Ashe's murderous dance lasted for a short time longer, before the enemies surrounding her suddenly stepped to the side. Their leader seemed to have taken an interest. That was fine, she'd leave the small fry to Leon and the others. She'd handle the one on one with the leader. Maybe seeing his severed head in her grasp would make the small fry think twice about attacking a world that was protected by a warrior like Ashe. The thing about her that made her so powerful was the fact that she wasn't afraid to kill, and she certainly wasn't afraid to die. She saw Leon and the others hesitate when they had to fight humans.

Ashe kept her face perfectly blank as he advanced, muscles relaxed, not tensed. The world around her was silent, as if they were the only two people left. Every fiber of the warrior's being was focused on the masked man. The grip on her sword tightened as the masked man summoned his own weapoon and took up a battle stance. One that was oh so familiar to Ashe. One that was impossible to see on this masked man. If that man was really who he had to be to have a stance like that, then he wouldn't dare turn his blade against Ashe. There was only one thing she could do to find out, rip that damn masked off his head.

The warrior took her own stance, one that nearly mirrored the one that the masked man had. The difference in weapons meant their blade heights were different, but that was about it. Once again, the silence was broken, by this time by voices. Several of the town's defenders tried to do some sort of sneak attack, but failed miserably by announcing their presence. The hair on the back of Ashe's neck started to stand, but the masked man was too fast. She could barely get the word "Idiots!" out before they were trapped by magic. The masked man tore them apart.

Then, it was her turn. Assumingly before any more interruptions could happen, the masked man lunged at her. By this point, Ashe was nearly certain that this wasn't who she thought it was. The people of their world didn't use magic. Ashe stepped to the side, bringing up her blade to deflect the man's blow. Then, using the man's own strength against him, took a single step in and thrust her longsword forward, taking full advantage of the reach that the thinner, longer, bladed sword gave her. If that display of power said anything, it was that this was going to be a long fight.