chapter 5

-Lilia? I could use a little help.

stepping back slightly as the Ghost Rider approached causing a faint sound of the chains hitting the ground.

_Why are you waking me up?

Oh, I'm impressed you got yourself killed without my help!

happy and somewhat excited even Lilia encouraged Edward to fight the guy in front of him.

-Do you have anything to help me?

_Well I can't give you mutant genes unless I rank up, let alone special powers, but I do know ...._

-Do I have the stitches?

talking to Lilia in his mind until his back hit the last wall, Ghost Rider in front of him started to chain his arm.

-Me... Mephisto wants back the soul that belongs to him.

_It looks like you messed with something you shouldn't have.

-Help me, Lilia, we don't have time to play.

Gwen lay unconscious on the other side of the room, while Edward hesitated about what to do.

_Well well, for your participation you will be given 150 points in honor of earning Mephisto's hatred, 50 points for Ghost Rider's appearance and another 6 points for Shield's fondness, but I'll deduct 10 points for waking me up.

-What? can you do that?

_silence, or I'll deduct you more points

-Yes, yes, sorry, but can you hurry up?

Ghost Rider's chain was thrown at Edward as soon as he could dodge it, but the light touch on his left hand burned part of his skin.

_Yes yes, you have 206 points in total, I can give you the knowledge of magic for about 10 minutes, no no, for about 4 minutes, or force fields, for about 2 minutes, telekinesis for 20 seconds and finally telepathy for about 10 seconds, choose_".

this time Ghost Rider's chain hit his chest chaining his torso and arms, trapped and with parts of his body being burned, he grabbed him by the head.

-Mephisto ne...he needs his soul.

Little by little parts of his skull become human, but after the crimson flames manifested themselves powerfully again, he did not hesitate.

-Lilia, don't you have something like super strength or something?

_No, I told you no powers, only knowledge.

-Magic, I want the points for magic.

_funny_.

at that moment almost as if Edward's brain rebooted, all the knowledge came to him all at once creating a pain in his head to such an extent that the burns on his skin were not important at that moment, foam began to come out of his mouth and consciousness was being lost.

_It's a lot for someone so interesting!

little by little Edward began to come to his senses with great pains in his head.

-Tao mandalas

a pair of shields manifested in Edward's hands causing the chains to release him.

-You?

the flames glowed brightly again, the chain reignited causing the disks in Edward's hands to vanish.

With a wave of his hands, a square with circles of golden energy manifested, fading and forming a whip that bound Ghost Rider's hands.

-Stop...you...

his arms trembled slightly as he tried to keep Ghost Rider's hands trapped, not to mention the pain in his head from the knowledge that was still coming at him all at once.

The crimson flames were extinguished from Ghost Rider's skull, as normal colored flames re-emerged.

-Thank you for giving me enough time to bring me back," the words of the person in front of him confused him, but it was already too much in his brain.

the words of the one who was in front of him, confused him, but it was already too much in his brain, the Eldritch whip conjured by Edward disappeared as if it was nothing, he returned to see beside him how Gwen got up but after that his consciousness was lost falling to the ground suddenly.

____

-Thomas on your four.

shots flying in the air, the smell of gunpowder spreading around, people on the ground crawling in the trenches, while behind a tree, aiming his sniper, a tired-looking man, covered in mud.

-Permission to fire.

without hesitation the man's breathing stopped and the trigger was pulled twice, the sound caused by the shot echoed all around causing the people to be exalted, only the shouts were heard warning of a sniper, but the man was already running around the place looking for a new location.

From another point the sound came again, but this time the man stopped dead in his tracks, staring dumbfounded at what he had shot.

A little girl fell to the ground, while a crying woman held her in her arms.

-Thomas shot the woman.

His orders were clear, soon the body of the man they called Thomas was replaced by Edward's. "What do I do?

-What do I do?

-Your orders, soldier, carry them out.

Thomas, tired and wounded, spoke to him, perplexed Edward didn't understand what was happening, but his body moved by itself.

He could not give orders to his body, it reacted by itself but the trigger was pulled by his hands, the woman fell to the ground with her skull destroyed while the body of her daughter rested on the ground as well.

-We have always obeyed orders, haven't we Edward?

the gun fell from his hands while behind him Thomas raised his arms.

-This is what we have done, you cannot give yourself a new life, your sins and past haunt you Edward, you are a murderer.

all around him corpses of children, women, old people, men, innocent people that sometimes crossed his path when he shot, other times they were his targets because they were the family of the people he needed to extort or simply kill.

-This is your legacy, this is your story, this is you.

Soon behind Thomas a golden-haired woman came walking up.

-Gwen?

-You think that with her you can atone for your sins, you don't deserve to be happy, you don't deserve to have a new life, they did deserve it, they had new lives, you took them away from them, you are a murderer Edward, you always will be".

Still Edward's eyes focused on Gwen who with disappointment in her eyes turned away leaving him next to the pile of corpses around him.