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[color=#736AFF][b][h1]Ranbu no Izayoi[/h1][/b][/color]
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Eliane and Galahad had taken two of the three hired ronin by surprise, their lives ending in an instant. The last one raised his sword, expression gobsmacked as Izayoi closed in to engage. Their impromptu duel lasted a sum total of ten seconds of back-and-forth before Izayoi kicked him away, sheathed her sword, and then dashed forward. The elite guard managed to parry her quickdraw, but was completely unprepared for her non-sword holding hand to whip her sword's scabbard out and smash it into the side of his head, crushing his skull.

Her eyes wide with panic at seeing her best guards cut down so quickly, Mizutani reached over in a flurry of motion to grab Ciradyl in a hold, drawing a pistol and waving it about as she screamed at Izayoi.

[color=f6989d]“Not another step, butcher! She’s MINE, do you hear me?! Not yours!”[/color]

[color=#736AFF][b]”Imir’s breath, what are you prattling on about?”[/b][/color] Izayoi kept her sword raised, her teeth grit in frustration. [color=#736AFF][b]”I should have killed you years ago, consequences be damned.”[/b][/color]

Even if she were still fast enough to cut Mizutani’s throat in the blink of an eye, there was still a chance the [i]bitch[/i] could get a shot off, putting Ciradyl at risk. Unacceptable. Better to keep her distracted so that one of the others had a solution. 

Izayoi glared death at Mizutani as she slowly paced to the side, keeping the crime lordess’s attention on herself as she kept her sword raised. Mizutani wasn’t a complete fool, of course. She’d catch on to what Izayoi was up to should she go too far. Thus, the latter only moved about forty-five degrees from where she had been standing, leaving the slightest gap in Mizutani’s peripheral vision that any of the others could take advantage of.