For an entire second… Daneel had been pretty sure that he was a goner.
The plan had been unorthodox, but simple, and it looked like there wasn't much that could go wrong.
He had discussed it clearly with all the Sovereigns. They had been given their roles, and they had been expecting it to go quite well.
Daneel would be disguising himself as a male Divine Cockroach, and he would be the one acting as bait to invite the one that had run away over. That moment when it had burrowed into the ground had allowed the system to get a look at it, and it had been able to tell just which gender it belonged to.
Bringing about an increase in the number of their species was one of the most important responsibilities of any creature, and that was definitely more so the case with this creature, which was possibly the last to exist on this continent.
That was where the idea had come from, and the system had confirmed that it would be one of the highest priorities for the Cockroach. After all, Daneel had to confirm, because there were different types of cockroaches, and thankfully, this was not the type which could reproduce without needing to mate.
The problem here was that there should be no formation whatsoever, because he had also found out about the ability of Divine Cockroaches to be able to detect slight elementary particle variations in the air which would allow them to know that they were walking into a trap.
Hence, Daneel had sat down and created a few trinkets, so that they could be used to instantly activate multiple levels of barriers to at least hinder the Divine Cockroach, until his Sovereigns came into place and laid down the actual Hero level formation that would be the one doing the trapping. Of course, none of them had the ability to do so, so he had gone ahead and created multiple trinkets which could be placed in a specific pattern to activate the formation when Energy was infused into it.
It was costly, and it ate into his reserves of Ker gems, but it was necessary.
After that, the objective was to convince the female Divine cockroach that there was no risk. For this, the answer had been simple.
After finding out that it was the aura that had driven away the Cockroach before, it had been simple enough to eradicate it from Daneel's body, before making objects that held that same aura by transforming into a true Dragon again.
All he would need to do for this was infuse his power into them, and he had chosen a simple metal block and bathed it in the mild flames of a Dragon which were typically used for cooking its meals.
If someone carried this in the air, then it would seem as if it was the same person who had scared away the Divine Cockroach, and that was all that was needed. This person would be flying around in the air, as if searching for something, and this would indicate to the Divine Cockroach that they knew the real location of another one of its species, and that they were targeting it, which resulted in it sending out a mating all desperately to search for help.
All of this had worked out beautifully, and the only reason that Daneel had been switching on and off the surveillance was to check whether the Cockroach was approaching, in order to know and signal his sovereigns to be prepared and ready to deploy the formation that will trap it.
After that, though… Even though he had seen it, he had underestimated the speed with which it could burst forth.
It looked like it hadn't been very prepared before, and what he had seen wasn't its top speed, because this time, it braced itself and reached such a mesmerizing level of acceleration that it became a blur, and before Daneel could even try and activate the Basilisk's Breath, he was in its hands, about to… Mate.
Thankfully, he had told the system to directly cancel the transformation if there was any untoward circumstance, and by the Heavens' grace, the system had classified this as just the sort of circumstance in which it should intervene.
This had resulted in that Cockroach becoming shocked, allowing him to deploy the barriers, and then trap it.
As he shouted the statement that he had already prepared which would appeal to the most important thing related to the Divine Cockroach, it paused, and finally stopped its attempts at trying to pierce through the formation behind it.
He had to admit that even though it had fallen for this trap, it was quite capable, because it had been covering its attempt with its body, while achieving quite a bit of headway into succeeding as its legs were quite sharp, and it seemed to have a natural talent at detecting the weaknesses of formations and targeting them.
All of this seemed like instinct - the same instinct that had allowed these Godbeasts to roam almost unchallenged for the longest time, until humans became powerful enough.
After it did stop, the Cockroach which was at least double the size of a regular human being frantically looked around before getting on the ground and turning into a ball, almost as if it was afraid of him.
And wait, why did its expression almost seem… Cute?
This extremely incongruous feeling was so out of the norm that Daneel could only investigate and see if it was somehow induced in him by an outside force, but there was no invasion into his mind, so he could only think that it was some stray thought that had appeared because of the stress of the entire situation.
However, he had to put this supposition aside, because Eloise appeared behind him and said, "Aw, it looks so pitiful! It's like we're bullying it!"
It did look like that, and actually, it wasn't a very ugly creature.
Unlike the Cockroaches from Earth, many of its body parts had beautiful patterns that shone in the light that was falling on it from the globe that Daneel had conjured in the air.
Of course, Aran who appeared beside Daneel said, "Seriously? Disgusting. Okay, I admit, not as disgusting as I expected, but still disgusting."
Even this guy was swayed a bit?
Daneel was quite surprised, but he knew that it was time to put out the carrot.
He had always known that the method of the carrot and the stick was very useful, and the stick was already in place- it was this formation which he had created painstakingly, in which he could hold this Champion level Divine Cockroach for quite a long time.
He knew that Cockroaches hated to be trapped, and this made him wonder just how agitated they must feel back on Earth where they were regularly placed in small boxes by little kids for their amusement.
Opening his mouth, he said, "I know that you probably want to break through, more than anything. I have a place where the Energy level is the same as that during the Empire. If you give me a small thing that I require from you, I'll allow you to train in that place for a period of time. How does it sound? And also, after you break through, you'll be pretty powerful, so I need your word that you will not go against the human race. Isn't that fair?"
As Skrr heard this, she was quite shocked.
A place which had the Energy level of the time before the Apocalypse?
Could such a magical place exist?
She was quite worried that she was in a place where she couldn't leave from, and she was also pretty angry, mostly with herself, that she had been tricked.
Now that she thought about it, it was too much of a coincidence, but she just hadn't been able to resist.
Yet, this temptation to break through, which would take away a lot of limitations that shackled her right now, really appealed to her, and she spoke for the first time in thousands of years.
"What do you want?"
"Krrr ksskrt skkurr?"
It was a sound made by the clicking of its legs accompanied by a few sounds from its mouth, and it was the tongue of their species.
As it echoed in the cave they were in, she realized that this might be a problem, because as she was still a Champion, she was not able to speak like them, which was possible for Cockroaches that had entered the Hero level.
Yet, surprisingly, the meanie seemed to understand.
"All I need is a tiny piece of your consciousness - the smallest part. The explanation of why would take too long, but from what I know of your species, I can tell that this won't be too much of a loss to you, and you will even be able to regenerate it in merely a thousand years. Give me this, and you can train in that place for as long as you need until you break through."
A piece of her consciousness?
At first, Skrr's answer was to shake her head, because she knew that it was pretty excruciating.
True, their consciousness was supposed to be like that of Fighters, which was quite flexible and could regenerate.
Yet, it wouldn't be pleasant at all, but if it was true that she could break through…
No, Skrr! You got cheated once! You can't give it away and be tricked again!
As if reading this thought of hers, the meanie said, "I'm willing to show you that place first, and then you can decide to give me the piece of your consciousness. However, it is a place with only one exit and one entry, so I will point you in its general direction and open the formations. That way, even if I am being disingenuous again, you will at least have a way to escape. Only one will remain - and it will be to protect what makes up that thing. You'll understand why when you get there. Is that okay?"
It sounded so good!
Why was the meanie trying to do so many things to ensure that she would accept?
Was it really the case that he wanted to protect those of his species, just like her mother had wanted to, and just like she did?
Skrr knew that breaking through was most important, because doing so and training further would even help her overcome this limitation of needing another of her species to reproduce.
And as for loneliness… Even that would be solved, and now, as she heard him, she found more and more reasons to agree and do what he asked.
She still managed to control herself, though, and nodded, which led to the meanie simply pointing in one direction, before dispersing the formation that was stopping here until now.
Skrr's first instinct was to run away, but she controlled that, as again, Divine cockroaches should act with honor, so she would only run if there were signs that he was not acting with honor.
Of course, due to her intense longing to not be so lonely, she had forgotten the dishonour that he had already shown…
Yet, a few seconds later, she came upon a place where she really did feel an Energy level that rivaled some very good training places in the age before the Apocalypse.
Excitement flooding her mind, she raced forward, and entered a round, shiny place which was a glittering with knotted Ker Roots all over on the inside.
Ker Roots were the favorite snacks of Divine Cockroaches, so she couldn't help but try to nibble one.
Wait! I can't do that!
She couldn't stop herself, though, but thankfully, she saw that there was a formation protecting all these things.
Ah, so that was what he meant.
At the same moment, another shout was heard from the outside.
"That's the place. I hope you're happy with it? If so, please infuse your consciousness into this little Ker Root. Please don't eat it, though, no matter how tasty it must be, because it is the last one I have."
With these words, a small, gem-shaped object fell into the place she was in, and it looked like there was a spell which was ready to yank it back in case there were signs that she was about to eat it.
However, at the moment, Skrr had already forgotten about all of the negative things that had happened so far.
What she saw in her eyes was her breaking through, and getting little babies that she could raise, so she happily did a little dance even though there was no moonlight before touching the trinket and closing her eyes.
It was going to hurt, but she braced herself, and managed to do it without crying out loud. She was a strong adult now, and she knew that she shouldn't cry or act immature.
As soon as she was done, she kicked the thing outside, and she promptly turned into the same state that she had been in when the meanie had come before.
That was the best state in which that she could absorb Energy, and as it started to slowly enter her body, it felt so, so good, that she made a small sound of delight.
The door closed, and she couldn't bother less about it. She didn't even mind being trapped here, because eventually, after breaking through, she was confident that she could leave no matter what tried to stop her.
Meanwhile, outside, Daneel had caught the Ker Root, before heaving a sigh of relief.
That… Had been too close for comfort.
Seeing Eloise actually laugh on noticing the expression of horror that had once again appeared on his face, Daneel couldn't help but blush, and then say, "Alright, all the pieces have been assembled. It's time for the finale. You know what you need to do. Good luck, and may the Heavens be with us. Well, even if they're not, we'll force them to be. Sovereigns, disperse."
As he said so, Eloise let out another peal of laughter, before finally teleporting away, and even Elanev was smirking.
Daneel had to struggle to put these things out of his mind, but when he did, a small smile appeared on his face, because it was finally showtime.
Taking one last look at the door of the chamber that he had obtained during the entire episode in the Kingdom of the Elves, the king teleported away, and in his wake, there was only silence, and the small sounds that kept being emitted from Skrr's mouth, because it was having the best day of its life in millennia.