363: A Plague of Phantoms: The King of Lies and The King of Revolution XXVIII

Ziana

"That's right folks! The moment you've all been waiting for! The start of Sho'lajah Artifact Company's special Evo-cution tournament!" The announcer of the event's voice boomed thanks to an enchanted item in his hands. I recognized him as the Damond DeCharles, son of Lord Francis DeCharles.

Logan huffed and crossed his arms. He was already nearing the limit of his tolerance for the theatrics of his Half-brother and his people. He was only keeping it together for my sake…and because of the evos that basically saw Master Kingston as a living God all around us.

"The first round of the tournament is sure to be an action packed one! In the red corner we have Admiral Deckland Westeras of the Australian Republic's navy…!" Damon DeCharles voice was drowned out by a wave of cheers from members of the audience that gathered around the outside of the arena. It took Admiral Westras motioning for his admirers to calm down for them to actually quiet down. "…In the blue corner the daughter of Lord Simon Caldifax and wife of the useless wastes of… I mean valiant hero of America, Logan Kingston: Ziana Kingston!"

This time another wave of cheers drowned out the arena, from the American soldiers who had come to watch the tournament. They were all cheering for me simply because I was Logan's wife. None of them knew me personally or even cared to try. I was a ornament to be dangled on his arm, not even my own family could be bothered to come watch.

"Did that fucker almost calling me a waste of space!" Logan hissed under his breath.

"Calm down Logan, don't let him get under your skin." I said softly while patting his arm.

"Crystal cursed shitbag!" Logan grumbled.

"Oh I also have a note here from the company founder…" Damon said then pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, cleared his throat and read from the note. "…Dear sister, since I am sure your demented Kookaburra of a father won't do this, I am wishing you all the luck in the world. Not only in this tournament but also with being stuck with my wool for brains Half-brother who has the mental capacity of a concussed baboon being drowned in a shit filled river in the… Really Chase!"

I heard a loud whooping laugh coming from the ceiling above the arena's clear crystal roof and looked up to see Master Kingston rolling around and laughing on the roof. Logan's face was beet red with his hands balled into tight fists.

"CHAAAAAAAAAAASE!" Logan screamed at the top of his lungs. Master Kingston started laughing even harder when Logan screamed his name. "GET THE FUCK DOWN HERE YOU DAMN COCKROACH!"

"Godsdammit Chase! If you're going to insult your brother don't use me to do it!" Damon snapped into the enchanted item.

"HALF-BROTHER!" Logan roared and stomped his foot.

"Chase stop laughing like a damn hyena and get down from the roof!" Damon snapped.

Just as Damon said that Master Kingston slipped off the roof and nearly fell face first to the ground below. His body stopped in mid-air and levitated a few inches of the ground for a few seconds before he righted himself and stood up straight.

"How can someone be so smart and such a fucking idiot at the same time…" Damon muttered softly.

"Damon you were still talking into the microphone item." Master Kingston said from outside the arena. Damon looked directly at his employer and took a deep dramatic breath.

"I know!" He snapped.

"Gods! Even his people can't stand him…" Logan grumbled.

"I think they're just used to how he is…" I said softly. Logan huffed, taking a subtle step closer to me. His hand just barely brushing against mine, a small act of comfort to ground him and calm down.

"Moving past that…infuriating interruption…Admiral Westras has managed to bond with a shaped evo of the Devastation series…the Ogarai!"

The arena door behind Admiral Westras opened and a Ogarai stepped through. It had a grayish skin tone like a elephant or a hippo, a thick metal belt wrapped around its waist that kept a loincloth with the Sho'lajah Artifact Company logo embroidered on it. It had two metal bracers on its forearms that had engravings on them, suggesting they were enchanted items as well as a massive slab of metal that could have been a shield.

"That thing looks massive." Logan grumbled. "Luckily we're not the ones fighting it."

"And Ziana Kingston; the only normie brave enough to attempt to enter the tournament; has managed to bond with a shaped evo of the Petty series…Lycan Zee Jaeger!"

The arena door behind Logan and I opened, I turned to look and saw The Lycan Zee Jaeger I came to an understanding with walked into the arena. Her fur was still shaggy looking however her twin ram horns now had two gold bands; one on each horn. She also had a bangle on her right front leg. Both the gold bands on her horns and the bangle had odd writing etched on them, indicating they were enchanted items.

The Lycan Zee Jaeger walked past Logan and I and stood in front of me. She looked over her shoulder at me and I smiled softly.

"Contestants! The rules of all fights were explained in the ready room earlier. Please be mindful of all rules and remember that my rulings on all rounds are final. Contestant Westras…are you ready?!" Damon exclaimed and looked to the Admiral Westras.

"Ready!" The Admiral replied almost immediately. Damon DeCharles looked to me and pointed.

"Contestant Kingston…are you ready?!"

I paused and looked at my partner. She shot me a look then crouched into a battle ready stance. Seeing she was ready I looked to Damon and nodded the affirmative.

"Ready!" I replied. Damon raised his hand in the air and took a few steps backwards.

"Evos! Readyyyyyyyy! GO!" Damon yelled.

"Quickly! Knock it into the wall!" Admiral Westras ordered his Ogarai partner. The Ogarai trumpeted and dashed forward, raising the metal slab shield in front of itself as it ran.

"Don't let it get close! It explodes on impact!" I warned my partner, remembering how Master Kingston's own evo could make it's fist explode when it punched things.

My partner crouched further then dashed forward, electricity suddenly sparking off her body as she jumped. It looked like she was enveloped by lightning and shot off towards the ceiling. The bolt of lightning leaped from the nearest wall to the ceiling, to another wall. She ricocheted all over the arena, lighting it up light a lightning storm.

The Ogarai tried to track my partner's movement but she was moving too fast for us to track. Though honestly I was slightly distracted by vibrant light show, random bolts arching off of my partners body and slamming into other random bolts milliseconds later and erupting in psychedelic colors.

"Ziana! You need to give it an order!" Logan barked, startling me and breaking me out of my trance.

"Her!" I exclaimed over my shoulder then turned my attention back to my partner. "Overwhelm him from every angle! Avoid that shield!"

Immediately my partner executed my order. Bounding off walls and slamming into the Ogarai's side with an electric charge that knocked the Ogarai off its feet, immediately altering course and bounding off another wall to slam into its other side while in the air. This knocked the Ogarai into the arena wall where my partner attacked again and again, slamming him against wall after wall until she sent her opponent crashing into the center of the arena floor.

"Holy shit!" Logan exclaimed, bouncing on the tips of his toes from excitement.

The Ogarai was laying on the ground with my partner standing over it, her paw on his chest with electricity sparking off her coat and dancing between her horns.

"Submit!" My partner demanded.

"Never! I'M CHUNKY!" The Ogarai trumpeted and slammed his fist down on the ground, triggering an explosion that sent both it and my partner flying. My partner landed a few feet away from my husband and I, skidding to a stop. She had a small patch of fur on her right side that was singed, as well some burns to the paw that had been holding the Ogarai down.

"You okay?" I asked, concern seeped into my voice.

"It nothing!" My partner replied with a growl.

Across the arena the Ogarai was on his feet and hefting his shield up to guard himself. It cast an axiom spell sigil and held its arm upward. A gash appeared on its forearms with blood flying from the wound to the Ogarai's hand before solidifying into the shape of an axe.

"It can turn its blood into a weapon!" Logan snapped.

"It's a spell…" I said.

"Common among Ogarai…" My partner added then crouched low again. "This going to take effort."

***

Bo

"How far are we?!" I demanded. I held onto Bizarro's back tightly as he ran through the white willow forest after the soldier that took KC.

"I don't know! I cant smell them and we were followinf your spell!" Indy replied with a bark.

"Scent fading!" Bizarro exclaimed. My spell faded after fifteen minutes of use and we didn't have a article of KC'S clothing anymore to use as a catalyst. Thankfully Bizarro picked up KC'S scent once the spell faded.

Bizarro leapt over a fallen tree trunk and through a large bush, finding we were now at least thirty meters in the air instead of near the ground. Time seemed to slow as I looked down at the ground below, my eyes bulging.

"INDYYYYYY!" I exclaimed and clung to Bizarro even tighter. Gadget chittering loudly while clinging to my shoulder.

"BIZARRO!" Indy yelled as we started to fall.

Bizarro's tentacle tails shot out and snagged on the tree behind us. With a quick jerk we swung backwards and crashed into the cliff face. I nearly lost my grip and fell down to my death. Indy, Gadget, and I all held on tightly. Holding our collective breathes as Bizarro slowly slapped his paws against the cliff face.

I nearly lost my shit when Bizarro unwrapped his tails around the tree that was keeping us from falling and was surprised when we didn't fall thirty meters to our crushing deaths and instead clung to the wall. Indy looked over his shoulder at me and smirked.

"Bizarro can stick to walls." He said.

"Would have been nice to know before we went over a cliff!" I snapped.

Gadget said through the mental link.

"Moving now!"

That was all the warning Bizarro gave us before he crouched down and sprung forward, literally running down the cliff face. I screamed, Gadget chittered, Indy stayed silent as we rapidly approached the ground. Bizarro kicked off the cliff wall when we were a few feet from the ground and leveled out. Skidding to a stop he let out a harsh huffing breath and looked back up at the cliff.

"That was close!" I snapped.

"I know…" Bizarro replied then sniffed the air a few times. "…scent has faded."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means the soldier is masking his and Indy's scent." Indy replied then jumped off of Bizarro's back.

"What do you mean? How do we unmask it?!" I yelled and jumped off Bizarro as well.

"Give me a second." Indy said then crouched down and looked at the ground.

Bizarro sniffed the air several times then growled in frustration. I started to pace and freak out. Anything could be happening to KC right now and my mind was racing through all the options like a steed running from a rabid thrad.

"We're close to the edge of the forest. We passed by two small rivers a few minutes ago, was KC's scent starting to fade then?" Indy asked his evo.

"Yes…little by little. Lost scent just now." Bizarro replied.

"He jumped in the rivers. Smart plan would be to keep following the river and cross a few more times to help avoid tracking…but he didn't…" Indy mused, tapping his finger against his chin.

Indy's head jerked towards the sound of a twig snapping and his arm jerked towards it almost immediately. Something flew from his hand and into the bushes, there was a loud shriek a second later. Bizarro bound towards the bushes and quickly plucked a bleeding creature out from them. He walked over and laid it at Indy's feet. It was a small fox with a vine tied around its neck, at the end of the vine were a small child's shirt and Reagan's shirt were tied to it. A small knife was the source of the bleeding.

"That's shit is KC's!" Indy growled. "The soldier fooled us!"

"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" I screamed and ran my hands through my hair.