“Get in there, freakin’ lowlife.” The gang member with the acrid breath shoved me roughly. I stumbled in surprise at the sudden push forward, and fell really hard, flat on my face.

Bam. “EMPH!” Then...

BANG!

I could hear a metal door slam close nearby and the clicking of a lock being put in place.

“You can lay there and rot today. NO FOOD FOR ALL OF YOU! You can thank this blasted newcomer for ruining my day off!” Roared the gang member.

A few seconds later, another BANG! Sounded, and I knew that he had left the building. Or room. But probably a building.

I knew I was probably in some sort of a prison.

The bad news was, I was still blindfolded, gagged and cuffed. Plus the room really stank big time.

The good news was, I could sense that the blue mechas were within range. I could absorb them any old time I want.

I grinned widely.

Or tried to anyway. Those gang members really knew how to gag a man. They had the piece of cloth tied so tight around my mouth that I was sure that if I hadn’t somehow absorbed the red mecha core and greatly enhanced my body, my mouth would have been torn.

The other good news was I could sense that I could easily break through those cuffs around my hands. I knew with startling clarity that the metal cuffs were made of simple iron and the energy within me could somehow corrode and weaken it.

Apparently I had developed some sort of affinity with metals.

I might probably be the happiest prisoner the world had ever seen at that moment. It was an incredible feeling, knowing that you’re about to rob the douchebags who had beaten you up and threatened you with painful bodily harm. And not just rob, but rob them totally blind. All I needed to do was to break out of the cuffs, wait until night time, and give the Red Dragon base a quick tour before running away.

Heck, better yet, don’t run away and simply obliterate the base.

But I was hesitant.

I didn’t want to simply rip apart solid metal cuffs in front of many people. I had to find out if there was anybody nearby first.

“EMPH!!” I tried to shout.

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“EMPHH!!!”

“EMPHHHH!!!!!!!”

Other muffled sounds rang out from everywhere around me.

Other prisoners?

Very soon, after EMPH-ing for a few more times, the other prisoners went silent again. What was the point? Nobody knew what the other person was EMPH-ing about. It was a hopeless situation for them.

I waited for a few minutes, making sure that there were no other sounds apart from the ones from the other prisoners near me.

And then I took a deep breath and began to pull my hands apart. I could feel my hands grow slightly hot as I instinctively circulated and directed the unique energy I felt previously around my hands. Slowly, I could feel the energy affecting the metal cuffs around my hands.

That’s it! I exclaimed internally. Destroy the cuffs! Destroy the cuffs! I chanted internally in my mind. I didn’t know exactly what I was doing, but my desire was clear, and the energy somehow responded to it.

After almost a full minute of exertion, I could feel my hands finally draw further apart. And then...

NGIIIIIKK! CRACK!

The metal cuffs around my hands creaked mightily before giving way.

My hands were free!

I quickly ungagged myself, removed my blindfold and checked my surroundings.

It was exactly what I had envisioned. I was in a cell with metal bars all around me. There were three more cells to my left and right, and four more opposite us, making it an 8-cell prison. With four to a cell, they could at most contain 32 people. And right now, every cell except mine, which was empathy except for me, was fully occupied.

Not a big base at all, I realized. Maybe not even a base, by all external appearances. A hideout perhaps? But it definitely packed the power of a large base. With a white mecha, ten blue mechas and a transforming mecha, it could deal with all the armies any country could send their way.

“A secret base then. This Amelia Dragonos is a much more important person than I realized. She’d probably throw a princess tantrum once I rob her of everything here” I mused.

“The Red Dragon gang is definitely just a front for another big organization. The questions to ask would be, which organization, and what are they doing here, in the junkyard of all places? Are they looking for something?” I thought to myself for a moment before my eyes finally widened in shock as everything clicked.

“Oh my god. They’re looking for the red mecha core.” I realized as a cold, sinking feeling rushed through my body. “That’s why they sent such a high ranking person with a white mecha to the area. I need to make sure they don’t discover the fact that the red mecha core has been absorbed by me. I need to rob them quickly and esca-”

I stopped mid-thought as another realization hit me.

“They would probably know its function! And they would instantly know what was happening the second they see the deconstructed mecha particles rushing towards the prison area. That ‘Justin’s brother/father’ had absorbed the red mecha core and triggered its use.”

I closed my eyes and tried to calmly analyze the situation. My mind whirred at high speed as I thought through various ideas and strategies.

After a few minutes, my breathing calmed down as an idea presented itself to me. “Yes, this could work…” I murmured. “Definitely. I’ll do that, then.”

I smiled and gave myself an imaginary pat on the back. “Well done, Sir Justin. You’ve just out-did yourself once more.” I laid down on my back and tried to make myself comfortable. I would move out as soon as it got dark.

I spent a comfortable day just laying there, relaxing and thinking of what I could do next, and deciding what I really wanted out of life now that I had the key to success.

A great warrior, maybe the greatest general the world had ever seen? That probably went without saying.

A life of great comfort and luxury? Of course.

A family? Definitely.

A harem? Uhh… I had heard the other older boys talk about girls sometimes at that point, and they had a lot of fun hooting and laughing about all the things they did with them. But to tell you the truth, I wasn’t really interested... yet. I’ll make that decision later, I decided. Topic shelved.

Helping the world become a better place? Noble and worthy of pursuit. That as well. Definitely.

How do I do that? A general would have the power to make the world a better place, but he wouldn’t have the freedom to do so.

I have the power to do whatever I want. Now, I need to fight for the freedom to use that power however and whenever I want. And for that, I needed to be…

My lips curled into a wide smile.

Yes, it was at that very moment when I decided that I wanted to be…

An Emperor.

The path before me was set.

Emperor Justin. Yes, that had a very nice ring to it.

In fact, it still does, even now.