The huge claw separated from the arm and fell heavily in the bullock carriage, occupying most of the space inside and causing the carriage to sway. The claw alone was heavier than the light and delicate body of the prince.
Prince Narinaga shrank in the corner with quivering eyes, staring blankly at the huge and ugly faces of the evil spirits whose eyes gradually lost their luster.
The faces of the two evil spirits gradually sank.
Thud— They eventually fell to the ground.
“What, what happened?”
He looked outside the carriage, only to see mesmerizing blades of crimson light that blitzed through the deep blue flog like lightning meteors.
Pfft – Pfft – Pffft!
Everywhere the scarlet light appeared, demons wailed and fresh blood splattered!
One after another, huge, grotesque, and hideous demons collapsed.
In the darkness of the night, a faint cherry-red figure could be seen wherever the crimson blade shone. The long sleeves of the ghostly silhouette fluttered past the carriage from time to time as screams erupted and died consecutively. With the prince’s eyesight, it was impossible to see who that mysterious figure was.
“What’s that smell? It smells good1…” Amidst the foul-smelling bloody odor, there was an orchid fragrance wafting in the wind.
The prince didn’t know where he got the courage to move his body, but he went over to the carriage door and peeked outside.
“What…?”
His eyes instantly froze.
On the dimly illuminated road of Heian-kyō cloaked in fog, a multitude of demons ensnared the surroundings.
The huge centipede that towered like a building raked its hundred legs across the ground and raised its upper body, jaws opened wide.
Sharp appendages glistened in the darkness as many demons and spirits either flared their teeth or flourished their claws. Many creatures that Prince Narinaga had only seen in paintings encircled the area while preparing deadly attacks.
Suddenly, a crimson figure that was as swift as electricity and as light as a warbler cut through the dull and depressing night. It was a long-haired girl whose sexy and tall body was dressed in red. Her steps were light and ethereal, as if flying, and she rushed into the hundred demons with unstoppable momentum!
The young girl jumped just like a dandelion blown up by the wind, leaping to the same height as the centipede in an instant. The giant centipede reacted quickly, tilting its head to spray poisonous mist at the girl.
“Not good!” Prince Narinaga jolted. He was so far away, yet the pungent smell of the poisonous mist still reached him.
However, the girl maneuvered in the air and conjured a pink cherry blossom storm to easily blow away the poisonous mist. Some of the poisonous mist was even blown onto the demon horde, corroding some of the weaker demons and stirring up a burst of screams.
The giant centipede swayed silently for a while as it prudently wagged its antennae. Arching backward, it suddenly blurred into a shadow and sprang towards the young girl.
The prince was shocked yet again.
Unexpectedly, the girl didn’t dodge this seemingly fatal strike. She brandished her katana and aimed a powerful stab at the fastly approaching head.
Wham! A shockwave swept through Suzaku Avenue and shook the surrounding area.
The centipede twisted its huge body as it whined in pain. Two of its fangs were sent flying and there was a gruesome wound on its head, blood gushing everywhere.
When the girl landed, the injured centipede grew even more violent in its attacks. Like a mighty dragon, its long tail lashed towards the young girl below. This was the same attack that almost wiped out the Heian-kyō night patrol and reduced their captain into mush.
Facing such a terrifying attack, Lily lightly jumped and stamped her ninth-grade wooden shoe onto the giant tail! She looked at the thrashing tail underneath her feet that left bloody marks on the ground. The centipede struggled frantically, trying to twist over and bite at her.
Lily took out the carp spirit’s long-handled sword and threw it with great force!
Boom! The centipede’s head was nailed to the large hoof of an ancient statue of Nioh on the street, causing its winding body to hang like a straight line.
Lily stuck Yasutsuna into the centipede’s tail and cut open its back before smoothly sweeping her blade along the rest of its body. The centipede was directly cut in two and either half fell onto the ground while twitching.
Although the centipede was dead, the hundred legs on either half of its body continued to twitch sporadically. These unconscious actions ended up killing and injuring many nearby spirits and demons.
“What…this, this sister…” The prince was completely dumbfounded. Such a terrifying, catastrophic archdemon couldn’t even fight back in front of this woman. From what he could observe, she was strong, clever, and decisive, “She is too powerful!”
Lily landed on the ground and waved her sword to flash off the excess blood smearing the blade, slowly scanning the remaining demons.
The scarlet eyes of those demons seemed to be bewitched in some way and they swarmed forward without fear.
Lily raised Yasutsuna high and flames of scarlet resentment snaked around the blade, exuding a bleak and sorrowful aura.
A crimson light flashed through her eyes and Yasutsuna drew a perfect arc.
Bzzzt—!!!
A ring of sword light burst outward with Lily as the center.
Boom—!!!
The earth trembled, the wind raged, and the bullock carriage couldn’t help but shake intensely. Prince Narinaga had to grab onto the carriage door and squint his eyes. The countless demons were swept into the air and sliced into pieces, falling one after another.
The air was instantly suffused with a bloody stench.
In the blink of an eye, the army of a hundred demons was reduced to a mere few which suffered grievous wounds. Most of them became incomplete corpses that were sprawled over the cold hard ground of Suzaku Avenue, forming a circle. In the center of this bloody circle stood a sister-like young woman in red with beautiful legs and firm breasts, just like a queen of slaughter in the dark night.
“Ooooh-!” A deep shriek echoed and the huge wooden wheel centered with the face of a man spun through the night sky and rolled towards Lily. Because the head rotated along with the wheel, the face looked blurred and the shouts sounded crazy and weird.
The speed at which it came would definitely result in a disastrous impact!
“Sister, be careful…” Prince Narinaga whispered while hiding inside the bullock carriage, but he didn’t know whether Lily heard or not.
Facing the huge rolling cartwheel, Lily slightly lowered her body’s center of gravity and put her sword back into its sheath.
“Gulululululu— don’t think that you can wipe me out just by drawing your sword!!!” The spinning wheel screeched eerily.
It locked onto Lily’s position and barrelled madly towards her!
“Come on! Let me see which is better— your quick draw technique or my powerful cartwheel!”
Lily planted one foot as an axis, causing cracks to spread out under her feet. The other foot swiftly swung up, giving a glimpse of the jade mango underneath.
BANG—!!!
Her slender leg whipped up a spiritual energy storm and heavily kicked the face of the rotating cartwheel, forcefully stopping its rotation. Its entire face was sunk in by the heel of Lily’s foot, becoming completely distorted2.
With a sonorous ‘boom’, the wheel was kicked out.
“Ah-ah-aw!” The howl of pain soon faded as the cartwheel crashed into the street market located kilometers away, forming a cloud of dust.
To perform this kick, Lily had to split her legs by a large margin which resulted in her skirt getting torn. When she lifted her long and slender leg above her jade hips, a section of whiteness could be seen3.
“A mere little demon, you are not worthy enough to force me to use my sister’s sword-drawing technique.” Lily declared indifferently, gently pulling on the damaged skirt to prevent exposing herself.
The rest of the scattered small demons looked at the smoke and dust thousands of meters away with fearful faces. They couldn’t help but shudder in their hearts, quickly fleeing into the streets and alleys of Heian-kyō as if they hadn’t come in the first place.
Looking around, there were no demons left on Suzaku Avenue4.
“The strongest was only in the middle stages of Spirit Jade.” Lily snorted coldly. Although this was her first time in Heian-kyō, killing these demons barely provided her with any substantial practice. Her breathing remained even as the need to exert her full strength hadn’t arisen. However, a battle was still a battle regardless and she had to exercise a lot of movement. Lily’s white body was a little sweaty which added a kind of crystal-clear sparkle to her body along with a strong feminine fragrance5.
The night breeze felt very refreshing at this moment, and Lily walked over to the bullock carriage. She knew that there were no more living people in the area.
She looked into the carriage and met Prince Narinaga’s frightened eyes which contained a few hints of worship as he stared at her.
Lily couldn’t help but be slightly surprised. Wasn’t the prince a boy? Then why…even in Lily’s eyes, he could be considered beautiful. Only, there was no girly scent coming from his body, though he seemed to have used some alluring feminine perfume.
Lily didn’t want to comment on the prince’s hobbies. She simply asked, showing slight concern for the girlish but brave and arrogant prince, “Are you okay?”
The prince shook his head. At this moment, he seemed to suddenly think of something. He turned, covered his face with his big sleeves, and said, “Thank you, Sister Samurai, for helping me. I, I’m fine now.”
“What are you doing? I’m a girl talking to you, and you’re still shy? Are you a boy?” Lily was a little unhappy. She hated squirmy men; it was the bold and cheerful ones like Brother Tenba that she appreciated more. Of course, this was only appreciation in terms of friendship, nothing more.
“Sorry, that’s not the case. I am Prince Narinaga so I’m not at liberty to allow lower-level samurai to see my face at will. Ah, I am a prince, and I am not supposed to say sorry to a lower-level samurai either.” The prince was a little conflicted and said in a feminine manner.
“Prince Narinaga?” Lily knew some basic knowledge about the Heian Dynasty’s imperial family. The title of prince was given to the emperor’s brother or the emperor’s son who was born from a concubine.
Such a person held immense power in the Heian Dynasty and stood on top of the social hierarchy.
“So it turns out to be Your Highness. Lily greets the Prince!” Lily was currently in Heian-kyō. Although she saved the prince, she still had to follow the rules and show the necessary etiquette when facing a member of the imperial family.
She knelt on one knee and bowed towards Prince Narinaga.
“There’s no need for formalities.” Prince Narinaga was very embarrassed. According to customs, he could not face Lily, but he wanted to see her very much. He covered his face with his hands and sleeves, but his eyes still peeped at her from time to time.
Lily got up and asked, “Your Highness, why did the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons attack you? Are you not classified as a member of the imperial family and don’t you have sufficient protective measures in your own capital?”
“Fighting and killing is the business of lowly samurai. I don’t have any powerful samurai by my side, and as a prince, I can’t recruit powerful samurai at will. Those few people were appointed by the Ministry of Public Internal Affairs and my only teacher, Master Tetsumoto. It’s really sad that he died to protect me. When we princes travel, we all go to the divine palace for divination on which day to travel. According to the divination, there would be no dangers on Suzaku Avenue tonight and we would safely return at night6.”
Prince Narinaga seemed to be aware of something again as his face flushed, “Of course, Sister Samurai, I, I am not saying that you’re lowly. For some reason, I think you have an inherent noble temperament….”
