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Shizuka Gozen suddenly moved. Her graceful figure drifted through the air as her flowing sleeves danced. Her folding fan snapped shut in an instant, sending out rippling waves as it struck toward Lily.

She was astonishingly fast!

Shizuka Gozen had always possessed exceptional talent. It was only because the Heian Dynasty had lacked high-level secret arts, coupled with the shackles of her own lingering resentment, that her growth had been hindered. Now, having obtained countless secret arts from the High Heavens and resolved much of the burden weighing on her heart, her strength had naturally advanced at an incredible pace.

Her physical aptitude had already been remarkable to begin with, and after receiving several treasures from Kiyoshi, her body had become even stronger.

Even so, despite both Shizuka Gozen and Lily having reached the Celestial Stage, her physique still remained vastly inferior to Lily’s.

However, Lily’s stamina had truly been exhausted. She was utterly drained, her limbs weak and powerless. She remained standing through sheer force of will alone. In such a condition, even attempting to evade Shizuka Gozen’s relentless assault was already a tremendous struggle.

Lily narrowly dodged the strike from Shizuka Gozen’s fan, but her footing faltered and she nearly fell. Seizing the opportunity, Shizuka Gozen whipped one of her long sleeves toward her. Relying solely on instinct, Lily bent backward. Although the movement lacked its usual elegance, she still managed to avoid it.

“Let’s see you bend over now!”

As Lily bent forward, the curve of her hips beneath her short skirt was raised directly before Shizuka Gozen’s eyes. Naturally, she seized the opportunity and brought her fan down sharply against them.

“Ah!” A blow delivered with the strength of a Celestial Stage body truly hurt. Besides, this happened to be one of Lily’s vulnerable spots.

Covering herself with one hand, Lily hurriedly retreated.

“Hahahahahaha!” The surrounding gods and demons burst into thunderous laughter. Lily’s face flushed crimson with embarrassment, and anger surged within her. Waving her white silk ribbon, she lashed it toward Shizuka Gozen.

Yet Shizuka Gozen’s wide sleeves fluttered gracefully, and with the perfect balance of softness and rigidity between her sleeves and fan, she effortlessly deflected the ribbon aside.

Lily and Shizuka Gozen clashed once more.

Although Shizuka Gozen’s strength was still inferior to Lily’s, Lily’s current physical condition was simply too poor, leaving her at a complete disadvantage.

Faced with Shizuka Gozen’s fan techniques, she could only retreat step by step, constantly evading and defending.

Shizuka Gozen’s offensive was fierce. Her sleeves danced like flowing rainbows. When opened, her fan became as sharp as a blade; when closed, it struck with the crushing force of a heavy wooden board.

Lily could only barely dodge and parry each relentless attack.

“Damn it!” Lily finally cursed through gritted teeth.

“Hmph. So this is the strength of the Three Realms’ greatest beauty? I’d say you’re better off kneeling beside men as nothing more than a decorative vase!” Shizuka Gozen mocked her mercilessly while pressing her assault even harder.

Another strike landed squarely across Lily’s thigh, the pain so intense that tears nearly welled up in her eyes.

“You…” Bitterness filled Lily’s heart, yet there was nothing she could do.

Her stamina had long since reached its limit. While enduring Shizuka Gozen’s relentless offensive, she deliberately limited every movement to the smallest possible expenditure of energy, hoping to recover even the slightest bit of strength. Simply dodging and defending under those conditions was already extraordinarily difficult.

That was precisely what Lily was doing. Even while fighting Shizuka Gozen, she minimized every action, using every fleeting moment to gradually restore her stamina.

Had her opponent been a man, a demon, or one of the Heroic Gods, Lily would never have accepted such humiliation. But since her opponent was another woman, although being beaten like this was still humiliating, it remained barely within the limits of what she could endure. She had no other choice.

If she fought recklessly and exhausted herself defeating Shizuka Gozen quickly, she truly would not even have enough strength left to walk. When the next powerful opponent stepped forward, she would have no choice but to surrender without resistance.

For now, all she could do was stall for time, slowing the pace of the battle as much as possible so her stamina could recover bit by bit.

With a wave of Shizuka Gozen’s hand, a ring of folding screens rose around them. One of the demon gods immediately shouted, “That human woman is using a treasure! Isn’t that against the rules?”

Shizuka Gozen calmly replied, “This isn’t a treasure used for battle. It’s simply for a certain tactic against this woman. There are things I don’t want you men to witness.”

“What!?” The gathered demon gods were left bewildered and irritated.

The folding screens were one of Shizuka Gozen’s Domain Treasures. Upon them were painted scene after scene of her meeting, falling in love with, and eventually parting from Minamoto no Yoshitsune. Gazing upon those paintings filled her with the immense power born from sorrow.

“I’m sorry, Lily. I never truly regarded you as my sister. Everything I’ve done… has always been for that man,” Shizuka Gozen said, her eyes shimmering with tears.

“Hmph. Do you really think Lord Yoshitsune’s spirit would be pleased to see this? It was because you refused to let go that he chose me instead of you!” Lily replied coldly.

“What!?” Shizuka Gozen trembled violently, as though she had suffered an overwhelming blow.

“At the shrine in Takeshita Town, Lord Yoshitsune’s heroic spirit entrusted his hopes for the future to me, not you. At the Heavenly Gate, he chose to meet me, not you. Think carefully… why do you suppose that was?”

“Shut up, you shameless b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲! You think that just because you’re young and beautiful, after stealing the title of the world’s greatest beauty, you can also steal the most precious thing in my life? Weren’t you supposed to like women? How can you be so shameless, so despicable? You even tried to seduce Lord Yoshitsune!”

Shizuka Gozen’s snow-white hair surged outward for what seemed like thousands of feet. She instantly descended into a frenzy, and her aura exploded as her power rose dramatically.

“Huh? What…?” Lily looked utterly bewildered. “W-What are you talking about?”

By this point, however, Shizuka Gozen paid no attention whatsoever to Lily’s explanation. Consumed entirely by rage, her power surged explosively as she lunged forward. With a powerful swing of her fan, she knocked Lily’s hands aside. Her overwhelming resentment poured forth like a tidal wave.

That immense resentment, striking Lily whose body had already accumulated an enormous amount of resentment from before, became almost the final straw. Her body went limp, and Shizuka Gozen seized the opportunity to wrap an arm around Lily’s waist, forcing her to kneel before pulling her across her lap.

“You b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲! You b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲! You b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲!”

Blinded by fury, Shizuka Gozen lifted Lily’s short skirt in one swift motion. Filled with genuine, boundless hatred, she brought the folded fan down like a heavy paddle.

At this point, Shizuka Gozen had already violated the rules. Although she had not used divine power, she had unconsciously unleashed the power of a resentment secret art, or perhaps it had manifested naturally due to her loss of control. The result was that the nearly exhausted Lily was firmly pinned across her lap, unable to move, while the merciless blows continued to rain down.

Lily had no choice but to reinforce herself with divine power. Otherwise, she would truly have been injured by the punishment. Even so, it still hurt.

“Madam Shizuka Gozen! You’ve misunderstood what I meant! Lord Yoshitsune only entrusted his mission to me. There was never that kind of relationship between us! He was merely disappointed in you… worried about you!”

“Shut up!” Shizuka Gozen’s fury only intensified. “I’ll beat you to death, you little s̲l̲u̲t̲! You dared steal the last thing I had… Wuu…”

“What are they doing in there? Smack, smack, smack?” The gathered gods and demons could not see through the folding screens. They could only make out blurred silhouettes shifting inside.

Although no one outside could witness the humiliating scene Lily was enduring, the deafening uproar, shouting, and commotion from the countless gods and demons only magnified her sense of shame.

Gradually, a strange sensation spread from every place where Shizuka Gozen’s resentful punishment landed, flowing throughout Lily’s entire body.

It was an extraordinarily pure fluctuation of the Path of Charm, nothing less than the very essence of that path.

That essence caused Lily’s entire body to tremble, flooding her with an indescribable sense of comfort. Not only was it restoring her stamina, but it was also making her body stronger.

The bliss brought about by this essence, which simultaneously replenished her strength and continuously enhanced her physique, was so intoxicating that Lily became completely captivated by it.

Her resistance gradually weakened until it became merely symbolic. Shizuka Gozen’s hateful punishment continued to rain down upon her, yet each blow unconsciously transformed into essence of the Path of Charm, rejuvenating Lily’s entire body as though she were being reborn.

No matter how humiliating this was, Lily understood that she had stumbled upon an extraordinary opportunity. Such miraculous growth in strength was something that could only be encountered by chance, never sought.

Even though this woman, driven half mad with rage, continued punishing her mercilessly, and even though Lily burned with embarrassment, she could not allow this precious opportunity to be interrupted.

Lily quietly accepted Shizuka Gozen’s fury, letting events unfold naturally. In Shizuka Gozen’s eyes, it appeared that Lily had finally submitted and surrendered to her, yet her anger still refused to subside.

“Kagami Lily, don’t think I’ll spare you just because you’ve stopped resisting! Yes, I may have wronged you before, but I never imagined you would betray me first! Even if Yoshitsune truly loved you, I came before you! You came after me! At most, you could only ever be the concubine!

“Today, as the lawful wife, I’m going to properly discipline and punish you, you shameless little mistress! This is what you get for seducing my husband! This is what you get for betraying a wife’s virtue!”

Lily was completely dumbfounded. Was Shizuka Gozen’s entire world made up of nothing but Minamoto no Yoshitsune?

Lord Yoshitsune had entrusted Lily with the future of the Genji Clan and the peace of the world, yet Shizuka Gozen had somehow twisted that into believing Lily had stolen her husband, treating her like that sort of woman and punishing her for it!

Lily truly felt wronged.

Had it not been for the strange miracle born from the endless resentment lingering across the ancient battlefield, Shizuka Gozen’s overwhelming resentment, and this unique environment, Lily would have pushed her away and resisted long ago.

But opportunities for advancement like this were priceless and could never be forced. If she missed it now, she might never encounter such a chance again. So she could only suppress her embarrassment and allow Shizuka Gozen to vent her anger upon her.

Apparently feeling that simply spanking Lily was still insufficient, Shizuka Gozen actually used Lily’s own white silk ribbon to bind her wrists together. She then turned Lily over onto her back across her lap before repeatedly striking the most prominently raised part of Lily’s body with her folded fan.

For a moment, it felt as though the heavens and earth themselves were shaking.

“Ah!” Even Lily could not endure such treatment forever. After suffering several more blows, she finally reached her limit and struggled free, shoving Shizuka Gozen away.

Shizuka Gozen herself was exhausted from the beating. Both women tumbled to opposite sides, while the white silk ribbon naturally unraveled and scattered across the ground.

Still glaring at Lily with the eyes of a lawful wife looking down upon a concubine, Shizuka Gozen continued lecturing her incessantly. Lily could only shake her head in disbelief.

It was as though Shizuka Gozen’s soul had returned completely to the memories of when she had been Yoshitsune’s wife, causing her to forget her current circumstances entirely.

Gently rubbing her aching, rounded backside, Lily straightened her skirt. Looking at Shizuka Gozen with sympathetic eyes, she could not help feeling that the woman was truly pitiful.

**”Crash!”**

The folding screens exploded apart.

Lily emerged radiant, as though she had been reborn. Her entire body overflowed with vibrant vitality and mature feminine grace. Even more astonishingly, the strength of her physical body had increased severalfold compared to before.

It had reached the true peak of a Supreme God’s physique.

Based on physical strength alone, perhaps only Ame-no-Tajikarao still surpassed her slightly. As for the physiques of every other Supreme God, none could compare to hers anymore.

“Madam Shizuka Gozen, although I sympathize deeply with you and can understand your suffering, I’m going to defeat you now.”

“In your dreams, you little temptress!”