Ares was booted out of the pagoda for the umpteenth time today and yet he had no intention of backing down! However many deaths and however many days it took him he would be here ramming his head against the brick wall that was Veteran. The only reason he hadn't gone right back in immediately this time was because he'd been given an odd request to go and find some sushi for Veteran... If it was a food request, Ares would oblige! In fact, rather than make it himself, he would even go and get some from the best sushi place in town! A short break wouldn't hurt and Ares was more so hampered in his attempts against Veteran by time more than anything. His pressure enhancement was still slowly getting better and better in the background so idling for a short while wouldn't be an issue. Not that Ares wouldn't be doing anything in the meantime, he would still be running pressure enhancement constantly to improve his control over it and reduce the amount that leaked off and became useless. Ares took off from the pagoda and was briefly tempted to go and check in on the Red Sun team but, honestly, he wasn't expecting them to have any issues. The team they were facing would be stronger than the last one, sure, but that wasn't saying much considering how the last match went... Anyway, sushi awaited!

Meanwhile, over in the Scorched Grounds coliseum

The Red Sun team were not the first to compete today so they were seated on the top floor alongside the matriarchs and their respective kin. It was surprisingly not as awkward as you might have expected but, then again: Scar and Tyr respected one another, Venus was always after Phobos, Bellona and Enyo were married to Ares, Skyzo and Pele were cute together, and Palioxis had a long standing 'rivalry' with Fate. As for that last one, for some strange reason, Palioxis was assured of the idea that Fate wanted Phobos. No matter how many times Fate made it clear she didn't Palioxis never quite believed her. Still, Fate was less of an enemy to Palioxis than Venus was so Fate was tolerated comparatively. They squabbled to no end but it was the same sort of back and forth that Allie had with Trixie. From an outside perspective their arguments were rather adorable because it was like watching two porcelain dolls puff up their cheeks and pout at one another. Puppies playfighting is what they were. They had similar combat styles too so they always felt like the other was constantly stepping on their toes for whatever reason. At their core, though, they were both happy to have a friend that was similar to them. They both struggled to show any form of affection, friendly or otherwise, so this kind of tit for tat comradeship suited them. All in all, despite being in warring families, the main branch of each got along well... Apart from Major obviously but he wasn't relevant. It just went to show that the war was utterly pointless for most people. Sure there were some diehard supporters, and there were probably more in favour of it to some degree than there were people completely against it overall, but the people who really mattered didn't care at all. It was more of an inconvenience than anything. Some of the other Legion and Umbra Wolf members in the crowd were eyeing each other up and looking for a chance to go at it with one another. For now it was still just various young clan members lurking around but, later on in the competition, the elders would likely start showing up. Right now they were out and about gathering information so they didn't bother wasting time on unimportant matches that didn't even involve their clan members. Well Enyo had a match today but she wasn't on the main team so showing up for one person, ace or otherwise, was a bit unnecessary. They knew how strong she was and that she was basically unstoppable. Watching her early matches were pointless... Although they were still gathering information about her and Bellona's relationship with Ares.

As for the match that was currently underway... There was something fishy afoot. So much so that it even garnered a response from the matriarchs that went something along the lines of 'ooh' and 'aahh'... Wait, no, that was just their reaction to the pastries they'd picked up before the match started... Aside from Ares' meebles, that were being sold by Onno around the venue, they'd also done as they said they would and visited the famous pâtissier, Shu. They were enjoying their cakes with gusto but that wasn't the point! The real issue about the match they eventually brought up was quite simple.

""They're cheating.""

Down in the combat arena the team with the iciclops, the very same team that Mako had singlehandedly dismantled earlier this week, were stomping their opponents into the ground without breaking a sweat. It all looked a little too easy, like their opponents weren't even trying, but that wasn't really the case. Everyone had their doubts but only the matriarchs could really see what was happening. Serene was the one who ended up explaining it to the younger group. "They've messed with the Training Field... No, that's not exactly accurate. The Training Field was like that from the start. Whoever set it up must have tweaked it to benefit that team with the iciclops specifically by weakening their opponents magic output. It's simple enough to handicap a person with a Training Field but this person must be quite skilled to hide it from the prying eyes of the other runemancers here. I think everyone with a decent amount of strength is acutely aware there's something untoward going on but only we can tell what it is exactly. Like the A.O, the C.O don't get involved if they don't have concrete evidence. The way the match is going to pan out is obvious. Iciclops are known for having tremendous physical strength so, if the other team's magic output is reduced, they have no safe means of combatting it. The iciclops will just go on a brute force rampage and soak up any of the weakened retaliation. It's not a small change either, it seems like their magical efficiency is between 40-60% lower than it would normally be. Well, not that these fools will get far relying on something silly like that anyway. Either someone will figure out their trick eventually and there'll be serious repercussions, or another team might just beat them anyway even with the restrictions in place. The iciclops is the biggest problem but if it can be felled the other combatants don't seem to be anything altogether too impressive... Actually, Enyo, if your team wins your next match you'll be going up against them, won't you? Will you tackle them head on or call them out?"

Everyone craned their heads towards the woman in question because they were curious as to how she would handle the situation. If she knew about their misgivings calling them out would be a simple matter... Or should be, anyway. The matriarchs could tell what the rune affecting the contestants did but they wouldn't necessarily be able to point it out. Knowing how someone was cheating was irrelevant if it couldn't be proven so fighting was the safer option. Making a 'false' claim would probably cause issues and may even lead to the accusers being disqualified if their claim lacked substance. On the other hand, fighting at a disadvantage could lead to an upset if they weren't careful. This team was shaping up to be a problem for a rather stupid reason so the answer on Enyo's lips had interested everyone before she'd even uttered it. Surely the justice oriented Enyo would want to bring their crimes to light and expose them? She shrugged without a care in the world and opened her mouth. "Don't know. Doesn't really matter though."

...

Well she was confident at least! She'd become pretty powerful as of late so maybe that was why she'd been so blasé in her response on the matter? Was she not taking the threat they posed seriously? Did she have some kind of backup? Where they not worth paying any attention to? Now everyone just had more questions on their minds but, luckily for them, they needed not ask them as Enyo could already foresee the barrage of questions coming her way if she didn't head them off here. "I don't care because Ares will almost definitely be out of the pagoda by then and one of three things will happen. A; he'll use his Omniscience and locate the rune himself, allowing him to call them out without making any mistakes. B; his destruction magic will likely be capable of brute forcing its way through the rune and remain unaffected as it is a legendary magic after all. C; something completely unpredictable but highly effective nonetheless. Knowing Ares, I'm going to lean towards the latter but, really, any of the above are possible. Ares is basically a living cheat code so if these cheaters think they're the only ones with some kind of advantage they're going to learn the hard way how wrong they are. Even if it doesn't come down to that, though, and Ares doesn't return, I'm pretty sure I can take that iciclops by myself. If push comes to shove, Aejaz has a trick up his sleeve too that would get us out of any tough situation. In short, they are not a concern to us in the slightest. They should be more worried about upping their game before we meet and making sure to hide the rune properly. Losing is one thing but if they get called out after then it would just be even more embarrassing. Cheating and then losing... They will not be looked favourably upon at all. At the very least their home country will not tolerate them, that's for sure. Death at the hands of the C.O might actually be preferable to punishment at the hands of their fellow natives." And thus spoketh law. She was the captain of the team anyway so her decision was final and there really wasn't much of a reason to disagree with her either. She'd clearly thought it over and come to the conclusion it wasn't worth fussing over and her reasoning for that attitude was solid too. If there were that many layers of safety nets in place then going into the fight blind wasn't really an issue. Now the only question was whether Ares would show up and what exactly he'd do about this nonsense if he did. Then again, Ares wasn't the kind of person to pick option one. If he was going to expose the rune, he was the kind of person who would do it after the beating to show how pointless it was in the first place...

Now that that discussion had been settled, and once the pastries had all been gobbled up, two of the matriarchs, that being Calla and Rhea, turned to Serene with dangerous smiles on their faces. Apparently their discussion at the banquet about Serene's mecha dryad had been halted back then because it 'wasn't the time or place to discuss such things'. There was no reason not to discuss it now though! Worse still was the fact that Rud had given her the dryad back, for a small price, in front of the other two matriarchs so there was no bullshitting her way out of this one... Why was she about to be punished?! It was her that lost the mecha dryad! So what if it attacked their children, they shouldn't having been nosing around! Though this was partially what Serene believed, she dared not say it out loud lest her inevitable beating become worse than it was already bound to be...

While lumps were administered to the elven beauty the match below was taking a similar course as the iciclops ran rampant, crushing all of its foes under its large fists or its huge feet. For most people fighting this monstrosity without magic was nigh impossible and that was doubly true for the team on the losing side right about now. They were primarily magic specialists with little to no close-quarters prowess so this fight was a slaughter. Their supporters in the crowd found it hard to watch. Everyone knew these guys weren't going to win or anything but to go out like this... It was rough. What made it worse was that they were all clearly trying to the best of their abilities. Some had grievous wounds and were still fighting until their last breath. Their performance was admirable it just didn't matter in the end. In fact, by the end, when the winners were crowned as such, no one really felt anything towards the match other than gratitude it was over. The entirety of the match just felt off to everyone watching even if they couldn't pinpoint why exactly. Maybe it was all just a fluke? A lot of the fans of the team that lost would pay a close eye to the iciclops team's next match to see if there was any tomfoolery going on but right now it was all too late. The losing team dejectedly left the stadium with their heads hung low, thankful for the fact that, at the very least, they weren't being booed. They were perhaps the most confused of everyone as they couldn't fathom why their magic was so weak compared to usual. As they were hesitant to chalk it up to cheating they simply assumed the pressure had gotten the better of them in the moment and that it was their fault they let every one of their supporters down.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Back up in the stands, Calla and Rhea's 'deep interrogation' had also concluded and Serene was leaning sideways on her seat, struggling to lift her bruised body. She had a black eye and a busted lip so it was apparent that the negotiating on her end hadn't gone so well. Still, her healing magic fixed her up in a jiffy as she wobbled back into an upright, non-slouched position so she could regain her regal bearing. You couldn't keep a queen-like lady down forever! While Serene re-applied her messy makeup Margaret asked Calla a question that was somewhat relevant to the match that had just occurred. "Calla, mutt dearest, if they hired a new runemancer to create the Training Field, doesn't that mean the revenant regeneration rune hasn't been added to the Training Field?"

"Hm? Oh, no, don't worry about that! I spoke to the organisers beforehand! For all... Almost all of the matches it will be in place!"

"... Almost, huh... I mean I get why you're doing this to Ares... But still... Whatever, he's not my child so do unto him as you please..."

Enyo perked up because this discussion sounded interesting to her. She'd heard Ares mention something about an unknown rune and it seemed there was some foul play afoot! Either Calla needed to be stopped, or she needed to be encouraged! Enyo would find out which and act accordingly! She inquired about the matter and received a response from Calla that left all of Ares' Sheryashka family wide-eyed when they heard it. No wonder this sly wolf was looking forward to her prank! It was actually something that was somewhat important to her and, well, now it had become important to a few other people here too. Namely Enyo and Appa as they were both VERY interested in seeing the result of not applying the revenant regeneration rune during Ares' matches! It wouldn't necessarily work immediately but there was non-zero chance they would get to see exactly what they were after. Bellona would no doubt also be ecstatic to see it, probably even more than Enyo, but she wasn't here right now so Enyo would relay it to her at a later date. It did leave Enyo with a question though...

"If that's what the rune does... Then why didn't this happen earlier... The conditions were met during the inner court trial but I don't recall that happening back then... I think I would have noticed if Ares changed that drastically..."

"That would be because of me." Fate jumped into the conversation with a wry smile. "I noticed the Training Field didn't have it so I threw it in for Ares' sake. It would have been awkward if that happened as it would take a little over a month to fix and he would basically be near enough helpless during that period of time. At the time I still wanted him to meet with Calla for the Shock Bead thing so I thought bailing him out without his knowledge would give me a card to play at the negotiating table. Anything he'd accomplished during that month wouldn't have been possible without my secret aid... Although that ended up not mattering, I guess."

Enyo pat Fate on the head and gave the gremlin a smile. They hadn't gotten along at first but Enyo was slowly coming to terms with the kind of person Fate was and that she only had the best intentions for her family even if she was a troublemaker at times. Plus now she was Enyo's family so her tolerance for the critter had gone up a bit. Anyway, Enyo had her answer and that explained things. Now it was just a matter of waiting and hoping Ares fell into the trap. It happening wasn't an absolute but, if it did, oh boy, they were going to have fun at Ares' expense for a whole month straight!... Well Enyo wouldn't be able to make love to him during that time period for various reasons but it was a sacrifice she was ready and willing to make... And if that didn't show just how excited she was for this, then nothing would. Enyo foregoing sexy time in the bedroom wasn't a dissimilar notion to that of flying pigs or hell freezing over... Flying pigs did actually exist though so maybe that wasn't a good comparison... But that was irrelevant. Everyone wanted to see this, so much so that even if Ares didn't meet the conditions during the tournament, they might find other ways to force it afterwards regardless! Ares did not have a say in the matter! He was going to learn the purpose of that rune the hard way without fail!

While everyone was chit chatting, Mako got up and started to leave. Not because he was tired of being here or anything but because his match was next up and he was going to go to the waiting room. It was infinitely better than sitting here and watching his mother get beaten up while his arch-rival was mentioned repeatedly. Ares this, punch Serene that blah blah blah... Mako was feeling indignant that, once again, Ares wasn't here to watch his match! It's not even like he could call the guy lazy or anything because he was currently training in what Mako would consider his own personal hell. He was actually rather worried because if Ares was meant to somehow win in that pagoda then he was seriously no push over... Mako had been seriously underestimating Ares but, really, who could blame him considering the kind of unapologetic idiot Ares acted like on the day to day? It was like arriving in the underworld and being poked in the ass by an imp with a pitchfork every day only to realise years later the imp was actually the devil in disguise and he ran the entire show! This was the second metaphor for hell Mako had associated with Ares and for good reason! The bastard belonged there!

He descended down to the ground floor, found his team, promptly ignored them, and sat around waiting for the go signal. He didn't really care for his team members because they both didn't interest him nor did they care about him. They'd made efforts to avoid him because of his passion and ambition and they were off-put by his dedication. Mako could be quite intolerant of people he thought to be lazy and/or not trying their hardest. Not even just in the cultivation world but in all pursuits. It was that personality that culminated in a lot of misunderstandings or, in some cases, a perfect understanding of who he was. Some people actually were lazy or not interested in reaching the pinnacle of their chosen profession and having a person like Mako around would drive them insane eventually so they either stayed away or didn't talk to him. In that regard, Ares was one of the few people who gave Mako the time of day... Even if it was just to mess with him half the time! Still, Ares didn't toy with him out of a sense of maliciousness so Mako put up with it. As for how competent his team was... Mako didn't even really know. They weren't impressive in the way someone like Enyo was so he didn't care to find out. Either Mako would be capable of winning by himself, and the match was a guaranteed victory, or he wouldn't be able to do everything and the match would be a guaranteed loss. If there was anything that could overcome him it could just as easily overcome the rest of the squad. To that end, working together with them was pointless and Mako was hoping Ares, when they finally fought one another, would be willing to have a one-on-one duel. Yes it was supposed to be a team competition but who cared about that? If Ares was allowed to fight Mako alongside Enyo... That alone would be a loss waiting to happen. Throw in Aejaz too, although Mako didn't know that yet, and it would be an absolute wash. Both from Mako's perspective as a fighter looking to improve and compete, and the perspective of a spectator wanting to enjoy their entertainment, the outcome of their match would be more interesting that way. He couldn't force Ares to agree but, luckily, he didn't think he would have to even if he could. Mako hadn't known Ares that long but he had a gut feeling he would get was he was after, the duel he'd been craving.

In comparison the fight he was just given the green light to go attend was boring. Mako was somewhat of an elitist and he genuinely didn't believe anyone who wasn't a generation defining prodigy, or another fundamental champion, was worth his time. He knew enough about the opposing team to know he didn't care about them at all. There were a few teams worth keeping in the back of his mind but these guys weren't that. He'd already made an example of his opponents the last time he fought but he figured he would do it again. If he could make any of his future competition forfeit and save him the hassle of having to be here then he could go back to the pagoda and maybe train a bit... He knew deep down he would never beat Veteran but that wasn't an excuse to give up and stop training. After all the shit he'd given Ares yesterday, standing around and watching him try to improve himself while Mako was beating up clowns was humiliating. Ares had been proven right and Mako was chomping at the bit to not get left behind. There was still time for him to go there after his match for a while so he just wanted to get this thing over and done with.

Last time he'd just used some magic to summon neon pillars and batter his opponents instantly. He could probably do it again but he wanted something with a bit more impact. If there was anyone in the crowd who was still underestimating the fundamental champions Mako would give them something to change their minds... Also, if Ares wasn't going to show up, then Mako needed to pick up his slack and bolster their reputation. They needed to be irrefutably exceptional existences, that was their job. Ares not participating was a bad look so Mako would counteract it here and now. it wouldn't be a case of 'Ares must secretly be weak so he's cowardly avoiding the matches', it would be a case of 'Ares is probably as strong as Mako and so having him on the team would be overkill to the extreme'. That was what Mako needed to make everyone think. Regardless of anyone else's opinion about the elf, he did care about his job. The fundamental champions should have a good reputation with the people and, although Mako primarily wanted it to be as a result of their strength, he did put in a lot of effort to make it happen. He was oddly considerate about such things and he was aiding his fundamental champion allies in his own ways. To that end, after he walked to centre stage, after the horn blew and signalled the start of the match, he channelled his first art of the tournament by chanting three words. Three words that would become the start of a downpour of many more, initiating a word chain.

"Alpha And Omega."