Demon Sword Maiden

Volume 13 - Takamagahara: Chapter 3 - A Disgust-Driven Strike

Upon hearing this, the burly man grew even more pleased. He thought to himself how difficult it had become for Celestial Maidens to make a living these days. Everyone feared losing their post, and those without affiliation were worse off than commoners, lacking resources for advancement, secret techniques, and social standing, their plight was utterly miserable.

Newcomers like these, he figured, could easily be forced into obedience with just a bit of intimidation and threats.

Although the Kegaretsu Clan held high status and could do almost anything they pleased, there were still limits when it came to oppressing Celestial Maidens, who were considered a lowly race within Takamagahara.

Most Celestial Maidens still couldn’t truly accept men. Perhaps some good-looking or refined men might be tolerable, but the Kegaretsu were mostly hideous. While it was one thing to bully or humiliate a Celestial Maiden, attempting to defile, violate, or even kill one would trigger fierce resistance.

Despite the longstanding rules of Takamagahara that forbade Celestial Maidens from disobeying the Kegaretsu Clan, chastity remained sacred to most of them. To be ravaged by a Kegaretsu deity was, for them, a fate worse than death.

And if it truly was worse than death, what punishment could they possibly still fear? Execution would be a mercy! At that point, a Celestial Maiden would resist with all her might. In terms of average strength and combat talent, Celestial Maidens vastly outclassed the Kegaretsu. In a real fight, these so-called nobles would be no match for them.

Even if the Celestial Maiden were executed later, the Kegaretsu who tried to violate her would likely already be killed in the process.

However, attacking a high-status race like the Kegaretsu was a grave sin. One would be hunted across Takamagahara and forced to flee for life. So unless their final boundary was crossed, the Celestial Maidens endured in silence.

Being beaten, scolded, or ordered to burn through spirit power doing grueling labor—these things, they simply endured.

Of course, there was also a growing number of Celestial Maidens who had fallen, willingly submitting themselves to the nobility.

That wasn’t to say being with a man was inherently degrading. While most Celestial Maidens preferred women, their culture had always been open-minded, accepting of love, even marriage and childbearing, with men. Only a few clans held exceptions to this.

But that only applied to genuine love, to meeting someone they truly admired. It was nothing like the brutal coercion the Kegaretsu used!

The burly man stared unabashedly at Lily’s chest, his eyes brazen and unfiltered. He boldly stepped closer to her and Rei. “I have been stationed here for over a century, and I’ve never seen Celestial Maidens as stunning as you two. Frankly, the usual lowborn ones aren’t even worth my time. But you…one’s an icy fairy, the other a peerless goddess! Come, come, spend some time with me!”

“What… what are you doing?” Lily feigned alertness and stepped back. “We’re under orders to patrol this area. Please do not interfere with our duties.”

She recalled that the two Celestial Maidens before her had also been performing military duties, she simply wanted to avoid making a move if she could help it.

“Hehehe! Military duties? You two patrolling here for a hundred years, how much could you possibly earn? A single Blood Spirit Magatama, and even that gets sixty percent taken by our boss, Kuromon! Another ten percent goes to your Celestial superiors. After a whole century, each of you is left with just three fragments of a Blood Spirit Magatama! Why not become my lovers instead? I’ll keep you as my mistresses, give each of you one fragment per year. What do you say? In ten years, that’s a whole Magatama! With that money, you could continue your training, climb your spiritual path, and seek success and glory, right? Isn’t that what all you foolish, lowly Celestial Maidens dream of?”

“To enjoy pleasures while also training, isn’t that the best of both worlds?” The man’s lecherous, meaty face gleamed as he tempted Lily and Rei with his wicked offer.

“No need,” Rei replied coldly. “The path we walk is that of goddesses, not harlots.”

“What?!” The man’s face turned vicious. “What the hell did you just say, you little b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲? I’m giving you an easy way out, and you spit in my face? Don’t forget the rules of Takamagahara! Celestial Maidens are not allowed to refuse the Kegaretsu! You’re forbidden from resisting the nobility of this realm! Otherwise, you’ll be severely punished!”

Lily couldn’t help but feel a tremor in her heart. Takamagahara, the dwelling place of the gods, was supposed to be a paradise in the minds of all beings. Wasn’t it a realm of clear skies, drifting clouds, freedom and elegance? Then why… why did it feel more repulsive than even the land of Yomi?

“Hmph. What kind of rule is that?” If Lily hadn’t been raised as a refined lady, she might have cursed out loud.

Yomi was home to demons and monsters; vicious, violent beings who pounced on beautiful female adepts. But even then, it was a contest of strength. Besides, the two groups weren’t one and the same. Female adepts fought back and honed their skills by killing demons.

If the monsters won, they enslaved their captives. If they lost, they became prey themselves. It was brutal but honest, a raw contest of power.

But here, a mere single-soul Big Dipper dared to oppress women using nothing but his authority and noble status? This so-called Takamagahara wasn’t even worthy of comparison to Yomi in Lily’s eyes!

“You… you lowly little s̲l̲u̲t̲, what did you say?! Where the hell did you even come from? Do you really think you’re some noble Celestial lady? Let me teach you a lesson about the rules around here!” As he shouted, the burly man raised his thick, calloused hand and aimed a slap at Lily’s face.

But Lily’s eyes showed no ripple, no fear. She didn’t even move. A single cherry blossom petal drifted down and landed softly atop the man’s head.

In an instant, the cherry blossom transformed into a wave of divine power that pierced directly into the man’s body, precisely annihilating his Big Dipper origin soul.

The burly man didn’t even have time to utter a sound. His outstretched hand froze in midair, eyes rolled back, body twitching once before he collapsed dead on the ground.

Lily swiftly released a wave of power to catch his body, preventing the heavy corpse from crashing down and making too much noise. A mere Big Dipper-level opponent like him wasn’t even worth the trouble of taking his belongings, but on second thought, there might be intelligence from Takamagahara, so she searched him briefly and took his storage treasures.

Then, using the same wave of power, she sent the man’s corpse into a storeroom and closed the door behind it.

With her swift consciousness, Lily quickly bound the storage treasure and examined it. Aside from a golden identity token of the Kegaretsu Clan, there was nothing of value…no noteworthy manuals, no literature, not even a map.

She picked up the golden token and sensed it. A message transmitted into her mind. It was an identity token belonging to a member of a large Kegaretsu clan located over 100,000 kilometers away.

“So just an ordinary clansman of the Kegaretsu, with no official post and not even a direct descendant of a Kegaretsu deity… and yet, even someone like this dares to act so wildly, to oppress Celestial Maidens! What has become of Takamagahara?”

“Who exactly are the Kegaretsu Clan? Why are they held in such high esteem here in Takamagahara?” Rei also couldn’t understand. According to the legends from the lower realms, weren’t Celestial Maidens supposed to be noble and revered? Second only to the gods themselves, and surely of higher status than these other races of Takamagahara.

“The Kegaretsu are the descendants of the Kegaretsu Gods,” Rinne’s voice came through telepathically. “The Kegaretsu Gods are one branch among the myriad deities, some belong to the Amatsukami, others to the Kunitsukami. Their conduct is typically brutal and savage, glorying in violence and barbarism. They were once a despised lineage in Takamagahara. Though in the past, a few righteous and chivalrous deities emerged among them, legends in their own right, those days are long gone. The Kegaretsu of today are no longer the bold warriors of the past. Most have decayed into a degenerate breed, gods who indulge in lust, plunder, and extravagant debauchery. They are the trash of Takamagahara.”

“Lady Rinne, why is Takamagahara so completely different from the legends passed down in the lower realms? What happened to turn this divine paradise into such a place? Or… is it just because we’re in some lawless border region?” Rei asked.

“Hmph. The central regions of Takamagahara are likely a thousand…no, ten thousand times more corrupt and dark than this place. Quickly, go find that Celestial Maiden named Riyuki. In time, you will come to understand many things,” said Rinne.

“Yes,” Rei nodded. She turned to Lily and added, “Lily, from now on, when Rinne contacts us, give me a heads-up first and place your hand over my lower abdomen, or let me be the one to make contact. Don’t just touch me suddenly.”

“Eh? Alright…”

‘But hadn’t Sister Uesugi always touched me without warning? Yet now that I have a valid reason to place my hand on her lower abdomen, I have to announce it in advance?’

Fortunately, Lily had executed the assassination just now with incredible precision, compressing her power to the bare minimum and not triggering any alarms.

This also made Lily realize: even within this fortress, it was possible to eliminate enemies discreetly without being discovered. Future actions would be much easier to carry out.

What kind of strength did Lily possess? She could fight ten Supreme Gods at once without defeat.

She could have wiped out this entire fortress with a flick of her hand. The only concern was alerting others and drawing the attention of powerful figures deeper within Takamagahara. Even Rinne, who knew Lily’s strength, had warned her to be cautious. This could only mean that Takamagahara harbored beings capable of threatening her. And here, unlike before, there would be no Madam to come to her rescue.

“I should’ve killed that b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ who abused the two Celestial Maidens earlier,” Lily muttered quietly.

“Lily, what are you thinking?” Rei scolded her. “You thought you were helping those two Celestial Maidens, but don’t forget, they’re part of a hostile force!”

The two of them continued to stealthily explore floor by floor. On one level, they found a pile of fodder stacked outside a storeroom. Of course, this wasn’t ordinary fodder, but a special kind harvested in Takamagahara, used to feed Azure Oxen that could walk on air.

The same type of oxen used to pull the cart Lily had obtained from Shuten Doji’s treasure. It seemed likely that Shuten Doji had once reported Bishamonten and received many rewards from the heavens in return. That Azure Ox Cart may have been one such reward. As the only being in the mortal realm known to possess multiple Blood Spirit Magatama, it was possible those magatama had also been heavenly gifts.

Yet Lily now considered: Bishamonten had once topped the wanted list of Takamagahara. Was that all the treasure Shuten Doji had received? Even she, ranked only 99th on the list, had a reward of ten thousand Blood Spirit Magatama. Even if Shuten Doji had used some up, there was no way his reward should’ve been so paltry. His strength, too, shouldn’t have been so limited.

But reflecting on the rot and darkness within Takamagahara, Lily could guess what had happened. The higher-ups had likely issued the reward, but by the time it reached Shuten Doji, it had been stripped layer by layer, leaving him with a mere pittance.

Thinking of it that way, Shuten Doji seemed rather pitiful after all.