"Will destroying the stone podium kill the spirit?"

"Yes. But it cannot be destroyed using any means that are available right now. The only other way is to absorb all of the Energy inside the stone podium, which is the source of the Spirit's continued existence in this world. This option is only possible for Spirits which have been ripped from their original place, which, in itself, takes a ma.s.sive effort, and is only possible during an attempt of possession. When the stone podium was being carried away on the orders of the Empire Spirit for safety, I noticed that there were misshapen branches of red material inside which const.i.tuted it."

As Daneel heard this, his eyes widened with surprise.

Could it be…?

After hearing about the Ker Root, Daneel had asked the system to show him what it looked like, just in case he came upon one by chance.

Quickly, using his Paragon powers, he made an image of the Ker Root that he had seen in the book appear in front of the crazy king.

It was almost exactly like the root of a plant, except if the root were made up of the s.h.i.+ny material that glowed a dark red.

Daneel was just about to rejoice, but the answer from the crazy king made a crestfallen expression appear on his face.

"No. It was much thicker, and it was a much darker color. It was almost black."

At this moment, the system spoke in his mind, making him smile.

[The person in front of host is referring to the ancient form of the Ker Root, when the Energy level of the continent was much higher. Descriptions of the material were found in one of the journals of a scholar who extensively studied the age of the Empire of Angaria.]

Yes! That meant that the crazy plan that had appeared in his head might work!

However, now was not the time to think about it. First, he had to decide whether he was going to kill this King.

If he did, then he would be granting the wish of someone who might have only wanted to grow stronger in order to help his people.

Yet, he would be taking a very big risk, as the Empire Spirit might be able to detect that something was wrong.

However, if he didn't, he would be left with the guilt of ignoring a helpless man's plea just to keep themselves safe.

Also, killing someone in cold blood just because they asked for it and needed it was still not something the Daneel was sure that he could do.

Sure, he had gotten a lot more bloodthirsty than before due to everything he had been through, which had especially been on display when he had slaughtered those sc.u.m in the Sect of Hedon without flinching.

Only, then, he had been imagining what they had done to those poor women in the Black Raven Kingdom, and he had let the anger take control.

Now, with this man pleading in front of him, Daneel was hesitant.

Did everything always have to be so black and white? Couldn't there be better, easier ways to do things?

Before, in the fight, Daneel had at some point decided, without even knowing why, that he would defeat his opponent directly, matching fist with fist and blood with blood.

Thankfully, he had snapped out of that after realizing that that would only end in his room.

After that, he had managed to find a solution through his wit.

Could he do that now?

Asking himself that, Daneel sank into deep thought, and a few minutes later, he realized that there really was a way.

To confirm, he asked the crazy king, "Can the Empire Spirit detect that you were under the effect of a Hero level Mind Control spell?"

"No, because it is at the same level. Spells at the same level cannot detect things about each other. They can only do so with those of lower level. Right now, its Mind Control spell is still on me, but it is in a dormant stage. You were not able to detect it."

That was right. Daneel had guessed as much, and had also been hoping that this would be the case, even though this wasn't always how spells worked.

"Good. First, tell me the location of the Empire Spirit, and answer a few more questions of mine. Then, listen. This is what happened…"

…

A few minutes later.

At the waterfall where Faxul had interacted with the Empire Spirit, the crazy man had just returned and was blabbering to himself while he walked inside the cave.

The stone podium was unmoving, but if one closed their eyes, they would be able to feel that there was something inside that podium that was keeping an eye on the blabbering man.

Inside the crazy king's mind, the Empire Spirit rummaged around, as since the man had come back, it had only heard from the crazy side of him, with the lucid side nowhere to be seen.

A few seconds later, it understood what had happened.

This old friend of its had gone and slaughtered a few people from his own Kingdom, and after so many years, it had finally been the last straw. The lucid side had completely snapped and lost itself to the crazy one, resulting in the man now truly deserving the moniker "crazy"

Well, this didn't change or modify its plans in any way.

Changing back its focus to the Black Raven throne room, it observed as the body that it was going to inhabit and rule the world with went about its daily routine, sitting in on a boring court session while wondering when it could get back to testing out that incredible inheritance that it had received from the mysterious stone podium inside the waterfall.

The doubt regarding whether it should contact its best friend still remained, but the Mind Control spell was more than enough to stop the body from doing so, all while fattening itself up to be ripe enough to be plucked by the Empire Spirit when it was done recovering.

That was why the Empire Spirit did not even consider the person who was inside the body presently: it only referred to the body as "it", as it saw itself inside the body soon, at which point the original owner would be irrelevant.

Waiting for that day when it could finally free itself from this d.a.m.n podium, the Empire Spirit chuckled to itself sinisterly.

…

Meanwhile, Daneel had reached the Kingdom of Lanthanor and was standing in the library, where the red light was still s.h.i.+ning from under the door.

For the life of him, he couldn't decide whether he had to go in, or whether he should just ignore it completely, just to be safe.