Magnum ran desperately along the dirt road, heading toward the warehouses near the edge of the plantation. As soon as they made contact, the three children naturally split up to focus on what mattered most...
Just ten meters from where they were, Magnum found his father injured at the edge of the plantation, his leg trapped under a planting vehicle. Anton couldn't feel the lower part of his body, though he could still move.
The boy panicked quickly and, instead of crying or trying to help his father move the cabin (something impossible), he decided to run and fetch Ethan, who was in the warehouses.
However, the first explosions originated from those very warehouses...
"Duke Ethan... Please be okay!" Magnum pleaded in his thoughts, running even though he was out of breath.
When he reached the warehouse, Magnum was careful with the repeated debris and the cloud of smoke covering the area. Coughing with dry lungs, he covered his face and continued exploring.
Approaching the entrance, he shouted: "Duke Ethan!"
There was no response.
He continued waving away the smoke with his arm, trying to get a clear view, but to no avail. As he tried to get closer to a wooden crate at the back, Magnum was quickly interrupted by a black lightning bolt that shot in front of him.
Startled, Magnum recoiled but was surrounded by dozens of lightning bolts moving widely through the ruined warehouse.
Gradually, a vibration spread a high-pitched, directionless sound, but with a single origin; meters ahead of the boy, a white energy sphere emitted a black light and abruptly imploded.
Before the explosion could fully form, Ethan stepped in front of Magnum, his left arm outstretched and motionless; the Duke had a piece of metal lodged in his shoulder, blood dripping down to his fingertips.
With his right arm, Ethan created a burst of fire that suspended the energy sphere, delayed the expansion of the smoke, and, within seconds, turned the warehouses into dust with a single fiery wave. Controlling the direction of the destruction, Ethan sent an explosion skyward, dragging everything harmful with it.
A mushroom cloud appeared that morning.
Momentarily distracted, Theo looked back, where the mushroom cloud emitted light and a wave of vibration. A strong wind hit his back and nearly pushed him forward; luckily, Ethan had managed to control that explosion and kept it isolated despite the overwhelming result.
However, Theo continued running through the devastated fields, consumed by pain.
The towers of smoke limited his field of vision as screams of pain and cries for help spread across the Young Master's perspective.
Yet, something was pleading for his attention: a few meters ahead, one of those smoke towers loomed over the terrain. Theo panicked, knowing his intuition was warning him of a catastrophe...
Deviants could sense the presence of humans, even if they didn't have control over their own chakras. Theo was certain of the presence ahead... It was weak, almost on its last breath, but it was real...
To his left, a damaged cutting bar with bent blades lay discarded in the plantation.
Theo kept his composure to continue running, even slipping on the remnants of the incidents along the way. When he reached the base of the smoke, he ran to the right where the cabin of one of the machines lay overturned.
Further into the plantation, a metal plate was tilted over a man's body...
A straw hat was lost amidst it all.
Theo's body froze. His eyes processed, but his mind denied it without room for intervention. He couldn't believe it...
The man crushed by the metal plate was Michel, who was still fighting for his life, trying to push the massive metal structure but failing because he was just a human.
With Liam Mason's consciousness, Theo understood what was happening. Something he shouldn't have witnessed, but he was. The memories oscillated between the old and the new life.
While Theo stood still, staring at Michel, the sound of a heart rate monitor beeped, signaling the patient's death.
Liam stood in front of a glass window, watching the doctors try to save his mother. But the monitor beeped in sync with the fading heartbeat, showing that the medical care and professional desperation couldn't save Mavie Müller's life.
Unlike Theo, that sudden death information didn't make sense to Liam. Because of that, now knowing what it meant, Theo's body moved on its own to reach Michel.
However... Along the way, the Young Master encountered the face of a man without regrets. Liam Mason stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the machine where Michel was dying, maintaining a serene expression that made no sense in the current situation.
Theo simply ignored it and continued running toward Michel, his face showing true despair.
The amber eyes collided with the celestial blue ones; Liam, a man without regrets and with the strength to help, and Theo, a child with awareness but no strength to even consider helping...
Slipping in the mud and falling beside Michel, Theo quickly recovered and tried to push the metal plate. However, he was intentionally pushed back.
A black mist leaked from the collapsing core, causing a strange sensation in Theo's heart. The boy coughed up blood...
"No..." Michel pleaded with his last strength.
Ignoring the elder's plea, Theo tried to pull the metal plate with all his might but failed even to grip the material. The temperature prevented the Young Master from touching the metal without burning himself.
Instantly, Ethan appeared beside his son and tried to lift the plate. However, with one arm completely injured and his movements limited, the Duke could do nothing but try.
Michel placed his hand on Ethan's arm and, with his last ounce of strength, gripped the Duke's wrist tightly. He had understood the message...
The pain in Michel's eyes couldn't be described. That was why Theo was fighting. However, Ethan realized that pain wouldn't let the elder live much longer.
His son's life was worth more...
A monotonous vibration escaped from the energy core beneath the plate, creating reverberations and indescribable thermal sensations.
Regret would stick in Ethan's throat, with his selfishness being the source of confusion.
Noticing the impure and impossible-to-ignore sensation, Ethan grabbed Theo by the stomach and leaped away from the machine. However... the core that sustained the engine exploded, this time releasing all its energy and causing a massive impact.
Unable to react and run fast enough, Ethan and Theo were dragged away by the force of the explosion.
Subsequently, all the machines resonated with the energy released by the exploding cores, resulting in the mass destruction of all the machines near the plantation.
The fields of Midian were consumed by constant explosions, vibrations, and the bitter taste of the unknown... Above all, the pain of grief.
☽✪☾
"Duke Lawrence!" exclaimed an officer, hastily descending from a carriage.
Ethan was sitting by the roadside, where Theo was being treated by paramedics. The boy lay on a stretcher, being bandaged and assured that he had no difficulty breathing.
In the yard of what remained of the warehouses, countless injured people sought help as more wounded emerged from the plantations.
"Officer Hart..." said Ethan, his left arm bandaged.
"Sorry for the delay!" Hart was panting from the run to reach the Duke. "All the machines powered by energy cores were destroyed in the capital. We had to secure the safety there first..."
"Ah... So it wasn't just here..."
"Yes... Sorry, but did I hear disappointment in your voice?"
Ethan remained serious, reflecting on the situation. His eyes slowly scanned the environment, seeing people dragging themselves with injured limbs, stained with their own blood, and writhing in pain.
"When I felt an external resonance in the warehouses, I quickly deduced it could be a faulty machine. Upon arriving, I noticed the core completely collapsing, unable to sustain its own energy... It exploded first. Then, the other machines exploded one after another without leaving traces of the cause..."
Hart recoiled in disbelief.
The Duke, however, placed his right hand on his solar plexus and silently agonized over a pain akin to pins and needles.
"Do you think... this was the work of a terrorist attack?!"
Ethan nodded yes.
"Organize the troops and take care of the injured. If it's an attack, not just the capital and Midian, but the entire territory may need help," Ethan ordered. "Work to prevent many deaths."
"Yes, sir! Men, send a squad to rescue anyone still in the fields! Arrange carriages to take the rescued to the nearest post! Take care!"
In silence, Ethan watched his son's condition from a reasonable distance. Although Theo showed signs of life, like consistent breathing and fingers moving unconsciously, the Duke remained worried at all times.
Placing his right arm over his forehead, leaving only a gap for his eye to watch Theo, the Duke of Lawrence lamented.
As a renowned lieutenant, not just in Romerian but across the continent, he was used to such situations. Lives being taken for some reason were why he valued security in Loureto so much.
However...
"For me, no..." Michel had retorted. "For me, you're just idiots who learned how to use body energy to perform spells and grand things. But you're not gods, heroes, saviors... I don't believe in any of those false messengers of peace."
"So, I'm a nobody to you?"
"No... You're a very strong guy. The strongest my peasant eyes have ever seen... But you're the guy who puts money in my pocket. You're not a hero to me, understand?"
"Even if... I save your life?"
"I'll be grateful, but nothing beyond that."
A knife struck Ethan's heart. Clenching his teeth and grinding them in pain and anger, he thought:
"Sorry... I didn't even get your gratitude..."