The next few days were spent arranging everything in the slums. L.G.D. and R.I. started their cooperation, establishing the isolation zones and slowly evacuating the Infected that had clean identities. But slums weren't a place where many people had clean identities.
Only about 30% of all people living there met the requirements to be accepted by R.I. as patients, and another ~20% could be relocated into a previously prepared special-designated district for infected citizens. The remaining ~50% had to be kept in the detention caps set in the already demolished parts of the slums. And those unidentified and criminal elements were the perfect powder keg for Reunion to exploit.
And that exactly what happened, causing L.G.D. to rush around while trying to contain the riot. Ch'en rushed with those who were present at the moment toward the riots, while Swire organized the main force. Hoshiguma took the special unit to help Ch'en; Lin helped them navigate the slums. And in the middle of all of this, I stood atop a vantage point, observing everything happening below.
-"Be advised, there is movement in area 4-C."-I spoke into the communicator.
-"Roger that. L.G.D.3 on standby. Over."-Hoshiguma responded.
-"Roger. R.I. 1 will move to intercept. Over."-Amiya's voice sounded next.
-"Roger. R.I. 1 shall move to 4-C to respond to the threat. L.G.D. 3 shall be on standby to assist. Over."
-"Wilco. Over."-Amiya confirmed.
-"Wilco. Over."-Hoshiguma also confirmed.
-"Roger. Out."-I ended the communication.
-"Ugh, can't you use normal language?"-Certain Apple-Pie Angel next to me complained.
-"Rules are rules, better to comply than to cause misunderstandings."-I shrugged.-"Shouldn't you do your job?"
-"My job is to guard you, my Holy Son."
-"Weren't you hired by R.I.?"
-"Penguin Logistic was indeed hired, but I'm now officially an agent of Notarial Hall assigned to assist the Holy Son."-She showed a proud expression.
-"Finally got to use that diploma, huh?"-I shook my head.-"Good for you, but your friends seem to have run into some trouble..."
-"I'm going!"-She ran to help even before I finished my sentence.
I just smiled and continued observing. While not without any issues, for most of the day, nothing outside what we predicted and prepared for happened, but when the sun started to set, the first signs of something bigger started to appear.
-"Co##r#l, t### i# L.##D# 3. #e #nc##nt##ed e###es a# 6##; im#ed##te ###is##nc# i# re##i##d# O##r#"-A garbled messege suddenly sounded in the radion, for what I could understand, I somewhat managed to decipher the author.
-"L.G.D. 3, say again. Over"
-"#on##o#, t##s #s L#G##. #. W# ##co###er#d ##e##es a# #-B; i##e#iat# ass#st##c# i3 r#qu#re#. #ve#."-The message sounded again, still garbled, but together with the previous version, I managed to decipher it.
-"Roger, L.G.D. 3. All forces close to 6-B are to immediately provide assistance. I say again, all forces close to 6-B are to immediately provide assistance. Medical assistance is to be on standby. Over."
-"L.G.D. 2 Wilco. Over."-Swire responded and started to move her unit.
-"R.I. 2 Wilco. Over."-Ace's voice also appeared in the comms.
-"Med 1 on standby in 5-B. Over."-Warfarin was next to respond.
-"Roger, L.G.D. 2, R.I. 2, Med 1. Out."
-"Control, this is L.G.D. 1. We encountered an attack at 3-C. 5 wounded, 1 severe. Asking for med evac for the injured. Over."-Ch'en's voice sounded a little tense and angry.
-"Roger. R.I. 1, please provide assistance to L.G.D. 1. Over."
-"R.I. 1 Wilco. Over."
-"Roger. Out."
I looked at the locations of the emergencies. I didn't know what exactly I was looking for, but after noticing familiar fire near where region 6-B was, I knew that this was the signal for me to act.
-"This is Control. Talulah's presence confirmed at 6-B, moving to intercept. Out.
-"What!? Contr…"-I heard Swire's surprised voice, but I ignored it and started to move.
Using the roofs, I quickly moved to where Talulah's fire was, meeting up with Hoshiguma and her unit.
-"Newbie!? What the hell are you doing here?!"-She grabbed my shoulder and almost crushed it.
-"My job. I'll deal with Talulah; you should evacuate."
-"Are you Insane!?"
Once again, I ignored those around me and grabbed my Arts Unit, writing in the air and speaking, my voice gaining a choir-like reverberation, a sign of my Banshee bloodline.
~"Dolor corda lamentantes accelerat; Pro amore et rebus olim possessis. / Cum unum magna ex parte materiale sit; Attamen ambo fere semper deplorantur. / Diu homo ex animo suscepit; Artem belli cruenti et atrocis. / Et nimis saepe amor deseritur; Solum ut rationes egoisticae componerentur."
The words spoken weren't in my usual Lateran dialect, but in the older Teekaz variation of that language. As they echoed around the streets, all the sounds of fighting quickly disappeared. If one could see under the masks of Reunion members, one would see their eyes were empty, as if they had lost their spirits. Even Talulah stopped attacking, clutching her head as if in pain.
~"In communi fundamento quidam consentirent; 'Omnia iusta esse in amore et bello'. / Sed dissentio, quia manifestum est; Amore magis opus esse. / Historia nobis narrat de proeliis gestis; Una cum multis causis cur. / Et etiam hodie, adhuc valde perturbamur; Scire multos adhuc pugnare et mori."
My words continued, and soon, rioters started to throw down their weapons, all the hostility and anger disappearing from them. This was the exact power of this spell: dispelling the animosity and its causes. Anyone with a will weaker than mine would find it impossible to fight, and the weaker the will, the faster their hostility would fade.
And there were few who could compare the strength of their will with a mage, let alone a god like me. But all those inconsequential pawns were nothing to me; the only person that mattered to me was Talulah, and her reaction to my spell showed that it was working. While she was still emanating with hatred few could match, I could feel a familiar spirit deep inside that cold exterior, confirming that Talulah I knew was still there.
But before I could feel happy, she attacked the ground below her, breaking free from my spell. But the person controlling her knew that my spell could break his control over Talulah, so he made her escape, leaving the Reunion members behind.
~"O magnum esset amor si se diffunderet velut pestis; Omnes inficiens et malam voluntatem eorum humilians. / Faciens ut tenebrosae memoriae odiosae evanescerent: Semper debilitans desiderium necandi."
I ended my spell and looked at Hoshiguma, who was staring at me with her mouth agape. Her unit was no better; everyone was looking at me with awe usually reserved for heroes in stories.
-"I suggest you get moving before the effects of my spell disappear."-I told them.
-"Right…"-Hoshiguma nodded, collecting herself.-"I owe you one, Newbie. After all of this is over, I'll invite you for a drink."
-"Sure, but for now, we should help Ch'en. Talulah's appearance here was only to delay you, not the climax of those riots."
-"Of course."
Leaving part of the force to deal with the surrendered enemies, Hoshiguma and I quickly moved to meet up with Ch'en. We arrived in her area in record time, joining the fighting happening there. Hoshiguma rushed forward to support Ch'en while I remained in the back, assisting them with my Arts.
With the main force of L.G.D. present, the Reunion and rioters were quickly crushed, though there were few casualties on our side. I looked at Ch'en, noticing that her state was wrong; she was blaming herself, but that blame then turned into anger, not sadness. This kind of aimless anger was dangerous, as it burned bright and quick, but it left behind painful scars that rarely heal properly.
The question now was, should I stop her, or help her? From what I already knew about Ch'en, if I were to stop her, she wouldn't accept it gracefully, more likely turning me into another Wei in her eyes, someone who can sacrifice even his dignity for some purpose. But if I'm to help her, she'll burn herself, and the person who emerges from the ashes might not be the same Ch'en.
But changes, even if drastic, are not always bad. I glanced at my left hand, thinking of the same type of flame, a flame of fear and survival, that pushed me to plunge the Primal Glintstone Blade into my heart. I didn't know what would happen back then, but at least I had some fallback plans. She had no safety net, so I made my decision: I'll let her burn brightly, while I build a support for when she needs it.
-"Officer Ch'en! What about Misha?"-Amiya ran to Ch'en's side.
-"They took her."-She shook her head.
-"This… We need to rescue her."
-"No."-I stopped in.-"You need to focus on the task at hand."
-"But…"
-"No buts. Don't mix private interest with public duty, don't let emotions cloud your judgment; ask that Evil Spirit behind you, there is no place for humanity in strategy, right?"-I said with slight sarcasm.-"The people in slums need every available personnel to help to identify and relocate them before it gets worse. Reunion isn't destroyed, just pushed back."
-"I don't agree."-Ch'en shook her head.-"We need to push our advantage to end it once and for all. Continuing to be on the defensive would only expose us to more attacks."
-"While we will indeed be targets, we would be far from exposed; on the other hand, if you follow them out of Lungmen, you'd be going headlong into a trap."
-"I won't sacrifice someone just because it might be dangerous."
-"Sacrifice? Aren't you jumping to conclusions a little too quickly? You barely confirmed that's the girl's identity, and now you are about to leave your job just to follow her trail?"
-"I'm not leaving my job, I'm attempting to pursue retreating Reunion to end this mess before it could harm Lungmen more."-She didn't back down.
-"Ch'en, are you sure?"
-"Yes."
-"Good. Then do it. I'll stay here and deal with everything I can."-I nodded and started to walk back.
I could feel her gaze behind me, a mix of stubbornness and disappointment.
While Ch'en took almost the whole L.G.D. forces to pursue fighting Reunion, I got to work on continuing the clearing of the Slums. Out of over 60 zones, only half were fully cleared, the other 10 are under control, but still not fully evacuated, and the rest are out of our control. With the remaining L.G.D. personnel, it'll be good if we could keep those 10 areas under control, let alone move to the remaining ones. As Hoshiguma left with Ch'en, only Swire and I were left to deal with the mess.
-"It's bad."-Swire commented after reading through the data I compiled.-"I heard that Yanese Censors appeared in the city, Wei can't stop them for too long."
-"We have two days at most before drastic measures are ordered."-I nodded.
-"Eno, be direct. How much can we achieve before that?"-She looked at me.
-"If no riot happens, we could clear another 7 zones and take control of 5 or so more. But I believe we should change our approach."
-"How?"
-"Ignore the control, work with Lin to take out as many innocent Infected as we can. While on paper, we will look rather bad, all that matters will be handled."
-"Indeed, this is a better plan. But won't that give Reunion more chances to act?"
-"With our numbers, we can't do much."-I shrugged.-"At most, we can make some traps and prepare for what is to come."
-"Sadly, we have no idea what their target will be."
-"But we can make an informed guess."
-"Oh? Please tell."
-"Reunion can't take over Lungmen, so their actions are solely to spread their name and attract Infected. Currently, what is the greatest cause of fear and source of their resentment in Lungmen?"
-"Wei, city government, and capitalists."
-"Exactly. And who is acting on their behalf?"
-"We."-She looked at the map before us.-"So they will target us and commercial regions."
-"Yes. I can confirm that their targets will be L.G.D. HQ and Paci Plaza nearby."-My eyes under the helmet turned golden as I glimpsed into the future.
-"How should we proceed then?"
-"Would you rather trap the attackers or prevent the destruction?"-I looked at her.
-"Prevent the destruction. We can't let them succeed in their plan of making us look bad."
-"Then I'll set up a bounded field that would hide this whole area, replacing it with an illusion so that they don't notice anything wrong. We can abandon it then, focusing on securing other zones."
-"That would indeed help us. But will that whole Bounded Field thing hold up?"
-"I'll stay behind to watch over it."
-"Sigh, you truly are blinded by your love, Eno. Stop risking your life just to make up for Ch'en's mistakes."-She sighed and looked at me with eyes that were filled with some indescribable emotion.-"I'm starting to get envious. How about you ditch Ch'en and come to me?"
-"First, I'm not blinded by love. Second, I'm not risking my life; even if Lungmen were to explode, I would emerge unharmed. Lastly, emotional matters are between two people; trading relationships would be disrespectful to both Ch'en and you."-I answered her seriously.
-"Fine, I'll get you myself."-She smiled her confident smile and started to walk outside.-"I'll leave the matters here to you. I'll meet with Lin to deal with the slums and the infected."
As she was passing by me, she quickly kissed my cheek and hurried her steps. I shook my head, not understanding the friendship she and Ch'en had. For the rest of the day, I walked around the empty corridors, rooms, and shops of the HQ and Paci Plaza, laying runes everywhere.
From the corner of my eye, I already noticed the first signs of Reunion scouts appearing nearby. They didn't make any moves, just watched from a safe distance, so I let them be. They wouldn't take action for at least one more day, waiting for Ch'en to fully commit her forces in the wasteland outside Lungmen.
I also listened to the periodic reports about R.I. and L.G.D. main force actions. They managed to catch up with the retreating force and destroy them, though I think something must have happened in the process, as I could hear strain in the voice of the person who relayed the report.
After that, R.I. took part of their forces back to Lungmen while L.G.D. took rest and started searching for any other Reunion forces, most likely caused by Ch'en's wish to see and confront Talulah. But what I didn't know was that everything that happened in the wasteland proved exactly what I pointed out to them before.
Luckily, they managed not to suffer any real casualties, only injuries, but Ch'en's disappointment in me turned into regret, regret of not listening and planning better to avoid the situation that happened. She was also ashamed, not knowing how to face me. She knew that everything I did wasn't due to some romantic feelings, but just to help her, and she just rejected me due to her anger.
It would be only later, when all that bottled up emotions erupted, that I understood that no matter how serious or stoic she tries to appear, she is just a girl who never learned how to deal with her emotions.