Ed walked out onto the street. It was a bright and early morning. Crowds of people were already heading in all directions as they went about their busy lives.
'I need to make new arms before the ceremony. It's fine if they're incomplete. I can always finish them later.' He asked some locals and found the location of a scrap yard on the edge of the city. He had to take a steam bus to get there due to the distance.
'They'll probably want to charge me an arm and a leg for the metals I want. I'll just sneak in and take it.' He chuckled to himself at the idea of paying an arm and leg for goods. He was one of the few people in the world that could do so. He could always just make more after all.
The scrap yard was surrounded by a tall and rusty iron fence. He walked away from the main entrance and melted a hole in the fence. He stepped through and began to look around. Most of the scrap appeared to be abandoned steam wagon parts. There were also a lot of construction materials such as wood and cables. Last was appliances. There were literal mountains of abandoned home appliances such as gas stoves.
He looked around for better materials with no luck. 'Oh well.' He sighed. He settled on using the better steel parts from the various steam wagons. His control of his powers had continuously grown greater over the past few months. It only took him an hour to remake the complex version of his limbs.
He shrugged his shoulders and began moving his new arms. The steel appeared duller in color that what he usually used. 'Mm. This should work. I'll add muscles later when I leave Georgia. It feels weird moving them with mana again. Next, I need to get some mana powders.'
He left the scrap yard and headed back to the city. He had to ask the locals where the bad parts of town were. He frowned when he got the information he wanted. 'There are no sinner groups in all of Macon Georgia? How?! I need to steal the powder off them, damnit.' He continued asking around and discovered that there had been a large-scale operation several months ago by the Hunter Association. Macon had been one of the most dangerous cities in Georgia due to the large number of sinner groups. The hunters wiped them all clean and no new groups had managed to form yet.
He sighed while crossing his new arms and leaning against a wall. Occasional passersby glanced at him with curiosity. Perhaps because he now had metal arms on display or possibly because they recognized him from the flier. He tapped his arm with his index finger repeatedly and closed his eyes as he thought. 'There may be enough time to go to another city, but it isn't preferable. The railways should be overloaded since the people of Atlanta have scattered everywhere. There will also be large crowds coming into the city for the ceremony, which may make it hard to get back into the city by railway.' He opened his eyes and glanced up at the city walls. 'I could probably fly back in, but I'd no doubt be attacked as an intruder as a result. Who else would have mana-powder in Macon? Hunters probably, but I don't want to deal with them. Plus it would be illegal for them to sell it to me. That just leaves...'
His eyes sharpened as a small grin appeared. He began to walk back towards the hotel district. He passed his current hotel and returned to the one he had first visited last night. He ducked into a nearby alleyway before heading inside. He looked around before spotting some abandoned plywood. 'That'll do for now.' He grabbed the wood and molded it into a crude mask to cover his face. He frowned. 'I'm still wearing the hospital gown. Too obvious.' He molded it as well. Some nearby dirt flew into the blue gown and turned it black. Then it transformed into a pair of ordinary looking pants and a long-sleeve shirt with gloves. 'The material is pretty thin. I should find some new clothes when I'm done here.'
He walked inside the hotel and a young woman was operating the counter. Her eyes widened in fear when she saw the odd masked man enter. He went up to the counter. She smiled nervously and spoke, "How can I help you today, sir?"
The floor began to melt beneath her. The carpet tore apart as the concrete beneath it transformed into a series of chains that bound her. The leather of the chair behind her turned into a gag that prevented her from screaming. Tears appeared in her eyes as she stared in horror at the man in front of her.
He ignored her and headed straight into the backroom. A fat old man with white hair was sitting at a table drinking some coffee. He froze when he saw Ed enter the room. Some coffee spilt from his mouth and dripped down his chin as he trembled in fear.
"Wh-what do you want?!" The man questioned with a trembling voice.
"I hear you're a local Sinless member. I have some business negotiations to hold with them. Tell me where their headquarters is."
"You think I'll tell you?!" The man's eyes narrowed as they turned slightly red. He seemed to have found his bearing after calming down. He began to reach for a steam pistol he kept hidden within his trousers. However, a series of chains appeared and bound him just like they had done to the woman previously.
Ed walked towards him and lifted him up by the throat. 'Willing to speak now?"
The man's face was slowly turning red, but he managed to speak with a hoarse voice, "I won't tell you jack shit. Do your worst!"
He thought for a moment before dropping the man to the ground. He crouched down beside him while staring him in the eyes. "How about a deal? I don't know why you hate espers so much nor do I care for the reason. However, would you choose to become an esper if the opportunity presented itself?"
The man's eyes widened in disbelief. He spoke in a low whisper, "You can make me an esper?"
"It's not guaranteed." He shook his head. "I have the method for turning ordinary people into espers. The success rate however is only 50%. It's your choice."
The man looked lost in thought for a moment before his eyes sharpened with resolve. "I'll do it! What do you want?"
'Heh, dumbass. I've never done it for an ordinary human before. Is he gullible? Or just blinded by greed? The actual odds are probably less than a tenth of 1 percent. Still, it's better to tell him 50%. If I told him the odds were 100% he would be more suspicious.' He stood up from the ground and released the chains binding the man. "I need mana-powder and mana-cores. I plan to take these resources from Sinless. Will you help or not?"
"I will." The man nodded. He looked around to make sure no one was nearby despite them being the only ones in the room. "Follow me." He whispered.
The two walked further back in the room and stopped in front of a large rug. The fat man bent down and pulled the rug aside to reveal a cellar door. He opened it and they went down some dark stairs into a dimly lit room. Large barrels that almost reached the ceiling took up most of the room while shelves with wine bottles took up the rest. The man happily grabbed a bottle. "I produce wine as a side-business." He explained. "I always bring some as a gift when visiting our local HQ."
The duo walked to the back of the cellar. They squeezed between two barrels and stood before an ordinary wall. The fat man pushed against the wall and it began to turn, revealing a long dark corridor. The two began to walk down it.
'It would appear the Sinless branch here is far more developed than in Reef city. It makes sense though. Reef city was already a newer city and it just got destroyed. Perhaps we had a bigger branch before then as well.'
They walked through many dark corridors with twists and turns. It would be easy to get lost without a guide. Soon, they reached a large dome-shaped room. A bar and several tables were setup. A series of doors led to smaller rooms.
Some men and women were happily drinking at the tables. They glanced at the newcomers. One man stood up and cheerfully pulled the old man into a hug, "Did you bring my favorite?!"
"Haha! Of course!" The fat old man nodded while smiling. "Here." He handed over the bottle of wine.
The man grinned and glanced at Ed. "Who's the weirdo with the mask? You know outsiders are not to be brought here without preapproval."
Ed glanced around the room. There were currently only six individuals present, not counting himself and the fat man. 'Should I just kill them all? Or play it peaceful?'
The fat man slapped Ed on the shoulder. "This man is here on important business. I need to introduce him to the leader. Is he in his office?"
"Mm." One man nodded. "He has a few guests right now though."
"Tsk. Like I care about that." The old man aggressively dragged Ed towards the door. He grabbed the handle and swung it open. They entered and closed the door behind them. A desk with a middle-aged man sitting behind it was revealed. Two guests were sitting in chairs on the other side of the desk. They turned to look at the new intruders.
Ed's eyes widened in shock when he saw them. 'These men belong to Fang! Is he here as well?!'
The man behind the desk stood up and yelled in anger, "What do you think you're doing?!" He turned to the two HQ soldiers and smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry for the interruption. I'll make sure to discipline them properly later."
"No problem." One man waved casually. He glanced at Ed and rose an eyebrow. "Who's the masked fella?"
"That..." The middle-aged man hesitated. "I don't know." He shook his head.
'Well, this is enough I suppose. Let's get started.' Chains appeared and bound the man behind the desk. He didn't even bother doing the same to the soldiers as he knew they would have a trick or two to escape. Instead he began to melt their heads. Neither was currently wearing their helmet and they were only human after all.
The two soldiers screamed and desperately grabbed at their faces as they melted. Their voices made horrifying gurgling sounds due to the blood constricting their airways. They both died in a matter of seconds.
Ed smiled as he began to strip the two soldiers. One was the same size as himself. He put the exo-suit on. 'I must be having really good luck today. I needed a new exo suit.' He eyed the other suit. He melted the wooden desk to create a small crate to carry it in. He found both helmets nearby. He took off the wooden mask and put on the exo helmet. Then he set the other helmet in the crate before sealing it.
"Now then." He looked at the horrified middle-aged man bound behind the desk. "Mana-powder. I need it. Where is it?"
The man's voice trembled. "HQ was just taking most of it away. You got here just in time. There's a crate of it in the storage room."
"Understood. Thanks for your cooperation." He turned around as the middle-aged man began to melt.
"AGHHH!!!" He screamed. "I told you what you wanted to know! Why?!" He soon turned into a puddle. The puddle solidified into an ugly pile of flesh and bone.
The fat man trembled as he followed behind Ed. They opened the office door. Twenty people were waiting for them outside. They each aimed a gun at the duo. He spotted two more soldiers wearing their full exo suits amongst them.
'Ugh, my powers won't work on those two through the gel of the suit. It's hard enough controlling my powers to slip through the gaps of my own suit. I should modify it later to make it easier.' He shook his head while sighing. Then he pushed the fat man forward, "This man brought an esper here. He killed the leader and my comrade. Fortunately, I managed to kill him before he got me to."
"What?!" The fat man's eyes widened in fear.
The men holding steam rifles looked at each other hesitantly. They lowered their rifles. However, the two men who came here with Captain Fang still aimed. "He's lying!" One of them yelled. He began to pull the trigger. However, it was too late.
A concrete wall appeared in front of Ed and the bullets from the HQ soldiers slammed into it. They were using wind-ammunition, so each bullet penetrated the wall deeply. However, it did not manage to destroy it or penetrate it fully. The other eighteen men and women began to melt before they could even aim their guns again.
The two HQ men began to retreat. One yelled to the other. "You use fire ammunition and I'll use wind!"
"Right!" He agreed.
They quickly reloaded their steam revolver rifles. They each took aim and fired at the same time. The green wind bullet fed the red fire bullet to create a large blast of flames that slammed into the concrete wall. A large hole was burnt into the wall as it began to collapse. However, Ed was nowhere to be seen.