Chapter 226: ‘Tis the Season to Be Brawly
Lying on his back and staring up at the sky with a blank expression, Ares was officially tuckered out. Actually, that wasn't technically accurate. He had a lot of energy to spare it's just that his muscles were refusing to budge even an inch. The strain transforming into his revenant form early put on him was considerable and had rendered him completely immobile now that it was all over. His teammates, after being driven out of the arena, had not hung around and instead retreated to various spectator areas to keep watching the events that were transpiring... That meant Ares had been abandoned down in the arena and couldn't get up! This was so embarrassing... He was like an upturned turtle in a zoo. If anyone needed reassurance Ares, the human, was back, then a situation this stupid reinforced that idea ten times over because, really, who else other than Ares could possibly end up like this in front of thousands of people?
Ahem
"I require assistance." Ares made clear his unsalvageable predicament to the countless onlookers and hoped the first person to take action would not be someone with ill-intent towards him. Granted the matriarchs would actually intervene this time around, surely, so Ares felt safe down here... He just really didn't want to be left like this for an extended period! What a way to ruin the impression he'd just left on everyone... From deadly wolf giant to upturned sheep that needed assistance rising back to his feet... What a drastic change... Also, he needed more than just help rising to his feet. If someone just picked him up he would flop back on his face in a second or two. Walking wasn't in the cards right now. He needed to be carried somewhere safe, preferably back home where he could be at peace and do whatever he wanted... Not that being in this position really stopped him from working on his current task. If the crowd knew Ares had started cooking inside his Primordial Blade they might have jumped down into the arena to try and strangle the moron. Just because he was immobile that didn't mean he didn't have chores to finish up!
Speaking of 'up', As Ares was forced to look up right now, he could see the ninth floor of the coliseum and all the people atop it. Normally he would have struggled to see everyone with such clarity but the draconic seed fixing his true form's blindness seemed to have worked wonders. Ares' eyesight had been average prior to his consumption of the seed but now it was definitely above average. 20/20 vision was an understatement. Ares could have sworn he could see Enyo's rapid breaths floating off into the wind. It seemed Bellona and Enyo were debating who was going to come down and get him. Frankly, it was terrible either way. Enyo would take massive advantage of Ares in this state, he'd been victim of her unchecked desires back when he was learning divine sense so he could see it coming a mile away. Then there was the little prankster Blo Blo who would no doubt bring him back to the sect in one piece but then hide him in a bush somewhere... That impish side of her hadn't cropped up in a while, mostly because Ares was busy with other things, but it was chomping at the bit, just waiting for a chance to leap out and be naughty. It seemed like she'd gotten a lot of this sort of behaviour out of her system after meeting Candy but how long would that last before she felt a compulsion to act like that again? Not long, Ares guessed, not long at all! Well, regardless of who was going to come pick him up, Ares hoped they would send someone down soon... It was getting a bit cold... And people were still staring at him...
Rumble
"Rumble?" Ares managed to barely tilt his head in confusion as he could have sworn he heard the sound of rattling earth a few feet in front of him.
Rumble rumble
"Rumble rumble?" Rumble rumble indeed as it had now become apparent he wasn't hearing things or going crazy. he'd been willing to doubt his hearing and general perception of things given that he'd just swallowed some weird drug, the Canis Stimulant, and had no idea if there would be any such side effects. As it turned out, as the rumbling grew even louder, such that now other people were starting to notice it, Ares was not on some drug trip rollercoaster of sensory imagination and this was all very real.
Rumble rumble BANG
The spectators that had glued their eyes to the feeble Ares, for whatever reason, shifted their view over a couple of feet to look at the man that had just bust through the floor and entered the arena from below. He was an interesting looking fellow, a rather rough and ready elf who looked like some kind of bulky cyborg commando wearing dark green rags. His chest was almost fully exposed apart from some shredded pieces of dark green clothes plastered on him here and there as well as a green ammo sling resting on his shoulder and hanging diagonally down his upper body. He was a rather hairy elf both on his muscular chest as well as his thick arms but it also extended to his heavily bearded face. His beard was not tidy or groomed and left a very messy but grizzled appearance. His face was pretty square and the no-nonsense half-frown half-apathetic face really sold the idea that he was a rigid man, uncompromising in his self-assigned duties. His scar-laden face was roughly three quarters flesh but the last corner, near the top right of his head, was entirely metal plated. It looked professionally grafted on and was quite seamless despite how jarring it looked. The truth of the matter regarding this design, though, was this guy was a bit special.
His poor mother had been kidnapped by a mecha dryad many years ago and treated incredibly poorly. She died giving birth to this man and so he had a bit of dryad blood in him which, consequently, allowed him to be born with an affiliation to the automatise aspect. The metal on his face was entirely natural and simply a result of his racial pillar affiliation. He absolutely detested it but there was no ridding himself of it so, instead, he treated it as a reminder. A reminder to hunt down every single dryad he could find, be they mecha or otherwise, and deliver retribution for all the people they harmed. It was rare to find this man not actively working as he had a passion for his job of gathering rumours, tracking the location of his targets, and finally ending them in a glorious showdown. He was a militant combatant that combined nature with advanced weaponry. His two go-to weapons were an axe with a buzz saw on the end and a semi-automatic rifle that fired sharpened seeds. the seeds, after piercing their target, would leech off them and inhibit their mobility while slowly killing them. He also possessed poisonous smoke grenades and a high tech compound bow with heat-seeking arrows and a few other tricks up his sleeve. His magic revolved around summoning various creations of nature and then giving them an edge through modernity much like a mecha dryad but there were a key difference. Notably, this man was not a hulking tree. He was fast on his feet, nimble, and extremely tactical in his approach. His automatize aspect packed the infamous heavy hits but was not tied down by the associated sluggishness making him a scary foe. One second you were walking through the jungle, the next you'd been strung up by a reinforced vine trap as he grappled towards you from tree to tree with a shotgun in hand. He'd fought many a dryad during his time, occasionally even multiple at once, and yet his track record was faultless. This man's name was... Unknowable. Due to the circumstances of his birth it was impossible to know what his mother would have wanted his name to be. The people he was rescued by, back when he was a small baby, never named him either. Most people on the Willow's home planet simply referred to him as Bravo, the Autumn Duality's Axe of the four seasons.
It was also worth mentioning Bravo never wore anything other than tactical green shorts for their utility. these were also torn in many places but Ares couldn't see any of this because... Well, because he was still helplessly staring at the sky... On the bright side, maybe this guy was going to help!...
BZZZZZZZZZZZT
Or not. Ares corrected his foolish assumption as Bravo brandished his buzzing axe. In some ways it was really quite a similar weapon to Julio's axe but, instead of a traditional axe head, it had been replaced by a small buzz saw that was imposingly shredding the air like it had an unrelenting grudge with oxygen. Things were looking bad... But Ares was completely helpless so, on the bright side, it's not like things could get any worse! Things could only go up from here!
BZZZZZZZZZZZT
BZZZZZZZZZZZT
Or not. Ares corrected his foolish assumption as Bravo brandished a second buzzing axe and began dual wielding them. Things had gotten worse! Twice as bad, even! And for some reason, nobody was assisting him! Why was everyone just sitting there and watching this axe-wielding psychopath like it was none of their business?! If Ares was watching on in their position, as someone he knew was in his, he would have jumped into the ring by now! Traitors!... Although the guy was clearly very strong. Anyone else jumping in would be suicidal so he didn't really blame them... But the matriarchs were sitting on there asses and twiddling their thumbs! "Help! Helllllllllllllllllllp! Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhelp!" Ares attempted to call for aid in a few different tones and pitches just in case they were partially deaf for whatever reason but, nope, nada. They'd all gone A.W.O.L on his sorry self. Ares wasn't treating this with too much seriousness but he did get a little antsy when Bravo dashed towards him and swung one of his axes down at Ares' unguarded head. Were they really going to let him die? Was it because of his revenant form? Did they change their mind and realise he was a massive problem? What about Calla? Was she being restrained or something? Ares had no clue and the reason all of this was going through his head right now is because he was incapable of doing literally anything else other than thinking about such matters.
Bravo, being a cultivator who's depth was well and truly beyond Ares', swung his weapon in a way almost nobody in the crowd could follow. Even Ares couldn't really see it. The guy was around the level of the matriarchs so this wasn't surprising. Ares wouldn't be able to follow along with the events unfolding before him if Bravo didn't want him to. Sometimes when two powerful cultivators fought things changed, as combat slowed their actions down, but when one powerful cultivator was allowed to roam freely and do as they pleased it was another matter entirely. It was for this reason that Ares barely caught sight of the initial swing and had very little idea what came next. All Ares knew is that he saw a myriad of colourful plants followed by a handsome man gracefully stepping down onto his stomach and deflecting the oncoming strike with a wave of his hand... As everything settled, that last point was proven untrue, just going to show how inaccurate Ares' commentary on this fight would be if had to provide one, as there was a crimson red sword in the newcomer's hand with a small golden tuft near the handle.
A hero is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to. Ya Ye lived by this principle and it was on full display here as the vibrant declaration of arrival was a go-to of his that he used regularly when saving people from their demise. Red and white roses, yellow marigold, burnt orange rudbeckia, dark blue salvias, purple irises, and pink bougainvillea were all part of the floral arrangement that was closely tied to Ya Ye's presence. Even now a selection of these flowers were hovering around him, granting him an ethereal ability to radiate serenity and detoxifying calm to his surroundings. Also, although it was primarily relevant to Ares, he smelled nice! It was a light and airy scent but it still had punch to it that was refreshingly exotic. The smell travelled quite far and wide as even the spectators could smell it from their seats but Ares, being directly underneath the guy, was being taken on a sensory journey through damp woods before resting under the sunset as he lay atop some freshly cut grass next to a bunch of scented candles...
But, when it came down to it, the guy was still stepping on him!
It was a light weight and Ares barely even felt it. If he closed his eyes he probably wouldn't even know there was someone there... But he definitely did not appreciate this! Although his life was saved... Ares was conflicted. "Ahem. Excuse me. It's definitely a pleasure to meet you, as I'm extremely grateful to not be dead right now, but typically speaking the only person I let step on me is my wife... I don't recall you and I being that intimate with one another!" Ares may have just outed some of his wife's preferences, it was obvious which one, in public but right now everyone was more concerned with the crazy development that had just occurred. Today had been a real riot. The match was whatever but the assassination attempt right after, now followed by this.... Well the crowd were definitely getting their money's worth!... Oh, and of course their 'money' was actually just a bunch of dead people but, given the amount of crap that had happened since that particular revelation, most people had already completely forgotten about that small detail. It just went to show that people weren't going to stop using stardust at all. If anything, what needed to be addressed now was the fact that some people were inevitably going to try and 'manufacture' their own stardust via factories en masse... It would take some time for people to figure out the intricacies of how it all worked, and then it would absolutely happen somewhere, but even before then some people would just try and wing it... Ares had opened a real can of worms with that one. Whoops! Maybe he actually deserved to be murdered by Bravo...
Ya Ye chuckled and politely stepped off Ares, moving towards Bravo for the inevitable and unavoidable confrontation that was about to go down. Meanwhile, a white Gladiolus was spawning atop Ares chest, just over where his heart was. Ares had mistakenly believed this to be related to the man who was just stood on him, Ya Ye, because of the whole flower motif thing he had going on. Ya Ye even looked back at Ares and ignored the development so that further affirmed Ares' incorrect belief.
WHISTLE
A hundred or so feet in the air, rocketing towards the arena at the speed of sound, was a peculiarly shaped object that looked almost exactly like a mortar shell... Actually, that was probably because it was a mortar shell! Though he wasn't yet present, Theodore, the Spring Beginning's Artillery, was still very much a persistent threat. He was a well-dressed man in a black suit with a white tie. His handlebar moustache, paired with his silver ear rings and short, gelled hair gave off a very immediate impression that he was a man of great class and his speech mannerisms reflected that. The cane he wielded was made of the same stuff the Legion armour was and that was both his main form of offense and defence at close ranges. The bottom of the cane could fire off an explosive shot so it was wise to keep an eye on it. His main form of offense at longer ranges were he shined, however, were the numerous artillery treasures he possessed, each with their own uniqueness. Mortars, anti air, howitzers, cannons, etc... He was known for being somewhat of a collector and afficionado with a wide array of tools to launch an assault on fortified locations. He was also respectably decent at artillery theory-style assassination but it wasn't typically what he was used for as there were better assassins in the Legion clan.
Theodore's unique magic, that facilitated these weapons, was what had created the flower on Ares's chest. Kiss Of Death was a unique art of the righteous justice aspect that leaves a Gladiolus on the victim which can then be used to target them from any range with magic or weapons. It functions like a lock on that persists for a long time regardless of distance or line of sight. In other words, Theodore could have been outside Red Sun right now and no one would be able to anything about his bombardment. He could just keep launching artillery strikes on his target from miles away as Kiss Of Death enabled anything he fired at the target to chase them down somewhat. In this particular instance that didn't appear to be the case, however, as the angle of the mortar implied Theodore was somewhere nearby. He must have been aware of what kind of fight this would devolve into and figured his best bet was to remain close. It wasn't long range pestering that mattered here, it was trying to kill Ares that was important which was something he would have more opportunities to attempt to do if he were near enough to launch other, miscellaneous, attacks at him. If he just hung around from miles away he would outlast everyone, sure, but they could also just leave. The four seasons were not so weak that Theodore could outright bully them into submission. He was respectably strong, yes, but that didn't give him the right to do as he pleased. Point in case...
BBBBBBAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG
A lone bullet pierced the mortar shell before it could land squarely on Ares' chest, detonating the warhead in mid-air above the coliseum. The Winter Wrath's Rifle seemed to be on guard duty against long-ranged attacks and this was precisely why Theodore hiding out somewhere far away was pointless. The Winter Rifle could just contest everything he fired and they'd end up in a pointless stalemate that didn't get anywhere. Though it might have sounded contrary to his talents, Theodore actually had much stronger weapons but they didn't have quite as much range. He needed to get closer to use his big guns properly and hanging that far back just wasn't going to cut it for this mission. It's not even like he could just rely on Bravo getting the job done, as he distracted the Winter Rifle, as Ya Ye was almost definitely stronger than the elf. Plus the Winter's Rifle, being closer by, would be able to intervene and make that fight even more one-sided while he was off in lala land firing away with his artillery. In short, he needed to get way closer but that came with its own set of problems.
This was not an easy win for Theodore and Bravo who were going to have to work themselves to the bone just for an attempt at Ares' life. Thankfully leaving this place after the fight would be relatively simple so there wasn't much to lose in trying but it would still hurt their reputation to fail like this. To make matters worse, there were a bunch of civvies around and that complicated things for the attacker duo who couldn't use any wide range attacks. This lowered the scale of their fight and made the overall quality of attacks lower, benefitting the defending group. But, really, this was Theodore and Bravo's one chance to go after Ares. Once the tournament ended, if they hung around, Calla would not go easy on them. She'd drag them back to their home planets alive or otherwise. There was a weird sort of agreement between the matriarchs and the four seasons that they wouldn't get involved in each other's happenings and this came under that. They were an autonomous body of sorts that acted in the best interest of the domain as a whole despite their allegiances to their respective clan. Almost like a second governing body. If there was a fifty fifty split, it was down to them to sort it out and the matriarchs / patriarchs of the clans had no say in the matter. Now if they all agreed on something, and a matriarch / patriarch disagreed, that was when things got complicated. It was all done on a case by case basis and right now it was essentially as follows...
The four seasons had conducted a risk assessment on Ares. Two of them viewed him as an acceptable element in that he likely wouldn't complicate the current war scenario. The Winter Rifle almost definitely wouldn't disagree for her clan's sake, and Ya Ye didn't because Ares had spared the Legions earlier. Ya Ye had originally planned on siding with Ares to begin with but, upon seeing Garmr, had actually changed his mind. Garmr was a magnificent specimen that he would have loved to dance with, yes, but it was also a risk Ya Ye had to acknowledge from an unbiased perspective. However, when Garmr showed self control and a lack of interest in escalating the Legion / Umbra conflict, his mind was changed yet again and he returned to his initial stance. For reasons that had already been mentioned prior, regarding Bravo and Theodore's stance, this led to the current 2 vs 2 wherein the losing party would accept the outcome gracefully and walk away. If they were caught trying to sneak down to Sheryashka after their loss then Calla could have at them freely. Now, obviously, as the mother of the person in question, Calla should have also had a say in this but her position as matriarch complicated the matter and would cloud her judgement so the four seasons were not lenient regardless of the situation surrounding Ares' birth. Plus he was a revenant so they felt no sympathy as him dying wasn't even a big deal.
Calla could handle the four seasons if she wanted to but that would lead to an all out war with the other three clans and that was a no go. It wasn't worth it just because she wanted to protect her immortal son from one measly death. Now did that mean she was happy with this situation? Not really but it also didn't really matter. the four seasons seemed to be underestimating how uniformly the matriarchs tended to think on matters. Theodore, and possibly even Bravo, were unaware that all four of the matriarchs would have disagreed with their actions which would overrule their decision anyway. The reason it hadn't come to that was because Calla understood there was no reason to cause an unavoidable fuss when she could just sit back and let things take their natural course. If the matriarchs stepped in and laid down the law then the seasons' right to self governance would be brought into question and that would start a lengthy and annoying conversation about how much power they were afforded. If, somehow, Ares looked like he was about to die here then Calla would step in and things would just have to go down that route but, realistically, there was no way the Winter's Rifle and Ya Ye would lose here. They were the two strongest seasons without question and they could protect Ares' life, easily thwarting the other two. Plus, this way the matriarchs could, again, avoid that annoying reprimand from the seasons. It was all very convoluted, and everyone involved had their own plans and opinions, but for the most part this entire situation was actually rather tame. Almost like a show match, even. A kangaroo court, the final decision of which was already set in stone and the process didn't really mean anything. That didn't mean it was going to stop halfway through though, not at all. These four seasons were going to brawl anyway because there was still a chance for things to go in a different direction than what was planned. That was what Bravo and Theodore were banking on so they refused to back down...
And then there was Ares who understood none of this and was still just lying on the cold floor, wishing somebody would at least bring him a chair or something... He was also a bit thirsty and could really do with some of his wife's bubble tea right about now. Was it the most pressing issue? Probably not... Ok, definitely not, but it was the only one that he, and the people around him, could actually do anything about. If the experts wanted to beat each other up then let them! Ares wanted a damn drink!