Last Embryo

Chapter 9

The silent drizzle of rain had, suddenly and without warning, turned into a violent downpour erasing the sounds of footsteps and presence of the citizens .

This region was known for its soft ground and it would not be strange for a devastating landslide to happen with this much water falling from the sky .

Hence, fighting a bit more seriously would not cause problems in the future .

Worst coming to worst, Izayoi could always move towards the forest, but for the time being, the location was a blessing .

This place, an abandoned section of the slum, was filled with derelicts as is, there was no need to worry about causing pointless damage .

It was also convenient that the residents were nowhere to be seen either .

In other words, this battle was quite convenient for Izayoi too .

"─────"

Exposed to the elements, Izayoi calmly pressed on through the bullet-like rain . The hostility was undoubtedly coming from straight ahead . And that hostility was actually a bigger impediment than the curtains of water .

Mother G.o.ddess Prith had previously described the Amazon forest as "Stagnant," but the heavy pressure Izayoi was now feeling was also very fitting that description .

The hostility and killing intent were obstructing his way as if entwining around his body . He felt very heavy, as if he was forcing his way through the ocean . Honestly, the scale of the enmity defied common sense .

How was it possible to direct so much of it towards someone one had never met?

Be it friend or foe, it was probably better to deem them not to be a stranger .

As far as Little Garden was concerned, there were more than enough individuals happy to bare their fangs at both Izayoi and Prith .

It would not be so strange for one of them to show up here, however . . .

" . . . . . . Strong . This guy is really strong . Just who are they? They are at least as strong as Kouryuu and Karyou-chan . If not stronger . "

"I don"t know . Their presence is similar to a Divine Spirit but also resembles an Avatar . We should treat them as quite the unique individual . "

The open hostility was making the location known . There clearly was no intention of hiding power . These two would never have forgotten someone this strong . But when they searched their memories, no name came to mind .

One thing was very clear, however .

Whoever was waiting ahead equalled a Demon Lord in status .

Izayoi considered these ruins a convenient location but, were he to clash with that somebody here, the entire slums would be turned into scorched wasteland .

Finally, the pair could make out the opponent"s silhouette within the storm .

( . . . . . . A woman?)

The person unleashing such hostility was a woman with white hair and red eyes . Just like the girl they were safeguarding .

Given the skin that lacked pigment and red eyes, she seemed to be another albino .

The woman was of a considerable height, but with still visible traces of youthfulness in her face suggesting that she was not yet an adult . The white clothes suggested a research specimen, or something of the kind . One belonging to the same place as the girl that was sleeping soundly on Prith"s back .

"Izayoi,” said Pirth suddenly, “something"s not right . Her presence is that of a Divine Spirit but her body is clearly human . At a glance, not one being possessed by a Divine or Evil Spirit either . She might have a.s.similated with a higher spiritual life form due to some kind of a trigger . "

"Seems so . This clears up one part of the puzzle, though . That woman destroyed the Particle Body research establishment," Izayoi declared .

Honestly, anyone would come to the same conclusion if they saw the white-haired girl"s appearance .

While the pouring rain had easily washed her hair and skin clean, the same couldn"t be said for her clothes that were still smeared in colour . That colour .

The rusty-red of blood . And that girl was soaked in it .

It seemed that she hadn"t even given a thought to getting rid of the bloodstains .

She definitely paid no heed to the fragments of human flesh that dirtied her fair skin .

She would slay the enemy . Slay all who opposed her . Lay bare her boundless resentment, and annihilate them all .

This girl was not directing her hostility towards Izayoi or Prith . This heavy pressure was not a force directed at an individual .

She was, quite simply, cursing the entire world with all her being .

She stood there, her body looking like it had come back from the depths of h.e.l.l, waiting for Izayoi and Prith in this deteriorated district, so that she could wield her blade of resentment and grudge towards the entire world that had ravaged her soul .

Finally, the pigmentless eyes focused on the two of them, pale white hand rose to the chin, and the girl spoke .

" . . . . . . Well, well, well . This is something even I did not expect, even though I was resolved to cut down anyone, be it Surya, Vayu, or Indra . To face the great mother G.o.ddess, Prithvi Mata, thought? Beyond my dreams . Should I pay my respects now that I am against the deity that cut through the planet"s placenta?"

The b.l.o.o.d.y girl looked at Prith and laughed in amus.e.m.e.nt .

Judging from her words, if Izayoi showed up here all by himself, she would"ve started battling with him to the death right away .

She also knew who Prith was .

With that in mind, Prith stepped forward and spoke .

"Cut through the planet"s placenta, huh . That"s quite some way to say it . While it"s true that I did teach agriculture to people, it would be polite to use less . . . direct words, no?"

"Nonetheless, it is the truth, is it not? The proxy of Celestial Spirits of Earth that slumber even now . After all, you, the G.o.ddess Prithvi Mata, are the one whose Spirituality was the first Celestial Spirit candidate . "

Prith listened to the girl’s words with displeasure .

But at the same time, she managed to ascertain one fact .

Whoever a.s.similated into this b.l.o.o.d.y girl undoubtedly belonged to the Indian Pantheon .

" . . . . . . Oh? And where did you hear that, pray tell?"

"Anyone would realize it if they gave it some thought . Breaking up, cultivating and nurturing are forms of Gift of the smallest unit . When mankind unravelled that blessing and system the Celestial Spirits had changed from "The givers" to "The robbed" . it is reasonable to dub a G.o.ddess who worked to rip out the source of life form the mother planet someone who cut through the planet"s placenta!"

The b.l.o.o.d.y girl burst into a loud laugh with her hands folded .   

However, that laughter didn"t contain a trace of happiness . Far from that, it was a mixture of clear anger and a hint of righteous indignation .

When she turned her gaze towards Izayoi, the smile waned and turned cold .

"Hey, you, boy over there . Child of this age . Would you like to hear about what this girl, what my vessel had gone through . . . What she had seen? Would you risk having your ears rot listening to the filth of her story? After all, she was treated viciously enough to awaken this me . It is hardly something a boy of this sweet age could hope to bear . "

" . . . . . . ? Awaken?"

The phrasing brought a sense of discomfort to Izayoi .

But the b.l.o.o.d.y girl didn"t pay any heed to his state of mind .

The ent.i.ty leaned forward and embraced the body of its host with all the sorrow, all the love it could muster, before saying in an apologetical whisper:

"It would be a final act of mercy to sever this girl’s life and succ.u.mbing to sleep alongside her after killing those present-day magicians . But now that I came face to face with the mother G.o.ddess, the mother of mankind, I can not simply withdraw . As the Avatar that erodes all the world"s aggression and injustice, I am of a mind to vent this anger of mine . Forgive me, black girl, I will be borrowing your body for a little longer . "

The voice was filled with affection, the eyes with compa.s.sion .

Anyone who saw all that would have deemed this monster Righteous .

However, that love vanished the moment the avatar raised her body . There was no longer a trace of affection in her eyes that pierced through Izayoi and Prith .

They were full of undying resentment .

Her body was overflowing with resentment .

She had now turned into an Avatar of their mortal enemy and, using the blood that soaked her clothes as a catalyst, she summoned and shouldered an equally b.l.o.o.d.y battleaxe .

With that, Prith finally realized who the enemy was and trembled .

"A b.l.o.o.d.y battleaxe . . . Eroding war and injustice . . . Don"t tell me . . . Are you the "Hero Slayer" Parashurama!?"

"Indeed! I am she! The sixth Avatar of "Avatara"! The sage of slaughter who annihilates all royalty and heroes!"

The b.l.o.o.d.y girl, Parashurama, howled .

Facing that raging anger, Prith had a premonition of death . It was one thing that the enemy was part of "Avatara" but it was their true ident.i.ty that made her tremble with fear .

(d.a.m.n it . . . . . . ! Izayoi and Parashurama have the worst affinity . )

Prith, still holding the girl on her back, grit her teeth after realizing how bad of a move this was .

"Avatara"s" sixth Avatar - The "Hero Slayer" Parashurama .

The words "Hero Slayer" might make her seem like a vicious Avatar . However, tracing back the schools of their martial arts, it was said that many of the famous heroes of Indian Pantheon were her disciples . Above all, the hidden techniques, worthy of being called a top secret, that she pa.s.sed on to her disciples, were also the very same deadly techniques that had saved heroes from countless predicaments .

Even Izayoi and his friends had used a portion of those techniques to defeat many Demon Lords . Perhaps a distant relative, but she was nonetheless someone who had such ties .

However that was never her intention, merely the end result .

What Parashurama accomplished as the sixth Avatar was not the nurturing of the heroes . By no means did she polish her blade so that it would be pa.s.sed down to the future . Rather, her true nature and goals were the total opposite of such a legacy .

Her Karma was to "erode all aggression and injustice of the world . "

"Aggression" meant all Kshatriya and royalty .

“Injustice” those who broke agreements and those who tried to curry favour with her by deceit .

She had been hurt by these things in the distant past . And it was not a simple wound, for she was hurt and betrayed by someone she loved .

First wound came from the king and country she should have saved .

And the second from her favourite pupil who asked her for guidance .

She was betrayed, deceived, used, and the family she loved ma.s.sacred .

Therefore, she responded by ma.s.sacring all the heroes and royalty .

And that is by no means a metaphor . She repeated such ma.s.sacres twenty-one times, depriving an entire era of Indian Pantheon of all its heroes .

She was an Avatar of a G.o.d that would fall into slumber after she was done with her ma.s.sacre, only to start it all over again once she woke up .

The "Hero Slayer" dispatched to stop the endlessly growing arrogance of mankind - that was the sixth Avatar of "Avatara," Parashurama .

"G.o.ddess that had allowed the limitless propagation of mankind, and the boy born in its twilight hour . I, the Decayer of all aggression and injustice, condemn you . I shall manifest my boundless wrath for all the lives that were needlessly consumed here . As chosen by "Avatara" of salvation, let my karma be fulfilled!"

With a thundering roar, the b.l.o.o.d.y battleaxe traced an arc . Izayoi and Prith leapt away, but the ruins behind them were blown away like trash by that single attack .

It appeared that the avatar had no intention to go easy regardless of the presence of houses or people .

They couldn"t fight against such an opponent without taking special measures .

"Izayoi! Buy me some time, I"ll back you up soon!"

"Sure, leave it to me!"

Izayoi rushed straight towards Parashurama . However, considering her "Hero Slayer" attribute, even Izayoi was at a disadvantage . If he was not backed up quickly, the situation would turn into something bad .

(Protecting the town and the girl comes first . . . . . . !)

This Albino girl was a precious source of information after all .

In the worst case, she at least had to survive .

Prith took out a seed of the Sacred Fig from her coat and made it grow quickly .

It did just that and, in the blink of an eye, became a barrier to protect the girl on her back . She didn"t think that Parashurama would kill her, but she had no confidence that she could keep her alive if she got involved in the battle .

The Sacred fig, being granted the Divinity of the mother G.o.ddess, had surpa.s.sed the limit of its growth and started to cover the slums . There would certainly be witnesses, but it was better than having the scars in the ground to grow bigger leaving evidence behind .

In the meantime, contrary to her expectations, Izayoi was engaged in an even battle amidst the disintegrating derelicts .

He readied his fist as he charged . It would be his domain once he closed the distance to his opponent . If the girl got hit by his fists, with their impact comparable to power of the continental drift, even she wouldn"t come out unscathed regardless of what kind of Avatar of a G.o.d she was .

However, Parashurama did not move . She just stood perfectly still watching the approaching Izayoi .

Once in range, the boy let his fists fly .

"Ho . . . . . . Now, this is quite dull," laughed the Decayer . Facing fists that could shake a planet, Parashurama simply kicked the ground and fell back a little bit .

Izayoi"s blows triggered a violent gale that ripped buildings apart and carried them onwards .

If he unleashed that attack in the middle of the brilliant Rio, its buildings would"ve been wrecked in the blink of an eye, their residents blown away like insects caught up in a tornado . The boy, who had once fought against the Demon Lord that governed the calamity, carried in his fists power that could shift continents . And that was not a metaphor .

But the girl . The Decayer . . .

Parashurama just shrugged it off, left uninjured by that attack that could shake the planet .

(Kh . . . . . . !)

Izayoi"s punch caught empty s.p.a.ce and stopped just short of the tip of her nose .

The way she dodged the blow was not normal . Miscalculating even by a single inch would result in her skull caving-in, but this girl had employed that way to dodge without a hint of fear . She would only have chosen this action because she had the perfect grasp of the timing of Izayoi’s charge .

In short, she dodged like this because she had absolute confidence in her martial arts, and wanted to display the difference between them .

(Unbelievable . . . ! She is at least above Kouryuu in terms of martial arts!)

Izayoi laughed merrily as cold sweat broke on his skin .

Then, he prepared himself to receive the counter and grit his teeth . There was no avoiding the casual slash of the b.l.o.o.d.y battleaxe aimed at Izayoi"s side .

"Gah . . . . . . !!!"

The impact almost sent his insides the other way . Holding back the urge to vomit, Izayoi put power into his fist again .

Izayoi stopped the merciless follow-up with his arm, but at a cost of dull pain all through his limb . The battleaxe was not able to cut him, however, that didn’t get rid of the force behind the blow .

Seeing the manner in which her battleaxe was stopped, the b.l.o.o.d.y girl spoke in admiration .

"You possess an interesting physique, boy . You are the first person whom I could not cut with my battleaxe that is known for its "Hero Slaying" . "

"That"s natural! There"s no one better at me when it comes to not getting cut! Not allowing any exceptions is proof of being at the summit, so just give up on trying to cut me!"

"Fair enough! I"ll just bludgeon you to death then!"

Seeing that she could not cut Izayoi"s body, the girl turned the axe flat .

Meanwhile, Izayoi calmly a.n.a.lyzed her condition once more .

(She doesn"t know that I possess the Gift of Leo . As I thought, her waking up has nothing to do with the Sun Authority War . )

While she was the Avatar of "Avatara," she did not know about the Authority War . That meant that she was not a Gift Game player .

Even so, she was not someone he could go easy on .

He swatted away next two strikes of the b.l.o.o.d.y axe with his fist .

Originally, her "Hero Slayer" Gift sealed off the Gifts of hostile heroes and turned their defences useless . Therefore it would be difficult to win against her unless one bested her with pure martial prowess or possessed an exceedingly high divinity that rivalled the Avatars of G.o.ds that surpa.s.sed the kind of heroes .

However, with his Gift of Impenetrability, Izayoi who was protected by Nemean Lion that Leo was based on, was invincible against any and all slashing attacks . Even if it was something that could cut the mountains, split the seas or pierce the heavens, the Gift of Leo would repeal it all without a question .

It was the apex of its kind exactly because it didn"t allow any exceptions .

To surpa.s.s this concept, one needed to own similar Celestial Gift, and something like a Gift of Absolute Severance or a Gift to slay Celestial Spirits . Just "Hero Slayer" was not enough .

But due to that advantage, the contest between the two settled into a pattern .

The being who adopted the name of the Decayer of Aggression, had naturally mastered the martial arts to a divine level . Izayoi was slowly being cornered, his resistance solved like a shogi problem .

(I can"t handle it all . . . ! s.h.i.t, it"s turning worse and worse! In that case . . . )

Izayoi suddenly stopped the blade and used the momentum to attempt to close the distance .

He judged that it was better to not open up the distance against a long-handled battleaxe, but his opponent was not someone against whom those established tactics would work on . She swung down the axe while drawing a circle like a spinning top, pulverizing and blowing off everything immediately around her .

I can"t close the distance so easily… thought Izayoi with a click of his tongue as he rode the shock wave . The enemy was the Avatar standing at the pinnacle of martial arts . He could not deal with her with something he learned as a stopgap . Fighting directly put him at a disadvantage .

What a problem child would do in such a situation was to taunt the enemy into a mistake and look for an opening .

"Bring it on . . . . . . ! If you are someone that refined their martial arts to the extreme, then I"m a bad boy that lived a carefree life thus far!"

Faced with a strong opponent after so long his excitement started to rise . Someone whom he could fight seriously with had awakened in his homeworld . Not in Little Garden, but in this world .

It was doubtful whether he would get another chance like this in future . Surrendering himself to the inexpressible emotions he was feeling, Izayoi packed all his power into his fist . . . and brought about a tsunami of earth .

"Mkh . . . . !?"

This could be bad . . .  muttered Parashurama, raising an eyebrow at the unexpected action .

The wave of earth and sand rose up so high one would wonder whether it would swallow the entire town, and then a.s.saulted the slums, carrying with itself so much ma.s.s not even the bombing raid could match the devastation .

It was a superma.s.sive attack that, depending on circ.u.mstances, could make a town lose its function .

There was no way to escape from the slums that had been walled in by the sacred tree trunks . And even if one did escape, there was no avoiding a serious injury . The b.l.o.o.d.y Decayer stabbed her battleaxe in the ground and let go of it .

Then she spoke with a brutal smile:

"Not allowing exceptions is the proof of being at the summit, was it not? . . . . . . Alright then . Let me see whether the Gift dwelling in your body is truly impenetrable . "

Putting her hand on her chest, she closed her eyes .

She made a gesture as if she was offering a prayer .

And then she directed her words towards the power sleeping within her host, the Albino girl .

"───Corrupt, my Astra . "

In an instant, a b.l.o.o.d.y spear was produced on the other side of the earth wave, clad in aurora lights .

The whole body of the Decayer was wrapped in heat comparable to the centre of the planet, far down the earth"s crust . The earth and sand that came in contact with her instantly turned into lava and scattered about, dispersing like a splash that hit the cliff of the ocean .

Remembering that brilliance, Izayoi realized the move she was going to use and a chill went up his spine .

(Kh . . . . . . ?!)

He swallowed his words at what he was seeing .

After all, Izayoi knew about that Blood Spear .

Prith was behind him, so he couldn"t dodge it . No, to begin with, given the amount of heat it was releasing, he could not fully protect her just by stopping it .

What the avatar was about to release was a secret technique that saved them many times .

It was the strongest strike that was awakened by the mantra that was lost during the time when the Indo-European world was still one .

The symbol of the pinnacle of military arts that left the deeds of Divine Spirits in the hands of man .

"Pierce . . . . . . "Brahma Astra Origin"───!!!"

The Blood Spear approached Izayoi, illuminating the night sky all across the continent with its red brilliance .

That attack that the heroes of Indian Pantheon pursued, burned through the barrier of the holy tree, rushing on to turn the slums into ruins .

Its red brilliance shredded the night veil of the outer world and dyed the heavens dark red .