Hikigaya's God Slayer Story

Chapter 10: The Eight-Faced Goddess

Hikigaya sat by the shores of Lake Baikal, only a few hundred meters from the villa where he was staying on a hillside.

Although it was called a lake, it looked just like a sea.

This is the world's oldest lake and the seventh-largest by area. It was once the nomadic ground of the ancestors of the Mongolian people.

The water was exceptionally pure.

It was said that the water of this lake could supply drinking water to five billion people for half a century.

Even if not a single drop of water were added to the lake basin, it would take the Angara River, which originates from this lake, 400 years to drain it completely. The lake's native amphipod shrimp could filter the water below 50 meters deep seven or eight times a day, resulting in outstanding water quality that made it directly drinkable.

For Hikigaya, the value of this place lay in how it allowed him to think in a transcendent state of mind.

He was deep in thought—pondering Athena.

To study an ancient Greek god, one might as well start from their origin.

After all, Greek culture was relatively late to the scene.

Before it, the neighboring Eastern world had already seen thousands of years of development.

Even North Africa was ahead of them.

Among the myths about Athena, none was more famous than her birth.

This goddess, who broke the tradition of divine succession among Greek gods, was originally expected to be a male deity. However, she became a girl—and without a mother.

Or rather, her mother grew a beard—Zeus, like Poseidon, had a big beard. In those times, whether man or god, successful males seemed to take pride in their beards.

Of course, the biggest highlight was that she wasn't born from below—but sprang out of her father's head.

Now that's playing it stylish.

But one must admit, this manner of birth significantly reflected the power Athena possessed.

The deep influence of Near Eastern culture on Greece is undeniable.

In the early Archaic period, there was a so-called "Orientalizing revolution."

Comparative studies have long identified ancient Near Eastern themes embedded in Greek mythology—such as the Hurrian myth Kingship in Heaven from the Hittites.

This Hittite myth may have inspired Hesiod, resulting in the succession myths involving Uranus, Cronus, and Zeus in Theogony, which bear clear similarities to Near Eastern creation myths.

Athena's birth from Zeus's head clearly echoes the birth of deities like Kumarbi in West Asian myths.

But that's not all.

In Mesopotamian mythology, the story of Inanna's descent into and return from the underworld may also be a predecessor of Athena's birth myth.

The seven gates seen in Hikigaya's visions are clearly drawn from the seven gates Inanna passed through in the underworld.

This goddess, both love goddess and war deity, ruled over the heavens and earth.

As a war goddess, she shares characteristics with Athena—her iconography includes the owl, and her immense power came from various garments and ornaments she wore.

This strongly recalls Athena's appearance and powers as a warrior goddess.

If early myths tend to stay closer to the divine essence, then later myths—while more complicated and difficult to parse—tend to reflect a fuller picture of a god's abilities and symbolic identity.

In the tale of Inanna's return, she reemerges spectacularly adorned with all her powerful symbols.

This not only resembles Athena's armed and awe-inspiring birth scene, but also involves a mediator—Enki for Inanna and Hephaestus for Athena—both gods of craftsmanship who assist in the goddess's rebirth or emergence.

This made Hikigaya suspect: perhaps Athena's birth was in fact a resurrection.

This theory gains weight when considering that the Greek word referring to Zeus's head also means "mountaintop."

In Mesopotamian myth and visual art, mountains often symbolized the underworld.

Some artistic representations show Inanna standing on such peaks, symbolizing her transcendence over death—descending to die and returning alive to the world of the living.

So, Athena being born from Zeus's head may not have been the soft and gentle version shown on TV—it was more like entering Musou mode (unstoppable warrior frenzy).

That girl was seriously powerful…

These thoughts occupied Hikigaya for days as he sat by the lake.

But this wasn't wasted time—he had mostly unraveled the imagery from the visions.

The mountaintop as underworld, Zeus's head, owls and snakes as Athena's symbols, the female warrior's death after passing through seven gates—these point to Inanna's descent.

The warrior woman's traits mirrored what Hippocrates described of the Scythian people in Airs, Waters, Places.

This group became the archetype for a legendary "other culture"—namely the Amazons, a female warrior society thought to descend from snake-women.

Conveniently, one of Athena's many faces was that of a snake goddess.

The fusion of Cretan snake goddess and Mycenaean shield goddess was a major source of Athena's martial identity.

And the full moon in the sky?

That clearly represented Athena's power as a virgin goddess—not a reference to her sexual status, but to her wholeness of life force.

The Greeks viewed the virgin as a symbol of self-regenerating life energy, akin to how the moon waxes and wanes, then returns to fullness without external aid.

A war goddess in the image of a female warrior, a virgin untouched by men, a goddess of crafts and protection, a goddess of wisdom, a deity symbolized by owls, a snake goddess, a city protector, and a goddess born of her father and upholding patriarchal dominance over matriarchy—these were the eight faces of Athena that Hikigaya could discern.

And he suspected there were even more.

"Truly terrifying…"

Having sat for several days, Hikigaya suddenly burst out laughing.

Only by defeating such an opponent could one truly feel the worth of being a god-slayer.

He took out the Gorgon Stone and released its suppression.

On the surface of the stone, the image of the Gorgon, no longer restrained, began to writhe—its snake hair flailing. Hikigaya could sense its fury—and its anticipation.

"I'm looking forward to it too…" he muttered, then stood up.

The stone, after days of suppression, was now surging with divine power, calling for its master.

Divine tools—truly mysterious things.

Just like Ena's sword, just like the bow he stole from Di Jun.

Honestly, he still had no idea how any of these things actually worked.

The invitation had been sent. Now it was up to the goddess to respond.

He was certain Athena wouldn't keep him waiting long.

"Hachiman" came a voice from behind him.

Hikigaya turned. Not far away, Liliana was running toward him.

She had probably sensed the Gorgon Stone's energy.

After all, she was a witch—naturally sensitive to the aura of the mother goddess. Hikigaya, having seen the TV show, knew this.

He was still curious about the so-called "Steel Hero"—what was their deal?

In the show, the Earth Mother was a form of the Great Mother. So what was "Steel"?

He put away the Gorgon Stone and stepped forward to meet her.

Chapter 11: An Overview of the Literary Knight's Psychological Activity

Lilianna came running in a hurry.

Although he knew she probably wouldn't fall, Hikigaya still stepped forward and held her with both hands just in case.

As a result, he was met with a shy, glancing look, which made his heart itch.

But recently, he'd had a crisis of conscience and decided that constantly being shameless wasn't great, so he resolved to regain some dignity.

He absolutely wouldn't admit it was because he was just a total loser with zero romantic experience and that he assumed, rather idiotically, that acting like a gentleman would win a girl's favor.

Naturally, he had no idea that Lilianna, after her initial shyness, was inwardly a little annoyed that this guy was pretending to be a gentleman.

Heaven knows, Lilianna was well aware of how wild her imagination could get, but just because she had a big imagination didn't mean she was an idiot.

Of course she could tell that Hikigaya desired her.

Even putting aside the fact that her recognition of him as a king far exceeded that of her own liege or the old wolf of Eastern Europe, once she realized Hikigaya liked her, she'd already mentally prepared herself for what might come.

Don't underestimate her resolve! She's a knight! Saving the world in bed or whatever—she could handle it just fine!

As for love or feelings—her grandfather had already told her: "Get married first, then fall in love. That's the way of the world." And as for preconditions for marriage, as long as there was no aversion, there was no problem. Lilianna agreed wholeheartedly.

So, Hikigaya Hachiman! Are you looking down on the great novelist Lilianna Kranjčar?! So rude—apologize to her novels right now!

"Hachiman, is the Gorgon Stone…" Despite feeling somewhat disappointed inside, Lilianna chose to focus on the issue at hand.

She was deeply concerned about that stone—not just because Italy's top magicians had nearly gone mad over it recently, but also because it could attract unruly goddesses, which was a huge headache.

"Yeah, it's awakened." Hikigaya didn't mention that he had deliberately done it, to avoid Lilianna overthinking.

Still, he offered a bit of reassurance: "You've got to trust me. It's been days—I'm ready."

"Really?"

"Of course. This is my specialty. I'm not just saying that. By the way, let's sneak off somewhere."

"Leave?" Lilianna was puzzled, not understanding what Hikigaya meant. "Go where?"

"This place is so vast—we should explore more." Hikigaya grinned. "And it's still early… just the two of us."

"Ah? Th-this…" Lilianna stammered.

By this point, even an idiot would've gotten the hint.

Though still trying to keep a serious facade, Lilianna could feel her heartbeat speeding up and her face heating.

She felt shy, but also a little panicked.

It left her conflicted.

On one hand, she'd already prepared herself to serve a God Slayer.

On the other, now that the moment seemed truly near, she felt flustered and uncertain.

As for Hikigaya, he wasn't picking up on her internal struggle at all. He just thought, "Damn, I'm freaking brilliant!"

To have seized such a great opportunity—he felt awesome.

Yes! A date! A real date! He was about to escape singlehood!

For that moment, he completely forgot about Haruno in Japan, and also forgot what Tobe had said about a girl liking him.

Normally, idiots can't be saved, but if the idiot happens to be a God Slayer… then there's truly no hope.

Lilianna, on the other hand, wasn't thinking about his idiocy—because she was horrified to find that the outside stimulus was triggering her novelist's imagination again, and it couldn't be stopped by human power.

She was entering "fantasy mode: no brakes" again.

This made her even more flushed, her face hot, her head dizzy.

"No… please stop…" she screamed inwardly in anguish at her own collapsing dignity. "Don't make me embarrass myself again!"

However, her pleas never reached the ears of the god of creation, who merely smiled in silence.

Just as Lilianna Kranjčar was about to be swept away by her own imagination yet again, a certain idiot saved her.

Hikigaya held her hand.

But… the guy was shaking.

Yes, Hikigaya Hachiman, seventh God Slayer of the world and expert tree-planter, was a complete romance idiot.

Just holding the hand of the girl he liked made him nervous.

"L-let's go," he stammered, genuinely sweating.

This was nothing like when he'd planted the sacred tree with Haruno.

Back then, he felt like he was doing something serious, and he only desired Haruno physically.

There was no nervousness.

Okay, fine, he thought of Haruno again—but that wasn't the point.

The point was, he had no idea that just holding hands could mess with his head so much.

He felt incredibly awkward.

Especially when he mustered the courage to look at Lilianna for her reaction—those shiny, shy eyes made him even more nervous. More nervous than when facing Athena's sharp gaze.

No words. No backing down. Just go!

With that thought, Hikigaya gritted his teeth, squeezed her hand harder, pulled her close, and with a swift step, lifted her into a princess carry.

Lilianna's body was light and soft—very comfortable to hold.

She was petite, lacking Erica's more "impressive" figure, but her legs were beautifully shaped—even better than Erica's.

Most importantly, while she usually acted serious, her rare moments of panic and shyness were absolutely adorable.

This was a kind of charm Hikigaya never felt with other girls. It was uniquely Lilianna.

He stood there dumbfounded, frozen by how cute she looked—completely forgetting he was supposed to fly.

Truthfully, when it came to body type, Ena had the best figure he'd seen so far—even better than Erica.

In terms of beauty, Lilianna was exquisitely refined, like a piece of art, while Ena and Erica's beauty was more seductive.

Erica especially had that "fox spirit" allure that awakened a man's primal urges.

Ena, though less seductive in aura, paired her innocent look with a killer body, igniting instincts just the same.

By logic, Ena should've been Hikigaya's "first."

But Hikigaya didn't really like truly dominant women. Haruno was a special case—he never even planned anything with her.

That's why girls like Lilianna, who seemed strong on the outside but were soft inside, were totally his type.

No wonder he fell for her when he saw her cry. His resistance to her was practically zero.

While Hikigaya was still spacing out, Lilianna had already recovered some composure—even though she was still in his arms.

At first, she was scared to death, thinking he was about to ravish her right there.

Terrified, okay?

Eek! Sure, she writes novels, but doing something like that in a field trip setting? Absolutely not!

But after a while, she realized there was no brutal assault. Instead, Hikigaya Hachiman was just standing there… in a daze, looking at her.

That made her happy.

Although part of her was weirdly disappointed he didn't turn into a beast, the fact that he just stared—nervously, respectfully—made her feel cherished.

Hmm… though it was kind of strange she'd even think that. Felt like she might've lost her mind a little…

From a certain point of view, these two were pretty well matched.

"Hachiman…" Lilianna lowered her head shyly and gently leaned her pretty face on his shoulder. That single gesture felt like it took all her strength. "What… are you doing…"

And then her shyness evaporated.

Because right then, she saw it.

Standing behind Hikigaya, Erica Blandelli had appeared at some point—watching them with a mocking smile.

In that instant, Lilianna had a very real impulse…

To draw her sword.