Esperiments

"Ed! Stop!" Yuki floated in front of him and held her arms wide.

"Hmm? Why should I?" He questioned.

"You're overreacting! You're threatening to blow somebody up over a hospital visitation! What part of that doesn't sound insane to you?!"

"Overreacting?" He slowly lowered his fist as the flames in his hand disappeared. The receptionist was still held in his hand and seemed to be confused by Ed talking to himself.

'Am I overreacting...?' He frowned. 'Yeah, I probably am. This isn't the type of thing I would have done before awakening. Hell, this isn't the type of thing I'd do even after awakening... I prefer careful planning and strategy as opposed to brute force. Is my awakening changing my personality even further? Or is this just my personality after all the shit I've gone through? Or is it something else?'

He slowly lowered the woman back to the ground. "I apologize for overreacting." He turned and left the dumbfounded receptionist behind.

Yuki glared at him outside the hospital. "Just what is wrong with you?! You turned that woman in Georgia into an idiot. You implanted a freaken shock collar into my brain! Now you're threatening to blow up a hospital?!"

"I don't know..." He sighed while staring at the sky. "Anyways, go find your body. Then come back and get me. I'll just sneak into the room."

"Sure, but don't think we're done talking about this!" A hint of concern appeared in her eyes as she flew away. It took her a few minutes to relocate her body. Fortunately, she could vaguely sense its location.

"Over here!" She yelled while waving towards Ed. Flames blasted from his feet, lifting him into the air. They flew to the top floor of the hospital where a VIP wing was located. He quickly melted a hole in the wall to enter her room.

Yuki's body still laid peacefully on the bed. He walked over and placed his hand on her head. A small trace of mana slowly explored her body. It was more time consuming than usual since espers naturally resisted foreign mana, but still only took about a minute. A frown appeared on his face as he concentrated.

"What is it?" She questioned. "What's wrong with my body?!"

"Your body is fine..." He hesitated a moment before sighing, "But your mana-core is cracked."

"Cracked?" She tilted her head to the side, then anger appeared in her eyes. "So, it was your fault! Your lightning trick must have cracked it!"

"I don't think so." He shook his head. "I knew what I was doing and there was no chance of that weak shock hurting your core. It's likely it cracked from the extreme stress of reliving your memories you had mentioned."

"Ooo!!" She pouted. "So what do we do?"

"We wait for your father. I'm not attempting to fix that without permission. If I do try fixing it, then you're very likely to die. Besides, I would need some materials to even attempt it."

Nearly an hour later. OP Baldy walked into the room. His uniform was a little scuffed up, but he appeared to be fine. He looked at the duo resting near Yuki's body. "Well?" He questioned.

"It isn't good." Ed shook his head. "I don't think I can fix it. The odds are very low."

"Don't lie to me brat! I saw your fake limbs. I even stabbed you through the heart, but you're still alive. You're trying to tell me you can't fix her?!"

"It'd be easier if it was her heart. Her mana-core is cracked."

"What?!" Mr. Sai rushed to his daughter's body. A trace of white mana entered inside. It took him close to an hour to finish investigating her body.

'So slow?' Ed thought to himself. 'Is it because my powers naturally work on living things that it only took me a minute to check? Or is it because his power is purely combat based?'

"You're right..." Mr. Sai sighed. "I checked her body when I first brought her and the mana-core was fine. How did this happen?"

"Dad..." Yuki floated forward. "I recovered my memories. Ed thinks the stress of that was likely the cause."

"I see..." He nodded. "The only person I know that is good at manipulating mana-cores within living espers is Luny from Blood-Lust. I'll have to track her down and force her to help."

"Ahem" Ed coughed to attract their attention. "Luny's dead, so I'm afraid that option is out."

"What?!" He replied in shock. "How could that be possible?! That loon has always kept herself hidden. She's great at keeping herself alive."

"I killed her when she was trying to force me to have a 2nd awakening. How do you think I lost my other three limbs? I'm not so crazy as to cut them off myself."

"DAMN!" Mr. Sai bit his thumb in frustration. He thought for a moment before glaring at Ed. "You said you didn't think you could fix it. That implies you have a way to do so. What are the odds?"

"I've never tried mana-core repair before... I'd say 10% at best?" He replied.

"10%" Mr. Sai paced back and forth while thinking. He glanced at Yuki's ghostly body. "We probably have around three days at most before her soul starts deteriorating. If one of those old bastards takes her then it's over. Same goes for me taking her..."

"Ah, that reminds me." Ed interrupted. "Did you kill the Florida Governor? What the hell is that golden energy all of you have?"

"Humph." OP Baldy snorted. "Both of those old bastards are still alive. It isn't easy to kill people that have reached our stage. As for the golden energy... I'm not telling."

"Oy! Is that anyway to speak to the only person that can save your daughter?!"

OP Baldy flashed over and lifted Ed up by his neck. "Do you think you have any room to negotiate with me? This is all your fault to begin with. Don't follow my instructions and I'll simply kill you."

"You won't do jack shit." Ed grinned while struggling to breathe. "I'm the only one you know who even stands a chance at saving her. I'm probably more important to you than your own life right now!" He struggled to hold back his laughter as he mocked the man.

"Enough! Both of you!" Yuki floated between the two, causing Mr. Sai to let go of Ed. "Just what the hell is with you two? Why do you hate each other so much?"

"Why?!" Mr. Sai replied in rage. "He fucking framed me for mass murder! Why the hell wouldn't I hate him?!"

"What?!" Yuki replied in shock. She turned to Ed for confirmation.

Ed looked away while whistling a small tune.

"Ed. Is my father telling the truth?" She floated directly in front of him.

He stared into her eyes. "Yes. He was in the way of my plans. I knew he'd try to arrest me. I stood no chance at defeating him. So, I blackmailed him with your safety to let me give my speech. Then I enraged him by shocking you so that he'd attack me. I set up a trap to cause a series of large explosions and frame him. Your father's reputation has already been ruined in Georgia and it's quickly spreading to other states." He glared at OP Baldy. "He should have been arrested. Or at least exiled from the country."

"Tsk." Mr. Sai snorted. "Do you think anyone can force me to do anything? No one in the government cares if a few thousand mortals died because of me. As long as I don't intrude on their territory then they couldn't give a shit. If anything, they're probably thankful to see my reputation tarnished and hope I stick around for it to drop even lower."

Yuki looked back-and-forth between the two, a complicated expression visible within her eyes.

"Is that so." Ed nodded. "Anyways, let's negotiate. I have three conditions for attempting to heal Yuki. One, when I'm finished, you kill the Florida Governor. Two, you leave the country when I'm done. Three, you leave me alone when I'm done. Deal?"

"Hmm." Mr. Sai thought for a moment. "I can accept the 2nd and 3rd conditions. Number 1 isn't possible. I can't kill that old man if he wants to hide from me."

"Fine. Then you tell me about the golden energy instead."

"I'm under restrictions from my sect to not talk about it. The best place to go for the information you want is India. That's all I'll tell you."

"India?!" He replied in shock. He rubbed his closed eyes in frustration. 'Just how many damn places am I going to have to visit? China for cultivation techniques. Europe to try and find ancient wizard magic. Africa to find out how ancient shamans used mana. Now I've got to add India to the list? Damn!' He opened his eyes and smiled, "Fine. When do you want me to get started?"

"Not yet. We still have a few days. Let's get you some practice first. Wait here. I'm going to go speak with the hospital director to ensure we have this entire wing to ourselves for the next few days."

Several minutes later. Mr. Sai returned while holding a trembling middle-aged man.

"Who's that?" Yuki questioned.

"Subject001." He responded. He pointed a finger at the man's head and a bright white light flashed for a brief moment. The man slumped to the ground unconscious. "He's a death row prisoner from the cage. I've just cracked his mana-core. I'll get us as many as we need, so get to work."

"Sure." Ed nodded in agreement. "I'll need mana-powders to attempt repairs."

"Fine." Mr. Sai vanished and reappeared a minute later. He set a big crate on the ground and opened the lid. It was completely filled with vials of various mana-powders.

Ed took a vial of each type and took the unconscious middle-aged man to one of the nearby unoccupied rooms. 'Heh. Lucky me. I really profited off this. Esper experiments at no expense to me!'

He slowly made an opening towards the mana-core in the man's head. 'Hmm... When I use my mana on mana-powders, they usually just activate their innate properties. That's how I've shot fire from my arms for so long. That means I can't use any mana for the important parts of this surgery... In hindsight, I think my earlier 10% estimate may have been far too generous.'

He examined the man's mana-core. It was about 80% yellow and 20% black. Those colors represented the earth and dark elements. He carefully sprinkled some earth mana-power atop the core. The core absorbed the powder like a sponge sucking up water. Then the core grew in size, which in turn caused the cracks on the core to grow larger.

'Shit. I didn't think it would have that kind of reaction.' He took a hypodermic needle and filled it with some dark mana-powder. Then he carefully placed it above one of the smaller cracks that was completely black. He pushed the syringe down slowly, causing the powder to fall into the crack. The core began to grow again, but only where that one crack was located. The core became an irregularly shaped oval, whereas it was previously a perfect sphere. A moment later, a cracking sound rang out as the crack expanded and the entire core shattered into pieces.

"Damn." He sighed as he walked back out of the room. OP Baldy was waiting outside the door with his arms crossed. Yuki floated beside him. "I'm going to need a lot more test subjects. We have three days. So, if I work without rest then I could probably use around 500?"

"500?!" Mr. Sai replied in shock. He quickly calmed down and nodded. "Fine. I'll keep bringing them here in batches for you. Just leave the dead bodies to me." He grabbed the dead body from the room and flashed away. A few moments later, he returned while carrying several unconscious espers. Then he disappeared again, and the process repeated itself.

'Hmm. Subject 029's mana-core has a mixture of fire and water. It's similar to Yuki's in a way. The fire and water are opposites but work together.' He carefully applied a very tiny layer of mana-powder to the cracks, but the core shattered apart instantly. 'Damn! Cores with opposite elements are harder to repair.'

He started on the next patient. 'Subject 117 has all four of the basic elements forming a perfect balance. How rare. Come to think of it, I've never seen someone with this many elements before. I have all seven in my core. I wonder how rare that is?' He applied just a few grains of mana-powder at a time in different key areas. The top of the cracks fused together, but the damage lying underneath remained the same. The woman never regained consciousness again despite the mana-core looking fine from the outside. 'Figures that wouldn't work...' He sighed.

'Progress!' He smiled at his new revelation. 'Thank you subject 169. Now my research can finally advance once more.' He had thought back on Luny's experiments. She purposefully shaved away part of the mana-core before patching it to cause 2nd awakenings. Before, he hadn't understood why, but now it all made sense. Mana-cores grew in all directions. Simply feeding it mana-powder in one place would cause it to become irregularly shaped. Feeding the cracks just caused the growing core to expand the cracks until it shattered. So, one just needed to shave away the cracks completely before repairing the core!

'I've succeeded.' He grinned while staring at subject 222. A man with a mixed wind and water mana-core. 'Still... Mr. Sai promised me 500. Why should I stop here? Heheh.' He stifled his laughter as he continued experimenting on subject 222. The core was now repaired. So, what would happen if he kept applying more powder?