One of the first things I'd learned about combat under Abel was the somewhat paradoxical fact that, barring specialized training, having more people with you in a fight was a hindrance more than a help. That had seemed a bit ass backwards to me at the time, numbers are a good thing, but after I'd learned to actually fight with a partner via my paired duelling skill, I understood.

Humans, even Ascendants, are monocentric creatures. We have to be. We're born in one body, see through one pair of eyes, and experience the universe from a single point of view for our whole lives. We may use empathy and communication to try to understand others, but there are more than just five senses. Even if we know what a person tastes, hears, or smells, we don't know how those inputs affect them. We never really understand anyone else.

This leads to discord in combat that needs to be overcome. When you fight with a partner, you're not just both attacking one target. Even if there's only a single enemy, you have to be aware of the attacks your ally makes, aware of their positioning so YOU don't attack THEM. Then you get into overlapping attack patterns and how they can affect each other, and that only multiplies the more people you add to the equation.

Paired duelling, as it happened, was the way to combat that. Feeling the emotions, intentions, and reactions of your partner let you internalize all of the various aspects of combat like they were your own thoughts, allowing true and reasonable cooperation between partners, making paired combat the asset it should be.

Or at least, that had been what it USED to do. Now...now it was so much more. I could feel not just vague impressions of what Callie planned, but detailed ideas she was about to execute. With our souls both as strong as they were, processing and responding was a matter of instants, and I was able to track her progress in battle with the same speed I could my own.

Focus played no role, nor did Perception. We were a single unified force, thoughts flitting from my head to hers as I thought them, and then back just as fast. We weren't just operating seamlessly in conjunction, we were operating BETTER. It was like having two brains, which would have probably been confusing and distracting in any other circumstances, but with the bond, it just felt...right.

We didn't even need Piece of Mind to fight properly, since all this was done through the soul. I had no idea where Abel had learned this Skill, but it was amazing and incredibly complex. I wondered if it had been changed at all by our use, or if Abel and Mel thought like this all the time. It was no wonder they were so in sync.

The opponents I'd found were a pack of strange dog headed lizard things. They had huge hind legs, small, sharp clawed arms, and oversized heads on long sinuous bodies that could build up absurd speed when they leaned forward and charged, and apparently could see heat signatures.

They charged us from all angles, needle like teeth snapping and tearing to get at us, but it felt like...like we were walking on air. Not State of Grace. I didn't use it here. I didn't use any skills at all. This was good practice for learning to fight properly. I still planned to get some training, and I'd still need to learn the formations I'd be using as a commander. I had to get used to the limits of my new and improved physical capabilities, and that meant FINDING those limits.

I reached back, leaving my hand hanging in the air behind me without looking, and feeling Callie's palm slap into mine with the calm certainty I'd have felt if I'd been clapping. Closing my fingers, I pulled, and her feet came off the ground, an enemy rushing past where she'd just been. The monster bisected itself on a hanging slash of darkness from her path even as she landed in a spin, her leg lashing out and smashing into the bend of another of their legs.

The monsters were angry, enraged by the casual slaughter of one of their own, and I pulled my staff, whirling it around my neck to slap into Callie's palm, and then pulling her toward me in a twirl like we were dancing. When she came out the other side the staff came with her, her grip loosening and allowing the staff to slide down its length, extending as it swung.

Callie didn't have the skills to use a staff like that, but I did. My Valtek Mastery was easy for her to tap into. We continued like that for what seemed like an hour. It was beautiful. I felt so close to her, so...complete, and I knew she felt the same. By the time we were done, there were dozens of the monsters dead around us. It wasn't a particularly hard fight, they were all F-rank, albeit relatively high up in that rank. If there had been E-rank monster packs wondering around this planet would have been much less safe for F-rankers like we had been.

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"I think we might have gone a bit overboard." I said wryly as I cleaned green blood off my staff. "We killed a whole bunch of them."

Callie smiled fondly at me. "You don't need to feel bad. They were predators, and they wanted to eat us. Though I think if it wasn't for my stealth they would have run. No way they survived long enough to form a pack by being stupid enough to attack higher ranked Ascendants."

"Not what I meant." I said with a laugh. "I saw several of them tear apart one of the wounded ones. They were vicious bastards and I don't think I'm bothered by that. I just kind of feel like a bully. Being stronger and starting a fight. I don't hate the idea of being this strong though. It'll keep us safer in the future." I grinned at her. "We can finally learn to command troops."

She smiled back at me, and I could feel the comforting bubble of her excitement as it percolated through the bond. The time fighting had helped us both learn exactly how to moderate the bond. We could clamp down or ease up on the connection at will from either side, and we were both comfortable with the basic empathy that stretched between us. Being without it was like missing one of our senses.

Offering her my arm, we started our walk back to the city. "Kind of glad we waited on the armor stuff." She said as we walked. "The new costumes being tailored to our post breakthrough bodies should make them a better fit. Plus being at E-rank ourselves will make using them easier. The Stygian Branch was much easier to handle. Even with the bond it used to be hard for me to move it much. Now it just feels like a stick."

"I noticed that too." I said with a nod. "I can't wait to integrate this into my future forms. I've been working on a new defensive stance. Might be tough to do it before Benny breaks through to E-rank though. I was planning to include a stored attack when I created it. First time trying that, but with my soul as strong as it is I should be able to hold things stable while I form the structure of the new form."

She gave a thoughtful hum. "Can you just use ten of them? There's a ten times difference between ranks, so you might be able to make it work."

I nodded slowly. "That...that might work. I'll give it a shot when I have a minute free. How about you? Any big plans now that you've managed to hit E-rank? In terms of your capabilities I mean? I know you'll be training tactics too, will you focus on that exclusively? Or maybe join my political lessons?"

"Those both sound like fun, and I might sit in, but mostly I'm going to focus on my Path." She said decisively. "Seeing what yours can do, I'm excited to reach the Solid Path state, and to integrate that path into my ability. To truly wield the powers of the abyss." She sounded almost gleeful at the idea of wielding such a dangerous power, and I couldn't blame her. It was pretty cool.

Reaching Saltzburg, we entered without a problem and headed for Camden's estate. I wanted to check in with our patron, plus I still owed him five more wishes. Speaking of which, I saw a familiar form stomp up to me. "What the hell?" My sister said in exasperation, throwing up her hands. "You guys just took off. I spent like twenty minutes sitting there like an asshole waiting for you to come back."

I froze, blinking at her in slight confusion. "Oh...Chelsea. Hey..." I was at a loss for words. I'd been so overwhelmed with all the changes I'd just...forgotten she was there.

"You completely forgot about me, didn't you." She said with a sigh. "It's fine. I know that rank ups can be intense. You're back now, so I can come with you to...wherever. Actually, where are you going?" She looked a bit embarrassed to have only just asked, since we'd started walking again and she was strolling along beside us.

I gestured into the distance. "We're going to hit up Camden's manor." I said in explanation. "I want to let him know we're going to be moving up in the training camp. So sad for you guys that you're going to be stuck with the torment for a while longer, but honestly you should be coming up on a breakthrough right? You and Callen were both pretty close to E-rank last I checked."

"That's true." She said with a nod. "I'll catch up with you two soon. Does your contract cover me for command training too? Because I've always been fascinated by books about tactics."

That was a good question, actually. I glanced at Callie, who shrugged. "I...don't remember." I admitted. "I think so, and if not we can tweak things. Wishes aside, he owes us for sticking around. We could find someone to buy the contract out easily, and honestly there are a couple of hazard pay provisions and political specificity clauses I could use to break the damned thing if I really wanted to."

We arrived at Camden's manor to be greeted by Alister, who stared at us in shock as he escorted us into the manor. We didn't bother to hold back our auras or use stealth this time. We were here to show off, and being low profile would be counter productive.

When Camden saw us, he whistled. "Damn, you guys made quick work of that. I have to say I'm impressed. I knew you had enough of your elixir allotment left to get the bump, but those can be hard to find here. Congratulations are in order I suppose. Welcome the the E-ranks. If you were locals I'd welcome you to Barony, but I suppose that will have to wait until you get some land and appoint your regent."

He gestured for us to sit down, and I brought up Chelsea's question. He seemed a bit uncertain as well, so we busted out the contracts and pored over them, finding out that yes, Chelsea was entitled to command training as well under the final version I'd drafted. I commended my past self on excellent wording. Once we sorted out the details of our promotions, we got Camden's wishes out of the way and then we headed back to the inn. Tommorow we would return to camp, and be upgraded to our new barracks. Until then, we were just going to enjoy the rest of our day off.