Jalan and his family were closest to one of the points from where the King of Axelor's voice echoed throughout the Kingdom.
They bent low, at first, fearing that it might be an attack.
Yet, as they heard the contents of the message, they didn't know what to think.
All around them, families began whispering among themselves. Most said that the King should fight, as they were a people who always wished to have their heads raised high. How could they face others if it was a fact that their King retreated from a direct challenge without even fighting?
Of those who advocated this, the most vehement were the ones who had family members in the army that had marched out. They did not wish to see a war happen, if it was possible.
A few murmured about how the King had always been good to them, and that it was unfair because he was still just a teen, compared to the King of Axelor who had lived for many decades. Their power levels surely would not match, so it would be suicide.
Yet, they did not like the option of not accepting the battle, either, for the same reasons that the others felt.
Jalan didn't know what to think. Before he could decide on something, though, they heard the firm voice of the King respond.
"All right. I will fight. Let it never be known that the Black Raven Kingdom took a step back, no matter the circumstances."
At the scene where the rulers were gathered, Faxul's answer had caused the two behind him to adopt stoic expressions as they saw him walk forward to meet his foe.
On the outside, it looked as if they were prepared to step in in case he faced any danger.
Yet, in a few seconds…it was all over.
The moment King Safiros reached his opponent, he conjured a sword made of condensed fire and struck down.
In response, Faxul expertly jumped to the side to evade the blow, but that was when he froze, as if he were being electrocuted by a force neither of them could see.
In that moment, without giving them any time to respond, the King of Axelor forcefully punched to dispel the barrier around Faxul, before taking out a trinket shaped like a small, stone block from his pocket which he placed on Faxul's forehead.
This immediately caused Faxul's face to relax, before a cold smile came on his face.
The King of Lanthanor, who looked as if he was seeing something he couldn't accept as the truth, suddenly shouted, "It's a trap!"
In response, the two Kings in front of them shot out devastating attacks at the Hero level which were capable of killing them both, who were only supposed to be Warriors, in the blink of an eye.
Thankfully, his gut feeling had saved him. The King of Lanthanor had hastily caught the Queen's hand, before teleporting them both away instantly.
Finding themselves alone, the Empire Spirit, Arnold, who was once again controlling the King, stretched out a hand to the Black Raven King, who was still on the ground, where he had collapsed after being forcefully Mind Controlled.
The trinket was something special that he and the old bird had made, that was capable of connecting someone to the stone pedestal where he was bound.
Basically, Arnold had used a Mind Control attack first to distract the King, before using this trinket to put him under the temporary control of the old bird.
The latter's aim was to slowly torture the King in various ways until he voluntarily allowed him to take full control, while this alliance, which would come to be using the identity of the King that they had just obtained, would allow Arnold to break the third seal and win the Race using everything that he would obtain.
It was a beautiful confluence of objectives that would see both of them getting what they wanted, so both of them had smiles on their faces after seeing the first part of their plan succeed.
Next up…it was time for the 'betrayel'.
…
Meanwhile, Daneel and Katerina had just appeared above their armies, which had hastily begun to defend against the combined attack from the Black Raven Kingdom and the Kingdom of Axelor.
They were retreating slowly while hiding behind the many barrier trinkets that were deployed courtesy of Eldinor, and it definitely looked like a rout.
Katerina looked at the scene with worry, but when she turned to the side, she saw the King of Lanthanor smile happily.
What the f*ck was going on?
Thankfully, the King looked at her and spoke at this moment.
"Good job. That was a pretty genuine expression."
"That's because I was shocked! What's going on? And how could you not tell me, beforehand?"
"Er…like I said, I was busy. So, what do you want to know?"
As Katerina heard this, she could only sputter for a moment, while she saw the King shoot glances below with that same happy expression.
Finally, she found some words after putting aside her exasperation.
"Everything!"
This made the King scratch his nose and think for a bit, before answering.
"Right. So, first, I don't need to tell you to keep this a secret, right?"
Folding her hands, Katerina nodded with anger appearing on her face, as it almost seemed as if the King was delaying his answer to ramp up the shock factor.
She was not amused.
Noticing this, the King finally launched into his explanation.
"Well, I'll keep it short. Faxul is betraying me so that he can gain the trust of Axelor's King and find out everything that is going on inside his Kingdom. Later on, things will play out in such a manner that the Black Raven Kingdom will be saved by me, so that we can bring them into the Alliance."
Instead of clearing things up, this raised more questions than ever in Katerina's mind, which made her even angrier as it looked like the King was deliberately being enigmatic.
Curiosity won out over anger. So, she asked the most glaring ones.
"How the hell did those two shoot attacks that were at a complexity I couldn't even comprehend? What was that trinket? And if this is a sudden betrayal, how the hell did his soldiers begin to attack us without being puzzled regarding why they are being ordered to attack those who came to support them?"
"Oh, apologies, I forgot that you're out of the loop on certain…matters. Well, the answer is that this betrayal was facilitated by something called an Empire Spirit, which is working in conjunction with another Empire Spirit that is controlling the King of Axelor, that Mind Controlled Faxul into obeying its orders. They were already planning this from before, so they Mind Controlled key commanders in the Black Raven Army, who declared before the battle, secretly, that they would be allying with Axelor for the good of their people, and that it was the command of the King after he had found out that there was a secret plan by Lanthanor to take over their Kingdom by force. Oh, Faxul's in on this- both of us allowed them to do that. Strong dialogues like 'for the good of my people, I am ready to kill my friend' blah blah were used. In other words, it's just a load of bullsh*t to convince, or at least confuse them into following orders. Because it was a direct command, and because they always were wary of Lanthanor, they followed the orders, and the result is what you see below you. Now then, I'll explain more about Empire Spirits later. For now, prepare to lead everyone back. Let's go."
Saying so, the King of Lanthanor vanished, leaving behind Katerina who was close to spitting with rage.
True, he had said a lot, but most of it didn't make sense.
Still, controlling her anger, she left to do as she had been asked.
…
An hour later, citizens all over the Continent were shocked as they saw the King of Lanthanor, who had seemed so undefeatable during that show that was still talked about, running back to his Kingdom along with his army while being attacked by a humongous force that was 4 times the size of the one he had deployed.
They desperately conjured barriers to protect themselves, and it was mainly because of the Exalted Mages from Eldinor who managed to rain down cautionary attacks on their opponents that they even managed to escape to their border, where the chase was finally stopped as that force was not enough to fight against the legendary border walls of Lanthanor.
Yet, in their display trinkets, many watched in shock as they witnessed the sight of the combined army of Lanthanor and Eldinor scurrying inside the walls while their opponents cheered with the joy of victory.
Even the army of the Black Raven Kingdom cheered, as this was their first victory in what felt like a long, long time.
As the two armies returned to their respective Kingdoms, a grave announcement was made on both types of the Networks.
"The Black Raven Kingdom and the Kingdom of Axelor have entered an Alliance. The Black Raven King has released a public statement saying that he had no option but to do this because his friend, the King of Lanthanor, was going to vanquish his Kingdom and bring it under his Alliance to satiate his greed for power. The King of Lanthanor has also released a statement that his close friend has been somehow hoodwinked by the King of Axelor. At this point, all we can do is report the news as it is. As things stand now, there are two Alliances on this continent. The Network will continue to be neutral, so stay tuned to hear more."
For the first time, the citizens of Angaria were exposed to the sight of two figures in power giving different accounts of an incident, with them being clueless regarding which one they were supposed to believe.
Daneel chuckled inwardly as he thought of this, while he sat in his Throne Room, where all the ministers that were assembled had grave expressions on their faces.
In their eyes, they had just lost an ally, and they were up against a force which eclipsed the combined might of their Alliance.
Of course, on the outside, Daneel had to look worried, so he engaged in a brainstorming session with them where they listed all the worst-case scenarios so that they could prepare for them.
As soon as this was done, Daneel flew into the air to watch as King Safiros, or Arnold, who was still in control, laid down a formation much like the one that was around his own Kingdom.
Only…he couldn't have known that Daneel had already expected this, and had set up a small nullifying formation inside that would allow him to enter the Black Raven Kingdom as he pleased.
The first part of the plan had gone beautifully. The betrayal had been perfect, and for all intents and purposes, Lanthanor was now the villain.
Yet…the second part of his plan would see that change.
Teleporting inside the Black Raven Kingdom without being detected by Safiros, Daneel traveled to the same family that they had lodged with before, when he and Faxul had been journeying in the Black Raven Kingdom together.
When he reached the house, he saw a kid sleeping, while two adults confusedly discussed the events of a day.
He had decided to begin the next phase here. So, with a flick of his fingers, he Mind Controlled both of them, before putting a very specific thought in their mind.
"In some point in the future, soon, your King will order a specific place to be purged. Then, you must go to that location, and begin to tell people that the King of Lanthanor was right, and that your true King is somehow being controlled by someone. Working with a few others, you will begin to build small pockets of support for the King of Lanthanor, who has only always wanted to help you all. When the time comes, you will sway even more people to your cause using an event that will take place. For now, you will forget all this, until the time when the purge is announced."
With his task done, Daneel continued onwards to other houses throughout the Kingdom to repeat the same actions.
As he did so, he couldn't help but remember an iconic statement from Earth, which made him wish that that language was present here.
"Viva la revolución!"
Oh, if only he could hear this being shouted when the second phase reached its conclusion.
Daydreaming in this way, he went about his work.