Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Journeys We Make

The Demonic Body-Snatcher

Rolling through the skies, the owl-like Sky Warrior positioned herself diagonally above her opponent before extending her hooked brass claws and taking a plunge down to secure a good grip. A growth of flesh and cartilage thrust itself from underneath the onmyoji's garment and moved in just in time to block the clutching grip of the owl's brass claws. The growth had a mouth-like opening up front and a line of banana-sized teeth. The mouth gaped wide open as the owl-like Sky Warrior ripped the growth to shreds by fluttering her owl-feather cape and pulling her knees up to rip the fleshy growth apart with her brass claws.

Another handful of growths flung themselves forth from the onmyoji's chest, biting at the feathered white and black cape that the Sky Warrior used to hover and fly over the arena like her peers. Opulently evading a couple of chomps, the Sky Warrior grabbed hold of one of the many fleshy growths before they could retreat into the onmyoji's body and pulled him up into the sky for a brief ride. Vaulting over in a loop after reaching the highest point she could get to, the flying warrior flipped overhead and slammed her opponent into the ground face-first.

Much to the shock of the aerial warrior, six more arms sprung forth from the chest of her opponent to absorb most of the shock. The produced limbs split open and splattered with blood and broken bones from the power of the impact, yet they withered to dust momentarily after the onmyoji used his hands to reposition himself for a proper response. Not feeling content with her opponent responding to her, the Sky Warrior looped in mid-air once more and spread her owl-feather cape.

A myriad of axe heads coated with green Earth Style glow manifested in mid-air and buzzed right at the exposed front of her opponent. With a cocky smirk, the onmyoji produced more of his fleshy growths to block the incoming projectiles, but the axe heads thudded with a deafening and meaty punch as they tore clean through both the cancerous growths and the onmyoji's own body. The stunned magician gargled up blood while falling down on his back.

"What an incredible display! The reserved and cool Sky Warrior Neshja has coated her weapons with Earth Release, skyrocketing their mass and power to where axes became heavyweight clubbing weapons rather than cutting projectiles, packing all the weight of a mountain in a single compact package. Not even a shifty magician like Mikoto could predict such a crafty attack, it seems!" the announcer let the audience in on the know why the axe heads were so effective at obliterating all mounted defenses. "Moreover, to protect the arena and the entire Sheikhate from the devastating aftereffects, Neshja dispelled the coating right after the axe heads did the bloody deed but before they hit the ground!"

The audience cheered for a few seconds before suddenly quieting down, with some spectators grabbing their mouths and belching in disgust. The magician's wounds began bubbling with thick white liquid as the holes twitching and spouting blood began filling up with the same cancerous growths that Mikoto the onmyoji magician could produce effortlessly to assist him in combat. Before any of them could blink, the magician stood back up with all of his fatal wounds completely healed and not a sign of a scratch on him.

"Went straight for the kill there, no fun at all..." Mikoto complained, cracking his head sideways and then cracking his knuckles.

"What magic is this? Moreover, what did you mean by testing if my body is to your liking?" Neshja asked with certain authority and aggression, treating the earlier exchange as a proper establishment of her superiority over her opponent in combat. To her confusion, Mikoto flipped her the bird before sticking his tongue out.

"Ain't telling!" he exclaimed in a childish voice. "I've got neither the time nor the intention of explaining myself to you. I'd rather finish testing the limits of your body until someone interferes with this game of ours."

Utterly relaxing his body, Mikoto dropped forward before tensing up just before dashing like a human missile toward his opponent. Neshja slit her finger across her feathery cape, producing a bloody smear on the white feathers where she cut it open on the chakra-coated feathers that now functioned like razor blades. A smoky pop produced a variegated owl of green and white colors with orange, tiger-like stripes on the back. The building-sized owl hovering over the arena and flattening contestants that didn't brace themselves with its gusty wing waves flapped its wings forward.