Female Swordsman Training Dojo

"...So, I think the biggest problem next is preventing these knights from killing everyone, especially the wall monster that Blue and Red want to rescue."

"I seriously doubt I've been watching a fake 'King Arthurian legend.' Let me tell you, we're in new trouble—by the way, don't get close to them, just shout."

"Of course, teachers' college~"

Tachibana Seiko chuckled softly, then drew her new, jet-black sword from her waist and slashed it into the air. The Crimson Dragon Queen, who was in her most sensitive state, immediately turned and glared at him, her heavy dragon aura causing the air to change color. However, Tachibana Seiko showed no reaction, and even continued to laugh.

"Your Majesty King Arthur, my husband says he has made a new discovery, a crisis that could involve the entire city and even the nation. Would you be interested in learning more about it?"

Fluent English caught the attention of the Red Dragon Queen. She pulled her sword from the alchemists' android, the Primal Man, and nodded to the Tachibana Saint: "Wait a moment, madam."

A crimson stream of light surged forth, engulfing the opera house and tearing open the heavily reinforced secret doors. The battlefield fell silent in an instant; all the alchemists and their allies stood frozen in place, as if their souls had been stolen.

"For King Arthur!!!"

The Knights of the Round Table swore an oath three times and launched another swift charge.

The alchemists, who were already in a losing streak, were suddenly routed and rushed frantically toward the secret door that King Arthur had torn open. Their minds were filled with fear and they had no ability to think. They only knew to instinctively crawl toward the safest place.

The battle was over. Sun Knight Gawain dragged the alchemist brothers out, looking like he was dragging two dead dogs. They were completely unrecognizable as the kind of guys who had been killed by Harunobu with a single strike.

As Tachibana Seiko watched this comical scene and listened to Hiraharu Nobu's self-praise echoing in her mind, she smiled.

The Red Dragon Queen planted her longsword in the ground, looked at the Orange Saintess, and frowned slightly at her inexplicable smile: "Where should we meet up?"

Chapter 422: The Shrine Maiden's Achievements

The shrine maiden's hut had changed drastically since Harunobu's visit. The once ordinary tatami room was now filled with all sorts of swords, and not only the floor, but also the four walls and ceiling had not escaped the ravages of time. Countless swords were crammed together, making it look like a blacksmith's warehouse.

However, anyone who could sense the eerie power emanating from those swords would likely have no interest in the blacksmith's shop. And if Harunobu were here, he would be even more astonished, because the swords were designed exactly like the asauchi he had given the shrine maiden!

"Tsk tsk tsk, you're really fast, Asuka; are you in such a hurry to change?"

Chapter 451

"Go back to the way it was before?" Izanami hovered in the only remaining free space in the room, in the form of black mist, in front of the priestess herself, and said in a mocking tone.

The shrine maiden, who was engrossed in her work at the table, suddenly tilted her hand, causing the newly formed sword, which had been gradually solidifying, to crumble. She took a breath and looked up at the black mist: "Izanami, if you're bored, go find Harunobu and be his bitch. Don't bother me."

“I wish I could, but he cherishes his little fox more~” Izanami swayed and said casually, “Even my hard work in gathering information for him only earned me one night of pleasure. Men really are heartless.”

Upon hearing Izanami's words, the priestess, who had already lowered her head, suddenly stared at Izanami and asked coldly, "What have you done?"

"Heh, you're getting impatient already?"

"Wasn't someone quite comfortable letting Taira no Shin act freely, and even stopped paying attention to his safety later? Why the rush now?"

"Oh dear, it's getting late, I have to go back to work, otherwise my darling won't be able to go to the bottom of the sea~"

Izanami's voice gradually faded, as if she were slowly disappearing. The dark wisps of mist that had condensed together began to drift away with the wind, returning to their natural state—before being completely wrapped up by dozens of ribbons.

The Beginning of Understanding: Thousands of Skillful Hands!

The asauchi that Harunobu had given her, which was originally lying on the shrine maiden's lap, transformed into countless ribbons that wandered around her, firmly binding the black mist that should have been intangible, and reshaping it into a black ball, even bringing Izanami's features to life.

"Wow, that's amazing... My darling is such a spendthrift, giving away such nice things so casually."

Although Izanami hadn't really intended to escape, she was now genuinely impressed. A priestess shouldn't have been able to stop her from leaving, let alone capture her, but now she could do it so easily. Coupled with her previous display of power—killing Susanoo in Osaka from afar—she was clearly far stronger than before!

—In terms of combat strength.

All of this was because of the knife that Harunobu gave her. So why didn't Harunobu give her one?

"You bitch, what did you do to Harunobu?" The shrine maiden casually pulled a sword from the sea of ​​knives beside her and aimed it at Izanami, who was wrapped in ribbons.

"That's really harsh, but it's not wrong~ After all, Harunobu likes to curse me like that when he's doing it. Hmm, I'm getting into it, I'm going to go find Harunobu to handle it—hiss, you, are you serious?"

The priestess released the sword that had pierced Izanami through, and drew a new one: "I don't have time to play tricks on you, just tell me."

"Alright, alright, it's true what they say, a tiger fallen into the plains is bullied by dogs..." Izanami muttered, honestly recounting some of the things she had done recently. These included providing Harunobu with intelligence to speed up his search for clues about the Tongxin Society; proactively offering her corrupting power to help Harunobu break free of the Tongxin Society's control spells on its executives; and most importantly, something she hadn't yet officially done: helping Harunobu enter the ocean depths to resolve the issue of the Human God Factory.

Every single thing she did was a great help in relieving Qingxin's worries and difficulties, and in offering advice and solutions! At this age, it's not easy to find a virtuous wife and loving mother like her who is capable, beautiful, and kind.

However, the priestess didn't think so, and without hesitation, she pierced Izanami again with her sword: "You want to use Harunobu to help you break the seal?"

The priestess astutely analyzed Izanami's motives. She never believed that Izanami had been subdued by Harunobu or had fallen in love with him. Moreover, unlike Harunobu's family, the priestess possessed a deep understanding of the various secrets among the gods, if not an encyclopedic knowledge. Combining these two perspectives, she naturally deduced the truth behind Izanami's unusual activity.

That means Izanami's seal hasn't been completely broken yet, and she's looking for help.

This makes perfect sense, as the Tongxin Society isn't stupid; they'd certainly be wary when dealing with the infamous Mother of the Underworld. The best and most convenient method, of course, is to not completely destroy Izanami's seal, thus maintaining a balance of power and ensuring the continuation of the trade.

Izanami dropped the pretense and scoffed, "You talk as if you weren't using Taira no Harunobu? Look at this mountain of swords and sea of ​​knives in your room, and those boxes you hid. How come you didn't swindle these from Taira no Harunobu? At least I gave him my services, and you exchanged so few spells and artifacts for them. You're even more shameless than me!"

Unmoved by Izanami's mockery, the priestess retaliated with another thrust of her sword. Amidst Izanami's painful groan, she spoke softly, "I have never intentionally put Harunobu in danger. But you, did you think I forgot your seal?"

"Osaka also has a large entrance to the underworld, right? That's why the Tongxin Society can mass-produce living gods, because of the help of those wandering ghosts under your command."

"But now it seems that once those guys leave the Underworld, they can't wait to kill you, their master; so you can only try to find outside help to completely remove the seal of 'Dao Fan' so that you can leave the Underworld and regain control of your good dogs?"

The priestess wasn't bluffing; she wasn't younger than Izanami, and she was present when Izanami was sealed away—well, she did it too—to be precise, almost all the gods were involved.

Led by Izanagi and assisted by many gods, the "Reversal Ritual" created a divine stone called the Thousand-Headed Stone, which sealed off many entrances to the Underworld, leaving only some ant-like holes that could not be completely eliminated; however, those ant holes could not accommodate the entry and exit of Izanami's true form at all, and at most, they could only release some black mist containing simple consciousness, just as they are now.

Even so, it is evident how powerful the Mother of the Underworld is—a priestess needs the power of her Zanpakuto to project her power thousands of miles away, but for Izanami, doing so is not as easy as eating and drinking, but it is only about the same level of exertion as a night run.

However, this is only true in certain aspects; it is still inferior to the specialization of Zanpakuto, but that's a story for another time.

The problem now is that the priestess was right; Izanami has indeed developed a rift with the Doshinkai. The main issue is that the Doshinkai is no longer actively helping her escape, especially after she demonstrated her ability to interfere with the outside world again during the Ueno explosion. She clearly sensed Orochi's apprehension.

So the priestess was right, except for the matter of the living gods. Izanami knew better than anyone the true nature of those ingrates; once they left home, they were all masters of betrayal, without exception. That's why she never agreed to help the living gods' plan in the first place.

"Then where did all these living gods come from? Surely the Tongxin Society couldn't have collected all the gods who created their own divine realms, could it?"

The priestess spoke sarcastically until Izanami separated two streams of black mist, condensed them into hands, and clasped them together in front of her: "I will not become a Buddha until hell is empty."

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Chapter 423: Confession

On the shore of Osaka Bay, Harunobu's family and the Knights of the Round Table reunited. An angry Hattori Ichizo pointed to the water in the distance and emphasized again, "The Tongxin Society's underwater factory is located in this area, but it is concealed by magic and disguised externally, so it cannot be seen from the outside."

Harunobu nodded and looked at Yakumo Kurenai and Shiranui Ran. The two fox ladies pushed their captives forward, placing them alongside the alchemist brothers who had been pushed over by the Sun Knight.

The sly demon struggled for a moment, then raised his head: "Don't waste your energy, Hiraharu; although I don't want to die, we're all under a curse, and we can't even speak out."

The painting demon beside him had a mournful face; its once pretty face had turned deathly pale, clearly indicating that it was also terrified, but it still didn't say a word.

clear

Chapter 452

Shin was somewhat nostalgic for Izanami's corrupting power, but he had already used it all on Hattori Ichizo, and he had no way to actively contact Izanami.

Harunobu then looked at the alchemist brothers. The two alchemists, whose bodies had been freed from all the magic, were kneeling on the ground, their fiery red hair sticking messily to their skin, looking extremely disheveled. Their almost identical appearance was somewhat surprising, but their completely different expressions made it easy to distinguish their identities.

“Don’t count on us, warriors,” the elder of the alchemists said. “We’re also under a curse, which is the basis for our cooperation; but I can tell you that our part is already finished, including filling the Philosopher’s Stone.”

"You will all die, fools! The gods of mortals are about to return! You will all die!" The younger alchemist, the one with a terrified expression, suddenly shouted, and then received a blow from the Sun Knight's iron fist.

"So, the Philosopher's Stone is the energy source for those Gundams? I thought it was a GN Drive," Harunobu said casually, but as expected, no one understood his joke, so he had to honestly correct himself, "Aren't these living gods the bodies of gods? Can't gods maintain their own movements?"

“Then we’ll have to ask them,” the alchemist brother said, looking at the slippery ghost and the painting demon.

Harunobu's gaze swept past Nurarihyon and landed on the painting demon: "Hana-no-Maki, is that right? Why does the Tongxin Society collect so much blood?"

The painting demon gave a pitiful smile: "I really can't say."

Harunobu stroked his chin and asked in a different phrasing: "Was what that alchemist said true?"

"..." The painting demon stared at the ground with a troubled expression, clearly indicating that this was a topic that couldn't be discussed. It was probably true then, since if it were false, there would be no need to restrict it.

Yakumo Kurenai added strong evidence: "Blood sacrifice is what evil gods love most, especially the blood of those who willingly offer themselves. This is probably the bargaining chip that the Tongxin Society uses to win over the gods. Moreover, the Tongxin Society certainly wouldn't want the living god they created with so many resources to become the private property of some god. Even if they didn't need energy to maintain their operation, they would deliberately create one."

Shiranui Ran glanced at the little fox: "Stop talking so much nonsense. Whether it's a human god or a real 'god,' it's not like the gods in the legends. They need to eat, okay?"

"..."

Enraged, Yakumo Kurenai attempted to elbow Shiranui Ran, but due to her height, she could only elbow Shiranui Ran's long legs.

Harunobu pulled Yakumo Kurenai away and kissed the sulking little fox, successfully calming her down: "This can be considered good news, but even with time restrictions on the event, we can't really let him run wild. Besides, we don't know how much fuel these alchemists provided, so it's better to nip it in the bud."

No one objected; this was the most reasonable approach. It would be too idiotic to just watch the enemy grow stronger and develop weapons for the final battle.

However, the problem is how to get to the seabed.

The good news is that this is a harbor, not the sea, and the maximum depth of Osaka Bay is only about 60 meters. The bad news is that even at only 60 meters, Harunobu would have a hard time maintaining his fighting ability on land after jumping into the water—just holding his breath and the lack of wind would weaken his fighting ability by 70%.

Breathing techniques are unusable, and the Wind Control Sword Technique is reduced to a basic attack... "How about we call in the navy to bombard them?"

As a major commercial and industrial city, Osaka naturally had military protection nearby. Furthermore, as one of the largest ports comparable to Tokyo Bay, it also housed two naval warships. Although submarines and depth charges didn't exist at that time, naval guns should have been able to penetrate 60 meters underwater without issue, right?

Just as Harunobu was considering how to persuade the garrison in Osaka to obey, Yakumo Kurenai suddenly poked his waist. The unfamiliar yet strangely familiar force and technique startled Harunobu, who then looked at Yakumo Kurenai with a strange expression.

Izanami gave Harunobu a flirtatious wink, then cupped her right hand in front of her mouth and moved it back and forth—that's when she recognized him.

But why bother with all this disguise? To avoid the Nurarihyon and the Painting Demon? That's unnecessary, those two are definitely going to be killed... Or is it to avoid the Knights of the Round Table?

Harunobu took Yakumo Kurenai's small hand and spoke to the Red Dragon Queen, who had been quietly admiring the sea view: "King Arthur, as agreed, these two alchemists are yours now. Thank you for your help."

The Red Dragon Queen glanced at Yakumo Kurenai, then waved her hand, and the Sun Knight dragged the two alchemists back.

“We will be staying in this city for a while longer. If you need help, you know how to find me.”

The Red Dragon Queen spoke calmly, exuding an aura of confident dominance. Harunobu felt as if she was expecting him to say something, but he couldn't really say anything—he couldn't exactly ask King Arthur to burn Osaka Bay dry, could he?

Harunobu was amused by his own thoughts. However, he still had to say the polite words: "I know, if I need it, I won't hesitate to ask you for help."

King Arthur pursed his lips almost imperceptibly, then turned and left with the two prisoners and the Knights of the Round Table.

Only after their figures had completely disappeared and could no longer be sensed did Harunobu release Yakumo Kurenai's hand and pinch her cheek: "Speak."

Izanami puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction: "Seriously, at least give me a warm greeting!"

"Now is the time to get down to business. If you want to have fun, we can do it at home." Harunobu poked Izanami's puffed-up cheek. "Besides, you don't need to pretend anymore, right?"

“That’s true.” The little fox suddenly turned into a big fox, and black mist surged into Qingxin’s body and then flowed out automatically; before the Nurarihyon and the Painting Demon could react to what was happening, the filthy power had already rushed straight into their heads.

"Before dealing with the two of them, Harunobu, I need to tell you something—"

"And an apology."

Thousands of ribbons fell from the sky, accompanied by the voice of a priestess.

Izanami glared angrily at the sky: "That's enough! Why are you interfering in this? He's not your husband!"

The shrine maiden completely ignored her and instead looked at Harunobu, her meaning very clear—who do you think is more trustworthy?

Harunobu protected the enlarged red fox: "Alright, alright, tell me, what is it?"

Izanami pouted and began to confess to her crimes.

Chapter 424: Heartfelt Love

"So, you mean that you've actually been helping me find clues, giving hints, and providing power all along; and all you want is for me to help you break the seal, and you think that's wrong?"

After listening to Izanami's explanation, Harunobu raised his hand and touched her forehead: "You don't have a fever, so why are you talking nonsense?"

The priestess was displeased and poked Harunobu's head with a ribbon, reminding him, "She's been lying to you all along, and if she came out of the underworld, she wouldn't be so easy to talk to now."

Qingxin stroked the ribbon reassuringly, its smooth texture making him reluctant to let go. He stroked it a couple more times and said, "I do dislike being deceived, but what she did can't be considered deception. On the contrary, she helped me quickly accomplish what I wanted to do. Besides, she doesn't seem like the kind of cold-blooded killer. Even if she leaves the seal, it shouldn't be a problem, right? By the way, then you won't have to use Hong's body every time, will you?"

Izanami leaned against Harunobu, looking up at him. Harunobu's words stirred something within her, a strange itch rising in her lower abdomen, causing her buttocks to involuntarily tense, and her voice to become even softer and sweeter: "Yes~ Husband, are you eager to try out my true form~"

The shrine maiden in Tokyo flung the shards of her teacup aside, gritting her teeth as she cut...

Chapter 453

The girl separated Harunobu and Izanami's faces with a ribbon: "Harunobu, that guy is very petty. Once he gets out, he'll definitely seek revenge on Izanagi—"

"That's perfect timing. Izanagi is my enemy now too. Without him, how could Susanoo of the Daimu Taisha Shrine be resurrected?" Harunobu hadn't forgotten that sneak attack. Although he easily dealt with it, the fact was that Izanagi had funded his enemy.

Izanami was almost unable to stand, leaning entirely on Harunobu. She had never imagined that such a day would come, that someone would actually agree with her seeking revenge against Izanagi, or even be preparing to help her take revenge on Izanagi.

Moreover, it was under the instigation of the priestess he trusted that he stood so firmly on her side. The priestess had said that Izanami was as guilty and worried as she was now, and she was now feeling incredibly pleased and inflated.

This is what it feels like to have someone supporting and backing you up—ah, it feels so good, I can't live without it!

With hearts already welling up in her eyes, Izanami broke free of the ribbons and pressed herself tightly against Harunobu's chest. The shrine maiden wanted nothing more than to control a thousand skillful hands to tear him to shreds, but she restrained herself perfectly. Putting everything else aside, this body belonged to Yakumo Kurenai; tearing her apart would be tantamount to killing Yakumo Kurenai, and the shrine maiden simply couldn't bring herself to do such a thing.