âAbsurd! Who do you think you are? Just a woman born to be conquered! You dare demand a fair duel from me?â the Imperial Princess shouted, surging toward Lily.
âI decide whatâs fair, not you! Arenât you a woman too?â Lily snapped.
âWe are not the same! Women like you exist to be owned by the powerful. And you dare to seek strength? Laughable!â the Imperial Princess retorted.
The Imperial Princess lunged forward, swinging Murasame-Anko at Lilyâs shoulder.
âHm?â Lily noticedâthis strike wasnât even aimed at a vital point.
âHmph⊠You donât want to kill me. You want to conquer me. Claim me. Thatâs all this is,â Lily thought coldly.
Lily moved like water, slipping past the attack and swinging her blade in retaliation. Their blades collided with a harsh clang. The force sent both fighters skidding backward.
Though a pinnacle Supreme God, the Imperial Princessâ body was only slightly more durable than most. Her true strength came from her divine energy and mastery of Dark Lunar Force. Lily, on the other hand, possessed a body alone that matched a mid-tier Supreme God.
The old wound on her waist and Shimizuâs lingering interference tipped the balance. Though her defense surpassed Lilyâs, her current strength did not. Her swordsmanship remained vastly superior, having reached the sixth and highest stage. But Shimizuâs influence broke her focus, diminishing that edge.
At this moment, even without using spirit power, Lily stood as an equal. The Imperial Princess held no clear advantage. They fought within a swirling maelstrom of dark energy. Their blades clashed, scattering arcs of light through the gloom.
Lord Umashi lost his patience and attempted to breach the storm, aiming to seize Lily. He was thrown back the moment he stepped in. The storm, formed from the Imperial Princessâ divine energy in conflict with Shimizuâs, rejected any outsiderâeven Supreme Gods.
With no way to interfere, tens of thousands of demons could only watch in awe as the two women clashed with nothing but sword and will.
Steel rang out again. This time, the Imperial Princess was the one hurled back, her reopened wound bleeding freely and sapping her strength. Little by little, Lily began to seize the momentum.
âYouâll lose, Imperial Princess!â Lily shouted. The truth was, her enemy had never truly hated her. Obsession had turned to resentment, but even then, she hadnât killed Lily when she had the chance. The drug she used was to compel surrender, not execution.
But she had meant to kill Shimizuâand that changed everything. Lilyâs rage was real, yet her path forward grew uncertain.
âShut up! Someone born to kneel doesnât get to speak with pride
1
!â The Imperial Princess, shaking with fury, launched herself forward recklessly. She pushed her body too far. Blood burst from her reopened wound, but she ignored the pain and slashed wildly at Lilyâs flank. Her judgment clouded, she forgot what had driven her into this duel to begin with.
Lily parried the sloppy strike with ease, then spun and landed a powerful kick to her opponentâs side.
âYou wretch! Howâhow can I lose to someone like you?!â the Imperial Princess shrieked, ignoring her pain as her fury reached a boiling point.
Suddenly, an unnatural glint flickered in her eyes. A chill ran through Lilyâs soul. Something was wrong. The force didnât seem to come from the Imperial Princess herself. It wasnât overwhelmingly strong, but even Shimizu couldnât suppress it. A discarded blade nearby suddenly lifted into the air and shot toward Shimizu like a spear.
âNo!â Lily summoned her Soul World at once, casting a barrier to intercept the strike.
Lilyâs intervention deflected the flying blade just enough to keep it from striking Shimizuâs vital point. It pierced her waist, severely injuring her again, but she made no sound. Clenching her teeth, she bore the pain and continued focusing on suppressing the Imperial Princessâ power.
But that brief distraction gave the Imperial Princess a slight edge in the struggle. For a moment, she regained partial control over her divine energy.
âDark Moon â Totality,â the Imperial Princess invoked.
A surge of black blade energy erupted. Lily met it head-on, straining every ounce of strength to defend. The impact threw her back, tearing her robes and forcing blood from her lips.
âHahaha! Thatâs all I need! Even a fraction of my power is enough to kill you!â She launched into the air, closing in on Lily.
Meanwhile, that strange power, the one not belonging to the Imperial Princess herself, manipulated fallen weapons and hurled them toward Shimizu. Lily was caught in an impossible choiceâprotect Shimizu and leave herself exposed, or defend herself and let Shimizu die.
âYou leave me no choice but to kill you!â Lilyâs eyes flared with crimson fury. For the first time, Lily truly felt the desire to kill.
âYouâre the one who should die. You betrayed me!â the Imperial Princess shouted. A black sphere formed at her bladeâs tipâpartially charged, but still lethal.
As that deadly strike formed, a barrage of swords surged toward Shimizu. The others tried to help, but the raging storm held them back.
Lily gathered all her Blood Lunar Force into her blade. Through battle, she had come to understand: Blood Lunar Force wasnât inferior to Hazy Lunar Forceâit was simply different.
The Blood Moon embodied fury and destruction. At its peak, it could annihilate anything destructibleâeven strip away the essence of abilities themselves. Beyond stages of mastery, its strength surged with her rage. The deeper her fury, the stronger the Blood Lunar Force became.
Lily resolved to abandon defense entirelyâshe would risk everything in a single, decisive blow.
âLily, donât harm her body.â Rinneâs voice echoed in her mind.
âWhat?â The message broke through her fury, jolting her and disrupting the flow of her Blood Lunar Force.
âDie!â The Imperial Princess unleashed her final strike.
Driven by sheer will, Shimizu ignored her injuries and the blades piercing her, pouring everything into disrupting the Princessâ attack.
âLily⊠you mustâŠâ Shimizuâs voice faded as her gaze dulled.
âWhy wonât you die already?!â the Princess shrieked, nearly losing control.
One by one, the enchanted weapons plunged into Shimizuâs body as she stood her ground.
âLily⊠I wonât let them hurt youâŠâ Even with multiple blades embedded in her, Shimizu remained firm, continuing to interfere with the Princessâ spell.
âLet me go! Just die already!â The Imperial Princess fought to regain control of her power and launch the attack.
âSister Shimizu!â Lily called out. But behind her fury, something shifted. Her eyes flickered with clarity.
How could Shimizu wield control over the Imperial Princessâ power and body? Why was the Princess so terrified of her? Why did her senior sister stop her from harming the Princess? Why hadnât she acted yet? And why did the Princess wield a power that didnât even seem to belong to her?
In that instant, the world stilled, and silence fell. Calmly, gracefully, Lily drew back all of her Blood Lunar Force, like a phantom fading into moonlight.
Lily rose into the air, unbothered by her torn clothing or exposed skin. Without glancing at the looming danger of the Imperial Princess, she turned and calmly walked toward Shimizu, her steps gliding across drifting cherry blossom petals.
She had poured all her remaining spirit power into intercepting the blades meant for Shimizu, and her effort succeeded. But in doing so, she had left herself completely defenseless.
âLily⊠what are you doing⊠Donât worry about meâŠâ
âKagami Lily! Youâre finished! If youâre determined to protect that half-dead woman, Iâll kill you without even using divine power!â
The Imperial Princess abandoned her ultimate technique and lunged at Lily in a burst of raw aggression, aiming a strike at her back. But Lily didnât resist. Her eyes softened, filled with sorrow and compassionânot for herself, but for the weight of everything that had led to this moment. She glanced over her shoulder, her mind returning to the final wish of a woman she once vowed to honor.
âHazy MoonâRebirth.â She moved her blade with graceful precision, as if drawing a breath of moonlight. A veil of lunar energy shimmered forth from her sword, faint and ethereal, like a ghost in moonlight.
âWhatâŠâ The delicate wave of energy bypassed the Princessâ weapon entirely, slipping through her defenses and piercing directly into her soul.
The Imperial Princess convulsed midair, her body locking in place.
âAhâ!â She screamed, a voice not quite her own, more piercing and distorted than usual, as if someone else cried out from within.
A dark violet specter burst from her bodyâher soul, screaming and writhing in agony as it bled energy and vanished into the shadows above. In a blink, it was gone. And for a moment, everything fell into silence.
The Imperial Princessâ body remained afloat, her head bowed as she drifted aimlessly in the air, sword in hand. On her shoulder, the demon god tattoo twisted in horror before fading into nothing, leaving behind unmarked skin.
The sisters and countless demons looked on in stunned silence, none of them fully understanding what they had just witnessed.
âSister Shimizu!â Though Lily didnât know what had truly occurred, she could feel the Princessâ body was now hollow, its threat extinguished. She rushed to Shimizuâs side and carefully removed the blades embedded in her.
But Shimizu, gravely wounded and barely clinging to life, began to glow faintly. Her body slowly lifted into the air. The swirling dark winds in the air surged toward her, converging with Shimizu at their center.
âLily! Step back!â Rinne warned.
Lily moved without hesitation, sidestepping the torrent of dark energy that could have severely injured even a Supreme God. The surge of energy wrapped around both Shimizu and the Imperial Princess, pulling their forms into a single churning vortex.
A separate current of energy broke away from the storm, flowing under Lilyâs feet before vanishing into the moon-shaped mark at her feet. That mark slowly fused with her shadow.
A surge of potent Dark Lunar Force rose through her shadow and entered her body, creeping upward from her soles.
âAhâŠâ Lily let out a soft gasp. Her body trembled slightly as the foreign energy surged through her. It felt oddly familiarâakin to the Dark Lunar Force once wielded by the Imperial Princess.
Steadying herself, Lily turned her gaze toward Shimizu. A massive, spiraling cocoon of dark energy had formed around her. Its outer winds were so fierce that even a god would be shredded upon contact.
Even the residual shockwaves stirred violent tempests that tore through the abyss.
âSister ShimizuâŠâ Lilyâs heart ached with worry, but she couldnât approach. She could only watch as the typhoon of darkness raged on.
At last, the storm began to thin. At its center, a pale young woman emerged, her body absorbing the last remnants of the storm. Only a faint trace of wind remained, just enough to shield the young womanâs modesty. Her body was flawless, unmarred by wounds, and exuded an aura worthy of a Supreme God.
She looked exactly like both Shimizu and the Imperial Princess. But now, only one remained.
Footnotes:
Robinxen: I seriously want to know what this lady is on!
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