Under the dismal golden sunset, scores of warriors besieged a crimson maiden as well as a few strange and fierce demons on the west coast of Ryu Island, which spanned barely a few miles.
For a time, it was difficult to tell which side was good and which side was evil.
Was Lily righteous? How could a truly virtuous and peaceful girl come to the West to participate in a life and death duel?
However, even if she yearned for the quiet and comfortable life of a young lady, did she have a choice?
Several warriors saw the frustration of their leader, Tamuramura, but instead of feeling afraid, they rushed towards Lily with wild and brave shouts.
Lily waved Yasutsuna at the swords of the oncoming samurai and shredded them like sugarcane. Blood spurted at Lily’s feet as the samurai fell one by one.
Kiuchidera Tesshin threw a couple of spell charms at Lily from afar. These charms seemed to have some type of tracking ability, but Lily simply ignored them and rushed into the formation of the Maro Dojo samurai. The charms eventually exploded, accidentally injuring his own people.
Spell charms of this level couldn’t hurt Lily, but her clothes weren’t exactly spared from the explosive power1.
“Tamuramura, it should be clear that you can’t kill me. Although this is my first time in Kansai, I also respect the name of Lord Tamuramaro. For that reason, I don’t want to increase the hatred between me and your Sinless Domain any further. Let’s stop here; don’t force me!” Lily retreated into a relatively open space and shouted to Tamuramura not far away.
“Things have already escalated to this point yet you want to beg for mercy?! Kagami Lily, do you think we will allow you to live after killing so many of our brothers? I can’t wait to chop you into pieces!” The vigorous spiritual energy cloaking Tamuramura’s body became agitated.
The eyes of the surrounding samurai were also red with rage. They all howled and swarmed her position with reckless abandon.
“You’re forcing me to do this!” “Sakura Blizzard · Chaos!”
Sakura petals converged between heaven and hearth, and like sharp blades, they descended towards the army of samurai.
“Kagami Lily, don’t think that you can be arrogant just because you comprehended a domain!” Tamuramura’s entire body erupted with an ancient, wild aura.
“Ancient Realm · Tenpyo Houji!”
Boom! Behind Tamuramura, a broad screen that measured ten feet high suddenly emerged from the ground. The screen was dark gold and decorated with faded cyan, black, and white paintings that depicted the legend of ancient war. If one looked closely, the paintings of the generals, soldiers, and faded landscapes seemed to move, as if the troops were marching into a battlefield!
The screen then unfolded behind Tamuramura and surrounded a radius of a hundred meters where Lily and the warriors battled.
This development obscured the view of the spectating people, leaving them with only the sound of fierce shouting and killing.
Tamuramura’s domain was extremely restrictive and conflicted with Lily’s domain, causing her to lose the upper hand. Because of the limited space, Sakura Blizzard couldn’t be exerted to its fullest power.
“If my brother was the one to cast this domain, it alone would be enough to crush you! However, your attainment in domains is still nothing compared to mine! Hahahaha, Kagami Lily, you will definitely die today!” Tamuramura laughed.
The screens emitted a wave of heavy pressure that slightly suppressed Lily’s spiritual energy, but fortunately, she used Sakura Blizzard to offset most of it.
On the ancient screens, the army of soldiers echoed a burst of shouts that motivated the samurai and warriors on Tamuramura’s side. Their strength increased and their morale soared to greater heights!
The samurai desperately flung themselves at Lily and her party without regard for their lives.
Since the carp spirit remained in the lake when the domain was extended, it got separated from Lily.
If the carp spirit smashed against the huge screen domain with all its strength, it may be able to break through, but its actions would be of little significance. After all, the collapsed part of the screen domain could easily be recreated and the carp spirit didn’t pose much of a threat on land. The incarnation painted by Lily couldn’t turn into its humanoid form.
Seeing that her side was being harshly suppressed, Lily’s anger boiled.
“I can’t get out of this domain, but you are also trapped inside!” “Sakura-Clad Moon!” Bzzt—! Bzzzt—! Bzzzzt—!
Lily weaved a huge scarlet blade, but she didn’t stop at that. Numerous blades of crescent light flew out consecutively with varying intensity!
A hundred meters of crowded space was very small when one considered the size of the oncoming crescent blades. Having little time and room to dodge, several people were swept up or killed by a single blade.
When the blades hit against the domain, they retained enough power to bounce back a few times, causing countless blades to sweep across the battlefield for a while.
Lily tensed her snow-white thighs and stood firmly, unleashing Sakura-Clad Moons one after another.
People wailed as they were continuously lacerated, and because of the limited space, they couldn’t even evacuate. Tamuramura tried his best to disperse some of the blades and rebounds, but he couldn’t stop all of them. Although he wasn’t afraid of these attacks, his subordinates suffered heavy casualties.
“B̲i̲t̲c̲h̲!!!” Tamuramura raged. He held some lingering fears about Lily’s strange sword, but he still resolutely rushed at her.
Facing Tamuramura’s overwhelming slash, Lily cleaved Crescent Moon and Yasutsuna at the same time.
Clang—!!! The strength behind Tamuramura’s strike far surpassed her own. Lily was violently blasted away, eventually hitting the wall of screens before falling to the ground. However:
“Agghh!” Tamuramura covered his chest and knelt on one knee while trembling. His pale face was covered in cold sweat and guttural cries uncontrollably escaped his mouth.
The slash just now directly penetrated into his body and afflicted his soul. Tamuramura was a peak Permanence Stage powerhouse, and with the practice of ancient swordsmanship, he had a strong grasp of domains. His soul was also more resilient than the carp spirit’s to a certain extent, but even so, the attack on his soul was too unbearable. Tamuramura, someone with great strength and muscles like copper, actually felt pain!
“You demon girl! What kind of sorcery did you use?!” At Tamuramura’s level of strength, it wasn’t easy for him to suffer a painful blow, but this pain transcended physical harm and somehow hurt his soul. The soul was the core that powered the Permanence spirit jade, and if it got injured, the flow of one’s spiritual energy would be disturbed!
Although Lily seemed to be in a wretched state after colliding with the screen and falling to the ground, she was able to withstand the impact with the help of the Amethyst undergarment and its hundredfold spiritual defense. She would’ve died if she suffered a direct hit from Tamuramura’s blade, but enduring a sword clash was within limits. The force and spiritual fluctuations transferred from the impact couldn’t hurt her at all; this was how spiritual defense worked. As long as one could resist, they would suffer little to no harm, but if the defense got broken, their bodies would have to bear the full brunt of the attack.
Lily was quite shaken up but was mostly unharmed. After all, her eighth-grade Crescent Moon and ninth-grade Yasutsuna didn’t pale in quality compared to Tamuramura’s eight-grade sword.
“What?!” Tamuramura was shocked upon seeing Lily stand up as if nothing happened, “How could she resist my full-on attack and escape unscathed? Sure enough, she must be wearing that unusual defensive treasure!”
“Why does this woman have so many treasures?!” He thought of his own generation of masters and how they had struggled and fought in Kansai for many years, yet the treasures they acquired couldn’t be compared to those in Lily’s possession. A surge of jealousy welled up in his heart.
“Look how I’ll kill you. Your defensive treasure is mine!” Within the cover of his domain, Tamuramura revealed his true face and disregarded the dignity he was obligated to uphold as a senior. When it came to precious treasures, his only thoughts were to kill and steal.
“Old pervert, even if I give it to you, you won’t be able to wear it!” Lily didn’t falter and rushed at the approaching Tamuramura.
Crescent Moon hummed with ghostly blue and purple light as it swung towards him.
Just the residual fluctuations from a sword clash could hurt the soul. If he really got hit, his soul might shatter without a trace!
Learning his lesson from the previous bouts, Tamuramura didn’t dare to block the strange katana. Instead, he suddenly stopped and swerved to the side to avoid Lily’s sword.
“What good footwork!” Lily was astonished.
After sidestepping the attack, Tamuramura turned halfway and swept his blade at Lily. The sword flickered with brown and gold spiritual energy that carried a hint of ancient majesty.
Lily could only resist with Yasutsuna.
Clang—!
A mountainous force struck her body and slammed her into the sand a few meters away, forming a deep pit in the ground.
Tamuramura seized this opportunity and sifted through the drifting dust to attack the fallen Lily.
However, Lily was not injured. She stretched out her slender legs and kicked Tamuramura’s wrist with precision, disrupting the chopping motion that he was about to perform. Using the slight recoil from the kick, she rolled backward and tumbled to her feet.
After regaining her footing, she blocked Tamuramura’s follow-up attack with Yasutsuna and stabbed at his upper abdomen with Crescent Moon. Tamuramura hastily retreated, narrowly avoiding getting stabbed by Crescent Moon. If the blade had successfully cut into his body, who knew what the consequences would be? His heart quivered at the thought.
“B̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲! If not for this woman’s demon sword, I would have taken care of her long ago!” In terms of raw strength, Tamuramura was far stronger than Lily, but the strange properties of her katana thwarted any unrelenting attacks. Even if he could rely on his strength to suppress Lily, the defensive treasure she wore made it extremely difficult to hurt her. The only option he had was to cut her directly, but this was easier said than done. Although Tamuramura wielded tyrannical strength, the speed of his sword was not as fast as Tamurakonoe’s. His body was also not as flexible as Lily’s, especially since he was older and mainly depended on his superior realm and spiritual energy to gain the upper hand. Overall, his reaction speed and battle senses were not as sharp as they used to be.
Kiuchidera may have boosted Tamuramura’s prowess with his spell enhancements, but he was an arcanist, not an onmyoji. He could only use low to mid-level spells while Lily enjoyed high-level spells from Kagura.
Kagura’s current strength was still very weak. She mainly sheltered under the protection of Yuki-Onna and hid in the backlines to cast defensive and supportive spells. Occasionally, she would dish out some offensive spells but they lacked firepower compared to dedicated monks or onmyoji who excelled in this aspect. Kagura could also be considered a kind of arcanist. Although her high-level offensive spells could injure ordinary enemies, they were quite inferior to Yuki-Onna’s large-scale spells.
While Lily tangled with Tamuramura, the cat demon was left in a league of its own. No one could stop it anymore. It showcased its original ferocious and cruel nature, tearing into the flesh of anyone it pounced on. One by one, the samurai fell under the claws of the cat demon!
The speed at which the cat demon killed the Maro Dojo samurai was so fast that there was no chance for Tamuramura to intervene while fending off Lily. In addition, everyone was trapped inside a small area and had nowhere to run.
The cat demon’s agility came in handy to chase down enemies and circle the area from time to time. Perhaps it could even rip open the domain if it wanted, but chose not to do so— this was like its personal playpen.
The domain that was originally meant to imprison Lily and the other became a cage of nightmares for the Maro Dojo samurai.
Gradually, the number of samurai remaining in the ‘Ancient Realm · Tenpyo Houji’ domain dwindled to the point where only Tamuramura, Kiuchidera, and few other spirit jade experts were left.
“Kagami Lily…you not only used demonic arts to kill Tamurakonoe, but also killed many of our brothers. You woman, you are already unforgivable!” Tamuramura’s bloodshot eyes burned with endless hatred.
“If I don’t kill them, I’m the one who has nowhere to run. It was you who forced me to do it!” The sword in Lily’s hand was dripping with blood.
“I didn’t expect to have to use this trick to deal with a younger generation Eastern woman like you. Hahaha, Kagami Lily, this was personally taught to me by my brother. You should be content with dying under a move developed by Lord Tamuramaro himself!” The aura around Tamuramura receded until it resembled that of an ordinary person.
However, the look in his eyes made Lily feel an unprecedented danger.2
