章 6: Dustup in the Desert pt.2
Tambourine found himself quickly outmatched by his opponent, she not only had raw power but her technique was greater than any foe he had faced before. 'At this rate, I'll lose to a damn human again!' She had just smashed him into the ground, and he was just getting up from the small crater as the dust and sand around him began to clear out.
"You're pretty durable, green bean." Her ranged attacks were less frequent at this point and she had taken to using a more direct approach to conserve her mana. 'Who knows if there's another one of these creeps! I'll have to fight smart, he sure can take a beating though.'
Tambourine was filled with a dark energy and boiling rage as he was losing the battle, "you vermin…Scum!!!" his pupils began to disappear as his body started glowing and his aura flickered violently between white and purple. "I don't care what the witch wants! I'm going to kill you!" He was bleeding but none of it was fatal yet.
"You can still talk? This is getting interesting!" She taunted. Suddenly he exploded forward at a speed he was previously incapable of, surprising Zahna, his hands were glowing red and he began a rapid barrage of knife hand strikes which put her on the defensive.
He was screeching as he pushed his assault, the feelings of malice growing within him. Zahna could sense the newfound darkness welling up in her enemy but there wasn't much she could do about it until she sussed out the new pattern of his attacks. 'This guy is such a nuisance!' Her mind was searching for an opening but suddenly Tambourine fired a beam from his mouth at point blank range "Damn!" She could only just block the attack but it still sent her flying. As she was falling through the air he chased after her and put his hands together as he landed a huge haymaker, sending her to the ground and cracking it upon impact.
She now found herself in a small crater, thankful that her dark magic made her durable enough to survive. She was quickly back on her feet, and spat out some blood as she locked eyes on her opponent who was going berserk. His hands were glowing again as he floated above her, this time the energy was a purple color like his aura which was now stabilizing in the color.
"Rahhh!" He began throwing purple ki blasts at her faster than the previous two fighters she dispatched, almost at a speed comparable to Luck's lightning barrage. But each of these attacks were more devastating, the surrounding area was bathed in explosions. Zahna deflected and dodged when she could but her opponent had a large area of effect attack and a flight advantage. 'I can't stay on the ground or I'm dead.' The battle went on like this for longer than she hoped, slowly pushing her closer to her limit.
She directed more mana to her defensive spells, it seemed she was finally finding a rhythm to the madness but her reserves were being pushed almost to depletion, she would have run out by now if not for her limited ability to use ambient mana to increase her longevity in battle. Tambourine no longer seemed capable of intelligent speech and was growling like a beast, fully consumed by his rage and evil energy. After watching his blast barrage fail to her defensive ability, he soon stopped his ranged attacks and swooped down to deliver another round of claw attacks.
As she focused on the approach of her enemy, Zahna threw a portal in his path but he rolled out of the way mid-flight which gave her time to ready her counter for him. With her sword raised to intercept him, her blade was covered in the same purple static as her portals. She let out a breath to focus and as he tried to land his strike she sidestepped it and cut off his wings in one smooth motion. "Get grounded, Green-bean!"
He crashed into the ground screaming in pain as he tumbled violently to a stop. Blood was seeping from where his wings used to be as he took to his feet. He charged back at her, this time he was glowing even more and his aura was even flashing even brighter. His green skin was now releasing a purple pulsing insidious light. "That can't be good…" she braced herself for whatever attack he planned to throw at her next.
His body started swelling as he closed the distance, darkened saliva was rushing out of his bloodied mouth. "Ruag!!! Die! Die! Die!" His final words before he unexpectedly exploded in a flash of evil ki. The blast crashed into Zahna and she was thrown far, crashing into a pyramid. Her body reinforcement flickered as her body fell from the ruined building to the ground. Breathing heavily and feeling pain all over her body, she lays on the ground and looks up to the sky. The stars were starting to twinkle on the young night sky as the evening fully settled in. "I still have a little left in the tank…" She healed herself as best as she could as she was nearly drained of all her mana.
Standing up, she noticed the stars above and below across the waters of the oasis. 'It's no Clover kingdom, but still that's an impressive palace.' She walked across the bridges and to the main entrance of the largest building. 'Well, she better be in there.'
As she drew closer she saw what appeared to be a floating pink and slightly transparent spirit that wore a hat and a welcoming smile. "Greetings!" it said with glee, "Fortune Teller Baba has been expecting you! Please follow me!" It floated inwards towards the dark interior as it beckoned her to follow.
"H-hey, wait a sec!" She stopped in her tracks, refusing to move forward without some answers.
The spirit turned around, and its translucent brow raised in confusion "Hmm? Is something wrong?"
Zahna shot an accusatory finger at the pink apparition, "You don't wanna fight me? Aren't you working for her too?"
The friendly ghost put up both hands in a sign of peace. "Oh no! I'm just her assistant, I don't fight anyone! Sorry, she does like her tests." it turned around and continued floating.
'Test? Those three were her test?' She decided that following this attendant was the best way to get more answers. 'This is definitely the place I was feeling so much magic emanating from but it seems calmer somehow, how odd?'
As she entered she sensed three presences before her. They all seemed to possess some form of magic that she could detect, but the strongest one was a small figure in a pointy hat sat atop a floating blue crystal ball. "You must be Fortuneteller Baba…" Zahna stated as she approached. "...WHAT'S WITH THE GOON SQUAD GRANNY?!"
The old woman had a shocked frown on her wrinkly face. "Hey! Mind your manners! You're lucky I wanted to help you!"
Zahna stormed up closer much to the surprise of all those around "HELP ME?! What with your hit squad? Whatever happened to sending a messenger?" Baba tried to speak but was interrupted "And another thing! I know you've been watching me, I could sense your scrying magic! You've been creeping on me through that weird ball haven't you?!" Zahna let out a long sigh as she caught her breath and calmed herself down.
The fortuneteller faux-coughed, "Ahem…now then. I'm sure you have a lot of questions." Zahna looked at the other two who were in the room with the witch. One of them looked to be in a state of decay but wrapped tightly in bandages, and the other looked like he was wearing a devil costume with wings.
"Is this hell or something?!"
After some initial hurdles in communication, Zahna learned from Baba that her brother Roshi in his infinite lecherous tomfoolery, used magic wishing orbs, known as the Dragon Ball, to summon her from whatever planet she was previously on before being transported here. And that another such wish would not be possible to remedy her unfortunate situation for an entire year from the date of her arrival.
She learned the name of the planet she was on was also called earth, but didn't believe that it could be possible. The fortuneteller, however, knew nothing of the Clover, Diamond, Spade or Heart kingdoms. She also had never heard of a being known as the witch queen. She'd never seen a grimoire like Zahna's, or magic quite as unique. And she was incapable of replicating the spells that Zahna could use. But this didn't apply in the reverse, the young magic knight found that she could use Magic Materialization after Baba had instructively demonstrated it to her. These discoveries led them both to the same conclusion, there were two earths but they didn't share the same geography or history.
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