"I think I''m going to need to beg Allie for more of those pills. Whatever she gave me was seriously a real kick to the system." Ares was making some lasagne and salad for everyone to enjoy as he chit chatted with Enyo.


    "Mhm, you''re going to need a lot of them."


    "Ok, calm down Satan. I can''t spend the rest of my life in the bedroom. Those pills are also useful outside too you know? Having a resident alchemist is seriously helpful, I should ask her for more mana shot pills too if she has any. I mean I regenerate from most wounds so stamina and mana are my only real ''problems'', making Allie invaluable in that sense."


    "I wonder if she knows how to make aphrodisiacs?"


    "Enyo, get a hobby. Go outside and smell the roses. For the love of all that is holy there is more to life than sex. You haven''t dispensed justice in a while, right? Why no go punish some evil doers in your spare time?"


    Enyo licked her lips and looked Ares up and down. "I can see at least one evil doer I wouldn''t mind punishing."


    Ares shook his head and sighed. He needed to give this woman at least a week or two to calm down now that he''d opened the flood gates, and that was both a metaphor and a euphemism! "Let''s put that aside for now, do you plan on telling everyone out there the truth? It''s your decision and you''re free to do as you please. I''ll go along with whatever you choose. Of course the the more complicated stuff I''m going to have to ask you to hold back on, but if you want to tell them you''re a reincarnation of a Goddess then feel free."


    "Hmm. I guess I should. We can tell Bellona everything though, she already knows about that other stuff."


    "I never did ask, but how did she react to it? I''m guessing she was fine because it doesn''t seem like her attitude has changed at all since then."


    "Yeah, pretty much. It doesn''t really change anything or affect her so she''s not fussed. She was more worried about you than anything but, then again, I wouldn''t let a woman who doesn''t think that way ever become your wife to begin with. Overall, her goal hasn''t changed. Get stronger and support you and your magic. Finding a magic greater than her own was always her goal and she''s accomplished that now. I think she also really wants to sort out the Legion clan but that''s a sentiment shared by all of us siblings. It''s also not a goal we can immediately work towards so we''re focussing on more pressing matters whatever they may be and whenever they crop up. Right now I want to win the tournament, for instance. I''m sure the rewards won''t be minor and will greatly aid us in our cultivation. We''re all going to need to get stronger so this is an important step... But I''m getting side-tracked. Right now I should go and explain my situation to everyone."


    "Mhm, I''m sure they''ll be understanding. If you need anything though you know where to find me." Ares bid Enyo good luck and went back to cooking. He poked his head around the corner a couple times to check and double check that things were going smoothly and that appeared to be the case. Actually it was more relief he saw in the faces of everyone than anything else. Being a Goddess of the pleasure pillar was actually far less of a stretch than some of the other worries they had in their head. ''Was Ares secretly some kind of pimp who fooled everyone and demanded changes of Enyo?'' ''Had Enyo been replaced by some alien life form?'' ''Did Enyo have a long lost twin?'' For the correct answer to just be affirmation that Enyo was the peak of horny degeneracy was actually quite a mild revelation all things considered. Bellona even jokingly started ''worshipping'' Enyo by bowing on her knees. The image was ruined slightly by the uncontrollable cackling coming from her lips as she couldn''t take this whole situation seriously at all.


    The most non-plussed person in the room was Appa who had come to the very basic, but not incorrect, conclusion that Enyo = prettiest person ever. This cute oversimplification led Appa to get smothered by all the matriarchs. Appa had become all of their favourites as it was the first grandchild any of them had ever had! Plus it was truly adorable and impossible not to be happy around. Appa was passed around like a new-born but it had no qualms with this treatment as it was basically like crowd-surfing to Appa. It giggled every time it exchanged hands which formed a cycle whereby the recipient would squeal and hug it, making the next matriarch over extremely jealous and also demand a hug, and thus this scenario kept repeating itself ad infinitum. Four of the most powerful people across all currently accessible realms had been felled by a sweet little grandchild. In fact, Enyo''s explanation had pretty much already been forgotten by the wayside as everyone was too busy crowding around Appa to care.


    Ares made a mental note to make use of Appa like this if he ever needed to dump bad news on someone. It would be like ''Yeah, sorry, your whole family is dead. On the bright side, here''s my adorable daughter!'' Surely that would work, right? Anyway, Ares eventually finished cooking and brought the dish in. Everyone dug in and enjoyed the well crafted meal while the matriarchs took turns feeding Appa Snappas. As Ares was eating, he spotted Sadie poking her nose through the window so he made a plate of food and gave it to her. She scarpered off with it as Ares shouted after her to bring the plate back at some point but he didn''t get a response even long after Sadie had vanished... Ares begrudgingly accepted that the plate might as well have disappeared into the void what with how hard it would be trying to get it back. Actually, if it had disappeared into the void getting it back would be far easier! Ares had access to the void! Why was this woman''s abode more remote a-location than the literal void?! Ares just shook his head and sat back down.


    Time passed and the start of the international was close at hand so everyone up and left the sect. The journey to the coliseum was relatively normal and nothing of note happened. Surprisingly, Calla didn''t ask Ares for a rundown of his entire life like he knew she wanted too which probably meant she was going to hang around his house today after the tournament. Today the Legions were coming over for their banquet but that didn''t mean Calla couldn''t be there either. In fact, it looked like all the matriarchs wanted to stay there too. Food, reunion, Appa. None of them wanted to leave today and that was fine. Ares had enough extra food lying around in the Primordial Blade to cook something for them too.


    When everyone arrived, Ares, Aejaz, and Enyo split off to go their own way. As they were leaving, Trixie blew Aejaz a kiss and that gave him pause. Was this numpty finally starting to understand or was he going to refuse to believe in the truth that was right in front of him... Of course it was the latter! The fact she was being this brazen in front of Allie must surely mean she was messing around!... Right? Ares was immeasurably disappointed in this foolish brother of his. He might actually have to sit down with him and have a serious talk about matters of the heart at this rate... Trixie aside, Bellona felt inspired to do the same to Ares but, before he could respond to this gesture, Enyo jumped in line and blew a kiss back. Bellona shivered and ran away at lightning speed while Enyo licked her lips at the fleeing prey.


    Appa also joined in on the fun and smacked its rope against its non-existent lips before making a ''mwah!'' noise like it had just blown a kiss. That was the last Ares saw of his daughter before Appa was swamped in maternal love from the four matriarchs. He could still hear some laughter coming from within the group hug so he just chuckled and walked away. The group met up with Esme and Li Li who were rattling on about the exact same garbage as yesterday. It seemed as though their conversation had been temporarily halted at the end of the night only for it to continue today with affirmation that everything they''d said about their respective partners was confirmed true. Ares did not want to know what these two had gotten up to, and what exactly it was they''d confirmed, so he just ignored them and spent his time avoiding Enyo while Aejaz read his book.


    The group of five didn''t have to hang around for a long time in the waiting room before they were called upon to move out. They''d been one of the last groups to arrive so they were the 34th group to be summoned into the battle grounds, not that it really made a difference. The way it worked today was that all the groups would stand in front of their respective waiting room entrances while the captains went up and drew from lots to figure out what the tournament brackets would look like. There would be a few matches today but not everyone was guaranteed to fight so most people were either hoping they had an early round or none at all as having to wait around at this stage of the competition was pretty boring. The chance of a high quality match occurring this early was slim and not much reconnaissance needed to be done because they already mostly had some decent information handed over to them from the scouts they sent around the world prior. As for the number of your group, that was just a way of avoiding having to say the full name of the team every single time. ''Red Sun'' and ''Central'' were pretty short but there were other countries with considerably longer and more complicated names so this was the solution.


    While walking down the corridor, Ares could hear the sound of countless cheers rocking the arena. He could even see dust lifting off the floor ahead thanks to the vocal stampede rumbling the Scorched Grounds. The wails and yells echoed all around him in the corridor and he was getting a little excited as he''d never competed on this large of a scale before. Even without seeing it directly yet, Ares could tell the seats were jam packed and the venue was sold out. It was new kind of exhilaration that he hadn''t expected to be fond of thanks to the association he had of it with his history with the Chen clan. He technically used to ''compete'' but it was under very different circumstances than this.


    "GROUP 34, RED SUN, CENTRAL LAND!" A voice boomed out the name of the next group of competitors to arrive and, whoever the announcer was, he''d done it perfectly in sync with Aejaz walking into the arena. Clearly this person was going to be the overseer going forward and he seemed to know how to rile up a crowd properly and with good timing.


    The cheering ramped up and became deafening at the sight of Aejaz for two reasons. Firstly, homefield advantage! Just because people wanted to watch the tournament that didn''t mean they necessarily always had the ability to do so. A lot of people from foreign lands weren''t always able to make it to Central Land due to complications in their travel plans, typically in the form of twenty foot tall monsters blocking various paths, and had to abandon the tournament. Anyone who didn''t show up had no choice but to forfeit their seat which would usually go to a native instead. Of course it was also easy for those in Central Land to come and pay a visit anyway so, overall, the percentage of spectators who were from Central to begin with was high. This was one reason, the other was that Aejaz was a handsome piece of work! Just as the furries from Bhorashka had their own fans so too did Aejaz. It had taken a while for word to spread but once it was known the most handsome man in the tournament was on the Red Sun team they instantly garnered a significant number of extra fans, all of which were currently hollering at the guy who was smiling wryly. He already had a wife-to-be! And she was probably unleashing her tiny rage right about now!... Aejaz wished he could see it. Allie''s pouting was always cute to him and it made him feel warm inside. Little did he know Allie wasn''t the only one not too happy with Aejaz'' newfound fame, however, as Trixie was infinitely close to going around planting bombs on people. Unfortunately she was on the top floor with everyone else and didn''t have ease of access to anyone. Plus the people overseeing security were clearly stronger than her. She wouldn''t get away with it all. She valued watching Aejaz compete more than she did singing the hair off a few of the vixens in the crowd with a fiery surprise so she reluctantly held back. In their agitation, Allie and Trixie were united. Allie had completely forgotten that Trixie should have also been one of the many vixens she was rallying against, and Leo noticed this... Yet he did nothing but lick his paw, though, because he really didn''t care. Allie was his de-facto owner but that didn''t mean he was going to remind her to hate someone she didn''t couldn''t even remember she wasn''t supposed to like in the first place.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    It looked like Trixie would be hanging around in the future. Actually, Trixie was extremely lucky to have access to this family mainly because of Ares. Trixie could imbue other people''s magic into her bombs and Ares'' annihilation magic... Well, the result of that combination was obvious. Stealth bombing targets out of existence would undoubtedly be very effective. She could also provide some gadgetry every now and then too. She wasn''t the most proficient person at the pillar to have ever existed, or anything of the sort, but she was decently talented and could muster up some useful items here and there if requested.


    Back down in the arena Esme and Li Li had also entered with the adoration of the crowd raining down on them. Clearly, all you had to do to be respected was walk through the entrance and be a competitor, so Ares strutted through and received his own hail of support... Which was certainly loud, as he''d done a decent job of showing off during the national, but still came loaded with a bevy of boos mixed in! He could hear them! What on earth had he done to offend people now?! Was he now seriously offending people without being aware of his own actions? He''d been good lately!... Horrible prior, but good lately! He hadn''t gone ''round blowing things up, thanks to Enyo restraining him mostly, so why were these people mad?... Well, he did blow up the Chen clan, but who the hell, in their right mind, would be complaining about that?! Ares couldn''t win with these people so he just ignored them. For the first time in a while they were the minority and Ares felt no need to placate their demands or expectations of him. As long as he was respected by a solid majority, as he was now, he could take over the sect without meaningful opposition, that was his primary goal for the foreseeable future. That and bettering the sect and its reputation but that went hand in hand with his main goal so it was more along the lines of something he did passively.


    Ares took one more step and stood on the spot, lightly kicking the floor directly beneath him with one of his feet as he looked around in boredom at the other groups. Ares felt like throwing up in his mouth when he saw Mako in group one holding up a single finger. He was clearly telling Ares ''that he was obviously number one'' and Ares wanted to bang his head against a wall in frustration. This guy, to Ares'' dismay, was going to be the closest thing he had to a rival going forward and he was this excruciatingly cringy? Ares felt a cold shiver run up his spine at the thought of appearing in public with this uncool fool. At least Ares had some character. You either loved him or hated him. He never gave you second-hand embarrassment because he was acting like a lame weirdo though. Thankfully everyone''s attention was not on Dork McGee so Ares got off safely this time. He was not made complicit in this two man humiliation skit Mako was trying to drag him into!


    As Ares went back to looking at the rest of the groups, Enyo stepped out and into the limelight...


    …


    …


    …


    Chirp


    Cricket? Why was there even a cricket in this arena to begin with?! Actually, no, wait a minute, there was a half-human half-cricket competitor. False alarm! As for the silence that enveloped the coliseum, Ares was not surprised in the slightest. There had yet to be someone who acted normally the first time they saw the new Enyo and stunned silence was the typical response to a woman this unnaturally beautiful. Ares had long since stopped caring about all the looks Enyo was receiving because if he allowed himself to care he would drown in incalculable amounts of rage. Just what was happening here and now alone would be enough to relegate him to a psyche ward or anger management lessons at the bare minimum.


    While everyone gawked he just went back to purveying the other groups and the makeup of their teams. Most, but not all, of them had very specific identities as each country / land was usually quite insular compared to Central. Ares made it about halfway through the groups before he felt Enyo wrap her arms around him from behind and kiss him on the neck... Three, two, one... Yep, they are. The death stares are back. There sure are a lot of them this time. Ares was so familiar with this song and dance he knew exactly how long it would take the spectators'' frazzled brains to come to terms with the fact that he and Enyo were intimate before casting a glare at him. Roughly 90% of the audience were directing their contempt and hatred at him and that was no small number. Usually, most women and married individuals would not join in on the jealous pettiness because they simply didn''t care about Enyo but new Enyo had defied reason, going above and beyond and making near enough everyone envious of Ares. The only 10% not evilly staring down Ares were powerful cultivators who were resisting that urge but that didn''t mean they felt nothing either. There were probably only a handful of people that were unconcerned with Enyo and that was honestly an incredible feat she''d pulled off. Even though a shocking number of people wanted Ares to be found dead in a ditch, he had to give his wife credit!


    Speaking of Enyo, she was being pretty aggressive right now, even going as far as to show off her wedding ring clearly while leaning on Ares''s shoulder and resting her face up against his cheek. Ares was initially confused as to what her goal was but he realised the mischievous smirk on her face was directed at him, not the crowd. She''d gone through all these changes for him, and he''d enjoyed them fully, but now it was his turn to uphold his end of the bargain. Enyo was intentionally provoking these people to put Ares in a tight bind. He said he would fight for her, so she was putting him in a position to prove it to her. What a troublemaker! She had a valid point though. She needed to know he could do it otherwise things would be risky. Ares needed to show the world that no matter how much they fantasized over Enyo he stood in their path now and always. She wasn''t doing this to mess with him, she was doing this to give him a chance to display how out of reach Enyo was to anyone but him on a global scale. In hindsight, Ares should have expected this. It was the exact kind of thing Enyo would do.


    As for the crowd, after witnessing Enyo openly getting chummy with her husband, a few people started booing.


    "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"


    This expression of negativity grew louder the more people in the crowd joined in until it became a chorus of hate directed at one man. A man who had to prove himself in some way. Ares felt the pressure but that only pushed him to work harder. If these people thought he would buckle because of a few jeers here and there they were sorely mistaken. Or rather their misunderstanding was so grave they''d unintentionally done the exact opposite of what they should have done in this situation. If they''d just kept their mouths shut Ares wouldn''t have felt the need to persevere and outdo himself. With every extra decibel Ares grew more and more annoyed but also came that much closer to creating a new art on the spot. Much like what happened with Rox, the mimic, Ares was using his surroundings and desire to improve to defy the limits of what was possible. With Rox, he''d wanted to move quicker. Now, he wanted to silence the voices of dissent. Quell the whining of the weak masses that had no right to speak to him at all, let alone in such a manner. Who were these people exactly? How few of them had meaningful achievements, cultivations, or goals? How few of them, when stood up against Ares, could measure up to everything he was? He didn''t recall giving them permission to speak. He definitely didn''t. And who said he wanted to listen to them speak even if they had his permission anyway? Why should he listen to every single one of their complaints? Forget speaking, these people shouldn''t even make noise before him... But was that enough? What about those who were stronger than him? Should they be allowed to speak in his presence? Hell no. It was not up for discussion. These people''s rights were solely for Ares to determine, not them. He was the next God of destruction and these people''s worth to him may as well have been non-existent. They should be grateful he wasn''t erasing their lives for this insolence. Obedience was to be expected and, if he didn''t get it, he would use his overwhelming power to enforce it. He''d clearly been too lenient with these people and it was time to remind them who the greatest authority here really was. Ares raised his hand and placed his thumb against his middle finger, snapping them as he chanted.


    "Quietus Edict."


    His voice was clear in the ears of everyone in the coliseum. His voice transcended the miscellaneous noise but no one seemed to care as they went to continue their taunting and mocking...


    …


    …


    …


    And yet there was no longer any noise in the coliseum. Not the loud harmony of ''boos'', not the shuffling of feet or the rustling of clothes, not the sound of the blowing wind nor the sound of the many gulps that definitely should have been audible. All noise had ceased by orders of the newly ascended king of the coliseum and there was no one who was above this rule. Even the four matriarchs could not bend it despite their best efforts. This was an art that melded into reality itself and twisted the rules of the universe. The combination between disintegration and nothingness was unstoppable and muted everyone and everything other than Ares without fail. Disintegration would destroy any sound, no matter how small or meaningless, and nothingness would spread that disintegration in the affected area. Nothingness also allowed the disintegration to hide in the void behind reality, preventing anyone from interacting with it and cancelling the effect. The matriarchs could feel the art but couldn''t see it or direct attacks at it. It was almost like trying to fight the wind or attack an omnipresent ghost.


    This was not Ares'' strongest art. This was not Ares'' most wide spread art. This was not Ares'' most useful art. This was, debatably, Ares most incredible art; tied for the position with Voidwalk. Just like what had happened with Voidwalk, Ares had created something truly profound here. The effect may have been simple but it was a phenomenal tool that fundamentally changed the nature of the cultivation world as most people knew it. Those who were in the know realised exactly what an art like this entailed, and when they realised that Ares'' kicks against the floor were still making noise they recoiled slightly. There were a few sound pillar experts who used a relatively niche art to nullify sound in a small area. The point of this was to prevent chants. Most of the time, if you couldn''t chant, magic was unavailable to you. A majority of cultivators did not know many, if any, chant-less arts. Right now, in this coliseum, none of the people affected by Quietus Edict could chant. Even if the matriarchs knew an art that could overwhelm Ares''... How were they supposed to use it in this state? Only basic mana manipulation was available to them and it was not enough to crush this art hidden behind reality. To make matters worse, Ares was still making noise. The problem with noise cancellation arts normally was that they also affected the user. It was an even playing field in which no one could use arts... But Ares was making noise... In other words, Ares had just invented the only art known to man that could outright prevent anyone other than himself from chanting in a wide range. While no one else could use arts, he alone was free to do so at his leisure, turning any would-be fights into a one-sided massacre before it even began. Even anti-magic couldn''t do this to this extent and Quietus Edict was, ironically, a counter to the anti-magic pillar too. In fact, this art was part of the reason the anti-magic pillar God would come to absolutely detest Ares and want him dead but that was its own problem. Right now, Ares was the problem, and a big one at that. Amidst the quietened crowd of domesticated sheep, Ares'' voice stood alone.


    "Enyo is mine. This is not up for debate. I do not care about your opinion on the matter and neither does she. I will not hesitate to kill anyone who crosses the obvious line I''ve drawn in the sand. Consider this your one and final warning."


    Clap clap


    Hm? Ares turned his head to the side and saw Mako clapping with a smug face as he mouthed the words ''good speech''... Ares simply sighed. Realistically, a petty trick like this wouldn''t ever be effective against another fundamental champion. If Mako had been done in by this Ares would have been incredibly disappointed, honestly. As for how he''d broken the magic, technically he hadn''t. It seemed he''d created a new layer of reality under the one that existed in his current space as a workaround. The added layer provided a blanket between the void, where Ares'' art lived, and reality to take the hit in his pace. It was a crude solution that effectively created a new pocket dimension just to deal with this art, and it was highly inefficient, but for a makeshift solution it did work and that was good enough. Still, what was most impressive was that Mako had the power to do it without a chant. Willing a dimension into existence without a chant, even if it was only a few inches wide, was not a small task. This guy was not going to be easy to beat... No matter how much of a hopeless dork he was. Seriously, mouthing the words ''good speech'' when he could have spoken them out loud just to be petty was Loserville, population Mako! Ares refused to lose to a guy this lame, he''d never live it down... Not that Mako would let him either. Mako was definitely the kind of guy who would endlessly rub it in your face that he was better than you and that happening to Ares was unacceptable. That was Ares'' shtick! He did it to others, not the other way around! Not now, not ever!