While Ed had been caught in his battle with Camazotz, Tai was preoccupied with his own deadly battle against Prime Minister Souma. Sweat dripped down his face as he glared at his opponent, but he still retained his poise as he gently waved his fan against his face. "Do you really think this is enough to beat me?" He scoffed. "Frankly, the American president was far more powerful. I guess Japan just doesn't measure up!"

"Humph!" Souma snorted, not even bothering to debate him. All he wanted was the blood of the man that had caused his granddaughter harm. His body covered completely in golden faith energy, he quickly vanished again as he prepared to attack.

'Damn.' Tai frowned as he hurriedly looked around. 'Is his power pure speed? Or is it some type of invisibility? Or has he stepped into the same realm as the American president but along a weaker path?'

Suddenly, he felt the wind change as a hand appeared from nowhere. He hurriedly kicked against the ground to jump backwards, a blue carpet of freezing fire left in his wake. The fire quickly covered the snowy ground in layers of sharp ice, but Souma's hand merely disappeared. It seemed the Prime Minister hadn't even been grazed by the surprise attack.

"Hooo." Tai slowly released a breath as he calmly analyzed the situation. 'Remember the lessons of the sect. No opponent is unbeatable. I merely don't understand his powers yet.' Feeling the winds change again, he hurriedly dodged a kick that vanished just as quickly as it came. 'If I can't see anyways, then I might as well focus on my other senses.' He closed his eyes, seeing only darkness. Mana radiated off his body, giving him a crude type of vision similar to that of sensing heat.

'There!' He hurriedly dodged to the side as Souma's large body flashed past where he had previously been standing. 'He's fast! Really fast!' He smiled knowingly to himself, confident he could win the battle as he learned more about his opponent. 'I need to detect him sooner though.' He gently waved his fan from side to side, almost as if he was dancing with each step he took. Nearly invisible silver threads of flame spread around him like a net.

Tai felt a slight jolt as several of his threads broke apart. 'He's coming from behind!' He hurriedly spun around and strongly waved his fan, sending several blades of silver, blue, and yellow fire forward. The mix of shocking fire, freezing fire, and lava-like fire slashed through his own fire threads towards Souma, who barely managed to dodge in time to avoid the blows.

"I see now." Tai grinned while opening his eyes. "Your power is related to acceleration. You're slow at the start, which is why you keep your distance from me despite your overwhelming speed advantage. Unfortunately for you, it seems you haven't walked very far down that path. You must have some other forces behind the scenes if this truly the height of your power." He laughed. "A pity they won't get here in time to help you."

"As if I need any help!" Souma snorted. "You'll never break through my golden defense even if you want to!"

Tai frowned while nodding. "Indeed. I lack the power necessary to break through it when you cover your whole body like a cowardly turtle hiding within its shell." He waved his fans, setting more threads of silver flame around the man. "But you seem to be mistaking something." He grinned. "I don't have to beat you. I just have to wait you out until my comrades win their fights."

"Your comrades?" Souma frowned as he glanced at Rubi and Ed. The general was in the middle of getting his ass kicked. Camazotz appeared fine at the moment, but he knew the truth about the bat. It wouldn't be surprising if the bat was quickly defeated or fled. "Shameless bastard." He muttered in a deep voice. "We'll see if you can last against me before they finish! Reinforcements will be here soon as well. I'd like to see what tricks you have up your sleeve."

"Haha, let's go, old man!" Tai taunted as he repeatedly waved his fan, sending out one blast of fire after another. The flames waved and danced, melting much of the snow atop the mountain into steam. He spared no energy as he focused on distracting his opponent and keeping him contained.

Surrounded by fire, Souma repeatedly failed to accelerate. Every time he tried, he tripped or slammed into a strong blast of fire. The net had closed in on him, but he had no escape. His only saving grace was his strong body surrounded by golden faith energy. Nothing managed to break through his solid defenses. "Damn." He frowned. "If only I had mastered fusion of golden faith energy with acceleration." He slowly made his way forward, easily tearing through Tai's various stalling methods, but Tai always kept his distance. "Stop running, coward!"

"I'll pass." Tai chuckled as he continuously circled around Souma like a hungry predator wearing out his prey. However, sweat was quickly covering him as his body ached. 'I can't keep this up for long.' He frowned as he glanced towards Ed and Rubi. 'One of you, hurry up before I reach complete mana exhaustion!'

...

As Tai was fighting for his life, Rubi was having the time of her life.

"GAHAHAHA!" She laughed madly as she slammed one fist after another into the General. "This is great! Just great! It's so rare to meet someone that can withstand so many of my punches!"

"Humph." The General snorted while keeping his defenses up. His body was covered in a black metal-like substance. Whenever a blow landed on him, the metal indented in, greatly reducing the power as it was distributed throughout his armor. Immediately after, his armor would heal as good as new. He looked like a black knight as he wielded a heavy two-handed shield.

"Don't tire out on me!" She continued pummeling the man with her fists. Each blow created strong shock waves that were mostly absorbed by the General's armor. Red rings of flame spread from her fists with each blow she landed, and soon they were both surrounded by fire.

As the battle dragged on, the General began laughing. "Is this the best you've got? At this rate, I'll tire you out in no time. You haven't even caused the slightest damage to me!" He forced himself forward as he slammed the heavy shield into Rubi, knocking her several steps back. "It truly has been a long time since I've found an opponent that can so easily withstand my shield, but I'll be today's winner!"

Rubi smiled as she eyed the flames surrounding them in every direction. "I guess that's about enough." She nodded.

"Enough what?" The General questioned in confusion.

"Enough fire of course." She grinned as she spread her arms wide. Suddenly, all the flames in the area quickly flew towards her in arcs and covered her body. Her skin turned red as the flames were absorbed not by her mana-core, but by her body itself.

"Are you mad?!" The General yelled in shock. "To directly absorb such potent mana into your own body. Even if it's your own, it's completely suicidal!"

"You know, my friends used to always call me the Sun Goddess." She gave a pleasant smile, like the first rays of light of the morning sun. Just at that moment, the ground started shaking so heavily the snow shifted from side to side. The tremors were so great that Souma and Tai temporarily stopped their fight to glance at the cause. As for Ed, well, he seemed to have already finished his battle, but he stood still with a vacant look in his eyes as if something else was preoccupying his attention.

As the ground shook, the General struggled to keep his balance and fell to the ground. When he looked up, he saw Rubi slowly walking closer. The snow melted beneath her feet with each step she took, and the ground continued trembling even harder. Her body alight with flames, she stood directly in front of him, her towering red body truly looking like some type of deity that had descended from the heavens, or perhaps even a devil that had risen from hell.

"May you be a better person in your next life." She whispered as she winded her fist back and threw it forward with all her might.

BOOM! Her fist slammed into the General's shock wave absorbing armor, and the blow was so strong that he was directly blasted into shreds of meat paste. But that wasn't the end. A huge crater appeared with large cracks full of fire shooting out in every direction. The nearby soldiers and espers all fell to the ground, including Ed's currently unconscious body. When the shaking finally calmed down, there was now a crater within a crater atop Mount Fuji, forever changing its iconic look.

Rubi's red skin slowly returned to normal as sweat covered her body. Her chest rapidly rose and fell as she gasped for breath. 'I'm done.' She sighed to herself, feeling her exhausted body shaking heavily. She slowly trudged across the snow, every step she took feeling incredibly heavy. It was as if her body was made of lead, and she was an ordinary girl trying to carry the heavy burden all alone.

Souma, Tai, and the others watched in shocked silence as she crossed the battlefield while ignoring everybody. Finally, she stopped, and surprisingly, it was in front of Haru and Hina. She knelt down next to them, placing a hand on each of their heads. She held back her tears as she shook her head, her voice sounding hoarse. "To do this to mere children. What has our world become? What was it like before mana turned us all into monsters?"

...

"Ugh." Ed groaned as he finally awoke from his absorption of the mass of golden faith energy. It had seemingly taken much longer than usual due to the extensive damage to his soul. He examined the battlefield, quickly assessing the situation. 'Good, looks like Rubi finished her fight. Tai's held on until now and the other espers are slowly edging a win over the soldiers.' He cracked his neck while glancing at Tai. "Hey, when we beat this guy you need to land the finishing blow. I can't handle any more golden faith energy."

"Sure." Tai happily agreed, grateful he was finally getting some powerful backup for the fight. "I hope you're ready, Prime Minister. I may not have the means to defeat golden faith energy yet, but he's different."

"Oh?" Souma rose an eyebrow while glancing at Ed. "You think I can't handle some measly purple elements? I was fighting espers stronger than you two when you were still in diapers!" He glanced back towards Hina and Rubi, worry in his eyes. But he retained his silence, as much to his relief, it seemed Rubi had no intention of blackmailing him during the fight.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, Ed's eyes began glowing a golden color. "Kekeke!!!" A screechy laugh echoed from his throat.

"Ed?!" Tai yelled in shock, not sure of what was happening.

"So, this is what a filthy human's body feels like." Ed rose his hand to his face, eyeing it in disgust. "Such an ugly creature, but I guess beggars can't be choosers."

"That voice..." Souma's body trembled in shock. "Camazotz, is that you?!" He questioned in disbelief.

"Indeed, it is I." He haughtily replied as he slowly walked over. "To think I carelessly lost to this filthy primate." He glared at Tai and the others. "I will have my revenge!"

"Ed..." Tai muttered under his breath, a complicated expression on his face. If Ed died, then everything until now had been for nothing. The bat mutant's body was nearly worthless without Ed's powers to capitalize on it.

"Good, good!" Souma nodded excitedly as he headed towards Ed. "Together, we'll destroy them all. I'll use all my connections to find an esper that can properly restore your soul to your body right after I get my granddaughter healed."

"Kekeke. Sure, sure." Ed's possessed body laughed eerily as it crouched down, seeming to prepare to attack Tai. Just as he was about to charge forward, his eyes returned to normal. "BURN!" He shouted as he quickly turned around and threw a hand covered in purple flames towards Souma's body.

"AGH! YOU BASTARD!" Souma screamed in shock as Ed's hand directly penetrated his fat stomach.

"Tai, now!" Ed yelled, knowing he couldn't be the one to finish the job himself. Otherwise, the golden faith energy would almost guarantee him a shattered soul.

"On it!" Tai replied as he sent all of his flames forward. They traveled along Ed's arm without causing harm before entering the Prime Minister's stomach and wreaking havoc within his body.

"Ugh!" Souma coughed blood as he stumbled several steps back, the flames freezing and electrocuting the inside of his body. He desperately tried to cover his organs in protective layers of mana and golden faith energy, but it was too late. "Hina..." He gasped as the final words left his lips and he collapsed into the snow.

"Good!" Tai smiled as he hurriedly turned around and waved his fan, sending out multiple flame dragons towards the remaining soldiers fighting against his group of espers. With him entering the battle of the minions, the fight was quickly over. They hadn't even suffered a single casualty thanks to the espers' excellent teamwork. Tai's eyes went vacant for a moment as he absorbed large volumes of the dead Prime Minister's golden faith energy, but unlike Ed, he quickly recovered back to normal.

With the battle over, the group reconvened near Camazotz collapsed body.

"Ed, just what the hell was that?!" Tai questioned.

"It was the soul of Camazotz." Ed sighed. "I really don't want to talk about the details, but just think of it as me using him temporarily while letting him think he got one up on me. I'd appreciate it if you don't pry any further about it."

"Sure." Tai nodded, though he still seemed concerned.

Suddenly, a chorus of shouts and footsteps echoed from one side of the mountain.

"Seems they're here." Tai frowned. "Grab the bat's body and let's go." A green flame dragon appeared under his feet as he soared into the sky.

"Right." The other espers all nodded. Various powers covered their bodies as they took to the air. Ed grabbed Camazotz's body and flew using his silver flames, still desiring to improve his control over them since he had a tendency to overly rely on his mana-batteries. Rubi shot rings of flame from her feet, using them like footholds to jump through the skies. Surprisingly, she cared two bodies with her.

The blue-eyed esper from before covered them in a fog as they left the mountain. Tai frowned as he glanced back at Rubi. "Why are you bringing those Japanese kids with us? You should've just left them behind."

"And what if they woke up and exposed our identities?" She countered.

"They were knocked out as soon as the battle started." Tai replied. "If you really want to bring them, I won't stop you. But you're responsible for them.

"Of course." She smiled as she glanced at the child she carried in each arm. "These young espers deserve better. Much better."