A 'solution' for the stepper?" Ares couldn't hold back his laughter at such a ridiculous notion. "Hahaha... Strengthsolves problems. I have the most strength. Isn't what comes next obvious? The solution is actually very simple. If the stepper is hiding behind the universe, I will drag it out by destroying the universe first and foremost, leaving it nowhere left to cower from me. It can patiently wait, however, until I'm done tearing reality into tiny pieces for my own amusement as that comes first... Though I might accidentally kill it in the process..."
Though what Ares was saying was preposterous, Dominus couldn't bring himself to suggest as such or refute any of it because he knew better. An aura of war was no simple matter as some auras were definitely rarer than others. It wasn't a stretch to say the war aura was the least common of them all was part of a special category of auras that could only have one wielder at a time. Usually they were always active somewhere throughout the vast universe but the aura of war had been absent and dormant for many years now, not having a host for the longest time, so it reappearing in Ares was... Astounding, to put it simply. Ares was definitely the kind of person who'd get an aura sooner rather than later, and definitely not never, so Dominus wasn't too surprised he got one now in this situation as he was encountering them for the first time. It was definitely very early. Maybe even the earliest in history anyone had gotten an aura... But what really mattered was what aura it was. This was no small matter and Dominus was maybe even more impressed by this than anything else he'd seen including Garmr and the destruction pillar. Those were all given to Ares through means that he had no control over but auras were different.
Auras were intrinsically tied to the soul and essence of a person and there was no changing or altering whatever it was you got. Personality, competence, and understanding of the world at large were all relevant factors in acquiring a tailored aura so to get an aura of war... It said a lot about the person receiving it, that was for sure. The things Ares was spewing about fighting the universe were actually completely in line with a war aura wielder and not even dissimilar to the previous war aura owner. That was part of what made it so striking though, and the war aura owner was typically a feared entity worldwide because there was nobody they didn't dare pick a fight to the death against. If even the universe was a valid target then who else could possibly force such a person to back down?! Ares' belief that strength was all that mattered, that battle solved all issues one way or another, and that he could win every battle was deeply rooted in him and he enjoyed resolving disputes the hard way too. It wasn't just convenient, it was his preferred method. He hadn't been pushed particularly hard since the fight against Slick, and had an answer for everything else he'd come across since, but maybe this fight pushed him over the edge as he had no other real way of winning. Against the Anubis he was never really on the backfoot, and always had options, but this stepper fight was different. Somewhere in the back of Ares' mind he realised he would lose if things kept going the way they were and that ignited a long lost spark in him to claw his way to victory no matter the cost. It was rare for a cultivator to acknowledge impending defeat and death and, instead of feeling despair, actually enjoy the situation. Ares wasn't scared, he was interested to see how he would overcome, survive, and more importantly, dominate. This wasn't a fight to him, really, it was a game and losing it currently was just a temporary setback before greatness. Everyone loved an underdog story but there were only a few people that actually enjoyed being the underdog and scraping together every means at their disposal like a rat in the gutter trying to survive. Ares seemed to get a kick out of losing and that wasn't normal no matter how you looked at it.
Dominus' respect had reached an all time high with this aura discovery because the war aura alone, but also especially when combined with the reaper status, meant that Ares was predestined to be an incredible cultivator who shook the world with his presence. Those two titles alone would be enough for Ares to have become a Dominus-tier existence at minimum and neither of those two avenues for his success were gifted to him on a silver platter. Ares, not the fundamental champion, but Ares himself was a horrific individual and the combination of reaper and war aura was something the world had never seen before. Though not many people understood the importance of war aura, if such a thing were widely known it would no doubt be the biggest piece of information to come out regarding Ares as of yet. It was a position just as prestigious as the fundamental champions and people only stopped talking about it because the last war aura owner was nowhere to be found for the last few millennia. They must have been living out the last of their life in hiding somewhere to die an ironically peaceful death. The fact that the timing of their death and transferral of the war aura aligned with Ares' birth an ascendancy to fundamental champion status...
This was a cruel joke the universe was playing and now it had come back to bite it in the ass. Ares was targeting the universe this very instant so it must have been regretting its actions right about now... On the flip side, the destruction pillar must have been beaming as it truly picked the perfect vessel. Everything involving Ares just seemed to keep going more and more right day by day. Dominus didn't know how to respond to Ares' inane background ramblings because the kid was spouting stuff even he didn't understand about the 'hum of war echoing throughout the black market and the drums of combat stirring souls'. Again, this was all incredibly similar to Ares' predecessor's routine rants but nobody could understand it other than the individual themselves. Auras belonged to those at the peak of understanding of their respective traits so it was only natural anybody else would have no clue what they were talking about. You can't talk about rocket science with a toddler and expect them to follow the conversation. Ares' depth of knowledge about war had long since superseded Dominus' so he couldn't really take part in this gushing. It's not that Dominus didn't get the general gist, he wasn't completely unfamiliar with war and had fought a great many himself, it's just that he couldn't hear the 'hum' that Ares could. It wasn't hyperbole, Ares hadn't gone crazy, he was being serenaded by hymns of battle sung by warriors across all ages: past, present and future. He had transcended everyone else's understanding of what it meant to 'fight' and this was a mountaintop he and he alone would stand atop forever. The special auras that could only exist once at a time had never fallen in the hands of an immortal race before and for it to have been war, of all auras, that this happened to... With destruction pillar Ares to boot? The world was going to have mixed feelings about this as many people feared the aura of war. It had a knack for, and habit of, showing up unannounced on battlefields nobody invited it to... Maybe Ares would be a bit more tame and restrain himself? One could only hope...
Ares... Was not moving anymore. He adored the orchestra of war drowning out every other noise in the galaxy and so he simply to a moment to revel in it. He found it strange that Dominus wasn't responding to him, though, so he asked him, Can you not hear it? Dominus didn't know how to respond to this because nobody had ever heard it other than previous aura of war owners. This was not something any of them had ever figured out how to share. They all desperately wanted to, mind you, as their fanaticism for it and fervent pride in it was honestly a little creepy. Still, it was never anything that had blessed the ears of the public so he could only sigh and say 'no' in response.
"How sad... It's such a beautiful and peacefulsound... Here." Ares raised his hands and summoned about twenty black, red, and gold flags from out of thin air. They all crashed down into the floor and burrowed their way into the earth in a circle around Ares as he channelled his aura through them like a conductor. The flags depicted a spiral of red void and chaos with interwoven black lines and small, animated golden explosions periodically detonating within the flags. They each looked like they contained a separate world within filled to the brim with anarchy and destruction. Staring into one for too long would paralyse the victim and come close to absorbing their soul amidst the mental turbulence, turning them into nothing more than another golden explosion amongst the many that already rampaged within the flag. Each flag gave off a profound feeling of supremacy, appearing ten feet tall before the viewer despite their relatively average height. The poles looked daunting and unbendable, more so the more anyone stared at them, like unbreakable masts carrying the pride of the child of war and his aura-imbued flags that announced his arrival and the soon-to-be destruction of all who opposed him. The world within the confinement of the flag encirclement changed drastically as the ground shook as though a stampede of millions of soldiers was passing through it. The sound of a horn, the yells and cheers of brutish men, and the chilling mist of havoc born of blood and mana merging into one... None of these things actually within this space existed but a person would hallucinate them all, and more, just for existing anywhere near even a single flag.
The more flags there were, the more severe this nauseating and imposing effect became and those who were weak of mind would eventually envision themselves in a war and die to a stray attack, ending their life permanently even outside the visions. A single flag could potentially passively kill a person, never mind any attacks Ares could personally use them for. Each and every single flag, of which he felt he could summon hundreds, was a devastating weapon not inferior in quality to a celestial cluster treasure. They were strictly for violence, and could not be used outside of his aura's range, but the potential for death dealing was endless and Ares could fight an ever-lasting war with these flags alone. Right now Ares was using them as conduits to channel the infamous 'hum of war' and it soon became audible to normal cultivators for the first time ever but only those Ares permitted to hear it.
Dominus trembled uncontrollably as harmonic and deep chanting of an unknown and unknowable language sung tales of bravery and dominance that burrowed into his brain and took root. It was frighteningly powerful drawl of empowering gibberish that tickled the ears with bloodstained fingers and a rough caress. A heavy weight accompanied each word and syllable as a choir of millions of warriors barked a pleasant set of impossible-to-resist instructions in sync with one another. Though it was a strict and uniform list of orders and war commands that demanded obedience, it was truly a perfectly crafted piece of music that terrorised yet demanded respect from every listener. Dominus felt moved and a welling urge to escape from Ares' body and fight to the death with the nearest enemy a thousand times over. He wanted to experience death and rebirth in the glory of combat until the end of time prevented him from doing so any further. Ares was the pinnacle of war and all who he deemed allies were uplifted and incited until they became another bloodthirsty member of the choir. Dominus' voice, though he spoke not a word, became embedded amongst the countless others and only added to the symphony of authority Ares led. The voices were steady and slow but built up to a crescendo, mimicking the start of battle and a fire was lit within Dominus that drove him near mad. This wasn't 'peaceful', as Ares had put it... No, it was the exact opposite. It was violent and savage... To see beauty and peace in this was impossible unless you were so thoroughly convinced of victory that the bloodshed was a mere medium through which it could be accomplished. The chaos of war was a tool for peace and only an aura of war wielder could see visions of calm beyond the here and now of death and massacre. War, to these freaks, was not despicable or horrifying, it was necessary to produce a world that was the exact opposite.
Was this unnerving hum what every single aura of war wielder felt in battle?! Dominus couldn't fathom how they weren't all driven insane by this overwhelming compulsion to kill everything with a pulse. Dominus knew now why they all, without fail, challenged the universe; it was the only thing that could possibly resist them and outlast their desires in the heat of battle. Hell if Dominus had a body this song of massacre condensed into a low chant would have driven him to proclaim himself the arbiter of war too. He would fare no better when faced with this unbearable hymnal push to violence and declare war against the universe all the same. Ares retaining his composure and sanity was all the evidence Dominus needed To grasp what exactly was required of a war aura wielder and how impossible such a thing was to an 'ordinary' person... They needed to be the personification of battle, un-swayed by their urge to slaughter everything and everyone. They all had to be a little twisted and have within them just enough lunacy to enjoy this without giving into the desire. Ares had somehow managed to bury these feelings, and not be overcome with them, since the Slick fight. He hadn't gone on a complete rampage in search of fulfilment, in search of another strong foe to push him to the edge and make him believe he earned a hard fought victory. Ares felt like he was in constant need of testing in battle, this much Dominus could understand from the aura and its musical implications, but Ares somehow enjoyed that constant pressure? Dominus had put up with war aura in its purest form for no more than a minute and he wanted to scratch his ears out... Though he felt powerful hearing the aura, he understood that if he didn't retreat from the warm embrace of mindless violence he would be consumed by it and chase it eternally. To live with this song stuck on repeat in in their heads... The war aura wielders were inhuman... Power was rarely free and this was a price so few people could afford to pay, it was no wonder this aura was as rare as it was...
Then there was the stepper. If the effect described previously was something that an 'ally' experienced... What on earth was it going through? The stepper, and its shadow, had frozen and not moved ever since the first flag dropped a few inches away from it. The flag alone had suppressed and suffocated the monster and it couldn't shake the feeling that if it dared even budge an inch in any direction the flag would come alive and devour it or, worse, being a thousand year battle with it as a trial before devouring it anyway. The flag felt alive and it was more bloodthirsty than even the stepper itself. If it provoked the flag it would rise up from the ground in response and spar like the spear held by a legendary exemplar, raising hell until it, the stepper, or both were dead and could no longer lift a finger. Death was the honorable path to glory and the flag gave off a suicidal yearning for it that made it clear it was willing to drag others to the same fate 'for their own good'. The stepper could hardly breathe before this one flag alone, as it felt like standing opposite a battle hardened war general three times its size with ten times the cruelty, and then even more flags dropped and it became impossible to even breathe properly under the burden. It was starting to choke under the oppressive atmosphere that saw the stepper as little more than a foot soldier at the bottom of the hierarchy, surrounded by mythical beings of war that far outranked it and could squash it like a bug under a single one of their heels.
Becoming a coward?
On the battlefield?
If the stepper ran now, and deserted under the watchful aura of these flags, they would all impale it in the back and end its life in an instant before it could even retaliate. Ares didn't even have to control them or know where the stepper was, the flags would be so repulsed by a fleeing being within their perimeter they would just immediately dog pile and end its miserable life so it didn't have to live out the rest of it in unending shame. The flags gave off the impression that they believed themselves merciful deliverers of justice to those who'd lost their 'way of war'. Anyone who didn't belong on the battlefield, or wanted to flee from it, would be swiftly expelled and promptly and forcefully removed as a corpse. Put simply, even a single flag could kill the shadow stepper in its tracks so it dared not alert them to its presence... It shouldn't have been visible to anyone or anything and, yet, it felt like they were already aware of it... Or, to be more specific, they were locking down the entire space and the stepper was collateral, equivalent to nothing more than a pebble caught under the march of an elite army that had never known defeat. The madman Ares was actually panning on launching an assault against the universe and the stepper was going to pay because of it. One of two fates awaited it; either Ares would force the universe to bow before him and relent, which was a miracle in and of itself, at which point the world would spit the stepper out and betray it so as not to be dragged down alongside it, or Ares would accidentally kill the stepper with his attacks against the universe anyway. The stepper could not envision a way out of this battlefield even though it desperately wanted to run as far away from this incarnation of war as it could... This was already bad enough... But then came the 'hum of war'.
How many millions of death yells and cries wormed its way into the stepper's brain at this very moment? Near infinite bloodshed graced its memories. Billions of weapons and billions of slashes, swipes, strikes, lunges, and other such attacks all reaping life after life after life and inflicting gory injury after injury after injury. The splatter of blood, the squelching of weapons burring themselves in craniums and torsos, the treading off muddied boots across rough terrain, the fall of rain and the echo of thunder, and a disturbing chant that shook its knees and pushed it down until it admitted its own inferiority. It had been dragged before an army of millions of smirking demons with its hands tied behind its back and was going to be hunted down like a rabbit. As soon as the chains were removed and it was released, the stepper would turn tail and flee for as long as its legs could carry it before the stampeding soldiers crushed it to death. The stepper felt alone. It was being made to fight a war alone and its enemy was unsympathetic to its plight, maybe even more frenzied than they would be against an actual army because they were jealous of the stepper. They too wished they could fight millions unimpeded by deadweight allies but the truth was that it was only these madmen who believed such a thing, the stepper would desperately plead for support against this unholy collection of animalistic warriors if it could. All eyes were on the stepper and all voices converged before it, daring it stand up and resist if it had the strength and respectable courage to do so.
It didn't.
The stepper turned around and ran. It hadn't even manged to successfully convince its brain to retreat, its body was making its own decision and refused to stop. The stepper was barely even aware it was moving but none of that mattered as it was cut down after a mere few steps by a flag that appeared in the heavens, blitzed through the sky, and pierced the monster's right head at supersonic speed. The stepper was brought to a forceful halt the second it was impaled and its body crumpled to the floor under the single daunting flag nestled comfortably inside its head. The flag swayed idly, bored, and the pole was uninterested in even wobbling around. The flag had locked down the fleeing prey and cared no more for it like a cruel taskmaster shoving a circus pet into a cage and abandoning it without food for a few days. If it had the nerve to raise a fuss there would be hell to pay and a beating would ensues so the stepper obediently lay still, face down in the dirty rubble of a building it had destroyed so brazenly a few minutes ago. not that it could move even if it wanted to, there was no more power in its limbs and they weren't listening to its orders anymore.
Ares wasn't much interested in the stepper, the current recipient of his grudge was still the universe itself, but he calmly walked over to the invisible monster and pulled out the flag before kicking it onto its back and making it look up at him. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Ares tilted his head as his eyes swirled until the pattern in them mimicked the chaotic flags' depiction of the void. An abyss of spiralling crimson nothingness, black lines hinting at death and disintegration for any who got too close, and golden dominance turned his face into an aberration of insanity and annihilation. The stepper didn't move, it refused to communicate with any freak of nature that called that bone chilling noise 'beautiful'. When Ares didn't receive a response, however, he quietly and gently leant down and began eating the stepper whole. The many limbs that were still attached were all ripe for the picking so Ares tore them off one by one and even occasionally ate those that weren't removed as of yet. The stepper's mind was spinning but it eventually let out a hoarse screech and shook in fear as it tried to push Ares' face away. Ares willingly lifted his head, with a piece of stepper limb leaning partially out of his mouth, and complained. "What's wrong?" The disappointment in his voice and crazy eyes was painful and brought about runaway guilt. "I thought we were killing each other? Don't you want to eat me too?" The stepper shot a limb at Ares' face but was so scared of touching this disgusting monster it diverted at the last second and only took off a small chunk of his face. Ares' cheek bone was now exposed to open air, and a small section of his eye had been clipped, but he remained unbothered and tilted his head further at this weak display. "Is that it? You aren't really into this, are you? I wanted to fight you back when you actually cared..." Ares pointed at his missing head. "What was this supposed to be? I'm so sad you can't do any better... I guess there's no point in keeping you alive..."
Ares bent down again and resumed eating the stepper alive but was interrupted when the shadow detached from the stepper, sensing the tide of battle had irreversibly shifted, and made an attempt to flee. Ares stood up and walked one step after it before raising a single hand and pointing downwards. The sky turned dark as a hundred flags hovered ominously throughout the space above. Each one looked condescendingly down on the retreating shadow and disapproved of its cowardice. Ares had already commanded them to kill it but they needed no such order to punish this pathetic thing appropriately for its unforgiveable behaviour. All hundred flags descended simultaneously, creating a mound of symbolism as they buried the shadow beneath them. The flags wove around one another creating a single large void atop the poles crushing the cracked shadow below. The shadow lasted barely even a second before it broke, splintered, and was shattered into tiny fading pieces. Its soul was dragged into Ares' Extinction Converter and, just like that, the fight was already over.
Meanwhile the stepper had shakily stood up and began running away again, hoping the shadow could distract Ares long enough to make a getaway. This hope was in vain but it did make it further than the shadow, at least. Unfortunately there was no chance of survival as the universe trembled and spat the stepper out of its net of safety. The art keeping it 'hidden' was forcibly cancelled by a higher power that no longer wanted to be a part of this. The flags that attacked the shadow earlier pierced through the universe as they fell and the universe suffered immense agony the entire time. It didn't want to be struck again by Ares so it willingly stood down and refused to take part in this fight anymore. The art would have turned off eventually anyway, as the shadow was dead now, but as a sign of submission and good faith the universe acted to dispel the art first because it was not the overlord here anymore. Arse had gotten what he wanted and brought the universe to heel so now only one task remained. A large, pure nothingness torso, head, an arms sprouted up behind Ares in the form of an ancient and bulky warrior. It overshadowed the entire city and spread the aura of war far and wide as all flags obediently fell in line around it. Ares reached a hand to the sky and the nothingness behemoth copied his actions, causing dark clouds to swirl above.
CRACK
A flash of thunder struck the raised hand of the behemoth but it let out a deafening roar and caught the thunder between its gigantic fingers, subduing and wielding it as a makeshift spear. The behemoth turned its attention the fleeing stepper and brought down the massive thunder spear directly atop its one remaining, functional head.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
The behemoth was split into multiple parts, all of which were siphoned back into the flags, and its oppressive pressure vanished leaving nothing but electrical sparks decorating the entire slum area as proof of its temporary existence. Ares, once again, walked calmly over to the stepper with his flags hovering behind him in an orderly line. The stepper was beaten to the brink of death but Ares wasn't content, he was furious. He shivered form head to toe and rolled his head with a deep, aggrieved sigh. "You were supposed to be so much more than this." Ares stomped on the stepper and grit his teeth. "WHERE IS IT?"
STOMP
"WHERE IS YOUR FEROCITY?"
STOMP
"WHERE IS YOUR CUNNING?"
STOMP
"WHERE IS YOUR EVIL?"
STOMP
"WHERE IS YOUR INSIGNIFICANT POWER?!" Ares crouched down and began eating the stepper with vigour. He sunk his head into the torse and buried his teeth in the sweet limbs that somewhat calmed him down. He kept at it until there were only a handful of limbs left and the sugary limbs had washed away most of his anger. He was breathing roughly but his eyes had returned to normal and the aura around him was more tame than before. "Do you know what your weakness has done?! I'm going to suffer a backlash because of you. I cannot summon this aura and disappoint it with a lack of combat. I am going to pay a price because of how pathetic you are." Just as how the stepper couldn't ignore the aura of madness' demands, Ares couldn't betray the aura of war's expectations. This had not been a 'fight' worth its attention and presence and Ares was not going to get away with this insolence, his retribution was coming and would hit him hard as soon as he was done disposing of this stepper. Ares stood up and picked up the stepper's foot, dragging the creature over his shoulder through a crack in reality that led to the void. Inside it, Ares Shifted through the red dimension repeatedly in search of something. "I told you. I warned you to stop making mistakes. You ignored me and now you are going to pay the ultimate price. You'll wish it was me eating you alive instead of the fate you've earned yourself. You should have listened to me when I was being generous. But now? Now you've made too many mistakes to ignore and you've disappointed me greatly. You will not know mercy of peace." Ares came to a halt and threw the stepper through the seemingly empty void. As the stepper drifted drifted out of view, Ares sneered at it and spoke to something behind it.
"This is the first time we've met, and it won't be the last, but I'm bringing you a meeting gift. Do with this stepper as you will, just make it hurt." The void behind the stepper shifted, as though the entirety of this dimension had been stirred awake from a deep slumber, and split into two. Jagged rows appeared on both halves of the void and the stepper's one remaining eye trembled in fear as it understood the enormity and immensity of the creature Ares was gifting it to. "You and I have a complicated relationship but we can figure that out some other time. For now, do what you do best and eat...
Xhilihx."