(Written while listening to: "The Dawn Will Come" by Trevor Morris on YouTube)
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"Thus the highest form of generalship is to baulk the enemy's plans; the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces; the next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field; and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities."
From "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu
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There was no time for rest yet.
Despite the massive casualties the Incandescent Order suffered they still had their duty to uphold towards their people.
All remaining Knights alive took over direct command over militia forces and started to organize the still shaken population, handing out supplies, tending to the wounded, setting up "accomodations", which for most were tents, set up around parade grounds and identifying anyone with useful skills or professions that could be put up to work while under siege.
But all that didn't include Laito.
"Thank you, Sir Soot, for your concern, but for now you are dismissed. You did your part already. If you want to help any more… you need to find a way to do that on your own." Heavily wounded Lord Commander rasped out, while he was accepting the streams of reports from all over the place and continuously handing out orders.
So while everyone was unimaginably busy, Laito had found himself with no idea what to do next.
He headed back towards Keep's centre and took a look over the mustering grounds. The Knights were perfectly in sync, their work flowed without any major interruption. They were using the last final moments before the emotions started catching up with still still dazed civilians.
Laito observed that process in real life.
People one after another burst out crying. Laments. Some in outrage. Some in grief.
Others just found themselves a random place to sit and stared in a random direction. Completely detached.
The Order couldn't risk anyone committing suicide as that would turn the dying one into an enemy, so they moved quickly to ignite a spark of "indominable human spirit" within anyone who needed it.
Yet, there were so many more civilians than Knights right then. Even with the help of the guards that would be a long process. On top of that there had to be someone to patrol the walls at all times regardless of the strength of their divine fueled defenses.
At that point Laito was completely at loss. He had no idea why he was still there. Facing and surviving a fucking CURSED DEVIL was probably enough to grant him a "Glorious" apprisal several times over…-
But nooooo~
He was still there. Nothing happened.
He looked around. Although he could recognize faces of most of the people there, some were more familiar than others in his eyes.
One in particular stood out a bit for him.
Lighto sighed and headed towards her.
In some random secluded corner under the Cathedral walls sat a lone shaking and sobbing person.
He approached her and sat heavily, more or less 2 meters away, without saying a word.
They just sat there silently for a few minutes, the person kept crying and he just stared at the… not sky, but the upper part of the dome really.
—
—
—
Few minutes passed.
"
"Stop what? Imma doin' nuffin." Laito responded while confused.
"Your shoes…-
"Huh?" Laito also looked at his shoes and he noticed his shoelaces were now tied so that they made two Eiffel Towers made of themselves.
"Oh. Sorry 'bout that. I have always used my quirk randomly whenever I'm nervous, so that's what it gets like." He admitted while consciously ordering his "Eiffel Towers" to tie back themselves into normal knots.
"
He quickly waved her off.
"Nah. Cut the crap. Just Soot is fine, the same as always. And I have no idea really, to answer your question."
"The Order's Aspect Inspector said that it's the weirdest ability she appraised in her life. No essence usage, without unlocked Aspect and overall quite useless. It was kinda baffling for her to be honest. The only thing she could say about it is that it's, in fact, more connected to the concept of "binding" itself than to shoelaces per se, so maybe someday it will be actually useful. I hope."
"Uh-huh.
"I know, right? But that's just what I get." He shrugged and both of them fell quiet again. She stopped crying though.
—
After a minute she asked quietly. Almost whispering.
"You were also there…- weren't you?"
"You mean at "the line"?" He made sure.
She nodded, hiding her face in her knees, again shaking slightly.
"Yea, that was messed up…- You remember a lot of it?" Laito asked, with concern in his voice.
Dory shook her head weakly. "Not much…- just bits, here and there. Scary bits."
"Hmm. Master Marigold brought you back to the Keep?" He asked, though he knew the answer.
"Y-yes, he brought back most of us kids…- after we woke up. He is resting right now."
'Figures. He is probably in an Essence deprivation coma after overusing his Aspect so much.' Laito mused to himself.'
–
"~What is going to happen now? Are we all going to…?~" Redhead asked with a fearful whisper as if she was scared of the possible answer.
"For now-" Laito interrupted her. "-we survived. The Incandescent Order will keep repelling the enemy until reinforcement arrives. The details are in the Lord Commander's gesture, he will figure it out."
"It's the undeniable truth though, that the bad guys are not going anywhere unless we make them."
"So… we are being besieged."
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[4 years left until MHA plot beginning]
[Chapter End] The story is not over yet