69 Superhumans (1/2)

Ed returned to his base, and then to his office. A small white box-shaped portal was already waiting for him. 'Looks like Phantom already informed Nexus.' He made a few trips between his lab and his office, depositing a total of 80 manullium ingots. Then the portal disappeared.

'Such a waste.” He sighed. He called for one of Dupe's clones for a meeting.

”Yes?” Dupe questioned as he entered the office.

”Hey.” Ed gestured for him to sit. ”You told me your father was a senator previously, right? Who is he? Does he have golden faith energy?”

”Ah, so it's about that.” Dupe commented as he took a seat. ”My father was an esper and a senator in Florida. His powers always had a strange golden glow to them. Unfortunately, he pissed off the wrong people. He was murdered before I even awakened my powers.”

”That's a shame.” Ed sighed. 'There goes that potential ally.' He opened a drawer and pulled out some ink and paper. His mana surrounded the ink and it quickly melted to form an image on the paper. It was a portrait of Phantom. ”Have you ever seen this man before?”

”Hmm?” Dupe studied the picture closely before nodding. ”He was one of my father's regular acquaintances. Can't say I know much about him, but my father warned me about him once. He said that he feared that esper more than any other esper, including the president and OP Baldy.”

”Eh, why?” He questioned.

”No clue.” Dupe shook his head. ”My father didn't like telling me the secrets of the higher echelons. He didn't want me to go into politics. I studied it on my own and watched him over the years to learn.”

”I see.” He nodded. ”Do you know anyone else in the higher echelons? Someone that might support us after the war in Florida ends? As it stands now, we're likely to be attacked by federal forces if we win the war. We wouldn't stand a snowballs chance in hell of winning.”

”I don't.” Dupe replied. ”What about the governor of Georgia? You helped his state with the nightmare attack and you're even applauded as a hero over there?”

”Unlikely.” He shook his head. ”The Governor didn't show up to the ceremony at all. Not even when I caused all that chaos. It's unlikely he would have any interest in me like the mayor did.” He turned towards his office window and stared at the blue sky. ”What do you think we should do, Dupe? I'm confident in winning the war, but is it worth it? So many will be sacrificed, and there's a good chance it'll all be for naught if the federal government chases us away.”

”Well, we don't know if we don't try, right?” Dupe smiled. ”Besides, you've already caused the deaths of thousands in your twisted little quest for power, haven't you? If you stop now, then all those sacrifices will be for nothing. Completely pointless deaths that serve no purpose.”

”So, you're saying that I have no right to leave the path of blood once I've embarked on it? Heh.” He chuckled. ”What a ridiculous notion. People die pointless deaths all the time.”

”Maybe.” Dupe agreed. ”But keep in mind that though we may be friends, I'm still following you for the interesting show. If things calm down, then I'll be leaving to find other things to do.”

”Got it.” Ed waved his hand, gesturing for Dupe to leave. He leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed. 'How does one stop an unstoppable force such as the Hunter Association? Explosions, tricks, technology? None of those will work. Relying on Phantom's words are as good as relying on dog shit. He broke our alliance so easily, so why in the hell would I trust him? Maybe I can visit the other governors one by one and try persuading them to my side...? They should all be stronger than me though, so that carries its own high risk of death. Also, I imagine that more than 90% are happy with the current state of affairs. I, who has allied with the commoners, am the natural enemy of those that exploit the commoners.'

”Ugh!” Ed groaned as he rubbed his forehead, feeling vexed. 'There's no point wasting time on things I can't change. I'm better off being productive and maximizing my efforts towards the current problem first. It's time to create some stronger soldiers.'

Ed returned to his lab and began prepping. It was a small lab, but it was fine since he would only be working on one patient at a time. The patients for mana-infusion wouldn't get their treatment started until a month later when they had given enough blood. Of course, they were giving blood the normal way as opposed to being treated like blood slaves.

He decided to give fire and wind mana-battery limbs to a total of 200 elite soldiers. That would nearly deplete his manullium resources. Originally, he wanted to include other batteries too, but that proved to be more difficult. Water and wind still wore down the metal slowly, making it unsustainable for ordinary humans. Earth alone wasn't suited to being used in the limbs. It could work combined with water to create mud, but that was fairly useless. It could also be combined with fire for lava, but that had the same issue as water and wind of grinding down the metal arms. As for light, dark, and lightning? He hadn't even managed to create safe batteries for those types yet.

It was almost time to get started. At first, he was worried he wouldn't have enough supplies. Fortunately, World Walker had been able to trade the light mana-cores for ample supplies of the other types with various sinner groups. Light mana-cores were inherently valuable for construction, as they could be used as crude lights. If processed, then they could even be used to create advertisements like in Steam Work City.

The sound of doors opening rang out in the lab. Ed turned around and saw a tall man following behind Ray.

Ray stopped and patted the tall man on the shoulder. ”Here's the first one. I'll send one every 15 minutes like you requested.”

”Mm. Thanks.” Ed nodded. He had added a steam-powered elevator for the sole purpose of others visiting his lab. It was less secure now, but he couldn't just expect soldiers to climb down a creepy hatch into a cellar for surgery. It'd be sketchy as hell and scare half of them off.

”FORGE!” The tall man saluted excitedly. ”It's my great honor to be chosen to receive powers! I won't let you down!”

”Alright, let's get started.” He pointed towards a table. ”Lay down there. I'll be upgrading all your limbs to work the same way as mine.”

”I'll leave you to it.” Ray waved goodbye as he returned to the elevator.

The tall man lied on the bed while fidgeting nervously. His tough act quickly vanished. ”Is... Is it going to hurt?” He questioned.