After hopping out of the Elliot, Ares used his divine sense to scout the dust cloud but came up short. Normally he would have gotten a sneak peek at the being who caused this mess but scattering sparks were interfering with his attempts and he had to give up as there was nothing he could do from this far away. He'd been given a rough description of each of the guardians, so knew roughly what to expect, but it was still somewhat surprising that Kelo-Koloko here had such strong elemental affinities. It could control just about every known element and each of which to a high degree. Being able to deny Ares' divine sense, even if he wasn't imbuing it with pressure, annihilation magic, or Echoes, was pretty impressive in its own right. That wasn't even the primary purpose of the sparks either as they were merely gathering in order to form the basis for a magical beam, a surge of explosive power. After missing the dive Kelo-Koloko was wasting no time in launching a secondary attack while the group was still clumped up. Ares was the only one outside the Elliot so blasting the vehicle into smithereens would net the guardian a much easier time n cleaning up what remained of this group afterwards. The guardians were all at the peak of the transition realm, and possessed appropriate power for their ranks, but what that really meant is that they also could be considered highly intelligent. Some could speak human languages but, more importantly, they knew how to assess battles on a per-combat basis. Attacking Ares' group from the get-go with immensely destructive power to thin the numbers was undeniably correct... For the most part. Unfortunately for Kelo-Koloko it was being highly aggressive against a caravan filled with defensively capable cultivators.
Enyo alone could stop the soon-to-be-charged beam of electrical wrath but Bellona was also more than capable of turning down the wattage with her Measurement Manipulation too. The one who took action first, though, was Sandy as she stepped out of the Elliot with her fellahin juggernaut ensemble, her fight gear, and commanded the grassy plains around her to become sand. Her gesture, a small wave of the hand, was lazy. Her attitude and demeanour was that of a superior being who didn't put in the effort because they knew they didn't have to in order to reach the desired outcome and she was right. Grass, green and fresh as can be, disintegrated at the roots and became flickers of ever dulling dust particles that hovered in the air. These specks of dust became an ashen brown before slowly brightening up into a more yellow / gold hue, all the while the ground underfoot cracked and withered like it had been subjected to the scorching sun for hundreds of years straight. They say 'where there's a will, there's a way', and with no individual was that statement truer than with Sandy as her elemental prowess was second to none in the lower domains. At the mere existence of her will, the entire environment around her would capitulate, becoming her favoured form for her own personal benefit. A small desert cropped up, roughly a mile or so in diameter, and was looking eager to spread ever further. Had Sandy deemed it necessary she could maybe have transformed this plain as far as the eye, or divine sense, could see. There were limits to her power, especially when another who was capable of transforming the environment actually fought back and prevented this, but the guardian was an expect in wielding the elements, not necessarily manipulating them. Kelo-Koloko could gather abundant mana in the air with ease, it was like a mana magnet, but it's technical prowess when it came to shaping that mana was lacking. In a sense, it was much like Ares previously before he gained some control over his destruction magic. All power, no finesse. To that end, Sandy was an impressive mix of both. She could summon a city-devouring tide of sand and then shape it into a castle built upon the ruins of destroyed civilisation all in one fell swoop.
Before the dust surrounding Kelo-Koloko settled, a sharp buzz and crackle sounded from the crater caused by the guardian's reckless descent and a colossal stream of electrical energy shot out in the form of a beam. It flew straight and true, rotating and streaking towards the Elliot at a rate that made it little more than a hair-raising blur for most. The sand beneath wherever it travelled was gauged and made hollow, earth was carved out in the shape of a semi circle and lingering charge turned the sandy half-pipe into a tunnel of rampaging kinetic energy. Stood opposite the incoming beam, however, was an unphased Sandy who spoke not a single word and commanded the rise of a dome of protective sand around the Elliot to shield all those within. Right from the get go, electrical attacks faced an uphill battle against an expert in earthen type magic and arts. Sand was an extension of the very ground that electricity abhorred and that was precisely why Sandy, who detected the static in the air before she even caught sight of it, stepped out so bravely with no hesitation. She believed it to be her duty to stand tall here and negate the incoming danger and she was correct. Had she not been out any sooner Ares would have called to her regardless as she was the most fitting to endure this initial onslaught. Yes Enyo and Bellona could have dealt with it too but why force them to waste extra mana when Sandy could dismiss the danger personally for less? This was the kind of decision Ares wanted them to be making without his input and, naturally, things played out perfectly without his intervention. They weren't amateurs, making these decisions in the heat of the moment wasn't impossible for them or anything, Ares just wanted then to make these calls and choices faster. The reason Sandy didn't hop pout of the Elliot before anyone could blink was because she wasn't used to this predicament. As the head of the fellahin back in Xasca, she was expected to do everything herself. It didn't matter if she was suited for the type of defensive magic needed to keep her fellow fellahin safe, she had to step up and do it regardless. Now, though, with others around her, each capable in their own right, she had to make snap judgements about who was the best suited and the answer would no longer always be her just by virtue of talent alone. Having others to rely on had thrown her for a loop briefly and clouded her mind. She was still a fantastic powerhouse, obviously, and made the right decision in time but this was exactly what Ares wanted her to experience. After all, Ares had been in the same position once with Aejaz. Learning to let him steal things, as he became objectively better at it after a short while of practicing his magic back when they were kids, didn't come easy. Habits built up in solitude are little more than inefficient selfishness when introduced to group and social scenarios; learning to change those habits took time.
As for Sandy's impenetrable dome, it hardly looked the part. It was hastily built, relatively small compared to the incoming beam which was at least four times larger, and, well, made of sandy obviously. None of the above conjured an image of something impenetrable but Ares, who'd seen Enyo's thin barriers that could block a meteor before, knew better than to judge based on looks alone. Sandy could have summoned something larger, there was nothing stopping her, but she held back to conserve mana she didn't need to spend. If she judged this to be sufficient to block the beam then she was probably right. She'd paused briefly before raising it in order to judge what the correct response was, and perhaps also somewhat so out of shock that the outside world was so dangerous, but she wasn't the type to be haphazard when it came to others safety so, if anything, this was probably still erring on the side of overkill. In fact this was proven to be true when all Ares heard was a dull thud strike the dome from the outside and little else. The ground did not quake, the walls did not shake, the dome did not break. It was entirely possible to confuse that noise earlier for a curious passer by knocking on the dome to see if anyone was home and yet, when it was lowered afterwards, the carnage in the area not protected by the dome spoke volumes about the intensity of the attack. The Elliot had become a sort of focal point, standing proud on raised ground while a 'V' shape canyon had been ripped out of the earth in front of it. The electrical beam had split off the dome and barreled on around it, ripping and tearing into the background and felling large chunks of trees off in the distance. The forest area connected to the plains, leading into new territory that Ares had been so close to reaching without dealing with this guardian, lay in tatters. It was a smoky pile of wood debris, burning trees, and charred greenery. Two distinct lines of chaos from one beam split into two by the immovable shield Sandy conjured. An attack so devastating it might have been able to kill Ares had he taken it head on without doing anything and yet it was nothing more than a small ripple in a pond to Sandy who held the elemental advantage, the advantage in mastery over her magic, and the advantage of raw power too. A three peat win and not something the guardian could do much about other than lament.
But did that mean Kelo-Koloko was going to give up? Run away? Count itself out of the fight? Not at all. So what if electrical attacks weren't going to be particularly productive? It had an arsenal of elements on its side and this was merely the beginning. Akarala's guardians were not to be trifled with, all six of them combined would be an unmatched force across Sheryashka for the most part. If it weren't for the fact that they were content with their land here on this continent they could have banded together and taken over the world long before Ares was even born if they so desired. Now, though? Now they were being given a run for their money by the next generation of cultivators and Kelo-Koloko was forced to reveal its presence, rise from the dust cloud, and take to the skies. To call it majestic was perhaps an understatement but not for a reason one might expect. The big bird hovering in the sky was hardly normal, at least not below the neck it wasn't. The head was precisely what you'd think of when imaging a fairly stereotypical condor, there was nothing out of the ordinary there and it was evenly proportioned to the rest of the body... But the rest of the body, from wing to wing, was built brick by brick. Kelo-Koloko was an entirely natural spawn of the world, not born of parents but rather of mana and eons of tributes, so it took the form of what could only be described as a 'Rubix cube'. Ares only knew of these thanks to Kya running off to go purchase one and show his clone over in the Pagoda but it was incredibly apt to what he was seeing right about now. Elementally infused bricks, colourful and constantly rotating, formed the body of this guardian and they were all in sync with one another. Arguably the guardian's greatest weakness was that each of these bricks would give away the element it was preparing to strike with as, in order to use said element, the bricks needed to align with its intentions. Should it wish to summon a frosty gale, with 'frost' as the emphasis, about seventy percent of the bricks would need to rotate so that the light blue side faced the front while the remaining thirty percent faced their emerald green side forward as well. These bricks were like conduits, they connected the body and the meridians within the guardian while acting as amplifiers for the elements Kelo-Koloko summoned. Currently, its body was predominantly yellow with only a few splashes of green. The former coloured bricks were what charged the electrical beam earlier while the latter were the green bricks used to speed up its crash towards the Elliot at the start of the encounter. In other words, that electrical magic displayed just now wasn't quite the strongest level of art the guardian could muster but it was relatively close as far as uni-elemental magic went. Of course where the real hazards lay where in the combinations of elements that the guardian could wield freely but it went to show that Kelo-Koloko could unleash equivalent power to that beam in the form of other elements too and that was worth keeping an eye out for. The electrical approach failed due to the existence of Sandy but a snowstorm of that power, for instance, would require a very different solution. Ares had plenty of cold-nullifying tools but he wasn't taking part so what then? Enyo's barriers prevented physical harm but wouldn't stop the sheer cold from breaching the defences and freezing these within and the same was true of Sandy. In such a case Bellona would have to play with the thermostat, so to speak, and come to everyone's rescue. Ares hadn't intended for Kelo-Koloko to be such a perfect punching bag for his party but it was shaping up to be a nuisance that required teamwork and effort despite not being individually stronger than most of the people riding the Elliot.
Decent power, incredible versatility. That was Kelo-Koloko and Ares nodded his head, thinking it definitely deserved its title. This guardian, ominously floating in the sky, rotating and shifting its body to create an elemental onslaught of its desire, was the embodiment of what variety cultivators should strive to become. Minus the capacity for incredible illusions and trickery, Kelo-Koloko could be thought of as a superior Onno. This monster could probably take on the zombie Ares fought back in the sect depending on the terrain and circumstances and that was no small praise. Barring any Sevorus experiments and / or inventions, currently Kelo-Koloko held the crown for 'strongest thing Ares had seen on his journey'. He couldn't help but give it a clap in acknowledgement but it perhaps seemed hollow given the fact that powerhouse after powerhouse were currently stepping out of the Elliot beside him. Kelo-Koloko's body was sturdy, it's magic was strong, it could fly, and it was highly adaptable. It was the perfect all-rounded being but so what? Not a single person it was about to fight was an all-rounder, each of them were highly niche in their specialties, and it was pretty clear who would come out on top. Not having a trick up your sleeve in the cultivation world wouldn't cut it most of the time. It wasn't unviable, the guardian making it this far in life was proof of that, but it wouldn't make life any easier once the real experts started cropping up and disturbing your peace. Practicing one hundred punches once a day was great but the guy practiced one punch a hundred times a day would kill you before you knew what hit you. Ideally you would do a bit of both but if you were only competent enough to pick and devote your tie to one the latter was almost always 'better'. Cheaper, debatably, as it ended the fight before it even really begun, and failing to deliver that killer blow would be a lethal failure, but playing fair and fighting evenly was a myth in this universe. Though Kelo-Koloko was a tough customer Bellona was arguably its arch-nemesis. The elements were all measurable; they had all been studied for centuries for multiple purposes but also namely prevention. To prevent natural disasters or, at least, forewarn of them. To that end, measuring the scale of a tornado, the scale of an earthquake, the scale of a volcanic eruption, the scale of a snowstorm, etc... All meant Bellona was this guardian's nightmare. No matter which element it picked Bellona was like the weather forecaster who could evacuate everyone safely but she went above and beyond in that regard by dampening the incoming danger. Not having any magic besides the elements meant Kelo-Koloko went from a dominant opponent to being on the back foot unquestionably. It was squaring up to put up a fight for the ages but Bellona, more so than anyone else here, wasn't particularly interested. She would much rather be watching a film but, then again, this was a rare chance to let loose a little and use her magic so she wasn't complaining. If anything, by the end of the fight, it would be Kelo-Kolko complaining about how unfair the match-up was as it definitely favoured 'supportive' tomboy... Though she only ever really supported Ares, she much preferred 'supporting' herself and killing her opposition personally...
With a sharp cry, the guardian analysed the line-up of foes and made the choice to turn half its body green and the other half a fiery red. The bricks spun at a measured pace and the mana in the air swirled. The mana brought a hot breeze, capable of drying a person's throat and leaving them begging for water, that congregated into a red tornado, blazing across the sand. The firestorm was big and slow but loud and dangerous. The creeping burning sensation as it drew ever nearer to the group showed just how high the heat surrounding it was and that it would burn everyone alive before it even touched them directly. Ares expected Bellona to deal with this, at least partially by either removing the heat or slowing down the wind, but to his surprise, and admittedly slight agitation, a water magic appeared out of thin air and collided with the tornado. The tornado of fire was met head on by a tornado of water and the two clashed as steam and vapour spread every which way. Initially Ares thought that maybe Bellona did something, she was experimenting with carrying around a flash of water she could fling at people and then double repeatedly to create a small tsunami. She was also experimenting with other elemental vials like this so she was the prime suspect for what had just transpired. Ares soon realised, however, that he'd been conned! "Aejaz, you little roach, give me back my enabler!" Yes, that was right, Aejaz had stolen the Deep Blue Ares was wearing and used that to nullify the tornado with an elemental advantage. Sneaky wretch! Ares couldn't deny his tactic, it was resourceful undeniably, but it felt wrong! Ares was trying to remain uninvolved, so he never would have willingly borrowed the enabler despite how useful it would be against fire attacks, but it was forcibly 'Relocated' while he wasn't paying attention! Ares kissed his teeth and covered himself in a layer of disintegration magic to prevent any further thievery-based shenanigans. Taking the enabler was fine, Aejaz earned it, but destruction magic was too much! Aejaz was probably aware he would only successfully steal once from Ares and he made his choice accordingly. He took the water pillar enabler which was easily the most useful thing on Ares' person right now, second only to either his Brotherhood robes, which he would have noticed the steal attempt on, or his Scaled Insulator to negate the cold. The latter options were really only good enough for the individual wearing them so he took the team player route and went for the treasure that countered flame magic instead. It meant snow and cold magic was still in the cards as a threat but this was still the most useful path for him right now. Clever but annoying! Ares had to remind himself to keep a watchful eye out around this guy... He could forcefully take the enabler back but he'd been swindled fair and square so Aejaz could enjoy his win and beat back the fire tornado with his spoils of war.
And beat back the tornado he did. Though Aejaz wasn't as experienced with the Deep Blue as he was with the Prowler, which he borrowed far more often, and he didn't even use an art, he was still able to halt the incoming firestorm in its tracks. Bellona had lent him a hand by increasing the size of the water tornado but it was still mostly his victory and so he was looking quite smug right now... Ares was definitely going to find more parrots to irk him with later... But right now the most irate person was actually Kelo-Koloko. It hadn't been firing peanuts at people, these were highly destructive magics it was tossing around! No arts had been used as of yet, sure, but an average cultivator, even an average group of transition realm cultivators, would have been felled by this point! It understood it was gong to have to go all out but it wasn't happy about it. The guardians occasionally got into fights with each other and it didn't want to be weekend right now in case its neighbouring guardian got aggressive after learning it had exhausted itself. Alas, it had picked this fight so this was the consequences of its own actions. Of course it refused to be self aware enough to acknowledge that so, instead, it was looking to take out its anger on the group before it. The real fight started now.