91 Forge Versus Phantom (2/2)

'Hmm?' Ed thought the statement over for a moment before smiling. ”In other words, it's not that you don't want to help them but that you can't, meaning your real body is somewhere nearby. All powers have drawbacks. Maybe you can't move while using your power too much? Or you locked yourself up in a secure underground compound for the duration of the fight?”

”And how would I fight you in the city if either of those were true?” He questioned.

”Right...” Ed nodded. ”You managed to follow me here almost immediately.” He rubbed his chin as he eyed his surroundings. ”You made me wait for a few minutes while your espers arrived. Assuming your power did have some kind of limitation, you'd be safest with your comrades during that time...” He grinned as he aimed towards something on the ground, flames appearing within his hands. It was the carriage that the espers had arrived in.

”Bastard!” Phantom yelled as he dived in front of Ed. The flames blasted straight through him towards the carriage. A figure dashed out from the carriage, avoiding the attack in the nick of time.

As Phantom's real body appeared, the surroundings changed once again. The night sky grew bright as the sun appeared. The swampy lands shifted as it was revealed they were still just outside of Orlando. Mordy's 10-meter-tall body vanished, revealing his true form collapsed on the ground. He was surrounded by his former comrades' corpses, but three espers still stood proudly.

'What the hell?!' Ed's eyes widened in shock as he took in his surroundings. It only took a moment for him to realize the truth. ”You had me in an illusion the entire time? You were never trying to beat me. If you were, then you would have sent all your espers in at once. Instead, you were just buying time. You made me feel as if only a couple hours passed despite it already being morning?”

Phantom slowly clapped his hands while smiling. ”Mostly correct. It was actually morning already when I first attacked you. I do love when people understand things without my explanations being necessary. You see, I had no desire to waste the lives of my men on killing you. It'd be much easier to just wait for the president to arrive and kill you himself. It would give him greater satisfaction and the end-result for me would be the same.” He frowned as he glanced towards Mordy. ”Though it seems I failed miserably in some areas.”

”To maintain so many illusions at once. You should be pretty exhausted by now.” Ed grinned as he replied. ”Looks like it's almost time for my victory.”

”Phantom's body slowly faded away. ”Indeed. I've used up far too much mana. But it's almost time. The President should arrive by noon. In the meantime, my three precious espers will take care of you.” His body vanished, leaving no trace behind.

Ed glanced at the sun in the sky. 'Noon? About an hour then. It's going to be a major pain in the ass tricking Phantom to come out with his real body.' He landed on the ground as he waited for the enemy.

The three enemy espers flapped their golden wings as they headed towards Ed. The one on the left was dressed as an odd-looking knight, as if he was headed towards a renaissance fair. The one on the right was a stunningly beautiful woman, with long golden hair and blue eyes. In the center was a handsome young man, with brown hair and blue eyes. Together, they looked like a prince and princess being accompanied by a young knight.

”You shall pay for your misdeeds!” The knight's deep voice boomed as he stepped forward, pointing a large halberd towards Ed.

The blond woman pointed towards the knight, releasing a white light from her finger tip. The light covered the knight completely, seeming to grant him more strength.

”DIE!” The knight screamed as he swung the halberd downwards. The earth exploded as Ed jumped backwards to dodge.

”Is that it?” Ed frowned. 'There's no way the knight and the blond could take out Mordy with just this much.' He glanced towards the brown-haired man. 'Meaning he's the real threat.' Flames blasted from all four limbs as he shot forward. His body spun in midair as he released a strong roundhouse flame kick towards the man's head.

”Humph!” The young man snorted as he caught Ed's leg in midair. He casually threw Ed backwards, causing Ed to tumble against the ground.

'The hell?!' Ed stared in shock as he stood up and brushed the dirt off his body. 'To withstand my chimera strength? Not to mention the momentum of the strong wind and flames?' Thoughts rapidly fluttered past his mind as he came to a hypothesis. 'Only older espers should have bodies that strong from all the mana they've absorbed over time. Therefore, there are only three possibilities. One, he has some type of body cultivation technique. Extremely unlikely considering that Nexus didn't even have such a thing for sale, and the other espers in Phantom's group aren't this strong. Two, his power is directly related to body strength. Also unlikely, as those types almost always have physical deformities like Stone from Blood-Lust. Three, this young man is actually Phantom in disguise. That's gotta be it!' His eyes slowly narrowed as he regained his tranquility.

Flames blasted from Ed's hands and feet as he shot backwards, heading towards the woman from before. Her eyes widened in shock, as she hadn't expected Ed to switch targets so soon. The knight immediately dived in front of her, taking up a defensive position with his halberd.

”Too easy.” Ed sighed as he released a blast of flames toward the ground, sending him hurling through the air over the knight. A blast of high-pressure water followed, leaving a hole in the woman's head and killing her.

”Bastard!” The knight yelled as he swung his halberd repeatedly, blasts of earth firing from the ground beneath it.

Ed pretended to struggle deflecting the attacks, though he allowed no injuries to his body. It would be too much for him to fake struggling that much. Meanwhile, he pulled out a mini mana-radio and whispered some orders into it. ”Gunther. I couldn't make it to the original location I planned on for the ambush. Head back towards the south side of Orlando. I'll buy time for 30 minutes.”

The fight continued as Ed bought time. He glanced towards the young man who was watching the fight without any intention of stepping in. 'Doesn't look like he's falling for it. He probably doesn't care since his goal is buying time until the President arrives. It's going to be a close fight.' He occasionally fired some light attacks towards the spectating young man, forcing him to defend himself. 'Can't allow the bastard to recover mana during the fight.'

”I'm here.” Gunther's voice rang from the mana-radio.

”Good.” Ed replied with a smile. He held back no longer as a blade of high-pressure water blasted through the knight's stomach, tearing out a large hole within it. The knight collapsed to the ground, completely dead.

Ed walked confidently towards the young man that had been watching. ”Are you ready to finish this, Phantom? You don't have enough mana remaining for any significant illusions, so what will you do now?”

The man grinned as his form changed to that of an old man. ”Indeed.” He nodded. ”But you forgot one thing.” He rolled his shoulders, preparing to fight. ”I'm stronger than you.”

Ed glanced at Mordy, who was lying unconscious nearby. ”Why didn't you finish him off?” He questioned.

”He may still be useful once I kill you.” Phantom replied. ”He easily took out all the espers on my side. The other two only survived because I interfered. If I can tame him, then he'll be worth saving. Maybe I'll purchase some mana-collars while I'm at it.”

”Is that so?” Ed nodded. ”I'd prefer to get this over with before the President arrives, so let's finish this.”