text: “One more thing, Yuki.” I leaned forward to look her in the eyes. She had a hard time looking back for long. “I am surprised you haven’t acted on vengeance yet.”
  “The Mrovian Empire killed your father. They are the only force that opposes us to the far east. I would have thought you would have destroyed them by now, but apparently not. Surprising, really.”
  Her cheeks darkened in fury. This was just what I wanted. Perhaps it was dangerous to light a fire under her, but she would thank me later for this, I knew. “I am looking for them, uncle. They have ki-suppressing technology. Their planets are hidden. It’s not so easy. It took my father years to find them!”
  Her voice broke, so as I cut in, I softened my voice. “You will find them, Yuki. Keep looking. But they are third priority at the moment.”
  She knelt as Kirka whispered something in her ear. Then they were gone. I felt a similar emptiness in their energy as I had with Lychin’s, but theirs was tempered and cauterized, while his had been raw and bleeding. If she was able to destroy the Mrovians, as her father had failed to do, she would regain her confidence.
  Yet, I remained concerned about that empire. They had managed to kill a member of my family, and I did not know how. Reports had come out about a Super Saiyan, like the one Frieza had faced on Namek, like the one he and his father and Cooler had succumbed to on Earth. Could this be the same being? I hardly knew. Frieza had destroyed the Saiyans, and yet somehow a few rats had escaped the sinking ship only to show up in the most unbelievable and ironic ways possible. I would eventually deal with them. Once the Corvos League was wiped out and the empire consolidated, then maybe I would turn my gaze towards Earth. But first, we had to find the Mrovians and destroy them to the last. There was much work ahead of us.
  “There is a major rebellion going on in the southern empire at present,” I sighed again, leaning back in the chair and squeezing the ball as my eyes found the dark wood ceiling.
  “Destroy what he has built,” I commanded him. “I don’t care what you do with Pukcoläsic. Kill him, imprison him, or send him back to the Galactrix Arena. It matters not. Personally, I would kill him, but perhaps it would be in your interest to win him over. He is a fine warrior.”
  I was reminded of the day the four of us had brokered an alliance, my body gold and glimmering, Arcterial’s corpse at my feet, Nil in the air. That seemed like a lifetime ago now. The tension was gone, truly. I liked these two. Lingon had been Kuriza’s bodyguard since birth, and Kracchus was one of the most powerful warriors in the empire. It was good to have them with me.
  “Then why should I try to get him to join me, hmm?” The boy’s voice went very high when he asked me that. “Are you trying to get him to backstab me, uncle?”
  “Always be on your toes. Enemies may be lurking anywhere. You’re the second in line to the empire now, Kuriza. Should anything happen to me, you will become emperor. You must be careful. There will be a much bigger target on your head now.”
  Lingon said, “There is no one who can touch him. Lord Kuriza is eminently powerful. Only you are stronger than he is, my lord.”
  “That we know of,” I pointed out. “I have reason to suspect at least a few of the Corvos League elites would be able to kill him.”
  Audacci of course could. She wouldn’t need to transform. When I had been but a boy, I had fought her on Lipanto, when she had claimed the world for herself, the greedy, lazy pirate she had been at the time. Since then, however, she had become orders of magnitude stronger due to her training at the legendary Venyi Academy. Truly, I did not know how my strength stacked up against hers. I liked my chances, though. The first time we fought, I won. She had never let that go–she knew someone was stronger than her, and such knowledge pained her ego. Maybe there were others. I still had very little intel on the Corvos League. But if she was one member, I could only guess that others would at least be stronger than the boy.
  “Whoa… seriously? Who are they? I want to fight them. Uncle, please, you have to teach me how to do that golden transformation. Please!”
  I smiled weakly. The boy was quite something. He seemed nothing like his father at first glance, but the more I was around him, the more uncanny the resemblance was becoming. “After you have cleansed the planets in rebellion in your region–and there are many of them, from what I’ve been told–and after you clear out the pirate dens to the north and east of your region, I’ll consider it.”
  “You will have to learn patience then. However, it is a lot to ask you to clear out so many pirates. There are far more of them bordering your region than Yuki’s. I will send Jahu and her fleet to assist you once she has dealt with her own foes. That should help speed things up.”
  Lingon and Kracchus moved to the door, but the boy stayed firmly planted in place. “Oh uncle, I forgot to ask… um, sorry if this is awkward or anything, but why, um, why not have another child? That way you would have your own heir.”
  “Doing that takes more out of you than you would think. There’s a reason why your grandfather and I both stopped at three. Arcterial and Cooler had two each, and neither one of them planned on having a third. Your father too showed no signs of wanting additional children. It takes a lot out of you,” I repeated, squeezing my fist underneath the table so hard that I almost created a blast of sonic energy. “It takes a lot out of you.”
  The door once again shut with a squeak; finally I was alone. My body felt heavy, like after a gravity-enhanced training session in my golden form. I was so tired, so done for today. But there was still one more thing I had to take care of. Exhaling, I got to my feet and, in a flash of light, transformed into my Final Form. The squishy ball, torn and in several pieces, fell from my hand, each bit landing with a dull thud on the governor’s desk.
  Jahu was refreshingly expedient in her most pressing duty. I had placed Glacial in the cargo hold of my ship. He hung from energy bindings, battered and bruised, his body coated in dry blood, an energy restraint locked around his throat. Neimye piloted us away from Ctaedi; I closed the door behind me.
  There was no light at first. The creaking of his chains was the only sound as the ship lurched up and away from Qhonar Verandi. The faint reek of Nil was still clothed to Glacial like the blood and sweat I could also smell. His head bowed, he didn’t react when I entered.
  “It’s ironic,” I began. “If you had stayed, you would have been in line for the empire before me. Had we continued by the old succession laws, your claim would have been stronger than mine. And yet look where we ended up. Truth be told, Kuriza and Yuki have stronger claims than you, so your treachery would have continued either way. I’d bet more than a few planets on that.”
  I walked around him in circles as I spoke. “You came all this way. Survived your insurrection, Switchie’s torture, 68’s destruction, the battle against my daughter… You outlived all your captors, Nyuktali. All your comrades too. Your father, your sister, my children, Cold’s children. Of all our offspring… you are the last one standing. You always find a way. You always do. See? We’re not so easily destroyed, now are we?”
  A broken man broke again. “Y-you… murdered him… murdered him…! His claim was better… Kuriza’s too… y-you have no honor!!” He looked up at me. In the darkness all I could see were his wet eyes.
  “Strength does not bow to weakness, boy. Your sense of entitlement has not changed even after all these years.”
  He was shaking, his chains rattling loudly. “Y-you weren’t stronger… than h-him… I heard the stories… You let Kuriza weaken him…! You coward! You’ve always been one!”
  The room erupted in golden splendor. Recoiling, Glacial’s eyes teared up as he squinted at me in my perfect form. “I didn’t need to use this on him. I didn’t want to humiliate him. He really was a lazy old bastard. He could have gotten this form had he put the effort in… Cold too… any of you could have! But only I did. That’s the difference between me and you. I don’t believe the universe owes me anything. I take what I want!”