"LET GO!"
Mei shouted and struggled, her other hand punching toward Lucian's abdomen.
"Calm the hell down!"
Lucian frowned slightly, flipping Mei's right wrist and pressing it down with unyielding, calculated force as he twisted her body half a turn in the water until she ended up with her back against him, facing the pool wall, his free left hand then snatching her other wrist and forcing both her arms to bend behind her.
Now locked in place, Mei had no leverage left.
If an outsider came in and saw their current awkward and ambiguous position, it would be impossible to explain.
However, compared to their current position in the pool, what was worse was soon to come...
*Splash!*
Following the splashing sound, Mei's last piece of modesty, the white towel that wrapped her body, finally gave way in her violent struggle as it slipped down her smooth back, spreading ripples in the hot water before sinking to the bottom.
Now, her upper body was exposed to the warm air and the man's gaze behind her, thanks to the water that only reached her waist.
In that instant, Mei's body froze like stone, while blood surged to her head and froze in place.
A chilling sensation, unlike anything she had ever felt—an overwhelming mix of humiliation and blazing rage—shot from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head!
"You... You... How can you—!"
Mei's teeth ground together with a sharp clatter, each word dripping with venom.
"PERVEEERT—!!!"
Her hoarse scream echoed through the hot spring, then her body shook violently with rage as she struggled against the reverse grip, yet the iron clamps remained immovable.
Lucian's gaze inevitably swept over the trembling, snow-white expanse of her back, causing him to pause, a flicker of something passing through the depths of his eyes as he saw skin so white, a waist so slender, and buttocks so supple and smooth.
"Calm down. It's a misunderstanding," Lucian reasoned in a calm tone, tightening his grip on Mei's wrists. "Can you hear me out first before accusing me like that?"
Unfortunately for him, his question was like pouring oil onto a blazing fire.
Mei's teeth itched with anger, while her whole body trembled as she struggled with all her might.
Misunderstanding?
Sneaking a peek at her while she bathes was a misunderstanding?
Snatching her first kiss out of nowhere was a misunderstanding?
And now, locking her in this humiliating position, removing her towel, and seeing her completely naked was a misunderstanding?
He dared to call this a misunderstanding?
Sadly, no matter how much she complained, Mei realized that she simply could not defeat this man. In both hand-to-hand combat and reflexes, she was completely outmatched, crushed under his skill.
However, this made her confused.
Someone so formidable, yet a rogue pervert?
Wouldn't he be better suited to fight the kami?
"Bastard! Let—"
*WOOO—!!!* *WOOO—!!!* *WOOO—!!!*
Just as Mei wanted to curse Lucian, it was abruptly cut off by a piercing alarm that tore through the night, which was none other than the highest-level kami invasion alert!
In that instant, the urgency and destructive aura of the alarm froze the entire city, making the air icy, while all of Mei's struggles and rage came to a sudden halt.
Her reverse-gripped hands were no longer futile.
Her body tensed like a coiled leopard.
At this moment, the shame and anger in her eyes were instantly replaced by pure, cold resolve as the responsibility of a guardian—guarding the Izumo Kingdom—took over her mind.
"It's the kami invasion! Let go of me!"
Mei shouted again with a sharp and deep voice while twisting sharply, her violet eyes flashing like lightning as they fixed on Lucian's face, her anger forcibly restrained by a sense of duty.
"I won't argue with you anymore! Just let me go!"
Seeing her defiant gaze and hearing her words, Lucian ultimately loosened his grip slightly, while a faint, almost thoughtful glimmer passed through his bottomless golden eyes.
Saying nothing, he made a slight flick of his wrist, and a supple yet irresistible force immediately flowed out. In an instant, Mei felt her hands lighten, while the restraints that had held her body vanished.
Her instinct outpacing her thoughts, Mei quickly lunged forward like a startled white fish, breaking free from Lucian's reach and causing water to splash everywhere.
No longer caring about her naked body being seen by him, Mei, her wet hair clinging to her back while droplets rolled down, scrambled to the poolside and snatched up her white kimono, a red obi, and her okobo sandals, putting them on so fast it was almost ghostlike, completely ignoring Lucian in the pool.
In just a few seconds, she was fully dressed, with her dripping black hair casually tied up.
Grasping Howl, its icy sheath in hand, she banished all distractions, leaving only her intent to slay the kami.
Mei calmly turned to Lucian, her gaze sharp as a blade.
"I'll remember this grudge! I won't let you off!"
Leaving these words behind, Mei's body became a shadow, crashing through the heavy sliding wooden doors and into the chaos of darkness that was torn apart by the alarm.
As the door rattled shut, the hot spring was left to Lucian alone, with the steam thinning and the wailing alarm echoing from outside.
Lucian stood silently, the scalding water reaching his waist, then looked down at his right hand, the same hand that had just restrained the enraged female leopard and had brushed against her warm, water-slick skin.
"Gotta admit, the current Acheron is really full of emotion... and warmer..."
Indeed, Mei was unlike the future Acheron, whose hands and heart were cold and somewhat emotionless—she was basically like a different person.
Lucian sighed, then stepped out of the pool, shaking off the water.
Now, what should he do?
Even though the beginning had given him considerable benefits, like tasting Mei's first kiss, she had already branded him a pervert. Once seen through that lens, everything he did would be interpreted by her as lecherous intent.
"If I don't stir up some action, I'm really gonna get branded a pervert forever in her mind..."
Lucian muttered helplessly, a wry smile adorning his handsome face.
He might as well go see those so-called kami, those so-called demonic beasts of Takamagahara, and see what Acheron's homeland, Izumo, was truly like.
New to the area, familiarizing himself with the environment wouldn't hurt.
Lucian quickly followed Mei's path, and soon, as he arrived at the city walls, it had become a grinding scene of flesh and blood where the thick and suffocating stench of blood mingled with rotting entrails.
Flames shot into the sky, painting the twisted gray sky red.
Shoddy wooden barricades lay in ruin, burning fiercely.
On the ground, severed limbs, broken blades, and scorched soil churned into a hellish porridge.
"Hold the line! Don't let them through! Civilians are behind us!"
A bloodied soldier captain wearing samurai armor and helmet roared, his voice splitting the night.
In the next moment, gripping his gapped blade with both hands, he cut down a leaping, skinless, hound-like kami, yet more kami poured in like a black tide through the breaches, immediately replacing the fallen hound-like kami.
Before the malevolent and far stronger kami, whose bodies were at least as massive as hills, began their slaughter, the smaller and weaker kami, whose numbers were countless beyond measure, always came first, advancing as the vanguard.
Unlike the hound-like kami, this time they were twisted and grotesque—bloated masses of flesh covered in claws, resembling human-size centipede horrors formed from countless arms that hissed, squirmed, and writhed as they charged relentlessly toward the walls.
Wagatsuma's wooden barricades and stone walls began to waver and falter, constantly torn open by new and ever-spreading breaches, while desperate screams and the sound of cracking bones never ceased, echoing without end.
"Captain! Left! Our left wall has collapsed!"
A young soldier, his arm shredded to the bone by claws, cried out in despair, causing the captain to look toward the left side with mounting distress.
Just as the young soldier had said, the left wall had collapsed, overrun by several giant, lizard-like kami covered in slimy black scales.
One of them, the size of a small hill, ignored the heat and fire unleashed by the people beneath it, stomping relentlessly toward the city behind the wall, a shelter crowded with the elderly, the women, and children.
In just a few seconds, it reached the mass of civilians, its enormous shadow looming over their terrified faces!
"STOOOP—!!!"
Seeing the scene before him, the captain roared in despair, his eyes bulging.
He tried to charge forward but was entangled by three centipede-like kami, forced to watch helplessly as the giant lizard-like kami raised its massive arm of writhing tendrils, brimming with destructive force, preparing to smash the terrified civilians!
Time stretched, as if slowed into a cinematic moment, as the shelter where the people gathered erupted in heart-wrenching screams.
As the arm was about to fall...
*BOOM!*
A blinding, violent purple lightning tore through the chaotic battlefield and bloodied air without warning!
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[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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