After happily laughing himself hoarse, the man began coughing, and this cough lasted for a long, long while until it finally died down, bringing silence to the small stone room in which he was in.
It was a room with no entrances and exits, and the only thing present inside was an undecorated stone throne, on which he was sitting.
As he was wont to do, he mused out loud.
"Fenoras was so close, but alas, he was plagued by misfortune that has made many fall over the ages. Maybe this time… It will be different. I guess I'll just have to keep an eye, and come out when I need to. Only I and the current Head are supposed to be able to detect the recognition of the World… But where's the Head?"
With a gesture from his hand which looked like it was casual, the man cast an eye over the entire continent.
The most peculiar thing was that his means were extraordinary - the elementary particles, themselves, allowed him to view everywhere, and even the most hidden of places were bare to him.
After finally finding the Head inside that room, he chuckled and said, "Ah, so they distracted him in this way. Well, it might be for the better. The Saviour is still young, and he has a long way to go, even though it does not look like there isn't too much time, judging from the stage of the plan that those bastards from the Mainland are in. They never change, no matter how many years pass. Well, this time… Something has changed on our side. The cycle shall be broken. They're finally going to get what is coming to them, and maybe… No, I must not let my thoughts stray in that manner. King… Daneel, is it? I hope you fulfill everything you to represent, Saviour. And what's it called… The Church? You don't know the misfortune you called upon yourselves, yet! Ha ha! Now then, back to another nap…"
His ravings almost seemed crazy, but there was still a sanity about him which spoke of the man he must have once been.
Each word of his was enunciated clearly, as if he was used to speaking crisply in order to be understood by all. His was the tone of one who commands, and after saying the last words, he leaned back into the chair, going back to the position he had been in for the past few thousands of years.
Indeed, the lightning bolt had not been seen by anyone, including Daneel. It was in a different spectrum, and even though so many Heroes were viewing the same spot, they saw nothing except. Yet, they did experience a very slight foreboding feeling in their spines for the briefest of moments, which they could only shrug away as they had no means to identify just where it could have come from.
Meanwhile, Daneel was still on the ground in front of where the Mad Doctor had been until the past few seconds, and his eyes were opened wide, while he blinked as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard.
Just to assure himself that he wasn't dreaming, he asked the system to repeat the prompt regarding the achievement.
[Achievement: 'Path of the World Dominator' has been obtained.
'Path of the World Dominator': You have finally embraced your true mission, and you have created a Path which embodies your grit to walk forward and let free the World Dominator inside you. It is said that many steps are needed to scale a mountain, and you have taken the most important of them all: to see the peak amidst the billowing fog, and identify that it is the one you wish to reach. The World can either tremble with fear or kneel with respect in your presence, and it is your choice regarding which direction you wish to go. Whatever you choose, it is noteworthy that you recognized your purpose, and are willing to follow it even though Heaven and Hell might unite to oppose you.
100,000 EXP received.
All parameters for upgrade of the system have been reached. After obtaining the requisite EXP, host can upgrade the system.]
Yes!
Ever since Daneel had set his eyes on the next level of the system, where its complexity would reach the Hero level, he had been pretty stymied by the fact that he didn't even know exactly what he had to achieve in order to be able to upgrade. The system had said that it was hidden, and although he had hoped that it would just be that he had to collect enough data, there was no way that he could have been sure. He had continued to uncover more and more things, but it had looked as if he was no closer to being eligible for the upgrade.
Even now, he didn't know whether it was his breakthrough, or the fact that he had chosen this Path to take. Either way, he was only a couple of hundred thousand EXP away from the upgrade, and when that time came… The tables would turn on even the most powerful individuals on Angaria.
Just as he got this thought, though… He remembered something.
The tables had already turned, it was now time to take the second part of his revenge.
His plan was only half done, and so far, it had gone brilliantly, with not many hiccups. Yet… The latter part was a bit risky, but he still trusted himself, and even if a few things went wrong, he was determined to achieve a mostly positive outcome.
All plans could only last perfectly until the moment that they were implemented, because after that, no one could perfectly assess everything that could happen. Although Daneel had been mostly successful in his attempts to control all the factors that might affect whatever he was doing, there had always been a probability that something would go wrong, but the objective was that even if it did, like in the case where he wanted Ashahell and the Mad Doctor to both kill themselves before, the overall outcome would be in his favor, just like it had happened there with Ashahell imprisoned and the Mad Doctor disabled.
Speaking of Ashahell, though… Daneel was not done using him, and at the same moment that he got this thought, the previous sect leader of the Sect of Hedon who was still imprisoned inside the Sect Headquarters was startled awake, while the strict meditation he had been undergoing over all this time was disturbed for the first time since he had been locked up.
Of course, Daneel didn't know this, because he was calmly about to proceed onwards.
The Dual-ability Champion Path… Had not come about by fluke. He had planned and set the parameters to make sure that this would happen, and it was only natural that his understanding regarding the Ruler's Inheritance and everything that had led up to the creation of his Champion Path allowed him to have these two abilities.
There were also limitations, but he decided to check these out after he was done using the second ability to finish everything he had set in place.
His destination… Was the hidden barrow in which Rayen was awaiting his arrival.
…
Rayen, along with the other two Heroes, was currently watching the scene in the Kingdom of Lanthanor from where the Mad Doctor had just disappeared with a frustrated expression on his face.
The shell which had formed around the king was still there, and for all intents and purposes, everyone thought that the king was still present inside it.
They had all been staring at it for the past minute, hoping that the Mad Doctor would return to finish what he had set out on, but alas… Nothing of the sort happened.
Finally, getting the message that he had been waiting for,Rayen stood up and banged on the table, reducing it to dust in the process and shouting, "Useless idiot! What the hell could have made him leave?! I have half a mind to go there and finish the job myself!"
The other two Heroes nodded, but inside, both of them knew that he was just shouting to vent, with empty words.
There was no way that they would involve themselves personally in this matter, and they had already done a lot. These were their clones, as their original bodies were actively distracting the Heroes who might come forward to interfere. If they did anymore, they wouldn't be able to avoid punishment, and the motive behind them wanting to see the King die was not strong enough to push them to risk it.
They had been wondering why the other guy was taking so much risk, but he had always been someone that none of them could assess, so they could only chalk it up to his craziness.
After fuming for a few seconds, Rayen shouted, "Enough of this farce. I'm out of here. I'm going to have a word with Bartholomew when he's done. If he's not locked up by the High Council, of course."
Saying so, he disappeared from the room, and the two Heroes thought that he had dispersed his clone. Deciding that he was right that it was a waste to stay here, they left, too, but what they didn't know was that Rayen was still in the Barrow, just a few feet away from them, and he had just received a very important guest.
As he saw the King teleport in using the hole in the formation that he had made with great difficulty using a trinket over a long period of time ever since he had arrived here, he could tell that something was different.
He couldn't pinpoint what it was, though, exactly, but one thing did stand out to him: before, the King's power had seemed inconsequential in front of his. Yet, now… Rayen had a feeling that if he wanted to kill the king, he might not have such an easy time.
This didn't make sense at all, because even a Peak Champion would have no option but to be crushed into the ground if they were facing a Hero.
Putting all that aside for now, he asked, "You seriously want to go against that guy? No one even knows what power he has, and I'm not confident enough to defeat him. At most, we might reach a stalemate, or I might be able to injure him, but killing a Hero… Is no easy thing."
Chuckling, Daneel replied, "You assume that you will going into battle alone. Don't worry, you have me. Just let the fight start, and you'll understand."
The last sentence was said because Rayen's eyes shone with disbelief, but Daneel continued without minding.
"I have always been the biggest fan of plans where two birds could be hit with one stone. Many of my plans were designed to do that, but in this one… I've outdone myself because a single stone of mine, is hitting not two, not three, but five damn birds. Let's see here. The first bird was the test of the Church, which I failed with flying colors, and that is the best outcome possible. The second bird is my revenge over the Mad Doctor, and the man is no more. Now, it is time to hit the third: to take my revenge against these Heroes who dared to plot against me, and in doing so, dared to go against the very land that gave them birth. Something must be done regarding such individuals, and I've decided that now is the best time for that. Granted, I cannot do so against the other two, so my main target is the one who has engineered all this, and is almost certainly in the pocket of the Church, even if he doesn't know it. We will be doing it under the guise of someone else, and that will lead to the fourth and fifth birds, but you don't need to know about that right now. What you do need to know… Is that we are going to either kill or seriously disable that Hero, and even though you will be the one doing most of the work, I'll be assisting you to make sure that you are enabled to do so. Let's just go, and you'll understand."
Birds? Stones?
Rayen didn't know just what the heck the king was talking about, and he also got the feeling that the king might not even be talking to him directly. It was possible that he was recapping his plan to himself, but whatever the case, what he needed to do was clear.
He still didn't believe, at all, that this kid would be of any use in the fight, but he had no problem with going and trying, because at most, they could just escape.
Besides, all Heroes were arrogant, and he was kind of sick of feeling as if he was weaker than this kid. By exposing his true power in a fight, Rayen looked forward to awing him, so he enthusiastically teleported his main body over after shifting the clone to where it was.
Right as he was about to exit the room, though, the King spoke up, and that...was when Rayen was made to remember his first interaction with him.
He had been rendered helpless, and he had only been able to fall to his knees and bow to him, as he had seemed like an omniscient entity who had everything in his grasp.
Now...he got the same feeling.
As Daneel saw the astonished look on Rayen's face, he couldn't help but smile while listening to the prompts from the system in his mind, which were in response to the command he had given after seeing that Rayen's real body had arrived.
[Champion Path second ability activating.
Reverse-infusion in progress.
Checking for parallelly aligned will.
Aligned will found. Proceeding.
Target has been empowered with advanced amplification and ease of use of the World.
Factor low due to unavailability of more followers to utilize.
Standing by for name of ability.]
He had already thought of the name for this ability which embodied his intention to empower both himself and his allies, so he directly gave the answer.
"Fight in my name, and the World shall be yours."