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Ashikaga Kiyoshi radiated endless darkness as his entire body floated into the air. That darkness spread in every direction, while black flames blazed around him as though they could burn the very sky to ashes.

“Miss Kagami, there is no need for either of us to keep suppressing our power any longer. Let us fight with everything we have, a battle without reservation, so that neither of us will have regrets in this lifetime.”

Lily’s heart was torn between grief and fury. She grieved that such an upright and honorable man as Kiyoshi had ended up walking this path. Could it truly have been her fault?

But aside from being unable to return his feelings as a woman, she had been willing to do anything for him as a dearest friend. What more could she have done? Was the only way for a woman to repay a man by offering herself to him?

Could that truly be considered her fault?

Her anger burned. She was enraged at those lurking in the shadows who had seduced him onto this road of darkness.

“To exploit the feelings of such an upright and kind-hearted warrior… That is the most unforgivable thing of all!”

Consumed by boundless fury, Lily erupted in a sea of crimson. The wrathful flames of the Higanbana blossomed brilliantly upon the vast Celestial Demon Path!

“Ashikaga Kiyoshi… then I shall grant your wish!”

Leaping into the air, Lily swept her cursed blade through the sky, leaving behind a magnificent crimson arc. Like a gigantic folding fan unfurling, it swept over the heads of the million gods and demons below, filling the entire horde with shock and dread.

“Mother of… Were we really blinded by lust just now? We actually dared challenge a goddess like that?”

“It’s only because Kagami Lily kept her word and never used her divine secret arts. Otherwise, even if a thousand experts attacked together, they probably couldn’t stop a single slash from her!” admitted one of the Fortune Gods with complete honesty.

Every one of them had planned to challenge her one after another, exhausting her stamina before forcibly claiming the peerless beauty. But that strategy had relied entirely on Lily honoring her promise. If, at the final moment, she cast aside her integrity like the million gods and demons had and unleashed her divine power, then judging from the terrifying might before them, who among them could possibly stop her? Killing those of Takamagahara or Yomi would be easier than slaughtering chickens!

Even if several of the strongest Supreme Gods joined forces, Lily might not be able to defeat them, but if she devoted herself solely to escaping, even the likes of Kuroyoku and Kujaku fighting together would have great difficulty preventing her from fleeing.

Moreover, none of them knew that Lily still possessed several final trump cards for preserving both her life and her chastity. The Fivefold Tower alone was enough to let her hide inside and recover her strength. After all, no one had ever said she was forbidden from resting during the challenge. Having thousands attack her continuously without giving her even a moment to breathe had never been part of the agreement in the first place. Such conduct was hardly honorable.

There was also Rinne’s single promised intervention. No one yet knew just how overwhelming its power might prove to be.

Thus, although Lily appeared to be dancing alone amidst a storm of blades, she had always possessed confidence born from her own preparations and safeguards. Even Nanako, carrying the Sakura Parasol, would be able to escape or hide within the Fivefold Tower with her current strength, provided she was not singled out as the primary target.

From beginning to end, Lily had remained true to her word and her sense of honor. A true warrior indeed.

Yet Lily also had a final line she would never allow anyone to cross. Unlike those foolish warriors who clung blindly to loyalty, if her chastity, her life, or the safety of her sisters were ever threatened, then she would stop at nothing to protect them.

One crimson blade wave after another collided violently with Kiyoshi’s pitch-black sword. Their power was evenly matched, though Oborozuki Muramasa proved even sharper.

In terms of swordsmanship, Kiyoshi was exceptionally skilled, yet he still fell short of Lily. However, the power unleashed by the burning of his Origin Soul was in no way inferior to hers.

“Ashikaga Kiyoshi! Do you even realize what you’re doing? Who exactly has been using you? You’re nothing more than a puppet dancing on someone else’s strings!” Lily’s fury was directed not only at Kiyoshi himself, but also at the endless darkness manipulating him from behind. “Who is it? Who is it?!”

“Lily! Every action I have taken has come from what? Can’t you see it yet? No one is using me. This is my own true will!” Kiyoshi’s sword erupted with the phantom image of an enormous black dragon bearing eight heads as it lunged toward Lily.

Each dragon possessed power surpassing that of an ordinary Supreme God. Merely the movement of their massive bodies as they swept across the battlefield caused countless gods and demons to collapse. Even Big Dipper experts were unable to withstand the overwhelming pressure and fainted on the spot. Among the warriors of Takamagahara and Yomi, the weaker ones struggled just to resist the aftershock of that crushing aura.

With herself as the center, Lily spun gracefully through the air. A circular blade arc expanded outward like a silver moon, dispelling every trace of darkness. Even the eight-headed dragon phantoms were cut apart in an instant.

As the shattered dragon phantoms disintegrated, they transformed into an ocean of darkness. Endless black flames scattered in every direction. Whatever those flames touched would inevitably burn to ashes, and they would never extinguish until they had consumed the victim’s very soul.

Numerous gods and demons struck by even the tiniest spark found themselves engulfed in the flames. Even those at the Empyrean Realm were unable to extinguish them, suffering unimaginable agony. Only by severing the burning limb immediately could they survive.

One particularly valiant warrior, whose entire body had been engulfed, actually decapitated himself with a single slash, transferred his Spirit Sea into his head, and escaped with nothing but his severed head.

The black flames also caught Lily’s clothing.

“Hmph!” A faint, moonlike radiance emerged across Lily’s flawless skin, resembling the glow of Oborozuki.

The Lunar Force could overcome all techniques. The black flames burned all things. The two forces canceled each other out. The flames could only burn away Lily’s clothing, exposing more and more of her beautiful body, yet they could not harm her skin in the slightest, so long as she still possessed Lunar Force.

And throughout the entire battle, Lily had never consumed her divine power. Her Lunar Force remained abundantly full.

“Miss Kagami!” Seeing that Lily’s clothing had nearly been burned away, leaving only a few strips of fabric covering her most intimate areas, Kiyoshi could not help but shout, “Even after being reduced to such a shameful state, you still refuse to surrender? As a woman, if your body is exposed for everyone to see, how is that any different from defeat?”

“What a joke! Do you really think burning away my clothes will force me to surrender? How laughable!”

“Silence! I don’t want anyone else to see your body!”

At that point, only a few scraps of clothing remained on Lily’s body, though they still covered her most private areas.

“You have no right! My body belongs to me alone!”

With a mere thought, a hazy veil of cherry blossoms enveloped Lily’s body. The tattered remnants of her clothing dissolved away as the power of her Sakura Domain merged with Lunar Force, weaving itself into a brand-new crimson short skirt with flowing sleeves. Even her undergarments were formed entirely from the Sakura Domain.

To prevent those perverts from fighting over the scraps of her clothing, Lily willed the torn fragments to be incinerated by divine power.

Yet just then, the Sakura Parasol drifted beneath her, and her sling-style panties happened to fall into Nanako’s hands.

“Don’t worry, Sister!” Nanako called.

Seeing that, Lily decided not to burn them after all.

The garments created by combining the Sakura Domain with Lunar Force possessed extremely high defensive capabilities. However, maintaining them over an extended period gradually consumed divine power. The amount was small, but much like constantly performing a slow, repetitive task, it steadily exhausted one’s mind. Thus, outside of extraordinary battles such as this, Lily rarely used them. Ordinary clothes were far more comfortable.

Moreover, these garments woven from Lunar Force and the Domain were essentially intangible. Though they concealed her body perfectly, appearing no different from real clothing to everyone else, Lily herself felt as though she were completely naked beneath them, free of any restraint.

But at a moment like this, who had time to care about such things? Consumed by fury, Lily desired only one thing. Victory.

“Miss Kagami! Don’t misunderstand! I never intended to force you to surrender this way. I simply didn’t want anyone else to defile you!”

“You’ve already defiled me, Ashikaga Kiyoshi!”

A crimson blade arc born of her blazing wrath collided head-on with Kiyoshi’s pitch-black sword light!

Heaven and earth. Crimson and black. The two were evenly matched in strength. However, Kiyoshi’s power came entirely from his Origin Soul, whereas Lily possessed an immense and inexhaustible reserve of divine power. In terms of sheer divine energy, Lily held the advantage.

And her swordsmanship was even more exquisite.

After another fierce exchange, Lily seized the opening and struck Kiyoshi squarely across the shoulder.

Dark divine power and blood erupted together. Within that blood, Lily could still sense the passionate spirit Kiyoshi had once possessed. It made her heart ache.

“Kiyoshi! Why must you go this far? What exactly is this power inside you? What is it? Leave that power behind! Leave that conspiracy behind! You’re nothing more than a pawn being used by someone else!” Lily cried out until her voice grew hoarse.

Having suffered Lily’s heavy slash, blood streamed endlessly from Kiyoshi’s wound. Though immensely powerful, his strength had only been amplified temporarily through the Origin Soul, leaving his foundation unstable. Without the Heaven-Blessed Physique, it would have been impossible for him to withstand the burden of the Origin Soul. Even so, his control over his divine power had begun to collapse. The surrounding world of darkness convulsed violently, as if reality itself had become unstable, while enormous amounts of divine power leaked uncontrollably from his body.

Ashikaga Kiyoshi swayed unsteadily in midair.

“Cough… cough… Miss Kagami… Without this power… would you ever have looked at me again? Would the two of us ever have been able to clash with our souls and divine powers as we are now…?”

“Shut up! Who’s clashing souls with you?! You… your obsession has completely blinded your soul! Just because your obsession with me is overwhelming, does that mean I’m obligated to accept your feelings?”

“Miss Kagami, you’ll never understand what it feels like to love someone deeply and receive nothing but indifference in return! Kagami Lily, everyone you love loves you back. Even those you don’t love still end up loving you! You’ll never understand what it feels like to be abandoned by the one you love! You’ve experienced so much, yet from the day you were born, you’ve always been surrounded by countless stars, adored by every living being! You’re always the one choosing others, while among countless women, they all choose you! Can you understand my despair?!”

Kiyoshi roared as black flames surged into the heavens, transforming into countless gigantic black serpents that lunged toward Lily. Though merely enormous black snakes with sinister gleaming eyes, they inspired even greater terror than the black dragons.

“Is that somehow my fault?! You think I’ve never experienced the agony of secretly loving someone who never even noticed me? That feeling haunted the entire first half of my life!”

Silver radiance exploded from Lily’s body as boundless moonlight enveloped the heavens, and she charged directly toward Kiyoshi. “Even back then… even if all I could do was watch her from afar… I was happy! You don’t understand what true love really is!”

The sky split cleanly into two halves. Black. White. Then they collided. For a moment, the darkness and Lunar Force devoured, crushed, and burned against one another. At the center of that cataclysm, Kiyoshi’s black blade and Lily’s Oborozuki Muramasa both carried overwhelming divine might as they thrust toward each other’s vital points.

At such terrifying speed and power, neither could realistically alter their movements. The swords had become strikes of no return.

Yet relying entirely on instinct, Lily gently twisted her slender waist and shifted sideways by barely half a foot. It was an effortless movement, but it allowed her to evade Kiyoshi’s blade by the narrowest possible margin.

At that very instant, Kiyoshi had never imagined Lily could perform such a maneuver. In his final moment, he had only foreseen a mutual strike, believing the darkness and silver moon would annihilate one another together.

“…That… wasn’t what I wanted…” In that final instant, the darkness faded from Kiyoshi’s eyes, restoring the same clear gaze he had possessed when he had first met Lily.

His strong, steady hand slowly released the sword he held.

**Thunk.**

The black katana fell powerless from the sky. Oborozuki Muramasa, however, pierced straight through Kiyoshi’s chest.