Demon Sword Maiden

CHAPTER 4 – ENTERING TANBA

This place was only a few blocks away from the Shogun’s imperial palace. Minamoto no Yoritomo’s two sons had only received their military orders last night. They had returned to their temporary garrison guesthouse in the Genji Clan before going out this morning.

The several Genji troops that made up this Dewa army had only arrived one after another these past few days.

“Young Lord, this is Kagami Lily. Since she was sent by Lord Shogun, she may have her specialties.” Ida Nobutada said.

“Hmph, she’s just a woman. What specialties could she have? But since it’s my old man’s arrangements, what can I say? What’s your name again?” Takamune asked with a look of contempt.

“Kagami Lily.” Lily’s tone was also cold.

“You can follow us, but you’ll have to obey my orders! This Dewa army of mine is not your regular soft-headed army. Don’t hold us back! Understand?” The young lord stared at Lily.

“As long as it’s a military order, Lily will obey.”

“Let’s go! The army has barely gone out a few steps, but a woman was added in! What bad luck!” The obese young lord ordered the army to move forward.

Lily followed behind while keeping some distance from these brutish samurai.

As for this young lord’s strength, Lily didn’t bother to find out, but the horse he was riding aroused her interest.

This horse is not ordinary. I estimate it to be at least an eight-grade warhorse of a very rare species. Lily said in her heart.

An eight-grade warhorse, if evaluated by strength, was equivalent to the mid Spirit Jade stage. However, this kind of horse was different from demons and foreign beasts. Eighth-grade warhorses relied on their excellent breed, bloodline, and heavenly treasures fed by humans. They couldn’t train by themselves, neither did they have high intelligence or a spirit jade. Their power solely came from their raw physical strength, and they were distinctly graded by humans like objects. Eight-grade warhorses were precious, but they were, after all, only animals, which were different from foreign beasts.

It was said that there were some mature spirit beast horses that had their own consciousness and even spirit jade1.

Lily was currently riding a sixth-grade warhorse whose physical strength was equivalent to the initial Spirit Jade Stage.

However, if it relied on feeding and training from humans rather than its own natural growth, it could advance to the level of a ninth-grade warhorse, which was equivalent to the late Spirit Jade stage. But that was the limit.

When the army passed through Suzaku Avenue, they encountered the vast main army.

As far as the eye could see, there was a river of soldiers flying the banners of each family of the Genji Clan, such as the Ashikaga family, the Genji family, the Kiso Family, and some others. There were also a few banners belonging to the Taira Clan.

The few hundred troops of Takamune’s army also merged into the river of soldiers, and together with the main formation, they marched out of the city.

At this point, the army had already exceeded 20,000 men in size.

Even with only this number, this was Heian-kyō’s largest formation in recent years.

Lily, along with the mighty army, turned westward and traversed a large road. It was still morning, but there were many passers-by watching from both sides.

From the crowd, two small raccoons sprang out and ran after Lily’s horse.

The army was advancing at the speed of infantry, so they naturally weren’t moving too fast.

“Sister Lily!” Yuuta and Rika soon caught up

“Yuuta, Rika?” Lily was overjoyed.

“Sister Lily, do you have anything you need to say before leaving on the expedition?” Yuuta asked as he trotted along.

“Yuuta, please explain things to Lady Kimiko for me. Also, take Miss Mizue, who lives in the lodging house, to Shiu and let them take care of each other. If necessary, let Shiu take her back to Sakura Valley. Yuuta, if you are interested, you can also go to Sakura Valley with Rika to play.” Lily said.

“Sakura Valley? Yuuta would really like to see it. Sister Lily, Yuuta remembers what you said. Sister must travel carefully.”

“Mmh.” Lily nodded her head.

The few brutish samurai riding in front of Lily couldn’t help but shake their heads when they saw Lily talking to the raccoons.

“Hmph, women are just trouble.”

“These Heian-kyō samurai are just full of tricks, and they even talk to stupid raccoons. Do they seem like they are going to war?”

Several samurai conversed sarcastically while being deliberately loud. They didn’t seem to care if Lily heard them.

“Who’s a stupid racoon?!” Yuuta became furious and bared his teeth at the samurai.

“Alright, Yuuta, go ahead.”

“Yes, Sister. Take care!”

Since the army stretched for thousands of meters, it was inconvenient for Lily to break away from the group and rush to the front to find Ashikaga Makoto. In any case, there would always be a chance after coming out of the formation.

By the time the army left the west gate of Heian-kyō, Byakko, the size of the army had almost reached 50,000 people.

This was the total number of troops that departed from Heian-kyō, and there were still nearly a thousand kilometers left to reach the border of Tanba Province. Along the way, there would be military troops from various places in Kansai joining.

According to the edict issued earlier, if they all came, the army would grow to a size of more than 100,000 people when they reached the border of Tanba Province!

This was a mighty army that even Shuten Doji would dare not take lightly!

…

…

At this time, thousands of kilometers away, on the cliff of the roiling Tanba River, the weather was rainy and foggy, and demonic clouds spread wantonly.

The howls of demons and ghosts echoed on the cliff, and there were strong fluctuations from time to time, together with a bloody smell in the air.

Boom! Like a ray of silver light, Uesugi Rei slammed into the group of demons. Although her face was red, her body was unsteady at times, and she fell over multiple times, she continued to erupt with powerful strength.

One after another, sword lights bloomed amid the back tide of demons, splattering bloody waves everywhere.

Kenki, who was watching the battle from a distance, was stunned, “How is this possible??”

This was the most effective secret drug against women given by Lord Shuten Doji! As long as a woman got a little bit in her system, she would become weak and sluggish. So why could Uesugi Rei, who was obviously deeply affected by the drug, still exert such terrifying destructive power?

Aokiba’s gaze was also grim, “Although I knew that His Highness Shuten Doji was interested in this woman, I didn’t expect that she would be so different from the other women His Highness have caught before. She’s obviously being affected by His Highness Shuten Doji’s strange drug, yet she can still fight? Although I sense that her body is very unstable from time to time, she can repeatedly burst out with extraordinary power. This is…charm intent!”

“Hehehe!” Touko Chakura grinned, “I heard that in ancient times, there was a warrior who, after getting drunk, could perform a seemingly drowsy yet very difficult swordstyle called the Drunken Swordstyle. Could it be that the disorientating drug is allowing her to use that strange swordstyle2?”

“Unbelievable!” Aokiba’s eyes widened, “What a skillful swordswoman. Instead of resisting the effects of the drug on her body, she’s actually using it to influence her body and convert her beguiling movements into the power of charm. Although I have heard that the charm power comes from a woman’s emotions, I have never heard of anyone in the world who could really transform their body’s emotions into charm power to fight!”

Not far away, Kenki heard this and was also stunned, “No way. This is clearly a drug that makes a woman unable to retain her rationality, but she turned it into charm power? Doesn’t that mean the stronger the drug’s effects become, the greater her combat power will be? Did I go through the trouble of using that arrow just to help her instead?”

Aokiba and Kenki’s guess weren’t far off from the truth. Uesugi Rei indeed transformed the drug’s effects into the power of charm.

Of course, this was by no means simple and easy.

Before heading deep into Tanba Province to fight against the world’s greatest perverted demon, Shuten Doji, Uesugi Rei had prepared beyond their expectations!

In order to deal with the possibility of getting affected by Shuten Doji’s various drugs and aphrodisiacs, Uesugi Rei had already come up with a long-term countermeasure. Before starting her expedition, she made sure to practice this countermeasure, otherwise, why would a beautiful woman like her dare to venture deep into Shuten Doji’s territory so easily?!

Uesugi Rei may seem arrogant, reckless, and indifferent, but in fact, she was much more meticulous than she looked!

She was a woman known as the God of War, who led countless troops into battle. Her unique strategizing and adventuring experiences weren’t as simple as others might think.

However, the potency of the drug created by Shuten Doji still exceeded Uesugi Rei’s expectations. She was at risk of being controlled by the drug at any time, like walking on thin ice.

Whenever Uesugi Rei was about to enter a state of confusion, she would always think of Lily’s slightly melancholic eyes.

She was a woman who wanted to take Lily in her arms. If she was captured by a demon here and got defiled, how shameful would that be?

Uesugi Rei absolutely couldn’t accept such a result3!

Since her departure from Mino until today, Uesugi Rei had never used her charm intent, so no one in the whole team knew that she practiced a second path in addition to her ice intent.

Uesugi Rei had been hiding this power until now in order to deal with this kind of situation where she might get affected by a secret drug.

Originally, Uesugi Rei’s charm intent wasn’t very strong, but Shuten Doji’s drug allowed her to convert her body’s intense reaction into powerful charm power.

Some pink mist diffused in the rain and fog. Uesugi Rei’s face was flushed red, but her eyes were still cold.

Uesugi Rei wielded her slender tachi, Nameless. The silver sword glowed with a mix of purple and pink aura and beheaded the incoming demons and ghosts.

The drug’s properties seemed to be constantly replenishing her strength, and with the aid of her tanto which was absorbing the anima, Uesugi Rei had been persisting for a long time since cutting the suspension bridge. And she was still not tired!

Despite her constant usage of the soul-controlling art, her strength was still slowly growing even in this desperate situation!

“Unbelievable! Surprisingly, even in this situation, this woman’s aura is gradually strengthening…” Kenki was a little flustered. He looked around, but there were still many demons lining the mountain and the two Throne Stage demons had yet to make a move.

There was no place for Uesugi Rei to retreat. If the two demons of the Ten Demon Enforcers joined forces, Uesugi Rei would definitely lose no matter what tricks she used!

Shwing—!!! There was a shrill vibration in the air, and the weaker groups of demons couldn’t help but cover their ears and fall to the ground.

Uesugi Rei’s ancient sword blossomed and conjured a path of blue ice crystals. The brightest part was stained with a bit of redness and shimmered with an electrifying light!

Bzzt— bzzt— bzzt

The dim soul patterns on the tachi actually broke through the shackles of the curse and restored its former splendor!

“What??! She actually used the strong charm intent to break through the curse!” Kenki was completely stunned4.

Aokiba and Touko Chakura also looked solemn.

“Touko Chakura, let’s take action together!” Aokiba’s eyes flashed with a fierce light.

Robinxen: Donkey?! Robinxen: Lily is going to have a field day for many reasons. Robinxen: Her power is coming from reverse-yanderism? Robinxen: I wonder where this is going honestly.