Hikigaya's God Slayer Story

Chapter 16: I Heard Ancient People Didn't Wear Underwear

When Hikigaya returned along the path he had plowed through himself, grimacing in pain, his clothes were nearly all shredded into rags—thankfully, his pants survived.

His hair, however, looked like a bird's nest and even smelled faintly of burning.

Even for a god-slayer, getting struck by hundreds of bolts of lightning wasn't exactly pleasant.

Thankfully, he had the power of Emperor Di Jun to protect him; otherwise, it would've been far worse.

Still, he was in a miserable state and fuming with anger.

Damn it, ruining someone's hairstyle is just as bad as robbing them blind—it's an unforgivable crime!

He swore to get his revenge.

However, when he charged back to the battlefield, ready to strike back, he was stunned—Athena had vanished.

Looking around, the battlefield was still a mess, scorched and wrecked from the lightning strikes, just like before, but the goddess responsible for it all was nowhere to be found.

Did she run away? No way, impossible!

Just as that thought crossed his mind, strange sounds came from the dark forest.

Hikigaya looked over cautiously. Even darkness couldn't hide things from his eyes, and he immediately saw it.

Snakes.

An endless swarm of snakes.

At the same time, birds began to fly down from the night sky.

They were all owls—the nocturnal birds associated with Athena's ancient totems and symbols of her identity as a goddess of war.

Clearly, they weren't here just for show—they were a distraction, meant to conceal Athena's true position.

The darkness suppressed the sun's power, and there weren't many birds around for Hikigaya to control.

Unlike Athena, who could summon them herself, Hikigaya could only command existing creatures. So on the surface, he'd have to waste power clearing them out.

"She still likes playing these tricks?" Hikigaya sneered.

Then, a gust of wind rose around him.

Similar sounds followed from within the wind.

From beneath his feet, a horde of cobras slithered out to confront Athena's snake swarm.

And the wind, as it swept through the cold air, changed color and began to buzz.

A swarm of bees. Their target: the attacking owls.

In the next moment, all these creatures clashed violently.

It looked like a full-on animal kingdom brawl...

On the ground, snakes of different species bit and fought one another. In the sky, owls and bees tangled mid-air.

But even amid this chaos, Hikigaya still couldn't find Athena.

He wasn't pleased, because this wasn't a sign of cowardice—it was the very hallmark of Athena as the goddess of war.

Unlike Ares, also a Greek god of war who represented brute force, Athena symbolized organized, strategic warfare.

She stood for the calculated leadership of soldiers—war as an art form.

In simple terms, she was cunning—she'd analyze her opponent's weakness and strike when the time was right.

That made Hikigaya pause and reflect: what was his own weakness?

After a moment of thought, he reached a conclusion—weakness, my ass. I'm awesome and handsome. No weakness!

What? You say he has weaknesses? Say that again looking into his eyes. Go on, look! Look! Look!

And then—he saw a pair of owl eyes.

The reason became instantly clear: Athena emerged from the ground beneath his feet...

Shit! This girl's pulling a Kakashi-level sneak attack?!

"I've got you now, Hikigaya Hachiman."

The goddess was smiling with her usual smugness, her face full of mischievous delight. Even her soul-stealing eyes curved into seductive crescents.

Hikigaya was furious.

"Let go if you've got the guts!"

He had a reason for saying that—Athena had bound him tightly.

The lower half of the goddess's body had completely transformed into a serpent, coiling tightly around him, holding him in place.

Her upper body, meanwhile, was completely bare—only her helmet and bracers remained as armor. The divine shield Aegis had shrunk, now slung across her shoulder—but none of that was the issue.

The real issue was her chest.

This wasn't some small, cute snack-sized bun—this was a full-blown, steamed meat bun. Perfectly round, proud, and soft as hell, pressed firmly against his chest. Hikigaya could even feel those mysteriously prominent tips.

He was deeply aggrieved.

He liked stockings and short skirts, yes, but he also liked big boobs.

And it just so happened that snake goddesses were known for their, ahem, generous proportions—and they never wore bras!

This Athena, truly devious! Seducing him again!

"Give up, Hikigaya Hachiman," the goddess said in a sultry voice, her face radiating charm. "I am the very serpent that strangled Laocoön—you won't escape me."

She cupped his face and ran her red tongue across his cheek.

She buried Hikigaya into the deep valleys of her chest, and the coils of her serpent lower body tightened around him, making his bones crack audibly.

She pulled his head out from the symbol of fertility and looked at his now-flushed face, laughing softly.

"Give up, Hikigaya Hachiman. Though you've obtained considerable power from my kin, as a warrior you are still too green.

Perhaps one day you'll display the majesty of a king, but sadly, I won't be there to see it. Forgive me—I shall let you die in bliss."

With that, her pink lips locked onto Hikigaya's.

"I, the queen who governs life and death, who seizes all with cunning, command you—Hikigaya Hachiman—become the dead king. Turn to bones."

With her tongue entwined and sweet nectar flowing, a chilling breath entered Hikigaya's body—this was the greatest weakness of a god-slayer.

A god-slayer's skin could resist divine powers, but from the inside, even basic human sorcery could be deadly.

Just like Kusunagi Godou from the anime, who lost exactly this way.

Hikigaya had the power of resurrection too—even stronger than Godou's—but if he used it up here, that would be an absolute joke.

His body started to burn. The heat grew so intense that Athena's cold serpent body began to sizzle.

The death words she injected into him were being overwritten by an even stronger force—

The thing Athena hated most.

The sun.

Their lips parted. Athena's face twisted in rage.

She immediately released Hikigaya, gray mist rising around her. When it faded, she had returned to her war goddess form, now standing far from him.

Hikigaya remained where he was, his skin glowing. The death energy was being broken apart and expelled by the light.

In the next moment, the light transformed again. The earth at Hikigaya's feet began to visibly dry and turn barren.

Frozen ground melted, the moisture evaporated, soil turned to dirt, and finally crumbled into sand.

The plants exposed to the light withered in seconds.

This too was death, but unlike the goddess's, this death gave no rebirth—it severed life completely.

"I loathe the light," Athena said coldly, staring at Hikigaya whose injuries had now completely healed, "but I've never hated it as much as I do now. Such despicable power—how dare you use it before me?"

"Are you really in a position to talk," Hikigaya replied, expression utterly cold. "You just buried my head in your boobs."

He stared at Athena, whose upper body was clad in armor, but lower body was draped in a long skirt, and his eyes gleamed with malicious intent.

"You really like wearing skirts, huh?"

"I heard ancient people didn't wear underwear. I wonder… are you like them?"

Just now, he'd nearly died.

If he really had, it would've proved that old saying: 'Fail to avenge, get screwed instead.'

Absolutely intolerable!

No matter what happens—first, he was gonna strip that armor off Athena!

Chapter 17: Athena's Weakness

Hikigaya insisted that if someone thought he was trying to strip Athena's armor just to be perverted, that would be a massive misunderstanding.

Was he that kind of person!?

This was purely due to Athena's own unique nature.

From a mythological perspective, as a multifaceted deity, Athena was a fusion of various distinct and vastly different cultural origins.

Her multiple aspects were both independent and interconnected.

Ultimately, in terms of authority, she could be regarded as the goddess of war, wisdom, and life.

In Hikigaya's eyes, this was the true trinity of Athena.

Among these three, her aspect as a war goddess primarily originated from the war deities of Mycenaean and Western Asian traditions.

Her wisdom aspect was tied to her mythological mother Metis, a native Greek goddess representing civilization.

Finally, her life-giving aspect came from her archetype as a great mother goddess.

Multiple aspects, simultaneously one and separable—this was the defining trait of Athena as a many-faced god.

In the Iliad, it was mentioned that Athena would arm herself for battle.

Conversely, it implied that when she shed her armor, she would lose her capacity for war.

This was evident from her origin myth—when armored, she was a dangerous and mighty warrior; when unarmored, that power would recede.

Although Hikigaya didn't believe that the divine Athena would be exactly as myths described—completely useless without her gear—he was sure that her equipment was the core of her war goddess powers.

So, if he could strip away those armaments, Athena's "virgin warrior" aspect would likely recede, reverting her to a more natural goddess form, like in the anime.

Even if Hikigaya couldn't kill her, her ability to harm him would be greatly diminished.

If Athena hadn't absorbed the Gorgon Stone, Hikigaya honestly wouldn't have much confidence in pulling this off.

But now, he was brimming with confidence, certain he could do it.

This confidence came from a realization he couldn't even remember when he'd acquired: the power of Heretic gods came from being pulled away from their mythological "self"—from their obsession with a specific goal.

Once they lost that "self," while not completely useless, they became hollow shells with superficial strength.

Hikigaya's first target was the Aegis, the divine shield.

It was the most important weapon in Athena's war arsenal—without question. In myth, it was described as "terrifying."

The power of the sun continued to radiate from his body.

Thanks to the "gift" of Athena injecting him with the words of death earlier, Hikigaya had successfully overcome her nighttime powers, reigniting the brilliance of his solar force.

After purging the ominous aura within him using Osiris's power, he immediately switched the sun's energy to Set—because, frankly, while Uncle Osiris was great at HP management, when it came to DPS, it had to be Uncle Set.

Only Set, who could even sever the River of Life, could deal fundamentally effective damage to Athena, the goddess of life.

Now, Hikigaya's light had become an enormous, terrifying radiance sweeping in all directions.

If someone were watching from the sky, they would see that this vicious aura of light had already covered several hundred meters of land.

Any life caught in that field was being mercilessly obliterated.

And as the instigator, Hikigaya was fully experiencing the massacre he had caused.

This was the first time Hikigaya had gone all-out—throwing all restraint aside, wielding Set's power like a madman.

Set was not a god of death per se, but under his power, even Osiris—the deathless god—had to die temporarily.

As a deity of destruction, Set didn't have the cosmic-scale power to shake the universe like Athena or Di Jun, and his capacity to annihilate matter was inferior.

But he eradicated all powers of fertility and reproduction.

It was nothing less than purification.

Wherever the light passed, even microorganisms were destroyed. In a sense, within this aura, all life—regardless of its form—was treated with absolute equality. That was true annihilation.

Not just life—even matter capable of producing life was eliminated.

Hikigaya stood still.

Where he was, all he could see was a barren field of sand. Under the moonlight, it reflected a cold, eerie glow. And the more life he extinguished, the more he felt himself growing stronger.

"Alright," Hikigaya said with satisfaction, feeling his body restored to its peak. He turned toward the only remaining lifeform in the field. "Goddess—ready for round two?"

"What a despicable power..." Athena responded with a voice full of hatred, offering a rebuke befitting a goddess of life.

But at her feet, a pitch-black darkness spread like a bottomless abyss.

From that darkness emanated a chilling cold so intense it felt like it could slice open skin.

This was the forbidden dark power of the life goddess—the power of death.

Only with this could she withstand Set's sterilizing energy.

If she had already become "death" itself, then Set's power could no longer even recognize her as a valid target.

For Athena in this state, Hikigaya's previous attack was nearly harmless.

"You call it despicable, yet you're using 'death' too, aren't you?" Hikigaya loosened his wrists, his muscles taut, and began walking forward step by step.

"The wisdom of the heavens has revealed your intentions to me," Athena sneered. "Such a method... typical of a fool's child."

She scoffed coldly and once again raised her spear and shield.

"Victory and wisdom are my servants, god-slayer."

She no longer called him "Hikigaya," but addressed him as "god-slayer" again, just like at the beginning.

Hikigaya didn't know what that change signified, but he charged forward regardless.

Pencak Silat—the ancient martial art—was unleashed once more, though this time the opponent was the goddess Athena.

Palm strike after palm strike—all of them heavy strikes from Pencak Silat.

But this time, the strikes didn't contain Set's severing power—instead, they carried the tremor force Hikigaya had stolen from Poseidon, capable of shaking all tangible things.

Hikigaya's thinking was simple—Athena used thunder, so he'd counter with the force of tremor and stillness.

These two powers represented the wildest natural forces in Greek mythology—essentially an even match.

That shield—Hikigaya had observed it long enough to know it was truly exceptional.

It wasn't afraid of lightning; it could casually deflect Hikigaya's storms.

It seemed all natural forces were meaningless against it.

Even when Hikigaya used Set's "severing" ability, it was still blocked.

But the shield was still a tangible object—and thus it could not ignore the earthquake power Hikigaya had stolen from Poseidon.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Hello everyone! I'm VarieTL.

I have posted a new Fanfiction!

A crossover of Danmachi and Fate this time

Danmachi- The Heroic Legend of Emiya!

After slaughtering his way through the Holy Grail War in a single night to save his sister, Shirou Emiya was transported to the labyrinth city of Orario.To repay Hestia for a meal she gave him, he resolved to offer his strength to this unreliable goddess.The path of justice has not yet come to an end—as long as the sword remains tightly gripped in his hand, there is no need for hesitation."Whether god or man, no matter who tries to harm the ones I wish to protect, I will defeat them with the sword in my hand!""Watch closely—this is my Unlimited Blade Works!"This is the story of a hero of justice who sweeps away evil in Orario while also uncovering the truths of the world.

As Always

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