Chapter 48: The Star of the Show
"Hydroelectric!"
If anyone was going to use a 'combination art', of course it was going to be the Lighter Duo. Combination arts could be performed by any number of people, even a single person could perform a 'combination' as these types of arts were created using more than one aspect, not more than one person. Murk 'N' Lurk was an example of a combination art performed by one person and Hydroelectric was an example of one performed by two. As for which two aspects Hydroelectric utilised, it was the Thunder and Surge aspects.
A dark, looming raincloud materialised and rain trickled down from the heavens, gradually becoming torrential. The raindrops were clear with a yellowish, translucent colouring. It was a paralysing drizzle that would jolt people every time they were hit with a static-infused raindrop. It was a powerful art that took up about a quarter of the entire training ground, making it extremely hard to advance on the Duo. In particular, Onno was struggling greatly.
Onno's clones would all fizzle out when the rain poured down on them and his invisibility did nothing. His outline would be revealed by the static jumping around his frame so he had to take a different approach. His variety cultivation gave him access to the earth pillar and he was currently creating a movable roof above him while gradually approaching the duo. Even this wasn't really getting him anywhere as the rain cloud was active passively, meaning the Lighter Duo could still fire off other attacks that were keeping people, like Onno, at bay. Whenever anyone got close, Lightning Guy would use Thunder aspect magic to destroy their defences and Water Guy would follow it up with a wave of water from the Surge aspect to wash them away and reset their position. They were simultaneously holding off around twenty people and were really putting on an impressive display considering how average they were on their own. Onno didn't particularly care much for the competition, so he didn't put too much effort in, he would rather take this fantastical opportunity to conduct some serious business during the international rather than compete anyway.
Water Guy had just fired off another wave, after which he turned around and nudged Lightning Guy. "Uh, I thought mountains were immovable?"
Lightning Guy was lost as to what Water Guy was prattling on about. "They are, why?"
"That one seems to be heading toward us." Water Guy pointed at Enyo.
"Ah. Fuck."
Enyo was using defender aspect magic to create a thin, square barrier above her head while advancing through the magical onslaught with her temporary shield out. The Steadfast Aegis was still with Julio so a replacement would have to do for now. Still though, not a single thing had phased her approach so far as everything just pathetically bounced off her.
The Lighter Duo were forced to pay Enyo attention and wordlessly came to the same conclusion; start bringing out the big guns. They each thrust out their closest hand toward each other, joining their hands in-between them. They used the bottom of their palms as a pivot point to swivel their hands upside side down. One went clockwise while the other went anti-clockwise.
"Coiling Vortex Draco!"
A 40ft vertical whirlpool swirled behind the Duo and the air in their quarter of the training ground became damp. From the stormy whirlpool, an electrical dragon head of equal size slowly emerged. When the head was out in its entirety it roared, shaking the foundation of the training ground and causing a few people to trip and fall. The wingless dragon shot out and the whirlpool coalesced in front of it like a spiralling drill. The air rumbled wherever the dragon passed and the ground underneath it was torn up as it flew straight towards Enyo. It effortlessly killed inner court disciples who were too stunned or too weak to react properly.
Enyo was impressed by the firepower these two were packing. She was reminded of what Ares had briefly said about them in Baja Forest about how they were threatening when paired up. Still though, it's not like she was a pushover.
"Shrine Of The Goddess!"
Shrine Of The Goddess was Enyo's unique art of the Defender aspect. A 60ft tall, pristine shrine materialised around Enyo and the surrounding ground became hallowed. The shrine was perpetually emitting a barrier that looked as though it could be shattered if it were poked by a needle and, yet, it's aura made it feel completely impenetrable to onlookers. The holy ground had a dampening effect on magic to further stabilise the barrier's defensive properties. Enyo's unique art was taking up even more space than the Lighter Duo's Hydroelectric combination art. She relaxed her guard and leaned back into a chiselled, marble throne located at the top of stone steps as the Lighter Duo's art raced toward her sanctuary. The dragon widened its jaw and crashed headfirst into Enyo's defensive art, causing a colossal explosion. Electrified water sprayed out, shocking everyone who was too close. It was impossible to tell which art had won out as there was a lingering vapour cloud surrounding Enyo's shrine.
"Aletheia!"
A holy, white spear shot out of the vapour cloud and hurtled toward the Lighter Duo. The spear was shrouded in snow-white flames that left a trail of sacred fire. The flames were small and fragmented, they looked like chalk blossoms scattering in the wind as the spear dashed across the sky. Aletheia was an art of the holy pillar's 'Righteous Justice' aspect. The holy pillar had only two aspects under it, one for offence, and one for defence. Although Enyo specialised in the defence-oriented aspect, this was the one aggressive art she knew.
The spear evaporated the falling rain and was closing in on the Lighter Duo who kissed their teeth when they saw that Enyo's shrine was almost completely undamaged, with only a few minor cracks that fixed themselves pretty quickly. Their previous art hadn't even majorly dented the barrier. Water Guy crouched down and pushed both of his hands into the concrete, spawning multiple, tall, thick, ice walls in front of him shaped like gates. Lightning Guy put a hand on Water Guy's back and the ice walls were given a layer of lightning pins. The pins would damage the spear art and reduce its overall effectiveness while the walls took the brunt of the art. It was a mix of attacking the art and defending against it, to optimise their overall defence, that allowed them to get out of the situation safely. The spear had crashed through every single wall, but come to a halt before being able to do any damage to the Duo. The spear lay stuck in the ground, burning away, but the trail it had left was still there, connecting Enyo's shrine and the Duo's current location. Holy pillar cultivators and their allies could use lingering holy magic to enjoy various buffs, such as a reduction in mana cost, a drastic speed-up, overall strength enhancement, and passive healing amongst other things (all of which were dependent on the cultivator using it). Enyo's shrine, her other barriers, and the Aletheia trail all provided said buff.
The Lighter Duo were starting to get overrun as they were spending too many resources dealing with Enyo and her shrine's hallowed ground that affected their magic was really complicating their strategy. They looked at each other and nodded. "That?" Lightning Guy asked.
Water Guy agreed, "Yeah, we're gonna run out of mana, but I see no other way." Once again, the Lighter Duo went to join their hands and use a combination art but, for some odd reason, they couldn't do it.
Enyo had also remembered the other half of what Ares told her about these two; individually, they were nothing special. Whatever grand finale those two had up their sleeves would inevitably be troublesome, so Enyo decided to end their fun pre-maturely. As she ran along her white fire trail at a blistering pace, she used her defender magic to summon a barrier between the Duo. If they couldn't join their mana together, they couldn't use their combination arts. It was just a small, temporary barrier, but Enyo was about to make their life a whole lot harder.
"Segregation!"
The barrier Enyo had put between the Duo was replaced by one that looked identical, but was much, much larger. She had near-enough split the training ground in half with a long, thin, see-through wall that stretched up and into the clouds. This was a pretty standard art of the defender aspect but looked incredibly imposing when used by someone as skilled as Enyo. Maybe if every person attacking the Duo collectively worked together they could break the barrier, but why on earth would they do that? Enyo had just split up this obnoxiously strong Duo and done everyone a massive favour. Enyo and Water Guy were on one side, and everyone else was on the other side with Lightning Guy. It was unfair that Enyo had one star all to herself but, if anyone broke the barrier, their Duo problem would come right back, so they just had to accept the unfairness of it all and the fact that Enyo had outsmarted them.
The Duo immediately realised they were screwed so they both took off running at the same time, but one was clearly faster than the other. Lightning Guy could turn into a dragon and ride the lightning but Water Guy wasn't exactly nimble. To make matters worse, Enyo still had magic to spare and created more barriers to prevent Water Guy from escaping. Enyo boxed him in and closed the distance. The only way out of Enyo's grasp was to walk forward through her trail of fire and fight her in her buff zone. That was a no-go so Water Guy tried tp hold his ground by blasting her back with a wave. Enyo raised her shield and just walked through it, treating the wave as a minor inconvenience. She summoned another barrier, which spawned above Water Guy and fell straight down, crushing him on the floor. Enyo came over to him and tapped his shoulder to take his star before fully flattening Water Guy into pulp with her barrier, and walked triumphantly back over to her shrine. When she sat elegantly back down on her throne, she removed the Segregation barrier and lorded over her domain, daring anyone foolish enough to come and challenge her… But no-one bothered. Her shrine would take far too much effort from far too many people, and that level of coordination was hard to get in such a short amount of time when there were still other stars up for grabs. She, like Li Li, was currently unassailable.
Now, realistically, there were only 3 stars left in play and the timers were ticking. If anyone ended up holding a star for two minutes and thirty seconds, they were guaranteed a spot as it was impossible to get a higher score with the remaining half of time. Everyone was focusing on the three remaining star holders as those stars hadn't yet been swapped around and the holders were nearing that two-minute thirty mark. Ares was seemingly impossible to catch despite so many 'close' attempts. It was pretty obvious to the core disciples and the Elders that Ares was just playing around with the inner court disciples, constantly baiting them into thinking they had a chance, just to waste their time. The outer court disciples were all laughing inside at the dumbasses trying to pick a fight with Ares and were instead focusing on the other two stars as they were actually attainable. Lightning Guy was faster than Esme but much weaker in a direct confrontation, so the quicker participants chased him while the ones confident in their strength pursued Esme.
Esme was hard to chase down in her own right though as with every step she took, she left behind an invisible wind-bomb mine that would blow away anyone who carelessly stepped on it. She was unfortunately starting to get surrounded now that more people were coming over after giving up on Li Li and Enyo's stars.
She took out two fans and tossed them out like boomerangs at the approaching disciples, turning them into tornados mid-flight to fling her attackers out of her path. Regrettably she had to slow down in order to deal with them, and now some other disciples were catching up. Esme wasn't worried though. In fact, they were right where she wanted them, directly behind her, as she specialised in hit and run tactics. Esme was arguably one of the hardest people to chase in the sect due to her highly mobile and incredibly niche fighting style.
"Shredder!"
Esme caught the fans that returned to her and opened them fully to use her unique art. There were various patterns on the fans, all of which pertained to raging storms and violent gales. She threw the circular fans straight down behind her and they lodged into the earth. The fans started to spin like buzzsaws as they tore through the earth and raced backward. Like before, tornados appeared from the fans but, this time, they were horizontal and not vertical. All the disciples that had tried to run around them were swept up into them and dragged backward with their spines grinding against the concrete. The two fans conjoined and stopped moving backward, but kept spinning. As the fans gyrated in a circular pattern, the two tornados twisted so rapidly they merged and formed a dome of wind, shredding everyone inside. When the fans stopped turning, blood and minced guts splattered everywhere as they rolled back to Esme who was still being chased by a few persistent participants. Esme didn't have long left till she was guaranteed a spot so she decided to use a magic that was incredibly draining but would allow her to remain safe for the rest of the time she needed.
"Aero Authority!"
Aero Authority was a strange art to have learnt before reaching the transition realm. Whereas Shredder was a unique art of the wind pillar's 'Howling Calamity' aspect, Aero Authority was an art of the 'Ride The Wind' aspect. The Ride The Wind aspect was quite famous as one the stronger aspects in the upper domain because it gave the user aerial superiority in battles involving flight which, for the most part, was a fair few of them. Although it was incredibly useful for boosting speed and mobility while flying, it did very little for people who couldn't yet fly. Aero Authority would spawn two jade-feather wings that would allow the user's flight speed to skyrocket provided they were already capable of flying. It could also be used by people who couldn't yet fly to do so, but it drained mana, if used in that fashion, quicker than any other known art in existence. No one bothered learning this art before the transition realm as you could probably only use it for around thirty seconds before wasting all your mana, not to mention all the other arts you would have to cast in order to actually put up a fight. This wasn't an issue for Esme, though, as she only needed to fly and avoid pursuit until her timer ticked high enough. She had learnt this art in advance so she didn't have to waste time learning it later when she became a transition realm cultivator and it was paying dividends already. The ability to fly was invaluable after all. As she took to the sky, the disciples chasing her immediately gave up, they couldn't hit her and trying to do anything here was just utterly pointless.
Currently, half of the inner court disciples were fumbling over themselves to try and catch Ares who was now indirectly responsible for about half of all tallied deaths via the enabling of friendly fire. There was such a large group trying to run him down that any of their magical attacks would bombard their fellow inner court disciples who were carelessly aggressive.
The other half were running after Lightning Guy alongside every single outer court disciple as they refused, come hell or high water, to go anywhere near Ares. Lightning Guy planned on making full use of that. He swerved and veered straight towards Ares. He planned on dumping off all his inner court disciples while keeping only the outer courts who wouldn't be able to catch him in time. He shot out a Coiling Draco to the side, but kept fleeing towards Ares so he could bait and switch.
The outer court disciples knew exactly what Lightning Guy was up to and immediately took off in pursuit after the art. If they couldn't take Lightning Guy's star, they would sooner give up than die needlessly to Ares. Yes, they would come back to life, but it's not like dying didn't still hurt. Ares' Mecha-dryad incident was well known in the outer court by now and there was no-one stupid enough to try their luck, especially not considering how easily he was toying with the inner court disciples. Back during the tier assessment, he was the sole fifth tier disciple no one challenged even a single time. Long story short, everyone knew better.
On the other hand, the inner court disciples should've been thoroughly embarrassed. Ares was just flat out mocking them at this point, but they just kept coming back for more. Ares had yet to take even a single offensive action and they were still losing in a group of at least 50. Perhaps they all had some kind of humiliation kink? Then again, this entire situation was getting out of hand for them. Only one inner court disciple, the snake lady, even had their timer go above zero seconds before dying miserably and, currently, every single star was in the possession of an outer court disciple. The inner court disciples whose cultivations were too high to participate were cringing at their juniors' performance and swore to beat some sense into their comrades when this was all over. This was especially true of the people currently falling over themselves trying to deal with Ares, he was the damn bandit that had made their lives hell and they couldn't even touch him! Unforgivable!
Sadie wasn't sure what to think of this. She wanted to see him actually fight. She wanted to see his technique and form to make sure it was all on point, but it's not like this wasn't impressive too. Between his dodging, and his pillar, which was apparently offensively impressive, Ares didn't really need anything else. Still though, Sadie guessed he wasn't lugging a sword around for the fun of it and she wanted to know how well he could use it.
Meanwhile, Lightning Guy's plan had been successful as he'd ditched all of his unwanted pursuers onto Ares. Ares didn't particularly mind, it's not like he was struggling currently anyway and, technically, he owed Lightning Guy for the inspiration he'd gotten from him to kill the Mecha-dryad in Baja Forest. This, to Ares, meant the five tournament select-ees were all but locked-in: Enyo, Esme, Li Li, Lightning Guy, and himself. Lightning Guy would be a strange addition considering Water Guy wasn't also getting in but, maybe, Ares and the others could work with him and come up with some combination arts to bring out his true potential.
Ares ducked under a brutal swing and jumped onto the disciple's head, using him as a springboard to relocate. He unintentionally landed next to two inner court disciples he recognised. One was the woman who brought attention to him by yelling 'Bandits' before the selection process had started, and the other was the guy that went to lunge at Ares before Teng intervened. It seemed these two were quite intimate. Let's ruin that shall we? Ares smiled evilly and stepped in-between them.
The two disciples held back on firing magic so as not to injure one another, but were starting to get fed up with Ares constantly avoiding every single strike from both of them at the same time. The male disciple coated his fist in magic of the Bare-Fist aspect and lunged toward Ares who was currently facing his girlfriend. Ares' turned his neck and smirked over his shoulder at the poor fool. Ares had intentionally been under-performing to make things interesting but picked up the pace specifically for these two mongrels. He used both Diagnosis and Omniscience to locate a weak spot in the woman's shoulder as she also tried to punch him. He swept aside her attack and poked her with a single finger, dislocating her arm and making her yelp, which just spurred her boyfriend on to put his all into his next attack. Ares grabbed the woman's neck and pulled her toward him. He moved out of the way, just as the guy's punch was about to connect, and stuck his foot out to trip the woman, sending her face first into her boyfriend's unrelenting attack.
Crack
The punch had broken her nose and made her face all bloody. Ares stuck his foot out and tripped her again as she was reeling backward, before grabbing the collar of her clothes to prevent her from falling. He picked her back up and twirled her back into his arms like the two were performing a duet. While she was seeing stars, Ares held her in his arms and winked at the guy, who then went spiralling deeper into rage and lunged at Ares again. Ares pushed the woman aside but gripped her arm, making her stagger and almost fall over on one foot as he kept her from planting face-first into the ground. Ares used his free left hand to deal with the guy's second attack. Specifically, he used an Echo as he slapped the punch, redirecting it off to the side… The same side as his girlfriend who Ares had dragged back toward him for a second session of domestic abuse.
Thud
Ares had forced the guy to beat his girlfriend unconscious and she was now just lying there, knocked out on the floor, bleeding profusely from her head. "Tsk Tsk Tsk, you're supposed to treat women like queens, not like punching bags." Ares wagged his finger at the disciple who was lost in his own mind after what he'd just done to the person he loved. "Don't worry…" Ares struck the disciple in the stomach and dragged him by the hair. "... I'll help you two…" The female disciple showed signs of life as she came back to her senses in a daze. Ares tripped the male disciple and chucked him down on top of his girlfriend. "... Kiss and make up!" The two disciples headbutt one another and this time the woman was out for good, reviving outside the training ground and seething in rage towards her (now) ex. Ares fled while cackling like a true fiend as the other disciples finally caught up.
The other disciples took a moment to look at the imbeciles that had just been completely humbled and shamed in the span of a few seconds and briefly reconsidered chasing Ares. Was it worth it? He was clearly holding back and, after what they'd just seen, could they really justify chasing him around? He might actually be the worst of the star holders to pick a fight with and yet here they were, wasting their time in spectacular fashion. Clearly the outer court disciples knew something they didn't. Still though, there was no time to catch up to Lightning Guy, Esme, or Li Li as they had all run to the opposite side of the training ground. By the time anyone reached them, they would have gotten through regardless. There were really only two options left, keep fruitlessly chasing Ares, or go after Enyo. Enyo was still nearby, sitting idly in her shrine. Individually they wouldn't be able to break it but, with every single inner court participant having no other options left, they were all going to convene and work together. There was only really one star left as Enyo had gotten hers a little later than everyone else. There was still some time to steal it off her and win. They all collectively made the same decision and marched over to Enyo's shrine.
Sadie was still snickering from Ares' provocateur beatdown earlier. Truly a revenant if ever she'd seen one. Revenant men had a tendency to have wild, unorthodox fighting styles that were the epitome of free and fun. It matched their personalities to a tee as they were a bunch of dirty fighters that cared more about enjoying themselves at your expense than actually beating you. The women, on the other hand, were a strange existence in comparison. They were the type that made you feel apologetic for dying to them and bloodying their nails. Every fight with a revenant woman was a waste of their time and their attitude made you feel like they were the queens of the world, gracing you with their presence as you insulted them with yours.
To Sadie, it made sense Legion clan women and Revenant men got along. Revenant women would keep their men on tight leashes and treat them like obedient mutts. It's not like that didn't work for the men but that they were better off with a different type of person. Legion clan women were typically more interested in breaking free from their rigid lifestyle than the men of their clan. They liked the control but hated the restrictions. Revenant men had that sort of wild freedom, and Legion clan women would let their little puppies run free but still hold onto the leash for when it was necessary. The men were their domesticated wolves that they let play around and have their fun before loyally returning home for pets. It was nice having a vicious guard dog that would bare their fangs at anyone who tried to harm their master, and Ares was clearly no different. Right now, he was following the gathering crowd and even poking them in their backs to try and get their attention. Sadie could tell the second they focused on Enyo; Ares was going to start biting and mauling.
The remaining 80 inner court disciples gathered around Enyo's shrine and started to channel their magic into a single point. Amalgamation was a combination art / technical that could be used by mixing any aspect or pillar together and essentially just took the mana provided to create a massive bomb. It was good practice, and considered common courtesy, for cultivators to learn this technical so they could contribute in situations like this.
The swirling white ball kept getting larger and larger above their heads as they focused on directing their magic toward it. Ares was still poking away, but everyone was flat-out ignoring him, even if they had to grimace and curse him in their mind when he pulled their hair or flicked the cheeks. Between the fact that he was being so blatantly ignored and that they were targeting Enyo, Ares was starting to get annoyed. He decided to wait until the Amalgamation was ready to fire before making his move so that he could waste as much of their mana as possible as he had a new art he wanted to try out after what he was about to do. Enyo was watching unperturbed from atop her throne as she knew her tamed wolf was going to deal with the situation for her. That and she was being extremely underestimated, the amalgamation probably wouldn't even break her shrine anyway. Enyo was seriously a powerhouse of a cultivator. The Amalgamation was about 150ft wide now as the disciples had been given a lot of time to charge it. It seemed like they were getting ready to chant and throw it.
"Grand Annihilation!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
All 80 disciples were drowned in a golden calamity of destruction and despair, fighting for their lives amid the turbulent detonations rocking their world. The Amalgamation fizzled out as too many people weren't able to support it any longer. The explosions hadn't even finished yet and people were still desperately struggling not to get lost in the mayhem, and yet…
"Grand Annihilation!"
Ares could use about 8 Grand Annihilations in a row before he ran out of mana. He wasn't done with these fools just yet.
"Grand Annihilation!"
Again.
"Grand Annihilation!"
Again.
"Grand Annihilation!"
Again.
The catastrophic carnage lasted a solid three minutes before everything settled. Enyo's barrier was untouched as Ares had skilfully aimed his explosions around it, but the nearby concrete had all been obliterated and her shrine was now a raised platform surrounded by deep pits filled with segmented corpses and a moat of blood. Body parts were haphazardly strewn around and littered the ravaged training ground. Every dead body was mutilated to some noticeable degree, and some were just flat out gone from existence as though they had never been there to begin with. Specks of dust and ash formed layers over what was left of the shattered earth.
Only 15 of the inner court disciples were left standing and the only ones that were still in decent shape with all their limbs intact were the ones that had pre-emptively used their magic to flee the bombardment. There was an ominous stillness and lingering quietude as everyone just stared aghast at the chaos. Even the Elders were horrified as Ares repeatedly casting the same art hadn't even occurred to them, they thought using it once or twice would be his limit. The inner court disciples that had just respawned outside the training ground were still spinning and their minds were still playing catch-up from the hellhole of explosive madness they'd been trapped and slaughtered in. There were a few core disciples that were very interested in Ares, and Sadie was flat-out stunned. Obviously the pillar of destruction was never going to be some second-rate pillar, but wasn't this far too much? The only reason anyone inside its radius survived was because they hid behind their dying comrades, using their fellow disciples' final attempts to save themselves as an extra barrier between them and the explosive assault. That series of arts probably would have killed even a mid-stage sensory enhancement cultivator with room to spare if they didn't dodge, and Ares still looked fine!
It's not like Ares was running low on mana, and that was pretty ludicrous but, through all the explosions, Sadie could tell Ares had done something. For Ares' mana consumption to have not even used up half of his mana pool was preposterous and the magical traces in the air were proof enough that he had some kind of interesting art up his sleeve.
One of the disciples that had escaped safely from the art barrage gathered his courage and bravely took a step towards Ares.
"All Or Nothing!"
All Or Nothing was a technical that, like Amalgamation, a fair few cultivators familiarised themselves with. It was a last-ditch gamble that gathered every last bit of remaining mana they had into a single attack. When the disciple started running out of mana, a ghostly hand weaved from deep, pulsing red and black chaotic space, and laced with tiny stars, wrapped itself around the disciple's neck. He couldn't remove or interact with it no matter how he tried. His hand passed right through it and magic wasn't helping. He could feel it's cold grip and began sweating nervously.
Ares clicked his fingers.
"Grim Cessation!"
The disciple was strangled as he was dragged into a hellish void portal at his feet. His dying screams rang throughout the training ground as he was brought under. With one final splat, the warped, red portal cracked, shut, and disappeared, leaving a few of his severed limbs and some blood spraying out from underneath the ground. His magic attack faded and all the mana he had was rounded up and flowed into Ares, becoming his.
Grim Cessation was an art of the nothingness aspect. As long as someone had less than 5% of their mana remaining, Ares could kill them, no questions asked. It was an unstoppable instant kill on the careless and would work on literally anyone regardless of cultivation. Nothingness would entangle them, drag them into hell, and flood their meridians with nothingness magic, detonating every single organ in their body including the heart. When the person died, their remaining mana would be transferred to Ares. He would also automatically, passively use this art on the recently deceased to gorge on their mana and restore his own mana pool. Using multiple, large, AOE attacks was draining but, if he killed enough people, the spending and recovery evened itself out. Unfortunately, he could only ever take at most 5% of the person's mana. Even if he killed someone with all of their mana remaining, he would only get a minor amount in return. Ares had mostly created this art for its utility as drawn-out fights usually didn't favour him and this art fixed that weakness as the mana regeneration, in large scale fights, would allow him to just keep murdering without pause. It was also nice to put a timer on people in one-to-one fights so they couldn't just try to outlast his annihilation onslaught by running away all the time. This was an incredibly powerful art, to say the least, and its effect was no joke as inescapable death was nigh unheard of. There were a few other arts that would kill a person if the right conditions were met, but this was the first art to ever have no counter. Other instant kill arts had to be activated beforehand and then the opponent had to make a few mistakes before it would kill them. If Grim Cessation was activatable, you simply died. Unless you knew about the arts' requirements ahead of time, you would just instantly lose without ever knowing why. To that end, All Or Nothing was basically a fast track to committing suicide in front of Ares as it drained every drop of mana before launching.
Ares had been working on this art for a long time now and was glad to see it being every bit as effective as he hoped it would be. The reason he hadn't created it earlier was due to the difficulty in assessing a person's remaining mana, but acquiring Omniscience completely alleviated that issue for him. The disciple's death was quick and brutal, unnerving the remaining few who had no idea what on earth just happened. They were stricken with fear and didn't want to end up like the other carcasses, but the unknown danger had paralysed them. Not knowing what that last magic was and how it operated unsettled them. That was also part of what made it such a strong art, if people were blissfully unaware of the conditions, they would have a much higher chance of dying to it.
Elsewhere, Lightning Guy had safely lived long enough to make it through. The outer court disciples chasing him just gave up all hope as Enyo wasn't in the cards, let alone with Ares around, so they sat down and watched the rest of the selection play out as it was coming to a close.
Back near Enyo's shrine, Ares had simplified the inner court disciple's choice by attacking them and forcing them to respond. Although there were still fourteen left, injuries were piling up and they hadn't been able to deal with Ares at the best of times, let alone now. He was a sword wielding menace, effortlessly slicing through their ranks. This was what Sadie had wanted to see, Ares' compatibility with weapon-oriented combat, and she was certainly impressed. Ares clearly wasn't just coasting through life with his mind-boggling magic. He'd put in a lot of effort to craft a unique style all his own that worked for him. In particular, Gamble and Echo caught her attention as they were genius-tier arts that anyone could seemingly use. Especially Echo. Gamble would take some getting used to and required a degree of technique and familiarity with the weapons pillar to pull off, but Echo was a minimal effort, high reward technical of all things. Ares adapting to every situation, blocking with his Zephyr, and utilising every inch of his body to deftly dodge and counter every attack was awe-inspiring. The aerial focus was entirely unique and something only he could pull off with his Zephyr and Gamble intertwining flawlessly. He had a right to be as cocky as he had been earlier, his swordplay alone would've been enough to hold his own even without his magic. He was quick and stylish, packing ludicrous firepower, and smart in his approach. He was near-enough unparalleled combat-wise and would forever be unbeatable against people within his own realm unless he faced another once-in-a-lifetime genius. Sadie wanted to teach him. There was so much room for him to expand and, if she was being honest, there were maybe a few things she could learn from him. His profound expertise with swords was baffling, there had to be a reason for it as things just didn't add up. Even the brief intervals in which he tossed his sword up in the air and grappled hand to hand were solid, and kept in line with his fighting style, allowing for a seamless transition. If she could teach him to incorporate other weapons into that style, he would have options for every situation. First though, she had to ask him how he came up with that sword style. It wasn't acceptable for him to say he just thought it up, as to have created it and mastered it to this degree in so few years with no external aid was impossible.
Technically, she was right. Ares' weapon mastery didn't start with him, but he would be blissfully unaware of its origin for a little while longer.
Ares used Grim Cessation to kill off the final disciple and hopped up to Enyo's shrine. He knocked, but Enyo didn't let him in. She was mocking him for not having destroyed the barrier with his repeated Grand Annihilation castings, even though he deliberately didn't aim for it. Silly woman, Ares mused. Now that Ares thought about it, Enyo probably thought she could beat Ares in a direct confrontation with her barriers as they could, to varying degrees, withstand his annihilation magic. It was absolutely an impressive accomplishment, but Ares hadn't ever shown her his disintegration magic. He hadn't used it a single time in front of her and she was starting to think she had some kind of advantage over him. This matchup, even though Ares imagined he would never have to fight her, was entirely skewed towards him, and he figured he might as well prove that to Enyo here and now. He coated his pinky in disintegration magic and poked Enyo's barrier surrounding her shrine. The finger went straight through and cut downward like a shark fin through water. Enyo's barrier had been about as effective as a piece of paper, hell, at least paper might have potentially cut Ares as he passed by. Enyo was speechless as Ares just meandered over to her, sat on her lap, got comfortable in a half lying, half sitting posture, and mumbled as he closed his eyes, "I'm sleepy."
Enyo's little pooch had found a cosy place of warmth and came back to rest next to its master, but this was a good reminder for her that a tamed wolf was still a wolf. Still though, it was that dangerous thrill that the Legion clan women sought after more often than not, the men of their own clan were just too boring for them. Perhaps the Legion men would get along with the revenant women, they seemed somewhat compatible on paper anyway. Ares, though, was perfect for Enyo. She liked his feistiness. She took off her hand armour and stroked his head as her timer ticked away.
When the five participants could no longer be beaten, Teng ended the selection process early as there was no point in continuing. Everyone gathered back in front of Teng with the inner court disciples keeping a noticeable distance away from Ares, like he was some kind of devil. Then again, that evaluation wasn't far off the mark given his destructive tendencies and propensity for playful evil.
Teng held out his hand over a runic formation which started to print out a scroll. The scroll would list on it the five participants who had won the selection process. Even though it was obvious, it was still required by the official who would come by later to take note of the participants. The system supposedly couldn't be cheated and it would only ever pick the five people who had the longest amount of time displayed on their timer. Teng took the scroll and read aloud the names on it as was customary, "Our five lower bracket participants will be as follows: Ares, Enyo, Esme, Li Li, And… What? WHAT!? How? How could this be possible!?... RUD! GET OVER HERE! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"
Rud was confused and wary. This was pretty important for the future of the sect and, while he was glad to see the real MVPs of Esme, Enyo, and Ares all safely marked down, he was worried something unsalvageable had happened. He went over and took the scroll off Teng, giving it a once over before he immediately spotted the issue. Rud kissed his teeth. Honestly, this alteration may potentially have been an improvement considering the situation, but it didn't explain exactly how this had happened in the first place. "I have no idea why, but it would seem our fifth participant is…" Rud Sighed deeply. "Aejaz…"
"Huh?" Even Ares was confused. He'd seen the star on Lightning Guy the entire time, so Aejaz clearly hadn't stolen it and, besides, he was outside the runic formation anyway, it shouldn't have kept track of his 'time' even if he had taken it.
As everyone looked over at Aejaz who was waiting in the crowd of onlookers, he blinked a few times as though he himself was also coming to terms with his victory. "... Uh, honestly, I didn't expect that to work." He scratched his head with a weak smile on his face.
Rud narrowed his eyes. "Didn't expect what to work?"
"Well, I… Uh… Kinda thought it might be kinda, you know… Funny, if I, you know… Stole his position in the tournament. I used a bit of magic and… Uh… You know."
"'YOU KNOW' MY ASS! THE HELL DO I KNOW ABOUT YOUR STUPID MAGIC? SINCE WHEN CAN YOU STEAL CONCEPTUAL THINGS THAT DON'T EVEN PHYSICALLY EXIST!?"
"Don't blame me! I didn't even think it would work! I just figured it out myself as well!" Aejaz really was just as surprised as everyone else.
"OF COURSE I'M BLAMING YOU!" Rud felt like he'd gained access to the destruction pillar as he was about to go berserk and explode.
"I don't really mind," Lightning Guy called out. "I would've rather worked as a Duo anyway, so I'll probably just drag the team down needlessly without Water Guy. I feel robbed, sure, but that's the point of thievery magic, isn't it? I'm not going to say he earned it, but he definitely has the spot regardless. Also, if any duo is going to represent Red Sun, it should probably be the bandit brothers anyway." Lightning Guy just shrugged; he really didn't care that much. At least this way he would have more time to work on combination arts with Water Guy, such as their trump card which still needed some tweaking. Enyo had exposed a pretty massive weakness in their game plan that they would need to rectify. It was really quite a shame though. if they had used that art successfully, they had a high chance of beating Enyo. Ares was a different matter entirely though; he would have killed the shit out of them. Ares would have just used Grim Cessation after they dried their mana up and poof, dead. Not that they knew how that art even worked though.
"... Fine. I can't be bothered dealing with this for any longer than is absolutely necessary anyway," Rud groaned. "In that case, let's try this again. Our five lower bracket participants are: Enyo, Esme, Li Li, and the bandit bastards." Rud listed everyone and walked away as he was just flat-out done with this shit. Teng could take them to see the official, Rud was going to go sneak off somewhere and nap the frustration away.
Ahem
Teng coughed. "Well, the official will be here in two hours, all five of you will need to convene at the plaza then. Everyone is dismissed!"
The inner court disciples grumbled their way back to their respective areas. None of the higher cultivation disciples actually followed through with the beatings they were preparing to dole out as Ares was just far too strong, they couldn't fault the participants for failing against him. The core disciples also left. A few of them took a few extra glances at the bandit brothers who were undoubtedly incredibly strange, but one person in-particular was really interested in Ares specifically.
The man in question was quite suave and wore a brown suit that fit him well. He seemed to be a year or two older than Ares and was a good-looking gentleman-type with a hint of devilish intrigue. He held a tobacco pipe with his mouth, wore a monocle over his right eye, and there was both a pen and well-worn notebook resting in his hands. He used the pen to jot something down on his palm, and walked away.
Ares was aware of this strange behaviour but decided to ignore it as it didn't feel malicious. If anything, it was oddly perverse in an eccentric kinda way. Odd, but completely harmless. Ares shooed off the thoughts and briefly talked to Onno about the stall. Ares wasn't going to have time to run it anymore so he was asking Onno to find him someone else who could. He would provide them with the Beads and they would sell them in his stead. While they were discussing things, Ares also brought up his defensive black hole beads which Onno decided to name 'Block Rocks', before taking all the Beads Ares had on his person. Ares had been making them pretty much every waking moment he wasn't actively doing anything else and the store wouldn't need a restock after this one for a long while. Ares was also working on a long-range shift marker that he could 'teleport' beads through, allowing him to restock the stall from anywhere. This was still rather early in development though and would take some time, or a major breakthrough in his understanding of nothingness, to develop to a usable point. When everything was sorted, Ares found himself being whisked away in a similar fashion to before.