89 Souls

The mana explosion of light had annihilated almost everything within 300 meters. The street turned into a perfectly smooth crater 300 meters wide and nearly 100 meters deep.

"Fuck that stings!" Ed complained as he stood up within the crater. His back was covered in blood, lacking even a shred of skin or scales. He looked around the crater, his eyes widening in shock. "Ochre!" He yelled as he ran forward several meters.

Ochre's body was no longer recognizable. Not a single scale remained. It would be more accurate to describe him as a pile of red flesh. He looked terrifying with even his nose and eyes completely gone. However, his chest still rose and fell slowly, indicating he was barely hanging on by a thread. "Forge." He struggled to whisper between deep gasps. He stretched out his hand, holding it in front of himself as if waiting for something.

Ed had a complicated look in his eyes as he grabbed ahold of the hand. "Ochre..." He muttered in a low voice. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Harmony's message." He struggled to speak as a series of coughs erupted. "All men are created equal. I thought it wasn't possible anymore, but you showed me it can happen. Put the world back to the way it used to be, and then my death would be worth it."

'Damn!' Ed ground his teeth in frustration. 'Ochre and most of the others didn't know about the rail gun plan. Freaken idiot! I would've been fine without him!' He stood up and looked over the city. Some of the dead bodies from the earlier battles had been carried back into the city by their fellow friends and comrades. "Hold on Ochre. I'll go grab some flesh to fix you up. I just need a couple minutes."

"Thanks." Ochre struggled to nod. A pool of blood was slowly forming beneath his body.

Suddenly, a stream of golden flames flashed towards Ed! It was the Governor! He landed in front of Ochre's body, placing a foot on Ochre's head. "Well, well." He grinned. "To think the bastard that interfered managed to survive all that. You little chimeras sure are interesting."

"Ugh." Ochre groaned as the golden flames burned his exposed flesh.

A shattering sound rang aloud as the Governor pushed his foot down, crushing Ochre's skull. "That's that." He said nonchalantly.

Ed's eyes widened in shock. It had all happened so fast that he hadn't had time to interfere.

The Governor's body was mostly unharmed, except for the fact that he was now missing both arms. He glanced at Ed and frowned. "Do you know how much it's going to cost me to find someone to fix this?!" He complained.

Bu-bump. Bu-bump. Bu-bump. Ed's three hearts rapidly sped up as his body trembled from rage. It was neither anger towards Ochre nor Bustion. Instead, it was anger at himself. 'I could have stopped him if I was paying more attention!' His eyes turned red as he charged forward. Wind, fire, and lightning mana-batteries in his legs released a silver plasma that shot him forward. "DIE!" He yelled as he released a wide kick towards the Governor.

"Ugh." The Governor groaned in pain as he was barely grazed by the kick. He had little to no mana left to protect himself. Only the natural strength of his esper body remained. However, he was still far above most espers when it came to physical strength. After all, he had been an esper a long time and constantly improved his body through mana and golden faith energy.

"Die, die, die!" Ed yelled as he released a frenzy of attacks. The silver plasma quickly changed into a dark corrosive mud-like substance, followed by another attack of invisible flames. He repeatedly switched up the combinations, putting great strain on his arms and legs. Finally, he landed a successful blow with a blade of high-pressure corrosive water.

"Pfft!" The Governor spit out a stream of blood as his body was penetrated by the corrosive water-blade. He looked down and his eyes widened in shock. His heart had been penetrated. 'I lost?' He thought as the light faded from his eyes. His body slumped to the ground, defeated.

Ed breathed rapidly as the fight ended. He slowly calmed down and sighed as he turned to look back at Ochre's dead body. 'I stepped on this path to gain power and control, but I couldn't even save my own soldiers.' He sighed. He was experiencing a plethora of mixed emotions. On one side, he had expected these sorts of outcomes to become a regular occurrence. He was even prepared to die in his quest for power. However, there was another side. A side he had avoided thinking about ever since his father had died at his own hands. Unwittingly, he had finally found a place to belong. No one could bully him. Everyone believed in and supported him. It was something he was so afraid of losing that he didn't even wish to acknowledge it to begin with.

Suddenly, a huge stream of golden energy exited the deceased Governor's body. It flew straight towards Ed, entering his body.

"AGHHH!!!" He screamed in pain as he grabbed his throbbing head. The lives of many souls flashed past his eyes as voices whispered to him.

"I want to become a police officer!" A young boy excitedly yelled towards his grandfather.

"Happy Birthday!" A mom sung to her child.

"Wanna get high?" A sleazy man whispered to a woman within a dark alleyway.

One after another the voices drowned him, causing unbearable pain. The light slowly started fading from his eyes as he lost himself in the ocean of other people's lives. Soon, only his 7-colored soul remained. He was in a dark void. One he recognized, for he saw his familiar mana-core floating within it. However, the visions did not stop coming. The souls floated past him one by one, projecting transmissions of their lives to him. 'Who am I?' He wondered as the pressure on his soul continued to increase. A slight crack appeared on the forehead of his 7-colored soul body.

"Ed, calm down." A soul spoke to him, placing its hands on his shoulders. This soul was different from the others. It didn't just project its life's story, but actually still held intelligence.

Ed's eyes trembled as he looked up at the mysterious soul. It took him nearly a minute to recognize the soul. "Mayor Mick?!" He questioned in a hoarse voice.

"Mm." The soul nodded. Mayor Mick's soul body was mostly white, with a slight tint of blue. He had curly hair, a long beard, and sideburns. He was the mayor of Orlando, whom Ed had previously killed. "You are not ready for this kind of pressure yet." He said. "The Governor held far too many souls within him. Normally the process of absorbing souls is a gradual process, nearly unnoticeable to the esper absorbing them. There's no stopping it now that it has begun. Remember, you must not lose your identity. Do everything you can to remember who you are. Think of the people you care about, your goals, your dreams. Dominate the souls that come, and you'll be okay."

A spark of hope appeared in Ed's wide eyes. He trembled as he glanced to his left. A long line of souls was waiting for him. They stretched so far into the void that he couldn't see an end to them. The spark of hope quickly vanished as he turned back to Mayor Mick.

"You can do it." He reassured while patting him on the back. "I've stayed as long as I can. The natural forces are working against me here. I only managed this long since my soul is stronger than most." He frowned as he rubbed the crack on Ed's forehead. "That's going to cause some problems. Make sure to get help fixing that." His soul body slowly faded away, turning into golden threads of energy. The energy united with a larger blob of the energy that had accumulated near Ed's mana-core.

The souls continued to come, distressing Ed even further.

'Who am I?' He questioned himself again.

"I want to start my own business!" A confident voice echoed.

'No! I don't want to run a business!' He denied strongly.

"I'm going to get married and have kids, raising a wonderful family." A high-pitched voice exclaimed proudly.

'To hell with that!' He shook his head, trying to ignore the invading thoughts.

'I AM FORGE!' He yelled to himself. 'I will dominate the world, controlling it as my own! The people are mere tools to be used in my journey there! In exchange, I will give power to ordinary men! It's an equal trade.' His eyes slowly calmed down as he began to convince himself of his path.

"I wanna be a mech pilot!" A child excitedly yelled towards his father.

'Ah?!' Ed's eyes widened in shock at the life playing out in front of him. The lives of the souls came in unchronological order, causing him to experience even greater confusion. But this soul, this soul in particular, he recognized. 'Dad?!' Tears poured from his eyes as another crack appeared on his soul, crisscrossing the original crack on his forehead.

"So you're going to be a mech pilot?" His father smiled warmly while patting him on the head. "And what are you going to do after that?"

The boy lowered his head in thought for a moment before happily looking back up. "I'm going to defeat the nightmares and save the world!" He yelled as he played with a toy mech in his hand, making it fly like an airplane.

His father chuckled, "And how are you going to do that?"

"Huh?!" The boy's eyes widened in confusion as he realized he had no idea. Suddenly, his eyes gleamed with a spark of inspiration. "I'll create the best mech the world's ever seen! I'll use that nuclear stuff you told me about to beat them!"

Ed's father smiled, choosing to refrain from telling him just how unlikely that dream was. Who knew? Maybe his son would be the one to find a solution to the problem.

The scenes of his father's life continued to shuffle past him. Finally, the scene he least wished to see appeared in front of him. His father stared silently at a disfigured teenager pointing a gun at him. It was the moment that he had killed his own father.

"Ugh!" Ed groaned as he was flooded by his father's emotions. A mixture of love and grief, not a shred of hate or resentment within it. It was almost as if his father was smiling at him, telling him to never give up his childhood dreams. Soon, the soul faded away, turning into golden energy that mixed with the rest.

Ed sat still within the void, tears continuing to fall from his eyes. More and more souls fluttered past, but they no longer had much of an affect. Slowly, he recovered his thoughts. He watched the lives calmly, with indifferent eyes. Then, he trembled again as another soul he did not wish to see appeared. 'Mom?!' He questioned.

In front of him was a silver colored soul. A beautiful young woman with long hair. It was the mother he hardly remembered from his childhood. Slowly, the memories of her life flashed by. It was a fairly ordinary life. She grew up, got married, raised her child. One day, she comforted her crying child. It was Ed, who had come home with a black eye and covered in bruises. "It's okay honey." She comforted as she hugged him, brushing his hair.

"Why do they always bully me?!" He complained in a hoarse voice.

His mother released him from the hug, placing her hands on his shoulders. She knelt down as she stared into his eyes. "Strong people often bully those weaker than them. Did you fight back?"

"No." He shook his head while trembling.

"Well then." She smiled. "Next time, kick their asses!" She threw a fist in the air. "Then they'll leave you alone!"

"Eh?!" The boy stopped crying after hearing the unexpected advice. He thought for a moment and nodded. "I'll beat them until they go home and cry to their mothers!" He bragged.

His mother tried to stifle her laughter as she nodded. "Good. And what will you do when you become the strong one?"

The boy thought for a moment before speaking. "I'll do whatever I want!" He proudly exclaimed while clenching his fist.

"Wrong!" She laughed as she lightly tapped him on the head. "You'll help the weak just like I helped you today, making everybody happier."

"Hmm..." The boy frowned while rubbing his chin. "I'll think about it."

His mother laughed again while patting his head.

Suddenly, the scene faded and was replaced by a new one. It was the moment of her death. A mutant flood broke into the city through a damaged portion of the wall.

Ed closed his eyes, trying to prevent himself from watching the scene. Unfortunately, the images were directly transmitted to him. A horde of mutants broke into his mother's workplace, tearing apart all the people within it. Once the scene finished, his mother's soul faded away into the golden energy.

The souls kept coming. By now, he was nearly unphased by their lives. Occasionally, his mother or father would appear in the lives of other souls, and only then would he feel his heart tremble. Soon, the long line of souls was gone. All that remained was a massive amount of golden energy, nearly as big as his mana-core.

Ed calmly sat in the lotus position within the void, thinking about his recent experiences. He silently sat there with his eyes closed for what felt like a very long time. Eventually, he opened them, a crystal-clear calmness existing within.

'I am neither my father nor my mother. Neither am I the child I once was. But that doesn't mean I can't change. I'll conquer the world just as I planned. I will use people as tools when the need arises.' He stood up within the void as it began to fade away. 'I will not grant power to those that do not serve me. However, I will treat my own comrades with more sincerity. The goal of equalizing the humans and espers may have started as a farce, but it's a worthy goal nonetheless. I will see it through to the end. As for the nightmares? I always planned to kill them anyways.' He grinned as the void vanished, returning him to the real world.