Adah and her teammates all crammed behind Grace’s desk to look at the mission that DreamRise had claimed. Whatever small possibility there had been that they had taken the mission by mistake vanished over the next minute. DreamRise didn’t cancel the job or call for support. They were truly planning to attempt a B-Rank today.

  Adah confirmed she had read the mission brief correctly, as well. Thinking in terms of magic essence, this variant of Cruelty was based on a snake, but it was simpler to refer to it by what it was in practice: a hydra.

  Although she’d never fought one herself, the variant was unique enough that Adah knew plenty about it already. The Cruelty spawned with several serpent heads protruding from a sturdy, four-legged body, and posed a troublesome dilemma to any team attempting to slay it. The monster primarily attacked by lunging out with those snake heads, aiming to sink its fangs into its target. A magic user’s natural instinct would be to sever whichever head was attacking them, but that would only exacerbate the problem.

  For every severed head, two more would grow in its place.

  Adah had once told Ami that armor and regenerative abilities were common among B-Ranks, but the hydra’s regeneration went beyond the standard. With that kind of power at its disposal, the Cruelty unleashed attacks haphazardly. It had no fear of exposing itself to a counterattack—in fact, it would prefer if its opponent attacked back rather than ran away. Defensively, the story was much the same. The monster was more than willing to use its heads as a shield to protect the core hidden within its four-legged body.

  Add armored scales, swift speed, and massive size on top of that regenerative ability, and the hydra became one of the most dangerous B-Rank Cruelties to deal with. It was a foe that only grew more fearsome as the fight went on.

  All of this made it a particularly foolish target for DreamRise. Their team was light on raw offensive power, relying largely on smart spellcasting to build a tactical advantage that could open the doors for a decisive blow from Ekki’s sword or Iris’s almighty [Fleur-de-lis]. DreamRise would have gained their weapons after the IndieMagie, but they’d still need to rely on their spells as the foundation of their battle plan. While the full potential of Clair’s spells remained a closely guarded secret, whatever utility they offered surely wasn’t enough to turn the tides against the hydra.

  Now that they’d seen the mission brief, Adah’s teammates echoed her thoughts.

  “They seriously couldn’t wait for something easier?” Ami said. “They’re dumbasses, but they’re not dumb. Why pick this for their first B-Rank?”

  “They may have felt like time was running out,” Adah said. “They want to beat us to the punch. It’s no coincidence they rushed to take this right before our video release. They’ve seen how we’ve been progressing, and they know if they don’t strike now then they’ll fall behind.”

  “But what’s the point in taking the job if they can’t finish it?” Ami asked. “Aren’t they… ya know?”

  “Fucked,” Emi finished.

  “Maybe they know something we don’t,” Rika suggested. “Iris has that superpowered spell—they could be trying to go all-in on that. It might have even evolved since the last time we saw it. Maybe they figured out a combo like ours.”

  “I don’t see how they buy themselves enough time against the hydra,” Adah said. “Even if they could take their time kneeling like that, the Cruelty won’t just stand there and eat a direct hit.”

  Adah pulled out her phone and checked for any calls or messages from Ekki. None had come in. Normally, she’d appreciate him taking the hint from her cold shoulder, but today was a different story.

  “What about the flowers?” Rika said. “Iris’s shields—she can cast more than one of them. Maybe she could protect everyone until her spell charged up.”

  “The hydra’s big enough to swallow them whole, shields and all.”

  “They’re fucked,” Emi said.

  The girl made a persuasive argument, and Adah was inclined to agree with it. They could theorize about another team all they wanted, but the fact was that DreamRise had entered a battle where the odds were stacked impossibly against them. This mission was a desperation play, just like when Adah had challenged their team to a duel.

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  “They must have some plan,” Ami said.

  “They do,” Adah said, “but it’s Thibault’s plan. According to Ekki, he’s pushing them to take this mission before us. Iris probably knows what she’s getting her team into, but she’s trying to ignore the danger of it. She has to believe it can work, even if she knows it can’t.”

  Failing to meet the expectations thrust upon her was already a matter of life and death to her. Every part of this industry was war in her eyes, and she’d rather charge into a desperate battle than retreat and suffer certain defeat. That was what Ekki had meant when he and Adah first spoke.

  “She’s gonna get a reality check real quick,” Ami said. She had started pacing around the agency lobby, and Emi looked about ready to join her. “Once she sees they’re in over their heads, she’ll back off and call for reinforcements. Hell, one of those teams from the other regions will probably be waiting for just that. DreamRise will turn tail and someone else will take over.”

  No, they wouldn’t.

  Adah was certain of that. DreamRise wouldn’t retreat—not before suffering a casualty of some kind—and by that point, it could be too late to run.

  Whatever DreamRise’s goal had been, they had lost sight of it. The idea that had tied them all together, that had motivated even someone like Clair to sacrifice her power to Iris, had fallen apart. Iris, at the very least, was motivated by fear and frustration right now. She was going to charge ahead no matter what, and Clair and Ekki would be dragged along, hoping their leader still had a plan.

  The situation wasn’t so different from Adah’s own team. She and Ami had spoken about it just last night—no one wanted to get overshadowed. Not within their team and not within their region. Rather than taking a step toward their goal, this mission was Iris’s way of clinging to the progress she had made so far. As her team’s leader, the consequences of Iris’s fixation could be more devastating than anything Adah’s team had experienced lately.

  Though, what was Adah herself doing?

  If the goal of the Last Light was to protect humanity, how could she stand around while DreamRise charged into a hopeless battle against the Cruelties?

  Adah may not have been the one to put DreamRise in this situation, but her judgment was clouded by the same misplaced feelings as Iris.

  She hated Iris, but she didn’t want the girl to die—except maybe of shame after a humiliating defeat at Adah’s hands.

  Even if Adah was cruel enough to wish some pain upon Iris, the danger of the situation extended beyond the DreamRise members. This was a B-Rank mission, and one being handled by a first-timer team. The fight was going to attract attention from both the media and the public. If the hydra got out of control, all of those bystanders could be caught in the aftermath. Adah had seen it firsthand with the scorpion Cruelty—these monsters would rush after easy prey as soon as magic users failed to stop them.

  All of those humans watching the fight—and their essence—could be consumed. Killed.

  This mission had never been one that Adah and her teammates could sit out. Deep down, she had probably always known that. Maybe she had been hoping Ekki could convince Iris not to take the job, or maybe that Clair would mutiny and knock Iris out. If Adah had come to understand the reason for the cracks forming within her own team sooner, she might have agreed to help Ekki before things escalated to this point.

  The Last Light was supposed to be a team that everyone could rely on, even someone like Ekki, who had yet to prove reliable himself.

  “We have to help them,” Adah said. “If by some miracle, they’re handling the hydra fine on their own, then we’ll sit back and watch. If not, then we can’t let them fail.”

  Adah’s teammates all looked at one another, but it only took them a moment to reach an unanimous decision this time.

  “I don’t like the idea of bailing them out,” Ami said, “but I like the idea of leaving them out to dry even less. Let’s do it.”

  “We kill the Cruelty and make DreamRise mad,” Emi said. “It’s a two-for-one.”

  “There might not be much light in Iris’s dark heart, but we’ve sworn to keep even that shining, haven’t we?” Rika said.

  The atmosphere in the room was shifting already. The gazes of the girls hardened into focused stares as they began to visualize their upcoming opponent. Though they were better suited to this mission than DreamRise, the hydra would still push them all to their limits. Magic could energize their bodies, but this kind of warrior’s meditation was the only way to get their minds ready for combat.

  As the four girls sharpened their focus, Grace chimed in to remind them of what they were about to do.

  “Forget DreamRise for a second,” their manager said. “What about you four? Before this moment, you were holding off on fighting a B-Rank. Are you about to put yourselves in the same danger as the people you’re trying to save?”

  From her tone, it was a genuine question. As their manager, Grace knew their spells and capabilities as well as any outsider could, but she could never judge with complete accuracy what the limits of their team’s power were. At some point, she had to trust their judgment—Adah’s in particular.

  “On our own,” Adah said, “I’m not sure. But we’ll have three extra members with us today. That’s three extra sets of spells, and three big reasons to show off how strong the Last Light really is.”

  Ami led a cheer like a battle cry, which the other girls soon joined in on.

  “Somehow, that’s made me more worried,” Grace said.

  Adah smiled at Grace and said, “Trust me. It’s going to be me that breaks Iris’s heart first, not some Cruelty.”

  “I don’t really want anyone coming home broken today.”

  “It’s a figure of speech,” Adah said. “Don’t worry, we’re going to come home as heroes.”

  Grace took off her glasses and squeezed the bridge of her nose. Without putting her glasses back on, she looked at Adah.

  “Just make sure you come home.”