At last the moment of truth had come. Mana’s worry and excitement was burning hotter with every passing moment, ignited by the gate to the living quarters rumbling open to reveal Damij standing on the other side. This moment was what she was preparing for. She trained long and hard for this moment, learned to recognize and predict patters and form profiles of her opponents, differentiate them into different categories and become efficient at avoiding and countering any attack. Mana wasn’t sure if she was ready but one thing she knew for sure: she was as ready as she could’ve been during this moment.
Damij’s figure appeared through the open gap, the man stood cocky as ever. Despite her certain degree of hatred towards the man, the magician had to acknowledge that he possessed some flare of charisma as the people appeared to eat the man up. His entire stature, his attire, his skin, his well-maintained hair and his perfect teeth grinning all showed off this man’s success. He won every fight in seven minutes but not because his opponents were powerful enough to challenge him. It was because he played with them, not unlike Mana did currently but he did it for all the wrong reasons.
The man jumped off without using the cracked and broken up platform. His long black coat rustled in the wind before landing behind the man, the overly dramatic effort of this gent to look cool only pissed Mana off more. Maybe such dramatics would serve right in the new Sun Disc arena but showing oneself off when people were kidnapped and dragged here to die in an unfair fight was just scummy. The announcer began listing Damij’s titles and endless events he had won in, not a single mention of the bodies he had left behind. Despite the mass murder he had committed he was still the public’s boy, the beloved hero of the audience and Mana felt it. The audience that fell in love with her now wished for her to tragically fall at the final step of the Gauntlet.
“I didn’t expect to see you fighting me so soon again…” Damij smiled with that despicable grin.
Mana did not respond a single word. Pain was forcing her body down on her knee, not now… This was the worst time to collapse. Shaking in pain and fury the magician fell on her knee. She felt the taste of blood in her mouth and despite her best effort let some escape down her lip.
“Well, well, what is this? Respect for the champion? I respect that, I’d like so very much that everyone I faced showed this much respect. After all seeing petrified faces of cowards is so much chaff and gets as boring as cardboard over time…” Damij shrugged. He didn’t appear to be intimidated at the slightest, still playing the superior warrior just because he was a dropout from the Ninja Academy with the gift of chakra augmentation where everyone else fought on the level of a normal human being.
Mana screamed into the air, the public went absolutely silent. Damij lifted his eyebrow sarcastically, he saw her weakness, he knew that he was getting another free win by having his lessers wear his enemy down.
“I hate you. People like you. People with power who think they are above everyone else, people who use other people’s lives as boxes to stand on to appear taller” Mana spoke wiping the blood off her lip. She didn’t have much physical chakra left, her body was breaking down, she wouldn’t last in the sort of combat that she excelled in. This fight couldn’t go like she planned it to go…
Damij smiled and extended his hand taking a combat stance. “Well, since you’ve had the honor of surviving a fight against me, you know the drill, I believe? Seven mi…”
Mana’s body moved before the man finished speaking. Her foot stomped Damij’s foot crushing it entirely, every smallest bone in that complicated system of puny bones. Her palm drove right into Damij’s face breaking his nose and cracking his lips and his eyebrows, her body flashed and disappeared even in the eyes of the champion of the arena before she dove in down thrusting her foot in Damij’s gut and pushing it down, an explosion of erupting pressure started tearing the arena apart and rising smoke covered an area far beyond the Sun Disc arena.
“Three microseconds…” Mana grunted before spitting out blood as her body went over the limit again. She coughed up and fell on her knees again. She knew that Damij wouldn’t rise, she kicked him with all she had, bursting out with all of her physical chakra, as much of it as her body could take and taking Damij down, dictating her own terms instead of letting a despicable snob like the champion do so. “That’s all I’ll spare on you” Mana finished her ironic mockery of Damij’s fighting style.
The public was completely quiet, refusing to believe what had just happened. Every time he walked out in this arena Damij gave his opponents seven minutes and he always delivered, the fight always lasted seven minutes as he took time to play around with his opponents, use the tricks he had learned in the Ninja Academy to dominate everyone. This girl had just beaten the champion in three microseconds, exploding with unseen burst of speed and power out of nowhere. Mana’s body was still glowing red streaks of evaporating ethereal energy.
“You could’ve beaten any of those opponents so easily?” Sheikh’s voice came from the Sheikh’s balcony talking to Mana. The girl raised her hand, it was covered with blood. Her chest hurt too much to talk to Sheikh, truth be told she was completely in his mercy. If the man decided to not follow the terms of the Gauntlet she’d most likely be powerless to help herself just because she tapped into too much of her physical chakra. Maybe she still wasn’t ready to get the gift of chakra back? The moment she learned budojutsu she abused it the first time she had a chance to. Granted, had she stalled and played with Damij she’d have timed out and died against him, going full one hundred was the only way for her to win.
Black blurs made the public jump up and out of their seats. Three figures surrounded Mana with only their backs exposed, signaling that anyone that wished to cause harm to the magician would’ve had to go through them. One of them was a swordsman dressed in greenish raggedy cloak with uncut hair falling on top of his glasses. The second one was a young cheerful girl with a green tracksuit and what remained of her hand crafted armor still protecting the vital spots, the third one was a strong looking short medical ninja who kept on looking back at Mana and trying to determine her condition.
Meiko lifted Mana up and placed her on her own back. “Talk into my ear, I’ll shout those guys’ ears off!” she energetically exclaimed. Mana’s lips faintly moved implying that the magician was weakly speaking.
“That’s right, Sheikh-san, I could’ve beaten every single opponent I faced today within seconds but I spent time fighting them longer because I wished to entertain you. I wanted to show you something and if you truly felt entertained by it and wish to know what I tried to prove, please tell me so” Meiko spoke up yelling out well loud enough to reach the Sheikh’s balcony, the blacksmith certainly had powerful lungs.
Sheikh leaned over the edge interested in Mana’s supposed message and gestured for her to go on. Once again the magician coughed up in pain before finally being able to resume her speech which Meiko had to translate.
“I… Mana fought longer because she wished to entertain you, because she wanted to show you that battle that changed this place so long ago. She asks you if ever during those years you’ve ever seen a battle like the one she showed you in this Gauntlet?” the blacksmith shouted out, the public settled completely quietly despite this interference from three more people they had no idea the identities of.
The Sheikh shook his head up in his balcony.
“Well, I… Mana wished to show you that contestants that know what they are doing and wish to be here, wish to fight because they love martial arts or because it serves their goals, people who are martial artists because they love to fight and challenge themselves, not because they are kidnapped and forced to fight, are able to deliver such fights which you seek. As long as you shall force nomads and farmers to fight each other to the death, instead martial artists fight for the sake of their craft you will never again see a battle like the one you’ve seen today. People afraid of dying will never perform as amazingly and competently as happy people doing things that make them happy in the first place” Meiko finished vocalizing Mana’s words.
The public stood up and started to rage in cheering, truth be told Mana would’ve had words with them as well. People that came into this arena to satisfy their need to see violence, people that cheered on senseless violence and death but she was too weak. There was so much more to say and do but… She was too weak.
“Mana, not to be rude or anything but you’re bleeding over my last tracksuit…” Meiko laughed uncomfortably.
Mana smiled gently, “Sorry, my body is breaking down from inside, I don’t think I need to say anything more today”
“Good, I’d like to have a look at you and see if you can recover naturally from this or if you’ll need intervention. I don’t want you losing physical chakra right after apparently learning to control it again” Kouta said looking at the fighters rushing out from the living quarters and into the gigantic crater that Mana’s Spear Kick hitting Damij had made. Some fighters started kicking their champion around and his unconscious body disappeared into a cloud of fighters, there was enough violence that day, they knew better than to cause too much harm to the man.
“Hey, old man!” Meiko rudely shouted out into Sheikh’s quarters making the Sheikh and his middle aged female companion appear at the balcony once again after disappearing behind the regal curtains. “My friend just fought to prove you something and she told you an inspiring speech, she deserves to know if you at least heard it!”
“Why you…” a loud scream of the female companion came from the balcony as the woman jumped onto the edge and prepared to leap at Meiko but the Sheikh stopped her.
“What you said makes sense, girl. The only reason I shall allow you to leave with your friends is because I am reconsidering my arena policies. You appear to know what you’re talking about and I am tempted to keep you around and force you to fight some more but… That was what caused my downfall all those years ago, clinging to the past moments and forcing the people around me to recapture them again. No more… Sun Disc will become a sanctuary for martial arts like it was always supposed to be” Sheikh’s reply came while the woman stepped down from the rail and fixed her clothes, still appearing quite annoyed with the disrespect shown by these headband wearing ninja.
Bult and the old man came up from behind and gently tapped Mana’s shoulder, Meiko turned around letting Mana face the two, the magician saw Myrwa walking around somewhere in the crowd, trying to gently make his way to the next person to beat the Ascension Gauntlet.
“Holy shit, kid, you actually did it…” Bult laughed out almost slapping Mana’s back in his congratulations but just barely stopping himself.
“I just hope that learning to control physical chakra will help you return the control of spiritual chakra as well, at least that it won’t be repeating the same mistake that took your power away” the old man nodded, he had a strange expression to show his joy. Then again, maybe he wasn’t that overjoyed by the promised changes, after all, the old man didn’t fight too much anyways and he never saw the arena too often so it won’t look much different to him. Just much less bloodied covered up bodies after events will be carried.
“So will you two leave this place?” Mana’s weak voice reached the ears of the two, initially they weren’t able to make out just what the girl was saying due to the great celebration from the public having just seen a successful Ascension Gauntlet and a promise for positive changes during an evening where countless people were supposed to die needlessly.
“Nah, the two of us are martial artists. I will be looking forward to those changes, not having death looming over my head will be a positive thing for a change” Bult much softer stroke Mana’s shoulder trying to not hurt the girl any more.
“Heh, maybe I’ll open up a gym in this joint, “The Gym of that Guy that Trained Both Goddesses of Martial Arts!”” the old man chuckled into his fist.
Mana nodded but then her face blushed a little, “I’m no “Goddess of Martial Arts”, technically I still cheated. Not only did I use a style that trumps all other fighting styles but I also used budojutsu”
“Yeah but “Gym of that Guy that Trained the Goddess of Martial Arts and That Girl that Cheated” won’t attract as many clients…You’re terrible at doing business” the old man walked away after telling Mana his farewells letting Myrwa come closer.
“Thank you, young woman, thanks to you I may be able to realize my dream of becoming a healer, someone who makes a fortune and something of his life helping people” Myrwa scratched the back of his head, thanking people clearly wasn’t something he did often.
“Whaaa, you’re so weird looking!” Meiko screamed out in surprise but then laughed out rubbing her tummy, “Sorry, I have no control over things I say…” she added.
Mana nodded, she felt too weak to hear everyone’s thanks. Maybe now these nomads will find a place to stay in Agbarah instead of being let go in the desert, maybe this could be the way in which Mana would make up for sending Fennec into a settlement raiding frenzy and leaving these people homeless. At the very least it’d be a start.
“You can treat your friend inside Agbarmahal, after all, as a champion of the Gauntlet she is welcome inside, I remember her wanting to send a message to someone but I’ll just assume that those conditions changed and she no longer needs that… If you do, just go and do it. Champions are as welcome there as I am” the Sheikh waved before yawning and disappearing behind the curtains.
“Right, then that is where we’ll go, then in the morning we’ll get the Hell out of this place and this Country, I am getting sick of this stupid sand everywhere!” Shimo grinned nodding to himself and leading the way towards the exit from the arena. Mana looked back at the large group of settlers, fighters and anyone who fought in the Sun Disc arena waving at her, some people were even bowing. Softly and slowly she lifted her hand and waved them farewell. She could barely do that much.
The time spent in Sun Disc was truly something. It began like a nightmare scenario that appeared to suck all hope out, a depressing imprisonment at a place where people came to die for the amusement of other people, to please a misguided nobleman who wished nothing more but to relive the most amazing experience in his life again. Still, at some point during her quest to change that place Mana had grown some fond feelings towards it and people inside it. Even people that started as her enemies, people that tried to kill her. Now most of all, Mana realized just what the words “martial arts” meant. They weren’t just a meaningless expression of violence, it wasn’t about hurting the weak and everything she hated. It was about people doing what they loved, making new bonds and growing both as fighters and as people, gaining new experiences in the process. Now, most of all times, Mana felt really good about her decision to change this place instead of tearing it all down.
Kouta didn’t take long to examine Mana’s body once they were accommodated in a large and sophisticated gold and diamond encrusted room. He scanned Mana through with his Diagnosis Technique a couple of times before deciding that her body should naturally recover in a couple of days if she didn’t strain it like she did today. Meiko probably would’ve had a lot to say about the Gauntlet she watched the whole time but she was too excited about the room they were placed in.
“Wow, maybe we should stay here and fight for stuff like this, if Mana got this for just that one Gauntlet imagine how much of this palace we could win over years!” Meiko kept obsessing over the exquisite craftsmanship and the sophistication of the place.
“Heh, don’t make Mana-chan look bad, the first passer-by we described her to immediately directed us to the arena so she made an impression. We sure as Hell didn’t expect to see what we saw though, that was amazing, Mana-chan!” Kouta congratulated Mana on her victory in the Gauntlet as well.
“It was impressive for a non-ninja but… Mana… I hope you know what it means” Shimo looked strictly at the magician, the girl sadly nodded.
“This isn’t a substitute for my abilities, sure, I could just go back to the village and use budojutsu as my only mean of self-defense but that is not what I want. Worrying over breaking my body while playing ninja isn’t what I want, nothing changed in the end. Nothing except the Agbarah Sheikhate” Mana agreed to Shimo’s warning. Also she knew the secret meaning of his question “ she couldn’t fight like that the whole time. Using just physical aspect of her chakra was primitive and dangerous and terribly unstable, it was also weaker than using both sides of one’s essence. She was taking higher risks with lower rewards every time she fought that way, but still, it was worth spending so much time just to learn this unique way of fighting as well as perfecting her style.
“I know you guys are getting sick of Wind Country and we’re not too far from leaving it but… I’ll miss this place a little” Mana smiled nostalgically looking at the Sheikhate through the large open window at the side of the room.
Meiko rubbed a silky majestically soft pillow all in her face. “I miss this place already!” she shouted out before beginning to stuff down whatever food they were served.
Despite growing rather fond of the place, Mana has grown infinitely fonder still of her friends and their odd habits…
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