However, I have a promise to keep, so I keep walking forwards and ignore the nobles. The line of guards before the emperor parts and allows me through, then closes behind me. I hear gasps from among the nobles when I arrive in front of the emperor and don't kneel.

Emperor Rathburn says "Welcome, King Ash. Thank you for coming!"

"You're welcome. First I will need to stabilize your health so that you can survive the shock of growing younger. Are the prisoners ready?"

Emperor Rathburn says "They are. You have permission to approach and touch me. My guards will not try to harm you."

With a nod I step up onto the platform and stop next to the throne, then I touch the emperor's hand. I scan him with my mana, then remove a poison and cure two diseases. Then I revitalize the emperor and feed his body enough energy to bring him to optimal health for his age.

Emperor Rathburn says "Amazing! I already feel better than I have in years! Thank you!"

"No problem. Did you know that you had already been poisoned? It is actually a very interesting poison."

Emperor Rathburn says "What? No, I was not aware! How is it interesting?"

"The poison doesn't actually do anything when it enters your body. It only kills once you stop receiving doses of the poison for a number of days. From the amount you had in your system, I would say someone has been poisoning you for over a year."

Attendant says "I recognize the poison you are describing. It is very rare, we should be able to track who in the palace purchased it."

Emperor Rathburn says "Good, do it! I want whoever poisoned me found and executed!"

"That aside, you are ready for the next step. We need the prisoners now."

In response the emperor signals with his hand and a side door of the throne room opens. The fifty prisoners are led out and each one is being held by two Imperial Guards. They bring them out and stand them before the throne just past the line of guards.

I step down from the platform, touch the first criminal, and use Drain Touch. However, I hold the lifeforce in place and don't let it merge with mine. The rest of the prisoners and the crowd all react to seeing the first prisoner die.

Watching someone shrivel up and turn into a dried out husk causes a lot of reactions. The rest of the prisoners look terrified and start trying to struggle. Among the nobles there are exclamations and gasps of shock, some of them even puke.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

However, I ignore all of them and just move on to drain the next prisoner. The Imperial Guards were ready and all of the prisoner's struggles are fruitless. All that the prisoners can do before they die is scream, cry, and beg.

Of course, fifty prisoners provide way more lifeforce than the emperor needs. After all, I doubt that making him into a kid again would go over well with the empire. I plan to reduce the emperor's age by around forty years and then keep the rest for myself.

As I am draining the prisoners one by one, an officer comes in to report to the emperor. It seems that a large group of armed men have attacked the palace. However, the Imperial Guard was ready and repelled them with ease.

Several nobles suddenly attack the guards, but the guards handle them fairly easily. This being the throne room the nobles were only able to sneak in small daggers. Against a fully armed and armored opponent they are like children attacking adults.

None of this distracts me as I continue sucking the life out of the prisoners. The emperor also remains perfectly calm, he probably anticipated these attacks. As I drain the life out of the last prisoner I can't help but let out a chuckle.

Emperor Rathburn says "Is something funny?"

"Each of the prisoners had been poisoned with a different poison. Someone was obviously hoping that one of the poisons would be transferred with the lifeforce."

Emperor Rathburn says "Is there a problem? Do we need more prisoners?"

"No, everything is fine. Only something like a soul poison would be able to infect the lifeforce."

As I am explaining, I return to stand next to the throne and touch the emperor again. Then I start to slowly transfer the lifeforce into him and everyone watches in awe. Before their eyes the emperor slowly gets younger and healthier looking.

The emperor's wrinkles fade bit by bit and his hair slowly regains its color. He also regains some mass and by the time I am done his robe fits much better. When I am done the emperor looks to be in his late thirties or early forties.

Once I finish, the emperor stands up and stretches, he has a huge smile on his face. Out of curiosity I send my mana out to see if the attack is still going on. It isn't, most of the attackers are dead, but I do see something that makes me frown.

Emperor Rathburn says "King Ash, thank you! Now I can have the time to raise one of my grandchildren into a proper heir. Not to mention that today's events will allow me to clean out some of the corruption in the capital."

"You're welcome, but there is a problem. I was promised all of the elves that the empire had located."

Emperor Rathburn says "Yes, you were and you should have already collected all of them. What is the problem?"

"I can sense that there are still fifteen elves in that side of the palace. Why were they not brought with the others?"

The emperor looks in the direction I am pointing and then his face darkens. He then turns and summons one of the guards in ornate armor to his side.

Emperor Rathburn says "Go break open my son's harem. Bring the elves here and free all the others. Arrest my son and lock him in the north tower. Anyone who tries to free him is to be executed on the spot."

Imperial Guard Commander says "At once, Your Majesty!"

The commander quickly summons over a hundred guards to his side and then leads them out of the room. Quite a few of the nobles look shocked at the orders of the emperor, but they keep quiet. They are probably part of the faction that supports his son and the ones responsible for all of the attacks.

Emperor Rathburn says "My apologies, King Ash, I did not expect my son to be brave enough to disobey one of my commands."

Emperor Rathburn then faces the nobles and says "I hereby decree that even if I die, my son is no longer of the Imperial Family and has no right to the throne!"