7 Chapter:6 TURNING POINT

Empire [ capital ]

Inside a dim hall which contained a myriad of intricate paintings and ancient decoration, a man was currently sitting atop his luxurious chair, which was created out of the most rare 'danger Beasts'.

He was in a jovial mood and was devouring a roasted pig single handedly like there is no tomorrow.

After finishing the whole pig, he picks up a toothpick and asks a question seemingly to no one that could be present inside the room.

"How are the plans going and by how much time will the Empire's forces take to remove these pesky insects?"

After a short while, there was a slight movement near the shadows lurking inside the room. A hoarse voice answers Honest's question out of nowhere.

"Everything is going according to your orders, my lord, but there is a rapid increase in protests near the slums.

They are angered by the execution of citizens who have been wrongly executed on guillotine.

While they are not attacking any imperial soldier but they are definitely bringing the morale down of the soldiers."

"Ha haha hahaha" Honest begins to laugh after hearing the response of his question from his informant.

After a while, he suddenly slammed his hand on the dining table with a loud thud and spoke in a chillingly cold voice that sent shivers down the informant's spine.

"Just kill all those pesky bugs. They had the gal to protest and express their dissatisfaction in front of Empire and its forces.

These street rats just had to remain silent and accept being used by us like the cattle they are, but they dare to bare their fangs against the Empire. Humph!"

Honest had slowly but surely made his way towards his current position through trickery, bribing, or coercion.

He had killed numerous amount of people and ordered to kill countless human lives in order to achieve his goals, whether they were military officials, high ranking Nobels and even the Emperor and Empress.

Despite being easy to manipulate, the Emperor's lack of suitable approach due to the influence of the previous Prime Minister posed a challenge to Honest's plans.

Honest needed a pawn….. a perfect pawn who will dance like a puppet whose strings will be in the hands of honest himself and who can be more suitable than the next heir to the throne himself?

He is just a child who is easily controlled by a few sweet words and because of this; he had moved behind the shadows and has created this whole show.

But now these cattle dare to show up at an important event where he was going to drive away that bastard Chouri and his supporters away from the capital.

He does not even see these cattle who live in slums as humans and now they dared to disrupt his plans, this sets Honest mood all the time low.

"Do not execute them one by one on the guillotine but instead hang all the men with their heads cut on the stakes and r*pe their women in front of their severed heads." Said Honest, the disregard of the lives of the poor citizens evident in his cruel and sinister voice.

There is not even an ounce of remorse at his cruel and almost borderline inhumane order.

"And also order the soldiers not to kill the children, as they are important test subjects for the ongoing project." Said Honest, while bringing more food to the table.

"Yes, my lord." The shadow said calmly, disappears after he said these words.

After a while, chewing sound of food starts to reappear inside the room.

[Capital]

(SLUMS)

As the sun begins to set on the bustling streets of the slums, a young child, no more than three years old, toddles his way home.

'Damn I am late for home today because of those little devils, thought Leo as he makes his way towards home from the playground.

'Today the playground seemed eerily quiet for some reason,' thought Leo while thinking of various reasons for the silence in the slums while he was heading towards his home.

But as he was closing near his house, his heart grew cold because various shrieks of agonising voices were sounding more and clearer throughout the whole streets.

Leo's heart lurches in his chest as he sees a group of imperial soldiers clad in the colours of the Empire dragging his mother and other women from their homes.

Panic grips him as he watches in horror as they are herded like cattle in front of their own houses.

He immediately starts to run in order to save Liya, who was also being dragged along like other women,

anger starting to seep in his brain and all sense of reasoning slowly starting to fade away, but his legs were too slow, for obvious reasons.

Leo knew he couldn't reach there with his current speed, so he yelled so that he could get a few seconds to reach there.

"HEY IDIOT DUMBA*SS!!" Leo yelled loudly atop his lungs in a childish voice, clearly intending to take on the aggro of soldier despite the mocking statement he couldn't hide a sense of urgency and dread in his voice.

Liya and the Imperial soldier heard his voice, and the soldier was distracted for a moment to search which bastard has the gal to insult and mock him.

Liya was relieved to see her son was safe but also frightened at the thought what would these demons would do to her son if they get their hands on him.

"Run away Leo!! Keep your distance from me, find a safe location, and wait for Dad to arrive and protect you!

Liya let out a loud yell, with the intention of immediately removing Leo from this dreadful place.

She began to struggle more, intending to free away from the imperial soldier's grasp.

As Liya was struggling against the soldier, a man suddenly rushes near her spot and smashes the hammer on the soldier's head, instantly killing him in one blow.

Filled with shock and fear, Liya's eyes settled on the culprit, dreading that it would soon be her turn.

But instead of dread, relief instantly spread through Liya's whole being, because it was her husband who was standing in front of her with his blacksmith hammer.

But the relief instantly vanished away because of her son, who was still coming near them.

She immediately intended to say Ron to save their son.

*BANG*

"Ron our s….Ronnnn!!" Liya shrieked, unable to say anything as Ron was instantly shot near his stomach,

Ron went on his knees, his hands clutching near the injury where red blood started to gush out, the pain of being shot visible through his face.

"Argh!!" A groan of pain escaped from Ron's lips and blood started to smear all over Ron's clothing.

"Dad !!" Leo yelled as he was near Ron and Lily, but suddenly a kick came crashing down on Leo near his temple and he instantly crashed down on the ground, unable to lift his head.

"Leo!!" Yelled Liya, but Leo was unable to hear anything and instantly soldiers surrounded her on all sides, taking her down on her knees.

Pain was overflowing throughout Leo's whole body, making him feel unimaginable pain for the first time after his reincarnation.

Leo's ears started ringing. Blood flowing through them, making him unable to hear sounds near his surroundings for a whole minute.

*TAP TAP*

As Leo was trying to regain his hearing capacity, he suddenly starts to hear tapping sounds of boots and he started to shift his gaze upwards, but it was hard for Leo to see anything because of the previous impact.

*SMASH*

instantly a leg came atop his head and it immediately crashed his head on the ground,

Blood started to spill from Leo's nose. His heart had started to beat fast, his mind started to go numb from pain, and a few of his teeth came out from the impact.

After some unknown amount of time, Leo started to muster his strength by clutching his remaining teeth. He slowly starts to crawl unable to lift his neck due to pain from consecutive hits that had rained upon him.

But suddenly a hand suddenly came atop of Leo's head, grabbed him by his hair and started to drag Leo in front of a person.

Being unable to see for moments, Leo forces his sight to concentrate what it is in front of him. As his gaze became clear, what he saw made his heart freeze.

Ron was in front of him, but what made his heart freeze was the condition which was currently Ron in.

Leo's small frame trembles as he takes in the sight before him—a figure who was once looked up to as a pillar of strength in their household was now lying broken and bloodied,

His life slipping away with each labored breath. Various bullet holes were now deeply embedded themselves on Ron's haggard body.

Leo tried to say something, but his throat was too parched to say anything.

but just as he was forcing himself to utter a word, his eyes widened in horror as an imperial soldier stepped forward, his hand gripping a gleaming blade with a menacing glint.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the soldier raised the blade high above his head, the metallic tang of blood thick in the air.

Leo let out a guttural roar, unable to form any cohesive words but his shout was drowned out by the deafening roar of gunfires as the soldier brings the blade down with a sickening thud.

*Slash*

*BOOM*

This was the last sound Leo heard before he lost his consciousness.

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