By the end of day one of Ares' training he'd reached 40% of his total enhancement potential. His major success of the day was managing to whack Veteran's knee caps with his trusty pipe. Veteran's face soured in response and Ares considered that a win. He might not have permanently damaged Veteran but he did hurt him and that was as good a place to start as any. Now, Veteran may or may not have stolen the pipe, broken Ares' legs with it, and beaten him to death on the floor, but a win was still a win no matter what misfortunes came after!

Another entire day passed and Ares' earlier prediction had come true, he was now a 'threat' to Veteran. Not a major one, not even close, but he was capable of doing lasting damage against the guy if he got a clean hit in. The first time this happened was when Ares hid behind a corner and charged up his strongest punch yet, knocking a tooth out of Veteran who swung around the corner with reckless abandon. Veteran could no longer dismiss stray hits and take them like a champ, he had to be cautious around Ares. As the second day progressed, so too did Ares' competency with enhancement. In fact, by the end of it, Ares could wield 62% of his total pressure, more than half, and Veteran was looking a little antsy about it. Ares smirked at the guy and goaded him. "For your sake, I would suggest you stop moping around. The second I'm capable of beating you, you're in for a world of hurt as payback for all the shit you've been doing to me. So get up off your sorry ass and let's get back to fisticuffs!"

Veteran grumbled under his breath but, no matter how much he complained, he knew Ares was telling the truth. Veteran had maybe gotten a tad carried away here and there, beating Ares up for the fun of it on occasion before finally ending him. Revenants just made for really good pinatas, ok? Especially the annoying ones... And if Ares didn't fall into that category then who would?! Veteran was really starting to wish the whole 'overseers feel no pain' thing also applied to him. unfortunately, feeling no pain would be a pretty major advantage in a fight to the death so he was the one overseer without that benefit to his name. It seemed Ares was going to get a kick out of exploiting that as soon as he was able but, if that was the case, then Veteran would damn well do the same while he still could! It was a strange cycle in that Ares was going to abuse Veteran in the future, because Veteran was abusing him now, because Ares was going to abuse Veteran in the future. They were arguably just making the cycle of violence worse via their pseudo cold war. Pseudo because the violence they were inflicting was very real but cold war because the meta mind games were underway... If they could even really be called 'mind games'. When it came right down to it, this was just two guys beating each other up and then beating each other up some more for having beaten them up in the first place. This was cavemen level 'mind games' but men were simple creatures in this way so solving their dispute in such a manner was preferable to them.

Ares started the fight off with an Esoteric Compression to flatten a wide area in front of him, hitting Veteran square on. The weight of the art crushed the floor beneath Veteran and made him fall down through the newly opened hole onto the floor below. Ares, having intentionally manufactured this scenario, utilised this new height advantage to launch a dive kick from above and come hurtling down onto Veteran's raised arm. The momentum gave Ares enough force to blow back Veteran's guard and, after landing, run up to him to keep applying pressure. His quick aggression off the start, combined with the clever use of the structurally weak environment, paved the way for him to take an early lead in the fight. He swung with his right fist, aiming for Veteran's face and forcing a block, while his left fingers clicked to fire off a ranged Annihilation Echo at Veteran's stomach.

Veteran could only block a single one of the two attacks but he correctly identified the punch as the more dangerous of the two and stopped that attack in its tracks. He then masterfully deflected the Echo, using his chest, right back at Ares while retaliating with his own swing to completely reverse the situation. Ares had two arms to defend himself, from the swing and his own Annihilation Echo, but he was unwillingly forced to hand over the advantage he had previously. All his planning had gone out the window because Veteran's response had been quick and intelligent. Still, this was how fights between two high level combatants were supposed to go. Back and forth, back and forth. Any gaps in an offensive would lead to a counter offensive, and any holes in a defence would lead to pain and misery. It was a delicate balance with many complex decisions being made behind the scenes, almost like a game of chess. 'If you do this, I'll do that, then you'll do that, and I'll do this!' And the more competent the players, the more unique and inventive variations you would see from moment to moment; that was the essence of what Dominus had taught Sadie a while back. Ares didn't need to be taught this, though, as he had an array of Dominus' knowledge to begin with. This was just his natural state so he was more than capable of keeping up with even a legend like Veteran provided his physical attributes weren't lacking. Right now, as Ares was, he was slightly on the weaker side compared to his opponent but not so much so that he couldn't make up for it if he was smart in his approach. The entire sequence of events at the start of this match had proven that already.

After Ares blocked the simultaneous attack, Veteran distracted Ares with a close range pressure bullet while stomping his foot down on top of Ares'. Ares deflected the bullet with his shoulder before swinging his head against Veteran's with an Annihilation Echo ready blow off his skull if he took the attack face first. Veteran was forced to take a step back because Ares' Annihilation Echoes were extremely dangerous but that didn't mean Veteran committed to a full retreat. Instead, he coated his fist in physical pressure, in addition to his enhancement, and went toe to toe with Ares' headbutt.

BANG

Blood splattered out of Ares' nose as he tripped backward onto his rear while Veteran was slammed against a wall with a broken hand. The wall broke apart and Veteran tumbled through it to the other side while Ares wiped the blood out of his eyes and mouth and dizzily stood right back up so he could continue the fight. He suffered a fair bit of damage, and had an awful concussion, but Veteran's hand was out of commission! This was a huge win for Ares as it put Veteran in a terrible spot. He may still be able to forcibly use his hand but its effectiveness would have drastically decreased and Ares was planning on making full use of that.

Ares disregarded his own injuries and jumped through the hole in the wall to give chase. Veteran saw this and left the hallway to go straight to the staircase where he felt comfortable he could create an opening using the environment. He'd parkoured around this building for thousands of years at this point, he knew every single step in that staircase like the back of his hand. All the railings, windows, ledges, etc... He may not have had his hand operating at full force but he didn't really need it here. He could leap around and use height to add power to his kicks, making him lethal in a way that wasn't reliant on his now-busted hand. Of course he could have whipped out the silver cape but that wasn't necessary just yet. If things went south here then he would have no choice but to rely on it but he wanted to believe he could still pull this fight back. It was his inner pride that didn't want to bow out and take the cheap path to victory just yet. Pulling out the cape was admitting that he needed an overwhelming strength advantage to keep up with Ares and he didn't want to admit it just yet.

Ares ran through the doorway to the staircase and was immediately met head on with Veteran's boot inches away from his skull. He'd seen this coming, however, and had taken cautionary measures in advance by tying his Zephyr to a pipe outside the room. Before Veteran's foot could crack Ares' skull the Zephyr pulled him backward to safety where he grabbed said pipe, coated it in pressure, and chucked it like a dart at Veteran's foot that was now buried in the ground and unable to dodge. Although Veteran had enough time deflect the pipe, Ares had slid after it and kicked out with his own foot, aiming at Veteran's ankle with a strike that couldn't be deflected, dodged, or blocked. Ares was too familiar with Veteran's constant reliance on deflects to not be prepared with a counter measure, he'd timed his attack to land perfectly right before Veteran could recover from his own failed dive kick, and Veteran's hand was still too damaged to guard. Long story short, if Veteran didn't whip out the cape here his ankle, and more importantly his foot, would become useless in addition to his hand. He was slowly being stripped of his body parts by an opportunistic Ares and he couldn't let this continue any longer.

As Ares drew closer to Veteran with his slide he grit his teeth harder and harder for he knew that the cape was going to be deployed here. When it was, the pushback would send Ares flying and he needed to be prepared for the shockwave. He needed to block it, he needed to ride the wave rather than fight it, and he needed to land safely while keeping an eye out for Veteran's next move that came after. The slide kick was never supposed to work in the first place, he was just trying to force out the cape in a situation that allowed Ares to not be in a disadvantageous state immediately after. If Ares was on the backfoot when the cape came out it would be devastating. Yes he was sacrificing his advantage and returning to a neutral state but Veteran's final weapon was being forced out into the open for little gain. It was an incredibly safe way of navigating the fight but Ares wasn't desperate enough anymore to make wild, last ditch efforts. He opted to take the fight slow and draw out all of Veteran's cards one by one for future reference. The more he could witness now the less Veteran would have up his sleeve to take Ares by surprise with on later attempts, giving him higher odds of success.

Whoosh

Ares heard the sound of Veteran kissing his teeth before his entire field vision became silver. It was as though he was swimming in liquid mercury but Ares' one solace here was that he was stronger than the last time this happened and could keep himself safe. He was blown back, down the hallway and even back into the starting room, until he eventually landed with a skid. He was safe and sound, yes, but now came the hard part. Ares angled his head and stared down the hallway but couldn't see Veteran anymore... His eyes widened when he felt a shocking amount of pressure coalescing directly above his head so he raised his palm, coated it in as much enhancement as he could, and struck himself in the chest. The hit sent him flying back out into the hall once again just in time to avoid the orbital strike of pressure that ripped a hole into the building where he'd just been standing. The moonlight crept in through the countless floors that had been pierced and Ares could see Veteran hovering ominously up in the night sky. A few small stars dotted the scenery but Ares didn't have time to appreciate them as Veteran was descending back into the building. When he landed, he raised his battered hand as it spasmed back into its normal shape with a few cracking noises... Now this guy was just showing off! Having such incredible pressure control he could use it to heal himself was not normal in the slightest. In fact, he was literally the only person in the world even capable of doing it. Even Dominus had failed to achieve this level of mastery, and he was easily a top 10 pressure wielder, so what chance did anyone else have? Maybe even Ares wouldn't be able to replicate it because it seemed like a wholly unique technique that belonged to Veteran specifically. Not that Ares needed it anyway, his revenant regeneration would be capable of so much more than this in due time. If Ares' cultivation was equivalent to real-world Veteran', he could have his head be popped like a balloon and still walk around without a care in the world. It wouldn't even take more than a few seconds to come back. This was one of the major reasons revenants were despised so Ares wasn't jealous of Veteran's ability in the slightest as it was actually inferior to his own latent talents.

Killing a revenant was an unenviable task for a multitude of reasons and there were some pretty ridiculous examples through history that really drove that home. For instance, there was once a revenant noble who was made aware of an assassin in his home. The guy cut himself into a hundred pieces and hid them throughout his room, making it impossible for the assassin to find enough parts of the noble to kill him for good. The entire night came and went and the assassin was forced to leave when the guards showed up. Organs jumped out of cupboards, eyes rolled out from under the bed, and the noble reformed himself with nary a scratch, regenerating the few pieces of him the assassin had managed to actually find. It was to the point that most assassins refused, on-sight, any contract that involved going anywhere near a revenant unless the pay was exorbitant.

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If you wanted a revenant dead, you were out of luck. Your best bet was to capture them, tie them up, and just torture them eternally instead. Sealing them was also another option but, if the revenant wasn't bound, they could just kill themself inside the seal and be reborn somewhere else. They were all slippery bastards that was for sure. Even capturing them wasn't guaranteed to work if you were careless as they could bite off their arms, free themself from their chains, and then regenerate their body before escaping. One revenant guy even threw his head out a window and abandoned his body, created a new one outside, and took off under the cover of night. 90% of the reasons revenants were 'insufferable' wasn't even because of their personalities, although God knows that didn't help either, but because keeping them in check was like trying to round up 100 oily pigs with your bare hands. The cherry on top was that they would frequently laugh at you too while it was happening. In the case of the noble, the poor assassin was subjected to ridicule from the noble's mouth for an hour straight until he eventually found it hiding underneath the floorboards and destroyed it. This was why their race was part of the racial triad at the peak of cultivation society consisting of Gods, dragons, and revenants. Even the other two races couldn't match the immortality of these dumb mutts and that was incredibly irksome. Most of the revenant rumours had started thanks to the anti-magic God having an embarrassing run-in with one... This God was truly responsible for a lot of garbage in this world and it was really surprising nobody had taught him a lesson yet. Then again, the revenants were undeterred by the rumours and really didn't care in the slightest. Actually, they thought it was hilarious and went around exacerbating the issue by jokingly acting like power hungry warlords. Society unfortunately did the one thing it shouldn't do and took these dumbasses seriously hence the current status quo. No matter how much they were detested though, it remained true that their immortality outshone even phoenixes. Love 'em or hate 'em, their race was absolutely phenomenal to be a part of if you were lucky enough.

Now that Veteran had healed himself the fight was basically restarting from scratch. All of Ares' efforts thus far were undone in a matter of seconds and he was now severely outclassed once again. Still, if Veteran hadn't done this then Ares would have been winning hard by this point so that was reassuring for him. It was actually possible for Ares to beat Veteran provided he didn't whip out the cape! Still, the hard truth that lay before Ares was that the cape existed and was going to impede him in every fight going forward from now on.

Before Ares could even react he'd been blasted through a wall and out into the streets which was reminiscent of his first fight the way he was unable to respond to Veteran's assault. That was just the sheer power Veteran wielded in this state and there was nothing Ares, currently, could do about it. Ares didn't lose heart though, he wasn't going to give up just because of this!

"Hunker!"

It had been a while since Ares activated a rune on his Zephyr but now was as good a time as ever. This thing had countless tools and Ares hadn't been using them as of late because he just didn't have nay reason to. Here he saw an opportunity as Hunker formed a dome around him with the Zephyr that reduced damage he took from all directions. Back against the mecha-dryad he used it to prevent getting cut into pieces by the oleander flowers. He didn't want to lose blood in that situation and something similar was happening here. Veteran's strikes were now packing enough raw power to break his bones, plus Ares couldn't react in time to them anymore. If Veteran's speed meant his attacks were guaranteed to land then forcing them to land on the Zephyr instead, even though it would still transmit some of the damage to Ares, meant his organs and bones would remain safe. Hunker was good for blocking attacks that would have additional affects other than raw damage such as poison infliction, creating wounds, breaking body parts, or applying some kind of magic. The Zephyr would soak it all up. It also worked wonders in situations where Ares didn't know which direction an attack would strike him from, like now when Veteran was too fast to block against properly. Sure he was basically inviting Veteran to hit him but at least he could attempt to fight back immediately after without suffering any troublesome injuries. In fact, his plan didn't even end there but, if Veteran wanted to see the other half, he was going to have to attack Ares first.

And sure enough, Veteran wasted no time in doing so. If he were truly paranoid he could unleash another massive pressure attack, like before, from range but he was feeling confident again now that he'd donned the silver cape and acting in such a cowardly manner was disgraceful. He was supposed to be training Ares, not just launching pillars of pressure at Ares from the sky. Now when Ares got stronger and could deal with it, all bets were off and he would use every trick up his sleeve. As that was not yet the case, Veteran dashed forward quicker than was trackable by an average human and launched a giant punch at Ares defensive dome.

CLANG

Veteran's fist sunk into the dome and he could feel the reverberation of his attack travel through to Ares even if he couldn't directly see it happening. There was one thing he knew for sure and it was that last attack was definitely felt by Ares.

After the strike, Ares rose up out of the Zephyr as it coiled back around him but something was a little different. Ares had used the Zephyr's Blackout rune, the same one he used to fool the Alchemy Organisation back during the tournament in which Allie and Tuck competed. His face and body were both covered by a glitchy black fuzz and he became a sort of black, techno shadow of a human with the Zephyr acting as a cloak. This was a good rune for keeping his identity hidden but why he'd used it here Veteran didn't know... Ares ran straight at Veteran and pulled out a strange, black and gold sheathed katana with a red jewel on the sword's grip... One that Veteran was almost certain he recalled seeing somewhere once before. He dwelled on it for a split second before recalling exactly what that thing was and he panicked immediately because that thing, if his memory wasn't completely wrong, was the Primordial Blade! This kid had it?! Ares using Blackout was weird enough as is but going for an attack this pointless with a weapon that dangerous... What on earth was he up to?! If the sword hit Veteran, even without being unsheathed, it would absolutely kill him... But there was no way Veteran would ever allow it. Yes Ares' Hunker strategy allowed him to get an attack off immediately after Veteran struck the Zephyr but it wouldn't be so fast that Veteran couldn't dodge it. Ares' approach completely baffled Veteran and, what made it even worse, was that the sword swing was atrociously bad; like Ares was intentionally leaving some kind of gap on purpose. The more time Veteran spent thinking about everything he was witnessing the less he understood so, without bogging himself down in this nonsense, he just decided to dodge the sword and counter attack. He could ask Ares what he was trying to pull off after he'd beaten him half to death. Also... Using a weapon was cheating damn it! This punk was straight up disobeying the rules here! Ah whatever. He clearly wasn't trying to actually hit Veteran with it and he likely wouldn't cheat during any of the fights in which he actually stood a chance of winning anyway. As per usual, Ares was just being annoying.

Veteran leant back and dodged the horizontal swing before leaning forward again and launching his fist forward. The nearby space coiled around his fist and the winds generated by his attack buffeted Ares' Zephyr, slowly pushing back the cloak covering his head and revealing part of Ares' form underneath it. Veteran had trouble making out any clear details behind the Blackout but he nearly choked on his saliva when he just barely caught sight of Ares' reddish eyes. The punch couldn't be stopped and neither could his course of action so all Veteran could do right now was look around and pray Ares wasn't in a good position to take advantage of his successful ruse. This 'Ares' that Veteran was punching was actually the damn mimic again! Ares had been smart and given Rox the Zephyr and the Blade temporarily, activated the Blackout rune, and hidden somewhere to launch an attack at Veteran while he was directing his all towards Rox... The only question that still remained in Veteran's head was where Ares was... And, to some extent, why he'd given away the Blade. If Ares had kept it, he could have used it to attack Veteran, no? Then again, Veteran would have likely reacted to the Blade's overwhelming, savage presence and then the jig would have been up way sooner. Despite realising he'd been duped, there was still al lot Veteran didn't understand about this situation...

Veteran's fist was inches away from connecting with Rox's head when he finally saw Ares... In fact he couldn't miss him even if he tried as Ares was directly in front of him! No wonder Ares gave Rox the Blade, he was hiding inside it! Ares' attack wouldn't come from behind some nearby obstacle, it would come from less than a foot away and that was a huge problem. As all Ares had to do was lean his upper body out of the sword, he could go all in and launch an attack with a considerable amount of oomph behind it as he didn't have to waste time closing the distance first. This was B.A.D. for Veteran as he'd left himself wide open to an enemy within arm's reach. Ares had free reign to punish him in whatever way took his fancy and it looked like a massive Annihilation Echo to the dome was what was on the menu. Veteran was going to be eating the knuckle sandwich of a lifetime and he couldn't say no as it was being force fed to him regardless of his wishes.

Ares' fist connected with Veteran's head in tandem with Veteran's fist connecting with Rox's head and two things happened. One; poor Rox was dead again and had been sent outside the pagoda to wait around by his lonesome. Two; Veteran was blasted away by Ares' punch and sent flying through three different buildings before rolling to halt on his knees. Veteran spat out a bloodied tooth and stood while cracking his knuckles. Clearly he'd been underestimating Ares and the kid needed to be put in his place. This annoying revenant had outsmarted him with tricks like this far too many times since he'd arrived in this pagoda and he kept getting away with it!

Veteran raised his fist and slammed it down into the ground. A shockwave radiated outward from the point of impact and, upon touching Ares, lifted him into the air. The floor had been turned into a bouncy castle by the punch and Ares was just along for the ride at this point. He'd given the Zephyr to Rox and didn't have time to rebuild it on his back, so he couldn't use that to escape, and weapons weren't allowed so he couldn't pull one out and Gamble to safety... Although he'd technically broken that rule already... Only 'technically' though! It wasn't him that used the sword! It was that dirty cheater Rox!... Of course you had to ignore the part where Ares shoved the sword into Rox's hand but it was 'clearly', 'definitely' still the mimic's fault...

Veteran ran up to the helpless, mid-air-Ares and struck his spine with an overhead, double fisted, smash. Ares' body disappeared into the ground and he couldn't even moan in pain because his head was buried underneath the concrete, silencing his groans. He couldn't move anymore because his spine was actually just gone, vaporised, where he'd been struck so this was clearly the end of this match. Ares was frothing blood at the mouth and jolting in pain every time he breathed. This was undoubtedly the worst death yet in Ares' expert opinion. Thankfully, Veteran was merciful and killed him a second or two later after uncovering him from the rubble in the floor so his suffering was cut short. He appeared outside the pagoda with a sigh but brightened up shortly after reminding himself he'd punched Veteran in the face! A caped Veteran no less! And it was an incredibly satisfying punch at that! The fight had gone excellently if looking at it objectively from the perspective of a person looking to improve. Yep, everything had gone great... For Ares, anyway, Rox was staring at the back of his head with a narrow, disapproving gaze. Despite not wanting to use Rox as a tool, Ares had done that multiple times as of late! Summoning him to take a blow from Veteran was animal cruelty! Where was PETA when they were actually needed for once?! Rox was going to file a formal complaint to Ares and demand better work conditions! Maybe he should unionise? Him and the eagle from Adaptive Shot that had still yet to be fed or placated in any manner!

Ares noticed Rox's behaviour and knew exactly what he was thinking but there was a slight problem, one that became even more noticeable as he handed over more mid grade stardust to Transmit... He was broke! He couldn't afford nice food and toys for his summons because he had no money damn it! Ares sincerely hoped these troublemakers wouldn't go on strike before he could make some moolah and pay them back... Actually... Why was Ares taking this sass from his summon?! He was the master here! Ares shoved Rox back in the Blade and re-entered the pagoda. Unionise my ass! Take your winter of discontent and shove it where the sun don't shine!