A/N: Welcome back, everyone, to the newest installment of The Phantom of the Empire! Alright, when last we saw our young protagonist and his family, they had been preparing for the upcoming Unification Festival when they received news from Anko that Vlad had escaped from his interrogation and created a new monster in the form of a merged entity between his ghost half and Pariah Dark! With this powered up and mutated ghost king free from his coffin, what new challenges await our former ghost boy and now emperor? Find out now, on this chapter of… The Phantom of the Empire!
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Meeting of the Council of War
In Pariah's keep, the sinister fusion of Pariah Dark and Vlad Plasmius looked down at the charred and near unrecognizable remains of what once was Vlad Masters. Without his powers, the former halfa didn't stand a chance against this ghost's ectoplasmic fire. He was dead on contact. Even if he had survived, he wouldn't last long with such serious injuries. Not long enough to get medical attention, at least.
The new Pariah cracked his neck and sighed as he felt the overwhelming power that now surged within him. That human's ghost half was stronger than he thought it was. And now, that power was all his. But it would take time for him to both get used to his new body, and for his body to acclimate to this overwhelming power that it now possesses. He wouldn't want to blow himself up by trying to destroy his enemies, now, would he?
Speaking of enemies…
"With this power, I can end that wretched ghost boy for locking me away in that coffin a second time! His death will serve as a warning to all, ghost and mortal alike, that no one trifles with the Ghost King and lives to tell the tale!" exclaimed Pariah.
With a wave of his hand, he summoned forth his ghostly army of wraiths. Rising up from the floor, ectoplasm seeping through the ancient stone tiles of Pariah's keep, were the very same skeleton ghosts that the GIW were fighting back in Amity Park! Their glowing red eye sockets looked to burn a hole right through a mortal's soul! All of them wore sparse armor and carried medieval weaponry such as swords, axes, bludgeons, and maces. The army knelt to one knee before their master.
"Good, good. It seems my army recognizes their master despite the change in power. Now is the time for us to take back the Ghost Zone! And for us to conquer the realm of mortals once and for all!" exclaimed Pariah.
He thrust a hand out towards one of his wraiths and sent a stream of ghostly fire at it, engulfing it in one strike! But this fire didn't destroy the wraith. No… it augmented it! The wraith had changed as tendons and flesh appeared on it, and a mask of bone resembling a human skull with sharp teeth, and horns growing from the sides of its head that curved like elephant tusks. Its fingers and toes were tipped with massive claws that were about eleven inches on each finger, and five inches on each toe. It also had a short tail like that of an ox.
"You shall be my general, leading this platoon of wraiths in our conquest of both worlds. Your name shall be Dreadmaster." Pariah said, tossing a claymore to his newest General. "Now, go. Lead your troops into battle and cut down every mortal and ghost who dares stand in your way!"
"Your will shall be done, my liege!" Dreadmaster said in a raspy voice.
He quickly flew out of Pariah's keep with his platoon of Wraiths flying after him as they made their way to one of the weak points in the barrier between the mortal world and purgatory. Pariah chuckled lowly, but that chuckle soon became a full-blown laugh that was full of evil as he began his campaign to take over both dimensions.
And began his quest to finally destroy the ghost boy who had dared stand against him seven years ago!
Meanwhile, in the domain of time itself, Clockwork was watching as these unsettling events began to take place. He had long since knew that the future would be dramatically altered by Danny's choice to rid himself of his ghost powers and destroy the Fenton Portal, and he was proud of the man that his former charge had become in the past seven years. No longer was he simply a ghost fighting superhero who would use witty quips that would have made Spider-Man proud. Now, he ruled over an entire empire as a warrior who has lived through many battles, united entire provinces that had at one time hated each other's guts, and seen friends and enemies alike fall in battle.
Except for Omaeda, that fat coward's death was never really mourned.
Clockwork had even foreseen these events. How Vlad would, for his own greed and lust for power, come to Pariah's keep and use his modified Ghost Gauntlets to free the slumbering ghost king in an effort to take his powers for himself, only for him to be stripped of his ghost half and Pariah to merge with it and gain new power. Ultimately, it meant the end for Vlad Masters. But even so, Clockwork was not worried. He has seen the future that these events lead up to, and he knows that there is no need to fear.
"You have the information?" he asked, seemingly no one.
"Indeed, Clockwork. It wasn't easy, but I got it." said a woman's voice.
One that sounded strangely familiar.
"Then go. Find Daniel and give him the information. He will keep you safe." Clockwork instructed.
The ghost offscreen that Clockwork had been talking to quickly flew off into the distance and made her way through a natural Ghost Portal that quickly closed behind her. Clockwork knows that she'll get there in time. He sees all of time, every outcome, and every timeline.
He knows that they have nothing to fear.
~War Council Chambers~
For the first time since the previous meeting, the entire war council was assembled in person. There was Hiccup of the Dragon Riders of Berk, Ichigo Kurosaki and his fiancee, Tia Harribel-Kurosaki, leaders of the Soul Reapers and the Arrancar respectively, T'Challa, the King of Wakanda and the current Black Panther, the Seventh Hokage Naruto Uzumaki and his wife, Hinata Hyuga-Uzumaki, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and the Grandmaster of the Jedi order, Master Yoda, Monkey D. Luffy the King of the Pirates, Firelord Izumi and her father, Zuko, Son Goku and his friend/rival Vegeta, the now King of all Saiyans, the leaders of a race of technorganic beings living amongst the imperials, Optimus Prime and Megatron, and last but certainly not least, the great Pharaoh of the Monster Province, Atem.
But they were not the only ones to show up to this council, as Danny felt that it was necessary to warn as many leaders from the different provinces about the possible incoming threat.
Alongside Anakin and Yoda were the entirety of the Jedi High Council, with some members having brought their Padawans with them to the meeting. Anakin's own included. They even brought Anakin's wife, Senator Padme Skywalker, formerly Amidala, who had hoped to see Danny again under better circumstances. Then there were also the Autobot and Decepticon medics, Ratchet and Knockout, along with the Decepticon scientist, Shockwave, who were present at the meeting. Ratchet was a white and red mech who was elderly and a real war veteran. His alternate mode was an ambulance, which was fitting when you consider the fact that he's a combat medic. Knockout is a younger mech who transforms into a sleek red sportscar with a truly lustrous finish which he takes great pride in. And then there's the one-eyed, one-armed, purple Cybertronian Tank known as Shockwave who, before the Great Unification, allowed logic to dictate his actions like a walking supercomputer. He often speaks in a monotonous tone of voice, and is mostly the strong, silent type.
Hiccup had gathered his fellow dragon riders and their dragons and had them attend the meeting as well. There was his lovely wife, Astrid Haddock, formerly Hofferson, and her Deadly Nadder, Stormfly. Snotlout Jorgenson, Hiccup's cousin and a constant pain in his ass during their childhood, along with his Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang. The ever knowledgeable and gentle giant Fishlegs, and his Gronkle, Meatlug. Eret Son of Eret, a former dragon trapper who became an ally and official member of Berk during the war. He now rides the Rumblehorn that once belonged to Hiccup's father. A dragon by the name of Skullcrusher. Next there was Hiccup's mother, and the oldest Dragon Rider of them all, Valka Haddock, and her Stormcutter, Cloudjumper. Finally, there was the twins, Tuffnut and Ruffnut Thorston and their two-headed Hideous Zippleback, Barf and Belch. Barf is the head that breathes gas, Belch is the head that creates a spark to ignite it.
Luffy had brought along his whole crew which comprised of Nami as the navigator, Ussop the sniper, Tony Tony Chopper who was a blue-nosed reindeer that ate a Zoan Type Devil Fruit known as the Human-Human Fruit, and was the crew's doctor, Franky the cyborg mechanic, Nico Robin who was the crew's historian and another Devil Fruit user who ate the Flower-Flower Fruit, allowing her to cause multiple arms belonging to her to, essentially, 'bloom' wherever she wishes while giving her complete control over said arms, Rorona Zolo, the crew's master swordsman, Sanji was the crew's master chef and a master of the Black Leg combat style, and finally the living skeleton who is also a musician, Brook. And, like Luffy, Chopper, and Robin, he too ate a Devil Fruit when he was still an ordinary human. The Revive-Revive Fruit, which brought him back to life after he died, though the effect was delayed by fifty years which caused his flesh and organs to rot away until he was nothing but a singing, talking, sword-wielding, afro-sporting skeleton with a penchant for making bone related jokes. (A/N: I'm pretty sure that that's everyone on the Straw Hat Crew, but if I missed anybody, please let me know so I can fix that.)
Danny sat at the head seat of the conference table as the emperor of their unified nation, as per usual with any meetings, and he was completely and utterly serious at this moment. For at this moment, he was not the calm and happy young man that was catching up with his family. He was the emperor, and he was ready to do what he must in order to protect his people from whatever threats may lay ahead in waiting.
"Welcome esteemed members of the Imperial War Council. I call this meeting to order." Danny said, authority clear in his voice.
"Good to see you again, Daniel, it is. Yes. Trouble there is, I sense." spoke a certain green creature.
"You are correct, Master Yoda. Anko, Alucard, please inform the council of the emergency. Spare no grisly detail." Danny ordered.
"Yes, my lord." Anko said as she began to explain while she was, understandable, pretty nervous. "You see, while interrogating one of the prisoners, a man by the name of Vlad Masters, Alucard got the idea to inject him with Synthetic Energon which began to drive him mad. He was losing energy fast, and it's possible he wouldn't survive long enough to give up any worthwhile information. So, Alucard resorted to something rather unsavory, even by my personal standards of interrogation…"
~Flashback~
Anko recoiled in shock as she looked at the glowing purple crate that Alucard had placed on the table in front of her. She knew that the vampire had a few screws loose, but she couldn't believe that he was willing to go through with such a ludicrous idea as this one!
"You want to introduce DARK ENERGON to the synthetic stuff?" she asked incredulously. "You are more than a fool, Alucard! I think you've finally lost your marbles from how many lives you've absorbed in your time!"
"On the contrary, my dear Anko, adding Dark Energon to the mixture should allow Megatron to gain control over the prisoner and get him to finally spill his guts to us." Alucard reasoned, not at all bothered by his partner's outburst.
"Okay, true, Megatron does have some sort of symbiotic link to the dark substance allowing him to control any infected by its touch as though they were puppets, but… have you forgotten what the so-called 'Blood of Unicron' did to the Decepticon warship during a test with that stuff?" Anko asked.
And really, who could forget such an incident. The Dark Energon had given the ship a sort of consciousness of its own and turned it against the entire crew before sending them into stasis lock. It was only thanks to the combined efforts of Danny, Agent Fowler, and some very determined children that the Dark Energon was purged from the ship, and everything went back to normal. From then on, any and all experimentation with Dark Energon was EXTREMELY limited and monitored so closely you'd think they expected it to blow up in everyone's faces.
Which, technically, it could.
Yet again, Alucard wasn't bothered.
"That was the result of a massive infusion. I am suggesting a drop or two, merely enough to allow Megatron to take full control of mister Masters over there." Alucard reasoned.
"Even so, it's too drastic a measure to undertake without Shockwave's approval! We do, after all, report to him." said Anko, still firm in her belief that they shouldn't mess with Dark Energon.
And this was the straw that broke the camel's back as Alucard scowled with his pupils becoming thin slits like a reptile.
Stomping up to Anko and getting in her face, Alucard snarled and said, "Not on THIS project! Interrogating prisoners falls under imperial security, meaning, dear Anko, that you now report to me. Are we clear?"
Knowing that there was no changing Alucard's mind on the subject, Anko just stood off to the side while telling Alucard that she wouldn't try to stop him, but she also wasn't going to cover his butt if his plan blew up in his face. She did send a discrete signal to the hidden members of the Onmitsukido who were in the room telling them to be ready to inform the emperor of what happened, however, knowing that it never hurts to be prepared.
Alucard was quick to whip up a new batch of Synthetic Energon. But this time, the syringe was filled with a purple mixture of Dark and Synthetic Energon that may prove to be a very dangerous mixture of components. The vampire stuck the needle into Vlad's right arm, the only arm that didn't have so many holes in it from repeated injections, and slowly pushed the plunger down as the mixture was sent into the dark halfa's bloodstream. Once the last drop was injected, Alucard removed the needle and watched as Vlad began writhing about in agony, snarling and growling like an animal.
"Wait for it…" said Alucard.
Vlad shuddered and struggled for about ten more seconds before closing his eyes as he went limp on the interrogation table. Anko growled and clenched her fists as she assumed that Alucard had killed Vlad before they could get any info out of him.
"I told you that this was a bad idea." she growled.
Without warning, Vlad's eyes snapped open, glowing an eerie purple as he suddenly sprang to life!
"RRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWRRRR!" roared Vlad.
"It's alive!" exclaimed a joyful Alucard.
But he made a noise of surprise as Vlad broke the restraints on his arms with nothing but brute force and backhanded Anko into the wall. She quickly recovered and got in a fighting stance as she assumed the worst.
"Crap!" yelped Anko.
Vlad tore the restraints off of his legs and growled as he stood up and glared at everything around him… but that stopped quickly as he fell to one knee, breathing hard as his gaze fell to the floor. Anko was both confused and relieved by this development.
"Oh, for the love of! Now what?!" she asked.
"I did tell you before, it's a side-effect of the Synth-En. He's burned through his own natural energy reserves." Alucard replied.
Anko slowly made her way towards Alucard as she kept her eyes trained on Vlad.
"Then maybe we should withhold any infusions for a while. Might calm Vlad down a bit. Make him a bit more manageable." Anko suggested as she took out a kunai knife with an electroshock sealing tag wrapped around the handle.
For self-defense purposes, of course.
Vlad began to tremble like a drug addict going through a withdrawal, slowly moving his gaze up towards the kunoichi and the vampire. His bruised and cut face made the sight even more unnerving. But it was the trembling tone of his voice that really sold how messed up he was as he uttered a short sentence.
"Need… life blood…!"
Suddenly, Vlad's jaw unhinged as four-inch-long fangs jutted from where his canines used to be, his gums becoming more prominent as his teeth lengthened and sharpened to look like shark teeth! Alucard and Anko gasped and took a step back out of shock. Vlad's inhuman roar shook the room as he charged past Alucard and knocked Anko to the ground! The vampire sobered up quickly and grabbed a nearby shock baton as Vlad kept trying to literally sink his teeth into Anko's neck! The purple haired woman grunted and struggled to keep him back, fearing for her life for the first time in a long time. And it didn't help that his jaws would, for lack of a better term, eject from his mouth like the jaws of a Goblin Shark, forcing her to tilt her head at awkward angles to avoid getting chomped!
Lucky for her, Alucard stabbed Vlad with the shock staff just in the nick of time. Vlad screeched in pain as he was shocked and lost his grip long enough for Anko to kick him off of her and get back up. But Vlad wasn't down, and he wasn't out. He growled as he barred his new fangs at the two that he now saw as a food source. Anko would vehemently deny having squeaked in fear at the sight.
"Do you think he's actually trying to-?"
"Suck out our life juices with those new fangs of his?" Alucard asked, cutting Anko off as Vlad roared with primal hunger. "Sure seems that way."
Knowing that this could get out of hand very quickly, the two top interrogators got ready to fight and detain this newly formed abomination. Anko quickly weaved through several hand signs and thrust out her arms.
"Ninja Art: Striking Shadow Snakes!" she intoned.
Several dozen snakes of various sizes and species shot out from the sleeves of her trench coat and hissed with fury as they lunged at Vlad. All of the snakes were constrictors, as Anko was attempting to capture and contain rather than kill, and they had little trouble wrapping around and immobilizing Vlad, though he did manage to bite and dispel three of them. The man wasn't going down easy, though, as he thrashed around with enough force that he nearly threw Anko around the room.
"Whoa, nelly! He's a fighter, Alucard!" exclaimed Anko.
"Just hold him still! I've got just the thing to immobilize him right here!" Alucard ordered as he drew his pistols. "He can't attack or go anywhere if we blow his limbs off, and it'll flush the Dark Synth-En from his system by having him bleed it out!"
"Well, whatever you're gonna do - ACK! - DO IT NOW!" ordered Anko as she struggled to keep herself anchored with Chakra.
But just as Alucard took aim, a black ring formed around Vlad's center and split in two as one ring traveled up and the other went down. Standing before them now was a being that looked like Vlad but was clearly a ghost. He now had ghostly blue skin, glowing red eyes with no pupils, black hair that stood up in a pair of 'devil horns', pointed ears like an elf, a white and black ensemble along with a white, high collared cape that was red on the inside.
Anko and Vlad were stunned by the transformation just long enough for Vlad to turn intangible and fly out of the grasp of Anko's snakes before using his intangibility to flush all of the energon from his system as it splashed onto the ground. Vlad groaned and breathed heavily as his jaws and fangs returned to their normal state, but after a few minutes, he managed to get his breathing under control.
"Well… That didn't tickle." Vlad said after a minute. "I commend you both for your rather brutal methods of interrogation. Had I been anyone with a weaker will, then I may have just spilled the beans or died completely. But now that I'm free and transformed, I bid you adieu!"
With his intangibility once again active, Vlad flew up and out from the ceiling. The two interrogators stood there for about five minutes, staring in disbelief before Anko slouched with a look of resignation.
"Crap…" she cursed.
~End Flashback~
"...After that, I ran straight out of the dungeons and rushed to find Emperor Fenton. There's no telling how far Masters has gotten, or what his next move is. I'm sorry." Anko said as she knelt before Danny, finishing her report. "I accept whatever punishment my lord deems fit."
Danny placed a hand on Anko's shoulder and helped her to her feet, a look of understanding on his face.
"I will not punish you for this, Anko. You had no way of knowing this would happen, nor did you have the means to stop him once he turned into his ghostly self." Danny said. "I will not punish anyone for something that was outside of their control."
Ichigo hummed in thought and said, "This does, however, present a problem."
"Indeed. Vlad Masters is out there somewhere and now knows about our empire. He will likely stop at nothing to claim it and its riches for himself. Although, if he was truly under the influence of Dark Energon during his attack, why was I unable to sense him or assume control?" Megatron asked.
Anko shrugged her shoulders as she gave her answer.
"Well, I'm no scientist, as you know, but my hypothesis is that the synthetic components within the Energon combination were diluting the Dark Energon. And as such, the Synth-En portion was blocking your connection to the Dark Energon that had been flowing through Vlad Masters at the time."
"Either way, Vlad has escaped from custody, and is now on the loose." Anakin interjected. "Which means he is free to make new allies. Allies who are among our greatest enemies."
"The loyalists to Central 46." Tia growled.
It's no secret that there is bad blood between the Arrancar and the Soul Reapers because of those fools who had been in power for so long and corrupted the Soul Society into what it was at the time. Thanks to Ichigo and Tia's engagement, and several peace talks that were held with Danny's help, relations between the two factions had been smoothing themselves over as well as helping the Soul Society to modernize a little bit. It operated too much like Feudal Japan, and there were some who were against change such as Byakuya Kuchiki and the former Head Captain, Genryusai Yamamoto. But they understood that change is inevitable, and they just had to deal with it.
Yoda hummed and glanced around the room, reaching out with his senses through the Force as he tried to understand what may be happening in the future. But the Force once again felt out of balance, and the future remained clouded. Just as it had when Oda Nobunaga's vengeful spirit had been fueling the never-ending war of the nations before Danny came along and sent him to face his eternal damnation.
"A storm brewing over the horizon, there is. Clouded by the Dark Side, is the future." Yoda said in his unique way of speaking.
"As unfortunate as it is, we may need to go to war once again. If for no other reason than to protect the empire and all of its people from a battle that shouldn't involve them." Luffy said, completely serious as he usually is during meetings like these.
"Wow! Since when did you start thinking so rationally, Cap'n?" Nami asked with a teasing smirk.
"Fighting in a war for most of your life with several near-death experiences can change a man, or a woman, Nami. And for some, once they've lost everything, there's nothing left to lose." Luffy replied with a sigh.
"Well, he's right about that much." Zolo said with a shrug.
"The fact remains, something must be done. If Vlad really is part ghost, he might have a way to sway the ghosts that have been terrorizing the rest of the world to his cause and may attempt to launch an attack on the empire. But without somebody who can easily spy on a ghost without being detected, we have no way of knowing if and when he'll attack." Atem said.
Many nodded, knowing this to be true.
"And we cannot simply launch an unprovoked attack, even if Emperor Fenton does decide that we must go to war. A war that I had hoped would never cross our borders yet seems inevitable." Optimus added.
"The Fire Nation shares this sentiment." Firelord Izumi spoke up. "The Fire Nation, like every other nation in the empire has spent far too much of its history fighting nonsense wars, especially since we had long forgotten what we had been fighting for until Ozai had settled on a goal, and I refuse to allow my people to be dragged into another war unless there's no other choice!"
"What say you, Daniel? What do you want us to do?" T'Challa asked.
Danny sighed with his eyes closed, taking in all that he had heard so far in this meeting. He didn't want to have his people dragged into another war now that they had finally found peace after so long, but it seemed like he may not have a choice. But so long as they weren't attacked, then they wouldn't have to really fight. But still, Danny would defend the empire and its people to his dying breath. And he would do so without hesitation!
Opening his eyes, Danny knew what he had to do.
"We might not be going to war just yet, but we should still prepare our forces for the possibility that the war may come to us. Our soldiers will double their training to prepare for possible war, and in the meantime, we'll send out tracking squads to hunt down Vlad Masters, A.K.A. Vlad Plasmius, and stop whatever it is he's planning. And while all of this is happening, we'll also go on the defensive and fortify security along the borders, and especially along the Veil itself." Danny instructed.
"In that, my liege, you'll have my help." said Firelord Izumi.
"This meeting is adjourned, for now." Danny said as he stood up. "We all must go and inform our soldiers to prepare."
"Prepare for what?" Ichigo asked.
Though, he feared that he knew the answer.
As Danny turned to leave the meeting room, he uttered two dreaded words that seemed to echo through the room.
"For war."
And with that, he left the meeting room with his family in tow in order to prepare the guards and the soldiers for the possible war that they may be fighting in.
Though, not by choice, admittedly.
***To Be Continued…***
Ending A/N: Hoo-boy, this chapter was a doozy to write! Almost five thousand words in a single chapter, can you believe it? Anyway, thank you all so much for reading this new chapter, and please don't forget to go to my profile and vote on the poll that I have up there if you haven't already. Every vote helps, and I need all the help I can get to get my creative juices flowing! And as always, thanks for reading, and I'll see you all in my next update!
Poll Question: Which dragon element should I use as a guide to create Izuku's purple dragon form in my story, Twin Dragon Heroes? (Please select three choices.)
Results as of typing this chapter…
Gravity: 9 votes
Electric: 8 votes
Shadow: 8 votes
Wind: 7 votes
Poison: 7 votes
Ice: 6 votes
Metal: 6 votes
Earth: 4 votes
Water: 4 votes
Fear: 3 votes
Acid: 3 votes
Fire: 2 votes