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Blood dripped down Kiyoshi’s forehead, the blood seeping out from the substantial blade wounds on his arm and body staining his garments.
Takashi Atsushi, as well as the other samurai were all lying on the ground right now with pools of blood collected below them.
The eight samurai donned in red-patterned long white coats now surrounded Kiyoshi on all sides.
“I’m giving you one more chance, Ashikaga Kiyoshi. Swear on the chivalry of a samurai that you’ll meet with that Kagami Lily and administer this elixir to her,” Kiuchidera Tesshin held the little vial in one hand while holding a monstrous naginata with tens of jagged teeth-like cracks in it.
Although Kiyoshi had suffered multiple injuries, his gaze was still as firm and persistent as ever, “The samurai of East have never bent their knees in surrender! You are simply daydreaming if you want me to harm Miss Kagami.”
“Hehehe. Men of East are really quite stubborn, aren’t they, Mister Tesshin?” A shadow flitted by and a light chestnut-haired girl dressed in a complexly designed grey dress patterned with safflowers landed beside the tall and lank masked samurai lithely before looking at Kiyoshi with a pair of light golden eyes that seemed mature beyond her age.
The girl possessed a petite stature albeit possessing quite the long hair that reached until her heels and the two sides of her loosely cascaded hair were plaited into two braids that had white silken scarves and copper bells tied to them.
The little bells released a bewitching tinkle with the slightest vibration from her lithe movements.
Kiyoshi, however, didn’t let his guard down a single bit even though he was faced with such a cute and delicate girl. The girl’s strength was no weaker than the tall and lanky masked samurai in Kiyoshi’s eyes, which naturally meant that they were both far stronger than him.
Tesshin had made just a slight movement just prior and that alone had left him injured while the judgment of the samurai lying on the ground had been influenced by the tinkles from the girl, causing them to perish under the onslaught of the eight white-coated samurai in just a few breaths.
Blood and sweat flowed down Kiyoshi’s forehead as he held his katana firmly and questioned Tesshin, “Just who exactly are you?”
“Hehehe. Are you a fool, o young and handsome lord from the East? Do you not recognize the huge character written on all of their backs?” The girl asked rhetorically.
“There’s no need to speak too much, Ui,” Tesshin stated icily.
Actually, even Kiyoshi failed to recognize what the Maro (éşż) character meant with his literary knowledge. However, he was able to feel that the character looked quite archaic and transcendent.
“Who are you all?! Fights are forbidden in the city!”
A squad of Kiyosu sentries just happened to arrive inside the alley at this moment after getting informed by the commoners.
“Oh no! Run for it!” Kiyoshi warned.
However, it was too late.
The girl moved like a phantom and jumped up to flip over and land behind the ten or so soldiers that arrived at the scene, leaving no time for the soldiers to even react.
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“We know fights are forbidden in the city, so you better die now for us to avoid further trouble,” stated Ui with a chuckle.
A golden kendama appeared in the girl’s hand suddenly and she swung her slender arm quickly like a phantom, following which the red ball on the kendama flew out along with the glistening silver string connecting it.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
The glistening silver thread fluttered past the soldiers with nimble movements, their gazes turning lifeless in the next moment.
The girl then recalled the red ball by pulling it towards herself and caught the ball gently with the hilt of the kendama by using the remaining momentum of the ball.
A series of bloody scars appeared on the soldiers momentarily and their dismembered flesh pieces scattered across the ground along with blood misting in all directions.
“Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!”
“How could you kill these soldiers who you have no grudge against so viciously at such a young age?!” Kiyoshi thundered.
“Hmph! Do you even have the time to feel worried about others?” The girl giggled.
“Ashikaga, are you still unwilling to accept our request?”
“You needn’t ask me again! Come at me if you want a fight!” Kiyoshi unleashed all of his spirit power.
“Hmph! How reckless,” Kiuchidera’s gaze turned dark as he waved his naginata towards Kiyoshi while standing in the same position, following which the saw-toothed blade stretched out suddenly and lashed out at Kiyoshi as a saw-toothed whip.
Kiyoshi moved left and right to dodge the attacks while blocking them with his blade, but even Kiyoshi’s superior swordsmanship was unable to block all the attacks as the movements of the saw-toothed whip were too strange. It was also quite clear that Kiuchidera hadn’t gone all out yet.
The whip-like saw-toothed katana had left multiple injuries on Kiyoshi’s body while he warded its attacks off.
“You must know that it’s a simple matter for us to kill you, Ashikaga Kiyoshi! Is it necessary for you to give up the nice future prospects waiting for you as well as your life all for a single woman?!”
“You’re wrong! What I wish to protect isn’t just Miss Kagami, but also a samurai’s honor!” Kiyoshi resisted bravely without the slightest cowardice despite the blood spattering out from the multiple wounds on his body.
Kiyoshi charged towards Kiuchidera while blocking the attacks.
Kiuchidera’s white-red coat fluttered in the air as he slashed forward and jumped behind Kiyoshi, which caused Kiyoshi to miss his attack and left him standing in front of the pretty girl.
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The kendama in the girl’s hand had long aimed towards Kiyoshi, the red ball flying past his arm along with her swing, the silver thread winding around it along with the ball’s revolutions and twisting around it.
“What?!” Kiyoshi was stunned.
The girl revealed a strange smile and hopped into a spin along with a tinkle, pulling back on the silver thread and severing Kiyoshi’s arm in the next moment.
“Spurt!”
Kiyoshi was left dumbfounded by this.
“Spurt!” A fountain of blood gushed out from Kiyoshi’s shoulder where the arm had been severed.
“Arrggghhhh!” Kiyoshi’s blade and his severed arm fell to the ground simultaneously as he kneeled down and covered his shoulder with a scream.
The samurai from the West rushed forward and surrounded him immediately while the girl walked to Kiyoshi’s front casually, securing the ball back into the kendama in her hand as she tilted her head towards him, “How about it? Do you wish to help us now? I know you won’t die even with a severed hand at your level, but it might be your neck that gets severed the next time.”
Kiyoshi’s complexion turned pale as he almost became unable to remain kneeling while clutching his shoulder, but his eyes remained ever resolute as he gritted his teeth and shouted back at the girl with a vein popping off his forehead, “Just kill me if you want to, but I’ll never set Miss Kagami up!”
“Yah. I never imagined a rich kid like you would be so infatuated with her. Is that woman really that good? How about I become your girlfriend in place of her if you administer the elixir to her? I’m Ui, do well to remember this name. After all, it’s the name of the woman who snatched away your arm,” the girl said playfully.
“You might be much stronger than me, but my mind is millions of times stronger than yours. Your efforts are meaningless!” Kiyoshi stated firmly, the ferocity in his eyes leaving even the girl a little amazed.
“Well, go die then,” the girl shook the kendama in her hand.
“Ui!” Tesshin warned, “You must not kill him!”
“Hmph! I know. I was just scaring him, all right? You’re really no fun,” The girl called Ui stated with a pout.
“Ashikaga Kiyoshi, I wasn’t expecting the samurai of the East to have such hard bones even though your strength is so terrible. You at least have my respect in this aspect. We are also just following our orders and have no grudge against you or your retainers. I hope you don’t blame us for this.”
“Just what do you want to do? Why do you want to harm Miss Kagami?”
“The mirror girl journeying west will give rise to disaster in this realm. That woman is a source of calamity, believe me. Just see how you’ve ended up. Haven’t you lost an arm all because of that woman?” Ui stated mockingly.
“You still dare to use such hypocritical reasons to harm Miss Kagami, you sinister fellows…”
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The sounds of marching troops echoed from the distance at this moment.
Kiuchidera looked into the distance and said, “This man can’t be threatened with death, let’s leave.”
“Hmph! Why in the world aren’t we killing that woman directly in this city?!” Ui grumbled and vanished after climbing onto the house’s roof.
Kiuchidera and his group of samurai also vanished into the alley silently.
The troops were just about to arrive when Kiyoshi had barely managed to stand up. He planned to wait for the Shiba troops’ rescue, but a hand pulled him into the alley’s corner suddenly and brought him inside a dark house before closing its door.
“Who is it?”
“Shush!” A girl with long black hair dressed in a dark gold long-sleeved kimono gestured to Kiyoshi.
The dim lighting inside the house prevented the severely injured Kiyoshi from recognizing the girl’s identity momentarily.
The girl, however, infused some spirit power inside Kiyoshi and strapped up his wound by tearing a part of her petticoat off.
The Shiba troops only found a pile of corpses when they arrived at the scene and rushed forward in pursuit with a howl, but Kiyoshi knew that it was impossible for them to catch up with the enemies. Of course, this also relied on their luck.
The girl lit up the oil lamp inside the house after seeing the Shiba troops leave and turned around.
Kiyoshi’s eyes opened wide in astonishment when he saw the girl’s face, “L-Lady Shimizu?!1”
…
Lily’s focus was still on the monster at Kiyosu Castle’s west gate around this time, so she hadn’t noticed the fight that had broken out inside the city.
“You have my utmost gratitude, Lady Lyn-hime! Your reputation is really well-deserved!” Oda kneeled down and bowed to her in salute.
“It wasn’t anything much, Lord Oda. I need to thank you for informing me about such an atrocious monster instead, which allowed me to end its sins,” Lily stated.
“Sigh!” Oda slapped his knee while still seated on the ground, “I-I’m really useless! I wouldn’t have felt so grieved and purposeless if I had strength like yours, Lady Lyn-hime!”
“You have a conscience and righteousness within you, Lord Oda, and don’t they embody the valuable spirit of a samurai?”
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“Hehe. Thank you for the enlightening words, Lady Lyn-hime, but those values are really powerless in these chaotic times. I wanted to change all of it, but I learned how powerless and weak I truly am when I looked back. It’s quite difficult to survive in these dark times! I really don’t know what’s the meaning of living such a life as a samurai! My Oda clan was born of humble origin and possesses little strength, so we’re resigned to our fate of lurking in this darkness eternally, bowing our knees to the clans in power and even making deals with the monsters. I’m afraid that it won’t take long before the Oda clan perishes in these dark times!”
“Please don’t be so pessimistic, Lord Oda. The world is unpredictable, and things change with the passage of time. There might even come a day when your descendant becomes an overlord capable of changing this world, you know?” Lily consoled Oda.
“Hahahahahahahaha! You really know how to console people, Lady Lyn-hime. How could we, who hails from the humble Oda clan of Owari, even dream of ruling the world? A future like that shall never come by, never I say!” Oda Nobutora laughed at the sky while sitting on the boundless earth.