Attack on Seishin
Before finally heading off to confront Vergamont Buio decided to make a very discrete, swift visit to Tamashi. Since Ceres, his wife, had already been discovered to be one of Hive's vessels. Xaymaca's leader now knew a bit of what was going on, however that knowledge was insufficient. So Buio had Tanoshi write a letter, which he then delivered to Tamashi via the shadow clone by opening a very small portal, then swiftly handed the letter to the shadow clone who dropped it at the Supreme Magi's feet.
Then Buio opened another portal via the shadow clone which was still attached to Vergamont's shadow.
Elsewhere on a rock sat a man who was seemingly completely secluded from everything and everyone except for a teleportation device. The teleportation device in question had never been there before, having only appeared very recently. Now it stood forlorn and out of place in this backwoods region which didn't look like a place which anyone even frequented on a regular basis.
As the body of Vergamont's vessel was growing restless there was a sudden surge of mana in his vicinity, literally right below him. Knowing that this seemingly sudden occurrence meant imminent danger, he swiftly activated his innate ability instantly teleporting himself well above the ground.
Not a moment sooner than he had done so a humanoid figure began to emerge from his shadow, right where he had just been sitting only a moment earlier. The being in question had similar features to the inky black one which they had encountered earlier in the tier two segment of the demon dimension. However, this one was slightly different in certain ways and wore an eerie purple coat.
Just as Seishin had predicted, it didn't take long for Purple Coat to confront Vergamont. However, unlike in the previous encounter, this time he had opted to come in person. Luckily she had prepared for that exact probability or worse to happen. Despite the fact that the young mage had arrived alone she knew better than to be optimistic because of that. Seeing as he and his equally infuriating soul fragment like beings could teleport via the same means.
As Vergamont floated several feet above where Purple Coat now stood on the ground, Seishin instructed her subborninates to prepare to attack. Seconds later the teleportation device suddenly came to life, brimming with mana as several figures began to exit it's semicircular entrance. Purple Coat who seemed to be preparing to propel himself towards Vergamont earlier immediately changed his stance. Turning his head towards the over half a dozen individuals who had just arrived, he tilted his head sidewise then shrugged.
Immediately after he made that gesture a suffocating aura permeated the entire area, then a human sized portal opened beside him. Soon three other figures exited the lightless abyss.
Then the portal closed. Unlike what Dominaire had described according to the events which took place during the tournament, when the portal closed this time around the suffocating aura did not disappear along with it. Even tho Seishin believed that the preparations currently in place would be sufficient, once the portal closed and she could still feel the suffocating aura she was no longer sure.
Neither Purple Coat nor any of his associates had made a move yet, so even tho Seishin remained on high alert, she quickly started scanning the individuals who had arrived. The inky black being who had marked Vergamont before was present again... Shadow Spawn Float had called him and so was the unnamed female who had almost brought Chiru to deaths door.
The third being was new tho, as Seishin didn't recognize him. In fact she had never seen him throughout all her time in Xaymaca, Seishin could only sigh inwardly. 'Yet another unknown variable, i'm getting tired of this.' she thought suddenly feeling exhausted.
Seishin had a feeling that this altercation wasn't going to end well for them. Purple Coat's unshaken confidence despite the numbers advantage being in his enemies favor did not bode well for the near future. Maybe it was time she kicked things up a knotch and revealed her hand, if even just a little bit.
Besides, Seishin was of the belief that Purple Coat and his associates would not be quelled so easily.
Seishin was filled with uncertainties but there was one thing she was certain of. She needed to kill one of them... here and now. Buio and everything associated with him made it difficult for her to properly calculate the odds of her achieving her goals. In their previous encounter Purple Coat wasn't present but two more sources of unknown variables were revealed to her. Now during their present altercation one more wrench was being thrown into the gears of her plan. It was absolutely infuriating. She simply had to get rid of at least one of them.
Arriving before him via the body of Shinae's Permaclone she looked directly at Purple Coat and addressed him: "Purple Coat i understand the necessity to at least attempt to bridge the gap in numbers but where are you getting these unknown allies from?" She asked with genuine curiosity. "Are you pulling them out of your ass or something?"
The young mage turned towards her then initiated a motion which seemed like he was looking at her with a long gaze. 'How could he possibly gaze if he's blind?' she thought to herself. A moment later he replied: "Most definitely not, i do have my ways tho... what's the matter? Are you jealous that you don't have the capacity to have beings which look similar to you?" He responded mockingly.
Seishin didn't miss one particular detail in his statement. Purple Coat had referred to his associates as 'beings'... not siblings and not Permaclones but beings. 'So it's as i suspected, they are most likely soul fragments... but how is he making them?' she wondered. "Of course not, if i make anything with the resemblance of my original body that will only give away my identity to my enemies." She replied sincerely. "I just find it infuriating for you to be able to rival my power with such ease, to be honest i don't like it one bit... so here's what's gonna happen. I'm going to kill one of you lot." She said every drop of humour disappearing from her voice. Purple Coat tilted his head slightly then replied: "I see, is that so?"
Before Seishin knew what was happening something gripped her vessel by the ankle and she was sent flying through the air. Her soul fragment within Renai's body quickly glanced at the spot where Shinae's Permaclone had been standing only mere moments earlier. To Seishin's bewilderment there was a being which resembled Purple Coat even down to the detail of his coat, which was rippling in the wind but this being was entirely, unmistakably... composed of shadows.
Before Shinae's Permaclone had been abruptly flung into the air Seishin had sensed a very slight mana fluctuation, she had also sensed that feeling which the young mage's soul fragments gave off. 'Did he, did he just spawn a soul fragment composed of shadows right below my feet?' She thought incredulously. 'I thought he had to create them from himself then dispense them in a similar way to how i use mine... shit!' She cursed inwardly.
To her utter disdain in the seconds that followed Seishin sensed several more soul fragments manifest into existence. Just like that their advantage in numbers was no more. By the time she righted herself in her Permaclone vessel every single individual was engaged in battle. Just then she sensed something racing towards her at a terrifying speed from below Shinae's Permaclone. She immediately glanced down just in time to witness Purple Coat's female accomplice flying towards her, there was a bone white battle axe heading towards her midsection threatening to cleave her in half.
Elsewhere, Vergamont was locked in comebat with Shadow Spawn... and it was not going well. No matter how much the demon tried to evade him by teleporting or piercing him with miniature wormholes none of it was bearing fruit. The miniature wormholes would reach the inky black beings body, only to pass through him harmlessly a moment later. Teleporting himself was rendered useless, as the shadowy being would simply reappear from shadows which spawned out of nowhere at any given point on the demons body.
Chiru didn't seem to be faring any better. She was locked in fierce combat with Purple Coat himself, who was fully cloaked from head to toe in absolute darkness. Chiru was constantly attempting to evade him while bombarding him with attacks. This was of no use tho, as Chiru's attacks would rip apart the ground sending an innumerable amount of cube shaped chunks of the ground flying into the air, however when they reached the young mans body he simply kept charging at her. Everywhere in his surroundings was left with a human shaped area completely devoid of any evidence of the effects of the young woman's dissassembling ability.
Seishin was left utterly speechless by everything she was witnessing via the multiple soul fragments she had spread out among her subbordinates. Purple Coat was an imminent threat to every single member of her party.
As her perception was split between several different incidents taking place she observed that Renai, the vice guild master of the Gold Badgers, was being relentlessly attacked by five of the shadowy soul fragments. None of her diamond projectiles were of any use against the shadow beings.
Every attack would simply pass through them, as they were able to swiftly alternate between being intangible and solid seemlessly. Seishin's soul fragment in that body was also trying to tag them with her mana projectiles, as well as abruptly expelling mana from her vessel's body simultaneously timed with Renai's diamond based attacks.
Even this strategy was not baring fruit. As the soul fragments would rarely get tagged by her attempts. When they did get tagged by it the effects would only last long enough to give her vessel a moment of temporary respite. After which she would come under renewed seemingly frenzied attacks which were well coordinated, as the shadow beings didn't get affected in the way other beings did.
Instead of the soul fragments being expelled from the shadowy beings, the shadows simply became temporarily disoriented seeming to fade somewhat, then they would swiftly recover their former dark shades and begin attacking with renewed ferocity. 'This... this is too damned much.' All of Seishin's soul fragments complained internally.
It was a lucky thing that she always had several back up plans, in fact even her back up plans had back up plans. Seishin wouldn't have it any other way. It was time to incorporate her beast bond into this fight. That and her trusty illusionist's Permaclone.