Chapter 5

"I'll go. This time I will not fail." James spoke with determination. The entire room could feel the pressure from his energy rising.

"No." Yu responded quickly. "Orders are for you to stay put."

"What the hell? You can see its power and proficiency. I am your best bet. "

"You need to calm down. Those pigs at the top are playing politics. They wouldn't want an outside force to deal with something on their soil."

"This isn't the time for all this nonsense!"

"Your turn will come; they just need to fail first, and they will. Even a monkey can tell that much."

"Tch..."

Edward noticed David getting to his feet.

"You would have survived if you had just laid there." He declared as he brought out energy blades from both hands. David's armor began to vibrate.

"Not that nonsense again." Edward retorted as he watched, keeping his guard up.

David started moving from one end of the warehouse to the other with quick speed bouncing from pillar to pillar randomly until he launched himself at Edward, kicking him as he broke through the pillar behind him. As Edward began to stand, the building started to fall apart.

"You bastard! So that's your plan? Bring the building down on us? " Edward spat on the floor.

"Not exactly. This is my Trump card! Ability to increase and reduce the speed of everything I touch for a short while. " David smirked as blood dripped from his mouth. The areas he touched around the warehouse released energy and exploded upwards, basically lifting the shattered building, and engulfing it in green energy. Edward tried to move but noticed a strong drag in his motion, as though his body was heavy.

"You..." Edward trembled, his eyes sinking in.

"Hmph! Falling tower...Acceleration! "

The raised building began to descend at an incredible speed, all directed at Edward. Before it landed, David ran out of the area quickly. The impact dispersed the energy, which threw him to a nearby tree.

"Serves you right," he said before falling unconscious.

The drone managed to come out unscathed. It scanned the area for both Edward and David. It sensed trace energies coming from a distance. At about the same time, reinforcements in helicopters and vans arrived at the location. They did a quick first aid treatment on David before rushing him out of the area on a helicopter. Out of the rubble, Edward burst out. The special units on the scene were shocked. Edward was severely damaged, with barely any clothes or armor on him. From the base, they all clearly saw an external demon core attached to him, which was pulsating.

"Take him in!" A voice on one of the communicators bellowed.

With what little energy he had left, Edward created a smoke screen. They tried to search the area for him, but they couldn't find him anywhere.

"What about the energy meters?"

"None is picking up his source energy!"

"Keep searching!"

"Damn it! We need that demon core... So much we don't know is imbedded in it." Yu thought to himself.

While everyone else was filled with different emotions as the bodies of the fallen soldiers were being recovered, Edward burst out of the ground in a school field. Completely bruised and at death's door, he crawled into a gym and laid there before passing out.

The next morning, Edward woke up to the noise of the gym door opening. His eyes were met by a surprised Janitor.

"You... okay, man?"

Edward rushed at him, held his mouth so that he wouldn't scream, and infused source energy into him through his head. The janitor collapsed. He took the janitor's clothes and then carried him to the infirmary.

"Is he going to be okay?" Edward asked, feigning concern.

"He will be, he seems drunk, that's all. And you said you found him naked in the gym?"

"Yeah... I was just as surprised."

The doctor laughs loudly. "Classic Joe, always found in odd places. Don't worry about it. "

As Edward left the infirmary, he released his source energy to surround the school. Once he was sure that it had been balanced between individuals, he began walking when he bumped into Kris.

"Watch where you're going, old man," Kris scoffed as he continued walking towards the principal's office.

Edward looked at his shoulder where Kris had bumped into him with a slight surprise in his eyes.

"Was that just my imagination? Well, whatever."

Back at the base, Edward's energy had been spotted from the moment he infused energy into the janitor.

"Tch... The bastard has covered his tracks again. But at least we know he is in that school. " An operator hissed at the screen.

"We wouldn't want to cause a panic, so we can't just move in for an inspection." A special unit soldier indicated as he looked at Yu, who was standing beside his second in command, Michael.

"That's true. America has not had an attack in years despite having one of the three largest portals. The government wouldn't want to look bad after declaring the country invasion free." Michael retorted gently as he placed his fist under his chin.

"Why are you guys overthinking it when the answer is right in front of you?" Yu asked with a smirk.

"Huh?"

"It's a school... students have barely resumed from summer break. We could schedule a little history presentation on the special units while we use the opportunity to search the school. "

"That's... wow. I mean..." Michael tried to respond in awe.

"I have already sent a message to the school's principal; I should be getting a reply any moment now."

"When did you have time to do so?"

"The moment I saw that the demon was hiding in a school..."

"Plus, I have always wanted to host a presentation in a school... you know, talking about our work!"

"You are way too hyper about this!"

"Come on, Michael... Just let me have this. "

"We have to prepare; the higher ups have to approve... like there is so much..."

YU cuts him off by saying, "The principal just responded." He would be delighted to have us here today. We move in by 10. "

Michael was still in shock at how fast things were progressing, so also skeptical at how jovial Yu was.

"Oh yeah... You get to talk to the higher ups about it," Yu smiles.

"What? Why?"

"Because I told them it was your idea..." Yu said as he walked away casually.

"Where do you think you are going, YU?" Michael sneered with a deep tone while tying his belt around his fist.

"Nowhere exactly..."

Michael launched at Yu and wrapped his belt around his throat.

"You are trying to get me killed you sonavabitch! My life... my career, before they have my head, I will surely have yours! " Michael roared, with tears flowing down his eyes.

James walked in and saw the two of them.

"James help. Your father needs you." Yu turned to him with his eyes hopeful. James paused a bit, unable to hide the 'seriously' look on his face. He quietly turned around and left for the Hallway.

"No! Come back James. Save me!" Yu screamed stretching his hand out