Book 3: Chapter 78: Resonance of the Mirror

“Yumi?” Lily looked at her in shock, “Why are you here?”

“Mirror Girl, did you forget that I am her true master?” Haihime stated.

“Forgive me, Lady Lily… I… I can’t go against Lady Haihime’s orders. I leaked your location to her,” Yumi stated in a dazed tone and expression.

“Haihime! Just what did you do to Yumi?” Lily roused all the spirit power inside her after seeing Yumi’s condition.

“What did I do? Nothing at all. She was originally a kunoichi from the Land of Hundred Demons. You were the one who trusted her naively. The only thing to blame for your defeat on this day is your own weakness, isn’t that so, genius samurai woman?”

Lily, however, looked at Yumi sincerely, and showed worry instead of resentment, “You’re the naïve one for using such a despicable method to control someone and offer their life to you, you poor loser! Haihime, doesn’t your name represent the shame of defeat? Or do you regard it an honor to become famous with such a name?”

Haihime’s expression darkened the moment she heard the word ‘loser.’

“Shut up, you b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲! You’re the one who lost, not me! Not me!!!” A powerful blue and white melded spirit power surged out of Haihime as if she had lost control and White Tiger Muramasa in her hand also emitted an exceptionally powerful grudge.

“What? A cursed katana?! Lily was also pretty surprised that Haihime was actually a blade maiden as well. A peak Spirit Jade Stage blade maiden was too fearsome!

However, Lily didn’t show any fear even when facing the encirclement of the Hundred Demons and Haihime, who was much stronger than her. She still possessed the Blood-Spirit Magatama, so she planned to fight these powerhouses for a bit and flee if possible. She also planned to look for a chance to rescue Yumi later on, but if she really had no chance to flee, she intended to eliminate all of them.

A crimson-colored spirit power surged out of Lily’s body and her hair danced in the gusts produced by the spirit fluctuations! This was Lily’s first time fighting another blade maiden!

“Hmm?”

The moment Lily and Haihime, the two blade maidens, unleashed their spirit power, the mirror inside Lily’s sash began to vibrate suddenly along with a ceaseless soul resonance!

At the same time, a tiny copper fragment that Haihime always kept within the range of her cognition, also began to vibrate violently against her underbody.

“What?” Lily and Haihime felt the vibrations at their underbodies and though invisible to outsiders, they could feel the form of the mirror!

Haihime naturally wasn’t that astonished as she already knew that Lily possessed a real ancient mirror, but this resonance was out of her expectations.

What astonished Lily further was that she could sense an item similar to her mirror hidden at Haihime’s underbody, but it was just a fragment.

Lily had touched Shimizu’s mirror pretty closely once, but she had never experienced such a feeling and there was also no resonance.

This a.s.sured her that this fragment was different from Shimizu’s mirror!

Haihime possessed the fragment of a real yet shattered ancient mirror!

Lily recalled what Yumi had told her before, hoping that she could help Haihime. She looked at Yumi, and even though she had a dazed expression and seemed to be under something’s control, she couldn’t feel any resentment from her. Even if she accepted this control willingly, Lily failed to understand why Yumi defended Haihime unconsciously even though she acted so evil and treated her like this.

At this moment…

Although nothing changed around her, Lily felt as if everything around her had disappeared and her consciousness seemed to drift within the void, accompanied by a series of ripples, and a bare naked shimmering girl with long aquamarine hair stood on the other side of the void. However, it looked like this girl couldn’t see Lily and seemed to hide herself in some kind of inescapable darkness, hugging her bent knees in it while burying her face in between her legs, her figure so thinned that the protrusions of her vertebras were visible faintly on her back, making her look quite pitiful. The girl shivered within the darkness, as if she were afraid of everything else in the world except her!

Lily realized that she had entered some place where the soul could be perceived because of the resonance of the mirror and wondered if this girl was Haihime’s true appearance inside her inner world.

Lily lowered her head and grinned coldly though she faced the Hundred Demons and Haihime, a peak Spirit Jade Stage powerhouse.

“Hahaha, Hahahahaha…”

“Hmm? You’re at death’s door, so what are you laughing for?” Haihime questioned doubtfully.

However, Lily ignored her and sent a voice transmission to the mirror s.p.a.ce with her head still lowered, “Kagura, I’m going to fight next and might even do something that looks crazy to you. I want you to control Nanako’s body and remain on reserve with the Blood-Spirit Jade in hand. In case there’s not enough time for me to give you the order, I’ll leave the decision to you. Don’t hesitate to make a move if my life is really in danger, otherwise, don’t take any action no matter what happens to me without my orders, and just remain inside the mirror along with Yuki-Onna, got it?”

“Got it. Although I don’t know why you’ve given such an order, I’ll carry it out as required,” Kagura stated coldly.

Yuki-Onna, however, said, “Even if you tell me to make a move, I won’t necessarily do it, but I also don’t want to watch you die. Let me see what you intend to do. Following you has really made things much more interesting.”

Lily raised her head and looked at the demons as well as Haihime, “What are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to catch me?! Come have a try!”

The moment Lily finished her words, the world was dyed in a faint crimson and countless garish sakura began to fall like snowflakes.

“What?! A domain?” Haihime also furrowed her brows slightly.

The monsters thought the weather had changed and just looked around blankly.

“5th-Stage Awakened and below, die,” Lily stated faintly.

The endless poignant sakura formed a series of crimson death blades.

A powerful suppression took effect and the air in the domain seemed to subject the monsters to a mud-like high pressure and made the weaker monsters kneel one after the other.

“Sakura Blizzard—Lyn.”

After experiencing an increase in strength, the offensive-type domain of Lily’s was several times stronger than when she used it in Mt. Yoshino.

“What?! It’s an offensive-type domain out of all things! Yumi, this b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲, left out this information intentionally!” Haihime felt quite shocked, “Get away from her immediately!”

However, her warning had come too late as the series of crimson blades had begun launching an a.s.sault on the demons within a range of 1km.

The area within this 1km range was filled with dancing sakura blades that left mists of blood in their wake, giving rise to ghastly wails. The power-conceited monsters that surrounded this girl aggressively with wicked intentions and disdain had become the prey of the sakura blades!

Almost all the 5th-Stage Awakened and lower monsters, as well as the Hannya demon ninjas, were killed in just a few breaths!

The 6th-Stage Awakened to 7th-Stage Awakened monsters also sustained injuries of varying degrees, but the Spirit Jade Stage powerhouses were only subjected to slight suppression in terms of movements and expended some spirit power even though they didn’t suffer any injuries.

However, this one move had caused a disastrous loss to Haihime!

Although there were countless powerful monsters in the Endless Demon Mountains, most of them remained in their territories, and most of those that Haihime could truly command had all gathered in this location!

Perhaps it was her fortune that she hadn’t brought the weaker monsters since she knew that Lily was a blade maiden, otherwise, the weaker monsters would’ve died all the same no matter their number within this 1km range of slaughter domain.

“You despicable woman! How dare you make a move first?!” A bluish-white aura seeped out of Haihime suddenly and the projection of an old, dark, real yet illusory world similar to a landscape painting manifested in the surroundings.

This was Haihime’s domain—Broken Mountain of Dreams.

Although it was unclear what circ.u.mstances had enlightened Haihime to such a domain, although the projection of this Broken Mountain of Dreams looked illusory, it was as heavy as a mountain no matter the distance and contained a bit of an untamed heroic intent. However, this projection of shattered landscape also seemed to exude a depthless sorrow and powerlessness.

The projection seemed to portray the state of Haihime’s mind!

Broken Mountain of Dreams didn’t possess any direct offensive ability, but it was a pretty powerful suppressive-type domain. Lily felt a mountainous pressure on her shoulders at this moment and the moving and tragic landscape projection also resisted the sakura as well.

It was naturally impossible for petals to win against a mountain in a frontal clash of strength.

Lily’s Sakura Blizzard possessed a poignant sharpness and was good at ma.s.sacring, but it didn’t possess the steadiness and firmness of the Broken Mountain of Dreams. In this clash of domains, Haihime held the upper hand, so Lily’s domain was under her domain’s constant suppression and scattered gradually.

“So strong!” Lily wasn’t as strong as the members of the Furinkazan and had suppressed them by relying on her talent and domain and did her best to win. However, Haihime’s strength far exceeded hers in absolute terms, her weapon was much formidable than Lily’s katana, and her domain also suppressed Lily’s domain.

Lily realized that she practically had no chances of defeating Haihime right now except for her final ace, the Blood-Spirit Jade.

Haihime was much stronger than any opponent that Lily had met until now.

It was impossible to win without using the Blood-Spirit Jade.

However, Lily was unable to make a move. The poignant, shining soul of the girl who protected herself within the darkness, a woman with such a soul was definitely not a villain no matter how she looked on the outside.

Lily didn’t plan to use the Blood-Spirit Jade unless her life or her senior sister’s life was in true danger.

This was the reason Lily had left the decision in Kagura’s hands. She was afraid that she would miss the right timing in this dangerous battle because of her mercy, but Kagura’s judgmental ability was much superior to hers.

After Lily’s domain got suppressed, the 7th-Stage Awakened, as well as the mighty and fierce Spirit Jade Stage Great Demons surrounded her immediately.

A giant snake woman who was as tall as a three-storied building with shimmering blue scales slithered forward with a scimitar in hand.

The snake woman slithered at a speed much faster than a horse’s sprint and arrived beside Lily suddenly like a phantom and slashed at her with the scimitar.

Lily leaped back to dodge the long blade, but a six-meter-tall middle Spirit Jade Stage blue demon heaved its fist towards Lily with a mountainous momentum from the back in the next moment!

Lily was just about to use her domain to step in mid-air and dodge the first, but the projection of a shattered blue mountain shot towards Lily suddenly and scattered Lily’s drifting sakura, causing her to lose her footing.

“Bam!” The fist struck the defense formed with all of Lily’s spirit power and sent her crashing through several rock pillars.

Lily blocked this attack with great difficulty and looked for a way to escape intentionally after getting up from the debris.

However, white cat-masked kunoichi appeared in front of the debris one after the other suddenly. They had used the earth-shrink art to escape Lily’s domain previously, but they didn’t approach her and tossed white-colored ropes towards Lily instead. Lily dodged most of these ropes, but one of them managed to catch her foot.

Lily lost her balance and fell down resultantly, so she turned around to cut the rope with her katana. However, Haihime vaulted towards Lily swiftly with her aquamarine hair scattered freely the moment Lily stood up and slashed at her with the cursed katana—White Tiger Muramasa—that was clad in bluish-white grudge!