Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Where We Come From

Seven Minutes

"So, how're you feeling?" Bult asked Mana next morning as the girl seemed to be more silent than usual the whole time since she woke up. As usual, the guards announced the fights after the breakfast and lined the crew up, despite taking part in the very first fight and Bult not fighting at all, the two ended up at the front of the row.

"It doesn't matter how I'm feeling," Mana replied, she was afraid and worried, despite the fight not being one that only death ended, a lot still depended on her performance. She needed to not only win but also do so in a manner that'd change the Sheikh's attitude towards martial arts. She needed to give the man the fight he had not seen for many years. 

One like the kind that changed it all. Mana hoped that Damij would be helpful in that but she wasn't quite sure. The man was apparently the strongest fighter around so if he couldn't be the second part of the greatest battle this arena had ever seen no one could and that possibility greatly scared Mana. Having an impossible goal set in her mind did not worry the magician nearly as much as not having one at all. If this failed she'd know no other way to change the Sun Disc arena back to its glory days.

"Look, if you lose... Well, nobody will blame you for anything. Everyone knows you're really strong but nobody depends on you, we've all seen too much of this place to put all of our hopes on you" Bult tried to calm Mana down, he wasn't really successful but it wasn't because of the fact that his words weren't the best suited for that goal, more so due to the fact that Mana tried to hide her fear, to begin with. This was her test, her chance to be a hero without the ability to mold chakra, chance to be the kind of hero she always wanted to be. Heroes of legends didn't feel fear, they weren't afraid before their big battles, or so legends made everyone believe.

"I don't care about that, I'm depending on myself being able to do this. I will win. I still have another mission I need to complete so I can't take too long here" Mana said looking forward into the darkness of the waiting area. Not too long after the area sunk into the darkness Mana could hear loud voices from all the way inside the arena. She couldn't exactly make out what was being said, not for the lack of trying, all she could hear was a faint voice of the announcer and deafening cheers from the public. Finally, the light seeped into the waiting area as the gate rumbled open and the bridging platform extended to her end. Mana took a small step forward onto the platform as it closed in to the ring of the arena. The magician took a brief moment to look down. There were no longer spikes to fall down on, just grass.

"I have a feeling that this warm-up fight will set an unfair high for the other matches to overcome, ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer yelled out energetically pointing at Mana who finally gathered the courage to look at the man called Damij.

He was a tall individual, well developed and trained, his body was muscular, edging out to the limit where he may have appeared too muscular to move fast but not just yet. His physical condition bordered perfection, his build suggested enough physical strength to compare even to the strongest arena's fighters but he also looked fit enough to move fast. His stance didn't appear anything special – the man just stood with his arms lowered and his chest buffed up front and open, his legs split shoulder-wide. 

The man wore some strange head attire, Mana had seen some people wear it in Sunagakure – it was a cloth garment covering the man's head and held down with a golden ring. He also possessed rich facial hair, just like Fajal and his cold facial expression suggested some experience in the military discipline. The man wore a long white coat on top of his black tank top and white rather baggy pants held pressed to his abdomen by a large rubber sash so red that the color almost hurt to look at.

Upon setting her foot onto the arena Mana stretched out a bit, jumping on her left and right feet just so her legs got accustomed to the pressure of quickly having to keep all of her body weight and transfer it to the other foot just as swiftly. Something told Mana that Damij would give her absolutely no time to breathe easy. Mana took a brief glance at the Sheikh's balcony, not much appeared to have changed except the women appeared to be more passive as the Sheikh was all over the balcony edge, the man was hyped about the fight. Even the Sheikh expected to see something interesting, maybe that'd help Mana in the end?