Book 3: Chapter 5: Sakura Blades, Where Do the Sakura Hail From?

“She isn’t human…” “This woman isn’t human!” “She devoured a demon’s anima!” “She killed two transcendent monster lords with a single strike!” “Her blade devoured Lord Dijon and Lord Genja’s souls!” “Spare my life!” “She is a true demoness!” “A blade maiden… she’s a great demon of the legends—a blade maiden!” “Spare our lives, O’Maiden!1”

The demon ninjas and the monsters within the Sakura Blizzard’s range didn’t dare to resist any further and groveled on the ground one after the other, pleading Lily for leniency!

Lily’s bewitching yet merciless gaze traveled across the groveling monsters and demon ninjas before she asked them a question.

“If I were to fall into a defenseless state, would you have let me go?”

Lily’s willed her mind and the sakura flying within the Sakura Blizzard turned into a poignant and deadly storm of sakura blades within the domain.

Despair welled up on the faces of all the monsters at this moment and even the fearsome Hannya-masked demon ninjas were utterly frightened!

The sakura blades sped up suddenly and stormed within the domain, leaving death in their wake!

“Argh!” “No!” “Spare me, argh!”

Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!

Countless beautiful blades rained down the monsters and demon ninjas within the domain and diced them apart into pieces, leaving behind a scene of utter carnage!

Even the fluttering sakura had been dyed crimson, turning into blood-colored sakura, and a mist of blood filled the domain, making it seem like a h.e.l.l of sakura reigned by a blade maiden!

Although Lily had a kindhearted nature, these demons had forced her into an impa.s.se multiple times and even harmed her sisters who were like family to her. Hence, she couldn’t bear it any longer!

The blood sakura blitzed across the domain and with each wave, loads of shimmering animas floated up within the sky.

Lily’s gaze blurred as she kissed the thick and dark handle of Crescent Moon before parting her lips to state coldly, “Satisfy me.”

The soul runes on the cursed katana activated and the hundreds of animas gravitated towards Crescent Moon. After the runes absorbed them, a portion of them entered Lily’s body via the Soul-Controlling Art and filled Lily’s spirit palace with abundant spirit power.

“Ngh…” Lily had been in a spirit power-hungry state for a long time, and she had finally recovered fully this time.

On the other hand, devouring two transcendent animas of great demons had strengthened Crimson Moon to an unprecedented degree and brought it infinitely closer to upgrading to a grade 7 katana. Lily knew intuitively that she just needed another great demon’s transcendent soul to upgrade her katana to grade 7!

A grade 7 katana was a katana of the legends!

As Lily had killed two 7th-Stage Awakened in addition to a huge number of demons in this battle, a lot of grudges had acc.u.mulated within her. Although Lily was different from others and could neutralize the grudge within her body via moonlight cleansing, dealing with it alone all the time made her feel empty and frustrated post-neutralization.

“If it was Sister Uesugi…”

Lily couldn’t help but recall the scene of how Uesugi Rei neutralized the grudge within her2…

“No! Just what am I thinking?!” Lily’s flushed cheeks turned hot and her b.r.e.a.s.t.s heaved up and down intensely. Even though she was worried about Shimizu and Nanako, she wondered why she had recalled Uesugi Rei when she pondered about how to neutralize the grudge acc.u.mulated within her body. Did I subconsciously feel Sister Uesugi is the best at neutralizing my acc.u.mulated grudge?

“I don’t know! I just don’t know! Anyways, no matter whether she is best at it or not, I should stop fantasizing about it! Even if it is for the sake of neutralizing the grudge, doing that feels too embarra.s.sing!” Lily shook her head and pulled open the cleavage between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s wider, allowing the cold wind to seep in and calm her mind.

Lily had already brought Dijon and Genja’s corpses over the fault by controlling the wind with her Sakura Blizzard domain.

As she wasn’t willing to touch their corpses personally, she formed a spiral arm of sakura within her domain and plundered the treasures on their corpses.

Other than the broken tachi that was barely a grade 6 katana, Hojo Dijon still had a few gold coins and a pouch filled with magatama fragments on him. Lily weighed the pouch via her domain and determined that there wasn’t much of it inside, and only amounted to approximately 100 grams. It seemed that Dijon had become truly dest.i.tute ever since Odawara Castle had been captured.

On the other hand, Genja had a lot more treasures than Dijon.

Other than the grade 6 ninja straight sword that he hadn’t used, Lily had found a lot of ninjutsu scrolls that she never heard of or seen until now. Lily moved all the grade 6 and higher items she found on him into the ancient mirror and ignored the items below grade 6 as she didn’t want them.

Genja also had a total of 400 grams of magatama fragments, and this pleased Lily very much.

She had obtained a total of 550 grams of magatama fragments in this battle alone!

Lily then manipulated the Sakura Blizzard domain and pushed the corpses of the monsters and the demon ninjas off the fault.

After that, Lily rolled her sleeves up and pulled up the bottom of her kimono, tucking it into her kimono sash. She then strode forward to grab a sickle used by one of the demon ninjas and dug a grave for Matsuda Nagahide under an old tree outside the cave where Lord Yos.h.i.tsune and Lady Shizuka parted.

After burying Lord Matsuda’s corpse, Lily crafted an elaborate wooden grave marker using Crescent Moon and wrote the following on top of it—Matsuda Nagahide, Kagami Lily’s Father in Heian.

Lily placed Dijon’s and Genja’s heads as offerings in front of Lord Matsuda’s grave and then kneeled down before it.

“Father Matsuda, your daughter is here to offer the head of your foe. May you rest in peace!”

Lily kowtowed so deep that her head almost touched the floor.

After that, she arrived inside the cave that was Lord Yos.h.i.tsune’s dwelling and said words of farewell towards Lord Yos.h.i.tsune and the missing Lady Shizuka’s items.

“Lord Yos.h.i.tsune, I haven’t forgotten what you told me at the shrine. However, where did your heroic spirit want to meet me? And what is the path I have chosen to tread? I’m quite perplexed about it myself and clueless about what to do next… I hope your spirit can guide me from the other side, Lord Yos.h.i.tsune…”

Saying so, Lily kneeled within the cave.

An ancient yet youthful and heroic voice echoed within the cave at this moment, “The secret of this world lies past the Heavenly Gate. Girl, if you run into my wife, Lady Shizuka, in the future and happen to hear her call for help, then, do not answer it at any cost, kindhearted girl.”

Lily had heard this voice twice until now, so there was no way she would mistake it. It was none other than the voice of Minamoto Kurou Yos.h.i.tsune’s remnant will left in this world.

However, Lily felt puzzled by his guidance.

“Lord Yos.h.i.tsune! You have guided me several times and I’ve yet to repay my grat.i.tude. If I obtain any news about your wife, I will naturally do my best to save her in spite of the danger involved. Why do you dissuade me from going to save her?”

“Remember my words, girl. If you hear Lady Shizuka’s call for help in the future, do not answer it at any cost… at any cost…”

Yos.h.i.tsune’s voice resounded within the old cave and disappeared gradually, leaving behind a sincerity-filled yet puzzled Lily.3

1. Robinxen: Belated realisation there.
2. Robinxen: Loooood thoughts.
3. Silva: I’ll bet my money on it that Lily will try to help regardless and got herself in deep sh*t