174 Reunion

Ed shot his purple shadow towards Bai, much like how a fisherman cast his net to catch fish. Bai easily swung his sword in an uppercut to slice the purple shadow in half. The split shadow continued forward as two separate pieces and latched onto Bai's blood knight armor. Wisp of blood mist floated off the armor as the purple shadow sizzled away at it.

"How boring." Bai muttered in contempt. Purple water spread out from his armor and easily eliminated the purple shadow. "Is that the best you can do?" He mocked.

Ed's eyes narrowed as he kept a close eye on his surroundings. There were several ongoing battles nearby. He grinned as red shadows shot out in each direction, sieging the various espers. Their eyes turned red as they fought against the shadows. Unfortunately for them, they hadn't been prepared for the red shadows at all. With their concentration having been so focused on their individual battles, it was easier than usual for Ed to take control of them, even if only temporarily. The brainwashed espers turned towards Bai and prepared to attack him.

Bai stared at the incoming espers without fear. In fact, his expression of complete contempt hadn't changed from when he first ran into Ed. He calmly lifted his hand, and a red shadow appeared on it. He shot the shadow in several directions, causing it to fuse into the various espers. Their eyes slowly flickered back to normal as Bai's red shadow canceled out Ed's red shadow.

Ed's face immediately darkened. "I thought you specialized in water?"

"I do." Bai replied nonchalantly. "I dabble a bit in the others too though." He pointed his sword forward. "Are you done playing around now? Show me why my father bothered allying with you!" The ground beneath his feet once again transformed into a quagmire, and he rode a wave forward towards Ed.

'Damn!' Ed struggled to move in the bog that had suddenly engulfed him. He lacked his usual diversity of abilities that would normally allow him to easily flee. He tried activating the flames in his mana-batteries, but the grip of the miry ground was too much for him to escape. Left with no other choice, he activated his chimera form and defended himself with his Camazotz wings.

Bai's large sword cleaved directly onto the bat wings, however, very little damage was done. He frowned as he continuously swung his sword at the encompassing wings.

Ed sighed in relief as realized the wings were strong enough to protect him. It seemed that Bai was more specialized for defense and pursuit, with his offense being significantly weaker. Well, water was one of the weaker elements when it came to attack, so it made sense. 'Now, how am I going to get out of this...' He wondered.

[Let me take over.] Blue Ed interrupted from deep within his consciousness. [My ice will make for an easy escape.]

'You think Bai can't match your ice?' He scoffed in reply. 'He specializes in water. Do you want to hand him an easy victory?'

[Let me take over then.] Silvery-red Ed requested. [My silver flames should at least allow us to escape.]

'Denied.' He immediately replied. He had no intention of handing over control of his precious body to the firecracker personality. Maybe he'd be willing to temporarily grant control to Blue Ed, as that personality had no ambition and always proceeded logically, but he definitely wouldn't hand control over to either of the other personalities.

[HEY!] Silvery-red Ed began to protest, but reddish-black Ed simply tuned him out, returning his concentration to his fight.

Thud! Thud! Thud! One sword swing after another was launched against his wings, but he barely felt a thing. If it was just this amount of force, then he could handle it for a long time. Especially when considering his recent upgrade of Water Nightmare flesh, as any damage that was being done to his wings was being healed just as quickly because of it.

"It seems you leave me with no choice." Bai said. "Truthfully, I hate to waste such a valuable resource on a nobody, but I suppose I can't save it forever." A golden glow covered Bai's blood knight armor and spread to his sword. He gracefully swung it down, as if the sword weighed nothing in his hands. Riiip. His sword cut through Ed's wings like a knife cutting through butter.

Ed's eyes widened in shock as he struggled to take several steps back in the bog. Each of his wings had a huge gash, though they were quickly healing. 'Golden faith energy!' He grimaced as he looked at his now golden opponent. Truthfully, he hadn't expected Bai to have such energy or at least not have much of it. After all, he was only the sect leader's adopted son, and it's not like he could compare to the leaders of various sects or territories. Hell, Bai probably wasn't even as well-known as the Florida Governor, whom Ed had defeated a long time ago. However, Bai was definitely one of the strongest opponents Ed had ever faced. Sure, he had defeated stronger opponents before, but back then he had support of various plans and equipment. He had always fought far above his own level with schemes and machines, but now he was on the enemy's playing field with no backup coming his way.

'Damn!' Ed ground his teeth in frustration. 'Am I really going to have to let sparky take over?' He shook his head, refusing to hand over control to that personality. He focused his purple shadow on corroding the bog around him, but new muddy water flowed in as soon as he eliminated the old water. 'Fuck it!' He retracted the chimera scales on his left arm and rose his scaly right arm high in the air. He quickly clawed down towards his left arm, digging into his own flesh. He heard and felt his bones cracking under the force as he dug into his arm to remove his mana batteries. When he pulled his hand out, he was holding seven different tiny batteries. His left arm started to heal rapidly thanks to his healing abilities from the Water Nightmare chimera flash.

"Tsk." He clicked his tongue. 'It was so much easier when I could just melt my own flesh.' He poured mana into the seven mana-batteries and threw them into the bog surrounding him. A seven-elemental explosion followed, clearing the bog around him for dozens of meters. Bai was forced to retreat several steps, and several small cracks appeared on his golden blood knight armor.

Ed had taken heavy damage from his own attack, but it was already starting to heal. He hurriedly used the opportunity to activate the mana-batteries in his legs, allowing him to use wind and flames to fly into the sky. He looked down upon Bai with disgust. Fortunately, it seemed Bai did not have the ability to fly, and it was nearly impossible for him to land a successful hit from the ground.

Suddenly, the bog surrounding Bai began to freeze. The frozen ice quickly climbed into the sky, acting like a ramp that lead to the heavens. Bai calmly slid up the ramp, apparently preparing to fight Ed even with disadvantageous terrain.

'Ugh, you've got to be kidding me!' Ed facepalmed in annoyance. He could easily flee away, but if Bai kept pursuing him then his next goal would only continue to escape his grasp. He needed a way to keep the pest busy.

Just at that moment, a green blade cut into the base of the ice ramp, causing a large chunk of ice to shatter. Shockingly, Haru had returned to the battle! His body was glowing yellow as he chipped away at the ice ramp with his green longsword. He glanced at Ed for a brief moment before returning to his work in silence. It seemed he had no intention of saying anything.

'Looks like my earlier investment paid off even after I cut my losses with it.' Ed grinned as he spun around and flew away.

"DAMN IT!" Bai raged as his ice ramp was destroyed. He faced Haru, who had returned to battle him. "You will deeply regret that." He muttered through clenched teeth.

"We'll see." Haru whispered as he held his sword steadily in front of him.

Bai transformed the ice beneath their feet, changing it into a muddy quagmire once again. A wave propelled him forward as he swung his heavy sword down towards Haru.

CLANG! Haru blocked with his green long sword, easily pushing Bai away. Haru excelled at physical strength battles when using his yellow rigid body, however, the bog was extremely disadvantageous for him. "Hina." He whispered. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I really need to get rid of this mud."

The gem-like mana-core in the hilt of Haru's sword glowed brightly, and their surroundings started to transform. Various grass beneath the bog rapidly grew, transforming their surroundings into a huge pile of grass. The terrain had transformed to Haru's advantage, and with the swords help, it was unlikely Bai would be able to use his quagmire ability again.

"Humph." Bai snorted as he disregarded the grass and swung his sword from far away. It grew longer in length as he swung it, making it appear more like a spear than a sword.

Haru easily fended off the attack and didn't pursue his opponent. He chose to stay in the center of the newly created grassland, as it gave him the greatest advantage. This was especially necessary when considering how slow he moved when using his yellow rigid body. It was unlikely he could chase Bai even if he left the grassy area. That is, unless he switched to his blue agile body, but such a thing would leave him wide open to Bai's dangerous attacks, and he wasn't willing to take such a risk.

The two eyed each other cautiously as they weighed their options. Bai wanted to finish the fight and continue his pursuit of Ed, but that opportunity had already sailed away. He might as well finish off the fighter in front of him, whom he had seen kill quite a few Purple Origin Sect members. On the other hand, Haru knew that Bai was the Purple Origin Sect leader's adopted son. What better revenge could he take for Hina than killing such a person? Earlier, he had run away because he felt he stood little chance in such a fight. But now, he was seeing just how well his abilities matched up against this opponent. Not even his former sensei had been able to defeat Bai, but Haru was actually holding his own!

...

While Bai and Haru were busy battling, Ed was making further progress towards his goal. It didn't take him long to reach the Purple Origin Sect's barrier. Elemental giants continuously walked out of it, but any that got near him were corroded into nothingness by his purple shadow.

'Let's see...' He examined the barrier carefully. He placed his hand on it, feeling it to be completely solid. 'I don't stand a chance at destroying it... but there must be a way to get through.' His eyes lit up with an idea as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his honorary elder medallion. Placing it against the barrier, he was pleasantly surprised to see it light up. A small gap appeared in the barrier, allowing him to quickly enter before it closed. 'Sect Leader Fang really is a fool.' He chuckled to himself.

Ed flew in the sky above the Purple Origin Sect. 'Let's see...' He looked over the grounds, trying to spot any cultivators. However, there didn't seem to be anyone present. They were all likely busy with the war. 'That can't be right... There should be cultivators maintaining the chants to activate the barrier, right?' He rubbed his chin. 'Or was that a ruse that Sect Leader Fang created to mess with people on purpose? He probably knew there were spies, so that might make sense...'

He hesitated on deciding where to look for Yuki. He hadn't seen her since the start of the war, and over six hours had passed since then. 'The training rooms maybe?' He turned in that direction. Supposedly, some of the weaker sect members had been placed there for protection, and prisoners were also being used for the chant there. Well, that was what Dupe had told him anyways.

'Eh, I'll just check the castle.' He decided as he flew towards the top of the mountain. He didn't wish to risk getting trapped in the training rooms again, as it had been a hellish enough experience escaping them the first time. Not to mention he wasn't even capable of mastering new paths at the moment, so entering a training room was basically the same as signing his own death warrant.

Soon, Ed reached the top of Mount Dongling. The castle appeared deserted, easily allowing him to pass through the familiar gates and enter the courtyard. He headed straight for the main building and entered inside. Just like the last time he had been here, the castle appeared like something from ancient times, with elegant marble pillars and fancy art decorating the walls. However, he did not head for the small tea room he was familiar with. Instead, he directly walked towards the unfamiliar throne room.

Walking through a small entranceway, he entered the throne room. A gilded purple carpet lead towards a pair of thrones that were placed several steps high. Shockingly, two people were already sitting there, and Ed knew both of them. The first was Dupe, who had returned to his usual appearance. The second was Yuki, whose face was still covered by her red wedding veil.

"Ed." Dupe smiled jocularly, seeming to hide some meaning behind his expression.

"Nick." Ed nodded before turning his attention to Yuki. At long last, he would regain his property.