Campione! - Volume 17 - Chapter 6.1

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 decisive battle between peerless hero, Prince Rama, and the Rakshasa King—Ravana the demon lord. Its original version could even be traced back to before Christian era.  

In the modern times, Rama was believed to be one of the avatars of the supreme god Vishnu.  

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 intimate contact with Godou on the Netherworld beach earlier, Yuri and Ena had spoken in turn.  

"Ravana was a rakshasa who had undergone intense hardship over many years to 

obtain a boon of "absolute invulnerability against the gods and the other rakshasas. A demon king who caused many gods to suffer. Furthermore, he possessed ten faces and twenty arms—a terrifying appearance with ten heads and twenty hands."  

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 for a discussion 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, superior intelligence. Revered by the populace for his benevolent and gentle personality, he was also the strongest warrrior.  

However, his father's other wife conspired to make her own son king, thus Rama was exiled 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 in seclusion in the Dandaka forest was 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 away.  

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 an earth spirit."  

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.  

Whenever they absorbed attacks, the spheres of light would gradually decrease in number—Unlike previous battles, 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 a 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, King Rama on the ground was silently listening to the spell words woven by Godou.  

Willingly accepting the verbal lashings as punishment for himself—  

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 Sita's purity 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 bitter expression.  

Naturally, this was merely a brief interlude within a 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 plot point 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 lived through a trial of burning by fire to prove her own purity.  

Based on the above points, 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 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.  

The white monkey god of wind and 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. Hohoho, 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 who was taunting with a smile.  

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 spoke out:  

"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. The white monkey immediately nodded with a look of 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 years, but still ended up descending upon the earth in this manner."  

Despite having drawn their weapons of assured destruction, the atmosphere was unbelievably calm.  

Was the reason due to King Rama's own charisma, capable of charming everyone, or the personality of Godou who championed the banner of pacificism 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 with poor stamina 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 race track. Rama approached the spot and knelt down. Just at that instant—  

The large number of binders became pulverized and scattered 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, 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 deathly influence brought by his presence. Despite these hopes of Godou's...  

"Since my body temperature has reached this level, it is hopeless now. This heat will likely spread to every corner of the world to cause momentous changes in the world's appearance. Humans might call this 'the end times'—There are only two methods to stop it."  

Rama—the king manifesting at era's end—spoke lightly.  

"One is for me to exterminate all godslayers currently ruling the earth. Once my mission is fulfilled, I can sleep again in the form of the divine sword."  

"And the other?"  

"If someone among you manages to emerge victorious in a reversal, I will still return to the divine blade's form. Under those conditions, I will lie dormant briefly, perhaps for a few months, perhaps a few years, but at least there is a buffer period."  

"Both extremely difficult demands."  

Confronted with these frighteningly difficult conditions, Godou could only laugh aloud.  

The "King of the End" was not undefeated so far. It was the opposite. In the battles against ancient godslayers, he had already met defeat many times. Even Godou himself had won in ancient Gaul.  

However, Prince Rama had currently reached a fully awakened state using the great ritual of the covenant. A godslayer capable of defeating him in this state— There was at least one. Godou knew this.  

The man that the Princess of Glass had shown him.  

But that kind of absurd comeback drama, was he really able to reenact it?  

"Also, even if it's possible to defeat you in your strongest state, you'll revive soon enough."  

"My apologies. I feel that these are unreasonable demands too."  He apologized quite solemnly in response to Godou's complaint.  

Then as though recalling something by chance, Rama suddenly said:  

"Speaking of which, how is that goddess? I cannot sense a snake's presence at all."  

"Oh, well enough... I suppose."  

"I see. Towards her, I have been very cruel too."  

Bringing up the subject of Pallas Athena, Rama lowered his gaze for an instant.  

Deliberately giving an ambiguous answer, Godou secretly nodded in his mind. As expected, this guy was able to sense the presences of Divine Ancestors and mother earth goddesses.  

Now was not the time to discuss this. Godou changed the subject.  

"Compared to other gods, you're really weird, you know?"  

This was the greatest question that had occurred to him during the past few days.  

"Gods—[Heretic Gods]—will gradually acquire aspects contradicting the myths during their time of wandering on earth, right? But you've stayed as originally depicted in mythology. Your personality is very serious as well, to the point that it feels like you'll gather people's admiration."  

This was knowledge that Godou had acquired after numerous intense battles, especially the fight against the Illustrious Sage, True Lord Erlang.  

The "true god" who stood as Kusanagi Godou's nemesis. Living true to his convictions as the defender of justice, he absolutely refused to do anything harming the populace.  

Furthermore, "King of the End" Rama was also a bit similar to war god Verethragna.  

Back when he first met Godou, that youth was wandering the earth while maintaining a glorious hero's disposition despite having lost his memories as a [Heretic God].  

A scene that had happened on the island of Sardinia, which felt quite nostalgic now.  

"Unlike other gods, my myth also contains the detail of 'being born on earth as a human.' Perhaps this is the reason. Thanks to that, my original disposition has not changed much."  

"So that's the reason!?"  

"However, 'acquiring distortion and insanity while wandering the earth'... This curse ultimately cannot be avoided entirely. Even someone like me has bizarre aspects as logic would dictate."  

Next, Godou noticed.  

A quiver had appeared behind Rama's back without him noticing earlier. It was previously absent.  

Who did it? Could it be Hanuman who had brought it? But the white monkey god of wind was currently having a staring contest against Luo Cuilian some distance away, keeping tabs on each other. He did not seem to be the culprit.  

The quiver contained dozens of arrows. This was a gift from Indra, the god of thunderstorms, along with the ultimate bow of victory.  

The mysterious quiver whose arrows would never deplete. Contained inside were the various arrows bestowed upon Prince Rama by the gods and sages who had mentored him in martial arts...  

Next to the quiver, an amorphous shadow was squirming restlessly.  

One part of the shadow was quite similar to a human arm. That arm reached towards the quiver, extracting a golden arrow. The arrowhead and fletchings were made of gold. Having obtained knowledge of Rama, Godou immediately understood. If this arrow were to be shot at Tokyo, an area of land comparable to the Bunkyou Ward would be destroyed in an instant, turned into ash...  

Godou's gaze noticed the movement behind Rama.  

"—Stop!"  

The aristocrat yelled curtly. As a result, the shadow immediately disappeared from the quiver.