Published at 3rd of August 2022 9:18 am

Chapter 1137 Taking Command

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You abandoned us. You abandoned us!

You failed us. Didn’t you promise to protect everyone?

You killed us with their own hands!

Just like you’ll kill all of these people, too!

Despair, despair, despair! The end is here!

It’s your fault. Your fault. Your fault!

You should just die!

Die! Die! Die!

"ARGH!"

At the moment that the ghosts entered Angaria, there hadn’t even been time to activate the Basilisk’s Breath. They raced through the sky, searching, searching, until they found their one and only target: the Godking of Angaria.

Daneel did get a moment to himself when they set their eyes on him, but as he recognized the faces, something took ahold of him and made him stand there, dazed, as they swept onward and immediately managed to breach the defensive barriers around the center of Angaria. These barriers weren’t powerful, so after succeeding the task of entering the continent, these last few objections were nothing.

To the outside world, it was as if each ghost forced its way into his mouth, traveling through his throat, through his body, through his very soul as he fell to the ground and clutched his head with agony. It happened too quickly for any of the sovereigns to respond, so by the time they were able to move, a few hundred ghosts had already entered Daneel.

His screams echoed across the sky, shattering his calm persona that had taken root in the minds of millions of Angarians. He tore at his face, at his body, and at his clothes, drawing deep furrows through which blood flowed. His eyes took the most damage before the sovereigns could move to stop him. He had targeted them first, so where they used to be, there were only two bloody handprints that had left nothing in their wake.

In the beginning, he could see it all as a spectator. The ghosts had taken control of a large part of his consciousness, but long ago, he had made a backup plan where any concentrated attack on his mind would make the system split it so that he could sacrifice one part to save the other.

[Backup plan partially successful. A major part of host’s consciousness has been successfully assaulted by the tortured consciousnesses of Axelorians. No data present in information given by TriCobra sect about the process used for the same. Attack has been identified using data present in ’Memoirs of the Empress of Torture.’ Attack was successful due to guilt present in host.]

Daneel didn’t need to hear the last part. He was like a ghost near his own consciousness, standing witness to the devastation occurring around him, yet unable to move to do anything. If he did, he would be exposed to the beings that had taken up residence in his mind. He could feel their anger, burning, scorching everything around them. As they were consciousnesses, he could even see the things that had happened to them. Days of being starved, flayed, and given a taste of all kinds of pain known to man had twisted them into believing that he was the sole reason behind their ill luck in life, but their belief had strength because it had sprung up from a seed of truth.

The same seed was present in Daneel’s mind, and it was that which had allowed them to be so effective. He could see it now. The consciousness had a way of showing things in understandable methods even though what was actually happening was a battle that could not be seen, so to him, it seemed like his consciousness was a vast farmland. It had trees that represented his feelings, emotions, memories, and even goals, but among them all, there was one blackened sapling that smelled of rot.

As he saw it, he saw flashes of the tree that it had once been, but he had cut it down slowly but surely until only a small fragment remained. In fact, the biggest part of it had been cut away recently, before the war, when he had managed to put away a lot of the guilt that had been weighing him down.

Indeed...it represented everything he felt about his failures, and right now, the ghosts had taken control of it and were trying to spread its corruption to the rest of his consciousness.

The severed part of his consciousness that he was occupying right now was too small for him to function normally. His thoughts were sluggish, coming in fits and bursts and exhausting him each time he tried to make a decision.

Yet, he could see that he was fighting back. There was so much pain that he wanted to distract himself by physically inflicting agony upon himself, but from the way that the wind, grass, and trees around the ghost-infected sapling were closing in to wall it away, he could tell that he was not going to go quietly.

[Host is detected to be a feeble state. Cognition module is looking for best course of action. Answer has been found. It is suggested for host to merge with the rest of the consciousness to help with the battle effort. System will also be diverting resources to protect host. In this scenario, it is possible that host will recover quickly.]

"B-but what about the war?"

He felt stupid for asking the question when the system gave the answer.

[War will be carried out by host’s followers.]

Yes. I have my sovereigns! I don’t need to worry about anything!

This was the only thought that came quickly, like a cold breeze on a hot day, refreshingly soothing and remarkably assuring. It took him a second to tell the system that he would be following its suggestion, and as soon as he did so, he felt himself moving closer to the internal war he had been seeing until now.

He knew that he would have no time to think anything once he began the battle, so before he went under, he held one thought close to himself.

Everything is on your shoulders now, my sovereigns. Make me proud.

...

"Daneel, no!"

As she watched the ghosts enter her husband’s body, Eloise let out a shriek and ran in his direction. It was lost in the sudden confusion that followed the incapacitation of the Godking, though, as the ghosts had sent the people below into a state of fear and uncertainty.

Thankfully, the commanders moved quickly to order the mages who were in charge of them. They were told to isolate each group and let them know that everything was alright, so as barriers sprung up all over the continent, the Angarians found reassurance in following orders and slowly began to calm down.

The situation was much worse in the center of the continent, though. The Emperor had actually been the one to move fastest. He had activated the opaque barrier around the center, making it so that the people had only been able to see the beginning of the ghosts’ assault. The gruesome scenes of the Godking destroying himself had been hidden, and if that wasn’t the case, Eloise knew that the people would have been so much more disturbed.

All such thoughts fled her mind when she reached Daneel. Elanev and Faxul had been standing closest to him, so they had moved to forcefully restrain him when they saw the damage he was doing. It was a consolation that he was only using the power of his body, as otherwise, it would have been impossible for them to even touch him.

At the moment, he was still straining against his captors. His hands were being held firmly by his best friend and his elder brother, while his legs had been bound by a magical spell jointly cast by Faxul, Xuan, and Percy. As she came close to him, he thrashed around, his face a rictus of pain that belied the agony that must surely have filled his body.

They had all understood what kind of attack this was. It had been stopped in its tracks when the Godnet automatically moved to set up specialized barriers, but the damage was already done. They had lost their best leader and warrior, but as she cradled his face in her hands despite the way he jerked about, she saw that he was gritting his teeth in the way that he did whenever he met a situation that was difficult to overcome.

That was the only sign she needed to understand that he would soon recover.

All I need to do... is give him time. And keep the continent whole, of course.

But what if I fail?

Taking command at such a crucial time made her feel nervous, but a second later, she thrust the thought aside forcefully.

He was preparing us for this all this while. We’ve been showing him that we were worth his love and care...but this is the final test. We have to make it count.

His smiling face flashed in front of her eyes, and as she stood up, she held the image in the forefront of her mind while looking towards the Bishop who had a sick smile on her face. She had already begun to fly toward Angaria, so it was obvious that she wanted to make use of this golden opportunity to end the war.

Not on my watch.

Raising a hand, she spoke, and as her voice echoed over the continent, Angaria instantly fell back on track.

"These cheap tricks will never work. My fellow citizens, it��s time to show the Godking that he didn’t make a mistake by trusting us. Be ready to follow my orders. For Angaria!"

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