“All right, we're going to the western evacuation point now. It's only a few hundred meters before we should meet reinforcements. So, keep calm and please follow our and Mr. Shaw's instructions!” The lieutenant called to order on the assembled people.

Zero and Asagi stood with the civilians. Zero had tied the still unconscious Carol to his back with strings and a blanket, while Asagi next to him had the little girl by the hand.

Zane and Nathan, on the other hand, stood in front and supported the soldiers with the evacuation. Their task was to scout the way forward to identify possible dangers since the lieutenant had become a little unsure after the reports about Infected from Shaw and did not want to endanger the civilians unnecessarily.

Just before they left, the lieutenant took Nathan, Shaw, Zane, and the soldiers aside. "You know the process?" He asked for confirmation, whereupon everyone nodded. "All right, then we can start."

"We'll evacuate the rest of the bunkers later, right?" Zane asked.

"Exactly, we bring this group to the support forces and then join them and get the other civilians out," he repeated the process. "If we were more, we could evacuate everyone now, but unfortunately there are only four of us."

"All right, I understand," Zane confirmed with a nervous nod.

"Shaw, if you please."

"Of course, I will guide the people as soon as you have secured the first crossing."

"Thank you very much, let's go folks," the lieutenant ordered the march as Zane looked back at Asagi, Carol, and Zero.

Zero nodded confidently that Zane would make it and Zane followed the lieutenant.

After a few meters, they were back in the corridor from which they had come earlier. Just like the first time, the hallway was empty when they passed the cameras and looked around the corner.

"Safe!" Reported Nathan. Whereupon the soldier and Zane went into the corridor with rifles in hand.

The soldier turned to the right while Zane turned to the left and they both looked down the corridor, ready to fire, looking for possible enemies.

"Safe," repeated Zane and the soldier after aiming into the corridors in front of them for a while.

"OK, we're going on." The lieutenant turned to Shaw, who was slowly leading the people behind him.

The corridor ran straight to the exit and was correspondingly wide. Every now and then, side corridors led off, which Zane and Nathan initially secured, as ordered, before the civilians passed them.

In just a few minutes, they had covered most of the route. The lieutenant looked at his arm display when suddenly they heard a voice roar from a distance.

"Stop immediately!"

Everyone stopped abruptly and took a defensive position. The civilians, including Zero and Asagi, ducked at Shaw's command. Asagi hugged the girl protectively while Zero tried to shield Carol.

The lieutenant and soldier aimed in the direction the voice had come from, while Zane and Nathan neglecting their rifles had immediately started casting spells that they could cast at any moment.

“This is Captain Dubain speaking, I'm in charge of evacuation team four. Identify yourself!” Echoed a voice from afar, as well as from the group's communication devices.

"That's the evacuation team," Nathan realized.

"Lieutenant Fenon here," he grabbed the side of his helmet where the communication device was located. “From the first raiding party, we evacuated some civilians! We ask for help!” He reported.

"Stay there, Lieutenant, we're coming!" Came the echo as the display began to glow, showing information for confirmation.

Confidence immediately spread among the civilians. "We did it." "We're finally getting out of here!"

"Are we saved?" Asked the little girl holding Asagi's hand, who leaned down and nodded at her with a smile.

"Yes. The soldiers will get us out now, then we can look for your parents. "

"Really?" her eyes, which were still completely red from the tears, were shining brightly.

After just a few moments, soldiers emerged from the side corridors in front of them and Lieutenant Fenon hurried to them on a hand gesture. Shortly afterward, he waved to Zane and the others and they began to approach the soldiers.

The captain's soldiers also had civilians behind them mingling with the civilians Shaw was leading, when the little girl suddenly startled.

"Mom!" the little one let go of Asagi's hand and ran towards a woman.

"Mia! I was so worried!” The mother hugged her daughter.

"Asagi and Zero took care of her," Zane explained to the mother, who happened to be nearby, and pointed to Asagi and Zero, who were in the distance.

The mother turned in the direction Zane was pointing to thank them when she was startled at the sight of Asagi's horns.

"That's right, the girl took care of me," Mia announced proudly.

Her mother nodded thanks after a brief hesitation, Zero and Asagi returned the gesture and Asagi smiled. Immediately afterward, the mother turned away frantically with her daughter in her arms and went deeper into the crowd, while her daughter waved to Asagi and Asagi waved back to her.

"Uhm, don't you want ...", Zane tried to stop her before disappearing into the crowd. He looked at Asagi, who sadly took down her hand with which she had waved to the girl before. Zane looked at her sadly as Zero turned to her.

"Everything OK?"

"Yes, it's okay ...", she lowered her gaze. "I ... I've gotten used to it ..."

"I'm sorry", Zero turned his gaze towards the ground as well.

“Don't worry, Zero. It's ... okay like that ... ", she smiled at him a little forced. "I'm still a demon after all...".

Then the lieutenant approached them with Nathan and the soldier and interrupted Zero, who was just about to say something.

"Everything alright, Zero?"

"What's up?" He and Asagi turned to him.

"I wanted to talk through the next steps with you and the others," he looked at the two of them. "If it's okay, I mean," he asked carefully. The presence of an entire unit seemed to have visibly reassured him.

"No, no, everything is fine," Zero shook his head.

"She smiles," Zane mentioned when he approached them as well.

"What?"

"She seems to like being carried by you," laughed Zane.

"It just means that she feels safe with Zero," added Asagi.

As if awakened by the conversation, Carol suddenly uttered a sound: "Hmmm ..."

"Carol?" Zero turned his head backward and saw her open her eyes slightly.

"Zero ...", she said as if in sleep.

"Carol. You are fine again,” Asagi said happily when Zero untied the knot of the cords that attached Carol to Zero's back and slowly set her down.

"What are you doing here? Is the examination over?” She looked at her friends with wide eyes.

"You don't remember anything?" Nathan wondered.

"No, why? What's going on?” Carol looked around while everyone watched her. "Where are we?"

"Don't worry, it doesn't matter now," Zero covered Carols' shoulders with the blanket. "Can you stay with Asagi for a bit?"

"Sure?" She looked questioningly at Asagi, who smiled at her.

"I'll be right back. OK?” Zero turned to the lieutenant.

"What's going on and what kind of bandage is this Asagi?" Carol held the arm with the bandage and looked at Asagi in amazement.

"OK, then everyone is here," said the lieutenant and looked behind Zero at Asagi and Carol, who seemed to be talking. “I've spoken to the captain, we're continuing the evacuation just like before. He asked that Nathan and Zane help with…”, he began to explain when the sound of an explosion interrupted him.

Panicked, people held on to each other or braced themselves on the walls as the explosion rocked the hallway. Carol and Asagi held each other while they sat on the floor.

"Get out of here quickly!" Shouted one of the civilians, broke into a sprint, and immediately others began to follow him. Panicked, people ran down the aisle while the soldiers tried to control the situation and calm the people down.

Zane and his friends stood in the back of the hall with the lieutenant and could only watch the crowd running away from them.

"Is everything okay?" Zero immediately turned to Asagi and Carol.

"Yes, everything is OK," Asagi replied.

"What was that?" Wondered Carol.

"Was that from that fight below us?" Zane asked the group.

"Even if, we should get out of here now," Nathan explained.

"Can you get up?" Zero asked Carol, who crouched down next to her.

"I think so." She straightened up.

"OK, let's follow the others," said the lieutenant, who was looking down the aisle. Some of the soldiers who stayed behind seemed to be waiting for them when they suddenly pointed their weapons in the lieutenant's direction.

"Not so fast," suddenly they heard a familiar voice from behind them.

Zane turned to follow the voice when his gaze met a familiar face.

"Kouji?!"