Chapter 4

Himiko Cybers was dreadfully bored. She was the younger sister of the president himself and so she really deserved to go to fancy parties every evening. However, her boring brother said “parties are for the uncultured”, and spent every night reading books and strategizing with his dull secretary. Himiko thought that the secretary Mr. Bones was kind of cute, but she swore she had only ever heard him talk about politics and so he wasn’t exactly boyfriend material and she’d rather he’d get lost. She let out a huge over exaggerated yawn as she lounged in a plush white armchair in one of the many luxurious living rooms in the Palace Needle. Her brother, Amarterasu, was still poring over more of those stupid documents that had something to do with politics or the law, she wasn’t sure which. And of course Mr. Bones was there too, staring blankly in that dull black suit.

“I can’t imagine who’d ever elect a president who didn’t know how to have fun,” said Himiko loudly, glaring at her brother, who ignored her. “Can we please have a party? I’m literally the most important girl in this whole city but I have the least fun!”

“Himiko, can you be quiet?” drawled Amarterasu looking up from his work. “I have some…pressing concerns right now and I can’t take any more of your whining.”

Himiko pouted and turned away. “Ever since you became president you’ve been no fun…” she grumbled. To her annoyance, Amarterasu did not even respond. “Fine then!” she shouted. “I’m going to my room.”

Amarterasu did not reply, so Himiko stormed off, strolling through the wood-paneled floor of the penthouse to her own room. It was a good thing that she was going back to school tomorrow. Spending a weekend with her drag of a brother was such a chore!

***

Once Himiko had left, Amarterasu glanced up at Bones. Within his penthouse at the top of the Palace Needle, he could speak freely. Nonetheless he never discussed business in the presence of his family. His two sisters, Izanami and Himiko, were still in high school, which they attended with the other children of the great families. A careless word could spell death for him and countless others.

“What is the report on Fangtastic Teslamancer’s assassination?” he asked, turning slightly in his white chair.

“He’s dead,” Bones replied simply. “Amido Amdahl was seriously wounded, and a member of his team was killed.”

Amarterasu nodded. He did not care whether any of the assassins had lived or died. They were a dime a dozen within this city. “What is the status of the other family heads?” He asked.

Bones took out his tablet and looked it over. “Endrick Teslamancer will be taking over from his grandfather,” Bones replied.

“Ah, my sisters know him,” Amarterasu smiled. “He’s supposed to be an idiot.” Indeed, Endrick Teslamancer was barely eighteen, and spent most of his days drinking and experimenting with strange new drugs. Even though he himself had been Endrick’s age when he had come into office, he scarcely considered Endrick a threat.

“Of the other leaders, Thrysitor Dongleface is consolidating his power. The man’s continuing to invest in weapons. He seems to be building an army. It would appear that the Jamitovs are in close collaboration with him.”

Well, that was troublesome news. An alliance between the Donglefaces and Jamitovs would be dangerous. Perhaps he ought to plan a way to ensure Thrysitor and Dash Jamitov’s deaths at the upcoming banquet.

“Kaneda, how perplexing would it be if…let's say Thrysitor died?” Amartarasu said, his eyes twinkling.

“Perplexing enough for people to expect it was you, I’m afraid.” Kaneda shook his head.

Amartasu sighed, “I suppose my obnoxious sister will have to make sure that this alliance never happens.”

“It shall be guaranteed.” Kaneda said, politely walking out of the room.

As the door to Amartasu’s office clicked close he relaxed in his chair. This endless political intrigue seemed to be getting nowhere. Perhaps this once he’d show that he was more than just a political name, but also a political supreme leader.

“Kaneda,” he said, picking up a small communication device, “Please tell all the guests that tommorows banquet shall be happening tonight, and please keep in mind that some people will not make it out alive.”

“As you wish, I shall inform the guests shortly. And if you don’t mind me asking, do you have a way of disposing of these people?”

“Of course. I have arranged for Oscar Ernest to be the one performing for us.”

“If you insist,” Kaneda grumbled before ending the call.

Not soon after Amartarasu had made the call his door burst open a short girl with messy black hair and huge red eyes came running in,

“Brother! So even you were starved for fun! I can’t wait for this party!”

“Keep in mind that this is not just a party, Himiko. It’s more of a political gathering.” Amartarasu said.

“Oh whatever. Maybe I'll just skip out on it then and go to the bar or something.” Himiko said, slightly pouting.

Amartarasu faced the huge window behind him, half ignoring Himiko, “As you wish.”

Himiko stuck out her tongue and ran out of the door, “Hmph! You never even listen to me! Do you even care that your beloved sixteen year old sister is becoming a total bad girl!?”

Amartasu sighed, “I’m more concerned about what’s happening to my city. I have a feeling that something unpleasant is in the air. There is something monstrous that has arrived in Neo Arachnis.”

“Well I sure hope so,” pouted Himiko, crossing her arms. “I’d sure like some excitement in this stupid place.”

Amarterasu clenched his hands into fists. Himiko had only been ten years old when he became president, so she could hardly remember back when their parents had been alive and things hadn’t been so comfortably boring for her. She didn’t understand that a threat to his presidency was also a threat to her luxurious life. “Leave, Himiko. I can’t concentrate on anything with your constant whining.” Himiko glared at her brother’s back and then stomped out of the room. Amarterasu gazed at his city. He felt as though the power he had so carefully been gathering over the years was slipping out of his hands. He had more enemies than allies - in fact, Kaneda was really the only one he trusted. And yet, somehow, he had a feeling that the political maneuvering of the high families should be the least of his worries.

***

The last-minute change of date for Amarterasu’s party had created an uproar in the upper circles of Neo Arachnis. One did not simply fail to show up to one of the president's gatherings, and so a crowd of sleek luxurious hover cars filled with the city’s elite rushed towards the Palace Needle as the sun began to set. Only the most wealthy and important people received invitations to the last-minute party, except, of course, in the case of one man.

Oscar Ernest lounged in his apartment, softly singing to himself.

“I’m gonna rip you limb from limb, I’m gonna crush all your bones, I’m gonna turn you black and blue…”

A loud ringing interrupted his grotesque song and Oscar let out a huge groan when he saw who was trying to contact him. Oscar cheekily rejected the call, forcing the secretary of the president of Neo Arachnis to call back five times as Oscar rejected his call each time. Oscar let out an evil giggle, and finally accepted. He was greeted by the furious face of Kaneda Bones.

“Well if it isn’t Kanny! Please tell me the president is finally tired of you so I can kill you!”

Kaneda took a deep breath and glared sharply at Oscar who happily grinned back. “If I wasn’t still working for the president, I would come there and kill you myself.”

Oscar laughed, “I’d love to see you try, secretary boy. Ha ha ha!”

“Try to control your disgusting murderous impulses for once, Oscar. President Cybers would like to invite you to a political gathering at the Palace tonight, and he wants most of his guests to leave alive.”

“Awww…” Oscar sighed as he fell down onto his bed. “That’s no fun…”

Oscar heard angry grumbling from the phone, a very amusing sound. “This isn’t a joke, Oscar. The president wants Thrysitor Dongleface dead. He’s bound to be under extremely tight security, especially since he’s been expanding his personal security force. You’ll get more than your fill with him.”

“Oooooh, sounds tasty!” Oscar laughed. Well, Kaneda couldn’t exactly control him. If most of the guests ended up dying in the crossfire, well, who could be blamed?

Oscar hung up the phone, stood up, and stretched. This was going to be a great evening!

***

Kaneda Bones sighed as he placed his phone back in his pocket. He strode to a window and gazed up at the multicolored city, great neon spires reaching for the sky yet none even approaching the highest floors of the Palace Needle where he stood. It was a complex city…even staring at the misshapen buildings and elevated roads and walkways could make a man go mad. Such a city required a firm, strong hand to rule it, and an arsenal of deadly weapons. It would be to President Cybers’ benefit to replace these freelance assassins with something of a personal black ops force. Men like Oscar Ernest were too unpredictable. How long would it be before a man like him, or a member of the president’s family were caught in the crossfire? Kaneda resolved to bring up the idea next time he spoke to the president. The sooner Oscar was unnecessary, the better.

The man hadn’t even brought back much good from the assassination of Fangtastic Teslamancer, beyond confirming without a doubt that Amido Amdahl had been a member of the Children of Obscurum. It had taken his own investigations to uncover any new leads, though thankfully he had discovered many interesting things.

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Looking at Amdahl’s past records, it seemed as though he had done many jobs for the Vandorious family. Most freelance mercenaries were connected with all the high families of course, but if the reports his investigators had dug up were correct Amdahl had done so much work for Thurian Vandorius, he nearly seemed like the man’s personal lackey. And while Amdahl and his gang had killed powerful people of all factions, never in all of Amdahl’s career had he been known to slay a Vandorius or one who was known to be a close friend or ally of the family. With the information coming out that Amdahl was a member of the Children of Obscurum…

Was there a connection between Thurian Vandorius and the cult? That would certainly explain how difficult it was to track done…and it would also elevate the cult’s threat level significantly.

But Kaneda could not dwell on these thoughts for long, for it was the time of the banquet, though it wouldn’t be too entertaining for some, including himself. Yet the reasons why the other guests wouldn’t enjoy the banquet would be different from his own gripes…in the deadliest possible way.

***

Kenada had never thought banquets to be all that pleasant, however his job forced him to frequent them. He walked stiffly towards the banquet hall, each step feeling heavier and heavier. Normally he would mildly dislike parties, however since Oscar would be there it would be many times worse. He glanced at his watch. He was just one hour early. Kaneda sighed. He had spent far too much time walking aimlessly through the halls so that he wouldn't be exactly two hours early.

He pushed open the doors leading towards the banquet hall, no other guests were there except for a couple servants giving the finishing touches to the tables. Then right beside the huge tables laid out with countless plates of food was the exact person that Kaneda had been trying to avoid, Oscar Ernest.

“How did you get here so early!?” Kaneda hissed at him through gritted teeth.

“I should be asking you that! I obviously came early so that I could get all the best food before everyone else!” Oscar said, giggling.

Kaneda glared at Oscar, “What are you, a child?” He desperately wanted to leave the banquet, however he knew he could not. He just had to ignore Oscar for one hour. He could survive this.

Oscar ran up to Kaneda holding a glass of bright orange punch. “Here, Kaneda!”

Kaneda took the glass and hesitantly sniffed it. Without a second thought, he dumped it onto the prestinly white marble floors. “It’s poisoned. You truly believe me to fall for that?”

“Teehee, you got me there Kanny! How about this delicious cake?” Oscar said, holding up a small chocolate cake.

“No, go eat it yourself.” Kaneda said.

“You’re no fun Kanny~” Oscar said, dropping the cape on the floor and clasping his hands behind his head. He walked back towards the tables, whistling.

Kaneda glared at Oscar as he happily looked over the tables of pastries and sparkling drinks, humming softly. Kaneda wished he had brought some poison to slip into Oscar’s drink and finally eliminate that useless assassin, but he would never dare harm one of the guests. Besides, Amarterasu wanted Oscar here, and Kaneda would rather die himself than disobey him. So instead, Kaneda crossed his arms and stood at the back of the room, surveying the servants putting up tables and extravagant gold-plated decorations. He would simply have to pretend Oscar didn’t exist for the duration of the night even though he was sure that he would try his best to make that impossible. He was sure this was going to be one of the most unpleasant parties he had ever been forced to attend.

***

Appearances were essential for gaining respect in the high society of Neo Arachnis and President Cybers desired the highest amount of respect at all times. He stood in his chamber in the palace, a giant round room almost at the pinnacle of the tower. One wall was taken up by an enormous window which surveyed a sea of clouds through which only the tallest building pierced. However, Amarterasu had no interest in the picturesque sunset unfolding behind him. His attention was focused on the large gold-framed mirror. He prized these small pockets of time in the day when he could focus entirely on himself, with no servants or other individuals to distract him. He was dressed in only a towel around his waist, and his golden hair was still damp from his shower.

Amarterasu knew that he was an attractive man, and he couldn’t help but smile as he observed his defined muscles that he had devoted so much time to perfecting. Other presidents had been old men whose appearances had been forgettable, if not entirely unappealing. However, he was a handsome youthful man with perfectly styled golden hair and sharp blue eyes reminiscent of the sapphires that he liked to wear to accent them. Beauty demanded respect, and he would make sure he was respected more than all the presidents before him.

There was a knock at the door, and Amarterasu was pulled out of his thoughts. “You may enter,” he commanded carelessly, allowing a train of servants to enter, carrying his outfit for the night. He wore a white high-collared shirt with straight white pants and golden shoes layed with diamonds and sapphires. On top of his relatively simple underclothes, he wore a sleek white blazer embroidered in gold thread and a long white dress coat painstakingly embroidered with designs of the Neo Arachnis crest.

He closed his eyes, savoring the moment as his servants placed the Crest of the Presidency around his neck. The heavy gold necklace was a symbol of power that had been worn by all the past presidents since the founding of Neo Arachnis and now belonged to him alone. Many people had mocked the young pale boy living in the slums when he told them that someday he would be ruling over them, but none of them were laughing now.

Amarterasu waved his servants out of the room, taking in the last few minutes until he would make his grand entrance. He had spared no expense on this party, as he had wanted it to be a grand show of power for the high families. He did want to instill fear in their hearts, but more importantly he wanted them to feel a deep jealousy towards a man who had the power and wealth that they so desired but now could only dream of. Very soon, his total dominance over Neo Arachnis would be assured.

***

The Palace Needle loomed tall above the Grand Street, like a gold beam of light shining from the heavens. Flanked by glimmering skyscrapers on both sides, a seemingly-endless line of luxury hovercars slowly churned towards the tower’s great entryway. On ordinary days, all street traffic would’ve been cleared away to give the occupants of each one of these cars safe passageway. But when Amarterasu Cybers had called a last-minute banquet for all the city’s elite, all sense of protocol collapsed into a sort of chaos.

Far down on the line, in a light blue limousine, Halvon Vandorius anxiously tapped his fingers in the armrest. He clutched his phone in his hand, wet with sweat. “Should I call him again, Mom?” he asked.

Ysmerelda Vandorius was a woman who even Halvon would admit looked unpleasant, like a wicked stepmother from a fairy tale. She sniffed, looking at her poofed-up white hair decorated with sapphires in a mirror. “Thurian’s probably off gambling in some undercity parlor,” she sighed. “The idiot will cripple the family one day.”

“So…should I call him?” Halvon asked hesitantly. He was a large man, though nowhere near his father’s girth, and he wore black scruff on his face in an attempt to seem fashionably roguish. It did not seem to be working.

“Of course you should call him!” Ysmerelda snapped, causing Halvon to wince. “What do you think the others will say if our family head is absent!? The Donglefaces alone will crush us alive!”

“Y-yes, mom.” Halvon nodded quickly, dialing his father’s number for the fifth time that night. He put it to his ear, desperately hoping to hear Thurian’s voice.

***

The unpleasant task of disposing of the body of Thurian Vandorius, once among the most powerful men in the Arachni Union, was decided at random. Mai Yamada did not complain when she was one of the two chosen. She was numb to these sorts of things. Compared to the other Children of Obscurum, who were mostly ordinary impoverished citizens, she had lots of experience with dead bodies.

She picked the obese man up by the legs; Alex, a burly man she didn’t know well, took the shoulders. Most who didn’t know her well were surprised at how strong she was…her slight frame concealed the strength training that Amido had subjected her to since the time she’d been twelve.

With one quick movement she threw Thuriun’s dead body into a large heap of dirt.

“I have now completed my mission,” Mai said with an expressionless face. She got out a large lollipop from her pocket and started to lick it.

“And now it's time to complete mine…” Alex sighed.

Mai turned her blank stare to face Alex, “I find the taste of Lollipops enjoyable.”

“Just as I find the taste of the money that I get by my assassinations,” Alex said, walking up to Mai.

Mai had never really cared about anything as long as she had lived, she had barely even cared about her life, so when Alex said these words her mind immediately went to the thought that her lollipop might be in danger.

“You are an assassin,” Mai stated, staring intently at her lollipop.

Alex gruffly laughed and took out a grenade, “I prefer to use the word mercenary, because I only do it for the cash.”

“‘Kay,” Mai said.

Alex walked a few steps in front of Mai and then threw the grenade behind him, without stopping to look back he walked towards his car.

A huge explosion rang out all around him causing rocks and dirt to crash against the car’s windows, but Alex could only think of one thing, Himiko Cybers. “I’ve been a double agent for two entire months now, I have to have enough info on the Children of Obscurum to gain Himiko’s admiration, right?” Alex muttered to himself under his breath.

He took off his camouflage jacket and pulled on a bright red leather jacket with a badge on it saying, ‘Himiko’s Knights’ He’d been a dedicated member of the fanclub for quite a long time now, and with his new career as her personal, though unwanted, mercenary, she had to like him a bit more.

He smiled at himself in the car’s mirror. At the young age of eighteen he’d completed a double-agent mission, how could Himiko not like him? He took off his gray baseball cap, letting his messy black hair out and gave himself a confident smirk. When he crashed the banquet tonight Himiko would find him almost irresistible.

Alex hadn’t performed enough successful assassinations to afford a hover car, so he was forced to cruise along the ground, banging his head to the ‘Official Himiko Album’. Himiko’s Knights was steadily growing in popularity among the residents of the underbelly of Neo Arachnis. To Alex, she was a pure princess who was one of the true citizens, not the upper class. He was sure other men felt the same way. Alex didn’t care much for President Cybers, since he disliked how he kept his sisters out of the spotlight and sucked up to the rich. His only queen was the gorgeous angel Himiko, who was his one pillar of light in the dark city he lived in.

“Himiko,” he muttered under his breath as he sped towards the very center of the city, towards the Palace Needle as hoards of opulent hover cars made their way to the same destination. “My Queen, I’m coming for you.” He was not invited to the party, but assassins had ways of gaining entrance into important events. And this was one event that Alex would not miss. He had promised himself that tonight he would confess his love to Himiko and have her love him back before any of the other Knights could get to her. He was, after all, the most devoted to her and really deserved her love after everything he’d done for her sake.

***

Above the city, a man stood perched on the edge of a skyscraper, gazing down upon the streams of hover cars circling towards one central location. He strained his eyes upward, taking in the glittering sight of the golden needle that pierced through the misty night. His followers were all throughout the city, it seemed, and so Feros Obscurum had learned that this night was the night that he must announce his return to this pitiful world. He felt strangely detached from the frantic events unfolding below him at this very moment. It was happening to him, as if it were ants on a stage putting on a performance for his own entertainment. It was a tragic tale of men drowning in power and riches and the assassins who played with their lives. And yet, Feros knew that he stood strangely outside of it all. He recalled the words of the philosopher Aristotle that he had read alongside Naniir, thousands of years ago. “He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god,” Feros whispered, his words becoming lost in the wind that caused his long white hair to blow across his face. Feros pondered on these words, wondering which of the two he had become. He had been called a god when he shared the life force of the woman he had loved, and he had been hailed as one when he descended into that strange temple, but now as he stared out into the city he felt unsettled.

The world was a fragile thing. Feros wondered if he should crush it in his hands, letting the life force of thousands drip down his hands like blood. He could reset the world, re-creating the glorious empire he had lost and putting an end to the neon charade unfolding below him. All of a sudden, Feros was struck with the enormity of what Naniir had gifted to him. He stretched out his hand into the dark abyss extending beyond him. He took a step forward and fell from the building, knowing his extensive power would save him from the fall. Would he destroy the world or save it? Was he a beast or a god? He closed his eyes and smiled, savoring the rush of the fall as he plunged like a falling star. He would decide that tonight.