Ed hurriedly raised his arms and fired two jets of water towards Relm. However, the water started to disappear halfway towards the target. 'Mm. The book is right. She doesn't need to say what she's eliminating aloud. She likely does it to throw enemies off their game.'
Next was fire and wind. By now, Relm had eliminated the ability to use three base elements and a mix of earth and dark elements that World Walker used for teleportation. Her face turned pale as sweat covered her forehead. Several students stood protectively around her, seemingly refusing to allow Ed into close combat against her.
'Damn!' Ed ground his teeth in anger. All of his abilities were being taken away. 'I can't use my trump card yet. Not until the teachers arrive at least.'
Suddenly, the purple barrier stuttered out of existence. Relm collapsed to one knee from exhaustion as she gasped heavily for air.
"I've got this." The black teen that had just joined stepped forward to take advantage of the opportunity. Crackles of lighting appeared around his eyes as a gaseous like substance began covering his body. His entire body quickly glowed silver with the substance. He aimed towards Relm and the gas shot out in a bright flash of light.
"Plasma?" Ed said aloud in surprise. 'That's a rare one. He's likely the best of the new class. Should be a mix of lightning, fire, and wind I'm guessing?'
The plasma was like a large laser beam as it shot forward. The ground beneath it melted slightly due to the heat. Relm managed to redeploy her purple domain, but she seemed confused as to what elements to eliminate for it exactly. The silver glow disappeared from the plasma, causing it to turn a dark reddish color. She wanted to eliminate fire next, but it was too late. The laser beam slammed into an esper that stood in front of her.
"Oh yeah!" The black teen threw a fist in the air in celebration of his success. The plasma had blasted straight through the esper, nearly killing him. Relm took the remnants of the damage and was left with burns all over her body. She lost consciousness almost immediately.
"Good job." Ed nodded. 'He'll be a useful asset. His offense is likely already in the B grade. He's probably fast too. Hard to say about versatility. His defense should be his biggest weakness.'
"You got it, Forge!" The man gave a thumbs up. "You know, I was at your speech in Georgia. Freedom, equality, and all that shit. I'm all for it. Fuck the government! That bald bastard freaken attacked us! To hell with them all!"
"Glad to hear it." He replied. "World Walker. Let's go."
"Right." Bolin nodded while creating a new portal. It just began to form before a new domain covered them and it sputtered out.
"Figures..." Ed sighed while shaking his head. Ms. Willow had caught up to them and captured them within her white-colored time-reversal domain. Kate, the bone-manipulating esper, stood behind her. Likewise, Mr. Ardy was piloting a 10-meter-tall mech that seemed to be catching up with the rest of them quickly. Steam blasted out from it in all directions to give it fine control. Not even the European mechs had such fine control, though it was lacking everywhere else when compared to them.
"Ms. Willow. Long time no see." Ed smiled underneath his mask.
"Ed. World Walker." She frowned while staring at the two. Her frown deepened even more when seeing the three that joined them. "I thought that Ray might be a problem someday, but even Flair and Husky?"
"Woah, woah, woah!" The black teen yelled out. "What do you mean you thought I'd be a problem someday?! Where's the trust? The mutual respect?"
"I'm not in the mood for playing word games with you Ray." Ms. Willow sighed while shaking her head. "I'll be holding you all within my time-reversal domain until backup arrives. If you try to escape, then I'll just reverse you right back to where you're currently standing. So just cooperate. It's what's best for you."
World Walker, Husky, and Ray looked a bit panicked at the current situation. Flair however just stood calmly. She glanced at Ed, as if expecting him to do something.
"Ms. Willow." Ed gestured towards her with his right hand. "As I'm sure you're aware, every esper's power that affects the outside world like yours, Relm's, and mine have the same limitation."
"What's your point?" She replied. "You won't have enough mana to make me reach my limits like you did for Relm."
"Of course I won't." He grinned. "Fortunately, I brought something that will." He lifted up his shirt and revealed 10 small bags tied to his waist. He pulled a string and all of them came undone and fell to the floor. Clanging sounds rang out as little marble-like objects bounced against the ground.
"Those are?!" Ms. Willow replied in shock.
"200 Light element mana-cores." He answered while already filling them with his own mana.
"No, stop!" She screamed as she activated her time-reversal domain. Ed's mana started to shakily flow backwards, but it was too late. All 200 mana-cores began to glow brightly. Light mana radiated off them into the air.
"ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?!" World Walker screamed in absolute horror.
"Now would be a good time for a portal." He calmly replied. "Look. Her domain has already started destabilizing. She won't be able to stop us."
Bolin hurriedly nodded while creating a portal quicker than he ever had. He, Flair, Husky, and Ray stepped through it. Ed took one step through and glanced back. He shot a wisp of mana towards the closest mana-core to speed up the process. Then he quickly stepped through the portal.
The group of five landed outside. They were just across the river from Governors Island. Apparently, World Walker had been in such a hurry that he even chose a close teleportation location to reduce time.
Within the portal, a bright flash of light could be seen, followed by the sound of an explosion as the portal was ripped to shreds. They all looked towards the island and saw a bright flash of light exploding upwards into the sky.
"Damn, that was crazy." Ray whistled.
"Some prior warning would have been appreciated." Flair said.
Husky just shook quietly while in shock.
"Insane. You're absolutely fucking insane. You're going to get us all killed one day." Bolin muttered in disbelief.
"Relax. It worked didn't it? Besides, I told you the backup plan was a bit crude." Ed replied.
"That was beyond crude." Bolin sighed. His body was still shaking from fear. "We almost got incinerated to nothingness just now."
"Mm." He nodded in agreement. "I wonder if they managed to stop it. Ms. Willow was probably able to direct the explosion upwards from what I can see. I didn't think she'd have enough mana to do so, but her mana should be completely exhausted as a result. Any injuries those students got are probably permanent now. Anyways, let's go. The hunters will be swarming the island soon and I'd prefer being nowhere near it when it happens."
"Right." Bolin nodded as another portal appeared in front of them.
...
Several minutes prior to Ed's escape from Steam Work Academy.
Steam Work City Hospital.
"Ed only has 358 more days then! I have to warn him! Where is he?" Yuki questioned.
"358 days." OP Baldy nodded. "It will probably take around that long for Governor Bustion to fully recover from the injuries I gave him. He's probably waiting until then to snuff out the little snake that appeared in his backyard."
"Dad! Where is he?!" She questioned again.
"I don't understand why you care so much about that boy." He sighed while shaking his head. "He isn't right in the head. Anyways, he hasn't left the city yet. Let's go. I'll let you warn him before we leave the country."
A golden light shone from OP Baldy's body and covered the city. A frown appeared on his face. "Looks like the brat couldn't wait to cause trouble. He's already causing problems at the academy. Let's go." He grabbed his daughter and disappeared in a flash of light. They soon hovered above the school cafeteria. The white light surrounding him held his daughter in midair as well. They watched as Ed fought against Jake and badly wounded him.
"Aren't you going to stop him?" Yuki questioned.
"I'm not." He shook his head. "I agreed to leave the country as soon as he helped you. Interfering would be the same as breaking my word with him."
"Didn't you have an agreement with the academy as well?" She asked.
"I did." He nodded. "I agreed to protect it during disasters as long as I'm a teacher. I still haven't resigned yet, so I'll jump in if the need arises, but this can hardly be called a disaster."
"Mm." She nodded while watching the intense fight. "To think Relm was so powerful? I don't think I could beat her without relying on hand-to-hand combat."
"Her powers are indeed fearsome. If she had a cultivation technique, trained in martial arts, and acquired golden energy, then she'd easily become one of the strongest espers in the world. Unfortunately for her, those opportunities are not easy to come by."
"She doesn't seem like the type that likes to train." Yuki shook her head while sighing. "You mentioned the golden energy that you and the governor have, right? What is it?"
"Thats-" His speech was interrupted as his eyes opened wide in shock. "What the hell is that brat doing?! Can't he go one fucking week without blowing something up?!" He grabbed Yuki and flashed towards the shore of the island. He left his daughter behind as he disappeared towards the cafeteria.
A bright flash of light appeared followed by a loud explosion. Ms. Willow tried directing the explosion upwards as she struggled reversing the power backwards. Sweat covered her face as she turned pale.
"This qualifies as a disaster." OP Baldy sighed while stepping forward. A mix of white and golden light flew from his body and surrounded the bright white light of the explosion. It blocked off the damage, causing it to shoot upwards into the sky and downwards into the ground. When it finally disappeared, there was a large hole in the ground with an inestimable depth at first glance.
Ms. Willow knelt down while breathing heavily. "Thank you, Tama." She tried her best to give him a smile despite the pain of mana-exhaustion wracking her body.
"You're welcome." He nodded. "You can count this as my resignation. Something came up and I need to take Yuki with me back to China. I hope you'll forgive the sudden rudeness." He flashed away without waiting for a reply.
"What was that?!" Yuki questioned her father. "I saw nearly a hundred blue threads almost turn black before instantly turning white!"
"The brat exploded hundreds of light mana-cores against the academy." He replied. "I'm amazed your powers indicate he still has nearly a year to live. The way he courts death, I wouldn't be surprised if he dropped dead any second."
"You don't understand him." She shook her head. "He's clearly good at planning. He even pulled such a big trick on you and me."
"Love sickness." Mr. Sai sighed while rubbing his eyes. "You'll outgrow it someday."
"I'm not in love!" She denied while pouting. She crossed her arms and tuned her head away from him.
"Well, I won't be letting you see him in the future anyways, so let's get this over with." He grabbed her and flashed away. They appeared in front of a rundown restaurant in one of the uglier parts of the city. They walked inside and were surprised by how clean it was. Wooden tables and red chairs were crowded with customers. A fat hairy man lifted a pizza out of an oven with a large spatula-like object. Ed and the others could be seen at a nearby table, where they were eating pizza for lunch.
...
"Mm. New York has the best pizza by far." Ed spoke between taking large bites of his pizza. "So, Ray. Your power is some type of plasma?"
"Right." He nodded. "I just awoke my powers during the Lightning Nightmare attack. Pretty much the perfect powers for the situation. So, I'm not that experienced yet. Thanks for having me."
"What made you decide to join?" He questioned. 'Flair joined because of technology and Europe. Husky is just weirdly attached to me. Ray though... why?'
"Simple. I want to be a general!" Ray grinned while replying.
"A general...?" Ed repeated back. "As in a war general?"
"Right!" Ray nodded happily. "To do what you talked about, you'll need to take over the country. That's impossible without some type of war. A coup wouldn't work since there are too many powerful and corrupt espers within the government. I'm going to be the great general that leads the revolution for you!"
"And why exactly do you want to do this?"
"Well, for one, I believe in the cause. Two, I don't like the government. Bastards did everything they could to get me to join the Hunter Association. As for the third reason... you said you want to change the world too, right? Free the slaves in Europe and all that?"
"Right." Ed nodded.
"Here's the thing... I have a bit of an interesting family history." Ray sighed. "My ancestors we're slaves during the colonization of America..."
"I see." Ed interrupted. "So, you want to free the slaves since your own family suffered the same fate hundreds of years ago?"
"More than just that." He replied. "I want to be known in history as the greatest military general in history. Most of my family has served in the military throughout American history. We've been in almost every war dating back to the civil war period. However, none of us have ever managed to climb near the top. Why do you think that is?"
"I don't know." Ed answered while shaking his head.
"There's been a lot of different reasons. The earlier years were likely due to racism. The later years were due to lack of talent and lack of big wars. The most recent years has been because of lack of espers. Even now, there are no significant wars in the world. How can a man become the world's greatest general if there is no war?! So, I joined your side. I'll make my own damn war if I have to!"
"That's... some interesting logic." Ed replied while slightly speechless. 'The world is full of all sorts of people I suppose...'
"Ed!" A high-pitched voice rang out. "I have something important to tell you!" Yuki and OP Baldy walked towards their table.