by Heretic God
"......Where are we? And, how long was I gone?"
"This is a bench in some park we escaped to, and you were only unconscious for two and a half hours this time. Congratulations, it's a new record."
"This kind of new record doesn't make me happy at all. I rather have the time increase."
"Knew you would say that, but this time the time reduction dropped again, and probably wouldn't decrease anymore? — Does that make you a little more relieved?"
Erica answered with a gentle smile.
Even though she always dragged Godou about everywhere, it was surprising that when he was at his weakest, Erica's attitude would also become very gentle.
"Hn, a little relieved."
It seemed like he still hasn't awakened fully; Godou's eyesight was still somewhat blurry, and he couldn't see the surroundings very well.
The only thing that reassured him was Erica's presence beside him.
"......If possible, I really wish someone else could defeat this god. Even though, it's rather ungrateful for me to say this after just barely managing to keep my life."
"That's impossible. Our opponent isn't someone you can defeat through sheer luck— Of course, having good luck is a necessity, but final victory will be decided by your strengths and character. You're someone qualified to defeat the gods, so you should have some more confidence in yourself."
Erica said this as she gracefully twirled her wrist.
Using her hands as a comb, Erica was grooming Godou's hair; her gentle, rhythmic movements made Godou feel extremely comfortable... 'Wait, she's combing my hair?'
"You may only have a portion of the power now, but one day you will definitely control all of Verethragna's authorities, because you're someone who will break through any obstacle to achieve victory. Until Godou becomes a true king, I will always protect you— no matter who the enemy is, I will never allow them to kill you, or hand you to anyone else."
Erica's whispers changed from her usual gentle tone to one filled with determination.
It truly made him happy.
To be honest, Godou felt like he didn't deserve this treatment, and he sort of wanted to apologize. But......
"T-Thank you. I always cause troubles for Erica, but Erica still treats me like this. I'm really thankful, but also feel a little bad......"
"You don't need to apologize to me, since it's me who wanted to do this from the bottom of my heart. I only want Godou to love me honestly. Simple enough?"
"Eh, I have to apologize for saying something like this during such a time, but this position really isn't good!"
At this moment, Godou finally awoke fully and realized his situation.
There was nothing abnormal about his body; his hands and feet were as good as ever.
He was lying on a long, dirty bench in a small park. Erica sat beside him, with his head on her lap, while her hand combed through his hair—
"No way. You've just returned from death's door— be obedient and rest."
As she said that, Erica used her unusual strength to press Godou, who was attempting to get up, back down to where he was.
Erica's legs were as thin and elegant as a deer's, while her thighs were particularly soft and made him feel very comfortable.
This really was a dangerous situation.
It wouldn't be good if he kept laying here like this without saying anything.
Godou wanted to escape his current circumstances, to the point of thinking about rolling off the bench.
"Godou, don't you think it's impolite to refuse the good gestures of another so stubbornly? Especially after saving your life?"
Even though she said that, Erica's tone sounded extremely happy.
Godou was embarrassed to the point that he didn't even dare look at Erica's face. All he wanted was to escape the current situation.
"Regarding that, I'm really grateful towards you, and I apologize. But, no matter how you look at this situation right now, it isn't good!"
"But why? Isn't this just the basics of developing our relationship? It's about time we stopped the introductions and started our skinship stage. We should spend more time to properly foster our feelings for one another."
Stop saying such selfish words.
How could the man named Kusanagi Godou have the courage to take such a step!
"But we can leave this for later, since we need to plan for when you get better. Godou, how do you plan to deal with Athena? After reaching this point, don't tell me you still want to sit down and negotiate?"
Erica seemed to realize that it was too cruel to keep pushing, so she changed the topic.
Finally they could talk normally. Godou let out his breath as he replied to Erica.
"You're right, but I plan to go find her first, then I'll decide on the final course of action based on the circumstances......"
"That's to say, you plan to attack immediately, and then force the situation into a standoff, right?"
Erica gave an interpretation that was completely off from Godou's words.
"How did you arrive at that conclusion? When did I say it like that?"
"Because it ends up like that every time, so in the current situation, I'd suggest we start preparing [Sword]— you know what the consequences of being ill-prepared against an opponent like Athena will be like, right?"
"......Right, we need to prepare for the worst after all."
Godou began to think.
Since he had let Athena off, she could have retrieved the Gorgonieon at any time. He needed foolproof preparations to face an even more powerful Athena.
Without sufficient power at hand, even negotiations wouldn't go anywhere. This was the core of the problem that Erica pointed out directly.
"Since that's the case, how are you going to ask for my aid? Come on, say it already."
Erica looked smug.
Even though she was fully aware of what it took, she was intentionally making Godou beg her. What a cruel woman.
"......Fine, I take back what I just said. Please teach me everything you know about Athena. I must prepare myself to fight that goddess."
Without the help of this person before him, Godou had no chance in a fight against Athena.
As he thought of this, he lowered his head to beg Erica.
"Very good, now my answer is decided."
Erica left the long bench and knelt down before Godou's feet.
With a joyous grin, she respectfully said:
"My liege, I shall do as you wish. You are the master of my sword, and the king of us mages. So long as you wish it, I shall grant you the key to victory."
Every once in a while, Erica would take this kind of respectful attitude.
Godou felt uncomfortable, so he pulled her back up.
"I told you, don't say it like that......I want Erica to be her usual self."
"Really? Then let's do it like usual. Godou, sit over here, we'll start now."
Godou was suddenly pushed back down by Erica to sit on the bench.
Realizing the signs of danger, Godou started panicking.
Were they really going to do this?
"When I said please teach me, I meant telling me using your mouth, please don't use any strange spells or ritualistic items."
"How long do you think it would take me to tell you? Athena is descended from the most ancient goddesses, so there are countless pieces of history and mythology surrounding her. No way am I going to talk about all of them, way too troublesome."
Erica moved closer to Godou as she said this.
Since she quickly sealed Godou's mouth with her lips, he could no longer continue his resistance.
......After a long kiss, Erica briefly parted her lips and said:
"Hehe, I'm really happy right now, since Godou had been so cold to me recently. You had kept me at such an obvious distance, yet you had secretly met up with that strange woman or being forced into a kiss with Athena, so I had been really unhappy."
Although she said she was unhappy,
her tone was sweet.
Their faces were extremely close, almost to the point of their foreheads touching one another.
"I-I wasn't being secretive, and the case with Athena was a completely unexpected accident. But seriously, I still don't think this is a good idea. We should use a more complete, more permanent method than this!"
"What could be better than meeting the lips of your lover. Besides, the one who took my first kiss was Godou, and you've done so again several times since then. After all that, why do you still mind it?"
"But that was all done to fight the gods! It wasn't like that kind of love—"
Godou's mouth was blocked again before he could finish.
This time even the tongue stuck in.
—Was it really necessary to go this far!?
He couldn't open his mouth even if he wanted to ask; it was such an annoying situation. For a high school boy to be treated this way and still arouse no desire, it could only be that kind of extremely abnormal guy.
Godou struggled to escape the honey trap before him.
But he just couldn't get away.
Their wrist strengths were simply far too different; how could this woman be so strong?
"Let's start with Athena's birth, such as who was Athena's mother? Then there's the relationship between Athena and Medusa."
Erica spoke gently in between her soft kisses with Godou.
"In Greek Mythology, Athena's mother was Metis[1F 3]. She was Zeus' first wife, as well as the goddess of wisdom, but their history wasn't a good one. According to one legend, Zeus raped Metis by transforming into a fly, which caused her to conceive Athena."
Serpent.
A tail appeared within his mental imagery, and formed into the shadow of a complete snake. It was followed by a cow, and then wings — which meant the shadows of birds coming by.
"To Zeus, Metis was merely an object of his desire. The only reason he took her as wife was to maintain his image by rewriting the myth. After finding out about Metis' pregnancy, Gaia and Uranus[1F 4] predicted that if she gave birth to a boy, then he would be even more powerful than Zeus himself."
Godslayers had powerful resistances against magic.
That wasn't only effective against enemies, but also affected harmless and beneficial spells.
Even spells from his companions would still bounce off a godslayer, unless the magic was directly inserted into his body like what Athena did.
What Erica used right now was her magic of endowing her knowledge upon another.
Every history that was related to Athena.
The goal was to quickly teach Godou all of the mythology and divine traits related to Athena.
"Fearing the unborn child, he swallowed both Metis and her child, hoping to destroy both mother and child while absorbing Metis' wisdom for his own use. But the child Metis was pregnant with, Athena, ended up being born from Zeus' head."[1F 5]
The words that came from Erica's lips transferred phenomenal amounts of knowledge into Godou's mind.
The tenth incarnation of Verethragna, the [Warrior], was said to own a golden sword.
And this process was indispensable for forging that sword.
Only after receiving sufficient knowledge about the opposing god could Kusanagi Godou change his form to [Warrior].
In other words, Athena is a goddess born from the death of her mother. This is an extremely important detail— in Greece, 'Metis' also means 'Wisdom', but it's also the origin of 'Medusa'.
Metis and Medusa.
These two words both contained the same meaning, and they were also the names of goddesses with deep connections to Athena.
The trinity goddess, a single body formed from Metis, Medusa, and Athena.
Godou suddenly realized the meaning within.
It was all thanks to the knowledge that Erica had transferred using her lips and tongue, her sweet breath and saliva, that the true face of Athena had finally been unlocked.
Erica's tongue squiggled flirtatiously to find the location of Godou's tongue.
The enormous knowledge that filled him and his pleasant sensations raced through Godou's mind.
He should let things fall naturally into place like this.
Godou's consciousness was losing itself within the captivating and powerful emotions.
While Erica seemed to have read Godou's thoughts as she revealed a light smile.
"How is it? You still want to stop using this method and return to a more normal method of teaching?— I rather like it this way. Which one does Godou want to use? Should we continue like this, or return to some boring teaching method?"
Before realizing it, their lips had parted from one another, and even their link had weakened.
Erica relaxed her arm.
Normally, Godou would have requested for her to stop long ago. But after going this far to just stop now would be very hard. However this situation still wasn't very good......
Erica's expression was full of joy as she stared at Godou's distress.
This devil's smile was far too alluring and hard to resist. Just as his resistance thinned and his body lost all strength...
Godou realized.
In the corner of his sight, a blushing, flustered lady stood nearby.
"Anna-san? Don't tell me Anna-san, you were there... watching the entire time?"
"I had forgotten. Anna, when did you return?"
Godou and Erica turned to look in the same direction.
Anna had been hiding behind the streetlight post, watching the pair's every move. Just from looking at Anna, it was obvious that she had been very interested in what they were doing and had been mesmerized.
"L-Let me just say this first, I wasn't peeking. I was only worried that two young people might temporarily be unable to control themselves and do something irreversible, so I had been keeping watch. Originally I was relieved to see Erica-san let Godou-san rest on her lap, but I never thought you two would be so daring! It was so embarrassing to watch......"
Anna hurriedly explained with a flustered face.
Godou could only see darkness through his eyes.
Could it be that she had seen his image just then without any holding back?
"When did we meet back up with Anna?"
"When you were still asleep. After we escaped from Athena, I had contacted her and scheduled to meet back up here. When you first woke up, Anna had just left to buy things, so you hadn't seen her."
That seemed to be the case. After a careful look, Anna was carrying coffee, red tea, and other drinks in her arms.
That was far too careless.
'If I had just thought about it, it would have been easy to realize that there was a third person here, but I had been...' — the embarrassed Godou wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in it.
"Well, if you two don't mind, please continue. You don't need to mind me; just pretend I'm not here."
"Of course. Since Anna already says that, then let's hurry back—"
"There's nothing to hurry back to, and we don't need to continue! ......I plan to return to Tokyo, so I need to bother Anna-san to drive the car. Erica you can use 'the normal way' to teach me the rest."
Godou depressingly gave his orders.
Could he really defeat Athena like this? He felt really uncertain.
Part 3
Nighttime.
Moon, stars, and darkness filled the skies; it was the Goddess Athena's favorite time.
But night-time during this era remained far too bright.
The night was filled with man-made lights. Even when looking at the sky, the light of the stars would feel weak and barely noticeable.
The fear and aversion humans had towards the darkness did not begin recently.
Within the well-lit city, Athena walked leisurely.
Although she looked to be slowly moving forward, she was doing so in a way that was impossible for humans to achieve.
Her goal was the nostalgic aura coming from the Gorgoneion.
As Athena continued to advance down the coastal road, the [Serpent]'s smell steadily grew stronger.
The time of revival was nearing. Athena's face couldn't help but reveal a smile.
Even though the staggering people she walked past would stare at her with fascination, Athena didn't care.
It was natural for humans to be fascinated by gods.
It was also natural for humans to worship gods, to convert in the name of the gods.
It was natural for humans to pray to gods, to hope for blessings in return as well.
It was just as natural for humans who meet a [Heretic God] that descended upon Earth to lose themselves, become disorderly, or go insane.
None of them deserved the slightest attention from her.
If Kusanagi Godou was here, the two of them might have to fight for their very existence; but right now, she didn't even need to worry about that.
What happened to that guy afterwards?
That recent scene reappeared within Athena's mind. Even though she defeated him with her Death Spirit, would he actually die that easily?
Most likely not; a human that could kill even a god was a godslayer.
Devil kings, archfiends, fallen angels, chaos lords, godslayers.
Since he was among those whose titles stood equal with gods, then he might be able to revive even from death.
That was fine too.
If that happened, she would just beat him by force this time; either way, she wouldn't need to defend against any more godslayers.
She could finally relax a little.
Athena's mood rose, and the traits that she carefully hid unraveled themselves.
This place was simply unbearable.
The world man created was simply far too unnatural for her.
Athena leisurely strolled through the nighttime city.
Every time she stepped forward, every time she breathed out, a light in the city will extinguish.
At first, the street lights were put out.
That was followed by homes, offices, department stores, shops, bars, neon signs, and car lights; not even flashlights and small light bulbs could avoid it.
All man-made light must disappear.
Once the hypocrisy of sunlight leaves, the city should be filled by the purity of darkness.
An endless abyss of darkness that would make it impossible to see even a few meters ahead.
