Demon Sword Maiden

Volume 13 - Takamagahara: Chapter 45 - Sister Uesugi!

The escort officer was supposedly a formidable Kunitsukami, yet he had been shot dead by Lily with a single arrow through an utterly unorthodox angle, her hands bound behind her back inside the prison cage.

The three remaining officers were terrified and scrambled away from the prison carriage. As officers fleeing before the prisoner, their reaction was disgraceful, but they only dared return cautiously after seeing Ame-no-Tajikarao seize Lily’s bow.

By this time, the battle between the Celestial Maidens and the Yuten Army had reached a fevered pitch. Their numbers were roughly equal, and the Celestial Maidens even held a slight advantage. Though the Yuten soldiers were unquestionably stronger overall, better equipped and carrying more treasures, they were poor at aerial combat and had been ambushed, so their superiority failed to show.

Yet Hirotake was overwhelmingly strong, fighting both Asazora and Meishin at once, the two most powerful warriors of the Celestial Maiden Rebels.

Marching alongside the escort troops were several Celestial Maidens led by Riyuki, positioned behind the prison carriage. After all, escorting a female prisoner often involved tasks male guards found inconvenient, so Riyuki’s squad accompanied them.

Of course, this arrangement was also by Ame-no-Tajikarao’s order. Any other Heroic God would never have cared about such inconveniences.

“Rescue Miss Lily!” Meishin commanded. She knew they were no match for Ame-no-Tajikarao, but if they could break the cage amid the chaos and free Lily from her ropes and shackles, then Lily might be able to escape on her own.

After all, the Celestial Maidens had launched their attack despite the power gap for one true purpose, to stall the escort army and buy time for Uesugi Rei.

Yet no one knew when Rei would complete her divinity fusion. In the madness of battle, the Celestial Maidens refused to let even a sliver of opportunity slip.

Several Celestial Maidens rushed toward the prison carriage again. A few officers stepped forward to block them. These three burly officers were viciously strong, and the Celestial Maidens were quickly beaten back.

Suddenly, a streak of blue light swept across the sky.

Bishamonten emerged from behind a distant cliff, wielding a long katana. With a single strike she grievously wounded one officer.

The other two rushed to intercept her but were defeated within a few exchanges, collapsing under Bishamonten’s onslaught.

“What? Bishamonten?” Hirotake was shocked.

Bishamonten broke through the last of the officers and charged toward the prison carriage.

“Lady Bishamonten… p-please stop…” Riyuki stood trembling before the cage with her katana in hand.

“You disgrace among Celestial Maidens, you dare stand in my way?” Bishamonten’s presence was overwhelming, her silver hair flowing, her blade emanating a frosty aura as she thrust forward.

Riyuki lacked both the will and the strength to truly clash with the leader of the Celestial Battle Maidens. She only made a symbolic attempt at blocking before being blasted aside by Bishamonten’s strike.

Bishamonten paid her no further mind and slashed the prison carriage.

“Lily! I’m here!”

“Lady Bishamonten!” Lily’s eyes brightened with delight, but that joy instantly shifted to terror. “Watch out! Don’t—”

A massive black shadow appeared beside Bishamonten in an instant.

Ame-no-Tajikarao’s fist slammed into her. The force was heavier, far heavier than Bishamonten had anticipated.

“Ah!” Bishamonten cried as her body smashed into the prison carriage, breaking several wooden bars before bouncing back. Ame-no-Tajikarao seized her midair with one hand.

“Ugh!” He twisted Bishamonten’s soft, full arm behind her back. His grip nearly dislocated it as he shoved her face-down against the clouds with terrifying strength.

“Hm? I didn’t expect years of torment to reduce your strength this much, Bishamonten.” Ame-no-Tajikarao’s expression was strangely conflicted. “You barely escaped, only to walk straight into my hands?”

Cold sweat beaded on Bishamonten’s forehead. His strength was immense, and her current power no longer reached the level of a Supreme God. The sheer force made her feel as if she would faint from pain.

“Let her go!” Lily kicked violently at the prison cage.

The cage had already been damaged several times and could not withstand her assault. With several heavy kicks, Lily shattered more wooden bars. In truth, she could have kicked through the cage earlier, but even then she would have never escaped Ame-no-Tajikarao’s grasp.

“Kagami Lily! Do not force me to strike you!”

Ame-no-Tajikarao did not wish to harm Lily, but she was a top-priority criminal and he was her assigned guard. Faced with her resistance, he had no choice but to act, or else he would be violating his duty as a soldier.

Pinning Bishamonten with one hand, he thrust the other toward Lily’s cage and struck.

A golden palm-strike blasted Lily, sending her hurtling across the wreckage. The blow was too heavy. It punched straight through what remained of the battered prison carriage and flung Lily in a wide arc.

Lily’s reflexes were far sharper than ordinary people. Even while reeling from the devastating strike and wracked with pain, she summoned Oborozuki Muramasa, clenched the blade between her teeth, bent her knees, and swung downward to hack at the shackles on her ankles.

But the angle was unwieldy, her divine power suppressed by ropes and chains, and sparks flew wildly across the shackles without cutting them.

“What a troublesome woman. Must you insist on suffering?”

Ame-no-Tajikarao shoved the weakened Bishamonten aside. “Bind her!”

He then leapt across the wreckage, grabbed the chain that still pinned Lily to the underside of the carriage, and yanked her back toward him.

Power gathered in his free hand as he prepared to slap her with a massive, brutal palm.

Sensing the overwhelming force, Lily squeezed her eyes shut. But Ame-no-Tajikarao let out a sigh. He could not bring himself to strike her. Instead, he dragged her close, lifted her by the arm and pinned her onto the remains of the carriage.

By this time, two returning burly officers had already seized Bishamonten, forcing her arms behind her back and binding her upper body tightly with loops of rope that cinched around her shoulders and neck. They then hauled her up and threw her onto what remained of the prison carriage, which was now reduced to only a battered base and two wheels.

Ame-no-Tajikarao held Lily with one hand and Bishamonten with the other, restraining both completely.

“Release Lady Bishamonten!” Tachibana Daie of the Chrysanthemum Squad charged out of the chaos, thrusting a cross-shaped spear toward Ame-no-Tajikarao.

“No! Don’t come!” Lily shouted.

Facing the incoming assault, Ame-no-Tajikarao did not even bother to raise a hand. He inhaled sharply, opened his mouth wide and roared.

A burst of powerful golden divine power erupted from his mouth. The shockwave blasted Tachibana out of the air, her body trembling as she fell unconscious.

“Tachibana!” Bishamonten struggled and cried out, but she could neither break free of the ropes nor escape Ame-no-Tajikarao’s iron grip.

Under the fierce assault of Hirotake and several Yuten generals, all swinging massive swords and blades, Meishin and Asazora had burned through too much divine power and were gradually losing ground. Hirotake seized the opening, knocking Meishin’s weapon aside with a single strike. Another general immediately rushed in from behind and grabbed her by the neck. Two more ran up, one wrenching her arm, the other seizing her leg, pinning her completely.

“Bind her!” Hirotake tossed out a rope, preparing to tie up Meishin.

Suddenly, waves of unbelievable force rippled through the air.

Crimson currents surged out, taking the form of long whips. These scarlet waves neutralized the rope’s power, seized control of it and sent it flying back, where it wrapped tightly around one of the Yuten generals instead.

“Who is it?” Hirotake exclaimed in alarm.

From between the cliffs, a woman flew forth on a swirl of violet demonic mist. She wore an enticing outfit with a wide-open collar, her shoulders bare and a deep valley of cleavage exposed.

“Lady Bishamonten, I did not break my promise, did I? Hehehe.” Taira no Furaku flicked the long whip in her hand. All her original treasures had been seized by Lily, so the whip was something she had borrowed from the Celestial Maiden Rebels, merely a mid-grade spirit artifact.

Though lacking powerful treasures and not skilled in direct combat, she was still a Supreme God. With a few sweeping motions of her whip, Furaku suppressed several Yuten generals at once, Hirotake included.

Even working together, they could only barely hold her off and had no attention left to check on the other Celestial Maidens.

Furaku still had energy to spare and unleashed her Charm Arts upon the surrounding Yuten troops. Even without her treasures, her mastery of the Seventh Stage of the Charm Heavenly Path and the natural fragrance she had cultivated over many years, potent enough to bewitch men by itself, caused over a hundred Yuten soldiers to erupt with uncontrollable desire. Many descended into madness as they charged recklessly toward her. Others fell into outright delirium, and some even began killing each other as they fought over newly captured Celestial Maidens.

She might have been an unimpressive Supreme God in combat, but her appearance alone threw the entire Yuten army into total chaos with astonishing ease.

“Taira no Furaku! You demoness, I’ve had enough of you! Betraying us, then daring to show yourself? You think no one can subdue you?”

Ame-no-Tajikarao stomped on Bishamonten’s back beneath his foot and thrust out his palm. A surge of golden divine power shot forth as a massive palm imprint.

The golden strike crashed into Furaku’s delicate body.

“Ah!” She had no time to dodge and no protective treasure to shield her. Like a Supreme God running completely exposed, she was blasted as the strike shattered her clothing, leaving only a few torn white silk strips and the purple embroidered undergarments beneath. Her body trembled helplessly midair as she fell.

“Enough!” Ame-no-Tajikarao roared in anger. He struck upward with his palm and the clouds churned violently overhead. Dozens of gigantic golden hands materialized from the heavens and descended.

They crashed down toward the areas where Celestial Maidens were most concentrated, striking without distinction, engulfing both Celestial Maidens and many Yuten soldiers in the blasts.

Yet Ame-no-Tajikarao controlled his power with perfect precision. Even though the attack was indiscriminate, the Yuten soldiers possessed far sturdier defenses than Celestial Maidens of the same rank. Most Yuten soldiers suffered only light injuries, while the Celestial Maidens were struck heavily one by one. Many collapsed on the spot, losing all ability to resist and were swiftly surrounded and captured by Yuten troops.

After several rounds of these indiscriminate attacks, nearly all Celestial Maidens at the Big Dipper Stage had lost the strength to resist and were captured.

Only a few of the Celestial Stage remained, and even they were severely weakened, surrounded and fighting with all they had left.

But from the battlefield’s perspective, the rescue operation had failed completely. Aside from a few who had managed to scatter and escape, the Celestial Maiden forces were practically all captured. It was only a matter of time.

“How could this happen…” The Celestial Maidens had fought desperately to save Lily, yet the operation had been utterly crushed. Lily herself was pinned against the cloud surface by Ame-no-Tajikarao’s massive hand, unable to break free, without the slightest chance of escape. And now Bishamonten and almost the entire Celestial Maiden force were about to be lost alongside her.

Just then, from beyond the thundercloud canyon, a strange ripple swept through the distant sky. Lily, Ame-no-Tajikarao and Bishamonten all sensed it at the same moment.

About five hundred kilometers away, in the solitary Hizan.

The cave sealed by an icy waterfall trembled.

Boom!

The frozen waterfall shattered into powder as a chilling surge of blue light burst from the cave depths. Uesugi Rei stepped forth barefoot, kicking aside the rubble at the entrance.

She emerged wearing a blue-and-white Celestial Maiden feathered robe, a long divine sword on her back radiating an impossibly sharp, icy brilliance, her silver hair pouring down like a river of fallen stars as she walked out from within the vast, frigid aura.