The next day.
A woman stood in the highest balcony of the Kingdom of Lanthanor while overlooking the home she had grown up in.
She remembered it all. Being born to the cruel King, being separated from her mother, watching her brothers commit untold crimes in the name of 'excitement'.
She had remembered the relief she had felt when she saw that vile man die by the hands of a youngster, and it still made her chuckle when she recalled how she had felt guilty due to that, as it felt wrong to celebrate the death of her father.
It was after that…that her memories started to feel strange.
She remembered the King. She remembered starting to undress in front of him in the hope that she could solicit his help through that act to save those who needed to be saved, and she remembered the way that had shocked him, making him look like a naïve boy instead of someone who had just ascended the throne.
But after that…something kept telling her that what she remembered was not all that there was.
It wasn't that there were holes in her memory. No, each and every second was accounted for, and all it showed was that she had a good relationship with the King, while being interested in him romantically.
Yet, she had no memory of ever getting closer to him.
All of their time spent together was strictly professional, and save for the bursts of joy that had led to him hugging her, she remembered no other moments where they had talked intimately.
She also knew nothing more about his personal life than what the others who were close to him were aware of. She had asked the Grand Court Mage and even his commanders, but they only corroborated these memories.
She hadn't built up the courage to speak to them about this strangeness that she felt, but slowly, it was becoming harder and harder to hold it inside her.
At present, the King had gone on an expedition with the King of the Black Raven Kingdom and the son of the Righteous Hawk.
She felt something wrong about this, but again, it was only a fleeting thought that she couldn't even grasp to question why it existed.
Above it all…there was also an overwhelming sadness which kept engulfing her and making her cry without knowing the reason behind why she was doing so, but strangely, it was during these moments that things would feel normal.
It was almost as if…she was supposed to feel worried and sad about something, and although she didn't know why, it was only right that she experience those emotions.
Unknown to her, in the sky above, two individuals were watching her every expression.
They were dressed in dark robes which almost looked like the uniform of some force, and they were so perfectly hidden that even Heroes would find it difficult to spot them.
That was to be expected, though, because they were equipped with Hero-level trinkets sourced directly from the Order.
Although their faces were completely shrouded in the shadow of the hoods of their cloaks, it was obvious that one man was taller than the other, and it was he who broke the silence.
"Anything?"
Shaking his head and shrugging, the other man replied.
"Nothing, at all. The spell was too thorough. There is no way to extract the memories that were erased- no matter what happens, no one can retrieve them. If Mrs. Quenry, herself, who is the most skilled individual in Mind Control in the entire continent says it's a lost cause, then who are we to question it?"
"Say that to the boss."
With a gulp, the shorter man shot a look at the other and continued.
"Fine, I was jesting. Yes, the boss put us up to this because he doubted her, but there's really nothing to spot. They do act weird because they can tell that something is missing, but that's about it. The Kingdom was even scanned by multiple Heroes- there is nothing, at all, out of the norm. Well, it is possible that that kid managed to hide everything…"
Hearing this, the other man interrupted.
"Of course he did! He is in league with the Church! And that's also how he has been evading the detection of the Heroes! It's obvious that he took refuge in their headquarters!"
The taller man seemed completely convinced of this, and the shorter one did not look like he wanted to argue.
Still, he did speak, as if there was something that was weighing down on his mind.
"It just doesn't make sense, though. Everything he did was for Angaria. But he was a traitor, all along? Something just feels…wrong, about all this."
The reply was given in a low voice.
"Doubting the given narrative is dangerous, and you know it. I, for one, will just follow orders and keep my head down. Anyway, what are we supposed to do next?"
The warning made the shorter man nod and say, "You're right, it's what we should do. Well, the idea is to not make panic come to life in this place. He is so extremely loved that even if someone tries to smear his name, they will only find themselves mobbed to death! That really threw a curveball in the initial plans to 'expose' him as a traitor. Now, the plan is to keep up this story about his absence while looking for him. After he is found, a replica will be made of his consciousness so that he can be supplanted. Using that fake King, the plan is to lead the Central Continent to fight and act as scapegoats to die while the true elite conserve their forces."
Suddenly, right as the man said that last word, a feeling of danger settled onto him, almost as if he had come between the eyes of a lurking predator that was ready to pounce out of cover.
"What's wrong?"
His companion didn't seem to feel anything, as he asked this question after seeing him suddenly crouch and activate defensive measures.
The man didn't have an answer. It had only been present for the briefest of moments, and it had disappeared even before he could tell from which direction it had been coming from.
Still…he wasn't prepared to let it go.
"I felt someone target me."
"What? Through the Hero-level trinkets? That's impossible!"
"I know. But it happened. I'm ordering a full sweep. Let's get out of here."
In a place far away, Daneel grimaced and stopped surveilling the area where the two individuals had been standing.
He hadn't been able to help it. After hearing that the plan was to use his name to sacrifice millions of innocent people…he just hadn't been able to hold it in.
Lanthanor was his home. Over the years, he had installed so many Hero-level formations there that he, himself had lost count.
It had started after his discovery that hidden Hero-level formations would not be able to be detected by anything in the same realm- hence, he had gone crazy, and he was reaping the benefits now.
The entire airspace of the Kingdom was under active surveillance by a formation that simply scanned the flow of air. It would have been too much data for someone normal to assess- in fact, in the age of the Empire, this formation had needed multiple Champions to check and see whether there were anomalies.
Yet, Daneel had the system which was equivalent to a thousand brains put together. It had detected the displacement of air caused when the two had teleported there, and it had managed to listen in using the faintest vibrations that exited the anti-surveillance formation that they had created using trinkets.
The result was that no one could hide within his Kingdom, and his perseverance to keep watching had paid off- he had finally discovered what might happen next.
Only…what could he do to stop it?
"ARGH!"
With an angry snarl, Daneel broke the table in front of him as he got up.
In the process, he startled the two people in the Chamber of Golden Lightning who were awake- Elanev and Faxul.
All around, various objects were strewn haphazardly. In one corner of the gigantic chamber, vials of blood could be seen, and in another was a large, circular object that was made of what looked like interlocking roots of a reddish material.
As Daneel answered his companions who crossed all these things and came to him to ask what had happened, they felt similar emotions, but they didn't explode as they had already vented in the first hour after they had fled the scene.
Daneel was the only one who had kept his calm, as he had been anticipating that something like this would happen. Even though he could never have known that he would be accused of the one thing that was the exact antithesis of everything he stood for, he had expected that it would be devastating, and that was exactly how it had been.
Even now, he remembered the expressions of unexplainable loss that had plagued his sovereigns when they were made to forget the relationship they had with him.
He had had no option but to change it all in their mind, as otherwise, he knew that they would get into trouble. In their memories, now, he was just a capable ruler who was pretty cold and distant.
This would ensure that they would mostly not be targeted by those who might wish to target him, but that had left his parents.
Anticipating that they would be used against him, he had already extracted them from the Central Continent surreptitiously and placed them here, and at the moment, they were asleep as they had been awake for a long time due to the worry they felt when they saw their son smuggle them away in this manner.
Robert's clone had been present in that room before, and it had disappeared after the incident.
Daneel had considered using a clone, too, but he hadn't been confident in fooling the eyes of Heroes. His father being a clone was not a problem, but if it was detected that his real body was not present, they would not have attacked and all. The objective had been to get it over with in a place he could relatively control, and in a way, it could be said that it had worked out.
The only casualty was the Head, who was currently in a coma after being injured by the furious counterattack of the woman who had failed in her task. Of course, Daneel was still injured from his act of breaking through the barrier, but those wounds would heal.
Those that wouldn't…were the ones that had inflicted his heart after having to flee from his own Kingdom.
"What do we do now, Daneel?"
Faxul finally asked this question, and it was obvious that he had not done so till now as he had seen that his friend was busy keeping an eye on the outside world and ensuring that his escape had been successful.
Now that everything had started to settle down, Daneel took a deep breath and gave an answer that startled both of his sovereigns.
"I don't know," he said with a shrug, before getting up and walking in a certain direction.
Elanev looked like he was about to burst into a barrage of follow-up questions beginning with 'What the f*ck?', but Faxul raised a hand to stop him.
At first, he didn't understand, but the reason became clear when the King without a Kingdom continued, with his voice echoing in the chamber.
His back was turned to them, and with each word he said, they could see it straightening bit by bit, until it was straight as it could be by the end.
"I don't know exactly, but I do know one thing. When it is time for us to return…I want it to be that we stand above all, and below none. I want it to be that we can do whatever the f*ck we want in this continent, without there being even a single person who will dare to question us. I want it to be that this World bows to me, and even the very air should ask permission before it makes it course through the land. I want…to dominate, and nothing shall stand in my way. Such is my word…and my word shall be done."
[Module: Word of the World Dominator activated. The Word has been given. Rewards shall be given based on completion.]
As the message echoed in his mind, Daneel turned around with a smile and declared, "It's time to power up, boys."