The voice that came out of nowhere did not allow Daneel any time to respond. He fainted right away, and even though he tried his hardest to give an order to the system to stop the Baptism as something was wrong, he failed.
When he woke up, what he saw made his heart go still, before it began to beat furiously in his heart.
His mind also went blank, and he had to take a few moments to understand that he wasn't seeing things.
The reason behind such an intense reaction wasn't that he was greeted by something that could cause his death.
No, it was actually a pretty normal sight, and if anyone saw it, they wouldn't be too surprised as it would be familiar.
However, that applied only to…earthlings.
Indeed, Daneel was in a place from Earth, and this…horrified him more than anything, as it meant that whoever had spoken before had found this in his memories, and was using it for some purpose.
It was an interrogation room, with a single door and a two-way mirror.
There was a regular table in front of him with a glass of water, and in one corner, there was also a camera.
Yes, this was exactly an interrogation room from Earth, and it was the sort that Daneel had seen in TV shows.
Why the f*ck was he here? Who the f*ck had that voice belonged to?
Even as these questions swirled in his head, Daneel turned to the mirror…and got the biggest shock of his life.
Before, he had only glossed over the room to get the details, but now, as he paid attention, he saw that the face staring back at him…was the one he used to have on Earth.
This made the panic return with even greater force, and Daneel felt like getting up and running away as far as possible from here.
After all these years, seeing that face that he had almost forgotten so abruptly had an effect the likes of which couldn't even be put in words.
If Daneel was that same person who had walked into the experiment due to their promise of giving him food, he might have fainted, or peed himself.
However, the years spent on Angaria had not been wasted.
He was now Daneel Anivron, King, Alliance Leader, and Saviour.
And that man…was not someone who would give in to fear.
That was the primary emotion that Daneel was feeling, as he couldn't even imagine the consequences behind his true past being exposed.
Even as his mind began to dwell on those possibilities, he forcibly stopped it, and focused on calming himself down.
First and foremost, he decided to check on his most important asset.
"System, are you there?"
[Affirmative.]
This allowed Daneel to let out the biggest heave of relief possible, as all hope might truly have been lost if this trump card had been taken away from him.
"What happened? And are there any notifications that I've missed?"
[According to the analysis that was carried out, the Baptism triggered some kind of safeguard that was designed to be tripped if it is attempted by anyone who does not naturally possess the Bloodline. It is uncertain how this was identified, and the source of the voice is also unclear. The tripping of this safeguard resulted in host's consciousness being hijacked, and it was also forcibly scanned. Further analysis is being done, but no new information has been found.
Missed notifications:
Hostile External force detected.
Attempting defensive measures.
Defensive measures have failed. Complexity of hostile force exceeds complexity of system.
Host's consciousness has been hijacked.
Host's consciousness being scanned.
Reattempting defensive measures to hide information.
Defensive measures have failed. Complexity of hostile force exceeds complexity of system.
System being scanned. Triggering safeguard. Camouflaging system as consciousness.
Camouflage successful.]
'WHAT THE F*CK?!'
Hearing those notifications, Daneel felt like screaming out loud, but he realized that although he could feel his body and move his head, the rest of it wasn't under his control.
It wasn't even that there were any restraints. He was sitting normally, but he just couldn't control his hands and legs!
This was something that might have horrified Daneel if he wasn't already as shocked as he could be.
Someone had scanned the system.
The system!
Sweat appeared on Daneel's brow as the thought of it being exposed occurred to him, and he felt so, so glad that he had taken that time before, after the upgrade, to sit down and put in place all kinds of safeguards in case the worst happened.
If he hadn't done that…he didn't even want to imagine what could have happened.
On the occasion where it might be discovered, Daneel had ordered the system to make itself look like a consciousness that was present in his head, just like Drakos.
He hadn't even known what the system was and whether it could be detected or scanned by anyone on this continent or in this world, but he hadn't been prepared to take that chance.
Even though the system had said that he wasn't authorized to know those answers, the safeguard had been put in place, and today, it had worked.
Daneel didn't have the luxury of reveling in this, though, as the revelation of this scan had revealed that he was dealing with someone whose power he couldn't even comprehend.
What the hell had he gotten into?
As soon as he got this question, a slight suspicion appeared in his mind as to who the culprit behind this might be, but instead of thinking on that, he focused on the room to see what else he could find.
In the mirror, Daneel could also see that he was wearing the same attire in which he spent most of his college days.
A faded shirt, and torn jeans that had once been blue, but had turned white after repeatedly washing over and over again.
His hair was slicked back, and his bland face that would never stand out in a crowd looked like it had just been washed.
Wait…wasn't this exactly how he had looked on the morning of the last day before everything went wrong in his life?
The moment this realization occurred to Daneel, the door abruptly banged open, making him snap his head in that direction to see who had come in.
The man who entered looked like a typical policeman, wearing a black uniform and carrying a gun in his holster that looked like it hadn't been opened in quite a long time.
With a neutral expression, he closed the door and sat in front of Daneel.
The man looked oddly familiar, and as Daneel thought about it, he finally recognized him.
His nose which had been broken but had never healed fully gave it away.
He was the same policeman that Daneel had gone to when the harassment by that influential kid had begun. Instead of helping him, this man had thrashed him mercilessly, and had made it clear that if he tried going to the authorities again, he would directly be killed after a false charge came on his name that he was distributing drugs in the college. Evidence would be found in his room, and he would be shot on the suspicion that he might be carrying weapons.
Daneel had been so scared by this that he had obeyed, and never tried again. If the kind old lady who had raised him heard that news, he knew that she would definitely be heartbroken, and he had never wanted to bring sadness to the one who had given him everything in his life.
For a moment, he almost went back to that scared, desperate, hopeless person he had been, but remembering everything he had done in Angaria, he forcefully stopped such a thing from happening.
As soon as this happened…he got the feeling that if he hadn't accomplished that, then something horrible would definitely have happened.
At this moment, the policeman finally spoke up.
"Not bad. You really have changed a lot…so much so, that you're completely a different person from who you used to be. I don't think there is any way that you can be manipulated into turning back into who you were, so I'll drop the act."
As soon as this voice appeared in the room, the body of the policeman…shimmered, as if it was made of mist, and in its place, an old man wearing a gold-colored robe appeared in front of Daneel.
Originally, the strong and bold features of his face were framed by a drooping mustache, a goatee, and shoulder-length dark hair. However, after putting on an expression as if he was picking something, he did something that confirmed a suspicion that Daneel had gotten after hearing his words.
His face shimmered again, and after a moment, it reappeared sporting a Classic Pompadour Haircut with brown hair that almost looked black. A neat beard the likes of which could be seen on models in fashion shows framed his features, and his attire also changed into a three-piece suit that fit him perfectly.
Standing up, he looked at himself in the mirror and exclaimed, "Incredible! If only I had this style when I was courting Hafora!"
Laughing heartily, he sat back down and gazed into Daneel's eyes before saying, "As you've probably already guessed, I'm just using what I found in your memories."
Indeed, Daneel had already realized this, and of course, the clearest sign had been the message from the system where it had said that the other safeguards he put to prevent anyone from finding out that he was from Earth had failed.
As if reading his thoughts, the man said, "I applaud the attempt to stop me from seeing all this, though. You must really have been afraid to have gone so far as to ask whatever consciousness is inside you to help out in this matter, which meant that you trusted it with this information in the first place. What is it, by the way? I've been trying to find more, but all I can tell is that it is an Empire Spirit that seems exactly the same as the other one in your mind."
Daneel kept mum, which led the man to slap his forehead and say, "Oh, how rude of me! I'm Xandar, the shapeshifter whose Bloodline you tried to get. You can be free, because this is just a tiniest wisp of consciousness that woke up because of your attempt. Did you think that we Godbeasts would be ok with just about anyone obtaining our powers? We knew that down the line, there would be attempts to use the blood of the descendants of those whom we gave our Bloodlines to to obtain them. It is all right if one who is lucky enough to be born with it obtains our power by surviving the Baptism, but others…no. We came together and secretly put in this safeguard just to deal with people like you. Don't worry, this will dissipate after…ehem, if, you leave, and no matter what, no one will find out any of your secrets, which you seem to have quite a lot of. Now then, where shall we start? Oh, yes, the test. You see, normally, I would have directly looked for ways to crush your consciousness and turn your body into a blabbering mess that will never recover. However, after going through your memories…you have promise. The whole reason I and the others agreed to pass on our Bloodlines was that we liked what we saw in Fenoras. I see a bit of the same in you…but its not enough. So, I've decided that we shall have a little test. The goal is simple: I have one question for you, and if you answer it correctly in 10 attempts, you can have my power. Oh, and by the way, I LOVE your approach in overcoming the weaknesses, and it might even work. And as for the rest of your plan…oh, I just wish I could be there to see it! It'll be…'lit' is the term, right? IT'LL BE LIT! But before all that, you have to survive. So…are you ready?"