“I don’t need a weapon, Andie.” Cedric smirked. “I have something far better: A plan. But first, I need to test a few things.” Cedric’s new drone flew a quick lap around him, then attached itself to his back. “Reach through the darkness, my Empathy.” Icy purple flames wrapped around Cedric as he spoke, silently vanishing as soon as they’d covered him completely - and taking Cedric with them.
“Aaand he’s gone. Fucked off somewhere or turned invisible.” Andie sighed and turned toward Dyllan. “Would it be hypocritical of me to complain about him leaving before he told us what his plan was?”
“Extremely.” Cedric suddenly appeared behind Andie in a plume of the same flames he’d disappeared in - causing her to jolt with surprise. “Moving on - I have successfully confirmed I am still limited to creating a single illusion at a time. However…”
A second Cedric appeared in another plume of icy purple fire. “…it seems ‘a single illusion’ will be defined far more loosely from this point on. The precise rules can be figured out later.” The second Cedric’s Trait detached from his back, flew a few feet to the left, and summoned a third Cedric in a plume of - surprise, surprise - icy purple fire.
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“The illusions also seem to be less limited than before.” The third Cedric tapped the side of his leg as he talked, his eyes growing more unfocused by the second. He was quite clearly lost in thought, and rapidly losing track of his surroundings. “Previously, audio and visual simulations were the only guarantees - with tactile interaction only possible for me and those that believed them to be real.” He smiled. “Now - although they are quite fragile and easily broken - they are capable of just about anything, as long as the opponent entertains the possibility that they could be real. In other words, I can simulate just about anything I could plausibly achieve in reality - in addition to basic audio and visual manipulation, such as invisibility!”
“Okay, complicated, but I think I mostly understood all that. Now about this plan that you - and he’s gone again.” Andie turned back toward Dyllan, clearly more than a little frustrated. “Is it just as irritating when I do this, or is Cedric just gifted?”