Everything seemed so chaotic now as the puppets were cut down but brought together once again as they cackled and continued their assault. Kaede led the way to their escape, calling to the others to form a circle around the Princess. The puppets being persistent, Mizuki moved along with Kaede, glancing around as she ducked away from shuriken attacks. [b]"What about Yuki-San and Noriaki-San?"[/b] she asked before tensing as a puppet made a way to stab at her through the defenses but Asuka quickly came forth and slashed it down. 

Kaede also took a good share of hits in the back and Mizuki gazed worriedly. Gently touching the half-demons back. [b]"Oh Kaede-San... Your injured..."[/b] she said worriedly but when she sniffed the wounds! the injuries were already healing on their own. Much faster compared to a human. 

She smiled a little as the ronin came up with a clever plan to set the puppets on fire. The puppets cackled and screamed, attacking until they burned into ash and stopped moving. 

However, as they neared the exit of the city, the ground rumbled from under their feet and the ground suddenly collapsed. Mizuki gasped as she felt a strong grip on her waist as a large wooden figure leapt from the ground and landed in front of the exit. It's large claws squeezing the Princess tight. It looked like a wooden bear with green leaves on it's back and it's head, but it was triple the size of any regular bear. 

A odd black beads that emitted a demonic aura. The creatures green eyes glowing in utter rage as sparks flew from the beads. Standing at the top of the gate was two men. One in a dark blue ninja outfit, the other cloaked in complete black, wearing a white mask.

Mizuki hissed before looking up at them. [b]"A tree spirit? And Hanzo? Hanzo what are you doing?! What did you do to this spirit?!"[/b] she yelped, her amber eyes gazing at the man in confusion. Coughing as the large claw was choking her, she growled, using her brute strength that managed to smash the wooden paw into pieces. Landing on the ground, she dodged out of the way if the spirit's attack as it slammed its other wooden claw at her.

It was odd, spirits like this one were usually harmless and didn't attack people.

[b][u]Enter Hanzo, The Silent Blood Fanged Panther[/u][/b]
[img]http://www.wallsave.com/wallpapers/1920x1080/anime-love/646893/anime-love-for-ninja-gaiden-hdtv-p-646893.jpg[/img]

[b][u]Enter Mysterious Masked Man[/u][/b]
[IMG]http://i60.tinypic.com/33f73bb.jpg[/IMG]

The tree spirit roared as the masked man waved his hand, the tree spirit screaming out in agony before making another slash at them.