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Campione! - Volume 17 - Chapter 4.5




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Part 5 

How many godslayers had been born in the world in the past?  

Godou did not know the answer. There were times when none appeared for two or three centuries while five or six of them could suddenly be born in the same period.  

And right now, in the time period the Princess of Glass was showing him through the [Spell of Visions]—  

This was also a "terrible era" when many godslayers were strutting across the earth.  

Currently, the life of one of these godslayers was playing in Godou's consciousness like a dream or a historical film.  

He was the godslayer who had defeated "the demonic deity with ten lives" and usurped his opponent's authority.  

His trusty sword and armor were made of bronze instead of iron. Evidently a man of the ancient world. The time he lived in was even earlier than Uldin's.  

Like other godslayers, "the godslayer with ten lives" was also a powerful king.  

Apart from fighting Heretic Gods, he also conquered a number of cities and countries, a man in power, lording over many countries as a great king.  

The residents of all the neighboring countries feared him, calling him the "Devil King who could slaughter even the gods."  

However, he had a mortal enemy as well. A hero who had appeared in an opposing country. The rumored holder of the "destiny of exterminating all Devil Kings in the world." When the hero descended upon the earth, the populace not only worshiped him as a war god but also made him their great general.  

This hero was troublesome as an enemy, but quite a worthy challenge.  

Not only did he possess enough valor to threaten the "godslayer with ten lives," but he also resurrected no matter how many times he was defeated, rising to challenge the Devil King again each time.  

Were this godslayer not in possession of the "ten lives" authority that made him approach immortality, surely he would have died in battle.  

In any case, the situation was a stalemate even though the Devil King held the overall advantage. Hence, the human priests supporting the hero's side held a ritual.  

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 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 motionless 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 Kingexterminating 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 giving the hero assistance. 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 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 the soldiers and retainers, as well as the goddess with eyes of glass who lived in a corner 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 who is closest to immortality. It is unbelievable that 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' that gave 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 who was 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 feel uncomfortable. It's about time to start."  

Leaving this remark behind nonchalantly, the Devil King transformed.  

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

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

This was an aerial chariot pulled 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, in 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, turning into 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 was even bent as well.  

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.  



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