113 Battle for the Gate

Ed and Carlos nodded, indicating they were prepared to start as soon as Tai gave the order.

Tai yelled towards the mechs. "Initiate Kamikaze!"

"SIR!" Many voices echoed from the speakers of the various mechs. One left the safety of the tank formation, rapidly pushing forward amidst approaching gunfire and cannon fire. It's agile frame easily allowed it to dodge the worst of the blows, and it soon reached the nearest manullium bunker. The mech slowly started to glow with a mixture of different colors.

BOOM! The mech exploded, sending waves of elemental powers and shrapnel in all directions, demolishing the manullium bunker and those within it. The tank formation continued moving forward slowly. Another mech left the formation and charged forward, suicide bombing yet another manullium bunker.

One after another, the mech pilots sacrificed themselves for the cause. Who knew what Tai had done to earn such fierce loyalty from these men. It wasn't long before all twenty mechs were completely destroyed. Unfortunately, they still had almost a quarter of the way to go to reach the gate.

With no Gatling guns, mana-shells, or mechs to protect them, the steam tanks were now free targets for the enemies. One wave of mana-ammunition came after another, fired from enemy guns and cannons. The tanks near the front were rapidly destroyed. Even if the espers inside survived, the treads were completely ruined, immobilizing them. As the steam tanks moved forward to protect the front-line, the defense on the flanks became weaker and weaker, exposing the infantrymen to increasing degrees of danger.

Suddenly, Tai rose his hand in the air, ordering the formation to stop. "We've only got forty steam tanks left!" He yelled. "If any more tanks are immobilized, push them forward yourselves with your lives on the line! We can't afford to lose any more cover!"

"Hey, Carlos. Can't you blow the purple smoke away so that the men can use their powers?" Ed questioned.

Carlos sighed while shaking his head and pointed towards the gate. "As soon as I do, she'll attack me. We're better off not escalating until we take out the bunkers. If things dissolve into chaos now, we'll only lose more lives."

'Damn. Is that also the reason why Tai hasn't utilized the mech tank yet?' Ed frowned as he bit his finger. He could feel the waves of power from the explosions as they lost more cover. They were now leaving a trail of dead bodies in their wake as the espers sacrificed their lives to push some of the immobilized tanks forward. Even with their efforts, occasional shells made it past and exploded in the middle of their numbers. One had even blown up right next to him, the shrapnel tearing into his shoulder despite his chimera scales protecting him.

"KEEP PUSHING!" One of the espers encouraged the others as they shoved the steam tanks forward.

"HOO-RAH! HOO-RAH! HOO-RAH!" They collectively chanted as they continued onward, leaving their fallen comrades behind as they went.

"We're not going to make it at this rate." Tai sighed. "Rubi, order your little sister to pilot the mech tank forward to allow Ed and Carlos to keep advancing. Left flank, head towards the left wall to assist Thur and Pan! Right flank, head towards the right wall to help Neo and Nao!"

"SIR!" A chorus of voices echoed. The formation quickly fell apart as the espers hid behind the few remaining tanks and headed towards the left and right walls.

"Ed. Carlos. Good luck." Tai nodded towards them before moving towards the front on his own. Enemy fire couldn't even scratch him as he moved at incredible speeds. He was like a dragon slithering back and forth between the enemies, completely untouchable by their mortal weapons.

"Wow!" Ed's eyes widened in surprise as he watched Tai fight.

"He may not be the strongest of the gang leaders." Rubi commented. "But he is by far the fastest." She looked up towards the mech tank. "Little sister, go! Just remember, your life is more valuable than theirs, so pull out if you have to!"

Ed frowned. 'Maybe I should have found somebody else to pilot it after all...' Shaking his head, he followed behind the mech tank, Carlos by his side.

Incredibly large streams of fire were released from the mech tank's flamethrower arms. Enemy fire couldn't even get near them, as the flames exploded their mana-ammunition before it even got close. When they reached the nearest bunkers, the flames entered through the small openings, roasting those inside to ash.

'Ah, this thing is better than I thought.' Ed smiled as he admired his own creation. 'Maybe I should make a few more after I get out. I really need to capture a manullium mine permanently one of these days.'

"Not good." Carlos suddenly said as he pointed forward. The Warden seemed to dislike the mech tank, and so she was finally making her move.

"We'll take her together." Ed replied has he slammed his fist into his hand.

"No." Carlos shook his head. "That's what she wants. She's more than capable of delaying us for a day. By then, our casualties will reach extreme highs. Even if we win the battle, the other espers won't be able to withstand the fallout of the fight without the use of their powers." Purple wind began to swirl around his entire body. It even pushed back the purple smoke, allowing him to use his normal powers as well. A green tornado appeared around his legs. "I'll delay her. Burn through the gate as quickly as you can manage." A trail of shredded rocks was left in his wake as he charged forward.

"Tsk." Ed clicked his tongue as he continued following behind the mech tank. 'I'm getting all the boring jobs today.'

The Warden stopped in front of Carlos, purple lightning covering her entire body. Normally, Carlos would be considered a fairly fast esper with his control over wind, but the Warden was a natural counter to him. She didn't lose out in speed nor power.

The Warden smiled. "We're going to resort to using our normal powers already? Alright then." Her purple lightning expanded, crackling as it easily pushed the purple smoke away. She rose her left hand in the air, and silver lightning sparked into existence upon her thumb. However, that was not the end. Her index finger lit up with red lightning, her middle finger with blue lightning, her ring finger with yellow lightning, and her pinky finger with green lightning. Then she rose her right hand into the air and repeated the process.

"You've mastered five of the paths of lightning?!" Carlos' eyes widened in shock.

"Mm." She nodded. "I'm not like those other American espers. I've had proper training after all."

Carlos sighed. "It seems my battle is really cut out for me." His green tornado started to have hints of red wind mixed within it. The red wind was hot and seemed to feed the green wind even further, increasing his speed and power as a result.

The Warden frowned. "You've only mastered two paths of wind?" She shook her head. "How disappointing. I was hoping for a real challenge for once."

"Humph." He snorted as he waved his hand forward, sending blades of purple wind spiraling forward.

She grinned as she swiped down with her hand. The surrounding air exploded as her lightning fingers tore through the air. The purple wind blades were like paper as they were torn apart by her. "You'll have to do much better than that!" She yelled as multiple bolts of purple lightning shot from her eyes, zapping forward in curved arcs towards her opponent.

Carlos quickly created a spinning vortex of red wind in front of him. It exploded into a light breeze as the purple lightning tore through it. He quickly fell back, doing his best to avoid the rest of the damage. It was clear he was at a major disadvantage in this fight.

Ed was still following behind the mech tank, leisurely watching the fight with interest. 'Five elements of lightning... Does she have a lot of elements in her mana-core like me? Or can any lightning esper walk the seven paths of lightning?' He wondered. 'I suppose there's still too much I don't know.' He sighed. 'Hopefully I'll be able to get answers when I reach China.'

"We're here." A high-pitched mechanical voice interrupted.

He looked forward. They had finally arrived at the towering gate, which was so large that it was intimidating. 'This is going to be a pain in the ass without Carlos' wind to feed things.' He sighed. Purple flames covered his hands as he aimed them forward. Two streams of flame shot into the wall, slowly melting the purple manullium to the ground. 'Feels weird doing this with my own mana instead of mana-batteries... I wonder if I can make purple mana-batteries in the future? I have a feeling they won't work though.'

The mech tank moved protectively behind Ed. By now, all of the bunkers in the center of the cavern were destroyed or emptied. Only the ongoing battles on the left and right walls continued. Still, it was essential that Ed not be interrupted during his work, so the pilot kept watch carefully.

Several minutes passed, and Ed had barely made it a meter into the wall. The worst part was, the opening was only big enough for about ten people to squeeze through side by side. This was completely opposite to their original plans of melting the entire gate. 'Ugh.' He groaned. 'It's going to take me two hours at this rate, and that's assuming I don't run out of mana.' It was frustrating, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it. Rushing would only exasperate the exhaustion of his mana, making the process take longer. Going slower to make the opening wider would also take longer and cause more deaths in the end. He was already doing everything he could.

An hour slowly dragged on. BANG! Ed was interrupted by a loud sound outside the tunnel he had burned through the manullium gate. He was still only halfway done at this point! Preferring to be cautious, he backtracked and peaked his head out the opening. "Carlos!" He yelled in shock.

Carlos was lying against the manullium gate, severely injured. Whatever had knocked him back had done so hard enough to create a dent in the purified manullium. Blood covered his body and formed a small pool beneath him. He was covered in all sorts of odd colored lightning scars. He opened his mouth to speak but ended up coughing several mouthfuls of blood instead. "Lost." He wheezed. "Warden's too strong. Spine broken. Can't move..." His eyes slowly closed as he blacked out.

'Damn!' Ed frowned as he watched the Warden flying towards him. 'I'm not even in good shape mana-wise after working for the past hour. Not good.'

The Warden landed in front of him while smiling, five-elemental lighting and purple lightning covering her entire body. She didn't even seem to be injured in the slightest. She examined Ed for several moments before her eyes widened in surprise. "I thought you were already dead. Well, that's fine. I can get revenge for Samantha now. She really was a naive one, but she was my favorite amongst my subordinates." She licked her lips, a hint of lust sparkling in her eyes.

'They were in that sort of relationship?' Ed wondered. Purple flames danced around his body. Copying what he watched Carlos and the Warden do, he created a small layer of silver flames underneath the purple flames.

"Oh?" She smiled. "So, you started with the path of silver flames. That's one of the harder paths for beginners. Not bad." She nodded. "It's unfortunate that such a young genius is about to be killed, but such is life for those that break the law."

"How do you know I broke the law?" He replied. "It's not like I've had my trial yet."

"Oh, honey." She shook her head. "For you, the trial was just a formality. Orders from the top already demanded your death. If slave labor wasn't so useful down here, you wouldn't have even survived this long. After all, nearly twenty percent of our collected resources come from those on death row."

Ed carefully examined his surroundings. It seemed that the battles at the left and right walls had entered a stalemate. The gang members had successfully raided early bunkers and obtained better gear for themselves. However, they seemed content with leaving the rest of the work to others. They purposefully hid within their captured bunkers, refusing to advance the lines forward any further. Tai and Rubi were busy leading their own members to capture the remaining bunkers. It was unlikely they'd be able to provide any help at the moment. As for the mech tank? It had fled its duty of protecting him. Clearly the pilot had listened to Rubi's advice to not risk her life for him. It had even joined up with Rubi's forces to capture bunkers.

"It seems the heavens just won't let me have an easy battle for once." He sighed aloud while shaking his head. He glared towards the Warden, a sharp look in his chimera eyes. "But that's fine." He growled. "I've beaten opponents stronger than myself plenty of times already."