Godou was struck in the shoulder by one of these arrows just now. Speaking of which, applying poison onto arrows for shooting people and animals was apparently one of the tactics that equestrian tribes were skilled in.
According to history, the warriors at Kamakura city had suffered much from them during the invasion of the Mongolians' Yuan dynasty.
Strength was gradually sapped from Godou's body.
Slowly, he toppled forwards and fell on one knee.
"Hohohoho. It's not very sporting, but it looks like this battle is about to conclude with my victory."
Uldin drew his bow and shot an arrow.
Further poisoning would probably decide the victor then and there.
Using all four limbs like a wolf, Godou mustered all his strength to jump right.
He managed to evade, barely. Then the second and third arrows sliced through the wind. Despite Godou's four-legged stance, dodging the second arrow precariously—He could not escape the third.
The arrow embedded itself in his left calf.
"Guah!"
A pang of sharp pain. The arrow went deep into his calf.
Now that his leg was injured, Godou could no longer dodge in the same manner as before. Very soon, the poison should be taking effect. But luckily, the arrow had not struck any major arteries or anything critical.
In other words, Godou still had enough remaining strength to make a bid for final victory—
Thanks to that, he was prepared to take a gamble, no holds barred.
Godou intended to pour all of his remaining power into the [Goat]. Enduring the pain in his leg, the nausea and the chills, he forced himself to stand up by relying on willpower alone.
Watching Godou from above, Uldin unexpectedly threw his bow away.
The Huns' long-range weapon made a clatter as it rolled down the side of the castle walls.
"Even forced into a corner as a wounded beast, you still aim for a chance to counterattack. As my fellow kin, you are surely capable of that. You are really quite a delightful fellow!"
Uldin smiled as he gazed down at Godou.
Up until now, the smiles he displayed had all been all cheerful and full of positive fighting spirit. But currently, this smile was filled with savagery. It was the smile of a hunter determined to slay his prey.
Uldin was also planning to make a bid for final victory.
Feeling like he was facing himself, Godou clicked his tongue. As expected of his fellow kin.
Even faced with overwhelming odds—Or rather, precisely because of that, he must summon his full power to defeat the enemy!
"Come to my side, the sword of victory!"
The Hunnic godslayer shouted spell words.
"So long as you exist in this very hand, I shall obtain victory in any and every battlefield. So long as you exist in this very hand, my army is rendered immortal and invincible!"
Having forsaken the bow, Uldin raised his empty right hand towards the sky.
A longsword suddenly manifested in his hand.
The slender blade of steel measured roughly 80cm or so. The hilt was modest and completely unadorned. However, accompanying the manifestation of this longsword, symbols began to descend from the sky.
Norse runes. Symbols looking like "↑", shaped like upward pointing arrows.
Countless symbols of this form descended from the sky like snow.
Thanks to the knowledge imparted by Erica and Ena, Godou understood the meaning of this rune. It was the rune symbolizing the Norse war god of victory and battle.
"So this is the power of that god called Tyr!?"
"That Ruska girl, I can't believe she even disclosed my trump card."
Uldin smiled wryly for an instant in response to Godou's mutterings. However, he immediately resumed his solemn countenance and raised the sword in his right hand high up in the air.
"O Tyr's Sword, grant to my army immortality and victory!"
Hearing this command, the numerous corpses stood up all at once.
As the unending stream of Tyr's runes descended upon their bodies, the mini-pterosaurs that were previously wiped out all opened their eyes, struggled to their feet and spread their wings.
Even the injuries suffered back when they were struck down by the [Boar]'s shockwaves were completely healed.
—The war god Tyr was also a god with the [Steel] attribute. As one from the lineage of steel, that implied properties of immortal indestructibility.
Godou recalled his formidable foe, Lancelot du Lac.
This authority was similar to what the goddess possessed. In this case, immortality manifested in the form of resurrecting one's own army!
Furthermore, not only the mini-pterosaurs but also the giant red dragon the [Boar] had defeated were appearing in the air once more.
"Guh! O guardian of the righteous, I offer sacrifice and invite you!"
Godou immediately invoked the [Goat] incarnation.
Gathering the feelings of the populace, this incarnation controlled lightning and possessed "priestly" powers.
Godou expanded the range of psychic sensing—releasing it towards Augusta Raurica, intending to gather the willpower of the populace that feared Uldin. However, he did not succeed.
Before his sensing powers could explode in range, one of the mini-pterosaurs was already attacking him.
Godou pointed his right hand towards the throat of the viciously pouncing pterosaur.
The lightning from his palm struck the mini-pterosaur dead. Although the potency was much less compared to when he gathered power from the majority of the populace, it was enough to handle enemies of this level.
Nevertheless, Godou was instantly surrounded despite defeating the first beast.
He was surrounded by the resurrected mini-pterosaur army of roughly a hundred.
Furthermore, circling in the air was the giant red dragon whose gaze was directed towards Godou on the ground. More importantly, Uldin was still standing on top of the castle walls.
Stabbing Tyr's Sword into the pathway, he picked up the bow he had tossed away just now.
There was an absolute disadvantage in numbers. Although the [Goat]'s lightning was quite powerful, it did not have the explosive force to clear out the encircling enemies in one clean sweep. An attack like the [White Stallion] was required to achieve that sort of effect.
Furthermore, the number of divine beasts increased further by one.
A Deinonychus was running towards him, opposite to where he was facing. It was the one that had gone chasing after Ena just now.
Godou began to tremble, feeling as though his heart was clutched by a grim reaper's hand. Was the Hime-Miko killed already? —Just as he experienced this fear.
Then at this very moment—
The ice-cold sensation of steel returned to his right arm.
'Your Majesty! Ena and Erica-san are fine. So go on and use it!'
Returned to Godou's right arm, the partner transmitted the Hime-Miko's message to him.
Godou smiled involuntarily. He felt relieved. Thank goodness.
With that, he could continue fighting! This involuntary smile was filled with savagery that only Uldin could rival.
"Ama no Murakumo! Prepare a dragon for me!"
The instant Godou issued this order, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi manifested in his right hand.
Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi possessed the power to "replicate an enemy's divine powers and authority." This time, Godou commanded it to simulate Uldin's [Dragon Taming] ability.
Released from Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi, the divine power called out to an approaching pterosaur.
This was the one Uldin had been riding, the Deinonychus that was chasing Ena earlier.
Regrettably, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi's copying powers could only control one beast apparently. Godou forced his feeble body to move once more. As fast as possible, he had to reach the dragon's saddle.
"What!?"
Uldin was stunned. This was only natural.
"I am utterly impressed. This doesn't really matter to me, but you really are a resilient fellow! Chase after him!"
Uldin immediately smiled with joy and calmly issued orders for pursuit.
The army of mini-pterosaurs took flight one after another to pursue Godou who was flying through the night sky.
As expected of the ancient Campione, Uldin also seemed to understand quite well that godslayers were precisely the kinds of creatures whose dormant potential exploded only in response to minuscule chances of victory.
Part 5
Thus, Godou was currently fleeing with an army of mini-pterosaurs in pursuit.
Their flight speeds were apparently comparable, hence Godou was able to maintain the lead from his head start.
Since he had no destination, Godou simply ordered the pterosaur to fly horizontally in the moon's direction.
The crescent moon was shining with pristine, white radiance. Speaking of which, Madame Aisha's corridor was (probably) going to open when the full moon came—?
Riding on the dragon saddle, Godou found the experience unexpectedly similar to horse riding.
In other words, "it's not bad once you get used to it." Poisoned and having an arrow through his leg, Godou found it quite painful to force this kind of body to ride the pterosaur.
His entire body was exhausted. Even fueled by willpower, he was unable to move freely.
If his consciousness started to get hazy, not only would he lose grip of Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi, but he would also fall off the dragon saddle. In that case, things would be over if he finally fell from a height of two or three hundred meters.
—Suddenly, he noticed the mini-pterosaurs were gaining on him from behind.
Godou squeezed out more power to raise his pterosaur's speed. Releasing the [Goat]'s lightning, he struck down one of the pursuing pterosaurs. An instant kill.
But it was no time to celebrate. The enemies were still quite numerous.
Furthermore, he did not know if Tyr's authority could resurrect them repeatedly.
Even if he continued to rely on the [Goat]'s powers to fight, he would still gradually get cornered. If the battle continued to drag on, Kusanagi Godou would surely deplete all his energy in the middle—
Currently, what he needed was a decisive power that could end the battle in one strike.
The [White Stallion] was already used. However, there was still hope.
Still, Godou was not confident he could control it well. Fortunately, this was in the air and there were no settlements or companions in the surroundings.
If he were to use the power that Yuri had prepared specifically in premonition of this crisis, now was the only time.
"Dawn's secret archives huh..."
As Godou chanted spell words, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi began to burn with black flames.
"Lend unto me the skills of the witch... goddess!"
Before coming to ancient Gaul, Yuri had released this sealed power.
These were the "spell words" left behind not too long ago as the dawn goddess Circe's legacy. These spell words were far too simple to be called an authority. By chanting this incantation, Kusanagi Godou was granted for a short duration the witch goddess' divine power of magical control—
This could be described as an impromptu grimoire, a guide for controlling a goddess' powers.
Using this power, Kusanagi Godou was able to draw out the [Sword of the Beginning and the End], despite not being a goddess himself, to obtain the power of heaven and earth's creation!
"Those that summon storms... A thousand dragons, a thousand snakes. Gather now to become a blade!"
Godou finally used it a second time.
Relying on the gift left behind by Athena together with the power painstakingly bestowed by Circe, Godou finally managed to master the ritual of destruction and rebirth. Those involved in the world of magic, not knowing any better, would probably mistaken this as "Kusanagi Godou's third authority."
The small star of darkness manifested over the crescent moon.
This stellar object immediately expanded and instantly grew to a diameter of dozens of meters.
Then it began to rotate. Spinning horizontally, it was slow at first but high-speed revolution instantly resulted. Gwoon. Gwoon. The rotating black star gave off its distinctive noise.
Wielded in Godou's right hand, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi was completely shrouded in black flames whose temperature could not be felt.
'Let's go, king! Hereby execute the ritual of heaven and earth's creation. Now is the time to summon the storm!'
These were Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi's thoughts.
Despite possessing self-awareness, the divine sword seldom spoke. Only in battle—and during critical moments like this did it make an exception.
Just as Godou nodded to acknowledge his partner's words, the storm was produced.
From overhead, the storm was blowing due to the star of darkness.
Rather than blowing outwards, these strong winds flowed to suck things in. The raging winds swirled in the dark star's surroundings, forming a cyclone, resulting in a storm.
Chasing after Godou, the army of mini-pterosaurs were sucked towards the star of darkness like particles of dust.
Even as the mini-pterosaurs desperately resisted by flapping their wings, it was futile.
"This is getting out of hand..."
Godou could not help but mutter to himself.
Beneath his flying pterosaur was a vast plain belonging to ancient Gaul. Green pastures stretched all the way to the horizon. Apart from scattered beech and oak trees, the terrain was virtually flat.
However, the landscape of this plain was now changing.
The star of darkness not only sucked in the pterosaur army but also the atmosphere of the night sky, the grass, the trees, the flowers and the soil.
Accompanied by the howling of the wind, a large amount of soil and dirt flew into the air.
Naturally, a massive hole was being dug out of the ground. At first ten-odd meters in diameter, the hole was gradually expanding, almost large enough to be called a crater.
If this was happening in the modern world, who knew how much damage would be caused—?
Furthermore, a tragic fate awaited all the mini-pterosaurs, caught in this gravitational storm.
As if mocking them, the star of darkness mercilessly pulled in the mini-pterosaurs despite their struggles, wiping out the pterosaur army from the night sky with exceptional speed.
Completely erased. There was no worry of whether Tyr's Sword could resurrect them anymore.
On the other hand, Godou and his dragon mount barely managed to resist the wind drawing them in.
'O king, time to use more power! Or else we too shall be sucked into it!'
Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi warned. Godou instantly poured magical power into the divine sword. Don't suck us in as well—He shouted strongly in his thoughts.
Thanks to that, the storm blowing around the star of darkness just managed to miss Godou and his mount.
However, every time the raging wind blew past them, the pterosaur would still shake very unsteadily, almost losing balance.
It would not be surprising for the rider, Godou, to fall off at any moment.
"Guh—I'm almost at my limit huh..."
The spitting headache caused Godou to frown.
His control over the dark star and the raging storm was reaching a limit. Although Circe's power was assisting him, this was still too difficult for Godou who had yet to get used to controlling it.
Even something as simple as a sigh of relief would probably make him lose control. Furthermore—
"Hahahaha! This man here, I can't believe you were hiding such a trump card!"
Still in good shape, the enemy was laughing with exhilaration.
Uldin was riding astride a pterosaur, flying in pursuit of Godou.
There was also another pterosaur following behind him. He had apparently "disassembled" the giant red dragon to release the two dinosaurs from the union. Presumably, the massive body was harder to ride.
Uldin was mounted on the boundary between the pterosaur's head and shoulders as though he were riding a horse.
Using his legs to grip the pterosaur's body, he maintained his balance in a skillful posture. Furthermore, he was still carrying Tyr's Sword in his hand.
"Ending the battle with a dragon race sounds like a fun idea, comrade!"
The second pterosaur behind the Hunnic godslayer was also sucked into the star of darkness.
However, Uldin's pterosaur barely managed to stay safe, because the rider had poured almost all of his magical power into the pterosaur, thereby strengthening its flying ability.
Uldin was already the [Dragon Tamer], hence being able to strengthen his dragon mount was only to be expected.
On Godou's side, he had no choice but to strengthen his own dragon mount and prepare to strike back.
However, both his body and mind were reaching their limits—
Brandishing the sword of victory, Uldin flew towards Godou whose stamina and magical power were almost completely depleted. Their distance began to shrink slowly.
Once the enemy caught up close enough to attack with his sword, it would be Godou's defeat.
Godou did not have any strength to spare for evasion. Neither could he release the [Goat]'s lightning. In exchange for flying to this location, the price he paid was that he could no longer locate Erica, Ena or Augusta Raurica's twenty thousand citizens. Consequently, he was unable to gather power from them.
If he made use of psychic sensing, perhaps he would be able to locate them. But Godou really did not have the leisure to do so.
Hence—This could be described as literally "checkmate."
Even so, Godou could still struggle desperately, simply powered by a mental state of "I'm not gonna lose to you", consequences be damned, as well as the strength provided by companions who could not possibly exist here.
'Kusanagi Godou!'
'Godou-san. Almost there!'
These were the voices of girls who were not supposed to be present.
The thoughts of Liliana Kranjcar and Mariya Yuri. Using the [Goat]'s psychic sensing to hear these voices, Godou felt intrigued. However, these voices were definitely quite nearby.
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