"Are you insane?" Ares couldn''t help but dumbly repeat the same question he''d already asked because he was convinced there was no other alternative answer than ''yes''.


    Bellona just dismissively waved her hand. "It''s fine isn''t it? Everyone lived happily ever after."


    "... You know... When I was in the tomb earlier... I think I may have found your twin."


    "Twin?"


    "Yeah, it was a mimic. A CRUEL MONSTER HIDING BEHIND A PATHETIC CHEST!" Ares furiously waggled his finger at Bellona.


    "I see you have chosen death, you stupid mongrel."


    Crash


    Bellona and Ares tumbled on the floor, kicking up another dust storm as they brawled each other again.


    Aejaz, being the kind of cat curiosity would have a field day with, turned to Enyo and asked a question. "Who''s the woman hiding in the corner?" Aejaz pointed at the woman who was more of a scaredy cat than he was. To be fair, she was also weaker than Aejaz as she wasn''t a cultivator, but it was still pretty excessive.


    Enyo shrugged. "Some woman we saved while were out and about. She was pretty traumatised by it all so we had her tag along with us for a while so Appa could Say Happy Things to calm her down a bit. Seems that was all for naught thanks to those two shmucks..." Enyo pointed at the dust cloud with a wry smile on her face. "... To think Bellona would rope an innocent woman into her petty schemes... Those two can seriously be such problem children sometimes... I was this close to announcing our presence to lower tensions but, thankfully, Bellona realised her actions were going to cause some serious trouble if she kept it up."


    Hans came out of the auction house''s front entrance and scanned the immediate area. "Hm, seems the others have already gone. Oh well, if they want their auction items they can come back some other time. Ah, Enyo. Good to see you again. Was it you in room 1, then?"


    "I was in there, yes."


    "Then this ought to be yours." Hans brought out a spatial ring. "This contains the backfire gear you bought. I''m also rounding up the stardust owed, so I''ll have to trouble you to give me 1750 mid-grade in exchange for the sake of the auction house."


    Enyo took the space ring and put it in her pocket before bringing out another filled with stardust. She transferred the correct amount and thanked Hans for getting her the item.


    "No problem lass. Still, doesn''t seem like the kinda thing you''d use?"


    "Not in the slightest. I knew Ares would probably want it, so I nagged my sister for some stardust. It took a bit of convincing, but when I let her know who it was for she buckled pretty quickly. She''s also adamant she was trying to raise the price on the seed to mess with Ares, but she was actually just trying to outbid him to gift it to him after... Not that she''d ever admit it anyway."


    "... That sounds... Complicated... I won''t pry. That aside, can I task you with keeping an eye on Ares for a while? You know, make sure he keeps to himself and doesn''t blow anything up for a bit? The kiddo''s a loose cannon and he''s only going to become a bigger menace the higher his cultivation gets..."


    "Don''t worry, I''ll chain him up if I have to..." Enyo pondered inwardly as she unintentionally gave herself a great idea... Chaining him up sounds fun, actually... I can unwrap him like a present...


    Ares had stumbled out of the dust cloud, with Bellona clinging to his back like a koala, and was being terrorised by the piggybacking witch who was smacking his cranium with her staff.


    Bonk


    Bonk


    "Will you cut that out?!" Ares pleaded with the back-attached gremlin.


    Bonk


    "Alright, that''s it! Voidwalk!" Ares took off, running through the sky, leaping around upside down, falling sideways, and spinning through the air.


    A dizzy and motion sick Bellona clung to Ares as her head did loop-de-loops. When Ares landed, Bellona spun and fell on her butt. She tried to get up and stumbled into a wall as Ares laughed at her.


    "Hahaha, feeling dizzy? I have won this encounter no matter how you spin it! Hahahaha."


    Hans lightly elbowed Enyo. "They get along really well... Shouldn''t you be more concerned?"


    "On the contrary..." Enyo shook her head. "... I''m happy to see it. I''d rather see this than watch my sister be a lonely, depressed old woman forever. If I only have two choices, it''s not a hard one to make. That part is simple enough. The real issue is the guilt she feels when she''s happy. That''s my real concern and it''s going to take a while to sort that out."


    "You''re open minded. I''m glad Ares found someone like you because lord knows he''d need to have a tolerant partner considering the kind of person he is."


    "Ha, maybe. Then again, it''s thanks to him I''m open minded in the first place, so it evens out I guess."


    Hans walked over to Ares and held out another spatial ring. "Here ya go. Your stuff''s all in there... Minus the seed, but you''ve already... Acquired that. You don''t need to pay anything on the condition you never come back... I think that''s their polite way of saying ''please take this stuff and leave us alone forever''."


    "Thanks." Ares took the space ring and, after separating the alchemy ingredients, the ever-shifting core, and the phoenix cultivation manual, he handed over the space ring with everything in it to Aejaz. "Alright, go live your best life."


    Aejaz stole the space ring with his magic as he promptly disappeared, running as fast as his legs could carry him back to the sect. He ran so fast and with such determination that, once or twice, he''d even managed to successfully use the art Ares had been training him to learn. Although Aejaz, under any other circumstance, would be jumping for joy after such a monumental success, he was way more excited about something else. Instead of experimenting with the art and truly learning all of its capabilities, he instead opted to use it to ''teleport'' home faster. In a way... That technically counted as practice... Right? It was a good thing Ares couldn''t see this otherwise he''d probably tackle and beat his brother senseless for being so blasé about having just created arguably one of the strongest unique arts of all time. Still, progress was progress... Even if it was only a result of unbridled carnal desire.


    Back at the auction house, Hans said his goodbyes and left the scene. Although he had no enmity with Ares, he seriously hoped he wouldn''t have to see the kiddo again for a good while...


    Ares was hugging Enyo after she''d given him the backfire boots. Even when considering everything else he''d gotten today, including the lantern, the enabler, and the gun, the boots were Ares'' personal favourite. He had countless methods of going up, and now he had a good one for coming back down! The only real problem was that they were tanker boots and not regular shoes... And Ares usually wore shorts... If it weren''t for the muddy brown, almost colourless beige of the boots, it would have been an absolute fashion disaster. It still wasn''t great... But at the end of the day he really liked them and he cared about that more than maintaining any sort of fashionable cohesion. Additionally, having a pair of boots on hand was good in case he needed to navigate through muddy environments for whatever reason. His only other method of dealing with such a scenario would be using 60% of the Bane to create a Tricky Rink and that was just excessive; plus it would just swap out one troublesome terrain for another. This would mean he wouldn''t have nearly as much reason to have to Voidwalk past an obstacle like that, allowing him to conserve mana. As for the name of the gear, it was called the ''Strange Utilitarian'', and its weight increasing rune was dubbed ''Stamp Out''. A little titbit about the Utilitarian was that whenever the rune was activated, based on the colour of the mana supplied to it, a sheen would briefly appear on the boots, rolling over it before disappearing again until its next use. This had no practical effect whatsoever and was really just a nice little aesthetic detail. In Ares'' case, the sheen was a vibrant gold that almost made the boots look like they were made of the corresponding metal.


    Enyo patted Ares'' head and grinned evilly at Bellona while he wasn''t looking. "If you''re going to thank anyone, it should be Bellona. You know I''m dirt poor for the most part. She paid for pretty much all of it."


    "Eh?" Ares looked up at Enyo. "Really?" Ares turned around and spread his arms wide as he approached Bellona who was acting fidgety.


    "Stay back you demon! I''ll punch you again if you walk any closer!" Despite Bellona''s protests, she wasn''t prepared for Ares'' Shift which put him directly in front of her.


    Hug


    "Get off me you stupid mutt!" Bellona pushed Ares'' face away, mustering all the resistance she could... Not. If she used her magic, she could have very easily sent him flying. She could have probably even prevented him from getting close in the first place. Outwardly she was stubborn, but inside a part of her enjoyed the warm embrace. Of course she could never make that apparent in front of her smug sister. "What are you? A lapdog? Shoo! I''ll spray you with water!"


    Ares ended the hug and turned around to face Appa, blissfully unaware of the chaos and turmoil he''d wreaked upon Bellona''s poor heart. "Hello Sweetie. Did you have a good day?"


    Appa jumped at Ares and rubbed its head against him. "Yep! I was all like, ''pow!'' and ''freeze!'' and then the bad guys lost and the good guys won! We saved the lady and took a walk before mum decided to show me what an awk-shon house is like!"


    "Haha, you have no idea how adorable you are." Ares rubbed Appa''s head with a smile on his face. That smile distorted when his hair was pulled taught and he was dragged to a standing position by Enyo who was surrounded by a dangerous atmosphere.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    "So... Now that we''ve gotten all the fun conversations over with, care to explain why you almost went mad and did whatever the hell it was you were going to do back at the auction house?"


    "Uhhh..." Ares whispered a few details into Enyo''s ears and she slapped him in response. She seemed content after doing so and the violent aura disappeared. "Come on, you know I would never blow you up!"


    "You already have, fool. Twice at that. Once when Fate threw that Shock Bead, and another time outside the cave you were hiding in at Baja!"


    "Oh come on, surely I can''t be blamed for that first one!"


    "And the second?!"


    "Uh, sorry?"


    "You will be!"


    Thwack


    "Now we''re even!" Enyo hmphed at Ares before stroking his red face where she''d slapped him. "Honestly, what am I going to do with you? Anyway, I have one more gift for you. This time it really is from me and not my trainwreck of a sister. I''ve been working on it for a while now because I wanted to make sure it was done perfectly as I know how much it means to you."


    With a raised eyebrow, Ares accepted the space ring containing the mystery gift. He looked inside and closed his eyes as saw the gift. It all made a lot of sense now, specifically why Hans had told him Enyo was a keeper way back when outside city hall. So this is where she went? And this is why she''d been practicing needlework? Ares had actually seen Enyo when he came out of the void a week ago, he just never mentioned it because she was clearly trying to be secretive about something. To think it was this?... What an unbelievable woman, honestly. With his eyes still shut, he tilted his head towards the sky and took a deep breath to avoid ugly-crying in public. When he calmed down a little later, he took the gift out of the space ring and just stared at it in disbelief. He hadn''t seen this thing in what?... Six years? Things had changed drastically since last he saw it. One of those things being Appa who floated over in a manner that was similar to waddling and asked Ares a question.


    "Dad, is that a teddy bear?"


    "It is... Your mother stitched it up after it was damaged... Appa, do you want it?"


    "Can I?! It''s cute!"


    Ares chuckled to himself as he tucked the teddy bear in between Appa and the rope tied around it. "His name is Huggles. He''s all yours, but only on one condition."


    "What''s that?"


    Ares picked up Appa. "You have to let me give you a hug whenever I want!" Ares embraced his daughter who was gleefully giggling. Ares went over to Enyo and gave her a kiss. "Thank you, really. This means more to me than I can ever explain with words... But I don''t need it anymore. I feel bad giving it away right after you gave it to me, but I just think Appa will enjoy its presence more than I would. I have Appa and I have you. That''s all I need."


    Ares, Appa, and Enyo all had a big family hug outside the auction house while a certain someone was tapping her foot on the floor repeatedly with her arms crossed not even five feet away. "Bleugh. I think I''m gonna throw up. Sweetness overload." Bellona jeered.


    Enyo gestured towards her sister. "You can join in if your jealous."


    "Hell no!"


    Thwack


    Bellona used her magic to disappear after flooring a rather confused Ares. "The hell did I do?! Enyo, your sister is demented! She needs to be checked into an insane asylum!"


    "I agree."


    "Seriously..." Ares dislodged himself from the floor and stood back up. "... What on earth is up with that crazy woman? She wasn''t doing this before the regional... And she was normal for a while today. Why is it every time I''m nice to her she hits me?! Is she a psychopath? A masochist? I remember being polite to her in Baja and she wasn''t striking me down all the time then! Enyo, you''re her relative. Explain her to me!"


    "No."


    "Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? It''s like having a walking land mine in our house! And I keep stepping on it! If you don''t, I''m going to keep insulting her chest! It''s the only time she ever acts normal!"


    "Don''t do that, idiot. Just be normal... Actually, that''s probably the problem... You know what, never mind. I have no advice for you, it''s not your fault anyway. Just stop complaining, man up, and put up with it for now!"


    "For now?! How long is for now?"


    "Dunno, ask Bellona."


    "She''ll punch me, won''t she?"


    "Probably, but you can try anyway. I do get a kick out of watching you get a kicking. Speaking of violence in general..."


    Gulp


    Ares didn''t like the way Enyo was looking at him. "Can you not finish that sentence? I have a bad feeling."


    "... No, no. Nothing of the sort..." Enyo smiled innocently. Whether she remembered Ares had her lie detector bloodline ability or not... Probably wasn''t even relevant. Enyo wouldn''t be deterred by such a thing. "... I was just wandering if you still had that one chain you used on the monk during the regionals?"


    "... Why?"


    "You can find out later. And by later, I mean as soon as we get home."


    "... I think I''m going to sleep outside tonight."


    "In the burnt vomit garden?"


    "... Touché."


    "Hmph, don''t pretend you aren''t looking forward to it. I know you won''t complain no matter what I do to you."


    "... Touché again." Ares looked around for a second. "By the way, it appears that other woman has run off... Is that ok? She didn''t seem to be in the best condition before."


    "And who''s fault was that?! You''re the one that frightened her out of her wits. Hell, you gave the entire city a scare, TWICE! What was up with that tree anyway?"


    "Ha, today''s been a long but pretty great day. How about I tell you about it on the way back? Actually, there''s one thing you might find either funny or agonising, I''m not sure which."


    "And that is?"


    "Well I''m getting a little ahead of the story here, but I''ll make an exception. Aejaz and Allie are probably going to go all the way, or at the very least further than we are currently."


    "... Go on."


    "I just think it''s ironic considering the bet you wanted to make in the snatcher city about this very situation. Turns out they were quicker than us."


    "And who''s fault is that? Who was it that decided to act like a chaste little village girl, abstaining until marriage? Now that I know about those two, you best thoroughly consider what''s going to happen to you if I get my hands on that damn chain! You can''t resist me if you''re tied up, fool!"


    Ahem


    Ares utilised 110% of his willpower to put Enyo''s demonic intonation to the back of his mind. "It''s really not that I''m waiting ''till marriage, or declaration of it anyway. I just believe that night will be memorable and special for us if we just have a bit of patience."


    With a sigh, Enyo gave up. The roles in this relationship had clearly been reversed. She was like the overly aggressive male protagonist of one of Aejaz'' romance novels who just wanted to get into his shy girlfriend knickers but was denied at every conceivable turn! She kept muttering her, ''it''s just a month'' mantra to herself to soothe her raging lust.


    "Ha, don''t worry. I have an idea on how to keep you happy until then."


    "And that is?"


    "You''ll see in two weeks time."


    "What is with you and all these arbitrary countdowns?!"


    "This one''s just to keep you at bay. I''m genuinely worried for my safety in my sleep around you sometimes, in a good way of course. If I can alleviate some of your pent up frustrations, I can avoid having to fight off a night raid. There won''t be anymore ''countdowns'' after these, I''m doing it for your own good!"


    While Enyo and Ares went back and forth, Jeremy walked out of the front of the auction house with a glum look that only worsened when he saw the culprit behind his pay deduction. His eye twitched as he went back to work, putting up a new sign. When it had been plastered on the wall, clear for all to see, he coughed to get Ares'' attention.


    Cough Cough


    "Hm?" Ares turned and saw the sign immediately, both because it was pretty big and because Jeremy was pointing at it with vigour. The sign read ''The following rules are to be henceforth enforced on the premise unconditionally. No food. No drink. No Ares.''. "Hans wasn''t kidding... I really am not welcome... Ah whatever, I already got what I wanted out of this place." Before leaving and going back home, Ares threw Jeremy a high-grade to make up for the troubles... As much as he could anyway.


    Later that night, Ares slept like a log. He''d been all around town today so he rested instead of messing around with any of his usual sect-bound duties like runemancy or technical creation. It was a pleasant sleep... Although he did have a nightmare or two about various chain-related incidents. Still, the night was mostly peaceful.


    He woke up the next morning and Voidwalked through Enyo''s barrier which was trying to lock him in the room again. Ares admired Enyo''s persistence, although it was really scary thinking about what fate might befall him one day if he ever ran out of mana with her around... Ares walked into the living room and found Bellona cuddling Appa. "Good morning. I''m gonna make breakfast. You two want anything specific?"


    "Candy Apple!" Appa responded with no hesitation. Appa was truly a sweet-fiend if ever there was one.


    "Hmm..." Bellona on the other hand took longer to decide. "... I don''t know. I don''t have any preferences, so surprise me."


    Now that the onus had been thrown onto Ares, he was lost in thought trying to figure out what to make her. It had to be good, otherwise she would punch him again... Who was Ares kidding? She''d probably do that anyway... It was an interesting conundrum he found himself pondering. He knew everyone else''s favourite foods but he was treading unknown ground with someone like Bellona who didn''t have any clear standouts... He briefly considered pumpkin pie, but he only even considered it because of Bellona''s witch getup. He was trying to think of something she''d like because it''s taste was to her liking, not because it fit her thematically. It had to be something with meaning for it to be truly special, but there was only really one thing he could think of and it involved his magic which was supposed to be a no-go topic... But could Ares really be content with half-assing a request like this?


    While Ares deliberated, something akin to a cloud floated by him. At first, Ares assumed it was Appa just because of how ephemeral and ghostly its existence was, but Ares became sceptical of that assumption shortly thereafter. Appa was cuddling, and it would never give up on cuddles! What was this strange thing?! Ares stopped thinking for a second and looked around, only to see Aejaz drifting around the room with his eyes shut and massive smile on his face. Ares rolled his eyes and chucked a space ring full of food at Aejaz'' pocket. Without another word, or any at all as he hadn''t said even one yet, Aejaz floated out of the room and went back to his. Ares just assumed he wouldn''t see his brother again properly for at least the next week... Ahhhhhh, I''m getting distracted. What would truly make Bellona happy?


    "What are you standing around like a lemon for?" Bellona was curious as to why Ares had been standing in the same spot for over a minute straight now.


    "Shh, I''m thinking."


    "Thinking? You do that? Since when? And what about anyway?"


    "I''m thinking about what to create that will make you happy. So far I''ve thought about pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, and pumpkin juice... And punch THE DRINK, NOT THE VERB!"


    "... You are spectacularly dumb."


    "I know. It''s part of my charm."


    "Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh." Bellona buried her head into Appa and groaned.


    "AH!" Ares had come up with an idea! In the end, he was going to resort to something related to his magic, but screw it! An idea like this only came along once in a blue moon and he was sure Bellona would understand!... Whatever it was that needed understanding, anyway. Ares still really didn''t get this woman or her problems. Trying to figure her out was like trying to solve a sudoku on a rubix cube while inside an aerotrim. He went into the kitchen and got started. He was going to need some time to practice because he''d never attempted anything quite like this before. Luckily, he had a clear vision for it, so that would speed up the process a bit but it was still going to be hard work! To get the easy stuff out of the way, he made Appa''s Snappa and some toast and coffee for Enyo who''d gotten up and was sitting on the couch while reading a newspaper. Unsurprisingly, the newspaper was centred around the escapades of Ares'' antics, although he wasn''t mentioned by name as the ''culprits'' of the tree and pressure incidents were'' unknown'' to most people. Ares went back into the kitchen and got his hands dirty.


    Enyo eventually went inside the kitchen to take a peek after several small explosions got the better of her curiosity and she just shook her head when saw the product Ares was finally finished making. This idiot is seriously going to break Bellona with whatever this is, isn''t he?... "You''re sleeping on the couch today."


    "Eh?" Why was Ares being punished randomly like this ever since Bellona had moved in? He''d caught stray beatings left and right and he was now being frequently kicked out of his own room! The damn sudoku of a woman was messing with him again! He''d stepped on the landmine once more and he hadn''t even seen the blasted thing! "Ah whatever. I finally created this food and that''s what matters right now!" Ares brought a small sachet, filled with golden powder and numerous miniature golden balls, into the living room and handed it to Bellona who just looked at it in bewilderment.


    "... What is this?"


    "Just try it! You''ll see when you eat it!"


    Enyo patted Bellona''s shoulder and winked at her as she left the room. "I''ll leave the door to my room open. I''ll see you in a bit."


    Bellona looked down at the strange food. She knew what Enyo was implying and she was dreading it; Bellona was about to have a mint honeycomb moment...