It was utter chaos. The soldiers had panicked long before the samurai could reach them, and disregarded almost every order he had issued. "Hold the line!" Algren shouted repeatedly, and gave up. It was far too late to turn the tides of the battle, and he knew it. It would be a defeat. Even after the soldiers had managed to regain their composure, even after they had fired volley after volley at the samurai, there was almost no effect to the enemy. And as the samurai came closer and closer, the soldiers had panicked once again, and began to run for their lives. "Hold the line, damn it!" he shouted, but to no avail.

"It's no use!" Miryu shouted, cutting one of the spears that were aimed towards her with one graceful arc of her katana. The bell rang clearly, and immediately, several samurai stopped in their tracks. They recognized the sound of the bell, and bowed to her before returning to attack her. Whether or not she had fought with them in an age almost forgotten, they had to see her as an enemy; so long she was on the opposing side. Yet, when forced to enter melee combat, there was a strange change to her attacks. She had reversed the edge of her katana, fighting only with the blunt end… Did she really not wish to kill them, to get rid of them?

They leave her, and when a black-armored samurai spotted the gaijin leading the Imperial soldiers, he closed in upon him. By then, Miryu had already been too overwhelmed by incoming attackers to get to Algren in time, and no matter how hard she fought, there would always be more that came. From the corner of her eye, she spotted one in yellow armor, an archer of extreme precision, about to fire an arrow at her. Without a single moment of hesitance, she spun her katana's blade around and cut the arrow just seconds before it hit her, a feat that astounded the archer to no end. "Your skills have improved greatly, Nobutada," she said with almost a smile. "Had I been slower, you could have killed me with that arrow."

The yellow-clad samurai nodded, and turned around. There was no time to catch up with an old friend, for they were at the midst of a battle that would not be the last of what he will see. And with that, Miryu started to weave through the battlefield, seeking Algren in the midst of chaos and terror. She could see Gant, shooting down her once-comrades with his Winchester rifle, successfully killing the samurai who was about to side-blind Algren. However, he could not safe himself, for another samurai, in blood-red armor struck him down and impaled him with a spear.

"Zeb!" Algren shouted, but it was too late. Zebulon Gant was already dead. In desperation to survive, he retaliated. He did not care about his surroundings any loner, with the sheer will to cut down any attacking samurai that lied before his path. Even after he was stabbed in the shoulder by a lance, he still fought on, wielding the lance he had picked up from the ground, bearing the flag of a white tiger. His courageous attempt was watched by all those around him. The red-armored samurai unsheathed his katana, ready to kill him, but was instantly killed by the American Captain, who propelled the jagged end of the lance into his throat.

At that instant, every one of the samurai closed in on Algren, prepared to kill him. However, they were stopped by the sound of a ringing bell. It was Miryu, who had managed to leap to Algren's side, her katana unsheathed and her sapphire eyes gleaming with a fearsome light. "If one hair on his head is lost, I will take the lives of ten men in its place!" she proclaimed, already in the stance of battou-justsu, the beginning stance of many Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryuu attacks that stunned all that looked upon it. She did not wish to fight them, but nor could she allow them to bring about Algren's demise. If they were adamant on killing Algren, then she, as his bodyguard, would be responsible to ensure that his safety was procured, even if meant killing them.

The leader of the samurai stepped out and said, "Miryu, are you not supposed to be guarding the Emperor?" He was Katsumoto, a bald man, tall in stature, imposing in authority. He looked at her and found no longer the young idealistic girl fighting for freedom of the people of Japan from the tyranny of the Bakufu, but a woman, powerful and fearsome in her own right. In that time of age, women were still considered sub-par to men, but women of the samurai bearing the word "ryu' in their names were different. They were of high linage, and of high caliber, and were considered to be as great as the greatest male samurai. Miryu was one of them, and for a long time, he had known her…

"I was reassigned, Katsumoto-san," she replied with a deep bow. "I do not wish to fight you, or your men. All I ask is that you spare the American… He was no quarrel in your rebellion, a mere hired gaijin…" Her sapphire eyes, they were pleading for mercy on Algren's behalf. She had known this man, and she knew that he was compassionate, even as one's enemy.

For a moment, Katsumoto regarded Algren. Indeed, there was some purpose in this man's presence. In an earlier vision, he had seen a white tiger attacking his men in that very same forest, and not long after that, the tiger was protected by a blue dragon with bells tied to its claws. The tiger and dragon could very well be Algren and Miryu respectively, and with further contemplation, there was no doubt about it. "Tsubasa Miryu, you and your American are to come with me and my men to my son's village, where your fate will be decided."

Miryu bowed her head and relented. Not long after, her horse was brought to her, and she mounted it, with Algren in tow. "Captain, are you alright?" she asked, holding his hand as they passed by Katsumoto and General Hasegawa. Hasegawa was to commit seppuku, the ritual suicide to restore his honor after the shame of defeat. There were a few deep wounds all over his body, but there was nothing too serious. For some reason, even in his semi-unconscious state, he was still holding her hand even tighter, something that continued until he truly lost all consciousness, due to lethargy following the battle, and from the blood he had lost.