Chapter 221: Guess Who?

Who and how many? Those were the two burning questions Ares had right now. Their cultivation would obviously be, at minimum, equal to his as anything less wouldn't even be functional as cannon fodder. Rather pretty much everyone within sensory enhancement would be useless here anyway. The only purpose they would serve is as a distraction. So, by that logic, it wasn't hard to figure out he was going to be dealing with lot of bloodline awakening cultivators... And maybe even a few transition realm cultivators on top of that. There was no way a group this organised hadn't been watching the matches and so they would be well aware of the requirements needed to put up a meaningful fight against Ares. This was why he was more curious in the answer to the other two questions of 'who?' and 'how many?'. 'What' their cultivation was could be guessed with relative ease. 'When' was obviously now and 'why?' would be figured out as soon as Ares got a bead on who exactly was jumping him. 

Ares' mind spun and a lot of various details started falling into place. For starters, these people attacking him with the matriarchs resting in the crowd was blatantly stupid and none of their attempts would even make a dent in the protection they could offer... Surely they must have known this? This must have meant they came prepared with some kind of treasure or artifact that could create a barrier that even the matriarchs couldn't break. That was a lot of effort just to assassinate Ares and one group of people wouldn't be able to foot such a massive bill on their own so it was looking like a joint effort. Ares was flattered these troublemakers were going to such lengths for him but wasn't this all still pointless? The matriarchs must have already known this was happening under their noses, they weren't stupid... And yet they were also ignoring it. As far as Ares could tell, their attitude regarding this assassination was that either A; Ares could handle things as is or, B; the more likely answer was that they wanted him to use a Canis Stimulant today. The first option wasn't feasible because no group of people Ares could handle with his eyes closed would be dumb enough to throw themselves at him nor would they have any means of accessing a treasure capable of isolating Ares away from the matriarchs.

Given that Calla had assured Ares he would have a chance to use the Canis Stimulant sometime soon the latter assumption was likely correct. Also, seeing as how Calla knew about it for a while and didn't interfere, the expectation here was that Ares would be fine without their aid. Taking all of this into consideration meant Ares wasn't stressed out about protecting the team members who were all currently leaving the arena. These assassins were only after him and, should anyone else get caught in the crossfire, it was to be expected that someone in the crowd would act. To firmly cement the idea that things were fine, Ares took a sneak peak at Yulo who was in the crowd. This guy would definitely know what was coming but he remained relatively unbothered. 'Relatively' because there was a tinge of awe on his face that couldn't be wiped away no matter how he tried to hide it. Ares assumed this was because Yulo could see his revenant form already which was interesting. Yulo had more than likely seen a real revenant wolf before so his reaction, much like Calla's, was indicative that Ares' revenant form was quite something... Well he was about to find out so there was no point dwelling on it.

As for the people in the crowd he could see that were seemingly involved in whatever operation they were planning, a few people stuck out. Namely the Legion elders who were slowly shuffling towards the arena. On the one hand, Ares was annoyed these idiots were getting involved but, on the other, this situation was too perfect to pass up. They were clearly throwing their hat in the ring because of the whole Ares, Enyo, and Bellona situation. Mostly Enyo, though, as she was the pride and joy of the clan. Watching on as the number one woman in your clan of the next generation was 'pimped' out to your mortal enemy... Ares understood why they were mad but surely these people were being unreasonable? This was a consensual relationship! Ares wasn't even involved in the war! Part of the humiliation must have been the fact that it wasn't just Enyo, but also Bellona. They didn't care about her, and if it had just been her they might have overlooked things, but it being both sisters... Some of these people must have gotten conniptions learning about this pairing. It was a very tribal mentality these people had. It's not like the sisters were spoils of war to Ares but these specific elders would never understand that or be willing to tolerate it, clearly.

To be fair, some of them were also probably doing this because Ares was now an incredibly high profile revenant with a lot of power up his sleeve. This was a more reasonable excuse, as they could be concerned about the potential threat he posed later in life, but was still an excuse at the end of the day. Ares had to give them all credit, though, because doing this in front of Rhea and all her kin was practically a death sentence. Acting without her permission, or rather permission they knew they never would have gotten as Rhea had already signed off on the marriages, was an incredibly ballsy decision. They were taking matters into their own hand on behalf of the entire Legion clan and their actions were treacherous if not downright treasonous. Although Ares hadn't married the sisters yet, his status was effectively equivalent to a main branch family member if not a little higher. Ares would inevitably become the leader of the Umbras one day, he was just in the correct position to do so. Throw in his marriage to two main branch Legions and he honestly outranked basically everyone at that point in terms of status. To attack such a person... Rhea would not let these fools get off lightly. The Legions didn't torture often but, occasionally, they would make exceptions when a member of theirs did something unthinkably stupid. Going against direct orders so they could murder someone of Ares' status, who was technically family now due to the engagement, over a personal grudge, and one that didn't even make sense... Ares simply said a small prayer for these fools. He could feel Rhea's anger from down here and he hadn't even looked up to see her facial reaction to any of this yet. Naturally the rest of the Legions would also be pissed as these people were spitting in the face of their authority. In particular Enyo would likely be devastated by this. She was still hoping the Legion could be turned around but something like this... It was going to throw a lot of her trust in the clan out the window when she finally understood what was happening...

As for why this benefitted Ares, though, it was an optics Godsend. Ares could kill all the other assassins without repercussion but these guys? Saving their hide and keeping them alive would drastically slow down the Legions' acceptance of Major's command to put Ares down. His God given task was one thing, and his refusal to take part in the war was another, but sparing the Legions who tried to assassinate him in broad daylight... Major was going to get a lot of pushback and dissent from a large chunk of the clan for a long time thanks to today. If it weren't for that, Ares might have even just killed these people but they were more useful to him alive than dead. Some of them may even go on to rethink their ways and defend him back on the Legion home planet so Ares couldn't waste this chance. He needed, NEEDED, to make sure his berserk self maintained at least a little intelligence so he could spare these people specifically. The good thing about all of this was that they were easy to pick apart from everyone else involved due to their striking armour. There was some hope to come out of this situation with a massive advantage and Ares wouldn't let it go. In a way, he was glad this was happening.

But that was just the Legions, there were other people who wanted Ares deader than dead. For starters, although he'd yet to make any kind of move, Maro was here and seemingly very invested in a match that had clearly already finished. There was an evil glint in his eyes so he was absolutely knowledgeable about this occurrence even if not directly relevant. Actually, his invisible bird was really convenient here as, although some expert cultivators would spy it, he could get away with fooling the ignorant masses if he needed to poke at Ares a bit himself for whatever reason. None of the experts here had a stake in Ares and would hesitate to interfere with the machinations of a peak transition realm cultivator. Hans might, and he was here, but if Hans responded it would turn into a bloodbath in which countless innocents died in the crossfire. Ares was a revenant and would come back from death so Hans would make the correct choice and simply begrudgingly let it happen.

For Maro, this was a perfect opportunity to temporarily rid himself of a ticking time bomb. If Ares cultivated enough Maro would absolutely be on his hit-list so buying any time was imperative for him. Despite this, he seemed to be taking the most passive approach of everyone here as he wasn't leaving his seat and the bird hadn't come out yet. Evidently, the assassins wanted to isolate Ares inside a barrier of some kind but, if he made his way out somehow, Maro might try for a sneak attack when Ares thought he was safe. Ares, being at the beginning of sensory enhancement, logically wouldn't be able to take a strike from the bird at the peak of transition, especially not after struggling to get out of the barrier situation regardless of what it entailed. It would predictively be easy pickings for Maro to finish things should it come to that. In fact, Maro's participation was likely why they all felt so confident in trying this. With Maro and Lex on side there was a 1000% guarantee they could get into the coliseum and the arena unobstructed. That was a lot of power in their pocket. The C.O and the Red Sun mayor? There were very few doors these two combined didn't have the keys to, especially in Red Sun.

Maro and the Legions aside, Ares couldn't help but recognise his old Chen clan pals. They stuck out like a sore thumb to him because Ares had seen their ugly mugs however many thousands of times already. Ares couldn't spy Chen Lo anywhere, it was a large coliseum Ares had to browse, but the old coot would definitely be taking part. Lo's anger towards Ares would have been enough to fuel a hangar of jets for a thousand lifetimes. Burning said fuel could turn an entire planet to ashes he was likely that mad. For all his faults, Chen Lo did care about the youngsters in his clan, most of which were dead now. Only the upper echelons of the clan eked their ways out of the rubble due to their superior cultivation but, even then, a lot of them suffered grievous injuries and could no longer fight. the Chen members here were either martyrdoms for the cause or high ranking individuals with a vengeance. Of course Ares also had a vengeance for these people but it was nice knowing one side would be eradicated today... Of course Ares wasn't expecting it to be him that fell though. His Canis Stimulant would put him at the peak of bloodline awakening and Chen Lo did not have any means of hanging with Ares at that level, let alone whatever strength the revenant form possessed that went above and beyond that. Actually, Ares would likely not even be stoppable by someone like Maro so these first few assassins were going to receive the shock of a lifetime.

The fourth and final wave of contenders, Ares had a lot of enemies but not currently that many (although some would argue this was a lot for someone who was early in their cultivation journey), was... Aejaz' clan... It seemed Aejaz' brothers and mother were not amongst those involved but Sho... Sho was very much here somewhere and leading the charge, Ares could feel it in his bones. The guy wanted to get some payback so this wasn't even remotely surprising. The second Ares noticed he was being surrounded Sho was his first pick of the litter for 'guy who really wants Ares dead and will actually take action to make it so'. This group of people was harder to keep track of, they were assassins, duh, but Ares had already activated his Omniscience and no amount of talent was going to save them from his burning eyes. It seemed like it was mostly a bunch of disciples and a few elders from the Fleeting Glimpse branch in this country, including the guy Ares bombed the crap out of at the party. The one wearing lace... Or was it silk? The one he and Aejaz... Bombed... Again, in the Vargaraad tomb, although that one actually happened first. The half dead guy who really liked stabbing people. Honestly... Ares had forgotten that side-character's name already which was why he was having such a hard time picking him out of the crowd despite his bright colours compared to his clansmen. Regardless, he seemed to be gunning for Ares for obvious reasons. Ares had planted a bomb inside him, after all. Forgive and forget probably wasn't an option.

Ares was kinda happy the rest of Aejaz' family weren't participating in this affair because then the upcoming match would be ruined! Aejaz' five minutes of fame would have, in a funny twist of fate, have been stolen from him by Ares! As that was seemingly not the case, unless they were all hiding somewhere like a bunch of sneaky rodents, Aejaz would get his retribution yet. Also, regarding the Fleeting Glimpse lot, there seemed to be some assassins mixed in with them that weren't from the clan. These individuals had cultivation bases, at minimum, near the peak of bloodline awakening, moved in a different style with a different gait and bearing to the Glimpse clan members, and had a different bearing altogether. They looked like they were in sync with each other but not the clan which made Ares think thy were hired to ensure nothing went wrong. Ares' annihilation enhancement was a risky thing to tackle so working with some extra help was a good choice. As for who these people were, Ares had no clue. If it had been any other time of the year Hans could effortlessly track down people operating in his neck of the woods but, now? Thanks to the tournament these people could very well be from abroad and disappear back to their country of origin long before an investigation turned up any kind of results after today's fiasco. But that did neatly sum up who was here to wreck Ares' day... Or try to, anyway... Also, that was the last of the groups but there was one particular person joining in who wasn't affiliated with any of the aforementioned groups and, honestly, had no business being here...

Et tu, Biggie?

Ares game of 'where's wally' had picked up an individual he really didn't expect to find here... Biggie, that guy he met once after the inner court disciple test came to a close way back when. When he moved into Alaine's tier this guy had given him the stink eye big time. Supposedly he was the strongest person in the inner court and also the guy in the sect with the biggest crush on Enyo, and that had been before her pleasure pillar-related changes. Ares' remembered that this guy disdained him because Ares was lacking in muscles and therefore didn't deserve Enyo... It was stupid but Ares ignored it thinking it wouldn't be a problem. The guy never even came around to Ares' neighbourhood to bother him so Ares had almost forgotten about the guy entirely. Still, Ares remembered his name, unlike the Fleeting Glimpse guy, so that was something Biggie could hold his head up high about. Ares had no clue why this guy was here though... Whether he took part or not really made no difference whatsoever as he was the 'weakest' of everyone participating. He was roughly around the 7th stage of bloodline awakening which, admittedly, wasn't lower than some of the Legions but, in terms of strength, he was definitely the weak link of the pack. The Legions with lower cultivation would still blow him out the water in direct competition thanks to their intensive training and capacity for dynamic and well-executed teamwork. To add insult to injury, Biggie wouldn't get the final hit on Ares... No one would, Ares would make sure of that, but, hypothetically, why would any of the others trying to kill Ares let some random kid do it? He stood no chance of bringing home the glory so why was he here? All that would happen as a result was that his name would spread far and wide but not for any good reason. Even if successful, he would be kicked out of the sect and Red Sun the second he tried to return to either. Joining in like this wasn't actually beneficial unless he was aiming to hide behind one of the other groups by joining them...

The Legions were being scummy but they would still never take onboard a person like Biggie. The Glimpse wouldn't either because he was was categorically not the type of person to become an assassin. The hint was in the name. He was BIG and sneaking around with that much bulk, while not impossible, was a very questionable career choice. Maro had zero interest in this guy and the hit he would take to his reputation just to bring him on side would not be worth it no matter how Ares looked at it... So it was the Chen clan? Well, Biggie wasn't dumb or weak. Compared to most cultivators he was probably above average objectively, even if only by a little... Maybe the Chens were trying to repopulate and they valued strength more than anything? If they were desperate after losing their young then they would take whatever partners they could get for the remaining youths that were still kicking. Not everyone had been at the clan at the time of it being obliterated so some Chen youths here and there were still breathing. Selling them off like this was... A choice that had been made... And one Ares didn't exactly respect because they wouldn't have had a say in it but what worked, worked. Ares couldn't deny a plan like this would be functional, just a tad slimy. Then again, this was the Chen clan he was talking about. They weren't exactly going to fall into disrepute over something like this because, uh, well, they were already in disrepute anyway... The one thing everyone seemed to know about them were that they were just terrible people, this wouldn't change that. The only thing Ares wasn't sure about was whether the Chens had any intentions of remaining in Red Sun or fleeing elsewhere after this debacle. They weren't going to live through it but Ares was somewhat curios to know whether they really thought they could rebuild in Red Sun without a care in the world. Hans wouldn't have allowed it, not a chance. He would beat them while they were down over and over and only Maro would be able to prevent it... But could Maro really get openly involved with Chens? Not really.

Ah but that was enough about that. Things were finally kicking off as the first few assassins had started jumping into the arena. Only now were the contenders, other than Ares, aware of what was happening around them. They hadn't been paying attention to the spectators because they were either discussing the results or lazily walking back towards their homes. What was happening now couldn't be missed any longer and it was blatantly obvious there was something big going down. Even the spectators who were in the middle of leaving paused when they saw this and made the choice to hang around a bit longer to see what the hubbaloo was about. The C.O lady, who'd interfered a few times to lay down the law, was choosing whether or not to make a move... Lex was looking useless and pretending to be blind or something, so he was clearly in on it and this would not look good later, so she was the only hope here for the victim, right? Well not really because she could also see, clear as day, the matriarchs minding their own business... She didn't want to hop down and get blasted by the matriarchs for poking her nose where it didn't belong. Plus there were Legions amongst the ruffians scrambling into the arena... The C.O lady sighed and sat back in her seat. This international, at the outer court level specifically, had been a colossal shit show... She was absolutely getting her pay docked for this crap... She'd handled it well, though! Not that the higher ups would care... Poor C.O lady...

Down in the arena, Ares was ready to greet his foes with biting sarcasm but an attack was already heading towards him! Someone had jumped the gun! What was this?! Ares was going to offer his would-be murderers 'hospitality' and greetings but they could even hold themselves back long enough for him to say hello?! Ares shook his head in disappointment and readied his annihilation enhancement. The attack had come from one of the hired assassins working with the Glimpse clan so this one was packing a punch at the level of peak bloodline awakening. Annihilation enhancement wasn't necessary, as regular enhancement would just about allow Ares to deal with it too, but Ares wanted it up and running in case anyone tried to outright kill him before he could take the Canis Stimulant. Ares wanted his verbal spar with his assailers before he took it but these people weren't even waiting until he'd been isolated... Either there were people amongst them who despised Ares for some reason or they just really wanted their pay check!

As Ares used an Annihilation Echo on the kunai headed towards him, punching it into the stratosphere, he could see Sho arguing with the guy who threw the weapon.... Evidently he was not pleased as he saw things the same way Ares did, talk THEN murder. Were you really a super human with immense combat potential if you weren't wasting everyone's time with monologues and pointless conversations? It just didn't have the same feel to it if you skipped that part! Despite Sho telling the hired assassin off, it seemed someone else hadn't caught the memo as a guy near the peak of the transition realm had just gone all out... Everyone in the coliseum, even Ares' attackers, turned to look at the guy who was defying protocol and going straight for the kill. A number of people tried to rush towards him to stop the guy but it wasn't going to matter. The art he was about to cast could be chanted quick and packed some serious firepower. Ares, in particular, was flabbergasted! He'd been reluctant to use the Stimulant immediately but was he actually going to die because of that foolish decision?! All because this one guy wasn't following the unwritten rules?! Ares could tell that he couldn't block this attack in any normal way and that it would be too quick to dodge... No way he was going to die like this, in such an anticlimactic way, surely?