<h4>Volume 9 - Dojigiri: Chapter 41 – The Supreme Archdemon’s Wrath</h4>


    The Kurokinsui, a halberd of dark gold, was once again firmly gripped by Shuten Doji. Despite the injury on his left hand, it posed no hindrance in wielding his weapon. Shuten Doji, though he didn’t see Lily as his equal, couldn’t overlook the potency of her cursed de.


    <i>How did her cursed de injure me so effectively? And why can’t I regenerate from its wound?</i> Shuten, filled with rage, was now extra cautious of Lily as she charged at him once more.


    He lifted Kurokinsui in defense.


    <i>ng!</i> The dark red night sky was illuminated by a brilliant disy of purple sparks, reminiscent of stars bursting into existence.


    In raw power, Shuten easily surpassed Lily.


    “Perish!” Shuten shoved Lily back, brandishing his halberd andunching it at the retreating Lily.


    With an elegant twist in mid-air, Lily enveloped herself in a shower of cherry blossoms, narrowly dodging the oing attack! Even under the suffocating pressure of Enkindling Desire Ibuki, her body’s internal domain managed to mostly buffer the impact of Kurokinsui. The long, unwieldy halberd allowed Lily to evade its extended reach.


    <i>Bang!</i> Not to be thwarted, Shutenshed out, bringing the halberd around for a devastating horizontal blow.


    “Ah!” Lily’s cry echoed as she was flung hundreds of meters across the open field outside the vige.


    <i>Her de is special indeed,</i> Shuten mused, <i>Kagami Lily’s burgeoning strength is unnerving, but she remains leagues away from being a threat. Today, she must be eliminated! Allowing her further growth will be catastrophic!</i>


    Ayaka was busy fending off Hagewashi and his demonic arts while asionally performing a rain dance to shield the Tsunaga Sisters from Enkindling Desire Ibuki’s oppressive force. Shuten momentarily ignored Ayaka, and instead, turned his full attention to Lily.


    With a mere thought, his enormous wine gourd took flight towards Lily, spewing a torrent of molten metal.


    <i>Pshhhh~</i> As the molten liquid sttered onto the earth, the extreme heat transformed the soil into a pit of bubblingva.


    Caught off-guard, Lily barely had time to recover before she was forced to evade the relentless onught.


    “Lily! Catch the bow!”


    Shimizu, from the mountainside, retrieved Ayaka’s discarded longbow andunched it in Lily’s direction.


    Swiftly changing course, Lily dodged the gushing torrents from the wine gourd and deftly caught the hurled bow mid-leap.


    <i>Fwoosh!</i> Another blistering wave threatened to engulf Lily.


    <i>Bang!</i> The sakura parasol unfurled instantaneously, serving as a shield against the molten stream. While the heat was intense, the impact force was rtively mild, enabling the parasol to effectively deflect it.


    The spinning sakura parasol moved aside, revealing Lily, bow and arrow drawn and ready to retaliate.


    Within Lily’s cache of treasures were seventh and eighth-grade evil-ying arrows.


    <i>Boom!</i>


    Empowered by Tsukuyomi Swordstyle, Lily’s arm strength was amplified beyond Ayaka’s. As she released the arrow, it transformed into three brilliant meteors!


    <i>ng! ng! Dang!</i> Shuten deftly blocked them all with the spinning Kurokinsui.


    “Take out Kagami Lily’s ally!” Hagewashimanded his familiars to attack Shimizu.


    Meanwhile, Lily had returned to the skies above the vige, an ancient scroll appearing in her hands.


    As the scroll unraveled, a horde of fearsome Yomi demons cloaked in ominous clouds emerged.


    It was the painted projection of the Yomi Army!


    These demons, in terms of both numbers and might, were a formidable force against the countless familiars.


    “What??!” Hagewashi was taken aback.


    The Yomi demons descended from their demonic cloud, quickly spreading out to sh with the army of monsters.


    To Shuten’s dismay, his world projection was ineffective against these Yomi demons- the Enkindling Desire Ibuki was, after all, their natural habitat! It was akin to a fire domain’s inability to suppress a fire spirit.


    The monsters and familiars under Hagewashi’smand struggled to stand their ground against the painted projections of the Yomi demons. Shuten’s veins pulsed visibly on his forehead, “Dealing with this woman, Kagami Lily, is an infuriating task!” A small, green toad statuette manifested in his hand.


    Despite gaining ess to half of Tamamo-no-Mae’s treasures, Shuten found the majority of them either ineffective or of limited use. He also feared the sly demon fox might have tampered not only with the storage bracelet, but with the treasures themselves. However, hecked the time to meticulously inspect them. The toad statuette was one of Shuten’s lesser spirit artifacts.


    As the toad figurine grew in size, itunched into the air and began to discharge a multitude of gray phantoms resemblingrge smanders. These phantoms held a fearsome power that overwhelmed most of the Yomi demon projections. The ensuing sh resulted in a wave of injuries and defeats among the Yomi demons!


    “Master, it’s my turn to step in!”


    Lily acquiesced.


    <i>Swoosh—</i> The dark red sky was nketed in a flurry of snow as a white-garbed maiden, her face obscured by a purple veil, materialized behind Lily.


    Standing tall at six or seven meters, Yuki-Onna was a sight to behold. Her mesmerizing beauty was amplified by her icy aura, capable of freezing the thoughts of any living being.


    That day, guilt gnawed at Yoshitsune, despite the circumstances. He had failed to reciprocate the deep affection demonstrated by this vengeful woman.


    The cial heart bestowed to Yuki-Onna by Yoshitsune was truly a miraculous creation!


    Indeed, it was the perfect treasure for Yuki-Onna to refine!


    After refining the cial heart, Yuki-Onna had ascended to the single-soul Big Dipper Stage. Although it was just one ster soul, Yuki-Onna, being a legendary demon, naturally grasped the essence of ice and snow, maximizing herprehension of these elements.


    In fact, she was the physical manifestation of ice and snow!


    Upon reaching the Big Dipper Stage, Yuki-Onna’s understanding of the essence of ice and snow had pushed her to the threshold of perception for experts at her level.


    This implied that when it came to understanding the essence of ice and snow, Yuki-Onna was superior to those adepts who had attained the sextuple-soul or septuple-soul Big Dipper Stage.


    Being born of ice and snow, she was, in some sense, an incarnation of the cial element.


    <i>Whoooosh~</i> An intense cold wind began to howl across the battlefield. Both Shuten’s and Lily’s sides were heavily impacted by the extreme cold, with Yuki-Onna being the sole exception.


    The frosty aura radiating from Yuki-Onna was an actual manifestation of the cial element birthed by the heavenly way. It indiscriminately affected all within its vicinity.


    “Yuki-Onna… focus your attacks on the enemies. Stop spreading your cold aura…” Lily advised.


    “Ah? Hahahahaha, right!” Yuki-Onna adjusted her chilly aura, confining it to her immediate surroundings. A pristine spear, made entirely of ice and snow, materialized in her hand.


    <i>Whoosh!</i> The ice spear wasunched, effortlessly piercing through two dark smander phantoms, its potent cial power utterly eradicating them.


    Yuki-Onna proceeded to hurl multiple ice spears in session, freezing numerous familiars upon contact!


    With the unexpected intervention of Yuki-Onna, the tide of the battlefield shifted drastically, causing turmoil within Shuten’s ranks.


    “Kagami Lily…” Shuten Doji clenched his halberd, his fury barely contained. <h4>References</h4>