Puppets had descended around them quickly but Kaede had managed to find the almost invisible strings to slice and render the puppets useless. Still there were many converging around the princess and her guardians but at the very least they were regrouping, many of the women having been left behind catching up to them with great speed. The Princess's hand was very small and warm in her own but it only instilled in Kaede just how vulnerable she was despite her heritage. She noticed Asuka fall behind after masterfully dealing with her own fair share of puppets and she came to a halt briefly.

"Asuka-dono we have no time to fight, Miss Hiryuu is right, everyone form up around the princess and follow me out of the city!" As she spoke with the determination and command of decades more puppets arrived around them. She had little time to properly destroy them all so she focused on protecting the princess, using her sword less than her bare hands to grab the wooden things and rip them apart when they got near. One sent another cloud of shruiken, some of which Kaede caught on her arm before turning to grab both the Princess and the Miko and shield them against the barrage. Once the wave of knives was over she turned quickly and leaped to kick one puppet in the chest and another in the head, shattering them with the force of her strike.

She landed beside the Miko and Princess before flexing and shaking her back a little, dislodging the shruiken ebbeded in her flesh and picking them off her arm. She waited until all who were going to follow her command did so, forming up around the Princess, before taking off down a sidestreet and leading them around alot of small dark spaces, losing the Puppets for a while and bringing them alot closer to the exit.