296 283: A Plague of Phantoms: Massacre at Sea V

Bo

"WE HAVE TO WHAT?!" I bellowed. Indy, Haws, and KC all covered their ears to guard against the volume of my angry screams while listening to Chase's news.

Thanks to Chase's butting in on our fight and absorbing the explosion from the enchanted spear that Indy's Mer-as-folk was wielding, all the fights were postponed while Chase talked with the people in charge of this entire Evo-cution event. We were currently inside the cave that served as a ready room for the combat demonstration with Chase listening to the decision of the committee.

"Fight all the remaining company proxies in one round which will also act as the finals." Chase repeated, obviously annoyed at having to repeat himself.

"WHYYYYY!" I groaned.

"Seriously! You have to ask?!" Chase snapped then pointed towards mouth of the cave that lead out to the lagoon. "YOU NEARLY KILLED EVERYONE ON THE ISLAND!"

"This hardly seems fair." Haws spoke up. "There are still dozens of companies left and all of them are going to be gunning for Bo and Indy's evos."

"Well if somebody could control their thieving little rat and stop taking my stuff then I wouldn't have to accept punishments like this!" Chase snapped then shot me a glare. I shrunk a little then frowned and crossed my arms.

"Well maybe you should stop leaving your stuff lying around…" I grumbled under my breath. Chase and Haws both shot me a annoyed glare.

"So there is no way that we can win?" Indy asked. Chase looked at Indy then smirked and shook his head.

"No, there is no way that anyone else will win." Chase replied then looked towards the water where the Lunar Liger shark and Mer-as-folk were floating near the edge waiting for orders.

I didn't know why he was looking in that direction until I turned and saw the Lunar liger shark that I had controlled during our last fight. The tendrils that covered its body had small round nodules that glowed faintly in the dimly lit cave. It's tendrils were also slightly untangled. I knew they were usually wrapped around a Lunar liger shark in particular ways that were dependent on the personality of the Lunar Liger shark. The state of those tendrils only meant one thing, the full moon was rising.

"I understand. You want to use that Lunar Liger Shark as a trump card." I said. Chase nodded then looked out further into the lake. An armored head poked tentatively out of the water and even though it didn't have any eyes I could feel the puppy dog aura pouring off it asking for forgiveness.

"Bone-lasher, I want you to check something with Empress." Chase said. Bone-lasher swam to the edge of the water and made a loud whining sound that sounded childish and didn't fit the image of the massive hulking murder kitty knight. "Don't whine, this is an important mission."

"But I thought you trusted me Boss! I know I messed up, not stopping them from using the weapon the kid and little rat stole but I can still protect them!" Bone-lasher whined. Chase sighed then walked over to the water's edge and knelt down then placed a hand on his head.

"I know you can and this isn't a punishment…." Chase pulled a small stone tablet out of his pocket and held it in front of Bone-lasher. "… I seriously need and Empress to find something and quickly. It's tied to this tablet and my past. Out of every evo I have I know you understand the importance of that."

"I understand…" Bone-lasher replied. His voice sounded more confident and assured.

"Good. Head out to sea through the exit on the other end of the cave…you'll know you'll have found it when you see it." Chase said then held his hand out and a crystalline structure formed in his palm that he then flung it over all our heads it exploded, Empress emerging from the crystal. "Get going you two!"

Chase pointed to the other cave entrance and Bone-lasher climbed out of the water then ran towards that cave with Empress running close behind him. I watched them disappear into the tunnel then turned and frowned at Chase.

"Well who's going to guard us now?" I asked. Chase smirked and looked up at the ceiling of the cavern.

"I have someone in mind" He said mysteriously.

***

"Honored Dignitaries and noble Splicers! I would like to thank everyone for their patience while we sort out the incident involving Sho'lajah Artifact Company." Hideyoshi apologized to everyone in the stands. "It has been decided that as a penalty Tech-9 will be altering the format of the combat demonstration. This will be the final round, a modified battle Royale fight. All remaining companies will have to fight and kill off the evos for Sho'lajah Artifact Company. Once they are killed then it will turn into a true battle Royale fight against those that remain. All companies will attack Sho'lajah Artifact Company at the same time. The fight will only end once one Company is left standing."

I stood on our raft and gritted my teeth as I listened to Hideyoshi's announcements. I could hear soldiers and splicers laughing from the middle and bottom tier of the stands above us. As well as the snide comments from the rafts nearest to us. I knew that thanks to the Lunar Liger shark that our victory was all but assured but I didn't like being talked down to or have people snickering about me behind my back.

"Because of these changes in the rules Sho'lajah Artifact Company will have time minutes to prepare their evos and after that it's open season!" Hideyoshi added.

"He could at least make it sound like he believes we have a chance." I muttered.

"If our evos were normal, we wouldn't but…we can rely on our trump card." Indy replied then looked to the Lunar Liger shark. I glanced down at him as well. The Lunar Liger Shark looked back up at me and bared his teeth with confidence.

"Won't fail! Will win!" He exclaimed.

"SHO'GAGA! SHO'GAGA!" KC yelled out and waved his arms frantically in the air. Haws was holding KC in his arms, which was a surprise that the little guy was even awake still considering it was way past his bed time now.

"Sho'lajah Artifact Company, will you please send your evos to the staging area in the open sea! You will begin your preparations now!" Hideyoshi announced.

I looked to Indy then the Lunar Liger shark and the Mer-as-folk and smirked devilishly. I pointed towards the cave that led out to the open sea and took a deep breath before yelling.

"ALRIGHT! LETS GO! LET'S BEAT THIS TOURNAMENT ARC!" I bellowed.

"TOURNEY ARC! TOURNEY ARC!" KC related while clapping excitedly.

"Yes sir!" The Lunar Liger Shark and Mer-as-folk yelled in unison then swam at full speed towards the cave that lead to the open ocean.

I watched them disappear into the tunnel then closed my eyes to focus on the connection between myself and the Lunar Liger shark. It was weak, nearly nonexistent when compared to what I had with Gadget, Gargesh, and Midnight but it was enough for what I needed. Using that connection to see through the Lunar Liger shark's eyes.

Because the connection was so weak it took a couple seconds and the Lunar Liger shark's permission for me to be able to share his vision. Which was weird since it wasn't even close to how I saw with my eyes. I could see everything around the Lunar Liger shark, physical objects were outlined by a weird electrical haze. Though there was something odd about that haze, unnatural even. It was my first time seeing the world through the Lunar Liger shark's eyes I could sense something was wrong.

As the Lunar Liger shark made it out to deep sea with the Mer-as-folk close behind I noticed that the range of my evo's vision decreased, significantly. From being able to see over a mile away to just over a couple dozen feet in front of him. I felt the Lunar Liger shark's sudden panic and confusion, and started to give it an order when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Something is wrong! The Mer-as-folk is feels off!" Indy whispered into my ear.

Out of nowhere I saw a cavernous maw appear from the static blurred depths of the ocean. Dozens of rows of teeth coming straight towards the Lunar Liger shark. The Lunar Liger Shark didn't have enough time to dodge and was skewered by dozens of razor sharp teeth. I felt sharp stabbing pains all over my body.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" I cried out, falling to my knees while grabbing my arms.

"BO! BO! WHAT'S WRONG!" Haws demanded as he dropped to one knee beside me.

"It's the Ancient…" Indy started but I quickly covered his mouth, the pain I felt already fading away.

"It's nothing! My control is weak and the Lunar Liger shark fought back! I'm fine!" I lied, speaking loudly so everyone who's attention I attracted with my screaming wouldn't catch on to what was going on. Indy slapped my hand away and glared at me.

"Why are you lying? The Mer-as-folk and Lunar liger shark are being attacked! It's eating the Lunar Liger shark!" Indy hissed in my ear.

"No…he's just pissing us off!" I hissed back.

Through the feint connection to the Lunar Liger shark I watched as he started channeling shock attribute mana throughout his body and sent thousands of volts of electricity through the water and electrocuting the Ancient Liger Shark that snatched up the Lunar Liger shark. This gave my Lunar Liger Shark enough time to mostly heal the wounds from the ancient liger shark's enormous teeth which completely severed one of its hind legs, both of its forelegs, and decapitated him as well as eviscerated its insides.

He healed his forelegs and regrew his head so he could move in the water. Though it was sluggish and clunky, it was enough to get out of the mouth of the massive evo. The Lunar Liger Shark quickly swam away and tried to get its bearings but it's vision was still clouded by static and its field was small.

I gritted my teeth as I felt a searing pain rip across my shoulder and growled when I realized the pain was from a barracuda evo that bit into the Lunar Liger shark's newly healed shoulder and forelegs. There was a flourish of movements and I quickly realized that there wasn't just one barracuda evo but a whole school of them biting and slashing at both my Lunar Liger Shark and the Mer-as-folk with jagged fangs and razor sharp fins.

"They ambushed us!" Indy hissed then looked back to Haws, silently asking what to do. Haws looked up towards the moon then smirked.

"Well they're out of time…" He said then pointed up at the sky. I smirked as well as I looked at the full moon's reflection in the lagoon in front of us.

I felt a surge of power bursting through the connection with the Lunar Liger shark. I gasped loudly and grabbed my head as I felt my body burn like it was being raked over a roaring wildfire. Panting wildly, my farm crystal glowed a bright red from inside my mouth, warning everyone that I was going through a mana overload.

"BO!" Indy and Haws both exclaimed.

Their cries were drowned out by a thunderous rumbling that created waves large enough to rock and nearly capsized the rafts in the lagoon. Including ours. Haws held onto KC tightly while our raft rocked and battered against the walls of the lagoon.

"What is going on!" Hideyoshi's voice boomed thanks to the spell he was using.

I gritted my teeth and tried my hardest to several the connection to the Lunar Liger shark and me, but the excess mana from the Lunar Liger shark acted as a reinforcement and prevented that. I was well over my limit for mana and I could feel my body being slowly shredded apart from the overwhelming magic surging through my veins.

"Lunar Surge!" I managed to spit out before I coughed wildly and spat up blood.

[MASTER!]

[BROTHER!]

[BOSS!]

I suddenly felt a burning sensation on my hand, on my ring finger to be exact. I looked down at my hand and saw the manacite communication ring that Chase gave everyone in the company was glowing. Not just my ring either, Indy and Haws rings were glowing too. And with that glow I felt the impossible surge of mana that was flowing into my body through the Lunar Liger shark getting funneled into the ring and distributed to everyone that had a ring.

I looked up at Haws and saw that he had a vague pulsating aura emanating off him. I quickly realized it was the mana that was flowing into him from the manacite ring. Since he was a normie that couldn't detect or use mana or even had anywhere to store it, all the mana flowing into his body was being harmlessly released into the surrounding air. The same would have to be happening to Dad, and everyone else that was a normie.

Thankfully the mana that was bring sent to Indy didn't look like it was causing a mana overload like it had with me a moment ago. Which meant that the excess mana wasn't causing mana overload with mom or Chase or anyone who was a splicer in the company.

[Brother?] Gadget said hesitantly. He was clinging to my shoulder and looking up at me with worried eyes. I wiped the blood that was running down my chin with the back of my hand and smirked confidently.

"I'm fine Gadget. Everyone…I'm fine." I said, not only to Gadget but all my evos.

I stood up on the raft, it was still rocking and swaying on the high waves that was caused by the Lunar Liger shark's Lunar Surge, but I managed to keep my balance and look up over the edge of the stands atop the cliff.

I saw a swirling vortex of sea water twisting into the sky. The spiraling column swayed from side to side and flared at the top. Tendrils of water shot into the air, stretching and twisting before falling towards the ground like the branches of the white willow trees in the Grove that the King's glaive was parked in earlier. Settling just above the canopy of the vortex was the full moon.

The moon's pale light shining down onto artificial vortex, making the little droplets of water that sprayed into the air glow almost like the white petals of the willow trees blooms in the afternoon sun.

I heard a collection of gasps and plenty of people muttering softly in the rafts that floated nearby ours as they looked up at the scene unfolding beyond the shelter the lagoon. Everyone was mesmerized and frozen in place by how beautiful and peaceful the scene was. Then all at once that beauty was destroyed as the water that made the vortex turned a deep red. The center swelled and bloated like a rotting carcass before expelling something from the top and making it look more like a cannon than a willow tree now.

"What's going on?" I heard a splicer nearby ask.

I turned to look at him and realized that it was now raining. I stretched my hand out and a red liquid drizzled and collected in the palm of my hand. The rain intensified until everyone around me was drenched a dyed a dark red in a matter of seconds. Then I heard the thud followed by the sounds of large objects splashing into water around me. Though it wasn't until I saw the head of one of the Barracuda evos slam into the deck of the raft that I realized what this rain really was.

"Is this blood? Fuck! Fuck! It's blood! It's raining blood!" A splicer screamed in a panic. The lagoon was suddenly filled with the screams and panic of splicers as they tried to steer their rafts towards the ready room cave.

A thunderous screech drowned out the panic and made everybody freeze in terror. The water of the lagoon began to slosh and surge as water started pouring into the lagoon from the cave that that lead put to sea.

"GRIMM-GUARD!" Haws bellowed at the top of his lungs. A shadow appeared above the lagoon as soon as the words left Haws mouth then a hail of enormous red crystal spears rained down on the entrance to the cave and plugged it up with dozens of spears. The waves inside the lagoon quickly settled and all the rafts started to drift harmlessly.

Chase had ordered Grimm-Guard to watch over us in place of Bone-lasher but since the giant bug was so giant and would not fit inside the lagoon Grimm-Guard watched over us from above. The large hail of crystal spikes were created by Grimm-Guard's mana attributes, while I wasn't sure what it was I knew it was earth element in nature. I glanced up and saw the glowing red eyes of Grimm-Guard looking down at us and protectively snapping his pincers

A second thunderous screech brought and end to that peace as a loud splash echoed beyond the walls. Another enormous figure flew into the air, flailing and kicking helplessly, the sheer size of the creature's body eclipsed the moon. The creature was Justice Technologies ancient liger shark. It's body was covered in deep gashes and blistering whelps. A second figure wreathed in lightning darted straight up from below and slammed into the ancient liger shark and knocked it even further into the air. A thunderclap followed the hit and lightning arched out from the point of impact and rained down, striking the water below as well as the roof of the stands.

As if that wasn't enough a giant spiraling drill made of water and ice surged up from the ocean and flew towards the ancient liger. It stabbed into the right flank and drilled through the hind leg, boring through the bone and into its guts before exploding out the back of evo. Raining down ground up flesh, muscle tissue, and bone.

[Young boss, say the word and we will end this…] The lunar liger shark's voice echoed in my head.

I felt a rush as I was bombarded by information from the evo. The Lunar Liger Shark wasn't named that on a whim, it's power increased on the night of a full moon, it's mana regeneration rate increased a hundred-fold making it instantaneous and it gains access to a new mana attribute: tidal. This rush of new mana was what was sending me into mana overload but thanks to the manacite communication ring which actively absorbs mana Bo was able to access that surge of mana and by extension the Mer-as-folk was as well.

"Bo!" Indy exclaimed. I turned and looked at him, he was staring back at me with a determined expression. "Bo, since Justice Technologies wants to play dirty! Let's end this!"

"Yeah! Let's!" I replied then pointed at the soon-to-be rotting corpse of the Ancient Liger Shark.

"LUNAR SURGE: TWIN SPEARS OF SHO'LAJAH!" Indy and I bellowed in unison.

The moonlit sky was blackened by dark clouds that blanketed the entire sky, except where the moon shined, leaving a moon shaped hole that shined a pillar of light down on the falling body of the Ancient Liger Shark as it started falling. Snow flakes started forming and falling in the air around us before as a chill filled the air. A spear of ice shot up from beneath the ancient liger shark and speared it through the gullet and suspend it in the air. Nine more spears exploded from its body as white lightning rained down from the clouds and struck the tips of the spears repeatedly.

While the rapid fire lighting strikes rained down two figures emerged from the clouds and hovered briefly in front of the moon. One wrapped in lightning and the other shrouded by frost. Indy and I gasped as we watched both figures vanish as of they never existed. A split second later a sonic boom blew away the clouds and hole big enough to drive a carriage through exploded through the neck of the Ancient Liger Shark and blew off the head. A bolt of lightning whizzed through the air and crashes into the center of the lagoon kicking up waves that froze over before they could knock any rafts over.

Standing in the epicenter of the lagoon's frozen waves was the Lunar Liger shark, though it did not look the same. The glowing tentacles that it had wrapped meticulously around its body were now unfurled and floating randomly around it, whipping softly in the air like an ethereal cloth.

"PRETTY!" KC exclaimed then pointed to the Lunar Liger shark. "PRETTY GWOST FISHY!"

"He's not a fish!" I corrected KC. Indy looked around for a moment then frowned.

"Where is the Mer-as-folk?" He asked. A split second later the head of the Ancient Liger Shark crashed into the cliff face of the lagoon then slid down and impaled itself on a frozen wave. The Mer-as-folk was swimming through the air on a bed made of snow and water. It's eyes were glowing so bright it looked like they were burning with silver fire. It swam circles above the Lunar Liger shark. A display of dominance.

"Will Chase Kingston of Sho'lajah Artifact Company please stay where you are!" Hideyoshi announced.