Chapter 852 An Intrusion
Wilfred, Douglas, and Henry had shocked expressions on their faces, which were still forming, when they found themselves within a warm, comforting place.
They had not felt anything like this in a long, long time, and even though they had known that they must have been through this once, they had already forgotten the feeling.
They were in their mother's womb, together, and soon, they entered a new world.
It was a strange one. Their father worked in a grocery store, barely earning enough to sustain their family, and they had to work hard to get even the most basic things in their life.
Yet…all of this would have been fine, if they didn't know that they were actually powerful Heroes from a far-away place called Angaria.
Their power and prestige awaited them- if they just managed to get through this attempt by their enemy to force them into enslaving themselves for the rest of their lives.
The three had their first strategic meeting at the age of two, when they finally managed to utter words coherent enough for the others to understand.
Their parents thought that the brothers were playing, but the three had engaged in a deep discussion regarding what they would do in this simulation.
Their consciousness was intact- they could access all of it, so they could perfectly recall each and every moment of their life.
They knew that they would have to endure a thousand more lifetimes, and in fact, it even seemed that this was easier than the one before, where they had been shown their wrongdoings again and again.
So, deciding that they would just have fun and talk again at the age of five after discovering more about the world, they separated.
That night, disaster struck. Their house was robbed, and the children were separated because the robbers used them as hostages to escape.
Still, the three had already decided that they would come to that house every year if they were separated, so they weren't too worried.
Until the age of fifteen, although it was very disconcerting to grow up in a world with no magic and no Path to reach the Heavens, they persevered.
That was when they managed to meet each other again, and discovered that they had had tough lives.
At the same time, they also wondered how their opponent had managed to create such a vivid world out of nothing. It was almost as if…he had lived in it, to know so much about it, but that was impossible.
The thought soon left them, though, when their difficulties began anew from that point.
They were jailed for a crime they didn't commit, and from then on, they had to live the life of a convicted criminal.
The first lifetime passed in this way. It was intriguing, but nothing too difficult for those with the willpower of Heroes to endure.
It was even fine in the first hundred lifetimes. True, their conditions kept getting worse, but they lived on.
It was from there that things started getting difficult.
Their life had always revolved around power, in some form. When they were weak, it was the power that came from their background which allowed them to do as they wished. When they were strong, it was the power they used to crush those who dared to oppose them.
In that world, though…there was no way to obtain anything that was even remotely connected to that word.
It wasn't even that they didn't try. It was just that…their life seemed to be inflicted by the worst of luck, so every attempt they made at rising in society was stopped and squashed due to some or the other reason.
If they tried to start a business, their competitors would target them and make sure that they failed.
If they tried to go into crime, the cops would be there to apprehend them even before they finished their first act.
Even if they tried to work honestly to live a life of comfort, something or the other would happen, leaving them with no other option but to struggle.
It was at the 665th lifetime that Douglas showed the first signs of something going wrong.
One day, randomly, he started raving about how he was supposed to be a powerful Hero whose power would be enough to crush the entire city he was in into dust.
The result…was that he was thrown into an institution where they used all kinds of drugs to convince him that he was just normal.
Seeing his fate, the others were terrified. Was that how those who went against the society were treated?
They decided wholeheartedly that they would never expose their true origin, as the world they were in would only see them as madmen who needed to be locked up if they did.
Soon, though, they understood just why their brother had had to go on that rave.
It was because…Heroes like them could only take so much of being stepped upon before bursting forth with the anger that they were so used to showing in their original form.
The result was the same. The brainwashing was even quite effective, and even if they wanted to kill themselves(which was something they hadn't tried until then, as it was a form of giving up), they couldn't, as they were closely monitored.
In the real world, Daneel and his sovereigns were watching all of this with various expressions on their faces.
Daneel had a thoughtful one, while Eloise shot furtive glances at him, as she couldn't understand how he had come up with this.
The four commanders, including Daneel's father, had all just shuddered as they simply couldn't imagine themselves going through the same thing.
They could tell that the King was actively pulling the strings to ensure that the three brothers would keep failing, no matter what they tried to do.
He was like a vengeful god who had set his eyes on them, and there was nothing that they could do to oppose him.
For how long could anyone hold on in such a condition?
The burden of knowledge would definitely weigh down heavily on anyone who was going through it. If it were someone normal in that world, they might have turned to faith or something else.
But these three…must have guessed by now that the objective was to break them in this manner.
It still remained to be seen whether it would succeed, but it definitely looked like it was heading in that direction.
Kellor seemed fascinated by the world while feeling a little bit of pity for those suffering within it, and Elanev and Faxul were actually…bored.
Indeed, they had maintained interest for some time, but after that, their thoughts had settled on the feeling of impending doom that even they had begun to feel.
Looking at them, Daneel recognized that that was the case.
He could feel it growing stronger, too. He didn't yet know the shape it would take, but he had his feelers out- the minute there was a clue, he would find out.
Meanwhile, he focused on the three, and almost felt like laughing, as his mood had improved a lot after talking to his sovereigns.
His dear home, Earth, was a curious place. If one aligned themselves to the tenets of society that were laid down, they would find that they would have a pretty good time.
But if they began to go against those…there was nothing harder that one would have to endure.
Add to that the general perception of the public toward those who were crazy, and the result was a place that could drive anyone to give up.
Of course, that was only if there was a God-like Daneel looking down from below, ensuring that everything would keep going wrong.
For some, life would be in this way even if it was not a simulation being played out, and they would often feel tempted to end it, too.
Daneel understood them as he carried out this plan, and he also understood how infuriating the most common attitude must be which was shown to these people: 'Just get over it.'
There was possibly nothing worse that could be said, and just as Daneel was about to let his thoughts wander to a different place…the system sent him a message that made him stand up straight.
"All of you-"
BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!
No sooner had he said those words, a deafening sound made all those in the room spring to their feet and look around with panic, before realizing, with shock, that what they had heard was the sound of the mountain they were in being broken in half.
[Intrusion detected. Unsafe formations scrubbed. Traces erased.]
That was the message that Daneel had received, and as he looked up, in the direction of the ceiling that no longer existed, he spotted just what this 'intrusion' was.
Just four individuals were present in the air below the open sky, hovering in place just a few hundred meters away from them, but each of them gave off such a foreboding feeling that Daneel and the rest could only stand there, rooted to the spot.
Half of the 1000 meter tall mountain in which they were in was no more- instead, a pile of rubble was strewn to the side, and it was hard to believe that it was what had once made up one of the iconic peaks of Angaria.
From this, alone…the power of those who had arrived could be seen.
There were three Champions and one Hero, and it was the latter who stepped forward.
"What is the meaning of this? We-"
The Head stepped in to mediate, but what happened next…made Daneel understand that what he had been waiting for, had come to be.
All the woman did was flick her finger, and somehow, the Head's mouth…disappeared.
"Mmm! Mmm mm mmmmm!"
All that was left in the place where his mouth had once been was bare skin, and it moved in a grotesque manner as it was obvious that the Head was trying to free his tongue to talk.
Yet, no matter how much he did so, only these sounds could be heard.
It was a scene straight out of a horror film, but the most terrifying thing was…that none of them had been able to spot how she had done it.
By the time they had turned to the Head, it was as if he had always been so.
"System, did you catch that?", asked Daneel in an incredulous tone, and the answer he got made him feel a chill that cut to the bone.
[Negative. Data insufficient. Spellcasting ended before Phenomena Analysis Module could gather enough data. It is recommended to upgrade the system to enable better sensing mechanisms to record data.]
Daneel had no time to respond to the system, as he had just felt a pair of eyes lock onto him.
Indeed, it was a feeling that settled onto him even though he wasn't looking in the direction where those eyes lay, and as he turned, he realized that it was the eerie, snow-covered pupils of the woman that were staring at him with great interest.
She had stunning features, with a slightly upturned nose, high cheekbones, and a sharp chin. Yet…because of those unique eyes, all of these features would always fail to be noticed.
A silence that was akin to one that would appear before the onset of a world-ending storm appeared in the area, and finally…it was broken by the woman, who gave a statement in a glacial tone.
Hearing it, a look of horror unlike no other appeared on the faces of all those present in the ceiling-less room.
"Daneel Anivron. You have been charged with High Treason for aiding and abetting the Church of Rectitude. You shall be taken in for questioning, where if your guilt is established, your freedom will be forfeit for the rest of your miserable life. Come quietly, boy."