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Volume 8 - Higanbana: Chapter 3 – Kimiko’s Choice

“Lady Kimiko must be planning to face the half-million soldiers alone.” Lily’s chest heaved.

“However, Lady Kimiko’s critically injured, she can’t even stand still. How can she face the enemy? This is no different from suicide!”

“Lady Kimiko… I’m afraid her being so relaxed yesterday was just an act… In the end, she’s just trying to protect us. Sister Uesugi, I won’t allow Lady Kimiko to face the enemy alone. No matter how many there are!”

“Lily, I’ll go with you.”

Lily looked at Rei, and made eye contact.

“Lily, this time is different. Half a million soldiers and powerful beings. Perhaps this will be our final fight.”

“Even so, I don’t care!”

In this situation, Lily was out of options. To her, facing the invading Imperial Army and the enemies circling Ayaka in Heian-kyo were both deadly! She could only go forward! And fight to the best of her ability!

“Sister Uesugi…”

But upon realizing that they might not survive until the end of this fight and would no longer see each other again, Lily suddenly felt unwillingness. Her previous shared memories with them filled her mind.

Both girls stared at each other and embraced for a while. Lily slightly raised her head and pressed her lips against Rei’s. This kiss wasn’t filled with passion. Instead, it was devotion.

Whoom!

The sound of horseshoes trembled between the Valley. In the thick of the bamboo forest path, a mighty black horse sprinted over.

Rei looked over.

“It’s Nioh!”

Ever since Rei was captured in Mount Ooe, Nioh had disappeared amidst the chaos. After she was rescued by Tamamo-no-Mae, they were in a hurry and thus couldn’t search for Nioh around Shuten’s headquarters. Thus, they lost contact with Nioh.

Unexpectedly, Nioh somehow found its way here. This meant that it had some sort of innate ability to find its master.

“Lily, I haven’t ridden with you in a long time.”

“Yes.”

Rei jumped onto Nioh and pulled Lily to the seat behind her. Rousing the horse, they sprinted towards the eastern mountains! If Tamamo-no-Mae had planned to face the enemy alone, she would definitely travel East and strike the army.

Lily and Rei only had to ride Nioh and follow the trail that led to Settsu Province, to the east. They would find Tamamo-no-Mae soon enough!

“I hope Lady Kimiko hasn’t encountered the enemy yet!”

The situation had gone out of Lily’s control. She thought Tamamo would utilize all the demons lurking in Suno, and the region’s protective barrier and formations to face the Army. With that, she had a better chance to win. Yet, nobody could expect that she would actually disregard her heavy injuries and face the enemy alone.

It seemed Tamamo didn’t wish for the fight to happen in Suno. Perhaps she simply didn’t want that peaceful mountain village to be involved in battle. Lily honored her decision and didn’t ask Nariaki to gather the demons in Suno to join the fight. Besides, it would be too late anyway.

Nioh ran quickly and traveled at blazing speeds.

Although it was slower than Lily running at full speed, she would only do such a thing in combat since it exhausted her physically. Although Lily had near infinite spiritual power, her physical prowess was still limited. Her strength was composed of both her spiritual and physical abilities. If she lost all physical strength, it would definitely impact her overall strength.

Lily held Rei’s waist from behind. Although this wasn’t the time and occasion to care about these things, her massive chest pressing onto Rei’s back was still noticed.

Nioh sprinted across the wilderness and bounced violently. Their surroundings instantly became blurry. Shortly after, it ran out of the mountainous areas of Suno and into a barren ancient battlefield.

The ancient battlefield stretched out for hundreds of miles, and was empty.

Rei stopped the horse on a mountain slope.

“Lily, look…” Rei and Lily jumped off the horse. Only to see a solitary figure standing on the empty plains.

Tamamo was walking along the ancient battlefield, wearing a luxurious dress and a thigh-length jacket.

Despite being well-dressed, she still seemed exhausted. She had luxurious clothing but wobbly steps. Occasionally, she would stop to cough and catch her breath. She even fell down sometimes.

However, Tamamo would catch her breath slightly after falling down, before standing up and walking. Even the brisk winds sweeping across the plains was enough to stop her.

“Lady Kimiko!”

“It’s Lady Kimiko!”

However, at this moment, the earth trembled from the east. Soon, this tremor slowly turned into a dull rumble. Across the horizon of the completely flat battlefield, a black wall slowly appeared.

This was a continuous and unending march of soldiers!

Tamamo naturally had heard of the soldiers marching long ago. Their footsteps even trembled the ground itself.

However, her expression didn’t change at all. Her face was pale and sweat uncontrollably flowed down her brow. She constantly pressed her hands onto her waist. Under the winds, she walked forward without a care despite the tremor.

Half a million troops, like a black tide, almost covered half of the battlefield. Across this massive army was a single person that resembled a small dot.

“Lady Kimiko!” Lily wanted to rush down the mountain but Rei stopped her.

“Wait…”

“Sister Uesugi?”

At this moment…

The tremors had disappeared. Half a million soldiers actually stopped due to the appearance of a small woman.

There was even a massive flock of lesser Tengu above the Army.

Flying at the forefront was the leader of these lesser Tengus. Fully covered with ominous white feathers and wearing a black-gold mask, he was the incredibly strong Tarobo Tengu.

Tarobo Tengu resided in Mount Hiei and was closely associated with the Lord of Mt. Hiei. It emanated the aura of a Throned Monarch! He was just as strong as Lily and one of Daitengu’s great commanders, and was here to lead the Tengu army.

Meanwhile, the Army on the ground that resembled an ocean was split into several formations.

Among them were two hundred thousand black-armored demon soldiers from the Kanto Region, which was led by several lieutenants of Minamoto no Yoritomo.

To the north were one hundred thousand demon soldiers sent by Shuten Doji, led by Momiji and Red Demon Mamukuro.

The south was composed of more than a hundred thousand regional soldiers of the Genji Clan.

The rear was composed of five thousand Onmyojis, Ten thousand Dharma Masters, tens of thousands of Martial Monks and a hundred thousand black-armored soldiers. Forming the core formation.

In the core formation, There was a tall warrior riding on a black-dotted demonic horse with gray fur. This warrior had messy black hair and a long beard. He wore black-gold armor and his eyes were glowing like stars.

Only a rare few people knew of him, and the twenty soldiers with the same armor. They were cavalry riders that seemed much different than the other three hundred thousand black-armored soldiers around.

He was the Chief Commander of this invasion army, Ueotsune Tane. He was the chief commander of the great Army sent by three different supreme beings. It could be said that he was greatly valued.

It wouldn’t be possible unless he had extraordinary strength.

Ueotsune Tane was an ancient being that had retired a few hundred years ago. His existence could only be found in history books recorded by the Empire. He was once a powerful commander of the Empire but he had lived in a peaceful age. Hence, he didn’t produce many accomplishments, and not much information about him was recorded. However, he was still one of the strongest people at that time.

Nobody knew of his whereabouts for the past few hundred years and why did he return now to serve Minamoto no Yoritomo.

Ueotsune Tane emanated the aura of a Big Dipper Stage!

He was stronger than the virtual projection created by ten thousand soldiers in the Great Rokuhara Army Formation.

The Big Dipper powerhouse Ueotsune led half a million soldiers. At this moment, the massive army assumed formations in front of Tamamo. They were only less than one kilometer apart.

In front of the Army, Kato Keiren stood in place and stared at Tamamo who was approaching alone. He was an old subordinate of Minamoto no Yoritomo back when this samurai faction was built. He was a demon samurai who wore pure black armor and a noticeable white horn on top of his helmet.

He pointed his horse whip at her and screamed. “Who are you, female demon? How dare you hinder the great army! Aren’t you scared that our half a million soldiers will trample you into dust?”

Tamamo held both sleeves together as they danced around in the powerful winds. Several long tails behind her also swayed.

“Half a million troops? Did you come to the wrong place? The path ahead of you is forbidden to humans. If you turn back now, you might just avoid heavy casualties.” Tamamo’s voice was alluring and somber. It carried an incredible pulse that captivated everyone’s soul.

“The audacity of this woman!” Kato pointed at Tamamo and raged, “take her down!”

“Yes! Lord Kato.”

A black-armored demon samurai with antlers on his helmet led several demon cavalry riders and charged. They brandished their lances or swords and crossed the gap of a kilometer within the blink of an eye. Several tall and ferocious black-armored warriors, riding powerful horses, quaked the ground as they charged at Tamamo in high spirits.

Just as these samurai were about to reach Tamamo, the air in front of her seemed to have been disturbed slightly! It was an invisible wind barrier!

Splurt—!

Those black-armored soldiers were instantly turned into a mist of blood!

“What?” Kato and the other commander’s warhorses were all startled!

Among those demon samurai warriors, the leader was on the pinnacle Permanence Stage, while the rest were in the Spirit Jade Stage. They were true elites among the soldiers. Yet, within a single clash, they were instantly shredded without the woman moving?

“This… This monster. Who is she

¹?”

Being bold enough to stand in the ancient battlefield outside of Suno and intercept half a million soldiers, and strong enough to kill a soldier on the pinnacle Permanence Stage without any motion, there could only be one person!

Tamamo-no-Mae!

“Attention, all troops! She… She… She’s the greatest Archdemon! Tamamo-no-Mae!” Kato screamed loudly.

References

Silva: Did you guys really attack this place without knowing whose territory it is? The tail should be a give away