<h4>Volume 8 - Higanbana: Chapter 36 – Fujiwara no Ayaka’s Crisis!</h4>


    Amanosaku’s boomingughter echoed through the ancient ruins of Nara as his powerful eldritch aura filled the air. “Gahahaha! I’ve finally found you, Kagami Lily! You killed my son and now I will tear you apart!” His sovereign realm aura caused the ruined capital to quake and shudder in its wake.


    Lily could see numerous evil spirits, with their ws and fangs bared, lurking within the vast eldritch cloud raised by Amanosaku.


    “……”


    Lily, who had hidden her presence out of habit, looked at the horde of evil spirits with a nk expression, but her mind was elsewhere. She paid no attention to Amanosaku and calmly walked away without a word.


    Amanosaku flexed his arm muscles, causing his ws to glow with a golden light. Ancient inscriptions appeared on his golden horn, showcasing the innate talent of his evil spirit n. Despite not requiring his full strength to defeat Lily, his hatred towards her fueled his desire to tear her apart. “Die!” he roared as he prepared to attack.


    Amanosaku’s mid-stage throned sovereign power explosively increased to thete stage throned sovereign level when he activated the golden horned evil spirit talent. His momentum became even more oppressive, and his giant ghost ws left five golden scars as he shed down at Lily with great force.


    <i>Boom!!!</i>


    The sound of Amanosaku’s attack echoed through the air, but his giant ws didn’t find their target as Lily disappeared before his eyes. “Huh?” Confused, Amanosaku looked around, searching for any sign of her. “Where did she go?” he muttered to himself, unsure of what had just happened.


    “Your Majesty, be-behind you!” As several small evil spirits looked behind Amanosaku, Lily was silently approaching him from behind, walking away as if nothing had happened.


    Amanosaku spun around, eyes widening like cowbells, “What… how? Kagami Lily, when did you…” Suddenly, his vision distorted and turned blood red, and he felt his body be dislocated and distorted. “Y-Your Majesty,” the small evil spirits whispered.


    “Wha…what…” Amanosaku stuttered. de marks appeared on his body, causing blood to flow down as his limbs and head slid in different directions. With a sickening <i>plop</i>, Amanosaku was dismembered and his body split into pieces, leaving behind a rain of blood.


    “Your Majesty!!!” the small evil spirits cried out. Lily walked away without looking back, and the trembling spirits could only mourn their great king repeatedly.


    The small evil spirits trembled and dared not move as they watched Lily depart. Her eyes shed and she snarled, “Get lost!” They begged for mercy, “Spare us!” and pleaded, “Miss Samurai, spare us!” The horde scattered, howling and crying. Lily had no interest in expending her energy on such insignificant creatures.


    Six months ago, Lily fought a fierce battle for her life against Amanojaku, and the very thought of his father Amanosaku still made her tremble. But now, fighting against Amanosaku was no longer a challenge for her.


    As Lily continued on her way, a few of the evil spirits who had been running away turned back to catch a glimpse of her retreating figure.


    “Who… what kind of celestial is that…”


    “I can’t believe His Majesty was defeated by a single sh…”


    “I didn’t even see her draw her de, did you?”


    “Impossible. They say the one who killed the young master was a human female samurai, but she must be a celestial from the heavens!”


    “Nonsense, she’s clearly an eldritch princess from Yomi. Didn’t you see her emerge from the Rashomon?”


    ……


    After leaving the Rashomon, Lily’s mind was consumed with concern for Fujiwara no Ayaka. She had intended to connect with Ayaka as soon as possible, but an unexpected evil spirit had interrupted her. Irritated, she immediately activated a domain with a range of five hundred meters. Anyone who dared to approach would be met with a warning attack that had enough strength to threaten even a permanence expert. If they persisted in getting closer, Lily would have no qualms about killing them.


    The people wandering around Nara were in a state of panic due to the sudden powerful attacks.


    “Heavens! What was that?”


    “Where did those sakura petalse from?”


    “Agh! It hurts!”


    “What, what terrifying des!”


    “What horrible pressure is this? Is a supreme existence passing by?”


    While some fled upon hearing the warning attack, others disregarded the danger and rushed to challenge Lily. However, she struck them directly and drove them away. Soon enough, there was no one within a five hundred meter radius of her.


    Lily’s heart sank as she held up the voice transmission orb and infused it with her spirit power. A distressing image began to materialize before her eyes.


    There was Ayaka, suspended in mid-air, her head bowed, and her once-beautiful face now gaunt and sorrowful. Even through the orb, Lily could sense that Ayaka was much weaker than before.


    “Sister Ayaka,” Lily whispered, her voice choked with emotion. She tightened her grip on the orb as a single tear rolled down her cheek. “I’ming for you. Just hold on a little longer…I’ll be there soon.”


    Lily watched in shock as she observed a sudden change in the thin shield behind Ayaka through the orb.


    <i>Crack, crack, crack!</i> The shield began to crack, like an eggshell, with the initial cracks leading to more and more cracks. Strange ancient arcane artes that made one feel depressed just looking at them continuously struck the shield, climbing and enveloping it, corroding it.


    The entire defensive formation trembled and shook under the onught. The starlight that connected to Ayaka increased the extraction of spirit power, attempting to counteract the corrosion.


    “No, NOOO!!” Lily eximed as more arcane artes struck the shield, and chanting could be heard in the background. The defensive formation shook violently, and the starlight holding Ayaka’s arms began to tremble. Ayaka hung there motionlessly, swaying helplessly as if her arms were about to be torn off.


    “B?a?s?t?a?r?d?s?! Stop! Stop!” Lily shouted out, even though she knew it was useless. As she watched, the sound transmission orb trembled, and the light within raged. The skies flickered, and the tremors grew more violent.


    <i>Boom!!!</i>


    The guardian formation shattered, and countless shield fragments rained down from the dark skies, reflecting the miserable state of Ayaka and the mansion. This ce was the most loyal to the Imperial Court and cared the most about the world, and now it was in ruins. The fragments dissipated into the moonlight as they fell.


    As the starlight anchoring Ayaka’s arms evaporated, she fell powerlessly to the ground. Lily didn’t know whether it was due to energy interference or a heart connection, but Ayaka fell towards the voice transmission orb.


    “Sister Ayaka!!!


    Silva: I don’t know why but thisment made meugh">¹”


    Lily wished that the voice transmission orb had the ability to transport people so that she could teleport there or bring Ayaka over, regardless of the danger. Unfortunately, it was not possible. All she could do was watch helplessly as Ayaka fell unconscious on top of the orb, turning the entire picture red.


    “Lily…” She could hear the faint voice that seemed to be emanating from Ayaka’s very soul. The image in the transmission orb was now nk, but Lily could hear the distant cheers of samurai, rejoicing as if they had aplished a great feat by invading the chief advisor’s mansion. With her head lowered and her hair obscuring her face, Lily stood amidst the darkness of the night, her body enveloped in a powerful aura of crimson spirit power.


    “Even with Sister Ayaka in such a dire state, you still dare to cheer


    ²…” Lily eximed, looking up before putting away the orb.


    Suddenly, her aura erupted uncontrobly, causing even the ancient Nara capital with its thousands of years of history to tremble and the solitary spirits to go into hiding.


    Realizing time was of the essence, Lily took off running as fast as she could. Riding her demonic hound was too slow, and summoning the big bird was also too slow. Running was her only option, and she pushed herself to her limits to get out of the vast and dark region.


    Her destination was Heian-kyo, and she had to get there as quickly as possible. However, at the gate of Nara-kyo, a group of swordmasters blocked her path.


    A samurai with a pointy mouth and monkey-like cheeks spoke up, “Big brother, I wonder who we’ll be unlucky enough to run into us.”


    The serious-looking samurai with a beard responded, “Hmph, the world is getting worse every day. We don’t want to resort to robbery, but we have to make a living, right?”


    “You’re right, big brother.”


    “We have no other choice, ehehehe.”


    The group of samurais blocking the gate nodded to themselves.


    “As they say, even bandits have a path,” the bearded samurai nodded with satisfaction as he peered down the Nara-kyo road. “Hm? Do my eyes deceive me? I think I see a red light.”


    With a deafening <i>boom</i>, a massive surge of scarlet spirit energy burst forth at the Nara-kyo gate! The samurais blocking the way, from the leader to the minions, had no time to react before they were violently thrown into the air, knocked unconscious by the overwhelming force. They plummeted down, hitting the road, walls, and rooftops one after another.


    Within the Sinless domain, there was a zing red light streaking across the streets at an unbelievable speed


    ³, causing those who witnessed it to question their own eyes.


    “Sister Ayaka!”


    As she traversed through forests, mountains, rivers, and valleys, she relentlessly headed towards Heian-kyo, with every stride resonating like thunder. She ran as fast as she could, pushing her body to its maximum sustainable speed. In front of hery a gushing river


    ⁴.


    Her mind and body worked in perfect harmony as she took a leap of faith. With a loud <i>ssh</i>, shended on the back of arge koi that appeared in the river


    ⁵. She anxiously gazed towards the other side of the river, as the koi started to swim. She then quickly retrieved the voice transmission orb to take another look.


    ……


    At this moment, far away from Nara in the Chief Advisor’s Mansion, an army of ck-armored soldiers could be seen swarming in. <h4>References</h4>


    Yuki: Shut up Lily, instead of crying pointlessly make your preparations and depart already.


    Silva: I don’t know why but thisment made meugh


    Yuki: Why not, they are vanquishing a great enemy of theirs.


    Silva: What is it? Is it the Streak? Is it the sh? No! It’s Lily!


    Silva: Yes yes yes, run Lily run! Surpass your limit and run over the water.


    Silva: Ceh… she didn’t run across the water. Fake sh!