Chapter 31: On the Brotherhood of God-Slayers
Hikigaya raised both hands.
The power of Authority infused into his hands, and they turned bright red—on closer look, they were burning like flames.
These were no longer the hands of a human.
At the same time he completed his preparation, the sword light arrived.
Hikigaya clapped his hands together like lightning.
Catching a blade with bare hands—honestly, this move has been overused in all kinds of novels.
Then again, it's probably because it's just that useful that it's been overused.
His burning palms clamped down on the sword, but at the same time, a wave of searing pain surged through his hands—Hikigaya felt like they were going to snap off.
However, the originally pristine and brilliant magic sword instantly turned red-hot the moment he caught it with his hands, like a branding iron from a furnace!
Doni, who was holding the sword, felt like his own hand was being roasted!
But such pain—what does it mean to a warrior? Judging by Hikigaya's expression, it wasn't any better for him either.
He thought Hikigaya Hachiman really was a peer who kept surprising him.
Thinking carefully, someone who could catch his sword with their bare hands—so far he'd only met one. Also a God Slayer, but in another Eastern country, separated from here by just a sea.
The young kindred before him, although using a different method and clearly suffering through it, still managed to do it.
However, once a sword is swung, there's no reason for it to stop.
"Zzzzzz…"
Amid a teeth-gritting sound, the red-hot sword, seemingly about to melt, very slowly began to move forward.
The movement was slight, but it was progress nonetheless. In the process, molten iron dripped down, each drop burning a pitch-black hole in the ground and setting surrounding areas ablaze.
During this tug-of-war, both of their faces twisted—baring their teeth in extreme pain.
"Come on, let me stab you once, that's only fair," Doni said.
Doni's face was twisted like a pretzel. He felt like he could already smell the scent of roasting meat.
"Bullshit! Why don't you let me smash your face first!" Hikigaya's expression was also contorted.
Damn it—it hurt like hell…
"You're so petty! You beat me up so badly already," Doni clearly didn't intend to give up.
And Hikigaya had no intention of yielding either. While enduring the pain and bantering nonsense, he activated his Authority again.
His entire body, like his hands, started to burn—something seemed to be taking form!
Seeing this, Doni immediately exerted even more force and once again uttered a spirit phrase:
"O sword that pierces the enemy with a single swing—shine with brilliance to strip away all life!"
The red-hot sword transformed again.
Though it still looked like a mess about to melt, it began to swell!
Though still slow, it was much faster than squeezing toothpaste out of an empty tube—it was visibly accelerating.
Hikigaya felt like smoke was about to come out of his nose.
This bastard was actually trying to stab him in the face!!!
But he had finished his preparation…
Under Doni's stunned gaze, a sun rose behind Hikigaya.
Not the kind of sun that brings joy, warmth, and life to the earth.
But a ferocious, scorching, apocalyptic sun that scorches the land, ignites all life, and brings extinction.
Seeing Doni's expression change, Hikigaya felt a wave of satisfaction.
Without Horus's distortion, the sun he created this time was far more savage than the one he conjured when fighting Kuafu.
That sun could also kill, but it contained the power of life—otherwise it couldn't have lured Kuafu.
But this sun had no such nuance.
Though the battle with Doni hadn't lasted too long, it had already pushed his understanding of Authority to a new level.
The essence, he realized, was endless derivation, transformation, and combination.
Fertility or desolation—just a matter of thought.
"I handcrafted this massive sun—enjoy it!"
As soon as the words fell, the savage sun exploded.
Both of them were swallowed up.
The entire coast was engulfed by the dazzling light of destruction—land and sea alike were annihilated.
In Chiba City not far from the battlefield, countless people were awakened from their sleep. At first, they thought it was an earthquake. But when they rushed out of their homes and saw a massive aurora-like light rising from the sea and illuminating half the sky like daytime, they were dumbstruck. Many even collapsed in terror, thinking World War III had broken out—that the nukes were flying.
Fortunately, like the earthquake-like tremor, the overwhelming light came quickly and faded quickly. The sky soon returned to darkness.
At the origin of the light, seawater surged in violently—a whole stretch of coastline had vanished.
No one knew how much time passed before a figure suddenly burst out from the raging currents, stumbling and falling to the ground.
As soon as he hit the ground, he dropped to one knee, gasping for breath.
Only after a while did his breathing steady, and he stood up.
The moonlight revealed his face.
It was Hikigaya—though he looked terribly battered. His upper clothes were completely gone, his pants tattered, everything below the knees including shoes had vanished.
"Did that guy drown…" he muttered softly, staring at the still-swirling waves.
He watched for a bit longer but still didn't see any sign of Doni.
Maybe he had been burned away like his sword?
Because it was his own power, Hikigaya hadn't been seriously harmed—otherwise he wouldn't be in this relatively intact state.
"Whatever. If he drowned, he drowned."
Hikigaya didn't feel the need to wait. He was exhausted.
He turned to leave.
Just then, he heard something in the water, stopping him in his tracks.
A figure emerged from the waves, covered in floating cuneiform script, though the glyphs were now faint, nearly gone.
It was Salvatore Doni. The bastard hadn't drowned.
When he crawled ashore, the last of the script disappeared.
Like Hikigaya, he collapsed on his back, gasping for air.
But his sword was gone.
For a swordsman like him, it was unthinkable to just lose a sword. The only explanation was—it had been destroyed.
Hikigaya walked over.
This guy looked just as rough as he did—barely clothed…
"Hey," Hikigaya nudged him with his foot, "still alive?"
"W-Wait…" Doni gasped, "just let me rest a bit…"
"Okay, you rest. I'm out." Hikigaya nodded, about to leave.
"Hey, don't be so heartless—we're friends!" Doni wailed miserably.
"Who the hell's your friend? Kept me up all damn night."
Despite his words, Hikigaya didn't leave.
"Come on, admit it—you enjoyed that fight, didn't you?"
Doni was breathing more steadily now and sat up.
"Sigh… My sword's gone. Burned up by you. It was my companion for many years."
"Not my fault." Hikigaya didn't deny the first statement.
Yeah, the fight was satisfying. It'd been a while since he'd felt that exhilarated.
The guy wasn't that annoying after all.
"I'll find an even better sword next time," Doni said, gazing at the sea with heartache. "And I won't let you burn it so easily."
"Sure, you do that. Though I doubt it'll help much." Hikigaya sat down too. Standing was tiring—might as well rest before leaving.
"Come visit me next time. There's a lot of fun stuff in Italy."
"Alright. But are you done talking? I'm hungry and sleepy."
"Don't worry, someone will come pick us up soon. Oh, wanna bet who can eat more? I haven't eaten all day. You won't stand a chance."
"Are you gonna die if you don't compete at everything? Speaking of which, got any food?"
Under the night sky, with the sound of waves crashing, the two god slayers, both equally exhausted and famished, started chatting back and forth.
Come to think of it, in anime, god slayers are all adopted children of the witch Pandora—technically making them siblings.
Let's not talk about sisters, but as for brothers… true bros are proven by flashing their muscle at each other, right?