The shocking revelation earlier that day had everyone feeling down, even when they gathered back in the throne room for further planning their shoulders slumped, what was the use of all this fighting if humanity was dying out so quickly?

"Look alive, we have important strategies to discuss"

​​

"Or rather listen to, we never were part of the planning"

Ika commented on Mia's order, flinching back as she received a sudden smile

"Oh? Do you have an idea as to what our next step should be?"

"No mother I-"

"An inkling as to what we should be expecting?"

"No, just-"

"Then how would you even know what we are supposed to do? Yes, it's not a discussion, for you at least"

Ika looked down and kept silent, it wasn't her place to question their actions in the first place, only she'd been fed up with having to go along with plans that didn't suit her moral limits

"Mark the area that is now clear of any beasts"

Ignoring the small happening YuJu went straight to business, having Mia draw on the few meter size map of the city made for this occasion

"Master, this is what we have cleared so far, half of the city and part of the empty wild"

"Pin all the still functional large buildings"

It took her a moment to set them up

"That would be eleven of them Master"

He looked between these fourteen buildings, noting five hotels, a tower, two skyscrapers, and three mansions they were scattered for the most part, two of which were currently occupied, one by the Somia guild and the other by a hefty amount of survivors trying to form a settlement

"Not enough, we need at least twenty places to house plenty of people, furthermore I want them to form a chain meaning the nine new buildings are to interlock the already existing ones"

"New ones? Master, how do we go about building them?"

They were short on time already, plus it wasn't easy to make such huge buildings without professional assistance

"What age do you think we're in? Gather earth elemental users from the Somia guild, have them lay the foundation, then dig downward, solidifying the walls as you do, it's much easier that way than to erect new walls"

He thought for a second then added

"Il give you the coordinations of an old fellow I met who seems to be an expert in this matter, try to rope them in the name of the guild's name"

"As Master wishes"

Honestly, she wasn't convinced, smart as the idea may be she just didn't believe it would be practical, just think about the many months it took man to build a single home, and that was when machines were a thing

"All these locations must remain unoccupied, other than the place where the guild is located at have others evacuate, clear room for the coming guilds"

"Who are those guilds?"

"Whoever manages to get here in one piece"

The answer was pretty vague, YuJu chose to further explain and shed light on the matter however, this time he needed everyone to be on the same page

"What we are doing is setting up the stage for the last stand, humanity will slowly be pushed into this area as the last resort, only when then will we join the fray, everyone holding hands to defeat the invaders"

Were they dreaming? These words didn't look like something that would come out of the ever lonesome and overbearing lord of theirs

"To make sure that happens we must deliberately make this area one that cannot be crossed by the mist, since it would be invading from all sides at once when done forming then it means this land would be one of the first few hit, yet it must persist until the others arrive from the other end of the world"

"Is that possible? Not to underestimate my Lord's capability but are we not overestimating the power of the people, they couldn't beat the beasts plaguing the land much less wraiths that are immune to two thirds of the population"

Sa questioned the credibility of the plan, with sound logic however, much unlike Ika's unnecessary and rude comment

"That's because they were groping in the dark, with someone to guide them you would see much different results"

He turned back toward the map, outlining the northern area of these supposed building

"This will be where we set up our defenses, first of which will be a forest"

He marked a hefty patch of concrete land

"Nature might have mutual restrain with the mist meaning our efforts would be wasted with how great the undead force is, I've got a few ideas in mind however that would more than keep it at bay"

He then turned to Sa

"I was told you had no secondary class?"

"Yes, I wasn't leveled enough"

"Then you will be taking one related to flora territory control, this frontline would then be under your supervision"

"Yes my Lord"

"This leaves the matter of guarding against the wraiths that split from the mist to attack the forest and allow passage for their brethren, this matter will be left to Sofia, since she can counter them like no other"

It was also so that she could level up enough to eventually be of great use by the near end of this war

"Wouldnt the mist be able to go around the line?"

Sa quickly presented a new problem, once more earning his attention

"That's not how this mist works, the bigger the area it covered the more uniform it must be, that's why it takes so long for it to round up the human territory when it was actually moving at great speed before, changing shape like that is not easy"

"But not impossible right?"

"No, it only adds to the difficulty, as to how other areas will be guarded to prevent it from spreading through the side eventually is something you don't need to be worried about, there are a couple others who would like to take this opportunity themselves, putting a stop to the advances with their actions"

It relieved everyone to know that someone else would be sharing their burdens

"That's only our first defense, for the second line of defense we need to set up watchtowers, two near each guild, they are a special type that would be built using bones"

Another time consuming task, with the first line of defense however it shouldn't be impossible

"Meanwhile our firstmost task is to look for strong fire beasts, the strongest we can find, even if it means crossing cities"

He hovered his hands over a few areas which he thought might hold plenty fire energy

"At least twenty must be caught, once we are done the wraiths should already be attacking, at which point we will divide our forces"

Everyone took notice of the beasts matching the number of guilds but withheld from asking, focusing instead on what their roles would be

"Ika, with how wreaths work I am sure they would send some of their members to sneak into our territories from other locations, you are to seek and destroy any such infiltrators, your secondary Fire Tracer class should be good enough to counter them"

Ika almost let out a breath of relief, her task was easy enough, at least she wouldn't be at the frontlines battling twenty four seven

"Zero, Nee, your to stay guard here, the resources must be kept well guarded"

By resources, he meant thralls, something he wasn't keen on exposing to Ellis just yet, her mind should be more focused on battle than moral debates

"Mia, you must stay next to Sofia at all times, both to keep the plans going in the right direction and to keep her from harm's way, if she dies then the destruction of humanity is all but guaranteed"

The vampire blinked in confusion, that woman was so important? How though?

"Ellis, you will be clearing the dangerous paths humans need to take to get to us, especially ones affected by the Gardelos, wouldn't want to have half the remaining population die out due to poison on the way"

The armored figure nodded firmly, more than ready to take on any challenge for her fellow humans

With that everyone, except the absent hound, was allocated for future missions

Before the meeting was finished Sa raised her hand, garnering everyone's attention once more

"Yes?"

YuJu allowed her to ask, wondering what she wanted to know this time

"My Lord, why don't we reveal our plans to them from the get go? If they knew who we are and what we are trying to do then it would prove to be much easier to give out commands and control the overall situation, in fact, mother had me fill this place with watchers when questions about it started to circulate among the people of the Somia guild meaning we aren't going to stay under the radar for long"

She paused, checking for whether disagreement showed on his face yet before continuing

"Furthermore, while I know some of the stuff we are doing is unacceptable by our race, we are actually keeping them safe for the most part, so there doesn't really seem to be a reason to be this sneaky"

Finishing her piece she stared at him for an answer

'Very cunning'

YuJu kept a normal front but was grinning behind his masked uncaringness, he could tell she wasn't actually giving a suggestion, she was smart enough to know that if he was doing everything in a hidden manner then he must have a reason to, what the question really sought was figuring out why he was doing it like this

"Sa, there is a saying I once went by"

He replied, not answering the question forthrightly

"Betrayal never comes from your enemies"

He gave a small smile, calling the end of the meeting and dismissing everyone to their duties, along with their thoughtful expresions