Chapter 230: Chapter Two Hundred Thirty One

Once Beat went down it was only a matter of time until Abel and Mel  took down the others. Sever was frantic and distracted after seeing his  brother dropped like that, and that wasn't a safe way to fight Abel  (assuming you could claim such a thing existed). Still, with the gaps  they were able to beat the two of them into submission, with Mel  overwhelming Serenity with a split second attack out of nowhere that  forced her to lose track of Sever while he was distracted by trying to  get to and check on his brother.

Abel disarmed him and  knocked him out cold with a brutal blow to the back of the neck, and the  two of them teamed up to take Serenity down with the pressure off. To  my relief, no one suggested or attempted killing the elites, probably  because two members of the Titan Twenty and the daughter of one of the  richest E-ranker's on the planet were people likely to be missed.

When  it was finally done I didn't even bother dragging myself to a seat, I  just collapsed in the dirt. The sensation of being energized and ready  to move while my head felt like a used dishrag was jarring, and I needed  to lay down for a second to try to recover from my soul fatigue at  least a little. I closed my eyes, trying to let my head settle as the  Pavilion members dragged the three powerhouses out of the way to  restrain them.

I was interrupted by the feeling of a  weight slamming into my midsection, and I let out a grunt before forcing  one eye open to find my girlfriend sitting on me, apparently uncaring  of my feelings on the subject as she casually watched the other work. I  groaned. "You know, some women show concern when their boyfriend keels  over in the dirt. Or at least they don't treat them like a chair."

She  reached down to pat my head condescendingly. "Don't be so hard on  yourself baby, you're more of a couch." She wriggled around on me,  grinning at my eyeroll. "Besides you're so comfy." Her smile dropped,  eyes narrowing. "Unless I'm making you uncomfortable. Why, am I too  heavy for you to deal with? Should I move before I injure you?" Her tone  was sweet, but oblivious or not, I wasn't stupid enough to answer that  verbally.

Instead I reached up, grabbed her around the  midsection and rolled, drawing a squeak of surprise from her as I let my  weight fall on her completely, going completely boneless. She shoved at  me lightly, not enough to actually move me, which she could have easily  done with so much Might, but just enough to wriggle me into a more  comfortable position. I chuckled at that. "Oh, I'm sorry. My mistake. I  thought this was how we show affection now." I put on a saccharine tone.  "Unless I'm too heavy for you to deal with?"

"Can you  just not?" I heard Benny groan from behind us. "Because I haven't seen  my girlfriend in days because of all this nonsense, and the last thing I  want is to watch you cuddling in the dirt. Besides, they have the  prisoners secured. We're supposed to go check in on the others. Since  they weren't here I assume the Jerks were in that team, and I really  want to see the results of those idiots trying to fight an F-ranked  bear. You know one of them tried it. Probably Way Crazy Wyatt."

I  had to choke down a laugh at that. He was right, I could definitely see  Wyatt doing that. I knew that it was possible someone had been hurt or  killed, but the results here made me hopeful they managed almost as  easily. I was trying not to dwell on the fatalities we'd already racked  up until this was over. Especially not the ones I'd caused personally.  At least I knew Jessie and Cark would be fine with Randall there as  protection.

Still, he'd killed the mood so hard it was  already starting to decompose, so just gave an annoyed snarl and pushed  off the ground, leaping nimbly up and back to my feet, cheating slightly  with my still active Leaf on the Wind to look cool. Judging by Callie's  eye roll as she blew her hair out of her face it hadn't worked, but  judging by the twitch of a stifled smirk on the corner of her lips it  had at least amused her. I held out my hand and she took it, letting me  pull her to her feet.

If nothing else, out little back and  forth had distracted me from my brain pain enough that I was barely  noticing it. I turned to Benny. "I'm sorry, if you're going to be a huge  buzz kill at least you can be a useful one. I assume you have some sort  of next step you want us to do, rather than just ruining our cuddle  time for no reason. Or are you as good at ruining my day as you are at  being short." I made sure the smirk when I said that was obvious in my  voice, just so it twisted the knife even further.

Benny  glared at me. "You son of a bitch. You're ONE INCH taller than me, and  its not even natural! You're a cheating bastard. You might as well be  wearing lifts." He shook off his annoyance. "No, we should go meet with  Abel and Mel and see about making the trip to find the others. I'm not  getting sucked into your childish antics."

I nodded  sagely. "You're already the size of a child, acting like one too would  be embarrassing." I had to fight down a laugh as his jaw clenched for a  second and his face turned bright red. It looked for a second like he  might lose it and try to slug me, but eventually he couldn't hold out  and burst into gales of laughter.

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He reached up and  clapped me on the shoulder, and Callie looked at us like we were insane.  Benny decided to explain. "He saw how stressed I was and decided to  poke me a bit so I could let off some of my frustration. I'm not THAT  sensitive about the height difference." He narrowed his eyes at me.  "Even if it is absolute bullshit." He shook off the expression.  "Regardless, things were getting grim, and he knew I needed a laugh.  Hell, so did he. This was just an easy way for us both to calm down in  such a tense situation."

"You're both lunatics." Callie  said with another eye roll. "But whatever keeps you sane. Or at least  the poor approximation of it you try to put on for the masses." She  winked at me to take the sting out of that, getting into the spirit of  the ribbing, and I laughed, grabbing her and pulling her against my  side. She She poked my ribs again lightly, but it was clearly playing  around, and I couldn't help but try to hold onto the joy I was feeling.  Despite still being a bit worried, it was important to take happy times  as they came. This was a win, we needed to treat it like one.

We  also needed to be serious about the next part though. With all of us we  could handle the remaining forces even if the others hadn't, not that I  expected that, but we weren't invincible. Going over there without a  care would be dangerous and stupid. So as we walked over I let the calm  of pre-battle fall over me.  I was too exhausted to do much more than  swing my cane, but I could still do that much if needed.

Abel  and Mel gave us wide grins when they saw us. "There are my favorite  customers." Said the rabbit masked man. "Caught some of your fight, not  bad at all. Creative, well optimized, and cheap as hell. Perfect  strategy, I give it a ten out of ten. Of course, it could have easily  failed, which would have made it a stupid plan with no redeeming value,  but we believe in results here. Remember that the world is based on  reputation, if you do something crazy and it works, that was your  intention all along, and you can definitely do it again, no matter who  asks."

Mel rolled her eyes at that but didn't really  correct him. "We were about to take everyone over to check on the  others. We had the hard part, so I'm sure they're fine, but more than a  few of ours got pretty beat up, and we could use Agria's help on this.  They're all stable and in no danger of course, but no use leaving wounds  that could impede progress. Actual battle injuries aren't the same as  bruises from spars. Having those healed as soon as possible is a  priority." She held up both hands. "Of course, we'd pay for her services  if needed, or we can send for someone else, but we trust her so we  figured we'd at least ask if she would help out."

She  would, Callie and I both knew it. Jessie wasn't the type to leave people  hurting when she could help them, especially people she liked. It was  nice of them not to assume though. I turned to stare over at Alden. The  older man was walking around completely fine with only one leg. It had  apparently taken him no time at all to figure out how to suspend himself  with his gravity ability as he moved his leg, which was an odd sight to  see but seemed pretty smooth by the time I spotted him doing it. Still,  it was a jarring thing to see, and I made a promise to myself to offer  him a wish if Jessie couldn't fix his leg. He'd done a lot for us, and  my abilities were partly out now anyway.

Callie  told the two of them she would ask, but didn't think it would be a  problem, and we set out to check on the others. Walking through the  paths between the tents we found...bodies. Lots of them. Most of them in  robes and masks, but there were a few dressed in the eclectic clothes  of the circus employees. I even saw one or two members of the Pavilion I  recognized. No one big or important, just people I'd shared a drink  with at the party that first night.

My stomach twisted. It hurt to see people I'd met and liked  just...snuffed out like that. I hadn't been friends with them really,  but I'd known them, talked to them, and the difference between the  lively people I'd spoken to and the bodies on the ground was all the  more unsettling for the environment we'd crossed paths in. This was why  I'd tried my best to enjoy the time decompressing from the battle, I had  the feeling I wouldn't be in a celebratory mood after this, even if all  my friends were ok.

It  was easy to forget the nature of the WCP. The Unity was cold and brutal at times, but it also at least pretended to embrace heroism, in a world like  ours that was almost as good as actually being a hero. The WCP made no  such pretentions. It was simply a proving ground. It was where people  came to get stronger, to accrue power no matter the cost. This was my  first time seeing that cost myself. Paying it in person too. It was a  sobering thing to see. I'd killed monsters, seen people die, but this  was my first time taking part in a battle like this, and I didn't think  I'd ever be the same.

I  pulled Callie against me tightly as we walked among the dead and the  remains of the traps we'd built ourselves. I didn't think the traps had  obviously killed any of our own that I could see, but I didn't know for  sure. One more weight to add to my conscience. I could see how Zeke had  ended up as unattached and blase as he had. I might cut people off if I  had to see things like this all the time too. I felt my scan ring buzz  and looked down to see a text incoming from a blocked number. It was my  cousin congratulating me on my victory and asking to meet. I didn't  bother to respond, there would be time for that later, once I knew my  friends were alright.

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