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The flying carpet wobbled and slowly landed within the forests.

“Where is this?” At night, all they could see were towering trees, Lily had no idea where they were.

Tamamo remained on the carpet and called out, “Lily, pick up the lantern, the light will flicker when you go in the wrong direction. Keep the light on and it will lead the way to Suno.”

Lily picked up the lantern and walked in a circle, finding the direction to Suno.

“Lady Kimiko, are you alright?”

“My injuries are not a problem and I am not as weak as I appear on the surface. My self regeneration is beyond that of you humans, only that ancient formation was too vicious, I need to concentrate on healing or this injury will worsen.”

Lily nodded, “I will summon a big bird, can you ride Lady Kimiko?”

“As long as I don’t need to use any aura, I won’t have any problems.”

Lily looked towards Rei who was still unconscious before pulling out a life-recovery magatama and looking back towards Tamamo, “Lady Kimiko, this…”

“I have those things too, I’ve already used them, my wounds aren’t that easily healed. You can’t help me.”

Lily continued to look at Tamamo, her eyebrows furrowed in worry.

Lily knelt down next to Rei, shaking her gently, but Rei had been weakened too much and was unable to wake. Rei would be unable to ride on the bird like this.

Lily hesitated, but still placed the life-recovery magatama in her mouth and extracted spirit energy before placing her lips over Rei’s and feeding her the energy.

Lily couldn’t ignore the feeling of lip on lip contact, but this was for healing so she controlled her emotions…

Slowly, Rei woke up frowning.

“Ehh,” Tamamo said from the side, “I want that type of life-recovery magatama too.”

“Eh?” Lily’s face flamed up, “Lady Kimiko, this isn’t the time for those types of jokes.”

“Ah—” Uesugi Rei finally sat up.

“Sister Rei!”

Rei combed her long silver hair, her eyes seemed to be worlds away.

“Lily…that, thank you.” Rei hugged her knees and couldn’t look in Lily’s direction.

Rei, a noble and arrogant woman. She had always treated Lily as someone she had to protect, but this time not only did she have to be rescued by her, Lily’s strength had also far surpassed her. Although she was absolutely grateful towards Lily, the other side of her heart was complicated.

“Sister Rei, we only escaped because of Lady Kimiko’s intervention, you should thank her. Lady Kimiko suffered wounds to protect us.”

Regarding Tamamo-no-Mae, Rei could not complain.

Getting up, Rei knelt before Tamamo and sincerely kowtowed, “Lily and my life was saved due to Lady Kimiko. This grace, I am willing to use my life to repay.”

“You need not take it too seriously, I only rescued you because Lily would be pained if you died. You should be sensible and leave though, if you kill my clan members in Suno, I will not spare you.”

“My life is not worth much, after failing to assassinate Shuten Doji, I should have died. However, my vengeance caused me to kill the clan members of my sister’s benefactor. I will accompany Lady Kimiko to Suno and commit harakiri to repay my sins!” Rei’s reply was without hesitation.

“Ah!??” Lily knelt down hastily, “Sister Rei, no! Lady Kimiko, if sister Rei committed some crime, let me be punished instead!”

“…Enough, who wants you to commit harakiri? If you did that, would Lily not hate me for the rest of her life? Though Shuten has not pursued us, this is still Tanba, we must leave this place as soon as possible.”

“Lady Kimiko!” Lily was overjoyed.

“Don’t be too happy. I won’t forgive this woman that easily, if you don’t leave now, don’t regret it when you suffer the punishments.”

“Lady Kimiko, I committed the wrong first. I will not complain no matter the punishment.”

Lily knew that Tamamo would not really harm Rei, but this was still Shuten’s territory, she would not let Rei depart alone.

“Then let us all get on my great bird.”

Lily led the group to a clearing before summoning.

“Record of One Hundred Demons?” Tamamo’s eyes flashed, “That can be counted as a treasure.”

Tamamo got up clutching her chest and Lily rushed forward to help.

Tamamo whispered into Lily’s ear, “Lily, if one day, I reveal my true form, you can draw my form into the record, perhaps it will be of use to you one day.”

Lily looked at Tamamo and nodded hesitantly, she still remembered that terrifying fox phantom, it was terrifying to even think of it.

“Madam Rin, can you manage?”

“Ah? Yes…I will do my best!” Ikeda Rin tried her best to grab onto the feathers and climb up. Even if she had never practiced martial arts, her realm was still that of a spirit jade expert. Her father had died, and she didn’t want to end up back in that terrifying mountain, she must be strong!

Once the group was on top of the bird, it spread its giant wings and took off.

The Record of One Hundred Demons was one of Lily’s treasures and these phantoms were controlled by her spirit power. The power of these phantoms would improve along with Lily’s power. Due to her multiple breakthroughs, this phantom bird was now at the middle-staged permanence realm, it was now stronger than its origin.

The flight speed was much faster.

Lily had the great bird fly in the direction of Suno after confirming with the lantern.

Though this was Shuten’s territory, besides Shuten, who would dare stop her¹?

Tamamo no Mae and Uesugi Rei were still injured, but Lily had already recovered so there should be no danger.

……

Heian-kyo, Purple Serenity Hall.

This was the palace with the most authority amongst humankind, in name.

In this hall, emperor Go-Toba was meeting with Fujiwara no Ayaka.

The white curtains of the emperor’s throne were drawn open, revealing the beautiful feminine visage of emperor Go-Toba.

“My beloved minister Ayaka, I have always been grateful for your contributions to the new policy, only, it’s a pity that things did not end the way we desired.”

“Your majesty, the heavens are in turmoil, if it were not your majesty’s new policy, the imperial court would be a greater mess. Your majesty’s policy is not wrong, this minister will also do my best for it.” Ayaka, dressed in a white court dress and tall black hat knelt and bowed deeply.

There was sadness in the emperor’s eyes, “Beloved minister, I have summoned you this night to discuss a great matter.”

“I plan to abdicate.” Emperor Go-Toba calmly announced, as if he had no attachments to the throne.

“What!??? Your majesty!??” Ayaka was shocked.

“Beloved minister, listen. After I abdicate, the throne will be passed to my younger brother, Prince Narinaga. He is a kind person, he will definitely become a wise emperor. You and I both know that it doesn’t matter if I the emperor abdicates, I will simply feel more relaxed.”

“Your majesty, I beg you to reconsider! Is someone threatening you? As long as I am…”

“Fujiwara no Ayaka!” The emperor’s feminine face showed a rare expression of authority, “Don’t be impatient and listen, I hope…that you will abdicate with me. The imperial court will no longer have the position of Chief Advisor.”

“What!?” Ayaka was bewildered.

“Beloved minister, I know this is not fair to you. You are one of the few who wholeheartedly supports imperial authority and thinks about the world, but these days…monsters run rampant throughout the world. We must unite even more, only by relying upon the powers of the noble and samurai families and the financial resources of the public can we stabilize the situation and truly fight against the monsters. In the current imperial court, how many truly support you or me? With such an imperial court, how can peace be established?”

“Your majesty…”

“Ah…in addition, this battle against Shuten resulted in failure. A large amount of military power was lost in vain and our national power was emptied even more. Though I cannot see through the entire picture, I can still understand a bit. Beloved minister, can you not realize that most of the people lost in this war were of your and my faction? Ashikaga Makoto, though she is from the Genji faction, she in fact supports the Yoshitsune faction. Also Minamoto no Yoshitada and Taira no Iemori, the left and right Imperial Guard commanders, though they are not your supporters, they belong to the imperial faction, those forces have almost been completely lost without any gains. This war may look like a tie, but the truth is that the imperial court has lost, and moreover, from court gossip, they have mostly placed the responsibility of this defeat on you and the Ashikaga family, especially on you, it was your faction that advocated for the crusade. This could be said to be an opportunity to abdicate…”

“Your majesty, though I cannot say that I have no responsibility for this crusade but we should be considering how to stabilize the court and the world, how can we retreat because of a setback…”

“Beloved minister, enough! I hope beloved minister…no, after I abdicate I prefer to call you big sister Ayaka. It is my hope that you and I can live carefree in this world. Let the affairs of the world be left to those more suitable.”

“Fujiwara no Ayaka, I…am really tired of facing this imperial throne, every night I panic and fear because of this, I don’t have the strength, or the endurance to continue being emperor! Beloved minister, if you really treat me as your emperor, then please respect my choice…let me, be freed of this painful and derisive life…sobs…”

On this night, within the dark hall, emperor Go-Toba sat on the throne crying, his voice echoing desolately…

“Your minister understands your intentions, but…I will not abdicate.” Ayaka replied and kowtowed.

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