Danazzo Talwen Aralka resisted the urge to glance to his right, where that girl, Yuriko Davar, walked beside him. His squad was a makeshift team composed of nine regular Agaza students with him, a member of the Elite class, as their leader.

He’d lived in Rumiga City for the better part of the last year in preparation for entering the Academy, but his family’s holdings were actually further north, halfway to the border. So he wasn’t quite used to the strength of the Chaos storms in the Capital. He heard about it from his older sibs and his father though, who was an Earl trying to be neutral between the two factions. Not always successful, really, which was why he was precariously balanced as he was now.

If not for the fact that all members of the Elite class were automatically made leaders of the regular class, he doubted he would have received the command at all. Still, he got stuck with the worst bunch who barely knew how to fight.

Although that was rather uncharitable of him. First-year Agaza students weren’t normally blooded warriors, that was what the five years in school were for, but they weren’t incompetent either. But he got stuck with the whiny boys and girls who got in through…less than ideal means.

Swarmlings were easy. There were ten of them in a narrow tunnel fighting off more of their number, sure, but he had the full complement. The swarmlings couldn’t flank them, they couldn’t even scurry up the ceiling and use that to get past since their spears were long enough to reach, so how did a group of ten get shown up by a single girl, and one who wasn’t even supposed to be here at that?

How in the deep Abyss did Miss Davar end up in Sharom instead of Agaza? He remembered during the trials that his team had defeated hers, but also she wasn’t around during the decisive fight. If she had been there, his team would have lost!

“How did you get here?” Danazzo finally asked her.

“Yamada Raskin came to our shelter and warned us of Wyldlings.” Her voice was soft but it didn’t hide the steel underneath. “My friends and I decided to help warn and to hunt.”

“Where are they?”

“They returned.” She shook her head. “We encountered difficulties on the way. How do you know where we’re going? It’s quite dark here.”

Danazzo pulled out a crystal screen from his pocket. It was just a bit bigger than his palm, “There’s a map here and a locator.”

“Handy.”

“Yamada’s from a different squad,” he continued. “He came to the shelter alone?”

“Yes. He directed us to where he left them. When I arrived there, I only saw dead swarmlings.” She seemed to hesitate then, “I followed a blood trail hoping to find survivors, but the trail led me to a, er, more natural cavern. There was a…creature…there eating someone’s remains.”

“Oh, Ancestors!” someone shouted from behind. “Bad enough that there are Wyldlings where they shouldn’t be, but now we have beasties too?”

“What did it look like?”

“Like an Antid, but two arms only. Hands tipped with wide, somewhat blunt claws.”

“A Borer?” Another cadet, Wolfric, asked.

“Scavengers. Sometimes they don’t wait until the victim’s really dead.” Danazzo shuddered, “They’re dangerous pests but the legion can’t get rid of them easily since they can dig.”

“Well, that one’s dead.”

They marched in silence for a while, then, “Where are we going?” Miss Davar asked.

“We need to group up with the other squads. Our mission is to find and mark Chaos leaks, but the Wyldlings are more urgent. The more of us together, the better.”

“I see.”

Danazzo glanced at her. Her gaze was firm and her Field was steady. It didn’t even flicker with the Chaos winds and she showed none of the strain they’d been enduring for the past few hours. For his part, he’d rather hole up in a secure location until the whole thing blew over.

The Wyldling invasion was unpredictable. There was a Chaos storm almost every year, and some of the Chaos dwellers found themselves in the undercity after going through rifts in the fabric of Rumiga, but this seemed excessive.

Once he glanced at her, he couldn’t seem to look away. She was both attractive and frightening at the same time. He had been behind the shield wall during the battle--his Facet was not meant to hold the line and was better suited to running skirmishes. So he had a clear view of her slaughter.

The way she moved, the way she killed…it was beautiful. Every movement was graceful in its simplicity. A cut, a slash, a thrust. Each made using the fastest and least complicated path that would get the job done. That wasn’t all, of course. The way she moved was elegant. She dodged and attacked with the same movement, using the bodies of her foes to restrict the way they could attack her.

There was no hesitation on her part.

If there were flaws to her skill, he wasn’t good enough to spot them. More importantly, though he didn’t manage to fight her in the trials, he had watched her spar during Martial Sciences and the Reserve Officer Training. She had improved greatly.

All that and with the way she looked, the smooth, creamy skin, the gorgeous golden hair, those perfectly shaped lips, and those imperious eyes that told him that he was far beneath her. He’d gladly let her walk all over him if those eyes demanded it!

Oh, Ancestors! What was wrong with him?

He hadn’t been attracted to her despite her beauty back then, but he was crushing really hard now. He could feel the heat rising to his cheeks, and with a supreme force of will, managed to look away before she noticed him staring.

His squad was mostly boys with only a couple of girls. The quick look he gave them told him that nearly all of them were infatuated.

Well, not everything was roses and sunshine with her though. He’d heard that she broke Theo Gentin’s wrist a few weeks ago. He’d certainly been raising a huge stink in the Wild Oak to the point where the freshers who were close to her got hassled.

The Willow’s Dormmistress backed her up though, so there was nothing Theo could do legally. But Danazzo heard some whispers and angry mutters. The Gentin Family was loosely aligned with the Esras House, meaning they were oathsworn to an oathsworn family. They didn’t have a noble title but one of their elders was a Knight so they held a certain sway in these circles.

She was still neutral, he thought. Or, at least, she wasn’t going out with either of the Ducal scions. Much of the gossip in the dormitories was which of the girls in the Academies had the best lineages, and who was courting who. The upperclassmen, especially.

“Do you hear that?”

One of the cadets broke Danazzo from his reverie. They were still following the tunnel they were initially on, headed towards another nexus point. From there, he had intended to look for Sharine’s squad, their nearest neighbour. Or Ifra’s on the other side.

“What do you hear?”

The cadet frowned, tilting his head so that his ear was pointed where they were going. “Voices.”

“Proceed with caution. Miss Davar, please stay behind the shield line for now.”

“Sure.”

The squad had two dedicated Warders. The other three who held large shields were two strikers with a melee focus and another controller. They proceeded cautiously, though voices would have meant that the others were human. The possibility of encountering a Chaos lord was quite real, despite how remote that may seem.

“I say we return to Bellton…!”

“No, we have our duty…”

“Like Chaos we do! We’re to watch for leaks, not fight monsters!”

“And where do you think they’re coming from? You fool, do you think those things are squeezing through the tiny leaks? Bellton blocks the biggest path from the Chaos and you want to go there?”

The voices grew more distinct as Danazzo and the others came closer until the bickering voices heard their footsteps or, more likely, saw the glow coming from their Field.

“Who’s there?”

“Danazzo Aralka, Fourth Agaza Cadet Squad Leader.”

“Gwendith Sharine, First Agaza Cadet Squad Leader.”

He saw Yuriko’s eyes twitch when she heard Gwendith’s reply. Danazzo chuckled to himself. Ah, maybe there’s some bad blood there?

“We’re approaching,” he called out.

A few moments later they came within sight. Danazzo instantly noticed the haggard looks, several bandaged limbs, and somewhat ripped clothing.

“What happe--”

“Krys!” Miss Davar called out and beelined for one of the cadets.

“Yuri! You’re here?”

One of the girls, a somewhat busty brunette, answered.

“I knew you wouldn’t just hide!” Another one of the cadets, a red-headed scrawny boy, said.

“Er,” Danazzo coughed while looking at Gwendith Sharine, who had given Yuriko a startled glance.

“Miss Davar, shouldn’t you be in the shelter? Only Agazan students are allowed to be in the tunnels now,” she asked sternly. “There are Wyldlings and worse prowling about. Why, we fought off a Hunter tier one a few hours ago!”

“Oh, there’s more than one?” Yuriko Davar asked idly while she checked up on her friends. There were four of them, Danazzo noted, though none had been in the trials.

“Yes, we barely survived that one.”

“I see.”

“Anyway, excuse me.”

Gwendith marched up to Danazzo while the rest of their squads watched their surroundings vigilantly. Gwendith’s anyway.

“How bad on your end?” Danazzo asked.

“Multiple swarmlings, almost overwhelming. Yours?”

“Same.”

“And her?”

“She slaughtered dozens. We found her wandering alone in the tunnel. One of the other squads had people moving around to warn shelters. She said she wanted to help.”

“She slew dozens?”

“Maybe more. Anyway, we were headed to Bellton Hold to report. I heard your arguments earlier.”

“We have wounded, though not too badly. Join forces?”

“Agreed.”

“I will lead.”

“As you wish.”

“Very well, we will sweep the other patrol routes and gather as many of the remaining freshers before we return to Bellton Hold.” She turned over to the side, “Miss Davar, as you are not under my command I’ll give you two choices, either you join my squad as a Striker here or you can range ahead as a scout and preemptive Striker.”

Yuriko nodded thoughtfully. “I’ll act as a scout. I’m not that used to larger squad tactics.”

“Very well. Please remain within easy sight.”

“I will.”

Danazzo stood back and just watched. While Gwendith had been cool, he didn’t see any hostility on her face and noted the same with Yuriko. So he supposed that they’ve mended whatever fences they’ve broken.

After a brief reorganization, the combined squads plus one continued on their way. Gwendith aimed for another hub and from there, they would move to another patrol route and hopefully meet up with other first-year squads. The upperclassmen were working in an entirely different area and Danazzo wondered if they had come under heavy attack too.

For now, other than the swarmlings, only Hunters were a grave threat. The Wanderer tier Wyldlings were honestly too large to fit comfortably in the tunnels.

For the next half hour, their patrol was uneventful. Miss Davar and a couple of other Scouts were at the front, while another two trailed behind. Danazzo kept track of their position using the crystal screen, by using the map and matching the coordinate markers on the walls.

At one point, the forward scouts found a bunch of swarmlings, but by the time the rest of the squad arrived, Yuriko had slaughtered them all.

“Leave some for us, would you?” Yuriko’s friend, Krystal, said grumpily, and for the first time, Danazzo saw the beautiful girl grin. It was quite shocking compared to her usual cold and imperious expression, and he felt his heart twinge and his knees grew soft.

No, no, no! She’s too dangerous! Besides, he honestly preferred Ifra Chanic’s company, even though the other had an acid tongue.

Gwendith’s expression grew stiffer when presented with the cleanly killed bodies of the small Wyldlings, though she didn’t raise a fuss.

This happened a couple of times, and every time it did, Danazzo had to hold in a snicker watching Gwendith’s face. Every time it happened, the other scouts often led them to the site of carnage while Miss Davar stood there in an odd trance. The movement she made when she cleaned her blade and sheathed it was entrancing and he wasn’t the only one affected. Why, he could see Gwendith’s eyes start to glimmer too.

Just as they were about to reach another patrol route, the unthinkable happened, and Danazzo wished dearly that he hadn’t transferred command over to Gwendith.

“Well, well, well. Fresh meat.”

It was a strange-looking creature, with a humanoid body but an arachnid lower half. Spindly legs spread out just enough to touch both walls and behind the definitely feminine creature, were wriggling, cocooned people. Each one was tethered to the creature’s posterior with silky white webbing. He recognised one of the faces that weren’t completely covered. Ifra Chanic. Her eyes were swimming with tears, though her struggles had grown weaker.

The Chaos Lord--it couldn’t be anything but that, not when her body glowed with primordial Chaos--laughed. Her head was only vaguely humanoid, it had six differently sized eyes, completely black with no sclera, and her maw opened to show sharp carnivorous teeth oozing with black venom.

It only took a second to take in the sight, before it lunged and the battle was joined.