352: A Plague of Phantoms: The King of Lies and The King of Revolution VII

"Oh my gods! What happened to the mountain?!" Someone screamed.

"Its gone!"

"Kingston's evo destroyed it!"

I turned around to look back at the mountain, expecting to still see it burning in black flames and was surprised to see the valley beyond it instead with a view of the moonlit sea in the distance. The mountain was gone, not a trace left. No scorch marks on the ground to show that it had been burned to a pile of molten slag, no ash flowing in the wind, nothing to ever indicate that a mountain had once been there.

I felt fear well up in the depths of my soul and threat to spill out of my throat in the form of the most girlish scream ever known to man. I only managed to choke down that emotion thank to Ziana who was clinging to my arm like a koala and shivering.

"Its okay Z…" I started to console her, but when I looked down at her I saw a fiery look burning intensely in her eyes. She was staring not at the mountain but at Chase's evo with the same look of wonder and excitement I had seen so many times on my dad and Chase's faces when they were studying a new evo or lysdale script.

"It's a force of nature…" Ziana breathed. I looked back over to the void where the mountain used to be and nodded.

"More like a agent of Ragnarok…" I muttered.

"Hey! Agooni! Announce the winner already!" The little brat that stood beside Chase yelled.

"It is Agni! Agni Paragon!" The aforementioned man yelled back.

"Just announce the win Agooni!" Chase said teasingly.

"AGNI!" The man snapped then stomped his foot.

"WHO CARES! I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS!" Loki barked. I arched a brow at that comment.

'How can he not accept this? His evo is dead…he lost didn't he?'

Alberto

"WHO CARES! I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS!" Loki barked.

I expected this, my sperm donor was nothing if not predictable especially when pride and prestige was on the line. This predictability only made my failing to see through his plans to use Ramone as a sacrifice all the more pathetic.

"Refuse reality all you like…Father…it doesn't change what happened! You lost! Bahamut defeated Palthor!" I exclaimed. Loki looked at me with an expression akin to mindless hysteria.

"SHUT UP! YOU UNGRATEFUL, USELESS, WASTE OF SPACE!" Loki barked while pointed a finger at me. "YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED INSTEAD OF YOUR MOTHER!"

"And you should have died instead of Ramone…" I said casually. Loki flinched for a brief moment then gritted his teeth and took a step towards me only to have Bahamut stomp one of his paws down in front of me in a protective manner.

"Unless you want to join your Frankenstein's monster in Hel then I suggest you grow a brain and stay put." Chase said stepping beside me.

"I suggest you do so as well!" A voice commanded. Everyone turned to face the source of voice and saw the Princess of Spain; Carmen; walking towards the center of the clearing while being flanked by a detachment of guards.

"Princess Carmen!" Loki and I both exclaimed. The princess inclined her head in my direction as a sign of acknowledgement then came to a stop a few feet away from Loki.

"This display is beneath you or rather beneath one who holds the title of Paragon, Ernesto Silva." Carmen said with a icy tone and pointed glare.

"With respect the only…" Loki started to argue then froze when the princess's words finally sunk in. "…What did you call me?"

"Ernesto Silva, by the power invested in me by my father: King Alejandro Lumen Rosé, I hereby revoke Spain's backing as the Paragon of splicing. With this any and all funding, prestige, and accolades given to you will be revoked. Your clearance and access to materials permitted to you as the paragon will also be revoked. You will not be permitted to call yourself or be referred to as Loki Paragon. Thank you for your service." Princess Carmen said in a calm but stern voice.

Loki stood there, too stunned to speak. I wasn't even sure he was breathing, this eyes just looked vacant. For a brief second I felt bad for him until the moment he snapped out of his shock and a look of pure rage spread across his face. His farm crystal started to glow as he took a step back.

"After everything I've done, you'd just throw me aside! Spain is the country it is today because of the blood, sweat, and tears I shed! Sacrifices I made! SPAIN WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT ME!" Loki barked and started summoning several crystalline structures. "WALLGRISS, REFECTA, ELDGRISS!"

Three crystalline structures shot from my sperm donor's farm crystal and landed on the ground around him. I felt my body move on its own accord, dashing towards Princess Carmen even as her guards were already moving to guard her.

Wallgriss was the first of my sperm donor's evos to emerge from its crystalline structure. It was a truly ugly attempt to turn the steeds into a transport attack type evo, combining cheetah, horse, human DNA. It looked like a diseased steeds with two long spiraling horns sprouting from its forehead. Wallgriss immediately turned and tried to impale the princess but one of the guards managed to push her out of the way and was impaled instead.

Wallgriss bucked and swung its horns, slapping away the remainder of Princess Carmen's guards. I tackled the princess to the ground, rolling us both to the side to keep from getting trampled by Wallgriss. A loud thump that lifted The princess and I off the ground followed by a wet crunch informed me of the fate of Wallgriss.

I looked up and saw Bahamut's paw with a red mushy stain seeping out from under it where Wallgriss used to be. A loud screech and roar coming from the other side of Bahamut's legs spurred me into action. I jumped to my feet, drawing the manalock that Chase had given me and yanked the princess to her feet.

"This way!" I ordered as I led the princess away from the massacre that was about to happen.

As I ran towards Chase I heard a loud explosion erupt behind me and saw Bahamut stagger several steps back, nearly stepping on the King's Glaive. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Refecta, a sacrificial spliced version of a Rachnid dashing towards us.

I spun on my heels, yanking the princess into my chest and fired a fire element bullet at the monstrosity. The bullet detonated on impact with the mutated Rachnid's head and sent it flying backwards a few yards. Not that it killed the freak, it started regenerating almost immediately.

"MÚJO!" I roared as I summoned my evo's crystalline structure and threw it on the ground in front of Princess Carmen and I. Mújo burst free from his structure and let out a loud war cry.

Mújo was an Equilore, a evo that Chase had made for me, based off of imput from me. It was a bi-pedal evo that was a combination of horse, human and bull. Mújo had the head of a horse, the upper body of a human and the lower body of a bull. Being a close combat specializing attack type evo the muscles in his legs and arms were developed to the extreme. A fact that only seemed further accentuated by the veins of crystal on those parts that glowed slightly with each breath.

"Kill Refecta and Eldgriss!" I ordered.

"Affirmative!" Mújo replied and charged towards the downed Refecta.

Mújo dodged a strike from Refecta's stinger and countered with a punch to the joint between the stinger and the rest of the tail. His fist ignited on impact and an explosion tore through the shell and flesh of Refecta, sending his stinger flying.

Refecta reared back, letting out a pained screech. Mújo spun on his hoof and started wailing on Refecta's face and body with a flurry of blows. A explosion followed each hit, sending carapace, flesh, and blood flying. I pointed my manalock at Refecta and fired a shadow bullet at it. Mújo stepped to the side the moment I fired the gun and cleared a path directly to the evo's mutated farm crystal core.

The bullet struck Refecta just under the mutated farm crystal core and a black hole erupted. Swallowing the core in an instant as well as most of Refecta's abdomen. Refecta collapsed on the ground with a wet thud.

I quickly turned my attention to the last of Loki's evos, Eldgriss. Only to find that it was already dead. Bone-lasher and Gargesh were standing on top of its corpse, both panting heavily and covered in blood and gore. I was so wrapped up in protecting the princess and summoning Mújo I hadn't noticed Bo and Chase summon their evos.

"YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!!!!" I heard Chase scream at the top of his lungs. This followed by a agonizing screech from Loki, the sound of both coming behind Eldgriss corpse.

I rushed around the evo's corpse and came to a screeching halt. Loki was curled into a ball on the ground covering his crotch with his hands while Bo was kicking at him as hard as he could. Chase was alternating between kicking him in the back and stomping on his upper body.

"I FUCKING HATE ARACHNIDS!" Chase barked while he stomped. "WHY CAN'T YOU FUCKING PARAGONS JUST ACCEPT DEFEAT! ITS ALWAYS ARACHNIDS AND SPELLS AND TRYING TO KILL EVERYONE!"

Princess Carmen rushed around Eldgriss' corpse and came to a stop behind me. I heard a loud gasp then felt her hand on my shoulder.

"Aren't you going to do something?" Princess Carmen pleaded.

As I saw my sperm donor on the ground getting the shit kicked out of him by Chase and his ten year old clone, all I could see was Ramone. All the years he hid from me, all the times he cried by himself when he thought he was alone. It made my blood boil.

"Yeah…" I replied then took a running start and kicked Loki in the stomach. "…YOU WORTHLESS, LOWER THAN DIRT, NARCISSISTIC, BITCH!"

"S-stop! P-please!" Loki coughed as I kicked him. I stopped and grabbed him by the collar and yanked him to his knees.

"Ramone pleaded for you to stop! To see him as something other than an embarrassment!" I snapped then punched him in the face. "He worked harder than anyone just to be of use to you! He was kind, thoughtful, and the only decent thing that you ever fucking created! Despite all your bullshit he still tried to be kind! Tried to comfort me when you treated me like shit for not being the genius you thought you were!"

"Alberto…" Someone muttered my name, I didn't pay attention to it and instead punched Loki in the face again.

"HE DIDN'T DESERVE TO HAVE YOU AS A FATHER! HE DIDN'T DESERVE TO DIE LIKE THAT! LIKE A FUCKING FAILED LAB EXPERIMENT THAT YOU COULD DISCARD ONCE YOU WERE DONE WITH HIM!" I yelled.

"Alberto…" A voice called out to me, in a softer tone this time. My anger and self loathing spurred me to ignore the voice. Choosing to punch my sperm donor in the face repeatedly.

"FUCK YOU! FUCK YOUR LEGACY! AND FUCK THE SILVA NAME!" I screamed.

I felt my wrist getting suddenly grabbed and yanked back. I jerked my neck to look at the person who grabbed me and was suddenly pulled into a tight hug. I froze, unable to process what was going on behind the fog of rage and self hatred. I felt a second set of arms circle around my legs and someone hug me around my waist. I looked down and saw a crying Bo hugging me tightly, with tears and snot running down his face.

"Its alright Alberto…" I heard Chase whisper in a low tone. I felt the hug tighten as I felt something wet slide down my cheeks. "…he's done, we beat him with a evo you helped create. Ramone would be proud…"

"You can be a Kestral!" Bo cried while hugging me then rubbed his snotty nose into my pants leg.

Something shattered at that moment and I let out a loud and childish wail and cried into Chase's shoulder. He held me tightly while I cried and even held me up when my legs gave out. I wasn't sure how long I cried but my tears instantly dried up when I heard a ragged and wet chuckle coming from Loki.

"Pathetic!"

I found my footing and turned to look at my sperm donor. He was sitting upright, bloody and bruised, with a crooked sneer.

"Both you and Ramone were such useless wastes! Your mother died fo…" Loki started and was quickly cut off by Bo. The kid rushed over and kicked Loki in the nuts, making the bastard cry out while grabbing his nuts and falling to the ground.

"Nobody cares! ERNESTOOOO!" Bo exclaimed then stuck his tongue out at the former paragon. I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the sight then shook my head.

"Fuck you Ernesto…" I said then walked over and spat on the man's face. Switching to Spanish and adding. "…hope the fact you got your ass kicked by a ten year old hurts worse than the fact you got deposed by a moronic gremlin with more genius in his pinky than you have in your entire body."