Time had passed a fair bit and it was finally the morning of the Umbra and Mako match. It wasn''t an important match per se, as the result was painfully obvious without even needing to go and spectate, but you never know, maybe the Umbras could put up a fight even if only a mediocre one? It remained to be seen but right now Ares was struggling to get out of bed. He wasn''t tired or anything, Enyo was just being a real hassle today and not letting him go at all. She pestered him regularly but she was like a cat in heat this morning for some strange reason and just couldn''t retract her claws, constantly digging into him and having her fun. At this rate, Ares was going to be a little late to the match but there was little he could do. Enyo wasn''t buying any of his excuses nor was she open to the idea of him tying her up because she was well aware he would just leave her like that and walk away. It wasn''t the first time he''d done it! Fool Enyo once, shame on you, fool her twice, shame on her. And let''s just say that nobody fools Enyo twice in the same way! As for Bellona, she was trying her damnedest to ignore the ongoing nonsense behind her but struggling so she got out of bed and went to go hunt for food in the fridge instead. Sleeping in the room with these two was great and all, and there was a lot of soft and warm flesh to hug on to most nights, but the mornings with Enyo jumping on Ares were the worst! In order to try and avoid it, Bellona even opted to take the brunt of Enyo''s attack by swapping places with Ares and lying in the middle of the bed but Enyo would just clamber over her to get to what she really wanted. Bellona could wrestle with her for a while but Enyo''s stubbornness could move mountains and so it was just delaying the inevitable really.
Yet more time passed and now Ares was starting to wonder if he was going to be late to the match. He''d never taken this long to get ready and leave the sect so he very well might miss a minute or two of the match at this rate and Enyo still showed no signs of slowing down. Either she didn''t know what time it was, and had gotten completely lost in her bull-riding, or she knew but didn''t even give a crap and was perfectly fine with skipping the match today. It was probably the former but there was a non-zero chance it was the latter and Ares didn''t really mind obliging if that were the case. It didn''t seem to be the latter option, however, as Enyo eventually realised that she''d been riding high for quite some time now as she was starting to feel hungry. She tilted her head cutely as if she''d just confused herself before looking down at Ares and asking him what time it was as her stomach rumbled. She hadn''t eaten anything the entirety of yesterday because she''d been busy cultivating and forgot to come out for food. She didn''t really need it but had gotten so used to Ares feeding her that her body was grumbling now that the routine had been altered. To that end, she wasn''t even really asking if they were late to the tournament match right now, she was asking if it was lunch time. Even though she could tell if Ares was lying thanks to her bloodline, if he said ''not that late'' right now she would just take that as sign it was ok to keep going and doing her own thing. She wasn''t that hungry and had completely forgotten about the tournament... Honestly, what a silly woman she could be sometimes. Ares nodded his head at the window, through which the sun was shining rather clearly, and Enyo got the hint. She hopped off him, gave him a quick kiss downstairs and upstairs, and went into the bathroom to go have a shower all but confirming that Ares would be late to the party but not absent. He could maybe try Voidwalking there, and he might make it in the nick of time, but he felt it was unneeded. He could just get a rundown of what he''d missed when he arrived as the fight ought not to have gotten too far underway as of yet. He joked about it only taking a minute or two for Mako to win but the Umbras where strong in their own right! They wouldn''t fold before Mako just like that presumably.
Ares got up and followed Enyo into the shower. This was a risky choice, as it was entirely possible she''d get worked up again, but it ended up being fine as she restrained herself. It seemed like she''d remembered the tournament now that she''d cooled off and was actually going to go and watch it instead of hiding out here at home all day long. Not that there was anything wrong with that, if she wanted to have some lazy days that was perfectly acceptable. Blo Blo had been having more than just a few as of late as she attempted to get better at the board games that had been brought to the house. She was starting to get kinda consistent at monopoly but chess was definitely not her kinda game. She never bothered to learn anything and just moved pieces pretty much at random with no rhyme or reason other than raw intuition. She would use her head a bit in the mid game but only after she''d already screwed herself sideways with poor decisions earlier that didn''t need to be made. Her best bet for beating Ares, even though it had never happened and probably never would, was to just cheat! She''d swiped a few pieces off the board with her magic when Ares ''wasn''t'' looking'' but that hadn''t helped her win yet. Of course Ares found this particularly cute and so he allowed it to happen once or twice a match... Apart from the one time she stole his king, that one couldn''t be ignored!
After the shower, Ares went into the living room to find Bellona eating some milk and cereal and asked her if she wanted to tag along for the match. It seemed the answer was a ''no'' as her bubble tea stock was running low and she wanted to replenish it. Plus she was looking to make a bunch of them in advance for when she and Enyo left for the Grecian lands as it might be hard to make them there. Well maybe anyway, Bellona had no idea what kind of hospitality was afforded to a disgraced Legion member like her so she would just have to wait and see. Then again, she would likely just be in the same room as Enyo, and she was going to be treated like a Goddess in the flesh, so it wouldn''t be too bad. Ares had no one else left to ask as everyone else had already left. The Aejaz lot wanted to be there for the start of the match and didn''t wait around for slowpoke Ares so they took off and had Appa tag along with them. Appa wanted to see the matriarchs again and be passed around like a pillow of marshmallow, getting hugged from every which direction, so it hopped aboard Lacy''s shoulder and rode her all the way to the coliseum. That meant it was just Ares and Enyo walking alone through the relatively quiet city after they left the sect.
Everyone was either indoors or at the tournament so it was pretty dead right now in Red Sun, making it a perfect opportunity for lurking bandits to rob the pretty lady standing beside Ares!.. And they were all arrested promptly after. Enyo just summoned barrier after barrier and locked them up, dragged them to the nearest guard, and handed them over without a fuss. Apparently this had become a more common occurrence for Enyo now that she wasn''t wearing her helmet twenty four seven and her efficiency in dealing with crime had skyrocketed. The fact that it was coming to her now wasn''t really all that surprising but it was convenient so there were no complaints to be made about it. Eventually the duo arrived outside the coliseum but a few people were already leaving and they happened across a rather strange person. Not strange in that the person was odd in any way but rather strange in that it was unusual for them to even be here right now as they should have had a match going on!
"Mako? What are you doing out here?" Ares was the first to break the awkward silence. The two had caught each other''s eyes and slowly walked towards each other but nobody had said anything when they got close. Something about Mako seemed different, like his aura had shot up leaps and bounds and so Ares had been inspecting the elf carefully to try and pick up on his changes. Meanwhile Mako was trying to scrutinise Ares in return and figure out if he could beat him yet, leading to this bizarre situation in which the two rivals were just silently looking each other up and down for no apparent reason. Still, Ares had spoken now so a proper conversation could be had.
"I''m leaving. The match is over so I''m headed home. Better yet, what are you doing out here? Shouldn''t you have been in there watching the match?" Mako pointed backwards at the coliseum with his thumb with a raised eyebrow. He had noticed a lack of Ares'' presence during the match so he simply assumed Ares wouldn''t show up again today but, yet, here he was. In a way, Ares not being here at all was less insulting than him being outside the coliseum but not coming in! Was this a new level of taunting?!
"Didn''t figure today was an important match but was going to watch it anyway. Got a little side-tracked in the morning, though, so I arrived late only to find out it''s already over? Man, what a bummer. I heard you improved lately? Good for you. I take it our fight will actually be interesting now and I won''t just steamroll you?"
Mako spat on the floor and glared at Ares. "It would have been interesting before my changes you mutt! If anything, now I''m not so sure you can put up a respectable fight against me! Maybe if you beg politely, I''ll let you have those other teammates of yours join in!"
...
Did this guy not hear about Aejaz? Better yet, he definitely knew about Enyo! There was no way he was strong enough to take on all three of them, that was absurd and he was clearly just being a punk. "You''ve not heard the news about Aejaz?"
"Hm?" mako seemed to not understand why Aejaz was being brought up so the answer was obviously a resounding ''no''. Well maybe this guy shouldn''t have been opening his big mouth then!
"He can steal fundamental pillar affinity. It works at a reduced rate but it does work... So if you really want to fight the whole team, you''ll be going up against two fundamental pillars and an Enyo..." Ares pointed at the nodding Legion ace to his side before carrying on. "... And no matter how strong you''ve become I doubt you have it in you to fend off all of us three..."
Mako''s face had soured and he was taken aback. He damn well didn''t know about that runt Aejaz stealing fundamental pillars! What did he think they were exactly?! Mako was a tad annoyed about this discovery as it sounded utterly preposterous that some normal guy could just use the fundamental pillars whenever he wanted... It also complicated his shit-talking a bit because now it really wasn''t possible to fight multiple people on the Red Sun team at once. If it had just been Ares and Enyo then he might have been able to make it work, based strictly on what he knew about them and nothing more, but he didn''t feel comfortable with the new knowledge he''d learned regarding Aejaz... "Fine, I take it back... We''ll still have that duel of ours then..."
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Ares formed his trademark ''innocent'' smile as he shook his head from side to side and spoke with a merry tune. "No no. I couldn''t possibly duel o'' mighty Mako, the imperious creator himself! I guess I really do need the help of Enyo and my brother! We''ll just have to fight you as a team!"
Ack
Mako had gotten a ton stronger but if Ares really threw away the idea of a duel then Mako was screwed big time. His prompt potential pocket watch had gifted him Serene''s bloodline, enabling Mako to create and control that special water with healing properties, plus it had given him immense magical capacity and power so he was more than capable of going on a creation spree like no other, and yet he would be doomed in a one vs three with these maniacs! Ares might have just been acting annoying but Mako didn''t put it past the guy to go back on his word just to mess with him! Plus there was a decent chance the winnings for the tournament wouldn''t be small either so he had every incentive to not go through with the proposed duel if he really didn''t want to. Mako had to be careful with his choice of words here... "No... No that''s fine, I was exaggerating earlier. I want to have an honourable duel with you! A duel of titans! You are the person I have decided shall be my rival going forward so we must do this fair and square!"
"Hm, doesn''t seem fair to me though? You just whooped my family''s ass in what? Under a minute? For the first time ever, I''m decently impressed with you and now I''m feeling antsy! Ooh, can I beat him? Can I not? I guess we''ll never have to know! We''ll gang up on you and just end things in a boring but guaranteed way; that''s just the way it''s going to have to go against mighty old Mako."
Mako squinted at Ares who was clearly gunning for something here. "Alright you shmuck, what do you want out of me?" Mako assumed he was about to be blackmailed for stardust, treasures, or cultivation resources or something but, as it turned out, Ares wanted something far FAR worse.
"Say pretty please! And say it with chest! Really throw your whole voice into it! Say ''Ares, duel me pretty please!" Ares made his voice sound a bit girly and had no qualms with doing such an embarrassing thing, as being a revenant helped with that big time, but expecting Mako to do it? The bundle of pride himself was being made to humiliate himself in public?! Mako looked around and, thankfully, it seemed like a lot of the coliseum crowd had yet to come outside after the match. Maybe they were shellshocked by Mako''s performance still? Either way, it was for the best if he didn''t hesitate too long as then everyone would arrive and things would get dicey. It wouldn''t be a surprise if Ares made him say this crap in front of hundreds of people and had no reservations about his actions at all... What a nightmare that would be... Although it pained him to his core, Mako swallowed his nerves, shook his head, and opened his mouth to say it. "... P... Pret..."
"WAIT!"
Oh no. Mako didn''t want to hear the next words to come out of Ares'' mouth. No matter what he wanted it couldn''t possibly be good for Mako. The bastard had interrupted him just as Mako was about to fulfil his end of the bargain... If Mako had just been a bit quicker he wouldn''t have to hear more of Ares'' demands, whatever they were, and he was seriously regretting his initial slowpoke refusal to co-operate. Mako''s pride was just too damn high to say such a silly thing out loud! Well he was paying the price for his hubris right about now as Ares didn''t appear to be going easy on him.
"Say pretty please with a cherry on top! Gotta add that last part on too otherwise it won''t count!"
"That wasn''t a part of the original deal! You can''t just lump on extra crap to our trade after we''ve already come to an agreement, that''s not how this works!" Mako was livid! He thought it was going to be something stupid and, as it turned out, he was right! But this? This was more than just ''stupid'', this was tailor designed to make him look and sound like a fool! Ares was taking some serious liberties here!... Why did Mako have to open his big fat mouth earlier?... He was lucky enough that Ares was willing to even go along with the duel in the first place despite having no obligation to and then Mako just had to go and showboat, grandstanding with his ego-driven speech about how he could take on the whole team... He only had himself to blame for this which was why he was at least not too mad about Ares'' reprimanding actions. If this had come out the blue then Mako would have told Ares to go fuck himself already and left without turning back but now... He didn''t have the moral high-ground here and what Ares was asking of him wasn''t even really that bad, just really silly... Or so Mako kept telling himself. People were finally starting to leave the coliseum but nobody had really noticed this conversing of two fundamentals yet so he really had to hurry before a crowd started gathering. If Mako and Ares just sat here long enough people would eventually come over and see what they were up to, maybe even try and start a conversation... But Mako needed to get this request over and done with before that so he repeated the earlier steps and looked Ares dead in the eye. Ares, despite Mako''s earlier complaining, was evidently not going to budge on this so, after one final deep breath, Mako said it aloud without faltering and in the exact manner Ares had requested of him. "Pretty please with a cherry on top!"
"Hahahahaha, that was perfect! Brilliant! Even I couldn''t do it better myself if I tried! Oh that was perfect. Yeah sure you can have your duel or whatever. Enyo! Enyo! You caught all of that right? You have so got to share that memory with Serene, she''ll be over the moon to have it!"
"Wait what?" Mako hoped to God he misheard that last sentence! Was this rascal just doing this to give his mother a gift!? Serene would love to see an embarrassed Mako making a fool out of himself in such a manner so it wasn''t unlikely that Ares had been intentionally aiming for this from the start! His intentions were not pure!... Well he was a revenant so that was a given, and it could be argued that giving his mother something that she would absolutely love like this wasn''t exactly evil, but from Mako''s perspective this was despicable! "Oi! Wait just a damn minute!"
"Ha, nope. Later loser!" Ares snickered as he Shifted away with Enyo up to the top floor of the coliseum where Serene was still hanging round with the other matriarchs, showering Appa with oodles of affection just like it wanted. He waved as he walked over and promised Serene a real treat. While Enyo was handing over the memory, Ares sympathised with his family members who had just come up from the arena. The Umbra kin had been slaughtered down there but they really didn''t seem all too fussed about it. The most bothered person was probably Fate, as she was still adamant her family could beat a fundamental if they really tried, but everyone else had taken the loss in their stride. They saw it as a good opportunity to see how truly vast the difference was between themselves and a fundamental so it was a valuable learning experience to know they stood absolutely no chance. In the end, though, they didn''t even really know what hit them. All they saw was the entire ground turn into some bumpy wave of light blue techno cubes before blocky cube golems leapt up out of the floor sporadically and pre-occupied them. As the Umbras dealt with the never ending golem constructs Mako just picked them off one by one with hologram pillars that he forged from underneath the floor, piercing them in the stomach and or breaking all their bones with a single hit. It had been brutal, one-sided, and incredibly hectic for the few seconds that it had lasted. The Umbra kin wished Ares the best of luck in his fateful fight against the guy because it was not going ot be easy at all. Ares thanked them before going back over to the matriarchs to recover his floaty child and bring Appa back home with him.
Serene was very happy to have received the memory from Enyo and kept replaying it on repeat in her head and tittering each and every time she did. Mako had come barrelling up to the top floor too late and, to his dismay, was hugged by his mother as she called him a silly elf with a cherry on top. Mako froze in her arms and wanted to hide in a corner somewhere but what could he do with such a powerful person holding onto him?... Damnable Ares! His mother was never going to let this go and she would be sure to remind him of this every time it was even remotely relevant... Maybe even when it wasn''t. Serene took great joy in hoarding memories of Mako and this was comfortably sitting near the top of the pile so Ares'' job here was done! Now that he''d embarrassed Mako today, he only had to do it one more time during their match and this whole tournament would be done and dusted. There wasn''t anything particularly noteworthy that was going to happen from now until then so time would likely fly by. Ares would pressurise his Backfire Bindings a bit but there was no way he was finishing them before the final match. The Backfire Bindings actually seemed to be trickier to pressurise than even the Primordial Blade which might have had something to do with their pressure-oriented nature. It wasn''t too shocking they were difficult but Ares hadn''t expected them to be this painfully slow... Oh well, he had plenty of time and wasn''t in any rush. He''d likely get them done by the time he was ready to leave for the Freeride Federation so they had that going for them. Afterwards he could start on the Primordial Blade and, chances are, he wouldn''t finish those up until he returned from his long trip.
With his goals all laid out and his plans for the future, immediate and distant, sorted, Ares headed back home with his wife and daughter, stopping off on the way to buy Appa some more bubble wrap as a special treat. Appa hadn''t had any to play with in a while and it was a bit jealous of everyone playing board games so Ares figured he would bring the classic toy back. Pop.
Ares seemed a little distracted but Enyo knew it was because the Mako situation had changed and he actually needed to be cautious against the elf now that he constituted a very real threat. Ares was probably going over every single tool in his arsenal, making sure they were all prepared and ready for this next fight as it was going to be a real big one. He was double checking and triple checking they were in tip top order and ready to be thrown at Mako at a moment''s notice as he would likely dredge through his entire kit of tools in order to cinch a close victory. His new tricks, and even the old ones that he hadn''t used in quite some time; it was all going to matter and this match would be a long back and forth but he felt ready. He was wishing he''d shown up a little earlier so he could spectate Mako''s new power level to roughly gauge it but he didn''t have a time machine and decided no to sweat the small stuff that couldn''t be changed. He just had to do the same thing Mako was going to do, give it his all and see where fate took him. Was he guaranteed a win here? No, but was he confident he could do it? Well he wouldn''t be Ares if he wasn''t confident, well-founded or otherwise! The culmination of this entire tournament was finally at hand and, soon, a winner would be decided. Mako or Ares? Two individuals so strong this team match setup was completely unsuitable for them and they had to make their own rules to hash it out. A fundamental battle was simply on a scale different to that of one between normal cultivators and that was going to become very apparent from the second their match kicked off. The spectators were in for a real treat with this one!