Ed had melted the ground beneath himself to avoid the mana-bullets. He began to melt the floor beneath the two HQ soldiers, but they both dodged out of the way before it could affect them.
'Damn. Close combat it is then.' He melted their guns instead. They weren't protected by any extra layers of defense. 'The gel products in exo suits must have a good amount of mana mixed in. Perhaps in mana-powder form or from mutant byproducts. That would explain why my power can't slip through it...'
He rose back up through the floor. The two HQ men threw their guns to the side and pulled out vibro-knives. The same type the captain had used that glow black. 'Another thing my powers don't work well on... Fighting is so much harder without the batteries in my arms.' He leaned backwards and placed his arms on the ground. Then he kicked his feet towards them as two blasts of flames shot from his feet. The two soldiers easily dodged to the side.
One soldier charged forward and swung his knife. Ed tried to block with his left arm, but the knife cut through it like butter. The corrosive dark energy widened the cut into a bigger hole in his arm. He retreated repeatedly as the two men worked in tandem against him. He occasionally managed to get a good kick in where he released some flames, but they didn't do much damage to the suits.
'I need a plan.' He tried looking around the room as they fought, but there didn't seem to be anything particularly useful nearby. He tried creating four concrete walls to box the men in, but they easily cut their way out of it. 'Their guns are useless and too far away. My powers don't work on their suits or knives. They're better than me at close combat. I could explode the batteries in my legs like I did with my arms during the nightmare attack, but that would kill the fat old man. He's a valuable test subject...'
Ed momentarily retreated underneath ground to take a break. 'Think. If I can't beat them then I need to trap them. My powers aren't fast enough for the melted concrete to restrict them entirely... I'll use water!' He quickly made some minor changes to his legs. Originally, he used water mana-batteries as a cooling mechanism for the flames. Now, he opened the paths for the water to exit his legs while sealing off the fire and wind batteries.
He once more rose above ground and kicked out with his right leg. A horizontal slash of water went flying out and slammed into the two men. He quickly used his powers to solidify the water into ice. The men used their knives to quickly break the ice, but he had already sent more water towards them. It became a fight of endurance as he shot and froze more water and they tried breaking it. After several minutes, both men were frozen solid.
"Huff! Huff!" He breathed heavily as his body trembled. 'So, this is what mana exhaustion feels like. I don't think I've ever pushed it this far before.' His whole body felt like it was burning. It was similar to the pain felt after working out beyond your limits for the very first time. His body ached and didn't want to move.
He forced himself to walk over to the frozen men and struggled controlling his powers to melt a small hole. It took him far more effort than usual. The hole was jagged and messy as water poured out from the ice. He reached inside and grabbed one of the vibro-knifes. Then he used it to stab through a small gap of the armor of the man. Blood poured from the man's neck as he quickly died. He repeated the steps for the other man. Then he collapsed to the ground from the exhaustion.
The fat old man from before was still alive. He was hiding in a corner while shivering in fear. He slowly noticed the quiet and looked up. "Is... Is it over?" He questioned with a trembling voice.
"It is." Ed nodded. "Tell me, old man. You hate espers, right? So why did you agree to risk your life in becoming one?"
"That..." The man hesitated. "I thought you said you didn't care for the reason?"
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He shook his head.
The man's eyes slowly narrowed, and he spoke in an aggrieved voice, "It's a secret known only by our local Sinless branch, but the mayor of Macon is an esper."
"Makes sense." He nodded. "Most politicians are either espers or members of powerful groups like Sinless."
"Right." The man agreed. "That damned esper raped and killed my daughter! The government covered it up! They're no better than the sinners!"
"I see... So, your local Sinless branch wasn't willing or able to assassinate him. You want powers so you can take revenge into your own hands?"
"Those cowards were afraid of pissing off the government!" He yelled. "I'll kill him myself with or without powers!"
Ed sighed to himself, 'This man's probably going to die without his ambitions being fulfilled...' He spoke, "Come over here."
The fat man obediently walked over and sat down beside him.
Ed injected a very small amount of mana into the man's head and searched. "You don't have a mana-core. That'll make things more difficult."
"What do you mean?" The man questioned. "I need a mana-core to become an esper?"
"Right." He nodded. "Normally, only those born with mana-cores can awaken as an esper."
"You!" The man's face began to turn red. "I thought you said you could make me one?!"
"I might be able to. I can implant a mana-core into your head. However, the chances of you surviving are less than 1 percent even on the optimistic side."
"You said 50 percent before!" The man yelled in anger.
"I lied." He sighed. 'I must be going soft. Feeling bad for an old man like this.' He thought back to his father. He looked nothing like the old man. They had nothing in common at all. Yet, he couldn't help but think about how his father would have reacted to such a situation. He probably would have gotten the military police involved. All things considered, his father was a fairly righteous man that went the extra mile to help people.
The fat old man shook in anger. He courageously grabbed Ed by the collar. "So, you're saying you can't help me?!"
"That's not what I'm saying." Ed shook his head. "I originally planned to treat you as a test subject. However, I'm feeling unusually generous today. You have three options ahead of you. One, you can walk away from all of this. Two, I can modify your body to be stronger using mutant parts. That would raise your survival odds back to 50 percent, but you wouldn't be an esper. Three, you can risk the surgery I need to perform for you to become an esper. You're very likely to die, but you never know."
The man hesitated, "Will I be strong enough for revenge with option 2?"
"Probably not." He replied. "There's likely to be a limit to the modifications I can make to an ordinary human being."
"I see..." The old man slumped down feeling defeated, but his eyes sharpened. "I'll choose number three anyways!"
Ed glanced at the man. 'Even if he dies, I may have found a usefulness for him that he will be satisfied with.' He spoke, "I'll take vengeance for you if you die."
"What?!" The man replied in shock. "Why would you do that for me?! We don't even know each other!"
"Simple. If you die, then your death will serve my political purposes. You'll be contributing to my own cause. In exchange, you get your vengeance. A fair deal, right?" He questioned.
The man sat silently for a moment before nodding. "Let's do it. My name is Roger Swoll by the way."
Ed thought for a moment 'I should probably pick a new name to use for my own organization. Ed is ordinary. However short it lasted, Weld was my hunter name. Weld also isn't a very accurate description for my powers anymore. I think I know what new name to use.' He looked at the man and smiled, "You can call me Forge."
"Dumb name." The man scoffed.
They rested for a while before standing up. Ed gathered the exo suits off the two men he just killed and added them to his crate. 'That makes 4 suits total now. Plus, two vibro-knives. Seems to be a pretty good trip.' He created some wheels underneath the crate and pulled it by a rope. Then Roger led him towards the storage room.
They opened the door and entered a small dark room. The sound of footsteps and chains clanging against the ground rang out. "Who's there?!" A voice yelled.
Ed immediately began to use his powers to try melting the stranger hidden in the darkness. 'It's not working!'
Suddenly, some lights flickered on. A large muscular man with long brown hair glared at them. He was nearly nude, wearing only a pair of shorts. A collar was placed around his neck.
"An esper slave?" He questioned. 'No wonder my powers didn't work. It's so much harder using my powers on anything that has mana.'
"I didn't think our branch had any slaves." Roger commented. "We're a fairly minor branch after all."
The slave eyed them cautiously. Small bits of rock began to appear out of nowhere and float around him. However, they failed to cover his entire body. "Intruders!" He yelled. Then he charged forward and shot the rocks.
Ed lazily melted the rocks when they got close enough. Then he melted the floor and the slave fell into it. The floor quickly solidified and trapped everything beneath the espers head. "What a weak esper." He sighed in disappointment.
"Weak?" The fat man questioned. "He seemed comparable to most other espers I've seen?"
"Really?" He questioned. "I've been around a lot of strong espers. Perhaps my views have become skewed as a result." He walked past the trapped esper and found a small box. It didn't even reach his ankles in height. He bent down and opened it. Many vials of mana-powder filled the box. He frowned when he looked at them.
"What's wrong?" Roger questioned.
"There are no mana-cores. I'll need one for your surgery." He replied. He stood up and glanced at the trapped man. "Fortunately, we seem to be in luck. There just so happens to be one nearby."
The slave's eyes widened in fear. "No! Please! I... I can serve you! I've already got the collar. The controller should be with the leader!"
"I'm not interested in weak espers." He shook his head in denial.
"I've got to be more useful than that trashy ordinary human?!" The slave roared in anger.
Ed glanced behind him and looked at Roger. Then he smiled, "You have no idea just how surprisingly valuable that man has become to me." He pulled out a vibro-knife and quickly swung it. The slave was beheaded in an instant.
He carefully got to work on the mana-collar. He removed the tiny lightning mana-battery. Then he threw the collar and mana-powders into the same crate as the exo suits. He removed the mana-core from the slave's head. It was a dull yellow color. 'Seems his core is almost entirely the earth element. It's fairly small though. Is that why he was so weak?'
He pulled the crate behind him and started heading for the exit. The old man quickly followed behind. They traveled through the winding tunnels back to Roger's hotel. "Are you ready to get started?" Ed questioned.
"Yes." The man nodded confidently.
"Good. We need a secure room where we won't be bothered." He replied.
"Let's use the cellar then." The old man said. "No one has access to it but me."
"Okay." He nodded in agreement. "I'll need you to write a suicide note in advance that explains what the mayor did."
"Sure." Roger quickly wrote a note describing the events of what happened to his daughter. He then claimed to take his own life due to the sorrow.
The two stayed in the cellar. Ed created a simple table from the floor for Roger to lay on. He cuffed the man to the table to prevent any movement. "Any last words before I begin?" He questioned.
"No." The man shook his head. "I've lived only for vengeance for these past few years. Even if I die, I'll rest in peace if you truly take revenge for me."
"Don't worry." He nodded. "I'll keep my word, if only because it serves my political agenda."
Ed began to melt a small hole in the side of Roger's skull. He quickly modified the pain receptors so that the old man wouldn't feel any pain for the rest of the process. He had done similar things countless times when he used to experiment on Dupe's clones. The mana-core flew through the flesh of the brain. The parts of the brain in the way were quickly melted and re-solidified as it went. Soon, the core was in the middle of the brain, just like it was for all espers.
The neurons of the brain began to attach to the core. Electric pulses traveled between the neurons and the mana-core. The exchanged pulses started slowly, but quickly increased in pace. As the pace continued to increase, the surrounding brain cells began to quickly die off. Mana-waves spread throughout the brain. More and more cells continued dying. It was only a brief moment before Roger lay dead on the table.
"A pity." Ed sighed as he shook his head. 'My failures weren't this quick when experimenting on Dupe. As I thought previously, ordinary humans simply aren't equipped to handle large influxes of mana. In Dupe's case the problem mostly stemmed from the mana-core injecting foreign mana that wasn't compatible with his body. I hoped it'd be easier in ordinary men since they have no base-mana to begin with. I'll probably need to find a way to increase mana-resistance in ordinary people before implanting mana-cores in the future. It warrants further research...'
He began to clean up the scene. He lowered the table he had created back into the floor. Then he looked at Rogers body, which seemed to still be perfectly fine from the outside. There was a slight smile and peaceful look on the old man's face. Ed set up a chair and some rope. Then he hung Roger's body from the rope on the ceiling. He kicked the chair from underneath the body and the sound of the old man's neck breaking rang out. The fat body hung from the ceiling and slowly swung back and forth.
Ed took the goods he had collected from Sinless. He left the old man behind along with the suicide note. He exited the cellar and saw the woman he had bound previously behind the counter. 'Ah, I forgot about her. Now then, what should I do with her?'