Chapter 684 A Barking Dog
Although Daneel had seen value in Erin, there were still a lot of things that he disliked about her.
For instance, he didn't like the tone with which she spoke one bit, and he didn't like that she had been so devious as to use something that she had already known to make him think that he had made a blunder.
Yet, he placed all these things aside as there was something else he didn't like at all, on top of them - the news that he had just found out about.
The damn Church… Was treating him as a threat?
That was the worst possible news that Daneel could have heard right now, and this was clearly reflected on his face which took on a much graver expression than any that had appeared in recent times.
The Church was still too powerful an enemy for him to handle at the moment, and he had been hoping that he would have time to at least go quite far in the Champion realm before he might have to face up them.
This was also the reason why he hadn't gone to the location given by his Master, before the man had left with the Church-he had been told to go when he thought he was strong enough, and Daneel didn't think he was ready, no matter what awaited him there.
So, the news that he had brought upon himself the one thing that he had been hoping to avoid was pretty damn unsettling.
Looking back on his actions, Daneel didn't even know exactly what might have resulted in this happening, but he stopped that line of thought as he could tell that it would only cause time to be wasted.
There was no way to change the past, so he could only handle the present. And although that present was one where he was apparently "damned if he did and damned if he didn't", he had to find a way out.
After saying her piece, Erin happily chortled for a few more seconds before finally calming down and setting her eyes on Daneel.
He felt them, but he didn't respond in any manner. Instead, Daneel drew on the entirety of his mind to assess the situation and find the best ways forward for him.
First of all, it was futile to think that Erin might be cheating him, and that this might not be the truth. As Daneel ran through everything he had just found out, he realized that this explanation made sense.
He had already beaten an Amateur Champion, so they were now sending an Exalted one after him. Repeatedly, he had shown that he was one of the most talented individuals on the continent, so an enemy would definitely be interested in eradicating people like these so that they wouldn't rise to become another figure like the Emperor who had beaten back that threat from before that had probably been much stronger than the Church.
Hence, any force attacking Angaria after finding out the history would definitely be very cautious in this regard.
Still, there was definitely nothing that he could have done differently so far. His goals had needed him to take each one of those steps, and he would not regret any one of them.
The most worrying thing about the situation was that as it would be the Mad Doctor that was after him, and because there was the High Council which was also quite hostile towards him, there was quite a high possibility that he would not be receiving help from the Head, or individuals like the Matron. That would be one of the first things that would be thought about by the Church before they decided to use the Mad Doctor, so it was pretty safe to assume that his 'allies' would either be preoccupied, or prevented from coming forth and saving Daneel.
So, all that remained was to list out everything he could do, and eliminate each option that he definitely could not choose.
While doing this, Daneel also realized that this plan of theirs was perfect as they had ensured that he would be removed as a threat no matter what result came to be. Just like Erin had said, the objective must be to close off all paths for him, and it looked like they had successfully done so.
Yet, as someone who had practically made his entire 'career' on Angaria on thinking out of the box, Daneel instantly got a few ideas.
First, he began to think in the simplest of terms, for the simplest of plans, before going deeper into methods that used scheming.
Of course, the first two options were either to break through and use everything at his disposal to defeat the Mad Doctor, or to lose and feign death or disability.
That last thing, of course, was inspired by Daneel's own actions during the whole episode with the Kingdom of the Elves.
First of all, Daneel dismissed the first option, as it would be impossible to do so without alerting others that he had something like the system on him. Both the Church and the Big Four would find out, and he would have practically everyone in the world after him.
The second one, though, had appeal. Although he had the World Domination System which advocated that he should be going on that path, Daneel found nothing wrong in temporarily taking a step back in order to hide his power and grow secretly. One option was definitely to feign his death, which would not be too difficult given all the resources that he had at hand, and place someone else in his place.
Pausing, Daneel considered this possibility seriously. Yet, the more he thought about it, the more he began to reject it.
First of all, it wasn't because Daneel had a selfish attachment towards his titles, or because his ego needed to be satisfied every day by people bowing to him.
No, the reason behind him not liking this at all, was… The Grand Inheritance.
Ever since Daneel had found out what it was after breaking the third seal, he had known about the Emperor's idea that it might all come down to someone being able to properly wield that ultimate power without bringing about the apocalypse like he had done.
The Emperor's plans had all been geared towards this direction, - the Grand Inheritance, and in turn, the Will of the World, could only be safely wielded by one who was supported by most of the individual wills of that world, and Daneel was not prepared to let go of that. No, more than that, he was not prepared to let others have their way and make him give up things.
He had to find better methods. And he would.
If he gave up the throne, then someone else would be king, and they would be the one on to whom the admiration and everything that he had earned so far would transfer onto. But Daneel was the one with the system, and although it was the Emperor's belief that anyone who was supported by a large part of the continent would be able to use the Grand Inheritance safely, Daneel wasn't prepared to give that responsibility to someone else. He trusted that if anything went wrong, he was the one best equipped to solve any kind of problems, using both the advanced tool on the continent, and his own skills had been honed over the years.
Hence, that brought him to the disability part, which Daneel added to the 'possible plans' list. The negatives of this option was that he would definitely lose whatever support he had in the Big Four, but still, his image in the Central Continent would be the same. That was what mattered in the grand scheme of things, so Daneel moved forward to other plans.
His next set of plans completely revolved around dealing with his for beforehand by striking first. Why not just go kill the Mad Doctor while he was in the process of being revived by the Church?
Daneel liked this idea, as it was the most effective method to get rid of an enemy - to strike when they were weak, and to kill them before they could come and kill you.
Yet, the problem here was that the whole purpose behind the Church doing this was that they wanted to test him. If the Mad Doctor got killed, wouldn't they just look for another option to accomplish the same thing? This time, Daneel had been lucky enough to have Percy on the scene who had made that sacrifice to allow Daneel to know of the threat.
Next time, what if they were completely covert and began their 'test' when he was not prepared? Going into any battle with preparation and planning was the best method, and Daneel was not prepared to give this up.
It was better to deal with the stronger foe who was visible, than a weaker one who was completely invisible.
Daneel flipped through other options, too, but eventually, he realized that these were the only ones he had to pay attention to.
That was when he sat down and pondered on each deeply, which was when an idea suddenly appeared to him.
There was one option that Erin hadn't thought of, and it hadn't occurred to him, too, right away.
And that was… To give the Church something bigger to think about.
After all, if their entire outpost that was present in Angaria was about to be wi[ed out, would they care about testing him more, or about defending themselves against the High Council?
A small smile appeared on Daneel's face the moment this occurred to him, even though he did not know whether it would work yet. It was entirely possible that their means of hiding themselves would be much beyond anything he was capable of, but Daneel was determined to give this a try.
If he could somehow use the fact that he knew who the infiltrator was, and that he would be hidden from their eyes, to pull them out and find out their location, or place them at risk of death or worse, being captured, then Daneel was sure that he would at least be given quite some time away from the attention of the Church that would definitely be enough for him to calmly break through to the Champion level and handle any threat that they sent.
After all, this was also a golden opportunity for them, as the true test of the potential of one was to see whether they could handle someone much beyond their level. After he broke through, it wouldn't be as shocking as a Warrior beating an Exalted Champion. If they sent Heroes, he was sure that the High Council would not sit around and would instantly respond, unlike in this case where it was one of their own coming after him.
So, making a decision, Daneel stood up. He would first travel to the Sect of Hedon to see what he could find out, but just in case, he also prepared to completely map out the other plans, too, if a situation occurred where he might have the switch to them.
"Please get the healing done quickly, and send the delegation back."
Simply saying this, Daneel began walking toward the direction where the huts for the others who had come with him were.
After a second, he heard Erin's taunting voice from behind him.
"That's it? That's all the Mighty King of Lanthanor and Heavenly Leader of the HEavenly Alliance amounts to? A meek man with nothing to say in return?"
At the last moment before Daneel stepped out of the barrier and left, he turned around and gave a single answer.
"When a dog barks at me, I am someone who would rather cast a spell to shut its foul mouth instead of barking back and making myself look like a fool. In case you don't understand, my actions will be my answers. Farewell."