"Should I even ask?" Though it was Enyo who raised the valid question, the sentiment was shared by everyone else in the room who were all somewhat curious as to why Ares was fiddling with a farmer''s scythe of all things. Granted it didn''t look like a normal scythe by any stretch of the imagination as the aura leaking off it was almost tangibly sharp. It was definitely not the kind of thing you wanted to be struck by which only raised even more questions about how Ares turned an ordinary farm implement into a weapon of this calibre.


    Ares shrugged and put the scythe away for now. "It looked like fun so I went out and traded for a few scythes with the farmers in the sect. I put some runes on it to enhance its performance and make it capable of being used as a weapon without breaking, pressurised it to give it a bit of extra spice, and merged some leftover metals from the forging department into it to make it structurally sound. It was a bit of a rush job, I''ll admit, but it still wound up being better than most ordinary scythes created explicitly for combat sooooo... Go me? Well done Ares? Random revenant one, entire weapons industry zero? I can tell by the disgusted looks on your faces that me fellating myself comes across as gloating, and you''d be one hundred percent correct! Someone has to do it!" Ares'' complete lack of remorse for his self-aggrandizing and showboating earned him a smack upside the head from a wife who did not miss having to sort this cretin out in public. She''d been relatively free from his mouthy self as of late but, now that it had seemingly returned out of nowhere, she was already feeling tired... Fortunately for her, the light signalled it was time for the match to start meaning she didn''t have to put up with Ares anymore. The opposing team could entertain him and his scythe...


    Actually, now that Enyo thought about it, was Ares expecting everyone to just stand aside and let him do whatever he wanted again? It happened once for valid reasons but Enyo had no plans on letting it happen again. She was the captain of this team and she wasn''t going to let it turn into the Ares show. Granted he wasn''t doing it to stroke his ego or anything but that didn''t mean she would go easy on this aevysquall lot so he could mess around with his weapon; there were other ways and other places to train. If he really wanted some experience he could go with Aejaz on one of Hans'' missions. She would let Ares play with one opponent during this match and that was it. She wasn''t going to steal his kill but she wasn''t going to let him take anyone else''s either. The rest of the team wanted to compete too and there weren''t many chances left for them to do so. In fact this might even realistically be the last chance for them. After this it was Aejaz'' time to shine against his family and then it would be a fundamental showdown. It''s not like any of the other team members could really intervene in the Mako vs Ares match without getting obliterated immediately. Now Ares would use their sacrifice to his advantage and win handily but at that point the match would just be a boring, spectacles-less, predictable, show match and nothing more. In a situation where it didn''t make any meaningful difference Enyo was willing to let Ares hog the spotlight but today? Nope, not happening. Ares had a lifetime to learn the scythe, a scythetime if you will, if he really wanted to and he could stumble about trying to wield it when he started going off on his adventures. Although she didn''t blame him for not remembering, due to the lacking competition, this was still a tournament and not a playground. Enyo knew how to handle a revenant and so she would keep Ares in check!


    Enyo explained all of this to Ares by yanking him by the ear and whispering it all to him succinctly before they entered the arena. She expected Ares to show some resistance but he just went along with it like a good little mutt and Enyo breathed a sigh of relief. Ares wasn''t stubborn often but, when he was, convincing him to change his mind was like trying to move a mountain... Which was ironic because Enyo herself was referred to as the ''stoic mountain'' and she used to be even more stubborn than him. Enyo had gotten a taste of her own medicine after putting up with Ares bull-headedness on several occasions but she wasn''t too fussed. Again, it was rare behaviour from Ares and it tended not to be anything major. Even if it was Enyo trusted him to be stubborn about making the correct decision anyway so it was mostly minor squabbles that arose from his boredom that caused Enyo grief. Things like not wanting to leave the cultivation room... Which was funny because he detested entering the cultivation room more than practically anything else. He got sucked into his cultivating and removing him from it was actually rather difficult whenever he was on a spree of enlightenment.


    Ares had been pretty dedicated to pressurising his weapons, learning divine sense, and increasing his cultivation and nothing was going to stop him. Ares mocked Mako for it but he wasn''t much different. Very much a pot calling the kettle black kind of deal. To be fair though, most cultivators were like this as, sometimes, interrupting any progress would set it back or even reset it. People didn''t want to take the risk usually and would get quite annoyed if they were pestered into stopping. That''s not to be confused with the type of situation Enyo was thinking about, however. There were times when Ares was clearly getting tired of being in the room, and not actively doing anything, but he was still reluctant to leave in case he had a light bulb moment and could dive back into his work. Enyo kept trying to argue it was better for him to just go back to bed and get some rest but he was obstinate... Now did it help that he assumed Enyo wanted him in the bed for a different reason entirely 90% of the time? No, not at all, and Enyo was definitely partially to blame for that well-founded expectation, but it wasn''t always true! Sometimes she was just a caring wife who wanted her husband to take a break and cuddle comfortably with her and Blo Blo, maybe even spend some time with Appa too while he was at it. Yes he had important duties and a whole world to save but he had time and a lot of it to boot. He would spend hundreds of millions of years cultivating and a lot of it would pass in the blink of an eye, he could spare nine or so hours to sleep here and there for his own sake. To that end, the pleasure pillar mental art she was learning, the one Ares was aware existed but didn''t know the details of, actually had nothing to do with anything remotely lewd. It just allowed the ''victim'' to be peacefully put to sleep and have a pleasant, refreshing rest. Yes Enyo was still the sex pest of the family but it''s not like the Legion side of her vanished or anything. She saw her husband working tirelessly for the sake of his family and she wanted to help, that was all... Even if he did require a good smacking every now and then for his stupidity but, hey, that was part of why she loved him. Even idiots have their charms.


    The Red Sun team entered to the sound of many cheers as public perception of the team had exponentially improved after the last match. Sure Ares was still a bit of a divisive figure to some, given his past actions, but, as was expected, it was hard to root against one of the tournament favourites. Some people cared more about cheering for the likely winner than upholding any kind of moralistic integrity. It might have been ''wrong'' but, when Ares potentially won the whole tournament they would be proven ''right'' in their choice of who to support. Also, there where a lot of people with bets on the Red Sun team to whom Ares was like a gift from God. He went from a lazy, piggybacking cretin that didn''t show up to a one man army that rocked the entire coliseum whenever he raised a finger in their eyes. Enyo was the captain, and generally the most appreciated member of the team as she was both incredibly strong, beautiful, and morally sound thanks to her status as a Legion member, but Ares was a dark horse in terms of popularity. He''d crept up on her and now had his own fan group who revelled in the stories of his antics from during the regionals and nationals. He was the right kind of chaotic neutral that tickled their fancy so, although it seemed unlikely at the start of the tournament, there were people here that appreciated the kind of person Ares was. His brazenness made him into the heel of the tournament as far as some were concerned. There was no better fit for the role than Ares, at least.


    As the aevysquall team entered they too received support from the crowd. Anyone who made it to this point in the tournament was guaranteed to be shown at least the bare minimum respect and the shouts coming from the Akarala supporters were much louder than everyone else''s... Again, these fellows were mostly partially deaf and so their borderline screeching was understood to be a result of that. Of course the people sitting next to these lot had it rough but a lot of them had pre-empted this situation, as it wasn''t their first rodeo with this issue during the tournament, and had come equipped with ear muffs or arts that temporarily reduced their hearing capabilities. Those in sensory enhancement could also turn the volume down a little if they put some effort into learning that neat little trick. Still, even with the deaf Akaralans going above and beyond with their cheers, it paled in comparison to the support everyone had shown the Red Sun team. There was a clear distinction between the underdog and the favourites that didn''t need to be explained.


    Lex had to resist the urge to glare at Ares lest he ruin his public image any further. He was lucky to even be here officiating the match given the circumstances but the C.O evidently deemed it to be less problematic if they kept him on. Removing him from his post would come across as a tacit admission of his wrong doings so maintaining a firm stance on this, and asserting there was no evidence, was the best for everyone involved. When it came down to it, they would investigate properly and openly declare no evidence of wrongdoing existed even if the truth ran contrary to that declaration. They would simply punish him in private as airing their dirty laundry wasn''t going to do them any favours. This was the most effective method to getting people to calm down about the mess Ares exposed. He''d walked up to their organisation and pulled away the rug covering the faeces on their doorstep and now everyone knew why their organisation stunk to high heaven. All those gut feelings had been circumstantially proven correct and that was enough for some people who needed no further proof. Although a lot of people were mad about Lex still being here the number of upset people would only grow if they swapped him out as then the C.O would have to deal with calls to be replaced entirely. There were other international organisations that operated in a similar fashion but the C.O had gotten their slice of the pie earlier and could therefore cut out a bigger stake of the industry. Acknowledging wrong doing would lead to standing down and that would cause a loss of standing and reputation. Every one of their competitors was chomping at the bit and wouldn''t hesitate to throw them under the bus in a bid to steal their place. The C.O didn''t condone Lex''s actions, absolutely not, but they were in too awkward a position to openly condemn him either.


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    As for Lex, although he made a concerted effort not to look in Ares direction, he couldn''t help but peek at him just once. He wanted to snarl at him but was worried he would be caught, which would be a massive point of contention later on when he was inevitably investigated for what was going to happen today after the match. Here the C.O was trying to cover for this fool''s ass and yet he was about to conveniently let a bunch of assassins ''sneak'' into the arena and kill a contender. He''d so boldly declared near the start of the international that would-be assassins would have to ''get through him'' but the guy was practically willing to be a sieve at this point if it meant seeing Ares drop dead! He had a whole host of reasons, none of which made any logical sense but, then again, he was a cultivator. Cultivators didn''t need their reasons for wanting another person dead to be valid, they just needed to be personal enough, and evoke a strong enough sense of injustice to the individual no matter how warped or twisted, and then their qualms became actionable even if the measures taken were objectively horrific or despicable. This guy had all sorts of thoughts running through his head like, ''Ares doesn''t deserve Enyo, I do'', ''it''s his fault I was caught'', and ''I should have the fundamental pillar not him''. Basically 9/10ths jealousy and 1/10th anger at having been exposed for the kind of asshole he truly is. Nothing that actually warranted anything he was planning but that was just cultivation society in a nutshell. It wasn''t about who was wrong or right but rather about who had what the other person wanted and whether it could be forcibly taken or not.


    Although Lex had to keep his emotions and facial gestures in check, Ares had no such restrictions and openly gave the guy a middle finger to his face. The crowd cheered instead of booing which made clear the public''s resentment for this guy. Even if people didn''t choose to actively complain about him or the C.O that didn''t mean they didn''t have feelings on the matter, most of which were very negative. Lex kissed his teeth before ignoring the pesky rodent and waiting for every one of the competitors to get in line. As soon as they did he wasted no time in starting the match because what came after was what really excited him. He would get to see Ares skewered and murdered in public in front of family, friends, and loved ones. He could, consequence free, smirk at him as Ares died a slow and isolated death so, the sooner the match started, the sooner the match finished, and the sooner Ares'' life was ended...


    Ended* with an asterisk. He was a revenant so, regrettably, as far as Lex was concerned, the nuisance would return one day. There was no avoiding it and Lex had been immeasurably disappointed when he found out but all hope was not lost. While Ares was dead, and being born anew while wasting precious time, Lex could destroy his life by dealing with each of his family members one by one outside the public eye. By the time Ares came back everything would be gone or taken and then Lex could lock him up and keep him hidden away in a torture chamber which, depending on how he looked at it, was maybe even a better result than just ending him outright. Ares could suffer forever like that. All Lex needed to do was avoid alerting the massive threat that was Calla and was good to go. What made Lex think he could do that was unknown but he was definitely wrong regardless. He didn''t understand the difference between him and any one of the matriarchs but that was just how deep his ignorance ran. Him going up against a matriarch, and every tool at her disposal throughout the entire clan, was like a mortal trying to put up a fight against a transition realm cultivator with an army of sensory enhancement and bloodline awakening cultivators at their beck and call. Fighting, hiding, and running were all impossible so Lex was deluded if he thought otherwise. Though delusions of grandeur was why he was doing this to begin with so his illogical logic was painfully consistent through and through.


    Both teams lined up and were caught off guard by how quickly Lex started the match with a wave of his hand. Even the people responsible for blowing the horn were taken aback and needed a second to catch up because this guy was going way off script. Protocol dictated he was to give eye contact with the horn blowers so they knew he was about to commence the start of the fight but that evidently not been on his mind this time for whatever reason. The horn blowers rushed to do their job and, a second or two later...


    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


    Ares and co were a little baffled by this start as they weren''t sure if the hand wave or the horn was the correct start signal. They were usually co-ordinated to happen at the same time so this was rather off-putting. The other team had made their move after Lex swung his hand so they were already picking up the talisman by the time the Red Sun team made any kind of movement after the horn. The crowd was incredibly unhappy with this development but, for what it was worth, it''s not like this would affect how the match played out over the next minute or so. Let''s face it, the aevysquall team was going to die. There wasn''t much contention on this point and everyone knew it, the aevys included. This wasn''t the Umbra vs Legion match where the talisman nearly made all the difference, this was going to be a one-sided massacre. Point in case...


    Splat


    Enyo had already killed the foe opposite her by slamming a barrier down onto their head. The poor aevy had made an effort to take to the sky and gain an aerial advantage but, after the match against Hawkins, Enyo was hyper vigilant for this type of manoeuvre and squashed the plan before it could grow wings. She had more tools in her arsenal now and a flying enemy wasn''t the issue it was before but Enyo had no reason to let her opponent do whatever they wanted when ending the fight quicker was her only real goal. Cultivate, develop arts, spend time with family. Any and all of these things were more enjoyable than being pit against weak foes who couldn''t hold their own against her. She''d come to this arena, showed up and blasted away her rival in a second flat, pun intended, and now what? This match was utterly pointless and she believed that down to her core so she wasted no time in ending this waste of time.


    Similar sights were to be seen around the rest of the arena as everyone else on the team were taking out their foes with ease, quickly and efficiently. Aejaz had stabbed his opponent within seconds of the match starting and the guy hadn''t even seen it coming. Li Li ducked and weaved through some magic and broke a woman''s jaw before punching straight through her gut and killing her in a messy but seamless fashion. Esme was way more powerful than the aevysquall squaring up against her so a few arts later she''d soundly overwhelmed her opponent, tearing them to shreds and blood ribbons amidst multiple tornados. The aevysquall team was decently strong but were babies compared to the hulking giants that were on the Red Sun team. Esme and Li Li had a pretty massive glowup since the start of the tournament due to their extensive training with Sadie. Ares, Aejaz, and Enyo had also helped improve these two by leaps and bounds as competing against one another during training was worth its weight in gold. Everyone had expected this outcome but nobody was really prepared for how much of a massacre it had been and how fast the Akarala team fell apart. Yes Enyo could just wipe them all out simultaneously but, when she started focussing on a single member of the team, the spectators believed the fight might go on for a bit longer. They thought Enyo was showing respect but it was a very different story unfolding right now as it was more so a case that she just didn''t have to bother because her team had everything under control...


    And yet, despite four of the five team members having perished, the match hadn''t ended yet... Everyone looked over, unsure of why the dust hadn''t settled, and saw Ares sparring with his opponent in normal fashion. It wasn''t an even fight but it wasn''t as drastic a beating as everyone assumed it would be. Upon closer inspection it even became apparent that Ares had almost no idea what he was doing with his weapon which was incredibly embarrassing for the Akarala supporters. It was hard to believe an amateur was so talented he could stumble around with a weapon and be this much better than his opponent so a lot of the blame fell squarely on the head of the poor guy fending Ares off for somehow being worse. That wasn''t actually the case, and a lot of expert cultivators throughout the coliseum could see that, as what was really happening here was far more devious.


    Ares was training.


    Ares was using unquestionably the biggest cultivation tournament throughout the domain like a training ground and an opponent of high calibre as a training dummy. Yes his moves weren''t atrocious but they weren''t experienced. He was clearly someone who knew what he had to do but had never done it before. His weapon wielding was, contrary to what the weaker members of the crowd saw in him, pretty extraordinary. These experts in the stands could tell it was his first time holding a scythe and yet there was a sort of weird comprehensions he held for the weapon that enabled him to maintain a steady offensive and a solid defensive whenever necessary. There was no profoundness in his moves but there were no gaps either. It was plain but it worked faultlessly. Being able to do something like this was honestly amazing but it was also the sort of thing not many people would be able to appreciate. Going out of your comfort zone and maintaining this degree of superiority was showcasing to the world just how much of a prodigy you were without directly saying it. What was even more fantastic to these people was the rate at which Ares was getting cosy with the weapon, its weight, and the handling of it. Some of the spectators had given scythes a go at some point in their life and, although it rarely if ever was to their tastes, these people had given it a noteworthy attempt and learnt a lot from the ground up. And yet... If this match kept going for even another minute or so, Ares would have overtaken them in terms of proficiency with the weapon. He''d spent no more than ten seconds on it and was already rapidly closing in on their level of talent which was utterly mind blowing. Once more, Ares was single-handedly demonstrating the fact that fundamentals were just a different breed of existence. It had been made well-known that Ares was responsible for gearing up his sect so this kid was an unrivalled cultivator, caster of arts, pressure wielder, runemancer, forger, weapons expert, cook (this rumour had also spread), and womaniser!... Ok that last one was a miscommunication regarding some previous incidents around town with Enyo but, other than that, the assumptions were correct! Ares was just flat out incredible and, down in the arena, his opponent was experiencing that first hand...