The Circus Maximus

The Circus Maximus is technically a separate house from the House of Olympus, yet it exists right besides it and they are strongly connected.
You can enter the Circus Maximus through a passage that leads underground. Inside you will find ruins from previous structures of the inhabitants of the early Empire, which have been built upon and convergent into the shape of an amphitheatre. Inside the amphitheatre are held fights and other shows which can be observed from the sides. You must pay for a ticket but you can also bet… so bring plenty!

Profits from the fights usually go to the mother of House of Olympus.

Once a year the house is engulfed by magic, the old ruins taking a pearly white shine and the members of the House of Olympus attend a tournament that decides the headmaster of the Circus Maximus and representant of Ares. Ever since the Founder died in the finale of this tournament, the current Headmaster has never been defeated.

After the death of the Founder, the new headmaster introduced rules surrounding the fights, including forbidding killing. Sometimes however, fights may still be taken too far and entertainers pass away after much too intense matches.

Story:

The story behind the Circus Maximus speaks of two soldiers that grew up fighting and training side by side. When the Frozen Empire was attacked by hostile creatures, the two soldiers bravely led the others into battle, yet at the end of the fight they were found at each other’s throats.

“In the front of the enemy, all personal grudges must be set aside. What you have done gravely endangered the Empire, and for that I can no longer proudly call you my soldiers.” The Headmaster of the Soldiers Guild spoke.

With the anger still lingering between them, the two walked away, guildless. Together they wandered the streets for days, until one day they saw a grifix emerging from the sewers, dressed in a coat that was obviously hiding something dangerous underneath. They decided to follow, and coon, as they approached the Entertainment Guild they started seeing more such grifix emerging. They followed them to the broken down entrance of an abandoned Entertainment House, and inside they went. Stairs took them deep underground, where in a much too crowded room they found themselves in front of an arena, iron bars surrounding it up to the ceiling. Before they were able to figure out what was happening, some grifix’s voice announced the beginning of the tournament, and two grifix started fighting in the arena. Blood was spattered and one of them lay on the ground. The other was pronounced the winner, and so the next two grifix entered.

By the end of the tournament, the two former soldiers knew that they would be back. And on the other side of the bars next time…

When the spectators saw the first one in the arena, wearing the armor of the Soldier’s Guild, whispers arose… What was a soldier doing here? Did they finally come to shut down the whole thing?
But when he started fighting it became clear there was no such thing, and they started cheating on. And so, in their applause, he rose all the way to the finale, and so did the other. And now the two were facing each other once again.
They fought and they fought but they were even. And soon, the spectators grew bored. Yawns filled the room. 
One of the fighters felt himself growing tired, and he knew he would not hold for much longer. So against his better judgement he pulled a hidden dagger out and stabbed the other, emerging as the winner.

Barely holding on to life, the other was taken to a medic on the side of the room. They injected him with numbing drugs and under his own eyes they stitched and cleaned the wounds. 

“Your friend fits well in here” the medic spoke. “He has no honor. But you fought lawfully, like a soldier, this is no place for you.”

“But where else should I go?”

The medic gave him a flier, with an address on it, and so he left. 
He found himself in front of the Mother of the House of Olympus, and so he spoke of his vision…
A grand underground fighting amphitheatre, greater than anything any grifix has seen before, the one and only, Circus Maximus!!!

This house is moderated by @CrystalIzzy77