Glug
Glug
Glug
Lex was pretty stunned by the approaching horde of monsters, that could maybe even overrun an entire country if left unchecked, but his hearing picked up on the strange sound of liquid being consumed behind him. He turned around and confirmed his worst fears as he watched Ares chugging a Canis Stimulant right before his very eyes, a sight he'd seen once before and one that didn't end up going well for him. He was quite literally just about to take advantage of the chaos and deploy his secret weapon to kill this brat Ares but he wound up being the one distracted by the western monsters and was now paying the ultimate price for it. He knew what came next, he'd seen Garmr before with hi sown two horrified eyes. He saw Ares drink the Canis Stimulant last time and he was watching it happen in slow motion this time too. He knew, beforehand, that he needed to keep an eye on Ares lest he swallow that infernal drink, as then all hope would be lost, but that stampede had really thrown him for a loop and done him dirty. How Ares managed to stay on the ball with that frightening horde appearing out of nowhere was beyond Lex but what he did know is that he had one last opportunity to try and take Ares down before his life was forfeit. If Ares fully transformed there would be no course of action left for him to take so he whipped out a burning orange talisman and flung it right at Ares who was mid transformation.
Ares' body was starting to grow and fur could be seen spurting out of his body but his visage was quickly covered up by a fire nova that engulfed him from head to toe. The talisman thrown by Lex was crafted by an expert from Vraizon and could kill an entire parade of transition realm experts if it landed in the middle of them and they were sufficiently huddled together. It was a truly dangerous weapon he'd been gifted but it made sense considering how hard it would have been to defend himself going forward after what Ares did to him. Most of his body was broken and he was only ever able to sit on the side lines while the rest of the C.O fought tough battles; the talisman was a necessity for him to not lose his life carelessly. His own combat prowess used to be decent but now it was laughable at best and borrowed strength like this was key to his survival. For comparison's sake, this talisman packed a little less power than an Armillary from Ares but it was close enough to be seen as roughly on par. The spread of the magic was far more contained, however, and didn't spread nearly as wide. The pillar of fire shot straight up and burnt through the atmosphere but its length was far greater than its width so it wasn't nearly as impressive as an Armillary. Domineering, powerful, but not a spectacle.
Grrrrrrrr
A steady growl of resentment pierced the sounds of the raging fire pillar, subduing the unruly flames and splitting aside the magic with minimal effort. A set of large, golden, draconic eyes emerged form the talismanic weapon and made Lex wince in fear and regret. He'd been too slow to kill off Ares and now the monster within him was roaming about freely. There was nothing left that could stop Garmr and this fire magic was probably little more than a warm fireplace to this cursed wolf thing. Garmr was slightly moody after one of its millions of hairs got burnt off mid-transformation but Lex was even more annoyed at his fate having met its eternal match. Why did this stupid creature have to even exist!? Lex refused to believe this was fair in any conceivable way, him having come across this monster twice in a row, and nearly threw a tantrum. Unfortunately for him all he managed was to get out a single expletive, barely even that as it was cut short half way through, "Fuc...", before his head was turned into mincemeat and his life ended for good. Garmr's claw had flicked a blade of wind from within the fire pillar and it not only obliterated the entire pillar but also blew up Lex's head and even flew off further into the distance to strike down a random monster.
In a single small flick of the wrist Garmr had claimed multiple lives and dismissed an rampaging magic that would have given anyone else in this domain massive trouble. This display was enough to cause everyone else who was still alive, other than Aejaz as he was the one person familiar with this divine beast Garmr, to stop whatever they were dong and face this new entrant to the Xasca brawl that was unfolding. There was an immediate recognition of the fact that this forty-or-so foot tall monstrosity had enough strength packed into it to take on everyone else in this area and win with one hand behind its back because it just oozed that much pure dominance.
The cat had very much gotten Tom Tom's tongue here and he was left speechless because he really had underestimated Ares big time. All the warnings from earlier had fallen on deaf ears but how could he have possibly predicted this absolute nonsense!? Honestly, if his master were here, Sevorus might have given up his search for perfection and given that honorary title, of perfect being, to Garmr on the spot! Tom Tom could have sworn he was in the presence of a literal God but he was also aware this was just some random monster and he couldn't marry those two contradicting truths in his head. Though he knew the former statement was wrong, and the latter was true, he couldn't bring himself to see this borderline biblical revenant as anything other than a God of its own species. It was a mutation, and evolution of a species, but it was so unnatural that nothing could ever surely replicate this feat and the sheer uniqueness was enough to warrant the nomenclature of the divine due to having achieved the pinnacle of what was ultimately possible as a revenant. Dominus was a revenant lord, a being that was though to be the true peak of revenants, that inspired dread and reverence but would have looked like a puppy throwing a tantrum compared to this magnificent beast! Even in his Riddlemyd form Tom Tom felt extremely vulnerable and a compulsion to bow and worship. Garmr was not the ruler of any species Tom Tom could be labelled as or affiliated with but Garmr transcended the boundaries of race and had the qualifications to rule over everything it wanted to, that was simply how it felt standing before him. Tom Tom was now understanding why Ares was so confident he was getting his hands on the fine grind Tom Tom was trying to keep from him and, if Tom Tom was being one hundred percent honest, he wasn't confident he could stop him any longer.
Of course Tom Tom wasn't the only one flabbergasted by what he was seeing. Any nearby Xascan cultivators, the C.O lot, the force of the round, and Sandy were all not entirely sure if there eyes were playing tricks on them or not. The force of the round wasn't even sure his Hand Of Rebellion would work on something as powerful as Garmr so he was fearful of even testing it, worried his hand would break if subjected to wielding that much power even for split second... 'Was this a desert mirage?' That was the common consensus of all who bore witness to Garmr and were made to bask in his brilliance. It didn't feel real seeing a creature this powerful spontaneously arise and command the universe around it, owning the space and very air everyone breathed on account of him merely passively existing. A kingly being had shown up looking to beat the living daylights out of everyone and refusing this request felt like a fast track to doom, his targets merely had to be subjected to his whims and nobody dared defy him. Everyone who didn't have to fight this draconic wolf God were thanking their lucky stars but the monsters on the horizon were reluctant to take even a single extra step in Garmr's direction. Their bestial roars and confident strides were a thing of the past, an embarrassing memory they wished they could undo and pretend never happened. Not because it was pathetic, it was, but because not having done any of this meant they wouldn't have offended Garmr by existing in his presence and trying to act important before him.
The monsters knew they had the numbers advantage but weren't convinced it would even matter. They weren't even sold on the idea that multiplying their forces by a factor of a hundred would be enough, let alone whatever poxy number they had now. That might have seemed like an exaggeration, as though they were overtaken by fear and thus had succumbed to irrationality, but it was quite the opposite actually. Their overwhelming and irreducible trepidation and terror was guiding them down the correct path of reverence and respect to a being that was leagues above them to the point they were basically ants. They were right to have estimated Garmr as unbeatable, unkillable, inviolable, and unassailable. A flick of his nail from a mile away had effortlessly shot straight through the one monster in its path, which was some manner of thirty foot tall buffalo, and showed no signs of slowing down. He could have wiped out multiple tens of western monsters with a mere nail so what chance did they have against the entire rest of his perfectly sculpted body?! Garmr was a walking Adonis titan and anyone who pretended otherwise was either blind, jealous, or stupid. The rightful ruler of all living beings, and the heir to the throne of ultimate supremacy, was let loose and bowing heads was the only way to get out of this situation with a head still intact by the end of it all... Though whether even that would work at this point was questionable, Garmr was hardly merciful. Some of the monsters were already cowering on their knees, revealing upturned and unguarded bellies, or trying to dig into the sand to hide and Garmr had yet to take even a single step; he was truly an anomaly that couldn't be explained in any rational way. Garmr shouldn't have existed, that was the one universally agreed upon statement that anyone and everyone could agree on. And yet, exist he did... This was a highly unfortunate truth for anyone named 'Tom Tom' right about now because the wolf was on the prowl and looking to tie up loose ends.
Speaking of the wolf in question, he stretched his shoulders and stood tall, imposing his loftiness on every other living creature even though he was simply enjoying the fresh air again. Garmr didn't have much longer left until all control was given to Ares and he faded into his master's conscience, becoming one with Ares, but while this control lasted he was going to relish every little moment and scrape what enjoyment he could out of this new expansive world. It was better than being cooped up in chains in Ares' mind all the damn time, that was for sure. Garmr's gaze swept across all those present and it lingered on the crowd of western monsters that it had free reign to slaughter indiscriminately. It had decided it would start with them; they could bow their heads in reverence but Ares had given him no reasons to show them mercy so a quick massacre was in order to loosen up the old limbs.
Garmr took his first steps while craning his head upwards and breathing out golden fire towards the sky in a purely theatrical display of might. Clouds above weren't simply destroyed, they were evaporated into a golden mist that spread over Xasca and tinted the world gold once more. All living beings could feel their skin crawl as a monster that could change the weather and environment by merely exhaling slowly advanced through the desert after having just tested out its lungs. If Garmr had chosen to breathe that jet of flames towards the wester monsters he might have annihilated upwards of half of their ranks off the back of that action alone. Of course he preferred a personal touch so he flexed his leg, took one heavy step forward, and bolted through the desert faster than anyone could realistically follow. Maybe if onlookers had been expecting his ludicrous speed they have anticipated his movements to some degree but it was all way too much, way too fast. The spot everyone was watching, where Garmr once stood, became devoid of life and all spectators had to swivel their heads over to the slew of western monsters that were being ravaged like soft fruit in a blender.
Garmr practically teleported through their ranks, ripping even the largest of monsters in half like chew toys and beating everything else senseless. The monsters were glorified pinatas and unable to fight back at all. It was a one-sided genocide of all life forms and blood splattered everywhere, leaving behind a grotesque grave of gore. The desert was quickly being dyed a dark crimson and the ground was littered with body parts from an assortment of monsters. Not that any of them could even be put together again, most body parts had been splattered into impossibly small pieces or clawed out of existence. What started off as a small army of a few hundred western monsters became little more than an array of lifeless specimens for Garmr to pick his teeth with. He'd just bitten an entire qwaker in half while picking up a gaping cobra with his bare hands and smacking it into a giant lobster to blow them both up due to he sheer force behind his attack... 'Attack'. It looked more like he was taking a stroll through a park and casually swinging a walking stick or something of the sort, that was a more accurate description. This really wasn't a 'fight', not in any conventional way it wasn't, it was clean up duty and Garmr was only doing it begrudgingly as a warm up task before he set his sights on Tom Tom.
This display of strength was utterly mind blowing and Sandy, more than anyone, was starting to realise howe much of a bigdeal Ares truly was. Tom Tom understood to some extent what a fundamental champion was, even if he was stunned stupid right now at their true heights, but this Garmr reveal had hit Sandy the hardest no doubt; This was the man she was going to spend her life with, barring any unforeseen and unexpected developments, so she'd really underestimated him... Even though she wasn't trying to. He'd mentioned he was a revenant during their chats, and a special one at that, but this was something else entirely! She thought back to her spar with him when they first met... No wonder he wasn't taking it seriously! Even with her newfound powers of sand manipulation, bordering on apotheosis and Godly control over her affiliated aspect, she was still pretty much nothing in the eyes of this otherworldly, dominant being. It looked so effortlessly confident that even if a whole planet came crashing down onto Sheryashka there was a belief that Garmr could simply catch it and throw it back into outer space. This might as well have all been a game to Garmr and that was awe inspiring but also terrifying.
Next up on Garmr's list, as was previously mentioned, was Tom Tom who was quaking in his boots. One single glance from Garmr was almost paralysing and all it took to make Tom Tom turn into his Ra form and take to the skies. He did so in a bid to flee towards the sun as though that would do him some good but, really, he just wanted to get as far away from that monster as was possible. Garmr didn't have wings so maybe if Tom Tom could fly high up enough he would be safe from harm? And yet, despite thinking this, Garmr slowly paced towards the flying fortress as though its rapidly gained height was of no concern to him. Tom Tom took this opportunity to turn some of his body inside out, replacing the bricky exterior with mirrors that reflected the sunlight and created burning beams of radiance, but Garmr could be heard scoffing at this as he took off sprinting on all fours. He dashed around the scattered rays of concentrated light and didn't even break a sweat or get touched by a single one as he arrived directly underneath Tom Tom. He crouched, bent his knees, and then vanished from the ground, leaving a crater in his wake, and shot up into the sky. His position in the sky had overtaken Tom Tom's and Garmr was already diving back down towards him from above with an outstretched hand. Tom Tom attempted to turn into his Sobek form and dive towards the ground but his crocodile tail was caught by Garmr who dragged him out of the sky and landed back down the floor with him still in his grasp. It looked as though Garmr were a bear on its hindlegs dragging a floppy salmon out of a lake. Tom Tom's struggling stopped dead in its tracks when Garmr shot a fierce glare at him, though.
What came next was rather brutal as Garmr treated Tom Tom like a ragdoll and repeatedly flung him into the floor over and over again. Tom Tom was tossed about ten ways 'till Sunday and smacked into the floor as parts of his body were chipped off with every swing. You'd think his resilient body wouldn't crack upon the soft desert but Garmr's clubbing was so monstrous the entire country was jumping a little every time Tom Tom collided with the ground. Buildings in Xasca city were hopping for seemingly no reason, lifting up and spooking the residents living inside them, as Tom Tom was being emasculated and beaten to a pulp in the middle of the desert. Garmr was merely toying with Tom Tom at this point and why shouldn't he? Garmr still had over half his time left and he hadn't been pushed to his limits at all. There truly was nothing in this world that could entertain him properly so he amused himself with the otherwise mundane in whatever manner he saw fit. If Tom Tom took umbrage with this he was free to fight back. Tom Tom didn't have many uses to Garmr but he didn't break immediately and that was as good as 'opposition' in these lower domains was really going to get so being a training dummy until Garmr got bored was his new purpose in life. Everything that happened from now on was simply Garmr venting some of his pent up frustrations at how useless everyone around him was.
Garmr spun the sand and chucked Tom Tom high into the sky, leaping after him and spiking the crocodile fortress like it was a volleyball. Tom Tom was blasted across the desert a good few miles away and barely had time to stand or discern his current location before Garmr came piledriving out of the sky like an atomic bomb.
BOOM
A massive dust cloud sprung up into the sky and sand went flying all across Xasca, catapulted away by the force of Garmr colliding with the ground. Tom Tom's body was splintering with every blow and just now it had been nearly torn in half but his misery wasn't over yet as Garmr gripped Tom Tom's tail and tossed him back into the air once more. Rather than chase after Tom Tom, Garmr took a stance that bore resemblance to a baseball pitcher mid throw but instead of winding up a heater he was charging up a Tom Tom beater. Garmr's fist thrust out and warped the air around it as Tom Tom's body descended right before his very eyes with perfect timing to catch Garmr's hand right on his face. Garmr's fist sunk into the Riddlemyd fortress and, for a split second, it looked as though he was trying to cast an art of some sort. The world briefly flashed black and white but nothing more came of it as it seemed like Garmr failed. He could theoretically use arts so, perhaps, out of boredom, he was trying to create something new and experiment. Unfortunately Garmr was not the spur of the moment type genius that Ares was and so that endeavour resulted in a resounding failure. Ares understood roughly what Garmr was going for but there was nothing he could do from the co-pilot seat to make it work so he simply remembered Garmr's goal and vowed to finish it himself later on because it looked mighty promising! Emphasis on mighty!
As for Tom Tom, he was sent careening through he sky once more and tumbled to a halt a broken mess. He had a thumping headache and wanted to go back to floating in the sky under the warm sun and enjoying life... He'd picked one hell of a losing battle and was deeply regretting his stubbornness right about now. "Damn monster..." He grumbled under his breath but, despite his general pessimism, he didn't give up. He swore to fight to the death and that was precisely what he'd do, it's not like this clone body really meant anything anyway and was entirely disposable. Tom Tom struggled to his feet as Garmr watched on amusedly. He swapped to his sphinx form, leapt at the unimpressed revenant, and looked to stamp Garmr into the dirt with all his might. For a second it looked like he might be successful too as Garmr didn't budge an inch in response to this aggression. When Tom Tom's paw fell onto Garmr's head and didn't make a dent, or push him an inch out of his current position, however, the true disparity between him and Garmr was made impossible to not appreciate. It was not a difference that could be overcome by trying harder, Tom Tom was completely doomed and that was the end of the story. What made it all that much worse was that Garmr simply swatted the air to generate a gust of wind which was enough to push back Tom Tom and force him to roll through the sand. Garmr wasn't even touching Tom Tom now and he was still winning... This was a humiliation ritual! This revenant had a bad personality!... And right now that 'bad personality revenant' had a strange look in his eye as Garmr's attention kept shifting between Tom Tom and the sky for some strange reason... Tom Tom was about to learn what exactly this monster was thinking but, unfortunately for him, it was nothing pleasant...
Garmr picked up Tom Tom's entire body with a single hand and lightly tossed him up into the air over and over again as though he were messing around with a baseball. His gaze was still fixated towards the sun above and it was at his point Tom Tom realised what this maniac was planning on doing! Was this beast seriously capable of tossing Tom Tom into the sunfrom all the way down here?! Surely not?! "Don't be RIDICULOUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS..." Tom Tom was interrupted mid complaint as Garmr had thrown him with incredible force and sent Tom Tom barreling towards Vraizon. Tom Tom's momentum was impressive but he didn't quite make it all the way outside the boundary of the planet and so he was safe this time. This might have seemed like a bad attempt but it was worth considering the fact that Garmr had barely even tried. He stood completely still and merely raised his hand with Tom Tom still in it and this was the result of that half hearted go at things. Plus he only used one hand so the chances of him being able to accomplish his silly goal with a proper overhead throw was higher than it initially seemed. If he made all the possible improvements to his throwing form and really gave it his all he might be able to chuck Tom Tom straight into the sun!
Tom Tom wanted no part in this nonsense so he swapped to his Ra form and flew away through the clouds instead of falling back down towards that freak of nature to fight it head on. Unfortunately this decision was pointless because Garmr was inescapable. Trying to run was cute and all but Tom Tom turned his head around, when he felt a strange weight on his back, only to notice Garmr hitching a ride and staring at him with disappointment plastered across has face. Tom Tom didn't even know how or when Garmr got up here, he just knew that he was beyond screwed and that accepting his fate was probably for the best at this point. Fortunately it seemed like Garmr had no interest in throwing him into the sun anymore, as Ares probably asked him not to so as not to accidentally burn the fine grind Tom Tom was hiding, but that didn't mean this sphinx was getting off Scott free either... Garmr was raising his fist to pummel Tom Tom into the dirt and this strike was looking to be semi-full powered. It wasn't Garmr's peak strength but it wasn't holding back either and that was a catastrophe waiting to happen. Each of Garmr's serious blows were on the natural disaster scale, akin to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions if not far worse. Xasca was in for a rough time but the actual recipient of the blow was laughably doomed. Tom Tom was not going to survive this next strike and, for the foreseeable future, he was going to be, regrettably, dead.