The unmasked agent finally stood up, recovering after the shock of Yuuichi’s strike. He regarded his brother, whose hand was still clutching the line that tugged on Yuuichi’s arm. Sakurako struck at the masked agent with a thick stream of fire, causing him to let go of the rope around the Thaumaturgist. The other agent went to punch the ground again, but Sakurako was lightning-quick: crossing their distance in an instant and kicking the boy in the gut, flooring him.

Yuuichi was momentarily distracted by the display of the priestess’ martial prowess. He had noticed that she was wearing remarkably different clothing: her normally heavy, white kosode was replaced by a thin, sleeveless garment with cloth resembling sleeves covering her arms. Her normally ankle-length hakama was replaced with a much shorter one, barely covering her thighs. Her legs were covered in thick cloth bandages from her feet to her knees, and her hair was held in place by a heavy golden band.

“Stop gawking and move!” she commanded, dashing at the other attacker, her fist already encased in flame. Yuuichi made haste towards the princess, who was unconscious the entire time, either from the shock of being abducted, or the force of lightning striking her vicinity. He carried her out of the crater and laid her down in the soft grass next to the water’s edge. He placed a protective ward around her, but doubted it would last long when there’s an enemy who could swallow her up into the earth. He couldn’t get her far into safety, and the only thing he could do was stall for time until someone else could.

Meanwhile, Sakurako was engaging the masked agent. He was a head taller than his unconscious brother, making him no older than thirteen. But what he lacked in age he made up for in skill: he deftly dodged all her blows, retaliating by levitating knives and throwing it at her direction. Sakurako was unnaturally agile, closing the distance between them as she danced around the projectiles. She aimed a kick to the side of his head, which he blocked with his arm. His other arm thrust forward, sending a spray of small blades in her direction. She somersaulted out of the way, throwing fire balls at every opportunity she could.

The younger attacker was coming to. He was holding on to his stomach, but he was otherwise able to get up. He scaled the shallow crater wall, thrusting his hand into the dirt. A palm shaped slice of earth shifted underneath Sakurako, shoving her off-balance and sending her tumbling to the ground beneath. The elder attacker found his chance to strike, summoning a whole mass of knives and chains from underneath his clothes, preparing to skewer her to her death.

As he was going to attack, a huge snake made of rock sprung from the ground and collided into him from the back, knocking the wind right out of him. Sakurako looked, and saw that Yuuichi had his arm up, his palm showing a mindgate. Yuuichi sprinted to her location, only to find that the earth beneath her had collapsed in on her. She screamed, her voice muffled by the rock surrounding her.

“I’ve got her. If you want her alive, then hand over the princess!” said the younger attacker. He’d been beaten and bruised but it didn’t deter him one bit. “I could crush her with quite…easily”. His hand was stuck in the dirt, and to illustrate his point he had tightened the ground around Sakurako, eliciting another scream from underground.

Yuuichi had to act fast. He looked at the ground beneath his feet, He couldn’t do much with the gravel that littered the landscape. He lifted his hands to the air, feigning surrender. His head attempting to formulate a way to extricate the Priestess. He was coming up blank, the slightest display of spellcraft would immediately crush Lady Hibana. So he had to be subtle… The child could only do so much with his hands on the ground. He had to get those hands off. But how? His only advantage was he was on the high ground, and sloping down towards the water’s edge was his adversary.

He looked at the river. He could probably cast a spell that would catch the young boy unaware using the nearby water, but that seemed an inelegant solution - pulling on the water and giving it form would be too obvious. A simpler solution was required. If he couldn’t take the river up the bank, then why not make a new river? He closed his eyes, put his mind to that place far away; far from the disapproving glares and heavy burdens of the Capital. His home, with his mother, on an island and a faraway lake.

He stomped his foot on the ground, his mindgate appearing underneath him. And before the agent could react, from his feet gushed forth a colossal torrent of water, taking the form a dragon’s head aiming its maw on the young boy. Gallons upon gallons called forth from a place far away, washing down towards the river and hitting the enemy square in the face, knocking him back and pulling his arm off the ground.

Yuuichi dashed towards Lady Sakurako’s direction, the ground opening up around her, but she was still stuck in that depression. He offered his hand, and pulled her up. Her face was already worse for wear, her clothes torn in places.

“Get the Princess to Safety, and call for help.”

“No, There’s two of them and one of you! You’ll get slaughtered!”

“I still have some tricks up my sleeve," He said, smiling.

She was taken aback, Lord Morimoto never smiled. Was he… enjoying this?

“Better me dead than the princess in danger. Go!” he urged. And she complied. She ran towards the princess’ location just as the elder attacker was coming to. His mask was broken, revealing a hardened, handsome young face.

The elder brother moved to chase the priestess, but he was halted by Sakurako, as she left a wall of fire behind her, stopping the agent from going any farther. She reached Yuriko, carried her up and leaped into the air, with fire burning in her wake. The fire materialized into a giant bird, and they flew off.