Campione 07

by Great Sage Equaling Heaven

  Though his body was clearly powerless to fight, his eyes showed no exhaustion and exhibited the relentless will in his heart. As befitting of a king, he did not despair in such a crisis.

  Smith smiled beneath his mask.

  With zero immunity against men, Annie Charlton had been deliberately avoiding Godou, but on the other hand, John Pluto Smith did not disapprove of him.

  Building romantic relationships with numerous girls and enjoying the pleasure of love.

  This was the pastime of libertine intellectuals. Precisely because Annie could not comprehend such a concept, that woman had been plagued with the loneliness of being single!

  As he criticized his other personality, Smith noticed something.

  The heretic [Steel], the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's divine power was rising rapidly. It was so powerful that it surpassed all the deities he had ever met. What was going on!?

  With nervous eyes, Kusanagi Godou watched the divine monkey through an open car window.

  "Pardon my impertinence of my request, but I shall handle this. You people should escape first."

  "You wish for my lord to owe you a favor? ...John Smith-sama."

  As soon as he spoke to the girls, Erica answered from the driver's seat.

  As befitting the high class young lady of the Blandelli family, as well as a famous celebrity in the realm of magi, Erica's inquiry carried a very graceful tone.

  The reason why she omitted the name of Pluto, was probably because the text message was signed by "JS."

  "Favor? No, it is because you all have shown hospitality to my collaborator, which is why I must do something as a thank you gift. In the language of loans, this would be called clearing one's debts."

  The pleasure of trying to decipher each other's motives in this conversation with the beautiful girl proved to be something rarely found in Los Angeles.

  If the black mask had the capability to show facial expressions, surely it would be smiling now.

  "It is my style to always return good favors, and fortunately I possess an authority that could match the monkey king. So please, leave things to me?"

  "Of course, Smith-sama. My lord and I shall return your favor someday. Given the current situation, please allow me to express our gratitude in his stead."

  The corner of Erica Blandelli's lips showed a highly refined smile.

  Their car started once again, accelerating once then accelerating even further, and soon disappeared out of sight.

  'Hohoho, you think you can match me, what audacity! Very well, let Old Sun here show you his divine power, and I shall finish this grand divine summoning spell right now!'

  The Great Sage Equaling Heaven snickered to himself as two stone figures suddenly appeared in his hand.

  One was an armored soldier with a pig's head, while the other looked like some sort of demonic deity with hair standing on end like flames.

  'The treasure mirror reflects the Earth and the Heavens, the divine sword conjoins Yin and Yang! I, Great Sage Equaling Heaven, hereby summon my sworn brothers by our pact of fraternity! Come forth, Middle Bro, Zhu Ganglie!'

  As the Great Sage tossed the figure of the armored soldier, it expanded in size and became a [Heretic God].

  He had a pig's head covered with dense black fur, and a comedic face despite menacing tusks. The plump and solidly built massive body was wearing black armor.

  'Come forth, Lil' Bro Vaisravana!'

  This time the figure of the demonic deity that was tossed also manifested into a god, with a head of stiff spiky crimson hair, a face like a ferocious demon, ashen black skin, a dismal gloomy expression, and over his tattered clothing was a set of blue armor.

  "Oh well, at least I'm back."

  "We meet again, Big Bro, Middle Bro. I suppose our task is to eliminate that fellow before us?'

  The two gods descending upon the earth spoke.

  Zhu Ganglie — Zhu Bajie. Vaisravana — Sha Wujing. Together with Sun Wukong, this was three against one!

  "Let me display the admiral's prowess I have long hidden away... The Curtain-Lifting General shall command the great navy, expelling all evil. Let dragons be summoned and rain shall fall!"

  Once Vaisravana finished chanting, a pillar of water surged up strongly like a geyser, breaking through the asphalt of the paved road. Rushing towards the sky, its shape began to change, becoming a creature with a long slender body, four short limbs, a reptilian face, and horns on its head.

  This appearance was essentially a dragon's.

  Vaisravana controlled the dragon born from water.

  "I will display my martial prowess as the former general in the royal guard, savor this well!"

  Standing upon the head of the water dragon, Vaisravana boasted with pride.

  The dragon's appearance with its lowered gaze was most awe-inspiring. It was like a sculpture made of water.

  "Wow, Lil' Bro sure looks cool eh."

  Zhu Ganglie looked a bit crestfallen.

  "I am also known as the Great Patriarch of the Nine Heavens, the Foremost Spiritual Grand Master, Keeper of the Beginning and the Great Void, the Marshal Canopy Divine Monarch! In other words, the Great Emperor's marshal! In the name of my martial might, let the north star be revealed!"

  Yelling out a string of pretentious titles, Zhu Ganglie's body turned into a giant.

  Expanding until a height of 15m or so, he also became three-headed and six-armed like an Asura.

  Basically, additional pig faces grew out on the left and right of his original face while each shoulder gained an extra pair of arms. The six arms wielded a sword, a halberd, an axe, a club, a bow and arrows respectively. The body continued to be clad in pitch black armor.

  Zhu Ganglie stepped forward with his bizarre body. Boom! The ground resounded as it shook.

  "Hurry and give chase! Make haste and catch up to those fellows just now!"

  As the Great Sage gave his orders, two giant apes appeared out of the ground.

  These were the giant ape-shaped divine beasts that Godou's group had met on their way through the mountain path. The two divine beasts began to run forward with incredible speed.

  Though their bodies looked huge, their speed was extremely fast. Smith wished for good fortune to Godou and his group as he transformed into the [Jaguar] once again. In this short time, he had already metamorphosed quite a number of times.

  "In actual fact, I already received news earlier that you can call in reinforcements."

  "Oh? What are you trying to say?"

  With an impatient tone, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven answered the jaguar's whispers.

  "However, why have you waited until now to summon them... This is a very interesting question. The way I see it, you are a very vain deity that loves attention. If you had such a spectacular move available, what would prevent you from showing off right from the start?"

  Smith had already deduced a plausible answer beforehand.

  If the conjecture was correct, then there was no need to deliberately and recklessly rush headlong into a three-versus-one fight.

  The precious arrows of the moon goddess Artemis only had six shots, and now it was necessary to fire one of them... Smith opened the jaguar's mouth and shot a magic bullet!

  It was not necessary to fire them from the magic gun when in a metamorphosed state — rather, the causality went the opposite way.

  The gun was a weapon created for the purpose of controlling Artemis' authority with a human body.

  The flash of white lightning streaked across the sky, resembling a flying dragon. The three gods entered a prepared stance, clearly aware of the power possessed by the moon goddess' arrow. However, Smith's goal was not defeating them.

  The magic bullet exploded in the air.

  Like a supernova, bright light burst forth from the explosion, illuminating the entire surroundings with a white color.

  However, this explosion was neither accompanied by heat nor impact. It was only a flash of light that acted as a visual div
ersion.

  It was the strongest diversion in the world, with the ability to scorch the vision of gods.

  But since the enemies were gods, it was possible they might give chase using hearing, smell or extrasensory perception.

  Hence, before he began his escape, Smith used the entirety of the [Jaguar]'s magic powers, just in case.

  Part 2

  Erica floored the gas pedal without hesitation and sped through the night along National Route 120.

  She had noticed the two giant apes that were pursuing them and regularly checked the rear view mirror for their position. Though it would take them time to catch up, the distance was gradually shrinking.

  Despite their massive bodies over 10m tall, the giant apes ran with incredible speed.

  This was surprising to Erica. Generally speaking, most wild beasts were not suited to long distance running because their thick fur prevented them from using sweat effectively to maintain body temperatures. Persisting activity would soon lead to overheating and instant exhaustion.

  In terms of stamina, human beings were actually at the pinnacle of all terrestrial mammals.

  "Lily, do you think we can shake them off by using flight magic?"

  "Only if they do not know how to fly. It is worth a try, but if that spell is used, we will become defenseless..."

  "Then it's better if we don't use it. Yesterday I saw that certain monkey fly like a rocket."

  Erica, Liliana and Ena, the three remaining combatants, discussed their options briefly.

  "Then that only leaves... Attacking them head on."

  Erica murmured as she gripped the steering wheel tightly.

  If only they could breach the mountain pass. But attacking them head on was equivalent to suicide.

  What they needed was a team of Great Knight-level specialists to fight after making detailed battle plans and preparations, and thus achieve victory... Even then, chances of survival were still quite low. That was the level of power that divine beasts possessed.

  "Anyway, let Ena take care of one of them. If I use divine possession, it should be an equal match."

  Even though repeated use of that technique carried fatal risk from depletion of spirit powers, the Hime-Miko made the proposal and volunteered with a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

  "That is to say, we two are going to face the remaining one? If this was a duel, it would be a taint to our honor."

  "However, we are simply driving off monsters, so there is no justification for such rumors. Looking at it another way, for us to obtain victory with our numbers would be a legendary feat."

  Erica was unfazed by the silver-haired knight's various concerns.

  She continued to accelerate, not to lose the pursuers but to maintain the distance and get ready to mount a frontal assault.

  After a while, the car came to a parking lot.

  A little further ahead was a passing stream as well as a concrete bridge.

  This place was clearly in the mountains, but the presence of restaurants and a bus stop indicated it was some kind of tourist destination.

  "This is the Dragon Head Falls. If you go deeper in the mountains from here, you will see the waterfall."

  Ena surveyed the surroundings.

  They stopped the car in the parking lot. The only ones who got off were Erica, Liliana and Ena.

  Yuri was still in a daze while Godou was immobile. Having endured the paralysis of the [Raptor]'s aftereffects and the pain of the pierced abdomen, he slipped into deep sleep.

  The two of them were left in the car, but before that, Erica opened the door to the back seat and kissed her exhausted beloved. Though she really did not want this to be a farewell kiss, it could very well be their last. At the same time, she also took the opportunity to apply healing magic.

  Unlike the day before, Godou did not have the awareness to complain.

  "Hmm..."

  As she let go of his lips, Godou moaned.

  "Please rest for a while, and I will return to your side as soon as possible. Regarding Ena, you still need to be taught a lesson."

  Erica whispered in Godou's ear and left the vehicle after lightly kissing his earlobe. Liliana and Ena both showed an expression that said 'damn it, too late!" but they tried to pretend as if nothing had happened.

  As the two giant apes approached with awkward motions, Ena was the first to act.

  "Trudging through grassy plains beneath the morning mist, the soles of the feet gradually moistened... Marching through that Nagashino plain, crossing the barrier of the Shirakawa River — Seishuuin Ena has arrived!"

  The Hime-Miko of the Sword finished chanting the spell words, and though the portion was small, a divine aura filled her body.

  As Ena's guardian deity, Susanoo's divine power was infused into her body. The two giant apes stared at her, clearly judging Ena to be a great threat.

  "I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee."[69]

  "O sword of Saul, the warrior's weapon fast as an eagle and strong as a lion. Descend into my hand now!"

  Chanting their respective incantations, Erica and Liliana finished their spell words of David.[70]

  Infusing their beloved swords with spell words, the two swords revealed their true forms, with Cuore di Leone transformed into a broad-bladed longsword while Il Maestro became a naginata. The red and blue bandiera capes also manifested on the two knights.

  "Lily, let's divert one of the divine beasts first!"

  "Acknowledged! I will attack from above, you go from below!"

  Erica approached the closer of the two giant apes and stabbed Cuore di Leone's sharp blade into its ankle. Infused with the spell words of hate and despair, it cut through the fur and hide of the unsuspecting giant monkey.

  Blue-colored blood gushed out from the wound.

  The giant ape cast a violent gaze towards the interloper at its feet. As if toying with the beast, Erica once again made a thrust, causing even greater injury to the giant ape's foot.

  ROOAAARR! The giant ape's eyes went bloodshot, fully intent on taking revenge against Erica.

  At this time, Liliana took a leap. Moving as light as a swallow, she deftly landed on the giant ape's knee. Using this foothold for the next jump, Liliana gracefully flew through the air, brandishing Il Maestro as she traveled, embedding the naginata into the left eye of the giant ape.

  The eyeball was pierced. GAAAAAAAAH!! The giant ape screamed in agony.

  Its remaining eye became clouded with hate and fury.

  Erica and Liliana, who had just landed, turned around and began to run. Their first goal was to charge into the nearby forest and begin running away at full speed.

  In order to chase the blonde and silver-haired knights, the injured giant ape rushed into the forest.

  It felt like someone had applied healing magic, and the sense of pain had lessened greatly.

  Finding the stiffness of his body released, the awakened Godou surveyed the interior of the car. Yuri was beside him, leaning against the car door and making short and rapid breathing noises. The others had left — no, he could spot one of his companions outside the window.

  Wielding a Japanese sword, Seishuuin Ena was fighting a giant ape.

  As the giant ape attacked with its long and thick arms, Ena rapidly jumped to evade.

  The Hime-Miko landed on the giant ape's arm and used the remaining momentum to run upwards along it.

  With monkey-like agility, Ena swiftly passed the upper arm and stopped at the giant ape's shoulder. The target of her sword seemed to be the beast's carotid artery in the neck.

  At this time, a strong gust of wind suddenly blew from the side, sending Ena flying from the giant ape's shoulder.

  This was no accident but holy wind caused by the divine beast's spiritual powers. The Hime-Miko landed with a somersault, but the wind began to howl violently once more, intent on blowing her away.

  The wind was strong enough to cause the car's windows to clatter
and shake.

  "Hearing the noise, catching sight of the waterfall... Like mountain valleys and ocean straits —"

  Ena chanted spell words and at the same time, the wind around her seemed to die down.

  This was the divine power of Susanoo! Ena's guardian deity was the god of storms, domination and steel — a great and powerful deity possessing many types of divine powers. This time it was Ena's turn to control the wind.

  The wind bellowed and became razor-sharp, forming an uncountable number of blades to slice up the giant ape.

  The sacred monkey roared in agony. But even though it was injured, none of the wounds were critical.

  It was like using a craft knife to victimize a person. As long as critical points were not targeted, a decisive blow could not be dealt. Despite the several dozens of wounds it had received, the giant ape continued to aim its fists at Ena.

  By the slimmest of margins, Ena evaded the simple but direct straight punch.

  Though the situation currently looked even, the battle definitely favored the side with the overwhelming weight advantage. Ena's movements began to lose agility, and it was clear that massive amounts of her stamina had been depleted from consecutive usage of divine possession!

  Wanting to help her, Godou left the vehicle, but his knees gave way and collapsed.

  The giant ape exhaled, its breath turning into a blast of compressed air aiming for Ena.

  "Aaaaaah!"

  Blown mercilessly into the air and slamming into the ground, the Hime-Miko of the Sword screamed in pain.

  Unlike her usual cheerfulness, the voice sounded most desperate as Ena tried to use her sword as a crutch, her legs shaking as she attempted to stand up. Watching all this happen, Godou began to notice something.

  Verethragna's sixth incarnation, the [Youth] was now available for use.

  "W-Why would it suddenly be like this!?"

  "That power is for those who fight for you. A power that awakens only in extreme crises."

  Yuri suddenly spoke with a weak voice.

  Was it another divine oracle from spirit vision? Yuri declared solemnly at the shocked Godou.

  "The protection bestowed by the Persian Warlord, has the power to resist death and vanquish evil. Please use it well."