Magical Soul Parade

The gray-robed figure smiled and pushed himself off the glass panel, spreading his arms wide. "Isn't it common courtesy to exchange greetings when meeting someone for the first time? This Vessel's humble name is Nathaniel… And you are?"

Finn didn't bother to humor him at all. Immediately, he reached for the tracking bug within his shadow and mentally destroyed it in an instant.

"What safety measure did he give you?" the gray-robed figure languidly asked, speaking with a soothing voice, as if revealing a secret to a child. "What a wicked thing hope is…" he sighed, "making you harbor thoughts of someone coming to save you…"

"I hate to break it to you, but no one is coming for you. Not even your Preceptor!" he ruthlessly said, expecting some sort of reaction from Finn, but Finn only took the revelation in passing, as if it didn't matter to him.

Finn had heard him loud and clear, and he understood the implications of his words, but he still wasn't giving the man his full attention. Instead, his mind was rapidly shuffling through ideas and possibilities, trying to explain what was happening and how to proceed in the best possible manner.

This fellow had somehow made everyone but him disappear in the blink of an eye. Magic like that was unheard of. How had he done it? Wind magic? Insane speed with body enhancement magic? Or maybe some unheard of, special kind of tamed beast…?

No. None of those made any sense. Besides the fact that Althea wouldn't be whisked away by just anyone so easily, he would also have noticed traces of it at least, no matter how highly ranked the attacker was.

That then made him think this was an attack on his mind. That this wasn't real. That somehow, this fellow in front of him was manipulating his thoughts.

He pushed the questions of how such magic was possible at all to the back of his mind, and firstly focused on trying to break out.

But after repeated attempts — like whispering his Soul Edict, converging his soul essence, and grounding his mind, the idea of his mind being under some kind of manipulation was slowly discarded.

If despite all he'd tried, he was truly in a mind trap, then the fellow in front of him must be extremely powerful. Either that, or he had someone in the shadows who was much more powerful than Finn, enough to influence his mind without him being able to tell even in the slightest…

But Finn thought either was unlikely. Needless to say, while he felt threatened by the fellow in front of him, it wasn't to the point where he felt despair, unlike what he had felt when in the presence of truly powerful people.

And for the 'hidden manipulator' idea, if there was such a person, then why hide when the gap in strength was that much? Instead of doing this, they could've simply killed him and he'd not have had the slightest idea why he died.

Or if their goal wasn't to kill him, they could've done whatever with him, and he wouldn't know. Why reveal themselves like this? Unless…

Finn stepped into the room confidently as the gray-robed man was saying something about etiquette and manners.

His abrupt move cut the man's words short, making him stare at Finn with his ever-present playful smile.

"You're not gonna kill me." Finn said with certainty as he stopped in the center of the room, glancing at the sun that had almost disappeared below the horizon through the panoramic glass panels.

"You separated me and Althea for a reason," Finn said, holding up a finger. "Which means you want us separately for something. I'm guessing that's information. Information about what we saw?" Finn tilted his head and stared at the man's uncanny smiling face that gave nothing away.

"No…" Finn's voice lowered to a whisper. "You already know what we know."

Those words finally drew a response from the man, as his eyes twitched very slightly and his smile faltered.

"I'm right, aren't I? This kind of magic?" he gestured at the surroundings. "I don't know exactly what it is, but it is non-standard. It gives me traces of the same familiar feeling… as that place."

The smile on the man's face finally dropped, and he let out a soft sigh. "Truly amazing deduction." He wiped a mock tear from his eye. "And it seems you have no inhibitions speaking about what you experienced, even if vaguely. Which means you definitely must have bypassed the Oath worm's effect somehow."

Finn narrowed his eyes immediately at the man's words, but very quickly schooled his expression right afterwards.

"Oh? You're shocked? I thought you had me read entirely like a book, Mr.Deduction," the man chuckled. "The Ossuary is too predictable to those who already know their practices. That's what happens when an organization is run by old people who refuse to embrace change!"

"Ah! Forgive me. I digressed. Where was I?"

Finn only stared at the man, watching as he rambled and jumped from one idea to the next, like he was manic, almost making no sense.

Suddenly, as the man spoke, his voice began to distort, becoming gritty and dissonant, just as his eyes took on a green glow.

Finn frowned immediately. Besides those changes, nothing else was physically different about the man. But compared to before, his presence now sent the danger signals in Finn's mind flaring, almost as if the man before him had become another person entirely.

An embodiment manifestation of an Arcanist soul mass? Finn braced himself for a fight. No. This level of possession is basically a total corrosion. Is this what he meant by being a vessel?

"Come on. Don't tell me you think you can take me on like that? Bring out everything you've got. I'll allow it," the man — or whoever it was in control of his body, spoke haughtily.

Finn had wanted to gauge the man's strength against his Crimson Fist Baboon and simply leave Syf as his trump card if things proved more difficult than he expected. But the pressure radiating from the man forced him to briefly reassess.

No. I'll attack first, then call out Syf in the heat of our clash rather than giving him the opportunity to prepare himself. Finn concluded and proceeded to take the first step forward. And with it, a loud thump on his chest followed.

Then another. And another. And another. Like the sound of war drums announcing the start of a battle.

With each thump, Finn's fierce aura swelled. He surrendered himself fully into the embodiment of the Crimson Fist Baboon. His body hunched with each step. The look in his eyes changed to one of uncanny focus — the kind a predator had when they locked onto a target.

He reeked challenge and testosterone to the maximum, asserting dominance over the entire floor with a bestial roar like his territory was challenged.

The gray-robed man cackled madly at Finn's display, dragging his nails down on his own face in ecstasy, drawing lines of blood in the process.

"This is it! This is what we Ossuarists truly are! Screw order! Screw rationality! Embrace the madness entirely! Let us freely revel in chaos together!!"

With a roar of madness of his own, he dashed at Finn with blinding speed, swiping his arm down to meet Finn's charging fist without any shred of technique or form!