Kael gasped awake inside a cocoon of amniotic fluid. Thick and metallic. Tubes snaked into his nose. His mouth. They pumped nutrients that burned like liquid fire. The world outside the pod hummed with the sound of engines. A mechanical heartbeat synced to his own frantic pulse. Floor 3. The Mecha-Dragon Empire. Reborn not in flesh. But in the cockpit womb of a dragonframe. A colossal war machine fused with living scale and circuit.
He clawed at the glass. Tiny fists. Slick with gel. The curse had twisted again. No cradle this time. No chains. Just this sterile prison. Walls etched with glowing runes that spelt out vital signs in draconic script. His body accelerated. Bones lengthened. Muscles knitted in spasms. One year to five minutes. Puberty would hit like a railgun.
A voice crackled through speakers. Feminine and augmented. "Incubation complete. Pilot sync at ninety-eight per cent. Welcome, Draco-01 heir."
The pod hissed open. Fluid cascaded. It steamed on the grated floors. Kael tumbled out. Naked. Coughing. He stood maybe four feet. Skin is pale under harsh lights. Hangar vast as a cathedral. Mecha-dragons lined in rows. Wings folded like origami steel. Eyes with dark lenses waited for souls.
Footsteps echoed. Boots on metal. She approached. Princess Draco-01. His third Lady. The body is a masterpiece of cybernetic enhancement. Scales of chrome along her arms. Tail whipped behind in segmented alloy. Hair silver cables braided with living fire. Eyes. One organic gold. One optic red scanned him.
She knelt. Armoured knee clanged. "My son. The empire's future." Her voice was layered. Human warmth under synthetic echo. The mole on her collarbone. Nyx's mark from last life. Carried forward somehow. Recognition stirred in her gaze. Buried under protocol.
Kael's voice came raspy. "Mother." The word tasted wrong. Right. Lustforge ignited low in his gut. Mana pooled despite the reset. He retained two skills now. Tempest Grasp and Shadow Tempest. Dormant but itched.
She lifted him easily. Strength servos whirred. "You've grown fast. The fusion serum works." Her hand pressed his back. Checked ports. Sparks jumped where skin met scale. The cockpit had been her womb. Literally, Dragonframes birthed pilots this way. Merged bloodlines with the machine.
The empire sprawled in his accelerated memories. Downloaded via neural link during incubation. A realm of floating fortresses. Dragon mecha warred against void incursions. Empress. No. Princess Draco-01 ruled as regent. Her mother, the true queen, lost to a black hole war. Kael. Her bastard heir. Sired in a ritual dual cultivation with a storm rider from the lower floors. Lies the curse wove.
Weeks compressed. Kael trained in sim-pods. Body hit teen proportions. He piloted fewer frames. Learned to sync my mind to Dragon. Tempest Grasp adapted. He summoned storms inside cockpits. Pressurised enemy hulls until they imploded. Shadow Tempest phased his mecha through laser grids. Struck unseen.
Draco-01 watched every session. Her presence is a constant heat. Nights in the royal quarters. A vast bed of memory foam and scale. She taught him empire politics. "The nobles plot. They fear a half-blood prince."
He nodded. He traced the kraken Stigma on his chest. Shadow coils on the thigh. Hidden under flight suits. "I'll crush them."
Her laugh echoed metallically. "My fierce cub."
First intimacy sparked during a maintenance cycle. Her frame. Massive dragon mecha named *Aetherwing*. Hung in drydock. Wings spread for repairs. Kael climbed the scaffolding. Tools in hand. She entered the cockpit. Neural cables plugged into the spine.
"Join me." Invitation or command.
He did. The space is cramped for two. But intimate. Her body heat radiated through the armour. Sync rates climbed. Ninety-nine per cent.
She turned in the seat. Cables tugged. "Your mana. It's different. Primal."
Kael's hand found her thigh. Scale warm as sun-baked stone. "Show me yours."
Clothes peeled in the glow of consoles. Her skin beneath. Soft in places. Hard alloy in others. Breasts augmented. Nipples are sensitive nodes. He kissed one. Tongue flicked. She gasped. Systems flickered.
Lustforge roared. His cock. Now a full adult despite the youth's echo. It pressed against her. Mana surged mutually.
She guided him. Entry into slick heat. Augmented muscles clenched with precision. The cockpit sealed. Neural link shared sensations. Every thrust echoed in *Aetherwing*'s systems. Engines revved unbidden.
Stigmas awakened. Kraken tentacles of storm wrapped shadow voids. They fused with her draconic circuits. A new tattoo was etched on his abdomen. Wings of chrome and lightning. Scales etched in the void. Stigma Three.
Hybrid spell born. *Draco Tempest*. He could pilot storms now. Mecha became thunder incarnate.
She came in waves. Body arched. Tail lashed consoles. Sparks flew. Kael followed. Seed erupted as a plasma charge. Power fused. *Aetherwing* roared to life. Wings unfurled in drydock.
They collapsed. Panting. Sync one hundred per cent.
Memory flooded her. "The elf empress. You died saving her." Tears in her optic eye. Real moisture.
Kael held her. Love bloomed. Thorny and inevitable. "And now you."
The curse ticked. Twenty-four hours.
But war interrupted. Alarms blared empire-wide. Void incursion. A rift tore open in the capital's sky. It spewed biomechanical horrors. Tentacled ships. Eyes like black holes.
Draco-01 suited up. "To battle, my prince."
Kael is in his own frame now. Smaller. But synced to hers. They launched from the fortress. Space folded around them. Stars blurred into war.
The enemy fleet swarmed. Nobles' betrayal revealed. A duke in league with the void. His mecha twisted abomination.
Battle raged. Kael's *Draco Tempest* shredded fighters. Storms inside a vacuum. Pressure waves crumpled hulls. Shadows phased strikes. Draco-01 at his side. *Aetherwing* breathed plasma fire.
They boarded the duke's flagship. Corridors alive with tentacles. Kael cut through. Blades of storm and night.
The duke laughed from his throne-cockpit. "The princess's whelp. Your love will kill you both."
Draco-01 charged. But tentacles ensnared her. Void poison corroded armour.
Kael roared. Full power. Overload. Mana from the climax is spent earlier. But he drew deep. Groin ached empty. But love is fueled.
He confessed mid-fight. "I love you. More than empires."
Pain hit. Chest crushed. But he fought.
Duke unleashed the floor boss early. Void Leviathan. Biomechanical whale of tentacles and cannons.
It swallowed *Aetherwing*. Draco-01 screamed over comms.
Kael dove after. Into the maw. Darkness. He synced with her inside. Bodies pressed in the chaos.
Dual cultivation overload. They fucked amid the beast's guts. Mana exploded. Stigmas triple fused. Tempest. Shadow. Draco.
The Leviathan convulsed. They burst out. Combined form. A new mecha born of their union. Storm dragon of shadow and lightning.
Duke was crushed in the jaws.
But the gate opened in the rift's heart. Ascent portal.
Draco-01 wounded. "Go. I'll hold the empire."
"No." He carried her through fire.
Nobles fled. Empire is now. In theory.
They reached the gate. Her hand on his cheek. "Find me. In every form."
Death took him as they crossed the threshold. Heart shattered.
Rebirth. Oceanic pull. Born as a merfolk prince in the abyssal depths.
Three Ladies bound. Climb endlessly.
The hangar faded. Bubbles rose. Scales on his new skin.
Floor 4 awaited.
The air tasted of rust and plasma. Silence thick as wool muffled the roars.