110 Preparations

Ed stood at his workbench while holding a severed head. Purple flames lit up on his shoulders, shoving away the surrounding purple smoke. He dug into the head with his clawed hand and pulled out the mana-core, which was just slightly bigger than a marble. He rose his blood-covered hand into the air and stared at the round object. 'Mix of light and water for this one.' He nodded as he began grinding it into powder. Once finished, he divided the powder based on type and poured it into bullet casings. Once the bullet casings were sealed shut, he released his flames, allowing the purple smoke to return. Then he grabbed another head and repeated the process.

A couple days passed, and he created just over 20,000 rounds of ammo. It sounded like a lot, but it was actually far too little. Conservative estimates placed their escaping forces at 1,000 gunners. Other than that, they had nearly 200 espers that would be fighting in hand-to-hand combat. There would also be approximately 20 mech pilots and 100 steam tanks. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough resources to create mana-shells for the tanks, so it was likely they would only be useful as moving shields. On top of that, none of these numbers even accounted for the forces of the other gangs.

'Well the boring stuffs done.' He grinned. 'Time to move onto the fun stuff.' He lined up the 20 standard mechs he had created previously and began removing their manullium plating. He then tore apart more severed heads for their mana-cores and planted them within the mechs. A trigger device was connected to a red button within the mech. When pressed, the mech would violently explode, killing anybody and anything nearby. 'Unfortunately, this plan has one major flaw.' He sighed to himself. The flaw was that the pilot had to be willing to kamikaze the enemy positions. Normally, he could use a trigger device from far away to activate the explosions without the pilots ever having been aware of their true purpose. But the purple smoke was essentially manullium, and as such, it blocked mana communications, which meant it also blocked any method of triggering the explosion from a distance. 'Oh well.' He shook his head. 'That's ultimately Tai's problem. Not mine.'

There wasn't much time remaining until the prison break. Coincidentally, there was a short delay and the plan now fell on the day of Ed's trial and his predicted death date by Yuki. It had him feeling a sense of unease but also a hint of excitement. His powers had come so far in such a short period of time, and the idea of seizing control of his own destiny filled him with vigor.

'Not much time left, but it should be long enough for my final project down here.' He once again set to work on creating a mech. However, this mech was different from the others. To start, it was being created purely from manullium, making it much stronger than the other mechs. Other than that, it was being designed to act more as a tank than a mech. It had tank tread instead of legs, a thick torso for withstanding attacks, and two thick arms. Towering ten meters tall and five meters wide, it had taken him nearly four days to finish constructing it.

'Now for the finishing touch.' Ed grinned as he set to work creating what he was best at. He crushed multiple heads for their mana-cores until he had collected enough of the proper powder types. By the time he was finished, he had exhausted the entire supply of severed heads. Before him sat 10 fire mana-batteries and ten wind mana-batteries. He set them up carefully in the mech's arms, making sure the casings didn't come in contact with the manullium, which would activate their powers. He then added lever mechanisms so that the pilot could activate the batteries, essentially creating two flamethrowers five times larger than the ones he had always used for his own arms.

'That should do it.' His eyes sparkled while looking at his invention. 'With this, we'll have a backup plan to break through the wall in case they manage to hold me back. I originally planned to get Stone to pilot a kamikaze mech, but should I have him pilot this one instead? It does seem like a bit of a waste not getting him to blow himself up though... Whatever. What happens, happens.' He shrugged, no longer concerned about it. Turning towards his workbench, he still had several piles of mana-powder of the other five elements. 'It's only enough to create about 100 mixed mana-shells for the tanks. That means each tank will only get a single shot with the special ammunition. Eh, it's better than nothing I guess. They should be grateful I'm giving them anything.'

With all his work complete, he lazily laid down to rest. He had been sleeping in the workshop ever since he got here, in part because he was busy, but also because he just couldn't be bothered to go meet the other espers. After all, they weren't his men and most of them would be dying soon. Why bother putting effort into something that had little to no returns?

Closing his eyes, he began meditating. He still couldn't make any progress with his cultivation despite having control of the purple mana. It seemed he still needed to use his ordinary mana for the Mortal Dragon Technique. Other than that, he was barely able to sense the 48 paths he had yet to master, but he couldn't actually connect to them. He sighed. 'Will I need to keep relying on the catalyst of the purple mana-cores to train in them? It took 11 mana-cores to master the path I already had the highest affinity for. How many would all the other paths combined take?' He felt a shiver travel down his spine at the thought. While he was greedy for power, he had never been particularly greedy for wealth, but now it seemed he might need to walk that path to continue his training.

The night quietly passed. The next day, he was awoken by a visitor.

"Good morning!" Tai smiled. He was in a seemingly cheerful mood for a man that was about to fight in a life-and-death battle in less than 24 hours.

"Hey." Ed nodded lazily towards him without getting up from the floor. "Picked out your lucky sacrifices yet?"

"I'd prefer you didn't call them that." Tai frowned as he pulled out his fan and waved it towards his face. "These honorable men are willing to risk their lives to give us a better chance at escape. You should be thankful towards them."

"Mm." He half-heatedly agreed while raising his head to look at them. There were 20 men, all of Asian descent. They appeared extremely loyal to Tai. 'Did he bring some people from his sect with him? Or are they willing because he's that great a leader? Maybe brainwashing?' He pushed himself up from the ground and pointed towards the mechs. "You'll be piloting those. Each one is equipped with a manullium shield and a Gatling steam gun. Due to limited supplies, each of you will only receive 500 mana-bullets, so conserve your ammo as much as possible."

"Only 500?" Tai interrupted. "It was reported you created 20,000 rounds. Can't we give them more?"

"The other 10,000 rounds are being divided up amongst the 1,000 gunner infantrymen. That's only 10 rounds per soldier, which is hardly enough. As for ordinary ammo?" He snorted. "Why bother wasting the time and manpower creating it. It'll be useless in the battle ahead."

"I see. Tai nodded. "That's unfortunate. Still, I never expected to have gear this good in the first place, so I'm grateful for what you've done."

"Don't be grateful." He replied while rubbing his right hand's fingers together. "Pay up. Purple mana-cores only. Since this was a transaction, there's no need for thanks."

Tai grit his teeth as he nodded. He handed over a pouch containing 10 purple mana-cores and sighed. "To think I'd spend forty percent of my stock of purple mana-cores I've collected so quickly. I've really lost out."

"Well, you're the rich young master of the Fire Dragon Sect, right?" Ed grinned. "I'm sure you'll be able to collect plenty more if you ever manage to become the next leader. Besides, you basically got the deal where I turn you and your men into chimeras for free. If I had known ahead of time about purple mana-cores and the chimera form being able to utilize them as catalysts for training, I would've jacked up the price a thousand times over."

"Humph." Tai snorted. "True. I did win out in the end in our transactions." He waved his fan while gloating. "I suppose not everyone can be as farsighted as me." He sighed. "I really am wise for my age."

Ed chuckled. "You seem pretty normal for a twenty-n"

"I'm eighteen!" Tai interrupted, a fierce look on his face. "Ahem." He coughed into his hand. "The operation begins soon. Prepare yourself."

"Sure, sure." He agreed while yawning.

"Ah, also..." Tai hesitated while staring at the nearby mech tank. "This is the project you've been working on? Who do you plan to have pilot it?"

"Oh, that." He nodded. "I was going to hand it over to Stone if he ever came back, but it seems the bastard doesn't trust me. I suppose bait won't always catch fish." He sighed for a moment before a spark appeared in his eyes. "But you know... I could sell you this mech too. Just 10 more purple mana-cores. What do you think?"

"Are you mad?!" Tai yelled in shock. "Do you take me for having infinite wealth?! What I have now is more than sufficient for the escape!"

"Are you sure about that?" He questioned while grinning. "What if something happens to me or Carlos during the battle? Who will take down the gate? How will you escape in the chaos that follows? This mech is the only insurance plan, and I'm selling it for only 10 purple mana-cores. Isn't it quite cheap?"

"Humph." Tai snorted while turning around to leave. "Don't think I'll be fooled. That mech will make its way into the battle either way. I agreed to pay you beforehand for everything else, but you created that thing on your own initiative, and I doubt you'd leave it unused during the battle." He waved his fan as he walked away. "I won't be paying you anything more, so forget about trying."

'Bummer.' Ed sighed while shaking his head. 'And here I was hoping for more gains. Oh well...' He sealed the purple mana-cores he acquired into a purple mutant leather pouch, planning to save them for after they escaped. Chances were that he'd have plenty of time for meditation during the trip to China, so he might as well save them for then.

An hour passed, and it was now time to leave. It would take just under a day for them to cross through the maze and reach the gate. Leaving the workshop, Ed was surprised by the number of espers. There had to be at least 7,000 new espers, all of them belonging to the race gangs from both the women's side and men's side. Clearly they had been arriving in droves over the past couple days. Unfortunately for them, the race gangs actually had it the worst of everyone, as they would have to rely on themselves for gear. Most of their stronger members wore full manullium-plate armor with shields and spears. The weaker members only had purple leather armor and crude weapons made from a mix of steel and manullium. They would mostly serve as cannon fodder on the front lines.

'I didn't even think there were this many espers in the cage.' Ed sighed to himself. 'I suppose most of them usually keep holed up in their gang headquarters. Or maybe most of them stayed busy in the maze hunting for their quotas. Then again, it's not like I ever really hung around the settlement long enough to meet many of them.'

The large groups of espers were already beginning to set out. Ed ignored them as he searched through the crowds, attempting to find Stone. Soon, he spotted him. "Oy!" He yelled. "Why didn't you ever come back to agree to our deal. I even made a special mech for you!"

"Humph!" Stone crossed his arms and snorted, though there was also a hint of fear in his eyes. "Like I'd trust you. Do you take me for a fool?"

"Yes, I do actually." He nodded matter-of-factly. "For someone to turn down the protections of an extremely powerful mech tank during the battle with expected casualty rates of 80 percent. If that person isn't a fool, then what is he?"

Stone frowned and walked away, choosing not to engage in a battle of the tongue that wouldn't benefit him in any way.

"Great..." Ed sighed while shaking his head. 'Well, I did originally plan to blow him up. I guess he's smarter than I thought. Now then, who am I going to get to pilot the mech tank?'

"Ahem." A woman's coughing interrupted.

Ed turned around and saw a muscular woman with long red spiky hair and tan skin. His eyes widened in shock. "An ogre?!" He yelled without thinking.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU CALL ME?!" She screamed as she threw a punch forward.

Ed hurriedly caught the punch with two hands but was still pushed back several meters. His arms were numb and shaking from the pressure. 'Definitely an ogre.' He subconsciously confirmed to himself.

"Given the circumstances." She grunted through clenched teeth. "I'll forgive your previous offense. Now tell me, what's this about a powerful mech?"

"Hmm?" He frowned. "Why should I tell you?"

"So I spare your life!" She countered angrily.

"Ohhhhh." Ed nodded. "Interesting. So, you want to kill me?" He pointed a finger towards himself as purple flames appeared around his eyes.

"You, you're!" She backed up in shock. "Please forgive me!" She yelled while bowing. "I didn't realize who you were. I naturally wouldn't harm someone so essential to the plan."

"Eh, you're aware of the plan?" His eyes widened in surprise.

"Of course." She nodded. "After all, I am the leader of the Green Thorns. We're similar to Tai's group in that we accept members of all backgrounds on the women's side."

"Ah, is that so?" Ed nodded as a spark appeared in his eyes. "Come! I'll show you my greatest mech. It can fit two people and even guarantees their escape should the original plan fail! You'll absolutely love it!" He grinned as he led her away from the crowds. 'Jackpot! This woman's gotta be loaded like Tai. I bet I can get at least 10 purple mana-cores from her! No, let's aim for 20!'