Sage brought forth many layers of defenses while the eight Blacksilver Pawns advanced on the man in the gas mask. A layer of bluish mercury slid over his skin and formed into scale shaped plates before it solidified again into a less opaque form, like he was armored by a form of metallic crystal. Between and beneath the scales a layer of a black tar like substance sheathed his body. Using the same layering defense as his Blacksilver minions, Sage kept a few cards back and let the Pawns battle for him. While he was armoring up, the group of eight were spreading out and approaching the enemy from different directions.

Only, it wasn’t as simple as it sounded. Even while coming from multiple directions the concrete and steel rubble from the ground lifted into the air and shot towards them. It had seemed like the man was surrounded and would have trouble dealing with so many attackers, but instead the attackers were the ones outnumbered and confused. As one Blacksilver Pawn approached, a steel bar launched out of the ground behind it at high speed, stabbing it through the chest. Then a huge piece of stone fell onto it from the side, pinning it to the ground. Another smaller piece of concrete, with a piece of rebar poking from it fired towards its face at high speed and pierced its forehead.

It wasn’t just one Blacksilver Pawn, each of them were suffering similar bombardment. It was like each of them were facing a half-dozen invisible attackers, picking up the debris and hurling it at them at high speed. Of course, none of the attacks were capable of truly destroying the Blacksilver Pawns, but the sheer weight of all that steel and concrete pinned them down and tied up their limbs. The eight of them tore out the metal spears stabbed through their bodies and twisted their limbs in unusual ways to get the leverage needed to push the huge rubble off of themselves. They continued to advance towards the leather clad fellow, but at a snail’s pace.

While the battle in the physical world had slowed to a stall, there was another battle underway inside Sage’s Spiritual Sea. The black smoke churned and roiled, washing up against the walls of the mental fortress like a wave crashing on rocks. Alright, it seems about time to set the bait. Who’s the fisherman now?

The doors to the mental fortress burst apart, as if they couldn’t fight against the onslaught of the dark smoke any longer. They swung inward and smashed against the walls with a loud bang, enough to draw the enemies attention. Sage heard that strange booming and echoing laughter sound. The black smoke didn’t immediately enter the open gates and it was likely the enemy hadn’t been lured into a trap. Then, the black smoke swirled and coalesced into the shape of a skull, chattering its teeth at the opened gate and then it swooped forward. The black smoke followed behind it to either side, like the shoulders of the giant skeleton as it smashed into the gate that looked a bit too small for it. Sage was sure the size of the thing didn’t matter and it was oversized just for the excuse to smash against the gateway and walls as it entered his mental fortress.

Once it was on the inside, the skull of black smoke made itself look more corporeal, like a legless specter it smashed against the walls. This time, it actually had an effect. The stone-like walls shook and tiny cracks formed. Bits of stone chipped away and crumbled from the walls at the force of the impact. The tiny particles of stone faded away into nothingness, the spirit energy they were made of being consumed by the destructive force. The skull smashed into the wall a dozen more times and then there was a loud crash. The sturdy stone wall was forced through. Just like the wall in the real world, this fellow seemed to really enjoy demolition. The skull burst through the hole in the wall and was met with a crossroads. It also suddenly realized that if it had turned to the left or right as it entered the gates it would have turned another corner and then ended up exactly where it was right now. It had spent all that time bashing down a wall only to find that it could have made it to the same spot with just a moment’s travel.

Back in the outside world, Sage smiled to himself. The punk fisherman finally realizes he’s entered a maze. Serves him right for being so destructive.

Of course, with the fisher punk assaulting his mental fortress it became only a matter of time till he made it to the core. While it would take quite some time, it also set a deadline. From the power of the enemy’s mental attacks, he knew that a direct confrontation would end badly for him. Even so, the mental fortress was doing exactly what it was supposed to do. Slowly drain the enemy’s spirit power while also delaying them as long as possible to allow him to defeat the enemy through other methods. Sage wasn’t foolish enough to think he could master every form of combat, it was already difficult enough to cultivate the laws, train his physical body, and try to make the best use of his soul power. That was without even mentioning the time he spent breeding an insect army and developing methods to raise money.

Since quantity wasn’t working, he chose to go with quality. The eight Blacksilver Pawns gave up on their attack and started to retreat. The four others that had surrounded him defensively rushed forward to smash the concrete rubble pinning them down and help untangle the steel bars that were wound around them. As strong as they were, the actual steel bars were little more than sticks to them, but when they were launched with such terrifying speed they punched through their bodies and it became like trying to stomp through a heavily overgrown patch of forest or jungle. Individual branches and vines weren’t much, but it became difficult to make progress through so many of them.

With the help of the other four, the twelve of them soon cleared themselves from their confines. The more of them that grouped up together the easier it became for them to defend against and force their way through the barrage of debris. The only problem was that without any defenders, Sage became the main target once more. With the help of Foresight he spun and whirled, kicking off the concrete walls and tumbling down the street to escape the range of the punk’s attacks. He stayed forever in motion, his speed drastically reduced as he constantly spun around. Twisting and rolling, he kept a lookout in every direction in order to catch sight of the debris before it was sent his way. Even when he saw the attack coming, they were propelled to such velocity that he had to see it a few seconds in advance in order to avoid it. The telekinetic attacks could come from any direction at any time so he felt like he’d suddenly become hyperactive, constantly looking to the sides, the rear and up into the air.

Try as he might, even Foresight was not enough to completely protect him. A car sized piece of concrete would fall towards him. It moved slowly and followed his trajectory, preventing him from easily avoiding it. Then, when it was nearly on top of him he’d roll out of the way. Only, he couldn’t see the trap until it was too late. A steel I-Beam, sheared off to have a point, was hiding behind the giant piece of rubble and it shot out like a spear to impale him after he avoided the concrete piece. It skid across his outer armor scales and then caught in a gap, slowed down by the thick tar and then sunk into his body. The flow of blood was sealed by the amorphous liquid of the Black Enhydros, but he was injured nonetheless. Hundreds of pounds of steel with a sharp point and moving at hundreds of miles an hour would be enough to knock a building down, but his two layers of defense combined with the strength of his physical body turned the attack into a simple stab wound.

The chunk of steel fell out of him, it’s bulk too large to be held up by the few inches that had pierced into him. Sage quickly gave it a kick to knock it away, not wanting to have it launched at him again at point blank range. Of course, with his blood dripping off it, the enemy brought it flying back over to himself and made it hover next to him. The bit of blood dripping from the sharp point hung just beside his head, using it to taunt the fleeing Sage.

Sage wasn’t distressed, instead he smiled. With the man so focused on him, it reduced the frequency of attacks on the Blacksilver Pawns. The ones who had just all grouped up together. Decoy success!