Jō stood perfectly still, his one hand on the handle of his sword, exerting very little effort against Hyakkimaru, Hyakkimaru had fought opponents who were larger and physically stronger than this, he had always relied on his speed, agility, and skills with his blades, so normally in this situation he would have jumped up and attacked this enemy from where he didn't expect it, but this time was different he could sense that if he loosened his hold even a little; this x-samurai would be on top of it.

Not content with standing idly by; Tahomaru drew his own sword and rushed in to help his brother, but before he and Jō made contact, the gangster slashed upward with such force that Hyakkimaru was thrown backward! He flew past Tahomaru!

"Brother!" He called out but didn't have time to be distracted, Jō had charged at him so quickly that he didn't even see him move, Tahomaru lept out of the way by a hair breath as Jō's ōdachi came down at him, and sliced the ground where he had been standing, Tahomaru fell to the ground, rolling out of the way, the two brothers now had their eyes on the gangster, watching him with high alarm.

He turned to Hyakkimaru, noticing that his twin katanas were still intact; "those are good blades" he commented, "I was trying to break them.

The brothers looked at each other, and understood; if they were going to take this monster they had to fight him as a team. They both lept to their feet and charged at the Chijoku together! Hyakkimaru from the left! Tahomaru from the right!

Jō swung his giant sword at both of them in one swift motion!

Tahomaru blocked with his katana but was thrown off his feet by the force!

Hyakkimaru dropped down evading the slash, and skidded towards his target! He aimed for Jō's legs but the large man was more nimble than he looked, he flipped over him, evading Hyakkimaru's attack, and slashed in him again from midair!

Hyakkimaru blocked the attack, but the force of the blow nearly knocked him off his feet again, and made his teeth clench! Now Jō charged at him, this time putting both hands on the handle, he let out a grunt as he swung his blade at Hyakkimaru with his full force, but Hyakkimaru ducked and charged in at him!

He knew he needed to close the distance, if he stayed close enough to Jō, then he could not use his full strength in those massive swings of his, Hyakkimaru slashed at Jō, managing to nick his side, just above the right hip! Jō swung angrily at him, but the boy blocked it before Jō could fully develop his swing, even still the force was enough to knock Hyakkimaru backward, but this time he landed on his feet, and came in for another charge, just as Tahomaru charged the man from behind him!

Jō only managed to block the boys blow in the nick of time, Tahomaru had also figured out his weakness.

The two brothers attacked together, pushing Jō back!

Nimuru watched all this with mirth.

"Those boys aren't bad, the girly-looking one has had experience fighting demons most of his life, and the spoiled Prince's combat skills seem to be innate, it's only fitting since he was born when his father's luck was at its peak at the girly boy's expense...nufufufufu" his sickening Grin widened, "buuut… it's still far too early for them to be able to take on Chijoku no Jō, the heavens have granted that man no gifts except for the gift of combat!"

Jō had seen an opening! While forcing Hyakkimaru to focus on his attack, he spun around and surprised Tahomaru with a kick to the chest! He felt his breath knocked out of him, and he felt his vision go dark as he was going backward!

"Tahomaru!" But his distraction for his brother had cost him dearly, Jō had reopened the gap! He swung upwards at the boy!

Without time to evade, Hyakkimaru blocked! He felt the vibrations of the impact in his bones as one of his swords was knocked out of his hands!

Now Jō swung downwards! Hyakkimaru blocked with his remaining sword but was knocked to the ground! He skidded on his back as the menace charged at him again!

Hyakkimaru held his senses together and rolled out of the way of another one of Jō's blows, now was his chance! His opponent's sword was stuck in the ground, and he was within striking distance! He aimed for Jō's legs, only to be stopped by a painful kick to the ribs!

Hyakkimaru felt the breath knocked out of him as he was flung onto his back!

His head was spinning, he was dizzy with pain, he tried to get up, but the pain in his chest from what could have only been broken ribs kept him where he was…

Tahomaru who was now regaining consciousness saw his brother on the ground, and he saw the two villains.

"That's the one we take back alive, right Nimuru?" said the large one pointing to Hyakkimaru.

"So the grinning one is called 'Nimuru'" observed Tahomaru.

"Of course Jō, the other one you may do with as you please"

"And the giant is Jō… No! He must be the notorious 'Chijoku no Jō'"

"Right then," he said as he lumbered over to Tahomaru.

Tahomaru got to his feet and held his katana in front of him… Jō just smirked.

Now back to using one hand, he slashed down at the boy! Tohomaru was already dizzy, and he felt it breaking him down further with each powerful blow he had to block! He was thrown back again, and his back collided against the tree, Chijoku no Jō slashed at him again but Tajomaru dodged it!

But Tahomaru's arms were becoming too tired to adequately defend himself,

Jō slashed his shoulder! His cheek!

Tahomaru mustered the last of his fighting strength! He gripped his sword tightly and let out a Battle cry as he charged at the gangster, it was do or die at this point!

Jō charged and slashed with his ōdachi… and Tahomaru's sword fell to pieces… he felt a sting in his torso… he looked down on it and saw that it was cut across, and bleeding badly.

Tahomaru now began to silently panic, his legs turned to jelly, he fell to his knees… this was the greatest terror he had ever felt in his life, never before had he felt so much killing intent directed at him… he heard malicious laughter behind him, and turned over as he fell onto his back, his hands clutching the grass of the forest floor, he looked up and saw Jō standing over him, with his sword raised high, with the moon now above him, he could only see the silhouette of the man who was about to execute him, his mouth and eyes wide open in paralyzing fear, he was going to die… die….

Jō brought down the giant sword upon him, Tahomaru shut his eyes before the inevitable, but instead of feeling the blade slice through him, he heard the clash of metal hitting metal…

He opened his eyes to see Hyakkimaru, standing between him and Jō, blocking Jō's attack with all of his might.

"Brother… run..." He told him.

Tahomaru hesitated…

"Brother run!" He told him again.

This time Tahomaru did as he was told, he got up and ran back towards the road.

Jō was exerting very little strength here, he merely applied a little bit of extra weight to extract a cry of pain from the already wounded Hyakkimaru, Tahomaru had barely run a few meters before he heard this, and turned around to see Hyakkimaru lying on his back.

"TAHOMARU! RUN!" He desperately shouted one last time, as Jō placed a food over his broken ribs, and began to step on them.

Tahomaru shamefaced; turned and ran back to the pond where they had left the horses, remembering that Nimuru said Hyakkimaru was to be taken alive.

"Hang in there brother… I'll go and get help! We'll come back to rescue you! I promise!"

And so Tahomaru ran back to the horses, he mounted one and raced back home, with a heavy heart, tears of shame in his eyes, and his brother's cries of pain as Jō stepped on his broken ribs… echoing loudly in his ears.