She collapsed into the hands of the sovereigns, who all snapped their gazes in the direction of the monstrosity.
She only needed a moment to recover, though, and when she did, she righted herself and repeated the words, "Even if I die, it will be with pride. Yes! This will be my first and last battle, and I better make it count!"
Even though they were putting on a brave front, the sovereigns who were being crushed had also had their eyes on the lip of the cave where their comrades stood.
As they saw Eloise, the treasure of the Sovereigns say this, their facades crumpled, and abject rage resurfaced in all of them.
Elanev was the first one to let his tongue loose, and when he did so, it surprised those who were listening, and made Eloise enter a stunned silence.
"If I"m going to die, let me at least do so after I lay my heart bare! Eloise, I"ve always loved you! I saw you the first time I was brought to court by my father, and I was completely smitten! But when I found out that you were a princess and that I could never reach a status worthy of marrying you, I tried to forget you! I kept throwing myself at other women, and they were all those who reminded me of you! I saw hope when Daneel took the throne…but then, I saw the way you started to look at him! That…is actually the main reason I left abruptly on that trip where I almost died multiple times! I wanted to be strong enough to at least contend with the man you had your eyes on, so that I might at least stand a chance! Otherwise, life was just not worth living! Alas…I got close, but I never succeeded! Still, that hope refused to die, even though you always had eyes only for him! Eloise…if there is another life, I hope I will be able to do better! I hope I will have the guts to tell you outright long ago that you have someone who wants to grow old with you! The guts to die if it meant that that could become possible! I"m done, so kill me first, you freak! You"re uglier than a cow"s spotted a.r.s.e, and I feel like dying every second I"m in your presence!"
"…"
This singular confession that came out of nowhere managed to stun many into silence, but it looked like there were more coming.
"Aran, you f*cktard! If you liked me, why didn"t you just ask long ago, you f*cking moron! If there"s another f*cking life, I"ll tie you to a stump and burn your a.r.s.e until you admit that you love me! And then, I would marry you and burn all those other women who keep flirting with you! Kill me first, you disgrace to all that is living! You look like a rotten apple infested with the ugliest of worms!"
As Ca.s.sandra shouted these words, although there wasn"t as much shock as that which appeared due to the revelation caused by Elanev"s, there were still many gasps that the firebrand commander had fallen for the man she always liked to scold.
Inadvertently, everyone turned to Faxul, as if expecting him to make a confession, too.
What he did…was so out of place, that it succeeded in breaking the negative feelings of those present and making them reiterate the promise of dying with pride that they had made before.
"I love Daneel! I always have!"
His statement caused the most shock, but he immediately roared with laughter after he said it.
It was the first time that anyone had ever heard of the Black Raven King, who was always a stoic man, laughing so uproariously.
Indeed, it turned out that it was the first time in his life, too, as he said, "I"m kidding! I"ve just never made a dumb joke all my life, and I thought I might as well strike that off my bucket list, along with the one where I"ve never laughed fully! I don"t have someone to confess to, but I do have a fervent wish to die with a smile! Hey, I don"t have a creative insult, but if you dare kill me last, it"ll mean that you"re afraid of me! Come fight me if you aren"t a scaredy-cat!"
With this, the atmosphere returned to one where over two hundred individuals knew that their deaths were coming, but were determined to meet them with honor that was worthy of those who had been chosen by the most ill.u.s.trious man they had ever known.
Unknown to them…that man was thoroughly impressed, and seeing that the thing looked like it was going to launch a spell to kill them all at once, he asked a question.
"Has it been confirmed that the chances of this being a simulation are minute?"
[Affirmative. 897 tests carried out. Chance of the present scenario being a simulation, even when taking into account means that are beyond the system is 0.087%.]
"All right. Launch the Endgame Protocol."
[This protocol might result in host peris.h.i.+ng. Would host still like to confirm the order?]
"Confirm."
[Affirmative. Launching Endgame Protocol.]
BOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!
Daneel had been watching everything, and he had been engulfed in a feeling of gratification.
These were his people. They were ready to die for him, and even though this had been said many times rhetorically, seeing it happen was really something else.
It was only in moments like these that one"s true nature would be exposed, and those who might have pledged service until death might show the darkness of their nature and turn their backs on their benefactors.
This was something that everyone always feared, but Daneel was extremely thankful to see that he had not chosen wrong.
All those in the cave were close to death, but their faces only had smiles because of the fact that they had no regrets.
If so…how could Daneel hesitate from taking a step he had reserved for when where there was no other way out?
As the sound of the silver cuffs breaking into bits echoed throughout the area, Daneel felt his consciousness breaking apart into a thousand pieces.
Each piece was inserted into a clone, and each clone moved to a different spot.
In barely an instant, the King of Lanthanor split apart into one thousand copies of himself, while his original body stood on the ground.
His face lacked emotion because of the fact that the action of the split had caused him to lose his sanity. The system was controlling everything, and it had a clear mission.
Destroy.
The system"s wondrous aspect had always been its ability to function like a supercomputer, having the ability to a.n.a.lyze and carry out things with the speed of a thousand people.
Hence…Daneel had made this protocol based on that, and his Mage Champion Path.
Each clone called upon the Will of the World, and the Will responded, because each piece of Daneel"s consciousness had the command that he had established upon the World when he had broken through.
Fire, wind, lightning, water, ice, earth- all the elements started to dance a dance of destruction in front of each clone, and each attack shot forward at once, causing a maelstrom of power to strike down on the spot the monstrosity stood.
"GHHHRRAAWWW!!!!"
A painful scream was heard from the monstrosity which was struck a thousand times, with each attack"s level bordering on the line between an Eminent and Exalted Champion. The reason they were not at the Exalted Champion level was that even the system"s resources were being stretched to their limits as it had to control the consciousnesses of a thousand beings, but this…was more than enough.
Even a Hero would succ.u.mb easily when faced by a thousand Champions. So…the being stood no chance.
Everyone watched as the tables were turned: the man they had come to save had burst forth to save them, and they didn"t even have time to think as they watched all the arms being stripped away along with their golden covering which tried and failed to protect them.
The man underneath finally started to emerge. Unlike what everyone had thought, he actually had a kind face, with almost…confused eyes, and a short beard.
Kellor"s eyes widened as this image became clear, and he frantically stepped forward and let out a scream that caused the attacks to instantly stop.
"My King, please stop! There must be a misunderstanding! That"s my Master!"
The one thousand Daneel"s all turned to look at Kellor, and their lifeless eyes made the Grand Court Mage flinch and step back.
Yet…what happened next made all the sovereigns rush forward.
The thousand clones all flew back and disappeared into Daneel"s original body, and right as the last one entered, thick, dark blood burst out from all the cavities on his face.
He collapsed to the ground, and at the same time, the undead army also stopped moving, almost as if the injuries on the being"s body were too much for it to continue controlling them.
As one, the Domination Corps and the Sovereigns ran toward their King frantically, and Elanev even shouted something that echoed with what all of them were feeling.
"Daneel, you %$*#(%! Do you want all the credit?! We were going to die for you with honor, not the other way around! I"ll kill you if you think you"re going anywhere! Be all right, dammit!"