Demon Sword Maiden

Volume 13 - Takamagahara: Chapter 1 - Taira no Furaku

In Takamagahara, on a floating island named Mokuri.

A majestic fortress tower, rising thousands of meters high, loomed amidst the ancient forest of colossal trees.

The lower portion of the fortress tower was supported by massive dark brown wooden pillars. Nestled among them were layers of gloomy and weathered terraces. These terraces housed various facilities, including the barracks of celestial maidens, armories, and quarters. Countless wooden contraptions were mounted upon them, some used for hoisting military equipment and heavy goods, others serving as lifts for soldiers. Piles of miscellaneous items cluttered the space between each level. Shrouded by the fortress tower and the surrounding massive trees, the area was dim and damp. Dirty water and rain dripped from the mouths of beast-shaped onigawara embedded into the tower, while moss clung thickly to the ancient beams and pillars.

From a distance, one could see scantily clad celestial maidens patrolling and standing guard at the lower levels of the tower.

At that moment, inside the dim great hall at the top of the fortress, stood a tall woman whose aura was markedly different from those around her.

She had short, deep purplish-red hair, with the ends curling slightly forward. Her fair face was partially hidden by an ivory-white eyepatch. A beauty mark adorned the corner of her dark purple lips, enhancing her allure as a mature woman. She wore a dark yet strikingly seductive robe with wide sleeves, and over it, a long feathered robe with pale violet plumage around the collar that trailed across the floor.

She stood over a meter eighty in height, and even though her dark feathered robe draped over her frame, it still faintly revealed her seductive figure. However, with her eyes hidden behind the eyepatch, one could not read her gaze.

Several celestial maidens stood by her side, among them was Riyuki, a short-haired maiden dressed in a pure white feathered robe.

“Lady Taira no Furaku, from here, Miss Yuko will escort you,” said Riyuki, gesturing toward a green-haired attendant with painted brows. Yet despite her respectful tone, her heart was uneasy.

“Hm.” The tall, short-haired woman, Taira no Furaku, gave a nod. Though she appeared to be a dignified and imposing matron, in truth, she possessed the power of an Infernal Stage Supreme God.

She was none other than the wife of the late Lord Shikikai, who was slain by Lily and Shimizu. Now, she was being sent to the prison where Bishamonten was held, to extract earth-shattering secrets using her unparalleled interrogation techniques across the Three Realms.

Taira no Furaku, however, remained perfectly calm.

Seated cross-legged upon the main seat at the back of the dim hall was a massive man with a wild broom-like black beard, clad in an oversized, garish official robe of gaudy pomp. His eyes, large as ox bells, had not once strayed from Furaku, he stared at her with a brazen gaze.

This brute possessed only average power by Takamagahara standards, barely a match for Riyuki in combat. Yet he dared fix such an audacious gaze upon a female Supreme God with no restraint, as if utterly fearless.

He was a member of the Kegaretsu clan, named Kuromon, the castellan of Mokuri Fortress, commanding countless divine soldiers and celestial maidens.

“You’re leaving already? Won’t you stay a few more days?” Kuromon drooled so much it dripped into his beard.

Yuko replied, “This is a direct order from Tennin-Mikoto. The interrogation must begin immediately. If delayed, who could bear the consequences?”

“Ugh… f-fine, then! Lady Taira no Furaku, safe travel,” Kuromon said reluctantly.

Furaku replied coolly, her tone brimming with majesty and pride, “I trust you will all remember your promise, if I succeed in extracting that woman’s secrets, Takamagahara must dispatch its strongest warriors to annihilate the Hekiraku Realm and hunt down the murderer of my husband. Vengeance must be served for the fallen Lord Shikikai.”

“Rest assured, my lady,” said Yuko. “Her Grace Tennin-Mikoto would never go back on her word.”

“Very well,” Furaku nodded, then turned and said, “Let us depart without further delay.”

Under the escort of the celestial maidens, Furaku departed for the place where Bishamonten was imprisoned. Though she was a Supreme God, as one of Yomi’s deities, how could she move freely through the realm of Takamagahara without Tennin-Mikoto’s personally assigned guards carrying Her decree?

After she left, only Riyuki and the celestial maidens who had escorted Furaku from the Hekiraku Realm remained in the dim great hall.

Riyuki knelt before Kuromon.

“What is it now? Still something else?” Kuromon asked, sounding a bit impatient.

“Lord Kuromon, under the latest decree, our unit is now under your command. I request instructions for our next assignment.”

“Oh, an assignment?” Kuromon scratched his beard lazily. “Let me think… Why don’t you all go guard the Azure Ox fodder house in the lower levels of the fortress?”

Kuromon spoke casually, though Riyuki was also quite beautiful. Even so, his mind was still preoccupied with Furaku, he couldn’t stop wondering what kind of face lay beneath her eyepatch.

“What? This…” Riyuki furrowed her brows, her expression turning sour. She was a proud celestial maiden of the Celestial Stage, her strength on par with Kuromon, yet not only had she been placed under the command of this crude and repulsive god of the Kegaretsu Clan, she was now ordered to guard a fodder storage shed? What a humiliation!

It had been Riyuki and her sisters who had risked their lives to travel repeatedly between realms to find and retrieve the master interrogator, Taira no Furaku. They were clearly the ones who deserved the greatest credit for this mission!

And yet, for some unfathomable reason, all the merit had been attributed to Kuromon, the castellan who had merely hosted Furaku for half a day! Even the prestigious task of escorting her to the prison had been handed to Yuko!

At this rate, wouldn’t Riyuki and her sisters, who had risked life and limb, gain nothing from this mission, and suffer disrespect on top of it?

That Yuko, it was said, had close ties to a powerful administrative god of Takamagahara. The more Riyuki thought about it, the more unwilling she felt. She had nearly died in the Hekiraku Realm!

The secrets Bishamonten held concerned the very stability of the Three Realms! Such a monumental feat, and it was being stolen from her so easily? And that so-called reward of Bishamonten’s divinity? It had all been nothing but a pipe dream! She had been a fool!

“What now? You’ve got something to say?” Kuromon muttered while fiddling with a rare trinket that possessed little power. He glanced at Riyuki with irritation.

“N-No… I do not…”

“Then get on with your orders.”

“Yes… Lord Kuromon.”

Riyuki could only lead her sisters away in helpless silence, heading to the lower levels of the fortress—damp, dark, and cold—to stand guard over the fodder storerooms.

Watching her leave, Kuromon sneered. “Bah, what nonsense. Finding that key interrogator to deal with Bishamonten is indeed a major achievement. Even I wouldn’t dare claim it all for myself, had to rely on favors from the higher-ups just to get a slice of the credit. And she, a mere celestial battle maiden, wants to claim such glory for herself? With that tiny mouth of hers, does she really think she can swallow it?”

“These days, trying to climb the path of advancement without backing? What a joke!” he scoffed with disdain.

Just after Furaku departed under escort of the celestial maidens… Amidst the misty, gray pinewood mountains, Lily and Rei leapt gracefully from one giant tree to another, drawing ever closer to the fortress.

“Sister Uesugi, look,” Lily whispered.

The two stood atop a massive pine branch, using the canopy for cover as they gazed ahead.

In front of them rose a towering fortress, vast and imposing. Below it stretched a maze of layered pavilions and towering columns. From afar, they could spot celestial maidens and divine soldiers patrolling the premises.

Naturally, Lily and Rei had masked their presence as they approached quietly.

In Takamagahara, even ordinary lifeforms were inherently powerful. At the moment, Lily and Rei’s presence was so faint it resembled that of small woodland creatures or forest spirits. Even if they were picked up by detection formations, it wouldn’t raise any suspicion.

“Sister Uesugi, there’s a village over there. What if we ambush the path between the village and the fortress? Once a celestial maiden passes through, we can capture her and interrogate her. How about it?” Lily proposed.

Rei nodded. “Mm.”

The two of them moved to the mountain path between the village and the fortress. The village itself was inhabited by a celestial race whose members weren’t particularly strong, most of them were at best at the Awakened or Permanence Stage. They weren’t true Amatsukami but rather the native inhabitants of Takamagahara. As for their origin, that remained unknown.

Thanks to the unique conditions of Takamagahara, even those born in such remote corners of the realm were inherently stronger than mortals of the Heian Dynasty. Still, among the countless celestial natives, only one in many could ever reach the Celestial Stage.

As for the Amatsukami, the number of gods was limited, only as many as there were divinities to fill.

Lily and Rei waited along the path for most of the day, yet not a single celestial maiden passed by. As dusk approached, anxiety began to mount. They had no idea how far along the interrogator had already gotten, and time was slipping away.

At last, in the evening, someone came from the direction of the fortress.

It was two ox carts, driven by celestial natives. The strongest among them was only a middle-aged man of Permanence Stage, there wasn’t a celestial maiden in sight. Lily and Rei couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

“These ordinary celestial folk are so weak… They’re not even as strong as those two Azure Oxen. There’s no way they’d know any secrets of Takamagahara,” Lily said, dejected.

“Then we’ll just have to sneak into the fortress tonight and capture someone ourselves,” Rei suggested.

“That’s our only option.”

The villagers and their ox carts passed right below the tree where Lily and Rei were hiding.

At that moment, the middle-aged man leading the group muttered, “Ugh! What did our village ever do to deserve this? We’re hauling cart after cart of Takama rice, and we still have to put up with those celestial maidens’ scornful faces! We don’t even have enough high-grade rice to eat ourselves, how are our children supposed to grow stronger and train properly like this?”

“Exactly! And that new administrator, that so-called Lady Riyuki, what the hell’s wrong with her? Just started cursing us out of nowhere! Do the Tengin people not count as human anymore?” a younger man complained bitterly.

“Pah! Screw that celestial maiden! She’s probably just pent-up and unsatisfied, taking it out on us! So what if she’s a celestial maiden? Still just a cheap tramp if you ask me!” the middle-aged man spat.

The carts and villagers gradually disappeared from view.

Lily, however, was deep in thought.

“Riyuki? That name sounds familiar.”

“What is it?” Rei asked.

“Ah! I remember now! Riyuki…she was the leader of those celestial maidens from the Hekiraku Realm!”

Lily’s eyes widened in realization.

“Just as Senior Sister said, anyone coming from the Hekiraku Realm to Takamagahara has to pass through this place! There’s no way it’s a coincidence. That must be the same Riyuki who brought the female interrogator into Takamagahara!”