บท 341: 347: A Plague of Phantoms: The King of Lies and The King of Revolution II

Chase

"Godsdammit! I'm tired!" I groaned as I leaned against a wall inside the King's Glaive's navigation car. Fours was sitting slumped on the ground next to me. The others were scattered around the car.

"Aren't you normally tired after using that spell?" Iris asked. I looked up at Iris who was standing next to the navigation column.

"Yeah but normally it's just mana exhaustion. But this feels different…" I groaned while rolling my shoulders. "…Kinda like I got a cold."

"What's a cold?" Astrid asked.

"A normie sickness. Splicers can't get colds, our mana protects us from weaker sicknesses like that." Iris replied.

"Wait…then how does Chase know what a cold is like? He has more mana than anyone here?" Damon asked.

"Got poisoned a few times when I was younger. Barely survived. Afterwards I caught a cold. Probably weakened my immune system." I replied.

"Godsdammit your childhood was depressing." Alberto grumbled.

"Like you can talk." I rebutted. Alberto just shrugged his shoulders and chuckled.

"Speaking of bad childhoods…" Jane said, gaining everyone's attention. "…We need to head where the duel will be taking place."

"Is it that time already?" I asked.

"Nearly. You have another hour but it would probably be a good idea to get there early." Jane replied.

"Yeah, you're right." I said then reached over and placed a hand on Fours head. I channeled mana into him in order to recall him back into my farm crystal since he obviously wasn't up to recalling on his own. "King's Glaive set a course for…wait…wait…guys where is this duel supposed to be taking place?"

"Loki said to meet him in the skies above Tsushima. So obviously there!" Damon said. Everyone turned and shot Damon a look that said without a doubt that he was an idiot. Astrid walked over and slapped Damon on the back of the head.

"Stop being a idiot! The sky is huge! Where over Tsushima are we supposed to go?" Astrid snapped.

"OWWW! That hurts!" Damon hissed then rubbed where Astrid slapped him.

"Probably where the demonstration was going to take place. If I were to guess." Sin said.

"That makes sense…" I said thoughtfully. "King's Glaive set a course for the mountain range east of the docks."

"Understood! Changing course!" King's Glaive replied.

I stood up from the floor and groaned when I did. It felt like my body was screaming at me to stay put but resting on the ground was not going to be relaxing. Jane and Iris rushed over to me and helped propped me up.

"Okay, that's not normal." Jane said.

"I think it's a side effect of using the crystal genesis spell with Fours. He's the only one of my evos that don't have a mana crystal core." I replied.

"I wonder…" Iris muttered.

"We can wonder later. Lets get Chase back to his cabin so he can rest." Jane said. Iris nodded and the two started guiding me towards the door to the next car which was my personal sleeping car.

I would have commented on the fact that they didn't ask my opinion on the matter if I wasn't dog tired and feeling worse by the minute. What made it worse was the fact that I still had a decent amount of mana left in reserve. A little less than half of my mana reserves were left, which wasn't enough to make me tired. A little drowsy or cranky maybe but not this tired.

When we reached my my room the girls let me fall on the bed. The moment my head hit the pillow I could feel my consciousness starting to drift and a heavy pull on my eyelids.

"Whaaaa…I sweepy…" I slurred. I felt a hand on my head that quickly pulled away.

"Oh Gods! Go get Seamus! He's burning up!" Jane exclaimed.

I tried to turn my head to look towards the sound of her voice but found my body no longer listening to my commands. Instead my vision started to blur while my body became numb with each passing second.

<[(Rest boy…time for me to spin a tale.)]>

My eyes rolled back into my skull as I felt a wave of heat wash over my body. I could everything going on around me but sounds were starting to get drowned out, becoming more mute with each second. My consciousness went blank, like getting sucker punched and knocked out.

***

I opened my eyes and found myself staring up at a vast and empty void. I was laying on my back, on some sort of stretchy road. I sat up and looked around, realizing there were more roads branching off from the one I stood on further down the way. There were hundreds of them if not thousands.

"Where the fuck am I?" I asked myself. I didn't really expect a answer since I was obviously alone.

"My humble abode…" A voice answered behind me.

"OH SHIT!" I screamed and spun around.

Standing behind me was none other than Anansi Paragon. He was dressed in the same divine empire of Niger uniform that the fake Anansi was wearing the night he invaded Tolapo village. I jumped back and popped my claws, ready to slash at Anansi should he try anything. Or rather I thought I popped my claws. I didn't feel the same pressure in my knuckles that normally accompanied my claws coming out. I looked down and saw my claws were in fact still sheathed.

"What the hell?!" I exclaimed then shook my fist trying to make my claws pop out.

"You might as well stop that, child. You'll find that you have no access to any powers or abilities that could be used to harm me here..." Anansi said. I took a running start at Anansi and swung a viciously hay maker at his face. Only to somehow miss and find myself punching the ground.

"OWWW! SON OF A POX-RIDDEN WHORE! THAT FUCKING HURT!" I screamed and while flailing my hand in a futile attempt to make the pain go away.

"That hurt?" Anansi asked.

I turned towards the sound of his voice and saw that he was standing behind me again. He had an amused smirk on his face that pissed me off.

"OF COURSE IT FUCKING HURT YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" I screamed.

"I should have also added that you cannot physically hurt me as well." Anansi said.

"That would have been nice to fucking know!" I snapped then rubbed my bruised hand against my leg. "Whatever the fuck you want with Anansi, you better spill it now. Cause when I wake up and find you I'm going to slaughter you!"

Anansi looked surprised for a second then rolled his eyes and shook his head at. There was something about the action that seemed foreign, at least to Anansi. I narrowed my eyes at Anansi and noticed something that was odd. The uniform he was wearing had bloodstains and dirt all over it, there was even a massive hole in shot him with that magic enhanced bullet.

'Wait is this another double like the one in Tolapo village?' I thought.

"No, I am not a double. The truth is much harder to believe." Anansi said suddenly, as if he was reading my mind.

"How did you…"

"Know what you were thinking?" Anansi asked, interrupting me.

"Fuck! Whatever spell you have me under allows you to read my thoughts!" I exclaimed.

Anansi shook his head and snapped his fingers. Dozens of thin threads suddenly started spinning around Anansi and shrouded him from view. The strands disappeared the next second along with Anansi. I gritted my teeth at the theatrics then spun around to try and find Anansi. I was instead treated by the sight of a horror beyond my wildest dreams.

It was an enormous spider the size of the moon, perched comfortably on its web above. All eight of its eyes were staring directly at me, it thick mandibles and fangs quivered slightly. All reason was pushed out of my mind and replaced by sheer terror.

I was running before I realized it. I turned on my heel and dashed like a maniac down the stretchy road that I was slowly coming to realize was actually a thick strand of spider thread in the massive spider's web. Just when I thought I was getting away from it I looked over my shoulder and realized that I hadn't really moved at all. I kept running for what felt like an eternity before my adrenaline fueled mad dash ran dry and I collapsed on my knees.

"Good, you stopped running. Now can you stop screaming like a deranged Banshee." The massive spider said.

I hadn't realized I was screaming until the spider said something. Despite being out of breath I managed to still keep screaming. I managed to choke down the deluge of fear that was pouring out of my gut and into my vocal cords. It took a moment but I managed to stop screaming.

"I've seen plenty of reactions to my true form but yours is by far the most….dramatic." The massive spider said.

"This is an illusion. Nothing is real, nothing is real, nothing is real, nothing is real…" I repeated over and over again.

"Ah…you have a fear of spiders…that's a problem…" The spider said.

I was barely aware of anything that was happening around me. It wasn't until my feet were dangling in the air that I realized I had been picked up. I looked up and saw a massive furry spider leg had hooked the back of my shirt and lifted me into the air.

"I'm going to get eaten by a massive fucking spider…haha…haha…hahaha hahaha!" I exclaimed before breaking into a fit of deranged laughter.

"Oh…I broke him." The spider said sounding a little regretful.

I was suddenly swung around like a rag before thrown down. I smashed into the web and bounced several times before skidding to a stop, grating my face across the surprisingly rough web.

"THOR'S CRAB INFESTED COD PIECE!" I screamed and rolled around on the ground, holding my face and kicking the air. "FUCKING SON OF COCK FISTED, BULL FUCKED, TURD FACED, BITCH BOY BASTARD!"

"You curse a lot for a human…even for an American…I'm impressed." The massive spider said. I sat up and growled at the spider, momentarily forgetting I was mortally afraid of the thing and pointed a finger at it.

"THAT'S IT! I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE OR WHY IN HEL'S DIRTY BATH WATER YOU MIND-NAPPED ME BUT I SWEAR TO ALL OF THE GODS THAT I WILL BURN YOUR ETERNAL SOUL IN HELL FIRE!" I roared at the top of my lungs. That earned a chuckle from the spider, which only pissed me off more.

"That is impossible, Chase Gaelbor Kingston. Gods have no soul to burn." The massive spider said coyly before moving one of its larger legs in front of it in what I assume was a arachnid version of a bow. "Pleasure to meet you at last Sho'lajah, blessed child of the stars. I am Anansi, God of fables and trickery, father of spiders…"