"You think you can ignore the Great one's decrees?! I am your opponent!" The Nephilguize queen proclaimed proudly.
"It can cast a spell!" Someone from the peanut gallery yelled.
"They both can!" Another yelled.
"What are these monsters!" Another barked.
The Nephilguize queen crouched then took a running start and leapt into the air, snapping her wings open she flew at the flying man-chicken. It screeched and flew backwards while casting an other offensive spell sigil while it retreated.
The Nephilguize queen rolled in mid-air, dodging the trio of fireballs that fired from the man-chicken's spell. The fireballs flew past her and slammed into the light wall in front of me and my crew. The Nephilguize queen hissed and reared a clawed hand back, slashing at the man-chicken in the air and missing by a hair.
The man-chicken retreated faster, flying high into the air with the Nephilguize queen hot on its tail. This started a series of clashes in mid-air with the man-chicken on the defensive. The Nephilguize queen attacked quickly and relentlessly. Slashing with quick and targeted strikes aiming at the man-chicken's wings to try and force it to the ground. The two rose higher into the air until they vanished from view, though the sounds of their fight could still be heard from the deck.
"Chase what the hell is that evo?!" Alberto demanded from beside me.
"The origin of your father's new splicing technique." I said cryptically. Alberto's eyes darkened in realization.
"Are you really going to take that…parasite as one of your chosen My lord?" Empress asked.
"If she wins then yes." I replied, keeping my eyes turned towards the sky.
Several loud explosions could be heard from above followed by flashes of reds, yellows, dark blues and black. I recognized the former two as coming from fire element offensive spells, while the later two I suspected came from the axiom spell I casted inside the laboratory.
Another explosion rang out, blanketing the sky in bright purple and black light. Something fell towards the ground a incredible speeds and crashed onto the deck between Loki and I. Loki screamed in exasperation at the sight of his evo lying on the ground in a contorted heap. It's wings were missing, probably ripped off by the Nephilguize queen. The evo in question landed in front of the man-chicken and hissed.
"GET UP!" Loki ordered his evo that was just barely clinging to life. To the evo's credit it tried to stand up, parts of its mangled body started snapping back into place and healing slowly.
The Nephilguize queen held a hand up and started casting an a offensive spell sigil. Lightning shot from her hand and shot off the man-chicken's legs, keeping it from getting up.
"YOU MONSTER!" Loki bellowed as he cast a offensive spell sigil. A flames collected and condensed in his hand, taking the shape of a drill then laughing at the Nephilguize queen.
The Nephilguize queen reared her hand back and backhanded the point of the fire drill, sending it careening off course and slamming into the side of the mountain before exploding. The Nephilguize queen looked pissed and hissed angrily at Loki.
"Weak…to think you could challenge the Great one with such trash." The Nephilguize queen hissed in disappointment. She started casting a offensive spell sigil and held her hand out towards the man-chicken. Flames collected and condensed in her hand, taking the shape of a drill. This one larger than the drill that Loki created.
"Wait that spell?!" Alberto exclaimed.
The Nephilguize queen fired the drill at the man-chicken's head, tearing through it as well as the deck underneath and creating a hole the size of my entire torso. The man-chicken died instantly, obviously, and Loki collapsed onto his knees.
"AVIGALE!" Loki screamed. The Nephilguize queen huffed and turned on her hooves and dropped to one knee, bowing to me.
"I have upheld your decree, Great one." She said, respectfully.
Jiggles, Bone-lasher, and Empress all looked back at me with distrusting looks while simultaneously keeping an eye on the Nephilguize queen. I sighed and took a couple steps past my evos and flashed then reassuring smiles before turning my attention to the Nephilguize queen.
"Good job, you're stronger than that thing and it's at least at the transcended level. Probably a half true transcended with the spell casting." I said as I stopped in front of Nephilguize queen. She looked up at me with expectant eyes. "You've proven yourself, I'll forgive your transgressions against my people and accept the shame for my predecessor's obsession. I accept you as my evo and name you Mzazzi, Eighth named of Sho'lajah: Queen of the cursed angels."
Mzazzi's eyes sparkled upon hearing her new name. She bowed with reverence, her forehead nearly touching the deck.
"I will serve as your sword and your shield , Oh Great One! I will dedicate my life to achieving all you desire!" She proclaimed proudly.
I nodded then channeled mana through my hands and formed it into chains that wrapped around Mzazzi. A crystalline structure formed around her body before shrinking and getting recalled into my farm crystal. Letting out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding I turned my attention back to the crowd and saw a lot of very scared, stupefied, and angry faces. The angry ones were from the members of my party.
"What?" I asked innocently.
"YOU INSOLENT PILLBUG!" Loki bellowed. I arched a brow and turned to look a the Paragon who was practically frothing at the mouth.
"Hey now, scathing insults is my thing! I don't go around acting like a unwashed jackass so don't go stealing my shtick!" I exclaimed. Loki glowered at me, his teeth barred and jaws clenched in anger.
"That is enough Loki." Princess Carmen said, calming walking around her bodyguards and standing about ten feet away from both Loki and I then looked down at the corpse of Loki's man-chicken. "I think this is obvious proof in the difference between yourself and Master Kingston."
"It proves nothing! That…that monster wasn't even one of his evos! He just claimed it!" Loki exclaimed. I nodded in agreement and crossed my arms.
"True, true." I said casually. Princess Carmen looked to me with a quirked brow.
"So this wasn't a battle of supremacy." Princess Carmen said, sounding a little disappointed.
"Wouldn't have been much of a battle if that man-chicken had fought one of my named evos." I said in a matter of fact voice. Bone-lasher, Jiggles, and Empress all puffed their chests out a little.
"Don't be so sure you little shit!" Loki barked, drawing my attention. "That evo wasn't even my strongest evo. Not even top five! My strongest would destroy all of your pathetic evos!"
"No, it wouldn't!" Alberto snapped suddenly. I looked back over my shoulder and saw Alberto staring defiantly at his father. His eyes burning with fury and confidence.
'Looks like it's time for me to fade to the background for a minute.' I thought then locked eyes with Alberto, nodding slightly and giving my approval. Alberto smirked slightly then stepped forward, passing me and standing before the fallen corpse of his father's evo.
"I know for a fact that not a single evo you possess could defeat any of Chase's evos. The one that killed Avigale was unique but hardly the strongest. In fact after everything I've seen I can say with certainty that any evo Chase interacts with would be stronger than any you splice." Alberto proclaimed.
Loki looked at his son the way one would look at a disobedient puppy once they start acting out. His expression then became blank and passionless like he usually does when speaking to Alberto.
"Alberto, your incompetence and poor decision making is well documented. Your opinions can hardly be trusted." Loki grumbled smarmily.
"Considering that you've been in charge of my training, education, and the development of my deductive reasoning skills that comment is more of a reflection on your incompetence as a teacher than anything!" Alberto barked back. Loki sneered at his son.
"You've been spending too much time around that miscreant Kingston! Your mouth is becoming as foul and rotten as his!" Loki snapped.
"Better my mouth become foul than my heart like you…father." Alberto grumbled then huffed and turned to face Princess Carmen. "Your majesty, I have been under Chase Kingston's tutelage for a little over a month and I can say with absolute certainty that Chase's Shaped or modified evos would never lose to any evo spliced by my father."
"A rather bold claim…one that has a track record to back it up…." Princess Carmen said glancing down at the corpse of man-chicken. "…tell me, Alberto Silva, do you think you could defeat your father with a evo you created using shaping?"
Alberto's confidence tanked almost immediately. He glanced over his shoulder at me, panic and doubt clouding his eyes. I groaned then shook my head.
"The Newbie is a long ways off from actually shaping anything, he can barely even read a lysdale scripts!" Bo suddenly exclaimed. I balked and turned around to see the annoying little brat standing in front of my evos with his arms planted on his hips, Indy and KC flanked him on either sides.
"Who are you?" Princess Carmen asked.
"Bo Kestral!" I snapped then stomped over and bopped him on the head. "Shut up, don't go trying to act like a big shot around all these royals!"
"OW! Why do you keep hitting me!" Bo griped.
"Because you're more hard headed than I am, which is saying something! The only way you understand something is if it's beat through that thick skull!" I snapped back then suddenly felt a searing burn radiate against the back of my head followed by an ungodly amount of pain and the echo of a slap through time.
"OWWWWW FUCK!" I screamed and grabbed the back of my head, turning around to see a furious Jane glaring daggers at me.
"CAN'T YOU SEE ALBERTO IS TRYING TO HAVE A MOMENT! STOP PULLING A CHASE!" Jane snapped.
"Interesting dynamic among your company, Master Kingston." Princess Carmen said, bringing my attention back to her. "Tell me Master Kingston, do you believe that your evos are superior to Loki Paragon's?"
"Obviously…" I said cockily then grabbed Bo by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him over to where Alberto was standing and stood between them. "…and to answer your question earlier, yes Alberto could defeat any of Loki's evos with one that he shaped…if he could shape. Like my annoying little shit of a protégé said Alberto is a ways off from being able to shape just yet."
"You calling me an annoying little shit!?" Bo snapped.
"Pot meet kettle…" Alberto grumbled. Princess Carmen nodded thoughtfully only to have Loki speak up.
"Preposterous! I refuse to accept this…Shaping as a new technique of splicing! The fact it requires that inferior techno-splicing makes the technique improper splicing! It will never be seen a splicing technique!" Loki snapped.
"Like I need you to acknowledge it. I'll continue to shape evos whether the technique is accepted or not." I said.
"And regardless of my father's feeling on the matter I believe that the techniques Chase created far outmatches the splicing technique my father currently employs!" Alberto exclaimed.
"Yeah! Double for me! I stake my pride as a student of Basset Paragon, an apprentice Shaper, and a member of Sho'lajah Artifact Company on it!" Bo proclaimed. The Spanish princess smirked at that and shot Loki a look.
"I see, so a gauntlet has been thrown. Loki Paragon are you just going to stand there while the cornerstone of your seat as a Paragon is being challenged?" Princess Carmen asked.
'Fuck…we've been played!' I thought as realization of the princess's plan struck. I looked over to Loki and saw him shaking with rage. His face was red as a beet and his fist were clenched so tight I could hear his knuckles cracking from where I was.
"No…I suppose I can't…" Loki growled then stepped around the corpse of his man-chicken and stood in front of me. "Chase Kingston: the Revolutionary Paragon and creator of Shaping. I, Loki Paragon: Paragon of splicing; challenge you to a duel."
"Rejected!" I said immediately while making a x with my arms.
"YOU CAN'T REJECT A PARAGON'S CHALLENGE!" Loki roared and stomped his foot.
"The fuck I can't!" I replied.
"Chase!" Alberto growled while shooting me a glare.
I looked at him reassuringly making him pause. I motioned to his father with my head and his eyes widened, realizing what I was really angling for. Alberto looked to his father and steeled his gaze.
"Counter Challenge! The practitioners of Shaping challenge the Paragon of splicing! It will be a one on one evo battle between Loki Paragon's strongest evo and a evo prepared using Chase Kingston's coveted shaping techniques!" Alberto exclaimed. Loki Paragon sneered at his son.
"Why would I agree to a challenge from you, boy?" Loki grumbled.
"Because it's the only way I'm going to accept a challenge from you." I said in a singsong voice. Loki Paragon gritted his teeth then spun on his foot.
"FINE! I accept! Our duel will commence at the nightfall! In the skies above Tsushima! Be ready, when I win I will demand the immediate censure and destruction of all things dealing with Shaping!" Loki growled then stormed off towards the observation deck.
"Well have fun dancing the Macarena butt naked!" I call out to him while he rushed off. Loki froze mid-step, only a few steps away from the door.
"THE WHAAAAAAAAT?!!!!!!!!"