For a few moments, Daneel couldn't make sense of anything. He didn't realise that he had fallen to the ground, eyes vacant as if he was staring at something that only he could see while the burning man danced around the room, searching for help but not finding any from the enforcers and the master who fearfully shirked away from him, staring as if their wildest nightmares had come true.
There was so much to discover. So much to see. So much to live. So much… to remember.
At one point, it even seemed as if he would be overwhelmed by all of it and be knocked out, but the moment he got this feeling, he bit his lip as this was the worst time to lose consciousness. Still, he knew for certain that this was the time to see them all for what they were worth and find himself once again, so forgetting everything else, he gave himself up to the memories and began to go through each and every one.
He remembered being born on Earth… his homeworld. He remembered his childhood there, the kind old lady, the orphanage, the turn of bad luck… and the experiment that had resulted in him transmigrating to Angaria with the World Domination System.
All of them were vivid, so he didn't need to worry about not being able to remember things properly. He saw himself floundering, at first, then finding his footing in that new world with the help of the system. He found himself growing, loving, succeeding, then being crowned as the ruler of hundreds of thousands of Lanthanorians… before finding out about the threat of the Church.
The moment he remembered that single word, a flash of red-hot anger passed through him, making his very vision go crimson as he inadvertently skipped forward to the way he had had to leave his homeland behind to get here. Calming himself forcefully, though, he returned to that point when he had seen his master's message, and from there on, he continued his journey through the past.
Friends came and went. Countries rose and fell. People were killed, people died, people tried to kill him… and were all vanquished, one by one, until he stood supreme among millions.
He got married. He found the loves of his life, two women who had been present in those images he had seen after coming here, and who made a pang of such deep loss and sorrow go through him that it hurt physically when he realized who they were. His family had spanned the entire continent, but he had had no option but to fail them all… and come here to find a way to save them all.
And with that, he came back to the present, and to the weighty burden on his shoulders. Throughout the journey, he saw that he had regained all of the strength that had been his on Angaria, for if that was not the case, the truth about how millions were waiting to be given birth again by him might have been too much to bear.
That was definitely not how he felt now, though. All that filled his mind was happiness and joy, as he once again felt… whole.
That was the best way to explain it. All these days, he had been living as a fragmented part of himself, naïve and powerless, but even in that state, he was really proud that he had stuck to his ideals. If he really had taken the decision to choose the future while the present was going to be destroyed in front of his eyes, he would simply not have been someone even remotely related to the Godking of Angaria… but he saw now that this had been the plan of the system all along, to give him a chance for his mind and his character to find itself with a clean slate, thereby reaffirming the very qualities that had led him along that life on Angaria, and now, in this life that was going to take the Mainland by storm.
The happiness was also accompanied by burgeoning confidence and the will… to dominate. It felt like a long time had passed since he had gotten the chance to truly stretch himself and put the system through its paces… but before he could embark on this calling of his, he saw that there was a small issue to resolve.
In his mind, he saw that there were two people. One was the Daneel who had lived through that life on Angaria, and had been hidden by the system until now to avoid being detected by the Will of the Mainland. The other was the Daneel who had slowly found himself over all these days in the town of Graiton, plodding through his difficulties one step at a time, before ultimately choosing death yet being rewarded for the same in the most spectacular fashion possible.
Their experiences were different. Their thoughts were different. Even their family was different… so how could they coexist?
He pondered on this conundrum from a distance, as a disjointed entity looking on from the outside. Then, he once again recalled what the system had said… and realized that his old friend had already thought of this problem, and given him a hint regarding the solution.
The common thread. That was all that was required… and this thread was their heart.
Going back to that moment in front of that clump of crystals, Daneel studied the state of his mind, and saw the same turmoil that had been present so many times in his life on Angaria. As if the dam between the two sets of memories was being whittled down, he saw them mix and flow between each other, hesitantly coming into contact like two dancers who had to work together to become a perfect whole, and slowly… they mixed together, and he felt himself being pulled forward.
All at once, he snapped his eyes open, finally in full command of his mind and body. He frowned then, though, as he felt small poking sensations coming from all over the skin, and when he realized the source, he almost laughed out loud.
The system had deployed a very thin barrier around him, protecting him from the large group of enforcers who were all kicking and punching, intent on reducing him to nothing but a pile of flesh and blood. Veins were pulsing on their faces, making evident their frustration as they couldn't even break his skin, and taking a moment, he spoke with the system to find out what was up.
[Responding to host. Magic system of the world that host has arrived in is completely different from the magic system of Angaria. Elementary particles are absent, or are in a different form which have not been detected, yet. System has been adapting the energy of this world to host's purposes. At present, a protective barrier which was detected around the city was able to be copied and deployed using the last crystals present upon host's body. Barrier breakdown in 10, 9…]
"Break it now, explosively."
[Affirmative.]
"BANG!"
With a loud sound akin to a gunshot, a shockwave erupted from him that made all the enforcers fly back and thud to the ground. They all quickly looked up and found him getting to his feet slowly, stretching his legs, hands, neck, causing popping sounds to echo throughout the cavern while looking like he had gotten the best warmup and was now ready to take the fight to them.
Most of the enforcers were thoroughly peeved, already having seen too much that they couldn't explain. Only a couple were still in the throes of the adrenaline rushing through their bodies, and identifying one of them, Daneel beckoned at him, taunting him to come at him.
The man obliged, jumping forward with a shout… and Daneel smoothly chopped at his neck and on his back, causing him to crash to the floor. In a fluid movement, he ducked and dug out two crystals from the man's pockets, which were used to power the batons used by all enforcers… and after crushing them in his hands, he called upon the Will, just like he had done many times on Angaria, before.
'Why exert myself… when all my enemies are so weak?'
The orb of light below him pulsed once again, and Daneel felt its support suffuse the air of the throne room. All it needed was some energy to act, and he had been able to instinctively deliver the power of the crystals, thereby granting him the capability of using it as he wished.
He folded his hands behind his back. He raised his head up high, like that of a king surveying his objects. The enforcers were being coaxed by the master who was screaming unintelligibly to go kill him, but when he uttered a single word, time seemed to stop… and then, the sound of many knees hitting the floor was heard, which was like music to his ears.
"Kneel."
In the absolute silence in the room, he smiled, then laughed, one thought echoing in his mind.
YYYYEEEEEESSSS