Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Where We Come From

...Do as Agbarahns Do

It was an advice given to her by the old man. There was always a limit to how much a human could perceive, part of that limit was how much they were expecting to see. Mana not only stretched those expectations to the max every time but she also cut the brief response time in half by using her opponent's speed against them by giving them less time to counter her response because of how fast they themselves went for her.

"I expected this to be an easy fight, I expected to give you a lesson to how far beyond yours our level is, just like Damij has done but... It appears I shall have to work for it a little." Apheiya's facial rag twisted suggesting that the woman may have been smiling under it. She removed the facial rag and the black shroud that covered her face and tossed them aside letting them land beyond the arena's bounds.

"Your attires are severely hindering your speed," Mana mumbled somewhat coldly, "They not only move in the wind alerting me of your location, even when my eyes cannot clearly perceive you but they also slow you down, it's like wearing a parachute on you".

Apheiya's body flashed black once more, she charged at Mana with long reaching kicks but the magician could've evaded them with her eyes closed. For a moment the girl was hesitant to counter but then she realized that she didn't care if Apheiya fought at her best or if the fight was in any way fair, Mana only cared that she beat this Gauntlet. With a swift pirouette and a backward kick, the magician sent her opponent face down onto the stone, gracefully giving it a couple more leaps to get some distance which would've given Mana more time to react.

"It appears I may need to surrender..." Apheiya stood up and dusted her clothes.

"Go ahead," Mana replied.

"Since I cannot remove my clothes, I must protect the honor of Wind Patriarch's granddaughter," Apheiya explained.

"You're the granddaughter of the Land of Wind's temple leader?" Mana wondered, a history lover inside of Mana wished to talk with the woman after the fight to find out a bit more about the religious culture of the Land of Wind but currently there was little time.

"Yes, I am in the middle of my pilgrimage, training here in the Sun Disc fighting arena to return once I become strong enough to escape its grasp. I must suffer true hardship to be accepted back in the temple," the woman explained.

Mana wanted to just let this female monk surrender but something inside of her wished to help Apheiya. After all, even if Mana saved this place and changed the Sheikh's mind about his lethal ways and using literal slaves for combat, Apheiya would still not change. She'd keep on fighting here wearing a mass of clothes on her, sweating out of her mind and getting heat strokes in the middle of a battle or being too slow to properly fight any of the higher tier martial artists. The woman's pilgrimage would literally never end.

"Would losing your honor in front of these people not count as "true hardship"? Being beaten by me as well as losing your honor, I've lost both battles and honor, often at the same time. There are few things that are more painful for one to lose than these two." Mana replied grinding through her teeth. The last thing she needed was to make this woman stronger but... The magician wished to help Apheiya with her pilgrimage, she also wanted deep inside of her heart for the woman to complete it within the reaches of this century.

"I am already twice faster than Fajal was when you fought him, are you not afraid of me once I remove my cloaks?" Apheiya asked curiously as her feeble feminine hand reached up to her collar and yanked hard enough to tear layers upon layers of cloth apart.

"I am not afraid of death, I just do whatever seems right at the time," Mana replied quickly, hating herself for not letting this woman surrender.

"Then you still have much room for growth, then again, you are still a child." Apheiya smiled friendly, almost like a mother would smile for a child.