Aejaz handed over the monster parts and everyone set off again. It was a short trip to the forest entrance from where they were so they arrived a couple of hours later. The Legion clan were about to say their goodbyes when Ares got jumpy and alert out of nowhere.


    “Ares?” Gladius was the first to notice.


    Ares frowned and kept searching through the trees and around the bushes. “Something’s coming.” The voice in Ares'' head had come back and, although it was quiet, it was trying to scream, but could only do so in muted tones. It kept warning him, telling him not to fight the thing that was coming. The voice was fading further into nothingness, but kept yelling at Ares even with its final breaths, ‘DON’T FIGHT’. Ares still wasn’t too keen on this voice, especially seeing as how it could very well have something to do with Dominus, if not BE Dominus, but the voice was still on his side regardless of how much he disliked it. Ares got the feeling the voice couldn’t lie to him, or at the very least that it wasn’t beneficial for the voice to do so. The voice needed Ares, so Ares chose to heed the voice’s warning before it disappeared again.


    “What’s coming?” Bellona asked.


    “I don’t know, but we shouldn’t, under any circumstance, fight it.”


    Tensions rose as everyone kept an eye out for this thing that was supposedly headed toward them.


    Rustle


    The fistle and swaying of a bush put everyone on guard as they all stared intently, waiting for some manner of monstrosity to leap out.


    Hop


    “A toad?” Gladius eased up.


    “A big toad,” Charity mocked Ares'' caution.


    The thing that had come hopping out of the brush was a seemingly harmless, derpy, balloon-shaped toad. It was roughly thrice the size of what you’d expect of a normal toad and its eyes were both bulging and unusually large, but it was still just a toad.


    Ares, though, wasn’t having it. He was still wary of this thing as, even without the warning in his head, he had a bad feeling in his gut. Call it a sixth sense, but this bulbous beast was problematic. His worries were only heightened when he searched through his memories of the books he’d read and couldn’t place this mysterious creature under any known species. “Be careful. It doesn’t look hostile but, if it attacks, run.”


    Trew laughed in ridicule. “This can’t be real. A cultivator scared of spiders and toads, ha, aren’t you just pathetic? You may be the first cultivator to ever have a losing matchup with a witch’s cauldron.”


    “Trew.” Enyo was immediately agitated by his snide remarks towards Ares.


    “What? I’m right but, fine, whatever. Look, I’ll even remove the toad so big, strong Ares can feel safe.” Trew took out his sword and walked over to the toad.


    Ares’ frown re-emerged and he jumped back to a tree branch that was quite far away. “I would seriously recommend abandoning him and retreating to a safe distance,” Ares stated in a completely matter-of-fact voice.


    Everyone decided to listen to him despite not being all-together too sure of the supposed ‘danger’ as Ares seemed really off-put by this strange creature, and his judgement had no record of being faulty until now.


    Trew came within striking distance. The toad hopped in place to turn and face him while eyeing Trew up, and boy did the toad have a set of peepers on him to do it with. Trew felt a wave of discomfort and his instincts warned him not to follow through, but he had already kicked up too much of a fuss. It would be embarrassing as all hell if he got cold feet now. Trew gazed into the abyss that was the toad’s rotund eyes, and the abyss gazed back. Trew leant back before fully committing to an overhead swing using every ounce of strength he could possibly muster, even going as far as to add a coating of wind pillar magic to make his blade razor-sharp.


    Tap


    The sword landed on the toad''s head and stopped dead in its tracks. Trew couldn’t tell if he had just hit the softest or hardest thing ever but, either way, his sword refused to budge another inch. He hadn’t even felt the recoil you would typically expect after being so thoroughly stopped, it was as if he hadn’t even swung at all and was just lightly resting the tip of the blade against the toad’s head. The toad hadn’t even flinched, let alone given a shit.


    Croak


    The toad opened its mouth to croak, but didn’t close the mouth after it was done sounding off. Its surprisingly thin tongue could be seen fidgeting around in its mouth, curling around and bending backward to search through its throat for something. No-one was able to react to what happened next as the toad moved with such blinding speed that its movements were basically invisible to the naked eye. The earth trembled and shook, creating waves as the ground rolled away from the impact zone of whatever it was the toad had done. The undulating mud tsunamis knocked aside everything in its path, staggering and toppling everyone who was still on the floor.


    The waves of mud were so tall that even Ares, from atop his perch, couldn’t see over them. The first wave had managed to reach his position, even though he had stayed further back than everyone else, and crushed the tree he was on to smithereens. After landing, he didn’t have to deal with any more waves as the power of the succeeding ones had tapered off by the time they reached the point he was at. When the earth stopped rocking and shaking like a magnitude 6.0 earthquake had just occurred, Ares Shifted over to Enyo and the others to help them get back up. Ares had to hold onto each of them after picking them up though as they were still dizzy and reeling from being swept around by the surging earth.


    When everyone was on their feet again, they looked back at the cause of this catastrophe and refused to believe their eyes.


    The toad’s tongue was far longer than it appeared at first glance, but that wasn’t the issue. The issue was that it had its tongue wrapped around the grip of a 9ft long great-hammer. A hammer which was currently resting atop Trew’s heaving chest.


    Ares couldn’t figure out whether or not the toad was simply retaliating, or whether it thought they were playing some kind of game as it had essentially done the same thing to Trew as Trew had done to it. Either way, the toad had very clearly won. “I hate to be that kinda guy, but I told you so.”


    “What the fuck is that thing?” Charity was appalled by the destruction the toad had caused with just a casual swing of a hammer. A big hammer sure, but it was still fundamentally just a hammer. To have such a massive impact without even the need for mana was astonishing.


    “Probably a creature from the next domain up, there shouldn’t be anything in this domain that strong. I doubt even a transition realm cultivator would be able to put up a fight. As for how it ended up here, I have no clue.”


    The toad opened its mouth further and shoved the hammer back in. It struggled for a while in comical fashion, but everyone present knew better than to laugh at the stupid thing.


    Ares couldn’t help but use his new art to get a better look at things.


    “Omniscience!”


    Ares didn’t have to chant it as Omniscience, like some treasure abilities, technicals, and unique arts, could be used without chanting but, like Aejaz’ bloodline, doing so would cost extra mana. “What the fuck!? Seriously?!” Ares had never been this taken aback by anything he had ever seen before.


    “What do you see?” Aejaz asked.


    “That toad is a personal treasure!”


    “What!?” Everyone collectively responded in the exact same way.


    “That living, breathing, animal is a treasure!”


    “What kind of treasure even is it?” Gladius queried.


    “It’s a walking treasury! Its mouth leads to another dimension, a storage dimension like you would find in a space ring. There’re other treasures inside of there that it can pull out and defend itself with!”


    “THAT’S SO COOL!” Bellona really liked this toad. “I WANT ONE!”


    “I hate to dash your hopes and dreams but, like I said, that thing is a personal treasure… Or a pet, I guess? It belongs to someone. I imagine it''s ‘programmed’ to attack anything that attacks it, which is why it stopped being aggressive now that Trew is down for the count. The thing that took me by surprise though, is that there’s lingering nothingness magic both outside its storage dimension, and inside it.”


    “Can it use nothingness!?” Aejaz was shocked.


    “No, but it has somehow, someway, interacted with nothingness before. The question is, where could that have happened?”


    “Do you think there’s someone else running around with the destruction pillar?” Charity asked.


    “No, well, I mean it could be the case, but I doubt it. I haven’t been to space yet, so I don’t know if it''s common or not, but I imagine that if that toad had ever been through a piece of collapsed space, then that would explain it. When I fought Trew earlier, he had lingering nothingness on him after the fight too. This is just a guess, but I think that thing has somehow wormed its way through the severed domain path.”


    “Are you kidding me?”


    “It would make sense. That thing might honestly be a legendary treasure akin to the Celestial Cluster treasures. It probably comes from a way higher domain than we know of. The way from one domain to another is always constructed using spatial magic, so if the spatial magic was severed and destroyed, it would instead become an unusable avenue of nothingness. This toad probably accidentally ended up traversing that avenue somehow and ended up here through its adventures, which would explain the nothingness magic around it, but I have no idea how some got inside its mouth.”


    “Makes sense but, still, how would an ‘accident’ like that even occur in the first place? Doesn’t it seem like that would be something done deliberately?” Enyo questioned.


    “Maybe. It does kinda look like the toad is searching for something.” Ares observed the toad which was eyeing everyone up.


    The toad’s eyes gleamed when they caught sight of Ares and it gradually hopped over to him


    Hop


    Hop


    Hop


    Why is something with such horrifying power so goddamn not-threatening? Ares felt like he should be scared, but just couldn’t find it in him to fear the toad.


    With one final hop, the toad landed smack-dab in front of Ares and the two had a stare down with each other. After a good while, the toad opened its mouth and shot its tongue out at Ares, making it plop onto Ares’ forehead like a plunger.


    Ares’ eye twitched and he was a little grossed out until he felt a tinge of nothingness on the toad’s slimy tongue. Ares thought it would be funny to reciprocate and poke the toad on its forehead with some nothingness magic on his fingertip. Little did Ares know, this action would spark the unbridled fires of anarchy and revolution, forever altering the destiny of countless lives by all-but ensuring a gruelling, bloody war fuelled with genocide, misery, and unspeakable horrors in a domain he knew nothing of.


    But hey, poking the toad was indeed very funny.


    The toad retracted its tongue and went searching for something hidden within it again. This time, it pulled out a piece of paper with a sketch of the Primordial Blade on it.


    “...” Ares said nothing and made an effort not to react in any way to this drawing.


    The toad pushed it a little closer to Ares before shoving it in his pocket. Its tongue reached up and patted Ares on the head as if to say, ‘take care of it’. The toad turned around and hopped away now that it had nothing left to do here.


    “Was that…?” Aejaz asked with caution.


    “... Yeah, and it knew I had it… It didn’t feel malicious though. What a bizarre encounter. If that thing was a treasury and it had nothingness inside of it… Could that have been where it was stored before I got it?” Ares was thinking things over and every conclusion he came to involved that toad having been the Primordial Blade’s caretaker at some point in time. He even noticed a metal bandage on the back of the toad as it hopped away, he wondered if that had anything to with when the sword came barrelling after him.


    “I should go and heal Trew before he dies, it looks serious.” Charity wasn’t pleased that this was the second time recently she was going to have to heal Trew.


    “Here.” Ares used one of his nails to cut open a small part of his thumb and flicked over a globule of blood. “That should help him heal but, obviously, don’t let him know it''s revenant blood.”


    “Thanks.” Charity was grateful as Trew’s injury was serious, it would have exhausted her healing Trew on her own but Ares'' contribution would make her life a lot easier.


    Bellona walked over to Ares. “Should I ask what was on that paper?”


    Ares shook his head. “No, you shouldn’t, sorry.”


    “It’s fine, I’m just being nosy.”


    “Let’s hope the same could be said about that toad.”


    ---------------------------------


    “Did the ‘Invincible One’ make it through the severed domain, Pei?” the king sounded fed-up, likely due to a lack of good news.


    “Well, my liege, it is invincible. Or, rather, it should be anyway. It being invincible didn’t exactly stop the Primordial Blade from tearing a hole through it like it was made of butter. Speaking of which, I hear frog legs go spectacularly with butter, perhaps the same can be said of a toad?”


    “PEI! I’M NOT IN THE MOOD FOR YOUR SNARK RIGHT NOW! GIVE ME AN UPDATE AND LEAVE.”


    “Yes, my liege. The Invincible One crossed through the severed domain without getting lost… Too many times. He has just finished checking his second domain on the other side.”


    “And?”


    “... Nothing.”


    “Tsk, keep searching.”


    “Yes, my liege.” Pei left the throne room and flew through the castle.


    It was a highly decorated and prestigious place that had been kept in pristine condition by the slaves who were forced to scrub the walls by hand. Even though they had runes that could have done the same job, it was a long-standing tradition. Those slaves were the lucky ones, however. They were fed and clothed, which was more than could be said for the other people who lived in the domain. They even had comfortable beds to be grateful for down in the chambers even if it was hard to sleep with all the noise the guards made and the occasional intrusions into their room. There was a drastic difference in quality of living between the people who lived inside the kingdom, and those who were not within its walls.


    Pei arrived at the bed-slave chambers and walked past the guard who simply ignored him for two reasons. One, he was only really there to stop people from running away, not from entering, and two, he was on good terms with Pei.


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    The wooden double-doors were pushed aside and Pei slipped in. The sound of chains, whips, screams, moans, crying, and begging echoed throughout the cold, brick dungeon, but Pei was unfazed as this was nothing out of the ordinary.


    He eventually reached the end of the commons area that the guards used and entered the section dedicated to the higher ups of the castle, including but not limited to, the captain of the guard, the forger, the runemancer, the alchemist, the royal advisor, and Pei himself. It was quieter here, but only because the people that frequented the premises possessed a proclivity for silencing their partners during, after, or even before their sessions. He briefly stopped by his own room to check up on his wife before moving on.


    The final area was three times the size of those prior and belonged exclusively to the king. As with before, the guard let him in without question. Being on good terms with certain people would let you see a very different side of the kingdom, one that even the king himself didn’t know about.


    Pei passed by many different rooms, each with at least one servant waiting patiently for potentially even hundreds of years, just to have the king inevitably arrive in a foul mood and take out his frustrations on them. He would never come to them in a good mood, and that was guaranteed as he would only ever visit his beau when he was pleased, and only when he was pleased. The king’s beau was his personal favourite companion and he refused to ruin their face and body with his fits of rage. The others here weren’t quite so lucky and, of course, they wouldn’t be kept around after the king’s beatings looking the way they inevitably would after all was said and done.


    Pei came to the beau’s quarters and knocked in a steady rhythm to activate the runes on the gilded door. It opened and Pei stepped into a spacious, elegantly designed room that was pure white as far as the eye could see. The furniture was high-class and as white as the walls, giving the illusion that his room was a snowy wonderland fit for a princess to live happily ever after in. At the far end of the room, directly at the centre of the wall, was a grand canopy bed with luxurious silk drapes that could be lowered for privacy and arctic nine-tailed fox-fur covering the sheets.


    Standing beside the bed was an individual just barely taller than 5.2ft. They were fully bare, save the white lingerie that clung to their delicate skin, and running their soft hands through their blonde hair while looking in a nearby, full-length mirror.


    Upon hearing someone step into the room, the boy turned around.


    He took gentle steps filled with grace across the room to come closer to Pei. The boy had retained his youthful looks despite his age and was feminine enough to confuse with a woman if you weren’t paying attention. He had a fragile build with a tender and pastel face, a small, smooth nose, entrancing light-green eyes, and a rosy coloured mouth. The lingerie curved around his little nipples that were jutting out of his areolae and ran along his arms to connect with the white dress gloves covering his hands. His phallus and genitalia were average in size and spotless with no hair. At the base of his shaft were pleasure rings, constantly vibrating and forcing his cock to throb, thrash and pulse against its constraints. His neck and face, the frailest parts of his body, were marked by hand prints from his king as a sign of his ownership.


    The boy wrapped his arms over Pei’s shoulders and brushed his chest against him. The boy leaned up on Pei, and breathed soft, warm breaths onto his neck before seductively whispering into his ear in a subdued voice, “You aren’t my king…” The boy removed one of his arms from Pei’s shoulders and ran a fingertip along Pei’s chest and down his abdomen, eagerly reaching into his trousers and grabbing Pei’s hind. “... But you could be.” His tongue worked its way into Pei’s ear and played around, licking gently from side to side, occasionally getting braver and poking deeper.


    Pei stroked the boy’s face…


    Slap


    Pei added his own mark to the boy’s collection. He grabbed the boy''s wrist in his trousers that was slowly circling around to the front with one hand, and tightly gripped the boy’s cock with the hand he had just used to slap him. “Not now, Ashley.”


    “Mmmm, I love how rough your hands are, Pei.” Ashley leaked pre-cum all over Pei’s hand.


    Pei shoved his drenched hand into Ashley’s face and made him lick it clean. “We can have fun when we’re free. Right now, we’re on good terms.”


    Ashley frowned and sighed.


    A black sludge oozed out of his skin and formed a cape that completely covered him. He pulled the hood over his head and a solid black veil enveloped his entire being. A dark mist surrounded Ashley and shadowy, drill-like tendons arose from the ground and walls around him, turning the room into a devilish hellscape. “I’ve been used and abused by countless men, and yet, the one I want to abuse me refuses to do so. Pei, why must you tease me like this?” A tendon pierced through Pei’s clothes and pulled him towards Ashley. “Take me Pei. Ravage me.”


    “Believe me I will but, for now, you still belong to the king.”


    “Regicide it is.”


    “Regicide it always has been, Ashley.”


    “Pei.”


    “Right, of course. When you’re like this, you prefer Ash.”


    “Such a glorious name, no? By day, I get to be everyone’s favourite little slut Ashley but, by night, the leader of a revolution who burns it all down to the ground, Ash! If only my parents were still alive, oh how I would thank them.” Ash licked his lips.


    “Well, I hope you’re prepared to do a lot more burning. There’s been good news.”


    “Did you find the Primordial Blade then?”


    “Yes and no. It’s highly likely the person I inspected with the Invincible One had it, but I didn’t actually see it on him.”


    “Hmmm, you know I trust you, Pei. If you say he has it, he has it. If you say we burn the kingdom down, it burns. If you say bend over, I’ll put my face on the floor and let you step on it, crushing me underfoot while you have your way with me.”


    “Tsk, you make it so hard not to cave in and fuck the shit out of you right here and now you little whore. You also make it sound like I’m in charge, but the decision to kick things off is in your hands, so let me tell you what I saw and then you can choose for yourself.”


    “I love a man with a strong will, but I detest when that will gets in the way of how you could be treating me. Truly, you are more patient than I. I suppose I’ll just have to bide my time with the king and be his personal pet until you come along and snatch the leash. Well, do tell then, who’s the lucky bastard that now gets to play around with the world''s strongest treasure?”


    “Just some kid in a lower domain. As you already know, when the Invincible One stored the Primordial Blade before it escaped six years ago, it amassed lingering magic related to the Blade. We never did figure out what that magic was. Luckily, as the Invincible One crossed the severed domain, it came into more contact with it, and we started to piece together some clues. We now know that the magic is a result of what we term ‘negative space’. Whoever that boy is, he can freely conjure that strange magic, meaning he probably has the sword as that was almost definitely the sword''s requirement to become a personal treasure. That means the king, under no circumstance, even if he finds and kills the kid, can ever become the Blade’s owner. We’re safe to start our war without him suddenly becoming too much to handle. I have to ask though, what should we do about the kid?”


    “Hm, I say one kind gesture returns another. His birth has given us this wondrous opportunity after thousands of years of waiting, and we have no enmity with him, so we might as well leave him be, no?”


    “It’s what I would recommend, not because I feel we owe him, but because I noticed he’s a revenant. Killing him once won’t be the end of it and it has the potential to backfire miserably if he gets a chance to grow.”


    “If that’s what you’re fretting over, we could just lock him up until he passes away from old age. He’d come back after, but we could find him and lock him up again. I don’t think that’s necessary, however.”


    “You should use your bloodline trait, ‘Intention’, Ash.”


    “Can’t hurt to be safe I suppose, what''s his name?”


    “Ares.”


    Ash shivered from head to toe. “Mhm, now that is a man with destiny. I like him already! I feel only intent fuelled by love and a strong desire to protect. Seems pretty alright to me, no secret urges to destroy or rule or pillage despite being a revenant no less. Let me see him so I can get a full-rundown.”


    Pei sighed.


    “Hm? Is something the matter, Pei?


    “He’s your type, Ash. He looks like a younger version of the king, he’s a rugged type of handsome.”


    “Oh!? Now I really want to see. Stop being jealous Pei. You know that looks are only a part of what turns me on. A big part sure, but it’s not the only thing that gets me going. You hold a special place in my heart.”


    “God I’m going to enjoy shoving my finger in your mouth, choking you, and tearing your tight little asshole in half.” Pei took deep breaths to calm his urges. “Fine, here.” He held up a portable projector that showed an image of Ares on it.


    Ash shivered more violently this time and moaned in ecstasy. “Oh, FUCK, that was good. Mhmm, he is a man I would love to let handle me. I can just imagine him clutching onto my hair and jamming his manhood past my lips, digging deep into my convulsing, wet throat. FUCK. Pei, you might have to share me with him.”


    Somewhere, in a place far, far away, Ares felt oddly uncomfortable for some unknown reason.


    “Tsk, I knew you’d say that. What about your bloodline?”


    “Nothing I haven’t already said. He’s more likely to be a man of the people than a man exploiting the people. Even if he ends up in our domain, he won’t support the king. This ‘Ares’ just isn’t the type to enable other’s suffering. Well, I say that, but hopefully he can bend the rules a little when it comes to me.” Ash was licking his lips behind the veil again before sighing. “Unfortunately, my bloodline is telling me he won’t swing my way. How devastating… Not that that will stop me from trying.”


    “... So shall we gather everyone and hold a meeting?”


    “Of course, it’s time we fight back. I know all too well the upper echelon of this domain can give it, but I’ve always wanted to find out if they can take it.”


    “Then I’ll go and notify everyone at once.” Pei turned around to leave.


    “At once?” Ashley took off his cape and returned to his normal, girlish appearance. “Or are you going to go play with that toy the king gave you? Your wife? You seem to have some…” Ashley stroked Pei’s trousers as he spoke, “... Pent-up frustrations.”


    “I guess you could say that.”


    “Hmm, but unlike me, I’m willing to bet she doesn’t let you… Play rough.”


    “... No.”


    Ashley nibbled Pei’s neck and ran his hands along his body before murmuring into his ear, “You won’t need her for much longer. Have some fun. Think of me.”


    Pei stormed out of the room and headed straight for his own to get the raging fire out of his blood. His wife’s screams were unusually loud that day until, like most of the other slaves in that area, she fell completely silent.


    ---------------------------------


    “I guess this is goodbye for now. See you at the regionals!” Bellona waved at Ares, Aejaz, Allie, and Enyo. “Oh, and play nice you two, no more arguing.” She winked at Ares and Enyo who both interpreted her wink as sly acknowledgment, albeit for different reasons.


    Ares waved back. “Ha, we’ll see… Oof,” Ares let out a grunt when Enyo elbowed him.


    Everyone else said their goodbyes and then parted ways, leaving the original four-man group unsure of what to do next. “There’s still 6 days until Zhang gets here. We’ve already finished our mission and I don’t know which is worse, staying in the forest or staying in that dump of a town,” Aejaz complained.


    “I kinda wanna sleep in a bed for a change.” Allie made her vote clear.


    “I’m not fussed either way, but I guess my vote is irrelevant.” Ares had no preference, but realised pretty quickly any preference he could’ve had would be meaningless regardless due to the number disadvantage.


    Enyo was confused as to what he meant. “And why is that?”


    “Allie wants to go into town, right? Are you going to go against her wishes and vote to go back into the forest then?”


    “No, but what of it? Aejaz could always vote… Ok, never mind. I see your point.”


    Ares clapped his hands then clicked his fingers. “Then let’s get going.”


    “Um, Zhang only gave me enough stardust for a couple of days at an inn…” Allie fidgeted and had a guilty look on her face.


    “No worries. The dead transition realm cultivators had a lot of stardust on them. I’ll pay for the inn and food.”


    “Thank you!”


    “Hon…” Enyo started talking but was interrupted pretty quickly by Ares.


    “Yes Enyo. Honeycomb. I will make you plenty of honeycomb.”


    “Good. Then I’ve no complaints. Although I feel we should sort this out before we get there, how are we allocating the rooms?”


    “Hmm, good point. Either way, I think two, two-bed rooms are ideal.”


    Allie hadn’t yet understood where they were going with this. “Me and Enyo, and you and Aejaz, right?”


    “That is certainly one possibility, but there is another.” Ares slowly pointed at Allie then at Aejaz.


    Allie’s cheeks slowly reddened as she caught on. “N… No, I think it''s too early for us to do that.”


    Enyo laughed lightly. “Then don’t do that. Just because you’re sharing a room, doesn’t mean you have to share a bed. Like Ares said, two beds.”


    Allie somehow defied her own biological limits and got even redder. “O… Oh… Right… Ok.” She looked over at Aejaz and both of them immediately stared down at the ground as they couldn’t bring themselves to look each other in the eye in this awkward situation.


    Ares jumped in to change the subject, “Sorted! Enyo, no spiders or I swear to God you won’t see that honeycomb ever again.”


    “Ares, give me honeycomb or I swear to god there won’t be a day that goes by without spiders.” Enyo fought back with a beautiful riposte,


    “...”


    “...”


    “Deal,” the two agreed in unison.


    The group set off and arrived at the town just as it was getting dark, giving the town an eerie vibe. The town was quiet and as rundown as Ares had predicted it would be when he first laid eyes on it. A number of buildings were in disrepair, even the inn they found had a few holes in it. They entered and were momentarily the focus of everyone''s attention before things returned to normal. There had been a few hostile glances, but those disappeared quickly as if their group wasn’t the intended target. There was something off about this place.


    Ares walked up to the counter and asked the person behind it who was scrubbing glasses a question, “How much for two, two-bed rooms? 6 days each.”


    The bartender looked behind Ares, straight at Allie and Enyo, sighed, and said, “Please wait a moment.” He picked up a nearby pen and wrote something on the back of a tissue which he then slid across the counter. “These are our going rates. Take it or leave it.”


    Ares raised his eyebrow and checked the tissue. ‘Two rooms, 6 days, 900 low quality pieces of stardust each, wouldn''t recommend. Leave this place. They could be anywhere.’


    Ares didn’t feel like this was a decision he should make on his own, so he asked for a moment to discuss the ‘rates’ with his companions.


    The group found an empty table near the corner where they could speak quietly and not be heard. Enyo spoke first, “I don’t know who these people are that could be anywhere, but surely it would be fine if we just spend most of the days inside the rooms?”


    “Perhaps. Aejaz, Allie, would you two feel comfortable holing up in that room and not leaving? Enyo and I will take care of everything that needs doing outside and will bring you guys food to your room.”


    “Um, ok.” Allie seemed accepting of this arrangement.


    Aejaz was being his usual scaredy-cat self though. “Ares! What if they’re already in the room? How will we know if it’s one of you two coming and not an imposter? What if there’s a secret entrance?”


    Ares sighed. “We can use a codeword to get into your room if that makes you happy. When we get the rooms, I’ll go in and check them with Omniscience. No one can hide from it and I’ll be able to see any hidden entrances or abnormalities. Anything else?”


    Aejaz thought hard for a few moments. “No. What should the codeword be?”


    “Oh, I don’t know, how about, ‘let me in, idiot’?”


    “I mean, that’s more of a code-phrase and I’m not particularly happy with it, but I can tell by the look in your eyes I don’t have a choice.”


    “Good, I’m glad you understand. Alright then, let’s go.”


    Ares went back to the bartender. “We’re planning on staying. Just out of curiosity, will it be a problem if we stay in the rooms and never leave?”


    The bartender gave a small smile. “No, that should be alright. Some people may confuse you with someone else and occasionally get the wrong door, but you can just ignore their knocking.”


    “Much appreciated, here’s a little extra for such a good recommendation.” Ares handed over an extra 500 pieces of low grade stardust in addition to the room fees.


    “Enjoy your stay.”


    The group headed upstairs and found their rooms. Ares used the keys the bartender gave him and opened Aejaz and Allie’s room first. He used Omniscience and gave the room a comprehensive inspection, scrutinising every inch. “Nothing, all clear. I know I gave you flak for it, but I’m starting to think the codeword might come in handy based on what the bartender said. Don’t forget about it,” Ares warned.


    “Oh, I won’t. You should be the one to remember though. If you forget it, I’m never letting you in,” Aejaz responded.


    “Alright, well… Have fun you two.” Ares winked as he and Enyo left the room.


    Aejaz and Allie were fine until Ares had made his ‘subtle’ insinuation and were now staring at the ground again. Bastard! Leave silently next time damn it! Aejaz cursed Ares in his head.


    Ares and Enyo went to their room and, once again, Ares gave it a check. He gave Enyo a thumbs up. “All good. I’m gonna head out for a bit, could you wait here? I think one of us should always hang around just in case something happens with those two.”


    “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, but where exactly are you going?”


    Ares put a finger up to his mouth. “Secret.” Ares locked the door for Enyo and Shifted away.


    Enyo settled down and debated taking her helmet off. She wanted to get used to having it off, especially around Ares, but it still felt really strange. In the end, she kept it on and decided to wait for Ares to come back instead of going straight to sleep for no reason other than that she wanted to say goodnight to him.


    Sometime later, the tell-tale sound of a lock and key brought Enyo back from her thoughts and Ares entered the room. “You’re still awake?”


    “Wasn’t feeling tired,” Enyo lied.


    “In that case, I can give you this now instead of tomorrow.” Ares brought out a large bowl and put it on Enyo’s bedside cabinet. “All yours.”


    Enyo peered inside the bowl and found honeycomb as far as the eye could see. “Thank you. Really, thank you.”


    “No need to thank me, I already promised I would. I’ll lie down and sleep facing the wall so you can eat in peace.” Ares got in the bed and turned to the side.


    Crunch


    Crunch


    “... How do I get comfortable with not having my helmet on?” Enyo didn’t know where to start and just hoped Ares could help her figure things out.


    “Does wearing it make you uncomfortable?”


    “No?”


    “Then you don’t have to get comfortable having it off. You’re fine as you are.”


    “... Thank you, I knew you would say that, but I want to change. I feel like a coward hiding behind it. It started off as something I did because I didn’t want people misjudging me, so I could be the person my father wanted me to be without my looks getting in the way of that. I’ve worn it too long. It’s become a comfort for all the wrong reasons and I want to stop relying on it. It doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable, but it does bother me.” It bothers me that you can’t see me and that it got in the way of us. I don’t want it anymore, but I can’t help feeling like I need it. Help me overcome this, Ares. I don’t know how to do it on my own.


    “Hm, ok, let’s try this.” Ares turned around and faced Enyo.


    Enyo freaked out and started blushing for a second before calming down when she realised Ares still had his eyes closed.


    “When you feel comfortable with this, let me know and we’ll try something different.”


    “... Ok”


    “...”


    “...”


    Crunch


    This situation played out for another ten or so minutes when Enyo finally spoke, “I think I’m fine with this now. Are you going to open your eyes? I don’t feel like I’ll be at ease with that yet though…”


    “I am going to open my eyes but you''re going to close yours.”


    “That…”


    “I know it’s still hard, I’m sorry, but this is the best thing I can think of to ease you into it. First you get used to someone facing your general direction, then you get used to someone looking at you while you aren’t looking at them, then you’ll get used to looking back at someone looking at you. If you don’t want to, then that’s fine, we can stop here for today and go back to step one next time.”


    “... No… I want to do this.”


    “Are you sure? You could maybe just try spending more time with your helmet off around Allie and having her stare at you.”


    “No, I want to be ok with it off around anyone.” Mostly you though.


    “Hm, actually, I have a better idea. When you close your eyes, I’ll keep my eyes closed as well.”


    “How will that help?”


    “At some point, I won’t tell you when, I’ll open mine. It should make it a little easier to start. I want you to feel safe going into it.”


    “... I feel safe around you anyway.” Enyo blushed but used mana to force her cheeks to go back to normal before Ares opened his eyes.


    Ares smiled. “I’m glad to hear it. Let me know when you’ve closed your eyes.”


    “...”


    “...”


    Enyo took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and mustered up her boundless courage from wherever it had run off too. “Ok.”


    “...”


    Not even ten seconds later, Enyo started to panic. Her breathing became much heavier than normal and she was feeling sick. The feeling kept getting worse and worse to the point a tear came out of her eye and she was about to start crying.


    Ares opened his eyes when he noticed the change in her breathing and walked over to her when he saw the tear. He hugged her and spoke softly to try and soothe her, “Relax, I’ve closed my eyes again. Let’s not go any further today. Get a mental reset with a good night’s sleep and we can try again tomorrow. You’ve done great, ok?”


    Sniff


    Enyo couldn’t help but cry. She was nervous and still panicking but, more importantly, she was upset with the whole situation and furious with herself. She hugged Ares back and stayed like that for a while until she managed to stop the tears. Ares let go and walked back to his bed with his eyes still shut until he got in and faced the wall.


    “... I’m sorry,” Enyo mumbled.


    “Don’t be. There’s nothing you need to apologise for. Everyone has their own things they find difficult. It’s commendable you''re working towards fixing your problems. Take me, I’m far too much of a scaredy cat to ever try and get used to spiders, you’re doing incredible in comparison. Even if it takes you a long time to get the hang of it, that’s still better than people who do nothing.”


    Crunch


    Enyo was eating the honeycomb for comfort. “... Thank you. Goodnight, Ares”


    “Goodnight, Enyo.”


    Enyo sat around eating the honeycomb while going through her thoughts, this is absurd. Why? WHY DAMNIT?


    Crunch


    Why?


    Crunch


    Enyo kept battling with her demons until she eventually got fed up and was too annoyed to continue. She went to sleep while thinking about the time in Baja Forest when she tackled Ares after chasing him around with a spider. She wanted to be able to stare at him like that without the helmet and she swore she would bring herself to do it by the time Zhang showed up. Not while straddling Ares of course, that was far too much for her to accomplish in this time span.