Thrashed and marred by painful abrasions she was, yet the ronin refused to surrender. Her skin was dyed red with her own blood, maybe so, but the fierce and valiant undulating of her warrior heart pounded against her ribs with the morale-rising sound of a war drum sounding in her ear figuratively. Wiping a few stray drops of red liquid from her eyes, she clutched her sakabatou, still alight with the remaining oil on her blade. The beast was not inherently evil, indeed it wasn't. Those dishonorable men perched atop the city gate, akin to ravenous vultures awaiting the taste of putrid, discarded carrion, were the ones responsible for this chaos, inflicting strife upon the once benevolent tree spirit with an agonizing torture, brought upon by those accursed beads of demonic energy. 

It appeared all was well at first. The anger of the majestic beast had been quelled, but Asuka furrowed her brow in worry upon the aftermath. The Princess, though foolish in her reckless endeavor, was quite valiant, but she had to have been wounded, absorbing every ounce of corrupted energy from those infernal beads. And the tree spirit was the least of their worries now, as there were the nefarious two who observed the bloody and harrowing spectacle from above, and....[i]they[/i] had returned.

The clatter of wood caught her ear by surprise, but with ample agility the ronin swiftly evaded the cowardly attack from behind in a backflip over the wooden fiend and one single blow decapitating it, leaving the rest of its pine-knotted body to burn into ashes. Dashing across the battlefield, she made her way to the side of the miko, noticing apprehensively the woman had the Princess cradled in her arms. "You must do as Kaede-dono decrees, that you should Miko-dono. The Princess is in dire need. I will offer my blade to defend you along with Kaede-dono, that I will." Alongside her crimsoned comrade, she clutched the hilt of her blade tight and joined Kaede in the slaughter of the amassing wooden foes. One by one they fell to their burning blades, ashes and soot piling at the feet of the noble warriors and blackening their toes, and the horrid wails of agony from the puppets filling their ears with revelry. Just as it were in those olden days when these two would unsheathe their katanas and lay waste to several upon several battalions of armed samurai. It indeed ignited that old spark again in Asuka's eye. "I am wounded, Kaede-dono!" She called valiantly to her companion, that ever notorious glare upon her blood-soaked face, her blood mind you. "But no matter the severity, I will not falter to my enemies! I can still fight, indeed I can!" 

Hopefully their defenses would hold, giving enough time for Hanami to heal and care for Hime-dono. There was also the matter of the shinobi Hanzo-san and his malevolent ally, such a coward to hide his face behind a mask, and to so brazenly ridicule the warriors from atop his perch rather than face them headlong upon the field of battle. It seemed though shortly, and quite welcomed, their drunken friend had returned, brashly challenging the ninja while the short woman, wielding her blade of peace, was in dealing with the masked figure. The attack was brave yet foolish, however it would prove a distraction, the one thing these few warriors needed, but some distractions are never welcomed. She turned her back on one for a few seconds....a tactical error.

Suddenly, she felt it, the sharp, infernal pain of being run through. Her eyes dilated, opening wide as a cough of blood was issued forth from her mouth, and seeped between her lips. Her entire body quivered violently, the agony of that blade sticking through her abdomen burning through her veins. Another spout of blood forced its way past her mouth, but this time in a fearsome cry of war. A quick shot of adrenaline exploded through her heart and in one harsh and powerful movement, she turned to face her executioner, her blade slicing the puppet in half at the torso, and taking its bloodied weapon with her. She yanked the katana from her body, wincing at the shrill misery of the blade digging through her flayed skin, blood, viscous and horrible, pouring profusely from the ghastly wound. "I shall not die to you!" Her shouts, they were indeed intimidating, but more-so fearsome was the sight, having been run through by the blade of a cowardly bastard and still fighting forward. 

She could sense her body weakening with every strike, her form slightly hindering, it felt sloppy almost, yet the puppets fell victim to her fury, but soon...so would she.... She could only push herself along so much.......