After killing 200,000 people, Tavras had nothing to say for himself. He just stood there, seething in his silent fury.

With the phone still shoved in their faces, Arius said, "This one feels excited by the sight of technology." Only his eyes moved to flit down to Val. "That's a cute attempt at a Mind Shield, by the way."

Her heart lurched. Not only did her Mind Shield not work on Arius, but in his action of reading her mind, she could not even sense his mind probing her own. With a gulp, Val had always known that she would come across people who dwarfed her in power but she had expected to last more than fifteen minutes once she had arrived on the Summit. She supposed that the god of war might take an interest in the psychology of his opponents, but it just seemed so unfair that he could read her mind.

"Will Tavras let you have a phone?" he asked. "I could buy you one right now if he would refuse you otherwise." Of all things, Arius leaned in and winked at her. "If not out of kindness, then because I think that the best way to spite Tavras would be to give his kid a phone. You would have to promise to use it at the dinner table, or whenever he is trying to talk to you. I just want to get under the skin of this geezer, over here, as much as possible. Getting you a phone would be much more effective to that end than me trying to shove in his face the 200,000 water-logged carcasses that he was responsible for, don't you think?"

With a hard swallow, Val had no idea what to say. Since Tavras had told her to let him do all of the talking which he was clearly not doing, she chose to keep her mouth shut like him.

"Wow. Silence. Way to go in not offending the god of war or anything." Arius leaned back with his arms crossed over his chest. By the lighter color in his eyes, his mood might have improved a smidgen.

That was another thing that Val observed. Like Tavras, Arius had a playful personality at heart. Why the two of them could not get along, she did not know. Obviously, Arius's relationship with Tavras's ex-girlfriend had something to do with it, but something told her that this feud ran deeper than Evalaite. Despite his outward display of good humor, a bad mood soured within Arius based on the emotional output about him.

He continued to maintain a one-wayed conversation with her. "Just so that we are clear, we're not step-brothers or anything like that."

Her mouth opened but clamped shut quickly. While Val had no idea what would make them step-siblings and the question would seem like an innocent one, she did not want to risk saying anything that could get her in trouble.

"That feels like a question bubbling in your head," Arius said with a broad grin and a tap to his temple. "I was referring to Iharu and Fangarus." After that, he gave an upward nod. "I'm assuming that you met them, and they took you in like family. They are my half-sister and half-brother, but you and I have no connection as far as I am concerned. My blood family is hard enough to keep track of as is." He paused to give a curt laugh. "I don't need any unrelated little demigods clamoring at my heels." His eyes narrowed over her for a moment as if in consideration over what he had just said, but Tavras sought to intervene.

"Why are you here, Arius? Did your debauchery catch up to you, and you have some kids coming of age? I imagine that you will follow in your father's footsteps and have more than you know exist."

"I am a little more responsible than that, but thank you for your concern. I will be sure to go to you, Tavras, for all of your advice with relationships! We both know how your love life ended up for you."

At that, Evalaite seemed to squirm around in diabolical pleasure. She attached herself to Arius's arm once more, but less lewdly than before.

Again, Arius threw her off. In a harsh whisper he said, "Would you mind? Give me some space right now. I'm clearly trying to do something."

A huff into her face sent her long bangs floating into the air and drifting back down towards her face. The purse of her lips was an accentuated movement on her part, eyes always on Tavras. Evalaite had the slightest courtesy to look away when she said plainly, "You never say that in bed, Arius, dear."

Though he said nothing in response, Arius's eyes flashed to a more intense shade of red.

Her heart lurched in her chest at the sight of his eyes like this. One word came to mind to describe his appearance when angry: terrifying.

While Tavras may have laughed at her when she had asked if his eye color denoted his mood, this clearly was the case with Arius. Her ability of Keep the Peace let her sense the general inclinations of emotions, so she knew the change in Arius's temperament for a fact. His anger had notably flared when his eyes had changed. Also, a dim red light came from his irises. Apparently, being angered allowed Arius to generate more power, drastically more for him to develop power leakage where he had possessed none before.

Val noted never to make Arius angry.

With a deep breath and his eyes fading in color, Arius faced Val once more. "Sorry. You're really an outsider to all of this." Arius flitted his eyes between Tavras, Evalaite, and down to his own shoes. "Trust me, you don't want to know. I certainly wish that I was not involved." He shrugged and continued to shift awkwardly, kind of funny to see such a formidable man squirm.

Recomposed, Arius added, "My old man put me in charge of testing the new demigods this year! That is why I am here in New Gate."

"Good for you," Tavras snapped. "Now if you would excuse us, we have to go." His hand grabbed up Val's elbow and pinched her hard. He pulled her past Arius and Evalaite with all haste.

A sense of relief washed over her as she got to walk away from that immensely powerful god. She still tried to keep up her useless Mind Shield against him.

"Wait! Young demigod," Arius called, "I do not believe that I caught your name."

Her heart seized up, even more so as Tavras stopped with her. Slowly, she turned around. Before she could open her mouth, he spoke for her.

"His name is Valentine. He may be in my care, but that does not mean you should unduly target him or I will answer to you in kind."

At Tavras's threat, Arius just laughed. "You know that I would love to have another go with you, old geezer, but I would hate to give you another heart attack. Out here on land, I doubt you would have what it takes to restart your heart. Out of principle, I must decline your offer. I only like to spar with people who are on my level."

With a shake of his head, Tavras said, "Let's go." His hardened hand at Val's shoulder ripped her back around.

"You failed at teaching the kids Iharu and Fangarus some manners," Evalaite said. "You make for a horrible father. At least let this demigod show some respect to his superiors. He needs to learn how to speak for himself."

The iron grip that Tavras had around her elbow tightened. "Fine." He turned and gave Val a shove back towards Arius and Evalaite. "Speak."

What was Val, some kind of dog to be given barked orders? She did not even treat the actual dog, Foofy, this way.

While she shot a glare back to Tavras, Foofy's eyes intensified after he had handled Val roughly like that. No growl came from him, likely only because Tavras was a familiar person who provided them with a good number of fish over their months together. Anyone else would have to answer to Foofy's teeth for treating Val like that.

Standing before Arius and Evalaite, Val wrung her hands around. Much of her focus was dedicated to speaking in her lowered voice, remembering her masculine name, and keeping her Mind Shield as strong as ever. As a result, she stuttered, "My name is Valentine, as Tavras said. I go by Val."

At her painfully awkward introduction, Evalaite sneered. "I said that it would be good for you to learn how to show some respect."

"Evalaite," Arius hissed.

Why did Tavras ever like this nightmare of a woman? She was rude to someone she did not even know, although to be fair, she might just be doing that because of her association with Tavras.

To placate her, Val forced herself to say more. "It was an honor to meet you, Arius, god of war, and Evalaite, goddess of love." While she should have said both of their titles, she left them off because she could not recall Evalaite's at the moment.

A smug, cruel thing that was supposed to be a smile twisted onto Evalaite's lips.

Arius narrowed his eyes, darkening with some anger once again.

Had Val said something wrong aside from skimping on their titles? If she did, she had no idea what. The best way to rectify any mistake was to get away from them as quickly as possible. She bowed and turned away, struggling to meet the pace of Tavras's furious strides.

At last, they could leave Arius and Evalaite far behind them. Nonetheless, Tavras did not slow down nor did a drop of his anger diminish. It seemed like their encounter had been the sort of thing that could ruin the whole day, maybe sticking with him even longer than that.