Chapter 6: Intruders.
As Haru lay back on his bed, he heard a knock on his door. He checked the time and saw that it had already gone past 11 pm. He was thinking about just ignoring it until there was another knock, this time sounding more desperate. Haru opened the door and was nearly deafened by the sound of a wailing alarm droning on and on.
'How did I not hear this?' He thought.
He was then greeted by a man who looked to be in his early forties. Haru assumed he was a teacher just from appearance alone.
"Come on, we need to evacuate." He said, as he pulled Haru out of his room. "Quick follow everyone else." He said pointing to the crowd of people running from the building.
Haru joined the crowd of students making their way from the building without question, but his mind was racing thinking about all the possibilities. 'Is there a fire? An intruder? Or what if there was a terrorist on school grounds?'
As they all made their way out of the building, Haru looked to the sky and saw a thick black cloud of smoke rising from the girl's dorms. Everybody was talking about their theories as to what had happened. But he had a growing feeling in the pit of his stomach that he already knew what was going on.
Just as the last student left the building, the boy's dorms too went up in flames. Just as soon as the flames had appeared, a blue light blinded the night sky and a thick cloud of snow swirled throughout the air and quickly put out the flames.
Haru looked over to the source of the light to see an upper-class man who looked to have just cast [White Blizzard]. It was a mid-level Ice spell that he had seen being used a few times in the war. His dad even showed it to him a couple of times when his mom got mad and set things on fire. It explained why they waited until everybody had evacuated.
They wouldn't want a few hundred ice statues now, would they?
As the fires went out there was a figure flying in the air, who came from behind the building. Haru didn't recognise it at first, but as it came closer, he realised that it was a flame familiar. (A type of humanoid spirit that is made entirely from fire.) Another student flew towards it with a sword in hand to exploit its weakness: Close range attacks. As they battled in the air someone pulled at his sleeve.
It was the girl Jake had partnered up with earlier. She had tears streaming down her face as she struggled to hold herself together. "When we were told to evacuate... Mia ran off in the other direction towards the fire and she hasn't come back!" She said, in between breaths.
"Have you told a teacher?" Haru asked as he scanned the area to try to find a teacher. 'Where had they all gone?' He looked everywhere, but there weren't any in sight.
"No, I couldn't find one anywhere?" She said, drying her eyes with her arm.
Haru then remembered the student planners had GPS so you could see where people are at all times. Which in this situation he was glad they didn't have much privacy. "Did you try her gps?" He asked as he looked around for Jake. He was nowhere to be seen as well.
"No, I didn't..." She said, now not crying anymore.
He then pulled out the planner and checked by searching for her name. And almost instantly it showed him where she was located. She was right in the center of the forest surrounding the school. There was also another dot beside her on the map. He clicked the name and saw that it was Jake.
That's when he realized what was going on. 'What if that teacher from earlier had done something to them? Why else would they be in the forest?'
He knew it would be stupid to charge right in not knowing the whole situation. So, he enhanced his body with magic before taking off. [Ghost Aura] It is a simple enchantment that makes you blend into the environment around you. And [Wind step], It takes away all drag your body produces when moving and uses the wind to propel you forward.
He took off at what must have been at least forty miles per hour. As he dodged trees and made his way under and over fallen branches, he began to hear muffled voices. Haru made his way up into a tree to see what was happening.
Jake and Mia were both sitting on the floor tied to separate trees. Jake seemed to be unconscious, but Mia had been gagged with a rope. There were six people sitting around a campfire gloating about their victory in capturing them both.
Haru used the screen on the planner to try to reflect the moonlight into Mia's face so she would notice him. But he had no luck. It didn't work. He then decided to use [Telepathy] To get her attention. {"Mia, its Haru. If you can hear me nod your head."}
She glanced around the forest, and their eyes met for a few seconds, and then Mia slowly nodded. 'Damn, what is with that detection?' He thought to himself before thinking of a plan.
{"Do you still have your lux?"}
She shook her head to indicate they had taken it from her.
{"Do you know any distraction magic?"} He asked, taking into account that her reply would decide what is about to happen in the next few minutes.
She nodded her head once again. Haru was relieved, as his first plan would probably be the safest one and have the greatest chance of success.
He then talked Mia through what to do on her side. {"Ok, good. First, I'm going to cut your ropes and then you will distract them and I will get Jake. After that, we retreat back to the school. Got it?"}
She looked hesitant but nodded, anyway.
{"Ok then. 3, 2, 1."}
[Wind Blade] Haru sent high pressure wind flying towards the ropes of them both slicing them instantly, but it made a crash as the wind tore its way through the tree behind. Their cover was blown, but Mia wasted no time surrounding the nearby area with a blizzard of snow surrounding the men and making them blind for the moment.
This was the best option as he didn't know the combat abilities of these people so they would be better off making a tactical retreat. That was the thought behind the process as Haru ran over to Jake, who was still unconscious and laying against a tree.
"Jake. Wake up!" He lightly slapped his face, but Jake was completely out of it. Haru threw him over his shoulder and ran back towards the school with Mia following close behind.
They made their way back to the school as planned, and he put Jake down against a wall.
Haru then looked back to Mia, who seemed restless, like she was concerned about something. She started pacing impatiently. "How did you guys end up there?" Haru asked.
She looked at him for a moment and then looked back into the forest. "Sorry, I need to go back!" She shouted before running back into the forest.
What is she thinking? "Wait, a minute!" He shouted back, but it was no use, as she was already out of sight. "God damn it! Is she some kind of idiot? Well she has made up her mind why should I care?" Haru said and then put Jake back over his shoulders and walked back around to the front where the rest of the students were.
As soon as he made his way to the front of the building, Miss Fujima ran over with the school nurse.
"What happened? What are his injuries? How long has he been like this?" Haru was bombarded with questions about Jake's health; he quickly became overwhelmed as the questions kept on flowing.
"I don't know! Figure it out, why don't you?!" He shouted before turning around and sprinting back to the forest he had just come back from.
"What a fucking Idiot! Why do I even care what happens to her? She is just some stupid kid." He said to himself as he made his way through the trees.
He heard what sounded like an explosion and then an agonising scream so he quickly came to a halt to locate where it had come from. He looked around in all directions before he could make out through the trees that there was a fight still going on. He made his way closer before there was another explosion and then something flew past his head at a blinding speed before slamming into a tree and coming to a stop.
Haru turned around to see Mia now sat unconscious at the foot of the tree. She was covered in blood from head to toe. "That little brat! She even managed to take out Ricky. I say we kill her, what about you?" A voice called out from behind him.
Haru knew he didn't have much time before they would come over here so he used an old trick he was very familiar with.
[Thunder God's wrath] All the water molecules in the air within twenty metres became electrified and expanded due to the sudden heat causing an explosion in the surrounding area. He wasn't too sure if it would be enough to kill these guys, but it would definitely distract them enough so he could make his final retreat.
Haru then bent down to pick up Mia and then ran as fast as he could. Just as he made it to the edge of the forest, his back was hit by a sudden pain as the scent of burning flesh made its way into the air. The force of it was almost enough to send him flying, but he managed to stay standing while still holding Mia in his arms. He turned around to see one of the men from earlier standing between two trees.
"Today just keeps surprising me more and more. Who would have thought that this thing would have a built in shield? If not for this thing I would have ended up like the rest of them," He pointed back towards where he had come from before he held up his wrist revealing he was wearing an S ranked Lux. Haru looked back down to Mia. She was still unconscious.
"So that's what she went back for? What an Idiot." He couldn't help but laugh. 'She risked her life for a Lux? That is the stupidest thing I have ever seen someone risk their life for. She still has a lot to learn about life.' He thought before he looked back at the man who was standing at the outer edge of the forest.
"Hey what's so funny kid? Have you gone mad from staring death in the face?" The man also began to laugh.
"Not even close... Gun form" Haru called out to his lux and the shiny silver gun appeared in his right hand. He raised his arm and pulled the trigger. A bright flash of blue light erupted and sped through the forest until it was no longer viable.
The man dropped to the ground instantly, without even making a sound. Haru walked over to his body and took the Lux from his wrist. He then looked at the wound and saw a three-inch hole that made its way through the center of the man's head. He put the lux in his pocket and turned back around.
[Essence Healing.] An aura of golden light emerged from his body healing both himself and Mia. He then looked down to see the dried blood on Mia had turned back into a liquid and was returning to her body.
You wouldn't be able to tell she was even injured. Everything returned to silence as the only thing he could hear was the gentle breathing of the girl in his arms. He then walked back to the front of the school where Jake had now woken up and was telling his story of being kidnapped to the rest of the class.
By now it was already about 2 am and the teachers had already sent everyone else to return to their rooms. Haru was once again ambushed by Miss Fujima. "What happened this time?! Why are her clothes all ripped!?"
"Shhh she's sleeping. Where should I put her?" He cut her off before even more questions came.
To much surprise she didn't even say anything. She just waved her hand for Haru to follow her. So, he did all the way back to the girl's dorm. It felt weird as it was against school rules for him to even be in there but he knew he had to make sure she made it back safely.
Haru told Miss Fujima everything that had happened as they walked up the stairs all the way to the fourth floor until they reached a door at the end of the corridor. Miss Fujima held a badge up to the scanner on the door and unlocked it. 'So, teachers can open doors to people's bedrooms? That's pretty scary.' He thought before he followed her into the room.
There were two beds separated by a night stand with a lamp on it. There was someone clearly asleep in the other bed so as quietly as he could, he made his way across the room and put Mia down on the empty bed.
Miss Fujima spoke up. "You had better leave now while I get her out of these filthy clothes."
He couldn't argue with that. Nor did he want too. "Okay then. Goodnight." He made his way for the door before remembering something.
"Oh wait. Make sure she gets this back." Haru pulled the lux out of his pocket and handed it to Miss Fujima before making his way out of the room, closing the door behind him.
He made his way back outside where Jake was still entertaining a crowd of people with his war stories. Haru laughed as he walked past towards the entrance to the boy's dorm building.
"Hey Haru, where are you going?" Jake called out to him.
He laughed before answering him. "To bed of course, I'm exhausted after carrying your sorry ass out of that forest."
Jake laughed nervously before replying. "Um... Yeah thanks for that."
"Nah don't worry about it." Haru said before walking away.
"No really. Thank you." Jake muttered quietly before turning back to tell his story.
Haru made his way back to his room. He did wonder why there was no damage to the building as he entered his room. But then remembered they probably fixed it already with magic. He laughed slightly before lying down on the bed and closing his eyes.