In the next few seconds his nostrils were filled with a noxious gas, he immediately developed a splitting headache out of nowhere and his eyes started to water. He tried to siphon the mana out of whatever attack Float had initiated on him but his ability to do so was average at best, now however it was probably way worse with his current inability to focus. "It's a little too late for that now, Ammonia has already permeated your entire body." Float said. Apparently she had many tricks up her sleeve indeed. His vision was slightly blurry now, Fade deactivated his invisibility in order to become intangible instead. This too was of no use.
"Now now dear, don't waste your mana. I'll be taking that now." Unable to focus and feeling his mana being sucked away at a rapid pace, he sent a mental directive to his permaclone but there was no reply. Forcing himself to try and see what was happening he looked behind Float to where the permaclone was. What he saw, was a huge block of ice. "Ice, you have an affinity to ice?" He uttered in shock. "No no dear, of course not. Just the ability to create bubbles composed of liquid nitrogen." At first Float's ability sounded like a very simple and utterly useless thing to have but as it turned out, it could be way more advantageous and versatile than his own.
"Oh and i know you must have much more ways to utilize those abilities of yours but i would advise against it, especially if you somehow intend to incorporate that permaclone of yours into some strategy because if it moves it's as good as dead."
Fade looked his opponent in the eyes, at least he looked her in the region of her mask where her eyes should be: "I know how valuable and dangerous a permaclone can be, after all the opponent you've been fighting this entire time... is my permaclone." Fade couldn't believe his ears. Him, the son of a guild master with all his training a permaclone and battle strategy was defeated, by a permaclone. He couldn't accept it, he wouldn't. She was overconfident at the moment and most likely had her guard down, seeing as she thought she had already won. He could catch her off guard, he could still beat her.
With sheer will and determination Fade reinforced himself with mana, reached out and grabbed her by the waist activating one of his abilities on her and shoved her now intangible body into the ground. Once she was down to her knees through the arena floor he quickly removed his hands, leaving her embedded there.
"Are you stupid or something, did you just attempt to trap a permaclone a being composed of bubbles in the ground?" Distracted and driven by outrage, he had neglected the fact that earlier his opponent was composed of lava bubbles. Looking down he saw the molten arena floor forming into a small pool of lava where Floats permaclone stood. The sentient being floated out of the molten ground and he felt an extremely cold wind caress his cheeks, even behind the mask, then his upper body began to freeze over. All Fade could feel was his legs and his head felt like he was getting a brain freeze magnified a hundred fold as he gradually lost consciousness.
....
As it turned out Float was just as fascinating as her mentor. Tamashi glanced at Fades father, to see what reaction the guild master would have. Dominaire was fuming, his nostrils were flaring like a dragon that had just caught someone trying to steal the eggs containing it's offspring. When this tournament was over Fade was going to get trained so hard he'd wish for death, Tamashi was certain of it. He could understand the guild masters rage.
Tamashi as well as all of Dominaire's fellow guild masters having honed their abilities to the highest degree, all knew that the opponent Fade had just fought and lost to while accompanied by his permaclone... wasn't the real Float but her Permaclone. Float's real body was now descending out of the air where she had been from the beginning of the tournament. Tamashi and the guild masters had sensed her of course but they didn't interfere, it wasn't against the rules for the young woman to do that anyways.
Since she was near them and her mana signature was masked by theirs, none of the contestants had caught on. Well most likely her mentor had and maybe Tamashi's daughter. Maybe, seeing as Float's permaclone had such a strong mana signature that she could easily pass for a regular mage.
That was two contestants down now, of the 6 remaining 4 of them were facing off against a lone mage. Who was still holding his own and not actively trying to take down another contestant at the moment. As far as Tamashi could tell Purple Coat was testing himself against Death Web and Stream, other than that he was avoiding Genie and Splinters attacks or simply ignoring them most of the time.
Tamashi and the guild masters knew that two more permaclones were on the sidelines at the moment. Excluding Purple Coat's of course, which was currently levitating between Genie and Splinter who were preparing to attack it. Stream and Death Web weren't allowing room for four attackers in their continuous barrage of attacks on Purple Coat.
The arena floor within their proximity was damaged beyond recognition, it was riddled with spider web patterns several feet deep from his estimation and pools of lava were scattered all over. Shards of broken diamond either knicked from Streams sword by Purple Coat or from Stream having to deflect accidental friendly fire from Death Web.
The notorious young mage was siphoning purified mana from all of his opponents while evading attacks and dishing out counterattacks of his own. Tamashi suspected that he was using some kind of beast bond ability in unison with mana manipulation to amplify his speed. There was no other explanation which could explain why Purple Coat was fast enough to keep up with his daughter or match her in speed. Death Web could travel at the speed of light via her ability to manipulate light. She should have him beat in that department at the very least but she didn't.
Neither of the three mages were going all out at the moment tho, they were still holding back and gauging each others abilities even if one were to put the lack of permaclone usage by either of them aside. The permaclones in question were currently mostly not doing anything, Stream's permaclone was hidden under the arena floor. Meanwhile Death Web's permaclone which was invisible, was leaning against the barriers at the edge of the arena.
At that moment Purple Coat was evading an invisible attack from Death Web, he then swatted away Streams diamond sword with a wave of his hand. Coming down to rest his feet lightly against the floor he raised one of his hands as if to signal for a break. Which Tamashi found hilarious, he was definitely not tired. The mana he had siphoned off his opponents to amplify himself was still flowing off him in waves.
It seemed as if they were gonna have a conversation so he amplified his earing using mana and prepared to listen: "When are you two going to stop holding back? You're not fooling anyone you know. At least you're not fooling me and I'm sure the Supreme magi and all of the guild masters know about those Permaclones you two have been holding out on using." The young man said in a matter of fact manner. Tamashi couldn't help but smile at that statement, Purple Coat was indeed a prodigy.
"The tournament is currently down to 6 contestants, why don't you two give me a moment to take care of the other two. Then you, me and my apprentice can continue."
The sheer hubris, Tamashi couldn't help but chuckle. He was just that confident. Based on that bold statement and the fact that his permaclone hadn't used the attack which had dispelled the poisonous mist earlier on, he probably issued a mental command to it not to go all out against either of it's two opponents. Death Web stepped aside while Stream sheathed her sword and replied: "Be my guest." As soon as Stream finished her sentence Purple Coat disappeared from between them and reappeared infront of Splinter, the latter started manifesting multiple tree trunk thick layers of wood from his body while his main body was being propelled backwards.
At the same time the previously almost negligible Permaclone emanated a massive pulse of mana causing the atmospheric mana to ripple, it was to such a dregree that Tamashi could feel it from where he was seated. All the guild masters shifted excitedly in their seats in anticipation, even Markus remained silent. Purple Coat's permaclone started unravelling into individual strands of thread until it was almost imperceptible, except for the mana which it was emanating as it accelerated towards Genie.
When the latter tried to evade it she was pursued relentlessly until a portion of the mist which she had morphed into was caught, the permaclone coalesced at that single point and started moving so fast that all anyone could see was Purple after images. The mist became erratic then started changing back into a human shape, when it was finished doing so and the permaclone became one again, Genie was standing their with a terribly mangled hand and wincing from pain.
Splinter who had been trying to evade Purple Coat, came to an abrupt stop as his back collided with one corner of a medium sized cubic barrier composed of extremely condense mana. Purple Coat had expelled a huge mass of already purified mana from his own body in one swift motion and used it to form the barrier.
Arriving infront of Splinter he kicked him in the face with such force that his mask shattered. Splinter began sprouting an endless forest to protect himself but Purple Coat ripped it apart with brute force. Everyone except Float looked on completely flabbergasted for the next minute and a half as an unceasing barrage of attacks rained down on Splinter, sending branches, vines, wood shavings and all manner of plants which couldn't get to their full forms were sent flying in all directions. At some point Purple Coat seemed to become annoyed and started shrinking the mana barrier. Afterwards he grabbed Splinter by the head and slammed it into the barrier so hard that there was a deafening clang, he then dropped him to the ground, dismissed the barrier and absorbed the mana back into himself.
There was a whistle from Markus beside him and he could hear the other guild masters sigh.
Only one thought crossed Tamashi's mind: 'How powerful would that young man eventually become and if he got to his level, who would be able to stop him if he became evil?'