Sigh
Oh yeah, definitely doing that again. Maybe with aphrodisiac instead of poison though... Or maybe not... Though Sandy could barely move her head, she nodded contentedly to herself as best she could and nearly dozed off in peace then and there now that all was said and done. She wasn't right as rain but the pain was starting to fade and she was more exhausted than anything although, arguably, she was at least partially to blame for that given the previous five minutes. All in all, she would consider herself satisfied and fumbling earlier during the fight, embarrassing though it was to lose in such a fashion, ended up being worth it. She had been hankering to test out her new physical strength, as she'd yet to go all out with the fine grind and see what it could do, but she was swatted away by a burst of wind in the end and that was disappointing. Now she just felt like a fool but, ultimately, everything that just happened was perhaps the best possible outcome. Being a damsel in distress occasionally had its perks! Though getting beaten by the brood mother in such a silly fashion had left a serious stain on her overall record...
Sandy vowed to make up for that abject failure at some point but that compensation could happen in the future because right now she wanted to close her eyes, nod off until tomorrow, and then wake up to some delicious food straight from Ares' kitchen!... Ares! Sandy had gotten so lost in her heavenly afterglow and subsequent thoughts that she entirely forgot about Ares! She tilted her head down and saw the atrocious state he was in and felt incredibly guilty because she was having the time of her life while he was quite literally losing his!.... Whoops. She'd make it up to him with a handy or a BJ at some point; he wasn't the only one around here that could suck things! Although he really wasn't in any condition to be toyed with right now so she vowed to do it later. Sandy kept herself wide awake to check on him but he seemed mostly fine. The poison was pretty devastating but he'd managed to only take enough in to put him on the brink of his finite innate tolerance. Any more and he would be in truly dire straights but as is he would just need a long time to recover... At least that was what Sandy believed but she'd forgotten about something important, something that was about to strike hard and fast.
Dazed though he was, Ares leant forward off the couch behind his back and weakly stood to his feet to stumble away from Sandy. He didn't know what exactly a war aura backlash entailed but getting and keeping some distance was probably for the best just in case there was splash zone or it wasn't a strictly internal punishment. The backlash would restrain itself so as not to attack anyone else but precautionary measures were still best taken regardless to prevent accidents. Ares fumbled his way to the centre of the Elliot and hunched over as if he were about to throw up but something entirely different happened. A metal spike appeared out of thin air and impaled Ares in the back, wedging itself next to his spine and sitting there comfortably like it was in this for the long haul. This on its own was relatively fine, Ares wasn't in agony or anything even though it definitely hurt, but it was about to get a whole lot worse. One spike soon became two spikes, two spikes soon became three spikes, and three eventually became ten. Metal spike after spike kept manifesting out of nowhere and impaling Ares in key spots targeting organs and joints until he became an immobile porcupine locked in position. He had spikes running through cracked bones, his heart was partially stabbed, his lung was pierced, his stomach was leaking gastric fluid all over the floor as it dropped off the spike enabling this to even happen, and his shoulder blades were battered which forced Ares to remain constantly hunched over as he could no longer lift his arms if he even wanted to.
The pain was intense and Ares was wondering how much worse things were going to get before it ended... As if to mock his assumption that things would remain this simple, another spike shot through him but this one was slightly different in that it appeared from underneath him and thrust upwards. It appeared from under the Elliot, seemingly, and broken through the treasure to puncture Ares' chest and lift him into the air, turning him into some kind of artistic spectacle of metal purgatory. More spikes were inbound too as some cracked his cranium, tickled his brain, broke his knees, and shattered his pelvis. By the time the spikes were done showing up Ares had been impaled in just about every single conceivable region and become a giant ball of spikes hanging in the air and weakly groaning as blood trickled out of him. He took back his earlier claim of being relatively unhurt by this as he was now in excruciating pain and feeling terrible, unable to escape this fate or even budge a single inch without making his world spin.
The worst part of all this was that he was going to stay like this for at least an entire day straight and maybe even longer. He could tell that this was merely the start of the punishment and the real trick here was the gradual blood loss and the unique ability of the spikes to constantly refresh the pain he was feeling. Though Ares had been through considerably worse bursts of pain before this was going to be constant for a very long period of time and test his mental resilience over a lengthy duration. With the blood loss and poison eating away at him he would be broken and exhausted by the time this punishment was over and he was dropped back to the floor. Though the war aura backlash wasn't going to kill anyone else it every well might just kill Ares if he couldn't tough it out. This backlash had been measured and calculated perfectly to put Ares on the brink of death by the time he was freed, even going so far as to factor in his current poisoning. Ares would never have come closer to death than he was about to when he was finally let down from these spikes and even a single moment of weakness in the next twenty four hours would probably doom him to failure. He needed to remain tough and alert, wilful and sturdy. This was a taxing trial, undeniably harder than a lot of other things Ares had been put through, and it had barely even been five minutes.
Ares could also feel his cultivation base slipping and he understood that he was probably going to have to sacrifice a stage of cultivation to this backlash whether he wanted to or not. When cultivators suffered backlashes, of any variety and not just strictly aura related, it was entirely possible for their cultivation to fall depending on the severity of the incident and Ares wasn't able to escape this fate either, fundamental champion or not. He was going to be pushed back down to the sixth stage at some point during this backlash, he didn't doubt it for a second. Thankfully he was close enough to the eighth stage now that when he sunk down a stage he could climb back up almost immediately but it was still a colossal waste of his time. The sooner he reached bloodline awakening the better and now, of all times, he was being delayed... That damnable brood mother was going to be worked to the bone for this transgression! If it had just not been needlessly stubborn from the start Ares wouldn't have had to go through any of this crap! It would get its comeuppance in due time.
Sandy was pretty shocked at this turn of events because she had no idea aura backlashes could get this ruthless. Losing a stage of cultivation and getting a day long impalement across the whole body, placing the victim on the edge of death and keeping them there, seemed like a lot just because Ares was too powerful for his opponent. Plus backlashes only got wore the stronger a cultivator was so for this to be considered 'tame' in the grand scheme of things made her glad she didn't have an aura herself. She might get one someday but if this was the price for messing up even slightly, and at such a low cultivation base compared to experts in higher domains, she wasn't sure she even wanted one! It was a good thing Aejaz couldn't see this right now. He was reluctant to interface with a weaponised core because of the risks associated with them but this was way worse!
Sandy shook her head and lay back down on the couch. She was tired and could do nothing for Ares no matter how much she wanted to. She considered walking over and trying to help but the second she moved even an inch towards him with such an intention she felt the prickling stare of thousands of invisible metal spikes, all of which had her name on it. Intervention would not be tolerated and even a God would get turned into a shish kebab if they dared tread without permission. Though Sandy wanted to help Ares if she could, and ease some of his burden by feeding him healing pills, it wasn't in the cards so she lay down and started going to sleep. There was no point staying up all night and just watching him go through his ordeal so she focused on her own recovery instead as that was something she could actually control. The sooner she could get back into tip top shape the sooner she could go out and do something with all this spare time. Hunting some western monsters, as with the brood mother gone there were none left that could really stop Sandy, just to take them off the list and make headway with that task was better than idling around and doing nothing all the time. It would be a good way to vent and let off steam for the humiliation she suffered at the hands of the brood mother. She hadn't even been overpowered or anything, she was bested by a sound wave that inflicted no damage to her whatsoever. Ares had injured her flesh more with the Prowler, to make incisions, than the sound wave did! She could take an infinite number of those wind blasts and never feel a thing but it had spelled her defeat soundly nonetheless and she really didn't appreciate it. Sandy couldn't help but dwell on this matter as she fell asleep because it was going to bug her for a log while. The humiliation by itself was whatever but it happening in front of Ares after she talked big about her fine grind earlier the very same day was depressing.
As for Ares, he too decided to go to sleep... While he still could. There would no doubt come a point wherein the pain and mental exhaustion was too much to even do that so he wisely closed his eyes and took whatever rest he could get before the trial got out of hand. Even an hour or two of sleep would help keep his mind fresher for just a bit longer so it was worth it! Really, his biggest regret currently was that he would be unable to cook food tomorrow... Sandy wouldn't have anything to eat and they were both going to be quite hungry after everything they'd been through. The poisons had damaged their stomachs too and Ares could already feel his rumbling somewhat... A warm soup with some medicinal properties would go down a treat but it just wasn't' going to be possible to make it in this state. Ares decided that, after he was let down, he'd rest for a while and then make a small celebratory banquet to get his and Sandy's energy levels back in order. He would feast alongside Sandy and have a sort of mock dinner date in peace, relishing having overcome most of Xascans problematic issues. After that it would be scavenger-base raid time and surely from then on things would be simple? It was just the Riddlemyd left afterwards and hopefully things wouldn't be too complicated? Maybe? Possibly? Ah who was Ares kidding, he was a trouble magnet through and through and he knew that well enough not to be disillusioned with his chances of a peaceful end to his Xascan journey... Ares smirked at his own poor luck and inwardly chided himself for being hopeful as he drifted out of consciousness for the night.
Ares wasn't sure how long he was out for but Sandy wasn't awake yet when next he awoke so it couldn't have been for too long. He was woken up by the uncomfortable weight of his limp body sliding an inch or so down the metal spike and that was going to be a real headache from now on as it seemed like it was going to keep happening. His body was entirely numb to everything except the pain so whenever he closed his eyes he felt like he was in a torturous void, floating through misery incarnate and suffering without an end in sight. He still had upwards of another twenty or so hours of this at minimum and he was already dreading it but what could he do really? Other than make a mental note to avoid this backlash like the plague, if he could, going forward he was forced to just sit here and take this punishment for his negligence like a champ. Though Ares had room to pressurise treasures during this 'spare time' he figured he would need to be in as perfect a condition as he possible could be for the later stretch so he refrained and just sort of sat around staring at the wall in front of him until Sandy woke up however many hours later. Before that happened, though, Ares did eventually lose a stage of cultivation as was predicted and now he sat back at the sixth stage of sensory enhancement. He felt like something was missing, as though part of his soul had been robbed and a large portion of his overall energy was just siphoned clean out of his body never to return. It wasn't painful but it was definitely one of the most uncomfortable sensations Ares had ever felt.
As for Sandy, she seemed to be doing a lot better after resting for a while, and her voice was coming back relatively quickly alongside the rest of her strength, so Ares spent a good chunk of time chatting with her about menial topics to distract himself from his worsening condition. Though he wanted to talk to her about Enyo and Bellona, because he felt like the trio would hit off well enough, he felt it would be funnier for him specifically if he kept Enyo's personality a secret and just let their meeting play out naturally. Other than that, Ares went over his own past for a bit as he figured he might as well. Sandy had asked and he had no qualms with sharing just as she had hers that one time. Interestingly, Ares mentioned something he hadn't really discussed before but only because he thought it was mostly pointless and had forgotten about it.
Ares wasn't the only Chen clan slave and he did occasionally talk to a few others. There was a competitive environment for sure but, for a short while, there had a few other individuals that Ares got along with to some degree. The reason he didn't bring this up pretty much ever, though, was because his memories of them were pretty sparse. They'd been taken away from the clan for one reason or another early on and he never saw or heard about them again. They were either taken to branch clans of the Chens, sold off to other families for labour, or made attempts to flee with Ares not ever finding out the result. He just assumed they were long gone and doing their own thing but he could somewhat recall their various personalities and habits. One was chipper and adventurous, always smiling and raring to go. She'd been too pure for her environment and far too happy give the circumstances but her general disposition brightened up a lot of people's days and helped some of the more timid people get through their chores. Ares remembered that his 'childhood friend', if such an assessment could even be correct given how little time he knew her for, was bought by a passing cultivator. The cultivator was an elder for a clan somewhere in Central Land, but outside Red Sun, and they saw potential in her as a good trainee and disciple so there was a pretty good chance she as doing alright for herself. She'd been hesitant to leave everyone else behind but, as thanks for uplifting everyone's spirits over the years, she was seen off with smiles all around. That was probably the most pleasant of all the partings, though, as the mood shifted once she was gone.
The next person who attempted to leave did so because Chen Prem had been eyeing him up for quite some time. Nobody knew what became of this escapee but he was never heard from again so he either failed, and met a terrible fate at the hands of Prem, or made it out and never looked back while lying low. Naturally everyone prayed for his success but not hearing anything about him for multiple years on end wasn't a good sign as he promised to return if he was able to. He was a rude but loyal person. There was still a chance he was either busy, or felt too weak to make a difference, so his well being was sort of in limbo. Schrodinger's slave, basically. Alive or dead nobody knew the answer. He'd been a pretty tough individual from the get go, though, so more people than not held out hope his inherent nature to struggle in the face of adversity got him through whatever ordeals he'd experienced. He was the kind of person who had a resolve unmatched by just about anyone else and once he set his mind to something he would accomplish it without fail using whatever methods he had at his disposal. He wasn't the strongest guy ever but he was clever and resourceful, shrewd and intelligent, and a real headache for Ares because he would constantly jokingly degrade him for being an idiot. He wasn't wrong but Ares wasn't willing to let such comments slide and gave him more than a few beatings back then while he was still around. He was uncompromising with his insults and never held his tongue so he also got beat by the indignant Chens a lot who couldn't tame his despicable nature. Honestly, he kinda deserved the beatings. Having a venomous potty mouth like that at his age and not even being a revenant either was quite impressive.
The third person out was a quiet girl who seemed to be perpetually unimpressed by just about anything and everything. She had the bearing of an excellent butler so was taken away by a for-hire branch of the Chen clan that specialised in raising servants for the main house. Now that the main branch of the Chens were dead and gone, however, God only knows what they were up to and did with their staff. There wasn't a great or a terrible relation between the for-hire branch and the main lot so they wouldn't look for vengeance or anything, they'd probably just start selling their services to another wealthy or large clan / sect or maybe even let their staff go if keeping hold of them was financially unviable. As for the girl who was handed off to them, she'd probably gone through her training and was now a strict butler bossing around subordinates and keeping them in line, overseeing their shoddy work and correcting every minor mistake. She was always the type to make sure things were running smoothly back in the Chen clan. Anyone who overslept got a whack to the head and those who were lazy in cleaning themselves were beaten back into the bathing area. She was quiet but that didn't mean she was timid, far from it. Ares himself had been given slack by this girl numerous times because he liked to take his workload slow and drag it out. He was avoiding Prem who frequently lurked back in his living quarters, though, so he just accepted it whenever this usually reserved girl talked his ear off to no end without ever changing his ways. When the girl left, she specifically told him to get his act together which gave him a good laugh. She was stubborn but meant well and only encouraged others to be tidy and forthright for their own good. She was like Enyo in that she was firm in her beliefs, it's just that she cared less about 'justice' and more so the concepts of cleanliness, efficiency, and self-management. She didn't speak often but, when she did, it was almost always a reprimand. In hindsight, it seemed like she had a soft spot for Ares. That or he was so insufferable to be around she couldn't help but pester him on sight. It was really one or the other and it was hard to tell without seeing her again.
Last but not least, of the group Ares had the most run ins with back then, so much so these five together even had a nickname, was a combative guy who was always ready to throw hands. He was a bit of a wild child and constantly looked for any and every opportunity to dye his hair a bright red. No matter how many times the Chens punished him for it, and tried to remove any potential dyes from his general area, he always somehow found more and grinned about it right to their faces. Crushed tomatoes, red paint, mouldy pills in the trash. He was oddly stubborn about his hair colour because he believed it demonstrated perfectly his wild side and he kept saying it 'felt right'. He was a passionately quirky person but decently friendly if you got to know him... Although that did necessitate a fight more often than not. He developed a kind of respect towards Ares because he was the one person he could never beat. The red head kid was physically powerful but his swings were slow and easy to dodge. Ares was the perfect counter to everything he tried to be but Ares reckoned he would become a pretty monstrous guy when he grew up. The one time the red haired kid managed to steal a broad blade from one of the Chen's expert's stash he was surprisingly able to wield the heavy thing despite his young age. He was caught in the end but, before he could be punished, he was abducted by some senile old man who kept rambling on about a legacy of some sort. It seemed like the red haired kid had a bloodline that sparked interest in this passing-by transition realm expert and so he was stolen away to go live a great life. He was almost definitely fed countless resources and given myriad treasures while being extensively trained by some ancient fogey with experience incalculable. This kid got off the best of everyone but that didn't mean he was living an easy life, necessarily. Awakening his bloodline and inheriting a legacy would require a lot of harsh training and the fact that he'd never returned meant he was probably still locked away in seclusion until he assimilated with the legacy treasures properly. No doubt he'd come barreling back to Red Sun as soon as he possibly could afterwards though; he would never tolerate the Chens living in the same world as him if he could do anything about it. When he finally came out of seclusion, however, he'd learn about how they were destroyed by Ares and might feel like his efforts were wasted somewhat...
All in all, Ares had a few fond memories of each of these individuals but he had no idea where any of them where. He did briefly consider looking for them but he had no idea where to start and gave up on that idea as it was actually easier for them to come to him. He didn't know where his chipper childhood friend was taken, as there were many sects throughout Central Land she could have wound up in, he didn't know if the determined and hardy smartass was even alive let alone on this continent, he didn't know where the for-hire branch clan that took the butler-esque girl went or who they worked for now, and he wasn't aware of which legacy was entrusted to the red hair kid so he couldn't hunt down any hints or clues. Maybe if Ares stayed in Sheryashka for another few years would he be able to conduct a domain-wide search for them but, honestly, it was all in the past and he was fine with letting them live their own lives. He'd made a monumental name for himself recently, and his reputation had literally spread worldwide by this point, so if any one of them wanted to look for a safe harbour to come and reside in then Red Sun was always open to them. Even if they just wanted to visit it was perfectly fine. Learning that the Chen clan was long gone meant they were all more than capable of returning without running into enemies on the streets and being hounded constantly. Maybe one or two of them might even show up before Ares left for Vraizon but, then again, maybe not. It would be nice, though, if the frantic five could get back together once more for old time's sake...