"That's true," she nodded. "And even if all we can do is buy ourselves more time to prepare, it might be worth it. But the weakening of his prison seems to be almost inevitable, and anything we can do may only delay it."

Nanoha's nose wrinkled as she frowned. "I'm concerned that the seal might break when we're busy with something else - say, the zombie attack. Even if we're prepared to deal with it on our own, it could be a lot worse if it happened at the right time. Once we understand the seal more... we might even be better off breaking it ourselves."

"Besides," she sighed. "I'm concerned for the boy's wellbeing. I don't like the idea of just leaving him there."