291 278: A Plague of Phantoms: Dueling Genesis! Destructive Gods of the Sea

"BONE-LASHER CRYSTAL MERGE TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Bone-lasher bellowed as he rose further into the air.

Purple crystal covered Bone-lasher's body as he curled into the fetal position then shattered into dust, sparkling across the field before flowing towards me and getting absorbed into my body. I closed my eyes and felt my body go numb, sensing the transformation deep in my soul.

My body stretched and grew to twenty feet tall. My features were warped and altered to be more of that a shark. My face elongated as my chin split horizontally and cracked open, a second mouth forming as rows of teeth and a tongue was generated. Thick onyx crystal scales covered my entire body, mana and electricity pulsed through them with the same thrum of a heartbeat. My arms stretched and webbing grew between my fingers while my farm crystal was absorbed into my hand, thick fins covered in sharp crystal grew on my forearm.

My hair fanned out and the thick dreads became covered in flesh and scales, the tips flattened and stretched into fan shapes. The edges were as sharp as blades and glinted with a dark purple light in the late evening sun. Finally two thick tails sprouted from my back between my shoulder blades stretched down to just below my calves where the scythe-like fin that liger sharks were known for appeared.

I felt a soft thrum in my chest and a warm feeling spread through my body. It was the feeling of my farm crystal and Bone-lasher's two mana crystal cores sliding into position behind my heart. The thrums became pulses that clashed inside my body. With each pulse I felt the mana inside my body multiply, strengthen, and wash over me until the pulses synchronized and a new resonance was achieved between the three sources of mana.

Lastly I felt Bone-lasher's consciousness filling my mind. The strong sense of self being, decisive will gained from years of conflict and self reliance, and powerful strength of his devotion to me. I felt my own consciousness start to meld with his, our every experience, every memory, every breath mingling together to become something new. Something different, someone powerful. To become….

Leviathan

"LEVIATHAN! WE ARE UNITED!" We bellowed as we shattered the crystal chrysalis that enveloped us.

We fell from a great height and landed in the crescent moon lagoon, standing over the platform that Viola and Hapi were standing on. We looked down at them with a inquisitive gaze. Viola had a look of admiration on her face while Hapi looked absolutely terrified. He crouched low to the ground and near his mistress feet.

"INCREDIBLE!" Viola exclaimed then let out a squeal of joy as she twirled on her heel. "A spell that was lost to time and believed to be nothing more than myth! Resurrected by a descended of the Tolapo and Sullivardic! Such Power! Such majesty!"

"You've not seen our power yet." We said then raised as scaled hand over the platform and started channeling mana into our hand.

An axiom spell sigil formed in front of our outstretched hand and them flew above my head and stretched and grew until it covered the sky above the crescent moon island. A black aura oozed from the sigil and blanketed the entire island, forming a dome around it that turned transparent for a brief moment then suddenly the scenery outside the dome changed.

It was now under the sea, seeming to have telephoned the entire island under the sea but it hadn't been. Rather a space bending screen was wrapped around the island that created a simulation of being under the sea. The screen folded the space between the caster and the spell sigil in on itself in infinity creating a never ending scene that no one could escape once inside.

This was one of our crystal merged powers. Thanks to Chase Kingston's knowledge of the runic language and general magic, we were able to weave together spell sigils from nothing. Creating new spells in our head like a person creates a sentence on paper. And with our two mana crystals and Farm crystal resonating together in our chest, increasing our mana capacity to more than eleven times what was Chase's maximum, we could sling spells well beyond what Chase could alone.

We looked at Viola in the eye then pointed at the Eye of Ammunset. Or rather the Crystal Genesis spell that Chase had enchanted onto the large necklace over a month ago for her anniversary.

"Come Queen! The stage is set! Ripe for carnage! Show us the audacity that you had when you dared challenged the Star Shaper!" We exclaimed. Viola looked to Hapi and placed a comforting hand on his head and patted it lightly.

"Hapi, I'm going to ask a big favor from you." Viola said.

"Favor?" Hapi muttered.

"Yes, I need you to trust me. As we are we can't win against them, the sensible thing to do would be to surrender but…I hate losing. I hate admitting I'm not strong enough. We could win but I need your help…I need your trust." Viola said then knelt down beside Hapi.

"You think we can win? Against that? They're united!" Hapi exclaimed.

"Whether we win or not I refuse to just lay down and accept defeat! The day I do that is the day I no longer deserve to be queen! You were created by Chase and molded after Bone-lasher, are you going to sully their honor by giving up and showing weakness?!" Viola exclaimed. Hapi's demeanor changed, he stood up straight and bared his teeth.

"No! I'm not weak! I trust you, Mistress!" Hapi proclaimed and followed with a commanding roar.

Viola smiled and started casting a axiom spell sigil that appeared in her left hand as her farm crystal glowed with a green light. Green energy collected above the sigil and formed a cubed shaped crystal formed in her hand.

"CRYSTAL GENESIS ACTIVATE!" Viola exclaimed.

She crushed the crystal in her hand and a wave of mana rushed from it, hitting Hapi and then sending another wave back that struck Viola. Hapi was lifted into the air om that wave and green crystal started covering his body.

"HAPI CRYSTAL MERGE TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Hapi exclaimed as he was lifted into the air and his body was completely covered in crystal.

Hapi curled into the fetal position then shattered into a cloud of dust that flew towards Viola and was absorbed into her body. Viola was lifted into the air, rising high above me as the crystal covered her entire body. Her body began to be altered, becoming taller but only by a few inches. Her hair grew until it reached down below her waist, changing from her normal auburn color to a deep and rich red. Three slits appeared on each side of her neck and turned into gills. Fins appeared in her forearms and her nails sharpened into claws.

The crystal that surrounded Viola's body shattered and swirled around her. The dust condensed and transformed into a azure flowing floor length gown, similar in style to the Greek toga. A crystal tiara with a moon shaped ornament formed on her head as her flowing red hair glowed with a crimson sheen. She opened her eyes and they glowed like pale moons.

"ARTEMIS VOLTIER! WE ARE UNITED!"

Artemis Voltier floated down to the platform, as she did we couldn't help but notice that she bore a odd resemblance to the goddess Artemis which she took part of her namesake. Artemis Voltier landed with the grace befitting a goddess. She looked up at me with a defiant gleam.

"Now Leviathan, the real battle begins!" Artemis Voltier exclaimed and snapped her fingers, a offensive spell sigil formed under our feet and a column of ice erupted from it and slammed into our chest, pushing us up into the air and towards the dome that we created.

We reared back and punched the column, smashing it before we could be pushed into the dome. Immediately we held our hand out and started casting a offensive spell sigil in response. Hundreds of black orbs shot out from the sigil and hailed down on the platform. Each one exploded on contact with either the platform or the water, expanding into six foot diameter orbs that quickly shrank down into nothingness and taking everything inside with it. Artemis Voltier dodged the first couple volleys, dodging and dashing across the platform before jumping into the water and swimming down to the bottom of lagoon.

We bared our teeth as the last of the orbs exploded on the water's surface and channeled shock attribute mana throughout our body as we fell down towards lagoon. Lightning sparked off our scales, our plan to electrify the water when we landed in it however that didn't go as planned.

A whirlpool suddenly formed in the center of the lagoon and a jet of water shot up and hit us square in our chest. We were pushed back into the air and sent hurtling into the dome. Once we came into contact with the dome it seemed like time stretched on for eternity and snapped in an instant all at once. However we passed through it and out into the vast and ocean depicted beyond it. The water was warm and thicker that normal sea water so it was harder to move in but thankfully easy to breathe in.

Looking down and into the dome we could see Artemis Voltier casting another spell and sending multiple pillars of ice flying up and towards the dome. Each pillar passed through the dome and came barreling towards us, though at a much slower pace than usual. We swam back a bit and dodged pillar after pillar then strafed around the entirety of the dome. We started casting an offensive spell sigil that created spears of solid shadow around me and fired them back at Artemis Voltier.

Each spear had the same black hole effect as the orbs we fired earlier. Once they passed through the dome and soared towards their target they were meant to explode on impact however Artemis Voltier held her hand out and a massive black hole appeared in front of it. Sucking up and destroying all of the spears as well as gaining the mana used to create them.

'She learned a new trick…' We thought then swam towards the dome and stuck our hand through it and started casting an axiom spell sigil. Chains of light shot from the sigil and flew towards Artemis Voltier. She tried to dive underwater to dodge them but they weren't like the shadow orbs or the spears, they didn't explode.

The chains dogged her through the water and eventually trapped her, wrapping around her arms and legs. I quickly grabbed the end of the chains and yanked them hard. Pulling my hand back through the dome and twisting around to pull with greater force. Artemis Voltier was yanked out of the Lagoon and pulled up towards the dome. She tried launching ice spears up at me and the chain that bound her but with her arms bound it was hard for her to aim. Her shots all missed the mark but just barely.

Once through the dome and into the endless sea we spun and backhanded Artemis Voltier. Her entire body barely larger than our finger, she was snacked hard and sent flying through the ocean. Our spell was shattered on contact unfortunately and the chains that bound Artemis Voltier broke as she spun through the water.

Artemis Voltier quickly corrected herself and snapped her fingers, sending a bolt of purple lightning hurtling towards me that grew bigger and more powerful as it traveled thanks to the saltwater. Each bolt branching off like a spider web as it quickly grew so large that it encompassed everything in sight. In response we channeled void attribute mana into our hands and created a vortex of shadows that spiraled out of our hands and swallowed everything in front of us. The lightning was quickly sucked into the vortex along with the sea water, both were broken down and converted back into mana which we absorbed. We immediately started casting two axiom spell sigils.

"Through blood and bone and endless slaughter…" My first mouth began to chant as my second mouth began the chant for the second spell.

"Through pain and loss and timeless suffering…let the burden of slights and undeserved humiliation fall upon you with the burden of a thousand lifetimes." Ince the verse for the second spell was spoken both our mouths spoke the second verse in unison.

"…may the horrors of a life devoid of hope and kindness besiege your mind with the fervor of rabid jackals."

Seeing that we were up to something Artemis Voltier dashed towards us, firing off ice spears and lightning bolts to try and get us to lose focus on our spell. We swam backwards, dodging the ice spears and spinning gracefully around the lightning bolts. Just barely dodging the various arcs of the expanding bolts.

As we finished both chants the two spell sigils flew from our hands and circled one another before merging together into a new golden spell sigil that had two axiom spell sigils orbiting the central golden spell sigil. Another power granted to us thanks to Chase's knowledge of the runic language and spell craft: the ability to fuse two spell together; combined casting.

"Star's Chosen: Bone-lasher." We muttered softly.

The spell sigil expanded, the two axiom spell sigils shattering and turning the water around them blood red. Though that color wasn't just for show. The spell was actually turning the sea water to blood. It seeped through the endless ocean in a wave, turning the peaceful and tranquil depths in maddening haze.

Artemis Voltier sensed something was wrong and tried to stop the tide by snapping her fingers and freezing the water in front of her but the blood wave only overtook the frozen water and devoured it. Seeing that plan wasn't going to work she backtracked and tried to swim away but soon found herself surrounded. The blood tide overtook her, wrapping her in a endless sea of crimson. In that instant the golden spell sigil activated and the true power of the spell took affect.

"Let's see how you like having your head messed with…." We said ominously.

"ARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGHAAAAAAAAAH!" Artemis Voltier bellowed from within the blood haze.

The sounds of snapping bones, tearing flesh, and gut wrenching sobs echoed inside the endless ocean as well as on the crescent moon island. Inside the blood haze Artemis Voltier was experiencing every cut, bruise, broken bone, laceration, and severed limb that Chase or Bone-lasher ever experienced over their lifetimes. The scars and wounds appearing on her body in similar fashion as they were inflicted.

Were Artemis Voltier normal she would have died from the pain of the wounds alone. But she was a fusion of two entities, both strong of will. Her regenerative ability kept her from dying from the physical damage from the wounds and her metal fortitude kept her mind alive. Which was why we knew what was going to happen next would happen.

The blood haze was swallowed by a wave of pure darkness that destroyed everything in it path then like the precursor to a tsunami was sucked back into the source which turned out to be a black hole. The space around the edges of the black hole began to bend and get sucked into it, creating cracks that quickly spider webbed and spread as the black hole ate away at the mana that was used to create the space. Until finally it unraveled and the dome that surrounded the crescent moon island shattered and the endless ocean vanished as if it was never there.

We found ourself several dozen feet in the air and falling quickly towards the crescent moon lagoon. We twisted and turned our body to land upright. We hit the water with a crash, a massive wave rushing outward from our impact with the rocky lagoon bottom. The waves surged up the walls of the lagoon and washed over the stands, getting most people wet. As the waves receded we quickly checked our surroundings for any sign of Artemis Voltier, we lost of her thanks to her black hole which messed with our electromagnetic vision.

"LEVIATHAN!" Artemis Voltier bellowed above us. We looked upward and saw her black hole shrinking until she emerged from the event horizon and started floating down to the lagoon.

The water froze the moment her foot touched the surface, creating a small iceberg for her to stand on. Artemis Voltier looked up at us defiantly then smiled and threw her hands up.

"I give up!" She exclaimed.