I was surprisingly pain free when I came to. Well...my body was. My head was fuzzy, but that was to be expected with overtaxing my soul. Oh, and the yelling. The yelling wasn't helping. "Look at him!" Screamed a voice. "How many bones did you break? Do you even know? Now he won't wake up even after healing. None of the rest of us were that badly hurt in any of our matches. Is there even an ounce of forethought it your head?"

Groaning slightly, I opened my eyes, taking in the situation. Callie was standing over me in the back of our car, bellowing at Abel like she was about to attack him. For his part, my mentor didn't look contrite, or afraid, or even guilty. Just patient, as if he was letting her get it out of her system. Which he was, since this little nap had been my fault not his.

Reaching out, I snagged her wrist, which was within arms length. "Whoa."I said groggily. "Keep it down Cal, my skull is splitting. What's going on?" Sitting up, I saw my girlfriend's relieved expression as she hurled herself at me, her knee driving into my gut as I grunted at the impact. I laughed, putting my arms around her. "Whoa there, what's wrong? Actually, why didn't you feel it when I woke up? I'd have figured the bond would have tipped you."

She squeezed so hard I groaned, but when she noticed the discomfort she eased up, staring up at me tearily. "It shut down. As soon as that punch hit the bond fried. Maybe it was all the soul weight, or maybe just you passing out, but I saw you lying there and the bond stopped working and I thought you were dead."

"You weren't dead." Abel chipped in helpfully. "In case you were wondering. Half dead, at worst. I carried you out to Jessie and let her patch you up before she started the drive home." He rotated hos arm stiffly. "Me too actually, shit, kid, you don't fuck around. If you'd landed that weird mark thing on my neck or head I'd have been a corpse."

I snorted at that. "As if you'd let me. You reacted as soon as I appeared and shifted your body unconsciously. I was aiming for the middle of your back. You're the one who changed the spot where you were going to take that blow. That final punch was monstrous, I guess you were holding back in all your other matches." Hearing my tone seemed to calm some of Callie's anger, though she still looked upset.

Abel shrugged. "Is it holding back to open a soda by twisting off the top instead of smashing it in half with a hammer? I just do enough to do the job. You came close to pushing me into going all out though. That was a hell of a fight, especially for someone who started cultivating so recently."

"Don't patronize me." I said flatly. "Mel told us that you don't get serious unless you take your mask off. I might have pushed you, but you sure as hell weren't going all out."

That got an acknowledging nod. "Well, fair enough. But you were damned sure the hardest fight I've had so far. Even if I'm pretty sure that won't continue to be the case. I hear that the top ten are monsters, one and all." He grinned. "Even a few familiar faces in there. Helix made it, and so did Lament. Whether they're going to pass round thirteen and take part in the finals is anyone's guess, though a five man free for all does sound like fun."

I looked over at Mel, who had been relaxing across from us, having been fighting at another of the arenas. Jessie had gone to pick her up after she dropped us off, and had made it back just after the match. "You've been quiet. Did you make it through your round?" I hoped she had, if not we would be left with only one entrant on the team. I mean, sure, he was our strongest and the one with the best chance of winning, but going into the finals with two of the five would be nice.

Sadly, she shook her head with a sigh. "Gods no. I got demolished. I ran into one of the tournament favorites. Roland Wilder. They call him the Walking War. He uses this crazy weapon summoning ability, calls up swords and spears and axes of different sizes and materials." She looked at Abel. "Decent chance he'll be your next fight, or Helix, or Lament. With only ten people left the chances of meeting up with someone you know gets more and more likely."

He grinned at her. "I promise you'll be avenged if I meet him. I'll stomp his teeth in and wear his head like a shoe."

Mel giggled. "You say the sweetest things." Her tone flattened, becoming severe. But don't underestimate him. He was one of the scariest people I've ever fought, and I've sparred with you plenty." She looked at Callie. "You looked into the people in the twelfth round right? Any educated guesses on who makes it to round thirteen?"

Rime, who I hadn't even noticed because she'd been so quiet, piped up. "Firn from Final Frost Heaven is almost a shoe in for the last round. She uses a weird mutated version of ice manipulation that makes extremely durable permafrost. Durable even for her rank, I mean. Her control is also insane."

Callie nodded. "Heard about her." Her voice was rough, still hoarse from crying earlier, though we all pretended it wasn't. "There's a teleporter named Lucas who seems to be doing well. Ambush fighter. Mixed his teleports with a nasty knack for Stealth. Not sure if he makes the top five, but you'll probably see him in the next round, even if you don't actually run into him. Other than him, Arrabus, from the cult, is pretty scary. He uses that same dark corrosive energy we saw from Pietro, though it's not the same."

Mel nodded. "I saw him fight. He's Might focused. Makes the destructive aspects of the energy more apparent. Stat allocation has a strong influence on how abilities manifest, as I'm sure you know, since it's one of the ways to alter an ability without synergy."

None of this seemed to bother Abel. "I'll keep it in mind." He said casually. "We can worry about it when we find out who I'm actually going to be fighting. No use crying over being about to spill milk."

"That's...not a saying." Said Mel in exasperation. "It doesn't even make any sense. Can you for once take it seriously when someone tells you to watch out for an enemy, instead of barreling right at them like some kind of demented five year old on a sugar high."

Abel pursed his lips before shaking his head. "Nah, not my style. But thanks for worrying about me, love. You know I can take care of myself, but it's still sweet of you."

I groaned, and they all looked at me. "Sorry, not about you. Just realized I have to tell Nat I'm out of the running. Any of her team make it through?" I'd almost forgotten my cousin was in this with us, but if she had team members entering round thirteen that would massively increase our chances.

Callie brightened a bit. "Oh, right. Yeah, Valk, that red bearded guy with the weird gel powers. I guess he had a chance to make the finals too." She shot a stern look at Abel. "To be clear, if he makes it in, you're to team up with him until the other three are eliminated to maximize our chances. That means no free for all just to have some fun punching out a bunch of powerful warriors. Play it smart."

"Yes MOM." He said belligerently. Then grunted when Mel elbowed him in the ribs. He shot her a wounded look. "Hey be careful, I'm still in pain from my gruesome injury."

Her only response was a dismissive snort, which drew a smirk from my teacher. I rolled my eyes. "How did you beat me in a fight again?"

Abel's face smoothed out, his normally expressive features, so loud that it was easy to tell what he was thinking even under a mask, flattened as he stared at me intently. "With some effort. Seriously, kid. I don't think you get how much that means coming from me. You did good. I'm proud of you."

I froze. That...wow, that caught me flat footed. It felt...weird. I mean sure, Zeke had said it before, though not often, he wasn't the type, but that kind of thing is something you expect to hear from your dad, and I really hadn't. Ever. My dad hadn't said he was proud of me once in my entire life. Not even when he left me his final message throwing me into the deep end.

Callie, who out of everyone got what I was feeling, grabbed my hand and squeezed it as I muttered out. "Thanks, Abel." He nodded, effectively declaring the conversation closed, but I understood. Abel was a gregarious and outgoing guy, but that was mostly surface. He didn't share what was under it often. I appreciated him doing it now.

Finally, we came to a stop, and they helped me up to open the door. My brain had settled mostly, a bit of pain but the fuzz and discomfort I felt on waking was mostly faded.

As we made it inside, I heard cheering and turned to see Cass running up. "Happy losing day!" She said cheerfully. She was being so upbeat about it I couldn't even get mad, just laughing at the odd comment.

Cark, who came up behind her, rolled his eyes. "Cassidy, you're not supposed to point out when someone fails at something. It's rude."

She shot him an annoyed look. "Nuh-uh. You always tell me that trying your best is what matters. Uncle Zeke said he went to watch and that Shane tried his best and did really good. As long you try your hardest losing isn't a big deal, it's even better than winning, because you learn something."

We all just stared at her, before Callie burst into laughter. At Cass's glare, she held up both hands. "Sorry sweetie, that's just a really smart way to look at it. I'm laughing because the rest of us were being dumb. Where did you hear that take on it though?"

Cass rolled her eyes, as if Callie had asked the dumbest question possible. "From cartoons, duh. Anyway, I wanted to wish Shane a happy losing day, because he tried his best and that means he got to learn something. Isn't that way better than winning?" She whispered to Callie, loud enough for us all to hear. "He needs it more than you did, because he's a boy. They get stupid about that kind of stuff."

Even I couldn't help but laugh at that, though I noted Cark shooting Callie and Jessie suspicious looks and muttering something about bad influences. I grinned, taking my mask off. "That's a good way to look at it. But if we're celebrating I guess I need to make something for dinner, maybe even a cake." I paused. "Is it arrogant to make your own congratulatory cake?"

It was hard not to crack up as everyone vehemently assured me it wasn't, choosing to interpret that as support and not the obvious desperate attempt to get me to make dessert for them that it was. Turning to head for the kitchen, I heard the others trailing behind me, and I thought back to what Cass said. She was right, there was more than one way to look at a loss. Sure I wasn't thrilled, but I'd done better than most, and I'd really shown what I could do. This wasn't such a bad outcome really, at least I got to show Abel how strong I'd gotten. Now I could just sit back, relax, and let him crush our enemies. Poor bastards.