Boom—!
Another vibration quaked the surroundings, rattling the floor under Lily and Shimizu’s feet.
The chaotic sounds of screaming, fighting, and clashing swords echoed from several rooms and pervaded the narrow passageway.
Shimizu made a gesture to Lily, indicating for her to lead the way while she lay in ambush at the corner.
Lily promptly nodded, confident in her sister’s strength. With guarded steps, she made her way towards the entrance of the passageway.
By this time, the entire ship was drowned in a cacophony of shouts and clashes which escalated as time passed. No matter the direction, the air was heated with explosions and remnant fluctuations of spiritual energy.
Lily extended her domain to prod the outer areas of the ship and discovered the presence of many formidable samurai. Although she found it difficult to distinguish the enemies from allies, she was able to determine how the battle started.
After the invaders converged on the ship, a group of samurai rushed the upper deck to retaliate and the fight broke out.
Lily dashed onto the deck where she saw seven or eight samurai fighting each other, casualties strewn about the floor. Lily hurried to identify the opposing parties. On one side, there were samurai garbed in white, red-patterned coats while the other side consisted of Lord Kato’s ship guards.
The chances of encountering demons while crossing Lake Biwa were very high so it was a given for powerful protectors to be onboard.
“It’s those Kansai samurai!” Lily had a strong suspicion that they came for her. Most of them were sixth or seventh stage Awakened, much stronger than Lord Kato’s men.
From the moment Lily detected the fight up until the moment she rushed out, only a few seconds had passed, yet Lord Kato’s people had already lost several warriors.
Now that the enemies had been recognized, Lily didn’t hesitate to make a move. She steadied her katana and flitted forward, slashing between two clashing samurai.
Puff—!
In a blink, the enemy samurai was beheaded and thudded to the floor. Lord Kato’s samurai barely had time to register the phantasmal red shadow before it blurred again, this time towards another victim. The Maro clan samurai raised his sword in response but Lily was faster— much faster. A scarlet arc quickly flashed, causing the samurai to twitch and stumble before falling.
However, Lily wasn’t done yet. With a twist, she flung a blade of light in the direction of an escaping samurai who planned to jump off the ship. His body vertically separated before plunging into the water below.
Several Kansai samurai noticed the commotion.
One person yelled, “The Mirror Girl! It’s the Mirror Girl! She’s over here—”
Two sakura petals strangled his shouts prematurely, leaving a bleeding streak of red across his throat.
“Agh…cough…” The samurai buckled to his knees before keeling headfirst off the top of the building.
Confusion brewed on the upper deck, punctuated by a few sakura blossoms. Lily could sense a large number of Kansai samurai converging towards the deck and rushing the bow. Instead of walking on the open deck, Lily chose to sneak around the narrow deck between the ship’s building and outer edge.
There, Lily found the wooden wall that broke into the cabin. The wall was tough, but was seemingly breached by some form of explosive charm. A few unfortunate merchants were in the cabin at the time and got caught in the explosion.
Obviously, the sole target of the Kansai samurai was Lily. The other passengers on the ship just so happened to get strung up in the conflict.
At this moment, Lily felt the sudden approach of three breaths in the cabin ahead.
As expected, three Kansai samurai emerged from the hole in the other cabin. They clenched their swords in surprise upon seeing Lily.
One of them burst forth with a menacing howl, charging towards her.
Lily stabbed forth without hesitation. Her body’s flexibility was far beyond anyone’s imagination, allowing her Crescent Moon to snake its way into the opponent’s chest.
Lily gripped the hilt with both hands, twisted and pulled. Without support, the limp samurai fell off the ship and plunged into the cold waters of Lake Biwa.
The remaining samurai were shocked. This female samurai’s skills were just too extraordinary.
“Wait, it’s the Mirror Girl! That woman is the Mirror Girl!” The two samurai suddenly panicked. They recalled Kiuchidera’s order which strictly warned against carelessly attacking the Mirror Girl, but the long narrow deck offered little options for retreat.
Before they could react, a dark blade flashed behind one of the agitated samurai. Watching his companion fall, the other samurai retreated while raising his sword defensively and shouted, “Mirror Girl! Come quickly, the Mirror Girl is here!”
Lily simply waved her Crescent Moon, beheading the screaming samurai.
“Sister Shimizu.”
Shimizu returned to Lily’s side.
“Sis Lily, these samurai from the Maro dojo are likely after you! They kill everyone they see, obviously wanting no survivors.” Shimizu returned her Unsmiling Blade to its sheath.
“I know. This time, they’re acting very aggressively. It doesn’t look like they plan to let anyone go, and we have nowhere to escape or hide on this ship. Since we’ve been cornered, it’ll be a fierce battle!” Lily said.
“Lily, the top of the building is open, let’s go up there!”
“Well, if the ship ends up being destroyed in the battle, we’ll have no choice but to swim across Lake Biwa.”
Perhaps Blade Maidens possessed the physical strength needed to swim thousands of kilometers across the lake, but powerful demons definitely plagued the waters. Fighting them on their own turf was too unfavorable a task for Lily and Shimizu.
The two women leaped over any obstructions and made their way to the top of the ship where around seven or eight Kansai samurai were gathered. They followed their companion’s previous shouts only to see Lily and Shimizu jump directly onto the deck.
“That’s her. The Mirror Girl!” One person alerted.
“Kill!” It wasn’t certain who charged first, but several others followed after to besiege their target.
“Wait, don’t attack!” A clear-headed samurai attempted to stop them but the arrow was already shot.
Lily and Shimizu simultaneously diverged in two different directions before narrowing the group from either side.
Lily rushed and slid between the foremost samurai, aiming a momentous kick at the one in the back. The man didn’t expect her to attack him first and was caught off guard. He staggered and brandished his sword, trying to recover from the sudden kick.
However, Lily was too fast.
Cha!
She cut off her opponent’s hands and whipped another kick in his direction, sending him flying into the lake.
On the other side, Shimizu slashed and rampaged through several enemy samurai. She then sprinted towards the others while lowering her center of gravity.
Puff—!
A dark streak exuding an aura of tyrannical resentment flashed by, beheading two other samurai.
Another samurai took the chance to hack at Shimizu’s side.
Shimizu lifted the sheath of her sword with her other hand to block the strike. Though her arms seemed slender and delicate, they contained explosive power. She easily deflected the strike and disrupted the attacker’s posture. Using this opening, she planted one foot as an axis and executed a horizontal slash, reaping the samurai’s life.
More Kansai samurai continued to rush the top of the ship, their eyes reddening with rage upon seeing the many deaths of their companions.
“Brother!” “Junior Brother!”
Their fallen brethren were brothers from the same dojo. Many kindled deep bonds with each other after experiencing life and death situations since young. However, just like that, they were killed by these two women like they were nothing. With renewed fury, their spiritual energy fulminated and converged towards Lily and Shimizu with clear intent to kill.
“Stop! Lord Tamurakonoe ordered us not to attack without permission!” Someone shouted in an attempt to placate the vengeful samurai, but their blood had already boiled to an uncontrollable level. These samurai were competent, but they weren’t an army— they weren’t trained in team combat, and most of their previous battles were melee.
In the direction behind the stern of the ship, a gloomy, more massive ship was faintly visible.
“That is the ship that crashed into us just now!” Lily immediately figured.
Lily and Shimizu stood back to back with focused determination. Powerful samurai such as themselves had a natural tacit understanding.
As for the Kansai samurai, perhaps because they could easily obtain secret cultivation techniques, they were quite strong, but strictly speaking, their attainment in swordsmanship was lacking.
Swordsmanship depended on personal talent and had little to do with secret techniques.
Of course, no matter the skill of one’s swordsmanship, competing with opponents several times their own strength and speed didn’t make much sense. But in a battle of equal or similar strength, swordsmanship played a key role. After all, most swordsmen and samurai didn’t resort to heavy armor, instead emphasizing more on speed and power. With the same strength, whoever cuts their opponent first would win.
Even a seventh stage Awakened wouldn’t bother wearing heavy armor as a single pierce to the heart by a fifth stage would be enough to kill him. Naturally, this feat becomes difficult as the power gap widens.
Lily and Shimizu were stronger than their opponents, especially in regards to their swordsmanship. If they wanted to, they could utterly devastate their surrounding enemies with brute force. The reason they stayed reserved was to hone their skills in actual combat.
Spiritual strength relied on perception, practice, and treasures, while swordsmanship relied mainly on practice and actual combat experience— especially bloody combat involving life and death.
More than a dozen warriors rushed from all directions at the same time.
Both Lily and Shimizu had their backs pressed to one another. Three or four shining swords slashed at Lily with intent to kill.
In retaliation, she swung her Crescent Moon upward in a calculated arc.
This trick was used to bully opponents with lesser strength and skill.
Clang—! All four swords were deflected.
To pull off this move, Lily only used a small portion of her strength so the action wasn’t as wide. While the swords of the four samurai were still pushed back, she flicked her wrist in a horizontal slash.
Puff—! Three of them fell.
If Lily’s strength wasn’t up to par, it would’ve been impossible for her to resist the simultaneous attack of several people, changing the results entirely.
On the other side, Shimizu executed her sword drawing technique. The sword burst from its sheath with heavy resentment and forcefully challenged the opponent’s own sword.
Shing—! The friction from the clashing metals generated sparks that lit up the dark night. Blood splattered and the enemy was quickly dispatched, overwhelmed by Shimizu’s sheer strength.
Lily and Shimizu, though faced with the siege of tens of people, tacitly used their superior sword skills to push, block, and steal kills whenever possible.
Usually, in one-on-one combat, or when only facing two or three people with a relatively large maneuvering distance, collisions with the opponent’s sword were avoided where possible. Instead, opportunities to strive and be the first to deliver a critical blow were prioritized.
But in this situation where they were surrounded from all sides with little room to dodge or make distance, different tactics had to be adopted.
The two women continued to poke and parry their opponents while sticking back to back, feeling the movements of each other’s shoulders, back, and hip. Suddenly, Shimizu leaned back and Lily accommodated by lowering her head and bending forward. Just as she lay on Lily’s back, two intersecting swords pierced the air above her chest. With fluent actions, Shimizu rolled over and the duo quickly exchanged positions. Lily had already prepared her strike so that when Shimizu turned over, her katana would swing towards the offending direction at the same time.
In the eyes of the two samurai, Shimizu’s long legs1 were suddenly replaced by a threatening crimson light as she rotated with Lily’s fluid movements.
The two samurai’s agape mouths were cut open by the sharp blade.
