Taking large breaths, Daneel slowly rose up from the ground using one hand while he used the other to check whether there was any remnant blood on his face.
His skin was a pale white, as if he had just had all of his blood drained out of him.
Wiping away the blood on his teeth using the sleeve of his red robe, he hobbled to the throne before sitting on it, using its back for support.
Although he seemed very pathetic right now, his eyes were shining with the glorious light of triumph.
This had definitely been the closest shave of his life yet, and when he thought back to just how even a small mistake would definitely have lead to his death, he couldn't help but shudder.
Still, the smile didn't leave his face.
When he remembered the way in which he had panicked, he actually scolded himself.
From all he had been through, it should not have been that a mere face-off with death caused such fear to attack him.
How many dire situations had he gotten out of using his wit and skill?
Daneel made a promise to himself: from now on, no matter what he faced, he would keep the cool head of an experienced senior who had seen the passage of time filled with enough awe-inducing events to numb him to any and all fear.
With that out of the way, Daneel still couldn't make that remnant chill in his spine leave.
If he hadn't gotten that idea to use what he had heard from the Watcher in passing, a clone would definitely have been sitting in his place on this throne right now.
The Watcher had said that he had a way to make the real Travis forget everything that he was subjected to. This meant that there was definitely a technique in the Big 4 to alter one's memory.
Using that crucial hint, Daneel had asked the system and rejoiced when he heard that there were records of a technique which bared all memories and left one scarred.
Choosing this option like a man clinging to the last vine left before he fell into a ravine, Daneel had ordered the system to make a fake life for himself.
His memories from Earth had been replaced by those of the original Daneel from Lanthanor, and as for the rest, each instance where he used the system had been tweaked to show that he had only achieved everything using hard work, perseverance and a little bit of luck.
All of his original memories were locked up by the system using the tool that had already paid off its cost many times over, and even he had assumed that that had been his life for a second after Ashahell left.
After finalizing this plan, his mission had been to manipulate Ashahell towards 'allowing' him to choose this option, and for that, he had appealed to the man's passion which clearly meant a lot to him.
When Daneel had been giving that speech, he hadn't even had to use the system to make those tears appear. All of the passion he had shown had been genuine, which led him to feel joy that he had reached new heights as an actor.
Of course, he had acted from his heart, but Daneel didn't consider this fact.
After a minute passed, Daneel finally prepared to put the harrowing experience before him so that he could decide what to do next. After all, time was short.
Yet, before he did so, a single question appeared in his mind which refused to leave.
Ashahell was a Peak Exalted Champion, and an individual at that level would definitely be able to detect anything at the upper boundary of the Champion level in complexity.
However, he hadn't been able to detect the system at all.
Daneel had considered this possibility, but he had just put it aside as if that happened, then it would mean that all was lost anyway.
Thankfully, it hadn't come to be.
However, the doubt that he now had was this: just what level was the system at?
For a second, Daneel wondered whether to ask the system regarding this, but he discarded this thought, knowing that it would definitely just say that he wasn't eligible to know the answer yet.
Taking a deep breath and using a mirror conjured using water to check his appearance, Daneel finally started thinking about what to do next.
First and foremost: the Watcher was right, and Ashahell really was delivering something to the Church which would allow them to invade earlier than expected.
What could it be?
When he had asked, the man had simply said that he was looking forward to a meeting…
The meeting!
With all the knowledge that Daneel was in possession of due to infiltrating the Sect of Hedon, it didn't take a genius to figure out Ashahell's plan.
In the sect meeting room, Ashahell had announced that he would host a physical meeting with all the members of the High Council after obtaining the first part to ascertain ways to move forward in this project.
The Watcher had been wrong in one thing: he had assumed that Ashahell was delivering some "Thing".
No, what Ashahell was delivering…was the heads of possibly all the Hero-level individuals of Angaria.
In that meeting, he would definitely somehow kill all of them, which would leave Angaria completely defenseless.
After all, these Hero level individuals were definitely the last bastions of defense that must definitely be the ones stopping the Church from merrily marching in.
This was a guess which Daneel made when he thought about all the facts, but he knew that he was right.
It all fit! Ashahell had used the excuse of Sister Xuan's prophecy to suggest his plan to try and use the forbidden inheritance and trinket left behind by the last Empire on Angaria.
After they agreed, he had proposed this meeting, which needed to be carried out anyway.
If Sister Xuan's hadn't seen that vision, he would mostly have had to use more time to convince the High Council about his plan, which would make his "delivery" coincide with the timeline that the Watcher had told him.
With growing conviction, Daneel immediately regained full control of the core formation of the Palace of Lanthanor before disappearing from his place.
Before leaving, with a sigh, he saw that the items he had placed back were gone-taken away by Ashahell, but he had really had no choice.
This also made him curse that madman one more time. He was definitely more intelligent than any foe Daneel had ever faced, and something even more terrifying was just how driven he was. His goal was a noble one, but it was just his method that was evil.
When this thought appeared in Daneel's head, he grit his teeth and crushed it before using a few choice words to curse the man, as he was still very disgruntled about how close he had been to death.
No matter how smart he was, Daneel would have to be smarter, or Angaria was truly doomed.
….
10 minutes later.
In the hidden underground room of the Hidden Kill Sect, a very peculiar sight could be seen which would definitely shock anyone who happened to walk through the door.
A head, with nothing but air from the neck down, was madly hopping around the room and destroying various things while repeatedly berating a man who stood to the side with a sheepish expression on his face.
The head's favorite move was head-butt, which made sense because…that was the only move it could use. Apparently, it had forgotten that it could also use magic.
The headbutt destroyed almost each and every piece of furniture in the room before finally pausing and returning to the podium in the middle which was the only untouched item.
"All right, all right, I know I was wrong! I couldn't help but doubt you, OK? We can argue about this later! For all we know, Ashahell might be hosting that damn meeting right now! What do we do to stop it?"
Hearing the sense of urgency in Daneel's voice, the Watcher finally fumed before swallowing down the remaining curses that he had been about to hurl at the King of Lanthanor.
This kid had had the audacity to doubt him and ignore him for days, even choosing to meet the prime threat of the continent in secret without informing him!
Daneel had only told him about the fake meeting that had occurred, deciding not to say anything about the truth.
As for the part about figuring out Ashahell's plan, Daneel had said that he had noticed the man's special attention to the meeting, and had put two and two together.
Even then, the Watcher kept saying that it had been very foolish and dangerous, which Daneel couldn't agree with more.
"We have a day. It's 2 PM right now, and the physical meeting is scheduled at noon tomorrow. I still have some contacts inside the sect, you know. I heard this from a maid inside the Sect, who passed it on to her sister who left the sect and then talked to her husband about it. It will happen in the hidden floors of the Central Tower."
Daneel thought whether to ask just why he was watching every random maid's family, but he chose not to, knowing that the man greatly loved his job. Besides, it had shown admirable results.
"How do we stop it?"
Looking straight into Daneel's eyes, the Watcher replied, "You have to figure something out, kid. You will be the one returning to the sect, and you are the one with the most clarity about everything inside the sect. Force is obviously out of the question. A direct warning is also useless, as no member of any sect will choose to believe you. They might bring it up covertly with their sect leader, but Ashahell must definitely have countermeasures in place to make sure that he detects any and all potential danger to his plan. He can kill you before you blink if he wishes."
Hearing this, Daneel fell into deep thought.
He had indeed been thinking about all the possible routes to stop the man, and he had also discarded the choice of directly telling the Matron or Marcus.
He couldn't risk it. If it caused suspicion to arise in Ashahell, he truly would be killed, and that smart-ass would definitely even find some way to proceed.
No. There had to be some other way, which did not put him in risk, but would still get the job done.
Ideally, the plan would be foiled, and Ashahell would be caught red-handed.
As Daneel racked his brains for a few minutes, with a flash, an idea finally appeared to him.
Immediately, he took out a communication trinket to find out where Sister Xuan was.
That bastard had used a prediction from a seer to push forward his plan, and Daneel was going to use the same to put an end to it.
Only, this one…would be fake, but no one would know.
"System, begin to create a simulation where 9 people are lying around a table, dead, which is followed by the Church invading Angaria and killing everyone on it. Retrieve information regarding how a seer actually engages in visions, and begin the development of a spell to make a seer think they are really experiencing one."