Akane was prepared to battle the lone puppet and quickly leave to find the princes, but there was movement. No not the peasant scurrying about, but the shadows of Kunoichi on the roof tops following Kouko. It was obvious what her choice was going to be. "I leave the last puppet to you . There are more pressing matters to deal with." Akane left Shiroko and followed after the four Kunoichi jumping across the roof tops.
The alleys was an easy way to keep up with them without being spotted. She noticed multiple destroyed puppets and one dead Kunoichi. It was the work of the others which meant they weren't dead yet. Akane tried keeping her eyes on the Kunoichi as they glided through the air. For a brief second she noticed a missing member. The sound of feet hitting bamboo was just loud enough attracting Akane to the roof to her right. A Kunoichi clad in dark clothing was already falling through the air with a very threatening looking blade. Akane with both hands spun her Naginata around in a blur and cut the woman out the sky. A deep gash in her throat spurted out blood as she smacked into the ground. Akane didn't bother to finish her.
"You should've picked a different lord." she quipped with arrogance as the Kunoichi struggled to stop the bleeding. There were three more she took off after, but they had dispersed. Noticing their comrade was down they let one left to be followed while the others waited for an opportunity to kill her. Akane knew what was going on and was predicting the most likely way they would attack.
"Up high? No I would notice. On my flank" A brief glance behind her as she moved around corners told her no. The sounds of battle could be heard ahead, but there was no sign of the other enemies.
"What about through a-" The door on her left shattered with a blade shooting out from the debris. From behind four Kunai were thrown. There was no denying how skilled they were. However, as her heart starting beat even faster her mind had the time to see how she would destroy her opponents.
"First intercept the blades on my left." She held up her hand and caught each blade in between her fingers, dropped her naginata and used her wakizashi cut the string attaching the blades to the kunoichi. Akane rolled forward evading the kunai from behind and swiftly turned around and threw two of her acquired blades towards the other adversary merely forcing him to evade. It took three seconds for her to do this surprising them with her agility. Her first opponent was trying to flee inside the building she attacked out of, but Akane closed in driving her blade through the back of the enemy's neck. From behind the second assailant tried to immediately catch the Slayer off guard, but quickly found himself with a blade in his eye. "Well you did try."
Blood now stained her clothes and her heart beat was a little erratic. She didn't like these types of fights at all, but she needed to keep going. Akane never let her weak heart stop her. Quickly she grabbed her naginata and rushed towards the battle the others were fighting.
From the looks of it they were fighting to try and keep the enemy and a trees spirit away from the Princess. "What a shame. I'll actually have to deal with almost an army of fools." Almost in anticipation her heart started beating faster. At these times she knew what was going to happen. There was no need in stealth for her, but she could easily find anyone who was trying to use it themselves. Demons were often rather skilled at this. Sometimes like animals. As the last kunoichi had his arrow prepared Akane grinned and was ready to jump into the battle. He fired from concealment on her right. With one hand she grabbed it as the arrowhead broke the skin causing some blood to run down her face. "There you are."
The battle raged on. She fought, distracted, and lured enemies away from the main group while trying to battle the last rather skilled Kunoichi. It was hard on her body, but non of them were a match against her inhuman reflexes and intelligence. Eventually she defeated her pursuers and escaped with the rest of them resting on the tree spirit nearly passed out. Her stamina was nearly depleted and her heart wouldn't be able to take much more of the fighting. For now she was relieved that they were escaping.