Chapter 301: Probing to Some Avail

"First of all, why are there two types of disintegration? I want you to know that the destruction pillar is not as communicative as you might be thinking and even I've only spoken to it once. It mentioned something at the time that I didn't quite understand about destruction as a whole but, after seeing Astraeus' attack, it al became that much clearer. I still don't know the specifics down to a tee, as I had to figure it out myself, but I can at least give you somewhat of a comprehensive rundown about why the second type of disintegration exists even if I don't strictly know what it is. Is that acceptable?"

Mako nodded, and was content with such an explanation, but figured he would push his luck a little more. "Can you not ask the destruction pillar for even more clarification? Better yet, can you speak to it right now if you were to take a quick trip to the void?"

"No and no. I can only freely communicate with it in the void currently, as you've correctly surmised, and I've yet to really try outside of it. Even then, however, communication is a two way street and the destruction pillar can feel like a brick wall at times. I've tried to talk to it again since but it sort of just ignores me so when I say 'I don't know' to one of your questions I'm almost definitely telling you the truth, and can't change that, because I won't know otherwise unless the destruction pillar wants me to. Anyway, regarding the magic, destruction isn't as simple as being a two way cycle. Yes annihilation is the essence of disintegration, yes disintegration is the essence of nothingness, and yes nothingness is the essence of annihilation. Also, yes, the reverse of everything listed is true forming two cycles depending on which way you phrase it. The previous statements I just made are the golden rules of the magic I use. If I need to cast an an annihilation art, I can do so by expanding disintegration, weakening it but enlarging its effective area and size. This is how it becomes annihilation magic. That, or I can funnel energy into nothingness and create a bang. Either option works and is something I realised pretty early on. I can create disintegration via annihilation and nothingness and I can create nothingness out of annihilation or disintegration. I don't need to go over the specifics because it's pretty self-explanatory.

Basically annihilation is the largest magic and nothingness is the smallest, by increasing or decreasing destruction output I can fine tune it to summon what I want with the help of mana. That much is obvious once it's been said aloud. However, unlike any other pillar, the destruction pillar is special and can do something a little more by mixing around its aspects. See all the aspects are interconnected and integrated so tightly with one another not because they're basically one and the same but, instead, because they slot together like a jigsaw to create a whole image. Put simply, if I combine the two other aspects, I can create an enhanced version of the third, unused aspect in the previous equation. If I simultaneously shrink annihilation while enlarging nothingness then I'll end up with a unique form of disintegration that is drastically more powerful than the original. The same is true of annihilation and nothingness as they also have 'enhanced' versions. These unique versions of the magic do other things and have slightly different properties but, before you ask, no, I don't know what they are or do as of yet. I know they exist but I haven't yet been able to bring any of it forth via my magic. I'm just not strong enough to do it yet and probably won't be for the foreseeable future. It's hard! Even the pillar itself can struggle with this and is likely the reason there are both types of disintegration in your generator room as it couldn't manifest enough of the second type to cover everything. I'll ask again, are you satisfied with this answer and can I move on to question two, or is there something else I should cover?"

Mako stroked his chin and leant back against a nearby wall in silence for a good ten minutes as he thought everything over. Learning that Ares' magic could evolve later down the line into something more was horrifying from his own personal perspective as beating Ares was only going to become that much harder... Still, that wasn't relevant right now and he had to try and dredge up as much information as he could from Ares who seemed intent on hiding it whenever possible. How long had he known about this evolved magic for without ever mentioning it? Ares was obviously going to withhold crucial information and maybe even sprinkle in some half truths or lies here so it was in Mako's best interest to really press him with hard questions. The more Mako could unveil the better which was why he was taking so long to respond. He wanted to make sure there was absolutely nothing tangentially related to the discussion that Ares was omitting before he moved on to question two. This was important!... But also very hard. Mako wasn't some expert interrogator and so he was struggling to think of anything more he needed to know about this whole evolved magic thing. It seemed like Ares had been completely upfront about this question and so Mako was pretty content after a long contemplation. Just in case though... "You really know nothing about these second forms of your magic? Not a name, not the ability, not their strength?"

Ares shook his head from side to side. "No... Although I can tell you they're definitely stronger than the original versions. After all, it's basically the original but with extra oomph and some additional traits. Nothing is lost but, rather, it's improved upon in various ways. That's all I got from the destruction pillar. It was something I was interested in myself but, before I could ask, it was already ignoring me again so this is really all I can say on the matter. I've never really cared much for hiding anything regarding my magic so, if you'd like, I can promise to inform you as soon as I know more than I currently do."

"Alright then, I'll take your word for it... Not that I have any other choice. Go on then, next question."

"Two, why does the destruction pillar have a bone to pick with the creation pillar? Hmm, tough one..." This was an even harder question to answer compared to the last as it also pertained to the third question in a way... Not that Ares was going to tell Mako that. "Equilibrium. Also, the destruction pillar just generally doesn't like the creation pillar due to the vastly opposing ideologies so it likes bullying creation every now and then."

"Ok, you aren't getting away from extra questioning this time because there's a whole host of things I'm going to need clarification on. What do you mean 'equilibrium'?"

"What do you think would happen if destruction gave into its base instincts, like the creation pillar, and just kept destroying everything that it could see?"

"The world would end?"

"Pretty much. Nothing any of the other pillars ever created would last more than five seconds and reality as we know it would still just be a bunch of pillars sitting around in the void doing nothing because every single dimension would be wiped out in due time. So if one extreme is bad then what makes you think the other one is going to be any better? You keep going on about infinite generation and infinite expansion but what on earth makes you think that's a good thing? Yes your power would spiral out of control but so would the concept of creation as a whole. It's impossible to tell what manner of nuisance such unchecked rampancy would cause and I think it's best we never find out. The reason the destruction pillar doesn't bother the other pillars too much is because they have limits to what they can and do create. A couple dimensions here and there is not remotely comparable to the shit show that the creation pillar keeps obstinately trying to bring about. There are consequences to every action something as powerful as a fundamental pillar makes and the destruction pillar understands that the best of all the pillars. You said it yourself, destruction is the most sentient of the pillars and has the best grasp of every other pillar's potential power. In order to prevent misuse it acts accordingly in response to the other pillar's actions. Astraeus maintains dimensions but destruction will actively seek out any empty or problematic ones cluttering up the void and the useless crap creation keeps summoning without due consideration is a part of that. Hell it's like 90% of that and it's just indirectly feeding Xhilihx anyway. That pillar really needs to stop."

"But who's to say anything negative will come of infinite creation? Isn't that just an assumption? Creation is not as inherently disastrous as destruction is and I can't see why such a thing couldn't have been trialled before destruction took such speculative and pre-emptive measures."

"Foresight and knowledge."

"... What does that mean?"

"It means what it means. That's my response, no further comments."

Mako side-eyed Ares with a glare because that was not an appropriate answer. The assertion that what creation was doing was troublesome needed to be expanded upon! Ares, and in turn the destruction pillar, seemed oddly confident in an assumption they had no business being this sure about. "So what you're telling me is that the destruction pillar is trying to keep a balance because it's worried about what will happen if it stops and lets the creation pillar do as it pleases?"

"Yes."

"So it, and presumably you too, think you're doing the right thing and the creation pillar isn't?"

"Yes."

"And you won't tell me why?"

"No."

"Does it have anything to do with Xhilihx?"

"Only indirectly. Not really. I'll tell you this free of charge, the destruction pillar is not at all bothered by Xhilihx. It will die eventually and that will be the end of this whole saga. That's how it sees that matter and I agree, it's mostly irrelevant. A problem that can be solved via death or destruction is not a problem at all for existences like us."

"And what the creation pillar is attempting to do falls outside the realm of that? It's creating a problem that 'death or destruction' can't solve?"

"Not inherently. Under normal circumstances the destruction pillar might even let creation go do its own thing in the corner of reality where it couldn't bother anyone, creating infinity off in a random direction that nobody else exists in."

"Then what's different about the current 'circumstances' if it has nothing to do with Xhilihx?"

"Things."

"That's not a helpful answer."

"I'm not trying to be helpful, I'm trying to be mysterious!" Ares threw his hands into the air with a dumb smile and Mako wanted to slap this idiot!... Wait, no, that was the intended effect of his actions. This guy was using his blatant idiocy to distract Mako from the real issue here... Tsk, it was really worth remembering that Ares wasn't actually a moron, he just acted like one whenever it was convenient, either because he was trying to annoy someone, mess around for his own entertainment, or, worse, change the subject / lie. Ares' personality had 'dumb' scribbled all over it which made looking at what lay underneath extremely difficult and Mako had to admit this bastard had crafted a beautifully executed lie that was hard to not get tangled up in during important conversations. He was a fundamental champion questioning with the intent of sniffing out potential betrayal and even he was nearly duped into letting his guard down... What chance did anybody else have of extracting information out of this tricky guy? It's not that Mako didn't trust Ares, or even destruction to some extent, but there was clearly something strange going on with these two as they seemed to be living in their own little world and playing an entirely different game compared to everyone else. It was like Mako was booking it through all the main quests while Ares was doing a bunch of hidden side quests to get the true ending, that was how it felt looking at this miniature twerp's intentionally stupid and misleading expression. Mako still had a few more questions for Ares but, unfortunately, he knew this was about as good an answer as he was going to get for this question so he wasn't particularly hopeful for any more important information.

"Does the destruction pillar want power? As in to remain at the peak of all things? Is that why it's stifling creation?"

"No... Kind of? It wouldn't say no to more power, and technically that is one of its minor goals, but it's not destruction's main concern and has nothing to do with 'remaining on top'. It doesn't care about such trivial things and, before you ask, no, it doesn't want more power to destroy reality and neither do I. That's dumb, don't think so little of us and even dare ask or I might have to punch some sense into you here and now. You already know how much I value my family and I would never blow them up nor would I encourage or let the destruction pillar do it."

"So what is the strength needed for then? Not Xhilihx, not maintaining its position as the most powerful thing in existence, not destroying worlds... What then?"

"Hm, I'm not going to tell you that."

"I want to know!" Mako was a little mad he wasn't getting any straight answers as of late! Everything was so round about with this guy!

"I'll give you a hint!"

Point in case! Mako deflated instantly but again realised this was Ares playing with his emotions to lower tensions. Mako knew he had to accept this hint, as it was better than nothing, but it was also a way for Ares to end this line of questioning by claiming he'd responded in some way at the very least. Mako didn't walk away empty handed and yet Ares had technically given him nothing worthwhile. Mako feeling 'deflated' and defeated by this idiot would just give him room to give Mako a consolation prize which he'd even feel grateful for. It was like Ares had abandoned him in a desert but, to prevent Mako from hating Ares' guts, he came back and offered him a drop of water in exchange for forgiveness... This fucker was a damn rat and Mako was learning a lot about Ares today. What made it all worse was that Ares wasn't hiding it either. Ares was wilfully exposing his dirty side here because Mako couldn't even do anything about it realistically. There was definitely something dodgy going on with Ares but Mako wasn't going to get to the bottom of that today anyway, that much was clear. It would take years of probing to get anything out of this insufferable mongrel...

And yet, Ares still felt oddly trustworthy. Nothing he'd said thus far gave to understand that Ares' goal was to cause any kind of harm... It felt like he had some kind of bigger picture that everyone else was missing and that irked Mako because he wanted to be a part of it too! That burning desire to further his own relevance to the plot was also part of why he was going to willingly fall into Ares' machinations and accept the hint. It was because there was a voice in the back of Mako's head that was convinced he could decipher the hint but, really, that was stupid. Ares would never give a hint that could actually be deciphered if his overall goal here was not to give a concrete answer of any kind. It would just be some twisted bullshit that Mako would need more information than he had to discern the true meaning of. The kind of thing that, even if you guessed right, you still wouldn't know if the answer was correct or not because you had no way of proving it and, even then, whether that new information meant anything was debatable as there might even be more layers of secrets behind it. "Fine." Mako growled. Being cornered like this despite the fact he was the interviewer made him feel agitated as he should have been the one in control here! And yet Ares was dastardly to his very core and usurped power in this talk so quickly, roping Mako into his schemes...

Ares smiled but it was hard to tell if it was being genuine or not. Was he happy that Mako was obediently following along as instructed or just fake smiling to mock him? Either way, it wasn't a pleasant smile to be on the receiving end of despite how 'harmless' it might appear to any onlookers... " My hint is a question and, if you can figure out the answer, you might be able to piece together some of destruction's intentions! Teh question is... Have you ever wondered... What... Is a pillar?"

"Oh fuck off with your cryptic bullshit. A pillar is a pillar." Mako kissed his teeth as his earlier guess about the contents of the hint were spot on. He didn't doubt Ares was giving a real hint, and that his truth was buried somewhere deep in the correct answer to that question, but where was Mako supposed to go from here? The common consensus since the dawn of time, even as far as the pillars themselves understood, was that pillars were literally just that, pillars filled with mana. That was it. They were a near limitless source of their respective mana and that. Was. It. They had some sentience, could fire off some magic here and there, but were otherwise motionless objects and nothing more. This was a hint not even the creation pillar itself would understand because it didn't know anything other than this itself! If a pillar couldn't answer this question how was Mako supposed to figure it out? It wasn't a bad hint, it was just that it was more like an impossible to decipher riddle as this point. The answer had to be something that Ares himself understood, so it was something conceptually within Mako's grasp, but so what? All Mako had to do to ascertain the truth was... Go through all of existence one by one and figure out what was relevant and applicable! Not happening! hell even if Mako did there would be multiple options that could sound correct and he wouldn't even know which one was true!

Ares chuckled. "Of course a pillar is a pillar, you're right about that... But What. Is. A. Pillar?"

... Tsk. Mako kissed his teeth and just ignored Ares who was repeating himself to distract Mako once more. The only thing Mako had gained form this was an understanding that pillars belonged to some kind of overarching 'category'. If 'the definition of what a pillar is' wasn't the answer to Ares' question then that meant Ares was actually asking not for a 'description', but rather what 'classification' a pillar fell under. For example, what is a pen? It's something you can write with, obviously. While that 'description' is correct, however, it's not what Ares was really after. The real question and answer here was; what is a pen? 'It's a type of writing utensil'. This was technically a description too but what mattered is that it implied the object in question did not sit at the top of a hierarchy, it was a mere sub category of something else. It was a surprisingly massive 'hint' with major implications but also unsurprisingly useless as figuring out the 'category' was basically impossible with this little information... Damn revenant... Mako knew he wasn't going to get anything better out of Ares but he threw out one last meaningless question just because it was the only thing he hadn't brought up yet regarding Ares' initial answer. "And what's this about messing with the creation pillar? Is the destruction pillar literally just bullying creation for the fun of it?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Stress relief. I'm telling you now creation deserves it and I would bully that stupid thing too if I could what with all the problems its caused. That thing has single handedly given me, and destruction, more grief than anything else for as long as we've lived thus far. I would not be opposed to it magically disappearing for good one day, quite frankly."

"That's not just dislike, that's actual hatred. Why?"

"Because it's stupid. Its lacking sentience is a serious issue and is probably the starting point of all our troubles. It shouldn't have been this way but, alas, here we are. It's not even really creation's fault but there's nothing that can be done to change it so we're stuck with its dumb ass. It may be the second smartest pillar but the knowledge it doesn't possess is harmful. Long story short, creation deserves to be messed with and that's all I'm saying on the matter."

"... Fine. Next question... Although we've already sort of discussed it... Well whatever, give me your usual cryptic bullshit and let's get this over and done with."

"Ok, question three. The destruction pillar's goals as well as my own? Well the destruction pillar just wants to do its job and act as a source of destruction mana."

"For you? Why?"

"Reasons."

"Reasons... That's not a straightforward answer but I know better than to even ask at this point. Then again, provided your own goal isn't anything problematic then that clears destruction by association, so as you were." Mako was pinching his forehead between two fingers and rubbing it as he felt a headache come on just form trying to reason with this damn fool.

"My goal is to keep my family safe and have fun with explosions, in that order. That's about it really. I don't care about being number one like you do but it's kinda relevant to my other two goals so I'll be sure to accomplish that in due time. Look, I don't know how you feel about my evasiveness during this discussion but there are things I literally cannot tell you. I'm not keeping it a secret that the destruction pillar will pick another champion if I'm not compliant but I have no issues with what it's asking of me. I understand the importance of what it's doing, and what it wants of me, and I stand to gain from following along. It's a win win situation even if the specifics aren't something I'm willing to openly disclose. Destruction and I are simply doing what is needed, nothing more and nothing less. I want to be in control of my and my family's fate and the pillar wants to make me powerful enough such that I can become the God of destruction. You're just going to have to take my word for it that everything we do in pursuit of those two goals is for the best. I'm not going to pretend the destruction pillar or I are saints but we aren't doing the wrong thing here either. You're never going to get a more comprehensive answer than this so I'll summarise it one final time. This dimension is our number one priority. We will work together in order to keep it safe. Xhilihx will be beaten at some point and that will be the last time it ever bothers anyone ever again. Now is that the end of various matters? Not really but the rest doesn't concern you or anyone else so don't worry about it as that will be my burden to shoulder as the God of destruction. What comes after falls to me."

"And what if I want to get involved?" Mako's obsession with being number one was showing and he seemed to realise Ares would keep ascending beyond mere Godhood with regards to whatever he was talking about. Mako didn't want to get left behind! He wanted to be numero uno!

"Up until Xhilihx is destroyed I will not be involving anyone in our matters. Destruction and I will handle things alone prior to that point. I will not hide the truth after that but it will be too late by that point for anyone else to intervene, especially you. I'm not just picking on you here, you might potentially be the worst candidate for what comes after. If you want to hop aboard and tag along then sure but don't expect to be useful."

"So you admit you're hiding the truth for now? Why should I trust you?"

Ares shrugged. "I've never hidden the truth from Enyo and she's accepting of all of this. I won't hide it from any of my prophesised wives and they're all still destined to marry me in spite of that, if Yulo's magic is working as intended, so you're just going to have to trust not in me but, instead, in their moral compass. You might have reservations about my intentions but can you say the same of Mrs Justice herself? I won't let you probe her for information, so don't even think about it or we'll have a fight on our hands, but understand they know the full scope of things and are supportive of my endeavours... I won't claim they like it, it's not all sunshine and rainbows on my end, but they agree it has to be done because there is no other viable solution to the problem we all face. That is my final comment on this matter and I will not be discussing any of this further no matter how many questions you ask. I've already said a lot more today than I ever planned to but I would rather be as upfront with you as possible so that you understand, if nothing else, that I am on your side. I don't want my reluctance to speak to serve as some kind of misunderstood indicator that I'm secretly looking to betray the fundamental champions or anything, that's wildly off mark. I hope you can understand my position and not press me any further because, ultimately, I have no say in the matter and have to do things as I'm currently doing them. That is all."

"... I have one final question for you... Have you lied to me at any point?"

"No. That much I swear. There exist plenty of lie detecting tools out there and I don't know how many of them work or how to stop them even if I am capable of baffling Enyo's bloodline. I would rather not breed distrust over something so stupid on the off chance you have such a lie detector on your person right now. You can rest assured that, as far as I know, everything that has left my mouth in this conversation is entirely true. I want to work alongside the fundamental champions going forward and lying here would jeopardize that, I feel. Now will I lie in the future, when my disintegration reaches a level that can allow me to do so safely even in the presence of a lie detector, to avoid inconvenient discussions? Perhaps but today? No." Ares shook his head and silence fell upon this corner of the room. Mako needed time to digest everything and Ares was going over his own responses and making sure he hadn't said too much. What a complicated mess this all was...