*Beep*

Watching the lights slowly blink on the central monitor, Oryza once again heard the sounds of the call line connecting from his earpiece. As for the one on the other side… who else could it have been?

"Quies here."

"Oryza speaking. How is it over there now? Things look quiet from the satellite footage."

"90% operator casualties," she said.

For as flat a tone hers was, it conveyed an immense amount of nuance. Oryza understood now the reason she had been so adamant on having as many sets of FBDSs on site at the rift. But even as director, he could not force Sanders to comply with her requests. Instead, it became a tragedy. With casualties that high, he dreaded to hear how many had died, but he needed to ask it anyway.

"So tell me, how many deaths?"

"I'm unsure of it yet. When they become possessed by the night warden's song, they are able to completely ignore even fatal amounts of blood loss and injuries. I counted seven who have incurred fatal wounds, but they are standing fine and breathing without trouble. There's a chance it might be entirely possible to save their lives if they are able to get immediate medical treatment while they're still in this state."

"Really?" Oryza got off his chair in astonishment. Several of the nearby operators looked over at the noise.

"I would bet on it."

"I see, then I will have the medics sent out right away. I will also have another SGT sent out to help. After all that's happened, Sanders will no longer have a choice but to comply with your requests. Look forward to that."

"As it should have been in the first place," Quies said with a hmph. Her concerns were legitimate. Enough said.

…

"That concludes the report."

"Good work."

With that, Oryza had received the full report on the events that had happened at the airport's rift. The Specialist siblings were the MVPs of the night, for sure, and he would be sure to hand them an appropriate award for their accomplishments.

"Quies."

But, now that everything that needed to be said had been said, there was just one more thing he wished to bring up to the head of Scouts.

"Yes, director?"

"Did you know that this would happen? Everything, I mean. With the night warden, the white walkers, and all."

That was the question he wanted to ask her the most. From the start of it all, when the White Night had been discovered on the other side of the rift, she had pushed for all the security in the world to seal that rift event off. Even under the premise they were dealing with a great calamity, it was not like they had to deal with it head on. The bottleneck of the rift instantly made any dangers much less precarious so her reaction had been, to him at least, more than just a bit extreme and over the top.

Which was it then? Had her motives been driven because she knew of exactly the sorts of dangers that laid within? Or had it been simple overcaution in the face of a calamity? He wanted to know. It was, after all, impossible to predict what a calamity was capable of. The lack of common sense was the common sense expected for such a disaster.

Quies fell into a thoughtful silence. The answer she gave when she finally responded was one which Oryza had neither expected nor understood.

"…No, not to this extent. Not in this life."

"What do you mean—?"

Yet, before Oryza could get an answer out of her, the call abruptly ended and it had been done from the other side. The sigh he let out afterwards was deep and exhausting. He was not going to try to push it further. Instead, he needed to turn his attention back to what was important.

Though it was still premature to strike it as secured, the airport's rift event would soon be settled. He could hardly wait until that moment came. Of three crises, two would be entirely taken care of. Still, that nevertheless left the other one. With there having yet to be any good news coming from that rift event, it was one that would serve to be a nuisance that he could frustrate himself over and over again and still do nothing about.

"What kind of rift is sealed from the inside out? God damn…"

As he stared at the most recent report from the operators deployed there, he felt his head pulse like the precursor to the mother of all headaches.

[Missing taxi reported on the site of the Orange-nil rift event.]

…

…

"Brother, I have returned~!"

Riding in on a red scooter, the sister half of the Kitsune siblings returned. When she arrived, she was immediately taken aback by the sheer amount of the once possessed operators who were standing silent and unmoving like statues in a garden. Was it even safe for them to be here?

"What happened—?"

"—Azusa! Thank god you're okay. I had assumed the worst when the barrier failed to complete right away."

"Ah… Yeah…"

Before Azusa could finish asking what had happened while she was away, Azura rushed in and hugged her tightly. Her brother's actions caught her by surprise and she was left momentarily speechless. But when she felt how tightly he squeezed at her, she hugged him back and gently patted his back.

"There was more to do than I had expected, but I was safe for the majority of it being so far away from the camp and all. You know, I really panicked when I saw you finish the trigrams half before me. Luckily, thanks to the scooter Samantha lent me, I managed to cut a lot of the time I would have spent running."

"I see. Yeah… then it looks like I'll have to treat Samantha to something later."

Behind the two of them, the Felid in question perked her ears at the sound of free food and smugly displayed a v-sign detailing her victory.

…

It was around this time that the head of Scouts finally walked over to gather everyone's attention towards herself. With her hands slowly reaching out of her feathered coat, she clapped thrice and then congratulated them all.

"Good work, you all. You have done well to make it through this crisis. For that, you deserve some time off, for both rest and recovery. Paid time off, naturally."

Immediately after hearing this proclamation, the operators all became rowdy as they cheered again.

"Are you for real?"

"Holy shit, paid time off! It's time to go fishing!"

"I can finally stay home and watch vtubers all day long!"

Perhaps there was something to be said about the state of their livelihoods, for these guild operators to celebrate this much just from a reward of paid time off in return for nearly losing their lives. But these people certainly did not mind it. Rather, they even welcomed it greatly and with much fanfare.

"As for you pair of siblings, it looks like I was right to place my bets onto you."

"Pardon me… but what do you mean?"

Azura asked her with confusion. After the head of Scouts left them to take care of the night warden, they had never spoken again, so he had no inkling on what she could mean by this. Quies then elaborated further.

"After the night warden took over the camp, I saw the two of you moving with your shikigami in tow. I've been around long enough to know when someone is acting with a plan in mind. That was why I decided to place my bets onto the two of you and stalled for time against the night warden."

"What would you have done if we had failed?"

"Then I would have ordered a retreat, but thanks to you two, it did not have to come to that. Azura and Azusa, the two of you have done something noteworthy, distinguishable even. Be proud of what you have accomplished, for you have accomplished what only an elite could."

Maybe it was a bit stingy of her to say so little in the face of their achievement, but they knew enough from her reputation to know that actual true praise from the head of Scouts did not come easy. Then, after finishing what she had to say to the siblings, she directed herself back towards the still celebrating crowd.

"Settle down. Before you can rest, there is still much work left to be done."

Though their survival was magnificent and their deeds good, they could not rest just yet as the threat of the White Night still remained ever looming. With the night warden's attention no longer being occupied, it was now free to strike against the walls of the central barrier as it sought fit, "As you can see there."

Yet they would remain fine for the moment as the Kitsune siblings' addition to the central barrier reinforced it just enough such that there would be no risk of it breaking anytime soon. However, that only meant they should funnel their remaining resources on the other things that needed doing.

"Samantha."

"Yes ma'am."

"Are you able to continue with the original plans to rearrange the FBDSs without shutting any of them down?"

"I can certainly try to, but honestly I doubt it. It'd be another story if we had more sets of FBDSs on hand because array formations are just notoriously temperamental like that. If even the artes frequency is out of sync between the machines, it will be difficult to get it running properly. It might be possible for me to jostle the individual units to try to get them all to sync up, but that's also a risky thing to do."

"I see. Then do as much as you can for now. There will be a SGT coming with additional sets. Make sure to communicate with them when they arrive."

In a scene very reminiscent of what had happened earlier in the night, Samantha once again received orders from the head of Scouts to do what she was good at. Hopefully, she would not get interrupted again.

"As for those wounded… Are there any medics present?"

The air was hushed and nobody raised a voice in response as Quies surveyed the survivors. Still, the awkward steering of their gazes betrayed their silence as they all knew there was in fact one medic present. It was Messie, though she was merely one still in training. Not that it stopped her from giving treatment to the operators who were injured during the defense however.

With the last few moments of the siege being how it was, it sent Messie through an intense roller coaster of emotions where she had her prayers falsely answered, crushed into oblivion, and then finally saved at the last possible moment. Understandably, she found herself collapsed to the ground in a mess of dirt, grime, and tearful sobbing. It was difficult for her to get it all off her chest at once. But now, as it was the case for the others, there was work for her to do and she could no longer continue to sit around simply crying.

"You?"

As she was addressed, Messie looked at the head of Scouts slowly. She was intimidated by her presence but that was something of a common running theme among the guild operators. It was something near unanimously agreed upon– by the Scouts in particular– that Quies was a scary woman, with a scary appearance, who oftentimes gave out scary orders without batting an eye. So with this in the back of her mind, along with her current course of emotions, Messie was unable to face up to such a dreadful reputation easily. But, slowly recomposing herself and wiping her own face with her sleeves, she then raised her hand up like a child answering a teacher's question during school.

"Yes ma'am… I'm a medic in training with two years of experience."

"What's your name?"

"Messie."

"Come with me. There are quite a few among the possessed operators who are in need of immediate medical attention. I need you to attend to them now."

"Is it safe to approach them…?"

Messie was worried as she glanced at the once possessed. Though they have since stopped attacking them, they remained standing strong. With the trauma of the siege still so fresh in her mind, she was immensely hesitant to approach.

"Yes. The night warden's song either works or it doesn't. Under the previous conditions, those of you who resisted it from the beginning would have been fine no matter how long you became exposed to it. On the other hand… these ones became possessed the moment they heard it. I don't know what may happen to them from now on, or how long it may take for them to recover, if at all, but as long as our current conditions persist, they will no longer be a threat to you or anyone else. Nevertheless, they will be taken to a medical facility for further monitoring… but it will take time for additional helping hands to arrive, so do what you can to treat the ones with the most grievous injuries."

Once Messie understood it was safe to approach and went over to Quies's side, the head of Scouts turned her attention to address the remaining operators.

"As for the rest of you, make yourselves busy. The camp is a complete mess right now. Clean everything up and perform a complete inventory."

""Yes ma'am!""

They all acknowledged her orders and dispersed.

…

Among those who dispersed at Quies's command, Y'ihex was the only one who headed straight towards the central barrier. With the terrors still so fresh in everyone's minds, nobody was insane enough to approach the night warden so soon again, but the Felid Scout had a good reason to.

After he had heard what Quies said about the fates of the once possessed, he immediately thought of his childhood friend. She saved him once, but he failed to take a hold of her back when this all started and it ate away at his heart and mind the entire time.

"Merya!"

He cried out her name the moment he saw her and his chest began to beat so rapidly that it started to make him nauseated. She was right where he had seen her last, behind where the storm wall had once been. He was infinitely grateful that she was put out of harm's way and that he never had to face her on the other side of his shield.

"Merya?"

He called out to her again, but as he approached and saw her expression blank and unresponsive, just like all the others, he felt his heart sink.

"C'mon Merya, it's me, Y'ihex! I'm right here. Say something already, won't you? Ah! Is it because you can't tell who I am without your glasses? Where did it go?"

Y'ihex searched for them. They were not on her face, nor were they anywhere nearby on the ground either. It must have been blown away when the storm wall was placed down. But then he remembered that Merya would always keep an extra pair in her bag just in case.

"Here it is! Atch!"

He dug through it without permission, but he found it at least: a teal colored glasses case with a soft rattle nestling inside. When he went to open it, his fingers slipped and the case snapped over them. The spring on it was stronger than he had expected, but trying once again, he opened it and found the extra spare.

"Yikes!"

However, as he went to take the glasses out, his scraped and weary fingers fumbled and he dropped it straight to the ground. He tried to snatch it as it fell, but remained just a half second too late. Panicking, he quickly scooped it back up and wiped the lens with his shirt in fear that it had gotten scratched.

It did.

"Oh… sorry…"

With a slight tremble in his hands, he clumsily placed it onto her face. Now, she looked exactly the way he knew her to.

But… even then, she had not reacted to him in the slightest.

"Merya… say something to me already. C'mon, don't you always have something smart to say to me whenever I'm being stupid? I've known you for far too long for us to say goodbye like this…"

—But of course, no matter how much he called out… and no matter how much he bargained his hopes towards the wind… nothing would change.

Absolutely nothing would change.

…

…

"So…" Azusa let out a slow and winding call towards her brother.

Watching everyone spread out to do their own deeds, the MVPs of the outbreak both sat idly by without any responsibilities of their own. Though everyone had gotten their own assignments by the head of Scouts, the two of them had been– and perhaps intentionally– left out.

"…I sure am tired," she finally finished after a long pause.

She was exhausted. Though she felt fine and energized only a brief moment ago, once everything had concluded, she felt the burden of her fatigue press down on her shoulders all at once.

"No kidding. Tell me about it."

Azura agreed the same. He was exhausted as well. But not just him, everyone was.

…

"It's a shame about the charm father gave us."

"I think we're skilled enough to make a new one ourselves now."

"You think so, brother?"

"We can certainly try."

…

"What time is it?" She asked him.

"I don't know, probably around 0400 hours."

She then sighed as she touched her stomach.

"Instant noodles sure sound good right about now."

"It really does. It really does."

…

"What do you think Hua meimei is doing right now? Do you think she's gotten herself into any trouble?"

"Her? She'll be fine," he laughed, "that girl will sooner or later stand next to the greats and elites of the world. If anything, it would have been great if she had been here to help us out. Things would have been much less stressful, I think. Who would have thought all this would have happened when we left her back at the guild?"

"Yeah… who would have thought?" She chuckled as she repeated those words sleepily.

"Who… would have thought?"

…

…