Chapter 260: The Gargantua Rises

It hadn't ended yet. Two golems, three golems, four golems... Ares had no idea how many Mako could summon at once but it was clearly a pretty respectable quantity if his eyes weren't failing him. The good news here was that the number of golems was almost inconsequential to the end result. Ares couldn't hold the fort down against these things and pray Mako ran out of mana, as banking it all on such a risky strategy was foolish, so he was going to have to overcome this and advance upon Mako's position to forcibly end this art anyway. Keeping it running while Ares was up close and pummelling Mako was a waste of mana so the task here was to route a path towards the elf and end this unceasing onslaught. With the rapidly shifting walls and ever changing structure of the floor it was going to be a real hurdle Ares needed to clear but fighting a fundamental was never going to be easy. Rather than rush things, Ares actually chose to wait for a while and hope Mako would misplay his hand. Ares didn't know the upper limit of summons here but, maybe, if Mako wasn't thinking straight, he would summon the max number of golems right off the rip and give the game away. It was better if Ares knew how bad things could possibly get before he committed to anything. There would be nothing more disastrous than making an all-in push only to have it curbed at the last minute because Mako still had some golems up his sleeve. With that in mind, Ares watched as the seventh, and seemingly final, golem raised up from the floor.

The golems were like a series of big neon bricks compiled together with wire frame bodies and hollow eyes but their flimsy appearance was not in line with the strength they held. Ares could tell just by looking at them that a swing from one of those things was deadly in its own right and it was no surprise his family had been rinsed by this art. There were enough golems to just swarm them and they probably had no way of dealing with it, let alone everything else Mako chucked at them. Point in case, Ares had to hop away from his position as a long and rectangular pillar shot straight up from the ground underneath him. The maze could hinder him but it could also attack him at the drop of a hat so Ares had to pay it a significant chunk of attention or he'd be battered by it unsuspectingly. If anything, these sneak attacks were a bigger problem than the golems because they were fast, consistent, and not limited by range. As long as Ares was standing on the hologram floor he was subject to the repeated ambushes these things entailed and there was nothing he could do about it other than activating Voidwalk and flying above it all. Ares could do this but Mako likely had anti air measures and so wasting mana on it, only to have to come back down anyway, wasn't wise. That's not to say he couldn't use it for a quick burst of speed but, for that, he needed to time it correctly and use it when he was free to do so without repercussion. Also, Ares didn't know if mana would be a relevant factor this fight but he didn't want to find out because Mako, thanks to his pocket watch, definitely had more than he did. Ares had Grim Cessation but he wasn't going to rely on that and hope Mako just wasted his entire reserves before Ares did somehow.

Ares tried to use his telekinesis on the floor, as that would have also been a good way to circumnavigate tis treacherous art, but his pressure was just kinda bouncing off the neon as it was Mako's magic he was trying to interfere with here and not just regular ground. Long story short, he was going to have run the gauntlet and navigate the golem maze as was intended. Still, he felt confident in his ability to do it. He was quick enough to avoid the pillars, he had Omniscience to predict them if he needed to devote brain power elsewhere, and the golems, while strong, didn't seem defensively impervious to Ares' arsenal. To test that theory, Ares let a golem close in on him and take a swipe. The golem was left confused because its horizontal swing missed and yet Ares was nowhere to be found. It then felt something on its extended right arm so it looked over to see Ares crouched on it, poking a finger towards the golem's brain. With a small flick, the finger connected and the golem's top half was blasted away with little resistance. For an ordinary cultivator at Ares' level, these things would be tough as nails but, well, Ares was the destruction pillar champion so it was only natural the firepower he was packing dwarfed everyone else's. The golem couldn't withstand the flick it had received which, in turn, meant it definitely wouldn't be able to take anything more significant either. It just re-affirmed Ares' suspicions that the golems weren't the real threats here. Yes they had the most damaging attacks should they connect but how likely they were to even get that hit in the first place mattered. This, to Ares at least, was a quantity over quality type situation and he was perfectly fine with it so he took off running and didn't look back. He needed to get this art sorted out and turned off in one fell swoop otherwise he would just be wasting time, stamina, and mana pointlessly so he activated Omniscience to give him that extra edge he needed and doubled down on is dash.

There were two golems directly in front of Ares' path, one slightly to the left and one slightly to the right. He was originally going to ignore them by skirting between them but a neon wall popped up in the way of Ares' current route, forcing him to fight a golem head on... Or that was what should have happened but Ares activated Voidwalk temporarily to sprint sideways up the wall. Screw gravity! The golems were slow to react to this, which was understandable as Ares was speedy in his annihilation enhancement form and they were slow to begin with, so Ares was able to climb the wall before they even realised he wasn't following the pre-determined route Mako had set for Ares. Ares was the rat in the maze but he was more like a mutant rat with giant teeth capable of chewing his way into new paths! He was also every bit annoying as a rodent too which was a thought Mako couldn't help but have pop into his head as he watched Ares take out the two golems. Ares had reached the top of the wall and part-leapfrogged over it and part-split kick the golems on either side in the head to bash in their construct skulls. Before landing from his vault over the wall, Ares kicked off the back of it and sent himself flying forward, gaining really good ground after his small win over the golems.

Mako had been taken by surprise on that one, and not expected Ares to overcome the situation so easily, so Ares was no longer on the backfoot and Mako was going to have to get more directly involved to stop him. The existence of Voidwalk was troublesome as it meant caging Ares wasn't really possible and so Mako was going to have think of a new way to deal with him. Mako thought it over and eventually raised walls on either side of Ares as he sprinted in a straight line to keep him on a narrow path, allowing Mako to fire his magic at Ares without giving him any room to dodge while the golems closed in from the raised walls to his left and right. Ares wasn't trapped or impeded from going forward but if he ignored the raised walls he would be in deep trouble. In this manner, Mako could utilise his terrain in a way that couldn't be overcome simply by using Voidwalk to climb the walls as then Ares would meet the golems head o and they would be prepared for him this time. Additionally, if Ares broke the incoming attack that Mako was about to fire and overpowered it, he would be stopped long enough for the golems to leap on him from the sides like a bunch of wrestlers form the top rope. If Ares tried climbing the sides to escape then the golems would push him back down into the oncoming attack. It was a good pincer attack coming off the back of a full frontal assault so Ares was going to have to respond properly to this. Furthermore, if he retreated and went backwards, the detour would be lengthy and the time he'd waste would be meaningful in the grand scheme of things so all options here were supposedly terrible! As for the attack Mako fired off, it was simple but large and hard to avoid as he'd created an entire rocket. Not like the smaller, explosive munitions type of rocket, no, a 200ft space craft burning jet fuel as it went darting down the tunnel / trench Ares was stuck passing through.

Ares almost stopped running as this was the first time he'd ever seen something this ginormous just pop up out of thin air before! Arguably, this was his first ever interaction with creation magic in its rawest form and it was incredibly off-putting! No wonder people just folded in front of fundamental pillar champions! Look at this crap! Only someone at Enyo's level would be able to deal with such sporadic bullshit appearing out of nowhere so Ares was reminded just how powerful these unique pillars truly were and how lucky he was to be a part of the clique that wielded them. There was nothing logical about any of this and it felt like he was fighting some kind of superior entity that wasn't even human, nor did they follow the normal rules of all living creatures, at this point. Like he was living in a simulated world and the creator had just dropped in to throw a random rocket at him out of pure boredom. Still, Ares was not some helpless pawn in the system, he was also outside the scope of whatever kind of matrix he was living in and was equally as non-sensical in his own right. His magic was weaker than Mako's currently but this rocket was something it could absolutely take care of! It wasn't that weak! Ares pulled out his Black Ice Bane and cast his trademark art to counter the object hurtling towards him.

"Grand Annihilation!"

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM BAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNGGG

Oh how fantastic it felt to be casting arts again! When was the last time Ares had thrown an art out there just for the fun of it? He'd used Voidwalk and Shift here and there for mobility but lazily teleporting around the house didn't count. Before that the last time he used an art was, what, when he used Annihilation Echo on the guard in the restaurant? Going even further back was, what, throwing Esoteric Compressions at Veteran in the pagoda?! It had been far too long since Ares let loose the destruction rumbling away inside him and it was as glorious a sight as ever! How freeing it felt to shatter the trembling earth and send a roaring gold, reality desecrating, explosion packing nothing but raw power out into the world was indescribable. It was like a shackle on his soul just crumbled to dust and he was scratching a ten thousand year old itch. The destruction magic seemed pleased to be back too as this was a particularly vigorous chain of explosions that Ares had let loose. Maybe his mana had actually been bubbling away, impatiently waiting for an opportunity to finally lash out at Ares' discretion. Either way, the rocket was not prepared for this golden tsunami that engulfed it.

Despite being fully equipped for space travel, the rocket couldn't not handle the golden atmosphere it was floating through as parts came tumbling off it until it was nothing more than a barren frame. It didn't even manage to make it to the other end of the Grand Annihilation intact as the exposed frame turned to dust before landing at Ares' feet. There was nothing left other than scorched cockpit and chunks of metal plating lying scattered in front of Ares in the makeshift trench. This rocket was a dud and had crash landed big time, thanks to Ares, but the attack wasn't yet over as the rocket had moistly been a cover for the golems to advance upon Ares from the beginning anyway. Two heavy fists came peeking over the tips of the walls and were barrelling towards Ares' head so he had to think fast and act faster. Fortunately he'd long foreseen this scenario and his body was already on the move, making the necessary adjustments to come out of this situation unscathed. Ares had transitioned from a sprint into a crouching slide and, as he leant back, he splayed his hand upward. it looked as though he was going to meet the fists head on, which would have been a pretty rough trade to take, but then three simple words left his mouth that dispelled that notion real quick. 

"Not Even Light."

The defensive art that was worth its weight in gold came in clutch right when it was needed by summoning a black hole directly above Ares' head, keeping him safe from the ensuing rain of golem fists. The Not Even Light specialised in anti-magic primarily so the golem constructs, forged entirely of neon creation magic, were doomed the second this art bared its fangs. They would have died to it anyway but, as they had leaned into their swings, their bodies were swallowed up fast. The pull would have dragged them in regardless of whether they punched or not, but being so close meant they looked as though they'd been hoovered up into a pitch black void and subsequently digested in the blink of an eye. As an extra added benefit, the Not Even Light also sucked up some of the nearby Proving Ground giving Ares breathing room so as not to have to worry about the pillar ambushes. He'd seen one coming with his Omniscience but he no longer needed to worry about it, enabling him to start dashing towards Mako again without losing any precious time during his forward, and seemingly unstoppable, march.

As Ares reached the halfway mark towards his opponent he started wondering what was next on Mako's list of tricks. So far everything had been pretty above board but Ares had a gut feeling it wasn't going to stay that long forever as fundamental magic was fundamentally unfair. There was always something despicable up a fundamental champion's sleeve and, based on the relatively calm demeanour Mako wore on his face despite his repeated failures, Ares could feel something dirty coming. What all but confirmed his suspicions was the fact that only a single golem was closing the gap towards him right now while the others were hanging back... Suicide bomb? That was Ares' first guess and nothing else was coming to mind based on the relevant context clues. He decided to try and play around that assumption even if it was false because it was probably the worse potential outcome right now and needed to be avoided at all costs. Ares went to take a step back and adjust his position so he could take the golem head-on but something was latched onto his foot... Glancing downwards was enough for Ares to understand the problem and know what was coming next as well. The floor had morphed into the shape of a hand and grabbed his ankle, locking him down and preventing him from moving. This was a golem's hand which meant the limit of seven wasn't correct, and Mako had kept at least one extra in reserve for this sneak attack, and so Ares updated his knowledge of this art as he worked on getting himself out of the entanglement. Unfortunately Ares had fallen into the trap too deeply and there was no undoing it before things went further south. Mako was not some puny cultivator who would let this chance go and so a pillar shot out of the ground and pummelled Ares in the stomach so hard that his entire body lifted off the floor fort a split second and curved inward.

Ares nearly hurled as his insides were re-arranged due to the severe blow but he was still alive and still kicking. His annihilation enhancement, plus Enyo's little barriers on his flesh thanks to the mutations he got from laying with her earlier, had safeguarded him from anything lethal. If it weren't for these measures then Ares would have bit the dust five times over just then as his body was frail thanks to his adept trait! This was a serious handicap right now! It would become nothing but a major boon the second he permanently gained access to Garmr but that was not relevant right now damn it! Worse still, the hit had shook him to his core and that meant he was unable to dodge the incoming golem regardless of what it wanted to do to him. When Ares saw a bright and sharp light glow in the golem's chest he figured his earlier guess was correct and that this thing was about to blow up right in his face... Ares could try and block this, willingly sustaining the hit and setting him back a lot in order to safely disengage from the situation, but he wanted to risk it all! This would either hurt like a bitch and leave him half dead or turn the tides yet again, becoming a massive win for him. As the golem drew nearer, Ares strained his Omniscience to function at the max without letting up. The light grew brighter, effectively becoming a miniature sun, but still he stared into it with a firm resolve as this was necessary to pull of this trick that he really shouldn't have been using right about now. The golem reached Ares' position and leapt towards his back, while everything in the immediate area was bathed in pure white, before chaos broke loose from its core.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The detonation of the golem was pretty significant. Not as large as Ares' on demand explosions, not even remotely, but pretty sizable in its own right and worthy of respect as far as non-destruction pillar explosions went. Ares was too busy taking advantage of the explosion to be impressed, however, as his plan had worked like a charm. Put simply, he'd deflected the explosion with his pressure! This was something he'd done against Candy's talismans back in the pagoda so he knew deflecting explosions was possible but the larger they were the trickier it became. The only reason Ares could even do it was likely because he had benefits stacked on top of each other, forming a pile that was quite significant. The Omniscience was key and deflecting that explosion without it would have been literally impossible. You had to deflect in in the opposite rotation to the incoming attack and explosions, specifically, turned constantly throughout their travel duration until they fizzled out. Ares needed Omniscience to pinpoint the deflect location and his deep, almost inexhaustible, knowledge of explosion tendencies regarding direction and speed to even stand a ghost of a chance.

Ares would have had a chunk of his body wiped out if he failed but, thanks to his extremely successful gambit, he came sprinting out of the smokescreen with Voidwalk active as well as Double Jump and multiple Shifts. He was gunning for Mako now, going all out in his approach, and the amount of speed he had with everything prior at his disposal, in addition to his enhancement, was basically enough to guarantee reaching Mako unimpeded provided he had no more tricks up his sleeve. The remaining golems were too far to stop Ares, the hand from under the floor trick and the pillars would be too slow to hit him, and Ares was too close to cast arts at for Mako without getting decked in the face if it wasn't a defensive one. The best Ares assumed Mako could do right now was put up some walls to slow Ares down and impede him but, to Ares' surprise, no such action was taken, almost as if Mako was welcoming his presence. Was Mako encouraging Ares to walk headfirst into a trap? Well Ares had to cross the remainder of the gap between them to win this fight so he didn't have much of a choice but to spring it and see what Mako had in store for him anyway so he maintained his pace and course while keeping an eye out. The first action Mako took was to open his mouth and Ares was hesitant to keep charging forth. if he was determinedly casting an art then it was something that could block Ares so slowing down to tackle it properly was the way to go... But what if it was a bluff and he was just buying time? Ares decided to bite the bullet and kept moving forward, assuming Mako was faking it. Technically speaking, Ares was half right and half wrong. The art Mako was casting was a defensive one but it was also something Ares shouldn't have allowed to be cast in the first place. There were occasionally arts that could evolve or improve via the casting of an additional art, sort of like what Ares had done before with his Black Blossom and Not Even Light combo. What Mako was doing here was a slight variation of that, in that the Proving Grounds gave him access to a few more arts he could choose from that changed up the Grounds to his liking. Mako could only pick one at a time, so only one would be relevant for this fight in particular, but it was going to be a pretty big deal regardless of which one he chose as they were all incredibly powerful and were where the bulk of this art's lethality came in. In this case, the art Mako chose to use was a little something called...

"Gigagolem!"

Based on nothing but the name alone, it was fairly obvious what was about to happen. If Ares hadn't slowed down he might have been able to reach Mako in time and prevent this but his indecision had let to a colossal wall appearing in front of him just as he was about to grab hold of the elf. This was incredibly unlucky as he did make the right choice, he just made it a split second too late and now he was going to have to deal with the result of his failure the hard way. The Gigagolem was rising slowly out of the ground and roaring with all its might as it did so, deafening Ares who happened to be located right by its lower body. The Gigagolem wasn't much different in terms of shape compared to the regular ones but its size... Its size was, funnily enough, almost the same as that of Garmr's and it was towering above Ares right now, looming ominously over him. Though not yet fully formed, its cries caused the arena to shake and the neon Proving Grounds glitched slightly in response. Ares had no idea what was in store for him when it came to this big brute but, chances were, it could do a lot more than slowly swing its fists around... This fight was still only in the early stages and yet things were already getting crazy! Who knows what this absolute mess of combat was going to devolve into down the line? Either way, that was a problem for future Ares. Present Ares had the Gigagolem to worry about but he still felt calm even in the face of his giant foe. He'd tangoed with the mecha dryad way back when and this upcoming fight was giving him a similar feeling... But Ares himself wasn't the same anymore. The fight might be roughly as difficult, perhaps even a bit more so, but Ares was not as weak as he once was. The Proving Grounds wanted him to prove himself? Then so be it! The Gigagolem was going down!