"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."I knew you made it to Lesser, but I didn't realize you were already at that level. 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 masse.

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 dumb, 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.