Chapter 574 Deja Vu
Daneel's mind was buzzing with all sorts of titles related to various different topics, all of which he was collecting into the database with the system.
After all, equipped with this kind of godlike ability, he would be a fool not to record and obtain everything he could, just in case it might be useful in the future.
For example, he didn't see any way in which he could use the book titled "An In-depth Study Into Pimples and the Kinds of Spells That Can be Used to Counter Them", but he recorded it anyway, as all it needed was a touch of his finger.
He could feel the Matron's disapproving eyes on his back, as anyone who saw him would think that he was being frivolous.
However, if he told her that he was actually collecting data faster than probably anyone else in the continent, she would definitely not believe him and even might think that he was spouting bull crap to cover up his original intentions of just browsing around idly without focusing on anything in particular.
The library was massive, with all kinds of trivial and nontrivial information that were divided into Sections. As he was only a Peak Warrior, he could only access all the techniques for Warriors, which weren't too many.
There were also almost no Fighter techniques, as the Goddess's Sanctum was a predominantly female Sect, as was evident from its name.
A lot of its major techniques were also designed for special use by women, which partly explained why this was so in the first case. Of course, he knew the actual reason, which was that this Sect was something that had existed in the time of the Empire with the same name. Even though particular records regarding the reason behind this name from that time were lost, they had retained it, and also continued to rebuild the Sect repeatedly using the ideals and principles that had been existed from that time.
For example, the case of someone like Xuan being taken in like that was not unique. In the Goddess's Sanctum, all those in high positions were required to embark on periodic journeys where they would recruit woman of talent who had no ties in the mortal world.
Even if there were ties, if that woman or girl was willing to sever them to come with them, they would accept her and treat her like their own.
This was one implementation of the word "Sanctum" in their name.
The other was that they would also accept people who were suffering from incurable diseases or conditions, mainly on whom others might have given up.
In such cases, the Champions of the Sect, themselves, would endeavor to save them while not desiring anything in return.
It was through reading things like these that Daneel really did start to respect the Sect, which seemed to have no negatives at all like the Sect of Hedon.
As for the matter of leadership, it was decided by potential. And this was tested directly by seeing who could acquire the Goddess Champion path, which was the most precious Path in their possession, and was said to be strong enough to match the most powerful ones known to the Big Four.
Those who managed to use this path to become a Champion were all eligible to become the Matron of the Sect, and if there were multiple candidates at a certain time, a simple voting procedure would be carried out with the official members of the Sect.
As he had already guessed, all official members were female, with a few special exceptions who made decisions to stay as "retainers" of said official members.
These retainers would also have access to information and core facilities, but Daneel felt as if this was just to bolster the strength of the Sect by taking in those who wanted to join.
Also, regarding the rule of Sect members not being allowed to enter relationships, he found no mention of such a thing, which made him assume that this might be something exclusive to those who managed to acquire the Goddess Path.
All in all, the Sect seemed to be a serene place of training where one could forget everything else and just focus on getting stronger.
To entice Sect members to train as hard as they could, competitions were apparently set up and carried out periodically, where the winners would be awarded with more resources and one-on-one training with Champions.
All this was very interesting, but Daneel stopped thinking about it, as it didn't really help him other than letting him know that each of the Big Four had different structures, and that he definitely liked what was here much more than what was present in the Sect of Hedon.
Over there was an extreme dog eat dog world with each and every step forward having to be one that stepped on others.
Here, the soothing environment encouraged people to work together, and strive to reach greater heights hand in hand.
At least, that was what it looked like on paper, and he would have to see for himself if that was true.
Yet, Daneel knew that he would mostly not get that opportunity, as there would be no need for him to head to the other part of the Sect which housed all the disciples.
As for the disciples in the library, the Matron kept them all at bay with a simple glare, so that Daniel was left completely alone.
Of course, he didn't mind this at all, and he happily recorded each and every book he could.
There were thousands of them in this large building, but he was done in a few hours, mainly because quite a few sections were not accessible to him.
These made his eyes go red with desire, as they seemed to all be journals and information written down by the various Champion level individuals that had graced this Sect in its long and illustrious past.
Daneel could never have expected that his trip to the Goddess's Sanctum would be so fruitful and… Exhilarating.
Occasionally, he would still remember what had happened in the alcove, and that would make him once again feel those things that seemed like they wouldn't be shoved back into a hole after having been unleashed into the world by Xuan's bold action.
Although he was done with the library, he had to keep up appearances, so Daneel took a random book and sat on one of the wooden benches that were present all over the place, and buried himself in it, as if it was very interesting.
Only, because he hadn't been taking it seriously, he hadn't noticed that the book he had chosen was one about what a man or woman should do to groom themselves so that they could look like the best version of themselves.
Seeing this made the Matron grumble even more as she remembered what she had had to take part in before, when the Head and her master had been clearly aware of everything happening inside the alcove but had still let it happen for some reason, before sending her to interrupt them at that exact moment.
It had felt just… Wrong to be a part of something like this, but there was no way that she could disobey the word of her master.
All she had been able to do was tell yourself that her master and the Head would definitely not be wrong in their assessment of the King of Lanthanor, and that she would definitely skin him alive if he ever took a wrong step in the matter of her favorite disciple.
Meanwhile, casually rifling through the book, Daneel was once again thinking about the Grand Inheritance, and everything it represented.
His thoughts drifted from that, to the Ultimate path, to Faxul, and then to Xuan, and even to Eloise, whom he remembered a bit guiltily as she had been the first to express interest in him, yet Xuan had been the first to make a move and take away something of his.
Such thoughts were so never and strange in his mind that they stood out and made him wonder if it was really him who was getting them, and not some imposter who was also in a similar situation.
Three hours later, his musings were interrupted by an urgent message from Kellor.
"My King, you have to see this! I didn't know whether to contact you, but I couldn't wait any longer. Please make your way here quickly!"
He heard the panic in his Grand Court Mage's voice, but there was no hint of alarm, which was a good thing.
Besides, the 'alarm' that he had set up had not gone off, either, so he could tell that Faxul might not be in danger, and that something else might be happening.
Either way, Daneel decided to leave, and as he put the book back on its place on the bookshelf and walked to the Matron, she spoke up before he could say anything.
"Xuan told me about how you said you might have things to handle back in your Kingdom. Go, and use this if you wish to come back. Of course, this will only give you access to this library, and not to the one that you just went to by breaking all the rules. And…"
The Matron look like she wanted to say something else, but she stopped herself at the last moment and just handed Daneel a seed much like the one that he had seen Xuan use before to open the door to the alcove that held the secret archives.
Only, the seed that she had used had been bright silver in color, while this one was earth colored, making it look quite normal.
With a nod, Daneel took it, and not knowing how to bid goodbye to the Matron, he just nodded again before rising into the air and starting to fly out of the enormous dome structure that he was in.
As soon as he reached the ceiling, a hole opened up in the same manner that it had done when they had arrived, allowing him to leave and once again gaze at the magnificent statue which was the most magnificent thing he had seen on Angaria so far, except perhaps that Dragon all those years ago which had laid waste to that pub.
Exiting the crack in the ground, Daneel had to fly up a few hundred meters into the sky before finally teleporting to reach his kingdom.
As soon as he did so, he headed for the underground room, and when he arrived, he could tell that something was amiss.
Beside him stood Kellor, who had multiple holes in his clothes of varying sizes, which made him almost looked like a beggar.
Yet, his expression was filled with excitement as he gazed at Faxul, the sight of whom made Daneel take a few steps back and widen his eyes, wondering whether what he was seeing was true.
A large set of wings made of glossy black fathers which looked both dangerous and beautiful had appeared on the upper back of his friend, which were clearly created by elementary particles that were not being controlled, same as before.
However, instead of fading in and out of existence, they stayed there, making Faxul look like some sort of human - Raven hybrid.
This wasn't even the most disconcerting thing going on. No, that prize went to the dark holes of varying sizes that were popping up all around the room.
In fact, just as he saw that, he detected one opening up right where he stood at the spot where his hand was. He was about to teleport away, but he stopped himself to see what it would do.
As he did so, a hole similar to the one he had seen on Kellor's robes appeared on his own sleeve, while he also felt a faint itch and pull on his skin, where he could see the tiny, nail-sized black hole.
He didn't need the system right now to analyze it. Unlike the black holes he had read about back on earth, this one did not seem to have any time-based effects - at least as far as he could see. In the same way that he had seen back in that image, light did seem to be bending around its edges, but that was more because it was a constantly revolving rip in space similar to one that a mage used during teleportation.
This was visible now, as he could see and study it unlike before, when he hadn't been able to due to its sheer power.
The novelty here was that on the other side of wherever this rip in space connected to, there was a very strong gravitational force that was pulling in everything that was in the vicinity of the hole.
If this hole was bigger, Daneel could imagine the amount of attractive force that would be present, and it was pretty similar to what he had felt in that visual message before.
Enemies would truly be rendered helpless as they would have to resist being pulled constantly and relentlessly into a place which looked like there would be no return from, and he could tell that this pull also affect the elementary particles, too, which was why the hole was black in the first place - all the light elementary particles had been sucked away, leaving behind only darkness.
Hence, if strong enough, this black hole would have a very strong effect on all spells being cast by mages. A mage would have to expend double the effort to cast a normal spell, itself, which was definitely a terrifying handicap that would lead to the loss of almost any mage that dared to go up against a Devouring Monarch of the Skies.
Daneel had no idea what he was supposed to do, but he couldn't have expected that his arrival would cause a change in Faxul.
And that change made the King of Lanthanor almost jump back in panic, as he saw his friend open his eyes, which were completely red, and flap those wings which made him become a blur as he lunged at him with the intent to kill.
Even as barriers automatically sprang up around Daneel to defend against the unexpected attack, he was blasted back into the wall behind him due to the sheer momentum that passed through from the punch.
…
Meanwhile, a few seconds ago.
As the fifteenth recollection of his past began, the bastion in Faxul which had been growing stronger with each and every second that passed finally took a step forward in defiance.
In essence, it was the personification of everything that had allowed him to reach this step in the first place - all his stubbornness, determination, propensity for marching forward no matter what he had to endure, and lastly, his wish to make his parents proud, and also pay back everything he still felt he owed to Daneel.
It was as if… He had known all these things beforehand, too, as if they weren't inside him, he might have perished long ago, itself, when he had decided to take that spirit into his body which had threatened to kill him during each and every waking second if he let up his efforts for even a single moment.
Only, the fake Daneel had still been effective mainly because he had never asked these questions to himself, instead letting them stay there with the intention that he knew the answer any way, and hence did not need to face them.
Now that he finally did, all of his determination and will solidified into a singular desire to never give in, and never doubt himself.
True, he might have benefited a lot from others, but there was so much more that he had accomplished by himself! If it were any other person, he could almost bet that they wouldn't have been able to survive and move on as well as he had.
Hence, there really seemed to be no reason for him to doubt himself so much, and with this, he got a wish to break out of this place, whatever it was.
That was when he had opened his eyes to find that the repetition of memories had stopped, and that he was standing face to face to that same fake Daneel with the cold smile, while he somehow had wings on his back that lent him a kind of power that he had never experienced before.
Yes! The only way to get out must be to defeat this fake impersonation of his friend!
With that thought, he launched himself forward and began the attack.
…
As Daneel finally came to a stop a few hundred meters away and spit out a little bit if blood as he had had to endure such a sudden and insanely fast attack, he heard Drakos speak in his mind.
"Young King, I was hoping this wouldn't happen! In cases where the person in question already had determination and the will to not give up, the baptism would move on to the second stage- which is to make them enter an illusion as if they are still in the space inside their head! Your friend probably thinks he is attacking that fake version of you! You must endure, and allow him to break out of it by himself!"
As the King of Lanthanor heard this and saw Faxul flying in his direction, again, with a black hole swirling in front of his fist, he realized that he might be getting a taste of the power of a bloodline possessor much sooner than he had expected.
Also, he couldn't help but get a feeling of deja vu, as this had already happened before.
'Aw, sh*t. Here we go again.'
With this thought, hoping that this would be the last, he prepared to unleash everything he had and find out whether the name 'Monarch' was really deserved.