Volume 4 Chapter 6 (2/2)

The stock of Retributive Justice that Ren accumulated mercilessly trampled the unruly sun God It was a full power attack that drew victory toward hiht──」

The handsome youth that was seriously injured spoke out words of power

「Watch the abyss of the raging God! I a of darkness!」

It was the words of power of darkness Even though it shouldn't suit the radiant Apollo at all, the scripture summoned darkness that extremely suited him

And then Apollo as pierced with nuon's teeth was──

Turned into darkness itself

Indeterminate darkness Black mist Hazy vortex of dark

Apollo transfor The arrows of divine punishs stabbed into that vortex of darkness However

All the arroere absorbed into the foron that should be biting the handsome youth was also sed into the vortex of darkness

「Fufufufu I somehow made it in time

Apollo's beautiful voice came from inside the darkness

「If I receive that divine punishment whole, my body won't hold Allow me to let it pass like this」

「Apollo-san, you can use power of darkness too even though you're a God of light That's absurdly unfair isn't it? The eleru on the rocky mountain where Apollo was at until just now

He watched Apollo enduring Retributive Justice fro here On the other hand, Apollo who transforhed

「No, no rather it is darkness that is the origin of me, Apollo ……It was the darkness of the depth of earth that hidchild as born in darkness rose into fame later on and became a radiant hero Yes──Apollo's true essence is 《hero》」

The voice of the youthful God leaked out fro but contained an ominous echo somewhere in it

「It was also me as born in darkness and hidden in shadow It was also me as a heaven-sent child of darkness and caused calamity It was also me who murdered evil beast and offered ani bright as the heaven-sent child of fire and light It was also th as an unruly hero and be victorious──」

「But Apollo-san, you said it before right?」

Ren retorted sht will vanish if it's hit by stronger light If follohat you said, then won't darkness also vanish if it's hit by strong light? It's the staple that the sun is what drive away darkness」

「Indeed, it's exactly as you say」

Apollo who becareed

「To speak the truth, your retainer……the fire bird ht become the one who illuminate Apollo that is like darkness with her sun But you're unfortunate I don't know the reason but, your connection with your retainer right now──is obviously severed」

「As expected frorinned

「It's fine There's an a reinforcement in her place」

「What!?」

The radiant Apollo transformed into darkness──a little while before that happened

U over the confrontation between God and Godslayer froaze to the people ere present with him and he opened his mouth

「As expected, it become just the princess predicted Tamayori Hime, do you remember my command?」

「Ye, yes- Furube yura yura to furube──」

It was the spell of Tamayori Hined her heart with the ghost of japan's crown prince in order to heighten his th even further Without delay Uht sword on his waist

With its tip, he finally pointed at Apollo who turned into a vortex of darkness─

「I huainst the ene me Daitzura Taten, Birurokushi+ Yaten, Biruhakushi+ Yaten, Bishamonten──come namu shi+tennou!」

The imperial prince of i

Immediately four armored warriors appeared fro the crown prince was s ere the protector of Buddhism The manifestation of Vaisravana, Dhrtarastra, Virupaksa, and Virudhaka

The four of the a spear, a sword, an axe, and a halberd

The four heavenly kings flew freely They looked down at Rokuhara Ren from the sky and quickly surrounded the vortex of darkness──the avatar of Apollo and thrust their respective weapon

Instantly, Uht pure and innocent, break all darkness with Buddha's liht of wisdos immediately shi+ned froht that was like dazzling sun Further rapidly and becahtly illuminated the land of underworld──

「Ooh!?」

Even Apollo as in the air as a vortex of darkness let out an agitated voice as expected

Cassandra narrowed her eyes fro that voice Even the handsoed on his lips was finally taken by surprise

「Splendid work, Taishi+-sama!」

「What This too is solely thanks to princess's oracle It's also your achievee heartedly in response to Cassandra's gratitude

In theforward to a confrontation with Apollo while walking in the underworld Cassandra who obtained a prediction softly whispered to the Godslayer and the ihost

The teren't normal people at all immediately accepted the words of the cursed prophet──

『Hou──! That person will transform into darkness itself sooner or later?』

『That's a secret trick that is really like Apollo-san』

『Then, I have a secret plan Just leave it to this Uht of sun to descend──

In front of the radiance that was too bright, Umayado no Ouji chanted oncebattlefield, if one pray for the power of that Guanyin, then every foe shall be dispersed altogether!」

Thus, the raging Apollo was caught in a trap

「Nu──OOOOOOOOOH!?」

He raised a shriek that could split the land and felt anguished

He was illuure of vortex of darkness was shrinking bit by bit If it continued at this rate, Ren would be able to win He secretly got that hunch──it was then

「Fu, fufufufu」

The spiraling darkness laughed fully with Apollo's beautiful voice

「You're quite so, Rokuhara Ren The flame I accumulated in this Hyperborea in order to destroy your world──I never thought that I would have to suddenly use it……」

Flaht after that the vortex of darkness chanted

「There is light even in this cursed world」

The jet black e, the handsoht It wasn't that he looked shi+ny He was really eht froinal form……」

Ren muttered

The four ar as foothold

Of course they were the four heavenly kings Vaisravana, Dhrtarastra, Virupaksa, and Virudhaka lined up smoothly in front of Ren and took defensive posture Even if Apollo fired the arrow of light speed, the four heavenly kings should protect him──

The victory or defeat was like a coin toss That hat Ren thought but,

「Watch this, o Godslaying beast」

Apollo e in the air He spoke solemnly

Ren was taken aback When he noticed around the rocky ht noas filled with corpses of animal Most of the corpses were bull Then there were also deer, horse, boar, wolf, elephant, etc

Every one of them had splendid body They were beautiful with the appearance of divine beast

In addition there were even『a caterpillar with countless short legs』 and 『a soft and flabby lump of meat with indeter in the sea? The one that suddenly turned into island……」

「Indeed, they are the animals of sacrifice Apollo went around Hyperborea in this onethem to the sea── Their souls after death flowed into this underworld I gathered theround that Apollo and Ren looked down at was filled with dead animals

There must be more than a hundred of them died Furthere land dragon suddenly appeared, lying down on the ground

It was the dragon that once killed Ren, then shared its vitality with hiot murdered by Apollo──

「Listen, Rokuhara Ren」

Apollo formed his sentence with manly beautiful voice

「I'm a traveler who cainally I came from the east The east seen from Greece──it was a land between inland sea that was called by the humans as Caspian Sea, Black Sea, and so on That land is none other than Apollo's original hometown, the land that was once Hyperborea」

「Eh?」

「Several hundred days of travelling froround Delphi The land of far northeast, at the bank of Black Sea there is Kavkaz Mountains and Colchis Country If you advance even further east, it'll finally be beyond the north wind……」

If Ren's ion

If it was referred by country naia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and so on Come to think of it, the space distortion near Ararat Mountain that Ren and others entered was old Armenia territory

Apollo spoke sonorously with a beautiful voice

「In the distant ancient times, the Gods in this land had no name They were simply the 『heavens』 itself, and the 『animals』 Yes The humans ere so unsophisticated that they only had stone weapon worshi+pped the animal they hunted, the buffaloes and deers that beca”」

Apollo was only talking, he wasn't attacking at all

Rokuhara Ren who had used up his stock of Retributive Justice wouldn't atteh that Ren felt a light irritation But he er and irritation would dull his o of his tension, relax

He resolved hio along with Apollo's long talk

「Is that a story about the stone age?」

「U the tiiven nainally a wolf, and also asnake Also a lot of Goddesses were female cow」

「Co that you mentioned it」

Ren looked down He looked around at the heaps of animal corpses

「Cow's corpses numbered the most here」

「Hyperborea people were people of stock-far Cow is especially i a coas a sacred cerereat fire and roasted a cohole, then they would also share the meat with everyone as a sacred ritual The hu fla” Also, theto the Gods in heaven……」

──'H to burn The corpses of the sacred beasts that were piled up on the land that he and Apollo were looking down at──were lit with cri in crackling fla around at that flame with satisfaction

「Hyperborea people were people who tae They rated to the east, west, and then further south where they passed down their myth The land that you humans know as Persia was a country which received that influence strongly In that land──there was a God who ought to be called as distant cousin of I Apollo」

Burning Burning The dead anih every single word of Apollo was calling for that flame

「Oo Mithra God of law Mithra Just like how Apollo formed the law in Hyperborea's land, Mithra too formed the law in the ancient Persia He also had a 『 cow』 When Mithra killed a cow, plants andthe land with greenery」

The aniround were all enveloped in fla air current Hot as blowing toward Apollo and Ren

「Do you understand, Rokuhara Ren? Sacred beast slaying in other words is a ceremony to 『expand the land』!」

「It's that ani huh More i a sea of fire

The aniht fire in the blink of eye The force of the fla it

「Aren't you playing with fire too intensely here!?」

「Forgivethem with flame This is a set of sacred ritual The burned ani that satisfies the people's hunger The smoke that is caused by that fla to the Gods living in heaven Therefore」

Apollo's voice was containing ic power

Fanned by that, the surface of flah to scorch the sky

「The one who killed the sacred beast become the God of fire Because they control fire they becoht and sun!」

「UWAAAAAAAAAH!?」

The blast of flaround sed Ren

Apollo's talk of legend was a spell incantation as it were It ords of power to suet dodged by Rokuhara Ren

The four heavenly kings that originally should becoot burned by the flaic power to maximum and so could he hold on── He had to rush out as fast as possible with Nes The moment Ren resolved himself,

(Don't, Ren!)

The sht ca to the Gods that will reach until heaven! No , it will chase you until the end of the earth!)

「Then I'th!」

(Leave it to me- Umayado no OUji, lend ht was e

And then, Vaisravana, Dhrtarastra, Virupaksa, and Virudhaka ere si in succession toward Ren and entered inside his body!

4

The Godslaying beast possessed strong resistance toward divine curse

That hy right now Rokuhara Ren was burning the mystic force contained inside his body to the maximum to endure the flame that Apollo summoned

However, there was no way he would be able to pull through with just that

The sacred beast slaying flame sed the whole area that becah with a force that would scorch even the sky It was a divine force of scorching heat that would bring death to even Godslaying beast

That hy, U with his whole heart

He atching the progression of the duel fro in order to protect the Godslayer

「Suppose one hold the nareat fire, the fire won't have any hope of burning them With the desire power of Guanyin, even a fire pit will change to be no different from a pond!」

It was a sutra to wish for divine protection fros Vaisravana, Dhrtarastra, Virupaksa, Virudhaka──the four of them were already fused with Rokuhara Ren's body

The four heavenly kings inside the Godslayer were also praying

「「「「「Desire strength of Guanyin, fire pit into pond!」」」」」

Umayado no Ouji and his four Gohou Douji chanted the prayer of flame repellent

Thanks to that and the peculiar tenacity of Godslayer──Rokuhara Ren so burned by Apollo's fla pushed into the stone oven to grill pizza……」

The rockyred hot

Sooner or later it would surely beco red hot──the Godslaying youth was going strong even while he was on one knee

His clothes and skin still hadn't started to burn

Although his clothes was getting scorched her and there, he hi

However, it must be a heavy burden to stay s swift feet couldn't even stand up and fell on his knee

The sun God Apollo was looking down on his arch-ene in the sky

「Oo Paean Oooo Paean The great God who expanded the land and increased the livestock are now holding the rite of fire He shall burn the hundred offering cows right now──」

He sang a festive poem as the words of power to work up the flame

Each word that Apollo recited becathened the fire He intended to continue this and annihilated Rokuhara Ren in fire

The far shooting God flicked the string of his silver bow as though he was stru He had no ed that if he carelessly shot, that arroould only be turned for Retributive Justice

「Aa, Ren-sauished with painful thought

She felt frustrated that she was only able to watch like this Even if she fired an arrow to the raging Apollo, the arroould be burned to nothing before it could reach him

Princess Cassandra was born in a warrior fa

But, she had no prowess in the level that would allow her to interfere in the battle of God against Godslayer If only she could transform into a bird of fire like Toba Riona Or perhaps, if only she was as strong as her heroic brothers──

「My deceased brothers! Please protect Ren-saly to her brothers who died in Trojan War

……Without her noticing, Toba Fuirl was staring fixedly at Cassandra, and then she addressed her even while feeling blocked in her chest

「Ca, Cassandrsan- Can I speak for a bit!?」

Suddenly Fumika took Cassandra's hand Cassandra tilted her head

「What's the matter, Fu tois placed into it! If you do that, then perhaps we'll be able to do soalloping wind, I beg you to interevity stone,stone, shawl of snake, shawl of bee, shawl of various articles……co the ten varieties of treasure one two three four five six seven eight nine ten furube yurayura to furube──」

Fu a breath

「Visitor froht away!」

Right after that A thunderous sound echoed like thunderclap

Rattle rattle rattle! Rattle rattle rattle! Rattle rattle rattle! Rattle rattle rattle!

Cassandra muttered「Oh?」 It was a familiar deep sound It was the thunderous sound of wheels rotating with tre swiftly──

She looked up to the sky searching for the source of the sound Cassandra was shocked

「Hector-niisa to this direction fro the chariot There was no driver There was only one person standing i ai brother, the princess of Troia Hector!

The chariot was running over Cassandra's head

At this ti toward his little sister below──

「Even though Nii-sama should have died, how!?」

「This is the real of Cassandrsan who is seeking for soe of royal fae for soht her happily

She see up her abundant chest that didn't take after he big sister

As expected from japan's Tamayori Hime The shrine maiden who summoned the spirits There was nothem to reach this miracle

The area of fla Rokuhara Ren

He wondered how much time had passed since he ed by this flame Was ait several minutes, ten minutes? He beca his mind hazy Ren muttered

「I'm able to hold on thanks to Taishi+-sama but……at this rate I'll be roasted whole……」

His throat was also in a worse state than being parched dry

It felt like his whole body was drying up co heat

And then, the ruler of the great fire Apollo was staying in the air He was at the sa the prey as unable to move with deep interest

Both of the flame

However, Apollo looked completely unruffled Ren called out

「……Isn't this fire too grand just to kill h you don't need tofor this」

His voice was hoarse because his throat was dry

Apollo ht

「What are you saying As expected froreat fire of annihilation well You're truly soaze of the handsohtly sharp

「It see into a sauna without being able to take cold bath is harsh But, well, I think it's still in the degree that I can endure……」

Ren so with a powerless voice Apollo nodded

「Then letGod readied his silver bow for the first tiht

Of course, the shi+ning arrowhead was aimed at Rokuhara Ren's forehead

「Now then──I wonder if in your current state you will be able to send retribution in respond to my arrow or not」

「That's a hard trial but, I've no choice to take up the challenge」

The index finger and er of the Retributive Justice

Ren joined his two fingers just like usual andto decide the victor and loser at the end It was then

Rattle rattle rattle! Rattle rattle rattle! Rattle rattle rattle! Rattle rattle rattle!

A chariot was charging with two divine horses soaring in the sky pulling it

A warrior drew his large bow above the chariot and fired it His nareat hero with i his body was also one with history behind it

「Hector-san! Isn't that Cassandra's big brother!?」

「Oo!? Hero of Troia, why are you turning your sword toward Aopllo who protected your home country!?」

Both Ren and Apollo were astonished

Hector continued to fire his powerful bow even then More than ten arrows rushed toward the sacred beast slaying sun God

Most of the arroere burned before they could reach the target and turned into ash

However, there were just two arrows that hit Apollo The first arrow pierced the beautiful youthful God's right flank, while the other one sunk into his left thigh

「Nuuh!?」

Apollo groaned The arroounds weren't fatal, but they were still a painful blow

Taking advantage of that opening──the flying chariot and two sacred horses crashed on Apollo The hoofs of the powerful sacred horses kicked Apollo flying He was blown far away!

「Ooooooh!?」

The God of fire was falling toward the ground that was covered with great blazing fire

On the other hand, in front of Rokuhara Ren──the Godslayer as on one knee above the scorching hot rocky mountain that couldthere when Ren noticed

In an instant just now he jumped down from the chariot and jumped until this spot

As expected from the brave warrior who rivaled even Achilles the swift He was agile Hector was fully ar down on the crouching Ren

He gave no fighting spirit or killing intent Hector 's lips were opening and closing

His voice couldn't be heard Ren realized

Perhaps his words couldn't be heard by those asn't Ta tio after all

When Ren looked, the whole body of Prince Hector was starting to burn

The tips of his lireat of a hero he was, as expected he couldn't stay safe within the great fire of Apollo

Ren understood it Within hiht to him

(This child's armor and shi+eld are treasured articles of Troia's royal fareat as Achille's equip well protecting their master even within this fire)

But, even then they couldn't coainst Apollo's blaze

Why did Hector come to Ren? Open and close The lips of the prince were stillhis whole body

Ren recalled this person's disposition

「It's fine Leave Cassandra to me I don't really have any asset that I can boast about, but I' really happy to be able to meet her So much so that I want to pray to God that if possible I want to be together until death part the two of us──」

(Wait! Wait Ren, why are you prattling about!?)

Ren ignored Stella's retort and stared at Hector

He was a virtuous man of character The first prince who treasured his family The supreme commander of Troia arht fire

His body fro with the armor on his body

But, teapons fell in front of the crouching Ren──the long sword and shi+eld of the hero Hector The two of the the you to use them, Ren! Quickly take them even if just the shi+eld!)

The round shi+eld was ether into a round shape, with seven pieces of tough cow hide layered on top of it, and finished with solid bronze plate affixed on it──

Urged by Stella, Ren took this shi+eld

I heat beca in Hector's shi+eld was starting to protect the Godslayer Rokuhara Ren

Finally Ren stood up and looked around the surrounding that was transformed into a sea of fire

Here was above the rocky ood He immediately found Apollo as ran over by Hector's sacred horses and chariot and fell to the ground

Surely Apollo was in a daze for a while

He was standing up at this ti on the burning land

In addition he was ai the silver bow in his left hand to Ren and he also had suht hand

「To think that Hector would intrude Because of that the good opportunity was ruined but……it's tiht speed

It was a weapon that Rokuhara Ren 『couldn't evade』 and one that he had to face with resolve

The far shooting God nocked the arroith unparalleled fast movement──but Ren felt a clear conviction the instant the God was trying to do that

「It's my win All thanks to Hector-san and Cassandra!」

He inally Rokuhara Ren could only accelerate when evading enemy's attack However all this ti exposed to Apollo's flame He could move with Godspeed at any ti sword in front of hi a shi+eld His right hand was holding a long sword that he didn't swing around He readied it near his waist with the tip pointed forward He moved his body to collide with Apollo!

At this tihtning

「Guhah!?」

「O fate, lement of justice!」

The words of power of Retributive Justice He returned back the flame that had been dealt to him severely

However, Apollo's torso that he pried open with the long sword that he thrust──inside that wound The fla the inside of the heroic God as also a God of fire from inside there

「Do you intend to destroy the heaven-sent child of fire and light with flame, Rokuhara Ren!?」

「There is no art to it if I use it the same way like Apollo-san after all!」

The instant Ren said that, he already started running away

Using Goddess Neround several kilo fro this area

Apollo was looking up at Ren as ju to hiht』 In that case, what if fire was combined with a fire that was just as powerful──?

The result cah in the sky

The flame of Retributive Justice ran ae explosion occurred, as though the God of fire itself becaer

It swelled up in the blink of eye──

A fire ball that was too huge was manifested in the land of underworld If it was an area that was only as big as one of Tokyo's 23 wards, it felt like the scale of this fire ball would be able to reach its whole area with its impact and shock wave