Chapter 23: Non-Standard Approach

Slick put his hands on his waist and shook his head. "Tsk, that punk has really gone and done it this time." 

"Oh, I'll make sure to deal with him." Rud was clearly holding back pent-up anger.

"You should speak with Yulo first. Don't be rash, Rud," Zhang solemnly reminded Rud not to get ahead of himself.

"That kid seriously thinks he can get away with literal murder. He thinks he can do this and just go home? Pretend nothing important happened?" Rud was progressively making himself madder the more he spoke.

"I'm sure that from his point of view, this really wasn't anything major though. You and him aren't going to see eye to eye on this," Slick mentioned.

"So what? Who cares if we see eye to eye, I'm the Elder here! He seems to have forgotten who's in charge. He'll face punishment one way or another. I've turned a blind eye for too long. He won't get away with such blatant disrespect anymore."

"Will he really not though?" Zhang spoke calmly.

"What do you mean? Of course he won't get away with this."

"I think you aren't rationalising the situation, Rud. Just go speak to Yulo. He gets the final decision anyway, but I can tell you aren't going to like what you're going to hear." Zhang started walking to Allie.

"You don't seriously think Yulo's going to let this slide, do you?" 

"You don't seriously think Yulo is the kind of person to take a dead asshole's side, do you?" Slick called out as he descended into the pit to store the corpses in a spatial ring.

"That's not the point, damn it. We have rules here. I don't care how much he's worth to the sect. Why is he allowed to break those rules and remain unpunished time and time again?" Rud didn't wait for an answer as he stormed off to go find Yulo.

Zhang simply sighed and turned to Allie to make sure she was doing fine. "I think you've had enough fun for one night. Let's get you home so you can rest, ok?"

"Ok," Allie uttered in a tired voice.

"Wait, what about the mission tomorrow? Are we still going?" Enyo asked.

"Yes, you are. Allie still has the competition to enter after, and it's not like she just experienced this for the fun of it. Not going on the mission would be counterproductive to Allie's growth."

"Fine, but you can't seriously still recommend in good faith that we let Ares come along."

"Actually, I can and I will. Do you think this makes him a bad person?" Zhang gestured to the pit. "I actually think this makes him an exemplary cultivator. Perhaps you should try understanding his point of view, it's not as simplistic as you might think. To me, he's not some psychotic murderer, but rather an incredibly honest individual. He won't snap and try to kill you, if that's what concerns you. As far as I can tell, he understands the cultivation world better than all three of you combined. You should learn his perspective before you judge his actions. Of course, he's still incredibly valuable as a bodyguard too. Even if you weren't going along with him, I still would have bought you at least one hundred shock beads. If you have the real deal with you, then that just reassures me even more."

"Unbelievable. Fine, but I'll be keeping a close eye on him. I won't be so lenient as to allow his misgivings, and I will promptly put him in his place if he steps out of line."

Aejaz snorted and held back a laugh at the thought of Enyo trying to kill Ares. Was she blind? Did that explosion earlier not clue her in to the fact that she would probably lose miserably? Ares could literally run circles around her, or just about anyone really.

"Well, you lot can sort yourselves out. Get some sleep." Zhang took Allie and left.

---------------------------------

"Yulo! Get up."

"Huh? Hmm? Just give me five minutes," Yulo mumbled, turned in his chair, and shut his eyes again.

"No! Not five minutes, not even five seconds. Get up. Rud is here, and he's demanding to speak to you. He warned me that if I don't convince you to talk to him, my wages are going to suffer." The Elder was far more afraid of Rud than Yulo.

"Tsk, fine."

"He wants to talk about…"

"I know what he wants to talk about. I know everything that happens within these walls while I'm awake. Let him in, and let yourself out."

The Elder left and Rud hurriedly entered, leant forward over Yulo's desk, and slammed both hands down. "YULO!"

"Could you keep it down? The whole yelling thing is really not necessary you know?"

"Yulo, Ares can't be allowed to…"

"I'm going to stop you right there because, actually, yes, he can. Rules don't, and never will, apply to a person like that."

"But he…"

"Killed two disciples? So? Fen was an asshole that our sect was already on bad terms with thanks to Ares' very existence. As for the other one, I didn't even know his name, he couldn't have been that important."

"Ares is…"

"More important than both of them combined? I know that's not going to be where you were going with that, but it's the only relevant piece of information. For what it's worth, they attacked him first. Ares doesn't seem the type to wantonly murder people. This won't be a common occurrence and, therefore, is not an issue. Could you imagine how much worse things would be if they had killed him? Our plan would be ruined. Personally, I prefer it this way. Not that Slick or I would've let it go down any other route."

"He can't be…"

"Above punishment?" Yulo rolled his eyes as using his soothsayer magic only ever left him feeling more tired. "I already told you; rules don't apply to him. What really bothers you is that you keep feeling disrespected by him at every turn. What you really want is just to put him in his place, but you have to understand he's basically in charge now. What makes you think he should have to respect you? Because you're an Elder? Age means nothing in this world of ours otherwise I wouldn't be in this position. Strength is imperative and while yes, you may be stronger than him in a fight, what he represents, and will inevitably become in the future, outclasses all of us by a large margin. He holds far more power than you or I do. We actually have to bend to his whim, not the other way around. If you tried to force the issue of punishing him, do you not think he has the means to keep us in check? What if he left the sect and went to another that we happen to be on bad terms with? Our sect would be wiped off the face of the planet by those Shock Beads in due time, all because we annoyed one person. He has every right to be as arrogant as he is. I know that bothers you but, realistically, there's nothing anyone can do about it."

Rud was seething with rage. "So what? You're saying we should just…" 

"Kiss his ass? No. I don't think he would want that anyway. Just don't try to punish him for something as ridiculous as this. He's far more important than those two that died. He was attacked first and, in the cultivation world, strength is key. Outside of these walls, no one would bat an eye at this. Two nobodies pissing off an individual they clearly shouldn't have messed with and for no good reason on top of it all? That only ever ends one way in the cultivation world. I still think the ideals of this sect are somewhat outdated and, while I don't think we need to completely amend them all, that specific part bothers me. It reminds me of Allie, and Allie isn't the only one of her kind. The kind of person that doesn't understand the cultivation world. Enyo, Appa, thousands of clueless disciples, all because they're babied within these walls. People don't always get along, and people certainly don't always follow the rules. People have murdered for far stupider reasons than Ares, countless times; and yet the only thing that matters is strength. Ares just happens to be really damn strong, so he's simply throwing his weight around like anyone else in the cultivation world would, but you think it's wrong because he's the one doing it and you can't make him stop? The key thing is that he only does it to people who act with ill intent towards him first. That and that alone is enough for me to ignore pretty much whatever he does and just let him take the reins. I certainly wouldn't have acted any differently from him and yet here I am, the leader of the sect." Yulo spread his arms wide.

"But…" Rud wasn't even interrupted this time, he simply had nothing to say in response to Yulo's assessment of the situation.

"No ifs, no buts. My decision is final and the warm embrace of sleep is calling to me. Lighten up a little and just enjoy the fireworks. Goodnight Rud." Yulo swivelled his chair around and started drifting off into the land of dreams.

---------------------------------

"Are you still mad?" Appa asked in a low voice as it snuggled with Ares.

"No, and I wasn't mad at you to begin with. I was mad at those two idiots, so I took my anger out on them, that's all."

"Ok."

"Are you annoyed?"

"No." Appa shifted slightly.

"Are you upset?"

"..."

"Appa? Be honest with me."

"A bit."

"Is it because I got mad? It only happened because I care. I can't guarantee I won't ever do it again, but I'll try to tone it down from now on."

"Not that." Appa shook its head.

"Then what?"

"You didn't let me look."

"I… Guess you want to be a cultivator as well. You're right, I shouldn't have tried to keep it from you. Trying to shield you from that was a gut instinct, it felt right at the time. Even still, if you aren't used to dead people, it would be better not to have something like that be your first experience. I apologise, but I stand by my decision."

"Hmph." Appa gently bopped Ares on the head with its rope. "Meanie. I'm not a human, remember? Seeing a dead human for me is like seeing roadkill for you. It wouldn't have been that bad."

"Hmph." Ares gently booped Appa's head back. "Then maybe I should find a shade's corpse and show you that instead?" Ares and Appa looked at each other before chuckling a little. "Goodnight, Appa."

"Goodnight… Dad." Appa snickered a little. It really liked the word 'dad'.

Later, after Ares and Appa had both fallen asleep, Aejaz returned. He poked his head into Ares' room as he was a tad worried about Appa. The blood warning in the pit mentioned Appa had been hurt, so he wanted to make sure it wasn't a big deal. Sure enough, he saw Appa basically unharmed and sighed to himself. That small sigh was enough to wake Ares and put him on full alert. Despite the darkness of the room, Ares' eyes practically shone and were clearly visible. It was like the eyes of a hunter stalking prey. Ares calmed down when he realised it was just Aejaz, and he went back to sleep. If Aejaz wasn't familiar with this behaviour and that deathly stare, he might have been too terrified to even sleep properly. Fortunately, or perhaps, unfortunately, he had seen this a number of times before, so he wasn't bothered by it and just went straight to bed to doze off.

The rest of the night passed without incident and eventually, morning came.

"I'll miss you, Appa."

"I'll miss you too! Come back soon!" Appa had finally accepted the fact that Ares was leaving and had come to terms with it. This had taken a while, mind you. Even at the break of dawn, it had tried to stop Ares from leaving by wrapping its rope around him some time before he woke up. After many hugs, pats, and forehead kisses, Ares convinced Appa to let him go. 

Ares gave Appa one last pat and hug before heading outside to where Aejaz was already waiting for him. "And here I thought I was going to have to wake you up and drag you out of bed. I'd ask why you're so eager and got up so early, but I think I already know the answer." Ares winked at Aejaz knowingly.

Aejaz gave a somewhat embarrassed smile while scratching his head. "That easy to see through, huh?" Aejaz became a little more serious as he continued, "By the way, is everything alright with you? Your bloodline, I mean. It's been acting up a lot lately."

"Yeah, I really need to keep a better eye on it. Then again, yesterday would have happened regardless, so it was pretty much irrelevant. Didn't ruin your night, did it? If so, my bad."

"Nah. It definitely ended things a little earlier but, if anything, it was actually kinda helpful." Aejaz gave Ares a thumbs up. "Oh, but Enyo definitely despises you."

"Oh? What for?"

Aejaz's jaw was slightly open as he stared blankly at Ares. "You're joking, right?"

"No? I don't think I've done anything to annoy her." Ares tilted his head slightly.

"Unbelievable," Aejaz muttered under his breath as he kept staring at his lunatic brother.

"Ohhhh, it's the stick thing, right?"

Aejaz slapped his forehead.

"Well, whatever, let's go before Appa tries to bring me back into the house."

Ares and Aejaz took off and headed to the gate where they found Allie, Enyo and Zhang waiting for them. "You're late." Enyo was not pleased.

"It's only a minute past the time we agreed on though." Aejaz was stunned that Enyo was this strict.

"Still late."

"Fashionably," Ares chimed in. "Besides, Appa was being rather clingy, and I wasn't going to leave until it was settled down."

"How is Appa by the way?" Zhang asked.

"Fine, why do you ask?" Ares had completely forgotten about the blood warning he left yesterday.

"Wasn't Appa hurt?"

"Hm? Oh, right. Yeah, but it was just a small scuff."

"... You killed over a scuff?"

"Yes?" Ares was confused why he was being asked a question that had such an obvious answer.

"Ok, I guess I've seen worse." Zhang just shook his head. "Anyway, can you keep an eye out on Allie during the mission and make sure she stays safe? Enyo is already guarding her but the more the merrier."

"Sure…"

"That will NOT be necessary," Enyo interrupted.

Ares rolled his eyes. "Neither is rudely interrupting, and yet here you are."

Enyo curled her fist into a ball and looked ready to start a fight.

"Ok, enough you two. Play nice." Now Zhang was rolling his eyes too. "Allie, stay safe. I'll see you on the way to Venti City in two weeks, ok?" Zhang had a similar doting feel with Allie to what Ares had with Appa.

"Mhm, ok," Allie was quiet and visibly uncomfortable.

The four set off and headed out of Red Sun City to travel west. As they were leaving the city, Allie broke her silence and plucked up the courage to ask Ares a few questions. "Did you really kill them just because of Appa?" she questioned nervously.

"I had no other reason to do it. Sure, I had issues with Fen to begin with, but I probably would have just ignored him if he hadn't been an idiot. Also, what do you mean 'just' because of Appa? That's a pretty big reason in and of itself, no? If someone hurts a loved one, that's more than enough of a reason to fight back."

"Loved one?" Aejaz joined in. "Can you really call Appa a loved one? You've barely known it for that long."

"You wouldn't know this but, after you left yesterday, Appa asked me to adopt it and take on the role of its father figure. I agreed and, therefore, Appa is a loved one."

"Uh, ok, but you've still not known it for that long, even if you are now Appa's father."

"When a mother gives birth, do they pick up their new-born and refuse to love it unconditionally because they haven't even known it for a day yet?"

"Uh, no. I guess not?" Aejaz was stumped on how to respond.

"I'm not saying it doesn't feel weird, or that it isn't strange in general. I acknowledge it's a little unnatural but, hopefully, it will start to feel normal the more I familiarise myself with this whole situation. The only way to do that is to just embrace both the madness and the cute shade. But yeah, no, if someone attacks my daughter, I'm going to kill them. Is that a satisfactory response, Allie?"

"I guess. Sis' says killing people is wrong though." Allie seemed to ease up a bit.

Ares sighed, and rather loudly at that too. "There is no objective right or wrong. Everyone has their own moral compass; I was just acting in accordance with mine. That being said…" Ares intentionally raised the volume of his voice a little to make sure Enyo could hear him, "... Your sister's idealistic world, run by rules and laws, will never, and can never, be enforced in the cultivation world."

"Tsk, subtle," Enyo shook her head and didn't even turn around to respond properly.

"I do try. On a side note, I'm curious, if you so blatantly think my approach was wrong, then what would you have done?"

"Arrest them and send them to Rud for punishment. It is Rud's duty to enforce rules and levy discipline, not the disciples."

"Why not the disciples? Can they not be allowed to make a judgement call themselves?"

"No, they are not in charge."

"And why not?"

"Because Rud is the Elder."

"Why?"

"Because... He's stronger than the rest of us." Enyo could tell where this was going and didn't particularly want to respond to that last question.

"Ha, gotcha. The cultivation world doesn't follow the same laws that exist for those that don't cultivate. For us, they're more like guidelines. Who really decides what's right and wrong are the people with the strength to do so. I was stronger than those two idiots and I decided they should die for their idiocy. Rud doesn't carry the same prospects that I do so, actually, that decision was more mine to make than his. I mean, that incident didn't even involve Rud to begin with."

"What are we without rules? I would prefer to remain civilised than resort to savagery and violence."

"What are we with rules? If I told you to go and kill a random person right now, you wouldn't do it, would you?"

"No, but I don't see your point?"

"What's the difference between my request and your rules?"

"Rules must be followed."

Ares sighed again. "I'm sure the person who invented whichever rules you follow would be happy to hear that, but do you even know who invented those rules? What's the difference between that random person asking you to obey him and me asking you to do something? If anything, I'm not being half as annoying about it. By not classifying it as a rule, I'm at least giving you a choice. Rules may sound like a fancy construct but, at the end of the day, that construct was invented by a person that is fundamentally no different from you or I. Why should that person's opinion become law while mine is dismissed?"

"Laws are created for the common good. If people were duty bound and actually obeyed the law, the world would run far more smoothly than it does now."

"I don't necessarily disagree, but that's a pretty massive 'if', isn't it? In the world of cultivation, people throw their wealth and status around and use it as an excuse to kill people they don't like purely because they don't like them, and they get away with it too. We're in this situation because people have ignored the rules, yes, but the only way to fix it is, ironically, by ignoring the rules. Rules just become handicaps when other people are ignoring them and you aren't. Trying to do the right thing to fix someone or something that is doing the wrong thing won't get you anywhere. For instance, if I had chosen to keep those two alive yesterday, I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving Appa behind today as I would worry they would retaliate against it in my absence. I'd just be giving myself more trouble now and in the future. It's not like that act of benevolence would set those two straight, either. Why should I be so lenient to a person who would happily try to murder me or people I care for, each and every single day, when I can just kill him with no repercussions and be done with it?"

"Because you're perpetuating a vicious cycle. An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind."

"That's exactly my point! Don't aim for the eye, aim for the heart. They can't retaliate if they're dead."

"..."

"Look, I'm not some crazy, psychotic murderer. I'm not going around picking fights just because I'm stronger than people. I'm just here to cultivate and protect the people I care about, anyone that gets in the way of that for whatever reason is an issue that needs to be dealt with. The law is not a reliable enough method of dealing with those issues. Obviously I hope nothing ever happens to Allie, but if something did happen, could you genuinely say you wouldn't want to kill whoever was responsible?"

"Life and death are not for me to decide."

Ares shook his head. "Nope, wrong answer. You have more freedom to do as you please than you're aware of. If you honestly wouldn't do anything, then I actually pity Allie. If Aejaz didn't avenge me after I was wronged, I would be absolutely furious with him. So much so that I would, at the very least, haunt him until the day he dies."

Aejaz nervously laughed off the side. 

"I thought you said there were no right or wrong answers?"

"I thought you didn't agree with that? But yeah, no, I think in this case, although you may not be wrong, you definitely aren't right to care as little as you do."

"What makes you think I don't care?"

"You just said you would do the exact same thing that you would do to any other criminal. That implies their crime isn't any worse than any other. That implies Allie would just be another victim, no different to any other stranger. Or am I missing something?"

"Who are you to decide if I'm right or wrong?"

"So, you do agree? Who is anyone to decide what's right or wrong? Should random people we've never even met really be in charge of rules and laws that bind us?"

"I guess? Fine, I agree, but only with that."

"Nope, if you agree with that, then you fundamentally disagree with rules too. The two are not mutually exclusive, they're basically conjoined at the hip. This may be a personal question, so you don't have to answer if it is, but who taught you this way of life? Don't be mistaken and stare at me under your helmet like you're invariably doing right now, I'm not condemning them, I'm simply curious."

"How do you know I was raised in that manner?"

"Because you aren't even sure of your own position. This isn't something you've thought through. You have the ideals, but not the reasoning behind them. It's something you're doing because it's all you've ever been taught to do, follow rules."

"What would you know?" That last comment had ticked Enyo off big time. "My family has, and always has had, a responsibility. Countless generations have dedicated themselves to the same task for the sake of peace for years on end. What would you know of responsibilities?"

"My responsibilities are things that I myself have chosen, that alone means they have more weight than the responsibilities you've had forced upon you by someone else. I have a reason for everything I do. It's not wrong to care more about the things that actually matter to you. And yes, actually, I do have a few responsibilities. Making sure no member of my family is hurt is one, and I promise you that single responsibility means more to me than whatever responsibility you think it is you have means to you. You are not obligated to become a slave to your family's wishes. Actually, Aejaz and I know that all too well."

"I spent my formative years in training. I was less a daughter to my father than simply another tool for carrying out the job our ancestors had left us. Generation after generation of tools. I was sent away from my home to work on my responsibility by someone I didn't even know. My own father didn't even see me off and I haven't spoken with my parents in years. Although I can go back, I'm not welcome back until my job is done. Do you seriously think my responsibilities are a joke? That they're something I can just abandon and go start some make-believe family?"

"Yes, if you wanted to. What does that task even mean to you if you were never told the reason you're doing it? Even if you know the reason, does it even have anything to do with you after all these centuries? Is this imaginary responsibility of yours not what caused the rift between you and your parents to begin with? Also, 'tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all'. Do you know how lucky you are to even have parents? Why do you think Appa wanted me to be its dad? Why do you think Aejaz and I were homeless for most of our lives? Why do you think we've given up on our respective families and made one of our own? It's because we, unlike you, have decided what is and isn't important."

"Um, please don't fight." Allie was starting to get a little anxious as she wasn't used to seeing people argue.

Ares raised his hands up to signal he was sorry and wasn't going to pursue the matter any further.

Enyo didn't respond.

Everyone kept walking further and further away from the city until they eventually reached a path leading into a forest. They decided to stop for a while as Allie was getting hungry and wanted to eat something. As Allie was looking for somewhere to sit, ideally a place that wasn't too muddy, Aejaz pulled Ares off to the side where he could talk privately. "What on earth was that!?" Aejaz was wildly gripping Ares shoulders and rocking him back and forth.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Ares just let Aejaz keep rocking him.

"No, I refuse to believe your obliviousness could be this extreme. Why on earth are you arguing with Enyo? Are you trying to make her hate you?"

"Oh, hahaha. Aejaz, you've still a lot to learn. Trust me on this one, I know what I'm doing."

"I really don't think you do."

"Ok, listen." Ares clicked his tongue as though he was about to explain something incredibly obvious. "What kind of person is Enyo exactly? She's incredibly prideful and, although I wouldn't necessarily call her stubborn, there's certainly traces of it, right?"

"Yes?"

"Do you honestly think she would respect someone who just agrees with her to get in her good books? That argument was perhaps the most she's ever spoken in the last month. Long discussions like that are a good thing. Then again, that's not the main point anyway. The real important detail here is that she has daddy issues. And I guess maybe mommy issues too, but that's not the part that's relevant here. She is literally throwing away her entire sense of self to become the person her father wants her to be so she can please him. It's pretty evident her father is even more uptight and strict, especially when it comes to enforcing beliefs, than Enyo is."

"So?"

"So just be like her father, but a more caring, emotive, expressive version, of course."

"It didn't really look like you cared… At all."

"Exactly, and that's why I'm going to go and apologise. I guarantee you her father's never done that before... Wow… That's a lot sadder when you say it out loud, huh?"

"I refuse to believe this dumb-ass strategy will work."

"Do you honestly think a normal approach would work on a woman like Enyo?"

"Ok, maybe not, but this can't be right either. I've never seen someone intentionally annoy someone just so they can apologise to them. Have you seriously not considered, oh, I dunno, just talking to her normally? Being nice? Being honest?"

"God no, that just sounds complicated."