Campione 01

by Heretic God

  How can I let such a serious and nice person die? I must save her, I must hear the sound of her call.

  What I needed the most now was concentration. The greatest concentration, to leave not a single voice unheard.

  I must succeed.

  He had never lost to a single person since he started playing baseball.

  There were plenty who were much better at batting, and just as many who were better at scoring homeruns; but he was usually the 4th batter, the one who would win the game.

  Step up to the plate when it's your time to bat.

  To make the impossible possible, to focus all concentration forward even when facing insurmountable hardship...

  "Kusanagi-san! Kusanagi Godou! Come! Athena and I are here! Hurry up—your strength is needed now. Hurry!"

  Godou finally caught the voice as it flew across.

  The shout that originated from far away.

  He stood up from the ground. All conditions had been cleared.

  Verethragna's first incarnation, [Wind].

  Legends said the war god had appeared as a body of fierce winds before the Prophet Zarathustra[1G 13] and spoke to him: thou art strongest, thou leadest an invincible army of the battlefield, capable of destroying any human or demon who dare show hostility.

  "Let's go, Erica! Hold on tight!"

  Godou called his partner over as he transformed into the embodiment of the [Wind]

  Tornado-like winds coiled beneath his feet.

  Catching onto Erica's hand as she leaped over, the two soared into the air.

  * * *

  "—Thou art alive still, no, thou hast finally awakened, Kusanagi Godou, with true power to behold! Now worthy of being one's hated foe! With the unspeakable title of the devil king!"

  He could hear Athena's prayer-like voice again, only a few hours since the last time he did.

  As the winds dispersed, Godou and Erica found themselves standing on an unfamiliar road.

  In front of them was an unusually thin Yuri and a silver-haired girl.

  ...[Heretic God] Athena

  Godou recognized with but one glance that facing him was the Athena who had retrieved the Gorgoneion.

  Plato: Greek Classical-era philosopher attributed with laying the foundation to western philosophy and science.

  Timaeus: one of Plato's dialogues, involving Socrates, Timaeus of Locri, Hermocrates, and Critias.

  Herodotus: Greek Classical-Era historian, renowned as the 'Father of History'.

  Heracles: also known as Hercules, son of Zeus and the greatest of Greek Heroes

  Ba'al: actually a Semitic title meaning 'ruler' or 'god'; numerous deities (and cult gods) used this name, but they're probably referring to the Canaanite god Hadad here.

  Canaan: ancient biblical region in the Levant; around the same area as present-day Isreal.

  Shield of Athena: Athena had integrated the severed head of Medusa into the center of her shield, the Aegis

  El, Ogmios, Artemis: El (or Il) is the suprme good of the canaanites, father of Baal and creator of everything, prototype of all of the creator gods of Levantine religions, including judaism ('l/el/il is also the word for "god" in semitic languages, found in titles such as the names of some angels); Ogmios is the Celtic god of eloquence, who could bind others through words alone and supposedly looked like Hercules; Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt, wilderness, and childbirth.

  Ogoun, Tezcatlipoca: Ogoun is the god of smithing, hunting, politics, and war of Yoruba (Nigeria) and Haitian beliefs; Tezcatlipoca is the Aztec central god of chaos, governship, temptation, beauty, war, and strife.

  Susanoo, Vishnu: Susanoo is the Japanese Shintoism god of sea and storms; Vishnu is the supreme god of Vaishnavism branch of Hinduism.

  Hot Pot: Japanese often have hotpots (Nabe) to celebrate the completion of projects or special events (why an Italian would do so, I have no idea!)

  Parthian & Sassanid Empire: Persian Empires of the Middle East during 247BC-224AD (Parthia) and 224AD-651AD (Sassanid), centered around modern-Iran; both often came into contention with the Roman and later the Byzantine Empire.

  Zarathustra: also known as Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism, which once dominated the Middle East as one of the world's greatest religions. It was later shunted aside and replaced by Islam.

  Chapter 7 - Heretic God Athena

  Part 1

  Although Godou's night vision wasn't bad, it was nowhere as clear as his daytime sight.

  But Godou immediately noticed Yuri's unnatural countenance.

  "Mariya-san, are you alright? What did Athena do to you?"

  "It's not that she did anything to me...... when Athena retrieved the Gorgonieon, I was nearby, so I received some influence. Please be careful, Athena isn't the same as before......."

  Yuri coughed nonstop.

  Her coughing was really bad; it was worrisome just to watch.

  Godou ran over and gently stroked her back, but it didn't seem to help at all.

  "Ah, allow one to tell thee, the miko was nearby when one was reborn, thus she received much spirit of death from one. If left untreated, she will die, as thee didst."

  Athena looked at Yuri like she had nothing to do with her as she spoke in an uncaring tone.

  Her actions irritated Godou.

  The opponent was a god.

  Even though she looked human, but her mentality and ethics were completely different. Godou understood long ago not to use human values to compare with them.

  "......Erica, can you heal this affliction?"

  "No, I'm not that all-capable, use the [Sword]. With that, you should be able to cut Athena's curse."

  After asking Erica who stood behind him, her answer made it completely clear.

  Godou put his hands on Yuri's shoulders.

  So thin.

  Although Erica was also short and slim, she was a high-class knight who hid strength indiscernible to conventional senses.

  But Yuri seemed like a girl that was every bit as frail as she appeared. Other than her abilities as a hime-miko, she was just a normal girl; yet to make her shoulder such a heavy burden, it was natural for him to be angry at himself and Athena.

  "Kusanagi-san, what are you planning to do?"

  Godou patted Yuri's shoulders to relieve the distress in her eyes a bit.

  Imagining the flashing gold sword, he began to chant.

  "Heed the power of my words, let justice reveal itself, under the strength and eloquence of this incantation, for strength is ever victorious, for strength is the answer to all things."

  The spell words of the sword.

  With a single swing of the golden sword, the divine power of Athena that invaded Yuri was severed. Now they no longer had to worry.

  "Eh?"

  The goddess who has been watching them with bored eyes suddenly frowned.

  Godou stared at her pleasant appearance and firmly said:

  "Oy, I'll confirm it one last time; if you can just leave obediently, I can let you go. How about it, do you plan to do so?"

  "Speak not such disappointment, one just retrieved the ancient power of the trinity, accompany one in this game at least."

  He didn't think that Athena would say something that a child in tantrum would.

  Looking down upon humans to such extremes.

  At this point Godou had already decided. 'Fine, then I shall keep you company.'

  "O one does not understand, but thou seemest angry. How about this, Kusanagi Godou? Allow one to be pleased for once? One has surpassed thy once prior, this time we shall compete by martial strength."

  After casually almost killing Yuri, now she was challenging him as though facing a toy.

  To Athena, mortal lives were like the ants under her feet, whether they lived or died was none of her concern.

  "Kusanagi-san......"

  Taking note of Yuri's weak voice, Godou strengthened the hand that was holding her shoulders.

  Because of him, she had gone through s
o much trouble. The debt he owed her, he would take it from Athena with interest.

  "Relax and rest, Mariya-san, allow me to take care of that goddess."

  "Alright...... sorry, I had underestimated Kusanagi-san. I had always thought that even though you were a godslayer, you were an unreliable and flippant person—"

  "No, you're absolutely right, you aren't wrong at all."

  "No."

  With an emerging smile, Yuri shook her head.

  It was the first time Godou saw her gentle smile.

  Like the blooming cherry blossoms, it was a very lovable expression, and Godou's heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

  "When I met danger, you really did rush here. Of course, this destructive god was also called here by you, but your willingness to come take care of the mess yourself, made me change my opinion of you...... really."

  ".......Saying it like that, it's not very convincing that your views changed any."

  "Really? Then, I'll praise you with even nicer words later; but please use your full power now. Alright?"

  Towards the gently smiling Yuri, Godou stood up.

  Then he told Erica, who was behind him:

  "I'll leave Mariya-san to you. On your honor, protect this girl well."

  "Your wish is my command, my liege—finally putting aside that stubborn fake pacifism of yours."

  Erica responded after realizing his thoughts.

  As expected of the [Diavolo Rosso]; if Kusanagi Godou was the king of the chessboard, then she was either the unstoppable knight or the queen.

  "Don't add 'fake' to it, I'm really a pacifist, but I'm not going to sit here quietly while one of my comrades gets hurt. I only want to defeat Athena right now and take back everything she owes Mariya-san."

  "That's my Godou, and this is my blessing for your victory."

  Suddenly, Erica walked up to him.

  Taking Godou's face with both of her hands, she brought her lips to his; although it was short, it was a passionate and deep kiss.

  —Knowledge about Athena flowed in.

  Regarding the goddess of war and wisdom, he now grasped her connections with snakes, owls, and mother Earth. In this moment, the [Sword] that slept within Godou had reached full potential.

  "I'll pray for your victory, so go defeat the Heretic God Athena!"

  'Why do you suddenly do things like this!'

  Although he wanted to complain, Godou's face unconsciously revealed a grim smile.

  It really was the best gift he could wish for.

  Now he could use one hundred percent of his full strength to fight Athena. After all, she claimed to be the strongest goddess across all of Europe, Africa, and the Middle-East!

  The calm Godou yelled towards Athena:

  "I accept your conditions! I will deport you from this country by force. Once you lose to me, run and flee for your life!"

  "Very good! We shall see who is stronger, godslayer!"

  Athena roared back in delight, then waved forth her arm.

  Dozens of owls flew forth from the darkness in a flash.

  Furthermore, dozens of snakes also slithered towards him.

  As birds of prey, the owls were armed with sharp talons and beaks, and each snake was at least five, six meters long in size, obviously poisonous given their colorful scales.

  —He had to change to a different dueling ground.

  Quickly realizing this, Godou began to run to open his distance with Athena.

  The faint smell of seawater.

  The prominent buildings surrounding them.

  Thanks to them, he roughly knew where he was.

  On the map within his mind, he managed to find a good location and began to run towards it as his goal.

  The hordes of snakes and birds that closely pursued him changed their direction as well, and even the goddess herself followed in her strolling pace.

  * * *

  "You did great, Mariya Yuri. Thanks to you, that idiot man would finally fight seriously."

  Erica, who stayed behind, smiled lightly towards the girl wearing miko clothes.

  She took off her red coat and put it around the other's shoulders.

  But Yuri wasn't that calm as she stared at Erica with a disturbed expression.

  "W-what did you just do? Such a shameful, dirty......"

  The serene expression she showed to Godou suddenly switched to one of anger.

  She complained indignantly over what just happened.

  Unable to understand why Yuri was unhappy, Erica tilted her head.

  "What's dirty?"

  "Obviously that! that... ki... eh, when you bid goodbye to Kusanagi-san, you did something immoral, something that definitely shouldn't be done in front of others!"

  "You meant that kiss? Well, I wanted to continue it a bit longer, but it couldn't be helped; there wasn't enough time, and I haven't seen Godou so serious for such a long time."

  Erica mistook Yuri's intentions and gave an irrelevant response.

  "Just watch, when Godou is like that, he won't care about what methods he uses. He'll use every idea to achieve victory; he'll definitely defeat Athena."

  Unable to understand the angry Yuri, Erica continued to smile towards her.

  * * *

  In the end, when it came to physical ability, the basics still fell to running.

  Running from the pursuit of the owl and snake corps, Godou's mind continued to plan.

  Although he has experienced many times of crisis, but compared to the authorities of Verethragna, his most familiar weapons were his own two legs.

  Whether it was fighting or escaping, there was no way he could start without running first.

  Convinced of this, he continued to run every day even after he stopped playing baseball.

  He didn't want to put it like this, but he also had no choice except to exercise diligently, since he kept getting mixed up in these troublesome incidents. Truthfully, if it wasn't for his daily workout, there was no way he could keep running this long.

  —Even so.

  He didn't have the superhuman footwork it took to escape from the owls that charged him from the air, as well as the snakes that moved in like lightning.

  Not to mention that the enemy's numbers increased before he even noticed it.

  It was unknown where the owls and snakes kept coming from, but their numbers had already risen above a hundred.

  "All evil things fear me! Unjust beings of power cannot defeat me! —for I am strongest, able to break all barriers!"

  As Godou chanted his spell words, a golden radiance flashed past.

  Since it came to this, he just had to sever the heads from the bodies of Athena's horde of servants, forcing them to return to dust.

  They shouldn't be normal creatures, so they didn't leave any remains.

  "Heh...... thou didst hide a wonderful weapon, not only to slash but also to cleave—it must be a sword. Spell words of a sword, thou dost hath taste."

  Athena's relaxed voice came from behind them.

  So it seemed like she had immediately realized the difficulty posed by the sword.

  "Then, one shall play such with thee—though one's power cannot be fully display in this concrete forest, it is more than enough to match such tricks, take this!"

  "......What the!!"

  Godou was aghast with shock as he suddenly turned around.

  Under Athena's feet—

  The once hard concrete pavement had formed a massive wave, with the goddess standing upon it; the crest of the wave was gradually become scythe-like.

  The cold solidified material once mixed from sand and stone now stood high like a snake head peering down.

  Just as he noticed it, the concrete snake had finished its construction after only a few dozen seconds.

  Its length was around twenty, thirty meters.

  The elegant, silver-haired Athena stood straight atop the snake head.

  Was that also divine power, or did she simply have an unparalleled sense of balance
? Even on such an unstable position, she continued to look gracefully down upon the ground.

  "Rise, my talons. Crush the godslayer into paste!"

  The snake head Athena stood on was significantly taller than even the viaduct of the Capital Expressway.

  "Damn it! What a mess this is!"

  The roads that had produced the giant serpent had been completely ravaged by Athena's divine power.

  The concrete had been uprooted like water pumped from a river, leaving only a massive ditch behind.

  To restore the road's ability to handle vehicles again would require untold amounts of time and money.

  Godou grumbled as he continued to run.

  Almost there.

  They were almost at a completely uninhabited location.

  There were still some apartments and hotels nearby, so if they were to fight here, he had to be careful not to trash the surroundings.

  Once past Shiodome District, there was a dense forest of giant trees—although it wasn't a scene that belonged in a city, he could see green forests on his right-hand side.

  That was Godou's destination.

  —Hamarikyu Gardens[1H 1].

  Since its park hours were long over, there would obviously be no one there. Within such a large park, even if he went all out against Athena, it still shouldn't affect anyone else.

  Furthermore, the walls in this place were low in height.

  Dexterous people could easily leap over the walls.

  Climbing over the barricade that was used to block the road at the rear gate, Godou caught onto the low wall and successfully made his illegal entry.

  He watched the gargantuan snake chasing after him from atop the wall.

  The massive snake continued to close in, crushing vehicles parked by the roadside, electrical wire poles, and sidewalk fences.

  After revealing his location, Godou went inside the park.

  Part 2

  Hamarikyu Gardens was on the edge of Tokyo Bay.

  The water inside the gardens was drawn from the sea.

  With Tsukiji District[1H 2] as neighbor, it also had a fish market and a produce market nearby.