Well this was just a slight mishap... Or, more accurately, a complete catastrophe! Arguably the greatest sea-based threat of all time throughout Sheryashkan history had just reared it's damn ugly mug now of all times?! Why? It wasn't supposed to show up this early as it typically dwelled in a very different part of the ocean. What had driven this thing to come and launch an attack at this specific time and place? What was it about this auction house that drove this krakyrn mad enough to veer off it's usual course and strike the Federation?! Did it have something to do with the Extinction Converter? Surely not, right? This treasure had no business being affiliated with that ugly thing! No really, the monster was hideous... Though fighting it of was clearly the more pressing matter, Ares wasn't able to do that as of yet and so took in this thing's hideous form... Or what he could see of it anyway. It was currently acting like an iceberg and hiding most of its body underwater because it was having trouble breaking through the Federation most likely. Its tentacles were sharp, and its teeth allowed it to bite it's way up here, but the rest of its body? Not happening, lard ass! Go to the gym and lose a few pounds you fishy freak! Ares provided moral support, mostly to himself, by insulting the creature inside his own head.
Calling a wyvern a 'fishy' anything did feel wrong on so many levels even though it was correct as its body was a thick, squishy, white block of disgusting slime and octopus flesh. It was still shaped like a wyvern's body, to some extent, but there were seemingly random and unnatural curves that were incredibly displeasing to lay eyes on. It was entirely unnatural for a normal creature to be shaped in this way as it bent backwards in places and almost looked disjointed in other parts. Nature needed to go back a few steps because it clearly got this experiment very wrong! And to make matters worse, this wasn't even the freakiest part of this abomination! That unimpressive feat belonged to the creature's head which was a massive circular maw of teeth, forming a sharp and round series of razors down its throat, with a neck made of tentacles that shot forward and wriggled in front of the perpetually open mouth. The nightmare fuel didn't end there though... Its eyes were tenfold and layered over the maw, darting in every which direction in a manic frenzy like they were desperately searching for something. Ares sincerely hoped they weren't like that all the time because, if so, this creature needed to be removed from existence!
Actually, forget that, it needed obliterating anyway! It wasn't even done being disgusting at the head though because it's lower body split off into two halves with both layers being equally unpalatable for sane creatures to look at. The top half was where it's 'wyvern wings' spread wide open, allowing the creature to fly through the air if it wanted to, but they looked atrocious. The wings were nothing more than veiny bundles of tentacles that looked almost stale and half dead with some kind of bluish, infected, oozing blood dripping off of them. They weren't made for flight, clearly, and must have actively injured the krakyrn whenever they were used for such a purpose. Lifting the entire rest of the mutant body with just a bunch of strained tentacles must have been a difficult task so that would explain why the creature supposedly rarely flew, according to the rumours, despite being capable, it must have hurt. This wasn't evolution, it was regression and Ares could faintly hear the squelching of these wings every time they moved even a single inch as the tentacles were effectively crushing one another due to being melded together by stretched flesh.
Then there was the bottom half of the creature which was just a bunch more tentacles that had been freed from the restraints that bound the top half together and just kind of dangled around and twitched every now and then when the vibrations in the air sensed prey. To summarise, a mouth like a spiked pit with ten crusty eyes resting on it and a tentacle mane for the head. A chalky white and gooey body that made the viewer want to puke. A top half that was nothing short of Lovecraftian devil spawn, like a dog regurgitated an octopus and bird at the same time resulting in these bruised and liquid-drenched wings. And finally a bottom half that was plain, comparatively, but still looked like a tumour growing out of the creature's stomach and branching off into alien lifeforms with a mind of their own that took the form of tentacles.
Absolutely detestable.
Ares felt like, in this moment, he truly understood what the destruction pillar existed for. He'd never quite felt this way about any living creature... Or anything at all really. Nothing had ever deserved death quite like this pitiful freak did. It was a deformed animal that needed to be put down, that was the politest manner in which Ares could describe this thing. Clearly, although interspecies breeding could occur if the cultivation bases were high enough, things like this should still happen in moderation lest nature come seeking vengeance on those who dared defy it. The story of this thing must have been pretty simple as krakens gave birth by swallowing their mating partner. A strong kraken must have abducted a wounded wyvern resting by the shore and drowned it, eaten it, and basically shat out this... Thing... Ares wouldn't be surprised if this monster's parent, the hungry kraken, had died giving birth to it because look at this damn thing! The kraken might have even died of shame! This was not a face even a mother could love, not even damn close!
Ares felt truly disturbed and his body was screaming at him to annihilate, disintegrate, and turn this monster into nothingness so it couldn't bother the living ever again. In some ways, this was to be expected. The destruction pillar did, in fact, exist to eradicate anomalous existences in a way so this thing giving Ares a feeling of rejection deep in his core was understandable. The krakyrn needed to go!... But he couldn't make that happen right now. If he could get up, then fending off the upper half of this creature, with its wings crushed against the walls and its tentacles struggling to fit in the building, was possible. It shouldn't have any reason to be here so it ought to leave pretty quickly if threatened to a meaningful degree. The real showdown with this thing could come at a more appropriate time so all Ares needed was for his pal Rox to strut his stuff and hold off the beast for a minute or so. After that, an onslaught of destruction magic would hopefully send this thing packing even if Ares had to damage the surroundings a bit. Ares' body might not be in an acceptable state to use annihilation enhancement but magic would 100% be in the cards especially after merging with the Converter and gaining a massive magical boost.
This wasn't exactly how Ares had planned out his experimentation process but to hell with boring methods! A live demonstration would suffice right now because he was in no position to be picky! Once this thing was repelled, then things could go back to normal. Ares could look around for the treasure and help the auction resume, he could analyse the Converter and what it was doing for him, and he could go home and use the comprehender. No big dumb amalgamation of ugliness personified was going to stop him from doing as he pleased!... Though he was still stuck on the floor like a starfish... This really couldn't have happened tomorrow or something? Actually, that was still a question Ares wanted answers to. This krakyrn being here was odd... Ares didn't believe the Firestarters had anything to do with this but something was afoot!
While Ares kept trying to figure out how and why the creature was here, Rox took a more proactive stance on the matter and was taking strides to getting rid of it. He ran forward, putting some distance between himself and Ares so that if he was struck at Ares wouldn't get indirectly involved as well, and drew a series of small shapes in the air with his finger. Small silver lines of physical pressure formed a mini mole while Rox rolled his shoulder and brought his thumb and index together in front of the small animal. With a quick flick, and an activation of Rox's unique art "Mining Echo", the mimic had finally successfully used the art he'd been meaning to test out for quite some time. He'd been trying to use an early version of this art back during the fight against Mako but he'd been interrupted when the Genesis fell on his head and squashed him like a bug.
As for the art, it was a variation of a regular Echo that that had been improved upon quite a bit in Rox's spare time while he floated through the seemingly never-ending space inside Ares' Primordial Blade. Eventually he learned how to mix in some physical pressure with his version of Echo to fully automate the creature he was flicking into his opponent's body which resulted in this art coming to completion. Unlike a regular ranged Echo, Mining Echo wouldn't form a blast of air at the target location and would act like a close range Echo, sinking inside the flesh of the victim and wreaking havoc by bouncing around like a spring-imbued rabbit. The pressure mole would swing its dainty pressure pickaxe at the victim and pierce its way inside them. From there, it hopped around as usual but packed considerably more penetrating power than a normal Echo, allowing it to dig holes through various important organs before finally serving its secondary purpose as a miniature pressure bomb and detonating. It was more powerful than a regular Echo, yes, but had some disadvantages competitively that somewhat curbed its overall quality.
First of all, the Echo became mostly a means of transport for the mole with this art so the Echo itself lacked power and wouldn't even do damage up close let alone from afar. Second, the mole was made of pressure and was therefore easier to remove from the body if the victim was quick in understanding the nature of the attack it was suffering from. It was also big, relative to a small packet of sound, and slow, making it easier to target compared to a more elusive normal Echo. Third and finally, piercing wasn't always necessarily better than smacking bluntly. Hitting bone and causing the damage to reverberate through it, potentially shattering multiple parts of the victim's skeleton, was a considerably better outcome than small, meaningless holes. Mining Echo was better against organs that it happened to hit but worse against everything else, flesh walls included. In summary, it was a higher risk higher reward Echo. If it wasn't stopped, and happened to hit all the right spots, it would do way more damage than a regular Echo but this also made it less consistent overall. It was also just completely lacking compared to Annihilation Echo but that was a pretty unfair comparison in the first place as every type of Echo was weaker than that.
Still, Mining Echo was clever in that the mole could do its darndest to avoid anything that sought to remove it on its own without external input from its summoner. Point in case, the mole that had just been flung across the room, and promptly buried itself into the krakyrn's chunky body, was still roaming around inside the creature at its leisure and going ballistic on its squishy and weak insides. The krakyrn was directing some water magic internally to flood the creature out but the massive size of its body was making its own life harder. The mole could flee down any of the extra paths available to it thanks to the abundance of tentacles that served him well by acting like hidey holes he could dip and dive into when things got dangerous in the main body. Mr Miner bounced through the krakyrn's body like a true menace and was perforating the inside of the creature like there was no tomorrow! Ares figured he might have to steal this art specifically for use against giant enemies as its effectiveness really had a spotlight shone on it against these types of foes in particular. Plus with his annihilation pressure mixed in the results would be glorious! Though Ares invented the original art, it seemed the master would finally be copying the disciple! Dominus had really opened the door to Rox to become a way better cultivator and he really did have a bright future ahead of him.
Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, however, and the mole was eventually cornered by the tidal wave of water hunting it down, resulting in the fella getting drowned in the metaphorical caves it was digging around in before it could strike it rich and deal any major damage to the beast. The krakyrn then directed its attention outwards, towards the mimic who was preparing to fire more Mining Echoes. This was the real killer part of this art, multiple could exist at once! This was somewhat true of regular Echoes as well but they disappeared eventually on their own. Mining Echoes just stuck around until they either blew themselves up, when the going got tough, or they were flushed out like what had just happened.
If Rox was able to keep firing these things off he would be able to keep the krakyrn at bay for more than long enough for Ares to stand up without even having to get his own hands dirty. Clever Rox! Regrettably that strategy was not going to work anymore because the krakyrn wasn't dumb enough to fall for it more than once. Though Rox had enough time to fire another Mining Echo, this one was swatted out of the air by a tentacle because the krakyrn refused to deal with that annoying magic again. It barely even mattered to it but the pain was annoying and, if left unchecked, would cause serious wounds eventually so getting distracted by the mole was an eventuality it would rather not have to solve at all. Paying attention to the Echo mid-flight was far less of a hassle than rummaging around internally to remove the damn thing so Rox's strategy ended early. Now he was going to have to fight this thing the hard way but, on the bright side, he now had an attack the krakyrn was going to obstinately never ignore! Rox could keep chucking moles in a bid to throw the krakyrn off its game whenever he needed a breather and that was an equally good use for them considering his goal was not to kill the creature but rather to stall.
A group of five tentacles shot out from within the water and hounded Rox constantly by chasing him around the room. They were quicker than him and caught up eventually but Rox was able to deflect them all one by one and send them crashing into the sturdy walls nearby. The tentacles didn't give up, though, as they were slippery bastards in a very literal sense. Rather than crumpling to the floor after hitting the walls, they sort of slid along them before pushing against away and bounding off them to recalibrate and orient themselves such that they could continue chasing the mimic. To make matters worse for Rox, not only did he still have to deal with these five heat-seeking tentacles, a load more were appearing from the hole the krakyrn had bust through and were all targeting him and him alone. He had no backup in this fight so upwards of twenty tentacles, and counting, were all lunging right towards him.
This wasn't even a fraction of the tentacles this creature had at its disposal but Rox was lucky the rest couldn't fit into the building right now or his life would be at risk. As for how he planned on dealing with the impending tentacle storm, he figured destroying them all at once was the best strategy so he slid under a row of chairs, took a sharp turn, and rounded up all the troublesome appendages like he was a sheepdog herding livestock. Ares was reminded of the time he thought the mecha dryad and grouped up the flowers for one big Grand Annihilation but what art did Rox know that could match that kind of output? Ares was expecting something that affected a wide area but he would be surprised and deeply impressed when Rox took a different route all together, opting for well aimed, surgical finesse rather than overwhelming brute force. Rox had run up to the dumbfounded guard, who was shaking in his boots and on the verge of running away while pissing himself, and stolen the spear that was in his hands and kicking the guy to safety. Had Rox not pushed the guard out of the way he would have been impaled by the rabid tentacles lashing out at everything they passed by as they drilled through the air.
Rox kicked off a wall to redirect his sprint without losing momentum and lined up all the tentacles, save for one, in a line. Rox seemed to be both a perfectionist and a show-off however, so that one missing tentacle that would stain his immaculate shot was not spared. Rox fired a quick Mining Echo in such a way that the one errant tentacle was the one forced to block it and, in doing so, jumped right into the path Rox wanted it to. Now all twenty tentacles were precisely where Rox wanted them so he raised his arm and threw the spear with all his might. "Big Game Hunter." This was a genius move that even Dominus respected. This art hadn't been used in a while but it was a powerful one when used under the right circumstances and this was the rightest circumstances there could ever possibly be. The spear flew through the air and made contact with the first tentacle at which point time slowed down and the monster was analysed in its entirety by a blue light. A quick glimpse at the sheer scope of the monster was given to everyone free of charge in the form of a sort of x-ray scan, revealing its bottom half below the floor. Put simply, it was GIGANTIC and maybe even nearly as big this entire supermarket.
Big Game Hunter dealt more damage based on how big the target was so its effectiveness here was going to be phenomenal. That wasn't the real reason Ares and Dominus were impressed, though, that would have to do with the fact that Rox had used the art 'incorrectly' on purpose. Small targets were not ideal for this art because, obviously, the damage would be pathetic at best... And yet the small tentacles he'd aimed at were attached to a very large body that they were particularly soft and fragile in comparison to. This art would normally be aimed at the creature's head or chest but that wasn't Rox's goal. He just wanted to deal with the tentacles so he used Big Game Hunter to scan the entire rest of the body so that he could do more damage to his actual target. Though the calculation for the art was based on the supermarket sized beast, Rox was aiming it all at the comparatively smaller tentacles that wouldn't stand a chance in the slightest against this level of overkill! Rox didn't really have any suitable arts for subduing this many targets at once so he improvised on the fly with an art he did know to get a similar effect. This took skill, ingenuity, patience, and a calmness under pressure that a lot of people didn't posses.
As a reward for outdoing himself, the spear Rox chucked sped right through every single tentacle the instant time went back to normal and left a trail of messy carnage in its wake. The tentacles writhed and flopped down onto the floor as they died slowly while turning pitch black. This wasn't the end of them, though, as the monster could regenerate them pretty effortlessly and so they'd be back soon enough. Not that it mattered, really, because the krakyrn had more than enough tentacles to replace them while they were healing so actually trying to sever all of this monsters limbs was a fruitless endeavour from the get go. As for the spear that was still blitzing through the air, it did hit the krakyrn's main body but bounced off harmlessly because the monster was far too tough for someone of Rox's level to ever realistically beat or even damage properly. Also the body was oily so the spear had little effect regardless. Beating the tentacles was one thing, and most cultivators could probably do that, but the monster itself? Rox was good but he was not able to beat this extremely rare creature as he was currently, that was a pipe dream. A monster like this necessitated a monster like Ares or multiple individuals who were slightly weaker than him. If Hans and Yulo were both here, for instance, they could take this thing down with co-ordinated efforts, Even Ares would take a while by himself and it would be better if had aid from others. This thing was just a real nuisance as its size made it incredibly bulky and resistant to damage. It could also sustain more damage overall before any wound was considered lethal and thus it was a problem that was never going to be swept away by Rox on his own. He was doing a miraculous job of holding back the tenacles so far, however, and deserved all kinds of food based rewards for this later!
Ares felt like he was about half-way recovered so all Rox had to do was keep it up a little longer but it seemed like his life was about to get exponentially harder. The krakyrn let out an ear-piercing screech now that it was starting to get mad at the ant before it constantly getting in its way and hampering its efforts to kill everyone. If it weren't for this awkward building it would have been able to go on a rampage freely and kill this puny mimic in a matter of seconds. Raging against the walls and the floor by banging into them wasn't working, though, so the krakyrn took a different approach instead and started resorting to fire breath attacks that were a specialty of its wyvern counter part. Rather than aim carefully, the krakyrn just free-fired it in every direction by throwing its head about seemingly randomly. If it hit the floor, broke part of it, and freed up more of its body, then that was a good result. If it hit the walls and began to make this annoying building crumble, that was a good result. If it hit the pesky enemies running around and being a pain in the neck, also a good result. There was no bad ending for the krakyrn in doing this so it spun its neck wildly, rotating the angle of the flames so that it encompassed everything as far as the eye could see.
The krakyrn was basically going berserk but Rox was unbothered by this. He'd been graciously humbled by Ares back when he'd done something similar to this himself and so he understood the weakness of such a frenzied method very well. Rox used a single Blink to position himself away from the initial assault of the fire and then carefully observed not the monster itself, to try and figure out where it was twisting its neck to, but rather the flame pattern. It was supposed to be random but living creatures had an instinctual drive and tendency of sorts to resort back to method. Though the krakyrn was trying to be random, such a thing was far more difficult than it gave an approach credit for and it was accidentally repeating a decipherable process the mimic could exploit. For starters, it rarely threw fire in the same place twice unless it had already done a full sweep of the room. Second, when it had done a full sweep, it would start its next round of flames in the opposite corner from before. Third, its head movements were typically 'S' shaped regardless of whether it was vertical or horizontal. With this in mind, avoiding the flame breath was child's play for Rox as he closed in on the flailing monster.
From having been the mindless creature to overcoming one, Rox's developmental journey had been a rather fast one but the improvement was clear for all to see... However, he'd made a mistake. Though he was nearing his target, and ready to lay a bit more hurt on with some more arts, he was forgetting his purpose. Much like Astraeus had done back during the international, Rox had accidentally forgotten about Ares... Rox had never been summoned to protect Ares before, he was always used as a decoy or a support with which to distract the opponent by consistently launching deadly attacks with its maw. Ares basically never needed guarding as he could fend for himself so Rox was usually free to do as he pleased. Right now he was weaving expertly between the fire and a new batch of tentacles, occasionally deflecting them as well as he narrowed in on his target. Rox was feeling pumped about it but, when he saw a group of five other tentacles ignore him and go start chasing the few remaining people in this building... It finally hit home that no matter how great he was doing against tthe krakyrn, it all meant nothing if his master died as that would still be a complete failure! Feeling the excitement of winning in a hard duel while overcoming the opponent was great and all but he needed to reign in that extra energy and not go wild with it. It was a buzz kill to stop here, certainly, but that was what being an expert meant. You weren't some pleasure-driven amateur who just did whatever you wanted to, you adhered to your goals strictly!
Unfortunately it was already way past that point and a tentacle was homing in on Ares' defenceless and volcano-grilled body. Sure the tentacle would burn to death after it touched the fire surrounding him, and the krakyrn might even suffer a little in response if it didn't sever its own appendage quickly, but the tentacle would last long enough to pierce a hole through Ares' head before turning to ashes. It couldn't be left to its own devices or Ares was going to be paying a visit to the void in soul form. As such, Rox immediately gave up on what he was doing and dashed backwards, re-treading the ground he'd made and undoing all his forward progress. Despite that, this felt right and like he was finally 'winning' the fight. That being said, the tentacles were faster than him from the very start so he wasn't going to make it at this rate and the few remaining people in this building were too busy defending themselves with treasures to lay a hand here. Rox was deeply concerned but not entirely despondent because he, or rather Ares, had one final trick up his sleeve that helped with getting around faster. This was something Rox had seen Ares do and now it was time to do it himself so he raised his palm, turned around mid sprint, and cast Echo on his own stomach to blast him through the building and go tumbling until he landed directly in front of Ares.
Rox's aim had been true and he'd just about come to a full stop right in front of his master but the tentacle had also just arrived and there was no time left to raise a block. He could have attempted to deflect it but he wasn't able to tilt his head up and take in the full scope of the attack so that was a pointless risk that almost definitely would have backfired horrendously. Instead, Rox simply took the attack like a champ and was run through in the right side of his chest. He staggered backwards a single step as the tentacle writhed around inside him but the worst was still yet to come as the krakyrn was craning its neck this way. It was giving up on the random flames now that its priority target was locked down and unable to move, preparing itself to burn Rox alive before it continued its assault on the building caging it. Though Rox was capable of severing the tentacle with Sharp, by imbuing his hand with the magic and slicing the tentacle into two halves, there was a problem... Ares was directly behind him. If he moved, Ares would die to the fire breath...
The flames were closing in rapidly but there was no way out without throwing away his master's life. He could have done it, he could have freed himself from pseudo summon status and roamed the world freely, unfettered by his current duties... But for some strange reason he really didn't want to. He had no obligation to protect this person behind him. There was no justifiable reason especially when considering how many times, in Training Fields, this master of his had essentially thrown him to his death. He wasn't contractually tied to Ares and yet... He still couldn't bring himself to do it. All the times he'd turned into cute animals, or even sometimes Appa, and been pet on the head by Ares came flooding into his brain. All the memories of being guided in training by Ares even though he had no real reason to do it. Rox was not an essential part of any of Ares' plans and yet he'd taken care of him ever since the tomb without ever directly mistreating him or acting like he was some kind of unruly and wild monster. He'd been treated like a companion and Ares was even actively looking for ways to help Rox live a proper life outside the Blade without having to be caged all the time. Then there was Dominus too and he wasn't much different, teaching him for no reason other than because he could. Rox had gained a second life in that tomb and been spared by what he viewed as good people. Weird in their own way, and definitely not normal, but fun to be around and kind when it really mattered. He wouldn't be here if it wasn't for their arbitrary mercy so, instead of running away, he turned to face Ares while blocking out the incoming fire and, for the first time since taking on a human form, managed a small but genuine smile.
Ares had only ever been willing to summon Rox in dangerous situations so long as he was in a Training Field where death meant nothing but that also meant he died often as a result... So it was almost to be expected that the first time Ares summoned Rox outside of a Field his life would vanish for good. That wasn't the point of why Ares had summoned him but that was the reality Rox was prepared to face even if his master was shedding a tear for him and trying to shake his head to convince the mimic to change its mind. That just made Rox all the more determined, though, as he never expected himself to be relevant enough to Ares that he would be ok with dying, and going through the resurrection process, solely for him. That was a nice feeling. Rox had never had a family before. Maybe he'd only realised it just now but it was better late than never that he understood this family was where he truly belonged. It was a shame he wouldn't get to see much more of it, and how it expanded in the future, but he still kept up that small smile as just imagining it was satisfying enough. He wasn't in the picture. He was nothing more than the small burnt edge of the photograph, and the fires were enveloping him right this very moment to make it so, but that was enough to make him happy as he'd left a mark that proved he was lucky enough to have ever even been there. Though it was faint, and took a great deal of effort to even say with nothing more than a hoarse voice, Rox managed to finally speak for once and struggled to mutter one final word as the fire closed in around him.
"Good...Bye."