225: A Plague of Phantoms VIIII

"Are you sure it's a good idea to leave your girlfriends here while we head off to find your other little friends Starlight?" Grandpa asked.

"Not my girlfriends!" I snapped quickly. Grandpa chuckled, he had Colossus in his arms and was stroking the porker along his back.

The two of us were inside the King's Glaive and heading through a more abandoned part of the silver city towards where Haws thought that Sin and Chad were headed next. I decided to let Iris and Jane stay behind so they can flesh out some of the details of the Evo-cution plan. I only wanted to introduce Sin to Grandpa Seamus and to let Chad know that he was someone I held most important, if he let anything happen to him I wouldn't be forgiving.

"This Sin boy, what exactly does he do?" Grandpa asked.

"He's my head of security. In charge of patrolling my properties and most of the silver city." I replied. Grandpa Seamus frowned at that response.

"One man along is in charge of watching your shop, that warehouses and apartment building as well as the entire silver city? That's a bit much to be putting on one man's shoulders." Grandpa said. I nodded in agreement and sighed.

"I know but it's best if it's him. He used to be a part of a gang and gained a reputation. There are a lot of gangs in silver and bronze city now but none of them try anything usually because they are scared of him." I explained. Grandpa's frown deepened and he looked at me sternly.

"Are you sure you can trust this man?" He asked.

"Yes. I trust him with my life. We haven't known each other long but we've been in some sticky situations, he's stood by my side as staunchly as Jane and Iris do. He's family." I replied without hesitation.

"You're not one to call someone family lightly…especially given how ours treated ya…I'll trust this man and yer judgment." Grandpa Seamus announced.

"WARNING! WARNING! FIGHT DETECTED AHEAD!" King's Glaive announced as bright red light suddenly flashed inside the engine car.

"Oh for the love of Tyr!" I grumbled then rushed over to the navigation basin. The basin lit up and showed a section of the city about ten minutes away. It showed several blobs that I guessed represented people moving around in a frantic motions.

"It's a fight." Grandpa Seamus said walking over to the basin.

"Yeah…and I'm pretty sure I know who's fighting." I said then rushed over to the door to the outside of the train. I opened it and channeled float and gravity attribute mana and flew outside the train. "King's Glaive full stop! Lock down train!"

The mana train screeched to a stop and the door I jumped out of slammed shut. I quickly flew towards the direction of the fighting and saw a large explosion followed by green smoke.

'Void drake rot breath!' I thought worriedly.

As I neared the scene of the fighting I saw Twilight crouched over what looked like two people who I bet were Sin and Chad. He was getting pelted with fireball while he was protecting Sin and Chad with his wings by three splicers. I saw Pogs hiding behind a fallen balcony as he was getting shot at by at least a half dozen gangsters.

"BONE-LASHER! EMPRESS! FUCK THEM UP!" I bellowed as I summoned their crystalline structures and flung them into the air.

Empress emerged in mid air and immediately flew down towads the splicers that were shooting fireballs at Twilight, Sin and Chad. Once she was in range she ignited her feathers and flung a volley at the splicers. They'd all turned to look at my direction when they heard me scream and weren't prepared when Empress attacked. Her feathers skewered the lot of them and burned the corpses to ash.

Bone-lasher emerged from his structure and let out a deafening roar as be wrapped his body in shock attribute mana sending bolts of lightning shooting in random directions. A few actually hit some of the shooters and knocked them down. The rest narrowly hit Pogs and the other shooters.

Bone-lasher fell towards the ground, about a street away from where Pogs and the shooters were. I flew over to Twilight and landed in front of him.

"Star Shaper?" Twilight gasped as he stood up straight. Empress landed behind me and looked down at the ashes of the splicers she killed.

"You guys okay?" I asked. Sin was the first to stand up and I immediately zeroed in on the fact that he was missing an arm. It looked like it had been blown off by the elbow and he was gripping the nub with his remaining good arm.

"SHIT SIN!" I exclaimed and rushed over. I bit my finger and started writing a healing spell in my blood on my forearm.

"I'm fine…but Pogs…" Sin started. The sound of multiple thunderclaps reverberated behind us further up the streets. The sounds of the thunderclaps drowned out the screams and crying of the men that Bone-lasher was currently slaughtering.

"Bone-lasher got him covered now hold still." I commanded and started channeling mana into the arm I wrote the healing spell on. I quickly cast an utility spell sigil and a green light shined on my hand. I placed the hand on Sin's chest and that same green light enveloped his body before finally flowing towards his nub. Bone, muscle, nerve endings, sinew, and skin grew back.

When the spell effect ended Sin clenched his fist a couple of times then nodded and looked back up to me.

"Thanks Boss…" He said.

"My Lord it seems General Bone-lasher is finished saving Pogs." Empress announced. I looked back at her and saw Pogs and Bone-lasher walking over to us. Bone-lasher had a unconscious man slung over his shoulder and a big toothy grin in his face.

"BOSS! I captured one alive!" He exclaimed happily.

"Good Job Bone!" I yelled back. I turned my attention back to Sin and frowned. "What happened?"

"It was my fault. I got careless and didn't see the ambush coming until after they blew off my arm." Sin confessed. I looked to Chad who had just now decided to stand up. He looked relatively unharmed, just minor bumps and scrapes.

"How come Pogs and Twilight weren't able to take them out? That was less than a dozen men. It should have been a cakewalk." I asked.

"It was a error in tactics Star Shaper. When I saw Master hurt I immediately went to his defense while Pogs moved to attack. Pogs took put a few of the attackers but was overwhelmed and forced to retreat. With me protecting the master and Chad I couldn't help." Twilight said.

"Who are they?" I asked Sin. He gritted hid teeth then let put a sigh.

"Solidarium…a league of assassins." Sin answered. I blinked at him a few times as my mind decided whether or not we heard him right.

"A league of assassins? Sin…please tell me these assassins attacked you because of the hit that Justice Technologies put on you and not some personal shit…" I asked. Sin looked away and scratched his chin. "…Sinner no! Please no! I already have a lot on my plate, I can't deal with another group of people trying to kill people I care about!"

"I'll handle it Boss…" Sin started but I interrupted him.

"Why is a league of assassins after you?" I asked. Sin looked conflicted, his eyes looking everywhere but at me.

"Wait Lord Sin, are these the same men that we defeated earlier this week to save your Son?" Empress asked. I blinked a few times as Sin looked at Empress with a furious glare.

"YOUR WHAT?!" I bellowed. Sin groaned and ran his hand down his face.

"Yes…I have a son…and yes they are the same people we rescued my son from." He admitted.

"WHAAAAAAT THE FUCK!" I bellowed then ran my hands through my locks. "Why did you have to rescue your son from a league of assassins?!"

"This is a long story…" Sin muttered.

At this time Bone-lasher and Pogs made it back over to the group. Bone-lasher dropped the unconscious body of the assassinations at me feet and huffed at Sin.

"Everything alright Boss?" Bone-lasher asked.

"No! Now we have a league of assassins trying to kill Sin because he has a son that apparently Empress helped him rescue!" I exclaimed.

"Commander Jiggles and Commander Grimm-Guard helped as well." Empress spoke up. I smacked my forehead and groaned loudly.

"Boss I will deal with them and make sure this never happens again." Sin promised. I shook my head and channeled incinerate attribute mana and threw a fireball at the unconscious assassin on the ground and burnt him to ash before he could wake up.

"You…you didn't want to question him Boss?" Bone-lasher asked. I shook my head.

"I know he's here to kill Sin, that's enough." I said then pointed at Sin. "Explain now, quick version."

"I slept with the daughter of the head of the Solidarium, a few years ago. Didn't know who she was or that she got pregnant and had my child. Last week she found me and asked for my help rescuing my child. We succeeded…barely." Sin explained.

"The mother?" I asked.

"Back with the Solidarium. She made a deal with her father. I got to leave with our son provided she gave him another heir…with a man of her choosing." Sin replied. I looked around at the destruction and ash piles of assassins and shook my head.

"It look like he's reneging on his promise to me." I said.

"Yeah… Almeria said he would eventually. I have some contingencies in place in case he tried anything." Sin said. It then suddenly dawned on me.

"Sin where is your son?!" I demanded.

"Back at the apartment…don't worry he's safe, Voodoo is with him." Sin replied.

"Who the fuck is Voodoo?!" I exclaimed. Sin looked a little nervous at that question and nervously looked away from me.

"A evo…that I borrowed from Moldworks to help get him back…" Sin said sheepishly. I sighed and shook my head.

"Which one? The Djinn Signifier or the Strange Meow?" I asked.

"The Djinn Signifier…" Sin replied.

The Djinn series: Signifier, was a experimental evo that I had created before leaving to meet the Pharaoh along with the Hell-hog. It was the combination of a goat, ape, and antelope. I designed it after the satyr from Greek lore and didn't really have much in mind for it. What separated it from other evos I shaped was I created it using two mana crystals that were encases in a viscous sack that bound the two of them. I wanted to see if it was possible for a evo to start out with two mana crystals rather than have then develop new ones as they achieve transcendence and true Transcendence like Bone-lasher and Alpa'nagia.

"Are you sure he's safe?" I asked.

"Of course he's safe!" A voice suddenly exclaimed. I frowned and looked around to see where the voice could have come from but there wasn't anyone here but us. Bone-lasher and Empress looked stunned by that voice as well.

"That's Voodoo…" Sin said then reached into his pocket and pulled out a rock.

The rock was covered in nonsense scribbles that looked to be written in blood. It glowed slightly with a magical shimmer that told me it was more than just a simple rock.

"I have the young master safe here with me at the nest, Master." The same mysterious voice emminated from the rock. The rock glowed a vibrant red as the voice came through.

"Thank you Voodoo. I'll be there with guests in a little bit." Sin said into the rock.

"The young master and I will await your arrival." Voodoo responded. I frowned as Sin put away the stone.

"Where exactly is this nest?" I asked in a slightly annoyed tone. Sin's lips thinned slightly as he looked at me.

"Are you mad?" He asked.

"Slightly annoyed." I replied then let out a loud sigh. "From what I got from Louie and Haws I figured that you were dealing with something minor like a gangster that had a personal vendetta against you. Not a league of assassins that were holding your son hostage."

"Sorry Boss…I should have asked before taking the evos at Moldworks." Sin apologized. However that only made me go from slightly annoyed to majorly pissed off. I reared back and slugged Sin in the shoulder, to make sure it hurt I channeled some shock attribute mana into the punch. Sin jumped a few steps back and grabbed his shoulder, rubbing it to take away the pain.

"You idiot! I don't care about you taking the evos! You went up against a league of assassins all by yourself and didn't think to ask me or anyone else for help!" I snapped.

"He had myself, Commander Jiggles and Commander Grimm-Guard with him to help…" Empress spoke up. I turned to her and glared.

"That doesn't make it better Empress! It only pisses me off more because the three of you were there and didn't think that one of my employees dealing with all that wasn't something you should report to me!" I snapped at her.

Empress shrank at my tone and dropped to the ground. A divine gold qolitz version of prostrating themselves. All of her wings were fanned out and touching the ground while her head was against the ground.

"MY HUMBLEST APOLOGIES MY LORD!" Empress screeched. I shook my head and recalled Empress to my Farm crystal without a word then looked to Sin.

"Something as important as rescuing your son is something you should have asked for help!" I said sternly.

"Your evos kept everyone pretty well informed about what was going on while you were at the royal palace. When all those started you were getting ready for that ball…then everything went to shit while we were dealing with my shit. You were halfway across the country, it didn't make sense to ask for help and have you come back just for me." Sin explained.

While the rational side of my brain could understand the logic of not asking for help, especially with me so far away. The emotional side was pissed off that he didn't even think to mention that something so important was going on.

"Regardless of your reasons Sin you should have asked for help. If nothing else you should have pulled me to the side yesterday and told me all that shit had happened." I said sternly. Then motioned to the destruction around us. "What if those assassins had attacked the shop or the apartments looking for you? None of us would have been prepared or even known why they were attacking. You could have put everyone at Sho'lajah in danger by not saying something."

The slightly defiant and self righteous look that Sin had on his face vanished and was replaced with one of horror and regret. He looked away and shook his head, running his hands through his hair.

"Fuck! I was…I was just trying to protect my son…" He muttered in a self degrading tone then laughed despite the situation. "…protect him…I don't even know how to care for him! I'm in way over my fucking head!"

I walked over to Sin and slapped him on the back of his head, thanks to the height difference I had to jump just to reach but it snapped him put of his pity party.

"Enough of that now! Sure I'm pissed but what's done is done and I have a life time to make you feel guilty about it. Right now you're only in over your head right now because you are trying to do everything by yourself. You work with two couples who both have kids, stop being a hard headed idiot and ask for some pointers." I said sternly. Sin looked a odd mix of confused and grateful at my words.

"We should get going Master, Voodoo will be expecting us soon." Twilight interjected. He was most likely trying to take some of the heat off his master.

"Yeah…" Sin said cautiously. He glanced over in my direction to see how I was taking the void drake's suggestion. I kept my face neutral and sighed.

"Yeah…let's go…" I said.

I was about to recall Bone-lasher when I heard the unmistakable sound of the King's glaive whistle screeching behind me. I turned around and was surprised to see the King's Glaive rolling down the street towards our little group. I rolled to a stop about twenty feet away from me. The door to the engine car opened and Grandpa Seamus poked his head out the doorway and waved at me.

"Starlight! Took care of everything I see!" Grandpa called out to me.

"Grandpa! How did you get King's Glaive to move!" I exclaimed. Grandpa Seamus chuckled and flashed me a devious smirk.

"I'm ya Grandpa that's how!" He replied.