Etzali and his group reached a set of stairs and slowly made their way down, always on guard for any ambush awaiting them. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, they found another corridor, identical to the one they had just left, except this time the volume of Capacity Down reached a high enough level that it disrupted the espers' abilities of doing the required calculations.
"Looks like our powers are useless for now. Etzali? If you wouldn't mind?" Awaki turned to Etzali, waiting expectantly for him to use his magic.
"Yeah, Etzali. Show us some of your magic." Worst insisted, pushing him to the front door. Everyone could see she wanted him to fail, so she could have some of her so called 'fun'.
However, before Etzali could try anything, Edward walked straight past them and went to the stairs at the other end of the corridor.
"Huh? Where are you going?" Etzali asked, watching Edward walk away from them.
"Something's below us and it's interfering with the magic I'm using to search for my beloved." He explained before disappearing down the stairs.
"His magic?" Awaki asked.
"We can deal with that later; it has to be Imagine Breaker. Let's follow him. He might lead us straight to them." Etzali ordered, running towards the stairs that Edward had just descended.
He reached the stairs and ran down them, taking two steps at a time with the three espers keeping pace behind him.
At the bottom, they found a third identical corridor and Edward was in front of the door at the far end. As they spotted him, he knocked hard on the door.
"Is anyone in there?" he shouted, loud enough to be heard from inside.
"Who's there?" came a male voice from the other side of the door.
"My name is Edward; I suggest you stand back." he called to the prisoners inside.
After a few seconds, he placed his hand on the door and began muttering something under his breath quietly enough that no one else could hear what he said.
Suddenly, a black spot appeared in the middle of the door, and it started to erode until nothing was left and a group of four Academy City students could be seen inside.
Touma Kamijou stood in the middle of the cell, facing the door, arms raised in a boxing stance with three younger students hiding behind him.
"Who are you?" Touma asked.
"Charming. We save your asses, and you immediately want to fight us. I already told you, my name is Edward." he said, looking at the boy.
"Don't worry, he's not a threat. He was another prisoner being held here." came Etzali's voice from outside the cell.
"If you're another prisoner, then why didn't you use your magic to get out yourself?" Touma asked, eyeing up the man who had destroyed the cell door.
"And, what, pray tell, would I do then? Do you think I could take them all by myself? And even if I did, I have no guarantee I'm close enough to civilisation to survive when I get out." Edward explained.
Touma relaxed a little, accepting the man's explanation, for now.
"Huh? You've got more girls following you? Big Sister would love to know about this." Worst said, poking her head into the cell.
Touma normally would have been very happy to see that face. Normally it would mean that his girlfriend was in there. Or it was one of the clones used in the experiment to get Accelerator to level 6. However, this was not one of those times.
"Worst? Why did they have to send you?" he asked, his shoulders slumping.
Before she could answer, though, they heard a series of heavy footsteps approaching them as five men, armed with heavy-duty machine guns, appeared, blocking their way out.
"In the cell! Go!" Etzali ordered as he jumped between everyone and the group of men.
As they opened fire, Etzali's 'Time related to life and death' activated and protected him from the raging storm of bullets that rushed towards him.
The men kept firing at Etzali, expecting his defence to crumble soon, but by the time they burned through their first magazine, it had yet to do so. They all stopped firing as the large circular drums underneath the guns fell to the floor and they reached behind them to grab another. However, they were never able to reload as Etzali pulled out his handgun and shot each one in the head faster than they could react.
The group who had jumped into the cell for cover peaked out when the gunfire stopped and, seeing that Etzali had disposed of the enemy, relaxed.
Touma looked at the bodies and realised it was a sight he had gotten used to over the years. A fact he didn't like one bit.
"Did you have to kill them?" he asked.
"This was a firefight. There's no time to consider giving mercy to your opponent, you just need to beat them as quickly as possible."
Touma wanted to argue, but he didn't have the time for it. There was someone in need of saving and people around him that could help him save her.
Before he could ask, though, two ear-piercing screams deafened him from directly behind them. He turned round to see what was happening and realised Himari and Valeria had seen the five bodies lying in pools of their own blood. When Haru saw them, he turned round and threw up on the floor of the cell he had just left.
Awaki quickly went to the three students and tried to calm them down. Better her than Worst, Touma supposed.
Seeing this, Touma turned to Etzali.
"I'm glad you're here Etzali, but our job isn't finished yet. There was someone else with us, but they took her away, we need to find her."
Etzali nodded.
"Okay, Worst? Show me the map." He ordered, holding out his hand.
Surprisingly, Worst did as she was told. She gave him the map and he brought it up so Touma could see it as well.
"Do you know why they took her?" Etzali asked.
"Yeah, they said she had to meet the bosses, whoever they are. They said it would be some sort of video call."
Etzali searched the map.
"Okay, the facility isn't that big, so it shouldn't be too hard to find. Let's see… This seems to be our best bet." he said, pointing at a room not too far away from them. "It seems to be the main room of the facility, so we'll check there first."
"Then let's get moving." Touma urged, already walking.
"Wait. What about the brats?" Worst asked. "I don't want to have to babysit them in the middle of a fight."
"You take them into the nearest cell with yourselves, lock the door and be good little children." came a voice from the end of the corridor.
The group turned to see Skye striding towards them wearing what appeared to be a pirate hat, complete with a skull and crossbones in the middle.
"Ah, my sweet. How I've missed you. I'm sorry I wasn't able to get to you sooner. You see, it would have been suicide to try to get you back." Edward started babbling towards the woman, immediately putting everyone on edge.
"Huh?" Skye raised an eyebrow at the man now kneeling down and looking up at her. "Who the hell even are you? And what the hell are you on about?"
"I know, I know my sweet. I should have come for you sooner. I'm sorry, but I had to wait for reinforcements and now that they've come, we can get out of here."
"Are you even listening to me? I have no idea who you are, and I have no intention of leaving until we've got you lot back in cells."
Edward continued to babble absolute nonsense about how he was sorry he didn't come for her sooner and Skye was getting angrier every time he ignored her protests.
The rest of the group stared confusedly at Edward as he continued his routine. Touma, meanwhile, followed his gaze and, now that he understood the situation, had his head in his hands.
"Why is it that all sorcerers seem to be insane?" he muttered under his breath. He then looked up and addressed the crowd of people that probably should have been fighting at that moment. "Hey, you know he's talking to the hat, right?"
The group turned to Touma and then back to Edward, carefully followed his gaze, and sure enough, it reached the hat.
Touma decided enough was enough and changed the topic to end the farce.
"Where's Luna?" he asked Skye.
"She's just finished a very important meeting. I think you should leave her be and just quietly go back to your cells but judging by the fact that you seem to have gained so much false confidence with your little friends here to help you, it looks like I'm going to have to throw you in there myself."
Skye sprinted towards the group, swinging her arm to land a blow on Etzali. Unfortunately for her, Edward had managed to get his arm in the way.
"First you steal my beloved and where her, then you attack children? I'm starting to like you less and less." Edward said.
"Oh? And what's a freak like you going to do about it?" Skye replied.
"I'm starting to get a bit worried about the type of relationship that guy has with his hat." Valeria muttered to her friend.
"Yeah..." Agreed Himari.
"You children can't use your powers, right? Then let me have this fight. You should go find your friend." Edward said, keeping his eyes on the opponent in front of him.
"We'll split into groups. Awaki, take the non-combatants and get them out of here. The rest of us will look for this Luna girl, but let's try not to get split up." Etzali commanded.
After receiving her orders, Awaki grabbed the three children who were captured along with Touma and Luna and pulled them back, running back the way she had come to get out of Capacity Down's range.
Touma's group charged in the other direction past Skye and Edward who were locked in their fight. Skye attempted to break off so she could stop the two groups from escaping, but Edward wouldn't let her, closing the distance as soon as she opened it up.
The two of them resumed their fight, executing quick jabs, blocks and counters one after the other, preventing the other from changing target, not that Edward wanted to, allowing Touma's group to sprint past them with relative ease.
Both combatants were extremely skilled and seemed to have an answer for every one of their opponent's moves.
Edward sent a jab towards Skye's abdomen, but she read it and moved her arm to block. Suddenly, Edward's closed fist opened up and instead of a jab, he grabbed Skye's arm to move it out of the way so he could send a high knee into her stomach.
Skye seemed to notice her mistake and quickly realised there was no way she was avoiding the blow. Instead, she gritted her teeth and tried to jump back. Of course, with Edward grabbing her arm, he easily pulled her back in to sink his knee into her stomach.
However, Skye had bought herself enough time to brace herself for the impact and used the tiny amount of momentum she had gained from being pulled back in to launch her free fist into Edward's nose.
Both fell away from each other as their attacks hit, with Skye doubling over, winded and Edward's head rocking back.
Edward was able to recover a fraction of a second faster and put some distance between the two of them, allowing himself more time to fully recover.
The two of them stopped for a moment, breathing heavily and staring at each other.
"I have to hand it to you, you're a lot more fun than the brats I've fought recently. You're actually somewhat of a challenge." Skye admitted.
"Somewhat? I wouldn't be so arrogant if I were you little miss. Our fight has only just started, I still have a lot more to give."
"Oh? Then show me. I'm itching to see what you've got."
A massive grin was plastered across Skye's face as she relished the prospect of the fight.
"Before we resume, do you mind if I have my beloved back? She's quite important to me."
Skye's grin got bigger, something Edward didn't think possible.
"If you want it, you'll have to take it." she said, standing tall once again, ready to continue.
"Very well, but just remember, I asked nicely." Edward replied, also standing up straight again.
Both fighters charged at each other, fists already swinging as they resumed their fight.
A/N And there we have it. A little more action this chapter and the weirdness of Edward is revealed a little. I found this fight quite difficult to increase the length and still keep it entertaining due to its focus on hand to hand combat, rather than magic, esper abilities or weapons, but I think I just about managed it this time. I hope you guys feel the same.
I also kind of soft-revealed what Edward is this chapter. I didn't want to explicitly say what he is, but more try to suggest what he was and let the readers pick up on it. Did it work? Or was I bit too forward with it?
Now, for the comments;
GG Vegito: Thank you. The new characters introduced in this arc will have a big impact on the story and I'm quite excited to reveal who they are and what they're doing.
And that's all for this week. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I'll have a new chapter up next week. Have a good week, everyone. Bye.