Demon Sword Maiden

Volume 11 - Yamata no Orochi: Chapter 10 – Battle! Lord Kamakura

Although the sky was fairly bright today, the mountains and forests were veiled in a grim gray

¹, casting a gloomy and oppressive mood over the land. The maze was teetering on the edge of destruction, with the opposing side’s treasure displaying a fierce might that eclipsed that of ordinary artifacts due to its sacrificial activation. Lily knew that if the maze fell, a deluge of Yomi’s forces would overwhelm Cherry Blossom Valley; even she could not withstand them all at once.

“Don’t even think about destroying the maze!” Lily’s presence at the formation’s edge was marked by an explosive release of her aura. She glided on air currents, her movement as swift as if she were sprinting across the earth, and she reached the sorcerers in a flash. The sight that greeted her was one of chaos: sorcerers, enraptured by phantom beauties, exhibited a wild ferocity, their lifeforce draining before her eyes.

With no time to hesitate, Lily unfurled her scroll painting, releasing nearly a hundred demon projections including the formidable Raccoon Mita and a six-tailed fox demon. They plunged into the sorcerer’s ranks, causing havoc and death.

“Stop! Where did this crazy woman come from?!” Despite Lily’s striking beauty in her red attire, her abrupt appearance bewildered the demon generals, who were too distant to fully appreciate her looks. She unleashed a swarm of demons, mercilessly decimating the sorcerers, leading the generals to label her as deranged.

The two black-armored demon generals surged forward at a breakneck pace, their movements sending shockwaves through the air as they barreled towards her.

Lily’s gaze, however, was locked on the half-bird, half-woman treasure hovering aloft. With a flick of her wrist, she cast a starry ribbon that snared the treasure. She met resistance as she infused it with her spiritual energy, but her determination was fierce. When she realized she couldn’t wrest control due to its strong inherent power, she relinquished her hold and unsheathed Dojigiri-Yasutsuna.

“Stop! Return my treasure!” Hikomoto, imbued with a mighty aura from the quadruple-soul Big Dipper Stage, morphed into a red ghostly flame, charging at Lily in a bid to reclaim his possession.

Yet, Lily did not hesitate; her sword met the treasure, and despite its resistance, Dojigiri-Yasutsuna left a mark on the low-grade spirit artifact, causing it to falter and malfunction. This unexpected turn led to the gruesome end of the demon sorcerers who remained.

“You’re seeking death!” The generals, now upon her, wielded their longswords with ferocious might, unleashing sinister streaks of light aimed to cleave Lily in two.

Lily executed a swift pirouette, dodging two deadly arcs of light with extraordinary agility. She then positioned herself adjacent to one of the demon generals and with an effortless gesture, released a stream of crimson sword light

² from Dojigiri-Yasutsuna. This ribbon of light was slender and radiant, holding within it a paradoxical beauty of destruction. Almost without a sound, the general’s head was neatly cleaved from his body.

With her next move already envisioned, Lily’s sword light carved into her opponent, splitting into two scarlet beams—one boring into the head and the other into the chest—decimating both the stellar soul and the origin soul within the spirit sea. These scarlet energies were not overwhelmingly powerful; they would not suffice to breach the flesh of an adversary of equal might or one with exceptional resilience, at most inflicting deep lacerations.

Furthermore, any comparable spiritual energy would have mitigated these attacks. However, Lily’s formidable strength outshone the demon generals’, enabling her to perform this feat with ease. The remaining general, witnessing his ally fall from a singular blow, was stricken with shock and hastily withdrew.

In the midst of this, Muyu Hikomoto, clad in red armor, made his appearance. He unsheathed a blade that exceeded his own height, conjuring a maelstrom of bloody luminescence teeming with sorrowful feminine wails. These sounds, intermingling with the apparitions of tormented female figures, human and demon alike, were designed to pierce the soul and bewilder the mind. However, such soul-rending tactics held no sway over Lily, who deftly avoided an incoming, thunderous strike. Beneath her, cherry blossoms scattered as she leapt into the air, drawing the Himiko longbow not to target Hikomoto, but the retreating double-soul demon general.

Arrows sliced through the air, their flight silent but deadly. Lily’s archery skills were beyond reproach, a blend of fluid grace and commanding strength. The demon general, hampered in his aerial retreat, narrowly dodged one arrow only to be fatally struck by the others—one shattering his skull, another impaling his heart.

“This woman is unbelievably strong!” Hikomoto couldn’t hide his astonishment. Unperturbed by the soul attacks hidden within his barrage of sword lights, she had decisively beheaded one adversary and shot another dead in the mere flutter of an eyelid—both formidable demons at the double-soul Big Dipper Stage.

At that moment, a suffocating black aura emerged from behind, spreading across the sky like a myriad of thick ink strokes, ominously expanding their domain. Lord Kamakura, a towering middle-aged samurai stretching ten meters in height, made his presence known as he traversed mountains and forests, his steps creating ripples on the inky waves beneath him.

“Young Master Muyu, exercise caution. She is Kagami Lily, the most dangerous and merciless

³ samurai in the world!” warned Yoritomo, eyeing Lily with a mix of wariness and alarm, acutely aware that any harm to the Carefree City Lord’s son would not only bar him from Yomi’s territories but also incur the City Lord’s fierce ire.

“Hmph, I’ll take that as a compliment,” retorted Lily, poised elegantly mid-air. Her hair danced with the wind, and her exquisite form radiated a fierce femininity. In her, the essence of a war goddess was embodied—stunning and formidable.

“Indeed?” Hikomoto’s golden eyes narrowed, his face twisting into a more ferocious and cruel mien. “A powerful woman? The sheer delight of defeating and then torturing a formidable woman like you, to savor the music of your cries and the artistry of your despair—it’s unparalleled.” His body shook with uncontrollable excitement at the thought of overcoming Lily.

“Prepare to be ensnared!” Hikomoto brandished a sinister rope adorned with a malevolent spirit’s head on one end and a pale, beautiful female mask on the other. The rope snaked through the air, hurtling towards Lily, seemingly designed to bind those of considerable strength.

Lily, however, was swift to retreat. She navigated the airspace with grace, weaving around Lord Kamakura and Hikomoto, her bow at the ready, launching a flurry of arrows that split the dark sky.

Notably, her targets were not the anticipated Yoritomo or Hikomoto but rather the masks dangling on either end of a rope. Infused with Lily’s spiritual energy, the arrows could be guided at high speed, striking both masks in the face with unerring precision that produced a sound like distant thunder.

“What?!” Hikomoto’s fury erupted. “This woman, she destroyed another one of my treasures! I’ll kill you for this! Who dares to provoke me like this in Carefree City

⁴?!”

Fueled by rage, Hikomoto surged forward with increased speed, bearing down on Lily. Unruffled, Lily calmly drew her bow, her eyes steady on her fast-approaching adversary.

“Do you think you can shoot me with that lousy bow?”

With a powerful release, Lily sent the arrow flying, its force outstripping her earlier attempts, as if the very air was torn asunder.

“Dodge!” Lord Kamakura’s command thundered.

“What?!”

A dark wave pulsed from Lord Kamakura’s soul world, and though his clone was only at the quadruple-soul Big Dipper Stage, it was connected to the main body’s soul world. This murky energy enveloped Lily’s arrow, which now glowed with a purple lunar force, slowing it, yet not enough to stop its relentless flight.

The arrow sliced through the sky, a purple streak aimed directly at Hikomoto, who in a desperate maneuver, evaded.

The arrow grazed past, its proximity enough to leave a searing, bloody scar on his face.

“Ah, it hurts!” Hikomoto’s vanity was wounded; his visage, once a point of pride amongst the less attractive demons of Yomi, was now marred by a single encounter with Lily.

“Ah! This, this is evil-slaying power! Ah— ah!” His rage was palpable. The evil-slaying wound was not just painful but difficult to heal, threatening to scar his features for years.

“You witch! I’ll make you suffer all the punishments of Yomi!”

A massive shadow swept by, “Talk less; be careful of this woman! We must join forces to confront her!”

The towering figure of Lord Kamakura, ten meters in height, rushed past Hikomoto. He feared the younger demon might suffer further due to his arrogance.

“Kagami Lily! Less than two years ago, we met for the first time here in Kanto. Did you ever imagine this day would arrive?” Lord Kamakura’s voice rumbled, heavy as thunder, a resonant force in the sky.

Lily’s mind was awash with memories of their first meeting. Back then, Yoritomo seemed an immovable deity, a presence beyond reach.

Now, she faced him directly, her heart swelling with the enormity of the moment.

“Lord Kamakura, shouldn’t I be the one to say that?” Lily retorted with a sneer.

“If I had known this day would come, I would have simply ended you back then to avoid this trouble! Alas, the world is full of surprises, and I, Minamoto no Yoritomo, am no deity. I saw your potential from the start. Revealing your identity as a mirror girl was merely entertainment. Watching a young and capable woman like you grapple with peril and ambition was fascinating!” For once, Lord Kamakura revealed his true sentiments, viewing Lily not just as an amusement but as a genuine adversary.

“Hmph, play with fire and you get burned

⁵. Lord Kamakura, regardless of your past intentions or the evils you’ve done, your desire to harm me, or any other twisted motivations, you’ve inadvertently aided my growth. I, Kagami Lily, may be a woman, but I adhere to principles of integrity! In today’s duel, I will allow you three moves

⁶!”

“What??!” The surprise and indignation were evident on Lord Kamakura’s rugged features, his anger palpable. “How dare you belittle me like this!”

Footnotes:

Robinxen: My spellcheck doesn’t like gray.

Robinxen: Ah she’s definitely a Saber class.

Robinxen: Merciless? Lily?

Robinxen: Uh….. we’re nowhere near your so called city. Carefree City is a weird name though… I feel like it might have been intended to reference something specific.

Robinxen: She said it! 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝔀𝒆𝒃𝒏𝓸𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝙢

Silva: Is Lily so confident she can beat the clone?