Chapter 11: Not With a Whimper, but With a Bang

Aejaz's game plan was simple; fight defensively and run away whenever possible. He would put up a 'fight' for as long as he could then, inevitably, 'accidentally' lose the token. Thankfully, the trial wouldn't end if the token was taken, Aejaz just needed to be holding it at the end of the trial. He'd continue to play around with Slick while 'trying' to take the token back, and then just steal it at the last second with his magic. He wasn't sure how to use the Shock Bead just yet and where it would fit in with his plan, but he knew that using it early would just be a waste. 

When the fight started, Aejaz backed off and ran. 

As Aejaz kept running around, Appa turned to Ares and asked him a question, "What is that Bead?"

Rud immediately stopped paying any attention to the stage and looked over at Ares. He already knew how the fight was going to go as Slick was completely unaware of this guy's magic and talent as a thief. He could also immediately figure out how Aejaz planned to play things out and quickly lost interest when he started running around. Eventually, Aejaz would have to stop and fight, and then Rud could at least gauge his combat ability. Until then though, he was more curious about the Bead.

"That thing is called a Shock Bead. They're an art of mine." Ares held up a single finger and dark gold light swirled around the tip. After around a second, a Shock Bead identical to the one given to Aejaz appeared. "They're quick and easy to make, so unfortunately, they aren't that strong compared to my other arts, but they're quite fun little toys to use. If you'd like, I can make you some later."

"Later?" A slight crinkle appeared on Appa's head. It was pouting! So cute!

"Hahaha, yes, later. Although they're toys, they're still quite dangerous if you aren't careful with them. Let Aejaz and I show you how to use them first during our trials, they can be tricky little things if you use them properly or an absolute disaster if you're haphazard with them."

"Ok!" Appa was happy again, not that it took much as it was a rather simple creature to please.

Rud was a little disappointed when Ares said they weren't as strong as his other arts but, then again, how could something that was formed so quickly ever really be that strong? Perhaps he had unreasonable expectations from the start. Still though, the magic was foreign to him and he still wanted to see exactly what it did. If it were a unique aspect like Aejaz', then who knew what sort of effect it would have. Ares wouldn't just give Aejaz something useless, and Aejaz seemed a whole lot more confident after receiving that thing.

"You sure can run, but can you fight?" Slick smiled innocently as he clicked his metal knuckles.

Aejaz had fully backed into the corner with both arms stretched in front of him and his wrists waving from side to side. "No, not really. I'm more of a gambling man myself. You wouldn't happen to be interested in playing the shell game with me, would you?" 

Slick threw a punch and was surprised when he hit nothing but air. Aejaz had slid under his arm and freed himself from the corner. Slick wasn't chasing him around for God knows how long again so he put a bit more effort in and increased his speed to catch up. He made sure to hold back on his next attack so as not to have a repeat of last time. Surprisingly, once again, he hit nothing. Strange. This guy was slippery as all hell! Like a weasel, Slick thought.

Ares had spared a great deal of effort to train Aejaz properly. In fact, Aejaz should really have been more confident in himself. Even though he had no combat arts, his martial prowess was really quite high, at least when it came to dodging anyway. Unfortunately, he would compare his fighting skill to either Ares or his own thievery skills, so he constantly underestimated his own competence as there wasn't much comparison in either department. He could fight decently enough but, when it came to dodging, he was pretty much as good as Ares which was an astounding feat as Ares was extremely well versed in that department. Ares had drilled into him the value of not being hit, even more so than the value of hitting others. Of course, this was done the hard way, i.e., continuous beatings, but it had worked nicely. Aejaz was near unhittable against people whose cultivation was similar to his, even if it were a bit higher. Aejaz' cultivation was already monstrous for his age, so he was basically untouchable by anyone in the same generation as him which was no small ace to have up his sleeve.

Slick had regulated his punches and their speed to be roughly what a 4th realm 8th stage cultivator was capable of which was the reason he kept missing. The punches Slick was throwing were slower than the ones Ares would throw. Not by a large margin but, if Aejaz could somewhat reliably dodge Ares, then he would have no trouble whatsoever with Slick. Slick sent out a straight palm which Aejaz deflected by slapping to the side. 

A punch was far harder to slap sideways but easier to push down. A palm, on the other hand, had the exact opposite properties and shouldn't be met head on, but from the side where it can easily be influenced at the base of the thumb or the tips of the other fingers. 

Slick lifted both hands overhead and conjoined them. He then swung them down like a sledgehammer, but ended up in a really awkward situation when Aejaz practically leapt head first into his chest. How was he supposed to hit Aejaz like this from the position he was in? If Slick followed through, it would be slow and lose all power. If he gave up and rushed to defend, he would still take at least one hit before he could lower his arms. Why the hell is he so God damn annoying? Slick wondered in his mind while staring at the ceiling after he took a palm to the chin from Aejaz. Well, whatever. At least I got the token. Slick had decided not to block or attack, but to instead go for the token that was in an oddly convenient place for him to take. For a moment, he was curious if the token was a fake as it was far too easy to steal but, upon closer inspection, he realised it was the genuine thing. This just made the situation feel even more off to Slick as Aejaz was surprisingly almost as good a fighter as Li Li. How could he have made such a simple, obvious error in judgement right after all those other clever decisions? He looked over at Aejaz and saw that he was seemingly dismayed at having lost the token. Was he seriously just an idiot?

Aejaz, however, was struggling not to grin from ear to ear or jump for joy when his plan worked. He successfully managed to get the token into Slick's possession without having to go through a smackdown first! Mission accomplished! Now he just needed to keep up appearances for a few seconds. 

There were only ten seconds left on the clock, so he decided to make his move soon, and it was going to be a flashy one at that! Aejaz realised that Ares must have intentionally given the Shock Bead to him with the same plan in mind that he now had. Aejaz's respect for Ares was renewed yet again. Ares had pinned down the exact method he would pick to win the trial before he had even gone up and thought about it himself! Now that was forward thinking! Aejaz secretly took out the Concealed Serpent and hid it behind his back with one hand while diverting attention to his right hand by taking out the Shock Bead. He played around with the Bead for about five seconds which made both Slick and Ares worried, albeit for different reasons.

What is that idiot doing with so little time left? Slick wondered.

That idiot is going to blow himself up, isn't he? Ares thought.

It was time for Aejaz to undergo operation 'I don't want to have the stardust kicked out of me'. The name was still a work in progress but, thankfully, the details of the plan itself weren't. Aejaz took a single long step with his right leg and bent his left leg, taking a low posture to the floor while leaning forward slightly. He held the Bead on the tip of his thumb using mana, and put his index finger behind it in a flicking posture. Although he could just throw the bead, and that would work too, he had seen Ares do this to drastically increase the travel speed and wanted to try it himself. Aejaz imbued his index finger with mana to blast the Bead at as fast a speed as he could.

Clink

The Bead being shot out of his hand made a loud sound that echoed throughout the hall and even created a small, circular ripple in the air around the point of impact where the Bead was released. For comparison's sake, the Bead was quicker than Water Guy's 'Vortex', but slightly slower than Lightning Guy's 'Coiling Draco'. As the distance between Aejaz and Slick wasn't that great, the Bead was definitely going to hit Slick. 

Of course, Slick had watched Aejaz do all of this so he was more than prepared to guard against it even if he couldn't dodge it. As for why he didn't run over and stop it in the first place, he still didn't know anything about Aejaz's magic and was more concerned with trying to keep the token away from him. Taking this into consideration, he made the choice to keep a moderate distance. As for why he didn't just run away, he wasn't allowed to. If he could run from people after taking the token, that would hardly be fair considering how much quicker he was than everyone else.

Boooooooooooooommmm

When the Shock Bead detonated, all hell broke loose and a dark-gold, dome-shaped explosion completely enveloped Slick. The explosion's radius was roughly 15 feet high and 20 feet wide, just a little bigger than Water Guy's lightning-imbued 'Vortex'. This was an art of the annihilation aspect. 

The hint was in the name. 

Slick was dazed in the lingering smoke; his ears were ringing from the shock and awe, and there was a small hole in his arm where he tried to block. The metal that had previously been in that hole had turned into shrapnel, lodging itself into his chest plate. His hands were still shaking from the impact. The reason why the Bead had such a drastic effect was because of his lowered cultivation and his refusal to use mana to block, but this was still beyond reason. 

Slick had been standing close to the back wall he previously entered from; that wall's hole was now twice as big. 

A nearby Elder sprinted over and looked through the hole, ready to fight at a moment's notice as he thought some terrorist had launched an attack on the sect.

Teng was stupefied and just stared blankly as the dust settled, completely forgetting to end the trial.

Rud's jaw had actually lowered a bit, enough for his mouth to be slightly open. His thoughts were muddled and he couldn't think straight after witnessing something even he couldn't fully comprehend.

The test takers to the side of the platform were utterly horrified. Onno had been standing closest to the explosion and had been knocked back onto the floor from the air pressure. Someone from among the crowd audibly gulped and everyone silently thanked their lucky stars none of the trials forced you to fight other participants. No ifs, no buts, someone could have very-well died fighting against Ares. How could any of them possibly handle that? At their cultivation level It was dodge, use a defensive art, or suffer miserably. Collectively, everyone came to the same conclusion; That's no toy. If that was a 'toy', then what was 'Vortex'? Was it the playdough stupid kindergartners ate when no one was looking? Everyone present couldn't help but start asking themselves questions. Didn't he create that thing pretty much effortlessly? It only took about a second and basically no mana, right? Why was it such a massive explosion? What aspect was that? What the fuck is happening?

"I… I'm afraid…. You failed to, uhh, pass the test, Aejaz," Teng stumbled over his words trying to act professional and maintain his non-existent calm.

"But I have the token, shouldn't I have passed?" Aejaz took his token out of his pocket and lifted it. During the Shock Bead fiasco, Aejaz had used his amulet treasure, the Concealed Serpent, to conceal all traces of his mana, allowing him to sneakily steal the token mid explosion. In hindsight, the amulet really wasn't needed. There was no chance anyone was going to focus on anything other than the explosion anyway. Case in point, not a single person had noticed him take the token. Everyone; Rud, Teng, and Slick included, all still thought he failed until he pulled the token out.

"Oh… Oh, right. Umm, congratulations on becoming a member of the sect…" Teng's voice trailed off and he, alongside everyone else present, turned to stare at Ares, the culprit of this mess.

"Hmm? What's everyone looking at me for?" Ares was pretending to be confused. Normally he wouldn't care about having everyone's attention like this, but his bloodline started acting up and he was slowly starting to revel in his own pride. 

"Can someone please explain why it sounded like a bomb was set off in here?" The Elder who was standing at the hole was completely lost and had no clue what was happening.

"It's fine, you can leave." Rud had steeled his nerves and was the first to finally get back to normal. "And you. Don't 'what's everyone looking at me for?' me. You know exactly why. You're going to start explaining things because that was very clearly not normal."

"Really? It's normal for me, and him too I guess." Ares pointed at Aejaz who was completely unfazed as he was already very familiar with Shock Beads.

"Good for you and good for him. What kind of art is that? What aspect is that type of magic? And what pillar does it come under? If you don't answer those three questions, I'm not letting you take the trial." Rud had too many questions go unanswered for far too long.

"Oh well, guess I'll leave then." Ares smirked confidently. "Your loss." His bloodline was getting seriously rowdy, it couldn't even tolerate something as simple as this. Still though, Ares wasn't particularly happy with that not-so thinly veiled threat either, so he decided to temporarily embrace the arrogance. What was the worst that could happen? He had already set up a long-range Shift before arriving here just in case things went south. He could safely leave at any time. It's not like the sect could afford to lose someone like him. Even just from that 'toy' alone, he held incredible value. If he could produce those Beads for other disciples, wouldn't they function as life-saving treasures? This wasn't even taking into account his promise as a cultivator, which was still technically unknown, but how low could it possibly be? After seeing that and knowing that it wasn't his strongest art, it would be foolish to consider him anything other than a cultivation genius regardless of his low cultivation.

"Tsk, fine, I shouldn't be blackmailing test takers, but I still want you to answer the damn questions," Rud admitted he was wrong. It had nothing to do with his curiosity, but rather he was somewhat embarrassed for acting so impulsively. He would have apologised to any disciple in Ares' position as he knew was in the wrong. Rud was surprisingly an incredibly honest person and wasn't afraid to own up to his few and far between mistakes, pretty much all of which were a result of his bad mood rather than any logistical oversights.

Ares was a little surprised as he could tell the 'apology' was genuine. Most Elders were typically quite conceited. Although his bloodline was nearly screeching at him to keep up the pretentious act, he ignored it. He didn't actually mind telling people about his unique pillar; after all, how the hell was he going to hide it? It's not like anyone could covet it either. If you weren't born affiliated with it, and you couldn't even sense it, there was no way you could use it. Even with variety cultivation it just couldn't be done. He couldn't be forced to teach what couldn't be taught, nor could he be forced to give what couldn't be given. People might get jealous, sure, but that was really all they could do. 

If Rud hadn't thrown in that little blackmail at the end earlier, he would have quite happily answered him the first time he asked. The destruction pillar is a great source of pride for Ares and showing it off makes his bloodline very pleased. Now that Rud had given his admission of fault, he was fine with telling him what he wanted to know, even if his tone was still a bit off. "In regards to what kind of art it is, well, it explodes. It doesn't do anything else. It doesn't need to. There is something that only I and I alone can do with them, but I'm not going to put all my cards on the table before the trial at least." Ares shrugged his shoulders.

There really wasn't anything fancy to his annihilation arts and there didn't have to be. The annihilation aspect focuses entirely on making large explosions, it's nothing like his other two aspects at all.

"Ok, and what aspect was that? It's not like any other one I've seen, so I'm guessing it's a unique aspect, right?" Rud was glad to finally be getting some proper answers.

"Hmm, I don't know if I can call it a unique aspect or not." Ares wasn't quite sure if he could classify it as one.

"What is it, and why not?" Teng was a little lost at that response, surely it either was or wasn't. What was there to be confused about?

"The aspect is the aspect of annihilation. As for why it might not be unique, well, I'm sure people used to think aspects we're familiar with nowadays were once unique. Was the flow aspect considered unique the first time it ever appeared? What about current modification? Sure, now that we've known about them for countless thousands of years, they aren't unique anymore, but for a time they might have been considered as such even if they really weren't. I don't know if annihilation is unique or not because every pillar has a standard set of aspects that aren't unique. Every now and then a unique aspect might pop up outside of that standard set, but I don't know if annihilation is part of the 'standard set' of the pillar it comes under. Maybe, in thousands of years' time, annihilation might not be as 'unique' as it is now."

"I get what you mean, but you said it yourself, each pillar has a standard set. What's the difference between other unique aspects and yours? Why would other unique aspects not become standard, but yours might?" This was the part that still confused Rud as Ares' argument could basically be applied to any other unique aspect.

"That's because you're thinking of pillars that already exist and have a standard set of aspects defined over a countless period of years. I never said the pillar that annihilation comes under was well established and has a long enough history behind it to make any such assumptions. To be more specific, I don't know if I have a unique aspect. What I do have, is an affiliation with three aspects that come under a unique pillar. Whether those aspects are unique or not isn't something I can say with certainty as they're currently the only aspects that have ever existed under that pillar," Ares explained.

Everyone was dead silent. A unique pillar? That went beyond everyone's realm of understanding, startling them. It took a good ten seconds before Slick finally broke the silence. "Were you born with it? The unique pillar I mean, and what even is it? Didn't you say there were three aspects that came under it too? What are they?" Slick had a number of questions and wanted to know what kind of pillar was packing that kind of nonsensical fire power.

Pillars embodied various martial paths and theoretical ideas that served as the basis of the world, hence the name 'pillar'. Pillars literally upheld the foundation of the world as everyone knew it. Everything in life, no matter how grand or how mundane, could be categorised under a pillar. How could a new pillar possibly be born? That would mean the birth of a new concept.

Destruction, though, wasn't a new concept, simply one that hadn't been explored previously, or rather couldn't be. No one else had ever been born with an affiliation for it, but that didn't mean it didn't exist. As for why it only appeared now, there were only a handful of living beings privy to that knowledge, none of which Ares had come into contact with yet.

"No, I wasn't born with it. I 'created' it. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say I found the broken, scattered pieces of the pillar and put it back together again. Or maybe it would be better to say I was allowed to find it? I don't quite know. The pillar is the pillar of destruction. Perhaps the world forbids the birth of anyone who can naturally sense it due its inherent function of destabilising every other pillar in existence? Honestly, I'm not sure why I'm the first to find it, I just know I have an affiliation with it. The three aspects that come under it are annihilation, disintegration, and nothingness. These three form the cycle of destruction. Nothingness is the essence of disintegration, disintegration is the essence of annihilation, and annihilation is the essence of nothingness. It's quite a strange cycle as the reverse of everything I just said is also accurate. This cycle is what makes me think these aspects are the 'standard' aspects, and not unique ones, due to how well they embody the ideology of the pillar."

Everyone had a contemplative look on their faces and were digesting this new information. This was completely unheard of and broke the mould that everyone and everything in this world was supposed to adhere to. The destruction pillar really lived up to its name. While everyone was silently thinking, Rud suddenly realised something important. "Wait, if you're the first, then does that mean you've 'created' everything? The arts, the fundamental ideologies, the mana conversion process, the cultivation process, and the properties of the aspects?"

"Yes. That, and a lack of cultivation resources, is why my cultivation has always been quite slow. It's simply unavoidable, but it's also worth it to stick with dedication cultivation, in my opinion." 

"I'm going to go get something, you can start Appa's trial in the meantime," Rud called out to Teng who was still lost in thought.

"Oh, ok. Are you ready Appa?"

"Hmmmmm… Hmmmm. Ok… Fine." Appa seemed to really not want to go right now, but it eventually complied.

"I understand you're still a little shocked about everything that just happened, but try to focus on what's ahead of you," Teng encouraged Appa, attributing its unwillingness to go because its mind was still distracted from the prior events.

But how could that possibly be the reason? 

Appa didn't care about anything that had just happened at all. Appa was practically 'walking', 'living', 'breathing' innocence taken form. A weird form, sure, but a form nonetheless. How could Appa be bothered with anything else when there was a much bigger issue on its mind right now? 

Appa begrudgingly took to the stage. 

"You interrupted my petting time!" Appa complained cutely.

"Er, umm, sorry?" Slick's mental state was all over the place. Why was he being berated by a piece of cloth? This had to be the strangest entrance exam he'd ever seen, and by a wide margin at that.

"Mental accumulation, 7th stage."

"HUH!?" Slick was lost for words as he was unaware of the way damned shades cultivated. He was convinced there was something in the water around here.