257: A Plague of Phantoms: In the Shadows of Demons I

"Give it!" Jane growled as she tried to rip my mana-revolver from my hands.

"No!" I growled as I yanked it back. The two of us locked in the middle of a tug of war over my gun.

"Chase I swear to every Egyptian God, I will tear your soul to pieces if you do not give me your fucking gun!" Jane snapped as she yanked several times and nearly ripped it from my hands.

"You will have to tear it out of my cold, dead, American hands!" I snapped back.

"Chase you have caused two international incidents in as many days! The last thing you need is to have a gun!" Jane barked and yanked a few more times. "Why the fuck are you Americans so attached to your damn guns?!"

"It's a part of my cultural identity!" I replied. Angie walked up and slapped both Jane and I on the backs of our heads making both of us wince and grab our heads, both dropping the mana-revolver in the process.

"Chase! Jane! Enough, act your age!" Angie exclaimed then motioned to the rulers and dignitaries around us. Jane sobered up really quick while I just wanted my gun back. I quickly snatched it up and then holstered it before Jane could say anything.

"To be fair we are teenagers." I said as I straightened out my dashiki shirt. Angie rolled her eyes at that.

"Perhaps it would be best if I showed all of you to your seats."Hideyoshi said.

Logan

"What the fuck?!" Oliver exclaimed in a low voice as we watched my half-brother argue with the Egyptian princess that worked for him over the revolver he used to shoot at the Chinese emperor.

Private Oliver was confused by the sudden change in demeanor by Chase and his employees. They just publicly attacked the leader of yet another country and were now acting like a couple of kids fighting over a toy in the school yard.

"That evo is unusual, like the one that attacked the king of Scotland's guards last night." Dad said softly, eyeing the evo as it stood silently behind Chase a few steps back.

"It was more than unusual Dad, it could talk and better than most people. Since when can evos talk?" I said. Dad glanced back at me then back at that Divine Gold whatever.

"The talking is the least unusual thing about it, it set itself on fire and created those wall of flames. That Liger Shark mutation from last night had lightning sparking off it and moved faster than our eyes could track. No evo should be able to do either of those things and yet…Chase's can…" Dad said eyeing my half-brother with a curious glint in his eye.

"Umm…Lieutenant? Isn't it strange that your brother…?" Private Oliver started.

"Half-brother…" I quickly corrected.

"…Half-brother, sorry. Well he's caused two disturbances and hasn't been escorted off the island or locked up. All these big wigs are acting like he's as powerful as they are or stronger." Oliver said. I frowned and nodded silently.

From the party attendees reaction last night before Chase showed up I gathered that whoever owned Sho'lajah Artifact Company was a big deal. I hadn't realized how big a deal until he showed up on that giant insect monstrosity. But with the display last night and now today that he had a enormous amount of sway, both politically and socially; at least where splicers were concerned.

This didn't make sense, yes it had been years since I saw him last but a person doesn't gain that much political power in that short of time. Beaufort has been trying for years; funneling money into various pockets and he hasn't the control over the kings, lords, queens, and emperors with that Chase seems to have with just his words, glances, and very presence. The fact he could act so carefree and argue with a princess over a gun after one of his evos assaulted the ruler of yet another country was a testament to that power.

"I will need to talk to you and President Justice later Dad." I said softly. Dad nodded without looking at me. His gaze was stuck on the golden evo behind Chase. The older woman who oddly enough looked familiar for some reason stepped up and slapped both Chase and the Egyptian princess, snapping at them and getting them to stop arguing.

The odd Japanese man that had been lead Chase and his group into the auditorium stepped in front of Chase and said something short after that and got Chase and his party to follow him. I already knew that Chase's company was supposed to sit next to us. Sho'lajah Artifact Company was written in big bold words on the back of the chairs was big giveaway. Still seeing Chase and his group walk over with those two evos trailing behind him put me on edge.

As they walked past us Chase pretended that we weren't there or rather that we were beneath his notice, too insignificant to bother sparing a passing glance. That pissed me off, with those evos around the splicers might think him some big shot but he was still Chase, still the shit brained splicer I beat up nine ways from Sunday on a daily basis.

"Just going to walk past me without saying anything?" I said suddenly as Chase and hos entourage passed. Chase stopped mid-step then look back at me over his shoulder. His eyes were cold, almost completely void of emotion as he looked me up and down then shrugged.

"I figured the esteemed hero of St. Louis would be too busy to talk with the likes of me. Likewise for the genius CEO of Justice Technologies. But if you two titans of American society can find the time to talk to little old me then there will be plenty of time to catch up during the combat simulation later this afternoon." Chase said then kept on walking.

I couldn't help but notice the condescending way he said hero. I gritted my teeth to keep from sneering at him. I wanted to deck the little shit so bad and would have if he didn't have those evos with him. The overgrown chicken and that gargoyle looking thing were dangerous, too dangerous to try and take on with only the sidearm that I had.

A loud gong suddenly sounded, the noise reverberating through the auditorium. It was loud enough that everyone winced slightly when it rung in their ears. The lights in the auditorium dimmed and the light murmur that had been buzzing in the background about Chase, died down.

"Looks like the commencement ceremony is starting." Dad said.

***

The commencement ceremony was dull and boring like always. A big speech made by the chancellor of commerce of Japan and the chancellor of militia came soon after. They were long and drawn out speeches that made the one dad did at my award ceremony after St. Louis. That one took forty minutes.

To make this ceremony even worse the chancellor of Militia invited several CEO's to speak. One of them unfortunately was my dad. He made another long winded speech about the strength, progress, and security of the world with the help of Techno-splicing. It was grandiose and totally unnecessary considering that nobody in the room believed it. The splicers thought their traditional ways were better and the techno-splicing companies thought that splicers were shit beneath their heels, and rightly so. Splicers were nothing without their little pets.

"…that is the true strength of the world! Unity! Dedication! Trust!" Dad exclaimed as he brought his speech to an end. The auditorium was silent for several moments since most of the CEO's were either asleep or not paying attention and didn't realize he finished talking. Ironically it was a splicer royal that started clapping and very enthusiastically, probably just happy my dad had shut up. This lead to a round of applause from everyone in the auditorium which dad ate up probably thinking they loved his speech. "Thank you! Thank you!"

Dad left the stage as the Chancellor of militia took the podium again, he had the same exhausted look that I'm sure most people in the seats behind me did. As dad descended the stairs from the stage he paused and looked pissed.

'What's he glaring at?' I thought.

A sound suddenly hit my ears from a few chairs away that absolutely floored me. It was snoring, someone actually had the audacity to be asleep. I looked over and saw that the source of the snoring was Chase. He was passed out in his chair with his head back and mouth open, snoring deeply.

'That fucking piece of shit!' I thought. Dad quickly recovered from his shock and made his way back over to his seat next to me and sat down.

"I can see his time at that college of his has made him lose his manners…" Dad muttered as he sat down. As dad sat the Chancellor of militia spoke.

"Now! For the last speaker of the Ceremony it is often tradition that the newest of the companies that have gathered here today say a few words. And as I understand it the newest company here is Sho'lajah Artifact Company, if I could have Master Chase Kingston come up and please say a few words…" The Chancellor of militia said then motioned to Chase, only to freeze when he noticed my half-brother was fast asleep.

The Egyptian princess and the receptionist woman that were seated on either sides of him both shared an embarrassed look then the princess elbowed Chase in the ribs.

Chase

"OW! FUCK!" I exclaimed as I jerked awake, feeling Jane's elbow dig into my ribs. I winced and rubbed my side while shooting her a glare. "The hell was that for?!"

"Hush! The Chancellor of militia is calling for you!" Jane hissed then pointed to the stunned official, who was watching our exchange.

"Oh? Thomas speech finally over?" I asked then stood up and stretched. "Thank the Gods! Leave it to one of Thomas's speeches to put me right to sleep."

"Umm…Master Kingston are you…able to say a few words?" The Chancellor of militia asked.

"Yeah, not a problem." I said as I started towards the stage.

Fours and Empress were perched up in the rafters of the auditorium since there wasn't enough room for them to sit down in the chairs with Jane, Angie and I. This worked in our favor since they could keep watch over everyone in the auditorium and put most of the CEO's on edge as well as the nobles and royals.

When I stepped onto the stage Empress flew down and landed behind me, then walking only a few steps behind as I approached the podium that the Chancellor of militia stood. He quickly moved out of the way and let me take the podium, stepping back several more feet once he noticed Empress shooting him a glare for being what she deemed too close to me.

The podium was simple wood and had no enchanted items to enhance the speakers voice or broadcasting equipment to make sure people in the back could hear the speakers voice. I decided to change that and bit my thumb to draw blood then subtly drew the runes: echo, reverb, clarity, and sound. Placing my hands on the runes I channeled mana into it and started casting a axiom spell sigil. Since the podium was in the way all the people in the auditorium could see was me doodling or messing with the podium. Only the Chancellor of militia could see what I was really doing and his eyes widened with shock as he saw the spell come into effect. I shot him a sly smile then took at deep breath.

"HELLOOOOOOO EVERYBODY!" I bellowed, the effect of my spell making my voice loud as a thunderclap and shocked everyone in the auditorium. It even made those in the first row have to cover their ears so they wouldn't go deaf. I toned down my volume so my next words didn't actually deafen everyone. "Woops. Sorry bout that, had to make sure everyone was awake. Having grown up listening to the illustrious CEO of Justice Technologies speeches all the time I know they can be a great snooze fest. Poor Chancellor over here caught me in the middle of my power nap…"

As I motioned to the Chancellor of militia the room was filled with soft chuckles and out right laughs. Not just from the Royal side of the Auditorium but the techno-splicing companies side too.

"…I'll have to apologize for that Chancellor, I didn't get much sleep last night. I was up most the night augmenting a couple enchantments." I said. The word enchantments caught the Chancellor's attention as well as the attention of every splicer in the room. It was the reason they invited me here after all. "However enchantments and enchanted items are not the reason I am here. I'm certain all of you noticed my evo; Empress; earlier when she went all: Flame on Phoenix. She is a Divine Gold Regalia Qolitz, which is basically a Divine Gold Qolitz that I modified using a special type of body modification magic that only I can use. Those flames were the result of her using mana, particularly incenrate attribute mana."

That statement earned murmurs and exclamations from all the splicers in the room, well most of the splicers in the room. The handful of splicers that knew the truth already: namely the Turak'Kahn, and Viola, looked smug.

"I know what you're all thinking, she's an evo. Evos can't have mana, only splicers can. Well normally you'd all be right. Except my evos are anything but normal. They've been altered mostly to save their lives but they also made them stronger." I said then looked to Jane and Angie. Jane gave me a silent nod then gave me two thumbs up. "It is thanks to all of them that I have developed a new technique for creating evos, a technique I call Shaping. The odd marriage of traditional splicing and techno-splicing that births evos beyond anything created before."

The auditorium erupted into chaos as the splicer royals and nobles all screamed objections and curses while the normies all shouted in confusion wanting more clarification. I let everyone scream for a few moments before I snapped my fingers, thanks to my spell the snap echoed so loud I think I actually did rupture a few eardrums but that quieted everyone.

"Before anyone says anything about legitimacy or anything like that, just know that you can take up those objections or whatever at my company's booth or whatever they are. Just know that the evos on our security team are armed…with enchanted items. But back to what I was talking about. My shaped evos are beyond anything created on earth before and everyone here will have a chance to attempt to claim one today."