That was when Hector's perception flashed forward, to the daemon that interrupted their trip. The squads each were traveling while remaining in radio contact of each other. They were preserving the fuel of their gunships. Hector's squad had none, simply carrying their equipment on ground transport vehicles. Another soldier in Hector's squad had called out at the same time as a high-pitched scream pierced the silence of the day. Hector swung around.
The group had taken a short break, with their vehicle stopped. They were all playing outside, or sitting down. Either way, everyone had time to relax. The scream was the little girl, with her stuffed animal. She was being held by a tendril, belonging to a shapeless, flesh-coloured beast. Hector didn't know how it had gotten so close without anyone hearing it beforehand. But that was not the issue. Hector's mind focused on a million things at once on a slow day.
Now, everything was focused on her. Every muscle movement, every breath, every thought, was to rescue her. He had to. Even if it was a daemon that captured her. This was the first daemon Hector would have ever fought. He would call for help, for a hunter, but he knew there were none in the squad. They were alone.
The girl's screams grew louder as the creature opened it's mouth, and had eaten the girl. Her stuffed animal lay at the creature's base, below where the girl was being held a short moment ago.
That short moment was all Hector needed to get to the scene. It had eaten her, but he would fish her out of that thing if it was the last thing he would do. Everyone else was paralyzed with fear until a black wind dashed past them, with speed enhanced by magic. The others ran to the vehicle and brought out their equipment. That black wind was Hector. He always kept his weapons with him. A sub-machine gun with explosive bullets that could have the strength of their explosions enhanced by technomancy. And a plain, pike-like spear, whose edge could be sharpened and strengthened with magic. Hector was circling the daemon, firing the gun at it with one hand. He didn't care if he used all of his magical power on on this fight. He could live without it until it replenished. And besides, he was a fantastic mage. His output was high, and he could use magic for a longer period of time than most, out of pure efficiency and knowledge of magic. He knew out to put his magic to good use to reduce how much he used at a time.
As he circled it, firing the explosive rounds at it's body, Hector approached closer and closer. He could see the girl, after blowing away the regenerating exterior of the creature. Hector holstered the gun as he rocketed closer, and he drew the spear, and ran forward, pushing his legs and magical ability as far as they could go. The girl was being wrapped by a regenerated maw attached to what appeared to be a solid stomach, it's teeth sinking into her within a second of Hector reaching the toothed stomach, and spearing it, ripping it from the main body and carrying himself, the girl, and the speared stomach all forward together.
Hector landed on his feet, the spear holding the small stomach, and the body of the girl, still caught on the teeth. Hector had expected the teeth to not have sunk so deep into her. He thought that he could resuscitate her. People died from more serious things, the bite should not have been this deep, he would have turned around and continued fighting if the girl had been dislodged from the stomach he ripped out and fell into the creature, he would have-
Hector interrupted his thoughts by dashing back to the vehicle, where, by now, the others had brought out more heavy equipment. Hector used his fire magic to burn the teeth from the stomach, so that they could be pulled out safely. Leaving the girl there, he turned around only after hearing a nearby gunship approach. One of the others must have called for backup. Hector left the girl on the ground, a short distance away from the vehicle as he saw an adult medic slide down a rope from the helicopter, once the air vehicle had gotten closer. Luckily, this was an adult who, while not a hunter, knew holy magic, and medical training.
When Hector turned around, he saw the creature. It was taking the form of the girl it sunk it's teeth into. Her face was there, but proportionate to the creature's body, which also began to morph to resemble something more human-shaped. There were no eyes, only eye sockets.
Hector used his technomancy once he had picked up two small rocket launchers. The helicopter would provide heavy fire that would obliterate the creature, regardless of what Hector did, but he had to do this. His hatred would not permit otherwise.
He had used his technomancy to aim the guided rockets, once he fired both, into the empty eye sockets of the creature. One rocket in each. The explosion was loud, but fulfilling.
Hector's perception leaped forward again. He was holding the corpse of the girl in his arms as he walked to the grave he dug for her. After putting her in, he turned back, and retrieved her stuffed animal. Hector had only ever referred to it as a stuffed animal, but he saw that it was a rabbit. Only in that instance. He placed it into the grave with her, and turned around.
. . .
Hector opened his eyes, looking at the surroundings of his room. Books and computer equipment were on the shelves that were ever-present throughout the room. The smell of dust returned to his senses. He should really hire a maid to clean this place. Or do it himself. Hector got up and checked the time. It was 2:30 A.M.
Hector grabbed his head with both hands. He needed a mission. Badly. The nightmares were coming back. He knew that only a mission, only real combat would alleviate his shell shock. But, it looked like that would not occur, with his home-room teacher being dead. His schedule was to not go to classes on some days. He often scored perfectly on tests, and anything that he needed to do to not get kicked out of the academy. All he needed was to attend a few days of classes and missions, and his nightmares would be in check. Those few days were enough. He hated to admit it, to himself more than anyone, but he probably needed to fight on missions. That way, he could be at peace. Ironic, that he would likely only ever be at peace while fighting war.
What he needed was a distraction. He called up the delivery for coffee.
Hector had another solution to his problem: He would build something.
. . .
A few hours and seven cups of coffee later, Hector had finished his device. It was just a rifle, on the surface. Only on the surface. Each bullet was charged with magical energy from the gun that caused the rounds to glow brightly as they left the barrel, and burn through their targets. Or burn into them and remain there. The bullets could barely burn entirely through thicker targets. Once they lost their burning capability, they rested in the target like an ordinary bullet, albeit in a larger hole than the caliber of the bullet allowed. It would be useful for fighting larger creatures that were organic.
Hector frowned for a moment before pushing the memory out of his head. He decided to spend time reading a book until the morning.
When morning came, Hector received a message from a robot behind the door. As Hector answered the door, he feared that he had gone over the stipend he had been given. Seven cups of coffee, after all, was a bit much, even for him.
"Kazuhira, Hector, your home room has been changed to Second floor room, 2-2-1-3, you will now report to Superior Professor Asher Donovan during your mornings here at Anthemia, do you have any inquires?"
"No."
Hector shut the door, and got ready for the day. He would be in a homeroom run by a celebrity. Hector didn't consider this to be too special. He hardly kept up with celebrities. In fact, he would not be shocked if Professor Donovan was just as uncaring of his celebrity status as Hector was.
Hector got cleaned up, dressed, straightened his tie, and placed his knife, staff, and wand in his bag. He thought of bringing the rifle, but he decided against it. After all, it didn't have any level of automatic action. Each bullet had to be loaded individually, and the next bullet had to be brought into the firing chamber manually after each shot. Although Hector was familiar with the system's use, he was too lazy to pull a bolt after each shot. But still...
Hector left for the classroom, leaving his hat in his room. He avoided eye contact as much as possible. That was simply how he enjoyed to do things. Once he reached the room, he chose to try and limit his interaction with the girl at the door to a glance. He entered, and began to head for his desk, before he turned around. He forgot to say good morning to professor Donovan.
"Good morning, professor. I'm Hector Kazuhira. It's an honor."
And with that, Hector sat down in his seat, at the front of the classroom, by a window, waiting to see whether he may receive a new mission or not.