The following day had been a relatively quiet one thus far. All Ares had left to accomplish was annihilation enhancement and he didn''t have to fight Veteran to make any progress on that end. He''d mostly been sitting around cultivating and trying to merge his mana into his enhancement with only the occasional break to chat with Veteran about life outside the pagoda. The enhancement merging wasn''t going terribly but it wasn''t exactly going brilliantly either. Ares figured he was missing something, and just trying to force it wasn''t going to get him anywhere, so he considered his options. Option 1; unlikely but maybe his body just couldn''t handle the annihilation mana right now which was why it was rejecting it. Option 2; he had a fundamental misunderstanding about how the process worked and what he was trying to do now was wrong. Option 3; he just needed more time and rushing things wasn''t going to get him anywhere. Ares chose option number two as that seemed to be the most realistic option of the three. Option one was a no go because Ares could already run annihilation man through his body as is. Yes mixing it with pressure might complicate the process but not to this extent. Option three was also unlikely because he''d been able to utilise his bloodline quite easily before and it shouldn''t be too much of a struggle now. Ares could summon physical pressure merged with annihilation mana in a matter of seconds and he''d learnt the technique rapidly too so the chances of annihilation merging with pressure randomly slowing to a crawl for this specific step were low. Currently, Ares was attempting to enhance himself then shove the annihilation mana in and, although it was ''working'', the pace was unbearably slow. It would take Ares years at this rate to get this step over and done with. If he merged the two before trying to push it into his body he got physical pressure instead and that was clearly not right either... What was the missing piece of the puzzle? Usually the answer was ''mana'' but here the problem, annoyingly, was mana. Only his annihilation mana could be merged so the other two were pointless... Wait a minute, maybe not?
Ares felt like an idiot for missing something so blatantly obvious but... What if he merged the pressure and the annihilation mana using nothingness? The issue was that the annihilation mana couldn''t follow the pressure properly as it flowed into him but, if Ares overlayed the pressure with nothingness, he could just Shift the mana on top of it! He couldn''t mix pressure with nothingness but he didn''t need to, all he needed to do was mark the pressure with nothingness! It would work!... Or he might explode! It was kind of a fifty fifty toss up at this point. Shoving that much annihilation mana into his body on one go was a bold move. Still, he had no other solutions rattling around in his brain... And yet he was still hesitant to do it. This seemed like the kind of thing that would backfire HARD if it went poorly. The ramifications would be unthinkable if he permanently damaged his body... But he was also a revenant, no? Wouldn''t it heal? Ares didn''t know at this point as he had so many questions and so few answers. No one could bail him out here either as neither Dominus nor Veteran had any clue about what would happen to him. Afterall, this was Ares'' unique bloodline. It was never before seen so the intricacies were completely unknowable until Ares himself figured it out. What Ares could do, at least, was only try this approach on a small part of his body. Somewhere insignificant like his pinkie toe! He was still risking a body part but it was one he could do without if things went catastrophically wrong. Plus there were almost always treasures out there that could heal ''irreparable'' wounds so Ares wasn''t too fussed. What? There were resurrection treasures but a destroyed pinkie toe was impossible to regenerate?! Ares didn''t buy it for a second! And of course that was even if things went wrong. It very well might not and all this hubbub would have been for naught. Still, the old adage that nothing good in the cultivation world ever came easy was likely going to prove itself once again.
Ares ran pressure through his body and followed it up by sending nothingness mana down the same passageways. Coating the pressure in nothingness was a cinch, as was expected, but the worrisome part came next... Ares enhanced his toe and took a deep breath. The second he Shifted some annihilation mana in as well he would find out once and for all just how bad things were going to be during this next step. With one final gulp, Ares commenced his experiment with the click of a finger. "SON OF A B......................................................."
Numerous expressive expletives, colourful curses, and spellbinding swears came flying from Ares'' lips as he hollered in agony. His golden toe, albeit gone now, indicated his plan had been fruitful but the swollen flesh and engorged veins around his foot painted a picture of pure torment. A single toe had been this bad... Or rather was still this bad. It took nearly thirty minutes for the toe to calm down and for Ares to start breathing again normally after having been rolling around in pain for what felt like an eternity. That shit hurt! Though true, Ares'' internal statement was the least of his issues. He''d realised something truly horrid during that thirty minute time period, something he was trying to distract himself from thinking about. He was complaining in the present to avoid dwelling on the torturous future that awaited him... Enveloping his toe in annihilation enhancement was progress... One percent progress... That reset the second Ares gave up... In other words, Ares was going to have to do what he''d just done to his toe, to the entire rest of his body all at once in order to get annihilation enhancement up and running for good...
It was another calibration process but this one was infinitely quicker whilst also being infinitely more painful. He could unlock annihilation enhancement in under a second but the repercussions would last for upwards of thirty minutes, all the while he would be in the most severe pain imaginable. No, that was underselling it, the pain would be UNimaginable! It would be worse than anything else he''d experienced thus far, that was for sure. Pulling out his own eyeballs and the original calibration of enhancement had nothing on this. It was just his toe and yet Ares had been tempted to cut the damn thing off to make the suffering end. It was like having ten severe abscesses spawn on his foot and all start throbbing in sync with one another. AND THAT WAS JUST ONE TOE?! If Ares covered the rest of his body in that... Well he already knew how much worse it would be because he knew the toe counted as one percent... In other words, the pain would be a hundred times worse AND spread out across his entire body... Was it worth it? Was annihilation enhancement really worth subjecting himself to that nightmarish hell? He knew the answer was ''yes'' but the word ''NO'' was plastered in the blank void in his brain and kept multiplying every time he tried to convince himself it was necessary. He needed the power to protect what he cared about and destroy anything that impeded his progress. It was essential to him and he knew he would need it at some point. This was foundational and would never leave him, a talent that would stick with him forever! He knew he needed it, and he knew there was no running away...
Ares did check with Veteran but he delivered the bad news that, once again, he had no suggestions or ways out. He mentioned there were some painkiller type medicines that existed in the wider world but that did diddly squat for Ares right now. The more time Ares spent dawdling while trying to come up with alternatives, the more he understood a very simple truth. He was fucked! The hard way was the only way and it wasn''t going to get any easier the longer he put it off. Ares found a quiet spot in one of the buildings and put up a Noise Cancellation barrier because his screams of pain were going to be shameful and he knew it! He didn''t want Veteran hearing that... He didn''t want anyone hearing that... If he was going to go through with it, he at least wanted to do it in private damn it! Plus he was going to look U.G.L.Y with a fully swollen body and there was no reason to show that off to anyone either. Granted it wasn''t like it was his fault or anything, his body struggling to cope with the raw power of annihilation enhancement was only natural. Hell, he was concerned about exploding earlier but anyone other than Ares would have, in fact, literally done precisely that. Only Ares could safely inject himself with destruction mana to that extent thanks to his affiliation.
Now that everything was set up and he was good to go, Ares... Did nothing! Well he was sweating but that was more of an involuntary reaction than anything wilful. Ares kept repeatedly doing a countdown in his head to kick things off but every time it landed on zero he winced and chickened out. Some people may have called him a coward but if you were faced with a choice to willingly throw yourself head first into a vat of acid you might hesitate too! If anything, what Ares was about to do would be even worse than that... He would pull the trigger when he was good and ready! So what if he needed a few extra seconds?! A few extra minutes? A few extra days?... Ok, now he was just procrastinating!
Slap
Slap
Ares palmed his cheeks and prepared himself for the worst, this time for real! He was gonna do it! He was really gonna do it! The pressure was in place! The Shift was ready to go!
...
...
...
Ares, with a solitary tear in his eye, slowly raised his right hand with his finger poised to click. "Sayonara world..."
Click
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All manner of unholy screams emanated from the building Ares was convulsing inside of. Despite putting up a sound barrier his wails were so loud Veteran could still partially hear them from down the street. His incomprehensible fumbled jargon was less a cry for help and sounded more like a summing ritual for Satan himself. Banshees would cower in awe at the lungs on Ares right about now. He was huddled up in a corner and that was about all that could be made out of him in the current moment in time due to the swelling on his body. He was like a veiny bundle of beige pillows making noises akin to that of a dying pig. This was the squealing sound of progress! The thought that he''d accomplished his end goal here spurred him on to tough it out which reduced the overall decibels of his screaming by at least a quarter. That wasn''t enough to silence him, not even remotely, but he was doing marginally better and that was better than nothing. Any silver lining was worth its weight in gold and Ares wasn''t going to be picky in a situation like this. He was also somewhat consoled by the fact that it couldn''t get any worse. He''d jumped off the deep end and now his body was gradually drifting back to the shallower side. He''d somewhat underestimated the time it would take to be free from his misery, as thirty minutes later he wasn''t even halfway done with his recovery just yet, but luckily the pain and swelling were both reducing significantly by this point so he could at least sit back up with some effort. Rather than a mass of flesh, he now simply looked a bit chubby around the edges. This would go in due time, along with the remainder of the pain still pricking away at him like a thousand bumblesharks, so Ares weathered the storm silently and patiently. Now that he''d crossed this hurdle he never needed to do it again! Unless he reset his pressure calibration somehow... According to Veteran there was some kind of fountain capable of enabling it but unless someone kidnapped Ares and chucked him in there against his will he wasn''t going anywhere near the damn thing! Do this again?! Not a chance!
Another thirty minutes later and Ares was back to normal. It was almost like a dream; the smoothness of his skin compared to previously was heavenly and the absence of pain was enough to make a grown man cry. Ares stretched and stood up with a sigh as if he were an old man or something. His legs were briefly wobbly but he steadied them shortly after and walked out of the building in tip top shape. There was one destination left for him in this floor and that was the same location where it all started. Inside the original high rise where Veteran had been leaning up against the wall when Ares first met him. It was where all his bouts with Veteran begun and this last fight would be no different. He climbed up the staircase and entered the same worn down room he was familiar with before looking over at Veteran and giving him a thumbs up. "Not even that painful!"
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"Kid... Who do you think you''re fooling? I heard you screaming from here.... You were like a shrieking horse being grinded into glue. Worse even. It sounded like you invented an entirely new language just so you could scream in it... One that was quite grating on my ears too."
"Ok ok ok I get it... Never tell anyone, you hear me! Everyone has their low moments! Don''t go and gossip about mine you bastard!"
"My lips are sealed as long as yours are. No, seriously, please never make that noise again?"
"Alright you shmuck, now you''re just asking for a beating! Prepare yourself, I''m done playing nice with you. Today is the day you die, Veteran, at least try and put up a fight or I''ll be incredibly disappointed!"
"I take it you accomplished your goal, then? Congratulations. I won''t sit here and pretend I can beat you any longer, I know better than to waste my breath on pointless defiance, but I won''t go out in such a pathetic manner at least. With or without my sword and my magic I will give you the bare minimum resistance needed for this to even count as a duel, I swear it. This may be egoistic but I am the only person left capable of such a feat. I can''t guarantee I''ll last five minutes, or even maybe one, but I''ll resist one of your attacks even if I''m nothing more than a walking skeleton by the end of it!"
"I admire your determination but I worry it''s nothing more than baseless bluster. Even I don''t know how strong the annihilation enhancement is so it''s up to you to find out. Don''t feel too bad if you can''t live up to your promise; I don''t say this often but I really am special you know? I wish you the best of luck in your struggle, futile though it very well may be." Ares was genuine when he wished Veteran luck. If the poor guy couldn''t withstand even a single blow then his pride would be in tatters. That was why he emphasised more the route of simply accepting that what was coming Veteran''s way was in no way, shape, or form his fault. Veteran''s pressure was something no other non-fundamental champion could match so there was no shame in the loss he was about to take. Hell, even the other fundamental champions were people he could bully, just not Ares! There was only a single person throughout existence capable of toppling him in his area of expertise. Yes, predictively, the gap had just become completely insurmountable, and it was a brutal truth, but he had no reason to feel dismayed over the results of the next match! Ares wasn''t going to hold back. He needed to test his annihilation enhancement properly and it was up to Veteran to decide how he felt about the situation, not for Ares to manipulate him or coddle him in any way by letting him survive an attack. Besides, Veteran was mentally a resilient person. No one went through what he did during the war without toughening up their willpower inadvertently even a little. Also his real self would be too overjoyed at getting his magic back to care about something as pedestrian as falling from number one to number two. As far as Ares knew, Veteran was also the only person in the world with an affiliation for every single pillar. There could very well be others coming out of the woodwork but he was unique in that regard for now. Veteran was a special guy in his own right with bigger issues to worry about than Ares overtaking him in his own lane... Humiliating though it already was and would be after this match. Ares could tell his annihilation enhancement was going to make a mockery out of Veteran... The one split second he had it active at the start of his calibration he felt like he could punch a hole through a planet. Granted that was obviously not true but one of Bellona''s meteors?... Forget a hole, he might actually be able to pulverise it on the spot...
Veteran was also acutely aware of this. When Ares activated annihilation enhancement he felt a golden reaper lay its scythe across his neck. The horror of that instant could not be encapsulated in an explanation that made any logical sense because it transcended all forms of common knowledge. Veteran was almost hesitant to believe what Ares did was pressure related at all because it felt so alien to him. The fact that it was even possible to push pressure that far insulted Veteran to his core. He felt it unfair that only a single person would ever be able to drive pressure to such heights as it was a waste of reality''s resources. Everyone could theoretically use pressure but only a single one throughout history could do that? It was disheartening because Veteran felt like it was the kind of thing the world should get to see!.. Well they would now if Ares had anything to do with it at least. Deep down Veteran wished he could also do it but the bloodline belonged to Ares and there was nothing he could do about it... Actually, maybe the owner of the fountain had some kind of clue? Surely the ability to share a bloodline existed in some form somewhere? Maybe it wasn''t impossible after all... In fact, Veteran decided he would spend some time searching for a method after visiting the fountain! For the first time in a long while, Veteran felt excited to explore the wide world once more and restart his cultivation journey!
Ah but that was then and this was now. Right now he was going to have to go up against that very golden supremacy and he secretly dreaded it. He was somewhat envious but more so scared. Although he''d been losing every match he never truly felt like he was a cornered lab rat or some kind of prey being hunted down by a predator. Yes Ares was blatantly stronger but a loss was just another loss. What came next had put actual hesitancy in Veteran partially because of how superior annihilation enhancement was compared to anything he could muster but also because he was going to die here. He was going to experience the very same fate that had taken away so many of his brethren... It was an uncomfortable feeling despite not even being real. If he felt like this now, while he was nothing more than a simulation with infinite lives, how must those who faced real death have felt? Not even just the allies on his side during the war but also those who died at his hand... Although he already knew it, this was another stark reminder to Veteran that war was an atrocious calamity, one that people should strive to avoid not start. And yet he knew that when he returned there would be news of all sorts of wars taking place as that was just the status quo in the cultivation world... How unfortunate. But it also reminded him that that was why cultivators went to such lengths, why people like Ares went through the hassle of attaining his annihilation enhancement. It was to live through those catastrophic events. Veteran was no different. So, although somewhat frightened, the death looming over him didn''t dissuade him from his path but rather served as a form of encouragement to try harder. The second he was out of this pagoda he would put the pedal to the metal. If he lived through a single attack, he would be proud. If he didn''t then he would be determined instead. Veteran could tell Ares was somewhat concerned about his current state but he didn''t have to be. Veteran was made of sturdier stuff and could handle a setback or two!... As long as you ignored the ''loss of his magic'' saga but that was different! He actually had no control over his emotions when it happened to him. It was like losing a core part of his body; like he just stopped producing endorphins all of a sudden. Even that was an understatement as depression practically clung to his soul and chewed away at it. It wouldn''t kill him per se but it would drive him to kill himself eventually. That was a good example of the kind of downside that was commonly associated with such a profound talent or boon.
Ares and Veteran lined up in front of one another and all was silent as the stare down was now underway. In many ways this was pointless as both of them knew precisely what the first move was going to be... Veteran turned around and bolted for a window to escape again! There was a chance Ares wouldn''t use his telekinesis, as he was going to try out his annihilation enhancement, but there was no reason for Veteran to risk it and hang around inside this death-trap.
GROWL
Before Veteran jumped out the window the world around him changed significantly. The low pitched rumbling of a golden monster lodged itself in his ears as a golden tide swept through the city. Ares'' mere presence was tinging everything in the colour of regal splendour. The once dull city now shone like El Dorado thanks to Ares'' all-encompassing Midas touch. This golden world was suffocating as Ares'' normal pressure was ever-present everywhere his golden rays touched. It was like entering a pharaoh''s burial site. This was Ares'' domain right now and he was in full control of everything he deemed worth lording over. His presence was permeating through the air and, although Veteran couldn''t see him, he could feel Ares breathing down his neck at all times. The aura of destruction was pervasive and invaded his body, constantly causing internal strife and discomfort. Walking through a golden minefield was another very applicable comparison to traversing this golden zone. The second Veteran felt all of this he almost threw up. It all weighed so heavily on him that he wanted to sit in a corner and cry. It was inescapable too as the golden mirage encompassed his entire being.
He wanted out of this madness so he leapt through the nearest window, bracing himself on the off chance Ares was flinging another car at him. Unfortunately something far worse awaited him outside, Ares himself. His form was resplendent and hard to look at without a burning sensation creeping into Veteran''s eyes and scalding his brain. How Ares had gotten here before him Veteran didn''t know and didn''t care, he just wanted to run away again. He was outside the building so that wasn''t why he wanted to escape anymore, it was just because he couldn''t stand in front of Ares any longer. It was abusive. He couldn''t look at him properly and he most certainly couldn''t raise a fist in his direction either. Veteran was hyperventilating as golden dust filled his lungs and created sparkles in his vision. Drowning in solid gold was the only feeling he was permitted to experience as all his senses were dyed in that bright golden colour reflecting off every surface. He could taste gold, smell the metallic scent of riches, see gold embracing all things, feel gold encroaching upon his skin, and hear a faint but never-ending golden shimmer tickling his ear.
Veteran jumped back inside the building and ran over to the staircase. He rapidly bound up a flight and found Ares standing in the doorway, silently staring at him. Veteran freaked out and leapt directly up another flight only to find Ares blocking his path again, still unmoving and unflinching. Veteran jumped out the window but Ares was still in his path, standing idly on the street. Veteran ran sideways to jump into another building but every single doorway and hallway he dared venture towards was the wrong choice as Ares was waiting ahead of him every step of the way.
Veteran scrambled to do a U-turn and run into another room. He was thankful to the Gods Ares didn''t seem to be in his path yet again so he entered, turned, and shut the door while backing up against the wall behind him... He eventually couldn''t move anymore but he had yet to even traverse half the room which meant something else was behind him. The ''wall'' behind him was one made of ephemeral gold but remained as solid as real gold. Ares'' towered above Veteran as he stood ominously still behind the man who wasn''t sure where to go or what to do after backing into the menace. He couldn''t take any more steps back as Ares passive aura was impenetrable to him. Even if he went all out and attacked it with his strongest pressure attack, using a sword no less, he wouldn''t even scratch Ares anymore. He couldn''t move forward because his feet weren''t obeying him and he was incapable of fighting anymore. He couldn''t even bring himself to turn around but, for the benefit of his sanity, he didn''t have to.
Ares seemed intent on ending the fight now as Veteran was clearly not going to be a suitable test subject. The pagoda''s restrictions on him were now way too overturned for him to be relevant to Ares anymore. Maybe if their cultivations were equal would Veteran be able to withstand even a single, proper hit... Maybe not even then, honestly. Ares had become a being that was so far above Veteran, the guy couldn''t see him anymore even if he had a telescope on his person. Ares would have appreciated some actual training with annihilation enhancement but it wasn''t going to make any notable differences at this point. It massively boosted his physical state to unnatural levels but Ares could handle that perfectly fine and it didn''t change anything compared to how he went about using regular enhancement anyway. It didn''t reveal any new, hidden pathways for Ares, it was basically just Ares times ten... Or more like Ares times fifty but you get the point. For the sake of leaving a clone behind this was basically as good as it got. Training more would net him less than 0.00000000000000001% benefit so he didn''t care to waste more time on it. He''d mastered pressure to a degree that made Veteran shit himself on sight; that was Ares'' cue to be done with the pagoda once and for all. Ares raised his hand up behind Veteran''s head and clicked his fingers.
Veteran''s head was the first thing to cease existing before the rest of the building followed. After that came the entire street and, last but not least, a few more streets in the nearby area for good measure. Ares finger click packed roughly as much power as six or seven Grand Annihilations all spread out... Honestly, Ares'' main concern now was that his magic was falling behind. Sure his destruction magic was overtaken by destruction pressure but it did still feel a little weird... Oh well, Ares would figure something out to balance the scales eventually. Right now he was more interested in putting the pagoda''s overseers to rest, becoming one himself, and claiming the rewards that awaited him whatever they may be... Of course he still had to wait for Veteran to respawn first and regain his bearing. Ares honestly felt bad for the guy but, then again, he picked this fight. Although Veteran must have felt like he understood the sheer dominance of the fundamental pillars after all this time fighting with Ares, the hard truth was that he was still underestimating them. At least now that was no longer an issue as Ares had put the fear of God in him. Well, the fear of the God of destruction, anyway.