CHAPTER 79 – BATTLE ON THE LAKE

Tamurakonoe blasted the water with his sword, summoning a giant wave that swept his raft back towards the deserted island. Lily guessed that he was luring the bird demons to the shore or dense mountains where he could leverage the environment.

Lily looked up, gazing at the screeching bird demon that soared after Tamurakonoe.

The waters surrounding Lily grew increasingly violent. Hundreds of kappas, murlocs, and other water demons followed the lead of the carp spirit and Kyūbōzu, slowly encroaching her position.

“Kagami Lily, let’s see how you’ll escape this time!” Kyūbōzu hatefully spat. His huge body submerged into the water and barrelled towards Lily.

The carp spirit also roared, “Woman, it would be a pity to kill you. Obediently yield and let us capture you alive!”

After saying his piece, he sunk into the depths and forbode an attack at any moment.

Although Lily’s canoeing skill was superb, she never thought of relying on it to confront these demons in battle. The carp spirit was a Permanence Stage archdemon— she may not be his opponent on land, let alone in the water.

Facing the horde of demons that plagued the water, Lily stood on the canoe and calmly waved her long sleeves, “Come out, Yuki-Onna!”

A cloud of snowy mist stormed and materialized into an immaculate snow maiden draped in purple gauze. As she hovered, her feet lightly skimmed the lake’s surface, “Kagami Lily, stop telling me what to do. I’m not your shikigami, but I won’t stand by and allow you to get captured or reduced to a slave by these disgusting demons, so I’ll help you this once.”

Yuki-Onna’s appearance disturbed the surrounding air, causing the temperature between heaven and earth to rapidly plummet. Her long sleeves danced in harmony to the arcane, high-pitched song she chanted.

“Snow Blossom!”

Cold winds started to howl and heavy snow pelted the lake!

“Sakura Blizzard!” Lily released her own domain which suppressed the enemies while supporting her and her partner at the same time.

Yuki-Onna’s ice spell culminated into a raging snowstorm that pushed the temperature off a cliff.

With her as the center, the lake began to freeze.

Ka-Ka-Ka-!

The sheet of ice rapidly expanded, covering meters of the lake’s surface area in no time.

“What?!” The demons swimming in the water fermented in chaos. Many of them got stuck or turned into ice sculptures before they could react. The luckier ones hurriedly climbed onto the ice or plunged into the lake. In a blink, the entire encirclement was thrown into disorder.

Lily didn’t intend to stop there. She seethed in resentment, “If you all hadn’t attacked us, maybe Sister Shimizu wouldn’t have left! Do you really think that I, Kagami Lily, is easy to bully?!”

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“Demon hound!”

The big white dog blurred into existence and pounced on a hapless demon trapped in the ice. Its miserable screams echoed across the lake.

“What?! This woman has a shikigami?” The water demons were shocked.

Currently, the sheet of ice had covered a radius of a hundred meters, redeeming Lily’s freedom of movement. She got off the canoe and stepped onto the ice, now confident that she could handle the upcoming battle.

Boom!!!

Two jets of water burst through the ice, followed by the emergence of Kyūbōzu and the carp spirit.

“What happened? Why is the lake frozen over?” Kyūbōzu scanned the surroundings in shock.

“It’s the Mirror Girl— her shikigami!”

Although Yuki-Onna’s strength was only at the peak of Spirit Jade, she could manipulate ice and snow. Overall, her power and spirit energy far outmatched ordinary demons.

“It’s the snow woman, the dignified Yuki-Onna! Why did she become the shikigami of this woman?” The carp spirit felt that the situation had gone awry and began to stammer.

“Who is her shikigami? We are just friends. Whoever I kill or decide to help is my choice!”

Under the support of Lily’s domain, the snow fell with increasing intensity and thickened the layer of ice. Just like that, the advantage of the water demons disappeared.

“I’ll just have to kill you together, then!” The carp spirit violently erupted his spiritual energy.

Kyūbōzu and the surrounding water demons forcefully resisted the chilly winds and bore down on Lily’s position.

Lily sneered and willed a huge scroll to appear in her hand.

“Record of One Hundred Demons!”

Ziiiip—!

The scroll unfolded like a white rainbow, exuding a vibrant ancient aura. A fierce four-tailed cat demon that was several times the size of a fierce tiger pounced from the long scroll as it was thrown out!

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“What?! A Throne Stage archdemon!?” This time, the carp spirit’s eyes widened and his face turned green.

Kyūbōzu was also frightened, but his already green face couldn’t get any greener.

Behind the huge cat demon, a little ghost stepping on a large fire wheel screamed and rushed towards the crowd of water demons.

“Wanyūdō1?!”

“Just who is this woman to be able to summon these powerful demons with a wave of her hand!” The carp spirit was astonished once again.

Although the demons invoked from the scroll didn’t have the strength of the original, they retained their aura fluctuations. Unless one’s realm was extraordinary and had a knack for seeing through illusions, they would feel pressured by the auras.

The cat demon really exuded the aura of a Throne Stage adept. Its eyes were bright-yellow like the embers of fire, and as it walked, it flourished its sharp claws while swaying its four tails wildly in the air. Strange growls thrummed in its throat, causing the souls of whoever heard to tremble.

“That four-tailed cat demon is at the Throne Stage! Hurry up and run!” The carp spirit shouted desperately.

However, it was too late. The cat demon jounced over, but instead of attacking the carp spirit, it targeted the weaker Kyūbōzu.

The cat demon moved so swiftly that it pounced on Kyūbōzu before he could react and defend himself. With force comparable to the peak of the Permanence Stage, it clawed into Kyūbōzu’s skin and flesh, splattering green blood across the frosty ice.

“Brother Kyūbōzu!” The carp spirit instinctively shouted, but his actions betrayed his concern. He quickly ran away by himself.

Lily didn’t stop there. She took out a big brush and drew the big bird demon on the long scroll at an incredible speed. Her painting style was inspired by Master Moronobu, and her brush strokes were godlike.

Skreeee~

With a long screech, the bird demon flew out of the scroll and assailed the fleeing water demons, pecking at them.

“Oh my god! This woman is the demon queen!”

The water demons scattered in chaos.

At this time, two katanas appeared in Lily’s hands. Crescent Moon glowed with an eerie blue light as she ran in pursuit after the carp spirit, bolstered by the power of her domain.

The carp spirit could have jumped into the lake and escaped, but when he looked back, he saw that the cat demon and Kyūbōzu were locked in a struggle. Although the cat demon had the upper hand, it would’ve slapped Kyūbōzu to death with a single paw if it was really at the Throne Stage.

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There was a world of difference between the Permanence Stage and the Throne Stage. Bridging that gap was akin to a fish trying to leap over the sky. Throne Stage experts were beings who could sunder the earth— there simply wasn’t a comparison!

The carp spirit didn’t have remarkable intelligence, but he had a feeling that the demon manifested by Lily’s picture scroll wasn’t the real four-tailed cat demon. When he saw Lily chasing after him, his fury reignited. Instead of escaping, she actually dared to chase after him by herself? How presumptuous!

“Mirror Girl, you’re looking for death!” The carp spirit halted his heavy steps and turned around. Like a towering mountain, his huge sword chopped towards Lily.

Although the strike was fearsome, Lily had enough ground to maneuver. She dodged the lumbering sword and jumped up amidst the spray of snow and ice, swinging Crescent Moon at the carp spirit.

“A mere woman with the strength of Soul Jade can hurt me?” The carp spirit didn’t try to avoid it all, instead opting to resist the katana strike head-on. At the same time, he raised his long-handled sword to cut Lily in an upwards slash.

Pftt—!

Lily’s Crescent Moon dug into the thick shoulder of the carp, but only by a few inches. For a creature as big as the carp spirit, this was no more than an itch, however:

Bzzzt—!

A wave of blue soul energy directly seeped into the carp spirit’s body while ignoring his thick flesh and powerful spiritual defenses, crawling all the way to his soul.

“Ahhhh!” The carp spirit’s eyes widened as he let out a painful howl. His soul, which was far more fragile compared to his body, stung as if it was pricked by a knife.

For a moment, the carp spirit froze his movements while trembling all over.

Lily landed on the handle of the carp spirit’s sword and jumped up again, aiming another slash with Yasutsuna!

Pshhh—!

The much sharper Yasutsuna left a deep gash in the thick throat of the carp spirit, causing blood to gush like a fountain.

“Cough-cough-ah!!!” The carp spirit jerked his head and backed away. Only then did he come back to his senses. He clutched his bloody throat and pointed at Lily, “You, what demonic art did you use just now!”

“It’s meaningless to say more; die!” Lily left no time for the carp spirit to catch his breath at all, immediately closing the distance. The carp spirit unleashed a furious counterattack. Lily suddenly stopped and diverted to the carp spirit’s side, swinging Yasutsuna at his feet. Although his body shook, he endured the cut and swept out with his huge sword. Lily jumped to avoid the blade and stabbed Crescent Moon at the carp spirit’s arm. The soul fluctuations penetrated into his body again, stirring deep agony within his soul.

During the short time period where the carp spirit moved sluggishly, Lily erupted her spiritual energy and converged all her strength.

Using the carp spirit’s arm as a bridge, she ran towards his chest and pierced with force comparable to the late Permanence Stage. Lily also incorporated her eldritch intent which pushed her power close to the peak of the Permanence Stage.

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Pffttt—!

Yasutsuna was extremely sharp and pierced the carp spirit’s robust chest, however:

Clang!

Lily definitely managed to pierce through but was resisted by an extremely hard object which sent a wave of numbness up her arm.

The spirit jade of the peak Permanence Stage demon!

It was surprisingly hard and Yasutsuna couldn’t even penetrate it!

The carp spirit recovered his senses and roared in pain. He threw down his sword and ran frantically towards Lily with outstretched arms. However, Lily was calm at this time and declined to dodge. She raised Yasutsuna over her head to resist, and at the same time, stabbed Crescent Moon towards the tiny nick left in the spirit jade.

Ding—!

The shock seemed to be lighter than before. The impact between the blade and the peak Permanence spirit jade dealt no evident damage, but a sharp wave of soul energy snaked its way into the spirit jade. The carp spirit had no means of mounting a defense against the soul attack. His soul was more fragile than his body, and under the battering of the soul fluctuations:

The flickering fire went out with a ‘poof’, drowning him in a sea of darkness.

Cough—

The carp spirit was still full of spiritual energy and his body towered dauntingly. However, his eyes were white, and the hand that grabbed at Lily rested on Yasutsuna without strength. The huge body just stood there blankly and motionlessly.

The peak Permanence Stage archdemon of Lake Biwa, though stronger than Lily, had his soul destroyed by Crescent Moon.

The carp spirit was…dead.