"Huff, huff... huff.. ahh... huff... huff..."

A Teria soldier uncloaked herself from invisibility after she had escaped to the forest's outskirts. Trees cast shadows on the woman's back as she fell on both knees, panting.

"Huff.. huff... Those guys..."

"What happened to the team?" A figure approached her from the front, and she raised her head up to look at the person. Her eyes bulged after finding out who it was and she immediately avoided eye contact, fear seeped into her entire body. However, the figure crouched and pulled the soldier's chin so their eyes would meet.

"...O-Officer Milloula," said the Teria soldier, "Those people are stronger than what they seem to be. We eliminated some of them, but still, it wasn't enough to make a dent in their defense. W-We can't get inside their base like this."

"You did fine! As decoys, you all did a very good job getting the enemy to come out here. We divided their fighting strength, and that's all that matters..." said Milloula with a wide grin on her face. "So, what were they like?"

"...Um, two soldiers, presumably their strongest assets are out there fighting. From the looks of it, each one leads their own group, Officer Milloula. These two people wiped out our comrades like it was nothing."

"Hmm." Milloula frowned. "That's pretty bold of them. So, they'd sent their most valuable chess pieces already to counter us. Not bad, I guess. But stupid. Yeah. If I straight up just kill these guys right now, then they won't have anyone to protect their base. Anyone notably fun to play with, I mean."

"E-Exactly, Officer Milloula."

"..."

Milloula stood up and cracked her neck, the metal bracers wrapping her forearms glittered in pale blue. "I'll get the rest cowering in their hideout. It seems like this will be a quick one for us, and for them."

The Teria soldier kneeling before Milloula Friegeaux haltingly nodded. Even though the defeated soldier was apart of Sigurd for a long while, she'd never seen a group of powerful Officers gathered in one place herself. These individuals made an appearance to eliminate the so-called rebels, out of whim.

From what she'd heard, those who witnessed the rare occasions of Officers fighting, they described the battlefield in one word.

Bloodbath.

Soldiers, mercenaries, whoever stood in their way stood no chance against a group of Officers. But this raid could be different? They didn't have any info on their enemies, and so far, the Sigurd languished under the tactics employed by them.

"...You think that we'll lose this one?" said Milloula to the kneeling Teria soldier.

"U-Um, no... Officer Milloula. It's—"

"Let me tell you this. When I was deployed along with a few other Officers, our group had never failed any missions we were given by the Sigrdrifa. No failure. That should tell you what will happen at the end of all this, right?"

Milloula's sardonic grin sent chills down the Teria soldier's back. The soldier nodded repeatedly, the reprieve from not being punished by Milloula was a warm balm, although Milloula herself didn't give much of a thought about the Teria soldier.

Petulantly, Milloula swept her eyes at her surroundings and cast a callous gaze at the Teria soldier.

"Eldrorrn will be in the front, just in case if those rebels have anything up their sleeve, and I'll swipe anyone I can. Pretty much everyone that gets in my way," said Milloula sharply.

Leader of the First Squad, Richarde Andersson was entreated by three of his subordinates after he walked inside the control room.

"Sir!" said Jessica, "The two groups we'd sent to fight the Teria soldiers had won. A few escaped, but the Second Squad is going after them. But.. should we ask those people and the First Squad to come back anyway?"

"Order them to come back. We need to reinforce our defenses right now. Aside from that, we have to evacuate the civilians. Take them to the cafeteria underground and have some of us around protect those people. Is that clear?" said Richarde.

The three individuals in front of him nodded in agreement and went back to their seats. Jessica's fingers flitted across her keyboard, tapping at its keys just when a man walked into the control room. She took a glance to see who it was, and the woman found herself gazing at the blonde man before Richarde. Her heart throbbed at the sight, her mouth gaped.

"Ah, Gawain. Good timing. I need your help in ushering the civilians to the cafeteria. They'll be safe there, I'm sure," said Richarde, his hand patted Gawain's shoulder, "Also, while you're on the way there... take Ava too. We can't have anything happen to her."

Gawain held a fist over his chest and closed his eyes. "I'll get it done. So this means I need to go over to her place first, right? What about Ludwig and Ayesha that are with her? Should they go with the civilians as well?"

"Ludwig is with Ava if I'm not mistaken. I'll have both you and him escort her underground. As for Ayesha, I'm certain she's already ushering some of the civilians on her own."

"Understood, Sir. I'll—"

"Gawain..."

Jessica approached him, her dismal expression pulled Gawain and Richard's attention.

"You need me for something...?" asked Gawain.

Jessica shook her head. "Are you keeping it under control? If you have trouble doing that, perhaps I can be of use. In some way."

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me... Anyway, Boss, I'll go right now."

"Alright," said Richarde.

Jessica watched Gawain leaving the control room, and when his figure disappeared into the corridor outside, her chest tightened. The blonde woman had tried to ignore the emotions building up, however, the fact that she could hear her heart pounding against her chest rapidly was proof enough—the feelings inside her hadn't changed.

As he watched the civilians ushered underground, Hope's gloved hands fidgeted, fingers brushed against the pistol grip and handguard of his bullpup assault rifle. The boy had his forehead bandaged prior to an incident back at an enemy's outpost, but he wasn't bothered by it.

"Oi, Hope. You're done there?" said a burly man Hope knew as Inghild, who walked up to him from behind, "The Boss is calling for those still outside to come back. We don't have patrols and the drones have become scarce after the ambush."

"I-I see. Um, reinforcing our defense is the highest priority and Boss knows this. We don't know when the enemy will attack us again anyway," said Hope, "Wait, aren't you suppose to guard the entrance?"

"There's an order from Boss for you, kid. You are to protect the civilians and remain on standby until further instructions."

"Huh!? Then, I'm not going out there?" asked Hope, his eyebrows drew together.

"Seems like it. The Boss needs you here more. Besides, what can you do if the Boss does send you outside? Against the Teria soldiers, you'll not last even five seconds."

Inghild shrugged and walked away from the hallway leading down to the cafeteria, leaving Hope there thinking about the statements he'd just heard. They were not wrong in the slightest. In fact, Hope rued over the possibility which he could still be a valuable addition to the fighting force. The blonde boy breathed a sigh, accepting the order he'd received.

Hope stared at the stairs leading underground. There were two options presented in front of him, where he could stay there in the hallway to guard or be with the civilians downstairs.

"...Wait, what about Ava?" Realizing Ava wasn't among the civilians he helped to usher, Hope shook his head and gritted his teeth.

"Ludwig is with her, so she must be on her way here." He uttered these words as an effort to deaden the fear gripping his heart. "I promised that nothing bad will happen to Ava again, but I'm here instead of protecting her. I just hope they're safe..."