“What’s wrong?” I ask, rocking the screaming little demon back and forth in my arms. “She’s not hungry. Her diapers are clean again, and with the amount of shit coming out of her, it’s not like she’s constipated!”

“I don’t know,” Nel says, her face pale from lack of sleep. She rocks little Marika back and forth in her arms. “It could be anything, or it could be nothing at all. The translators aren’t making any sense of the screaming.”

“They’re just… I don’t know scared? Sad?” Adler says, rocking Paige back and forth. The little elvish girl screaming louder than any of the others.

“Tanya’s quiet,” Eshya says, looking down at the girl. “She seems grumpy, but she’s quiet.”

“How can you tell she’s grumpy?” I ask. “Doesn’t she always look grumpy?”

“I guess,” Eshya shrugs her shoulders uselessly. “Should I go get someone to help us?”

“Adler? Do they need healing?” Nel asks.

“I can’t see anything wrong with them,” Adler replies, running her healing magic through each, in turn, one more time. “They’re upset, that’s all I can really tell.”

“Is it because Vii is gone?” I ask. “They weren’t screaming until she left.”

“She has more energy than they do,” Adler says, “I think she manages to wear them down and tucker them out.”

“So, how do we do that?” I ask, swallowing down my panic.

“She just sings, and dances in the air, and all sorts of crazy things,” Nel says, releasing a long sigh. “Let’s just rock them to sleep. It should work, we just have to be patient with them.”

“Right…” I rub at my brow and keep rocking little Eamon back and forth, but he just keeps screaming. His little red wings are flapping about and his face is scrunched up into an ugly little expression.

Humming a tune and closing my eyes, I turn my attentions towards Vii, as much out of curiosity as from a desperate desire to escape.

Our world lies below her, a roiling mass of grey, the giant marble’s surface broken only by the colourful leaves of the trees that have pierced their way into space. Half a dozen are blue, many more are purple and a precious few shine golden yellow in the bright light of the sun.

I can see no land, whatever maintains that layer of cloud over the world, denies us that right. Thus, our drop team must trust in their systems to find their targets.

“See the markers?” Vii asks, looking over her team, freshly equipped with our new flight gear. A combination of enchantments and technology jammed together into something akin to a jetpack. “We’re flying to the first marker, then to the second, and finally back up here. Got it?”

The team nods, shakes, and warbles their nervous replies in the affirmative. She’s already run this operation twice before, and they haven’t lost anyone yet. All our flight experts are with them just to ensure nothing goes wrong and to steer them all back on course.

“Let’s go!” Vii shouts, laughing as she takes off, bursting out into space with her team following right behind. Some can handle the vacuum on their own, others have various equipment to keep them breathing.

The reason they’re here is for rapid deployment, which means that they’re purposefully trained to be anything but slow. It’s less of a skydive and more of a rocket blasting to a target, though to save them rather than destroy them.

There are no teams in desperate need of support at the moment, but trouble could arise at any moment. I have a second mechanical body in construction just in case, while the first is back in the freshly opened academy.

“Kyra,” Eshya says, leaning against my shoulder and showing me little Tanya. A little tuft of red hair on her head reminds me of myself, but her deep purple eyes are like nothing I’ve ever seen.

It’s a shame that they’re glaring death at me.

“Do you think she’s going to be a little warrior? She sure seems ready to fight us,” Eshya says, chuckling nervously. “Do you want to swap?”

“Yeah, sure,” I accept right away.

Taking care of the one kid not screaming? I’ve never felt so loved in my life.

“Here you go,” I say handing off the screaming little runt, our one and only son Eamon. When he grows into his wings… I don’t want to think about it.

“And yours,” Eshya says, handing over Tanya, our beautiful, well-behaved daughter. She reaches out towards Eamon while we’re moving them about, gargling out some strange attempt at words, a request so vague that my translator can’t make sense of it.

“Just a moment…” I say, holding her closer and stepping closer to Eshya. “I think she wants to see Eamon.”

“Ah, yeah, let’s just get them in position,” Eshya and I move the two babies around very carefully, holding them close enough together.

Tanya reaches out to Eamon, and the little guy finally stops crying. He blinks, looking about in confusion, before finally setting eyes on her.

Instead of screaming, he waves a wing at her, clobbering her in the face with it. She grunts in annoyance, waving an arm at him.

It’s strange, but kind of cute to watch.

“Mrs Baker! Empress or whatever! We need your help!” A student, Thira, pounds on the door to my office, charging in on the mecha-me as I sit at my desk. “There’s a problem in class.”

“What’s that?” I ask, already sorting through the goings on in my academy to find them. I’ve been spreading my attention too thin of late.

“All the noble kids, the royals or whatever, they don’t want to be instructed by a commoner,” she says, looking antsy as she bounces on her heels. The grey fur that covers her body is well groomed, and her face is strangely sharp for the ‘monkey’ appearance of her. “They’re making it difficult for Mr Dreth, and no one is learning anything.”

“Let’s go set things straight then, shall we?” I say, walking out of the room with her. The girl is one of mine, or close enough. She’s technically from one of my allied caverns, the dark realm of the ‘incest king’ as I so dubbed him a while back.

Setting aside all my thoughts on her ancestral history, she’s a good kid, and one of the more brave and proactive students in this school.

“How are you appreciating school?” I ask moving Tanya around in my real arms while scanning the school for any issues and walking my machine body through the halls.

“The facilities are great,” she says, lifting her chin high and smiling brightly. “I thought I died when I went into the cafeteria and saw what was there. We can eat as much as we want? It’s… It’s awesome.”

“I’m glad to hear people are enjoying it,” I say, but honestly my own taste for luxury has been somewhat warped with how many homecooked meals Nel has prepared for us. When she’s not in the mood we get something from one of the talented chefs, or street food, or anything else we want in the moment.

It’s good to be Empress.

I’ve already had dozens of offers for nannies, but Nel has, quite reasonably, refused all of them. We need to connect with our children, and that means spending time with them.

“It’s also great to have a room of my own,” she continues. “All the new Skills and everything are great, I just wish that we didn’t have to put up with those snooty noble brats.”

“They’re that much trouble?” I ask.

“I mean, they mostly keep to themselves, but when we do cross paths they always make a scene out of it,” Thira says. “It would just be better for everyone if they weren’t here.”

“Maybe, but if we don’t learn to get along…” I growl, walking towards the classroom that’s fallen into a deadly silence.

“Then what?”

“Then we get back to killing each other,” I say. If we can’t find some way to maintain peace, whether through keeping distance, finding common ground, compromise, or whatever else, then we have to war until one side or the other gives in.

If these kids can learn to compromise here in this academy, then maybe they’ll be better prepared to get along with different people in the future. It’s especially important since my empire is going to be a multicultural mixing pot with all sorts of strange alien influences.

Stepping inside the classroom, with a clear understanding of everything within, I instantly glare at the troublesome student. The rest of the class quickly takes notice of me, and Thira by my side. The latter with mixed emotions.

“There seems to be an issue, would you like to explain it to me?” I ask the royal brat. A young woman, one of the many princesses, though likely fairly far from the direct line. She’s terribly small compared to most of the others in the classroom but her glare is ferocious enough to make up the difference.

“You expect us to sit here and be lectured by a commoner?” She asks. “A commoner without even any great feats to their name? If it was some genius hero, perhaps I could overlook this slight, but this…?”

“You are here because you are undeniably less intelligent and less capable than that ‘commoner’ that you are criticising,” I say. “Please remember that when you next open your mouth.”

The silence in the room deepens as surprise sets in. It seems most of the royal snots didn’t expect me to talk back, I have no clue why, I’ve shown no hesitance up to this point.

“You would dare to infer such…”

“Infer?” I ask, “I know all of your Skills, and I know that you belong in this class. If you just sit there quietly, maybe you can retain some small hint of dignity, otherwise, we can go through the process of proving your own inadequate capabilities before the entire class?”

“Us nobles,” she hisses, glaring at me while she tries to figure out if I’m lying. “We learn faster, we are simply more capable than the common class. While I do not currently have the Skills to pass this class, I can assure you that I deserve a better teacher than this.”

“Your queen doesn’t think so,” I say. “She’s the one who agreed to send you here. Do you truly intend to question her will? If so, stop bitching in class, march up to that fancy royal palace of hers and tell her exactly what you think.

“Until then, I would suggest that you try to prove just how capable you are by passing the damn class. If you manage to get ahead of the class material, you can re-test to be moved to a more appropriate class.”

The entire noble faction of the classroom freezes in their seats as they look at me with wide eyes. The others, meanwhile, seem more than a little amused to see their peers get put in their proper place.

“We do not question her majesties will,” the girl chokes out. “I simply question your ability to live up to her expectations.”

“She sent you here expecting you to put in real effort. If anyone is failing your queen, it is you. Continue to waste everyone’s time with this stupid blustering and I’ll send her a message explaining just that,” I say. “Sit down, pay attention, and participate in class as you’re expected to, or else you can explain to your parents why you were sent back home a failure.”

The shocked royal kids all sit up a little straighter, regaining the dignity that they’d forgotten for a few moments.

“One last thing,” I say, noticing some of the noble girls glancing toward Thira. “No harassing other students. You do not want to test me. I am always watching, always listening, and yes, I can even read your thoughts miss Harcourt. Do not test me.”

The one spiderling I called out shudders as I glare at her, lowering her head in a way that few noble kids are willing to do.

“Good,” I say, turning and leaving without another word.

Thira offers me a bright ‘thanks’ as I turn and leave. Class starts again a few moments after I leave the room, and all the royal and noble kids pay close attention. I hope that they might at least put their energy into studying to prove their supposed superiority, but if they do try anything I will be ready to deal with it.

I just need to stretch my stressed mind a little bit further.

“Kyra? Kyra?” Nel calls to me.

“Yes, I’m listening,” I say, bringing Tanya closer and laying her down on the blanket with the other three kids. Marika, with a white tail and two tall beastly ears on her head, and Paige with a few golden locks of hair covering her pointed ears, are still screaming like mad.

When they finally notice each other, they start to settle down. Little Paige falls over reaching out for Tanya, laughing happily as if she wasn’t crying just two seconds ago.

Eamon pokes at Marika’s side with one wing before rolling around on his back. She doesn’t seem to care at all, just looking between all her siblings while making sounds that aren’t quite an imitation of words.

It’s like all the earlier tantrums never happened.

“I guess they were scared of being apart?” I ask, leaning in and brushing Tanya’s hair as she lays on her side “They’re close to each other.”

“Good,” Nel says, her eyes drifting closed as she struggles to stay awake. “Family is important. It’s everything.”

“Not everything, community is important too,” I say. “We have to make sure these kids have a good home and a good city to live in.”

“Yes, a good home,” Nel says. “And plenty of room for them to grow and have families of their own. We have to give them a chance to live their best lives. Land, mana, kind people, education, and every opportunity they’ll need.”

“We’ll give them a good life,” I say, yawning as I watch the little ones start to drift into sleep.

“They’ll grow up big and strong and wise,” Adler says, cuddling little Marika. “Thank you for this, Nel.”

“It was all of us,” Nel replies, reaching out a hand to squeeze her arm. “I was worried that I forced this on you.”

“You did,” Adler replies a little quickly, “You didn’t… it was, it was a surprise. Don’t ever do that again without talking to me first, but… I’m glad that you did.”

A pleasant warmth spreads through the room, as we enjoy this moment of quiet. The kids are all playing together, or I think it’s play, they’re all so completely useless that it’s difficult to tell. Still, they’re enjoying themselves.

“So does anyone know how we’re going to raise a son?” I ask, catching little Eamon as he falls onto his back. “Ah, do we need to find a guy to help with any ‘man’ issues that come up?”

“We could call in your brother,” Nel suggests. “We should bring all our families here. I’m sure we can manage something with my family, they’d be… well not entirely happy, but they would get used to it.”

“I’m not sure…” Eshya shudders as she looks around. “Taking my family away from their home could just end horribly for them.”

“Have you spoken with them at all?” Nel asks. “If you had a choice between living a comfortable life abandoning our kids to live in the wild, or coming with them, which would you do?”

“The wild with our kids, obviously,” Eshya says, releasing a long tense sigh. “I get it. I’ll reach out to them.”

“Mine are a little far away,” Vii messages us, flying back up to the glass egg.

I think it goes without saying that gathering her family from the future would be difficult at the very least.

“Adler?” I ask, she slowly shakes her head.

“No,” she says, a frown sinking in for a moment before her shining smile returns, staring at the dreaming baby on the blanket between us.

“This is enough for me.”

“I need a nap,” I say, relaxing back on the couch while Eamon starts to grumble, and then cry. “Please… no.”

“He’s hungry,” Nel says. “Can you…?”

“We have magic,” I say. “Why are we breastfeeding?”

“It develops a bond between mother and child,” Nel says. “It’s an important part of a child’s development. Unless you have a reason against it…?”

“Other than the fact it’s uncomfortable? No,” I grumble, getting myself ready.

“Ah, let me help,” Adler says, sitting on the couch beside me and stirring some healing magic through me. “To help you produce good milk.”

Eamon cries.

I try not to.

It’s been a week, and I’ve come to discover that for all the power I’ve accumulated, I’m not inhuman yet. I still need sleep. Adler helps me feed little Eamon, while I close my eyes.

“Missus Baker, there’s trouble in the training grounds,” a student rushes up to my mechanical body, slumped against the principal’s chair.

“Missus Baker?”

“Coming… coming,” I say, shaking myself off and getting moving.

“There’s no rest for the wicked,” I grumble. “I just wish my kids weren’t little demons.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stats and Skills

~Mana Form:

Current mana crystallisation:

-2.1% at 78,231 (Stage 2)

-97.9% at 60,892 (Stage 1)

Current mana volume: 30,450 / 30,450 shards

Mana volume at Stage 1 crystallisation (Max. mana volume):

Kyra: 30,271 shards

Kyra’s armour: 20,777 shards

Kyra’s throne: 1,109,298 shards

~Forms

Mana Canon

-Annihilation Heart (Adapted)

-Blood Fuel (Adapted)

-Bone Magic Storage (Adapted)

-Nail Shifters (Adapted)

Dancer

-Flash Nerves (Adapted)

-Quick Perception Mind (Adapted)

-Burst Reflex Muscles (Adapted)

-Layered Space Muscles (Adapted)

Turtle

-Rebinding Tissue (Adapted)

-Catalyst Sweat Glands (Adapted)

-Repulsive Skin (Adapted)

-Prehensile hair (Adapted)

-Fatty Tissue Blood Storage (Adapted)

Investigator

-Wide eyes (Adapted)

-Wide ears (Adapted)

-Sharp nose (Adapted)

Misc.

-Clean bowels (Adapted)

-Mana Drive (Adapted)

~Favourited Skills:

Magic:

-Annihilation Magic (Customised)

-Fire Magic (Functional)

-Space magic (Broken)

-Force magic (Functional)

-Ice magic (Broken)

-Wind magic (Broken)

Movement:

-Hand-to-hand casting (Mastered)

-Mana surge movement (Customised)

-Stealth (Functional)

Senses:

-Eyes of an Empire (Customised)

-Combat Awareness (Mastered)

-Watchmen (Functional)

-Hidden bug (Mastered)

-De-tagging (Mastered)

-Anti-stealth sight (Mastered)

Special:

-Spirit Transformation (Broken)

-Conformity (Broken)

-Training mana form (Functional)