165 Ed's Confession

The army of 20,000 cultivators were divided into twenty platoons of 1,000 cultivators each. Within each platoon, there were smaller groups. Cultivators with light-related powers took the front to create barriers and heal their comrades. The wind and lightning cultivators supported the front. Meanwhile, mixed squads of fire, water, and dark cultivators formed squads that allowed them to support each other as they repeatedly entered and retreated from the front-lines.

Blasts of elemental energies exploded everywhere as the battle intensified. Flames spread across the mountain one moment, only to be doused by water the next moment. Elemental giants were killed in uncountable numbers, but the Purple Origin Sect's barrier continued to produce more without end.

'This should take a while.' Ed thought as he calmly watched. 'The training room was able to make one-million ice giants all at once for me alone. Who knows what else it's capable of when it's being supported by the elites of the entire Purple Origin Sect.' He glanced at the teams of fire, water, and dark cultivators. 'If my predictions are right, then Tai will start his betrayal right as the barrier finally goes down. From there, his Fire Dragon Sect members will eliminate their teammates in surprise assaults, heavily reducing the number of water and dark cultivators in the coming battle.' He looked towards the Purple Origin Sect. 'Then the Fire Dragon Sect members hiding within the Purple Origin Sect will join a frontal assault with the Purple Origin Sect members and overwhelm the front-line. I purposefully recommended espers ill-suited to front-line combat to take the front. What kind of idiot would place their healers on the front-lines? The wind espers would be better suited supporting the fire espers, so it also doesn't make sense to put them up front.' He sighed while turning towards Ying. 'This moron doomed the six sects with her foolishness. I don't blame the Earth Dust Sect for bailing. It was probably the smartest decision Di could possibly make at the time.'

The battle continued dragging on. For now, the casualties were very low. The elemental giants lacked overwhelming power and relied on numbers instead. Of course, a few unlucky cultivators slipped up and got themselves killed, but that was just the appetizer for what had yet to come.

One squad on the battlefield was different from the others. They operated separately from the rest, and they didn't have the balance set out by Ed's plan and Ying's orders. This squad was naturally that of Haru, Hina, Flair, and Tao.

Flair was flying several meters in the air by use of her water jetpack. She was using her seven-elemental sniper rifle but seemed to be reserving her seven-elemental ammunition at the moment. Instead, she was firing ordinary mana-ammunition, but even that was enough to easily take out the elemental giants. She continuously swapped ammo-types based on the opponent. She used water mana-ammunition against fire elemental giants, light mana-ammunition against dark elemental giants, and so on. She was like a one-man army without even having to enter close-combat.

Hina seemed timid on the battlefield. She had once again covered herself in various plants, turning her into a giant vine-like monster. At 10 meters tall, even the elemental giants seemed small compared to her. She easily ripped the elemental giants to shreds. However, there were some exceptions to this rule. She couldn't face the fire elemental giants at all, nor could she face any giants using a path from another element that had fire attributes. Her plants were far too easy to burn, and whenever she faced such a monster, she immediately had to fall back and gather more plants.

Fortunately for Hina, Tao was providing her with support. He had grown in size to be nearly as big as a house. Whenever any fire elemental giants came near, Tao happily shot water at them to destroy them. Perhaps his only disappointment was that none of the monsters he killed seemed to come with the customary meal he was used to upon defeating enemies.

Haru was one of the most interesting fighters on the battlefield, and Ed kept an especially close eye on the boy. In one moment, he would be covered by blue light, zigging and zagging through enemies at incredibly fast speeds. The next moment, he would be covered by a yellow light, moving extremely slow. When fast, he lacked the proper damage output to even be capable of defeating an elemental giant one-on-one. When slow, he had the proper power but would quickly get surrounded due to his slow movements.

Suddenly, Haru slipped up while switching from yellow light to blue. A light elemental giant's sword slashed through his shoulder, leaving a huge bloody gash. Such a wound would easily kill an ordinary esper, and it would even incapacitate a strong esper. However, Haru's body healed in just the span of a few seconds. It was to the point that observers could watch the bone and flesh regrow in real-time.

'Not bad.' Ed grinned as he watched. 'Looks like I won't have to worry as much about losing limbs in the future. But still...' He frowned. 'How has Haru not gotten control of his chimera transformation yet? I already call Hina as Vegetable... Maybe Haru needs a nickname too? Blueberry maybe?'

"Ed." Tai interrupted his thoughts.

"Hmm?" He turned around and rose an eyebrow.

"Don't you think you should participate in the battle?" He questioned. "You may not get the chance later."

Ed glanced at the battlefield, feeling disdain for participating. He killed one-million ice elemental giants alone previously, and that was under the effects of the training room that limited his abilities! Frankly, he felt that fighting the elemental giants on the front-line was far beneath him. He looked up towards the ongoing battle in the sky, a hint of interest appearing in his eyes. "Sure." He grinned. "I'll join the battle." Silver flames shot from his feet, carrying him into the air.

Sect Leader Fang was still busy fighting Xia, Li, and Wan. All four curiously glanced at the newcomer that was joining their fight.

"Forge." Xia nodded towards him.

"So, it's the traitor." Chonglin calmly said.

"Haha, maybe." Ed laughed. Truthfully, he wasn't 100 percent sure if he had betrayed Sect Leader Fang or not yet. After all, it really all depended on Tai's secret plans. If the Fire Dragon Sect didn't betray the Purple Origin Sect, then technically he didn't either.

"What are you here for?" Chonglin asked. "This battle is above your weight limit."

"Well, you see..." Ed smiled. "You really pissed me off a while back by tricking me into being locked in that damned training room. Hell, I almost destroyed my soul in the process of escaping it." His eyes narrowed. "Care to tell me your reason for locking me up?" He glanced down towards the Purple Origin Sect's peak. He could just barely make out Yuki and Bai Fang on the other side of the barrier, sitting next to each other in their wedding clothes. If his theory was correct, then Sect Leader Fang had locked him up so that he wouldn't interfere in their wedding today.

"I didn't think you would escape so soon." He replied. "Truthfully, I had locked you up for your own safety. I knew about the upcoming war and your damaged soul. I originally thought you stood no chance of breaking through the path of blue water before the war ended, let alone started. With all the damage your soul had taken, I thought it best to keep you locked up during its duration. I knew you would insist on participating in the war, so I came up with this plan where you wouldn't even have to feel guilty for missing it, as it wouldn't have been your fault."

Ed's brows furrowed. 'Is that the truth? No, that's stupid. It doesn't benefit him at all and it's too coincidental.' He chuckled. "If that was true, then why send me in with no food?"

"Cultivators are naturally capable of going without food for a long time." He calmly answered. "Some don't realize just how extreme this ability is. When I was younger, I once went two years without a single meal..."

"Then what about the wedding?" Ed countered. "You were definitely already aware that Yuki and I knew each other from America. I'm sure you already knew that she used to like me too. So, clearly you had ulterior motives to lock me up?"

An awkward expression appeared on Chonglin's face. He sighed and nodded. "I was worried about you possibly interfering with the wedding plans, which would also interfere with the war plans." He glanced down towards the wedding. "However, I truly did underestimate my granddaughter." He looked back towards Ed. "So, what exactly is it you want? Did you come to steal my granddaughter away on her wedding day? To play the heroic knight that whisks her away from the battlefield?"

"Pfft." Ed hurriedly stifled his laughter. After taking a brief moment to calm his laughter down, his face grew serious. "Hell no." He shook his head. "I just want to pummel your face in a bit to relieve my stress."

"Is that so?" Chonglin frowned, almost seeming disappointed by the answer. "You hold no feelings for Yuki at all?"

"Feelings?" Ed tilted his head. He recalled his time spent with her. It was extremely brief, and she helped him find his true calling. Then he repaid her my placing a shocking device in her head and using her to frame her father. After that, they met once briefly when she warned him about his supposed death date. Could this be called a relationship? In what twisted world could this possibly lead to him lovingly stealing her away on her wedding day? "Ha." He let out a small laugh.

Within the depths of Ed's soul, there were the 49 paths. Amongst these paths, there was the path of red flame. It was the default path for most flame cultivators, but Ed had stress awakened and cultivated later. Previously, he had felt and lost a connection to this path, which seemed to be based heavily on warmth and kindness, and perhaps even love itself. Right now, the path's connection to Ed was flickering. Subconsciously, his connection to the path was nearing completion, and it was possible he might even breakthrough without trying at all!

"Hahaha." Ed continued to laugh, covering his face as he did so. "A loving knight coming to steal her away, huh?"

Suddenly, Ed's connection to the red path of flame snapped, disconnecting once more. It was as if he had made zero progress on the path. A red flame along the 49 paths almost appeared disappointed as it shrank back down in size. However, at the same moment, a new path lit up. A dark red shadow seemed to dance and weave in joy as it felt its strength grow. It was the red path of darkness, and it seemed that this path Ed had never even bothered with was now the closest to breaking through.

Abruptly, Ed stopped laughing. "No. I didn't come to steal her away." He gave a devilish smile. "How can I steal what's already mine?" A hint of madness appeared in his eyes as he looked down towards the Purple Origin Sect. "Yuki is my property. She falls under my sovereignty. She is a tool that serves me whether she realizes it or not! And if your adopted brat touches her, then it's the same as damaging my property. If he so much as lays a finger on her, then I'll beat the hell out of him before using my powers to transform him into a woman. Heh." He chuckled. "From there, I'll throw him to the pigs! Or maybe hand him over to Dupe to have fun with! He'll be nothing more than a toy for his superiors!"

"He's gone mad..." Xia stared in shock, feeling the esper he had gotten to know over the past few hours had done a complete 180 in personality.

Fang appeared equally shocked. "Has the damage to his soul become this bad?" He muttered in disbelief.

The Li and Wan sisters remained silent, but they seemed disgusted by Ed's behavior.

Ed's own eyes widened in surprise at his confession. It wasn't like him to spew nonsense, let alone to do so on the battlefield. 'Are those my true feelings...?' He stared at his own hands in shock.

Suddenly, Ed's eyes went dark, and he fell from the skies like a meteor crashing towards the Earth. He had completely lost consciousness and was little better than a rag doll as he slammed into the ground.

...

A dark void. Ed's 49 paths. Right as he had made his confession, the path of red darkness grew several times in strength. It appeared like a red shadow as it surrounded his soul, quickly seeping inside.

'The... Fu..ck. is this?' Ed struggled to gather his thoughts. It felt like his mind was overheating. His soul was in extreme pain. No, everything was in pain. Things he had never even felt before were in pain. It was like existence itself was nothing but pain.

As the red darkness seeped deeper and deeper into his soul, he could finally make out what the connection was. 'Emotion. Manipulation?' It was similar to the vibes both Jarrod and Jessica's powers from the past had given him. Both had used odd abilities to control other people's emotions.

Soon, the last of the red darkness was absorbed into Ed's soul body, and his connection with the path of red darkness was completed. A brief instant latter, a shattering sound echoed throughout the void.