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

The Titanic Typhoon

Mana flicked her fingers. A pair of cards slipped from her sleeve. The magician flung the cards in an attempt to keep her opponent at a farther distance as well as make him reveal more of his arsenal. Of course, he will evade a simple barrage of projectiles but he will also be forced into action and reveal the unique way he acts on Mana's terms when she's ready for him.

Vasuki's ally flowed like a jet of water, he was agile, he had perfect move economy and was beyond flexible. Had Mana not known any better, she'd have taken him for being the snake if judging by how easily he bypassed her attacks. The man dashed in the close distance, throwing his palm up.

Mana was ready for him, she knew exactly when he'd come at her and as such, she managed to lean and dash back from his attack. What she did not expect however was a pair of arm-sized snakes coiling around one another slipping from the assailant's sleeve.

"So you're a summoner then? I guess it makes sense that the snakes would call you up." Mana spoke almost like she speaking to herself more than the man she was fighting.

"Man, killing you is gonna be a real shitshow. I didn't sign up for this..." the man scratched the back of his cloak. A suspicion sparked in Mana's head, a suspicion of what the man's attempts to remain mysterious were all about. She had to tear that cloak off, she had to expose this guy. Mana leaned forward, with a flick of her hand she let two more steel-tipped cards to slip into both of her hands for some close distance fighting.

Before she could make even one half of the distance she meant to, the magician dashed back. Her sensory alerted Mana of something coming at her from above and lo and behold, Vasuki's tail slammed on the floor of the Ziggurat she was fighting on, damaging it and causing a good chunk of it to collapse down onto the mongooses below. Mana couldn't let them get crushed.

The magician charged forward, trying to race the falling rock. It should have been simple, it should have been just her racing with the natural velocity of falling debris, it should have been child's play. A rough kick to her chin made Mana's body arc back and fly a good distance back, going as far as to tumble over the edge of the Ziggurat floor she was on.

"You can pull yourself back up, I'm not falling for that one." The man taunted her when Mana tried lurking on the edge, keeping her palms and feet stuck to the side of the structure and trying to lure her opponent into letting down his guard. After her intentions were exposed, Mana vaulted back to face the still mindless Vasuki and her summoner.

"You're a Konoha ninja, aren't you?" Mana tried to taunt the man back and make him talk. The more time she was not getting kicked around and slammed with Vasuki's titanic tail, the more time she bought for someone to finally come and aid her with this.

"No." the man replied.

Vasuki hissed like a wild, untamed beast and just slammed its head at Mana as if attempting to tackle her. Mongooses were still rushing at the serpent with much smaller and more spread out numbers. Mana sensed something in the mindless animal, she kicked off the ground and charged at the serpent with a kick of her own.

"Spear Kick!" she yelled out as her foot met Vasuki's tackle and the two impending forces crashed.

Mana was not that physically powerful, Vasuki was absolutely massive and barely needed chakra augmentations to push around anyone smaller than it. That being said, Vasuki may have only had the bare minimum of its chakra reserves left. Its chakra signature was barely enough to register its existence. Shedding another body as well as reverse-summoning this man must have absolutely exhausted her.

The two clashing forces came at an impasse. Mana could feel the flesh and bone under Vasuki's scales giving way and crunching. She couldn't tell much about the state of the serpent but it definitely should have felt that impact. She was winning the force struggle.