Cataclysm, but not as one would typically envision it.
Perhaps the chaos of the end of times, burning debris, broken buildings and rubble scattered everywhere, an ominous red tinge in the sky above, monsters lurking on every street corner, and corpses piled high in disturbing fashion. Maybe this was what came to mind when one thought of absolute devastation; the collapse of civilisation as one knew it would be a good starting point to understand the intricacies of a term like 'cataclysm'... But the cataclysm brought by Garmr was different; it was oddly silent, oddly serene. Unlike Ares, who bathed the world in his golden supremacy, Garmr felt no need to blind everyone with his immeasurable prowess. He knew what he was worth, he knew what strength he carried, and he knew what others thought of him. He didn't need to command respect, he was simply the definition of it. It wasn't arrogant to think all living creatures should worship him, it was just the honest truth and not something anyone had ever dared debate.
Garmr was simply a step above every other creature in existence, there was no room for discussion and so holding pride over such a basic thing felt unnecessary. Did a human celebrate their ability to breathe? Did a cow excite itself over its milk-producing biology? Did bees pollenate excessively because their pride in the role they played in various eco-systems command it? No, these were all natural extensions of their very being, innate talents and habits that defined what they were, and Garmr viewed his own existence in a similar composed manner. He was the universal Adonis, a figure untainted by sloth, imperfections, or minimal effort. There was no other like him, and would never be another like him again, but that did not make him special in his eyes, no, it just made everyone else pathetic. So no, his devastation was not a glorious show for others to witness; it was merely something to inflict despair upon those who received it, a silent and scrutinising judgement that asked the victims a simple question that could be phrased in many ways.
Why are you so weak?
Why can't you be better?
Do you train hard enough?
Why were you born so flawed?
Why are your accomplishments so unimpressive?
Why can't you entertain me?
However exactly the receiving party read or understood the intentions of his attack, an the weight it carried, the underlying principle was impossible not to have drilled into the core of their very being.
Garmr was fucking bored.
Even when faced with this current challenge, even when Finian's cultivation rose to a point he was roughly seven stages ahead of Garmr, there was nothing but pity and general disinterest in his eyes because this too would not stop him and, as per usual, all would fall before him. This was the natural course of fate that could not be altered. Defiance was evidently not possible and, once more, he was going to wind up disappointed. Before the world shifted, and the full brunt of Garmr's art imbued blow connected, Finnian could see the sadness in Garmr's features that screamed of loneliness and depression. Even then, however, there was a subtle reassurance etched into his form that basically said to Finnian, 'Don't worry, it's not your fault. Everyone else is like this too'.
Finnian had never felt so small, so judged, like a minor side character easily forgotten. He was another pebble by the roadside that Garmr walked, alone in solitary confinement, hardly any different to anyone else here. Garmr may as well have picked a random person from the spectator stand, he would have been equally as dissatisfied with them as he was with Finnian which was a rude awakening for the latter of how vast this world was and how insignificant his position in it was. Finnian, who'd never lost a real fight, was being looked down on in such a calm and normal fashion that his mind blanked in response. Even his other half seemed quiet and fearful, stifled by the intensity of Garmr's lackluster 'appreciation' of their very existence. In fact, it felt like his very existence was being questioned.
'What's the point of you?'
'Why do you even exist?'
This oppressive disdain, not born of any emotion whatsoever but mere logic and cold analysis of the harsh and unchanging truth, made Finnian feel sick. His stomach churned, his head lightened, and his whole self worth became empty in the blink of an eye, as though such a thing had no right to keep existing. He felt like a hollow shell devoid of any personality he'd built up over years, talent he'd honed excruciatingly in the face of barely surmountable danger, and memories forged through all sorts of unpredictable encounters. None of it meant anything, he was a pathetic little pebble, easily kicked around for the minor amusement of Garmr passing by, after all. A mere speck in the wider cosmos whose actions were tantamount to effectively nothing in the grand scheme of all life. His entire self worth shattered and vanished first, before his body would inevitably follow, and his dazed self could barely muster any sort of defence before Garmr's otherworldly strike. Even with the usual automation of his body, the internal parasite taking control, it didn't matter... Because there was nothing worth controlling.
Nothing worth shamefully pitting against Garmr.
Garmr's' cataclysm was not of the environment, not of the world itself, but of the target.
The victim was thrown into a whirlwind of self loathing, nightmarish but blunt about their inadequacies in he face of the one true God that existed in this realm.
There was nothing as perfect as Garmr which, in turn, meant there was nothing as imperfect as the thing that stood opposite him. This logic was inviolable.
This was Finnian's cataclysm.
Garmr's fist rolled the folds of reality around it like a vortex; siphoning mana and colour from every inch of the world leaving it black and white, the two colours of which starkly contrasted as they revolved in a flash of twisting light around Garmr and his approaching fist. Soon, even detail was lost to the void of absent colour, particulars of shape and function vanished leaving behind silhouettes of the objects they once clung to and nothing more. A world of white, interspersed with black dots and Garmr's enlarged form, light and darkness swirling around his fist, painted a picture of purity interbred with controlled chaos. His form immaculate, his breaths steady, his lowered head and stance unflinching, his gaze impossible to detach from his target... This was death itself and Finnian was spared but a single moment before Garmr's fist connected in which he could do as was commanded of him earlier, say his prayers and speak his final words to whichever puny God he believed in...
No, that was wrong. There was only one true God and it was the one stood before him, Garmr. It was him who Finnian was supposed to seek forgiveness from. To apologise to for being unable to meet his standards and live a life worth living. His God was disappointed and had come to claim his life as a collateral... But if Finnian's life was collateral, then what of the world around? The world slowly collapsing and breaking under the immerse strain of the fist in sync with time and space itself as it gently but firmly traced the path to a destiny of Garmr's choosing? A mere inconvenience that had no business complaining whatever Garmr decided to do to it, that was what he rest of the world had become in this moment. The universe itself could whimper all it liked, Garmr was the power to end all powers and the current admonishment of a believer didn't involve the universe at all so it wasn't given permission to speak here. Those objects that once lined the courtyard that was no longer visible behind walls of white, those objects reduced to mere blobs of darkness, further lost their form in the background as they turned into scattering shards of darkness. They faded away into speckles of glimmering black dust that ascended to another plane, one of non-existence and obliteration. Even the white world began to crumble as Garmr's fist advanced, undeterred by any such trifling thing like Gravity or resistance.
Finnian's body, his chest specifically, met the fist of fate head on and then nothing followed. No sound, no pain, no drama. his body arched backwards around the fist and his life was now forfeit, beyond his or his other self's control. It was already over, he was just waiting for everything to fade away and, in his last few moments, he found calm. His body melted away, much like the glimmering black blobs, and his limbs turned to vaporised dust. The progress of destruction inching along his form and gradually looking to feast upon every last molecule and atom meant nothing would be spared by the time this was all said and done. In this last span of time, Finnian understood something about this art. It was the end. The end of his own life, and the end of the universe all around him.. But more importantly, the end of Garmr. Life force was being funneled into this art and the power Garmr was capable of wielding came at the cost of his own soul,. He was giving everything he had to empower this strike and, while it had come at the cost of his own life force and energy, it was a profound attack that couldn't be measured by the whatever the aftermath showed. There would not be much devastation to really appreciate due to how Garmr aimed his art but Finnian knew better as he was on the receiving end of it. He knew that if this fist had been aimed downwards, at the ground beneath them, Training Field or not, this planet, and all life on it, was being reduced to ash just like him.
That flickering light in Garmr was being snuffed out, that was the cost of this hair-raising attack and he would be on death's door afterwards, but it was a feeling unlike any other and Finnian almost felt grateful to witness such a thing in his time on this earth. A God's sacrifice for self satisfaction and pride. It was eye opening, an unmissable experience, so much so that being the victim of it felt like a reward rather than something to be afraid of. Interestingly, before he was fully claimed by the white and black void, he heard a scream inside his own mind, one of absolute refusal to succumb. There was nothing Finnian's other half could do at this point, he was already dead and merely waiting for the procedure to end, but that other half was determined to somehow scrape by now that it had made itself known and taken direct measures. It had never once taken over Finnian's body and failed to succeed at whatever it wanted, this was a first for it that caused it to wallow in misery and anger. This attack from Garmr wasn't just disintegrating Finnian's body, but also the shackles and walls in his mind hat separated him from his other half. Sure it was dying too but he could faintly see and sense it, understanding comprehensively what it was and why it was despairing at this loss. Finnian had no idea such a thing lay semi dormant inside him but knowing what he knew now he felt a surge of excitement for the future that lay beyond his current death. He felt deep gratitude for the condescending beast. Garmr hadn't done this for him, it had merely tested itself one final time to know where it stood in this boring world because nothing else was capable of testing him, but for Finnian this was life changing. It made the disappointment Garmr felt sting and become that much harder to withstand, as he'd benefitted from Garmr but not the other way around, but he would take whatever he could get and however he could get it even if he felt guilty at the end of it all.
Finnian's form was fully consumed but inwardly, as his consciousness as sucked away by the runes in the Training Felid to revive him elsewhere, he was thankful. Truly thankful for everything as he'd discovered his own aura. The aura of victory and its ethereal form inside his head, raging away at a loss it couldn't and didn't want to acknowledge. It must have understood now that things had to change lest it suffered another loss one day due to its own childishness. It needed Finnian and merely using him as a medium wouldn't cut it anymore. The two needed to function as one, both in mind and body, or this would be the wall they could never overcome This would become their graveyard of indolence if reluctance won. Finnian was aware he would need to convince this overly pride manifestation of aura, it had been avoiding him for some time now because it had no interest in working with him and that was a problem, but he could sense it. This was the way forward, the path he had to take if he wanted to become something more than he already was. Finnian's innate talents placed him squarely in pole position to be leader of the Brotherhood sect, that was not a small feat, but if he could merge with this aura, take control of it as he rightfully should... There was no telling what he'd become because such a thing couldn't be measured; he might have even been able to help Garmr with its last wish... Though perhaps it was too late for that now. How ironic, by dying, and only by dying, Garmr was able to awaken something that might have posed him a threat and garnered his interest down the line even if only for a fleeting moment. Even in its infancy, the aura of victory was commandeering a person as powerful as Finnian and doing incredible things for him on a regular basis. If it was trained to its heights, and Finnian's cultivation journey continued on the same track it had been on previously, Garmr might have found a worthy outlet for his desires... Truly a tragic end for the mythical beast, like something out of a theatrical play, but it could hold its head high regardless as a being so undefeatable it had to end its own life to find a shred of entertainment.
The world faded to a pure white canvas and held itself in that manner for a brief second until a flash of darkness took over. That pure white world became one of pitch black emptiness and a pervasive static sound could be heard as if the world was trying to reconfigure itself to fix the anomaly but partially unable to. A few seconds later, after brief recalibration, the pure black veil shattered and reality was back to where it should be... For the most part. The destroyed objects caught up within the radius of Garmr's strike, the miscellaneous objects he'd broken broken and obliterated, were gone. Not as in temporarily ruined and ready to be resummoned via the Training Field, they were just gone. Vases, pots, fountains, gates, grass, all gone. There was a straight, circular, horizontal pillar-shaped line of intertwined black and white that had carved itself into the otherwise normal courtyard and it was here to say forever. The objects within it could not be recreated under any circumstances and this void formed from Garmr's punch could not be removed, it was now a scar he left on the universe to mark his presence... Technically twice. Nobody here could possibly know this but the exact same scar had appeared in the real courtyard of the Brotherhood sect millions of miles away as the punch and art transcended the boundary of reality and space to simultaneously strike the real location as well.
Finnian gulped as he realised Garmr possessed the supernatural ability to kill for real even inside a Training Field but he'd been graciously spared by the beast who didn't aim such a power directly at him. He'd been shown mercy and could continue living thanks to it. He wasn't just defeated, like Ares had wanted, he was spared which was a slap in the face. Perhaps Garmr didn't appreciate Finnian bullying his little human friend, even if he didn't outwardly admit or show it, and so settled the score in such a fashion. Finnian was trying to fix that black and white tunnel of ruined space but it simply wasn't possible and he'd have to leave it there, warning the domain overseer about it before he left so he could set up a perimeter around it to keep people safe. Finnian's head swivelled as he looked for the culprit but Garmr was gone now, he had no reason to stick around after accomplishing what he came out of Ares' body for. In his place, all that was left, was Ares lying on the floor, on his back, staring emptily at the sky and mumbling thew word 'ouch' to himself. Garmr hadn't just used a reality warping art, he'd consumed some of his life essence to do it. There was no way Ares wouldn't be let feeling incredibly drained even if Garmr had barely been set free for more than ten seconds. Still, Ares was contemplative as he looked back at the memory of the art he'd indirectly casted just now. He couldn't match that power if he used it himself, it was an art that needed to be trained regularly before it reached that point, and he wasn't going to throw away his life to cast it either so that wasn't an option, but that art would still be his to own and use soon and that was enough to get the blood pumping. he wouldn't enter the world of revenants with nothing at his disposal, Say Your Prayers would become a sort of foundation from which he could build off and add to in order to shape the way he embraced combat as Garmr. his immediate future was looking particularly bright but, above all, he'd earned his reward and wiped the wry and apologetic smile off that bastard Finnian's face! He wanted to gloat, so desperately he wanted to gloat, but every time he tried to chuckle with a smirk on his face the action of twitching his muscles brought him immense pain and he refrained.
Finnian, rather than wait around and let Ares somehow recover and become a verbal nuisance, decided to wrap up this event and inform everyone of the results. That and he wanted to give Ares his reward because he'd earned it. Finnian's war aura, the voice that belonged to it, had never been so clear and it felt like he could reach out to discuss important matters about control with it whenever he wanted now. Finnian would have to wait a little while to confront it; he had to settle the tryout, and then afterwards he was aware that one of the successful candidates was going to request something of the Brotherhood immediately and he'd have to sort it out, but after that? When he finally earned some free time and rest to do his own thing? He was going to enter seclusion immediately and by the time he came out he would ne a new man, born again and ready and raring to contribute to the Brotherhood in ways he wasn't capable of prior. Today had been a highly fruitful day for him so rewarding Ares felt entirely natural... Even if the bastard had told him to go commit suicide multiple times...
Ahem
Finnian coughed to gain the attention of all the starstruck spectators, still dazed and lost in Garmr's earlier display. "I'm aware everyone has a lot to digest but I'd like to end today's tryouts for various reasons..." The cloaked woman was really on edge and she was the one who Finnian was certain was going to call the full force of the Brotherhood the second she was able to do so. Finnian was actually mainly doing this for her, rushing along the procedures somewhat. She was a member, or she would be in a few seconds anyway, so his loyalty to the brotherhoods, and all it's disciples, especially the younger ones he so often looked after, was flaring up already. So what if she was a member for less than five seconds? A member of the Brotherhood was a member of the Brotherhood, there was no leniency in such matters. Not now, not ever. She needed help, she was a member of the sect, she was going to get help. That was how things worked around here. "First up... Uh, well, Ares you're in. Don't think I need to clarify why or anything so I'll just move on to the others...
Mrs Dark Elf..." Finnian was referring to the cloaked lady here which raised eyebrows. He apparently could see through her disguise but what he'd said didn't really change much of anything. There were plenty of dark elves out there so who she was specifically, or which clan she belonged to, couldn't be determined by Finnian's words. "You're also in. Your performance spoke volumes about your magical talent and, though there are flaws that need to be addressed, mainly in the realm of physical confrontation, it's nothing that can't be ironed out in the Brotherhood with time and effort. More than anything, I hope you can contribute to your fellow disciples and help them adapt their magic in the long run, we don't have anyone capable of art adaptation within our ranks and so I'm sure everyone will look forward to your addition." Finnian's gaze then turned towards Gram and Marlar.
"You two... On any ordinary day, the Brotherhood would have accepted you with open arms. Today you hit a wall..." Ares. Ares was the wall. It didn't need to be said but Ares was definitely the wall. "Competition today was... Arguably... Unreasonableand so here's how things are going to work. You aren't in. BUT, we'll hold another set of tests for you two specifically elsewhere at a later date. We'll leave you with a communication talisman and contact you when it's ready and the Brotherhood isn't as busy as it is now. You'll be given another chance to prove yourselves so make it count because we've never done this before. This a rare concession so prepare yourselves and try to improve whatever you feel is lacking from now until then. Your performances today were stifled but there's greater talent brewing underneath the surface of what you've shown, this extension of the tryout is proof you deserve another shot. Do not waste it. That is all..." Two confirmed members and two in limbo, this tryout would undoubtedly spark waves across the universe because potentially four new recruits at once was extremely rare and unheard of.
"Now... Ares... Time for your reward... Uh, can you even move?" Finnian wanted to end on Ares reward but his current condition left much to be desired as he was still plastered to the floor. Even still, Arse managed to raise a single thumbs up which constituted a response in the positive and so Finnian nodded as he brought out three different plants. "You're going to have to make a choice, I'm only giving you one, but I promise you they're all worth it!" And with that, Finnian revealed the rewards, all of which made Ares drool a little. He wanted them all! he wasn't' going to get all of them.. But damn, jsut knowing the sect had this sort of stuff tucked away in their reserves was enough to remind Ares he'd made a good choice joining them here today. Now... What to pick?