Just as we were about to enter the operations room, I spotted Chairwoman Sona, Saji, and a pair of kids.
The children all had worried looks on their faces.
“Mr. Saji? Are those scary dragons coming here?”
“Is the school going to be destroyed?”
Saji patted them both on the head. “Don’t you worry about a thing! We’ll take down those bad dragons! I don’t want you getting hurt, so be good and stay here, okay? Right, Chairwoman?”
“Exactly,” she answered, smiling. “Don’t worry about anything. Why don’t you watch one of the Breast Dragon videos? By the time this is all over, the bad dragons will all be gone.”
Hearing this, the children relaxed and left for the evacuation area.
Saji saw them off, then clenched his fists as he let out a sigh. “There’s no way I’ll let anyone harm this school. Those kids are looking to us for hope… And this is our dream, too.”
“We’ll defend it,” I said, resting a hand on his shoulder.
“It will be okay, Saji.” Chairwoman Sona nodded. “We’ve survived every other battle we’ve faced. We’ve protected what matters… This is just like last time. We’ll protect the town and our school again.”
“We aren’t letting anyone ruin this,” Rias added.
With that, we stepped into the operations room.
✦ ✦ ✦
There were only thirty minutes left until the end of the three-hour deadline.
We—the Occult Research Club and the student council—had just returned to the school from the underground shelter. Rizevim had said we had three hours, but I wasn’t counting on him to honor that. We remained on high alert, completing our preparations shortly after two hours. Then, with thirty minutes left to go, we returned to the surface and readied ourselves for battle.
It would be a relatively straightforward defensive battle. Our job was to defend the town—or rather, the school—until the mages completed their teleportation square.
Seeing as Ravel was a non-combatant, I asked her to stay in the underground shelter.
I was making my way down the hallway to the exit when Asia stopped in her tracks, distracted by something.
I followed her gaze to the wall alongside us, laying eyes on messages and drawings left by the students after the trial classes.
I WANNA BE THE CHAMPION OF THE RATING GAME!
I HOPE I CAN COME TO THIS SCHOOL.
I CAN USE MY DEMON POWERS NOW!
I GOT TO MEET THE BREAST DRAGON!
I CAN’T WAIT TO COME BACK!
I WANT TO COME TO THIS SCHOOL ALL THE TIME!
So many courageous souls.
The handwriting and the drawings might not have been top-notch, but the children were pouring their hearts into those messages, telling us what they had gained from this experience.
…It was overwhelming, enough to lift my spirits. It really tightened my resolve to protect this place. The others, I sensed, felt the same way.
All of a sudden, we sensed a presence approaching.
Men in soldiers’ armor were marching our way, though from their faces, they didn’t look like warriors. Could it be…?
“…The children’s parents,” Kiba explained.
Yes, these were the fathers of the visiting children, all of them ready to protect their families.
“We’re fighting, too!” one of them declared, stepping forward.
“There aren’t a lot of people in this town who know how to fight, and there aren’t any soldiers stationed here, so it’s on us to step up.”
“The more hands on deck, the better, right? There have to be other ways we can help besides fighting.”
“There may still be residents who didn’t make it out in time.”
Indeed, we were the only fighters here. That fact limited our options somewhat. If there were any civilians who still hadn’t evacuated, I doubted we would be able to rescue them on our own.
Earlier, Koneko had mentioned she hadn’t been able to use her sage arts to detect qi energy around the town. Apparently, those Shien flame pillars were dulling her senses… As a result, we couldn’t be entirely confident we had evacuated all the residents.
“They may be mass-produced, but they’re still Evil Dragons,” Rias said with a stern look. “There may even be legendary Evil Dragons among them… This will be a fight to the death.”
Right. We were dealing with terrorists and a horde of vicious Evil Dragons. There was no guarantee we would make it out in one piece. We would all have to put our lives on the line here.
Yet far from feeling daunted, the parents broke into bold smiles.
“All the same, please let us help, Lady Rias.”
“We’re just regular demons. Who are we to talk about protecting Agreas or Auros?”
“So we’re going to give everything we have to defend this school.”
“Our children have discovered their dreams here. It’s a beacon of hope for us—and something we want to stake our lives on.”
…They were willing to put their lives on the line. For their children’s dreams. For their family’s hopes. All while wearing the brightest of smiles.
Rias fought to hold her emotions in check, responding with a confident grin. “I won’t say anything more. Just promise me one thing,” she said, looking over the crowd of parents. “Don’t die. You have to stick around to see your children find success. That’s what this school is for.”
“““Yes!””” the fathers shouted as one.
We had made it this far, so we weren’t going to let the school be destroyed. We would defend it—without losing a single soul!
And so we geared up for a do-or-die defensive battle.