292 279: A Plague of Phantoms: Massacre at Sea I

"You what?!" We snapped as we peered down at Artemis Voltier. She smiled up at us innocently, looking very much like a playful imp.

"I said…" Artemis Voltier started as she floated into the air. Green crystal enveloped her whole body before shattering into dust, revealing Viola once again. That dust then collected above Viola and turned back into Hapi. The two floated back down to the iceberg and landed softly. "…I give up!"

Both of our twin mouths gaped widely at her statement as we struggled to process it. It boggled the mind how she was able to just surrender and give up like that after the displays of power both her and we showed. Thanks to Chase's experiments with the crystal genesis spell we knew that fusing with a shaped evo that had a mana crystal core multiplied the splicer's mana reserves many times over what it would be naturally. What's more how many times it multiplied was dependent on the stage of the evo, whether it was base, transcended or true transcended stage. Even with Hapi being base stage Artemis Voltier should have had more than enough mana left to fight.

"SERIOUSLY! THAT WAS BARELY HALF A FIGHT!" We bellowed and stomped our foot into the lagoon repeatedly, causing waves.

"WINNER! CHASE KINGSTON! QUEEN VIOLA SOLOMON HAS ADMITTED DEFEAT!" Hideyoshi suddenly declared.

We followed the sound of Hideyoshi's voice and looked to see him standing in the third tier area of the stands. Thanks to our electromagnetic vision we could see that he was with Turak'Kahn and Chase's friends.

"Wait! NO! COME ON!" We bellowed to Hideyoshi and pointed down to Viola and Hapi who were still floating on their iceberg. "WE BARELY GOT TO DO ANYTHING! WE STILL HAVE SO MUCH MORE WE CAN DO!"

Jane stomped over to the window beside Hideyoshi and thrust her hands on her hips aggressively and glared at us.

"CHASE….Wait no…LEVIATHAN! STOP ACTING LIKE A BRAT AND ACCEPT THE WIN!" Jane bellowed. We leaned in close to her and pointed.

"But the fight wasn't over! We barely did anything!" We whined. Jane groaned and shook her head.

"You wrapped the entire island in a bubble and sent it to a separate dimension that YOU created! That's more than any splicer has done in the last million years!" Jane snapped. Iris walked up to the glass and stood beside Jane and pointed a finger at us.

"Stop acting like a brat Leviathan and change back! The fight is over!" Iris yelled. We groaned and turned back to face with Viola and Hapi.

Purple crystal started encasing our body as we floated several feet into the air. We felt our consciousness start to split and Leviathan becoming Bone-lasher and Chase, separate again.

Chase

I opened my eyes and saw Bone-lasher's body being reconstructed from the millions of shards of crystal dust. When his body fully formed Bone-lasher let out a loud and prolonged yawn while stretching his arms up towards the sky. The both of us floated down towards the lagoon and I channeled float attribute mana before I landed in the water while Bone-lasher just slid into the water.

"Seriously though, why did she quit?" Bone-lasher asked as he swam over to the iceberg. I floated over as well and eyed Viola.

While Bone-lasher and I were fused we were a very odd mix of each other's consciousness and personalities. The part that made Leviathan throw a temper tantrum was me unfortunately, while the part that couldn't understand why Viola was giving up and that we hadn't fought enough was Bone-lasher.

"Because you've shown enough to prove me wrong." Viola said and took a step towards me. When she did her knees buckled a little and she nearly fell bit Hapi quickly moved to stop her fall and she held onto his head to keep from falling. "…That spell uses a lot of mana…"

I floated over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder then channeled some attributeless mana into her. I had about forty percent mana left after using crystal genesis and all the spells that I cast with Bone-lasher while fused as Leviathan; Viola had about eleven percent if I had a guess. I gave Viola another ten percent of my mana which felt like I was dowsing myself in liquid melatonin and making me even more tired.

"How's that?" I asked. Viola sighed and stood up off of Hapi.

"Better. Thank you." Viola replied, already looking better. "As I was saying, you already proved me wrong. Ever since I saw Jane fuse with Ayia'liah I wondered about the power that you would have with one of your evos. I also had my own suspicions about your abilities. The spells Leviathan casted were ones he created on the spot weren't they?"

"Maybe…" I said coyly then floated backwards and recalled Bone-lasher back to my farm crystal. "…either way I'm a little annoyed that you challenged me then bowed out before Bone-lasher and I could go all out."

"That was probably for the best since I destroyed the little pocket dimension you created. I'd rather not have my husband and daughter destroyed by one of your spells." Viola said with a coy smile then recalled Hapi back to her farm crystal. "We should probably continue this in the stands so they can set things up for the combat simulation."

"I guess…" I groaned.

***

Logan

'WHAT THE ACTIAL FUCK!' I screamed in my head for the one hundredth million time. I glanced over to Dad and saw he had a deadpan and expressionless look on his face. He only had that look when he saw something that he couldn't understand and was desperately trying to rationalize it.

Princess Jane and that Egyptian woman, Iris, walked back to their seats from the window. Well stomped would be a better description. The princess sat back in her seat beside her father and crossed her arms with a huff while Iris slumped into her seat and groaned.

"Seriously! Chase wins and he complains about winning!" Princess Jane griped. The Pharaoh chuckled at his daughter's frustration.

"Remember, Chase was fused with Bone-lasher. So that very well could have been more of Bone-lasher's personality than Chase's." The Pharaoh said. The princess rolled her eyes at that.

"A temper tantrum like that is more Chase's style than Bone-lasher." The princess said.

"Definitely…" Iris muttered.

"Totally." Muttered the large Egyptian man in the corner.

"Jane, should we be concerned that Chase's and Bone-lasher's fusion said that he didn't get a chance to go all out?" A English woman that sat between the two splicers that accompanied Chaser a hour ago asked. The princess turned and sighed.

"Let me put it this way…the crystal genesis spell allows splicers to fuse with a evo provided there is a level of bond or trust. This fusion highlights and enhances the abilities and qualities of both the evo and the splicers…if my mother hadn't quit when she did, Leviathan would have destroyed the whole island…by accident." Princess said in the most serious tone I ever heard come from anyone. The English woman nodded nonchalantly then shrugged her shoulders.

"That tracks." She said.

"THAT TRACKS!" Beaufort bellowed, reminding everyone that he was there. He junped up from his seat and pointed out the every cracked window. "How in the nine hells does any of that track! What the fuck was that? Splicers can fuse with evos! Wrap entire islands in fucking sky bending bubbles! HE FUCKING FLEW! WITHOUT WINGS! WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE ITS NORMAL?!"

"Because it is normal for Chase." Princess Jane said with a shake of her head. The Pharaoh and everyone in Chase's company nodded in agreement.

"If you look around Mr. President, you'll notice that all of the splicers and rulers are just as flabbergasted as you are." The Pharaoh said in a calm voice.

I glanced at the other clusters of seats that were nearby and saw the Pharaoh was correct. The splicers in all of those seats looked to be in an uproar and a bit of a panic.

"The fight you just witnessed is hardly normal among splicers. The crystal genesis spell is one that hasn't been seen in many a millennia." The Pharaoh went on. "My wife is known as one of the strongest combat oriented splicers in the world, second only to Anansi Paragon. Chase is a rare star farm crystal bearer who is recognized as a genius who has made a fool of two Paragons and in the span of less than half a year has gained enough influence and recognition to make world leaders weary of him. That wasn't a fight between two splicers, that was a fight between two titans of the splicing world."

"So…the respect and attention that Chase has gotten over the last two days…is because they're scared of him?" Dad asked, suddenly speaking up. The Pharaoh chuckled and looked at Dad.

"The attention he's been afforded is because of his reputation and achievements. The student of a Paragon, scholar of the runic language, creator of enchanted items, architect of a new style of splicing. All feats that would demand respect by themselves. The respect he's been shown hasn't been given but demanded and taken by Chase. He has shown time and time again that he will not bend over backwards for anyone that assumes they are better than him because of their social standing." The Pharaoh explained.

"I see…" Dad muttered. His expression went back to being expressionless and he stared off into the distance.

"Must be quite a shock, huh Thomas?" Louie Gents asked suddenly. Dad blinked out of his trance and looked towards Louie then frowned.

"What do you mean?" Dad replied.

"Spending all those years raising Chase just to use him throw him away once he became useless only to realize that you never even scratched the surface of what he could do." Louie said, his voice dipped in venom. Dad frowned and shot Louie a glare.

"I did no such thing!" Dad snapped. Princess Jane chuckled and shook her head.

"Mr. Kingston, you should know that splicers are able to do many things…one of them is sharing their memories with people they trust…" Princess Jane said softly. My eyes widened immediately as did Dad and Beaufort's. The look they all had in their eyes told me they were thinking the same thing I was.

'…they saw that day!' I thought in a panic.

"TURRY! JANEY!"

Everyone turned and looked towards the direction the voice came from and saw Queen Viola walking towards our cluster with two guards flanking her. She waved happily at the Pharaoh and princess. A couple steps behind them was Chase. The Pharaoh stood up rushed over to his wife while the princess and Iris both stood and rushed over to Chase.

"Hey g…." Chase started only to have Iris slap him in the back of my head.

"Seriously Chase! Were you trying to kill everyone!" Iris snapped. The princess slapped him after that then crossed her arms.

"Idiot! Stealing mana from everyone in the stadiums! You could have went into mana overload! You could have stolen too much from someone! THINK BEFORE YOU ACT STUPID!" Princess Jane snapped.

"OW! Stop hitting me!" Chase cried out and covered his head.

"No!" Both girls replied at the same time and then slapped him again.

While I found the exchange funny because Chase was getting beat on, something felt off about it. There was a underlying tenderness in their actions, they didn't feel like they were berating him but rather voicing their concerns for his actions and hoping he'll be more careful in the future. Those weren't the actions of just some random classmates or employer and employees. It was more like how siblings acted.

"Girls can you not right now! I'm really tired!" Chase exclaimed. The girls shook their head and slapped him again only this time on his arms.

"No!" They both snapped him again.

"OW!" Chase hissed and grabbed where the girls slapped him. I heard a snicker come from several people in his company but the loudest was that smart mouthed one, Bo.

"Enough of the usual you three." Angie Gents says as she stands up with her son in her arms. All eyes turns to her and she motions to out the window. "It's about time for the kids to get ready."

"FUCKING FINALLY!" Bo yelled and jumped put of his seat only to get a slap on the back of his head from his mother, father, and a couple adult members of the company that were within arms reach.

"No cursing!" They all yelled at the boy. He winced and rubbed his head, scurrying away from anyone that could slap him.

"I'm going to get brain damage if you all keep hitting me like that!" Bo snapped at them.

"That warlord sailed years ago when I dropped you." The boy's father commented then walked over and shooed his son towards the stairs. "Let's go and get ready Bo before I change my mind about letting you act as one of our controllers."

"I'm going! I'm going! And stop saying you dropped me!" Bo grumbled and kept waking. The other younger kid jumped up from his seat and ran after Bo and his father.

"Wait for me!" The boy exclaimed. A older American guy junped from his seat along with the second boy's father and rushed after him.

"No wait for me! I'm the one going out in the dingy with you!" He exclaimed.

"Indy stop running!" The dad yelled. That earned a chuckle from the Gents as Louie and his wife stood up and followed after the departing group. Louie patted Chase on the shoulder as he passed him but didn't say anything.

"Well I'm taking a nap." Chase proclaimed suddenly then walked over to a seat near the Pharaoh and queen. The princess and Iris walked over to the seats on either side of him and sat down with him.

Chase started talking amongst the members of his company as well as with the Pharaoh and Queen, despite his earlier declaration of napping. I couldn't help but notice that literally everyone nearby was watching them, most not even being coy or covert about it. Just openly watched them. They either had looks of amazement, fear, or confusion. The air was thick with anticipation, like every splicer there was just waiting for a sign or invitation to come over but was being denied by some invisible force.

Our side of the cluster was silent and among the people that were watching him openly. Though Private Oliver, Tyme and Alex were glaring at him with seething hatred. The silence on our end was broken by the last person I expected, my dad.

"Chase." He said my half-brother's name so softly it almost sounded like a prayer. All conversation stopped and Chase went completely ridged. After a second he relaxed and then turned and look at Dad.

"Yes Thomas?" Chase replied with a annoyed tone.

"Why are you here? Revenge? To show off? Make Justice Technologies look like a fool? Why did you go through all the trouble of getting a invitation from Tech-9 just to be here?!" Dad demanded. Chase didn't reply at first then suddenly threw his head back and started laughing. Dad gritted his teeth and jumped from his seat. "YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME!"

"Obviously not! Games are fun or at least a little challenging!" Chase replied with a chuckle then leveled Dad with a frozen glare that made my hair stand on end. "This is just the beginning."

"The beginning…?" Dad muttered. Beaufort huffed and pointed a finger at Chase.

"If you're thinking you can start a war with the Zeonic States of America then prepare for a rude awakening, you bastard! Dozens of countries rely on techno-splicing companies in America to provide evos for their armies! They won't sit back if you keep pressing your luck!" Beaufort exclaimed.

"Funny how quickly the president of such a proud and powerful country will hide behind another country's skirt once the idea of actually fighting come up." Jane jeered.

"WATCH IT BITCH!" Cross barked and took a step towards her, I quickly grabbed him before the queen or Pharaoh's men decided he was a threat. The princess simply smirked at him then glanced back at Beaufort.

"We all know that all it would take is one little confession from Chase and all the support you're talking about would disappear." The princess said mockingly.

"But I'd worry less about that and more about the next couple days." Chase said. "I'm not going to make Justice Technologies look like a fool, I'm going to destroy it. Just like I destroyed your base in Egypt, your granddaughter Madilyn, and just like I destroyed those two idiots you sent kill my people…"

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Private Oliver bellowed and lunged at Chase but Private Tyme caught him and pulled him back. I stepped in front of Oliver to keep him from doing something stupid while subtly looking back at Beaufort. He showed little to no emotion despite Chase openly admitting to killing his granddaughter.

"Why?" Beaufort asked with a surprisingly calm tone. "You still never answered your father."

"After everything that has happened today and you still haven't figured it out…that's sad." Chase said with a shake of his head then turned away and looked out the cracked glass onto the lagoon. "Come after my people again, come up with plans for revenge, do what you know you have to do to keep face with your people. I'll make sure to make it abundantly clear why I'm doing this…"