LONG WALK BACK

"Fire!"

Julian yelled as he sent a volley of lighting arcs at a gathering of abominations. Sebastian seeing this ducked under a slab of stone to shield himself from the blood and innards that followed right after. 

The abominations had now completely overwhelmed the orphanage and its defenders. Sebastian and Julian had to retreat to the manor itself and try to hold it for as long as they possibly could. 

The children were safely hidden on the lower floors with the injured men. Unfortunately, they couldn't save all the men that had been turned into puppets but they could hardly be blamed. 

There were just too many abominations, although they were far more tamed because they were being controlled but that also made them far too coordinated. 

But still, these abominations were nothing but Minor Terrors and Disasters. Julian, Sebas and the remaining knights were proving to be quite the challenge for them. 

Somehow they weren't suffering too many losses, just injured men. But that hardly meant a thing to Sebastian. 

As far as he was concerned they had already lost too much. 

The Dean had died protecting some of the kids. The children he died protecting were also dead. When he turned to the side to glance at the waiting room and the massive gap in the wall Sebastian's heart ached. 

Lying in the midst of the rumble was the corpse of the massive cyclops with the shards of the wooden door sticking out of it. 

Sebas had no idea how he was able to do that to the things. He just did. 

What made him so perplexed was the scale of it. It wasn't like it was out of his league it's just the amount of Will it would've taken him to freely control vines to that extent, should have left him weakened.

But here he was still fighting. 

He was still not at his best though. After his exchange with the nurse and having to raise the shield, a lot of his Will had ended up depleted. But still, that wasn't enough to keep him out of the fight. 

He was just too furious, though not enough to cause him to act recklessly, but still furious enough.

This situation still made so little sense to him that he believed that these kids and men were actually dying for nothing. 

From the attack on the manor to the missing kids, then there was the Calamity who had gone haywire. It all seemed to have been cleverly orchestrated, but by who? To what end?

Just then Julian landed right beside him. The young man looked as impressive as he did when they first met. 

Auburn brown hair with green eyes and a face so flawless it seemed like it was sculpted from marble. 

"Lieutenant… we can't keep holding this place. Even your Captain seems too preoccupied. We need to go somewhere else."

Julian said as he launched his spear at one of the beasts trying that tried to climb over the rubble that separated them from the abominations. 

"The manor walls are strong, it'll hold. Running with this many kids would leave us too open, they'll pick us off one by one… And even if we run, where to?"

Sebas replied as he peered into the crowd of abominations, believe it or not, they were dwindling but still not enough to take any risks. 

Julian gave Sebas a curt nod before leaping right into battle. Sebastian meanwhile something else to attend to. 

As he walked through the manor halls he could see guards and Knights flying all over as they did their best to defend the orphanage. The hall only had adults, there were some instructors and grounds help who chose to aid with the battle effort in any way they could. 

The only kids that remained on this level were the dead ones. 

The teachers had pale gazes as they covered up the bodies of the children. The rubble had ended up killing more kids than any abomination. Staring at them Sebas could barely hold back his tears. 

Just then he heard something buzz in his ear and following it was his Captains cool and collected voice;

'Diagnostics?'

Sebas couldn't answer still focused solely on the bodies that surrounded him.

A part of him wished to scorn his Captain for leaving them mid-fight, but that wouldn't be fair to him. If he were to blame anyone, it would be himself and his inadequacy. 

'Dead children… so many of them.'

Sebastian suddenly muttered.

'Hfmph… listen kid. Yes, there are dead children I can imagine. But there are also those who are alive if you want them to remain that way you have to pull yourself together okay?…"

Faux said his voice as firm as ever.

"…Yes Captain.'

Sebastian managed to say. He didn't know why he was so affected by the loss of children. He had been trained not to flinch at the sight of corpses– even that of his sisters. 

It wasn't even like the children were part of his mission.

'Diagnosis.'

Faux asked again, and Sebas immediately replied;

'Sir the battle here is cruel. The first line fell. Julian and I are currently trying to hold the things from coming into the orphanage with the men we have.'

'That's fine. Now I need you to grab the kids you have and leave. Run as far away as possible east.'

'Sir but there's the mission?'

Sebastian asked, the mission was the most important thing. Had his Captain suddenly forgotten his training? 

'Screw the mission. Get those kids to safety.'

His Captain's reply was shocking. The mission came before everything… but Sebas didn't have a choice his Captain's orders were absolute. And to be honest he didn't really mind.

So he asked;

'…And you Sir?'

'…I'll radio when I need you.'

With that Faux disconnected, leaving Sebas to stand in the midst of the dead.

Just then he noticed something. The yelling and clashing of metal had reduced. No, it had completely died down. 

Perplexed Sebastian left the makeshift morgue and the body he was about to inspect and ran outside. 

All the knights and instructors stood at a place, some had let go of their blades while others knelt, staring wide-eyed at the scene before them.

When Sebastian climbed the rubble to gain a better view he was just as stunned. 

Julian soon stepped out from behind him with a slight smile.

"Where do you think they are going?"

He asked his lips still curled upwards. 

Sebas didn't answer immediately he was still trying to analyze what exactly was going on. 

All the abominations were fleeing, strolling forlornly back to the forest they had crawled out from. 

Their men meanwhile– the few that remained, stayed back standing with their stark white eyes staring right at the orphanage building.

There was something strange with how they swerved, almost like…

"Get the children! We have to get out of here now!"

Sebas suddenly yelled. 

'Something was wrong, terribly wrong!'