Chapter 215 War: Finale
Hearing Daneel's words, Kellor only nodded before leaving the room to head towards the group waiting outside.
Even though many thoughts were running through his head, he knew that it was not the time to stop and address them.
Like the King had said, it was time for a massacre.
Teleporting to the end of the passageway in which the Sect Members were attacking the doors which lead to the King's Chambers, he erected an opaque barrier before communicating with Daneel through the oathstone that he was ready.
On receiving the message, Daneel ordered the system to deploy the rest of the backup formations which were stopping the Withering Leaf Sect Members from breaking through.
The formations had all been set in place long ago for this exact case: where the Dragon Heart Formation might be disabled due to any outside force. Hence, they could be controlled through the same interface which the system used to control the Dragon Heart Formation.
Seeing the white glow in front of them thicken and the opaque barrier which had come up just a few meters away from them at the edge of the hallway, the Vice Sect Master activated the communication trinket in his ear and asked, "Has anyone teleported out yet?"
Receiving the answer that the other force were only still waiting with no one exiting the Palace yet, he analysed the situation before making his decision.
"Join the main force to breach the King's Chambers as soon as possible. They have started to assemble a strike team near us, and we need every hand we can get. This is the only fortified location in the Palace with a secondary space lock, and even if the King isn't here, I can take control of their formation. If someone does teleport out, be prepared to intercept them."
Indeed, as the locations in the Palace had already been visited by the Mages of the Sect, they could instantly teleport back to them in case someone did try to flee.
In less than a minute, 1000 Sect Members were all gathered in front of the door to the King's Chambers. Even though this passageway was the largest in the entire Palace, it felt cramped despite the fact that some mages were flying in the air while raining down attacks on the door.
The strongest attacks came from the Warrior Level Vice Sect Master, whose each spell made a booming sound echo throughout the Palace.
As for the Eldest Prince, his display of strength at the peak of the Exalted Human Realm was also impressive to see.
With each large fireball and lightning bolt he hurled at the door, it felt as if the frustration and anger from all the months of hiding was draining from him bit by bit.
Yet, with each attack, the smile that was on the face on his chest seemed to be getting wider and wider.
Oblivious to this fact, the Eldest Prince only looked forward to finally seeing his enemy dead while continuing to disregard the strain on his mageroot.
Only, a few moments after the reserve force of the Sect joined with theirs, he felt a chill throughout his body which made him freeze.
In the entire group, it was only him and the Vice Sect Master who sensed the disaster that was about to befall them.
And in both cases, the warning originated from the faces on their chests which urged them to stop everything they were doing and run if they wanted to live.
.....
In one of the rooms nearby, Daneel, Kellor and Luther stood solemnly while looking at the display trinket which showed the situation in the central hallway.
Kellor had been here since the beginning, and he had had to watch as innocent Lanthanorians were slain without mercy in front of his eyes.
Although he wanted to go forward to attempt to save them even though he knew he would be killed easily, he had managed to control himself knowing that it was a foolish thing to do.
Yet, hearing the screams and seeing the faces of all those dying, tears flowed from his eyes due to the powerlessness he felt.
They had no way to know that the Sect was in possession of something that would render the Dragon Heart Formation ineffective in just a second. With his knowledge of the world, he couldn't even begin to guess just how valuable such a trinket must be.
Now, seeing that the culprits were all about to die, he couldn't help but smile slightly knowing that at least in this case, justice was going to be served immediately.
With similar feelings being reflected on the faces of the King and Luther who stood beside him, all three of them looked on as the biggest massacre to have ever taken place inside the Palace of Lanthanor commenced.
...
It started with the Withering Leaf Sect Members feeling as if they had entered the best Energized Training Chamber in the world.
This sensation came instantaneously, making many stop their attacks to find out just what the heck was going on.
"Ker Energy!"
Seeing the red mists flowing down from the ceiling gracefully like willows in the wind, one of the Sect Members shouted these words.
Along with the mists, a red powder also fell which instantly covered everyone in the hallway.
This small time frame was enough to let the duo of the Eldest Prince and the Vice Sect Master react to try and teleport away.
Yet, high-tier space lock trinkets had already been activated which meant that they would need some time to escape.
Knowing that time was exactly what they didn't have, both of them tried to flee in the direction they had just come from.
BANG
Hitting barriers which halted them in their paths, they hurried to conjure spells in order to break through while panic and terror clouded their faces.
Alas, it was already too late.
BUZZZZZZ
Mosquitoes, each three times the size of those which had been dropped in the Valley of Mist were released from the ceiling where hidden barriers had been trapping them till now.
Starved for a day, the sight of the tastiest delicacy in their entire world coating the humans in front of them sent them into a frenzy.
Barrier or skin, nothing would stand in their path.
In just a few seconds, the entire passageway devolved into chaos with barrier trinkets breaking instantly due to the over 1000 attacks on each Withering Leaf Sect Member.
When the red mist had descended into the room, all of the Sect Members had taken deep breaths instinctively, which meant that Ker Gem Energy was also present inside their bodies that had just been absorbed.
This served as an added enticement to the mosquitoes, which proceeded to tear open the bodies after breaking through the barriers and the skin of the Sect Members to devour the Ker Dust on them.
The strongest individuals like the Vice Sect Master had absorbed the most, leading them to be the juiciest targets who attracted the majority of the thousands of mosquitoes in the room.
Through the display trinket, all Daneel could see was black clouds surrounding each and every individual in the room.
The weaker Sect Members didn't even put up a fight; only lumps of flesh and bone were left behind when the clouds moved on to stronger targets.
Although these stronger ones tried to resist, all they could do was flail around before reaching similar endings as their weaker counterparts.
In less than a minute, the passageway only had two individuals remaining: the Vice Sect Master and the Eldest Prince.
Daneel was surprised when he saw this; after all, he had no idea that this man had trained to such a high level.
With a cold expression that would make one feel as if they were looking at someone who had no heart to call his own, Daneel strode out of the door and headed to the Central Hallway.
Deactivating the barrier, he came upon the scene where the two bodies which were still somehow fending off enough mosquitoes to stay alive were flailing around desperately while looking for some way to escape.
Their barriers had already been broken through long ago, and their tenacity was the only thing still allowing them to put up a resistance despite the pain which stopped them from conjuring anything stronger than the most basic of spells.
First reaching the Vice Sect Master who could be distinguished by his bulkier figure, Daneel raised his hand to make a blade of wind appear which cut off the figure's head.
Even after its head was detached, the body still tried to resist for a few moments before finally falling to the ground, motionless.
Glancing at the Eldest Prince, he considered doing the same, but remembered his promise to the people.
With a single flick of his finger, all the mosquitoes in the room fell to the ground twitching, leaving the hallway silent except for the ragged breaths of the Eldest Prince who had fainted.
While his shoes made squishing sounds due to the blood, guts and bodily fluids on the floor, he entered his chamber and collapsed on the chair in front of the Dragon Heart.
.....
After what felt like an eternity in which he didn't even move an inch, Daneel heard a knocking on the door.
Finding out from the system that it was his father, he ordered it to open the doors while still sitting on the chair even though he couldn't even feel his body anymore.
Without a word, Robert entered and sat down in front of his son. Placing the bottle of wine and glasses he had been holding in his hands on the table, he proceeded to fill the glasses up to the brim.
"Were your reasons worth the results of your decisions?", he asked, putting into words the turmoil going through Daneel's mind.
"No", answered the King in a hoarse voice.
"Drink."
Listening to his father, Daneel reached for the glass and downed it in one go.
As the spicy wine slid down his throat, he heard his father speak again.
"Son, I will not ask why you did not find a way to do what you did before the enemy got a chance to kill all those innocent people. I will also not call you foolish. You made a mistake. What matters is that you learn from it, and move on. But do not forget this pain. It is this pain which will stop you from becoming the person who previously held this throne. And it is this pain which will never allow you to make another mistake such as this for as long as you are alive."