Taking every bit of time training was the thing Arkis was eager to do now.
She even demanding that Darc used more force against her in their spars so he did do that but he wondered what she would really learn from that.
Was she slowly turning into a masochist? Darc thought he may have gone a little bit too far with his harsh training sessions after noticing exactly that.
But he still did push her nonetheless and didn't hold back his punches just like she wanted. He still wanted to see if she could change somehow. But that was more likely daydreaming.
More often than not she broke something and he had to heal her. At some point, it was even enough for him and he just couldn't go on and torture her like that. Arkis only looked at him with fiery eyes and wanted to continue on.
"Enough already. Getting yourself beat up won't let you improve...At least I can only see the same mistakes made over and over again. In the span of 2 hours you already would have died 25 times. And that's me still holding back.", he said to her.
She looked a little sad at that moment after hearing his words. She didn't want to remain a burden for Darc and wanted to fight at his side.
"But if I don't improve then what can I even do against those enemies you are facing against?", she asked him in a low tone.
Darc scratched his chin and stared at her. "I already told you. You get your time to shine soon enough. Just take it easy. Not even gods are born powerful. And don't be so pessimistic about it.", he said and tried to cheer her up. "Also, I still like your cooking, you know.", he added with a smirk on his face.
She started looked at him again after hearing those last words. Seeing his smirk, she didn't know why but she had to also smile. Then she snorted a little. "Well, THAT is reassuring that I still could become a chef...", she said mockingly and looked away. "Seriously though, I...."
"You aren't", said Darc and interrupted her.
"Huh?", she was bewildered when she got interrupted.
"I said you aren't. You are not a burden. Stop thinking about trivial things like that. You might be weaker than them right now but you are improving fast and soon not many lifeforms in the galaxy could match you. Do you still think you would be a burden then? Just concentrate on improving.", he repeated and explained.
"But you aren't training me...", she said.
"Beating you up is not training you! Even I feel so guilty inside now after going through this training session of yours. Do you think I like to see you suffer?", He said and she thought for a little but firmly replied to him "Yes."
´God damn it, girl.´, he thought and rubbed his glabella. So he did actually go too far.
"You know I expected a nod of understanding and not a hurtful answer like that.", he said and flicked her forehead.
She placed her hand on it because it hurt. He did it on purpose since she gave him such an answer.
"Okay, get back to your feet. You still want to improve, right? I think I got something for you that you could learn. Maybe that could help you for the time being.", he said to her and wanted to continue the training with his way of doing things.
----
After 3 days have passed Darc made sure that they both relaxed the last day at which they would arrive at their destination.
Alice had detected multiple signals in space standing guard cruising near the planet so Darc had ordered her to land on a close by planet so that they could use the assault pods to infiltrate the planet. If need be he could instant transmit to this location and just eradicate the planet they would attack now.
After all, in the mission briefing, it was already said that if capture was not possible that they would accept the destruction of the planet. Of course, Darc would always try the hard thing first.
Both prepared themselves and launched the bullet-shaped assault pods with the planet as its destination.
It worked all out perfectly since the assault pods did have a stealth feature they did not use last time because they were intercepting the enemy directly but this time intercepting a whole fleet is not that wise so they went stealthily for the sake of trying.
Darc also lowered his power level to maximum.
----
Arriving at the planet and creating two massive craters on impact was unavoidable.
´It beats the purpose but maybe I should ask Dr. Briefs to improve landing capability of these things when going down on a planet.´, he thought after looking at them. Then he turned both assault pods into DynoCaps.
The current planet was a giant fire giant if he ever saw one. It looked like Namek close to destruction but it looked more like that this Planet still was very young after being created. According to Data and his suit's sensors, this planet had 120° Celcius on the surface. That's damn hot to be sure. It was pretty much the opposite from the ice giant he visited.
Noting that down he placed one of his orbs down on this planet. He also did do that on the ice giant. He thought this two planets would be beneficial later on.
"Arkis, be careful not to get too careless here. You do feel the energies, right?", he asked her and concentrated on the signatures that he feels on the planet. And even Darc made a grim face since he could feel a pretty strong signature probably stronger than him.
It looked like someone else from the special unit besides their target was already on this planet. That being said the top 5 in that special unit seem to be no joke.
No wonder they are in a war with Frieza´s and Cooler´s army but still hold their ground and that also explains why the GP was so fruitless getting any foothold here. But now that they started to decimate their control over the west they seem to have gotten more careful.
They know that the GP finally send someone out to turn the tides. At first, they didn't take it seriously but after about half of their unit was killed, that sure made them think. And they also know the GP are after the real important planets to weaken them.
"Looks like this will be a pretty hard fight. I will take on the stronger one. The other guy should be easy for you.", he said to her.
Arkis nodded "But that guy you want to fight feels somewhat stronger than you. Are you sure?", she asked him with concern. She also noticed the difference in strength.
Darc only grinned at her words. His eyes were brimming with excitement. "Actually, I kinda feel itchy to test out my limits. To break them further I will always need to push myself like this. I also want to test out something here. It may become dangerous so prepare on my signal to be ready to use instant transmission back to the ship. Do you understand?"
Arkis got a weird feeling after his words. "Understood.", she answered. He already taught her the instant transmission but it would become useless when she finally gets her hands on Kai-Kai. Maybe he should visit Kami for that? No, for the time being, that technique is enough.
----
Darc and Arkis both moved on the ground and didn't use their flight ability so they wouldn't get detected. They came along some outposts that Darc infiltrated with his transformation ability and eliminated stealthily.
Sometime later they finally reached the point where the strong auras where. It was about time to wreak some havoc.
Breathing in deeply Darc prepare a giant Ki ball in front of him. By now all sensor should have picked up the energy and he let that blast fly straight at the base. It exploded in flames and the massive explosion created a massive corresponding crater. Even lava was spurting forth from the ground at some places.
A loud shout could be heard "DAMN IT!!!!!! WHO WAS THE ONE THAT ATTACKED ME!?" And a figure of a lizardman man ascended straight up to the air. Behind him was a guy that also looked like a lizard but he didn't have a tail like the first guy. He also had a weird hammerhead-shaped head and looked like a mix of fish and lizard.
"SO YOU DAMN RATS ACTUALLY DARE ATTACK THIS PLANET. I WILL MAKE SURE TO ERADICATE YOU. YOU HAVE DONE ENOUGH DAMAGE TO LORD GLAZE´S ARMY!", he screamed at Darc and Arkis after noticing them.
Darc looked up "That shouting idiot is mine. You take that other guy. But as always, be careful.", he told Arkis and levitated upwards.
"And you are a pest to the west galaxy! Come, let's see how strong you damn henchmen in the top 5 are!", he said and engaged that guy with trying to kick his head. But Loco only blocked his attack with an upheld arm against his leg. "You think I, Loco. The #5 of the special unit. Are the same as the maggots below me? Don't get too cocky.", said Loco and hit Darc pretty hard in the side and send him crashing back to the ground where the lava was flowing.
Being inside the lava burned Darc´s suit and basically cooked him alive. Using his Ki to build a protective layer saved him from more serious damage.
Arkis saw that and screamed "Darc!". But a telepathic voice interrupted her actions.
*Don't worry about me! Concentrate on that enemy in front of you!*
She came back to her senses and realized that the hammerhead guy engaged her into a dogfight. With that, he pushed her away from the fight of Darc and Loco.
"Hehehehe. Don't think I will let you interrupt their little dance.", he said to her.
Loco looked at his partner fighting Arkis. "Roitu, get that over with fast! Don't be an idiot and hold back!", he ordered him.
The guy actually sighed "Seems like no holding back, huh. RAAAAAH!" His muscles started to bulge and actually transformed. He looked now completely different and his head became like that of a great white shark. So this guy was an aquatic species. "Now, die!" Charging at her he punched her a few times and send her flying against a rock formation. He seemed to have become way stronger than before.
*Arkis! Use that technique* came through to her again telepathically.
Arkis came out of the rubble and gritted her teeth. She had no other choice but to use that technique Darc taught her in those 3 days. Her Ki flared up and she was building up even more energy until her ki flared up in a red hue instead of her normal white. "Kaioken times 2!", she shouted and immediately charged forward and attacked the guy again. This time it was the shark guy getting beaten up to a pulp.
"How...urgh....can this be", he lamented in disbelief. Loco also saw that and frowned. But then Darc came charging at him again so he had no time helping out his partner.
"Hello, you shouldn't get distracted!", said Darc with a smirk and kicked out with all his might and ki charged up, sending Loco flying. Rushing right after him he tried to execute a combination after that attack and pull him to the ground but Loco blocked that try. "Looks like you rat ain't so bad after all. You could easily kill my partner there but you aren't my match!", said Loco and Darc got hit on his face in retaliation after his words ended. After that, a barraged by a flurry of punches was done by him and send Darc to the ground again with a hammer hit finish. This time Loco also followed suit down.
On the other side at Arkis her battle it was already pretty one-sided after she started using the Kaioken. She didn't hesitate and obliterated her enemy with a demon wave.
Afterward, she was pretty exhausted and breathed really heavily. This technique was remarkable but had a lot of downsides on its own. Looking at the distance she tried to feel the energy from Darc. She noticed his energy was getting weaker by the minute and got worried with her brows furrowing more and more.
Back to Darc´s fight, one could still see him being beaten up pretty badly. He could only try to block vital hits and let the minor ones get through. But even those were hard on his health and slowly his body got more and more hurt. Coughing blood from his mouth and all that more than once.
But even after all that, Darc still smiled and even started smirking. While his body was hurt and bled he just stood steadfastly and a glimmer appeared in his eyes.
Slowly but surely Darc took every aspect of this fight into his cells. Loco got worried after seeing this guy still standing after all those hits but didn't hesitate to further increase the frequency and power of his own attacks.
Darc after a while got used to the speed this guy was using and at some point, he blocked his attacks more and more. Even though Darc felt exhausted it wasn't an option for him to falter here. He ignored the pain and still pushed onwards. It became a fight of pure strength. There was not even an ounce of Ki involved in his moves anymore.
This was the idea that he mentioned to try out in this fight. He wanted to fight without using much of his ki beside the amount he would need to do damage on his enemy. And it looked like it slowly paid off. He disregarded his defense more and more and also started attacking back.
It felt exciting for him. His heart churned and started a wild throbbing. This rush and acceleration of pure force let his sensation go further into bliss. His meridians started contracting as well and it felt like his energy wanted to burst out of him but he suppressed it inside his body. This was a real fight he could enjoy. In no way would he let his energy get in the way of his fun. He didn't care if his body broke from this fight. Just pushing onwards and slowly letting his body accumulate heat was everything that he cared about. The heat that gave him excitement and pleasure. Slowly his grin became a maniacal laugh. "AHAHAHAHA!", he laughed out and struck again and again at the body of Loco. The attacks became destructive and ravaged Loco´s body.
"You! What the hell are you!!", cried Loco out and became more and more pressured. How could this guy go in with those wounds he got. He should be a freaking corpse by now! Thinking about something as trivial as that on exactly that moment got him a hard hit in his abdomen as a reward for his lapse in concentration. "Argh...!" Followed by that hit Darc lifted his foot and pulled out an ax-kick on Loco´s body practically burying him into the ground. It worked smoothly. Now, this became a complete dogfight.
Arkis stood at the side and had widened eyes. Was this really still Darc? How was he able to push on without even flaring the tiniest bit of energy. Was this just a pure fight of strength? Her eyes shuddered at the thought.
"You bastard!!", shouted Loco with veins bulging on his head and charged even more ki. His appearance slowly changed and he attacked again. Looks like this guy also could transform "That I have to use my trump card against you!! DIE ALREADY!!"
But even that didn't help much. It only could push Darc back for a few minutes and he got the advantage back and pressured Loco once again.
They both started destroying the environment with every one of their hits even if those hits landed on the body of the other person. The air around them started accumulating sparks and the planet vibrated from the pressure. If even one of them used blasts it would be the end for the planet but Darc didn't bother using any and Loco himself couldn't because he didn't want to explain to Glaze why he destroyed an important planet.
It didn't take long and a few minutes after the bloody brawl, Loco was on his knees and completely exhausted. He couldn't even stand anymore and huffed heavily. When he saw the figure in front of him approach he looked upward to only see Darc who was looking at him with those ice cold eyes that only meant one thing: Death. They were filled with such a fire a moment ago in their fight but now they only were that representation to him.
Darc´s whole armored suit was already destroyed now and only some parts of his neoprene-like suit beneath that were still intact. He was bleeding like crazy from his head and had other wounds and bruises all over his body. One arm even looked dislocated.
"Looks like you can't fight any longer. Then...goodbye...", said Darc and stretched out his still functional arm. He collected ki on his palm and send it bursting out. He killed his enemy just like that.
Then Darc looked at his hand.
´Damn, this felt so good but after a while, the feeling slowly receded. I guess I became stronger than him at some point and didn't enjoy myself that much anymore.´, he thought and sighed. Then a sharp pain struck his mind. ´Oh crap´, were his last thoughts before he fell down to the ground and blacked out. He could only hear a faint voice calling out to him.