Allen looked behind him, then looked in front of him, he scratched his head as he yelled out to Cindy, "Amazing! This is what mana application can do? I mean I saw what my master could do, but I didn't know you could use it out- uh, outside of fighting."
"Applying mana isn't- like ah, a martial art, it's a common everyday use. Can you get the ball," Cindy pointed over to the ball that was rolling over into the forest. Allen turned around and ran over to catch it before it rolled any further. "Pass the ball over to me. Since you threw it first, it's my turn." Allen looked turned back around and walked over to the center of his side of the field. He looked down on the ball, then looked back up at Cindy. As his body moved into a throwing position, his mind moved backwards in time as he reflected back to Cindy's redirection.
"I watched your every move. I still don't get what you did," Allen said as he passed the ball over to Cindy, she watched it fly through the air and ran directly under it as it began falling down. She caught it with ease as the warm breeze for the day brushed against her legs. She walked backwards to a few inches in front of her goal.
"What I did? What do you think I did?"
"Use mana application, but that, shit, in what way did you use it?"
"I want you to guess," Cindy said snickering.
"Uhm," Allen kicked the ground, his forehead folded on itself as he pushed his pointer finger into his forehead. "I don't know. Damn it."
Cindy exploded into laughter, she held her stomach, "Please don't boil your brain over this."
"Boiling my brain? Why would I ever do that. That would kill me, I don't want to die."
"No, it's an exaggeration. What the hell did they teach you on the farm?"
"Never to lie."
"An exaggeration isn't exactly a lie, just a stretched truth. Uhm, how the fuck do I explain it," Cindy threw the ball downward and bounced it off the ground back into her hand. "Let's just play." She enters a throwing stance, glancing over at Allen's goal, it was slightly to the left behind him. She smiled as she looked around the general area. She took note of the trees that surrounded them, the slight breeze that brushed past the both of them.
All the while, Allen waited in anticipation for Cindy to throw the ball, as he waited he began thinking, 'She has 3 points. I have 1. She gains 2 points for getting it in the goal, and I gain 1 if I catch it. For me to win, I need to have 5 total points. 2 more for her and 4 more for me. She uses mana to do something, the ball kind of glows. Maybe that's the same as when I applied mana to my body. Apply mana to my body I can increase the production and efficiency of my muscles. That's what Lily taught me. Apply inward into my body, I increase defenses. So what did she do to the ball? Apply mana, is that what she meant by playing with mana. I thought that she just used it on her body. You can apply mana to objects? Did Lily ever tell me that?'
"Cindy! I got it, you applied mana to you-"
BAM
Before Allen could finish his sentence he felt a force push against his forehead, jerking his whole head to an upward angle. He blinked in reaction to it, as he heard laughter erupt from Cindy. Once he could open his eyes he noticed the ball flying back towards Cindy. "I was aiming for the goal, but uh, I miscalculated and I threw it right at you. I'm so sorry. Get ready for the rebound!" She yelled out as she watched the ball's trajectory, meanwhile Allen slapped himself, "Stop getting distracted."
He took a few steps back, slightly jumped in the air, and planted his feet firmly into the ground. 'She didn't even touch the ball last time to throw it back. I'll do the same, but I'll actually hit it.' He watched her like a scared rat in the face of an eagle. She smiled as she took a few steps forward, her knees and ankles glowing with mana as she crouched down then jumped into the air. It was a decent jump, the tips of her toes reached the same height as her head if she were standing.
"Oops," she looked down at Allen as the ball flew right under her and right into her goal. As she succumbed to gravity and fell back to the ground, she snickered, "Looks like the score is 3-3. Tied up, your ball since I threw first."
Allen relaxed himself, "Okay. How is this game fun exactly?"
Cindy ran over to the ball and picked it up, "Oh, just you wait. Do you know what a rally is?"
"A rally?"
"Expected," she turned around as she stood just inches away from her goal. She assumed a throwing stance, raising her leg towards the sky. It was as though she was doing a split on the air itself while standing on one leg. Allen watched as he readied himself, his own heart raced against his mind as he tried to think of what his next move was going to be. 'This one is going to be fast isn't it?'
Cindy twisted her whole body toward Allen as she stomped down onto the ground with her raised leg, she applied mana to her core, wrists, and shoulder, then she applied it to the ball. The ball slightly glowed as she launched the ball toward Allen. "I applied little mana so you can easily overpower it."
"Overpower? Fuck-" A rush of panic propelled Allen's words out as he leaped a very small step. Once Cindy finished her sentence the ball crossed over the imaginary line that separated them, Allen's demeanor changed. His brow lowered and the hair on his neck stood up. He took a quick deep breath while shuffling his feet towards the direction the ball was coming from. Once in its trajectory, he jumped forward, applying mana to his right hand. As he stomped down to ground himself, he swung his right hand at the ball.
He swung with all his might, but it was not the ball that propelled back, it was Allen himself. The mana filled ball seemed to push him back into his own goal. Allen tried to hold onto the ball but it seemed to push his fingers away from touching it, "Stop! Stop! Why isn't it-" He used his left hand to hold onto his right arm. His face contorted in confusion and pain as he felt his body go against himself. "Stop moving! Go back!"
Allen then remembered the words from Cindy, "Overpower it!" She yelled out laughing between words as she watched Allen get carried along with the ball. Fortunately, he was still grounded which made him harder to be moved. Nonetheless from Cindy's point of view he was being moved at an extreme pace. He was moving so fast that the markings of blood drawing from the bottom of his bare feet began painting the grey stone floor red.
The smile across her face slowly wiped away as Allen wiped sweat from his forehead. "Hey, Hey, Hey Allen, you're bleeding are you-" Allen exhaled a streak of fire, he was approaching his goal and slowing down. His body leaned backwards as he managed to fully grasp the ball with his mana and stop it from moving.
'He applied the exact same amount of mana as I did. I'm surprised he even- oh, oh he's applying too much now,' Cindy shook her head as she watched Allen spun to the right. "Woah, woah." Allen jumped in the air, the blood from his feet dripped down, as he used his revolutions to throw the ball back to Cindy at a faster velocity than her own throw. A crooked smile came across her face while Allen had a stern focused look to him.
It was as though the blood that left his body was simply a painting of red that guided his eyes and hand to launch the ball in the right direction. As he landed, he ran down his own guide lines. "How was that?"
"Nice throw!" Cindy followed the trajectory of the ball, she took a few steps forward, then hopped toward Allen's left. The ball just barely passed by her when she extended her hand and mana toward the ball, 'I used around 30 notches of mana, he used about 50... I'll use 51, if he can send this back then.'
In a similar motion as to when she redirected it back the first time, the ball attracted to her hand, she didn't move an inch from where she planted her feet. She threw the ball back only slightly faster than Allen's throw, but in the same trajectory path that it went in. However this time it was lower to the ground to account for the grounded Allen.
Who reacted almost immediately, he took a few steps back as he watched the ball move through the air, he used his bloody guidelines like an air strip as he launched himself in the air. He applied mana to his right hand once more, prematurely extended his mana outward, and began swinging at the ball. That was just short of Allen's hand, the ball had not gained an attraction to his mana.
As the ball fell to the ground, it bounced off of the bloody guidelines and toward the goal.
"5-3!" Cindy yelled in a disappointing tone as the ball rolled into Allen's goal. "I win, I guess."
Allen landed with his hands to the ground, he was out of breath and twitched at the pain coming from his feet. Cindy rushed over to Allen, actively avoiding any blood on the ground. "Allen are you okay! You got to tell me when you're hurt. A game is meant to be fun, not this serious."
"This serious? I was taking this as serious as I thought you would. I kind of get how games can be serious now. I felt a rush inside me, like when the dragonborn was dancing."
"Like when the what?"
Allen ignored Cindy's interjection, "Let's go again. Oh! How do you know how to overpower the ball?"
"You're just going to ignore what you just said?"
"What are you on about? I'm asking how to overpower the ball."
"Mana sense, it's the basic mana principle of Xyoinia."
"Teach me how to sense mana."