Chapter 285: Real Winner: Calla

Despite having been supposedly run through the heart, Ares seemed chipper as ever and not even remotely fussed judging by the look on his face. A few of the experts shuffled their vision around and went fishing with divine sense to get a better look at the wound but were confused by what they saw. Yes there was a hole leading directly to Ares' heart but there seemed to be something rather strange blocking the way... In short, Ares' heart had not been stabbed for some inexplicable reason. The clone had died for nothing and didn't end up making itself useful at all but it couldn't be blamed for not understanding what had happened here as nobody really knew other than Ares and Enyo.

Ares had received three benefits after laying with Enyo, one of which hadn't been relevant up until now due to how rarely Ares ended up in this sort of situation. One mutation was the tiny barriers on his flesh that had helped keep him alive up until now by reducing the severity of various blows he'd taken. Another was the anti-friendly fire protocol that was almost always in use whenever Ares was fighting as it helped prevent him from injuring himself or allies with his magic... And then there was the third, life saving mutation that couldn't exactly be seen by the naked eye. Revenants were hard to kill and required, at bare minimum at a lower level of cultivation, one of two things. Either A; the revenant had to have its head blown clean off or B; the revenant had to have its heart fully eradicated. Or at least a majority of the heart / head had to go. Near enough anything else wouldn't be enough to put them down unless they lost copious amounts of blood. Why did this matter? Well, Ares' final mutation that he received from Enyo was a barrier around his heart.

He'd been wondering how to make use of this for some time now and he finally found a brilliant opportunity to lower the clone's guard. By disregarding his defences, or rather asking Dominus to, the clone would no doubt aim for either the heart or the head. The head was riskier, and could move freely to dodge, so the heart was naturally the best choice but it was also a massive bait to lure the clone into an attack that was going to be unsuccessful from the get go. The barrier was chipped, and could only maybe take one more attack before shattering, but it had only really needed to take one to win Ares this fight in a deceitful way. Of the two tricks he had up his sleeve that nobody had ever seen before, this was one of them even though it had technically been there this entire time. Mako could do as much research as he wanted but unless he had an x-ray machine, which he probably very well could have given his magic actually (although Ares would never let him use it on him), then this surprise was one that would hit him hard during an important moment. So no, Dominus hadn't betrayed Ares, he'd done precisely as was asked of him and not rocked the boat. Dominus didn't much appreciate being asked to launch such a basic attack, when he could have won without resorting to this, but there was also really no need for anything grander as the clone had fell for the ruse pretty easily.

Then there were two.

It was just Ares vs Mako now and there was only one more hidden ace up somebody's sleeve and it just so happened to be Ares'. He had no reason to rush or worry anymore because, quite frankly, this match was over no matter what Mako did. Even if he could cast another art, or resummon the clone somehow, there was no way in hell Mako was living through what came next. Hell nobody was without his permission. Enyo could throw up as many barriers as she wanted but, given that this attack Ares had learnt was give or take tens of times more deadly than a Perish Wheel, everybody Ares targeted was going to go kaboom whether they liked it or not. It was entirely up to Ares who to use the anti friendly fire protocol on and save so, unless Ares willed it, no one was getting spared. Now, this wasn't an art Ares could really ever use unless in hyper specific scenarios so, no, Perish Wheel wasn't getting replaced just yet. And no, this art would like rarely if ever see the light of day. Still, right now? Right now it could be used pretty freely thanks to a variety of smaller factors that added up. In fact, Ares could have maybe even used it at any point this match and it might have just killed Mako anyway regardless of what he did in response. And if that were true, which it was, then what chance did the elf stand right now exactly?

None.

This match was over, finally, so Ares started walking over to the elf to give him his condolences. It had been a good enough match, and taken literally everything in Ares' arsenal to come out on top, but there was still some wriggle room with this win and so Ares wasn't much afraid of Mako. He still had his fine grind blue to take, Garmr on the horizon, cultivation to catch up on, the Primordial Blade to explore, the Backfire Bindings to explore as well, his magic to improve, and a few other bits and bobs here and there not including anything he found on his adventures. The list of improvements Ares could make was not small so to have won handily regardless of his current shortcomings was pretty damning for Mako who'd gone all out here. The only thing Mako didn't have was full control over the Genesis but that was nowhere near enough to match up to what Ares was missing. He'd even gotten his bloodline up and running via the Pocket watch so he had no excuses. In fairness, the destruction pillar was made to win fights but, still, that excuse wasn't gonna fly with Mako or make him feel any better about this loss. For Ares, though, this was all a good sign his cultivation journey was right on track and he was where he needed to be. He could be doing better but he could also be doing way worse and so he needed to keep up the progress he was making and find more opportunities like the pagoda. That had been spoon-fed to him but he was going to have look around on his own now. Fortunately finding opportunities in the cultivation world could be pretty easy sometimes as all you had to do was go to the nearest 'anomaly'. A rift opened up? Go there. A tomb was found? Go there. The strange floating pyramid in Xasca? Go there.

"Tsk, why are you spacing out? I'm not dead yet!" Mako grumbled at Ares who's eyes were pretty vacant as he wondered about various matters. It seemed Mako still held some hope in him yet that he could pull a miracle out the bag but that was only because he didn't know what was coming. Only one person here knew what was about to happen and that was the petrified Yulo who was currently scarpering up to the top floor of the coliseum, pushing past security, and begging on his hands and knees for the matriarchs to put up a barrier. Even if every transition realm cultivator here joined hands to throw something up it wouldn't be enough and everyone other than the matriarchs would die a gruesome death, leaving nothing left. Even the matriarchs would be battered heavily and maybe lose some limbs here and there, it was just that serious. Still, the matriarchs didn't rush. It's not that the matriarchs were ignoring Yulo, Yulo was well known to be accurate in his predictions so that wasn't the problem, they just wanted to see the art come out before they did anything rash and interfered in a way that the C.O might not take kindly too. Though Yulo was still worried he seemed to calm down a bit because his visions of the future had changed. Still, he couldn't help but have a nervous sweat run down the back of his neck because if anything went wrong for whatever reason, this entire town was going up in flames without fail. Hell the entire God damn country would so what chance did Red Sun have?! The moronic idiot Ares had actually devised an attack so monstrous it was a bigger issue than the countless Shock Beads he'd buried underneath the town in their entirety. Yulo couldn't help but think it typical Ares would come up with the kind of art he did but he also wanted to stay very clear of Ares whenever he used it.. Again, not that it would happen much. Yulo could see the requirement for this art and he was honestly thankful for it otherwise this damn punk would be using this art twenty four seven and making the elders lives impossibly hard by blowing up the sect over and over again! Granted that would be the least of their issue as the entire surrounding country would also be gone...

Ares looked at Mako and snorted with a hint of pity. "Look Mako, I'm gonna be honest with you, you are deader than dead. You seriously have no idea how screwed you are right now."

Mako spat at the floor and pushed himself up by using the wall behind him as a place to lean against. "Until I'm standing on that resurrection platform, I won't believe it. I don't care what you've still got left in the tank, I refuse to lose."

Ares sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Refusing to lose is great and all but that really doesn't change anything. maybe if you had some proper conviction, or a real reason to want to win, you would have tried harder up until now and came up with measures that the current you hasn't even considered."

"..." Mako stared at Ares with his eyes narrowed and a questioning gaze. "What do you mean?"

Pft 

"Don't look at me like that, I mean exactly what I said." Ares found Mako's confusion and his untrusting glare funny as Ares was being completely honest here. "The art I'm about to hit you with exists for one reason and one reason only; to protect my family. It's not something that can ever protect me so I think that's proof of concept enough. Point being, I had a reason to create an art like this and you don't. I get that you want to win but, really, what's the point of winning if there's nothing for you to enjoy after? What would you do with your life if you won? Have you ever even thought that far ahead? Do you have anything else to fight for? Anything meaningful? I don't think you do and, I'm going to be completely honest with you here, it's holding you back because you aren't driven enough."

"Sounds like a load of crap."

Ares just scratched his head with a wry smile. "To some degree, maybe, but not entirely. Like I said, this art exists purely because of everything I've just said. It can't be all wrong if I've invented something like this art, can it?"

"We'll see. That depends on how great this art of yours is." Mako still wasn't sold on this magical art but, other than seeing it himself, he never would be anyway.

"Well whatever, we're different people anyway. Maybe your ego can drive you to heights mine can't take me to. If so, good for you... Also, one more thing before I kill you... That clone... Please don't do anything weird with it!"

"Huh? The hell are you talking about? You think I enjoy having that thing around?! Believe you me the last thing I want to see is that thing's ugly mug ever!"

"Wow, rude much?! How about being grateful I'm even letting you use my image rights!"

"You have no say in the matter, it's in the public domain now!" Mako stuck his tongue out at Ares and gave him the middle finger.

"Tsk, bastard... I really shouldn't show you this art, because God knows how many times you're gonna make my poor clone use it, but whatever. You need to have it drilled into you that I'm not someone to be messed with. If you ever even consider fighting me for real, outside a Training Field, remember this Mako..." Ares took a large stride towards the elf who could sense something evil on the horizon, something welling within Ares' confident and dauntless aura. "... I have..." 

"NO! FEAR!"

GLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM

A swarm of thick mana congealed above Ares and began funnelling into him as the skies grew dark. It wasn't yet evening but the overcast weather, combined with whatever the hell this was, had certainly turned the atmosphere grim. Every single tiny dot of mana in the air had abandoned everyone else and was running headfirst into Ares to grant him their strength for what was to come. Even if anybody else wanted to cast an art it was simply impossible right now because the mana would not heed their call, something more important was happening. The mana was heavy too, and just being near it was suffocating for Mako who had to hold his hand in front of his mouth to even breathe properly without being pushed around by the pressure he was feeling. Still, it could be worse, Mako could be Ares right now as the overload of mana was pouring straight into him rather than just hovering around him and being annoying. His veins were starting to bulge and glow golden so it was pretty apparent to most people what he was about to do. Ares was about to suicide bomb everything... No wonder this fool couldn't use this art often! If he dared, he would be resetting his life each and every time. He wasn't kidding when he said this was an art exclusively for protecting others because he himself was the primary target of it and could never be spared when it was used. He wouldn't live through the art but maybe those he wanted to protect could as he took the troublesome foe that caused him to use it in the first place along with him. Had Ares not been a revenant, it was interesting to think about whether he would have created this art in the first place but, knowing him, the answer was still likely a yes anyway. 

As for how deadly this art was going to be... Well Perish Wheel didn't even begin to scratch the surface in comparison to this thing. The size and energy packed into the explosion was determined by a few factors but there was always a bare minimum to it and that bare minimum was still going to be utterly devastating. It was an attack on par with something the God summons could do, maybe even going a little beyond that. If Ares had full mana, which was partially a factor in this art's strength, or if he'd been right as rain without any injuries, then this art would maybe even rival Astraeus Commandment art. It was seriously no joke but it made a lot of sense. The fundamental champion of destruction detonating himself was never going to be anything other than a calamitous pandora's box of raw firepower. No wonder Yulo had begged the matriarchs to do something, they were the only ones here that even could other than maybe the two remaining four seasons. It actually might even take all four of the matriarchs to stop this art from spreading but the arena?... Yeah the arena was going to be annihilated to the extreme here. The ground was already in rough shape but after this it wasn't really going to be in any kind of shape at all. It was just going to be gone and a massive pit would be all that remained for sure.

Speaking of the arena, down in it, Mako was wincing in the corner and not even bothering to throw up any walls. What on earth for!? Even if Mako resummoned the Genesis somehow to block that thing would just get obliterated and all. Honestly, Ares might have been able to just use this art form the start and win... Only summoning Terros would be able to prevent this art and, even then, that was only because his magic was more defensively oriented. A God that specialised in offense would struggle to keep Mako alive during the blast... The fact that Ares drew out every single option Mako possessed before throwing this thing out there really showed how cautious the guy was. He was a dumb idiot who gave into his own whims incredibly often but he was capable of holding himself back when he knew he needed to. Mako had to admit he'd been gotten good here. Also, what Ares said earlier was right, he had to remember this. It's not like Mako planned on fighting Ares but the guy was a revenant with a suicide vest in his back pocket. Ares would win if he took Mako with him because only he would ever come back.

Ares was a dangerous foe for many reasons but this seriously took the cake. If you wanted to kill him, at the very least, you needed to come prepared with a measure to avoid this nonsense otherwise it was all for naught. No Fear was an apt name given the validity of the statement. Ares would waste no time in using this on your sorry ass if he was going to die regardless. Ares was not a fun target and had basically painted himself as a venomous snake that would spit at you if you tried to strangle it. A deterrent, basically. This was his aposematism and it was a brilliant gold congregation of soon to explode mana particles. It's not even like this could realistically be stopped because breaching the mana swell was impossible without magic and, well, without mana there was no magic. You would have to be astonishingly strong physically or have absurd pressure mastery to break through that much mana and actually stop Ares so there was probably little you could do other than watch the bastard seal everyone's fate around him. If he didn't have his anti friendly fire stuff from Enyo then this art would be a real problem to use but that was no longer an issue and, so, whatever reservations Ares may have had about using this thing had been all tossed out the window. Ares using this art was a very real threat both in and out of Training Fields.

As for the man at his final destination, at least within this Training Field anyway, you would expect Ares to be in a considerable amount of pain right now. This wasn't true, however, as, contrary to Mako's assumptions, Ares actually felt incredibly light, like the annihilation mana was soothing him on the way out. Like a procession for fallen heroes it gently lifted him off his feet and hummed a sweet melody in his ears while his body ruptured under the strain. Who knew dying could be so pleasant? Almost like he was being guided up to heaven on a golden chariot with seats made of clouds. Ares shut his eyes and let the annihilation wash over him as he burst into brilliant golden particles, each of which shimmered in the air before becoming blindingly bright and signalling the start of something catastrophic.

""Cylindrical Dispersion.""

Though the matriarchs each had their own defensive arts, it was far wiser to resort to this one when dealing with Ares' rampant and unrestrained magic. Guiding it was better than fighting it so all four had pooled their mana together to simultaneously cast the exact same art over the top of each other. Although Yulo couldn't really contribute here even he joined in just to make doubly sure as many measures as possible, that needed to be taken, had been taken as best they could. Sure Ares' ability to choose who his magic affected would keep everyone safe in the worst case scenario but the wide scale destruction was better avoided. Yulo had no problems with Ares but he also didn't exactly want to leave everyone's life in that wild child's hands. As for the Cylindrical Dispersions, they functioned exactly the same as the one Yulo used way back to quell the Perish Wheel but, this time, they were far bigger and quarantined the entire radius of the arena. In terms of height, the cylinders had breached the atmosphere and were even sitting just outside the domain, meaning that when this art was funnelled all the way out it would go flying off into Vraizon somewhere. People up there better look out because this art would seriously kill any wanderers not paying attention.

It was generally understood that you shouldn't stand at the end of any random Cylindrical Dispersion you find so if anyone saw four such cylinders overlapped here and thought it was wise to ignore said advice then they kinda had their doomed fate coming at that point. No doubt this would cause a stir up there in Vraizon but the matriarchs would figure that out and calm down the clans at the very least while trying to send out a small PSA not to worry about randomly appearing golden pillars shooting through space. This was a one off anyway. Ares couldn't even really use this thing safely in a Training Field because it would leak out and affect the surroundings. It's not that he couldn't use it again, just that he almost definitely wouldn't so everyone else could be at ease. The matriarchs summoned their cylinders and held their breath as the golden, sparkling lights down in the arena spread a warm glow over the entire coliseum before finally rupturing and bringing pure destruction to this realm.

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Truthfully, the full scale of the noise from this attack couldn't be described in words. The sound alone was enough to tear through reality and create holes leading to the void but, thankfully, part of the indescribably horrific noise did seep out of the dimension, making it bearable for living creatures if nothing else. This explosion was so impossibly loud it was heard around the entire domain and even some people minding their own business in Vraizon were made jumpy at the shock of a random explosion 'nearby'. The initial explosion could be seen from literally anywhere in Vraizon which was an impressive feat considering how large the place was so a lot of people watched Sheryashka detonate from afar. They were confused but also enjoying the show because it wasn't often attacks of this scale were launched in lower domains.

Attempting to dissect every detail of this explosion was pointless because, like most of Ares' explosions, it was essentially a cluster of smaller ones tied together and unleashed simultaneously. In this case, however, each explosion was about the size of a skyscraper each and that wasn't even as big as they could get with some even being the size of Perish Wheel detonations. They'd, the explosions, stacked tall on top of one another and rose upwards, grinding against the overlapped cylinders as the arts screeched in agony at one another. One wished to be free, the other wished to contain that rowdiness. The cylinders would hold but they were not having it easy right now and some of them even had small cracks in them. As they should! If Ares was going to commit suicide this should be the least that happens! Sure it was the combined efforts of the four matriarchs but if there hadn't even been any dents then Ares would demand a refund from the destruction pillar! His life was worth more!

The explosions yelled many a fierce roars as they ascended up and along the grooves in the cylinders, basking the world in a pretty gold that blew away the overcast skies from earlier. This pillar of gold was substantially different from the Perish Wheel because it looked almost too pure to be true. The gold was fetching and shone radiantly under the sun like liquid luxury. Wealth given form and imposing might mad manifest. It was a regal splendour unlike anything else Ares had ever produced and that irked him because he was dead right now and couldn't see it! Everyone other than him was getting an eyeful of the raging art, spiralling upwards like an imperial dragon, breaking through the constraints of this world. It was truly a massive explosion as even the base of the cylinder, down in the arena, still held within some lingering gold curtains that draped over them and attempted to break free by banging against the cage. Fortunately the matriarchs were incredibly powerful and there was no concern of the destruction magic running riot. Some people in the crowd almost seemed disappointed, though, because the allure of the magic was hypnotic and enticing. Weaker individuals, like mortals and beginner cultivators, all felt the urge to be cleansed in the golden fire and born anew as ashes, destined to fade in the wind and become one with the all-encompassing nothingness that pervaded the world beyond this one. Ares' magic really had a despicable nature and tried to rope in victims to a willing demise but it was safely being redirected up into space and couldn't harm anyone who wasn't blind, deaf, or stupid in Vraizon. It was truly a magnificent art but it had also unquestionably been diminished somewhat by the matriarchs' intervention. Had the magic been free to expand horizontally, and not just vertically up into the sky, then it would have been truly special, cloaking an entire landmass in a rich tide and burying it all in gold. This country would become a bona fide El Dorado and future explorers would find relics bathed in gold. Even the rubble and ruins of this civilisation be tinged in the colour like a sort of pseudo King Midas aftermath.

The art faded away into the domain above but only one person was still staring at it in awe as something else had caught everyone's attention and left them even more baffled than the absurd art they just witnessed. Before getting onto that slight problem, however, it was worth clarifying that the individual watching the art trail off like a shooting star was none other than Bellona, naturally. She truly did love her dumb mutt husband's magic and never got tired of seeing it. If it weren't for the fact that it would cause some serious issues, Bellona would have doubled the magic then and there. This explosion was also quite special to her because it was literally, and by no exaggeration, Ares himself. He'd given his life to bring about that explosion and so it evoked a strange feeling of longing in Bellona. Despite not being on the weaker scale of cultivators she was also one of the few who'd been enraptured and drawn in by the art, sort of like the first time she was nearly dragged into a Perish Wheel. This woman seriously needed to stay away from the destruction magic! The way she stared intently at the magic was pretty cute though as she had a soft smile on her face each and every time she got to watch destruction magic get let loose. That smile on her face froze, though, when she finally looked down at the arena just as everyone else was doing. Sure the arena was almost entirely gone, and looked like somebody had launched an excavation with dynamite here, but there was a much bigger issue over by the side of the arena atop the resurrection platforms...

As mentioned earlier, something very, VERY unusual was happening right about now. It was an entirely explainable event, just not one many people understood as it involved various intricacies regarding revenants and a certain RUNE that Ares had completely forgotten about. The details of it could be explained a little alter but, right now, everyone was dumbly staring at the problem this mish mash of revenant death and improper Training Field creation resulted in. There was no real clear way of saying this that made perfect sense but, right now, down on the resurrection platform, where Ares should have been revived in his completely normal state, was instead someone a... 'Bit'... Different. It was still determinably Ares down there, he had the look, but there was a problem that couldn't be overlooked because it was, quite frankly, impossible to miss...

...

Ares was tiny.

...

Not as in he'd been shrunk down in scale.

No.

As in he was a literal child.

...

Mini Ares!