The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

When Mana woke up, she found herself back in the summer palace and in her own bed. A maid noticed that she was waking up and immediately fetched Physician Kale.

"Oh, excellent, you're up already," the elderly physician said as soon as he saw her. "How do you feel?"

Mana paused for a moment and examined herself. "Surprisingly unharmed," she told him. "How are Big Brother and Raven? What happened? Were the arrays destroyed?"

"So many questions the moment she wakes up," came a familiar, well-loved booming voice. "My little Mana, are you feeling well?"

Mana could hardly believe her ears. Her head whipped around and she confirmed with her own eyes that her ears weren't deceiving her.

"Papa!" she cried happily. "Why are you here?"

King Jaren came over to her side and gave her a warm hug. Jules and Raven trailed behind him – both of them looked fine, much to Mana's relief.

"Isn't it because my children scared me to death?" King Jaren huffed. "Pulling out two high-level arrays like that…"

"He panicked when he couldn't get through to Jules through Fox's Letter Machine and rushed back from the capital," Grandpa said, appearing at the door. Grandma was right behind him, bringing with her a trolley full of snacks and beverages.

King Jaren flushed in embarrassment, but didn't deny it. "How could I not worry when my children were in danger?" he muttered to himself, but everyone heard him anyway.

"Don't worry, Papa," Mana said, patting his muscled arm in a comforting manner.

King Jaren sighed heavily. "I'm sorry you were exposed to such danger," he murmured. "I underestimated our enemies…I never imagined that they would be so shameless that they would even conspire with outsiders!"

Grandma frowned. "Will Astra and Sora be safe in the capital? If someone is targeting the royal family, then…"

King Jaren's face became very cold.

Grandpa took Grandma's hands in his own and said meaningfully, "Sora and Astra were never in any danger."

Grandma blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Darling, do you really need me to explain? It was always Dora and her children who were in danger. Did you forget why Dora asked us to hide Jules away for sixteen years?" Grandpa asked her. "Did you forget that Mana's body held poison since she was born…?"

Grandma's face went very pale. "You mean…"

"We'll discuss it later," Grandpa told her. "For now, our priority is to destroy the arrays."

Startled, Mana looked up at her family. "The arrays…they're not destroyed yet?" she asked, horrified.

King Jaren shook his head. "Unfortunately, no," he replied. "They seem to be of a permanent type. We may have to let them explode…"

"What about the volcano itself and the magma that was already triggered?" Mana asked.

"That's been taken care of," Jules told her. "Grandpa and Papa did it themselves – it was very cool."

Mana smiled and showered praises on the two adult men of her family – and both of them preened.

"Fox is also helping us," Raven spoke up. "If we must let the arrays explode, we can send it away to an uninhabited place so that it can detonate harmlessly."

"We've already identified a suitable location," Jules told her. "Papa said we'll give it one more day, and if we still can't crack the arrays, we'll transport them."

Mana was quite relieved. Looked like things were under control. Suddenly, an ominous thought stuck her. "There's no chance of us accidentally triggering the arrays, right?" she asked weakly.

"Hopefully not," King Jaren murmured.

Before Mana could enquire more, there was a knock on the door and a servant appeared. "Your Majesty, Master Fox is here. He said it's urgent."

"I hope I didn't jinx it," Mana muttered under breath as everyone hurried to meet Fox.

Thankfully, the arrays hadn't been accidentally triggered – but on the downside, no solution was in sight for destroying them, either.

Fox had come up with a magically powered propulsion machine that impressed everyone so much that the room was filled with spontaneous applause.

King Jaren swung an arm around Fox's thin shoulders and declared proudly, "What a brilliant young man we have here! I'm very happy that my children have such a reliable friend like you!"

Fox blushed. Until recently, he had never been praised so much for his work. He had already decided to throw in his lot with Raven, Mana and Jules, and the Emerald Kingdom felt much more like home to him than the Sapphire Kingdom ever had. He knew his parents missed home and would return once Fox departed for the capital city with his royal friends…but Fox was determined to spend the rest of his life in the Emerald Kingdom. He had secretly submitted the immigration registration papers without telling his parents.

"Where are we sending the arrays?" Mana asked curiously.

"There's an uninhabited island two hundred miles east of the Emerald Kingdom. It is far enough from all the kingdoms to cause no harm even if the arrays explode there," Grandpa told her.

"There's no native life form there? Are we sure?" Mana asked. "Why aren't we considering the great desert in the south-west? There's no life at all there, right? Wouldn't it be safer?"

"We have the Amber Kingdom in the west, which will consider propelling an array over their lands towards the great desert an act of invasion," Grandpa said with a sigh.

"They are very unreasonable," Physician Kale agreed.

"But Mana's idea is good," King Jaren said. "I'm not very comfortable with destroying the island either. It is rich in flora and fauna."

"But…the Amber Kingdom…" Grandpa murmured.

"How fast is the propulsion?" Jules asked. "Can we use something like a cloaking ward and propel the arrays into the desert really quickly before the Amber Kingdom even realises what's happening…?"

King Jaren nodded approvingly, please with Jules's perception.

Fox tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I can make it faster…fast enough that it'll pass across the entire Amber Kingdom in a few minutes. "I don't know about cloaking wards, though."

"We can help with cloaking wards," Grandpa said, holding Grandma's hand. "But I'm not sure that we'll be able to pass it through the Amber Kingdom undetected."

Everyone sighed.

"Do transportation arrays not work with these?" Mana asked.

King Jaren rubbed her hair affectionately and shook his head. "That was our initial thought as well – but we may trigger the arrays if we try moving it using another array," he murmured.

Mana sighed and turned to Raven. "What do you think?" she asked. "Is there any other way?"

Raven hesitated.

"Speak up, my boy," King Jaren told him, patting his shoulder lightly in encouragement.

"There's a…a five elements magic spell," Raven said quietly. "It can reflect any array back to its caster…"

King Jaren frowned. "Same scale?" he asked.

Raven shook his head. "The scale is not variable, but there is a way to isolate the caster from their surroundings and limit the reflection to the caster only."

Mana brightened. "So…if we can use this spell, we can ensure that no one other than the caster will suffer the consequences?" she asked.

Raven nodded.

"Would you be able to cast it?" Jules asked Raven worriedly. "Between ourselves, we can supplement your earth, fire, wind and water elements…but we don't have anyone with dark magic to support you…"

Raven nodded again. "It doesn't take too much magic power," he murmured. "It's more about the precise control and proportion of each element. I've been trying to practice it since we captured the arrays…and I think I can do it."

"I don't want you to put yourself at risk, Raven," King Jaren said firmly.

"It shouldn't be too dangerous, Papa," Raven told him.

"If something goes wrong while you're casting this spell…can you abandon it in the middle without harming yourself?" Mana asked.

"I can, but…" Raven scratched his head sheepishly. "If I leave it in the middle, the arrays will probably detonate immediately."

"In that case," Grandpa suggested. "Why don't we propel the arrays to the uninhabited island first, and then Raven can try this reflection spell there? Even if he leaves it in the middle, we can still return to the summer palace using the emergency summoning array here."

King Jaren nodded. "That's probably our best option," he murmured. "Come on, then – I'll activate the summoning array and update it to recognise all of you. Jules will take control of it from now, and I'll go with Raven and Fox to the island." He looked at his parents-in-law. "I'll leave you two in charge – Jules will supervise the array and summon us back here if something goes wrong."

"I'll go with you, Papa," Mana said immediately.

King Jaren frowned.

"My magic resonates best with Raven," she pointed out. "And I have three elements."

Raven looked at Mana earnestly. "I can manage this," he said. "You should rest here."

Mana shook her head stubbornly. "I'm going with you," she insisted.

King Jaren sighed. "All right, then. Raven, Mana, Fox and I will go to the island." He turned to Fox. "When can we initiate the propulsion?"

Fox grinned. "The propulsion machine is ready – we can do it right away," he replied.

"Let's get going, then!" Mana said, pumping her small fists in the air.