“Give us the boy!” The man lunged forward, moving from side-to-side, narrowly dodging Ishawari’s spear thrusts. 

The slender female assassin grew impatient; seemingly blocked off by her partner’s movement, which gave little room for her to pass. 

“For the good of Majima!” She screamed, now leaping from wall-to-wall. Ishawari’s eyes widened as she flipped onto the ceiling, defying the laws of gravity by running at him, upside down. This was no doubt the product of some magical enchantment; not even Jin could perform such an acrobatic feat. The male assassin lunged forward, and grabbed ahold of Ishawari’s spear. 

“The Yomiyawa will die with the old world! Long live the Iron Fangs!” The female roared, Sai raised to strike down Ishawari, who struggled to pull his weapon free from the man’s grip.

“There!” 

Ishawari barely heard Jin as the trap mechanism spurred to life from above. Was it projectiles? Spikes? Another blasted axe? Whatever it was, he gambled on it coming down in a straight line. He released his spear, then tumbled off to the side, the violent whirl of metal cleaving air, rang in his ears. 

“Argh!” 

While the blue-masked female was quick enough to evade the axe, the male was not. After getting caught off balance from pulling the spear from Ishawari, he had no time to evade. 

“Guanjo!” The female dropped down from the ceiling, ready to strike Ishawari.  

“Go, Asana!” He lurched, pulling himself free from the axe blade jammed into his shoulder. “Never mind this pawn! Kill the boy, now!” 

Before Ishawari got onto his feet, Asana was already bolting toward the exit. 

“Damn it!” He said, glaring back at the wounded man. Blood was streaming out from the breathing holes of his red demon mask, but he puffed his chest, defiantly. 

“You cannot outrun us. Even if you make it out here alive, you’ll live the rest of your days looking over your shoulder. Why go through such a hassle? Just give us-“

Ishawari picked up his spear and struck the assassin down. There was no time for discussion. He turned and ran as hard as he could, making his way to Jin.  

[center]***[/center]

Though most of the scenery was shrouded in darkness, the moon did well to emblazon the high ledge. The sound of rushing waters from down below, echo throughout the cold Yga mountains. Jin makes her way across the narrow ledge, carrying Hotaru towards the far end where a dirt path awaits. She has but 50 yards left of ledge left to scale, to which the path will then guide her down into the ravine. However, the assassin, Asana, has made her way out of the corridor. 

“Hmm... did the divines grant us mercy?” In the moonlight, Asana’s black garbs sparkled with ethereal magic, shifting and spiraling towards her hands and feet. The blue mask tilted down, then left, and right, until she heard rubble tumbling off in the distance. “Perhaps not!” 

Like a spider, she scaled the side of the mountain on all fours. Fortunately, Asana did not spot Jin, but was fast approaching in her direction. 

“Oh, Little Prince, where are you!?!” Asana screamed.