The sunset was an orange blot of fire. Deep dark shadows stretched from the forest edge and lanced through a small glade hours east of Camdenton.

The shadows draped over DeSean while he sat on a rusted barrel. Next to him was an abandoned construction site overtaken by wild flowers and ferns. It was here he pushed his Focus to its absolute limits to observe the team-building exercise. It would conclude everything his five newly acquired subordinates had learned today.

“[Dauntless Strike]!” Roberto yelled, throwing himself after an fleeing optiling that was circling around a dilapidated cement wall. The preteen missed and smashed his fist through the wall, throwing small and large chunks everywhere.

Mariah cussed in Spanish, flinching away from the raining debris and losing sight of the optiling. The basic imp swerved in between naked girders and ducked down behind a series of pipes. From what DeSean could tell, it was going to wait for the other four optilings to spring their traps before regrouping with them.

“Dazzle, I saw it get behind the pipes by the outer walls facing the sunset!” Social Media stood on the highest ledge here, a half-completed wall covered in vines. “Do the magic trick. Do the magic trick!”

“No, that takes a lot out of her!” Art History ran up with a broad stick gripped in his hands. He was rushing up by himself between a series of incomplete walls, his movements quicker and lighter compared to yesterday.

He was breathing with ease, too. His skinny-fat appearance and historical lack of physical exercise was overlooked by his Status Tablet progression.

Even with the advancement of his stats enabling him to move beyond the levels of an Olympic athlete, his lack of experience led him to misjudging his own abilities. Two optilings were about to drop from hidden crevices above a single doorway he was running through.

“Ahh! Francis! Watch out above you!” Social Media shrilled, giving away the ambush even though her direct line of vision was broken by Art History’s positioning.

Huh, that’s interesting, DeSean thought.

It was enough of a warning for Art History to leap away from the ambush. He landed gracefully on his feet and lunged into the attack. With a hard swing, he smacked down one of the optilings. It was a critical enough strike to break its skull open.

“I’m here, I’m here!” Art History yelled, jabbing his stick at the remaining optiling. The minion fled, and instead of waiting for backup, Art History chased zealously. “Hah, I’m like a super knight! I can handle all of these—whoa!”

Around the corner Art History turned, an optiling held an old, ragged strip of plastic sheeting. One end was wrapped around a girder, the other end was stretched low to catch the overeager university student by the ankles.

Art History tripped and fell into a tumble. He managed to salvage some of his momentum by turning it into a combat roll like DeSean had taught him earlier. But it was a graceless attempt, leading him into a short ditch filled with dirty water and girders raised like blunted spears.

Art History was only able to get out a cuss before the earth exploded from underneath him. Clods of mud and rock washed over the exposed girders before Art History struck them and gave DeSean a reason to worry.

“Holy shit, Dazzle, you fucking saved me,” Art History said cheerily, rolling in the muck.

Unfortunately, her efforts following behind Art History and saving his bacon got her flanked and ‘killed’ by a pair of optilings. Botany was left laying face down. She was on the same patch of earth she had touched to use the [Earthly Tender] Skill she’d developed a few hours ago.

“Dazzle, what’s your situation?” Art History asked, climbing up from the half-filled ditch. As the evening aged into night, the shadow of unfinished walls grew longer, leaving Botany’s body dressed in darkness. If this was a real fight, it would be a ominous and heartbreaking sight.

Botany farted.

“Well, that’s just cheery,” Art History said.

On the other side of the construction site, Mariah passed her knife through a second optiling’s neck. She was slaughtering them as soon as she caught them. Her brother could barely keep up.

“Just wait there, I’ll find the rest and take them out,” Mariah said.

“But D said we’re supposed to work as a team,” Roberto replied.

“What’s the point when nobody’s able to keep up with me?” Mariah started to run off, but Roberto’s whining slowed her down.

Social Media dropped down from her ledge, sticking a twenty-foot landing without any trouble. She found Mariah bickering with her brother and got in between them.

“Hey, you’re pretty fast, Mariah,” she said. “Can I take your brother so he can protect me. And if I concentrate enough I can… I don’t know… feel out something that’ll lead us to the little fellas.”

“You can sense where they are?” Roberto asked.

“It’s more than that, I think,” Social Media said. “It’s like there’s this thingy passing through the place. And the thingy gets a little hazy when it’s far, but it gets sharper when it’s close. But they all share the same location—DeSean.”

DeSean snapped his eyes open, surprised.

Since he lost his Focus centered around his ears, the rest of the conversation he was ease-dropping on tuned out. The perception part of Focus had major applications that made all the senses controllable, but DeSean could only self-enhance them with complete concentration on one while dulling of other senses. Social Media’s explanation about the ‘thingy’ had revealed a weakness to his optilings he hadn’t been aware of.

“Their upkeep pins me as the source if there’s someone who can follow the lines of magic,” DeSean muttered. “Shit.”

He’d have to fix that somehow.

Shaking his head, he returned his attention to the exercise when he received a sudden ping. One of his two remaining optilings watched the team from the high perch Social Media had left behind. Another one was lying low in a patch of tall grass near rolls of concertina wire.

Through his minion’s eyes, DeSean saw Art History grouping up with the others that were still alive. Mariah was still with them for some reason. The imps didn’t have very good hearing and relied on their sight extensively, but it looked like Social Media was addressing everyone from the middle.

What is she planning? Could Social Media develop a good tactical plan on the spot?

With his attention on the optiling’s feed, DeSean failed to hear Social Media’s words. For the sake of simplicity, he gave his optilings orders to jump anyone who separated from the main group or to lie in wait for an opportunity.

Sometimes a fight could drag out. Not all of them ended in quick, furious engagements. DeSean was willing to let the exercise continue all night if the team couldn’t complete their main objective.

The remaining four retraced their steps back into the heart of the construction site. DeSean figured they would hole up in the middle and wait for his minions to come to them, but then he heard them move further his way. He didn’t think they were going to attack him directly—they should all know that would end badly for them.

“Mariah, one is out that way in the field! It might be near the spiky coil stuff!” Social Media yelled.

She’s using my mana connections to find them.

DeSean gave his optilings orders to relocate, but Social Media yelled and redirected Mariah anyway. After half a minute, the feisty teen found his poor minion and stabbed it to death.

One remained, and DeSean was having it stay up in the air. He wanted to test how far Social Media could sense the mana connections.

“Sorry, guys, I don’t know where the other’s gone,” she said.

Okay, so there’s limits to her sensing the connection.

DeSean had his minion circle low between him and the team. Social Media remained unaware of its position. He pushed the pug-looking bugger to creep up on them from behind, using low walls, piles of old building material, and heaps of gravel as cover to get closer. It stopped behind a wall where DeSean thought they would be near. Once they moved past it, the optiling would go for a suicide dive to kill one more before it was likely destroyed.

It would be their lost if they suffer two deaths during this exercise, then DeSean would make them do it again. They would keep going into the night until they got it right. Needless to say, nobody wanted that.

A girder punched through the wall inches away from the optiling. The minion flapped away with a squawk, nearly missing the shadow running around behind it. Art History lunged with his stick raised. The optiling avoided the strike, rising into the air.

“Got you!” Social Media squealed, appearing on top of the wall. She tackled the creature and landed in a sand pile with it. The optiling tried to nip and scratch her, but Social Media’s bases were covered per DeSean’s instructions. No matter the stat, it had to have ten or more Od put into it. Everyone here could afford that now, and it made an incredible difference.

Despite how small and girlish Social Media looked, she could snap the optiling’s neck like it was a toothpick. Instead of finishing the creature, she held it down with its face stuffed into the ground. She mounted and pinned its wings down with her knees.

“Do we have to kill it?” Social Media asked. “Maybe we can turn it to our side.”

DeSean sighed. Satan save me, I trade one anime protagonist for a magical girl.

The Marine got up and strode over. “The exercise is concluded. Although you’ve suffered a death that could’ve been avoided—Art History—you’ve succeeded as a team. Someone go get Botany.”

Art History lowered his head in shame and ran off to get his friend. When they returned, Botany glanced drearily at Social Media’s position on top of the optiling. She shrugged and found a seat on a low cement wall.

“As for your question about killing the enemy,” DeSean said, “the answer is preferably yes. But if you can capture and gain valuable information, then that’s a tactical decision that must be made by the person in charge.”

“Oh, uh, so what do you want me to do with this little guy?” Social Media said.

End its life, DeSean thought. If he ordered that, he might push the uni girl too far over the edge. She was doing great as long as she kept this upbeat attitude during practice. I’ll have to take baby steps with this one.

“I’ll remove it from the equation.” DeSean waved his hand for emphasis, breaking the band of magic.

Social Media glanced up, staring at the line of mana dispersing as the minion disappeared in a flash of red. The Marine arched an eyebrow, but didn’t address her growing power to see mana directly. He would look into it later.

He gathered everyone in a circle on stacks of old cement and low walls. Then he had each one of them debrief him on their part of the exercise, speaking on their overall experience, their mistakes, and their successes. The latter was the most important, because fighters needed to be confident, and DeSean was against the grain when it came to Marine Corps’ doctrine of tearing people down constantly.

They either had the fight in them, or they wouldn’t be worth his attention.

It was interesting to observe them talk on their deficiencies. The university students clearly had a good working relationship, and didn’t blame anyone directly for their own faults. Mariah, however, was the opposite and had a grating explanation for her lack of ability. She was decently critical on herself as well as others, and thought she should’ve been able to kill all five minions on her own. Roberto wasn’t as critical, but he didn’t have anything to say about his own successes.

“I don’t feel like I did well,” the preteen boy said. “Everyone was able to get an optiling. Or do something amazing like, uh, move the ground to help. But I just hit things hard. And I kept missing.”

“Ah, but being able to hit really hard is way cool, Rob,” Art History complimented. “None of the optilings wanted to get near you, so you were like, like…”

“A pretty rad shield,” Social Media. “I felt way better having you around me. Some of them kept going for swipes at me when I was on my own.”

Art History reached over and patted Roberto on the back. “And you tossed Casey up on the wall right after throwing that girder like a spear. And that thing went right through the wall!”

“That’s way cool, too!” Social Media added.

Mariah shifted uncomfortably as her brother got praised. Botany was barely keeping her eyes open, sapped of energy from all the physical and magical practice she had done. While DeSean was happy to see Roberto getting his confidence propped up, he supposed the evening required them to move forward.

He gave them his opinion of the exercise which harped on their lack of accountability with their buddies and their reckless charges without support. After he hammered that in, he concentrated on praising the parts he liked. They were a rough outfit. Progressing their Od Levels couldn’t replace good training, but DeSean couldn’t takeaway from them the fact that they were trying and excelling rather quickly.

I can’t count out how much the stats help in their ability to learn, either.

DeSean concluding things for everyone, giving them the right to run back to the suburban and figure out night watch and who got to sleep in the vehicle. He was tempted to hold Social Media back, but he decided the morning would be a better place to explore where her magic was going. Besides, the group needed a night together to become a bit more cohesive, and singling any of them out might break the accord.

Returning to his prior seat, DeSean took out a cigarette and flipped it between his knuckles. It was tempting to smoke, but it was dark out and old habits died hard.

He was about to get lost reminiscing of the past when he felt his patron’s touch. Without much difficulty, DeSean summoned a small piece of Princess Lylothia.

“Good evening, my dear summoner.” The princess landed on a stack of chipped cement blocks in front of DeSean and performed a curtsy.

“Good evening, Princess,” DeSean said, nodding in return. “You’ve been gone for a while. I was wondering what happened.”

The demonic princess sighed. “One of my fellow princesses thought it wise to test the borders of my discs with a moderate attack. She’s always been jealous of my successes, and in her foolishness, she attempted to catch me unawares.”

“And?” DeSean asked.

The princess licked her lips. “Her legions were no match for mine, delivering to me quite the meal. The commanders of other Hells are quite scrumptious delights!”

DeSean chuckled. It was both amusing and disturbing listening to a little doll-like bat girl talk about cannibalism like eating cake at a tea party. He was curious about the details of Hell on Hell combat and what other spoils the victor earned in return, but Princess Lylothia moved on.

“What has occurred while I was away, my dear?”

DeSean filled her in.

“Ah, how good. You’ve conducted the plan on your own. I’m most impressed that these mortals meet your requirements.”

“They’re still green in a lot of ways. Mariah’s way too brash and is probably going to get herself killed. Art History doesn’t take the fight seriously enough and will most likely get someone else killed. Roberto can’t think too far ahead and can only handle problems right in front of him. Botany plays support most of the time and lacks the aggressive will to survive and win. Then there’s Social Media and….”

DeSean stroked his chin. “She’s afraid of taking the full plunge. But she’s got talent that’s going to be really useful.”

“She’s already directing herself toward the Path that’ll be most helpful for you, Summoner,” Princess Lylothia said. “When the Main Path is taken, Od will come along differently than before. It is quite the metamorphosis.”

“They’re all close,” DeSean said, “except for Art History.”

“How am I not surprised.”

DeSean leaned closer. “Is it tonight I’ll take the next step?”

As heavenly eyes looked down on them from the dark, star-lit sky, Princess Lylothia hid her smile behind her wing. Her demonic eyes had an ethereal red glow to them as she seemed to stare through DeSean.

“Yes,” she said, her voice trembling the air around him. “I’ve managed to speak with my fellow princess of obscene Strength, and she reassured me that I should continue the course I’ve planned. So, let us bring about your elemental magic that’ll be System recognized. Then I shall give upon you a gift only a Hell Princess can give. Before the night’s end, you shall be set to take your Main Path!”