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    Hell upon earth, a golden bevy of madness ruptured and drowned the arena in its splendorous glow. Ares had prioritised the annihilation side of his Crystalised Void when Detonating it despite the disintegration being arguably better at a glance in this scenario. If the explosions here were imbued primarily with disintegration, Ares might have been able to fully erase the Gigagolem, as well as a large chunk of the Proving Grounds, but his plans were more far reaching than immediate gain. Ares wanted the small golems gone but he wanted the Gigagolem to live a little longer as there was a specific art he wanted to cast directly on it so just blowing it up a bit was preferable to outright erasing it. Also, the annihilation detonations were currently keeping Mako busy as they reached further back than the disintegration variant would have, allowing Ares to roll with his gameplan unimpeded by the elf chucking random garbage at him like the rocket from earlier. Mako would recover soon enough but, at the very least, right now Ares was free from his involvement.


    Amidst the countless explosions Ares was blasted off the shattered and mauled face of the Gigagolem and went soaring through the air, spinning towards his Black Ice Bane which had been lifted out of the Rink during the Detonation and sent whizzing up into the sky. Ares'' trajectory off the Gigagolem had been perfectly measured before hand and he was on course to catch his sword while zooming through the sky after having blown himself up in the chaos. Again, this entire proceeding had been decided on long in advance by puppet master Ares who was simply enacting the appropriate measures to make his ideas a reality right now. Ares didn''t have to reach out far with his hand to catch the Bane so it was easy for him to grasp it and swivel in the air to chuck it towards the collapsing Gigagolem. Before he let go, though, he started a chant that would only finish a little later. "Crystalised Void:..." Ares utilised the momentum from the spin to toss the Bane, leaning into the throw fully and almost dislocating his shoulder thanks to the sheer effort he spent in making sure the Bane hit its target dead-centre. Ares went from fully vertical to fully horizontal after twisting in mid-air that was how dedicated he was to the throw. The manic compulsion to perform in his eyes was dwarfed only by the rapidly approaching sword that enlarged by the second in the Gigagolem''s eyes.


    SPLAT


    Thanks to being propelled by Ares at max power, the Bane had buried into the Gigagolem''s skull long before it could even react and raise its hand. The sword had grown rapidly bigger in its view until it was now stuck right between the Gigagolem''s eyes, incapable of being dislodged as Ares was about to finish the earlier chant and deliver the final blow to this oversized set of building blocks. "Yggdrasil!" Ares had intentionally gone all out with the Bane, casting the Rink which took up a large portion of state percentage, because he already knew this art was in its future. He would lose the sword after casting this art regardless of how many others he casted before it so losing all that state percentage meant nothing and was a calculated gamble that could only ever pay off in his favour. This weapon, the Bane, was the tool he was sacrificing but it was 1000% worth it considering the immediate benefits and advantages it would provide him. This art alone would allow him to push up to Mako without anything being able to stop him and press the elf into a corner, forcing drastic measures. Mako was going to have to reveal his hand soon and that was the main goal here as Ares felt confident he could keep reacting to each and every measure in his arsenal until he had nothing left. The helpless, tool-less Mako would be lying at Ares'' feet with no more hope in those mutated eyes of his. Those squares boxing in his pupils would be symbolic of how Ares had cornered and trapped him from all sides like a rat in a cage. Mako would understand that everything he is was insignificant before everything that Ares currently is. It was never an even competition and Ares was on track to drilling that home. Mako was defending himself with earthen walls, from the Detonation of the Rink, so he couldn''t save the Gigagolem which was in the middle of turning into a giant, black-ice tree. The process started off slow as can be but the tree''s growth was exponential and would be done before anyone could blink. As if to prove that, a blackish white and snowy flash blinded everyone in the arena as the temperature dropped considerably on the spot.


    CRACKLE


    Now that the initial transformation was over, and everyone''s vision was restored, a towering tree, that some in the audience were familiar with already, had seemingly come into existence out of nowhere. The creation of this tree had been just as instantaneous as Mako''s rocket from earlier and was yet another example of the fundamentals just disregarding all forms of logic. This tree was nearly as tall as Bravo''s Base and yet the person who summoned it was nowhere near his strength level so such a feat should have been impossible. Ares didn''t much care for impossibilities, as he might as well eat them for breakfast at this point, so he simply did whatever the hell he wanted. As for those in the crowd who were getting a second dose of Yggdrasil, a lot of information was starting to click together in their heads. Why the original Yggdrasil was positioned near the Chens and seemed to be targeting them, why there were rumours about Ares and Hans co-operating on various matters, and also why there had a been a draconic pulse of overwhelming pressure shortly after the Yggdrasil occurrence way back. Everybody knew the pressure bearing down on them had come from near the auction house, and some speculated it to be Ares based solely off the Garmr reveal earlier, but now it was essentially confirmed. He summoned the Yggdrasil, visited the auction house and caused a scene, one that Hans conveniently assured everyone was under control, and had the means to do it all again. This wasn''t a one-off treasure some random cultivator stumbled across and used to cause a scene, this wasn''t some otherworldly cultivator from Vraizon causing trouble in Red Sun, it was just their regional troublemaker extraordinaire making a scene and causing a ruckus. Honestly, it was actually relieving to have all the answers now as Ares was way more trustworthy than some random, unknown cultivator. The people in Red Sun knew he would never use that sort of power against the innocent locals and so that burden was relieved off their backs as some people had still been deeply concerned regardless of Hans'' assurance.


    Regardless of anyone''s opinion on the tree it was here to stay, at least until it was destroyed or Detonated anyway, and now it was Mako''s problem to deal with. The Gigagolem was trapped inside the core of the tree, protected by the roots, and so Mako wasn''t going to be able to free it meaning his Proving Ground was pretty useless right about now. The Gigagolem was gone. The small golems were ineffective, constantly blown up thanks to the Rink, now unable to tackle the tree, and the pillars attacking Ares from under the floor meant nothing as long as Ares hung around near the tree. All Ares had to do was climb it and rush down whichever branch was closest to Mako and there was nothing that could be done to stop him. The only good thing to note here, for Mako, was that the Black Ice Bane was shattered into tiny pieces at the base of the tree and nigh unusable. Ares could still get off his Detonate without it as this was something he''d worked on a bit ever since he received the weapon. Detonate didn''t really need to be tied to the Bane and separating that art / function from the weapon, which could break before he was able to use it in such a fashion, was evidently a wise choice. Detonate was now it''s own art that was essentially only really useful to Ares, and only ever relevant to this specific weapon, but the time Ares invested into making this art was paying off already. Not being able to blow up this tree wouldn''t be the end of the world but it was going to provide him with a lot of free space to manoeuvre around with and losing that would have made his life harder considerably. Of course there was a hefty mana cost to this, as most of the cost was usually shouldered by the Bane and not him, but Ares was convinced every ounce of mana he spent on it was wise. Plus his Grim Cessation was actively siphoning mana from all the dying golems so he really hadn''t spent much as of yet and would recover even more when the Yggdrasil''s final oorah obliterated the remaining golems too.


    Ares wasted no time in hopping onboard one of the nearby branches and waiting impatiently as it lifted him up. He would have much preferred just running around the thing, and not standing stock still like this, but that was a far longer route and sometimes slowing things down for a bit was correct. His heart beat and pulse were dropping, and his excitement fading somewhat, but that was a temporary issue as this could be considered a roller coaster of sorts. The ascension was slow but when he went sliding down on the other side, gunning for Mako as he narrowly avoided all of the elf''s retaliatory measures... That would get him pumped up again and really feeling energetic once more.


    BANG.


    While Ares was peacefully ''enjoying'' his elevator ride, the golden leaves were falling away from Yggdrasil''s canopy and tormenting the golems. Ares didn''t really need it to do this, as the golem''s couldn''t contest the tree to being with as the roots of it were enough to swat away the creations, but the extra few kills on the golems were giving Ares mana back hanks to Grim Cessation so he was chasing that small benefit once more. Again, this would only restore one or two percent of his mana at most, and was likely going to be inconsequential by the end of the match, but he was doing everything to textbook perfection right now and wasn''t fussed by how menial or difficult these things were. Ares just wanted to do them all to put himself in an untouchable position. In a fight between two equally skilled cultivators it would come down to who made more smaller efforts like this and, although Ares didn''t think of Mako as an equal just yet, now was as good a time as any to go through these troublesome motions. Ares didn''t want what he believed to be a guaranteed win to slip through his fingers because he couldn''t be bothered to do these things that others might consider a hassle.


    Ares reached the top of the tree and scoured the other side behind it, searching for the ant-sized elf down below who was batting away the incoming leaves with his magic. He was summoning all sorts of random objects to chuck at, and collide with, the rain of golden leaves coming his way such as tables, boats, boomerangs, and mannequins. Anything and everything that came to mind, however or whyever it came into his brain, was being summoned into reality and lobbed at the 24 carrot foliage. Mako was clearly being pressed into a defensive stance against these leaves and the swiping branches alone so throwing Ares himself into the mix was bound to cause mayhem on Mako''s side of things. The Proving Ground was already fading away in parts as Mako''s control over it was fading quickly so all Ares had to do was jump down and put the pressure on a bit more to move this fight into the next stage and drag out even more tricks up Mako''s sleeve.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Ares glanced down at the branches that were oh so generously positioned in such a way that he could run and slide down them straight towards the area above Mako''s head. Yggdrasil was guiding Ares to his goal and the second he started his descent he was going to feel the rush. Mako would inevitably try and prevent Ares from reaching him so it was going to be a wild ride as the two started to properly go blow for blow for once. The start of this match had been relatively slow up until now, what with Mako delaying things with the Proving Grounds, but this was it. This was the turning point and once Ares hopped onto the nearest branch the match was going to keep escalating and spiralling into a clusterfuck of overpowered arts and smart combat. He could already feel his pulse quickening once more as the mere thought of it invigorated him. Ares knew that by the time he reached the ground again he would be taken over by automation once more as his body glided around the arena, really going all out and putting on a clinic even against a one-of-a-kind opponent like Mako.


    Briefly closing his eyes and tilting his head upwards, Ares took a deep breath of fresh air before he handed his body over to his base instincts and lifted his left leg. His raised foot moved ever forward until eventually his whole body was forced to lean after it, sending him into a half-step half-fall wherein he kicked off the nearest branch and somersaulted over to the next nearest branch. After landing on that, his long downward slide from branch to branch began as he nimbly hopped across Yggdrasil without ever compromising his momentum and steadily increasing speed. What started as a sluggish tumble had swiftly become a measured plunge, one that was elegant and easy on they eyes thanks to Ares'' fluid movement as he kicked off one branch after another without pause. It looked as though his shoes had bouncy soles because the second his feet landed anywhere he was already springing off it another direction, sometimes even the opposite angle from which he''d approached the branch in the first place. Ares'' untraceable and irreplicable footwork was on full display here despite the fact he had no concrete platform to stand on. His footwork was simply so egregious compared to the norm that he could make it work in air during a downward spiral as he came crashing towards the earth like a humanoid meteor without ever stuttering or needing to pause and re-calibrate his approach.


    Drip


    Before Ares'' speed became impossible to catch up with, a few rain drops here and there managed to do just that and tap away on the back of his head. What was originally a light drizzle was becoming a heavy downpour and might even wind up being a stormy plight if things continued in this manner. The branches were all wettened and becoming slippery but Ares'' focus only went up as a result of this change as his willpower tripled in the face of adversity. The weather would not detract from his determination and building frenzy. He was getting really into it now and had even started obeying his bloodline which was whispering into his ear to let out the bestial nature he''d kept tucked away. Rather than land on every branch with his feet and run along them he was now, sometimes, landing with his hands into a sprint on all fours. Ares'' wolven instincts were screeching at him to hunt, to chase down Mako and tear his throat out with his teeth and howl amidst the revelry of victory. Ares'' senses were heightened and he was unintentionally snarling the closer he got to Mako. There was an untamed, vicious savagery boiling underneath his skin and heating up his spirit, demanding he unleash his feral temperament.


    Mako could sense the unwavering and undiluted bloodlust aimed at him. It was animalistic and brutal, provoking his base fears of being stalked by an unrestrained and freely roaming predator. He knew he couldn''t keep devoting all his attention to the leaves so he had to set up some automated defences to take care of them while he diverted his attention to Ares. He simply copied some of Theodore''s artillery weapons like the twin machine guns, and the cannon, and ordered them to deal with the leaves that were harassing him to no end. Summoning these types of weapons drained a notable portion of mana, and he''d wanted to avoid that if possible, but Ares was emanating a deathly aura that painted him as the most pressing issue at hand, one that couldn''t be ignored unless Mako was willing to get mauled in the next minute or so.


    Though his pride was refusing to allow Mako to acknowledge it, he was struggling under the immensity of Ares'' overwhelming motivation to pounce on him. He couldn''t think straight enough to cast arts properly nor could he use his creation magic to its fullest, instead simply chucking more rockets at Ares who was inbound and looking unstoppable. The force of Ares'' will was almost tangible as it weighed down on Mako''s mind heavily. This was an example of the kind of situation in which Eagerton would have been a better candidate for the pillar as he was someone who could maintain his cool in stressful scenarios or, at the very least, not have his creativity be impacted even when he wasn''t in a perfect mental state. Still, Mako brought other things to the table so although he was faltering here, there was still a lot more to this fight that had yet to be seen. It''s not like he was completely folding over before Ares'' mighty presence as the rockets he fired were precise, numerous, and of respectable size. None were as large as the first rocket, however, which implied Mako had to make a trade-off in terms of size when he was throwing multiple out at once. They were still each around 100ft tall, however, and that was no joke. Or rather, that first rocket had clearly been way too large! The fact Mako could even create something like that was preposterous and this was way more in line with what should have logically been his upper limit at his current cultivation level!


    Then again, that pocket watch was truly a treasure that was incomparable to most others... Also, though the rocket was objectively massive, it was subjectively small. To a cultivator anyway. Yes it was huge but it was also just ordinary metal and didn''t contain any magic or magic tempering itself. You would much rather be attacked by a 200ft feather than a 10ft bear that wanted to claw you to death so the point was that size wasn''t everything. Yes the rocket was heavy and huge but that wouldn''t help it in the face of Ares'' Grand Annihilation which could tear through its completely lacking defences with relative ease. That was why it had been nothing more than a distraction despite the sheer size of it. Now, if it had actually hit Ares then yes, sure, it would have killed him but whether that was a realistic expectation or not was another matter. In a way, the smaller rockets were more useful as there were more of them. Their individual lethality didn''t really matter and, beyond a certain size, they all functioned similarly anyway. They took up less space, making them easier to dodge certainly, but the quantity made up for that so this attack, as far as Ares was concerned, was actually harder to deal with and more annoying than the single rocket previously.


    Bigger wasn''t always better!


    But it is also worth mentioning this logic only really applied to strong cultivators. Someone like Ares could deal with the giant rocket but your average cultivator, that had just entered sensory enhancement, was never going to be able to stop it. It was a simple attack to deal with for anyone of a certain calibre but for anyone else it was just a death sentence art sort of like Bellona''s Meteor. Some arts were just really good at dealing with cannon fodder and most cultivators had such an art tucked away up their sleeves should they ever run into a scenario whereby they were required to take out a large number of weak opponents. Ares had the entirety of his annihilation aspect and Mako could just freely create the stuff on demand so it was abundantly clear all of the fundamental champions would have attacks like this in spades, plus they would be of higher quality and more effective against even decent cultivators. Just another benefit to being a fundamental; the range of cultivators which could be considered riff-raff was expanded and made larger for them so they were troubled by weak cultivators less often. or rather they were troubled by them more often, because there was technically more of them, but they were less of a hassle to kill off. For a cultivator who just reached sensory enhancement, usually someone at or below mental accumulation, 5th stage or so, would start to be considered a weakling. For Ares, the weaklings in his eyes, currently, were anything and everything below transition realm. In terms of optics, that was a whole realm and a half difference between who was in an ordinary cultivator''s purview of easy fodder and who was in Ares''. Not to mention the fact that Ares was just as capable of killing transition realm cultivators like fish in a barrel too deponing on their individual strength. Even generational prodigies didn''t have quite as much leeway to call people around them weak or insignificant as fundamentals did; the pillars were not born equal and that was intentional. It was all by design to facilitate certain happenings that didn''t need to be discussed right now.


    Regardless of the incoming projectiles'' size or quantity, however, Ares was unfazed. There was not even a single hint of hesitation to be spotted anywhere on his face. As the first one neared him Ares made no effort to veer away from it or dodge, instead twisting his body so that he was effectively dive kicking the incoming rocket and facing it head on. "Stamp out." By using this art, and imbuing his boots with disintegration magic, Ares blasted a hole straight through the tip of the incoming rocket and went plummeting down directly through the middle of it. All sorts of complex rocket machinery passed right by him as he sunk through every single wall in the rocket unimpeded in his fall, eventually crashing out the other side of the rocket as it blew up behind him thanks to a swarm of golden leaves.


    Mako, from his perspective below, had to admit that watching that all unfold in real time was pretty cool... He hated it! Why was Mako''s presence here nothing more than a means to facilitate Ares'' highlight reel?! Mako doubled down on his rocket chucking, unaware he would just be making even more contributions to Ares show-off performance... Still, he had to do it. If Ares was able to touch the ground nearby then he would be seriously screwed and so putting up a resistance, futile though it all seemed to be, was necessary. Mako was debating internally how much he was willing to reveal in this fight and, right now, he was seriously considering putting all his cards on the table... Even including his special treasure akin to Ares'' Primordial Blade... Much like Ares, Mako couldn''t wield this treasure properly yet but that didn''t mean it couldn''t be used at all. If he brought it out then turning the tides once more wasn''t impossible. If he wanted to win he might not even have a choice in using it and, at the very least, he could force Ares'' special treasure out in return and gather information on it. The more Mako thought about it, the more convinced he was it would wind up being the correct decision. Now it was just a matter of timing as taking Ares by surprise could even wind up being lethal if he didn''t respond properly. What had started off with a simple Proving Grounds was going to devolve into close range art slinging, secret treasure unveiling, God summoning, and so much more as Mako still had a trump card up his sleeve that nobody in the world knew about. Mako was getting a headache just thinking about it all as this fight was going to tire him the hell out by the time he was done regardless of whether he won or lost. He was going to have to ask Serene for some homemade soup after while he relaxed in bed, that would be nice...