When Cara opened her eyes, she found Katie watching over her. After sitting up and standing, Cara turned to walk back to training. However, Katie chased after her.

"Wait!" Katie called out. "You're trying to get stronger, right? I can help." Cara turned and gave her a signal to continue. "Most people incorporate their Aspect into their fighting. I saw you using earth magic earlier, and I can help you with that."

Cara let out a sigh and showed Katie the Aspect page of her system. Katie chuckled. "Don't tell me, I'm the only person you know well enough to copy," she said. Cara nodded, and Katie continued. "Well, I can teach you a little about my Aspects, and maybe we can get Jordan to help you later."

Cara agreed and the two worked together for a good portion of the day. Katie would show some of the techniques for earth magic she had developed, and Cara would practice until she ran out of mana. Then they would swap to Katie’s other aspect and learn more about it while Cara recovered. They continued this pattern for most of the day.

Around mid-afternoon, the two girls went to find Jordan. Jordan was undergoing some training of his own but stopped when the two girls approached.

When they found him, Cara wasted no time in getting to the point. "My aspect gets stronger the better I know someone," she said, looking at Jordan.

Jordan's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Okay, and...?"

Katie stepped in to explain. "Cara needs to have a deep conversation with you so that she can get stronger.”

“Oh alright,” Jordan said nodding, “I guess we can talk during the night watch,”

And that is exactly what they did.

***

“So where to begin,” Jordan sighed looking at the night sky, “Well, my parents were big believers in ‘The Book of The Overseer’ and I was raised in a temple to Fear Herself,” Jordan looked down at his hands, “It was one of the temples that took the line that said believers would be the first line of defense literally so I was trained to use my body as a weapon. I’m talking Martial arts and everything, the whole shebang,” He lifted his knees to his chest, “Honestly it’s kind of hard learning that this person I thought was a benevolent deity turn out to be this cruel person only looking for the entertainment of her sponsors,”

He looked to Cara who seemed unfazed throughout the conversation and sighed again, “You know, I’ve always been a little jealous of you,” Cara tilted her head in confusion, “You never seem to care about anything and I’m over here worried about everything. I just wish I could be like you sometimes,”

Cara avoided eye contact with Jordan while she came up with the words, “Don’t. I chose solitude because of who I am. I did not choose to be who am I, the world did,” Cara stood up and began to walk away, “I am going to do a perimeter of the building,”

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As Cara walked around the building, her thoughts were consumed by the conversation she had just had with Jordan. She hoped that her response had not upset him, but she knew that it was important to be honest with him. She shook the thought out of her head, she preferred not to think about things like that.

To distract herself, she opened her system and checked her relationships tab, only to find that it had been updated with new information. The text that appeared on her screen surprised Cara: “Jordan Steele, Aspects: The Protector, Unstoppable Force, Understanding: 35%”.

She had known Katie for a year but her understanding of Katie was only 15%, yet after one conversation with Jordan her understanding went up to 35%. Of course, her conversations with Katie were fairly surface-level and one-sided, perhaps that could be why. The other interesting thing was the aspects. She understood what The Protector does intuitively, yet nothing would come to her when she thought about Unstoppable Force. She would have to ask Jordan when things were less awkward between the two.

She sighed as she walked and secretly wished that a demon might appear so she had an excuse to fight. Alas, no such thing happened. She continued to walk around the building without rest until her night shift was over.

In the morning, Cara assembled the team she had assigned for demon-fighting duty. Since they couldn't go into town due to Jared's presence, they headed in the opposite direction. After a while, they spotted a small army of demons, and Cara frowned as she observed it.

"Jared defeated an entire army of demons by himself," she said. Her friends looked at her with confusion. "Maybe I can do it too," she declared, and dashed forward, sword in hand.

Katie was about to protest but was silenced when she saw Cara slice through five imps in a single fluid motion. The four of them were left in awe, unable to believe how much Cara had progressed in just one day.

Cara continued to take down the imps with her swift and skilled attacks, quickly dispatching the 100 demons that stood in their way. As they reached the Sword Demons, she put the techniques taught by Katie to good use, using spikes of earth and other moves to make quick work of them.

But the pit fiend was a different story altogether. Without hesitation, Cara charged straight towards the demon, her sword raised high. The demon roared and swung its massive arms down at her, but Cara was too quick for it, deftly dodging and weaving around the attacks. She then made a swift and calculated move, slicing off one of the demon's arms and causing it to howl in pain.

The demon's anger was now fully ignited, and it lunged towards Cara with its remaining arm. But Cara was ready for it. With a wave of her hand, she summoned a wall of stone to block the demon's attack, and then used the same magic to summon a massive boulder which she hurled at the demon with all her strength.

The boulder struck the demon with incredible force, sending it flying back and crashing to the ground. It struggled to get back up, but Cara was already there, her sword poised and ready. With a swift and powerful stroke, she decapitated the demon, causing its body to turn to ash.

Cara panted, her heart racing with adrenaline as she looked at the pile of ash that had once been the pit fiend. Her friends rushed over to her, cheering and congratulating her on her victory. Even Katie was impressed, her eyes wide with amazement.

Her victory was short-lived as she remembered a crucial detail that she had overlooked - Jared wouldn't sit idly by and let her surpass him. He was just as determined, if not more, to become stronger and more skilled in demon hunting.

The thought weighed heavily on Cara as she considered her options. She knew that she couldn't keep up the pace forever, and the fact that Jared had a monopoly on the best hunting spots made her situation even more challenging. She would have to find a way to outsmart him, but she had no idea how. The task seemed daunting, and she felt overwhelmed.