Alright everyone, here's the next chapter. Things are picking up again, so the schedule isn't going to get disturbed anymore than it probably has, you can be sure of that.

I hope you enjoy what I have ready here. More story developing, some lore, and even possible foreshadowing if you squint. Either way, if you're satisfied with just the fight scenes, that's cool too.

Either way, enjoy the chapter!

Karkat wasn't going to pretend that this was going to be an easy fight. At least, if it led to that. Darkleer wasn't exactly making his intentions known right now.

The halfa watched the adult ghost carefully as he gave an impassive glare to all of the machines that failed to kill him. By all accounts, Dualscar was probably at the same age as this guy, meaning they could be at similar power levels. On the other hand, if Darkleer considered Dualscar his superior in power (falling in line what Horuss mentioned about him), then maybe he isn't as dangerous as he thinks.

Karkat took in a deep breath. He'd have to hope that Horuss finds him before anything actually started.

"So, mind explaining just what the fuck you're doing? If you're anything like Horuss, then I'd think random acts of destruction are pretty out of character for you." Karkat paused, thinking for a few seconds before shaking his head. "Then again, it doesn't seem like you two get along well, so maybe you're into that sort of thing after all."

"I wouldn't say that me and my son don't get along. We just have different sets of ideals, which I can respect." Darkleer legitimately didn't seem saddened by this, which was somehow worse than him just plain being angry. It certainly spoke a lot about the Zahhak's home life. "What he does is his own business. Though you are somewhat correct about this not exactly being random."

"Yeah, because shit can't be simple, can it?" Karkat adjusted himself midair, reclining into a relaxed position. He lazily floated around the man. "It has to be for some kind of grandiose bull crap that doesn't make sense until the last second. Except those plans were just half-baked and make little to no goddamn sense."

Darkleer raised an eyebrow, as amused as he's been from the start. "You do realize cursing doesn't make you sound more intimidating, correct?"

"Go fuck yourself." Karkat straightened out, tilting his head. The halfa was making it his goal to be a little shit. "What is this about then? Not a lot of people are willing to give me a good monologue. It's all just fighting for them."

"It is quite brutish, I suppose." Oh thank god, he was going for it. Horuss's rambling and Equis's grandiose actions started making sense as Darkleer seemed to prepare himself. "You remember that biker couple that you had to take down after they were predictably acting like hooligans?"

"Johnny and Kitty. Kinda hard to forget them when they throw an entire ass cinderblock through a school window." Yeah, Karkat was still bitter about that. And yes, he was going to continue cursing to tick the older ghost off. "Shadow was their smartest member by far."

"Agreed. I would congratulate you for trying to teach them a lesson, though it did catch the attention of one of my employers." Darkleer wasn't angry, but he did sound a little frustrated. "He wasn't exactly happy to know two of his dealers were sent back to the Infinite Realms."

"The human with big hair. Not gonna lie, I almost forgot about that asshole." It wasn't a lie. He was still curious about that mess, but it was put on the backburner thanks to the other crazy shit. "Which is weird, since I'm ninety percent sure you hate humans."

"I consider it more indifference than hate. For the most part, humans are not exactly on my radar. Ants if you will." Darkleer said it like it was a fact, though his face twisted. As if someone had shoved something disgusting into his mouth. "Though, weak as they are, some are clever. You'd be surprised to know that there are a lot more ghost powered artifacts out there. Some of them not made by us."

Ominous. Though not surprising. Unless the human in question had some affinity in ecto-science, they'd need something else to make things even. While he didn't think they were related, the memory of the human who released Fright Knight crossed his mind. If he was able to get something like the orb, then stuff like that existed all over the world. Probably even effected history.

"That would explain some local legends." Karkat felt a spark of interest, something to research and question the other ghosts on. But that would be for later. "So you invented the accessories. I'm going to guess they only work because of your Aspect."

"An astute observation." Darkleer nodded, rubbing his chin. He seemed surprised, though for what reason, Karkat could only guess. "Being able to mess with the Void Aspect does give a mastery to certain things. Primarily, in hiding certain things that shouldn't come to light."

It was a simple admittance, but since Karkat knew an important factor in their production, it made replicating them easier. The halfa nearly smiled at that, one part of a mystery being solved so easily.

…Darkleer was using this information to distract him.

"What are you really here for?" Karkat's tone turned hostile then, the fact the ghost believed that he was stupid enough to fall for the trick pissing him off. "If that was the only reason, you would've come for me a while ago. Johnny and Kitty aren't worth that for you. Your boss has way more dealers than that."

Darkleer paused again. Realizing he had been caught so easily, he briefly scowled before bringing himself down to an eerie calm. Karkat knew he was being analyzed again; his threat level being evaluated.

"I suppose you aren't as foolish as Dualscar seems to believe. I'm not sure if that's a welcome surprise or not." Confirming his real employer, he didn't seem to need the theatrics anymore. The façade slowly peeling away, so to speak. "You're right. Dealers are easy to come by, especially if people are desperate."

Karkat narrowed his eyes, body tensing. This was about to be a lot less peaceful in a few seconds.

"The other member of your species called me up not long after the deal you made with him. He recognized it for what it was and found several possible loopholes." Darkleer raised three fingers on one hand. "One of them is for you, the Blood Aspect, to break the vow yourself. Can you guess the other two?"

"…I would have to die for him to finish what he started," Karkat eyes widened, hands alighting in ecto-energy. "Or another ghost would have to kill my dad in an attack that Dualscar doesn't do himself."

Three people not used to ghost saw the computers rise up and him crash through a window. All three of them who knew one person in town who studied the supernatural exclusively, especially on the topic of the undead.

Spades was probably already on his way.

"He never specified that he wanted me to kill your father. That would cause your contract to penalize him severely." Darkleer waved a hand. All the computers, broken or not, started to float. Karkat was sure that wasn't the only stuff coming. "However, if I make a big enough spectacle and he attacks me, then it can be considered self-defense. Or I can kill you before he even appears."

Darkleer made a fist as the technology in the room stopped. "And I'm very interested to see which one of those possibilities happens first."

The computers flew to him all at once.

Kanaya wasn't sure if the arrival of Spades Slick on school premises was a good or bad thing. He was the most equipped to fighting off whatever was happening in the school and made sure he came with enough weapons so everyone could protect themselves.

However, that didn't take into account that Mr. Lancer didn't want him even near the school.

"Lewis, just let me inside the goddamn school. You have no idea what's in there, but considering I'm the expert here, I think I do." Spades was calm enough to not yell, but considering how he was gritting his teeth, that would most likely change. The knives in his hands were not helping his credibility in the slightest. "I don't care if it's computers, haunted lunch meat, or all that crap. Just let me through so I can sort this shit out."

"Mr. Slick, I can't in good conscience do that when you're carrying deadly weapons. We don't even know if what's going inside is actively supernatural." Lancer would've let the man in if it wasn't for what happened last time he went on a 'ghost hunt.' The trauma the previous vice principal had to go through made it impossible for him to work in Casper High ever again. "Strange phenomena happens all the time, but it isn't ghosts."

"Then what the fuck did you just call whatever flew into the window?!" Spades groaned loudly. Kanaya actually feared that this would end up with him storming the entire school. "Jesus Christ, why does no one listen to me?"

"I'm not sure if this is funny or kind of sad." Feferi watched the adults argue with some irritation, something Kanaya couldn't blame her for. "He's most likely right and has all the sources he needs, but everyone is just ignoring him."

"People don't like knowing things that challenge their worldview too much or inconvenience them with something uncomfortable. Considering some global crises, that shouldn't be too surprising." Kanaya paused, figuring that was a little too grim. "Or Mr. Lancer is in shock. That's the more likely explanation."

"Fair. That's the second time I've seen a ghost and I'm still not sure how to feel about it sometimes." Feferi quirked an eyebrow, giving the other girl an inquisitive look. "How many times is it for you? And how do you know Karkat again?"

"In order? This is the third time, and I'm technically his aunt." Kanaya would love to relish the surprised look she got from that response, but she could see a tuft of purple moving in the distance. "You might want to check on your friend over there. He appears to be out of breath."

Feferi blinked, really wanting to figure out what she meant, but deigning to turn around. She saw Eridan jog the rest of the way over, looking exhausted.

"Wha-What's going on?" Eridan said when he started to catch his breath. He raised a finger, a hand on his knees as he tried to settle down. "G-Give me a minute here. Dear god, I should get in better shape."

"The AI uprising is happening, and a ghost showed up to stop it. Which is not something I thought I'd see today." Feferi was preaching to the choir there, but she wasn't finished. She actually looked puzzled. "Why did you run here? I didn't tell anyone anything was happening yet."

"Did Karkat send you? I don't exactly see him here with his father, which would certainly be a big help right now." Kanaya wasn't sure how well Karkat was at keeping his father's temper under control, but it would certainly be a useful skill. "It seems strange he wouldn't jump at the opportunity to make sure we're ok."

"O-oh, right. Kar's at the lab right now. Some weird stuff is happening with some of his dad's experiments and he's trying to keep it contained." Eridan rubbed the back of his neck, adjusting his glasses enough so they couldn't actually see his eyes. "Can't have more than one problem going on. Only reason I didn't stay is because Sol decided to help too."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. I'd really rather not have to see more than one ghost today if I can avoid it." Feferi hummed before shaking her head. "Well, more than one ghost attack. Maybe if they were a friendly ghost…"

The two continued talking, but something really irked Kanaya about that explanation. She admittedly didn't know Spades that long, but she felt like he would be pretty protective over his inventions, and even more about his son. And Karkat, despite probably knowing more about his father's inventions than anybody, wouldn't risk messing with a device that he couldn't repair.

She was about to voice those opinions out loud before something in the trees caught her eyes. Something was actively moving very quickly in there, and it was glowing brighter than most things should.

Kanaya spared a glance to the rich kids before making her way to the tree line. No one noticed as she attempted to follow the glowing figure deftly and quickly.

After a few moments, whatever it was finally slowed down until it eventually stopped. Kanaya was thankful for that because she was almost sure she'd lose it if it had kept trying to move.

She soon had to stop calling it 'it' though after she could hear him speak.

"Why did he have to cut the line? Does he really think I won't figure out what he's doing or that he's here already?" The figure mumbled, searching for something on his phone. He seemed frustrated. "Just because I can't find Phantom's signal doesn't mean I can't find the dead zone. Talks so much about how to be smarter than everyone else and he forgets I can use the same Aspect. The nerve!"

Kanaya had no idea what the ghost was talking about, but she had a feeling it was probably related. Was this Phantom person that ghost looking for the ghost that flew into the computer lab? Or was he talking about whoever was attacking it?

If it weren't for the fact that she wasn't armed, she'd be tempted to ask what he meant.

That and she heard an explosion go off somewhere near the school.

The ghost tensed, turning, and speeding off towards it.

"Oh no, they've already met." She heard him mutter as he moved. "I can't let them hurt each other. Not like this."

Despite her better judgement, Kanaya decided to follow behind.

Karkat dodged another laser, doing his best to take stock into this situation he found himself in.

The good news was this was eerily similar to how things went when he had to fight Horuss down from going completely obsession-crazy. Darkleer maybe the Zahhak figurehead, but that meant he knew exactly what to expect power wise and how to combat it.

The problem was that Darkleer was obviously more powerful, more experienced, and had the advantage since Karkat was alone this time.

Darkleer had made a mech suit much like Horuss did, but way more advanced and made up of modern technology. It covered his full body, growing bigger with every moment as more tech was gathered from local sources, building it up more. Weapons kept improving every moment, along with more being added every second.

Karkat was slowly starting to realize that even while Horuss had been deep into his obsession, he was still holding back. And now he was being shown how truly terrifying it could get.

"I'm going to take a guess and assume you made Skulker's stuff too before I got him to Redglare. Something about this is very familiar." Karkat tapped his hand to his chin, deftly avoiding an arc of lightning. "I'm not sure if it's the design, the type of weapons, or the obvious need to compensate for something."

"I think we both know the answer to that question, Phantom." Darkleer's tone was conversational, obviously not rising to the bait. "I will have to say, thank you for getting rid of him. His requests usually bordered on the absurd."

Karkat received that thank you in the form of a large mechanical hand attempted to punch him into the ground. The halfa returned it with a swing of sickle, the chain flowing through it as it cut the thing off Darkleer's body.

It took only a moment for it to rise back up and reattach itself. While the broken parts that had been a part of it were left to rot, anything that remained whole made sure to fill the space. That presented an obvious problem.

Karkat figured he could keep chipping away at the guys evolving mech, but the amount of actual damage he was doing was negligible and could end up being repaired anyway. As he dodged more arcs of electricity, he also knew that even if Darkleer didn't have to keep repairing either. All he had to do was keep making more weapons until the halfa was killed or forced to run.

He had to make Darkleer do something stupid and expose himself.

"You know, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about. How exactly is your relationship with your kids?" Karkat nearly laughed as the man paused, though he did receive a shock for his troubles. He soldiered on, reminding himself to buy Horuss something for making it able to absorb some of the electricity. "Not good? Figures. I know you said Horuss goes by his drum, but I highly doubt it's just that."

"My personal relationships are none of your business. Maybe focus on your own problems." A fleet of buzzsaws came at Karkat. Guess that hit a nerve. "Considering I'm trying to kill you. You shouldn't be acting so blasé."

"I'm just curious! Horuss is such a nice guy and all, and he seems to hate your ass more than anything." Karkat activated his red string vision. He could see a thread coming from the center of the mech leading to somewhere in the forest, showing at least one of his sons was coming by. "And your other kid. Equis I think? I'm wondering if that'll end up being a repeat too."

"Like I said, Horuss has his own ideals." Darkleer formed a shield, blocking several ecto-blasts from Karkat. This let the halfa slice at one of his hands again, this time only getting a few fingers. "Equis is much more agreeable to mine. You assume too much."

"No, I think I'm making good point here. If anything, I'm actually helping you out by making sure you don't make the same mistake twice." Karkat kept slashing, chains and sickles flying every which way. They kept getting blocked, but that was the point. He needed him to focus on it. "It seems like you Void types have a hard time making friends without being valuable to them somehow. So I'd protect all the relationships you can get."

That must've hit a nerve as Darkleer sent a wave of circular saws at him, arcing towards him with wires out. Which, honestly, was exactly how he planned it.

Karkat darted forward, sending a chained sickle in a wide arc above him to cut the wires off the saws. At the same time, he moved the other chained sickle to twist around the main body of the mech, jerking his arm back to pull it towards him. Pulling back the first sickle into his hand, he charged it up.

At the last possible second before impact, he thrust his hand forward, the sickle causing a blast that opened the chest of the mech wide open. Karkat kept his fist charged and flipped the sickle to the but end of it as he repeated the action, hitting Darkleer in the chest hard.

Going at it a third time was a mistake as the older ghost grabbed his arm this time, sending a kick to the halfa's stomach. The blow was a lot stronger than Karkat thought, launching him backwards into a tree.

Karkat was glad he couldn't breathe, because he probably wouldn't have been able to from the impact. He reflexively took a breath, irritating some obviously broken ribs and a bruise spine.

"Holy shit," The halfa muttered before sending a glare to a slowly approaching Darkleer. "Have you been holding back this whole time?"

"Yes and no. It would've been much easier to kill you with my bare hands, but I didn't believe I needed to go that far. My powers should've been more than enough." Darkleer sneered, wiping his hands off on his suit. "I was hoping your father would appear so I could simply kill him instead, but you're a much bigger threat than I thought."

"I do my best to impress." Karkat coughed as he shakily got onto his feet. He quickly swigged some ectoplasm, though he figured it wouldn't matter unless Darkleer was distracted enough for a few seconds. "I'm guessing this is the part where you gloat and talk about how the strong are better than the weak?"

"I would, but you are too clever for your own good. I do appreciate the interesting fight, but this is where I cut it short." Darkleer had the mech raise one hand, several lasers lighting up as he frowned. "Goodbye, Phantom."

The lasers were about to fire as Karkat attempted to move to the side, but the sound of the machines in it whirring or stopping caught both ghostly beings' attention. The mech started to glitch as if something was fighting against it.

This was followed by an electric shock hitting Darkleer in his side.

The older ghost whirled around at his attacker, ready to send an electric blast back before seeing it was an enraged Horuss. Darkleer paused at that, not daring to fire at his own son, who didn't seem to share the sentiment.

Horuss fired several blasts again, causing Darkleer to dodge to his left. Karkat took this as an opportunity to hit the man in the head with the blunt end of his sickle. Before the ghost could recover, Horuss punched him in the stomach, knocking him backward.

Darkleer could look at them, dazed, as Karkat pulled out the thermos and sucked the older ghost inside.

There was a few moments of silence as they both collected themselves, and in Karkat's case, not injure themselves further.

"Thanks. You really just saved my ass back there." Karkat laughed, coming out as bitter. He really needed to get better at this, so he didn't have to rely on people so much. "I'm surprised that I didn't get killed right there."

"I'm surprised that he was trying to kill you at all. Usually he isn't this ruthless." Horuss sighed, disappointment clear in his features. "I guess he's changed a good deal since I left home. And not for the better."

Karkat winced, a mix between pain and awkwardness. A thought surfaced that maybe the separation wasn't a clean deal for either of them, but that wasn't an issue he could touch on. He wasn't an expert, much less anyone in any position to say anything about it.

"This was a lot more taxing than I thought it would be. I'm very sorry. At the very least, it appears Equis has some sense of morality separate to our father's." Horuss didn't bring up the fact that his brother did it prevent upsetting him. It hadn't fully worked, honestly. "I'll head on out Mr. Vantas. You deal with my father however you please. I'm sure Redglare will want a talk with him."

"I'll make sure to do that. You get home safe." Karkat figured that he was almost healed up enough to get away on his own anyway. He turned to Horuss, seeing that he was already gone. "Now to make sure nobody sees me…"

"Hey!"

Karkat shot up into the air, turning to interrupting voice with some sense of alarm. He couldn't help but blink when he saw his dad raising an ecto-gun at him. Spades actually blinked right back.

"Freeze or I'll… shoot, I guess?" Apparently Spades was just as surprised to see him as Karkat was. Probably didn't think he'd actually get see a human ghost today. What a goddamn treat for him. "Are you that ghost that flew in through the window? Hold up a second, is that my thermos?!"

"Yeah. Thanks again, it's been a big help." Karkat was not as confident as he sounded, rising higher into the air. He put the thermos on his belt, making sure to stay on the side with his dad's bad eye. "All the hot soup I can have in the world right at my fingertips. The ghost catching option is certainly a bonus too."

"Wait, I said don't move! I want to know what the hell just happened here." Spades corrected his aim, looking confused more than anything. This was his first time actually talking to anything remotely ghostly, as far as he knew. "Did you do this attack? Or did you fight the ghost responsible? Why the hell would you do that?"

"Buddy, I'm not exactly in the mood to answer any of your questions." Calling his dad buddy was weird. Karkat didn't want to do it anymore. "The threat has been taken care of and everyone is safe. That's all I care about, so I think it's about time for me to go."

Karkat turned, speeding off as Spades let out a bunch of curses. He did disappear too, but he made sure to wait a few seconds in order to test something out.

Karkat would come to think about that moment fairly often as time went on. It didn't seem like something big to him, especially in light of other things that happened to him recently, but it started a few things that he would admit changed Amity Park, and even the Ghost Zone as a whole.

As for today, the only things he thought about was how relieved he was his dad didn't fire at him without asking questions first. He'd think about how Horuss and Equis, and how a parent like theirs was so simple, yet complicated.

But since he couldn't see Kanaya, who had found her way to the battlefield nearby and heard much more than she should've, he didn't think of her at all.

Ironically, that would be one of the most important things to happen to him during this week.

Equis had stayed long enough to watch the fight but didn't necessarily see the aftermath. It wasn't like it was going to go in any other way.

As Equis floated home, making sure he was undetected in all manners, he thought about today. Just like the halfa, there were some things to consider.

Despite respecting his father, he knew the fight wouldn't end any other way. Phantom may be unruly and brash, but he was intelligent and knew where to find allies that would work best against his father's power set. He was sociable, even to those weaker than him and made sure their skills were put to good use. He honestly even possessed a luck much like a Light Aspect, even if he clearly had relations to Blood.

However, despite knowing the outcome of the fight, he couldn't but feel… disappointed.

Equis knew that his father wasn't correct all of the time, especially in moments like this. But seeing that loss did seem to shatter an illusion that he wasn't aware he had. His father was strong, smart, and skilled, but lost to someone who was maybe a little too clever and simply knew how to network.

Strength was equated to standing on your own without support, but Phantom had shown that his own version was superior in some ways. He didn't know how to feel about it.

It could also be that he felt guilty about tipping the enemy off, but his intentions were pure. He wanted to make sure Nepeta and Horuss continued to be happy.

He supposed that made him weak in some capacity. Or strong. Again, he wasn't sure.

"This is all more fascination than it should be." Equis shook his head, trying to push everything out. He didn't have time to focus on such quandaries. He had to find a way to get his father out of a possible jail sentence. "I'll have to think on that later."

And that he did. It wasn't like he'd done a favor in return to Phantom already.

Oberon watched the news feed with a glass of scotch in his hands, swirling it slowly. It had been hours since the fight at the school, one of which he'd made sure was publicized and seen by any news network he could drum up on short notice.

One would think that he was seething at the loss, but it was only tepid disappointment, quite honestly. He figured there was a chance that Darkleer would fail at both tasks, especially since Vantas was a goddamn Blood Aspect. Those bastards might be few and far in between, but they were crafty and knew how to make useful friends.

But of course, even the failures produced results of some kind. He made sure that would be the case, whether or not Karkat carved a victory out of nothing.

"Let's check those streaming services again. I'm sure somebody has already made a few clips about it by now." Oberon raised his eyebrows as he browsed Twitch and the other sites he had made sure were online. "Oh, somebody has already made a montage! That was fast."

Oberon was glad that he asked Darkleer to record the fight and livestream it the entire time. Whether or not it ended in someone dead, it was entertaining to watch until the feed cut out when Vantas left a huge hole in the mech. Despite the ghost being an awkward mess, he did know how to put on a show.

A part of him had been disappointed when the audio had been cut off and the video quality started suffering later on, but people saw what they saw. It even made it more believable than having it all crisp and realistic.

Oberon looked at the repeating headline of the local news. Talking about the ghost attack, the mysterious figures, and the mentions of Spades and his research.

He smiled as certain plans fell into place.

Sometimes, the best wins come from what most would consider a loss. Dualscar knows a thing or two about that.

I'm not entirely sure on how I feel about writing Equis here, but I think I got a good handle on his character. At the very least, I think I have a good angle on what it could be in this case. I always viewed him as a follower with a morally grey personality and pretty self-involved. Of course, that comes in handy for some people when they need it. I hope that makes sense to everyone here.

Either way, I'll see you next chapter!