Aejaz walked up behind the gear folk and stabbed him in the back of the head for a quick and simple kill. The Gorilla scratched its head as it watched its master die hugging it before he slowly faded away. The Gorilla was soon to follow, as summons disappeared when their master died, but it didn''t bother attacking Aejaz; instead opting to sit there with a disappointed and perplexed look on its face. This had been an incredibly pathetic sequence of events for the Gorilla. It didn''t get to attack anything, burn its oil core, or even move around really as it had been completely bogged down by its master. It didn''t even blame him for the Harp-oon, as that clearly wasn''t his fault, he just wanted the damn fool to get off him so he could do his job! His master better apologise later and gift him a banana or two for this royal fuck up... Just like how Ares'' eagle had it''s own personality the Gorilla seemed to be a banana fanatic... Why was it always food with these creatures?... Then again, wanting food was infinitely better than wanting some kind of ritualistic sacrifice, there were definitely summons out there with a preference for those.
Anyway, Aejaz watched the Gorilla fade out, to make sure it didn''t try any funny monkey business behind his back, before turning around to help finish up the match. He wasn''t even really needed for anything, as his team would win without him if they needed to, but he figured he may as well throw his hat into the ring and speed up the process a bit. He took stock of the situation and noticed the one gear folk who was unmarked by anyone, as the difference in numbers had left her free to do whatever she pleased, chanting some kind of long form aspect art. Aejaz had no idea what it was she was doing but her summon, a floating clock, was slowly becoming more and more energetic. The hands on its face were spinning ever more rapidly with every passing word the robo muttered and, if Aejaz were to hazard a guess, the robo was chanting some kind of time based art. As it was of the reading rites pillar, it would probably be a pretty big deal if she completed it...
"No-stalgia."
... So he just ended that little complication before it could cause any trouble. Robos didn''t have a mental realm but Aejaz'' memory steal art technically wasn''t a mental attack. And even if it was, it didn''t attack the mental realm regardless. Aejaz using this art against a robo was more akin to temporarily deleting data of a hard drive. The data could be restored but, until it was, the robo couldn''t interface with what had been lost. In this case, Aejaz had targeted the robo''s collection of arts and removed the robo''s memory of them, ending her chant halfway through as she had no idea what came next. Reading rites arts were powerful but they ran the risk of being interrupted, as Aejaz had brilliantly displayed here. As for why he hadn''t used Memory Muddle, the two arts filled slightly different roles. Memory Muddle was like an indiscriminate airstrike on the person''s memories, taking everything within a very recent window no matter what was in them. It was highly effective for sneaking up on people while they were in the midst of figuring out where they were and what had just happened to them. It was better for assassination in that regard. No-stalgia was highly specific with what it could affect but could reach way further back into a person''s memories. It could effectively target categories of things and force the target to forget all instances of it throughout their entire lives. It was more restrictive but more effective. He could make someone forget how to use arts, make someone forget how to wield weapons, or even affect the way a person interacted with their own senses like that one time he made an orc forget how to breathe. Of course not all the senses could be affected in this manner as some, like sight, were always passively active. Still, Aejaz had another art to deal with that too but he wouldn''t get any use of it here as his opponents were robos and thus it was ineffective. That didn''t mean he couldn''t be a pest in other ways though. And on that note, as long as he was taking measures to support his team, there was no reason for him not to do a little bit more than he already had and throw some more of the enemy team for a loop while they were distracted by his own team members...
Enyo''s barriers had effectively sealed off the opposition from one another, separating them all so that they were forced to fight individual battles. The same was true for the neo droid locked into the same area as Enyo. He was clearly not happy to be here as he was well aware of the difference in strength between them. His one solace was that Enyo wasn''t going all out right off the rip, for whatever reason, so he would at least get a chance to attack her before meeting his untimely demise. The robo summoned his spark box, split it into multiple pieces, and had it shift its shape into various forms. Guns, rocket launchers, tasers, flamethrowers, sentries... He summoned them all so that he could go all out with his next, and almost definitely final, art in a blaze of glory.
"Unload!"
Although the gun aspect, under the weapons pillar, was typically only useful for specific ranged weaponry, there was one relatively well-known art that benefitted an entire arsenal regardless of what type of weapons you had deployed and that was the one the robo had just chanted. The premise was simple, all of the weapons at his disposal became overclocked and tripled their fire rate. Any unmanned weapons would automatically aim and fire at the nearest, or designated, target. Manual reloading was unnecessary during the five second duration in which this art was active as all weapons would have infinite ammo (provided the ammo wasn''t something equivalent to a nuke anyway). Even melee weapons could automate during this period and attack targets by themself provided the cultivator was strong enough to wield them in addition to the other weapons. It sounded powerful, and undoubtedly was, but it was best used as a last ditch option because of the drawback associated with it. Every weapon buffed by this art would overheat afterwards for, give or take, ten whole seconds making them completely unusable. Ranged weapons wouldn''t fire and melee weapons would be too hot to hold. Any cultivators who relied on ranged weaponry to do their bidding would be screwed by this if they went all in and didn''t win.
Unload was high risk, high reward. Sort of similar to All Or Nothing in that there was no going back once this art was cast. Many pillars had something similar it''s just that these arts were infrequently learnt and used because this strategy was shied away from by the more cautious crowd of cultivators. This robo''s spark box was pretty good at transforming into a large quantity of weapons, though, so it was kind of a natural fit to his core gameplan in a fight. Typically he would only use it near the end of a fight but he was aware if he hesitated he wouldn''t even get a chance. Right now was his best bet to aid his team by doing everything he could before being outclassed by Enyo and sent to the resurrection platform. If he could at least damage her and slow her down for the rest of his team they might be able to bring forth some kind of miracle via his sacrifice... Although he really wished it had been anyone else in this position. He didn''t gripe about it but he was probably the strongest member on the team. He was versatile with a wide range of powerful weaponry and packed a serious punch if given the time and room to make full use of his individual weapons. He was supposed to be near the back line but Enyo''s barriers had complicated the issue. If he hadn''t been so unlucky he could have put up a way better fight against either Li Li or Esme. Enyo, a defensive cultivator, was a hard counter to him which made him want to cry at the unfairness of it all. Even still, he did his best and silently prayed under the hovering, revving weaponry to his left and right that things would go his way.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT BAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM ATATATATATATATATATATAT
All manner of fully automatic weaponry Unloaded their ammunition, raining down mayhem onto Enyo''s location with a deafening roar. Milliseconds before the tide of lead, fire, and electricity swamped Enyo, she could be heard muttering the word ''Reinforcement'' and be seen raising her shield. She summoned no barriers and made no effort to dodge because this was what she was testing this match; the last two runes she hadn''t used on her shield. Tremor and Blinding were highly effective, and she knew that thanks to the match against the Bhorashka furries, so now it was time for Reinforcement and one other rune she had kept in her back pocket. Her raised shield was battered under the initial weight of the onslaught and she was quickly hidden behind a dusty veil as the floor around her was torn to shreds. Whatever damage was being done to her couldn''t be seen beyond the smoke of the muzzles or the chaos of the bullets kicking up dirt. All anyone knew, be they spectator or combatant, was that the incredibly loud Unloading of countless hundreds of bullets, rockets, and various other lethal projectiles were hitting their mark. Now the only question was how effective were they? Only time would tell as the five second overclock ended and Enyo''s form was slowly being revealed to the onlookers. For the Red Sun supporters the wait was agonizing. This was their star player! For some reason she hadn''t summoned any of her barriers either so if anything had happened to her this match could very well go south here and now. The veil of dust settled and Enyo was seen standing around without a single scratch. Not a dent in her armour, not a red mark on her beautiful skin, not a frown on her face nor a bead of sweat anywhere on her body at all. The Red Sun supporters were united in their relief as they collectively sighed, letting the built up tension out of their system. That was their first reaction, the second was the same as everyone else''s... This woman was a damn TANK! No, seriously, wasn''t Enyo a barrier wielder? Why was she still so effective without them? Wasn''t she basically unkillable? That barrage was no joke and any normal cultivator would be a bullet-ridden, charred, and zapped corpse right about now. Li Li, Aejaz, Esme, hell even Ares all would have been murdered or grievously wounded at the minimum if they''d taken that art head on... Enyo''s first performance had been a shock to the system but what she''d done this match just now was arguably even more impressive.
Enyo rolled her stiff shoulders and lowered her shield. She was pleased with the result of Reinforcement because she could gauge roughly how much it improved her shield. It effectively doubled its resilience for as long as it was active. Now, mind you, that wasn''t the reason she took the hit. Enyo was basically a rhinoceros and would have been ok even without the Reinforcement... In fact, she likely would have been ok even if she didn''t have the shield... Wounded to some extent, maybe with a hole or two in her body, but still able to walk it off. Yes her barriers and her offensive pressure were monstrous but, at the end of the day, this was still her true calling. She would forever be a true behemoth, as impervious to damage as a literal mountain of steel. She''d only used Reinforcement as a test, not because it was necessary. The recoil from the Unload raining down on her shield didn''t even numb her hands or move her an inch backwards. Stalwart, immoveable, and undauntable. That was Enyo. Honestly, she could probably have stood still against the entire enemy team, let them all unleash their strongest attacks simultaneously, and still come out the other side alive. Her armour, her tough flesh, and her resilient will were all astounding. And of course none of this was even touching on her barriers... Add those into the mix and Enyo''s ascent to immortality almost seemed unnecessary. Other than age what could realistically kill her?! She called Ares a cockroach once but that was incredibly ironic considering her unbreakable nature. If anyone was surviving the apocalypse it was this woman. And it''s not like this was her limit or anything. She''d recently learned how to dual cultivate and temper her body via Ares''. Her stamina and toughness were only ever increasing. Calling Enyo a prodigy was an understatement as she was starting to inch ever closer to the territory that only fundamental champions should ever reach. No wonder Mako had been scared shitless of this woman, realistically no one in her realm should be feeling confident in her presence. Had she been born during any other time period, in which the fundamental champions didn''t exist, she would undoubtably be the number one prospect for world''s strongest of the newest generation. It wasn''t even close...
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The robo had exhausted everything but he was still able to try and retreat at least. If he could escape during his weapon''s downtime, and regroup with his team, he might get to go again... Although what use that would be against Enyo he didn''t know but trying again was better than giving up and doing nothing. He turned around and, inexplicably, suddenly lost his vision. he couldn''t see anything anymore and no matter what he did he couldn''t fix it. He floundered around with his hands to try and figure out what was happening, only to realise the circuitry in his head was incomplete! Completely gone! In its place, all that remained was some lingering darkness pillar magic but that didn''t answer his question. If he''d known a bit more about his opponents he would have understood that Aejaz had just stolen one of his vital components from right out of his head. Aejaz could steal vision temporarily but that meant nothing against robos who technically didn''t have any vision anyway. Their ''vision'' was like that of a projector and so it was far better for him to steal the wiring that enabled the robo''s ''eyes'' to function. Plus, if it worked, Aejaz could permanently deny the robo''s vision as those wires weren''t going to be returned to him ever. Unless he died and resurrected those things belonged to Aejaz now as they were a physical, stealable entity as opposed to a sense. In that regard, fighting Aejaz as a robo was actually a delicate tightrope act because screwing up and letting him take from you even once had dangerous repercussions. Aejaz couldn''t steal body parts from a human, but robo body parts were essentially just metallic objects he could pilfer at any given time. Now that he was freed up and had free reign to throw his weight around, the robos were realising Enyo was not the only problem on this Red Sun team. Actually, Aejaz might have just become the biggest threat of all given what they''d now discovered he was capable of. Even just from a theoretical standpoint, the Red Sun team was brutal to fight against. Enyo was the wall, Aejaz was the tricky nuisance that debilitated you if you stopped paying attention to him, and Ares would be the aggressor that wiped out your team if given any leeway to blow everything up. The problem was that Aejaz and Enyo were also powerhouses in their own right so Ares wasn''t even really needed. No wonder he didn''t show up... If he was as powerful as Mako the fight would be boring. It couldn''t even really be called a fight at that point, more like heaven''s favourites bullying random strangers.
As for the blind robo, he heard Enyo chant the name of the final rune she''d yet to experiment with and he couldn''t be bothered to try anymore. He didn''t know which way was up or down, his weapons were still cooling down, his teammates were too busy to support him, and now Enyo was supposedly going to ''Impale'' him. He heard a shing noise and assumed, correctly, that Enyo''s shield had grown multiple spikes on the front that could pierce anyone foolish enough to get to close. That, or anyone who was incapable of escaping her line of sight... And guess who that just so happened to be right now?
CRASH
Charging like an angry bull seeing red, Enyo had barrelled into the robo at an impressive speed. Her armour really didn''t seem to slow her down in the slightest as, even without her holy buffs, she''d made good time on the charge. As for what happened on contact with the neo droid... Well... It kinda broke... The robo''s chest was, as expected, Impaled cleanly but the force behind the ramming was so mighty the robo''s head, legs and arms separated from its body and flew backwards across the arena. The collision had scattered every body part Enyo''s shield didn''t run a spike through, instantly killing the blind robo on the spot. It was like watching a shovel truck run over a toy robot. The death was swift and merciless but Enyo was displeased with the outcome. The spikes had been effective, yes, but the robo clearly would have died anyway. She wanted to know how lethal the spikes were and it was hard to gauge from just this. Though it was grim, she''d hoped the robo would have lived a little longer so she could analyse the damage dealt to it. Even from this test though, she could at least hazard a guess that the spikes were potent at dealing death. It had pierced a robo''s metallic frame, after all, so flesh was also in the cards. Not the most valuable tool in her shed, but good enough to take an opponent by surprise if they managed to get in on her... Although how they would do that considering the strength of her barriers was anyone''s guess. Enyo was basically a mobile fortress that would grow a pair of teeth and chomp you if you ever even dared to walk up to her.
This would have left three robos on the enemy team but Li Li had just finished melting another robo''s head off. She''d beaten it into submission and gripped its head in her grasp, heating up her hands until the robo melted into a puddle. It was a rather violent death as far as robos were concerned but Li Li wasn''t one to be gentle. She''d also been training hard as of late so her overall power level had increased a bit. In the grand scheme of things, comparatively to anyone else in the competition, she was roughly slightly above average. Strong enough to win most one vs ones but not strong enough to do anything more or be a real stand out. The same was also true of Esme but Esme had yet to actually kill her opponent. That wasn''t because she was weaker than Li Li, quite the opposite, it''s just that her fighting style was a slower affair that wore out the opponent. She prodded at range with her wind magic while forcing her opponent to come to her... If they could navigate all the traps she''d laid out in secret, anyway. So no, there weren''t three robos left, there were two; one of which was already half dead and the other was still unable to cast arts thanks to Aejaz'' earlier interference. In case it wasn''t obvious this match had been lost already, it was just a matter of how much longer the robos pointlessly clung to life. Or more like how long Enyo allowed them to live. She was already gearing up to end the match now that she''d gotten what she wanted out of it. The robos could crawl back to their broken country on their knees for all she cared because right now her promiscuity radar was having a field day! And clearly so was Ares! Enyo wasn''t jealous of Bellona but if she was getting the nice treatment there was no reason Enyo couldn''t be on the receiving end of some kisses too! This ability sort of spawned out of left field for Enyo but she was pretty confident it had something to do with a mixture of dual cultivating with Ares, having his heart on her person at all times, and her strong pleasure pillar affiliation. Regardless of how she got it, she was pretty overjoyed to have it. It meant she could butt in and join in on the fun times!
The robo with the clock eventually managed to overcome Aejaz'' No-stalgia art by resetting its saved data to its previous state. Normal people would have had to wait No-stalgia out or force the art out of them with mana but this unique approach was available to robos. Some things regarding Aejaz were worse for robos, some were better. She took stock of the situation and immediately wished what she was seeing was some kind of visual bug because the tide had shifted so drastically in under a minute. They were one man, or rather robo, up at the start of the match and now... Now they were on the fast track to losing! She shook her head and readied herself to cast an art but gasped when a barrier shaped like a spike pierced her vocal box. The gasp was hoarse and raspy as the vocal box sputtered to a halt, preventing her from making anymore noise while Enyo detonated the barrier, finishing of the clock-summoning robo before she could use any of her time arts and delay the end of this match. Enyo wanted out and nothing was going to stop her!...
... And it seemed like the last robo realised that. The last remaining team member for Neo Gear was the neo droid that wasn''t altogether too keen on working with gear folk and, yet, he was sad to see them all die. He''d been run ragged by Esme and now the entire enemy team was staring him down with no one to cover his back. The temptation to just throw his hands in the air and surrender was great because no amount of effort he made was going to change a damn thing but he also knew that if he did, he would become an object of scorn in the newspapers back home. He didn''t really care about anything else, he just didn''t want to be slandered by people who didn''t understand how impossible this match truly was. Rather than make his forfeit obvious, he ''accidentally'' stepped on one of Esme''s Wind Mines and was blown across the arena until he landed directly in front of Enyo. She was the strongest one here, seemed to want the match to be over and done with, and could kill him the quickest of all his foes. His little stunt had been acted out well and no one would be any wiser about his intentions! He''d even fired off a few bits of fire magic as a sort of ''final struggle'' to make it more believable. This might have all sounded scummy, and maybe to a certain degree it was, but the guy really had no hope whatsoever. Damned if he tried, damned if he died. Might as well make his death as painless as possible in a situation like that! And painless it was. Enyo looked down at the robo like he was some kind of insignificant worm before flattening him with a barrier and walking away. The fight was over and the talisman had, yet again, not even been a consideration. Esme had it the whole time and yet the Red Sun team had been aggressively picking fights as though the Neo Gear team had possession of it. Some other matches during the tournament had come down to time already but it was abundantly clear to anyone with eyes none of the Red Sun matches would ever be decided in such a manner.
The team left the arena to the sound of cheers and claps, congratulated each other, then went their separate ways. Enyo headed off to the pagoda to go check in on Ares and Blo Blo and see how things were progressing on their end as well as inform them of the victory she''d just earned. They were probably expecting as such but any excuse to go and say hello was still an excuse at the end of the day. It didn''t need to be a good one! Besides, there weren''t going to be any matches for the next couple of days as they were all being spread out a bit more now that the competition was thinning and getting into the more intense stages. Ares would probably live in the pagoda going forward, until he completed it, so Enyo wanted to at least see him a bit before he basically disappeared for good. Of course she could very well come here and check up on him whenever but leaving the sect and coming all the way here for just that was unnecessary... Unless Ares was willing to create a Zone with his Prowler that they could have some private fun in... Honestly, that was what Enyo was really hoping for. In her defence, now that she was dual cultivating, it technically counted as training! Yeah! She just really wanted to train hard before the next match! That was all! No ulterior motives whatsoever!
Enyo arrived at the pagoda and regrettably didn''t find Ares but she did spy her sister skulking about with a silly smile on her face. Either Bellona was waiting for Ares like a giddy school girl or she''d just met him and he''d left after giving her attention. Either way, it wasn''t hard for Enyo to tell Ares was involved as Bellona wasn''t one to go around randomly smiling like this. This was a good opportunity, though, as Enyo had been wanting to suggest something to Bellona anyway. Put simply, when Bellona made it to floor four, Enyo wanted her to come and fetch Enyo so they could both pay a visit to Candy and all have a girls talk together. Ares had mentioned that Candy was a bit down in the dumps after he left her floor so Enyo decided to go check in, and make sure she was doing fine, while introducing her to Bellona. Ares popping up again would just lead to more heart ache when he was forced to say goodbye a second time but it wasn''t so bad if it was just Enyo and Bellona. So, with that in mind, Enyo went up to her sister and said hello! By groping her from behind! Enyo truly had no shame...