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Lily’s eyes flashed with agitation. It was difficult to determine the authenticity of a mirror girl’s ancient mirror just based on its exterior qualities. Lily had yet to possess another real mirror, too. As such, she felt quite curious about its contents if it was indeed a real one.
“I can just get it once I kill you,” Lily stated coldly.
“Do you think I never considered that? I’ve long inflicted this mirror with a curse, mirror girl. It will lose its power if you kill me,” Ouchi Koreyoshi glared at Lily with a smirk on his lips.
“Where did you get this mirror from?”
“I obtained it when I killed the mirror girl branch clan members who fled to Mino back in the past, just like those records of the mirror girls.”
“You… killed their mirror girl?” Lily’s blade-wielding hand trembled slightly.
“The mirror girl clan must be erased. I’m just following orders.”
“How about we make a deal with different terms since you want to live, Viper? Tell me the name of the hidden plotter who ordered you to stop me from journeying west by assassinating me and I’ll let you live. As far as I’m concerned, you are just a worthless old man to me right now, so it’s completely up to me whether I kill you or not.”
Viper actually showed clear hesitation at this moment, which made Lily wonder what exactly a scheming and calculative man like him was worried about.
“Aren’t you the Viper of Mino, a ruthless man who dreams of becoming this generation’s overlord? You aren’t someone who would select death to protect someone else honorably, right? Even if that someone poses a huge threat to you, I will not divulge the fact that you were the one who revealed his name to me. Besides, even if you might die from that someone’s retaliation because of it, I’ll simply kill you right now if you don’t.”
Viper’s eyes flashed with curiosity and provocation, “Do you really want to know who’s plotting against you behind the scenes much more than you want this mirror?”
“No, I want both1. Also, no matter how insidious you are, you know too little about the mirror. A real mirror isn’t something that you can destroy with the tricks you possess, so it doesn’t really matter whether you really inflicted the mirror with a curse. Tell me that eminence’s name now. A viper can only bite people when it’s alive, right?” Lily brought Yasutsuna closer to Ouchi Koreyoshi, its sharp edge leaving him in discomfort for a good while now. Yasutsuna’s strength was really too fearsome for someone like him who was just in the 4th-stage Awakened level.
“Hahahahahaha! What a legend you are, Kagami Lily! You truly deserve the fame you possess in the East and are the first woman I’ve ever admired! I have no qualms against losing to a woman like you. As you wish, I’ll reveal that eminence’s name to you, even without you swearing to the Heavens that you’ll let me live.”
“Oh?” Lily raised her brow.
“It’s because I know you aren’t someone who backs out on a promise, especially when it’s about stuff irrelevant to you,” a wise glint flashed within Ouchi’s dark eyes.
“Hmph. I see. Well, then. Can you tell me who it is now?”
“It’s someone called Kibu, but that’s just an alias. His real name is—2”
A red gleam streaked into the castle tower suddenly, following which a red dart stabbed deep into Ouchi’s neck. His timeworn face twisted in fear and unwillingness as his eyes turned into saucers as he flapped his lips like a fish, unable to utter a single note out.
“U-Urgh!” Ouchi tried to speak in an attempt to retaliate against the world that had renounced him, but all that came out of his mouth was bloodied fluids. The dart enhanced by spirit power had pierced deep into his throat and he even saw pity in the gaze with which Lily looked at him.
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Ouchi’s neck crooked in the next moment, and the Viper of Mino, an ambitious and ruthless hero of this region, passed away unnaturally in his castle tower while sitting in seiza just like that.
Heroes were fated to die unnaturally.
Lily looked at the direction from where the dart had originated, the panoramic terrace, and saw a red-dressed Momiji donned in an elegant white cardigan standing there with the bright moonlight acting as her backdrop.
“Since you’re a viper, so should’ve remained as one until the very end, Ouchi Koreyoshi. You lost all chances of coming out alive the moment you betrayed that eminence,” Momiji chuckled.
The battle until now had expended a lot of Lily’s stamina. She was drenched in sweet-scented sweat at the moment and also felt her head spin. However, she still aimed Yasutsuna at Momiji.
“Aren’t you his woman, Momiji? Why did you kill him instead of saving him?”
“His life had no value the moment he betrayed Lord Kibu. This is the iron law of the Heian Empire3!”
“Just who is this Lord Kibu?”
“Don’t you find this question quite foolish? Why would I have killed him if I was willing to tell you that?”
“I’ll use the same method as I did with him to make you spew it out, then!” A crimson, slim stamen-like spirit flux emerged out from Lily.
“Hold on. Although I don’t think I would lose to you, I have no plans to fight you right now since there’s no need for that at all,” Momiji stated quite confidently.
“Why?”
“Just think about the reason why I stayed so far from you and showed up only now. It’s quite unfortunate that the old fool didn’t know the effects of my spring sake. Well, then. It’s time, young lady,” said Momiji.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Lily realized that the blade in her hand felt heavier than usual the moment she shot out this question. It required her to spend a decent amount of strength to keep holding it now, and the fiery hotness inside turned worse at the same time. Drops of sweat trickled down from her forehead continuously as her body shuddered incessantly.
Lily felt hot, so hot as an unimaginable hotness overwhelmed her… the minidress costume she wore and her skin exposed to the outside, both did nothing to allay this hotness.
“Shall we test how much strength you have left now?”
A powerful Permanence level aura broke out from Momiji.
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“What?! She’s an early-stage Permanence powerhouse? T-That’s…”
Momiji was as strong as Amanojaku.
Lily could’ve battled her if she was in full condition, but the current Lily couldn’t…
Momiji closed in towards Lily moments after and didn’t even wield a weapon in her hands, which was a huge discourtesy to a samurai woman like Lily who wielded a supreme blade.
However, Lily remained ever prudent against the weaponless Momiji even then since she was a Permanence Stage powerhouse. Lily slashed at her, but the current Lily’s drawing technique and speed had both fallen to subpar levels right now, and even her strength had become lower than when she battled the Mino Triumvirate moments ago.
Hence, such an onerously executed strike was practically ineffective towards Momiji.
She just danced her sleeves and dodged the strike with ease before forming a fist with her slender fingers and punched Lily’s underbody.
“Bam!”
“Gah!” Lily scrunched over in pain from the punch.
Momiji used her other hand to pet Lily’s cheek playfully, “Is this all that you’ve got, o’ strongest samurai woman of the East? Are you going to fall over with just a light touch from me?”
“B̲i̲t̲c̲h̲!” Lily flipped her blade over to attack, but Momiji countered back with a hand strike to its hilt.
The hand strike actually made Lily drop her blade, letting it stab into the thick floor. It was one of the rare occasions when an opponent managed to disarm Lily.
Lily’s eyes flashed with hostility as she raised her foot and kicked at Momiji.
“Grab!” However, Momiji actually caught Lily’s raised foot by lifting both her hands and then directed her gaze towards the scandalous depths past her fair thigh.
“You’ve flashed. This is really quite tragic, young lady,” Momiji smiled.
“Shut up and release me!” Lily actually found herself unable to move her foot after it got held up like this.
As such, she jumped off the floor with her other foot and kicked at Momiji with it. However, Momiji just pushed Lily away lightly and tossed her away.
Momiji had long caught up to Lily by the time the latter stood up and delivered a kick to her waist.
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“Bam!” Lily was sent flying by the kick and nose-dived into the wooden wall.
“Uh-uh. This posture looks quite nice…heh!” Momiji waved her sleeve and shot out a charm at the wooden wall, following which the wooden wall shone with purple-glowing runes that strengthened the weak wall immensely. Lily thus became stuck inside the wall with her butt facing Momiji and her torso facing the corridor.
Try as hard as she did by kicking her legs, the wooden wall still remained unaffected.
“How come you’re flashing again now? This is the second time you’ve done this amidst our battle, Miss Lily. Are you trying to seduce me?” Momiji’s contemptuous voice reached Lily’s ears from the wall’s other side.
Although Lily couldn’t see Momiji, she could feel that her gaze was seared onto her behind. Lily felt a shudder pass through her butt as the previous attack from Momiji had actually overturned her minidress, which meant that its contents were right out there for Momiji’s viewing pleasure.
“Dammit! Release me, b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲!” Lily growled. Although Momiji was also a woman, Lily actually felt even more ashamed by this fact for some reason, possibly because she was being gazed upon by an opponent of equal strength.
Momiji crouched in front of Lily’s behind, following which Lily felt Momiji’s breath hit her.
Lily felt wholly ashamed and bemoaned the fact that she had actually gotten stuck in such a position, condition and time under Momiji’s gaze!
“Release me! You perverted witch…”
“Hahaha! How come you sound so weak now? How about you beg me, then?”
“Don’t you dare dream of it! I’ll never beg you even if I am humiliated!”
“Heh. It seems like you’re quite the stubborn and tenacious lass. But I like it when you show such resistance. I’m more curious about whether you’re willing to serve me though than test how long you would last, you know? Although there are innumerable monsters and powerhouses who wish to stop you from journeying west by killing you, it would be too much of a waste to simply kill you now, wouldn’t it?”
“Just what do you want from me?!”
“Kibu’s orders are just to stop you from journeying west regardless of the methods, sweetie. He never ordered your death, so I would still be following orders as long as I stop you from journeying forward. Of course, it’s quite simple for me to kill you at this moment with how you are right now, but I’m quite reluctant to do it.”
Momiji petted Lily’s prominent butt as she answered Lily.
“Wait… don’t do this. You… perverted witch.”
“Haha! I am indeed a pervert, but so what? You’ll know soon that I’m much nicer than you think. I want you to hand over the mirror and treasures you own to me and tell me all the secrets of this mirror of yours!”
“Dream on,” Lily responded coldly.
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“Wait. I’m not done speaking yet. I want you, too.”
“What?!” Lily shuddered slightly.
“I told you just now, didn’t I? I want you, the prettiest woman of the East…”
Momiji grabbed Lily’s slim waist from behind with both hands, “Become my slave.4”