Demon Sword Maiden-Novel

Volume 8 - Higanbana: Chapter 34 – Lycoris Radiata

Lily was bombarded with a barrage of attacks, including axe chops, staff hits, claw slashes, fang bites, and arcane blasts. She rolled frantically to avoid being hit by any of them.

Bang! Lily gasped for air as a saint realm demon monk slammed a heavy long staff against her, causing her to cough up blood. The Tsukuyomi swordstyle was not as effective in defense as it was in offense. With attacks from demons at the saint realm level, even a single strike could prove to be fatal.

“B?a?s?t?a?r?d?!” Lily’s eyes flashed as she spun on the spot, Yasutsuna and Crescent Moon in each hand flaring with purple energy, turning into a purple whirlwind! With a loud whoosh, she charged at the demons, delivering deadly chops and slashes with her swords. The sound of metal cutting through flesh and bone filled the air, and several demons were sliced into pieces. Blood spattered onto the black rocks, emitting the stench of smoke. The area within a radius of ten meters around Lily became a death zone. However, beyond ten meters, multiple giant eyes, horns, or claws started glowing blue and surrounding her.

Surrounded by eerie clouds and malevolent spirits, Lily gasped for breath as she regained her footing. The helicopter spin she had just executed made her feel as though the crimson sky and ghostly entities were swirling around her.

“Stay away!” Lily swung her long sword, releasing a beautiful blade beam with a sharp swish. Suddenly, something powerful charged towards her. It was the big dipper lizard arch-demon! With lightning reflexes, Lily jumped up to avoid the deadly pounce, but the lizard wasn’t done yet. It quickly followed up with a whip strike from its spiky tail, which was too fast for her to dodge. In a split second decision, Lily activated her purple lunar force and countered the attack with both swords.

A deafening crash echoed as Lily was sent flying like a meteor.

“Ack…” She coughed up bitter blood, feeling a searing pain in her chest. From behind her, she sensed a powerful punch shockwave approaching.

“No!!” Lily screamed and swiftly unfurled her Sakura Parasol as a shield.

The parasol successfully dissipated the attack, causing the shockwave to disintegrate in the vicinity. However, the remaining ten percent of the force propelled Lily backwards.

The impact was so strong that it shattered through her spirit armor’s limits. The excruciating pain coursing through her made her wonder if she had suffered a fatal injury.

Lily crashed onto the ground with a loud thud, and immediately, countless demons closed in on her, drooling and eager to devour her. She summoned her strength and unleashed another powerful blade beam, tearing apart the demons that came too close.

Struggling to her feet, Lily’s appearance was a mess. Her armor was broken, and her hair was disheveled. Sweat, tears, saliva, and blood dripped down her face uncontrollably, and every breath she took felt like her lungs were burning.

Lily’s cursed blade shone brightly as anima flew towards it. Meanwhile, countless demons prowled in the darkness, eyeing her injured form, as the two big dipper arch-demons knocked away any that came too close. Beyond them, the howls of ancient monsters could be heard, and she knew that the third, fourth, and even fifth big dipper arch-demon were on their way to kill her.

Lily let out a chilling laugh as she lowered her head, realizing the gravity of her desperate situation. “Ahaha…ahahaha…” she chuckled bitterly. “So there are not just five or six, but seven big dipper arch-demons after me.”

As she looked up, all she could see was the swarm of demons and the distant silhouettes of the ancient big dipper arch-demons.

“Hu…hu…hu…nnn…” Lily panted heavily, her reserves of purple lunar force nearly depleted. She was completely surrounded by the unending horde of demons, seriously injured, and on the verge of collapse. She couldn’t hold back her tears any longer and weakly cried out.

In this desperate situation, Lily knew that she would meet her end today. She had neither the strength to fight her way out nor the ability to face so many big dipper arch-demons. This endless battle had drained her completely.

“I’m going to die… I haven’t awakened Senior Sister Rinne, and I can’t save Sister Ayaka anymore,” Lily thought to herself, feeling overwhelmed by despair. “I don’t want to die! Wuuu…” She cried weakly, realizing that she was too exhausted and injured to escape the horde of demons surrounding her. “Even if I risk everything, I can’t break through this siege… it’s impossible.”

The one-eyed monarch realm centipede demon lunged forward with its mouth agape, ready to devour Lily who seemed to have lost all will to resist.

“Roar!” Its large tongue salivated in anticipation as it closed in on her.

But just as the demon was about to reach her, Lily unleashed a chilling blade beam that sliced the centipede’s head in half.

“I may die here, but I will fight to the death!” Lily steeled herself, her long hair fluttering in the air. “Come and get me!”

In this desperate situation, her fighting spirit reached its peak.

Kill one, earn one!

She abandoned the idea of dodging and faced the horde of demons head-on like an exhausted warrior facing an encirclement of thousands of enemies. She would use all her strength to take down as many demons as possible!

“Die!” Lily’s movements blurred into a crimson streak as she charged towards the black ocean of demons. She no longer cared about preserving her stamina or purple lunar force. She faced the horde of incoming attacks without fear, dodging only to kill another enemy. In this slaughter, there was no right or wrong, only the instinct to kill their natural enemies. The demons of Yomi and the female samurai fought with equal ferocity. The demons wanted to devour Lily, and Lily also wanted to kill the demons and absorb their animas.

Lily no longer dodged any attacks except for those that could instantly kill her. She didn’t care about conserving her energy or defending herself anymore. This was a requiem dance for her soul, and it was inevitable that it would end here, sooner or later.

She discarded her spirit armor and poured all of her spiritual energy into her attacks. She attacked with reckless abandon, cutting through the sea of black demons like a crimson streak.

She had entered a frenzy! In the abyss, the young girl held onto her final prayer and charged forward, slaughtering anything in her path.

The hundred meter long blade of a big dipper arch-demon came crashing down, but Lily blurred purple and slipped to the side, causing the demons around her to be crushed as collateral damage. The arch-demon was a grotesque creature made of distorted black mud with numerous demon faces floating within. It was wearing human armor and wielding a massive blade, and it couldn’t believe that Lily had managed to dodge its attack. In midair, Lily twisted her body and slashed down, unleashing countless crystal purple blade beams that rained down upon the demons.

Bright anima lights kept streaming towards Lily

¹, but her Purple Lunar Force was depleted. Her stamina had reached its breaking point, leaving only her sheer will and soul to propel her forward. Even though she could collapse from exhaustion at any moment, she pressed on towards the demons without any respite. Unbeknownst to her, her spirit sea was in tumult, waves and currents colliding, and the bright light shimmering with a hazy, boiling intensity.

“Kill!!” Amidst the deafening roars of the demons, the girl’s battle cry was lost. Lily’s stamina was completely depleted, and in the unending black ocean of demons, her last bit of strength faded away into nothingness. Her consciousness was enveloped by an all-consuming darkness.

Within the mirror space… senior sister Rinne’s white-clad spirit body lay motionless. Suddenly, her eyelashes quivered and a solitary tear rolled down from the corner of her eye. The tear radiated with spirit power and broke free from the constraints of time and space, plummeting through the darkness until it fell into Lily’s purified spirit sea. It was just a single tremble of an eyelash and a solitary tear, but it held tremendous power.

Boom——!!!

Enormous waves surged through Lily’s ten thousand mile wide spirit sea, causing the sea to rise and charge towards the heavenly ceiling of the spirit palace. Earth shaking changes began to occur within her body.

The purple lunar permanence spirit rekindled, shining brighter than ever before, and soared high into the sky, guarding Lily’s soul in the night sky. Countless streams of purified spirit energy rose from the spirit sea and twirled in the skies like the Milky Way, converging towards the void below the purple moon.

In that void, the spirit energy gathered and slowly formed long, crystalline clear flower petals. As the streams of spirit power carried away the crimson hue from the night sky, the petals began to turn a deep shade of red. The starry skies of the spirit palace turned blue, and a crimson flower bloomed in the void below the purple moon. This crimson flower, the lycoris radiata, was Lily’s throne palace

²!

……

Amidst the black sea of demons, a deafening explosion echoed across Yomi Hirazaka. A crimson flower of spirit power bloomed, spreading a thousand meters wide and reaching the heavens

³. The aura it emitted was enough to crush everything around it, even without the slightest hint of purple lunar force.

In the heart of the flower stood a young girl, barefoot and seductive, her form unscathed and healed. She had stepped into a new realm, clad in ruined armor that revealed plenty of skin. Yet, not a single demon dared reveal any lust or hunger towards her, as a higher life form’s suppression emanated from her.

The lycoris radiata bloomed—

The demons fell to their knees, heads bowing without any hint of rebellion. The effect spread like a wave through the entire sea of demons, with even the mightiest big dipper demons collapsing in surrender.

Despite the girl’s apparent lack of strength compared to their own, the demons were unable to resist the overwhelming power emanating from her, as if bound by the very laws of the universe.

For ages, Yomi Hirazaka had been a place of endless slaughter and consumption, a realm of eternal darkness and despair. But now, a new force had emerged, capable of shattering the shackles of the abyss and bringing hope to the abyssal plane.

References

Yuki: ?? With all the anima she’s gathering, is this her opportunity to breakthrough to the throne realm?

Yuki: Yay for plot armor… and booo…. here I had thought Lily would finally learn a lesson about prioritizing and not biting something she’s incapable of handling.

Robinxen: Lily just spawning a world tree sized flower casually now?