As though only a thought had flashed past, the blade was already upon them!
The first to meet it was the wreckage of the Mother puppet, positioned at the very front.
There was no sound of impact, no sparks of clashing metal. Like a hot knife through butter, the sturdy puppet was smoothly, silently bisected along its centerline!
The cut was as smooth as a mirror, even exposing the mechanisms inside with perfect clarity, as though they had always been that way.
The slash had not ended!
The ferocity and trace of calculation on Wenshu's face froze in an instant, replaced by utter horror and disbelief.
He had not even seen how the blade had reached him. He felt only an icy "law" that severed all things
sweep past.
Instinctively, he tried to command the Crow puppet to defend him, tried to form hand seals for the Substitution Technique. But before the thought could become an order to move, that "emptiness" had already reached his body.
Pfft-
A faint sound, like fabric tearing.
A fine line of blood appeared across Wenshu's body, running from his right shoulder to his left waist.
His lips moved as though he wanted to say something. His eyes filled with bewilderment and one last lingering attachment to the world. Perhaps he had remembered the young son waiting at home, with his red hair and astonishing talent for puppetry.
In the next instant, the upper and lower halves of his body slowly separated. Blood gushed out like a waterfall, staining the yellow sand beneath him red.
"Wenshu!!!"
Huxia let out a heart-rending scream, so shrill it scarcely sounded human.
She watched helplessly as her husband was cut in two. Her mind went blank. Every tactic, every defense,
even concern for her own life was utterly swallowed