Chiyoko responded to the blade with one of her own, still from a kneeling position - flinging one of her tanto to intercept the weapon.

"That will not happen," Chiyoko responded confidently, rising and wasting no time in providing a response to Akine's attack. One of Chiyoko's Shiki revealed itself, immediately bolting off in a direction away Akine towards the trees. Chiyoko's priority was in protecting Tokiko and Hitsujiki from the madman. The other response was releasing four of the rings on her staff. Two moved in a wide arc around Akine, while the remaining two would be launched higher than the first two and on a shallower arc towards him, the distance between the two sets of arc rings being thirty feet and ten feet respectively. The first two also ran much lower to the ground, roughly at Akine's kneecaps in height, while the other two were launched so they would arc inwards (and downwards) from above him. The power of the Eien no Sai was the lines created by the Yuganori clan, which gave her incredible control over the path of the rings, which may prove surprising to her opponent.

Hitsujiki was also not one to sit on the sidelines. Taking a defensive stance and gathering chakra himself, the sheep kept close guard on Chiyoko. At this point, there was still significant distance between the two combatants, making the battle one of ranged skill for the time. Chiyoko had no idea what abilities Akine had and had to play the game carefully. For now, she would test Akine's skills in hopes to force him to reveal the nature of his power - her puppets would remain as cards to play later. It was risky to bring them in without some sort of idea as to what her opponent could do.