279 266: A Plague of Phantoms: Covert Machinations IV

"Okay! So here we are Turak'Kahn, Viola." I said as I motioned to the cage gateway containing the Lunar Liger Sharks. "Inside this gateway are my Lunar Liger Sharks."

"Lunar Liger Sharks? I remember you talking about them last night but you never specified." Turak'Kahn said as he looked at the empty cage I indicated which was being polished by Haws.

"I'll let my evo handler, Hawthorne answer that." I said then motioned to Haws. Haws froze for a second then turned to me and shot me a 'really' then sighed and turned to face the Pharaoh and queen.

"The Lunar Liger Shark is a amphibious all-range attack type evo that specializes is in overpowering enemies with sheer magical power and raw physical prowess. They are based off of Bone-lasher over there's transcended stage form when he was a armored Liger Shark." Haws summarized, and motioned to Bone-lasher.

"Oh yes! I thought he looked different." Turak'Kahn said giving Bone-lasher a quick glance.

"My love, he's completely different, he can walk on two legs now." Viola said, slapping her husband's arm.

"What do you mean by 'Transcended stage'? What's a stage?" A military official asked from the back of the small group that followed me over from Jade's stall. Judging from his uniform the man was from the Australian military. What branch I wasn't sure though.

"That's a Boss question." Haws said then looked to me.

"Stage refers to the evo's level of evolution. In my research at Andromeda College I've found that there is a way for evos to evolve past their base forms into stronger ones. Transcended is what I've come to call the second stage. If you look at Empress here, you can see she is a transcended stage Divine Gold Qolitz which I refer to as Divine Gold Regalia Qolitz." I explained and motioned to Empress. I then turned and pointed to Bone-lasher. "Bone-lasher over there is not transcended though, he is at the third and final stage, true transcended. In fact I have several evos that are of the true transcended stage."

"Master Kingston, so your evos can evolve?" Another military official among the crowd asked.

"How is that possible?" A royal asked.

"Is that why your Divine Gold Qolitz can create fire?" Another royal asked.

"Wait his handler said something about magical prowess as well! Does that mean that evo used mana to create that fire earlier?" Another in the crowd asked.

"Hold on! One at a time! First off, yes my evos can evolve. It's possible thanks to the unique way my evos are created and the unique body modification magic that is used on my evos. And yes my evos can use mana and that mana can take on the attributes of various elements depending on the evos." I answered. That only seemed to sprout more questions but if I continued to answer them all day we'd never get to see the Lunar Liger Sharks. "Hold on! Anymore questions will be answered later. Let's get on with the presentation."

"The presentation of the empty cages…?" Turak'Kahn said eyeing them.

"You know full well that they are not empty Turak'Kahn." I said then walked over to the cage door and quickly sent a message to everyone before I pulled off my manacite communication ring and slide it into the slot where the keyhole was. [Nobody contacted me on my ring. I'm presenting the evos. Call Jane if important!]

The mana crystal fixed at the top of the gate glowed brightly as a black portal formed in the doorway of the cage. Once the doorway formed, a thing blue sheet of light formed in front of the portal which was a secondary spell that I inscribed on the cage to allow breathing in the specific biome of the Lunar Liger Sharks and Mer-as-folk.

I heard a series of gasps and exclamation from everyone in the crowd and in the nearby area. I glanced over to the area of the nearest company and saw a bunch of scientists and soldiers looking my way ring to see what everyone was making noise about. I smirked, knocking they wouldn't be able to see easily with the crowd of royals and military officials quickly gathering around.

"Okay! He's what's going to happen: everyone wanting to come through will pass through the blue force field and then into the portal. IT IS VITAL YOU PASS TROUGH THE BLUE FORCE FIELD BEFORE THE PORTAL! YOU WILL DIE IF YOU DON'T!" I explained putting as much emphasis as I could on the last part of the instructions. I looked to Haws and motioned to the gateway.

"Just like this!" Haws exclaimed them walked through the force field and a blue light enveloped him before he vanished into the portal. Viola gasped loudly and rushed over to cage gateway to look at the runes that were now glowing thanks to the portal being active.

"Remarkable! Isn't he a normie? How is it being sustained? Where does it go?" Viola asked in rapid succession.

"I'm sustaining it…kinda. Yeah, Haws is a normie, and it goes into a special space created by the crystal at the top of the cage. Inside are the Lunar Liger Sharks. Okay is everybody ready?" l called out, stepping over to Empress side. [Don't let anyone other than company members approach the gate after I go through you two.]

[Of course!] Bone-lasher replied.

[It goes without saying My Lord!] Empress added.

"Good! Now let's go!" I exclaimed then waved everyone in the crowd towards the portal.

Turak'Kahn and Viola were the first ones to head through the portal, making sure to follow all my earlier instructions. Seeing two royals pass through without a second thought the others in the crowd quickly approached the portal, entering one by one. Once the last one went through I turned to Jane and winked then stepped towards the portal. As I stepped through I found my eyes drawn over to nearest company area directly across from me. Standing at the edge of the area was Lieutenant Cross, looking at me with a expression of that was a mixture of shock and disbelief. I shot him a smirk and disappeared through the portal.

For a brief moment I felt a falling sensation before I was enveloped by saltwater. I found myself floating at the bottom of a deep ocean, illuminated by a reef of glowing coral and seaweed. I took a breath and felt my mouth and nostrils fill with water that quickly transformed into air inside my mouth. Kinda felt like ice melting but in reverse. It was an odd sensation but after a few breathes I got used to it.

I looked around and saw all the royals and military officials floating in a group about ten meters away. There were about seventeen people floating around with Haws at the front laying down some ground rules for being in the biome. Thanks to the spell that allowed everyone to breathe we could all talk.

I swam over and reached the group as the last of the Haws rules was explained. The gist was stay in a group and don't touch the evos. Seeing me swim over, Haws motioned to me and all heads turned to me.

"Well since all that is out of the way let's head over to the evo." I said then turned and started swimming deeper into the biome when one of the visitors spoke up.

"MASTER KINGSTON! WHAT IS THIS PLACE? WHERE ARE WE?"

I turned and realized it was the prince of Dalesward, formally Ireland until ten years ago when the current royal family overthrew the previous royal family and took over the country. He was a tall and slender man, even by splicer standards. I met and spoke with him last night and personally I thought he was a little too skittish for my liking.

"Prince Selidern, we're inside the mana crystal that was on the roof of the cage. Or rather the space created by the crystal and my enchantments, influenced by the evos that reside inside this space." I explained.

"This is…impossible?! How? Why?" A Major in the Italian army exclaimed. I shrugged casually then crossed my arms.

"We only have so much space on our mana train and I needed a way to transport a bunch of evos without taking up too much space. I probably could have used something smaller than a transport cage but we were pressed for time and the cages were there." I replied. Turak'Kahn laughed and started twirling weightlessly in the water.

"I think he meant what possessed you to think of something like this." Viola said.

"Oh…I was bored." I replied then turned and waved everyone to follow me. "This way! The Lunar Liger Sharks stay in a underwater cave down that ridge."

I swam off and could tell that Haws started swimming after me. The coral reef that we were in extended for more than another hundred yards and suddenly dropped in the direction I was headed. About ten yards down was the caves entrance. A hole in the rock face about fifteen yards wide and extends down another five yards.

When I reached the edge of the drop I stopped and looked over my shoulder of make sure that everyone was following me and was glad to see that they were, Haws had dropped to the back to make sure there were no stragglers. I then descended down and stopped once o reached the mouth of the cave and waited again for everyone to get over the edge of the drop. Once they were all swimming towards me I swam into the mouth of the cave. The cave was dark for the first couple yards then glowing algae and coral clinging to the wall lit the way from there.

After a couple minutes the cave tunnel opened into a large and spacious underwater cavern that sloped upward to the water surface and into the underwater cave. I swam upwards and quickly broke the surface, taking a huge breath of air. Above the water the cavern ceiling was more than ten meters above my head. Directly in front of me about ten yards was land.

I was floating near the edge of a huge pond in the center of the cave where the Lunar Liger Sharks called home. I saw one at the water's edge, hos head looking in my direction. Much like a regular liger shark, the Lunar variety, could see using electromagnetic vision and didn't have eyes and from what I could tell their range was about three miles.

Lunar liger sharks were a combination of Lion, Siberian tiger, great white shark, and lantern Jellyfish, making them tier four evos. They stood at seven and a half feet tall and possessed the fused features of a liger and a shark, with one big difference. Their bodies were covered in thick vine-like tendril stingers made up of cells just like the jellyfish stingers. The stingers were wrapped around each Lunar tiger's body in a unique way that kind of looked like it was wrapped in stylish seaweed that covered everything but their heads and paws. The stingers were bioluminescent much like the lantern jellyfish, so they all glowed dimly in the darkness of the cave. I could see all ten watching the water cautiously.

Behind me I could hear everyone coming up from underwater and gasping for air. At first everyone was looking at the cave ceiling with was adorn with glowing algae that showed a dazzling display, it wasn't until the lunar liger at the waters' edge made a chuffing noise did anyone notice that he was there.

"By the gods!" A military official from New Zealand exclaimed and swam behind a royal that I think was from Iceland.

"Calm down! We're fine." I said then swam over to the water's edge and climbed out beside the Lunar liger shark. His head turned towards me then bowed respectfully.

"Star Creator." He said softly, his voice deep and guttural.

"Hey big guy, how is everyone?" I asked and petted the lunar liger on the head. It was more like a light tap on the head since while I created them, they weren't my evos so I didn't want them getting used to my specific brand of affection.

"Anxious. We know we will be sold today, split up. We know not how our new masters will treat us." The Lunar Liger replied. I nodded and sighed.

"I know but just know I'm not going to just sell you all to just anyone. They have to have a personality that's compatible to you." I replied then channeled gust attribute mana throughout my body and was enveloped by a small tornado that blew off the sea water that soaked my clothes and dried me off. "That's better."

Haws climbed out of the water followed by Turak'Kahn and Viola. Viola snapped her fingers and a tornado whipped around her, her husband and Haws, drying them off. The three of them quickly fixed their clothes once that was done. The Lunar Liger regarded Haws in the same way he did me and bowed slightly. He suddenly froze and his head jerked towards Viola, cocking to the side similar to a dog that hears something weird.

Viola gasped loudly when she laid eyes on that particular Lunar liger shark and then rushed over and pushed me our of the way to get a better look at the evo. Unfortunately for me, out of the way meant falling towards the water. I quickly channeled float attribute mana managed to stop myself from falling back into the water.

"Viola!" Turak'Kahn exclaimed then rushed over and grabbed his wife and pulled her away. "What did Haws just say?!"

"But its so cute!" Viola exclaimed and pointed waved her arm at the evo. "I mean look at it! He's like a big puppy!"

The lunar liger huffed at that and his stingers bristled a little. Normally they didn't have any control over those stinger except on special nights or they felt a rush of extreme emotion.

"I'm not cute! Monstrous!" The lunar liger exclaimed. I floated back over to the ground and stopped channeling mana, landing beside Haws. I couldn't help but notice that the glowing nodes in its stingers glowed a deep red for a brief moment, indicating embarrassment.

"No you're cute!" Viola exclaimed and waved a finger at the evo. "Like a large murder puppy or a slaughter tiger."

"None of those sound cute…" Haws muttered.

"My love…I thought puppy was the nickname you gave me for…you know…" Turak'Kahn said softly.

"He doesn't mean what I think he means does he?" Haws asked me switching to English. I nodded and smirked when I saw the look of disbelief on Haws face.

"That's a different kind of cute puppy Turry." Viola replied and looked up at her husband with a sultry smile.

"Turak'Kahn, Viola, there are other people around!" I exclaimed before the other royals and military officials finally found the courage to try and climb out of the water.

Viola spun around and looked back at the lunar liger and then took advantage of Turak'Kahn's distraction to rush out if her husband's grip. Before anyone could stop her, Viola started scratching the underside of the evo's jaw and much to our surprise he let out a low rumbling purr and relaxed into the scratching.

"It actually likes it…" I Haws muttered. I watched as Viola scratched the top of the evo's head as well and this long shark fin tail started slapping ln the ground.

"Such a good puppy!" Viola exclaimed in a cutesy voice.

"You know there's no canine DNA in their base right?" I asked. Viola rolled her eyes and waved me away.

"Oh Hush now! Anything can be a puppy! Isn't that right Puppers?" Viola said. The lunar liger shark nodded his head in agreement and tilted it so Viola could scratch where he wanted.

"Yes! Ahhh! Good scratch! Good scratch! Mine!" The evo exclaimed. Haws eyes widened and he turned to me.

"Did the liger just claim her as his master?" Haws asked. I nodded and groaned.

"So yep…so much for that…" I replied and shook my head. Turak'Kahn looked concerned as he watched his wife and then looked to me.

"She's probably going to want that evo…" Turak'Kahn said.

"Not probably!" Viola exclaimed over her shoulder. Turak'Kahn sighed and shook his head.

"She wants the evo." He corrected.

"Well I'm not giving it away for free." I said. Turak'Kahn laughed lightly.

"I'd think less of you of you did." Turak'Kahn said then reached into the inside pocket of his suit and pulled out a small stone tablet. "Viola found this in the royal library a few weeks ago. It's written in a combination of Torapos and the runic language. Given recent experiences I assume that something dangerous and deadly is written on it, so I thought of you. The tablet for the evo?"

"Let me see if first." I said holding my hand out. Turak'Kahn handed me the tablet and I examined it. My eyes widened briefly then I looked to Turak'Kahn. "Sold!"

"Yay!" Viola exclaimed and hugged her new Lunar Liger Shark's head.

"Viola, be careful of touching those vine things on his body. They're stingers and have a neurotoxin strong enough to paralyze Kaijun class evos." I quickly said. Viola waved me off and patted her Lunar liger on the head.

"Okay, from here on your name is: Hapi." Viola said. Her farm crystal glowed as a crystalline structure formed around Hapi. He was then recalled into it and Viola gasped almost immediately and jumped. Turak'Kahn rushed to her side, looking concerned. "I'm fine…just never had a evo that had mana before…strange…that is a truly strange feeling. I can hear Hapi's voice so clearly in my head."

"As long as you're okay…" Turak'Kahn said softly. I quickly slipped the little tablet into my pocket and smirked involuntarily. It was worth so much more than just one evo.

"Master Kingston!" A voice exclaimed suddenly. I turned around to see the rest of the royals and military officials all looking at me with frowns and glares. The voice belonged to the Prince of Dalesward. "You sold a evo without even giving us a chance to bid!"

"Sorry folks but that's not how my evos are sold. I don't just blindly sell without thought to how the evo feels. Queen Viola already made a bond with that Lunar Liger Shark and therefore I couldn't in good conscience try and give it to another. Bonds mean a lot when it comes to power for shaped evo." I explained.

"Who cares about a evo's feelings? They're weapons!" The military representatives from Afghanistan exclaimed.

"They're not just weapons! They're intelligent to varying degrees and they possess mana, meaning they can resist a splicer's control if they have more mana." I replied then motioned to the other evos.

The other Lunar Liger Sharks were all watching us, even though they had no eyes I could almost feel the intensity of their glares. There were nine of them now and they were spread out around the space. Many in dark corners that prevented people from seeing their full bodies but others were bolder and say directly in the light. Their placement obvious as their mood. We were surrounded and they didn't trust us.

"Let me make one thing clear! You're not here to mindlessly buy evos, you're here for the opportunity to try and earn these evos trust. All of them are strong enough to take on a splicer of decent or even great talent." I exclaimed.

A laugh from the back of the group caught my attention. I narrowed my eyes at the offender and frowned, it was a military official from Spain of the flag patch on their uniform was anything to go off of. While I didn't put Spain on my ban list with Scotland and China, the fact that the country relied so much on Loki for military and political power made me hesitant to have a member of their government or military here.

"I doubt that even one such as you is capable of make evos that can overpower splicers of great talent, Master Kingston." The Spaniard said. He took a couple of steps away from the group towards the next closest Lunar Liger and narrowed his eyes at it. "Master Loki, my country's own Paragon is incapable of such a feat and he is the Paragon of splicing. Menacing as these things are they are pale comparisons to his masterpieces!"

The Spaniard started casting an offensive spell sigil and fired a bolt of purple lightning at the lunar liger shark. Striking it head on and causing a loud boom to reverberate through the cave and kicked up dust. The Spaniard looked at me with a cocky smile on his face.

"Big mistake…" Both Haws and I said at the same time then stepped back. Viola and Turak'Kahn both backed up as well. A second later the dust cloud was blown away by a, thundering roar and pale lightning danced haphazardly across the cave floor. The Lunar Liger Shark was pissed.

"What the…" The Spaniard started but that was all he managed to get out before a bolt of lightning whizzed through the cave and suddenly the Lunar liger shark was in his face. It slapped him with his paw, the electricity coursing through its body heightening the slap and sending the official flying.

He flew back over the pond and skipped a couple times before he finally fell into the water. He stayed under for a few seconds before his body finally floated to the surface and he gasped for air, his body jerking slightly. The liger reared his head back and roared before dashing towards the Spaniard again, moving so fast all that you could see was a bolt of lightning.

"ENOUGH!" I bellowed just before the liger reached his prey.

The lightning bolt suddenly changed direction and returned to shore directly behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at it. The liger still had lightning sparking off it but it didn't look like it had any damage from the idiot Spaniard's attack. Unfortunate that he chose a spell from the lightning element. Shock was one of the Lunar Liger Shark's attributes along with flow attribute and tidal, though it had a few restrictions on when it could use that attribute.

"Anyone tries that again and I will let the liger or whatever evo, finish the job!" I warned the others, shooting all of them a hard glare. The quick and terrified nods that I got from all of them told me they understood.

'Fuck a duck… I hope things are going easier on Iris end….' I thought.