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

Body Shedding

Even when Mana slowly opened her eyes, the world around her stayed sunken in total darkness. The intense heat began sending its pulses in an attempt to incinerate her from inside but soon she got used to it again. She took control of the involuntary bodily functions that kept her alive at the same time she recalled the circumstances of her getting knocked out.

"I closed the wound on your head, fixed your ribs a bit. Welcome back." Kouta smiled.

The rough sounds of battle around them forced Mana to sit up and power through the dizziness and pressure against the insides of her skull. She gave the madness around a quick glance. The rabbits had split around with no rhyme or reason but their own personal familiarity with their partners. While not particularly the worst plan, there was ample space for improvement.

Mana struggled to get back on her feet but with Kouta's help, she somehow managed it. At that moment it was tough to believe that she was about to leap into battle, especially this kind of wild clash. All around her were scales, dripping venom, sparks of steel clashing with equal or greater opposition, deafening sounds and shockwaves strong enough to crush a normal person to a bit of flesh the size of a pill.

"The snakes haven't revealed any new abilities just yet." Kouta let Mana in while she was recovering on her feet.

"Our approach is all wrong. We need to withdraw and regroup." Mana replied with a weak voice after taking in a bunch of peeks into all the scenes of battle. "We can't press our force into beating a stronger opponent head-on."

Mana raised her voice in a manner that a young bunny whined. It was signal for the rabbits around to divert their attention and focus on the person emitting the noise. It was more powerful than Mana just pleading with the lot because it was her speaking in their social language – they'll take it as seriously as it can get. This won't speak to their rational minds, it will alert their very genes and their inner programming.

Flashes of black, brown and pink blitzed around the two ninja and in mere moments the three groups of rabbits had withdrawn. Mana noticed that Usuzoku's chakra signature had taken a significant dip and was continuously draining. Some of the rabbits had greatly reduced chakra, some because of drastic augmentations meant to preserve their fighting condition, some because they went over their limit trying to swing hard at the enemy.

Now the squad was tired as well as weaker than the enemy.

"Running away already?" The dirt-colored snake hissed as a taunt. Mana's instinct tipped her off right, the snakes were luring the rabbits in to fight them in a manner most unfavorable to them. How could she have been so blind this whole time? Just because Usuzoku always charged into battle like an idiot that did not mean that this was the manner in which rabbits fought.

"Don't be stupid, Calioph. They've got nowhere to run with their young cornered in the back..." Vasuki hissed out with malicious glee. It knew just the size of an ace this was.

"So they know..." Mana muttered to herself.

"That's right. Just like you can sense our chakra, we can see chakra signatures inherently." The silver snake fainted a lunge before backing off with a self-content look in its eyes.

"That could be how they found out I was a sensor and how they took me out in the beginning." Mana realized. "But their vision must be weaker than sensory. They only initiated their plan right before attacking. They also took their sweet time setting up these vantage points and blocking all the exits before they noticed it".

"Kouta, do you have an antidote for Zoku-chan?" Mana turned to her friend. The moment she turned her head aside, the venom-spitter released another spray of its purple liquid that quickly got collected and swallowed up in Usukari's All-Mirage. With just that simple exchange of moves, the snakes were told that the rabbits weren't just standing about – they were in a closed defensive formation and that moving them out of it would require more effort than they've been giving up to now.