If that's how you want to play it, then so be it! Ares took up his position at the front and readied himself to block whatever came his way. If he could shatter expectations the other lot would very quicky reconsider slapping him at the front like this. Mental messages must have been used during the ten minute break to communicate in secret as Ares hadn't seen anyone doing anything overtly shady during that time and he would have spotted people having discussions given how few there were to pay attention to. Still, he understood the motive. Being a fundamental champion, Ares had a certain edge in terms of favourability and he really didn't need the boost in optics from a solid performance here. Still! This was unacceptable! If they wanted to show off and strut their stuff they could have just placed Ares at the back and he would have been fine with that! He wasn't expecting to make any kind of impact as a pin anyway and would have showboated during his bowler round! It was too late to change things now, though, as Ares stood front and centre as Gram took his place about twenty feet away. The distance was up to him and he could stand wherever Gram felt was optimal for his art summoning. If he really wanted to, Gram could literally stand right up in Ares' face, giving him little to no time to react. Of course, in such a situation, Gram's ranking in Finnian's eyes would go down harshly and, on a more general note, the power of Gram's art would have to be diminished. Most powerful arts needed time to wind up and some space for mana to flow properly and being right up in front of Ares was just plain silly. Gram was taking things seriously so he wouldn't do such a thing... Although how seriously he was taking it was up in the air because there was a hard choice for him to make.
Deep contemplation about what to reveal and what to keep hidden, that was where Gram's mind was currently at. He'd asked, through the mental messages shared earlier, for a chance to humiliate Ares whenever he became the bowler, and he just so happened to be bowling round one which was convenient, but now he was having to think things over and reassess his willingness on the matter. This was going to be the attempt in which he threw out his most powerful attack, Ares was at the forefront so this was the one chance he'd get as Ares blocking this attack would ruin everything going forward. If Ares blocked successfully, the other four contenders would no longer go along with this charade as it would only be benefitting Ares. Though they were co-operative, they were only giving Gram one shot to do as he pleased and, if he failed, Ares would be sent towards the back of the line so everyone else could shine as a pin too...
But was Gram really going to unveil all his hidden aces for this? Joining the Brotherhood was important, so too was flattening Ares like roadkill after the earlier interruption of his lantern-destroying performance, as well as snatching away the limelight and journalists' attention in the second trial, but was it worth risking things going south back home? Gram wanted to maintain his well kept secrets in case he needed to go to war with rival kingdoms or factions and thus revealing everything he was capable of here was counterintuitive. It would give patiently waiting hidden snakes and treacherous knives in the back a chance to prepare for him in the future that they otherwise didn't have... But then again, if he had the Brotherhood at this beck and call, that alone would dissuade anyone from attacking... But what if he went all out and didn't become a disciple anyway? If he went all out and still wasn't selected? These tryouts weren't easy for a reason and no matter how simple the trial may have seemed it was the evaluation that really mattered at the end of the day. Could Gram's offensive arts, which he prided himself on, dwarf the fundamental champion of destruction? If that was his competition, wouldn't it be a massive waste to pick a losing battle with him specifically and instead just aim for a comfortable amount of points after retreating a step back here? If he intentionally threw out a weak art, Ares would be sent to the back... And then Gram could unleash and score a respectable amount of points against presumably weaker foes... Give up attempt on, and face the same of the news articles to come, but maybe still make his way into the Brotherhood regardless... There was more for him to gain and lose than the other contenders appreciated here! Of course they all had their own problems but Gram being the centre of his own universe hardly cared about their conundrums. In the end, though somewhat annoyed by his own cowardly decision, Gram decided to hold back somewhat even if it meant not shooting his shot... Letting Ares get away with marring his reputation, upstaging him multiple times today, was a price he was simply going to have to pay. Biting the bullet for the sake of his kingdom, if nothing else, was somewhat admirable. He was egotistical to the utmost but he at least understood he could act this way precisely because of the kingdom he was a prince of. Protecting it because it was his anchor to stardom was hardly a morally upstanding perspective but it was good enough...
"Hey Gram!"
...
Why was Ares talking to him? Was this allowed? Was it permitted to harass your opponent and look for psychological blows while they were busy contemplating strategy? Sure Gram had taken a hot minute to sort his thoughts out but that much should have been fine. It's not like he got lost in his thoughts for hours on end so why was the cause of all Gram's grief and jumbled thoughts speaking up? Why was this obnoxious piece of walking dynamite bothering him now?
"... What?" It took Gram's all not to speak through gritted teeth, or really give Ares a piece of his mind, but he ultimately managed it. The journalists already had enough ammunition to fire at him; Gram's best course of action now was to act like a good sport and not be a massive sourpuss if he could avoid it. Not being gracious in defeat would be the final straw that broke the camel's back and really set him back in the public eye, tainting his record eternally with a black smudge that hinted at his true colours under the mask.
" Do you know what my favourite weight is?"
...
"... What?" Any specks of anger or agitation vanished with the wind as they were replaced by confusion and intrigue. Whatever this idiot was saying, Gram was admittedly somewhat interested to know where he planned on taking this conversation. Probably nowhere good but it was so bizarre he wanted to see the end of it. Despite that, however, he had to resort to the same single-word response he gave earlier because he knew the more words he spilled from his mouth the more he'd want to launch a scathing tirade against this imbecile 'Ares' for everything he'd put him through.
"My favourite weight, do you want know which one it is?"
"..." Gram did not speak. He didn't know how to feel about the dumb smile Ares was proudly donning on his goofy face and the question he was asked for a second time was hardly normal. The rage he thought he'd buried was bubbling away under the surface again because he felt like he was being mocked in a way he didn't understand... At least, for what it was worth, he'd come to understand it when next Ares spoke...
"My favourite weight... Is a 'kill-a-Gram'! Hehehehe."
...
Pft
Mimi covered her mouth as hot air escaped her lips and she tried not to cackle at the dumbfounded Gram. He'd been blindsided by impossible levels of idiocy mixed with a hint of cleverness and he felt the rising urge to slap this obnoxious prat in front of him. He'd somehow been trounced in a verbal confrontation he didn't even know was taking place and it happened in the dumbest of fashions too. This humiliation was likely going to be aired in public like dirty laundry and how was he supposed to respond to this?! If he treated it seriously, and pretended he was being threatened by taking Ares' words literally, he'd look like a moody moron who couldn't understand sarcasm. On the other hand, if he acknowledged it was a joke but complained anyway he'd be seen as someone who couldn't read the room or have any fun at his own expense. There was well and truly no winning here and, as it turned out, lighthearted jabs were Gram's biggest weakness. He himself never even knew about this because of his royal upbringing in which nobody ever dared say such things to his face. Sure it happened occasionally on the internet but Gram either filtered those comments out or simply let his army of devoted followers deal with it in his stead. This was his first time interacting with a detractor of his, or an 'insult' of this variety, in person and he had but one thought on his mind. Alright you bastard, I'm not holding back anymore!
Ares really did have a knack for doing what others would consider to be 'digging one's own grave'. If it weren't for the fact that Ares was highly capable of defending himself from the situations he launched himself headfirst into, like a humanoid trouble-seeking missile, he'd have long since bitten the dust by making enemies of people he couldn't afford to. His 'harmless' little jab had changed the entre dynamic of the situation, as well as the course of this round of bowling, irreversibly and he didn't even know it. Que sera sera. Still, there was definitely a tangible vibe shift and now a modicum of stark resolution visible within the recesses of Gram's raging eyes that clued Ares in that he might have made a 'mistake'. Of course Ares would make that mistake again a thousand times over if given the chance, he was a revenant and making people feel this way was his lifeblood, and it's not like he feared Gram anyway. There was limit to how powerful he could be down in this lower domain and it surely didn't eclipse Ares and his own talents, this guy wasn't even a fundamental champion so it simply wasn't possible. The playing field, cultivation wise, was even and so Ares felt indomitable down to his core. So what if he wasn't even in bloodline awakening? Some prickly prince would be little more than a pompous pushover by the time he was done putting this Pecksniffian and pretentious pest in his proper place!
As for Gram, he'd prepared himsel to channel his mana into a quieter art but now he threw all of that out the window. He canceled his prior plans and the air shifted as he unsheathed a sword from his spatial ring. The sword was a royal heirloom and adorned with countless rare gems and jewels, each of which could fund an entire country for hundreds of years straight if sold to the highest bidder. They weren't even artifacts or treasures, they didn't benefit Gram or his weapon in any conceivable way, it was nothing more than a vain display of wealth and status that only someone of his position could ever possibly afford, and only someone of his arrogant bearing could ever possibly equip without feeling embarrassed. It was also a show of confidence as he was openly declaring his lack of need for external aid to help him dominate his opponent. He could coat his weapon in useless extravagance like this and still come out on top against those who clung to treasures like their life depended on them. His skill was raw, born of practice and pedigree, so engraving countless runes into his weapon would bring him and his family great shame. Of course thinking like this was a luxury only the truly strong could get away with but Gram was a part of that elite few and thus had leeway to act as he pleased before most foes. He did have backup measures in case his life was on the line, royalty carrying such life saving means was mandatory no matter the domain or kingdom, but it was well and truly a last ditch method that he didn't want to resort to.
That aside, Gram raised the blinged out sword skyward, like a hero declaring himself humanity's saviour in dark times, and chanted with a smooth but regally resounding voice, "Knights, Assemble!" In the sky above, countless hollow-armored knights appeared in a kneeling position and slowly rose to their feet. Each was carrying a fairly simple sword but their posture and skill in wielding it seemed to cause the weapon to transcend the barrier of normalcy. The expertise of each individual knight was staggering and there roughly five thousand of them if Ares' Omniscience was counting correctly. They blotted out the sky and were ready to descend at the drop of a hat. Presumably this art could summon even more knights if Gram's cultivation wasn't limited which meant he effectively had a portable army at his disposal... But more than that, these knights' positions were highly advantageous as they could all dive bomb the target from above, they quite literally spawned into reality with a high ground advantage.
There were arts that summoned myriad swords in the sky, all of which then crashed downward towards the grounded victim below, Enyo had even once done something similar during the international by utilising pressure, but this unique art was a step up from that. It was an idea that had evolved to the next stage and possessed more advanced traits. Swords were hard to individually control, especially when there were multiple thousands that needed to be commanded simultaneously, so Knights, Assemble took a different path. Rather than creating inanimate, lifeless swords alone, Gram had first created somewhat sentient entities to wield the swords on his behalf. No longer would the magic be simple, or one note, each sword that struck at the foe would be controlled to perfection and deliver strikes that were creative and purposeful. This wasn't five thousand empty, straightforward attacks from mindless weapons. This was five thousand measured strikes, all taking into account the defender's stance and openings. This wasn't five thousand swords dropping vertically straight down on Ares' head, looking to overpower him with numbers. This was going to be five thousand different approaches he needed to tackle individually much like the Anubis holograms but on a much larger scale. The knights also appeared to be rather bulky and, though there was no human form inside the armour, the knights appeared 'muscular'. The strikes wouldn't just be professional, they would carry considerable weight behind them and there was absolutely no way Ares could block all five thousand of them without tiring.
This did raise questions about the rules of this trial in Ares' mind but he soon pieced together the relevant information and came to his own conclusion that seemed reasonable enough. Gram could probably maintain five thousand knights, no more no less. After the fist one attacked and disappeared, he could probably summon another one to bring the number back up to five thousand in total as that was his current maximum limit. Gram likely had it in him to keep the barrage of five thousand knights up for a good minute or who if not interrupted and the flow of his mana not disturbed. It would take all his mana but Ares would 'definitely' eventually die under such a strenuous assault. Gram wouldn't have any mana left for any other attacks, so his last two attempts would be pitiful at best, but Finnian would probably grade him highly as this art was no joke and seeing anything else was probably unnecessary.
The rule Ares was concerned about, however, was how did continuous arts like this work? Could someone just keep endlessly summoning more parts to their magic until they ran out of mana? Surely such a thing wouldn't be allowed, right? The most logical answer to this was that Gram was not permitted replenish his depleting forces. If he could only summon five thousand knights initially, that was his upper limit for the number of knights he was allowed to have at his disposal for this attempt. Though he could maybe bring forth about ten or fifteen thousand over the course of his running his mana dry, for the sake of this trial, five thousand was what he had to stick with as that was the amount ready to be utilised now that his art was fully activated. Put simply, the art could not be modified, replenished, recreated, or enhanced once it was chanted and used. This was the constraint placed on the bowler to make sure they didn't spend hours upon hours layering different magics or summoning a never ending swarm with large mana pools. Not that Gram really needed to, this five thousand-strong knight blitz should logically be enough to take out all the pins and still have some left over to spare to attack Finnian with. It wasn't five thousand knights all charging to kill Ares, it was five thousand to kill Ares and then everyone behind him too. It looked like overkill but it was actually roughly a thousand knights for each pin so it wasn't going to be as bad for the people in the back... Though that didn't benefit Ares at all. The harder he worked the simpler it became for everyone behind him. They could use his work as the front pin as a stepping stone to bring themselves to new heights...
...
But was Ares really going to let that happen? Was he going to let these knights run him over? Was he going to let Marlar and the cloaked woman siphon up the results of his labour? Hell no! It was just five thousand knights! Rather, Gram had made an unfortunate error. There were two main methods of approach for the bowler. One single attack that pierced through multiple people or, what he'd decided to do, multiple attacks that bombarded the pins one by one. One single attack that lost efficiency as it passed through the pins or multiple that remained equally as strong with every strike but was weaker individually. Gram had leant towards the latter and that would be his undoing. Ares didn't have many defensive options but Not Even Light stood tall at the pinnacle. This was doubly true whenever mana was involved as it hoovered up magical attacks with no mercy, slurping them up and then obliterating them from existence. The knights in hovering up above were all living armor type entities born of magic, even including the swords they grasped firmly, so Not Even Light was about the have a field day! This was like trying to pit a hundred ice cubes up against a sauna...
Gram, with a flamboyant flick of the wrists, and with a relaxed smirk on his face, commanded his manifested subordinates to begin launching themselves at Ares one by one. This action sealed their fate as Ares was now permitted to retaliate and do as he pleased. He couldn't attack Gram, or dodge the attack either, but excluding those two options his choices were limitless. Not that he needed time to think, he simply splayed his hand forward, grasped at the void, and channeled his disintegration mana into a pitch black blob. "Not Even Light!" The knights curving through the air were suddenly staggered and dragged against their will right into the blackened void of obliteration that sat comfortably above Ares' head. There was no longer any method of assailing their target without flying straight towards their untimely demise but the command had already been given and they were slaves to their orders.
Gram, under normal circumstances, would have the knights regroup and wait as he sorted out the issue with other magic but that wasn't how this trial worked. The deed was already done, the art already fired, and now he couldn't take back any of it otherwise this fight would basically turn into a series of duels and that wasn't the point. He couldn't have ever predicted that his opponent would literally summon a black hole out of thin air, one that was almost specifically anti magic in design and tailor made to snuff out hordes of magic like this. It almost felt like the perfect antidote to Knights, Assemble, and Gram was about ready to tear his hair out. The only solace here was that five thousands knights was not a small amount by any means and one of two options awaited Ares if nothing changed soon. Either A, the knights were so plentiful that some would manage to sneak past while the black hole was absorbing their brethren, at which point Ares might get felled due to the sheer numbers, or B; the black hole would run out of mana first, disappear before the knights did, and leave Ares high and dry. No matter which happened first, Gram was able to keep calm knowing he would still likely kill Ares here, even if nobody else, so long as he just patiently waited...
"Black Blossom!"
Ah. gram was struck with the harsh realisation that, unlike the bowler, the defenders were free to cast multiple arts if they had the time to. Typically they wouldn't, they'd be too pressed by the fully channelled art coming their way, but Ares had already dealt with the imminent danger and was giving himself room to cast again while the black hole worked in the background. It was naive of Gram to think Ares would just stand there and let the knights do as they pleased without retaliating in any way. He could argue that Finnian needed to do a better job of comprehensively explaining each rule down to the nitty gritty but, at he same time, the rules were fairly self-explanatory and it's not like anything about this situation seemed unfair to him. Now all Gram could do was hope that Ares' next method, whatever Black Blossom was, couldn't salvage the situation... Though things were looking grim in that regard. Ares had taken out a plain sword with which he delivered a slow and deliberate strike towards the black hole. At first, nothing out of the ordinary happened other than a trace of disintegration hovering along teh trajectory his blade had taken. This was the calm before the storm, however, as a ROAR shook the courtyard and an explosion of dark petals scattered dangerous leaves in a wide arc. The petals were going to sway haphazardly around the fenced area and cause mayhem but the black hole soon began dragging them into its orbit, becoming a ringed planet and a tempestuous storm that threatened to wipe out all life. Even the knights that weren't dragged to the centre of the Not Even Light were torn to shreds by the ring of petals that softly spun around the epicentre of magic attracting them. Ares had pulled of this combination before and it was essentially an upgraded Not Even Light that developed offensive capabilities too while increasing its effective range and general deadliness. Ares could somewhat command this abomination of disintegration and so he gestured with his splayed hand upwards, dragging the galaxy of darkness right towards the gathering of knights. They squirmed in the air, some even attempted to slash the chaotic nebula of impending doom, but it was painfully clear to everyone watching this fight was over and the victor was not Gram's rapidly disintegrating knights. One thought remained in the minds of all who witnessed this exchange and it was a valid question through and through.
Was that supposed to be a defensive art?
It certainly didn't look like it.
In fact, it almost looked like Ares had summoned a black bowling ball and treated Gram's knights like pins instead...