CH 535

CHAPTER 45 – RASHOMON SPIRIT



The gloomy temple was swept by gusts of desolate wind. It was uncertain why this area located in the capital was deserted to the point where even ordinary demons seldom approached.



Lily and the woman wearing the revealing large armor, Hoshi Murasaki, pretended to be entranced by the sound of the biwa and walked towards the ruined temple together.



The temple was unusually high. Its pillars stood more than ten meters high, and the broken door seemed capable of allowing giants to enter and exit.



“Lily, if I can kill that archdemon, the biwa will belong to me. If I cannot kill it, we will perish together with the demon. Don’t blame me if anything happens. Even if you regret it now, it’s already too late.” Hoshi Murasaki said.



“Whoever can defeat the archdemon will get the biwa.” Lily redressed her stance.



“Hmph, the sky is high and the earth is deep. You will be lucky to save your life. The terror of a Throne Stage archdemon— you can’t begin to comprehend it.”



The two gradually neared the huge ruined temple and stopped conversing.



They walked up the old, weathered steps and came under the broad eaves.



Lily looked up and saw that in the dark wooden lattice frames under the eaves, there seemed to be countless indescribable things moving around. They were like thousands of snakes that hissed in endless resentment— a resentment condensed from countless aggrieved spirits.



“What kind of monster is it that breeds such resentment?” Lily’s heart palpitated.



Lily didn’t have the ability to defeat an opponent as strong as a Throne Stage archdemon. Even if she had Master Kimiko’s token, the situation was infinitely dangerous.



But this biwa…



Since it was a treasure related to the mission of the mirror girls, it must have an extraordinary significance. Lily deeply felt that she needed to obtain this biwa in order to move forward from under the curtains veiling this dark world.



The two girls came under the eaves and saw a large hole on top of the wooden lattice roof which exuded suffocating darkness and demonic aura.



The two young girls who were pulled up not long ago had completely disappeared.



Lily wasn’t deathly afraid, but she couldn’t soothe her rapidly beating heart.



“Senior Sister, this may be the road to Yomi, but Lily will continue moving forward step by step,” Lily vowed to herself.



The band of cloth slowly slid down, but Lily couldn’t see who was handling it.



She exchanged glances with Hoshi Murasaki and nodded. They then hugged each other and wrapped their waists together with the long cloth.



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After that, the two appeared to be really captivated by the sound of the biwa and waited there without resisting.



Slowly, the cloth began to pull them upward, as if a pair of invisible and powerful hands were dragging them into the black hole on the roof of the ruined temple.



When the two were hoisted high and neared the incomparably strong resentment, Lily suddenly saw that, behind the wooden lattice, there seemed to be countless bodies of broken and twisted women whose silent screams gave a feeling of desperation.



“What?!” The intense impact and pressure of the resentment caused Lily to almost suffocate and faint.



Immediately after…



There was a sudden wave of darkness.



They seemed to have passed through some kind of barrier. Lily and the other girl remained in the darkness for a few seconds before being dragged up to the middle of the roof.



“Hehehehe— another two fresh and tender beauties.”



A chaotic mix of male body odor and various feminine aromas permeated the air.



Under the dimly burning lamp, a tall, powerful, domineering, yet hunched and sickeningly ugly evil spirit was using his arms that were thicker than a large pillar and rougher than an old tree to pull the two girls into his grasp.



Those fingers were as thick as Lily’s arms and the hooked claws on their tips were like horrifying sharp knives.



A pair of big, leopard-like eyes narrowed into slits and stared hideously at Lily and Hoshi Murasaki. His large hand turned a little to get a better look at Lily.



Lily shuddered and raised her head, only to see a ghastly face that was as huge as a bathtub.



Ugly! Hideous!



Even a woman like Lily couldn’t help but tremble in fright.



This trembling was not a pretense.



Lily was really afraid of this evil spirit; afraid that he would look at her; afraid that he would spray his heavy and unpleasant breath onto her body.



“Beauty…I have stayed here for so many hours, trapping countless innocent women from good families, but I have never seen such a beautiful woman! Perhaps, it is time for my mission to be accomplished.” The evil spirit opened his bloody maw wide, revealing a mouth full of chipped fangs which carried the smell of endless bloody resentment.



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Lily could feel it— this was a bloody mouth that devoured human flesh!



The giant evil spirit dangled the two of them to one side and lightly scratched his fingernail across Lily’s back.



Lily’s red kimono was torn apart like a piece of paper, forming a big inverted triangle that stretched to the middle of her buttocks, revealing her snow-white body and the straps of the purple celestial undergarment. This treasure of Takamagahara, which Lily had previously turned into a bra-like appearance, was adjusted to fit her size perfectly and gave a small boost to her power.



Today, Lily wasn’t wearing anything underneath, which was very normal in the Heian era1. Through the ripped clothing, it was possible to see the crevice of her buttocks.



While slitting her clothes, the sharp nail also broke the cloth binding the two, causing them to fall to the ground together. They fell limply onto the floor which was full of strange water marks that had dried a long time ago.



The floor smelled foul and unpleasant.



Lily grabbed the torn clothes that were splitting behind her back with one hand and supported her body with the other. She sat on the floor and looked around, clearly appalled by what she saw.



Numerous ragged or naked girls were huddled in the dark while agonizing in pain. Some were even dead— seemingly so for a long time, while others were injured. It was uncertain what kind of tortures they had suffered, but countless dry corpses and morbid bones littered the corners. It seemed that they were all female. Lily couldn’t tell which of the girls was Miss Amako or whether she was still alive or not.



“You, what kind of demon are you? What do you intend to do by capturing us?” Lily asked firmly.



The evil spirit had been staring at Lily for a while, “So beautiful… If I had caught such a beautiful thing like you earlier, I couldn’t care less about those b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲y women. I’m afraid that only the beauty of the legendary Fujiwara no Ayaka can be compared to yours, but she is too powerful that I can’t catch her.”



The sharp nail of the evil spirit gently supported Lily’s chin.



“You, what do you want to do with me?” Lily asked nervously.



“What I want to do? Hehehe, not only your beauty, but your luck is also a sin. Other women are my playthings. I eat them as food when I get tired of them, but you are different. Big beauty, I will not hurt or scratch a single hair on your body. I want to dedicate you to My Lord, Shuten Doji! As for me, his general, Irabaki Doji, people call me Rashomon spirit!”



Lily had never seen such an ugly evil spirit. Not only was he extremely brawny, but his face was full of wrinkles. His head was a mess of sparse hair— basically bald, and his body had a lot of loose skin hanging down as if he was over a hundred years old. Yet, his muscles were well-developed and strong, giving others a sense of intimidation2.



At this time, Lily noticed that the mirror girl sisters, Kasuga and Keiko, had their clothes torn apart and were thrown aside, trembling and clinging to each other. However, judging by the time, they shouldn’t have been defiled yet. This made Lily a little relieved.



This Rashomon spirit exuded a powerful and terrifying aura that exceeded Lily’s ability to sense. It far surpassed Permanence Stage powerhouses like Sakanoue no Tamuramura! It should be as Hoshi Murasaki said— Throne Stage archdemon!



Ibaraki Doji, this powerful demon, was the strongest opponent that Lily had ever faced!



“Just one of Shuten Doji’s subordinates is so terrifying. Shuten Doji himself, one of the three peerless archdemons that occupy almost the entire Tanba Province, just how powerful and tyrannical will his power be?! Sister Uesugi…3” Even while facing this Throne Stage archdemon, Lily was more worried about Uesugi Rei, who might be in the Tanba Province at this time.



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“Rashomon spirit, why do you want to give me to Shuten Doji?”



“Hahahaha, I’m not going to lie to you. It was Shuten Doji who sent me to Heian-kyō, asking me to collect all the world’s beautiful women and bring them back to Mount Ooe for his enjoyment! And seeing you, I know that my mission should be successfully completed, hehehehe.” Ibaraki Doji looked at Lily and slobbered his saliva without any scruples.



“It is a pity, ah, if only you were a little less perfect, you could’ve become my, Ibaraki Doji’s, woman. However, in your case, I can only dedicate your virgin body intact to My Lord, Shuten Doji, otherwise, he will kill me. It’s just…although I cannot touch you, it shouldn’t hurt to see what the most perfect woman in the world looks like, right? Stand up, take off your clothes, and let this lord take a look!” Ibaraki Doji ordered.



“Hmph, Rashomon spirit, since you know you can’t touch or hurt me, why should I listen to your orders?” Lily asked back.



“Hahahahahaha! Interesting! It’s the first time a woman that I captured dared to talk to me like this. I’m not going to lie, I haven’t read many books so I can’t answer your question, even though it makes sense to me4! You are an interesting woman; I think that Lord Shuten will like you a lot. You are not only beautiful, but courageous as well!”



The Rashomon spirit stretched out his big hand towards Lily, “If you don’t listen to me, then I’ll do it myself.”



His two fingers directly hooked Lily’s skirt and lifted it easily…



Bzzzt—! Unexpectedly, the blade maiden spirit energy in Lily’s whole body instantly erupted. A crimson sword light, which contained the crystal-like power of the moon and the evil slaying power from the unsheathed Yasutsuna, exploded with unprecedented lethality against the Rashomon spirit who had brutalized countless women!



The long silver blade weaved a crimson stream of beautiful light that reminisced a flower on the other side of a rainbow, cutting through the evil of the world!



The Rashomon spirit’s thick and incomparably powerful arm was chopped off by Lily’s Yasutsuna!



“Ahhh!!!” Ibaraki Doji was greatly alarmed. He did not put a little woman in the Spirit Jade Stage in his eyes at all, thinking that she had long since gone weak due to fear. It was unthinkable that the sword on her waist, which was so sharp, also carried a power that naturally restrained an extremely evil demon like him!



ReferencesLazyButAmbitious: is that soLazyButAmbitious: maybe that’s why the call him Rashomon, meaning contradictoryRobinxen: Oh right yeah she exists.LazyButAmbitious: eh? what does reading books have to do with this?