Hikigaya's God Slayer Story

Chapter 28: The Overreaching Goddess

The Egyptians were not struck by lightning.

This was simply because the goddess standing before them happened to be the very master of thunder herself.

If she didn't feel like summoning thunder, the sky wouldn't even deign to let out a fart.

To the Egyptians, the arrival of this goddess first brought immense terror—followed by immense joy.

Because she was also a goddess they had once worshipped. Although she went by the name Athena, the sorcerers of the Nine Gods Group knew another identity of the goddess Athena.

Neith, goddess of war, hunting, and weaving—an ancient deity who had existed since the time of the Early Dynastic Period.

The traveling historian Herodotus had observed that the people of the Egyptian city of Sais worshipped Neith and equated her with Athena.

In his work Histories, he referred to Neith multiple times as Athena.

He also claimed Athena was born near the Triton River in Libya, which supported this theory.

Bernal, in Black Athena, even asserted that Athena was nothing more than a Greek version of the Egyptian goddess Neith.

He argued that during the second and third millennia BCE, along with an influx of civilization and cultural elements, the goddess Neith arrived in Greece.

This view was shared by the Nine Gods Group. Though its members were modern individuals, like the ancient Egyptians they regarded divine knowledge as the true order of the world, and the development of mythology remained a major focus of their research.

"I, Athena, born on the shores of Lake Tritonis in Libya, am the queen of the Achaeans, but I am also your master. O Kemetians, serve me as your ancestors once did."

As Athena spoke these words, the terrifying aura surrounding her vanished, and the Egyptians' senses became clear once again.

Though still filled with questions, they nonetheless knelt devoutly and kissed the earth at her feet.

As for the people of the Yomi Faction, they could do nothing at all—they had all been turned to stone.

Only after Athena had left with the Egyptians did the overwhelming divine power restraining them dissipate, allowing them to return to human form.

Of course, they remembered none of this—only that the people before them had suddenly vanished.

But that was another matter entirely.

For the Egyptians, their "exciting" days were just beginning.

They soon discovered that the direction Athena was leading them in was, coincidentally, the same as their original destination.

A bad premonition quickly proved correct—when the Hachiman residence appeared before them, many were stunned.

This house was one they had memorized clearly through magical visions—there was no mistaking it.

Before, they had merely thought this world was unreasonable. Now, they were convinced it was downright insane!

They were screwed. They'd come all this way likely to gain nothing—and go back saddled with a mountain of debt...

Of course, not everyone thought this way.

"Hmm, if that man is the father of the Great King..." thought Hazazi cheerfully, "then the Great King must be a good driver too! We'll definitely have lots to talk about. Hmph! Just wait, big brother—I won't be afraid of you hitting me anymore!"

Naturally, Hazazi was a special case. The rest entered the house in a state of anxious dread and nervous awe.

When the door opened, the first person they saw was a little girl.

"Welcome back, Sister Pallas," the little girl greeted sweetly, cradling a white fox in her arms.

This was likely a family member of the Great King.

It appeared that the Great King had no intention of letting his blood relatives know he was a godslayer—and now, it seemed his family was getting along quite harmoniously with the great goddess.

That was the terrifying thing about gods—they didn't rely on control. A single divine thought could change human reality.

Wherever a god stood, no matter how bizarre, the unbelievable would become possible.

The Egyptians were starting to feel numb—they'd heard the word "great" far too many times today.

"Who are all these uncles?" the little girl asked curiously, looking at the Egyptians. "They look so weird."

A twitch passed through all the Egyptians' faces...

Had anyone else said this, they might've taught them a lesson—but this girl was clearly not someone they could rebuke.

Even if they didn't respect the goddess, they had to respect the Great King...

What a lucky little girl.

"They're your brother's friends," Athena said gently, her tone soft and serene—so much so that the Egyptians looked at her again in disbelief.

By Atum, what in the world had happened? Why was this divine being treating the family of her enemy with such kindness!?

Also... what exactly were they here to do?

Athena offered no answer. She simply stepped inside and ascended the stairs.

The sorcerers sighed, took off their shoes, and followed her in—after all, they at least knew the Japanese custom of removing shoes indoors.

Whether gods needed to remain untainted by the dust of the world or not, if anyone stepped in with muddy shoes, it certainly wouldn't be them.

The situation was already strange enough—they didn't want to make it worse by doing something careless.

They followed Athena up the stairs to a room on the second floor.

The window was open. The air was fresh, and the sunlight streamed in, making everything clearly visible.

It was an utterly normal teenager's room. By the window was a desk; to the left, a bed and a wardrobe; and to the right, a bookshelf covering an entire wall, filled with books.

Most were on history. Some were literary works.

Athena sat down on the bed and, with the owl-like gaze of her eyes, looked toward Mahamud standing at the doorway.

He understood the cue and entered, kneeling respectfully at her feet.

Then Athena spoke.

"Kemetian, how much of your ancestors' power have you inherited?"

"Great goddess," Mahamud answered honestly, "the kingdom has long since collapsed. Our people have suffered humiliation. The once-great magic—barely a tenth of it remains."

This wasn't a plea for sympathy. The Egyptians had abandoned their gods long ago—they no longer had the right to be pitied.

"Is that so? Yet you still use the same things your ancestors did. I shall deem you useful for now."

Athena's body began to float, and her voice seemed to grow ethereal.

"Now, I shall overstep my identity as the virgin goddess, and give birth to my enemy—just as Zeus overstepped his male identity and gave birth to me. However, I cannot do this alone. I require your service."

"Enemy?" Mahamud was stunned. "Great goddess, you intend to give birth to your enemy?"

But Athena's next words made him realize that this wasn't just incredible—it was downright unbelievable...

"Yes. Because of the Eastern God-King's power, Hikigaya Hachiman has entered my body. I have no other choice. If so, then I must be like Zeus—and change some things."

Chapter 29: A Myth Evolving in the Mortal World

Even though a group of mages had already entered, Chiba had remained outwardly calm for several days.

As if nothing had happened, the martial artists in the city seemed to have lost their memories. They were completely unaware of their actions or the changes that had taken place in the city—remembering nothing at all.

This sense of "normalcy" was particularly thorough at the Hikigaya residence.

But today, the goddess Athena was finally going to give birth.

Of course, as a deity, she would not give birth like a human.

Especially since this was an act of transgression.

Athena had already made her decision: she would engage in another battle.

In mythology, when she leapt out of Zeus's head, she was fully armed and flaunting her power. Her strength rivaled the battles between Zeus and the Titans, causing the heavens to "tremble in fear," the earth to "scream in terror," the sea to "churn with dark waves," and the sun to halt its course in the sky.

In this way, when the King of Gods played the role of a woman, another deity—equally capable of overturning the cosmos but not seeking to dethrone her father—was born as the daughter who revealed the father's divine manifestation, instead of the rebellious son who tried to usurp the throne.

It was a great victory.

Zeus took measures superior to his predecessors and reversed his fate.

Not only did he resolve the issue of threats to the supreme authority once and for all, but the "chain" of potentially threatening female power also ended with Athena.

But that was something that happened among gods.

Whether she, Athena, could also reverse and conclude her relationship with Hikigaya Hachiman, she was not entirely confident.

This was what unsettled the goddess—myth being shaped in the mortal world. Since the dawn of mythology, this had never happened. The mortal world had only ever created myth, not evolved it.

It might become an unprecedented and glorious victory. But it could also become an unacceptable failure.

"I must succeed…"

Athena murmured softly in Hikigaya's room.

She had been preparing for a long time.

This place, where the Eastern god-slayer lived, was imbued everywhere with the traces of his power.

That was why she chose it as the site for her "transgression."

She was a deity even older than her mother, Metis. Though both resided on Greek soil, she had been overturned on her own domain.

In the room at this moment, aside from Athena, was only Mahmoud.

Though he was neither a god nor a god's enemy, he was entrusted with an important task.

In his hands was an axe, formed from the divine shield—a burden tremendously heavy for a human. But Mahmoud's task was to wield it when the goddess needed him to.

This axe embodied the power of Athena as the goddess of wisdom and craftsmanship—it symbolized Hephaestus.

Originally, this role was meant for the blood kin of the god-slayer. Unfortunately, they were far too fragile to bear the responsibility. Athena had no confidence that, at the critical moment, she could maintain her divine support over them.

And so, only a human magician could be chosen—and this man was the only one who met the criteria.

"Are you ready, Kemetian?"

The goddess asked as the moment approached.

To a deity, an individual human had no inherent value. Names were meaningless. Most of the time, the disobedient gods that manifested on Earth would not even communicate with humans, let alone show themselves.

Even now, to Athena, there was no "Mahmoud"—just a Kemetian capable of wielding an axe, nothing more.

"Yes, my goddess. I am ready," Mahmoud answered with a bitter smile.

He could feel this disregard—it was so complete that the goddess probably wouldn't even notice the expressions on his face. But this was the nature of a god.

Besides, what he was about to do had nothing to do with his personal preferences.

As expected, the goddess gave no response to his reply. Perhaps, to her, his answer was no different from the beeping of a microwave.

Then he saw a look of pain begin to appear on the goddess's face.

Mahmoud could only watch helplessly.

To be honest, all of this still felt like a dream to him.

A god, so visibly seated just in front of him, and he, a midwife to that god—this was so insane and surreal that he had never imagined, never dared imagine, such a thing.

In this hesitation and fear, he saw illusory shadows emerging from Athena's body.

Though they were shadows, he felt as though his skin were being torn apart.

These shadows hovered between illusion and reality. Their faces were unclear, but their forms could be distinguished.

The first was a figure clad in armor and wielding weapons.

Then came the second shadow, holding a scepter.

The third had feminine curves and wore a crown on her head.

They stood beside Athena.

Rip—!

A clear sound of tearing. Mahmoud's skin split open, and blood flowed down from the wounds—but he dared not move, no matter how much it hurt.

As time passed, the bleeding worsened, and his body began to tremble.

But pain was not the goddess's alone.

The goddess's pain also seemed to intensify. Her delicate, surreal face was now visibly contorted.

After a while, a ball of lightning suddenly appeared in her left hand. The azure lightning burst forth, instantly reducing the wooden bed beneath her to ashes. Yet she remained seated in the dust, holding the thunder tightly in her hand. The booming sound filled Mahmoud's ears so completely that he could hear nothing else.

The pain had reached Mahmoud's limit. He felt as though he were going to die...

Perhaps he would be the first magician in Egyptian history to die from helping a god give birth.

"Oh god, have I not been devout enough in my life? Why must I suffer so?!"

He even felt resentment—a feeling he had never experienced in his entire life.

Then, in the haze of his consciousness, he sensed light, piercing his chest like a blade, making his heart twist in agony.

But he soon realized—the piercing light came from the goddess's eyes.

Athena's eyes were glowing with dazzling brilliance, so intense it made him dizzy just to look at them.

And into Mahmoud's mind came the voice of the goddess, filled with pain.

He staggered toward her. By now, his body was almost completely flayed. His robes were soaked in blood, and the room reeked of human blood.

But in contrast, his body was brimming with power.

Finally, he reached the goddess.

He raised the axe in his hand—this act nearly exhausted all his strength.

Through his blurred vision, he used the last of his strength...

And brought the axe down upon Athena's head.