At the Woods

About ten of the recruits tucked their tails and walked back towards Solstice. They had given up on joining the Umbra Knights after what Sanya had just said. They returned their magic wands back to Reno after giving up on joining.

"W-We are actually getting sent into a mission straight up…" Damian remarked as he turned towards Leon.

"Good. We know this would be a dangerous line of work to partake in, but it is also a noble one at that. You can leave if you do not like it, Damian. It is going to get worse from here on out." Leon said to his friend.

Damian shook his head. "Of course, I am not going to give up that easily. We promised we would look out for each other's backs. I am not about to go back on my word. Plus, we are going to face Lunaseekers sooner or later, so we might as well do it as soon as possible." Damian rationalized the whole enlistment process.

With only twenty recruits left, Sanya and Reno lead them towards the dark and vast woods. Each rustling of the leaves and swinging of the branches made them jitter.

After thirty minutes of walking, they finally found it. A makeshift hut made of light materials. Sanya instructed them to stop walking with a single motion of her hand.

She took out her magic wand and grimoire. "Back me up, Reno." The latter grunted and nodded in response. She stood up and got ready to launch an attack. Sanya lifted her wand with her right hand and chanted. "Art of Vulcan: Piercing Flame!" a trail of fire was emitted by her wand shortly after.

The hut was burning, everyone that it would end immediately since no Lunaseeker went outside of it. But Reno, seeing that someone was creeping up behind them, drew his wand and blade as he rushed towards the backlines.

Look and behold, there they were. Two Lunaseekers, their pupils were red and they looked to be hungry as well. "Look, dear, seems like our dinner came to us themselves…" a male Lunaseeker said to his partner.

Sanya clicked her tongue in disappointment. "Tch. So, they were not in the hut after all, eh?" she said.

Both Reno and her engaged each of the Lunaseekers in combat. Some of the recruits, and even Leon and Damian thought about helping them and charging in themselves, but they stopped after a recruit told them to.

"Do not be stupid." He raised his hand. This boy had pitch black hair which was worn down flatly. "We are going to have our hands full as well." As he pointed at the dark part of the woods, red eyes began to light up on the ground.

"The summoned beasts!" Leon exclaimed. A wolf-like beast charged and showed itself after the recruits have noticed its presence.

It leapt out, making Damian its prime target. Leon noticed this and pushed Damian off and blocked off its bites with his wand.

The recruits tried to help and attack it with their lowly magic projectiles, but this beast was gigantic and merely brushed them off, not even caring about any of them. "What the hell is your friend doing?!" the black-haired boy asked Damian. "Why isn't he using arcane discharge with the wand?!"

Damian gulped. "H-He can't use magic!"

Just as Leon was about to be chomped down by the wolf, the black-haired boy rushed in and kicked the wolf right in the head. His foot was enchanted with flames as he did so.

Thee wolf cried out in pain as it was sent flying. "What the hell are you doing here if you can't use magic?!" the boy angrily asked Leon.

This made the latter go from being thankful to being pissed in a matter of seconds. "What the hell did you just say?!" Leon walked towards him.

Damian intervened between them, however. "You two, this is not the time to fight among ourselves, we have much more pressing enemies in front of us." He said as he casted icicles from his wand to make the wolf's footing slip.

All the other recruits followed in Damian's footsteps and attacked the wolf with their respective arcane projectiles as well, even though it was not doing much.

"Don't you dare question my motivations like you know me, punk." Leon said to the boy.

"I do not know you, nor do I care about you at all."

Leon walked away and pulled out a knife that Kanon Sokolov gave him. "I will fight these otherworldly things, these monsters, these Lunaseekers in my own way. Even if I can't use the arcane arts." He said as he ran straight towards the creature.