Fate shifted over and sat on the sofa properly when Ares gave her some lunch. She pecked away at it to check and see if it was really any good or not and her eyes lit up when a burst of flavour satisfied her taste buds. She really made an effort not to smile in delight which Ares got a kick out of as he teasingly poked her in the arm a couple of times. Fate aside, it seemed Rhea was also really enjoying her meal as she chowed down with gusto. Naturally he''d busted out the beer too and all five of the Legion women present opted to drink some. Ay Caramba. He was reminded by this sight that he owed the Legion family a banquet at some point so he would have to consider what to make. If Rhea liked fish then he would be sure to have that on the menu. As for the specifics, he would ask at a later date when everyone was in Red Sun and could make their own choices. Ares asked Fate the questions he was curious about, namely what kind of people were his brothers and sisters and how old they all were. Fate swallowed some of her meal and started listing off Calla and Aster''s kin.


    "Scar is the oldest brother and the strongest of all of us. He takes after dad and fights with his bare fists and space-time magic, so he''s a bit of a brawler. With chains on his fists and a bare upper body he looks kinda like a punk sometimes but he''s actually a calm man of few words who likes peace and quiet. If you ever want to find him back on our home planet, there''s a waterfall he likes to cultivate under and a peach tree he visits frequently. If you have a problem, and our parents are busy, you should go to him. He was twenty before he was killed and sent down here, and he was sent a little earlier than the rest of us to forge a path, so to speak, so that should make him roughly forty years old total. Revenants tend not to be too fussy with exact ages because remembering it after countless deaths becomes tedious. If I get any wrong then whoopsie, but it doesn''t really matter much for us anyway. That being said, I think Calla might know all the exact dates so you could always ask her. She also has God only knows how many photo albums of us...


    The second oldest is Skyzo. He''s an assassin but he''s also incredibly lazy. He always has bags under his eyes and he''s never not tired. Everything is a hassle to him but don''t think that means he won''t do his job when he''s asked to. He''ll moan and complain but he''ll help you out regardless. He has a very strange skill set because his magic makes him stronger based on the amount of people looking at him. It''s kinda ass-backwards for an assassin but it suits him. Instead of having to work hard and sneak around he just walks up to his target and overwhelms them in broad daylight... I don''t even really know if he can be called an ''assassin'' at that point but he makes it work somehow. He also has a unique magic that forcibly creates aggressive clones of his enemy. The more enemies the stronger he gets, after all. Plus clones are weaker than the original so the strength he gains is greater than the issues the clones cause. Also, for an assassin, he''s strangely useful during wars as a frontline menace. He''s the hardest of us to track down but he''ll always pay attention to us and be there if we need him... Although I hate it when he flicks me on the nose. It''s annoying. Also also, don''t let him fool you, he''s like a sloth most of the time but he''s very quick on his feet when he wants to be and actually decides to put some effort in. He''s roughly twenty five years old now total.


    The third oldest is Venus, our only other sister. She''s kinda like Skyzo in that she thinks everything is a hassle but she''s more vocal and whiny about it than he is. She has a bit of a temper and gets agitated easily but she has a soft spot for younger guys and wants to be the queen of her own shota-filled harem. She''s really dead set on it too and it''s basically the only time you''ll ever see her happy about pretty much anything when she''s discussing it. She''s arrogant and likes to show off her achievements whenever possible because she always wants to be the best at everything even if she pretends she doesn''t care or wasn''t trying when she loses. She doesn''t like fighting much but is quite good at it which makes her really annoying to spar with because she''s dismissive of her opponents and generally really rude. Her preferred weapons are guns and she has an affiliation for their aspect too. Her magic lets her control the direction of bullets after they''ve been fired so she chases you down if you try to dodge or circumvent your block if you try to guard. She''ll just keep firing at you while looking at her nails or something and treat you like an inconvenience. She hates nothing more than having to move from her spot during a duel and she''ll actually get quite mad if her opponent doesn''t die quickly. Across both of her lives so far she''s lived for about twenty one years overall.


    Fourth is Verv, our loud, manic brother. He''s a bit of a crazy loose cannon and, sometimes, he''ll be minding his own business before just randomly exploding with energy and running around looking for a fight. He''s a wild child with erratic behaviour that really likes fighting compared to the rest of us. Annoyingly he uses a pretty massive great sword so, when he goes on a rampage, he''s quite destructive. As if his random bouts of mania weren''t enough as is, he specialises in berserk magic and really goes off the rails mid combat. Strangely enough, though, he never loses control of himself whenever he uses the magic. He never attacks friends or family and he never injures himself either. I''d argue he even gets a little smarter during it, even if he does lose the ability to speak... He''s unreliable so don''t ask him for anything because he''ll either forget or just simply fail miserably. When Verv gets bored, and that happens a lot, he gets real fidgety and will fight whoever''s closest to him so keep that in mind. Don''t get me wrong though, he''s a good person and mostly sane. He just gives in to his cravings and has no self-control for these things. Although not the strongest, he is very talented. If it weren''t for the difference in experience he might actually take the top spot from Scar. He''s never beaten him once though, so he has his work cut out for him. Now that you''re in the picture expect him to bother you often, especially after he sees that magic of yours. You''ll become his new favourite chew toy in no time. He''s nineteen if I''m not mistaken.


    Fifth is... Well it used to be me but now I guess that position belongs to you... I''m not going to explain you to yourself so I''ll skip you. I''m the youngest and therefore sixth. I''m the kindest, sweetest, and most honest of everyone. I''m our parents'' favourite and always will be. Although combat isn''t my forte, I have more specialties than everyone else like infiltration, stealth, scouting, and to some extent hacking. Technology is pretty rare in the lower domains so it''s hard to practice and get good at but, luckily, mum and dad took me on a trip to that one simulated planet in Vraizon and I learnt a fair bit there. Because I''m not cut out for fighting, mum and dad gave me lots of treasures to help me fend off attackers. A few of them became personal treasures and I''m loaded with good stuff that synergises well with the kind of approach I take to a fight. My magic is primarily stealth-oriented but I also have some magic under the passive pillar. It makes the frequency at which I end up in bad predicaments way higher but also massively boosts my luck. In other words, stuff like when I was getting hassled by those guys in the forest but then you showed up and gave me all those Beads. I was looking for a way to con you and my magic just sort of made it possible. I like scheming and this magic makes it easier to pull of complicated plans. The outcome is almost always good but that doesn''t stop everyone else from worrying about my safety so I get babied a lot by everyone. It''s why I get given most of the treasures mum and dad find and why no one else complains about it. Also it''s because I''m cute."


    Ares petted Fate and smiled. "Yes yes, very cute. Do you need anymore Beads? I can give you some if you''ve run out." Ares could understand the desire to protect this tiny troublemaker so he figured he would do his part. Granted with all the treasures Fate had on her the likelihood of her running into an unsolvable issue was low but being safe was infinitely better than being sorry. Also if he was handing out Beads to his neighbours and fellow disciples for free, or close to it, then donating them to his family was a given. Ares fished around the Primordial Blade and brought out two bags of each type of Bead and gave them to Fate who struggled to eek out a ''thank you'' under her breath. Her cheeks went red as Ares laughed at her so she threw a mini tantrum and banged her fists against his arm.


    Over on the other sofa, Rhea was being bombarded by one of Enyo''s rants. She''d been discussing marriage first and went of on a verbal rampage not dissimilar to the one she pulled off a while ago back when Trew was being annoying. This barely intelligible string of syllables left Rhea gobsmacked but she did her best to follow along and comprehend her daughter''s insanity. She thought she was out of the woods when Enyo finally stopped but, little did she know, her daughter was just getting started. That being said, Enyo did speak at a reasonable pace this time, mostly because it seemed she was actually expecting Rhea to listen and respond this time... Her last rant was clearly just for personal satisfaction but now it seemed like she was asking for help with funding some shop call My Fair Lady. Rhea had more than enough stardust to do it and, if it was one of her children asking, then there was no reason to turn her down. Rhea did, however, make the mistake of asking for more details about the shop, at which point Enyo started rambling again... Something about the future of pleasure. Rhea couldn''t help but feel like her daughter had taken a strange turn on the path called life but she was having fun at least so good for her. Although the kind of shop she wanted to fund was pretty risqué, this was on the first times Rhea had ever seen Enyo show interest in just about anything so she didn''t have the heart to deny her this. Also, if what could be gleamed from Enyo''s lengthy speech was true, the quality of the goods seemed high at least. Who knows, maybe Rhea would actually go and check it out herself. It''s not like she came down here for anything specific that she hadn''t already dealt with. Now that she''d found her daughters'' boytoy, and checked him out to see if he was acceptable, she was free to do as she pleased in her spare time. It seemed as though she would stay in one of the guest rooms for a while which was nice. This way she could hang around and play with her granddaughter who was unreasonably adorable. Even now Rhea still couldn''t bear to put Appa down. Appa was too soft and squishy for its own good. Rhea was going to milk her time here for all it was worth before Calla showed up and started hogging the shade because that was basically already a foregone conclusion.


    When all was settled with regards to funding the shop Enyo liked, hooray for nepotism, Rhea stood up and nodded to the back of the house. "Ares, come show me your pillar. I''m curious just what kind of firepower a fundamental pillar can bring to the table. You said yours is objectively the strongest and you''ve piqued my interest. Better not disappoint me or I''ll kick your ass from here to kingdom come, Calla''s child or not." Appa floated onto Rhea''s shoulder and allowed itself to be carried away as everyone else followed along minus Charity and Gladius who went back home after saying hello to their matriarch. They were invited to stay for dinner but they were attempting to make some potato dauphinoise again so Ares wished them the best of luck and headed to the back garden.


    This garden was far more spacious than the previous one but the real cherry on the cake was that there was no traces of vomit in this one. Sadie had been explicitly banned from ever stepping foot out here so she had to watch from the doorway. Appa waited on the side and Leo came out to join in the fun as he hopped on top of Appa''s head for a better view to spectate with. This had become a regular routine for the two but this was the first time Rhea had seen it and she almost fainted after witnessing the devastating cuteness of the treetop tiger draped over Appa''s head like this. Ares was tempted to ruin the moment and explain precisely what a little shit the tiger was but opted not to as Rhea would probably figure it out in her own time. Actually, Ares was very interested to see if Leo had the balls to mess with Rhea. He was a feisty cat. Typically, if he sees the opportunity, he would seize the opportunity.


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    "Alright wolfie, hit me with your best shot." Rhea rubbed her hands together and watched Ares stand across from her.


    Ares made no effort to suggest a Training Field because that was just insulting to Rhea. His Perish Wheel wouldn''t even be able to dent Sadie, let alone Rhea, so it was completely pointless. The only reason he would ever put up a Field was for his own benefit in case Rhea decided to start kicking his ass. That or if he wanted to avoid making a mess of his garden but, for the most part, Rhea would probably just nullify his attacks making that worry irrelevant. Thankfully, even if a mess were to be made, Rud wouldn''t be able to complain. Not unless he had to courage to demand answers from Rhea anyway. Ares imagined Rud trying to threaten to cut Rhea''s wages and just getting buried in the ground like Sadie had been earlier.


    "Perish Wheel." The Wheel of death and destruction was forged in a matter of seconds and ominously buzzed in place. The whole neighbourhood could feel the presence of this thing and hear its infernal, wretched sound tickling their inner ear. Mana swirled around its pointed edges and the grass underfoot was buffeted around unceasingly. Ares took a single step and launched it with all his might at Rhea who whistled to herself as the curved ring of blades approached her.


    Rhea experimented with the Wheel as it rushed towards her. She sent a few drops of magic to test the outer rim and they were fully eviscerated. Next she sent slightly stronger magic that could withstand the black ring and make it into the middle. The magic Rhea threw scattered the golden magic in the centre of the blade but it all teleported back in place as the Wheel kept spinning. Rhea could tell the red magic, whatever it was, acted liked the glue, giving it a second layer of defence other than just the black magic. In short, dismantling this thing should be an unrealistic feat if going toe to toe with this art in a fair fight. Attacking it was out of the question which only left two options. Dodging or blocking. So far this art was very impressive and the destruction pillar was living up to its moniker. The blade whirled towards Rhea who stretched out her arm and caught the blade with her bare hand. She could feel the black magic scratching away at her hand''s atoms. It wasn''t quite a burning sensation, nor was it slicing away at her flesh or dissolving it. It was hard to explain but it was almost as if her hand was rapidly eroding... No, even that wasn''t right. Eroding was a gradual process, this was instantaneous. Rhea could tell that if she lost the war here her hand would simply stop existing immediately. This black magic was ''either you can block it fully or it wins every time''. Plus blocking it was likely very hard because the punch it packed was monstrous. Rhea held back to experience the art fully and analyse it but the fact the art was lasting this long in her grip was indicative of how powerful it truly was. So not only could this Wheel not be attacked, it also couldn''t be blocked as this black magic magic would devastate any defences. Rhea could feel the Wheel pulse so she grabbed the core of it and held the detonating Wheel in place, obstructing the golden magic from rampaging out of control. What she was doing here looked unimpressive but she was essentially containing the entirety of a Perish Wheel explosion inside her curled up fist. To Rhea''s horror, her hand was shaking uncontrollably. She severely underestimated the detonation of this thing and, although she wouldn''t be harmed, restraining the explosion was far more challenging than she could have ever imagined. She could tell roughly how big this explosion would have been if she let it do its thing and that crossed off the last option on the list for dealing with this art as running away would a herculean task against an explosion of this magnitude. Rhea was truly shocked because, if she was at the same cultivation realm as Ares, she couldn''t for the life of her figure out what to do against theist thing. When she''d learnt about the creation pillar and some of its tricks, she was impressed but also felt like it was just cheap. It didn''t really do anything that other pillars couldn''t do, it''s just that it did all of them and to a higher level that was rather overwhelming. She could understand why fundamental pillars would be ridiculous but she hadn''t really appreciated the full extent of it because Mako''s just wasn''t as interesting as this pillar was. Now though? Now she had an inkling of how out of whack these pillars were. This level of sheer destruction was not something that should be accomplishable by someone half way through mental accumulation. Even she wouldn''t be able to do this without at least a realm or two higher cultivation base back in her heyday. Perhaps she''d underestimated Mako too, or maybe what Ares had said about the pillar being unique even amongst the fundamentals was particularly true. Either way these fundamental punks were seriously going to be unstoppable when they got on a roll... Wait a minute... Isn''t part of why Bellona fell in love with this guy the fact that she could double his magic?! That''s actually incredibly frightening. If she doubled an attack like this... The result would be outstanding... No wonder she fell head over heels for him, I wouldn''t be surprised if the silly girl wet herself in ecstasy when she saw this crazy magic for the first time. Steam rose out from the inside of Rhea''s fist. She was uninjured but the art had left an impact at least. Rhea was curious about what the red, black, and red magic were exactly but she could ask when she was done here as experiencing the magic first hand was always way more fun. To that end, she encouraged Ares to throw more attacks at her to which he obliged.


    "Voidwalk. Grand Annihilation." Ares stepped out and appeared directly in front of Rhea. She was fascinated by this as it didn''t look like an ordinary teleport. He seemed to have vanished completely from this world for a split second and that made her curious. Also, as the Grand Annihilation came barrelling towards her she realised the destruction pillar wasn''t a one trick pony. This was seemingly just a normal art under the pillar, one that could be used on repeat for little mana? Incredible. Power aside, it also doubled as a smokescreen which was why Ares had used it in the first place. He knew it would have zero effect. Rhea swatted aside the explosions and sent them thundering off into the sky to her right. As she watched them go, she caught sight of Ares who was also trying to sneak in an attack from above.


    "Stamp out. Echo" Golden mana flowed through his blood, lighting up the Stygian Zephyr in a brilliant gold as he dived down at Rhea. This was the height of his physical attacks currently so he figured he would give it a go.


    Rhea raised her hand and caught his foot squarely in the centre of her palm. The force was not to be trifled with. The Echo rolled around in her hand before being crushed by some redirected mana and the kick had been completely halted but a small shake indicated it would have been devastating if not for Rhea''s massive cultivation base. Ares pivoted on Rhea''s hand and pushed himself down to the floor in front of her.


    "Black Blossom. Gamble." As he fell, Ares activated Black Blossom on his Bane before Gambling to fling himself around Rhea''s flank where he lined up for a slow slash against her side. Rhea went to block with her hand but Ares predicted it in advance and kept going with a Double Jump, pushing himself behind Rhea completely to strike her open back. Rhea made no effort to block the art and simply let it happen as she hardened the muscles on her back.


    ROAR


    The disintegration magic tickled her back and sent shivers down her spine as it threatened to devour her. This attack was also very impressive and any normal person would have disappeared already. For someone like Rhea though the art may as well have been called Backscratcher for all the difference it would have made. Rhea plucked some of the petals out of the air and inspected them closely. Upon determining they were just as lethal the rest of the black magic, she looked on in awe at the sheer number of them raining down on her position. Through the petal storm she could also see Ares ''flying'' above. Being able to fly at this cultivation level was rare. Rhea connected the dots and realised the flight was connected to the teleporting art earlier and she was gobsmacked. Jealous even. A mobility art, capable of flight, that passively boosted combat prowess for cheap was a beautiful thing. The traditional flight technical didn''t aid you in any other way and was really just an annoying but necessary mana sink. Rhea was curious to see if this pillar had any means of defending itself other than just teleporting out of existence temporarily. The pillar didn''t really even need it though. After a certain point, offense became all-encompassing. Why use a defensive art when you can just break the attack with an offensive one? Would you even need to defend if your opponent was dead? Still, Rhea checked anyway by summoning a hundred holy swords and raining them down on Ares.


    Ares returned to the floor and looked up at the oncoming bright and pointy hail of doom. "Not Even Light. Chaos Reigns." While distracting Rhea with the defensive art above, he lifted up the Shock Beads he''d buried around Rhea during his Gamble below.


    Rhea first and foremost looked down to see the traps that had been sprung. This was good. Versatility was an important factor and she was glad to see he had some underhanded tricks up his sleeve. Actually, this was evil. Walking along and suddenly being surrounded by tens of these things would be rather mean. The Beads were sent into the air, by the wind pressure of Rhea''s arm swiping them away, where they detonated harmlessly like a fireworks display. Rhea then glanced back upwards to see the other art Ares had casted successfully fend of the swords. Again, incredible. Wide range magic denial was hard to come by and this art seemed to be in a class of its own. The speed and cheapness of the golden magic, the raw power and applications of the black magic, plus the mobility and utility of the red magic combined to create a pillar that commanded respect. Whilst Rhea thought this, the blackhole that swallowed up her magic descended, picking up the nearby petals and becoming a twisting black storm. A neat trick, and one that would absolutely be useful but to Rhea it was still just meaningless. She threw out a small ball of holy magic that floated towards the blackhole, evaporating it with burning light that cleared away the art and the remaining petals. Once again, Ares had vanished. Rhea figured he would throw out a last ditch attempt and call it a day but what happened next caused her to jump in fright and retreat to the other end of the garden.


    Ares slid out of the shadows and stroked his chin after seeing Rhea''s reaction. She''d felt the weight of a universe come bearing down on her and, for a spilt second, thought she was about to bite the dust. Ares probably couldn''t reveal the secret but what he''d done was use the Prowler to hide in Rhea''s shadow as he coated the Primordial Blade, still sheathed, in disintegration magic. He threatened to thrust it while unleashing some serious killing intent and that seemingly scared the bejesus out of Rhea. This wasn''t something he could do carelessly and he had to make sure there were never any witnesses left alive after actually pulling this off and going through with it. If Rhea''s reaction was any indication, however, this would absolutely kill a person dead a thousand times over if he ever used it seriously. Being able to lift the weapon was a start but that was really all he could do with it currently. If it could threaten even someone like Rhea then this thing was deadly. It was also the last tool in his arsenal, though, so if things ever got to that point it would be rough sailing for sure. On that note, he was done here and had nothing left to show Rhea. Only Dominus and Astraeus remained but he couldn''t really use either. Dominus was cooling off still, although he was nearly back as it had been just under two weeks, and Astraeus was needed at a later date so couldn''t be used pointlessly here... Well, there was technically one other art he''d created recently. This one was a complete last resort, more so than even using than the blade. He could use it in the Training Field and literally nowhere else because it was absolutely suicidal. Ares had no plans on using it any time soon but he kept it tucked away neatly in his back pocket for a rainy day. As for right now, Ares was going to have to figure out some kind of excuse in order to shake off Rhea who was stomping towards him with a demonic look in her eyes... Learning about the lethality of the Blade was a great boon but, in hindsight, maybe he shouldn''t have done it against his mother in law...