...
...
Now! Ares timed the Pelagic Prison's disappearance perfectly and launched his Armillary such that it would arrive right in front of Tom Tom just as the five minute timer ran out and he was freed from it. Tom Tom would be greeted by Ares' art and get smacked around a bit as penance for his cockiness up until this point. The undulating and buzzing Armillary floated through the air but Tom Tom seemed to be relatively unaffected by the fate in store for him and was already planning his own next move. He waited patiently for the Prison to pop before taking action but, regarding what action he took exactly, it was impossible to tell what he was up to because his position was immediately swallowed by a humongous golden curtain of light.
This was the second time Ares had cast Armillary recently and his mana was starting to run out. The Extinction Converter was doing impressive work regenerating his lost mana supplies but it wasn't omnipotent enough to prevent Ares from bottoming out forever. Any more big arts and Ares would suffer from mana deficiency and start throwing up, seeing hallucinations, and maybe even just falling completely unconscious if he went overboard. At the very least his limbs would give up one by one and force him to take a breather and lie down. Speaking of, Ares was lying down on his side on the sand and watching his beautiful art dominate the landscape with no room for anything else to exist. It was simply his Armillary explosion in sight and nothing else and that was the way it should be. Anything that stood up to his magical majesty ought to be drowned out and consumed by the all-encompassing golden perfection he'd made manifest.
...
RUMBLE
Tsk
Ares kissed his teeth, jumped to his feet, and leapt away form his current position. Something massive shot out of the sand and a bunch of sharp teeth managed to scratch Ares' ribcage as he dodged. Had Ares been any slower he would have been chomped on and eaten on the spot by Tom Tom's new form. It didn't take Ares long to figure out roughly what was up with this transforming Riddlemyd's multiple heads as it made pretty perfect sense now that it was finally being put to use. The sphinx was the all-arounder head. It could hang in the air somewhat and was quick on its feet on land. It might even be able to swim somewhat if it needed to over by the border of Xasca where the federation was docked. It was the quickest of Tom Tom's available forms and packed an amount of power that was considerable.
Then there was his crocodile head and form which was completely landlocked but carried immense power and could sink into the sand which is what had happened just now. It was like a sort of land shark that surfed under the ground and rose up to snap at prey. Its jaws were Tom Tom's strongest possible weapons across all forms ad could not be contested even by Ares' Primordial Blade as it would snap and need time to repair itself if he bothered to try. If this crocodile form tried to walk around normally it would be painfully slow, and it couldn't fly or jump really, but there was safety in hiding underneath the desert, as it provided multiple natural layers of protection, and shifting around down there was decently quick too. It was also somewhat hard to keep track of so it was problematic to say the least.
Finally there was the bird head form. Sphinx, Sobek, Ra; that appeared to be the rough meaning of each head. This last one likely had the ability to fly permanently in exchange for the upfront lethality of the other two forms. It would attack by swooping down with claws and maybe also do something involving sunlight based on the mythology of the head itself. This form would be the most tricky to hit, and deal with of them all due to its impressive aerial mobility, but it served another purpose which was enabling the Sobek form. Ares could already see the vision here as Tom Tom's sphinx form manoeuvred around the desert and kept Ares on his toes, the Ra form chased down Ares when he was at his weakest and pressured him with his back up against the wall, and then it could nose dive into the ground while swapping to Sobek and finish the job with one final ambush. What was key here about this Riddlemyd clone body was that it could transform on the fly and the process only took a couple of seconds at most. Interchanging between the different abilities and specialities of the different forms made up for the fact that the body was incapable of using magic. In this way, Tom Tom had plentiful options available to it regardless of the situation he found himself in.
Just now Tom Tom used the Sobek form to burrow under the Armillary and escape from it in the nick of time without getting hit by too much of it. Dodging it completely wasn't possible, this was an Armillary we're talking about here and not some normal art from a random cultivator, but Tom Tom only seemed to have been caught on his rear by it. Tom Tom's tail was pretty mangled, and about half if it in total was missing in various places, but even then it was still mostly functional. Ares' biggest and most devastating art couldn't even destroy Tom Tom's tail properly! If that didn't clarify how doomed this fight was as is then nothing would and Ares would stubbornly be fighting an impossible uphill battle for all eternity. Plus Ares had just got bitten on his side, and leaking blood rather profusely, so he wasn't really in any shape to keep soldiering on. Thankfully, however, he did not need to. He had Garmr in his back pocket but there was something else that needed to happen first and, by the looks of things, it was about to.
Twenty people, maybe? That was roughly how many approaching figures Ares could spot flying over towards him from the horizon. Flight meant transition realm so there being this may transition realm experts all at once was an impressive display of force that a lot of groups around the world couldn't measure up to. Naturally this was the C.O who were looking to get involved with Ares and so he wasn't shocked to see them arrive like this. He was bleeding and his clothes had turned deep red around where his wound was at its worst so he didn't mind taking a back seat for now and letting these lot take over. He was curious to see how exactly they would fight Tom Tom, and what the force of the round was capable of, so Ares Shifted away from his current spot and waited for them to drop in and introduce themselves. There was one person amongst their group who wouldn't need to, as Ares had run into him before unfortunately, but that was to be expected given the undercurrents and wider interests at play here. All would become clear soon enough but, for now, Ares simply patiently waited.
Tom Tom swapped his head back to his sphinx mode while he too made no moves because he could tell the guy leading this new pack was an interesting cultivator and was absolutely no slouch. He didn't look like hew as bursting with power but there was something about his presence that made Tom Tom wary to launch any attacks at him carelessly. There was a feeling that if he dared he would get a taste of his own medicine. The man in question was the force of the round and his appearance was rather simple, actually. He just looked like any other middle aged man and was wearing plain white robes. In that sense, he was somewhat reminiscent of Teng back in the Heaven's Path sect, mostly forgettable and nothing aesthetically unusual. The only thing that really stood out about him was the lack of any emotion on his face that signified how he was feeling currently. He was neither smiling nor frowning, his lips were perfectly even and horizontal with no sway towards either. It wouldn't be unreasonable to think he was secretly a robo but there was a very human air to him that belied a strange sort of wisdom. HIs attitude seemed less like that of an android and more like that of an old master who understood everything there was to know and was thus unfazed by anything he witnessed. Perhaps the force of the round really had done this song and dance a million times over, and faced many monsters much like Tom Tom, so he really didn't care. This fight would be a tough one for him but he seemed to not think he couldn't win. Maybe that would change once he actually got to experience first hand how annoying Tom Tom's resilience was but, for now at least, he drifted on over without any sort of hurry in his approach. He even took a pit stop next to Ares to greet him and, as per the script given to him by the strategist of the round, offer assistance. Or, well, offering to help with Tom Tom was not the important part here, it was more so about offering to have someone check on Ares' wounds... And again, even that really wasn't the end goal...
The force of the round landed next to Ares and gave a small nod in his direction. "Hello."
...
That's it? Ares was somewhat flabbergasted but it appeared this man was incredibly simple and straightforward. If he wasn't at 'the point' he would get to it lightning fast so as not to dawdle or linger unnecessarily on redundant or miscellaneous chit chat. "Hello..." Ares wasn't really too sure how to deal with a person like this so he just went along with this guy's preferences and didn't go for any elongated introductions. Besides, he'd probably already been briefed on who Ares was loosely so any sort of evangelistic grandstanding was pointless in the face of this man's general irreverence and uncaring attitude. He was here to do his job and being polite enough while doing it, that was as far as his opinions went. Ares probed for some more information just in case he could draw anything else out of him but he wasn't expecting much. "So, uh, what's your name?"
"... It doesn't matter."
"Ok... Are you going to go fight Tom Tom?"
"Tom Tom?... I guess so."
"I can handle him myself but if you want a go at him for now then be my guest."
"I thought you were struggling... You were injured. We have a healer amongst us."
This guy really only speaks in single sentences, huh? Ares thought to himself. The force of the round was sort of similar to tool and Loris Lax in that regard but he didn't appear tired or fed up with life like the other two, he was just brusque and blunt. "Not struggling, no, testing the waters is how I would put it. Injuries mean nothing to a revenant, especially not something as minor as this. You do have a healer but I don't really need him." Ares was staring at the healer with a sneer as he said this because, again, he knew this person and wanted nothing to do with him! He probably didn't have much say in the matter though because, even if the force of the round wasn't aware why, he'd been instructed to pawn the healer off onto Ares at any cost as it was paramount to the plan the strategist of the round had devised. Ares was pretty certain of this so he was denying the medical aid specifically to see how hard the force of the round pushed for it. Sure enough...
"My job is to fight and kill dangerous monsters. I'll fight... Tom Tom. You can stay here and be healed. Might as well, it's free. If you want to keep fighting afterwards then that's fine." The second he finished speaking the force of the round took off and flew away with his cohorts, leaving the healer behind without giving Ares room to refute anything said about how the situation was dictated. It was hardly subtle, the aggressive pushing of the healer onto Ares, but only because Ares had roughly guessed the intentions of the strategist of the round long before this meeting took place otherwise he would have just viewed the force of the round as being a bit pushy and headstrong. With context, though, this was all rather blatant... But it was supposed to be! See, the healer who was going to be 'curing all of Ares' wounds'... Was Lex... The guy Garmr had a word or two with, and tore half to shreds before tossing him out of the Scorched Grounds coliseum, back during the international. He was kept in the C.O despite the controversy because there was ultimately nothing definitive proving him to have acted out of line.
The force of the round wouldn't know much about Ares' and Lex's grudge with each other, he was again following orders, but the strategist of the round was being very specific here. Forcing the medical role onto Lex, and then making him the only healer in the force of the round's squad... It was all but guaranteed Lex was supposed to meet face to face with Ares again. From here, the obvious outcome would be that Lex waited for an opportunity to be alone with Ares and used some kind of rare treasure to try and kill him. He was almost definitely given some manner of compensation for what happened to him back during the international and if a powerful, one use treasure or artifact was gifted to him then he had no reason not to use it here and get revenge on an already wounded Ares.
Was the strategist of the round trying to kill Ares?
Not at all!
Quite the opposite. Officially speaking, as far as the higher ups knew, the goal was to have the force of the round understand what was happening in the nick of time and rescue Ares from Lex, making him owe the C.O twofold. Once for helping with the monster he was fighting and losing against and once again for saving him from a grudge Ares brought upon himself. Sure Lex was a member of the C.O but it's not like it was their fault Ares and him had issues with one another. It was all a fairly reasonable plan but there were holes that didn't quite add up if one opened up the hood and looked closer. For starters, even with a rare treasures there was no way in hell this idiot Lex was beating Ares, that wasn't realistic. Maybe if this had happened sooner then sure but, at Ares' current power level?... Lex killing Ares was more of a joke than anything genuinely plausible.
So, again, why set this up like this? Well the answer was simple, Ares really was too good to pass up on. It was in the C.O's interest to follow him around at whatever cost and so facilitating that by force, as the higher ups would probably never willingly agree to it, was a good choice. The negotiator of the round, Windsor, was already conned into being trapped in Red Sun so this was an extension of that. If Ares saved himself from Lex then the tables would turn and now the C.O would owe him because all the negotiating power would be in his court. Sure Lex's grudge was personal but Ares could push the matter and treat it like a major oversight, serious negligence on the force of the round's part for not being diligent and letting one of his men act unruly. There was a huge difference between the force of the round saving Ares from his own problem, and successfully disciplining his own men, and Ares having to save himself from one of the force of the round's men who went rogue and nearly took his life. Framing was the name of the game and really mattered here. As for whose framing would come out on top, it was obviously going to be Ares' because he was well aware of the possible outcomes from this moment and could game it to his favour.
The C.O would owe Ares a fairly non-trivial debt for putting his life in danger at a critical moment, even if somewhat exaggerated, and then it was matter of how to pay that debt, exactly. Ares could roughly figure the payment out and his guess was correct too as the strategist of the round had already departed from the C.O base with nothing but a hobo stick over their shoulder. They'd left a note mentioning they were headed to Red Sun to discuss debts. This way, no matter whether Ares owed the C.O, or the C.O owed Arse, the strategist would have a reason to go and visit the place that interested her. If it was the former, the C.O could expand their territory and get closer to Ares anyway. If it was the latter, and Ares was owed something, then the strategist of the round could reasonably relocate to Red Sun permanently and hop aboard the train, in first class, and enjoy the scenery on the winning team. Having two of the members of the round located in a foreign territory would essentially be the straw that broke the camel's back, forcing the entire organisation to get with the times and move permanently.
Basically, the strategist of the round wanted to bring the entire C.O along on Ares' wild ride through space because the outlook of such an endeavour was far greater than residing within Sheryashka 'till the end of time. Ares' influence was inestimable and being underneath him was better than lording over Sheryashka, that was the strategist's analysis of the matter. Honestly, even if Ares ended up 'owing' the C.O, because he failed to grasp what was happening with Lex properly, the strategist had other plans in motion to bring about the same result as the one they really wanted. They'd be disappointed in Ares for not spotting this opportunity but that wasn't a deal breaker. Even if he wasn't the brightest tool in the shed that was precisely what the strategist of the round would be able to bring to the table anyway. It was Ares' power and influence that really mattered and a lack of brains could be made up for by bringing wiser people than him to the fold. Still, the strategist hadn't expected Ares to fail this small test anyway as conning Windsor into sticking around in Red Sun was a good indicator Ares had a brain on his shoulders that wasn't non-functional.
Put simply, in no uncertain terms, the strategist of the round pursued the C.O's best interests by betraying them and selling them out to Red Sun where their potential future was infinitely better than it currently was even if they had to forfeit some of their rank and position in the worldwide hierarchy. Of course this all happened under the guise of her original plan of making Ares owe the C.O so nobody was any wiser about her true plans. This would all, by the time all was said and done, look like a massively failed gamble despite the fact that it was very much intentional from the get go. To top it all off, and this was the cherry on the cake, Ares got to kill this bastard Lex once and for all! It was like a greeting gift for him, from the C.O, and Ares very much appreciated it because this guy had ogled his wife a little too hard for his liking. Lex's plans and intentions were more than obvious back during the international and, though he'd gotten payback, Ares wanted him dead for real this time. There was no valid reason to leave this guy alive. Still, Lex could live for a few more minutes right now at least. Lex wasn't going to attack Ares just yet as the force of the round's fight with Tom Tom had barely started. Until the force of the round's attention was fully divided he dared not risk failing his sneak attack. That and Ares was interested in watching the force fight for a bit too to see what his future ally was capable of. Though there was deep enmity between Lex and Ares, and they glared fiercely at one another to make known their animosity, they made no moves against each other and simply watched the other fight happening play out. It was an interesting one!
Tom Tom was ignoring all the other transition realm cultivators because they were basically ants to him, his focus was squared solely on the force of the round. He had a bad feeling about attacking him for some strange reason but decided to bite the bullet and see what the big fuss was about this guy. Tom Tom had already brought back his sphinx head and form so his attack of choice was a simple swing with a mighty paw. The force of the round raised his own hand in response and thrust out a fist without really putting his back into it. He didn't lean into the strike, he didn't bend his body in any way, he simply stood tall and responded to the threat heading towards him. To Ares, at least, this was fairly indicative things were not going to go in Tom Tom's favour. Someone like the force of the round, who'd been around the block and understood the danger of planet-ending monsters, would never do something so blasé if he wasn't certain of his odds. It just made Ares all the more curious to see what would happen next, though, so he held his breath and waited for the conclusion to this trade of blows.
The paw and the fist collided and the expected result was turned on its head as the paw was crushed and blasted away while the hand remained steadfast and indomitable. The force of the round had won this clash handily and wasn't even breaking a sweat right now. He hadn't even chanted anything but Ares could tell there was definitely some manner of mana involved thanks to his Omniscience cluing him in. Ares' best guess was the passive pillar was currently rearing its head but what kind of bizarre art could have caused this outcome? Ares turned to Lex and flicked an Echo at him. Lex dodged to the side and looked rather agitated but Ares paid his mood no heed and asked away. "Hey idiot, what's up with the force of the round's magic?" Ares couldn't be bothered to come up with any clever insults for a man who's death was already set in stone so he plainly asked for the details about the strange magic he'd jsut witnessed. Fortunately, it seemed Lex was feeling talkative. Perhaps he was overconfident, or perhaps he was just buying time and trying to keep Ares nearby for whenever he launched his attack. Either way, he made himself useful one last time before his inevitable death and explained the trick up the force of the round's sleeve.
"The Hand Of Rebellion. That's the name of his constant blessing aspect magic under the passive pillar. His left hand is normal but his right hand inverses the strength disparity between him and his opponent. Any time he strikes with his right hand his strength is transferred to his opponent and his opponent's strength is transferred to him. It's what makes him a good giant killer and is why the C.O relies on him frequently to kill country-destroying monsters. Of course against weaker opponents he can only fight with one hand, his left, without screwing himself so it can be inconvenient but he doesn't really bother with petty squabbles. He gets stronger the stronger his foe is, and his foe gets weaker the weaker he is, that's what it comes down to."
Huh, interesting. Being unable to turn it off though makes it risky business... Against someone like Tom Tom who literally can't control his strength output, however, it's pretty incredible... I wonder how Tom Tom's gonna deal with this because it looks like the perfect counter to him. He can try to swipe the force of the round's left flank, away from his right hand, but other than that he might not have the means to combat this guy as it's a rough matchup... As it turned out, Ares' analysis of the direction of the fight was correct but also meaningless because Tom Tom had another trick up his sleeve...
Ares turned to face a strange, growing dust cloud on the horizon coming from the west of Xasca and he used his Omniscience to peer at the cause of it. Ares sighed when he was finally able to discern hundred of western monsters stampeding over towards this current location because he knew what was about to go down. That rod Sevorus used to control the western monsters, the one Diggers had... It was a prototype at best... But that didn't mean he never perfected it, it simply meant Diggers got his hands on the throwaway garbage and not the final and completed version. It seemed that the real mind-controlling artifact, that could wrangle the western monsters without a hitch and in large numbers, was embedded into the Riddlemyd itself and could act like a summoning beacon. Tom Tom had complete control over all the western monsters and was summoning them to his position to deal with the force of the round in his stead which was a great way of turning the tides.
The force of the round only had one Hand Of Rebellion and if he was swarmed by multiple monsters his weakness would begin to show. In fact, this was exactly why he brought along about twenty other cultivators wherever he went, it was their job to deal with the little peons and underlings of whatever monster he was facing. Tom Tom had accurately grasped this sore spot and was looking to take advantage of it by corralling all the most dangerous monsters in this entire country to this spot...
However...
Tom Tom had just made, what Ares would consider to be, a massive mistake! Ares was going to deal with these monsters before he left Xasca anyway but... If they were all bunched up together in one spot like this... Well, he wouldn't say no to this rather generous gift! Garmr was about to come out anyway so adding a few extra hundred targets to his list really didn't make much of a discernable difference. It was high time the grand overlord of all wolves everywhere made his return and it was about to be a murder fest in Xasca!