Battle!

Tsukikyuu Shang Mei rubbed her brow in some distress and said, "It's one thing for this young lady to be so pretty, but she's also so smart. It feels like such a waste to kill her here! Wouldn't it be better for you to stay quietly inside the barrier? Why did you have to come out?"

"Hmph! It's still unclear who'll kill whom!" Samui held her short blade horizontally and stared coldly at Tsukikyuu Shang Mei.

"As long as you hand over Lady Yugito, we won't make things difficult for you." Darui gripped the hilt of his sword with one hand, his lazy gaze beginning to sharpen.

"Then I suppose there's no helping it..." Tsukikyuu Shang Mei sighed. Before she could finish, Samui hurled her short blade. Yet the blade passed straight through Tsukikyuu Shang Mei's neck.

"Genjutsu!" Samui pulled with one hand, reeling back the short blade attached to its hilt by a steel wire.

Water Style: Water Formation Wall! Darui completed his hand seals in an instant, then turned and exhaled. Water surged upward like ocean waves, shielding him and Samui within it. The next moment, a massive flame bullet flew over and crashed into the Water Wall, hissing into vapor and blanketing the area in mist.

"Hm?!" Samui suddenly spun and slashed. A crisp clang rang out—the sound of weapons colliding. She then exchanged dozens of rapid blows with someone in the mist, neither gaining the upper hand for the moment. Just as Darui was about to step in and help, he sensed something wrong with the ground beneath his feet. He immediately leaped aside, and a moment later, an earthen spike burst from where he had been standing. Had Darui reacted any slower, he would have been skewered.

Flowing Cloud: No Return! Seeing that Darui had