Chapter 449: Dog Eat Dog

The walls warped under the monstrous red aura, as Ares passed by them, becoming more liquid than solid and rotating inside itself like a spiraling portal to the depths of conceptual madness taken form. It was better not to pay it any attention so Ares kept moving, occasionally catching and destroying any Spikes that came his way, before finally coming to a halt in front of the blood fountain. Here he could be overlooked from all four directions as the apartment complex surrounded the area all around him and he could feel the stepper prowling through it, leisurely taking its time. There was a inescapable feeling of being stared at by a predator piercing into Ares' back but he made no move to turn around or spy on the stepper because it was ultimately pointless and wouldn't net him any gain. Ares swallowed some saliva, having to actually put in effort to do so as his body was being uncooperative thanks to the heavy aura, and called out to the creatures playing with him. "What now? I'll give you credit for the bamboo stunt, and this demonic realm you've constructed out of your aura, but, to be honest, I'm a little disappointed. I expected better from you." This may have sounded like Ares was tempting fate... Because that's exactly what he was doing. Ares wasn't convinced the taunting and mockery was over just yet but he didn't want to stand here for minutes on end, letting the stepper lead him around by the nose, so he called out in defiance to poke at the stepper's pride and drive it to action rather than deliberate inaction. There was no way it would let such a comment slide and it was already crawling around inside the building to reposition itself in front of Ares. The stepper was probably aware it was being goaded but it didn't care because, at the end of the day, this was its playground and it had all the cards. It didn't believe Ares could see what he still had up its sleeve and remain unbothered.

Tsk

Although kissing his teeth and furrowing his brows was tacit admission the stepper had bothered him again, Ares couldn't help it because the stepper was dangling a body outside the window it was hiding behind. The person it held wasn't dead but they had been beaten unconscious and were bleeding from their head while their legs and arms were all limp, twisted, and broken. It was a woman but Ares had made sure Lara was locked up safe and sound so it wasn't her. Ares had only recently left Sandy and she was in the caravan, plus she could fend for herself if push came to shove, so it wasn't her either... Which only left one other candidate it could possibly be, Arla... This had horrible connotations. First of all, the stepper actually left the city to stalk Ares. He didn't know how long it had been following him but the fact it was able to meant the shadow at its disposal was a very real problem as its stealth capabilities were highly problematic. If it could avoid detection from Ares' Omniscience, or at least consistently skirt around it if nothing else, then it was confirmation that the shadow was at a point that it could be considered as dangerous as the stepper on a individual basis. As for how this situation happened; after Arla and Ares went their separate ways the stepper must have followed the fellahin and ambushed them in the desert before they returned to the base... Which was another issue because... What happened to the hunters? Arla was alive but... Ares looked backwards towards the corner he rounded earlier, remembering that in the alley leading to this area there were plenty of 'unknown' corpses... Nothing more needed to be said. It also didn't need to be explained whose blood was clogging the fountain and causing it to sporadically burst and spray the contents everywhere, painting the grass. There were a lot of fellahin so there was naturally a lot of fresh blood to fling out too...

Ares didn't exactly know the hunters but he'd shared a few drinks with them and watched them dance the night away so he wasn't as capable of ignoring the earlier scene as he'd hoped he could be. To make matters worse, Arla's life was still at stake and, though she was nothing more than an acquaintance, like the hunters, she was Sandy's cherished friend and that complicated matters. Once again, Ares had failed to take the proper precautionary measures as he'd assumed the stepper wouldn't ever willingly leave the city, its safe haven. Its footprints in the sand were its one weakness and so willingly giving that up, to go slaughter people who were related to Ares in one way or another, was indicative of the lengths the stepper was ready to go to just to mess with him. Granted the stepper was powerful enough now that it could basically go wherever it pleased in Xasca unimpeded but Ares placed the blame squarely on himself again for this blunder for not thinking things through properly.

Although hope was a fragile and typically inconsequential thing, hard to come by too, Ares at least held onto the slither of it that told him he could still save Arla. He would have to apologise to her later, not just for letting her down but also the hunters. Ares might not have known the hunters well but the rest of the fellahin did and they were like heroes, and symbols of the clan's ties to Xasca, to a lot of people. Though the hunters jokingly complained about retiring once Ares was done hunting all the monsters in Xasca they still deserved to retire peacefully and not like this. Not to mention the families they left behind... The one solace with the beggar kid from last time, if silver linings were ever relevant in a situation like that, was that nobody other than Ares would mourn him. The same was not true for the hunters. Ares was going to need to stay clear of the fellahin base for awhile, as they held funerals, as some, not everyone, would blame him for it. He couldn't expect the fellahin to ready an army for the scavenger matter either given this tragedy so plans were going to have change somewhat... Ares snorted to himself, ridiculing his insensitivity. Those hunters had just died died and he was already moving on to the slight inconvenient this whole mess would cause him... He needed to learn to be like this for what was in store for him in the future but that didn't mean he had to like it. His thoughts on the matter were complicated but getting hung upon it all now wasn't going to do him any favours so he put it to the back of his mind for now.

"Well? What do you want?" Ares complained towards the wall obstructing his view of the monster. He got no response, however, as the stepper just playfully dangled Arla around like she was a stopwatch in a hypnotist's act. "Don't make me ask again, you're already treading on thin ice." Ares let some pressure leak out and washed away a large chunk of the red aura pervading the area. It was replaced by his brilliant gold domain that was borderline holy in comparison to the disgusting air from earlier. The stepper leant one of its eyes to the side so that it was visible through the window before repeating the process with its other eye but, this time, unveiling it at the next window along. Two windows, two different eyes. It could seemingly move its eyes around a little and spread them out freely across its body. Ares wasn't in the mood to be joked with like this so he amped up the pressure and directed it towards the building to see if this monster still dared play around with him. The stepper held up two of its extra arms as if to fake a surrender so Ares halted in his tracks and let the stepper get on with whatever came next.

Crack Squelch

Some manner of wet snapping noise broke through the veil of silence that permeated the red and gold square and Ares' frown deepened because he didn't understand what the stepper was doing now. It sounded like it was defiling a corpse and ripping its bones out but what other corpses could it possibly have that would bother Ares? There wasn't one so that likely wasn't the correct line of thinking and something else entirely was happening here. Ares didn't have to dread the unknown for long, though, as a black object came twirling through the sky after the stepper chucked it out the window. Whatever it was, it landed in a graceful arc right inside the fountain, splattering blood everywhere. Ares used telekinesis to keep himself dry and clean but when he saw the object in question he immediately felt dirty all over. He had a terrible premonition he knew the price of Arla's safety and this stepper was really starting to push its luck a bit too far. The object sinking into the blood fountain... Was one of the stepper's own arms. It had ripped it off and thrown it down at Ares and he knew why, even if he really didn't want to.

"You're a sick fuck." Ares spat at he building but the stepper merely went back into hiding while spreading out some more of its aura and letting out a hoarse cackle akin to the sound of bones turning to dust. Ares was truly disgusted because, in exchange for Arla's safety... He was expected to eat this bone... The stepper and its shadow had likely been following Ares during his trip to the broker so the discussion about stepper bones tasting good must have intrigued it enough to play this game with Ares now and force him to eat its own body part. It was more than happy to injure itself, and sever one of its many limbs, just to put Ares though this. It didn't even mind giving up its catch, Arla, just to see how many of Ares' buttons it could push before the fight even started. Arla was not a toy, she didn't even warrant that level of interest rom the stepper, she was just a tool that made pulling Ares' strings that much easier.

As for Ares, he stared down at the fountain of blood with a black bones sticking out of it and felt the inside of his stomach crawl. Eating the spider-looking limb was a big ask for him and the thing was currently drenched in the fellahin hunters' blood on top of that. Knowing the stepper it would brook no quarter if he tried to wipe the blood off so, to prevent this situation from deteriorating any more than it already had, Ares was quick to remove the bone from the fountain before the blood seeped in any deeper...

Was he really going to eat this thing?

Did he really not have a choice?

Arla had been retracted from the window so there was no way Ares could try and make a move as he didn't even know where she was being held right now. By the time he made it into the building and found her she'd be long dead and the stepper would take great joy in parading the corpse in front of him... Fuck. Ares' hatred for this insufferable creature was renewed and redoubled a thousand times over but he had to take this loss here whether he liked it or not. Ares still believed he could beat the monster but he had to hand it to this infernal thing that it was infinitely better at playing dirty than he was and that he should learn some serious lessons from this. The monster had however many years under its belt of practice, so it was an unfair comparison, but this stepper could seriously have been a revenant in a past life with how adept it was at poking at people's weaknesses and sore spots. It knew how much Ares felt disgust even looking at it so making him eat its limb was a slap in the face that could be heard around the world. It didn't know about Ares' arachnophobia but that was probably a good thing because it would have many more ways of mentally draining Ares if it did. Still, this was an impactful blow it was dealing to Ares' psyche even if it didn't know the full extent of it or misunderstood the reason why. Perhaps it felt like Arla's life or death balance was what truly bothered Ares but it really didn't care. Success was success and the happiness it felt by twisting other people's negative emotions into personal satisfaction was a type of incomparable euphoria.

Just do it. Get it over and done with. Ares reasoned that the best way to do this was to just swallow his pride and then the bony arm straight after. He'd killed spiders before, despite his immerse repulsion, and the best way to do it was always no fear and no hesitation. Raise your hand, move your hand, slap the spider with the object in said hand. Do it all in one quick motion with no stoppage, no breaks, no pause. The initial action was always the hardest but everything else fell into line once it was underway and this ordeal would be the same as that so long as Ares didn't dawdle for too long. Though he had an apology to make to Arla later, she had better be extremely grateful for this sacrifice he was about to make... At least, for what it was worth, Ares had been told the taste of these limbs was good. If he hadn't heard that prior to this he would be tempted to just not even do it and try to forcefully recue Arla. There were limits to what he was willing to put himself through and this was dangerously close. He was honestly less bothered by the limb itself, given the assurance that eating it was fine and encouraged if anything, and more so the fresh blood. Ares was not a vampire... It was in his best interest to pretend the red substance was something else... Like jam... Ares really wasn't buying what his brain was selling but it was more comforting than just admitting to himself outright what it really was so he took a deep breath, followed by another, and bit into the arm.

Eugh

His face twisted as his teeth gnashed on the surprisingly smooth, almost texture-less arm not because of the taste but because of the nature of what he was doing. His senses were actually surprisingly fine; the only real issue on that side of things was the pungent blood which was overwhelmingly metallic and left a horrendous aftertaste that refused to disappear. The broker wasn't wrong about the stepper arm, though. Ares couldn't stand the fact that, actually, this stepper was... Tasty... There was no other way of putting it as it really did taste like soft and crumbly licorice. If he didn't know any better he would even willingly use this as an ingredient without a single fuss. Ares shivered and nearly threw up at the thought of it, though, because he wasn't none the wiser and knew damn well the source of his current woes. This was a form of cruel and unusual punishment and he didn't care if the stepper was loving every single twitch on his face, he had to expunge his abhorrence with this act one way or anther as bottling it up was just impossible. The deeper his teeth sunk into the stepper's body the more he wanted to spit it all out and wash his mouth out with soap. He'd never been this humiliated before but he was internally making a list of every wrong he'd suffered at the hands of this damn creature and was going to make it pay for each and every one of them. It was creating a monster here that it would not live to regret offending. A devil provoked is a self-inflicted disaster.

Ares' determination to get through this and enact vengeance right after was visible as he became more and more accustomed to the task he was undergoing. He wasn't enjoying himself, that was a ridiculous ask of him, but he was less and less bothered with each bite he took and was making good progress having eaten about 80% of the arm now. There was no joy on his face or in his blank eyes as he got drew ever closer to finishing the thing but, rather, a stillness of expression that was unnerving had taken hold. It was almost as though Ares had been replaced by an unfeeling, cold, detached android and an unnatural calmness washed over him. Through his head, thoughts about how to make the stepper pay were running rampant and he was able to distract himself from the arm in this manner. The stench of blood barged into his senses time and time again to attempt to bring him to despair but it was having an entirely different affect that even the stepper couldn't have predicted. The pervasive blood assaulting his nose, combined with the aura of madness, was making Ares lose his patience and grow agitated. He'd been angry before but he'd never felt it in such a unique fashion. Anger and serenity mixed together to form a tranquil and silent rage that was hardly even perceptible at a glance. There was a very real temptation to give in to this peaceful berserk nature, and his own aura was starting to fluctuate and come alive in an unusual way, but he kept his mind alert and prevented it as it wasn't useful to him right now because it was something he didn't understand well enough. Ares didn't believe that turning berserk and becoming an animalistic moron who relied on instinct and stubbornness was the best course of action so he ran mana through his mind to settle himself down as he finally finished eating the bloodied arm. The worst part of this all had definitely been the blood but what was done now was done and he needn't do it again. Still, it, alongside the madness aura, had come very close to awakening something within Ares.

As if impressed with his resilience and dedication, the stepper wordlessly threw Arla's limp body at Ares and made no effort to annoy him further now that it got what it wanted. It wasn't a creature of its word but it had readily given Arla back because she meant nothing to it and she served a more useful purpose occupying Ares' limbs.

BANG

The stepper bust through a wall and leapt at Ares with its whole body. It had come charging though the wall closest to him, scattering dust and debris everywhere, so Ares had barely any time to hop backwards with Arla still in his arms. He narrowly escaped a lethal swipe, only suffering a small scratch above his brow. A reaction any slower and he would have had his brains spilling out onto the grass. He didn't have time to feel relief, though, as the stepper immediately continued its pursuit and lunged at him again in the tight and narrow alley. Ares' hands were occupied by Arla, who he couldn't let go of as there was nowhere to place her currently, so he was forced to keep jumping backwards to avoid slash after slash. With every attempt on his life the stepper moved faster and faster, chasing him down the alley filled with corpses and crushing every single one in its one track minded obsession with hunting Ares down. The fight was on now and all the eery playfulness was gone as the stepper stampeded down the alleyway like a possessed devil. Even its two typically-animated eyes were motionlessly tracking Ares, maintain the bead they had on him without faltering. There was a laser focus and vicious ruthlessness in its gaze. The stepper was unwavering and this entire demeanour it was displaying now was at odds with everything it had shown prior. Though it took the liberty to act psychotic when it was free to do so it didn't take strong foes lightly when it was time to fight one.

Ares almost respected the monster's attitude but he was too busy retreating though the alleyway backwards to care. He used divine sense to scan the area behind him like a mirror and hop by the corpses without banging into them as he ducked and sidestepped a constant stream of slashes from the stepper's bare hands. It wasn't even wielding a weapon but each and every strike sent forth a blade of wind that tore into the buildings and left deep gashes in its wake that would corrode and break the structures one day if not fixed. 'Controlled and yet rabid frenzy' was the was to describer the stepper's current attack pattern. Extremely rapid but measured and well thought out strikes that could not be out run as the stepper kicked off walls to pounce at Ares repeatedly, hounding him persistently in this tight space with a slew of clever attacks targeting his openings. It must have planned this all out as there was nothing Ares could do here at the best of times but with Arla in his hand he was beginning to struggle. Small cuts here and there were just the start of it as he couldn't retreat backwards faster than the stepper could lunge forward, it simply wasn't possible. Thankfully the exit was nearby and then the battlefield would open up, Allowing Ares to toss Arla to the side gently with telekinesis and then return fire.

Ares wasn't entirely helpless now, though, as he had means to get himself out of this rough position. "Esoteric Compression." There was no way this art, even boosted by annihilation pressure, was going to stall the stepper much but it was still better than nothing. Ares directed a tidal wave of semi-visible golden pressure at the stepper who aimed to barrel right through it, treating it like a minor inconvenience. Though the stepper remained relatively unphased its movement did slow down a little for about a second before it broke through the art and begun catching up. This extra second of breathing room allowed Ares to safely raise a finger and cast another art to cover his exit from this disadvantageous location. His Grand Annihilation would no doubt wreck the remaining corpses, and make a burial tough in the future, but he was more concerned with the present. Those corpses were not more valuable than the life he held in is hands that could still be saved if he was wiling to be ruthless. He'd tried to avoid this but couldn't in the end as he predicted serious injuries if he refused to budge on this smatter. The stepper was closing in again so Ares took a deep breath and fired off the immensely powerful chain of explosions and turned around fully to retreat as soon as possible. The cacophony behind him was reassuring and he had utmost faith in it, so much so that instead of placing Arla aside he took some time to stash her inside the Primordial Blade. This way he wouldn't have to worry about hitting her accidentally in the middle of the fight and could go all out.

Ares felt a presence creep up behind him so he pulled out a sword and swung it as he spun around to block an incoming limb. The stepper had waded its way through the golden chaos and was hardly done with Ares. Sword and bone clashed as sparks flickered through the veil of night but Ares was pushed back and forced to make space because he wasn't strong enough to contend against the stepper directly. He blocked another strike as the stepper dashed and materialised right in front of him, barely holding his own as he was sent skidding backwards through the streets. This happened once more as the stepper used its incredible speed to hound Ares and batter his defences, constantly clashing with him in the dead of night and forcing him backwards endlessly. Despite having to catch up to the target it swatted away, the stepper's blows had minimal downtime leading to an ear piercing screech of steel as Ares' sword wailed under the stress of the never ending onslaught. Ares was pushed around a fair bit but he was able to direct the flow of fight by letting himself be shoved towards the black market square from earlier. He could see it now, and the fight here was starting to cause a ruckus that attracted attention, but Ares felt relieved at the sight of his chalk runes waiting for him. Ares was ready to begin his counterattack the moment he stepped foot inside the runic formation so he toughed out the burning sensation in his muscles and stuck to defensively blocking every blow that came his way. Soon. Soon he would punish this monster for everything it had done and there would be no leniency...