Chapter 252: Blo Blo, Scourge of Men Everywhere

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The noise emanating from Ares' palm strike was loud but this was merely the beginning. The Annihilation Echo was still rummaging around inside the guard and had yet to burst free into the surrounding environment. Every single bounce inside the guard's body would inevitably be a mini, localised catastrophe that was so utterly devastating it could affect the world outside his body too. It was hard to follow what happened next in real time but Ares did manage to catch a glimpse of everything thanks to his Omniscience clarifying exactly what he was looking at. Firstly, the strike itself was powerful enough to make the guard's body curl into a '(' sort of shape. His stomach was blasted backwards before his head and various other extremities could catch up to it and the whiplash alone was probably enough to have broken a number of bones connecting his chest and stomach to various other body parts. At the very least, his legs and arms were going to be broken near the sockets, that was unavoidable but also somewhat irrelevant. This was just the start of his misery and he wouldn't be alive by the end of it regardless. Complaining about broken bones when his entire body was on the verge of exploding into tiny chunks of bloodied flesh was perhaps not a wise use of the last few moments on this earth he had.

SHATTER

Next up was the sound of breaking glass. This wasn't a result of the guard being thrown through it as it had actually broken milliseconds before in tandem with the guard's spleen exploding via the rampaging Echo. As the spleen was rammed by the Echo it burst but didn't manage to halt the soundwave in its tracks at all so it shot out the back of his body, after tearing a hole through it, and smashed the wall. Ares had intended to blow the guy throw the window but he'd accidentally created a pretty giant wall here that he would no doubt have to pay for... Actually, Gavel probably wouldn't foist the bill on him but he'd pay regardless due to the guilt he felt what with being at least partially responsible for this whole mess. Anyway, stardust renumeration aside, the guard's short nightmare was just beginning. The silver lining for the guard in all of this was that everything being described happened much faster and so the agony he experienced only lasted a short while before his inevitable demise.

After sailing through the giant hole in the wall, the guard's right half of his body detonated and splattered a massive splotch of blood against the nearest wall. The Echo, which hadn't been contained properly by the guard's body, went flying off into the sky somewhere, piercing every cloud in its path and shooting off into Vraizon to go and maybe hit an asteroid or something. The guard's destroyed arms, legs, and right side organs were painting the wall in a shape that resembled a speech bubble, one that would probably have the word 'ouch' written in it if mutilated body parts were capable of expressing themselves. As for the remainder of the guard's body, the force of the Echo propelled it sideways into the opposite wall and crushed part of his head due to the immense force of the fling. He didn't stay glued to it for long though as the next Echo bounce eradicated his left half, repeating the earlier process only, this time, the Echo went barrelling through an abandoned warehouse instead. Ares knew the Echo would be chaotic but that was acceptable as nobody actually lived nearby, it was mostly just businesses' storage and so letting loose was of minimal risk. As for the warehouse...

Creakkkk BANG

... The Echo had punctured multiple holes straight through the warehouse, damaging or sometimes even outright obliterating the support beams and various other foundations of the building. It toppled shortly after while the Echo continued onward and blew up another empty building beyond the warehouse, finally settling down as it smacked into the outer wall of the city a little further back. the Annihilation Echo wild ride wasn't even halfway done yet though as the that last Echo explosion was the last one the guard could possibly live through so, as his head once more crashed into another wall, this time the outer city wall, the guard was finally put to rest with one colossal...

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There wasn't much left of the guard before this, just a thin portion of his torso and a crumpled head but that was still arguably better than his current state... Then again, it wasn't hard to be in a better state than completely and irreversibly dead. The remaining power of the Annihilation Echo congregated in the guard's stomach, back when he was still breathing belaboured though he was, and shot directly up through his neck and through his head. The torso and the head were long gone and were turned to smithereens that couldn't even be found anymore but that wasn't the really important part of all this. The Echo that made a hole through the guard's brain and shot out towards the wall had completely demolished that too.

The city's outer wall now had a hole in it, one bigger than even the hole in the restaurant's wall, and parts of the wall nearby were crumbling down around due to the domino effect. Even busting an extraordinarily thick city wall wasn't enough to satiate the Echo, however, as it raced away, through a field of untrimmed grass, gauging out the land wherever it went. It looked like a meteor had crashed into the earth and skidded through it for at least a mile without pause, tunnelling up all sorts of animals living underneath it like moles and earthworms. If a transition realm cultivator didn't stand a chance then obviously the nearby animals didn't either and they met a fate similar to that of the guard though their deaths were a lot more instantaneous than even his. A forest in the distance now had a pretty dome shaped hole running through it and anyone who peered at it from a certain angle could see all the way through to the other side where some confused cultivators were gathering. The Echo had barrelled through their campsite and they were now staring down the Echo's runway in disbelief, wondering if they'd accidentally gotten involved in a fight between top tier transition realm cultivators. Technically one of the individuals involved had been a transition realm cultivator but he most definitely was not a top tier one. As for Ares, he wasn't in transition but he was at least ten or so tiers above top tier so that was enough of an explanation.

What was truly jaw dropping about this attack, though, was that the Echo that shot through the fields and the forest wasn't even at full power. Give or take a third of the original power had been lost during the earlier bounces against the walls. The original strike was so powerful that Ares likely could have killed the mecha dryad back in Baja in a single hit if he came across it today. It was a stark difference to his Echoes before which wouldn't have even really made a noticeable dent. Of course his cultivation had increased too but that was really not the defining factor. Ares, back at late meridian expansion, with this level of pressure and quality of Echoes would be stronger than Ares at early sensory enhancement without it. The fact that Ares had improved so drastically was a good sign his cultivation path was blossoming into something incredible and the stunned crowd in the restaurant seemed to agree. Some of them had seen Ares turn into Garmr and slaughter the transition realm cultivators but that was a different matter entirely due to the absence of the Canis Stimulant capable of raising his cultivation to bloodline awakening. This was just Ares in sensory enhancement and yet he was still just as capable of the same feat! Just how strong was Garmr exactly, then, as the revenant's strength was incomparable to Ares'... Well Garmr was an anomaly that been born inside of the anomaly that was Ares so it was only natural for the results to be incalculable. It was still highly ridiculous though and a lot of the people in the restaurant were secretly wishing they'd placed a bet on Red Sun this year...

Though the Quietus was finished, everyone remained silent. Though Ares' pressure was all but gone, everyone remained still. Though the young master was invariably screwed, he stood stock still and was unable to move his body. Even if he could there was little point to such an act as he was painfully aware that he was doomed here. What threat did his family name pose if transition realm cultivators meant nothing to Ares? Not to mention that by the time they learnt what happened here, and came to hunt Ares down, he would be in a higher realm probably anyway making his dominance over them that much more significant. If anything, the young master was making the wise decision and not trying to get his family involved in any way as it would only wind up in their crushing at the heel of this random cultivator he'd stumbled upon by chance. He honestly couldn't fathom anything he was seeing as it defied all forms of common sense regarding everything that the cultivation world entailed. A guy in sensory enhancement just massacred two transition realm cultivators in less than a minute? Even if he could go home and tell his family about it they would strap him into his bed, lock the room, and search for medication to treat his mental illness or whatever curse / mental attack had been engraved into his brain... But home was too far away now.

The young master understood he wasn't even making it out of the restaurant, let alone back to the temporary abode he was staying at or his home in Isasz. Why on earth did he have to stumble upon this cursed restaurant, inhabited by the ghoul king himself?! Also, this 'Ares' guy had to be some high profile prodigy which only made everything seem that much more obvious in retrospect. No wonder he didn't bring up his family name, he was the big deal from the very beginning! In fact, as he was in sensory enhancement, there was a non-zero chance he was a competitor at the tournament which would explain why none of the other high profile guests had complained about them before he'd come along. In retrospect, a lot of it made sense... Not Ares' raw strength, that was still impossible to understand, but it definitely existed and that couldn't be denied. Unlike most other young masters who would go our kicking, screaming, or swearing to the heavens he would get his revenge even if only in the afterlife, this particular young master was just in full resignation mode. No bargaining, no running away, no petty and pointless defiance, he wasn't even giving Ares that juicy look of shock that would have made this all at least a little worth while. The only thing Ares was getting out of this was the parka and a somewhat ruined but also somewhat salvageable date. Ares had thought it before but he thought it again now, meeting the young master was not worth it. Not tonight anyhow. He didn't even have the grace to stick the landing as it looked like he might earlier so Ares' disappointment was considerable.

As Ares kicked away the restaurant wall's rubble at his feet, and stepped over a few fallen bricks, the young master was going over the two options he'd been given previously and trying to decide which one he preferred. Obviously both were atrocious but if he at least had a choice then...

"Wait."

A saviour? In this final hour, seconds before death bared its fangs? And from the babe no less? Had the young master been correct from the start? It was wishful thinking, and he knew it, but that slither of hope remained... Up until the next words to come out of Enyo's mouth only caused him to go right back to the depths of despair. "Let me and Blo Blo kill him, we also have our own score we want to settle with him. You had your fun with the guards, let us get some revenge for him trying to ruin this night as well."

While the young master simply sighed at this turn of events, the person most shocked was actually Ares. If Bellona had asked this of him, he would have just nodded along and understood where this was all coming from but Enyo? Justice personified? Murdering somebody in what would maybe end up being a gruesome fashion? Was she experimenting? What for? Was she truly that annoyed at everything he and his guards had said earlier? It wasn't impossible and, knowing Enyo, she might actually be the most offended. The fact she wasn't familiar with the idea of a 'young master' might actually mean that this whole thing hit her the hardest of everyone. Enyo might genuinely have never met a person more overtly evil so maybe she was having a visceral reaction to it and remembering some of the stuff Ares talked about back when they first met. About killing anyone problematic to prevent them from causing anymore problems in the future which they would inevitably do because this sort of lifestyle was deeply ingrained... And at that point, if you're killing them anyway, then whether it's humane or not isn't exactly relevant. Do unto others?

Or maybe this was just the justice Enyo thought needed delivering. No mercy for scum? Was it because of what he planned on doing to her? Was it because of what he planned on doing to Bellona? Was it because of what he planned on doing to Ares? Was it all three that had joined together and culminated in pure wrath? She wasn't outwardly snarling or vicious or anything but Ares, and Bellona, could tell there was a deep seated rage in her right now that wasn't being expressed via her words or actions but, rather, he general aura. She almost felt more dangerous than Ares did when he was running his pressure at maximum earlier. Right now, despite everything Ares had promised to do to him, the young master might actually be better off getting slowly tortured to death by Ares... It's not like it was just Enyo who was mad either, Bellona was also big time pissed off it just wasn't as subtle as Enyo. She was gnashing her teeth and practically chomping at the bit to scratch this kid's eyes out and maybe use that cleaver from earlier to tear off his misinformed junk! Bellona was not some ugly side chick! Of course she was more annoyed by the rape threats and the whole murder Ares thing but she wasn't about to let the earlier comments slide either. She wanted to pay him back for every single word that had left his mouth. Still, even though she was almost frothing at the mouth, she paled in comparison to the deathly silent Enyo and even she knew it. Though Bellona was very nearly leaning over the table to grab the young master's throat, she was still positioning her body a little further away from Enyo. It was hard to tell whether this was intentional or not but was absolutely a result of her sister's menacing vibe.

As much as Ares wanted to kill the bastard himself, he did already have his fun so letting the sisters do it was fine too. Or, more accurately, his curiosity had gotten the better of him as he wanted to see Enyo go through with it and ask her why later. This wasn't normal at all! But it wasn't a bad thing either. Ares didn't exactly want Enyo to go around giving everyone excruciating and slow deaths but if she was capable of it, and had proven as such once or twice before, then that was necessary. If nothing else, it acted as a deterrent. Enyo was not free to assault. She would not just throw you in jail and forgive your sins once you were discharged from prison after you'd served your time. That was her default mode, sure, but if you really pushed her buttons, or crossed a boundary you shouldn't have, then a far greater threat was in store for you. People needed to know that and they needed to fear her. Respect was good for keeping people in line but it was not functional as a preventative measure. People who respected Enyo would not do these sorts of things anyway it was those that needed to be fearful that were the most important targets.

Given the number of people here, in the restaurant, information about every detail of every moment about tonight would spread far and wide. That was just a given... Perhaps Enyo's line of thought was in sync with Ares on this and she knew she'd need to make an impactful move at some point. She was just channelling her unbridled rage at this guy because he happened to be the perfect fall guy. Instead of brutalising somebody who only committed a minor offence or just got on her nerves, she had enough justification, and enough of a want, to do it to this kid. The stars had aligned and given her an opportunity that was perfect in every way to spread some reputation, get justice, and vent her anger simultaneously. She might not have even really wanted to do this but was just allowing herself to get caught up in the moment because she was aware that she had to at some point for the sake of everyone around her. If Ares wasn't around for whatever reason, Enyo needed to act as a deterrent. The same was true of the other wives but they were more likely to do this kind of stuff on their own regardless and didn't need prompting.

No doubt this whole savagery thing wouldn't be easy for Enyo but, thankfully, she was easy to deal with for Ares and put a smile back on her face. Getting her drunk and then fooling around later would clear her mind and maybe that's why she was so invested in doing this here and now. There was drink aplenty and even Blo Blo was getting in on the action later so, with that guarantee in her back pocket, now was good a time as any. All in all, this wasn't a case of intervening so as not to get blood on Ares' hands or anything like that. It was already too late for that and couldn't be undone, plus that was just the kind of person Ares was anyway. He wouldn't hesitate to be extra evil sometimes when he deemed it important too. No, this was happening because Enyo wanted it too otherwise Ares would have stepped in to prevent it by now. Hell he would have just killed the young master quickly and ended things here if that were the case. The last thing Ares wanted was for Enyo to leap outside her comfort zone just to keep Ares inside his... Not that this was outside the realm of familiarity for him anyway.

Now only one question remained... What exactly were the sisters going to do to him? Bellona's magic seemed to be conducive to bringing pain to a new level. She could burn, freeze, open up wounds, etc... If she applied some of her newfound creativity, pushing the boundaries of her magic, there was bound to be a lot of interesting tricks she could pull off... But what about Enyo? Her barriers could be freely moulded but that just made it all the more worthwhile to watch and see how exactly she was able to let loose. First up though was Bellona as she'd already gotten off her seat and was moving straight towards the kid. The young master did try to fight back but... Well.. Bellona was miles out of his league in every conceivable way. Bellona booted him in the stomach and laid him out flat on top of the same table Ares used to kill the other guard. From there, Enyo kindly placed some barriers on his arms and legs to prevent him from escaping his punishment. Bellona walked over to the cleaver that Ares had left on the floor and picked it up with a grin that was basically evil incarnate. Ares had no clue what this imp was up to but it was safe to say Ares would really not wanna be the young master right about now... Speaking of, something was clearly already happening to him as his face was belying his bewilderment. Given how Bellona's magic worked it was hard to tell what was changing regarding the young master's body as it might not even be visible to another human... Or so Ares thought, but he did eventually see what was changing and his face twisted into one of abject horror shortly after. It took the young master, and the other restaurant goers, a little longer to figure out what was happening but they eventually did too and some of them even opted to leave the building rather than watch this animosity unfold.

See, what Bellona's magic was doing right now was rather simple. She was using it in the obvious way and doubling the length of... A certain something. The young master's worm had become a snake, then a cobra, then a long rope trailing down the inside of his trouser leg and creating a long, tube shaped ridge along it. Bellona, apparently, could make men's' downstairs friend extraordinarily long but, right now, that was definitely not a good thing... Bellona was about to treat this guy's elongated shlong like a salami on a a chopping block... She'd increased its length hundred fold so she had more of it to cut into with the cleaver... This woman was a psychopath! Who even came up with torture like that?! Ares needed to never annoy Bellona because she was evidently a wicked woman in many ways.... He couldn't watch this! He would have nightmares! The other men nearby clearly agreed as they were the ones leaving right now. They powered through the shock from earlier specifically so they wouldn't have to spectate this barbarism and Ares was definitely going to follow their lead! He could already feel himself shrinking, literally, in fear and there might have even been a tiny little dot of sympathy dwelling somewhere within his cold black heart for the young master. It's not even like he was going to live afterwards so this was just pointless cruelty of the highest order! Then again, he only had himself to blame here... Maybe if he hadn't been so dead set sexually assaulting the sisters Bellona wouldn't have chosen this method of retaliation.

Ares hopped out the broken wall and threw up a disintegration barrier so as not to hear the blood curdling screams coming from within the building now that Blo Blo had started going chop chop. Not that Ares' defensive measures helped against this specific mental attack... He was still wincing every couple of seconds and imaging the sound of a cleaver baring down on a chopping board... Ugh. And how much blood must have been sprayed everywhere? And the howls of the young master... It was truly a blood bath right now, that was for sure... How was Ares supposed to receive a handy from Blo Blo after this?! Just imagining it sent a shiver up Ares' spine! What if she secretly snuck a cleaver into the bedroom?! Ares wildly shook his head to get the waking nightmare out of his head and forget about it. It weas to no avail but it was better than doing nothing amidst the deafening silence. Being trapped alone with his thoughts almost made it worse than just watching it!... Ares was curious as to whether the unfathomable savagery had ended so he temporarily lowered a section of the barrier.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..."

Nope. Ares swiftly threw up the barrier again and started singing to himself as he rocked side to side. This was disgusting! What on earth had gotten into Bellona?! Ares wanted to throw up... The only way he could think to distract himself was to start pressurising the Backfire Bindings. He wasn't going to be doing it for longer than a minute, and his progress might even reset fully as soon as he stopped, but sitting here and doing nothing was impossible right now! And so Ares kept himself busy while Blo Blo busied herself slicing and dicing. It did come to an end eventually, thank God, and it didn't actually last for that long... It just really felt like it did... At least whatever Enyo was going to do literally couldn't be worse. There was seriously no competition and Blo Blo might honestly have a career in professional torture... If there was ever anyone Ares jailed and wanted information out of then he knew which wife to ask to get the job done quick and clean!... Ok, definitely not clean, but it would surely be quick... No way any guy, at least, was surviving even half an hour against her, let alone multiple days of... That. Regardless, the young master must have definitely gotten the message that his antics were not appreciated. On the one hand, good showing Blo Blo! On the other hand... Maybe tone it down a bit next time? Like, a lot? Please?