The mist rapidly spread from it's point of origin targeting Purple Coat but he just stood there as it caught up to him and he was fully submerged in it. Tamashi couldn't help but feel anxiety as he watched the promising mage who he was totally intrigued by, get swallowed up until all that remained was his silhouette. He was certain that the young man could have dissipated the mist before it even reached him, so he was extremely surprised when his expectation was subverted. As he was contemplating the reason for the unexpected occurrence the master of the Gold Badgers guild sighed beside him.
"I thought he was going to get further than that, I'm a bit disappointed now. I already had eyes on him to join my guild, I'd still take him honestly but if he's dropping out this early I'll just have to see his abilities some other time. If that girl did indeed use mamba toxin in that attack there's no way he's getting out unscathed."
Tamashi was thinking the same thing but he was still optimistic, so he turned his attention back to the ongoing scuffle bursting with anticipation of what would happen next. To his surprise the silhouette wasn't swaying or crouching within the mist. 'Hmm... how interesting, now why is that? Could Purple Coat have some resistance to poisons or something? That would surely explain his lack of attempting to thwart that particular attack.'
Fade had escaped the attack radius of what was most likely venom filled mist and was observing from a few feet away. Obviously he was interested in the conclusion of this confrontation as well despite his reluctance to rejoin for obvious reasons. Suddenly there was a huge surge of mana and the mist surrounding Purple Coat was completely obliterated in an instant. As the mist cleared up there was a chorus of audible gasps in the arena from either side of him.
Tamashi focused his line of sight directly at the mysterious mage's clothing, where his cloak used to be there was nothing. As he observed the young man intensely, he could clearly see something like individual strands of purple thread quickly reforming into the cloak which had given the youngster his name. 'Ah quite fascinating, he thought. That cloak of his must be some type of permaclone. That would be one hell of a genius tactic, to have a weapon disguised as an unassuming article of clothing. Interesting indeed, since it's so close to him that it would mask it's mana fluctuation as his own, I like it.'
As a smile was creeping onto his face there was a loud outburst beside him. "Ah, i knew it, i want that young man to join my guild i call dibs on him right now. None of you other masters dare make a move on him, I'll turn you into roast pork." It was Markus Fukutsuno, after declearing his intentions he burst out into a maniacal fit of laughter.
Tamashi allowed himself a chuckle at the Gold Badgers Guild Master's enthusiastic display and averted his gaze to Dominaire's son. 'What will you do now fade?' He wondered to himself. 'Will you observe more or rush in again?' The smarter move would be to get a better reading on your opponents abilities if given the chance, then come up with a strategy and try again.
Fade seemed to have a similar train of thought to that of his own because as he watched Dominaire's son vanished from sight. 'Wise thinking young man, wise thinking.' To his surprise Fade was one of few who had that idea because shortly afterwards every other contestant besides his daughter, Fade and Float, who was Purple Coat's apprentice and occasional hunting partner, joined the attack.
Mist who had been the second person to attack was the first to arrive, she had initiated her attack from further away and was just now personally getting within range. She was swiftly accompanied by Stream, Boom and Splinter. 'Now this will be interesting to watch.' As Tamashi thought this he heard someone shuffle beside him.
It was Markus again. "They better lay off my future guild member or I'm gonna poke em full of lightning rods, he won't be of much use to me if they cripple him now will he?" He mumbled under his breath.
Turning his head slightly, Tamashi replied: "i share your sentiments Fukutsuno, i want to see what else he's got up his sleeve. He's clearly a superb tactician, i'm also already mentally reserving a space for him in the Elite Force." Markus looked at him and smiled.
"Lets see what he does now, he seemed pretty confident before the scuffle even began. Remember he was sitting on the floor." Tamashi couldn't help but laugh. "Well, Marcus you're head is gonna explode when you hear this." Markus raised an eyebrow his curiosity obviously piqued. "Hear what sir?" Tamashi smirked and pointed two fingers towards his eyes. "The notorious Purple Coat, is blind!" Markus's mouth opened wide and every guild master turned to face Tamashi, then all of them replied in unison. "What?"
Tamashi chuckled, then turned his head facing towards the brewing battle.
When Fade had first attacked Purple Coat Tamashi had briefly forgotten that particular detail, the devoted strictly demon hunting mage was indeed blind. So he was using mana sensing and other means of perceiving his surroundings to fight. Every single mana fluctuation, sound, vibration and even the movement of the air around might be getting used to his advantage. There was most likely no sneak attacking that young man, even with the disadvantage in numbers being 4-1. Seeing as Float, who is his apprentice wasn't even attempting to come to her masters aid, she was either confident in his chances of taking on his opponents alone or she intended to pull off a surprise attack.
Tamashi had a feeling it was the former. Stream was unsheathing her diamond sword preparing to attack. Genie had already created two mist clones, one in the shape of a black mamba and one a clone of herself holding a scythe like that of the mythical being the soul reaper. "How sinister."
Boom had created a wide dome like barrier around all five of them, it was glowing yellow and pulsating like a time bomb. Obviously it was intended to trap them all until either Purple Coat himself was defeated or maybe everyone but Boom himself. Splinter had several sharply shaved tree trunk sized projectiles pointing towards Purple Coat while two clones of himself were racing towards the famous mage.
Without needing to turn his head in their direction Purple Coat was preparing to retaliate, there wasn't even the slightest motion apparent from his body. However Tamashi could sense the mana fluctuating, in the radius surrounding Splinters clones there was an intense ripple and a loud crackling noise ensued immediately afterwards. Before the clones could clear the rest of the distance to reach him they imploded sending splinters flying in every direction. Just then there was a rapid build up of pulsating mana, likely an explosion being prepared by Boom right next to Purple Coats head.
However by the time the explosion could go off he seemingly vanished from the spot, Tamashi immediately averted his gaze to where Boom was standing just in time to witness a Kick flying towards his head. Purple coats foot connected with his jaw landing a round house kick which slammed Booms head into the arena floor. Tamashi inhaled as if gasping for breath, this was fascinating to him. Such speed from someone not manipulating velocity. He turned his head towards Dominaire to see what the man of speeds reaction would be.
The guild master was inching towards the edge of his seat, his chin nestled between his thumbs and his clasped hands.
Tamashi quickly turned back to continue watching the fight. Everyone was fully tuned in to that particular fight. Even the other three contestants were not moving to attack each other, they were all facing towards this conflict, watching.
Everyone had heard Boom's neck snap, which meant that his barrier should have been deactivated even without any mana siphoning. However to their surprise it remained active, something was off. As they watched Boom's head snapped about his neck bones setting back into place. He was slowly rising up from the ground, he had healed himself without assistance and wisps of smoke were rising from where his neck had been broken.
With healing of that level and speed he didn't need too much defense, unless he was hit with an especially lethal attack it wouldn't be easy to put or keep him down for that matter.
Sadly within the next several seconds Tamashi wished Boom had stayed down. Purple Coat waited until he got back up then started pummelling him relentlessly and with such force that each impact sounded like the cracking of thunder. Within those moments the other magi who were preparing to attack halted, completely flabbergasted by the ferocity with which Purple Coat was attacking Boom.
Within thirty seconds the young man slumped under the relentless unslaught and the barrier fell as Purple Coat released him letting the mage drop to the ground.
Tamashi didn't even get to count how many punches Boom had received, the sheer speed with which the attacks had been landing were completely unexpected. He was pretty sure no one was expecting that, there was only one person who had probably followed all of those attacks. Only he could have followed all of that without prior anticipation of what was to come. Tamashi turned towards him and asked: "Dominaire... how many punches did Purple Coat just land on Boom in that period of time?" Dominaire continued looking forward as he replied: "One hundred and twenty nine sir, one hundred and twenty nine punches within thirty seconds."