Army of the Damned

VOLUME 16 Chapter 8

It was already midnight when the city had mostly calmed down, though the situation had arisen to the point that police patrols needed a pair of military personnel to be with them and tanks rolled through the streets and gunships kept a watchful eye at the alleyways and tunnels with their blinding spotlights.

The citizenry had gotten over the initial panic and now, many had set their sights on getting out of the city, if not, shoring up its defenses as all directives were now thrown into building as many fortifications as humanly possible. City construction itself has mostly been diverted from maintaining roads and infrastructure to building trenches on the beaches and dugouts in the forests and valleys.

Mines and many other types of explosives were also being laid, with hundreds of thousands being thrown in every possible inch, leaving only the roads as safe havens as forests have been littered with warning signs and concrete barriers are erected on important key points of the city.

Jackson who was now in an office at the top floors of the 8-Gon stands up from his leather chair and walks towards Bahamut who was lazily sleeping on the sofa. Not touching the fine steak on a plate in front of her.

Kneeling down, he slices a portion and offers it to her and she opens her mouth as she tightly hugged a pillow. "How are you feeling? You really used a lot of your strength there." he pushes his face up hers and makes contact with her forehead, making the Dragon go beet red which made him giggle.

Seeing his face so close to hers, she pushes the pillow up her face, blocking his view of her but he buries his face on the pillow and tightly hugged her, followed by a pat on the head. "Heh. You're so cute." he stands up, just to see Alana who was leaning forward with her chin on her hands. "You're so cool, M'Lord." hearing this made him blush, laughing as he looked at the map where Elizabeth was with her Black Knife who was now wearing a stylish black turtleneck and jeans. "I agree with the Countess. You're a very fine gentleman, My Lord. We are very lucky to have met you."

Out of nowhere, Elizabeth holds his hand and gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. "We'll make it through this, My Lord. Worry not, together, things will always work out. Just as we did in Zavalda." She removes his visor cap and begins combing his hair. "A Knight's greatest weapon is his virtues."

"And who knew it was that those who wear nylon hats will have heavy heads. As if your duty is lighter yet just as heavy. It became far easier to send people to die in the future, has it not?"

"Hm. Back in my country, war involves the entire community. So if your neighbor has sent their child to die in battle, so is yours. I wanted to fill in the place of a child, no kid should go to war. It's a thing meant for us adults, as payment for our mistakes in letting violence fester for so long." He lifts his hand and softly places it on the Queen's cheeks. "Magnificent." with a light blush on her smiling face, he turns around and returns to his desk.

His body relaxing on the grand leather chair meant for a 5 Star Supreme General, Jackson sighs as Alana slowly leaned forward and handed him a cup of tea. "Thank you." she then sat on the edge of the table, gazing over Bahamut who has aggressively used the fork to puncture straight in the center of the steak and she'd take little bites with her body facing the ceiling on the sofa while the Queen was looking at her Black Knives, gloating over how pretty they all look.

"M'Lord, what breakfast should I prepare for you? Something with meat perhaps? Vegetables? Cheese only? Or perhaps me?" This made him chuckle as he sipped the tea. "Some meat and a bit of you, why not?" She stands up taking the small tea plate with her as she sits on the sofa opposite of Bahamut. "I shall go for a grocery run in the morning. The kitchen on this floor is quite wonderful."

Elizabeth though with her Black Knife gloats over the map, now with less restrictions and more information to be given, the Vampire with her remaining Black Knives who sat around the main table all in awe of the things that the UN had done. "My Lord, the only true problem now will be the portals and if they open them in the main continents. Most of the Labyrinths and Dungeons have been closed. It will take weeks for them to come out of them." Jackson though didn't look at them, just in silence as he sipped tea.