The Church and other forces of the Mainland had a lot of experience in dealing with continents like his. Hence, they had had thousands of years to figure out the perfect strategies to seize victory with as fewer losses as possible.

This was one of the major ways in which they messed with the morale of the entire continent. 'Darkness' was supposed to be an Artefact that could blacken out the sun, itself, and bring the curtain of endless night upon the poor souls who were being targeted.

It had many uses – even if the poison was not able to take effect, plant life would begin to die, and even though the continent might be able to cope with the darkness using sources of light for some time, as the days went on, they would have to expend more and more Energy just to go about their day, which would deplete their reserves and leave them ripe for picking.

There were rumours that the Church had also strengthened this particular Artefact to bring sickness upon the weaker members of a continent as soon as it took effect, and reading this, Daneel had hoped that they were false.

After blacking out the sun in the image, too, Husare was satisfied.

She turned to Daneel, as if hoping that he would show them his plan by using the image, but when he did not stir, she shook her head and said, "Alright. Let us a.s.sume that a large part of the squadrons are wiped off…"

With a wave of her hand, half of the 1000 Heroes disappeared.

Walking around the image, she began to speak.

"You only have a couple of hundred of Peak Heroes, who haven't even begun training seriously to cast spells together. Your opponents have all been through multiple wars, and have seen more than you can even begin to imagine. They will not falter. They will not stop. They will keep attacking, day and night, to break through all the defences that you might put up. Let us consider the situation right here, first – if nothing else is taken into account, even with such a devastating loss to the Church, their victory is guaranteed."

Pulled by the touch of her mind, the people of Angaria had gathered into large squadrons. A vanguard comprised of the strongest Heroes of the Order set out to meet their forces, but they were all wiped out with the combined strength of the squadrons of Peak Heroes and the war weapons that could each kill tens of Peak Heroes on their own. Finally, the poison killed off all the food being grown, the darkness made large numbers of elderly individuals fall sick, and at last, the very image of Angaria crumbled.

Seeing this bleak sight, Daneel leaned forward and put his head in his hands in a rare moment of fear and weakness.

He stood up straight in the next moment, but the a.s.sa.s.sins didn't miss it.

They said nothing, though, as the gaze that met them after that moment was so sharp that it threatened to cut their eyes in two.

Husare smile as she saw his reaction, which made Daneel realise that she had done this so she could see whether she would be able to shake him.

Well, she had succeeded, but Daneel was no longer interested in these games of pride and ego. He simply gestured for her to continue.

Like a child who had sought to play a game but had seen that the other person was uninterested, her smile soured as she turned back to the image.

With another flick of her fingers, a thick bundle of something that looked like cloth covered the entire continent.

With another flick, all of the Heroes who had gone forth to fight before wearing nothing but the clothes on their bodies were now clad in s.h.i.+ning, silver suits of metal that looked indestructible.

Large, cylindrical objects bored into the land in multiple spots around the continent, and as the enemy came near, they shot out millions and millions of snakes that came alive and ripped through the ranks of the Church.

She proceeded to unleash all of the objects she had been sent with, and when she was done, there was nothing but destruction everywhere on the image.

Even she seemed to be surprised by the outcome, as she spoke in a halting tone.

"A draw. Even with half the vanguard of the Church decimated, only a draw is possible, and that is if things go as planned, which rarely happens. The Church might deploy even more squadrons. They might choose to use more weapons. More resources. Maybe even a Saint will descend. This is unlikely, as the absence of a Saint will leave them ripe for invasion on the Mainland, but if it happens, we're certainly doomed. Something else is needed. I'm afraid I've done everything possible from my side, so it's all on you, now, king."

Compressing her lips into a thin line, she shot a glance back at her companions.

"If you lose, we die. So believe me when I tell you that I'm being honest with you. This is how the situation stands. We need one more card up our sleeves to throw them back. I hope you find it. You clearly have no intention to trust us with it even if you had one, so can we leave?"

Daneel's nod came a few seconds later. He was already deep in thought, so he did not see the a.s.sa.s.sins look at him with eyes filled with doubt before leaving.

A few minutes pa.s.sed as he delved into his mind, looking, searching for another plan.

He came up empty, at which point he knew that he should stop ignoring something that had been waiting for him for quite a long while.

Letting out a long sigh of his own, he spoke in his mind.

"I wanted to avoid using it, despite having the entire continent behind me. Now… It seems I have no choice. System, a.s.semble the pieces of the Grand Inheritance, and bring them here. It is time to finally see just what this great weapon is…"