Though Enyo''s talent with controlling pressure was subpar, the raw amount of it she could wield at her discretion was considerable. Control was only something people who didn''t have tides of pressure needed to concern themselves with. Chances are, Enyo would never learn how to use pressure with finesse but, really, she had no reason to because of her unique method of utilising it. The crowd was a little weirded out by the fact that Enyo was somehow utilising pressure at such a low cultivation as that should have been impossible normally. What they weren''t aware of was the fact that Dominus was skulking around inside Ares and beating it into people whenever he was let out. Having an expert like Dominus was basically a cheat code, a shortcut to mastery at an early stage. It might have seemed odd to the crowd but where Dominus came from even young children knew how to control pressure. That was just the difference in availability of resources and tutors between some bottom of the rung domain no one had ever heard of like Sheryashka and the upper echelons of cultivation society. It wasn''t unusual to have emissaries of a pillar, cultivators that were candidates to become the next God of the pillar they worked for, teach the younger generations if the pay was deemed acceptable. Sometimes even Gods themselves would accept requests if they were bored or owed anyone a favour for whatever reason.
As for what Enyo did with the pressure, the spectators weren''t quite sure because it seemingly vanished without a trace. In its place, a bunch of see-through swords with a black tint appeared in the sky. There were roughly a hundred of them and they formed quite the sight as their awe-inspiring appearance commanded a certain kind of respect. There was a kind of holiness to them that contrasted with the black tinge, giving off the impression that retribution and murky violence could co-exist flawlessly, hand in hand. Some of the more keen eyes spectators could see all of the pressure bundled up inside these swords, turning them into extraordinarily dangerous ticking time bombs ready to detonate and wreak havoc.
The Asnoll cultivators blinked and rubbed their eyes at the sight of the sword swarm hovering above them. Before they could even recuperate from their stunned states, the swords descended and each cultivator was brutally impaled by upward of twenty swords. They looked like spiked effigies, a cluster of monuments to Enyo''s victory. They were still barely alive but that was about to change as the swords all detonated in a burst of pressure and holy fire, scattering the bloody remains of the Asnoll cultivators across the coliseum walls and floor. The exploding barriers left behind a blaze of holy fire, in the middle of which stood Enyo as she kept hugging Ares with a fierce and protective look on her face. Her hair swayed but her narrow gaze on the remainder of the corpses strewn about was steady.
And just like that, the match was over before it ever even really begun. Enyo had become a downright frightening cultivator since last night for a few different reasons. Those with a pleasure affinity, if using dedication cultivation, would get an exorbitant boost to their cultivation after losing their virginity. That was natural. Add on to that Enyo''s past self being the literal Goddess of the affinity and her colossal jump in cultivation was reasonable. Now, she was almost definitely the contender with the highest cultivation in this tournament, or at least close to it, so anyone below her was fodder and nothing more. Enyo was a prodigy from the start and adding the pressure inside her barriers made her untouchable to most people in and around her cultivation level. If you weren''t many stages higher than her then you had better be equally as prodigious to even stand a chance. But that was just half of the problem. The other half were the mutations to her magic that manifested after laying with Ares. Her ability to communicate with animals was relatively uninteresting compared to Ares, who got the lie detector, but that was then and this was now. Enyo had absolutely gotten the better deal out of her new mutations, now that she''d gone the full distance with Ares, than Ares did.
There were three mutations, all of which involved Ares'' three aspects. Usually it was random how many you got, with the average being one, but maybe being the Goddess in her past life had something to do with her great ''luck''. As for what the mutations were, for starters, the nothingness aspect had ingrained itself into Enyo''s barriers, allowing her to shape them freely. She could make them sharp, curved, or whatever else took her fancy. The point being she could now use them as tools other than just barriers. If she wanted to attack someone with them previously, slamming the barriers against her foe was her best bet. At most, she could shape them during her combination art with Ares but even that was a nightmare for her so having that limitation removed was a blessing and then some. This mutation had simplified things by a large margin for Enyo, and she was grateful for it, but that was the least impressive change of them all.
The second involved the disintegration aspect and was the reason behind the black tinge to her barriers that existed now. It was somewhat symbolic of Ares'' ''corruption'' of her and the mark he''d made, and she liked it for that reason too, but the main benefit was that all of her barriers were now covered in a thin layer of disintegration. She couldn''t use disintegration herself but the mana in the air would respond to her summoning a barrier and act automatically as it could sense Ares'' essence inside Enyo. As for what this did for her barriers on a practical level, it improved their offense and defence by an amount that was not trivial. When blocking attacks, the barriers'' extra layer would reduce the impact. When attacking a foe, the disintegration layer would hurt like hell. It wasn''t a massive layer but it was disintegration, the deadliest aspect of them all, so it really didn''t have to be.
Enyo gaining pseudo access to Ares'' disintegration aspect was borderline unfair, especially when combined with the final mutation which revolved around the annihilation aspect. The last mutation was simple, Enyo could detonate her barriers freely and they would leave behind lingering holy fire that provided the usual holy buffs. Again, simple, but highly valuable. All of these mutations combined meant Enyo had a deadly weapon at her disposal now. Attacking with barriers, and unleashing the pressure kept within, had been clunky before but now she was outright an offensive menace. If you didn''t attack her barriers, she would attack you with them and, either way, you were going to have to deal with the pressure hiding within them when the barriers inevitably detonated thanks to her new mutation giving her the final say over when it happened. Enyo now how the means to slay her opponent with ease and could no longer be considered strictly a defensive powerhouse. She still was, obviously, but if you went into a fight not expecting her to be aggressive then the hail of swords and various other objects she could now construct would correct that misunderstanding quickly. To put the final nail in the Asnoll cultivators'' coffins, the Only You art increasing Enyo''s mana meant she could launch attacks that were large / numerous in scale without any hassle on her end whatsoever. Making love to Ares, thanks to her pleasure pillar affiliation being downright absurd, had made her freakishly strong and she was currently the standout cultivator in this tournament bar none.
Ares ditched the idea of teaching her to wield a weapon. He''d been considering helping her learn to wield a spear a while back but she didn''t need it anymore. What weapon could possibly compete with these barriers that solved all of her problems anyway? Enyo didn''t even really need the shield anymore either but there was no reason to get rid of it and she was still talented with it. No matter how Ares looked at it, Enyo was stronger than he was currently. To think he''d been concerned about her cultivation previously.... Turns out her plan to rocket ahead was ingenious and worked way better than it should have. The stars had aligned and Enyo was currently reaping the rewards. Ares could tell the Enyo draped over his shoulder felt giddy and a little drunk with power. There were all sorts of emotions swirling in her serious gaze and Ares realised he was partially responsible for her crazed power trip. He''d introduced her to the world of explosions and destruction and she was clearly a fan. Enyo had always had a dominant streak in her so these magical mutations were like catnip to her and tickled her fancy in a way that left her wanting more. In fact, it looked like she wanted to try and wring more out of Ares this very instant... It wasn''t possible! She''d gotten everything she could already, there were no more mutations to be gained! You could only do it once! She was looking for excuses! Actually, considering her past, it might be possible for her to invent some kind of art that transcended logic but Ares knew she hadn''t come up with anything of the sort right now at least!
As for what mutations Ares had received; there was one major one, one minor one, and one potentially life saving one which was fitting given who Enyo was. Well, actually, all of them were fitting, that was typically how mutations worked. The life-saving measure was a secret that he would keep in his back pocket for a rainy day but the other two were just generally useful and would be a massive boon going forward as they were useful in a variety of situations. The minor one was a passive benefit that gave him permanent thin barriers on his flesh. He couldn''t feel them or anything but they were present and doing their job well. Ares would take less damage and feel less pain when struck as a result of this change and it was a welcome one for sure. Just because he was immortal that didn''t mean being punched in the face wouldn''t hurt. Revenants typically got used to pain but that didn''t mean they enjoyed it. Naturally the main benefit was that killing him had just become that much harder. This mutation, combined with his regenerative prowess which still had room to grow, turned Ares into the cockroach Enyo had once not-so jokingly referred to him as. It was also worth noting the strength of these barriers was dependent on Enyo''s cultivation and they would only get better with time.
As for the major change, and the one Ares was ecstatic to receive, it was something he''d been wondering about for a while now. He was always curious if it was possible to instil some kind of anti friendly fire protocol into his arts, specifically the annihilation ones, so that he could use them with reckless abandon. It was possible now, anyway! Thanks to Enyo, Ares could prevent his magic from tearing allies a new one and blasting them to Kingdom come unintentionally. It would now sort of just roll over them harmlessly and maybe even tickle them a bit but not actually damage them in any way. He could turn it off for whatever reason if he needed to but keeping it on for the most part was his go to as it was an incredible mutation. Part of the annihilation aspect''s biggest flaw was that using it in certain scenarios was basically impossible. Inside small buildings and around innocent civilians Ares essentially couldn''t use this magic lest he start reaping the lives of everyone around him. Now he needed no such scruples as his magic wouldn''t hit these people anyway! He also wouldn''t hit, or potentially kill, himself with his own magic anymore. Every time he''d hidden himself in Grand Annihilations prior it had always stung like hell despite it being his own art but, now, things had changed. He could even throw a Perish Wheel down at the ground and not need to escape into the void to avoid it. This was a hugely important mutation now but also in the future when Ares got stronger. His explosions would only keep getting larger in scale and having a preventative measure to stop unwanted chaos and death now, early and ahead of time, was a relief. Creating an explosion the size of a planet would be child''s play for Ares at some point and so him wanting more control over that kind of unruly power was understandable. It made a lot of sense this was something he''d receive from Enyo, the protector of the weak and innocent.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
All of that aside, the match was over and so too was the Asnoll dream. The first to fall in the tournament had been decided and it was a completely one-sided wash. It was pretty rare seeing a single member devastate an entire team as people at the international level were expected to do better and be at a higher overall level. Nobody gave the Asnoll group a hard time about it though because not only were they weak in general compared to everyone else in the tournament but also because this Enyo person was out of whack! There were some people at the peak of sensory enhancement in the audience who developed a cold sweat upon seeing that last attack. The sheer power of it was one thing but the major concern was that she didn''t even chant! These were just normal barriers?! In what universe? There had never been a defender aspect cultivator who''d even come close to the calibre Enyo was at and there would probably never be another like her ever again either. This was a person who belonged in the history books already despite her young age. Comparing her to greats throughout history would actually be doing her a disservice if anything as she was blatantly more unique than any of them. And even this was still barely scratching the surface. Currently she was using her pleasure pillar as an auxiliary but she could absolutely learn to attack and defend with it too, so her full potential really was completely unknowable right now. The betting brothers would never have rated Red Sun''s chances in the international as low as they did had they known about Enyo but, in all fairness, how could they? This was literally an overnight change that couldn''t have been foreseen by anyone other than Yulo. Not even Enyo herself had expected this. She knew she''d improve but this drastically? Not in her wildest dreams... Although that was mostly because her wildest dreams were reserved for a different matter entirely... Enyo was staring at Ares again and getting excited, even pecking him on the neck. Unleashing raw power, dominating the competition, and then claiming her reward... Enyo was getting restless and she was fed up of waiting so she dragged Ares away like some kind of aroused cavewoman while the crowd were still playing catch up in their heads over what had happened.
Even Mako was completely floored because he felt the same way Ares did about the power balance of everyone competing. He was almost sure he would lose if he went up against Enyo in her current state and he wasn''t sure how to deal with her at all. He either needed to raise his cultivation fast or come up with an art that could handle this woman specifically as she was a roadblock to being number one. As things stood, she was like a rampaging bull that couldn''t be stopped and would just shrug off any pathetic attempts to dethrone her. Even Terros was astounded by the discovery of this superhuman holy pillar cultivator that defied reason. The current holy pillar Goddess looked like a sham in comparison and the same was doubly true for the pleasure pillar God. The pleasure pillar God might as well have been a virgin hobo before Enyo in Terros'' opinion and he had no bias on the matter whatsoever. Terros had always been the most neutral of all the Gods so his opinions were valued highly by just about everyone which was also why he would be keeping this one to himself. A lot of the Gods and Goddesses were jealous creatures and wouldn''t hesitate to kill someone better than them before they could sprout their wings and take off on their cultivation path. The Anti-magic pillar God especially was a rotten bastard who would kill people that had tools to counter anti-magic even if they had no intention of defying him or interacting with him in any way. Ares'' disintegration magic alone would be enough to bother the anti magic God, let alone Quietus Edict. it didn''t matter right now as the territory of the Gods was too far away to be a problem but one day Ares would need to keep a serious eye out for that annoying bastard and his little gremlin emissaries that did his dirty work. Well, they weren''t called ''emissaries'' specifically. Each of the Gods had their own terms for their followers and would-be replacements in the event of a catastrophe that killed them. The ''exemplars'' worked for the weapons pillar God, the ''null legion'' worked for the anti-magic God, and Terros himself had the ''unbreakable bulwark'' under his command, for example... It should be noted that the dumb and ditzy lizard Ignizz did not have any followers because he was truly that hopeless. He was the first and only God to never have any followers of literally any kind. Ironically though the list of cultivators who wanted to replace him was not small, they just had zero respect for the stupid salamander.
Everyone else left the battle grounds and returned to the sect now that they were done for the day. Two days at minimum, actually, as they were promised not to have a match tomorrow which lightened their load quite nicely. Enyo especially was happy about this as she had already dragged Ares back their bedroom and knowing she had him at her disposal for the next two days was giving her a bubbly feeling in her chest. It also gave Ares an achy sensation in his groin that was a manifestation of his panic being at the mercy of this unstoppable beast but he was like a cornered rat and couldn''t escape. He''d managed to procure some pills from Allie but he wasn''t even sure if that would be enough to keep him going. His one saving grace were the banquets that Enyo had to let him go for. He had to cook!... Although she did try demanding he cook in the Primordial Blade while they were having sex... Ares had to pretend it was impossible. It wasn''t but this was too good of an excuse to give up the ghost on just yet. Also, what kind of host made the food and then ran off to make love to his wife while everyone was still eating?! Ares was starting to wonder if Enyo had any other previous lives hidden inside her, specifically if she''d ever been a damn succubus!
While Ares was being run ragged and stuck fighting for his life with all his heart, Mako was demonstrating his own power in front of the spectators in the coliseum in a grander fashion than Enyo had. He left them all equally as speechless as he looked around with a smug grin but quickly realised Ares was nowhere to be found... DAMN YOU ARES! The bastard had left the Scorched Grounds! Mako chose to go and hunt the man down and whine at him until he was satisfied so, when he left the Scorched Grounds himself, he tagged along with his mother who was going to Ares'' residence for food and Appa. he was going to gate-crash the party and have a word or two with Ares if it was the last thing he did! As a fellow fundamental he should be shown due courtesy and respect. Currently the amount of both he was receiving had fallen below acceptable levels and that needed to be rectified!... Also his mother had praised the food quite a bit and Mako figured he might as well try the bastard''s cooking while he was there. The more he knew about Ares the better his odds were at beating him! Even knowing something as meaningless as whether he was a good cook or not was something Mako saw as useful information. It didn''t matter to him whether he would ever actually get any use out of it but that wasn''t the point. It may be helpful, and that was more than enough of a reason to know.
When Ares finally managed to crawl out of the bedroom and go about cooking he noticed Mako sitting in the living room and almost turned around. He was oh so tempted to just go hide in the bedroom. In some ways it was more dangerous in there, in other ways it was less of a hassle to just deal with Mako. He saw Mako open his mouth and Ares wasn''t having any of it so he Shifted away into the kitchen to go and hide. Unfortunately Mako chased him down with Terros floating behind him.
"Why didn''t you watch my match?!"
With a tired and belaboured sigh, Ares turned to face the nuisance. "Why should I?"
"You should care! Our battle will be close and you not making any effort will be detrimental. We need to figure out once and for all who is top dog and I don''t want to hear any excuses after the match when you lose!"
"You are the only one concerned about such a thing. You won''t win anyway but I really don''t care about who wins regardless. It''s not important, we''re on the same side at the end of the day right?"
"Up until Xhilihx is dead, yes, then we are competitors. I will become the greatest cultivator to ever live and you will not stop me."
"I certainly won''t try to. The only problem is my existence will passively cock-block you so, if I were you, I would come to terms with that here and now. Also, why are you so obsessed with me specifically? There are four other fundamental champions you can go play with you know?"
"''Go play with'' my ass. Until you remove the Primordial Blade''s interference I can''t leave, you shmuck. Also, I''ve heard the destruction pillar wields the greatest power and is the direct antithesis to my own pillar. You are my biggest obstacle, not anyone else. Make no mistake, I will assert my dominance over the other champions, that''s just a matter of time, but you are here before me in the here and now and I want to settle the score here and now."
"Don''t shove your personal interests onto other people. I really don''t care about any of this. We''ll fight during the championship match, I''m sure, and you''ll get what you want then. Until that happens quit pestering me to go along with your nonsensical garbage. I''m not gonna stalk you just to get 0.01% extra advantage over you, I''m not that desperate. Are you that unconvinced you can win that you have to resort to this kind of behaviour? Is that the kind of mentality the ''greatest'' cultivator ever should even have? There''s working hard, and there''s trying too hard. You are trying too hard. So for now, ease up and tell me what you want for dinner. You''re here now, and God, in this case Terros I suppose, knows I can''t get rid of you. Stop being annoying and just enjoy yourself for once. Also, while we''re on the subject, Terros, can you eat? Do you want something or, like, should I just let you loose in the back garden so you can go consume rocks or something?"
Terros groaned. "Why is it even when you''re being polite you feel the need to mock others? You would actually be quite the tolerable person if your mouth was forcibly shut after every valid point you made before you could start spewing nonsense. No, I do not eat rocks. Yes, I do eat food and yes, I would like some if that isn''t a problem."
"Tsk, fine." Mako, seeing even Terros falter before the promise of food, had to resign himself to the party life today, but that didn''t mean this was over! He wasn''t entirely convinced by Ares'' little speech. To him, this was still a competition and always would be. "By the way, about the Primordial Blade, can you wield it yet?"
Ares shrugged and shook his head. "Not really. I could maybe stab a person with it still in its sheath or block an attack with it but that''s all. I know you want to meet the other fundamental champions, and so do I, but my hands are tied right now. You''re going to have to give me time to control this thing so I can disable the barrier it put up. Also, if you know, then I take it the Gods are all aware I have it? I was trying to keep it a secret but that doesn''t seem to be in the cards in the wider world..."
Terros nodded... Sort of? As a flying rock its gesture was more along the lines of bobbing up and down than anything resembling a nod. "That is true. Fortunately for you, by the time you can disable the barrier, you should be capable of wielding the Blade properly which will ironically aid you in defending it. Of course there will be others supporting you too. Rumour has it all of the fundamental champions have some kind of extremely rare treasure equivalent to the Primordial Blade and the organisation aiding your growth is determined to locate them all, put them in your possession, and help you safekeep them. For every person jealous of your treasures, there is someone who acknowledges you are our saviours and need to be raised with care. What''s the point of taking your treasure if our world is doomed as a result? Anyway, Mako has already found his own treasure and he isn''t exactly capable of wielding it yet either, so don''t fuss to much about not having control over the Blade..."
"TERROS!" Mako spat. "DON''T TELL HIM ABOUT MY CLASSIFIED SECRETS DAMN IT!"
"Weren''t you the one who demanded Ares tell you about his pillar to make things fair? You already know about the Blade so that''s quite the hypocritical stance, Mako."
"... Tsk, fine, but ONLY HIM!"
Ares watched the two bicker back and forth and took in the new information. It seemed he wasn''t the only one with a ground-breaking treasure at his disposal. The sooner he could wield the blade the better but it did also get him thinking... Is the Blade really useful to me the way it is now? Ares would give this thought due consideration going forward and it would eventually lead to an interesting result, but that was a long way away for now. Right now he was making dinner, and that took priority!