The first thing I did after Abel's crazy rampage was call Callie and  the others. My girlfriend was frantic when she picked up the line, her  face appearing on the floating screen over my scan ring. I saw her  almost melt with relief. "Sh-" She started to say my name but cut  herself off when she realized we were in costume. "Solomon, thank the  gods. Are you alright? Is it safe to talk? What happened?  Our....emergency exit, took us miles away. We started making our way  back over but we weren't sure we had any chance of arriving in time. Are  you hurt?"

I checked myself over mentally, even feeling  around to make sure I was alright by hand. I shook my head when I felt  nothing. "No. I'm fine." That last heal burst had patched me up, hell I  wasn't even tired. "How about all of you? Were you injured? I know your  exit was supposed to prevent serious injury, but I was worried those  last hits might have messed you all up?" Seeing Callie already gone had  terrified me. I hadn't had time to focus on it in the heat of battle,  but just seeing her face and hearing her voice was helping me calm down a  lot.

Granted, seeing Abel murder several people who  couldn't fight back was pretty jarring still, and even without the worry  I was shaken, but knowing Callie and the others were safe was  definitely a big weight off my shoulders. As for Abel...well, this was  the WCP. I had to remember that the Wish Curse Palace wasn't the Unity.  The people here might use the conventions of the locals, but they  weren't heroes. Nothing drove home Zeke's warnings about the realities  of cultivation like seeing people brutally killed in front of me.

I  briefly wondered if I should have tried to help them, but then I  considered how easily Abel had demolished that F rank who had been  beating Alden, and I shuddered a bit. The image of a big trying to throw  itself in front of a speeding car came to mind. Plus they WERE going to  kill us first. Down here, self defense wasn't just legal, it was  downright encouraged. Not that there wouldn't be trouble, but Abel would  deal with that, not me. I was alive and so were my friends. Trying to  reach for anything else would be overboard.

"Solomon?"  Callie's voice jerked me back to reality and I saw her give me a worried  frown. "Are you ok? You went quiet there for a bit." Her frown turned  disapproving. Or are you spacing out again? That isn't safe, especially  in the middle of hostile territory. You need to be careful ok? We're on  the way." I could hear the fear and relief in her voice and smiled  behind my mask. It was nice seeing how much she cared, even if the  circumstances could be better. I knew she loved me, but still, it felt  good for someone to actually SHOW that emotion. Of all my loved ones  Callie was the one who was most honest with me about her feelings. It  was something I cherished about her.

I cleared my throat,  mostly just to show that I was focused again. "Yeah, sorry, big night.  Just meet us back at the Pavilion, we're headed there now. We have a  mutual friend with us, though he sadly didn't bring any sausages." I  figured that would be as overt as I could be without just saying his  name, and I wasn't sure where they ended up. They might be being watched  and not know it. It was unlikely given Callie's Perception, but still  completely possible. While they were high, there WERE people in G-rank  with higher stats than her. Plus we'd already seen tonight that  F-rankers were a possibility, even if I didn't expect many of them.

"Alright."  She said after a brief pause. Then she said in a quiet voice. "Please  be careful ok? I know what we do is dangerous, but we still usually face  it together. I never want to be whisked away to safety and leave you  behind to deal with potentially dying again. It was awful. Stay safe and  I love you." She hung up before I could respond, probably a bit  embarrassed at being quite THAT emotionally honest. I watched the screen  fade with a soft smile, even if no one there could see it.

It  was Abel who cleared his throat this time. "That was certainly very  sweet, and I'm happy for you. But can we perhaps leave? I don't like  sitting around here with all these bodies. Someone might send backup."  He grinned at me. "Also, to answer your last comment about me, you are  incorrect. I ALWAYS have sausages." He looked around shiftily, as if  making sure no one would see, and opened the coat he was wearing,  showing tubes of meat strapped to the inside of the fabric, thankfully  sealed in plastic individually so they weren't touching any cloth. "Get a  load of these. Premium stock you know."

I stared at him  blankly. I thought back to Alden and his insistence on giving people  drinks, and suddenly Abel's weirdness seemed to make more sense. I shook  my head, not hungry right now anyway. Besides, despite the wackiness, I  was pretty sure I recognized a stalling tactic when I saw one. Making  sure my smirk was in my voice I asked. "Are you sure you aren't just  nervous about going back to the Pavilion, or hell, the Cavalcade in  general?"

He gave a violent shudder. "What? No, I'm not  even remotely sure of that. I'm terrified of going back. Mel is going to  strangle me with my own guts for being gone so long. But if forces like  this are moving I'm needed. Not sure what my idiot brother did this  time though. I thought not having me around to inflate his ego would  keep him cautious. I guess I underestimated how ambitious he could be." I  noted that despite asking what Mel had done jokingly earlier, he  immediately assumed Cicero was responsible for this mess.

Which...was  actually fair in a roundabout way. If he wasn't such a dick then Mel  wouldn't have made a deal with Sanctuary Hall. I grimaced internally as I  considered having to deal with the Peace Lord. Not directly,  thankfully, given the protection from Zeke, but that would be gone soon.  I'd have to move up my plans to talk to Melinda about my abilities. It  was still a bit early, but I was protected from her too, and if I waited  I might have to have that meeting when I hit F rank, which would leave  me vulnerable.

We started our walk back. We'd ridden the  wolves out here to meet Alden, and I was annoyed at the massive  difference in trip quality. The wolves were faster than me. They were  also four footed and used energy that wasn't mine. It was a smooth ride,  even when they'd been holding back, and walking on my own two feet  couldn't compare with the convenience, even if my Might stat could have  allowed me to sprint there faster than most cars. We were also escorting  Alden, who while healed was still very weak, and Abel and I each  slipped under a shoulder to help him along as Marc trailed sulkily  behind, half ashamed and half in awe of Abel.

As we  walked, I glanced over to the rabbit masked man. "So, how much of what's  going on do you know? I'm sure it's not all of it, but I'm equally sure  someone like you wasn't stupid enough to just barrel into a fight  without scouting out the enemy. You have to be aware of some of the  undercurrents here right?" Even I wasn't reckless enough to just jump  into a battle with a higher ranked enemy just because I was pissed off.  Well...maybe I was. But Abel was supposed to be some combat genius, I  doubted he was as dumb as I was.

Abel cleared his throat  and looked away as Alden burst out laughing. The older, bearded man  guffawed so hard we had to hold him up as he sagged under the effort of  the cackling. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself. "Sorry lad,  that wasn't aimed at you. I've been telling this brute for years he  needs to think things through, and he never bothers. He just smashed  himself against any powerful enemy he finds until he wins or they kick  his ass and he needs rescuing. I had to save his scrawny ass more than a  few times as a boy when he picked fights with G-rankers while still at  H-rank himself." He paused, his expression growing serious. "Though I  suppose that's more or less what happened here isn't it?"

Abel  clicked his tongue. "Don't be stupid. You got pulled into that. I  showed up last minute and even I saw it. That absolute moron with the  expansion power following behind us was at fault if I don't miss my  guess. You really should train your kids better Alden, if they're that  stupid you must be slipping."

"That's rich coming from  you." Snorted Alden. "You're decent enough at strategy in the heat of  battle, but you prepare for combat more carelessly than any student I've  ever had. I don't need tips on how to teach people to think things  through from a human wrecking ball." He grimaced, flicking his eyes over  his shoulder. "Though I admit, I've clearly been too hands off with the  young ones. Mel's stirred up too much trouble this time, I'm going to  have to step in. And so are YOU, no matter how scared of her you are."

Abel  scoffed. "Don't bait me you old busybody. Mel is terrifying when she's  angry. I'm not going to agree to intercede on your behalf just to prove  I'm not scared. I'm not a five year old. I'm coming back to find out  what's going on and help everyone get out of it. Once that's done I'm  going back to my stand. I won't be Cicero's excuse on his mad quest for  power, no matter how much I love that twisted sneaky fuck."

I  blinked at that. It was probably the best description of his brother  I'd heard from anyone, and it told me that Abel knew perfectly well who  Cicero was, flaws and all. Just because he loved his brother didn't make  him oblivious, and that made me just a little more hopeful we could  work this all out. We could use every ally we could get, if Abel could  keep Cicero and Mel both in line and pointed in the same direction that  would be an even better solution than just getting Mel on our side.

We  made it back to the circus pretty quickly, even tired and carrying  Alden. We were Ascendants, and we were damn strong and fast. We didn't  run with him between us, but even a brisk walk ate up ground when you  had bodies like ours. Hell, I was at the lower end of that spectrum  physically, and I probably could have carried him alone in only a few  tens of minutes without hitting a run. When we made it through, I saw  Emery watching us enter and then slipping off, so I knew Cicero would be  aware of our presence soon.

We  made it back to the Pavilion, setting Alden down to sit on the nearby  seats and I dropped down to sit next to him. I heard a slight noise and  turned my head to feel Callie slam into my side like a missile, clinging  desperately to my much larger frame as she squeezed me hard enough that  I think it might have killed an H-ranker. I was about to greet her when  a piercing scream ripped through the air. "YOU RAT BASTARD!" I looked  up to see Abel standing off to one side, seemingly about to slip away  and looking like a deer in headlights as a wave of coruscating golden  fire  plummeted down to land on top of him. I winced. Looked like Mel  was here already.