The entire ploy was to gain control of the Artefact, and if the reptilian hadn't shown her cards now by speaking, Daneel would still have remained clueless.
Now that it was all exposed, though, he almost felt like a blockhead.
Not even a moment after this realization struck him, one of the blows of the one from the Church who had gone head-on with the Head before was deflected in just the right manner to fly towards him at a dazzling speed that showcased the fact that he had not stayed idle over all these months.
He was much more powerful than he had been before, and if Daneel had not had the system upgraded recently… He would have had no option but to activate all of his barriers and take the blow, which would have shattered quite a few of them and left him worried for his life.
If he had not seen through the acts of the assassins, this blow might even have seemed totally random…even though the feline creature had done it on purpose.
The sequence of events would have been beautiful: the blow would have made him fear for his life and abandon all other lines of thought. He would have had no choice but to believe that the reptilian was right, and seeing the desperate fight of the two in front, he would have become worried for himself and prepared to do whatever was necessary to leave alive.
Everything had been engineered around the self-preservation that would be definitely present in someone like him, on whom an entire continent was relying. Even if he got suspicious, it was most probable that he wouldn't risk his own life over the Artefact, so he would have been pushed to make the decision 'for his own good'.
Only… They had thought that he would be the hapless actor who had no option but to go by the script whereas he… Was actually the creator of the entire god damn play.
A plan of action formed in his mind at the speed of light.
The first thing that had to be done was to take care of the attack that was on its way, and without hesitation, he chose to go off script right away.
[Power of incoming attack judged to be above the safe threshold. It is recommended for host to take extreme measures. Teleportation is under lockdown, so it is recommended that the full power of the host is deployed to create another attack that will successfully negate the one that is approaching. Awaiting command from host to begin the deployment.]
Normally, that would have been the best thing to do, but with a smirk, Daneel said, "You said you wanted to learn when I did something creative, right? Well, watch."
Saying so, he began to cast the simplest of spells which would be learned by all mages on maybe even the first day that they set foot on the grand path of magic.
Hence, it took no time at all.
As soon as the reptilian understood what he was doing, an angry scream began to emerge for her mouth, but it was too late.
What he had cast… Was a levitation spell, using which he threw her body in the path of the attack.
To maintain her act of being completely powerless, she had let down all her defenses, so she was merely like a rock that was lying beside him.
Her wordless scream of fury had to be interrupted prematurely, as she had no option but to drop all pretenses and act.
After all, the other option would be to allow herself to be maimed by the attack which was no joke, and as she instantly cast a quick spell to dispel all of the black veins which had seemed like they were close to devouring her, Daneel felt like whistling and clapping his hands, as he had been right.
Still flying in the air, the reptilian raised her hand and struck at the last moment to deflect the attack again, making it fly harmlessly into the air before getting on her feet and turning around to glare at Daneel, who had the most knowing smile on his face.
It was clear that she was going to use anger to hide the embarrassment that she must be feeling, as anyone could tell by now that the entire thing had been meant to drive him into a corner so that he would hand over the Artefact which would save their lives.
He expected a curse, or even a speech, and it even looked like they were on the way as Husare opened her mouth.
Only, right before the words could come out, she frowned, and then blanched as 20 hooded figures appeared above them in the air.
At the same time, even the two who had been acting as if they were close to losing dropped all attempts to fool Daneel and used just one attack to drive back the two who had evidently not trained enough to overcome the difference between them and these premier members of the force that was supposed to be at the same level as their own, in which they were just medium, or even low-level members who had been deemed unimportant enough to send to simply wait without taking any action.
The half-burnt man who had given that long speech was the one who felt most awkward, as even he saw that his opponent had been faking it until now.
He had been up against the assassin made of rock, who simply used one lightning-fast punch to drive him back.
Getting to his feet, he looked up and saw that his fellow members were back, and as the demented grin came back to his face, he said, "I don't know what the four of you are playing at, but you're done for now… What you did to them was impressive, but the Holy Bishop was smart enough to invest in clones for all of the members of her personal guard that she sent here. I'll be watching when you start to beg for your lives!"
With that, he and the one he came with disappeared, and this time, it looked like Daneel's companions really were serious.
They regrouped in front of him, and because the situation was urgent, they began to discuss out loud, without caring to take the step to block him from their communication.
"Clones. Holy Masaka! Let's go to Plan B. We have to go all out if we want to survive and make it out of here… Prepare to use everything. Permission is granted."
With grim nods, all three took out objects from their own cloaks, and it was without surprise that Daneel saw that they were figurines, too, albeit in a different shape.
The shape that had been employed was that of a Cobra rearing its head, and as the three began to absorb Energy to recharge themselves, the reptilian turned to him and spoke in a grave tone.
"Alright, I'll admit it, you caught us. But there is no more subterfuge now- we really need that Artefact if we're going to get out of here. I'm even willing to swear an oath to give it back to you, as I don't want to risk my life for a plan pushed on me by my higher-ups. They will be none the wiser if I tell them that you were obstinate enough to not trust me after you exposed us… So, I urge you to hurry. Is a normal oath enough? Or do you have an Artefact to swear me to?"
Her serious request… Was actually met by a yawn from Daneel.
This made all three tense up and look at him with undisguised anger in their eyes, but when he spoke, this anger turned into confusion.
"Enough of this. I've got things to do and places to be. If you don't mind, I'll get it over with."
Saying so, he raised his palms, and spoke in a commanding tone.
"You've slept long enough. Come out, my hearties…it's time to play!"