"Haa… haa…"
Quickened footsteps echoed through the devastated hallway. The runners were out of breath, their tired eyes depicting desperation. Despite their injuries, they pushed themselves onward, struggling to keep moving. The surrounding area was akin to a tomb—dark and grimy.
Restlessness accompanied their gazes as they kept a watchful eye on their surroundings while traversing the area, dreading whatever might be lurking behind them.
"We can't make it to the entry point in time," one of them said.
She was a woman with dirty blond hair, and what could have been a beautiful face was now smeared with grime and disgusting black gooey fluids.
"Spark, you'll have to go on. You know what to do!"
The one she addressed was a man who donned a face cap, blue gloves, and matching boots.
"B-but—!"
"We'll hold them off here! What you're about to do is more important. HURRY!" The woman with blond hair finally stopped running, and the three other people around her followed suit.
Only Spark kept running, biting his lip as he moved his weary legs. He had never once thought of abandoning his team, yet what was this situation that forced him to do so?
"Dammit! Why did things have to turn out like this?" He could hear the distant screeches of their pursuers and the sounds of his teammates engaging in battle with them. They were buying time for him to pass the message along because he was the fastest on the team. Even now, when he was almost out of Magia, he still moved faster than the others.
"I need to send the Flare!" Zooming off, Spark focused solely on this thought, even though his fellow Chuunibyous were bound to be doomed!
WHOOOOSSSSHHHH!!!<
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Finally arriving at the entry point—or rather, where the entry point should have been—Spark met a dead end. In front of him was a grimy concrete wall, black and disgusting.
"The Link brought us here. So, once the time limit expires, this is where it'll manifest," he thought. Links only became two-way entry points after the Boss in a Dungeon was dead, or the time limit was exceeded. Different Links had different time limits, and even for a supposed C Rank Link like this, it took a couple of days—sometimes a week—before it became too late.
"Haaa… haa…" Spark exhaled shakily and he felt like passing out at this point. His vision was blurry, and sticky sweat clung to his skin. However, despite all his discomforts, something kept propelling him to keep going—something burning in his chest.
"Everyone is fighting! They're all doing their best! Crash is already dead too! I won't let their sacrifices be in vain!"
Growling like an animal, he pulled a small item from his pocket that resembled a miniature light bulb, no more than two inches tall. "The Flare..." Spark thought to himself, but before he could finish his thought, a deafening explosion shook the ground beneath him, causing him to stagger.
He could hear something powerful and monstrous approaching him, and he realized that he didn't have much time to set up and relay his message. "But why? The others were supposed to... oh no, don't tell me--!" he exclaimed, his mind racing with possibilities.
It was either one of the Outers had found a way around his group's formation and was now after him, or...
Spark shuddered at the thought of the latter. It was something he didn't even want to imagine. "Flare Activate," he commanded, and the bulb-like object in his hand began to glow, growing brighter and brighter until it became a radiant source of light.
"Message to Chuunibyou Society HQ from C Class Team, led by Marshmallow," Spark said urgently, struggling to paraphrase everything. "Requesting immediate backup due to the dire situation."
The crashing sound behind him grew louder, and he knew he didn't have much time left. He needed to convey the urgency of the situation quickly. He began to speak rapidly, trying to convey everything he could think of. There was the fact that this mission was clearly not fit for a C Class Team, considering that only he and the leader were C Class Chuunibyous, while the others were D Class, essentially two Challengers and three Novices.
"The Society had measured the Link as a C Class one, so there must have been a mistake somewhere because...!!!" he trailed off, his thoughts consumed by the approaching danger.
"The threat level is higher than C Class, but I don't know the exact level. Please send reinforcements as soon as possible! PLEASE!!!" Spark shouted into the Flare, his urgency palpable.
The sound of the Outer's approach was growing louder by the second, and Spark could even see its silhouette looming closer. "Tch!" he muttered, tossing the bulb in the direction of the solid wall in front of him.
The bulb shattered into pieces upon impact, but the white light within it converged in a single location and passed through the obstacle. A blueish-white light enveloped the wall, indicating that the Flare had gone beyond the Link. "Good. Now, then..." Spark trailed off, his attention now fully focused on the enemies in front of him.
There wasn't just one Outer before him; the group consisted of at least a dozen. Spark wondered if he could take them all on, but he knew he had no other choice. "I'm a Chuunibyou...and I believe in the Society's mission!" he declared, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth in determination.
No matter the threat or danger, his resolve remained unshaken. He fought for the sake of the world, for the sake of mankind. "For the Chuunibyou Challenge!!!" he yelled, charging forward to engage the hulking figures that seemed to envelope him.
*
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[Arc 2: Rise Of The Voidbringer, begins]
To all who have made it this far, I want to say… thank you for your support!
Last Arc was more of a prologue; something to kick off the book. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I loved writing it too. But, be prepared to delve even deeper in this Arc.
This is where things start to get real.