After asking the system to a.n.a.lyze the body, Daneel waited for a moment while still closely observing each and every person in the room.

Since the moment he had closed the door, he had been feeling a slight danger which was so minute that he could have missed it if he weren't already in a heightened state of awareness due to the warning from his instinct before.

Yet, the source of this feeling had carefully hidden their intentions so well that he couldn't detect exactly where it was coming from even if he was definitely in close proximity to them.

After a few seconds, Daneel smiled slightly seeing that his instincts had been correct.

[Anomaly detected. Level of degradation of grafted head exceeds that of the host. More data about the technique is needed to obtain information about the possibilities inherent with this anomaly.]

His smile only grew wider as he heard the last part.

This was because he could suspect just what had happened without needing the system to a.n.a.lyze it for him.

From the actions of the Eldest Prince before he had died, Daneel knew that the only emotion which engulfed the man was hate for the person who was responsible for his fate.

Such a man would only feel a sense of achievement about one thing moments before his death – a way to ensure that his revenge would be fulfilled even if he didn't exist in the world to see it.

Although Daneel had still had only a vague idea from the warning from his instincts, the notification from the system had now enabled him to discard other possibilities and fixate on the one which was most apparent: transferral of the grafted ent.i.ty.

Although Daneel still did not have a clear idea about the strange technique, one thing about it had struck him even before: if consciousness could move without needing a body, then why did a head need to be grafted onto a person physically to make this happen?

This had arisen from the fact that when he summoned a clone, he was capable of s.h.i.+fting consciousness between his main body and the clone as he wished.

From everything he knew about the system, Daneel was aware of the fact that the system was only capable of performing tasks which were bounded by the rules of this world.

This meant that there was definitely a way in which the same could be emulated if the correct technique was present.

Now with all these facts, his deduction was simple: the Eldest Prince had managed to somehow transfer that ent.i.ty to someone else to carry on his revenge after his death.

The only thing that remained was to find out just who this person was.

For this, it was time to use his all-powerful tool.

"Can you detect if the ent.i.ty is present in someone's body if I come into physical contact with them? And if that ent.i.ty attacks me, is there a way to trigger and kill that person even if my consciousness is unable to give a command?"

[Affirmative. A technique for the same can be developed and deployed with the specific feature of an automatic counter-attack being triggered when host's consciousness comes under attack]

Hearing this, Daneel raised his eyebrows seeing that the technique development tool could be used in this way too.

Keeping this in mind, he proceeded to develop and deploy the technique before walking up to the closest person near him who was one of the soldiers who had kept watch on the Eldest Prince.

"Everyone stay still. The Eldest Prince was carrying some sort of affliction which he may have pa.s.sed on to you without you knowing about it. I have only just gotten information about it, and I will be checking each of you to ensure that you haven't been infected."

Saying so to the room at large and hearing the gasps of fear from some of the maids, Daneel took the hand of the soldier into his as if to check his pulse.

On receiving the okay signal from the system that the ent.i.ty wasn't present in this person, he moved on to the next while still making sure to notice if anyone acted abnormally.

The ent.i.ty was definitely sentient enough to understand that he would detect it soon enough.

If he was in its shoes, what would he do?

A desperate surprise attack was the only answer.

As each person in the room was declared to be safe, Daneel felt himself tense up more and more knowing that the attack would come soon.

Apart from his advisors, there were only the healers left.

Moving onto the next person, Daneel froze the moment he touched his arm.

It was as if a mountain was suddenly crus.h.i.+ng down on him from above, making him believe that he was just a tiny ant who could not even hope to retain its life in the face of such mighty power.

Before he could even make sense of what was happening, a notification sounded near him which made him scream in response in panic.

[Host is under consciousness attack. Commencing counter-attack.]

"NO! Stop! Disable the technique!"

This panic stemmed from the fact that the person who was in front of him right now with a set of eyes that were filled with hatred was his oldest and closest friend, Faxul.