Damon
"Something wrong?" My uncle Raphael asked.
I shook my head then rubbed my farm crystal. It had been throbbing relentlessly ever since Obéron heard about the plan to hear Chase. Allowing him to share senses with me was mistake at least this time around.
"My evo doesn't approve of my actions so far. It's one of Chase's shaped ones so its trying to resist." I explained. That caught Duke Bulqea's attention, his reputation for being conniving and power hungry were well deserved. I knew from stories from my father He's coveted and taken plenty of stuff from other noble houses.
"A shaped evo? That will become very valuable once Chase Kingston is dead." The Duke said, eyeing my crystal with a calculated gaze.
"Don't even think about it!" My uncle exclaimed. "That evo is the property of the DeCharles family."
"If your nephew can keep it tame, that is." Duke Bulqea chirped.
Outside the carriage, the night sky lit up as multiple explosions went off in the direction of the Sadamas center which had long since disappeared from view. We were much closer to the docks now and I could see the coast.
"Damn Americans. They were supposed to wait until non-combat personnel were off the island!" The duke griped.
"It's irrelevant. We're nearly to the port." My uncle said. Duke Bulqea huffed then looked outside the window as dozens of smaller explosions dotted the sky, this time from the white weeping willow forest that the King's Glaive was in.
"Kingston's people are certainly putting up a good fight it seems…" Duke Bulqea commented. My uncle's reply sounded muffled as Obéron started pressing hard against my control, forcing me to focus heavily on him.
I replied softly.
I tensed my jaw as the memory flashed before my eyes. My father standing over me, his fist clench and knuckles bruised. I laid on the ground, tears in my eyes looking up at him. My jaw numb to the pain thanks to adrenaline but as soon as it faded I would feel every ounce of pain from fracture. It been healed for years but my jaw still hurt when I chewed steak.
I had been top of the class but I hadn't scored a hundred percent. I had been called into the training hall to undergo more combat training. I couldn't for the life of me remember what happened during the training but I remembered being bedridden for days afterward. Fractured bones and bruises in several places on my arms and legs. Three days passed before the family doctor had been allowed to heal me and even then he only healed me just enough to get me upright and moving.
I felt my blood begin to boil as that memory surface. Constance Levi, daughter of another count and my fiancé at one point. Arranged when we were infants. She wasn't a splicer but the women in her family had high mana pools and typically passed that trait to their children. While it had been a arrangement to her, it wasn't for me. I had loved her at once point or at least fooled myself into thinking I did. Until I caught her with another man…until I caught her with my uncle.
I was panting now, more than likely drawing my father and uncle's attention again but I was too wrapped up in a haze to care.
"Damon? We've arrived." My uncle said standing in the carriage.
"Damon? Is that evo causing you too much trouble?" Duke Bulqea asked, he also stood beside my uncle, looking down at me.
The carriage driver had long since opened the door for my uncle Raphael and Duke Bulqea. Seeing me standing the two exited the carriage then turned and waited for me. As I stepped out I took a quick glance around, the port was littered with corpses of soldiers from various countries. In front of the carriage stood fifteen French splicers dressed in combat fatigues lined up in two neat rows. Ready to escort us to whatever navel or aerial transport my uncle had arranged.
"You took over the port." I commented. Duke Bulqea chuckled and scratched his chin.
"Rather easily too. With the most officials and dignitaries leaving hours ago there wasn't as much of a military presence from other countries. Our allies rule the skies and the seas surrounding the island. Even if Kingston manages to survive our first strikes they will be hounded down by the navel and air forces of four countries." Duke Bulqea boasted proudly.
"I see…" I said softly then glanced up at the sky. Smoke and clouds bloated out the moon that had shined so brightly earlier. "…this is also a trap for Chase's evos isn't it?"
"How unusually perceptive of you nephew." My uncle said.
"I've always been perceptive uncle. I have also always been forced to play the dullard so you and father don't get to jealous of my achievements. Smart enough to brag to your friends but dull enough to not quite measure up to you." I replied.
"What does that mean!?" Uncle Raphael demanded.
"It means…I'm tired! Of you, of father, and of this stupid little character that you all make me play. Damon DeCharles, future lord of Ashwold. You and father never taught me how to be a lord or a leader. You taught me to be a follower and a puppet…" I said, confidently for the first time in my life. I felt Obéron stirring in my farm crystal, finally understanding what I was doing. His crystalline structure formed as I spoke. "…and unfortunately for you I found someone better to follow."
Obéron's crystalline structure was flung into the air and landed beside me. Shattering on impact, Obéron raised his head to the sky and let out a vicious growl, allowing all nine of his tails to fan out.
"A nine tailed Kitsune!" Duke Bulqea exclaimed, his eyes fixated on Obéron with ravenous greed. My uncle however was fixated on me.
"What is this? Are you siding with Kingston? Against your country? Against your own blood?!" My uncle yelled. The splicers that acted as their guards all took a battle ready stance, preparing to cast spells at a moments notice.
"Be grateful you are my blood Uncle. Anyone else would not get this warning. Leave now, forget killing Chase, its not going to happen." I said, letting the manacite dagger fall down my sleeve and into the palm of my hand.
"Weapon!" One of the splicers yelled and started casting and offensive spell sigil. The other fourteen followed suit. Sending fireballs, lighting bolts, ice spears flying towards me.
A green crystal formed in my hand as the spell sigil finished and the smoke from the fireballs dispersed. I watched as my uncle's face went from cocky and satisfied to filled with dead as he saw I was still alive and unharmed.
"CRYSTAL GENESIS ACTIVATE!" I yelled, shattering the crystal in my hand. A wave of mana rushing out and striking Obéron while also pushing everyone else back. Green crystal started to encase Obéron as he was lifted up into the air.