Campione! - Volume 17 - The Hero's Name

by Taketsuki Jou

  "Since my body temperature has reached this level, it is hopeless now. This heat will likely spread to every corner of the world to cause momentous changes in the world's landscape. Humans might call this 'the end times'—There are only two methods to stop it."

  Rama—the king manifesting at era's end—spoke lightly.

  "One is for me to exterminate all godslayers currently ruling the earth. Once my mission is fulfilled, I can sleep again in the form of the divine sword."

  "And the other?"

  "If someone among you manages to emerge victorious in a reversal, I will also return to the divine blade's form. Under those conditions, I will lie dormant briefly, perhaps for a few months, perhaps a few years, but at least there is a buffer period."

  "Both extremely difficult demands."

  Confronted with these frighteningly difficult conditions, Godou could only laugh aloud.

  The "King of the End" was not undefeated so far. It was the opposite. In the battles against ancient godslayers, he had already met defeat many times. Even Godou himself had won in ancient Gaul.

  However, Prince Rama had currently reached a fully awakened state using the great ritual of the covenant. A godslayer capable of defeating him in this state—There was at least one. Godou knew this.

  The man whom the Princess of Glass had shown him.

  But was he really able to reenact that kind of absurdly dramatic underdog comeback?

  "Also, even if it's possible to defeat you in your strongest state, you'll revive soon enough."

  "My apologies. I feel that these are unreasonable demands too."

  He apologized quite solemnly in response to Godou's complaint.

  Then as though recalling something by chance, Rama suddenly said:

  "Speaking of which, how is that goddess? I cannot sense the presence of dragons and serpents at all."

  "Oh, well enough... I suppose."

  "I see. Towards her, I have been very cruel too."

  Bringing up the subject of Pallas Athena, Rama lowered his gaze for an instant.

  Deliberately giving an ambiguous answer, Godou secretly nodded in his mind. As expected, this guy was able to sense the presences of Divine Ancestors and mother earth goddesses.

  Now was not the time to discuss this. Godou changed the subject.

  "Compared to other gods, you're really weird, you know?"

  This was the greatest question that had occurred to him for the past few days.

  "Gods—[Heretic Gods]—will gradually acquire aspects contradicting the myths during their time of wandering the earth, right? But you've stayed as originally depicted in mythology. Your personality is very serious as well, to the point that it feels like you'll gather people's admiration."

  This was knowledge that Godou had acquired after numerous intense battles, especially the fight against the Illustrious Sage, True Lord Erlang.

  The "true god" who stood as Kusanagi Godou's nemesis. Upholding his convictions as the defender of justice to the very end, he absolutely refused to do anything harming the populace.

  Furthermore, "King of the End" Rama was also a bit similar to war god Verethragna.

  Back when he first met Godou, that youth was wandering the earth while maintaining a glorious hero's disposition despite having lost his memories as a [Heretic God].

  A scene that had happened on the island of Sardinia, which felt quite nostalgic now.

  "Unlike other gods, my myth also includes the detail of 'being born on earth as a human.' Perhaps this is the reason. Thanks to that, my original disposition has not changed much."

  "So that's the reason!?"

  "However, 'acquiring distortion and insanity while wandering the earth'... This curse ultimately cannot be avoided entirely. Even someone like me has bizarre aspects as logic would dictate."

  Next, Godou noticed.

  A quiver had appeared behind Rama's back without him noticing earlier. It was previously absent.

  Who did it? Could it be Hanuman who had brought it? But the white monkey god of wind was currently having a staring contest against Luo Cuilian some distance away, keeping tabs on each other. He did not seem to be the culprit.

  The quiver contained dozens of arrows. This was the gift from Indra, the god of thunderstorms, together with the ultimate bow of victory.

  The mysterious quiver whose arrows would never deplete. Contained inside were the various arrows bestowed upon Prince Rama by the gods and sages who had mentored him in martial arts...

  Next to the quiver, an amorphous shadow was squirming restlessly.

  One part of the shadow was quite similar to a human arm. That arm reached for the quiver, extracting a golden arrow. The arrowhead and fletchings were made of gold. Having obtained knowledge of Rama, Godou immediately understood. If this arrow were to be shot at Tokyo, an area of land comparable to the Bunkyou Ward would be destroyed in an instant, turned into ash...

  Noticing Godou's gaze, directed at the movement behind Rama...

  "—Stop!"

  The aristocrat yelled curtly. As a result, the shadow immediately disappeared from the quiver.

  Part 2

  "What the heck was that just now?"

  Questioned by Godou, Rama made a pained smile as before.

  "The one who takes on all distortion and insanity on my behalf... I suppose. It would be a long story. But everyone has grown impatient by now."

  Indeed, Hanuman and Luo Cuilian were silently waiting with full concentration.

  No one was relaxing their guard at all. Furthermore, in order to keep an eye on the surrounding situation so as to react immediately to any sudden movements from the enemy, they were quietly exuding battle spirit—

  Godou shrugged.

  It was evidently time to swing the sword of spell words and end the conversation.

  The blazing plain was no longer recognizable as a racing circuit at all. Godou transmitted strong thoughts to the tens of thousands of radiant spheres inside this space. Gather. Gather by my side.

  Although it was fine to keep controlling the golden spheres of light as before—

  The way he was now, Godou was able to create an even more powerful [Sword]. Furthermore, it was the essential weapon in the fight against the great hero Rama.

  "I am the strongest, I shall smash through all enemies in my way. O blade belonging to the savior of the righteous, fragments of the glorious sun. Hereby serve the incarnation of victory!"

  The instant Godou's lips composed these spell words...

  The sword's spell words, reaching tens of thousands in number, the massive collective of radiant spheres began to move like a galaxy of light.

  Colliding and merging together, the spheres of light changed in form and mass, soon turning into a weapon. A longsword with a golden blade—

  The blade's length was beyond conventional, measuring the same size as Godou's 180cm height.

  The blade was also quite broad, roughly the width of a surfboard. Its thickness was like a steel plate's.

  Eight of these giant golden swords were created in total.

  By consolidating the sword's spell words, these eight holy swords of Verethragna were created as a result—The strongest weapons specially prepared by Kusanagi Godou for the decisive battle against Rama.

  With their tips pointing downwards, the eight holy swords hovered in the air.

  In addition, they surrounded Godou on all sides. In order to guard their master from all attacks, the eight holy swords had entered a defensive formation.

  Meanwhile, the Devil King exterminating hero called out loudly:

  "A decisive battle challenging two godslaying Devil Kings... Seeing as that is the case, this venue is not wide enough. Then allow me to prepare an even bigger arena!"

  Immediately, the ground glowed with white light.

  Godou and everyone else had been standing on asphalt, the substance used to lay the race track. However, this ground had suddenly turned into stone tiles, shining with white radiance.
r />   Frantically, Godou surveyed his surroundings to find the scenery changed all at once.

  Somehow, they were now inside a city with white stone tiles everywhere in sight. The view extended endlessly as far as the eye could see. This ground was tiled entirely with stone.

  Over half of the land was empty, most likely. There were not many buildings.

  However, houses and towers were built in various locations, all using a mixture of stones, black, white and gray.

  "When exactly were we moved to this town...!?"

  "Nay! Prince Rama summoned this city!"

  Campiones were highly resistant towards magic and divine powers. Since they were guarded by Verethragna's holy swords, even Rama would not be able to teleport them so easily.

  In other words, he had summoned this city on which they were currently standing.

  Thus, in this manner, the utterly destroyed racing circuit was covered up!

  "This belongs to me, so feel free to destroy it. Make full use of your authorities without holding back. I, too, shall meet you in battle with full force."

  After Rama declared that, a vehicle of war appeared behind him.

  Although a vehicle of war, this was no weapon of steel created by humans in the modern world. Instead, it was a type of horse-drawn carriage that could carry several soldiers and armaments such as bows and spears. In the arenas of ancient Rome, chariot racing was one of the most popular sports.

  Deftly, Rama jumped with agility onto the charioteer's perch.

  Then this chariot began to move as though skating on ice, without needing to be drawn by any horse, flying into the sky!

  "Vimana, a sky chariot!?"

  Godou realized it was a vehicle that had appeared many times in the epic poem, the Ramayana.

  Better described as gliding rather than driving, the vimana flew swiftly and lightly, raising Rama's altitude instantly. He was now seventy or eighty meters in the air above Godou and Luo Cuilian.

  Then the Devil King exterminating hero yelled loudly:

  "Divine Sword of Salvation. My army, O heavenly weapons bestowed by the venerated sage Vishvamitra and the great gods! Now is the time to show your true power!"

  His command achieved great effect. Shining brightly in the sky, the Divine Sword Mandala suddenly increased to four.

  Previously, one symbol alone was enough to produce lightning strikes of immense destructive power. Now, the number had increased to four. Furthermore, all four of them arrived above Godou and Luo Cuilian at the same time.

  The four mandalas were positioned north, east, south, west in a formation, surrounding Godou and the sworn sister completely.

  An indiscriminate barrage of lightning was launched again.

  Four times as much lightning was attacking from four different directions. Incomparably frightening power and pressure. Godou was quite surprised by the simple physical increase.

  "So that's what he meant by full force!"

  The lightning was descending nonstop like a rainstorm.

  However, Godou and the sworn sister standing beside him did not move an inch. Surrounding the two of them, the eight holy swords of Verethragna had created an invisible shield, blocking the lightning's power completely.

  The lightning's heat and shock could not reach the two Campiones.

  The eight holy swords were the ultimate weapons forged from the sword for slicing apart and sealing away the hero Rama's divinity. Their defense could not be penetrated so easily.

  However, this type of attack powered by quantity was not pointless.

  The sword's spell words would deplete gradually from use. If they were to suffer this endless barrage of attacks, the eight holy swords were not going to endure for long and would lose their power. Having fully awakened through the great ritual of the covenant, Rama definitely possessed the massive magic power required to persist in this absurd bombardment to the very end!

  At the same time, riding the vimana, Rama also shot arrows from the air.

  The arrows shot from the steel bow of the universally blessed hero were not merely ranged weapons.

  Successively fired arrows each carried divine power from the thunder god Indra, the fire god Agni and the sun god Surya respectively. Rama was shooting these arrows nonstop without being stingy at all.

  Whenever an arrow descended upon the shield erected by the eight holy swords, a massive explosion would result.

  Even the weakest arrow was able to cause an explosion and shockwave that would destroy a town outright. Furthermore, there were destructive bonuses.

  Wherever the arrows struck, fire and lightning incinerated the vicinity until nothing was left.

  Even so, Rama continued to take out "the arrow with double power," "the arrow with triple power," "the arrow with ten times the power" without stopping.

  "It's like hyperinflation..."

  His senses going numb, Godou remarked wryly.

  So far, the eight holy swords of Verethragna had defended flawlessly against the arrows' firepower. However, although the sword's spell words were much stronger than before, it was unknown how long they could last. Cold sweat flowed down his forehead.

  Meanwhile, the pubescent sworn sister murmured with a look of comprehension.

  "Speaking of which, this was the style of heroes in ancient India."

  After hearing that, Godou nodded.

  Due to knowledge about Prince Rama, he immediately understood.

  India's other great epic poem, the Mahabharata, also featured heroes who frequently used weapons including arrows and javelins. These projectiles were mostly magical weapons, using magic to spread fire and lightning, thus causing massive destruction.

  Furthermore, the heroes would even ride chariots to fly across the sky.

  After reading deeply into those descriptions, people came up with strange theories such as "ancient India was a super civilization surpassing modern science and technology" or "evidence of nuclear war fought using missiles between flying ships (or UFOs)."

  "Godou. It is time for us siblings to counterattack."

  "Well said. Things can only worsen gradually at this rate... I could probably win just by using this sword, if facing an ordinary enemy."

  After revealing the hero Rama's name, Godou obtained these eight holy swords of Verethragna.

  Just one of them alone probably held enough power to equal tens of thousands of the sword's spell words. However, the great ritual of the covenant supplied Rama with massive magic power—most likely surpassing the latent power in the eight holy swords.

  However, Luo Cuilian made a gorgeous smile while speaking:

  "Although the earlier match was child's play with tacit understanding between us to hold back... I never expected him to conceal power of such extent."

  Godou had seen his sworn sister make this look before. This was an honest expression of delight at the enemy's powerful abilities.

  However, she suddenly gazed at Godou mischievously.

  "Now that Sri Rama has flown into the sky, if we were to remain on the ground—"

  "We'll have no chance of winning. I've got an idea, so let me handle it. Building on all the effort you've put in so far, Nee-san, I'll put on a grand performance next."

  "Fufufufu. To think you are bragging so boldly before me."

  Godou was not used to the sight of his sworn sister smiling calmly as a pubescent girl. Nevertheless, he shrugged.

  "You originally said you were conceding the greatest foe to me. After all, you only barely managed to recover, but you're still far from peak condition."

  Although Godou had no idea what kind of secret technique his sworn sister had used...

  The fact that her body regressed in age clearly implied it was quite a reckless method. Despite recovering her depleted magic power, surely it was only about half compared to the original amount.

  And also due to having a child's body, her stamina would be different from usual.

  At these times, I should be the one stepping forw
ard—Thinking that, Godou asserted clearly:

  "It'll trouble me if I let the wounded enter the fray. So assist me from behind, Nee-san. I'm counting on you."

  "Seriously! Your manner of speaking to the supreme elder sister is still so irreverent. However, so be it. Being able to brag so boldly could also be taken as proof of your growth."

  "Sorry about that. But I'm sure you'll definitely have a chance to enter the stage, Nee-san."

  The enemy was powerful to an unprecedented extent. This was absolutely an intense battle requiring them to go all out.

  Furthermore, while this conversation was taking place, the four mandalas kept raining down lightning. Rama also fired consecutively at Godou and Luo Cuilian on the ground with his mysterious arrows of massive firepower.

  These attacks all came from the hero Rama's divine power, hence they were unable to break through Verethragna's eight holy swords.

  Despite the hellish situation outside the shield from the impacts and explosions, the interior remained calm and peaceful. However.

  Of the eight golden swords surrounding Godou and Luo Cuilian—one of them turned into the color of steel.

  The spell words for slicing apart and sealing away Rama's divinity were being consumed rapidly.

  After all, this could not be helped if one were to endure the enemy's overwhelming attacks persistently. Turning into the color of steel, the holy sword then vanished.

  It was Godou's turn to switch from defense to offense. Speaking to the partner dormant in his right arm, he ordered:

  "Ama no Murakumo! Get me one of those flying chariots!"

  'Affirmative!'

  This was the same tactic he had used in the battle against Uldin. Since the enemy could fly in the sky, all he needed to do was order Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi to replicate this power so that he could use it himself.

  This time, the power to control vimanas was emulated.

  Honestly speaking, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi's copying power was not that powerful, unable to emulate authorities for causing grand miracles. However, one could only make do in this regard.

  A chariot appeared before Godou, identical to Rama's in appearance.

  "Thanks, take us up into the sky!"