260 247: A Plague of Phantoms: A Revolutionary's Arrival I

"Big brother…I evolved again…" Gadget said softly as it looked up at Bo.

Everyone stared at the newly evolved evo in silence for several second while it looked itself over. Noticing its new crystal spikes, Gadget tried to look over its back and ended up spinning in a circle. Damon spoke up and said what everyone was thinking in the moment.

"What the hell?!" He exclaimed. Bo knelt down and picked up Gadget who quickly climbed onto Bo's shoulder and rubbed his cheeks against Bo's.

"Gadget evolved? Again?" Nate gasped as he craned his neck closer to Gadget to get a better look at the evo.

"And now I can talk Dad." Gadget piped up.

"Dad…" Nate gasped and looked to Jade. Gadget looked to Bo and touched his cheek with his pointer finger.

"Big brother, Mom, Dad, and big brother Chase all have a reason to be angry. They're worried about us." Gadget said. Bo puffed his cheeks and looked to Gadget.

"But we're trying to get better to help protect them!" Bo grumbled.

"And they're trying to protect us." Gadget said then looked to me. "Big brother Chase doesn't want to lose anyone else."

I walked over and held my hand out to Gadget. The evo jumped from Bo's shoulder and onto my arm. He was too big for me to hold in the palm of my hand anymore but he was lighter than what I was expecting. I channeled mana into my arm and sent it into the newly evolved evo. I quickly realized that there was a problem with the farm crystal fragment that acted as his mana core. While the rest of his body evolved to the true transcended stage, that core was still in the transcended stage. Or at least it remained in the same it had when I scanned Gadget before.

This however was causing some stress onto the crystal. It was as if the crystal was was constantly working to keep Gadget in this form. Gadget giggled and held on tighter to my arm. I suddenly froze when I noticed something about Gadget's crystal, it was still connected to Bo. I looked to Bo and then reached out and grabbed him by his hand. I quickly channeled mana into his body and sought out his farm crystal. It only took me a split second to confirm that Bo and Gadget's crystals were connected.

"Hey!" Bo complained and jerked his arm away, breaking my connection.

"Your Farm crystal and Gadget's crystal are still connected." I said with a frown then looked at Gadget still clinging to my arm. "What's more his crystal didn't evolve with him…it must be because it was originally part of your farm crystal."

"What does that mean?" Jade asked.

"This evolution might be temporary…like the crystal genesis spell." I said. Bo puffed his cheeks out and glared at me.

"You don't know that! Stop putting down Gadget!" Bo snapped.

"I'm not putting down Gadget. His crystal…"

"Is fine! You're fine right Gadget!" Bo exclaimed, cutting me off. Gadget jumped down from my arm and hopped over to Bo and shook his entire body.

"Not really…I feel like I'm struggling big brother." Gadget said. As he spoke the crystal spikes sticking out of his back started to shrink back into his back, starting from his tail. Bo's eyes grew wide and he knelt down and looked Gadget over, concern written all over his face.

"Gadget?!" Bo exclaimed.

"Gadget, whatever you are struggling with just let go. With your crystal still connected there might end up being a feedback resonance that could hurt you both." I said.

Gadget didn't reply but after a second his body started to glow with the same purple light as before. His body levitated several feet into the air and his body started to shrink, returning back into his transcended stage. Once his devolution was complete the light faded and Gadget levitated back down to the ground. He let out a small chittering noise once all that was complete then turned and jumped onto Bo's shoulder.

"What the hell…?" Nate muttered. Bo grabbed Gadget off hos shoulder and held the evo in his hands in front of him.

"Gadget are you okay?" Bo asked. Gadget chittered and nodded several times.

"Are you feeling okay?" I asked Bo. He frowned at me and turned away.

"Of course I'm okay!" Bo snapped.

"BO! Right now I can do without the attitude! We just found out you attempted some sort of custom spell ritual when you can't read the runic language and now have a fragment of your farm crystal inside your evo acting as it's mana crystal! That is more than enough reason for anyone to be concerned since nothing like this has happened before in history!" Jade said sternly and then smacked him on the head.

"OW! MOM!" Bo exclaimed.

"Ow, mom, nothing! You think tears and a little speech about how useless you've been feeling will get you out of trouble? While I understand how you feel that doesn't change the fact that risked not only your life but Gadget's like as well and all to get stronger." Jade said sternly.

"If you really understood you wouldn't be angry at me!" Bo snapped.

"Understanding your motives and condoning your actions are two different things, Bo Kestrel! I understand feeling helpless since all I seem to do is get rescued by Chase and Sin but I refuse to allow you to risk your life for this." Jade said.

"You are not to do anything like attempting to cast a ritual like that again Bo! Who knows what could happen if you split your farm crystal again and put it into one of your other evos. You could end up losing your ability to control your mana and evos." Nate said.

"But…!" Bo started and ended up getting his ear yanked by his mother.

"But nothing! You were already grounded before you tried this stunt!" Jade growled sternly. Bo looked like he wanted to dispute his mother's statement but the nearly feral look she gave her son shut him up and wisely. "Chase I would like you to look at the spell Bo used once we get back to Andromeda?"

"I will…if he wrote some runes wrong it could end up killing him in the long run." I replied.

I was about to say something else when a warning alarm suddenly started going off throughout the mana train. Everyone looked shocked for a brief moment before we all turned and headed back towards the second engine car which I was mentally calling through control room car.

Once we reached the control room car I saw the navigation case was flashing a warning in bright, bold rune across the glass case. I skidded to a stop in front of the case and quickly read the runes, which was unnecessary because King's glaive repeated what was shown.

"Proximity warning! Proximity warning! Unidentified evo vessel approaching King's glaive. Unidentified evo vessel approaching King's glaive!" King's Glaive reported.

"Unidentified evo vessel? Aren't we over the ocean?" I asked King's Glaive.

"Correct! Two evo vessels detected! Approaching from below!" King's Glaive replied.

The navigation case switched to showing a localized map of the area around us. Like I thought King's Glaive was traveling over the ocean. Thanks to the mana train creating rails made of solid mana while it travels so it was able to travel over the ocean.

The localized map showed two red blips rapidly approaching the mana train from the right side of the train. The blips had arrows pointing down which I guess meant that they were underwater.

"What the hell?" Sin grumbled as he looked at the map. "Are those Japanese evo vessels?"

"We should definitely be in Japanese waters by now." Iris commented as she looked at the navigation case. "Those must be Japanese warlords or Zee-waro."

"Or from other countries sent to escort nobles, military leaders, or royals…" Alberto offered.

The whole mana train was suddenly rocked as a loud boom echoed throughout it. Everyone screamed as we were thrown every which way as the train settled and warning alarms started going off. I ended up flying into one of crystal pedestals before falling to the ground.

"WARNING! WARNING! KING'S GLAIVE IS UNDER ATTACK! CARS: fourteen and fifteen, WERE STRUCK WITH PROJECTILES!" King's glaive announced.

"Ow…shit! Any damage?!" I demanded as I pushed myself off the ground and looked to check on the others. Grandpa and Nate crashed into the door to my personal quarters car and slid down to the floor. Jade, Iris, and Damon crashed into the navigation case. Bo, Gadget, Angie, Indy, and KC, all managed to just fly up a few feet in the air and land near one of the crystal pedestals.

"NO DAMAGE! NO DAMAGE! WARNING SHO'LAJAH, KING'S GLAIVE DOES NOT POSSESS ANY WAY TO DEFEND ITSELF!" King's glaive responded.

"Alert everyone inside the mana train on what is going on and then increase elevation of the mana train to the maximum." I ordered.

"WARNING! INCREASING THE ALTITUDE WILL LOWER SPEED! MAXIMUM ALTITUDE IS TWO HUNDRED FEET!" King's glaive informed me.

"That's fine. Do it!" I ordered then rushed over to the door leading outside the train.

As I pressed the button to open the door a warning echoed throughout the mana train followed by a deep whirling sound. As the door opened I saw the train start to tilt back as it gained altitude. The King's glaive was gliding a few inches above the ocean's surface on solid mana rails but that quickly changed it started to climb.

I held onto the doorway and looked out onto the calm waters getting ready to ask Bone-lasher to share his vision when a large ice spear suddenly burst through the water surface and slammed into the side of King's Glaive, only a few feet away from the door. The force of the ice spear slamming into the side of King's Glaive's crystalline hull made the whole train jerk and skid. I was knocked from the train and fell several feet, plunging into the cold salty waters.

Bone-lasher warned me and shared his vision with me.

At least twenty meters down I saw the culprits that were attacking us. Two aquatic attack evos called Zee-Waro. Zee-waro were a rarity in the world. They were a special evo that were the offspring of two different evo types. Namely: Zee-O and Warlords. Zee-O's were created during world War three and were the combination of Sperm whales, hippos, and tiger sharks. They served as attack evos since a vast majority of the war was fought at sea. Warlords were an ancient evo type that's been around for a long as humanity could remember. They were the combination of blue whales and elephants.

The marriage of the two evos; both of which were over forty feet long; were the two enormous evos in front of me that were at least sixty feet long at least. They had the warlords signature tusks sticking out of their massive maws. They had two pairs of legs that obviously belongs to their hippo base, which kicked swiftly as it swam. A large and powerful whale tailfin flapped in tempo as they swam in my direction, aided by six smaller fins on both sides of their bodies to help them steer.

Attached to each evo were multiple pressurized compartments that housed the living and transport quarters for humans. Each compartment was comparable in size to one of King's Glaive's cars and as such each other the Zee-waro could only handle three. The main problem was strapped to the heads of the Zee-waro were large artillery cannons, modified to be attached to the main compartment which could be called the bridge of the evo. It was designed to allow the splicers inside the bridge to launch offensive spells from the comfort of the bridge.

[Boss, orders?] Bone-lasher asked.

[Disable the Zee-waro's without killing them! Make it a show.] I ordered as I summoned Bone-lasher's crystalline structure and flung it towards the depths. Bone-lasher burst free from the structure, his crystal-like armor gleaming brightly in the dull light of the sea as he let put a vicious roar that sent shockwaves through the water.

[With pleasure!] Bone-lasher replied.

With a flick of his tail Bone-lasher swam towards the closest of the Zee-waro. He moved so fast he sent a shockwave that knocked me back several feet. I found myself floating near the surface and quickly broke through, taking a deep breath. Above me I could see King's Glaive circling the area at two hundred feet in the air, below me I felt what I thought were seismic quakes until I remembered thar Zee-waro could unleash sonic booms that were strong enough to liquefy a loving creatures insides. Not that it would do much to Bone-lasher.

[Chase!] Jane's voice rang clearly in my head thanks to the manacite communication rings.

[Jane! We're under attack by two Zee-waro. Bone-lasher is engaging.] I replied.

[Zee-waro's? Are they from Japan?] Jane asked.

[No fucking clue, Bone-lasher has orders to keep them alive regardless.] I replied.

A loud boom rocked the waters around me and sent a geyser of water spewing up a few meters away from me. I took a deep breath and dove back into the waters. Bone-lasher was swimming circles around the hulking evos, using hit and run tactics to land powerful and devastating strikes against the evos while avoiding the compartments so's not to harm the splicers and crew inside.

Bone-lasher landed a devastating punch to the underside of one Zee-waro jaw that sent the large evo reeling back. Thanks to Bone-lasher's vision I could see it's eye's roll back into its head and fall unconscious. Bone-lasher then dashed towards the other one and punched it right next to its eye. The shockwaves from that hit could be felt all the way where I was.

[Too easy...] Bone-lasher said cockily as he swam a cautionary circle around his opponents to make sure they were unconscious.

Their bodies floated limply towards the bottom of the ocean. I started to order Bone-lasher to try and push them towards the surface so they didn't drown but Bone-lasher was already on its he swam underneath each one and gave it a quick push towards the surface. Seeing them floating upwards I broke the surface myself and channeled gravity attribute mana throughout my body and flew out of the ocean and over towards the first of the Zee-waro breaking the surface.

The evos were still unconscious but their blowholes were facing the sky so they could breath. As could the crew inside the compartments strapped to their backs. Once the second Zee-waro broke the surface I had a chance to actually pay attention to the details on the sides of the compartments. They were painted with the colors of the Japanese flag. Telling me they were from the Japanese defense force.

I continued to fly several feet above the above the naval evos as a bulkhead on one of the main compartments of the Zee-waro opened. A man in a military uniform climbed out, a little battered and bloodied. Most likely tossed around by Bone-lasher's thrashing of their transport. The uniform told me the man was of high ranking among the crew, a member of the bridge crew at least, it wasn't until I saw the farm crystal that I realized he was the captain. Several more men and woman climbed out of the compartments. A few of them had guns strapped to their backs and all of them were normies.

"HEY! WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA SHOOTING AT MY MANA TRAIN LIKE THAT!" I bellowed as I slowly descended to the back of the Zee-waro. The normie soldiers with guns all quickly drew them and pointed them at me though they looked startled by the fact I was flying down to them casually. The splicer captain of the group stood tall and looked at me with a defiant glare.

"Identify yourself! You have attacked members of the Royal Japanese defense force! You cannot hope to get away!" He said defiantly.

"Attacked? You assholes attacked me and my company first!" I snapped and landed on the compartment right in front of the captain and got in his face. That got the normies behind him to cock their guns and aim them all at me. The splicer captain, obviously not used to being challenge curled his upper lip at me.

"And you have made your gravest, and last mistake stranger!" The splicer snapped back.

"Oh really?!" I growled.

Bone-lasher suddenly burst from the depths of the sea and landed on the unconscious Zee-waro right behind all of the normies. With a swipe of his tail he knocked all of them off the evo and into the water, leaving the captain alone with me and Bone-lasher. Seeing this the captain paled considerably.

"I'm sorry…who made their gravest and last mistake?" I asked cockily as I smirked at him.

"Is the no killing thing still in effect Boss?" Bone-lasher asked as he lumbered over to me and the captain.

"Yes…for now." I said ominously.

At that moment the bulkhead of the other Zee-waro's compartment opened and them captain and crew of that evo all clambered out and onto the swaying and bobbing surface of the compartment. Seeing their comrade in danger all of the normie crewmen drew their weapons and aimed them at me.

"Boss?" Bone-lasher asked flashing his many rows of teeth at the sailors.

"Put your hands up and step away from captain Yamamoto! Do this and you will be taken into custody unharmed." The captain of the Other Zee-waro commanded.

"Bone, non-leathal, and bring me the other splicer." I commanded calmly.

"Yes boss…" Bone-lasher replied with a devious smile as lightning started sparking off him.

He moved so fast the normie soldiers couldn't have intercepted him. He moved as if riding lightning with his every step. In a blink of an eye twenty sailors were knocked out and flying in all direction towards the water. Bone-lasher had the splicer captain in his grasp and landed in front of me, forcing the captains to kneel.

"H-how…what…so fast…" The first captain gasped.

"My men!" The second captain exclaimed.

"Alive, because my boss wished it so." Bone-lasher said. The second captain eyed me and Bone-lasher with equal parts shock and disbelief. However when he saw my farm crystal his eyes grew wide

"Wait…a talking evo stronger than any has a right to be… unusual powers…Gods above…a star shaped farm crystal! You're…you're the Revolutionary Paragon: Chase Kingston! Owner of Sho'lajah Artifact Company!" The second captain exclaimed. The first captain's eyes grew wide on hearing all that while I groaned.

"Fuck…I forgot people were calling me that…" I muttered.

"THE WHAT?!" captain Yamamoto screamed, both captains looked like they'd piss their pants at any moment now.

The loud whistle of the King's glaive echoed through the air as it stopped circling above and started to descend. I watched at it came around and came to a stop on next to the still unconscious Zee-waros. The door to the control room car opened and Jane and Iris stood in the doorway.

"CHASE!" They both yelled and jumped onto the unconscious evo.

"Everything's under control girls." I said casually, then turned to look at the captains. "I was just about to ask these fine captains why they attacked my mana train."