Slick was starting to get a little anxious now. He still didn’t know what exactly hit him and he was already on the backfoot this early into the trial. As much as he hated to admit it, he was going to have to be the one defending. And the worst part? He couldn’t run away because of the rules that were in place. It would also be far too embarrassing to run, although part of him wished he could as, if things got any worse than this, he would lose the bet. Ares hadn’t even brought out the Shock Beads yet, let alone whatever else he had in his arsenal.
Teng and Rud could see some clues as to what was happening but still couldn’t fathom how Ares managed to make such a serious cut with what looked to be a relatively weak attack. What on earth was that mana? Rud thought back to the things he learned about this new pillar and he realised one of the aspects was called ‘disintegration’. Was that what he was using?
It was.
Ares would coat his weapon in disintegration magic at the exact moment of collision. He didn’t keep it active at all times as that was simply a waste of mana. It’s not like it cost him much to do it but, in the early cultivation realms especially, every bit of mana mattered and throwing it away senselessly would do him no favours in longer fights. Maybe when his cultivation got higher could he afford to be a bit more lavish with it. It had taken him many years to get the disintegration activation timing right, and he spent far longer than he cared to admit activating it too early or too late during training. Practice makes perfect though and eventually he could time it perfectly, consistently. This little trick wasn’t an art, just an application of disintegration magic, so it wasn’t too flashy, but man was it effective!
Disintegration was objectively the highest lethality aspect in existence. More so than even annihilation, it just functioned on a much smaller scale. Annihilation was loud and showy, but disintegration was subtle and intricate, it was also considerably easier to shape than annihilation and was far more versatile too. Despite this, Ares had only made one disintegration art so far and it was defensive in nature. He wanted to make his first offensive disintegration art a mental attack, so he had to raise his cultivation first before exploring this aspect any further.
Ares slightly leaned forward and planted his left foot heavily into the ground in front of him. This was the start of a little sword trick he had used countless times since he first created it six years ago. Ares had to fight people who were considerably older than him and had bulkier builds than him all the time when he was living on the streets with Aejaz. Rather than compete in a contest of brute strength, he made use of his mobility and smaller size to fight, and this sword technique was the epitome of his unusual sword style.
Ares’ sword style in general looked incredibly unrefined, but it was quick and difficult to stop. He nicknamed it ‘free form’ because there was no real definitive form to it. It was all about speed, avoiding direct confrontation, and constant motion to remain unreadable and difficult to pinpoint. It also involved lots of tricky manoeuvres that could either catch an opponent off guard or force mistakes and openings that Ares would counter and abuse.
Ares jumped off the platform and raised his sword arm slightly back so that he was in a position to thrust down low. This attack was obvious and easy to dodge, but that was the point. It was what came after that would one day become infamous as Ares’ most notable sword-wielding gimmick.
Slick naturally took a few steps back, but not too many as this was perfect for him. The moment the sword missed; he would have an opportunity practically gifted to him to retaliate. He was worried that Ares had some trick up his sleeve, as he really didn’t seem the type to do something so stupid, but this chance came at a time when Slick was running out of options.
Ares'' sword thrust missed, but he managed to place himself right where he needed to be, slightly in front of Slick, and a little to his left. The sword buried itself into the platform while Ares was still mid-air, parallel to the floor and slightly above the sword. As Ares thought, Slick wouldn’t be able to resist such a massive opening.
Slick stepped forward and threw a left punch straight at his head.
Ares quickly activated his disintegration magic to change the position of the buried sword so that it was slightly slanted away from him. He then deactivated it to lodge the sword back into the platform like an anchor. He used his upper body strength to drag the sword hilt backward and himself forward, causing him to flip around and face the ceiling. That little flip was enough to propel himself over Slick’s fist. Ares reached out with his free left hand to grab onto Slick’s arm while dragging the sword out of the platform. Ares used all the strength he had to push Slick’s arm down, simultaneously lifting himself up and over Slick’s shoulder in a clean arc with one last mid-air flip. Now Ares was behind Slick, still in the air, swinging his sword at the back of his neck.
Using a sword lodged into the ground to flick himself in various directions was the perfect trick to lower people’s guard while sticking to the core theme of Ares’ mobile sword style. He could use it to advance and even retreat in any direction he wanted. The number of people twice, even thrice his age Ares had assassinated with this one move alone was at least in the hundreds. Then again, Slick was no ordinary cultivator. Although he would certainly be taken by surprise, he wouldn’t allow himself to be beheaded like this. Although this attack was usually more than enough to settle things, Ares was expecting Slick to dodge once again and, sure enough, he did precisely what Ares had wanted him to. Slick had made one too many mistakes and now it was time to punish him and get some damage in.
From the side-lines, everyone was completely entranced. That last move alone probably would have killed everyone other than Appa, and that was only because it had no arms or head to fall for the move in the first place. It all happened far too quickly. A single opening Ares had intentionally left as an avenue out of a desperate situation, somehow became Ares swinging at the back of Slick’s neck. Everyone made a mental note of that specific attack and to stay well the hell away from it if they ever saw him using it. It’s not even like it could be punished from range as he clearly had the option to flick to the sides or retreat back to dodge too. Interfacing with that move just seemed too annoying to bother with as it basically made everything a guessing game.
It was really hard to pull-off, but incredibly versatile. Ares had nicknamed it ‘Gamble’ as the person fighting Ares had to either choose not to play his little mind game, or had to predict and commit to a direction with mediocre pay-off if they guessed right, but incredibly high risk if they got it wrong. Ares was in the process of making it into a unique art under the ‘sword aspect’ of the weapons open pillar as it was a staple of the way in which he fought and there was still room for improvement.
Ares seemed like a really difficult person to fight against in general. He was absurdly quick and had unusual zig-zag-esque movement. His attacks didn’t look deadly, but that’s because the real attacks were whatever he was doing with his mana. It was an effective mix of speed and power that was hard to match. Plus, he had his bizarre sword attacks that came out of nowhere and his deft footwork which allowed him to promptly disappear before a counter attack could be launched. He was permanently in motion with his body down low to the ground and his cape swaying after him, creating this weird illusion, thanks to afterimages, that he was both everywhere and nowhere at the same time. His cape left a long, pitch-black trail of feathers that lingered temporarily wherever he stepped. All in all, it was actually rather beautiful to watch.
Back on the platform, Slick was in full focus mode. Despite being caught out by Ares'' trick, he still managed to jump forward and evade the neck slash. He twisted mid-air to turn around and keep an eye on Ares. He couldn’t take his eyes off him for a second. Sure enough, he turned around to see Ares completely unbothered by his unsuccessful attempt, already in motion doing something else.
Ares hadn’t landed yet, and neither had slick.
Ares snapped his leg closest to the floor straight down, making a heavy thud sound.
“Shock Bead!”
“Huh!?” Slick began to panic immediately as soon as he heard those dreaded words for multiple reasons. First, if those things had hurt him when he lowered his cultivation 4th realm 8th stage; how much damage would they do now that he lowered it by an entire extra realm? Second, he hadn’t seen any Beads so far and he did everything he could to stay vigilant for them. Third, Slick didn’t know the angle of attack and was still mid-air, unable to defend. Lastly, Aejaz hadn’t needed to chant in order to use the Shock Bead. If Ares was doing it now, it meant there really was something still left up Ares’ sleeve with them that only he could do.
A small crack appeared in the ground underneath Slick, right where he was about to land. A see-through bead with dark gold liquid inside raced out of the crack and flew up to the same height as Slick’s head, hovering just slightly above his shoulder, before emitting a horrifyingly bright light.
“Shit.”
Ares could set Shock Beads as traps and activate them by chanting while he was on the floor. When he first created a Bead in front of everyone, he used the tip of his finger. The real trick to this art was that he could create them using any body part as the source of mana. To make an underground trap, he simply needed to create one underneath his foot while it was planted on the floor. Being grounded was necessary to send mana through the floor and raise them out of the ground. This was the true, original purpose of the art. Of course, this didn’t make them stronger or anything, but it did add to their already decent versatility, allowing him to set them up while he was running around at his ridiculously fast pace. It was a shame other people couldn’t use the Beads in this fashion, but being able to carry these things around was still incredibly beneficial to others. As for Ares, he was able to make full use of the Beads’ potential in this way, and even this was only really scratching the surface. He would show Slick the true power of these Beads a little later.
Boooooommmmm
The platform shook a little and a scene identical to the one before it came about. Slick was blasted out of the smoke with a massive dent caving in his neck. His neck lost about a third of its total size and was pushed mostly to one side. His shoulder was slightly slumped too and small parts were jutting out of it. Slick landed and took a knee to try and stop himself from sliding any further.
Ares dashed out through the smoke in pursuit and swung at Slick’s disfigured neck.
Because of Slick’s awkward position, he had no other valid option but to lean back as far as he could to avoid the sword. The only other choice he could make was to lose an arm to block whatever that deadly magic was. He also knew that just leaning back wouldn’t put him far away enough from the battle-crazed maniac so he leant far back enough to transition into a one handed, backward handstand to try and gain some distance.
This mistake in judgement would cost him, not that he really had any other option though.
Crash
Slick fell to the floor headfirst and was befuddled for a moment before ‘understanding’ what had just happened to him. When he’d lifted his body into the air during the handstand, something had pierced directly through his arm, cutting it off cleanly at the shoulder. With nothing left to support him, he came crashing down into the platform as Ares chased him down to close the gap. As for how Ares managed to cut off his arm from the distance he was currently at, Slick had no clue as he hadn’t been facing Ares when it happened. It would seem Ares still had a mid-range attack up his sleeve, and a deadly one too.
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Rud, Teng, the participants, and even the Elder that left earlier and had now come back to make sure the sect wasn’t being attacked again, had all seen how it happened though.
Ares used his personal treasure! After Ares swung his sword, he used his free hand to grab the Zephyr off his back. He stretched out his hand and the Zephyr flew out like a wide, flat, piercing chain. The Zephyr cut Slick’s arm off in one fell swipe. The Stygian Zephyr could be freely controlled while it was on the owner’s back, but it could also be detached and used as a sharp, mid-range weapon that could attack swiftly in sweeping and thrusting patterns. The Zephyr’s feathers were quite sharp on their own, but they could also be imbued with disintegration magic, making them ludicrously dangerous.
Slick was completely unaware of this as Ares had reattached the Zephyr as quickly as he’d removed it. The Zephyr could be brought out and put away on his back at incredibly quick speeds due to the years Ares had spent practising with it. You weren’t safe up close and you weren''t safe at mid-range either. Ares currently only lacked a way of fighting at longer ranges, but that mattered little against someone who wasn’t allowed to run away. Ares could also use his Shift art to chase people too, so he wasn’t easily exploitable at any range really.
This was the moment Ares was truly after. He would force Slick to lose the bet here. There was no other outcome left really. Slick was flat on the floor with an arm missing, he couldn’t dodge, and if he blocked he would be completely armless. There was still far too long left in the trial to somehow make the not-so legendary ‘no-arms’ approach work. What would Slick do exactly? Headbutt him? Kick him?
Ares’ sword came swinging down and, sure enough, Slick blocked using mana on his remaining arm. Losing his head would be far too embarrassing and wouldn’t even net him a win in the bet thanks to Ares’ foresight in introducing his stipulation. Having to use mana was a great shame on Slick’s pride and a stain on his otherwise flawless record. Ares may have already passed, but there was still time left. Slick was going to at least enjoy smacking Ares around for a while now that he could use mana. Slick slowly came to the realisation that he had let every single participant through. Only once in the sect’s history did every single test taker pass the third stage, and that was because there was only one person left to even take the damn trial! Slick was lost in his thoughts and completely distracted. He completely forgot to adjust the strength he was outputting, partially because he rated Ares’ prowess quite highly.
Unfortunately, no matter how good Ares was, there was a limit to what the sword he was holding was capable of. Slick’s hand shot straight through the sword, breaking it with minimal resistance, and kept going. Before Slick even had a chance to stop himself, he realised his hand had passed through multiple layers of flesh and was drenched in blood. In his autopilot state, he’d gone too far. This time was much more serious though.
He’d killed a disciple.
He hadn’t just punched a hole through Ares chest, he had accidentally pierced the corner of his heart. The hall was silent again. Everyone was at a loss for words and Slick had completely freaked himself out, staring blankly at the hole he’d made and his arm running through it.
“Hahahaha,” Ares let out a laugh that was part maniacal and part ecstatic. Slick was still drowning in his own misery when Ares leaned over him and gripped him by the face.
“CHAOS REIGNS!”
Ares let out a borderline demonic cry as blood trickled out from his mouth which had a wild grin plastered on it. Ares was enjoying himself. Everyone else he had ever fought was far too easy to kill. An injury like this wasn’t nearly enough to kill him. The heart would’ve needed to be destroyed in its entirety to be the ‘death’ of him, and even that wasn’t a guarantee. He was getting lost in the thrill of the fight and his former heroic appearance became somewhat twisted. He still looked like a hero, but now he looked more like a demonic hero that wouldn’t be marching into hell but, instead, out of it while leading an army of hell spawn.
The engraved lines on the Stygian Zephyr lit up in gold which Aejaz recognised as ‘the thing that would happen when Ares got ‘serious’. It meant that annihilation magic was now constantly flowing through Ares’ blood and would be a massive boost to his physical traits and would also imbue every attack with a small amount of extra force. That extra annihilation magic would transfer itself to the opponent during every hit and slowly break their internal organs.
As for the art he used, ‘Chaos Reigns’, this was what his Shock Beads were truly capable of.
In a circular pattern around Ares and Slick, ten Shock Beads had risen out of the ground and were all about to detonate in sync.
Ares never said only one could be used at a time.
Using multiple traps at the same time would cost a lot more mana though.
Slick regained some of his composure when he realised Ares was miraculously not dead. He also realised the current predicament was not good and that Ares might actually die this time, and to his own art no less, which would be the height of stupidity. He was about to pull his arm out of Ares chest and drag him to safety when Ares gripped his arm and hugged him! Is he insane!? Is this moron suicidal!? Slick’s mind was on the verge of collapse. Today had been such a rollercoaster that he was starting to be unable to keep up. All ten Shock Beads lit up and Slick braced himself, ready to regain his cultivation and save this stupid kamikaze fool. Just as he was about to unseal his cultivation, Ares vanished! Slick barely had enough time to see him materialise a safe distance away.
“ASSHOLE!” Slick shrieked.
How could Ares treat him like this? He was prepared to save that ungrateful bastard! And what did he get in return? Ten Shock Beads that he no longer had an excuse to bring back his cultivation for and block properly. Ares was just dandy where he was, so Slick was going to have to take it as is. At the very least, he could use mana now. That was something at least.
A monstrous series of explosions rang throughout the hall, even managing to rock the platform and make everyone on it wobble. After a good few seconds of shaking, the platform steadied and the smoke dissipated.
Meanwhile, the Elder that was staring at all of this through the hole had fainted. This was simply too much for this poor old fellow. Unfortunately for him, no one noticed, so he was just lying unattended on the cold, hard floor.
Ares was ‘unharmed’ and the flesh around the hole was slowly but surely mending itself. He seemed completely uninterested in the hole as if this state was normal to him, so everyone just assumed he was somehow ok even if it was incredibly unatural. He also had a new sword in his hands and not a single person knew that he’d taken it out of the Primordial Blade. It was rather confusing seeing a sword just pop out of nowhere, but that was probably the most normal thing they had seen yet, so no one bothered to prioritise questioning it over anything else.
Teng and Rud were slowly losing their minds.
Ares had accomplished so much.
And then he was murdered.
And then he wasn’t.
And then the hall blew up.
This was starting to defy common sense. They weren’t sure whether they should stop this freakish trial or keep watching. It seemed like the two fighting fanatics didn’t want to stop however.
Slick had forgotten about the token already, he just wanted to pay Ares back for, well, just about everything really. Injuring him, injuring him again, ‘pretending’ to be dead and then injuring him a third time for good measure. It was too much! Slick didn’t have many new dents this time as being able to use mana made a world of difference to his strength. Disintegration would no longer affect him, and those explosions were mostly just inconvenient and annoying now. He still had a couple of nicks in his frame here and there though as that last attack was really hard to block; it came from ten separate angles after all.
Slick rushed over to Ares and this time the fight was much fairer. Ares wasn’t able to be as aggressive as before and yet still kept on the move, parrying and dodging Slick’s attacks. Slick had foregone most of his mobility in favour of hitting harder but wasn’t able to land any good hits as Ares'' defence was arguably better than his offence thanks to his impressive speed. The two fought all along the length of the platform in a hectic back-and-forth scuffle. Ares would occasionally get a small cut in and Slick would sometimes land a blow with his remaining arm, pushing Ares back and leaving a mark on his skin. Blood was drawn a few times, but if Ares could live through a pierced heart, small minor injuries really weren’t worth paying attention to. Ares kept up his unusual fighting style and would occasionally even throw Slick for a loop by tossing his sword straight up into the air, temporarily switching to his fists to grapple hand to hand for a few seconds before the sword came back down. His fist attacks all had annihilation magic in them. If he were attacking a human, that magic would have wreaked havoc on their bones. Ares wasn’t just gifted with a sword, but with a surprising number of weapons and fighting styles. He really enjoyed learning new approaches to a fight and didn’t shy away from the challenge that was acquainting himself with something unfamiliar. He found it fun to swap weapons on the fly, he just didn’t have many at his disposal to do so. He also hadn’t had a chance to learn too many styles yet, so he primarily just stuck to swords and fists.
Regardless of what Ares was doing, he kept moving.
That was his talent.
Speed.
Quick engagements, quicker disengages.
Slick was obviously no pushover and was consistently starting to get hits in as he slowly tried to familiarise himself with his opponent’s strange fighting style. Slick eventually managed to break a bone, but that didn’t slow down Ares in the slightest. If anything, it seemed like Ares had sped up. Only true battle maniacs would become so entranced by a battle that an injury would only serve to further excite them. Ares came under that category as, to him, there was nothing greater than the thrill of a good fight.
This was a good fight!
This manic battle kept everyone hooked as it was, without a doubt, the highest-level fight that had ever taken place during this test in all the years it had been held. Even though it was clear that Ares could no longer possibly win a ‘fair’ fight, they were all awed by how well he fought and by his seemingly incredibly high tolerance for pain. Ares had been amassing injuries this whole time but was shrugging off the pain with ease. They may have been small injuries, but even a thousand small cuts could kill a man. He seemed so obsessed with combat that the injuries were practically non-existent to him.
There were ten seconds left and both Slick and Ares took a moment to readjust for one last clash after pushing each other back.
Slick wasn’t going to use his summon no matter what, but Ares was going to make this an unforgettable finalé with the unveiling of his strongest art! Ares just so happened to be facing the same direction that everyone on the side-lines were in. Hm, it’s problematic if they’re in front of me, he thought. He couldn’t use the art at this rate, but then an idea struck him.
Just have the Elders deal with it!
Ares pointed at Rud and gave forewarning, “Protect them.”
Rud was shocked. What the hell did he still have left that people still needed to be protected from? How many explosions did this one kid have? He was practically a walking bomb dispenser! Still though, he prepared himself to raise a barrier. He wasn’t going to risk playing around with the safety of brand-new disciples as Ares seemed rather serious.
Ares and Slick took off. Slick readied an uppercut with every ounce of strength he could muster from this pitiful cultivation base. Mana was surging through his frame, ready to lash out the second something was foolish enough to collide with Slick’s fist.
Ares took one final heavy step with his left foot and leaned his right arm as far back as he could. Ares was going for an overhead swing to increase the force behind the art as this was the optimal way to use it.
“Grand Annihilation!”
Dark gold mana swirled around the tip of his sword. Mana was being absorbed from the nearby air, swelling into a single point. The entire sword changed hue and became a brilliant gold mid swing. Reality was warping around the blade as it cleaved through the fabric of space. Time seemed to slow and all sound had been cut off completely. The only thing that could seemingly move properly in this strange state was Ares’ sword which maintained a steady speed and carried on along a precise arc that would enthral anyone watching it. It was simply a perfect sword attack. It was art in motion, and despite his form usually being unique but unprofessional, this swing would awe even the highest class of sword experts.
Practice makes perfect.
---------------------------------
One year ago.
“Why do you keep swinging your sword over and over like that, day in, day out, year in, year out? Doesn’t that get tiring? I’ve never even seen you use that attack before.” Aejaz was lounging around in his hammock, fiddling with the tusk on his necklace.
“It’s pre-emptive practice. It’s not about what I can do now, but about what I’ll one day be able to do. In my mind, I can see it in all its glory, and I simply want it to be perfect. I want to bring that exact image in my head into real life. As for what it is, it’s that annihilation art you keep pestering me to show you when I finish it. I still can’t use it, but it feels so close to completion. It definitely won’t be long now, and I want it to be as I’ve always imagined it would be. It’s the first art I ever thought up and holds a special place in my heart, even if it wasn’t the first art I successfully used. It may not always be my strongest art, and it’s actually quite simple, but I think it will always be my favourite. Don’t you practise your thievery for the same reason? People want to be good at the things they enjoy and even tend to get passionate over those same things. Destruction is my thing, and this art means a lot to me. That’s all.”
---------------------------------
Present day.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
Again and again, explosion after explosion detonated throughout the hall. ‘Grand Annihilation’ was a chain reaction of explosions wherein one explosion was set off by the one before it, creating a series of explosions that would quickly ripple outward in a cone shape in front of Ares, carpet bombing the immediate area ahead of him. These explosions were dark gold like the Shock Beads, but they weren’t dome shaped, they were completely wild and unpredictable in both shape and size. The chain of explosions was capable of reaching from one end of the platform all the way to its halfway point, which was roughly a quarter of the entire hall. For an art created and used by a 3rd realm cultivator, this should have been unthinkable. The hall was huge. To completely envelop a quarter of it was unbelievably impressive. The power and raw destructive force behind this art was simply incomparable to the Beads. Explosions were still filling the hall in the same time span that Chaos Reigns had taken to start, finish, and have the dust settle.
Slick was still being bombarded somewhere inside that hellscape of an art a good few seconds after it was used. The walls that were hit crumbled in some places, and the other test takers could still feel bits of the aftermath of the art even with Rud’s barrier protecting them. Reality warped and twisted to accommodate the force bearing down upon it and was close to shattering in some places.
This wasn’t an art.
It was more akin to a natural disaster.
A golden calamity.