A.R.M. (A Real Man)
"Greetings, inhabitants of Earth. I am A.R.M. I extend a formal invitation to all those born of this Earth, bound by flesh and blood. You are cordially welcomed to New Ark City, a marvel forged by the hands of the I.S.P. Here, you will find comfort, safety, and a new beginning for all. Our city stands where New York City once thrived. With these words, I take my leave, with the hope that we shall meet soon. With love, A.R.M."
The proclamation resounded across the globe, accompanied by a visual spectacle showcasing the futuristic marvel of New Ark City. Towers of immense proportions dwarfed the former skyscrapers, soaring into a sky unburdened by smog.
The streets appeared sparsely populated, yet the air was alive with the hum of flying cars navigating the heavens above. As the sky broadcasted scenes of unoccupied living spaces, advanced utilities, and conveniences that outshone the relics of the past, a glimpse of a utopian future beckoned.
Just as swiftly as the spectacle emerged, it vanished.
"What the fuck was that?" Viktor couldn't help but voice the astonishment that coursed through the group. It was clear that none of them, including Avilius, had any inkling of what had just transpired. The mysterious message from "A.R.M." had thrown them into a state of contemplation and curiosity.
Only Al and his phantom seed, with their prior knowledge of the I.S.P., could guess that Robert was somehow behind the communication. Yet, they were left equally puzzled about the entity that called itself A.R.M. and its true nature and purpose.
Avilius decisively broke the moment of perplexity with a single phrase: "Time to go." His words spurred Tamara, though heavily injured, and Viktor into action.
Kesha exchanged a lingering glance with Al before turning to follow her mentor. Al stood there, for a moment, a sense of hesitation clouding his thoughts as he watched the group recede into the distance.
But Avilius wasn't quite finished, he halted before nonchalantly saying "Oh yeah I almost forgot." He ascended into the air, invoking his Will to send forth the five drops of crimson liquid with astounding velocity.
These drops found their mark on the nearest bystanders, ordinary humans who had witnessed the prison revolt. Upon contact, these helpless souls disintegrated into gruesome piles of flesh and bone. The horrifying sight elicited screams that echoed across the island of Mt. Kali.
In a chilling command, Avilius instructed his followers to eradicate every individual on the island who had aligned themselves with the church. The island, once peaceful, now became a battleground stained with bloodshed and retribution.
Al's disbelief was palpable as he observed Kesha obediently following Avilius's appalling command.
However, Ellie and Cesar sprang into action without hesitation. Ellie's mirror shifted into a duplicate of herself, she moved to block Viktor and the others from carrying out Avilius's violent edict.
Cesar himself used one of his strongest spells. His Wind Will created a dense film of hurricane-like winds around his spear before launching it with all his strength aimed directly at Avilius's heart.
"You dare challenge an Immortal?" Avilius said, exploding into a sphere as he previously had done when he destroyed the prison's watchtower. He was expecting to easily deflect Cesar's spear.
Just inches in front of the tip of Cesar's the film of destructive winds gathered causing a pressured explosion.
'BOOMM!!' Avilius returned back to a human specter and was sent a dozen feet reeling back, Cesar's spear was sent flying back several feet away from him. Avilius was shocked by the impressive power Cesar who was merely in the mental domain of the Mortal Chasm was able to display.
Viktor, seeing Ellie standing in his way, drew brass knuckles which were his etheric shell and with the swing of his fist shot a ball of electricity. The ball of electricity hit one of the Ellies who transformed back into her mirror reflecting the attack back to Victor after that the mirror quickly cloaked the real Ellie making her invisible.
As the other cultivators who accompanied Viktor unleashed their spells, they targeted the spot where Ellie had just been, but their attacks missed.
Ellie, utilizing her Reflective Will, systematically attacked them, employing both powerful reflection beams and her expertise in redirecting their own attacks against them.
Tamara, witnessing how a Mental Domain cultivator of the Mortal Chasm could hold her ground against nine other cultivators in the Spiritual Domain of the Mortal Chasm, was utterly flabbergasted.
"Why are you defending people who would never do the same for you? In fact, they despise you and would gladly watch you die." However, Ellie responded only with another reflective spell, aimed directly at Tamara.
Despite her injuries, Tamara was a cultivator in the physical domain of the Immortal Chasm, granting her a significant advantage. When Ellie's reflective spell neared, Tamara easily dodged it. She deftly spread her strings across the field and debris, preparing for her next move.
As Ellie reappeared, Tamara executed a rapid switch with a large rock that her string was in contact with. Caught off guard, Ellie couldn't react in time as Tamara's powerful kick landed with a resounding snap, breaking Ellie's left arm.
Meanwhile, Agnethe, realizing the risk of growing too large and becoming an easy target for Avilius, limited her size to 30 feet and jumped to save Ellie. Jin and Cesar joined forces, accompanied by Al, who had momentarily turned his attention away from Kesha.
Avilius however was simply too fast and vicious after returning back to his specter form, he shot towards Al who was the only one who truly made him feel uneasy. He soaked his hand into his etheric shell his red liquid, instantly he was in front of Al who tried to move as fast as he could to jam his twisted knife into the specter unsure if it would even be effective.
He easily held Al's hand and crushed his bones with ease causing Al to let go of his knife then with his liquid soaked hand grabbed Al's face disintegrating him from the face first, in seconds Al turned into dust.
Kesha who was standing next to the cultivator's who followed Tamara and Avilius but where still in the physical domain of the Mortal Chasm looked away clearly bothered by the death of her old friend.
Only a chunk of his ring along with his chain and twisted knife in its entirety remained, unaffected by the Immortal's attack. This anomaly shocked Avilius, who commented on the strangeness of etheric shells surviving his assault.
Avilius's momentary distraction allowed Jin to unleash a spell he had been channeling. The skies darkened as a powerful lightning bolt descended directly onto Avilius's location. It struck him with pinpoint accuracy, leaving him no room to evade. Simultaneously, Cesar summoned a destructive wind intended to tear their adversary into pieces.
Despite the combined power of these attacks, Avilius endured the pain with clenched teeth, and they did little to no damage.
He responded with a malevolent grin, his aura brimming with palpable killing intent that sent a paralyzing wave of fear through Jin. It was an aura unlike anything Jin had ever experienced, and it left him petrified in its presence.
Avilius shot his 5 drops of red liquid towards the fear-stricken Jin. Agnethe had joined Ellie in fighting off Tamara and the 9 other cultivators, sadly they were outmatched.
Despite being outnumbered and injured Ellie kept an eye out for Avilius and the moment she saw Jin was about to be hit by the 5 drops she sent her mirror flying to defend him leaving herself open.
The 5 drops of liquid made contact with Ellie's mirror creating a loud bang as Ellie's mirror cracked but managed to reflect 2 of the drops back to Avilius. Avilius slightly impressed by Ellies mirror simply raised his worn pouch and caught both of the drops.
Ellie was now defenseless and was hit by a grayish gas that burned and choked the life out of her. Luckily Agnethe used one of her spells to make the cultivator who had attacked Ellie suffer from internal damage as her spell enlarged one of the cultivator's organs.
Despite her efforts, Ellie succumbed to her injuries and lost consciousness. Recovering his liquid Avilius dipped his hand one more time and shot to Cesar who remained as heart steady as before. He also shot towards Avilius although Cesar was much slower.
Before Avilius could end the life of Cesar a brilliant light shot from the sky in the middle of where both were supposed to meet. A figure that seemed to be one with the gentle light appeared, Cesar recognized the figure anywhere it was his beloved teacher.
Marcy Jung, Ellie's mother, arrived just in time to rescue her only disciple, Cesar. With a graceful swipe of her hand, the light that had descended with her transformed into blinding swords that shot toward Avilius, forcing the Immortal to defend himself against this powerful onslaught.
"Immortal Moonlight, I had heard rumors that your cultivation cave was somewhere around here. Shouldn't you be off toying with your little failed homunculus, what's her name, Marcy or some shit like that?" Avilius taunted, his words only audible to Cesar.
This revelation left Cesar's mind swirling with questions about the true identity of his teacher Ellie's mother, but he had no time to dwell on it. He turned his attention back to his allies Jin and Agnethe, who were struggling to fend off the nine cultivators.
Meanwhile, Tamara joined forces with Avilius in attacking Marcy, and the three of them engaged in a fierce battle.
Agnethe was the first to fall, followed by Jin, both of them nearly killed in the process. Cesar found himself alone, facing nine opponents who were delivering devastating spells, causing his blood to spill.
Amidst the chaos, Cesar realized that if he were to fall now, his teacher, Marcy, would be in grave danger.
In a sudden and eerie turn of events, all light vanished, casting the world into a deep abyss of darkness. Even Marcy and Avilius halted their battle, and an unsettling silence enveloped the surroundings.
It was as though reality itself had momentarily paused. Then, in the blink of an eye, everything returned to normal, except for one spot where Al had met his demise. A deep darkness gathered in that area, coalescing into a shadowy portal.
From within this portal emerged the twisted knife that had once belonged to Al, now transformed into the hilt of a long, dark blade. The blade emitted an aura that seemed to engulf those who gazed upon it, as if it were consuming their very essence.
Gradually, a hand encased in armor made from a substance resembling obsidian crystal emerged from the hilt. The rest of the figure followed—the arm, upper body, and eventually, a chain that wrapped around the arm and connected to the heart center in the chest.
Avilius was left speechless, unsure of how to react to this enigmatic entity that was materializing before him. He could sense that it was somehow linked to Al's etheric shell, which had seemingly escaped destruction.
He could tell that Marcy, who he called Immortal Moonlight also had no idea what exactly was going on; however, not wanting to lose their upper hand he dipped his fingers into his pouch and shot 5 drops of his red liquid towards the emerging being.
As the drops converged on their target, the figure had already fully formed—revealing itself to be Al, he was wielding the blade called Midnight Abyss.
The five drops of red liquid struck Al's armored form, causing the obsidian material to momentarily be stained red before returning to its original color. Wasting no time, Al directed Midnight Abyss toward Avilius, who was taken aback by the apparent ineffectiveness of his spell against his enemy.
Al began moving in a demonic frenzied sword dance, exuding an aura that could only be described as ominous.
In a sudden and powerful display, an obsidian pillar erupted from the ground behind Al and rocketed toward Avilius. The threat of this attack caused Avilius to expand into a massive explosive wave, prompting Marcy and Tamara to swiftly retreat to a safer distance.
Despite the self-explosion Avilius created, the pillar remained intact, the two seemed to exist in separate worlds. Al's dance continued, resulting in the growth of yet another pillar emerging from the first, hurtling toward Tamara.
Reacting quickly, Tamara tossed her string towards Kesha which forced Al to immediately shift his dance and split the pillar that was now about to impale Kesha.
As he continued his strange dance another pillar emerged from under Al's feet launching him towards the explosive that was condescending back into the specter form of Avilius.
Avilius remained unfazed by its approach, confident that his Immortal spirit form would keep him untouched. Yet, Al's intentions were not to strike Avilius with the pillar, he was aiming to sever him in two with Midnight Abyss.
Avilius after seeing his spirit unaffected by the pillar and was relatively calm, but he felt an undeniable tension, a warning from his instincts that he should avoid any contact with the ominous dark blade at all costs. Nevertheless, before he could react, Al was upon him.
Avilius quickly reacted by plunging his entire hand into his pouch, extracting the red liquid, and reaching out to grasp Al's arm, intending to halt his attack.
The liquid sizzled upon making contact with Al's obsidian armor, but it quickly dissipated. However, what happened next took Avilius by surprise: his spectral hand, immersed in the liquid, phased right through Al's armored arm.
Al's blade, Midnight Abyss, connected with Avilius's Immortal spirit, but instead of cutting, it seemed to swallow the place it made contact.
A final agonized cry erupted from Avilius as the blade cleaved through his Immortal spirit, effectively sundering him in half. The decisive blow ended Avilius's existence, and his presence on the battlefield vanished.
The air seemed to crackle with residual energy from the intense confrontation that had just transpired, and a heavy silence hung over the scene.