The series of events that happened next surprised the two interlopers so much, they stumbled back and away from the prone Evelyn who was now boot free and shaking in fear. The thing that had them fall back, almost quaking in their shoes, was the ferocious roar that had come from the previously silent Mizuki.
"I will slay you where you stand before I even let you touch her more than you have!" Two things happened simultaneously after that declaration, and one of them came in the form of Ryō appearing behind Yamagashi and his unknown comrade, fingers stretched out as if he was entertaining children with puppets. The other, unbelievably, came from the other soldier who had decided to take his sword from its sheath and aim it at the body on the floor. Ryō's eyes were stone cold, and it took Yamagashi a second too long to notice the sharp, but nearly invisible threads holding a very shocked soldier's sword.
"Touch. Her." A tug of his lithe fingers made the man point his blade at his comrade. "You die."
"Touga! Stop that!" The man now identified as Touga shook his head rapidly.
"I can't! I'm not doin' this!" In all the chaos surrounding them, the two males had also failed to notice the slowly approaching figure of Mizuki until it was once again, far too late. Humans were so easy to convince themselves that they were all powerful and strong, so naturally throwing them through a curve as Ryō had done so elegantly, resulted in a mild state of panic that things were not exactly going according to their original plan. This panic didn't last very long though as after a shorter amount of time than most and a little brain power, Yamagashi caught sight of Ryō's puppet strings and detached them with a wide, but swift, swing of his now unsheathed sword. Touga breathed a much-needed sigh of relief when the feeling returned to his limbs and their control returned to him.
Between one thing and another, everything suddenly shut down and a lull in sound from this revelation caused a distinct freeze in time as both males and their intended targets just stopped moving. Small bird songs that had been prevalent before, quieted to a whisper and the ghost of a breeze flushed through the clearing. The air felt heavy, however, and a stifling thickness descended upon them. Touga took a steadying breath, strong and deep in his chest, feeling with his senses that their most dangerous threat had moved while they were busy detangling from the Walking Shadow's strings. Nary a breath escaped as Mizuki took the first swing and narrowly missed Yamagashi, who had dived out of the way, with sharpened razor like claws. In that very moment, as his hand slashed downwards in an enraged arc, a single pop echoed and all sound and movement rushed back like a tsunami, plunging them all back into reality. Ryō was the next to move and disappeared into thin air. Michael was baffled, and rightly so, for in another moment the quiet man they had learned to call a friend reappeared with two nasty looking blades poised above Touga. A Clang! ricocheted around the clearing, then all hell broke loose.
The two men knew they were at a disadvantage, but also knew that returning to their Master without a shred of information was signing a death warrant from the start. What could they lose? Their lives, or [their lives?] So, swallowing their fear and pride, Yamagashi swerved to intercept Ryō and Touga attempted to distract Mizuki. Another clang echoed, coupled with the fine slice of skin meeting blade as the interception only half worked. Yamagashi stifled a pained grunt, pushing harshly on the two swords sliding dangerously across his blade. Fierce forest greens were narrowed between pieces of black cloth, and he suddenly surged forward with a strangled cry, surprising Ryō with the underestimated strength. The silver speckled haired male ducked sharply at the same time as a much smaller weapon careened forward towards his jugular. An indecipherable feral like growl echoed behind his attacker, but Yamagashi instead chose to ignore it and pushed further and further with wildly swinging arcs. There was absolutely no finesse to his attacks, just pure adrenaline hinted with fear, yet it seemed it had the desired effect Ryō had hoped to achieve, drawing him away from the quietly hyperventilating Evelyn. Ryō shot a string out towards Michael and yanked it towards his chest in an effort to get the shocked male moving. All the while, little flicks of wind licked at his face and hands from the sheer desperation of Yamagashi's attacks.
A little further away Touga was squaring off against a quietly enraged Mizuki. The quiet ssshhhink of a fan opening made the overly confident male scoff and drop his guard momentarily to half smirk with the intention of goading the silver haired male. The obnoxious thought that he would use a fan in a swor---
He slid to the side, feet leaving lines in the ground, with his sword up to stop the first attack as it had almost cleanly cut his head off. A fraction less saved his life. Touga shifted his footing, breathing heavily and noisily through his nose while watching a flicker of his hair flutter delicately passed his eyes. Disbelief crossed his mind, and the distraction led him to once more twirl clumsily to the side. The sharp glint of shining metal swiped across his vision, but he was just fast enough to knock it away with a loud Ching! and push his enraged attacker backwards a step… or two. The sweat that ran down his brow felt like a waterfall just gushing over rocks, and his hands felt clammy gripping his sword between them. Yet his determination forced him forward with a raised weapon and he unleashed slash after unending slash at his opponent until Mizuki, the demon, started to feel a very slight strain. Only slight, but it was enough to ignite a roaring fire beneath his skin. This man, this servant, whoever the hell he was…could not go any further because he felt, no saw, a brief glimpse into his future. This man would cause problems. Bring devastation…he needed to be dealt with. [He needed to die.]
On the outskirts, outside the grandeur of fighting, Michael was watching his sister and the battles, determined to keep her protected as much as possible. However, his focus shifted in an instant when flames began to lick gently at Mizuki's feet and tracked beautifully upwards, gathering in strength and ferocity. They billowed outwards in teasing flicks until the entirety of Mizuki's figure was engulfed in bright, warm blue. It looked so strange, and so odd to his eyes, that he had no real explanation for it bar his brain deciding that it would go on a nice little scenic trip into crazy town. On the other side, Ryō flinched in alarm and dodged a rather well-placed jab at his exposed eyes. The only time his friend had ever unleashed his fire was when a real threat was in the playing field, and for the life of him he couldn't understand why it was a human that made him release it.