-- A few moments after Naki made it into the warehouse --
He glided into the room while the shadows within his darkness occupied the guards. He barely made it in time before the seal was completed.
As soon as he dropped in, he immediately made his way to a nearby shelf and hid.
He was breathing heavily while trying to remain conscious from all the bleeding he was going through as a result of harming himself.
"Huh huh huh, that, that was way too close. Can only hope the spirit juices here are as potent as the one Bisky used on me, or I'm done for," he muttered, trying to catch his breath.
As soon as he said this, he heard a glass jar shatter and immediately turned around to find someone else in the room standing ahead.
"Wh-who?"
Naki couldn't believe his eyes as there was someone else with him in the same room.
Going by the getup, he pieced together that he was one of the guards stationed on security detail.
"In-Intru-"
The guard was about to raise his hand when Naki hastily dashed forward and drove the short dagger he wielded through his gut.
It was an instinctive reaction of a culprit on the verge of being captured.
A culprit with a dangerous weapon seeking a way out.
"Ur-urgh!!" the guard coughed once, and then forcefully the next, as blood spewed out from his mouth.
He used his hands, trying to push Naki off him, but the wound was fatal.
"C...curse you...shadow...dem-demon..."
The guard fell as Naki took a step back. He didn't look down; he tried not to look down. His eyes alone could tell the full story.
"What...what have I done..." he whispered agonizingly.
<><><>
Meanwhile, in the Gathering Ceremony
It had just reached its climax as the other part members had formed a circle around the 4 prodigies dancing together.
They performed various acrobatics and gymnastics with the sphere they had created.
After this, the four held hands and used the other to raise their hand up, causing all 4 spherical orbs to combine into one gigantic specimen.
Then, with intense focus, it vibrated, staggered, and then exploded into tiny magical particles, filling the entire hall with magic and bliss, bringing an ephemeral end to a magical dance.
The crowd that had gathered before had multiplied, and they all cheered loudly at the spectacle that was on display. It was clear everyone in the vicinity was impressed by the showing of the new generation.
"Wohooo!! Was that awesome or what?" remarked a loud Louise.
"Hmph!". Jhun fixed his lens, "A trivial matter. Now the real games can begin," he said.
"Aw, you're no fun, Vp. Come on, wasn't that fun, Maya-bae!"
Louise desperately wanted someone to share her opinion.
"Haha, yes, it was! I like dancing, and I feel like this was my best yet." Maya obliged happily.
"Teehee, I knew you'd enjoy it. What about ya, Bi?"
Bisky blew her bubble gum and looked indifferent as she spoke.
"Eh, it was alright. I lost all interest once I learned that teach won't be watching."
"Huh? Hahaha, is that love talk I hear, Bi?" Louise jokes
"Why, of course. I am very much in love with my teacher," she replied.
Louise's laughter ceased immediately, and her face shifted to shock.
She never expected Bisky to so readily confess her feelings. Even Maya was surprised as well.
Then Habiki interrupted, "Enough of these silly games. The main event is about to begin."
She had returned, as did the other prodigies, to their various teams.
"What was our first competitive event again?" Louise asked.
"Pshi-gate development. How attuned we are with our magic shall be tested to its fullest." Jhun said.
"Ah, yes, instructor Eunice's specialty. Huh, she was super harsh the last couple of days for some reason."
"That is because you were severely lagging behind Louise." Maya bluntly called her out.
"Ack! Maya-bae, that was harsh," she said, pretending to be hurt.
Habiki smiled and looked ahead to where all the instructors were seated on the floors above.
"(Still spirit juice hunting Naki? I hope you haven't run into trouble...)"
<><><>
Trouble was an understatement; Naki had pretty much gone against the one thing Habiki had been forcefully against.
Naki had taken a life to feed the devil's mercy, be it an accident or not.
He had just managed to regain his composure ever so slightly after the deed, and stared at his sigil hand.
The sigil was beeping nonstop.
"...no surprise the sigil appears to be excited after a vice of this magnitude," he whispered and stared once more at the body.
"Curse myself as much as I want; it shall not bring back this life. I might as well go with the narrative they're fighting against."
Naki stretched his hand, and dark shadows wrapped around the body to leave evidence that it was the act of the shadow demons.
"(My major concern is revealing this to Habiki without turning her against me...)"
He walked to one of the boxes that had bottles of spirit juice. He could tell because they had the same design as the one Bisky used
"(Reveal, or Avoid her altogether. Those are my only 2 options for there's no way she doesn't figure out the true culprit of this crime)"
His hand reached out and grabbed 2 bottles.
"(One for recovery and one for backup. I shall only take what I need from here. I've already taken more than I should have.)"
He wrapped the bottles in a cloth he brought with him and walked to the center of the room.
Then, he glanced one more time in the direction of the lifeless guard.
"(How could Nopheal do this without hesitation...Perhaps that's why Lucille found it fit to approach me. Perhaps he found me inherently capable of all the vices he wanted...)"
He stared at the sigil hand still beeping, then he looked up.
"(In any case, I have to figure out a way out of this place for now, and make a decision from there. Between siding with Habiki and revealing to her what has gone down here, or)"
Bisky's face flashed in Naki's mind, her smile, her vixen tendencies, and sneaky subtleties.
"(Siding with Bisky. She's more likely to accept what I've done, and she is already a member of the hero's party...)"
He nodded and then looked around the room.
"More thought around that later, but first, a way out. The walls are sturdy, not sure I can break away without alerting the others and getting myself trapped. I'll need to be as sneaky going out as I was stepping in."
He looked around some more and then back at the body.
"...perhaps a distraction is just what I need."
Naki concocted an immediate plan to exit the room. With the guilt hanging around him, there was a critical choice, his first major critical choice in the first mission he was given by Lucille to make.
Will he forsake Habiki, the one who's been with him so far on the journey, in fear of her reprimand, and go with Bisky? a girl who shared a similar sin with him.
Or, will he take the blow and risk exposing the crime to Habiki in the hopes of maintaining their blossoming companionship?