*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*
Sounds of footsteps echoed out inside a long corridor lit up by torches on the walls.
*Crack* *BOOOM* *BOOOM*
"Be careful!" A middle-aged man wearing a red coat like that of a king shouted while running.
Beneath the coat he was wearing metallic armor with a sword latched to his waist.
There were a total of 5 members of the royal family running.
The king, the queen, the crown prince, the princess, and youngest prince.
The crown prince was running in front with his little brother; the princess and her mother, the queen, were in the middle. And the king stood behind them, protecting them with his Origin Emperor's might from the destruction happening above.
They didn't know what happened. It was sudden and out of nowhere. But, it didn't happen in one day; this they knew.
It all started when a traveling merchant descended to their world right after the tower disappeared.
It was a strange phenomenon but the people quickly got used to it after the years; after all, the tower was a mysterious construct so for it to disappear so suddenly... It wasn't like they could do anything.
But what was weird, but they didn't think of it as much as they should at the time, was the appearance of a merchant merely days after that event.
The merchant wore a strange purple suit, he had a wide smile and a purple hat he liked to play with a lot. He was always holding a cane with his right arm and although people were sceptical at first, they quickly warmed up to him.
The first customer of the merchant went up to him out of curiosity and saw what he held in his strange carriage that was stationed just outside the walls of the capital.
The strange tools there and the wide variety of choices one could have, as well as the overwhelmingly cheap prices, immediately caught the interest of the young man who went there to check.
And then, that young man ended up buying a strange tool. All he had to do was pull a trigger and...
Nothing happened.
Well, not nothing, in fact, the young man quickly became a famous adventurer who had helped the kingdom take care of many high-level dungeons around. Going from a poor unknown E-rank adventurer to the strongest one in a week made people very curious.
"Honey? Where are you?!" The queen also started shouting.
*BOOOM*
The world once again shook, reminding the group of 4 the situation they were in.
"Mother, Lora, we can't keep waiting anymore. Maybe dad went somewhere. I will protect you, come in front of me." The crown prince took the burden, seeing as his father wasn't there anymore and walked back behind his mother and sister.
"Mother, please hold Ares." Handing his little brother, who was asleep, to his mother, the crown prince turned serious and used his King of Essence-level power to protect them from danger.
The group of 4 continued walking, and fortunately, or rather, strangely... nothing happened.
The light of day started to appear and they started to feel happy that they were safe.
But... when they came out of the hidden corridor leading out to a mountain cliff, what welcomed them was...
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"D- Dad."
The princess fainted the second she saw the decapitated body of her father held by a spear buried to the ground. The queen shouted with tears falling of her cheeks, and the crown prince couldn't believe his eyes.
"What's happening." The little prince woke up from his mother's screams and started rubbing his eyes.
"Ares, Don't Look!" The crown prince shouted.
"Too late."
*Slash* *Slash*
Before the crown prince could understand anything, the fainted princess was slashed in half, and his mother's head fell to the ground. The blood that shot out from the sudden slash showered the young prince.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
-----End-----