Rio crossed her arms with a grin. "Alright, all of you just about made it back here alive, so let's go through what happened." Leaning back on the table, she wore a smirk bordered only by repugnant confidence from someone who just made it out alive.
Bruce grunted. "For heaven's sake. Can't we just toast to the fact that we're not dead together?"
"Absolutely not," said Rio while clapping her hands together. "Because I just witnessed some of the worst teamwork I've ever seen—rightly so, for I once watched Julius beat a monster while arguing with a chicken vendor over the price."
Julius shrugged. "It was highway robbery, and I shall stand by my words."
"Fine," Lawlet said, sighing. "So give us your take."
Mistake #1-Charging the Beast Recklessly by Bruce
Rio first focused on Bruce. "You. What were you thinking when you charged at the beast alone?"
Bruce shrugged cattily. "Easy. Smash."
"That was not a plan," came Lawlet's muffled voice from behind his palm. "That was a sound effect."
"I almost made it!" Bruce insisted. "If Lawlet was shooting instead of screaming, I wouldn't have been that wide open!"
"You mean to tell me it's my fault you got sent flying like a sack of flour?" Lawlet intoned.
"Absolutely."
"You're insane."
"Listen here," Rio interjected. "What you really did wrong is not communicate. You charged like a bull with no coordination, so you were basically a sitting duck. That thing was playing with you, but not in a nice 'let's-wrestle' way—in a 'let's-how-far-do-you-fly' way."
"And fine. Next time I will put an announcement before my awesomeness."
"Please do," Rio replied in a deadpan voice.
Mistake #2-Hesitation by Yulli
Then she turned to Yulli. "And you."
Yulli shuddered. "...Me?"
"Yes, you. You were standing there for a full ten seconds." She mimicked his expression of shock. "Like, 'Oh no, a terrifying monster! What do I do?''"
Yulli hung his head. "…I froze."
"I guess you did," Rio said softly. "And I understand. First time, right? In front of real death?"
Yulli nodded slowly.
Rio sighed again. "Listen, kid. Everybody freezes the first time. Makes sense. But what's important is how early you snap back to reality." She pointed at him, "And you did. You pulled through in the end."
"…But I still wasn't strong enough."
"No one is at first," said Julius, finally chiming in, sounding a little softer than usual. "The only thing that separates a dead Hunter and one that walked away is learning from that weakness. You freeze? Use it to grow stronger. You hesitate? Find something worth fighting for."
Yulli sighed. "…True."
Rio smirked again. "Good. Because I will not allow you to embarrass yourself like that again." She then directed her fiery brows at the last person.
Mistake #3-Running Out of Mana Mid-Fight by Lawlet
"Lawlet."
Lawlet stilled. "I know what you're going to say."
"So say it."
"…I ran out of mana."
"Bingo."
Bruce snorted. "Wow, imagine being a mage and forgetting to manage your mana."
Lawlet shot him a glare. "Imagine not dodging."
Bruce flipped him off.
Rio chuckled. "Alright, listen. Running out of mana mid-fight? That's a death sentence. You need to manage your reserves better or find a way to increase efficiency."
"Got it," Lawlet muttered. "I'll train my reserves."
"Good, because next time? I won't be around to babysit."
Mistake #4 : Remi's role as support.
"And you," Rio lastly directed his gaze at Remi.
Remi blinked. "Me? But I didn't even fight!"
"Exactly," Rio replied, lifting an eyebrow. "You were support, right? So tell me, what did you actually support?"
Remi attempted to argue but froze.
Lawlet chuckled. "Damn, she got you there."
"Hey! I was handling telepathy and mana reinforcement!" Remi shouted.
"And?"
"And—" Remi faltered. "And...I panicked when it got bad."
"Bingo," said Rio, thrusting a finger her way. "Your job was to keep everyone connected, right? You should have been watching everyone's conditions and positions, looking out for Lawlet when he was about to run out of mana."
Lawlet gave her a look. "Yeah, not gonna lie, almost dying because I ran out mid-fight? Would've been great if you had caught that sooner."
Remi huffed. "Well, excuse me for trying to not die myself!"
Bruce grinned. "Maybe if you used telepathy on yourself, you could have reminded yourself to actually be useful."
Remi punched him on the arm. "Says the guy who got launched like a ragdoll."
Bruce winced. "OW! You don't have to bring that up every five seconds!"
"I do, actually."
Rio laughed. "Alright, alright, enough bickering. Remi, your takeaway?"
Remi sighed. "Be more aware of the whole battlefield, not just reacting to what's happening in front of me."
Rio nodded. "Good. Because next time? You're the difference between your teammates making it out or not."
Remi's expression turned serious. "Understood."
Final Thoughts- "Congratulations, You Sucked Less."
Rio stretched her arms over her head and sighed in satisfaction. "Whew! Alright, kiddos, now that you've all been properly humbled, let's talk about what comes next."
Bruce groaned. "Please tell me 'what comes next' is a nap."
Rio grinned. "Nope. Training."
Bruce's face fell. "I hate it here."
Lawlet adjusted his glasses. "Training to do what, exactly?"
"To not suck," Julius said, as bluntly as ever.
Yulli and Remi winced.
Rio smirked. "More specifically? Training to get stronger, so next time, you don't have to rely on someone else to save your asses." Her expression snapped into a firm presence. "Because next time? There might not be a Julius around to step in."
The weight of that statement sunk into the room.
Yulli's hands turned into fists. He recalled that battle, the fear, the helplessness, the sheer difference in power. If only he had been a little bit stronger…
"I want to train," he said.
Bruce chortled. "Well, damn. You're motivated for once."
Yulli looked at him, dead serious. "I don't want to feel like that again. I don't want to be a burden to you guys."
Bruce gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "Tch. You weren't a burden. You were just weak."
"That's the same thing."
"Yeah, but one of them can be fixed." Bruce cracked his knuckles. "Guess that means we all gotta get our asses in gear."
Lawlet adjusted his glasses. "If I'm being honest, we were embarrassing. There's no way I'm letting that happen again."
Remi exhaled. "Yeah… I need to step up too. I have the mana to support people properly, but I panicked. If I had been more alert, maybe things wouldn't have gotten that bad."
Julius chuckled. "Looks like you got some fire in you after all."
Rio crossed her arms, looking at them all with approval. "Good. You got the right attitude." She turned to the door and jerked her thumb. "Training starts tomorrow morning. 5 AM sharp."
Bruce choked. "FIVE?! AM?!"
"Yeah. Any later and you'd still be useless."
Bruce looked like his soul left his body.
Lawlet sighed. "I should have expected this."
Remi groaned. "I regret my decision already."
Yulli, however, felt something different. A weight in his chest had lifted—for the first time, he wasn't alone in this.
He looked at his teammates, his friends.
No matter how hard the training was, one thing was certain.
They'd get stronger. Together.