Bunny cracked her knuckles, hopping from one foot to another. Ofuda were drawn out of her pockets and attached to her shoes, a few more attached to her arms as well as she stretched, and rolled her neck. Finally, she took up a fighting stance opposite the kimono-clad, katana-wielding girl, bracing herself in case anyone opened the door.

There weren't many words to be said, at this point.

Downstairs, Toshiko and Kitty were swiftly organizing as many traps as the could as quickly as they could. Most of these were situated around the ruined doorway, which would ideally still manage to catch him off-guard. After all, there wasn't exactly any other place to enter even if it looked like the building had been hit with an explosive.

When a car pulled up outside, the small girl and the woman quickly hid themselves, just out of sight.

It was difficult to see the figure that entered through the doorway, but almost immediately the automatic sigils around the door blazed red before igniting in a furious explosion, tearing it to pieces.

After the blast, Toshiko could see just what had happened. Paper-like fragments, smouldering, fell to the ground before dissipating into mana. Familiars? That's what seemed likely to her. So the Daidouji man was suspicious already... well, that was hardly the end of it.

Almost immediately, several dozen other figures, all paper-like creatures as well, rushed the entrance with no hesitation. Yes, indeed, it was clear that their enemy had sent ahead one familiar to activate any traps, before sending ahead the others to swarm the building in overwhelming numbers and kill everyone inside.

Kittty stepped out of her hiding place, grinning, and winked.

"Bye bye!" she declared, to the onrushing swarm of paper men, before snapping her fingers.

The entire floor blazed red, and a column of fire erupted beneath the familiars, tearing each of them asunder.

"Haaah, I guess I should give you credit, Ando-san," she said, watching the smouldering bits of paper descend to the ground before scattering into mana, "Predicting he'd try to flood us with familiars was a pretty good guess, especially since it let me blow them up!"

As the smoke cleared, however... there was no-one in sight. Just an empty car.

"... I have a feeling it wasn't enough."

[hr]

The moment the first familiar had been dispatched, he'd already made his move.

The floating disc was a useful item, a magical tool that allowed him to quickly ascend. to the room he desired.

His magic allowed him to silently eat a hole through the wall.

Bunny released only when a hand was pointed at the back of her head that something was wrong.

"Attempting to set an ambush for me?" said the voice. It was deep, and by looks the man was older, in his fifties or sixties, with dark hair. "If you surrender, I'll only destroy one of your limbs each. Your compatriots have already been overwhelmed by my-"

It was at that moment that the second trap was triggered, an enormous explosion rocking the building.

"What?!" he cried, eyes wide. In this moment of distraction, a furious Bunny grasped him by his arm and pitched him forward, hurling him over her shoulder and across the room.