| Author: Carrot Sauce | Original Source: SFACG | Word Count: 3128 characters |
| Translator: LazyButAmbitious | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 2133 words |
| Editor(s): Robinxen | ||
The Genji Army that claimed to be from Kōzuke and Shimotsuke surrounded the entrance of the valley in the darkness of night. The soldiers looked fierce and vicious, as if they had been baptized by war and the bitter cold.
The Kōzuke and Shimotsuke Provinces were located further east of Kanto and west of Mutsu Province.
“We are not rebels! You claim to be ordered by Lord Kamakura, but do you have Lord Kamakura’s edict?!” Kotoka knew that it was meaningless to question the soldiers when they were already at their doorstep, but one needed to be assertive in war, at least in efforts to sway the other side.
However, Minamoto no Hiroshige’s eyes shone with a fierce light, “We are the Kōzuke Army which has been specially ordered by Lord Kamakura for generations! According to the order of Lord Kamakura, there is no need to explain anything to you. Surrender quickly, otherwise, we will kill every man in the valley without mercy and take all the women as slaves!”
As the killing intent of the Kōzuke Genji Army continued to soar, they simply looked like a bunch of barbarians. Since the army came all the way from the outskirts of Kanto, their purpose was very clear, and they wouldn’t show an ounce of mercy. Kotoka knew the negotiation was hopeless.
“Let’s go.” The group wanted to return to the valley.
“Wait! You are the leader, right? If we kill you, won’t this attack be easier?” A brass mace suddenly appeared in Minamoto no Hiroshige’s hand, exuding an extremely majestic aura.
“Be careful!” Sakiko shouted, “This man is very strong!”
“Kill them!”
An overwhelming rain of arrows flew over!
“Retreat to the valley!” Kotoka shouted.
Yuki Mayumi and Sakiko stood in front of Kotoka and shielded her from the rain of arrows. However, although the female cavalry from the Uesugi Clan were elite, the opponents were extremely ferocious Kōzuke Genji. Several female cavalrymen weren’t able to block all the arrows and fell to the ground.
Minamoto no Hiroshige erupted with powerful spiritual energy and his mace, which was heavy enough to shatter mountains, directly swung towards Kotoka!
Yuki Mayumi turned into a purple shadow and met the attack head-on. Although the sword in her hand wasn’t meant for brute force, she had to fight in order to protect Kotoka.
Clang—! Upon contact, a gravity-like force akin to the pressure of a mountain caused Yuki Mayumi to lose feeling in her wrist instantly, and the heavy impact struck her body.
Pfft— Yuki Mayumi spat out a mouthful of blood and the sword was knocked out of her hand.
“Hm?! The spiritual energy fluctuations of a battle1!” Lily, who was in Sakura Valley at this time, felt the spiritual energy shockwaves from outside the valley. One of the weaker auras felt familiar; it belonged to Yuki Mayumi.
“My sisters are in danger!” Lily’s long hair fluttered like black flames as a surge of anger erupted from her body.
She activated her domain to determine the position of the enemy and turned into a scarlet stream of light, instantly rushing towards the outside of the valley.
At this time, in the entrance of Blossom Valley, Haihime also sensed the battle outside, “Not good! There is a fight outside and the opponent is very strong. I must…”
Before Haihime had the time to make a decision, she felt a scarlet stream of light sweep past her and the army in an instant.
Whoosh— The hair and dresses of Haihime and the Swordmaidens she commanded were blown up by the strong wind. Before anyone could react, that scarlet figure had long since disappeared from the entrance of the valley, leaving only a trace of lingering fragrance.
Minamoto no Hiroshige’s mace knocked Yuki Mayumi’s sword into the air, causing her to suffer internal injuries and stagger backward due to the impact. Minamoto no Hiroshige then jumped into the air and kicked Yuki Mayumi in the chest with his foot clad in thick metal boots.
Boom—!!! A scarlet gust of wind carrying cherry blossoms rushed between Yuki Mayumi and Minamoto no Hiroshige like a storm, directly flinging him out.
“What??!”
What kind of wind is this?!
Minamoto no Hiroshige flew upside-down towards his army. Before he could understand what happened, Lily already leaped after him with a flash of scarlet in her eyes. Her whole body exploded with crimson spiritual energy amidst the half-melted snow of white barren mountain, appearing extraordinarily enchanting like a wrathful red lotus!
Seeing this long-haired female warrior in red rush over with such monstrous strength, Minamoto no Hiroshige was shocked, “You, who are you??!”
“How dare you hurt my sisters!” Lily’s Yasutsuna glinted with a bone-chilling cold light. She leaped after Minamoto no Hiroshige, raised her long sword high, and slashed at him!
“I am from the Kōzuke Genji Clan, how dare you resist!” Minamoto no Hiroshige raised his heavy and powerful mace to defend, his whole body bursting out with powerful spiritual energy. His eyes also revealed a bit of ferocity and fearlessness. He didn’t believe that a mere katana could go against his heavy weapon!
Pfft!!! Yasutsuna slashed out a scarlet sword light that flew unhindered like flowing clouds and water, directly splitting Minamoto no Hiroshige and his mace in half2!
The early Permanence Stage powerhouse, Minamoto no Hiroshige, didn’t even have the ability to resist in front of Lily.
“What??!” Seeing that the chief general of the Kōzuke Genji Clan, who was like a god in their eyes, got split in half along with his heavy weapon while trying to defend, the Genji Army fell into chaos.
As for the Murai Army, who wanted to take advantage of the attack to gain benefits, they were even more stunned and began to scatter at once.
“This, who is this red-clad female samurai??!”
“How did she kill General Hiroshige with a single slash?!”
“That’s our number one strongest expert in Kōzuke, Chief General Hiroshige!”
At this time, Murai Nobuhiro, the leader of the Murai Army, said in a stunned voice, “This…this is…the number one female samurai of Eastern land, Kagami Lily! It’s Kagami Lily; she’s back3!”
“No, that’s impossible! Even Kagami Lily can’t be this strong!” A samurai shouted. The Murai Clan was located in Shinano Province and had naturally heard about the legend of Lily.
“Ashikaga Kiyoshi once said that Kagami Lily’s martial arts talent is a hundred times greater than his! I also heard that Kagami Lily went to the Kansai region to explore. Did she experience a leap in strength during her travels??!”
“This, it has only been a few months. How did her strength increase by so much?”
“Run—”
“If you don’t run, you’ll die!”
The Murai Army was originally a motley bunch of soldiers who wanted to take advantage of the chaos to plunder resources. When they saw that the powerful Lord of Sakura Blossom Valley had returned, they immediately scattered like frightened birds and beasts.
The Kōzuke Army had been fighting against demons as well as the two military forces of Dewa Province and Mutsu Province in the northeast all year round without Kamakura’s protection, and could be said to be very fierce. Although their formation was chaotic at this time, they didn’t collapse.
They were in shock and didn’t know what to do.
“The chief general is dead! Let’s retreat for the time being!” A Kōzuke military general shouted.
“How can we do that?!” Another general looked at Lily with reluctance, “The chief general was killed in front of our eyes. How can we flee without avenging the chief general?!”
“Just how powerful is that woman? She cut the chief general, who could sweep through the entire Shimotsuke Province, in half with a single slash. How can we take revenge on her?!”
The three thousand-strong elite army of the Kōzuke Genji Clan was in a state of disarray.
Lily stood atop a towering boulder and looked back at the injured Yuki Mayumi who lay in Sakiko’s arms as well as the female cavalrymen of the Uesugi Clan who were shot dead by arrows, lying on the icy-cold ground where the snow and soil intermixed.
Facing the black mass of swords and spears of the Kōzuke Army in front of her, Lily’s eyes became cold, “None of you can leave.”
The sky and earth was dyed in crimson light and countless poignant cherry blossoms drifted in the cold air.
“Sakura Blizzard4.”
Suddenly, a gust of wild wind rose up, sending sharp cherry blossom blades raking through the Kōzuke Army with the fury of a thunderous storm!
“Ah—!”
“No—!”
“Spare my life— no!”
In a flash, the three thousand Kōzuke troops were completely engulfed by the storm of cherry blossoms!
Blood splattered about as hundreds of ferocious Kōzuke soldiers let out desperate screams and wails!
It wasn’t over yet. Lily stretched out her hand and fire bullets formed from lower-level arcane arts flew out, falling on the Kōzuke Army like a meteor shower. Although it was lower-level arcane arts, it displayed powerful might in Lily’s hands and engulfed the entire army in a sea of fire!
The fire dyed the mountains and forests red.
Halfway through their escape, Murai Nobuhiro and his party were stunned…
The three thousand fierce Kōzuke elites were all slaughtered by the cherry blossom blades. As for the stronger ones who were barely able to withstand the domain, they were burned to ashes.
No survivors!
If Lily hadn’t arrived in time, an unimaginable tragedy would have happened.
Lily killed all the soldiers, not distinguishing between those who had shot arrows and those who had not! She wouldn’t tolerate anyone who tried to harm her sisters in her absence!
This was also a warning to those forces that still coveted the Sakura Blossom Valley and wanted to harm her sisters!
In this world, Lily practiced with willpower beyond that of ordinary people despite many dangers and hardships. She put her life on the line every time she fought, but for what?
The reason was to awaken her senior sister and protect these sisters of hers!
If these people only wanted to harm Lily, she may not have necessarily killed them all, but those who dared to harm her sisters…
Lily looked coldly at the hundreds of Murai soldiers who were fleeing and her figure suddenly flashed. A scarlet shadow instantly caught up with the Murai soldiers. Yasutsuna emitted a burst of cold light in Lily’s hand as she stood proudly like an ancient pine tree, blocking the way of the Murai Army. She then casually waved her long sword.
Boom—!!! Mud and snow splashed into the sky.
A hundred-meter-long and several-meter-deep sword gash was formed in front of the Murai Army.
Seeing such an earth-shattering attack, the Murai army fell from a state of defeat to despair.
Murai Nobuhiro knelt down with a thud. Although he wanted to run, the wrath of this hellish red lotus completely crushed his will.
The other soldiers followed suit and fell to their knees.
“Lyn-hime, spare my life—!”
“Lyn-hime, spare my life—!”
The Murai Army all bowed their heads and begged for mercy.
Lily looked at these people coldly and spoke in a loud voice. Her seemingly delicate voice echoed in the mountain forest, causing the heart of every Murai Army soldier to tremble.
“Listen to me, all of you! From now on, no matter who dares to harm my sisters, even the slightest bit, I, Lily, will kill them without mercy!”
Even though the three thousand Kōzuke Genji elites were the main elite force under Lord Kamukara, Lily had to kill them.
As for the few hundred disordered Murai troops, Lily intended to let them go. If she didn’t let them go, who would spread the deterrence of today’s massacre for Lily?
“Lyn-hime, our Murai Clan has no financial resources and just wanted to take advantage of the chaos to rob a few things. I, Murai Nobuhiro, swear that my people did not release an arrow, nor did we hurt a single hair of Lyn-hime’s people. Ah, please spare our lives, Lyn-hime. We won’t dare to do it again! The Murai Clan will follow Lyn-hime’s lead in the future! Please forgive us. With Lyn-hime’s might, killing lowly ones like us will only tarnish your precious sword!”
“Lyn-hime, spare my life— spare my life—” Everyone also kneeled and kowtowed.
When the crowd grew tired from begging for mercy and their throats became hoarse, they raised their heads in awe as if they were seeing a goddess as they looked at Lily.
“Get lost!” Lily said coldly.
The Murai Army hesitated slightly. Nobuhiro quickly kowtowed again, “Thank you, Lyn-hime!” He then got up and ran away5. The rest of the soldiers also scattered like birds and beasts, fleeing towards the north…
