| Author: Carrot Sauce | Original Source: SFACG | Word Count: 2934 characters |
| Translator: Snoring Dragon | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1864 words |
| Editor(s): Robinxen | ||
Hundreds of demons clamored, causing the mountains and forests to shake. Countless autumn leaves fluttered in the monster-filled frenzy storm.1
Lily saw dozens of resentment-filled purple characters forming a trail of lightning sparks. The condensed Spirit Power contained within each of them made Lily feel dread. They flew right over the top of her head toward the distant Shuten Doji.
Shuten Doji continued to sip wine nonchalantly. Then he suddenly stopped sipping the wine and stood up. A string of nine female skulls flew up and circled in front of him.
“Michizane! You attack me with the poem of the father who lost his daughter and I will use these skulls of virgins that died under my feet to defend. Is it not ironic that one of these skulls may belong to the daughter of Ikeda? Hahahahaha!”
Shuten Doji manipulated the nine skeletons spinning in the air with both hands.
“Go! Slaves of my wrath in life, meat shields of mine after death. That’s the fate that these ignorant women deserve!” With a push from Shuten Doji, nine skeletons howled with bone-chilling shrieks as they charged toward Michizane amidst a bloody mist. It was just that the shrieks from those white bones had completely been devoid of the femininity of a woman, leaving behind nothing but misery and desolation.
Lily didn’t know the grudges between these big demons but she felt very sad. Shuten Doji was just too cruel, to even desecrate the bones of the dead who he slaughtered and murdered.
“Boom! Boom! Boom! ” Those skeletons and words collided with each other and spirit power briefly flashed into the night sky with enough intensity to blind people.
With that as the trigger, the hundred demons from both sides began killing each other. Trapped between the two parties, even Lily was starting to get anxious.
“Master Sakiko……”
“Trust me, don’t move! As long as they did not use spirit waves, they would not be able to find us! They can’t touch us. We seem to be in the original space, but in fact, we are hiding in the gap between the spirit world and this one! Don’t be afraid—” Sakiko herself was nervous but she comforted Lily. As for Shiu, she was scared and she didn’t dare to look up or speak at all.
A woman holding a lute, a golden-eyed devil with pitchfork and red scarf, a snake with a human head, one such demon after another walked past the bullock cart. The bull stood still but no one knew whether it was afraid.
“Whoosh!” An unbelievable thing happened. A blue fierce-looking demon passed straight through Sakiko, and then through Shiu and Lily behind her, as it rushed toward the Shuten Doji.
Although it felt frightening at that moment, it was true that they weren’t touched. It was as if they were all ghosts and no monsters noticed their existence. They only had to bear the fear and watch the monsters pass through them one by one.
The demons of both parties collided with each other and began to fight. It was a more ferocious fight than the human samurai!
“Bang!” The giant stone club of a huge red-maned Blue Demon struck a little demon, smashing that little demon into meat paste. The blood splashed like a big wave directly towards Lily. Lily subconsciously closed her eyes and turned around but the blood just went through Lily and spilled on the ground.
The pale woman who was playing the lute suddenly flew up. The sleeves of her shabby large kimono fluttered as she plucked the lute. The ear-piercing sound waves flew to Shuten Doji. Many little demons threw their weapons and covered their ears, squatting uncomfortably.
The tens of meters high giant red demon under Shuten Doji’s body slammed the ground.
“Bang!” At the same time, the mysterious woman who materialized from the lute directly turned into smoke. The lute itself fell to the ground and was picked up by a little demon from Michizane’s side.
“Tokihara, it’s your turn!” Michizane ordered.
The official under Michizane’s feet wore a resentful expression and screamed unwillingly: “Michizane, you were worse than me when I was alive. Don’t even think of controlling me after death. I will kill you someday!”
However, the two small azure dragons in Tokihara’s ears flew out. Although small in size, they were very fast. They pierced into the body of a giant red demon like two streaks of blue lightning. The giant red demon howled and went berserk, running amok attacking the demons of both sides without distinguishing between enemies and allies.
“Michizane! Let us exchange a few blows!” Shuten Doji was also about 5 meters tall. He leaped from the giant demon’s shoulder, stepped on the air and rushed toward Michizane, leaving behind a trail of blood red footprints filled with eldritch energy.
“Just in time!” Michizane used a string to hang the metal seal on his waist. He then guided the black fog under his feet and flew past the bullock cart.
A thick, horrifying ancient spear appeared out of thin air in the hand of Shuten Doji and Michizane also pulled out the Tachi worn around his waist.
The two Demon Kings collided with each other in front of Lily!
“Boom!”
The long spear and Tachi collided, causing the ground to shake!
The dark clouds in the sky were all scattered by the strong air currents, forming a vacuum-like circular cavity. The bright moon was exposed in the night sky.
Although they were not physically present in this world, Lily and Sakiko still felt a terrible impact. After all, their Four Door Arrays was based on the surrounding ground. If the ground shook, the large array would also be affected. If the impact was too strong and the ground collapsed, the array would be destroyed and they would be exposed, and that would be the end!
Faced with such a shocking battle between two supernatural beings, not to mention Lily, even Sakiko paled. She had never experienced such a battle before!
“Michizane—— !!! You clearly came to search for that thing!”
“Shuten Doji! All I want is to get justice for Mr. Ikeda. Nothing else matters!”
“Such a joke! You’re from Yamashiro, I’m from Tanba. It’s a hundred times closer than here. You haven’t come to me for so many years, but now you have to spoil it for this reason!?”
“Haven’t you ever heard of the proverb enemies will always meet on a narrow road?”
“Boom— boom— boom!”
It seemed that Michizane and Shuten Doji were not very good at fighting with weapons and martial arts. Michizane was originally a civil servant and Shuten Doji was a novice Buddhist monk of the temple. However, the demonic fury of the two Demon King was powerful and formidable to the extent of world shaking. They were just like two walking disasters wreaking havoc in the mountains!
Michizane darted looks of hate at Shuten Doji. His beard rose up and he opened his mouth full of yellow teeth to release a lightning bolt. His extremely powerful hands grasped the Tachi and swung his sword at Shuten Doji’s shoulder with enough force to cleave the mountain.
And Shuten Doji’s spear also pierced Michizane’s shoulder.
“Give up! Shuten Doji, or I will cut off half of your body!”
“Surrender! Michizane, or I will pierce you!”
Shuten Doji’s handsome face also began to change. From time to time, a frightening brown face with two sharp horns flashed. Michizane’s sword technique was poor but it was like a mountain cutting into Shuten Doji’s shoulder. The blood filled with endless girl’s resentment spurted out from the wound like a volcano!
And Michizane’s left shoulder was deeply pierced by Shuten Doji’s trident spear and blood gushed out like the spring of the breakwater!
Michizane was originally a vengeful spirit. Ordinary weapons couldn’t hurt him but Shuten Doji’s spear could hurt him!
Lily and others were just right under the space where the two Demon Kings were fighting. The demon blood carrying strong grievances splashed down. Although it didn’t really touch them, the surface on which it fell seemed to melt and evaporate while producing smoke. This made the formation unstable. Even Lily felt that there was a subtle space shift in their body shape. It had been noticed by some little demons in the distance but it soon disappeared from their vision.
Sakiko’s forehead was sweating. She folded her hands and prayed for the protection of Hachiman. She could only try to maintain the Four Gates array by adding some Ancient Runes but they were still in danger!
“Rips!” The big hand of a gray little demon grasped Lily’s skirt!
“Not good!” Sakiko exclaimed. “The effective range of the Four Gates array is shrinking!”
At this moment, Lily was surprisingly calm. She pulled out the Tachi, raised it with her hand and cut off a large piece of her skirt. The little demon dragged the piece of red skirt and tipped over.
The surrounding land was destroyed by the fierce battle of the two Demon Kings. Although not intentional, the foundations of the Four Gates array was shaken because of powerful impact. It was no longer possible for it to hide the three people. If this continued, they would be found.
At this moment, Lily suddenly noticed a piece of Magatama was hanging on the waist of Shuten Doji who was wearing old-fashioned luxurious armor.
“Ah…” Lily called out involuntarily.
It seemed that Magatama naturally emitted some kind of aura that attracted her.
Lily’s eyesight was very excellent. When she saw the ancient rope-patterned carvings on the body of Magatama, it was exactly the same as the patterns on the wall of the mirror space.
Getting this Magatama may unlock some secrets of that mirror space. Moreover, the Magatama was actually calling out to her!
However, that was the Magatama of Shuten Doji, a legendary demon who was many times stronger than the Demon Hound.
Attempting to steal the Magatama from such a strong person was no different than courting death.
Lily’s eyes then fell on the metal seal hanging around Michizane’s waist with only a string.2
If this continued, once the array was destroyed, the three of them would be exposed to the demons of both sides and would die without any doubt!
Lily’s chest heaved violently. It seemed that all the sounds around her disappeared, leaving only her heartbeat. All the movements between heaven and earth seemed to have slowed down to a halt, leaving only the heavy feeling of her chest heaving up and down.
Lily heaved heavily and the breath cloud diffused in the air carrying a heavy smell of blood.
At this desperate time, Lily revealed a bewitching smile.
“Master Sakiko, please protect Shiu properly.”
“Lily? What did you say?”
“Protect Shiu.”3
Lily suddenly took out Sakura Parasol from behind her and started to make her move. She adjusted her poignant red skirt and sleeves. Then she stepped out of the Four Gates array and rushed into the heat of battle between hundreds of demons in the cover of the night…
“Lily—!” Sakiko’s shocked shout echoed in the space of the array.4
