Not even a moment after the words were heard near his ears, Daneel found himself right where he had disappeared from after shouting out the pa.s.sword.
That weapon still lingered in his eyes, and it was as if he was transfixed, while getting drenched in the rain that had begun above the Endless Sea.
It was only after a few seconds that he finally came to his senses, and as soon as he did so, he shook his head and said, "Play the memory of when the weapon was last used, and tell me its history."
[Affirmative. Playing memory.]
The next second, Daneel found his mind pulled away to a location that actually looked familiar.
It was the same one in which Xandar had talked to those who had the Bloodline of the Shapes.h.i.+fter, and this was because this was apparently a famous area in the Secret Academy that used to exist during the age of the Empire for Bloodline Possessors as those who chose to train here would always find themselves having a calm mind.
At this moment, two men stood facing each other, and one of them was the Emperor.
Daneel wanted to witness the scene from a third person view, so he had asked the system to play the memory this way, instead of from the perspective of the Emperor.
The other person was middle-aged, and he was tall and had the strong body of a Fighter. In his hands was the very weapon that Daneel had seen, and while the man hefted it, measured its weight, and got familiar with how it felt in his hands, the system spoke in Daneel"s mind.
["Rampage" was made on the orders of the Emperor, using resources that he had hidden away after the great war between humans and G.o.dbeasts. He took them out after the Empire was established and when he had enough resources and personnel to begin the crafting, and until that time, weapons made from G.o.dbeasts had been very limited and precious commodities that were treasured by all who held them. In fact, they were such an important resource that many were even hidden away, never to appear unless absolutely necessary. The Emperor wanted to change this, and give his Empire something that would draw experts to him, and hence, he began this grand project of creating these items which he turned as G.o.dly weapons, because they were made from G.o.dbeasts. Both of the G.o.dbeasts whose main parts had been used for this weapon had been slain by the Emperor, and they were both at the peak of their power. The main difficulty behind the formation of such weapons is that the consciousness of a G.o.dbeast lingers in its body even after death, and this allows some parts, in which this manifests the most to have certain properties, which, if not used and handled properly, will drive one to madness. It is similar to the concept of ghosts haunting objects from host"s home planet. These properties must be harnessed, and if parts from multiple G.o.dbeasts are being used, all of the differing ones must be carefully manipulated to work together as a cohesive whole. This requires continuous study by talented formation masters, who would slowly begin to create the specific formation that would be related to the weapon. This is the main reason each weapon is unique, as no two parts of a G.o.dbeast would absolutely be the same. That is where the actual forging occurs, and "Rampage" is part of the first batch made after the establishment of the Empire. This particular one took 40 years to be made, and resulted in the deaths of three formation masters, making it one of the costliest projects ever embarked upon by the Emperor.]
The long history was extremely impressive, and it gave Daneel certain insights into just how precious such weapons were.
It was true that Angaria did not have metals or materials which could be trusted to have the ma.s.sive amounts of strength and durability that was required if they were to be used by Heroes, so the best materials were definitely those which were obtained from G.o.dbeasts.
As for the formation masters dying, Daneel didn"t understand why that would have happened, and before he asked the system, the man in the memory spoke up.
"You"re here to try and save me, right? Don"t fret it too much if you fail."
The statement puzzled Daneel, but the Emperor answered with a grave expression on his face.
"Yes, and no, I will never forgive myself if you die. You don"t need to do this, there are others."
This resulted in a chuckle sounding from the other man, before he said, "Are you serious? How could I miss this! This is the first G.o.dly weapon crafted in thousands of years! I want to be the first to test it, and the first to bind it if you have succeeded. I have lived for so long, and I"ll be dying in a few decades anyway, so before that, I would like to do something like this which would allow my name to be written in the history books."
These words made a frown appear on the Emperor"s forehead, and he said, "You already know that your name will be present everywhere anyway, because I would never have been able to accomplish all this without you and the others."
In response, the other man shrugged and said, "No, Fenoras. History only remembers the Emperor of an Empire, and not those who helped him build it, or died to form to its foundation. I guarantee that a few thousand years from now, you"ll be the only one who is remembered, and all of us will definitely be forgotten. This is different, though. This weapon will stand for many, many years, and after I bind it, my name will stand along with it. That is, of course, if you will be keeping your word that you will engrave all of the first owners of these weapons on their body, in order to commemorate their entry into the world."
Nodding, the Emperor replied, "I see no reason why I shouldn"t continue with that. Initially, it was just a gimmick to invite people to test the weapons even if it means that they would be risking their lives, but now, old friend, I wish I hadn"t done that in the first place. If I didn"t, we wouldn"t be having this conversation right now. Let"s get this over with."
After letting out another laugh on hearing the Emperor"s words and seeing him sigh, a serious expression appeared on the man"s face, and he grasped the weapon with both of his hands before placing it above his head, and swinging down.
While he was in the act of swinging, the Emperor braced himself and also activated numerous formations that had already been laid down all over this place.
Daneel felt shock and wondered just why so many precautions were being taken, but what happened next give him his answer.
BOOOOOOMMMM!!!!
With a sound that was akin to one that would appear if the heavens, themselves, were breaking, the tip of the horn on the weapon impacted the earth in front of the man, and cracked it open easily, as if it was a knife cutting through b.u.t.ter.
A deep ravine appeared from that point of impact, snaking forward as if the force behind it refused to be stopped, and finally, when it did stop, a large crack in the earth that was at least 40 feet long and 10 feet wide had appeared.
"RRRRRRAAAAAAGGGHHHHHH!"
A b.e.s.t.i.a.l roar was heard right after this, and as Daneel turned his gaze to the man again, he saw that his eyes had gone completely red, and that the veins in his entire body were pulsing madly as if they were pumping red-hot fire, not blood.
It was as if the earth below him had given him unpardonable affront somehow, because he raised the weapon and swung it again, causing another ravine to appear beside the one that was already present, which eventually combined with the first one and formed a large hole in the ground.
Again and again, he kept doing this, and by the 10th time, the Earth was already so devastated that they could no longer even clearly see the bottom of the hole.
The man kept turning around and swinging crazy, and by this point, the only spot that was undisturbed was the one below him. All around him, it was as if someone had rained down attacks that had caused deep craters to appear, making it seem as if this place had suffered the wrath of the G.o.ds. All this time, Fenoras kept watching carefully, as if he was looking for something, and finally, just as the eleventh swing was about to hit that last part of Earth under him, he teleported forward and caught the weapon.
What was astonis.h.i.+ng was that his power was insufficient to stop it, and he had to cast multiple spells before he finally used both of his hands to succeed in making it come to a halt.
The man was breathing heavily, and the moment the ax stopped, he fainted.
If that was all, it would have been fine, but right after fainting, he actually… Deflated.
All of his muscles shrunk as if they were just balloons, and his skin started to hang onto his bones. Daneel almost thought he had died, but his chest was still rising and falling weakly.
He also started coughing out blood while being unconscious, and it looked like he had aged a century in the matter of these few seconds.
Examining carefully, the Emperor remarked to himself, "As expected. The ability is incredible - any target that is decided upon by the one who wields it will be destroyed, as they will enter a "rampage mode" where each and every ounce of power in the body will be pulled out and amplified tremendously. However… It puts too much of a strain on the body. Still, it will allow one to skip at least two minor realms if they are a Hero, and three if they are Champion. Maybe a Peak champion will even be able to beat an Amateur hero if they use it. It lives up to the name of a G.o.dly weapon, but…"
As his voice drifted away, Daneel returned to his own body, and he knew that the Emperor had been thinking about how to counter the negative aspects of the weapon.
After all, weapons which would land anyone who wielded them in a healer"s bed each time they were used were not ones that would be preferred, but still, he had to agree with the man that they were pretty d.a.m.n incredible.
And of course, what stood out… Was that a Champion might be able to beat a Hero with it, and knowing the difference in power that had been present between a Peak warrior and a Champion itself, Daneel could tell that the same difference when talking about Champion and Heroes would be even more exaggerated.
They were G.o.dly weapons, indeed, and right away, Daneel knew that they could be instrumental in the fight against the Church.
But how was he supposed to obtain them?
He obviously didn"t have a hand in the first method, but the second appealed to them.
Even though he wasn"t a very strong Champion right now, soon… That was going to change, and when it did, Daneel decided that he would be coming back here, and would definitely be leaving with that weapon, or something better.
Just as he was about to leave, though, he took a moment to gather his thoughts so that he would be clear about everything else he needed to do.
And that, was when something…clicked.
Sometimes, life worked in funny ways. The final piece of the answer that he had been looking for had been delivered to him due to this experience, and although he might have arrived at it naturally anyway, getting it in this manner had saved him a lot of time.
Determination s.h.i.+ning in his eyes, the King of Lanthanor made his way back to his quarters, and resumed his study into the essence of being a Dragon with renewed pa.s.sion.
The hours started to pa.s.s, and occasionally, Daneel would even transform into a Dragon, but he didn"t try to replicate the attack like the Shapes.h.i.+fter again.
The memory of the excruciating pain of having his leg severed was still clear in his mind, and he had no intention to go through it again.
He kept at this, and he even started to ask Drakos to let him to relive memories that didn"t involve that episode of anger. He experienced how it felt to fly, to breathe fire, to grow and to learn.
It was only two days later that Daneel finally opened his eyes, and when he did, there seem to be something inside them which made them s.h.i.+ne even though the room was shrouded in darkness.
As a smile appeared on his face, he disappeared from the room, as it was finally time for him to finish the third step in the plan he had prepared.