“Hehehehehe… hehehehehe!” The Madam’s sultry laughter echoed across heaven and earth. “Thinking I would be defeated by a formation I personally created? In all Three Realms, only you would be foolish enough, as so-called Supre Gods, to believe sothing that stupid.”
“What!?” At that mont, the Eight Thunder Gods suddenly realized the truth, their hearts filled with shock and bitter regret.
“Ma— no, damn it! Izanami! You despicable woman!” Wakarai scread hoarsely. His expression twisted as he lay sprawled on the ground, pointing at her in fury. “You actually left a hidden trap when you taught us the grand formation!”1
“And you have the nerve to call others despicable?” Rakshasa-Onna shot Wakarai a cold, mocking glance.
Izanami spun gracefully, her wide sleeves billowing. She suddenly pulled Rakshasa-Onna into her arms and, without warning, pressed a kiss against the base of her ear. Rakshasa-Onna’s face instantly flushed crimson, her body going limp, utterly unable to resist.
That seductive scene, however, only deepened the agony of the seven Thunder Gods whose lower bodies had suffered catastrophic injuries. Desire burned fiercely in their hearts, yet that very heat only worsened their wounds, causing blood to spray out uncontrollably.
“Damn it… stop… st— huh?” Wakarai abruptly realized sothing was wrong. “What? Why is it that no matter how I circulate my divine power, I can’t regenerate? Even that wound… it won’t heal at all!?”
The other Thunder Gods stiffened, their faces draining of color.
“Oh?” The Madam seed to have heard him. She covered her mouth and let out a mocking laugh. “Ah, right. I forgot to tell you earlier. Wounds inflicted by the backlash of my Charm Heavenly Path’s Ninefold Secret Art… will never heal for the rest of your lives.”
“What!?” Seven of the Eight Thunder Gods convulsed in near-total despair. “Izanami, you… you’re too vicious!”
“Vicious?” Izanami took a drag from her pipe and sneered. “Then what do you call using such sinister ans against the one who personally nurtured you? Yes, this Heaven-Defying Grand Formation drained nearly all of my divine power. But did you really think I would leave myself without any safeguards? Forget you mad-dog lackeys. Even if every Supre God in Yomi with ulterior motives ca at together, I would still have ways to deal with them.”2
Her long hair whipped through the air as her sleeves fluttered. Izanami rose into the sky, while Asura-Onna and Rakshasa-Onna, faces still flushed, submitted themselves at her sides. Their relationship with Izanami could not be described that way, yet as her most trusted attendants, serving their mistress on every level was sothing the sisters had long since accepted.
Still, there was always the vague feeling that Izanami was looking at them as if they were soone else, as if they were substitutes for another. Who that might be, no one knew.
“Rather than saying I prepared a backup,” Izanami continued calmly, “it would be more accurate to say that I deliberately used this opportunity to force those in Yomi who harbored disloyal thoughts toward into the open. As for you, you thought you were scheming against , when in reality, every step you took was right in the palm of my hand. Absorbing most of the power of the Octathunder Heavenlock Formation did wonders for my condition, though. Thanks.”
“Pff!” The seven Thunder Gods spat blood in rage once again. For the female Thunder God Sairai, things were slightly better. She had rely lost a massive amount of divine power infused into the formation and suffered backlash injuries. But the other seven Thunder Gods had it far worse. Their very lifelines had been destroyed.
Like the other Yomi Overlords, the seven Thunder Gods were notoriously lustful. Now, even if they still held the title of Overlord and could seize countless beautiful female adepts of Yomi, they could never again… What aning was left in living like that?
The Eight Thunder Gods had suffered a truly miserable fate.
“Madam, these eight mad dogs dared to betray you. How can they be spared?” Asura-Onna supported the Madam by the waist and hips as she spoke. “Please kill these dogs to make an example for all of Yomi.”
The Madam rely gave a wicked smile. “Well, for one thing, my vitality is indeed severely damaged right now, and my divine power is nearly exhausted. Killing eight Supre Gods one by one would honestly be rather troubleso. And for another…” Her smile deepened. “Seven lust-crazed Thunder Gods daring to set their sights on their own mistress. Just imagining their disgrace spreading throughout Yomi, and even the Three Realms, makes their future ‘brilliant lives’ rather interesting to . Hehehe.”
The Eight Thunder Gods were so furious that blood began seeping directly through their skin.
Yet at this mont, not only were they gravely injured, their lifelines were completely ruined. They could not regenerate. They could not heal. In the future, every ti they laid eyes on beauty, their wounds would flare with agony, blood spraying endlessly.
Just thinking about such a future drained the color from the seven Thunder Gods’ faces.
“Let’s go. I really am tired,” Izanami said languidly. “When we return, you two will attend to my bath, then give a proper massage.”
“Yes, Madam.”
Izanami cast a final, wicked glance at the Eight Thunder Gods sprawled on the ground. Then, together with Asura-Onna and Rakshasa-Onna, she transford into a streak of dark golden light and departed.
“Big brother… what do we do now?” The second brother, Kairai, asked with a sobbing voice as he lay on the ground. Every word caused him excruciating pain.
Only Sairai was in relatively better condition. Watching the faces of the other seven Thunder Gods contort repeatedly, she felt pain just imagining it.
Orai could not stand either. He punched out, releasing a shockwave. Wakarai was sent flying, yet Orai himself howled in pain from exerting force.
“Damn it! This is all your fault!” Orai convulsed as he roared. “You kept saying this chance couldn’t be missed, that Izanami was drained of divine power and easy prey! Who knew we were being toyed with from beginning to end!”
Wakarai dared not retort.
“Damn it! Kagami Lily, you b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲! Cursed woman!” Wakarai smashed both fists into the ground, teeth clenched, face grotesquely twisted as he scread. “I, Wakarai, will make you pay tenfold, no, a hundredfold!”
“Fifth brother, stop it. There will be ti in the future… We’ll have our chance to turn things around,” Sairai said, unable to watch anymore. She dragged her injured body over to console him. “But it was Izanami who did this to us. Why bla Lily?”
“It’s her fault! It’s all her damn fault!!!” Wakarai howled hysterically. “She’s a calamity of the Three Realms! The root of every grudge! If not for her, none of this chain of disasters would ever have happened!”
“Kagami Lily must pay a terrible price!” The Thunder Gods shouted in unison, swearing a bitter oath.3
Strictly speaking, the devastating loss they suffered today was not entirely unrelated to Lily. Yet even they knew it was sowhat forced to place the main bla on her. But what choice did they have?
This battle made the Eight Thunder Gods realize one terrifying truth. In this lifeti, they likely no longer possessed the ability to take revenge on the Madam. They had been utterly cowed by her.
They dared not hate Izanami anymore, yet this rage had to go sowhere.
And so, naturally, it was all heaped onto Lily’s head. At the very least, they believed that if the Eight Thunder Gods acted together, once Lily fell into their hands, they would still be able to exact revenge.
For now, seven of the Eight Thunder Gods could not even rise. Judging by the situation, they would be forced to remain sprawled there for a very long ti.
***
“Mmm…” Lily, who had always been in excellent health and was far more afraid of heat than cold, suddenly felt a chill crawl up her spine for no apparent reason.
“That’s strange. Down here beneath such a vast volcano, why would I feel cold? Ah, it was just a mont, I suppose.” Lily lay prone against the window, gazing at the volcanic rock walls sliding steadily downward outside. The place was scorching hot. Black obsidian-like stone glead, bright-red magma flowed along the walls, and from ti to ti molten waves splashed up like surging iron slurry.
“What are you thinking about, Lil’ Lily?”
Lily suddenly felt sothing slender, bony, yet delicately soft pressing firmly against her upturned backside.
Of course, Lily was not deliberately striking such a pose. It was simply that Herikaku City was rising steadily within the volcano without incident, and she had leaned forward to look out the window.
“Ah— Sister Shimizu… I was just looking at the scenery inside Mount Fuji. Why did you suddenly do that…” Lily braced her hands against the wooden window fra and turned her head halfway back, a faint flush rising to her cheeks.
Shimizu’s long, narrow fingers rested on Lily’s waist. “What do you an, ‘suddenly’? You’re the one who put yourself in this position and tempted .”
“Sister Shimizu, I’m just sightseeing. There’s no one else here. Who told you to suddenly appear like this?” Lily protested coquettishly.
“Ahem!” From the dim, stifling corridor ca Ayaka’s deliberately pointed cough.
Ayaka was tall to begin with, and in such a hot environnt she was even more prone to sweating. Dressed in her white court robes, her neck was already covered in glistening beads of perspiration.
“In a place like this, you’re still sticking so close and rubbing against each other. Aren’t you hot?” Ayaka spoke irritably. The heat already had her in a foul mood. She had co out to clear her head, only to run into this scene.
“Oh my? Hot?” Shimizu replied lightly, still speaking as she deliberately stroked Lily from behind. “Then Sister Ayaka, you can simply not rub up against anyone. Shimizu isn’t nearly as afraid of heat as you are. As a proper young lady, always sweating when you’re out and about, don’t you think that’s rather unseemly?”
“Sister Shimizu!” Lily finally could not take it anymore. She straightened up and, blushing, pushed Shimizu away.
“Enough. Miss Shimizu really is that unpretentious and free-spirited. There’s no point saying more; it would never get through to her anyway.” Ayaka then turned her stern gaze on Lily. “But Lily, given your current status, you should be more mindful of your posture and behavior when you’re outside.”
Arguing with Shimizu had never been particularly aningful to begin with.
“You are right…” Lily could only admit it helplessly. Right or wrong was not the important thing. She knew that Ayaka had already been in a poor mood these past few days, and seeing this scene would naturally irritate her. As long as her sister cald down, being scolded a little was no great loss.
Of course, that did not an Lily enjoyed being reprimanded by her sister.
“We’re about to leave Mount Fuji.” From the other end of the corridor, Rei spoke calmly. Clad in blue-and-white feathered robes, she naturally emanated a faint aura of frost, so the heat did not trouble her, and her mood was relatively good.
As for Shimizu frequently taking advantage of Lily, Rei did not approve, but she did not get angry either. If she ever thought of a way to deal with it, she would simply act directly to stop it.
On that day, the highest peak of the Heian Dynasty, Mount Fuji, was shrouded in rolling smoke and clouds. The volcanic crater suddenly trembled violently, and vast quantities of magma poured downward along its rim.
Kimura, the last remaining retainer of the Kimura and Matsuda families in the mortal world, had long since pledged loyalty to Lyn-hi and served as the magistrate of Takeshita Town. Because he had never achieved any notable rits and posed no threat to any faction, his existence was utterly insignificant. Even Lily’s enemies had never thought to trouble him.
At this mont, Kimura was escorting a caravan beneath the foot of Mount Fuji. The wagons carried so wine and provisions, along with several conscripted won. His heart was heavy as he proceeded onward.
“Alas! As a chief retainer of the Sakura household and the magistrate of Takeshita Town, I… can only offer up the young girls of my own territory to those monsters!”
Kimura berated himself as he walked. “Can I even be called a samurai? But if I refuse, the entire territory will surely be slaughtered. What… what else can I do?”
He clenched his teeth, filled with self-reproach. “Lord Matsuda… Kimura truly is a useless man.”
At that mont, heaven and earth seed to quake. Kimura looked toward the source of the tremor.
In the far distance, an enormous fortress, nearly half the size of Mount Fuji itself, slowly rose up through the volcanic crater.
“Th— this… what in the world is that!?” Kimura was so frightened that he tumbled straight off his horse.
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