Chapter 44 – I'm Not Done With You
It had to be said, Luo Hao's gaze was truly sharp. Even someone like Hikigaya, who had just "smashed a god flat with a single brick," felt her eyes stabbing into him.
The mention of Voban's name only slightly diminished Luo Hao's killing intent, but Hikigaya quickly realized that merely teaming up to cause trouble for Voban wasn't nearly enough to satisfy her.
A normal being who shut themselves in for decades would become either dead or so rusted they'd lose all their edge. But someone like Luo Hao, a martial arts master who had become a Campione, could refine her battle spirit like aging fine wine—the longer it was sealed away, the stronger and sharper it became.
Luo Hao had secluded herself for decades precisely to store up strength and prepare to topple gods. Hikigaya couldn't simply wipe away that carefully nurtured battle spirit with one flashy move, no matter how big his human cannon shot was.
As her face started to sour again, because she wasn't being appeased enough, Hikigaya's savior appeared—Monkey Number Two, who had just been slapped in the face and buried alive by Hikigaya earlier. With the trusty tiger-head staff from his myths, the monkey finally dug himself out from underground.
The first thing this monkey saw after clawing his way back up was Hikigaya floating in the sky.
Perhaps it wasn't quite at the level of "blood enemies meeting, eyes turning red," but smacking that bastard across the face with a big stick still seemed extremely appealing to him.
Thus, standing opposite Hikigaya, Luo Hao immediately saw a bear-faced monkey barreling toward her (though really toward Hikigaya) while swinging his giant staff with reckless fury.
This greatly soothed Luo Hao's sensitive warrior's heart. With satisfaction on her face, she advanced gracefully, and with a series of crackling impacts, battle resumed.
This left Hikigaya and the Black Prince awkwardly stranded in place.
"So damn rude…" Hikigaya muttered, breaking the silence, then said to the Black Prince: "Let's switch targets, yeah?"
"No. It has to be him." The Black Prince's reply was firm, sparks seeming to flicker in his eyes.
After a quick mental read, Hikigaya figured: This guy wants to go all out.
Fine, if he wanted to use his ultimate, Hikigaya had big moves too. Nothing embarrassing about that.
"Alright, fine, your call. Today we're taking him down." Hikigaya nodded, accepting his new ally's suggestion, while deliberately ignoring the fact that over where Voban and Doni were, each of them was already averaging two gods apiece.
Not that he was without reason.
Voban's opponents were Hikigaya's old nemesis Horus, and another knight-god whose identity Hikigaya still hadn't figured out. The three of them would vanish and reappear amidst thunderclaps and roaring winds, with only flashes of bird-heads, dog-fur, or white horses showing through—altogether, a pretty standard scene.
But Doni, Sun Wukong, and that lot of three battle junkies were something else entirely. Their fight was nothing but endless flashes of swords and staves, while their faces twisted in pure, satisfied ecstasy.
A proper godslayer battle had been turned into something radiating the gayest possible energy, pushing Hikigaya's tolerance to the breaking point.
Of course, Hikigaya would never admit that this was his true reason for accepting the Black Prince's plan.
The two split apart in the air, circling left and right to surround Luo Hao's battlefield.
Once again, the Black Prince transformed himself into lightning.
Hikigaya, however, wasn't about to imitate that. He stuck to good old-fashioned godspeed.
After his trip to ancient Egypt, Hikigaya had become much more cautious about changing his body's very nature. If the mythologists' theories were correct, playing with natural forces was the domain of those godly beings descended from "great spirits."
But the Black Prince's display proved he had good reason to be reckless. As he moved, countless indistinguishable phantom doubles of lightning split off from him. Hikigaya realized he'd seen this trick before.
Of course, such flashy movements instantly drew the attention of both Luo Hao and the Monkey God in mid-battle. The Black Prince's disturbance was too glaring—his entire approach was a swath of blinding lightning.
Both combatants quickly split apart, bracing themselves, turning warily toward Hikigaya and the Black Prince.
Never mind the monkey. Luo Hao's eyes were spitting fire.
"Daring to interfere with my battle again?!" roared the furious Chinese Martial King. "Unforgivable!"
The Black Prince's response was a surge of lightning. Hikigaya, on the other hand, just rolled his eyes and leaned into his acceleration.
Forget about becoming friends with this martial maniac—since he'd already offended her, one more offense hardly mattered.
Honestly, if he'd known gods would keep dropping in like dumplings into a pot, he wouldn't have called Voban here in the first place.
Five already! Clearly Campiones were like magnets for gods. He made a mental note to never forget this setting again.
Hikigaya's figure flickered and faded from sight, only to reappear suddenly near the Monkey God, blasting out a rocket punch.
Though this battle was more chaotic and perilous than any before, Hikigaya's gains were also his greatest yet.
In the evolving myths of Kuafu, there were depictions of giant spirits. Now, Hikigaya himself possessed that overwhelming might: to lift mountains, to cleave rock and earth.
The myths described it simply, in four words—"Strength beyond measure."
That's why Hikigaya could casually slice a chunk of mountain and hurl it at the monkey's face earlier. Before, he could only pull such stunts with some trickery, never with such ease.
The Monkey God reacted quickly, but against raw, spinach-level "I'm Popeye now, deal with it" brute force, there weren't many options.
More importantly, he never expected Hikigaya to suddenly bust out such a strength-boosted setting.
And frankly, Hikigaya's strength now outclassed Luo Hao's.
By the time the Monkey God realized this, he was already flying, smashing through several mountains before finally stopping.
If his body were structured like a human's, that would've been at least a severe concussion.
But he had no time to reflect—because the Black Prince's attack struck.
It was black lightning, the kind usually found only in novels, a phenomenon that ignored the basic rules of nature.
Unlike the Monkey God's lack of preparation, Alexander (the Black Prince) was elated.
He'd finally unleashed this ultimate move. Luo Hao had interrupted him earlier, leaving him fuming.
If he didn't release this big move today, he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
Black lightning poured down like torrential rain, with the thickest bolt being the Black Prince himself, like a mythical world-ending light, engulfing both the Monkey God and the mountain range behind him.
When it was over, all that remained was a massive, bottomless crater scarring the land. The Black Prince stood at its edge, visibly drained.
Hikigaya landed beside him, glancing sidelong at the Black Prince's face.
"You look… kinda limp," he commented.
The Black Prince nearly toppled headfirst into his own crater.
Meanwhile, floating in the air using Taoist arts, Luo Hao stared in shock at the endless abyss gouged into the earth.
Her heart at this moment was shattered, aggrieved, and seething with fury.
Her blazing gaze lingered on the Black Prince for a brief second, then locked firmly onto Hikigaya.
It was his fault! All his fault!
Defiling her purity wasn't enough—now he was even stealing her prey!
Damn bastard! This isn't over!!
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