Spark in Darkness: Unworldy encounter/Prototype

Spark 24: Fire against fire

Haruki jumped to avoid the flames. But when he realised the flames were reflected back at him by the mirrors floating behind him, he resorted to smashing them with his fists.

The attacks hurt like hell, but at least the damage was kept to his knuckles and fingers. Still, it was not a wise idea to get them to be damaged too much. He still needed them to fight after all.

Haruki tried to get back to the common room to have more space to fight, but the constant barrage of attacks from Gless Moria kept him occupied and rooted to the spot.

Haruki had recovered some stamina while resting earlier, but he knew he had to do something fast, or else his strength and stamina were going to deplete before he could defeat Gless Moria. The war was still ongoing below, so he was not expecting anyone to help.

"You're much better than we last met." Gless Moria commented as the fireballs that he shot repeatedly fired themselves at Haruki. If they were to miss the mirrors would serve to redirect them back towards Haruki.

"Why...thank you!" Haruki spotted an opening and threw a flying kick towards Gless Moria, his boot surging with Light.

Gless Moria was fast to react too, as he bent backwards at an almost impossible angle to avoid the kick to his face, and push Haruki's leg away with his Darkness coated arms.

Haruki winced at the pain from his leg as he collapsed onto the floor. Still, he forced himself to jump to his feet quickly, to avoid being an easy target for Gless Moria.

However, he was a moment too slow as the fireballs crashed into him, sending him flying further into the corridor.

Haruki coughed as the air was knocked out of his lungs once more, but the act itself brought agony as if his chest was squeezed from the inside. He looked down to see the burns on his chest. The burns had sealed the wounds they inflicted almost immediately after hitting Haruki. It was getting difficult to breath, but at least he was not bleeding too much.

Haruki stood up, his hand placed on the wall as support. He felt miserable. His whole body felt like it was on fire. He was sweating, his chest squeezing excruciatingly whenever he tried to catch his breath, and his limbs were shaking from the fatigue of it all. Yet his mind raced for a solution to fight Gless Moria in his pathetic state. Losing was not an option. He had to win this fight to make sure he could see the Sun the next morning.

Gless Moria was obviously enjoying the struggle, as he walked calmly towards Haruki, his eyes glinting with amusement. The fireballs floated around him, ready to attack with a moment's notice.

Haruki felt the hot sensation of the torch mounted on the wall right in front of him, and an idea started forming in his mind.

He knew the torches would light up the corridors, even after the bend behind him, down the stairs, to another corridor of the dormitory rooms one floor below him.

He had no time to think too much; he could only risk it. He looked down to see the carpet on the smooth stone floor was still present, albeit in tatters in some parts due to the fight with Gless Moria. But that would suffice.

Haruki took a deep breath, ignoring the pain in his chest. He looked warily for the next attack.

Just as the fireballs flew at him once more, Haruki threw the torch in front of him at one of the fireballs before turning to run away from Gless Moria.

The torch and the fireball collided and exploded, throwing sizzling splinters onto the ground. Haruki forced his heavy legs to run even faster, throwing more torches at the remaining fireballs that came at him, in a seemingly desperate attack to fight the fireballs.