Ares was pretty stunned at the result of his punch, as the kickback was enough to send him flying before he even realised what was happening, but it didn't take him long to figure out what the deal with this tool person was. tool had two very simple, but two very annoying, magics. He could regenerate damage and he could share damage back to the person who inflicted it. Whatever damage was done to him would be done to the person that attacked him and, given his regeneration prowess, he would be the only one surviving a long drawn out battle as, currently at least, it was even more powerful than Ares' innate revenant regeneration. No wonder he thought he could take everyone here, he probably could. And by standing completely still no less. This guy had no intention of throwing punches because he expected everyone else to do it for him. Plus he was right. Nobody could kill him, because of his regeneration, and he couldn't kill anyone, because he himself was weak. Suicide was the only option for anyone who fought him as they'd need to kill themselves to even have a chance at killing him.
While Ares was detaching himself from the sandy wall, tool had already started walking back over to the elder he was threatening and the problematic nature of his became very apparent very quickly. Who could stop this man from just walking at people? What were they gonna do, stand in his way and attack him? They were more than welcome too, it just wouldn't end well at all... All tool had to do was walk up to whoever he didn't like and strangle them or whatever and they'd never willingly fight back. Unless the fellahin were willing to let him take his men and leave, tool could just walk up to all the elders one by one and kill them... The only reason he was trying to leave earlier was because he didn't know enough about Ares to have any clue if the kid could overcome his magic or not and he didn't want to stick around to find out. Even now he wanted to leave more than anything... Sure he might kill the elders if he stayed but if he died afterwards, because Ares worked something out with his boundless fundamental magic making waves in cultivation society, then it would be a net loss for the scavenges. tool had given up on the captives, there was a limit to what he could do here while Ares the menace was also here, and so he was content with just walking outside and ambling his way back home for now. Of course if anyone wanted to hit him on the way out they were welcome to... As such, this was all a big stalemate. Even if the elders tool was targeting ran what would everyone else do? Would every single fellahin in here have to run away and leave this place empty? Letting him go was the only real option...
tool scratched his head with a small frown on his face as he was getting tired of being here in this unnecessarily hostile environment. "So, uh, can we leave now?" A rather ridiculous question to ask when surrounded by enemies on all sides but, then again, that was simply who tool was. It seemed like the fellahin were actually willing to let him go as well as they willingly opened up a path to the tunnel but there was one person who wasn't quite done yet! Ares may have technically just smacked himself silly but he was on his feet and back for more! If nothing else, he wanted to experiment a bit with this whacky magic before calling it a day and giving up!
"Ares... That's your name right? I really don't wanna do this..." tool started lifting up his men by their collars and smacking them awake as Ares drew ever nearer. "I get that you're a young guy, and have lots of energy, I respect that, but I'm getting too old for this kind of thing... If you're just doing this to impress some chick or something then I gotta warn you, we're both gonna look like fools if you go through with this..." tool's regeneration was great but it was still an undeniable fact he needed to get his ass beat in order for it to activate. He was being sincere here and trying to give Ares advice on how to avoid looking uncool in front of the ladies. tool may have been a dopey individual but he was keen eyed if nothing else. Just as he spotted Ares earlier when he activated Voidwalk to save he children, he'd also noticed Sandy's gaze of admiration when he actually pulled the stunt off and safely rescued the kids without any casualties. tool was trying to be a good wingman here! "Can't you just settle down with a nice lass and live a warm and comfy life? Why's strife gotta be your number one answer to a problem that doesn't even exist?... We can still talk about this, you know? That punch earlier really stung and I don't wanna be your punching bag if you're gonna take swings like that for however long it takes you to get bored. I mean, I see that look in your eye, I really do, but it ain't gotta be like this..." tool was half-heartedly pleading to deaf ears, though, as Ares was truly fascinated with his magic and wanted to try out some things. At the end of the day, if Ares wanted to deal with the Torchbearer plot, tool was a person he was going to have to deal with one away or another eventually. The more he tested now, the less work he would have to do later. Hell he might even beat tool here and now depending on how things went!
"Ok, tell you what tool. Three attacks. Let me attack you three times and then you're free to go unless someone else wants to play around with you. How's that? I'll understand what I need to about you after three attacks so I'll be content for now with that. Not that you have a choice in this matter."
"Guess not... Alright, feel free to tucker yourself out. Do try and be a little gentle though. Just because I'm hard to kill that doesn't mean it's hard to make me feel pain... In the meantime, could everyone else stand aside a bit more so my guys can leave through the tunnel? Looks like they're gonna crap their pants if they have to hang around with this mean aura coming from you lot any longer. It's a lot of bloodthirst for sure, even my weak ass can sense it and I've never been good at that fancy shmancy detection stuff." Though the fellahin were reluctant, they all did as was asked of them and parted to leave a gap big enough for tool's men to scamper through. tool himself didn't run, though, as he was facing Ares head on and allowing him to get his attacks in. tool was nothing if not patient. In fact he even walked over towards Ares to make it easier for him to launch his attacks. Sure he was helping his opponent but usually, for as long as he could remember, doing such a thing only ever sped up their demise. He had no qualms with enabling his opponent because it just made the repercussions for them all that much worse.
Ares cracked his knuckles and took a step forward. "First of all..." Ares Shifted behind tool, who couldn't even keep up with Ares if he tried, and then summoned a large amount of water at his feet via the Deep Blue. Ares grabbed tool by the hair and dunked him straight down into the floor in a bid to drown him under the small waves he'd just summoned. Ares wasn't sure if such a thing would be reflected back to him and, even if it was, Ares wanted to know if he would be forcibly drowned at the same rate as tool. Having a higher cultivation meant Ares could breathe underwater longer than tool so logically it would take him longer to drown in an even and fair scenario. This was a duration test. If tool's magic didn't even out the rate at which both cultivators drowned then tool would die here to this. Ares wasn't going to kill himself to kill tool, though, so if he started dying as well he would let the guy go...
Ack
Gurgle
Ares felt an overwhelming suffocation and realised pretty quickly that tool's magic was extremely unfair. If Ares were underwater he would not be struggling like weak tool was and yet he was paying the price for tool's inadequacy and weakness. Ares could tell if he kept this up he would die soon so he lifted tool up and chucked him away and to the floor while coughing his lungs out a bit to get some air back in him. tool did the same thing himself and tried to stand up while recovering his breath.
"M... M... Man... That was really not cool..." tool complained. "I'm all... All wet now too... At least... The desert.. Will dry it off... I guess... "Cough cough tool bent over and put his hands on his knees as he widened his eyes and blinked rapidly after his near death experience. "I get what you were going for but stuff like that ain't gonna work. Your resistances and talents aren't factored in to my magic. When I take damage, you take the exact same amount to scale. If I take ten seconds to drown, so do you. If I burn in sixty degree heat but you normally don't for whatever reason, you also burn to death. Good try though kid, I respect the idea."
Ares shook his head and pointed a solitary finger at tool. "Esoteric Compression!"
BANG BANG
Both Ares and tool were smacked against the floor and were being slowly crushed by Ares golden pressure. Ares couldn't believe this! This was seriously ridiculous! Even his immunity test had failed!
"What was the plan here kid? This was obviously never gonna work..." tool managed to lift his head and speak at Ares as one of his, and Ares', bones simultaneously cracked.
Ares coughed up blood as his internal organs were being crushed but he still had time to complain. "I... Should be immune... To pressure..."
"Ah... I get you. No... That doesn't work. The magic... Bypasses... Even complete immunities... Too..."
"... Fuck." Ares let up on the pressure and stood while stretching his crushed limbs to get some feeling back in them. He'd never been hit by so much pressure before and he almost felt a little sorry for the people he'd used his own pressure against in the past. It was such a bizarre feeling and this might actually be one of the few times Ares would actually ever get to experience pressure in his life going forward as bypassing his immunity ought not to be a common thing. There weren't many ways to overcome an absolute bloodline like his own so this was a unique experience if nothing else. "Ok. One more time. If I start dying to this somehow then I'll give you the win today." Ares Shifted over to tool and placed his foot on tool's back. tool had yet to get up because he still felt exhausted after the pressure incident. He was curious as to what Ares was going to do him but he couldn't have possibly predicted what came next because it wasn't even really an attack. Ares simply opened up a tear in reality and rolled tool into it before following after him and closing up the void portal shortly after.
tool could feel himself floating through this strange red space all around him but the sensation was an odd one. There was weightlessness, but there was also weight. He was in one piece, and yet he felt scattered. He was in one place, and yet could feel the vastness of this void as though he were stretched across its entirety. This place was highly unusual and tool wasn't even surprised to see his own head floating in front of his vision. Every part of his body slowly detached and drifted away while Ares appeared beside him in a similar state. Both of them were little more than floating body parts at this point but no injuries had been sustained as of yet and tool could guess what Ares' next attempt was. It was a 'state' test Ares could freely dismember himself in this place, as well as others, without suffering injuries and survive in this state. All he had to do was make tool's severing of body parts real and then he himself ought to be exempted from the repercussions. Or, rather, it's not that he himself wouldn't be severed, Ares would be dismembered too, it's just that such a thing meant nothing to him in this space. It might hurt him but having his head lopped off his body, and split into thousands of pieces throughout the void, would not kill him while he was here. The injury would be transferred but it was something Ares could survive at a one to one ratio and tool could not. The easiest way for Ares to check if this worked or not was to remove tool's heart so he did as such, watched his own disappear from his body and go flying off into the void somewhere too, and waited. At first, Ares felt nothing and was expecting a victory here but he slowly felt his vision dimming and his body failing. As it turned out, even this was not a valid strategy! This guy was damn annoying! Ares returned tool's heart to its rightful place and kicked him out of the void before following him back into reality and glaring at him while letting out a small complaining-growl under his breath.
"Whoa... That was gnarly... Definitely the most creative way I've ever seen someone try to kill me. 'A' for effort kid. For a moment there I actually thought it might work. Really had me on the ropes. But, well, that's the thing. People value their lives too much to kill little ol' me. I'm really not worth it..."
Ares shook his head. "I'm a revenant. Killing you would only be a minor setback for me because I'm capable of resurrecting myself. You're right in that you really aren't worth it though. Congratulations, you may be the most difficult cultivator I've ever faced, and for all the wrong reasons. I can't tell if I'm annoyed or impressed but I will say this. Don't get complacent. I will acknowledge this loss, so take pride in handing me my first ever one in the real world outside of training, but don't think this will go so well for you next time. I recommend you run away from the scavengers before next I find them or you'll be dragged down along with them."
"Ooh, scary. Ah, I'm not mocking you or anything, I actually believe you. I think you're serious about this. People like you, ones who can't take a loss, always worry me the most you know? 'Cos I know they'll be back with even crazier crap to throw at me. It always happens. Also, don't do yourself a disservice. You didn't 'lose'. I'm the only loser here so don't worry about it too much. I mean, I'm a career punching bag. Can you really call me a winner? But anyway, thanks for the warning. I can't heed it though, I owe Diggers my life. He's not a great guy or anything, far from it, but I am indebted to him for saving me. Monsters are too stupid to understand how my magic works and one silly creature was willing to stab and poison us both to death, back when my regeneration magic was still weak, until Diggers came along and shooed it away. It's not a grand story or anything but I have nothing else to do with my life other than repay him so it is what it is. Also, I hate running. It requires too much effort and I wouldn't know where to run to anyway. I've been a loser all my life and have nothing to show for it. If you really do find a way to kill me then just do it, I won't care too much, promise. Plus it will be entertaining to see what you figured out in the end if nothing else." tool shrugged and started walking away towards the tunnel as though his supposedly imminent death meant nothing to him. "Oh and Juggernaut? Good luck with your you know what. I have a feeling you'll be more successful than you think you will, even if maybe not immediately. No proof to back that up or anything, just a hunch of mine. They're usually right though, the hunches I mean... Maybe I should become a fortune teller?" tool kept mumbling to himself about creating prophecies for fun as he left through the 'path of shame', a name he quite liked, and began making his way back to the scavenger base on foot. it would take him a day or two but he would categorically refuse to run even if there was a 100ft tall tiger chasing him. He would honestly rather die.
Ares was tempted to follow him, and see if he could find the scavenger base that way, but figured it was pointless as tool would just start aimlessly wandering the desert when he spotted Ares until he gave up. Even if Ares persisted, tool would either just never return to the base or, worse, he would aimlessly wander around in circles until he starved and died which may very well bring Ares along with him as Ares had 'forced' him into that situation to begin with. Ares wasn't entirely certain about how lenient tool's magic was in such a scenario a so it was better to just not mess with him. He was an annoying obstacle but not one that couldn't be overcome or, at worst, ignored. tool himself wasn't powerful so Ares could restrain him or run around him for the most part if need be. For now, though, Ares admitted defeat and took it like a champ, letting tool drag himself away without pestering him anymore. tool was not really Ares' main concern and, besides, fighting him when nobody else around was better for Ares otherwise tool would start taking more hostages and it would just never end. Ares' goal had been accomplished regardless and he roughly understood how to beat tool so picking a fight now while he was unprepared and didn't actively have the appropriate measures ready was silly.
As for how to beat tool... Statuses! It took Ares a while to realise it but his Flashbang earlier hit tool perfectly fine without the same effect being applied to Ares as well. tool reflected damage, nothing else. From there, killing him was easy as all Ares had to do was drain his mana. Not only would Ares' own mana not get drained or absorbed, because it wasn't 'damage', but then tool would be completely helpless. HIs regeneration and reflection magic were precisely that, magic. Magic can't work without mana. No mana, no magic. No magic, no regeneration and no reflection. It was impressive that tool was pseudo 'invincible' with mana but a cultivator who couldn't survive without mana really wasn't anything all too impressive... Though, really, it didn't seem like tool much cared about being 'impressive' so he probably didn't care in the slightest... What a guy... Anyway, as long as Ares could figure out a way of draining tool's mana by the time he came across him again then his win was in the bag... Unless tool secretly had some kind of treasure up his sleeve that could restore mana in some way. Those treasures were rare, though, so Ares could pretty safely hedge his bets on him not owning any. Maybe some mana shot pills were in tool's possession but that was likely the extent of it. Still, Ares was also going to have to figure out a method of draining mana... That was arguably the hardest part of all this...
tool aside, the fellahin were slowly dispersing and returning to their respective stalls and the sound of chatter was starting to fill the base once more. The matter was taken care of now and all the enemies were gone so standing around was pointless. Even if anyone wanted to listen in on the conversation with Ares, Sandy, and the elders they were only going to go back underground to the headquarters and talk there regardless. The only people who stuck around were the parents and grandparents of the abducted kids who all gave a small bow to Ares for saving their little tykes and showing care for their safety that even the elders of their own clan did not. Ares gave them all, as well as the kids being held by them, a wave and then walked back over to Sandy who was fidgeting a bit. Actually, now that Ares thought about it, tool said something to her as he was leaving but it was rather incomprehensible. Sandy must have known what he was on about but Ares decided not to pry as per usual. He assumed it was something to do with her past although why tool was aware of such a thing Ares couldn't possibly fathom. Ares was wrong on all accounts but, in all fairness, it wasn't obliviousness on his part, it was just impossible to tell. Sandy was mostly bundled up in clothing so seeing any of her facial reactions up until this point wasn't possible otherwise then he would have been certain. Back when he was a novice in the field of love? No chance. Now that he was used to it? He would have seen right through it in a heartbeat. If anything, it was extremely impressive tool noticed it and just went to show how observant the guy was. He looked lazy but his eyes were busy twenty four seven at least!
A light poke to the shoulder, from Ares, awoke Sandy from her murmuring stupor and she looked up at Ares resolutely... And cowered immediately. It's not that she was too embarrassed to be upfront with him, she just didn't feel like here and now was the time or place for it... Unless she wanted to say it aloud in front of the elders, the children Ares rescued, and every other single fellahin within earshot anyway. She knew when she wanted to say it so she calmed herself down and grabbed onto him to sink him back down below the sands. Now that the elders weren't waiting in the room she could sink him directly into it, and not be considered rude, so nobody was going to have walk down that long corridor again. It was high time the meeting finally got underway! There were a few things to discuss but they were all important and needed due consideration from everyone involved. The worst part was that, under normal circumstances, Ares would have some extra leeway in the negotiations after playing hero but the elders wouldn't value him saving the children at all and would treat it like a minor good deed at best. All his plans and hard work to prevent anything going wrong during this raid had been completely squandered by these uncaring one-foot-in-the-grave fogeys and that was incredibly disheartening for Sandy who just wanted to be out of this place without any hassle from them. She had a feeling in her gut they were going to be truly unreasonable but, well, hopefully Ares could do something about their attitude...