Chereads / Heir of the World / Chapter 2 - CH 2: Sakura?!

Chapter 2 - CH 2: Sakura?!

If one was in the Holy City State at this time, then one would think of it as a ghost town.

Not a single soul could be seen for tens of miles, though you could hear the screams of men, women, and children. At first you think of it as screams of the damned coming to grab your soul and drag you to hell, but upon further investigation, one would realize it as the type of screams people make during a momentous occasion.

Today is the coronation of the one and only, Ran, our stories mc. That's why there is no one for miles-they're all at the center of the city, district 0. Better known as the heavenly garden because it is in the center of an oasis, which is the basis for all life in the state.

This district is also an actual glass castle that the family leading this state lives in. Towering above the rest of the buildings made of glass, the castle can clearly be seen even from district 1, the outermost part of the state. Getting back on topic though, In a room of the living quarters, a maid could be seen with sparkling eyes as she watched a young man wearing all white ceremonial garments.

"What? Do I look bad in white?"

Ran appeared discontent as he looked into the mirror beside his bed.

Ann only shook her head. It was obvious she disagreed with that comment.

But those thoughts didn't last long as the time hit 11:45 pm. The coronation would happen at the same time he was born, which happened to be at 11:59 pm.

Ran only smiled slightly when looking at the time and he seemed to be lost in thought.

"What's wrong? Are you nervous? You know everyone supports you right?"

Rhetorical question by the way. "In a way, your everyone's savior. The Kesh seem to be extra aggressive lately too."

Ran only cracked his neck in response. He looked as if he already expected that to happen. Growing up to be the successor of the leadership, he knew that he would end up being a double-edged sword. On one hand, he was their savior and if it wasn't for him, the kesh would have attacked already seeing no one succeed the "throne". On the other hand, because of his existence, they are getting more aggressive and impatient, and that it was only a matter of time until they caused trouble. He could only continue warming up his body until the time for the coronation and all one could hear in the hall were cracking noises.

***

"It is now 11:49 pm so please, let us pray in silence for the next 9 minutes. May God guide our beloved country and may he bless our sacred child, Ran!"

Ran walked onto the center of the stage where his father spoke, crossed his legs and started meditating. The atmosphere was pretty great though an air of solemnity could be felt from his father. Ran just chalked it up to the recent attack the Kesh had made. And It stayed quiet for the next 5 minutes until a crunching sound could be heard. It was like the sound that one makes when stepping on grass, which everyone was surrounded by.

Ran's eyes twitched, but he didn't move. He was confident that whatever was happening would be taken care of by all the rank 7 soldiers. That was true until he heard more crunching. It was much deeper and louder than before, like it was made by something that was closer than before. He couldn't be bothered by that sound anymore though because he was now in the air! Someone had kidnapped him!

No, the story just started! Our protagonist couldn't possibly die just yet right?!

But when Ran opened his eyes, he saw a familiar face instead.

"ANN?!"

Now he was struggling to get out of her grip. He couldn't believe she would betray him like that after all these years. They had basically grown up together, granted she basically started serving him since she was born. But still! Betrayal was something that would never cross his mind about Ann even though he knew from the war room meeting that there would be spies in the city.

"STOP STRUGGLING! I'm trying to get you out of here. His Holiness claimed that something like this would happen so I hid underneath the stage to protect you in case this happened."

That's when Ran saw what appeared to be seams along the floor right next to where he sat. But that wasn't even the worst of it. When he looked up around him, he saw something he shouldn't have.

"SHIT!!!"

Bodies... bodies everywhere. And black shadows next to them. All the rank 7 soldiers, DEAD! The normal people didn't get killed, but still over 100 bodies were strewn all over the field. The grass was painted red and the puddles of iron smelling liquid lay there without so much as a ripple as all the shadows glared at him at the same time. Suddenly, they vanished from his eyesight, after all, he's still a normal human. He can't even perceive the power one has when people use their sigil, not to mention most of those shadows were probably at least rank 6 to be able to finish all those rank 7's.

Although everyone has a unique sigil, a lot are just variations of each other, and most sigils bring a significant boost in almost everything. From speed and dexterity, strength and endurance, even things like brain power and eyesight get a boost from their sigils. Granted, it still has to do with the amount and intensity of a person's soul juice. And it depends on what kind of ability as well.

But that's not the point.

Ran was drenched in so much cold sweat that Ann almost let him slip. I mean that's impossible right? Those were all our rank 7 soldiers, they are supposed to be the elites. Thought Ran. He was right though. Rank 7 were elites in the world, but only ordinary ones. Most powerhouse countries would have tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of them. They won't even consider rank 10 or 9 soldiers as a part of their army.

They kept moving at an incredible pace, the shadows couldn't catch up even though they were running faster than the untrained eye could follow. Eventually, the shadows disappeared completely and Ran and Ann ended up in a clearing. It seemed that maybe they weren't really the target of the shadows after all.

As soon as they got to the clearing, one could hear faint clapping noises that seemed to be getting louder until a shadow could be seen. This shadow was different from the rest however. It seemed to be extra large, like two people in one or one huge person. But Ran recognized this shadow.

"WILLY?!"

Yes, it's Willy folks. Bet you didn't see that coming.

"Yes, your tiny holiness?"

He even sneered. Hmph, how dare he talk to our Ran Ran like that! Off with his head! Unfortunately, Ran didn't seem to realize the disdain in that sentence.

"Willy, what are you doing here? I thought you were with my dad?"

When they ran away, Willy who was next to his dad at the time, also disappeared with his father.

Confusion was clearly written on his face. Although Ran was not stupid, he wasn't experienced with these sort of situations. Ann, on the other hand, seemed prepared.

"Ran you need to keep going no matter what. Don't even look back. No matter what, just keep going. I'll catch up to you later."

Ran finally came to the realization after being in shock for a second, it was the swollen pig the whole time who had betrayed him.

"Okay."

Knowing the gravity of the situation, his face quickly grew grim, ruining his good-looking face. With that, Ran ran away at normal human speed and left Ann by herself with the pig. The pig tried to block Ran from leaving, but Ann swiftly intercepted him.

Although Ann was shocked for a second at Ran's decisiveness, she understood that he trusted her enough to leave her behind and run ahead.

Ran was running full speed ahead for a couple of minutes, until it hit 11:58 pm. And it was at this moment that another shadow appeared in front of him.

Who is it this time? Thought Ran. He couldn't even imagine that the person who would appear in front of him, was none other than the swollen pig, Willy! Again!

First comes shock, then comes anger.

"Where's Ann?! What did you do to her?!"

The pig sneered, or at least it tried to. It was hard to tell with its ugly ass face in the way.

"What did I do to her? I didn't do anything. She's exactly where you left her."

This made Ran even more confused. He was sure that he was running forward, but then how did the pig get in front of him. What's more is how he got past Ann. He knew her basically since birth. She was always a very strong woman. Even when they were kids, she would often beat him in every subject. Sports, literacy, and even more so in combat. As the son and heir to the "throne", he would not only go through those compulsory courses, but he would also get personally tutored by the general-a rank 6. And yet, he would still lose. He had to admit that she's much more talented than he is; which led him to look up to her.

And now, a dangerous person who had just fought her is now in front of him while she's nowhere to be found. His heart pounded and it seemed like it could collapse at any time, but he didn't notice the change in expression from the swollen pig.

"Time to end this!"

The pig squealed and charged straight at Ran without caring about anything. I mean what could an ordinary person do to me? Nothing! Was the thought this vile creature had. He didn't even realize that the time had reached 11:59 pm until he was right in front of Ran.

At that moment, Ran's pupils showed a gentle white light with a tint of pink as well. His left palm also showed the same color and if one were to look at it, they would immediately recognize it as a sigil!

"Sakura?!"

Willy the pig seemed to have sniffed out a gentle smell of sakura in the air.

He looked around to find where it was coming from and finally found it a second later. It was from right in front of him-in other words, it came from Ran!

But it was already too late and the energy blade in the pigs hand had pierced through Rans chest, but no blood, sound or feeling came after stabbing Ran's heart. And he failed to realize it until the very last moment. He thought he had won. No longer would he be forced to work out anymore! He would be free to pig out and eat all that he can stuff into his ugly mouth.

He had just sent himself to the slaughter house at that point though. He looked down to find blood leaking from the left side of his chest, at the same exact spot he had stabbed Ran. There was also a faint wisp of pinkish white aura in the stab wound. He was already losing consciousness and the only he would remember was the smell of sakura.

Thud…