Deimos knew what he had to do here because his role was simple, keep Verv occupied. There was little all else he could do as he was fully reliant on his brother swooping in to save the day but Tyr needed Verv out of the picture in order to do it. It was bad enough Tyr was going up against Scar and Fate at the same time so Deimos really needed to relieve some of his strain however possible. His task was a simple one, though, because his opponent was also simple! He didn''t need to do anything fancy to get and keep Verv''s attention, he already had it. Deimos put his faith in Tyr and moved towards the slobbering mutt, who was still leaking some blood from his face here and there, and gripped his bat with both hands. Verv had already fetched his greatsword so, much to Deimos'' dismay, he was going to have to clash against the weighty weapon head on. The one solace here was that he still had his holy fire lingering nearby so the disadvantage he had against Verv was minimal.


    Verv wasn''t entirely sure why his prey was walking towards him but it didn''t really matter. If someone wanted to get smacked, he would smack them! With a grunt, Verv lifted his greatsword directly above his head and stumbled forward towards Deimos, ready to bring the weapon crashing down on him. Unfortunately for Deimos, it seemed like Verv at least understood that he was challenging him directly even if Verv didn''t understand the intricacies of why. He only knew his opponent wasn''t running away like usual and, thus, it was time to go for a big swing. The worst part was that he wasn''t wrong and Deimos could only kiss his teeth, shake his head to throw off the doubt, and put his all into his next attack.


    Thud


    Planting his foot into the arena and digging in to hold his position, Deimos anchored himself as he swung upward with impeccable form. It was the kind of perfect pose you would expect to find in a hall of fame picture detailing the winning homerun made by a professional baseballer at the top of his game. In contrast Verv just looked like a bumbling idiot as he almost tripped twice on the run up to his own attack. He looked like a drunk man trying to walk in a straight line and, even when he finally made it over to Deimos, he struggled to get the weapon to do what he wanted of it. During the approach the wind had blown the sword back a little so Verv was fighting against gravity to swing it back forward. Though this was a rather silly mistake to have allowed to happen in the first place it did technically mean his swing would carry more force than before so whether or not he''d actually done this intentionally or not was anyone''s guess. No one would ever know because even if you tried asking him after the match he wouldn''t remember any of this.


    Deimos'' bat looked poxy in comparison the greatsword, like a tidal wave trying to lunge upwards at a collapsing skyscraper. It didn''t take a genius to figure out who was going to win this duel but Deimos stuck with it and strained every muscle in his body, roaring from the bottom of his soul with fiery determination.


    CLANGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!


    Deimos did far better than expected and managed to hold his ground as the two weapons scraped against one another, creating sparks that were dancing in the air between the two metals. That''s not to say he was in perfect condition however, as Deimos coughed up blood on impact and had been brought down to one knee. Though it proved his weakness in comparison to Verv it did at least keep him in the fight. Many cultivators were the ''die standing rather than live kneeling type'' but Deimos had no such scruples. Plus this was just a tournament match anyway so he really didn''t care that much... And yet he cared enough to hold his bat in place and treat this clash like a last stand. HIs left hand was gripping the tip of the bat while his right held the handle firmly. Verv''s greatsword was bearing down on the bat by placing all its weight on the centre of the bat. Luckily for Deimos, Verv''s current weapon was not a treasure. He did have some treasures up his sleeve but maybe he was too berserk to realise? Or maybe he just deemed it inappropriate to use the treasure in this specific scenario. Some treasures came with down sides after all. If Verv had used a treasure, though, the bat would have been split in half by now. Hell it was already damaged so being able to take this much punishment was borderline miraculous. To be fair it was made of the same stuff the Legion armour was so it holding out for this long was reasonable... What wasn''t reasonable was that Verv''s head had dealt more damage to the bat than his great sword currently was dealing... The bat was bending, and the metal was whinging and creaking under the weight of the greatsword, but compared to the ''u'' shaped dent where Deimos had bashed Verv''s skull... Yeah it wasn''t worth mentioning, really. Normally Deimos would have to get his weapon repaired by the Legion blacksmith but, fortunately, as this was all happening in a Training Field, the damage would be undone after the match finished. The deadlock between Verv and Deimos was going to carry on for a while as Deimos stubbornly refused to budge. He would have escaped if he could but he was worried that leaving this mutt alone for too long would cause him to get bored and wander off which really wasn''t preferable right now. Deimos was doing his part so all he could do aside from holding his ground was watch Tyr in the background going to work on his own task.


    With a nimble shift an inch to the right, Tyr managed to avoid Scar who''d Blinked above him and tried to elbow drop his head into paste. The crash landing right next to Tyr did cause a localised earthquake that very nearly made Tyr trip thanks to his rightward momentum but he steadied himself and kept going. Just because Scar missed that didn''t mean Tyr had time to mess around. Scar''s Blinks were quick, required little time between uses, and Tyr had no way to stop them. He felt like an explorer who''d just set off a boulder trap as the rolling boulder of a man chasing him was getting dangerously close to flattening Tyr into a makeshift pancake. That was the problem behind Tyr but there was also a problem in front of him that needed dealing with, Fate. Deimos'' Grand Prix was on the line here and that single treasure could very well be the difference between winning or losing as this match was now entering its final stages. Fate was readying her EMP Disc Launcher and H.I.JACK was prepared to stop Tyr in his tracks if he came over. Tyr needed to somehow navigate both Scar and H.I.JACK as well as kill the papillon that was about to spawn without dying... Not an enviable task but one he shouldered nonetheless. There was one thing working in his favour, though, and that was the Grand Prix itself! It''s not like the treasure was going to just sit around and do nothing, Deimos had left it on auto and it could recognise allies based on Deimos'' perception of people. Though this was provisionally a one vs three, Tyr felt a little better knowing the fiery bike was on his side... In fact, this may be one of the few times Deimos would ever let anyone but him ride the damn thing. No he wouldn''t take it off auto mode and let Tyr take control but that was still more than enough.


    As if on cue, after Tyr ducked underneath Scar who attempted to dropkick him from behind, the Grand Prix rolled up to Tyr and set off again the second he hopped on. Fate and H.I.JACK were a short distance away and so Tyr decided the best course of action was to charge straight at them. He couldn''t shift the fight away from here because Fate would just follow the Grand Prix anyway and if Tyr took it away then Deimos would be screwed. Tyr knew he had to off Fate for good to remove the annoying brat and her myriad treasures from the arena, the latter of which were the real nuisance. She was weakened right now, which was a small piece of good news, but that didn''t mean she would go quietly into the good night. Tyr could already see her tiny head poking out from behind H.I.JACK wielding the gun she''d shot Phobos with, the one that was hyper accurate at all ranges. She''d conveniently fitted a scope onto it at some point so Tyr was very much in the cross hairs right now but that wasn''t a problem. Between the Grand Prix''s defensive manoeuvres, and Tyr''s increased casting speed thanks to the Staff Of Jako, their approach would be relatively safe. Not that knowing that stopped Fate from firing off a couple of shots in a bid to keep the Legion captain away.


    BANG


    BANG


    BANG


    The Grand Prix swerved left to avoid the first shot as it sunk into the arena and kicked up dust. The second shot was avoided by leaning in the opposite direction but the third shot had to be dealt with by Tyr who chanted "Fireball" and threw the art forward. The bullet and the magic collided and immediately created a blast of fire as both the bullet and the fireball exploded on the spot. The Grand Prix raced through the fire cloud and shot out through the other side without slowing down through the wall of blazing air in the slightest. Now that they''d gotten close enough it was time to start fighting back!... Although Tyr decided to attack Scar first as he was getting a little annoying. Even though Ty had hopped aboard a vehicle Scar was still thundering after him and Blinking in a bid to catch the Grand Prix''s back wheels with his bare hands. The scary part was that he would more than definitely be able to stop the bike in its track by gripping the literal burning rubber. He would have one hell of a skid mark in his palm but Scar had the raw strength to stop the treasure in its tracks even if it pulled out the spikes. Scar was short for Scary, after all... Well that''s not what it was supposed to be short for, it wasn''t supposed to be short for anything, but there were certainly times when it was applicable.


    Anyway, up until now Tyr had relied on the Grand Prix to avoid these attempts by Scar and, although it had done a good job, Tyr wanted to buy some time so that he could focus on Fate and get her out the picture. Tyr did what Deimos refused to and swivelled around on the seat, facing backwards while the Grand Prix started driving in a semi-circle towards H.I.JACK instead of moving in a straight line. The reason for this was that they were getting quite close to Fate now and if they drove in a straight line they would probably arrive besides Fate and H.I.JACK before Tyr had managed to slow down Scar. This slight detour gave him the breathing room he needed so the Grand Prix veered slightly off course and made a clever decision all by itself based on its rider''s actions. Its A.I was well programmed at least... Not that automatic treasures were really ''programmed'' to begin with, it was kind of just the mana version of A.I. The longer you used a treasure capable of acting independently, the smarter it became. Exposing such treasures to countless scenarios allowed it to better calculate variables by its lonesome when it needed to. A similar example was Ares'' Biome Eagle. The magic bird he summoned could retain its memory and that would technically allow it to learn over a period of time. It wasn''t even out of the cards for the Grand Prix to develop a conscience and start talking to Deimos like a sat-nav or something of that ilk, giving him valuable suggestions in real time.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    Anyway, now that the Grand Prix had aided Tyr it was up to him to actually do something about Scar. Killing him was out of the question right now, as Tyr would need to be grounded to fight properly, but if it was just a matter of halting his endless chase there were a few arts that could maybe do it. There were a lot of options and, while none were perfect, Tyr had the freedom to pick between a lot of different avenues for success. He could try and trap Scar within a barrier but that ran the risk of not being able to withstand Scar''s blows for very long. Scar may even be able to Blink out of it in the worst case scenario. Tyr could maybe affect the floor to slow Scar down when he wasn''t actively Blinking but that didn''t help as much as the other options because it didn''t solve the fundamental issue of Scar''s mobility at all. Tyr could attempt to blind Scar but that required finesse, was hard to pull off successfully and consistently, and how long the effect would last was up in the air. Scar''s regeneration as a revenant meant any blindness would disappear even quicker than it normally would. Then again, that depended on whether the blinding was done to the eye itself or whether it was an indirect measure. I.E the difference between flashing a light in his eye or throwing some goop over his face. The latter was probably the better option here but now the question was what art should Tyr use? So many pillars, so many arts, so many choices... This was part of the problem with using variety cultivation, that damned analysis paralysis. Too many choices made making a choice hard, who would have guessed!? He didn''t have all day to make a choice though so, eventually, the one he went with was...


    "Ink Glue."


    An art of the tangible dark aspect. Ink Glue created a gloopy, black blob that looked slimy in texture but was actually way bulkier. It''s consistency was thick and it felt more like sticky dough. The glue floated through the air, chasing its designated target, either until it was destroyed or caught up to the victim. If it was destroyed it would just fall to the floor and dissolve. If it chased down the target it would latch onto their face and block their vision. Removing it was a hassle and a half, especially seeing as how it was typically worryingly close to your eyes. if you tried to use a knife to rid yourself of the problem there was a non-zero chance you would gauge your eye out accidentally and this actually had happened a few times throughout history. Of course if you didn''t rely on a sharp weapon then you would have to rely on your hands to rip it off but that was a painstakingly slow process and could also hurt if you were rushing. The art itself did no damage and would never harm you but, as an assassination tool, if you could get it off successfully the chance of your target living through the assassination attempt was slim. The other benefit of this art was that it floated silently which made it a beloved tool by assassins everywhere. Also, another use for it was covering security cameras. Overall, it was just a fantastic tool with a wide variety of uses. One guy working in a submarine even manged to use it by shoving the Glue into a broken pipe and preventing a massive leak that would have sunk the entire vessel otherwise. Generally speaking, anyone who swore by variety cultivation picked up this art early in their cultivation journey and kept it in their back pocket for a rainy day. Even in combat your opponent had to be constantly aware of it otherwise the consequences for ignoring it were a very real problem. 10/10, a very well respected art even by the Gods who couldn''t escape from the annoying fate of being blindsided by one of these blobs sneaking up on you.


    Tyr slit open his palm and the black Glue slid out, bubbling over his hand with minor amounts dripping off it. Scar happened to Blink behind the bike just in time to have the Ink Glue thrust into his face from point blank range. Sure the Glue normally needed to float towards its target but, at close ranges, it could just be applied directly. Typically you would rather use an art that was actually capable of harming your opponent in a situation as specific as this but Scar wasn''t going to be felled with anything half-hearted, that Tyr could muster in a second or two, and that wasn''t his current goal anyway. Scar, who''d just Blinked into a palm full of Glue, grunted as he stopped in his tracks and immediately took to tearing the Glue off his face. It resisted stubbornly but he was making quick progress, putting Tyr on a very limited timer. Tyr kept that information in the back of his head, watched Tyr shed a small handful of Glue by forcefully removing both it and the flesh it was attached to, and turned his back on the bulky monk. Fate was a stone''s throw away and that was where his focus was needed. In response to Tyr facing his way, H.I.JACK pulled out two new weapons and Tyr had to watch carefully to figure out what they were. Fate had been a relatively quiet and concealed Umbra, rarely showing herself or her capabilities in public. What her personal treasure was actually capable of was unknown but Tyr had made a mental note of everything he''d seen up until now. He valued information and he''d received a lot thanks to this match. He had no intention of treating the Umbras like enemies any longer but that didn''t mean he wasn''t going to still keep tabs on them anyway. Tyr even made notes on his own siblings and parents, someone like Fate wasn''t escaping his nosy habits.


    As for the weapons H.I.JACK pulled out, one was seemingly a spike cannon. It looked like a harpoon gun with the only major difference being that there was nothing connecting the weapon and the payload within so it couldn''t be retracted after firing it. The other weapon was... Unknown. the metal pipe that acted like an arm was completely empty right now which was extremely unusual. Why H.I.JACK wouldn''t equip a second weapon right now was a train of thought that ended with a single conclusion. It was equipping a weapon right now, just one that couldn''t be seen because it was hiding inside the metal pipe and patiently waiting to be propelled outward at a moment''s notice. Seeing as how H.I.JACK had the electrical fire-breathing dragon head at its disposal there was a very good chance this unknown weapon was ranged otherwise it wouldn''t make sense to equip it over the dragon right now. Both Tyr and the Grand Prix were going to be on high alert until that thing was fired and, even then, they would need to react quickly and in the appropriate manner to deal with whatever was being launched at them. It wasn''t great facing off against an invisible weapon like this but nobody said fighting the Umbras would be easy. As if to hammer that point home, Fate fired of an EMP Disc and spawned a cute papillon into the world, ready to chase the disc down like a good boy deserving of many treats. Tyr was now on yet another timer as he had to drift around the two new weapons H.I.JACK was displaying for the first time as well as deal with the dog. The silver lining here was that Fate couldn''t launch EMPs on repeat without a small break between them so if Tyr could just deal with this conundrum he would actually be in a pretty advantageous position. Scar would still be fussing over the Glue, H.I.JACK would be suffering the Overclock penalty, and Fate wouldn''t have her EMP. Throw in the Grand Prix aiding Tyr and he was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Kill Fate, send the Grand Prix back to Deimos, and have him escape from Verv and run until the end of the match while Scar was held back by Tyr... It was doable!... But... What was up with those H.I.JACK weapons?...


    Tyr''s question was answered by a loud KATHUNK noise as the spike launcher, cannon, thing fired off a spear shaped projectile that was rather thick. It was almost like a leg-sized stake of wood with a chiselled end for obliterating vampires. The projectile crashed into the floor ever so slightly to the side of Tyr and kicked up a cloud of dust that made him cough as some of the particles entered his mouth. This thing clearly packed a punch and, KATHUNK, could fire really damn fast... Packing that much power and having such a fast reload time... That was brutal... What on earth was up with this personal treasure?! Surely this thing was way too strong?! Where did Fate get such an incredible treasure from anyway?! These thoughts were spinning about in Tyr''s head but he ignored them for now and focussed on the one thought that filled him with some relief. There had to be a limit to this attack. There was no way H.I.JACK could just keep firing these stakes off without pause as then there would be no reason not to have used this thing prior to now. It was a devastating weapon so there must be a drawback and the truth of the matter was that it likely had an ammo problem. Without recharging it wouldn''t be able to recover any ammo spent, was Tyr''s guess. H.I.JACK would run out of stakes at some point which didn''t make it less tricky to dodge but did reassure Tyr that there was an end to this nonsense. Now the only other complication was what the other weapon was... Tyr almost didn''t want to find out. If H.I.JACK still had that stake launcher at its disposal all this time then that empty weapon slot was foreboding and creepy. It had saved its big guns until the end and Tyr was almost hesitant to get any closer... But he didn''t really have a choice in the matter as the Grand Prix didn''t alter its course based on the cowardice of the person riding it. Tyr was along for the ride, feelings about the matter be damned. Not that he would have done anything differently even if he was in control, he was a goal oriented man and not a quitter by any stretch of the imagination. Still, he kept his eyes squarely on the second weapon belonging to H.I.JACK to be ready for whatever it was hiding.


    ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ TCHK TCHK BANGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG


    A shotgun? That was the first thought that ran through Tyr''s head and, while it was technically accurate, what the shotgun fired was far, far different from his expectations. It was not slugs or pellets or dragon''s breath that came out from within the empty metal arm, no, it was a net. And, based on the noise the gun had made before firing, and the bluish lines racing around the perimeter of the net, this thing was electrical. There was no doubt in Tyr''s mind that, like the EMP Disc Launcher, this thing could lock down electronic equipment and treasures... In other words, Fate had TWO EMP devices in her arsenal... What a sneaky wretch... She baited Tyr in by shooting a delayed, conditionally activated EMP only for her to secretly be packing one that could be fired off near instantaneously! And worse still this net covered a large range. The stake / spike launcher had driven the Grand Prix to a specific point whereby it was directly in front of the net shotgun and, considering how wide the net was, it wasn''t looking likely that Tyr would be able to dodge it... Things had taken a serious turn for the worse and Tyr was now realising he was staring down the loaded barrel of something far worse than a gun. He''d been prepared but, really, nothing could have prepared him for a weapon of this calibre. His mind raced for ways to get out of this situation but, as his mind worked overtime to no avail, the net drew ever closer without care for Tyr''s struggle. Was this going to be the end? Would Tyr''s confidence be the downfall of the Legions? Would the Grand Prix be netted, shut down, and take Tyr with it? Maybe... Maybe not... Only time would tell.