Wish upon the Stars chapter 316

"What the actual fuck was that?" Abel said as he strolled over. The  two ghosts he'd been fighting appeared to be sprawled on the sand  leaking some sort of mercurial substance I suspected was ghost blood. He  didn't even notice though as he stared at the spot where the dark magma  dragon that Callie and I had made with our Paired Dueling Skill faded  into a cloud of darkness and green sparks.

I smiled  smugly, pulling Callie against me as she laughed at his expression. I  held up a hand to high five her as she proudly proclaimed. "That was our  first Skill used through the bond." I was pretty sure he knew that and  just wanted us to have a chance to say it, but still, she sounded so  proud I didn't want to interrupt.

The dragon had been cool  as shit. I was pretty sure I couldn't have managed it on my own either.  While I could use shadow attacks, sustainable constructs weren't viable  for me. But using my skills through the dragon meant Callie could still  reinforce and control it, her Shadow Manipulation turning it from a big  hunk of burning darkness to a dangerous weapon. The Stone Limb skill  had also made it much more solid, even with only sand to work with.

"Damn."  Said Abel."You made it to Lesser that quick? Not bad. Be careful with  that bond though. it's a big strain using it for Skills. As you may have  noticed." He gestured to where Callie was practically hanging on my arm  and I grimaced. Without waiting for her response I scooped her up with  an arm under her legs. She squeaked in surprise and glared a bit, but I  could see a little smirk on her face.

This would normally  be a bit over the top for public interaction, but after I'd felt how  little strength she had in her legs I realized walking out of here was a  pipe dream. Better the audience see me being a bit affectionate than  see her showing weakness. Luckily the barrier prevented sound from  escaping so no one had heard what he said. Callie waved theatrically to  anyone as I carried her our, and when we got back to the waiting room I  set her down on a bench.

She seemed a bit out of it. I  snapped my fingers in front of her a few times. "Hey, stay with me. You  alright?" She was alive and conscious so she wasn't in any real danger,  but being this loopy wasn't exactly a good thing. I didn't realize she'd  overdone it so much. I wished Benny was here with his spiritual calming  belt.

"M'fine." She mumbled, waving me off. "Jus' tired."  I sighed, picking her up again. I wasn't leaving her in here even if we  had wanted to stick around and soak up some of the attention. We could  see people at the after party. They should be pretty distracted anyway.  They had a few exhibition fights for people who weren't in the  tournament to entertain people since fights didn't last that long and  one a day wasn't a reason for people to show up at this kind of place en  mass.

Getting her home was easy enough, we were back up  in the house in Rajak Zeke had bought. The Pavilion was a bit too far of  a trip for daily commute. Once we got back, I borrowed the effect of  Benny's belt (I was definitely going to trade for a few charges of that  after we got Callie up to the peak of G-rank) and helped her get back on  her feet. Once her head cleared, the loopiness became pain, and she  ended up curled on the couch groaning, which was what I'd been  expecting.

"Ow." She whimpered. "Is that what you feel  like every time you overuse your soul strength? Because if it is I'm so  sorry, and also you're an idiot." I laughed at that, plopping down next  to her as I took off my mask. She winced again. "Ow. No, bad noise.  Don't be so loud."

I chuckled more softly, lowering my  voice as I responded. "Sorry, but it's just funny to hear you yell at me  about this when you bit my head off about testing the magma leg in  person. But hey, at least you took my 'do something stupid' philosophy  to heart." She glared at me venomously, but I just winked back. "It's  fine, just don't do so much next time. Honestly I'm surprised you could  stack so much on the construct as a rookie. I think it had something to  do with using your ability as a base for the effects instead of a half  assed Enchanting Skill."

Sadly I couldn't grant wishes  unless people made them, so mobilizing the wish power to act as a base  for my DS Mastery wasn't feasible. That meant my soul had to be a lot  stronger than most to get the effects, hence the unusual amount of pain I  had to go through. She nodded, wincing at the action. "That sounds  right. Still, you're not wrong about me overreaching." She gave me an  embarrassed look. "I guess it's easier to get lost in the thrill of  combat than I expected. I'm sorry I got so mad at you last time."

"Don't  be." I said gently. "You were right. Which means you actually did do  something dumb this time. And not healthy fumb, like picking a fight  with your childhood nemesis. Legit dumb. So it's my turn to tell you to  be more careful. Messing with soul weight is dangerous. Soul damage  could kill you or worse if you screw up using it. We can work out some  training now that you can use my skills, and I'll work on learning to  use yours."

I was pretty sure I could use her ability  (though she couldn't use mine I was positive, if it were that easy to  gain access to the wish power plenty of people would have it) with some  practice, and I was looking forward to learning that dark dragon  construct thing. I could even most likely use her Shadow Manipulation  Skill. "So." I said tiredly. "I think we made a good enough showing to  hit one of the galas. Assuming we're still going. Your dad might be  there and he could cause some trouble for us."

She just  snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. He wouldn't start a fight with his  daughter at a formal event. I'm not bored enough to start one with him  either. I vented plenty at the arena, and seriously messed with his  plans anyway. As for the rest of what I owe him..." She looked at me  worriedly. "I can just wait it out. We'll be E-rank before too long, and  then we can kick his ass. Speaking of, given how high some of my stats  are getting, I should get a really impressive upgrade when I synergize  this time. Maybe not something like Jessie has, but still something  great."

I was looking forward to that too. Callie's stats  were pretty damn concentrated at this point. She was right that she  probably wouldn't get something as broken as Jessie's ability. I'd  looked into it and breaking through with the percentage of Vitality she  had was almost unheard of. Still, she would definitely get something  pretty good. Not that I had any idea what that might be. Still, I could  tell that the idea of waiting wasn't really ideal for her. I took her  hand. "If you don't want to wait we can find a way to mess with him now.  I was already planning to try to pressure him politically with my  ability."

She smiled at me sweetly. "Feel free. But leave  any real revenge to me. I want to handle him myself. Once I break  through to E-rank, especially if I manage to get more Impact before  that, I'll be happy to show him how unhappy he's made me and mom over  the years." Her sweet smile had turned sharp and feral, and I grinned  back and kissed her softly.

I noticed though, that she  mentioned hurting him specifically and not killing him. I was glad. I  hadn't thought she would take it that far, but given how much she hated  him anything was on the table. I didn't think Callie, at least MY  Callie, would survive killing her dad, no matter how much he deserved  it. Hell, wanting to handle him herself was almost a way of protecting  him. She wanted to kick his ass for everything he'd done, but she knew  she personally would be willing to hold back and not take it too far.

As  much as I disliked him, what I wanted most was for her to be happy with  how things ended. If she wanted to break both his legs and smack him  around that was her prerogative. "So, we're going to one of the galas. I  assume you have a specific one in mind?"

Her  mood, which had been souring talking about her father, brightened. "I  talked to Celine about that quite a bit actually. We decided to go to  the Mindbender's Ball. Solana the Mindbender is an E-ranked illusionist,  and is known for throwing some of the best parties. The gala she's  putting on for the visiting dignitaries should be absolutely amazing!"

"Sounds  good." I laughed. "You know I'm hopeless at parties. Just get me the  clothes you want me to wear ahead of time and I'll be there. Well, and  my mask of course." I looked at the wooden face covering with a  complicated expression. It was powerful and useful and naturally  protected me from attacks...but it was also creepy. "Man, I cannot get  used to that whole defensive measures thing. I try not to think about it  most of the time but..." I shuddered in revulsion remembering the sight  of that guy getting EATEN.

Callie  grimaced. "Yeah, it wasn't pleasant to watch. But if it keeps you safe I  can deal with a bit of creep factor. As for clothes...I'm sure we can  find you something nice that won't clash with it. You won't need your  armor at least. The gala will have intense security. Plus if anyone too  strong shows up Zeke will be there too." She grinned conspiratorially.  "I may or may not have already arranged for him to bring a date."

Knowing  she must mean she was having Stella flown over, I couldn't help but  grin. It was always fun seeing my uncle off balance, and I suspected  this would accomplish that. "What about Benny and Jessie?" I asked.  "They can still come even though they aren't in the tournament right?"  Also Randall, because seeing a bunch of famous people try not to react  to a giant bear, possibly in clothes, sounded hilarious.

Of  course, since she knew me pretty well, Callie just rolled her eyes.  "Yes to them, no to the bear. Don't think I didn't notice what you  wanted to do. As much fun as that would be we're trying to make inroads  with visiting factions, NOT make everyone below E-rank piss themselves.  I'm already talking to Jessie about what we're all wearing to the ball,  so don't worry about your clothes. Celine is obviously picking Benny's.  We'll also be helping Cass decide what she's wearing, though Cark is  picking his own stuff."

I  smirked at that. While it might seem presumptuous, in reality, they  just knew us well enough to anticipate that none of us cared about  formal wear or any of that other stuff. Letting them pick our outfits  just meant we didn't need to do it. Well, Benny and I specifically. I  knew Cark liked to make an impression, so him picking his own outfit  made sense. "Alright." I said. "When is this ball anyway?" I wanted to  make sure I was mentally prepared for this before we went, after all. I  really hated parties.