Wish upon the Stars chapter 344

We made it home earlier than expected all things considered, but it  was still relatively late. Since we had a battle tomorrow we decided to  knock out early, but before we did, I went to go check on Benny. My  friend was sitting outside staring up at the stars, and I sat down next  to him.

"So, want to talk to me about your meeting with  Celine the other day?" I said casually. "I didn't ask because I wanted  to respect your privacy."

His lips quirked up in a small smile. "So my privacy isn't important anymore?"

"Nah."  I said solemnly. "It was never important, I just forgot that for a  minute. Now I remember that I don't really give a shit when you don't  want to talk about stuff so I figured I'd check in." I shot him a smile  to let him know I was messing with him, but I didn't offer him an out.  If he actually didn't want to talk about it, he'd just tell me to get  lost. We were close enough not to need to walk on eggshells.

He  snorted. "Thanks for that, dick." He went silent for a bit, obviously  choosing his words, but I didn't rush him. "It was...weird. I know we  weren't you and Callie with your constant affection and PDA, but I got  used to us being...close, in our own way. Seeing here right there and  acting like she was a stranger sucked."

"Then why do it?" I  said seriously. "You know she wants you back. She turned on her family  to help us out for you. Why not just...treat her like you always do?"

Shaking  his head, he let out a long sigh. "Because it wouldn't be fair. I don't  know if I can get over what she did. I want to. But I don't know if  that's going to be enough yet. If I start being affectionate and acting  like nothing has changed it'll make her think that I'm already over it  all. That'll hurt her more. I may not be happy with her but I still care  about her. I don't want to make her suffer for no reason."

I  reached out to put my hand on his shoulder. "That's...shit man, that's  so much more mature then I would ever be. When the fuck did you get so  much more adult than I am?"

My best friend put on a  profound expression. "One such as yourself can never understand my  journey. Don't beat yourself up over your failure, someday you too will  be as wise and farsighted as I." His faux condescending tone made me  snicker, and I flipped him off.

"I've heard people shrink  as they get older." I said with an annoying smirk. "Maybe there's some  inverse correlation between wisdom and height. Did this new maturity  start to show up once you noticed I was taller than you?" My tone was  saccharine and it was my turn to get flipped off.

We  talked a bit longer about how he was feeling, and I helped him work  through a few things, but mostly it was just an excuse to vent. A lot of  feelings had bubbled up for him when he saw her and he needed to let it  out, banter and venting both played a big part in that process. Finally  we said goodnight and I headed off to my room. Callie welcomed me with  open arms (literally, the woman clings like a python in her sleep and  I'm fairly sure she would have long since choked me to death if I wasn't  so much bigger than her) and I finally drifted off to bed.

The  next morning everyone seemed quite a bit more relaxed. Sure, we had a  fight today, but we'd managed to take out three full teams from the  tournament, which wouldn't change the round numbers, but DID mean that  there would be three potential automatic wins available next round. Who  knew, maybe we would get one of them.

I granted Rime's  wishes, and she paid in Vitality Elixirs that I passed to Jessie, since  Benny had hit his cap last time, bringing her Vitality up to a whopping  two hundred sixty three. She ALSO had twenty five spare points of Might,  presumably from her bond with Randall, allowing her physical strength  to somewhat keep up with her stamina. At four hundred twenty eight stat  points total, she was closer to the midway point of G-rank than I'd  expected.

Once that was out of the way we headed in to the  arena. We had a wait once we got to the ready room under the stands so I  decided to ask something I'd been wondering about. "So once we get  through round eight we're starting individual matches. Are they going to  be the rapid fire daily setup like these are starting to be? Because  with forty teams breaking down to one hundred sixty contestants there  are more than enough arenas to hammer them out one day at a time."

Callie,  who of course had done her homework on the tournament. Shook her head.  "No. They'll be using four arenas for the early rounds. Ten matches per  arena per day. Helps concentrate the audiences in preparation for the  finals and semi finals. That means there'll be a four day break between  the ninth and tenth rounds, assuming we get sent out at the beginning  which seems likely."

I sighed in relief. I needed to get  Jessie and Benny as close to the cap as possible before the tournament  even ended, since that final month wasn't going to be nearly enough on  its own. I'd be able to get them close, and with Randall helping Jessie  an extra week or two might get me over the edge. Especially since once I  ranked up again I'd have another daily wish. They were already taking  jobs together to try to save up for the stats, and that was convenient  since I needed cash for my new weapon.

Which I didn't have  yet. Unfortunately. I had a few stockpiled contingencies that could  help out here, but without my cane to act as a focus my combat  capability had dropped drastically. Finally they called us out, and all  of us filed through the gate, walking out onto the sand to find a  familiar face.

The blonde haired, blue eyed captain of the  Heavensong Tower gave us a friendly smile as we stepped out. "Oh. Hello  all! Good to see you. I have to say I wasn't expecting to meet up with  your lot so early." I froze at the sight of him, my veins filling with a  cold sense of dread.

I had no idea why, honestly. Alec  wasn't particularly tall or intimidating, and I doubted he was a Master  Candidate or we'd have heard about it by now. Something about him was  just...terrifying, though. He reminded me of Abel the few times I'd seen  him upset, this sort of predatory edge to his amused gaze that made it  seem like he could kill me without blinking.

Behind him  stood the rest of his team, who I'd made the mistake of ignoring up to  this point. A smaller blue eyed blonde girl with twin pontails, a tall  dark haired girl with olive skin and serious brown eyes and a dark  skinned man with a shaved head and an intense green stare, who was about  the same height as Alec, but twice as wide at the shoulders.

Callie  kept her cool, despite me feeling through the bond that she was just as  wary as I was, and smiled back. "It'll be an experience I'll tell you  that. Anyone who made it this far must be strong. I'm looking forward to  our match. Hope you all don't disappoint us."

The  blonde girl with the twin tails giggled. "Oh I doubt that'll be a  problem. I bet this match won't last long enough for you to be  disappointed."

"Lena."  Scolded Alec lazily enough to make it clear he wasn't really scolding  at all. "There's no need to antagonize our friends here. I'm sure  they're very strong. I've heard of some of the teams they've beaten. I  have no doubt that they can give us a decent work out." His tone was  dripping with sincerity, and despite being almost sure he was mocking  us, I couldn't really prove it. Alec was just one of those people that  ALWAYS sounded like they were making fun of you.

The  taller woman snorted. "Doubt it. Some backwater Master Candidate isn't  enough to stop us. Besides, we can't lose any face for the church. We've  kept ourselves out of the political nonsense so far, but if we don't  make an example we're going to bring shame on the faction."

I  grimaced at that. Fuck. The Church was involved here too. I'd been  wondering where the last of the five factions was in all this, but I'd  hoped we were lucky enough to miss them. Apparently not. I looked at  Callie, using the bond to ask her if we should share about my mom.

There  was no way to be sure that my mother's position would buy us any good  will, but it certainly bought us BAD will amongst their opposition. She  shook her head in a short, sharp motion. Which was fair, there were  still cultists here, and finding out I was a 'heretic' was sure to make  me a target. Though it made me curious. "If you're with the Church why  haven't the cult members targeted you more specifically?"

I  was sure they'd been attacked when we all had, but that wasn't the same  as being hunted down like me. Granted a Saintess was pretty damn high  up in the heirarchy of the church, but still.

Alec  shrugged. "The lunatics do what they will. If I had to guess it would  be because the Heavensong Tower's affiliation with the Curch is distant.  We're raised to its tenants, but we're nominally in the Unity's sphere  of influence. They probably don't count us. The Church doesn't have many  teams here either, because we don't work with mercenaries, and there  aren't many legacy factions like ours in this system."

Yeah,  that sounded about right. Shame, I'd been hoping we could get some  backup. Even if sharing in public like this wouldn't work I was sure  Callie and I could find a way to tip them off to my bloodline without  everyone and their mother finding out.

The  muscular guy with the green eyes sighed. "Can we just start this? I  don't feel like sitting around bantering. I didn't get near enough sleep  last night. Having to do these every day is such a drag." His complaint  was said with such soulcrushing boredom that I felt tired just  listening to it.

The  others just rolled their eyes. Lena, the blonde, pointed a finger at  him. "Damn it Carlos. Can't you play along? We're supposed to be making  an impression here. We'll never be taken seriously if everyone thinks  we're lazy bums like you!"

Before  he could respond, Alec cut them off. "Enough." The edge of amusement  faded for a moment, replaced with a sharp edge. "We're in public. Deal  with your nonsense later." He nodded solemnly to Callie. "Sorry about  that. They can get carried away sometimes." He smiled menacingly. "To  make it up to you, I'll end this quickly so we can all go home."

He  tensed and was clearly about to move, when Abel's fist smashed straight  out at him. He snarled and a tornado condensed around his own hand and  he lashed out with a four fingered chop. The wind formed a massive blade  and as it did, his hand caught fire, creating a slashing wave of golden  fire. It didn't look like peak Intermediate, more like he was using  wind and fire manipulation at the same time, but something was off about  those flames. Whatever was going on, it split Abel's fist manifestation  in half. Huh. Guess I was right. This was going to be a tough fight.