Chapter 342: Up and At 'em

Who the hell gave you permission to do this? Ares refused to allow his mimic to sacrifice itself for him as this was never something he'd ask of it. Sure Rox had died a lot before but Ares was only accepting of it because it was always inside a Training Field. What was happening here and now wasn't something he could tolerate so, in spite of Rox's stubbornness, Ares used every ounce of strength he had to fight back against his lethargic and burnt body. There was a layer of ashen crust that was covering him, making it nigh impossible to raise his limbs as they were encased in the stuff, but still he tried. Though it hurt, he activated annihilation enhancement specifically in his left arm, as that was the one closest to Rox, and kept pushing his limp limb against the casing. His body was not yet ready to break free from this rocky chrysalis and be reborn but he was forcing it to happen anyway. His hand was dry, scarred, burnt, bony, and generally unsightly but still it thumped against the casing repeatedly in a bid to break free while the fire slowly ravaged Rox and begun melting him down. Though it was inevitably going to cause problems later, Ares even managed to scrounge up enough mana from his enflamed reservoir and cast Echo.

Bang

The crooked and broken hand, now missing a finger thanks to the explosion from the Echo ravaging it more than it did anything else, managed to burst through the casing and break free while lunging towards Rox. Though the mimic would probably be scarred quite heavily, and come away from this with more than just a few burn marks, Ares was able to reach him just in the nick of time and shove a reluctant Rox into the Primordial Blade. He didn't want to go, because Ares was about to start taking the brunt of the fire in his place, but he couldn't fight back against Ares' influence because he still wasn't stronger than Ares even in his weakened state. Ares could forcefully shove weaker entities into the Blade and, though it annoyed Rox, he fell in this category of existence too and the damage he sustained from the fire wasn't helping resist Ares' influence either. Rox was still going to keep burning away for a little longer in the Primordial Blade but he would live at least so Ares' mind was at ease in that regard... But now came the fate he'd just resigned himself to... Well, how bad could it be really? It's not like he wasn't also burning five seconds ago! That volcano fire would be infinitely hotter than this one, his body just wasn't immune to the worst effects of this one is all. If anything, he might be lucky and just melt away peacefully!

Sizzle

The first few embers clung to his flesh and Ares immediately realised that was not going to be the case. His hand was burned even more and became blackened on the spot while his face was partially scorched. His hair caught on fire and it looked like the rest of his body was about to follow suit but suddenly the onslaught of fire ceased and he was liberated from the mounting inferno by a massive splash of water, snuffing out the raging fire that still lingered. It's not like the fire breath from the wyvern had stopped firing but there was now a giant earthen wall in front of Ares, protecting him from harm. Ares managed to tilt his head slightly and he saw three people arrive and each of them were diligently taking up different positions to fight the krakyrn and do whatever they could to fend it off.

First up was Nibbler. He was still in his normal sharkdog form and using water magic to put out the fires around the building. He was the one who stopped Ares from burning like a bonfire so Ares was immensely grateful for the cute fella... Unfortunately, however, Nibbler was not aware that the fire that still remained on Ares was from a completely different source, the Extinction Converter, and so he kept trying to douse Ares over and over again, wondering why it wasn't working. He tilted his head in a cute way before opening his gob and spouting another water jet at Ares. This probably would have carried on for some time, bless Nibbler's pure intentions, but it seemed person number two, Hunter, had a more keen eye for this sort of situation. Hunter swooped on by and picked up Nibbler while telling him it was ok and that Ares was fine now. Nibbler seemed very confused but nodded his head with a happy smile and went back to acting like a rogue fire hydrant. A very violent fire hydrant as his water jets would become much more devastating when aimed at a non friendly target. It seemed Nibbler was on tentacle duty now that the more concerning fires had been put out and each quick jet of water he spewed would put a tentacle out of commission. Maybe even multiple if his aim was true. Plus Nibbler could facilitate better angles for his shots by hopping into the floor and swimming through the ground. This was a magic he'd inherited from his biological parent that came under the earth pillar, allowing him to swim freely wherever he pleased! Well, not in air, that wasn't possible as of right now. Still, he was practicing! A flying landsharkdog! Now that would be a real fun sight.

Then there was person number three who was acting as an impenetrable defensive wall, knocking away any stray attacks so that Hunter could set up his offensive gadgets in peace. Ares had never seen this third individual before but he could take a wild guess who the guy was as he was giving orders in a steady fashion and Ares somewhat recognised the voice. This was the man who'd been speaking over the PA systems earlier. To be more precise, this was the captain of the Federation! His course in all matters remained steady at all times and he was not one to buckle under pressure no matter how heavy it became. He was particularly famous / infamous, depending on who you were, for not giving a toss about status. It didn't matter if you were a random civilian or a higher up, if you got in his way while working you'd best expect an earful of reprimand! He was a rather vocal individual, not afraid to speak his mind and speak it often, but that didn't mean he was always strict as can be. In fact, it was usually quite rare he got like that but it definitely always happened whenever crisis came knocking on the Federation's door.

This country was more than just a home to the captain and he cherished this big ol' boat more than some people did their spouses. Though not sentient, this boat was basically his soulmate and he treated it just as delicately... Though that's not to say he wasn't willing to ram it into larger foes if the need arose. He would give his life for this country and protecting it was his number one duty at all times. To that end, anyone aboard it could rest at ease knowing their best interests were in line with this captain's. He might not care about any individual aboard the Federation but if he was going to be defending this country anyway then the people living in it would feel the benefits of his actions regardless of whether he did it for them or not. The captain was a middle aged man, above average in terms of build, was greying all over despite his relatively younger age but made it work as his beard and hair were neatly groomed to be aesthetically pleasing, and wore a pretty standard sailor's uniform with some minor modifications. He wore a long blue overcoat over the top of his clothes and a rather large chain necklace in the shape of a ship wheel that took up almost half his chest.

Though it wasn't an article of clothing, it was impossible to ever find the captain not smoking a cigar and, naturally, he was doing as such even now in the middle of this tense fight. In fact, he'd literally just finished the thing and put it out by rubbing it into a nearby tentacle that had just missed an attack on him. The tentacle flailed and swung about wildly but only smacked against a solid rock wall that the captain raised in a leisurely manner. It might have seemed strange that the captain of an extremely large boat, or series of boats if you were being more specific, travelling across the ocean would have an affiliation for the earth pillar, and the more obvious water pillar, but he'd made it work for him over the years. In fact, there were some pretty cool things he could do with his magic but none of that would be relevant during this fight because the monster had already breached the premise. If the krakyrn was assaulting the Federation from outside it then the captain could have strutted his stuff but, unfortunately, that was not how this was going to go. The captain had almost single handedly swatted this creature away before but, given its current troublesome location, it was going to be a right hassle to make the damn thing leave. The captain was rather annoyed, actually, because he had the exact same question Ares did... Why the hell was this thing even here right now?! The captain was a man who was intimately familiar with the ocean, and especially this path as he'd sailed it more times than most people had eaten hot meals, and yet never in all his life had he seen a deviation from predicted events as bizarre as this. Also, like Ares, he believed there was something amiss about this whole situation but, still, dealing with it first was paramount as he could ask questions later.

While the captain raised sturdy earth walls to protect everyone still in the building, Hunter was whipping out multiple gadgets and setting up myriad traps in preparation to push back the krakyrn. Hunter was typically slow to get started in a fight but, once he did, the opponent would fall behind in terms of momentum and obediently follow along to the pace he set. He was also arming himself to the teeth, strapping countless gadgets to a belt around his waist, and tucking a few extra into his various pockets for good measure. It looked like he was preparing to go to war here! It was completely unnecessary, though, because Ares was about to get up and he was not in a good mood! This dumb monster almost cooked him and Rox and Ares wanted some damn payback! He could feel his body slowly recovering so Hunter had about ten seconds of fun left before the real threat woke up from its blazing slumber and he would have to take a back seat. Still, regardless whether he could tell Ares was about to return to normal and kick some krakyrn ass or not, he set forth from the earthen safe haven set up by the captain and sprinted towards the beast. As much as the captain wished he could follow suit, he was stuck on babysitting duty with Nibbler. On the bright side, for the captain, whenever the tentacles were dealt with, or blocked behind his walls, Nibbler had nothing else to do so he kept giving him friendly nuzzles on his leg. Ares was jealous! But he was also on fire so it was for the best if Nibbler stayed away.

Back by Hunter, he'd just sprayed an unmarked can at a bunch of tentacles aiming to reap his life and a cold blast of nitrogen froze them solid on the spot. That icky substance they were coated in had enabled them to be slippery but now it was coming back to bite them in the ass by getting them turned into ice sculptures that shattered on the ground as soon as they fell out of the air. Hunter wasn't even remotely done as he chucked a smoke grenade gadget at his feet, blinding the krakyrn and allowing Hunter to approach his prey safely. The krakyrn did try to redirect its flame breath into the smoke screen but Hunter had expected this, if not outright aimed for this, and chucked a homing pigeon, loaded with acid, right at the monster's mouth. The pigeon flew through the air, nimbly barrel rolling around the torrent of fire, and kamikazed head first into the maw of the krakyrn and split apart. Chunks of metal and deadly corrosives flew down the monster's gullet and burned it thoroughly. Unable to resist the urge to scream, the krakyrn's fire breath was halted while it flushed out the acid with water magic much to the surprise of the captain who was still hanging around near Ares.

"SINCE WHEN?!"

Ares had no idea why this man was shocked and yelling in a booming voice but, as it would turn out, this creature had never had access to the water pillar any other time it showed up... The number of questions everyone here had just increased yet again but, aside from the captain who was getting really annoyed and stomping his feet, the people fighting for their lives went immediately back to scrapping with the monster's spare tentacles or hiding behind the raised earthen walls. Hunter was also a bit dismayed that this thing had gotten stronger, somehow, but focussed his efforts back on expertly swapping between gadgets to claim an advantage. It was a shame he didn't know about the water magic in advance, otherwise he would have brought along a very different set of gadgets that were great at electrocuting foes, but that didn' mean he couldn't tango with this thing without them! He'd rushed over here equipped to fight this thing to death if need be so a development like this, though troublesome, wasn't going to soften his resolve! He came dashing through the other end of the smoke screen with eight Stick 'N' Ticks clenched between each pair of fingers on both hands and threw them all simultaneously towards his large target. About half of them clung to tentacles around the monster's neck but the remaining four landed in critical locations. Two inside the mouth, one on the eyes, and one near the base of one of its wings.

BEEP

Unlike the snatcher's Ticks way back when, Ares could tell these things packed some seriously explosive firepower and were at least twice as deadly in comparison. If Ares had been hit with one of these instead back at that hotel he would have been blown into chunks and been sent right back to infancy after resurrection just like that. Even the beeps of this thing were menacingly loud and really gave off the impression that what came next was going to be a real big blast. Ares could appreciate a good explosion. Ones from other pillars like this couldn't match his own, not even close, but he had a respect for people that tried simply because explosions were great! Aesthetically and functionally! Also, Ares was acting a bit like Ject here because, when he apotheosised at a later date, he would eventually have immunity to these kinds of arts. In fact, he could even redirect the explosions somewhat... Basically he was being selfish here and hoping more people would try to rely on the few explosive arts that existed outside of his own pillar or, maybe, even invent their own!

Anyway, Ares' hidden agenda aside, he was right about the scale of destruction that would be coming from these Stick 'N' Ticks. Hunter was a professional gadget maker, and his cultivation was pretty high on top of that, so these things were going to tear a couple holes into not just the Federation but also the krakyrn itself. Though Hans and Yulo were the example that had been given for dealing with a creature like this, Hunter and the captain were another combination of strong cultivators that could maybe do it if they tried hard enough and things went their way. Unfortunately the captain was preoccupied, forced to stick to defence, and not at full strength anyway due to the location of the battle. Under the right circumstances, this captain could even put up a fight against Hans and maybe even beat him here and there. This guy basically was national security all by himself, it's just that he was so limited in terms of his combat application that he couldn't solve every problem. Someone like Fin was his worst nightmare because Fin could easily access his boats and there was nothing much to be done about it afterwards and that was something he really needed to work on.

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Though nobody was happy to see parts of this historic building get blown to smithereens, it was a welcome sight to watch the krakyrn get a dose of the suffering it caused to others served right back at it. Revenge was a dish best served explosively! The beast reeled and banged its head against a broken wall behind it, causing it to keep screeching and throwing its weight around in agitation. This attack wasn't enough to kill it, not even really close, but the thing was absolutely feeling those last few blasts. Hunter valued efficiency over sheer numbers so he might not have had many Ticks but each packed the same level of punch as a Grand Annihilation or two from Ares before he took in the Converter. It was no surprise, then, that the entire corner of the supermarket, where this explosive hubbub just took place, had been ruined and shredded completely. Nothing but blue skies and high tides as far as the eye could see now that the walls were just flat out gone. This result was a mixed bag because it had done good damage to the monster itself but it had also partially freed the krakyrn who's movements were now somewhat less restrained. Its horrid wings were now able to spread out a little further and looked like folded tentacles mattresses layered on top of one another. Even in this restricted state the wings were still as big as a truck and could generate small tornados if they had room to wriggle around in.

Hunter was prepared to keep fighting but a sneaky tentacle drilled upwards through the floor underneath and nicked him on the knee as he retreated. It wasn't a massive injury but it was a very real problem that would affect him going forward and he needed to retreat temporarily and heal it. He hobbled back over to the captain, bent over, and started applying various healing gadgets he had on hand while grimacing. Not because of the pain but because he wasn't sure how to deal with this thing on his own. In its previous state he could win the fight but now it would be somewhat more in the beast's favour. If it was freed entirely then only the captain's help could save him but he was still not doing anything. hunter wasn't entirely sure why but when he heard a cracking noise coming from the black shell around Ares he could now hazard a rough guess. He knew Ares was undergoing some kind of process but he hadn't had a clue as to when it would be finishing. That being said, the captain specialised in earth and could tell Ares' casing was about to be shed so he'd been patient. Backup had arrived and the tides had reversed. The wind was at their sails so Hunter felt relieved knowing someone strong enough to beat Fin was about to lend a helping hand. Plus the kid had seemingly gone through some kind of enhancing transformation just now so maybe he'd gotten even stronger? Only time would tell but it didn't look like Hunter would have to wait long to see the results of whatever it was Ares had done to himself.

CRACK

The casing covering most of Ares' body splintered straight down the middle and weakened considerably, enabling a somewhat rejuvenated Ares to deal it the death blow by lifting his upper body off the floor. He arose through the ashen scraps as they crumbled to the floor around him like he was a long dead pharaoh awakening from his tomb. His skin had a new lustre to it that seemed almost too pure for this world and was clean enough to eat off of. Or, rather, his flesh looked clean enough to eat itself and any cannibals or monsters with a taste for skin would drool over a body of this calibre. It wouldn't last forever, as Ares wasn't some unmoving statue that could be polished day in and day out to keep this shine, but while it lasted he would feel and look like a pure angel.

Yawning and stretching as if the problem on the other side of the room didn't exist was fairly indicative of how little he feared this monster now that he was actually able to move freely again. Though Hunter was having it rough, now that the krakyrn was less constrained by its surroundings, Ares still saw this monster as relatively weak. Maybe if it was fully freed would it provide a notable challenge but Ares, especially in this moment, was not viewing it as any kind of real threat. Though his body was likely going to collapse in about ten seconds, when the boost from the Converter wore off, he was feeling confident that was all he'd need to scare the bajeezus out of the krakyrn and drive it to flee this place for now. The Converter was effectively testing out its new host and operating at max efficiency already, like a sort of stress test. Mana Regeneration that had been cranked up to max, the magic improvements, brought about by the destroyed souls of previous failed hosts, and the speed / power boost that wasn't even supposed to activate until Ares devoured a soul were all running in tandem with one another and Ares felt great. The latter of those benefits had been activated using the torrent of energy that came with fusing with Ares so he'd never be able to activate it on command, and it would never randomly activate again either, but just this once during start-up was perfectly timed and was incredibly helpful. Even without annihilation enhancement Ares felt like a superhuman right about now thanks to the boost. The fact he was willing to waste nearly a third of his ten second limit before collapsing meant that he'd truly ascended as a result of merging with this treasure and he was looking forward to his future with this thing. He'd need to recover after this but from then on he'd be free to do as he pleased with the support of this Converter and all the power it afforded him without any drawbacks.

Ares stood up and dusted himself off, wasting another two seconds which totalled half of his available time limit and he still managed to find another spare second to turn and wave towards Hunter. It seemed like he wanted to have a word about how to fight off the krakyrn but now Ares really didn't have time for that! Ares could do it on his own anyway so, although Hunter looked dumbfounded when Ares ignored him and took off, Ares pretended he saw nothing and activated annihilation enhancement in addition to what he already had going on. His speed almost broke the sound barrier and a dull thud echoed form the starting point of his dash. The boost from the Converter was not minor and, when piled on top of his pressure enhancement, Ares was moving even faster than Fin had been able to underwater and by a decent amount too. Ares hadn't been expecting the boost to be this significant but he wasn't complaining! He would sooner figure out how to manually control this unwieldy speed than not use it at all! Not that he had a choice, the Converter was in him now and he would be receiving this boost every time a soul was dragged kicking and screaming into his heart whether he wanted it or not. The fight would usually be over by that point but if there were multiple enemies around that was when this extra passive ability would shine.

Ares ran up and along a tentacle that he wasn't even sure was moving. Ares' Omniscience was working overtime and his body was so filled with energy it almost felt like time had slowed down. It made his life easier and running up the slippery tentacle and towards the main body of the krakyrn was a much simpler endeavour than it would have been otherwise if it were thrashing about. By the time he reached the base of the tentacle, and was roughly positioned next to the krakyrn's neck, he calculated his remaining time in this boosted form to be just under three seconds. Ares planned it all out in his head and begun climbing by activating Echo and Double Jump simultaneously, rocketing him higher up and into the air while the krakyrn sunk down a few inches as a result of the blast on its body. Ares begun swinging his sword with a little under a single second remaining but, at this point, such a time limit didn't matter. Fate was in motion and nothing could stop the world of hurt brimming in his sword. Golden magic swirled to an unnatural degree and it looked almost like dozens of golden fireflies were hovering around Ares' sword as though it were some kind of lamp.

Ares had never seen so much mana, and it had never been this thick either when he called upon it, but he understood this to be a result of the Converter amping his magic to new heights. His magic had finally caught up to his pressure and was destined to soon overtake it thanks to everything this new treasure was capable of. Ares felt a rumbling in his soul and the urge to release his band new annihilation magic was overwhelming, like he was going to explode into a million destruction particles if he kept that raging gold avalanche bottled up any longer. The krakyrn looked up at him as he stared back down at it. The beast, typically aggressive and fervorous, was made to back down in awe at the aura of dominance and death it felt and couldn't meet Ares eye to eye lest it gaze into an abyss of nothingness made manifest of which it was about to become a part of. The weight of the entire purpose of the destruction pillar bearing down on it caused the krakyrn to recoil slightly and it tried to sink under the waves and scarper but Ares wasn't quite content with just letting it escape unharmed. If it wanted to flee it could do so when, and only when, Ares permitted it; only after he'd gotten vengeance for what this foolish monster tried to pull earlier while he was incapacitated. The coward had struck at him while he was immobile and now had the gall to run as soon as the bull it had poked awoke and came charging? There was only one thing that needed to be said to such a pathetic creature.

"Grand Annihilation!"