350: A Plague of Phantoms: The King of Lies and The King of Revolution V
"Let go kick my 'Father's' ass…Boss." Alberto said motioning towards Loki Paragon with a tilt of his head.
"Are we even going to do anything?" Bo spoke up from behind Alberto and I.
"Not if everything goes to plan." I replied, sparing a glance back at the younger boy then turning back to the center of the clearing where Loki Paragon was standing.
"Are you done with your theatrics and grandstanding Kingston?" Loki spat loudly for all in attendance to hear. I rolled my eyes and started towards the center of the clearing.
"Oh please! I know your overdramatic ass isn't talking about me grandstanding!" I snapped back. Loki sneered, his eyes narrowing to the point they were nearly slits. I spotted Princess Carmen seated in an elegant palanquin and flanked by guards.
I came to a stop a few feet away from Loki with Bo and Alberto flanking me. Loki made it blatantly obvious that he wasn't paying any attention to Alberto. He didn't even spare a glance in his direction or give any indication that he recognized Alberto's existence.
"Can we hurry this up? Gadget and I haven't had dinner yet and I'm getting hungry." Bo whined. Loki sneered again and looked down at Bo.
"Stay in your place child. You should be seen and not heard." Loki commanded.
"Since we're staying in our places, I'm guessing you're going back to hell?" Bo quipped unabashedly. Alberto nearly choked on his own spit from holding in his snickers while I just laughed out loud. Loki's sneer deepened as he looked at Bo.
"I can see your parents haven't taught you to respect your betters boy!" Loki snapped.
"The only person I consider my better is Chase and I very rarely respect him. Why would I respect you?" Bo retorted. Loki gritted his teeth and looked like he was about to blow a fuse.
While I was enjoying watching Bo tear into the Paragon, I promised to keep Bo safe and Jade would kill me if Bo started fighting Loki. So I channeled mana into my void pocket then reached in and pulled out two candied apples, shoving one into Bo's hand and holding the other out for Gadet to grab. Bo's eyes practically sparkled once he saw the treat and quickly dug into it. Gadget took his and ate once he saw Bo was enjoying his.
"Bo's never himself when he's hungry." I said, giving Alberto a look.
"He acts more like you when he's hungry." Alberto commented. I scowled at Alberto and crossed my arms.
"He does not!" I rebuked.
"ENOUGH STALLING KINGSTON!" Loki barked then flung his arm out in a dramatic fashion.
"Who's stalling? Nobody has stepped forward to act as the referee and mediator." I replied. Loki froze and I could be seeing the gears turning in his mind as he realized I was correct. He turned to face the crowd around us, looking for someone he could ask.
"Hey! Can someone act as the moderator?" I called out to the crowd. Loki's head snapped back to me and helped shot me a glare. Obviously he didn't want everyone to know that he hadn't made plans ahead of time.
"I will do it!" A voice called out. Everyone turned to look at the voice and saw Agni Paragon standing a few feet from two women that I recognized as being Paragons.
Loki looked pleased when he saw the Paragon step forward. Like he had already won. I glanced over at Alberto and the look he gave me in return showed that he had seen the look as well.
"Fine! Let us begin already!" Loki snapped impatiently.
Despite Loki's insistence Agni took his time approaching us. Each step deliberate and controlled, utterly unhurried by Loki's impatience. The way it was making Loki's face turn red was well worth the wait. When Agni did finally reached the center of the clearing and stood between Loki and I, he looked at each of us before turning back to the crowd.
"We have gathered here today to witness the duel between Loki Paragon: the Paragon of Splicing and Chase Kingston: The Revolutionary Paragon and creator of the newly coined Shaping technique…." Agni announced.
"Annnnnd his first students in Shaping, Bo Kestral and Alberto Silva!" Bo added, interrupting the paragon and earning a amused smirk from the man and a eye roll from Loki.
"…And Chase Kingston's protégés: Alberto Silva and Bo Kestral…" Agni added, shooting Bo a glance that told me he did it solely for his benefit. "…this will be a fight between two evos of the challengers, with the conditions of the evos being stated at the declaration of the duel. Loki Paragon present your evo."
"Palthor!" Loki exclaimed with a smirk and his farm crystal started to glow. A crystalline structure started to form and then once it was fully formed Loki flung the structure over his shoulder. It shattered on impact and a massive evo emerged from inside it.
My eyebrows quirked as the evo rose to full height, it stood at over two stories tall. It was a mostly reptilian evo that had obvious influences from dragon myths of European myths. It stood on four legs that looked larger than redwood tree trunks, a oval shaped body that seemed streamlined for speed, two large feathered wings sprouted from its back and three thin whip-like tails stretched out from its tailbone.
Two things caught my attention about the evo. First and foremost was the odd shape of the evo's face and skull. It looked like a odd amalgamation of komodo dragon, some kind of vulture, and lion fish. The second thing was the fissure in the center of the evo's chest, a small warped farm crystal sat in the center of the fissure. Though to anyone that didn't know the twisted origin of the evo it would look like a core of some type.
"This is my masterpiece! The strongest evo that can be created using the technique I rediscovered! MY PALTHOR!" Loki exclaimed pointing to the monster.
Palthor roared into the air, the sound making almost everyone else in the clearing to cover their ears. Anticipating this I started channeling muffle attribute mana into the air around Alberto, Bo, and myself, muffling the sound around the three of us. All three of us shared a look as i stopped channeling mana before Bo pointed at the oversized monster.
"That it? It's kind of ugly." Bo said.
"All of his evos are kind of ugly." Alberto chimed.
"HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY MASTERPIECE!" Loki screeched at the top of his lungs.
"Fairly easily. Insulting entitled assholes comes naturally." I retorted. The veins in Loki's head started to budge while his face turned a deep shade of red.
"Chase Kingston present your evo." Agni prompted, cutting Loki off before he could blow up. I smirked and held my right hand up, my farm crystal glowing bright rainbow colors.
"BAHAMUT!" I yelled as his crystalline structure formed and was flung it behind myself, Bo, Alberto.
Bahamut's crystalline structure shattered on impact with the ground and his enormous form burst forth. He stretched to his full height, Bahamut's front legs stomping down on either side of myself and my crew protectively. His tail flicked and stretched, sweeping over the top of King's Glaive and sending a gust of wind through the clearing. His head stretched towards the sky, giving a slight shake as he rose to full height and roared. Bahamut's roar sent shockwaves through the clearing and sent people staggering back several steps.
"You called, mine master?" Bahamut asked, his head angled down as if he was looking at me. Even without eyes I could sense him staring down at me.
"FUCK! HE'S LOUD!" Bo exclaimed, covering his ears. Bahamut's voice boomed and echoed at a decibel that made my ear rings.
"STOP CURSING!" Alberto and I snapped with raised voices.
"You're alright Mutt." I assured him then walked over and petted Bahamut's right leg.
"What is that monstrosity? He's more than twice the size of Palthor!" Loki screamed, pointing up at Bahamut.
"Hey! Bahamut is no monstrosity!" Bo snapped stomping his foot.
"The shrimp is right! Besides that franken-lizard you call a evo is closer to a monstrosity than Chase's evo, Father." Alberto exclaimed.
"MAGNIFICENT!" Agni Paragon exclaimed then rushed over to one of Bahamut's legs. "Aspects of shark, lizard, and bat DNA in its bases…the sheer size and power coming off it…"
"Agni! Do not get distracted! Obviously he did not create that evo!" Loki snapped.
"Of course I didn't…" I confirmed then looked over to the makeshift tent that Beaufort and his guards; more specifically my brother and surprisingly his wife. "…This guy was the prize I got from Justice Technologies for beating my dear Half-brother in that shooting game."
"That's the ancient Liger shark!" Logan exclaimed. I saw Logan jump up from his chair nearly knocking it over.
"With a shiny new make over!" I exclaimed motioning up at Bahamut. "If you remember Loki the condtion of the duel was to fight you with a evo that either was created using Shaping or modified using Shaping techniques. Bahamut here was modified using my targeted body modification magic which is the basis of all Shaping."
"That's a lie!" Loki screamed.
"Prooooove it!" Alberto, Bo, and I all jeered in a mocking tone.
"Chase Kingston, please describe your teams…." Agni prompted while he examined Bahamut's crystalline scales.
"With pleasure! Bahamut here is the greatest masterpiece of Sho'lajah Artifact Company! He's the first of his kind, a tier five evo created using the first ancient Liger shark created by Justice Technologies." I said with a cocky smirk.
The entire clearing erupted into screams and exasperation. The loudest of them came from Loki. Not that anyone could hear him over the torrent of screams coming from all the other splicers around us. Ignoring all of them I channeled echo attribute mana into my vocal cords.
"SHUUUUUUT UUUUUUUUUUP!" I bellowed, my mana enhanced voice drowning out any other voice. Everyone covered their ears to try and followed my advice. Once everything was quiet I spoke again, without mana channeling this time. "While I'd love to give proof about my claims I'm sure Justice Technologies wouldn't want me broadcasting the secrets behind their ancient Liger sharks. Seeing how the first one was a tier four evo, created from DNA extracted from an amber…Oops! Said too much already."
"KINGSTON!" Beaufort bellowed, jumping out of his chair bringing attention to himself and credit to my claims at the same time. I smirked at him at then turned my attention to Agni who was getting too free with the way he was observing Bahamut.
"Hey! Agooni! Stop gawking at my evo and declare the start of the match already!" I exclaimed. Agni turned to me and frowned.
"It's Agni! Not Agooni! Your insolence knows no bounds Kingston!" Agni griped.
"Do not speak to my master about insolence when thine self paws at mine feet without permission from mine self or mine master." Bahamut said. He lowered his voice in an attempt to not hurt everyone's hearing with his overly loud voice but it barely helped.
"Ow!" Bo groaned and shook his head.
"That was a subtle way of him asking to stop touching him!" I exclaimed while rubbing my ears to stop the ringing.
Agni stopped running his hand over one of Bahamut's scales; which was easily twice the size of Agni's entire body. He looked like a child that had gotten yelled at by a parent as he sunk back over to stand between Loki and I.
"As the mediator I declare both sides ready for battle…" Agni said, admittedly much more sullen than before. "…ready….Begin!"
"PALTHOR! KILL THAT FREAK NOW!" Loki exclaimed pointing at Bahamut.
Palthor snapped open its wings and took to the skies. Flying high above the mountain and casting an offensive spell sigil. A fireball formed in Palthor's mouth and it spat out at Bahamut, the large fireball slamming into Bahamut's head. The fireball exploded into a cascade of sparks that resulted in smaller rolling explosions that cascaded down his neck and back.
"BAHAMUT!" Alberto and Bo exclaimed, looking back at the evo.
"A pitiful effort…" Bahamut said, blowing away the smokescreen from the explosions with a puff of air from his gills. He was entirely unscathed from the attack, his scales taking the brunt of the attack. They weren't even a little scorched or covered with soot.
"Not even a scratch!" Loki exclaimed.
Palthor screeched and cast another offensive spell sigil. This time flames condensed around its front legs turning them into blazing scythes. Palthor dashed towards Bahamut. It slashed the flame scythes across Bahamut's face, trying to injure it but Bahamut's scales didn't even singe or scratch. It unleashed a flurry of attacks across Bahamut's face, going down his neck and chest, trying to injured it in some way. It couldn't.
"Get down!" Alberto yelled to Bo and I then tackled us to the ground when Palthor's tail nearly slapped us into next week.
Bahamut saw this and grew angry, raising his front right paw, he slapped Palthor into the clouds with a backhand so loud I was sure there was going to be a sonic boom.
"PALTHOR!" Loki shouted as he turned to keep eyes on it.
"Palthor is going…going…going…GONE!" I exclaimed.