Chapter 97: Picky Undead

"Alright ya lazy bum..." Ares pat Aejaz on the shoulder as they meandered over to the orc without a care in the world. "... You and I are up again. Make sure to give me plenty of mana and don't skimp out!"

Aejaz recoiled as Ares had practically read his thoughts. How his brother knew he was planning on going light to avoid exerting himself was beyond him. Deciding it was better not to anger the sleeping dragon, Aejaz obediently readied himself to pass on over a sizable chunk of mana lest he catch a beating post match for trying to be a cheapskate.

Meanwhile, the orc was continually swelling and growing larger by the second. He was almost the same size as the titan by the time his growth showed any signs of halting but it did carry on long enough for Sado to outgrow the rocky contenders. It was a shame Maso had died, especially given how quickly it happened, but really it was the orc that mattered here. He was the defensive line that would hold off everyone else. He was already holding off against the other three members of Red Sun and going toe to toe. In fact, the only reasons he didn't have an edge right now were because, A; Enyo was freakishly strong for someone with such a low cultivation. Even against this hyper-buff orc it still took at minimum of two swings for him to break a barrier, at which point she could just summon another. Even when the orc tried to attack her directly she would just block with her shield and sustain zero damage. On top of that it still looked like she had energy to spare and could go all day if need be. Then there was reason B; Blockbuster. This art was deadly when it functioned properly and a massive nuisance even when dealt with in a timely manner. Sado having to dedicate his limited brain power just to sort out the rampaging mana was preventing him from chanting any arts. It was like trying to speak a word in two different languages at the same time whilst playing a puzzle game where you fix the angle of water pipes to create a complete circuit. Except instead of running water, it was unruly annihilation magic that flowed wherever it pleased and, instead of pipes, it was Sado's body. Worse still, if he failed, he would have to do more than just restart, he would explode on the spot! Sado was thoroughly tongue tied and every time he found a brief reprieve amidst the hectic fight, Li Li came swinging to disrupt him once more. He wasn't going to catch a break, but he wasn't expecting to either. He knew from the moment this plan was set in stone he would likely die every single match, but that was just his role. Actually, pretty much everyone else on the team wanted to fight normally. It was just Accelyn's ego and narcissism holding everyone hostage to a plan that put her in the limelight. Her family held a position that was above and beyond that of the other team members so they were obligated, via subtle threats, to listen to her and do as she says. Had she been made the captain because of her prodigious talents? Nope, nepotism was the correct answer to that particular question. How strong the team would have been if they fought normally, with Sado and Maso cooperating with Bricky and Rocky, was arguably better than they were now but, in the end, they had no say. The Nomad team, which could have been an offensive powerhouse, had been reduced to a snail's pace level of aggression and there wasn't a single person from the region who wasn't irked by this. Would they have won the nationals? Not likely, no, but they would have at least put up a better showing than the pathetic display of today. Bricky and Rocky's titan crumbled under the pressure of a five man onslaught despite logically having the tools needed to last longer and Maso lasted all of ten seconds before being put in stasis. They weren't faring nearly as well as the Bhorashka lot had against the Red Sun team and that was flat-out disappointing. The betting group hanging around Hans' area had originally given this group higher odds but they was lowered when they saw the method of fighting the team had chosen to stick with. In short, it was unanimous among literally everyone other than Accelyn that this was a losing battle and that she had single handedly doomed them all to mediocrity. How cool would it have been for the spectators to watch an epic battle against the titan with Sado and Maso backing it up? It would have been fun and lots of the people watching silently wished they could get a refund on their stardust for this match.

The orc blocked Enyo's shield ram with his arm and strained to push her back. When his arm finally flung her off, a blast of wind smacked him in the face as Li Li's fist came bearing down on his protruding gut. Luckily his girth saved him from taking damage from the hits but he still had to deal with the gold mana in his body and he could tell he was starting to fall on the backfoot. Sado wasn't sure if he'd lasted long enough, but it no longer mattered as he didn't have any choice left but to go all in and throw out one final hoorah. Sado was prepared to let the next strike from Li Li blow up the arm he was going to offer up on a silver platter. He would grit his teeth through the pain and cast one last art to make himself fall into a berserk state. Whatever happened after that had nothing to do with him. Whether the increase in stats would help stall longer, or whether he would just start aimlessly banging his head against a wall... It was the only course of action left for him. This act of self-sacrifice would never come to fruition, however, and a part of Sado realised this as he saw the bandit brothers once again back to back and casting an art. The orc wasn't the brightest tool in the shed but he was by no means stupid so he started removing any and all excess clothes on his body. He could tell roughly what happened to the golem thanks to the name Swap 'N' Shock and he assumed that was what was about to happen to him too. 

Ares saw the orc's behaviour and just smirked, making no effort to correct his little misunderstanding. Who said they only had one combination art to throw out? Still, if the orc wanted to disrobe in public, who was Ares to stop him? Besides, it's not like the orc probably hadn't already done that at some point in his life anyway... Before Sado became sentient, he would have been a degenerate orc just like all the rest, he almost definitely had no shame or scruples. Regardless, Ares clapped his hands together before pointing them at Sado and chanting, 

"Spacing Out 'N' Seeing Stars!"

A small, invisible strand of three different types of mana skirted through the air and raced into Sado's forehead at record pace. The orc recoiled slightly before its eyes blanked and his body started lifelessly rocking back and forth. THUD. The orc collapsed unceremoniously on the floor and occasionally spasmed here and there. It's neck twitched a couple times per second before finally coming to a lull as Sado's head rolled to a stop. The crowd looked to the resurrection platform in disbelief and found a shivering Sado sat down and dazed out of his skull. Although it hadn't really mattered up until now, every one of the Nomad members had a cultivation of at least sensory enhancement, 1st stage. Sado specifically was at 4th stage... And he just got murdered on the spot by an art from someone and entire full realm below him... Technically it was a combination art, and that mattered as they were certainly stronger than usual... But it was utterly preposterous that a mental attack just fully killed an opponent from one-hundred to zero in a few seconds after a single cast. That wasn't something even people proficient in mental attacks could realistically do. Just when they thought Ares' repertoire was abnormal as is, this art was added to it out of the blue.

As for what it was exactly, it was attack that did four things simultaneously. Aejaz' thievery magic would rob the target of its eyesight by stealing its vision. This was a new trick he'd learnt during training. It wasn't all his magic did though, as it also stole the target's recent memories just like 'No-stalgia'. Combined, these two effects were pretty scary to be on the receiving end of. Imagine you wake up and are blind with no idea why or where you are or what's happening to you... Not pleasant... But it doesn't end there, that's just Aejaz' half. Ares' magic is where the damage is truly done. The disintegration magic guarantees entry into the opponent's mental realm by dissolving all the barriers. From there, in leaks the annihilation magic that forms tiny little lights in the victim's 'vision'. As they're blinded, they get swamped by a tide of disintegration magic with little exploding dots lighting up their brain. The pain will rack up endlessly until the annihilation magic is removed but, in order to do that, you have to first get rid of the memory altering magic, then fight off the disintegration. It takes a long time to do both, by which point you'll probably be dead to the repeated battering from the explosions that refuse to stop. It's like a migraine that gets worse with every beat until your mental realm and brain just explode from being overworked. That was why Sado was still spasming on the floor before he died fully, his body had given up but it was still subject to the whims of the detonating stars that rocked his head uncontrollably. It could actually be considered a mental version of Blockbuster, in a way, but was also way worse. The disintegration wasn't content with just entering the mental realm, it would keep digging deeper and deeper, granting access to more hidden parts of the subconscious. Obviously the annihilation magic would do more damage there, but it also allowed the memory magic to take more important memories from the target. How to cast arts, how to use your body parts, how to think or breathe. In some cases, the victim could be robbed of so many memories they regressed back to something comparable to a toddler as they died an excruciating, helpless death. Part of the reason it had been so effective was because Sado was an orc, a race know for having a weak mental realm. They're physically strong creatures driven by nothing more than overwhelming lust and desire. They don't have the mental fortitude to resist their urges or control themselves because, really, they're just stupid animals. Becoming sentient improves that slightly, but not much. The art wouldn't have been as effective against Maso as he was both a human and because he'd been buffed by Masochistic Motivation. It wouldn't have killed him outright, but it wouldn't need to. The art was undeniably dangerous as all hell, and could reap lives effortlessly as showcased, but it was more of distraction than anything. An opponent blinded and struggling to cope with this attack would be easy pickings. Even if they could resist it, it would still drain their focus and available mana, much like Blockbuster. Ares' combination arts seemed to be really good at that; creating a devastating attack that could, and needed to be, mitigated in order to survive but shifted your attention away from the battle. Still, it wasn't all roses and rainbows, there was a disadvantage too... It had a long name... But it was necessary. Arts with a certain degree of power, excluding Ares destruction pillar arts because they were special, needed longer names to manipulate more mana via the chant, it was typically unavoidable. Also, names needed to follow certain rules otherwise they wouldn't work as chants. The rules were a bit complicated but, in as simple terms as possible, the name needed to be fitting, long enough, and actually speak-able by a known language. Some of these rules weren't applicable to all arts, but it was a general template normal cultivators had to abide by for the most part. The longer name of 'Spacing Out 'N' Seeing Stars' left Ares and Aejaz wide open. It didn't matter in this situation where they had three teammates to keep Sado busy, but it wasn't something that could just be used on the fly without being interrupted in a regular fight. There were ways around this, like reducing the effectiveness of the art to be able to shorten the name, or changing the type of mana used as there was a pillar that specialised in long-chant magic, but neither options had appealed to the brothers. They wanted a heavy hitting art as Swap 'N' Shock was their speedier option that could be used on the go, they didn't need another art to fulfil the same role. 

And then there was one. Accelyn had shrouded roughly half of the arena in poison and even the root of Yggdrasil was hidden by the ominous, orange mist. It was especially thick near the back where Accelyn was blatantly hiding. In this situation, desperate fools would rush into the thickest part to try and find her but, because she'd been building a nest of sorts for so long, you'd just die the second you inhaled the thick poison. Doing nothing wasn't an option though as then the poison would continue spreading. Red Sun had gotten to this crossroad conundrum way faster than any other team and, thus, they had the liberty to sit and think about their approach.

It wasn't an awful strategy, poisoning the entire arena, but there were a million and one ways to deal with such a problem. This cowardly method of fighting would have been punished by someone at some point in the tournament, even if Red Sun didn't do it, and there were negative chances of this strategy ever working in the long run. All sorts of cultivators and types of magic existed in this world and to think any one magic could act as a cure-all in combat was silly. Accelyn was going to learn this the hard way and that, in the future, she should invest in a back-up plan. That or just fight properly and not end up in this mess to begin with.

As for how Red Sun were going to deal with the poison... They had a ton of options at their disposal. Esme could blow it all away, Enyo could halt its spread with barriers, Li Li could maybe burn it if she went all out with her fire pillar, and Aejaz... Well actually he was useless, but what exactly was new there? Until his debut match in the international, zilch was to be expected from this petty thief... And then there was easy mode, make Ares blow everything up. Just having him chuck Shock Beads at the gas for long enough would do the trick. He would hit Accelyn eventually. It would be like whack a mole! Or a more challenging version of it anyway as the mole wouldn't be visible. None of this was the route taken, though... 

Accelyn was seated in the lotus position with her two palms placed diagonally across one another. As her fingers bent like flapping wings, the poison was spread further and further still. As long as her palms were touching one another, and as long as she had the mana to spare, she would keep generating poison. 

Thud Thud Thud Thud

At the sound of footsteps, that of boots otherwise it wouldn't have been so audibly distinct, Accelyn looked up with a sharp gaze. Out of the orange haze stepped Ares and her gaze further narrowed. How long could he last? How much suffering was he in? When would the poison kill him? Did she need to stop casting her art to deal with him first? Deliberating on these matters as Ares looked over, Accelyn was attempting to calculate her odds. While she was biting her nail and concentrating like her life depended on it, Ares smiled and waved.

"Hello! Nice weather we're having!... Does smell a bit though, kinda like rust." Ares wafted away some of the poison and pinched his nose.

…

Accelyn raised her eyebrow at this strange person. He should be dying! Agony should be plastered all over his face and his flesh should be a gooey mess! "You... Are you immune to poison?!"

Ares scratched his chin and tilted his head. "Kinda? Sorta? Not really 'immune' per se... A little?"

"What kind of answer is that?! If you aren't immune to poisons, you should be dead!"

"Oh... Good point. You might be on to something there." Ares collapsed on the floor with his face buried in the dirt.

…

…

…

Accelyn stared dumbly at his unmoving corpse before shaking her head and salivating at the incredible opportunity she'd been given by this absolute buffoon! She needed to raise him as an undead quickly before he was revived and his corpse disappeared so she gave up on casting her poison and picked the better option. This match had been looking spotty, but with this bombardier on their side their win would be a cinch. "Get Up." This art didn't really need explaining. It just raised a corpse with the abilities it had in life still intact. It could only be used on the freshly deceased though. If a body had been rotting for a while a different, less potent, art had to be used instead. Of course the target of Get Up wouldn't operate at 100% efficiency, but it would be decent enough at around 70%. The cultivator's skill and cultivation could increase that number so a weaker necromancer with a stronger corpse could still lose to a stronger Grave Lord with a weaker corpse at their disposal..

Ares' Stygian Zephyr aided in pushing him up and off the floor as he rose like a zombie out of a cheap horror film. After standing up and to attention, he eagerly awaited his orders that he would faithfully complete no matter how arduous or detrimental to his own wellbeing!

"Go and blow up the Red Sun team!"

"No."

"Eh?"

…

…

…

"What do you mean no? You're my underling, do as I tell you!" Accelyn had never seen anything like this before... That didn't mean it was impossible though. Maybe he was too powerful to control without hitches? He'd shown his talents repeatedly and he was far more powerful than his cultivation let on, so maybe there was pushback because he was a stronger corpse than Accelyn had ever tried raising before…

"No."

THIS CLEARLY GOES A STEP BEYOND PUSHBACK! Accelyn wanted to tear her hair out dealing with this stupid corpse. "Why won't you do as I command?!"

"Hmm..." Ares pondered as he did some soul searching for the answer to Accelyn's question. "... Because I'm hungry? Give me food and I'll consider it."

"F... Food? Why is that all it takes?! And what do you mean you'll 'consider' it? I want you to promise me!"

"Hmm..." Ares was pensive once more as he consulted with the undead guidebook he just invented in his head on how to proceed. "... Ok. If you give me good food, I'll do as you ask of me!"

"Fine! Here, you obnoxious bastard!" Accelyn took some sweets out of her space ring and chucked them at Ares who caught them all with his mouth. He had to dip, duck, and dive to catch them all but he was successful nonetheless!

Chew Chomp Chew Chew

Ares swallowed and Accelyn sighed before she pointed outside the mist towards the Red Sung group. "Now! Go! Go and blow them up!"

"No."

"WHY?!?! I held up my end of the bargain!"

"No you didn't. I asked for good food and you gave me that shit? I could make better with my hands tied behind my back!" Ares didn't mention the fact that he could cook in the Primordial Blade without direct intervention and rarely used his hands anyway... "Good is subjective, unless we're talking about my palate, then it's objective! I want food that is good according to my standards, not yours!"

"I don't have anymore food on me! What am I supposed to do with your useless corpse now?! Will you take anything else?!"

"No."

"Unbelievable... You know what? Go be dead again. I don't care." Accelyn waved her hand in an  attempt to dismiss Ares and have his body fall to the floor. She wanted this useless bastard gone before he gave her a crippling headache... But why was he still here?! "Why can't I get rid of you?! Do I seriously have to keep and put up with you? Why damnit?!"

"You can't get rid of me because I'm immortal, obviously."

"Eh?"

"Hahahahahaha." Ares laughed boisterously with tears in his eyes as Accelyn's face was priceless. Her eyes had never been as wide as they were in this single moment and her mouth never so agape either. The single stupefied utterance, the look of bewilderment, it was all too priceless for a revenant.

"W... What do you mean your immortal..." Accelyn had a bad feeling as she slowly inched backwards along the floor. Ares slowly followed her as he responded.

"I mean killing me is basically a pipe dream. You wanna know why your undead magic didn't work? There are two reasons. First of all, I already come back to life after I die anyway, you just sped up the process and allowed me to keep the same corpse. Whenever necromancy brings a revenant back, ah don't worry about what a revenant is, you don't need to know... But when a revenant is brought back from the dead, they keep their free will without fail. You can't turn a race that revives itself into an undead by reviving them, idiot. Reviving is our turf, we just let necromancers hang out on it! Oh but, make no mistake, that isn't what happened here, we never even got around to that. See, reason two for me ignoring you is because I never died in the first place! What?! You think this poxy poison could kill me? A revenant's ability to regenerate is infinitely more powerful inside than outside their body. Internal wounds are fixable so much quicker than external ones. Unless you have a poison that can instantly kill me, I'll just keep regenerating any damage the poison does. Yeah my organs are melting right now, and it hurts like you wouldn't believe, but they're also healing too. It's like a stalemate. Revenants are infamous for many things, one of them being a miraculous level of poison resistance with some revenants even having such incredible talent they become outright immune. So no, you can't use undead magic on a living creature, idiot. Honestly, I was just bored so I decided to mess with you. Hope you had fun playing pretend, as if you actually belonged in the big leagues, 'cos its all over now!" Ares advanced upon Accelyn with a grin. "Ah but don't worry, this tournament isn't the last you'll be seeing of me just yet. Dirk sends his regards."

"Grand Annihilation!"