Tai frowned as he glanced back-and-forth between the injured espers and Ed. "Let me guess, you want more purple mana-cores?" He questioned.

"Of course." Ed grinned. "I won't make things too difficult for you. I'll only charge a single core per esper."

"Are you insane?!" Tai shouted. "You know damn well how valuable they are! I'll give you five to fix up everybody. Take it or leave it!"

"Sorry guys." Ed turned around while sighing. "It looks like your boss is too cheap to help you, and we're running out of time, so we really must get going now." He started making his way towards the exit.

"Wait!" Tai grabbed him by the shoulder, gripping hard to stop him from leaving. "I really can't afford to give any more. I have my own uses for them, otherwise I wouldn't have spent so much time and effort on collecting them. Name something else to trade."

"Something else?" Ed smiled. "Give me a cultivation technique I can freely pass to Harmony then. That seems fair, right?"

"That..." He clenched his teeth in anger. "I don't have any on me nor do I have the authority to transmit Fire Dragon Sect techniques. I'm only a potential heir, and there are limits to what I can do."

"Tsk." Ed clicked his tongue. "Then what can you even offer me? I can literally create almost anything I want, and the only thing I lack are rare and valuable resources. What are these injured espers worth to you?"

Tai closed his eyes in thought for several moments, seemingly debating on an answer. When his eyes opened, he seemed hesitant to make his offer. "I'll give you the flesh of an incredible mutant." He said through gritted teeth.

"Oh?" Ed rose a questioning eyebrow. "I'm perfectly capable of hunting strong mutants myself. I think you'll need to make a better offer."

"No, this is different." Tai replied resolutely. "This mutant is one of a kind, and I planned on selecting it for when you change me into a chimera. It's only the size of a few people, and I was originally preparing to give the leftovers to my subordinates.

"What kind of mutant is it? Don't tell me China has a dragon or something?" He joked while chuckling.

"Of course not." Tai shook his head. "Dragons obviously don't exist since all mutants developed from existing animals. There have been some projects to try changing pythons into dragons, but they've had little to no success."

"Just tell me what it is then." He demanded while crossing his arms.

"A bat." Tai answered.

"A bat?" He questioned.

"Mm." Tai nodded.

"Like, two wings, fangs, blind, and lives in a cave type of bat?" He asked.

"Yes, a bat." Tai nodded again.

"I'm leaving." Ed waved towards the injured espers as he tried to leave. "What a waste of time."

"You'll regret it if you don't agree to this!" Tai yelled. "Trust me. This bat is an incredible mutant with unbelievable power."

Ed stopped walking. 'A bat... He can't be serious? How strong can a bat mutant be?' He turned around. "What makes it so incredible?"

"You won't believe me even if I try to explain it." Tai sighed while shaking his head. "Just believe me and heal these espers. I swear on the honor of the Fire Dragon Sect that you won't regret it."

Ed eyed the injured espers while rubbing his chin. "Fine." He nodded. "But if you screw me, you can forget about anyone becoming chimeras."

"Of course." He agreed.

"Alright. Go get me some human bodies." Ed sighed. "Try to find weaker ones. Strong bodies are a pain since it takes longer to clear out the native mana and reform the flesh."

"Got it." He nodded. "Just wait here." He left the room to collect the bodies.

Several minutes passed before Tai's subordinates started carrying in dead bodies of ordinary prison guards. Ed set to work healing the dozens of injured espers. Fortunately, it only took him half an hour to finish since the guards were fairly weak when they were alive. But by now, the water was up to their chests. They really had no more time to spare.

The group traveled to the manullium gate. A huge crowd of espers were waiting outside of it within the flooding waters. It would seem they still hadn't managed to break all the way through to the other side.

"Carlos. Ed." Tai gestured towards the gate, requesting for them to help.

"Haha, let's get it done." Carlos smiled as purple wind swirled around his body.

"Sure." Ed agree as purple flames appeared. He shot streams of flame towards the gate, and Carlos shot his wind towards the flames. A raging purple inferno blasted through the tunnel that had already been dug into the gate, rapidly expanding the tunnel to be larger. They slowly moved forward while continuing to create and expand the tunnel. It only took them thirty minutes to create a large opening that reached all the way through the other side.

"So, this is the compound." Ed commented as he stuck his head out the opening. There were tall walls in all four directions. Some soldiers patrolled the walls while others were stationed at various steam cannons. There were platoons training in various training fields throughout the compound, as well as mechs driving up and down the streets. 'Damn, it's a lot bigger than the fort at the mine I broke into a long time ago...'

Suddenly, multiple sirens started going off throughout the base. Clearly someone had alerted the higher ups that the gate had been broken through.

'Not good.' Ed frowned as he quickly fell back from the gate. A stream of mana-bullets and mana-shells slammed into the front of the opening, creating large elemental explosions of all kind. "TAI!" He yelled back through the tunnel. "IT'S STARTING!"

"MEN, MOVE OUT!" Tai's voice loudly echoed through the manullium gate turned tunnel. Footsteps echoed as thousands of men and women marched forward in a long line. Nearly fifty espers were in each row.

Ed and Carlos leaned against the wall, allowing the horde of espers to pass. Their eyes widened in shock as the espers were blown to shreds as soon as they exited. Not even their manullium armor and shields could protect them from the incredibly concentrated fire on their position. Watching their comrades being gunned down as cannon fodder, the prisoners started hesitating on whether to exit or not.

"What should we do?" Carlos questioned Ed.

Ed frowned. "We need some kind of distraction or smokescreen..."

"I'll take care of it." Tai said as he reached the tunnel exit. He stepped outside the tunnel completely by himself.

"Is he mad?!" Carlos questioned in shock.

The skies were covered in enemy fire, making it impossible for Tai to dodge regardless of his speed. "Ahh." He smiled while stretching. "It's been so long since I've felt this free." Ordinary red flames sparked all over his body. He glanced back towards Ed and Carlos within the tunnel. "I look like an esper with the most ordinary of powers, right? I'll show you why cultivation is the true path to power."

The flames rapidly began swirling around his body. He waved his fan, sending flames out in several directions. The flames formed several realistic looking Chinese fire dragons, one of which flew underneath his feet. The dragons looked like long pythons with wings and claws. They shot flames from their mouths towards the incoming artillery, exploding it all in midair before it even got close. The fire dragon underneath his feet took to the air, and he leisurely stood atop it, as if he was just a passerby admiring the view.

"Time to take care of those pesky gunners." He grinned as flames bloomed atop his fan. He waved it towards the wall, sending out blades of fire that were so concentrated that they appeared solid. Gunners and other soldiers atop the walls were torn and burned to shreds.

"What are you waiting for?!" He yelled towards the manullium tunnel. "Get out here and shoot them!"

"Yes sir!" Voices echoed. The infantrymen that had saved roughly half their ammo until now began rushing out of the tunnel. More artillery fire tried taking them out, but Tai's dragons continuously blocked the attacks.

As the espers exited the tunnels, some took aim and began firing their mana-ammunition towards the soldiers on the walls. Others directly took to using their powers, covering themselves in fire, water, wind, and other elements. With them finally taking a foothold outside the gate, the espers continuously poured out in streams. It wasn't long before the other gang members and their leaders made it outside as well.

'The real thing should be starting soon...' Ed thought as he watched.

Suddenly, enemy espers began appearing in large numbers from the various training fields, bunkers, and their quarters. The battle was rapidly developing into chaos as elements flew back-and-forth between espers. Some were incinerated to ash. Others corroded by darkness. Blinding light, suffocating water, sharp earth, and all sorts of other attacks followed. Some of the more powerful espers had even taken to escaping on their own, abandoning the battle entirely.

'What a mess...' Ed sighed. When he had led battles in the past, they had been far more efficient and orderly. 'I guess this is the best that can be done with a loose army of disloyal prisoners.'

Resolving himself to join the fight, he moved out. Silver flames began covering his body. "Holy shit!" He exclaimed in shock as the flames rapidly grew in size. 'Without any manullium interference, the power of the silver flames is tenfold what it was before...' He aimed towards a squad of nearby enemy mechs and released a stream of flames towards them. The silver fire crackled and exploded repeatedly as it tore apart the mechs. Small traces of electricity even seemed to damage the mech components, immobilizing them as they were destroyed.

"Show off." Carlos grinned as his own red wind appeared. It blew across the ground, looking like flames as it travelled. However, the wind did not burn anything. Instead, it seemed to absorb all the moisture from the air. Any enemies it passed over were quickly squeezed dry, becoming mummified in seconds.

Tai flew over on his fire dragon, envy shining in his eyes. "I've already mastered the seven paths of fire. Soon, I'll master the purple flames as well and move onto the next stage!" He mumbled to himself as he waved his fan towards several enemy espers that were flying towards him. Threads of black corrosive fire snaked out from the fan, rapidly spinning together to entangle the enemies.

"You'll have to do better than that!" An enemy wind esper yelled as he easily blew a hole through the fire threads.

"Amateurs." Tai snorted as the threads rapidly began spinning together to form a black flame dragon, which quickly exploded over the enemy espers and corroded their bodies to ash.

Ed powered the silver flames to rocket himself into the air. 'It's hard to get the hang of...' He frowned as he flew next to Tai. He was far too used to the steady output of his mana batteries and had never really used his own powers to fly before. "So, your power is some kind of flame dragon?" He questioned.

"Of course not." Tai shook his head. "Make no mistake, Ed. My original power is the most ordinary of flames. Something that espers found all over the world have. What you're seeing is merely a display of my control over mana and my progress upon the 49 paths, both of which are prerequisites for later stages of cultivation. I wouldn't expect espers that skip steps like you and Carlos to understand."

"Heh, sounds like he's jealous to me." Carlos gloated as he flew over towards them.

"So, what's next?" Ed questioned. "I figured the final battle would be more difficult." He eyed the thousands of espers fighting everywhere on both sides. Many were dying, but it seemed their odds were much better than either of the previous battles.

"I'm afraid it really has just started." Tai sighed while shaking his head. "We're already outnumbered two to one, and casualties are rapidly rising. But that's not really important. Do you know why the stronger espers are already fleeing?"

"Hmm?" He looked again, noting that several prominent espers from prior battles had gone missing entirely. So, why are they running?" He questioned.

"That." Tai sighed while pointing forward.

"That?" He looked where Tai was pointing, seeing nothing out of ordinary. However, his eyes soon widened in shock. 'For fucks sake!' He cursed to himself.

Just outside of the fort, space was beginning to twist and distort. It shattered into black shards, which rapidly reformed into black threads and cloths. A tall man made of the black threads quickly formed, the cloth dancing around him as if he was the center of the universe.

"This is why I predicted the last battle would be so difficult." Tai sighed. "We're fortunate we already eliminated the Warden. That should make the fight against the President at least slightly easier."

"You don't think we can take him?" Ed questioned. "His weakness is light based attacks. I injured him a bit the last time I fought him in Florida. With the three of us combined and the other espers, don't you think we stand a pretty good chance?"

"Humph." Tai snorted. "Do you think he was serious when he fought you previously? He was probably just playing around. He has a tendency to do that. After all, being at the top gets boring if you don't find ways to entertain yourself."

"What should we do then?" Carlos interrupted.

"Stall while Rubi helps our forces evacuate. She already started moving our key members away as soon as we left the tunnel." Tai frowned. "As for the other gangs? They're on their own. They'll at least serve as a useful distraction during the battle."

'The President.' Ed clenched his hands in anger as he watched the man a distance away.

Suddenly, the President's black cloth-like space began to have hints of golden threads mixing within it. The pressure it gave off was so intense that Ed could already feel it from far away. His eyes widened in shock as he watched most of the espers on the ground involuntarily kneel towards the president. 'He never used golden faith energy when I fought him last time!' His hearts beat rapidly at the sudden realization. 'Just how much was he holding back when we fought?! How large is the gap between us?!'

"It seems like a real mess has happened here." The President deep voice echoed throughout space. "I'll just have to clean it up."