Spark in Darkness: Unworldy encounter/Prototype

Spark 28: Because of her

While Regulus and Arthur were battling, another fight was taking place back at the castle.

***

Haruki and some of the archer Sparks were dispatched to the different floors of the castle to guard the windows and exits, together with the warriors who fought at the frontlines the night before.

Everything was going well at the moment, with no signs of disturbance. But then again, the Nayshards were warriors of the night, so it would not be a surprise if they could stealthily make their way to the castle and launch a surprise attack.

And that they did.

Haruki heard an explosion and people shouting. Sighing at his bad premonition coming true once more, Haruki made his way towards the source of the commotion as fast as his legs could bring him. When he turned the corner and descended to the floor below where he was guarding, he saw bodies littered on the ground, with male bodies having sunken and dried skins, while female bodies lying in pools of blood, some with stab marks on them. He could recognise some of the Sparks from their clothes. It seemed the Nayshard who attacked had different ways of incapacitating males and females. Haruki clicked his tongue when he realised the Nayshard had already left the location, and afte hearing more shrieks and shouts, he ran once more.

What is the ability of this Nayshard? Do I really have the strength to take them on? Such a thought ran through Haruki's mind, but he shook it off. He did not have time to meet up with reinforcement, and they were pretty much lost judging by the numbers of bodies that Haruki passed.

As he got closer to the noises, his shoulder began to throb. More accurately, the Mark of Balance was the thing that was signalling to him.

Don't tell me----

Standing before Haruki was Rinya Nightblade, in her uniform. But she was not alone. Accompanying her was a tall, voluptuous woman with silky black hair. She wore a smooth thin dress with a glittering texture, such that the fabric seemed liked water waving with even the slightest movement. She was definitely drop-dead gorgeous with a killer body, but the evil aura she was giving off gave her beauty an ugly twist.

"Ho? Another Spark?" The woman purred.

"Ha---"

Before Haruki could finish hearing the sentence exclaimed by Rinya, he blacked out.

***

Where am I?

Haruki opened his eyes to a foreign place. He was on a soft bed, and the ceiling and walls to the dimly lit room were coated with a shade of red.

If I remember correctly, this shade of red is called lust...

A pleasant lavender smell wafted through the air, and Haruki felt as relaxed as he could ever be. The fighting from LeFolia had made Haruki exhausted, but he had tried not to entertain the thoughts of tiredness and fatigue until he reached the Capital, to get home. If he did not keep up a strong front, the different feelings pent up in him would come crashing. The feeling of homesickness, the fear of dying in a foreign land, the regrets of not settling things with the people he knew, all these emotions were all let out at once.

Haruki was just an ordinary teenager till not too long ago. He had not talked about his worries to anyone, to Shinesh, to Shiro, to the headmaster...nobody. He felt it was not exactly something he wanted to say to people who had so different pasts, to people who were hard bent on killing the Nayshards and did not know how terrifying it could be to be thrown into a war.

Tears started flowing down as all these went through Haruki's mind. Now, he could see the mental wall in his mind breaking down. He just wanted a break. A break from all these life-and-death fights.