Ares respawned outside and was about to go back into the pagoda and give Veteran a piece of his mind! Foul play at its finest is what that was! Was Veteran seriously going to count that as a win? of all things?! Ares knew the man was desperate for one last win but surely that was going way too far? Ah whatever, Ares had gotten what he wanted out of that fight anyway. His froggy friend was a good indicator Ares' physical pressure was extremely capable. The dragon had also overperformed considerably when taking how little charging time it had into consideration. His normal pressure was perfect and now his physical pressure was also top notch. Enhancement was all that was left to fix and then it would be time to end it all. This pagoda had, at most, a two to three day lifespan depending on how long it took Ares to merge his annihilation mana with his enhancement. Ares guessed it would only take two days for him to accomplish this. One more to reach 100%, and another on top of that to get the hand of annihilation merging. After that Veteran could commit suicide all he damn well pleased! Ares paid Transmit the fee... And, honestly, he wasn't even sure why at this point! Hadn't he already won? Why was he still putting coins into a broken arcade machine?! To be fair they didn't know that he'd beaten Veteran otherwise, as far as they were aware, the pagoda would have made some kind of showy display of it. They might believe Ares if he told them as such but he figured they would keep demanding payment from him regardless... Corporate greed was truly astounding! Ares turned back to the pagoda but instead came face to face with a seething Mako who was clearly fed up with his monumental loss streak. He had a metric ton of pride and right now it was EXTREMELY wounded. "I take it you aren't doing very well?" Ares, being the despicable person he was, rubbed salt in the wound.

"N.O Ares, it is not going very well at all. Can you hurry up already and beat that guy so I can go back to normal training? I know this is good for me but I fucking hate it... I know I'm making good progress and improving but my odds of beating the guy aren't! I have no idea how you're gonna do it exactly but, at this point, I don't even care. I just want the pagoda to get lost... Whatever, I have a match coming up soon so I can take a break from this never ending cycle of death and taxes. Do these Transmit people think we're made of money?!"

"On that last note, I can relate... Hey, if you're down in the dumps, wanna see a cool new trick I can do?" Ares was grinning and nudging Trew like some kind of playground crack dealer with a stash of 'goods'.

"... I'm not sure I do, honestly... It'll probably just come at my expense."

"Nah, it'll come at Terros'!"

"Wait, what?" Terros tilted his head and was about to express his reluctance but his complaints were cut short by a loss of control over his own body. He immediately recognised what was happening as the telekinesis discussion had been a hot topic again as of late and this made perfect sense to him. He was a rock, Ares had telekinesis, he could see where this was going to go... Or at least he thought he did. he assumed Ares would just parade him around for a while, so he was about to protest this childishness, when suddenly he felt Ares grab him out of the air and throw him at the floor.

Bounce

Ares caught Terros as he bounced back up and the rock officially did not approve! He could see his fate unravelling and he now knew precisely what this dumb mutt was about to do! "Let..."

Bounce

Terros was thrown against the floor again before he could finish his sentence. He was being dribbled like a basketball! "... Me..."

Bounce

"... Go..."

Bounce

"... You..."

Bounce

"BASTARD!"

Bounce

Mako snorted at the display but felt somewhat pitiful for the God and helped him out by creating a small ramp at Ares' feet. Ares dribbled Terros again but he didn't come back up because the rock rolled along the ramp and shot off it back towards Mako. Terros would have berated Ares right about now but he was dizzy and had a pounding headache so he was busy tending to himself. He may very well have been the first God in history to have been turned into sports apparatus... Meanwhile, Ares was relaying the good news to Mako.

"I've already beaten him, I'm just doing a bit of clean up around the edges before I finish him off for good. The pagoda, and all your repeated beatings, will soon be over... Well, I say that, but the pagoda may still be open after. I'll become the new overseer of floor five so people who are already at that floor can probably challenge it immediately if they want... Although why anyone would want to is beyond me. If those suckers can't beat him I don't know what makes them think they can beat the guy that beat him... I say that, and yet I just saw a glint in your eyes. Mako, please tell me you aren't seriously considering returning to the pagoda after I beat it?! Really? I know you're competitive but surely this is a bit much?"

"Tsk, that Veteran is a real monster... I don't see how you can be any worse!"

"Oh? Is that so? Then you know what? Go and fight my clone on the fifth floor! See how much 'easier' I am with your own flesh and blood punk! Be warned, the clone has my personality, so it's going to mock you all fight long you shmuck!" Ares disappeared back into the pagoda. There was no arguing with stupid and Mako was dead set on his belief that Ares couldn't possibly be stronger than Veteran. To some extent, Ares understood this. Veteran really did leave quite the impact during the early attempts. Especially the first. That was a memory you would never forget. He was like a real-life jump scare. But so what if the impression Ares gave wasn't as grand or striking?! He was stronger damn it! Ah screw it, Mako could learn the hard way. As could everyone else challenging the fifth floor. They'd probably get all excited that Dominus was replaced by 'some kid' and think the challenge was beatable now.

Clowns!

Actually, if Transmit spread word that Ares had beaten the pagoda, and if they temporarily opened up the fifth floor to anyone and everyone in the midst of the tournament... Wouldn't they make some serious bank?! Was that one of their goals?! Exploitation! They were robbing Ares of his money so that they could, in turn, rob everyone else too! Devious... Truly truly devious... Whoever was running this particular branch had a real head on his shoulder for squeezing the moolah out of people. Still, Ares couldn't complain as this benefitted him too. What could be better for his reputation than hordes of people challenging his clone and all being utterly destroyed every single time? Not having any other floor overseers, and letting everyone challenge Ares directly, wouldn't matter because there was no way in hell anyone was beating him regardless of whether they could do the other floors or not. Actually, not being able to experience the other floors was probably a disadvantage for everyone anyway as they couldn't develop the necessary tools to put them in a position where they could even see the dust behind Ares. Not completing the other floors meant people wouldn't even be at the starting line going into the fight and they weren't fit to even lick Ares' shoes. All in all, the situation was good for everyone other than those who challenged it repeatedly and lost all of their stardust... Like that one Viking... Ares wondered if the guy's determination would crumble or soar after learning Veteran was beaten. On one hand he would see the wall that had been blocking him crumble. On the other hand a new, taller wall had just been erected in its place... Well that was his problem to figure out, right now Ares had his own problem...

How to punish this snake Veteran for his cheating!

He couldn't kill him. If he injured him then the fight afterwards wouldn't be worthwhile. He couldn't not interact with him because Ares valued the training too highly... The only real option was, in the next fight, to go all in with enhancement and beat the guy silly with his bare hands instead of relying on other methods. Maybe beating him black and blue would teach this guy a lesson in accepting defeat without being a sore loser!

And thus, the rest of the day was quite a brutal one for Veteran. Ares delivered on his promise and went to town on the guy, whacking him upside the head, breaking countless bones, and tearing off a limb or two here and there. Of course Veteran always got his revenge in the end when he was permitted to kill Ares so the back and forth never really ended between these two simpletons. They craved violence and the target dummy opposite them was easy pickings. Another day passed in this manner, with Ares taking a quick rest at some point (during which Veteran kicked him and ran away), and by the end of it Ares had finally reached the big one-oh-oh. 100% enhancement was a go! Every single inch of his body was decked out in silver pressure and none of it leaked whatsoever. He was a compact, human-shaped ball of pressure and had the power of a freight train travelling at 200mph. His adept trait of being unable to increase his strength had effectively been rendered moot for now. By the time it started to become a problem again, when other cultivators were also capable of boosting their already superior strength with pressure enhancement, Ares would have his revenant form anyway. When he had it, and his annihilation enhancement too, he would be physically unstoppable. Was it ironic that someone with paltry physical strength could stand at the top of all brawny cultivators and have it not even be a close competition? Yes, yes it was. But Ares felt no guilt, he was basically destined to be ridiculous from the very start. Comparing him to anyone else was unfair and, when deciding things like 'who's the strongest, if you didn't actively not include the fundamental champions then they would just dominate the rankings every time without fail. All six of them would have to be actively avoided in such discussions otherwise it wouldn't even be a debate worth having.

Veteran was coming to terms with this and he was no longer as fussed as he had been previously about losing. The fact that he was still probably a better pressure wielder than every other fundamental champion was something worth celebrating, really. Ares was an anomaly so he could, quite frankly, be ignored! Two exceptional pressure related bloodlines in one body?! That was simply unreasonable. As far as achievable rankings and realistic discussions went, Veteran was still numero uno without a shadow of a doubt. Now, granted, it was hard to maintain that mentality when Ares was pushing him around like he was taking candy from a baby but he was trying!

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Veteran squared up and stared Ares down. There was no 'go' signal with these fights, it was usually just whoever made the first move kicked things off at their own pace... Or it used to be, now the start of the match was just Veteran running away as fast as humanly possible so he could escape the confines of the building. Ares didn't seem to be levitating it this time for some reason but Veteran didn't stop to consider that as he needed to leave pronto. He hopped out the same window he always did and was instantly run over by a car flying towards him. Ares had more than enough time to figure out Veteran's escape route after tens of matches so he'd set a trap! Intentionally not lifting the building so he could put Veteran right were he wanted him had been the goal this time around and it worked flawlessly.

Veteran crashed through the front windscreen of the car and rolled onto the back seat. The car crashed against the side of the building and dropped to the floor as Veteran was being spun around in the back. After the car crashed into the floor, landing right way up, Veteran stumbled back onto the seat and was about to start getting out when Ares came speeding through the broken windscreen and landed a kick on his chest. Ares' planted his foot firmly on Veteran as he reached across and yanked the seatbelt over. He used all his might to bury the seatbelt across Veteran by digging it through the seat and into the vehicle itself. Now that Veteran was strapped in, Ares cracked his knuckles and leaned back, ready to start swinging with reckless abandon. Meanwhile, Veteran was fumbling about and trying to dislodge the seatbelt. He knew this was his only option because if he tried to cut the webbing Ares' foot would pin his hand and the beatdown would only end after Veteran surrendered. He had to remove the latch plate if he wanted out but Ares had forced it so deep the car had basically become a makeshift buckle. Veteran could feel the latch plate slowly grinding its way out but the blows started raining down on him and he needed to escape quickly otherwise he would suffer too much damage to continue fighting. His one solace in this situation was that his shoulder was partially blocking Ares' onslaught and his feet were still free to kick out at Ares, limited though their range of movement were.

BANG

BANG

BANG

BANG

Amidst the hail of blows, Veteran heard a faint click and wanted to thank the Gods. He shifted to the next seat along, sliding out from underneath Ares' foot, and threw his entire body weight against the door.

Crash

Veteran flung himself outside the car and rolled on the floor into a kneeling position, looking up to keep track of Ares. Tsk. Veteran kissed his teeth before gritting them and thrusting out his palm as Ares had used telekinesis to throw the car at him. With a brilliantly timed deflect, Veteran tossed the car aside and took stock of his surroundings. Ares was standing on a floating platform a considerable distance away, charging up another dragon by the looks of it... Veteran was almost definitely screwed here. If he ran over to try and stop Ares, he would release it early and force Veteran to fight both him and a decently strong dragon simultaneously. If he tried to fire off his own pressure Ares would simply block it with telekinesis or a deflect. Veteran's final option was to charge a powerful pressure attack in response but his chances of winning... Were zero! Not only would Ares get the full charge, and Veteran would only get a partial one in response, but the sheer power of Ares' annihilation pressure would outclass his by a large margin anyway. In other words, Veteran only had one option available and that was to try and run Ares down, forcing him to unleash the dragon early again. Veteran was also tempted to run and hide but he was worried the dragon wasn't a fire and forget type of attack but rather something that could bide its time. If it just slowly swam through the air and searched for him he would be in a position where his loss was guaranteed as the dragon would be fully charged and patiently waiting to spot him... Veteran had run through all his options quickly, as his intuition was phenomenal, but it mattered little when his best option was go and fight a '2 vs 1!' Ares was just way too strong now. He couldn't be contended with at close range as his enhancement was vastly superior, at range his annihilation attacks were horrifying, and normal pressure was literally impossible to beat so Veteran didn't even dare attempt that. Speed, technique, power, combat aptitude, tools and options... He was outclassed in every single department he could think of and this had now gone full circle and become and unfair fight again. It's just that now he was on losing side.

Veteran dashed down the street, jumped and kicked off a wall, and donned his silver cape while he had some breathing room to do so. His power nearly doubled but that meant little before Ares. This action did serve to draw Ares' attention and make him fire off the dragon as is, though. It spawned into the city with another roar, this one seemingly more enraged than the first one, and looked around for its target. The dragon wanted vengeance after last time! He'd been destroyed before he could make a difference but he'd been so close and felt robbed. He inflicted an injury but the dragon wanted more, it wanted to kill Veteran and display its draconic might! Although Ares wouldn't let it kill Veteran anyway... Still, it could come close at least! But there was a slight problem hampering it in that regard. It wasn't fully charged again, and that annoyed it to no end, but the circumstances were at least somewhat different this time as it A; wasn't being thrown into certain demise and B; could work alongside its master. A 2 vs 1 meant the odds were in their favour so things were more likely to go well for the golden dragon this time around and it could bare its fangs in a way that mattered.

Veteran fired off a pressure bullet but Ares deflected it and fired one back as the dragon swung its tail at him. He dodged the bullet by a hair's width and blocked the dragon's tail, heavy though the strike was. An attempt to grab the tail was made but Veteran was forced back thanks to Ares chucking another car at him with telekinesis. As Veteran evaluated and re-evaluated his next move, he heard a noise that made him want to cry out from the bottom of his heart...

Ribbit

FROG! The damn frog was back again! After Ares chucked the car the first time, and before he started charging the dragon, he must have quickly summoned the frog and had it hide somewhere nearby; waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. It was all seriously too much. A whole slew of golden nonsense being chucked at him over and over and over... Still, Veteran didn't give up. His job in this pagoda was nearly done but he wasn't useless yet! Veteran detached the cape and kicked back with his foot. The frog dashed straight into the flailing cape, got tangled up in it, and booted back into the building it had been sneaking around in. It wasn't dead yet but it was close enough that it shouldn't pose an issue going forward. Unfortunately, Veteran now how had both Ares and the dragon attacking him from two different angles to deal with as they hadn't been idle during the frog's attack. Ares kicked at his waist as the dragon opened its maw wide and tried to bite his foot off. Veteran thrust out with his boot to stomp on the dragon's head before resummoning the cloak and defending against Ares' kick with his one arm. As he had some breathing room, he chased the dragon down and landed another kick, blasting it into the same building the frog was in. Veteran turned and threw a punch immediately to counter Ares' and their fists connected with an impact that shook the street. Veteran was losing ground as his knuckles clashed against Ares until eventually he was bested in the one on one and thrown across the street, through a window, and out the other side of the building. Rolling to a stop, he fired off a pressure bullet to his right, aiming down a tight alley, and managed to hit the frog square in the head as it tried creeping up on him. Veteran had gotten used to the annoying creature now and had rid himself of the pesky pest successfully, leaving only the dragon and Ares to go up against. It still wasn't preferable but it was better than before at least! Plus this last series of events was a friendly reminder that although he was on the losing side, he still had a bit of fight left in him!

Ares landed on the floor in front of Veteran and ran towards him, ready to deliver a powerful blow with his fist while the dragon followed behind him. Whatever Veteran did in response to Ares would leave him open to the dragon and that seemed to be Ares' new approach. Stand in front and go head to head with Veteran while his additional support took advantage of Ares' winning matchup. When the frog and the dragon went in first, they were pummelled. This way their longevity would be extended and they could potentially do more. Well the dragon anyway, the frog was already long dead. Ares could resummon it but the time it took would give Veteran a chance to kill the dragon so it wasn't worth it. Ares' fist came baring down on Veteran who was feeling confident and went for a deflect.

Ares saw this happening in real time but opted to let it happen as he still had backup waiting in the wings and could afford to be a bit riskier with his choices. His fist was blown to the side but the dragon swam under it and went for a bite on Veteran's nearby arm, looking to lock up his one reliable source of both offense and defence. If the dragon could successfully dig into Veteran's arm then the match would be over on the spot. No one was more aware of this than Veteran so he gave it his all, swung his own head at the dragon's, and smacked it into the floor using a very different kind of 'brain power'. Unfortunately Ares was more than ready to launch his own attack by this point so Veteran took a boot to the gut and was pushed up against a wall. Ares used telekinesis to bring the wall forward and propel Veteran right back towards him. Ares landed a sucker punch on Veteran's face while the dragon coiled around his legs, preventing Veteran from stumbling anywhere. With all his mobility gone and Ares delivering blow after blow, Veteran had essentially already lost the fight and it was now up to him to surrender. The dragon wouldn't let him run and Ares would no longer allow any deflects. If Veteran used his one arm to block, one of Ares' two strikes would always slip by.

Veteran was stubborn for a minute or two but eventually threw up the white flag while kissing his teeth. Or rather the few that were left as Ares had knocked a fair few of them out. Veteran's face and dusty cape were a bloody mess, his clothes were torn, and multiple bones were broken. This was the state of the previous, uncontested number one pressure wielder... There was actually that much of a difference between him and Ares which was ridiculous because there was an equally huge gulf between Veteran and third place. Aside from Veteran, no one would even be able to last a minute against Ares anymore and there was still more yet to come via annihilation enhancement... No matter how many times Veteran got his ass beat, the insanity that was Ares never failed to amaze him. He'd watched the kid evolve in real time from random nobody to unstoppable legend. Veteran wasn't even sure if he should stick with his nickname anymore and just go back to the real thing because 'Veteran' felt so hollow now... In real life he would get his magic back, achieve 100% enhancement, and probably go for a sort of fresh start so maybe it was worth dredging up his old name and using it again? It had so many unsavoury memories attached to it, which was part of why he abandoned it and just let everyone refer to him as Veteran, but maybe he could tolerate hearing the old name once again? He would give it some thought... Right now, he was more interested in finding out just how absurd Ares could get. It wasn't even a matter of competing against him anymore, Veteran just wanted to see the upper limit of what pressure was truly capable of in the right hands. It was nothing more than fascination at this point. Mixing 100% enhancement with a fundamental pillar... How otherworldly would it be? Veteran had a strong feeling in his gut, most of which tended to be pretty accurate, that he was going to find out very soon.