Chapter Two. Upper Sixth Invocation

Walden starts her morning by negotiating with an imp-possessed photocopier, trading a chocolate biscuit and staples to restore function, underscoring her practical, containment-first approach. She hurries to the arcane lab, prepares materials, and discreetly introduces a location error into a ward as a safety test. As Upper Sixth arrives—Will, Nikki, Mathias, and Aneeta—she sets them to run the session themselves, observing with notes.

The group begins; Will rushes to draw a pentagram, but Nikki insists on safety checks. Mathias senses the ward error; Aneeta confirms the location is set to “this place.” The students collaborate to correct it, earning Walden’s approval and reinforcing the culture of vigilance over assumptions.

Marshal Laura Kenning arrives to observe. After a brief ethics discussion about the real-world use of fourth-order summons, Walden demonstrates: she invokes and reifies Vazirikal, models query and dismissal, then hands over. Will hastily but successfully summons and dismisses. Aneeta’s control is steady though her reification is indistinct; Nikki’s is textbook-perfect, eliciting a playful rivalry with Will.

Mathias, anxious yet powerful, overcommits energy. His unfocused invitation draws scavenging demons; Vazirikal is subsumed into a seventh-order archdemon that strains the fourth-order array. Walden ejects the students from the working, takes sole control, and confronts the threat with authoritative presence on the demonic plane.

Kenning unexpectedly steps into the pentagram, projecting her shortsword as blazing reified force and reinforcing Walden’s stand. The archdemon recoils; Kenning delivers a rapid banishment. Before Walden can close the incursion, the archdemon suddenly disintegrates. Walden snaps at Kenning to withdraw, but it is already too late, leaving the scene suspended on the hint of unforeseen consequences.