"Ah fuc..."


    Crack


    Before the earth cultivator could let loose his swear, the crystal wall shattered and a black explosion of tendrils engulfed him. Ares, to an extent, could control whether the detonation of Crystallised Void was a normal explosion via annihilation magic, or something more geared towards disintegration. This was why the attacks were named Crystalised Void; it wasn''t because the attack was made of nothingness, but because the nothingness held the crystal ice and the disintegration, or annihilation, magic inside of it together by merging them. In this case, the tendrils absorbed the cultivator into a black abyss of disintegration magic, fully dissolving him as it dragged him to his instantaneous death. It was like watching someone pour a soluble human into pitch black, thick water. The tendrils swayed eerily seemingly with a mind of their own before slowly vanishing into air as though they''d never been there to begin with. Ares turned to the spectators and raised his arm. He brought the arm down and across his waist while bowing to indicate his show was over for now before striding back over to his teammates who were just shaking their head at Ares'' childish antics. He had killed every single cultivator in a way that either utilised their own magic or mimicked it. If he fought like this at the international, everyone from Vraizon would know he was a revenant without even having to test him. Actually... On the subject thereof... Trew had a wry smile on his face as he turned to Bellona.


    "So... He''s a revenant then?... If the me from yesterday knew that... Things would be very different right about now. Namely that I would be dead, I suppose." Bellona''s eyebrow raised as she looked inquisitively at Trew who implicitly understood the question he was being non-verbally posed. "No, I don''t care. It might seem weird, but I spent a lot of time yesterday questioning the Legion clan''s doctrines, beliefs, ideals, everything. They didn''t really do me any favours when I unquestionably believed in them, and I was curious to see how many flaws I could spot now that I wasn''t so blinded by it all. I guess my biggest problem was this stupid war that''s pitting us all against each other. It''s the root of every other problem I discovered so, no, I don''t care anymore. Still, I can''t pretend it doesn''t hurt to lose to a revenant... Stings more than I thought it would. It''s a good example though..." Trew watched on as Enyo thumped Ares on the head. "...Of how needless our clan feuds are. We can clearly get along if we try. That was the idea I came to yesterday and its been proven already. So yes it stings, but it also feels good too. Silver linings and such."


    Bellona gawked at Trew... "No, seriously, who the hell are you?!"


    The Training Field was temporarily shut off now that the match had finished and the suited man took to the microphone once more. "The winner of this match is Red Sun, they will advance to the next round. Red Sky you may either hang around to fight for third or you may speak to me and leave, but you will automatically be placed in last. Your standing beyond first place doesn''t particularly matter much but it will be broadcast around the world. You may be able to gain some kudos back if you''re only reported loss is to a sect that goes on to do well. It could be worth your time to compete again, but the decision is yours, you have until the overall winner is decided to make your mind up. The next fight is between Red Soil and Red Sea, please wait five minutes while I go and write down the current results on an official document. Thank you for your patience." Having said his piece, the man left the stage and happened across Teng. "You really weren''t kidding about your confidence last time we spoke... I haven''t seen many of the other competitors, but that menace with the cape would have been able to guarantee you third or fourth, minimum, any other year by himself. Just based on what I''ve seen, you''ll probably make it to international unless those Legion clan members pull off a miracle."


    Teng was beaming as it was rare for his sect to receive praise like this. He was one of the elders that had been here from the start and seeing it constantly fail and underperform was heart-breaking for him. Sadness eventually became apathy but, even if for this fleeting moment, he was proud once more. "Hahaha, believe it or not, that caped menace isn''t even halfway done yet. He''s truly a prodigious cultivator. The rest of the team aren''t slouches either, so everyone of our elders is really feeling pumped this year. I''ve also seen some really promising talents in the core group so I must admit I''m over the moon."


    "Well, I wish you the best of luck. Of course I should mention I''m completely neutral so I wish everyone else that same luck, nothing personal, you see. As for the Legion clan... There''s one really strange team member who''s magic I really can''t wrap my head around. That missy in the witch clothes, I seriously don''t get her magic at all. Every time I see it, its doing something completely different, and she seems pretty much untouchable. I''m really curious about what exactly it is..."


    "You can''t tell?!" Teng was taken aback as the man in front of him was a transition realm cultivator. For even someone of his standing to be unable to piece this mystery together meant the magic was truly something.


    "Nope. When Red Soil did their disciple selection, Bellona alone took on over 150 other disciples and won without a scratch. She even stood still the entire time, snickering at everyone who attacked her. People were burnt to a crisp, frozen, shredded by wind, blinded by light, swallowed by shadow, rapidly aged to death, stuck in time, were blown to pieces by a punch... One poor fellow that attacked her literally disappeared on the spot... Another had his magic reflected right back at him... I really have no idea what''s up with that one but she''s terrifying cultivator, that''s for sure."


    "... I see. But you know, I have faith in that caped menace of ours, I believe he''ll do it. I''ve seen what his magic is... I understand it, unlike the Legion lady''s magic, but I think I fear it more. There''s something really beautiful about simple power; and God knows Ares has a lot of it. I guess the fight between Red Sun and Red Soil will be an interesting one."


    "I''m not supposed to agree as I have to assume there''s a chance for Red Sea to win... But yeah, no, I agree."


    "Haha, I see. Well I won''t keep you, that clipboard looks full of wordy documents that I''m sure you must want to get through as quickly as possible."


    The man gave a sad smile as he chuckled despondently. "Yeah... It''s really a lot of hullabaloo over nothing... I swear these legal types are obsessed with even the tinies of details... It''s either that or they''re just messing with the people doing the legwork for the fun of it." The man mumbled as he walked away, penning down various bits of information.


    Back by the Legion / Ares group, Ares was jokingly flexing in front of Bellona. He had a smug look on his face even though, realistically, his muscles weren''t all that impressive. They were there, sure, and they weren''t exactly small, but he was still an Adept at the end of the day. There was really on so much he could do. He might be able to gain a bit more but, honestly, it would take a treasure that could literally rebuild his body to make any drastic changes. Still, he was proud of his mini muscles!... Or, well, he was until they suddenly shrank for some strange reason. Although he still couldn''t figure out why exactly, he knew it had something to do with Bellona''s strange magic as she was laughing boisterously at Ares'' confused face. He looked like a dog that just watched its favourite treat magically disappear, head tilting and all. Ares was tempted to use Omniscience and figure out once for all what this whacko magic was, as it could seemingly do literally anything, but he chose not to because he felt it was dishonourable. Ares was never one to take the fun out of things and doing as such would make him the buzzkill of the century, so he decided not to cheat. If he still couldn''t figure it out by then end of his match against her, only then would he ask. "Hmph, keep acting all haughty. See if I don''t make you go boom."


    "Yeah, sure, you do that..." Bellona could barely contain her laugh as she looked at Ares'' delated biceps. "...Weakling. Hahahahaha."


    Ares felt robbed, almost like Aejaz had stolen his muscle mass. It was truly gone and did, in fact, make him feel weaker than usual. Whatever the magic was, it wasn''t just aesthetic or an illusion, it was very real. Although Ares wasn''t going to sue Omniscience, that didn''t mean he wasn''t going to at least experiment! If Bellona didn''t want him figuring it out just yet, she shouldn''t have been using her magic around him all willy-nilly! Ares sent some disintegration magic to the affected location and, to his surprise and joy, it worked! Whatever this strange magic was, at the very least, he could disintegrate it! That was huge news and he was happy to see it!...


    Bellona was not. Her laughing ceased immediately and she had a blank look on her face as Ares went back to flexing his muscles with a shit eating grin. She blinked repeatedly but couldn''t fathom what she was seeing and experiencing right now. No-one had ever countered her magic before... Not even anti-magic could stop her... She tried reapplying her magic but... Gone? Where did my magic go? Shit... I should have asked about his pillar when I first learnt about it, I only know about the Shock Beads... Fuck, can he actually counter my magic?! Is it that black stuff he used in the last fight against the God hand and the earth cultivator?! What is it... If I can just figure that out... If I can just know what it is... I can stop it... Right? Bellona worked her facial muscles to the bone and put on her usual cheery attitude to feign being unperturbed. "See if I let you remove my magic when we fight later... Maybe I''ll turn you into a ball of human flesh and leave you like that until the fight ends."


    "..." Ares blinked as he looked at Bellona. A small smile gradually became a normal one. A normal smile became a wide one; and finally a wide smile became a mocking one. "You don''t know what my magic is, do you?"


    "What do you think?" Bellona tried to navigate around Ares'' lie detector that he pilfered off Enyo.


    "I think its cute that you''re trying to pretend otherwise. Hehehehe, hey, use your magic on me again. Prove it. I dare you. I double NO triple dog dare you! You have to do it now! I triple dog dared you! You have an obligation... Or can you not! Hahahaha."


    Bellona''s smile cracked as she subtly tried again, failing horrendously to accomplish anything. "You''re a rat bastard."


    "Hahahaha, and you''re ignorant!"


    "Oh shut it mongrel, you don''t know my magic either!"


    "I don''t need to! Mine wins!"


    "NUH UH! You wait and see, scumbag. As soon as I..." Bellona interrupted herself as she almost gave the game away and let slip her goal.


    Unfortunately for Bellona, Ares was a conniving bastard, deceptive as they came, so he was able to figure out the intentions of someone else just like him.


    "As soon as you what?... What have you been trying to do with this conversation... Figure out my magic? You can only use your magic if you have knowledge of mine? No, that doesn''t make sense, you can only stop my magic if you know what it is? No, nonono, you can only directly interact with my magic if you know what it is, otherwise you have to interact with everything else around it, right? No, its more than even that... You''ve already seen it, knowing its name wouldn''t change anything... You''re not worried about my explosions even though you didn''t know it was annihilation magic, so its something more than that, something more than the name... In order to interact with it, you need to know a specific detail, something other than its name, about the magic or thing you''re affecting, right?"


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    Bellona''s face soured and she walked away while kissing her teeth and calling Ares a mongrel again which was all the confirmation he needed. He still didn''t know what the magic was, but he was many steps closer to figuring it out thanks to Bellona''s impatience. Making a slip up like that was catastrophic for her but Ares couldn''t really blame her, he was close to doing that same. Ares, like Bellona, really valued his magic highly; he was unashamedly, excessively proud of it as it would be his and his alone, now and forever. Most people with unique aspects felt the same way typically, and Bellona seemed to have taken that excessive pride and amped it up to eleven, even matching Ares in that department. Unfortunately for Bellona, she''d hit a pretty massive wall in the form of Ares. Even if Bellona figured anything out, it wouldn''t matter. If affecting Ares magic required hers to touch it... It was impossible. At most, and even this was scarcely possible, there would be mutual destruction. Anyone at a close enough cultivation to Ares would never win in a head to head collision with disintegration, it simply wasn''t possible. Even if you made a tier list of how powerful each type of magic is against other magic, it would be unfair to put disintegration on the list as it was so many leagues above even anti magic that there wasn''t any reasonable comparisons to make that wouldn''t sound stupid. It was like trying to compare the size of an ant to the entirety of this whole dimension and then saying, ''no, but they''re kinda on the same scale if you think about it''. Disintegration was fundamentally unaffectable by magic and most physical attacks. Luckily for Ares'' foes, it was pretty hard to turn it into a fast projectile of any kind. It wasn''t that he couldn''t but that it was roughly as hard as shaping annihilation magic. It was probably better just to keep using it as a weapon enhancer, defensively, or as mental attacks. This wasn''t to say he wouldn''t try though. One day he would even be incredibly successful thanks to a certain treasure, one which would go down in infamy as the undisputed king of artillery theory aid; but that was a problem the people of the Vraizon domain were going to have to worry about.


    Ares winked at Enyo who''d been rather amused watching Ares and Bellona quibble, as she knew the details of both their magics and their cunning personalities down to a tee, and took a seat on the floor. Long story short, he was going to cultivate. That last fight put him on the brink of tenth stage and he imagined that, after that, achieving mental accumulation would be a cinch if he went all out in the fight against the Legion crew. Ares shut his eyes and opened them back up immediately. He blinked a few times in disbelief before coming to terms with the fact that his cultivation had increased in the split second he spent cultivating. This was, perhaps, the fastest any cultivator had ever gone up a stage, bar none. Ares was definitely overdue, though, as he''d witnessed and even experienced Dominus'' mastery, supercharged a Shock Bead for the first time, used the Black Ice Bane for the first time, visited and experimented with the void, and even created the new art he used on the next door house. It was kind of surprising he hadn''t gone up a stage mid combat as he was absolutely ready to pop! Ares could tell he was also already close to mental accumulation, 1st stage. It really wouldn''t take more than one fight and then... Ohohoho then there would be mischief! Sure he could use mental arts, and that would be an incredible boost to his combat repertoire, but who cared about that measly detail?! Now he would be able to communicate telepathically! He could now be stupid inside other people''s heads! He could act like an intelligence parasite, constantly sucking away people''s IQ with his moronic comments! Oh the fun he would have! Ares was very much looking forward to this new toy and was pumped to get back into the ring! Well... it wasn''t ring shaped, the Field was square... But who was keeping track anyway? It also wasn''t Red Sun''s turn to go up either, so he would have to wait.


    Ares got up and walked over to Enyo, Esme, Li Li, Aejaz, Leo, Appa, and Allie. In other words, everyone who wasn''t currently competing. Esme seemed to have been ribbing Li Li about the fact that Dirk had come along to watch even though there was no benefit for him. The woman Dirk wanted answers from wouldn''t show up until the nationals so, unless he came strictly for Li Li… Or so Esme reasoned. Esme''s eyes lit up as she had an evil idea. "Ooh, I know. Go over there and say hi. Ask him what he''s doing here. When he inevitably comes up with the cover excuse of ''to make sure you pass the regionals'' pretend to be angry with him and have a go at him for not having any trust in you. Most guys will squirm and eventually admit why they really came!... Although... Dirk might just agree and say he doesn''t trust you... He''s a bit of a dunce from what you''ve told me of him... Hmmmm... I''ll get back to you with a plan B!"


    Ares pondered to himself for a minute and decided this girly ''will they won''t they'' didn''t really suit him, so he went to go and solve the problem himself! He innocently meandered over to the stands where Dirk and Onno were, and took a seat next to them.


    "Yo!"


    "Hey, been a while." Dirk gestured with his chin in greetings.


    "Yo." Onno''s presence was self-explanatory, he was selling food to the spectators. Hot dogs, beer, and popcorn. Well, Onno himself wasn''t doing the manual labour part of it, absolutely not, he''d hired some shmuck disciple to do it for him. Onno was still a lazy, entitled rich layabout at the end of the day, even if he''d earned the right to be as such through his own talents. There was nothing wrong with it, but it was certainly on full display here as the ''employee'' worked tirelessly in the heat. Onno did use his water magic to cool him down every now and then though, so it wasn''t completely miserable for the guy.


    Although Ares was mainly here for Dirk, he spoke to Onno first as he wanted to talk to him about something anyway. "Hey, when this is all said and done, you got a minute? I might have something for you to sell at the international, if you''re still selling food anyway."


    Onno''s interest was piqued. "I''ve heard tales of your cooking. I won''t say no to finally getting to try it, but I won''t be polite. If it isn''t good enough to sell, I won''t be mindful of your feelings."


    "Wouldn''t expect you to be. You wouldn''t be you if you cared about such things. Anyway, I''m making a batch for after the regionals, stop by at my house and I''ll let you try as many ''meebles'' as you want."


    "Oh? Your naming sense is good. I don;t know what the product is, but I''m already interested. They sound fun, which could attract children, but also trendy, like the kind of name that could really catch on with adults. Bonus points if the product is ball shaped as the ''bles'' at the end of ''meebles'' would be a homophone for ''balls''. I''m warning you now, if the food isn''t good, I''m stealing and repurposing the name."


    "Ha, of course you would. Thankfully I don''t care about those sorts of things, and it won''t be relevant anyway."


    "Someone''s confident. Well I look forward to it."


    Ares shuffled in his seat and looked past Onno straight at Dirk. "Hey, you mind if I ask you something as well while I''m here?"


    Dirk was confused as Ares having something to talk about with him was strange. Dirk and Li Li were probably the people in the neighbourhood who had spoken with Ares the least, after all. "Yeah, fire away bandito."


    This was Ares'' chance to probe! How was he going to intricately weave his investigation, subtly choosing the optimal words that would lead Dirk down a path of no return, cornering him into divulging his greatest secrets?!


    "Do you like Li Li romantically?"


    BAH GOD, ITS ARES WITH A STEEL CHAIR. Ares smacked Dirk with his blunt approach to the point the poor man was practically seeing stars.


    "... I... Uhh... What?!"


    "Do you like Li Li romantically?" Ares just did it again. He clearly was not in the mood to play detective right about now. There was tiptoeing around an issue and then there was toe-punting it, Ares was doing the latter.


    "I... I don''t know... I mean, we get along well, and I do like her... I''m just worried about this other woman... But I guess deep down I know she hates me, so maybe I shouldn''t concern myself with her. I do need to get my heart back though..."


    "Excuse me?" Now it was Ares turn to be completely lost.


    "Hm? Oh, you must not know. Haemomancer hearts are treasures. We can safely remove them and use them, but we''re usually more powerful if we keep them. I gave mine to my fiancé and I haven''t seen her since. She just kind of took it and ditched me?" Dirk sighed deeply. "My old man did warn me about her, but I was blinded by love... And her massive chest. Now I can see clearly though, flat chests are clearly the way to go!"


    "No, I don''t think that''s the issue here."


    "... Yeah, you''re right... I''m just trying to convince myself of something I don''t believe in because I''m attracted to Li Li…"


    "No, that''s not what I meant either, but whatever, I got my answer in the end, I guess. Also, don''t let Bellona ever hear you talk about flat chests like that, I''m saying it for your own good."


    "By the way, why are you even asking me this?"


    "Because Esme won''t stop hounding Li Li about you and I think she''s at least a little interested. I felt like you probably were too otherwise God knows you wouldn''t show up to the regionals. As long as I''m here, whether she makes it past the regionals is already set in stone and I know you know that."


    "Well... I mean... You did fucking nuke that one house... Its hard not to have faith in someone who can do that. You know, I wasn''t even really sure why I came myself. My feet just carried me through the door and I ended up here before I knew it. It makes more sense if I look at it that way though. I am here for Li Li, yeah. Are you gonna tell them?"


    "Yes."


    "Can I ask you not to."


    "Yes, but I won''t listen."


    "Ah fuck. Fine, do it, but you owe me a favour."


    "Why?! I''m basically doing you one here!"


    "Don''t be a bitch about it! Just do me the damn favour and I''ll owe you one in return, not that you''ll probably ever need me for anything, but just say yes damnit! I''ll need all the help I can get..."


    "What with?"


    "Getting my heart back, obviously! When my fiancé comes to town, I want you and Li Li to help me get it back. I didn''t mention this, but I have a strong affinity with my pillar, and I''m kinda a heamomancy prodigy. My heart is extraordinarily powerful and rare. I want it back. I don''t know if I can bring myself to give it away again so soon... But if I choose to, I want to be able to, damn it!"


    "Fine, I guess I can help. But why me? I''m strong, but do you really want the fireworks guy on your stealth operation? You aren''t exactly sounding like the kind of master tactician I can trust here."


    "Oh sod off, I know you work for Hans. When I realised how much of a freak you were, I had my old man look into you. Our clan has also done business with Hans, so it wasn''t too hard to find out. If you''re in that line of business, I refuse to believe you don''t know a thing or two about sneaking around."


    Ares snorted with a lopsided grin no his face. "Fine, you caught me. Is this a good idea though? There''ll definitely be security, and the location, wherever it is, will probably be packed with cultivators way stronger than us."


    "No shit sherlock. I''m working on it... And by that I mean I''m begging my old man to lend a helping hand... He said he''ll consider it if I beg some more... Look, don''t worry about it too much for now, I''ll talk in more detail when the time comes, ok?... And thanks... For offering to help with the heart... And for making things with Li Li easy. I probably would have just kept putting off being honest with her because of what happened with my fiancé... I''m wounded here, damnit! The last thing I would need is for things to be awkward with someone I really like ''cos she rejected me!"


    "Don''t worry, I''ll let her know, but I''ll also tell her that you''re unaware of what I''m doing. You''d look mighty lame if I had to do everything, so I''ll let you two slowly get closer on your own terms."


    "Thanks. You''re alright, you know that? I mean, you''ve probably got ulterior motives, you seem like the type, but help is help. I appreciate it."


    "Ha, you''re right, but its nothing major anyway. All I really want is for you to stay in this sect. Why I want capable cultivators here doesn''t matter right now, but that''s my goal. Of course I''m not holding you at gunpoint or anything, but I would recommend you stay regardless. I have big plans for this place."


    "Big plans, huh? If it''s you, they''re probably ginormous. I''d been planning on staying in this sect anyway so, yeah, you get your wish."


    Ares clapped his hands and stood up, his job here was done and he got what he wanted. Dirk was half right, half wrong about Ares'' plans. Right in that they were bigger than big, wrong in thinking they were only ''gigantic''. Ares'' plans for this sect, in terms of scale, were borderline other-worldly.