At ten locations all over the perimeter of Angaria, ten individuals had just finished using their consciousnesses with the utmost conviction to bind the incredibly complex formation that had been ingrained in the throne they had found.
It had taken quite a bit of time more than they had thought, with the Fighters finis.h.i.+ng last, as they were the ones who had the least familiarity in dealing with elementary particles.
The Mages weren"t that better off. They barely finished a few minutes before the Fighters, and after everyone was done, they could only sit there, on those thrones, completely exhausted, as it felt as if they had given their all, and there was nothing left for them to pick up and walk away from where they were.
As the goals they had expressed began to be engraved on the back of each throne, the communication channel that they shared finally came alive.
"That was… So much harder than I thought it would be. So these are the kind the formations Daneel deals with on a daily basis… Truly incredible."
It was Eloise who sent this message. Hearing her, one by one, the rest of the sovereigns roused themselves.
"Yeap, that was hard as f*ck!", cursed elanev.
"I have been trying, but I do not even understand a small part of these formations…", said Kellor.
"Whatever they are, they"re powerful. Powerful enough… To even take down armies," marveled Ca.s.sandra.
"You got that right… Where does he even get these things?", said Aran in an incredulous tone.
"Where else, but from the Emperor whose dreams and abilities far exceeded anything this continent could contain? I saw the root formations of whatever is present here in a few books that date back to the Empire, but he"s made so many improvements that I almost missed it…", answered Xuan, apparently still deeply studying the throne.
"The king always did exceed any expectations that anyone was daft enough to place on him…", observed Luther, while Faxul merely grunted in response.
"I should be getting back to my G.o.ddess…"
Finally, it was Percy"s completely unique response which broke everyone out of the frame of mind they had taken on due to what they had experienced.
Sensing the silence that he had caused, the new sovereign blushed and said, "Er… Did I say that out loud? Hey, don"t blame me, that hostage situation was simply too unsettling… I still haven"t relaxed from all the stress I had to go through because of it!"
His response was once again met by silence, until Robert spoke up to say, "Alright, enough chatter. Let"s get back to the Centre- the coronation begins soon."
And that… Was when all of the thrones suddenly started to s.h.i.+ne, albeit with a different kind of light than before.
It was dark, almost like the veil of darkness which the father of the Hero of balance wore, but rather than covering them gently, it bound them to the seat they had been sitting in comfortably until now, making expressions of shock appear on the faces of almost all of the sovereigns.
It was only Xuan and Elanev who were different, as they were caught in the throes of anger that sprung to life when they realized just what might be going on.
"He"s keeping us here so that he can fight alone!"
Both of these individuals had always been lovers of mayhem and power, so they had been really looking forward to the conflict that would have defined this era if it weren"t for the even bigger war waiting for them on the horizon.
After thinking for a bit, though, they understood that there might be a different reason behind what was going on, and as one, all of the sovereigns tried to contact the King.
Alas, they were met with silence, but after a few more attempts, the finally got a reply.
"Ah, it seems you"re finished, dear sovereigns… I apologize for what is going on now, but it is necessary, as you will understand later. For now, all I can say is that you should sit back, and enjoy the show. If you need any snacks, press the b.u.t.ton on the throne. If you don"t, then alcohol is already present beside you. If there was a different way, I would have taken it, but the idea is that because of this, you will also understand exactly what it means to hold the fate of the continent in your hands. Well, enough talk… Enjoy!"
His cheery voice sent them all into a period of bewilderment where they didn"t even know what to say, and after a minute or so, it was actually Faxul who spoke first.
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! You promised to share the burden, not take it all on yourself!"
His words seemed to break the spell of silence that had been cast on the sovereigns, and one by one, all of them began to speak out their thoughts.
Some were infuriated, others were worried, but one thing was common among them all: they knew why the King was doing this, and they didn"t like it one bit.
After studying the formation binding them for a little bit, though, they understood that there was no getting out of it with their power.
TONGGGG!
Just as they were about to stop cursing the man who had doublecrossed them in this fas.h.i.+on, a loud gong rang out somewhere nearby.
As they looked around to find its source, display trinkets appear in front of them, showing the image of the vast land on which all of the millions of Angarians had gathered.
Checking the position of the sun, they understood that according to the schedule they had been given, it was time.
None of them knew exactly what to say, so with bitter, worried and concerned expressions, they all began to watch.
In the same frame that was being shown to them, invisible to them all, a figure had already appeared in the air who was actively gazing around at all the people who had never warranted any of his attention for all his life.
If he ever thought of them, it was simply in the way that a tiger might think of the worms it might crush under its feet while it walked through the jungle.
They were there, living their lives in obscurity, but if they came in his way…they would be stomped into a squishy mess.
To think that the one who had given a fate almost worse than death to his counterpart had arisen from them…
Gritting his teeth, Vohler turned around to face all of the Heroes who had followed him here.
Miraculously, the message had come at the perfect time. They were ordered to attack and stop the unification, so without a choice, all those who had sworn their lives away to the Church had had to move.