The whirling death scythe came tearing through the air and with every rotation of Ares'' spinning body it inched ever closer to splitting Fin''s brain into two halves. Fin was painfully aware there was a limit to what he could do in this situation but he still threw his head and upper body back as much as he could to delay the inevitable and maybe help him come out the other end of this alive. Pain was coming though and a serious injury could not be avoided.


    Ares came lunging forward with the last of his momentum and, on his first hit, managed to cleave off a layer of skin running from Fin''s forehead all the way down his chest before finally tearing directly into his lower half and ripping off a decent chunk of his waist and a part of his right leg. This was just the first slash to hit and, judging based on Ares'' current speed, position in the air, and the amount of time it took him to do a full rotation, there would be two more slashes yet to come, each more devastating than the last thanks to Ares'' position closing in on Fin, allowing him to bury the scythe deeper into the sharkin. On the second go around, the scythe shredded flesh on Fin''s forehead, cut through half his nose, and obliterated his upper lip and that was all still just the start. Part of his Adam''s apple had a massive hole in it as the scythe tickled his throat before cutting into his chest and leaving a long, bloody line down the middle of his body until he reached the lower half yet again. This time the scythe cut into the left leg and reduced the size of everything above the knee by roughly half via a vertical slice. The chunk of flesh fell to the ground with a thump and then Ares went back for round three, the final round that could maybe even kill Fin if he wasn''t lucky enough. Neither Ares nor Fin had any wriggle room to change the outcome of this attack and it was up in the air if Fin could survive this. Given how close the scythe was to shredding him to pieces on the last spin, this one was going to come dangerously close to sealing the deal. Fin''s body was already in the process of turning around to run away but the scythe was going to beat him to the punch and give him a little something to remember Ares by regardless of whether he was able to escape afterwards... Provided Ares didn''t choose to chase him down, of course. There was a lot of stardust on the line here, Ares guessed, and so he wanted it all!


    And in order to get it all, Ares strained his arm to reach out as far as he possibly could, extending the scythe to its maximum range to cause maximum carnage on the canvas that was Fin. Had Ares been using a sword here he would have barely been able to even get one slash off by the time he landed so he was really appreciating the length of this weapon right about now and he got a kick out of toying with this relatively new experience. Most of his fighting style up until now was very close range and involved a lot of skirmishing and, while he could keep that up no problem, this was a nice change of pace and he''d felt completely untouchable this whole fight. Fin had come nowhere near him this entire battle because he just couldn''t overcome the range advantage with, essentially, his bare hands. The Aqua Slicers did improve his reach by a marginal amount but it was paltry in the face of something like a scythe so he''d made a real mistake there by choosing to rely on them.


    Unfortunately for Fin he didn''t have any better options so the scythe fell on his skull like a chisel, cracked through it, and poked around near the edges of his brain. He would have let out a yelp had the part of his brain that had been struck not borderline paralysed him and left him briefly mute as the scythe was dragged downward, slashing through a few more chunks while ripping the front of his face open. The Scythe travelled through his sinuses, teeth, the tip of his tongue, and left a streamlined gap in the centre of his jaw, gutting everything in its path. Next up was the throat and the scythe had actually pierced flesh this time, tickling the oesophagus and ravaging the meat as blood spurted out. Ares didn''t manage to hit anything lethal thus far, however, and had merely, currently, left Fin in a state where he would bleed and suffocate to death if he did nothing. Still, Fin was a sharkin and so his tiny gills could help him breathe underwater for a while if he made it to the ocean so he wasn''t out of this just yet. In extraordinary pain? Absolutely, nobody would be foolish enough to look at the twitching sharkin and feel otherwise... But his punishment hadn''t been doled out in full yet as Ares'' scythe still had some gas left in the tank and the rest of his body to run through!


    The scythe hunted down Fin''s chest before feasting upon his liver, kidney, various nerves and veins, and even scraped by the heart to give it a little love tap. Entrails and the general stomach region were also given a free bisection which signalled the end of the upper body torment and the beginning of the lower body misery. The front third of Fin''s waist was torn off and he lost one of his crown jewels down below in addition to an entire knee on his right leg. This time around, even the feet weren''t spared as three toes, which he did actually have, on his left foot were cleanly severed and two toes, and his ankle, on his right foot were brutalised and left looking like bloody mash. Long story short, Fin had it ROUGH and was in all kinds of pain in all kinds of places. He''d been injured in a way that was entirely new to him and the sensation of death slowly creeping up on him, to claim him as a victim, gave him energy to flounder away from Ares and start sprinting off to the sea. His mind wasn''t even functioning, it was just his body on auto-pilot now that fight or flight had kicked in and made it''s very clear choice. There was only really one choice here to begin with and he''d been wanting to run away even before this.


    Fin was close to shedding a tear in fear because he was fine not even a second ago but now he was minutes away from collapsing in a pool of his own blood and guts. This kid was demonic enough that the image of him treating Fin''s body like a gourmet fish dish as revenge for the threats earlier kept hammering themselves into Fin''s half-functioning brain and traumatising him with each rendition of his corpse it showed him. He didn''t even want to look at his own injuries and the extend of the damage he''d suffered, until he could get away from this infernal place and heal himself without being interrupted. He couldn''t handle the thought of all ugly holes and missing lines of flesh and bones in his body that he''d catch sight of if he even just tilted his head slightly downwards. The bobbing of his head as he ran was already causing parts of his brain to fall out as not everything had been detached properly via the scythe and got stuck in his head earlier. It was gruesome and he looked like a living zombie or like someone who''d been half melted to death by napalm. His body was falling apart as so many crucial parts of him had been paid a visit by Ares'' particularly aggressive death machine of a scythe. He needed to leave, now.


    With a great many stumbles, almost keeling over and fainting along the way, Fin managed to flop like a fish straight into the ocean and catch his breath. He wasn''t in great shape but his general form and status were improved significantly by being underwater right now as it was home turf. He could at least think clearly again and go over his current predicament rationally without getting ironically distracted by the horrors of his own situation. There wasn''t much to think through, however, as he needed to just take off at his highest speed, put some distance between himself and this menace kid, and then call for a large scale retreat while healing himself out of range of the Federation''s scouts. Fin assumed that if even the scouts, who had some pretty high-quality binoculars, couldn''t see him anymore then this kid wouldn''t be able to either. He was dead wrong, thanks to Ares'' Omniscience and the sheer distance his divine sense could cover when boosted by annihilation enhancement, but none of that mattered because he was never getting to that step anyway.


    Fin felt something disturb the waters behind him and he thought it no more than a mere provocation by Ares. He assumed the kid was throwing crap at him from a distance as a taunt to come rise up to the surface and finish what he started... But the ''object'' behind Fin wasn''t sinking and so he had a terrible feeling in his gut that this kid was the stubborn type... What he threw in the water wasn''t some random item... It was himself! He was going to chase Fin for the kill! To confirm his dreaded suspicions, Fin pulled a quick 180 and stared his would-be, could-be, and maybe even should-be, murderer directly in his dark brown eyes... Correction, they were brown, certainly, but visibly they were gold thanks to his Omniscience. This light on his eyes that part of him stand out in the murky waters and he was like a pair of devilish retinas, attached to some unknowable entity, scanning the water for prey. The ominous nature of Ares'' appearance, as well as his unflinching resolve to take the fight to Fin''s home turf, was enough to make the sharkin deeply uncomfortable but he kept himself together... Literally as parts of him were still falling off him and drifting down to the bottom of the ocean even now.


    The point being though that Fin wasn''t as scared in the face of this kid as he was when he was fighting him on land even when taking into account the state of his battered and tattered body. He was stronger now than he was back during the land fight because none of the injuries he sustained actually affected his speed or raw power really. The skull, brain, nose, lip, throat, stomach, groin, feet, etc... Basically none of it affected his ability to swim in a fluid and fast way and any time it did it was minor enough that it could be treated as a non-factor. Sure Fin''s time limit was no longer about whether Federation officials would show up, and was more so about him bleeding to death, but he was a peak transition realm cultivator in his preferred environment. He wasn''t going to die in under a few minutes, not even close, and not even physically exerting himself here would change that. He was sturdy and resilient enough to take this fight if the kid was stupid enough to do the same! Maybe Ares'' overconfidence would be the death of him and allow Fin to find his Fin friend revenge... And yet he was struggling to bring himself to attack Ares. He''d become a sort of living phobia all unto himself and the thought of raising a fist towards him creeped Fin out. Ares was to him as spiders were to Ares, some kind of unfathomable horror that disgusted him to his core. Despite feeling like his chances were mostly positive right now, he still didn''t want to take those chances and would rather just run... But would his kid let him? Did he have some kind of means to chase him? Fin didn''t know and he really didn''t want to find out, he just wanted to be left alone! That wasn''t going to happen though so he eventually built up the resolve required to attack Ares and, thus, their fight began again anew with the tide very much in Fin''s favour...


    Was Ares crazy? Picking a fight underwater? To some extent, yes, yes he was but, in other ways, not quite so much. Sure this would be a hard challenge but it was A, good for training, B; entirely possible thanks to the wounds Fin was already suffering from and C; Ares'' pressure mastery would do incredible work here and allow him to move somewhat freely underwater and prevent him from being a sitting duck with no way to contest Fin''s assault. The annihilation enhancement, when running at max, could create a sort of bubble around him that undid some of the restrictions of water on his movement, and could give him some briefly functional pockets of air to breathe, meaning he could actually stay down here for a decent chunk of time if he wanted to. Naturally combat, and the nature of the sea pushing down on him twenty four seven, meant the duration was nowhere near as long as normal but it was still sufficient to kill this guy or fight him long enough to watch his injuries kill him off anyway. The biggest issue, from Ares'' perspective, was that the water here could invade his space whenever Fin attacked him, further reducing his time underwater as the enhancement would need to work overtime to filter it back out, as he''d be bringing the water directly to him and basically splashing him with it after every punch. This couldn''t be avoided unless Ares transcended his limits here and now and learnt to use telekinesis on water. He had practiced this but it was incredibly unfinished and so there was absolutely no hope of that in this fight and he wouldn''t even dare try. This was now a very real fight, one Ares had to concentrate in, and so messing around was off the table unless he was willing to forfeit his life for a silly goal. It was serious mode time! Although it was arguable he should have been serious from the start against a peak transition realm cultivator...


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Whoosh


    Not letting the pain wracking him get the better of him, Fin took off like a jet and began circling Ares at speeds that were hard to keep up with. Ares was only just about able to barely track Fin''s movements and it was honestly better to rely on his enhanced senses to feel oddities in the flow of water rather than keep watching Fin directly. If any irregularity in the water approached Ares'' location then that was a far easier sign that Fin was attacking him to decipher than observing the bluish blur. Fin, in the water, might have honestly been even a tad quicker than Ares with annihilation enhancement. It wasn''t too preposterous a thought, given his overwhelming cultivation advantage, but Ares was still somewhat surprised regardless. This was looking to be a harder fight than the one against Mako but, on the bright side, that meant it wouldn''t last as long either. The Mako match was a back and forth with the title of ''superior'' constantly changing hands as they slowly revealed their strengths. Here, one of these two fighters were going to die in the next five minutes with no further questions asked. There would be no hesitancy, no leniency, no feeling the opponent out, this wasn''t a simulation in a Training Field, it was just going to be an unfiltered brawl.


    BANG


    Fin crashed his whole body into Ares'' ribcage and sent him tumbling through the water as a result of the head-on collision. Fin was testing Ares to see how quickly he could respond to aggression which was why Fin hadn''t used his blades. They were more deadly but far slower than just ramming the guy so he wanted to be quick on his first strike to get a feel for Ares'' competency underwater. He wanted to know how much bullying he could get away with before Ares was finally able to respond... But now Fin couldn''t help but wonder if Ares was allowing this to set a false precedent that was highly inaccurate. What if he could move and react faster than this and it was all a ruse for the sole intention of lowering his guard? Did Fin even have the time needed to entertain a thought like this and remain cautious? Not really and so he circled around Ares'' flank to launch another attack, this time with the Slicers on his arms leading the charge.


    To Fin''s dismay, Ares was able to respond this time, either because he was messing with Fin the first time, or maybe because he only needed to see Fin''s speed once to familiarise himself with it, and Ares started to turn in the water and face Fin to raise a block. Fin felt a little relieved that Ares was still pretty slow, even if he could react now, so the edge still resided with Fin for the time being. The Slicers came baring down on a seemingly defenceless Ares but, instead of blocking, he threw out his palm and aimed it directly at Fin''s face... Now the sharkin wasn''t sure how to approach this because it wouldn''t be the first time Ares deflected his blades... He''d done it once back during his first Gamble so, if he could do it again, this time with his body instead of his hands, then he wouldn''t have to use his limbs to block this at all and could commit to whatever attack he was launching. This was incredibly risky, and could result in his death, but he was doing it anyway and seemingly willing to bet it all here. Fin, however, was not, and cowardice got the better of him, so he veered off course and circled once more to look for an opening that was easier to exploit without repercussion.


    As for Ares, he''d been able to react in time thanks to his divine sense. Part of the issue with tracking this obnoxiously rapid sharkin was actually being able to turn around fast enough in the water to facilitate his Omniscience. Yes his enhancement alleviated that issue somewhat but it didn''t magically make him faster underwater than Fin. Instead of constantly making himself dizzy in a fruitless bid to keep up with Fin, Ares simply detached his vision from his body and watched everything unfold from a third person perspective above instead. This would shorten the amount of time he could run his enhancement for, as he was now being strained in multiple ways at the same time, but he felt like that weakness was a bit too obscure for Fin to realise and capitalise off of and that Ares could sneak this issue by him. Fin may have only had five minutes but, in this current state, Ares only had about three before he had to leave and resurface. That was fine though as, by the time that limit was up, Fin''s desperation would have already peaked and forced him to make a dumb decision, Ares was convinced. Hell, he probably wouldn''t even have to wait that long as Fin did not seem like a patient type nor was he the kind of person to keep his composure in tricky situations.


    Fin was searching for an opportunity right now and Ares was tempted to give it to him, funnily enough, for an identical reason! Ares was also looking for an opening as he had his own plan to really screw over Fin and secure the win. To that end, though it sucked, Ares let Fin whale on him freely for a while. He consistently deflected the Slicer, as that was where all his attention was diverted to in order to prevent getting split open like Fin, but he suffered many rammings and fists to the guts and various other body parts. His stomach was turning black and blue under his clothes and he''d spat out wads of blood at this point. His own injuries were now starting to rival that of those he''d suffered from the mecha dryad way back when but, thankfully, his cultivation was higher now and so he could tough it out just a bit better than before. He could still move freely enough to enact his plan shortly but that didn''t stop the pain train from taking its toll on him as Fin decked him in the nose and sent him reeling once more. He was being one-sidedly bullied by the equivalent of a steel truck driving headfirst into him over and over again, mowing him down and crushing his insides on repeat. The final strike Fin managed to get in on Ares was a direct blow to his heart region which genuinely concerned Ares as he could feel it stop for a second. He was left breathless and shocked as he was blown through the water. He had to kill his momentum and take deep breaths, which naturally also lowered his overall duration down here, but he was still alive even if he felt like he was going to collapse any second. This was fine! It was still within the acceptable parameters of his expectations! Though he did really nearly just croak from a headbutt to the heart... Was this guy Bellona 2.0!? Why was his head so sturdy? Ares rubbed his chest, closed his eyes, and prepared himself for the end of this duel now that Fin was stalking him from behind.


    Ares was ''weak'' now too and not in any real state to fight back properly. To think his own state had become so terrible despite how much he''d been winning prior to now... It was a perfect example of why fighting a sharkin underwater was a terrible idea.... But, to make up for it, Ares had a pretty great idea and it involved letting Fin bring him to this point and then get cocky or desperate. The former if his opinion of this ''kid'' deteriorated after whopping his ass for the last few minutes. Desperate if he was worried about the ever impending and ever vanishing time limit. It didn''t matter which reason he had, Ares just wanted this aggressive assault to reach its climax while he was struggling to breathe and very nearly broken. His ribs were shattered in multiple places, the internal bleeding was enough to create a small river of blood inside his body, his heart was sending jolts of pain through his entire being with every thump, and most of his organs were damaged in some way. His current state was only marginally better than Fin''s but the water was making these issues easier to deal with for only one person here and it was not Ares. To that end, when Fin saw Ares slow down even further, with his back still turned to him, he made the move he felt like he truly had no other choice but to make. He had a gut feeling he was still being played, as Ares had done basically nothing to him underwater thus far and not run either yet, but he maintained a slither of hope that Ares was just trying to stubbornly hold out for the time limit without any other kind of plan... He really, truly hoped... Otherwise he was about to fall headfirst into a trap and die a dog''s death to this kid... Fin grit his teeth and sped through the water one more time to end this fight for good. Whoever came out on top this time would be the grand winner and could walk away with their head held high for winning a difficult battle, basking in their victory. Unfortunately for Fin...


    Bleugh


    ... The second Fin pulled up right behind Ares, ready to decapitate him with his Aqua slicers, a sharp sword pierced through Ares'' abdomen from the front, appeared behind him, and impaled Fin too. He tried to desperately swing his Aqua slicer but Ares used one of his pocket Block Rocks to summon a mini black hole and swallow up his magical blades, eviscerating them for good. All Fin''s magic-less swinging did was give Ares a light concussion as he beat the back of Ares'' skull with his burly arms but his was just a desperate measure and he knew it. Whatever Ares had planned here, he''d fallen for it with no room to spare and there was no longer any escape. He was just throwing a tantrum and trying to make the kid feel pain before he inevitably killed him. It was over and now the only thing left was to see how he was going to do it.


    "Crystalised Void: Tricky Rink..." Ares coughed out the art while the Black Ice Bane, buried inside him and dyed crimson, got to work, freezing everything in the surroundings. Fin could only watch on as all hope was lost thanks to he black ice sphere forming around him wherein no more water could flow. Ares had created an ice ball within the ocean that kept all the water out and so Fin lost all his benefits from the watery grave he''d been trying to lay Ares to rest in. This was technically ''land'' underwater and Fin couldn''t help but curse his luck that Ares knew an ice based art of all things as it was a pretty hard counter to sea-based life-forms. Sharkin didn''t have it as rough as full-on preds did, because sharkin were more human than shark whereas preds were more shark than human (sharkin were basically just a sub-category of pred), but it still affected them to a degree that was noticeable and made a difference in close calls. Ares had stripped Fin of all his remaining strength by forcibly removing him from the water and now all he had to do was turn around and deliver the death blow because Fin could no longer compete with him. Ares detached himself from Fin by taking a step forward and dislodging the sword from Fin''s stomach. With another, single, firm step, Ares swivelled around, ducked low, and threw his palm upwards, straight onto Fin''s stomach from below.


    "Annihilation Echo!... Goodbye sharky."