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

Mercy for Malice

The head of the Fifth Nagendi slammed on the ground. Its eyes closed as the serpent's central body began inflating and deflating rapidly. The fiery flare in its eyes, under the thin layer that covered them faded, making its eyes completely covered up by the faint blue hue of the scale that covered it up. The Sixth hissed out while it shook its head once more, the entire cavern shifted once again while the Sixth Nagendi summoned an earthquake with a quiver of its head, albeit much smaller one this time.

"Stop it, you'll kill us both!" The Fifth huffed out. "This ability of yours requires chakra. We have very low remains of that at the moment."

A soundwave woke the Fifth Nagendi up, forcing it to slither its worn out head to the edge of the cave and peek down. It was almost certain that the three rabbits had plummeted down, washed away by the flow of the rushing snakes it had sent their way. Another soundwave, then another and Usuchabi appeared from the depths of the fiery oblivion below with both of her comrades in her arms.

Every time the cat-like rabbit flapped her massive ears, they created a powerful boom, similar to that when the sound barrier brakes, propelling the cat-rabbit upward. After a handful of those, she returned to the heights where she could stick her feet to the ceiling of the cavern.

"Wow. That was dangerous!" Usuchabi growled. The façade of aloofness was gone from her face. It was clear that this was truly a close call that would have called for such a surge of seriousness. The other rabbits slowly recovered, shaking their shocked and bumped heads and sticking to the ceiling by their own effort.

"He just gave birth to a new limb that had an evolved ability just perfect for a combination with that of its own. To think that it would have kept such a technique hidden..." Usupari grumbled shortly after nodding in acknowledgment and gratitude to its friend who had saved the rabbit from disappearing into the fiery pits below.

"I think if it could have used that ability, it would have. There must be a reason why it only pulled it out now, is that right, snake?" Usuvilme inquired of the silver serpent pair directly.

"Well..." the Fifth Nagendi sighed, it was evident that the serpent struggled to breathe properly in its current state. Even the freshly born head looked to be like a snowman in the desert. All the genetic tampering combined with those high-ranking and conceptually expensive techniques were finally taking their toll.

"There's a reason why I am the Sixth Nagendi, isn't it? Why there are only two of us now..." The newly born looked at its exhausted predecessor with a surprisingly perceptive question.

"You are not wrong. I have killed my predecessor in time. We did not get along too well and it just felt like the right thing to do. Eventually, I expect you shall too devour me for your own reasons." The Fifth Nagendi breathed out with a heavy sigh.

"Incredible..." Usuvilme simply continued to stare at the worn out predator in disbelief.

"Why? Why go this far for just this one hunt? You essentially sacrificed your own life just to kill a bunch of rabbits. Someone of your power should have easily found lesser challenges to satisfy you." Usuchabi tried reaching out to Nagendi with a horrified expression. She had trouble wrapping her mind around the horrific implications of the technique the serpent had used and why it would choose to use it willingly.

"Hunt? You're no hunt. You're just something to do." The Fifth Nagendi managed to crack a grin, showing off one of its fangs as it peeked through the cracked, scaly flaps of the serpent.

"What my predecessor has done is improved Nagendi. He has granted me a new evolution, sacrificing itself for the power of the snakes." The Sixth Nagendi looked at its worn out comrade with greedy eyes. It appeared that the instinct to devour its predecessor was already on display.