Chapter 847 Good Cop, Bad Cop
As Magda finally woke up after what felt like a long, long time, she started to feel scared seeing the tiniest of things.
The room she had been kept in was dark, and even this darkness seemed to be hiding monsters and demons that could not be described using words.
She cowered and tried to sink into her chair, and even when light appeared, she furtively looked around with panic, as if she were but a terrified, harmless creature who had ventured into the vision of an apex predator.
She tried very, very hard not to think about what she had been through, but the images kept flashing in front of her mind.
Every time they did so, she would shake her head vigorously in an attempt to get rid of them.
Gone was the confident and arrogant Gourmet Chef with a bright future, and in her place, all that was left was someone who was ready to bend and do anything that was needed in order to not go through what she had just experienced.
Observing this from his quarters, Daneel sighed.
This was torture of the highest degree, and not for the first time, he asked himself if it was too much.
What he was doing here was basically breaking one's psyche and making them perceptible to outside influence, which had always been the Holy Grail of torture for intelligence agencies back on Earth.
Because the sense of time of an individual was skewed when they were dreaming, or in this case, when they were in a simulation, Daneel could actually make the Heroes go through hundreds of thousands of repetitions of their lifetimes in a matter of mere days.
Magda had 'broken' after around 48,000 repetitions, which was much sooner than he had anticipated.
Yet, as he thought about it, it made sense.
All 17 of these Heroes had broken through using Willstones, after diligently training in seclusion in the Big Four. Hence, their real-world experience was very little.
That was also probably why their methods had been so naïve. In fact, this was partly the reason why Daneel had been able to entrap them so easily, and for that, they only had themselves to blame.
Hence, it was to be expected that if their lives were as well-endowed and carefree as that, then they would be quite lacking in the willpower department.
Normally, this would not have mattered if they were deployed on the battlefield. They had gone through many mock battles, so they had no problems when giving their all against their foes.
Yet…in matters like these which required a certain kind of mettle that could only be forged when one underwent various difficulties, they were bound to fail.
Coming back to the matter of whether it was too much…Daneel firmly shook his head.
Pity. This was a rare thing that he should keep in limited quantity, at least until the War was over.
If these people had planned their sedition in other times, there might have been cause to consider whether one should show at least a little leniency.
Yet, in this time, they had planned to go over even while knowing that doing so would definitely irrevocably damage the chances of their homeland.
Each and every Hero who flipped sides were a major loss for Angaria, where individuals who had reached this realm were limited. Although a few hundred might not seem like a low number, when one considered the fact that the Mainland was a full level above Angaria in terms of the general realms of the people and the Energy content, then it didn't seem like much, at all.
So, taking a deep breath, Daneel abolished all doubt from his mind and strode forward.
As he appeared in the room, Magda screamed, "No! PLEASE! Don't put me back in there!"
Never before had he seen this much fear in anyone's eyes.
It was so visceral that one would automatically feel like consoling the one in front of them, but Danee hardened his heart and smiled in a diabolical manner.
That smile was enough. Magda burst out crying and closed her eyes, before repeating something again and again.
"Shouldn't have been greedy…shouldn't have been greedy…shouldn't have been greedy…why did I want the damn Church? ARGH!"
With that, it was settled.
Feeling something strange, Magda opened her eyes and screamed once again as a sword sharper than anything she had ever seen was placed squarely between her eyes.
She tried to move back, but she was frozen in place. Her entire body began to be drenched in sweat, and she looked like she would go into a hysterical fit soon.
Yet, at that moment, looking into those eyes, Daneel was suddenly struck by an idea.
Transforming his smile in a kind one, he spoke in a voice that, to Magda, felt as if it was coming from within her mind.
"You have sinned, but the Heavens have given you a chance to redeem yourself. Swear yourself unto me, and wash your sullied soul clean. By my name, I promise that when your debt has been paid, you shall be set free. But until then...your life and death will no longer be in your own hands. Choose."
Each word seemed to build back the confidence that Magda had lost.
It was as if she had been thrust into the darkest of mists, and she had been stumbling around, terrified of what lay around her.
Yet, now...she finally saw a door outlined in the kindest of light, shining with the hope for salvation.
Seeing a chance to finally escape her life that had turned into a living nightmare, she took it without any hesitation.
"I swear," she said, and her world instantly seemed to change.
For the second time in her life, Magda felt a bond that was thicker than steel and heavier than rock settle around her consciousness.
It was many times stronger than what came to be one swore an Oath, and strangely…it was even stronger than the bond that was already there.
That was the one she had sworn when she became a Hero, but somehow…this one easily broke it apart, and took its place.
With widened eyes, Magda felt the restraints loosen, and she looked at herself with astonishment.
Where before that bond had felt like a constricting one which she had looked forward to break by taking the help of the Church, now, it was more like one that represented, and kept in control her foul self.
With it, she could change, and gain redemption for everything she had seen.
With it…she could live.
Indeed, seeing those moments of guilt had made her wish that she was dead. Now, though…she had something to live for.
Looking up, she saw that the sword had disappeared, but the man was still present.
Right away, she knelt.
"King Daneel. It is obvious that our eyes were blinded by our arrogance. You are the one who was in that cavern, and you are the one with more power and potential than any seed I have ever seen in the Big Four. Whatever it takes, I shall repay my debt."
As he heard these words, Daneel couldn't help but grin.
Yes! He had done it!
For some reason, taking control of this Hero felt much more special than directly gaining the allegiance of the Head.
It was different from the verbal promise he had obtained from the Champion of Balance's father, too.
As he thought about it, he realized that this was because in this instance, he had gained a true followed he could explicitly trust, and control.
The Hero corp…had finally been created.
"Return to your station, and act as if nothing is wrong. Await further instructions. But first, take some time to recover."
Magda's hands had still been shaking when she knelt on the ground. The aftereffects of having her psyche broken were still present, and it was obvious that she had only managed to utter those words using the confidence that Daneel had imparted her using his promise.
With a nod filled with relief, she disappeared, and for once, Daneel was able to directly put her out of his mind.
And that…was mainly because he had just felt the power of the Artifact.
No matter what a Hero did, there was no damn way that they could escape, and just as expected, the power of an Artifact with a recognized master was truly something else.
Breaking the bond placed before was a piece of cake, and when doing so, the sword had even given off a feeling of distaste, almost as if she was ashamed of the shoddy work she had had to do before.
Now, though, she was ecstatic, as if she really had enjoyed setting someone right.
While Daneel held it in his hands, the Head appeared in the room from his hiding place and clapped.
This was a clone as the main body was controlling the simulations of the other 16 Heroes, but it was enough to communicate.
"I gather that you got the idea at the last moment? If I remember, you said that you would act like the King of Hell to control them with fear, right?"
Indeed, that had been his original plan. Yet, obviously, he had missed a simple logic.
"Is a subordinate who is forced into carrying out tasks better, or is one who happily does everything assigned to him as it is in his own best interest better? It is obviously the latter, and the reason this idea did not come to before was that I overestimated the characters of these Heroes. I thought that they might need fear, as it is only this that can put a truly dark soul into the right path. Yet, these Heroes are more like naughty children. For them, it is enough if I act both as the King of Hell and the Ruler of Heaven. A classic good cop, bad cop strategy, basically."
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing. Just something I heard somewhere."
Engrossed with his decision, Daneel had used that common phrase from Earth, but thankfully, the Head did not spot anything odd.
However, it looked like he did have something to say.
"This method, and everything you said so far seems great, but there is an exception you forgot about. Three of the Heroes in those 16 are joyfully cruising through the repetitions."
Daneel raised an eyebrow as he heard this, but he replied without missing a beat.
"Oh, so we've finally found the ringleaders? Yes, Head, there was one limitation I didn't mention- it is that if one does not feel guilty, the simulation is ineffective. Now, these people…I can truly have fun with. I need to weaken them first, though, before I begin the next round of torture. So, continue to keep running the simulation- who knows, it might prove effective eventually. Even if it doesn't, boredom is another weapon that is often underutilized by many. Until they are more gullible to my next method, I have a small something to do. Keep sending me updates, Head."
With that, Daneel nodded towards the man and disappeared, and soon he was back at an Obelisk in the Order.
Once again, the informers did their job, but to the disappointment of those who were watching, he chose no mission.
Instead…he chose a very special reward that was very ingeniously hidden in the middle of the list, and that, too, with a misspelled name.
"Origin Libra"
It was supposed to read 'Library of Origin', but this was another blatant attempt to hide things which someone in the Order did not want exposed.
If there had been a doubt before regarding the Overseer's false identity, there was no more now.
Daneel lazily browsed around for quite a bit, and finally, he chose this reward while muttering, "Libra, huh? Isn't that the name of a famous Godbeast? And this reward only appeared after I finished five 5-star missions! It must be precious!"
It would seem like perfectly normal reasoning even if anyone was listening in, and as Daneel was teleported to a dusty room filled with tomes, he got a bewildered expression on his face.
Yet, within his mind…there was only happiness and excitement, as he had finally, finally, managed to reach this place, where he hoped to find the answers that he had been looking for for what felt like an eternity.