Reim Empire

"That sounds amazing. Assuming I don't pass out or anything..." she said knowing that she was still rather weak she still sought to have fun with her friends and help get to where they needed to be. She seemed to be a bit more relaxed and since Fudo released her from his grasp she was left to pay attention to the ongoing conversation between Yasmin and Aiolia.

Yasmin couldn't keep the surprise off her face as Aiolia mentioned that his sister had used her Djinn on him, to be able to keep tabs on him as he travelled. She had to give it to the woman, her ability to think ahead was rather admirable, but beyond that the thought of a Djinn's power allowing such a thing, even as a Dungeon Capturer herself was kind of frightening. "Wow, that is some power to have." she said as if her own exploits if known wouldn't cause the same sort of reaction. "Well, with that out of the way that takes care of two phases of my plans and gives us what I assume will be a bit of breathing room. If she ever has anything to say, we're all ears." she said giving a minor bow. With that bit taken care of a bit of curiosity stemmed from the girl. "Oh yeah, Nasira took the morning training. I wonder how that's going..." she started to ask a question but was soon confronted by a shocking sight.

The black haired girl who was Fudo's companion, was now flying through the side wall of the courtyard and then skidding to a halt on the ground, rather conveniently missing everyone who had been in her line of trajectory through a bit of quick thinking. She bounced off the ground really quickly after, on her toes. "Wooh, this guy is strong!"

"Well, if you do, we'll just have a rain check on that." After Fudo said his last piece to Shadiya, Nasira made a rather astounding entrance which caused his eyes to focus on the black-haired lass. At the point of her recovery, it became obvious that her training session was still ongoing, which was strange when considering the fact that it should have been over long ago.

There would be no opportunity to address the length of Nasira's training session, nor would there be time for Aiolia to figure out who this new person was. This was due to the immediate and swift approach of the blue-haired man named Jellal. He maneuvered his way around the other individuals in the area while approaching Nasira with his right arm pulled back. Once within range, he aimed an open-palm strike at her face which, if avoided, would be followed by a very interesting move. Jellal would delay his movements just long enough to permit the thought that there would be no follow-up attack, before quickly utilizing stored momentum to spin counterclockwise and aim a powerful kick at the girl's torso.

A quick nod would follow what the girl had heard Fudo say. She found her new friends very enjoyable and their willingness to accommodate more than she could ever begin to fathom. Even so, they were soon confronted by a shocking sight. That of a flying Nasira and the gladiator who was apparently her trainer for the day. The ensuing bit of a fight was something that Shadiya found herself incapable of following with her eyes.

Nasira on the other hand, was rather busy. The open palm strike which was aimed at her face was dodged with a quick shift of her tiny body to the left and around the young man she was fighting against. And as she watched the individual she was sparring with, she prepared herself for a counter-attack and after a passing amount of time she didn't expect one to come. Such a thing, came with a slightly unconscious untensing of her muscles, and when this occurring she soon found this man swinging himself into her body with a circular momentum which would send her flying back the direction she'd come from originally. Still there was a large smile on the girl's face even as this happened. Once she was gone, Yasmin gave an appreciative whistle. "Nevermind, Nasira is obviously having more fun than all of us." she said seemingly pleased that the girl was enjoying herself. Shadiya blinked twice, "I have no idea what I just saw... but I am not sure how it counts as fun." she mentioned with only pure shock on her face. "Oh, she was smiling, so obviously fun, right?" this was said by Yasmin looked to Fudo for confirmation of her assessment.

"Is this the best a Genshi Ryu has for me?" the blue-haired man asked in rhetoric, merely to illicit some sort of physical reaction to the apparent battering he'd been giving for the past two attacks on Nasira. Following the connection of his kick, he let momentum continue carrying him around until he landed on the ground, facing the girl. From there, he instantly took off again, aiming continuous palm strikes at her face, one after another. "You should have much more fluidity than this at your age."

By the time he was looked to for confirmation, Fudo was already smiling. Indeed, it did seem to be the case that Nasira was having a jolly good time in her training session. He wasn't quite sure what form of Magoi Manipulation she could be learning, but at least she was enjoying it. "Mm. She's always been the lively type. I saw her on the coast kicking at a Rampaging Unicorn once."

Nasira was flying and smiling, soon enough she'd be back on her feet at the training ground more than prepared by the time the next barrage of punches were aimed at her face. "That's the second time I've heard that word, and I still don't know what it means." she commented as she dodged the attacks coming her way. She was seeing them all, and having little problem reacting and soon after about five she found a break, in which she'd aim a harder strike directly under this man's chin, obviously not one to continue taking a beating without at least trying to give one back.

"A Rampaging Unicorn? Like the giant sea horse things?!" Yasmin said utterly shocked by this information. Though now that she thought about it, she supposed she could mentally see, Nasira devoting herself to such an activity. Much like she could see Bakura gambling and doing other activities considered unsavory for fun. "Eh, I suppose if we ever have to find the Imuchakk peoples we could probably get her declared a warrior." said the pink haired girl in a rather funny way. This made Shadiya giggle just a bit as she realized why Yasmin would be able to say such a thing. "Finished reading that book I gave you yesterday, huh?" she asked which made Yasmin blush just a little. "Well, I was bored, and I don't sleep much." she said seeming to be embarrassed about it.

"It's the name of your people. There's no mistaking that. You're cut from the same cloth as that Ren," Jellal replied. Soon enough, Nasira sent a counter-strike his way, connecting with his chin. Though this was indeed a mighty strike, he seemed to shrug it off while swinging his arm over hers, aiming to punch her directly in the jaw as retaliation.

When Yasmin confirmed what knowledge she had of the Rampaging Unicorns, Fudo laughed. "Yes... the giant seahorse things," he agreed. Then, there was the matter of comparing Nasira with the warriors of Imuchakk. This was not something Fudo found himself agreeing with, as he had seen an Imuchakk warrior or two in his time. There was little comparison to be made here. "Oh please. If she took the warrior's test in Imuchakk, they'd have to put her in charge of the entire tribe after the warm-up."

This man's words didn't make her understand what he meant any better. To the best of her approximation, she assumed this mean he knew of the people from whatever land she actually came from. But like many things, this had never really been of interest to Nasira. But, if it was full of people who'd be capable of giving her a reasonable fight, she might be inclined to go look for such a place. This man mentioned another such person and it made a grin cross her face as a rather satisfying connection between her fist and his face took place. Right after though, another strike was aimed at her jaw, surprisingly enough the retaliating strike would make contact with nothing, as the tiny girl's body was shifted with innate speed and flexibility to leave her perched upon that arm. Her immediate next action would be to lash out with her right foot towards the left side of his jaw. "Oh, I've never had to try so hard before." said the girl and it would be followed by laughter most jolly. "This is amazing. Also, what's a Ren?" she asked, these people had much contact with lots of people, and if he knew where she should start looking for better challenges after him, she was all ears.

These moments with people laughing with and at her, made Yasmin's face burn a bright red. "I can see that." said Yasmin in direct response to Fudo's assertion that the tiny black haired female would be perfectly capable of becoming a tribe leader of the Imuchakk. Shadiya seemed somewhat astounded, after all, Nasira was smaller than she was, the thought of her taking on a Rampaging Unicorn was utterly shocking. "Are all of you this... outlandish?" she asked rubbing her face seeming to not understand how normal people became so... well over the top.

Just as his previous attack had phased through the air, the kick Nasira aimed at his jaw would do the same. Using a similar form of movement to her own, he twisted himself around into a flip which landed him atop Nasira's right leg. And, with both of them airborne and Jellal facing away from the girl, he brought his left foot back toward her torso in an attempt to send her rocketing toward the ground at an angle. "The most challenging opponent I've ever met. Tao Ren. The last man to receive the master's special training."

"Sure you can," Fudo said through another laugh at Yasmin's expense. He had become quite keen on observing this match between Nasira and Jellal, but when asked about the apparent outlandishness of the rest of the group by Shadiya, he was thrown for a bit of a loop. "What do you mean?"

This exchange was getting very interesting, and though the initial hit towards her met nothing, her own counter-strike also met thought. She seemed a bit surprised by this, but as she was airborne there was little to be done. All she could do was try to subvert the attack on her torso, which was diverted as she tucked her body in just a bit causing the strike to meet with the bottoms of her feet instead and sending her rocketing towards the ground right before she would have made impact she flipped herself over though she slid back several more feet before she came to a complete stop. "Better landing that time...." said the girl as she stood, rotating her shoulders and setting her body right for the next attack. "Tao Ren? I've heard that name before... when was it??" questioned the girl mostly to herself. Recent events all seemed to stream together... "I swear... while we were in Parthevia, maybe." she seemed to be thinking about this really hard, but it was mostly because she was certain she had heard that name before.

Meanwhile, Fudo was having another laugh at Yasmin's expense before turning his attention towards the sparring match happening with Nasira which they all could see, though Shadiya wasn't able to follow it with her eyes. Shadiya's random question had apparently caused some sort of confusion in Fudo and this made the girl look a bit dazed. "Well, I mean..." she thought about it more and then. "Well, Yasmin is kind of good at everything she tries... And you are you... so that's a thing. And Nasira is really strong... and has ridiculous reflexes, she's always catching things I'm dropping, even before I realized I was dropping them." she said with a nod. "Actually, the most normal person among you is Bakura and he's been asleep most of the time I've known him." Yasmin listened to what this girl had to say about the others of their friend group, and she tended to agree a bit. Though when it was mentioned that Bakura was normal the pink haired girl exploded into laughter.

The longer this match went on, the more similarities between fighting abilities became apparent. Such a case would have a chance to be true to Nasira when Jellal landed. The stance he took could hardly be considered one at all, as he was just as relaxed while standing at the ready, as one would be when falling asleep in bed. "Do not seek Tao Ren. He is an affiliate of the Kou Empire. Not the kind of person you want to look for a friendly spar with."

"I'm me?" Fudo questioned immediately. "Well, that's not very lovely, is it? Everyone else gets something cool about them, and I get to be... me." In spite of what he said, this was followed by another bit of laughter. This was overshadowed, of course, by the sudden laughter of Yasmin, which was another confusing occurrence. "I suppose you disagree with Bakura being normal?"

"Oh stop it." said Nasira who seemed to scoff at the idea that she was looking for a friendly spar with this Tao Ren person. "I am not looking for him, I just remembered the name... I was trying to think of the context. But I don't need it... I got you right here after all, that's more important." said the black haired girl, who appeared not to care either way about the man named Tao Ren. As far as she was concerned the man in front of her was the one to be dealt with and anything after that would be something else entirely. Beyond this point now that she was relaxed she seemed to take a bit of time to look at this man's rather relaxed posture. "Aren't you too relaxed right now?" she asked having never seen her own overly relaxed posture it was odd looking at someone who was so relaxed in the middle of a fight.

As Shadiya processed Fudo's reaction she also went red in the face. "What I didn't mean..." she paused though because apparently the young man was now enjoying a laugh at her expense instead. And soon after, Yasmin's laughter seemed to overtake this moment and it was such a random occurrence that Shadiya looked to the girl who seemed to take a moment or two to pull herself together. "Sorry, it's just... I remembered the first day Baki introduced himself to me. In an alley, in Parthevia in the middle of the summer. A boy in rags who wasn't a slave but well-fed from sneaking into the palace and stealing bread right off the emperor's table. Had himself and everyone else calling him... 'The Thief King Bakura', totally the most normal person of the group." Yasmin mentioned a grin resting on her face. But her story made Shadiya's eyes widen, because when she was a kid, she'd heard of that person. "Really? He's that guy... the stories made him sound like a grown up."

"That's the spirit," Jellal said when Nasira commented that she would use him to keep a regular combat challenge. As for the relaxed nature of the pose he'd taken, he could only raise a brow at the girl. It seemed this was simply a thing she didn't recognize about her own fighting style. "You're kidding, right? Your form is no different. It's a bit strange that you haven't been awoken yet."

"Thief King Bakura, huh..." After hearing Yasmin's story about meeting the white-haired boy, Fudo laughed once more. From what little he knew of the lad, he assumed this to be a name created by Bakura himself, and simply spread about.

"Yeah, fun for now." she said with a curt nod. She seemed to be very relaxed herself a point which was made by Jellal which made the girl's brows draw together. His words about her, were confusing to the black haired girl, so she decided a bit of information which she could obviously get from this man. "Awoken? What are you getting at exactly?" asked Nasira. "You say I'm weird, I say you're weird. Are we weird in the same kind of way?" she asked this question, because she'd never been bested in a fight before this moment, not in hand to hand combat anyways.

Yasmin however found herself laughing and relaxing the red tint in her face finally fading given no one was laughing at her anymore. "Yeah, he's an interesting person, Baki." she said wiping a tear away from her eye and allowing her gaze to wander to where the fighting had come to some sort of standoff in the distance. "They are kind of alike, Jellal and Nasira." she said noticing the overly relaxed posture had both taken. It was a bit odd to see from this perspective. It would be Shadiya who spoke next looking at the pair and shrugging bringing something of a conclusion to what they were saying. "So, the whole of you is completely outlandish. My friends you are all interesting people." she said with a quick nod, it was an appreciative sentence but as it stood the girl had nothing more to say.

"As a matter of fact... yes. When I say awoken, what I mean is..." Mid-sentence, Jellal chose to dash toward Nasira and begin his assault anew. The end of his clause was accompanied by a sliding, sweeping kick at the girl's legs, intended to remove her from the ground one way or another. "Genshi Ryu grow into an understanding of who and what they are. At that point, a Genshi Ryu becomes able to tell others through sensing them."

"Indeed they are," Fudo said about the similarities between Nasira and Jellal. From then on, a grin remained on his face due to the assertion of Shadiya that everyone else in their group was, in her words, outlandish. "Not to worry, Shadi. You're no different than the rest of us."

Jellal seemed to confirm that they were indeed the same king of being. Beyond this he sought to restart their battle charging in her direction, though this didn't move Nasira and it didn't cause her any real distress. As she watched him come nearer she seemed to jump only as a direct reaction to her feet being targeted with a sweeping kick. "Oh, so ones of us who know what we are properly can tell other ones on sight. That's interesting..." she said remembering that very odd and random conversation she'd had standing in the Harron property in Parthevia with an odd male. All of those questions and his curiosity now seemed to make a bit more sense. Her eyes widened at that moment as she realized that this man was probably the one they'd been speaking about before.

Yasmin found this whole thing kind of interesting, but when Fudo felt the need to point out that Shadiya was also outlandish as she called it, she also agreed. "He's right you know? It's why you belonged with us." she chimed in. And at the words spoken by her two friends, Shadiya's face reddened intensely. She was almost uncertain why both of them felt the need to reassure her in such a way, but it made her happy that they did. "This is what I was getting at, you just being you." she said to Fudo while hiding her reddened face as she tried to get over this particular bout of embarrassment.

"Not just that." When Nasira hopped over his leg, Jellal let his momentum carry him into a full spin. This came with a hop, which brought him up to Nasira's level as he aimed to use his opposite leg to kick her higher into the air. "There is a different level of strength to the sensation. Every Genshi Ryu feels different. It's more obvious with some than others."

Even while conversing with the others, Fudo kept his eyes on the battle. Though his smile was ever-present, there was a bit of confusion left in his mind by the words of Shadiya. "I'm not at all sure what you mean."

Nasira's placement, put her in the air, but her opponent soon joined her there, aiming another kick at her which would indeed connect and send her further into the air, but this was all to plan as she flew higher and took in the information that he was giving. "I see, that's good to know... anything else?" she asked this as she was coming down from her flight flipping and adding extra momentum she would aim to land a fearsome blow atop this man in his left side with the full brunt of her body and extra momentum which she'd use to try and force this man back down from the air and straight into the ground.

Meanwhile, the conversation going between Shadiya, Fudo, and Yasmin seemed to reaching an interesting point. It appeared that Shadiya was trying to figure out how to explain what Fudo was like to him, and it was kind of hard to do. "Well..." she started thinking of a way and seeming to have a stroke of genius. "You're like really accepting. Or welcoming, like you make everyone feel needed." Shadiya said, and surprisingly enough Yasmin nodded her head in agreement. "Oh, I get what you're saying... you're right Shadi." she verbally agreed holding her hand up for a high five and the purple haired girl returned the gesture seemingly excited by the rather simple form of appreciation.

"You'll find out the rest," said Jellal during his reaction to the girl's attack. As she kicked out at him, his hand met the side of her leg. With a push, he shifted himself to the side of Nasira, yet he did not make efforts toward another attack. "Once you wake up, that is. This'll do for today. It was fun. Rest up now."

"Eh?" was the next thing to come from the teal-haired man's mouth. Sure, he had to accept that this was a feature he possessed, but he was still confused as to why this was a majorly defining factor of his existence. "Everyone is needed. Everything has a purpose. Anyway, it looks like they're finishing up now."

Jellal's reaction to Nasira's attack would cause the girl to shift her weight, after contact was made and no further attacks were attempted she flipped landing on her feet and falling back into utterly relaxed posture. "Whatever you say, it was fun." she said bowing to the man before she headed off to find her friends. "If you want to go again, I'm still good for it." she said rotating her shoulders a huge grin on her face. She had a few things to think about, but Nasira wasn't really inclined to stress. No things would fix themselves as necessary.

Meanwhile Yasmin and Shadiya heard out what Fudo had to say and both nodded their heads in agreement. He was quite right, everyone was needed, he was just a special kind of person for understanding that about everyone. "So they are, Nasira!" these were the words Yasmin said which caught the black haired girl's attention and she immediately joined the group seeming utterly relaxed. "Hi, everyone, sorry about my random entrance and exit earlier." she said standing among the group.

"You are all such... very strange people," were the words of Aiolia from the sidelines. He had remained silent for some time, but had been keeping an eye on both the battle and the conversing friend group nearby. From these things, he only gathered that this entire collection of people was far stranger than any he'd ever seen.

Meanwhile, in the throne room of the palace, Sorio sat in audience, with a staff in hand. "What information do you have for me, boy?" he asked. At this point, the person who had been bowed before him rose his head. This male's blonde hair parted, revealing the face of Shaka, the Household Member of one Shadiya Harron. "I know where the man from Artemyra went, and the location of the invaders to your palace. These people abducted me and the person I worked for in Parthevia, and they've been poisoning her mind since then. I thought if I told you about this, it would benefit us both. You will be rid of an enemy, and I will be able to go back to my previous life." As Shaka spoke to the sitting emperor of Reim, the Rukh around him began to swarm with resolve. However, one with magical inclinations would be able to note that black Rukh were beginning to show themselves around this boy as well.

"Oh well, I guess we are. But you get used to it." said the black haired girl who would follow-up the acknowledgement of their oddness with an introduction of herself. "I'm Nasira. I suppose that means you're the representative from Artemyra then?" she asked because she'd missed this boy's initial introduction. Not that she was upset with his presence, after all she was a firm believer in the more the merrier. Beyond this, Yasmin simply nodded at the girl's words and chuckled when Aiolia mentioned they were all strange.

Meawhile at the palace while a meeting between Sorio and Shaka the member of Shadiya's Household took place, a black haired woman dressed in deep red cape and white linen pieces. She had random pieces of gold and jewelry looked on from her position behind this man at his left. Her red glowing eyes piercing through this individual and noticing the culmination of Black Rukh from his person and his resolve to apparently preserve his own way of life. "You don't say..." Minerva said chuckling finding the pretense of this boy's speech amusing.

"That would be me. Aiolia. Aiolia Angelis," the boy said with, once again, the most courteous of bows. "Pleasure to meet you." It seemed like things were finally dying down now that Nasira's fight against her trainer was over. But, such was the perfect time for random occurrences, and one was surely about to occur. Over the course of this meeting, two pillars had come from the colosseum; one fire, and one light. In this moment, Malik himself flew over the colosseum wall, landing on the ground near the group. His body was battered and beaten, and he had barely an inkling of Magoi remaining in him. Tears streamed down the pink-haired male's face as he reached out with one hand, hoping someone - anyone - could save him from the hell that was this training session. "H-... Hide... me..."

"... Intriguing." Sorio seemed to be taking an interest in the boy before him, and as a magician himself, the black Rukh beginning to fixate themselves to this lad did not go unnoticed by Reim's emperor. This was good. Here, he had an ally in the form of another individual like himself; one that simply wanted to do away with the inconveniences fate had thrown their way. "What say you, Minerva? Would you have this boy amongst our ranks in this war?"

Nasira bowed in return liking this new guy a bit already. "Nice to meet you, Aiolia." she managed to say, before only a few seconds passed and none other than Malik could be seen on the ground nearby. His presence and plea to be hidden made a bit of laughter escape the pink haired girl but she still went to give the young man a helping hand. "Rough day, Malik?" she asked rhetorically extending a hand to the young man with a smile on her face. "Come on, up you go." she said to him wanting the apparently crying young man to pull himself together, and using her body to try and pull him into the standing position. "We've got a new friend, don't set a bad example." Yasmin had finished this statement, but the words heard next belonged to the old small pink haired woman known as Uzma. "Leave him, you brats are next." she said pointing to Yasmin and Fudo. This, of course, made Yasmin pause still holding Malik's hand. "And suddenly I feel like I might need to be rescued."

To the Emperor's question a smile came across the Magi's face, "I'm sure we could make use of him for the war." she said with a knowing smile. This boy didn't even know what he was getting himself into. He was simply taking the shortest route to apparently getting what he wanted. Still it would be better if he was properly equipped during his time as a spy for them. "Here, why don't you take this with you?" she said offering the a black jeweled metal clawed gauntlet. This would allow him to use the Black Rukh with the kind of magic he leaned towards naturally. "Your Household Vessel doesn't work right. So you might need this~" Minerva chimed with a happiness usually unseen in her.

The pink-haired male's entry led to Aiolia being stunned once more. He didn't know who this person was initially, but the name he was missing was soon spoken by Yasmin. 'This is the Malik they were talking about?' he thought, wondering how one who could create such magic as what he saw earlier could be in this predicament.

When his hand was taken, Malik felt a great wave of relief. It was as if the hell he'd been through had finally been removed from his life, but this happiness could not have been shorter lived. Uzma made her appearance known to the lot, and with her arrival, she sought to claim his savior for her training session of the day. This caused Malik's heart to sink. None would be able to save him on this day.

Looking up to the black-haired woman, Shaka claimed this magic tool she had to offer him. Though he did not know what this was, or what it would do, he believed that these people would see his desires fulfilled. That was all he needed. Shaka discarded the Household Vessel he wore, replacing it with the gauntlet given to him by this woman.

Yasmin finished what she'd been doing giving the boy a bit of comfort since he was apparently more than a bit sadder than she should have been. "Not to worry, Malik. We'll be back soon enough, just try not to be so down about it, okay?" she asked him with a smile on her face giving his hand a gentle pat on the other side before letting it go. She then turned to face Uzma and bowed. "I guess we're up then." she said following behind the woman who was now walking away and giving a wave to everyone else. "Come on Fudo. She said you too~" she mentioned not ever one to be stuck in such a predicament by herself. While this happened Nasira kind of appeared beside Malik and offered him a hand up instead. "Come on, training can't be that bad now can it?" she asked, knowing that she'd spent all morning getting her butt kicked by Jellal. Uzma on the other hand was leading what she assumed to be the two young dungeon capturers with their intertwined fates into a large open area in the Colosseum which had a really large boulder and lots of rocks otherwise the space was unoccupied.

At the palace the laughter of the Dark Magi could be heard. She couldn't believe this young man had so easily discarded that which had previously been sacred to him, only to take what she'd given without even asking about what would happen as a result of him taking it. What an amusing boy he was. This only made her wonder what had caused him to wander down this darker path in the first place, though prying at a time like this was a bit unnecessary.

"Of course. I was waiting for you to be ready," Fudo said to the pink-haired girl, having already resigned himself to whatever trials Uzma had to offer them. When Yasmin was also ready, he began to move, following in Uzma's tracks until reaching the mostly open space of the colosseum. Meanwhile, Malik was being raised from the ground by Nasira, and whining all the while. "That's not training. It's like the continuous touch of death while you don't have the ability to be dragged into the next life. You're just... stuck in limbo while the world around you tries to tear you apart by every cell in your body. I need... I need... a caretaker!"

Uzma was now standing before Fudo and Yasmin pacing back and forth in front of a boulder which was many times larger than her person. And as she did this she began to explain the purpose of undertaking the start of their training with her. "All the Gladiators start their training with me. Such is done, to make you stronger physically and magically. Many more times than you would normally be capable of. The hopes of course, to make you about as I am." she stated plainly which made Yasmin glance in Fudo's direction. She was such a tiny old lady that the thought of her being physically strong at this point was a bit outlandish. But magically strong that could be anyone.

Meanwhile Nasira found herself laughing at Malik's rather absurd metaphors. "A caretaker? Hmm, that seems like a pretty tall order given what you just said about how your training makes you feel." mentioned the girl, who found this to be overall pretty funny. "Settle for a friend, I can commiserate, I got beat up by Jellal all morning." she said with a swift nod.

Uzma's claims of her strength were just as strange to Fudo as they were to Yasmin. As such, when the latter looked his way, he had nothing to say on the matter. It wasn't quite that he was in disbelief, but rather that he wondered precisely what sort of strength she could have been referencing. Surely it was nothing to be trifled with if she spoke of it in such a way as this, but that was indeed a bit much to take in. "Ah... Well, that explains the venue. Go on then. Show us."

"A... friend..." said Malik. Within moments, the pink-haired young man sprung to life, taking Nasira's hand into his while wrapping his other arm around her. In this moment, his eyes sparkled, and his voice righted itself from its previous tortured state. "Yes! We will console each other as equals and ride off into the night, where we will keep each other safe from our torturers for all eternity!"

Uzma looked at the pair of youngsters pausing in front of the giant boulder she'd been pacing in front of. When she stopped she looked at the boulder and reached out for it with her left hand and surprisingly enough she picked it up without seeming to break any motion or sweat. Of course doing this she turned around and continued talking because she was still explaining. "This kind of strength training is meant to be done, so that you don't have to have massive muscles to be powerful, it's only failed once." she said tossing the boulder over her shoulder for both Yasmin and Fudo to watch it land with a thud. "And to be clear you won't immediately be fighting or trying anything, just moving should provide you with a good enough work out for the next couple of weeks." Uzma explained. Yasmin just managed to look stunned. "Note to self, don't make this one angry." she said aloud but in hushed tones only for Fudo to hear.

Meanwhile Nasira was soon put into a half-embrace by the boy known as Malik who still seemed to have given up his solemnness in exchange for some pure outlandish thoughts about running away from their responsibilities. "You really are an odd man. I don't believe in running from my torturers. I'm going to beat them, you should aim to do the same." Nasira slamming her right fist into the palm of her left hand. It seemed that Fudo's assertion that she was a particularly lively individual was indeed correct.

Fudo had come to expect a demonstration of strength by Uzma, but in this case, expecting something was very different from seeing it happen. His brow furrowed during the lifting of the boulder, and only did so even more when Uzma went on to say that moving would be ample training for them during the coming weeks. Though he accepted that this training was likely to be very efficient, and was just as likely to yield incredible results... he still didn't quite like where this was going. "I think I'd rather fight her than deal with whatever she's about to throw our way."

The feedback from his most recent exclamation was not quite what Malik was hoping for. In fact, the words of Nasira made him lose his energy all over again. "Mmfh! There's no beating that old man. Have you seen his eyebrows!?"

"You're right not to like where this is going. But it's about to happen." said Uzma. But curiosity was more in Yasmin than fear of this situation, whatever it was about to be, "Who was the failure?" she asked seemingly interested in the negative outcome. "The big blonde guy you met yesterday, Dio. He ended up all muscled up... Everyone else didn't gain too much mass though." she said with a curt nod. And with that said the old woman moved her hat and pulled from beneath it a wand which was more or less a plain stick which seemed like it could have been plucked from any random tree. "Good, if there are no questions." she said the follow up to this would be the casting of a very complex spell, using the wand as a conduit. And when she was done, a pair of magoi based cuffs would be around the wrists and ankles of both Yasmin and Fudo. These cuffs would make it nearly impossible for both of them to move without putting everything they had into the movements, both their physical muscles and their magoi. And after it was done Uzma just watched as, she could only expect interesting things to happen.

"Of course there's no beating him, when you already look defeated at the start. What happened to confidence?" she asked of this young man who seemed to have completely lost himself again. She sighed then because she found it almost astonishing that this one was as powerful as he was, if he didn't think it was done so that one day he could surpass the man who taught him. After all, the point of doing such things was to find the next big challenge and top it, regardless of the type of challenge it was. "Also I am sure you could have angry eyebrows too if you wanted."

Fudo sighed while mentally preparing himself for what was to come. However, there was no preparing for this. The cuffs of Magoi around his wrists forced his arms together, and the ones around his ankles did the same for his legs. He nearly fell over where he stood, but in spite of the surprise of what happened, he managed to regain most of his composure. "Magic bindings?" he questioned. There was an immediate effort from Fudo to separate his arms and legs, but in spite of all his strength, there was nothing to be done aside from a small bit of movement.

"Why would I want angry eyebrows?" asked Malik. He was quite certain there was simply no end to Makarov's training at this point. After all, he had been at this for a year, and it was getting no easier for him. Malik could only wonder how Shadiya fared, considering her starting point was the same as what he went through at present. As for the confidence of which Nasira spoke, he couldn't say there was much present within him. Makarov had a tendency to break his students of any such thing. "I think I'm gonna just..." Without the ability to complete his final statement, Malik lost consciousness and fell to the ground in a deep slumber.

Yasmin was no better off than Fudo. Her wrists and ankles came together and she also fell to the ground. She was a bit stunned but didn't immediately try to move. Fudo's mention of magic bindings gave her some sort of idea of what was going on here, and this made her chuckle just a little, after all this situation was quite ironic. Even so, it would be Uzma who answered his question in her usual brash manner. "I call them Spirit Cuffs. Basically... they're like weights for your Magoi. They lock in your magoi and restrict your physical movements. The only way you're going to manage to actually move, is by exerting one hundred percent of your physical strength and one hundred percent of you magical strength. Doing so will increase the threshold of your Magoi to a much greater place, while training your body to fully utilize it. Given what you brats have shown yourselves to be capable of you should be able to move about... but not much else for a while. But you should know the rest of your training won't stop while you get it together." the woman finished up her sentence and waited assuming the pair of children before her would eventually be able to stand. Yasmin hearing the information given would try to separate her arms and sit up. And though it would take quite a few minutes of struggle she would eventually be able to do it. "Wait a minute, did you just say our other training aren't going to stop. You mean, we're expected to fight like this?" she asked this was utterly shocking an idea.

Meanwhile, Malik had questioned angry eyebrows and why he'd want them, which made Nasira shrug, and went on to pass out pretty much on the spot. This was such an odd thing to do, but she supposed if she was as tired as he was, she'd also have fallen asleep like that. Still it seemed like a bad idea to leave someone passed out in the courtyard and thus she aimed to pick the boy up and throw him over her shoulder carrying him into the villa so he could at least sleep on a couch or something until he felt better. "Eh, falling asleep mid-conversation. What an odd man." he stated plainly.

It was disturbing to know that these 'Spirit Cuffs' as Uzma called them were to be semi-permanent affixes to the pair of Dungeon Capturers. Even though he could understand this method's merits, the fact that he had to put forth so much effort 100% of the time just to do something as simple as scratching his nose made it feel like a form of torture. But, he would persevere. He had to. Keeping up his physical effort, he also forced his Magoi to the surface, to the best of his ability. This was indeed a struggle, and Fudo broke a sweat long before he managed to slowly pull apart his wrists and ankles. This was certainly the most difficult thing the teal-haired male had ever been required to do for any reason, but if he could manage through this, he would be much better off for it. "Alright then. When do we start training like this?"

It seemed that both Yasmin and Fudo had struggled and managed to at least regain some control of their extremeties. If Uzma was pleased by this development, her face didn't show it, she simply went back to pacing and explaining this situation. "Like I said, you brats will have a hard enough time moving around... so, you won't get anything past the sort of thing you did yesterday until you're ready. But... you'll find that to be significantly more challenging." she finished. It was now Yasmin's turn and after more struggle she was finally able to separate her ankles as well. She was now sitting and breathing as if she'd run a marathon but she was recovering steadily. "This is that soul crushing sadness... I feel it creeping up." Yasmin said in a manner rather reminiscent of Malik just a few moment's prior to this one. Still she wouldn't give up it was just a matter of adjusting to forcing all of herself into every single motion and that wasn't something she was used to. A tsk could come from Uzma. "These brats asking about more training, and one of you can't even stand up yet." she said. This made Yasmin look at the woman and stick her tongue out. "I like it down here, I'll get up when I'm ready."

"Nothing more than sparring, huh?" Fudo asked in rhetoric. He seemed to be contemplating something, but that was a matter for a later time. "I suppose I'm to assume we're done here, then?" he continued. Fudo's first bit of exercise with these cuffs in place was to move closer to Yasmin and offer her a hand up.

"It's more than enough for you, for now anyways. I am sure we'll find something else to teach you two." she said waving the pair of them off. She then tucked her wand back under her hat and yawned. As this happened Yasmin reached up and took Fudo's hand and then took all the concentration she had to help pull her own weight up off the ground. "Thanks." she said and once she was standing the girl seemed to look a bit abashed, but the normal mannerisms she would have had to show this were simply too hard to make happen at present. "Yeah, feel free to go join your friends... I'm sure the others will find you when they are ready for you. Nap time now, I'll see you brats later." said the old woman as she simply walked away from the pair of them. Still it was properly impossible for Yasmin to relax right now. With Uzma walking away Yasmin looked to Fudo and shrugged. "So back to the villa then?" she asked taking a few steps towards it while devoting the utmost concentration to the activity.

"Sleep well," Fudo said to the parting woman as he kept his physical focus on helping Yasmin rise from the ground. To the girl he was content to call friend, he considered the trip back to the villa, and how horrendous said trip was liable to be. "Ugh. I suppose we have to get used to this, huh? Sure, but... let's try to avoid having to pick each other up, yeah? That was absolute hell for me," he jested. And, with that, he began moving toward their temporary home space as well.

The short woman waved over her shoulder in response, but said no more as she disappeared back into the colosseum. Meanwhile, Yasmin had pulled herself up and was walking towards home, and it was taking very single bit of concentration she had to keep moving. Still, she didn't want to abandon their conversation and figured the sooner the cuffs became background noise in their day, the easier it would be for them to resume normal activities. The girl chuckled only to follow up with a bit of a jest of her own. "No, it will be fine. If we both fall, we can just sleep out here." she mentioned. Each step was grueling as she made her way to the house each movement she made required more focus than she'd ever known anything to need. She didn't know it was possible for her body to burn in such a way. "So, is it just me, or does the villa feel really far away right now?"

"Oh, don't say that. It actually sounds like a good idea. A nice rock for a pillow, a warm body to make it through the night, and the need to give it my all just to go to the restroom. Like being back home, but with extra," Fudo said, making obvious light of the situation in numerous ways. He had to agree that the villa seemed much farther away than it truly was, and it was a train of thought he was not having fun with. "It's not just you... though I wish you were wrong."