by Heretic God
The [Warrior] using the offensive and defensive [Sword] is the most powerful incarnation for battling gods.
But, its limitations were extremely severe.
The spell-words of the [Sword] may not be used indefinitely. The longer it is used, the duller the sword would become, until it was reduced to a blunt blade; this was no different from reality.
And just as any authority of Verethragna, an incarnation cannot be used continuously.
Without a day for recovery, use of the same incarnation again was impossible; as long as this condition stood, Godou could not rely on brute force to overpower the enemy.
"Once, you were a woman who held dominance over the ancient command, commanding the humans in the name of the gods, thus the leader of the gods was also the goddess—goddess of the winged snake. But you were overthrown from the highest throne by the martial forces of rebellious men, ending the matriarchy society."
Godou chanted, to forge and refine the strongest [Sword].
To expend all spell-words here, to inflict critical wounds upon Athena's divine power.
To pin her down and establish the way for victory.
Even the most detailed of battle plans could be disrupted by situational conditions, therefore the focus must be on responding to changing circumstances.
"The era of the Queen had ended; the era of the King had begun. The supreme power and wisdom of the motherly matriarch changed to that of the strict patriarch; from Zeus, the kings of gods were born."
Currently in front of his own eyes stood the former queen goddess of the Mediterranean.
Right, the former queen.
An overthrown queen forced to obey.
These spell-words that exposed Athena's past were also the sharpest sword to be used against her.
"The most ancient Athena was divided, degrading to the king of god's wife, sister, or daughter, losing all former glory; mythology was altered as such."
"......Shut up."
Athena's mutter was overflowing with silent rage.
"Athena became the king's daughter. Metis was disgraced and robbed of her wisdom. Medusa was even degraded into a monster. Furthermore, Hera and Aphrodite of Greek Mythology[1H 10] were also defeated mother goddesses, goddesses who once commanded life and death similar to you."
"Thou art told to shut up! Such spell-words are filthy beyond comparison!"
Athena was angry.
That was a good sign, but she still hadn't lost her composure, so he should follow the plan and attack her once.
"The defeated mother goddess, portrayed in mythology as the winged snake, the winged serpent—which was also the dragon. The evil dragons that stood in countless legends and myths, defeated by heroes and gods alike, were the final form of the defeated and trampled mother goddess!"
They were not prosecuted because they were evil monsters.
But because the victors demanded legitimacy, they discredited the defeated as evil monsters, then spread the tales of themselves vanquishing evil.
Due to this, the winged snake fell from a sacred beast and became a monster; the traits of the mother goddess were fundamentally denied. Thus this spell-word would become the mighty [Sword], capable of rending even Athena.
Golden radiance gathered in Godou's right hand.
Godou compressed the light into a longsword; with a brilliant glow spreading from him, he advanced towards Athena.
Readied to stop this sword was Athena's pitch black scythe.
A scythe of the death god that absorbed all light into its razor darkness.
Between the sword of light and the scythe of darkness, Godou and Athena finally clashed with ferocity.
Part 3
The golden sword clashed with the pitch-black scythe.
At the same time, the darkness continued to spread from Athena.
—Cold.
The temperature dropped as the darkness expanded.
Frost that felt like it cut through skin, as though winter had suddenly arrived.
"One shall not be struck by thee. One may be immortal, but cannot endure thy attacks that sever the source of divinity, thus one must defeat thee with forbidden darkness!"
Athena injected her power into the wrist that held the pitch-black scythe.
To fully repulse the golden sword, she was also expending her full power.
Before he realized it, the spreading darkness had covered the entire sky, extinguishing the light from the moon and the stars, and the entire surrounding was plunged into a chaotic darkness.
Other than the golden sword, not a single ray of light could pierce this darkness.
Despite this, Godou's eyes could still see perfectly through this abyssal darkness—he was really surprised.
The flowers around him withered within an instant.
The trees also lost their verdancy.
Greenery of all sizes began to wither one after another. Fruits turned to dust in moments. Branches also withered, shrinking until they looked like dry sticks.
Even the sound of insects vanished from the night.
—This was [Death].
Wielding the divine power that commanded death and demise, Athena injected her most dangerous powers into her scythe.
"One summons the winter, master of life and death, emissary of the icy netherworld, the shrewdly procuring queen. One commands. Kusanagi Godou, become the dead king, decompose into a corpse!"
Athena said as she drove back the golden sword with her scythe.
Her spell-words entered through Godou's ears and began to invade his body, which slowly grew cold.
—Is this a joke?
I can't be defeated here!
Maintaining his stance to counter the scythe, Godou tried to imagine the next scene.
He had planned to strike Athena down, but was blocked by her black scythe, yet the black scythe was also a part of Athena. To put it that way, could the [Sword] still cut everything?
This was one created to be only effective against Athena—a [Sword] that could defeat and surely kill Athena!
Cut.
Godou cut through both the black scythe and Athena at once.
The divine power that composed the goddess transferred the feelings over directly through the edge of the spell-words.
Earth, darkness, wisdom, snakes, birds, cows, queen, wife, fearsome woman, reborn woman, immortality—
Godou cleaved down with all his might towards everything she had.
At the same time, Godou was also inflicted by the [Death] spell-words.
He wasn't sure how long he lost consciousness.
Either several seconds, or several minutes, but by the time Godou realized, both he and Athena laid on the ground.
Godou pressed all his strength into his limbs, struggling desperately to stand back up.
Although they both fell at once, Athena wouldn't be defeated so easily; as the one who attacked her, he knew that better than anyone.
Then, Athena slowly rose back up.
Not a trace of a wound remained on her body, but the damage inflicted within her shouldn't recover as quickly.
"As expected, winning isn't so easy, but it would have been great if I had just won like that."
"Nonsense. To call one the snake goddess hath thee; no matter how wounded, neither snakes nor woman will die. Even if dead, they shall be reborn."
Snakes who shed skin to be reborn. Women who wouldn't die even with profound menstrual blood loss.
Both were representations of immortality.
But even though her words sounded fine, Athena's countenance grew very pale.
Yet at the same time, Godou had also lost much vitality due to the words of death. Though there were no injuries, he felt that his life force had been significantly reduced.
The result was that they both continued to confront one another in critical status.
"With this, thy [Sword] can be used no more; one is certain of this."
This troublesome fact was exposed by Athena.
Godou no longer had any weapon capable of both attack and defense.
"In other words, thou now wishest to use the power of the sun...... amongst the incarnations of Verethragna, the one closest in origin to the sun was the [Stallion]."
His own combat power already grasped by his opponent; the goddess of wisdom was truly a difficult opponent to fight. Godou couldn't help but want to sigh.
But he didn't even have time for that.
Athena pressed in silently, striking once again with her black scythe.
Godou barely managed to evade.
Followed by a second swing.
Cutting through the skin of his shoulders.
A third attack.
His ankles were almost severed.
Despite losing the power of the sword, he was still in the [Warrior] incarnation; it had kept some power, and was able to grasp Athena's intentions, as well as predict her next course of action.
Therefore he could at least evade the fatal strikes.
—But if he kept defending, he would eventually be defeated.
He could not cope with her offensive pressure; therefore she need not bother with defense, since there was no worry of the opponent retaliating. Then, to desperately attack the opponent, forcing him into catastrophe was enough.
The scythe cleaved, slashed, and attacked relentlessly.
Evade. Duck. Dodge.
Against Athena's endless attacks, Godou could only continue to evade.
"What's wrong, Kusanagi Godou. Why dost thee not use the power of the [Stallion]? Is it not the only weapon capable of defeating one?"
Athena mocked with a voice filled with ridicule.
After pointing things out so clearly, why would I use that to fight you? You must have readied countermeasures already.
Godou cursed in his mind as he desperately sought for a way to victory.
If he continued his melee fight against Athena, there wouldn't be even a chance of winning.
Godou completely understood this point.
If it were baseball or indoor soccer, maybe there were still some chances of winning. But Kusanagi Godou didn't have a trace of martial background; there was no way he could defeat her through strength alone.
At this time, he really wished that reliable partner of his could appear right now to act as his shield.
She would be wielding her lion-like magic sword, wearing a red-and-black outfit, and storm in with grandeur.
But she wasn't here right now.
With such a performance opportunity, how could such an egotistical person not appear?
Could it be that she couldn't find him and Athena? No, she wasn't that stupid. Godou only wished that the reason why she didn't appear was the reason he thought of.
......As Godou still pondered, Athena's scythe swung in right before his eyes.
Godou hastily jumped back and managed to protect his vitals.
But he couldn't completely evade it.
His chest was struck, spraying blood into the air; although it wasn't a fatal injury, the wound was still very deep.
—Godou was immediately convinced of one thing.
He was already in such a crisis, yet she still didn't come out to help.
In other words, his partner thought of the same thing as him and was waiting for an opportunity to attack. As long as he endured through this, there would be a chance to win......!
"Surprising thou managest to evade! Feebly clinging to life is an ugly sight, Kusanagi Godou!"
The unstopping scythe assault forced Godou to dodge by rolling on the ground.
His entire body was covered with wounds.
Despite this, he still managed to guard his vitals.
With his entire body stained by blood and soil, he rolled along the ground; although it looked shameful, it was enough as long as it kept him from dying.
Godou finally stopped fleeing.
He stood up on trembling legs.
Convinced of his beliefs, Godou decided to gamble on it: Erica would definitely take some action that he could look forward to!
"Just as you said, I still have the incarnation that represented the sun."
Godou said as he pointed towards the eastern skies.
He imagined a white stallion under the brilliance of the sun, its majestic body glowing with pure white light.
"For victory, come before me! Immortal sun, please grant me the shining steed. The divine horse of glory, bringing forth the light wheel that symbolizes the lord!"
The third incarnation of Verethragna, the [White Stallion].
Since ancient times, the [Stallion] kept a close relationship with the sun god.
The sun god that roamed from east to west atop a chariot—this was a common description passed down in numerous civilizations. The Orient, India, Scandinavia, China, and Babylon were no exceptions.
Apollo[1H 11] of Greece was also like this.
Similar to him was the Persian god of light Mithra, mythologies spread far and wide by the people.
For Verethragna's white stallion incarnation that once served Mithra, even carrying the sun was natural!
"O—it came indeed, that annoying horse."
Athena muttered towards the east.
That was right. Even though the darkness had blocked out all light, the eastern skies began to burn.
The sun was rising.
The dawning light dyed the eastern skies red.
It was obviously still midnight, five hours short of sunrise.
But the current skies grew very bright.
This was the incarnation of the [White Stallion], able to summon the power of the sun.
"Honestly, this incarnation is the hardest to use, but you've gone too far this time, so I managed to call it—because this in an incarnation that can only be used against a [Sinner who inflicted suffering upon the people]."
The Athena who created the dark world managed to satisfy this condition.
......To use himself as the target, he always felt that the summoning would succeed. But this time, he should ignore that for once.
"See this, Athena! Let's see you taste the burning flames of the sun that vanquishes darkness!"
It was either an arrow of light or a spear of the sun god that descended from the skies.
An area spreading out dozens of meters around Athena was engulfed by the white light.
The holy fire that consumed sinners.
From the faraway eastern horizon, searing fire descended upon the ground.
"Wowowowowowowowowo!!"
Even those stronger than Athena could only cry out in anguish.
The sun god that replaced the underworld lords and his flames that expelled the night were the nemesis of this goddess.
But......
"Hahahahaha! Dost not underestimate me, Kusanagi Godou! One hath made it perfectly clear. One hath long known thy final card! This is merely thy dying struggle."
Athena's surroundings were protected by a black enchantment.
An immensely powerful black barrier capable of severing all light.
It warded off the white flames. To prepare for this move, she had probably been gathering the divine power of darkness this entire time, and then waited for just the right time to use it.
If Athena protected herself with this until the fire burned out......
Godou no longer had any incarnation capable of defeating the mother goddess of darkness, and once the flames died out, the [White Stallion] incarnation will lift, leaving Kusanagi Godou without a single authority.
But Godou shook his head.
"You're wrong; the one who underestimated others is you. Although you didn't underestimate me, but you did disregard—us humans."
A beam of light soared towards Godou from the other side of the darkness.
A beam of silver light.
The brilliant silver light—it was a cold light, like that o
f a sword's edge.
Cuore di Leone, the lion sword wielded by the girl that stood as Godou's partner.
The silver sword buried itself into the ground before Godou.
"When we fought, did you forget Erica's existence? It would be my loss if she wasn't here, but unfortunately, things didn't turn out that way."
Godou pulled out Cuore di Leone.
"Athena, you're far too foolish! That person's sword is specially forged. It contains the spell-words of despair, power even to defeat the gods. Normally, you can probably completely guard against it; but what will happen now, while you're defending against the sun with all your strength?"
The white flames were blocked by the barrier of darkness, unable to reach the pure body of the goddess.
But, Athena's countenance revealed her anxiety.
—If Erica had rushed in when Athena's scythe pushed Godou into a corner, Athena would naturally become aware of Cuore di Leone's presence, and would alter her actions as appropriate.
So despite watching Godou fall to desperate straits, Erica did not reveal herself to rescue him.
Because Godou realized Erica's plan, he gambled everything on this attempt.
Everything had been for this opportunity to let Cuore di Leone become his new trump card.
"Though, this cooperative fight wasn't preplanned. Thankfully, it worked; that girl Erica really knows how to calculate the best time to appear."
To toss over her beloved sword by guessing through this darkness, it was as expected of his partner.
Godou slowly approached Athena.
But if he attacked directly, he would be burnt himself.
Could he wait until the flames burned out?
Just as he thought over this, Cuore di Leone changed to the form of a javelin, probably because Erica had used her magic.
Of course, if he used a thrown attack, then he wouldn't need to close the distance.
The Cuore di Leone that had taken javelin form dissolved into a silver meteor, piercing through Athena's chest.
Such caring support made Godou smile.
"This is the last hit; take this, Athena!"
He threw with all his strength, hurling the javelin out.
The Cuore di Leone that had taken javelin form dissolved into a silver meteor, piercing through Athena's chest.
Both the goddess and the silver javelin were immolated by the flames.
