The patients continued to enter one at a time. Each soldier was around the same height of 2 meters. Ray had wanted the superhuman battalion to be as consistent as possible in capabilities.
As Ed continued the surgeries, he got sidetracked by other issues. One soldier unknowingly had cancer. Another soldier had a surprisingly well-hidden injury in his leg. Yet another had a heart murmur they were likely born with. Ed simply melted the problem areas and replaced them with new flesh. This caused the initial two-day estimate to expand to three days, as almost half the soldiers had some hidden health problems. He needed these soldiers in top condition. They would likely be the most important factor in deciding the war.
Soon, all the surgeries finished. Ed returned to his quarters and entered a deep sleep.
"Kekeke." A shadow laughed. "We meet again."
'Are you kidding me?!' Ed groaned internally while staring at the empty white space. He sighed while rubbing his forehead. "What do you want this time?"
"Nothing I want." The shadow replied.
"You're not going to hold our last meeting against me?" He questioned.
"Of course not. Nexus is a place of business first and foremost. Our disagreement was resolved by a third party. Forgive and forget. I'm not the type to hold a grudge." The shadow moved closer, wanting to wrap around Ed's body, but he stepped back to avoid it this time.
"Kekeke." The shadow laughed again. "Don't you want to hear why I called you here?"
Ed frowned. "You know, I read a psychology book recently. You move closer to others and make them feel trapped. This uncomfortable closeness makes others more likely to spill their secrets, so I'd appreciate you keeping your distance."
"Tsk." The shadow harrumphed. "It's not like I ever successfully tricked you into giving my any useful information for free. Anyways, I'll get to the main point, as I've got other meetings tonight. As thanks for the manullium, this magnanimous shadow has decided to pass you a free warning. The assassins will arrive in one hour. They were paid quite well by Governor Bustion. As for your survival odds..." The shadow teetered left and right while thinking a moment. "I'd say you stand about a 5% chance of winning. Good luck!"
The dimension shattered apart, and Ed woke up in his room. 'Assassins huh? If it was a few days earlier then I might worry and come up with some tricks, but that's hardly necessary. I doubt Governor Bustion has gotten the news of our newest battalion yet. Still, there's no chance of hiding it until the start of the war. No time like the present to put it to use."
He calmly got dressed and slipped on his Harmony mask. Leaving the room, he walked past several apartments and knocked on a door.
"Yes?" Ray answered, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers.
"Prepare the new battalion for their first battle." He ordered.
"Battle?!" Ray's eyes widened in surprise. "But we've barely gotten any training in? The newer guys have only trained for a few hours in total while the older ones have only trained for a couple days."
"The enemy comes to us, not us to them. We don't have the luxury of choosing this time around. You've got less than an hour before they arrive. Be fully prepared within 30 minutes."
"Alright." Ray nodded. "I'll get dressed and get the orders out." He picked up a mana-radio off the wall and spoke some orders into it. The soldiers would mostly be ready before he would even get there.
Ed left the building and walked into the dark and silent night. Beams of light radiated from the moon and reflected off his mask and eyes within the darkness. He calmly enjoyed the view while waiting for Ray.
A few moments later, Ray arrived. "Let's go." He said as he began jogging towards the training field.
They soon arrived at the training field, which was outside of the main base. It was an empty field consisting mostly of dirt and some patches of mud. Some targets and obstacles were also setup around the field. The 200 superhumans were already lined up in perfect formation. Twenty rows with 10 soldiers within each row.
"LISTEN UP!" Ray yelled loudly. "We'll be facing our first battle in just a few moments! We don't know the number of the enemy not anything about their powers! However, we do know they're assassins sent after our glorious leader, Forge! Naturally, they should have enough strength to carry out their mission. That is, if they're not expecting us. We'll kill the enemies and prove our worth to Harmony!"
"General!" A chorus of voices rang out as the soldiers simultaneously saluted.
The large group stood silently within the darkness. Not even a whisper existed as they anxiously waited. Some clenched their hands in nervousness. Others had burning excitement within their eyes. Ed calmly watched the skies.
"What makes you so sure they're coming from the sky and not the ground?" Ray questioned.
"I'm not certain." He shook his head. "However, it's what I would do if I was an assassin that assumed my target didn't know I was coming. It's faster to travel in the air than by ground. It provides a completely free range of movement in all directions. It gives a height advantage. It allows for easier escaping. Basically, the advantages are far too numerous to give up. They could also attack from underground, but then they're screwed if they fail the initial attack. It'd be very hard to escape in that scenario."
"Oh." Ray nodded in understanding. "What if they can't fly? Not many espers can?"
"Then the governor underestimated me drastically." He smiled. "In that case, your men can just enjoy the show."
Suddenly, Ed spotted 5 figures far in the distance. He could only see the vague outlines of their bodies within the darkness. As they got closer, the moonlight allowed him to see their actual appearances.
An esper with short white hair was glowing with a white light. The light carried his four teammates behind him. The left-most esper had red skin and an ogre-like body. He even wore tiger skin clothing to complete the look. The woman next to him was a charming beauty with long black hair and a black dress. The right-most esper was a bald monk with black skin. However, it was not ordinary black skin. It was darker than pitch-black. The dark night appeared bright when compared to him. The final esper had no particularly distinguishing characteristics. He looked like an ordinary person you would meet anywhere, his face completely forgettable. However, he carried a strange metal box on his back.
"Looks like the show is about to begin." Ed grinned. "I'll go greet them first. If things go south, then I'll head over here."
"Got it." Ray nodded. "Be careful."
Flames blasted from his feet as he shot into the sky. He flew forward several hundred meters and waved at the arriving espers. "Hey! You guys are finally here. I need to catch up on my sleep, so let's get this over with."
The leading white-haired esper frowned. "How did you know of our arrival?"
"A little snake interrupted my dreams. I thought he was going to offer me a delicious apple and try to bite me. Unfortunately, I only found out I was being visited by the world's worst assassins instead. A pity." He sighed while shaking his head.
"GRAH!" The red-skinned man roared while trying to push against the white light.
"Calm down!" The black-haired woman next to him slapped him on the back of the head. "He's obviously just trying to rile us up."
"So, how should we proceed?" Ed continued. "I much prefer fighting in the skies. Can none of you really fly on your own? If so, then I really overestimated you."
"Humph." The white-haired esper snorted. His white light began to fade, forming angelic wings behind each of the espers behind him. The ruffling sound of wind rang out as the wings flapped behind them. It looked like each esper was fully in control of their own set of wings.
"Oh, good." He nodded. "I was worried this would be boring for a second. Well, guess I'll kill the obvious weak link first." Flames blasted him forward as he shot straight for the white-haired esper.
"GRAH!" The red-haired ogre quickly moved in front of the white-haired esper. Molten lava appeared out of thin air, forming a lava cape on his back. Lava dripped from his hair, covering his entire body. A crude lava sword and shield appeared in his hands.
'Lava for defense?' Ed's eyes widened in surprise. 'Can't say that's the choice I'd make. That ogre probably has a ridiculously strong body and can get away with it.' He positioned his arms downwards and bent his legs backwards. The new directions of the flames somersaulted him over the ogre and white-haired esper. 'As if I'd really attack the most obvious target from the get-go.' He flew in front of the black-haired woman and released two large streams of flame.
The black-haired woman grinned as her powers activated. She transformed into multiple streams of dark smoke that shot in all directions. The smoke recombined a distance away and her body reformed, completely unharmed. The streams of flame lit up the darkness as they continued shooting off into the distance before eventually sputtering out.
'Hmm. That one's a pain in the ass like Mordy. The monk it is then.' He switched directions and charged towards the monk.
"Om Vasudhare Svaha." The monk chanted while holding brown beads in prayer. A yellow pyramid-shaped barrier appeared around Ed and the monk.
Ed eyed the barrier cautiously. 'Looks like a normal barrier to me? But this esper's power should also be related to the dark element... What's the catch?'
Suddenly, the monk's body began to multiply. Two, four, six, eight. A total of 16 monks appeared in the barrier.
'Ah, there it is.' Ed nodded to himself while shooting flames towards the nearest monk. The dark monk was instantly incinerated, turning into a dark-colored mana. However, the mana failed to return to the atmosphere like it would normally. Instead, it entered the yellow barrier. A brief moment later, a new monk walked out from the barrier as good as new.
The monks began to charge towards him, throwing fist and palm attacks from all directions. Ed hurriedly burnt them to nothingness, but they just kept reforming from the barrier.
The other four espers waited outside, seemingly having no desire to interfere. "What a stupid man." The black-haired woman said in a derisive tone. "To allow himself to be trapped inside the barrier. He's as good as dead."
'That's good. Looks like the monk's teammates can't enter.' He blasted the head off another monk, but it quickly reformed. 'This esper's talent should be wearing down other espers. He uses no mana within this confined space as long as his barrier isn't broken. On the flip-side, any mana I use is likely being absorbed by the barrier or is passing through it to be absorbed by the atmosphere. Fortunately, I cultivate and have more mana than most espers. I also use very little mana since I rely primarily on the mana-batteries. It would take a week to make me run out in such an easy fight, but if I make a single mistake then I could be gravely injured. This situation isn't sustainable...'
He turned towards the top of the pyramid shaped barrier and aimed with both arms. 'It had to be a pyramid? Practically no weak points. The tip can barely be considered the weakest point though.' His arms reformed to allow water to flow. Two powerful jets of high-pressure water slammed into the tip of the pyramid. The splashing water rained down on Ed and the monks, forming a small pool at the bottom of the pyramid barrier.
'Isn't working.' He frowned as he stopped firing to dodge the attack of another monk. Fortunately, there was quite a bit of room to move around within the barrier. 'Hmm? The water from earlier stayed in the barrier?' He smiled as an insidious idea formed in his mind. 'Well, it's been a while since I've used that particular combo.'
His arms adjusted again, combining the water and fire mana-batteries. Blast of steam shot from his hands towards the black monks, which caused them to momentarily halt in confusion. The weak steam was hardly enough to hurt them, so they pressed the attack again.
Ed continuously dodged their attacks while occasionally throwing a kick of flames in their direction. The steam continued filling up the pyramid, making it difficult to see. Soon, all that existed within the pyramid was the steam.
Coughing sounds rang out as the various monks struggled to breathe. Ed stood calmly in the sky, seemingly unbothered by the lack of air. 'It's so convenient being able to melt and reform anything.' He smiled happily to himself. All of the steam that came near him was quickly reformed to remove the water and leave behind the oxygen, which then moved into his lungs.
The barrier began to flicker as the monk's coughing fit continued, his lungs filled with water. Soon, the barrier disappeared, and the extra monks vanished with it.
Suddenly, the esper with the metal box made his move. The metal reformed into a full set of silver armor that covered the esper. Hundreds of thin blades snaked out from all over the esper's body and shot towards Ed.
Ed quickly flew backwards as flames shot from his limbs. He could hear the sound of the air being ripped apart as the blades tore through it. A large blade of lava shot towards him from the side. It was a sneak attack from the ogre! Ed quickly adjusted directions and flew back towards Ray. All five espers chased behind him.
"They're all yours!" Ed yelled as he shot past the battalion.
"FIRE!" Ray yelled as he waved his hand downwards.
The 200 superhumans simultaneously aimed into the sky. A raging inferno of flames formed above them, lighting up the night. The heat radiated so strongly that it was visible to the naked eye. The nearby buildings were brightened by the illuminating rays. It was as if a miniature sun had appeared in the middle of the base. The flames quickly shot into the sky, causing even the air to sizzle.
"Barrier, now!" The white-haired esper screamed. The monk panicked, forgetting to even speak his chant as a yellow barrier surrounded him and his teammates. The flames crackled against the yellow barrier. Tiny cracks began to form, and they quickly grew larger. Soon, a shattering sound rang out as the barrier broke apart. The flames passed through the area for several seconds. When the flames vanished, not even a body remained. The five espers were incinerated into less than dust.
"That was easy?" Ed said in surprise. Not even he had expected things to go so smoothly.
"Right." Ray nodded. "We're lucky they came from the air. If they were on the ground, then only a fraction of the battalion would be able to attack while using this formation."
"Maybe I should rethink always attacking from the sky..." Ed commented.
"Haha, maybe." Ray laughed while turning around. He held up a fist in the air and yelled, "VICTORY!"
"VICTORY!" The soldiers cheered, some going as far to throw their harmony masks in the air.