“Central Park is under attack from every direction!” came Raul’s despair-filled voice. “They’re targeting our mages! The barrier won’t last much longer!”
Finn swore he could hear Valletta somewhere, laughing at him. He put his mind to work immediately, searching for a way out, but grim fate was not content to wait for his answer.
“None of the strongholds can spare anyone to send help! We’re doomed!”
“The horde’s just too big! What are we supposed to do?”
“Even Vana Freya can’t defend Babel from all sides at once! Anyone else we send in there is just going to get themselves killed!”
Finn was at a loss. He couldn’t divert any more first-tier adventurers without sacrificing the defense of the strongholds. Finding the numbers was an impossible task, especially since Babel needed protecting from every angle.
Perhaps if I abandon one and redirect the guard… No! If I sacrifice the people now, morale will drop to an all-time low! We can’t suffer another loss like we had on the night of the Great Conflict. We may save Babel, but it’ll all be for nothing if the city and its people are lost! Valletta still has forces monitoring the city walls. Not much, but enough to make things difficult for us!
The hectic situation demanded every aspect of Finn’s powerful mind, and it was critical that he maintained the guise of the coldhearted hero: prepared to make any sacrifice if it would bring him victory.
The only choices left now were suicidal, guaranteed to cause the chain of command to crumble. But if they were the only way forward, then…
“…Hmm?”
It was at that moment, lost in thought, that Finn’s wandering eyes fell on something.
“C-Captain? What’s the matter? What have you seen? …Erk!”
Raul followed his gaze and saw it, too. To the north, three figures, making a beeline for Central Park.
“Is that…?” he asked, shocked.
“…Noir?”
Finn completed the question, equally dumbfounded, as he recognized them. The three veterans of Loki Familia, running wildly through the streets, cutting down all in their path.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Yaaaah!!”
“Gruuuh!!”
Noir’s slash drew a death cry from the monster. He continued on through the ruins of North Main Street, slicing apart the parade of fiends, starting from the back.
“You got any more, Dyne?”
“Yup, picked these ones up just now.”
“Well, hand ’em over, then!”
Dyne passed something to Noir, which he slipped under his clothes.
“Now we’re ready! Let’s give those monsters what for!” yelled Bahra, waving something she’d snatched from the Loki Familia home before their departure—the trickster’s flag.
“Right, then! Off we go!” cried Noir, and he and Dyne joined her, disappearing into the monster horde.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Wh-what are they doing? They’ve lost it!” cried Raul, watching events play out from the rooftop of Guild HQ. “You can’t fight them alone! Come back!”
But Raul’s screams went unheard by those he sought to warn. The veterans all wore grim, determined smiles, slicing and dicing a path through the horde.
“Noir…don’t tell me.”
Finn already knew what they were thinking. There was only one solution to the current predicament, and Noir, Dyne, and Bahra had figured it out first. The veteran adventurers had gone on ahead, sparing Finn from the difficult decision that had to be made.
Over on the enemy side, the Evils were beginning to notice, too. It was Vendetta’s squad who spotted them first.
“M-Master Olivas! We’re under attack!” cried a scout. “A handful of adventurers have engaged the monsters in the north!”
“What?!” Olivas scowled. “Those foolish adventurers! What do they hope to accomplish?”
Burning with indignation, he led his troops northward.
Meanwhile, the other adventurers saw the changing tides.
“The monsters…they’re heading north?” remarked Shakti, perplexed.
“C-Captain! Look!”
Her subordinate pointed to a spot amid the horde…where a single faction’s war banner flew.
“…Loki Familia?”
Beside her, Ganesha wore a look of deepest regret.
“…So that’s what you’ve chosen, brave warriors…” he said, his heart full of anguish.
Even the younger ones among them were starting to notice.
“Don’t tell me…”
“…They plan to die out there?!”
Falgar and Asfi watched on in shock. Bete, Aisha, Samira, Filvis, Amid, Nahza, Tsubaki, Mia, Fels, Hedin and Hegni, and the four Gulliver brothers—all knew what the frenzied cry of the veterans meant.
“““Rooooooaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!”””
It was a funeral dirge sung by old warriors and meant for the new. As they hacked a path, turning red with the blood of their foes and themselves, they left behind a comet tail of light. They held out life’s flaming torch for the next generation to take, and with it, they burned the raging shadows to ash.
“Noir!!” Finn screamed. For the first time, and the last, he dropped his guise. For one moment, he was not the callous commander…but a fledgling hero concerned for his dear mentors.