Warlock of War: My Ares System



My teeth clenched against the searing pain as I retaliated with a desperate roundhouse kick, catching him off balance and sending him stumbling backward. My limbs shook, and my vision blurred, but I pressed on.

The man regained his footing, his dagger poised for another attack. He came at me again, slashing toward my abdomen. With a last-minute sway, I narrowly avoided the fatal strike. And with summoning part of my remaining energy, I delivered a precise knee to his midsection, forcing the air from his lungs.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked, before seeing that sinister grin of his twist into a masochistic smile. "You pervert…" 

Now, using my last points of stamina, I flash-stepped in and seized his wrist with my right hand, the one that still had strength left. Desperation coursed through me as I fought to disarm him. Our struggle continued, slow and deliberate, my weakened body pushing to its limits. But eventually, I caved first, flopping onto my face while the man pinned his foot against the back of my head. 

"Take your foot off of her…" A feminine voice echoed through the barren wasteland of black sand. 

"You!" The demon lord blurted out in disbelief. "You… how did you kill him so quickly…" 

"What do you mean? He was weak… no more than that." 

"Ais- *cough* *cough *cough*..." I breathed yet another wheezy gasp of air. "Aisa?" 

She seemed almost ordinary at first, with long, frozen-blue hair cascading down her back like a tundra-stained waterfall and piercing, golden eyes that held an otherworldly intensity. Yet, as one looked closer, the true nature of her being began to reveal itself.

Her skin was unnaturally pale, with an icy pallor that seemed to drain the warmth from the room. It bore the subtle sheen of fine porcelain, with faint, crimson veins just visible beneath its surface, lending her an eerie, ethereal quality. Her lips, painted a deep shade of crimson, curled into a sinister, knowing smile that hinted at a hidden malevolence. Her fingers, slender and adorned with long, blood-red nails, twitched with an eerie anticipation, their nails tapering into points that glistened in the dim light.

But it was her eyes that were the most unsettling. They flickered with an unearthly fire, the pupils elongating into vertical slits that mirrored the gaze of a predatory beast. They seemed to pierce the very soul of those who dared to meet her gaze, revealing a deep, abyssal darkness within.

"[Blessing Activation]." 

As she raised her hands, the transformation began. From the tips of her fingers, an icy blue substance began to ooze, forming intricate patterns that snaked their way across her porcelain skin. These patterns coalesced into demonic symbols and grotesque, otherworldly faces, each one more terrifying than the last. The icy blue hue of her skin contrasted starkly with the crimson markings, creating an unsettling duality.

Her very form seemed to shift as if she were a vessel for malevolent entities lurking just beneath the surface. Another set of horns emerged from her forehead, curling like the twisted branches of a gnarled tree, their surfaces glistening with an icy sheen. Her once-human ears elongated into sharp, pointed tips, and her teeth sharpened into fangs that sparkled with an unnatural frost. Clawed appendages sprouted from her fingertips, their jagged edges shimmering like frozen icicles.

But then, as suddenly as the transformation had begun, it reversed itself. The demonic symbols and features that had marred her skin began to retreat, sinking back into her flesh as if absorbed by some unseen force. Her eyes returned to their human state, their malevolence replaced by a haunting sadness. The icy hue of her skin melted away, leaving her with a pale, porcelain complexion once more.

"You're out of mana yet you dare face me…" Leviathan snarled, his mood and appetite for fun immediately spoiled. 

She stood before us, a woman once more, her skin now adorned with intricate, dark tattoos that told a story of the demonic power that had briefly possessed her. It was a chilling reminder of the darkness that dwelled within, hidden just beneath the surface, waiting to be unleashed once more. 

The atmosphere surrounding us seemed to exhale in relief as the demonic aura receded, leaving behind only the memory of the supernatural spectacle that had unfolded before our eyes. A chilling sensation that had already engraved itself into the marrow of my bones. 

…

(Leviathan POV)

Something was up. It looks like she completely speed-blitzed Asmodeus when that should have been a terrible match. Asmodeus should have immediately taken her mind the moment he activated his throne world… unless hers was something different. 

She shouldn't be completely exhausted. A skill like activating her blessing, presumably from the demon god of humiliation, should not have taken that much mana. So, is she really out or is she baiting me into something?

"Fuck this reincarnation thing… if I had my previous skill set all of your stupid tricks would be revealed to me."

BUM BUM… BUM BUM… BUM BUM… BUM BUM… 

Immediately, I crossed my arms, forming an X shape that would serve as the seal to lift the restrictions on my throne world. A terrifying, horrifying, absolutely disgustingly threatening aura exuded from her. 

"Man… I thought that would work," Aisa chuckled a golden string popping into reality. It attached itself from my chest to hers. It didn't hurt, it didn't feel weird, and nothing about it felt threatening, so I began to question my own instincts. 

"What did you do…?" I questioned her, but I decided against dragging this out to try and gather more information. I had to finish her off now otherwise something bad was going to happen. "[Torrential Downpour]." 

Suddenly, an oceanic portal opened up above. Inside, a great expanse of water, teeming with ghostly aquatic monsters, transformed into a suspended, shimmering membrane, defying gravity and logic.

The spectacle was nothing short of breathtaking. The ghostly fish, once serene and graceful, had transformed into an awe-inspiring tempest of spectral beings. They descended from the suspended ocean portal above like a relentless deluge of shimmering bullets, their iridescent bodies streaking through the air with astonishing speed.

As they hurtled downward towards that little shit, the graceful moonlight played upon their ethereal forms, creating a dazzling display of radiant beauty. Each fish left behind a trail of luminous mist and swirling particles, weaving an intricate cloth of otherworldly luminescence amidst the darkness of the night.

The air was charged with palpable supernatural energy as the spectral fish closed in on their intended target. Their sheer numbers and unwavering precision gave the impression that the very laws of reality had momentarily bowed to some higher, enigmatic force, allowing this surreal rain of spectral projectiles to unfold.

It was a sight to behold, one that blurred the boundaries between reality and the mystical. The ghostly fish hailed down upon their foe with an unrelenting ferocity that left all surviving witnesses spellbound. 

"Tch… whatever…" The girl clicked her tongue, causing her energy and vibe to switch almost instantaneously. Her exhaustion immediately faded and the golden string connecting both of us snapped. "Throne World…" 

Her words caused me to tense. My muscles felt as if they had been compacted into almonds, nearly falling off the white concentrations of calcium within my body, while my bones teetered between a stretch of snapping and just straight-up disintegrating. That's how dreadful of a sensation I got. 

My ghostly aquatic helpers were being evaporated, turned into steam upon coming in contact with the woman's aura of ice. It was more like lava than anything else, but that's beside the point as her next words forced me to activate my first defense skill in so many years. 

"...Cage of The Erased Being." 

"[Scaled Penetration]." 

An intense blast of ghostly and icy aura erupted forth like a spectral tempest. It surged toward me with supernatural swiftness, a frigid gale of ethereal energy that seemed to bypass the very fabric of reality. Somehow, I had no time to react, no chance to prepare myself for what was to come.

As the ghostly and icy aura enveloped my vessel, an overwhelming chill washed over my entire being, penetrating every fiber of it. It was as if the icy grip of death itself had seized me in its relentless clutches. And within but a split second, I lost all awareness of the surrounding world, and my senses were plunged into a profound abyss of numbing emptiness.

My vision became a swirling maelstrom of icy mist and shadow, rendering me blind to the surrounding capital. The sound of the wind and the rustling of struggling citizens were muffled to a distant, haunting whisper, and the world's tangible sensations faded into a haunting void. My very thoughts seemed to freeze as if encased in an impenetrable layer of frost.

And just like that. All of my senses had been evaporated. I left nothing but an empty shell as my meager defensive skill tried to pull me back. But it was already too late… now I just had to wait for my backup plan to kick in.