In the throne room of the Black Raven Kingdom.
The Black Raven King and the old man were both looking at the display trinket which showed the sea of people which was headed to the capital. It was already hundreds of thousands of people strong, and the fact that it was still growing showed the support that the people were showing for this contender.
"It is as I suspected. Whoever caused the unrest before definitely did it because they wished to profit from it. This is the profit. So Lanthanor is where that kid ran away to. I can't believe that he was under our noses for so long."
Hearing the old man say these words, Tenebrol gritted his teeth with frustration and said, "So he was the one responsible. What do we do now?"
"What's there to be done? We fight. And you will win and show the people that you are still the rightful ruler. After that, kill that 'friend' of yours and convince the people that he was lying. I knew there was something wrong with him."
This made the Black Raven Kings burn with fury, as the feeling of being betrayed passed over him again. True, he might not have had any tangible relationship with the man he sparred against, but he had thought that all the times they spoke fought together must have formed some sort of bond between them.
This was clearly not the case.
"Just like before, I will help out if needed."
Although this made the Black Raven King grimace, he only nodded as he knew that he had no other choice.
"Tell this challenger that the fight will take place in the same stadium where I defeated the trai-…Eganev. It will start three hours from now."
Sending this message to the officials, the Black Raven King took a deep breath and tried to calm down. He actually looked forward to have a blood-boiling fight again, and he had also gotten better over time due to the sparring.
At least, he certainly had no intention of receiving help from the old man this time.
…
By the time the crowd reached the capital, it was already a couple of million strong. The ground rumbled as they walked and the sound they made as they shouted threatened to sunder the heavens themselves.
Such a huge number of people clearly couldn't enter the capital. Hence, they paused after reaching the main gate.
"The King has decreed that the fight will take place two hours from now in the same stadium where he beat the person who doubted the might of the Black Raven before. Do make your way over there, and wait for the King to show that he is still the one who is the rightful ruler of our Kingdom."
This made Elanev, Daneel and Faxul all sigh with relief as the King had at least accepted the challenge.
After reaching the stadium, a lucky few managed to enter and obtain seats while the rest became frustrated as they thought that they might have to miss the action.
Yet, their roared with anticipation again as the many display trinket which had been showing the scenes of the massacre till now placed themselves on the walls of the stadium and clearly showed the ground where the fight would take place.
It had been been a 2 and a half hour walk till here, so there was still a half-hour till the fight started.
Faxul, who had entered the stadium retired to a room for a few minutes quoting that he needed to prepare himself for the battle.
The people who were close to him only nodded and wished him luck, hoping that he would rid them of this unworthy King who had sent so many soldiers to their deaths for selfish reasons.
After he closed the door behind him, Daneel who was already waiting inside grasped his shoulder before teleporting them both away.
They reappeared outside the capital city, before teleporting again to reach the spot from where they had had to leave before because the Palace had gone on lockdown.
Here, both of them mentally prepared themselves for what was about to come while waiting for the half-hour to pass.
After half an hour, Daneel turned around and looked into Faxul's eyes which were filled with determination and nodded before grasping his shoulder again and teleporting them into the exact spot in the forest which they had entered before by masquerading as animals.
Even as the sirens started to sound across the grounds of the Palace, the two vanished again as Faxul had teleported them into the ancestral grounds.
After doing so, he immediately teleported back up and then used an expensive space lock breaking trinket to break the space lock that came into being the moment the sirens had sounded.
Immediately teleporting outside, he made his way back to the stadium leaving Daneel behind in the ancestral grounds.
All of this took place in the span of less than two seconds, meaning that there was no time for anyone to even react to it before Faxul was safely on his way back.
…
"Someone breached the ancestral forest! Strike teams have made their way over, but they found no one!"
As these words left the Black Raven King's mouth, the old man snarled with anger as he felt the detection formations he had placed on his Natural Energised Training Chamber go off, meaning that someone was trying to take it away.
Hurriedly, he opened his mouth and said, "Delay the fight until I get back. Something important has come up."
Not wanting to give even more time for the invaders to take away his most valuable treasure, he immediately walked out before reaching a spot in the Palace and teleporting away.
…
Indeed, Daneel was standing idly beside the Natural Energised Training Chamber.
Yet, he was in a disguise that he hadn't used in a long time.
If the previous Grand Court Mage of the Lanthanor Kingdom saw him right now, he would definitely exclaim with shock before running away with fear.
It was the enigmatic Master Novrain who had met the previous King of Lanthanor before.
Just as expected, not even a few seconds passed before the old man appeared in front of him.
"How did you get in here?" was the first thing he asked before conjuring two snakes made of fire that swam in the air.
This itself was a testament of his power. The snakes looked lifelike, with their eyes even wariness which Daneel could see from where he stood.
"The same way you did. I teleported. Now, about this treasure. Why don't you give it to me, and I'll not kill you?"
Hearing the confident words, the old man's eyes opened wide as he saw someone threaten him for the first time in decades.
This actually made him laugh for a bit before saying, "Why don't you run away before dying without even detecting the attack which killed you? I'm in a good mood, so I don't want to make my hands bloody. Piss off."
This only made Daneel smile. Clearly, the old man was only saying these words because there must be something wrong with him which made him desire Ker Gems so much.
He actually had another reason to suspect that the old man was injured in some way. When he had teleported here a few seconds ago, he had been able to peer through the door of the Energised Training Chamber which hadn't been closed properly.
Black blood was on the floor, clearly showing that whoever had been training in there had some sort of serious injury.
Daneel knew that fighting this old man might be risky, but he had no choice. Faxul had to win that fight, and that would be impossible if the old man was allowed to intervene.
He had considered bringing Kellor and Cassandra over, but he knew that he would not be able to use his full power if he did so. Hence, he had decided to take the risk himself.
Still, he was confident enough to escape with his life if things became truly dicey. His objective was only to tie him up and delay him, not to kill him.
First, he took out a space lock trinket from his pocket and locked the space around them making it so that even if the old man was a Warrior level entity, he would need some time to break out of it.
The only other way was using a trinket, but Daneel wouldn't stand around and allow him to do so.
"Well, I'm also in a good mood, so I'll grant you a quick death. This is just so that you don't flee and pester me afterwards. Now, prepare to die."
Saying so, a green skull of fire appeared on his hand which laughed diabolically on seeing its target.
It was finally time to use the Tenebrous fire he had obtained as a 'gift' from the Church.