Campione! - Volume Ex - Chapter 2.2

2
「……So you’ve come, the heaven-sent child of victory.」

A deep voice called out from the person sitting on the throne.

The 『king』 before his eyes possessed the majesty that was fitting for that voice, deeply chiseled face that was covered with beard, and a robust body.

He was clad in red gown that reached until his feet and a traditional cap.

His hand was holding a scepter──. It was a cane made from gold to display his kingship.

「O Verethragna, the one who smash through all obstacle, the god who subjugate the dragon of Dahak.」

「So you are the one who summoned me.」

The young man who replied to the king was slender and looked youthful.

But, the radiance that was emitted by that beautiful face was so dazzling. It was filled to the brim with the virtue and authority of a hero that would charm the whole masses. While he was clad in a cloak that looked like a rag, the young man who was called Verethragna looked more noble than anyone on earth.

Verethragna spoke with a brazen tone.

「In that case I’ll have to speak my thanks. Exactly because of your call from the end of the diverse worlds that I can manifest once more and obtain a flesh body. O Mithra, the one who speak the correct words and possess thousand ears. O one with ten thousand eyes with magnificent figure. War god Verethragna humbly offer his gratitude.」

「No need of that. I am in need of you. That’s why I called you.」

King Mithra nodded magnanimously.

The god king of the ancient Persia and the god of sun. The god of warrior. The god of law. The god of stock-farming. The god of wealth. The god of contract. Compared to Verethragna who was specialized for battle, he possessed far more diverse authority and attribute.

And then, he was the divine king who the war god of the east ought to serve──.

The place where the two were facing each other was inside an unknown castle.

It was the audience hall for the sake of the vassals to have an audience with the king. However, there were only Mithra and Verethragna within the grand sanctuary.

In this one-on-one situation, Mithra who was clad in the sun’s radiance spoke.

「Even so, you were really late. My call had reached you quite some time ago and granted you life and strength didn’t it?」

「Indeed. However, I had to give my greeting to my old acquaintance.」

Even toward the question of the divine king, the youthful looking war god still spoke insolently.

「Currently I will depart to take care of an affair, but one day I will return to your side. Fufufufu. Forgive this little fun with your kingly tolerance. Besides in the first place」

Verethragna grinned and stared at the sun god.

「Because you purposefully called me from “the beyond”, it took me time to reach you. Oo Mithra, I had to cross over several interstice of time and space to reach this place.」

There were many worlds that were following different history──they existed in parallel to an uncountable degree.

That state of the world was called the diverse worlds. The war god Verethragna transformed into a gust of wind and ran through the interstice between worlds.

He was summoned by Mithra who was located at the far beyond parallel world.

The god king of the ancient Persia. He was also grinning.

「Forgive me. There is a necessity that made me called you even then. Actually, the world I’m protecting is in the verge of destruction. An annoying witch from a world somewhere──an accursed godslaying witch wandered in.」

「Hou, godslayer!」

「Furthermore the other day, the stars of heaven told me this. 『Soon a new godslayer will arrive in pursuit of that witch』 it said.」

「…………」

「The stars also told this. There is a deep inversed fate between that new godslayer and you──the victorious Verethragna, and you should be the one who will become that person’s greatest obstacle.」

「Oooh.」

If that was the truth, then perhaps there wasn’t any need for him to intentionally give a greeting.

Kukukuku. Verethragna stifled his voice and chuckled. The divine king Mithra watched his loyal subject who was like that with trust and spoke.

「Even so o war god. You are alone, while the enemies are several. It will be great if I, Mithra can assist you but──」

「Is there a reason why you can’t?」

「Umu. However, I can grant you something like this.」

「This is!?」

The divine king Mithra suddenly waved his scepter.

Right after that, a great sword appeared in front of Verethragna. It stabbed into the stone floor. The blade that was shining in platinum color was wide and thick. It looked similar with a hatchet.

That blade had a similar height with a child. It was a magnificent divine sword.

「Oooh. To think I’ll be able to lie my eyes once more on this……」

Verethragna muttered in amazement.

It was a way of speaking that was unbecoming for the god of victory who was overflowing with wisdom. But it couldn’t be helped. It was a happening that made a war god of his level to be struck with admiration from the bottom of his heart.

……In that battle when the hero Rama and his arch-enemy Kusanagi Godou were fighting together.

The king who appeared at the end of this world was wielding this──the divine sword of devil king slaying.

「This is the so called, divine sword of salvation isn’t it.」

The war god of the east gazed at the divine sword shining in platinum color and spoke that name.

Mithra nodded and stpoke further.

「Verethragna. The Mithra in your world and I who am here right now are the identical god, and yet there are several differences between us. For example our other name.」

「Hou?」

「When the godslaying devil king bunches are running rampant on earth, there will be warrior who defeat all of them──the hero of devil king extermination. Someone who know about it call me 『the king who appear at the end of this world』.」

「…………」

「In this place I am the one and only King of the End.」

「I see. So that’s how it is.」

Verethragna comprehended the situation.

The world he was originally from was 『the world where King Rama was the hero.』. He was called from there to this faraway place, 『the world where King Mithra was the hero』.

Yes. Even if there wasn’t King Ramachandra here, there should be another fitting god for that role.

God who could possibly become the devil king extermination hero and be granted the divine sword of salvation from the god of destiny.

Parallel world──there was a great number of them. There was no way that King Rama would constantly play the hero role in all of them.

Verethragna laughed fiercely.

「How wonderful that you led me──this me to here!」

Of course, there was also Verethragna in the 『world of Hero Mithra』.

However, in order to intercept the man who one day should come to this world, he was summoned here! In order to confront the godslayer Kusanagi Godou!

His status as that man’s arch-enemy was being counted on!

「Fufufufu. I’m grateful to you, King Mithra!」

「I had told you already just now, no need to thank me. You must have faintly guesses it. My body isn’t fitting to stand in the battlefield anymore. I’m not a worthy warrior for the sword of salvation.」

「By your will.」

Certainly, the divine king before his eyes was an existence that was like a sun.

But, it wasn’t the sun of daytime. Rather it was a setting sun. While he was a man at the prime of his life who was overflowing with majesty, he was completely exhausted.

His exceptionally dark hair had conspicuous white color in it. The shadows of both his eyes were dark.

His complexion was bad. Although he was overflowing with majesty, he didn’t even look like he would be able to stand from his throne. He even felt like a bedridden old man.

Verethragna spoke.

「Your life has been reduced considerably it seems.」

「Umu. In order to realize the devil king extermination, I had swung the divine sword of salvation many times──beyond counting. This is the price of that.

The heart and body of the god king that should be immortal was consumed to this degree.

Verethragna understood now. In the 『world of King Rama』, the hero of devil king extermination didn’t try to appear often in the world. He was staying dormant for a thousand year. That was why he wasn’t that exhausted. But, a more diligent hero would also get “worn down” quicker…….

The weapon of devil king extermination was an object that shaved even the life of god.

However, Verethragna harbored another question and asked.

「But, those godslayers aren’t something that is born often. An era where they don’t exist at all shouldn’t be that rare. Why are you this exhausted then?」

「I judged not only the godslayers, but also the heretic gods.」

「What!?」

「Exactly because there are heretic gods roaming on earth that godslayers are born. In that case, it’ll be fine if I also execute such imprudent gods. Thanks to that in the 『world of the King of the End Mithra』, godslayers hasn’t appeared for more than four hundred years already.」

「…………」

The devil king extermination god used the divine sword of salvation to erase his fellow gods.

The King of the End Mithra confessed those murders. His eyes that were overflowing with virtue and authority showed insane obstinacy just for a moment. But, that too lasted only for a moment.

Mithra immediately recovered his majesty and spoke with the face of a worried king.

「In any case, the world under the protection of the King of the End Mithra has enjoyed a long peace. And yet……」

A godslayer from the outside world slipped in──]

「Umu. Look at this.」

In front of Mithra and the war god, a transparent bubble came out.

A young lady was striding through a city of the humans inside the bubble. Brown skin. Eyes that were brimming with curiosity. She was clad in a garment that pagan nun would wear.

Her face looked extremely gentle but──Verethragna understood.

A fitting atmosphere that was characteristic of the 『heaven-sent child of calamity』, a godslayer was definitely coming from this woman too!

「War god. She is a witch who expressly crossed to here from your world. Your arch-enemy should arrive here too soon chasing after this woman. Before that happen……」

Mithra’s scepter pointed at the brown skinned witch.

「Wield the sword of salvation and begin the battle of devil king extermination. Do you accept?」

「By your will. ──However my lord. Let me ask one more question.」

「What?」

Verethragna sharply gazed at the completely weakened figure of the king.

「I who possess the sword of wisdom understand. Your body, it should have perished a long time ago shouldn’t it?」

「…………」

「O magnificent Mithra, the one who is like the sun. I’m the one who repel all enemy and demon, and cut apart the mysteries the gods are concealing with sword. It’s obvious in my eyes. Your body that is exhausted from the battle of devil king extermination──already doesn’t have the fire of life remaining in it. And yet, why are you still alive?」

Mithra’s appearance was similar with a setting sun that was going to set completely.

At first, Verethragna thought that Mithra’s life was only reduced. But, he was gradually starting to notice. That the Mithra before him was so to speak a burnt residue.

His life had been used up since a long time ago and he should have become a corpse.

The divine king Mithra whose secret was seen through──suddenly grinned.

「As expected from you, war god. It’s exactly as you said. In actuality, my body should have been destroyed four hundred years ago. But I asked the secret god of time to use his authority──to stop my time just a moment before I met my death.」

「Stopping time? Unbelievable!」

Verethragna was shocked. Mithra nodded to him as the lord.

「It’s a preparation for the worst case. When a new godslayer is born once more, I will personally summon a worthy warrior──to entrust to him the fate of the King of the End. And then, the secret god who govern over infinite time, Zurvan finally moved the time of me who should have died.」

Right beside Mithra’s throne, a god with strange shape appeared.

It was a 『mask』. A face made from stone floating in the air. Furthermore, it was modeled after a soul-stirring lion’s face and mane──but that wasn’t all.

The mask’s both sides──both the left side and the right side had snakes growing from there!

There were two living snakes. The snakes were twisting back and forth.

「I see! So you were protecting our king, Zurvan! The secret god who govern over eternity and infinity, the creator of light and darkness! The god who preside even over destiny!」

Verethragna yelled in excitement.

The god of time Zurvan──the stone mask modeled after lion was silent. But the snakes growing from both sides of the mask only let out their tongue *ssshh*.

In exchange Mithra spoke.

「O war god. The time remaining for Mithra is little. Defeat the godslaying witch even if just for a second faster and then return to my castle the Temple of Infinite Time.」

「By your will!」

The place where the war god of the east Verethragna was facing the god king Mithra.

Its name was the Temple of Infinite Time. It was also the sanctuary of the god of time and eternity Zurvan.

.