90 A New Challenger (2/2)

”And where does the manullium fall into your plans?” Ed questioned.

”Manullium?” Phantom shook his head. ”I told you already, I'm not Nexus. That had nothing to do with any of this. I naturally passed all of the manullium to Nexus. I had no desire to get on their bad side.”

”You're still insisting on that?” Ed frowned. 'Is he really telling the truth? He has no reason to lie to me at this point? He's been open about everything else he plans...' Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he continued. ”Well, it's too bad your plans have a fatal flaw. Even if I don't become Governor, you can forget about it too.”

”Oh, and why is that?” Phantom questioned with a smile.

”Simple.” Ed replied as he pointed his arm towards Phantom. ”You have a time limit. You need to kill me before the president arrives while using your finite mana supplies. Your illusions may be deadly, but the things you make real hardly qualify. It uses far too much mana to be of any significant use beyond parlor tricks.” He lifted his other arm towards his neck, feeling a slight trace of blood. However, his scales had automatically surfaced and defended against the attack. ”Looks like you already tried to kill me with your parlor tricks while I was asleep. If your real body was here, then maybe you could've pulled it off. Unfortunately for you, you missed your best opportunity.”

A stream of flames blasted forward, releasing a low hissing sound from his hand. The Phantom in the chair immediately vanished. Ed wasted no time as he broke straight through the roof, flames propelling him high into the sky. He looked around at his surroundings with extreme caution. Orlando was beneath him, seeming to have a peaceful night within the light storm. 'Is this real?' He wondered as he watched. 'It should be. Phantom wouldn't go out of his way to waste mana for no reason. A city of this size would be too difficult to maintain for a long time.'

Suddenly, a streak of silver shot into the skies. The light caught up to Ed and faded a bit, revealing Ray within it. ”Hey!” He grinned. ”Glad to see you woke up.”

Ed frowned as he stared at the man, examining him carefully. ”Repeat the orders I gave you regarding the delay of our attack against Florida.” He ordered.

”What?” Ray replied on confusion.

”You've got five seconds.” Ed said as he aimed an arm at him. ”Repeat the exact orders I gave you two weeks before our attack against Miami.”

Ray frowned. ”Shit man, I don't remember the exact details. It was just ordering me to keep our plans to attack two weeks later a secret, right?”

”Wrong.” He replied as a stream of flames shot from his hand and swirled around Ray, burning the illusion to nothingness.

'This is going to be a pain in the ass.' He sighed to himself. 'Fortunately, I've taken countermeasures ahead of time.' He turned around in the sky and blasted away at top speed, the wind bellowing past him as he went. The light rain felt pleasant on his skin, cooling him down a bit on the otherwise hot night.

Dozens of Phantoms appeared as he flew away. ”Where are you going?” They echoed as he continued to fly.

”Abandoning your army?”

”Running away?”

”Giving up so easily?”

”Why not fight me?”

The chorus of voices never ceased. Ed grinned as he listened. This might slightly unnerve him before absorbing the golden faith energy, but now he was completely fine with it. The experiences from the golden energy had been thousands of times worse.

”Son.” A tall man blocked his path, frowning. ”It isn't polite to ignore your guests.”

Ed calmly lifted his arm and released a white light, completely annihilating the illusion. ”That's low, even for you Phantom.”

Several more Phantoms appeared while laughing. ”Maybe so, maybe so.” They echoed nonchalantly.

The plains and rivers of Florida sped by as Ed continued to fly. He was now in the middle of nowhere, many kilometers away from any cities. ”Here we are.” He said as he stopped flying. ”Let's fight like men, Phantom. Come at me with all your tricks and espers. I'll show you how a real man fights.”

”Just a moment.” A Phantom replied as he rubbed his beard. He stood there silently while several minutes past. Soon, a carriage arrived in the sky. It was pulled by golden horses with flapping wings. Dozens of espers flew outside from within it, each one wielding their own pair of golden wings.”

'The espers under his command? Or another illusion?' Ed wondered as he watched. His question was soon answered as an esper with green hair and dark clothing exited the carriage.

The green-haired esper was Mordy, and he seemed distraught at the current series of events. However, that did not stop him from giving Ed a hang signal, one which they had only ever used when they first arrived together to Reef city. It was a custom one, not existing within any existing systems. It was the signal they had used when planning to attack the enemy from two fronts.

'That Mordy is almost definitely real.' Ed nodded to himself. 'But can he be trusted? Are the others real? Phantom should know of my past friendship with Mordy. Would he really make such an elementary mistake to bring him along?'

Phantom smiled towards the arrival of his underlings. He waved them over with great enthusiasm. ”Come, come!” He yelled towards them. The golden wings flapped them forward. They were likely creations of Phantom's real illusions. One of the more practical uses of his powers. He placed his hand on Mordy's shoulders. ”Why don't you do the honors. You've been wanting to take revenge on your old pal Edward for a long time after he almost got you killed in Reef city. You never ceased complaining about how I made you continue pretending to be his friend.”

'Revenge?!' Ed frowned as thoughts flash past his mind. 'It's not that Phantom doesn't know about my past friendship with Mordy. It's that Mordy has purposefully misconstrued the nature of our relationship? It's likely that Phantom thinks I'm responsible for our capture by Luny and Jarrod, and thus Mordy wishes for revenge. It's not that Phantom is stupid, but instead it's that Mordy is smarter than he realized... but why would Mordy do it? Did he plan it all from the beginning?'

Ed's thoughts were interrupted as his surroundings rapidly changed. No longer was he flying in the sky. Instead, he was within a massive maze. There was no ceiling or roof, and it was very dark. Creepy ornaments of various bulls, tigers, and other animals lined the walls, eerie green fire glowing within their eyes.

”Time to kill him, my friends.” Phantom's voice echoed. ”Once he dies and I assume the role of Governor, you'll all be my future mayors. Work hard now!”