Yet instead of resorting to Earthbending, the one who hindered the Inquisitor's sudden strike answered steel with steel. Obviously, it was done with a sword Satchiko recognized all too well, catching the Inquisitor's rusty willow-leaf saber with a fierce clang. Their blades locked together, each refusing to yield as sparks danced between the edges.
The meddler snarled at the Dai Li with pure murderous intent.
"An ironic and valiant attempt," the Inquisitor remarked with unnerving composure. "At least you possessed more subtlety than this sister of yours."
Somehow, Mayumi had disguised herself as a Dai Li agent. The audacity of stealing one of their uniforms would have been impressive were it not for the alarming security breach such an act implied. At least the cultural guardians here can reasonably assert to their superiors that these two intruders possess the same talent for stealth that can rival any Dai Li.
Incensed by the deception and eager to support the Inquisitor, the Dai Li Autopsist raised his stone-gloved fists, preparing a series of precise, bone-breaking strikes against the second intruder. Before he could move, however, Zhu Di caught his arm.
"That's the Inquisitor's personal informant!" he hissed, those words alone were enough to convince the surrounding agents to remain still.
Satchiko scarcely had time to process the revelation. Her attention remained fixed upon Mayumi as she forced the Inquisitor's blade aside. Yet in that fleeting exchange, the Dai Li managed to wrench free the sword the White Scholar had once gifted her.
"Return that at once!" Mayumi demanded.
Rather than carelessly casting the weapon aside, the Inquisitor examined it with quiet appreciation before handing it to another Dai Li agent.
"Confiscate it," he said aloud, almost intentionally belittling the swordswoman.
The blade disappeared into official custody, destined to become yet another piece of evidence against the intruders. Meanwhile, Satchiko watched the entire exchange unfold, her gaze lingering on Mayumi's back as countless questions flooded her mind. Whatever had transpired since they entered Ba Sing Se is certainly something to be discussed. Even the unsettling possibility that her sister knew far more about these shadowy 'cousins' than she had ever admitted seemed more important at the moment.
Only one other question remained. How are they supposed to escape? Only divine intervention from Avatar Kyoshi herself could untangle this catastrophe.
"It appears circumstances beyond our control have forced us into a confrontation that ought never to have occurred," the Inquisitor stated, utterly unmoved by the mixture of fury and mortification burning across Mayumi's face.
Against those whose loyalty belonged solely to the city, blood meant nothing. By raising their weapons against servants of the state, both sisters had already amassed enough criminal charges to shame even the most notorious outlaw.
"I see you Kyoshi Warriors are considerably less tactful in matters beyond fighting," the Inquisitor continued, which Mayumi answered by leveling her other sword directly at him. "Even if I allowed you to kill me here," he said evenly. "Do you truly believe you could escape what follows?"
Keeping herself between the Dai Li and her trapped sister, Mayumi positioned her arms into a protective guard. Yet every direction out of this courtyard was blocked by dozens of Dai Li agents, each a capable Earthbender. The only thing restraining them was the Inquisitor's presence.
But once that restraint disappeared, what then? It was not as though the Dai Li, the city's embroidered secret police are ignorant of Shan's residence should the sisters chose to use it as a hideout. It is also improper to ruin the reputation of Lady Te, who will obviously attempt to shelter them to no avail.
With measured calm, the Inquisitor removed his silken cape, folded it with meticulous care and handed it to another agent. Only then did he address Mayumi once more, questioning whether she truly intended to openly challenge the very organization founded by their cherished Avatar. Though one of them enjoyed respect while the other inspired fear, reputation alone had never determined strength.
"How dare you question my conviction," Mayumi replied, her voice cold enough to frost the air.
Perhaps it was easy for the Dai Li, an order that had long ago sacrificed personal ties for unwavering obedience, to dismiss the power of family. They could scarcely comprehend what compelled others to fight until their final breath.
The Inquisitor offered not much in return, merely recounting his personal thoughts on their stay at Ba Sing Se. "Ever since your arrival in this city, you two have proven remarkably troublesome." He relinquished his willow-leaf saber to a nearby agent. A useful weapon though it was for swiftly executing Earthbending threats to Ba Sing Se, he now would rely solely upon Earthbending. After all, using his sword in this instance might suggest he was merely indulging his opponent. Or perhaps, the presence of so many fellow Dai Li served as its own warning that man in his position could never afford to reveal every unique skill he possessed. Among the city's secret guardians, absolute loyalty is expected, but never entirely guaranteed.
"You have no weapon left," the Inquisitor stated to Mayumi. His eyes drifted toward Satchiko's remaining golden fan, abandoned upon the stone floor. "Unless you've concealed others, I fail to see the purpose of resisting."
Mayumi, however, had one final gamble. With a single fluid motion, she tore away the dark Dai Li robes, revealing beneath them the lacquered armor and outfit of a Kyoshi Warrior. Her golden headdress caught the light as she secured it in place on the forehead, while the familiar scabbard is hanging from the waist, proudly showcasing the Elephant Koi style hand guard.
In one practiced motion, she unsheathed her personal curved blade. The unmistakable sword of a Kyoshi Warrior rose above her head, its edge pointed toward the heavens as she settled into a poised, uncompromising stance.
It was the posture of one who had abandoned every thought of retreat and prepared to duel to the death.
"If I fall," Mayumi warned, threat lurking beneath every syllable. "Let her go."
"There would be no agreement," the Dai Li replied flatly. He shifted into a new stance, one which the two sisters could only liken to the poised crouch of a hunting cat, seems to be a standard amongst these secret police with their own style of Earthbending.
One foot glided forward while the bulk of his weight settled upon the rear leg, every muscle relaxed yet primed to explode into motion. Most expected Earthbenders to overwhelm their enemies with towering walls or crashing boulders. Such assumptions had buried countless outlaws in Ba Sing Se beneath stone. The Dai Li are a different breed, forsaking brute spectacle in favor of ruthless precision, a refined art in a city sprawling with buildings. By now, Mayumi knew better than to underestimate the living shadows.
"I am curious how much you've adapted since our last disagreement," the Inquisitor remarked, his voice almost bored despite the tension hanging in the air. "Enlighten me."
He drove the heel of his leading foot into the courtyard pavement, raising a perfectly square slab of granite and tore itself free from the paving stones. It floated before him as though weightless and completely motionless. Without hesitation, he pivoted it forward with a flawless spinning kick, earthen boot striking the stone with surgical precision.
The granite block screamed through the air toward the shackled Satchiko. Mayumi answered with a sharp cry, bringing the slender blade down in a powerful vertical cut. Steel splitting the hardened granite cleanly in two. The impact slightly dulled the blade's edge, but the feat itself remained extraordinary for a mere non-bender.
Three more slabs followed in rapid succession. Each projectile ricocheted from Mayumi's curved blade in a shower of stone chips and ringing steel. Refusing to surrender the initiative, she whipped into a fierce horizontal slash to intercept the next square-shaped missile.
Instead of shattering, the slab yielded. The stone had been intentionally softened. Her blade sliced through it like packed clay, scattering chunks across her face and momentarily blinding her.
By the time she realized the deception, the Dai Li was already advancing. "What?"
He wasn't running, or employing the occasional ability for flight afforded to a Dai Li's agile form of Earthbending.
The Inquisitor is seemingly gliding across the granite pavement itself.
"It's those shoes!" Satchiko shouted, desperately wrenching against the chains around her wrist.
Mayumi almost wished her sister had remained silent. Such open proclamation would only reinforce the dangerous accusation that Satchiko had gained Dai Li secrets through espionage, a crime that demanded execution.
As for the swordswoman herself, she did not remain idle. She drove a precise thrust toward the Inquisitor's exquisite silk robes, but the terrifying speed allowed him to deftly evade the blade. With one earth-clad boot, he then descended toward her like a falling hammer, compelling the Kyoshi Warrior to raise her sword.
The collision did not resemble the impact of a boulder. It was far worse as the kick struck with the focused force of a master blacksmith's hammer, concentrating tremendous power into a single point. The shock rippled through the blade, driving Mayumi backward several staggering steps as pain surged through her arms.
She recovered just in time to meet another vicious kick. The swordswoman slipped aside in a blur of motion, pirouetting around the attack. In the same breath, she shifted her grip to a single hand and lashed out, the blade carving a savage line across the Inquisitor's arm. Yet, the wound was nowhere near enough to take the limb.
The Dai Li Inquisitor clenched his jaw, unwilling to betray even a flicker of weakness before the gathered agents watching the duel. Suppressing the pain through sheer resolve, he sprang skyward with explosive force, vaulting high above the swordswoman's head. Cruelly, the strike ironically echoed one of Mayumi's own favored techniques, a blow that committed the attacker's full body weight before slamming downward with overwhelming force.
The Kyoshi Warrior barely managed to intercept the strike, wrenching her blade across her body to shield the left flank. The impact crashed into her guard with such force that it drove her to one knee, a clenched gasp escaping through gritted teeth as the shock rippled up arms and rattled the spine. Even her grip upon the blade trembled. Few non-benders would willingly stand against a Dai Li agent, fewer still would do so without harboring some measure of a death wish.
Her opponent, by contrast, seemed utterly untroubled. Mayumi returned a glare despite the circumstance. Anger swelled as the swordswoman knew that behind that stark black and white visage, there was neither strain nor uncertainty, only the quiet confidence of one who looked upon another's defiance and found it pitiful.
Overconfidence would not go unchallenged. The Dai Li agent seemed to have overlooked that the woman standing before him is no common outlaw or cornered fugitive, but a proud descendant of a heroic lineage, heir to Kyoshi Warriors who had marched beside Avatars and stood steadfast in the crucible of history.
With a forceful yell, Mayumi slightly loosed her grip on her weapon and rolled sharply to the side. A heartbeat later, the Dai Li agent's earthen boot came crashing down where she had knelt moments before, striking the courtyard pavement with a thunderous impact. Stone cracked beneath the blow, splintering outward in a web of jagged fractures as dust and shattered fragments erupted into the air.
Half-blinded, Mayumi refused to waste the opening. Trusting instinct over sight, she stepped forward and delivered a swift overhead cut.
The blade bit into something. Had it found flesh, the strike would have cleaved through bone, arteries, and muscle alike. But fate, or perhaps the indifferent spirits that governed the world, favored neither courage nor desperation of the swordwoman's desperate gambit. Once more, reality reminded them the gulf separating those born with mastery over the elements from those forced to challenge them with nothing but flesh and steel.
Mayumi held her stance, waiting for the dust to settle. Blood stained the edge of her blade. For the briefest instant, the seasoned swordswoman wondered whether this was the moment to wipe the crimson from the blade against her sleeve and slide it back into the scabbard.
Then she remembered. Veteran Earthbenders, especially those forged within the lightless depths of Ba Sing Se's Lower Ring, did not always require sight to kill.
A hand burst from the dust. Rather than seize her weapon, it latched onto the lacquered plate of her armor, firmly holding onto the edge.
As the haze slowly dispersed, the truth revealed itself. Her strike had done little more than chip away a portion of the Inquisitor's conical helmet, exposing fragments of the stark black and white face paint beneath.
Startled but decisive, Mayumi instantly shifted the edge of her weapon to his exposed throat. But she hesitated. Perhaps, by taking a Dai Li officer hostage, they might still bargain for a path out of the city.
"Kill me, and you both die here," the Inquisitor said, unperturbed by the sharpened edge rested against his neck. "Though I possess a rather unique talent for purging traitors from our ranks, I am not nearly as irreplaceable as you imagine, Kyoshi Warrior."
Mayumi pressed her blade deeper into the Dai Li agent's throat. Only then did fresh blood begin to seep through the dark folds of his robe. Even so, the Inquisitor did not flinch. His bare hand remained locked on the lacquered plate with unwavering resolve, as though the sword at his neck were nothing more than an idle inconvenience.
Surrounding them stood dozens of embroidered brocade guards, silent spectators awaiting the inevitable conclusion of this farce. Even if their deadliest enforcer lay lifeless upon the courtyard stones, what can prevent them from unleashing another merciless barrage of earth until every soul responsible for a Dai Li's death lay beside him?
"It is unwise to mistake restraint for weakness," the Inquisitor repeated, his cryptic voice only deepened Mayumi's irritation. "So far as my colleagues throughout Ba Sing Se are concerned, you specifically still possess some measure of usefulness."
Before Mayumi could answer, the colossal courtyard's main gate thundered open. An endless tide of palace guards poured through the entrance, clad in their iconic polished brigandine armor and wielding imposing polearms. Rank after rank flooded the courtyard until well over two hundred men occupied nearly half the open grounds. Compared to the sea of battles raging beyond Ba Sing Se's walls, these numbers are miniscule. Yet such a deployment spoke volumes in these grounds. Only an enemy capable of challenging the infamous Dai Li would warrant so overwhelming a response. Perhaps the successful assassination of a certain Queen Dowager had taught the palace never again to rely solely upon a single organization.
Curiously, one of the palace guards who charged at the front still had a steamed bun stuffed into his mouth. Somehow, he had managed to outrun even the commanding officer charging behind him atop an armored ostrich horse.
"Hold!" the officer barked.
The command echoed across the courtyard. Perhaps the sight that there are only two intruders remained, both effectively subdued, made their entire arrival somewhat redundant. It would appear a single Dai Li had already established control of the situation.
Mayumi stared in disbelief at the now crowded courtyard. Meanwhile, the Inquisitor simply released his grip on the lacquered armor and brushed the dust from his robes with casual manner, behaving as though a sword had never been pressed against his throat.
"It seems the Director is feeling benevolent today," he remarked as royal guards approached with heavy wooden cangues to capture the two Kyoshi Warriors. "The Alchemist is a whimsical man. Reasonable, certainly. Yet no one escapes his designs unless he himself wills it."
The palace guards closed in, polearms lowered toward the remaining intruder whose sword still rested firmly in hand.
Vert begrudgingly, Mayumi wanted to hurl her weapon to the courtyard ground in sheer frustration, but chose to ultimate guided the blade back into its scabbard. The sharp, final click felt harsh, a bitter taste of failure to one who had risked everything to spare her sister from the merciless judgment of the state.
"Apprehend them!" the palace guard captain roared.