Buio Pichi

If Hive had only been extremely cautious of Purple Coat before, now she was absolutely terrified. Not only were there more of the soul fragment like beings than she could have anticipated but there were over 14 of them at the very least, plus Purple Coat himself.

'Permaclones, he just confirmed that they are Permaclones.' Seishin's dormant soul fragment thought frantically. 'All this time i thought he was capable of creating soul fragments. Fifteen beast bonds, over fourteen Permaclones and two very versatile and powerful innate abilities to top it all off. Curse these damn hybrids, every single one of them. They are so darn infuriating.' She cursed inwardly.

If it wasn't for Shinae's very useful innate ability, she would have never been able to sneak the inconspicuous inanimate object onto Tamashi's person. Seishin didn't know the full scope of Purple Coat's shadow manipulation abilities but she suspected that he might be able to detect all shadows in his vicinity.

As such, even though she could shroud her mana signature, she didn't want to risk losing anymore of her vessels to the young mage.

She needed to divert his attention elsewhere. Well, she needed to distract all of the powerhouses really.

The issue was now that his powers had been revealed, at least on a vague level Seishin did not know how to handle him yet. Even though her soul fragments could share the abilities of any being which she had occupied before, it was not a wise strategy to reveal this fact to her enemies just yet.

That particular detail was best kept as a surprise, especially in cases where she came up against rather powerful individuals like Purple Coat himself among others.

Having a counter to ones enemies while they had no knowledge that you do was a great advantage in warfare. As for those mutiple beast bonds which Purple Coat had mentioned, that particular detail had given her several ideas.

If he was using the beast bond abilities in refined and specific ways and passing them off as innate abilities for his Permaclones as she suspected... then it was possible for her to do the same as well. However she wouldn't have the advantage of creating Permaclones who didn't resemble her like he could. But that issue was easily remedied, all she had to do was use the hostages to gain beast bond abilities, if they didn't have any. Then she would be able to use those abilities among animal, human and other races who happened to become her vessels however she pleased.

The innate abilities of beast bonds were varied and their numbers were vast. Just the thought of the possibilities almost caused her to drool.

'Well well well Purple Coat, it seems you've taught me something very beneficial. Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks?' Seishin thought wistfully.

Now she just had to use Vergamont and Shinae's abilities to sneak a few of her pawns around and get started with the collecting of beast bonds.

'Now where should i start?' She thought filled with excitement. 'Poisons, lethal poisons and toxins. Defense, healing too, even though i have that covered. Bonds with innate abilities which can mimic elemental attributes. Yeah, i'll go in that order.' She thought. Seishin was now satisfied with the new developments, despite the daunting obstacles she now had to overcome.

Elsewhere, Death Web, Ryu and Shredder were travelling through the snow covered region of the 4th tier segment of the demon dimension. They had been scouring the bone numbing expanse for several days now, slaying the inhabitants there while receiving an update or two ever so often detailing the events taking place in the outside world.

At some point it became rather difficult to find opponents. Which was surprising, seeing as this was their dimension afterall. Surely they coulďnt have exhausted their enemies numbers so easily, unless there was some ongoing civil war causing them to wipe themselves out. However that scenario was unlikely or that's what she thought. 'Why would they waste time on infighting instead of finding a loophole which could help them with their eternal predicament? Tahma thought, while flying through the air seated atop her chair constructed from spider silk.

In front of her Ryu and Shredder, the other two members of her party travelled while elevated above ground in somewhat similar fashion. Albeit by different means, seeing as neither of them were bonded to a similar beast bond to her own.

Ryu, who had some kind of dragon beast bond, was flying while standing upright atop the body of a dragon like beast which was as black as a starless night. The beast made Tahma feel uneasy for some unknown reason. Ryu had summoned it through a portal eerily similar to the one which Purple Coat had opened on his body during the Elite Force tournament. Maybe it was that particular detail which made her wary of the creature.

Purple Coat's dark portal had given her a sense of impending doom, as such anything which was able to survive in such a place for prolonged periods of time could not be normal.

What was she even thinking though? That arrogant, infuriating recluse was a completely different human afterall... if he was even human. For all she knew Purple Coat could be a demon spawn. Of course she had no proof he was human but she also had no proof he was a demon spawn. He was simply humanoid, so he could be from any humanoid race aside from dwarves, ranging from elves to humans to demons or even ogres.

As she turned her gaze towards Shredder who floated atop a platform made of pure mana, her thoughts deviated from their previous course as she began to ponder the possible origin of his innate ability and the different ways in which he could probably utilize it.

Unlike Ryu, whose body was coated in dragon scales which gave him an almost ethereal appearance, Shredder didn't seem to have any visible defense conjured around his body. However that could be an illusion. Seeing as Tahma herself was coated with reinforced spider silk, that spider silk was rendered invisible via her innate ability to manipulate light.

Since Shredder had the ability to use invisible slashes or projectiles, maybe he was capable of covering his body with a layer of whatever his invisible projectiles were made of.

Him having invisible projectiles without the need to use light manipulation to render them so made her somewhat jealous. The intricate applications of light manipulation were very useful and versatile, however all of those positives came with one major downside. It was that they tended to burn through mana like a fire eating it's way through a forest.

As Tahma was about to continue on another train of thought, something drew her attention. Both Shredder and Ryu came to an abrupt halt some distance in front of her, then turned their heads slightly in her direction. Then Ryu spoke: "Death Web, prepare for battle, i sense a huge gathering of humanoid beings not too far ahead of us."

Tahma raised her eyebrows behind her mask. 'I don't sense anything within range of my mana detection, how is he able to tell that there is anything ahead? Is he perhaps better than me in terms of mana sensing or is he able to sense his surroundings via some other means?' She thought slightly surprised.

Every moment she spent around these two made her more curious about their origins.

Tahma quickly pushed those distracting thoughts aside and readied herself, then all three of them sped forward. When they were finally within range of their opponents there were no surprise attacks or anything of that nature, this ran contrary to their expectations. Seeing as their approach had likely been expected long before their arrival, which would also account for the large gathering. Obviously the demons intended to overwhelm them with their sheer numbers and various abilities. So why hadn't they attacked yet?

As they arrived within the distance where they could make out the appearances of several of their opponents, one of them stepped forward and looked directly at her. "Oh hey there step daughter, i see you've brought unwelcomed guests to my abode. It just so happens that i have brought the entire home team together. Welcome to the party." The female voice announced casually.

As Tahma began to wonder what the hell her opponent was talking about, she noticed that both Shredder and Ryu were now shaking their heads in an eerily familiar fashion to the way her parents did whenever she did something mischievous or silly when she was younger.

Then they both said in unison: "Death Web, that's Hive. They are all Hive."