Two days prior to the international.


    Ares left the room and started making a simple breakfast for everyone. As he was doing so, a certain someone entered the kitchen behind him and started tapping her feet on the floor with her arms crossed. Enyo seemed cross and now Ares was really worried. Was she actually not ok with this whole set up? Did Bellona actually bother her? Did Ares fooling around with other women annoy Enyo deep down? Well he was about to find out so he turned to face her and she scowled at him with a scornful face and a narrow glare. Her finger tapped against her arm and her feet against the tiles as she spoke a single word.


    "Well?"


    Ah yes, the fabled ''explain yourself you cheating punk'' look. Ares had heard tales of this event in Aejaz'' books but to think he would experience it first hand was humbling. Maybe the books Aejaz were reading were onto something... Really though, what could he say to her here? ''You brought this on yourself?'' Ares would be found dead in a ditch by sundown. "Uh... I''m sorry?" Ares took the safe approach for now.


    Hmph


    "You better be. What happened to out agreement? Couldn''t resist could you?"


    Agreement? As it turned out, Ares had no clue what Enyo was actually mad about. He went from certain and doomed to fumbling around in the dark with a ray of hope on the horizon. If she wasn''t upset about him and Bellona then maybe there was an out for him. In order to find the light at the end of the tunnel he first had to probe and figure out what Enyo was moody about. "Well, er, you know. Things just kinda happened..."


    "... You''ve already forgotten haven''t you?"


    Curses! Ousted already! As it turned out, Enyo was a very perceptive woman. Especially regarding Ares. She was aware of exactly what kind of person Ares was and she knew that if he remembered the agreement he would have directly mentioned it in his first retort. Tiptoeing around the subject submissively as he had done was a big red flag for Enyo who could sniff out his bullshit from miles away. If he''d tried this against literally anyone else he probably would have been successful but Enyo was like a bloodhound and thoroughly on his case. "You got me. I have forgotten our ''agreement'' and I don''t know what I''ve done to wrong you. I am sorry even if I don''t know what for. Very, very sorry."


    "Shut up idiot. I''m miffed because you got a taste of Bellona first! You said I could have her!"


    Oh right, yeah, there was something along those lines wasn''t there... "In my defence, I really hadn''t planned on this happening... Plus it was really just a hand is all. I promise not to lay a hand on her... Or I guess I mean have her lay a hand on me, again until you''ve had your fun." In hindsight, this was just the kind of person Enyo was and Ares really should have seen this coming. He actually felt quite guilty as Enyo had been really excited at the thought of playing with his wives and he''d gone and somewhat taken that away from her. It was an unusual thing to feel remorseful over but Enyo looked like she''d been betrayed and stabbed in the back and Ares couldn''t help but feel like he''d messed up. Being promiscuous with another woman wasn''t even on Enyo''s radar but cutting in line for carnal pleasures of the flesh was a no-go. He couldn''t rectify things and undo time but Ares could at least promise, again, to let Enyo do as she pleases.


    "You better, punk. Come on then, spill it, tell me everything in detail. You knew I would ask so don''t try and worm your way out of answering me."


    "Not that I mind but didn''t Bellona already reveal all, so to speak?"


    "Yeah but she''s kinda crap at this stuff. Plus a different perspective is what I''m looking for. She described you in vivid detail but was too shy to say anything about herself so hop to it. Tap into your inner Eagerton and regale me with a poetic master craft of erotica and pornographic imagery for me to imagine. If I''m not in the mood by the time you''ve finished then you haven''t done a good enough job."


    "... Why do I get the feeling the punishment for failure is going to be roughly equivalent to the reward for success with this strange task?"


    "Because it is. Now get going and get me going!"


    Ares sighed to himself and did as was asked. He wasn''t sure if his description was sufficient or not for Enyo but he was dragged away to the bedroom after anyway. Surprise surprise. Of course he''d dropped off the breakfast first for everyone else. Leaving them waiting because Enyo was on a rampage would have been a tad difficult to explain to her own mother... Not that it wasn''t apparent what they were up to as she hauled him through the living room while licking her lips. Enyo truly no longer had any shame or reservations about this kind of stuff. In a way, good for her. In another way, bad for Ares. For some reason he always seemed to be the one people blamed for any form of public indecency. Enyo was outwardly too angelic to pin the blame on so he wound up receiving most of the side-eyes that pierced into his soul.


    An hour or so later, after being raked over the coals and worked like a horse, it was time to head out and pay the town a visit. Ares remembered what happened last time he went into My Fair Lady and figured it would be for the best if he wasn''t around again. It would also be hella weird to see Enyo''s mother buying just about anything from in there so he decided not to cross that line. The only thing that could even remotely tempt him to go was the idea of watching Bellona browsing through the store. Would she be confident? Cheeky and impish? Shy? Would she buy anything? Lingerie maybe? Would Enyo hassle her? Actually the answer to that last question was definitely a yes. Enyo seemed to be more excited about searching for stuff for Bellona than she did about anything for herself. She''d already cleaned out most of the shop from last time after all. Then again, if there was new stock she would be all over it. Ares dared not intrude on the estrogenic cloud floating towards My Fair Lady. He simply wished them all, and mostly Bea, good luck before heading on his merry way after separating with Aejaz who had his own business to attend to.


    With no destination in mind, Ares simply strolled through the streets. He was occasionally recognised thanks to his infamy which had risen drastically after the nationals and someone had even stopped him to ask for an autograph. The person in question wanted Ares'' signature on his sword because he was assured, by his own baseless conjecture, Ares was a reincarnation of the real God of war he was named after. Ares didn''t bother explaining the fundamental pillar or whatever and just gave the guy a ''blessing'' to send him on his way. Ares could only hope the guy didn''t curse Ares if ever he lost a fight. It wasn''t his fault! The last thing Ares wanted was a cult following of whackos who worshipped him before every battle. Or rather, instead of believing in such paltry symbolism they should just spend their time training and cultivating if they wanted to get stronger and make any meaningful gains. Ares started to get fed up with the attention he was receiving so he took the heat off by laying low with the aid of the Prowler. He skulked around between a few alleyways and steered clear of some of the larger streets. He was getting hungry but rather than make his own food he paid a visit to a local hole in the wall that made some pretty incredible sandwiches. Bread of any and every type and all sorts of fillings were available. The guy in charge, Fixer, was a shady looking fellow but there really wasn''t anything actually dodgy about him. He scared off tourists with his resting bitch face but he was generous at heart. The amount of filling per sandwich was astronomical, prices were cheap, the bread was freshly baked by a nearby bakery, and he never skimped, plus he did a lot of charity work around town. Yes he looked like a drug dealer when he wore his trademark raincoat but he was innocent! His misleading ferocity, paired with his atrocious naming sense, the shop was literally called ''Sandwich Bar'', caused people who weren''t familiar with him to shy away and flee in terror. The place reeked of criminality so only those in the know ever dared step in here. In short, it was a good place to hide from the hustle and bustle at this time of year so there were mostly a bunch of regulars eating on the few tables that had been put out. Ares headed to the counter and waved to Fixer. "Yo, been a minute since I last popped around. How you been holding up?"


    "Mm," Fixer quietly mumbled and nodded.


    "Ah, that''s good to hear. Is business good? You want me to do some advertising during the international? Maybe help you get some extra moolah to donate?"


    Fixer shook his head and finally some words left his mouth. His voice was weak and timid, however, so you had to really pay attention in order to hear him even over the talking coming in from the street outside. "No, thank you."


    "Alright, fair enough. I''ll have the usual please and some orange juice. Thanks."


    With a nod, Fixer got to work creating two massive sandwiches for Ares. The bread was buttered and the fillings were heaped on. Chicken, bacon, and mayo, that was one of this places hidden gems orders. The sandwiches were leaking ingredients as Fixer shoved them into a toasting machine and firmly squashed them. As Ares'' lunch was emanating an enticing scent throughout the shop, Fixer took a moment to get out his juicer and freshly squeeze some oranges. Part of what made this place so great was that the juices were always fresh and came with a good bit of pulp for those who liked it that way. There was just something so perfect about gigantic, homemade sandwiches and juice. To really tie it all together, Fixer was proficient in the ice aspect and could freeze the drink, cooling it down on the spot. Ares salivated and had to physically stop himself from drooling when Fixer cut the toasted sandwiches in half, wrapped them up in some newspaper, and handed them over the counter. Ares could still feel the warmth of the meal through the newspaper and it took a great deal of restraint not to dig in immediately. Ares paid and left a generous tip before saying his goodbyes and departing. All that was left was to search for a good hideaway to eat in peace. Getting disturbed while eating such a high quality meal was sacrilege and Ares wasn''t sure if he could stop himself from blowing up any fool that got in his way. Fixer was one of the many very talented chefs in the area that Ares had mentioned to Enyo. Generosity aside the ingredients were all made by him personally and he was extremely good at it. Even some of the other shop owners would come over to purchase in bulk from him, Scratch included. Ares honestly believed if all the chefs he knew in this town came together they could turn Red Sun into a culinary capital that dominated Sheryashka. He wasn''t kidding when he told Enyo he''d learnt from the best of the best and he was every bit as grateful for it as he should be. He was going to live forever, that much was set in stone. Good food was practically a necessity otherwise Ares might actually be driven to insanity if he had to eat garbage meals every day. This way, having trained diligently under experts, he could ensure that would never be the case as he would always be his own last resort and he didn''t have to rely on anyone else. There were plenty of incredible chefs throughout the universe, Ares was certain of that. He would inevitably encounter some going forward so learning from them too would be imperative. Ares would pilfer from all the greats for his own selfishness so that he could become a bastion of good food production; his stomach demanded it!


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    Grumble


    Speaking of things his stomach demanded... He''d gotten peckish running around looking for a quiet place to hide out but, luckily, he found a good spot. One of the local hotels had an indent in the roof where Ares used to occasionally hide as a kid. If you sat down you were well-hidden and there was even room to lie down too so you could get comfortable with a book here if you wanted too. Plus there were plenty of windows nearby and the entrance was close so you could frequently pick up on gossip or private conversations as a form of highly illegal entertainment. Ares had been chastised plenty of times by the owner for his conduct but that never stopped him from doing it anyway. It was just too easy to resort to this place when Ares wanted to get away from the rest of the world for a moment of solitude. Also, for all the complaining the owner did, he would sometimes put out warm drinks and leave them up here for Ares to discover when he visited. It was probably his way of thanking Ares for dealing with some local thugs that had been running a protection racket and harassing him. That, or maybe underneath all the moaning he was actually a softie. Either-or really.


    Ares leant back in his cubby hole and chowed down on the goods with a crunch as he listened in on an argument taking place beneath him on the second floor. The general gist of it was that one of the international teams wanted a room but the hotel was fully booked. The owner gave the team permission to go and try negotiate with the other people residing in the hotel for a room if they wanted, thus ensued the following argument. One of the people in the rooms was also a member of a team competing but he was by his lonesome. The team of four were trying to bargain with the singular individual but he kept refusing and so they tried to bully him out of it. Ares was at a loss as to what to do here because he wanted to help out the owner, obviously, but he also wanted to keep eating without having to fuss around. The choice he would make if he had too was self-explanatory as he couldn''t let a friend suffer damage to his property just because Ares was being a sloth. That being said, luckily, it seemed he wouldn''t have to do anything.


    The second the scuffle kicked off the team of four lost resoundingly. The single individual blasted them all through the back wall by ramming them with some kind of neon, holographic constructs. Blue, pink, yellow, red, all sorts of colours lined the holographic pillars that impacted the team of four. The holograms were jutting out the wall and towering over the team that had been smacked down onto the streets and were sitting on their rears. Their fifth team member, a gigantic monster from the Isasz regions known as an ''iciclops'', took up a defensive position in front of the others but suffered a similar fate. The monster was sent flying across the street by another hologram and it crashed into a shop, tumbling through the glass window and destroying the mannequins on display. Ares barely even had time to see the creature so he couldn''t verify the details he knew about it. Still, his knowledge was probably accurate for the most part. Iciclops were furry cyclops with frost breath at their disposal and herculean strength. Some of them knew mental magic related to their singular eye too. If this one was part of a team then that meant it was sentient to boot. In other words, this thing was a real contender unlike the chumps that had been hiding behind it. For it to be smacked around and effortlessly bullied like that was pretty impressive. Ares was curious about the individual who''d beaten the five senseless but didn''t care enough to stop eating. He would find out at some point anyway and he could tell that if he got involved now he would wind up fighting and that wasn''t preferential. The person below him was clearly strong and Ares wouldn''t get away with half-assing things so he would inevitably destroy countless buildings if he were to scrap with him. Besides, there was no real reason to jump in anyway. The five that lost were the unreasonable aggressors anyway. They deserved the humiliation. Sure the individual had been annoyingly arrogant based on what Ares overheard but he wasn''t in the wrong. He even offered to pay the owner for the trouble so he was probably just outwardly an asshole but inwardly an alright guy. That or he was just trying to look cool as he was being praised by everyone else in the building.


    Ares was done here and there was nothing left to see so he took his leave without making his presence known. After he disappeared from the area, however, the individual with the hologram-related magic paid a visit to the roof and kissed his teeth when he found no one there. The person he''d been looking for all this damn time had been right under, or more accurately above, his nose. If only he hadn''t been so preoccupied with the clowns from earlier he could have confronted him early. The elf scratched his neck in frustration as a floating entity that bared resemblance to an earth-encrusted eight ball floated beside him and sighed. "Mako, this person clearly doesn''t care about you as much as you do him. Why bother wasting your time chasing him down anyway? You''ll see him soon enough."


    The elf turned around kicked the roof. "I have to know what I''m up against. I''ve been told countless times not to pick a fight with the destruction pillar but if I want to be top dog then he''s the biggest obstacle. ''Destruction pillar this, destruction pillar that''. The creation pillar is a coward. I don''t care if destruction is special. I will beat it and I will be the strongest cultivator throughout all of existence. With magic of this calibre I refuse to be second. Every second of every minute counts and the longer I have to formulate a strategy by observing him the better."


    Terros simply sighed again. This was a habit of his when dealing with Mako. Terros was a respectable and mature individual with high tolerance so he put up with Mako like a disappointed-but-passive father would. Terros didn''t see the appeal of being the strongest or fighting with people who were supposed to be your comrades so he really didn''t mesh well with Mako. Still he did his job and offered his opinions and knowledge when he felt it was relevant. Nothing that happened during this tournament would matter going forward, it was just to satiate Mako''s ego so Terros just idled and waited for it all to be over. After that he could help Mako return to cultivating so he could focus on saving the universe. That was kinda more important in Terros'' sagely opinion. Unfortunately his clone that he sent down to monitor his specified fundamental champion was pretty weak. It could act as medium to form a contract but other than that it didn''t have the power to force Mako to be useful. Terros was a smart rock, though, and so he frequently gave Mako ideas that would boost his reputation to help him feel good about himself; like offering to pay the hotel owner earlier. This created a cycle wherein Mako felt gratitude to Terros and actually listened to him every now and then. It was a bit of weird dynamic but neither of the two actively disliked the other, they were just on different wavelengths and had trouble finding middle ground is all. The two returned back inside and prepared themselves for the party tomorrow. Mako was going to hunt down the destruction pillar and settle things while Terros was wondering how on earth he was going to convince Mako not to cause a scene. Chances are he would just end up mediating a pointless argument like always but that was still better than letting Mako let loose. His magic was no joke. The holograms earlier weren''t even an art or anything and yet they''d laid an entire team flat on their asses.


    As for Ares, he''d been aimlessly meandering when he heard another argument kicking off in a restaurant he was passing by. This time he even recognised one of the voices so, unlike last time, he immediately decided to help. Although he really wanted to bust in the front and take a good, long look at his future family, Fate was trying to escape out the back and she was his main concern. Fate was clearly here with her and Ares'' other siblings, he''d picked up on that through the bits of conversation he''d overheard, but they were all busy fighting in the building and Fate had accidentally been left to fend for herself. He ran around the back and saw Fate being encroached upon by two people wearing Legion clan armour. Now things were really getting spicy. What were the odds the people his siblings were fighting were Enyo''s siblings? Apparently they all got along like a house on fire and squabbled on sight so the urge to turn around and throw his hat into the ring for the fun of it was eating Ares alive. Still, Fate was priority numero uno. It was likely she didn''t need help but just in case Ares yelled to get the attention of the Legion duo.


    "Oi! Stop!" It was a pretty basic shout but also enough to do the job as the guy and the woman turned around. Based on what Ares had heard from Enyo every now and then, these two were not related to her at all. They were just some random jo-shmoes from the Legion clan. In that case, Ares didn''t feel even remotely bad about the false accusations he was about to belt out. Seeing Fate in ''this'' situation a third time gave Ares an evil idea so he went along with. "RAPISTS! HOW DARE YOU CORNER AN INNOCENT WOMAN!" The look on the Legion clan members was truly priceless. Even Fate couldn''t help but giggle uncontrollably at her stupid brother. Obviously the Legion clan were unequivocally not rapists but how would anyone else know that? Sure they were famous to some extent but for every person that has heard of them at least ten or so hadn''t. The accusation was false but the way they were approaching and cornering Fate certainly made it look true. Ares gave them no time to explain in detail their righteousness by launching an attack immediately. If they were allowed to get any words out and prove they were on the side of ''righteousness'' then he would lose a valid reason to interfere. The ideal outcome was to but in, pretend he was a do-gooder bystander helping out the victim, and flee before anyone could question the entire situation. What else was he supposed to do? Say ''actually, excuse me, I''m a revenant too and I would greatly appreciate it if you stopped attacking my sister!'' Yeah, ok, no. He would just be dragged down with Fate. Plus this way the Legion members were hesitant to attack him. Ares had come in guns blazing under the guise of being an ally of justice and, so, the Legion members literally couldn''t bring themselves to hurt him. He was a good samaritan!... If they knew the truth, if they knew how thoroughly they had been manipulated by this deceitful bandit, they probably would have cursed Ares and all of his bloodline. The ''fight'' became an absolutely one-sided massacre as Ares bashed their heads together, knocking them unconscious shortly after it began. The two no-name grunts really hadn''t stood a chance.


    Ares could hear the main scuffle break out into the street and he figured this was his chance! He would shoo away Fate so she could go be safe somewhere else, and then he would boogaloo! As he attempted to do precisely that he was caught in the act by another two Legion clan members. Ares considered fighting them to get them out of his way but, unlike the two cannon fodder from before, these two looked like they meant business. In fact, Ares was pretty sure these two were Enyo''s brothers; Tyr and Deimos.