"Crown, you did it, you madman!"
The amount of mana he received was pathetic, in the megamana range, but it was enough to stop his mana core from withering further.
He sat down, sensing where the stream of mana went. He expected to see a complicated generator built out of mana inscriptions, but what he saw was something shocking. Something horrific. Something so scary, an immortal being's eyes widened. He saw...
A young boy who was tucked into bed, getting a story read to him.
At least, he assumed the story was read. He couldn't hear anything; he could only witness an area around the boy.
'Truly abhorrent.'
He wasn't talking about the scene in its entirety, as it was actually quite heartwarming to him. Indom had always adored children. A long time back, he had even adopted multiple orphans and had them live in his palace.
They were long dead, as he was an immortal, yet he still cherished those memories.
He was only talking about one small but truly sickening part of it. The intricate web of mana inscription on his back. The imprint seemed black, but it only looked like that to cover its true shape—a web made out of a dozen million interconnected lines and shapes that were a few micrometers each.
These lines were burned into the child's skin; the whole thing was made to achieve perfect control of mana.
'No, it goes deeper. His mana network and blood vessels work as a third dimension to the imprint. It's...it's horrific.'
Crown created this boy for the sole purpose of being a battery for his escape. Indom had an urge to punch something.
He logically understood why he did it, of course. Mana responded strongly to feelings, emotions, and thoughts. The cores of living beings were also subject to change, able to grow.
Furthermore, it was ingeniously designed to make the battery's core grow. As it sent out mana that Indom would absorb, the organ would be forced to purify more of the energy to fill the now empty space, and as mana cores grew every time they refilled themselves...
It would make the living battery more and more powerful with each day that passed. It was even capable of growing exponentially, as the amount of mana sent was always 7.5% of the maximum capacity.
'If Crown was thinking up revolting things like this, what the hell has that sick bastard Utbrus been doing?!'
Indom kept looking at the young man. He saw the man reading the book to him leave, and the boy drifted off into sleep. He decided to try and send mana to the boy through the connection, attempting to erode the edges around the translucent floor of his prison.
Indom sent a measly 20 gigamana. He didn't know how the child's core would react, so he limited himself on the amount. The cracks' edges expanded, making the hole of his prison a couple millimeters bigger.
'Yes! I just have to send the child some more mana, and it will be broken in an hour!'
He then witnessed the 'incident.'
'Huh? No, he isn't a dragon! Huh? Huh? No, no, no, no! Why is he becoming a dragon?! Why Crown?! Why would you give him an imitation of the dragon bloodline ability?!'
Indom then had to bear witness to the murder of nine innocent people. The emperor had seen so much pure evil in his lifetime, but he wished never to become desensitized towards it. He watched somberly, knowing that it was, at least partially, his fault.
'I won't share mana with the kid unless he is in danger. It'll take longer for the cell to fracture completely, but I'm not risking that happening again.'
The word of Emperor Indom was unbreakable. If he had promised something, he would fulfill it, no matter what. That was the code he lived by.
This was one of the four times he wavered at the prospect of keeping his word.
'Where are the child's parents?!'
'Why are you shoving the boy? He didn't do anything!'
'Let the boy play! Why wouldn't you let a kid have fun!?'
'Why are you taking his broom away?! He very clearly likes it! '
The rage and bafflement were born out of the fact he had a supportive and loving father figure, as did all the emperors. Seeing a child be treated so lackadaisically, as if it were not a living, breathing being, disgusted him to no end.
'Crown, I'll have your head on a platter, you piece of—'
As he was about to finish the thought, he saw a tall woman rush into the boy's cell, sealing off the exit and placing her large hands on his delicate throat.
Every cell in Indom's body boiled with rage. He sent over 350 gigamana to the boy in an instant. He was smiling wildly, his sharp white teeth looking like pearls.
'That's right, child! Tear her apart! Rip her heart out and eat it! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!'
His grin disappeared when an elf came in, stealing the kid's victory.
'Aw, dammit. Wait a minute, the elf stopped the transformation. So where did the 350 gigamana go?'
He focused more on the mana delivery pathway, looking carefully at the child's inscription-ridden back.
'The imprint also has an artificial mana storage? He essentially has two cores?! What mad genius designed this?'
He was completely confounded. In his time, Utbrus was considered a one-of-a-kind prodigy at inscription, but he never made something as appallingly complicated and thoroughly insane as this.
'How much has changed in a measly 7 centuries?'
He kept watching with that thought on his mind.
Indom smiled at the child's interaction with the elf. He was truly glad the boy didn't have to think through last night's events alone.
He was then promptly infuriated seeing the child forced to remain in his room, alone.
For every second that passed, his blood raised in temperature, boiling. Veins popped up on his arms, muscles bulging abnormally.
Seeing the child chained down by so much fear caused him physical agony.
Maybe it was the fact he had spent 724 years thinking about the demise of his enemy, but at this moment he wished for nothing more than to see the small child break out of the facility and thoroughly torture anyone that had wronged him.
Every second he watched made his Indom's stomach drop in pain. Seeing the child cry himself to sleep made him want to appear there and hug him. He wanted the boy to feel safe in his arms, to be comforted within them.
That was nothing more than wishful thinking. He was fated to witness the child's pains.
When the transformation started, Indom immediately sent more mana. If he could, he'd donate his whole core to the child.
The additional mana was absolutely not necessary, as the imprint had over 350 gigamana stored inside it already, but it made Indom feel like he was helping.
The emperor watched as the creature annihilated the guards. While disenchanted by the loss of life, he was cathartic at the child's outburst.
Then, he heard a large sound of breakage all around him. He spun, seeing the walls and floor crumble. It seems the last 350 gigamana made the cell unstable enough to break.
"Oh, how I won't miss you, you little bastard of a cell!"
The cell tore itself apart, and he was suddenly standing in the valley of dragons. It was nothing more than a flat expanse of red dust and rock stretching as far as the eye could see.
His eyes started watering, but he held the tears in. His kind may be dead, and his homeland destroyed, but there was still another life that only he could help.
He had to go rescue that kid!
He focused on the mana connection, seeing light blue fire melt the ceiling of the facility, and the dragon leave.
'Does the boy have some control of the dragon? No, it can't be. He hasn't trained in the will technique!'
[Will technique was a training method used by the dragonkind. They would train their minds by doing intense rituals every day until they were as sharp as the tip of the strongest cursed weapon. This information was found in a ritualistic scroll, buried in a tomb inside the territory of the Elven lands. It is estimated to have been written around the year 1780.]
He traced the boy's location using the mana connection. He was in a mountainous region of what was, in his lifetime, the utmost western border of the Crown's territory. It was roughly half the continent away, but if he flew towards it at full speed, there wouldn't even be a need for the child to wait more than 40 minutes.
Suddenly, a pair of wings adorned with crimson scales sprouted from his back. Indom pushed himself off the ground, jumping up into the air.
He used his wings to glide for a while, then forced all his might into his back muscles, making the wings flap, and exploded forwards at astonishing speeds.
He flew, simply enjoying the sight. No matter how many times he flew, it was always a joy to behold.
He subconsciously traced the child's position but didn't bother watching him. He'd just be nervous if he did, and he couldn't do much about whatever was happening anyway.
'Might as well relax until I arrive.'
By the time he got there, he was exhilarated, completely forgetting all his previous stress. This was the first time he was outside for 724 years, so he was ecstatic.
He saw the boy lying in the mud, bloody. Pangs of pain bit at his heart. Worse yet were the four mana signatures approaching him.
He landed softly into the mud, and it stained his boots, to which he didn't even bat an eye. Then, something else caught his eye. The kid's brain.
He bent down into an unnatural position, his legs straight but his face almost to the floor. The child's eyes opened wildly, looking at Indom with surprise and fear.
'I see, you were abusing his bloodline ability. So that's why he could control the transformation to some extent. Crown, you amaze and revolt me.'
He pulled the upper half of his body back, looking at the living battery with a wide grin on his face.
"Hey there, replica. Need a hand?"