At Seishin's command another humanoid being swiftly exited the orifice of the teleportation device. In the next moment, it immediately morphed into a gigantic octopus and breathed out a massive cloud of inky blackness. This ink was an illusion however, what it had really released was an overly generous amount of Seishin's soul fragments. Seeing as the being which had now entered the fray was Irene's Permaclone, which was also one of Hive's vessels. The entire being was one extremely reinforced soul fragment, which also had the ability to create illusions like it's original owner.
Now that being with all it's insidious capabilities and capacity to invoke utter chaos was now amplified by Seishin's large mana reserves along with her own immeasurable capacity for chaos. All of Seishin's vessel were now boosting themselves. It was time to murder one of Purple Coat's party members. No matter what it takes.
All of Purple Coat's soul fragment like beings paused momentarily, as if they were eager to figure out exactly what had just taken place. "How do you like me now Purple coat?" Seishin asked mockingly.
"I like you just fine Seishin, meaning i don't like you at all?" Purple Coat replied shortly with not even the slightest bit of concern apparent in his voice.
'He's totally unfazed'. Seishin thought to herself. 'Maybe i should have brought some of the hostages.' She thought bitterly.
Not even a moment later she found out exactly why the young man was so nonchalant.
As there was a nauseating pulsation coming from all directions in the vicinity of their battle. It was to such a degree that she couldn't tell where it had originated from. All she knew was the massive release of mana had not come from any of her vessels or allies.
For a split second the entire region seemed to abruptly switch from night to day, then revert back to normal as if nothing had ever happened.
When Seishin was finally aware of her surroundings again all of her vessels and allies were either knocked out cold or seemed to be unable to move regardless. All of them were now trapped in translucent containers with no openings.
These containers were filled with swirling darkness, which not even the radiant blinding sunlight seemed to be capable of penetrating. The only being who wasn't trapped aside from Purple Coat and his associates, was Shinae's permaclone.
Seishin was utterly stunned by this fact. All of them were captured, just like that. Not even Vergamont, who was the fastest of them had escaped. 'We were defeated in an instant, without even realizing by what means it had happened... but how?' She thought frantically. 'Time manipulation? An illusion?' Neither of those would fall under the concept of darkness and shadows, at least not as far as Seishin knew.
Then she recalled something having to do with black holes and something time related regarding the event horizon. She could not have anticipated this turn of events, that's if that was even the case. If Purple coat or any of his soul fragment like beings were really capable of time manipulation or illusions things would have just become unquestionably more difficult. As Seishin thought this Purple Coat and two of the members of his party arrived before Shinae's permaclone, walking up to her casually then stopped.
"Let me guess, that black mist that you just attempted to release wasn't really mist was it?" The young man asked, however before Seishin could even attempt to offer a reply he continued. "That was most likely just an illusion to throw us off, then verify if you can overpower us with the sheer number of soul fragments. Was it not?" Purple coat finished.
Seishin didn't offer him a response. "Fine, have it your way then." Purple Coat said. Before She could even attempt to move she was swiftly encased in an identical containment to the one the rest of her cohort was trapped in. As she began to lose awareness of the passage of time, she thought. 'Luckily i had been cautious and decided to keep all the original bodies out of this. Well, except for Vergamont and the diamond manipulator girl.'
Back at the Elite Force headquarters, Tamashi was pacing back and forth. This morning he had received a report informing him that the fifth body had turned up at the edge of the ocean. Seishin via the body of his wife, had warned him that if he didn't give her the location of the hidden 6th and 7th tier segment entries to the demon dimension this would continue.
He was bordering on the edge of going into a fit of rage and killing Seishin. Only he couldn't, since his wife was indeed still alive inside her body, even if she was in a comatose state. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. Besides his wife's body wasn't Hive's only vessel, so even if he killed her while sacrificing Ceres in the process, it would all be for naught because he would simply lose his wife while the mad tyrant lived on.
The issue was that as long as Tamashi continued to deny Hive's requests, the death toll would continue to rise. The situation was truly disastrous and it was not as if they hadn't tried anything to clamp down on it.
Tamashi had sent mages with the ability to scour the oceans depths far and wide in hopes of discovering if Bane's secret base was hidden somewhere down there. However they had found nothing, nothing at all. If only they had Seishin's true body in custody instead he would torture every drop of information out of her.
Wishing wouldn't help here but all he could do was hope that they would find a way to rectify the situation soon. Otherwise Tamashi would end up with the blood of many on his hands, purely because of his decisions. Even though those decisions were made in the best interests of the entire population.
Just then Tamashi sensed a massive mana surge, it was emanating from where Hive was currently imprisoned. She shouldn't have access to any mana seeing as she was wearing the mana suppression cuffs... but what if one of her subordinates had come to get her?
Why would they come for one vessel tho? Especially if they were capable of instant teleporting, wouldn't that subordinate be invaluable compared to a single vessel. Hive was the one in charge afterall and she made it clear by her actions or rather her inaction, that this particular soul fragment of hers didn't want or need to escape.
So that mana fluctuation must belong to someone else but who? He hadn't authorized or expected the appearance of anyone who would be capable of spacial manipulation.
Soon, he had his answer. Before Tamashi could arrive infront of Hive's cell, a dark portal opened beneath her feet and what seemed to be a humanoid silhouette slowly rose out of it. In the next few moments a white mask with black polka dots came into view, followed by a young man wearing a fluttering Purple Coat.
Tamashi received this information via his Permaclone, which was stationed before Hive's cell indefinitely. Finally arriving on the spot shortly afterwards he watched as Purple Coat landed lightly on the floor of the cell, then politely and gently moved Ceres's body aside.
Shortly afterwards a translucent structure which seemed to be made of pure mana also rose from within the portal. Tamashi thought that would be the end of it but soon another rectangular similarly translucent container followed it, then another and another. He stood there and watched in awe as several of these translucent containers were transported inside the cell, each and every one of them filled with swirling darkness.
Despite all of this it was the individual being contained in the final container which surprised him... because it was none other than the vice guild master of the Gold Badgers Guild.
By this point the cell was running out of space, at which point Purple Coat simply opened another portal and stepped through, bringing Renai's container with him. "Good afternoon Supreme magi." The young man said casually, while slightly bowing his head in a show of respect towards him. "Good afternoon Purple Coat." Tamashi replied with equal respect. "Where did you apprehend all of these people young man?" Tamashi asked with genuine curiosity.
Purple Coat shook his head immediately then replied. "These beings aren't people, well not humans to be exact. Every single one of them with the exception of that male still in the cell, which is a Demon and my senior guild member in front of you here... are all Permaclones." Hive who was currently occupying his wife's body, who hadn't moved all along aside from when Purple Coat moved her... finally shifted slightly.
Tamashi didn't miss that slight movement however and neither did Purple Coat. As he swiftly turned towards her and asked. "Oh, so you're surprised by the fact that i know these are all Permaclones." The tyrant hesitated for a moment then replied. "Yeah, i thought no one would have been able to tell the difference. Alas i was wrong."
Purple Coat turned to once again facing towards him then replied: "Well Hive, i have plenty experience with these things. I won't be fooled by Permaclones."
Tamashi took special note of that particular piece of information, then asked. "By the way Purple Coat, how many Permaclones do you happen to have in your possession?"
Purple Coat seemed to look him straight in the eye before replying: "I'm afraid that information is classified, Supreme magi." Almost immediately a bone chilling laugh issued from Ceres's body behind them. "Keeping secrets from the superiors are we Purple Coat, Tamashi do you know how he travelled here?"
Tamashi cocked an eyebrow at Hive then asked: "What, didn't he just teleport via your shadow?" The women broke out into a guttural laugh then replied: "No you idiot, all of us... every single one of us present at that meeting was marked with a soul fragment!"
The woman finished laughing, wiping tears from her eyes. Then continued: "This boy trusts none of you, not one. He's been watching every single one of you. Considering how powerful i now know he is, he can kill any of you at any given time he pleases. You're sitting here worrying about me, maybe you should be worried about him."
Tamashi quickly considered her words, then recalled how he had received the letter in an almost inexplicable manner. With no mana fluctuation or anything to indicate the appearance of anyone. Purple Coat was obviously capable of completely masking his mana usage to the point that it was imperceptible.
When he took that into account, the young man was indeed capable of assassinating them. In the next moment his mana flared....