They made it back to town without further combat. There, they found the rest of The Order and Maple Tree looking exhausted.
“Welcome back…”
“Glad you all retreated safely.”
“It was a nightmare! Spells flying from the enemy survivors! Mii burning everything in sight!”
Mii had boarded Ignis and flown around starting fires, since there was little risk to her up there. Naturally, every kill she earned benefited her side.
“We found some fire-resistant monsters, quickly tamed them, and used them as shields.”
“Between protecting the twins and then covering everyone’s retreat, I’m all out of invulnerability skills,” Kanade said. “I had quite a stock saved up, too…”
His strength lay in his collection, but it took quite a while to repopulate. He’d have to change tactics in the next fight.
“And I’m out of walls and gizmos. In fact, I’m basically down to just bombs,” Iz said.
They’d burned through her items.
Like Frederica, the rest of The Order’s lineup were looking very tired.
Yui alone remained completely unaffected by exhaustion.
“They all kept me safe…”
“That was the idea!”
“You do more damage than all of us combined.”
A chorus of reassurances went up from the great shielders. They’d known this was the strategy going in. No matter how many of them went down, it was in service to their primary offense.
Everyone knew the twins had brought them closer to victory, and they had all done their part to help make that happen.
“Rest up, everyone. I’ll keep an eye on things outside,” Pain said.
“You workaholic! Hnggg, but I gotta take you at your word this time.”
Frederica sounded as chipper as ever, but the fatigue was evident on her face—she stretched once, then trundled off toward the castle with the rest of the rank and file.
“Maple, Sally, you get some rest, too.”
“Will do!”
This was not the time to push herself, so Sally did just that.
Tomorrow, she’d need to be out there with Maple, eyes peeled. And to do that effectively, she needed rest.
Thus, Maple Tree’s surviving members went to bed. Pain made sure Mii and Velvet had not followed them, then took a rest himself, preparing for battles that would come once the sun rose once more.
✦ ✦ ✦
While their opposition recuperated, Mii picked up Velvet and brought her back to town.
“There are lots of people we could touch base with, but no real need to do so—especially in your current conditions.”
Lily and Wilbert still had Kasumi’s debuff on them and were in no state to fight. Meanwhile, Vertex Voracity’s downside had left Velvet with substantially lowered stats.
The three of them were hardly the only fighters on their side, but there was also no good reason to start a fight without them.
“We’d hoped to down all three and get momentum on our side. Alas…”
Just as Kasumi had stuck her neck out to take Rapid Fire down, they’d hung back to take her out—and been unable to escape her debuff.
“Yeah, I’m, like, done-zo for the night. Totally wiped!”
“The next large-scale fight will likely settle things. We’ll be free of this debuff by then.”
“And my stats’ll be back to normal!”
“Then we have no cause for concern.”
“The question is just…how do we fight?”
The monster migration would be the impetus. And the first issue they’d have to deal with was Maple.
Lily and Wilbert had been so fixated on taking her out purely because they’d wanted to avoid having to fend off another Dark Rebirth invasion.
“Can’t see us doing well tackling her head-on.”
“Yeah, if she wriggles out from my attacks or Mii’s, we’re up shit creek.”
Pain’s holy sword would send torrents of light, disrupting their lines, and then Maple’s monsters would charge through the gaps.
They knew that would happen. Worse, they saw no way to win against it.
They had relied on Hinata, Marx, Misery, and Shin to delay the devastating skills and defend against those powerful strikes. Losing those four had left huge holes in their plans.
“I’m afraid we have no way of turning the tables.”
“Regrettably.”
Lily looked at Velvet and Mii, hoping they had answers.
“I’ve got one idea,” Velvet said.
“I also have a proposal.”
“Good! Let’s hear it.”
One last meeting before they rested. Lily leaned in to hear them out.
And what each said made the Rapid Fire leaders nod.
“Yes, that could tip the scales entirely in our favor. It’s worth trying.”
“Indeed.”
“I’ll need a bit of prep.”
“Yes, and our enemies are playing cautious. Venturing out and stumbling into a fight—they’ll not let you leave easily.”
There was nothing Velvet could do until her stats recovered. She’d just have to rest until then.
“Lily, Wilbert—if we put this in action, Rapid Fire are going to bear the brunt of it.”
“Yes. Fortunately, that’s what we’re good at.”
Before the invasion began the next day, they’d have to share this plan with as many players as possible and get plenty of rest themselves.
“It’ll be a tough fight.”
“But at least we have a path to victory.”
There were a number of tasks they needed to take care of before hostilities began. They’d have to get cracking on that at the first light of dawn.
“This event won’t make it to the last day.”
With the final battle looming, Rapid Fire got some much-needed sleep.
✦ ✦ ✦
The next morning, Maple woke to sunlight streaming through the window.
The castle was quiet, so there must not have been any enemy attacks during the night.
“Hnggg…!”
She sat up, stretching her arms into the air. Her fatigue was gone, and she felt ready for action.
Maple hopped out of bed and opened the door to the next room to find Sally standing there, moments from coming to wake her up.
“Morning, Sally!”
“Morning, Maple. All better?”
“Yep! You?”
“Mm-hmm, fully recovered.”
A proper rest was all it took to get her back to her usual performance level.
“C’mon, let’s go eat. We can talk strategy over breakfast.”
“Got it!”
They moved to the room Maple Tree were sharing and found Iz already there.
“Morning! Any lingering fatigue?”
“Nope, all better!”
“Good to hear.”
Iz was taking food items out of her inventory and lining them up on the table. Eating these would provide long-lasting buffs.
They weren’t as effective as skills used during fight, but even a few points could prove decisive.
And more importantly, they were delicious.
As Maple and Sally ate, the remaining three members arrived.
With everyone there, they started the briefing.
“The monster wave will start at noon, and I’d rather not fight before that.”
“Yeah, stick to the same plan, and we can avoid facing Mii or Velvet.”
“Right, they’re both crazy strong…but Pain’s ridiculous.”
Light Flux had a quick startup, and when Frederica had all the buffs stacked on him, it could wipe out everything in its way.
Their path to victory was clear. All they had to do was wait for that path to open up.
“So how will they play it?”
“They might have a trick up their sleeve. Like how we baited them out last night.”
“Oh? In that case, I’ll take them on!” Maple said.
There wasn’t anything preventing that, but Sally didn’t think she’d need to.
“Better if all the players in our camp work together.”
Even if Mii or Velvet rushed in, numbers would help.
They might both be good at AOEs, but as long as there were skills nulling damage or the attacks themselves, it would be tough for them to just wade into their opponent’s base.
“So we sit back and wait!”
“You’re good at that, Maple. If we play our cards right, we should pull off a victory.”
The way Sally saw it, the loss of the opposition’s defensive players gave them a big advantage.
“So what? Just keep thinning their numbers and wait?”
“Yeah, that’s about the long and short of it. We’ll leave Maple in the castle just in case. Uh, Iz can get crafting…”
Yui was their ultimate weapon but not much use outside of combat. Without a formation specifically designed to protect her, she was always at risk.
“I’ll keep my eyes peeled for any suspicious movement. Don’t wanna get pincered once we wade into the fray.”
“Cool. Who’s with you?”
“Chrome and me…and Kanade, if you come with, it’ll give us more options.”
“Okay, I can do that.”
The next big battle would almost certainly tip this event toward one camp or the other.
And for that reason, they needed to be as prepared as possible.
“Maple used Atrocity last night, but that was just before the date change.”
“Yep! It’s up again! Gotta save it.”
They were treating the skill less as an attack and more like an emergency evac. Fortunately, this event left them with plenty of allies who could rack up damage and be threats in their own right.
What they needed from Maple was to use the right skill at the right time to support the overall campaign.
Fortunately, Glow of Deliverance, Dark Rebirth, and her machine gun barrages allowed her to contribute even from the back lines.
“You’ll just have to make the right calls in the moment,” Sally said. “Stay focused!”
“Will do!”