Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Where We Come From

...Do as Agbarahns Do

As the platform extended and the slim yet tall figure stepped onto it to be brought onto the arena Mana continued to try and pick up any details about her next opponent. The only detail that stuck out like a sore thumb was the decision of this woman to extremely overdress. She wore a white simple desert cloak together with a black coat on top and a black headdress that appeared almost like a shroud, her face was also covered with a crimson red cloth making the woman appear even more mysterious than usual.

It may have from the first glance seemed very rude or not quite proper for a woman to dress scantily in these conditions but it was actually quite the other way around. During the day the heat would've made it unbearable to stay under these clothes, these suggestively dressed women in Sheikh's quarters made few if any sexual or implied sexual hints towards their master and they very well may have been just protecting from the desert heat with their lack of clothing covering them up. The entire time Sheikh's eyes were absorbed by the fighting and he appeared to have little to no interest in the female forms unless there was nothing else to see.

For that reason, the way in which this Apheiya, the Woman that Changed History, overdressed appeared odd to Mana and the magician tried to see what could've been made out of it. Was it some sort of suggestion towards personal insecurities? Was it somehow reflective of her personality, could it have been used to devise a more precise dodging style or maybe somehow helped her define a valid prediction of to how exactly this lady would fight? Apheiya stepped very gracefully and her head was held up high, almost like that of a noble.

"Apheiya, this young woman..." The announcer began his attempt to rile the champion up for this fight but the older woman lifted her hand up silencing the announcer with a single gesture.

"I know who this girl is, I've been observing her for a while," Apheiya spoke in a very deep Land of Wind accent to her speech. The Ninja World had only one universal language but different time periods and different locations placed different spins on that language and sometimes it was quite easy to determine where the person was from by their language alone, sometimes these accents and dialects were faked for various purposes, such tricks were handy for a ninja to learn.

Mana did not speak to the woman, while the magician had a great deal of respect towards any woman who managed to break through the prejudice and hatred that women inevitably received when arriving at Agbarah, that didn't in any way change the girl's goal. This woman was just a nimble and strong rooted tree that bloomed right in the magician's way to her goals, that tree needed to be stepped around or trimmed if needed.

The announcer appeared to be too unnerved to speak any more words so he just announced the beginning of the battle. Instantly the woman's body blurred, she moved at least fifty times faster than Mana thought was humanly possible. The woman's knee thrust towards Mana's lower abdomen, attempting to instantly incapacitate the young one, no doubt. Instead, it hit Mana's palm which also used the force of Apheiya's forceful knee strike to propel herself and flip over the woman.

Mana didn't even look behind herself, she did not speak.

"Heh, I must admit I expected you to get hit at least with this first strike, that's how it usually goes with you. I observed your battles, you never expect the burst of speed that martial artists are capable of. How can you respond to such inhuman speeds? Do you use budojutsu as well perhaps?" The woman inquired. Mana turned around partly, turning to the side to face both directions and keep herself able to defend from both frontal and back assaults.

"Not at the moment, I merely always expect the top speed I can respond to from everyone. I usually need a hint as to what kind of an attack is coming so I begin my response well before you even begin your attack, by the time you realize I am countering your attack you're too invested into your speedy attack to change it." Mana replied casually.