On a Godless Planet:Volume2B Chapter 44
Chapter 44: Rise of the Dragon[edit]
–Race forth without reproach, my heart. Flow forth without stopping, my emotions.
●
The water monsters sensed an enemy.
The enemy that had scattered all of their attacks was positioned high up and dead ahead.
The enemy wore a hat with a long, wavy brim and a dress with endlessly waving sleeves and skirt. The clothing had the color of the sea at night, the white of waves, and the gold of divinity.
●
This was a released manifestation.
Demeter knew who that was.
As one of the oldest members of Greek mythology, she recalled when this goddess had appeared from the east in the 8th century BCE, which could be seen as the middle of her career.
“The Scythian water god Api!”
Because the Scythians had no written language, she had lived on in the records of the Greeks and other peoples who did have written language. Due to the threat posed by the Scythians, she and her derivations had been given a sinister form and were presented as evil.
And…
“♪”
A song reached Demeter.
It came from another released manifestation on the north end of the dam.
The Shinto terraforming lead wore a white outfit with a rocky mountain texture of black and gold. She scattered rocky flowers while the human collected them and tossed them around. And...
“––––––”
She sang.
“I offer you this song:
“You hid yourself out of fear.
“You grew yourself out of pride.
“But you reached out to your mirror with joy.
“You wept for all you came to know.
“You laughed and cried over so much.
“You are the waves.
“You are the mother.
“And now you journey forth with your mirror!”
Flowers blossomed around the water god in response. The countless white ether flowers were…
“Cherry blossoms!?”
<Yes. A cherry tree very similar to the Japanese cherry, known as the sour cherry, has grown near the Black Sea since ancient times. She likely would have seen the blossoms floating in the rivers back in Scythian times.>
Demeter felt a tremor as she watched the flowers scatter and Api raise her hands.
Because Demeter knew exactly what she was going to do.
It began with a simple voice.
“Grand Summoning: Oktobasilia Drakon.”
●
Senpai and I were looking up at Kido-senpai when it happened.
At first, it was a mollusk-like collection of muscle. I saw a black and white mass appear, like a boneless orca.
But that wasn’t what it was.
Just like Senpai’s power had worked through me to purify Kido-senpai, it was soon washed clean with light.
“I don’t believe it…”
“Microbikini! Can you explain this!?”
“Do not call me that!”
“That’s right, Sumeragi. That is no way to address a girl.”
“Right!? Right!? Finally, someone understands!”
“She put a coat on over it out of ladylike shame, so you need to recognize that fact. Address her as ‘Microbikini Coat’ instead.”
“Hey! Microbikini Coat!? Is that better!?”
“No! ...And what is that thing!?”
The fairly friendly war god pointed up high.
Something had been summoned behind Kido-senpai with the moon in the sky behind it. It was…
“An eight-leg cannon!?”
“Did you release the Scythian god and weapon that our mythology sealed as a monster!?”
I saw an eight-leg mechanical cannon 100m tall and over 300m long.
●
Shifu felt like she had seen this before.
“Um, is that a giant? Or a dragon?”
It seemed like both. If she had to define it, she supposed the eight-legged form would count as a “dragon steed”. Because it stood on eight legs, it supported Kido atop itself like a servant, and each of its eight legs emitted a dragon emblem of ether light.
<The Scythian water god Api ruled a vast area including the 8 rivers feeding into the Black Sea – especially the Dnieper – and the sea itself. And there is a key difference between her original form and the similar monsters and gods born after her – and possibly even before her. Do you know what that is?>
Shifu looked to the water monster who had come to a cautious stop.
What differed between that water monster and Kido’s current form?
“Her legs aren’t tails.”
<Correct. The similar monsters and gods have snake and fish tails or octopus and squid legs as a lower body, but while Api does have a tail, something else is seen at her lower body: countless dragon heads. And you can take a different interpretation of the images of her grabbing and raising those heads.>
“I tread on and command the dragons. If you interpret those dragons as the eight great rivers, then I command them as a goddess, not as a dragon or a partial dragon.”
Kido-chan said this while standing atop the many-legged cannon called Oktobasilia Drakon.
“Demeter?”
“What do you want?”
“Just as you used gods of war when fighting the giants and other gods, we obtained this to swiftly gallop and to battle all that stood in our way.”
It was the…
“Theos Alogo. If I am not mistaken, it has been 2800 years since I last showed you this form. No, that is not accurate. ...This form was only completed in this era, so even I am only seeing it for the first time.”
She followed up that statement with immediate action.
The giant legs swiftly attacked the enemy before her.
●
It only took an instant.
The eight dragons became legs that split the mist above the lake while racing forth without producing a single ripple.
The whole form released waves and winds of white cherry blossoms as exhaust.
Kido produced only the sounds of waves as she raced across the battlefield.
She parted the wind and the waves to swing her arms toward the four smaller monsters on the hills.
“#5 – Orthrus. #6 – Orthrus. Tear them apart in a single bite.”
The third leg from the front on either side sprang up and their dragon armor transformed into that of canine dragons.
“––––––”
They roared like a great gale. That was all it took to slice the four large water monsters in half.
“Fall back.”
They turned to flowers.
Directly in front of her, the main colossal water monsters had fallen far back. But not to run. She crouched low, absorbed the lake’s water, and took in the dirt and rocks too.
“…!”
As the water monster launched a barrage of those things, Kido pointed toward her and spoke.
“#3 and #4 – Hydra.”
The second leg from the front on either side made rapid rotating swings. After taking their positions, they transformed into long cannons and transformed again into multi-stage cannons.
“Cleanse her.”
They launched ether-infused water. The divine water was launched at extreme speed and shot down all of the incoming attacks.
The water monster would not get away.
●
I advanced.
“––––––”
Yes, I thought in acceptance of the situation.
From up high, I more or less danced to control the eight legs, swinging my arms to shoot down all of the enemy’s incoming attacks.
This cannon was like my temple or holy ground. A circle appeared at my feet to indicate directions and it identified the enemy and all the incoming attacks.
I used that to intercept the attacks and pursue the withdrawing enemy.
It was a hunt.
I carried out a familiar old activity with far more powerful equipment.
Flowers blossomed.
Blossomed and scattered.
I picked up speed.
I recalled who I was.
“Yes.”
The night.
The moon.
The flowers.
The forest.
I was there.
Something precious was behind me.
I could tell without looking back.
“Kido-senpai! You look so cool!”
Of course I did.
●
The dragon shot down the incoming bombardment.
And the instant Kido moved forward, the water monster reacted.
“…!”
She formed a wall. The legs Kido sent forward were knocked upwards as the dirt and sand contained in the water rose up.
It formed a wall of great mass. The water caused some of it to come apart, but there was too much of it for that to matter.
Kido was going to crash into that wall, but…
“#2 – Phaia.”
In an instant, Kido thrust her front right leg forward while it transformed into something like a big whip.
Immediately afterwards, the earth-filled water lifted by the water monster changed shape.
It became another water monster.
“…!”
The muddy water monster jumped at Kido as she prepared her weapon. This was clearly only meant to buy time, but it could still be deadly if it hit. However…
“!?”
The muddy water monster suddenly turned to spray.
She had been destroyed by stony white. Everything had blossomed with mismatched flower petals thanks to…
“Douhai-san!?”
“Yes! Because I can still see what’s happening!”
That response made the corners of Kido’s lips curl up. She smiled. And she raised her readied striking cannon as if in greeting.
“Ultra vibration destruction cannon.”
Her blast shook the air and struck the sky to blast the scattering white flowers upwards.
A lot like swinging a bouquet to send its petals flying. The moonlit flowers of destruction drew a decorative arc in the sky.
And the power of Kido’s eight legs propelled her forward below the white afterimage of the stone flowers.
She ran.
Swiftly and incessantly.
She ran without stopping.
To catch up.
●
“She is brutally untouchable out there!”
“Is she using the authority she gained when Greek mythology made her the mother of monsters?”
“No, this is pretty much what she was like to begin with. She only used the numbers back then, though.”
“And she can adjust that thing’s size. When she fought us, it was only around 50m, which I only now realize means she was holding back…”
<To be blunt, you would have died if she hadn’t kept it at that size.>
“Y-yeah, I don’t see how the Olympus gods could handle Kido-san like this.”
“Not so fast. That is not what our trouble with her was.”
“It wasn’t?”
“There was another reason for that. It all goes back to what was happening during the Earth Age. And Shinto was involved in it too, just so you know.”
“Hey, uh, the water monster is doing something.”
●
I realized the wall had been a feint.
The lake narrowed into a valley up ahead and the water monster had fallen back to what could be called the deepest point.
Her entire body had entered cannon mode. This greatly resembled the flame monster’s cannon mode during the terraforming that one time.
“So I know how to handle this.”
Back then, I launched a water spear at high speed. So to defend against that…
“––––––”
Three smaller water monsters formed and moved in between me and the giant one.
The smaller ones did nothing to attack me.
...They are there to divert and stop my attacks with their bodies.
And the main one would probably fire on me while that happened. So…
“…!”
She did fire on me. At extreme speed, coming from dead ahead. She likely intended to eliminate my cannons along with me. So I…
“#3, #4, #5 – combine!”
I knew exactly what weapon to use here.
“You have my permission to form the ultimate weapon of Scythian mythology!”
●
“Dammit, Echidna!”
I heard Demeter shouting at me from a Revelation Board as the three transforming legs rapidly circled behind me.
“Do you know what you’re doing!?”
●
“Huh? What? I don’t get it. Why call her Echidna? Isn’t she Kido-san now? And why is Demeter-san so mad about her using some ultimate Scythian weapon?”
“Well, the thing is...Olympus mythology has an ultimate weapon that we can definitively say is our strongest: Zeus’s divine lightning. Zeus used his lightning to repel Typhon and to escape countless other crises.”
But…
“But we – and even Zeus himself – can no longer wield it.”
“Huh? But isn’t it Zeus’s weapon? Why can’t he use it?”
<This goes back to the Earth Age. During the fusion period, the many myths really did exist but they were exposed to ether and informational changes, which led to a war. During that war, a god of war of Shinto origin used Zeus’s lightning as a weapon.>
“That god of war naturally became a reserved manifestation...which means we lost our greatest weapon to a Shinto reserved manifestation.”
“Ha ha! Wow, you suck!”
“You be quiet.”
“Th-that probably is for the best. ...But, Athena-san? What does any of this have to do with Echidna – or rather, Kido-san?”
“It’s about Typhon.”
Because…
“Typhon was the greatest and most wicked giant or dragon in Greek mythology. He was struck by Zeus’s divine lightning and sealed below Mount Etna, but he didn’t actually die. And he was pierced with the divine lightning. So…”
“You mean…?”
“I do. Typhon became a reserved manifestation, but Echidna ‘retrieved’ the divine lightning from Typhon’s data. We cannot defeat her because she wields that.”
●
Kido confirmed that it was complete.
It was black and metal. Emblems of the storm dragon Typhon combined to form a giant pile bunker supported by a trio of giant arms.
But the spike it used to attack was black and fierce black lightning crackled in the air around it.
That was the greatest weapon of Scythian mythology, which had been stolen from the Greeks.
“Keravnos Melan.”
The enemy attack was incoming.
But Kido still launched her attack.
●
I chose to sing.
My people had no written language, so they viewed oral tradition as important and holy.
Songs praised the gods and kept them alive. So…
“–––”
I joined Douhai-san’s guiding voice in song.
“I offer this song.”
I sang.
“Ah!”
It was a roar. To praise the act of hunting and the animals that were hunted, I cried out as if joining my voice with the animal cries and as if calling them to me as kin.
“La la la la li!”
I let out my voice.
Human. Human child.
Fear the beasts. Eat the beasts.
You were born to me, but you must not return to me.
Human. Human child.
Bask in my presence and look to my sky.
I bring the rain. I call the storm.
The beast in the storm shall protect you.
That beast’s name is…
“Keravnos Melan.”
●
The first shot scored a direct hit.
Its force slammed into the west end of the lake, which was only about 400m wide at the bottom of the valley.
The attack took the form of a pitch black spike that struck the air and revealed its true power.
The enemy was 2km away, but that distance was filled in an instant and the entire space was filled by a lightning strike.
The released attack continued to push in, accelerating like it had been struck from behind.
It tore into the air.
It devoured all spells, burning and scattering everything in its path.
“This will pierce you.”
The attack continued on far to the west of Lake Okutama, piercing through Mt. Konara on the east end of the Yamanashi Prefecture.
That was about 30km away.
It all happened in a straight line.
The attack sounded like exploding electricity and the Earth’s collapsing crust.
All that remained was a long moonlit valley.
The water monster, her attacks, and everything else had vanished.
This newly created valley contained only the wind and the light of the summer night.
Interlude[edit]
“Why do I get the feeling we need to climb all this debris to join the others on the dam?”
“Because we do. Now, get moving!”
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