Volume 4, Chapter 21 – Another Ancient Mirror

Volume 4, Chapter 21 - Another Ancient Mirror

Translator: Aoi

“What?! Lord Kamakura, you say?!” The Mino Triumvirate was taken aback by Lily’s declaration. Although Mino had long lost contact with Kamakura, the samurai of Mino still viewed themselves as samurai of the East, and Lord Kamakura was the leader of all eastern samurai.

Although this alone wasn’t enough for the Mino Triumvirate to believe Lily’s words, the sweet scent that had suffused the air as a result of Lily’s perspiration from the dance movements made the simpleton trio’s minds waver.

They were long dissatisfied with the current situation where they had to collude with the monsters. Lily’s words, and mainly the mystical effects of the dance, actually left the trio perplexed about their subsequent actions, even prompted the most righteous one among them, Inaba Shigekado, to turn back and cast a questioning gaze towards his lord.

“You fool!” Ouchi Koreyoshi bellowed, “Don’t let that witch’s words bewitch you! Lord Kamakura would never give out such an order!”

“What?!” Lily felt shocked when she heard this as she had mentioned Lord Kamakura’s name to verify the doubts she held. However, Ouchi Koreyoshi’s adamant refutation still left her stunned.

Ouchi Koreyoshi seemed quite certain about Lord Kamakura’s intent despite the latter being quite an enigmatic man. This didn’t make sense even for someone like Viper!

Lily was also sure that he would’ve provided some additional explanation if this was a scheme of his, but he hadn’t done so.

This made Lily wonder if he really knew Lord Kamakura’s intent.

“Mino Triumvirate. This woman is using her pretty looks to charm you! She’s actually made you question the lord you serve and believe a mirror girl forsaken by the world instead! Why haven’t you killed her yet?!” Ouchi Koreyoshi stated firmly, his wise words containing a mighty power as the leader of the Mino Triumvirate that roused the trio from their confusion.

“Mino Triumvirate. Have you actually forgotten what kind of path you’re treading?! Show your true strength to this woman!” Ouchi Koreyoshi’s final words became the waking call for the Mino Triumvirate.

Bursts of spirit power broke out from the trio’s bodies as they closed in towards Lily once again.

Demonic flames shrouded the trio now.

The trio had actually long become demonized and just happened to retain some sense of conscience within them.

“Hmph! As I thought...”

Lily’s tranquil eyes flashed with iciness.

Lily’s plan wasn’t actually to falter the Mino Triumvirate, and neither did she believe they would change sides based on the few words she had spoken. She just intended to falter the trio’s battle intent and look for a chance to gain the upper hand, but she then realized that the Dance of the Bell Maiden actually had a beneficial influence on her words. This made Lily brainstorm and devise a plan, which was to verify her doubts about a certain matter by mentioning Lord Kamakura’s name.

And she had her answer now.

Why was it that she had suffered an assassination right after arriving in Owari?

Why was it that she had come across assassins even though she had begun journeying west secretly?

Lily was certain that the traitor who leaked her whereabouts was either Lord Kamakura or someone very close to him.

However, Lily didn’t believe that anyone had the ability to spy on her conversation with Lord Kamakura with the strength he possessed.

Ouchi Koreyoshi, had also divulged that Lord Kamakura actually knew he was colluding with the Hundred Demons in a moment of desperation. The fact that he had admitted this so openly, in turn, strengthened Lily’s conviction and made her think that an eminence like Lord Kamakura really wasn’t worthy of her trust.

However, even if this were the case, she failed to understand why he hadn’t dealt with her personally. After all, she was practically powerless in front of him.

It made her wonder whether he was a self-righteous hypocrite who had taken his reputation into consideration as the master of Hachiman Palace.

Or that he was unable to take action for some reason.

Although Lily was unable to exert her full prowess, Yasutsuna’s strength was strong as ever!

The blade slashed deep into Inaba’s body, cutting off his arm and severed several ribs as it opened up a gruesome wound on his waist.

Inaba retreated back to heal with his spirit power.

However, Lily didn’t allow him this leeway and actually launched a spinning Sakura Parasol towards him, which ended up disrupting Inaba’s spirit power when it struck him. This caused him to lob the parasol aside with his blade and reveal Lily’s sharp set of eyes in the darkness behind the red parasol as she stabbed the blade in her hands towards him!

Inaba possessed a sturdy body, but he was quite agile too. He dodged to the side immediately and evaded Lily’s stab before countering back with a downward strike to her waist!

Lily angled her body to the side by borrowing the forward momentum in this critical moment and spun around to slash out with Yasutsuna!

Inaba’s blade arrived at almost the same moment!

“Clang!”

The two blades produced sparks as a result of the clash!

And the floor re-embraced darkness once the light subsided.

The two maintained their final stance for a good while before Inaba pushed his blade down.

Lily also raised her shimmering blade up while resting against the floor.

Inaba’s blade sliced deep into the floor and arrived an inch away from Lily’s slender waist.

Lily’s blade, however, was pointed towards the fissure on the ceiling with blood dripping down against the shimmering runes on the blade.

A deep blade wound had opened up on Inaba’s chest and his dimmed, broken spirit jade gradually darkened inside his sliced-open heart.

Bam! Inaba fell head-first.

Lily also broke out in cold sweat as she lied back against the floor, her breasts heaving up and down intensely.

“That was a close call...”

Lily regained her senses after taking a few breaths and pushed the dead samurai’s corpse on her aside before standing up. She then flipped over in the air and jumped back to the third floor before skidding her blade against the floor to send sparks flying at the oil lamp to the side.

“Swoosh!” The third floor regained its dim illumination once again.

However, it was only her and Ouchi Koreyoshi remaining now.

Although it seemed like a long time, the battle within the darkness had actually only lasted tens of seconds.

The Mino Triumvirate was no more.

Lily looked at Ouchi Koreyoshi, who wasn’t as calm as before now and sweated constantly from his forehead now.

“You have any hidden moves left?” Lily questioned.

Ouchi Koreyoshi fetched an octagonal ancient mirror from his bosom, “How about you let me live in exchange for this, young lady?”