Demon Sword Maiden

CHAPTER 20 – LILY’S CHOICE

Shinsenen and Shizuka Gozen were the same person? Without Tokiwa’s hints, Lily would have never made the connection, but now it all made sense. The feelings and memories she had of Madam Shinsenen were so strong that Lily was convinced Shinsenen and Shizuka Gozen were one and the same.

“Shizuka Gozen used to perform a rain dance at the Shinsen’en Garden when she was young. Maybe her dance moved the heavens, but the heavens granted her wish with a blessed rain, making her the most famous dance princess of her time,” Tokiwa explained. “However, now she goes by the name Shinsenen and has changed completely. It happened a long time ago when she was still a young girl, and very few people still remember.”

Lily had no reason to doubt Tokiwa’s words as they resonated with her intuition. To think that Shinsenen was actually Shizuka Gozen was surprising to Lily. In her mind, Shizuka Gozen was an impressive woman. However, she couldn’t shake off the memory of Yoshitsune’s warning when she left the shrine. He had cautioned her not to heed Shizuka’s words. At the time, Lily had failed to grasp the gravity of his advice. Nevertheless, she had somehow ended up meeting Shizuka Gozen.

Lily’s gaze fixed on the Rashomon, and she pondered whether choosing the Path of Yomi was the right decision. She couldn’t ignore Yoshitsune’s warning about Shizuka Gozen, and now Tokiwa had also warned her. Lily couldn’t help but wonder if the Path of Yomi was a one-way road with no way back.

Lily wondered about Shizuka’s intentions in rescuing Tamamo. If she was truly an enemy, why didn’t she use her immense power to attack directly? On the other hand, Tokiwa was Yoshitsune’s mother, and Lily trusted her not to harm her. Should she heed Tokiwa’s warning and advice?

Lily didn’t need to know much about the Path of Yomi to understand its extreme danger. Going to Yomi as a living person was akin to committing suicide. How could it not be perilous? Moreover, Shizuka Gozen appeared just in time, as if she had been aware of Lily’s plans all along. Was Shizuka’s intention to lure her onto the Path of Yomi? Was this a trap? The more Lily gazed at the ominous Rashomon, the more her doubts and reservations intensified.

Tokiwa expressed her sympathy, “Miss Lily, perhaps she was a kind woman in the past, but the death of my son Yoshitsune and her child has caused her to become twisted with endless resentment. Her vengeance is no longer aimed at a single person but at the world, the people, and our way of life. She will stop at nothing to bring chaos and destruction to the Heian-dynasty in order to avenge the injustice done to Yoshitsune and her child.”

It was unknown to Lily, but Shizuka was one of the primary causes of the war between the Imperial Court and Shuten Doji.

“Lily, you must not believe her words, you must not step onto the Path of Yomi!”

Lily was filled with confusion. If she did not go, what other options did she have? She could not infiltrate Heian-kyo with her Saint Realms power as she would not stand a chance against an entity that could defeat Ayaka. Additionally, everyone knew that she wanted to rescue Ayaka, so any tricks or subterfuge would be useless.

The image of Ayaka’s helpless state continued to haunt Lily. Ayaka had sacrificed so much for the Imperial Court and the people, yet had ended up in such a vulnerable position. How could Lily turn a blind eye to it?

But the question remained: what could she do to save Ayaka? Charge in recklessly, alone, and accomplish nothing? That would only make matters worse. If she truly wanted to rescue Ayaka, she needed a plan, a way to ensure her safe return. And the Rashomon, the Path of Yomi, was just such a plan, albeit an extremely perilous one.

Lily understood Shizuka Gozen’s motivation for revenge, and she could empathize with her. If Lily were in Shizuka’s shoes, she would also seek revenge on the world that caused the death of her senior sister Rinne. While Shizuka’s advice could be a trap, there was still a chance it was genuine. Lily believed that Shizuka’s desire to save Tamamo was sincere, and although she might have other intentions, her primary goal was to rescue Tamamo.

Despite the fear of the Path of Yomi, Lily felt that the dark forces in Heian-kyo were even more dangerous. She believed that a slim chance of survival on the Path of Yomi was still better than no chance at all. Lily thought it would be preferable to die at the claws of ferocious demons rather than be captured by demons in human skin.

“Even if it’s just a one in a million chance, it’s still a chance! I’ll do it!” Lily declared with a flick of her long hair as the cold wind whipped her red skirt and sleeves around. Despite her slender and graceful figure, her eyes blazed with a determination that surpassed that of most men in the world1.

“Even if it’s a trap, I must go to the Path of Yomi!” Lily no longer hesitated. She lifted her gaze to the sky, focusing on the bright, round moon that loomed over the Rashomon. It felt as if the moon was beckoning to her, offering her an infinite source of power.

Knowing that midnight was approaching with the moon in that position, Lily did not hesitate and strode towards the Rashomon.

“Miss Lily!” Tokiwa cried out in worry as Lily approached the Rashomon. Lily stopped and turned back to face Tokiwa, her face illuminated by the moonlight.

“Thank you for your warning and concern, Madam Tokiwa. Lord Yoshitsune also warned me about Madam Gozen, so how could I not believe the both of you? But… I have no choice.”

Lily’s determined eyes glimmered in the darkness, as she swiftly strode towards the Rashomon. The girl in red did not look back, her resolute steps taking her deeper into the unknown.

“Miss Lily!”

Lily walked into the gate and disappeared from Nara’s abandoned capital.

……

It was not a simple matter of taking a step. It was like crossing into another realm, where the heat was scorching and her body felt heavy. The first sensation that hit Lily was the extreme heat, and she found herself in a vast cavern. In front of her lay a dark, steep passage leading downward. As she looked around, she noticed that the cave was riddled with cracks and ditches filled with bright red magma, and the air was distorted by the intense heat. It was clear that the heat emanating from the magma was the cause of the oppressive temperature in the cavern.

“This… is the Path of Yomi?”

If Lily didn’t know better, she would still think this was a path to Yomi. The opposite end of the tunnel was blocked by a solid wall of rock, and there was no sign of Rashomon or Nara-kyo. She was trapped. The scorching heat was enough to instantly incinerate an unawakened person, and the gravity felt like a hundred times heavier than the outside world. Even an ordinary stone would weigh six thousand kilos under such gravity, a hundred times more than in the outside world. This level of gravity would be unbearable for anyone below the spirit jade realm, but for Lily, it was still manageable.

“Mm?” Lily might be able to tolerate this environment, but her clothes weren’t able to. Her kimono started to burn like parchment, and holes appeared in the cloth, turning it into black ashes that scattered in the hot air.

In just a few seconds of staying in the environment, Lily’s delicate body was left with only her Celestial Maiden Garments and her ninth-grade wooden clogs. Her kimono and even her undergarments had turned to ash, leaving her lower body completely exposed. Despite no one being around, she felt a sense of shyness. However, she knew that any clothes she brought out would instantly be incinerated due to the extreme temperature.

As Lily pulled out the celestial maiden dance dress, it started getting charred and smoking within half a minute. She quickly put it away, realizing that the dresses within her mirror space were regular items that celestial maidens used and couldn’t be compared to her treasured Celestial Maiden Garments.

“What am I going to do now?” Lily muttered to herself. “I’ve never focused on defense, so I don’t have any suitable armor.”

Even though Lily was the only person here, she couldn’t walk around here wearing just a camisole and nothing below.

As Lily stood in the cave, she suddenly heard heavy footsteps approaching from the depths of the dark tunnel, accompanied by a powerful aura. She was taken aback to realize that there were two sets of footsteps headed in her direction, both emanating strong and eerie energies. While Lily could sense their power, she was used to suppressing her own aura. If she were invincible, she would have no need to do so.

It was obvious that these two demons were formidable opponents, and they appeared to be the rulers of this area. Lily could sense that they were both throned monarchs, and while they weren’t stronger than her, the fact that she had only been in this place for a few minutes and already encountered such powerful beings was alarming. It made her wonder just how dangerous the Path of Yomi truly was.

“Not good, they’re coming here.”

Lily could discern from their auras that the two approaching demons were male, and with her lower half still exposed, she couldn’t possibly fight them in this state. She realized she needed to hide and find a way to cover herself. The scorching heat of the environment caused her to sweat profusely as she quickly sought refuge behind a large rock2.

“I say, brother! Why bother patrolling a dead end like this?” said the three-meter-tall demon with gray skin and a head like a rhinoceros. He held a rough hatchet in one hand and was an ugly demon at the late-stage throned monarch realm.

“Says who? Our brothers have discovered human infiltrators in this area before, so we can’t be careless. And besides, didn’t you hear the rumors about a beautiful and seductive female samurai being spotted here before?” The second demon was even larger, standing at four meters tall with a thick mane and a ram’s head. He wore a string of animal bones around his neck and wielded a long sword. He was a throned monarch realm demon and stronger than the rhinoceros-headed demon.

“A female? You’re joking! This place is so hot, wouldn’t their clothes burn up? Ehehehe!” The rhinoceros let out obscene laughter.

Behind the rock, Lily cursed in her heart, “Those bastards, they’re spot on.”

“Patrol carefully, human infiltrators are cunning, they might be hiding behind some rocks. Search them all.”

“Yes, big brother!”

Lily shivered, “Ugh… what now?”

She couldn’t find any proper clothing to wear. Would she have to rely on her parasol to cover herself?

“Mm?” Lily sensed a slight vibration emanating from the depths of her ancient mirror. It seemed to be coming from a section that she had not accessed in a while. Curiously, she investigated and discovered that a stunning set of female armor was emitting faint sounds3…

Yuki: I don’t know about that. If you were really determined, you wouldn’t be going flitting from woman to woman and putting your senior sister Rinne’s body at risk so many times. Yuki: If it’s that hot… shouldn’t the sweat evaporate instantly? Yuki: Lucky you… for a second I thought Lily was going to have to kill these demons and skin them for clothes…