118 The Cruelty of Forge

Neo yelled towards the crowd. "Men! They used us as tools for their own escape. Now, we'll get our revenge and earn our freedom! Attack!"

The gang members roared as they charged in from all directions.

'I guess that's my queue.' Ed smiled. A trace of mana exited his foot and entered the ground, igniting a trail of mana-powder. A few seconds later, explosions rang out from every direction within the trees, sending plumes of snow into the air and obfuscating everyone's sight. 'I knew the mana-powder from those mana-shells would come in handy.' He had spread the various powders along the ground as soon as he had arrived at the meeting location hours ago. It was meant to act as a simple distraction in case the President managed to ambush them, but it ended up being used for this instead.

"Tai!" Ed called. "There isn't enough to do any real damage. Go on the offense now while they're distracted!"

"Ah, right." Tai nodded as he waved his fan, creating multiple flame dragons that swirled around him. "Attack in all directions indiscriminately!" He yelled. "Don't worry about aim. We'll kill them with quantity!"

"Yes, Mr. Long!" A chorus of voices answered. Fire, lightning, earth, and more were fired into the plumes of snow. Screams echoed from every direction as flowers of blood briefly bloomed in the air. In their panic, it seemed that the gang members were even attacking each other within the chaos.

Soon, the plume of snow settled back onto the ground, and the enemies were revealed. It was not a pretty sight, as nearly 800 of the enemy forces had been killed, leaving them with a paltry sum of 200 men and women. Surprisingly, even Nao, the female white supremacy leader had been killed in the action. However, Neo, Thur, Pan, and Titian has all managed to survive.

"Will you surrender?" Tai smiled while waving his fan towards his face. "If not, I don't mind eliminating the rest of you."

Neo grimaced while hanging his head low. "I surrender." He growled through clenched teeth. Thur and Pan surrendered with angry faces as well. Oddly enough, Titian surrendered without resistance, as if she didn't really mind losing the battle.

"Hmm, now what should I do with them?" Tai rubbed his chin as he hesitated. "I don't really want to bring them to China with me... and I lack the proper equipment to enslave them and sell them off to Europe." He turned towards Ed and Carlos. "Any ideas?"

Ed covered his mouth as he tried to stifle his laughter. He whispered his idea to Tai and Carlos, waiting eagerly for their approval.

Tai's eyes widened in a mix of shock and surprise. "You're completely twisted."

Carlos nodded. "A sick and demented man."

Tai and Carlos glanced at each other and nodded. "Let's do it!"

Tai looked towards the gang members while grinning. "Listen up! We're going to knock all of you unconscious. If you cooperate, then you'll wake up a few hours later and be completely free to go. If you refuse, we'll kill you. Understood?"

"Don't push things too far!" Thur yelled as a white glow lit up on his body.

"Humph!" Tai snorted as he sent seven flame dragons of seven different colors towards Thur, exploding them all into waves of various elemental flames. The surrounding espers hurriedly dodged out of the way. When the smoke cleared, Thur was lying on the ground injured and disheveled but still alive. "Any other complaints?" Tai questioned.

"Just get it over with." Neo sighed while closing his eyes and accepting his fate.

Several of the strongest members of the Fire Dragon Clan went up to the espers one by one and knocked them unconscious. Occasionally someone would resist, but they were promptly killed as an example to the others. Soon, there were nearly 200 unconscious espers lying on the cold snowy ground.

Ed stepped forward. "So, what do you guys think? Pink? Green? I'll need some resources to get started. There's plenty of green plants around here, but can you guys go find me some flowers of various colors as well?"

"Sure." Tai grinned as he rose an arm into the air. "Everyone! Go gather colorful flowers. I expect each of you to be back within fifteen minutes with a handful of them!"

The espers seemed greatly confused by the orders, but they complied nonetheless. A short while later, there was a huge pile of flowers next to Ed. He reached towards them and cheerfully began using his powers to melt them down. Then he started on the nearest esper. He slowly melded the flower paste into the esper's skin, changing it into a variety of colors. When he was done, the esper was mostly green with sprinkles of pink, red, yellow, and other bright colors. The esper looked like a child had taken crayons and colored crude flowers onto a humanoid canvas. On top of that, there was a bright colorful flower sprouting from the esper's head.

Ed wiped the sweat off his forehead while smiling. 'What a rewarding experience. Is this why some cultures practice flower arrangement? I've been thinking I needed a new hobby for a while. After all, I really don't relax enough.' He soon moved onto the next esper, repeating the process. On each esper, he experimented a little with the colors, resulting in some looking like more manly flowery espers and others more girly flowery espers, but ultimately, they all still looked like flowers.

"Pfft!"

"GAHAHAHA!!!"

"Holy shit! I can't! I just can't!"

The voices of the Fire Dragon Clan cheerfully rang with laughter and ridicule towards their former enemies. The various master races that had hated each other had all been turned into the same new race. Now who could they possibly recruit for their cause? Who would line up to join the flowery master race?

"I..." Tai struggled to hide his laughter behind his fan. "Ahem." He coughed several times. "I really must be going now. It's been a pleasure working with you, Ed." He glanced once more at the unconscious flowery espers. "I really do pity those that make an enemy out of you. I think I'd rather be killed than turned into... that." He turned away and waved an arm. "We're heading out! Move it!"

"Yes!" A chorus of giggling voices answered. Surely after today's events, the myth of the flowery espers would spread throughout the entirety of China, as well as the myth of the terrifying esper that had created them for fun.

Soon, everyone had left except for Ed, Carlos, and the sleeping flowery espers.

"Is this really a good idea...?" Carlos said hesitantly, a serious look on his face. "What if they really do go off and try creating a new master race or something..."

"Eh." Ed shrugged. "It'll probably be fine. It's not like I made the changes genetic or anything. It's basically just a permanent tattoo."

"I see." Carlos nodded. "Were the flowers atop their heads really necessary though? Won't they just fall off or get damaged?"

"Heh." He chuckled. "I connected the stems directly to their mana-cores and wired various nerves to them. If they try to remove it from the root, they'll probably end up killing themselves. If they want to trim it, they'll feel excruciating pain. The best part is that it would probably just grow back in a single day due to the mana-core continuously feeding them. Hell, in a few years those tiny flowers atop their heads might end up being even bigger than their heads."

"Truly twisted." Carlos sighed while shaking his head. "Well, it's time we leave as well. To Florida, right?"

"Mm." He nodded. "Let's go." Silver flames lit up under his feet as he flew into the sky. Carlos easily followed behind him, riding atop his green wind.

...

Several hours had passed since Ed and the others had left the clearing in the Alaskan wilderness. Slowly, the sleeping espers began waking up.

"AHHHHH!!!" A high-pitched scream echoed. Pan was in shock as she looked at the surrounding espers and her own green skin with blotches of red, pink, yellow, and other colors. Her hands trembled as she felt the flower atop her head, which sent spikes of pleasure throughout the rest of her body. "What the fuck! What the fuck! What the fuck!" She grabbed her head and fell to her knees in panic. "This can't be happening!"

"Hmm..." Thur groggily woke up and saw Pan freaking out. "THE FUCK ARE YOU?!" He yelled in shock.

"Will you fuckers quite down!" Neo lazily sat up. "I'm trying to slee-" His mouth hung wide open mid-sentence as he saw the others. "Thur...? Pan...?" He examined the surrounding espers and spotted a bright red dress he recognized. "Titian too?" He gulped down his saliva as he looked down at his own body. "Oh, for fucks sake!" He cursed while slamming his fist into the ground, sending a small amount of snow shooting into the air.

"WHO DID THIS TO US?!" Thur yelled towards the others, demanding answers.

"Who do you think? Stupid!" Pan berated him. "It was obviously Tai's little gang!"

Suddenly, Titian woke up while yawning and stretching. She carefully examined the surrounding espers and covered her mouth as she giggled. "Oh my, it really looks like that Forge did a number on us."

"Forge?" The others questioned.

"Right." She nodded. "The one that was always next to Tai. He likes to experiment on people from what I know. This has his handiwork written all over it." She reached up and rubbed the flower on her head between her index finger and thumb. A shiver went down her spine as she felt pleasure jolt into her body. "Oh my!" She smiled seductively. "Perhaps everything he did isn't all bad after all. I could get use to this!" She moaned as she continued to rub the flower.

"For fucks sake, will you knock it off?!" Neo yelled. "Damn pervert. So, what do we do now? Go after the brat and make him turn us back to normal?"

Pan frowned. "Do you even think that would work? Who knows what else he might do to us if we let him use his powers on us."

"Definitely not a good idea." Titian agreed. "He's a very crafty esper with a large number of forces backing him. Once he reunites with them, we can forget about capturing him. Granted, his forces should mostly be in hiding right now."

"We've got to do something!" Thur yelled as he pounded his fists together.

Suddenly, the other espers began waking up in groups. Yells, shrieks, and other types of panic overtook them all. Some tried to keep the others calm while others resorted to directly attacking their surroundings. As the chaos grew, the gang leaders struggled keeping their gang members calm.

"ATTENTION!!!" Titian yelled towards the crowd while clapping her hands. "You are all looking at this the wrong way!"

"Eh?" The espers slowly grew quiet as they turned to her and listened.

"This is not a curse! Nor a punishment! Instead, it is a blessing!" She preached. "We, the members of different master races have now united into a single true master race! An exclusive race that is not easily joined! A master race consisting of only the most powerful espers from the cage! The flowery master race! Here and now, let us create the organization that shall be known as the Flowery Espers! The world will tremble before our power!"

"Does the transformation make us go batshit crazy like her?" One esper in the crowd whispered to another.

"How am I supposed to show my face like this?!" A brawny man cried, looking unusually feminine as he did so due to the pink flower patterns covering his body.

Thur sighed while shaking his head. "You've really lost it, haven't you Titian?"

"It... might not be a bad idea." Pan hesitantly agreed. "What do we really have to lose? We might as well embrace it. Besides, if we someday turn the rest of the world into looking like us, then we'll be the founders of an entire new species. Our beauty will become the norm, and the ugly looks of past humans will be ridiculed!"

"You're all fucking crazy..." Thur muttered in disbelief.

Neo seemed to hesitate for a moment, but he soon stepped forward and grabbed Pan by the hand. "Let's do it. We'll create a new race! I'll be Adam and you'll be Eve!"

"Ew, gross!" Pan shook his hand off in disgust.

"So, we're all agreed then." Titian clapped her hands. "We'll create the Flowery Espers organization, which will only consist of the flowery master race!" She happily rubbed her flower while blushing. "All of us really need to get busy if we're going to expand our numbers! Let's get started!"

And so, the flowery master race began pairing up in hopes of making their future dreams come true. But little did they know, they would be unable to conceive anything but ordinary human children. Perhaps in the future, they would journey to their father, the creator of the flowery master race known as Forge, and pledge their loyalty in exchange for integrating the changes directly into their DNA...

...

Meanwhile, Ed and Carlos were busy flying towards Florida. It would take them at least a couple days of flying at full speed to travel the distance.

As the wind rushed pasted Ed's body, he suddenly stopped in midair. He turned around, looking back towards the direction they had left from.

"Something wrong?" Carlos flew over and questioned.

"No..." Ed hesitantly shook his head. "I just felt a shiver run down my spine."

"A bad omen?" He replied. "Should we go back and check it out?"

Ed thought for a moment before shaking his head. "It's probably nothing. Let's go." The two resumed their journey towards Florida. However, Ed couldn't shake the growing feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was as if he had done something that he would deeply regret someday. It was the kind of thing that would prevent him from properly sleeping at night when he thought back on the memories of it, much like the time he had accidently called his teacher mom in elementary school. 'It's probably my imagination.' He shook his head and resolved himself to focus on the matters ahead.