Throughout the entire meeting all Hive could think about was Purple Coat. When she had touched the young man during their handshake, she immediately sensed the strength of his soul. She was left in a complete state of shock.
Purple Coat's soul was more powerful than hers and immeasurably vast. Even tho the information her subbordinates had gathered on him alluded to the young man likely being on par with the guild Masters, this was way beyond her expectations.
If she were to make a wild estimation he was already way more powerful than them and considering the fact that he was holding back during the Elite Force Tournament, there was no way to tell exactly what his fully unleashed innate ability was capable of.
That's not what she found most troubling though. Hive's soul manipulating abilities allowed her to perceive many things about a beings soul. One of which was the boundary of it.
Most beings no matter how powerful, always had a definitive boundary. Of all the humans and other species she had ever met only a very few did not... and those few were very troublesome.
They had a terrifying potential for growth, as they did not suffer the same restrictions that the greater majority of the population did.
These outliers could absorb more mana, bond with multiple beasts among other special traits. To add to their infuriating nature the souls of these beings were much, much harder to break and manipulate.
Whenever Hive came across any of these beings and couldn't outright overpower them, she had to enlist the assistance of a subbordinate or two to subdue them. The soul manipulation which followed was always a very long and tedious process.
To make matters worse she could sense more souls sharing a connection to Purple Coat's present one. It was very similar to the way that her soul fragments functioned. But how could this be?
She had heard that his innate ability had something to do with darkness and portals or something along those lines. So how comes he had something akin to soul fragments, did he have an affinity to soul manipulation as well as another innate ability?
For all she knew he was at the very least able to control multiple bodies, just like her. So he would probably be equally as difficult to kill as Hive herself was.
'Dominaire was right, this young man is going to be quite troublesome.' She thought bitterly.
.....
Buio listened to the available information about Hive's organization growing more concerned. These people were going to be very difficult for the battle mages of the kingdom to deal with. Their leader clearly had an eye for the insidious and deadly.
One of the most troubling factors about the entire situation was that they did not know the full extent of Bane's members, many of the known members had abilities which would allow them to cause major issues on a wide scale.
Hive herself possessed the most problematic ability of them all. The enigmatic leader could fully utilize the abilities of anyone she took possession of.
Unlike what she had done when he met her earlier, she did not need to use her own voice or mannerisms while inhabiting the body of her victim.
When she took them over she retained all of their memories, experiences and skills. It was a truly terrifying thing to consider. To have an enemy possess the body of your loved ones and look you right in the face everyday, while you carried on completely unaware of it.
Come to think of it their enemy could be present right in this very room and none of them would be the wiser. She could be inhabiting any of them. She could be possessing all of them.
Buio wasn't afraid and neither did he believe himself to be in any mortal danger. However as the meeting progressed he became increasingly uncomfortable.
What if someone here was a spy for Hive, what if the tyrant herself was here? She would be gathering every drop of intel they disclosed about their plans in this meeting.
He recalled some of the last words she had said to him: "My organization has already infiltrated most of this kingdom, my subbordinates are everywhere. I, am everywhere."
'Subbordinates everywhere, she's everywhere?' Buio thought to himself. Did she have members of Bane hiding in the guilds, among the Elite Force members, among the ranks of the Guild Masters? This was too much.
He instinctively started paying keener attention to the way the atmospheric mana reacted in the vicinity of every single person present in the room.
That memory manipulation minion of hers too was particularly worrying. Even if Hive herself wasn't possessing someone, that damn woman could steal memories and attain precious intel. Then alter the victims memory so that they didn't even remember it happening.
Some time after he had began to observe his surroundings more keenly, Buio realized that every few moments or so Tamashi's wife would glance at him.
However he didn't make an issue of it. Seeing as anyone would be contemplative and probably weary, in the presence of a powerful being of an unknown identity. So maybe her reaction wasn't out of the ordinary.
Besides she wasn't the only one ocassionally stealing glances at him. Dominaire however might have an extra reason or two to be paying attention to him.
After a while he gave up because it seemed to be a completely fruitless endeavour. However he came up with another idea. He just needed some form of distraction and a bit of mana flare up wouldn't be too bad either.
How would he get or create that opportunity tho? As he turned his attention back to the discussion currently taking place the Masters were perusing options.
"We need to find a way to circumvent the abilities of both Hive and Kenbosho from running rampant among the general populace." Another master immediately chimed in. "Yes we do, but how exactly do we go about achieving that? We don't even know the whereabouts of these people."
It was Dominaire. Buio didn't take a liking to the speedster, for some unknown reason he just couldn't stand him. "One of my Guild members might be able to assist with that." One of the female masters offered.
It was the first woman he had been introduced to, one of the two with the spanish accents. Buio immediately interjected after clearing his throat. "Miss Omoi, maybe we shouldn't go into too much details about certain matters!" He said in a tone which hinted that he was suspicious. He couldn't make it too obvious that he suspected any of the guild masters, at least that's what he wanted them to think.
He had decided to orchestrate a little tension, in the hopes that some mana flare up might ensue. If a traitor, unwilling or otherwise was indeed in their midst, that person might certainly push for every piece of info to flow freely.
Even if that wasn't the case anyone not liking what he was possibly implying would probably let their ego get the best of them. Especially seeing as he was probably seen as the least trustworthy of them. What with his hidden identity and being the freshest among the kingdoms official defenders and all that.
Mere moments later his ruse worked just as planned. Dominaire's head swiftly turned in his direction as he yelled: "Are you implying that one of us is a spy boy?" Buio prepared to initiate his plan.
"Us spies, if anyone here should be suspected as a spy it should be you!" He spat seething with rage. "You're the one who nobody knows anything about with the exception of Tamashi, how do we know you aren't a vessel of Hive herself or even an offspring of hers?"
Buio remained unnaturally calm, however as the guild master's mana momentarily flared, a shadow passed from him and hid itself inside that of the guild leader.
'Ah, success. One down, five to go.' Meanwhile Dominaire continued: "Nothing more to say huh, Omoi proceed please." The master in question seemed to agree with Buio tho as she replied shortly afterwards.
"Dominaire i think you're being a bit too rash, the young man does have a point."
The atmospheric mana moved in a very subtle manner as her head moved from one side to the next, likely scanning the reactions of her colleagues. "What, you're going to listen to him over me?"
"It's him we shouldn't trust, i have a great mind to phase my hand through his chest and rip out his heart!" Dominaire roared threateningly.
Buio saw an opportunity here... and he immediately took it. "You can definitely try but you better be prepared to die!" Several mana signatures flared as Dominaire attempted to attack him.
Before the ornery master could even move the others stopped him in his tracks. Buio used the opportunity to place shadow clones in the shadows of every single one of them.
"Easy volcano head," Fukutsuno said in a threatening tone. "That's my newest recruit. Besides, if you put his hidden identity aside he hasn't done anything to warrant our distrust. You on the other hand, are making yourself look very suspect!"
Tamashi, Kaminari and Fukutsuno were hovering in the air between him and the enraged guild master. Osoi hadn't moved but Buio felt when her mana surged so she had probably used her deceleration to dampen Dominaire's speed.
Regardless of the method, Buio's goal had been achieved. His shadow clones could gather information while observing his superiors. Plus if any of them were to be confronted by a member of Bane he could shadow spawn to their location via the clones and aid them in battle.
Hive and her subbordinates might be devious and downright formidable but so was he. The enigmatic tyrant hadn't had a chance to experience how powerful he was but if or when they did cross paths again, she would surely find out.