A young man who looked to be around the age of 10 to 11 was swinging a blunt but very heavy sword under the shade of a tree. The boy had beautiful purple hair and purple eyes. He was fair-skinned.
And for someone of his age, he was quite tall. He stood at a height of 140 cm (4 feet 5 inches). His height makes people think that this young man is already 10 to 11 years of age, but in reality, his age just has reached 8.
He was the young master and heir of the great Onard Noble household. He was the future Duke of the Echo Dominion Empire. His name was Zak Onard.
One might say that it was too early for Zak to be training with this intensity, but in the noble household, it was a very normal thing. The training of their children pretty much starts at the age of five. As they age, the intensity of their training is increased.
The same was also happening with Zak. Even though he wasn’t that into training, he had to train 3 hours every single day. Neither Adam nor Sophia wanted their son to put his life at risk fighting. However, as the future Master of the Onard Household, he cannot be weak. In the future, Zak will have many responsibilities on his shoulders. He must train to be ready for a young age. Otherwise, he won’t be able to shoulder all the responsibilities of being the Duke.
197!!
198!!
199!!
200!!!
As soon as the count reached 200, Zak immediately dropped the heavy sword from his hand and sat down while leaning against the tree trunk.Huff….!! Huff…..!!
"That was seriously exhausting." Zak despised every moment of his training, but he knew it was essential to become the Head of the Onard Family and the Duke.
"Good job, young master." Walter, Watson’s twin brother, approached Zak with a cold fruit drink and some cookies, which the young master seemed to love a lot.
"Thank you, Grandpa." Just like Alicia, Zak is also called Walter’s grandpa.
Usually, Zak would be happy to see that he was given his favorite cookies, but today, he didn’t feel that excited.
This was due to the sudden change in the atmosphere of his home.
Seeing Zak not eating, Watler was puzzled. "Young master, are you not going to eat?" Walter asked in a soft tone.
"Grandpa, will we leave everything behind and go to the Istarin Empire forever?" Zak asked Walter in a sad tone. Although living in the Istarin Empire meant that he could be with his big sister, it also saddened him knowing that he would need to flee from his birthplace. This was the place where he grew up. He has made a ton of memories of this place. Even at such a young age, Zak knew every single corner of his father’s territory.
No place in this world could match the calmness and the peace that his place gives him. This place was irreplaceable. It was his home. It was his birthplace.
Hearing Zak’s question, Walter’s expression slightly changed before returning to normal. "Young master, what made you think that?" Asked Walter.
"Because I overheard the conversation that father and mother were having this morning."
Last night, a letter came from the Emperor. Although Zak did not know what was in the letter from what he heard from his parent’s conversation, he knew that the Echo Dominion Empire, along with many Empires, had declared war on the Istarin Empire.
Although he was very young and didn’t understand politics this well, even he could see that since his big sister was engaged to the Istarin Emperor, they would be forced to choose this situation.
They would either need to fight the Istarin Empire or betray the Echo Dominion Empire and go to the Istarin Empire. Staying neutral in this situation wasn’t a choice since the Emperor demanded all the nobles of his Empire to participate in this war.
"I know that father and mother would never fight Big brother and Big sister. So the only option that we would have would be to leave everything behind forever and flee to the Istarin Empire." Staying here after disobeying the Emperor’s orders would mean that their entire family would be thrown into prison. And once the war ends, they will be punished very heavily.
As a child raised in a noble household, Zak understood these things better than other children his age.
Hearing little Zak’s words, even Walter did not know what to say. Zak wasn’t a naive child who would believe in Walter’s lies and would stop worrying about this whole situation.
"I don’t understand...!"
Walter looked at Zak as he continued. "The Istarin Empire is the strongest Empire in the Dying Isle Continent. Then why would the Emperor think that he has a chance against the Dragon Monarch?"
Although the question was asked by an 8-year-old child, no one had the answer to this question. Even the adults couldn’t understand why the Emperor was making such a foolish and reckless decision.
Declaring war against the Istarin Empire is like Cutting tting your own foot with an axe.
"No one but the Emperor could answer this question," Walter replied with a bitter.
’It’s like he doesn’t even care about his own Empire.’
’Did he forget that without Aditya, by now, the entire Echo Dominion Empire would have become the territory of the Echo Nexus Empire?’ Walter thought to himself. If he could see the Emperor at this moment, he would slap the Emperor to knock some sense back into his foolish head.
When Walter was lost in his thoughts, he snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a lot of rhythmic footsteps.
"Walter…..!!" The next second, Walter heard Eddie Wood who was the commander of the Duke’s army calling his name.
Eddie rushed to the garden as fast as he could.
"What happened?" Walter asked in a confused tone.
"Take young master with you to the teleportation array and head to the Istarin Empire," Eddie commanded Walter in a very stern tone.
"What happened?" Watler instantly got up while asking.
"No time to explain. But in short, the Emperor has sent the Imperial troops to capture the entire Onard Family."
"What?" But the next second, Walter instantly made a quick guess as to why the Emperor did this.
After all, the Onard Family was the Dragon Monarch’s family. If the Onard Family could be captured, then the Echo Dominion Empire could gain an advantage in this war.
"Young master.....!!!" Despite young Zak’s protest to stay with his parents, Walter lifted Zak like a sack of potatoes and put him on his left shoulder.
"Let me go….!!"
"I don’t want to go anywhere."
Walter ignored Zak and turned to Eddie. "What about Duke Adam and Lady Sophia?"
"They are staying behind to face the Imperial Army. They ordered me to tell you to take Zak to the Dragon Palace." Hearing this, Walter wasted no time and left.
Zak saw everything becoming a blur for a few seconds before he found himself standing in his family’s private teleportation array that was located on the underground floor of their Mansion.
-
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Scene Change_______
Meanwhile, Riya and Julia had just finished eating. Their little break was also coming to an end. They had a lot of work left on their hands.
"I guess it’s time to go back."
"Yes…..!!"
"How long do you think it would take to find a general location of the Rune Array that is used to control all the Voidfigures?" Julia asked Riya. After all, she wasn’t an expert in this field. She was helping Riya however she could, but the main part was still done by Riya. Only the Goddess of Nature could detect a connection between the Voidfigures and the Rune Array that is used to control them. Julia could assist her in making her work easier.
Riya paused and then began to think. "Well, helping Aditya make that Duplicate detecting artifact has deepened my knowledge of Duplicates and Voidfigures."
"Before, I wasn’t sure where to begin, but now I feel I know what I have to do."
"You mean the receiver that we found inside the bodies of the Voidfigures?" Asked Julia with a small smile. Riya and Julia had discovered this receiver when they were trying to help Aditya.
"It is through the receiver that the Voidfigures are being controlled. Through the receivers, it should be possible to find the location of the Rune Array since both the receiver and the Rune Array are connected."
"Then let’s get to work….!!!"
As Riya and Julia stood up and started walking, at that moment, Julia sensed a familiar Aura.
"Sister...…!!!"
Julia’s whole body trembled, seeing Zak running towards her. Zak jumped into Julia’s embrace and started crying while burying his face in Julia’s stomach.
"Zak, what happened?" Julia rubbed Zak’s back and asked in a comforting tone.
She then spotted Walter walking into the living room with a sad face.
When she looked at him, he just shook his head.
"No....!!" Being busy dealing with the threats of the Voidfigures and the Duplicates, everyone had kind of forgotten what the Emperor might do to Julia’s family. Seeing her brother and Walter, Julia understood that the Emperor had taken action.
"Is it too late?" Julia asked in a trembling. There was still a little bit of hope in her heart. As long as there was even a minute left, there was still hope.
Seeing Walter hesitating, Julia did not waste any time. She began running towards Aditya’s office.
Bang...!!
Aditya, Watson, and Spencer found Julia barging inside his office.
"What happened?" Aditya asked in a concerned tone as Julia wouldn’t do such a thing normally.
"My parents.....!!" That was all that she needed to utter as, the next second, Aditya disappeared from the office.
’Shit!! How did I forget of this...?’ Aditya blamed himself for not taking action earlier. But he has been so busy trying to deal with the Voidfigures that this matter completely slipped out of his mind.
Aditya stepped on the teleportation array. As the teleportation array, his eyes became cold and sharp. "If anything happens to them, I swear, Daxton and his entire Empire will pay for this. I will burn the entire Echo Dominion Empire to ashes."
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