Volume 3, Chapter 53 – Battling Ka and Zan

Volume 3, Chapter 53 - Battling Ka and Zan

Translator: Aoi

The omnipresent snow churned strongly inside the valley where an impressive snugly robed red-clad girl faced two apex powerhouses of the East in front of the old, dilapidated temple.

Whether it be the Midō sisters, or the opponent retainers Amari, Sakai, Sakakibara and the rest, all laid a silent witness to the unprecedented battle which was about to begin as it was bound to become a legendary battle of the East regardless of its outcome!

Kagami Lily, an obscure girl of unknown origins, was about to face two of the Furinkazan alone in battle today!

It wasn’t a battle that retainer-ranked samurai were qualified to participate in!

Tokugawa wielded a bronze cudgel that spewed fire and smoke from the sharp maw of the demon beast’s head at the top end of the cudgel which held the shape of a tiger’s head, and his armor looked like the incarnation of a mobile fortress.

Takeda donned a mountain-like spirit power and heaved the Ko-Bizen Sanetoshi in his hand like a mountain-splitting blade!

“Boom!” Geett the latest novels on no/v/elbin(.)c/om

A row of several meter tall stalagmites sprang up from the ground and shot through the snowstorm towards Lily like a jagged tooth of a mountain deity!

Lily jumped up suddenly and tiptoed on the tip of the stalagmite gracefully, but Tokugawa also jumped up simultaneously with a shout. Even Lily didn’t expect Tokugawa to have the ability to jump up so high even though he was armored heavily, and in the next moment, the eyes of the demon beast-shaped tip of his cudgel shone with a red hue as a massive serpentine flame spewed out of its maw. Tokugawa then spun the cudgel around and sent the serpentine flame attacking towards Lily.

“Snowdrift!” Lily waved her odachi and the katana clad in a crimson vortex of sakura stabbed the serpentine flame, extinguishing it out of existence!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!” A series of flaming explosions erupted between Tokugawa and Lily subsequently.

The nearby Takeda-Tokugawa retainers were all left agape after witnessing Lily tiptoeing onto the stalagmite’s tip and extinguishing the flame with her katana...

“T-This Kagami Lily is equally matched with the strongest two of the Furinkazan!”

The flame, stalagmite and chaotic sakura looked like celestial visions to them and bolstered the fact this battle was totally out of their grade!

The huge stalagmite exploded into pieces with a wave of Takeda’s hand, following which he charged towards Lily like a massive mountain.

The tachi in his hand was also clad in an earthen hue as it struck towards Lily!

Lily steadied her gaze and rushed a step forward instead of retreating, making an instantaneous and unpredictable judgment to avoid the blade approaching her with double speed by leaning her shoulder to the side slightly and slashed at Takeda’s shoulder with her katana.

“Crack!” Takeda’s full-body heavy armor was a treasured item as well, yet Lily’s katana still managed to cut deep into the shoulder plate because of the weight behind the slash. However, her katana got stuck inside the armor as a result.

“What?!” Lily was shocked by the fact that her grade 7 katana, Crescent Moon, had failed to cut through the armor.

Takeda seized this chance to counterattack, but Lily kicked his wrist instantly to veer his strike and used the counterforce to pull the katana out and roll backward.

The spirit jade was also the embodiment of a space that contained the spirit sea above which the soul floated. Hence, this spirit jade was also the most fatal weakness of Spirit Jade powerhouses.

The Spirit Jade Stage was, after all, the first step taken by creatures towards divinity, and though some higher-leveled Great Demons possessed the ability to stay alive even after getting beheaded and could connect their heads back again, a vast majority of human powerhouses were unable to do this unless they trained in some bizarre and heretical evil arts.

As such, a vital spot like the spirit jade’s location was bound to have the highest level of protection and was shielded by very thick armor that was difficult to break through!

However, unlike male practitioners, the spirit jade of women was located inside the spirit palace that laid at a spot three inches below the lower abdomen, and the soul was protected inside the spirit jade that floated within the spirit palace.

This was the reason why the hearts of female practitioners didn’t differ much from that of mortal women and were just a tad bit stronger.

Takeda’s armor had a lot of gaps, but Tokugawa was covered in dense metallic armor, so it became pretty difficult for Lily to find an opening in his armor.

Lily didn’t dare to receive the attacks of the flaming demon-headed cudgel directly and proceeded vigilantly even though its speed had slowed down a little as it would leave her in desperate straits if any of the attacks landed on her. However, even though it was quite easy for her to dodge Tokugawa’s attacks, she didn’t possess any means to counter them.

The only option left was to retreat.

“It seems like it’ll be hard to kill Tokugawa in a single blow, so I’ll have to take it slowly!”

Lily maintained a set distance from Tokugawa with her nimble footwork, but she spun around occasionally and sent rapidly flying crescent moons packed with power to attack him. They could even change their directions according to Lily’s thoughts, so it was simply impossible for a heavy opponent like Tokugawa to dodge them. He was thus forced to block them by brandishing his cudgel, but it was unable to resist the attacks of the immaterial crescent moons and as a result, a huge number of crescent moon-shaped sword beams ended up striking his armor. Although they failed to break the armor, the aftershocks from the attacks quaked his resilient body and mind, leading to the gradual seepage of blood from the corners of his lips. Although he managed to block the attack, the aftershocks of the attacks harmed the internal organs inside his resilient body, but they were just slow and minor injuries and expended a lot of Lily’s spirit power. This would’ve been a huge drawback typically, but as a blade maiden, Lily held the upper hand in terms of replenishing spirit power in comparison to her opponent.

Tokugawa simply didn’t possess the means to chase after Lily if she wanted to flee within the domain, so she planned to continue engaging with him and Takeda like this and exhaust him to death gradually.

If it weren’t for the domain’s suppression, the two powerhouses would’ve undoubtedly forced Lily into an impasse.

“This can’t be... she actually has the upper hand?”

“She’s able to suppress two of the Furinkazan in battle? This Kagami Lily is too fearsome!”

The retainers of Tokugawa and Takeda exclaimed in astonishment as well, but they couldn’t help their lords in any way and could only provide commentary from the sidelines.

“Honda! Why haven’t you made a move yet?!” Tokugawa screamed worriedly while sweating heavily. Although his mouth was bleeding, he had only received light injuries until now. Still, he felt pretty smothered by the gradual exhaustion of his strength.

“My lord...” Honda, who observed the battle while holding his pike silently until now, began to waver as well.

“Honda Yahatarou! Are you going to just keep looking on as that vile woman injures our lord just for the sake of reputation?!” Sakai’s face was flushed with nervousness and fury, too.

“Forgive me, Lynne! It seems like loyalty and honor really cannot coexist! I cannot just sit back and watch as you continue to injure my lord even if I have to shoulder the stigma of dishonor on my name! Watch out!” Great Bodhisattva Hachiman manifested behind Honda again, and his pike turned into a golden light beam as it stabbed towards Lily.

“Oh, no!” Lily’s pulse quickened and was forced to give up on attacking Tokugawa in order to dodge Honda’s stab with a roll. However, the nearby Takeda attacked Lily again with a stalagmite summoned from the ground! Thus, Lily was forced back to the edge of the mountain temple once again.

Honda possessed both speed and power as well as the divine blessing of Buddha, so he wasn’t affected by the domain’s suppression that much. Although Lily didn’t fear Honda, his pike, which possessed a massive reach, restrained her greatly!

Takeda Tsunenobu and Tokugawa Shigemori, two of the Furinkazan, as well as Honda Yahatarou, who possessed strength slightly higher to them, a total of three Spirit Jade powerhouses, had joined forces to besiege Lily with aggressive maneuvers!