Hmmmm. Ares shot the border guards a glare and they responded in kind. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Once more, Ares tested the waters by waving at the men, currently preparing various weapons, and their response was to start unleashing pressure towards him unrestrainedly. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. As Ares narrowed his eyes and scrutinised the actions of the guards, who were now channeling mana and preparing to launch arts at him, Ares came to a conclusion! These people didn't like him! Now, granted, not many people did BUT! This case was excessive, clearly! There was deep animosity here and not the kind that was born of having to merely put up with Ares for a lengthy period of time! There was some real violence brewing behind the eyes of the guards but it was still unusual to Ares because he'd never met these people!
Ares Shifted behind one of the guards, appearing directly on the other side of the border as his back was assaulted by the Isaz chill, and tapped the stunned man on his spine. "Excuse me sir, why do you detest me so?" Ares' pompous innocence caused the guard to spin around and instinctively launch an attack with his spear because he could sense the playfulness of his foe. He was being toyed with but refused to believe some kid barely clutching at bloodline awakening, not even at the tenth stage of sensory enhancement yet, could ever possibly beat him. He was one of the stronger guards stationed at the border and he was already at the peak of bloodline awakening! A whole realm of difference and yet this kid wasted his ambush to taunt him?! There was no way he was tolerating this level of condescending ridicule!
"My my, so feisty." Ares chuckled as he nimbly dodged to the side of the fear-induced spear swipe. "And here I just wanted to have a calm and collected discussion... But seriously..." Ares' smile was replaced by a deathly frown and his aura surged forth, halting the guards in their tracks. "... The fuck is your problem?" Ares' war aura flag pierced the guard from behind, forcibly hunching him over. Ares grabbed the guard by the hair and stared deep into his soul like a psychotic mad man. "Answer me obediently and I'll choose between killing you, killing you mercifully, or letting you live. Depending on how I feel about your attitude, willingness to co-operate, and reasoning behind your actions I will lean more towards the latter or former."
"D... D..." The guard was panicked by the sudden change in the air, and the spontaneous injury through his spine that he couldn't have possibly seen coming, but he remained somewhat defiant as there was a fate worse than this awaiting him if he didn't act properly on behalf of the grieving clan to pursue the young master's killer. "Don't play dumb! You... You know what you did!" The guard's voice was shaky, his general disposition timid, and his pants wet like that of a baby bib covered in drool. Ares was not happy with this answer for a multitude of reasons so his frown deepened and the war aura flag spun like a drill inside the man who screamed in agony. The other guards looked to try and move on Ares but he shot them a savage glare and they held their positions so as not to risk the captured guard's life, currently held in Ares' palm all too literally.
"Hey... Hey! Hey listen to me!" Ares slapped the guard he was holding to bring him back from la la land as the pain had driven him crazy fora brief moment. "If you don't respond I'm going to do that little trick of mine again."
"W... What do you want from me?!" The guard was brought to tears but Ares was not in the mood to feel pity. He'd been extraordinarily generous in terms of not murdering people for the longest time as of late. It wasn't that he'd snapped and wanted to summon forth rivers of blood or anything but his end goal was still to acquire the cluster treasure and go home. The longer he had to waste on whatever manner of circus these clowns had rolled into town with the longer it would take him to return home to his two loving wives, his daughter, Sandy, and every other member of his family. He'd been gone long enough and wanted to sort out everything blocking him rapidly!
Actually, upon crossing the border with his Shift earlier, Ares felt the presence of the cluster treasure so he was feeling really ready to get things done but the biggest problem was that Ares felt something else that interested him somewhat... The spatial crack that Kaleido Lingo must have used to enter the Primordial Blade barrier was somewhere here. It was a while ago now but Ares distinctly remembered being told that the pagoda crew from Transmit arrived through a crack in Isaz somewhere. Now that he was in the region he could feel the welling distorted negative space and he was somewhat fascinated by it... Depending on the structural integrity, and Ares' ability to analyse the broken avenue of space... He might be able to pay the outside world a temporary visit! He wouldn't spend more than a day or two outside, he didn't have the ability to do that at his current level as the space avenue would sling him back and he couldn't avoid that inevitability, but he might be able to sneak out temporarily and check out the wider world! It would be a lower domain he escaped to, and nobody would know who the hell he was, but maybe he could have some fun, try out some local cuisines, and see what cultivations was like out there in the big leagues.
This was a great opportunity and Ares was both lucky to spot it and thankful for the chance. He was curios and so, despite it taking up a bit more time on his journey and impacting his schedule, he'd stop by and have a look at things on whichever mountain was home to the negative space portal... But that just further added to his resentment for these damnable guards! It was another task Ares had to, or well wanted to anyway, complete! The longer his list grew the longer he'd take to go back to Red Sun and these guards were well and truly getting on Ares nerves as a result! Why must he get into fights all the time across the entire domain!? Wasn't it too much to ask that he could just arrive in a place, explore a bit on his own terms, and get on with his life without being dogpiled by one-sided grudges?! Ares' boiling anger looked as though it would crawl out of his eye sockets and claw off the guard's face as he repeated his earlier line of questioning, looking to get this matter resolved ASAP to get on with his adventure again.
"What. Is. Your. Problem. With. Me?!" Ares wanted answers and he made it clear he wanted a comprehensive response the next time the guard spoke or there would be hell to pay.
"We work for the Frozen Throne clan! The Frozen Throne Clan!"
"So good you had to say it twice? What does this 'Frozen Throne' clan want with me anyway? I've never heard of you let alone met you."
"You... You're wearing our young master's treasure..."
"Hm?" Ares looked down at his own clothes, having temporarily forgotten he was even wearing the Scaled Insulator, and then his mind went back to the arrogant kid he murdered a while back. Well, he didn't deal the death blow, and if anything he'd done the least to that particular young master of everyone involved, but it was undeniable he was at the heart of the incident and was personally present. Was he the one who flung around that cleaver with crazy glee, extending and repeatedly chopping off his lower half? No... definitely not... Inflicting that sort of pain on another man... Ares didn't know he had it in him if for no other reason than the inability to stomach it. But, still, he was part of the problem even if he wasn't the biggest culprit. That being said... "Your young master got what he deserved for offending a person he shouldn't have ever dared to. He tried to kill me so I took his life and anything that happened to belong to him. My debt with your clan is squared away and unless you want its destruction I would recommend you all give up on this petty payback scheme you're brewing with all those communication talismans. The arrogance of using the word 'Throne' in your clan name has already disgusted me so let's not give me an actual reason to turn your kingdom upside down yeah?" Ares patted the guard on his cheek but the guy remained somewhat steadfast and responded in a wimpy but determined voice.
"You shouldn't insult us! We don't care who you are, we will want vengeance for the young master! openly admitting to killing the heir to the clan in our region is tantamount to suicide! You might be able to beat us but there are way stronger people in the clan! We're not called Frozen Throne for nothing." The guard didn't sound confident, he had no reason to be in this situation after all, but these were the lines he had to spew to keep his life safe from his own clan's inspection of what transpired here later on. The other guards would be incentivised to rat each other out, most likely as that was how things typically went with clans and sects, and so anybody here not giving their all would face the consequences if they didn't behave appropriately and with the clan's pride on their back even against an unbeatable foe.
Ares raised an eyebrow and sighed. "I don't much care but, go on, lay it on me. What's so special about you lot? I know you'll tell me even if I don't ask so go ahead and get it over with..." Ares was tempted to just not care about this information, it's not like he could be realistically stopped by a single clan, but if he was going to be pursued by them during his time here in Isaz then at least knowing roughly what he was up against was wise. Numbers? Fame in the region? Connections? Big name cultivators? Control over the region and how wary Ares had to be in any kind of settlement or village? All valuable information and if this guard was loose lipped enough to willingly share such secrets openly, due to his own stupid pride, then Ares wouldn't stop him from boasting. He likely wouldn't reveal anything that wasn't already public knowledge but, still, it was more than Ares currently knew and could be bothered to find out on his own.
"You seriously don't know?!" The guard was arguably more shocked by Ares' ignorance than anything else, even the flag piercing his stomach seemed trivial in comparison. "... The Frozen Throne was originally a gathering of wealthy and powerful individuals from all across Sheryashka. This place was pretty much uninhabited so all the individuals with acclaim and renown wanted a stake of the land and had to come to an agreement to share it amongst themselves. This group of owners were our forefathers. Over time their familial tiers grew stronger in a bid to form an unmatched alliance across Sheryashka. This was their hub and the country belonged them because nobody dared challenge them for it. Over time the alliance became our clan as it is today and we all still have ties to those ancestors' hordes of money and influence. We effectively still own this region too even after all these years! We remain dominant and unchallengeable for the right to control this entire region! It doesn't matter who you are, we have a reputation not dwarfed by the likes of noble titans like Cash or the two neo gear presidential candidates! We have men and women in every country across the globe with a direct line to higher ups you can't even fathom. If you mess with us, you'll pay..." The guard started of strong but his voice dwindled and trailed off as Ares' lack of concern throughout it all lead to a bad feeling in the guard's gut... And it wasn't the flag causing him immense pain either!
"I don't know anything about the neo gear presidential candidates but I'll tell you this now, even Cash knows when to bow his head and he's already had to make that decision when last we met. Take those talisman's and tell your family that Ares, strongest in Sheryashka, soon to be sect master of Heaven's Path, saviour of the Federation, conqueror of the Riddlemyd, heir to the Umbra Wolf clan in Vraizon, lord of all revenants, future God of the fundamental pillar of destruction, and a pretty decent chef, says hello." One of those was not quite like the other but by the time Ares had actually said it that information went in one ear and out the other because everything that came prior was frightening.
The guard swallowed nervously in Ares' grip because he recognised more than a few of those titles and what they meant, exactly. Ares wasn't a nobody anymore and the winner of the international had made waves, literally in the case of the Federation incident, and became an irreproachable figure in the hearts and minds of Sheryashkans everywhere. Some people set up fan clubs for the kid running around dominating ever single country with his heroics while others simply held him in high regard and respected him due to his talents. Some worshipped the ground he walked and some such bard and historian types were already tracing his legacy and searching high and low for information regarding his past. On the Federation's last trip to Xasca, as in when they arrived there most recently, a few scholars and poets had actually disembarked and were currently digging around inside the pits Ares created with his various casts of Armillary. Anyone who'd seen Ares or spoken to him had piles of stardust fall on their laps for even slithers of information about where he went, what he'd done, and who he talked to. In particular, the businessman, or informant was perhaps a more accurate term, that Ares spoke to in the black market was raking in unprecedented amounts of cash. He'd compiled a list regarding Ares for this very purpose knowing what was in store and was quickly becoming one of the richest men in the entire country.
All this to say, the guards now very much knew who Ares was and were hesitant, more so than they already were, to pick a fight. Some people loved Ares, some people hated him. What was true either way, though, was a recognition of his accomplishments and individual might that couldn't be denied. Hell, some of the guards here had been stationed at this border back when Ares fought the Anubis duo and they could quite literally see, from all the way out here, parts of the fight taking place on the horizon. To then do research and hear rumours about the individual responsible, the same guy who beat some mighty legendary monsters like the Scylla, krakyrn, and wyvern on the Federation... Naturally they felt nothing but awe and reverence towards him as the sort of idol cultivator everyone looked up to and wished they could be. Now, to realise far too late that they were squabbling with that very same person, someone who held more power in his pinkie than their entire clan did across all branches of it...
Mistakes had been made! The young master could screw himself! He was also already dead so who cared about fighting on his behalf against this very real and very alive monster!? Unfortunately... This wasn't their choice to make... Though they were proud about defending their young master's legacy and honor there was a limit to their devotion the clan as mere foot soldiers. They wanted to run home and cry for mommy but the clan officials and higher ups? They'd want blood no matter who Ares professed himself to be. His titles were daunting, and many to boot, but the one they cared about most was 'murderer of the young master'. This was where the trouble would begin because the people being sent here as reinforcements... They were not going to let things slide without a fight to the death. The guards were all trembling, not due to the cold but rather their own nerves that had betrayed them. When the others arrived if they were seen not actively fighting or dead their heads would be on the chopping block before long as an official report was made... This was impossible! Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place! Ares or all of the clan's currently available expert cultivators headed here right this instant?! Who to anger!?
Ares kissed his teeth when he saw the broken resolve of the guards and their panicked faces. "Alight, listen to me and listen to me well. You get one chance. When the reinforcements arrive I will fight and kill them. Afterwards, you are free to run away to your heart's content and go hide somewhere remote in Sheryashka. Your clan will think you're dead so you can live long and peaceful lives elsewhere." This was a win win because Ares didn't have to pointlessly kill weak and traumatised dicots and they had a way out of this situation no matter the outcome. If Ares won, he'd let them go. If Ares lost, he'd still let then go... Because he'd be dead! The clan's experts would scold these lot for their inaction but they wouldn't be killed or anything. Ares was a menace so not being able to kill him wasn't exactly unexpected, they were again just border security. Ares had given them a perfect opportunity to cling to their lives regardless of what happened when previously those chancres were about 0%... And that was rounded upwards... They were grateful to Ares and showed it in their sighs and downward leaning heads. They all closed their eyes and breathed out solemnly as if thanking an invisible deity or spirit hiding under he icy floor. As for Ares, he unimpaled the guard and shooed them all away to the side where he then wrapped them up in physical pressure ropes. The ropes were too sturdy for the guards to break through even if they tried but the point was just to make them look like helpless and hapless captives. They'd willingly become fake damsels in distress so as not to interfere with the upcoming brawl but also be seen as incompetents who were defeated rather than traitors who gave up.
Once Ares was done rounding up the guards he looked at the floor with a scowl and tapped his toe against the hard ice repeatedly. Ice physics... Damnation! Ares cursed the very existence of ice as he recalled all his prior, and highly embarrassing, run ins with the element. Fortunately he was marginally better at dealing with ice now thanks to Tricky Rink... But that didn't mean he liked it! He was going to have to fight on this surface but it was fine. Sure it was an inconvenience, he couldn't deny it even if it hurt his pride to admit he was somewhat weak to frozen water, but he was a foe who couldn't be beat simply because his feet were feeling cold and the ground was a bit slippery! He'd be the worst God of destruction ever if he needed to put wellies on to go combat snow trolls or whatever... Actually, this was probably a good chance to train with his new strength after consuming the miraculous fine grind that defied nature itself. Ice and decently strong foes?... Ares figured that was a good way to get back into practice.
Specifically, Ares was going to use Asura Rondo because, if he didn't, he was worried Dominus would resurrect himself from the dead just to nag his ears off. 'Asura Rondo is the greatest art ever and you aren't using it!' 'You've only been using that damn scythe and flag as of late, pick up another weapon even if you have to smack your opponents with a metal pipe!' Etc etc... It's not like he was wrong, either, Ares had been slacking a bit on his weapon training. He felt confident knowing he was a living enabler but that wasn't a good excuse to stop learning and be cocky about it. Guess that decides it, then. It's punching time! Ares chose to beat the incoming cultivators with nothing but his fists and Asura Rondo, he could wield various other weapons during his Isaz trip and focus on each of them in unique scenarios. Now he'd use his fists, later he'd try a spear or something, then maybe he'd go with an axe or whatever else he hadn't already played around with. Point being, variety was the spice of life and his war aura... Well it wasn't getting boring or anything. It itself enjoyed being summoned each and every time because every single fight was like crack cocaine for the aura... But it was getting a bit repetitive constantly summoning it at every turn! If Ares needed it, he'd summon it. Until then, going forward, it was back to basics and knuckle sandwiches!
Ares waited patiently for the reinforcements and, about three minutes later, they came charging over the horizon. Some were on snow leopards, tigers, or various other arctic animals while some were flying on their own which mean Transition realm. Ares wasn't too sure how he'd fare in a fist fight against such strong people but, thankfully, none of them were at the peak of the transition realm or he might have to make concessions when dealing them. They were all early stage transition realm cultivators so Ares assumed all the powerhouses of the clan were too busy elsewhere to come here right now. Lucky break! Ares cracked his knuckles with a grin. He'd never walked away from a fight with bloody knuckles before, actually. Sure he'd brawled to some extent in his younger years but the sheer brutality of what was going to happen now was incomparable to anything he could have done as a kid. The 'massacre on red street' incident was going to look rather peaceful in comparison to this! Though this time wasn't an act of malignant rage on Ares' behalf or anything, Ares was just a grown up now and had to do grown up things... Like beating an entire squadron of cultivators to death... Ah, if only his younger self could see him now!