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As Gusato confronted Ayaka, he mockingly underestimated her. “Who are you to challenge me, a mere mortal woman? You might possess some strength, but that’s hardly enough to survive in Yomi. You’d be crushed or enslaved within days. Your future is a bleak one!” he sneered, ogling Ayaka’s figure.

Unfazed, Ayaka replied with a hint of sarcasm, “Yomi, really? Do you actually think you’re in Yomi right now?”

Gusato laughed condescendingly. “Ahahaha, you truly don’t grasp the bigger picture. You might have some strength, but you’re still naive. You’re just like frogs in a well, thinking you’re strong. But true strength is honed in the ruthless, treasure-rich environments of Yomi. Remember, as a woman, you’re even more vulnerable there. It’s tragic how quickly your arrogance would be your downfall in Yomi.”

Ayaka, unfazed by his arrogance, retorted sharply, “You boast about your size and strength, yet you waste time with such drivel. If you’re here for revenge, let’s see you act on it!” She wasn’t interested in his lecture on Yomi. Waving her wand, she summoned three crystal clear white lotuses, which swiftly transformed into three razor-sharp, crystalline white swords.

As the swords hurtled towards Gusato, he swung his heavy weapon in an attempt to deflect them. However, when his weapon collided with the first crystalline sword, a shockwave surged through it, numbing his arm and causing searing pain. Overwhelmed, Gusato couldn’t defend against Ayaka’s other two swords, which struck his shoulder and thigh.

“Aghh—!” Gusato roared in agony, stumbling back. “What kind of arcane artifact is this? Terrifying!” he exclaimed. The first sword, having been initially deflected, circled back, targeting him again.

Now injured and unable to use one arm, Gusato tried to fend off the attacking sword with his remaining arm, but Ayaka skillfully maneuvered the flying sword, slicing off his other arm.

As Gusato’s arm was severed, he stared in disbelief. Ayaka, embodying an unfettered crystalline spirit energy, moved towards him with a holy and tranquil ferocity, resembling a graceful yet formidable force. Her swift approach caught Gusato off guard.

Gusato, despite being a formidable quadruple-soul big dipper, found himself at a disadvantage. Ayaka’s full power was evident; she was a force to be reckoned with, one who could potentially match Yoritomo in combat. Had it not been for Daitengu’s ambush, even Yoritomo might have struggled to fend her off completely.

Gusato, noticeably slower than Ayaka, armed himself with a short sword in his remaining hand. Despite the blade already piercing through his shoulder, causing him immense pain, he gritted his teeth and lunged towards Ayaka with a stab. Gusato’s size gave him an advantage in reach, even with the smaller weapon compared to Ayaka’s.

He exerted his remaining strength, thrusting the blade with all his might. However, the injury in his shoulder limited his power to only about sixty to seventy percent of his full capacity. Yet, even at full strength, it was doubtful he could overpower Ayaka.

Reacting quickly, Ayaka flicked her wand, unleashing a transparent, crystalline pulse. The pulse collided with the spine of Gusato’s blade, diverting it off course. Her counter was swift, precise, and while not heavily forceful, it effectively neutralized Gusato’s attack.

With Gusato’s stab deflected, Ayaka seamlessly summoned her celestial spirit blade and thrust it forward, piercing Gusato’s throat, from which blood began to gush in a steady flow.

“Ah, cough…” Blood erupted from Gusato’s mouth as he, in a desperate maneuver, flipped the blade into a backhand grip and lunged viciously towards Ayaka’s waist, using all the strength he had left.

Ayaka, reacting with lightning speed, released her grip on the celestial spirit blade and delivered a forceful kick to Gusato’s stomach, propelling him backward with a resounding splash into Lake Biwa. The impact sent a cascade of water shooting up, rocking the nearby armored warships.

As the lake’s waters continued to roil and churn, three double-soul big dipper demon generals emerged, charging towards Ayaka with a force that seemed to tear through the air itself. Suddenly, a small, venomous green sword, propelled by incredible force, shot out from the water towards her.

Unfazed, Ayaka waved her wand, creating a protective white lotus shield just in time. The small sword collided with the shield, shattering a few petals with a sharp clang before being deflected away.

In a surprising turn of events, Gusato reemerged, his voice booming over the lake as he brandished a purple orb crackling with lightning and brimming with spirit energy. But before he could launch his attack, an arrow, swift and silent, pierced through the orb from behind him. The orb exploded in a blinding burst, engulfing Gusato and tearing apart half of his body.

“What!?” The three demon generals froze in shock at the sight.

From afar, Lily was visible on the shore, standing with Himiko’s longbow in hand¹, a testament to her involvement in the critical turn of events. Gusato, gravely injured, had his spirit sea ravaged, causing his big dipper origin soul to retreat into his abdomen. The devastation was such that everything above his chest had been vaporized. His body, now smoldering and on the brink of demise, stood there, unable to heal or regain strength.

With a swift motion, Ayaka summoned the naginata Fubuki and plunged it into Gusato’s abdomen with a decisive slash. The demon generals, witnessing the fall of their leader, howled in disbelief. In a panicked flurry, they unleashed a few arcane arts before hastily retreating to their warships.

From the warships, a barrage of arrows arced through the sky, aiming to overwhelm Ayaka, but she responded with a powerful sweep of her naginata, creating a tornado that not only dispersed the arrows but also caused several warships to capsize in tumultuous waters.

Amidst the remaining warships, a surge of potent eldritch energy began to manifest. The three demon generals ascended into the air, channeling the collective power of tens of thousands of naval troops through intricate formations and arcane treasures.

The waters of the lake began to tremble and roil, signaling the creation of an immense water formation. Before the warships, the water coalesced into a towering figure. Its lower half was a swirling vortex of water, while its upper half formed into a gigantic, hundred-meter-tall kappa torso.

This colossal water formation, a phenomenon Ayaka had never encountered before, was a strategic assembly of formations and mechanisms. They were pre-arranged to harness the combined power of thirty thousand naval troops. Controlled by the demon generals, this formidable kappa possessed the strength comparable to a quintuple-soul big dipper!

This water formation, while potent in the sea, was less effective near the shore, only a few thousand meters from land. Ayaka, realizing this, felt confident she could emerge victorious in a hard-fought battle, yet she deemed it unnecessary.

She swiftly ascended into the air above the shore, out of the kappa’s effective range. The water formation, bound to the lake’s depth, gazed at her helplessly with its large, almost comical eyes. If it ventured too close to land, the shallowness of the water would render it ineffective.

The kappa, frustrated, unleashed long, water tendrils, each stretching thousands of meters, in an attempt to strike Ayaka. She nimbly dodged between them, evading every lash.

Opening its massive mouth, the kappa then launched a barrage of water bombs. Ayaka, agile as ever, sidestepped these too, leaving them to explode against the mountain peaks behind her.

As the kappa’s attacks proved futile, the standoff continued. Meanwhile, the strain of maintaining such a colossal water formation began to show on the warships, signaling a significant drain on their energy reserves.

Lily, observing from afar, showed little interest in the kappa, given its lack of anima. However, the three demon generals, desperate to gain an advantage, directed the kappa to target a nearby village with its water bombs.

“No!” Ayaka, reacting promptly, conjured multiple white lotuses in the air to intercept the water bombs, resulting in a heavy rain showering down on the village.

Ayaka retaliated against the kappa, but its form, made of lake water, proved resilient, quickly reforming even when parts were damaged. She waved her wand, summoning thunderclouds overhead. Lightning struck down, one after another, wreaking havoc on the warships.

With a gesture, Ayaka summoned two giant ghost heads, one blue and one red –treasures from Kimiko. They launched an onslaught of fireballs and stone bullets. The kappa, despite its efforts to block with water tendrils, could not fend off all the projectiles, resulting in widespread destruction among the warships.

As the kappa waned with the loss of warships, the demon generals, in a last-ditch effort, sacrificed their stellar souls and a trove of treasures to reinvigorate the formation. The kappa transformed into a water dragon, shifting its focus from Ayaka to the vulnerable village.

Recognizing the water dragon’s strength, equivalent to a quintuple-soul big dipper, Ayaka knew it aimed to exploit the village as a weak point. “Not good!” she exclaimed, her white lotuses proving insufficient against the dragon’s onslaught.

Lily, with a graceful wave of her kimono sleeve, released a flurry of moonlight threads that soared through the sky, weaving an intricate web to ensnare the water dragon. Shizuka, appearing on the opposite side of the dragon, brandished her cursed blade. From it emanated silver souls, each tethered by slender threads to the blade. These ethereal souls joined Lily’s moonlight threads, creating a formidable network that wrapped around the water dragon, pulling it away from the village with concerted effort.

This method, while effective, was not the preferred way for Lily or Shizuka to exert their force. The situation had placed them in a less than ideal position, at a strategic disadvantage. They struggled to contain the water dragon, its quintuple-soul big dipper strength proving to be an immense challenge. The effort to restrain and redirect the dragon’s rampage was visibly exhausting for both Lily and Shizuka, demanding their utmost concentration and strength.

“Quick, destroy those three demon generals and the warships!” Lily commanded.

“Right!” Ayaka responded, turning her attention away from the water dragon. She reformed her three crystalline swords, targeting the demon generals.

In the skies above, a sudden gust of wind heralded the arrival of Tomoe Gozen. Emerging from a mist over the lake on her skeletal horse, she charged through the fleet, causing chaos and destruction, decimating over ten warships in a dramatic display of power.

1. Robinxen: I actually forgot she was even remotely capable of archery…