Is it wrong to stop the long night

Reinforcements

Loki sat in her office with a dead look in her eyes. Ais was dead, her head having been sawed off in the middle of the night while she slept.

She didn't even have a chance to fight back. What made it even worse was that Evilus planted her head in her front yard just to show they could.

None of the guards heard anything, meaning the person who snuck in was either very sneaky or they just got rid of their presence.

Riveria was off in her room, drowning in hysterics with Alicia by her side. Aki and Raul had taken control of the familia for the time being. Along with Alfia and Gareth's help, they were running a smooth ship.

With the promised day soon approaching, Loki felt a small sense of dread fill her stomach. The big fight hadn't even started yet, and she was down two first-class adventurers and multiple lower-level ones as well.

Add to that the general unrest in the city wasn't helping anything. Constant bombings and no answers meant the blame fell on the Loki and Freya familia, causing their reputation to fall even more.

The city was at its boiling point, with riots threatening to break out any minute.

Loki perked up as the door to her office was open. Raul hobbled in, still not having his full mobility back, but he did ditch the cane.

"I've doubled the guard and have made sure Ais will get a proper burial," Raul said.

Loki gave him a sad smile. "Thanks, Raul, but I feel terrible losing so many of my children in such a short amount of time."

"That's to be expected. Don't worry, once Bell comes back, he'll give Evilus and the Empire an ass-kicking they won't forget."

Loki slightly smirked. "Hope he's holding up ok. His falna is still burning strong. But where he's trapped, I wonder what he'll be like when we get him back."

"Changed, but I guess we've all changed a little bit since the expedition failed." Raul pointed to his eye. "Case in point."

Loki chuckled. "You know you've been coping with that loss pretty well."

Raul shrugged. "Why waste time over something that's lost? The others here need my help. No need for me to wallow in grief over a missing eye."

Loki's smile grew. "You've grown up since you woke up. You're not that timid boy anymore. I'm proud of you."

Raul slightly blushed. "Oh well, thanks." Raul sputtered.
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Aki and Raul stood over a map of Orario. It was late at night, and the two were alone in Raul's new office as Vice-Captain.

They were working on possible plans and procedures to keep civilian casualties as low as possible for when the promised day arrived.

"We could try housing them in the Hostess. You know Mama Mia would kill anything that got close with hostile intent." Aki pointed out.

Raul nodded as he grabbed a pawn chess piece and placed it on the hostess. "Yes, but it would eventually be overcrowded. We can't house them here as a majority of our fighters will be well fighting, so the manor will be lightly guarded."

"We could try and see if Baldr or Poseidon would allow them on the Education district," Aki suggested.

"That's true, it's big enough to fit thousands of people. But it could get shot out of the sky, or it would become too packed. But it's not a bad idea."

Raul moved another chess piece on the map where the education district was hovering.

"But a good way to minimize civilian casualties would be to hold the Empire and Evilus off at choke points."