Campione! - Volume 17 - The Hero's Name

by Taketsuki Jou

  This was the ritual for summoning a "goddess of the land" to serve the Devil King exterminating hero.

  "Although I bear no grudge against her, I can't ignore the one she serves. To prevent loose ends, I'd better kill her."

  After hearing about the goddess-summoning ritual, the Devil King intruded into the ritual grounds.

  However, it was all over already. The beautiful goddess had descended successfully. The priests who had carried out the ritual all cheered and rejoiced.

  True to his title of Devil King, he first slaughtered every one of the priests.

  Then he raised his sword against the goddess who had manifested on earth and was supposed to assist the hero.

  "O King of the Rakshasa, it cannot be helped if you desire to kill me. Please do with my life as it may please you."

  The goddess answered quite candidly.

  "What?"

  "Just as you can see, I will not strike back."

  She had long flaxen-colored hair and eyes the color of glass. Despite manifesting as such a beautiful maiden, she remained still with her head bowed down, exposing her delicate neck to the Devil King.

  Never expecting her to be so submissive, the Devil King felt his mood getting ruined. At this time, the goddess with eyes of glass spoke calmly:

  "Frankly speaking, I was summoned only to sacrifice my life to His Highness—the crown prince. Even if you refrain from the deed, someone else will most likely kill me."

  His Highness, the crown prince. She was referring to the Devil King exterminating hero.

  The people serving that man had addressed him that many times.

  "How incomprehensible. If you're going to summon a goddess, at least order her around as a retainer. What good will killing you do? I really don't get it at all."

  "Raising the crown prince's divine power requires the essence of the earth... In other words, an earth goddess' life."

  Still with her head bowed, the goddess smiled, further enhancing the beauty of her face.

  She was smiling to hide and suppress her sorrow. That was the kind of smile it was.

  "Because His Highness is the enemy of goddesses—of women. More than anyone else, he embodies this characteristic of sword gods, that of 'the man who conquers the earth,' a great hero."

  "Hmm."

  He fell into deep thought. It was necessary to confirm the veracity of her claim first.

  But if it really were true, killing her would be the same as personally aiding the hero. He wanted to avoid this. More importantly—even if the goddess was lying—this was the most interesting plea for mercy he had ever heard.

  "Very well. Then you shall come with me. As my captive, your life will be in my hands. If necessary, I will protect you from their blades."

  "Ah."

  The goddess with the eyes of glass chuckled as though she had heard something amusing.

  "What's so funny?"

  "Nothing. The Rakshasa King with ten lives capturing a goddess of the land, then facing off against the crown prince... It's like we have returned to the age of the myths."

  Then several years passed—

  The hero led his army, laying siege to the castle where the Devil King with ten lives made his residence.

  The hero and the Devil King's armies clashed violently. During the chaotic battle, the one-on-one showdown between generals also started.

  The godslaying Devil King and the Devil King-exterminating hero each drew their sword for a decisive duel.

  Using the weapon known as the Divine Sword of Salvation, the hero controlled countless bolts of lightning. Locked in a duel with this formidable enemy, the powerful Devil King must also pour his entire power into the battle to resist him.

  Hence, he did not have any strength to spare for defense. He failed to defend the Devil King's castle from an arrow.

  Amidst the chaotic battle, the younger brother who served the hero had bided his time to shoot this arrow. As the hero's subordinate god, the younger brother was identical to the hero in appearance except with brown skin.

  Shot by the arrow, the Devil King's castle exploded like a volcanic eruption.

  All soldiers and retainers, as well as the goddess with eyes of glass living somewhere in the castle, everyone was incinerated to nothing in the exploding flames, dying in futility.

  "What!?"

  Compared to the Devil King, the hero turned out to be more shocked.

  The younger brother had probably acted on his own without consent. To ensure the goddess' death, he had even used an arrow of massive firepower. Furthermore, he achieved his goal successfully.

  Together with the goddess with eyes of glass, the Devil King's castle was utterly annihilated. In the next instant, there was a bright flash of lightning.

  This was life essence from the deceased mother earth goddess in the area. The essence was automatically drawn to the hero's body, raising his power as the "king manifesting at era's end" to a critical state.

  At this moment, the Devil King swung his trenchant blade.

  At critical state, the "King of the End" did not evade. The sword chopped down mercilessly.

  However, what bled out from the wound was not blood but extremely powerful lightning.

  The lightning of salvation. Causing Kusanagi Godou great hardship during battles in the future, this platinum-colored light exploded, sweeping everything away within a radius of ten-odd kilometers—

  "Alas."

  The "King of the End" concentrated all his regrets into this brief sigh and lamentation.

  His divine power had destroyed everything. Whether the Devil King's castle or army, or even the army he was leading as the hero.

  He had not hoped for this atrocious violence.

  However, this tragedy was undoubtedly caused by him, the hero.

  Due to the powerful explosions of lightning, all life had been erased in the surroundings of the Devil King's castle, turning into a barren wasteland.

  The hero—the "King of the End" simply stood in shock in the middle of the wasteland.

  He was clearly exhausted and troubled by the sins he had committed, tired of the destiny forcing him to do such things, thus losing color and brightness in his handsome and proper face.

  "How boring."

  The only survivor, the Devil King, arrogantly struck up conversation with the hero.

  The hero looked back abruptly. While feeling surprised, he nodded in acceptance of this fact in the depths of his heart.

  "Nothing less expected from you... Of all the godslayers I have known, you are the larger-than-life character closest to immortality. It is unbelievable how you survived the lightning I released after the great ritual of the covenant had raised me to the highest level."

  "But it wasn't easy either."

  The godslayer with ten lives was extremely resilient in vitality. Thus the Devil King narrowly survived.

  Looking at the Devil King, the hero laughed coldly. This laugh expressed how surprised but impressed he was towards the absurd toughness of the human before him.

  "I was thinking that the goddess—who used to be my wife—would be safe under your protection... How disappointing."

  "Don't go starting wars near people whose death will cause a ton of trouble. It's such a pain for me too."

  While the hero sighed, the Devil King simply responded indifferently.

  "You piss me off quite a bit. Although I don't bear any particular grudge against you as a man, I do have many complaints for the 'destiny' giving birth to your kind of existence. Like 'A hero who devours the lives of women should just drop dead!'"

  "...Should I express deep agreement?"

  "The same goes for you. If you find destiny to be a hassle, just abandon it and be free, okay? There's no need to keep shouldering it like an obedient slave. It's such a sad sight."

  "I suppose one could say that after all."

  Confronted with the Devil King venting on his own, the "King of the End" smiled, feeling impressed.

 
; "Destiny, fate, bloodline, divine protection, duty, faith, the limits of the human body, helplessness, a power gap meant to be impossible to overcome... You godslayers always seem to break past all obstacles effortlessly, blocking my path, even defeating me a number of times."

  Smiling, the "King of the End" offered praise to Devil Kings before reaching for the Divine Sword of Salvation.

  He readied the sword in an upper stance towards the godslayer with ten lives.

  "So, whenever I am fighting your kind, I always offer the deepest of respect."

  "Respect from the enemy only makes me uncomfortable. It's time to start."

  Leaving this remark behind nonchalantly, the Devil King transformed.

  His authorities were not limited to just the one with ten lives. Shapeshifting into a giant evil dragon with wings was another of his authorities.

  Then the "King of the End" summoned his ride from the Divine Sword of Salvation.

  This was an aerial chariot drawn by a pair of flying steeds. Riding his chariot, he began an aerial duel against the Devil King who had turned into an evil dragon.

  Having absorbed a mother earth goddess' life, the "King of the End" was at critical state—

  Purely in terms of combat ability, magic power, divine power and number of weapons, he actually surpassed the Devil King by far. Based on the gap in specs, there was no way to call this a duel in the first place.

  In spite of that, they still began an intense battle to the death.

  The ability to put in their full effort to find chances of victory no matter how powerful the enemy...

  This was common to all godslayers—Rather, their survival instincts would produce maximum effect at times like these. Furthermore, due to a certain factor, the Devil King enjoyed an unexpected advantage.

  The Devil King and hero fought in the air, the sea then finally began another battle on land again.

  However, they were still unable to reach a conclusion. Flying into the sky again, they finally broke past the atmosphere, continuing their battle in space.

  "Uwoooh!"

  "Ohhhhhhhhhhh!"

  Finally, the two of them crashed to the ground.

  Both of them were severely injured, unable to fly again.

  They had fallen onto a small island in the South Seas. Here was a flourishing jungle with a beach of beautiful white sand. Here, the Devil King with ten lives finally exhausted his powers and perished.

  Having depleted his entire life force while in the shape of an evil dragon, he was lying on the beach.

  A moment later, the gigantic body turned into white bones, rendered a wordless corpse.

  Meanwhile, the "King of the End" also lost his life. After dying, he returned to the divine blade's form. The platinum blade's cutting edge was almost completely curled and even bent in an L-shape.

  The divine sword lay pitifully on the beach.

  Swallowed by the waves breaking against the beach, the sword was swept into the ocean.

  But two years later, the Divine Sword of Salvation revived again as the "King of the End." Eradicating all the other godslayers in the era who still remained after the "Devil King with ten lives," this was the mission entrusted to the pale-haired hero.

  Part 6

  A great battle between the hero and the Devil King had taken place in the past.

  Godou was watching a vision of the battle as though he were in a realm of dreams. When the two combatants ended their match in a double knockout, Godou suddenly woke up to a start.

  "This place seems to be..."

  Looking at the surrounding scenery, he was greatly surprised.

  In the beginning before seeing the vision, he was in a moonlit wilderness. However, his current location seemed to be a beach on a small island. After walking forward a few steps, he entered a primitive jungle with flourishing trees.

  This was where the ancient Campione and the "King of the End" had met their mutual defeat.

  Furthermore, the Princess of Glass was standing ahead of him. In addition, the two Hime-Miko who had accompanied Godou from the mundane world—Yuri and Ena—were both watching Godou with worried looks.

  After nodding to his two companions, Godou faced the Princess of Glass again.

  "You... are the Divine Ancestor reincarnated from the goddess who was killed back then. Is that right?"

  "Indeed. My life was forfeited and taken away as nourishment for the crown prince."

  The beautiful princess with flaxen-colored hair and eyes of glass spoke quietly.

  "After being reborn as a Divine Ancestor, I went through a journey of wandering and came to Japan. Leaving behind the bloodline where the ancestors of those miko arose... Finally, I grew tired of life in the mundane world and chose to live secluded in the Netherworld."

  The Princess of Glass was actually the distant progenitor of the Hime-Miko.

  Since Godou had expected this already, he simply nodded lightly in acknowledgement.

  In fact, whenever Yuri showed signs of atavism, her hair would often turn flaxen in color.

  "Originally, Divine Ancestors would not retain the memories from their time as goddesses. But after coming to the Netherworld and opening the sealed door to the past, I remembered what had happened in my previous life."

  "I see."

  Pallas Athena had also recovered her memories as Athena.

  The same phenomenon had occurred to the Princess of Glass too. As Godou nodded, the princess asked him:

  "Then Kusanagi-sama, what are your plans regarding the prior promise?"

  "You mean destroying the 'King of the End'? That promise—of course I can't do it."

  Godou answered simply.

  "That guy is stronger than me far too much. Given an opponent like that, I can't guarantee victory for certain. Also, I'm a pacifist as well."

  "..."

  "Those gods are extremely powerful. As the battle intensifies, things could end quite tragically. I don't think deciding to 'kill' or 'destroy' from the start will work."

  "In that case, are you saying you do not need to know the crown prince's true name?"

  "Well about that, you still intend to help me out no matter how I answer, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't have told me so much."

  Godou deliberately spoke in an assertive tone of voice.

  Somehow, he had a feeling about an idea he wanted to try out. Then a smile surfaced on the exquisitely shaped lips of the Princess of Glass, who proceeded to nod.

  "Even when confronted with the crown prince's power and the pain from fighting His Highness, you have not wavered from your own conviction at all. Truly remarkable. If I may be frank—"

  At this point, the princess smiled mischievously.

  She often displayed facial expressions and mannerisms very similar to a living woman's.

  "I have said this to the Old One, Susanoo, and the high priest many times in the past. That Kusanagi-sama is rather similar to the godslayer who caused the crown prince the most grief—His Highness with the ten lives. Consequently, when an emergency arrives, destiny ought to be entrusted to Kusanagi-sama."

  "Huh? Why can't I see any similarity between myself and that guy at all?"

  Having watched the ancient Campione's life through the vision just now, Godou immediately rejected the idea.

  "No. In terms of being considerate to women, offering compassion to the goddess despite being enemies, hence shouldering unnecessary hardship, you two are quite similar."

  "Haah."

  The princess had tactfully dismissed Godou's protest. She continued:

  "However, that sort of consideration also brings many rewards. Kusanagi-sama, it is precisely the reason why I concluded you have the capacity to cause the crown prince pain... So please confirm carefully for yourself the true name of the 'King of the End.'"

  Sudden praise. Godou went "eh?" and stared at the princess' beautiful face again.

  "This domain is sealed inside the main hall of Plutarch's Residence, where the records of the 'King
of the End' are kept safe. Now that you are here, you should be able to see His Highness' true name and origins."

  A beach in the ancient past was where the hero and the Devil King had reached mutual destruction.

  The current location was a Netherworld domain constructed to be identical to that place. The riddle's answer sought by Divine Ancestor Guinevere, Alexandre Gascoigne and others was sleeping here—

  Without knowing it, Godou's side had been guided to this treasure of an island.

  While Godou was feeling surprised and Yuri and Ena were bowing their heads politely, the Princess of Glass suddenly disappeared along with her glamorous Juunihitoe-clad figure, departing from the scene.

  "Plutarch's Residence where the Akashic Memories, the source of all spirit visions, are kept... This place does feel similar to that sanctuary last time."

  Yuri was speaking softly in a pious tone of voice like a shrine maiden kneeling before a deity.

  Placing a hand against her lovely bosom bulging under the miko outfit, she closed her eyes and concentrated. Next, stone tablets emerged from various places in the beach of white sand where the three of them were situated.

  These square slabs of stone were roughly forty or fifty centimeters in length.

  Long passages had been written on the surface of the stone tablets in an ancient alphabet.

  Emerging from the sand like germinating plants, the number of stone tablets most likely exceeded five hundred.

  "Do all of these stone tablets contain information about the 'King of the End'...?"

  "Indeed. Once you acquire the knowledge here, the Sword's spell words can surely be forged..."

  The weapon for slicing apart the hero shrouded in heavy mystery.

  The opportunity to obtain this weapon had finally arrived at Kusanagi Godou's side. However, it was not possible to decipher and memorize all of these documents that had been written in an unknown language.

  The only way to do it was to rely on Mariya Yuri's spirit vision and spells to impart the knowledge—

  Just as Godou intended to walk over to Yuri who was fidgeting from shyness...

  "A-Are we starting, Your Majesty?"

  Ena asked.

  "Basically, umm. Ena also finds it quite indecent to make such a request, but..."