Hidden behind a tree, Daneel was carefully eyeing a Fighter who was being chased by an Apocalyptic Champion.
The advantage of having a scanner was that he could accurately know just where Fighters were who were being targeted in this way so that he could intervene and gain their trust.
The 'gaining trust' part wasn't really necessary, but he was doing it anyway in the beginning as he didn't want to take any risks, and see whether it was needed while going forward.
He had already been done with one Fighter, who had happened to be Tall, and this was the second. This was actually the same spot, as it seemed that these Champion level things were mostly patrolling the same area instead of going wherever they wanted. True, they seemed crazy, and they were ready to kill all those they lay their eyes upon, but it looked like they were bound to something that didn't allow them to go anywhere they wished.
After thinking for a bit, Daneel realized that this was probably so that those participating in the battle would at least have a chance.
He could just imagine it. If a Fighter who was already being chased by a Champion attracted even more, he would have no chance at all to escape, and it would definitely lead to his death. In this way, a Fighter would at most have to handle one monstrosity, and if they were skilled enough, they would be able to run away.
Daneel suspected that this might change as the Battle progressed, but right now, it made things easier for him.
So, when he saw that a Fighter was running away just like Tall, he once again suddenly gestured at him, which caused the same scene to unfold.
However, when they paused and got back their breath, he changed the statement he had given to Tall.
In fact… Even his identity had changed.
"Go assemble in that direction! The Unnamed are soon going to attack us, so we should all group up and prepare to repel them. Remember, no mercy! I'll go look for our leader! I think I saw him over there!"
Same as before, he did not allow any time for the Fighter to question who he was, and the only thing he saw was that he was a part of their Faction.
Also…as he was too concerned about running away, he hadn't noticed that this guy had touched him with a round ball whose glow had faded away the instant the contact had been made.
The advantage with having only three major factions was that Daneel could switch identities between them easily, and using this tactic, he could ensure that no further questions would be asked.
Giving that statement, he ran away, while the Fighter looked at him with a dumbfounded expression on his face before finally deciding to follow his words and head in the direction he had shown.
Stopping after going ahead, Daneel laughed to himself as he saw this, and looked for the next Fighter who would be his prey.
True, Elanev would not be able to do this, so he had given him a different method, although the result would be the same.
And the result… Was being witnessed by the Heroes above with wide-open eyes.
In the pavilion that was watching the Legacy Battle, the Chief's chair was practically surrounded by Heroes who all wanted a closer look at the battlefield below.
This was because the Chief was positioned so that he would have the best view, as he was, after all, the most important person in the area. Of course, the Head was beside him, and he was also surrounded.
As for the reason behind this… It was because they were all captivated by the actions of the King whom they had written off as just some boring addition to a Battle whose result was set from the beginning.
However, as each second passed, each of them realized just how wrong they had been.
In fact, even 'aah!'s and 'ooh!'s were occasionally heard from both the Heroes and their disciples that they had brought along, resulting in the Chief having a smile on his face.
As he received a silent message from the Head, that smile broadened.
"I don't remember the last time a Legacy Battle was so interesting. You knew that this would happen?"
"I had an… Inkling. Unlike you, I frequently follow the matters in the Central Continent when I'm bored. Sitting and ingesting blood is a very lonely task, you know. And in the past few years, this King is the most interesting character to have graced the Central Continent. Of course, I don't see the same potential to become a great mage that you saw, but I definitely know how unique his mind is, and how skilled he is in scheming. You should have seen the way he handled the situation in the Black Raven Kingdom where the Matron had to intervene. It was brilliant! So I knew that he might bring along some of that into the battle. Of course, I could never have known that he would hit upon a plan like this."
Hearing the Chief's response, the Head raised his eyebrows. As he was typically busy, he wouldn't usually watch the Central Continent unless a lot of people were dying, so even though he had gone through a short summary of the King's actions, he hadn't known that this guy was capable of so much.
In fact, just this feat of being praised by the Chief was definitely one that any Warrior should feel glad about, as this individual was someone who had seen thousands of Warriors grow and then perish on Angaria.
Even though he didn't praise the potential or the power of the King, just acknowledging that the mind of the King was something unique was an achievement in itself.
"Look! He's got another faction! How is he finding them so fast?"
As this voice from a Hero from the Sect of Hedon interrupted the Head's musing, he finally decided to stand up and take upon the duty of a commentator.
This made him recall the days spent growing up in his sect, when he was usually pegged to commentate matches as both his voice and his skill in analysis had been perfect for the job.
"Alright, all of you. Settle down. Instead of you peeking around us and trying to figure everything out, let me give you a clear explanation. First, take your seats, so that the Chief doesn't decide to take out his legendary slapping technique."
That last that was enough to make the Heroes instantly go back to their seats, almost as if they were schoolchildren who had been scolded by their teacher.
Seeing this, the Head smiled and said, "Well, then. What we're seeing here is a very classic case of divide and conquer. However, this kid from the Central Continent managed to put a twist on it that even I couldn't have thought of. In the next 30 days, all of you will definitely be treated to a delightful feast for the eyes. So, this is what he is doing…"
…
15 days later.
Ace was running through the forest while carefully looking at the trees all around him, noticing the various signs that were carved on them that indicated the direction in which he was supposed to head.
His mind, though, was in turmoil, as the past few days had been some of the most inexplicable in his life.
First of all, it had all started with him missing the killing blow on the King, which was something he still berated himself about.
Of course, he knew that victory was still his, but he still wished that he could just have planted that sword deep, deep into the King's gullet so that he could feel his life drift away from his body.
After that, it had turned out that 'Apocalyptic Madness', which was how he termed it, was not something trivial after all.
He had already crossed paths with five different Champion level individuals, and each of them had invoked such a sense of horror in him that he had only been able to run, and keep running until that thing was completely out of his sight.
On the way, he had seen multiple bodies that had been crushed into a bloody mess. Knowing that that was the fate that awaited him if he slackened his pace for even a second, he had kept running faster than he ever had in his life.
This part was at least something he had anticipated.
The reason behind him being so confounded, though, was something else.
Typically, the way that a Legacy Battle went was that any opposing factions that encountered each other would fight, so that there would be fewer people left behind for the final days in order to be selected by the Chief.
Usually, the battlefields were smaller, so there were quite a few skirmishes which resulted in quite a large number of people losing their lives or at least being disabled for the rest of the battle.
This time, the battlefield was larger, so he had been expecting that there would be much fewer skirmishes, and that there might be one final all-out confrontation that would decide which faction would come out on.
Yet, according to the reports that he kept receiving whenever he met up with others, there were many more fights between factions this time than any previous Legacy Battle.
Also, weirdly… Anomalies were popping up everywhere.
In a small faction that was known to be weak, one of their members had somehow burst out with potential and become capable of defeating a faction larger than them that had started a fight in the hope that they could wipe them out and leave.
A minor faction which was supposed to be strong had also had its strongest Warriors wiped out, which meant that smaller factions had been able to end its journey.
The overall strength levels of many minor factions kept changing, with many such instances of those who were supposed to lose winning, and vice versa. By now, no one could predict who was in the lead.
Even with this, it looked like the gods of chaos weren't done. Apparently, there were some people who were going around saving Fighters and directing them to where their factions were gathering, and this was typically followed by skirmishes taking place.
This basically resulted in factions gathering together before fighting, with the end result being that one of them would be wiped out.
All in all, the numbers in the battlefield were being whittled down quickly, and Ace was headed to a battle in the hope of watching and figuring out why all these things were happening.
Unknown to him, he was already being watched by Daneel, who was standing along with Elanev on a tree just a few tens of meters away from where two groups were going to clash.
"How many are left?", Elanev asked, to which Daneel replied, "Around 75."
This made Elanev shake his head with an incredulous expression in his eyes.
"How did you even come up with this?", he asked, genuinely wanting to find out how his younger brother's mind.
After shooting him a glance, Daneel thought for a bit and said, "Well, I once heard a story. A group had been brought together to rob a ban-…err, I mean, a house of someone powerful. Each of them had different duties- one needed to bypass the formation, while another was in charge of taking out the guards. However, the man behind it all had planned it in such a way that each such person was charged with killing the team member whose job was done. That way, those remaining would have a bigger share. In this way, the number of team members kept decreasing, as they could never have known that they were all fighting each other as planned by the one behind the whole thing. By the end, only one was left…and he was the one who had planned it all, and had disguised himself as a team member."
Elanev heard the story with interest, and slowly, he could see how this had inspired the King.
However, for his benefit, the King continued in order to clarify it further.
"I wanted all of these factions to fight against each other and keep wiping themselves off. For that, I had to assemble them, and then make them face off against an opposing faction. That wasn't too hard. But the problem came when a certain faction was weaker than the one they were facing. If only one of them got wiped out, it wasn't ideal.
"So…I took it a step further, and I found a way to change the power levels using those balls, which held the consciousnesses of Kellor and Faxul. The balls allow consciousnesses to enter and control Fighters easily. Mages, or Champion level Fighters would be able to resist in the blink of an eye. Warrior level Fighters, though, have pretty vulnerable minds. If there's a strong group, I would send in Kellor's consciousness to weaken them by making the strongest Warrior's of that group not use their full potential, resulting in their defeat. He is a Mage, so he knows jacksh*t about Fighting. If there's a weaker one, Faxul would enter the fray and make a weak Fighter 'burst out' with power, as I gave him a way to burn the resources in a body for a small burst of power. Basically, I manipulated the factions to be on the same level so that they would keep getting wiped off, while covering all that up so that the Heroes wouldn't know what's actually going on. To them, it'll look as if different people are changing according to the pressure in different ways, while I am skilled in locating Champions. After all, I only need to hide the consciousness thing from them, as its a simpler version of a Hero level spell which I'm not supposed to have. They can follow along with the rest, as all the other trinkets can be made by a Warrior, anyway. That's all. Simple, isn't it?"
Hearing the plan again, Elanev was awed even though he had been carrying it out till now.
However, that last question…made him want to throw up.
Still, controlling himself, he asked, "But in that plan, that guy manipulated their greed, right? Here, you're just making these factions fight each other normally, but with a little twist."
This made an even more mischievous smile appear on the King's face while he said, "Exactly. Everything so far was to set the stage for this secondary plan that is based on the story I told you to begin. And by the time I'm done, I want the entire Fortress to shiver with fear whenever they hear my name. All right, this one's starting. Watch out, though. We have a special visitor. Maybe…it's time for a little bit of that revenge I was talking about."
Saying so, Daneel focused his eyes in the direction from where Ace was watching.
At the same moment, Ace felt a chill which made him shudder, but no matter how much he searched, he could find no one around him.
Deciding to be even more alert, he continued watching the battle between the Fighters which had just started, while unaware that he had already been locked on to by the most dangerous predator in this battlefield.