"Why do I not like the sound of that name?" Onno didn''t have to be told a group by the name of ''Firestarters'' sneaking aboard the Federation was a bad thing but Ares still gave him a comprehensive rundown based on what he knew. Many people in the surroundings also paid attention because, although there had definitely been some unsavoury rumours floating around, nobody seemed to know as much about it as Ares who luckily happened across someone who was in the know and willing to talk before arriving here. This information becoming publicly known had two major effects, one good and one bad. The good was that the Firestarters wouldn''t be able to operate so brazenly now that all eyes were on them. If anyone looked suspicious, acted strange, or seemed just generally out of place the chances of them being reported by the public and then detained / questioned went up massively. On the flipside, not only would they be harder to catch if they responded in kind by being more cautious but, also, it would cause some people aboard the Federation to panic and morale across the board would sink quite low. Distrust would be rife and everyone was going to be glancing sideways at the people they walked past because nobody here wanted to wake up in the middle of the night with their house on fire. The explanation was a quick one and, as soon as Ares was done with it, the official shook his head side to side and denied the accusation.


    "I''ve not heard anything about those people and they have nothing to do with me."


    ...


    Ares pursed his lips with a questioning raise of his eyebrows as stared at the guy who''d just lied straight to his face. "Pal... I have an inbuilt lie detector bloodline..."


    ...


    The official turned around and attempted to dive in the water. Presumably he was going to use his superior cultivation to outlast anyone who chased him by holding his breath for longer before flying away and making a break from it when he was further away from the Federation. Unfortunately, Ares had been ready with his finger on the trigger so he launched a wave of pressure to slow the guy down before taking his scythe out, coating it in disintegration, and slicing his legs off. He would have gone for the head but the actual officials for the Federation would no doubt want to have a word with him about his involvement with this group. Chances are, he was doing some reconnaissance to find out what type of people were boarding the Federation ahead of time. The Firestarters would need to be careful if some group of transition realm big shots appeared or if a cultivator from Vraizon was down here and on break. To that end, it was likely this fake official wasn''t the only one hanging around at the border and so not letting him escape, or set off some kind of alarm to alert the others that they were compromised, was quite important. Had he tried to make any loud noises Ares would have stifled his shouts with a Quietus Edict and if he attempted to launch a flare of some kind then Not Even Light would have been the appropriate measure to prevent it. Basically, Ares had this guy''s number from the start and he stood no chance as all his exit avenues or potential methods of communication had been sealed pre-emptively by Ares'' preparedness. The man fell flat on his face with a yelp of pain while Onno used a technical that business owners on the Federation basically all learnt. Much like the medical department back in Heaven''s Path, these business owners aboard the Federation all knew how to shoot a somewhat transparent distress signal / flare up into the sky and have the patrolling security come sort out whatever problem they were having when they caught sight of it. Onno wanted this guy to be detained and questioned so he wasted no time in summoning the guards now that Ares had confirmed his intentions.


    The sailor guards arrived soon after and lugged him away while Onno led Ares onto the Federation as nobody was going to stop him. Everyone knew who Onno was so he was afforded the freedom to act as he pleased and it didn''t matter if the person he was bringing onto the Federation hadn''t been checked by an official yet. Onno doubled as an official so it was all good. As for lodging, Onno was gracious enough to take care of that as well for Ares and knew a place he could stay at for free provided Ares scratched his back in turn alter when he became sect master. Basically, Onno wanted the right to conduct business as he pleased without interference as well as priority for anything he wanted over the C.O. Ares had no reason to refuse him this and he trusted Onno more than the C.O anyway so it was an easy yes from him on this matter. He didn''t need to take the deal, and could have just paid for his own temporary lodging, but inclining Onno to hand around in Red Sun with his business expertise was a wise move and so Ares didn''t make things complicated.


    Ares, Aejaz, and Esme all took in the sights while they were led through a very specific route by Onno who knew this place like the back of his hand. His familiarity with the Federation was on par with Ares'' familiarity of Red Sun and it showed as he took routes that bypassed busy ships entirely while avoiding large crowds like he was some kind of Esper with the ability of foresight. It went even beyond what Ares could do via navigation in Red Sun because this guy seemed to know not just where all the obstructions where but exactly what time of day they would be there as well. When queried about it, apparently Onno had worked on the logistics side of things in his business for a while to get experience and so he learnt indirectly about the routes every other business'' deliveries took and when they received new shipments to avoid delays by clashing. He probably knew the schedules of the nearby businesses better than the people they hired did at this point. Plus this knowledge would stick around forever as changing even a single time slot would then impact everyone else in the nearby section of the Federation so it was generally considered rude to do so without a valid reason and permission from the higher ups which was almost never granted. Once you settled down, you were locked in and whether or not your business succeeded from there depended entirely on the product you were selling and how well you could sell it.


    It took roughly ten minutes before Ares finally laid eyes upon the decently sized shack. It was both humble and respectable, not too big and not too small, so Ares was pleased with it and thanked Onno for hooking him up. Onno gave a polite bow and took his leave with Esme, as he still wanted to go look for his brother and discuss some things with him today, leaving the bandit brothers free to do as they pleased! The Federation was due to set sail in about three hours so there was still time to kill before the entire place got moving. As for what Ares was going to do in that time, he was going to go check up on Astraeus. Normally he would avoid this, because answering his questions and trying to dodge them entirely was tiring but, a while back, Astraeus said he wanted to speak with him about something. Astraeus was probably busy reconfiguring the dimensions he left behind after his summon during the international but it had been a month since then so he ought to have gotten the important tasks settled and have enough spare time to entertain Ares for a few hours.


    As for Aejaz... Well, anyone could figure it out without even needing so much as a hint. What else was the thief going to do when surrounded by countless thousands of businesses with their pockets lined to the point of overflowing? He honestly might walk away from this country richer than even Ares was currently... He stood to gain a lot so he was going to go around robbing the people who were too rich to even notice the missing chump change while also getting a lay of the land. As a thief, more importantly a cowardly one, it was imperative to know all the escape routes long in advance for when someone wanted to actually give chase and get their stolen goods back. Of course Aejaz now had myriad tools at his disposal to make a clean getaway but doing the fundamentals and not slipping up on the basics was the right way to do things, boring though it was, and Ares had drilled that into his thick skull time and time again. Still, combine the Stalker, which would allow Aejaz to locate the target hunting him down and avoid them with ease, and his invisibility, and there was probably nobody other than Ares in all of Sheryashka that could play hide and seek with this nuisance. Because of this qualification he was allowed to go play by Ares who had no concerns for his safety. At worst Aejaz would get locked up for being a public menace and be forced to give everything he stole back. Though Ares was hesitant to lend Aejaz his name, should he need it, he told him use it if things got dicey. Having a backup couldn''t hurt so Ares spared no effort in making doubly sure he was safe and this even extended to him borrowing Aejaz the Prowler again. Honestly, Aejaz had used the Prowler more than Ares had at this point... Oh well, treasures were meant to be shared!


    Ares took a few seconds to open a portal to the void, hopped in, and went sailing through the cosy red abyss while searching for the source of that Godly presence that was Astraeus. He was thankfully very easy to locate as his aura was basically unmissable. Being a multiple quadrillion year old primordial entity that existed long before all other forms of life meant you kinda stuck out a bit in comparison to everything else around. Honestly, if this guy came down to Ares'' dimension with his full power intact the entire dimension would know of his arrival, it couldn''t be missed. Ares floated and Shifted freely though the void but he still took his time a little because it was nice knowing that he couldn''t be spectated by Astraeus in here and it had been a while since Ares escaped his prying eyes properly. He could throw up a disintegration barrier back in his dimension but, for the most part, this annoying robo was just staring at him like some kind of creepy peeping tom. He might have been busy as of late but he would no doubt find time to check up on Ares like the obsessed stalker he was.


    Worse still, he almost definitely saw the talk Ares had with Mako and Ares really didn''t want to get into that right now with him. Mako was an easy person to fool in comparison the sentient supercomputer that had analysed trillions of interrogation scenes from countless dimensions. Astraeus wouldn''t miss out on any minor detail Ares tried to slip by with his sharp computational prowess and would raise far trickier questions than Mako did. In fact, as if on queue, Ares blinked and, as soon as his eyes opened once more, the giant robot God had appeared directly before him like some kind of horrific ghoul about to brutally murder its prey. Add in a random shriek and his sudden emergence from the void could be a pretty solid jump scare. As for why he''d come to Ares, it seemed Astraeus was willing to give him a time limit to his solitude in the void before he would come and ''check up on him to make sure everything was ok''... Really he was just being nosy and trying to catch Ares in the act of doing something that would give away his plans for the future, whatever such an act would look like. Maybe eavesdrop and catch Ares talking to the destruction pillar? He could try if he wanted but Ares really wasn''t lying when he said the destruction pillar was hard to get a hold of... As for this psychotic behaviour that very much warranted a restraining order; Ares could run away from Astraeus if he really wanted to but that would just make the questions that came later all the more troublesome, and he had no reason to complicate things right now by avoiding him, so Ares simply stayed put and let it happen.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    "G.r.e.e.t.i.n.g.s."


    "Ahem, your voice is on the fritz again..."


    "Ah, so it was. Rearranging dimensions and fighting off yet another one of Xhilihx''s advances has left me in quite the state. You see when I returned here after my debut at the tournament a bunch of dimensions I''d been watching over were starting to slip away deep into Xhilihx''s territory within the void. I chased after them and got into a scuffle with the beast but managed to get all of the dimensions back. They contain life within them so I would have been somewhat regretful had I let them go as a result of my own carelessness in descending to Sheryashka without considering their well-being. This event has taught me that I need to be better prepared on the off chance you summon me which is why I''ve delayed your ability to do so for an extra few months. I want to sort out things on this end before I return to your dimension so please do bear with me in the meantime."


    Ares shook his head and waved his hand to signify it was nothing. "Not a problem. Though he doesn''t quite compare, I''m sure, Ignizz ought to be getting a wake up call from Terros sometime soon and I can just rely on him if ever a God''s might is needed... Though now that I think about it his poor reputation has me wondering if he''s even really capable of defending me when I''ll actually need him to..."


    "Hm, I think you needn''t be concerned. He is lazy, extraordinarily so, and a bit slow in the head, undeniably, but his power is noteworthy even amongst the other Gods. He doesn''t showcase it often but there was a reason why he was chosen to be your ''mentor'', he is the closest thing to a God of destruction currently despite how ''derpy'' he can be. If he made any effort whatsoever to display his true power to the other Gods he could very well make a name for himself and garner their respect somewhat but, alas, sleep is his prerogative... That or having redundant fantasies about becoming a different life form..."


    "A different life form? He''s a salamander, right? What does he wish to be instead?"


    "... I''m sure you''ll find out on your own at some point. he considers it to be an embarrassing sore spot so I don''t think it''s my position to betray a fellow God and leak his private weaknesses.... Though for some strange reason he always seems to get caught mid day dream so most people already know of his pathetic side... Which is honestly most sides of him from my non-biased view. Still, when he actually makes an effort he is to be feared. If all Gods were to have a free for all battle to the death I don''t think he''d win, he''s too stupid for that and would get manipulated in one way or another, but he would definitely hold the highest kill count by the end of it... Unless I participated, obviously, but we aren''t going to count that because such a contest is beneath me. I didn''t call you here to discuss that, however, so I shall move on to the topic I wish to raise with you."


    "... Is it about the talk I had with Mako?"


    "No. You are a slippery individual and I doubt I''d gain anything out of asking as you''d just either lie to me or refrain from answering. I will wait until I have some form of damning, irrefutable evidence regarding whatever it is you are doing before I query you about your actions again. There will come a day when I expect you to reveal all but today is not that day so you may let the tension building within you loose."


    Ares kissed his teeth and rolled his eyes because this guy was unintentionally mocking him and he probably wasn''t even aware of it. ''Relax, I''m not going to expose you now because I intend on doing it later. Be grateful and be happy, idiot!'' That was a pretty loose translation and the confidence of this annoying robo was insufferable because he really didn''t mean it that way. He was familiar with speech patterns but things like irony, sarcasm, or undertones were still somewhat lost on him it seemed. Regardless, Ares was relieved he wasn''t going to have to get interrogated today as he really just wasn''t in the mood for it. "So what is it you wanted to call me here to talk about then? Unless you just wanted to see my handsome face again, which I would totally understand, in which case you''re free to call me here whenever."


    "I do not view you as a ''handsome'' specimen compared to the numerous other individuals that have existed long before you."


    "Oh gee, thanks, you''re gonna break my poor heart here..." Ares wasn''t too bothered by this comment because, again, he really wasn''t trying to be rude. Plus what he said was to be expected anyway. Ares was never going to be the most handsome man to ever live, that was just a ridiculous hope to begin with. Hell he might not even be in the top 20%, there were just that many beautiful people throughout history. That didn''t mean he was ugly though, he wasn''t! Plus there was technically some wriggle room for growth here. Sleeping with Enyo was doing wonders for his skin and might even benefit him more in the long urn when she fully explored her pleasure pillar. Plus refining his body, as well as gaining his apotheosis form, ought to change things up a bit. Throw in some cultivation resources he might find here and there and he could definitely stand to gain some attraction points before his look truly settled down... Though the same was also true of someone like Aejaz who still had plenty of room to grow as well and was more handsome than Ares to begin with. Aejaz had been born with some seriously good looks in his genetics but it was honestly a wonder where he got it from. Realistically it definitely wasn''t his parents or Sho as they were for sure not as good looking as Aejaz was. It must have been something residing deeper in his bloodline regarding one of his ancestors. Anyway, Ares was getting side-tracked with such intrusive thoughts but there was one more he felt he needed an answer to so he raised a question he thought was interesting. "Have you ever been attracted to anyone? A ''handsome'' female robo, perhaps?"


    Astraeus, much to Ares surprise, gave a light nod. "I''m not entirely certain what I felt at the time could be considered anything more than a fleeting interest, but it was certainly an interest unlike any I''ve ever felt before or again since. After many millennium of doing my job, the creation pillar had taken in my aesthetic preferences from watching my curiosity in living beings and created an artificial robo that aligned with what was, for lack of a better phrase, ''to my tastes''. She was an exquisite beauty with a figure that was rather hypnotic to look at. I greatly appreciated her charm but that was where my interest ended for I could not converse with her. She was just an empty shell. The creation pillar has only ever succeeded in creating a ''soul'', or something resembling it at least, once and that is my own greatest fortune as I was the beneficiary of such a stroke of luck. My sentience, however, made the puppet female robo feel dull to me after a few furtive glances and so I went back to managing the dimensions. I did still peek in her direction every few hundred million years or so, just as a reminder of sorts that this was my own version of what living creatures sometimes referred to as ''art'', but eventually she vanished as Xhilihx ate the empty shell when I wasn''t paying it attention.


    Though I thought I wouldn''t care about such a trivial thing, I still feel a tinge of annoyance whenever I remember that robo and it makes me want to go hunt down Xhilihx and fight it again. Would you consider this ''attraction'' or mere appreciation? I do not know if this falls within the realm of what you were expecting of an answer but it is the best I can give. As a side note, the creation pillar did offer to replace the robo, and give me a new doll of sorts to look at, but I didn''t want it because, for a reason even I can''t explain, I did not think it would be the same... It never possessed a soul and yet I cannot help but treat it as a wholly unique entity. This is something I''ve yet to comprehend and I do ponder about it to this day... Regardless, that''s enough of that. We''ve spent a long time chatting about things that do not matter so let us get back on track. I will show you one of the secrets of this void that I think even you might not be aware of."


    Without giving Ares time to speak again, and derail the conversation once more with irrelevant talk, Astraeus Blinked both himself and Ares around the void at speeds that were mind boggling. A single Blink of his, at Ares'' rough estimate based on the distance travelled through the void, was give or take enough to teleport around the entirety of Sheryashka a couple million times over. These probably weren''t even full strength Blinks because, A; Astraeus had no reason to use up his energy on such a small task and, B; his spatial magic would undoubtedly be restricted in the void and this was close to the best he could do here anyway. Astraeus was a real monster... Anyway, putting that thought to the back of Ares'' mind, he laid eyes on the destination he was brought to which immediately piqued his interest as, whatever this was, it was something the destruction pillar hadn''t mentioned to him when he last talked to it. The location in question was just plain red void as far as the eye can see but there was a mass of tiny objects in the distance that formed a sort of fake asteroid field. Ares couldn''t fathom why on earth anything other than dimensions existed within this place but, as he was Blinked closer by Astraeus, he realised these weren''t asteroids at all... In fact, the second Ares saw what these clumps truly were, he instantly understood one of cultivation society''s greatest questions. Where do personal treasures disappear to when the cultivator dies? Well, if the countless billions of treasures scattered before him were any indication, this was their final resting point for all eternity. Treasures of all shapes and sizes, as far as the eye could see, formed a storm of metal, wood, and other such materials that was just quietly drifting through the abyss without purpose.


    "This..." Astraeus spoke. "... Is what is referred to as ''The Final Epitaph''. A place cultivators in your dimension have theorised about for countless years, the last resting point of a dead cultivator''s soul, sometimes referred to as ''Sheol''."