Lena only allows herself a few seconds to freeze in shock. She knows she has to move; she'd end up in their exact position—and the bloody fates of the guards—if she doesn't defend herself and dodge.

From what, she doesn't know.

Rather than forfeiting her life, she decides to move quickly. She sprints forward, unsure which direction to go to now that all she can think about is being a potential prey.

The first thing that comes to mind is whether or not Lena's at all ready for combat against an otherworldly being. Her fingers feel along the side of her hips and her thighs, brushing all the equipment at her disposal: her throwing knives and daggers, and the pouch of glass shards that Caelus had brought her before Combat Training. She's suddenly grateful that he did; she wouldn't have been able to activate her ability otherwise. Her abilities can provide for a few tricks and a quick escape if required, but she suddenly finds herself questioning if her usual maneuvers will even work.

It is now dawning on her that this is the real thing. She isn't fighting one of her classmates in a duel, or facing another ability users. She is likely going to face a demon, all alone in this quiet area.

The concerns of her peers back in Arcane Academy suddenly make so much sense. They have been training with their abilities and various weapons, even dueling against each other from time to time, but never have they engaged in a real battle scenario against these beasts. The junior years of Arcane Academy focus on specializing and mastering individual strengths and abilities. Only the upper levels have actual combat experience against demons—and only those who have chosen to be a field agent in the future. Now Lena understands the questions fired to the authorities, and the worry of having no field training for a good majority of the students.

She realizes she's never directly fought a demon all by herself. The few close encounters she'd had with the otherworldly beings are back during the Aerotrain incident, and the one time Lucifer had brought in demons into Arcane Academy. Neither of these times she'd had to deal with them directly, as is the way this city works—the professionally trained Catalysts exorcise demons. Even her first wild encounter with the wolf-like demons Lucifer brought in was a brief one, and her classmates and her have all avoided any form of direct battle due to lack of experience.

And after that, they were occupied with a different entity entirely—the Shadow Syndicate, made up of a group of powerful ability users. They were enough of a threat and distraction that made the entire city on edge, focusing all their resources on hunting them down. Could they have been blinded by the wrong war, neglecting the threat of demons that was always there, until now?

In this fateful moment, Lena has then realized Arcane Academy's greatest mistake: the pride of students. They have been throwing their abilities at each other for so long in a sort of flex that they've never thought to put them into refined use against the actual threat of this world: the creatures pouring out of the rift from another dimension.

As Lena runs, her initial instinct is to get to somewhere with people. This area is much too desolate for her liking, and if it comes down to it she will have to be facing this demon—that hasn't even shown itself—alone, with only her limited understanding of these creatures from Demon Knowledge, and her experience sparring with her fellow year mates. She hasn't even bothered to step into Precision for a long time, and that was the only chance she'd be able to get simulations against demons recorded in the city's database. That and the fact that Lena has just awoken from her near three week slumber with her unstable ability, this is not a good day for a battle.

Just as she thinks this, a flash a black appears from her peripheral vision. It's a wonder she manages to dodge at all—or fall away, because that's exactly what she does. She tilts sideways, falling to the pavement floor. She doesn't get a break, because a short moment later, she barely rolls out of the way as something slams into the ground, shattering the road entirely where she'd been.

Her daggers are unsheathed as she rights herself, definitely feeling the fatigue; she hasn't been using her body for almost three weeks. But with the matter of survival, it's surprising how much she can push herself. Lena has two daggers palmed in one hand as the other is braced against the ground for support. As she lift her eyes, she takes in the beast for the first time.

It's horrendous. It's a creature... or some sort. It stands taller than her, but its figure is lithe, its figure almost resembling a slender human. But it doesn't have a face, and its body is tilted at a strange angle, with its gangly limbs protruding at every angle. Half of what Lena assumes to be its head is covered by a jaw enclosed with sharp, gaping teeth, and its long slender body looks like it's entwined with a second, half-formed being.

Just as Lena thinks it can't get any worse—and the fact that it probably can't hurt her with its jaw already over its supposed head—it makes a squeaky sort of sound, before its faceless head transform into a gaping maw of a void of teeth. Red drips from its void, and Lena takes a few trembling steps back as she realize it has probably swallowed some humans.

She'll be next if she doesn't move.

The creature is on her in an instant. It's a miracle Lena manages to draw a longer blade of hers and block the demon's advance, but it's strong. She pushes back with force, but its gangly limbs now extend and pierce toward her. Still defending, she swipes a short throwing knife and throws it at one of its extending tentacle like limbs, effectively slicing through it and spilling dark blood. The demon shrieks, and Lena suspects that she has only enraged it, making it more aggressive. It staggers backward in a fluid, drunk-like motion, before moving so fast and coming at her that she's on the before she even registers falling.

The pain comes seconds after her fall—precious seconds that she doesn't have the liberty of waiting away defenselessly. But her head hits the ground, and, now pounding, she is unable to pull herself together when she feels something wrap around her ankle. She's soon dragged along the pavement before she can collect her bearings, as something slick wraps around her body. She clutches the ground in desperation, and in a moment of horror, she wonders if the streaks of blood on the ground where her guards had been standing were made by this very position they were in before they were—

She doesn't even want to imagine that she might very well be enduring the same fate soon.

Even if she isn't the offensive type, she still has an ability—albeit an unstable one. Her daggers won't be enough for this fight.

Determined not to die, her fingers are deftly fishing out her glass shards. As she swiftly grabs a few she needs, her hand skims something different in the pouch of glass, but she doesn't quite have the time to figure out what it is. She lets her instinctive maneuvers take over; it's as if she hasn't been out for almost three weeks as she pushes off the ground and twists her body, forcibly using her free leg to swing a kick at the monster. It isn't near her at all, so she hits only thin air, but it's enough for her to fling a glass shard far and away for her escape.

She hasn't touched her abilities like this in a while. The last few times she'd been near any glass surface at all had been nothing but disasters and headaches and the surfaces of worlds she barely understands. But she doesn't have a choice, or room for fear what might happen.

And so, with another glass shard palmed in her hand, she makes her quick escape, phasing through it to reappear on the other one she'd thrown out earlier.

Her displacement of position buys her a precious few seconds, confusing the demon. But it doesn't stop its bloodlust. Lena's head spins in a dizzying moment, the side throbbing, but she can't tell if it's from the fall to her head earlier or the strange new effects of using her abilities. No time to ponder. She draws out two throwing blades and lodges them into the demons' body in rapid succession, but all it does it make it bleed its terrestrial blood a little and enrage it further. The demon shrieks in a shrilly tone, and Lena winces when it just resembles a high-pitched woman's voice.

Lena wrecks her brain for all her lessons, especially Demon Knowledge. Demons can't be killed; their essence merely scatters once they are weakened enough—and to do that, only powerful enough abilities are able to dismember them enough to render them effectively 'dead'. That's why most higher ranking Catalysts are known for their stronger ability types, and why Arcane Academy isn't different than the rest of society by encouraging brawls between the students who have stronger, more destructive abilities—an institute that's guilty of overpraising these said ability users. The only other way to exorcise demons is through the weapons developed by the bureau that are imbued with demons' weakness studied from research—probably another form of that sonic wave—and that contain enough power to physically destroy them.

Lena has neither of those. Her abilities rely more on trickery and tactic—and somehow, she thinks of Azalea, who is the same. She suddenly comes to appreciate and respect the girl for climbing to the top three of Arcane Academy with such a non-offensive type ability. Still, she has her katana—and that's what Lena is lacking. Only students beyond year four, who have decided their path on training to be a full fledge field Catalyst will have their weapon of choice made ready that are harmful to demons.

If Lena's regular daggers can't kill this demon before her, she has only two options: to flee, or to tear it apart by brute force alone if she's wounded it enough. And while she very much prefers to do the former, the demon seems extremely fixated on her right now. The chest wound she's inflicted on the demon is barely slowing it down as it now blunders toward her, though she does find solace in knowing the limb she'd cut off earlier isn't regenerating—at least not yet. If luck is on her side, then this is not too fierce of a demon. Maybe an amateur like her can take one down, too.

Steeling herself, Lena takes a deep breath before spreading her weapons. She readily arms herself, silently counting the daggers she has left and eyes quickly locating where the others she'd used before are and if they are still in sight. Sure enough, one of her throwing knives, sleek with the dark blood of the creature, is stuck to the ground few feet away behind the demon. It always comes in handy to remember where her little arsenal are, even if it's out of reach—that's the very first rule Ms Veronique had pounded in her since she's taken a preference on daggers and throwing knives, because you lose these as easily as you may potentially recover them. Next, without too much movement as to startle the recovering demon, Lena grabs a fistful of glass shards from a plunge into her priceless pouch and scatters the glass around them, giving herself access to her abilities.

While she does that, she takes a quick sweep around the perimeter. Still no signs of human life. Great that no civilians are in danger or are in her way—but just great for her too, meaning that she's alone.

When the demon charges next, she's ready for it. She dodges the first, longer limb that reaches her first, slicing it off without hesitation and advancing on it. The demon isn't fazed with its loss this time as it reaches out with one of its main arms, claws outstretched. Lena ducks, her heart in her throat, and tries to kick out at the demon to no avail. She forcibly grabs onto one of the limbs—how many does it still have?!—slapping her way only to wince at its strange surface, and strides herself back behind the demon. There, she uses one of her larger and longer blades to plunge against the demon's neck.

She finds that she doesn't have enough strength to sever it, but she grits her teeth and pushes it further. Dark blood sprays, but it still isn't enough; the demon is flailing, more desperate than before. Never in her life—well maybe not this particular one—she's found herself so aggressive, so violent, but all she can think about is driving the blade across the demon's neck and hopefully decapitate it fully. It occurs to her that maybe daggers and throwing knives aren't the strongest weapons for this job. She isn't too physically strong for this, either.

As she struggles, the demon similarly does so against her. It attacks Lena furiously with its remaining limbs as it jerks its body, trying to shake her off. Her arms begin to sore from the effort of failing to kill off the demon in a go—she should have thought better than to underestimate the demon and overestimate herself. The creature's other extensions are now dragging her off its back, and she's soon flung into the air before she can reach out for her glass shard to escape, and because of that careless mistake, her pouch of glass is ripped away from her. Her hands slip away from the dagger still lodged into the demon's not-at-all frail neck.

Lena falls, hitting the ground hard. The demon's jaw is on her in a second, and this close, she very much doesn't want to be devoured into its endless maw. She is barely defending herself with trembling hands and a short blade—one of her last—that she presses linearly against the gaping jaw that is inches from her face. She kicks out in an attempt to distance herself from the monster, but it is unflinching in its endeavor to pin her down.

The blade doesn't even do the demon any harm as it presses against it, eager to get to Lena despite the sharp point. From the corner of her eye, she notices the mess of glass shards scattered all around them, all the contents of her ability's medium now available to her but not in the way she thinks and not at all in her grasp. Apart from the blade she has holding her against certain death, the sharpest one is still dislodged in the demon's neck, and her thigh belt has only one unsheathed dagger remaining. At least she can use the glass around her—

And that's when she notice something a little different on the ground, lying not too far away in a pile of glass shards. A curving dagger she doesn't recognize in her usual arsenal, its tip lined with a sleek of gold and the hilt red and noticeable.

Her distraction nearly cost her as the demon scratches at her arm, and Lena winces at its aggression combined with the sting of glass shards lining her limbs and her back as she presses further into the ground in desperation. Her hands are shaking now, and she needs to let go. Taking a deep breath, she rolls to the side as she release the forced tension over the blade, swinging it down instead at one of the glass pieces just as she kicks a scattered few in the air. Plunging the blade deep with force she musters as a killing instinct, Lena lets the blade take its course as she struggles out of the way, her hand scrambling for the foreign dagger she'd seen.

True enough, her blade reappears from one of the airborne glass shards and is dragged down by the combined force of her previous thrust and gravity weighing it down. She'd hoped to hit the demon's head directly, but with its unpredictable twitching and the too many glass shards taken into factor, the tip lands into the side instead—still better than nothing. This effectively frees her as she shoves herself out from underneath the creature as it recovers, and her hand comes into contact with the blade she'd secured her eyes on earlier.

Putting distance between them, Lena has a brief second to survey the new weapon. It stands out from her dull black and grey array of throwing knives and daggers, and through the half gold finish along its sharp end of the blade, she catches her own eyes staring back at her beneath a mess of hair and a bleeding temple.

And along the gold lining are two words embedded in cursive: aim true.

The demon's shrieks has her attention snapping back to it, and her new toy already twirling in her palms before she can think better of it or have herself overthink.

Despite the situation, Lena imagines time slowing as the tip of her lip curl upwards. Her aim is nothing but impeccable, and she has already wounded the demon enough for a final blow. Sure enough, when the creature charges her next, its movement are now sloppy—or it could be that Lena herself is controlling time itself with her medium directly at her disposal all around them.

Her boots crunching the shards, Lena approaches slightly and poises to flick the new dagger, aiming effortlessly true. Her affinity with throwing knives and daggers are truly a marvel as she finds her target, and even without a deep enough wound, the tip that sunk into the demon's flesh cracks upon impact. As if feeling its drawing death, the creature stumbles, eventually lifting its head at Lena once more before disintegrating into nothing.

Lena pauses, thinking she'd seen a sort of emotion cross the demon's entire composure before it had been dissolved entirely into scattered essence—but she very much doesn't care.

She had just killed one of perhaps many that she's about to face in the coming days. And if she'd struggled this much with a single being, she can only hope that the authorities know what they are doing by sending unprepared students into a zone filled with many more—and possibly stronger—unknown demonic entities.