A rather flustered yell rang in the air towards the young, gold-headed man who slowly trod along to meet with the rest of the gathered crowd, the voice light and feminine, and its owner Tsuki. “Ketsui! Please, hurry yourself over!”

     Two cerulean irises slowly lifted, peering through a slight veil of gold at Tsuki, and the owner tilted his head, a somewhat inquisitive look resting on his face. “...Hrm?”

     “It’s Aikiura, hurry!” With that, Tsuki turned on her heels, quickly trotting off and back into the crowd.

     Ketsui’s ears perked somewhat, brow furrowing slightly, and he blinked a couple times, able to hear very well what sounded like a struggle going on through the crowd somewhere. As an impulse, he adjusted the ridiculously large blade over his shoulder, making sure to keep balance in the process, and soon started off at a quick run, paying no heed to the people his lean form shoved aside.

     As he stopped, the first things his gaze fell upon were the forms of three people; two female, one male. Ashihito was gladly accepting Tsuki’s assistance in trying to retain a now hysterically frantic Aikiura, whom, for some time now, had been trying to leave the courtyard and go back down to the ancient paths that eventually lead to the lightly wooded area surrounding the labyrinth, where both corrupt guardian and young prince fought.

     “Aikiura, stop! You have to calm down!” Ashihito grunted in a bit of effort, pulling on one arm with a good amount of force, but not all he had to offer. He could have used more than he did, however, but he didn’t want to be hurting her in any way, as it would not have gone well with Iaeruki.

     Aikiura’s voice rang loudest amongst all three, the loud, desperate cries for release following the occasional yank from Tsuki and Ashihito both. “Let me go! I have to go back! I have to!”

     “You can’t! It goes against my orders!”

     “I don’t care! Let go of me!” Aikiura had begun to sound draconic by this point, her body beginning to react to the powerful desire within her to follow the deafening cries of agony.

     Ketsui’s eye twitched as he lifted his sword from his shoulder, jabbing the gigantic blade into the ground, and he pressed his knuckles against an open palm, idly tapping his toes to the ground in the process. After a loud series of cracks left his hand, he coiled back, pressing forward in a lunge, and ducked down somewhat, arms taking firm hold of Aikiura’s waist. “Oh, no you don’t! You’re staying right here!”

     Aikiura continued to pull regardless, letting out an infuriated cry as Ketsui roughly hefted her up off the ground and backed in towards the middle of the crowd.

     Both Ashihito and Tsuki watched somewhat vacantly, a loud draconic snap shoving them both back into consciousness of the situation, and hurried after Ketsui, Tsuki staying, whilst Ashihito branched off towards Hisame.

     “She’s been... detained now.” Ashihito blinked a couple times as he spoke, watching Ketsui do quite the job of keeping Aikiura in place, and glanced over to Tsuki, who had gone to retrieve Ketsui’s sword and was now returning.

     A nod had been given in response, Hisame watching Ashihito step back, and she closed her eyes, tendrils of purple and silver spirit beginning to wisp up and about her from the ground beneath her. Arms slowly lifting, she began to manipulate it to her palms, where it gathered and began to concentrate at her fingertips. Her eyes snapped wide opened, shattered irises flaring in blood amethyst, and the concentrated spirit erupted from her hands in a column of lavender tinged energy, which soon rained down upon the heads of the gathered in a blinding flare.

     The head of a large feline, lupine, and draconic beast snapped in the very direction of the unnatural light, abysmal slits thinning in their seas of gold.

     Weakened to the point of little desire to move, the emerald, scarlet traced eyes of a certain prince swiveled over to the side, where the dark slit pupils thinned much like Nikumu’s in response to the blinding spiritual glow. Knowing of Hisame’s ability and spiritual strength, Iaeruki could easily identify the source, knowing very well that when the energy faded, they’d all be gone and only he and Nikumu would be left in all of Murahogo.

     A rather wry, almost insane smirk twisted his lip, accompanied by a chuckle that could be described similar. The blood running from his lip strengthened in flow a moment, whilst trails of pure tears ran down his face. It seems Aikiura would have to wait a bit longer, and he couldn’t figure for sure whether or not he would make it out alive.

     So it seemed he would just have to continue to fight, such of which he would be capable in a few moments, as the blood running down from his hand had begun to seep in Nikumu’s hold and his wrist had started sliding. He could feel it, and with a sudden perk of his ears, he lifted his head up and back, insane chuckle slowly shifting into a deep, hearty laugh.

     Nikumu’s own ears twitched at this sound, soon pricking, and his head snapped back to Iaeruki’s direction, slit pupils turning exceedingly thin within their gold depths. Laughing? Why was his prey laughing? He preferred his prey to be writhing and crying in agony, not displaying such a degree of unprovoked mirth. Whatever the cause, he could not find. All he knew was that this man’s laughter was wearing on his nerves and slowly pissing him off. “And what the hell is so goddamned funny?!”

     Iaeruki’s answer came simply as continued laughter, his wrist continuing to slip, gradually faster and faster, until his wrist and hand slid free of Nikumu’s grip, and his right wing became further torn from the sword still impaled through it. This did nothing to cease his amusement, even as his wing was forced extended and he landed harshly on the ground on his backside.

     His tail shifted from it’s place beside him, end coiling about Nikumu’s leg, and in a swift, snapping motion, he had pulled the very appendage from beneath the beast, forcing the mass of fur, spines, and muscle to topple over and land harshly on his side.

     The fallen mass of displaced limbs flailed a few moments as a reflex before his mental capacities shifted into command, and Nikumu soon snapped about onto all fours, turning his head to direct a vicious growl at the slowly standing Iaeruki. He whipped his own serpentine tail about, watching as Iaeruki liberated his sword of his wing, and lashed the bone plates roughly against his side, connecting the several puncture wounds into a single, deep gash.

     Frozen still a few moments, Iaeruki slowly looked down, staring at the splash of blood flying from the renewed wound, and soon shifted on his feet, leaping up for his sword and bouncing off the wall after retrieving it. A spray of deep scarlet trailed in his wake as his body twisted about in the air, before landing heavily on his feet and sliding into stance with another amused chuckle.