Alright wolfie, this is as good as it's gonna get so you're up... Could Garmr even hear Ares' internal thoughts or was it entirely pointless? He didn't know the answer but he figured he would try anyway as this was going to be the end of Garmr regardless and he chose to throw out a few parting words. It was somewhat of an apology because he promised to find Garmr a good final fight and instead he found him a worthy challenge. Subtle difference but still one Garmr would probably grumble about if he could. The levels of thrill between hunting live prey and going bowling was understandably considerable. It's not like this challenge, killing a cultivator give or take seven realms above himself, by the time Finnian's subconscious took over and started breaking through the transition realm limit, was easy or anything... It had probably never even been done legitimately before; it was that momentous a task and something that would go down in the history books as an all time record... But it wasn't really going out with a bang, at least not the kind Garmr hoped for. Garmr's end would be a bit more understated than he might have initially hoped but Ares' options were well and truly limited here and his hands were tied.
Assuming Ares reached the tenth stage of sensory enhancement before he returned to Isaz inside the Sheryashka barrier, what was he supposed to find back there that would be worth using the Canis Stimulant for between then and the time he ascended to bloodline awakening? The frozen throne probably wouldn't bother Ares much, assuming he left Isaz and unaware of his presence, and the monsters on the mutated mountain weren't anything problematic like Tom Tom's construct body or the giant Scylla that threatened the Federation. There were no opponents worth Garmr's time over there and if Ares reached bloodline awakening then Garmr would fade away having done literally nothing with his remaining willpower. Garmr, that overly prideful thing, would probably rather off himself than be relegated to such a lazy ending as at least then he might feel something. He'd kill the ultimate target, himself!
But in all seriousness, this challenge that Ares was offering him wasn't too too bad. Garmr had been trying to activate an art the last time he was out and about and, as somewhat of an apology and a token of good will, Ares worked on that incomplete as he Voidwalked from Xasca to the Isaz border. He got the fundamentals of the art down by copying what he'd seen, which was mostly a result of Garmr's hard work after spending however long trapped inside Ares and contemplating how to make it work, and then Ares finished the rest of it while he was resting in the hut in Isaz by nailing down the finer details. Garmr getting to use the art he worked hard on for all these years, and leave a respectable dent in the history books for overcoming more than five realms of cultivation in a single strike, wasn't the worst possible ending.
Ares had held out some hope, now that he was outside the barrier, that he might find something unpredictable, something that would sweep him off his feet and give Garmr the thrill it craved for once. Part of why he came to the brotherhood tryouts in the first place was because they had a wide spread reputation for being strong and he figured he might find someone here that could push Garmr around a bit. Ideally one of the trials would have been a one on one duel against a Brotherhood member, preferably Finnian, and he'd have his cultivation set firmly above Ares'. Alas, bowling was the name of the game and this was as close to direct confrontation with a strong foe as the overgrown puppy inside Ares was gonna get. After this, Ares would see Garmr again once more, one final time, during the unchaining of his revenant form after entering bloodline awakening. There he could say a proper farewell but, for now, letting him out to have some playtime was the best possible option for everyone involved... Especially Ares who could finally obliterate that cheating bastard Finnian! Let him 'accidentally' try and solve this furry problem coming his way, Ares doubted he could stand tall in the face of Garmr! 'Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.' There would not be a third fooling! Ares would have his vengeance on this third and final attempt!... Though he'd be left exhausted on the ground afterwards, thanks to the blowback from using a Canis Stimulant, and that was rather embarrassing. It wasn't too bad last time he used the Stimulant but he was going to go all out this time and use an extraordinarily powerful art as Garmr so things would be different. Ares had Armillary, Garmr had the art he was about to display and using something so powerful in a borrowed body would have repercussions that extended beyond the normal ones. Still, it was worth doing! Ares' analysis of the art, combined with his understand of Garmr's strength, confirmed that.
Finnian was in his pin position, his mind racing as he tried to figure out the best way to approach this situation. For starters, he didn't know what manner of attack was coming, Ares just seemed hyper assured of his victory even in spite of the odds being monumentally stacked against him. That alone was concerning, deeply... But it wasn't his main focus at the moment nor what troubled him internally and caused his brows to wrinkle repeatedly. What he really wanted to know was what to do about his automation problem. If it were up to him, none of this would be happening and he would have died twice already during Ares' previous attempts. With a hypothetical wave of a magic wand that could bend the universe to his whim, he'd lockup his alternate self and simply accept destined death in Ares' next attempt. The question eh was wrestling with was if it was actually even worth trying to hold it back. He'd likely fail, he wasn't disillusioned about his chances of success because they were very slim after how stubborn his other half seemed to be about defying Ares specifically, but maybe he could slow down its takeover of his body somewhat? Doing so would influence the showdown in Ares' favour, by reducing the amount of time his other self had to break through the limits of transition realm and raise his cultivation, but, again, that was what his moral inclination was telling him to do...
But what if he didn't?
What if he obediently and quietly sat on the sidelines and let this scene play out without his involvement to see what Ares could really do? See if he was capable of upholding his bold assertions and accomplishing what should, by all accounts, be utterly impossible... A part of Finnian was curious enough that he was willing to maybe toss aside his morals and personal preferences for just a minute or two to see where Ares' limits lay... Also, entertaining the other half of him that seemed oddly fired up about Ares might be a good thing for Finnian in the long run. For far too long now Finnian has had zero control over this strange phenomena, never knowing when or why it was going to show up and relieve him of whatever trouble was burdening him, and there was never any contact between himself and it. If he could utilise it's excitement to bridge a communicative gap, establish a rapport, and have it reciprocate his willingness to talk, maybe his path forward as a cultivator could finally re-emerge underneath all the confusion he'd been dealing with lately. Finnian's cultivation had stagnated somewhat in recent years because he was a dedication cultivator who needed to understand intricacies related to his magic, his affiliations, and his truest self. That last part was really throwing him under the buss because he had no leads, no clues, and no knowledge regarding whatever was lingering inside him and it had been appearing a fair bit more as of late. This increase in frequency of appearances was almost definitely the root cause of his cultivation stagnation and something he needed to address before he could move forward.
So, although entirely selfish, Finnian did something highly uncharacteristic and chose not to intervene in whatever happened in the next few minutes. His meddlesome honesty and upright insistence on fair play and integrity had been left at the door and Ares would have to figure things out on his end on his own. If he wanted that reward, he was going to have to earn it the hardest way possible. Not through score, but through enabling Finnian to progress past his cultivation bottleneck. This was a stark difference from the original requirement, and far tougher, but Ares had signed up for this willingly and Finnian wasn't going to turn him down as this could benefit him greatly, more than any rare treasure or resource. Losing here, now in this final round, really truly did feel like the only chance Finnian would have for a very long time to make a breakthrough in his cultivation so, although not fully convinced as of yet Ares could do it, he was still holding onto a faint glimmer of hope that expectations could be defied here.
Here goes. bottoms up. Ares removed the Canis Stimulant from his Blade storage and uncorked the vial, giving it a quick shake as he eyed the contents with an understanding that this would be the last time he'd ever consume one of these. Well, he could drink more if he enjoyed the taste for whatever reason, he didn't, but it drawing his revenant form out was no longer possible. It might have been wise to save one Canis Stimulant for the future, in case he died and was reborn below bloodline awakening as it would help in that case, but it was all too little, too late and this is what it had come down to. He could feel everyone's gaze gathering on the vial and they were all laced with interest to see exactly what Ares was up to. This was a highly niche invention, after all, tied to a relatively rare race that didn't show up all that often so it was no surprise the Canis Stimulant wasn't easily recognised. There was even some discontent amongst those who were expecting a more personal display of power, not something borrowed involving him relying on external sources. It wasn't really an accurate assessment, and they'd soon understand that line of thinking was a misconception, but there was a rather pervasive air of disappointment.
Using a single use treasure, artifact, or piece of external aid during cultivator bowling, or just about any competitive sport really, was usually prohibited, and always frowned upon, so seeing Ares pull out the vial was immediately a headscratcher but not entirely incomprehensible. His last two attacks were one of a kind and so the crowd was starting to think he might not have any gas left in the tank to follow up with; that he was relying on something else entirely after exhausting all his means previously. It was poor sportsmanship but it's not like Finnian was much better; if anything he was both worse and the root cause of this development thanks to this own scandalous methods that became apparent during Ares' second attempt when everyone could see what he'd done clearly. Also, who knows? Maybe Ares was also an alchemist or whatever and this strange vial was his own concoction; in which case the general unhappiness with this situation would soften somewhat. At least, if that were truly the case, then the outcome of Arse' next attempt would still be a result of his own hard work even if it was somewhat harder to appreciate compared to raw strength that could be accessed anywhere, on demand, at any time.
Ares was about to drink the wolven beverage but he stopped himself halfway through the motions and looked over at Finnian. "Do you know what this thing is, by the way?" A quick shake of the head from Finnian was met with Ares name-dropping the contents of the vial. "Canis Stimulant. Ring any bells?"
"Ah... Really?"
Ares unveiling the grand secret of the rare elixir was met with a strange look in Finnian's eye and a tilt of his head. The same was also true of the media vultures, civilian spectators, and expert cultivators who also recognised the name and what it entailed. It wasn't an explosive vial, it wasn't a strength booster, it wasn't contained magic waiting to be unleashed, it wasn't some slimy goo monster summon that would go on a rampage once set free from its prison... It was actually just a way to enable Ares' latent talent, something he was infinitely close to achieving anyway. He was roughly a single stage away from being able to use what that vial ultimately provided him with anyway so suddenly people stopped caring about taboo methods and 'external strength' as it wasn't applicable anymore... Though their disparagement over his methods disappeared it was replaced by something else, intrigue over the impossible-to-fathom decision to use this Stimulant here and now. No matter how strong his revenant form was, picking it for the final attack instead of his diabolical destruction magic that had seared itself into the conscience of all those present with its overbearing might...
Why?
Of course the rumours about his revenant form existed, and were in circulation for long enough for those curious to have grasped it was a big deal, but it's not like there was anything concrete or definitive out there. No pictures, no descriptions, no explanations. The extent of it was basically just 'he has a revenant form, it's big, bigger than Dominus' was, and is an evolution of the revenant as we know it'. There were rumours spreading that the reason this information was so vague was because those who were spreading information about Ares to begin with were on his side. This seemed lie a strange conclusion but, again, revenants weren't the race that received the most favouritism of them all... At least, amongst the big three, Revenants, Gods, and dragons, they were easily the most disliked race due to their various traits, powers, and characteristics. For most people it was the third aspect that bothered them; for those in the know, however, it was the first two that really caused a problem.
Revenants were fearsome precisely because of their immortality as it made even the pettiest of grudge a matter of when, not if it would ever be repaid in full. A revenant scorned is an enemy for life, sometimes even multiple lives if they can track you through rebirth or reincarnation. They are persistent, unwavering, and determined because their bodies are not capable of stopping them. So what if their corpse becomes a pile of ashes? Gets stomped into meat paste? Cut into tiny pieces of mince? They'll just come right back undeterred by their previous failure, cultivate up, and try to kill you again and again as many times as it takes. In some ways, the entire race resembled video game protagonists with unlimited retries and checkpoints at their disposal. It's a very real nightmare from the perspective of the hunted because there is no reprieve unless they can convince the revenant to leave them alone via begging, bribery, or fooling them into thinking they're already dead.
To that end, to get the conversation back on track, Ares' cohorts and allies not spreading information about his revenant form was in his favour if the secret contained within that knowledge was something truly astounding. A powerful revenant is something to be feared, something maybe even to be hated and concerned about, and the mere existence of such a thing would make enemies; enemies that could be avoided, or the appearance thereof delayed, by merely not mentioning the specifics. Saying Ares' revenant form was more impressive than Dominus' was already something that would set certain people on edge, people that had grudges with the revenant race as a whole like most of the dragons, but anything that went beyond that explanation would make Ares' life a lot harder as the number of wary individuals crawling out of the woodwork would only rise the bigger a deal his revenant form truly was. Hiding the truth for his sake was what a lot of people had come to believe, they weren't idiots and could piece two and two together to come to this semi-obvious conclusion based on the evidence and historical patterns of revenant race relations... So, though Ares' Canis Stimulant was met with dubious uncertainty for the onlookers there was also a spark of curiosity. If Ares had saved the revenant form for his last attempt, afterthe Armillary and the Big Game Hunter boosted mythical weapon... Perhaps those rumours were closer to the truth than people realised and something big was lurking underneath the surface... They were going to find out the answer today so cameras were steadied and breaths held as Ares finally glugged down the drink. Mere moments before the transformation kicked in, Ares dropped the vial and, as it shattered at his feet, he commented at Finnian.
"You know, I've been giving you various suggestions up until now about the best ways to die... You can scrap all of that. There's a far simpler way than anything I've mentioned up until this point, piss of Garmr. Fortunately, he's always pissed and, in fact, I reckon he's in a pretty foul mood right now even compared to the usual. I wish you the best of luck, Finnian, you're going to really need as much of it as you can get."
Though hard for those not in the know to understand everything, mainly why Ares was referring to his own revenant form 'Garmr' in the third person, there was one thing that stood out in Ares' parting words. Disregard. Complete and utter disregard for the seemingly insurmountable challenge everyone knew he faced. Where did that absolute certainty come from? the answer flourished before their very eyes as muscles expanded, fur sprouted, horns grew, teeth sharpened, claws extended, eyes thinned, height surged, body mass multiplied, and presence intensified. Soon, before he scope of the changes could even be verified with their own eyes, Garmr was on the prowl and cricking his stiff neck.
"Holy shit..." It was uncertain who amongst the gathered spectators muttered that curse aloud but nobody chided him for it as his words were an unspoken consensus. Calling the monster in front of them a 'big deal' was perhaps the understatement of the century as the sheer scale of its existence was legendary and its aura palpable. This was unlike anything they'd ever seen before and an urge to worship in reverence overcame even those with strong willpower. This thing was more of a God than even certain Gods were, Ignizz came to mind for those who'd seen him in person. There was an unmistakable raw and primal dominance oozing from every pore which then seamlessly integrated with the draconic horns and pupils, givin way to a king of all things wild and free. This creature was a proverbial ruler of the untamed, all things nature. The king of the jungle... But said jungle was large in scale as the entire universe was Garmr's playground. Minds were warped trying to understand how such an enigma could even possibly exist and then minds were broken by the connection between this monster and the pillar of destruction. One single person possessed both. The pinnacle of all things magical and the peak of physical possibilities. How was it feasible that both could be contained within one body?! An understanding dawned upon everyone here that Ares was a far bigger deal than he'd initially been credit for, dethroning Veteran was a stepping stone at best and he was someone who stood out even amongst the other fundamental champions. Finnian was hit the hardest by this revelation as he was the one face to face with this evolved being. Calm growls escaped from Garmr as he flexed his muscles and readied himself for the seemingly inconsequential and minor task that lay before him. Finnian felt like a mere morsal daring to stand up against a shark and he was beginning to understand his other half was entirely necessary to quell this beat's hidden rage. He could not possibly do it himself as this was a higher being than him in every conceivable way. Worse still, he wasn't even given time to fully comprehend everything he'd witnessed as Garmr practically bent space in half with a single step, appearing directly in front of him and fully prepared to land a devastating blow. Every exhale of Garmr's was like a demonic sauna that seeped into the atmosphere, one he could loom behind with his glowing golden eyes as his gigantic fist descended upon a frail Finnian. The world flashed black and white as the fist picked up pace and absorbed all traces of mana in the air; at which point Garmr spoke his first and last ever words in a deep, orderly voice tinged with the rumbling of faint growls, drawling boredom for all living things, and ultimate contempt for the weak.
"Say Your Prayers."