Chapter 4

The soldier reached out for help as the light slowly faded from his eyes. Joseph's blue energy burst out, summoning an axe, and forming the armor as he dashed at Edward. David, already in full armor, followed his lead and tried to flank the demon.

Edward smiled as he tore off the soldier's head and kicked the body towards Joseph. He engulfed the soldier's head with green source energy and quickly blasted David with it pushing him through a wall. Joseph caught the body and blood dripped on his armor. A staff swung at Edward's head, but he dodged it immediately. The soldier charged the staff and swung a second time, but Edward blocked it. The force from the impact pushed him towards Joseph, who slammed his axe into Edward's armor sending him crashing through the wall. As he laid flat on his back, his eyes met with David's, who came swooping with his twin Sai, ready to stab him into the ground. Edward created a blast to propel himself out of David's range. He landed on his back and rolled up to his knees to face the three soldiers.

They walked slowly, their energies burning through their armor as they looked down on Edward. He looked back at them and began to laugh. A nano drone hovered nearby and relayed everything that transpired back to the base.

"Dammit!" An operator slammed his hands against the table. Yu walked towards him and placed his right hand on his shoulder. The operator nodded and wiped the tears off his face.

"What the hell are they doing? They shouldn't give him time to think or else he'll just get away. " James spoke calmly. His demeanour was nonchalant. The operator, along with a few others, was slightly irritated.

"Calm now, people. We should listen to his advice." Yu responded.

"Hmph." James shrugged.

"After all, he was among those who let him get away in the first place. Surely his expertise is needed." Yu smirked as James gave him a death glare. The operators started giggling and their eyes returned to the screen.

Edward stood up, looking at all three with a smirk. He concentrated energy on the axe wound, and it began to heal alongside the armor.

"That can't be all from you guys. I didn't come all this way to have a meaningless test run," he taunted, disappointment evident on his face.

David stepped forward, and his body began to vibrate as he gripped his twin Sai.

"Accelerate!" he yelled.

He moved quickly, jammed the twin Sais into Edward's stomach, rushed him to the wall, and ran upwards till he bashed Edward into the roof. To his surprise, the Sais didn't pierce completely through Edward's armor. Edward had already gathered energy in his right hand and slugged David across his jaw. As they fell, a blue crescent-shaped attack flew towards Edward. He created a blast to propel himself out of the attack's range and landed on a beam. Three attacks in succession came in his direction. He leaped forward, then blasted his right side to change his direction thereby dodging two. Still in the air, he set his right hand below him and blasted himself upwards to dodge the third attack. He set both hands behind him and created a blast to cover the distance between him and Joseph. He got close enough, but before Joseph could react, he landed a roundhouse kick on Joseph's neck.

Joseph held his ground, but the kick forced him to lean a bit sideways. Edward tried to back up, but Joseph immediately closed the gap between them, further angered with his energy pulsating out of him, he struck continuously at Edward but couldn't touch him. He held his axe with both hands, charged it up and struck downwards at Edward, but Edward side-stepped to the left as the axe hit the ground, tearing a hole into it. Edward used his left hand to press against Joseph's helmet, and blasted it, blowing it off while he kicked Joseph's leg, spinning him till he landed face flat on the floor. Edward continued by kicking Joseph's head which sent him flying through a pillar. There was a large rumble as cracks appeared on the walls of the building.

Edward cracked his fingers as he noticed a green energy blast launched at him. He blocked it and saw David running circles around him. He smiled and released energy over the radius, causing an upward explosion around him, excluding where he stood. The explosion threw David against a pillar, and he fell to his knees.

"This is all wrong. You are a green source like me. You can't be this strong." David quavered

Three green energy spheres flew at Edward from behind.

"Tch... I forgot there was still one of you left." he hissed as he back flipped, letting the attacks blast in David's direction. While in the air, he turned to catch the late third sphere, compressed it, and smashed it into the ground to minimize the explosion.

"ACCELERATE!" David launched at Edward with one of the twin Sais facing forward. Edward reacted by letting it pierce through his left hand. Pain was written on his face as blood splattered and his legs dragged a few steps before he held his ground. He slammed his right palm onto David's stomach, creating then detonating a large energy sphere. David's eyes rolled back as blood gushed out of his mouth. His entire front armor was shattered, and his body burned. He fell to the ground, and Edward kicked him back to the pillar. David was barely conscious. The last of the special units came from behind. With his staff charged and glowing with green source energy, he struck at Edward. Edward caught it with his right hand and went down on his knee. He was breathing heavily as he struggled to push back against the soldier. Sweat was dripping from both men as they gritted their teeth and stared each other in the face. Edward began to gather energy in his left palm. He blasted it behind, propelling him to push against his opponent as they went through another pillar till he slammed him into a wall, almost burying him in it. The sound of the collision woke Joseph up. He staggered to his feet as he picked up his axe. He looked around in a haze then saw Edward pushing against the soldier on the wall. Edward's fist was on the soldier's chest. The armor plate cracked and the staff broken in half with each on the soldier's hand. The soldier tried to strike Edward, but he smiled and released his energy blade through the soldier's heart. He coughed out blood and dropped both halves of the staff. Both were breathing heavily when they noticed a blue energy gathering. The soldier lifted his hand to hold Edward's right hand, which was piercing his chest.

"Do it now!" He yelled out to Joseph, who rushed at them. Edward tried to pull his hand away, but the soldier's grip was tight. The soldier whose life was about to fade from his eyes whispered, "See you in hell."

"Not yet." Edward tittered as he waited for Joseph to get closer.

"DIE!" Joseph screamed as Edward was in range. Edward infused more energy into the blade, thereby expanding it. He cut out of the soldier's chest, sideways through the wall, through Joseph's axe and sliced his head clean off. It happened so fast that it took a little while before the blood spurted upwards from Joseph's body, as though it had just realized that its head was severed. The blood rained on Edward's armor as he walked a bit before falling on his knee.

Back at the American base, everyone's eyes were open wide in utter disbelief.

"This is not possible. How?!" The operator responded looking hopeless.

"Those skills... Damn it! They are a perfect representation of the late Captain Edward von Shwaz. Our soldiers were not fighting an ordinary green source demon; they were fighting a captain with years of field experience! " Yu mentioned as he clenched his fist.

James, who was resting with his back against a wall, was in deep thought. He knew that if he was to fight Edward, he would need to output more power than usual, which could lead to his core being unstable.

"What is that?" Yu asked as he pointed to a shallow mist surrounding Edward. An operator initialized the energy meter on the drone, and it confirmed the gathering of source energy around Edward by displaying the energy wavelengths.

"Nothing out of the ordinary sir. The demon is just absorbing source energy."

"That's the problem. Demons so far are known to be able to absorb pure source energy but not converted source energy. The trace amounts are going to its side. "

"You can tell that much?"

"I've studied the wavelengths long enough to be able to perfectly distinguish them. He has something that's able to absorb externally converted energy. The only thing I am not sure of is if he fuses it with his already converted energy to strengthen his abilities or if he absorbs it. We will need to capture him alive to run tests. "

Everyone began to clap as they accepted his statements.

"Look over there!" James pointed to the end of the screen. David was standing up.

"Contact David and tell him to stand down. He'd be killed if he goes on. Backup is on its way. " Yu ordered.

"I am sorry sir, but his communicator is damaged. We won't be able to reach him."

"Dammit!"

"I'll go and this time, I will not fail!" James stood firmly as a red glow emanated from his eyes.