Loki's Renard

Arc 4 Chapter 10 - What is Justice?

Hey guys, Striker777 here. Another long awaited and inconsistent release is upon us, with no major news this time, so let's get onto the story!

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As the last member of Laughing Coffin that had stayed behind fell, Lili let out a small sigh of relief. Alise and Kaguya had been able to fend off Johnny Black, who had arrived with a potent airborne poison. Airmid had been called, and they had been able to chase off the man before Airmid arrived, who was in the process of healing everyone with her newest spell, Tuired Well, which allowed her to expel poisons and parasites with procedures done inside the hot spring that she makes. All that had remained was taking care of the last members of Laughing Coffin that had remained to cover Black's retreat.

Now that had been taken care of, Lili slumped down a little on her spear, letting exhaustion set in. She had been going close to non-stop now for a while, dealing with the seemingly never ending wave of Evilus bastards that kept popping out of nowhere. She and the rest of the Familia were so close to the brink of collapse that she actually had to fight her own weight to stay upright, leaning heavily on her spear to catch her breath.

Even with the power of a level 3, not even a new level 3, but a mid strength level 3, she was really beginning to feel the weight of exhaustion, more so than anything she felt in the Dungeon. The constant battles, fighting with every fibre of her being for just the slightest area of control, grabbing onto every piece of Orario they could get their hands on to face off against Evilus and fight to maintain control of their spaces, and reduce the civilian casualties that seemed to endlessly pile up with each passing hour.

Lili sighed as she regained herself, remembering that her job wasn't over just yet, and stood back up straight, gripping onto her spear as she made her way back to the centralised group of her Familia's squadron. Maryuu was trying to heal some of the less-seriously injured civilians, with Asta and Iska staying close to protect her and offer any physical help they could, but everyone else had come together to allow themselves to breath as a group, with the sole exception of Ryuu, who stood slightly off to the side, looking downcast and in mental anguish. Lili knew she was struggling with Ardee and Akihide being kept in Tuatha Medicus, and the situation with her friends was weighing heavily on her mind, but she needed get her head in the game, or else she was just going to end up on a bed with them too.

Lili finally made her way to the conversation between Lyra and Kaguya mid-banter. "-like a mirror? You look like crap too, just so you know." said Lyra, looking at Kaguya with tired eyes as they spoke in tired voices. It was understandable, seeing how none of them had slept in the last 30 or so hours, which is not how they would usually do things, but desperate time did indeed call for desperate measures.

Lili stepped up. "We all look like shit." she muttered, looking around at her sisters and the civilians that lay across the ground. "I don't think there's much else we can do here, and we need to eat and maintain our weapons. It's probably time to head back to the Stardust Garden and regroup a bit." she said.

Lyra nodded. "That's right." she said, looking at Lili, as Alise nodded to Neze's report, and gave the order to move. "I want to take a hot shower, eat some hot soup, and fall asleep in my bed..." she muttered longingly, almost picturing the beautiful image of her bed in her mind. "What I wouldn't give..."

Kaguya shook her head. "Your final wish can't be granted, I'm afraid." she said with the small amount of authority her tired body could muster. "Once you're finished eating, we're going back out on patrol again. Evilus members are stirring up trouble all over Orario at the moment, so we're not allowed to stop just yet."