"tool! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Blood flew out of Diggers' mouth as he yelled at his insufferable and insubordinate subordinate. Given what just happened to the base, tool lying around like this was really a slap in the face. Plus he worked directly for Diggers so this embarrassment reflected poorly on the false king... Not that there was much of anything for him to rule over and who would care about the reputation of a king of scraps and ruins? Diggers could make a metal crown out of what was left of the base if he really wanted but that was as good as it got and he would need to seriously consider a new path in life from today onwards; that was how tool saw it... Although, actually, the more he thought about it the more realised Diggers might not live to see tomorrow anyway. That Ares kid was back and he was a real stubborn one. It only required one look at the surroundings to figure that out... Still, tool groaned as he climbed to his feet and dusted himself off. He winced and tried to sway away the blinding sun but failed for obvious reasons before giving up and shrugging in defeat.
Sigh
"There's really no point to all this..." Though tool's words sounded empty and plain, quite befitting of him, there was a strange sincerity to his words that made Ares think there was more to his story. It seemed like he spoke from experience, not laziness. Regardless, tool tooled up for battle by... Walking a few steps over towards Ares... It's not like he needed preparations of any kind so this was fairly standard for him. Rather even walking over to Ares was unnecessary but he did it anyway because if he didn't Diggers would probably get mad at him again and start yelling; tool had indeed been asleep until recently so incessant screaming was the last thing he needed right now. Then again, he hardly wanted a beating either but Ares looked ready to deliver. "I don't suppose you actually managed to come up with a way of killing me did you? I could do with some rest right about now..." His tone as slovenly as ever and Ares gave a strange grin in response.
"Oh I have an idea alright. It's probably not what you were expecting though."
"Really? I don't exactly know what to expect from a wild child like you so I kinda didn't have anything in mind. Honestly, even I don't know how to kill a person like me..."
"Exactly, you're overthinking things. Trying to think outside the box will result in you missing the perfectly obvious answer sitting inside the box the whole time." It was unknown what Ares meant by this but he wasted no time in rushing tool down and decking him the face. Both fighters were blasted away from the point of impact and sent skidding on their backs through the desert. tool came to a halt and scratched his bruised face as it healed while standing back on two feet. This all seemed strange to him. Ares was not in a position to be doing this. Though it wasn't possible to see all the holes on his flesh underneath Ares' clothes it was apparent to anyone with a keen eye he wasn't at 100% Pointlessly hitting tool like this was unwise, doubly so if he recently suffered some kind of backlash.
"Yeah, not gonna lie to you Ares, I'm really not feeling this approach... Uh, I take that back, I am literally feeling it, I mean I just don't see how this is gonna get you as far as you think it will." tool shook his head for about a second before he was decked in the jaw and sent flying again. He groaned on his back and cursed inwardly at the sky because it seemed like Ares had lost the plot and from experience that typically only ended one way. If Ares stubbornly persisted he would commit suicide upon tool's body and it wouldn't be the first or last time tool had seen this play out. "For your own sake, rethink this..."
Ares laughed as he wiped some blood from his mouth. "What's there to think about? I'll win eventually." tool frowned at this response because it didn't sound like baseless arrogance to him. Ares understood that he was still confused so he clarified his intent. "Your regeneration. It's great but costly right? Same for your reflection magic. Both are permanently active but only take up mana when they're actually doing their job, right? That's how you work? You can't do this forever. See this is why revenant regeneration is superior. It will eventually heal me quicker than your regeneration will and come at no additional cost. Even death is a fixable fault so there really is no comparison. As for you, what happens when you run out of mana?" A simple question but one tool had never had to worry about the answer to before because things had never reached that point. People had to hit him to drain his mana but nobody ever willingly did so for longer than a few minutes before...
"I die..." His opponents had always long since died before he could even come close to running out of mana, he had a large reserve of the stuff that felt like overkill, but if someone could theoretically outlast his mana supply then it wouldn't even be a 'fight' at that point. He would get slaughtered with no method of fighting back...
"Right. So the answer is simple. I hit you, you lose mana. If I keep trading my own health for your mana, without going overboard, I'll eventually win if I keep hitting you. Will it hurt? Yes. Of course. I'm basically hitting myself here. Still, you can handle a beating for an hour straight, right? That won't be enough to kill you? 'Cos if not, it won't kill me either. An hour or so should be enough to drain all that mana on pointless regeneration and damage reflection and if neither of us are dead by that point then yes, you really will die but I won't be joining you in the afterlife.
Funnily enough, my own regeneration will also keep me afloat for the duration of our bout too! Long story short, I'm going to just keep hitting you until you break. The solution to the problem you are is not to stop hitting you, it's the exact opposite. Blame your own laziness and hubris for the loss you're going to suffer here today. If your cultivation were higher you would have more mana to work with and be quite the pest. You screwed yourself over in thinking your cultivation base didn't matter with a skillset like yours, tool!" Ares didn't bother waiting for tool to respond because there was nothing left to say, only hands left to throw! If he had time to speak, Ares had time to attack so he ran up to a shocked tool and kneed him in the gut. tool hadn't seen it coming so he collapsed to his knees but Ares, who was fully aware of the incoming gut blow, managed to resist crumbling. Standing above tool gave Ares the perfect position to start using tool as a combo enabler by treating him like a punching bag. Point in case, Ares thrust out with his knee again, striking tool on the bottom of his jaw and knocking his head upwards to face the sky. Ares' own head was blasted upwards too, and he felt a massive sting under his chin, but his raised head was exactly what he was after as he could now throw it back down with impressive momentum and headbutt tool into the ground!
BANG
tool was sprawled across the floor, bleeding from his head after getting pummeled into the sand. Ares was reeling and spurting blood from his head too but he managed to keep standing tall. He clutched his head and shook it before running back over to the demoralised tool and booting him in the rib cage, rolling him across the desert and down a dune. Ares could feel every bump and crash, as well as the immense blow to his ribs from the kick earlier, and had to grit his teeth and suffer in silence. He was going to be here a while, and this would be the worst beatdown he'd ever experienced, but if he kept at this with unmatched stubbornness he'd walk away victorious eventually! tool may have been the personification of 'stop hitting yourself' but Ares was the very definition of 'I'll do whatever the hell I please!'
tool groaned and rolled onto his back, wiping away the blood on his face as he lay at the bottom of a dune with the sun beaming down onto his face. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately given the circumstance, the sun was blotted out by Arse dark' visage. It was hard for tool to make out his features as a shadow was cast over Ares' face but it was clear the reaper had come over to keep playing with him and wasn't nearly done yet. This thought was immediately proven correct when Ares treated the top of the dune like a wrestling rope and divebombed a discombobulated tool with an elbow drop to the chest.
BANG
Both Ares and tool wound up rolling side to side and coughing up small bits of vomit and blood, clutching their chest in agony and struggling to breathe. Ares was fine with damaging himself to this degree because he knew tool was in the exact same condition and not capable of fighting back while he reeled in pain. As long as Ares was dealing the initial blow, all was well and they could suffer together until a winner became apparent!
Ares took a deep breath and punched the floor. "Echo." As the underground Echo raced towards its target, Ares clambered to his feet and ran over to tool who was pummeled up off his stomach by the Echo. It had wormed its way underneath him and blasted his prone body upwards enough to put him hunched over on his knees, leaving his stomach open to a kick from Ares who hit him with such ferocity tool went flying up and over the edge of the dune. tool would have sailed completely out of view were it not for the fact that Ares had also been blasted out of the dune in the opposite direction. The two foes caught sight of one another crashing into the desert and kicking up sand and there was a strange acknowledgement at play here. Ares just wanted payback for what he considered to be a 'loss' during their last meeting while all tool wanted was to finally meet his match and maker. tool hated that things had come to this, and that this was the way he had to go, but for once someone killing themselves upon his body seemed happy to do it and he couldn't quite comprehend it.
Ares was a clever kid, and knew his limits, so tool might actually die at long last and not have to take anyone with him. Given his own past that was probably for the best. His powers had been a mixed bag and caused him a lot of trouble over the years even though they had also been helpful occasionally. His father was a violent drunk who impregnated his mother during a particularly stormy night in a back alley somewhere. It was safe to say tool's mother didn't exactly have a say in the matter and things were ugly in the tool household for many years. Eventually tool's magic came forth after he cultivated in secrecy to the first stage of meridian conversion and his father was infuriated he couldn't beat him anymore. Every time he tried he got a taste of his own medicine so he started taking it out on tool's mother instead, leading to her hatred of her son too because it was all his fault she was getting hit again. tool didn't know what happened in that household after he was sold out of it but it probably wasn't pretty. He' returned in later years and found nothing but an empty house and a few bloodstains that slipped past the notice of whoever cleaned the place up after whatever altercation had taken place here. As for child tool, he'd been sold to a brothel as a cleaner who would mop up the rooms and wipe down the beds. Not exactly pleasant but at least he wasn't beaten as frequently. Only angry customers whose desired partner was taken for the night would have any 'reason' to hit him but they quickly realised it wasn't a good idea and so he found relative peace for a while.
One day, the owner of the brothel stopped by for an inspection and brought his daughter along too. This was a highly strange decision on the owner's part but tool was too young, and had too strange a background, to really understand why this was such a bizarre sight. The workers at the brothel had a pretty good idea though and there were whisperings about a potentially bad end for the daughter who was slowly learning how things worked here. She was seen around the building a fair few more times in the upcoming weeks and she and tool grew close with one another during that time. She was a good friend and taught tool a lot about the world that he couldn't have possibly known thanks to his isolation from it. She felt sympathy towards him given what he'd been through so it was nice having a friend but there was a pretty terrible plot in store for her that tool overhead one evening when the owner came to visit.
Put simply, the daughter was useless.
She was an untalented cultivator through and through and keeping her benefitted the owner in no discernable way whatsoever so he was looking to change that. He was going to poison her to break her meridians, turning her back into a mortal that could never cultivate ever again. It would be seen as an accident, or perhaps a ploy from a warring faction that conspired against him, but what really mattered was her value afterwards. It was low to begin with but now the father would have sufficient justification to sell her off and get whatever value he could out of her. His daughter, albeit useless in cultivation, was pretty good looking so the plan was to bring her to this brothel and have her serve her father's business companions and act as a bridge to nobility. She was an offering for peace treaties with various interested elders and patriarchs from other sects and some clans. This was the value he saw in her.
tool didn't exactly want to see this happen but it was partially too late. The daughter had already been poisoned and she'd already been hospitalised. She would wake up a mortal and nothing could ever change that... But tool still wanted to do whatever he could so he offered to clean the owner's room after he was done with one of the whores. He was still in it when tool arrived, counting money and writing a letter to his business partners regarding his daughter's upcoming schedule and availability. tool took the opportunity to do the unthinkable and pick a fight with the owner. He launched a surprise attack with a knife and dealt a heavy blow to the owner's neck but didn't quite finish him off. Given the disparity in cultivation between him and the owner all seemed hopeless from this point but the truth of the matter was quite different; the owner didn't know about tool's magic so accidentally dealt himself a death blow by striking tool in his shoulder. tool was blasted out of the building and landed amongst the rotting garbage outside but the owner had accidentally killed himself by damaging his neck, via tool's, even further and sealing the deal. This was incredibly lucky as tool had planned on going out alongside the owner by getting struck in the heart or head and dying in a single blow. The owners tipsiness, however, made his strike deviate and thus only one of the two died in the end.
There was a big fuss raised but tool, hidden within the trash, was nowhere to be found and so nothing much came out of it. When tool awoke later, having fully regenerated thanks to his magic, he stumbled out of a pile of debris in a dump somewhere and worked his way back towards civilisation to tell the owner's daughter the good news. He hadn't showered and smelled like utter filth but was convinced the daughter wouldn't care about such things when he explained to her what happened. He would take her out of the hospital, somewhere safe, and all would be well. He would cultivate properly and take care of her long into the future.
That was the plan but, when he arrived by her side, after carefully sneaking through the hospital without getting caught, there was nothing but hatred in her eyes. He wanted to explain himself but she never let him speak and just raged at him with tears in her eyes. Her father was still the innocent saint and loving father he'd always been, in her eyes, and no amount of suggesting otherwise would ever get through to her at this point. tool was the man, or rather walking pile of trash, that murdered her father and that was when tool's world came crumbling down. The daughter shrieked as she wielded a dinner knife from her sick bed and repeatedly stabbed tool in the chest despite knowing exactly what would happen to her in return. tool stood almost completely still, staring in blank horror as the woman he tried to save used him to commit suicide. She was in a fury, fully intent on taking him to the afterlife even if it cost her her own life. In the end she couldn't survive longer than him and his regeneration saved him from the the fate he honestly wouldn't have been entirely against.
Ever since then, he'd been wondering aimlessly with no purpose in life, no family, and no home. He stumbled through the desert searching for death and, one day, very nearly found it at the hands of a poisonous scorpion. He still didn't know if Diggers saving him was a blessing or a curse but his life got significantly better from then on... Even if Diggers had also tried to beat and whip him into servitude initially. It seemed like just about everyone he ever met would attempt to do that so ignored it and treated it as par the course. Of course it stopped real quick anyway, as Diggers abhorred pain and the reflected damage irked him, but his position as a 'tool' was pretty much set in stone. tool wasn't a real name but it was the closest thing he had to one at this moment in time. His father called him a bastard and the brothel just referred to him as a little slave. In comparison, tool was marginally better and at least had a positive connotation indicating he was useful for something for once...
Perhaps all of this was why tool had just stabbed himself in the heart.
...
Unsurprisingly, this action came as a shock to everyone other than himself and attracted a lot of attention. He sighed and weakly muttered with his final breath how he hated seeing people get hurt because of him. His next and last words were a repeat of exactly what he said before and, if anyone knew of his past, they would think it made a lot of sense right about now Still, there was a kind of pitiful melancholy in his usually detached voice as he spoke them. "There's really... Just... No point..."
tool had enough. That was all there was to it. Though unusual, tool had to admit that Ares was a unique breed. Ares was the one person who'd ever found out about tool's magic and decided not to run away from it or kill themselves via him. There was a kind of respect brewing for someone not fearful of him but that was actually terrible for tool because he didn't want to hurt such a person. He never really wanted to hurt anyone and his magic was a curse in that regard. Ares, the one guy who looked him in the eye not with disdain or anger, but a smile, even if admittedly battle crazed... Hurting such a person, a 'friend' even if only in the weirdest way possible, when the end result was obvious to begin with... It didn't sit right with tool and he didn't enjoy seeing Ares beat himself up over someone as pathetic and insignificant as him. If he was going to die eventually anyway then dragging things on like this... There was just no point.
What if,
For once,
Only one person had to get hurt?
And so, with resolve that came quite naturally to him, tool had dealt himself a final blow and was now lying dead in the bloody sand as the world around turned eerily silent save for the rustling wind whipping away at the clothes on his motionless body. Naturally everyone had questions about this, because nobody could possibly know why he made this decision, but Ares felt like there was definitely more to this than he understood. Alas, there was no way of asking the dead so he griped about this matter inwardly. Fuck... I don't why... but it feels like I lost again... At the very least, if nothing else, he definitely hadn't avenged his earlier loss so the score was either still at 1-0 or, now, it was at 2-0. It could be either but it was definitely not 1-1 regardless. Of course Ares did feel somewhat bad for tool, as being driven to take his own life must have meant he was really mentally going through it, but he was on the opposite of what Ares stood for so there was only so much leeway that could be given. Sure Ares somewhat respected him for being a unique cultivator, and it hardly seemed like he was all too interested in being some evil megalomaniac like those around him, but he needed to be dealt with regardless so Ares wasn't too fussed by this outcome. Or, rather, he was in a way but just not because tool was dead. It was more so a feeling of being cucked by a massive anti-climax. He came here fully prepared to beat himself half to death and earn a hard won battle but this strange end was all it turned out to be. He was just starting to get really into it too... Ares would definitely walk away from this fight with regrets while tool seemed to die at complete peace... He really did lose again, didn't he?
Thud
"Useless bastard!" Diggers, taking the opportunity to finally vent physically against tool, kicked his head and yelled at his corpse. On the one hand, Diggers was furious his tool had up and killed himself as now the situation looked dire. On the other hand, at long last being able to punish this lazy cretin made him feel good and so he was going to kick him again when he suddenly realised there was a hole in his chest where his heart should have been. Ares didn't much care about tool but seeing the guy he lost to get kicked in the head was not it. Though only somewhat, Ares did respect tool so this level of rudeness would not go unpunished. No bullying the dead, unless they maybe deserved it, but definitely not this guy. Ares didn't even Convert tool's soul so what gave Diggers the right to pick on him? He wasn't a part of this fight between them and his life was already forfeit anyway so Ares took this opportunity to lay the false king to rest eternally by converting his soul instead. He could forever reside within the palace that was Ares' heart as an energy source and nothing else. tool, however, could finally take a nice long rest in the afterlife. Ares had a sneaking suspicion he would probably go to heaven but, honestly, there was no way of telling.
Either way, tool's debt to Diggers had long since been repaid just by putting up with him for all these years and he was free to live his life unburdened by whatever it was that had been troubling him. But that was just tool, the rest of the scavengers here, and the few remaining western monsters, would not get the same treatment. Ares could care less about these losers and Sandy seemed to think the same way as she had been tearing through them with glee for the most part. She slowed down a bit, and reprimanded her foolish clansmen but, other than that, she was tossing her weight around and bullying experts with her legendary fine grind. The near-peak transition realm cultivator had been treated like a rag doll being battered and flung around by a gorilla holding onto his feet. That sight alone made it pretty clear the scavengers were doomed but they could no longer flee as Ares joined in the hunt and sealed their fate. The western monsters had gone pretty much berserk by this point but they were nothing compared to the brood mother so a few Grand Annihilations and a Trampling Oryx put them in their place... Six feet underground, that is.
Ares expected his conquest of the base to take about an hour due to tool's magic delaying things but it all ended way faster than he could ever have imagined and he was left standing around next to he crater with Sandy, usure of how to feel about this mess. He picked up Diggers' spatial ring, fished out the rod used to control the western monsters, and returned to the Elliot because he was done here. He'd also stored the spatial rings of every other scavenger inside his Primordial Blade but didn't bother checking them individually because it likely wasn't worth his time. Still, the haul here had been a Godsend and would be great for Heaven's Path's disciples and elders in the future... But man did Ares feel unsatisfied after his fight with tool... He was tempted to ask Sandy to train with him but she was staring into his soul right now and silently demanding she be fed... He did owe her that thanks to his earlier promise back at the scavenger cafeteria, after all, so maybe the training could come some other time. For now, regardless of how Ares felt about this ending, it was undeniable an ending had been reached here... It was just the Riddlemyd left now so Ares could get his combat fix there in the upcoming days.
What a mess Xasca had been but, also, in many ways, it had been quite a rollercoaster too. It wasn't quite over yet but Ares would definitely remember this leg of his cultivation journey; it had sure been one hell of an adventure.