The Land of Demons had always been a peaceful country. Thanks to the previous priestess, Miroku, the major nations had tacitly acknowledged the Land of Demons' special status, allowing its people to live relatively stable lives.
Thus, while the citizens feared the priestess Shion, they were also grateful to her, respecting and loving her. Shion's prophecies of death only made people fear her more and more.
Yet they also prayed for Priestess Shion's safety. It was a contradiction.
The guards who had served as priestess protectors for generations held no such conflicting thoughts. To them, offering their lives for the priestess was only natural. The priestess's existence was the entire meaning of their lives!
At this moment, however, this peaceful country had lost its former tranquility. Flames and black smoke filled the sky. The palace where the priestess resided was strewn with corpses, blood soaking the ground and walls throughout the entire palace.
"Stop them! Even if only one of us remains, we must stop them!"
Of the several hundred guards, only a few dozen remained after the slaughter. Though the hands gripping their blades trembled slightly and their faces were twisted with fear, not a single one retreated or fled. Most of them were between their teens and twenties.
Nearly half were boys or young men who had never truly faced life and death. For them, the greatest battles they had ever experienced were against bandits or mountain brigands. Bloodshed? It was all too common in this world.
But this scene of one-sided suppression and slaughter was still far too much for these young people. Only those who had witnessed the true strength of ninja, or guards who had served the previous priestess, could truly remain calm.
Even so, they would never retreat. Their comrades had fallen into pools