With Darius in hand, Didier activated Forza Erculea. He turned into a bulging muscular Adonis. His technique was so superb that he could flex while holding the boy. Even Darius had to come out of his shock to praise the old man, as knew how difficult it was. It looked stupid but it was absurdly powerful. The old man leapt from the top of the dome-like a bullet shrimp at its finest in action.

The others were not to be undone, they thought that the old man was kidnapping the boy before they could renegotiate! Presumptuous!

The Emperor, Fay Donald, Kylian, the older princes and Katya's retinue followed suit like thunder.

Ten minutes later above the dome, the old man reappeared with Darius in tow.

"Hmm, they should be far away enough now. Now then lad lets go! Forza Erculea!"

The old man flexed and bolted south-west laughing like a senile fool. Darius continued screaming until he could no longer handle it and indomitable took over.

Calmly Darius looked at Didier, who was literally leaping from mountain to mountain in his massive muscular form. Throwing in a flex or two for good measure every jump.

"Where are you taking me and why?"

Didier thought for a second and said, "Don't worry it's not dangerous…I think. I can't really explain, so just follow me."

The duo travelled like this until they reached a massive crater. The old man jumped into the crater that could be compared to the largest of lakes. After a few seconds, they reached the epicentre of the crash site. There, a pearl-like object entrenched in the centre. The pearl was the size of a house so the crater sow started to make sense. The old man put Darius down.

"I was instructed by a very powerful senior to bring you here. From what I can see he is giving you a gift. And not an ordinary one at that."

This old man was a Grandmaster but there was someone he was willingly calling a very powerful senior?

Darius had to admit that he was intrigued. Darius walked to the Dantian wearily, and when he was five meters away. A Projection showed up in front of him.

It was the rough silhouette of a human but it was covered in dot-like static making it hard to define. Even the voice was muffled.

The projection looked toward the old man and said, "Well done for following the instructions without hesitation. We hereby grant you access to be his first Spiritsmith teacher. Depending on your abilities to teach the boy we will grant you many resources. The boy is much more talented than you surmise."

The old man merely shook his head as he had no idea what was really happening.

'He has given me permission, now no one can take the boy away from me! I know following his orders was a good decision.'

While the old man was doing a mental fist pump, the projection turned to Darius.

"You are Darius Omen Beta. You have satisfied the conditions necessary to receive a give from us. We have sent you a Glory Class Dantian belonging to a Colossus Carbonite Golem. This is far too powerful for you, but we demand that you absorb the Dantian. If not we will kill you here and now. Make your choice coward."

Darius could hear the voice, but the disgust within it wasn't well hidden. Especially when he heard the word coward.

Darius looked at his arm, were his hammer usually was.

'It's him. No doubt about it.'

"I accept."

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Darius accepted the request. The silhouette said, "Very well coward, you remember this guy don't you?"

A figure was teleported a few meters away from Darius. A large, pale humanoid figure with a serpentine torso slithered across the charred earth. It had two gaping black holes where its eyes were supposed to be as it slithered towards. The humanoid head had no eyes, only two slits for a nose and large, sharp fangs. The torso had no arms but trailed off into a large snake-like tail.

"It's him!"

While Darius was making a realization, the old man was making a realization of his own.

'This a Vile King Serpentis in its infancy, probably only a few days. It's a variant of the second step! Darius has no chance! This is a death wish!'

Two spirits on the same level of classification do not equate to equal power. Some species of spirit are noble just like with humanity. Serpentis Spirits were led by a subspecies called Vile King Serpentis. It was called Vile King because it has a penchant for eating children alive.

"Beta, I must warn you, the chances of you winning this battle are less than 10 percent. Do you wish to continue? Or should I just kill you now so as to not waste time.?"

"I will fuck this thing up." Said an enraged Darius.

Didier was surprised for a moment.

'What? The boy is enraged, under Indomitable?'

The cogs in the elder's mind started rolling and he remembered the description young Darius gave when describing the spirit that ate his family.

'It was a Serpentis Infant!'

Not of the authorities were experienced or powerful enough to know a Serpentis. Let alone nobility.

Darius' anger now made sense!

The elder wanted to stop this but he couldn't stop the fight then have Darius killed. He knew who that silhouette and what he could do. He could stop Sahid with one foot if he so wished. Darius could only do as he said.

"Wait, he has a chance, if it was any other spirit of nobility he would be dead, but this…"

Darius' body started to emanate a killing intent the old man had rarely ever felt in his life. Darius hadn't killed that many creatures, but his killing intent and aura were rising wave after wave, like the signs of an approaching storm.

Darius made a pulling motion with his hand, which materialized his hammer into his arm. This was one of the abilities he had gained from bonding with the flamingo Dantian!

Soul Force Flamingos could turn ephemeral. They could also store their young ones in other dimensions for safety and retrieve them when necessary. That was Darius secondary ability, Omnipresent. Its name was a bit arrogant but Darius couldn't care less. He could now keep his hammer and other objects in a shadow dimension or collect them through the dimension.

For example, his hammer was in the academy. Darius brought his hand into the shadow dimension where he is omnipresent. He arrived at his hammer's position. He was instantly in the shadow world and pulled it in while pulling it out where he was.

The greater the distance the more energy he is drained. If he is storing things that are not his smiter it takes 10 times more energy.

Getting his hammer took a small chunk of his energy but it was worth it as he was much stronger with it.

The moment he held it Indomitable activated in full swing, missing in with his blood-lust, creating a sort of suppression effect on the surroundings. The Serpentis King was affected the most as it was still technically two stars even as nobility, but it had its own little gift. The old man and silhouette got back by about a few kilometres.

Darius' killing intent hit the roof, and so did the quality of his spiritual essence. Such was the boost he got from the ever-increasing Indomitable. It was an ability fuelled by the mind. The power of the mind was an abstruse concept here and not properly understood, but it was known that a more powerful mind increases your energy output or quality depending on the situation.

Darius' indomitable was fuelled by one sentence. "I want to survive." This was because most of the time this was the sentence that had the most resolve in his mind. But seeing the Serpentis brought back unpleasant memories. So the sentence guiding Indomitable changed from 'I want to survive.' To 'I want revenge!'

The boy's desire to crush this creature was a shock even to Darius himself. The resolve to kill this creature brought Indomitable and his other abilities to new heights. But the old man still shook his head, this wasn't enough.

The spirit blitzed toward Darius who blocked with his hammer. He was blasted back and became like a ping pong ball. The Serpentis was simply that fast. Darius could barely react in time. Let alone use an ability.

This snake was too young, so it wasn't able to fully utilize its abilities yet. Hence this toying phase.

"You did well Didier. You have always followed all orders, and hence as I promised, you now have a true disciple." Said the Silhouette.

Didier knelt in appreciation, "Thank you Elder Omega. I am honoured, I truly am."

Omega smiled but Didier couldn't see it. "We will allow you to be his master until he is an Expert!"

Didier was surprised. He was sure the organization would take Darius sooner. This mysterious powerhouse was recruiting geniuses worldwide, this was all Didier knew.

"You became a Grandmaster without the support of a powerhouse behind. That is incredibly rare. You were not that talented but you fought your way through your path and you were rewarded. It is that tenacity and willpower I want you to instil in the boy. Can I trust you?" asked the Silhouette.