Harem Sync: Divine Edition-Chapter 61: Crystal Cave

They entered through an opening, and the flame in Haru’s hand changed. It ceased to be red, that intense red characteristic of Valtherion fire, and became a normal, common orange, like any torch flame.

Haru frowned, looking at her own flames. he immediately felt that it was no longer Valtherion. The heat was different, less penetrating, less alive. But didn’t know why that cave had done this. Yet.

Kira began to feel growing fear as they advanced.

It wasn’t rational fear of visible danger, but something deeper, more primal. The cave stirred her nerves in a way that humans wouldn’t feel, that sixth sense that came from the animal side.

Her ears flattened against her head, her tail nervously brushing against her legs as she walked.

The path ahead narrowed again, rock walls closing in until they formed a tight corridor that could barely fit one person at a time.

"Ahhh, again..." Haru murmured irritably.

But that particular path had something different: in the distance, perhaps fifty meters ahead, there was light, not from his flames, but a faint, bluish glow of its own.

And the flame in Haru’s hand diminished with each passing moment, becoming smaller, weaker, as if something were slowly draining it.

Haru looked back and noticed Kira’s fear; she was too tense, her breathing irregular, her eyes wide.

"You can go first..." he offered.

Kira looked at him, then at the narrow, dark corridor, then back. "What if there’s something waiting ahead?"

"Then grab my shirt from behind and I’ll face it."

"What if something is behind us?" she retorted.

"Then..." Haru processed that.

"...we’ll go at the same time?" Kira asked.

Haru stared at him with a ’seriously?’ expression. "What a brilliant idea!", clear irony, but then he thought better of it and realized it actually was...

Haru’s eyes lit up as he remembered he was with a woman and that "at the same time" meant...

"Heheheh, yes, let’s do it at the same time..."

He began to reflect on exactly how they would do that in such a tight space, and remembered the masculine rule: "When in a close situation with a woman, turn your back to her out of respect."

...moments later, there they were in the narrow hallway, pressed against each other.

"Are you sure it should be like this, master?" Kira asked.

"...Yes, it’s better," he paused. "Let me adjust the position..." Haru said, thinking quickly, "...and prevent your skirt from tearing on the rocks."

With both hands firm, he gripped Kira’s buttocks, sinking his fingers into the soft, warm flesh. The thin fabric offered almost no resistance.

He squeezed tightly, feeling the perfect elasticity, the round, pert curve that seemed made to fit in his palms. He pulled her against him with a possessive movement.

Kira was pressed against his body instantly.

Now they were chest to chest. Or almost. Because she was shorter, 1.68m against his 1.76m, her face was exactly at the height of his chest.

Haru’s hands continued to squeeze her buttocks tightly, fingers sinking into the fabric and flesh, holding on as if he would never let go. The official justification was "so as not to scrape her skirt and tear it on the narrow path."

The real justification was quite different.

"Hehehe... hehehehehehe..." the low, mischievous laugh almost escaped him as they began to walk.

Small, synchronized steps. Each movement made Kira’s entire body rub against his. Her soft breasts pressed against his chest.

"Master..." Kira murmured, her voice muffled against his chest.

"Hmm?"

"I’m feeling something... bothering me down here. A very hard rock... on my thighs."

That wasn’t a rock.

It was Haru’s penis, completely hard, throbbing strongly, pressing almost against her warmest and most sensitive part.

"It’s just a rock..." she lied in a hoarse voice. "Don’t worry."

Kira let out a trembling sigh, her face still buried in his chest, her ears burning with embarrassment and something else.

But she didn’t ask him to stop.

Haru remained completely silent, his face burning even in the darkness, continuing to walk as if nothing had happened.

Kira realized what it was after two seconds.

"...Master, do you want to mate now?" Kira asked, somewhat naively.

"Absolutely yes," he thought. "Let’s keep walking," he said, playing the macho man.

"Master... is it because of me that you want to mate?" Kira murmured, blushing slightly.

"If you keep calling me that, we’ll do it right here," he thought.

"Involuntary anatomical matters are not an appropriate topic for discussion in a moment of imminent danger," he said.

Kira didn’t comment further, just continued walking close to him, feeling everything.

Finally, they reached the end of the narrow corridor.

They emerged into a chamber that froze them both in place.

The fire in Haru’s hand went out completely, not for lack of mana, but because the chamber had its own light.

Crystals.

Hundreds of them. Covering the walls, the ceiling, rising from the floor in formations that looked like forests of shimmering glass.

Each crystal pulsed with soft blue light, some with shades of green, others with faint purple, creating an ethereal atmosphere that made the entire space seem underwater.

They weren’t small crystals; some were the height of a person, others the size of houses, all perfectly formed in elongated hexagons that reflected light from each other, multiplying the brilliance.

It was beautiful.

Absolutely, impossible to describe properly, beautiful.

"Could these be the supposed resonance crystals?" Kira asked softly, as if speaking aloud would profane something sacred.

Haru looked around, analyzing. "No... they don’t seem like it. What Gandloaf showed was darker, more intensely blue."

He approached a medium-sized crystal protruding from the floor near him, reached out, and touched its smooth surface.

Crack.

The sound echoed throughout the chamber.

Crack crack crack.

The large crystals began to crack, not breaking, but opening from the inside out, lines forming on the surface that shone brighter than the rest.

And then they began to move.

Pieces of crystal detached from the floor, from the walls, floating in the air and beginning to gather, to fit together, forming humanoid shapes, crystal arms, legs, torsos, faceless heads, all made of shining fragments held together by an invisible force.

One.

Three.

Seven.

Twelve crystal figures formed around them, each the height of an adult, shining intensely, making no sound as they completed themselves.

Haru slowly pulled Kira back, placing her behind him, his eyes fixed on the creatures.

The crystal figures all turned at once, featureless "faces" pointing directly at them.

And then they advanced.