"Retail is hell"

-Unknown, possibly apocryphal

M'al Mai Chaur, or just Mai to her friends, was in a bit of a pickle. She was supposed to be working at this time of day, shaping and polishing bloodstones and the like into beautiful gems and art pieces. Her mind despaired at the thought of her unfinished works piling up, but on the other hand, she hoped her insurance would be able to cover being murdered in broad daylight.

This is the last time I'm taking a shortcut through a dark alley. Mai sighed at her own carelessness. Her stance, though tense, was still more relaxed than the average person, as she waited for an opening to escape.

The one blocking Mai's path had a pair of hands ready to cast spells, while another pair were partially hidden inside their cloak. A reptilian-like skull served as the assassins' mask, with crystals inset here and there as batteries for the magic circles etched into it.

Mai didn't have the chance to get a good look at the one behind her, and at this point, sparing even a glance back could end up being her last mistake. She was sure, however, that the second assassin had a ranged weapon of some sort, possibly a gun or a launcher.

And as for the third assassin, Mai wasn't sure there was actually one. But it made sense, in a way, to have someone standing in as backup, as well as covering any escape attempts that went up and about the rooftops of the buildings.

"I don't-don't have a lot on me, so please take my money and let me leave." She spoke with a slight stutter, taking out her wallet and showing it to her assassins.

The first assassin responded with a slew of blue fireballs the size of Mai's head, while behind her, the second assasin attacked with something that buzzed as it flew.

"Wahhh!" Mai shrieked, but her body responded differently. Her ribcage opened and inside was another woman's face, with an unpleasant sneer. Under said face, an arm unfolded out and spread its hand towards the incoming fireball, moving its six fingers one by one in a specific configuration.

"You're totally hopeless Mai." The face inside Mai's ribcage said as its hand conjured a mirror which sent the fireballs right back home with greater intensity. "Isn't this about time you stop depending on your big sister to fix everything?"

"I'm a pacifist, M'al!." Mai said, wincing as M'al's spell took a good chunk of her mana. "Violence breeds violence, and I've had enough of war gods to last a lifetime."

"Yeah, me too." M'al hid back inside Mai's body, only to re-emerge on her younger sister's back, with the six-fingered hand following suit. "Especially the married ones. They're just all trouble."

"Yeah, right. It definitely wasn't your fault that you're living with me now." Mai kept her eyes on the first assassin, who was now burned quite a fair bit and clearly pissed off.

" ... Noisy." A voice deeper than any of the women's voices came seemingly out of Mai's veins. "Now hungry."

"No, Chaur, go back to sleep! I don't have the time to get you a meal now!" Mai shouted in despair, while the first assassin began running towards her with spells and daggers in hand.

"Or the money." M'al said with a satisfied grunt as her hand successfully casted a spell which caught the second assassin in petrifying bondage.

"Eat enemy?" Chaur said with a hopeful tone as Mai and M'al did their best to handle the near-flawless combination of thrusts, stabs, and the occasional blades of fire shot off the edge of the daggers with surprising frequency and unsurprising lethality.

For her talk of pacifism, Mai did not consider immobilizing her opponent to count as violence, which she did with her exquisite control of blood, forcing the first assassin to attack faster than Mai could touch them or attack from a distance. Even this latter option proved unfeasible, as for any spell cast to Mai's way would be sent back with greater strength, or outright dispelled.

That being said, Mai was ultimately an ordinary person, with no physical training done whatsoever to improve her stamina. Already, her lungs were burning with need and her vision was getting blurrier, with her feet starting to sway with every dodge. M'al knew this, and so did the first assassin, leading to a sudden all-out attack with both daggers and two fireballs the size of grown men. M'al casted her spells in turn, while Mai poured out the last of her strength into her blood control.

One fireball burned Mai's left arm to the shoulder down to the bone, while the first assassin' left dagger found purchase just shy of M'al's face, digging deep and wreaking havoc inside with its flaming edge. The other fireball was caught by Mal's spell, roaring back into its owner and engulfing them entirely, with Mai's control tearing open every vein in the first assassin's head and neck at the same time.

Away from the scene of this duel to the death, the third assassin that Mai suspected was around looked at their fallen fellows and sighed. This was not how things were supposed to go at all, but times had been difficult for their group and this hit seemed easy enough. Perhaps, if they had taken their time ... no. What's done is done, and in the memory of the dead, the third assassin would make sure that the job would be finished at last.

They dropped down from the rooftop, jumping off the walls and using a prehensile claw-tipped tail to slow their descent. This assassin landed a few steps away from the unconscious Mai, a sword ready in hand to end a life.

Just as the blade was on its backswing, however, a boy suddenly ran into the alley, crying with snot coming out of his nose. Close behind him, with steps loud and clear on the bone-paved ground, was a man with a kid tied to his back.