Chapter 5 - Arc 1: Chapter 5

"Seems like it will be over soon," Kyle taunted.

"… Yes," Ninia said before she turned towards Kyle. "I'll end this." Another burst of Ki, and all of the ice around her was blown away.

"I'll make sure of it." Ninia took a stance, and Kyle noticed that something was different.

{'Now she uses mana!'} This was the first time he saw her using it. Ninia gathered her mana and reinforced her body. {'Conserving her ki?'}

That was the only reason he could think of why Ninia would switch her usage of ki with mana. But that was fine. It means it would be a lot easier to stop her.

Ninia rushed toward Kyle, and he was prepared with his strings. However, Ninia was suddenly shrouded with mana and then split herself into five.

{'Illusion?'} Kyle looked surprised before he spread out his strings and tried to catch all of the Ninias. However, all of them suddenly vanished. {'Heh.'}

Immediately, a punch came and sent Kyle flying again. It was Ninia who quickly appeared in front of Kyle. However, she didn't stop there. She rushed towards Wanda.

"Like I would let you!" It was Tucker. He went for Ninia and swung his spear. But she dodged it and grabbed the spear, pulling him in. Shocked, Tucker couldn't react well when a Ki-imbued punch sent him flying.

"Ha!" Ozi came with his sword. Ninia slapped it away and then dodged a shield bash. She clenched her fist really hard and went for a punch. But suddenly, a blade of wind came at her. She dodged it and glared at Wanda, who had fired the wind blade.

But the attacks didn't stop there. Bullets came toward her and a sword as well. Tucker, who got knocked away, also came in for the fight. As for Kyle, he lay on the ground while acting exhausted. But he slowly got up and looked at the situation.

{'She did well in fighting multiple enemies. If it wasn't for Wanda, she could finish them off. But ….'} Kyle eyed Wanda.

{'If Wanda gets exhausted first, then it will be the end. The same goes for Ninia, but if they don't get her first, it will be the end of them as well, because Wanda has no protection.'}

{'I could help, but to play my act, my mana is supposed to be at the bottom, so I can't help much. Besides, I have gotten hit by her so many times that it is normal if I get exhausted.'}

{'But …. One last act.'} Kyle got up and slowly approached them. He used magic to camouflage himself and waited for an opportunity to take Ninia down.

{'If she is able to avoid my surprise attack, then I won't interfere more.'}

.

Ninia ducked down as a sword passed overhead, then she stepped away from where a spear was about to pierce her. She looked at Quinton and moved her hands to block all of the bullets, before jumping away when a pillar made of fire erupted from below.

However, as she landed, she quickly sensed her body getting entangled by strings, and Kyle suddenly appeared from behind with his knives aimed at her.

Ninia let out a breath and used her ki. Kyle's strings immediately tore apart, and she moved to grab Kyle by his collar and slammed him down before delivering a punch. It was successful in keeping him down. However, this came with a cost. Ninia began to breathe roughly.

Three times she used a ki burst to escape, and she had been fighting alone for a long time. She was bound to get exhausted.

{'Not only that …. Switching between Ki and mana continuously is exhausting, and if you are not careful, something bad will happen,'} Kyle thought while closing his eyes.

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Ninia eyed the others and moved again, but this time fireballs were thrown at her from every direction. Gathering her ki, she threw punches and dispersed them, but they were just mere decoys. Ozi, Tucker, and Quinton went for an assault. But Ninia was prepared for that. She split herself again into five and rushed at them. And two copies slipped away and went toward Wanda.

"This is not an illusion?!" Ozi gritted his teeth when he felt the impact of Ninia's clone's attack.

With Ozi, Tucker, and Quinton being held back, there was no one to protect Wanda. Wanda had noticed this as well and prepared her staff for a close-range fight while she was casting a spell. In truth, Wanda was already tired since she had used her spells a lot.

"Cyclone!" Wanda covered herself with defense magic first. "Razor wind blades!" She made the cyclone throw out several blades at Ninia, but once they got hit, they disappeared.

"Illusion!"

"It is over," a voice came from behind. Ninia clenched her fist and punched Wanda on her right side of the abdomen. It sent her flying away out of the arena. Ninia then rushed toward the last three who were fighting her clones. The clones suddenly disappeared, and it caused them confusion which Ninia used to get rid of Quinton first.

Ninia then grabbed Tucker and slammed him to the ground before she stomped on his stomach. She then moved toward Ozi, who raised his shield, but it was destroyed by one punch. Ninia grabbed his collar and pressed him down to the ground. Everything happened very fast.

Everyone was silent. After all, they witnessed something unbelievable. They initially predicted that Kyle's team would triumph. Because Ninia's teammates got defeated, it became five against one. But who knew, in the end, that one person could decimate five people completely.

It made them realize that at this moment, Ninia was the strongest among them.

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"Winner! First team!" With that, everyone retreated away from the arena and got treated. The next fight was Friena's team against Eric's team.

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Author: Aida Hanabi

Proofreader: Teppo