The trees in the forest behind the village raced past. Kiyomi could hear the heavy crashes behind her as the mechanical puppet smashed through tree trunks. It was astonishingly heavy, yet moved at incredible speed, each landing leaving a deep crater in the soil.
Kiyomi leaped from treetop to treetop. She could feel the drug wearing off, her heart beating faster and faster. Amado's inhibitor suppressed the "Kāma," but it was also draining her strength.
Target escape route calculated.
The puppet's electronic voice echoed through the forest. Then the armor over its chest slid open, revealing a circular aperture glowing blue.
Alarm bells rang in Kiyomi's head. She abruptly checked her momentum and dropped straight toward the ground, her body hanging like a snapped branch.
Boom!
A thick laser beam swept just over her head. The row of ancient trees where she had stood moments earlier vaporized instantly, their shattered trunks smoking black in the intense heat.
Before Kiyomi could reach the ground, the puppet was already above her. Its back thrusters spewed tongues of fire as its massive mechanical foot came crashing down toward her chest.
Grimacing, Kiyomi braced both hands against the ground and rolled backward.
The impact left a three-meter-wide crater in the earth. Dirt sprayed everywhere, stinging Kiyomi's face. She drew the kunai from her waist and flung it at the gap around one of the puppet's joints.
Clang.
The kunai bounced off the puppet's surface. Its alloy was far harder than ordinary ninja tools.
"Won't work. That junk couldn't even scratch its paint."
Kawaki's voice came from the side. He shot forward like a streak of black lightning, his right arm rapidly transforming in midair into a massive black scythe. He brought it down hard on the puppet's shoulder.
Sparks flew everywhere.
The puppet's body