Although most of the crowd panicked and ran away towards the relative safety of their houses, several figures, four men and one woman, stayed put and turned their faces upwards towards the palace's balcony.

They all wore ordinary brown clothes, but strangely, they all had largely similar blank expressions and dull eyes. The woman was carrying a bow in one hand and had a slim quiver of arrows strapped to her back.

Their forms rippled before melting away. Where the emotionless illusions once stood, hooded masked figures in intricately decorated black coats waited, poised to assail the king. Each of the masks displayed a different animal's face, etched in startling detail and vivid color. A hawk, a serpent, a fox, a bat, and a cat leered up at the king.

Touya heard Yukito take in a shocked gasp of air as the assassins' magic fell away. Shifting to look at him, Touya saw that his friend had gone rigid, staring at the five figures with horror-filled eyes.

The assassin bearing the white cat mask drew an arrow from her quiver and aimed at the balcony as the others leapt impossibly high and landed lightly on the balustrade.

Sakura screamed as they drew long silver daggers and lunged towards her brother. Touya turned, about to dodge, but a sudden wave of nausea threatened to send him to his knees.

Abruptly, a semi-translucent golden barrier shot up between the attackers and Touya. When the four men slammed into it, bright sparks swarmed across their skin, leaving angry red burns. Crying out, the men collapsed, twitching and flailing, flashes of gold lingering over them and preventing them from getting back up.

Touya spun around and regretted it almost instantly. His head swam and and he resisted the urge to throw up. Doubling over, he kept a hand over his mouth as he waited for the momentary vertigo to subside. A sharp throbbing pain began to pulse in his temples as the dizziness faded. Gritting his teeth, he pushed past the discomfort and looked up.

Yukito stood, grim and determined, his staff planted firmly onto the balcony floor. Golden light eminated from his hands and swirled up the smooth, gilded surface of the staff.

"Sakura, get inside and find the guards! I'll help Touya", the priest ordered in a strained voice. Sakura nodded and ran through the balcony's glass doors.

Suddenly, an arrow struck the magical shield. Yukito's bright magic crackled around its shaft, but the arrow slowly burrowed deeper into the barrier, its jagged tip glowing dark blue. The barrier paled gradually and the sparks of magic flickered out. The protective wall shattered, glimmering shards flying through the air before disintegrating into fine dust. The heap of previously immobilized attackers began to stir as Yukito's magic was broken.

Yukito let out a strangled gasp and fell to one knee, pale and sweaty. Touya stood shakily, swaying slightly, and took a faltering step towards his friend. The masked woman sent several more arrows speeding towards him. He tried to move out of range, but his head swam and his body refused to budge.

A sudden weight slammed into his side, knocking him out of the arrows' paths. Hitting the floor harshly, Touya cried out as the impact jarred his already pounding skull, eyes squinting shut against the pain.

Forcing his eyelids open in an attempt to see who had pushed him out of harm's way, the king saw Yukito standing where Touya had been just moments before. Yukito swung his staff, releasing a violent gust of wind, and knocking most of the arrows out of the air. However, he still missed several of the deadly projectiles.

One struck him in the shoulder and another thudded into the side of his thigh. Dropping his staff with a loud clatter, Yukito stumbled and collapsed, his mouth wide in a hoarse scream. Scarlet stains spread across his white robes and the balcony floor, as he succumbed to unconsciousness.