Chapter 29: The Trap
As the flesh and blood of Pseudo-Minos exploded across the island and was incinerated by solar flames, Hikigaya Hachiman had already appeared on the island.
The Black Prince, Alexander, was not with him.
Despite acting together, the two God-slayers had different objectives. Even as powerful as a Campione, one leaves behind many regrets over a long period. Alexander had been a God-slayer longer than Hikigaya, and during that time, he had been constantly entangled with the Queen of Witches—a process that was anything but pleasant.
The theoretical plot of a powerful Campione crushing a fallen Divine Ancestor with absolute strength didn't fully manifest between Alexander and the Queen of Witches. While the Queen, guarded by a god, lacked the ability to harm Alexander himself, Alexander's friends and subordinates were not of that elite level. Many lost their lives because of this.
In contrast, Hikigaya Hachiman did not have such a vast social circle, so he didn't need to worry about as many people.
As for subordinates—the dark martial artists who killed or were killed every other day—Hikigaya didn't need to add to their burdens. Their logic was quite peculiar anyway. Aside from Ryozanpaku, neither mages nor martial artists were generally willing to pick a fight with "Yomi" on their own initiative. This ensured that Yomi's annual death quota was mostly filled by internal strife.
Take Hikigaya's tireless trip to North America as an example. To outsiders, it looked tragic, but in reality, it was just an advance on Yomi's death quota for the year. The organization's ability to recruit newcomers seemed directly proportional to its brutal internal competitiveness. Even at the level of the "One Shadow, Nine Fists" or the "Eight Brilliant Weapons," no one really knew exactly how many outlaws the organization absorbed each year.
With subordinates like these, Hikigaya would have to be bored to death to worry about whether his actions would cause them to lose their heads. If he remembered correctly, if a certain branch didn't lose a few thousand heads a year, that branch was penalized. Yomi, believing that "heads are king," assigned specific annual death quotas to individuals—a performance review more exaggerated than that of state-owned enterprises in his previous life.
If Hikigaya weren't the boss but an employee, he would definitely be the champion on Yomi's special allowance list this year.
Having long since ceased to care about money, Hikigaya naturally wouldn't go to Yomi for bonuses; his interest always lay solely with the gods. Furthermore, unlike Alexander, he had no personal grudge against the Queen of Witches, so his target was the deity riding the divine horse.
When he appeared on the island, the White Knight and the Queen of Witches saw him as well.
"Uncle, it's him!" The Queen of Witches' resentful voice was carried to Hikigaya's ears by the wind.
But Hikigaya gave her only a glance before refocusing on the solar fire that had not yet fully vanished. In the fading glow of the sun-fire, a golden urn was emerging. It looked exactly like the one Hikigaya had snatched; evidently, this was the original form of the Magic Holy Grail. Unfortunately, its volume was much smaller, less than a quarter of the original, as Hikigaya had plundered most of it.
"Uncle, hurry! This man has the ability to seize undying life!" the Queen of Witches urged anxiously.
It seemed the fact that Hikigaya appeared here first instead of Alexander was something she hadn't anticipated, which made Hikigaya doubt her intelligence. Why on earth did this Divine Ancestor think he wouldn't get involved? If for nothing else, he would certainly come just to snatch the remaining portion of the Grail.
The distance was a bit far, but for a speedster, it didn't matter. Just as her voice was carried by the wind, Hikigaya had already appeared near the Grail, reaching out to grab it. The Grail, at only a quarter of its size, was much easier to seize than before.
Just as Hikigaya's hand gripped the Grail, he heard the Queen of Witches break into a triumphant laugh. The scenery shifted—space-manipulation magecraft. Beneath Hikigaya's feet was no longer rock and fire, but the sea.
He turned his head to see the White Knight raising a long spear, but where the spearhead should have been was a broad-bladed short sword, flashing with lightning. The lightning generated by Hikigaya's own Authority was absorbed by the short sword and converted into power that could harm him.
Thanks to a certain unscrupulous Dongyi god, Hikigaya had encountered this situation once before. Encountering it again, his mindset was very calm, even as the lightning-flashing short sword closed in on his chest in an instant.
Releasing the hand that had almost pierced the Grail, Hikigaya instead struck the Grail with his palm, sending the undying divine tool spinning to block the path between him and the short sword. He then retreated at an even greater speed, returning to the island in moments.
It wasn't yet time for a direct confrontation; Alexander still had things to finish.
The White Knight stopped the thrust without surprise. Hikigaya had learned enough from Alexander about the Grail's importance to the servants of the King of the End; even if only a quarter remained, the opponent would not take risks.
Everything was proceeding according to the original plan.
The moment the White Knight stopped the thrust, he fell into Alexander's trap. The sea churned once more. Just as the White Knight pulled the reins to drive the divine horse again, he was engulfed by a powerful cursed force erupting from the ocean directly below.
It was a black sphere about thirty meters in diameter. It had been hidden by Alexander's labyrinth, and the conditions for triggering it were the collapse of the labyrinth and the proximity of a god.
The moment it appeared, the White Knight lost his speed. A powerful gravitational pull began dragging him and the divine horse ridden by the Divine Ancestor toward the sea surface.
"Uncle! Look at the sea!"
"The Magic Sphere of Greed... an Authority Alexander usurped from the giant beast Behemoth. It seems he wants to drag us into the sea," the White Knight said. His words sounded serious, but his tone wasn't particularly tense, forming a sharp contrast with the Queen of Witches, who was scared to death.
This god seemed to have a very "Zen" personality, but Hikigaya believed this was related to his current state. Hikigaya hadn't fought a Buddha yet, but he believed that even if a Buddha became a Heretic, his personality would definitely be "Taoist." The opponent's current state was one of the reasons he was interested and had joined Alexander's scheme.
The White Knight continued to drive the divine horse, but under Alexander's Authority, the horse merely kicked its legs uselessly in the sky; its maximum effort only managed to stop the descent.
It was actually quite a comical sight. If Hikigaya hadn't made a deal with Alexander, he would definitely have played along with the joke. But he couldn't do that now.
Because in the sea, a massive dark shadow was rapidly approaching the horse that was currently performing its comedic routine.
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