"No problem, Master. I can wield this weapon. Although I am not its original master, I possess extremely powerful dark energy," said Daram, holding the Empera Blade in his hand. He could feel that his quick recovery and awakening were entirely due to the immense dark power the sword had provided, restoring him to his peak state with full energy.
"Very good! Then, Daram, this sword will be yours from now on. Only you can unleash the true power of this Dark Blade," said Rhodes. Among his subordinates, Daram was the only one capable of using this weapon. After all, as an ancient dark warrior, he could easily control the Empera Blade.
"Forget it, Master. I'm not a master swordsman. If it was Lady Carmeara, she might like this weapon. But I prefer to solve problems with my fists. I'm a pure power-type warrior, and I don't use weapons," Daram said, shaking his head as he placed the Empera Blade back on the ground.
Known for his absolute strength, Daram excelled in close combat, relying on his fists and kicks to fight. Weapons were not his forte. His armor was his best weapon, and his fists were his ultimate tools for battle.
"You idiot! I'm giving you such a powerful weapon, and you're telling me you won't use it? I can't even use it myself!" Seeing Rhodes' displeased expression, Daram quickly waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, Master. Even though I don't like wielding this Dark Blade, you can use it! Such a powerful weapon should be wielded by you."
This flattery hit the mark. Rhodes thought to himself, If I could use the weapon myself, would I even need to ask you to try it out?
"Do you think I'd be asking you to try using this sword if I could wield it myself?" Rhodes said.
"Oh, so that's the issue! Don't worry, Master! I guarantee I'll make it so you can use this weapon," Daram said confidently, patting his chest. For a dark giant like him, dealing with a dark sword was a trivial matter.
"What method do you have to make it usable for me?" Rhodes asked, his interest piqued.
"Master, I can use my power to seal the sword's dark energy and resize it to suit your stature. As your strength grows, the seal on the sword will weaken, allowing you to access more of its power until you can fully control it," Daram explained.
With himself by Rhodes' side, he could suppress the sword's dark energy at any time, so there was no problem.
"Alright, let's do it your way. Seal the sword's power and hand it over to me," Rhodes said. As expected of an ancient dark warrior, even one who specialized in physical combat had excellent control over dark energy.
Daram raised the mighty Empera Blade high and began channeling its dark energy, sealing it with his power. He also resized the blade, shrinking it down. Moments later, the once colossal blade had been reduced to the size of a toothpick in his hand. Daram himself shrank to a more human-like height of about two meters and respectfully handed the now smaller, black sword to Rhodes.
The Empera Blade had undergone a complete transformation. Its terrifying dark aura had vanished. From a massive 30-meter blade, it had shrunk to a manageable 1.5-meter-long sword, perfectly sized for Rhodes.
"Not bad!" Rhodes nodded in satisfaction, taking the sword and twirling it skillfully. The dark energy within it was now completely within a controllable range, allowing Rhodes to use its power with ease to attack his enemies.
"Trust me, Master. When it comes to controlling dark energy, no one can surpass us dark giants," Daram said, thumping his chest with pride.
"Haha! I think the best solution would be for me to become a dark giant myself. If I were a dark giant, I could control this sword without any issues," Rhodes said, laughing. With a dark giant standing before him, he couldn't help but entertain the idea of becoming one himself.
"There is indeed a way to turn a human into a dark giant or a warrior of light, but I don't know how," Daram said. "Perhaps Lady Carmeara would know."
There were natural methods for creating warriors of light and dark, but Daram was unaware of them. He had been born a dark giant, meeting Camilla, Hudram, and Darrgon in the cosmos before coming to Earth. After arriving on Earth, they chose human hosts for themselves. Back then, Camilla had even chosen a princess of a human kingdom as her host.
However, the way dark giants claimed human hosts was far more brutal than the fusion process of the warriors of light. Instead of merging with their host's spirit and working as one, the dark giants would completely erase their host's will and soul, fully taking over their bodies.
"Haha, very well! Let's see how this new power works!"
"Since you've become my subordinate, Daram, I will make sure you gain even greater power."
Rhodes was very much looking forward to enhancing the dark giant.
On the Ace Slaanesh Killer's side, tens of thousands of Dark Eldar members had already been killed, and the system's gold coins had skyrocketed to over 400,000.
"I am also very excited to gain greater power, Master!" Daram replied.
Rhodes nodded and opened Daram's enhancement list. As an ancient dark giant, Daram's height enhancements were very different from those of monsters, and the prices were completely different as well.
Daram's weight could be increased a total of 10 times, with each enhancement adding 5,000 tons to his weight, greatly improving his physical defense, density, and strength.
The first enhancement required 2,000 system gold coins.
The second, third, and subsequent enhancements would require increasing amounts, with the final (10th) enhancement costing a whopping 20,000 system gold coins.
This would allow Daram's weight to be increased by a total of 50,000 tons. Height enhancement, on the other hand, was limited to five upgrades, similar to monsters, with each upgrade adding 2 meters to his height.
Each height enhancement cost 2,000 system gold coins, with the price gradually increasing. The 5th enhancement cost 10,000 coins, allowing Dalam's height to reach 72 meters.
Some of Daram's smaller abilities, such as palm light bullets, extreme heat flames, Daram punches, and Daram kicks, couldn't be directly enhanced. Instead, they required the enhancement of something called Dark Energy.
Dark Energy could be enhanced in six stages:
The first enhancement required 10,000 system gold coins.
The second enhancement required 50,000 system gold coins.
The third enhancement required 100,000 system gold coins.
The fourth enhancement required 500,000 system gold coins.
The fifth enhancement required 1,000,000 system gold coins.
The sixth and ultimate Dark Energy enhancement required a staggering 5,000,000 system gold coins.
Each Dark Energy enhancement exponentially increased the dark giant's power, enhancing all aspects of his abilities.
Like the giants of light, dark giants also possessed the ability to learn new skills, transforming them into their techniques. In the future, Rhodes could allow Daram to learn other abilities, such as the decapitation skill from Ace Robot or the beam attacks of Mechanical Seven or other Ultra brothers. These skills could be simulated and released using dark energy. Even the light rays that Ultra warriors prided themselves on could be learned by Daram. It was just that Daram had been unwilling to learn them in the past!
In addition to using system gold coins to enhance Dark Energy, Daram could also increase it by absorbing powerful external sources of Dark Energy. However, if he chose this method, his body needed to be strengthened to the appropriate level first.
The body of a dark giant had a limit to how much energy it could withstand. If it absorbed more Dark Energy than it could handle, the body would be overwhelmed and destroyed by the sheer power.
Dark giants also had a unique characteristic: the ability to evolve. This evolution could occur by absorbing powerful Dark Energy or by imitating the giants of light, finding a human host, and achieving a symbiotic bond. This would unlock new transformation abilities and increase their potential, granting them even greater power. After evolving, a dark giant could unlock additional Dark Energy enhancement opportunities.
Speaking of Dark Energy, Rhodes suddenly thought of a very promising target.
"Damn, Old Emperor is a perfect candidate!"
Rhodes began planning in his head. Once they reached the Golden Throne, he wanted to see if Daram could absorb the dark energy of the Emperor. If it worked, it would even help alleviate the Emperor's pain!
He could discuss it with the Emperor when the time came: "These Dark Energies are just a burden for you. Why not let me take them off your hands?"
"Master, I've been sealed for 30 million years. Can I stretch my muscles a little? It looks pretty lively down there. Can I join in?" Daram stretched his body and looked at the city of Commorragh below with glowing eyes.
He had been trapped for a full 30 million years and was itching to destroy something.
"Next time! For now, your existence needs to remain a secret. This isn't the time to reveal yourself to the public eye," Rhodes said, shaking his head.