"So where's the dog God duo?" Ares moved the conversation along and queried Tom Tom as he looked around he room for his next foe on the long list he'd been blitzing through as of late. "Unleash the hounds, Tom Tom!"
With a shake of his head, Tom Tom denied Ares. "They're not here. This is technically the final floor, and you will be fighting the Anubis next, but this is not the arena in which you shall do glorious battle and I think you'll understand why shortly. I hope you win for Xasca's sake because I won't be able to reseal them once I've let them out. Of course I could beat them up myself but I don't think there's really much point and I really don' care what happens to this country so long as I'm left alone. I don't want to stretch my legs because I've been rather enjoying this nice sunny vacation and lazing about all day long. Get's a little cold a night but that's what fur's for, am I right?"
Ares blinked in disbelief! This guy was seriously still pretending he wasn't a giant cat!? "Aren't you inside the Riddlemyd this whole time anyway? Do you plop your head on the outside of the Riddlemyd, to enjoy the sun, when nobody needs you or something?" Even that assumption didn't much make sense because then why would Tom Tom even bother going outside at night? he could just stay inside surely? This was a rather strange thing he'd jsut mentioned offhandedly and now Ares was back to wondering what the hell was up with his clone body...
"Bah, don't worry about such unnecessary details. Once you're done fighting with the Anubis, if you're still alive, I'll teleport you back into his room and we can discuss rewards. There's only really one big one, and don't expect anything that will improve you by leaps and bounds, but it's neat at least and something that will prove to be valuable in the long run. So go on then..." A wall opened up with a wide staircase leading upwards, lit by a row of torches on each side positioned at every other step. "Go scrap with two of the most ancient Sheryashkan monsters of all time. Don't take them lightly, their bite and bark are both pretty bad. Also, in case it isn't obvious, feel free to leave the platform if you need to; I'll teleport you back here for your rewards no matter where you wind up by the end of the fight so long as you're still somewhere within the boundaries of Xasca's borders."
"Heh, sounds like it's gonna be one hell of a brawl." Sandy was rather looking forward to this showdown, clicking her knuckles and rolling her neck, because the Riddlemyd had been one giant mystery to her and her people for countless years at this point. Plus she enjoyed testing herself in combat a fair bit so if this fight lived up to the hype Tom Tom was generating then she'd be pretty content and satisfied after having taken part in it while displaying the true power of her fine grind for once... Instead of getting knocked into a poisonous swamp like last time... Although, of Ares two companions, she was the only one with any interest in this upcoming fight whatsoever...
"Can I go back to the Oasis sect's palace pool?" Aejaz was seriously wishing he could go back to even failing riddles eternally right about now as he viewed even that as a better outcome that whatever was upcoming... But there were no more riddles! The riddle god was out of business and so he'd just have to find a part time job as a monster hunter. After today he'd be enjoying what little time he had left in the exotic palace before being whisked away right back to his assassination jobs at the hands of Hans. Ares wasn't going to bring Aejaz along with him to Isasz, because it was a journey he wanted to take on his own and be somewhat quick about, so Aejaz would get to return to his own family at long last. He could probably use Ares' influence to book a relaxation vacation in the palace again down he line, before Ares left for Vraizon, if he really wanted to. Ares wasn't going to drag him around literally everywhere so it was his own choice to make whether he came back here or not with Allie and Trixie. Regardless, the main point was that if he wanted such leisure in the future he would have to fight for it here and now and throw away his rampant laziness and constant cowardice!
The trio walked up the stairs, after Aers put Old Light and Visitation back inside the Blade, and reached a flat wall blocking off their progress. Ares put his hands on the slab and slowly slid it out the way but he was taking his sweet time and so Sandy lent him a hand. It was a bit embarrassing but Ares blamed his stupid adept trait! He probably could have gotten rid of the slab if he used annihilation enhancement but that felt like overkill so he just accepted the help and swore to smack around the Anubis and punish them for this. They had nothing to do with this but Ares was blaming them anyway! Who told them to be hiding up here on this next floor!? Actually, was this even another floor? Was it an attic or something? Ares didn't know but he was blinded by a bright light the second the slab was moved aside and he couldn't immediately tell where he was. After blinking the bright spots out of his vision he came to the same realisation as everyone else; the light source above them was entirely natural. In other words, As Aejaz put it...
"We're outside? This is the roof of the Riddlemyd?" Everyone raised their palms to provide shade for their eyes as they stepped up and onto the... Roof? Of the Riddlemyd. This pyramid shaped dungeon floating in the sky was upside down so technically this was the underneath of the Riddlemyd. Regardless, they were on a flat platform at the top of Riddlemyd as warm air blew past them. The platform was incredibly wide, which was to be expected given the sheer scale of the Riddlemyd, but there wasn't really much here. A few pillars were dotted around the area but they had runes engraved on them which meant they probably didn't serve a combat purpose but, instead, kept people out. Ares recalled learning that it was impossible to get on this roof from the outside and it was almost definitely these runes that acted as a sort of barrier to keep pesky individuals at bay. That was just about the only thing up here worth mentioning, though. A few murals were etched into the floor, and there were grooves in the sandstone that formed intricate patterns, but in terms of being a 'combat environment' it was pretty barren. There would be no petty tricks here, just an upfront and honest match for the ages...
At least that was what Ares initially thought but he soon realised there were no Anubis up here! The usual statue suspects were nowhere to be seen so something felt off about this whole situation, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Maybe they would be lifted up through the floor on a rising platform or something? They were going to be pretty big, this arena was this size specifically to house them, but that made Ares wonder why Tom Tom had mentioned being teleported back to him after the fight. If the fight was localised to this 'roof' then why would such a thing be relevant? Couldn't he walk back down the staircase afterwards? Had the Anubis turned into giant sumo wrestlers?! Were they going to push Ares off the Riddlemyd and send him flying or something? A cage match in the sky, with no cage, was an interesting prospect but, for some reason, Ares had a feeling that line of thinking was incorrect too. There was nothing he could do but wait, however, as it's not like he controlled when the fight started. There was no usual red button to press, or anything of the sort to do on his end, so he had to be patient while, presumably, the Anubis were 'unsealed', as Tom Tom put it. Actually, that was another valid point. Why were the Anubis even sealed to begin with? Why was Sevorus unable to simply imprison them like he did everything else inside the Riddlemyd? So many questions, so few answers...
Ares took a seat in the middle of the roof and discussed his thoughts with he other two while they waited. There wasn't much to say but Sandy did mention she had an uncomfortable feeling ever since she arrived up here but it wasn't coming form the Riddlemyd itself. Whatever was the source of her discomfort was coming from directly below the Riddlemyd but Ares wasn't too worried about that right now. He'd go and investigate whatever it was afterwards. That was what he promised her but it turned out that would be unnecessary because that ominous feeling of hers was tied directly to the fight they were about to undergo. Though the Riddlemyd was unaffected, the desert below began shaking and rumbling as though an earthquake were occurring and a vicious one at that. Small dunes were toppled and buildings were destroyed as far as the eye could see. Anyone who set up a business near the bottom of the Riddlemyd was seriously regretting it right about now as their hard work collapsed before their very eyes and banished under the rolling sand. Nobody forced them to do something as dangerous and reckless as setting up shop here, right beneath an alien construction planted here by an expert cultivator from countless domains above Sheryashka, so they had nobody to blame for their losses but themselves and their own greed. Not that they cared about such things right now, they were too busy running for their dear lives because it was obvious the quaking was infinitely worse near the Riddlemyd's entrance. If fleeing could help them survive this unprecedented catastrophe they would do it without ever looking back. They could recover their finances in the future but their lives were not up for grabs, no sir!
Ares had to use his divine sense to see what was happening down there but the tip of the Riddlemyd, pointing down at the ground, was glowing a strange light blue colour. It lasted for about five seconds before a beam was fired directly down into the floor which lit up the desert in the immediate area, turning it into a neon grid. The lines of bright light blue spread out far and wide, constantly expanding their reach as the rumbling underfoot grew to an unimaginable degree. Those fleeing were hardly able to still do so and the animals pulling various carriages were stumbling over themselves as they crashed down hills and toppled cargo everywhere. It was well and truly a nightmare of epic proportions down there, like the world as they knew it was ending, but perhaps those who were the worst off of all were those who'd been in the Riddlemyd until recently. Ares starting the final fight meant he'd gotten everyone else kicked out of the Riddlemyd no matter where they were prior and now they were all stuck at the epicentre of the chaos down below and scrambling to run away.
The lights burned into the sand all across the desert suddenly halted their rapid expansion and began glowing, radiating a bluish haze towards the sky as a strange buzzing noise, interrupted by intermittent clicking, could be heard pretty much everywhere in Xasca. Even those all the way over in the city could hear this noise and partially see the blue lights dancing over the horizon, flickering under the sunny sky. Some humming and clicking later the rumbling stopped for a split second. This peace and quiet was short lived, and served more as an omen than a respite, and it came back immediately after but far worse than it had ever been before. Two large sandy mountains rose from the floor to the right of the Riddlemyd and sandstorms were kicked up due to the sheer amount of sand being flung around by this rapidly raising anomaly. Magnificent waterfalls of countless grains of sand buried any buildings that had somehow withstood the quakes up until now and if any cultivators were unlucky to still be hanging around down there they would have to battle there way out of a sandy grave before they were suffocated under the heaps of rubble. It would have been their own fault for not running at the first sight of trouble but that didn't matter right now because Ares was maybe somewhat regretting his earlier arrogance.
He would take on the Anubis one way or another, and put on a dominant display as he promised himself he would, however his goals had just become that much harder to achieve. Those sandy hills, that originated down on the ground below, were now rising way up above the Riddlemyd and piercing the sky. Why was this an issue? Well... Ares had to crane his neck upwards to see these two 'mountains' but the real problem here was that he'd caught a brief glimpse of the top of these mountains as they shot past him and ascended towards the clouds... He was pretty sure he saw two jackal headed statues underneath all the sand...
Unless Ares was woefully mistaken, which he unfortunately likely wasn't, this roof of the Riddlemyd was not actually the 'arena', it was merely the starting platform. The real 'arena' was the entirety of Xasca and he was going to be fighting the upwards of fifty thousand foot tall Anubis duo... The altitude of their jackal heads was such that the phrase 'head n the clouds' took on a whole new meaning for these two oversized mutts... Suddenly this sturdy Riddlemyd felt quite flimsy underneath Ares' feet because there was absolutely no way in hell it could resist the force of a single one of those Anubis' strikes at full force if they were really that big. They probably still had their giant sized canes hidden somewhere and one downward swing would obliterate this entire place to smithereens. No wonder Tom Tom highly encouraged Ares to beat these things; if he let them wonder around they would take control off the entire damn domain! Tom Tom had seriously unsealed and dusted off these ancient freaks without any waning that they were this big a deal whatsoever! The crazy cat had really gone a bit too far this time...
Luckily Ares was immune to pressure and intimidation, plus he had experience against foes this large thanks to the Scylla, but it was till a bit ridiculous. He'd bragged himself into a corner, by suggesting he would use these two as punching bags, and now he had to fight his way out and prove his ability to uphold any and all declarations he made so confidently. He wasn't backing down, nor did he feel pressed on the matter, he was just wishing he'd maybe not spoken so soon before at least seeing his opposition! Still, how could he have expected this?! One Anubis was now roughly the size of an entire... Actually, trying to compare was pointless because there was maybe nothing even as big as these two dogs in this entire domain. Perhaps the frozen Venator giant in Akarala, that stood a chance, but in terms of structures or miscellaneous objects? They would all be dwarfed before these two ginormous monsters. The massive gap between the size of them, since the last time he came across them 'till now', was pretty impossible to predict! If Ares used Voidwalk it might take him around a minute of unimpeded movement to go from the bottom of one of these to the very top. About twenty seconds to go all the way around their waist too so, again, they were unreasonably large! If Ares got struck by even a single one of their stray attacks he would be like a fly going up against a skyscraper sized swatter. At what point was this level of size completely redundant!?...
Actually, now that Ares thought about it, wasn't this a huge problem?! Like obviously it was but... Even more than he initially thought?! What about their hologram attacks!? If they were even half as abundant, and half as fast, as the ones he had to contend with previously, wouldn't he just die with no possible method of fighting back?! Forget everything else they could do, this alone would be the end of the world! Infinite projections and clones of these two towering monsters would surely be impossible to beat, right? Ares was a fundamental champion, and he'd give it a good go, but he'd have to resort to Garmr if those holograms weren't somewhat less effective due to the massive size of the Anubis. It had to be worse, right?! Ares could do nothing in that regard other than pray the unreasonableness away...
...
Why are they still growing!? At what point are they just overcompensating?! Ares took deep breaths as he waited for the dog's growth spurt to take a chill pill. He let his mind and vision wander, exploring the area near the Anubis' feet, and it was utter devastation. A tide of sand had washed over the area beneath the Riddlemyd and there was simply nothing left. Not that it mattered. Even if anything survived, once the Anubis started moving and trampling over everything they would make sure to fully wipe out any semblance of life wherever they strode. They were irrefutable Gods of Xasca in the truest sense and had every right to own this place and do with it as they pleased. They were here long before anyone else and had sufficient power to stake an inarguable claim to this land via their overwhelming might. Who would date ague with them that they had no business taking over this entire desert?! They would be revered and worshipped out of fear and the cultivators living in Xasca would become subjects under their rule. Titans, that's what they were. Titans of the sand and probably with immaculate control over it too. They were the origin of the fellahin, no doubt about it seeing them like this and their commanding presence over the desert in every way imaginable, and Ares was curious as to whether Sandy would really be able to fight these things.
It wasn't uncommon for the origin of races to be unbeatable by their descendants. It didn't always ring true and work that way but it certainly could depending on how much control the origin had over their bloodline. If push came to shove, Ares would quite literally shove Sandy inside the Primordial Blade to protect her but, for now at least, she seemed unnerved but still stoic. She'd never seen monsters this big and thought that western monsters were as bad as it got. The brood mother was her definition of a 'tremendously large monster' so this was quite the eye opener but, none the less, she was still more than willing to fight... Again, unlike a certain someone else who was peering over the edge of the Riddlemyd and looking for a way to escape. Aejaz wanted nothing more than to steal Voidwalk and disappear off into the sunset, maybe even flee towards the Federation to go and hide. Actually, there was a good chance the docked Federation could see these monsters and was probably considering running away from the port. They'd dealt with plenty of large monsters recently and would no doubt not want to get involved personally in Xasca's mess. Thankfully, once Ares started fighting it, they'd recognise the golden magic and perhaps stick around. It was either that or Aejaz and Sandy's transportation back to Central Land was going to be massively delayed.
That was problem for the future, though, as right now there was amore pressing matter. The Anubis had finally stopped causing mayhem and were no longer gaining any more height. They were now almost completely unsealed and all that remained was for them to shed their stony outer layer and be reborn anew into this world that they once owned. The stone cracked, as per usual whenever Ares had fought them previously, but this time it was much more of a spectacle given the amount of stone that had been sealing them. House-sized shards of stone were scattered everywhere and Ares even had to dodge one that crash-landed onto the Riddlemyd roof. Surprisingly, despite the height form which the stone slab fell, the Riddlemyd took it like a champ and didn't even budge or register the damage. Maybe Ares hadn't given this Riddlemyd due credit? Perhaps it was far more resilient than he knew... But that didn't do anything to change the current predicament. Even if this Riddlemyd could take the Anubis' strikes head on Ares wasn't going to hang around here like a sitting duck, he would opt to remain more mobile for this fight. He looked up and, sure enough, the Anubis were fully unsealed and their majesty on full display as they glanced down at the ant Ares had become to them. "You're, uh... You're pretty big, eh?" Ares remarked while walking over towards the ledge of the Riddlemyd. He peered over it and checked something he was curious about. "No dongle? Guess you were completely neutered? Whichever vet removed those must have been paid the big bucks. I wonder if they have PTSD though? Nightmares about humongous dingleberries..."
...
Ares really couldn't stop himself, it was well and truly ingrained his blood to make a mockery of any who challenged him. Even those who didn't weren't necessarily safe but any foes would definitely have to put up with him and his obnoxious remarks. The Anubis snarled at him in response but Ares simply chuckled and activated every measure at his disposal as he faced off against the Anubis. He put his war aura on full blast, summoning all three flags right from the get go, ran annihilation mana through his blood to get it pumping while lighting up his Zephyr's grooves in a brilliant gold. His Annihilation pressure took over the surrounding area and dyed the world in his splendid colour, forcing even the Anubis to show him respect and take a moment to adjust their breathing accordingly. He pulled out his scythe with a swift twirl, coated it in disintegration, and activated Voidwalk while waking up Dominus to get him prepped on the off chance he was necessary. The Primordial Blade was at the ready and so too was the Canis Stimulant if things went south. This was going to be a tough fight but Ares stood heroically at the edge of the Riddlemyd in defiance of these titans and stared his daunting opposition dead in the eyes that were even bigger than his whole body. His visage was truly fearless and evoked imagery of man vs God; it was clear he was taking this fight very seriously.