Chapter 131: The Brothers Can’t Catch a Break
Aejaz made himself a coffee and sat down on the couch in the living room. Although yesterday night had devolved into a cat fight between Allie and Trixie, things improved after leaving the venue and the night was back on track from there... Of course that only lasted up until morning came, at which point Trixie had bust into the room with a shit-eating grin and set Allie off on a rampage again. Aejaz accepted that this was simply going to be the status quo going forward for a while and left them to it. He came into the living room, found Lacy, and made her a hot chocolate. Now that he was enjoying some peace and quiet away from the rabid raving women in his room, he brought out a book and started reading it. He wouldn't have much time for this necessarily, as the tournament started today, but if he could at least enjoy some down time he felt like that was good enough. He opened the book, removed the bookmark, and read one word...
Knock Knock
Unfortunate timing had struck but that was fine. Aejaz was patient enough to not be bothered by this. He went and opened the front door to find Calla hugging Appa, both merry as can be. He welcomed the two inside and they went straight to the living room. Calla was surprised to find Aejaz here because she had no idea who he was yet but she decided to wait for Ares' explanation that he'd promised to give yesterday. Aejaz asked if Calla wanted anything and went back to his book when she replied with 'no thanks'. He opened the book, removed the bookmark, and read one more word...
Knock Knock
…
Aejaz shook his head and got up again. This time it was probably Rhea so Aejaz didn't fuss about the inconvenience. Besides, no one else had any reason to show up here so he could go back to peacefully reading his book after without worry. He opened the door and his guess was proven correct. He let Rhea in and he could hear her start bickering with Calla almost immediately... There went his peace and quiet... Whoever invented the term 'peace and quiet' clearly never had to fight for either! Still, Aejaz tried to ignore it and go about reading his book again.
Knock Knock
Fuck! Aejaz had just about had it up to here with these interruptions. He opened the door with the intention of being very rude to the unannounced guests before him but decided to keep his trap shut when he saw Serene and Margaret outside. he hadn't met them personally but knew who they were and that they were not to be messed with. Instead, he was grateful they arrived at the same time as it meant there was finally no one else left to show up and bother him. All the matriarchs were here now! There wasn't a fifth! None of the patriarchs were here either! Aejaz sat down and stared at his book. This thing was clearly cursed. Lacy giggled at Aejaz' hesitation so he kissed his teeth, bit the bullet, and picked it up...
…
Phew
Aejaz sighed in relief as he'd finally overcome the last hurdle and could go back to relaxing. He opened the book again, removed the bookmark...
Knock Knock
Aejaz smiled menacingly at the ceiling and very nearly threw the damn book out the window. He stood up and stomped over to the front door, opened it, and nearly threw a fit when he saw who it was. This person was in Aejaz' bullying wheelhouse! He could punish this particular shmuck big time!
Trew looked at Aejaz and tilted his head when he didn't say anything but, little did Trew know, at this moment in time, Aejaz was busy stealing everything in his space rings for bothering for him! He didn't have much in there but it was still going to be a pretty devastating loss when he eventually realised later on. "Uh, hey, been a while. I managed to show up for the international and I figured I would take the chance to come and apologise to Rhea for being a bother previously. I found out from Charity and Gladius that she tends to be here in this house so... Mind if I come in for a bit?"
Aejaz, completely fed up by this point, simply pointed his thumb behind him and told Trew to 'get in'. Trew could tell Aejaz wasn't in the greatest of moods so he slid by him and went inside without another word. Aejaz closed the door and banged his fist against it. Life was well and truly making a mockery of him! Honestly, if someone knocked on the door again, he was probably going to pretend he didn't hear it...
Knock Knock
…
Who!? WHO?! EVERYONE IS HERE DAMNIT! More than anything else, curiosity drove Aejaz to open the door. No one else had any real reason to come here, surely?! The door opened and this time Aejaz was seriously confused... He looked over his shoulder with a baffled look on his face before looking back at the 'new' guest in front of him... Didn't I just let this guy in?! Aejaz, dumbstruck, stared at Trew.
Trew smiled wryly and scratched his cheek. This action revealed bruises on the side of his neck as he spoke. "Uh, Rhea kinda threw me out the window and told me to get lost... Sorry about this."
The temptation to shut the door in this man's face was overwhelming. Still, this was a good opportunity to dupe the poor man and let Aejaz get away with theft cleanly. "Hm, just those bruises? Considering the kind of person you once were I'm surprised Rhea didn't do more to you? Maybe you should check your spatial rings?" Muahahahahahaha.
Trew did indeed check and his face turned sour when he realised they were all empty! Completely! Trew had been robbed by his own matriarch?! What was he supposed to do? Complain? And get his ass beat again? This was a loss he had to take lying down and he didn't even consider standing up to her. Opting to not be combative and mention it was exactly what Aejaz had planned for, though, and now he could keep his ill gotten gains while placing the blame on someone else! Aejaz had seriously improved in the slimy tactics department as of late, partially thanks to all the contracts he'd been doing for Hans. He'd learnt more about the seedy underworld and the kind of tricks they pulled on the regular. He didn't learn for the sake of avoiding such trickery in the future, however, and rather took onboard what he'd seen almost like they were suggestions on how to improve himself as a crook. Hans had been truly shocked when he saw how Aejaz handled some of his contracts as his underhanded methods were getting more and more devious by the day. This was a side of Aejaz he was not familiar with in the slightest.
Trew walked into the living room again, this time with both his hands raised signalling surrender. Whether or not he was successful Aejaz didn't know but he would find out when he walked into the room himself. Either way he was NOT opening the door again. He refused!... He took one step and jumped around to face the door... Nothing... Aejaz narrowed his eyes and turned around. Thankfully it looked like he was done with the door nonsense. He started walking forward and, to his horror...
Knock
Aejaz almost exploded in rage but he quickly understood that this time was different... It wasn't the front door someone had knocked. The single, rough knock had come from directly in front of him. Aejaz was pretty sure the sound originated from Ares' room. Was he awake? Probably. Hopefully he would leave the room soon and come and deal with the matriarchs because Aejaz sitting in that room and reading his book was beyond awkward for him. Aejaz was about to walk away from the hall, and into the living room, when the door to Ares' room burst open. Aejaz peered at the doorway and was given a small fright when Ares fell out of it, slumping onto the floor with his bare chest covered in sweat. His eyes looked lifeless and his muscles must have been sore considering how much he struggled to move. Ares clawed his way slowly out of the room but, suddenly, he stopped moving. His eyes widened in terror as he looked back over his shaking shoulder. Whatever he saw behind him was enough to cause him to redouble his efforts and try scrambling away but, rather than inch forward, he was only losing ground and being dragged back into the room.
"E... En... Enyo please! Have mercy! I am not just some piece of meat! I have feelings! Emotions! I am a living being! I have needs and I need rest!!!!!!"
Ares' head disappeared back past the door which slammed shut promptly after...
Aejaz shrugged and pretended he saw nothing. If nothing else, his brother probably deserved this. Wasn't he the hypocrite who told Aejaz to get a good night's sleep yesterday? And how was that working out for him? The double standards on display here were out of control!... Still, he was the last ditch resort in their group for the tournament so if he was out of commission everyone else would have to work harder... Funnily enough, however, it didn't look like Enyo was tired... Not at all... If she still had the energy for that then surely she could fight, right? Or was it like when women had a second stomach for desserts kind of situation? Regardless, it looked like Ares wasn't escaping that room any time soon and so Aejaz had to suffocate in the living room filled with monstrous cultivators... He was really tempted to try and steal from one of them... It wasn't even necessarily because of his compulsion or because they would likely have good stuff, he just enjoyed the challenge that came with the territory of being a thief surrounded by incredible individuals. In the he decided not to but only because no one else was here to prevent the matriarchs from heavily punishing him if he failed. Aejaz liked taking risks, yes, but he was also acutely aware of a little concept called 'risk reward'.
As he entered the room, Aejaz saw Trew being held upside down by his feet. Rhea was interrogating him about his intentions and he was surprisingly calm considering the situation. Aejaz snuck into a corner of the room and pulled out his book again. Safe! It was noisy in the room but finally he was reading! He'd just gotten to a really interesting cliff-hanger, and the constant interruptions were driving him loco, but now he could finally found out who the murderer in his book was. He leaned more towards the butler, because when is it ever not the butler, but the evidence was pointing more towards the gardener. As for why he was reading crime, and not romance as per usual, he was searching for inspiration. Technically speaking he was a murderer now too! Of course he preferred the term 'hired assassin' but, really, even a hired assassin was nothing more than a murderer when you got down to brass tacks. That aside, learning how to kill people in clever ways and get away with it with no one the wiser was a good next step for Aejaz. He already had the tools necessary to win a fight if need be and bog-standard assassinations were pretty easy for him too. This 'learning' he was doing was mostly on the off-chance he received a difficult task that couldn't be complete in a normal way either because the target was stronger than most or heavily guarded. Ares was right about working for Hans in that Aejaz was getting good practice in as of late, and a lot of it at that. That was also why his downtime mattered and why others disrupting his r and r was extremely rude!
Two hours later Enyo and Ares strode into the room... Well Enyo did anyway. Ares was half dead and being dragged around by the back of his neck. His lower half was limp and his eyes were hollow. This poor man had stared into the abyss, and Enyo had stared back. Enyo chucked Ares onto the sofa and sat on his lap while he stared at the ceiling, presumably wishing he was a bird so that he could fly away from here and be free. As soon as he felt Enyo's rear land on top of his pelvic region he hoarsely muttered, seemingly unaware of where he even was, what day it was, or who he was, "Please... No more..." Enyo simply ignored him and happily swayed side to side with an iridescent smile on her face. Enyo was practically glowing and her mouth was basically stuck in its current, upward curving state. She was humming cheerfully like she was on top of the world... Well she was on top of someone who was the entire world to her, so that was probably close enough to being true as far as she was concerned. What Enyo didn't seem to care about was the fact that everyone else in the room was gawking at her with stunned faces...
Bellona walked into the room and waved to the matriarchs whilst yawning. She turned to the next people in line, Aejaz and his sister, and was about to say hello to them too when she realised that everyone was currently staring at something to her right. Her eyes drifted over, past Trew who was also gawking, and she saw Enyo seated on Ares lap. For a split second she didn't understand why this was such a big deal, they were romantically intertwined with one another and on much closer terms than they were yesterday, that was for certain. When that split second was up, however, Bellona joined everyone else and widened her eyes when the surprise of a lifetime barrelled through her muddled brain. Unlike everyone else in the room she was still able to question this bizarre situation though as her willpower was made of stronger stuff. "Who the fuck are you?!"
This was Enyo, right?! What the hell happened here? Did Ares fuck some extra glamour into her?! Was his dick magical?! To hell with waiting, Bellona wanted some too! No stupid brain, stop looking for excuses! This is clearly weird! Like hell this has anything to do with sex!... Also, why the hell is Enyo at sensory enhancement, 3rd stage?! What the fuck?! Six stages in one night? I know she swapped to dedication cultivation... But just what the hell did she do?!… Damn, she's way more powerful than I am now... Plus with her pleasure affinity the gap between us has widened considerably... I need to put some work in. She might even be stronger than Ares currently. What a freak... No, wait a minute, I still need answers damnit! Why is this woman twice as hot as she was yesterday! Bellona had come to the same conclusion as everyone else. Enyo had gotten an upgrade in the looks department, somehow, and it wasn't a small one either! Her entire aura had changed and every movement was sensual. She still had that powerful edge but now she truly looked more divine than ever. Before she was holy, now she was holy moly! Enyo was in her own little world and didn't even pay Bellona's original question any attention so she tried again. "Enyo? Earth to Enyo? Care to explain why you look so different?" Bellona waved her hand in front of Enyo's face and that seemed to get her attention.
Enyo looked at Bellona and let out a soft giggle that nearly made Bellona wet herself. This new Enyo's coy gestures were deadly! "It's a long story, I'll explain some other time. Right now, I'm too happy to worry about such minor things!" Enyo turned on Ares' lap and ran her hands along his chest as she smirked up at him. Ares was still in lala land and made no effort to fight off Enyo who was prodding away at him. "Hey hey. Husband, I'm hungry. If you don't make me something to eat, I'll just eat you again instead." Ares groaned in response. He tried to lift his arms but could barely even do that. It seemed he was going to spend however long desperately trying to get up and cook lest he be subjected to whatever it was Enyo had in store for him. In his current state, however, Ares was an utterly broken man with all the life sapped out of him.
Bellona did not blame Ares for his fatigue in the slightest. Spending the whole night with this absurdly attractive demoness must not have been easy regardless of who was pushing who around. Bellona had to smack herself to regain her sense and rationality as, for a minute there, she'd been oddly jealous of Ares for once. Enyo was now an incredibly arousing woman who's every move was seductive in nature and drew in everyone's gaze. Bellona found herself occasionally leering at her and had to struggle to stop herself whenever she caught herself in the act.
Off to the side, Trew was staring at a wall. This was the only correct solution to this predicament. He had a partner! He was loyal! He would not lecherously gaze at another! Part of why he'd liked Enyo before was because she was undeniably a good looking woman but now that was doubly true and even looking at her was difficult.
Meanwhile, Allie had entered the room too with Trixie draped over her shoulders, hugging her from behind with a brilliant grin. Allie was a little more tolerant of her because Trixie had really laid on the sob story. She brought out the fake tears for a real story and outright denying Trixie had become considerably more difficult for Allie after learning the extent of her situation... And Aejaz' idiocy! Trixie had cried and said it was all so unfair because she'd directly told idiot 'Jaz that she 'liked him'. This was shortly before he was kicked out and Trixie promised to come looking for him and that 'he should wait for her'. This dumb bastard had misunderstood completely and just thought she was being reassuring and polite! Allie had to begrudgingly admit that Trixie should have had right of way. She'd technically done everything first and been robbed because of Aejaz' stupidity. She professed her true feelings, went out of her way to promise him she would never forget about him, and even subtly hinted she would betray the clan for him, and the moron missed all of these hints! Trixie had assumed she was in and all that she needed was patience. To find out, years later, that Aejaz hadn't waited for her at all hurt. It felt like a complete betrayal but she felt affection for him and couldn't let go. Allie was sympathetic and didn't quite know how to handle Trixie. Before she felt like this vixen was trying to steal her man but now she was realising that, maybe, she was the real vixen here who'd stolen something Trixie had already long since marked. If nothing else, pushing her away made Allie feel cruel and heartless so, regardless of whether she fully accepted Trixie or not in due time, she decided to at least get along with her as a friend.
Allie couldn't believe this was happening to her... She asked Enyo a long time ago about how she could tolerate Ares being with other women and she'd warned Allie that the second partner would always be the hardest to say no to for some stupid reason or another. Allie had dismissed that idea at the time, thinking there was no way she'd feel sympathetic to a love rival, and yet here she was, being buddy buddy with Trixie... Sort of, anyway. The friendship was definitely more one-sided than even and Trixie was doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the communication department. The worst part was that Allie knew what Trixie was really after with the whole 'becoming friends' thing. She wanted to get so close to Allie that she couldn't be denied anymore. And yet Allie still tolerated her... Maybe this whole debacle was already over... Maybe she'd already lost... Allie sighed and accepted that she would have to talk to Aejaz about this some time soon... She still wanted to have a talk with Enyo first, she was her superior in matters of the heart revolving around non-monogamous relations so she wanted some advice. Enyo was the first person she looked for upon entering the room and she nearly collapsed on the spot when she saw the new Enyo. Her response was hardly any different from everyone else's as she sat there wondering if this was even the same person anymore! Also, why was Ares looking like a skeleton?! Allie shook her head and whipped out a pill, moved over next to Ares, and plopped the pill in his slackened jaw.
Ares swallowed the unknown object and closed his eyes... A surge of what felt like cold water flooded his veins and woke him right up. His eyes burst open and he looked around in a newly-energised panic. He saw Enyo, the devil herself, gazing longingly at him and he remembered the hellish pleasure she'd dumped on him earlier. This woman! It was this woman that battered him senseless! Even now he still didn't understand why she looked so different so he leaned forward, picked up the troublemaker on his lap, and carried her into the kitchen. He could actually cook now that he'd restored all of his basic functions like breathing, seeing, and moving, so he started working on lunch in the background. He also made a mental note to thank Allie, his little lifesaver sister, later before questioning Enyo. "Ok, let's not even discuss what happened last night right now, I'll have PTSD if I do. Can you explain your changes to me now?"
Enyo placed her ring finger on her lip and tilted her head down with a sly smirk. "Hm, I suppose I could... How about I tell you after one more round in the hay, husband?"
Ah shit. Ares was erect again but he knew this was a trap! 'One more round' his ass! If he was lured into that room he may very well never escape again! He took a deep breath and regained his composure. As for his erection, he was able to make that disappear by thinking about things that curbed his arousal, like spiders and orcs. Enyo saw his manhood shrink back to normal and she bit her lip in frustration. Rather than accept defeat this manic woman saw this as a challenge! If it were up to her she would love to make Ares permanently be at full mast... Still, she admitted she'd been bested for now and wasn't going to get her wish at the very least until she spilled the beans. She formed a mental connection with Ares, while he put up a layer of disintegration around the kitchen, and explained everything...
A while later...
[So yeah, I'm a Goddess and you better start treating me like one!]
Ares was flummoxed by this information but couldn't deny any of it. Enyo had clearly transcended being mortal by this point, that much was obvious at a glance. [I already treat you like a Goddess! Don't be absurd! You just want more intercourse!... That aside, she... You, called this a 'play pretend world', huh? She's not entirely wrong, I guess, but it is somewhat of a misunderstanding. These worlds, and the people in them, are all real. I can see why she'd treat us like dolls from her perspective but it's clear she doesn't really understand the situation from ours. In a way it's pretty fitting for a divine being to be this disillusioned with the suffering of the common people, I don't blame her... You... Ah whatever. Your 'you' and I love you, that's all there is to it. I'm glad you had the confidence to make this decision Enyo. Thank you for trusting me. I will keep you safe no matter what. If I can't do that with my destruction pillar then I'm nothing more than a failure anyway.] Ares removed the disintegration layer and the mental connection was ended.
Enyo walked up to Ares and hugged him. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You've got a lot going on and me dumping on this on you hasn't made your life any easier. I should be the one thanking you for enabling me to do this. It's not much, and this only really benefits me, but I can at least do and say this..." Enyo whispered another art into Ares' ear. For a second he thought Enyo had bamboozled him and was about to make him go berserk with lust or something similar, but when he heard the art he actually felt a little guilty... "Only You."
Only You was an art of the 'the path we walk' aspect that effectively locked a person into a relationship with the individual they used it on. In Enyo's case, this art would only ever benefit her as long as she remained loyal to Ares and never slept with another man. For as long as this was true she would double her overall mana reserves, and that was incredibly powerful, but if she ever broke that requirement she would end up with half of her original mana. In other words it was either 200% or 50% depending on her faithfulness. It still permitted same sex relationships, however, so she was fine to bully Ares other wives without being penalised.
Ares felt guilty for two reasons. One was that he'd expected this of Enyo to begin with. Not the art but the attitude. Despite the situation, he wouldn't have ever permitted her to lay with another man and yet she'd allowed him to sleep with other women. It was hypocritical and he couldn't help but feel a little shameful the second she'd casted the art even if she'd pushed this situation on him to begin with. The other reason he felt guilt, which was technically linked, was that he couldn't use this art himself. Not having an affinity for the pillar aside, he was going to have eight other women in his life and, thus, using this art would obliterate his mana reserves and he really couldn't afford to do it. If, one day, he found a pleasure pillar enabler, knowing he wouldn't be able to use this art on Enyo annoyed him. But what could he really do here? Ares simply promised to treat Enyo as well as he possibly could and moved on from this conundrum. There was no point overthinking or dwelling on a matter only he cared about. Enyo probably hadn't even considered Ares using this art for even a second. She might have actually gotten angry with him if he had the ability to and tried. He couldn't cast the art, but he could kiss his wife and tell her he loved her at least, so that was what he did... He had to stop part way through though when Enyo started getting frisky... This woman was hard work... Now that she'd gotten a taste she was not going to leave him alone! Ares was going to have to look for treasures that boosted his stamina otherwise she might actually kill him in the bedroom. He'd mistakenly believed having the will power and mental fortitude to go all night was enough... Not with Enyo it wasn't, not even remotely... Ares had heard stories about stronger cultivators that could do this kind of stuff for thousands of years straight... Enyo might actually try and make him go for a couple million in the distant future knowing her...