BEEP...BEEP.....
"Abort...."
"Abort the mission."
"The other side had acted."
"The targets had been guarded and saved."
"Escape to the rendezvous point."
"Got it."The shadowy figures cutting the calls gritted their teeth in anger.
"Shit...Shit....."
They cursed aloud hearing the command. All the planning only for nothing.
"We can't go back like this. We will suffer pain worse than death. We need to do something.''A figure muttered.
"What can we do now?"Another one asked.
"Let's kidnap the lesser noble one. As long as we can poach some nobles, the loss would not be too much."A person suggested staring at the few kids they have knocked up.
"Let's move."
The figure picked up a few children from the bunch and left, disappearing from Horizon's periphery.
With this, the bloody incident finally came to an end.
...
Inside a room, sitting across a round table, a heated table went on.
"I can't believe this."
"Not only 48 lost their lives, but 23 had also been kidnapped."
"How did this happen?"
"Lokov, Are you seriously asking this?"A cold voice radiated across the room.
Ami glaring at everyone out there, tapped her finger making a tap, tap sound loudly.
"Who is the one who neglected my warning? If not for Harris, Shiya, and Arnold, can you imagine the number of lives that we're going to lose?"
"If not for your obstruction, we could have deployed our full force?"
BANG!
Ami banged the table loudly. The more she talked the more fierce her gaze became. Seeing her, they flinched back and averted their gaze.
In fact, from the way things progressed, she was hundred percent sure about the moles hiding here. Ami had taken the drastic measure and a quick response but even after this lives were lost.
Yes, she was blaming herself for this still she can't ignore the possibility of the moles. This incident also helped them to identify a few suspects whom they needed to nip in the bud.
Some of them still stared at Ami without a shred of guilt.
'Hmmm...You don't know just how lucky you are that I attended the meeting instead of that man, otherwise knowing his mood, I don't dare to guess how many of you can walk back on your feet from this meeting.'Ami snorted inwardly.
"They are not our responsibilities. We gave them a place to stay, learn and advance in life for free. Without our institution, many of them would still be crawling in the dirt. It's their fault for being weak."Asel, a man with murky grey hair spoke.
Ami gnashed her teeth hearing his shameless words.
Lokov coughed trying to shake away the uneasiness and muttered"Instead of wasting time blaming one another, we need to draw our focus to meaningful things."
"Out of 23 that were kidnapped. There were some belonging to bigger nobles like Art and Sheldon's house."
"They have a higher standing. We need to act quickly and formulate an action plan for rescue."
"What about others?Are you telling us to search only these two?"Donald refuted, glancing at Lokov.
Ami sighed in relief seeing Donald acting for them. Out of everyone, he was the only one neutral and would always judge the situation with impartiality, which even she failed to do because, in a way, she is also entangled with politics.
"I meant to say, we are going to rescue everyone," Lokov muttered slowly with veins bulging over his face.
...
"Ahhhhhh!"
A subtle groan escaped from his lips as Lucas opened his eyes. Rubbing his eyes, he stretched himself over the soft comfy bed as his back pressed against it.
The plan ceiling of the white room hangs above him. It was safe and familiar. There were no death threats, well at least there was no constant fear of torturous death.
Except for a slight ache and sore muscles that would vanish after some recovery, he felt great. The sudden disappearance of the suffocating pain of having a hole inside the chest had also vanished.
It was as if he was injured a moment ago but the next moment his health was restored.
What a blessing.
'I survived.'
Remembering the fight, his body suddenly cuddled up. Now that he remembered the details, his face heated up with shame and embarrassment.
Yesterday, he acted quite boldly which even made him wonder if he had some kind of split personality.
"No...I am a good kid. A kind and honest human being. It's just that I have been influenced by some bloody rascals."
"Hmmm...yeah that's right."
He slowly looked down and then froze.
On a luxurious wood chair placed beside his reinforced medical bed sat the most unwanted person he could meet.
Seeing his pair of brown eyes staring at him piercingly, Lucas momentarily closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep while sweating profusely inwardly.
"Can you stop pretending?"He spoke, not an ounce of warmth could be heard in his voice.
'Bastard Frederick, where the hell did you die? Do you even remember me? Did he forget me because I am extra?'
Even with his eyes closed, Lucas could feel Charles's glare. Blinking a couple of times, feeling embarrassed Lucas tried to come up with an excuse, then he opened his mouth and answered while getting up to give a bow.
"S...I mean Lord Charles, why did you come here to greet this humble one. You just needed to make a call and I would have come running after hearing your call."
Charles's expression twisted, seeing this a wave of terror washed over Lucas.
Charles who was about to speak suddenly stopped as the brutal scene of Lucas dismantling not one life but also his descendants came to mind.
Taking care of the frontline, Charles decided to advance at night irrespective of the danger and gain an advantage while others wasted time resting in a safe zone.
But who would have thought that he would encounter Lucas ahead?
Many thoughts flashed in his eyes. He also remembered this guy following Frederick but ignored him after knowing his common background. However, seeing him up ahead piqued his curiosity, and he followed him.
After observing this guy going off track, Charles's curiosity died as he found that this guy was looking for a resting spot here. If he had time he would have tried to look for this guy's unusual behavior but having wasted enough time, he decides to return.
At that moment, he felt a motion and then he was attacked by two strangers who seemed to have been following him quietly.
And the rest of the scene was history. Before becoming unconscious, unluckily seeing the scene of Lucas stabbing a person's crotch through ice shreds passing through the genitals and cutting one ball gave him such a heavy blow that the tiny bit of consciousness he had eroded.
Even now, remembering that brutal scene made his balls jingle in fear. He, whose heart was quite black and hardened with viciousness, also felt a bit of pity and wished for no man to die like this.
Seeing Lucas today, Charles was startled. The man who behaved like a bloodthirsty monster without giving a damn now looked like a kind innocent and well-mannered kid.
In truth, after last night, he was also a bit afraid of him.
From this very moment, Charles decided to take a vow not to provoke this guy. There were thousands of ways to court death but he did not to offend this guy and die in such a way.
It was humiliating still it's then getting his balls kicked.
Clenching his fist, Charles acted as naturally as possible.
"Are you awake now?"
Lucas scratched his head and carefully nodded.
"Hmmmm!"
A deep silence lingered for a moment. Not knowing what to say, Lucas kept mum not wanting to offend this guy.
"Thank You!"
"Ehhhh!"
Startled, Lucas looked at Charles blinking his eyes with confusion wondering if he had heard wrong.
"You don't have to act too surprised. I know you are the one who saved me. Without you, I would be dead meat. This life-saving grace cannot be repaid by mere words."
Lucas wanted to refute and even wanted to ask who saved them as even he passed out at the last moment from the shock waves of the explosion.
However, on a second note, wouldn't it be stupid to refuse such a favor?
Charles's behavior took a 180° degree after he was saved from being kidnapped by Omen turning into the worst villain but since it didn't happen now, Lucas did not know how this change would affect the overall plot.
Not wanting to say anymore, Charles got up and left without any second words.
As he left, three shadows fell as they peeked their head through the edge of the wall.
"Did you see his legs trembling or am I imagining things?"Parth muttered with disbelief.
"Now, his legs were trembling, "Roan confirmed.
"It seems he and Lucas had gone through a lot of suffering,' Frederick mumbled remembering their conditions when Ami brought them back.
Lucas's cheeks were swollen, his head was cracked, his back was burned and there were a lot of fractures all over his body along with a hole over his left chest.
Charles's condition was slightly better.
Thinking about the scene, the three teared up. They wanted to accompany him but Charles fought with them fiercely and wanted to take up this role and even pleaded with them to meet him first making them speechless.
Without further ado, the three rushed into the room startling Lucas.n0veLusb.C0m
Roan pounced on Lucas with teary eyes and shouted"Lucas, you have suffered a lot."
"You have gone through such a traumatic experience which I wish no one would ever encounter."
"Whatttt?"Lucas screamed with bewilderment but was shut off by Frederick and Parth.
"It's okay, you can cry if you want."
"Going through such torture can shake one soul and leave behind trauma."
Lucas raises his head seeing Frederick and Parth's eyes filled with pity, worry, and sympathy.
Even if Lucas refused, the three tried to coax him like a child, angering him further.
If only they knew about the whole truth, that it was their friend that tortured the other ones, not only would they cough liters of blood, but also for the safety of their future generations they would make sure to stay a step away from him hoping for his madman personality not to wake up.