It's a fine balance, that line between at what point troops are disposable or not. Sephiroth's rather new at being so much 'in charge' but it's a lesson he's learned the hard way so far.

Also it turns out that he'll be going to the plains after all, since I learned he's on the Crystal Knight equipment list that Levy has been working on. He's not going to be with a hug force though, I think he'll put them on task for emergency bunkering people down if the attack comes.