Chapter 536: Improved Quietus

Maybe I overdid it? Ares, now off-world, far away from the planet the tryouts were hosted on, and strolling through the depths of space, was mumbling to himself as he looked at the bottom of his Protection Racket. The shade symbol was there in all its glory, openly taunting him, but he couldn't help but smile when he saw it. The desired effect was the compete opposite of his current reaction but Ares had the last laugh in his encounter with Mimi and so it only really brought back fond memories contrary to her intentions. As for what he'd done to her before leaving...

Maybe it was a tad too much?

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't somewhat interested in her, enough to chase after her like he said he would, but he wasn't half as aggressive as he pretended to be earlier. He was mostly acting up and out to pay her back and make her realise the dangers of the charm she possessed but, about halfway through, Ares came to a conclusion... What he was doing to her, She didn't hate it. She was somewhat frightened, yes, but there was a hint of acceptance as if she truly didn't mind. She understood her actions would catch up with her eventually and maybe she wasn't truly against that nor did she have any reluctance to letting her first ever 'captive' be Ares. The first person to outmanoeuvre her, the first man to grab what she was flaunting and not let go, perhaps she was desiring such a thing and didn't even acknowledge it consciously. So, in some ways, Ares' plan had backfired because now his own prank had become reality... Not that he minded, he still had that same burning desire to make Mimi his, worsened by her becoming docile when he was within arm's reach as that only further excited him.

There was something about Mimi's allure he couldn't put into words but he'd become certain of his interest in her when he witnessed her forging skills. They were hypnotic almost and he respected a master craftsman when he saw one. Beneath all that tricky poltergeist gremlin behaviour there was a passionate smith, a friendly shade, and a good person. Ares liked to think his instincts regarding such things weren't ever wrong and, to his credit, they hadn't ever been far off the mark so far. Of course his lie detector, from Enyo's bloodline, was reassuring in that regard if he ever wanted to test someone but he had no reason to suspect Mimi was a bad person nor had she lied about anything. Ares' main concern with this whole matter, Mimi's introduction to the Redhome fold, lay elsewhere, actually... The number of partners, assuming Mimi ended up actually becoming a part of the Redhome harem, was rising at a rate that left Ares wincing. He through about that when he was talking the talk and walking the walk back there in the courtyard but ultimately decided it was acceptable purely because Mimi wouldn't be seen again for quite some time. Ares had no plans on adding any new harem members for the foreseeable future and, unlike the other times he'd faltered on his internal determination, he was being serious this time! Seriously serious! Enyo, Bellona, and Havannah. That would be it for now! Preferably until he left the Blade barrier!

As an aside, it seemed Ares' kink was raw talent. He'd yet to find a partner who wasn't at the top of their respective game, all deity candidates no less with a chance to strive for apotheosis, and he was wondering if he naturally gravitated towards those sorts of women or it was the result of some psychological factor he was unaware of. There was a very real possibility he was subconsciously trying to avoid weaker partners because he understood how hard life would be for anyone who loved him. He was a big figure and big figures in the cultivation world, evil or just aside, were targeted often if they weren't supported by ironclad foundations to protect them. There was no easy path as a cultivator and fame often hampered a wannabee superstar more than anonymity did. Resentment from those weaker aside, competition in the higher brackets of cultivation society was dirtier, underhanded, and generally harder due to the level of everyone participating. It meant Ares was always going to be in the eye of the storm while those related to him, surrounding him, might occasionally have to bear the brunt of his actions and blood feuds if he wasn't careful.

Knowing his partners were strong put Ares' mind at ease so perhaps he really did care about such a thing even if he didn't actively search for that quality. He did just admit to himself that Mimi's smithing display was part of what prompted his respect for her to shoot up so maybe it was more important to him than he knew? Regardless, the damage was done now, and the strings of love, plucked by cupid, were already in motion. Whatever happened from now on with Mimi, Ares would play along and see where things went. Of course he wouldn't be passive, he wasn't lying when he said he'd chase her, but he was hardly an expert at this. Now that Ares thought about it, he had no idea how to flirt with women or chase one. Enyo reciprocated his advances pretty quick as soon as he made his intentions obvious, even if there was some awkwardness there, Bellona came to him, and Havannah was a sort of mutual pop-up relationship. He didn't know how things were with Havannah, it seemed more like a crime of extreme passion and intense, in the moment desire, based on what he'd heard from his pagoda clone, and Candy was, again, more of a mutual thing. Ares had never had to, over the course of a long duration, woo a woman as an admirer. He felt a little like he was some obnoxious salesman sticking his foot in the door but he was at least partially aware the 'tenant', Mimi in this case, was interested in what he was selling. She was going to make it hard for him, her personality dictated it and she merely obeyed, but Ares knew what he was getting into and was curious to see how it would go. On the off-chance he needed practice playing the long con with women then the Mimi saga, later whenever it resurfaced, might actually be important for an entirely unexpected reason.

Various romance thoughts swirling around in his mind aside, Ares was preparing himself to undergo two more tasks before returning to Isaz. The first one was pretty quick, he was going to digest the psychic AAA and assimilate it to his Quietus art. That was simple as can be as, according to Dominus who helpfully chimed in with the method, all he had to do was eat the resource, let it flow through his body, and then activate the chosen art. It was painless, fast, and there were no side effects whatsoever. AAAs were appreciated not just for what they brought to the table but also because of how cleanly they imparted their incredible boons without a fuss. This was a rare trait amongst resources, especially powerful ones, as most had to be absorbed through pores in the body via body tempering baths like various other stuff Ares had taken. At the very least, no pain was already a massive step up from a lot of other resources and Ares was grateful he wasn't going to be put through the ringer for the billionth time in his cultivation journey. He'd barely been at this cultivation thing for more than a few months and he'd already graced death's doorstep and played knock down ginger multiple times already. Of course getting caught by the reaper wasn't the end of the world, Ares was a stubborn cockroach whose revenant bloodline would keep him in the game, but that didn't make the pain he suffered go away! No more pain!... At least, that was what Ares wanted to say, however...

His second task was not quite as... Harmless, as the first one was shaping up to be. His ascent to bloodline awakening was calling and, before he could get there, he had to reach the tenth stage of sensory enhancement. This was the second to last hurdle, after which he'd be home clear to become utterly unstoppable thanks to Garmr, but it was going to be a high hurdle to cross and carelessness would leave him battered and bruised. He needed to undergo another minor tribulation upon going up a stage. Sure he had the Brotherhood robes now, and he might be able to soften whatever blows came his way by wearing them, but the tribulation would, funnily enough, probably account for that and make the trial even more problematic for him as punishment. Also, it was going to attract a lot of attention no matter where he did it so Ares was in a bit of a bind regarding location.

If Ares cultivated to tenth stage inside the barrier then the Frozen Throne would be alerted to his presence in a matter of moments. The sky collapsing in on itself and golden thunder, at bare minimum, wasn't exactly hard to spot in a region as remote and quiet as Isaz. Maybe if there was a raging snowstorm Ares could hide the finer details of the incident and get away with it but crossing his fingers and praying for bad weather didn't feel like a good strategy to him. Then again, his other option wasn't much better... Undergoing the tribulation outside the barrier, here in the Lowe domain, meant any Tom, Dick, or Harry could come and be a pest to disrupt his cultivation mid way through. The tribulation would draw a crowd, anyone nearby would definitely spot it, and if some unruly bastard picked a fight then Ares could suffer a backlash and struggle to regain his cultivation afterwards for a while, delaying bloodline awakening. He had a backup plan but that was also terrible risky as staying near the barrier, and escaping into it if trouble really did arise, could lead to all manner of unpredictable outcomes.

If Ares' tribulation, as he retreated through the void passageway to Isaz, ripped apart the negative space he could be thrown out God knows where. He might not even make it back inside Sheryashka if the passageway became too tumultuous. None of that even accounted for venators being drawn towards the massive surge of energy his tribulation would summon so it was a backup plan, with many flaws, for a reason and Ares would really rather not have to do things that way if he could avoid it. Of course this all hinged on a someone being enough of a lunatic to pick a fight with a Brotherhood member while he was cultivating. That in and of itself was a rarity and the culprit would have to be dumb as bricks to do such a thing because the price they'd pay when the other members of the sect heard about it was not small...

Long story short, there was no easy way of dealing with the tribulation unless Ares took out some time to set up a bunch of runes and protect himself that way. In hindsight, not antagonising Mimi, and asking for her aid on this matter, might have been the best course of action here... For all her pranks she was ultimately a member of the sect and his senior, she'd toy with him up until it really mattered and then takes things seriously so she would have been quite a reliable ally had he not played her like a fiddle. Ares shot himself in the foot by leading her down a confident path of victory such that she let her guard down and broke the domain limit to flaunt her power. There was no use in crying over spilled milk, however, so Ares shut off his brain, placed his worries aside, and just chose to go wherever the wind took him. He'd play it by ear. If nothing else, the psychic type AAA was getting gobbled up right now and nothing was stopping that from happening! Ares needed to be quick because there was a non-zero chance that he could be summoned by the Brotherhood Call if he dilly dallied excessively. Just because the cloaked elf was dissuaded from using it that didn't mean the other sect members, with their own circumstances elsewhere, unaware of Ares' current predicament, wouldn't push the button. Even if he had around a day and a half left in this domain he didn't want to push his luck and goad fate into slapping him across the face.

Ares marched towards the barrier, or rather he marched alongside it to the spot he exited from initially as he could trace it thanks ot his nothingness affiliation, but took a short break when he found a bunch of floating asteroids on his path. He took up a seat inside one with a small cave-like structure bored into it, probably from some rampaging spacian who was taking out their uncontrollable aggression on nearby objects, and brought out the psychic AAA. Now was as good a time as any get this over and done with as this place was safe, quiet, and unlikely to be disturbed in the near future. Of course Ares set up some hidden nothingness patches to alert him of the presence of anyone who stepped over them, as well as using his Zephyr's Warding rune to create barrier and alarm system at the entrance of the cave, but it probably wasn't going to be relevant as nobody else was around for miles when he last checked with his divine sense. He even utilised his Echo and pressure to check for invisible stalkers but it seems like those pesky journalists were too busy writing up, editing, and glorifying stories of him to dig for more information. They'd been shooed out of the Brotherhood's simulated courtyard and didn't dare wait around for Ares, it seemed, so Ares wasn't going to be bothered by them. Besides, the story they already had on their plate was enough to feed them for weeks. Garmr alone was a headline worth savouring, never mind anything else he'd done.

Ares took out the psychic AAA and double checked it. Not because he was wary it was fake or poisoned or anything, just simply because he wanted to remember what this resource looked like so he could identify it in the future. It was pretty unique in terms of appearance, it was two intertwined vines shaped like a strand of DNA, but what really stood out was the aura emanating from it that tickled Ares' brain. Of course the different AAAs all came with different auras so you'd know which one you were dealing with when you came across it at a glance. Ares also checked the resource with his Omniscience and analysed its internal structure by filtering some pressure into small gaps. He wasn't sure when next he'd come across something like this but being prepared to recognise it was imperative as it was too good of a resource to pass up on because he didn't know what he was giving up. If he was in a desperate do or die situation and had to choose between letting a treasure he glimpsed briefly go, or committing to chasing it down, then knowledge like this would come in handy to help him make those split second decisions. Such a thing might not even ever matter but knowing his resources and being able to distinguish them was never a bad thing.

Once he was satisfied, Ares chucked the AAA in his mouth, chewed it a couple times, and swallowed. It left a berry-esque taste in his mouth, one that was highly sweet and satisfied his taste buds, and Ares could only guess that AAAs came in a variety of different flavours depending on the affiliated pillar. For some reason he couldn't quite put his finger on, light strawberry, and raspberry, flavours felt like they suited psychic nature food well. Maybe Ares could incorporate such knowledge into his cooking pillar endeavours in the future, and this information was helpful as he could guess what other pillars 'tasted' like now that he was aware such a thing mattered, but for now he wasn't concerned about that and had something more pressing to focus on. Just because devouring the AAA was easy that didn't mean he could sleepwalk through the process as there were ways it could go south if he wasn't actively involved.

Ares guided the digested AAA through his system, much like how he would guide mana if he was looking to chant Quietus, and when all was said and done he took a breather for a quick moment to catch his breath. His body felt clogged, heavy like it was weighed down by tons of sand, due to the essence of the AAA filling him up to the brim but it was immediately all flushed out of his system when he chanted "Quietus Edict." The essence of the AAA sunk into his veins and acted like cable casing. Any mana that passed through the exact pathway the AAA now overlooked was imbued with the psychic energy it contained and Quietus underwent rapid changes as it was cast. Eventually the art wormed its way out of Ares' body and a pink shimmer rippled throughout the asteroid. Faint, incoherent whispers continuously barraged the entire asteroid with mental magic but eventually all became silent and the merging was confirmed successful by Ares who was particularly satisfied.

Ares had allowed Quietus to momentarily affect himself and it was far more potent than he initially thought it would be as AAAs were apparently extremely beneficial. Not only did Quietus silence his mind but it also affected his thoughts and memories which had a knock-on effect. It's not that he couldn't chant, it's that Ares couldn't even remember the chant to begin with. Like every time he wanted to remember Echo a sharp hush threw every file containing relevant memories to the back of his brain. Again, though, that wasn't where it ended as things other than arts were restricted too. Ares' mastery over weapons, for example, took a major hit as he couldn't for the life of him remember how to wield his various weapons with his usual panache and skill. All the vast experience he had, albeit mostly from Dominus, disappeared temporarily and his brain was wracked with an overwhelming law and order that prevented him from making use of his past learned accomplishments.

Put simply, Quietus could now make people forget, much like Aejaz' thievery arts could, and that was neat. Being under the effect of this art would be catastrophic mid battle so Ares had developed a really potent tool for controlling people's actions. Most of his arts were deadly but few restrained their talents and affected their movements, arts, and / or physical capabilities. Quietus Edict covered the latter two while genuflection mandate, which he paired it with frequently, covered the former. Genuflection could also do with an AAAA upgrade at some point, just to balance out the power equilibrium between the two arts, or maybe he could even combine them both down the line, but for now this was solid. Ares wasn't even convinced he'd explored the new Quietus fully yet, and he could definitely mess around with it a bit more to unearth the true depths, but now it was time to cultivate to the tenth stage of sensory enhancement and he had to give this task his undivided attention or things would get messy.