“What!???”
The generals were shocked at the declaration.
“How arrogant!”
“Stop playing around you inexperienced thing! Men, throw her out!” Hirohikari pointed his finger at Lily, scolding.
“Hold!” Yoshitada interjected, “Lord Hirohikari, against other women, your words might be suitable, but they are inappropriate against Miss Kagami. Most of you here are from other martial families so you do not know much about Miss Kagami, she is the champion of this year’s Yoshitsune Memorial tournament! A very powerful samurai, since she dares go, then there must be a chance!”
“Hmph! So what if she’s the champion? I remember that Muneshige was also the champion twenty years ago!” A Kansai samurai riposted.
Makoto silenced the room before looking at Lily. She had witnessed Lily’s strength at the tournament, but this was Shuten Doji’s subordinate, a great arch-demon.
But in their current situation, she had no other choice but to send Lily out.
“Lily, will there really be no problems?”
Lily eyed the burning torch in the middle of the tent, the light reflecting on her red lips, “Mother Makoto, I will be back soon.”
With that, Lily ignored all doubts and discussions, turned around and left the tent.
Thump! Thump—!
Kiyoshi ran out in a hurry, stripping off his shirt before pushing away a man drumming the taiko drums. He gripped a mallet in his one hand and another in his mouth.
Boom! Boom! Thump! Boom Boom Boom Thump!
Swinging his one arm and head, the thunderous roars of the Taiko drum echoed through the forests and mountains!
“Lord Kiyoshi…”
Lily’s eyes flickered and she walked towards the battlefield with a flick of her hair.
“Ey! Ey! Oh!”
“Ey! Ey! Oh!”
“Ey! Ey! Oh!”
Lily leisurely walked along the mountain road amidst the shouts of the torch bearing soldiers on the road side.
Gradually her casual trot turned into a jog and then a run.
Like a red flame, she blurred towards the top of the mountain, running through the mountains and forests, the torches on both sides of the road flashed past her sight before becoming a straight red line!
Boom boom thump boom boom thump! Kiyoshi sparked the spirit power in his body and momentum in his body sending the sound of the Taiko drums rebounding through the mountain.
In an instant, Lily had run over several miles of mountain road and reached the valley entrance.
Underneath her feet, blood formed rivers, corpses littered the ground, flames and ashes floated in the skies, Lily ignored it all as she sprinted forward.
In front of her, in the darkness of the valley, Hayabusa of the Ten Demon Enforcers awaited. Three meters tall, a thin yet strong body, dark skin, short flame-like hair and a pair of icy golden eyes.
On his shoulder was a machete longer than his body and he stood in the middle of the valley like a flood stopping rock.
Behind him, she could see the shadows of many ferocious and strange demons. At his feet, she could see the heads of all the defeated generals piled up, a threat and taunt combined into one.
Hayabusa saw a thin maiden in red rushing into the valley and couldn’t help but laugh, “Ahahahahahaha! Does the imperial court have no more decent generals? They sent a woman to die?”
Lily looked at Hayabusa in the middle of the valley and only responded through her actions. Shing! She pulled Yasutsuna out as her run sped into a dash!
“Come then! Foolish woman! Though it’s a pity, this lord doesn’t understand the meaning of being gentle to women! Slashing that beautiful body in two is what I call enjoyable1!”
Boom! Hayabusa lit up with the power of a throned expert, a late staged throned general arch-demon! The eldritch energy surrounding his body formed scorching flames and thick black smoke.
Whoosh! His machete lit up with bright crimson flames as his face twisted into a cruel grin. Boom! Stomping down, he sped toward Lily in billowing flames and smoke.
Hayabusa was fast, not the least bit slower then Lily. In an instant the two powerful experts met and clashed!
Fssh—!! Hayabusa lifted his giant machete and embedded the giant blade with the terrifying true intent of flames before mercilessly slashing down at Lily’s delicate looking body.
As that terrifying heated blade was about to slash into Lily, her delicate body swayed, turning into a phantom easily sliding to the side while lightly kicking out with a foot.
Boom!!! The giant machete hit the ground as Lily’s foot kicked down and jumped on the spine of the giant blade.
Pfft!!! A blade slashed down!
For an instant, the world seemed to freeze.
Lily jumped on her opponent’s blade while the tachi in her hand drew an arc in the air, a wave of blood sprayed out as she cut straight through Hayabusa’s body.
Hayabusa’s eyes opened wide, as the instant this young girl rushed out from the forests reflected in his eyes.
“No, no, impossible…” Hayabusa’s open eyes were filled with regret, panic and unwillingness.
From behind him, a demon cried out, “She, she’s that woman! She’s Kagami Lily!”
Powerlessly, Hayabusa fell down, arms spread splashing into the pool of blood his slaughter had created.
On his emaciated yet peerlessly powerful corpse was a frightening blade mark carving through his body!
The group of demons wanted to rush forward and protect Hayabusa’s corpse from being beheaded, but they saw the dark beautiful shadow of the maiden, her eyes shining with crimson light.
The monstrous terrifying gaze pierced through their hearts and souls. They had only felt this sort of gaze in one other person, their lord and master, Shuten Doji.
They could no longer control the tremors and shivers running through their bodies.
Lily smiled coldly as Yasutsuna absorbed the powerful anima containing true flame intent. Flicking her long black hair, she turned and left.
Not a single demon dared chase or stop her.
In the tent of the main army camp, the torch still had three inches to burn while Makoto could only stare nervously while clenching her teeth against the rhythm of the taiko drums.
“Miss Kagami! It’s Miss Kagami! She’s returned!”
The shouts echoed from the mountains.
Flip! Lily lifted up the cloth door, stepping into the tent.
Makoto stood up. The other generals also stood up, though they didn’t know the result of the battle, but at least she had returned!
Of the other generals who had departed before her, none had returned.
“Lily!” Makoto worriedly called, “You…you’re fine?”
Though the question was pointless, she still couldn’t help but ask.
“Miss Kagami, what about Hayabusa of the Ten Demon Enforcers? Did you find him?” Yoshitada asked anxiously.
Lily looked at Makoto, then at the others before silently answering, “He’s dead.”
“Dead? How?” Ida Nobutada standing beside Takamune asked.
“I killed him.” Feeling the question was redundant, Lily carelessly answered.
“What!???”
The group of generals were shocked.
Hirohikari looked at her suspiciously, “You say you killed Hayabusa, do you have his head? Maybe you didn’t meet him at all?”
The silent Tsukawa suddenly spoke up, “No lies are allowed in the army! Lily, you say you killed Hayabusa, take out the evidence!”
Basically, her appearance now was as if she had not gone through a life and death battle against a throned general arch-demon.
Lily shook her head helplessly, speaking to Makoto, “Commander, I have slain Hayabusa, the army can proceed.”
Turning to leave, she threw a sentence out to the others “You can believe it or not.”
“Stop! Kagami Lily, how dare you joke around with the hundred thousands of lives in the army!” Hirohikari howled.
“That’s right, if Hayabusa suddenly appears, how many losses will we take?” Takamune furiously complained.
“Kagami Lily, are you lying to evade military law?” Tsukawa coldly asked.
“That’s right, take out the evidence!”
“Don’t think about escaping!”
The yells of the generals echoed behind her.
“Lily…” In truth, Makoto didn’t know what to believe, she knew of Lily’s strength, but when placed against an arch-demon who had suppressed the entire army, she had no confidence.
Lily stopped, before turning around and unsheathing Yasutsuna. Shing! A silver arc flashed out as all the torches in the tent were extinguished, leaving the one torch Lily had planted still lit up.
The frightened generals couldn’t help but back away, stumbling about.
“Kagami Lily, what are you doing!?” Several people shouted.
Lifting the tachi so the blade could be seen, a red soul pattern appeared. The anima exuding a powerful turbulent power, the profound true meaning of flame and a strong killing intent could be sensed.
“Throne, throned anima!??”
Many generals with weaker realms fell to the ground in fright when they sensed the anima.
Yoshitada’s grim face was illuminated under the light of the soul flames, “That is indeed the anima of a just killed throned arch-demon…”
“What…is it true…is that Hayabusa truely dead? But it was only a little while?”
“That’s a throned general arch-demon…”
The tones and attitudes of the generals all changed.
“Lily…” Only now did Makoto feel relieved, but the powerful aura of that anima still made her tremble.
Lily looked over the group of generals before her blade trembled, the soul patterns receding, and struck out, Shing!
The long blade lightly slid against Tsukawa’s armor, sending countless sparks flying, each accurately landing on a torch and bonfire, rekindling them and illuminating the tent.
“What!??? This, this woman…” Tsukawa could only stare at the shallow blade mark on his armor. Lily’s strike was too fast, he was completely unable to react2.
“Do you believe it now?” Slowly sheathing Yasutsuna, Lily turned and left.
In the middle of the tent, the torch stuck into the ground still glowed with a trace of embers.
