Clash!

The Lerains were the last to arrive so after a few minutes of socializing, all the adults withdrew into the inner room of the Jade Pavillion which was sealed with soundproof spells to prevent eavesdropping, leaving the kids alone in the big room.

There were seats available so all of them took a seat. The king had a small throne in the room which he promptly sat on. Beside him was his right hand man, Stefan, a powerful mage. There were murmurs as the nobles present all were speculating on the issue which had forced the king to summon all of them to gather here.

"Nobles present and ministers, as we all know, many promising mages are being abducted from most kingdoms with our kingdom not being an exception. Before I elaborate further, I have good news and bad news for all of you," said King Muriel, looking around with all seriousness. King Muriel was a tall man with a handsome face and blonde hair. He had the elements of Air, Lightning,Water and Blood and bone element, having a gold Affinity for them plus an innate body and blessing. In his early days, he was the generational genius of the kingdom. The room was very quiet as they were all hanging on to his words. King Muriel cleared his throat and continued, "The good news is that, we now know of those behind this vile act. The bad news is that the Empire has refused to help us concerning this matter,"

The nobles' faces became solemn. "Who are those behind it?" inquired Lexis Syphar of the Syphar clan. He usually was silent during gatherings like this but surprisingly he spoke first. This was because he had lost his eldest daughter, Nekane Syphar, to this. Thus, all those in the room understood his agitation. "Patience Lexis. The one behind this is an organization known as the Blood Moon Organization. We found out this information at a great cost and at the loss of one of our most promising seeds we were nurturing for the army, a boy called Aaron. Aaron was found by Captain Luke in a village down south of the kingdom. He underwent his Awakening at eight, awakening three elements; Dark, Summoning and Shadow with a gold Affinity for the Dark element and silver Affinity for the other two. He became an Intermediate Mage at thirteen and an Advanced mage at 21. according to sources, he was heading to the nearest army base to join the army and Luke's advice but he was ambushed on the way and disappeared since," said the king.

The king then continued with his narration. "For the first time though, we were able to see signs of scuffle as the boy probably fought against his captors and it is through this that we gathered the information we have about this group. Due to certain circumstances, I will withhold the information which led to us acquiring this intelligence in the first place.

The murmurs increased into loud discussion and Stefan clapped his hands thrice for silence. "A question, my king," said a noble who raised his hand. "Speak," the king nodded to him. "My king, you said that the Empire has refused to help us in this matter but why? Whenever we face problems they offer support so is there a particular reason why they refuse to help us to protect our future?" asked the noble. There were murmurs of agreement in the room. The king raised his hands for silence and spoke when the room was quiet again. "The reason they gave was that we cannot expect help in this matter but we must find a way to deal with it ourselves," said King Muriel.

The room was filled once again with angry outbursts. "This is insane! why do they deny us help now of all times?" said Lexus Syphar furiously. All the nobles agreed with him. The Empire offered help and aid to the other kingdoms in times of need in exchange for payment or certain privileges but for this, they were adamant to help out. "This means that we can only aet up measures to deal with it ourselves," said King Muriel. "Due to this, all noble children are not to be homeschooled anymore, but they will be enrolled into the magic academies in the kingdom so we can all keep an eye on them," he added.

There was now total chaos in the room. Ronan Kincaid angrily stood up and yelled, "what is the meaning of this?! We can look after our own far better than what a magic academy can do. Besides, our children are of noble status and should not be made to interact with common filth!" "Watch your words Ronan! You are going too far!" replied Stefan as he released his aura and instantly suppressed Ronan Kincaid. With a black face, Ronan sat down angrily and Stefan withdrew his aura.

"If we could watch over our kids well then this wouldn't have happened a long time ago," said Lexis Syphar. "As much as I hate to admit, Lexis is right. Our kids have been stolen right under our noses. This time, the more eyes that watch, the better," said Duke Narcius. "Well I knew this would inconvenience you that is why I've made special preparations in all the academies for nobles. Your children will be protected and live comfortably, I can assure you that. I have even moved part of the soldiers in the army into the various academies to act as teachers and guards. All the preparations will be finished soon to make the magic academies much safer for all. In three years time, all your nobles will attend the various academies. If you are still doubtful of the protection, you can allow guards to accompany your kids and you can also closely monitor the academies, " explained the king in exasperation.

Andrew West, the head of the Daris Royal Academy in the capital stood up and said, "It would also be good if your families sent over an expert each so that we can quickly react to any problems," The nobles in the room nodded and continued to discuss among themselves how safe this whole thing was. "This is a surprising development," said Arius to his son. "Irias nodded and replied, "I wonder how Memphis will cope."

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Meanwhile in the other room, the noble kids were having fun bragging and boasting like how rich kids tended to do. "Hey Memphis, how about one of these days we have a duel?" asked Ralph. "Sure. Just name the time and place and I will be there, come prepared for a beating though. If I decide to take it easy I'll probably use about thirty seconds," said Memphis with a smile. "You're too proud Memphis," Claud Kincaid couldn't help but speak out in annoyance. Memphis turned to him with a mocking smile. "You have a problem, carrot head?" he asked. The other nobles giggled. "Carrot head! that was a good one, Memphis!" wheezed Ralph as he laughed with reckless abandon. Claud couldn't take the humiliation anymore and stood up, his hands covered in red flames. "Whom are you calling that?" he yelled.

"Calm your feathers old man," mocked Memphis. Claud growled and threw a huge sphere of fire at Memphis, Memphis copied his spell and fired an even bigger sphere of fire which cancelled out Claud's power. "I don't need my other elements to defeat you, my fire element is just enough," said Memphis.

"Oh is that it? Why don't you prove it? Let's go out and fight!" roared Claud, slamming his fiery hands onto the table. Memphis smirked. "You want a fight? You're on!"