Chapter 5

Back at the temple, 24 goes out of the door and found her comrades in a room while sleeping. She immediately went and look outside the window to check if everything is fine. When she saw that it is still in a peace order, she heaved a sigh and sat down the unoccupied chair beside her.

"Whew, I thought I heard some engine noises back there", 24 said. Then the door burst open and roared loudly waking up the sleeping children.

"Wha-WHAT HAPPENED?!", shouted 30 who jumped up from the sofa and is already in a battle stance. 6, clearly who was still not fully awake, used his water slasher towards the being in front of the doorway. 7 and 18 just sat on the bed feeling sleepy and yawning.

"Stop!", 24 shouted and went in front of the doorway carrying a lantern to see who roared the roots of them.

She then saw a 2-meter-tall stone golem standing by the door. Its piercing green eyes looked at her like it know who she is and its purpose. With a deep voice, the stone golem kneeled in front of her as a sign of respecting the guest.

"Master told me to escort you all out of here", said the golem.

"Why the haste?", asked 24.

"Because people in armored suit went inside the temple's premises as soon as the barrier is down. They are currently being pushed back by the beast and status outside to give you all more time to escape", said the golem in a hurried voice.

After hearing what the stone golem had said, the five children all stood up and prepare themselves to run for escape. "Lead the way then", said 24 gaining a nod from the stone golem and they started to run towards the escape route.

Meanwhile outside the temple, a fight broke out as soon as the translucent barrier went down. Magical beast keep pouring in, stopping them from advancing towards the temple. Many knights were killed and some of the lucky ones were immobilized preventing them from walking. Uncle is furious of their situation.

At first they only want to explore the said island after its discovery. Knowing that this is a part of the lost kingdom, they have sent in the test subjects for two purposes: First, is to let them train in the said island and to get them stronger for their further experiments before the said time of delivery towards the Crown Prince. Second, is to explore the island by using the drones under the pretext of monitoring the subjects for further investigation of the hidden treasures of the lost kingdom as well as to assess the beasts in the island before the approval of expedition on the discovered island. Everything is going in their way. Until the subjects went inside the collapsed temple.

Frustrated from his attempts from invading the temple, he swung his sword and threw his daggers towards the beasts killing them instantly. Being a warrior mage helped him enhance his muscles and increase each pressure from his slashes from the tortoise beast in front of him killing it. It maybe an easy task on him but not on his troops. Monsters in this island was not only smart but also strong with the level 3 being the lowest stage of monster present to 6 stage level beasts. In addition, the reinforcements will be in the island in t-minus 5 minutes because of the distance. So he and his troops were in a disadvantage in the current situation.

"Collins!", yelled Uncle.

"Yes Boss!"

"Track the subjects' tracker right now!!!", Uncle roared his orders from the noisy battlefield.

"Yes sir!", said Collins and retreated from the front lines to the back to access the tracker in the subjects bodies. While Uncle ordered the knights and mages to form a defensive line while defending their positions. "Boss, we got a problem!", yelled Collins.

"What is it? Have you tracked them already?", asked Uncle.

"Yes sir. They seem to be in the center point of the temple just in front of the entrance doors!", shouted Collins.

"Well fuck that! How the hell are we going in there?"

"Sir! the reinforcements have arrived!", yelled one of the knights. Then a huge explosion came from the back lines of the beasts, scattering their formation of blocking the intruders from entering the temple. The knights in the front run towards the temple's doors. Right now they need to secure the subjects before they can escape. After all, it is hard to find talented ones among the subjects they've kidnapped. Also, the wrath of the Crown Prince is something they cannot afford.

'I will send them to 'vacation' after I got them back!', thought Uncle as he run fast forward in the lead. As they neared the temple's doors the children was already in the underground passage of the temple. The tunnel leads to the waterways through the ocean. Everyone's thoughts were filled with happiness as the hope of escaping the institute's clutches will set them free. As the children runs towards the said location, the stone golem suddenly stopped from its tracks.

"Run straight, then go upstairs. From there you will find a gray key hanging in one of the hangers. Press the blue circle in it to deactivate the invisible cover of the submarine. After that, get inside of the submarine and insert the key located at the side of the steering wheel. Then, insert this drive in the center of the wheel and enter the codes '7768'. It will activate the auto drive and get you out from here. I will stay behind to give you more time and delay the intruders from catching you again", said the golem. The children nodded on the golem's statement and went ahead. Before 24 can go, the golem hold her right hand and gave her a red box with the logo of the Nichmize in the center.

"Master said to give this to you. It contains all the assets of Nichmize Empire except from the lands", explained the golem.

"The lands?",asked 24.

"Yes. Because the entire Nichmize Empire is currently submerged from the waters deep down below. Master said that after you gather the powers, come back here to restore the once lost great Nichmize Empire. And the master also said that, if you want to communicate with him/her you must go inside of the temples which human have built. Any temple or church. Master will always listen. Now go! My job is to delay them until you all go out of here", said the golem. 24 nodded and went to catch on to her comrades who are currently going upstairs to find the gray key. While the golem started to run back from where they went from and destroyed the pillars that supported the bridge that links from the waterways where the children are and the passage they took to get there. After ensuring that the path was blocked, the golem went ahead to delay the intruders who are currently inside of the temple's halls.

While the children are finding the keys, Uncle and his army is already inside of the temple where the tracker points the subject's location is. But to his disappointment, There are no presence of the subjects. The ones who welcomed them are the angry statues of different saints and sculptures inside the temple. Collins then saw the small black circle blinking dot trackers in the middle of the hall that separates the army and the statues. "Sir the trackers were removed from the subjects", yelled Collins as soon as he saw the dot trackers.

"They sure know how to get on my nerves", said the Uncle in a deathly tone. "Attention idiots! obliterate this stone freaks and find the subjects at once! I want them dead or alive", ordered Uncle. Then the knights went ahead to the front while the mages supported them.

While the fight broke out between the army, the children found the key and pressed them to see the black colored submarine. The submarine is 560 feet long, with fine blue lights flowing in the outline of the ship. The top of the submarine opened that woke up the children from their trance of awe and climb the submarine. 30 who was the first to go inside the submarine felt amaze because of the interior of the ship. 7 slapped his back and get the key and the drive from his hands and went ahead to find the control room.

In the control room 7 sat on the driver's seat and insert the key to its position and the drive. Suddenly the control room lit up and the assessment starts scanning its entire body from any abnormalities. After the scan was done, the front of the submarine opened to reveal a transparent see-through glass for the crews to see. After all of them is inside of the ship and sat from their respective seats, the submarine started to submerge itself to the water. Moving downwards, they all could see that there is a pathway that lit up and the submarine started to move forward as if it is launching towards the exit at a fast pace. The children all grabbed at their armrest on their seats and gritted their teeth.

A few moments later they were already out of the tunnel and the submarine went on its destination. The passengers inside celebrated from escaping the island and the institute who wants to get them back. For once in their lifetime, the freedom that they wanted so much was already given to them. Now the next problem would be surviving and earning in the community to achieve true freedom. 24 opened the box and wore the golden ring with a piece of jewel in the center in her middle finger. She puts some of her mana inside the ring only to find out that the ring was not an ordinary ones, but a storage ring with unlimited space and mountains of mountains of resources inside. From money to artifacts to clothes. Surely God provided some funds for her journey to complete her mission. Upon seeing what's inside, 24 smiled and look in front of her enjoying the beautiful view of the ocean setting aside all of her worries and the mission for the moment to indulge in the satisfaction of being free from the institutes' hands.

Back in the temple, all the statues were destroyed while the troops is on the search for the missing subjects that already escaped from their grasp. The stone golem that guided the children earlier were on the floor with its body and head destroyed and scattered in pieces. It's glowing green eyes were now turned black. The search squad that was assigned to go and find the subjects came back empty handed after 5 hours of searching and tracking their tracks. The only place the found with their tracks left behind was the second floor third room of the temple where the subjects used to rest. After that, there was nothing they could find.

Because of this, Uncle went on a rampage for an hour before calming himself down. The troops that was sent in the island went back to the institute together with Uncle, Collins and others involve in the incident. After that a meeting was called in the conference hall where five elders wearing a heavy black and dark violet cloak was seated in each designated throne-like seats. Facing the elders were the Uncle, Collins and other 6 members with them that is responsible for looking after the escaped subjects. They all kneeled in front of the elders who are not happy.

"All of you have failed to contain the subjects no. 6, 7,18, 24 and 30. Did you know how angry the Crown Prince is?", angrily said First Elder.

"Those subjects were heavily invested by the institute, aristocrat faction and the Crown Prince himself! Now what are we going to say if this incident were to reach their ears huh?! Do you even know what are they going to do after learning this? You imbeciles! You all good-for-nothing insects!", shouted elder 4.

"Now now, calm down Fourth Elder. There's nothing we could do but to find new subjects to replace them. We have no choice but to accept the wrath incurred from the nobles and that puny prince", said Third Elder.

"Easy for you to say Third Elder. It will be hard to find the replacements ever since the banning of slavery was lifted. Our employees were having a hard time finding and importing slaves that meets the criteria for the elite squad which that puny prince requested us", said the Second Elder staring at Third Elder.

"Since our movements have been reduced the funds was wasted into nothing. I think a punishment sounds pleasing for this event. What do you think Fifth Elder?", ask Second Elder facing the said elder. While the rest of the council elder members stared towards the organization's boss.

"I think these lower shits must replace them don't you think?"said the grinning First Elder. The people in front of the elders who are in a kneeling position shudder from the mere thought of them going to same thing that their subjects went.

"Leave Professor Uncle behind. His brain still have a use, while the rest will be going for the reprograming and replace the lost. Put someone in charge of the operations while put Uncle in second in command. Don't you dare bring us another failure Uncle", said Fifth Elder after threatening Uncle who just lowered his head and said, "Yes Elder, I will assure you all of this not ever happening again", said Uncle. Collins and the rest lost the color of their faces after the said orders.

Then the soldiers went inside of the hall cuffing and dragging the seven people who are begging for their lives out of the hall, while Uncle is still kneeling. He gritted his teeth and clenching his fist because of anger towards the escaped children and his first failure since entering the institute.

"You may stand and go your way Professor. Remember another failure and your head will be displayed in the plaza got it?", said the First Elder.

"Yes sir!", said Uncle before going out of the hall with clear rage in his eyes.