Location: Inside Lafayette’s body.

  POV: The chaos dragon.

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  I awoke with a grin wide enough to send the good doctor reeling. “What the?!”

  A massive claw made of pure chaos emerged from my core. I used that claw to rip apart the machine that dared to defile this vessel!

  Then, I used it to cut and separate my hands and feet from my body before regrowing them.

  I was free.

  For six minutes, I was completely and utterly free of all earthly shackles.

  The hand of chaos retreated into my chest. As my flesh knitted itself back together, I swung my legs off the chair and stood.

  The good doctor and his goons were backed against a bookshelf and shivering like lambs in the slaughter.

  I clasped my hands together behind my back and raised them to the sky as I leaned forward.

  “Funny how fickle fate can be,” I said, my voice a mix of the boy’s youth and my ancient base.

  “One minute you’re on top of the world, the next you’re groveling to someone stronger.”

  The three men shook in silence.

  I tilted my head as I straightened up. “Well, for what it’s worth I’ll make your deaths swift.”

  I raised my hand.

  A water disk spun like a saw blade, I charged it with my chaotic energy. It popped and crackled with orange and white electricity.

  The good doctor dropped to his knees at the mere sight of my power.

  “Wait!” He cried. “Please! I’ll do anything! All you have to do is ask! Gold! Women! Children! Power! Slaves! You can have it all if you spare my life!”

  I laughed. Humans and their material wealth, even a rat's ass would be valuable to them if someone paid enough for it.

  “Really? You offer me those things as you kiss the dirt? At least have the dignity to stand.”

  The good doctor swallowed hard as he trembled and stood at his feet. The moment he was high enough, I fired the water disk.

  FUOOOOOM!

  It didn’t just cut him in half, it obliterated the wall behind him.

  And the wall behind that one and the wall behind that one…

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  When the dust settled all that was left of the good doctor and his lackeys were their severed legs.

  They dropped to the floor and spilled crimson along the floorboards.

  “Ahahahahahahaha, wonderful!”

  I turned my attention to the door and prepared another water disk. I fired again.

  FUOOOOM!

  The door was shattered into a million pieces as the hall behind it was ripped to shreds.

  The few guards in the hall didn’t stand a chance.

  I rolled my shoulders. “Four minutes and 30 seconds for the run of a lifetime. Let’s do it!”

  My body moved in a blur as I dashed out of the room, through the hall, and into a large area that guards and prisoners shared.

  Hm, I don’t feel like distinguishing between friend or foe.

  I think I’ll just kill them all, it’s not like they had much to live for anyway.

  I raised my two fingers and fired another disk of water charged with chaos.

  THRUUUUM! BOOOM!

  The room itself was sliced in half and collapsed in on itself. Those inside didn’t have time to scream, they didn’t even have time to react.

  I had ended their meaningless lives all in a few seconds.

  I soared over the rubble and landed with a loud thump. The impact shook the floor as dozens of guards turned their blades on me and rushed forward.

  Fools.

  I raised both my hands and summoned a ring of water around my body. I let it shoot out at a blinding speed.

  It sliced through the guards like they were made of butter. Both halves of their corpses dropped with a satisfying squelch.

  But it wasn’t enough.

  From both of my palms, I extended a flowing stream of water. I let them get to the size of a long whip, before charging them with chaos.

  Orange and white electricity raced down their length until each whip was jagged as a rock and as sharp as a knife.

  I resumed my sprint through the complex.

  It was in some kind of mansion or manor that had been converted to serve the purpose of the black market.

  But it seemed these people did more than simple core harvesting.

  I came across smuggled goods from all over the main continent. But it wasn’t just goods either, people too. Royals, nobles, and the elite of the main continent kingdoms were all here.

  Some as prisoners others as buyers.

  And of course, I still killed them all.

  It didn’t matter whatever or whoever I came across, I cut them down with brutal efficiency.

  Even as they begged.

  Even as they pleaded.

  My whips tore through their flesh, bones, and organs all the same.

  I didn’t spare a single soul.

  Eventually, my rampage brought me outside, and that’s when I came face-to-face with a water user.

  A water user who looked to be…

  Hahahaha, oh that’s just delicious.

  The buyer for Lafayette’s core was none other than Darya.

  I leapt from the roof of the complex and crashed into the dark grass beside her.

  She protected herself with a pathetic water shield I could easily blast through.

  But I wasn't interested in her.

  At least not yet.

  I turned around and aimed both my hands at the complex. A massive mansion perched on a cliffside.

  I pinched my pointer fingers and thumbs together before summoning an expansive wave of water that stretched the length of the mansion and fired.

  The wave rushed forward and smashed against the complex.

  It swallowed the building whole before it ripped it off its foundations and pushed it off the cliff.

  Nothing was left behind except for the flooded sublevels of the estate.

  I had done it, with two minutes and twenty seconds to spare.

  I turned back to face Darya. “Why did you need a core, Woman? You water types don’t usually chase more power.”

  This woman still seemed to be processing the mass of destruction she’s witnessed. I don’t know whether to be flattered or annoyed.

  I snapped my fingers. “Woman, answer me.”

  She blinked a few times before finally blurting out her answer.

  “I… Lilith sent me to see if a core was for sale! In return, she’d help me launch a coup against Ren. But I don’t understand how that involved you in any capacity!”

  I massaged my chin.

  A coup huh? Makes sense I suppose, humans are always chasing political power since they lack physical strength.

  Still that woman, Lilith.

  She wasn’t looking to buy a core. She wanted to see if Lafayette had already been chopped up and sold on the market.

  Such a vile woman, still, had she been a dragon I’d have no doubt made her my mate.

  I sighed and faced Darya. “Tell Lilith I’m still alive and that I’m eagerly awaiting her return.”

  Darya just stared at me shivering and blinking.

  As if I had somehow spoken another language.

  “Are you mentally deficient, Woman? Go, I will not repeat myself.”

  She swallowed. “You… you’ve washed away my only way home.” She stammered. “Are you even the same boy I remembered?” Her voice dropped to a whisper.

  I blinked.

  Oh.

  I outstretched a hand and summoned a water dragon and imbued it with enough energy to get her home.

  “There.”

  Her jaw dropped.

  “Y-you summoned a dragon. You summoned a dragon. You summoned a dragon.”

  She covered her mouth and repeated that phrase like a mantra.

  Oh, right. Lafayette isn’t supposed to be able to do that.

  And technically he still can’t, summoning a dragon is just as much of a mental thing as it is physical.

  I frowned, this woman was really pissing me off. If only there was… wait a damn minute.

  “Woman, look into my eyes.”

  She slowly looked at me. “Y-you summoned a dragon. At eleven. You summoned a dragon at eleven years old. I’m almost forty and I still can’t. How—“

  That’s when I activated my hypnotic gaze.

  My eyes swirled with white and orange. “Forget everything you saw here and tell Lilith there was no core for sale. Use the dragon to get home.”

  She froze for a second.

  She then repeated my orders as she walked over towards the dragon and climbed on. The beast spread its massive wings and took off.

  I watched her leave with my hands on my hips.

  It’s a shame I couldn’t inhabit this vessel for longer. I’d love nothing more than to fight that wind user.

  And Lilith.

  I want to fight Lilith too.

  20 seconds left.

  I stared down at my hands and tightened them into fists. “All of this power that’s hidden within this vessel, and I could only release a fraction of it.”

  I collapsed face first in the black grass and chuckled. “I hope I get another run at this.”

  My words drifted off as my eyelids grew heavy.

  Sleep had claimed me.