Chapter 494 Blood Purifying Formation
Daneel had always known that his Paragon spells were the most impressive in his repertoire. In this day and age where Energy levels had depleted, Paragons were nowhere to be seen.
As Drakos had said, that was not the case in the ancient times, but right now, Daneel was going to use this skill of his to 'woo' Katerina, the elf.
He had to admit that she was one of the most heavyset women he had ever seen. She was wearing pants made of a material that looked like cotton, and they emphasized her thighs, each of which were as large as a man's head.
However, this didn't take anything away from the inherent, rough beauty of the woman. In fact, it even added to it, giving her a unique vibe the likes of which he had only seen in Cassandra, although she wasn't nearly as muscular.
For this instance, Daneel had chosen one of his first Paragon spells- it was the one which utilized the concept of how a gun worked.
He had only refined it further, before making it into something that was quite impressive to see.
When he saw Katerina's wide open eyes that stared at the cannon-shaped Paragon construct beside him, he felt happy that it had worked.
"Please. Take a seat, first. I don't know where that assassin was from, but I think I'm right when I say that his objective must have been to stop this meeting."
With a flick of his finger, he made the Paragon constructs, including the large 'bullets' which were comprised of a delicate mix of elementary particles to simulate piercing metal and gunpowder, disappear.
This made Katerina snap out of her rapture and see the man who had arrived.
She's only now noticing me?
Seeing this, Daneel couldn't help but remark about just how these elves' love for magic seemed to cloud all of their senses.
"You…I know you…"
She said, before remembering where she had seen his face before.
It was in one of the briefings she had received as one of the valuable mages of the Kingdom. This man was the King of Lanthanor, and the report had said that one should be cautious of him.
The reason behind that hadn't been written, but just the meticulous planning of this King whose most famous feats of fighting the Withering Leaf Sect and taking the throne of Lanthanor which were told in households today as bedtime tales were enough to warrant caution when dealing with him.
"Yes, I'm the King of Lanthanor, but I assure you that I mean you no harm. Please, sit."
Daneel repeated his request, after which he fashioned his own chair from the air and sat down.
As someone from the army, Katerina was used to high-stakes situations, so she quickly calmed down and first looked around before sitting down, too.
"I presume that the assassin teleported away. Now, I would first like to ask you one thing: when was the last time you spoke to the Queen."
Of course, you won't find that 'assassin', as he was my clone!
Daneel had been standing in the shadows of the balcony using Drakos's Hero-level concealment spell which had even hidden him from Ashahell and the Mad Doctor. He had first conjured a clone behind Katerina, dispersed it, and then conjured another one on the other side to give the image that the clone was really powerful. Of course, she hadn't been able to detect it, as the clone had literally come into being in both spots, as opposed to teleporting there or walking there.
Nodding her head with a pensive expression on her face, Katerina caressed her high cheekbones before thinking for a bit and replying, "Yesterday, when she called everyone for the special briefing regarding the festival. Wait…you said 10 days, right? Do you mean to say that…"
"Yes, Miss. Katerina. The festival will be the location of the massacre."
"How do you know of this?", asked Katerina, her face set into an expression of disbelief.
Sighing, Daneel said, "It is a long tale, but…"
"That's fine, I'm all ears."
Seeing her interrupt him in this way, Daneel saw that she wasn't someone who would be led around by his air of mystery.
So, he just remained seated, and told her everything about the Empire Spirits and their goals.
He didn't tell her about how he had rigged the election using publicity, as she was the kind of righteous elf who might leave the other facts and focus on this, as it had resulted in her defeat, too, when she had stood in the elections.
However, when he reached the part about how the elf queen must have been killing the elf children, her eyes lit up like a lighthouse.
"Yes! That makes sense! I searched for months, but I found nothing!"
Seeing her say this, Daneel leaned back with satisfaction, knowing that his tale already had a seal of approval, more or less.
When he was done, though, she asked, "How do I believe you?"
To which, Daneel replied, "Just think about everything you've heard now. Soon, I will be able to show you the proof, when the Queen speaks to that spirit again. At that time, I will come to get you. Is that all right?"
After hesitating for a bit, Katerina nodded, following which she saw Daneel disappear from in front of her.
Smiling to himself, Daneel appeared back in the mansion before standing over a desk he had chosen to plan.
It had the map of Eldinor laid out on it, and the spot where the festival was about to take place had been marked with a big, red circle.
The population of the elves wasn't too large; at most, there might be a million or two of them.
Still, Daneel had marked quite a large area.
If it were the case that all of these elves were equally talented in magic, then they would have bowled over Angaria long ago.
Thankfully, although almost all of them were capable of becoming reaching the Eminent Human Mage level easily, those that could surpass that were few, but this number was still greater than all the other Kingdoms.
So many Eminent Human Mages. How terrifying would it be if they all cast a single spell?
As this thought came into his mind, Daneel couldn't help but pause, but he put it to the side as the main reason behind Eldinor not trying something like that was the individuality of the elves, which did not allow them to play well with others.
After all, he had seen the ragtag groups of army regiments that Eldinor had sent long ago in the dispute for the Ker Gem mine.
If they were united, they would definitely have been a truly game-changing force.
Shaking his head, Daneel refocused on the map.
Olfax was here with him, and so was Aran, who had just been called over for his skills.
It had even surprised Daneel to find out that Aran, the guy with a fashionable bowl haircut that reminded him of a very hated singer back on Earth, who wore casual clothes and loved to tease Cassandra, was a master in army formations and deployments.
Hell, apparently, during the war before, Aran had been the main one to propose deployments which had been sent to him as suggestions from the commanders as a whole.
The man's eyebrows were creased as he stared at the map. The King had given him a tall objective: the army had to be able to move in at a moment's notice, but it had to be hidden from the view of the Kingdom of Eldinor, or other Kingdoms.
Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he was startled, as he hadn't even realized that the King had arrived due to him being too absorbed in the map.
He was just about to kneel, but Daneel waved his hand, gesturing that it was not necessary.
So, Aran made do with a bow, before saying, "Apologies, My King. I am still…"
"Take your time. I know it's a preposterous request. But I'm confident you can think of something. Have you been speaking to Luther, too?"
Aran had been taught by Luther, who had picked up his own experience from fighting for his life on the battlefield.
"Yes, My Lord. He's not that busy for a Sect Leader…"
Laughing, Daneel replied, "Yes, well, the Hidden Kill Sect is a unique sect. Just let me know when you're done."
Nodding, Aran got back to the map, while Daneel left to a different room which he had requested from Olfax.
Here, there was a forge on one side, and complex tools lay on the other.
It had been quite a long time since he had gotten down to enchanting, but it was time to dust off those skills and get started again.
…
5 days later.
Eldra, with the cold expression that had become fixed on her face since that moment when she had seen the emotion of being betrayed in that elf maid's eyes, was walking to the secret room underground while trying not to think too much.
The voice in her head had just told her that all elf kind needed to be gathered for some final step after which she would be free of her oath.
She hadn't even suspected that there might be any danger to her people. After all, who could imagine that there was even a spell capable of killing millions instantly?
So far, except for that time when she had been told to kill that maid, the voice hadn't shown any bloodthirstiness or the like, which made it so that Eldra didn't even consider that something might be off about this whole thing.
As usual, she kneeled in front of the wall and placed her hands on it.
"Reports say that the festival will be a success. Imploring them to come by using the statement that it was for the benefit for all elves was a major factor in this. According to estimates, at least 95% of all elves will be present."
"Good. Now, did you bring what I asked?"
Nodding, Eldra took out a round, flat bronze plate.
"Follow my instructions carefully. Carve these formations into the plate. You will need to make 6 of these which you will bury in at the edges of two triangles, one inverted, one straight on top of each other. Understand?"
"Edges of two triangles, one inverted, one straight on top of each other. I got it."
"Good. Let us proceed…"
An hour later. In an abandoned shack on the outskirts of Elfaven.
Katerina had just been witness to the Queen placing her hands on a wall, as if she were worshipping it, before she carefully started carving formations onto a metal plate.
Clearly, she had been making a trinket, but what could its purpose be?
And why had she made 6 of them?
As the entire conversation had gone on in the mind of the Queen, she had only been able to see, but not hear.
"All of your questions will be answered. Now, would you please give me a bowl of your blood?"
"W-what?"
"A bowl of your blood. I'm afraid it's necessary."
As the King of Lanthanor said this and shoved a bowl toward her, Katerina started to wonder who the bloodthirsty one was.
However, she obliged, cutting the veins on her wrist before letting the blood flow into the bowl.
After the bowl was full, she looked up to see the King of Lanthanor fussing with 6 identical metal plates.
He was carving the same formations.
When he was done, he seemed to be puzzled for a moment, as if he didn't know what to do with them.
After a moment, he looked like he had gained clarity, as he quickly bent and scooped out the earth before placing the 6 on the edges of a 6-point star.
Taking the bowl, he smiled at Katerina before placing it at the center.
What happened next was something that Katerina would never forget.
When the King took out Ker Gems and placed one each on top of the 6 spots, the blood in the bowl started boiling, before beginning to evaporate.
Through her elementary vision, she could tell that he was doing nothing; it was the work of the formation.
All it took was a few seconds. After the red steam dispersed, all that was left was a pale-yellowish substance that was barely 1/100th of what had been there before.
"And that is the true plan of that Empire Spirit. I just want to save-"
Thud!
Suddenly, Katerina fell on her knees.
Although Daneel was startled, he just grinned when he heard her say what he had been hoping for.
"King Daneel, I implore you to help save the people of Eldinor from this threat! If you do, we will forever be in your debt- and you must know that an elf always pays her debts, no matter what."