He had always known that losing those that he loved would destroy him. But instead of preparing for a scenario in which it would happen, like a foolish toddler, he had repeatedly assured himself that it wouldn't happen.
If the ghosts weren't present, he could have focused all his anger on the Bishop… but the luck that had favored them until now seemed to have turned. They were the perfect weapon that could make use of everything that filled his mind right now, and even though the Bishop hadn't intended it, she might have single-handedly won the war using just this trump card.
He kept thinking that he had to recover, and do the last thing that his Queen had asked of him… but it was just too hard. The ghosts kept pushing him in the wrong direction, and because they had a lot of experience in what he was feeling, their effectiveness was unrivaled.
A storm of pain and sadness had engulfed him, and it seemed to be casting a shadow of death. Daneel screamed and screamed for what felt like days, and as the seconds passed, his agony only seemed to be growing in intensity.
Yet… all of a sudden, a robotic voice cut through all that agony and misery.
[Backup plan 'Edge of Death' activated. In the event of a situation where host is being pushed to death by having his consciousness attacked, host has commanded system to give him a message. The backup plan was erased from his memory after being created. The message is as follows: 'Salvation awaits across the bridge of victory.']
The message seemed to echo all around him. Like a rope being thrown to someone drowning in a well, it called to him.
Even reaching for it was hard… but holding Eloise's last message in his heart, he managed to grasp it with both hands. It gave him a moment of clarity… and that was enough.
Backup plan… Yes, I activated backup plans that I made myself forget, in case I was captured and had my consciousness broken into! Then this message might mean that…
He didn't need to finish the thought. Climbing the rope became easier, and even though it took time, he made the ascent with determination. He kept repeating the message over and over to himself as it gave him strength, and soon… he returned to his consciousness to see that the ghosts were close to success.
The pit he had been in had been such that he hadn't even been able to feel this war raging around him. Now that he was back, it seemed hopeless to even think of winning.
No…all that pain almost swallowed me whole because I thought that there was no way forward in which they could still be by my side. More than that… her death represented the fear inside me that I have still not managed to master. But now, I know that if I win, salvation awaits… I don't know exactly what that means, but knowing me, it must be good. Before that, though… how do I escape these ghastly things?
He kept his eyes on the prize, even though just the memory of that pain threatened to pull him back. He knew that if he looked back, he was lost… so keeping his eyes forward, he thought of his options.
He knew that he could ask the system for the answer, but something told him that this was a task he had to do by himself. The situation outside seemed stable, for now, but it looked like it would soon erupt into chaos if he did not step in quickly.
His sovereigns were devastated, as were the people in whose hearts Eloise had had a position no lesser than his own. In all the turmoil, the Bishop wanted to take advantage, but the Godnet still stood strong, stopping her from entering the continent and wreaking havoc. His commanders were trying their best to bring the continent back on track… but if he didn't succeed, here, he could see that their deaths would soon follow.
He went through many options, but none of them appealed to him. There was no way that he could divert the resources of the Godnet to help himself, and the sovereigns could not be called upon to aid him, either. He could only rely on himself… and that meant one thing.
A breakthrough.
It felt like he had been stuck at the peak of the Champion realm for the longest time, even though the truth was that it had only been a few mere months since he had ascended to this realm. Yet, even in that span of time, he had been repeatedly trying to find the pathway to become a Hero, but so far, he had come up empty.
There were two ways to become a hero. One could either draw upon the power of Heroes past to forcefully break through… or one could find the path by themselves, thereby gaining the acceptance of the Will of the World. In every realm, it was required of a Mage or Fighter to choose something whose meaning they understood more than they knew themselves, and it was the same in the Hero realm: whatever one's Champion path was, a deeper meaning of the same needed to be found before one could break through.
All of that is fine, but… I'm no closer to finding that meaning than I was when I broke through to become a Champion!
The ghosts seemed to be grinning to mock his failure, but Daneel ignored them. Indeed, he had searched for the meaning until now… but his forte had always been that he could spring back under pressure instead of being crushed. If he didn't find it now, he would die and take the lives of everyone he loved with him, so with the best motivation possible, he sat down and began to think.
His Champion path had been based on the support of the people. As long as he was near those who followed him wholeheartedly, he could wield the Will of the World to empower anything and everything he did. During the breakthrough, remarkably, he had even managed to branch his path so that he could grant this power to others… but how could this be taken to the next level?
In a way, his path was the peak of all paths. He had studied the paths of those in the Order who had broken through naturally, and he had seen that many of them had decided to intentionally leave behind some area that they could explore to find the route to the Hero realm. He had done no such thing; going all out, he had created perfection, in a way. Yet, now… like all artists, he needed to dig deep, and improve.
With each second that slipped by with him still devoid of the answer, the ghosts keep redoubling their attack. With his return, his consciousness had managed to put up defenses, but the situation was completely reversed: it could only aim to conserve what was left, instead of going out to attack like it had been doing for.
Still, Daneel did not let the bleakness of what this meant get to him. He knew that it would only make everything harder, so he aimed to put all other thoughts outside while he searched for the pathway.
I made the Will of the World my own when I broke through…what else can I even ask of Angaria?
The question stymied him. Yet, at the same time…it seemed to whisper something in his ears, but it was gone before he could understand it.
Wait…what was that?
Right away, he knew that he had hit on something. Over the years, he had learned to identify moments like these, where his instincts awoke from somewhere deep inside him to help when all seemed lost.