Book 7: Chapter 41: Kotoban

Book 7: Chapter 41: Kotoban

Standing on a tree branch with her Sakura Parasol out, Lily looked at the powerful ugly hunchback monster walking towards her.

This monster excluded the power aura of a late-stage throned sovereign.

Immediately spreading her domain out, Lily confirmed that there were no other powerful arch-demons nearby. If last night’s Kamaki was nearby, she would have chosen to escape.

“Late-stage throned sovereign, if I use my purple lunar force I will be a little bit more powerful than him. Although this will exhaust my reserves, this is a rare chance to face a powerful throned sovereign opponent with a certain degree of confidence!”

Lily had decided to battle.

“Ehehehehe, so you are Kagami Lily. I didn’t think you had a method to fly, how remarkable, I had thought only an invincible arch-demon like Lord Shuten could use treasures to fly, but you’re quite surprising. If I capture you, then all your treasures shall become mine.” Kotobon mused as he walked towards Lily as another poisonous javelin appeared in his hand.

Lily’s gaze turned cold and stern, yet there was a sense of beauty in that sternness. Calmly unsheathing Yasutsuna, she held the tachi up as crimson sword inscriptions highlighted the blade, “Those words, I’ve heard them many times. However, all those who have foolishly said so have become resentful spirits underneath my blade.”

“Arrogant woman!” Kotoban’s arm lifted the javelin and bulged with muscles, before the arm blurred into a phantom.

Whoosh—!

The javelin instantly appeared in front of Lily with enough power to pierce a mountain.

The javelin was much faster than Kotoban’s speed.

Lily instantly reacted, crouching down on one knee and tilting the Sakura Parasol in her hand so the javelin would hit the canopy of the parasol at an angle.

Bang! The javelin hit the rotating parasol and was deflected off into the distance.

“What!?” Kotoban couldn’t believe it, an oilskin parasol could deflect his javelin? That must be an extraordinary treasure!

Kotoban might operate under Shuten Doji’s command, but he was not absolutely loyal. If there was a true treasure, then he would not hesitate to kill Lily and take the treasure. Afterall, who would be willing to work under Shuten if they weren’t much weaker than him.

“Kagami Lily, you sure are full of treasures! Including yourself as a beauty!”

Crack! A pair of strange long hooks that burned the eyes appeared in Kotoban’s hands. Kotoban stood hunched, but his legs were extremely thick and long, he launched off the ground!

Swoosh—! He blurred and charged at Lily.

Lily sidestepped, dodging past a terrifying claw.

Boom! The claw struck down on the tree branch Lily was standing on, that thousand year old ancient tree branch was easily sliced off, the remaining branch was charred black emitted pungent smoke.

After dodging, Lily retaliated in midair. A white moonlike bladelight with a crimson aftertail flew towards Kotoban and struck the twin hooks he brought up to guard with.

Boom!!!

The spirit energy shockwave raged like a storm and shook Kotoban, forcing him to the ground.

“Little girl, your slashing power isn’t bad! But that’s all there is to it!”

Lily also landed on the floor, putting the sakura parasol on her back and switched her blade to a two handed grip.

Kotoban initiated the attack again, once again blurring towards Lily, but this time attacking with both hooks.

A purple light flashed through Lily’s eyes, Bzzt—! Yasutsuna dimly glowed a purple, as a bright and beautiful blade beam came crashing down on Kotoban.

Shing!!

The blade beam contained the power of the purple moon, a power superior to that of a late-stage throned sovereign. It broke through Kotoban’s guard and cut down on his shoulder.

Slash—!

A terrifying wound was cut into Kotoban’s shoulder.

“Ah!!!” Kotoban quickly retreated before looking at Lily, her eyes sparking with purple light.

“This, what power is this!?”

Without responding, Lily continued to attack, a field full of fluttering sakura blossoms behind her and the faint purple inscriptions glowing blade would make anyone who saw them shiver.

Kotoban had never seen such a strange power, the fear and uncertainty filled his heart. He dared not meet Lily’s blade head on, so he evaded and waited till her blade had slashed down before counter attacking with both hooks.

But Lily’s slash was but a feint, a quick flip of the wrist and her downward slash became an upswing. Clang—!!! The powerful collision ripped a hook out of Kotoban’s hand before Lily followed through, twisting her waist and kicking out with a foot and ninth-grade wood sandal.

That foot was connected to a straight and slender leg and both were covered in a hazy purple lunar glow.

Boom!

The heavy kick struck and Kotoban was sent flying. His heavy body collided and broke through several ancient trees before slamming heavily into the cliff.

Lily chased his flying body, but before she could reach him, Kotoban had already crawled up from the rubble and saw the sky full of attacking cherry blossom blades.

He hastily resisted with his hook but countless sakura blossom blades still crashed into him. His powerful defense as a throned sovereign resisted the blades and only left faint scratches on his tough body.

After the barrage of blades was over, he looked up only to find the skies empty.

Lily was already behind him, Yasutsuna held up high in striking position.

“What!??”

Although Kotoban’s spirit probe had been active, the massive number of sakura blossom blades had disturbed the detection and he sensed Lily too late.

As a purple lunar blade light came slicing down, Kotoban flung himself to the side in a desperate dodge.

Crash—!!! The purple lunar blade light slashed deep into Kotoban’s back and almost cut apart his spine!

Kotoban’s body was sent forward like a ragdoll.

Kotoban had originally wanted to capture Lily, but he had never imagined that she would be stronger than him. He pulled out a green demon head, this was the treasure he was most proud of, the demon head expanded and flew towards Lily, mouth gaping open and large enough to swallow a warhorse. The mouth spewed out large amounts of terrifying green venom, the earth it passed corroded into a dark green viscous paste.

Lily flipped open her famous Sakura Parasol.

This Sakura Parasol had been able to defend against a single heavenly punishment in the past, but after being restored, the parasol was stronger and more sturdy, this mere venom was nothing.

The venom was all splashed off, burning a large fan shaped pit into the ground.

“What!??” Kotoban was stunned. “That, that parasol can defend against my spirit artifact?”

Lily wasn’t going to waste words, she had already dashed in close, Yasutsuna slashed out like a falling star, beautiful purple blade light, thin as a cicada’s wings came crashing down onto Kotoban.

Lily was too fast, with no time to dodge, Kotoban could only raise a single hook to defend.

Clang! Yasutsuna crashed through the hook and slashed Kotoban from head to chest.

“Aghh!!!” Kotoban screamed out as blood gushed out like a fountain.

His ribs had been cut apart and his beating heart could be seen!

He quickly rolled back while circulating eldritch energy to heal his grievous wounds. “What!?” He was frightened to find out that Lily’s Yasutsuna had some anti-eldritch effect, making healing these wounds much more difficult. “How can this be!”

The wound in his chest kept on sending him sensations of destruction as his strength kept draining and his self recovery was like a drop in the bucket. Kotoban felt death closing in.

He turned and started to flee while shouting, “Kamaki, save me! Kamaki! Save me!”

He knew that Kamaki should be attacking the forward units. Where that was, he didn’t know, but he knew it was closeby.

Kamaki?

Lily was startled, this wasn’t good. She thought back to last night when Kamaki showed up. Even teaming up with Amami Manya had only allowed them to barely tie with that monster. She knew that even using purple lunar force against Kamaki might not make her a match against him.

She had already consumed so much purple lunar force, if she wasn’t able to kill Kotoban now, then all that purple lunar force would have been spent in vain. A hazy purple aura coated her as she sped forward, chasing after Kotoban.

A javelin appeared in Kotoban’s hand and he threw it at her, but she swayed to the side and easily dodged the desperate blow.

“Kamaki!!! Lord Ibaraki! Save me!” Kotoban howled as he desperately fled.

“Ibaraki?” Lily was taken aback again, she had fought that guy before, he shouldn’t be capable of fighting her now, why did Kotoban call him for rescue? Could it be that Ibaraki Doji was now stronger than her?

Despite consuming so much purple lunar force, Lily accelerated again and closed in on Kotoban.

Boom! Several hundred miles away, a tyrannical aura burst out.

“No! That’s Kamaki’s aura!” Although she couldn’t see him, she could tell that Kamaki was rapidly closing in.

“What to do? If these two arch-demons team up, then it could be life threatening? Should I give up?” But she had already consumed half of her purple lunar force reserves. Gritting her teeth, Lily directly threw her Sakura Parasol out and struck Kotoban’s leg.

Bang! With one leg hit, Kotoban was knocked over and she caught up in an instant, as Kotoban raised his head, Lily chopped down!

Chop—!

Kotoban’s ugly head separated from the rest of his body.

Stomping down on Kotoban’s rolling body, she rotated her blade and stabbed deep into his chest, piercing his spirit jade.

The inscriptions on Yasutsuna lit up, glowing as it connected with the anima of a late-stage throned sovereign arch-demon. Even though the body was dead, the anima still resisted, but in the end was absorbed by Yasutsuna. The powerful anima made Yasutsuna’s inscriptions light up in dazzling light as the blade trembled as if this powerful energy would create a backlash at any time. Tightly gripping the handle of Yasutsuna, Lily completely absorbed the anima into the blade.

Afterwards, her domain swept through Kotoban’s body and grabbed onto a tattered looking leather bag and stuffed it into her storage jade alongside Kotoban’s poisonous hook. The other hook, she had no time to care about.

Boom! She could see a powerful figure rush through the forests, a large sickle held in one hand. It was Kamaki.

Kamaki spotted Lily standing over the headless corpse of Kotoban and was infuriated. The demonic power started to gush out as he rushed towards her.

Lily’s eyes flashed as she mentally returned the Sakura Parasol to her back, she turned around and activated more purple lunar force and sped away, her speed peaking instantly.

Whoosh! She had turned into a streak of purple light, instantly disappearing within the misty mountains and forests.