Chapter seven

It was several weeks after the events with Ithnan. King Sinbad, Ja'far and Yamraiha were watching Neah. It was nearing night, and she was still training her magic in the Silver Scorpio Tower training grounds. "I'll give her some credit, it's been three days and she still has stamina," Sinbad commented, arms crossed.

"I wouldn't expect much less from a magi," Yamraiha smiled. Then she grew concerned, "But she should take a break at some point. She might be a magi, but she does have her limits. She's still human."

"Why is she trying so hard anyway?" Ja'far wondered. "Does she really plan on fighting that MWS alone?"

"It seems so..." Yamraiha answered. Down below them, Neah was panting, her hold on her staff faltering for a moment. "Your Majesty, should I have her stop?" The blue haired magician turned to her king.

"No. I'll go talk to her." Sinbad shook his head. Yamraiha nodded, and her and Ja'far took their leave.

~

"Sharrar Baraq!" Neah cast the water-dragon spell. She'd lost count of how many times she'd cast it at this point. "Ramz!" She continued several more spells. She was having a hard time using her staff to cast instead of her free hand, causing her to mess up a few times. Despite concentrating, she still heard as someone approached. Neah didn't have to look to know who it was. She ignored him for a few minutes before asking, "How long are you just going to stand there?"

"You should stop for the night," Sinbad advised, standing nearby. "You might be a magi, but you're still human."

"Taking notes from Yamraiha, huh?" Neah glanced his way before continuing, "I'm fine." She paused her training for a moment and sighed. Tossing her staff aside, she walked over to a training dummy a few feet away. She began practicing on it, figuring her martial arts needed work too. Neah punched it for a while, then raised her leg and kicked the dummy's head as hard as she could with her bare foot. The burlap and hay head flew off, where Sinbad easily caught it.

Neah walked over to him, taking the head, "If you're just going to stand there, why don't you help me train?" She tossed the head aside, "Humans are a bit more durable than dummies."

"Alright." Sinbad agreed. He followed her to the center of the training area.

"You know martial arts, right?" Neah asked.

"Ah, not really."

Neah sighed, "You're completely helpless without your metal vessels, aren't you?"

"No, I know a few other things." Sinbad spoke.

"Oh, yes, Magoi Manipulation, very scary." Neah said sarcastically. "Just block my hits, King Idiot." She knew he had a lot of other tricks up his sleeves, but she wanted to poke fun anyway.

They trained like that for at least a few hours, Neah growing more exhausted the longer it went on. She hadn't found an opening the entire time. The king might've said he didn't know martial arts, but he was much better at it than Neah anticipated. Then, the magi found an opening and punched Sinbad in the stomach, the hit affecting Neah's fist more than Sinbad's hard stomach.

"Ow!" Neah pulled her hand away, her offensive stance faltering. "What the hell are you made of?! Steel?!" Sinbad chuckled. "Geez...Ok, enough of that. I didn't sign up to fight Iron Man." Neah walked to where she'd abandoned her staff earlier and picked it up.

"Are you done yet?" Sinbad asked.

"Hell no." Neah went back to practicing magic.

"It's been three days already." Sinbad reminded. "You need to rest eventually. Why are you rushing anyway?"

"I don't have time to waste sitting around." Neah spoke. "I'm still not at full strength with a staff yet."

"You won't get better if you're dead." Sinbad said bluntly. He was realizing that was the only way she'd listen, unless she actually cared. He'd heard from Yamraiha that Neah could be nice and would pay attention when she was learning about magic.

Neah stopped. She suddenly realized how out of breath she was. Panting, she dropped her staff again and leaned over, rested her hands on her knees. "Damn..." She breathed. Stupid king... Not like she wanted to admit it, but he was right. Neah fell to her knees, still breathing heavy. She coughed, and when she removed her hand blood was pooling in it.

She heard Sinbad sigh, "Come on." He walked over and offered her a hand.

Neah refused it, "I can walk myself, thanks." She struggled to stand and nearly fell, causing Sinbad to catch her. Neah huffed in annoyance as Sinbad carried her bridal-style, "You're an ass."

~