169 Light Tiger Sect's Secre

After passing through the invisible barrier, it was as if they had entered an entirely new world. However, it was not the type of world one might expect from the Light Tiger Sect. Instead, it was dark, making it difficult to see anything at all.

Ed rose his arm and poured mana into his mana-battery, creating a small globe of light in his hand. Their surroundings were revealed, and surprisingly, they were in what looked like a dungeon. The cobblestone walls were aged and cracked, appearing to be extremely old in age. The floor was covered in vines that had forced their way through the various cracks. The end of the hallway couldn't be seen, as it ended in a turn several hundred meters away.

White light lit up in Flair's eyes again. "It's an ordinary dungeon." She explained. "No traps from what I can tell."

Ed nodded, and the duo cautiously made their way forward. A minute later, they reached the turn. There was a split in the dungeon path leading left and right.

Once again, Flair used her powers. Text made up of invisible light floated in front of her on both sides. "The left has a sign that says Farm, and the right says Headquarters."

"A farm?" He rose an eyebrow. 'Does the Light Tiger Sect grow their own food? It'd make more sense to just have the commoners do it... but maybe the light element makes it easy, so they don't bother?' He rubbed his chin. 'Could it be a trap? Why have signs that say Farm and Headquarters? Shouldn't those within the sect already know their own way around? What if the Headquarters is really a trap and the Farm leads to the actual sect? But you need a special ability to see the signs...' He hesitated a moment before choosing to walk down the path leading to the Farm. 'Worst case scenario is I'm wrong and need to turn around.' He thought to himself.

The dungeon tunnel took them several minutes to traverse with many twists and turns on their way. Soon, they reached the end, but it wasn't what they had been expecting. Instead of the dungeon leading to a sect or open area, it ended with what looked like endless rows of prison cells. Each cell held a person within it, and the area was so tiny that they were forced to remain standing.

"A person!" One of the prisoners shouted.

"Who are you?!" Another yelled. "I recognize the Light Tiger Sect dogs! You're not one of them!"

A hubbub of surprised shouts and gossip rapidly spread through the prison cells like a wave, making things quite noisy.

Unable to hear well, Ed walked towards the first prisoner that had spoken. He was an old man with a scruffy beard and messy hair, looking like someone who had been homeless for a very long time. Ed created a wall of ice to block out their surroundings, making the small area where he and the prisoner stood silent once again.

"Who are you?" Ed asked. "And why are you all locked up here?"

The prisoner's eyes trembled, but he hurriedly regained his calm. It seemed he was trying to remain composed given his chance to potentially escape. "Sir. All of us were once ordinary humans. Our cities and villages are under the jurisdiction of the Light Tiger Sect, and they require us to regularly send them our people. We were always told that those we sent would be trained in the path of immortals, thus separating them from the mortal world and never allowing us to see them again!" Tears appeared in his eyes as he lost control of his emotions. "It wasn't until I was chosen to go that I learned it was all a lie. We're nothing but their toys for experiments!" He shouted in a gruff voice.

"I see." Ed nodded while rubbing his chin. 'Seems the Light Tiger Sect has their own set of dark hidden secrets. Not that I can really criticize.' Instinctively, he tried to activate his usual powers to check up on the man, but he failed. 'Can still only use ice... I really need to get my usual powers back...' He turned to Flair. "Check him."

"Mm." She nodded, white light covering herself and the man. Her eyes widened in surprise as she did so. "They aren't just ordinary humans..." She gasped. "They're clones!"

"Clones?!" He replied in surprise. "Like Dupe?"

"No." She shook her head. "They were grown in something like a vat. Several cultivators used a light law to force the process, but that's all I can tell."

"Why would they grow ordinary humans and plant them in cities and villages only to harvest them later?" He asked. "It makes no sense. Hell, they could just nab ordinary humans and save themselves the headache. Unless..." His powers reached out again. Even without his usual powers, he could still feel the mana surrounding him. "This man has mana. That should be related to why they do it..."

"Mm." Flair nodded in agreement. "From what I can tell, he doesn't have a mana-core either, so even with mana, he's just an ordinary human.

Ed turned back towards the man. "What do they usually do with you prisoners for experiments?"

The man lifted his shirt up, revealing scars all over his body and a particularly long scar over his entire abdomen. "I don't know about the others, but for me, they're usually fiddling around in there." He answered.

Flair continued using her powers while staring at him. "I can't see what they did clearly." She shook her head. "The man's mana is blocking my view inside, making it vague and hazy."

"I see..." Ed lifted his hand, creating a thin and sharp ice scalpel. "Hold still." He told the man while leaning forward to cut him open.

The man trembled in fear but held still. He was used to being experimented on and had been forced to learn his place a long time ago.

Like a middle schooler dissecting a frog, Ed opened the man's stomach, revealing his internal organs.

Flair focused her powers on what she could see. The longer she stared, the greater her frown grew. "The organs... They've been taken from mutants that used dark mana and transplanted in."

"Dark mana?" Ed examined the man closely. "But all of their bodies seem geared towards light mana? It can already be considered a miracle they haven't died yet."

"I think they're trying to recreate that thing the two sect leaders did during the battle." She replied.

"The whole yinyang thing the two sisters did?" Ed nodded. "That makes sense. Even if it was far weaker, an army of disposable soldiers with greatly increased power like that would be a force to be reckoned with."

The man who had had his stomach cut open trembled. "They took away a lot of us over the past few days! Are we nothing more than disposable soldiers?!"

"Probably." Ed nodded. "I didn't see any, but it's likely the Light Tiger Sect hid them nearby to use as a trump card. Every sect has their own secrets and plans."

"Nothing but pawns... and I'm nothing but a clone?" The man began to sob. "I never knew my parents. I was born in an orphanage. How many of us were just slaves without ever knowing it?!"

"Don't know." Ed shrugged as he sealed the man's wound with a very tiny layer of ice. It was crude, but he didn't exactly have the tools to do a better job at the moment. He destroyed the ice wall and turned around, preparing to leave with Flair.

"WAIT!" The man reached his arm out from the cage. "Please! Free us! We can serve you. Anything is better than this hellish life!"

"Hmm?" Ed turned back around. "I don't really have a need for such a thing at the moment." He shook his head, having no intention of bothering. After all, it's not like he had anything to gain from it, and it would only end up delaying him. If they rampaged, then it could even cause problems for him.

The man's face sunk as he lost all hope for finally obtaining his freedom.

[Hey!] Reddish-blue Ed shouted internally. [We should save them! No one deserves this crap!]

[I disagree.] Silvery-red Ed surprisingly argued. [It's more trouble than it's worth. We need to pick and choose our battles carefully. Especially in this weakened state.]

'I don't care either way.' Blue Ed shrugged. 'Decide amongst yourselves and I'll go along with whatever.'

Reddish-blue Ed and Silvery-red Ed turned towards Reddish-black Ed, waiting for him to be the tiebreaker. [Heh.] He laughed. [I'll vote that we free them on the condition that I get to take over the body for now.]

[ABSOLOUTLY NOT!] Silvery-red Ed vehemently opposed. It seemed the two really didn't get along at all.

[Save them!] Reddish-blue Ed replied. [I'm fine with you taking over.]

[Nice! Maybe you're not so bad after all!] Reddish-black Ed grinned.

'Very well.' Blue Ed nodded. 'I'm switching out then.'

Ed's eyes went dull for a moment before sparking back to life. 'Ah, finally in control.' Ed grinned, a reddish-black glint sparkling in his eyes. He looked back towards the caged man while grinning so widely his teeth showed.

"What... What happened to you?!" The man in the cage shook in fear, subconsciously sensing the change that had just happened to Ed's personality.

"You're in luck, old man. I've changed my mind." A reddish-dark shadow spread from Ed's body and spread to all the cages for dozens of meters in all directions. The shadows climbed atop their bodies and slowly fused into them. Soon, all of the shadows vanished.

A dark red glow briefly flashed in the old man's eyes. Subconsciously, the shadow had invaded his mind. 'You will remain here for three hours after obtaining your freedom. You will be loyal to Harmony. You will be loyal to Forge. You wish to serve. You wish to please. You wish to make yourself useful. You wish to...' A message seemed to loop on repeat, whispering orders to his subconscious mind. The old man's voice trembled in fear. "What... What did you do?!"

"Some small insurance." Ed replied with a smile. 'Unfortunately, it's nowhere near as good as Jessica or Jarrod's powers. But if I hook a few fish with this, then it's no loss to me.'

Ed lifted his arm up towards the cage. "Stand back." He ordered.

The man hurriedly stumbled backwards, not wishing to learn what would happen if he didn't comply.

Another shadow shot from Ed's hand, however, this shadow was purple in color. The metal bars of the cage rapidly corroded to dust.

The old man's eyes widened in surprise at having obtained his freedom. "THANK YOU!" He shouted as tears poured down his eyes. He kneeled in gratefulness, feeling utmost joy from the bottom of his heart. However, what he didn't know was that Ed's brainwashing was already increasing the intensity of the man's positive emotions towards him. The old man hurriedly stood up and was about to take a step forward, but he stopped abruptly. He stared at the cage in confusion for a moment before calming down. Then he stood there, as if it was only natural to not leave the cage despite being freed.

'Good.' Ed nodded to himself. 'With a three-hour time-limit, it's unlikely they'll interfere with my raid.' His purple shadow spread to the other cages, rapidly corroding the steel bars. He had already brainwashed all of them, so he wasn't worried about a revolt.

Ed continued up and down the rows of cages, brainwashing and freeing all of the men and women amongst them. There didn't seem to be any children, likely because the Light Tiger Sect didn't consider them ripe for organ transplants yet. Soon, he finished with them all.

"A total of 5,000..." He muttered in surprise. If this was the number that weren't ready to be used yet, then how many would the Light Tiger Sect have on active duty back at the battlefield? It could possibly change the entire course of the war. Granted, the other sects were likely hiding their own secrets. After all, only the Purple Origin Sect, Water Snake Sect, and Fire Dragon Sect had shown their hidden cards so far. With Ed now knowing the Light Tiger Sect's secret, that still left the hidden trump cards of the Wind Hawk Sect, Lightning Eel Sect, and Dark Phoenix Sect, not to mention the missing Earth Dust Sect.

"Tsk." Ed clicked his tongue. "The Purple Origin Sect better win this damned war. It'll be a pain in the ass if the Light Tiger Sect comes after me when all is said and done."

"Mm." Flair agreed, not questioning her boss' new personality. It seemed she already knew the reason for it thanks to her powers.

...

Ed and Flair returned the way they came and went down the other path towards the Light Tiger Sect Headquarters. There were some minor traps and tricks along the way, but Flair easily saw through all of them. She was like a walking trap detector.

Ed stared at Flair from behind as they walked. 'Should I use my powers on her too?' He wondered. 'A brainwashed Flair would be easier to control in the future... Granted, she's usually pretty obedient as long as I keep her stocked with resources and opportunities to learn new technologies...' Greed flared in his eyes as he prepared to activate his red shadow.

[Don't.] Blue Ed calmly interrupted him. [She'll detect it with her powers if you try, and even if you succeed, she's probably the type that can eventually find a solution. Imagine if she had turned the rail gun on us in the past for revenge?]

Ed's body shivered as he thought about it. 'Right... I lost control of myself for a second. Thanks.'

[No need for thanks.] Blue Ed shook his head. [We're all in this together, and we need to keep each other in check. We weren't exactly the most stable person even before we split, and that's only gotten worse since.] He glanced at Reddish-blue Ed and Silvery-red Ed, both of whom had obvious emotional issues. One was quick to anger and the other was childish. [I should be in charge of any controversial decisions.] Blue Ed said. [I'm the only one amongst us who doesn't seem to lose control.]

[Agreed.] Silvery-red Ed and Reddish-blue Ed both agreed.

'Heh, we'll see.' Reddish-black Ed replied.

"We're here." Flair interrupted Ed's internal debate.

Ed looked up and didn't see anything but a stone wall. "Is it another illusion?" He asked her in confusion.