Wish upon the Stars chapter 373

By the time we got home, Zeke was already there. He always beat us  back, which was fine, but I had other things to address. Questions for  Abel, more specifically. "Ok." I said heatedly. "What the actual fuck  was that? I mean congrats on the win, but you were really holding back  against me that much?"

My  mentor was still healing, and I admit I wasn't gentle dropping his ass  on the couch from the firemans carry I had him in. He grunted as he hit  the cushions, but didn't seem upset about it as he crawled to a sitting  position with a chuckle. "Not exactly. My Cicada Stacking Steps is new.  I've been working on the technique for the tournament. I had  something...kind of like it before. But what you saw from me today was  me going all out."

I  noticed he dodged the question, but I didn't bother to point it out.  "Cicada Stacking Steps? How does that even work?" I had been damned  impressed by my mentor's fight, and some of what he pulled off made  almost no sense to me.

His grin was proud as he adjusted himself on the couch. Callie, Jessie, and Mel had gone out with Rime  to get Enchiladas from the Raving Baby (Abel's favorites). We'd gotten  permission from Zeke for a quick trip from the F-ranker into Doomtown,  and they should be back soon enough. "Good question. Why not guess?"

Groaning  at his insistence on making everything training, I gave my best guess.  "Well the actual clones were obviously spatial lubrication. But I'm not  how you did the rest exactly. Something with manifestations?"

He  nodded. I can manifest any part of me used for Ragam, and at basically  any size. Using my legs transitioned it to a full body art. I shed  spatial lubrication behind me and then harmonized it with a quick full  body manifestation, then used it to stack like my punches do, amplifying  my strength multiple times over."

I  whistled. I'd figured it was something like that, but the details...the  complexity of something like that must be absurd. It wasn't just  harmonizing several different instances of power use, but doing it with a  Skill that already taxed the soul to the peak of G-rank. Speaking of  which. "What happened to Lament by the way? I mean, she lost, so she was  out anyway. Did they do anything to her for cheating?"

That  drew a snort from my teacher. "Hardly. Like you said, she lost. If  she'd beat me they'd have had to fix it, but since she was bounced  anyway there was no reason. Plus her Master is a scary old man. Nobody  wanted to pick a fight over a dead issue. I didn't throw a fit so why  should they?"

"But  aren't you..." I searched for the words. "Mad? Disappointed? She almost  cost you all your hard work just because she was a sore loser."

He  just chuckled, shaking his head. "See, this is why I think the Unity is  a bad influence. It doesn't matter. It never mattered. Not just to me,  because I wanted the fight to be as hard as possible, but at all. The  world isn't about fairness, or hard work. It's about doing what you  want. Finding that thing that makes your heart pound. If someone crosses  a line it's not an offense, it's an opportunity to leverage them."

Rather than refute him, I sat and thought for a minute. "The way you were fighting..."

An  approving nod accompanied his grin. "Exactly. People love to talk about  the downsides of being an Ascendant. You have whiny romantics go on and  on about losing themselves, and cautious people insisting they hone  their force of will to resist recursion, but they ignore the best parts.  The parts I love. To be Ascendant is to be a force of nature. A story  made flesh. Never ceasing, never ending, even after you die, you don't  because stories always live on as long as there are people to tell  them."

I  gaped at him. I'd never seen him so...philosophical. "But what if you DO  lose yourself? Who you are? Giving so many people control of you is  just..."

"But  you aren't!" He said passionately. "Renown is reactive, not active.  It's a response. You're the one throwing the stone in the pool, creating  the ripples. Your destiny is all on you. It can be hard to keep  complete control, but it's still you driving. It's a snowball, kid, the  more you show the world the person you want to be seen as, the more they  push you to that ideal. You're the author of your own story."

I groaned in exasperation. "So what? What does that have to do with your fight? With how self destructive you were being?"

"Because."  He said like it was obvious. "The story I was telling is one of  overwhelming power. And you can't have overwhelming power without  something to overwhelm. The blood, the injuries, the pain, they paved  the road I wanted everyone to walk down, showed them my journey in a way  deeper than words. They walked my path with me, and because of that,  they'll REMEMBER it."

Which  I couldn't argue, really. He'd left a hell of an impression. "But is it  like that everywhere? Is that the new standard? Will I need to watch  Callie bleed like that? Hurt like that?" I could take the pain, it would  suck but half the problem with injury was wondering if it would be the  end of you, and with my abilities I'd be fine. But seeing Callie like  that, hurting, tearing herself apart like an animal gnawing off its arm  to escape a trap. It made me sick to think about it.

"Honestly.  Probably not." He said, to my surprise. At my cocked head he laughed.  "There are more types of stories than stars in the sky, kid. Callie is a  sneaky type. People like that walk a fine line. Gotta be scary enough  to build a rep, but being all blatant and violent like me is  counterproductive. Sneaky people aren't supposed to get pumped full of  holes and get up. They're supposed to be a maybe, to be a whisper that  may or may not be true. It's a safer life, but a much more ruthless one  in some ways."

That  was surprisingly insightful, but I could tell from his drifting  attention he'd said all he really wanted to say. So I changed topic.  "Well, fair enough. Speaking of safety, are you going to be ok to fight  in the finals? They gave us three days, but your wounds were from an  F-ranker. That's a pretty nasty thing to heal." I gestured to the  multiple holes still closing up.

The  healing energy had prioritized the worst injuries because of the  inclusion of a scan heal in my patch job, which upside meant he would be  fine, but downside meant that there were still plenty of non vital  spots that were the human equivalent of swiss cheese.

"I'm  fine." He said with a casual wave. "Plus we have full time access to  one of the best G-rank healers on this planet. Jessie already has a  higher Vitality than most F-rankers start with, she can help patch me up  with plenty of time to spare. Even if she doesn't feel like it, I've  fought hurt before. I'll be there."

Seeing  how little the idea bothered him brought me back to his little speech  earlier. About making yourself who you wanted to be. Abel had been  trudging forward without flinching for decades, this was definitely a  result of that, and the idea of that kind of determination shaping who I  was...it was kind of nice.

It  was also an angle people like Zeke wouldn't even consider talking to me  about. Zeke had been living it for longer than I'd been alive, probably  MUCH longer. It would be like trying to give someone breathing advice.  The downsides of being an Ascendant would be obvious, but not this  particular aspect of things.

My  thoughts were interrupted as the front door slammed shut. "We're home!"  Called Callie. We got up to head to the kitchen, me giving Abel my  shoulder for help and him ignoring it. I smirked a bit at how stubborn  he was, but I kind of respected it.

In the kitchen, Callie was coming in with several containers of Enchiladas. She started setting them down as Rime  and Jessie came in. Benny, who had been off with Celine, came in after,  clearly summoned to help carry things in. Cass came running through the  door with Cark and Zeke. The little girl sniffed the air. "That smells  so good!" She crowed. "What is it? I want seconds!"

Callie  giggled at the girl's appetite while Jessie set down the containers  (metallic foil trays with crimped folding tops) and scooped her up to  get her out of the way. Cass squealed in surprise and joy as Jessie  carried her out of the room to go watch cartoons again.

We  all chuckled, and Mel dragged him to the table, fussing over her  boyfriend. "Sit down you insufferable idiot. We got your favorite, so  park your ass and eat it before we decide to feed it to dogs. I bet they  would love some enchiladas." Her voice was brusque, but the worry in it  was clear, and Abel obviously got that too, since he gave her a solemn  look and then sat with a nod.

It  was weird to see her so worried about him, given what he could do, but  then, I could do plenty, and Callie still worried about me. I guessed it  wasn't often someone you loved fought an F-ranked Master Candidate. The  rest of us crowded around the counter once they got Abel his food,  Jessie coming back in with Cass (though with was a bit of an  overstatement, it was more like she got dragged) and we all sat at the  table to eat.

Abel,  of course, had a stack of trays next to him with dozens of the damned  things in there, which I was assured would not only be delicious, but  help him fuel the energy burn of Jessie spamming her power on him for  days. Jessie's power supercharged the body, but it still USED the body.  Short term it acted like healing and a pure energy boost, but long term  it needed nutrients to work with.

We  sat around, stuffing out faces and enjoying the food, listening to Cass  talk about her day at home, and I had to admit...it was nice. I'd  expected to be a bit bitter about losing to him, but honestly seeing him  so happy and feeling like part of the winning team washed any of that  away. I'd never have won, I had known it deep down, even if I wanted it  desperately. This though, this was better. Friends. Family.

Eating,  laughing, spending time together, this was a damn good result for the  tournament, and even if he didn't win the finals, this whole thing would  have been worth it. It made us stronger, brought us together, showed us  who we were. I could see why these things were so common, there was a  lot to be said about learning from combat. Looking back the way Abel and  I had come, I considered the next round.

The  finals. The last thing he needed to get past to make this work. It  wouldn't be easy, but at this point...I almost didn't feel the pressure.  As a part of the team of course. I wasn't the one fighting, but even  this round I had felt a drive for him to win. Now though...we made it to  the end. If we fumbled here life would go on. I shook the thought away,  tucking back into my Enchiladas as Cass started telling Callie all  about how the main character in her cartoon had just gotten a power up.  Like I'd said, it was all worth it.