Fear filled the puppet's eyes for a moment before they flashed with anger. He leaped towards Flower Sword. The puppet took out his weapon and prepared to stab my brother. However, Xie Lian is far stronger. Even Honger is weaker than him. He had knocked the puppet's blade out of his hand with just the flick of his wrist. I used as little mana as I could to avoid reopening my scars. I formed freezing orbs of light that covered my hands in frost. I bunched my hands into fists, and frost emitted from my fists as I prepared to strike if I had to. I heard Kohana cast a void incantation. She had shown me a brief glimpse of this before, mostly to get from place to place through a dark, purplish-blue mist. She had surrounded herself with this power in case she needed to fight.
The puppet began to pry its arm free from Xie Lian's grin. His arm shrivelled up, his skin and sleeve turned a grey and black material. It looked almost like a rough cow leather material. Except it was as frail as human skin. The puppet leaped over Xie Lian to try to get to the door to escape. I sent a fistful of my power and froze the water inside the puppet's body. The puppet landed with a crunch of cracking ice. Xie Lian was about to use Ruye when Honger jumped in and threw a chopstick, pinning the puppet at his ankle against the floor just before the door. The puppet screamed in anguish as hissing came from the wound, and wilted to the floor, the ice keeping some form.
My attention remains on Kiyoshi and Kohana. Both looked shocked at what they just saw. I made my way past the puppet's remains and held my hand out to Kiyoshi to come to me. With a quick jump, Kiyoshi ran to me and jumped into my arms. Honger and brother were talking about something before he left, leaving Kohana, Kiyoshi, and me in the temple. I took a seat on the floor, holding Kiyoshi. Kohana switched to her fox form that was about the size of Kiyoshi, and settled in. Then, Honger took his seat at the table and got back to tossing the set of chopsticks and catching them again in a bored position.
"You aren't going to tell Xie Lian, are you, Honger?" I asked, and he hesitated to toss his chopsticks. Kiyoshi looked up to me as I began to brush my hand against his hair while petting his head. Kohana lifted her head from her paws, and she can still tell something isn't the same now that her brother left and Honger is left with us.
"I don't know what you mean, princess." He responded, flashing a glance at me. I raised an eyebrow as I leaned against the wall.
"Hong Honger," I said, the full name he was given, and he froze, and he looked at me with the same uncertain look. He clearly thinks neither Xie Lian nor I can figure out who he really is. "I'm not an idiot. Brother's not an idiot. He will find out you are Hua Cheng one way or another."
Yoko Kohana set a side glare with a jump towards him while he turned to me with a shocked look on his face for a few seconds before he looked away, clearly not going to tell me his answer.