Volume 11 - Yamata no Orochi: Chapter 47 – Ancient Hojo Clan

Shenzu, her hands bound behind her back, was thrown into a room deep within the sedan. The ropes restraining her were formidable treasures, more than capable of securing Shenzu. Furthermore, her strength had significantly diminished since her Big Dipper soul depended on Rokuhara’s blood, which was now depleted.

“Shenzu…” Lily, Ayaka, Tomoe Gozen, Ashikaga Makoto, and the other sisters entered the room, with Shimizu standing to the side. Shenzu’s eyes flashed with hatred upon seeing Lily, blaming her for her teacher’s death—the only person who had truly cared for her.

“Kagami Lily, kill me,” Shenzu demanded, her bound posture pushing her against the floor. Her resentment-filled eyes bore into Lily’s.

“I won’t kill you, but you won’t go free either. Your crimes will be judged by the Bureau of Justice,” Lily responded firmly.

“You treasonous women! Defying the Shogun and Cloistered Emperor, what right do you have to judge me?” Shenzu retorted heatedly.

“Sister Ayaka, seal this room thoroughly,” Lily instructed. After the sisters left, Ayaka cast a spell, summoning chains that enveloped the room, adorned with talismans, leaving the weakened Shenzu no chance of escape.

Lily, Ayaka, Tomoe Gozen, and the others turned to leave, but Shenzu’s m.u.f.fled protests continued, “Lily, if you don’t kill me, you’ll regret it! One day…”

Interrupting her, Shimizu suddenly gagged Shenzu with the hilt of her cursed blade. Shenzu’s attempts at speech turned into incoherent mumbles, her face reddening with anger and humiliation.

After some time, Shimizu removed the blade, leaving Shenzu gasping for air, a clear liquid trickling from her mouth. “What a shameless woman, defiling my sword,” Shimizu remarked with a laugh.

“Silence… It’s you who…” Shenzu attempted to retort, but Shimizu swiftly brandished her sword, the blade glinting perilously close to Shenzu’s face. “You keep asking for death, but do you truly desire it?”

Shimizu’s blade lightly traced Shenzu’s neck and back before she withdrew it. “Lily didn’t kill you, but she didn’t stop me either. Do you think she would blame me for ending your life?”

“You…” Shenzu, feeling powerless against the woman she loathed, couldn’t help but feel aggrieved.

“Reflect on your actions. Has Sister Lily wronged you, or did you bring trouble upon yourself?” Shimizu prodded.

Shenzu tensed as Shimizu’s sword pa.s.sed over her, unsure if it had cut her. Shimizu warned, “If you dare harm Sister Lily, I will be the one to take your life.” Dragging her sword past Shenzu’s eyes, Shimizu then ripped Shenzu’s armor and clothes to shreds, leaving her exposed.

Shimizu exited the cell, leaving Shenzu among the torn remnants of her clothing. The sound of dripping water filled the cell, but Shenzu remained unscathed

Silva: Could be, knowing the author’s fetish…">¹…

Outside, a storm raged on. Lanterns swung wildly in the wind, with a lantern demon nearly blown away before being saved by another demon. Ahead, the mountains of Izumo appeared loftier than ever.

“Have these peaks of Izumo Mountain grown taller?” Lily marveled.

Beyond the towering peaks, lightning and thunder unveiled ma.s.sive, shadowy figures amidst the clouds. The demonic aura was overwhelming!

“Crossing these mountains will reveal Yoritomo’s actions,” Michizane stated, his voice thunderous as the storm.

“Hehehe! Humans surpa.s.s even vengeful spirits in their capacity for evil,” Masakado noted.

“Yoritomo speaks of the greater good, yet endangers the world. How dare he question Master Yos.h.i.tsune’s ideal country?” Benkei rumbled from the back, his presence formidable.

The downpour continued, flooding Kansai. At the heart of this deluge were those very mountains.

Lily and her sisters, accompanied by their group, persevered through the arduous journey, scaling the towering mountains of Izumo. Amidst the deafening sound of rain, trees were being uprooted and swept away, transforming once tranquil mountain springs and streams into raging waterfalls. The sisters, drenched and barely able to see ahead, held hands to aid each other in the treacherous climb.

A thunderous rumble echoed as lightning illuminated the path ahead. There, a woman in a pink, elegantly antiquated kimono stood beside a stocky old man.

“People from Heian-kyō, I regret to inform you that you cannot proceed any further,” Hojo Masako declared, her voice resonating with the thunder, her pale complexion contrasting starkly with her dark brows and lips under the flashing lightning.

“Hojo Masako!” Shizuka Gozen stepped forward from the group, her white hair billowing and her cursed blade radiating resentment. “Even if you hadn’t blocked our path, I would have sought you out to avenge the wrongs you committed against me in the past!”

With a loud boom, Shizuka Gozen, overwhelmed by resentment, charged towards Masako, her usually calm demeanor replaced by fury.

“Hojo Clan! You shall all perish!” Musashibo Benkei bellowed, his ma.s.sive form pushing through the army of spirits as he ascended the mountain with powerful strides.

In the mountain’s depths, the banners of Minamoto no Yoritomo and the Hojo Clan fluttered. The Ancient Hojo Army and the Black-Armored Demon Army emerged, their battle cries reverberating through the skies.

Masako activated three spell talismans. Behind her, three ma.s.sive Gates of Yomi rose from the earth, unleashing hordes of Yomi demons.

Atop the sedan, Lily stood with her purple lunar force rippling outward in the rain. Cherry blossoms formed beneath her feet as she, Ayaka, Shimizu, Rei, and the others, joined by Michizane, Masakado, and Hashihime with their spectral armies, surged forward into battle.

On the battlefield, Shizuka Gozen led the charge. Her flowing white hair transformed into long whips, fending off the Yomi demons focused on her, her sole target being Masako.

Realizing their disadvantage against Shizuka Gozen, Tokimasa and Masako consumed pills provided by Yoritomo. An ominous aura enveloped them as countless blood droplets from the Hojo Clan soldiers merged into them, forming a sinister, ancient collective formation.

Masako’s form enlarged, her kimono stained with blood, a white hannya mask concealing her face, and her hands morphing into eerie green ghostly appendages.

“Ah—!” With a piercing scream, Masako hurled a withered baby’s head towards Shizuka Gozen. The head grotesquely transformed into a demonic ent.i.ty, squirming as it flew at Shizuka.

“No!!!” In a state of frenzy, Shizuka Gozen embraced the monstrous child, only to be attacked by a tube-like appendage from its mouth, drawing her blood amidst eerie cries.

Musashibo Benkei acted swiftly, severing the appendage with his naginata, eliciting a haunting cry from the creature.

“Don’t harm him! Please!” Shizuka Gozen pleaded, caught in her emotional turmoil.

“You heartless woman, playing with emotions!” Lily admonished, stepping on Benkei’s shoulder to approach Masako.

Retreating midair, Masako, donning a ghastly white hannya mask with golden horns, unleashed a barrage of spells in panic.

Lily effortlessly deflected them with her Dojigiri-Yasutsuna.

“Do not harm my daughter!” Tokimasa roared. Transformed into a ma.s.sive tengu with a crimson mask, his muscles and veins visible beneath his skin, he struck at Lily with his hefty staff.

Lily acrobatically dodged, landing on the staff and forcing it downward. Seizing the moment, she leaped above Tokimasa, bringing her sword down in a swift strike.

A loud clang resounded as the demonized Masako intervened, blocking Lily’s attack with her ghostly hands wielding a long sword. The clash left a noticeable dent on Masako’s blade.

Now demonic hannya and tengu, Hojo Masako and Hojo Tokimasa had amplified their strength to the quintuple-soul Big Dipper Stage by absorbing the resentment and blood essence of thousands of ancient Hojo Clan members. Even Lily found them challenging opponents.

As the battle intensified, the black-armored demon soldiers unleashed a torrent of arrows and demonic spells. In response, the hundred ghosts and vengeful spirits swiftly conjured their own spells for defense and counterattack.

Hashihime, controlling her ox cart, soared into the air, undeterred by the barrage of arrows and spells. Reaching the archers’ formation, she disembarked from the cart, her enigmatic form expanding rapidly, enveloping the demon soldiers in blue flames that reduced them to mere ashes.

Ayaka employed various defensive formations to shield against the onslaught of arrows. Then, with strategic precision, she released a cascade of flames, ice arrows, and wind blades towards the three Gates of Yomi, decimating the swarm of demons that had emerged.

At that moment, Tokiwa emerged from the sedan. In her hands, she held an ancient lute, which she began to play. The haunting melody resonated with a deep nostalgia, causing the spirits and demons to clutch their heads in anguish, their will to fight diminishing rapidly.

Suddenly, three malevolent spirits launched themselves towards Tokiwa from a nearby tree. With swift agility, Tokiwa turned and plucked the strings of her lute, casting three invisible sound spells.

Footnotes:

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   LazyButAmbitious: Does that mean she peed herself?

   
   

   Silva: Could be, knowing the author’s fetish…