"She didn't look very alive to me," Sekhmet quipped as Cale returned to Talpa's inner sanctum. Clearly irritated to be used as a mere sapper, both he and Anubis were happy to pick at Cale's successful achievement in any way possible.
"Gave you some trouble, did she? Understandable considering how she made a fool of you on Mt. Daisetsu." Now it was Anubis' turn to needle Cale's pride, though as Cale remarked on Anubis' similar shortcomings at the Fuji caldera, the scene quickly devolved.
"Had it been a moment earlier, Master Talpa would have you strung up for crushing her to death!"
"How could the rubble do any harm to one already impaled by your chains? Give thanks to your terrible aim having spared you from Master Talpa's lash!"
"I suppose I should be grateful to the both of you for your incompetence! Had she not already been bleeding out a trail, I might not have reached her before those obnoxious brats."
As Anubis, Sekhmet, and Cale each lambasted the other, it was finally Dais whose unexpected presence shocked them into silence.
"FOOLS, all of you! Here you're boasting as if having single-handedly returned with the five ronin's heads! It was a woman! Weak! Defenseless! And you couldn't even retrieve her without your combined efforts! Now she has you fighting like children!"
Never usually ones to let insult stand, Dais' words had struck something painfully true. Something none of the warlords could quite put a definition upon. The silence said enough for the warlord of illusion.
"I only count myself lucky that Master Talpa allowed us the privilege of choosing our own paths to his necessary ends. I knew bringing the ronin's concubine into our midst would prove disastrous, and I would have nothing to do with her. Not even one day has passed and here you are all salivating over her like dogs in heat."
Now came the indignation. Now came the snort, the sneer, and the tsk. Utter disagreement, complete rebuke, and every other form of denial that Dais was so well acquainted with. Being a master illusionist meant complete awareness of self. And awareness of self is only achieved through awareness of others, and the aspects of humanity they all shared.
He sensed it the moment that woman had arrived with the monk's shakujo, something imperceptible to the waking mind, but overpowering to the spirit. He had defeated the lot, even Hardrock, who's Iron Rock Crusher had torn apart his illusory trap at Amanohashidate sandbar, and yet at the moment of finality, Wildfire's neck under his blades, that woman…
"You mock the truth you refuse to believe. Her presence here may throw the ronin into disarray, but you three are already under her spell. The monk's favor towards her and the boy must not be dismissed. The sooner she dies, the better."
Sekhmet, Cale, and Anubis each braced, as if to physically object to Dais' accusations, but before the arguments could start anew, a cold presence drew their breaths short and dimmed the flickering candles. Each knew the signs of the sorcerer Badamon's arrival, and drew themselves to reluctant attention as his spirit materialized before them.
"My deepest and most humble apologies, my dear warlords. I hope this audience does not interrupt anything…pressing."
Each man regarded the ghostly Badamon with their own brand of contempt. He was untrustworthy, cagey, and far too ubiquitous to be dismissed as just another nether spirit. It seemed to the warlords during their service to Master Talpa, that while Badamon had never flaunted his status or titles, his presence was acknowledged by Emperor Talpa with far more enthusiasm than their own. Perhaps it was due to their shared lack of corporeal presence, or supernatural origins. In any case, each warlord knew to hold their thoughts close in his presence, lest they unwittingly bestow unto the high priest a barb, with which to be pricked in times to come.
"Speak, magician. The female was delivered, what more do your machinations require?"
Badamon set his rodent's gaze on Cale as he spoke, "Ah yes, yes, you did very well to bring her to me in such a damaged state." The tension on Cale's jaw drew a deeper smile to Badamon's expressive oration. "And while my spells are taking hold, an unexpected… novelty… has become apparent."
The ancient spirit happily let their temper's strain as he withheld the purpose for his appearance for just a bit longer, savoring their frustrations. They may hold the imposing might of Talpa's mystical armors, but that made his toying with their patience all the sweeter a game.
"Please, my dear warlords, it would be more informative to see for yourselves. Kindly follow me~"