Author: Carrot Sauce | Original Source: SFACG | Word Count: 3077 characters |
Translator: Aoi | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1796 words |
Editor(s): Robinxen |
Vanishing. Wilting.
Some things wilt away silently.
While some blooms most beautifully during a moment of desperation.
Sometimes, wilting is also a kind of beauty.
After Lily had comprehended her intent, Sakura Fall, she had experienced constant growth with regards to the understanding of intent and with each subsequent outdoor experience, her Sakura Intent was but a step away from progressing to the next stage. However, Lily wasn’t able to take this final step and was utterly clueless about it.
Until this moment, when she and her precious sisters were on the verge of extermination, the grudge within her began also began to vanish. If she were to die, the mirror would be taken away. Lily didn’t care about whether she was chosen by the Heavens or whether it was real or fake and could give her unfathomable power, but, the dormant soul of the woman most precious to her laid within the mirror.
If the mirror were taken away, her senior sister’s lonesome and innocent soul might be dishonored or exploited!
Yet, as powerless as a falling wilted flower that cannot be reborn again, Lily was unable to go against the tide of fate.
At this moment, Lily had entirely understood the concepts of vanishment and wilting and made her realize that sakura was most beautiful when they fell and wilted!
Lily had attained an all-new insight into her perception of the sakura intent at this moment!
The sakura which filled the sky looked like a blizzard within the night!
This had gone beyond the scope of intent and reached a whole new level.
A domain!
Sakura Blizzard.
A domain that belonged solely to Lily, the oblivious interloper from another world!
At this moment of wilting, the girl’s fate shone with the bravest and prettiest crimson light!
A domain was the manifestation of the heart and was realized through it, and this sakura blizzard was the projection of Lily’s poignant and beautiful inner world within reality!
Even Hojo Dijon was astonished currently. However, he hadn’t realized that this was a manifestation of Lily’s domain powered by her spirit power and was just awed by the appearance of such an extraordinary sight.
As for the low-leveled monsters, although they were comparatively less intelligent than humans, their perception of the world was much higher than humans. As such, the falling sakura blossoms made them fall into a puzzled and confused state.
At the side, although Shimizu was under the restraint of the two Hannya masked ninjas and had a blade pressed against her neck, she had completely forgotten about it and gazed at the bewitching figure of Lily under the falling sakura blossoms with a listless gaze. At her level of perception, it didn’t take long for her to realize the truth. Besides, the scene before her was something that she had been striving to achieve all along yet failed to do so.
“Why… I can understand Uesugi Rei grasping it at the age of nineteen since she’s from an illustrious militant family, but how come Lil’ Sis Lily was also able to…”
Although the marvelous view had awed Dijon momentarily, he calmed down pretty quickly, “It’s just a natural phenomenon that’s got nothing to do with me! Die, Kagami Lily!”
“Please wait! Lord Dijon, t-this is… a domain! This woman has actually grasped a domain!” Yuki Mayumi exclaimed while drawing in a cold breath of air.
However, Dijon didn’t heed her warning at all and charged towards Lily in heavy strides with his tachi raised up.
As for the demons, these simply weren’t aware of what a domain meant, so they regained their senses and fought over the pitiful girl in their arms, opening their jaws to tear her apart!
As for the ponytailed girl, two spiders the size of bulls pounced from the front and back while brandishing their sharp-clawed limbs!
However, Lily remained motionless!
Because she had full awareness of everything that happened within the scope of her domain, the sakura blizzard!
She looked up suddenly and stared at the attacking monsters with a poignant gaze, then whispered softly.
“Wilt.1”
An incorporeal pressure seemed to have manifested from the sakura that fluttered in the surroundings and subjected those creatures to a heavy spiritual pressure that was as intense as the pressure at the depths of the ocean. The weaker creatures, that is, the spiders and the demon soldiers crashed to the ground almost instantly.
The sakura swirled faster and flew chaotically within the domain like scarlet blades…
“Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!”
The demons were lacerated immediately when these sakura-shaped blades attacked them and resulted in their blood splattering across the sky!
The low and medium ranked monsters were ripped into pieces by the blades and died instantly!
In the next instant, the cries of the demons resounded within the Sakura Blizzard domain and the stench of blood filled the air, creating a blossom-made hell!
“ARRGGHH!” The arm of the red demon that was planning to eat Nanako was cut off by the sakura blade that had flown in suddenly and the other demons of similar strength who were fighting over Nanako also suffered the onslaught of the sakura blades and fled while protecting their heads with their hands.
Nanako fell down powerlessly but a breeze of sakura blossoms slowed her descent and made her land on the ground smoothly.
The sakura blades then flew towards the spiders that had surrounded the ponytailed girl and diced those low-ranked monsters into pieces immediately!
The red Hannya masked ninjas were also forced to release Shimizu to protect themselves and dodge, but the sakura blades were present everywhere, so they would keep getting wounded and exhaust their strength before dying from blood loss as long as they remained inside the range of Lily’s domain.
Although launching such an overwhelming attack within the domain exhausted Lily’s spirit power quickly, the animas of the dead creatures were absorbed by Lily’s cursed katana and replenished it almost instantly, which allowed Lily to continue with the pressure and attacks within such a huge domain!
“What?!” Yuki Mayumi was even more shocked after seeing the crimson blades that disappeared and appeared intermittently everywhere, “It’s the rarest and scariest of the domains, an attack-type domain! T-This woman is a rare genius of the mirror girls! No, perhaps she is the…2”
Although Lily’s domain attack could injure the inferior and average high-ranked monsters, it couldn’t do anything to Dijon and Yuki. Dijon had his spirit armor protecting him on top of his tough skin, so the blades shattered when they struck him.
However, the domain attack had a significant impact on Dijon’s speed and pace.
“What domain. Watch how I send you off with my blade!” Dijon dashed towards Lily through the Sakura Blizzard.
Lily’s hair danced wildly while she manipulated the domain to isolate and deal with the monsters that were a threat to her sisters. Now that she had replenished her spirit reserves, a bewitching crimson hue enveloped her as she charged towards Dijon fearlessly!
“Boom!”
Lily’s Crescent Moon clashed against Dijon’s broken tachi!
The land, hills and woods trembled as crimson and dark purple spirit power crashed against each other like raging waves, each crash of waves giving rise to sparks!
“Kagami Lily!”
“Hojo Dijon!”
Dijon’s feet sank deep into the ground while Lily’s slender legs made an all-out effort to endure through, and though they quivered as a result, she didn’t take even a single step back!
Lily’s gaze turned even more resolute as she faced the huge demon-like Dijon in spite of the danger.
The grass uprooted and the earth underneath Lily and Dijon rose up behind them.
“What?!” Yuki Mayumi was quite astonished as she witnessed the battle progress.
Lily wasn’t able to withstand even a casual blow from Dijon a while ago and was injured after getting blown away each time, but now, she could actually hold her weight against Dijon, who excelled in strength, in a frontal confrontation, and even match him equally!
“So this is a domain…” Shimizu was also quite shocked, “Lil’ Sis Lily… has truly grasped a domain to this stage and undergone such a huge leap in strength in this deadly battle. She’s an incredible genius while I am far inferior to her. She’s a genius who will shine beautifully within these dark times while I can only admire her in silence from the darkness. Is there a need for a useless sister like me to exist anymore?”
“Why could she grasp a domain? Why does she progress so quickly? Why is she so healthy and pretty and the apple of everyone’s eyes? Why is she better than me in everything? She’s so perfect… Did the Heavens send her to mock me? Am I really a useless existence? Why?”
“The mirror!” Shimizu’s eyes lit up suddenly and her lifeless eyes regained their sparkle again, “It’s the mirror! My mirror has shattered but Lil’ Sis Lily’s mirror still exists! Is her incredible progress really because of her talent or is it because of the mirror?!”
“No, she told me her mirror can only reflect a clear appearance and has nothing special about it. She wouldn’t have duped me. Such a sexy and beautiful goddess-like sister of mine wouldn’t have duped me.”
“You wouldn’t have, right?” A murky light appeared within Shimizu’s eyes and unknown to her, a cloudy ink-like darkness oozed out from the originally cyan blade of her Tranquil Bamboo3.
Besides the exceptional offensive abilities, Lily’s domain also possessed the abilities that were universal to all domains, that is, augmentation and suppression!
The domain augmented the strength of the user through spirit power and also suppressed the opponent’s strength by a notch within the confines of the domain.
If the opponent possessed a domain of the same level, they could counter with their own domain, such was the trade-off, as, it would be quite disadvantageous to fight within someone else’s domain otherwise.
The domain’s augmentation, its suppression on Dijon, added to the explosive strength Lily had manifested in this moment of desperation to allow her to contend against Dijon, who she once feared, a threat that loomed over her head and almost killed her several times!
This was a commendable and impressive achievement for Lily!
Her beautiful black hair fluttered behind her wildly while her eyes filled with ferociousness!
“Hojo Dijon! This day has finally come! I shall accompany you to the end to settle the grudges between us!”
After a long standoff, Lily and Dijon jumped back and then clashed swords again!
In the next moment, a ripple of spirit power traveled across the sky, the earth experienced a tremor, and sakura danced within the sky4.
The magnificent hazy moon loomed high in the night sky and bore witness to this long-awaited fight!