Noticing the attack of the unidentified war god, Godou instantly yelled.
Meanwhile, the pubescent Luo Cuilian was using the mind's eye to see through the movements of divine speed.
One after another, she unleashed palm strikes. Indeed, they were not punches. With slender fingers extended, her palms were spread. Finally, she had unsealed her top skill, the Twelve Divine Palm Strikes of the Flying Phoenix.
Fingers sharper than the tips of spears.
Palm strikes hitting heavier than any hammer.
Knifehand strikes sharper than any trenchant blade in the world.
A flurry of attacks as closely packed as raindrops. Within the duration of a breath, she had already launched fourteen or fifteen palm strikes at the air.
One of the knifehand strikes was what sent the Wind King flying despite having turned into wind of divine speed.
Clang! The instant just as Luo Cuilian's left hand, smaller than usual in her pubescent form, chopped horizontally, a sharp metallic sound was heard while the Wind King was smashed against the ground.
His appearance was still wrapped in white cloth with a mask.
The wind god with the body of steel had been hit by a barehanded chop, struck down on the ground. Apparently unharmed. However, the white cloth hiding his chest was torn, exposing the body beneath.
After a glance at him, Godou nodded.
"Just as Momotarou can be considered your distant kin, his three followers—the dog, the monkey and the pheasant—were influenced by your subordinate—the Wind King. Agilty, wings for soaring in the sky, powerful strength for vanquishing ogres, and most important of all, the detail of not human in appearance."
What the masked war god had obsessively concealed was his skin—or rather, white fur.
Finally exposed, the Wind King jumped back greatly in a fluster, landing behind his lord and master who had stabbed the divine blade into the ground to pick up the bow of steel.
"You are going to disclose our origins, master and servant alike, aren't you? Kusanagi Godou."
Saying that, the "King of the End" showed neither anger nor sadness on his face.
With an attitude of resigned wisdom, capable of accepting everything no matter what happened next, his handsome face became even clearer. Seeing his expression, Godou realized:
This guy was in all respects the polar opposite of Campiones such as himself.
"In that case, go ahead and speak my true name. If you have arrived at the land of truth—"
"Yeah. My [Sword] will surely block your arrows."
A white arrow suddenly appeared in the hero's right hand.
Analyzing the enemy was the ability belonging to Verethragna's final incarnation, the [Warrior]. That was why Godou understood. This arrow was infused with the power of the sun. Its firepower was enough to rival his own [White Stallion].
The instant the solar arrow was nocked on the bow of steel, Godou spoke:
"Your name has been a giant mystery over the long ages. Despite influencing mythology in various lands, both oriental and occidental, the root lies in Asia. Your tale even made its way deep into Buddhist parables. Furthermore, the hint to unraveling the mystery is Buddhist scripture—in other words, Buddhism itself!"
Despite a thoroughly trained body of muscle, the "King of the End" was slender in physique.
Even so, he was still able to draw a stiff bow of steel effortlessly, calmly shooting the solar arrow. The bowstring's sound reverberated all around.
Next, what approached Godou and Luo Cuilian was not an arrow.
Instead, it was a massive pillar of fire. Shot out, the arrow instantly transformed, turning into a flame pillar akin to coronal mass ejections from solar flares.
In spite of that, Godou still spoke calmly and quietly.
"Your homeland is the same as the origin of Buddhism, namely, ancient India."
Turned into a solar flare, the solar arrow was rushing at them as forcefully as a lava flow.
Nevertheless, Godou's mind remained completely unfazed. Calm. Thanks to assistance from his companions and the Princess of Glass, he had come to know the truth.
Godou gathered the sword's spell words around him. The spell words of brilliant golden light arrived in unprecedented numbers, already on the scale of macrocosmic galaxies. Compressing this light, he formed a dome of golden radiance.
This defensive power of unprecedented strength was for shielding his sworn sister and himself.
Hence, the spiraling solar flame was unable to incinerate this dome in the slightest.
"In yonder days, you were the heavenly child sent to the earth in order to defeat Ravana, the demon king of the Rakshasa, whom even the gods were unable to destroy. The prince from the kingdom of Kosala. An avatar of Vishnu who is revered alongside Shiva and Brahama as the trinity of supreme deities."
"Alas—!"
The pale-haired aristocrat sighed briefly. He had probably resolved himself.
The name that had been concealed the whole time was finally coming to light now.
"The epic poem recording his legend is the Ramayana, also known as the Tale of King Rama. The 'King of the End'—His true name is Rama, or alternatively, Ramachandra."
The solar flame attacking Godou and Luo Cuilian was extinguished.
The surrounding scenery no longer looked like a racing circuit. Everything had turned into an incinerated plain.
Hence, the two Campiones confronted the two gods, master and subordinate, face to face.
Godou turned towards the Wind King standing behind the dignified aristocrat and quietly chanted spell words.
"Serving King Rama was Hanuman, the devotee who soared the skies freely. As kin of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong, he could be called the flying monkey. In addition to being a wind god's son, he also possessed immortality and monstrous strength."
The cloth wrapped around the war god of wind and steel was finally lifted. The mask also shattered.
Revealed was a strange bipedal ape, standing roughly 180cm tall. Indeed, he was very similar to the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong. However, his fur was white and he was wearing a red loincloth.
In addition, his face inexplicably gave off an impression of wisdom. At the same time, this air of virtue and brilliance was enough to call intellectual.
Chapter 6 - Aboard the Legendary Ship
Part 1
The epic poem, the Ramayana, originated in ancient India.
This was a long story of epic scale, recording the showdown between extraordinary hero, Prince Rama, and the Rakshasa King—Ravana the demon lord. Its original version could even be traced back to before Christian Era.
In modern times, Rama was believed to be one of the supreme god Vishnu's incarnations.
This was an element added through the passage of time. Before the interaction with such Vaishnava elements, Rama was simply Rama himself. As the protagonist of a legend about an ancient wandering nobleman, a man shouldering the destiny of vanquishing the demon king, a virtuous and revered monarch, a great hero.
Due to his overwhelming renown, the populace eventually linked him to a supreme deity.
"Prince Rama's destined rival, Rakshasa King Ravana was quite a special existence."
During their intimacy with Godou on the Netherworld beach earlier, Yuri and Ena had spoken in turn.
"Ravana was a rakshasa who had endured intense hardship over many years to obtain a boon of "absolute invulnerability against the gods and other rakshasas. A demon king who caused many gods to suffer. Furthermore, he possessed ten faces and twenty elbows—a terrifying form with ten heads and twenty arms."
Whenever Godou's tongue slid across the two Hime-Miko's soft and tender skin, they would murmur in voices of ecstasy. In addition, they twisted their bodies in search of Godou's lips, speaking of myths in a manner akin to pillow talk in between kisses of mutually entangling tongues—
"Back then, the gods convened before reaching a decision. They intended to defeat
Ravana by borrowing power from neither the gods nor the rakshasas—by a human hand instead. For this purpose, the gods petitioned Lord Vishnu, hoping he could descend upon the earth as a human to accomplish the task of killing the demon king."
"Hence, Prince Rama was born as Lord Vishnu's incarnation."
Born as the Ayodhya Kingdom's eldest prince, Rama was "the one who received every blessing."
He possessed a handsome face and superior intelligence. Revered by the populace for his benevolent and virtuous personality, he was also the strongest warrior.
However, his father's other wife conspired to crown her own son king, thus exiling Rama from Ayodhya for fourteen years.
The only attendants joining the tragic prince in exile were his wife Sita and younger brother Prince Lakshmana.
Thereafter, what awaited Rama while he lived secluded in the Dandaka forest were the inevitable days of battle against the wicked rakshasas.
Naturally, Rama kept defeating the rakshasas with his valorous might.
However, the strongest Rakshasa King Ravana finally appeared. Possessing the boon of "absolute invulnerability against gods and rakshasas," the demon king had his eyes set on the beauty of Rama's wife, Sita, finally succeeding in abducting her.
As a result, Rama began on a journey again with the Rakshasa King's castle as his destination.
In order to defeat the evil ten-headed demon king and take back his abducted wife—
"Your wife Sita was a spirit of the earth."
The lightning of salvation kept raining down on the race track.
Right now, this space was completely filled with over a hundred thousand golden spheres of light. These light spheres were all blades for slicing through the divinity of Rama.
"Sita was the daughter of Janaka, but by adoption and not birth. She was the child discovered by the king while plowing the land to build an altar, appearing from within the ground... That was Sita!"
The lightning strikes descending from the sky were all absorbed or deflected by the golden spheres of light.
In previous battles, they would gradually decrease in number whenever absorbing attacks—This time, these spheres of light looked like they were not going to disappear for now.
After finding out Rama's name which had been hidden all along, Verethragna's sword was bringing forth much stronger power than usual.
Furthermore, the amount of released lightning was gradually decreasing as well.
"King Janaka decided to wed this extraordinary daughter to a hero. He declared that whoever managed to string the royal family's heirloom of Lord Shiva's bow would win her hand in marriage. And you—Prince Rama—let alone stringing the bow, you even managed to break this bow in a show of power, the bow that no mortal could pull."
Hovering in midair, the Divine Sword Mandala had stopped firing lightning at some point.
Also, instead of shooting arrows as before, Rama on the ground was silently listening to the spell words woven by Godou.
Willingly accepting the verbal lashings as his own punishment—
That was the attitude Rama was displaying. While staring straight at him, Godou continued:
"Later on, the wife he married was abducted by Ravana. Setting off on a journey to vanquish the demon king, Prince Rama finally defeated his destined rival after a long battle, thus taking Sita back. Afterwards, he returned to his homeland and inherited the throne officially as the eldest prince. Thus the world rejoiced."
"......"
"However, the people doubted Queen Sita's chastity after her long period of captivity. Hence as king, Rama ordered her to prove her purity. This was also a king's duty. However, in order to comply with this command, Sita—"
As a daughter of the earth as well as Rama's wife—this was the name of the Princess of Glass back when she was a goddess.
Sita. Meaning "furrow." According to legend, this was the name given to her because she was the daughter found while plowing the earth.
"Praying 'accept me if my body is pure' to Mother Earth, she set off on a journey to the subterranean world—in other words, the underworld. For the sake of fulfilling a king's duties, you abandoned your wife."
"Precisely, Kusanagi Godou."
Rama nodded with a slightly pained expression.
Naturally, this was merely a brief episode within the myth. This was a story interpreted from the viewpoint of mythography rather than through the lens of love and hate between genders.
The so-called Sita was "a goddess who served as a live sacrifice to ensure the fertility of the land."
Tracing back this system of myths, one would reach the episode of "burying the killed deity into the earth to bring a bountiful harvest of crops, the people obtained food."
There were also stories of deities dying by immolation as live sacrifices. A metaphor for slash-and-burn agriculture.
As a side note, before heading underground, Sita had also survived trial by immolation to prove her own purity.
Based on the above, Rama's exploits should be examined through mythography.
As a man, he was irreproachable, above any criticisms no matter what kind. Even so, the man acknowledging all accusations was standing right here, confronting Godou face to face.
Purely judging from human personality, he was a man who was honest to a fault.
Godou sighed. This was the first time an opponent had shown this kind of reaction to the sword's spell words. Meanwhile, there were also two other individuals glaring sharply at each other.
Hanuman, the white monkey god of wind, versus Her Eminence Luo Hao who was currently in a pubescent girl's form.
"Having recounted my lord's exploits and listened to his great accomplishments..."
Hanuman spoke for the first time in front of Godou's group.
"You humans ought to show feelings of respect and admiration, yes? In spite of that, to think you would use spell words of wisdom as weapons, to subject His Highness to such insolent behavior, there should be limits to offense!"
"You are the one who ought to know your place, Hanuman."
In response to the intellectual white monkey god's tirade, Luo Cuilian retorted in a young voice.
"Daring as a retainer to interrupt a conversation between kings, now that is truly offensive to the extreme. Fufufufu, why don't you act like a devotee who knows his place and seal your lips with a mask as before?"
"Having kept silent for close to two millennia, I honestly do feel tired."
The monkey with dense fur answered with an indifferent look in response to the demonic cult leader's smiling taunts.
Despite calm appearances, a vortex of killing intent was already swirling between the two of them. They were ready to sweep Godou, Rama and anyone else into a fight any time.
With a battle about to break out any moment, Godou said:
"Can we talk for a bit?"
"Talk? Me and you?"
"Yeah."
In response to this invitation, Rama merely pondered for a moment before signaling to his retainer with his eyes.
White Hanuman immediately nodded with comprehension, jumped backwards swiftly and did not say another word.
"Nee-san. Sorry but I'm a bit curious about this guy. Please wait for me briefly."
"No matter. It would be a worthwhile experience to interact occasionally with gods instead of fighting. Nevertheless, no matter what words are exchanged, the end result awaiting us shall not change in all likelihood. Never forget this fact."
Impressive of Nee-san as ever, was that what one should say? Despite seeming quite senseless on the surface, this sworn elder sister was actually quite astute.
She must have seen through the younger brother's conundrum. After offering advice as a senior godslayer, Luo Cuilian also stepped back.
"I believe it's time for you to end your conflict with the Campiones—us."
"That would be rather difficult. Last time, I already attempted to procrastinate the Devil King extermination mission by a thousand year
s, but still ended up descending upon the earth in this manner."
Despite the two of them having drawn their weapons of assured destruction, the atmosphere was unbelievably calm.
Was the reason due to King Rama's own human charisma, capable of charming everyone, or the personality of Godou who championed the banner of pacifism despite being a godslayer?
"Also, due to the Holy Grail, my power suddenly increased to critical point. The ensuing result, what happened—Don't you feel it already?"
"Yeah. The temperature is very hot."
Godou replied to the wryly smiling Rama.
In fact, Godou had felt this ever since returning from the Netherworld. The air temperature felt like the harsh heat of midsummer—The aristocrat before his eyes was the cause.
Currently, his entire body was giving off high heat like flames.
Just facing him felt like entering the scene of a fire. If this continued at length, dehydration could very well result. Someone physically unfit would probably collapse immediately.
Rama suddenly looked out in the distance on the ground.
Fallen there were some binders left behind by people earlier in the racing circuit. Rama approached the spot and knelt down. Just at that instant—
The large number of binders broke down and collapsed completely.
All moisture was sucked out of the paper, producing the phenomenon of deterioration through age in merely an instant.
The owner of the miracle-inducing heat sighed and stood up, facing Godou.
"Just as you can see, if I were to remain on earth, many lives and objects will come to an end. Raging gales will howl, the land and the sea will keep rising in temperature, mountain ranges will erupt with fire, heaven and earth will rumble thunderously."
"Looks like it."
Godou had already seen the harm to the soil and natural habitats of the Bousou Peninsula.
Furthermore, he had been warned about the effects on volcanic zones. However, as a [Heretic God], Prince Rama's personality was exceptionally kind and gentle. Perhaps he might have a way to control the destructive influence brought by his presence. Despite these hopes of Godou's...
Campione! - Volume 17 - The Hero's Name Page 19