<h4>Volume 8 - Higanbana: Chapter 31 – Curse</h4>


    Even though Lily knew it would be useless, she still attempted to activate the voice transmission orb within the mountainside cracks of the abyss. There was no response.


    Within this endless abyss, she had no idea what was happening in the outside world. This ce was just too dangerous, she dared not summon any of her shikigami, they would be of no use here.


    This was the sixth day entering this abyss. With her realm, even if there was no day or night, it was easy to keep track of passing of time.


    She had experienced countless battles in these six days, twice she had escaped from the ws of big dipper archdemons and one escape was only by the skin of her teeth.


    Thankfully,st night she had discovered a hiding spot she could rest in. Only, she couldn’t hide here forever, she needed to find a path to exit this abyss!


    “Sister Ayaka… are you still alright? I need to find an exit fast!”


    However, despite her determination, there were countless demons all around and she had no idea where to start looking for an exit. She could only explore relying upon her intuition.


    Suddenly, a powerful aura appeared behind her and she could feel a scorching hot gaze stare at her back.


    Pinnacle saint realm!??


    This level was second only to the big dipper experts, Lily had never met a demon at this level before. She might be more powerful, but an enemy of this stage was not one she could take lightly.


    In this endless abyss where demons lived by the rule of the strong, where killing and devouring each other wasmonce, hiding your aura was skill all smart demons trained in if they didn’t want to die early, of course the exceptions were the gigantic groups of demons or those at the big dipper realm.


    What Lily was most afraid of was the great arch-demons at the big dipper realm, terrifying experts like Shuten Doji or Minamoto no Yoritomo. If she was discovered by such existences, there would be almost no opportunity for escape, she would definitely be hunted down and killed…


    However, big dipper experts on those levels were rare even in this abyss. Lily’s luck hadn’t been too bad and had yet to encounter one.


    Lily stopped, her back facing the pinnacle saint arch-demon.


    “Ehehehe, to think there would be such a sexy woman on the upper part of Yomi. Turn around for me, let’s see if your face is as sexy as your body.” The voice was slightly immature yet sinister and ferocious.


    Looking behind, Lily saw a small ghost standing on top of a rock. The ghost was tiny, only around 1.4 to 1.5 meters tall, his entire body was blue-gray with golden inscriptions all over and had three fierce eyes, but the face was of a child.


    “I also didn’t think that there’d be someone in this Yomi who’d speak human words.” Lily was fully on guard against this little ghost, she could feel how dangerous this little ghost was, moresoever, in this ghost’s eyes she could sense the strong lust as he looked over her body. He was different from the other demons in this abyss who only knew how to devour.


    “Hah, you think this is Yomi? This isn’t even the first floor of Yomi, at most you can consider this the surface of Yomi. Kehehehe, woman, your t?i?t?s? might be big but you’ve never experienced the real Yomi.”


    The meaning within this little ghost’s words hinted at his extraordinary origins, Lily felt her vignce rise.


    “Who are you? If you dare disrespect me again, then I won’t be polite! I don’t want to fight pointlessly, but who here isn’t used to killing?” Lily gripped her de tightly, her eyes ice cold as she stared at the ghost.


    “Kehehe, this one is Kuropi Doji. To think you can act freely here despite being human, that is amazing, I admire you woman. Be my ve and I shall spare you, be honored.” Kuropi’s words were filled with arrogance.


    “Haa? Such arrogance despite your young age? With your strength, how dare you act arrogant here? Are you not afraid of death? Or is your old man the king of Yomi?”


    “Silence you presumptuous woman! I might not be the strongest here, but none dare provoke me! Drop your weapon, strip and crawl over! Beg me to be your master and you can still keep your beautiful figure! It is better to be my toy than be eaten by those stupid monsters! Follow me and no one will dare attack you.”


    Lily stared at Kuropi Doji. He was just a growing ghost, with his strength, he could be said to be a genius amongst monsters, but there were so many big dipper monsters here and he still remained so arrogant?


    Perhaps… it would be better to use her purple lunar force to escape?


    Lily was not afraid of his strength, but with his arrogance, there must be something he was relying on.


    Her purple lunar force was very precious, it was to be used when fleeing against big dipper experts. Against this Kuropi Doji who she could match, she wasn’t willing to be so timid, also Kuropi’s constant degrades had infuriated her.


    “Kuropi Doji, if you have any brains don’t continue to anger me. You haven’t lived that long, do you want to die that much?”


    “B?i?t?c?h?! How stubborn! You women always overestimate yourself until you’re shown your ce!” Kuropi’s tyrannical aura red as a long python-like whip covered in golden inscriptions appeared in his hand.


    “Take this!”


    The long whip was like a snake, flickering from side to side as it whipped toward Lily!


    “This b?a?s?t?a?r?d?! He’s drawing too much attention, I have to finish this before other monsters get drawn here!”


    Lily’s crimson spirit power red as she charged full speed at Kuropi. With a light sway, she swayed past the iing whip, but the whip was like a living creature, twisting unreasonably in the air, it came whipping down at Lily and smashed down on her back with a loud crack, leaving a red mark.


    “Ah!” Lily almost fainted, she had never felt such heart piercing pain before. Staggering from the pain, she rolled avoiding the second iing whip blow but it twisted in midair and came shing at her again.


    Lily jumped up to avoid the sh, but the whip rolled back and wrapped around her ankle like a snake.


    <i>Boom!</i> With a yank, Kuropi pulled Lily off her feet.


    “B?i?t?c?h?! You dare resist?”


    The long whip came down on her body repeatedly like raindrops.


    Seeing that Lily couldn’t get up, Kuropi withdrew his long whip. “This woman isn’t weak, but she’s stillcking against my lower-end top grade spirit treasure, Devil Snake Tendon. She’s durable though, I’ll enjoy her in the future… I don’t want to break her now, I’ll have to lighten my hand.”


    Kuropi Doji walked up to Lily’s prone form, and smirked pervertedly as he looked over the red marks on the revealed white skin.


    “Females are too rare in Yomi, this boundary world is indeed better. I really caught a female samurai, such a beauty, all mine! I’ll y with her everyday! Kehehehe! Let me see…”


    Kuropi manipted his whip and sent it at the sash wrapped around Lily’s soft slender waist, wanting to rip it apart.


    Suddenly, Lily flipped over revealing a de glowing bright purple!


    <i>Puff!</i>


    Kuropi’s hand and whip were shed in two!


    “Ah——!!!” Kuropi let out a cry and attempted to retreat as Lily shed out again, chopping off his two legs!


    Lily could have killed him in a single blow, but she had been infuriated by his constant insults, a single blow would not calm her anger. After days of endless ughter, Lily’s personality had slowly changed, bing more withdrawn and fierce.


    She stomped down on Kuropi’s chest as she picked up the whip, “Lower-end top grade spirit treasure, no wonder this was so difficult to deal with.”


    If it wasn’t for the threat of this weapon, how could she be willing to pretend to be knocked down and whipped just to lure him in for a lethal blow.


    She had been most worried about other monsters being lured over. It would be extremely dangerous if she had been entangled with this long whip. Once she was entangled, it would be hard to break free even if she used her purple lunar force.


    “Argh!!! It hurts!!! You despicable b?i?t?c?h?! You tricked me!” Kuropi Doji had the demon god physique. His hands and legs could be regrown, but it would take time.


    This Yomi demon was one of the most gifted among their kind, but his age had not reached a century. Among the Yomi demons, this was still only a child, still easily carried away or fooled. Though he might be capable of words, he wasn’t much better than those demons who could only devour.


    “What did you say?” Lily’s de rested above his heart.


    “Kehehehe, lowly woman, you dare kill me? I’ll tell you, no one dares kill me here, anyone who does will regret it! You’ll end up a thousand times more miserable than me! Hah, a b?i?t?c?h? like…”


    Lily pressed down hard and her de pierced through Kuropi’s chest and into his heart.


    “Ah!!! Cough— ah… no, no, noooo—!!!” Kuropi started twitching as crimson light started shining out of his nose, mouth and eyes. “Impossible— you, you killed me, you will definitely regret it!!!”


    Lily could feel that her de had destroyed his throne pce and absorbed his anima.


    “You want to threaten me? Hmph…” Lily coldly snorted.


    However, at the moment Kuropi’s life was extinguished, the crimson light turned into a powerful arcane spell, and shot towards Lily’s chest with immense resentment.


    “Ah!!!” Lily’s body was wrapped up in the terrifying crimson light and she involuntarily copsed onto her knees as it overwhelmed her.


    Slowly, the crimson light vanished revealing Lily kneeling there, covered in sweat. As she looked at her chest, she saw a crimson seal marked there.


    This seal tingled with a burning sensation and flickered a few times before vanishing into her body. Lily suddenly felt a powerful curse from the ancient times!


    What scared her even more was that this curse prated every corner of her body and constantly sent out waves of aura as if beckoning the surrounding demons. It was revealing her location…


    “How, how could this be!??”


    ¹ <h4>References</h4>


    Yuki: Well… least you’re experiencing what Uesugi Rei did… being too arrogant and setting off a trap card.