"Ares... There really aren''t many treasures befitting of your status. Had Mako won here today instead the C.O would have faced a herculean task of giving something appropriate to him but, thankfully, that wasn''t the case. I believe you already know what our prize to you is as we''ve discussed it prior already..."


    ...


    No we have not! Ares screamed in his head. Things were already going off track and he wasn''t sure how far this conversation was going to deviate from what was expected. This woman was already lying through her teeth but it just meant she was going to have to follow it up with a pretty tricky statement otherwise Ares could just refute it in front of everyone and ruin her reputation. She must have already known this was a possibility so her next words were going to be carefully thought out to entrap Ares perfectly in her web of deceit.


    "Your reward for winning the tournament is Red Sun itself!"


    ...


    Ah shit, she got me... Ares winced as his brain was struck by the ingenuity of this devilish woman. There was so much going on here that it needed to be unpacked bit by bit. First of all, and this was the least important detail, this did constitute as an appropriate reward. Ares was being given an entire landmass here and, even if she hadn''t conned him in other ways, not accepting this would be foolish... Provided he didn''t already basically own it, thanks to to buried Shock Bead threat all throughout Red Sun and Hans'' backing, to begin with! But that was beside the point, it was a valid reward which not only meant Ares couldn''t complain but that he also wasn''t receiving an appropriate treasure. The C.O would have had to give him the best treasure they owned in order to gift him something reasonable and fitting of his newfound fame. They couldn''t skimp out so they might even have to give more than one treasure just to balance out the optics of the whole situation. Doing things this way meant they could keep all of their treasures locked away in the warehouse where Ares couldn''t get his greedy mitts on them. This was just the most menial of points to be concerned about, however, as it got a lot worse from there...


    Second of all, the fact that, according to Windsor, this had ''already been discussed'' placed a great emphasis on the C.O''s hitherto non-existent involvement in this whole affair, making it seem like they were relevant from the very beginning. This reduced Ares'' agency and made it seem like he went begging to them for permission... Which he definitely did not! This boosted the reputation of the C.O further, as even a fundamental champion aided by a God had to bend to their whims, while downplaying Ares somewhat in the court of public opinion. This was less a personal adventure Ares solo kickstarted and more so something he''d been graciously allowed to do by his C.O sugar daddy. In other words, nepotism! It wasn''t a massive issue but it did sour a few people''s perspective of this whole event which might cause some dissatisfaction with people looking to get involved in Red Sun''s take-off...


    Third of all, Ares couldn''t back out of this. The fourth and final reason was why he''d really want to distance himself, and that would be explained in a second, but right now the issue was that he couldn''t'' escape. Earlier, people had been questioning why the negotiator of the round had come to this venue at all. The truth was that she was sent here by the strategist but they didn''t need to know that. As far as they were all concerned now, she was here to make this negotiation with Ares and officially support his endeavour in person. Her presence here had ironically proved to be a benefit in and of itself as it lent credence to the claim that she''d already done business earlier. Why else would she be here if not to make such an important trade, after all? If Ares wanted to deny this he''d struggle big time as even he didn''t know why this blasted woman was here. Furthermore, and this was the kicker as it tied into the last point, Ares couldn''t refuse because of the implication of everything she''d said in those cursed earlier statements. In other words...


    Last of all... Windsor was indirectly claiming the C.O had a foothold in Red Sun... It hadn''t even really been directly stated at any point but, logically, why would the C.O give up the entire land mass for free without even getting a tiny slice of the pie? Sure they''d hand it over but having a branch of the C.O present on the landmass was to be expected, right? If a C.O building showed up in the city, who wouldn''t understand why? If they had the freedom to give it away, they also had the freedom to be here like a parasite and make sure everything was being looked after properly by its new owner. They had every right to set up shop here because they were so deeply involved in handing it over. It would look so incredibly strange if Ares tried to deny them access to a landmass they were claiming to have owned up until now and he would just come across like a tyrant trying to hide something despicable under the surface by preventing the organisation from merely existing in Red Sun. Rumours about him trying to keep dirty secrets from the C.O would start to spread and that was the least of his issues.


    Ares couldn''t refuse this prize, and have them be forced to back off, because then it would just look like he was trying to start a fight for the territory instead. He''d ''already agreed'' to this, so backing out now, the exact moment that the C.O were openly involved, would look like he was targeting them and didn''t want them to be around. It might even start a small scale war as it would look like Ares was trying to claim the landmass all for himself by booting the C.O out even though they had every right to remain. The reputation of the negotiator of the round, combined with her longstanding presence here, would make it look like Ares was just trying to take advantage of the C.O''s generosity and swallow up this land mass all for himself without concern for his trade deal that didn''t even exist in the first place! A landmass of this size was not, in any universe, something that would be handed over so casually without a bunch of stipulations and discussions taking place first. The presence of the negotiator of the round implied many talks were had and a conclusion was reached affably in which both parties came away with something to gain so if the C.O wanted to set up in Red Sun then Ares would find it nigh impossible to stop them now. As if to prove that this was what she was aiming for, Windsor dealt the death blow.


    "We, the C.O look forward to extending our influence into other domains alongside Ares who will be so graciously bringing us along on his cultivation journey. For those of you in the audience with aspirations to join our organisation, we will soon be erecting a C.O building near enough in the centre of town so you may apply there. It will be pretty big too so you won''t have to worry about missing it!"


    Fuck off with your ''pretty big''! Who the hell gave you planning permission to build some monstrous megacorp in our city?! Hans will not be pleased with you foul woman! Ares wanted to pull his hair out at this despicable two faced bitch''s antics but he refrained because he had been duped pretty resoundingly here. He should have known better than to expect the C.O to go quietly into the night having suffered as many losses throughout this tournament as they had. They absolutely wanted to pay Ares back and this was how they''d gone about it. The worst part was that Ares could have predicted this as ownership of this land was a sore spot from the get go and was leverage they had on him all this time. If he had paid them any attention, instead of slapping them in the face with oversight of the tournament after oversight of the tournament, then he might have been able to predict this and riposte on the spot... But just because he was taken aback by this, and caught completely off guard, that didn''t mean he didn''t see a way to gain massively off of this. In fact... This might actually be for the best... He would get more out of this transaction than he lost as even forfeiting some right of way and autonomy over Red Sun to the C.O paled in comparison to what he was planning! This woman was clever but she''d left out one crucial detail, something incredibly minor, that Ares was going to exploit for all it was worth! All she had to do was quit talking about this, say her closing piece, and hand over the reigns to Ares to give his own speech and all would be well! Luckily, whether Windsor was complacent in her seemingly airtight victory, or just outright done with her speech, she began wrapping it up while none the wiser that a massive shitstorm was coming her way...


    "These rewards, I hope, are indicative of the C.O''s wish to have a good relation going forward with all of our finalists..." ''All except the deadbeat losers on Mako''s team, that is'', Windsor muttered to herself under her beath. "... We believe we''ve given in accordance with each of your respective abilities and deserved profit based on how well you performed during the tournament. Before I give my closing remarks, I shall nominate, on behalf of the entirety of the C.O, Ares as the MVP of this tournament for reasons that I''m certain need not be explained to anyone present. A round of applause for what has to have been the single greatest performance during an outer court tournament of all time in this venue!" Windsor riled the crowd up and didn''t explain any further why Ares had won the title. She was right that he was the MVP it''s just that listing every single one of his exploits this tournament would take absolutely forever and the people here weren''t blind or stupid. Ares was the biggest of big shots and, in terms of overall prestige, even outranked Windsor herself. Ares was the future God of destruction and saviour of the world, according to reports of what Mako had been telling people about the fundamental champions, for crying out loud! Nobody outranked Ares at all and he beat the only other person in this coliseum who potentially could. Basically MVP status was going to whoever won the final, be it Mako or Ares, no matter what and that had been decided from the moment each of them took to the stage for the first time way back when.


    Once the clapping finished, Windsor handed over a small gold medal to Ares shaped like the coliseum itself. It was highly detailed and he really quite liked it, not just because it was gold (even though that played a large role in his appreciation of it), but also because it made for a nice memory of his first victory over Mako. Every time Ares wanted to rub it in to the elf he could dangle this medal in front of him as a taunt and basically win every argument without needing to say so much as a word! It wasn''t real Ares that loved this, no, it was his inner revenant!


    "And with that, I officially declare the outer court level of the tournament over! It''s been an incredible show but there are no matches remaining so we hope to see you all again next year. Before you leave, however, we recommend you stick around for the MVP and captains'' speeches! they''re surely going to be worth listening to so I would highly encourage you to wait just a little longer before heading on out. On that note, I''ll be handing over the stage to this year''s MVP, Ares!"


    Windsor truly believed she''d done a great job here. She''d hit Ares hard and fast before throwing the ball in his court as quickly as possible with the hope that he would drop it. If Ares didn''t respond here then he would basically never have another platform like this to respond ever again and any rebuttals he could muster down the line would be ineffective and handled in private where he could be shooed off. He needed to take a stand here in public and Windsor was convinced he wouldn''t be able to come up with anything off the dome but, as she walked down from the platform, Ares made no effort to hide his evil intentions and his derisive smirk... Again, he was still a child right now so it was lacking in potency but the general tone he aiming for was conveyed properly, worrying Windsor who now had no choice but to wait off to the side and see what Ares'' method of attack would look like. She had no more say in this matter, unless Ares said something truly ridiculous and then she could obviously halt the proceedings and clarify, so whatever Ares had come up with was going to be an unavoidable problem she couldn''t refute if his confidence was anything to go by. Was it going to be devastating or just a slap on the wrist that he was proud to have inflicted upon them under such circumstances? Windsor prayed for the latter but was starting to feel nervous it was the former... What had she missed or accidentally said in her earlier speech that gave Ares wriggle room here? It was time to find out and she could only hope it wasn''t anything major...


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    Ares walked up to take Windsor''s previous spot and readied some pressure to enhance his voice and spread it far and wide. There was a microphone present for those who didn''t have a means to emphasise and aggrandize their voice but Ares was good without it... Also, this way, he could use his pressure to make his voice sound a little deeper, and less squeaky (thanks to his mini body), than it would if he just relied on the microphone.... It bothered him, ok!? "Ahem, greetings! It''s a pleasure for you to meet me, I''m sure... I kid! I kid!... Kinda... Anyway, we got off on the wrong foot last time, methinks. I won''t apologise for using Quietus Edict on you all while you were all being rowdy because of my fiancé, so don''t expect it, but I can look past that provided it doesn''t happen again. Not all of you are to blame but those who are best set themselves straight because this sort of behaviour is not something I''m going to tolerate lightly, you can ask for verification from Lex if need be..."


    Off to the side, Lex kissed his teeth and glared at mini Ares but he had no support here as people were clearly trying not to associate with him. Even though a large group of people were all being lumped in the same boat they still wanted to sit on the other side of it from Lex because he was the most likely person to rock it. They already weren''t off to a good start with Ares and he had every right to be both annoyed and arrogant. Ares was already nearing the point he would become unstoppable in Sheryashka and people''s behaviour back when he had to use Quietus, in hindsight, was pretty terrible. A quick reprimand to start, and being willing to slip it under the rug, was already very lenient. He could have just as easily chucked a Perish Wheel into the crowd and few people, namely only mortals who didn''t get how the cultivation world worked, would blame him. As far as putting someone in charge went, Ares didn''t seem murder happy so he was already a potentially better candidate to fly this landmass out of here than 80% of other candidates, and that was not even including his talents or status. If a Chen member had Ares power, and was in his position, thousands of spectators would have already been hunted down in the streets and hung up and strung up to be made an example of via their rotting corpses. Plus Ares wasn''t making a blanket statement here as he picked the people who''d specifically been responsible so maybe he wasn''t the type to murder your entire family and / or clan over your own mistakes? Again, a rarity in this world... Although that wasn''t to say Ares couldn''t be pushed far enough that he would be inclined to do so, everyone had their limits.


    Basically this was all just setting the stage for Ares and reminding everyone that they had to be respectful at the bare minimum. Regardless of the C.O''s involvement, he was the one in charge when the chips were down and he had the might to back up his position. They had to be in his good graces, not the other way around... To some extent, anyway, as Ares couldn''t just be outright tyrannical otherwise people would flee for the hills but the onus was definitely not on him to throw himself at the feet of others. In that sense, leading, be it a clan or the entire landmass, wasn''t easy as you had to toe the line between strict and firm as well as lax and forgiving. So far he was doing an alright job of it. Nothing out of the ordinary for what you''d expect of a brand new leader but that was fine as he clearly wasn''t used to being in such a position to begin with. He''d learn over time, and he was already starting from a good place overall, so he''d likely do good enough in the future. Well, it was only really good enough because of his fundamental champion status, that made up for a lot of slack in many people''s minds.


    "... But let''s not get bogged down on that, there are more important matters to discuss regarding my plans for Red Sun that I''m sure most of you have already heard about through the grapevine. I have no intention of hiding my goals from you all, the idea was simply to deal with the results of spreading such information in increments rather than all at once which is why a public statement is only being made now. As a good enough chunk of people have already been individually informed, I think now''s as good a time as any to explain myself in full for those who aren''t entirely caught up..."


    Ares proceeded to give a comprehensive rundown of what kind of place he expected Red Sun to become under his watchful guidance. It was essentially the same miscellaneous titbits he''d chatted about to Hans so he was able to go through everything succinctly what with having already discussed this in full prior. He did throw in a bit extra about the fact that many locals were already on board, as he was loosely aware of public sentiment, and mentioning as such would alleviate some people''s fears by leading them to believe they were a minority with their concerns. It wasn''t wrong or untrue, they were, it''s just that the less people like this created paranoia around this whole thing, the better. The plan was going to work fine, Ares was at the helm and he was trustworthy, but that wouldn''t stop some people from bailing if sufficient naysayers were able to voice their opinions loudly enough. It was best to do whatever possible to quell that here and now before it could snowball into a bigger issue. Mentioning public sentiment was one thing but what came next would serve that purpose as well as enable Ares to get back at the C.O by utilising their name to the fullest and even stealing from them a little.


    Contrary to what Windsor was expecting, Ares wasn''t going to try and shoo out the C.O. Forking over some control to them wasn''t the end of the world, and having an organisation like that on the landmass might be beneficial in the long run after they established themselves properly, so Ares had come to peace with their presence. So no, that wasn''t what he was going to do here. Instead of kicking them out, Ares was going to milk them for all their worth and exploit them until they were begging him to leave them alone. They could stay but they needed to regret their decision before Ares was content. As such, he segued into mentioning the C.O so that he could deliver his own coup de grace right back at Windsor who was going to be the main target of this revenge.


    "Windsor mentioned my prize earlier was the entirety of Red Sun and everything I just mentioned is what such a reward is in reference to. And yes, the C.O has received full permission to stay atop this landmass and potentially expand their organisations into new domains by co-operating with us. We will act as a vehicle of sorts for them and they will be aiding us in return accordingly, as per the terms of our deal..." This was not true! There was no deal to begin with, so naturally this was a complete falsehood, but even just saying it put some power back in Ares'' hands as it implied he was able to successfully negotiate with Windsor and managed to sneak in some benefits against even someone of her calibre. This was an impressive feat alone and was already a good start, Windsor was forced to admit, but what came next was what truly mattered. What kind of aid was Ares going to declare the C.O were offering exactly? This was where the real problem would arise...


    "Regarding the aid, Hans and I are very fortunate to welcome Ms Windsor herself to Red Sun for the foreseeable future to aid us in negotiating with interested parties who wish to join us on this journey... Ah but, last we spoke, I do believe lady Windsor said it would either be her or someone equivalent. Regardless, be it the force, strategist, or negotiator of the round, we are incredibly lucky to have such talent grace our small town and we look forward to out continued co-operation on developing Red Sun in the right direction while they live here in the long term."


    ...


    Shit. Windsor didn''t mince her words or go beyond a simple curse in her head because she''d had her trap spun on her quite brilliantly. Much like how Ares couldn''t refute her, she couldn''t refute him and there were a number of reasons why. For starters, if Windsor refused to stay here then she wouldn''t be able to continue negotiating on behalf of the C.O and she was currently the only person who would be able to avoid getting suckered in by Ares. This dastardly bastard had already one-upped her so anyone else they sent in exchange for her would be toyed with ten ways till Sunday and its not like Windsor would be welcomed back after refusing to stay here... But she couldn''t send anyone else anyway because of the stipulation that it would either be her or ''someone equivalent'' as the other two venerable couldn''t be spared to Red Sun in such a fashion. Losing the force to Red Sun would weaken the C.O to a degree that was concerning whereas losing the strategist would clog up the work flow and drastically reduce efficiency. To top it all off, only the negotiator had the necessary skillset to barter for freedom down the line and anyone else would just become a permanently roped in big fish the C.O could never recover.


    As for believability of this trade, it all made sense for the same reason Windsor''s earlier bullshit declarations did, she was here from the start... ''Because she''d been planning on staying here and working alongside Hans to negotiate with ''interested parties'', that was the implication. This landmass would stand to benefit the C.O so it was very much in their interest to send someone like Windsor to make sure it all went smoothly given the scale of what was happening here. It made too much sense which screwed her even further because if she tried to deny it, and wriggle her way out of this new position she''d been thrust into, it would negatively affect both her and the C.O. On a personal level, it would make her look like a traitorous rat who betrayed her trade partners and that she only made so many successful deals because people were too afraid of the C.O to fight back after being conned by her.


    ''I promised someone of my status would work here but now that it''s time for me to pay up I''m not going to go through with it and if you complain I''ll have the force of the round come pay you a visit''.


    It wasn''t even remotely true but if she turned around and said no to Ares here it would jeopardise her public image big time. Much like how Ares couldn''t refuse the C.O, as he would be seen as a tyrant, Windsor couldn''t refuse Ares without looking like a slimy and despicable woman. And as for the organisation as a whole, if Windsor backed out here then Ares would have an excuse to kick them off the land in full. ''You didn not adhere to the agreement therefore I want you gone because I no longer stand to gain''. He would now be within his rights to chuck out the un-co-operative, deceitful C.O and the public wouldn''t bat an eye. Though Ares had to fear a war with the C.O, they had to fear one with him too because he was rapidly reaching a point, as aforementioned, of becoming unstoppable in this realm. If he bided his time and kicked the C.O out after reaching transition, or maybe even just mid-to-late bloodline awakening, then the C.O would no longer be able to oppose him and public sentiment would be in support of his actions for the way Windsor went back on her promise.


    What Windsor had screwed up on here was that she forgot to clarify WHO was going to be setting up and working here. Of course someone had to be stationed here otherwise having the C.O here to begin with utterly pointless and Ares would be in the clear to kick them out for being useless! Had she just had the awareness to give even the name of some random middle management employee she might have gotten away with it but, even then, Ares could have still tried pressing for this outcome. He''d expertly woven together a riposte not out of thin air, but by using Windsor''s own promises and demands against her because she failed to set limitations on what she was expecting. She''d gone all in and Ares had doubled down. In short, she''d lost and the C.O was going to have lose their negotiator for a while unless they wanted their reputation to fall down into the depths of un-mendable hell...


    Damn revenant brat... Though Windsor complained, as she didn''t really want to be stuck here, she had to give Ares a round of applause in her head because she''d seriously underestimated his capacity as a deal maker. She thought him a weak leader, easily pushed around, but now she was paying the price for her unchecked arrogance. It reminded her of when she was first starting out and her risk detector was basically non-functional. She''d lost a lot for the C.O early on, and was reprimanded quite frequently, but the leader of the organisation always bailed her out as he saw potential in her. Sure enough, she''d become someone who made it big on every trade not long after she was put through some serious training and the C.O gained an asset in her that was invaluable. As far as Windsor could remember, she''d never walked away from a losing trade in over ten years so this blow here today was eye opening. Had she gotten lazy or was Ares better at this than she thought he''d be? Either way, Red Sun had become her new home away from home and she was going to have look for a place to stay... And send a letter back to the C.O explaining her failure in full... The strategist was not going to be happy losing her negotiator but no doubt she''d get over it quick enough as she''d be too busy finding this situation hilarious to care... Whatever, they could handle without her for now as there were plenty of other deal makers of acceptable quality in the C.O, they didn''t make Windsor do literally everything all the time as that was just stupid. Plus she wasn''t necessarily tied down to Red Sun and could leave every now and then, she wasn''t a prisoner. The biggest issue here was the amount of work that was about to fall into her lap as dealing with people who wanted to come aboard Red Sun before it left for Vraizon was going to be nightmare... She''d said it to herself before in her head but she was going to say it again because it helped her overcome the agitation she was feeling. Damn revenant brat!