205: A Company of Fools: Red Wedding Anniversary IV

"Egypt's future? What do you mean?" I asked. Aziza smiled seductively and sauntered over to me, then shoved her mask into my hands before twirling around me and looking out onto the lake.

"Why, who's going to rule Egypt, of course." Aziza said. I instantly became guarded and narrowed my eyes at her.

"Jane's going to become queen, and whoever she marries will be the Pharaoh." I said. Aziza chuckled and shook her head.

"That's right, that's how things would normally work in normal succession situations. Jane would become queen unless something happened to her, then Leon would be next in line and then one of our cousins and so on and so forth. I'd never be considered, " Aziza, making a twirling motion with her fingers. She then turned back to me and smiled. "Unless I marry someone that any country would kill to have associated with them."

"You want me to play matchmaker or something?" I asked, arching a brow. Aziza moved close to me and pressed her body up against mine, and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"No, Chase Kingston, I want you to marry me." Aziza said.

Admittedly, I tensed up and felt my face become hot. I'd never been in a situation like this before. Back home girls didn't want to be close to me, let alone touch me, and while I have gotten used to dealing with Jane, Iris, and Astrid, they weren't interested in me romantically. So I freaked a little and channeled shock attribute mana throughout my body.

"Ow!" Aziza screeched as she jumped back. I quickly composed myself and acted like it was intentional.

"If there is one thing you learn about me, Aziza, learn that I do not like being used as a pawn." I said, narrowing my eyes at her. Aziza rubbed her arms and then her chest, which had gotten the worst of the shock since there was a lot more surface area touching me.

"Noted, however we would be using each other. I'd become queen and you the Pharaoh. You'd be ruler of an entire country!" Aziza exclaimed.

"And that's a perk because…?" I asked drawing put the question. " Aziza looked dumbfounded by the question.

"Because you'd rule the country. Nobody would be able to tell you what to do. You'd have a whole army at your disposal. The riches and treasure of the country would be yours!" Aziza exclaimed. I scoffed and shook my head. The actions puzzling Aziza even further.

"Who needs an army when you have army destroying evos? Riches? I can make my own fortune selling enchanted items. Treasures? I can make enchanted items worth more than this country's budget in a matter of days. The only people who can tell me what to do are the people that I care enough about to give a damn about their opinions. The only thing I get from marrying you is a couple of million people, depending on me and a constant migraine." I replied.

"You also get me…" Aziza said, running a finger down the front of her dress, making sure to accentuate her curves.

"Sorry, scheming two-faced bitches aren't my type. If you want to be queen go marry another king or prince. It's not happening with me." I said sternly.

Aziza gritted her teeth and flared her nostrils at me. She looked like she was coming up with her next move in her mind but was being sidetracked by her anger at my rejection.

"Fine. I figured someone as intelligent as you would see how beneficial that arrangement could be for both parties." Aziza said. I rolled my eyes.

"The only one that would be gaining something is you. I have a company to run, that's enough for me." I said. Aziza turned with a huff and started back towards the ballroom but stopped suddenly after a few steps and looked over her shoulder at me.

"You should hurry back, Viola is going to get her presents from Jane and Leon soon, then the gift that father got her." Aziza said. I frowned at her but then suddenly felt that something was off.

I checked the surrounding using Bone-lasher's vision and didn't see any sign of Yurkid nearby. Which was strange considering they were supposed to pass off as twins or whatever.

"Where's Yurkid?" I asked her. Aziza looked stunned by my question.

"He said he noticed something off in the ballroom and wanted to investigate when we slipped away earlier. He told me to stay hidden for a bit but I decided to come fond you." Aziza replied. "I should probably head back now before he gets worried."

Aziza hurried off, moving fast for someone in such a tight dress. I narrowed my eyes at her and scowled.

'Something is not right…is this what you meant Baset?' I thought as Aziza faded from view.

[BOSS MOVE!] Bone-lasher roared.

Instinctively I jumped back, channeling float attribute mana throughout my body. A Chiwa came bursting out of the water, it's massive maw open and ready to snap me in half. I just barely dodged the attack as it snapped its mouth shut on air and retreated to the air.

"What the fuck! Why is it attacking me?!" I exclaimed as I looked down at the evo.

The chiwa bellowed loudly and thrashed around. The quills that covered its legs stood at attention and fired randomly. Luckily none of them fired in my direction.

[Savior, something isn't right with it. Those evos are taught to not attack anyone unless ordered.] Bellial informed me.

[So it was ordered to attack me?] I asked.

[No. They attack in groups. There should be a whole swarm of them. That one also smells…off.] Bellial replied. I sniffed the air and had to cover my nose. It smelled like there was rotting flesh nearby. I squinted at the Chiwa and noticed that it's eyes were glassy and turning milky white. There was also a extreme discoloration of its skin on several parts of its back.

[That thing is already dead. Something is controlling its body.] Fours said.

"You gotta be shitting me." I muttered to myself.

The undead chiwa had been snapping at my shadow on the ground, trying to kill me. Whatever was controlling it wasn't close by or that intelligent. It seemed that it had simply then over its nervous system and gave it a simple command: attack.

"Sorry! Can't afford to have you hurt anyone!" I exclaimed as I channeled incinerate and bolt attribute mana into my hand. Green lightning started sparking in my hand as I felt a strong pang in my chest. I was still trying to stay afloat with flat attribute and channeling all three was challenging but not impossible.

I fired the green bolt hitting the chiwa square on the back. It was quickly engulfed by flames and reduced to ashes in a matter of seconds. I floated back down to the ground and walked over to the ashes.

[Has anyone ever seen or heard of a evo that can control dead bodies?] I asked all my evos over the mental link. There were a few moments of silence before Empress spoke up.

[I have my lord!] Empress spoke up, sounding a little drowsy. [My creator spoke of one that was used during the first world War. Necrolymths he said they were called.]

[I've heard of those evos as well. My kind was based off of them.] Fours said.

I had heard of necrolymths too but didn't know much about them. I knew that a few of them had made it to America during the revolutionary War, which took place parallel to the world War. All I know is that they were quickly killed off along with their splicers.

[Can anyone back in Andromeda ask someone about Necrolymths, preferably someone born outside of America. We wouldn't know about them?] I asked.

[The apartments is nearby. I can fly over and asked Mistress Jade.] Empress said.

[Good do that!] I replied.

[Boss I see more of those evos! They're making their way over here now!" Bone-lasher warned me. As he shared hos vision again I saw seven chiwas in all running along the lake bed towards me.

"Fuck!" I groaned then ran a few feet away from the waterfront.

I bit my thumb and started writing runes on my forearm in my blood then held my hand out towards the lake.

'Let's try this out…' I thought.

"Forces of blood and bone, take form away from the lifeless and cleanse the soiled before me." I chanted as I started casting an axiom spell sigil. As I finished my chant a second spell sigil formed around the first only this one was offensive.

It was my first time casting a spell I made and adding a somatic component. Thanks to all that information I got in the space station I knew that a lot of splicers from the ancient times often added a chant to their spells to further augment the spell. You had to be very specific with your word choice and once you found a chant that worked with a spell you stuck with it.

As the first chiwa breached the surface of the water and rushed towards me a beam of colorless energy shot from my hand and struck it. When it did the chiwa froze and stated disintegrating before my eyes. A wave of that same colorless energy poured from the Chiwa and struck the others as they clambered onto land. They all froze and disintegrated into nothingness like the first each sending out a pulse before they died.

When the last one vanished I let out a sigh of relief then looked around to make sure there weren't anymore.

[Bone do you see anything nearby? Those last Chiwas were targeting us and if they were being controlled then whoever is doing it is nearby.] I asked.

[Yeah! A evo above us!] Bone-lasher exclaimed.

I looked up and channeled incinerate attribute mana, ready to burn to death any evo that was nearby but I didn't see anything. Granted it was night and the only light that was nearby was the full moon but I didn't see anything regardless.

[My Lord! Mistress Jade said that Necrolymths went extinct during the first world War. It's also impossible to make more since the main animal that was its base went extinct.] Empress reported.

[Boss! Don't you see the evo?] Bone-lasher asked. I shook my head and Bone-lasher shared his vision with me. That's when I saw the evo. It was flying almost half a mile up in the air, well out of my view but we'll into Bone-lasher's.

[Empress ask her what they looked like.] I ordered as I channeled gravity and burst attribute mana throughout my body and flew rapidly towards the evo.

[She says it looks like a hairy fly with butterfly wings.] Empress replied.

Now only a few yards away I could see it a lot more clearly. The evo looked exactly like Empress described. A hairy fly with butterfly wings only the size of a medium sized dog. It screeched loudly as I approached then turned and darted off.

"Oh no you don't! Fours! Bellial!" I yelled as I flung their crystalline structures in front of me. They both emerged and immediately flew after the Necrolymth.

Bellial and Fours were both quick but the Necrolymths was agile. It managed to stay ahead of them by pulling off deft maneuvers and flying erratically to keep out of range. I opened my void pocket and drew my mana-lock.

[Lead it towards me! I'll take it!] I ordered my evos.

Bellial and Fours started working together to cut off the Necrolymth's means of escape and started leading it over to where I was. I took a deep breath and channeled freeze attribute mana into the mana-lock. I aimed carefully, trusting my evks to give me opening. I found that opening when Bellial and Fours nearly caught the Necrolymth but it quickly dived and flew right into my crosshairs.

I pulled the trigger and struck it center mass. It quickly froze over and plummeted to the ground below. I fired another shot only this one was fired a bullet made from gravity mana that struck it and made it float just before it hit the ground. I sighed in relief then floated down to where the frozen Necrolymth was floating.

We were still in the garden only it was a different part of it. There weren't any guards nearby, all of them were still either patrolling the rest of the palace or guarding the ballroom. As I landed Bellial and Fours landed beside me.

"Is it dead?" Bellial asked. I shook my head.

"No just frozen. I should still be able to see who made this thing." I replied.

I walked over to the floating popsicle and placed my hand on it where the Necrolymth's head was. I channeled mana into it and closed my eyes as I allowed my consciousness to flow into the Necrolymth's.

Instead of everything fading away like it usually does and getting pulled into a black endless void. I felt my consciousness getting yanked across the palace. I opened my eyes and saw myself floating above the unconscious body of some splicer. He was dressed in all black and had a balaclava covering his face.

<[What the hell?!]> I exclaimed.

"Kuvak! Kuvak!" A man yelled. I turned to rhe sound of the voice and saw another man dressed identical to the one I was floating over rushing towards me. I held my arms up as he passed right through me and knelt down next to the unconscious man and started shaking him.

<[Holy shit! Am I a ghost?!]> I asked myself.

"Kuvak! Wake the hell up! Dammit! The assault on the ballroom is going to start soon!"

I turned and looked at the two men with concern. Taking a closer look I could see that both the unconscious Kuvak and the man trying to wake him had curved swords attached to their waists as well as rifles slung over their shoulders.

'Soldiers? No…mercenaries…what do they mean assault?' I thought.

I turned around and looked at my surroundings. I was underground somewhere. A sort of storage room of sorts. There was another door at the other end of the room I turned and floated towards it. I phased right through it and into a enormous room underground. My eyes widened as I saw a small army of mercenaries inside. At least a hundred of them, all checking weapons and equipment, preparing for an assault.

Wherever we were it was far away enough that Bone-lasher couldn't see it with hos electromagnetic vision. I floated through the ranks of the men looking for anything to tell me where we were when a loud cough caught everyone's attention.

I looked towards the sound and saw a man dressed in all black tactical gear with a Cresent shaped mana crystal displayed prominent on his right hand. There was a man standing next to him with a waxing gibbons shaped farm crystal on his right hand.

'Omni-souled splicers?' I thought.

"Men! What we are about to do will go down in history as the greatest coup in the history of the world. Above us members of the Egyptian royal family are celebrating the Pharaoh and Queen's anniversary. Little do they know that they will soon be burying our pompous monarch and all his gods damned spawn!" The Crescent shaped splicer exclaimed.

"Our benefactor has worked hard to afford us all this chance! I refuse to let it go to waste. Our main target are the Pharaoh, Queen, and all their brats. Don't forget the Pharaoh's illegitimate bitch as well. We need to clear out the entire bloodline so our benefactor has a chance at the throne. Once she's the new queen we'll be sitting pretty." The Waxing gibbons shaped splicer exclaimed.

"Gear up! We strike now!" They both yelled together. The room erupted into roars and cheers as the soldiers started rushing around.

<[FUCK! NO! FUCK!]> I yelled.

I suddenly felt my consciousness being yanked back across the palace. Everything went black as I was yanked back into my body. I gasped loudly as I opened my eyes then looked around. Bellial and Fours were still standing next to me and looking concerned.

"You okay Savior?" Bellial asked. I shook my head then looked to the ballroom.

"No! We need to get back to the ball now!"