"People of Lanthanor!

I will only ask you one question: HAVE YOU HAD

ENOUGH?"

"YES!", came the reply as an untold number of voices screamed and yelled, shocking
Daneel who was watching the sheer intensity held by a group of people united as one.

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO BREAK DOWN THESE GATES AND STORM THE
INNER CITY?", the man asked, his voice rising in pitch with the increasing frenzy
that was spreading across the crowd.

"YES!", came the reply again, while each and every person remembered either the
injustices that were done to them or the injustices they feared would be done to their
children and family if they let the nobility continue their rule.

Raising his hands in the air, the man made a gargantuan hand which seemed to be
made of air appear above him.

Seeing this hand appear, Daneel knew that there would be no speeches to rile up the
crowd like he had expected. Like Master Jonah said, the Church were very
straightforward after all.

"THE CHURCH OF RECTITUDE GRANTS YOUR WISH!", he shouted, gesturing

forward as with a world-shaking BOOM, the gates were rent open.

Events were already effecting his plans. He needed to get to a location after the
Church gathered the attention of the people, but now, he had time.

As the crowd around him rushed forward like a sea, Daneel could only try to fight the
current and struggle to move in the direction he had to go in.

Chapter 80
Daneel wished he could teleport, but the people pressing against him stopped him
from doing so. Getting an idea, he ordered the system to teleport him to his
destination as soon as an instant of time came when he wasn't in contact with anyone.
After wading through for a few more minutes, by chance, that instant finally came.

Stumbling onto the ground near one of the walls of the Inner City, he adjusted his
clothes and looked up to see Laravel waiting.

Yes, Laravel was the key through whom he would enter the palace. His plan right now
was pretty simple: get to the palace and analyze the formation with the upgraded
Phenomena Analysis Module.

All of his observations beforehand had been from outside as he had had no way to
enter and thus be in the presence of the formation, thereby accelerating the process of
development like in the case when he had endured the Weighty Gaze of the King
during the First Year Assessment Exam.

Daneel needed to do two things: first, he had to allow the system to crack the
formation with its upgraded ability while being in the presence of the formation.
Second, he had to turn public favor towards his side if he wanted to be King.

Thus, he had contacted Laravel and asked him about the secret passages into the
palace like the one he had seen in Elanev's manor.

Although all the passages leading in and out of the palace would mostly be blocked
when the fight commenced, Laravel had said that he had a way to enter.

Thus, after formulating a backup plan in case Laravel's plan didn't work, Daneel
confirmed the time at which they would meet.

Although Laravel had asked why the 'master' himself wouldn't come, Daneel had
simply answered that as a powerful figure, he was bound by rules and could not take
part directly in conflicts like these. All he could do was help his disciple and give him
everything he needed in order to win.

Of course, this was hogwash thought up by Daneel after remembering the common
excuses used by mysterious masters back on Earth. Yet, Laravel believed him because
it did make some sense.

Still, he looked at Daneel with a skeptical expression on his face.

"You sure you have a plan to beat everyone else?"

Checking his pockets to make sure everything was in place, Daneel answered, "Of
course. I made the plan, and master gave me everything I need. All you need to do is
get me in."

The 'master' excuse couldn't be used forever, thus he had already decided to start
giving more credit for himself.

Nodding, Laravel turned around and pricked his finger with his nail.

Stretching his hand forward, he drew a symbol that was similar to the royal crest on
the wall.

After a few seconds, the symbol glowed and disappeared into the wall.

The stones on the wall magically moved to the side, opening a door that could fit one
person at a time.

Daneel followed Laravel in after making sure that no one was spying on them. It
seemed that the Grand Court Mage was quite busy with some other matters.

The doorway closed as soon as the both of them entered. In the pitch black darkness,
Daneel conjured a fireball and looked around at the moldy cavern they were in with
steps leading forward.

Gesturing Laravel to lead, the two started traversing the passage in silence.

As he saw Laravel's back in front of him, he could not help but think back to all of
their interactions.

Even Kellor had said that his problem was arrogance, but it was outside of Daneel's
expectations that he would have such a change of heart.

As someone who was still new to the matters of loyalty and character, Daneel had
never placed any hope or belief in the possibility of one's attitude undergoing such
drastic changes in just a short span of three years. In fact, he even had a small
suspicion that he was being led into a trap, but Daneel was already prepared for that
possibility, especially with the power of the upgraded system.

Concluding that he still had a lot to learn, Daneel opened his mouth to ask how much
longer it would take to reach the palace.

BOOM!
The whole passageway they were in shook as if some enormous being had hit the
earth above them, causing an earthquake.

Dust fell from the ceiling while the two tried to keep their balance, waiting for the
shaking to stop.

Daneel was horrified. What kind of force was needed to cause such a massive
disturbance?

As subsequent BOOMs started sounding from above, Laravel screamed "RUN!" as he

took off at frantic pace.

Daneel decided to follow. It was too risky to teleport forward with the shaking and the
rocks that were starting to fall from the ceiling.

The outer city was quite large, so traversing it all would take quite some time. After
30 minutes of running at full speed, the duo finally reached an opening from which
light was spilling through.

Lunging forward, Daneel and Laravel got out of the passageway just as it completely
collapsed behind them.

Panting for breath, Daneel asked, "How can the passageway be so flimsy?"

"This one has long been abandoned with no maintenance. I only know of it from a
story my grandfather told about his childhood."

Getting up and dusting off the dirt, he said, "Lets go. The Palace is right ahead."

They were in a round, domed room, which seemed to have been excavated long ago
judging from the weeds that were creeping into the stones. With the ceiling at least 20
feet in the air, Daneel wondered the purpose behind this room.

Just as he was about to ask Laravel the same, he looked forward to see that the kid's
back was quivering, as if he was seeing his worst horror.

Noticing just what Laravel was staring at, a similar expression of shock appeared on
Daneel's face.

King Richard Lanthanore stood right in front of the door which apparently lead to the
palace.
With an expression of rage beyond anything Daneel had ever seen, the King roared,
"LARAVEL! HOW DARE YOU BRING SOMEONE THROUGH THE SECRET
PASSAGE ONLY MEANT FOR THE ROYAL FAMILY??!!"

His roar echoed through the room, but Daneel's attention was drawn to something that
puzzled him.

The King's image seemed to be fizzling in and out of existence, as if it were merely a
projection.

Yet, in his shock, Laravel did not notice this.

The horror morphing into an expression of stoic determination, Laravel found his
voice and replied, "The noble name of our family cannot end due to your foolish
actions. I will do whatever is necessary to ensure that."

Now, it was the King's turn to be shocked. Seeing his own son talk back to him, King
Richard temporarily became speechless and could only stare into Laravel's eyes.

Chapter 81
"He's not actually here.", said Daneel from behind, making a small expression of
astonishment pass across the King's face.

What he was using was a high-grade trinket which let him project his image anywhere
in the palace. Thus, he could not move forward from the boundary of the palace, but
any Human Mage was not supposed to be able to tell the difference between the
projection and reality.

Daneel was actually using the upgraded elementary sight, hence he could see the
particles in front of him with the view of a Warrior Mage. On reaching that level,
one's mind would become more open and capable of viewing and assessing the world
better.

"Laravel, don't you know why your brothers and sisters do not even dare to have
rebellious thoughts?", he asked in a normal tone.

Laravel had calmed down a little after hearing Daneel speak. Indeed, if his father were
really here, he would have lunged forward to kill them already as both of them were
simply no match in front of him.
"I do. I don't know how exactly, but you have some means to take our lives. I was
prepared for that when I made the decision to approach Daneel's master. You are
wrong, father. You should have listened to grandfather."

Hearing this, the King barked a savage laugh before saying, "My father? The old man
was exactly the same way I am when he was in power. In fact, he was even worse.
Once, he ordered a whole village to be killed because they refused to pay the high
taxes! He contributed to the present state of affairs more than almost any King before
or after him. If he faced the same situation I did, I know he would have made the same
decision. After breaking through and enjoying such a long life, he suddenly starts
preaching all that stuff to me? I have to sacrifice myself for the throne? Humph."

Each word struck Laravel like a bullet. It seemed that although he had known vaguely
about the previous King's past, hearing the bitter truth from his father was attacking
his mindset which had decided on his grandfather as his idol.

"Even his reasoning was flawed. Did he ever tell you to care for the people? All he
wanted was for the family name to go on. Family name, family name, family name. I
got sick each time I heard him say the same thing over and over again!"

As an expression of self-doubt and indecisiveness appeared on his face after hearing

these words, Laravel slowly started shaking his head in response; both to answer the
question the King had asked and to deny all of the allegations that were threatening to
make his mind crumble.

"What use is the family name if I'm dead? I want to live and grow in power. Frankly, I
don't care if that's here or at the Withering Leaf Sect. Your eldest brother will inherit
the throne and the sect will slowly make this into a sectarian country. Of course, they
will keep the people around because they need to recruit. But apart from that, the
people will be treated with the same disparity.

"Boy, in this world, power is everything. It's a pity you were born from my blood and
still don't understand that."

"NO!", shouted Laravel, clutching his head and bending to his knees.

Meanwhile, Daneel felt danger emanating from the open door that led to the palace.
He did not want to teleport himself forward and get trapped, thus he waited and
watched.
For some reason, Daneel felt that the King was buying time. He simply looked at the
crouched Laravel, giving him enough time to sort out his feelings.

"Yes, he never told me care for the people. But we both agreed that it was essential to
do so to prevent situations like these. Yes, he did all those things in his past. But I
know he realized he had been wrong in his last years.

Raising his head up to face the King's, Laravel spoke in a strong tone that displayed
the firm belief in his ideals that he had regained.

"Our family name IS everything. I want to face my great-grandfather and my

ancestors with my head held high when I die. The family name must live on. For that,
I am willing to do anything."

Speaking these words, Laravel felt a clarity that he had never experienced before in
his life. All the doubts he had had about his grandfather's past were gone, because he
now understood that changes like these could only be welcomed, not sought after.

Each and every story told by his Grandfather had awoken in him a zeal to live up to
the deeds of their ancestors. Every time, he would compare his life and mindset to
those of the princes of old who lived lives of leadership and conquest. Even he wished
to be so; to work with the single ambition to expand the Kingdom handed down by his
family.

Of course, his viewpoint had been flawed as the previous King himself did not care
about the citizens. He had chosen to tell only selective parts after discarding the ones
about them treating the people fairly. Yet, what he told had been enough to change
this shrewd but arrogant kid.

The stories gave birth to a wish. A wish to save the Noble Lanthanore name from
disappearing.

And even if he died trying to fulfill this wish, he would have no regrets.

Sighing, the King said, "So you've made your decision. Well, it's too late now.
Remember the Royal Technique given to all members of the Royal Family to increase
body potential or comprehension?"

Daneel was surprised seeing the King bring this up. He recalled his conversation with
Elanev, who had talked about the rumors that the Royal Family had absorption
techniques which increased potential but might result in gruesome mutations. What
did that have to do with anything right now?

"Those techniques were a set: one increased body potential or comprehension whereas
the other could remove the limiter stopping mutations from occurring due to the side
effects of using the other technique. Our ancestor who betrayed his brother to gain
control of the Kingdom was always afraid that his offspring might usurp the throne by
doing exactly what he had done. Thus, he bought this set at an exorbitant price which
placed the whole Kingdom in debt for quite a lot of years.

Raising his hand, the King stared into Laravel's eyes as a twisted smile appeared on
his face.

"Except your Eldest Brother, I can kill you or any of your siblings at the flick of my
wrist right now. Choose, Laravel. Take a step forward and you will die. Say a word
and you will die. Just surrender, and I promise that I will not even punish you."

On Laravel's face, there was only peace regardless of what he heard. Since he saw the
King here, he knew that his actions had been discovered and that there was a very
high possibility that he would die.

What difference would the method make? There was only one more thing he needed
to do: he had to deactivate the bloodlock on the door so that Daneel could enter safely.

At this moment, his whole life flashed before his eyes.

His childhood filled with arrogance where he took pleasure in showing off whenever
he could.

His fear of defeat in Daneel's hands which made him use the explosion trinket during
the test.

His indignance and desire to take revenge as he still lost.

And his first proper conversation with his grandpa who talked when he once
accompanied his father to the bedroom.

Each and every long discussion they shared were vivid in his mind. Bit by bit, he had
begun to envy the princes of old who had the true right to be arrogant with war merits
under their chest and unfathomable power in their hands.
What did he have to be arrogant? Nothing. By letting go of that arrogance, the
admiration for his family name was slowly instilled in him. And with that admiration
came the desire to do something.

Now, a relaxed smile appeared on his face as the realization came that he would die
soon. But, he still needed to do that one last thing.

Taking a lunge forward, Laravel tried to reach the door.

An expression of frustration appearing on his face, the King flicked his upraised
fingers and disappeared as another loud BOOM was heard from above ground.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

With a scream, Laravel fell to the ground and started writhing.

After quickly confirming that there were no threats nearby, Daneel hastened to the
prince's side.

An expression of agony was on his face, with eyes rolled back to show the whites and
teeth gritted so hard together that blood started to flow from the corner of his lips.

Yet, what horrified Daneel the most was the realization that somehow, Laravel's body
was growing in size while black hair started appearing all over his skin.

In only a few seconds, the body on the ground was already double Daneel's size.

"AAAAAAAAARRGGHHHHH!"

A roar shook through the dome, making the hair on Daneel's skin stand on end as he
realized that that figure had raised its head and was now looking at him as if he were
its prey.