Spark in Darkness: Unworldy encounter/Prototype

Spark 43: Bloodbath

Haruki was glad it was night, that he did not see much of the details as Cynthia controlled the blood of the people she had hunted.

But maybe the same could not be said for Rinya, who was sobbing uncontrollably as she slumped to the ground. Haruki spared her a glance before resuming trying to keep his distance from the human puppets hurling themselves at him.

Cynthia smirked, and launched the blood swords floating around her at Rinya. Shiro jumped in to block them, knocking them away.

"Get a grip, Rinya Nightblade! I didn't know you were this weak!" Shiro exclaimed.

"But...but...these men...they..."

"It's not your fault you have some mad scientist and his henchmen chasing after you! And it's not your fault they died! Besides, if we beat her, we'll know how to help Haruki get home! Don't you want that?"

Rinya's sobs quietened down momentarily.

"Man, you sure know how to hit where it matters, Shiro Valentine." Rinya muttered as she stood up, scythe in hand once more.

"Heh, I'll take that as a compliment." Shiro smiled. "You ready?"

Rinya wiped her tears away. "I'll blame myself for this later." She pointed her scythe at Cynthia. "For now, I'll bring you down."

"Try me." Cynthia laughed, "If you don't mind the corpses you leave behind, that is."

***

Haruki tried to control his breathing. His arms were sore from the continous firing of arrows, and he had spent quite the energy fending off the group of blood zombies trying to tackle him down.

"You still hanging there, Haruki?" Shinesh said, his breathing not exactly calm either. They pushed their backs against one another, relieved at the support the other provided.

"Kinda. We need to think of some way to end this before we get tired out." Haruki commented.

Shinesh shrugged. "Testing our endurance while waiting for the girls to get Red is out of question, huh. You got a plan?"

"Sort of. Care to listen?" Haruki smiled wryly.

***

Rinya and Shiro hacked at Cynthia, Rinya using her brute force and sheer amount of darkness while Shiro tried to stab her swords at any openings she could find. But Cynthia managed to either dodge the slashes or use her blood swords to parry them. She was good, and Rinya knew she had to finish Cynthia off soon. Despite their onslaught, Cynthia was the one pressuring them. If Rinya and Shiro made a mistake, Cynthia would be the one retaliating, or so that was what Rinya felt.

Soon, Shiro threw two of her swords at Cynthia's feet, and they glowed before blowing off a portion of the ground, enough to throw Cynthia off balance. Rinya kicked herself forward, swinging her scythe while releasing the chains, trying to use the chains to bind Cynthia. However, Cynthia was able to regain her footing fast. She used a blood sword to knock the chains away from her, and grabbed the other one to slash at Rinya.

With only the pole of her scythe to protect herself, Rinya quickly pulled it up in front of her, and it saved her in the nick of time. Rinya's arms shook at the impact, before she tumbled a few steps back. Cynthia did not miss this chance, and with a laugh, she grabbed the other blood sword and brought the tip down at Rinya.

Before the tip even reached Rinya, however, something came flying, and knocked the sword away. Rinya turned back to see Haruki having a bow and arrow pointed at their direction.

Cynthia clicked her tongue. "You sure are one nosy boy. Can't you see we're having some girls time?"

"Too bad for you, my nose somehow just likes to poke into other people's business," Haruki shrugged.