Flying towards the city, Leo made a detour to the Scavenger's fort to check on Shia. Arriving, the group of five realized that soldiers were running the show.
"Let me go check on things. If I'm not back in a few minutes, come after me." Leo wouldn't take any chances since Keysol was taken down.
Leo left the ship and quickly entered the fort. He soon ran past the soldiers and entered the pit. There he found hundreds of workers. Not only were scavengers mining, but people from all over Duat were mining too. Seeing Mule, Leo sent him a mana message to meet him in a tunnel out of the way.
"Leo, it really is you!" Mule said as he ran up to him and hugged him.
"Yes, yes. Calm down. What happened here?"
Mule explained that when Shia took over, many things changed for the better. Even the old scavengers were treated well. Then one day, the Osiris fleet arrived and told Shia that they were no longer in the business to trade with slaves. They captured Shia and left men to enslave the scavengers. Then periodically, more and more people were dropped here to mine ore.
Leo got the gist quickly enough. He brought Mule back with him to the ship and explained the situation to the other four.
"Let us free these people first," Leo said to them. The five of them reacted quickly and killed every soldier in the fort and mere minutes. They then commanded Mule and all the slaves to escape to Ra. Their people would receive them.
Leo sent a message to the scientist to inform Papyrus and the other two to welcome the incoming people. The other five flew towards Osiris. They landed at the entrance of the city. A guard shouted at them, but they ignored him.
"What are we going to do?"
"Incapacitate or kill the soldiers. Green Tooth, come with me to the pyramid." Leo told the four of them. Dark Razor smiled fiendishly. He disappeared first and went on a killing spree. Geph and Sepha went after him.
The three warriors ransacked the city's guards effortlessly. Leo and Green Tooth arrived at the pyramid. A guard about to attack them received a command to bring them to the Pharaoh.
In the throne room, a man with a strong aura looked at the arriving man and beast. He smiled at them and waved for his guards to leave. Green Tooth looked at the man with surprise. "He's a Core Builder."
"Yes, he is. He's the peggian we met at the ruins of Geb." Leo responded to Green Tooth and then looked at the Pharaoh. "Aren't you?"
"Hahahaha, good job. I knew I couldn't get anything past you few."
"Why would you kill all those people?"
"Only those with strength have the right to rule."
"Is this all your race knows to do?"
"My race? My race is enslaved. Only after being sent here have I regained my freedom."
"What do you mean?" asked Leo.
"It is not of any importance now. We can be rulers here. Why don't you understand that?"
"All life matters. You would understand if your race was declining and hunted by other races."
The peggian knew there was nothing he could say to Leo to convince him otherwise. He then sighed and asked Leo, "Join me or surrender your life?"
"What if I choose neither."
A winged man with a tablet attached to his chest floated into the throne room.
"Keysol..." Green Tooth and Leo blurted out at the same time.
Keysol then said something in a voice Leo remembered. "If you don't, we will kill your friend."
"You're the spirit that was in the tablet," Leo yelled out.
Keysol then smiled and said," Yes, I'm surprised you lived from that. I offer my thanks for freeing me."
"Back to my question at hand. What is your choice?" asked the Peggian.
Leo could no longer hold back his anger. These two were mad. Leo was about to attack when Green Tooth slammed his back foot into Leo's gut, launching him out of the throne room.
A pattern of mana lit up beneath Leo. In his fury, he didn't sense that a sealing formation activated below them. Green Tooth was frozen in place.
"I guess we only get to kill one of them." The spirit used Keysol body to step forward, attacking with his sword.
Leo watched as the sword pierced green Tooth's heart. Dark Razor felt a disturbance when he received a message from Leo. "Green Tooth has been fatally wounded. Converge on the palace now!"
The peggian pulled out a mana rifle. "You had your chance. This is my City. I am the ruler of this world. Hahahaha." He touched a button, and thousands of drones entered the air around the pyramid. "You shall all die for not joining me."
Thousands of drones surrounded the three speedings towards the pyramid. A force field encased all three of them.
Keysol, being controlled, flew at Leo and attacked him. He drew his mace and blocked the strike. Sparks flew from the clash, and both took a few steps back.
"Why are you helping that, maniac?" asked Leo.
"You humans betrayed me. Now, it is your turn."
Keysol's sword swung through the air, striking at each one of Leo's vitals. Leo could barely keep up. His skills were meant for defense, and he was losing in this exchange.
While Leo faced off against the spirit of the tomb, the peggian exited the pyramid. He looked at the three captured warriors.
He called out to Geph, "you should have listened to me." He pointed his rifle at the mermanian. "That human didn't agree to join me, but I'll allow you to decide for yourself."
"I won't join you. You deranged, man," yelled Geph.
"Hahaha, good. I wanted to kill you, anyways. I, the Pharaoh of Osiris, sentence you to death." The peggian lifted the mana rifle and fired the particle beam.
"Nooooooo..." screamed Sepha as she watched from inside her bubble of drones.
Geph activated his mana shield to block the blast. To his surprise, the drones moved out of the wave and allowed the accurate beam drive into his mana shield. The laser incinerated it in mere seconds, piercing his chest.
The cannon was a weapon the spirit and peggian built to become the lords of this planet. Using highly charged mana crystals, they turn it into light mana and firing it. Only because Keysol was proficiently trained in light mana, he survived.
Geph coughed up a bunch of blood and took one final look at Sepha. He then collapsed. Geph died a pitful death, not one fit for a warrior such as him.
The peggian turned to Sepha. "Now your turn. Join me or end up like our friend? Hahahaha." laughed the peggian. He finally knew what it felt like to be the master of his own life.