Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Games of Body and Soul

Errors in Judgment

"Perhaps I should have split my mind a little bit differently." A hollow voice rang from Kiyomi's side. The entity did not speak but in a feat that came effortlessly, she transmitted her thoughts and feelings through a powerful mental resonance.

The fact that distraught Mana most of all was that the voice in which the corrupted one spoke was undoubtedly Kiyomi's. Corrupted and twisted, much more powerful and authoritative, confident as well, but Kiyomi's nonetheless. While that suggested that her treasured friend was still in there somewhere, it also implied that some part of her friend's will may have had a more active role to play in nearly killing her.

"Well..." Kusagoro looked at Mana after standing up and wiping his mouth with his sleeve. All of the ninja affected by Kiyomi's mental assault had various bleedings on them, some bled from their noses, some from their mouths or even their eyes. Given how Shibari's state was the worst, it was a fair assumption that the degree of bleeding depended on the damage sustained by one's mental self.

Mana looked back at the man. He was looking at her so differently now. He was no longer rash and rude, that much was evident even from the way he looked at not only Mana but Dorimi and Musha as well. Perhaps after being saved by the magician delivering a powerful blow to the weakened inner self of corrupted Kiyomi, the man has come to appreciate her as a teammate and a colleague.

"You knew this girl, right? Is this her? Can she still be salvaged or do we proceed with destroying her?" Kusagoro grumbled. He really wanted that Mana would shake her head and affirm the second option. That much was for sure.

"It is her. She's just... Confused." Mana pleaded the man with her eyes not to destroy her friend. Maybe killing her would end this calamity and perhaps it was the quickest and the most efficient way but the magician was almost ready to risk her career and lie if she had to, to prevent such an outcome.

"Are you sure she's even the person you once knew anymore?" Musha questioned Mana's judgment. Her eyes lingered on Dorimi who was completely out of commission lamenting the loss of his own friend. Shibari technically may not have been dead but her body was completely soulless. It was the next worst thing.

Mana closed her eyes in frustration, wondering what she was supposed to say. What was right and what was wrong. Now that Kiyomi was whole again the magician would not even dream of activating her sensory again so she was unable to check the contents of her chakra signature again, just rely on what that divided, minuscule representation of her will was like.

The corrupted version of Mana's friend darted off, she was no longer warping but she was insanely fast. Kusagoro leaped right into the fray to protect Mana from the rushing threat. He thrust his elbow for a strike that would block corrupted Kiyomi's strike and push her back through sheer force that he added behind it after the blow was blocked.

Kusagoro's feet morphed, making holes on them that fired off jets of chakra from them sending the man rushing ahead at the unbalanced and flinched opponent. The man unleashed a powerful rush of punches with what seemed like his real strength. Mana was about to plead with the man to restrain himself again but Kiyomi just bounced back like nothing happened, once again she only got thrown back by the physical force of the impact but appeared to take no damage whatsoever from the blows of one of the most powerful ninja around.

Just what had the Yamanaka girl become? Was it still morally right for Mana to protect this thing at the cost of other lives? How will she ever look in the eyes of Tori or Dorimi for all the lives this event had already cost. Maybe she would not be blamed for whatever happened here for she could have never, in her wildest nightmares, have predicted such a scenario but... Deep inside she'd know that she acted with her own selfish interests at heart.