Come break of day, Ares was poked in the face by Appa''s rope until he woke up. Ares hugged the little attention seeker before stroking Bellona''s face as she was in the middle of waking up too. Although he wanted to get back to the pagoda and clear it as soon as possible it was nice to have taken a small break and have gotten a bit closer to Bellona. Plus he got to hug his soft and cute daughter all night! Big win! It had been a while since any of Ares'' interactions with Appa hadn''t resulted in either him giving it Snappas or it freezing him for being a ''bad man''. For a brief moment Ares was tempted to invite Appa to come along to the pagoda but that was probably a bad idea. Appa really struggled with pressure so maybe avoiding it like the plague and focussing on its strong points instead was the better option here. Appa was actually really rather strong in its own right and it had been cultivating diligently so Ares really didn''t feel a need to step in or make recommendations. Its mental arts were shaping up nicely and its standard barrage of ice attacks had gotten considerably stronger. Appa''s aerial bombardment gameplan was highly effective it just didn''t have much of a reason to show any of it off. The one time it could have, back during the inner court trial, Appa simply used the more effective counter to Ares instead; weaponised guilt! The biggest danger of all to Ares'' life was this adorable little munchkin! Actually the two most deadly things Ares had met so far, Appa and the toad back in Baja, were both completely non-threatening in terms of appearance. Veteran didn''t count because, although he could ''kill'' Ares, and most certainly would be doing a lot of that, he was still a simulation at the end of the day. He was literally not a ''real'' threat.
Off to the side Bellona was struggling to get her eyes open and keep them that way which gave Ares a chuckle. Clearly not a morning person. Ares made full use of this by poking her nose and gently flicking her forehead which earned him some cute moans and groans as she flailed her arms at him. Bellona gave up on that approach and buried her head in Appa to hide while Ares got up and stretched. As he did so he caught sight of Enyo peeking her head inside the room and Ares figured this was the perfect chance! He picked up Appa and walked over to the door, opened it, and placed Appa into Enyo''s care before closing the door again. Ares could feel Enyo''s disappointment oozing through the closed door but this woman had been getting exactly what she wanted consistently for far too long and Ares decided she needed a break! Let Appa''s cuteness replace her lusty love with familial love for a while! And as for Ares? Well now he was going to do the reverse! Getting a little frisky with Bellona sounded fun even if he wasn''t going to go any further than some light prodding. After all, he was technically ''asleep'' last time! It was a pretty bad excuse but since when did Ares ever attempt to come up with ''good excuses''? He would give you a half hearted excuse at best and then just do what he originally wanted to anyway, even if you had a good counter argument! He could really be like a stubborn freight train at times, barrelling towards its goals and stopping for no one. that''s not to say he couldn''t be reasoned with, there just had to be a very good reason for him to care or change his mind.
Ares hopped back in the bed and cozied up to Bellona. One of his hands drifted over her waist and groped her rear as she wriggled into his chest to hide her blushed cheeks. Ares wasn''t having any of it though so he raised her face by the chin and kissed her on the mouth. If she was still struggling to wake up then Ares had just the ticket! Or maybe he was just sending her deeper into whatever dream she was having. Either way Ares was enjoying himself so he even threw his tongue into the mix and nestled it between her lips, tickling them as his hand squeezed a little harder.
Bellona realised this leech wasn''t going to leave her alone until she did something about him so she... Didn''t do anything! She figured she might as well keep enjoying his heavy hand and the taste of his lips on hers for a while. There was something oddly surreal about being fondled while half awake and Bellona had no intention of escaping from Ares'' grasp. Just because intimacy like this wasn''t the only thing they should be doing that didn''t mean they shouldn''t be able to do it and have fun in this way too here and there. They weren''t going to just stop playing around and teasing each other in the bedroom just because their relationship wasn''t as deep as it could be just yet. This was romantic in its own way too. That was what Bellona told herself as she reciprocated Ares'' affection by grabbing his hind as well with one of her hands and placing the other on his chest, delicately rubbing it up and down to stimulate him. And excite him it did. So much so that, through her half squinted eyes, Bellona could see Ares'' attitude shift from playful to aggressive. His hand was drifting back over her waist and about to repay her for what she''d done to him last time but...
BANG
In through the busted door sprinted a drooling Enyo who performed a running dive to land on the bed, perfectly in the middle of the two lovebirds resting in their nest. Enyo had sensed a disturbance in the force thanks to her shockingly high pleasure affinity and couldn''t resist coming inside the room to get involved like a dog in heat!.. Which was also an extraordinary mood killer! Bellona had been secretly looking forward to Ares'' sturdy hand working its magic so she was in an especially foul mood right now with this stupid sister of hers. In this moment, she understood how Enyo must have felt yesterday morning after being denied that which she craved, not that it made it ok for Enyo to do this to Bellona in return though! Bellona throttled Enyo and shook her sister back and forth while Ares slowly crept out of the room. As he exited, he wished Enyo the best of luck because wrestling with the gorilla was a futile endeavour if ever there was one. He heard shouts such as ''STUPID BITCH'', and ''SHAMELESS SLUT'' coming from the room behind him as he fled to the kitchen to go start prepping breakfast.
Ares was admittedly a little curious to know what was happening back in the room but he could kind of already guess. Bellona was locking her sister up in all sorts of wrestling holds but Enyo was getting many a chance to cop a feel on her unguarded sister so who was winning in this situation really? It was a tough call but Ares came to the conclusion that Enyo was the victor in this particular scenario because she had enough guts and pain resistance to shake off her sister''s brutish assault and enjoy the sensation of her body in the moment instead.
Ares had made the fatal mistake of assuming that dumping Appa on Enyo would keep her busy but, really, if he could do that, then she could dump Appa on someone else too! As he passed by the living room on the way to the kitchen he''d noticed Calla playing ''I spy'' with his daughter and that cleared up any questions he may have had about who Enyo pawned Appa off to. Then again, anyone would do as far as Enyo was concerned. Even if Trew was the only person here she still would have handed Appa over regardless. Enyo wasn''t haphazard or anything, it''s just that Appa was impossible not to get along with no matter who was looking after it. Anyway, point being, Bellona had been cock-blocked. Or rather finger-blocked. She could take out her pent up stress on the pagoda challenges so... Maybe this had been helpful? Ares decided it was best not to dwell on it or bring up the issue again later otherwise it would just set Bellona off and she''d go around headbutting everyone to vent her anger.
As everyone had a busy day ahead of them, Ares prepared some hearty breakfast sandwiches. Or rather he cooked all the ingredients and then left them on the table for everyone to make their own with the selection of options available. As a general rule of thumb Ares preferred to let people choose what they wanted rather than make something specific and lock them into that and that alone. If he could give them a choice, then why not? All sorts of breads and sandwich fillers lined the tables so the chances of someone not finding something they liked was incredibly low. And it''s not like the food would go to waste or anything because what little was left afterwards, as there was never much that didn''t get eaten, would go straight to Leo''s stomach. He was like a food bin and had the ability to eat seemingly infinite amounts of food. Even if he did get full Ares could just store the leftovers and give it to Leo at a later date. He was a little shit, yes, but he was a useful little shit as far as chef Ares was concerned.
Bellona and Enyo were the last ones to arrive, obviously, and they did so with scraggly hair and sagging pyjamas. One of the two had a beaming smile on her face and it was definitely not Bellona. Bellona just looked tired of her loony sister, like she''d given up all hope of ever opposing her in any meaningful way. As Ares had correctly predicted Bellona won the battle of physical strength but lost the war on physical contact. The woman in the headlock was somehow not the one who was being humiliated! Apparently Enyo had even managed to sneak her hand inside Bellona''s pyjamas which got a yelp out of her. Enyo had saved that particular audio into her brain immediately. Enyo was still working on the memory share art because it just seemed like something invaluable to her. She wouldn''t need to carry cameras around with her in her spatial ring anymore! Plus she knew Ares was going to be venturing off to God only knows where with some frequency so, rather than detail every single thing that happened while he was away, she could just share her memories with him and be done with it. When he became the sect leader she could catch him up on various happenings in mere seconds and not waste time on the boring stuff. In turn, this meant she could drag him to the bedroom quicker! Was her end goal a selfless act of kindness to make her husband''s life easier? Partly, sure, but it was mostly for her own gain and she had no shame in being upfront about that! Also, to add onto that, if she made the other wives learn it then they could all share their tales of bedroom bliss with each other! Yes Ares and Enyo were going to have a lot of fun with all of them but they would all probably learn to get along with each other in their own ways too; forming their own dynamics with one another. How their relationships all panned out had yet to be seen but Enyo likely wasn''t going to be the only one going around and partaking in the other wives'' bodies. She knew that and wanted in on the action, hence her dedication to creating the art.
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Anyway, everyone ate their food and set off with different locations in mind. Ares and Bellona split off from everyone else to go to the pagoda which made Enyo jealous for some reason... Actually, Ares knew the reason. It wasn''t because Bellona was going to be with Ares, no, it was because Bellona was going to get to see Candy! Well nothing was stopping Enyo from doing that whenever though as she''d already made it to that floor yesterday, so chances are whenever Bellona ascended to floor three Enyo would also come and join her. All of Ares'' wives were going to be together in the same location and Ares wanted nothing to do with that noise, no sir! Plus he''d already said his goodbyes to Candy so returning would just make things hard for no reason again. It was for the best if he didn''t intrude in their friendly gathering... Yep, for the best... His best! Having three wives in the same room... A blank white room with nowhere to escape too... Ares shuddered at the thought.
Ares said his goodbyes to everyone and reminded them he was going to be gone for a long while. If they needed anything then they should either send someone to wait outside the pagoda, where he''d be respawning frequently, or if it was urgent talk to Transmit. They ran the pagoda so maybe they could force him out... That or Loris could probably teleport inside. If there was one thing Ares learnt after his last visit from the guy it was that he didn''t give a damn about where Ares was, he would find him. That ominous slogan ended up being truer than true as these people really defied expectations when it came to delivering mail and parcels.
Ares led Bellona to the pagoda; occasionally, at her behest, putting some pressure on her to get her used to the feeling. Ares kept it light at first but increased the quantity as they walked. Considering she had no practice resisting it she did quite respectably. Towards the end she was getting tired from the weight dragging her down to earth but Ares was using a fair bit of pressure here so she was to be commended for her progress thus far. Most ordinary people couldn''t output pressure to the same degree as Ares so if Bellona could deal with his pressure, she could deal with pretty much anyone else''s in Sheryashka with relative ease. By the time they arrived Bellona could comfortably withstand about 25% of Ares'' pressure without faltering. It wasn''t much of his total but it was a lot compared to what an average wielder of pressure could dish out so she felt at bit more at ease jumping headfirst into the pagoda. Plus no one could ever withstand Ares 100% regardless thanks to Dominus'' bloodline.
Rather than go in blind Bellona had now experienced first hand what kind of trial was awaiting her. Plus being exposed to pressure like this generally made it easier to start using it yourself so this wasn''t just the kind of thing that would help her deal with floor one. Ares'' pre-pagoda trial would help her throughout all of them! What a kind husband! That or maybe he was just paying her back for the headbutts with his pressure. Either or really. It was hard to tell because he was the kind of person who would lend a helping hand to his wives without question but his spouts of laughter during the ''help'' made Bellona question his integrity... Not that Ares had much, if any, to begin with though. Integrity was not integral and so he would not integrate it into his way of being!
Ares brought Bellona with him to the Transmit employees sitting off to the side and asked them if Bellona could have permission to skip the line. As Enyo had also already gotten the same treatment they had saw no reason to deny Bellona and thus she became the third envy of the queuing folks behind her. Watching these women go in just ''cos they were banging some hero or whatever was infuriating!... Although it did also mean a few of the women were attempting to send Ares amorous glances because they were getting fed up with the queue. Ares simply ignored them... And had to hold Bellona''s hand otherwise she would probably start headbutting people in the crowd. She nearly went ballistic when she heard a few of the men comparing her to her sister and wondering why Ares was also dating someone with such a ''flat'' personality in comparison, even going as far as to call her the ''ugly duckling''.
Ares sighed when he heard this nonsense because this was something Bellona was going to have to familiarise herself. She was undoubtedly going to be hearing a lot of these types of comments in the future. Of course Ares wanted to beat up those clowns too but if he stooped that low it would never end. He would have to beat up more than half of Red Sun if his goal was to silence criticism or comparison. In the end Ares did manage to whisper some calming words into Bellona''s ears... Namely that if she wanted revenge she could do it on the first floor of the pagoda... Bellona may or may not have decided to wait around at the start and get some payback on a few of the more vocal idiots in the crowd. Was waiting for upwards of an hour just to kill someone and reset their position in the queue petty to a level that awed even Ares? Yes. Did Bellona give a shit? Hell no! She had unending patience when it came to getting revenge. She wasn''t Enyo, she wouldn''t ignore this stuff and walk away without at least plotting how to make her umbrage known at a later date. Still, Bellona gnashing her teeth and narrowing her eyes while she planned a million and one ways to kill these people was something that Ares found attractive. It was kind of cute, like a baby tiger baring its fangs at onlookers in a zoo. Though in this situation it was probably more like a grown tiger leaping out of the enclosure and mauling everyone but Ares still got a chuckle out of it because they would live after anyway as there was no actual threat to their life if they were killed in the pagoda... For the most part. Ares did almost die in there but that was a completely different matter. Besides Bellona clearly had no intention of going that far to begin with, she just wanted to make these fools learn how to be polite! Ares wasn''t against teaching people lessons about manners the hard way if they deserved it. Enyo would undoubtedly disapprove of Bellona''s ''methods''... But she wasn''t here right now! Bellona may have been Legion, to an extent, but there was going to be no guaranteed justice when she was around!
They went up to the door at the front and were both scanned. Bellona was dragged into the first floor while Ares was tossed to the fifth. The cold night air verified his location before he could even see the dark sky or the cracked and cobbled pavements outside. And of course there was Veteran, seated against the wall and brooding away. This guy wallowed in his misery a lot but Ares understood it to some degree. If Ares lost his connection to the destruction pillar he would be pretty distraught too. Also having a connection to all things in life must have made being separated from that connection really difficult for the poor guy. His life support had essentially been pulled and now he was just an empty husk with no joy left to speak of... Ares wanted to beat him up! It was for his own good! The sooner Ares kicked his ass the sooner he could inform him there was a way out of his predicament. He didn''t want the guy to go easy on him though so that information was kept tucked away inside Ares'' noggin for now.
Veteran looked up and saw a familiar face. He usually didn''t make an effort to remember anyone but this kid, and one other that came here recently, stood out to him. The elf was also a fundamental champion but he was weaker than this one at a glance. Maybe his magic was more powerful or whatever, Veteran didn''t know or care, but he definitely just felt weaker. Like he had less presence and conviction in his actions. Veteran did give Mako credit for outdoing him in the pressure enhancement percentage department as the kid rocketed past his 80% and ended up with about 88% usable pressure. He was les capable of utilising it properly than both Veteran and Ares so it made little difference unfortunately but it was still a feat to be proud of for him. It almost felt like a waste to have such an incredible percentage of available pressure on someone who wasn''t particularly talented in melee combat. What was most interesting about the elf kid was the conversation he had with his floating rock right before Veteran killed him. Mako had hidden on another floor to catch his breath, exactly like what Ares had tried to do, and talked up a storm with Terros. Veteran, rather than interrupting and killing his target, was curious about the details of the long conversation they were having so he eavesdropped. It was here he realised the floating rock was a God he himself was vaguely aware of and that the elf, and by extension Ares, were really big deals if they had Gods aiding them personally. Above all else, the most important part of the conversation was the fact that this pagoda was expected to be completed soon and by a fundamental champion no less. As Terros explained to an annoyed Mako that Ares was the one destined to succeed Veteran was taken aback because he couldn''t fathom how that was possible. Terros only mentioned that the kid, Ares, had ''advantages'' that would enable it and nothing more... Veteran wanted to see it and, more importantly, he wanted to be free. There were no answers for him here and he was tired of keeping his hopes up only to have them repeatedly dashed time and time again. In some ways this was more torturous than just accepting his cursed fate, not that either option was preferable in any way.
Ares used his pressure enhancement and, right off the rip, Veteran could tell it had improved somewhat. Not by much really but the improvement was noticeable and that meant it wasn''t exactly small either. Jumps in pressure availability for enhancement were quite rare after it had settled so Veteran couldn''t help but wonder how Ares did it. Maybe it was one of those herbs? Apparently the elf kid had two of the damn things so maybe they weren''t as rare anymore as they used to be? As the effect of the herbs was limited Veteran didn''t expect Ares'' leap in pressure availability to happen again. Over the course of the day he would come to realise his expectations were wildly wrong, enough to actually make him curious about something for the first time in however many thousands of years. That was yet to come though, right now it was time to kill his opponent and return to his seat. If things outside the pagoda were as per usual the kid would have to queue up for a while after his loss, giving this version of Veteran some time to relax and drown in self-pity. If this kid really did have some means of taking Veteran down he would deal with it in his own way by using the trick up his sleeve he was keeping in reserve. He wanted out of the pagoda, yes, but he wasn''t going to lose on purpose just for that; he had some pride left in him after all. He was interested to see what manner of trick Ares had up his own sleeve to push him that far though. It had been a long time since Veteran donned the silver pressure cape and a part of him wanted to do it again. All he needed was a reason. The question was, could Ares actually give him one? Or was he just going to be disappointed for the millionth time?