When Lancer first broached the topic of training her to fight, of teaching her magic('Magecraft!' she could almost hear his voice correct her), Taylor had been ecstatic. She was going to learn from one of history's legends. A demigod was going to personally instruct her and show her how to fight against the villains infesting her city. Had she known the methods Lancer would employ, had she been aware of the sadistic streak that had him laughing and grinning as she worked herself to exhaustion, Taylor may have hesitated to agree to his training.

It was too late for her to back out now. Lancer enthusiastically woke her before the sun every morning and forced her to run at ever-increasing speeds, following behind her in his astral form and barking demanding orders directly into her head.

Winter break was supposed to be her chance to rest. She was planning to catch up on the sleep she'd been missing as a result of the trio messing with her. She certainly got her sleep, but that was only because she was too tired when she got home to do anything but eat, shower and sleep.

If dad had noticed anything, he hadn't said anything. That was fairly typical for him. Mom's death had hit him hard, and he didn't interact with anyone or anything unless he absolutely had to. He was still doing his best, but his best wasn't what it used to be. The only good thing about dad's current state was that he didn't ask questions about Taylor's training. She didn't know if she'd be able to answer those questions.

Taylor's muscles screamed in protest as she walked into Winslow. Opening the door made her arms creak. Walking up the steps made her legs feel like stiff logs connected by an unoiled hinge. Everything hurt.

'Keep at it, master! The soreness builds character!' Lancer's cheery voice said.

Taylor grit her teeth. 'I thought I asked you to take it easy on me so school wouldn't be difficult. Aren't you supposed to do what I say?'

'You are my master. Tell me to stop training you to the best of my ability and I'll stop.'

Taylor silently grumbled, but didn't say anything. As much as she complained, she couldn't argue with the results. Every day when they arrived at the warehouse Lancer had claimed, he inscribed runes on the ground around her and on her shirt. She still didn't know exactly what they did, but she was already seeing drastic improvement in her speed and strength after just a couple weeks of training. According to every physical training manual she'd ever read, that should have been nearly impossible. She had improved leaps and bounds in a small time frame, and Taylor knew it was all thanks to Lancer's tutelage and his magic.

Despite her screaming muscles, Taylor's lips pulled up into a small smile. It had been a long time since she'd had a friend, since she'd had someone who went to such lengths for her. Every day during break, Taylor woke up feeling a small jolt of fear, expecting Lancer to have abandoned her the way Emma did. Then she'd hear him yelling in her head to get up and get dressed so she could run to the warehouse, and, despite the foreboding sense of impending pain from his training, Taylor felt a small spike of joy to know he was still there, that he hadn't abandoned her. Taylor finally had a friend. Sure, he was an ancient, dead demigod who only existed in the world thanks to mana from her magic core, but he was still her friend.

Taylor's smile faded to an irritated frown as she rounded the corner into the hall where her locker was. There was a small crowd around the locker. Taylor recognized the sea of faces as those who occasionally joined the trio in making her life difficult with the trio themselves standing close to her locker. Apparently it was too much to hope they'd leave her alone after the break.

Taylor shoved through the crowd, letting out irritated grunts as her sore muscles strained with each bodily shove.

"Where's all the shit? We put it–"

"Did you really think I'd be stupid enough to leave my stuff in my locker over the break?" Taylor interrupted Sophia as she pushed her way through to her locker. "Look, I don't have the energy to deal with any of you right now. Just go away. We can pick this up later." Taylor pulled open her locker and hung up her backpack and jacket. There was a yelp of surprise behind her then a heavy thud. Upon turning around, Taylor saw Sophia pulling herself to her feet, shoving off the hands of her cronies that reached down to help her. "Watch your step. The janitors probably waxed over the break." Taylor said as she closed her locker. She started pushing her way back through the crowd, her smile back on her face.

'That was you, wasn't it, Lancer? She was going to try something, wasn't she?'

'I have no idea what you're talking about, master. I'm an immaterial spectre that is incapable of affecting the physical world.'

'Thank you.'

'Any time, master.'

Taylor got to her computer science class early and pulled up the internet to browse the top PHO threads before class. Nothing major had happened in Brockton, but there was a thread about a new Slaughterhouse Nine attack in Colorado. A small town she'd never heard of called South Park.

'We need to increase your training regimen.' Lancer said suddenly. He sounded angry.

'Lancer? What's wrong?'

'I will not go into battle until you are ready to defend yourself, but I detest these unrepentant murderers. They slaughter innocents with glee. The moment you're ready, we'll deal with them.'

'Lancer… I'd like to take down the Slaughterhouse Nine too, but they're too strong. Capes have been trying for years.'

'I am not a cape. But it's a moot point until you're ready to fight. That likely won't be for several months yet. Pay attention to your class, I'm going to patrol around the city.'

'Stay safe.'

Taylor felt through their connection as Lancer started to drift away from the school. Slow at first, but then he drastically picked up speed. Lancer was fast. He was easily outpacing cars on the highway.

Mrs. Knott started corralling everyone a short while later and Taylor shut down PHO. Class would start soon, and Taylor was eager to get it over with. Although, her eagerness didn't stem from her desire to be free of her tormentors as it usually did. No, now she wanted to get out of Winslow so she could keep training with Lancer.

For the first time in a long time, Taylor had a small smile on her face all through class.

X

I felt stiffed. The city didn't explode the night I got here, but it's just common sense that villains wouldn't be attacking targets every day. From a logistical standpoint alone, organizing and carrying out daily assaults on different targets was a nightmare. That being said, I'd been led to believe I'd be able to eventually fight someone. Taylor's winter break proceeded uneventfully aside from her training. The only reported incident that involved parahumans was a Christmas meetup with some Protectorate heroes.

The Empire, the ABB, the Merchants, Coil, the Chorus, a handful of solo villains I wasn't aware of from Worm but that Taylor had brought me up to speed on – none of them had done anything since I'd got here.

I exhaled long and slow as I stared down at the city from atop a skyscraper, Gae Bolg leaned up against my shoulder.

I was bored, but I'd live. Taylor needed to be my priority right now, and, despite my expectations, I was actually enjoying training her. It was fun to settle into the role Scathath had once filled for me. Taylor's lessons with me had a lot less blood and pain than mine did with Scathath, but that was intentional. Scathath was an amazing teacher, but that woman was certifiably insane.

Speaking of Taylor, she'd progressed far further than I expected over the winter break. In another week or so, she'd be ready to start learning how to fight.

I'd been mentally debating what exactly I should teach her first. Originally, I'd been planning to show her some martial arts and get her a weapon. After learning about her magic core, I was moving away from that plan. Without a weapon made to take Taylor channeling her magical power through it, anything she used would probably shatter after one or two uses. I didn't know if Tinkertech could solve the issue, and I couldn't think of anything off the top of my head that might be hidden in the world that I could nab for her, so I was leaning more towards showing her how to be a magical combatant.

But even that had issues. The problems with this course weren't Taylor's fault, they were mine. I was really good with runecraft, but I didn't know enough of any other branch to make Taylor an expert. I could show her the basics but that was about it. This wouldn't normally be an issue, but with her magic core, Taylor had the potential to be a first-rate magus. Runes could be used by just about anyone because of their low mana cost, but they weren't the greatest to specialize in if you had access to an abundance of mana like Taylor did.

I still intended to show her everything I knew because a skilled runecraft practitioner could become a monster, but learning and practicing with runes was a far more tedious path to magical power than Taylor needed to walk with her magical core. If the two of us experimented a little, we may be able to find some specialization to set Taylor apart. Rin used the Tohsaka's knowledge of jewelcraft she inherited, but I didn't have generations worth of improvements on a single branch of magecraft to give to Taylor. We'd be starting from scratch.

Maybe I was overthinking this? I could just lay everything out to Taylor later and let her make a decision about how to proceed. I wasn't the best servant for teaching an inept master, but I'd do my best, and Taylor was dedicated to improving. We'd make it work.

I hopped up onto the edge of the building and took a deep breath, inhaling the stale smell of the city.

This place really was a wreck. There were collapsed buildings that appeared to be destroyed during some cape battle or other that were taped off but were clearly not being worked on. Open drug deals in the middle of the day. Trash littering the street. And people just being dicks to each other for seemingly no reason. I saw a guy kick an empty soda can at a road biker passing by. It was a good thing it wasn't my job to fix this city, because I honestly felt it was too far gone. Maybe I could convince Taylor to talk to her dad about moving?

I snorted. Fat chance of that happening. Taylor seemed attached to this place. I wasn't sure if it was because her mother was buried here or because she genuinely wanted to make the city a better place, but it was a moot point. It would likely be very difficult to convince her to leave the city. It was best that I settle in for the long haul.

In the interest of that, there were certain things I needed to take care of. Well, really there was only one thing I wanted dealt with as immediately as possible: Coil.

The last thing I needed was for good 'ol Calvert to figure out Taylor was special and try to drag her into his empire or attempt to hurt her. The simplest solution would be to set a specific time, midnight in three days for example, and be prepared to kill him at exactly midnight so I could be sure the version of me in both of his simultaneous precognitive timelines would strike at the exact same moment. I was confident I could do it. His base's defenses weren't all that impressive against a foe that could just phase through them all and stab him in the heart. The biggest issue with this plan was that I would need to kill Coil at the set time or he'd know I was coming for him. If he was in his Thomas Calvert persona working in the PRT building when midnight rolled around, I wouldn't be able to back out, because there was a possibility he was running a separate timeline where I did follow through. That would clue him in to the fact that someone wanted him dead and potentially set him on Taylor's trail. And if I did kill Coil while he was in the PRT building, I'd make an enemy of the Protectorate, and they might try something against Taylor.

I wasn't willing to put Taylor at risk like that, at least not until I was confident she could take care of herself. That meant I had to put killing Coil on hold. I had some time yet before he'd move on Dinah… Actually, had Dinah even triggered yet? I wasn't completely sure of the exact timeline of Worm, so it was possible she wasn't having headaches yet. Either way, I had some time to get Taylor ready before Coil tried to kidnap her and killing him became substantially harder.

I tapped my thumb against Gae Bolg's shaft as a thought occurred to me. I really was over-thinking things, wasn't I?

I held a finger up and painted several runes into the air. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes, there was a faint red glow in them.