The mission board was smaller than Tetsuo expected.
A wooden panel mounted near the eastern corridor.
Parchment notices pinned in neat rows.
Threat classifications marked in different colors.
Simple system.
Efficient.
He was reading it when Amara appeared beside him.
"You've been staring at that for ten minutes," she said.
"I'm reading."
"It's a mission board."
"I'm still reading."
She looked at the notices beside him.
"Lower Third Rate demon sighting," she said.
"Forest settlement two hours east."
"Three confirmed casualties."
"Possible nest."
She glanced at him sideways.
"That's the one they're assigning us."
Tetsuo looked at her.
"Us?"
"You, me, Cecil."
She paused.
"And one other."
He didn't like the way she said that.
"Who."
Footsteps behind him.
Familiar weight.
Familiar energy.
He already knew before he turned around.
Ren stood there in full uniform.
Coat straight for once.
Grin already in place like he'd been wearing it since birth.
"Morning lackey," he said.
Tetsuo stared at him.
"No."
"No what?"
"No to whatever this is."
Ren tilted his head.
"I don't think you get a vote."
"I'm vetoing it anyway."
Ren looked at Amara.
"Is he always like this before missions?"
"This is his second day," Amara replied.
"Ah." Ren nodded seriously. "So yes."
Tetsuo turned back to the mission board.
"Find a different team."
"Can't," Ren said cheerfully.
"Instructor assigned it."
"Then find a different instructor."
"Also can't."
Tetsuo said nothing.
Which Ren apparently took as agreement.
"Great," he said.
"We leave in twenty minutes."
Cecil was already at the gate when they arrived.
Book in hand.
Obviously.
She looked up when she heard them coming.
Then looked at the space between Tetsuo and Ren.
Then looked back down at her book.
"This is going to be a long mission," she said quietly.
"It'll be fine," Ren said.
"It won't," Tetsuo replied.
They left through the gate together.
Two hours east.
Snow crunching under four sets of boots.
Mountain wind following them the whole way.
The argument started approximately fourteen minutes in.
"You're walking too loud," Ren said.
Tetsuo kept walking.
"Demons can hear footsteps from fifty meters," Ren continued.
"I know how demons work," Tetsuo replied.
"Do you though."
"I've been hunting them since I was twelve."
"Hunting strays in forests isn't the same as a coordinated mission."
Tetsuo looked at him.
"Coordinated."
"Yes."
"With you."
"Correct."
"That's the problem."
Ren smiled.
"See this is exactly why you're the lackey on this mission."
Tetsuo stopped walking.
Ren stopped too.
They looked at each other.
"I'm not your lackey," Tetsuo said.
"Rank-wise technically—"
"I don't care about rank."
"You should."
"I don't."
"That's a very lackey thing to say."
Amara kept walking without slowing.
"I'm not stopping for this," she called back.
Cecil had already moved between them somehow.
Small.
Quiet.
Glasses slightly askew from the wind.
Looking at both of them with an expression that suggested she was deeply reconsidering her life choices.
"We have a mission," she said carefully.
"There are people in that settlement waiting for us."
Neither of them responded.
"Actual people," she continued.
"Who are currently in danger."
Still nothing.
She pushed her glasses up.
"I will leave both of you here and complete this mission alone if you don't start walking."
Pause.
"I mean that."
Tetsuo looked at her.
Then at Ren.
Then started walking again.
Ren fell into step like nothing had happened.
"See," he said pleasantly.
"Coordination."
Tetsuo said nothing.
Cecil exhaled very quietly.
The settlement appeared through the treeline an hour later.
Small.
Maybe thirty structures.
Stone walls.
Smoke from chimneys that had gone cold too early.
Too quiet.
The wrong kind of quiet.
Tetsuo felt it immediately.
The same shift he recognized from every forest hunt.
Danger nearby.
Not hiding.
Waiting.
He held up one hand.
Everyone stopped.
Even Ren.
Without arguing.
Because he felt it too.
"Nest," Tetsuo said quietly.
"At least six," Ren replied.
Same volume.
"Eight," Cecil corrected.
Both of them looked at her.
She was holding her book open to a specific page.
"Behavioral pattern," she said calmly.
"Three confirmed casualties in a settlement this size suggests a coordinated pack."
She looked up.
"Minimum eight."
Amara rolled her shoulders slowly.
Loosening up.
"Positions?" she asked.
Nobody answered immediately.
Then Ren and Tetsuo both started talking at the same time.
Stopped.
Looked at each other.
"Perimeter sweep," Tetsuo said.
"Agreed," Ren replied.
First agreement of the day.
Cecil noted it without commenting.
Smart.
The first three demons came fast.
Out of the treeline on the left flank.
Low bodies.
Long limbs.
Claws dragging through snow as they moved.
Amara was already moving before they finished emerging.
Her fighting style was exactly what Tetsuo had expected.
Direct.
Powerful.
No wasted motion.
She hit the first demon with enough force to send it through a wooden fence post.
It did not get back up.
Cecil raised one hand.
Soft light gathered around her fingers.
Different from H-Light.
More structured.
Like architecture rather than fire.
Binding seals appeared beneath the second demon's feet mid-stride.
It collapsed instantly.
Contained.
Neutralized.
Not killed.
Controlled.
Tetsuo filed that away.
Useful.
Very useful.
He moved through the gap they created.
Blade already drawn.
Three more demons from the right.
He handled them the same way he always had.
Forward.
Inside their reach.
Steel answering before they finished moving.
Same as always.
Same as the snowfields.
The settlement cleared quickly after that.
Which meant one thing.
The nest was somewhere deeper.
They found it beneath an abandoned grain store.
Underground.
Tunnel system carved out by something that had been there longer than the casualties suggested.
Tetsuo crouched at the entrance.
Listened.
"Something bigger is down there," he said.
"Commander class," Ren said beside him.
Same crouch.
Same focus.
"Small one," he added.
"But still."
Tetsuo looked at him.
"You've fought one before?"
"Once."
Pause.
"Didn't go well."
That was the first honest thing Ren had said all day.
Tetsuo filed that away too.
"Cecil," he said.
"Binding seals work on commander class?"
"Slower," she replied.
"But yes."
"How slow."
"Four seconds to anchor."
"That's enough," Amara said.
They looked at each other.
All four of them.
No argument this time.
Because the situation had made the argument irrelevant.
"Ren," Tetsuo said.
"Front."
Ren blinked.
"You're putting me at front?"
"You're Upper First Grade."
"So are you technically—"
"You're faster than me in closed spaces," Tetsuo said flatly.
Ren stared at him.
That was the second honest thing said in the last minute.
He recovered quickly.
"Obviously," he said.
They went in.
The commander class demon was larger than the tunnel suggested possible.
Dark body.
Four arms.
Eyes that reflected light wrong.
It reacted to them the moment they entered.
Fast.
Faster than the others.
Ren moved immediately.
Drawing its attention.
Cutting left.
Right.
Keeping it turning.
Keeping it focused on him.
Amara hit it from the right side.
Solid strike.
Enough to stagger it.
Not enough to drop it.
Cecil's hands were already moving.
Seal formations spreading across the tunnel floor in pale light.
"Three seconds," she called.
The demon swung at Ren.
He ducked.
Barely.
Came back up grinning anyway.
"Two seconds," Cecil said.
It turned toward Amara.
She held her ground.
Took the hit across her guard.
Didn't move an inch.
"One—"
The seals locked.
The demon staggered.
Four arms reaching.
Unable to fully move.
Tetsuo was already running.
Full speed.
Blade low.
He grabbed Ren's shoulder mid-stride.
Used him as a pivot point.
Launched himself upward off Ren's stance.
Ren's eyes went wide.
"What are you—"
Tetsuo was already above the demon.
Blade coming down.
Clean angle.
Perfect position.
The demon looked up.
Too late.
Steel met the back of its neck.
Clean.
Final.
It collapsed.
The tunnel went silent.
Tetsuo landed in the settling dust.
Stood up slowly.
Looked down at Ren who was still processing what had just happened.
Then—
he smiled.
The dangerous kind.
The one demons saw last.
"HEY REN—"
His voice bounced off every wall in the tunnel.
"WHO'S THE LACKEY NOWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!"
Silence.
Amara stared at him.
Cecil stared at him.
Ren stared at him.
Then Ren's eye twitched.
Just once.
"You—"
"Used you as a distraction," Tetsuo confirmed cheerfully.
"AND a launching pad."
Ren stood up slowly.
Brushed dust off his coat.
His expression was doing something complicated.
Something that cycled through at least four emotions before settling on the least dignified one.
"I hate you," he said.
"You're welcome," Tetsuo replied.
Cecil turned away very quickly.
Her shoulders were shaking slightly.
She was absolutely not laughing.
Definitely not.
Amara looked at the collapsed demon.
Then at Tetsuo.
Then at Ren.
Then she said very calmly:
"Can we please go home."
They walked back as the sun started dropping behind the mountains.
Four sets of boots on snow again.
Different this time.
Quieter.
Not the tense quiet of before.
Something else.
Settled.
Ren walked beside Tetsuo without the usual commentary.
Which was somehow louder than everything he'd said all day.
After a while he spoke.
"That pivot was clean," he said.
Not looking at him.
"The angle calculation off my stance."
Pause.
"You planned that the moment we entered the tunnel."
It wasn't a question.
"Before that," Tetsuo replied.
Ren said nothing for a moment.
"…You're annoying," he finally said.
"You're loud," Tetsuo replied.
Silence again.
Not hostile.
Just two people who hadn't decided what they were to each other yet.
Cecil walked beside Amara slightly ahead.
"They're going to be a problem," Amara said quietly.
"Yes," Cecil agreed.
Pause.
"But the kind of problem that wins missions."
Amara looked at her.
Then back at the two boys walking behind them.
"…Unfortunately," she said.
The cathedral appeared through the treeline ahead.
Ancient towers reaching into a sky turning orange and purple above the mountains.
Tetsuo looked at it.
Thought about the fog.
The voice.
Cecil's pause.
All of it still waiting for him back inside those walls.
He pushed it back.
Not forever.
Just for now.
"Hey Ren," he said.
"What."
"You fought well."
Ren looked at him sharply.
Like he was checking for sarcasm.
Found none.
Looked ahead again.
"…Obviously," he said.
Tetsuo almost smiled.
Almost.
They walked through the gate together.
And somewhere far above the cathedral—
in the space between clouds and something older than clouds—
the purple fog watched them return.
Quietly.
Patiently.
Still waiting for the right moment to introduce itself properly.