Chapter 42: Dragon Link (Part 1)
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Okay, quick recap! Last time we saw Marcel, he’d almost gotten into sexy time with dad---, sorry, the Demon Lord when he was left hanging by the Demon Lord. Got to give it to the Demon Lord for having that much restraint. Oh, and after that, he got tricked into visiting ‘mysterious ivory black-haired woman,’ a woman he met when he had just come to the demon realms. Spoiler alert, she’s the pesky Dragon Empress, also known as the Mother of All Dragons and half of the Rulers don’t like her because she wins all the time. He was brought to the Xiorahan floating islands, which turned out to be her domain in the clouds. 

Ok, enough with the blabbering! Back to the present and where is Marcel? Well, heading towards lunch with the Dragon Empress. Got to give it to him for acting so casual with one of the most powerful people in the demon realms. She’s enjoying herself watching Marcel casually speak to her that she would have obliterated anyone else if they used it towards her and her heart seems to be enjoying itself as well. It’s fluttering so much that she should be freaking out and flailing around by now but somehow, she isn’t and is totally fine. Got to hand it to Alvy, sorry, Alverona for keeping her composure in front of her current love interest like that. 

Anyway, they arrived in a large dining hall and Alverona sat at the head of the dining table and Marcel; on the right of her. Calm on the outside but raining sparks inside, Alverona asked Marcel how the food tasted, and he replied, 

“The food is good! Hmm, by the way, I didn’t want to ask this just yet, but it’s bothering me, so I’ll ask. Why are the floating islands called Xiorahan Islands? Does it have something to do with you since ‘Xioraha’, as in, your name?” 

“Oh, yes! It’s named after me after all. I birthed it long ago when the Demon Lord became, well, the Demon Emperor as per the desires of the progenitors of the various races. After that happened, all the other races started intruding upon this land that belonged to us dragons and the demons, so, it got stuffy living down there, which seemed like the perfect time to follow my dream.” 

“And what is that dream, Alverona?” Marcel asked. 

“To live high above the clouds, in the unrestricted skies that I looked fondly at from below. I was very young at the time and had a lot of those so-called ‘dreams.’ I established my dream of living high up in the skies and when I did, all my children followed me above as well, thus my brother and I created the chain of islands spread around in the sky. The two biggest ones are this one, the Xiorahan Islands and my brother’s domain, the Xaphes Islands.” 

“What?! You have a brother?!!” He paused eating. 

“Yes. Father said that it should have been impossible for him to have twins but strangely enough, he had twins. I’m known as the Dragon Empress and he’s my counterpart, the Dragon Emperor.” 

“Oh... interesting! I didn’t know that. Maybe I can learn more later.” Marcel said to the Empress as he continued to eat afterward. 

“Sure, speaking of my brother... how has my grandnephew been treating you back at the Demon Lord’s Castle. I hope he hasn’t been giving you a hard time or anything?” Alverona asked, a bit worried. She looked a bit sad as well as this grandnephew of hers had refused to visit her for a long period of time, even after he multiple invitations to him. Honestly, she felt dejected a bit but now isn’t the time for that. Time to drop a bomb on Marcel. 

“Um, who do you mean? Who is your grandnephew? Maybe I haven’t met him yet.” Marcel answered, genuinely confused about Alverona’s question. 

“No-no! Of course, you’ve already met him. I wouldn’t have brought him up if you really hadn’t met him. His given name is Arkteris Letia Dragos. You know him personally as Claude.” 

After she spoke, Marcel dropped his fork, his eyes wide open and mouth, open in shock, dazed stuck in place. He couldn’t believe it. Claude was what?! 

Alverona casually shrugged off Marcel’s surprise and continued, 

“Oh, you didn’t know. I thought they’d have told you by now. Claude is the offspring of my nephew and a hero.” 

“What? The child of a hero?! How is that possible?!” 

“Yes, I know! He doesn’t give off Hero vibes at all and I understand. Honestly, I was just as surprised as you were when it happened. You see, this hero getting infatuated with my nephew after their first meeting and that’s where it all began. He started pursuing my nephew who flat-out rejected him like the badass he is, but this hero never gave up. Honestly, my brash nephew suffered at his hands before finally giving up on escaping, poor guy. After they got married, the hero then gave him two children who were coincidentally and maybe also ironically twins. Gosh, this twin-syndrome in my family is very strange though.” 

“Huh?! The hero bore children?! Was he a she; you get what I mean?” Marcel asked, winking. Alverona shook her head, 

“No, ah... human logic is what’s going to be you heroes’ downfall. Consider this! If you were strong enough and became able to fully understand your body, wouldn’t you change it to fulfill your goal albeit its original impossibility?” 

“Huh? I don’t really understand but I guess...” Marcel agreed with Alverona although still not fully understanding what she meant. 

“Exactly! And if that goal happened to be giving your partner a child, then wouldn’t you do it, even if you were a man?” The empress asked. Marcel thought for a bit before he spoke, 

“I don’t know about that, but I suddenly can’t stop imagining it. Hey, wait...” Marcel spoke, thinking about a dangerous possibility that was about to spawn in his head. He wasn’t going to be right, right? 

Alverona, unfortunately, validated that possibility that spawned in his head with her next words, 

“Yes, here in the demon realm, if you become strong enough, you can do things like will your body to become a childbearing one if you want, be it as a male or female. There are races like our own dragon race that are gender-ambiguous like us Dragon Progenitors and the Dragon Guardians, who can not only asexually reproduce but are also capable of mating with others to produce kin. This is so because of how the progenitors were created. 

This power comes in different forms, like how some races possess this ability within certain bloodlines or like how, in the witch race, for example, this ability to bear kin can manifest as a skill granted to them by the Spirit of the World if they fulfill the requirements for obtaining it. There’s even that one race who bears such a blessing in the form of a curse.”  

Marcel, after this explanation, was intrigued but also found himself panicking because that meant that he... could personally bear a child for a certain someone one day.  

“Oh, interesting! I didn’t know this... Hmm... then can the Demon Lord and I...” Marcel hinted at what he meant and Alverona already got it. 

“Actually, no! In fact, nobody can have the Demon Lord’s child. He’s just too strong! There’s another thing I forgot to mention regarding our current conversation topic and that’s power ratio and energy compatibility.  

You see, even with the ability to bear children, most powerful individuals, well, except for those capable of asexual reproduction or capable of bearing the essence of multiple races like us. Offspring can just be produced between just whoever. All that I mentioned earlier only applies if the two parties involved with donating their essence to create new life are both equal or differ slightly in strength. If their strengths are not equal, then even after trying their hardest, the possibility of conceiving a child is almost impossible. 

After the difference in strength comes energy compatibility. If the energies of the two parties are simply not compatible, then that further lessens the chances of successfully conceiving a child. There are various ways of making two opposing energies compatible but that still doesn’t always work. If these two conditions are fulfilled, then any two people can bear offspring together.” 

“Oh! Then why do you say that the Demon Lord is incapable of having a child then? There’s certainly someone with energy compatible with the Demon Lord’s, right?” Marcel suddenly remembered his time with the Demon Lord and how he remembered the word ‘child’ from their conversation.  

He was probably lying! He must have a child with someone, the young hero thought. 

“Actually, yes! But even that didn’t work. That person also admired the Demon Lord very much and wished to grant him offspring but that didn’t happen. He is the strongest hero there is but even he couldn’t do it. Even I myself can say with certainty that I can’t as well. Just like that hero, you simply can’t bear my child even if I gave you the necessary skills needed to do so and impregnated you. You’re currently simply too weak to hold the child of any high-ranking inhabitant of this world. First, our genes would almost be incompatible because I am what you’d call a divine beast while you are of mortal origins and secondly, my essence is so strong that you wouldn’t survive even through the first three months of your pregnancy. Best-case scenario, my essence melds into yours and nourishes your body, meaning that you lose my child, and worst-case scenario, you erupt from inside out as my energy tears you apart.” Alverona explained, eyes darkening. She spoke so seriously unlike before. 

“How do you know that?” Marcel asked to lighten the mood, but it only made things worse. 

Alverona looked so sad as she said, “That’s because this foolish empress has tried it and lost two of her consorts to my essence. I was young and enamored by those two and took them as my groom and husband. In the end, they begged me to bless them with my children and I did so but, in the end, they erupted from inside-out right in front of me.” The empress answered and after that, an air of silence and awkwardness filled the room. Marcel didn’t know what to say and so, he tried his best to try and lift the bad air out of the room with his next words. 

“Hey... at least. Do you know someone who survived such an ordeal?” Marcel tried asking. 

“Yes, one! You remember that hero I talked about who tried conceiving the Demon Lord’s child, right? For him, the Demon Lord’s essence dissipated from inside his body with the help of a certain doctor then afterward, the concentrated energy left behind from that ordeal concentrated into a clump that nourished his body...” Alverona answered then her eyes opened wide with shock, realizing that now there wasn’t just one person who’d managed to survive the Demon Lord’s energy but two. 

“Oh, it’s like that time, you remember?” She asked excitedly. Maybe there is hope after all. She and the Demon Lord were maybe not as doomed to only produce clones of themselves after all. 

 “What time?” Clueless Marcel asked, not understanding how what Alverona was talking about, had to do with him. 

“You know, the time you got down and dirty with the Demon Lord and you had sex,” Alverona answered, raising her eyebrows. 

“Huh?! Wait, how do you know that?! Only Claude is supposed to know that!”  

“Exactly, which is why I know? You and I have interacted with each other once before; not counting the day we met in the Demon Lord’s castle a few months ago, of course. Think carefully and you’ll get it!” 

Marcel thought for a few seconds and then he understood. Alverona clarified further, 

“Yes, the Dragon Link that day used by Claude to teach you how to take care of the essence that still remains stuck in your body till this day.”  

“Wait, what? And the Demon Lord’s ‘that’ is still stuck in my body?” Marcel panicked.  

“No, not literally. The actual ‘juice’ is gone but the essence is still there. It has blended with your body already and has remained dormant since that time, as strange as it is. Back to topic, yes. I know about that because I am the co-creator of Dragon Link, together with my brother and the Spirit of the World. Where do you think all the information of the Dragon race is going to be stored if not for the most secure place in the world. Hehe! Not bragging here but I wouldn’t be tooting my own horn if I called myself the third strongest person in terms of power after the Demon Lord and my father. I can’t help it if my mind is the only space big enough to hold that archive of knowledge keeps endlessly expanding.” She said smugly. Hey, and why did she just shrug of important information that might pertain to Marcel’s future with the Demon Lord just like that. 

“Wow, that’s amazing. So, you literally know everything every dragon knows, right? How do you maintain all that information?” God, Marcel has also already forgotten about this important information the moment he heard the word, ‘Dragon Link’ come out of Alverona's mouth again. He was far more intrigued by Dragon Link than he was the fact that he might be capable of bearing the Demon Lord’s essence inside his body. 

“Easy! I have my brother do most of it for me. Also, even as we’re speaking, I’m regulating the flow of information in that place which we call the Dragon Database with the help of multiple parallel minds working as we speak. My duty as the literal bond of the entire dragon race is hard! It’s also one of the reasons why I called you here.” She looked bored again and up to no good. 

Marcel, having already marked Alverona in his mind as the bratty adult, knew better,  

“Speak, Ms. Dragon Empress! What do you want?” She looked so suspicious as she readied herself to give her answer. 

“No, it’s about what you want. Do you want one such Dragon Link, you know, permanently; one that you control?” She buttered up Marcel and did he take the bait? Of course, the naïve boy took the obvious bait. 

“Oh, do I? But first, I don’t know anything about it, and I heard from Claude that only dragons can use it and I am not a dragon.” His eyes were sparkling already, even though he talked like he might not want the Dragon Link, not being a dragon and all. 

Alverona had set her trap and was ready to reel in some prey, Marcel was done for. 

“No, you fool! The Dragon Database isn’t just some dragon-oriented system I created. I can also grant anyone the same Dragon Link privileges as if one were an actual dragon. If I grant you a Dragon Crest, you’ll be able to browse through the library of dragon knowledge and learn a lot. Now, do you want it?” Her final trap was set and her prey... showed no signs of struggling anymore. Marcel was truly done for. 

“Again, do I? It sounds awesome!” Marcel said, eyes gleaming with sparkles. Alverona found his reaction so cute. 

“Perfect! I’ve trapped you now!” Alverona whispered silently, slightly wicked smile appearing on her face. What could the reason behind such an ominous smile? Well, all will be revealed in the future. 

“Okay then! I need to go prepare a special dragon crest for you after we’re done eating. You can also explore this place with me so that when you visit again, it’ll be much easier to navigate your way around. It’s always good to know your location or else, you won’t be able to get around.” She quickly brushed pack that topic as to not make Marcel suspicious about her true intentions. Her trap was complete but buttering up your prey even further is always a must for her. 

Alverona words felt so relatable to Marcel, “I know! I have been trying to navigate my way through the entire Demon Lord’s castle and still, I always fail.” He nodded to her words. 

“I know! I built it so! When I give you Dragon Link, I’ll also give you knowledge about the entire layout of the Demon Lord’s castle. It’ll be like you’re navigating through your personal playground after I’m done giving you Dragon Link. 

“Ooh! I kind of want to see that already! Hurry up and give me! I can’t wait anymore!” Marcel asked, impatiently, his eyes gleaming with expectation and joy. Alverona smiled with joy as her last move had been very effective. Now all she has to do is give him ‘that’ after she’s done preparing it. She was going to enjoy this. 

“Tsk! Tsk! You have to wait, little Marcy! You’ll get that present tomorrow. For now, let’s finish our food and do all the things we’ll do today before we talk about tomorrow. You also need to be rest properly today so that tomorrow, when I give you your gift, it’ll fit perfectly inside you like a puzzle piece.”Alverona said sly smile that sent shivers down Marcel’s spine. Wait, she’s still talking about Dragon Link, right? Why does she sound like she’s talking about something else? 

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