"W-Wait, what!? Y-You mean Mana… Lost!?" Damisan jumped up, twitching and panting in disbelief.
"Hmm… I guess she should've been using chakra this entire time and fought him seriously. Then again, if she had, she'd have no hope whatsoever of winning the finals, so… She was screwed either way," Asuka shrugged, stretching her arms out around the seats from both sides to hers and stretching her legs until they tapped against the top of the seat in front of her.
"Even if she pulled off an illusion and switched herself out or something, it wouldn't matter now that the scrawny-talky has spoken," Endo closed his eyes and turned his perky nose down, crossing his arms, shutting himself inside and accepting the outcome with his trademark disgruntlement for everything around him.
"This is unfortunate. We could have really used Mana's victory here for the sake of the Allied Ninja, however, her loss is also not the end of the world for us. We must now ensure that the Curse Walker doesn't win and that the Fennec's crew of reborn mercs doesn't try pulling anything funny. You know what that means, right?" Shige-H sighed in slight disappointment while scanning her equally bummed-out team, who, despite their meager differences with Mana, were ready to cheer for her the entire way through.
"Yeah, if the Curse Walker beats Dashula in the next match, we're taking him out tonight, before the finals." Endo nodded with a tuck of his chin, still sullen and sunken in thought. "There's no way in hell we're putting our mission objective on the shoulders of that crippled ball-kicker."
"With the elimination of the Gladiatrix, the Second Goddess Mana, the magician faction is now entirely out of members representing them in the Succession Tournament! This means that the winner and the next Sheikh of Agbarah shall either be a Salvari, a professional athlete, or a Cursed Warrior… However, that would work…" Rajul suddenly became entranced by the concept of being bossed around by a semi-conscious piece of an ancient-looking cocktail of machinery and man who remained dormant until the time came for it to fight. "In any case, unfortunately, because of the state of the arena at the moment, we'll have to schedule a break of four hours until the beginning of the next match so that our staffers can do their best and repair the arena before the evening match. Until then, please enjoy your time in the recreational facilities of the Sun Disc arena, relax, and unwind after a vicious spout of cheering, also, make sure to make lots of bets for your favorites!"
The hooded Sun Disc arena staffers began flooding the arena with the shrouded healers scooping Mana up and tossing her over on the stretchers before dashing off to the infirmary. Ever since the knockout, the young woman laid flat on her back, sprawled and whited out with no signs of consciousness. She'd lost plenty of blood, and her injuries were severe, but the healers of the Sun Disc arena were prepared for such cases and often had to spearhead miraculous recoveries of fighters who needed to fight multiple grueling matches and wage arena warfare multiple days in a week or even multiple concurrent days.
"Mana…" Damisan muttered in worry about his girlfriend's condition.
"Don't fret," Shige-H smiled in comfort. "There'll be plenty of time before the next match. We can wait outside her ward and see their progress. I'd really prefer it if they let me help, but… I have a nagging feeling they won't say anything intelligible and that neither they nor Mana would like that."
"We could always just bust the door down and stage another takeover of the ward, like that time Mana was recovering from her mind being lost," Endo reared a sadistic smirk. The glint in his eyes portrayed a hint that he would relatively enjoy kicking and trampling the weakling, bumbling healers around for a change, especially if that meant Mana received help from a healer Endo actually trusted.
"Don't be ridiculous, Endo. We cannot afford to make another scene like that," Shige-H reigned back her teammate. "I know Mana trusted the abilities of the local healers to recover her from grievous injuries. She must have had a plan for tomorrow if she were to make it, yet she fought in such a risky way and took all those unnecessary injuries. That could have only been because she had faith in the healers' ability to bring her back to fighting condition before her match in the finals."
"She's the one with experience fighting in this arena," Asuka shrugged. "I say leave her to 'em until they let us see her and she's conscious again. What about you? Now that the conflict of interest is gone, the position of supporting Genshi has opened up again…"
"How can you even say that!?" Damisan barked back. "Of course, I'm worried about Mana. Genshi doesn't need my help anymore. He's chosen his own path and his own team that will back him up from this point on. I feel like after the work Mana's put through to get to him out there during their match, he won't need any further guidance. He'll only be fighting for himself and his dream again and he won't let the unchecked greed and ambition of those sponsors get in the way."
"Just kidding, pal," Asuka waved her hand in dismissal of Damisan's objections.
After waiting for most of the crowd to shuffle out of the spectator stands and into the internal recreational facilities inside the Sun Disc arena interior, the Stars also stood up from their seats and went searching for Mana's ward. It was a slightly bothersome process, but this time they had more success with the support staff because they were associated with Mana as her backup staff in their eyes, so they didn't have to sneak and sniff around. A nurse directed them to the ward where the healers were working their magic on Mana's wounds before long.
Mana opened her eyes, feeling that surging sting of light seeping into her eyes like cold water that sent stiff shivers down her skull and creeping all the way to the brain, triggering a mother of all headaches. It may have been notable and something to be lamented had it been even remotely a novel experience for the magician to wake up groggy and aching after a beating.
This was a slightly nostalgic experience, however, just like before, after her match with Gunshi Aspen, Mana recalled the feeling of the full brunt of her injuries plaguing her body. Although, whereas normally the sting of fractures and grievous bruises would have taken months for a normal person to heal and days for a ninja with a superior metabolism and recovery rate, with the help of the various ointments, advanced surgery, and pressure point healing techniques made that pain vanish and the body to recover from even life-threatening injuries within hours.
It was just the same back when she first competed in the arena, however, back then she wasn't afforded a lengthy recovery process nor the luxury of constant maintenance and observation of her condition. Back then, after fundamental first aid, Mana was just flung back to her cell and left to recover on her own until the next match. So much has changed in terms of how a competitor was treated these days and, despite a harrowing sense of a head that felt like it was splitting apart, Mana couldn't help but turn the corners of her lips upward, witnessing what Agbarah had become.
She could only hope that the next Sheikh would uphold this direction, if not steer it further toward the right path.
Trying to return to the arena in her mind and recall what happened before she woke up here made Mana's case aggravated to the point of a wince and a painful grunt, forcing her to try to alleviate the pounding twinges in her temples with some gentle rubs against her brow. Given that she couldn't recall the decisive blow, Mana accepted she must have lost the match. She got close, but perhaps she reinvigorated Genshi's pride in his athleticism and belief in himself a bit too much, to where her spiritual energy techniques lost their edge. Then again, she'd have taken a loss after inspiring Genshi to live a full life of no regrets over winning by crushing Genshi's spirit and his dream.
So… She lost the match. Shige-H will not be overjoyed about it. Then again, Mana's loss didn't exactly blow their mission here. All they had to do was make sure that there was no foul play involved from the Fennec's resurrected band of mercenaries and that the Curse Walker didn't win. Genshi's odds facing off against either the Curse Walker or Dashula worried Mana, but now that she didn't need to conserve her chakra, she was free to offer her aid in sealing some jutsu and countermeasures into his upgraded Fusion Ball armor.
At some point, while Mana was laying down and pondering about the ramifications of her failure, the ward door cracked. A veiled nurse dressed in white stepped inside, only to gasp, turn around, and alert someone outside. A shrill yet short yell preceded the burst of the Stars into Mana's ward, surrounding her infirmary bed with good wishes.
"Mana, how are you feeling?" Damisan was the first to spill a question that rushed like a scared critter sealed inside an untied bag. Worked up, Mana's boyfriend leaned over her bed, taking it upon himself to check her body temperature and scan her wrapped up in bandages, soaked in rose water and healing ointment, wounds.
"You needn't worry about your loss. Our situation, while not the ideal scenario, is still incredibly beneficial to our mission objective. Do you wish for me to take care of the rest of the injuries for you, Mana?" Shige-H was the second one to inquire, not looking too happy about Damisan speaking over her as the team leader, but tolerating it because of how close Mana and him were getting as of late.
"Hmph, you really shouldn't have been messing around with that hippy dharma shit, Mana. Even if you ended up losing in the finals, losing to the man that'll become No. 1 is preferable to losing to an armless and legless wanna-be athlete," Endo voiced his demented objections with his vintage, cartoonishly crude disposition.
"Who cares?" Asuka smirked, looking like she was wishing Mana good luck and speedy recovery, albeit behind the curtain of a malicious and self-indulgent veil of superiority. "You did splendidly, now leave the actual ninja work to the rest of us."
"Umm…" Mana hummed, getting lost in all the questions, good wishes, and attempts to comfort her shattered pride after taking bumps and losing.
"See?" Shige-H grumbled. "Everyone, don't speak at once!" she barked out an authoritative order, showing meek traces of the punk-like leadership attitude of the Supreme Leader herself. "First off, Mana–I can use my medical ninjutsu to recover your wounds in the span of a few minutes."
"I am grateful, but there'll be no need for that," Mana shook her head. "I knew I'd be taking plenty of unnecessary bumps in that match when I relied on physical and spiritual energies separately, but… I have full faith in the abilities of the local healers. You may still require your chakra if you're to use Unmaker Fist or if you need to heal someone else. The healers have already done their best for me. All I need now is a little time. It would be wasteful of both your efforts to heal me up right now."
"You sadomasochistic witch," Endo cracked a grin that, despite his scornful remark, looked almost warm. "You shouldn't sell yourself short. Even if we need to fight seriously later on, we'll have use of the full scale of your ninjutsu too."
"If that were to happen, it won't take long for Shige-san to heal me until my body's ready for combat again," Mana shrugged it off.
"Well, I'm not going to heal a patient that doesn't want treatment," Shige-H nodded, accepting Mana's decision. "How are you holding up, Mana?"
"I… Lost, didn't I?" Mana asked, nuzzling her back against the pillow so that she could sit up. Various bandaged-up cuts and bruises all over her body lit up with painful flares, making the pain almost blank Mana out for a second before her body settled into the new position.
"Whatever do you mean by that?" Asuka scoffed. "We all know that you did exactly what you went out there to accomplish. Winning the match was an optional secondary objective for you, wasn't it?"
"Yes," Mana nodded. "Win or lose, it was far more important for me that I fostered Genshi-san's fighting spirit and brought back his belief in himself and his dream. Even from a strictly utilitarian point of view, he's a more useful asset to us this way, despite him working for those sponsors."
"Mana…" Shige-H spoke up with her eyes closed before opening them up and confronting her directly with an imposing aura. "I'm going to bring the information about Ryoku Genshi's sponsors to the Kazekage when I find a chance. That way, his company can capture and interrogate their agents and probe their minds for any concealed traces of intelligence. I understand your and Damisan's trust in Ryoku Genshi and I support his dream, but I won't allow the military secrets of ninja villages to be stolen and flaunted before us like that. Military power doesn't belong in the hands of civilian industrialists."
"I see," Mana sighed. "I still think that such measures would be better left for after the Succession Tournament is complete, so to ensure a peaceful power succession process, and to prevent our goals of gatekeeping power from hindering Genshi's life's dream, but… If that's what you must do, I will not oppose this. More factions developing more weapons is not a hill I see any use in shedding blood on."
"I'm glad you could see sense, in your own way…" Shige-H nodded, crossing her arms.
"So, what now?" Asuka pocketed her hands and looked around at everyone gathered in the ward. "We no longer need to be concerned with the tournament now that Mana's kicked out."
"This couldn't be more distant from the truth," Shige-H disagreed. "Nothing much changed for us. We still need to make sure the Curse Walker doesn't win. Also, that the remnants of Fennec's crew, who have been awfully silent as of late, won't try to meddle with the bracket again. We need to keep a close eye on the progression of the tournament and everyone spectating the matches for that to go smoothly."
"Well, I suppose there are more boring missions. I can't object to watching some more slobber knocker matches," Endo shrugged with a smirk of excitement.
Before the emotions in the ward could settle, the ward door cracked again before fully opening up. The entrant made the Stars tilt their eyebrows in surprise. Donning prosthetic arms and legs that didn't look too much different from something a ninja puppet would use for replacement arms and legs, Ryoku Genshi walked into the ward.
"I'll hand it to you, you've got some guts showing your face around here," the left corner of Endo's lips tilted as the hands of the samurai apprentice twitched and halted just a tad over the hilts of his two sheathed katana.
"Is it a bad time?" Genshi wondered, freezing in the doorway. Despite being out of the armor, the athlete wore a more compact version of a fusion baller's helmet with a vizor that assisted his blind eyes by relaying images depicted as orange outlines on a black background, translating them straight to his brain.
"Not at all, Genshi-san," Mana smiled. "Please come in."
"It just doesn't look right to see this guy walking around while Mana's hospitalized," Asuka grumbled, sarcastically rolling her eyes. "I mean… I tried killing Mana a couple of times and came up short. It's a poor reflection on me, for Pete's sake."
"Mana-san's physical attacks dealt little damage to the upgraded Fusion Ball armor. Despite packing a considerable wallop, they merely dented the external layer of armor so the uniform is mostly intact. All in all, I only needed a little patching up," Ryoku Genshi bowed respectfully in Mana's direction. "After replacing my prosthetic limbs, the rest were just minor scrapes."
"You dicknut, are you bragging!?" Endo snarled, touching one of his sword hilts with his right hand.
"Not at all, if anything, I'm complimenting Mana-san's skill," Ryoku Genshi explained. "To think that I sustained so little physical damage after nearly losing that match. Whereas I struggled the whole way through and put you through so much with my incompetence, I'm truly sorry, Mana-san! I don't deserve to win, but… I need that victory!"
It baffled Mana to see Ryoku Genshi so broken up about this. The young man collapsed to the floor, squirting tears from his blinded eyes that squeezed through the vizor and sniffling from his swollen nose while biting into his lip and chewing on it as if trying to ease the emotional calamity within with physical pain.
"That's okay," Mana smiled. "You shouldn't get so worked up about it, Genshi-san. You won the match, what's done is done. This isn't the first time I get hurt because of my beliefs and it won't be the last. I fought to inspire you to believe in yourself and fight for your dream, to never give up on yourself and sacrifice your dream for the sake of something as inconsequential as a single victory. In fact, I'll be cheering you on from now on. I'd love to help you prepare for the finals by sealing more of my jutsu into your armor if you'd accept it."
"M-Mana-san!" Genshi cried out, launching himself across the ward and slamming against Mana with a soaring hug that made the rest of the Stars gasp and try to speak up to pull Genshi away. Despite her entire body pounding with uncompromising, painful twinges, Mana held herself together and nuzzled the back of Genshi's sobbing back as he cried his sorrows out into her sheet, hugging her tightly in his prosthetic puppet arms. "I'll never forget it! As long as I live… I'll never forget your kindness! It would be my genuine honor to use your borrowed power and for both of us to claim the victory you rightfully deserved!"
"Huh…" Damisan cocked his head to the right. "I guess we've made a friend for life out of the man who will become the next Sheikh of Agbarah…"
"Nice instincts, Damisan," Shige-H patted Damisan's shoulder since he was the one who first noticed the young man and decided to take him under his wing, guiding him across the stacked bracket consisting of warriors that a lone, crippled athlete had no chance of surviving against. The Stars observed the touching scene as Genshi bawled and poured his heart out for Mana.
Genshi wanted to throw this victory away. Mana could feel it in how shaken and conflicted his body was. He wanted nothing more than to denounce the results of that last match, and to abide by the principles of fair play that were prevalent in sports. However, he also desperately needed this victory. For the sake of acknowledgment of his existence, and also, for the sake of acknowledgment of the existence and struggle of every athlete around the world.
Even though Mana believed that nobody needed to validate their existence, the fact of existence alone was validation enough, she respected Genshi's feelings this time and comforted him in this troubling time, accepting his decision.
P. S. Sorry for being a bit absent last week. I came down with the flu at the same time I got food poisoning, so... It was not a nice week to experience. I decided to just take it easy until I'll feel better and I think I do now.