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

Triple Threat Match in Hell

Not a single noise alerted to the incoming attack of the Blood Lagoon kunoichi. Chiya moved forward far slower than most of her Blood Lagoon peers as well as the Konoha ninja that have seen her fight or traverse knew her to be able to move. With a quick feint, however, the sluggish pace of movement was revealed to be trickery. Mizoma raised his blade to defend himself but a burst of blood erupted from his right side. Mizoma's only functional eye widened in shock but quickly realized Chiya's deceit.

The young woman attacked him from the right side because his right eye was cut up. His depth perception and vision, in general, was severely weakened in that side making it highly probable that he'd miss the proper angle to block her speedy blitz right. When one was dealing with the speed of blade-dancing like that in which these two tangoed, the margin for failure was narrower than ever.

"You cocky twit, you forgot to apply your own blood to the sword. You cannot use your ability without that..." Chison, the massive armored tank of the Blood Lagoon thundered out in laughter.

"Ability?" Yushijin raised an eyebrow, noting this for the future if the rather flammable personality of the young woman caused Team Fir and the Blood Lagoon bunch to ever clash.

"Just watch and see... These Hozuki assholes won't admit it but we're a clan of our own. When our blood enters someone else's bloodstream, interesting things happen." Chison spoke with excitement and vigor even if the shade from inside his oversized helmet made it difficult to see his enthusiastic grin.

"I won't kill you just yet. You wanted to kill us because the Hozuki ordered you to. I can understand that. But being as cruel as you were to Chisilla was over the line. To those threatening my blood, I show cruelty surpassing their own which is why you will bleed out like the pig you are." Chiya spoke with underlying scorn. She tried to sound apathetic and cold but flames of hatred showed their tongues through the cracks of her facade with every word she spoke.

"Underestimate me and fool around at your own peril. One way or the other, you will meet it." Mizoma growled and powered through the pain. This time his abundant armor pieces and plates served as a hindrance as because of it hanging all over his body the man was unable to tend to his wounds and apply the proper pressure. Even worse, it became evident from the first glance that some of the busted armor only served to dig deeper into his wounds. Unless the swordsman withdrew, he was a walking dead man with these injuries and yet something suggested any casual observer that this was of no worry to the specter of the battlefield.

Mana's feet landed on the uneasy and ruined ground of the part of the Valley where the clash between the Chinoike and the Hozuki representatives was taking place. The magician's movements lacked any subtlety or control as she very nearly tripped and fell over on her face, having to plant her knees deep into the mushy layers of iron dust and scorching, damp gravel to keep her face from eating dirt.

"Mana..." Kouta uttered, quickly moving up to the magician.

"You're back? How is that possible?" Mana wondered, running her eyes across the body of her boyfriend while the Juugo did the same to her. His gaze was much more worried and horrified by the state of the magician's being, however. Almost instantly, without asking for permission or if it was a good idea or a priority right now, the medical ninja placed his hands over Mana's body and scanned it with the navy light of the Diagnosis Jutsu.

"Heh, yeah... That guy has some crazy sword, I think it's because of that..." Kouta managed to power through a smile but Mana could perceive that there was something gloomier hidden under it. She wondered what exactly that could have been, her boyfriend was usually not the type to manage to keep his emotions hidden, his nature was completely wrong for that sort of thing. Yet asking now hardly seemed like the priority...