The spade's better than nothing. It won't be very effective, but if nothing else it should help the younger boy to keep them away from him until he Awakens. With the numbers the enemy had come in last time, it's unlikely there are enough Awakened fighters to protect everyone who needs it perfectly.

What it was like a month ago...hm. "It was...chaotic. We were in the orchard. There were more of them than us, many more, but they were weak. Most of us had no idea what we were doing or what to expect; there was very little planning involved in anything that happened that night."

The tornado full of bombs was effective, but impromptu and risky.